Marathon

Father, we just come to you in the name of Jesus, and we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for the rain you've sent. We thank you that we can come together and meet, and provoke one another to love and good works.

I just pray for my brother, that you would speak through him, that he would speak the oracles of God, that he would not have the fear of men, that you would just help him to set aside anything in his mind right now that's maybe a worry or an anxiety, and just help him to be in your presence, Lord, and anoint our ears that we would hear and apply these things to our heart, that we would truly walk in your promises in true faith. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you, Brother Jeremy. Can I grab some paper towels to use an eraser? I don't think that's on. Thank you.

All right, well, good morning once again. Turn, if you would, in your Bibles, Luke, the book of Luke. I'd like to just talk a little bit out of there.

I have actually this morning. Usually I want to get up here. I have one sermon prepared and not sure if I can get it done this morning.

I got three or four or five. Not sure how many sermons we'll get through. And so we'll see how the time holds out here.

First sermon I'd like to share with you starts in a high school where a young man shows up to take part in the curricular and extracurricular activities at this particular high school. Let's just call this young man Mike. And he wants to be a runner.

And so he goes when the physical education time comes, he goes out to report to the coach. He says, I would like to become a runner. And he says, he says, I'd like to run a mile and I'd like to win a medal.

And so he starts training and the coach takes this young man and he times him for a mile. Well, you keep working on maybe you can get your time down a little bit. And, you know, maybe he's at nine minutes and then eight minutes and maybe he gets it down to seven minutes.

But he's got people still breathing past him that are doing this in like five minutes or less running this mile. And he just doesn't see how he's going to ever win a medal running a mile. He keeps working at it and he just he says, coach, I did it all the best I could.

I don't think I'm going to win a medal running a mile. The coach says, well, why don't you try a shorter distance? Maybe you could run the hundred yard dash. And so he says, OK, I'll switch.

And he starts training for that. And and now everybody's just running as fast as they can. And and he's not running quite as fast.

People aren't running or people aren't running as long, but they're running a lot faster. And he keeps working his way down, you know, so many seconds to get this hundred yard dash down. And it's still these these bigger, stronger guys are just running past him.

And he's there's no way he's going to win a medal at this. So he tries the 200 yard dash and then the 800 yard dash. And it just this isn't working.

And he says, I don't know how I'm ever win a medal as a runner. Well, the coach takes him aside and says, well, I think I have an idea for if you want to win a medal running, I think I have the solution to different kind of race than what you've been running so far. But this is called a marathon.

And if as long as you can just keep going, our school gives medals to anybody who doesn't necessarily get across the finish line first. But as long as you finish, that's all you have to do is just keep going. Don't stop.

Finish. And he says a little longer in the races, even really, he says, Mike, well, how how how far is this? He says, is it like, you know, two miles long? Is it five miles long? How long do I got to keep running? You know, he says it's twenty six point two miles long. And Mike says, wow, that's a long ways.

He says, look, you can do it if you just do one thing. Don't stop. Just keep running.

As long as you don't stop, you'll eventually get there. I mean, there's guys that are running this in less than three hours. But don't worry about that.

Just don't stop. You'll eventually get there. And so Mike decides to try it.

And he decided I'm not going to stop no matter what. And the next time they had the marathon, he made it all the way across. It took him five hours, maybe longer.

He wasn't nearly the first one, but he got the medal. Because he didn't stop, there was a solution. And just because he couldn't run the the the one the one mile and win or the 200 yard dash and win, he was still able to win simply by not stopping.

So here we are in Luke, you can turn to Luke chapter 18 and. Jesus talked a lot about a subject, the subject is prayer, and sometimes he made some amazing statements, he said, look, if you just have faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you can have you can say to a mountain, pick up and move into the sea and it'll obey you. And then another place he said it didn't say the mustard seed, same type of thing.

He said, if you just don't doubt as long as you have no doubts at all. You know, some of us read those passages and say, wow, that's I don't know if I quite have that kind of faith. I don't know if I could quite get to the point where my mind is strained to the point, OK, I have no doubts now.

And now here we go, Mary's Peak, Pacific Ocean, could do I have that kind of faith in my mind? Well, I've seen people who had amazing faith. And God worked in amazing ways, and then their faith was shattered, it was hit pretty hard anyway when they knew something was going to happen, they knew it without any doubt, they knew it and it didn't. They prayed fervently and it didn't.

Well, there's another verse in James that talks about not necessarily the faith without any doubts, but it's the fervent prayer, the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And so we in our prayers, we try to. Become more fervent, maybe raise our voice a little bit, maybe.

Strain a little bit more in our fervency, and I think that those are good things, but still, we're not sure what our fervency be enough in the heat of the moment, those disciples, when Jesus came down from Mount Transfiguration, here they were trying to cast out this demon and it didn't leave. They'd done it before. It worked.

But now all of a sudden, there's demons not leaving. And Jesus, they said, why can't we cast it out? Well, because of your unbelief. And so we have these things, well, if the disciples couldn't do it, what about my faith? Would it be strong enough in the moment, you know, and somebody needs a demon cast out and somebody needs to be healed? They got terminal cancer.

They're dying. They're dying within a week. Could I, would my prayers be enough to raise this guy? I hear a lot of testimonies about prayer and some of my children say, Dad, you know, you talk about a lot of things over and over again.

Well, I do talk about a lot of things over and over again. Sometimes they're burdens. And when I get asked to preach, some of these things come up the quickest.

But this this thing of prayer, I think I think about it a lot. I've heard a lot of testimonies recently, not just recently, been a long time since I heard a lot of these testimonies, people share, how are things going in your spiritual life? How are things going? This, you know, you're pure in this area. Are you spending time reading your Bible? Are you and are you praying? Are you fasting? We just the other night we had some testimonies when we met for the purity meeting.

And, you know, here's a repeating theme that I have as people grow in the Lord. God lays on their heart the need to spend time with him. And so they pick up the Bible and at first it seems dry, but eventually they start spending more and more time in the word of God and it they start to love it, whereas before it seemed kind of dry.

That's that's encouraging to hear a testimony like that. But it is interesting how often I've heard people say. I love reading the Bible.

But prayer is still a struggle. I really enjoy all the truths I'm getting out of this, but then when I go to pray, wow, that's war, I have a hard time doing it, I can relate to that. I don't know how.

You know how the rest of you are in that, but if I hear it from a number of people, it probably is a pretty common thing that just because the Bible comes alive to us doesn't make prayer easy. So in my first sermon, I just wanted to put some things up there, I wanted to put some things up on the board, give you some ideas, just share with you what God has given and shared with me in my heart that maybe could could be a help to you. And so I'm going to divide this board up a little bit.

So this is this is sermon number one. And when I look at Jesus talking about these things like fervent prayers and then he talks about faith filled prayers, no doubts at all. You've got all the doubts out of your mind.

And this looks over. I'm not sure if I am to that point. Well, Jesus takes us aside and says, I've got another race you can run.

It's called the marathon. Let's read about it here. Luke, chapter 18, one day.

And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint, saying there was in a city a judge who feared not God, neither regarded men. And there was a widow in that city. And she came to him saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

And he would not for a while. But afterward, he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubled me, I will avenge her less by her continual coming. She weary me.

And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith and shall not God avenge his own like which cried day and night into him, though he bear long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? So that's what Jesus said, that Jesus said, look, you want to show your faith.

There's various ways to show your faith. But here's one we can all do. Just get out on that track.

That marathon track is twenty six miles long. It's a long time. But just don't stop.

Just keep on going. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep on going. Jesus said, keep on praying.

You know, if you start down this marathon and you quit after 100 yards, quit after one mile, two miles, five miles. Well, that's no medal for that. But if you keep going all the way to the end, there's a medal for that.

There's that that's winning. That's called success in prayer. And Jesus promised rewards for the for this thing called prayer.

You know, he didn't say if you read your by the way, I believe in the rewards of reading your Bible, but he didn't say anything about reading your Bible. He didn't say if you read your Bible in secret, God's going to reward you openly. There were three things he didn't say that about, though.

One was fasting. One was almsgiving. And one was prayer.

If you pray, I will reward you. There are rewards for doing these things. And so here's a here's a key.

Here's the thing that Jesus has given us. If you really want that faith filled prayer, become a marathon prayer warrior. Just don't quit.

Keep on. You have a prayer request you're praying for. Keep on praying for it.

So you say, well, I'm still I like your idea. Still not sure how to go about it. I'd like to put two things on the board that I think are necessary for me.

They have been absolutely necessary. I think that maybe others, it could help as well. First one is very simple.

It's just time. To set aside enough time so that you can pray every day, make a commitment, whatever time it is and say, I'm going to aim for this is my time. What you know, you know what time you got to leave for work in the morning and you're going to do it in the morning.

And so back that up by the amount of time that you need. Well, how much time do you need? Well, we sing a song that says sweet hour of prayer. So maybe that'd be a good idea to aim for an hour.

You said, well, that's I don't think I could do that. What wouldn't half an hour be enough? Well, maybe half an hour would be enough. But you know what you got to do to get a half an hour of prayer? You got to aim for an hour, at least in my experience, because if you aim for an hour and then you oversleep by 15 minutes and then you start, we've got 45 minutes left and then your mind wanders for the next 15 minutes, you might get a half an hour of prayer done after the oversleeping and the mind wandering is dealt with.

Then you might still get 30 minutes. But if you aim for 30 minutes and then you oversleep by 15 and then your mind wanders for 15 and now it's time to get up and go to work, you've just lost your time to pray. So the first thing is set aside enough time.

You say, well, mornings doesn't work so well for me. Maybe evenings would be better. Maybe splitting it up would be better.

Maybe you want to aim for 30 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes during your lunch break and another 15 minutes before you go to bed at night and get an hour in that way. But somehow or another, set aside the time and say, this is the time I pray every day. No question.

Maybe you're going to miss it. Maybe you're not going to always be consistent, but that's still the time I'm aiming for. Aim for enough time.

And the second thing, and this is a list, a prayer list. Have it written down what you intend to pray for every day. I think there's no way, well, again, I'm talking from experience, I can't share with you things I don't have.

I'm only sharing with you what I have. If we don't do these two things together, you probably won't do either. If you set aside an hour to pray and then you try, oh, what am I going to pray for anyway? I don't have anything.

I don't know what to pray for. You get done with your list and the things in your mind that you can remember about five minutes and there's nothing left to pray for. You need the list in order to make the time, well, go quickly.

And you need the time in order to use up the list. If you don't set aside enough time, you'll never get through the list that you might have. They've got to go together, at least in my experience.

So a time and a list, I'm recommending that to you. Before you ever start this, I could put a few things up here above, a desire to pray before you even do this. There may be a need to pray.

I've got a problem. I've got an unsaved family, I've got cancer, God shocks our system sometimes to drive us to prayer. Those all things come first.

You have to have a desire. If you don't have a desire to pray, you probably won't have any motivation to set aside any amount of time. Or again, if it's not a desire, maybe it's a need, maybe it's a desperation.

George Mueller was a man of prayer. And I am going by memory here, but I was reading from one of John Demartin's prayer reports. He was sharing with someone else who was struggling with prayer.

He told him about the story about George Mueller, how he had these five men he was praying for consistently, not just months, but years, not just years, but decades over and over again, praying for these same people. Three of these five people got saved before he before George Mueller died. The other two got saved shortly after he passed away.

And I think he had many, many other, you can read his stories, many, many other short term prayer things that were answered, but he knew the power of the marathon prayer. So I guess that's the title of sermon number one, marathon, the marathon prayer, maybe. OK, we're ready for sermon number two.

This sermon is called Be of Good Cheer. I've shared with you some of Bob Schultz's stuff before. I'd like to share with you another one.

And so I'll put that up here, Be of Good Cheer. Story back in the early 70s, Doug, Jordan and I hitchhiked from North Carolina to our home in Oregon. We saw many sites and met wonderful folks who helped us on our way.

We stopped at a summer camp outside of Nashville, Tennessee. The manager invited us to stay for a week to build outhouses. We accepted the offer and went to work immediately.

For many of the high school students at the camp, this was their first time outside a city without streetlights, neon signs and large buildings to light up the night. It was dark in the woods. If it weren't for the cabin lights and campfires, the total darkness would have overcome those city kids with fear.

The campers slept inside cabins all week except for the last night. Everyone imagined the fun that they would have that night singing around a bright crackling campfire. Rumors flew about roasting marshmallows, eating thick, tasty stew and sleeping in make in a makeshift lean to late in the afternoon.

On the final day, five different groups loaded their belongings in their backs and hiked to their camping spots. That evening, Doug and I decided to tour each camp. The first campers excitedly offered us some of their tasty stew.

There was a buzz of activity. Some chopped wood, some arranged supplies, some played. Spirits were high for this grand event.

The camps radiated with the light and cheer of the blazing fire. Happy chatter echoed far down the trails. Where was camp five? We knew it was where it was supposed to be, but we couldn't see any fire nor hear any chatter.

Entering a clearing, we heard the faint whimpers and sniffs. Our flashlight beams exposed the faces of 12 scared girls. They huddled together, wrapped in blankets, unable to start a fire.

The happy camping night turned into terror. Afraid of snakes, no one wanted to go for help. Their only action was to cry.

Doug scrounged up some paper and kindling. He took a match from his pocket and struck on a rock. Just the light of a match seemed to bring hope.

Within minutes, his cheery fire changed the atmosphere. Tears dried. Sighs relieved the tension.

One girl straightened up the bedding. Another got out some food. First, we heard a little humming, then a stanza.

And soon everyone joined in a lively camp song. A crackling fire changed gloom and despair into hope, laughter and the smell of stew. Leaving the happy group, Doug called back the angel of the Lord and campeth around about them that fear him and delivereth them.

During the night, whenever anyone became fearful, they reviewed that verse. The reminder of a guarding angel brought cheerful confidence. The next morning, Camp Five presented us with a rock on which they had inscribed the verse that Doug had quoted Psalm 34, 7. For many people, the world is a dark, fearful place.

They feel the evils in control or that life happens by chance. Many wonder without purpose, afraid that the worst is just about to happen. Some people live in gloom because they're selfish.

They pout because they can't have ice cream after dinner or because they can't sit in the front seat of the car. Discontented people live in self-made darkness. God provides enough light in our world to keep every person, every creature confident, hopeful and bright.

He takes pleasure in starting cheerful fires, even for those who reject that light. Sin made the world as dark and fireless as a fireless campsite on a cloudy night. God sent his son, the light of the world, to bring hope to men who've lost their courage.

He brings truth to those overcome with lies. His presence brings light so that men can see the meaning and purpose for life. Look at these examples of how Jesus brought light into everyday experiences.

Cheer up, Jesus said to the lame man as his and his as his friends lowered him on a stretcher through the roof. Cheer up. Your sins are forgiven.

To the disciples rowing against the wind who scream thinking a ghost came to them. He said, cheer up. It is me, was his happy reply.

Paul sat in a dark jail wondering about his life's direction. The Lord appeared and said, be of good cheer, Paul, thou must bear witness also at Rome. When Jesus told his disciples of his coming death, they became fearful.

He encouraged them saying, cheer up. I've overcome the world. Jesus brought light to his world.

With that light came courage, confidence, and hope. God still brings light into everyday life. He desires people to confidently face any trouble by the light of his truth.

He would like to use you to spread that light. Your purpose in life is to display the heart of our cheerful God to your world. You have the privilege of bringing joy, hope, and cheery light to all you meet because God has first given it to you.

Here are two practical examples. How you can do it. Number one, stopping in to visit a friend named Gabe.

You find him discouraged. He's staring at a math book. I'm such a dummy.

He laments, I forgot the formula for how to find the area of a circle. I know it has R's and pies in it, but I can't remember how they go. I'll never become an engineer if I can't remember a simple formula.

Here is your chance to bring a light and cheerfulness to him. Speaking the truth. You say, Gabe, you're not a dummy.

You don't, you just don't remember the formula. I don't remember it either, but that dictionary over there does. You grab the dictionary and thumb to the charts in the back.

Here it is. It's a PI R squared. You multiply, if you multiply the radius of the circle times itself, and then multiply that times PI, PI is about 3.14. You get the area of a circle.

You continue to speak the truth. Gabe, any boy willing to diligently work is able to become an engineer. Don't worry.

With careful effort, you won't fail out on the street. You meet Becky. She looks sad.

Something got you down today, Beck. You ask? Oh yes. It's her reply.

Dad is sick and he can't work. If he doesn't get better, we won't have to, we won't be able to pay the rent. Then we'll have to move.

Where will we go? Becky's imagination is overflowing with fear and darkness. How can you shine light into her imagination? Again, you speak the truth. Becky, now's the time to see God's provision firsthand.

He likes providing for wives and children. When dads are sick, keep alert and you'll see his work. Get a notebook, write down.

Every time your family receives some provision, you didn't expect. Thank God for this opportunity. Cheer him, cheer up.

And you'll see him. If you have any means to help her, you could offer her even a small amount of money to her to use it. If tell her to use it.

If time times get tough in the meanwhile, she could use that money. She could set that money in a visible spot as a reminder. God will provide a cheerful boy is a light.

And by the way, this book is written primarily to boys, but I sure found a lot of good things that men and women and girls can use. So anyway, a cheerful boy is a light shining in a dark world. Every day he tells the world good is coming.

If you'll receive it, he spreads light by speaking truth to those hearing lies. He has hope because he believes the Bible when it says all things work together for good to those who know God. He has courage to live because he knows that God's in control of his future.

He has every reason to rejoice and no reason to despair. You can be that boy. God get to know the truth.

Refuse to let yourself become discouraged. Let God's cheerful spirit rule in your heart. Life is full of hope.

If you find yourself sliding to discouragement or a sour attitude, know for sure you're listening to some form of a lie. Go back to the truth and believe it. God always gives enough light to brighten your heart with plenty of extra to spill into the lives of those around you.

If you'll let cheerfulness dwell in your heart, you'll brighten the lives of many fearful and hurting people, just like Doug did for those terrified girls. Nehemiah said the joy of the Lord is your strength. And then there's a list of questions you can think about them.

Why does darkness bring fear? What truth did Doug Doug give that provided light and hope to all hope all night long? The angel of the Lord. What is an example of a match that you can use to light a dark life? Maybe thankfulness. What fire could you start today for a lonely person? How about a sick person? And how do you keep your own heart cheerful? Sermon number two, be of good cheer.

Don't forget those words. Sermon number three. Is found.

You can turn your Bibles if you want. First John chapter five. And when you get to first John chapter five, turn all the way back to the back of the chapter.

First John five, the very last. Verse says. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen. Let's say that together. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen. One more time. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen. All right. So let's talk about idols.

You know, idols kind of seem harmless, don't they? I mean, you hear about these religions that have idols, little fat Buddhists sitting up on the shelf. OK, well, that's a religion kind of harm. In fact, you know, we have people in Portland tell us that Buddhism is kind of a peaceful religion.

I left Christianity that I grew up with and now I'm a Buddhist. You know, that's kind of the popular thing to say. And it's sort of a harmless old religion that doesn't get involved with God and judgment and all that stuff.

Just kind of tells people how to get along and be nice to each other. That's the Buddhism that we hear here in America of what it's like. Is that really what is that really what it's like? Is it really all that harmless to follow the idol of the Buddha sitting on the shelf? Is that really as harmless as we think? Well, I heard a story this week or read it, got sent to me.

Asia Harvest. Paul Hadoway wrote a book about Tibet. Tibet is called the roof of the world.

I think the reason it's called the roof of the world is because maybe the highest elevation. It's right up there close to the Himalayas, some of the highest elevation around the world. But it's also been one of the most unreached areas of the world.

For some reason, missionaries have tried to take the gospel to Tibet and they've failed and failed and failed over and over again. And after reading this story, I can see maybe just a little bit why. Tells a story about a man named.

Named Tenzin, Tenzin, Tenzin was a Tibetan monk. He grew up in this country of Tibet at age 15. His mom says, you're going to make us proud.

We're going to make you we're going to have you become a monk. So she takes him at age 15 to the monastery and there he becomes. They turn him into a monk.

And this he says, from the moment you were born, his mom tells him from the moment you were born, I knew you were the one to honor our family, become a monk. I've dreamed about this day since you were little. You were always so smart and kind.

You were always so clever. And I knew that your purpose was to be a monk. I know that this is not easy for you to understand, but you were born to be a monk and lead our people to enlightenment.

But now here he is in this temple and his life is absolutely miserable. It was like a huge, dark prison cell. And not only that, the P he says, I'm never going to be able to escape.

This is my lot in life. Not only that, the people were mean, the older monks, they were supposed to be these holy men, but they weren't holy at all. They were very abusive in many ways.

And it was he'd hear other boys screaming and, you know, it was it was it was horrible. They would send them out on the streets of their job was to go on the streets and beg for food. So that's how they spent their lot of their days.

And this was supposed to be a holy life for these holy men, these monks. He wished he could escape, but he was never allowed to go unless it was on some religious trip. So they would send them around, send them to other countries to visit other Buddhist people.

One time he went to India and there in India he met the head guy, the Dalai Lama of Buddhism, the holiest of the holy men, and met him a few times. So this was an important thing. But while he was there in India, he met a man who said, I used to be a monk, I used to be a Buddhist monk, but now I am a Christian.

Christian, Christian, what's a Christian? Well, he says he went over to America and there's somebody told him about Jesus. And the moment he heard the word Jesus, he immediately backed away. Whoa, he's been told that we're never, ever supposed to say that name of Jesus because it was a very dangerous name.

And this name of Jesus had the ability to totally undo their way of life there in Tibet. And so they were told never, ever say the name of Jesus. But that name stuck in his mind.

He kept thinking about it as years went by. He kept thinking, who is this Jesus? And he had a curiosity about it. One day his father died.

His mom called and said, hey, come back home to Tibet there. And so he traveled, but he didn't have a passport. Got to the border and he was arrested by the communists and he was beaten, thrown into jail.

And he was stuck in jail for like six months. While he was in jail, he got tuberculosis. They sent him to the hospital.

And there in the hospital, one of the doctors came by a little cross hanging from around his neck. What's that cross all about? And he told him, well, I'm a Christian, a follower of Jesus. That's why this cross is here.

And this doctor ministered to him and he wondered, well, maybe I can ask him some more questions about Jesus. But he kept getting sicker and sicker. And finally, the doctor says, can I pray for your healing? Well, yeah, I guess.

So he prayed for him. And here's what happened. He says the doctor walked closer to my bed, put his right hand on my right arm and begin speaking a language I was not familiar with.

Suddenly, without warning, I felt something flow through my arm. It was like a warm, soft blanket. It moved into my shoulders and chest and then throughout my entire body.

I could not understand the doctor's words, but his prayer had something that my prayers lacked. It had power. And, you know, that was, he says, he said, he said that was a turning point.

Some things change from that moment. I started to get better. He said he said he experienced a vision.

A man in a white robe came into me and came to me in my dreams. He had a glow about him that radiated in every direction. I felt warm and safe in his presence as he approached me.

I could tell there was something wrong with his hands in the palms were scars that had not completely healed over. I tried to look closer to see if I could catch a glimpse of his face face, but I couldn't. I couldn't follow me.

He said he spoke perfect Tibetan and had a low, soothing voice like that of a loving father. Are you Jesus? I asked. But again, he simply said, follow me.

Are you going to show me the path to truth? Follow me, Tenzin. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the path, but through me.

OK, I answered, I will follow you. And after that moment, the doctors were amazed at how he recovered and eventually he got out of the hospital and he knew I also have to leave the monastery. And so to leave the monastery in the process of doing this, he went back to the monastery and he called all the monks together and he got the head monk and he says, I want to have a talk with you.

I want to have like a debate with you. So you come up to the front in front of all these hundreds of monks and I'll be up there and I have something I want to share. And he knew that when he shared Jesus, he knew they were going to be mad, but he had peace about he said, I'm going to do it anyway.

And so he gets all these monks crammed into one building and he gets up front. And here's what he said to these other monks. He says, what if I told you that I prayed to a God who said he could guide me through the spirit world and I did not have enough to earn? I did not have to earn merits to hear from him because he gave it all to me by grace.

I could not earn it on my own. He said, when I was lying in the hospital bed, I was told about a God who gave his life for me so that I could not would not have to suffer any longer. He did not do it because I had earned enough merit.

He did it because he loved me. His love leads to the path that ends suffering. And his name is Jesus.

And immediately when he said the name of Jesus, the other guy, the head monk, he got so angry and he says, grab him now. And he says he's a Christian, kill him. And so they all converged on him and he was beaten and he was they thought he was going to die.

They left him there to die. And but later, then he said and he was willing to die as he was laying there very heavily, severely injured. He says, I knew that I must die to myself so that I could live in Christ.

If I could live in Christ, although they kill my body, I would live again with him. And in that moment, he said, I no longer fear death, although I was lying on the ground being kicked and punched by everyone. I was not their prisoner.

I was being beaten as a free man. I had more hope in that moment than all the other men there. I was no longer a prisoner of Buddha.

They were. I was being beaten for leaving Buddha. They were beating me because they were too afraid to leave.

And then later that night, he heard a voice that said, follow me, my child. And then comes his one of his brothers, his actual blood brother, who's also a monk, comes in the secret of the night, helped him to get out of there and caught a bus, went to a faraway city, met some other Christians. And they were as you know, after he left, he was sent a message.

He says, have you ever come back here? You're going to be killed. But even after that, they were still angry at him for leaving. They thought he's disgraced the whole monastery.

And so they sent people after him to try to convince him to come back. Well, he wouldn't be convinced. They said, well, now he's got to die.

And so they tried to kill him. But God protected him and he was he was still alive. And he met some other Christians and they discipled him.

Eventually, he went to work at a medical charity, doing good things for other people in the medical world. And as he was as he was doing these hospital things, these doctor type things, he met a woman who needed some help. And and he not only helped her get well physically, he also led her to the Lord.

Not only that, they fell in love. They got married. Well, this was weird to him because he, you know, for 20 years, he was a monk, hadn't ever seen a woman and during that time.

But here he was, got married. They had two little boys. He said, this is the best thing that ever happened to me.

But in 2017, three years ago, there was a plague that went through his hometown back in Tibet. He says, I've got to go there to help him, even though he's warned, don't come back. You're going to die.

He went anyway back to Tibet and and he was he was there in that area. And he says, I knew that most of them wanted to kill me because I felt I had betrayed them. However, I could not sleep knowing God had given us the means to save them.

I knew that because Jesus loved them. I need to love them, too, even if they hated me. I wanted to be there to serve them and show them the love of Jesus.

And I would do so even if they killed me. And so there he was in this area where this pandemic was going through or epidemic, I guess, if it's local and helping people. More than a thousand people came to their clinic to get help.

One of them was the head monk that he had debated with years earlier. He got sick. He came to this this clinic and he was shocked to see this guy he had persecuted be there as the doctor there to help him.

And but once that happened, it kind of broke through the ice. They went back to the monastery. All these monks said, we'll help you build a clinic.

And now he was able to talk to two more of them like that. And many years earlier, if you remember the prophecy, he out of his mother, she said, you're going to lead people to enlightenment. Well, she didn't know what kind of enlightenment it was, but that's exactly what he did to many other people.

And today he is still alive. He leads a small Tibetan fellowship with living examples like Tenzin. Displaying the liberating power of Jesus Christ.

It's no wonder that the lamas of a Tibet and the demonic world fear his mathless name. And why should they start shudder at the thought that the Jesus virus might one day spread throughout the Tibetan world? So are idols harmless or not? Are they just innocent little things set on the shelf? Or is there a reason that John's little children keep yourself from idols? Now, if I would tell all of you, go home, take the boot off the shelf, throw it in the trash, you probably wouldn't have any problem at all doing that. But just like Elijah, when he was there in front of all those prophets, if he would have said, guys, it's wrong to serve Moloch.

They would also, yeah, that sounds fine. We won't serve Moloch anymore because they didn't have a problem with Moloch. They had a problem with Baal.

It was Baal worship that was the problem in Elijah's day, not Moloch worship. So Elijah, he got right down, you know, to the he got right down to where they were. And, you know, so I had to think of that, too.

We don't have a problem getting rid of our Buddha idols, but do we have idols? Can we can we talk about idols that that might actually come here to Halsey, Oregon and have a problem? What are what are idols if they're not the Buddha sitting on the shelf? And so I was just thinking, you know, what what things could be tempting to be idols? We could talk about our possessions, you know, maybe our vehicles. We could talk about our money. And, you know, how hard it is to sacrifice things for the good of the kingdom.

I was thinking again about, you know, the rich young ruler. And we think, well, he for sure had an idol. He had money as his idol.

He valued it too highly. And that's only half the problem. I wonder if we ever thought about it.

What was the real problem with the rich young ruler? God said, Jesus said, go sell and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. And then come follow me. Well, he just valued his stuff too highly.

Is that the problem? Well, I'd like to suggest. That he had a different problem. It wasn't that he valued his stuff too highly, but he missed something that Jesus was offering called treasure in heaven.

He didn't value that highly enough. If you if we would value treasure in heaven like we should, it will put everything else. It's just like this Tenzin.

If he would have seen Jesus for who he was, if these other monks could have seen who Jesus really was. It would have put the Buddha idol in its place. And when we do the same thing, when we put the thing God wants to give us in the proper perspective, then we don't have to worry so much about tearing down these idols, even though that's important sometimes because we see the greater thing that's there.

So anyway, that's sometimes God reveals our idolatry simply by taking it away. I know that's true in my life. Again, some of this comes close home.

One of my idols in the past was basketball. I was younger. I love playing basketball.

And, you know, I know it's not an idol to me, but, you know, once I got an invitation, we were playing basketball every Tuesday night. Once I got an invitation, hey, why don't you come join us for a prison ministry on Tuesday night? Well, I had to choose. I mean, there's a basketball game, a prison ministry, Bible study.

And, you know, it's kind of hard to give up the basketball game. And, you know, that that difficulty, that struggle kind of showed me that it was an idol. Or maybe you've had in the past, you know, maybe some thing that you had and something gets taken away from you.

Maybe it's your health. Maybe it's your money. Maybe it's your something else.

And all of a sudden it gets taken away from you. Oh, maybe that what I didn't know that was an idol. God shows us in his mercy that we have an idol by taking it away.

You know, another one was volleyball. And I think, wow, volleyball, that's a good thing. We like playing volleyball.

What would we say of all the good things that we get from volleyball? I thought of this, but one of them is exercise. That's a good thing. That's healthy.

Taking care of our body, you know, get some exercise and get our blood moving. OK, what else? I'm not sure if I spelled that right or not. What else can we get? We can get fellowship.

You know, we have a good time with each other, even be good sports. Amos Gluck, he mentioned how good it was to see these young people playing. And and, you know, one blocks the other one.

And it's a good job. You know, they're not angry at each other. What's another thing? So exercise, fellowship.

I'll just put up here one that I have noticed recently, the smile. When you include people that aren't necessarily, you know, you know, they don't they come from another community. They never played volleyball before and you teach them how.

Here, let's show you how to set this thing and how to spike it. Or maybe it's a little child who's never played before and you bring them in and they get this big smile on their face that they're included. And that's a neat thing.

And so that's another good thing we can get from it. Here's the fourth thing we can get. It's called.

A good game. I don't know if you ever heard of that before. Good game, a good game as opposed to a bad game.

It has the proper number of people on the court. You don't have too many people on there. You don't have a lot of people that are don't know what they're doing.

You get the proper number of sets and the proper number of spikes before the game is over. That's a good game as opposed to the other kind of game, the bad game. And, you know, as God was showing me in my journey.

Yeah, these things are all good. But how do I know when it's become an idol? Here's here's how I kind of realize this is I would go home after a volleyball game and I realized that. I was far more thinking about far more thrilled with this one.

Then I was with. This one. The good game was the one that I was living for.

And even if I had to trample on that one in order to get to this one, it would be worth it, that would make it a successful evening. And so through that little analysis, I realized maybe this has become an idol with me. So anyway, God has different ways of showing us idols in our life.

And I don't know if anybody can relate to that or not. That's the end of sermon number three. We have time for one more sermon.

I got two to pick from. We don't have time for both of these sermons, so you're going to have to help me decide. Close your eyes or close your eyes.

I'm going to read to you two sermon titles and you're going to vote on them, telling me which one sermon you want me to preach for the last five minutes. Sermon number one that you have to choose from is called Learn to Like It. OK, learn to like it.

That's sermon number one. That's one of your options. Sermon number two that you have to choose from is called Preparing for a Wife.

Preparing for a Wife. OK, so we're going to vote. Keep your eyes closed.

Everybody who would like to listen to sermon number one, learn to like it. Raise your hands. I got it.

OK, put your hands down now. Everybody who wants to hear a sermon number two, Preparing for a Wife. Raise your hands.

OK, I think Preparing for a Wife won by a very small margin. So we'll go with Preparing for a Wife. All right, Preparing for a Wife starts right here.

OK, here's how it starts. At your age, you might feel funny reading about marriage, especially your own marriage. This topic might make you feel like laughing.

That's OK, because it probably isn't time for you to get married. Even so, you don't want to miss the chance to learn lessons that will help you should that day come. You can do some things today to prepare for manhood and a happy marriage.

It's not that you need to rush into marriage. However, it's better to be ready before the occasion than to struggle in it after you say, I do. If you plan to never marry, the following activity will prepare you to be a gracious bachelor.

God designed perfect classrooms for marriage training. They are called little sisters. Hopefully you have one or more of these little girls around your home.

If you don't happen to have one, an older sister or your mother will do. If you don't have either of those, surely God will provide a substitute for you. Why is a little sister a good classroom to help prepare you for marriage? Because little sisters love big brothers.

Their eyes light up when they see their big brothers come into the room. Little sisters are a brother's biggest fan club. If you're going to work on a relationship with someone, it's easiest to begin with someone who already loves you.

Little sisters come pre-programmed to love big brothers. Brothers and sisters that maintain a healthy relationship remain closer than friends throughout life. Your sister is someone who will live or die for you and someone who will help mold your character for good.

She's also just the one to teach you how to be a husband, should you ever need to know. Good brothers and sisters think about one another. Their everyday lives show it.

A strong sibling relationship shouts to the world of full of broken family ties. Two people, despite faults, can love one another for life. The actions that build a good relationship with a sister are the same actions that build a good relationship with a wife.

From your sister, you can learn to cultivate good habits that will ensure close relationships as you grow older. Here are some practical projects that will provide training for your future and a joyful home now. Number one, get to know your sister's desires.

What does she like? What does she dislike? Do you know her dreams or her fears? What are her hopes for today or for her tomorrow? Girls do not tell rude and silly boys their heart secrets. They do not reveal cherished dreams for careless boys to trample with laughter. The boy who is gentle with his sister is one to whom she will share her heart.

This gentleness is not just a one-time thing. It's a way of life. Consistent gentleness is always required to gain your sister's trust and open heart.

Always be gentle. It's worth repeating. Always be gentle.

Once you know the desires of your sister, picture yourself as her personal knight. Accept the challenge of making her dreams come true. Suppose your sister's always wanted to play the violin.

Get her one. Pray, work, save, shop. Violins are expensive, you might gasp.

It's too much for a younger brother to do for a sister. Yes, it may seem like an insurmountable task. That's the idea.

A knight doesn't become a knight by doing what any common person can or will attempt to do. Many men have attempted the impossible and to the surprise of everyone, succeeded. Ask God to give you the honor of providing the good things she desires and then work hard.

You might be amazed at what you can achieve for your sister if you purpose to do it. Remember, this is a classroom. Providing for your sister will educate you to provide for a family in the future.

And then in that future, when the road in front of you seems impossible, you can confidently proceed because you remember what God did through you to provide for your sister. David's confidence to attack Goliath rested upon the days of his youth when he bare-handedly killed a lion and a bear. David told Saul, the Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, and he'll deliver me from this Philistine.

If David had not gone out against the lion and the bear, would he have had the courage to fight Goliath? Take on some challenges in your youth for the sake of your sister, and you'll have the confidence to fight for your wife and little ones when you're older. Another practical project is to understand your sister's fears. Never tease or belittle her with them.

As much as is in your power, give her an environment free from these fears. This is your privilege as a brother. Instead of competing with your sister to be the strongest or the smartest, see yourself on the same team.

Help her reach her full potential. Instead of gloating over being faster, train her to run. Be her coach instead of her opponent.

Develop thoughtfulness by practicing on your sister. Let her have the biggest piece of pie or the best seat in the car. Treat her with courtesy.

Open the door for her. Find her coat. Introduce her to your friends.

When she does well, praise her. When her faults show, forgive her and cover them. Though you're not the only influence in your sister's life, God can use you to give her hope and courage.

You have the opportunity to help her become a beautiful lady inside and out. Have you considered asking your sister to read the Bible with you? Do you pray with her, just the two of you? If you're consistent to love your sister today, she'll say when she's older, my brother made a huge difference in my life. He helped me reach my dreams.

I love him and respect him. You might be saying this won't work. My sister don't like me.

The answer to your statement might sound stern, but it's true. You're selfish. Quit thinking about you.

Think about her. She likes you more than you know. Even if you're right and she doesn't like you, she did once.

If you ever had one of those unhealthy relationships, don't worry about how you got here. Get out of it. Accept the situation as a classroom, your homework assignments to restore the relationship.

If she disliked you, if she liked you once, she could again. Whether your sister likes you or not, the issue is taking care of her. Sure, it's easier if she likes you, but that isn't a requirement.

God takes care of millions of people who don't like him at all. He desires you to do the same. A mature man is not concerned with who likes him and who doesn't.

He sets the course of well-doing regardless of the response. What if my sister blows up at me and says she doesn't like all the attention? You ask. Don't believe her.

She likes the attention. She might not like the way you're giving it. The way a boy likes to do something is not always the way a girl likes it.

Also, what a girl likes one day, she may not like the next. This is part of the challenge of learning to love a sister. Ask your mom to suggest things that you might do different.

It's a man's job to learn how a girl likes things and then to creatively proceed on her terms. These are just a few ideas about how to cherish and nurture your sister. Of course, there are many more practical things a boy can do.

The main lesson is learn how to think about somebody other than yourself. Your sister provides the perfect opportunity for practice. As you grow in your love for her, you will become educated in how to love a wife should you find one someday.

Questions. Name a classroom where a boy might learn about marriage. A sister.

If your sister doesn't like you, what's the usual reason? You're selfish. What quality in a boy tends to make his sister want to share her heart with him? Anybody remember? Gentleness. Name one practical project you can do to develop a closer relationship with your sister.

Good question. Let's pray. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for these four messages about, Lord, what you would have us do with our lives, whether it's prayer, whether it's preparing for a wife, dealing with our sisters, whether it's dealing with idols in our life or, Lord, just simply being of good cheer when things around us look dark. Help us to be of good cheer when fires come and viruses come and things are less than what we want, Lord.

I just pray that you would give us that joy, that cheer, that joy of the Lord that is our strength as we go forward in the days and weeks ahead. Bless this congregation. Bless each person that's here in Jesus' name.

Amen. God bless you all.