1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:03,360 Verse 6. In this you grace greatly 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:07,040 rejoice, and now for a little while, if need be, you have been 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,400 grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,040 being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be 5 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,480 tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:26,600 revelation of Jesus Christ. God has a plan for the things 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:31,560 that we don't like in our lives. I don't like trials any more 8 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,360 than you do. I realize though, that trials 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,360 are what brings me closer to God. 10 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,640 And God knows what you need in your life whenever you need it. 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,760 We're all proud people, and we have a tendency to be focused on 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,480 ourselves and not the Lord many times. 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,840 And so the Lord allows adversity to come into our life to cause 14 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:56,760 us all the sudden to look heavenward. 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,240 The first thing I do, and I'm sure you do too, is when you're 16 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,840 in adversity and trial is you're looking up to God and you're 17 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:09,320 asking him why, then you're asking him, when and how long 18 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:13,480 will this continue and how long do I have to deal with this? 19 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,400 That's usually the first kind of conversations you have. 20 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,080 And then you're being humbled. You're, you're realizing again 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,040 how much you need the Lord in your life. 22 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,280 We forget how much we need the Lord, all of us. 23 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,440 We can get used to living our lives and our own strength very 24 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,320 easily. It comes naturally. 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,920 And the Lord knows, OK, they're getting a little bit too carried 26 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,320 away with themselves and their own strength. 27 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:41,120 I'm going to allow something to come into their life to cause 28 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,080 them to realize that my strength is made perfect in their 29 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,960 weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon them. 30 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:55,360 So I think one of the ways that we can avoid unnecessary trials 31 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,440 and conflicts and chastening from the Lord is to stay close 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,320 to Jesus. You know, if you stay close to 33 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,680 the Lord, he many times won't have to bring things into your 34 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,680 life to make you realize how much you need to deal with in 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,960 your heart as far as repenting or getting right with God or 36 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,800 getting closer with God or putting him #1 in your life. 37 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:21,080 Again, if you're, if you're doing that every day and you're 38 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,920 endeavoring to look to him and yield to Him and surrender to 39 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:28,280 him, I really believe you will have less problems in your life. 40 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,200 But most of us don't live that way, super close to the Lord. 41 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,520 We, we trust him, we know him, we love him, but we're busy 42 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,480 about our lives, right? And so the Lord needs to remind 43 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,160 us, hey, I'm gone, I'm here. I want to be involved with your 44 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:44,920 life. I want to work with you, I want 45 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:47,480 to bless you, I want to lead you, I want to guide you. 46 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,200 And then all of a sudden, OK, we're in a place where we're 47 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,600 teachable again and we realize how much we we need the Lord. 48 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:01,120 The psalmist says in Psalm 1/19, it was good that I was 49 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:02,680 afflicted. Why? 50 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,640 That I may learn to walk in your ways. 51 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:11,880 God uses affliction, trials, difficulty, and adversity to 52 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,160 bring us closer to himself. Now, Paul, because he was an 53 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,200 apostle and he had a lot of spiritual warfare with the enemy 54 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,200 that was engaged against him 24/7. 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,640 He had a lot of things in his life that were what we call 56 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:33,360 spiritual warfare. So there's self-inflicted trials 57 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:39,040 that we experienced because of stupidity and sin and pride and 58 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,280 self centeredness or whatever, making wrong decisions. 59 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,680 And how did I get into this mess? 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,120 And then we realized, well, because I did this, this and 61 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,520 that, and this is the consequences of these things 62 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,960 I'm, I'm being challenged with right now. 63 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:57,120 But when it comes to warfare, the enemy has his target on 64 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,280 anybody that's really seriously committed to serving the Lord 65 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,960 and following him and, and being used by him. 66 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:06,200 And so it's not something to fear. 67 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,520 It's just a reality of, of what happens when you're engaged in 68 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,360 in the, in the ministry of the gospel. 69 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,480 And there's teachings that the Lord shows us how to get through 70 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,560 those things, how to overcome them, how to be victorious in 71 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,240 them. But it's always realizing that 72 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:27,040 Christ is our armor bearer and that he is with us all the time. 73 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,720 He'll never leave us or forsake us. 74 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,120 He told us in the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,880 cheer of overcome the world. And Paul said that all those who 76 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:41,160 live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution not may 77 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,240 suffer persecution, but will suffer persecution. 78 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:49,080 So what what kind of persecution are are we struggling with or 79 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,120 what kind of persecution are we suffering? 80 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,520 That's that's something I wanted to talk about here this morning 81 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,680 a little bit in in in the lieu of this chapter as we go through 82 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,480 it. There's some statistics how many 83 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:07,200 Christians are in Iran now Iran's getting as President 84 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,320 Trump says the H bombed out of him, right? 85 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,200 And so we might say, yeah, go get him, destroy him off the 86 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,720 face of not realizing that there is over 1,000,000 Christians 87 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,520 living in Iran underground trusting in Jesus Christ. 88 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,440 And they're suffering because of this war and because of the 89 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:29,360 totalitarian government, evil Islamic extremist radical 90 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,480 government that's causing terrible consequences for the 91 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,040 people live in Iran. There's about 200,000 Christians 92 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,360 that live in Israel. Now that's really amazing, isn't 93 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,920 it? 1,000,000 in Iran and and about 94 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,240 200,000 in Israel. OK. 95 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,480 And most of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. 96 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,840 People don't realize that. So to this day, Israel, even 97 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,760 though God has a plan for them in the days ahead in the future, 98 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,560 they are diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 99 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,360 Let's just be frank and and real and true about it. 100 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,960 Now there's more Jewish people coming to know Christ and that's 101 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,560 God's plan as time time moves on. 102 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,960 But when you look at war and you look at nations, you have to 103 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,440 understand there's people like you and me that are living in 104 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:22,320 these persecuted nations, whether it's Russia, Ukraine, 105 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:28,040 Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, all these countries in the world 106 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,320 that have terrible, terrible persecution. 107 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,920 The people in Iran, the Christians like you and me, 108 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:43,600 detest the government role of what's happening there, but they 109 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,120 don't have the freedom to protest like we would in our 110 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,800 country if that happened to us. If they start acting out, they 111 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,520 will be immediately martyred and killed for their position. 112 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:04,720 And So what what God does through world powers and leaders 113 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:10,880 is he humbles and topples governments of of ungodly 114 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,360 nations. And right now we're in the 115 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,320 process of seeing Iran being toppled, and the sooner the 116 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,360 better that there's a new government in there, just like 117 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:26,400 in Venezuela right now, and the attack that was recently and 118 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,320 made in Africa to stop the persecution of Christians. 119 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:41,160 So I think about the the issue of the places in the world where 120 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,920 there's the most persecution. And my brother John Hildebrand 121 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,640 sent me something this morning that sort of caused me to think 122 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,960 about this chapter in light of what is persecution. 123 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,440 You and I are fortunate. We live in a nation right now. 124 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,840 We're not really being persecuted at this point in 125 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,120 time. There might be pushed back a 126 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,840 little bit from the far left in regard to our positions on 127 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,480 abortion and marriage and what the Bible teaches about truth, 128 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,880 but it's more verbal than physical at this point in time. 129 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,760 And it's really important to realize that your vote is very 130 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,120 important in regard to the type of country you live in. 131 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:28,440 If you allow your country to be run by a far leftist extremist, 132 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,280 then you're going to find that you're going to soon experience 133 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,039 perhaps some of these horrors that some of these other nations 134 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,919 are experiencing. But the 10 most persecuted 135 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:40,280 nations. This is from Open Door Ministry. 136 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,840 North Korea tops the list for decades where Christians face 137 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,840 extreme persecution, including execution or labor camps. 138 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,800 You want to live in North Korea? How about Somalia? 139 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,760 Al Shabaab militants and families target converts from 140 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,480 Islam to Christianity. Yemen. 141 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:02,960 Ongoing civil war and extremist groups make Christianity 142 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,880 dangerous. Sudan Christians face 143 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:11,360 discrimination and violence amid severe civil conflict Atria The 144 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,640 government only recognizes 4 denominations, with others 145 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,800 facing unlawful arrests. Syria A surge of violence has 146 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,400 returned it to the top ten with the dwindling Christian 147 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,560 population. Nigeria has the highest number 148 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:29,240 of Christians killed for their faith with extremists targeting 149 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,120 communities particularly in the north. 150 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,480 Pakistan Christians face danger through strict blasphemy laws 151 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,440 with mob violence. Libya hub for extremist groups 152 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,960 that target Christians, migrants and converts. 153 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:47,320 Iran converts from Islam face imprisonment, interrogation and 154 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:54,120 systemic discrimination. This unbelievable what a lot of 155 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:59,080 these places in the world are dealing with the most Christian 156 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,400 nations by percentage. And I don't know if you ever 157 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,920 think about this. Did you pick your place of 158 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,320 birth? God for some reason caused you 159 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:11,600 to be born in the United States of America and we don't realize 160 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,920 how privileged we are. I can't believe how many 161 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,120 Americans are complaining about living here. 162 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:23,800 They had to take a vacation in Sudan for a while or go live in 163 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,760 Iran or something like that. It's, it's just unbelievable 164 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,480 the, the unthankfulness and the, the, the people in the streets 165 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,840 that are saying death to America and, and they're allowed to do 166 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:40,640 that here. Mike Johnson recently shared his 167 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,760 concern about Sharia law. And Sharia law is when the 168 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:48,600 Muslims have control of a particular geographic area and 169 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:56,720 they force you to bow down to their false God, Allah, and they 170 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:03,360 run their places like a prison because if you're not committed 171 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:08,240 to Islam extremism, you are considered an enemy and they 172 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,080 will be out to get you to kill you. 173 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,800 And in some places in America right now, like especially in 174 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,320 some parts of Michigan and some cities you go in and they're 175 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,360 predominantly controlled by this kind of mentality. 176 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,360 And you got a mayor in New York that is committed Muslim. 177 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,400 I'm surprised he spoke out against the attack on the 178 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:33,600 synagogue in Israel recently that where the guy drove the 179 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,520 truck through. He said these kind of things 180 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,280 shouldn't exist, but that guy's passion is Islam. 181 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,160 And and so to have in America, the United States of America, 182 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,520 one nation under God with liberty and justice for all in 183 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,880 the Constitution, all the things this country was founded upon 184 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,920 Judeo-christian values. Excuse me. 185 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,880 And we have all these groups coming into our country now that 186 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,400 are trying to destroy what was built here for us to live with 187 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,880 peace and freedom. These these, these are very, 188 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:13,680 very concerning. The Armenia part of the world, 189 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:21,160 98% Christian Romania, Multa, United States of America, 190 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:27,920 219,000,000 Christians, roughly 63 to 70% of the population, 191 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,560 Brazil, Mexico. And there's some parts even in 192 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,520 Nigeria where there's a strong Christian influence even though 193 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:39,400 they're being destroyed. And so when Paul was writing 194 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,040 this book, he was in a governmental system that was 195 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,480 Antichrist. The Roman Empire and the Roman 196 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,680 Empire wanted to destroy Christianity, but they couldn't 197 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:56,040 because Jesus, he, he reigns on his throne. 198 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,560 All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. 199 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:03,000 And he's blessing the spread of the gospel, even though it 200 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:07,640 requires martyrdom at times. He's blessing the growth of 201 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,960 people in these various nations that have come to faith in Jesus 202 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,520 Christ. Some of the strongest churches 203 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,640 are in China underground. We hear China, and right away we 204 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,160 think they're our enemy, and in many ways they are. 205 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,880 But boy, thank God what he's doing in China with the body of 206 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,880 Christ, it's powerful. And so God's will can't be 207 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:35,360 thwarted or circumvented by man. Thank God for that, right? 208 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:38,800 So Paul continued to do what he had to do. 209 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:41,800 And in this book of Second Corinthians, not any. 210 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,400 Did he talk about his suffering openly? 211 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,120 But he talked about his apostleship that people weren't 212 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,200 receiving anymore or even accepting, and the churches that 213 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,960 he had planted. There was a disrespect for his 214 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,680 spiritual authority and the calling and the anointing of God 215 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:01,240 upon his life, but it didn't stop him for doing what he still 216 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,840 needed to do. So it says he's an apostle of 217 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,440 Jesus Christ by the will of God, not by the will of man. 218 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,120 He was raised up by God. Anybody that's raised up by man 219 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,800 to be a leader will fail. And most of the time they're not 220 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,040 going to be true to the the leader, the true leader, the 221 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:24,000 Lord Jesus Christ. But when God raises up people to 222 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,840 follow him and to start churches or to do ministries, and it's 223 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:32,680 obvious that He's in charge and not them, God will use those 224 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,680 people, men and women, to be able to impact the the nation in 225 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,040 the world and the communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 226 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,200 And then he says that Timothy's with him as well. 227 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:48,480 Timothy, our brother Timothy was Paul's understudy, his right 228 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,560 hand man, and he was also responsible to carry on the work 229 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,360 of the ministry in Ephesus when Paul was no longer on the face 230 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,640 of the earth. And then it says to the Church 231 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,440 of God, which is at Corinth with all the Saints who are in all 232 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,120 Achaea. And Achaea was the region of the 233 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:10,200 nation of Greece and, and many, many churches, many, many people 234 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,960 were being impacted by the apostle Paul's ministry. 235 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:19,680 And then he uses these words and many of his Gospels 18 times and 236 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,840 not of the Gospels of the epistles 18 times. 237 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:27,360 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 238 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,480 Christ. The grace of God is the most 239 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:39,040 important thing that you and I need on a daily basis. 240 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,280 The grace of God is what enables you to overcome temptation. 241 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,360 The grace of God is the power that gives you the ability to 242 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:54,080 suffer through adversity and trials, issues of health, 243 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,920 finances, relationships, marriages, kids, whatever. 244 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:07,600 God's grace is sort of like this uplifting power that He bestows 245 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:12,600 upon us to be able to be OK and stable. 246 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,040 When you get the diagnosis that you don't want to get, 247 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:21,320 regardless of the diagnosis, that won't circumvent or thwart 248 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:25,520 the power of God's grace to sustain you in the midst of the 249 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,000 most difficult times of life. You'll get through them because 250 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,480 of God's grace. You won't get through them 251 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,240 without God's grace. You'll fail, you'll fall, you'll 252 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,840 curse God, and you'll fall away if you don't have the grace of 253 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,360 God. We're not made and we're not 254 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:47,240 wired to deal with impossible adversity apart from the grace 255 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,320 of God. So Paul always bestowed and 256 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,280 prayed that they would be recipients of His grace. 257 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:54,360 And you don't earn the grace of God. 258 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,320 The grace of God is a gift. And the grace of God comes even 259 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,240 today by you being in His church, worshipping Him in His 260 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,160 Word, having your heart open to the truth of His Word, yielding 261 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,440 to Him. And God is just pouring grace 262 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,640 into your life as you, your recipients of His Word, and as 263 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,560 you pray and as you seek his face. 264 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,640 And if you have God's grace, you'll have his peace. 265 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,960 I've watched families in this church go through tremendous 266 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,640 suffering, and I watch the families get through the 267 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,400 suffering because of the grace of God. 268 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:33,920 And I see them having the peace of God. 269 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,520 They don't like it. It's no fun, it's not enjoyable, 270 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:41,840 but they're calm because God's peace is upon them, because 271 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:46,440 God's grace is in them. And then he says in verse 3, 272 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,880 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 273 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:56,120 Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us and 274 00:17:56,120 --> 00:18:00,920 all our tribulation. Not some tribulation, but all 275 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:05,200 tribulation. God is able to comfort us in all 276 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:10,200 our tribulation. He's defined as a God of all 277 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:16,160 comfort, the comfort do you need to be comforted today? 278 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:22,160 We all need to be comforted, and that comfort comes from this 279 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:28,160 wonderful God we have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the 280 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:33,320 power of the Holy Spirit. You're never alone in the midst 281 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:37,120 of the trial. If you look to the comforter, 282 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:45,800 The comforter is defined in John chapter 14 as the Holy Spirit. 283 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:50,040 Before Jesus ascended, He told them it was necessary that He 284 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:55,480 would go up so that the Holy Spirit would come down and not 285 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,800 only come down but also dwell in them. 286 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:04,800 And he said in John 1415, If you love me, keep my commandments, 287 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,280 and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, 288 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,960 that He may abide with you forever. 289 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,080 And some of your translations that will say comforter. 290 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,840 The spirit of truth in the world can't receive because it neither 291 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,320 sees Him nor knows him. But you know Him, for He dwells 292 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,000 with you and will be with you. And I will not leave you 293 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,920 orphans, and I will come to you. How many of you today here have 294 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,320 experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in the time of trials in 295 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,120 your life? Raise your hand, everyone of 296 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:40,480 you, There's not one of us here who has not experienced this 297 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,440 comforter. But why is it so often that he's 298 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,680 the last one we go to when we're going through a trial? 299 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,240 We go through something we don't like and we're calling 30 people 300 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:52,400 asking him, what do? What do we do? 301 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,640 How do we get through this? And we have this God the Holy 302 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,520 Spirit dwelling in us, the comforter, where we can say to 303 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:03,080 him, show us what we're to do, show us how we're to handle 304 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,280 this. Give us a strength in the midst 305 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,800 of this season that I can't get through apart from you 306 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:14,160 comforting me. He is the God of all comfort and 307 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:20,160 He's able to comfort those who are in any trouble, any trouble. 308 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,960 You might be here today and you're in trouble of some sort. 309 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:28,000 I don't know, but God knows. But He says that this comforter 310 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,200 is going to be able to comfort you in the midst of the trouble 311 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:36,480 that you're in right now. But you have to look to him. 312 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,400 You have to trust in him. You have to talk to him, ask 313 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:41,560 him. I don't know how many times a 314 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,920 day I'm walking around in my life saying, Lord have mercy, 315 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,320 help me Jesus, you know you don't have to like my prayer 316 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,440 time in the morning, 10 minutes, OK, whatever. 317 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:52,800 No, your prayer times all day long. 318 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,200 Lord, give me wisdom in this situation. 319 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,480 I don't know what to do about this person that's giving me a 320 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,720 problem right now. I don't know what to do about 321 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:06,120 this situation I'm in that I'm not comfortable with or I don't 322 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:10,160 have the wisdom to know how to circumvent the OR navigate this 323 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,120 singing work or business or whatever. 324 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,400 It's ridiculous how much we rely on our own strength and not the 325 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,600 Lord, right? We need to ask God for help. 326 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,360 If you're hurting right now, if you're afraid, if you're 327 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:26,440 confused, if you're upset or whatever, say help me, Lord, 328 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,840 that's humility. Don't, don't try to handle it 329 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,080 yourself and ask your brothers and sisters to pray for you, 330 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,960 that they would come alongside of you and help you and pray for 331 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:39,520 you. We have every Sunday is an 332 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,960 opportunity to come up and pray. If you need prayer, don't be 333 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,040 embarrassed to come up. You don't have to get into the 334 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:46,800 details. You can just say to the person 335 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,040 that's asking you what you need prayer for. 336 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,480 Just pray for me. I need help. 337 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,360 That's all you need to say. And God will use those people 338 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:58,200 behind you and beside you to comfort you as they pray for you 339 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,120 and help you. He says that the sufferings of 340 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:04,880 Christ abound in us. This is Paul when we got a lot 341 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,360 of suffering going on in us. So our consolation also abounds 342 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:11,600 through Christ. In other words, Paul said I got 343 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,400 problems you wouldn't even imagine. 344 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,240 He talks about some of them later on when we get into the 345 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,480 book, what he went through from people, from church stuff, from, 346 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,680 you know, physical beatings, imprisonments. 347 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,520 I mean, this guy was constantly, constantly suffering in ways 348 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,320 that none of us will ever experience. 349 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,280 But he's saying himself that as a sufferings of Christ are in 350 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,840 US, along with what might you might be going through are all 351 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,720 our consolation, our comfort comes through Christ. 352 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,760 Now, if we're afflicted in verse 6, it's for your consolation and 353 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,560 salvation which is effective for enduring the same sufferings 354 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,080 which we also suffer. So he's saying, like, what I'm 355 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:56,280 going through right now should encourage you in the sense that 356 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:00,920 you're not alone and God's helping me, and I'll show you 357 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,080 how he helped me so you'll believe he can help you. 358 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:11,280 Paul never tried to cover up his his problems or his challenges. 359 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,040 He didn't complain about him, but he sure wanted people to 360 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,840 know that things weren't easy for him. 361 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:23,640 And he talks about the suffering as being similar in some ways to 362 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:25,400 what the people would go through as well. 363 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,320 Not to the degree that he went through, but the sufferings were 364 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,600 somewhat common. We've all been sick physically. 365 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,880 So you know what it's like to suffer from physical illness. 366 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,640 We all can identify with that. Some of you have been through 367 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,040 cancers or are, are in cancers have come out of cancers, the 368 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,200 suffering of, of going through the chemo and the drugs and the, 369 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,760 the nauseousness and all that stuff. 370 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,400 Boy, I'll tell you, unless you are in that and go through that, 371 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,480 you don't know what it's like unless you talk to someone else 372 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,680 who's going through it or experiencing it presently. 373 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,760 That's why they have the, the support groups that people will 374 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:06,240 see how God has gotten them through some of these very, very 375 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:11,800 difficult seasons of life. And then he says, if we're 376 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,720 comforted, it's for your consolation, salvation. 377 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,800 So when someone tells a story about what God did for them, how 378 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,240 he comforted them, how he got through something and you're on 379 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,520 the other end hearing them and you're going through something, 380 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,000 you're going to be comforted by what they told you God did for 381 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:37,720 them. It'll give you hope and the the 382 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:42,400 truth of experiencing comfort has to come from personal 383 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,240 experience. If you've never been comforted 384 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,760 by God, I, I can't tell you what it's like. 385 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,200 I can tell you what I experienced, but I can't tell 386 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,360 you what it's like until you experience it. 387 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,360 And once you experience the comfort of God, boy, we have 388 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:02,240 some good conversation, don't we? 389 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:04,880 We can praise God, we can thank God. 390 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,480 We can glorify God together. We can rejoice in God together. 391 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,560 We can, you know, just be excited when we see God has done 392 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,920 something wonderful to comfort someone who's in a very 393 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:20,640 perilous, difficult situation. It makes me feel good. 394 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,880 Whenever I know that God's taking care of people. 395 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,760 I can't take care of them like God can. 396 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,120 I care. I'll do all I can to help 397 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:31,200 people, but I'm not God. I can't comfort you like God can 398 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,120 comfort you. I can tell you that God can 399 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:36,160 comfort you, but you have to experience God's comfort 400 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:41,760 yourself. And our hope for you is 401 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,440 steadfast, verse 7, because we know that as you are partakers 402 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:51,280 of the suffering, so also you will partake of the consolation. 403 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,840 And that's the good news. Yeah, you're suffering right now 404 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,000 and you're partaking of these sufferings. 405 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,720 You're experiencing them, but God is going to allow you to 406 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,800 partake of this consolation and this comfort that things are 407 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,720 going to be OK. They're going to work out. 408 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:13,920 You know, Romans 828 says all things work together for good to 409 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,400 those who love God and are called according to His purpose. 410 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:23,120 And I've wrestled with that verse many times with seeing 411 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:26,320 what's going on in my own life at times and the lives of people 412 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:32,840 I I'm close to tragedies, challenges, needless deaths or 413 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,480 heartache. I, I don't understand God, why, 414 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,360 why I cry out like that as David did. 415 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:46,000 But then I realized that God knows what he's doing because he 416 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,800 said about this all things working together for good. 417 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:58,120 He said to those he foreknow for new that the consequences of 418 00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:04,840 these things that he says work out good are to conform us the 419 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:11,000 image of Jesus Christ or to make us more like Jesus right, and 420 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,680 that's what this is all about. This journey, this pilgrimage of 421 00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,520 being a Christian is to become like Jesus. 422 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,440 It isn't to get more information or be able to quote verses that 423 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,480 are know where all the books of the Bible are. 424 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:27,120 That's all nice, but it's like I know whom I believed in and I'm 425 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:31,640 persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed 426 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,600 unto him against that day. Not hope, I wish, maybe. 427 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:41,400 No, I am 100% persuaded that God is faithful. 428 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,080 And until we get to that point, each of us individually, we're 429 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:51,120 going to be we're going to be like Jelly 11 problem against 430 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:55,000 another complaining, crying out, I need help. 431 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,920 Why doesn't God help me? Well, probably he's not helping 432 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,600 you because you haven't asked him to help you. 433 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:07,840 He said, Whosoever comes to him, he will in no wise cast out his 434 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,400 arms are continually open to every one of us, saying, Come 435 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,000 unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 436 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:19,880 you rest, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 437 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:24,880 Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall 438 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,400 find rest for your souls. Lord, help us to come to you. 439 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,520 Help us. Verse 8. 440 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,000 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren of our 441 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,720 trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened 442 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,760 beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of 443 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,480 life. Yes, we had the sense of death 444 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,920 in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, 445 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,720 who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a 446 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:59,400 death and does deliver us in whom we trust that he will still 447 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,320 deliver us. Isn't that something? 448 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,120 He's like totally, 100% transparent? 449 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,800 Life is a pain right now. It's hard, it's a struggle, it 450 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,080 hurts, it's scary, it's overwhelming. 451 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,720 Whatever term you want to use the definition to describe this 452 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:25,240 season that Paul's in despairing even of life like I don't know 453 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,360 if we'll make it. He's saying I don't know if 454 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:33,480 we'll we'll be alive tomorrow. But then he's trust was not in 455 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:41,440 anything else or anybody else, but trusting in God, that we 456 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,640 should not trust in ourselves but in God. 457 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:49,320 Are you trusting in yourself or are you trusting in God? 458 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,680 That's the big question, isn't it? 459 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:04,840 Hebrews tells us that we're able to come in to the throne room of 460 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:12,800 grace at any time of the day. I might call you to ask for 461 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,560 prayer and phone goes into voicemail. 462 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,520 I can't talk with you, but I know you'll get the voicemail 463 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,480 and you will pray or whatever. God doesn't have voicemail. 464 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:30,160 He's on the line personally, presently 24/7. 465 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,640 I'm not going to go into that throne room of grace and there's 466 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,960 a million people ahead of me, which there is, but it doesn't 467 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,360 matter. I don't know how He does it. 468 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:43,080 He handles every situation simultaneously, individually, in 469 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,920 in real time, moment by moment. He's not saying, hey, come back 470 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,120 in a month. There's 2 million people before 471 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,560 you and there's people that have more problems than you do, 472 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,240 serious problems. Now it says that we might go 473 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,400 into that throne of throne of grace with boldness. 474 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,600 That's like assurance, like I'm here because you told me to come 475 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:05,120 to get help, that we might find mercy and grace and help and our 476 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:07,800 time of need. Isn't that awesome? 477 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:17,600 Mercy and grace and help in our time of need as a worship team 478 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,920 can come forward. In verse 11, it says you also 479 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,840 helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by 480 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,720 many persons on our behalf for the gifts granted to us through 481 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,240 many. So not many was God involved in 482 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,240 bringing the comfort, but the people that were close to Paul 483 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,720 in the churches were also praying and holding him up and 484 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,240 encouraging him. So God has his part, but he's 485 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,600 also given you and me a part. So you you know I'm hurting. 486 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,080 I know you were hurting. Can I pray for you? 487 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:54,440 Yeah, absolutely. Pray for me. 488 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,880 Can I pray for you? Yes, please pray for me. 489 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,760 The more people. And it isn't like, well, if you 490 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,440 have 1000 people praying, God will really answer no, you only 491 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,880 need one really. But he's interceding 492 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,640 continually. But somehow he uses your prayers 493 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,040 along with his prayer to bring comfort to others. 494 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,360 So we're the hands and feet of Jesus to comfort one another. 495 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,840 Someone's hurting in a way that you maybe know a little bit more 496 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,440 about than someone else. You go to that person and say, 497 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:21,760 hey, I've been where you've been. 498 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:25,000 I've been through what you've been through, and this is what 499 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,400 God will do. Let's pray and you pray and you 500 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,200 bring that comfort on behalf of others. 501 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,520 And this is a gift that God's given to you and me to provide 502 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,760 for other people to, to bring comfort to them as well. 503 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:44,640 So whenever I had the title for this message, I sent it out to 504 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,320 someone who sends you guys something. 505 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,040 And, and the person said I really needed that. 506 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:52,200 Guess what? Me too. 507 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:56,520 We all need it, don't we? So now you have the solution. 508 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:01,160 Now you have the answer. The application now is to start 509 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,480 talking to Jesus more about what it is. 510 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,240 It's giving you a hard time and say, Lord, help me through this. 511 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,320 Show me how to handle this and he will Amen. 512 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,000 God bless you guys. Let's take the supper together. 513 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,360 Lord, we're so thankful again for your word. 514 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,560 You say the entrance of your word gives light. 515 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,480 It gives understanding to the simple. 516 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,680 We're simple folk, Lord, we need, we need simplicity. 517 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,160 We we need to have this stuff broken down in ways that we can 518 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,360 apply in our lives. And we're so thankful for Paul 519 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,520 and his way to communicate truth so that it's accessible to 520 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,760 everybody. You put it in a lower level and 521 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,000 we can reach on the shelf and pull it down for ourselves and 522 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,960 say, Lord, this is what I need right now. 523 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,360 I need your comfort, Lord, please comfort me. 524 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,600 I don't understand why I'm in what I'm in right now. 525 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,240 I don't understand what the doctors talking about. 526 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,120 I don't understand why the job isn't there. 527 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,639 I don't understand why the marriage is struggling or why 528 00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:14,360 the kids are running or Lord, I don't understand any of these 529 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,400 things. I don't understand why there has 530 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,040 to be these wars, Lord. But you know about all this 531 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:25,120 stuff, Lord, and I pray you would comfort us, comfort me, 532 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,800 comfort my brothers and sisters and what it is we don't 533 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,639 understand, and to help us trust You and ask for You to show us 534 00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:36,920 how to get through it. And we're so thankful, Lord, 535 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,719 that You will never leave us or forsake us. 536 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,520 You'll be there for us to supply to us the grace that we need to 537 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,320 get through whatever it is. It's hard. 538 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,480 And You'll give us the peace to be settled in the midst of the 539 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,840 storm. And because of that, Lord, you 540 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:58,160 tell us to remember you in the supper, to come into your 541 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:05,120 presence, and to experience this holy, your Holy Spirit in US, 542 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,480 comforting us. And we take this today to 543 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:12,400 remember you and for your glory, and also to strengthen us. 544 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,080 And on the night that Jesus is betrayed, he took the bread in 545 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,160 his hands, He broke it, and he gave thanks. 546 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,400 He said, take, eat. This is My body which was given 547 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,320 for you. Eat this in remembrance of me. 548 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,960 The same manner in that evening he took the cup. 549 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,000 He said this cup is a new covenant, My blood which is shed 550 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,120 for the forgiveness of sins of many. 551 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:50,360 Drink this in remembrance of Me. There's often as you eat this 552 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:54,440 bread and you drink this cup, you show forth the Lord's death 553 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:55,920 till he comes again. Amen. 554 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:57,720 God bless you guys.