Endurance of Faith

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

All right, Awakening.

Okay.

Thanks, Awakening.

Thanks for welcoming everyone so well.

Good to be with you here today.

If we've never met before, my name is Dave, one of the pastors here.

Actually, been here for about four years.

Originally from South Jersey, right outside of Philly, and uh lived uh gosh, 16 years in Akron, Ohio, 11 years in Chicagoland, a short stint in Florida, and then four years here.

So six kids, four grandkids, yeah, wife, all that.

Blah, blah, blah.

Okay.

Um well, guys, it's good to be with you here today.

We're actually uh continuing in our eternal teaching series.

And for me personally, when it comes to this whole concept of having an eternal perspective, I don't feel like there's a book in the Bible that does it best than the book of Revelation.

And that's actually gonna be our focus today.

And it's a tough book, all right?

So bear with me.

Uh but Revelation is this book that really leans deeply into metaphor and into symbol that invokes emotion and also it evokes like things that are familiar to us so that it can communicate these abstract realities of our present and future world.

That's the book of Revelation, last book in your Bible.

And the way in which God communicates through the book of Revelation, there's nothing new necessarily because we see that's the way in which Jesus taught as a master teacher, because he would always leverage like symbol and analogy and metaphor to really teach some of these deep truths of our faith.

And so whether it was the symbol of light or the analogy of a mustard seed or the metaphor of a vine and branches, he would leverage these mental bridges to frame a very powerful concept of our faith.

There are times that if you sat with Jesus and he was teaching, you wondered, Am I in a Bible class or is this a biology class?

You see, Jesus actually made the human brain, and he knew it was wired in a way to remember stories and vivid imagery and metaphorical relationships far better than a string of just isolated facts.

And so, running off of Jesus' playbook today, we're gonna dive into the scriptures, not with a biology class as our sort of ideological filter, but maybe more so a history class.

So if you don't like history, apologies, you know, put your earbuds in, okay?

Stare at the ceiling.

All right, we're gonna jump back to the 1900s.

1900s, who said yes?

You're really into history?

Oh, you're into this.

You're into this whole scene.

Okay, all right, good.

All right.

So it was actually during this time in the 1900s, there was a famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton.

Anyone here of Artist?

Okay.

You're gonna hear about him a lot, okay?

He wanted to have one final expedition to this block of ice known as the Antarctic continent.

And so he sent a rather blunt advertisement stating the following: Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor recognition and case of success, Ernest Shackleton.

Okay.

This is an ad I feel like many elementary school teachers should have sent parents when they're asking for chaperones on school's field trips.

I feel like this is like I'm not sure if we're Apple picking or Lord of the Flies is breaking out, so it's that kind of thing.

Now, when we look back at Christ's daring journey to the cross to pay for our sin penalty, he actually also made a bunch of no nonsense, no nonsense ads to join his path of abundant living.

Like in Luke 14, 27, when he made this attractive sales pitch to both men and women, saying, Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.

Mark 13, 13.

There's no telling who will hate you because of me.

Stay with it, that's what is required.

Stay with it to the end, you won't be sorry, you'll be saved.

Now, similar in our day, where we had almost 200,000 people register for a one-way ticket to Mars, surprisingly, with Shackleton's advertisement, he had over 5,000 men register.

Only 27 were chosen.

And as Jesus has many acquaintances, amazed by his teachings and his philosophy and his miracles, only a few truly follow him.

Jesus said in Matthew 22, 14, many get invited, only a few make it.

One man that was invited by Jesus, chosen for God's mission, was the Apostle Paul.

Now you have to understand, Paul was a terrorist of Christians, and he gave his life over to Jesus, and he became this church planning entrepreneur.

And from city to city, Paul would tell others about Jesus and his victory over man's greatest obstacle.

Death.

After some resistance towards Paul's teaching in one location, we find in Acts 19 it reads, So Paul left, taking the disciples with him.

He set up shop in a school of Tyranius, holding class there daily.

He did this for two years, giving everyone in the Providence of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, ample opportunity to hear the message of the master.

And so in those two years, the message of the master made its way to this Greek thriving city of Philadelphia.

Now, again, born and raised outside of Philly, this is not the amazing Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that we know of, home of the cheesesteak, the Philadelphia Eagles, now the goat, LeBron James.

I feel your jealousy.

You see, this city of Philadelphia in the book of Revelation was in Asia Minor, which we know today as Western Turkey, and it was also known as the Little Athens.

And so it was in this ancient region that a woman is converted.

She trusts in Jesus as her leader and rescuer, and soon her whole family is saved.

A man trusts in Jesus, a high schooler trusts in Jesus.

And before you know it, we see the small church community taking shape.

It starts to take shape in this region out in the east.

This gateway to the east.

And they stood on the verge of becoming one of the most highly influential churches of their day.

Now, when we look back at the story of Shackleton and his crew of 27, they too stood on the verge of greatness and becoming the first to ever cross the land of Antarctica.

And so on the early morning of December 5th, 1914, with a videographer and photographer just to record their journey, they set sail on their ship named the Endurance and headed for the South Pole from the last inhabited island of South Georgia.

And after three days of smooth sailing, the endurance then encountered the enemy of all polar expeditions, ice.

But this ice, these obstacles, they're something that we all encounter.

And as the endurance navigated its way through a maze of dangerous ice chunks for its final 1,000 miles, on the sixth day, they only had one day left of sailing.

Their course became impenetrable.

So they decided just to wait it out during the night with hopes of an opening in the morning.

You've encountered those days, haven't you?

You stumble upon some certain barrier in life.

There's a growing mountain of death.

You have paralyzing anxiety.

There's team layoffs.

The death of a loved one.

And in this region right here, Silicon Valley, we are trained to either code or clot our way out of any complex problem with absolute confidence.

There are times still that we are left uncertain.

We are left helpless.

Where you just go to bed hoping that everything will be okay in the morning.

I remember as a middle schooler, I was living out my Gen X identity early on.

I would go to school, come home, sleep on the couch.

And one afternoon, while sleeping on the couch, I remember my mom screaming out the words no as she was on the phone.

Her dad had died of a massive heart attack right there.

And I could hear the screaming and the wailing going on in the house as everyone was hearing this.

And I just pretended to stay asleep on the couch.

And I remember my mom saying, just let him sleep.

Just let him sleep.

We'll tell him when he wakes up.

You see, I didn't want to face the fact that my grandfather, whom I love to swim with and fish with, is dead.

I didn't want to deal with all of that emotion and face the reality of that situation.

And I thought, if I could just stay asleep, maybe I'll wake up in the morning.

And it'll just all be okay.

And so for that season in my family's life, death of a loved one was the enemy that we were shipwrecked with.

As the church in Philadelphia, they set sail on their journey of fulfilling God's redemptive mission within this city.

Their enemy, though, came in from all sides of persecution, of earthquakes, of small numbers.

You've got to understand that this city, Philadelphia, it sat on a fault line and was often plagued by earthquakes, which we are a little familiar with here.

And therefore, many began to move out.

And for those that stayed, particularly the Jews, they were still tied to this legalistic Old Testament system.

They actually opposed this new church and its message of Jesus that would allow anyone back to the Creator through him and him alone.

So over time, the small, harassed, frail congregation sat defenseless.

They were packed in by these various chunks of despair and they had nowhere to go.

They were sitting and they were waiting.

Now for Shackleton and his crew, nothing changed in the morning because on February 14th, 1915, the temperature dropped from 20 degrees above zero to 20 degrees below zero, causing the sea to freeze over along with the endurance.

And again, I said I lived out of Chicago for 11 years.

A drop like that was a Tuesday, okay?

But for this crew, unsure of what to do, they actually found an opening about 400 yards away, and they tried to dig their way out with only picks and shovels.

Yet after attacking their enemy for two days straight, freedom was impossible, sitting in ice outside of radio contact, Shackleton calmly told them to bunker down for the winter.

They were going to wait for spring.

And just painfully paralyzed, the ship would helplessly drift away from their destination.

Again, it's an awful feeling, isn't it?

When you recognize that you can't control the situation, that no matter what you do, the hardship won't change.

You're drifting further into gloom.

I mean, the doctor's prognosis is only worsening.

Your unhappiness is only deepening.

All the job applications, not one interview.

And it brings us to the point where we even ask, God, are you even there?

I mean, do you even care?

I'll never forget as a youth pastor being asked to conduct the funeral of one of my former students who took his life.

It was one of the worst, yet at the same time, most honorable tasks I've ever had to do in my 30 years of ministry.

In one fleeting moment where a young man lost his perspective, a family was just left spinning out of control with the unpredictable process of grief and torment.

And yes, we were all confident that nothing can separate us from the love of the Father, even suicide.

But there was still nothing we could do with our devastation.

Ingrained in my mind is that Father just laying over the casket and just screaming out the words, why, why, why?

And that was a question we were all asking within our hearts as we watched this gut-wrenching scene.

And like Jesus on the cross, we were just saying, Where are you, God?

Like, seriously, where are you?

The church in Philadelphia was asking the same question.

I mean, here they were, they were called by God to make an impact in the city, and now they were suffering great loss.

And there they stood, traumatized with hands in the air, and they were saying, Where are you, God?

I mean, are you ruling this world or not?

But then a letter, known today as the book of Revelation, comes walking into their church gathering.

This letter of vivid imagery.

It was it was a prophetic message from the Apostle John.

He was relaying the symbolic vision from God to seven churches.

This letter applied to those seven churches, it applied to the Christ followers hearing it for the first time, it applies to us right now.

And so through this hurting church in Philadelphia, and to any of you suffering right now or will inevitably suffer, and asking the question to God, where are you?

Why have you forsaken me?

The veil of the spiritual world is just shredded.

And it allows us to see from a heavenly, eternal perspective.

This letter expands our view and it provides us with a picture of what is really going on.

So starting in Revelation chapter 3, verse 7, which is outlined in your bulletin, Christ uncovers his divine outlook and purpose for the Philadelphian church, and he states these words right out of the gate.

Revelation 3:7

He says, These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the keys of David.

What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open.

Meaning, hear me on this, in a city where there's many self-righteous see Jesus as this false teacher, Jesus immediately inserts himself and he just reassures his children, you need to know this.

I am the supreme God.

I am the Holy One, like none other.

I am the true Savior.

Don't listen to them.

Though it may not feel like it for this church, their God, he's saying, I'm in control here.

And as he has shattered the eternal barrier of the cross on the cross, known as death, he can surely give us the strength and the power to melt away any momentary obstacles we face.

Jesus is saying, hey, just like the prime ministers of the Old Testament had keys into David's kingdom, I hold the keys into the heavenly kingdom.

When we look back at Shackleton's crew, the gates into Antarctica, they closed.

Guys, they had spent nearly 10 months trapped within this enemy of ice, maintaining a discipline of work and recreation.

I mean, 10 months.

I'm an avid endorsement.

I mean, I've been like, no Wi-Fi?

Excuse me, uh, get me off the ship, you know.

However, winter turned to spring.

The shifting ice continued its assaults, the movement of the ice began to buckle the ship.

It crushed the hole underneath with just intense pressure.

And so finally on October 27th, 1915, after three days of straight manning these water pumps of this crumbling vessel, Shackleton just calmly ordered the men to pack up an abandoned ship.

And so the crew unloaded limited supplies.

They took three of the four one-ton rowboats with them, lifeboats.

And in the early morning, 15 degrees below zero, Shackleton gathered his 27 men, and he just said, Hey, we're going home.

Our identity can be so tied up in these prestigious titles and these performance metrics.

Shackleton was a brilliant leader.

He had the ability to pivot when setbacks came with just confidence.

His dream was to cross this Antarctic continent and it was crushed.

And for Shackleton, it was so be it.

And he immediately shifted from one goal to another goal, and that was to save his men and bring them home alive.

Many historians would have said impossible.

And for the Christian community in Philadelphia, they remained focused on their ultimate goal that despite their setbacks, they still sought to help bring God's people back to our Creator and to experience true living.

However, the Jews of their day, they were so locked into this course of a rigid religious Old Testament system that demanded works.

It demanded ritual and fear over trust and grace and freedom.

And it was just pressuring this Christian community from all sides.

The Jewish community persecuted the Christians with slander beatings.

They excommunicated any newly converted Jew from ever entering the synagogue for worship.

But as access into the synagogue is denied, the gate of life is opened.

You see, Jesus continues in verse 8, I know your deeds.

See, I've placed before you an open door that no one can shut.

I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and you have not denied my name.

Jesus is saying that to this damaged and stuck congregation that as they remain firm against this persecution, he's also saying, you know what?

Your faithfulness isn't going unnoticed.

In being pushed to deny Christ by some of their friends and being shut out from their place of worship, Jesus opens up a new door, a door of life that only he controls, proven through his resurrection.

And so for their faith and their endurance, Jesus says, I will reward you.

Yet for Shackleton's crew, the reward of life was actually far off.

Their surface continued to slowly spin away from land.

Shackleton made two different attempts to land by hiking 350 miles through icy, treacherous conditions while dragging their supplies and the lifeboats.

And it was during the second attempt that open and defiant opposition arose from the ship's carpenter McNish, who refused to continue.

Shackleton knew that an uprising would be their death.

As it happened with so many other shipwrecked crews before, he had to quickly squelch the opposition.

So therefore, Shackleton immediately called the men together and he read to them the ship's documents, once again reasserting his command over the crew and also reminding them, guys, you won't be paid until we reach port.

In a similar manner, for the church of Philadelphia, Jesus is going to gather the people of this city and he is going to assert his authority over the rebellion, over the McNishes in this town.

Verse 9, he says, This I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews, though they are not, but they are liars.

I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

This is strong language.

You have to understand, Jesus in John chapter 8, he actually calls the Jewish leaders of his day.

John 8 · chapter mention

He actually calls them sons of the devil.

He calls them liars.

He does it again here.

And just remember that Jesus was a Jew himself.

He's not being anti-Semitic.

Jesus simply will not tolerate religious oppression or anyone's rebellion towards this inclusive invitation into his kingdom.

This stern posture of Jesus is something that is hard to swallow.

I mean, we know that he came into this world as a lamb, but we have to remember he returns as a lion.

I mean, God is both a fierce lover and he's also a really graceful judge.

He gives wine to the party for the unrighteous.

But he brings a whip to the temple for the self-righteous.

So he once again tells this Jewish community guys, you're not the chosen people because of your heritage.

Things have changed.

It all has to do with your heart.

And so Jesus is in a way saying, guys, you aren't Jews.

You're not behaving like Jews.

You're behaving like liars.

And you're not running a synagogue of God, but of Satan.

And the tables will turn with the for these persecutors falling at their feet at the very people whom they are persecuting.

And soon everyone who puts their trust in Christ will be seen as the one true nation of God, reaffirming once again Christ's relentless, rescuing love for his children.

All right, back to McNish.

The tables turned for him as well.

With his attempt to create an uprising against Shackleton, Shackleton's words of authority, they just squelched the potential mutiny.

And McNish backed down.

Like Christ, it was apparent that Shackleton's love for his crew would be the driving force to save them from destruction.

And so over time, the march towards land it seemed futile.

And it appeared actually like death was going to come to them on this large chunk of ice.

However, their weather once again turned, the ice began to melt, and this bridge that they had to land was starting to disintegrate.

They weren't sure completely how far they floated on this ice raft, so Shackleton made the call of just saying, all 27 men into the lifeboats, and they tried to make their way to one of the islands east of Antarctica.

This was a treacherous journey through the opening and closing fractures of ice.

They were rowing both day and night amongst killer whales.

They were baling water through numerous storms.

Yet on the seventh day they finally reached land, known as Elephant Island, they were saved.

Their unwavering commitment had rescued the crew of the endurance from an hour of testing on a sheet of ice that surely would have killed them.

Now, for the Philadelphian church, their faithfulness and endurance will not only be rewarded by having their enemies subdued, but they're also going to be protected during a season of suffering or persecution.

It's a strange part in the passage.

Jesus continues in verse 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will keep you from this hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

This hour of trial, a lot of debate around this.

Jesus is alluding to an apparent season of judgment or suffering upon the world or the unbelieving world.

Yet just notice, he's not promising to snatch his church out of the storm.

He will steal, sustain, and anchor their faith through such troubles.

Whether this hour of trial has already occurred, whether it's happening right now, whether it's a future event, I think we just need to rest in the foundational truth of this verse, that though we will experience suffering, our God will give us the strength to endure.

And so as Shackleton saved his men from the trials of the frozen death, he now needed to get them to the promised land, and that's civilization.

As they waited on Elephant Island, it was a land battered by blizzards lasting days that was void of any shelter, and they knew they wouldn't be found.

This island was not on any boating or shipping route.

Therefore, on April 22nd, 1916, after converting one of their lifeboats into a small sailboat, Shackleton and five other men sailed for the whaling station of South Georgia to get help.

After 17 days of sailing with limited navigational sight through 800 miles of the world's most dangerous seas amongst hurricane-force winds, they reached the island of South Georgia.

However, they landed on the wrong side.

Far opposite of the whaling station, they had a crew and a boat that was in no shape to sail around this jagged island.

This was another major setback.

You're like, what is going on?

Like, is this the Truman Show?

Is Mr.

Beast behind this?

Like, what is happening?

But many of us have been there.

When we hit up against the barrier that touched to attest your faith, and you're almost through.

You're almost through this breaking point, yet you're then blindsided by something even worse.

And you're unprepared and you're defenseless.

I mean, you really do almost begin to wonder am I some sort of pawn in some sort of sick divine game here?

You just reinvented yourself, you found a new job, and you know what?

AI's got that one too.

Layoffs are coming.

You and your spouse, you guys have battled through several miscarriages, and now you hear the words infertility.

You're going through years of treatment and remission to only discover the cancer's back.

That's been the jolting journey for our ministry coordinator of Vitacas.

About two, she's after two bouts with cancer, reassured readmission, the cancer had returned at the beginning of this year, and it set her and her family and our team in a tailspin.

Guys, you need to know there are moments of darkness where you feel God has detached from you, and that you only have misery, your misery to keep you company.

Avita's a person, she doesn't fake it.

She was honest with God.

I mean, she was throwing at him the full force of her anger, of her apathy, of feelings of betrayal.

You can be you can afford to be honest with God.

He's big enough to handle it.

He knows really the deepest corners of human suffering.

Because suffering is universal.

Evita will tell you that her faith was hanging by a thread.

Hanging by a thread.

But hear me on this.

Faith is faith.

And her faith was rooted not in her circumstances or in her feelings, but in the promises of God and in Jesus himself.

Yes, again, suffering is inevitable, but we can still have a steadfast confidence that God's promises of comfort and protection, knowing that He is in control somehow.

This confidence and perspective is something that, guys, Shackleton was just gifted with as a leader.

I mean, historians believe that most crews would have not survived this setback landing on the wrong side of an island, this island, limited supplies, and quite honestly, no way to get help.

But Shackleton was one of those rare leaders that remained calm.

And he just always gave the impression that it's going to be okay.

This wasn't false hope.

He was the embodiment of genuine hope.

Therefore, leaving behind three men that were unable to make the journey, Shackleton and two others had to be the first people ever to climb across the icy mountainous terrain of South Georgia, whom the whalers at that time said was impenetrable.

After 36 hours of nonstop marching through icy fields and countless peaks, they finally made it to the whaling station.

And they blew all their money at Vegas right at no, they did not do that yet.

Next day, Shackleton, two men, they barred a ship and they headed right to Elephant Island to pick up the rest of the men, only to be stopped once again by ice, their enemy.

Shackleton would try for the Nike's next four months to rescue his men with no success of getting through those icy waters.

I mean, we have to think now, after this journey, like everything felt like a fast pass to Shackleton, like the DMV, the lines of Costco.

It was like, yay.

The 22 men that just sat there on Elephant Island, they sat there through a sunless winter.

Ten weeks behind the assumed time that Shackleton would return, they started to give up hope.

Who wouldn't?

Some of you here today, you're on the brink.

I mean, you've tried all the right religious stuff.

It's not working.

You've done the prayers, you've done the studies, it's not working.

And you're quietly just burning out.

The disease continues to spread.

Your friends' choices only become more destructive.

The fighting with your boss or your parent, it's only worsening.

And whether you're about to throw away the relationship, you're about to throw away your life, or you're about to throw away your faith, you can just feel it all slipping away.

The camp's leader on Elephant Island, and his name was Worlesley.

He could feel the spirit of his men slipping away.

And so he would start off each day with these words.

He would say, Lash up the stove, the boss may come today.

I know it sounds pirate, but it worked.

I mean, these words gave the men a sense of hope and security that all was going to be okay.

Jesus gives us these same words when we're feeling like this.

The same security to reward the faithfulness not only of this Philadelphia church, but he says these words to us right now.

In verse 11, he says this, I am coming soon.

I am coming soon.

He says, There will be a day in a moment's notice that I will establish my perfect and permanent kingdom.

He just says, Hold on.

I am coming and it will all change.

And when almost all hope was lost, that day finally came for the crew of the endurance, August 30th, 1916.

As Shackleton finally made his way through the ice, he approached the island, he began to count aloud.

All 22 men.

When he reached 22, he could talk no more.

His eyes just filled with tears.

The men of Elephant Island, they were saved, coming home, they received this distinguished award, the polar medal.

Jesus continues.

He says, Hold on to what you have so that no one takes your crown.

And for these men, those who held on and remained faithful, they were rewarded much like Christ's faithful followers will be rewarded as permanent and honored citizens of his kingdom.

Shackleton's men were looked at as heroes.

They were given these commemorative keys to numerous cities.

Hear me on this.

Not everyone was rewarded.

For those that were unfaithful, their crown was taken away.

The ship's carpenter, McNish, survived with everyone else, but due to his rebellion and unfaithfulness towards Shackleton during their ice march, his name was removed from the list of those that would receive the polar medal.

See, McNish didn't overcome the biggest obstacle and challenge of this adventure.

Genuine faithfulness and steadfastness in following his leader.

But for those that overcome, those that hold on to the end, they're going to be greatly rewarded.

Jesus ends this letter to the Church of Philadelphia.

He ends this letter to us right now, and he gives us these words of assurance of hope.

He says, Him who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.

Never again will he leave it.

I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and I will also write on him my new name.

Hear me on this.

To this group of people stricken by earthquakes and collapsing structures all around them, they all of a sudden have a good sense, a strong sense of confidence that there will be these heavenly pillars of stability and permanence that will give them protection.

To these Christ followers, they've been excommunicated from their place of worship.

They can rest assured now that they will have an intimate relationship with their God, having his name written on their hearts.

And having an eternal citizenship within this new heavenly city, they will be able to see Christ in his fullness, not just they, we.

These are words to us as well.

You know, looking back, it's quite appropriate that Shackleton would have named his ship the endurance.

He actually named it after his family motto: by endurance we conquer.

And in many ways, that is what Christ is saying in this passage and to this church in Philadelphia, what we've experienced here today.

A persecuted yet faithful church was being pressured from all sides in danger of becoming disillusioned.

Will evil prevail?

Is God present?

But these words in Revelation 3, man, they've shown us that we are only seeing part of the picture.

That if we look behind the scenes and we pop the lid, that we would see an all-powerful, all-loving God working alongside and through us.

After this trip of Shackleton, he and those two other men that crossed that icy, jagged terrain of South Georgia, they confided in one another.

They said they felt the presence of another person.

They said it wasn't the three of us walking on that journey.

There was a fourth person helping us.

Many believe that somehow a piece of that eternal veil was lifted for them.

Just awakening.

If you walk out of here, just just hold on to this.

Just know this.

He is with you.

But also know we as a church at the hands and feet of Jesus, we also want to be with you in whatever trial you're going through right now.

And one way we can do that, small but powerful, is through prayer.

God says prayer is both a command and a promise.

He says in Psalm 50, 15, call for help when you're in trouble.

I will help you.

Jesus reiterates in John 16, 24, ask in my name according to my will, and he most certainly will give it to you.

Some of you are hurting.

God is asking you to unapologetically ask for his help.

And what matters isn't the amount of faith you have, it's the object of your faith.

Somehow the church world is bought into this illusion of a suffering-free existence of prosperity, that pain is something we should be ashamed of that that throws us into isolation.

But this black and white faith denies the very existence of a suffering servant, Jesus.

Life has pain, and the true Christian faith teaches that God is present even in the darkest of suffering.

So whatever icy obstacle that you're being crushed by, our God embraces us.

And he just says, What do you need?

How can I help?

In a few minutes, you're gonna have a chance to just ask God for help in a way that's um symbolic, simple, nothing strange.

During our time of communion communion and the closing worship set, we're just asking you to consider, consider, taking that small piece of jagged white paper on your seat that you had there, it represents maybe a personal pain or struggle that you're going through right now.

Maybe it's needed employment, mental illness, maybe it's the need to reconcile with a friend or you just want a friend.

And all we're asking you to consider doing is just simply write your first name on one side, your need on the other side.

It's that simple.

And then as you approach the communion table during worship, you can just drop it in a basket at the table adjacent to that communion table.

And guys, no one's gonna contact you.

Nothing magical is gonna happen to these cards, okay?

Uh but something very powerful will occur through prayer.

And you need to know we have a very hard-working, dedicated prayer team.

And they are gonna set aside significant time to pray for you by name and to pray for your name, pray for your need.

And listen, if you're in a space right now where you're like, this feels a little cheap, a little performative, I totally get it.

Don't do it.

Okay, I'm sometimes in that space too.

We have this rowboat, and it's a symbol for Shackleton's crew, it's the ultimate symbol of rescue for them.

The bread in the cup, the ultimate symbol of rescue for us.

But it's also the ultimate symbol of suffering.

Because suffering must be suffered.

The bread, the cracker, representing his body broken on our behalf.

The cup representing his blood spilled on our behalf.

Guys, the communion that we're about to take is a reminder that God really does love you.

It's not lip service.

For God's love led him to give up his only son, to die on a cross in payment of our sin penalty, so for us to experience everlasting love and life when we trust in him as our leader and rescuer.

That is the genuine hope that we cling to in the midst of a world that can be very hopeless.

Confident that we have a God that rescues and that we have a God that restores.

So again, we all face these obstacles that challenge our faith.

Some are more complex than others, absolutely.

To be honest, uh, life is never easy.

It's often really hard.

Sorry, high schoolers, you gotta hear this.

Sometimes, you know what?

Life is unbearable.

But it is at these times of facing such ice barriers that God comes to you.

And he doesn't belittle our fears, he doesn't try to minimize our pain with quick solution or easy answers, but he shares in our flesh and our blood.

Hear me on this, Jesus is aware of your anxiety, he's aware of your depression, he is aware of your heartache, and he meets us right where we are at in our time of grief, and he whispers words of truth to us.

I know your deeds.

Hold on.

I will make all things new, I will make all things right, I will make all things good again.

And so as we reaffirm our faith to God through the singing of these prayers, when you're ready, I encourage you to approach the communion table in remembrance of God's undeniable suffering and love.

And also, if you desire, place that prayer card in the basket next to it.

Let's stand in worship.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.