Foundations For Faith : Why We Can Trust In God's Word

This morning church, how you guys doing this morning?

You know, I'm always encouraged when I come back here 'cause I

see new faces. And then I get a little

discouraged 'cause I see the Braves fan.

And then I'm even more a little discouraged today 'cause I see

some, I don't know what team they're representing because I,

I don't know anything about a Redskin anymore, right?

I know about commanders. I know about commanders.

I don't know what a Redskin is, huh?

I'm just, I'm just kidding. I would, I wouldn't, I wouldn't

be a good I wouldn't be a good as John Michael would call me a

good Yankee if I didn't give you guys a hard time, right?

So, yeah, of course. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm a native

New Yorker, so of course I, I would be hard pressed to be here

if I didn't give you guys a little, you know, hard time

about it. But congratulations, you guys

with a great game, by the way. All right, so that being said,

let's come in prayer before we get started.

All right, Dear God, we come before your president.

We just thank you, Lord, for this opportunity, Lord, we thank

you for this day, Lord, We thank you for the fellowship that's

here today. Lord, we thank you for the

brothers and sisters that made it here today.

I'm thankful for my salt family that it's just always been so

kind and gracious, not only to me but to my family, Lord.

And I ask that you just open up their hearts and their minds

today, Lord, as we go to the word, Lord, let your words flow

through me to them. Lord, let us just be focused on

the word that you have for us today.

Let it penetrate our hearts and our minds, Lord, and just stay

there. Not only the church and the

people that are sitting here today, but as me as well, Lord,

that you just be speak to me as well Lord and anyone who is

listening Lord today that they just be impacted not only by

this word, but the the word itself, Lord, that you just

penetrate to them. And let us just be mindful Lord

that this is what you have for us today Lord.

And let us not fight against the word that you have given us

today, but let be accepting of whatever word is given today.

Lord, we ask you all this in the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.

Praise God. So I know you guys know this,

but maybe some of you aren't aware of this, but John Michael

can say some things sometimes and push the envelope a little.

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this, but a couple

weeks ago he posted something on Facebook and it got people riled

up, right? And I, I, I jumped on it and I

saw and I, and I, I've known John Michael for some years,

right? So I, that's one thing we share

in common is that we, we can be a bit of a not intentionally,

but we can rile people up a little bit and he gets a kick

out of it. I get a kick out of it.

But sometimes there's, there's always a, a, a reason why he's

doing it. And I know that about him,

right? But sometimes people can't see

the forest for the trees, right? So he said he posted something

and I was like, you know, obviously he was like, he wasn't

like ultra clear on what his message was, but you know, and,

and he's trying to get people to listen to the message, right?

Ultimately his goal was find out my this is what I'm talking

about on Sunday. And if you want to know more,

tune into the message, right? So I know that's where he was

going. I listened to the message and of

course it was very Bible centered message.

And you know, me and him don't always see eye to eye on

everything. And that's OK because let me ask

you a question for those of you that are married, right?

What's for dinner, right? Have you ever had that question?

He's laughing. He knows what I'm talking about.

And that goes both ways. My wife will be like, what do

you want for dinner? And my answer is I don't care.

And then she's upset because I said I don't care.

So, you know, it goes both ways. So if we can't even agree in our

house, what we're having it for dinner, of course, we're not

always going to agree and see eye to eye on the application on

some of the scripture. Of course, there's primary

issues that we all agree upon, right?

That makes us a Christian. And of course, me and John

Michael agree on those things, right?

But there's always going to be things that, you know, maybe we

see a little differently. We don't know, applications a

little slightly different. And that might even be between

me and you and me and my wife. We might not apply everything

the same way and might not see it the same exact way.

And that's fine. I see beauty in that.

I see beauty in that, you know, brothers and sisters, we you

might see it and be like, hey, here's my explanation of how I

see that. That's perfectly fine and

beautiful. But one thing that me and John

Michael always unites us and, and where I see eye to eye with

him always, it's his passion for the word of God.

And I think that's something that we share.

So when he's sharing that thing on Facebook, right, he's like,

come learn more because the Bible's going to explain it more

and he's trying to, you know, unravel that through the

scripture. And that's one thing that I

wholeheartedly agree with him on.

And that's one thing we share is our passion for the word of God.

And so I just want to reinvigorate you guys today on

why we go to the Scriptures for these things.

Why is it so important to always run back to the Scripture?

So the title of the message today is Foundations of Faith,

Why we can trust in God's Word. So we're going to have basically

three points today on, on what I'm I'm teaching on and we'll go

through them as we're going. But that's the main, the title

of the message, why we can trust in God's Word.

So why is that important that we trust in God's Word and how can

we trust in God's word? So our first point is what does

the word say about God? So before we can jump into any

of the other points, we need to understand who God is and what

he says about himself. Recently in in our church I gave

a study about the attributes of God and there are two distinct

sections. There are communicable and non

communicable attributes and those are just fancy words to

just illustrate attributes that humans share with God like love,

goodness, mercy, and non communicable attributes like

eternity, omniscience, omnipotent things that humans do

not share with God that make him distinct from all other beings,

right? So all that to say, what are

some things that we can share with God that we can see in God?

So of course you know, love, God is love, right?

And humans can love, right? Goodness, God is good.

Amen. Amen.

All right, I was waiting. Come on man, you let me down.

So God is good and man can be good, right?

But can humans love perfectly? No.

Are humans always good, right? So that's what's distinctive.

Even though we share those attributes, God is still

distinct and that he does those things perfectly.

But we have to have an understanding.

There's things that we can share with him.

Now, are we eternal in a sense? But God has always existed from

all time, right? And is he, are we omniscient?

Absolutely not. We don't know everything.

And my wife would argue that I think I'm omniscient, but I'm

not omnipotent. Are we all powerful?

No, he's not. He is infinite beyond time and

space. And so we're going to go through

some verses to show that for whenever our heart condemns us,

God is greater than our heart and He knows everything.

First to John, chapter 3, verse 20.

John 3:20

Great is our Lord and abundant in power.

His understanding is beyond measure.

Psalm 147. Five.

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and

exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 13. The eyes of the Lord are in

Hebrews 4:13

every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Proverbs chapter 15, verse 3. Before I formed you in the womb,

Proverbs 15:3

I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

And that, that last one, he's talking to Jeremiah.

So what can we see here? That God knows our heart right

now think about it. Who can know your heart besides

you? Your wife, I guess, can know

bits and pieces of you, but does she know the dark sides of your

heart? No, right, because you wouldn't

expose that necessarily to your wife or your significant other.

Your parents may know you, they may know how you think and what

you do, but they're not going to know the deeper secrets of your

heart. But God knows them.

That's what the Bible says, that God knows our hearts.

He's abundant in power. His understanding is beyond

measure. So when man starts to think, how

can I measure God's his, his thought process?

And we, we always fail when we try to put ourselves in that

position to understand why God does what he does.

We always fall short. But yet in all, we're always

trying to figure out why God is doing what He's doing.

No creature is hidden from his sight, not a single one.

So nothing you do is not going to be in the eyes of the Lord,

right? He's in every place and he knows

the evil and the good. In the beginning, the Word

already existed. The Word was with God and the

Word was God. He existed in the beginning with

God. God created everything through

Him and nothing was created except through Him.

The Word gave life to everything that was created and His life

brought light to everyone. John chapter 1 verses one

John 1 · chapter mention

through 4. And who's he speaking about

there? Jesus, God, man, everything was

created that ever existed was created through Jesus.

This is what the Word says about God.

That's not me making this up. It's not me saying this.

This is what the Word defines as who He is.

Everything was created through Him, and nothing was created

except through Jesus Christ. He is the radiance of the glory

of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the

universe by the word of His power.

After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right

hand of the majesty on high. Who are we talking about again?

Jesus, right? God, man, God himself.

He says nature is imprinted. So when you're looking at

nature, when you're seeing the trees, when you're looking at

the stars, when you're seeing the sun, you see God in that He

imprinted his nature there. Nature bows down to God and he

upholds the universe by the word of his power.

His word holds the universe together.

Now, why am I saying all this? Why am I giving you all this?

You guys are like, I know this, I know this, I know this stuff

already. It's because we really, truly

have to know who God is. We have to understand who He is.

God's Word reveals His character and His faithfulness.

The Bible reveals who God is, His love, His Holiness, His

faithfulness, and His promises. As we meditate on His Word, we

can we come to understand that God is trustworthy because He

has always been faithful to His people throughout history.

Why is this important? Do you just trust anyone because

they say something? No, you trust someone because

they have earned your trust. You know them, you've gone

through things with them. You can't have a proper trust in

God if you don't know who God is.

You can't learn who God is apart from what he says about himself

and his word through the word. So how can you have an

understanding of who God is and a relationship with God if you

don't know what God says about himself and his own word?

How can you have it developed that type of relationship?

Imagine having a significant other that you never talk to.

You're like, I love her. Why?

I just know I do. And that's the explanation you

get from people nowadays that are professing Christians.

Well, why are you a Christian? Well, I love Jesus.

Well, why? Because I I just do.

What explanation do you have for loving through Jesus?

What can you show me other than it's just always been good to

me? That's not sufficient.

You don't have a proper understanding of who God is

because you're apart from the word of God.

And if you don't know who he is, how can you have a relationship

with God? How can you?

Now I know what some someone might say.

And this brings us to our second point.

As Christians, why should I trust the Word?

So who God is? This is the first rite you have

to know who God is. Now why should I trust His word?

God's word is infallible and unchanging.

Isaiah 48 says the grass wither, the flower fades, but the word

of our God will stand forever. God's word is not like human

words that fade with time or lose relevance.

It is eternal and unchanging. The Bible tells us that God's

promises endure forever, and says it in Psalm 119, verse 89.

Psalms 119:89

Unlike the shifting sands of our culture or human opinion, God's

Word is a firm foundation upon which we can stand.

And that's important to remember.

Cultures change, things shift, things go by the wayside, but

God's Word is eternal. You know, we've been having

conversation about churches that have closed or no longer there.

And you know, one thing that you know, we have a common

understanding is that they were shifting towards the culture,

right? They were appealing towards what

was relevant at the time. And then if you don't constantly

shift with the culture and you're constantly shifting,

you're not going to become relevant because you're teaching

something outside of the word of God.

But you know what is what is stood the test of time?

You know what is still bringing people to the faith?

You know, we're still reaching the lost.

You know, we're still saving souls.

The word of God, the gospel, the message of the gospel.

And how can you give the message of the gospel if you don't know

the word of God, If you don't know what he says about himself,

How can you, how can you give it?

We trust in the Word because God tells us to trust in his word.

Jesus trusted in the word of God when he was tempted by saying he

didn't call down an army of angels.

He battled singing with word quote for quote, even saying

understood how powerful the word of God is.

So when he was tempted, right, Jesus didn't call down an army

which he could have. You know, if I wrote that story

might have been a little different, right?

I would have been like lightning bolts and, you know, white

horses and people jumping off and and Satan demons everywhere

attacking him, right? That's how I would have wrote

the story. But that's not what happened.

What happened was he quoted Deuteronomy, right?

He quoted Deuteronomy to Satan. And interesting enough, which I

always find the, the most powerful part of the story,

Satan quotes the Scripture right back to him.

And, and at that point again, if I wrote that story, I would have

been like, oh man, that's when Jesus pierces him through the

heart, right? Like, get out of here.

But no, what does he do again? He quotes the scripture again

and he, he quotes scripture back to him.

So they have this, think about it.

God, man, Jesus himself, and Satan are having this battle and

it's with the Word of God. Think about that for just a

second. How powerful the Word of God is

that you have Jesus and Satan going back and forth with the

Word of God. Yet when we go through our

struggles, when we go through our temptations, we want to name

it and claim it right and grab it and blab it, but we don't

want to claim the word. We don't want to speak the Word

of God. We don't go to the Word of God.

We don't see what the word of God says about that.

We want to declare and decree, but we don't want to see what

the word of God says in that instance.

We don't go and say, well, what did God say about this

situation? Let me pray and see the word of

God. Maybe there's something in

there. Maybe there's something in there

that I can that could be relevant to me.

You know, before we had the baby, we had a, a stillborn,

right? We lost a daughter.

I lost one of our we lost one of our daughters.

And I struggled for a long time. And I was, I was wondering, man,

I'm so heartbroken. How can I get over this?

And I'm praying and I'm like, this is the, this is the worst

day of my entire life, right? And I knew my wife was

struggling spiritually and mentally.

She was going through a hard time.

And I was like, I don't know how I'm going to get through this.

And I'm praying and I'm praying. And then I turn to the word of

God and I see the word where David lost his child, right?

And he's crying and praying for to God and saying, how can you

help me? And then when they tell him that

the child has passed, he gets up, he washes his face and says,

bring me some food. And they're like, wait a minute,

how are you OK. And he said to them, he said, I

cannot, the the child cannot come to me, but one day I'm

going to go and be with that child.

And that just lifted my spirits so high because I said, praise

God, because that word, even though happened thousands of

years ago, right? That word at that very moment

met me in my heart. And I, I was encouraged and I

gave that word to my wife. And I've always stood on that

because I know that one day I will see my children that we

lost, we actually lost three children.

So and I know that those three children are waiting for me one

day in heaven. And so I'm encouraged by that,

right? The word of God met me right

there. I didn't just lean on the

hardships and say, I don't know what I'm going to go on from

here. I went to the word of God and

and he spoke and I just grabbed that.

And that's not to say every situation is going to be clear

in the Scripture, right? Like, you know, you're getting

arrested for taxes, you know, like there, there might not be a

scripture for you there, but there's still some some word of

encouragement that you can lean on, right, you can glean from.

So let's run to the word of God. Before we run to everything

else, we want to look for everything else.

And I understand we're human beings.

That's our natural nature. It's to try to fix things on our

own, especially us men, right? We just want to fix everything

on our own. But the word of God is there and

it's sufficient for you. The Bible is just not a book of

ancient stories or moral guideline.

It is alive and powerful. When we trust it, we experience

this ability to transform us. God's Word speaks into our lives

and changes our hearts, our minds and actions.

Can you think of anything else? I can do that?

No. Through the Word of God, God

reaches us and we understand the things that we should and

shouldn't be doing right, and He changes us.

It reveals God's will and enables us to live according to

His purpose. One other book has that power.

It's not just the books, it's God's very own words for the

word of God is living inactive, sharper than any 2 edged sword.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, right?

Hebrews 4:12

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness.

That has always struck a chord for me because when you look up

the Greek, right, So some, some translations will say inspired,

right? But no, that's if you look at

the Greek word, it's the honestas, right?

Which means what you exhale, right?

So what he's saying is the word of God is actually the exhale

breath of God. And that's such, so much more

deeper than inspired. No, it means that the words that

you see on the page were breathed out by God into

somebody's hand to write down for us that we still have today.

Praise God, praise God that he has enough mercy on us to give

us something and say, here is my word, learn it, live it, love

it. Here it is for you.

And we're so apprehensive about it.

And you know, I get it. It's, it's sometimes it could be

a lot, but so can those volumes of Harry Potter books that

everybody loves to read or Game of Thrones, right?

Like if we, if we've gone through those stuff, we should

be able to sit down and read our scriptures and say, well, if I'm

a Christian, if I'm, if I define myself as this Christian, I

should be able to give an explanation, right?

That's what the word tells us. Give a defense.

We should. And you can't do that if you

don't know the word of God, if you're apart from it.

But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread

alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Matthew chapter 4, verse 4. How are you a living, breathing

Matthew 4:4

Christian? If you're not eating right?

You're, you're, you're going to be thin.

You're going to be a open to attack because you're weak,

because the Bible tells us what you should not live by bread

alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And the only word that we know for sure 100% that is breathed

out by the by the, by God himself is this word that we

have right here. That's the only word that we

know. Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path. Psalm chapter 119, verse 105.

Psalms 119:105

Sanctify them in in the truth. Your word is truth.

John chapter 17, verse 17. The word is truth.

John 17:17

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Matthew chapter 24, verse 35. So what is the scripture saying

Matthew 24:35

about itself? Why should we trust it?

Why should I trust the Word? I should trust the word because

the word says it's trustworthy. It comes from God and trust me

if man was able to disprove the word of God they would have done

it centuries ago. But guess what they still trying

and they still can't do it. In fact, as they go along and

try to disprove the word of God it's just showing to be more

true and more true and more true and more true.

They were saying there is no the bath of best Sade, I think it

was, and they found it and they were like they were saying there

was no pilot. There was no pilot for a long

time. They were like, we don't have

any records of a pilot anywhere in history.

That's not true. Then they find this giant stone

and engraved in it in giant letters, it says pilot of

punches. And they're like, I guess it was

true. So as as they as they're digging

stuff up, as they're finding stuff, they're like, no, that's

not true. We don't have any record of

that. They're like, oh, actually we

do. Luke was, was a doctor, right?

And he, he was so detailed on what he did that a lot of time

archaeologists just use what he said to find stuff.

That's how detailed he was. And so the more and more they

try to disprove, the more and more we find ourselves to be in

the right. The theory of evolution is

falling apart. It's falling apart.

And so now they're like, you have leading atheists that are

like, well, yeah, there there has to be a creative.

The universe is expanding, right?

It's getting bigger. So if something gets bigger, it

has to have a starting point, right?

If it had a starting point and it's growing, well, where's if

it had a starting point, that means somebody made it, right?

And so the more and more they try to fight, the more and more

they're like, you know what, there must be a creator, but

they're not going to concede it was the God of the Bible.

They'll give it to aliens, they'll give it to witchcraft,

they'll give it to whatever, but they won't give it to the God of

the Bible. But we can stand firm because

the Word of God is true, not only because it's said, it's

true because we can see it, right?

We can see it in nature, we can see it outside.

We know that these things are true.

So hopefully, so hopefully I've been able to establish through

the word of God's power and His faithfulness of the Word.

So this leads to our 3rd and final point today.

And it's a little more this, a couple points of this.

Why should this matter to me? Why should this matter?

I hope I didn't knock it out. Why should this matter to you?

Well, it should matter for two main reasons.

So we'll call this 3A and 3B, right?

3A we can believe with all our hearts and His promises and His

blessings such as His gift of eternal life, right?

Which is the greatest gift He can give us right for God so

loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes

in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 316 right OK OK, a little test gotcha.

All right good. So we know that his if if we've

established who God is right and we've established that he's the

creator is he's done all these things.

We established that his word is all we have from him That is

true. And in his word he promised us

what he promised us eternal life through the Son through Jesus

Christ. We should to be able to stand

firm like the young people say. Now, what is it?

10 toes deep. Did I get that right?

Yeah. Look, I'm getting blood.

I got it. 10 toes in or whatever.

I don't know what it's teasing. 10 toes, 10 toes deep doesn't

hurt. No, I'm wrong.

OK? I'm sorry, guys, I messed that

up. But we can stand firm.

We can stand firm that the word of God is true, right?

Our salvation is true, right? We should be able to have

confidence in what he says by which He has granted to us His

precious and very great promises, so that through them

you, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having

escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of

sinful desire. Second of Peter chapter one,

verse 4. I don't think you guys quite

understand the grasp of what he's saying.

That we can partake in the divine nature of who God is,

despite the fact that we come from corruption, that we have

sinful desire. So even though we have a sinful

nature through Adam, right, and through the sinful ways of, of

Adam and, and human beings that we are, we can partake in his

sinful desire. That is a promise of God for

those of us that are saved, for those of us that are Christians,

we can partake in that, in that divine nature that he has.

Praise God, I don't deserve that, I don't deserve that.

I don't deserve to be able to partake in His divine nature,

but I can hold true to the promise that He's given me, that

I will partake in his divine nature.

Praise God, The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white

garments, and I will never, never blot His name out of the

Book of Life. I will confess His name before

my Father and before his angels. I'm going to read that again.

I will never blot His name out of the Book of Life.

Praise God. Praise God that my God is so

gracious and so merciful that He looked upon me, a sinful man,

and He extends His grace to me. I don't deserve it.

I still fall short, a wretched man that I am, but I lean on

Jesus. I lean on his promises, and he

died on the cross of Calvary to wash me, like he said, like wash

me and take those blocks out of my life.

When He looks at me, he doesn't see the blocks, He sees His Son.

And I'm grateful for that and I don't deserve it, but thank God

He done that for me. So we can see that He has given

us the promise of salvation. He has given us what?

The promise of His mercy. Let us stand with confidence,

drawing near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in our time of need.

Where should we be going in our time of me to God?

And what should we be able to know that we're going to receive

His mercy and His grace? Amen.

And praise God that we can receive His mercy and His grace

in our time of me. Even though we fall short, we

can run to Him and He will give us His grace and mercy.

That's a promise, Hallelujah. That's a promise in the

Scripture. That is something that He has

given us, His forgiveness. If we confess our sins, He is

faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness. First to John, chapter one,

verse 9. He's faithful to us.

Even though at the time of us being serious, we're not being

faithful to Him, He is faithful to us.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the

forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His

grace. Ephesians chapter one, verse 7.

We can run to Him and He will help us in our time of need.

Redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses through His abundant grace.

Amen. Amen.

These are the promises and the word we need to cling on to.

We need to know that they are true.

Brothers and sisters we have. We can have total joy because it

is true. The words are true.

They are breathed out and eternal because they come from

God. He can't lie according to the

Scriptures. He can't lie and you're like,

oh, OK, whatever. Of course he's a guy.

He can't, he can't lie. Don't believe me.

What does the word say about it? Numbers chapter 23 verse 19 says

Numbers 23:19

God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he

should repent. Has he said and he will he not

do or has he spoken and will he not make it good?

Titus 1-2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,

promised before time began. These are prom.

These are things that he's saying about himself Old

Testament and New Testament, that by two immutable things in

which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong

consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope

set before us. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18.

Hebrews 6:18

And why am I saying why am I showing this?

You guys like, of course God is not a liar.

We need to know that God is not a liar and we know that God is

not a liar because he said he's not a liar and we need to hold

true to that. So if he's not a liar, his

promises are true and we need to run and hold on to those

promises. Those things that God has told

us in the Scripture. What why should it matter to us?

It B3B, right? It should matter to us B because

we have to believe in the warnings that he gave us.

So not only the promises, but also the warnings.

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

First to John chapter 3, verse 13.

John 3:13

I didn't say that, right? That's not me.

I just quoted scripture, just to be clear.

So if we believe in the promises of God, we hold true to the

promises of God. We also have to hold true to the

warnings of God. We have to hold true to the

prophecies of God. We have to hold true to the

things that he's telling us to do because he's not a liar and

he's never been proven to be a liar.

So his word has always come back faithful.

So if he tells us the world is going to hate you, we have to be

wise about that and understand that that is true and be

prepared for that and, and ultimately be OK with that.

And I think that's where we struggle as Christians, right?

Because ultimately human beings want to be loved.

We seek love, right? We are created in the image of

God. And one of those attributes of

God is love, right? We want to be loved too, right?

And we desire that. But we have to be aware that as

Christians, as people of of God, as people of the world, we're

not always going to be loved. And we have to be OK with that.

Jesus wasn't always loved everywhere he went, right?

And guess what, He was OK with that.

And so do we. We have to be OK with that.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before.

It hated you. If you were of the world, the

world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the

world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world

hates you. John chapter 15, verse 18

John 15:18–19

through 19. So again, he's getting

reinforcing what reinforcing this, this, this knowledge that

the world is going to hate you. And we talk about persecution.

And of course, you know, we don't see persecution like other

places in the world. And that's not to say it

couldn't happen, but clearly, you know, we have to be aware

that your persecution might be different.

You might be persecuted at work because you're a Christian, you

know, and my job now they're making some people use the whole

pronouns they them and all that stuff.

It's like a requirement for some people.

And So what happens when I'm required to this person says,

refer to me as John, even though I know they're Jill, You know,

what do I do with that? So there's going to come a time

where that's going to be reality for some of us, not maybe not

everyone, but that's going to be reality.

What do we do with that? Do we lie to them?

And do we lie to ourselves? Do we lie before God?

Or do we say, I trust in God that he's going to take care of

me? That's that's between you and

God. You know, ultimately I'm not

here to judge anyone on how they do that, but you know, that's

the reality. We have to be prepared for that.

And what happens? What happens when you decide,

no, I'm not going to do that? And now everybody at your job

hates you, right? All all your friends and

coworkers are now like, ah, you see, I always knew that guy was

he says he's a Christian, but what kind of love is he showing,

right? Because you're standing firm on

the word of God. What do you do then?

Like again, this is not for me to tell you guys what to do in

those instances or to judge anyone, but that's the reality

of where we are in the world. So what do we do with that?

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will

be persecuted. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse

2 Timothy 3:12

12. Again, that's the word of God.

I didn't say that. That's comes from the Scripture,

beloved, be do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes

upon you to test you as though something strange were happening

to you. But rejoice in so far as you

share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad

when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name

of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and

of God rests upon you. So a couple of things to point

out there. Now we've heard from John,

Timothy and Peter all saying what, be prepared to be

persecuted and hated, right? All three saying the same thing

now interesting. Interestingly enough, yesterday

we were doing a Bible study with the men's men's study and we

were in first of Peter chapter 4.

And one of the, the brother who was giving the lesson said that

it is believed that Peter wrote this at the time of Nero when

they were actually burning Christians at the stakes to

light the roads. They were using them as

lampposts. So when you hear the words,

don't be surprised at the fiery trial.

This is not metaphorical. It's it's probably literal, like

he's telling them be prepared to be burned.

And so, you know, for us, it's like, well, you know, we don't

really go through fiery trials. It's not like they're lighting

us on fire. But what is he telling us?

Be prepared that that that might be a reality for some of us that

are Christians, that might be true.

So imagine you're getting this letter from Peter and you're in

Rome at the time and you're getting this letter and you're

like, oh man, he's going to give us some advice.

God is going to give us some word and let's see what he gives

us in this situation. You know, they're burning people

at the stake. And the word is be prepared.

Take courage, right? This is you thought this was

strange, but this is what's going to happen to Christians

and rejoice. So imagine you're, you're,

you're, you're a 1st century Christian and you're like, oh,

wait a minute. And that's why you see, if you

ever study early Christian history, they were so you read

it and you're like, man, the type of Christians those people

were because they were just ready, because they knew they

were going to die for their faith.

And I think it was Ignatius who was taught, who was fed to

lions. And he was like, praise God, let

every morsel of my of my body that's in those lion's teeth be

a testament to the glory of God. Let it glorify God.

Imagine that. Imagine being able to say, let

every piece of me that's being eaten by this lion glorify the

Lord. And guess what?

2000 years later we're talking about and we're glorifying the

Lord as we talk about it. So praise God for that.

But that type of encouragement is reality for us.

For some of us, this is the reality of what we're going to

be going through and we're going to experience maybe not even us

in our generation, but maybe our children, maybe our children's

children. And we have to prepare them and

teach them that this is what the Word of God says, that this is

reality. And we have to be prepared for

that. God rests upon us so that when

we are going through these trials, tribulations, we can

rest and know that it will all work out according to His will

for those who love him. It's palpable, the hate that the

world is beginning to have for professing Christians.

And I just talked about an example a second ago.

You're going to begin to hear, if you haven't already, about

Christian nationalism and incorrectly things being applied

to Christians and blamed on Christians that are not about

them. So, you know, there's this

uptick of anything that's even conservative being, oh, that's

because they're Christian nationalists and just lumping

everybody together. And we have to be prepared that

that's reality. It's happening now where people

are like that happened because they're not talking about the,

the Republicans anymore or the conservatives.

They say the Christian nationalists did it, all the

white Christian nationalists did it.

And that's what they're, that's what we have to be prepared

because that's the reality of what's going on.

It's no longer the Republicans are doing, it's the Christians,

it's the Christians are doing it.

They're the ones influencing people.

They're the ones that the reason why we're in this situation now.

So just be prepared for that, that this is a reality of where

we're at now. That's why the early Christians

were so eager and ready to March to their death, because they

believed in what God said. And we have to be prepared for

that also. So what I'm trying to

communicate today is number one, we should trust in God #2 we

should trust in his Word and #3 we have to be prepared.

We have to, we have to trust in his promises as well as the

things, the warnings that he has given us.

And we have to be rest assured in the Word of God so that when

we go out into the world, we're at peace with whatever situation

is happening. We can rely and trust on the

Word of God. So I'm going to share my final

verses for today. We're going to be in Luke

Luke 21:25–28

chapter 21, verse 25 through 28, and I'm going to start with 25

and 26. There will be signs in the sun

and the moon and the stars and on earth, dismay among the

nations and perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the

waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of things

which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens

will be shaken. Does that sound familiar to you

guys? That's the word of God.

He's saying that right now, no matter what your eschatological

views or your views of end times, whether you're pre

millennial, dispensational, post millennial, doesn't matter.

This is something that will happen or is happening.

So what are we talking about? It says signs in the sun and the

moons and the stars. Does that sound familiar?

People looking up to the skies, seeing things in the skies,

people, men fainting from fear and expectations of the things

which are coming upon the world. Does that sound familiar?

This would and should strike fear in the hearts of man,

right? It should, right?

If you see things up in the sky, you should be like, what is

that, right? But the Bible says it's going to

happen if people are so panicked and they're all, oh, it's end of

the world. It should strike fear when

people are like, oh, China's got nukes and they've got this and

all that. And and this is going on.

It should strike fear in the hearts of men.

But we're just not regular men, right?

We're not regular men and women. We're we're people of the, of

the faith. We're people of the word.

But it's not over. Look at what he what he says in

the next few verses. Then they will see the Son of

Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and

lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Amen. So we're not like those people.

As these things begin to happen, what are we supposed to do?

Look to the One. How can we get assurance?

How can we know that we can do that?

We run to the Word of God. He will strengthen us right when

these things begin to happen. So as we close today, let us

remember that we can trust in God's Word because it is

steadfast, unchanging and true. His promises are sure and His

guidance is perfect. The Bible is not merely a book

of good advice or ancient history.

It is the living Word of God, sharper than any 2 edged shorts,

speaking directly into our lives.

Just not in the past, but today as well.

In times of uncertainty, we can stand firm on His promises.

In times of confusion, His Word offers clarity, and in times of

the trial, His Word offers comfort and hope.

The Scriptures reveal to us the heart of God, the truth of

salvation, and the power to live transformed lives.

So let us hold fast to God's Word, trusting that it is our

firm foundation, the light to our path, and the anchor of our

souls. When we lean on it, we will not

be shaken. Amen.

Amen. Praise God, that's all.

Bow our heads as we pray. Does anybody else have anything?

I don't know. Father God, we come before your

presence, Lord, and we just thank you, Lord.

We thank you for this congregation.

Lord. We thank you for this men and

women who have taken this time to fellowship today with their

brothers and sisters, Lord, and here to receive the word of God.

Lord, I thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for your word

that it is true, that it is faithful and it is a light to

our path. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for who

you are, Your mercy and your promises and your and your and

your faithfulness and your and your just everything that you're

in your word, that you say, that you are, that you have lived it.

Lord, I thank you for you giving us mercy and you have given us

grace. Lord, in these times that we

need it. Lord, I ask for endurance, Lord,

for us to continue to run the race.

Lord, I ask that you just strengthen us as we look ahead

in these times. Lord, I ask that you just

prepare the hearts, souls, and minds of the men and women of

this church as well as me, Lord, for the road ahead, Lord, that

you just give us strength, Lord, and that you guide us as we go

along in this path, Lord. Lord, I ask that we pray over

this country, Lord, right now, Lord, that tomorrow we have a

change of, of leadership. Lord, we pray over our

president, our incoming President Trump, just as we

prayed as our outgoing for our outgoing President Biden.

Lord, that you would bless him, and that you would guide him and

his cabinet and your will. Lord, that there your will be

done in their lives and through them, Lord, And that no matter

what happens, you be glorified, no matter what this looks like

in four years, or that you just be glorified in whatever way you

deem fit. Lord, all kings will bow before

you. Lord, all presidents will bow

before you. All Congress and senators and

leaders and every man and every woman shall bow the knee and

confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

And we thank you, Lord, because your, your word says that, Lord,

and it is true, Lord. I pray, Lord, that you keep us

in those times of need that we run to Your word and those times

of hardships that we trust in your word, Lord, and that when

things start to go South, Lord, that we can just trust that your

word is true and that you will help us in our time of need.

Your word is faithful just as you are faithful, Lord.

I pray for John Michael and his family and his wife, Lord,

wherever they are that you just would just be with them and

guide them and protect them and help them.

Lord, I pray for my church family back at home, Lord, that

you just be with them as well and help them as they go through

their service today. Lord, I ask that you continue to

grow this church, Lord, and as they reflect the community that

they just be a blessing to the community as well.

Lord, we ask you all these things.

Lord, in the name of Jesus we pray Amen and Amen.