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Hebrews 12 -Endure- Guest Speaker Wayne Dekorte 2026-08-30

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And at this time, I'd like to introduce Wayne DeCourt, pastor Rick's son-in-law. He's our guest speaker today. So if you please give a warm welcome to Wayne. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. It's good to be here with you guys. It's been a minute. We've been out on adventures and driving around and looking at all different kinds of stuff amongst the country and the nation and just spending time with the Lord and with family and stuff. And it's been a minute since we've been back. So I'm honored to be here today with you guys, humbled and yeah. Always get those thoughts and feelings of complete inadequacy and not qualified to be here, and it's super humbling. But I think that's the Lord's way of preparing the heart and getting people ready for stuff. So, again, it's a joy to be here with you guys. I got this little microphone thing I gotta put on before I get started. But I just wanted to take a minute and pray with you guys before we get started, and then I'll put it on and we'll get into the sermon and stuff. So I just wanna take a minute and just approach the Lord and ask for the Holy Spirit's help here and just go from there. So, father God, I come before you today, just, in the name of your son, Jesus, completely humble, Lord, to be here with the body of Christ, with this just sweet body of believers. And I just wanna thank you, Lord, for this opportunity. We can come together as a family and fellowship and encourage each other, and worship you and glorify your name. And I just come to to you this morning in that heart of worship and that spirit of worship just to praise you, Lord. To thank you for, just such a sweet body of people, a unique body, to thank you for just being there for us always, Lord. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. And we come before you today, and we do ask that the Holy Spirit would just speak, to each of us through your word, through the scriptures, through what's going on, and, where we're at today. And I just ask, you be with us and lead us and guide us in Jesus name. Amen. See if I can get this thing on here. There you go. Good. Alright. Okay. So, good morning, Calvary Bremerton. It's great to be here with you guys. You guys are awesome. Thanks for being patient and enduring, me for the next however long I stand up here. So I'm gonna come today and, do things a little bit different. I know there's styles of teachings and, you know, your chapter by chapters and your verse by verses and your topicals and things like that. So I'm gonna throw you for a loop and do something a little bit different today. I like to open up with some scripture though and kinda get into the word of God to kinda break the ice a little bit and then we'll kinda go from there. So you could stay seated. That's fine. If you just wanna open up your bibles, to Hebrews chapter 12, and then, we'll go from there. So Hebrews chapter 12. I'll start there in verse one, and we'll get started. Hebrews 12 verse one. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and life and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the most for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight the paths for your feet So that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it may be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no place for repentance through though he sought for it with tears. For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command. Even if a beast touched the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven. And his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying, yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. So there's a lot of language here that I really like that talks about endurance. It talks about struggle. It talks about hard things. You know, right in the the beginning, it talks about running a race of endurance. I know a lot of you guys do that. Right? A lot of running of races and endurance. Well, maybe not a physical race, but you're running the race of life with endurance. A few of you guys have been here a couple years longer than me, right? You've got a lot more experience in life than I do. And you guys have been enduring hard tasks. Those of you with health conditions and medical problems and family issues and emotional issues. You guys have endured a lot of suffering that I haven't had yet to experience in life. So you're running this race with endurance. You wouldn't be here if you weren't running that race with endurance. You have your eyes fixed upon the cross. You have strengthened weak hands and weak knees. Your paths have been made street straight. There's a lot of language here that is focusing on your walk with the Lord and how it's not just the physical Mount Sinai where everyone was terrified of, hey, if you touch this mountain, you're gonna die, but it's the spiritual. Right? I use this as like a kind of a foundation stone for what we're building upon today. In my life and in my experience, though it be so short, God has kind of really spoken to me through object lessons, okay? I may be a little bit more stubborn than most, a little bit more hard of hearing than most, which is why I like simple things, you know? And sometimes I gotta go through lessons of pain in order to retain things, pain retains. And object lessons speak to me, where it's like, oh, I just saw this thing happen and I heard this thing happen and I experienced the pain and the emotion of it. That's a really good lesson for me. Early on in life, when my walk with the Lord really started getting serious, was, when I, went to boot camp, and I had the option of, you know, staying and getting thrashed in the barracks or going and, you know, going to church on Sunday. So, you know, my buddy that I grew up with, we would go to church on Sunday. We would, you know, get a break from being thrashed in the squad bays, and we'd worship the Lord, and we'd read the Bible, and we would fellowship with other believers. And, throughout the years, I found that fellowship time is super encouraging. I was just chatting with Courtney a little bit about the Warrior Summit that we go to every year, and it reminded me of a conversation we have like every year of letting the body be the body to the body. And you guys give each other lots of grace. The most enjoyable time is when I get to sit and listen to your struggles. How is God challenging you? How are you suffering? What happened in the past year, in your life that God did? And it is so awesome to just sit and listen to what the Lord's doing in your life. At the time you may not understand, it's such a blessing to hear your experience, to hear what you've gone through, to hear what work the Lord has done. And it actually builds me up and encourages me so much to hear your lessons of faith. Man, you suffered hard. That fellowship was awesome. And that gleaning, it kind of like fills you up for the next year. So these object lessons of of life, you know. When I would have that fellowship with my brother, and we would suffer together through things, we'd go back to the squad base or whatever and get thrashed, it was great. Because you knew, hey, I'll see him next Sunday. It'll be awesome. But then the day to day time that I spent with the Lord was kind of like, well, I'm gonna read my bible every day. And for some reason, I chose I was gonna start reading Jeremiah. It was a chapter that spoke out to my heart. So that thirteen weeks of suffering in boot camp or whatever, I'd read through Jeremiah in different periods and different times. And the way that God showed me object lessons was I would read something, and then there would be something that would happen in my day that would correlate with that, which I thought was pretty cool. And so to start that kind of journey of understanding those object lessons, if you look into the book of Jeremiah, chapter one, I'll start to maybe explain a few of these object lessons and how God used those to minister to me. And then, we'll build a little bit of a foundation for some more object lessons I'd like to share with you. So in Jeremiah chapter one, you start reading about how God, speaks to Jeremiah and commissions him. So starting in, verse five, he says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. Then I said, alas, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak because I'm a youth. But the Lord said to me, do not say I am a youth because everywhere I send you, you shall go. And all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you declares the Lord. Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, have appointed you this day over the nations, over the kingdoms to pluck up and break down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. And the word of the Lord came to me saying, well, what do you see Jeremiah? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then the Lord said to me, you have seen well for I am watching over my word to perform it. The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, what do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot facing away from the North. Then the Lord said to me, out of the North, the evil will break forth and on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdom of the North declares the lord. And they will come and they will set each one at his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls roundabout and against all the cities of Judah. I will pronounce my judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. Now gird up your loins and arise and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them or I will dismay you before them. Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests, and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you. For I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord. So early on in in getting involved with, you know, things with, you know, people coming against you and people, speaking things out against you and all these different things happening all at once in the beginning of that time, couple of things that the Lord used to to speak to me was, do not be afraid of them. Right? Well, it's kind of like you have this big intimidating environment where you got drone instructors yelling at you and you got people thrashing you and all this stuff going on. It's simple of don't be afraid of them. They're there for your good. They're there to teach you and instruct you or whatever else. That was super encouraging. Another like little tiny clues and things that spoke out to me was they talk a lot about like when you go to boot camp in San Diego, you're like down near the airport or whatever else. But then when they want to go do all the field stuff where they thrash you and put a bunch of gear on you and have you march and hike up hills and do a bunch of stuff, they call it the north. Oh, we're going up north. We're going up north. And they kept making all these reference early on to going up north. Right? And when I read this chapter in the beginning of my time there, was kind of like north, north, north, north. I just kept hearing that word a lot and associating it. So it was super encouraging. Another one when they were talking about this rod of the almond tree, it was kind of like a stick. I know it's kind of silly, but this is how simple my brain is. You got like one guy in charge of your platoon that carries around this stick called the guide on. It's got a little flag on it, you know. And every time they make reference to this, you know, this staff, where's your stick, your guide on whatever, was really encouraging. So all these little tiny simpleton clues of like, oh, this is the way God's kind of encouraging me through the word and through these object lessons of things in front of me, which I thought was kinda cool. You know, later on a couple, object lessons that I remembered when I was preparing this just for reference that were big ones in Jeremiah that spoke out to me. One of them was in chapter 13. God tells Jeremiah to take this belt, right? And you know, this belt that you wrap around your waist and stuff like that. And I want you to take this belt and go bury it. And you know, it symbolizes God dissolving the pride of Judah. Because you bury this waistband in the water and the sand and the dirt kinda dissolves it and and breaks it away. Well, you know, at the time in which I read that chapter, they're talking a lot about belts or whatever. It's when we were doing our like martial arts, they call it McMap training, martial arts training to get a tan belt, you know. And it was just like crazy. I was reading this thing about this belt and then they're talking about belts and they're associated. I'm like, what the heck, you know. So it was super little bits of encouragement through little what I call object lessons in life. Another one was in Jeremiah 51 verse 20. It's a verse that talks about weapons of war and God's war club and weapons of war. Well, towards the end of my time there, they were talking about we used all these full size M16 rifles for marching and for drill and for whatever else, shooting at the range or whatever. And towards our end of our time, they're getting ready to turn them into the armory and they kept referring to them as weapons of war, weapons of war, weapons of war. And I'm reading this verse in Jeremiah fifteen fifty one twenty, Jeremiah fifty one twenty about weapons of war. And I'm looking at the buddy next to me, I'm like, dude, read this, you know. And he reads it and he's like, what? That's so crazy. Like, what? You're reading that and they're talking about this. It was just the same language they were using. So there are different ways in which God encouraged me through life, through object lessons. Right? Now you may be starting to like remember a few of these object lessons in your life. Where you're reading through the bible and you're reading something and God speaks to you and encourages you through some circumstance in your life that you're going through. Don't ignore that. Like, take notes of that and write it down and remember it and pray about it. Because that object lesson could be used not just for you, but for somebody else to encourage them, to help you understand their position that they're going through, for you to pray for them, for you to encourage them. So God uses object lessons all throughout the Bible. Later on in Jeremiah, you know, there's part where he goes to a potter's house and he watches clay being reshaped. Right? And God's trying to speak to Jeremiah about like, hey, look, this is how, you know, God has sovereignty over the nations. He's re reshaping this clay. This is a lesson that he's trying to use to speak to him about God. Later on, Jeremiah 19, he smashes a clay jar in front of the leaders to signify the shattering of Jerusalem. Right? So there's all these these things throughout. In, chapters twenty seven and twenty eight, Jeremiah wears a wooden yoke around his neck to warn about how you guys need to submit to the other nations. When Babylon comes in and takes over, you guys need to just go with it. If you fight against it, it's not going to work. Later on in chapter 32, he buys a field during a military siege as a symbol and a sign of the future restoration. Right? So acts of faith that he does as a symbol to other people to get a message across. I'm sure you guys are thinking about the book of Ezekiel now, in chapter four where he like draws out Jerusalem on a clay brick to symbolize symbolize a siege that's gonna happen. He puts up little ramps and things like that, you know. He he also is commanded by God to, like, lay on his side, his left side for three hundred and ninety days, and then his right side for forty days to symbol Israel and Judah in the days of captivity. And he's commanded to eat bread and cook the bread with dung and different symbols to show people lessons. And in the culture, the people are like, what is this weirdo doing? Right? What is this guy doing? What's going on? And they don't understand what he's doing. But then later he's like, hey, this is what God's trying to show you. He packs up all of his stuff, puts it in a bag, digs a wall through a house to get outside in, what was it, chapter 12, to symbolize like there's gonna be an exile. You guys gonna pack up and leave and go, and you're gonna be put into exile. In Isaiah chapter 20 verse two through four, Isaiah goes barefoot and stripped of his outer garments for three years to signify the humiliation of Egypt and Cush. In first Kings, prophet Ahijah tears up a cloak into 12 pieces to announce the splitting up of Israel as a kingdom. If you guys turn over to Acts chapter 21, there's a small New Testament reference to an object lesson or something that God uses to kind of get through to people like me that are a little bit thick headed. Acts chapter 21 verse eight. On the next day, we left and came to Caesarea and entering the house of Philip, the evangelist who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. And as we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabas came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, this is what the Holy Spirit says. In this way, the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent remarking, The will of the Lord be done. So sometimes, you may have an object lesson that may not be super encouraging. Maybe if it's, you know, something discouraging. But because it's on your heart or something is something that the Lord's showing you, you share it with people and you tell them. And then you just accept God's will. But maybe he loves you so much, he wanted to warn you ahead of time. Give you kind of a clue that was something was coming to prepare you and to teach you. So moving on from object lessons. Transition a little bit here. So in Hebrews chapter 12, we're talking about endurance. We're talking about strength. We're talking about making things strong that were made weak. There's an object lesson that I'm going to kind of try to share with you today of an experience that I had and how God used that experience to teach me some stuff and to show me some things. At the time of the activity, I didn't really understand why or what was gonna hap I mean, I knew what was gonna happen, but I didn't really know why I was gonna do it. Back at the beginning of the year, my oldest son Judah, he's 16 now, he was asked by one of his buddies in a trail life troop like, hey, you wanna go on a hike with me, you know, in July? Him and his dad do sections of a trail each year. So I don't know if you guys are familiar with anybody who's done the crazy Pacific Crest Trail from Canada down to Mexico. It's an amazing feat. A lot of people do it every year where they like start and they go all the way through. It takes a month or two or whatever and then they finish it, right? Shake their hands if you know anybody that's done that because it's a very enduring task. There's also another trail that goes from Glacier National Park in Montana all the way west out to the Western portion of Washington. They call that one the PNT, Pacific Northwest Trail. So Judah's buddy, him and his dad started on the West Coast when he was like eight. And they do small sections each year, know, kind of working their way east as he grew and got stronger and could accomplish and handle more. So this year, I think he's 15. And so they were doing a section from Republic Washington East over to Priest Lake, Idaho, about a 170 miles. And at the beginning of the year, I was like, yeah, sure. We got nothing going on in July. We'll go. How long is it going to take? And they're like, well, we're going to aim for like eleven, twelve days. I'm like, how many miles is that a day? I'm like, well, it's about 17 miles a day. I'm like, alright. You know, like how much weight do you guys carry? And like, oh, we carry super light gear, like, you know, anywhere from like 12 to 20 pounds. And, you know, they're they've been doing this a lot. They got a lot of great experience. And I'm thinking, well, I think I'm stubborn enough I could probably push through the pain and get through it, you know. And, know, I think back to like military days where you carry like rucksacks and and go on long hikes and missions and things like that. It's like, well, you know, was carrying anywhere from like 50 to 80 pounds and whatever else and lot more uncomfortable boots and things like that. So I'm like, yeah, whatever. We'll do it, you know. And he's planning this out and he's like, alright, we're gonna go for like four days and then you're gonna mail yourself a package to resupply in this town. So as you hike down this one mountain, you come into this town, you go to the post office, you pick up a package and then you go for like a few more days and you get to this town, go into the grocery store and you buy more food supplies because you can't carry all your food for that duration of time. There's a lot of And so he's got a great plan. And then I'm like, well, that's a lot of walking. Where are going to get your water from? You know? Because then I think back to your time in the desert and it's like, man, had to carry like six, seven liters of water on me just because we were gone for so long. There's no resupply. He's like, oh, there's little points along the trail where there's springs and there's creeks and there's rivers. And I'm like, alright. In summer, they're not gonna be dried up. He's like, well, there's this cool app on the phone where there's other hikers where they do the whole section in one shot. They start in Glacier and they just go all the way through to Washington coast without stopping. And they use this app called Far Out or something like that, where they update on the hike. Like, hey this spring had water and this one was dried up and it's 11 miles between here and here before water. So I'm like, alright, cool. You got the whole thing planned out. So as time got closer and closer, we came back from our road trip out to Colorado for the summit that we went to. And then I was like, oh, I forgot to talk to Brittany about this. Hey, by the way, you know, someone so wanted us to go on this hike with them, you know. And Judah's in. He's like, I'm good. I'm I'm good to go. He's young. He's flexible. He's adaptable. And I'm like, okay, Lord, I don't know why we're going on this, but we're doing this. And I don't want to send Judah by himself. He's never done anything like this. And granted, I can't really do anything to help him through the challenge or the task, but I'm going. And so time gets closer and closer and I'm like, okay, I got to pack my year. I got to get ready, you know, things like that. And I got the essentials, I got the things I need to go, but and in your mind, as you're getting ready to do something like this, you're like, okay, I have faith to jump into this to know these guys have done it, they've got the experience, I'll be fine, I can do it. But that doesn't translate to the individual pain that your body's gonna experience as you're going through the suffering of the day to day task. So I just, you know, got that blind faith where I'm just gonna jump right into this. So as you get ready to do a important task, an enduring task, sometimes you just gotta have the faith to jump into it. And some of the object lessons that I learned along the way, let's talk about preparation. So turn over to Hebrews chapter 11. Something that I think is encouraging is even though you may have a hard task or challenging task in life or something that's leading you through the valley of the shadow of death and broken heartedness, you can fall back on triumphs of faith, fall back on other people that have suffered more than you, and move forward in confidence in knowing, Okay, somebody else has had it worse than me. It's not that bad. So as you look at Hebrews chapter 11, let's read about some heroes of the faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it, the men of old gained approval. By faith, we understand that the were the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts and through faith, through he is dead, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. By faith, Noah being warned of warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared the ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, there was born even of one man and him as good as dead, at that as many descendants as the stars of the heaven in number and innumerable as a sand, which is by the seashore. All these died in faith without receiving the promise, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promise was offering up his only begotten son. It was he to whom it was said, in Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus and the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward, looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land. And the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab, the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. And what more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword from weaknesses were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection and others experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill treated, men of whom the world was not worthy. Wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground And all these having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us. So that apart from us, they would not be made perfect. So when you hear the stories of faith of others that have suffered a lot more than you've suffered, be encouraged. This does not diminish your suffering. This does not diminish your hard struggle that you're going through. As you look to your neighbors to the right and the left, your pain that you're going through right now is different than their pain that they're going through. You may be challenged through a broken leg. You may be challenged through a disease. But yet they may be challenged through something like the loss of a loved one. The loss of a family member. A heart wrenching gut wrenching pain of something not physical, but emotional. As the body of Christ, we look at each other with compassion and with grace. Because what you're going through is different than what they're going through. So as you approach a struggle, and as you approach a hardship, think about all those heroes of faith that you just read about. Man, they suffered a lot more than I did. I'm not going through the torturings. I'm not going through, you know, all those other things that they mentioned. I haven't bled yet for this. So I'm gonna go through a hard task. And my brother and sister in Christ, they're gonna go through a harder task. You ever heard the reference like, hey, you know, this is their worst day. This could be your worst day today with a car accident and a sprained neck. That could be your absolute worst day that you've ever had, Which could be completely different than your worst day where, you just lost a family member or you just lost, your house burned down or something. Your Everybody's worst day is different. Does that make sense? Would we all agree that maybe let's just have compassion on each other because we don't know whose worst day is worse? And your pain and your heartache and your heart is much different than somebody else's. It's not a comparison game. It's not a one uppers game. You don't wanna one up somebody on, oh, I suffered a lot more than you did. That's okay. I can go without that one. But I can love you and care about you because I think your your pain and your suffering, you're could be way worse than what I'm going through. So take that as a grain of salt as you're moving forward thinking about object lessons and hard things. So one of the things that the Lord, you know, put on my heart was have faith, have confidence. Hey, you know, somebody else has done this, somebody else has gone through this experience. Dude, they got it. I'm just gonna walk out in faith and step out in faith. And as you step forward into your challenging day, let's say today's your worst day. Right? And you're gonna experience something a little bit later today that you never could have imagined. Right? You didn't sleep last night. Right? Maybe you didn't sleep the night before. Maybe you're just like delusional when you're here right now because you got like four cups of coffee in you and you're just like in a lot of pain or whatever, you're happy to be here. But you have no idea what's gonna happen tonight. Right? So you may enter into your worst day completely exhausted, completely tired, completely worn out. But that's okay. Because you'll get through it one step at a time. So in preparation for this fun little event that I attended, I you know, this weird thing where I'm like doing gear prep and doing mission prep and looking at maps and looking at things and well, I don't really need this. That ounces add up to pounds and pounds equal pain and I can get rid of this and I can get rid of this. But I'm bringing a whole roll of toilet paper. That's non negotiable. I'm not using leaves. That's okay. I could if I had to, but I don't have to. I'll bring toilet paper. That's like ounces. That's okay. Right? Bring a few extra snacks because I know my 16 year old burns a ton of calories. And if I can toss them in a couple extra snacks at the time, that's worth it to me. You know, I'm gonna, you know, prepare for this as best as I can. I'm gonna maybe bring some ibuprofen. I'm gonna maybe bring some, you know, Tylenol pain reliever. Because I might just be in a little bit of pain down the road. You you know, you you bring the bare minimum on a journey like this. But because of that, I didn't sleep the night before. You know, that's just how my brain works, you know. Constantly second guessing and wondering if you need something. So entering into this hard task, you know, we drive all the way over to Republic Washington and we insert on a trail out there. It's you know, like two in the afternoon or something like that. I'm like, alright, you know, let's go. Let's get this going. Right? You enter into a task with your water bottles full. Right? You got snacks in your bag. Right? And you're gonna go hike for however many miles. You don't know. But I trust the guy that's with me that he knows. So not really knowing how far we're gonna go, maybe 10 miles or something that night. I'm like, okay, my water bottles are full. They're good. In the bible, have you guys ever heard the reference that, you know, the holy spirit is referred to as water? So moving forward in today's analogy and object lesson, water is gonna be the holy spirit for you guys. So you may enter into a challenge in life filled with the Holy Spirit. You guys are good to go. You may be exhausted, you may be tired, but you're good to go. K? So we start that hike. I don't remember exactly how many miles we did that day, but it was dark by the time we stopped. There was a lot of smoke in the air from the fires. Being sleep deprived and decaffeinated and whatever else, I started to get a little bit of a headache. I was like, we're here. We're good. We'll set up our tents. We'll rack out. I'll pass out. It'll be good. Wake up the next day and you just hit the ground running because you haven't figured out your rhythm for the day. You haven't figured out what your new chaos is going to be. Right? And the guy I went with warned me, he's like, you know, it's gonna it's gonna suck for the first three days. You're gonna kind of be slow and in pain and sore muscles, whatever. But after three days, the body adapts. You get stronger, you kind of get a rhythm, you get things figured out. So one of the lessons that God showed me on this, one of the object lessons was about water. Water is kind of important. In the Bible, God references water a few times in reference to the Holy Spirit. And, let's look over let's go to, the book of John. In John chapter four, John chapter four, Jesus is talking about water and the Holy Spirit in verse 13. This is after he was talking to the woman at the well. Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. You flip over to John chapter seven in verse 37, Jesus talks about water with the holy spirit again. John chapter seven verse 37. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his inmost innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke of the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for the spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah chapter 44, Isaiah 44 verse one. But now listen, o Jacob, my servant and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you. Do not fear, oh Jacob, my servant, and you, Jeshuron, whom I have chosen. For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. And they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water. The the last reference to the holy spirit and water, turn over to Joel. Love Joel. Chapter two. In Joel chapter two verse 28, it says, it will come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind, and your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Even on the male and the female servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days. Fluidity. You've got fluid pouring in and fluid pouring out like vessels. You guys have heard the reference of like, man, my my cup's empty today. I'm drained, man. I need to get filled back up with the holy spirit. I'm not being patient. I'm not being kind. All these references to the Holy Spirit being water. When you go on a hike like this, a lot of the guys only carry two bottles with them. Little one liter, like, they call them smart water bottles or whatever you buy them from the store. Like the brand is smart water. But they like that bottle because it's super lightweight. When it's empty, it's just a thin piece of plastic. And they get these water filters called Sawyer filters. It's maybe about like that long and like that big around and it screws onto the bottle. And then it's got a bag that you fill up with dirty water and you screw that bag onto the Sawyer filter and then you squeeze it. And the filters clean water into your one liter bottle that you've got. And so, at any point in time, all these dudes hiking on these trails and dudettes, there's a lot of females that we ran into on the trail that are just bringing it, hiking like crazy, but they've only got these two one liter bottles on them. Some people will use one bottle for dirty water, they fill it up, and then they filter that through the Sawyer filter into the other one for clean water. So really at any point in time, they got one liter to drink on them. And in my, you know, simpleton grunt brain I'm thinking, I drink a lot more water than a liter at a time. I'm going to drink water all day. I'm okay with carrying a little extra weight with a little extra water. So I have my two one liter bottles but I also brought my camel back which none of these hikers do that because that's extra weight. I can't remember the conversion of a liter of water to pounds or something like that. It's pretty significant but I would carry my three liter CamelBak in my backpack full of water. But I would walk like, you know, almost all day and just keep sipping on that. And then when we would stop to refill after, you know, ten, eleven, you know, 12 miles, I'd filter and fill the thing back up. I was okay with carrying the extra weight. I got in the habit of when I would wake up in the morning, sometimes like, you know, 04:30 in the morning we'd wake up so you could get a lot of miles in. I'd wake up and I would fill that one I'd have that full one liter bottle of water, and I would pour in an electrolyte drink mix that I had. No sugar in it, because I didn't want, you know, to overload the body a bunch of sugar. But it had magnesium and potassium and sodium, the essential minerals you need. Also a little bit of taurine and creatine. Helps the brain function, helps your body absorb water. One of the best mixes that I had found. When I would drink that in the morning, I'd feel hydrated, I'd feel awake, I'd feel good. I'd be like, dude, I feel awesome. I could walk for like a couple hours without having to really feel thirsty. We'll get to the topic of food next, but water was essential, right? I would have a little bit of water that I'd mix up. I have one bottle for mixing and one bottle for fresh water. I'd get a little instant coffee in me, get some caffeine in the brain, keep the headaches away. So water is essential. You didn't know the distance that you would have between now and your next water. But it'd be a tiny itty bitty little stream, and you were like, oh, look, there's the green trees, there's the green bushes, everything else is brown. There's got to be a stream over there, find it. And sometimes it'd be a tiny little trickle of water. And you get this bag out and you sit there and you fill the bag full of trickling water, then you filter it into your things, you're so thankful for it. And you realize how valuable it is. And towards the end of the day, as you would get closer to where you would camp at night, you would stop a mile before your camp, because that's where you wanted to eat all your food. Because there's grizzly bears in the area. So it's kinda like, alright, well let's eat here, and then once we clean up all our food mess, then we'll walk another mile and we'll camp over here, so that if the smell of food is there, they'll be over there, not by us. You'd fill up all your water at night too, because when you wake up in the morning, you don't really wanna do that. So you fill up all your water bottles and whatever. So water is essential. As you move forward in life and you have your next season of suffering, your next season of pain, your next trial that you go through, you're gonna need to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. It's gonna be essential. How do you get filled up with the Holy Spirit? Worship the Lord. Just sing. Yeah. You know, for some people it's kinda weird that I'm just gonna start singing. But when you're in pain and you're hurting and your heart is broken, you don't care. You cry out to the Lord, and you worship the Lord. And it doesn't matter what people think, because it fills you up spiritually. Worship the Lord. When we're walking on these trails in the middle of nowhere, I noticed some of the younger dudes were kinda like hurting and whatever else. And I'm like, hey, that instantly reminded me of a time where we were doing a 20 k movement and weapons company. We're in infantry training and everybody's suffering and they're hurting and carrying all this equipment. And one of the instructors noticed it. And you know what he started doing? He started singing. He'd sing these cadences where the rhythm and the timing is when your foot should hit the ground at the proper pace to keep you walking at three miles an hour, so you make good time. But he had these crazy songs that guys would remember. And so I would start singing one of these songs as Judas walk in and with one of his buddies or whatever else, I'd bring up some random song or whatever. But all of a sudden, started getting, seeing them get motivated. And they started moving faster because their brain was not focused on the pain. Their brain was focused on the rhythm and the timing and the song and the motivation of it. And then as the journey went on through this next week, they started singing different songs like, what was it? There was a Johnny Cash song, I I hear the train to come in, Folsom Prison Blues. They started singing that one and memorizing the words. They started singing, oh brother, where art thou? Man of constant sorrows. And, you know, when ever I come around and start belting out a hymn, they actually knew some hymns, which was pretty cool. They start singing hymns because that was what was in their brain. And it doubled up as also bear protection because they're making a lot of noise. It kept the grizzly bears away. So there's all these different layers of benefits to it. But as you're suffering, and you're depressed, and you're demotivated, and you're, you know, life sucks, and you're in pain, remember to worship the Lord. Right? Fill yourself back up with the the Holy Spirit by worshiping him. Even if it's you're driving around in your car belting it out at, you know, as loud as you can, walking around your house, walk your neighborhood, just walk and worship the Lord. And because I was the bigger guy and I was carrying more weight, I was in the back of the pack the whole time, like a turtle. And I was moving a little bit slower, which I was okay with. You know, I may show up fifteen, twenty minutes behind them, but whenever they would stop, I'd show up and then, you know, fill water up and we keep moving. But it gave me this solitude where I didn't have any embarrassment of just singing to the Lord and worshiping to the Lord. And as every day went on, I didn't even care. I just sing every worship song I could think of, every hymn I could think of, and just sing as I'm walking along the trail. And it was so refreshing. It was so encouraging to do that. Okay. Let's move on to food. Alright. Turn over to Matthew chapter four. And I know that you guys understand this, but Christ refers to the word of God as food. Right? And it's referred to many times throughout scripture. So we're gonna back it up with a few references here. Matthew chapter four verse one. Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In John chapter four, there's another reference. John chapter four verse 13. Jesus answered and said to her oh, wait. I already did that one. Sorry. That was water. I'm reading the wrong line. John chapter four verse 31. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him saying, rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying to one another, no one brought him anything to eat, did he? And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for life eternal, So that he who sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, the saying is true. One sows and one reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. First Peter chapter two. Really been enjoying Peter recently. First Peter chapter two verse one. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, So that by it, you may grow in respect to salvation. If you have tested the kindness of the Lord. The pure milk of the word. Hebrews chapter five verse 11. Concerning him, we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. There's another reference in Jeremiah fifteen sixteen about the word of God and food. In Job twenty three twelve, he references, you know, his word from the Lord is better than his food. In Psalm one nineteen verse one zero three, how sweet are your words to my taste, yet sweeter than honey to my mouth. So as you understand this concept that I'll, you know, beat with a dead horse. The word of God is your food. Right? You need that to sustain you and to nourish you, to nourish your body to go, to nourish your soul and spirit to go. Right? So let's put yourselves in your most comfortable pair of shoes. Right? Whatever they are. And let's put you out in the middle of nowhere, you know, 30 miles from anything. And you're gonna walk, I don't know, a good eight to ten hours a day. You guys want something to eat first? Like, think about the calories that you're gonna burn just by moving your body. Not very fast, know. I'm, you know, average two, two and a half miles an hour. Doesn't have to be fast, but you're burning calories. So you wake up in the morning and you're getting hydrated with your electrolytes, and you're thinking, dude, I gotta eat something because I'm gonna walk for like two hours. I'm not gonna, you know, really stop. I'm gonna eat some calories. So, in my crazy brain, I found the most, you know, calorie full bar that I could eat in the morning. And I thought, okay, that's what we're gonna eat. I'll give that to Judah. So he's got the calories to burn. I think it was called a range bar. It's got like seven, eight hundred calories in it or something like that. I'm like, yep, that'll work. I'll do that in the morning. Right? So I'm eating this bar in the morning as I'm drinking my electrolytes and I'm trying to tie my shoes and get my shoes on and pack my tent because I'm slow like the other guys are moving super fast because they're they're gonna wanna get on the on the road and start marching by, you know, 05:30 or whatever time it is. Right? But I'm getting that nutrients in me. Right? So two, I was like, hey, spiritually, I'm gonna be challenged today because this is a hard task. So as I'm hurrying in to get my stuff packed up, and I have the moment to sit down on my instant coffee and finish choking down this bar, I'm reading through the bible. I'm gonna get a Psalm in this morning because they're super encouraging. Like, oh, they're not ready yet. Cool. I'll get a proverb in too because there's a proverb that matches today's date. And as I'm digesting the word of God, I'm getting that encouragement to build me up for the next march that I got going on. It's nourishing me. It's sustaining me. Just like the calories that you're eating, it's sustaining you. So if you're not gonna set yourself up for success through the next moment of suffering that you're gonna go through, fall back on you. Dude, your soul needs nourishment. You need the word of God. Read it. Just read it. Get it in your body. It will produce fruit. It will nourish you. It will sustain you through, you know, your next moment of suffering. On the topic of food, we would bring stuff like beef sticks and more like, you know, like RX bars or protein bars or whatever to kind of eat along the trail throughout the rest of the day. But the big meal came at the end of the day. We got those like dehydrated either mountain house meals or peak refuel meals. And of course when I'm shopping I'm like which one has the most calories in it? And I would go for like the thousand calorie whole package meal that I could get. So at the end of the day when all my walking is done, I can get the most calories in before I go to bed. Because my body's going to repair all your torn muscle tissues while you're sleeping. It's going to store up all that food for energy for the next day. It's going to you know heal and do all that work with that food for fuel at nighttime before the next day. Right? So it's not just like get the word in the morning is enough. You need it throughout the day. If we stop for like a lunch break or whatever else, man, I'll maybe get a little bit more reading in if I had the time. Right? Or at the end of the day, you can get some more reading in then to to finish sustaining you throughout the day. But food is critical if you're burning the calories, if you're going through the task. Okay. So critical elements, you know, food and water, the Holy Spirit and the word of God, critical elements, worshiping the Lord as you're walking or whatever else. One thing that I would reiterate to, like if I was going on a hike with like younger kids or whatever else. And then even as kids get older or whatever else, and man they start getting uncomfortable, they start experiencing some pain or whatever else. I got to remind them, nobody's going to walk up the mountain for you. You've reached the point of no return. It's you gotta complete the the journey now. You can't go back. And you have to be the one to put one foot in front of the other and walk up the mountain. I'm not gonna pick you up and carry you. K? You have to do it. So in your walking relationship with the Lord, you have to be the one to walk. You can't just sit there. It's going to hurt going up the mountain. Your muscles are going get sore. Your feet are going to get beat up. And I'll tell you right now, it's going to hurt worse coming down the mountain. As I would go throughout these journeys or whatever, I'd never hiked with trekking poles before. But the other dad that went was like, here, take a pair of trekking poles. I'm like, sweet, let's do this thing. I was very thankful for that. As I'm going up these steep hills or whatever else, like, dude, look at this. I got little hand holds now to go up it. And as I'm coming down it with a little bit of weight on my back and my feet are hitting the ground every single time, I'm like, oh, this is kind of nice. I'm not falling over all the time. Right? So the trekking poles were a good piece of gear. But the impact coming down the mountain, coming down the hill on my feet every single step, It built over days. So eventually, after a few days, I got these massive blisters on the bottom of the is it the ball of your foot? Between the big toe and the toe next to it. Right where your foot impacts the ground. Every time you step down, it was right on that spot. And then the tissue, the muscle tissue and the flesh underneath it is it's hot because of the friction of the blister. And then from the impact, I felt like it was like bruising from every step. And every day coming down a hill, and then you go back up, and then I'm thinking, oh man, the end of the day, I'm going be coming down so slow. And so I'd be like one mile an hour coming down, taking each step with pain. Because each step hurt. Because the impact coming down. And it would add up, and it would accumulate. So now you're building upon a new type of suffering. Well, you've got physical pain, not just hunger and thirst, but you have physical pain in your body. So now you start to get the head games. Now your brain is like, well, do you have an injury? Or is this just pain? So one of the things that I talked with Judah about after, you know, towards the end of the trip, I would ask him, I was like, what's something you've learned on this journey? And he's like, learned how to push through pain. There's a difference between injury and pain. If you roll your ankle and you tear the tendons on the outside of the ankle, you've got an injury. And if you try to continue to walk with that injury, you're going to cause damage, right? But if you just have pain from sore muscles, you can continue to push through that pain. If you have pain from blisters on your feet, they got this amazing tape called Leukotape. It's like super sticky and it's not as harsh as duct tape. And you put it over top that blister to reduce the friction between the flesh and the shoe. So then you can keep walking. You put the Leukotape on the blisters, you keep walking. Right? You've got pain and it's okay. You can keep moving through that pain with the help of the Lord and a little bit of grit and endurance. But when the head games start to get in, your brain starts to ask yourself, are you injured? Can you complete this task? Are you gonna be okay at the end? Hey, there's a town coming up. Maybe you maybe you should call it good here. So now you have to keep, as we read in Hebrews, keep your eye on the prize. What's the end goal? What's the prize at the end as you get through it? Reliance upon God alone, not man. So no one's gonna climb up the mountain for you in your suffering. No one's gonna endure the suffering for you. No one's gonna take the pain for you except for Jesus Christ. So let's look at Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse five. Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes a his flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitation. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes. But its leaves will be green and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. The heart is more deceitful than any than I'm sorry. The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick or desperately wicked. Who can stand it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. Let's look at Proverbs chapter three verse five and six. Isn't it funny how we forget all these and then we remember them? Proverbs chapter three verse five, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. In Psalm one eighteen verse five, says, from my distress I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do against me? The Lord is for me among those who help me. Therefore, I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All nations surround me in the name of the Lord. I will surely cut them off. They surround me. Yes. They surround me. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They were extinguished as a fire of thorns. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. You pushed me violently so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song as he has become my salvation. Let's look at Isaiah chapter two verse 12. For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up that he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up against all the oaks of Bashan. Against all the lofty mountains, against all the hills that are lifted up, against every high tower, every fortified wall, against all the ships of Tarshish, against the beautiful craft. The pride of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be abased. And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. But the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks and into holes of the ground before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty when he arises to make the earth tremble. In that day, men will cast away to the moles and the bats, their idols of silver, their idols of gold, which they made for themselves in worship. In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty. When he arises to make the earth tremble, stop regarding man whose breath of life is in his nostrils. For why should he be esteemed? Men are not going to save you. Men are not going to help you. None of your stuff, none of your money, none of your things are going to get you through it. It's only going to be the Lord. There's a couple more references there in Psalms that are pretty epic. Chapter one forty six verses three through five. Psalm chapter 20 verses six through nine. But I'm going to turn over to Psalm chapter 88. When I was hiking along the trail, I was just kind of working my way through Psalms and different, you know, just kind of sequential order. Just go to this one and the next one, next one, next one. And at one point in time, somewhere about the midpoint, I came across Psalm 88. And, this was a very encouraging Psalm. Note of sarcasm. Psalm 88, verse one. Oh Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before you. Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry for my soul has had enough troubles and my life has drawn near to Sheol. I'm reckoning amongst those who who go down to the pit. I have become like a man without strength, forsaken among the dead. Like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more and they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit in the dark places in the depths. Your wrath has restored upon me and you have afflicted me with all your waves. Salah. You have removed my acquaintances far from me. You have made me an object of loathing to them. I am shut up and cannot go out. My eye is wasted away because of affliction. I have called upon you every day, oh Lord. I have spread out my hands to you. Will you perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise you? Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave? Your faithfulness in Abaddon. Will your wonders be made known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, oh, Lord, have cried out to you for help. And in the morning, my prayer comes before you. Oh, Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on. I suffer your terrors. I am overcome. Your burning anger has passed over me. Your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all the day long. They have encompassed me altogether. You have removed lover and friend far from me. My acquaintances are in darkness. So as I'm on this journey and I read that last verse, I'm like, oh my goodness. Like, this doesn't end with the typical like, hey, there's, you know, hope in this and there's that. Right? It's it's essentially addressing like, dude, there's lover, wife, husband, whatever, friends, everybody. You're on your own. There is nobody else there that's gonna comfort you, that's gonna reassure you, that's gonna encourage you. It's just you and the Lord, and that's it. And that was my takeaway from this. You know, I I thought about this big task and this thing that we're doing. And then as I'm like nearing that halfway point through it, I'm like, why in the heck am I doing this? Why am I out here? What am I doing? I'm out here doing all these miles every day. And and my my dad brain is going back to, you know, the six other kids that are at home and my wife sits at home and the tasks that I gotta do and all the things that I gotta do. And, you know, I'm weaning back and forth like I'm out here doing this thing and it's not really that fun. It's kinda hard and it it's very challenging and, you're walking all day and an average of a was supposed to be a 17 mile a day turned into like a 22 mile day. And then, yeah, yesterday we did 13 but then today we did 20 and got all these head games going on with you. And your mind is being challenged, your heart's being challenged, all these questions are coming about. And then, after one of our 20 some odd mile days, we do this next day where we had this real big high mountain we had to get up in elevation and then get back down the next day. And we get up to the top of this mountain, it's just gorgeous view. You know, you're up there, you're exhausted, you're tired, your feet are hurting, you're miserable, whatever else. But then you look at this view of how beautiful God's creation is. And you're just like, this is awesome. Nobody that I know is gonna be able to see this right now. I'm the only you know, I I could take pictures and share them with them, but it doesn't encompass the beauty that you see. And the glory that you see. And as you're walking, you're seeing the trees in God's creation, and you have these thoughts of there's sin in the world. That's why all that stuff burned over there, and we're going over dead faults because all this forest fires. But then yet you see these beautiful deer running around and all these animals running around and grouse and things like, wow. You know, God provides for all these birds and stuff. And so you get these contrasts of sin in the world and beauty in the world and and glory and stuff like that. And then for some reason, I don't know why, at the top of this mountain we had cell phone service. And so, somehow I end up getting a call from, you know, the wife and the kids. And then, you know, Judah had sent a message to his buddies or something like that. And so, at the moment of this phone call, I just happened to have all the kids at home, you know, something happened and there was drama and chaos at home or whatever else. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what the heck am I doing here? There's all this stuff going on at home and I'm here just hiking through the woods or whatever else. So I get this big head game going through my head. And so we end up hiking down that mountain and getting to another point. And because it was such a steep descent and there was so much distance to cover, man, the feet were beat up. They were hurt. They were miserable. I'm miserable. And I look over at Judah, I'm like, hey, are you having fun? And he's just kinda like. I'm like, oh gosh, I didn't think to ask you that. And I'm like, alright, you know, and I'm like, well, I mean, if you know, there's an injury or there's a reason, then I start thinking, well tomorrow we go another 11 miles. We're gonna be in a town for resupply. It's like, maybe we just call it. Maybe we just stop. So now the thoughts of doubt come in. And the thoughts of questioning come in. And you start getting this head game. So you compile your physical pain, your body is suffering in pain. You compile the emotional head game, the heart head game. And now it's kind of like, oh, I gotta take care of this other person here, and if they're not having a good time, maybe I look out for them and remove them from the situation. So now, all of the hardest parts are the head games and the heart issues. You can work through the physical issues. But then I just have to keep remembering, well, no matter what I gotta wake up tomorrow, and I gotta put my shoes on. Even though my feet are swollen and they don't wanna go in my shoes. And I gotta walk 11 miles to get to the next point. So I'm just gonna take it mile by mile, and day by day, and get to the next point that I have to go, and then we'll see what happens after that. So that morning that I woke up and, you know, go through the standard routine of hydrate and read the Bible and shove your feet into your shoes and start walking. As you start walking, work out the inflammation and you work out the sore muscles and just start worshiping the Lord. And just start praising the Lord. And then all of a sudden, have this renewed sense of energy and focus and encouragement. And we get down this mountain. I'm thinking, man, this isn't that bad. Because you've reached the point past halfway point. And you think, few more days, we could do this. And it's all downhill from there. Not literally downhill, it's up and down, up and down, up and down. But, you reach a lake, or you reach a river of ice cold water, and you just go sit in it. And all the inflammation goes down, and you're refreshed, your soul is refreshed and restored. You get that nice hot dehydrated meal and you're like, dude, I feel great. This is amazing. You get through one more day with the encouragement of the Lord and the help of the Lord. And before you know it, it's like, we got one more day left. And you finish out your trip. You finish out your journey. You show up at this beautiful, looks like a tropical island at Priest Lake. I don't know if any of guys have been there before. But like the white sand beaches and the blue water, I was like, where are we? Gorgeous. You're swimming in this lake, you got dirty clothes, you got whatever else, and you're just like, I'm great. This is awesome. I'm glad that we pushed through this and we endured through this task. And the takeaway, one of the huge lessons the Lord showed me through this is, it's in Christ alone. Your solid rock that you have reassurance. It's in Christ alone that you need to have intimacy with. And you are not gonna make it through the next season in life, and the next trial that you have to go through, if it is not for your personal intimacy with the Lord. You can't rely upon your husband. You can't rely upon your wife, your child, your cousin, your pastor. You can't rely upon anyone to get you through it. It is in Christ alone. And if you have not developed that intimacy with him every single day, the next season in life is gonna be very challenging for you. Now what solidified these lessons for me, and what motivated me to wanna talk about this is between the time that that trip finished and this time, I started to see different people that I know go through their worst days. And go through hard times and challenging tasks. And for me, I look at it like, oh, that sucks and that's hard. But then I could see where that person had such a reliance upon the Lord. They were able to get through that task. And then I started to see that and think, man Lord, this is gonna happen to the body of Christ moving forward. And I don't believe it's gonna get any easier for you. It's just gonna get more challenging. Until you go home to be with the Lord. May not be that encouraging right now thinking about all the spiritual, injuries and blisters and all those types of things you're about to go through, or you could go through. But be encouraged to know that you have hope and you have faith. Read through Hebrews chapter 11 about those Hebrews of faith. Well, I'm not bleeding. I'm not being tortured. Other people have gone through worse. I think to dear dear brother of mine did a sermon a week or so ago about the sovereignty of God. And it was an awesome encouraging sermon that he had done about all these circumstances and all these things. And no matter what God is sovereign. No matter what you're going through, what other someone else is going through. And in those times of pain, may personally doubt and ask. And that's okay. You ask those questions of your father. What is going on here? But he is sovereign. And, a dear brother of mine who, lives in a diff different state. At the the moment that right like right before this had happened, Father Father Atui lost his wife. And I'm My heart was just broken when I found out about this. And I was just weeping, was sad, it was it was gut wrenching. Right? Well, then like the next day, I had heard this sermon that my buddy had done. And I'm thinking the whole time I'm listening to this sermon, I'm like, oh, he knew. Oh, he knew. He knew what happened to my, you know, my buddy and, you know, his wife that passed away. He knew because he knows this guy. Right? And the whole time is going through and then, know, the next day or whatever I messaged him, I was like, dude, you know, did you know about what had happened with so and so's wife? He's like, I had no idea. And all he could say was, there's no words. There's no words. Because I know his heart was broken, he was weeping, he was in sorrow, because you think of your brother and what they're going through and what they're suffering and all your heart just breaks for them. So that compassion that you need to look at the body of Christ with when they are suffering, you think about their worst day and what they're going through in their heartbreak and their heartache. And they're just like, they have no other choice but to cry out to God. Think about last week or last month when you were on your knees crying before God. God knew the end of that before you entered into it. And you're at that midway point, and you're on your knees, and you're crying before God in complete frustration, You don't understand, you don't know what's going on, but you know if you cry out to him, he will help you. God knew after you would finish that little race. He knew he would answer that prayer. He knew he would get you through it. And He knew that He was gonna bring you to your knees in that moment to cry out and rely upon Him. Think about somebody else that I know who had appendicitis and appendix ruptured. Right? Incredible horrible pain. Worst pain they'd ever experienced in their life. I don't know if you know anybody that's gone through that or not. And they're describing this to me, all they could do was just cry out to God for help. Because they were in excruciating pain. Thank God they lived through it, because that can kill you. You know? Appendix ruptures, you go septic, all these other things. Right? And talking to them afterwards, and they're just like, just crying out to God for help. And I'm thinking, man, Lord, that was their worst moment right there. You're gonna die. You got this going on or whatever. It just breaks your heart. And as I started seeing all these little things leading up to today, I'm like, man, Lord, what is the body of Christ gonna go through? How is the body of Christ gonna encourage each other and help each other? As you're entering into this season, now you have the tools. You individually need the Holy Spirit every day, your water. You individually need the word of God every day, your food. You individually every day need to rely upon Him through your pain and through your suffering because it's not just about you. It's about you encouraging your brother and your sister in Christ, and helping them through this. And the body being the body to serve each other. There's more stories of of people and things and suffering and things going on that further confirm this for me. You know, people dying, people suffering, people hurting, and each one slightly different. But for the individual, has their worst day. God is sovereign. He knows the beginning from the end. Look over at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32. But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Take courage, beloved. For God knows your beginning from your end. God knows what suffering you're going to go through. God knows how you're going to encourage somebody else. And then though it's painful and it's hard, don't shrink back from it. Press into it. Move forward into it. The humility we have as husbands and fathers of having to confess our sins and repent of them and apologize of them and pour into our wives and our children and our families and lead, we suck at it. We're not good at it. Loving our wives well, loving our kids well, it's hard and we can't do it without his help. The suffering that the body of Christ is going through as I read through the headlines in the news. Christians getting slaughtered in Africa and different countries. All these Muslim countries that are just going for the wholesale slaughter. The states in America that are passing the full term abortion laws, slaughtering babies. More and more evidence of horrible things happening to people across the world. Weep for them. Weep for the lost. Weep for those that are suffering. Weep for the satanic ritualistic abuse and sacrifices that is being exposed in the world. Weep for those children that are suffering. Cry out to them for it's pleasing to the Lord. Challenge yourself daily. As what I am doing right now investing in the things of the Lord. I think about somebody sitting out in their yard and they're watching a fire burn across their yard towards their house and they've got this awesome high pressure hose. They could sit and put the fire out and they'll be good. But instead they're sitting there playing video games on their phone. Is that investing in putting the fire out for your home? Think about today's world and all the distractions that we have in. Is the time that you spend every day investing in the eternity, in the eternal kingdom? Is it investing in the food, the water, the things that you need spiritually? Is it investing in the body of Christ? Or is it wasted time? Are we being faithful with our time? Are we getting sucked up into the world in the worldly nonsense? The worthless things. There's worthless things out there. If you know a way I'm gonna go on a journey, I'm gonna bring some food with me. Would you bring silly things like board games and and, toys and things that you can't eat, you need food? No, you wouldn't. You would bring things that are valuable. Evaluate your time and how you're investing it. Pray for those that are suffering and weeping. Pray for those that are going through hardships. Weep for them. Let your heart be broken for them because it's pleasing to the Lord. So how do we have this intimacy with Christ? You have to abide in Christ. You have to abide with him every single day. Look over at John chapter 15. It's not your abiding in things of this world or whatever. It's your abiding in Christ, your fellowship with him, your intimacy in him that's gonna get you through anything and everything that you have moving forward. John chapter 15 verse one. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. You ever heard the verse that says, they will know you by your love? They will know that you are Christians by your love for each other. The body of Christ. There's so much more we could go into in that. Could keep doing this all day. Right? James chapter four verse six. James chapter four verse six. But he gives a greater grace therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. Fellowship with the Lord, intimacy with Christ. He is sovereign. Endure. He knows the beginning from the end. We have one more chapter before we close. Turn over to second Peter. Go to second Peter. Make sure I got the right one here. Chapter three. In the same way hang on a second. That's first Peter. My bad. I thought it looked funny. Alright. There we go. Second Peter chapter three. So this is a second letter that Peter had written to the church trying to encourage them and motivate them and keep their focus and their perspective on what was important. Second Peter chapter three. This is now beloved the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by the way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and savior spoken by your apostles. Know this first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of the water and by water through which the world at the time was destroyed being flooded with water. But by his word, the present heavens and the earth are being reserved for fire. Keep for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise and some counts as some counts slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, but of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless and regard the patience of the Lord as salvation. Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him wrote to you. As also in all his letters speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and the unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Father God, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you so much for your Holy Spirit. I thank you so much for your lessons in life to show us things. Thank you for the heartache and the sorrow of brothers and sisters suffering in Christ to remind us of how much we need you. Thank you, Lord, for all the gifts that you've given us, Lord. May all of our suffering and our lessons in life be sanctified unto you. Train us, prepare us for the moment that you have coming up that is next. Yesterday was the only easy day and tomorrow will be more of a challenge. But we commit it to you God. We sanctify it to you that you will bless it. That you will use it for your glory. We ask that you'd use us for your glory, for the body of Christ. Keep our eyes open. Help us to see your perspective and your plan. Help us see your direction. Help us to be faithful and not to quit, not to give up. Give us a strength to endure every day. Help us to run this race faithfully and to hold on until the end for what you have for us. May we have a encouraging word for the body of Christ. May we just cry with those that are weeping. Hug them and hold them and love them as brothers and sisters. May we suffer through what we can for your glory, Lord. Fill us with your holy spirit as water. Fill our vessels up as water, Lord, that we have more to pour out to those that need it. Fill us up with your word, your food, Lord. That we have something to give to encourage others, to motivate them, to to be a blessing to them. May our worship that we give you every single day, our our songs and our praise be a sweet smelling incense to you, Lord. That it'd be pleasing to you to worship you daily. Help us as a body of Christ to finish the race well, to endure. Help us to have that still small voice in our hearts for your direction. What you would have us to do and how. Help us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in this time. Help us to move forward boldly, Courageously, with confidence. Not fearing men, not fearing circumstances, but to move forward confidently in you. To do mighty exploits and mighty deeds in your name. Because our time is short, Lord. May we maximize it for your glory. We love you and we worship you and we praise you, Lord. In Jesus name. Amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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