[0:00] Good morning to each one. I'd like to just welcome you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ this morning and greet you in that way. He's done a lot in my life. I'm thankful that He saved me from my sins and that I can serve Him this morning.
[0:17] I want to share a few words of encouragement with you this morning. I know that we all face hard times in our lives and we go through struggles and it's that way in Georgia.
[0:28] We may face all different struggles that we have in life and I'm sure that you face hard things in Montana also. And some of the things, you know, we face in Georgia is we face relationship issues in our families and in our churches and in our schools and so forth.
[0:47] Those are some struggles. You know, there's death of loved ones that we have to encounter hard things that God brings into our lives. And so we need to encourage one another.
[1:00] And I want to share some thoughts from Hebrews chapter 10 and some illustrations this morning that brought this passage to my mind.
[1:11] And I'm so thankful this morning that we live in the dispensation that we do or the time that we do in Scripture. I'm glad that we can live in a time when Jesus came and He saved us from our sins and we're here to serve Him.
[1:29] And we can be His sons and His daughters. That's different from the Old Testament.
[2:01] And we have His promises to look forward to and His promises for our lives. We obey His word and the things that He teaches.
[2:12] He teaches in His word and follow the life of Jesus and His teachings because we want to. Not because we have to, but because we want to. He's changed our lives.
[2:22] He's renewed us. There's promises for us. So, as Joe mentioned, my boys and I made a journey across the United States. We started in North Carolina and we ended up in Oregon at a place called Battle Rock out along the ocean there.
[2:39] It's really beautiful for some miles there along the ocean. And when we got to the ocean there in the evening, we finished the trip in the evening.
[2:50] We drove out into the beach and we're observing the scenery and all. I noticed a mountain down the beach a ways. There was this one mountain that stuck up kind of on a peninsula out into the ocean.
[3:03] There's this mountain and it looked like a hill, a small hill. And I took notice of that. It kind of was peculiar looking. Anyway, so we got a motel that night and we spent the night there.
[3:15] And the next morning, the boys wanted to sleep in. They were tired from their journey. Well, I like to go out early in the morning. I can't sleep. I go out and wander around, do my hiking and so forth.
[3:25] So, I drove down there towards this mountain and I noticed that there was a parking lot there and a trailhead. So, I pulled over and got out and I looked at it and I looked at the diagram there and I said, boy, that's a big mountain.
[3:39] That mountain's 1,680 feet tall and three miles hike to the top. I don't know if I can do a hike like that. That's a little more than I was thinking I could bite off.
[3:53] But, yeah, from way back, it just looked like a little hill. And then you get up close and look at the map. It's three miles to the top and sticking out of the water almost 1,700 feet.
[4:05] So, I started up. I started up the trail and it was beautiful and there was lots of, you know, flowers and plants and water trickling down. And I love nature.
[4:17] Lots of big trees, old growth timber out there. So, I'm wandering up and I run. I ran for the first waves where I didn't go very far. A couple hundred yards and my legs were aching and I'm like, I don't know.
[4:29] I don't know if I want to hike three miles this morning. That was a little more than I was thinking about biting off. But, about that time I met this Italian man. And I like to talk to people and see if they want to talk as I'm going.
[4:43] But, this older Italian gentleman, I met him and he had his dog there. And, anyway, he seemed like he wanted to talk. So, he jabbered on and on about all this stuff and asked me where I was from and rattled off all these golf players that he knew because he was familiar with Augusta, Georgia, where we're from, anyway.
[5:03] And he said, well, he hikes this trail almost every day. And he said, it's beautiful up there and you need to go. You need to go up there. You need to go. And so, he said, yeah, it's beautiful.
[5:17] And you get up there, you can see out. And there's a really clear creek and stuff and you can drink water out of the creek. It's really clean. And he just seemed like a really positive, positive guy.
[5:29] And he said, you can make it. So, then after that, I felt like maybe I could make it all the three miles. After that, I was determined to make it because of his attitude, you see.
[5:40] Because he encouraged me and he had a positive attitude. So, if he would have said, you know, it's a really hard trail and there are snakes up there. And when you get up there, it's nothing you can see.
[5:52] And it might rain on you. And he could think, you know, if he had talked that way and I hurt and I'm tired out and all this, I would have said, well, I'm going to go back down. It's not worth it, you see.
[6:03] But that's the way it is in our lives and in our Christian walk. We need people to walk along beside us and encourage us. So, we're going to face hard things as we go through the climb in life.
[6:18] We're going to face difficult times. But we need brothers and sisters to encourage us and say, you know, encourage us in his word.
[6:29] To raise our families according to his words. To have a brother and sister church brotherhood that's obeying God's word.
[6:42] We need to encourage each other in that. And so, I walked up the trail and, you know, I made it to the top and all it was, it was a beautiful sight.
[6:53] You could see the beach down both ways. They had the trees cut down. You could see the white waves crashing over here and the white waves and the rock sticking out of the water.
[7:04] It was a beautiful sight. And it was worth the journey every step of the way. I enjoyed it. And then I ran back down the mountain some of the way to get back down.
[7:18] And I stopped and I drank out of the cool, clear stream and got refreshed there. So, it was worth it. And that's the way our lives can be. You know, serving the Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful thing.
[7:32] And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, serving him. And so, in these verses here, I want to read a few verses from Hebrews chapter 10.
[7:45] I'm going to start at verse 19. This is entitled, A Call to Persevere in Faith. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.
[8:17] Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. So, in these verses, he's giving us examples in his promises of the Christian life and how it's encouraged to persevere in the faith and how it's different from the Old Testament, the law.
[8:45] And one of the metaphors I like here is when he says, our hearts are sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. So, he washes us.
[8:58] He takes away the sin out of our lives when we accept him as our Lord and Jesus Christ. And another thing I like about Montana and all is your water out here.
[9:09] Your water is really clear. And if you've been back east in some of the water, especially in the southeast, it's kind of the opposite. We have a lot of tannins in our water from the leaves and the trees and the swamp water is kind of dark and brackish.
[9:25] And there's snakes and alligators in there. Anyway, it's a little different. So, you come here to Montana, you see the clear, fresh water. And I love to swim in the water.
[9:38] And on our trip as we traveled, we would often swim in the clear lakes or in the mountain streams. But I like that pure water.
[9:50] Well, that's the way the water is from God. It's pure. It's not that brackish, dark water. But his water is pure and washes us. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.
[10:08] Unswervingly. How do you drive down the road? Do you drive straight or do you swerve down the road? Sometimes when I'm looking at my cell phone, I'm not supposed to be.
[10:18] I'm swerving. And that's not a good thing. But I often think about life being a little bit like flying an airplane where you have a goal.
[10:29] You have a destination that you want to get to. You set that destination and you're going towards it in the airplane. But you don't go exactly straight.
[10:42] I don't know how many of you have ever flown an airplane. But you kind of get off course a little bit and it blows you to the side. And then you readjust and you go back towards your target.
[10:52] And you're always. So you end up flying a line that may look a little bit kinky. But you still get to the destination. Now today with our computers and all, maybe they fly a little straighter.
[11:04] But if you're flying it by hand, you can't fly a straight line. You're going to always be adjusting. So that's the way a little bit like life is. We have a target. We have a destination that we want to reach.
[11:16] As Christians, we want to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to die as faithful servants of His. As a family, as a church, you may have a vision for your family.
[11:28] You may have a vision for your church. Well, sometimes we have to adjust course a little bit. We don't always. We're not perfect people. We're humans. We've got a destination.
[11:40] Let's try to reach it. But let's adjust and make sure that we're on the path. Let's don't swerve and let's don't fall by the wayside.
[11:51] Let's don't crash into the rocks. Let's encourage one another.
[12:03] Let's encourage one another. Let's encourage one another. Encourage us in good things. Have love towards one another.
[12:14] I felt your love here this morning when you came in. You were greeting one another. I like to see that. Give each other a hug. Encourage one another. Let's don't be bitter about our lives.
[12:25] Bitter towards one another. Let's don't say things that discourage one another. Let's encourage one another. Admonish one another. And encourage each other to do right.
[12:38] Not giving up meeting together. Some are in the habit of doing. But encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. So it's good to meet here this morning like this.
[12:50] Encourage one another. I think that's biblical. I think we need to do that. But it's something that's very important to do. And Brother Joe and I were talking about that actually I believe this morning.
[13:02] Is when you come together and you sit and you meditate on the things in the word. And you meditate on God. And you put your work aside and your struggles and some of those things.
[13:14] And you meditate and just reach out to God and let God speak to your heart. There's something valuable about that in life. And I think that's the way God designed it from the beginning.
[13:25] That's why we have a special day that we set aside. I think that's valuable. Set that day aside and that time come and worship together. And encourage one another.
[13:36] Then in the last part of this verse it talks about the day of the Lord approaching. And I think that that day is coming. I think that as you can see around us. The time is coming when things are kind of leading to a one world government.
[13:52] And time is coming when there's the evil powers are taking over the world. And we want to make sure that we're serving the Lord Jesus Christ and ready for that day.
[14:04] Those are my thoughts this morning. Thank you. So we pray Father we want to thank you for speaking to our hearts already this morning. And ask that you would just continue to melt our hearts in your presence Lord.
[14:17] And we want to thank you for your good word to us today. In Jesus name. Amen. And you can be seated. Praise the Lord it's good to be here.
[14:27] Greet you today in Jesus name. Thank you for that word brother. Burl. You just gave me some good illustrations for what I think the Lord has given me to share here this morning.
[14:38] So I appreciate the picture you gave us of a journey. And just the need along the way of encouragement on that journey. I something wasn't inspiring.
[14:52] I say you know last night I was kind of grumbling around because the brothers took off this week and went to the funeral in there. And we had already been planning the yard sale.
[15:02] So we were busy the last couple of days. And I was saying how can we do this today. So anyway but the Lord's faithful and he gave me some things this morning. And it's right along the line of what the brother had. And I want to just share that.
[15:13] And then we'll keep moving on here. But I was watching some young guys do a kind of like they like to do do some battle together.
[15:28] So the other evening my grandsons and Ethan was kind of helping out with them too. But they was teamed up two different teams and they had their weapons and these were kind of handmade swords and little shields and some other things that they were going to use.
[15:48] One of them had a each side had a bow and arrow. And of course they had a blunt on there. But they would actually shoot these things at each other. But I just watched them while they were they would plan their they get off on different places.
[16:03] And they planned their strategy of how they were going to how they were going to attack each other. And then they'd kind of hide and and kind of you know get there be watching the other side watching where they could see these guys.
[16:17] And then then they they go into the battle and they'd attack each other. And they had their their weapons you know and yeah it was just fun to watch them.
[16:27] You know that's just something that I guess young people like to do. There's just something in us that that's a battle that you want that that competition and see who can do the best there.
[16:39] And just watching them there's so much we can think about in life. We we we we have that in us to fight. We have that in us to to press on and so forth. And and one thing probably they didn't need that day.
[16:54] They didn't need the endurance because it was short. You know the little guy might have thought maybe there was one of them pretty small. You know I might have thought this is a pretty long battle here. But but in reality it lasted a couple minutes.
[17:05] They didn't need to endure very long. You remember brother you said this morning we need endurance on the journey. You guys started out in North Carolina. I think that's what you said. So you had a long trip.
[17:16] And you guys run cycles. And I told him this morning understand a little bit of that. I traveled from Ohio to Colorado. And that was about a two and a half three day journey.
[17:27] And on a bike it's not not the same as riding in a car. Though it does get hard in a car as well. You can kind of seat gets hard wherever you're at. Setting that long. But you guys made it on the journey.
[17:39] So praise the Lord. That's what's on my heart. You know thinking of also Carol's father brother Ray finishing the race. I just thought you know. He's he's made it. He's he's made it through.
[17:50] And endurance just came to my mind. What does it take to to make it on the journey. To endure all the way. I think he was 89 80 88 89 years old.
[18:03] So a lot of years a lot of the journey a lot of things through this life. And he has made it. To the end. He's made it the end of his journey end of life.
[18:15] And I I think that we all have that. I think of you young guys young girls ladies sitting here this morning. You know you got life ahead of you. And there's something in you that just determined you're gonna you're gonna make it.
[18:27] And yet as older ones know there's some battles you're gonna face. You've already faced some. There's battles you're gonna face. There's trials that's gonna come. And there's yet you want victory.
[18:39] We all want victory. And that means a victory kind of means that there's a battle you're gonna have to fight. And there's some things you're gonna face in life. And so you're gonna need some encouragement.
[18:50] And brother said that guy come along and just encourage you to keep climbing that hill. And that's a good picture. We need that encouragement. We all do. There's times when we when we face defeat.
[19:03] And to get back up when you face defeat. When you face something that's tripped you up. It that takes some courage to do that just to keep going. And so we encourage each other along the way.
[19:17] But I want to look at Paul this morning a little bit in 1st Corinthians. Just some words that he said here. Something that I believe that would have been a motivation for him. 1st Corinthians. And the first chapter.
[19:30] Just thinking again of a verse there that I think brother John shared earlier this week.
[19:45] Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And I was at a funeral years ago. And a friend of the of the man that passed stood up. And he just put it this way.
[19:56] He said you know in the sight of the Lord he feels like when a saint dies. The Lord stands up up there. He's looking down. And he's watching.
[20:07] He said there he comes. There comes one of my chosen one. He's he's made it home. He's looking you know. And we think of God. How is he pictured up there? We think it may be on a throne setting up there.
[20:18] But he felt like that he stood up that when a saint comes home. He stands up and he looks. There that made it. That one made it home. He he made it through the battles. He endured the fight and he made it home.
[20:31] And that precious in the sight of the Lord is is the death of a saint. So we want to endure through the end. And here's some words from Paul. As he. As he was realizing his journey.
[20:45] First Corinthians there. He says. Okay. I'm going to start. I'm going to start here in verse. 24.
[20:59] Under them which are called. Both Jews and Greeks. Christ. The power of God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is wiser than men. The weakness of God is stronger than men.
[21:11] You see your calling brother. Not many wise. Not many mighty. Out to the flesh. Not many noble. Paul realized this. He realized that in.
[21:23] The ones that are going to make it are not. Necessarily. You know. There is a. I mean just pause here a minute. There is a. A well-known.
[21:34] Atheist. In our day. And I. The. The guys in the higher up. World. Refer to him often. As a well-known atheist. In our day. He's a. He's one of the top physicists.
[21:44] Of. Of the day. In the learning. And he. He studies the. The universe. And how things work together. And his own words. Here's an atheist. Yet.
[21:55] Because in their mind. Everything has to be in a natural. World. And. Paul says. The natural mind. Can't receive the things of God. But he knows. That when this world began.
[22:06] He knows there's a beginning. It has to be a beginning. They debate that. How it all happened. But he said. If there would have been. A very slight. And he goes down to the. Less than a second.
[22:18] Of a difference. Of how this world came to be. In that beginning. If there's just a second difference. The whole universe. Would be out of order. Different than where we're at. And we would not be here.
[22:29] Here's a man. That does not believe in God. He's totally. Believes everything. Just natural. And yet. He knows. This universe. Is so ordered. And organized. Change it. Just an instant. And it's going to be.
[22:41] And here's. Here's the wisdom. Of this world. That's the wisdom. Of this world. And yet. That wisdom. Knows. Knows. There's order. In this universe. And there's order.
[22:52] And purpose. In our lives. And Paul said here. God's not chosen. Verse 27. The foolish things. Of the world. He's chosen. The foolish things. To confound the wise. He's chosen. The weak.
[23:02] The weak things. To confound. The things that are mighty. And the base. The things that are despised. He's chosen those. And the things that are not. To.
[23:12] To the things that are. That no flesh. Should glory in his presence. And I thought that word. Is chosen. Paul knew that. Jesus said the words. In John. He said. I'm not. You've not chosen me.
[23:23] But I've chosen. You've not chosen. But I have chosen you. He said those words. I've chosen you. Those words speak to us. To know today. That's a word. I think that we need to know. In our journey.
[23:35] We're chosen by God. For a purpose. God hasn't made a choice. You know. I go through life. Making different choices. And. We.
[23:46] You know. Those choices have an effect. They. You know. Maybe a day later. A year later. You see the effect. Of those choices. But God made. A choice for us.
[23:58] And to know that we're chosen. And. In. In Acts chapter 9. When. The. I think it was. Ananias was sent to. Or was to take.
[24:09] Was to get Paul. And. Pray for him. God said to him. See. He's a chosen vessel. He's a. Chosen vessel. To bear my name. To the Gentiles. That was the words.
[24:21] That God. That spoke to him. He said. He's a chosen vessel. Paul knew he was chosen. For a purpose. But he knew that purpose. Was for. To be. A testimony. To the Gentiles. And he said.
[24:31] To reveal. Christ in him. To reveal. Christ in him. That's what he chose you for. To reveal. Are you that. Are you know that purpose. Daily in your life. He's working in your life. That Christ.
[24:42] Would be revealed in you. Sometimes along the way. We forget that. That Christ. He's working to reveal. Christ in us. You're. You're longer. Farther along in the journey. Chuck.
[24:53] You're farther along. Than all of us here. And you're still here today. This morning. You're still sitting on this bench. Coming. You know. I've seen a lot of. Men walk in.
[25:04] To our yard sale. Yesterday. And the day before. And they come with different attitudes. Just different flavors. And different comments. That they make. And. It's just interesting to observe.
[25:16] It. I know where they're headed. Some of them. I know that. Some of them are going one way. And some another. You can just tell it. There's just something that comes out of them. Just what's coming out of their lives. And.
[25:27] So. You know. To have endured. To continue on. When. When. When the journey. Gets long. When the journey gets hard. And.
[25:39] We receive that word of encouragement. From the Lord. To keep enduring. I want to look here. At the.
[25:51] The words he spoke here. In chapter two. He said. I didn't come to you. First verse.
[26:02] I didn't come. With accents of speech. Wisdom. Declaring to you. The testament of God. I determined not to know. Anything among you. Save Jesus Christ. And him crucified. And I was with you.
[26:14] In weakness. And in fear. And much trembling. And my speech. My preaching. Was not with enticing words. Of men's wisdom. But in a demonstration. Of the spirit. And of power. That your faith.
[26:25] Should not stand. In the wisdom of men. But in the power of God. Paul continued to rely. On that. Which he knew was. Not himself. It wasn't from within. Not something that he could produce.
[26:37] And. That you know. That comes out of man. You know. You guys are young. And you can put a lot of energy. Into things. Get out there. In. In the mountains. Or playing ball. Whatever. There's something we have.
[26:48] We have. We have that energy. But. That. Yet Paul knew that. That energy. Wasn't going to last long. And he needed something. From without himself. He needed someone from above.
[27:00] He recognized it was God. And it's not just a force. Not just. You know. As people like to call it today. Just this force. That's out there. No. It was a God. A living God. That he had a relationship with.
[27:11] That was his. That was his life. That was his. That's what he spoke out of. A demonstration of the spirit. And of power. And he knew that. And he walked in that. But he had to often come to the cross.
[27:23] He said. I'm crucified with Christ. He said. I don't live. Nevertheless. Not I. But Christ. Liveth in me. And I don't think I actually quoted that right. So I'm going to turn to Galatians 2.
[27:35] 22. Where Paul said that. I am crucified with Christ.
[27:46] Nevertheless. I live. Yet not I. But Christ. Liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith. Of the son of God.
[27:57] Who loved me. And gave himself. For me. He loved me. And gave himself for me. Paul realized. Constantly. That. It was a. It was living at the cross.
[28:09] And letting that life live in him. Paul said at the end of this book. In Galatians chapter. Six. Verse fourteen. For God forbid. For God forbid. That I should glory. Save in the cross.
[28:20] Of our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom the world is crucified unto me. And I unto the world. And I want to go on in Ephesians. Just to see his heart again. I mean in Philippians.
[28:32] Philippians chapter three. Paul had so much. That he could have rested on. Of this world's wisdom. But in Philippians chapter.
[28:44] Three. He starts out there. He said. I was. I could have had a lot of confidence in the flesh. Verse four. He said. I could have a lot of confidence. If others think they have.
[28:55] I've got more. He said. I was circumcised the eighth day. I was as a stock of Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. And touching the law. I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal.
[29:07] I persecuted the church. Touching righteousness. Which is of the law. I was blameless. He had a list of credentials. And yet he. Said all of those things. Whatever was gained.
[29:18] I counted them lost for Christ. And I'm going to count them. All of these things lost. For the excellency. Of the joy of knowing. Christ. Jesus.
[29:29] My Lord. For whom I have suffered. The loss of all things. And do count them. But dung. That I may win Christ. And be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness. Which is of the law.
[29:40] But that which was. Through the faith of Christ. The righteousness. Which is. Of God. By faith. He continued to have that. And you know. I just look at these men. We have to have men before us.
[29:52] We have to have people before us. That encourage us on. And. I'm going to remind you young guys. Eric Little is a guy to read about. A man. And. Over a hundred years ago.
[30:04] He grew up in China. He was raised by missionary parents. But he. They sent him back to. Europe. To England. Great Britain. And there. As he was in school. He played. Sports.
[30:15] I believe. You might check it out. I believe it was soccer. They call it football. In Europe. And. Anyway. They was. In competition.
[30:27] And they. They. They was required to play on. Sunday. As far as that. Their competition was going into Sunday. And he refused to play.
[30:38] He. He would not play Sunday. He. He was going to set that side. And he did not. He did not compromise on that. You know. And he. He took that stand. I'm not sure all the events around that. But.
[30:49] Find the book on Eric Little. And you. You find it very interesting. The stand he took. It cost him. The price he had to pay. But God was with him in it. And. And rewarded him for his faithfulness in that.
[31:01] He's a young guy that you can. You can look to for an example. In our day. Because there's. We're in a day of a lot of. There's a lot of opportunities. And with some opportunities. It tests us.
[31:12] Are we going to compromise here? Are we going to give in a little bit here? Are we going to. Are we going to. You know. What's our choice going to be on that? And. You know. I think you young guys.
[31:24] I'm reminded of this. Because I was. I was back at my. Younger brothers here. A couple weeks ago. And. He was. He works in. Maintenance a lot. And.
[31:35] There's something going on. At the fairgrounds. And they. They wanted him to clean on. Sunday. But anyway. I didn't see him. I saw his son. And his son made the comment. What's he working on Sunday for anyway? You know.
[31:47] There's little choices we make. We start to compromise a little bit. And I don't. My son. My brother doesn't work regularly on that. They just needed him to. Take care of some restrooms on a Sunday.
[31:57] But. You young guys can encourage us on. Don't compromise. Don't give in the little things. That. That are going to take you this way. Or that way. Keep Christ always before you.
[32:08] And don't compromise. Keep. Keep that journey. And. I want to close here with just James. The last chapter of James. I hope you guys can. Follow me at all.
[32:19] I feel like I'm just gone here and there. But anyway. James chapter five. This is that encouragement to us. Right at the end to keep going.
[32:35] Know our purpose in life. And then keep on. In the battle here. You know it's.
[32:46] I wrote this down. So much of what we are today. Is because of others. What others have spoken into our lives. And I know that for sure. What we hope for. Shapes what we live for.
[32:58] What we hope for. Shapes what we live for. What we hope for. You know I had some verses.
[33:11] Written down here from Hebrews. But brother you was right there. The same verses. And I'm just going to leave that this morning. Because you was. You brought those words of encouragement. Out of Ephesians chapter 10 there. Be patient therefore.
[33:23] James chapter five verse seven. Be patient therefore brethren. Under the coming of the Lord. And he uses the example of. Of one that takes care of. A vineyard.
[33:33] Or someone that's. Taking care of a garden. Waiting for the fruit of the earth. And he has long patience for it. Until you receive the early. And latter rains.
[33:43] I guess we're getting the latter rains here. Right now. So be patient. And establish your hearts. For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another. And I thought of that.
[33:54] You know. There's the. Those are the little things. That are going to take us down. The little. Little things like that. Of relationships. As mentioned already here this morning. Those little things in relationships. That's what's going to pull us down.
[34:06] So keep up with relationships. Keep up with things. That. Among us. Where. Where we can. We can bring encouragement. To each other. Not grudging. He said. One to another.
[34:16] I just admitted that last night. At home. I said. I feel like I could get a little bitter here. Having to. Get ready here. Just feeling like I'm unprepared. But. Praise the Lord. He's faithful. Don't let them little grudges.
[34:27] Hang in there. And. And bring us down. Trip us up. Lest you be condemned. He said. Take my brethren. The prophets. Who spoke in the name of the Lord. For example of.
[34:38] Suffering affliction. And of patience. And that word. Patience. Again. I think that there is talking about that. That thing that can endure. That thing that can endure. In our lives. We count them happy that endure.
[34:51] I looked up that word endure a little bit. I want to just go there. It's a. It has something of. To. Bear up courageously.
[35:03] Under pressure. I think we know what that word is. We know. We hear the word endure. Yeah. You know what it is. But I just looked at a little bit. To bear up courageously. Under. Under pressure.
[35:14] Or suffering. Something that's testing us. And that's. That's what life is. Life is full of tests. And it's going to try us. And we don't. We don't want.
[35:26] A vehicle. That's not been. Tested. And tried. And going to stand up to the test. We don't want tires on there. That are going to blow up on us. And. Especially on a cycle. You don't want a tire to blow off.
[35:36] You got. A lot of trouble there. I just. Just read this week. That. Tesla. Was putting out these cars.
[35:47] That are. Self-automated. And. There's some. Court cases. And some lawsuits. Because some of them haven't worked. And. One particular guy. Was using it.
[35:58] And ended up. It ran off the road. Apparently. He was getting kind of used to this thing. And. He was on his phone or something. And it ran off the road. And. And hit a tree. And. Exploded. And. And he lost his life.
[36:09] And. Of course. That lawsuit. Out of that. But. I don't know where that. Self-automated vehicles. Are going to end up. If they. I'm not. I don't put my trust in that thing.
[36:20] I don't think I'll. Try it. Young guys might be interested. Running. A car that's. Self-automated. But. I don't have. Confidence in that. So. Anyway.
[36:33] I'm not sure where I got on that. Anyway. How'd I get on that story. Okay. We count them happy that endure. And you've heard the patience of Job. And have seen the end of the Lord. That the Lord is very.
[36:44] Pitiful. And of tender mercy. And. You know. Job faced a battle. He faced.
[36:57] God was. With Job. And. God spoke much of his life. But he faced the battle. And he endured. And he was. Much better at the end. We think of Job.
[37:09] As this one who had. Great tests in his life. But. In those tests. He stood strong. Until the end. He didn't give up. And. God blessed him in the end.
[37:20] And he was used by God. A testimony for us today. That. Even the writers here. Could say. Remember Job. Look at him. Look. Look what he went through. And. And. Consider the end.
[37:31] That the Lord is pitiful. And. Has tender mercy for him. You know. The words. Kind of. Are sharp for us.
[37:42] But. Matthew. 20. It says. Many are called. But few are chosen. And I think. I. I don't want to use that out of context.
[37:53] He was talking there. Jesus was talking about. The. The. He had just spoke about. A parable.
[38:05] Of a. Of the. The. Husband. That hired. Hired. People. At the beginning of the day. And at. Middle of the day. And at the end of the day. Kind of. And. He paid them all the same.
[38:16] And then. He kind of ended up with that. And he said. Many are called. But few are chosen. And I. Guess I don't want to take that out of the context. Of where he was at. But I feel like. The chosen are those.
[38:27] That just keep believing. Keep enduring. Keep pressing on. And they don't let the things of life. Turn them. Aside. They keep counting the cost.
[38:38] They keep weighing things out. They keep. Like you said this morning. Though there's some. Need for adjustment. There's some need. For correction. We keep pressing on. We keep. Winning the battle.
[38:51] Even though we face the. The hard things in life. So. What we hope for. Shapes what we live for. What are you hoping for today? What is your hope. That's set before you?
[39:03] They. Think the prophets. Had a hope. And they. They continued on with that hope. Praise the Lord. Okay. I think I'm going to end with that. I want to read something.
[39:14] Yet here. One. One little. Thing that I had out of. Devos. Now just. If I can share this. Just thinking of. Carol's father. Brother Ray. Here's a man that. He found out.
[39:25] He had a. He had a. Disease. That was taking his life. He said. I walked. I walked home. Somebody told me this. That you're a dying man.
[39:36] He said. I walked five miles. From. My office. To my home. I looked across the mountains. That I love. And I looked at the river. In which I rejoice. I looked at the trees.
[39:47] That were always God's own poetry. To my soul. Then in the evening. I looked up. In the great sky. When light. When God. Was lighting his lamps. I think he was referring to the stars.
[39:58] And I said this. I may not see. You many more times. Mountain. I shall live. I shall be alive. When you are gone. And river.
[40:09] I shall be alive. When you cease running. Toward the sea. And stars. I shall be alive. When you have fallen. From your sockets. In the great downpulling.
[40:20] Of the universe. He had a hope. To live forever. And I think we all have that hope. To live forever. So praise the Lord. Brother Joe.
[40:30] You want to just. Close up.