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Good morning. 
According to Open Doors World 

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Watch List, about 13 people are 
killed every day globally for 

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the Christian faith. 
Now that means that on average 

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here, even in modern times in 
what we would call the civilized

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world in 2025, that about every 
two hours someone is killed for 

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following Christ during our 
service. 

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More than likely someone will 
lose their life here on earth 

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for proclaiming Christ is king 
while we sit and worship him 

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freely in this religious 
freedom. 

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Someone will lose their life for
this. 

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My name is Daniel. 
I'm the lead preaching pastor 

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here at Rez Church and we're in 
week 3 of a series called Why 

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Are Things So Bad? 
And two weeks ago we looked at 

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the first of three reasons that 
the Bible says there is 

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suffering and pain in this world
and that is that this world is 

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broken. 
Everything has been fractured 

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since that moment in which 
humans rebelled against God. 

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And now all of humanity, in fact
all of nature groans to be set 

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right. 
That's one of the reasons we 

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suffer. 
Last week we looked at the 

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second reason the Bible says we 
suffer. 

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And that is that often times 
what we we're experiencing is 

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simply the consequences of our 
own actions. 

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Amen. 
Yeah, I can relate to that. 

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And today we're going to look at
a third reason that the Bible 

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says that there is suffering. 
Jesus actually guaranteed us 

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that if we followed him, there 
would be a specific type of 

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suffering that we would 
experience and it would go so 

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far. 
He would go so far as to say we 

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should not be surprised by it 
when it comes. 

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When I was a sophomore in high 
school was 2 year, 2 weeks into 

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the sophomore year, my family 
moved to Bakersfield and I 

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joined the football team at East
High and I found out there was 

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an assistant coach on that team 
that hated Christians. 

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How do I know? 
Because he told me I hate 

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Christians. 
I was like and So what? 

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What? 
What then happened is every 

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single day that I went to 
practice, he made sure to find 

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me and remind me, make fun of 
me, have me do extra drills and 

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extra work, pulled me out of the
lineup because he hated 

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Christians. 
This was nothing at all like the

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type of suffering we're going to
talk about in the Bible. 

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However, it was the first time 
in my life that it became a 

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reality to me that people might 
treat me differently for 

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following Christ. 
See, up until then, everything 

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about Christianity was easy or 
good or positive. 

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It was all benefits. 
This was the first time there 

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was a real cost that I'd ever 
really considered. 

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And I will tell you, I was 
surprised by it, even though the

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Bible says don't be surprised by
it. 

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There's a guy named Peter. 
He was an apostle. 

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He spent probably probably spent
the most time with Jesus during 

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the the three years that Jesus 
was doing ministry here on 

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earth. 
And he's going to write a couple

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letters later in his life, and 
we're going to look at one of 

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them today. 
And when he was younger and he 

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was walking with Jesus, he was 
constantly challenging Jesus and

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saying like, hey, this, this 
idea that you have to go and 

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suffer and die, like that 
doesn't make any sense. 

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So he's challenging, he's 
pushing on him. 

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He's questioning him all the 
time. 

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And then the moment that things 
got really hot and really hard 

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and persecution begin to happen,
Peter ran away. 

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But later in life, he's going to
write a letter, and his 

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perspective on suffering, his 
perspective on this has changed 

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substantially. 
He actually becomes one of the 

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central leaders of the first 
church, and he has endured 

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beatings and ridicule and 
persecution for Christ. 

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And so he's going to write a 
letter, and we're going to see 

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how his perspective has changed 
about this. 

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We're going to pick this up in 
First Peter chapter 4, verse 12.

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This is what it says, beloved, 
and do not be surprised at the 

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fiery trial when it comes upon 
you to test you has though 

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something strange were happening
to you. 

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But rejoice insofar as you share
Christ's sufferings, that you 

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may also rejoice, and be glad 
when His glory is revealed. 

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If you are insulted for the name
of Christ, you are blessed 

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because the Spirit of glory and 
of God rests upon you. 

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Now, if that weren't clear 
enough, Jesus in John 15 and in 

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Luke 6 is actually going to 
explain to us that if, if we 

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give our lives to Christ, the 
world will hate us because we no

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longer belong to the world. 
We belong to Christ. 

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In fact, He promises that in 
fact, Jesus will go so far as to

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tell us this. 
He says we should consider 

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ourselves blessed when people 
hate us and treat us differently

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for following Christ. 
Do you we should consider 

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ourselves blessed when people 
treat us terribly for the name 

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of Christ? 
No, thank you. 

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I do not like the sound of that.
Unsubscribe. 

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That does not sound like a good 
thing, but, but here's what I 

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want to do. 
I want to peel this apart. 

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OK, this is the last week we're 
looking at this, this idea of 

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suffering. 
The third reason. 

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And and I think that that for 
you and I say me, I think for 

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you and I, we have a very 
distorted view of suffering. 

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And so like particularly this 
kind of suffering. 

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And so I, I want to peel it up. 
I want to really look at this 

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today. 
And if you get nothing else, if 

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you take one thing away from 
today, it's this idea. 

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We should pray to be persecuted,
not passive or political. 

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We should pray to be persecuted,
not passive or political. 

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We're going to look at that real
quick in three ways. 

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First, we're going to define it.
So we're going to define 

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persecution biblically. 
Secondly, we're going to explain

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why it is mostly absent from our
lives. 

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And 3rd, we're going to talk 
about why we should pray for its

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presence. 
Why we should pray for its 

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presence. 
OK, so here's the first thing. 

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What is persecution? 
It is a very specific type of 

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suffering according to the 
Bible. 

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Peter in his letter will say 
fiery trial. 

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That's the word he'll use. 
And he's talking about this type

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of suffering that comes from 
following Jesus. 

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It's not a random bad luck. 
It's not general life problems. 

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It's not even the consequences 
of my own actions. 

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It's something more specific 
than that. 

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It's opposition, targeted 
opposition because of our faith.

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And, and the Bible would tell us
to think of it like gold being 

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refined, that it's going to get 
really hot, but it's not to 

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destroy the gold, it's to refine
it and to purify it. 

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And so we're going to see a 
little bit of that in here as 

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well. 
Look at this verse we just read.

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Let's let's break it down just a
little bit more detailed and 

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you're going to see a couple 
things about persecution and and

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how we should have a change 
maybe our perspective of it. 

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Here's what verse 12 says is 
beloved, do not be surprised. 

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Meaning, meaning we should 
expect suffering and difficulty 

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and not be let's be real, it's 
the opposite, right? 

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We actually expect comfort and 
luxury and then we're shocked 

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when it's not. 
The Bible says you should be 

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shocked when you're not being 
persecuted. 

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You should be surprised when you
when you don't have difficulty 

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at the fiery trial. 
We'll talk about it in a minute 

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when it comes upon you to what's
that word test you so, so fiery 

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trial. 
And in just a moment, we'll read

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a couple other verses from some 
other people because James, 

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another apostle will call this 
trials of various kinds. 

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He'll say it a little 
differently. 

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And Paul, yet another he'll just
call this suffering in general. 

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But but the goal for all three 
of them is the same as this 

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right here. 
Test you. 

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It's the test you as though 
something strange were happening

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to you. 
But Oh no, what's that word? 

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Rejoice. 
Rejoice about suffering. 

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Show of hands any anybody 
suffered recently. 

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Go ahead. 
Come on. 

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How many people in the midst of 
that were like, thank you, Lord,

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nobody. 
Come on. 

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We're not that kind of people. 
We hate. 

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We hate suffering. 
We hate it. 

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The Bible says, no, no, no, 
rejoice in this. 

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And and here's the thing. 
Peter's writing this, OK, And 

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you might say easy for you to 
say, no, no, he lived this in in

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Acts. 
We get a story right after the 

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church is forming and this guy 
Peter is preaching. 

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He's saying like, man, we saw 
Jesus, he resurrected, he's the 

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king, he's the savior. 
And man, there's some people 

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that do not like that and they 
pull him into like this council 

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and they tell him not to do it 
and he doesn't listen. 

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And they severely beat him. 
And this is what happens right 

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after they beat him. 
Acts 541 Then they this is 

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Peter. 
And another apostle left the 

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presence of the council. 
Oh no, that word again, 

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rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer dishonor for 

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the name of Christ. 
And it's not just Peter that's 

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saying this because maybe we 
could write this off as like, 

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well, there's always one weird 
guy, right? 

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I mean, so Peter, No, no, no, 
James, who's the half brother of

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Jesus and and doubted that Jesus
was even the Messiah until he 

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saw him resurrected, becomes an 
elder of the first church and he

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writes a letter and in James one
like right out of the gate, the 

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start of the letter says this. 
Count it all joy, my brothers, 

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when you meet trials of various 
kinds, for you know that the 

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testing of your faith produces 
steadfastness, and let 

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steadfastness have its full 
effect, that you may be perfect 

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and complete, lacking in 
nothing. 

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And then a little bit after 
these guys, a guy named Paul is 

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going to become an apostle, and 
he's going to write this in 

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Romans 5. 
Three. 

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Not only that, but we owe not 
that word again. 

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Rejoice in our sufferings, 
knowing the suffering produces 

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endurance. 
So Jesus and Peter and James and

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Paul, they actually, they, they 
all not only wrote this, they 

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all lived this out. 
In the 1st century, your 

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community was pretty much 
determined by who you 

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worshipped. 
And that meant that if you were 

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going to worship Christ, you 
would have to abandon 

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everything. 
Your family, your friends, your 

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culture, your security, your 
politics. 

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For Jewish Christians, it meant 
even more. 

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To be a Jewish Christian in the 
1st century meant beatings and 

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imprisonment. 
You'd be ostracized. 

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You might be killed. 
And so and so Peter says don't, 

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don't be surprised by 
persecution. 

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It was promised. 
Let me tell you why that's so 

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hard for you and I to even get 
our minds around is we live in 

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2025 in America. 
This is a pseudo Christian 

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nation that's quickly becoming 
postmodern. 

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And what does that mean pseudo 
Christian? 

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It means we have all of the 
tradition and trappings of 

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Christianity without Christ. 
And so you could eat. 

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Here's here's what I mean by 
that. 

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It's so easy to hide as a 
Christian here, isn't it? 

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Imagine you were a Muslim in a 
closed country where Christian 

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Christianity meant death. 
And in the moment, you're not 

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showing up to the mosque at the 
right time on the prayer mat, 

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bowing down, saying the right 
prayers, You're getting found 

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out. 
But here he ain't got to do 

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nothing to hide. 
A few years before I became a 

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pastor, this is a little while 
back, I was at another church. 

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I was teaching a, a adult Bible 
study on Sunday mornings. 

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And so in my car had my Bible 
and like my materials for the, 

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the Bible study in the passenger
seat. 

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And I was going to take a client
of mine. 

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I had a tech business and we 
were going to go to lunch. 

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And so he gets in the car and I 
was like, oh, sorry. 

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He's like, what is this? 
And I was like, what's my Bible?

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That's my Sunday school material
because I teach this class and 

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he looks at me and goes, You're 
a Christian. 

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And I've known you for four 
years. 

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How is it that you don't know 
I'm a Christian? 

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After four years, that's 
probably the most one of the 

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most shameful moments of my 
entire life. 

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How can I interact with this guy
for four years and he had no 

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idea that I serve Christ as king
like I call Jesus my savior and 

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the ruler of my life and I and I
claim God with my lips. 

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I, I would tell people that God 
took me from death to life and 

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that that he said reset every 
priority in my life. 

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And yet he's so insubstantial in
the way that I live that someone

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that I've known for four years 
is shocked that I'm a Christian.

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What are we even doing? 
Like, can there be a greater 

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failure for someone who claims 
Christ than to live a life 

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without any sign of Christ? 
And he was like, oh, I don't 

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mean that as an insult. 
And I was like, you have no 

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idea. 
So of course I can't tell you 

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about persecution. 
How can I be persecuted for a 

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faith that I have no evidence 
that I live by? 

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And so for most of us, there's 
an extreme absence of actual 

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persecution. 
One of the reasons that you and 

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I can't relate to real genuine 
biblical persecution like we we 

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read in the Bible that we see in
closed countries like China is 

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that people would have to know 
we're a Christian before they 

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00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:49,520
could persecute us for it. 
I mean, OK, maybe we share some 

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faith-based posts on TikTok and 
I got a cute like Christian van 

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00:14:53,140 --> 00:14:55,400
T-shirt or something. 
But no one that lives around us 

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00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:02,640
that interacts with us has seen 
anything substantial enough that

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it would even be of note that it
would be worth mentioning. 

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And so so it could be for you 
the same as it was for me. 

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For many years, my life was so 
similar to an unbeliever that no

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00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:22,720
one could tell the difference. 
My attitude, my judge, 

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00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:27,680
mentalism, my lack of patience, 
my lack of joy, my budget, my 

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time, my goals. 
Not that different from someone 

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who's spiritually dead. 
The greatest threat to American 

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00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:42,560
Christianity is passive pursuit.
People would have to know I'm a 

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Christian before I could be 
persecuted for it. 

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00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,840
And when my life looks roughly 
similar to someone who's 

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00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,560
spiritually dead and on the way 
to hell, no one needs to 

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persecute me. 
I'm doing a great job of hiding 

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00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:55,200
the gospel of Christ all on my 
own. 

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Now maybe, maybe some of you are
watching online or you're here. 

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00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:01,840
You're thinking to yourself 
like, well, that's not me. 

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I'm super vocal. 
OK, OK, a gentle warning. 

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The world may only know how you 
vote, not who you follow. 

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They see your political tribe, 
but they've never glimpsed your 

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Saviour. 
And I can speak from experience 

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00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,880
from spending way too many hours
arguing the Second Amendment on 

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00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,760
Facebook. 
That's not persecution for 

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00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:36,400
Christ's name. 
For many of us, people can't see

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00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:38,640
Jesus because we've covered him 
with an American flag or a 

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00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:43,560
political sticker. 
And if you're thinking of the 

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00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:45,880
other political party than 
yours, I'm not talking about 

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00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,160
them. 
I'm talking about you. 

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And when you begin to realize 
that the gospel you've been 

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00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,840
preaching is more cultural or 
political than biblical, the 

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00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:01,720
only appropriate response is 
humble repentance. 

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00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,040
By and large. 
And there's always exceptions, 

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00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:12,200
But by and large for me to spend
time lecturing a non Christian 

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00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,640
about cultural things is 
insanity. 

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00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:23,800
They don't know Jesus, they're 
spiritually dead. 

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00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:30,040
Why would I try to teach 
morality to a corpse? 

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00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,080
I'm supposed to be introducing 
them to the author of Life. 

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Can you imagine going into a 
cemetery and screaming at the 

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00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:46,520
gravesite about how they're 
behaving senseless? 

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00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:55,000
Facebook arguments aren't 
persecution and politics might 

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00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,680
be important, but they will not 
save anyone's soul. 

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00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,880
So we know what persecution is, 
and if we're being honest, we 

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00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:08,680
can admit that there's not a lot
of it for us. 

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00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,160
But the third thing is why would
we pray for its presence? 

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00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,440
That seems counter intuitive. 
Why would we want this kind of 

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00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:19,480
suffering? 
Because Peter says to rejoice. 

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00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:20,880
Now, he doesn't actually say to 
pray for it. 

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00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,960
He does say to rejoice, and he 
doesn't exactly tell us why we 

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00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:28,560
would we would rejoice, but his 
life shows us why we would 

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00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,720
rejoice. 
If we go back to his story in 

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00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,800
Acts 5, it says this rejoicing 
that they were counted worthy to

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00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,560
suffer dishonor for the name of 
Christ. 

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00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,680
What does that mean? 
In that moment? 

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00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:49,880
He's saying me, who was once an 
enemy of God in rebellion to 

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00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:55,080
God, has now been counted worthy
to represent him in suffering. 

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00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:01,920
Man, that is 1 Intense dude. 
But but James and Paul, whom we 

301
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,760
read earlier that they tell us 
much the same thing and they 

302
00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,160
give us a little bit more 
explanation because what James 

303
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,040
will say is that the suffering 
will actually test our faith and

304
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,760
it will produce in us a 
steadfastness. 

305
00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,240
What is that? 
Think, think, rootedness. 

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00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,840
The refining that is coming will
root us in our identity in 

307
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:27,120
Christ so well that the the the 
circumstances of life, the good 

308
00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:29,320
and the bad, will not topple us 
over. 

309
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,280
Paul will say something very 
similar in that text in Romans 

310
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,160
5. 
He will call it endurance. 

311
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,000
But both of them are essentially
saying this, listen, there is a 

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00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,880
a refining of our faith in our 
character. 

313
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,160
You ever wondered like man, how,
how do I get character like 

314
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:49,960
Jesus? 
Like what would it look to even 

315
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,520
even think like that, to love 
like that, to walk like that? 

316
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,720
And the Bible's answer is by 
suffering for Jesus. 

317
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,240
Now that seems like a strange 
formula. 

318
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,320
But James says this, Paul says 
this all. 

319
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,200
In fact, all the authors of 
these texts that we just read 

320
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,080
will essentially say the same 
two things about suffering #1 

321
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,720
what persecution will reveal 
about our faith. 

322
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,920
So kind of like a litmus test, 
and what persecution will 

323
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:23,360
produce in our faith, what it 
will reveal about our faith, and

324
00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:28,640
what it produces in our faith. 
Now I want to show you both from

325
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,360
their lives and even from my own
life some some evidence of what 

326
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,040
this looks like. 
But but before I show you that, 

327
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,120
I'll just say before we ever had
to get to this, it was already 

328
00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:46,080
modelled for us by Jesus. 
Jesus himself endured the cross,

329
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,920
despising the shame for the joy 
that was set before him. 

330
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,440
That's Hebrews 12/2. 
He didn't just so Jesus didn't 

331
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,320
just teach us to expect 
persecution, He actually showed 

332
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,400
us how to endure it with joy 
because he knew what was coming 

333
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:02,000
was greater. 
That's our model. 

334
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:03,640
Do you know? 
Listen, if you call yourself 

335
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:08,760
Christian, our entire faith is 
based upon suffering. 

336
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:15,040
Well, welcome to Race Church. 
It's not the prosperity gospel. 

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00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,640
It's not a genie in a lamp that 
we're going to rub when we have 

338
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,920
wishes. 
It's actually learning how to 

339
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,680
look at something that's greater
and walk through potentially 

340
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,000
suffering in this life because 
the next one is greater. 

341
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:31,480
That's the Christian faith. 
And in suffering, we figure out 

342
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:36,520
really fast if our faith is real
or if it was just lip service. 

343
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,280
There's a famous story that was 
has been told so many times that

344
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:42,880
I don't know if it's real, but 
but there's a church in a closed

345
00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,160
country where Christianity is 
punishable by death. 

346
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,080
And they meet in a secret church
that happens all over the world,

347
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,840
even in 2025, by the way. 
And in on one particular Sunday 

348
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,680
when these believers are 
meeting, soldiers burst through 

349
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,840
the door, armed, round up 
everybody and, and, and put them

350
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,240
in the center of the room. 
And an officer steps forward. 

351
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,880
Everyone's being held at 
gunpoint and says, you know that

352
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,040
this offense is punishable by 
death. 

353
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,240
I'm going to give you one 
chance. 

354
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,320
If you will leave now and never 
come back, I will forget you're 

355
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,240
here. 
And most of them leave, but some

356
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,960
of them stay. 
And he just shakes his head. 

357
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,360
And he looks at these people who
have stayed to die. 

358
00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:27,520
And he's like, you would die for
this. 

359
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:29,800
Now they just stand there. 
They don't say anything. 

360
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,600
And everyone lowers their guns. 
And he says, we're Christians, 

361
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:34,920
too. 
We just wanted to know who the 

362
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:40,040
real Christians were. 
Now, look, I don't even know if 

363
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,080
that story is true. 
It's been told so many times. 

364
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,080
But that's not actually what 
bothers me about it. 

365
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,600
What bothers me about that story
is thinking about whether or not

366
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:54,440
I would have been one of the 
people that stayed, because 

367
00:22:54,440 --> 00:23:01,680
that's a real cost. 
It's quite one thing for you and

368
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,840
I to make bold claims about 
loving Jesus above all else. 

369
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,960
As we sit here in our freedom 
and our religious liberties. 

370
00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,320
It's a whole nother thing to 
live that out when the bullets 

371
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:18,160
are flying. 
And it makes me wonder, y'all? 

372
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,480
Many of us cannot suffer to have
our feelings hurt without being 

373
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,240
mortally offended, let alone 
suffer for the case of Christ. 

374
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:27,640
You're going to take a bullet 
for Jesus. 

375
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,680
You can't even take criticism, 
Am I right? 

376
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,680
And that's me so often. 
And listen to me if, if that's 

377
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:45,400
you, if our lives and our faith 
have been more about how do we 

378
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,880
stay comfortable? 
What what are we supposed to do 

379
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,560
with a text like this? 
Like, like, here's my question 

380
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,600
for you. 
It's been my question for myself

381
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,840
since I began to read this years
ago. 

382
00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:00,560
How do I grow to have a pursuit 
of Christ that looks like this? 

383
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:02,960
And how do I do that here in 
America where things are 

384
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:15,400
relatively good like it? 
It is my great desire to see 

385
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:24,160
revival breakout in Bakersfield.
So, so how do I pursue Christ in

386
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,200
such a way? 
How do I get vocal about the 

387
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,520
right things? 
How do I do those things? 

388
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,040
And if I do, what will that look
like here in America, in 

389
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,400
Bakersfield in 2025? 
Because if, because if 

390
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:42,760
persecution will reveal faith 
that is genuine like you, you 

391
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,520
realize everyone can follow God 
and claim to be a Christian when

392
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:50,240
there are no downsides, right? 
But if we truly love him more 

393
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,800
than life, the Bible says, 
listen, persecution is going to 

394
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,840
come. 
Jesus guaranteed us persecution.

395
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,640
And if we're not seeing that, 
like that's a that's, that's a 

396
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:07,600
problem because not only will it
say something about our faith, 

397
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,880
but it, but the Bible says it 
will change us for the better. 

398
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,400
It will refine our character. 
It will grow our faith. 

399
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,200
It will give us stark clarity 
about the priorities in our 

400
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,400
life. 
And I want to give you a little 

401
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,480
bit of evidence just from the 
lives of these authors that it 

402
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:27,200
will and from my own life. 1st, 
every single person that I read 

403
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,920
to you from, they were not only 
persecuted. 

404
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:32,840
So they were not only writing 
this from personal experience, 

405
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,080
every single one of them was 
martyred for the Christian 

406
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:36,720
faith. 
They were killed for following 

407
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,160
Christ and they willingly walked
to their execution with joy in 

408
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:45,440
their heart to their death. 
And so so for just a moment, 

409
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,480
like as we I want you to just 
think about in your own life, 

410
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,680
say me, OK, in your own life, 
you're reading about someone 

411
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,120
going to their execution 
claiming Christ. 

412
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,480
And then I want to think about 
you and me who like we get cut 

413
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:02,880
off in traffic and I'm almost 
non Christian for a minute. 

414
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,840
You know, persecution. 
Starbucks is out of pumpkin 

415
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:15,080
spice lattes. 
What like like you have a, you 

416
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,040
have a mild conflict with a 
friend and you're in it is 

417
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,640
you're spiraling and anxiety and
depression. 

418
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:22,160
Like what would our lives look 
like though? 

419
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:23,920
OK, I don't want you to be 
ashamed of that. 

420
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,600
I want you to think of how much 
better it could be. 

421
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,920
What would our lives look like 
if we were pursuing God with a 

422
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,840
passion that was so incredible 
that you could walk to your 

423
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,560
execution in joy because what 
was coming was greater than what

424
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:44,320
was happening now. 
Do you realize how easy conflict

425
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:49,400
would suddenly seem here with 
that kind of faith, with that 

426
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:55,160
kind of joy? 
Like, can we even comprehend how

427
00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:00,720
good God is to experience 
suffering and have that kind of 

428
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,360
perspective? 
I want that. 

429
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:11,120
I want that if you're, if you're
here today and, and you, you 

430
00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:13,200
would not call yourself a 
Christian, maybe maybe you're a 

431
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:14,960
little sceptical about 
Christianity, maybe you had a 

432
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,200
bad Christian experience. 
Maybe you just, you label 

433
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:22,160
yourself a doubter or something.
I just want you to, to, to, to 

434
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,160
think about this for a moment as
we read all these texts. 

435
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,920
And I think it should cause you 
to pause and just consider, you 

436
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:35,600
know, every every major world 
religion has martyrs, but 

437
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,080
Christianity is unique. 
The guys here that that died for

438
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,280
the faith, they weren't 
desperate revolutionaries. 

439
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,520
They weren't suicide bombers 
seeking paradise. 

440
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,800
These were ordinary dudes, 
fishermen, tax collectors. 

441
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,520
They're housewives. 
I mean, just normal people who 

442
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,640
claim to see Jesus alive after 
his crucifixion. 

443
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,920
And when they were threatened 
with death, they did not recant.

444
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,120
You know, it's one thing to say,
OK, maybe someone will die for a

445
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:05,600
lie that they don't. 
They don't know it's a lie. 

446
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:13,800
But all these people died with 
this claim and would not recant.

447
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,680
So they were either telling the 
truth about the resurrection or 

448
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,080
they were the most successful 
liars in history and they died 

449
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,440
rather than admit it. 
And if you doubt that Christ is 

450
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,040
king, I would just pause and 
wonder why so many people were 

451
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,760
willing to walk to their grave 
for that. 

452
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,680
And secondly, let me say this 
about the effectiveness of 

453
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,320
suffering. 
Maybe not persecution, but at 

454
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:44,320
least suffering. 
I, I have never experienced 

455
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,560
persecution anything like this, 
anything like they, they, they 

456
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,400
experienced in China or in Iran 
or in any of these places. 

457
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:56,520
But I have experienced the 
goodness of God in the midst of 

458
00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:03,480
death and loss and pain and 
suffering, and it grew my faith 

459
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:08,280
like nothing in this world. 
I have stood in the hospital 

460
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:11,840
room holding the body of the 
child I lost. 

461
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,760
I have sat in in the living room
to cry through the loss of close

462
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,120
loved ones in tragic ways. 
I've suffered the emotional 

463
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,280
distress of significant pain in 
the ER room as I as everything 

464
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:30,440
was going wrong medically. 
And in each of these moments, it

465
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:35,040
has led me closer to God, to a 
more dependent life on God, to a

466
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,960
vibrant experience and stark 
clarity in my life and faith. 

467
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,160
And so in those, in those 
moments of suffering, when we're

468
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:51,520
screaming out to the Lord, he is
growing us. 

469
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,400
He is rooting our faith. 
It is being made deeper. 

470
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:57,960
Here's what I'm trying to tell 
you. 

471
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,400
You, you may be going through 
some crazy circumstances, 

472
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,040
probably not persecution, but 
maybe some suffering in the 

473
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:05,960
moment. 
And I want you to know this. 

474
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:10,760
Jesus is worth it. 
Oh, he is worth it. 

475
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:17,600
He is so wonderful. 
He is so good. 

476
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,800
You and I willingly partake in 
all the beautiful things of this

477
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,480
world, right? 
Who likes food? 

478
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,160
Let's go. 
Who likes Taco? 

479
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:33,320
Everybody better like tacos. 
We, we partake in, in, in food 

480
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,320
and in comfort, in beauty, in 
relationships, like all these 

481
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,800
wonderful things. 
And what I'm telling you is the 

482
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,680
Bible says that is just a 
glimpse that is just a, a 

483
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,760
distorted reflection of, of, of 
the creator who created those 

484
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,640
things. 
It's meant for you to go, Oh 

485
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,560
wow, if, if the distorted 
version is this good, how much 

486
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,320
better is the author? 
So, so when you are are 

487
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,960
experiencing something that is 
just phenomenal here on earth, 

488
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,080
you need to realize that's just 
a cheap knock off from my Timu. 

489
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,440
The real version isn't even here
yet. 

490
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,320
This life is supposed to be the 
worst life we'll ever live 

491
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,920
because the best 1 is coming. 
And we get caught up because 

492
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,320
everything is so comfortable 
here. 

493
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,680
We get caught up thinking like 
we're trying to make we have to 

494
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,440
make this life comfortable. 
We have to make this life 

495
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,240
amazing. 
That's not how this works. 

496
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:33,880
The best life is coming. 
The Bible says that this life is

497
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,160
the worst life that I'll ever 
live because the next one is 

498
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:41,560
incomparable. 
Incomparable. 

499
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,560
Listen to this. 
This is second Corinthians 4. 

500
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,200
I just want you to hear this 
verse, OK? 

501
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:53,360
This verse is so good. 
It says this so we do not lose 

502
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,440
heart. 
Though our outer self is wasting

503
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,240
away, our inner self is being 
renewed day by day for this 

504
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:04,560
light momentary affliction. 
They're being put to death. 

505
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,000
And he's like light momentary 
affliction. 

506
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:09,080
What's the movie where he gets 
his arms cut off? 

507
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:13,880
He's like tis but to scratch. 
They're being killed for the 

508
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,120
faith. 
And he says this light momentary

509
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,360
affliction is preparing us for 
an eternal weight of glory 

510
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:24,800
beyond all comparison as we look
not to the things that are seen,

511
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,320
but the things that are unseen. 
For the things that are seen are

512
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,920
going to are transient. 
They're going away, but the 

513
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,920
things that are unseen are 
eternal. 

514
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,320
Amen. 
Come on. 

515
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,200
So we can have hope in what 
awaits. 

516
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:46,360
And while we're here, we can get
on mission spreading that hope. 

517
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:51,600
Not politics, not opinions, not 
culture wars, the hope of 

518
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,640
Christ. 
And if we do, the Bible says 

519
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,760
we'll face persecution. 
Mark Clark recently said we 

520
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,080
can't change the world by 
minding our own business. 

521
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,440
Listen, y'all, I want to change 
the world. 

522
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,720
How about you? 
I wake up every day and they're 

523
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:10,920
like, what are we going to do 
today, brain? 

524
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,440
I'm like, what we're going to do
every day, Pinky, take over the 

525
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,560
world with the gospel of Christ.
Amen. 

526
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:20,560
So we can't mind our own 
business. 

527
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,000
We can't have a holy huddle 
where we pretend like we'll just

528
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,400
wait here until Jesus comes 
back. 

529
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:29,160
There's a lost world out there. 
And I don't mean over the 

530
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,360
Atlantic like in Africa. 
I mean, most recent studies say 

531
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,520
that 90% of Kern County doesn't 
know Christ. 

532
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,480
We have work to do. 
So what do we do? 

533
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:45,000
We pray to be persecuted. 
We pray that we would be counted

534
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,120
worthy of an honor to suffer for
Christ. 

535
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,600
We pray to be persecuted not not
passive and not political. 

536
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,640
We pray for it and like Peter 
says, don't be surprised by it. 

537
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,680
So how practically do we do 
this? 

538
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,000
Like what? 
What would that look like guys? 

539
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:08,600
If we want to reach our world 
with the gospel of Christ, we 

540
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:13,040
have to start with our 
neighbors, our Co workers, our 

541
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,000
relatives, our circles of 
influence. 

542
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,000
The Bible talks about going to 
the ends of the earth, but if 

543
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,760
your Co worker doesn't know 
you're Christian, you might not 

544
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:27,320
be ready for Africa. 
So let's start right here. 

545
00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:32,360
When was the last time I served 
my neighbors sacrificially? 

546
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:34,199
Not the one I like, the one I 
don't like. 

547
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,320
When was the last time I stopped
and prayed for someone when I 

548
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,320
realized they were hurting? 
When was the last time I just, I

549
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,840
asked someone to come and join 
me to hear the gospel of Christ 

550
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:45,639
on a Sunday morning. 
Like you, you don't need a 

551
00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:48,800
mission trip or an evangelism 
certificate to start being 

552
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,120
missional. 
It starts right here. 

553
00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:53,360
I keep these little keep all 
these little note cards in my 

554
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,840
Bible and, and, and as as the 
Holy Spirit kind of brings 

555
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,360
someone to mind or I run into 
them and I realize, oh man, I 

556
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,520
write their names down and I 
start praying for them and I 

557
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,480
keep them on my Bible. 
So I'm constantly running into 

558
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,480
them. 
People from the gym, neighbors, 

559
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,640
family members, and then I try 
to reach out to them every once 

560
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:12,640
in a while, check in on them, 
find out there's a way to serve 

561
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:14,160
them. 
Listen, you can do that. 

562
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:19,280
Take your bullets and insert, 
write down three names of of the

563
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:21,320
first people to come to mind 
that are far from Christ. 

564
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,120
And then for each person, simply
do this. 

565
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:29,480
Pray for them every day and at 
least once a month try to find a

566
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,440
way to serve them. 
And at least once a year, invite

567
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,360
them to church to hear the 
gospel. 

568
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,720
Pray daily, serve monthly, 
invite annually. 

569
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:42,320
Simple system. 
It might change their life, 

570
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:48,080
might change your life. 
Now, if you've, you've been 

571
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:50,160
sitting through our sermon and 
you've been kind of listening to

572
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:53,000
all of this, or maybe you're 
online listening to this and, 

573
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,760
and you're, you're hearing us as
we talk about this joy and the 

574
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,840
satisfaction in Christ. 
And you wish you had that too, 

575
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:11,240
perhaps perhaps today is the day
that you will put your faith in 

576
00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:13,400
Christ. 
If you, if you, if you're here, 

577
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,120
if you look, look around the 
room real quick, just look 

578
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:17,720
around. 
Do do you know how much evidence

579
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,400
there is of God's goodness in 
this room? 

580
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,360
Amen. 
Do you know how many people in 

581
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,440
here whose stories are nothing 
but by the grace and mercy and 

582
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:28,640
kindness of God? 
Amen. 

583
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,920
There's a lot of that. 
There's evidence after evidence 

584
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,440
after evidence after story after
story, testimony after testimony

585
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,720
of God taking spiritually dead 
people who are a mess and 

586
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:40,680
bringing them to life. 
And let me tell you, I am the 

587
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:45,560
worst of the worst because I was
a rebel and enemy of God, not 

588
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:53,320
only by nature but by choice. 
But God, in his richness and 

589
00:36:53,320 --> 00:37:00,880
kindness, pursued me 
relentlessly, and He saved me 

590
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:05,160
not because I wanted Him to, 
because He was good. 

591
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,640
And I am not who I want to be, 
but by the grace of God, I am 

592
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:17,080
not who I used to be. 
It is a work of God. 

593
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:24,120
God desires to save you. 
And if you're realizing this for

594
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,200
the very first time today, then 
perhaps God has grabbed your 

595
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,680
attention for a reason. 
He is at this very moment 

596
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,200
awakening your soul to the 
things above. 

597
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,800
He is saving you. 
And so I want to give you an 

598
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,760
opportunity to respond to the 
work that He's doing inside of 

599
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,280
you right now. 
The Bible says in Romans 10/9 

600
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,640
and 10 Because if we confess 
with our mouth that Jesus is 

601
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,200
Lord, and we believe in our 
hearts that God raised him from 

602
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:53,400
the dead, we can be saved. 
For with the heart 1 believes 

603
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,800
and is justified, and with the 
mouth 1 declares and is saved. 

604
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:03,160
If you would like to surrender 
your life to God for the first 

605
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:04,680
time today, I want to give you 
that chance. 

606
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,920
Will you please all bow your 
heads and close your eyes as we 

607
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,920
wrap up our service? 
Just a brief moment, if you are 

608
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,360
willing to ask God for 
forgiveness, for salvation, for 

609
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,000
this everlasting joy that seems 
to surpass all circumstances, 

610
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,200
with every eye closed, with 
every head bowed. 

611
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,600
I just want you to quietly or or
silently repeat this prayer 

612
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:30,840
after me. 
Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner and I

613
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:39,880
can't save myself. 
I need satisfaction that I can't

614
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:44,840
seem to find. 
I want you to save me, so I 

615
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:50,400
surrender my life to you and I 
receive your promise of 

616
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:56,480
forgiveness, of adoption into 
your family, and of eternal 

617
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,720
life. 
Be my Lord. 

618
00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:05,000
Please Jesus, if you prayed that
prayer to surrender your life to

619
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:08,000
Jesus for the first time right 
now, would you be brave and 

620
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:14,520
raise your hand for me to see? 
Thank you, thank you. 

621
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:20,800
You can put your hands down 
Jesus name, Amen. 

622
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,800
Real quick eye contact. 
If you just surrendered your 

623
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,040
life to God for the very first 
time, welcome to the family. 

624
00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:37,520
In just a moment, we're going to
stand up and we're going to sing

625
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,320
to close our service out. 
And as we do, our protein is 

626
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,000
going to be up here and there 
are going to be some tables in 

627
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,040
the back. 
They say I raised my hand. 

628
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,920
So when if you just said that 
prayer, whether you raised your 

629
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:49,720
hand or not, I want you to sneak
back there. 

630
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,400
I want you to tell them, man, I 
just gave my life to Jesus. 

631
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,120
We want to celebrate with you. 
We have a gift for you. 

632
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,640
We want to talk about what does 
it look like to pursue Christ? 

633
00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,800
What does it look like to go 
hard after God? 

634
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,600
We stand. 
We're going to sing a song. 

635
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:03,600
Our prayer team's going to be up
here. 

636
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:09,040
We love to pray for you. 
It doesn't matter what it we 

637
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,640
would just love to pray for you.
But particularly today, if if 

638
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:17,720
you have been lacking in joy, if
you've allowed the circumstances

639
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:21,440
and season of your life to 
capsize that boat of yours, man,

640
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,360
we want to pray for that joy. 
We want to pray for that 

641
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,360
rootedness so you come up here 
so we can pray for you. 

642
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,320
You move as the Lord leads you. 
We love you, Church.