Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And Memorial Day is actually a very serious commemoration of those who died in the service of our country. And so, I know for some families, where one of your relatives dies, that can be a very serious reflection. And so, we want to thank you for your sacrifice. And Memorial Day has actually become a serious commemoration here at our church. The last two Memorial Day weekends, we have had a man suddenly die in our church family two years ago. It was my friend John Cargill. I don't know if anybody remembers John, he was one of our faithful parking guys out there in the middle of the street. We give it up for the parking guys out there, helping us every time we come to church. I mean, he was out there on Argosy Avenue, which is kind of dangerous when you actually think about it. And I remember seeing John out there helping people park and I'd shout to him, “Thank you for serving the Lord, my friend.” And he'd be like, “Hey, you go preach it, Big Daddy.” That's what he would say to me. And it made me feel so awkward every time he ever said that. And so, John, he was part of our church family. He was in my fellowship group. He and I became very close as we talked about his faith. And I remember I was sitting in the service, and I was getting ready to take notes on the sermon, just like we're doing right now. And we started getting text messages that John had gone out swimming in the ocean, and he had not returned to shore. And that his wife and his two daughters were down at Corona del Mar State Beach, looking for him. And so, some of us, we left the service. And we went down there. And this was a full-on search and rescue operation. And there were police officers and fire fighters. And the lifeguard boats were out. They were looking for John, and John's wife, Tracy, she was taken up to the lifeguard tower, there at Corona del Mar State Beach, this kind of impressive building with all the windows looking out on the ocean there. And they let her sit up there while they were searching for her husband. And there were helicopters that started flying in and there were coast guard vessels that started coming in. I mean, thousands of square miles were being searched for John. And at some point, one of the officials came in and they said, “We're going to do an investigation on your husband because he's lost at sea.” And that's where I remember, Tracy saying, hey, one thing I know about my husband is he's not lost. That's what she said. And that continued well into the night and into the next day, this search for John. And eventually, I really felt like that we were getting our tax dollars at work like the way they searched for John. But at some point, the Coast Guard called off a fifth official search. And so, my wife Christa and I, we just drove immediately over to the Cargil's house and we went right up to Tracy, because she just received like the worst news of her life. Like her husband, he was this hardcore, long-distance swimmer. He went out swimming all the time, for an hour and a half at a time. And now he hadn't come back. They couldn't find him. She receives this bad news. And we're like, “what do you want to do now that the search is over?” and I'll never forget what she said? She said, “Worship”. I want to worship the Lord. Can you imagine that you get the worst possible news you could hear, and the response is worship. And so, we got some brothers and sisters together. We started singing songs, we started sharing Scriptures, we started telling stories about John, and we worshiped late into the night. Next night, we invited the whole fellowship group over for more worship. Man, can you imagine? That's the perspective that we want to have when the harsh realities of life hit us. Our mindset is still on the Lord and the things above. And I want to invite you to open the Bible with me and turn to Romans 12:12. That is going to help us have this no-matter-what mindset, these always attitudes, this twenty-four-seven Heaven perspective The way that you and I need to learn how to think if we're going to have renewed minds, if we're going to be transformed into the image of God, if we're going to do God's will in our life. We have to learn to think a certain way. And that way what we think will be revealed by the trials that will happen in our life, they will test our thinking. And so, there are three phrases here, one verse, Romans 12:12. And out of respect for God's word, I'm going to ask if we would all stand for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention because what I'm about to read to you is the Word of God. And it's a verse that you can read quickly. But you should be thinking about it for the rest of your life. So please follow along as I read Romans chapter 12, verse 12.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. It's just three phrases, and the rapid fire, it's like punchy, it's like, “In hope, rejoicing, in tribulation, remaining, and in prayer, continuing.” That's how he says it. So, this idea that you should have a hope. And that hope is going to be a compelling motivation for you, as the hard things of life happen to you. So, this kind of contrast here between the hope that we have as Christians, and the trials or tribulations of this life, this is actually the third time he's brought this up in the book of Romans. And when you bring something up three different times, that means you're trying to say something.
Go back to Romans, chapter 5, verse 2, and let's just track where we've already seen the hope, contrasted with the tribulation or the suffering. This was back in our twenty-second sermon from Romans, the gift that keeps on giving. We looked at Romans 5:1-5. Look at what it says in Romans 5:2. “Through him,” through Jesus, “we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Okay, so if you believe in Jesus, then you are standing on his grace. And you can now rejoice. And this isn't the same word as rejoice in Romans 12:12. This word here in chapter 5 is more like “we boast.” “We boast that I have hope I will see the glory of God.” I'm going to heaven, I'm going to be in God's presence, I'm going to glory when I die. See, that's the boast of our hope. And this hope is supposed to be a defining characteristic of every Christians life, your life is supposed to be known by the hope that you have in what's going to happen after your life. It's something that's supposed to be real to you, and determine how you think. And we've got a lot of people here this morning, we've got, as I look around some of you, you may be, you have a real hope. And your hope really helps you in the hard times. And you've learned how to mature in Christ. I hope this sermon will help you to continue in that. But as I look around, maybe some here are new Christians, or maybe some have been Christians for a while, but you haven't really been able to grow up in your faith. And maybe when I talk about this idea of hope, you think, oh, well, that's for somebody else. No. Every Christian, every single one of us is supposed to have such a clear expectation, such a confidence that I'm going to heaven, that it changes the way I think and live right now. Our faith is not just supposed to be in what Jesus did in the past. And faith isn't just here to help us get through the present. We should have a forward-looking faith where I believe that I will see the glory of God and that hope is supposed to be a help to every single person here. And so, if hope is not real for you, you need to really pay attention to what he's saying. Because you're supposed to have a hope that causes you to rejoice in your life. And this hope is something that you're going to see and be in the glory of God. Look what it goes on to say in Romans 5:3. Not only that, not only do you have the hope of going to heaven, not only that, but “we rejoice,” or we boast “in our suffering.” So, notice the contrast of hope in relationship to the tribulations or sufferings. Same word here as Romans 12:12. The sufferings are tribulations. And here's how we can boast in our sufferings because we're knowing that suffering produces endurance, a stick-to-itiveness perseverance. Patience is translated in Romans 12:12. But we're going to stick to it in our endurance, and our endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame. Hope does not disappoint. If your hope is in Jesus, Jesus is the one person who will never let you down. I remember when my family moved to Texas when I was in high school, we lived in San Antonio and we would watch as the San Antonio Spurs played basketball, and whenever they lost, as soon as it was clear that they had lost, my dad would say, “Well, we're still going to heaven .” That's what he would say. He's been saying that ever since. I mean, that was his idea. Many disappointments in this life. One thing that will not disappoint me is the day I get to see Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen from anybody? Are you living based on this hope?
Go to Romans 8:24-25, where he brings it up again. So, by the time he's given us these rapid fire punchy statements in Romans 12, it's because he's already brought up this idea of hope in the hard times multiple times beforehand. And look at chapter 8, verse 24. This was our thirty-seventh sermon in the book of Romans. It says here in Romans 8:24, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Or perseverance, endurance, stick-to-itiveness. That's the same word in chapter 12, verse 12, like I can keep going because I have hope. Now, let's just make sure we understand how the Bible uses the word hope. Because we use the word like, “I hope it doesn't rain, or I hope my favorite sports team wins.” We use it like this is what I would prefer. Or maybe this will happen in the Scripture. Hope is one hundred percent, it is for sure, it is a confident expectation that I am going to be in the presence of Jesus. I know this, for sure. And that's what allows me to be patient and to wait, then to keep going and stick to it is because I have hope. And so then, when we get to chapter 12, and he says in hope, rejoicing. The expectation that Paul has is that you have an expectation of being with Jesus and that hope that one hundred percent confidence that you have, is a driving motivation in your life. This is something I'm hoping for you, and I'm praying for you, I'm hoping in our kind of a way, like maybe it will happen that you'll get a grasp of what is for sure going to happen for every Christian, and that you will really have a forward-looking hope that you're going to see Jesus. And that will be a reason that you live every day. And if that's just something you've kind of known about, but it hasn't been real to you, I'm praying that this summer, as we go through the book of Revelation together here at this church, that you will create a memory in your mind that you haven't yet experienced.
We all know what a memory is. A memory is when I can recall to mind, maybe I see a picture, or I hear a story. And I recall to mind something that happened. At one point in time, you need to create a memory in your mind of what is going to happen outside of space and time. The best moment of your life is yet to come, the best experience that you're going to have, the best relationship, the best joyful moment that if you could get a picture of one thing, it would be the moment that you behold the glory of Jesus. And that hope needs to be a compelling thing in your life right now. So, the Greek word, we’ll throw it up here on the screen. Elpis, it's the word for hope. It's a very common word. And it's something that you are supposed to not only just know about, but you’re also supposed to have a hope that really helps you through the hard times of life. And so, do you have this hope?
Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1, where he hits this hope head on. And maybe some of you will remember, if you can go to 1 Peter 1:3 with me, we talked about this during COVID with a sermon called “Scattered”. And we looked at this verse, and we learned how to be a hoptimist. Does anybody remember when we learned how to be hoptimist? Because we talked about how some people are optimistic. I guess I would be one of those people, where the personality’s kind of positive, maybe even naively so, where everything's going to work out, and it's all going to be fine. And that seems so dumb to some of you who are realists. Right? Because you're not living in the dream world that we're living in. You're living in the real world. And that's how sometimes realists justify their negative attitude, and their bitter energy, because hey, I'm just keeping it real. Right? And so, look, things are bad, that's bad. You're bad. Everything's bad. Right? I mean, that's kind of a realist. And we talked about how a hoptimist can believe that things are going to be positive, but it's not fake. It's actually real, because it's based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that things are bad in this life, but this life is only here for a limited time. And we're going to be in a place where there is nothing bad, where there is no evil. And so, we don't have to just be an optimist or a realist, we can be a hoptimist. And we got that from this verse, 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Like, let's say good things about God here today. Here's why. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because Jesus rose from the dead, I have hope of eternal life after death. In fact, look what it says in verse 4, here's what you can have, “Open to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading,” kept or reserved in heaven for you, who by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So, you haven't seen it yet. You haven't experienced it yet. But there is reserved in heaven for you a place, an inheritance. God's going to guard you all the way until you get there. And when this is revealed, oh, it's going to be so glorious, so awesome, that it's worth having a hope in today. Do you have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Are you a hoptimist? In fact, look at what it goes on to say in verse 13, everybody, look at verse 13 with me, because we're talking about how you think we're talking about what goes on in between your ears all week long. How do you think through the day? And he says, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, being sober minded.” Hey, get ready, have clear thoughts. Here's how you should be thinking, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Put all the hope that you've got in the fact that you won't be disappointed when Jesus is revealed in all of his glory. Because some of you, you are riding a roller coaster of emotions and circumstances. And some days you feel up. And some days you feel down. And some days you look around at what's happening, and what's happening seems good. And other days, what's happening takes you down into the depths. And you can keep riding that ride for the rest of your life if you want. But this verse is telling you to stop thinking that way, and to set your minds and get them ready. And think clearly, because you have something that no matter what, you are not a prisoner of the moment, because you have a life outside of space and time. And you should put all your hope on what's going to happen when you see Jesus. That's what the Scripture is saying. That's the Christian way to think. And too many of us are way dominated by how I feel, and what I can see happening around me when we're supposed to have hope in what Jesus is going to reveal to us yet to come. And so, I want to encourage you to think that way.
Let's get that down for point number one: “Remember what is endless.” Remember what is endless; stop being a prisoner of this space and this time, of this body, of this moment in history, of these finances that you have, or these broken relationships, that you're feeling the effects of right now and start to remember what is eternal, what will never end, what you have that will last forever and ever. He is preparing a place for us; he has a reward for you. He has a nickname for you that only you and him will know. And when we get there, all of the pain, all of the death, all of the tears, they will all be wiped away endlessly. And you’ve got to get a memory of that in your head, you’ve got to have a thought, I haven't seen it yet, but I know what my favorite thing is. I know what my best moment is. And I'm putting all my hope on the moment that Jesus is revealed in front of me. I can't wait till I get to look into the eyes of fire. And I get to see the face that shines like the sun in full strength. Now the day that I see Jesus, I'll be doing just fine. Thank you very much. And that fact that I'm going to do fine on that day helps me today because whether today is a good day or a bad day, it's one day closer to the day I get to see Jesus. And I'm putting all my hope in that. Can you say that's what you're doing? Because if you have that kind of hope there can burst forth from you a joy. That's what our text is actually saying. It’s saying you need to have the hope and in that hope you should be rejoicing. Okay.
Now go with me to John 15:9-11 where Jesus teaches his disciples about joy. And I want you to turn to this this passage with me because these verses regularly are my things that I think about ever since we went through the Gospel of John. We did a sermon, how to have joy from John 15:9-11. And out of many sermons we've done it's probably one of the sermons I think about the most because of what it says in these three verses. This is Jesus, teaching his disciples how to have joy. Jesus is about to die. They're about to be scattered. And yet he says, “Let me teach you about joy.” Look at John 15. Start with me in verse 9, three epic thoughts here in John 15:9, 10, and 11. Verse 9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Remain. Stay in my love. Okay, so let's just think about that for a second. “As the Father has loved me,” do you believe that the Father in Heaven loves his one and only Son Jesus? But do you think that maybe the Father loves his son, Jesus, with a pure love, with a perfect love that the Father who said in a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Do you think that the Father loves Jesus in the maximum possible way that love can be expressed? Okay, well, then look what it says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” You could not be more loved than you are right now by Jesus Christ. That is real. Doesn't matter how you feel. Doesn't matter what's happening right now. Jesus loved you so much, he shed his righteous blood and died in your place, proven fact, true love. That's how Jesus loves you. And if you could get that thought in your head, see that, that could bring real joy. I'm already loved. Nothing that happens to me today, no matter how I feel tomorrow, nothing can separate me from the love that God has for me in Jesus Christ. There is an eternal, perfect relationship between the Father and the Son and I have been invited into that relationship. And the love that they share is now also shared with me. That's verse 9 that could produce joy in your heart. How about verse 10? Look at verse 10. “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.” See, there's something that might bum you out is when you see the standard of God and his commandments. And then you see that you don't live up to God's standard, that you fall short. And even as you're growing as a Christian, you're like, wow, I shouldn't be up here. I'm down here, that could be really discouraging. And so, you're like, oh, keeping the commandments. I can't do that perfectly. That's tough, but no. Look at what it says, just as I have kept my Father's commandments. Did Jesus perfectly fulfill the law of God? Did Jesus obey every single command? Did he do his father's will? Did the voice from heaven let us know? Yes, this is my Son with whom I'm pleased. Did he resist the temptation? was Satan in the wilderness? Did he obey every single command? Guess what the perfect righteousness of Jesus, where he did the will of the Father completely, that righteousness was one hundred percent perfect righteousness. That's how God sees you. Now, God doesn't see you based on how you did obeying his commands. He sees you based on how Jesus did obeying his commands, because when you transfer your trust to Jesus, you are given his righteousness as a free gift by grace through faith, and that righteousness is now counted to you. It's credited to your account, it's put upon you that God in heaven declares you having the righteousness of his Son Jesus.
So you could not be more loved than you are right now. And when God looks at you, he doesn't look at your sin. He sees the righteousness of his son. And so, then Jesus says in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” You're perfectly righteous. Why have I said this to you? “That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be what, everybody? Does anybody here want joy as you leave here today? Like mid-range joy, just a little bit of joy, please. Is there anyone here want to leave in absolute despair and misery from the service here today? Is that how you would prefer to roll? Would anybody here like to be bursting out of your skin? Would anybody here like to have a joy that surges up from your soul out into your life like you could be walking through your day? And you could be kind of discouraged about this, and you could be having a hard time with this. And you could be thinking, hang in, your always attitude, that I am so perfectly loved. And I have perfect righteousness in Christ. And you could feel joy in the hope that you have in Jesus. And you have to learn to think this way. How many of us are leaving joy there on the table where we could be rejoicing in the Lord. But we're over here grumbling about something else. We're over here thinking about earthly things, rather than having the joy of Jesus in us, and experiencing fullness of joy, as we think about the perfect love of the Father and the perfect righteousness of the Son. I'm inviting you, outside of space and time, into eternal life. This is eternal life, that we would get to know the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent, and the Father and the Son, they have a perfect relationship for all of eternity. You can participate in that relationship. And you can know fullness of joy. Are you rejoicing in the hope that you have? Because you're going to need to go back to Romans chapter 12, verse 12, because it then says we should be rejoicing in hope. That's the first phrase. Why? Because we're going to need to be patient in tribulation.
And I want to show you these Greek words here tribulation is the word thlipsis, and this word is a very common word. It's translated tribulation here, sometimes it's translated suffering. So, this is just talking about the bad things that happen in life. And this word patience here is a very important I think. Greek word hupomeno is the verb we'll put it up here on the screen. You can see the word has two parts, the preposition hupo means under, and then meno is one of my favorite Greek words, it's the word that's translated abide in John 15. Meno means to remain or to stay. So, hupomeno is to remain under, would be the technical way to say it. So, you're patiently enduring, you're persevering, you're able to keep going, you're able to have stick-to-itiveness. Like I don't give up. But I endured. That's the idea here of being patient in tribulation. And what it's saying is that in this life, you're going to have hard times, bad things are going to happen. And those things are going to be heavy upon you, those things are going to be like a weight, and you need to learn how to remain under the weight. And as you remain under the weight, you will grow stronger in your faith in Jesus Christ; you will come through the trials, passing the test; you will become mature as a Christian, and you will be closer to Jesus than you were before that hard thing happened in your life. So, you’ve got to learn to be patient in tribulation.
Okay, now go back to John and look at John 16:33 with me. Let's look at another thing that Jesus said when he was teaching disciples in his last training with them before he went and died on the cross. And what you need to do is you need to learn the right expectations to have about life. You need to educate your expectations with the Scripture, because Jesus makes a promise here that all of us need to process. This is John 16, verse 33. And he's coming now, this is his last line. He's been teaching them from chapter 13 about the new kind of love to have for one another, he's sending the Holy Spirit. Remain in me, he's saying. How to have joy. Like we just looked at many things, how to pray. And then at the end of it all, he says, “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world you will have” what is it say there, everybody? “Tribulation, but take heart, be of good courage. I have overcome the world.” I have victory, I have won, but in this world, you're going to have hard times, you're going to have trials. Now, that's Jesus, promising that now maybe this isn't one of the precious promises that makes it into the books with a nice calligraphy and all that. Right? And maybe this isn't a Pinterest or an Instagram kind of Bible Promise. You will have tribulation in your life, right? You need to understand this. I talked to many people here at the church who act like something bad is happening to me. Why isn't God blessing me? People say stuff like this all the time. I thought God was supposed to bless me. Why is this bad thing happening? No, no, no, no, no. That's a wrong way to think if you say stuff like that. That's not what the Bible teaches you. The Bible teaches you that bad things are going to happen, and God is so good that he's going to bless you through those bad things. It doesn't say the blessings of God will take away the bad things in this world. You will have tribulation. How many people are blaming God, that he's not good because bad things are happening when God's over here saying warning, warning, bad things are going to happen. That's why you're going to need my goodness. A lot of people are not getting this message from Jesus, you need to make sure that you hear this loud and clear, bad news is common. Bad days are on the horizon. You're going to get message about a devastating medical diagnosis, somebody you love, something really hard is going to happen in their life. Like, it's only a matter of time till you get more bad news in this world, that's how it goes, you will have hard times. And that's when you're really going to need that hope in Jesus to help you persevere, to endure, to remain under the pressure.
Like, even if you don't spend much time in the gym, we get the basic idea of how the gym works. Like if you go and do a bench press, and you go lie down on that bench and you get the bar and then you put weights on the ends of the bar. And then how much weight can you lift? And how many reps? Can you put up with that weight? That's how strong you are. So, we understand that even in this kind of physical way, maybe you're doing a squat and you put the bar behind your head and you're going to go down then up, well, how much weight can I squat? And how many times can I do it? How many reps can I have? Like, that's what oh, well, if I go through a lot of weight, if I can remain under a lot of weight, then I'll be strong. That's how it works physically. That's exactly how it works spiritually, like this is the promise, there will be trials, these trials will test your faith. And when the trials come and something bad happens, you can doubt God's goodness. And you can freak out and have a fight or flight response. If you want, you can turn back to old ways of sin and hope that it'll make you feel better. You can be anxious and try to figure out if there's any profit in anxiety, or you can stick to it. And you can remain under pressure, and you can say it's not feeling good. I can't see the good outcome. But I know who God is. I have hope of life after death. And I'm going to trust in Jesus. Under all this weight I'm going to keep on trusting him. And if you do that through the trial, guess what? You get closer to Jesus.
Go with me to the book of James chapter 1 famous verses here in James, but not just verses to know about, verses to think as we live our lives versus James, he doesn't beat around the bush, James, he could say, well, here's the gospel. Do you believe it? He just goes straight to the test, straight to the pop quiz. Like we're really going to find out what you believe when something bad happens to you, and how are you going to respond to that. So, he says, consider it all joy. Here in James 1:2, “Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials of various kinds,” like I know you guys are scattered right now; I know you're going through a hard time. Well, you should consider it joy. You can rejoice in hope when bad things happen to you. Because you understand how bad things work, bad things are promised. Bad things are to be expected. And when I remain under the pressure of these bad things, then I get stronger. Look at what it says right here, that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect. Don't turn to doubt and anxiety. Don't turn back to ways of sin. Don't try to find something that feels good. When the weight of it feel so heavy, don't turn to other feelings, turn to faith. And when you turn to faith, well, then you're going to have the full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. You're going to mature in your faith in Christ. This is the reason that some people here in this room have not grown up in your faith is because when the bad things happen to you, you act like what's God's problem? Why isn't he bailing me out from bad things? No, no, no, God never said he would take away all the bad things. He said he would take you through the bad things. He'd be with you through the bad things. And so, a lot of people, they have these trials, and they don't respond in faith, and they don't get stronger. But I've talked to people here at the church who have gone through horrendous things, horrific things, I mean, brutal things that have happened to people. And they're like, you know what, it's good that this happened to me, because I didn't know Jesus like this before this happened. And I didn't really pray like this before this happened, and I wasn't as close to God before this happened. Here's people telling me why they're bad things were actually good things because they saw how they brought them closer to God. And that's the point. The point is you would have a relationship with God who created you not that you would just have a pleasant experience right now in creation, but that you would know and worship your Creator who can bring you through bad things. That's how good he really is. So, are you doing this? Look at verse 12, James 1:12. “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test.” Hey, when you get through, when you remain under the pressure of these bad things, hey, guess what, when you do that “he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” Okay.
So, let's get this down for point number two: “You need to remain under what is passing,” remain under what is passing. And that's what we're calling all these tribulations. All these hardships, sufferings trials, the trials of this life are only available to you for a limited time. And I understand that some of you are going through intense trials right now. And all you can see is the tunnel. You can't even see from your perspective right now the light at the end of the tunnel. Hold on brother, stay strong sister, because if you keep under the pressure, if you keep trusting in the Lord, not only will you get to the end of the tunnel that you're experiencing right now, but someday, all you will know is light and you won't even be able to see the tunnel anymore.
When we get there, and we get to hear God's say, now the dwelling of God is with man, now he's our God, and we are his people. And Jesus is wiping all of our tears away, there will be no death, there will be no pain, there will be no crying, there will be no goodbyes, there will be no broken relationships. Can I get an amen from anybody here this morning? Like all there is, hey, there's a lot of hard things that are going to happen, something bad is going to happen to you. And it will pass and the love of Jesus and the righteousness that you have in Christ that's endless, that will endure forever. And because the love of Jesus will endure forever, you should endure through this trial right now. And that hope can help you keep going. The things you can't see can motivate you with the painful things you can see. Because it's going to be worth it to be patient in tribulation. Man, I'll tell you what I've seen now John's wife respond to that terrible news. Not only did she want to worship right away, but a year later, last Memorial Day weekend, she wanted a bunch of us to go back to Corona del Mar State Beach. And so, she got some brothers and sisters together from the church people. She works with friends and family and we all went down to the beach. And she opened up my friend John's Psalms journal. And she started reading some of his notes from the psalms that we had been reading the summer that he went out swimming and didn't come back. And it was like I was hearing a year later. It's like I'm hearing from my friend John, and from his faith all over again. And John had been really honest with me. He had shared with me some of the doubts that he had about his salvation. And he and I spent hours talking about it. We went through partners discipleship, we went through the gospel, repentance, and faith. We went through 1 John about how to have assurance and know you have eternal life. And I saw John by dealing honestly with his doubts, he grew in his faith. Now here's his wife, reading his words. And I realized while she's reading his words, that she's brought Psalms journals for everybody there, even the people who didn't go through our church, go to our church, she's given them all Psalms journals, she's invited them to read the Psalms with us. She wants everybody there to worship the Lord, to remember the faith that John had, so everyone there would have that same faith. I'm like, wow, look at this lady remaining under the pressure, what a brutal thing to hear that your husband is not coming back home. And then to remain under that pressure, by faith. And I was so encouraged. Here's John's words of faith that I'm hearing a year later, here's his wife remaining under the pressure of faith. When you see people who have faith in hard times, it is a beautiful thing to see people who really trust in the goodness of Jesus. Have you seen people, I mean, it's something that glorifies God, like they're not feeling good, their circumstances are not good, but they still believe that God is good, and that they're going to see the goodness of God in the land of the living and that they're going to see the goodness of God at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's like all they can see is the goodness of God when you can see that their life is not good. They're still seeing how good God is. It inspires you. And so here we are a year later at the place where John died and we're worshiping again. And one of the brothers in Christ he wrote a song. And I remember him singing it there at the beach one year ago on Memorial Day, and he's saying these words, the sunsets. Your love is sure, although there's pain. We must endure a faithful friend forever be by Jesus’ side eternally. And what an amazing thing to think that my friend John is on the other side. And that really that hope of going there into that place of glory, that should encourage all of us to be patient in tribulation.
Now, if you know anything about going to the gym, if you're going to try to set a new personal record, if you're going to lift more weight than you ever have before, what do they always recommend? If you go to the gym, what should you have everybody? You should have a spotter. So let me just make this very clear. If you're going through something heavy, if you're going through a hard time, if you can feel that your faith is being stretched, and you've got a weight on you heavier than anything, you've had to remain under before and that God is using this trial to strengthen you. Can I just encourage you, please don't do that by yourself. Please don't go through that alone. That's why we're here. That's why we gather together. Like some of you are lifting an incredible amount of weight. And honestly, it's hard for you to remain under it. And one of the reasons it's so hard is you're doing it by yourself. And when you can't keep holding up the weight, that's what the spotter is there for, to come alongside of you to help lift up the weight. You want to get stronger on the bench-press, you don't want to get crushed on the bench-press. That's why you need a spotter. And if you're getting crushed, is it because you're not sharing your weight with anybody else? We can bear one another's burdens, we can come alongside of each other. So, you don't have to go through this alone. Number one. A lot of times when you're under the weight, that's the clearest place you can share in the sufferings of Jesus. And you can see that even when it feels like the whole world is crushing me, Jesus is here with me. But don't just have Jesus there with you, have a brother or sister there with you. If you're going through a hard time, I want to encourage you, if you've been keeping it to yourself, you should share it with someone, maybe even share it with your whole fellowship group. Let them know what you're going through so they can come and bear that burden with you, so they can come alongside of you and help you be patient in tribulation. So you can keep going. Please don't keep your problems to yourself. A lot of people, they'll say things like, well, I didn't want to be a burden, or I didn't want to be a problem that goes against the purpose of church. The purpose of church is that we help with the problems it is that we bear one another's burdens. And so please, you might be going through something and that's God's plan for you to grow through that. But you don't have to do it by yourself. The Lord Jesus is with you. And we want to be with you, too, as his people. Get a spotter when you're remaining under that pressure.
Now go back with me to Romans 12:12. Because how are we going to access these always attitudes? How are we going to have these no-matter-what mindsets of hope and eternal life and then how to stick with it through the pain of this life? Well, the third one is really where the power comes from, in this verse. And the third phrase here is to be constant in prayer. Be constant in prayer. The Greek word here for prayer is proseuche, which is a common word for prayer used in many places. But this idea of being constant is very distinctive. And it's proskartereo is the word. Pros, meaning to, and kartereo, to be steadfast, to continue. And so, it's sometimes translated devoting themselves to prayer or continuing steadfastly in prayer, here it translates it, like prayer should be the constant. Yes, life circumstances will go up and down, but you can have a hope of eternal life. And you can bear with the trials of this life and the thing that's going to keep you steady, the thing that's going to keep you constant is your prayer where you direct your thoughts to God. So, the Scripture is saying to Christian people who are living based on the mercies of God, if it makes sense to you that Jesus gave his life for me, so I'm going to give my life to Jesus. Well, the expectation is that you would be constant in prayer. So, for some, the conviction of the Holy Spirit's going to start right there. Because if you don't pray, how can you continue in prayer if you're not even praying? And I don't know how this happened. But it somehow became normal for Christian people who go to church in Southern California at the time you and I are alive. It's normal for people to go to church, and then say, oh, yeah, well, I know I should pray more and just accept failing at prayer in their Christian life. I don't know how that happened. But it now it's kind of like standard operating procedure. Let's talk about prayer. Yeah, I should probably be praying more. Well, when are you actually going to stop saying you should pray more and actually go and pray the way that you should? Like, how long are you going to accept not praying in a constant kind of a way in your life. I'm asking you a personal question. If you do regularly pray, be constant in it. That's great. Keep doing it. If you don't regularly pray between you and God in a secret place where you shut the door, where you get off the phone, where there's no other people around, just you and God and your open heart ready to be poured out before him. If you're not doing that, I've been praying for you that at this eleven o'clock service, this would be the day that you say, I can't, I can't be saying I should pray more I need to pray. And if someone asked me, do you pray, I need to be able to say, yes, with no qualifying statements. I need to be able to stand before God and say, yes, I pray to God. And I need to go spend the time and do the work and learn how to pray, so I can say, yes, I am a person of prayer. How could I not be? I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was a day in my life, I can remember it very clearly. Because it was such an important day for me. I can remember the time where I said, I can't keep feeling a prayer in my life. I can't keep accepting that I'm not getting in the secret place and spending quality time with God, day after day. And so, I said, it has to change and I began to type out my prayers, I began to take prayer much more seriously than I ever had before. In my life, I give it my highest recommendation, I give it my five star Yelp review. If there's one thing you need to go do, if you're not doing it, you need to go be constant in prayer. So, I'm asking you, between you and God, does he know that you spend quality time praying to him? Because it's saying here, be constant in prayer.
Go to the book of Acts, Acts 1:14. How did this whole church thing even start? How did the Church of Jesus get built there in Jerusalem? It happened because of prayer. And I just I can't say this enough. I don't know how to say that strongly enough. I'm praying that today would be a game changer for some of you who have been okay with not praying that you will start praying. I think of that man, Daniel. Do you remember the story of Daniel? a young man who lived in Jerusalem and they exiled him to Babylon, they tried to brainwash him to become a Babylonian and worship their gods, and Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself. And God ended up taking Daniel and putting him into the highest rank and next to King Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonian Empire. Then when the Medes and the Persians came crashing in, Daniel is still one of the leading governing authorities in all of the land to successive world empires, where Daniel is one of the highest people in government because he's God's guy. And so, you know how politics works. There's backstabbing, and there's let's go dig up some dirt. Let's go tear Daniel down. There are all kinds of other people who want Daniel’s position. And so, they have all the resources of the government. They've got his bank statements, they've got his internet history, they've been listening to Daniel's phone, and they're digging up all the dirt they can on Daniel, and they come together and they're like, we got him. We know exactly what he's been doing. Here's his secret. Three times a day, he goes into an inner room, and there's a window facing towards his hometown of Jerusalem, where the temple is, and three times a day, morning, noon, and night, he goes into that room and he talks to his God. We've got him, he's busted. Man, if people did a whole investigation into your life, is the secret they would find prayer? Because that's what they found with Daniel. And that was a guy that God used to impact the world. Because he was a man of prayer, he was constant in it. His enemies knew it. It was his secret to all of his success. And so, in the church here, look at what they were doing. Jesus has gone up into heaven. The Holy Spirit has not yet come down, and look at how it describes them. One hundred and twenty people in an upper room, all these with one accord were devoting themselves to what, everybody? Prayer. That's the same phrase from Romans 12:12, devoting themselves, be constant in. And the women are there, Mary, the mother of Jesus is there, his brothers are now there may be believing in him. So, it's like, here's Jesus’ family, here are Jesus’ disciples, and they're all gathering together, what? To pray. And then the Holy Spirit shows up. And then three thousand people repent and get baptized as the gospel rings out on the streets of Jerusalem. And then this new church is immediately a mega church there in Jerusalem. Thousands of people saved in one day, more people being added day by day. And when it describes the church, look at Acts 2:42. What were they known for? What were they all about in the early church? They devoted themselves, they were constant in the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. These days you call a prayer meeting at church, only a few people show up. Back in the day, church was a prayer meeting where people from the church just endlessly got together, praying.
Go over to Acts chapter 6, where they have a real problem in the church, because some of the widows aren't getting the daily distribution of food. And in fact, it's even worse than that. Because we know it's pure religion to help widows. Well, not only are widows not getting the food they need, but it's a certain race of widows who aren't getting the food that they need. So, it feels like people are being neglected because of their race in the church. This is a big problem. And so, you see here, the apostles call a meeting, they're going to raise up some guys to go address this problem with the widows but they want to say first things first. Here's what we need to be all about. Acts 6:4. We will devote ourselves to what does it say there, everybody? Prayer. Prayer is something you need to be all about, because that's how Jesus builds his church. And if you want to see God, do anything in your life, you need to be asking God to do it. I was going through prayer one time in a partner's one on one discipleship meeting, and we were meeting in my office and my office has a window where you can see the old auditorium over there, which is now the kids’ ministry building. And then you can see the courtyard here. And you can see the ramp coming into this new auditorium. And we were talking about prayer. And it's like this brother in Christ, it's like the light bulb went on in his head. And he's like, wow, pray like prayer is real. I mean, sometimes people will say, prayer works. I don't always like that phrase. Because it's not like the religious thing of prayer works. It's like when you talk to God, God actually hears you and answers you. That's what it is. It's not like prayer works. It's like God does it is what happens. And the lightbulb was going on in this guy. And he's like, “I bet you've seen some real answered prayers here at the church.” And I'm like, “Brother, look around.” And I'm showing him all these buildings in the courtyard. And I'm like, brother, everything at this church is an answer to prayer. Like, how do you think things happen? You think people just show up? And oh, surprise, they got saved? Do you think you think all of a sudden we just get a new auditorium? Oh, wow. How did that happen? No, no, no, here's how it happened. God did it. And you want to know God, why God did it? We asked him to do it. People were praying for this church before it ever existed. It's like they were praying it into existence. They were asking God that there would be a place where people could go and hear the Gospel, and they could hear the Bible preach, and other people would actually care about them. There could be a place like that in Huntington Beach. And we were praying that at that place, Jesus would save many people. And as I look around the room right now, some of you were the people we were praying for. And you are an answer to that prayer. Like, man, this is how it happens is God's people pray. And then God does it. And the reason it doesn't happen is we have not because we ask not. But if we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we will find. If we knock what's going to happen to the door? Or how many people here right now have a closed door in front of you, and you're not even knocking in prayer. You're not knocking until you see it open. Because you're not being constant in prayer. This needs to change in your life today. If you are praying, I hope you'll be inspired to keep praying. And if you're not praying, I hope you will declare that to be unacceptable in your life from this day forward.
Go with me to Colossians 4:2 where it says this same thing, particularly here, the command is about praying for open doors, to share the gospel so that people can be saved. And I love the description that it gives here in Colossians 4:2 here, it translates what is proskartereo, constant or devoted themselves. Here it says in Colossians 4 to continue steadfastly in prayer. And I'm not just talking about the quick prayers that you throw up as you go through your day. I'm talking about spending the quality time of prayer in the secret place with your father that sets the mood for the entire day. regularly going back, when you're by yourself, you're not alone. You go before the throne, that's what I'm talking about. Continue steadfastly in prayer and then look at what it says. In this what happens as you learn how to pray as you learn how to know who God is, and you ask him to do things that will hallow his name as you learn about the glory of Jesus being revealed for his kingdom to come. As you read the Scripture, and you see all of God's promises, and you say, Father, may your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Father, you said in this verse, you would do this. I'm asking you to do what you said. And you learn how to pray. You become watchful in it with thanksgiving. I love that. Because now it's not just that you're going through some motions of prayer. A lot of people think prayer is like for their own benefit, to help them be more spiritual. That's not what prayer is. Prayer is asking God to do something and then watching for God to do it, is believing that God is going to answer your prayer. Even as you're asking him to do it, you already have the faith that what Jesus said, ask anything in my name, and I will do it. And as you're asking, you're already believing that God is going to answer. And so, you're watching for it. In fact, not only are you watching, you're already starting to thank God for doing it before he's even done it. Because you're so confident that he's going to do it, because you've been praying for it before. And you saw it here. And you saw it there. And you saw with that person over there. And so now you're asking again, and it's like, you're already watching, and you're already like, God, thank you for saving. Thank you for building your church. Thank you for doing exactly what you said you would do consistent with all your character. You're already thanking him before he does it. Because you're constantly in prayer. And you're learning how prayer works. What that means is, God does it. And so, you thank him, even before the prayer is answered.
See, point number three, let's get it down like this: “You need to reconsider prayer is like air,” reconsider prayer like air, necessary for survival. Not going to get through a day without it. You’ve got to stop using busyness as an excuse not to pray. In fact, busyness if you’ve got a lot going on, that means you need to pray more, not less. You need to stop using being tired as an excuse to pray. Prayer is where you're going to find some everlasting energy. Those who wait on the Lord will mount up with renewed strength. You’ve got to stop with the excuses, and you’ve got to get continuing steadfastly in prayer, and then you wait, and you see what God's going to do. Because we could go right now, we could go look on my computer, we could go read through these prayers. And if you started reading through these prayers, you'd be seeing, wow, some of these things, God did those things. Exactly. Exactly, he did. And so that's why we've got here, as you leave today, we've got these answered prayer cards, and there's just three by five cards there on the tables as you walk out of the room. And what I want to encourage you to do is go write down like on a card, thank you, Father in heaven for answering my prayer, when I asked you to, who whatever it is, this is what you did. And then I want you to put these cards and you can get as many of them as you want, you can go buy more of them yourself. And you could start writing down, just try to think of all the times you asked God to do something, and he did it and start putting a card down for each one and then put these cards somewhere, you can see them to remind you that you want to pray because you want to ask God to do it, because look what God did. And maybe we're going to have a prayer meeting tomorrow night on Memorial Day, I don't know, maybe you've already got plans. But if you're free, we're going to be praying here tomorrow night at seven o'clock. And I'm going to bring a bunch of these answered prayer cards and we're going to put them up on a wall and maybe we'll make the word ask or pray. Or maybe we'll make a cool arrow or I don't know what cross shape. I don't know what but what we're going to make something out of all the answered prayers that Jesus has built in his church here in Huntington Beach. And I want to encourage you to come and join us tomorrow night at seven o'clock, or I want to encourage you to do this at your own house, but see what Jesus has actually done. And then ask yourself, Why am I not praying more? Why am I not watching? Why am I not so thankful? Look at all the answered prayers. See, a year ago when I was preaching on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday night at our service, I got this iPad here, and yes, sometimes people ask me do you use notes, I got notes up here. And I started using an iPad for the notes. And that was before I realized I’ve got to go into airplane mode because I started receiving text messages during the sermon about how a brother in Christ here at our church, Brian Spielman, he had been riding his bike on Memorial Day weekend, and he had a heart attack. And they were rushing him to the hospital, and they thought Brian was going to die. And I was getting those text messages while I was trying to preach the sermon. And this was one year after we had an emergency with my friend, John, and now it feels like lightning is striking twice with our brother in Christ. Brian, I don't know if you knew Brian Spielman here at our church, but he was a man devoted to prayer. I don't know how long you've been called. him into the 11 o'clock service. But there's a group of people who go into an upper room and they pray during the entire 11 o'clock service. They pray for you, Brian, he was there, he was a man who continued in prayer. And man, if you could have been at Brian's memorial service, everybody who talked about Brian, whether they were an unbeliever, or one of his brothers in Christ, here at the church, everybody who talked about Brian, they all described him as a man of faith, a man who believed that Jesus had won a victory of victory that we were all going to share in together as Jesus built his church and established his eternal kingdom. This is what everybody, even his family members that didn't believe, they knew that's what Brian believed. And so, we heard one of Brian's prayer requests that he had been sharing with people before he died, is he had his dad and his mom, who were getting in a place where it seemed like they might pass away soon. And Brian really wanted his dad and his mom to be saved. And so, he was praying for that. And he was going over and sitting with them and watching the services online so they could hear the Word of God. He was honoring his parents by taking care of them, but he was praying, continuing in prayer for their salvation. And so, when Brian suddenly passes, many of us here at the church, we start praying Brian's request, we start praying for his parents to get saved, and many people from the church reached out to Brian's parents and Pastor Josh, and I remember we went and had a meeting with them, Hey, are you guys saved? What's your testimony? Have you repented and believed in the Gospel of Jesus, and we're pleading with them, but we didn't really get far in that conversation. And so, we continue to pray for Brian's parents, and Brian's mom, she was able to come here to the church a few times and that many people were talking to her. And just last week, I had somebody run up to me showing me some texts. Brian's mom is starting to say different things. I mean, it's concerning. She has been put on to hospice, but she's starting to say completely different things. And so, pastor Josh, he went over there to meet with Brian's mom, and he's had a conversation with her. And she's saying things like, for so much of my life, I have been self-righteous. I thought you could earn it. I thought you could get there by being good. I wish I had learned. That's not the way it works. And she's expressing now, real faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to be saved. She's seeing things clearer than she ever has before. And you can just feel the joy coming off of Pastor Josh, I think this lady's saved. I think this lady's different. Man, I remember very clearly at Brian's memorial service, when I went over to the house to see his parents, I found this Mother's Day card that Brian had written for his mom. And this was just days before he suddenly passed away on Memorial Day weekend, one year ago. And this is what Brian wrote to his mom in that card. He said, “Despite the difficulties of our present circumstances, we will find victory together by faith in the One who conquered all on the cross.” Brian had faith. Well, his mom now she joins in believing that Jesus is the only way to be saved. And on Friday night, Brian's mom passed away. And Brian and his mom are now sharing together in the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what Brian's prayer for his mom got answered. After Brian died. Think about that. The guy was praying, watching services with his mom, trying to talk to his mom, telling other people pray for my mom. And he dies. And his mom gets saved. And now they're both there. With a hope that is realized in the presence of the glory of Jesus Christ, no more difficult circumstances. Just endless joy and victory. And can you imagine seeing your prayer get answered even after you die? I want to encourage you to rejoice and hope to be patient in tribulation, and to be constant in prayer. Let's pray right now.
Father in heaven, we come before you and God, this verse these three phrases, it seems like we can just go through them so quick and not really think about them. And I pray that these attitudes would always be in our heart. I pray that no matter what happens, this would be our mindset that we would have this twenty-four-seven heaven perspective that I have hope, and Jesus, I have a love and a righteousness in your relationship that you have with your Son, where I can rejoice in hope. And even when I'm under such a heavy weight, I can remain, I can endure, I can be patient, because of the faith that I have in Jesus, because the hope with him is so real. And all of these hard times are passing. And the joy with Jesus will be lasting forever. Father, please give us that perspective and let that perspective be a compelling reason that we are constant in prayer. Father, I'm asking you on behalf of my brothers and sisters here, that those who have been failing to pray that today will be the day that changes in their life. And they will devote themselves. They will continue steadfastly, they will become constant in prayer and they will keep asking until you answer. They will keep seeking until they find you. They will keep knocking until you open the door of other people's hearts. Father, we just want to thank you for that man, Brian Spielman, our brother in Christ, praying for us during all those eleven o'clock services, and how he prayed for his mom to be saved. And even though his mom was self-righteous, and his mom thought she was fine, he kept praying for her. God, you are an amazing God. And we are here to worship you that even though Brian died, you still answered his prayer. Even though he was no longer talking here on Earth, you still heard him in heaven. And now what an amazing, joyous thought to think that Brian is there worshiping you, that John is there worshiping you. And Brian's mom is now there worshiping you. And it's all because you did it. And it's because people prayed. Father, please forgive us. You are offering to us the unlimited power of the Almighty God, the power that worked in Christ to raise him from the dead, the power that now works in us as the Church of Jesus. We have unlimited power, endless Love, perfect righteousness. And we're not even asking for it in prayer. Please forgive us for our prayerlessness and our faithlessness. And please make this a church where people are genuinely reliant on prayer because we know that you are working all things, even the bad things for your glory, and our good. And because we believe that we will keep asking you until we see that, until our hope becomes sight, until the hard times have all passed away. We will pray every day until we see you answer us Please, Father, make us the church who prays. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.