We Do Not Lose Heart — 2 Corinthians 3-5

0:00 Starts out with the word therefore, means there's gonna be a review. And it's not my fault, so don't blame me that I have to review a little bit. It's Paul's fault or whoever divided the chapters and verses up, it's not me. But Tammy says to me, as long as you don't go more than five minutes overtime. Alright.

0:19 So that's my challenge. Those are my final words of encouragement before I went to bed last night and kind of restless sleep. I better not go overtime. So anyways, I want to invite, well, see who we got. Justin Miranda back there.

0:33 Good. Thank you. And, but also I wanna introduce Julia and Robbie who, go to Westlake High School. And Julia, in showing an interest, wanted to see what this was all about, and so invited her to come this morning. So we welcome you, and hope that that you find it a blessing this morning.

0:52 We do have to review, and and it... And the chapter does start the first verse of... Or the first verse of chapter four in second Corinthians starts out with the word therefore. And so we can't we can't look at that and not look back a little bit at chapter three, because obviously there's a connection. It's a transition word, isn't it?

1:10 Therefore, right, is a transition word, so we have to look back to that. And and I'm going to try to do it quickly, but chapter three, in chapter three of second Corinthians, Paul has laid out this contrast between the old covenant of the law that was given to Moses and and the the hopelessness that was in that old covenant because mankind was destined to fail through that. See, the law was given to Moses and the law was a beautiful thing. It was a glorious thing. It was god's word.

1:44 It was god telling mankind. This these are my expectations, right? And it was a glorious thing because it was the word of god. It was from him. So, why does Paul call it a ministry of death?

1:58 Well, it's a ministry of death because there was no way that we could keep it. There's no way that we could do, that we could live up to god's standard and it was part of what the purpose of the law was to make us realize what the standard of god was and the fact that we couldn't do it, right? And so, we have this new covenant with the coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. We have this new covenant in which we now have been given grace. We have been the the grace of god was demonstrated to the death of Jesus Christ and we have this new covenant, this new ministry of life that was given to you and I was thinking about as I I was going through this, I was thinking about how much for Paul.

2:42 Paul was a Pharisee, right? He was a Pharisee who was actively seeking to destroy the Christian church, right? I'm trying to think, what did this mean to Paul? Because sometimes, we know we've grown up in the New Testament. We've grown up knowing all these things.

3:00 We've been brought up in the ministry of life. We we've been brought up under this ministry of grace and so, you know, how how do how did Paul appreciate this? He did not just reject Christianity. He sought to destroy it and god in his mercy in a very special way sought Paul out and and brought him into into a knowledge and understanding of him and so some of that, I think when you read some of what we read in chapter four when when he talks about the light of god being the the knowledge of god being shown in our hearts. I mean, I think this was a very special thing to Paul.

3:39 This chapter is about the ministry and it's about, you know, all those, you know, the the the ministry of this new covenant, the ministry of this new covenant and and sometimes the frustrations and the suffering that we experience as all of us who know the lord, we are all involved in the ministry, are we not? Or it certainly should be And and there's, just as the gospel is a dogmatic, it is this way, there's no gray area to it, so is really the Christian walk. There are gray areas because we make them gray, but most of the time, really, there isn't. In reality, you know, our our our role is to serve the lord in some way, shape, or form, to share the gospel with the world. That was our commission, was it not?

5:07 I have in my Bible this handy little chart that goes through all the sacrifices and what they mean and what they're for and how they're done and when they were done and all that kind of stuff. They didn't have that chart. Can you imagine the frustration of trying to know and understand god's will when you didn't have it handy in a Bible right in front of you that you heard it from them and if you were teaching people who were not educated, did not understand. The challenge of teaching that law and getting them to understand what god wanted for them and the hard attitude that they had to have. Well, the Pharisees didn't even have that hard attitude.

5:39 So, that was pretty hard to teach but but that was their role. You want to talk about frustration? That's a ministry of death and that was a frustrating thing. Think how relieved. That's why Paul in the first verse, we're going get that in a second.

5:52 Some at some point, I'm going get this second Corinthians chapter four. Paul talks about the mercy of god and giving him this ministry and god's mercy, he gave me this ministry and I want that to be kind of our challenge this morning. It certainly was convicting to me. You know, I love doing Awana but I confess to you that there are often Sundays where I say, I wish we didn't have Awana tonight. You know, I'm not going to lie.

6:19 I do it but it's in god's mercy that we have the opportunity to serve him. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need you. He doesn't need me.

6:31 He is self sufficient. He is all and complete in himself and he doesn't need us but in his mercy, he allows us not only to understand his plan for salvation but to serve him. Wow, is that, you know, when you, yeah, that's convicting, isn't it? I mean, that's convicting and and I would think that we would all be convicted of that at some time or or if if you're not, share with me because I'd love to know how you do it. You know what I mean?

6:56 Like how do you stay in that mode? Don't know, it's pretty incredible. So let's take a look at the first, actually I'm going to put my next overhead up. Now I put this up because I know that some people it's a challenge to go through their bibles and find these things. I'm going to try to stay as much as possible, refer to a couple other sections, but we're going to try to stay in first second Corinthians four for the most part here today.

7:29 Okay. Let's read it together. Therefore, I want to go to my Bible here. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. That's going to be the top theme in two sections.

7:47 Verse in verse one and in verse 16, Paul mentions again, we do not lose heart and we're going to look at three, really three aspects of that. Why we don't lose heart in the ministry and why he didn't lose heart and I think it's important to to to note that or at least in my mind, the more I I I read I read through second Corinthians and I read where or else it is. It's not that Paul didn't occasionally lose heart or have frustration or anger or whatever. We have plenty of examples of Paul's frustration. Second Corinthians is filled with emotion, isn't it?

8:20 It's filled with the emotion, the anger and frustration and sadness that he feels over some of the things they've done. We have, we know that there are four letters written to him and a couple of them were pretty scathing. Two that we have in the Bible but two others that are referenced in first Corinthians chapter five verse nine reference of a letter that came out before first Corinthians, then we have first Corinthians, and then again in second Corinthians, we have a letter that's that that showed up in between and and they're all over, you know, in just about a year, maybe a little bit over a year, it's time. Those four letters were say sent out and some are pretty scathing. You know, like they were there are letters of correction and and his frustration was definitely shown and so what I, you know, what I I kind of broke down in my mind was that the way to think of it is at the end of the day, we do not lose heart.

9:09 That was the kind of the way I it it it meant something to me. At the end of the day, we do not lose heart. It doesn't mean that we don't have frustration when we're in the ministry of Christ in in whatever facet that is, that we are going to deal with frustrations because whether it's sharing the gospel with people that reject it, frustrating? Ever feel frustrated by that? Sure.

9:30 But that's kind of what's pointed out here. It's not about us and we shouldn't feel frustrated. At the end of the day, we shouldn't. We've been we've we've been obedient and sharing that gospel. We've been obedient and so we shouldn't feel frustrated and that's that's kind of where we're going to head with this, okay?

9:46 So, therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, that's the mercy from god to both know and understand the gospel and then to be able to share it. We do not lose heart. But we have this, we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. See, Paul was being accused, right? He was being accused of somehow using scripture to manipulate people into believing in Christ.

10:26 Terrible accusation. Terrible accusation. But you could see in that verse and what we're going to highlight in that verse, in verse two, in the middle there, it says, by the manifestation of the truth, that's what he, that's what he brought to the table. We're going to keep reading though. Verse three, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of god, should shine on them.

12:04 But let's look a little bit at that that new covenant a little bit deeper. See, he's been accused of not being true with the people that he's presenting the gospel with, right? His apostleship has been called into question. He they're they're questioning whether he's truly an apostle but they're also questioning whether Paul is being truthful and is dealing with the scripture. And so that's what he's working out here.

12:33 And so, as we look at this, we're going to continue this idea of why we don't lose heart. Well, the first reason we've already covered. We don't lose heart because what god gave to us in the form of his son was the truth, right? And so there's one aspect of why we never need to lose heart because we've been given, we've been provided the truth, right? But the other thing is, when we're involved in the ministry, whatever facet of ministry, whether it be, you know, teaching children's ministry or or whatever acts of of faith that that we're involved with.

13:08 We don't need to lose heart and we're going to talk about why that other reason is but I want to go back to this idea that Paul did not handle the gospel of Christ in a deceitful manner. That's what he'd been accused of but that he felt justified because he came to them with the truth and I and I considered this as I thought in my own frustrations and and if you've ever shared the gospel with somebody and they just flat out rejected it, it is human nature to feel frustrated by that. I'm going to tell you, I've been downright angry by it. What? You don't don't believe...

13:54 Are you crazy? Do you not know the historical evidence in the blah blah blah blah, right? And you get angry, how do you not get this? What part of this message do you not appreciate? Right?

14:05 But what is what are the basic fundamental truths of the gospel? What are the basic fundamental truths of the gospel? Where does it start? It start with man man man sin. God gave man free will and man rejected god.

14:21 Period. Man rejected it. We have a choice. He gave us ability to choose because our love was more meaningful in that way. Correct?

14:27 We we know that. But man rejected god. Man said, I want to do it my way. I don't want to do it your way. And so, God, even before the creation of mankind, had a plan.

14:42 And that plan was to demonstrate his grace and his love for his creation that had rejected him by sending his own son to be born by a virgin of the line of David, which was another fulfillment of prophecy for an eternal throne, to create a eternal throne of David. Right? This was part of it. Jesus was born of the line of David just as prophecy said it would be. And he died or he lived a perfect life and lived with the purpose as we learn in John 12.

15:42 And so, it was about our sin. It was about our sin. That's what that's what the conflict was. That's why we're enemies with god and the only way, the only way that we could be made right was a sacrifice that could take god's wrath against sin and completely annihilate it and that's what happened. When Jesus died on the cross, he completely defeated and utterly destroyed sin and death forever.

16:09 Alright? For those who believe. See, there's the catch, right? It's not a catch but that's that's the that's that's the catch if you will. We, you have to believe.

16:23 See, Jesus died on the cross for that purpose. He demonstrated that he was who he said he was, that he was the son of god when he rose from the dead. And that that sacrifice was sufficient in god's eyes. Those things were demonstrated to us through his resurrection and he rose from the dead. You know anybody else who claimed that they were going rise from the dead and then actually did it?

16:45 Can you name somebody? Absolutely not. But Jesus did it. He said he was going to rise from the dead and then he did it of his own power Because he's God. Because he's exactly who he said he was and and that's that's huge, isn't it?

16:58 For those of us who know the Lord. Because we know that we share, there's our hope, we share in that resurrection, don't we? We know that we will be resurrected and with Christ. So he rose from the dead. We serve a risen savior.

17:13 That's that's the gospel, isn't it? Now, I mean, we could certainly, there's all kinds of things we could talk about in the back in terms of the background and the sacrifice of the Old Testament and all those kind of things you could add into it but the basic fundamentals of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins. He was the son of god. He died for our sins. He rose again because he is the son of god and he he he did that for the very purpose of of taking god's wrath out on himself.

17:42 That's an incredible thing. What other god lowercase of this world offers that? No one. No one does. Right?

17:52 This is the gospel that was presented to the church in Corinth, to the people in Corinth that accepted. This was the gospel. There was no deceit in this. And the thing that that really like came to my mind as I was reading this is how, you know, in in Philippians chapter one, Paul says, you know, the people that were presenting the gospel for good and bad reasons. It was all good as long as Christ was preached, right?

18:19 He was in prison and they were they were preach, people are out there preaching the gospel just to make his situation worse in prison. Their motivation was bad but they were preaching the gospel and hey, as long as Christ was glorified, great. Let's do it. As long as people are being saved but I also see the situation and and the destruction that has been done to people and to the gospel for people who those who do this for the wrong reason. That present the gospel not to glorify God, but to glorify themselves.

18:49 The Jimmy Swaggart's, the Jim and Tammy Bakers, the... You'd fill in the name, we don't need to go through names, I guess. And probably some of those names like the 30 crowds going, who is that? Jimmy Tammy Baker? Jimmy Swagger?

19:02 They don't even know who those guys are. You know why? Because they've disappeared. They're done. Because they corrupted the ministry that they should that should have been glorifying god but didn't.

19:13 They glorified themselves and that's part of what we learn in this section too. What is the purpose of this ministry? And Paul makes it very clear that the purpose is to glorify god and that that salvation comes through him and him alone and that we are merely vessels, right? That's where the jars of clay are. We are merely broken, fragile vessels that have been blessed enough to have this message.

19:59 To me, the practical application of this is, in some ways it takes the pressure off and in some ways it puts the pressure on. Okay? It takes the pressure off because when I present the gospel, as long as I'm presenting it in truth, if I as long as I'm presenting the truth of the gospel and I'm not trying to trick or or mislead anybody or I'm going to trick them into believing it, as long as I'm presenting it in truth, then I have done what Christ sent me out to do, right? I don't need to add anything. Now, doesn't mean that we can't speak about the gospel boldly, we should.

20:32 It doesn't mean we can't speak about it enthusiastically, we should. It doesn't mean that we can't use you know, the storyboards and all those things that those are nice thing. It needs to be presented in truth and it needs to be about Christ and not about us, right? And the benefit of that is, when people reject it, they haven't rejected us. Think back to Samuel.

20:54 When Samuel, when the people of Israel wanted a king, they went to Samuel and said, we want a king. And Samuel goes to God and said, they rejected me. I was their job. Was their leader and they rejected me. And God said, no.

21:07 They didn't reject you. I'm their king. They've rejected me. The fact that they want a king, they've rejected me. And that's exactly what happens when you present the gospel to somebody and they reject it, they've rejected the king, not you.

21:25 Don't take it personally. Right? And because I know that that is an issue for me. I've been, know, if Kip was here, he witnessed me getting angry at someone who was yelling at me. I told you the story a couple weeks ago.

21:39 Boy, I was fired up because that's my reaction. The guy's yelling at me. I don't want to hear your garbage. That's garbage. I don't want to hear it from you and I'm going, what are you doing, hon?

21:49 You know, you're going to hear it with one right in the mouth. That's my reaction. And so, what I pray for when I... What what has just been a burden on my heart throughout this whole time, you know, studying this and and looking at second Corinthians which has been months because I've been reading it for a while and was thankful that we went this direction, very thankful, was was first of all, when, you know, in in Matthew five in in the beatitudes, I brought this up before. God said, Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

22:23 And what did that mean? Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who look at the state of the world, the sinful state of the world and it breaks their heart. It breaks their heart to see it. And I look at myself and this is, believe me, about me, it ain't about you, it's about me, it might be about you, only you know that.

22:42 But it's about me, when I look at the news, when I look at the things that people do and I look at terrorists cutting people's heads off and whatever, all that kind of stuff, I say, I can't wait till that guy gets what he deserves. Because he's going to, he's going to stand before God and you know, sometimes that's my attitude or sometimes I'm sickened, just sickened by it and I want to pull away from, I want to get away from that. I don't want to be I don't want to be there. That's real easy for Christians, isn't it? To seclude ourselves, to get ourselves away from it because that's where we're most comfortable.

23:14 Hey, let's just kind of hang out together. Let's just, you know, communal living, you know, that that's a good thing. But we're not called to do that, are we? We're called to be out in that mess, to be a light in that mess, to change people's hearts by them seeing Christ in us. That's what we're called to do, not to hide away from it, to be in the mess and to have compassion and a burden for those that don't know Christ because they're dying, they're perishing, they're going to go to hell for eternity, it is a promise.

23:49 One of the things that Samantha and Kyle and I even know we were by ourselves from Buddy the Bible study this week. Hi, We, one of the things we were talking about was the immutability of God and what a, just what a blessing it was that God is faithful all the time, never changing the way he was yesterday is the way he's going to be tomorrow and today and forever. He is who he is and will not change, cannot change, he is complete in himself. And what a blessing that is to us, isn't it to know that his promises are a surety. If he said he's going to prepare a place for us, then by golly, that's what's happening.

24:49 That's the evidence, right? That it it was there and god utterly destroyed it because what? Because of its sin. Because of its sin. That same god that destroyed Sodom And Gomorrah is going to judge sin at the coming of Christ.

25:08 He's going to judge sin and he's going to judge sin with eternal damnation in hell and it's not going to be fun and it's not going to be pretty, but it's a reality of the gospel. If you do not accept my son, you have no part with me. No part with me. And there's no in between, well, I don't really see God that way. I kind of think of God as more of like a, you know, he just loves us all and he wants us all to...

25:35 Yes, he does. He loves us all. He wants us all to be with him. And he provided a means by which you can do that. But if you don't accept it, guess what?

25:44 You've rejected the king and it doesn't go over well. It doesn't go over well with the father when you reject the king. Okay? So I thought that was the truth of the gospel. That's all we need, folks.

25:58 So, we read in that verses one through seven, that rejection means that the people that reject it, they have been blinded by the god of this age. He's also called the prince of the world, right? And the god knows its lower case, the god of this age. Who is that? Satan.

26:17 Satan. That's Satan, right? And and one of the things that I was also convicted about is how quickly we forget about Satan, don't we? Keith Green had this song that says, you know, and it's Satan talking about and he says, you know, I'm getting stronger every day. I'm getting more powerful every day.

26:34 We see that in the world around us, don't we? I'm getting more powerful every day. You know why? Because nobody believes in me anymore. That makes me even more powerful.

26:41 You know, and it's true. It's true. It's because we don't pay enough attention to that but when people reject the gospel, it's because they've been blinded by the god of this age and however, that manifests itself, right? Everybody has different reasons why they don't want to any part of Jesus Christ but the truth is that they are blinded by the god of this age. They have been duped by Satan And it's not like they're active Satan worshipers, but they might as well be.

27:06 They might as well be because there's two sides. There's two sides, another dogmatic aspect to this whole thing. As much as that's not favored by the world today, right? But if they accept it, that's to God's glory. He receives all the glory, all the honor, all the praise because he saves.

27:29 We don't. We save nothing. We contribute nothing but our voice, simply presenting the truth of a message that God has given us through his mercy. Boy, if I can have that attitude every day, you know what I mean? Not just when I'm preparing for this message, but to have that attitude every day, that it's his mercy, by his mercy, he's given me the opportunity to talk about his son.

27:55 What a great thing, if we could wake up every day, and that's the way I'm going to approach today, By his mercy, I have the opportunity to talk about his son. Wouldn't that be a great thing? Wouldn't we all be a little different? I think we would. I know I would.

28:09 Let's keep in mind, in verse seven, and I love that in verse seven, at the excellence of the power may be of god and not of us. When someone accepts Christ, it is just a demonstration of his grace and his mercy on mankind that he is that he has given them the opportunity to have eternal life with him. It is all to his glory. Next section. Verse eight.

28:53 I have to go back. Back to the we do not lose heart. So why do we not lose heart? If we are part of the ministry, that's just the whole point. I'm going to I'm missing the the major point here.

29:02 If we, why do we not lose heart then? Well, the first thing is that we've been given through God's mercy the ability to share the news of his son. Right? Okay. So we don't lose heart because we know we have truth.

29:13 We have been given the truth and thank the Lord for that. Right? Okay, but what's the other reason based on what we just talked about here? That when someone does reject that truth, it's not on us. It's not on us.

29:29 And so we don't have to feel responsible for it. We don't have to get mad. Don't We have to lose our temper. We don't have to be discouraged. Will we feel discouragement?

29:36 Yes, because we care about others, right? And we know what's going to happen. In chapter five, he's going to say, knowing therefore the terror of the lord, we try to persuade men, we persuade men. That's that's the... We want people to accept it because we understand the terror of the Lord, they don't.

29:53 They just go through their lives oblivious to the fact that in the end, they're going to be punished for eternity. And we don't want that for the people we love, for the people we don't even know. I don't want anybody to experience that, not even the terrorist that cuts off that guy's head. We shouldn't want it for him either, right? Because Jesus died for him.

30:14 So the comfort there and the reason we don't need to lose heart is that we can be courageous about the gospel and sharing that gospel and bold in that action and know that it's not our responsibility. It's it's to god's glory if they accept and it's on that person if they don't. I have six children. My prayer and hope is that I will see everyone in heaven. All six of them.

30:43 And I can preach the gospel to them every day. I can read the Bible to them every day. I can do all those things all I want. But Colin and Ryan and Connor and Mason and Justin and Jenna are going to make a choice. They're going to make a choice.

30:55 Being in my family, because Tammy and I know the Lord does nothing for them. And they're going to make a choice, even my own children are going to make a choice and they might choose Satan over God, right? They might choose the world over the spirit. And and I have to have to live with that. It's terrible, but I have to live with that.

31:17 And it's it's a horrible thing to think that that might not, I might not see one of my kids in heaven. What an awful, yeah, it's awful, it's terrible. But it's because we all make that choice, we all have free will and it doesn't matter what we pound into our kids or what I or pound into the neighbor or pound it, none of that, that's not it. We speak the truth and they make a choice And that takes some of the pressure off, doesn't it? We don't have to feel that frustration.

31:41 And Paul's saying it here too. I don't lose heart because they've been blinded by the God of this age, right? And the power of salvation is not through me, but it's through the power of God that it happens. So, it's not me in the first place. I can't save anybody.

31:57 Alright, let's look at the next one. We are hard pressed on every side. Remember in verse 16, again, we're going to hear this idea that we do not have to lose heart. We are hard pressed on every side, you're not crushed, we are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of the lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

32:33 Now, that's a tough section a little bit, right? And I think Paul is talking about here the physical challenge, what it does to you physically to be involved in the ministry. Now, we haven't, none of us really, I don't think, if you have, let me know but I I don't think anybody here has dealt physically with the challenges that Paul faced in the ministry. Would that be true? I think we've had it pretty easy in terms of whatever ministries we're involved with, we maybe lost a little sleep or whatever.

33:01 But there is a physical toll to what we do. No matter what it is, there's a physical toll, an emotional toll, a psychological toll to what we do because we are human and we are affected by it and we wear down and our bodies are are mortal and and they just don't last, believe me, at 46, the things I can't do now compared to when I was 26, it's amazing, right? They break down and some of that is through the the the work of the ministry. It can wear you down. Ask our elders.

33:29 There ever times you feel broken down? Yeah, I would guess. I would guess that there are times. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then, death is working in us but life in you.

33:51 And since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke, according from Psalms, we also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that he who raised up the lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you. There's the promise, right? Notice the next line. Oh, I might.

34:17 Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Does that screen go down more or no? And since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak knowing that he who raised up the lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things, verse 15, are for your sakes, that grace having spread through the many, may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of god.

35:14 Well, we don't lose heart because we've been given the truth and we know that that in God's mercy, he's given us the the the honor to spread his word, right? We don't lose heart because it isn't on us, right? That the glory is all god's when someone is saved. It's not our glory. It's not about me.

35:35 It's about them and regardless of what our ministry is, so we do not lose heart. Why do we not lose heart now? Yeah. It's a question. It's interactive now.

35:52 Why do we not lose heart? Because God is faithful to what he said and what he promised. What does that promise? Look at verse 17. For our light affliction, which is for but a moment is working for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

36:18 While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. If our focus is the spirit, if our focus is the eternal things that matter, then we have a hope and we have a promise that should at all times make us feel like at the end of the day, we don't have to lose heart. At the end of the day, we don't have to lose heart. Let's take a look.

37:02 Oh, there it is. I set it aside for just a moment. Nope, that's not it. Hard pressed, there we are, that's that one. Julia, does this remind you of anything?

37:16 Yeah. You know how you guys made fun of me about using overhead? Yeah. It happens here too. First of all, suffering, if you know the lord and you are being obedient to his call and his commission, then you're going to deal with suffering.

37:41 In some way, it might be emotional, it might not be physical like Paul dealt with. I love, you know, you read chapter 11, you think, okay, I got it easy. I got it pretty easy. Paul goes through all the things he suffered getting stoned to death and drowning in nakedness and hunger and you know, beatings and whippings and I mean, you know, the things that he went through, we we have it very easy but that can help you but there is still suffering and there still is persecution. I think of kids who are in, you know, but it doesn't matter if you're in public or Christian school because even in Christian schools, I believe that if you really truly with all your heart stand up for Christ, you'll you'll receive some teasing and persecution for that, won't you?

38:18 In the public schools, my kids, I think of them all the time. Like, are they going to be strong enough to stand up for Christ when it matters? Are they going to be strong enough to do what they need to do to represent who they really are in the lord Jesus Christ in a sinful world right in the smack middle of it? It's beauty. Be a light.

38:35 Be a light. I pray that they're a light. You know, I pray that we're all lights when we're out there but suffering and persecution are to be expected and we're supposed to even cherish it. We we take that in. We love it because you know what that means?

38:47 As my body is being broken down, that's what god is using most powerfully. What does he say to Paul in chapter 12 of second Corinthians? When you are and I'm paraphrasing, when you're weak, that's when I'm the strongest. When you're broken down and defeated by what the world standards are, for my name's sake, that's when I'm the most powerful. We still talk about Jim Elliot to this day, don't we?

39:15 Jim Elliot flew into a jungle to share the gospel and was murdered five of em, right? Five of them murdered for the gospel and however many years later, what was what year is that? Some of you, I was, you know, it's a little bit before my time. Read the book but I can't remember the year exactly. '55.

39:29 '5? Mid 50s, I would say late 40s, early 50s, whatever. So, '55, we still talk about it to this day. It was a powerful thing. His death was probably more powerful, more influential than if he if he had lived.

39:43 He died for the sake of the gospel and we and it inspired others to go share, right? Look what he did in the name of the gospel. Once again, the glory is the lord, isn't it? He uses tragedy. He uses persecution.

39:57 He uses suffering to further his will and to further his message, right? He uses us. We're just tools, folks. We're just we're just tools for that and we're blessed to be used for that. So, god's strength is manifested most powerfully through our weakness.

40:18 For we who live are always... Wait, are you going back because I said we're tools? Oh, okay. Because that really... I said he's a tool.

40:25 The connotation, right? Alright, you're a vessel, you're a I gotcha. We are, we are vessels. Let me change that. We are just jars of clay out there with the message.

40:37 Thank you. I needed that actually. For because I thought about on the way around here, I go, how many people are going to process? I'm a tool. Alright.

40:45 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Our suffering is what helps us to to manifest to the world the grace of god. Okay? I'm going to skip through this a little bit because we're running out of time and I'm I'm becoming more and more frightened that Tammy's going to be mad at me. But the main thing when we talk I'm just kidding, honey.

41:15 The main thing when we talk about why we should not lose hope, why doesn't Paul, what's the third aspect of not losing hope in the ministry? That we have a promise and a reward that far outweigh anything. You know, it's hard for us to grasp this, and we've talked about this in our Bible study as we're talking about God being eternal, what that means. It is a concept we can't grasp. We can't even begin to grasp it.

41:38 You try to do it and you get a headache and your head feels like it's going to explode. But the time that we spend on earth is this, the scope, you think of the spectra, the electromagnetic spectrum or something, In the spectrum of eternity, the time that we spend on earth is just like the little sliver that represents visible light in spectrum, right? The visible light is this little sliver in the electromagnetic spectrum and the time that we spend on earth is even smaller, minute sliver in eternity. Do you really believe that when you die, this all ends? It's just beyond me to think that the level of consciousness we have, the fact that we're even capable of coming together and talking about these things at all, has to tell us that there's more after this than just here now, I'm dead, everything I'm gone is with me.

42:34 That's the hopelessness that they have, right? I talked about the bet a couple of weeks ago, That have all this knowledge and I die and it's all gone. What a worthless, what a hopeless existence. You're right, it is. It is a hopeless existence if that's all there is to it.

42:48 But I don't believe there is. I know that my consciousness is mean something. I am capable of understanding God and who he is and who his son is. I'm capable of doing that because god has given me that gift. I'm special.

42:59 So, are you? In that regard, you're capable of understanding that and believing that and if you do, you have a reward. You have a hope and if you're doing the work of the lord after that, if you become his servant, his bond servant, his slave, right? We think of ourselves that way because it is all about him and nothing about us. If you become that, you know that you have a reward that is eternal to be in heaven with him.

43:32 Right? Think of your best day ever. And what do you think? How is that going to compare to being in the presence of god? Try to mull that over for a little bit and then, does that help when you get frustrated by this, that, or the other thing involved in ministry?

43:49 To be in the presence of God, I can get through. I can get through business meeting because I know that I have an eternal hope that I'm going to be with God. I can I can get through whatever you fill in the blank for yourself? I can get through it because I have an eternal hope and that is our hope. Our focus is spiritual.

44:09 It's not the things of this this Earth. Those things are fleeting. They're going die as my dad told me all my life. It's all going to burn. It's all going to burn, son.

44:19 You're putting your focus on stuff that's going to burn. He's right, it's not going to last, it's all going to burn. We want to make our focus the things that are eternal, the things that are of the spirit, the things that are of God. That should be our focus. And when we do that, we're not going to lose heart at the end of the day, at the end of the day.

44:39 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word We pray lord that that today has been treated with respect and and honor. Lord, we pray that the glory in our lives, the way we lead our lives, the way that we come here together to worship and fellowship even at the picnic today that that in all things, we want to honor you and glorify you and lord, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to to, first of all, to have been blessed, to understand and acknowledge Jesus Christ as our savior. And we thank you for the blessing that it is to be able to serve you, help us to do it in a way that honors you all the time. We pray that you help us to do in a way that that deals with the frustrations and the challenges that we as humans are are so weak and pathetic in dealing with, we pray that you would give us the strength to handle them in the right way and to just lean on you and to give you all the glory.

45:56 Lord, all the glory is yours. We praise you and thank you in your name. Amen.