We are leaving out after the services tonight for a meeting in Atlanta and then we are leaving for Florida tomorrow from Atlanta and then on to Trinidad and back and Florida and all over the place. So we are... all I need is more time in a day. Right, Brother Ray? You don't need that, do you? to Habakkuk. That's in your Old Testament, about the fifth book from the back of the Old Testament. Oh boy, I tell you what... I'm whooped. Then my car wouldn't start, the remote wouldn't unlock the door, and the alarm will set off. So I had to get Heather to bring me and Judy. So she will just have to wait around. We have several meetings, I'm sure, after church. Just kidding. Don't roll those eyes at me. Alright, Habakkuk. Now I want to look at something tonight that I think a lot of people, a lot of Christians struggle with. I know at times I did. I think I have a grasp on it a little bit better. Why do Christians suffer? That's what we're going to look at. And in Habakkuk, he basically testifies to Jehovah, to God, in the Old Testament. And he asks him why people of God suffer. And in Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 12, he glorifies God. Aren't thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction." So we don't really have the context of the them in what we read just now, but he talks about judgment and correction. But here's the verse, verse 13 of Habakkuk chapter 1, "...Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Wherefore..." So he says, look, you can't do this. Why? "...Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" That's a legitimate question. You know, God, why do you allow bad things to happen to good people? Why is it that when you seem like you're trying to do things right, bad things happen? It's a legitimate question. I believe it is. I think there's two reasons why Christians suffer. I just wrote that when I was over there. Number one, they're living right. And number two, they're living wrong. That's simple. Amen. You know, that's it. I mean, some of you are going, whoa, we can't quit that early. Some of you are going, yes, Brother Stauffer, yes. I'm going to preach to you tonight, the second group, the yes, Brother Stauffer, yes. Why do Christians suffer? I think it's simple, though we'll look at a number of different things. I think number one is to make us sympathetic. You know who the most sympathetic people are in the world? Those that have gone through trials. You know, I didn't live for the Lord for three years, from 1981 to 1984. And I've got to tell you, before 1981, I was on the mountaintop. I'd gotten saved in 1980. And I went to my pastor and said to him, I don't understand how anybody can backslide. Now he looks at me and he thought I was being haughty and high-minded. He quoted scripture to me and said, "'Take heed lest ye fall!' I thought, man, what a rude dude." That's a rude person for those of you who are more educated. I thought, man, how ugly for telling me the truth. See, because that's what I know now. I didn't know it then. So here he was. He told me the truth. I thought, man, this guy, he's just really a mean man. That's what I thought. Literally, that's what I thought. I was a new Christian. I didn't know you're not supposed to think that way. But really, I really thought that. I thought, how could anybody, me on this mountaintop of salvation, ever backslide? And then the Lord said, boom. And I was gone. Three years. I let sin get in my life. And I remember telling God, well Lord, I won't party on Sundays. I was in college. Isn't that a great deal? You've got to remember how dumb we are when we first get saved. I had no clue what I was saying. I had no idea what this whole Christianity was about. I'm still learning quite a bit about what it's about. But I told God that by the time I got done with the three years trying to get right a couple of times on my own power without God, I was partying seven days a week, every night. I had my job offers anywhere I wanted to go, a couple of different companies, and the pressure was off. But I still was empty. So I was trying to fill the tank with the world. because the world was already in the tank. There wasn't any spiritualness in my nature. Other than I knew I was saved, other than I knew that He had given me many ways to escape all throughout those three years, I didn't take advantage of it. So I looked at that and I remember thinking how rude that preacher was. Years later, maybe 10 years ago, I went back to him and he didn't remember saying that to me because it was just What pastors say when they care about people in their church, and the people in the church aren't at the same level of spirituality, and they hear it and they go, oh, that's ugly. It wasn't. He cared. He legitimately cared about me. Why do Christians suffer? Either because you're living right or you're living wrong. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I could say that over and over and over and over again, but this one is not evangelistically speaking. It is one of my favorite chapters. And the reason is because of what it says. Gosh, that's deep. I love this Bible because of what it says. I love this chapter because of what it says. Sometimes you don't like a chapter for what it says, too. But chapter 1, we're going to have to go through a good bit here. Verse 3, verse 2. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all what? Comfort. Do you know who we serve? The God of all comfort. You got a problem in your life? You going to your spouse, even the pastor, you're not going to get the comfort you're going to get from him or her than you will from the God of all comfort. Look at verse 4. "...who comforteth us in all our tribulation." Now wait a minute. I'm going through tribulation, it's the end of the world, I'm going to die, and you're telling me that that verse is true? Can you imagine what it would be like if he wasn't comforting you? You know, our problem is we don't look for the comfort, accept the comfort, or recognize the comfort, and then when he's giving it to us, it's just not there to us. He comforts us in how much of our tribulation? That's simple. Simple to know. Not always simple to live. Why does He comfort us? Next part of the verse. That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. Why are you comforted by God? So you can comfort others that are going through maybe the same thing you're going through. Or you went through. That's how come God comforts us. By the comfort, verse 4, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. So by the comfort we're comforted, we're able to comfort others that are uncomfortable. That's pretty deep. Pretty cool. Or we could go on... Look at verse 9. We'll just jump down to verse 9. Paul's giving his testimony and he says, but we have the sentence of death in ourselves. Why? that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead. Why did Paul have a death sentence on him? So he had learned to trust in God. So why do Christians suffer? Well, so you can comfort others, but also right here. So you'll learn not to trust in yourself. The sooner you learn not to trust in yourself, the sooner you'll be able to pass the test and go on to the next one. You know who I don't want to trust in? I mean I do sometimes and I will in the future. Me. I don't want to trust in myself. You know how you don't trust yourself? You pray. You get up in the morning, you pray. You're going down the street, you pray. You're getting ready to do something, you pray. You're getting ready to buy something, you pray. You're getting ready to think something, you pray. And then you think something and you pray. Then you thought something and you pray. That's how we get this comfort. Verse 10, look at what he says. This is past, present, and future, just like salvation. "...who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." Past, present, and future. You know what you're promised? Deliverance. Deliverance. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Second reason. Could be third because there were actually two or ten in that one section. Listen, you ever... let me just give you a piece of advice. You ever go through anything and you're just not comforted? 2 Corinthians chapter 12. You're not comforted? Go to that passage and read it. Memorize the whole chapter, or at least the verses we went over that talk about comfort, and think about it, and dwell on it, and dwell on it, and you know what it'll do? It'll change your life. Because that's what the Bible does. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the second thing, the reason Christians suffer is to lose personal self-sufficiency. To show us that we are insufficient in and of ourselves. Paul's testimony again in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. He says, "...unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations." There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I have sought the Lord thrice." Three times he prayed that it might depart from me, he said. Verse 9, And God said, He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. He says, Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He says, God says, My grace is sufficient. Paul says, I'll glory in my infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ may rest upon me. You want power in your life? Let God have His way. Don't be self-sufficient. Listen, we can be, and it's easy to try to be, self-sufficient. But we are not at all self-sufficient. I remember back in, you know, I've been saved 36 years. 36 years. I remember back where it was just like, man, this is, you know, going through stuff and then something hits you in the right, hits you in the left, gives you an uppercut, takes you to the mat and pins you, and you're just like, man, am I ever going to live through this? Am I going to make it? And now I look back and I go, yes, yes, Yes. And what if I'm going through something today? No. Yes. Because I got through it. I lived through it. It wasn't the end of the world. At the time, though, it was the end of the world. I thought, man, I can't even make it through another day. Especially if you're embarrassed. You can't hardly embarrass me now. I mean, look, I'm wearing a tie. whatever her name was. But this is a Star Wars tie. That's a Star Wars tie. Somebody gave it to me and I've never worn it. I thought, man, to commemorate her death. What a time. You know what though? I heard people saying, oh, 2016 was so terrible. Has anybody heard that on the Facebook? Come on. Why was it terrible? Because all these stars died. Name me a star that died. Did Lester Roloff die again? Did... Gosh! Who's that guy in Houston? Joe Holstein. Did he die? No, I'm not a Joel Steen fan. What I'm saying is it's all about perspective. They make a big deal over this like, oh, so-and-so was sick, you know, with the Hollywood stars. I don't care. I'm not unthoughtful and unthankful or anything, but man, if I got sick, it's not going to be on the news. If I don't shut up. Did you hear that hateful preacher in Knoxville? He doesn't even care. We're all dying out here in Hollywood. Man, I heard one the other day. What was it? She was married nine times. Shajah Gabor. Boy brother, I need to give you this tie. Just kidding. He has all the right answers. She was married nine times, and then at the very end of the PBS thing, because we can't put Christian radio on in the morning to wake us up, so at seven o'clock it comes on just to make sure I know that it's seven, in case I'm not all the way over there working, and I'm usually working anyway, but I hear it come on, I know the time. But there it is. She was married nine times and she did this and she had an affair with this one and then they got married. Man, she lived the life. That's what they said about Zsa Zsa Gabor. Why? She was popular. She was purdy. People wanted to be men, wanted to be, probably women too, wanted to be with Zsa Zsa Gabor. because all they care about is Hollywood and glamour and all that junk that people keep putting in their heads. You know, if we put more of this in our heads, we'd be a lot better off. I tell you what, I heard about the heart attack that Princess Leia... I don't even know her real name. It doesn't matter. I don't want to know. I know she was the famous daughter of... Stay? Debbie Ruffins. You are like a sponge. I mean, this guy knows everything about Hollywood. He does not. My point exactly. Thank you for making it for me. Look at Colossians chapter 3. You know the third reason why Christians suffer? You can't answer that until I give you the answer because this is my outline. So it's a rhetorical question. for those of you paying attention. Colossians chapter 3, look at verse 1. It says, "...if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then we shall appear with Him in glory." The third thing is to teach us to set our affections on heavenly things. I mean, we are so... I'm not talking about what all you just did a minute ago. We are so worldly-minded. Or maybe I am, I'm not sure. You know that? We're worldly-minded. It's terrible. You know what we're supposed to do? We're supposed to set our affections on heavenly things. That's deep. That's not easy. You know what we do? We get our affections set on things on this earth. And then when things on this earth don't go well, then we fall apart. You want things to go well? Then set your affections in heavenly things and guess what? They're never going to go bad. Look at Philippians chapter 4. This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the one right before it. Philippians chapter 4, look at verse 11. It says, "...not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned." Paul said, I have learned. How do you learn something? Well, you might go through a trial and you learn something. You might go through something terrible in your life and you learn something. He says, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I hate to tell you, but most of us haven't learned that. I mean, just think about what you talked about today. I mean, your complaints. What did you complain about today? What did you complain about? You don't have to confess. I'm not asking you to confess. What did you complain about today? Young people. Oh, I hate school. Oops, nailed that one, didn't I? I hate getting old. There is an alternative to the second one. You die. I don't want to die yet. Then quit complaining. Be content. My back hurts. Whose doesn't? My leg hurts. I can't see like I used to see and I can't think like I used to think. I could complain about all that stuff. And I do. But I'm trying. with everything I have in me to learn how to live and be content. It's not an easy thing, but I'll tell you something. If we don't learn how to be content in whatsoever state I am, it's only going to get worse. I mean, is it really that bad? I mean, what you went through this week, What you went through last week, this year, is it really that bad? I know all the stars that died in 2016. It's the worst year. Somebody said, why is everybody saying 2016 was the worst year? They didn't get the context. I didn't either at the time when I read that. I thought, boy, that's funny. I don't know why they're saying that. Then I saw somebody with all these pictures like 16 different pictures about all the people that died. you know, rock stars and Hollywood stars and all those people we adore and admire, reprobate people, most of them. And it's the worst year. Whatsoever state to be content, it says. He said, I learned that. Why? Because you're looking at a guy that suffered more than any of us can even imagine suffering in our lives. He was beat. The guy, listen, think about him. He was going to kill Christians. He was a man that knew that Old Testament. He was somebody that was looked up to and esteemed by his peers. Man, it was Paul. Paul sat at the feet of Gamal and learned the Bible. And then all of a sudden, he got saved. And everybody turned on Him. They wanted to kill Him. They wanted to shut His mouth. And by the way, isn't that interesting that God would choose somebody like... I mean, He chose fishermen and tax collectors and all that for the twelve apostles. And one devil too, by the way. But He chose a man that knew that Bible to be the one that wrote more Bible than anybody else. and who stood the test of time because when he was gloriously saved, he kept probably going back to that day on that road to Damascus. And he had an experience... I'd say he had an experience like none of us, but I've got to tell you, when I got saved in 1980, I was pulled so far out of the muck and the mire that my experience is equal to Paul's without the light. without the revelation, without being used like he was of God, without being the Apostle Paul. Now I'm sort of knocking this down to my level. I got saved just like he did. It changed my life. It changed everything about me. And I made a mess of it. I'd take the Bible and slam people over the head with it. I was so aggressive in my witnessing. Man, I just wanted to see family saved and I was ugly about it. Why? Because it happened to me and I just wanted to share that joy that didn't seem to come across as joy to my family. But that's what I wanted to do. Paul said, I have learned. I have a question for you. Have you learned that yet? Boy, I'd like to learn that. Whatsoever state to be content. You know what content is? It is the opposite of most of our lives, most of the time. What did you get for Christmas? Oh, I really wanted this, but I got that. What kind of car you drive? Well, I really would like this kind of car. What kind of house you live in? Well, you know, it's not big enough. The toilet leaks. It drips. Don't let your toilet drip. Sink, okay. Toilet, no. He said, be content. I learned to be content. How do you learn to be content? Lesson one, pass-fail. Lesson two, which is the same as lesson one, because you didn't pass, you failed, pass-fail. You keep doing it over and over and over and you wonder, why can't I seem to enjoy life? Some of you don't like... you don't like your lot in life. Well, look at me. I was born fat. Well, we all were. You ever see a pudgy baby? They're all pudgy. Some of you just don't get over it fast enough. Just kidding. I'm not talking. Not thinking of anybody. Really, I'm not. He said, be content. Well, I don't like my hair. I don't either. I don't like the way I look. Nobody else does either. He learned to be content. Have you ever learned to be content? If you haven't learned to be content, guess why Christians suffer? To learn the lessons of life. One of the lessons of life is to learn to be content. Look at Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Boy, this is going to be a tough one. I just want to give you the heads up. Romans chapter 5. Why do Christians suffer? Look at verse 3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto me. Paul said, we glory in what? Verse 3. We glory in what? Tribulations. Really? I don't want a show of hands and I don't want you to call out the answer. Do you really glory in tribulations? Not me. What do we do in tribulations? What do you do? Man, I'll tell you what. Tribulation comes. But look at what it says. Remember, it says, "...we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, patience experience." You know how you learn? By experience. He learned to be content. Why? Because he always knew it would get worse. He was in a shipwreck. What does he do? Like most, everything's going bad. The sky is falling. No, the ship is sinking. There's a difference. But I mean Paul was ready for that. Paul was prepared for that. Paul knew he had the promise of God in his life. What about you? Are you promised anything in this Bible? Stick to the promises. All things work together for good. No, no, no, no, brother Stopper. Not the tribulations. I don't like tribulation. I don't either. I don't either. I want to learn though. So if I'm going to go through tribulation, I want to glorify God. I want to learn that it's not the end of the world. I want to learn that when I went through some tribulation 30 years ago, God saw me through it. And by the way, I've already learned that. I may not act like it all the time, but I've already learned that. And 25 years ago, when I went through that thing 25 years ago, I learned that God is with me and all things work together for good. to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. I want to learn these things. Paul said, I learn to be content. Tribulation worketh patience. You know what our problem is? We don't have the patience to wait on God to see Him get us to the other side. So there we are, we're rowing and we're trying to do everything we can to get to the other side and God says, stop rowing already. Just trust me. Trust me. I'll bring you out on the other side. Oh no, God, I've got to row, I've got to row, I've got to row. And you keep rowing and rowing and rowing. And then you're going, man, I feel like I'm on a treadmill. That's not what we're going to go eat. Treadmill. You're on a treadmill and you're just running, not getting anywhere. You're rowing, not getting anywhere. Because we don't trust God. I want to learn to trust God every single day. But it's not easy. But I know it's easier today than what it was a year ago. Easier today than what it was 10 years ago and 20 years ago and 35 years ago when I first got saved. It's easier today. Why? Because I've learned some things. That's what life is all about. That's what Christianity is all about. The question is, are you learning? Are you growing? Are you trusting? And if you're not learning, growing, and trusting, what are you? Stagnant? If you're stagnant, stagnant water stinks. Your life will stink. And then you'll wonder, why does my life stink? Because we don't learn to trust God. He said, I learned by experience. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience. I want experience. The right kind of experience. I want to know. I want to be able to talk to somebody and help them and comfort them with what? With the comfort that I've been comforted with from the God of all comforts. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Why did Paul have the sentence of death in himself? So he'd learn not to trust in himself. Why do you have things come into your life so that you and I will quit trusting in ourselves and trust in the One that can do something for us and help us? That's what it's all about. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Now here's a lesson here. You're doing everything right. I want to preach to you for a minute. I don't mean that facetiously. I mean, you're seriously trying to do right. You're trying to love the Lord. You're trying to live for the Lord. And you're giving it your best, and yet it seems like something keeps going wrong. Well, again, everything we've looked at applies. We go through things in order not to trust in ourselves. We go through things to be comforted of God, and then we can comfort others that need the comfort that we got from God. Because it came from God. You see, I go up to you and I go, Brother Ray, would you just comfort me? And I know we don't say it that way, but really, when we talk... Pastor Ray, I got a problem. What are we looking for? I know you can't solve the problem. I know you can't do anything about it, but will you just listen? Just comfort me. Comfort me, brother. And guess what? He might be able to do it. He's only going to be able to do it because of the comfort that he got in the same situation. But listen, you can do that too. You can go to the God of all comfort and get your comfort so you can comfort others that are in need of comfort. But in John chapter 15, look at what it says about the true vine. Verse 1, I am the true vine, Jesus Christ, and my Father is the husbandman. The husbandman's the Father, right? He's the... Well, let me skip that. Look at verse 2. Every branch... This is the disciples. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And that's cool, right? Every branch that beareth not fruit, he's going to take it away. So you know what you need to do? You need to bear fruit and everything will be hunky-dory, right? Everything will be great if you just bear fruit. If you just do what you're supposed to do, everything will be easy and you'll have the happy life. It's not what it's going to say. He says, "...every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit..." Now that's the good ones, right? "...he purgeth it." that it may bring forth more fruit. He purgeth it. God purges the fruitful branch. To do what? Because He doesn't like you? Because He doesn't care? No, because tribulation worketh patience. Patience experience and experience hope. because Paul had the sentence of death on himself so that he would learn not to trust in himself. You know what happens whenever Paul goes through the sentence of death and then he says, it's hopeless? I mean, they stoned him and drug him out of the city to die. Or he was dead. and then he's shaking his head, wiping off the dust, coming back in, and goes to preaching again. I mean, do you think Paul didn't learn that maybe this is bigger than myself? Maybe there's more to this thing, but listen, there's more to it for every single Christian. Every single Christian. God has a purpose for you in life. What is it that God wants to use you to do?" I don't know for you. I have some glimmers of things in my life, in our life. I understand some things like that, but you can't come to me and go, I see God did this with you. Is that what He's going to do for me? Do to me, with me, for me, whatever?" And I'd look at you and go, I have no earthly idea. All I can do is testify to the goodness of God. He purges... What does it say? He purges the fruitful vine. That's like When we were...we had a garden for a number of years and we would go in there and the tomato branch has, you know, it goes out like this and then there's this branch that comes up the middle. Anybody know what that's called? And you're supposed to purge it. So that it...because it doesn't bear fruit. That's the first one. And then you clip them and you take a tree and you go in there and you cut its branches in order to make it all...make everything go into those other branches and to be fruitful. Sometimes you'll cut a good branch in order to make it go out in a different direction. You purge it. Christians bearing fruit are purged. Look at two more things. Look at Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. You know, the world... looks at a Christian that's suffering, and they think these difficulties are an evident token that you're not doing right. I mean, if a Christian goes through the fire, the world looks at it and says, oh man, you know, some of them rejoice, especially if you've done your job witnessing to them. Man, if they could just watch a Christian just stumble a bit, get your shins beat up, get your knees scraped. They like that because you're a thorn in their side if you're witnessing to them. If you're living for the Lord, you're a huge thorn because people in the world want everybody around them to be just like them. Because inside of them, they know right and wrong. Look at what it says here in Philippians chapter 1, look at verse 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to..." What? to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which He saw in me and now here to be in me." Paul's writing, and he says, "...for unto you is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe, but also to suffer." So why, when we suffer, do we look at it and think, oh me, oh man, Brother Ray, you just don't know what I'm going through. It's terrible. Listen, I'm not making fun of anybody that may have called Brother Ray this week. I don't even know, do I? I hope nobody called you this week. I'll deal with three weeks ago. I'll hit somebody then. But you know, We look at our suffering and we just think it's the end of the doggone world. We look at our tribulation and we think, well, God doesn't love me. God doesn't care about me. Listen, sometimes parents have to discipline their children in order to help those children to learn the lessons of life. It's called chastening. When we're chastened of God, should we look at that and think that God doesn't love me? Or should we look at it and think, God loves me so much that He's willing to look into my life and help me to live a life that's pleasing to Him? If I'm going the right way, meaning my right hand, which is the wrong way, and He tries to direct me this way, And he has to do it sort of forcefully, like a kick in the seat of the pants. Suffering. Tribulation. I mean, sometimes that's the way it works. And we're just bound and determined to go the other way, and God says, no, you need to go this way, this way, this way. And you're praying, saying, Lord, I just want your will. I just want to do what you want me to do. Well, then when God brings it in your life and brings the tribulation and the suffering, then stop arguing with God. Accept it, and then when you get down the road, you can look back on today. That you suffered something, you went through something, and it was really God's chastening hand. And somebody else down the road, ten years from now, after you've gone through it and lived through it, and realized it was the best thing that could have happened to you. and they come up to you and they go, man, you wouldn't believe it. I was trying to go right, meaning the wrong way, and everything was just... it was just pushing me over here, and it just seemed like it was the right way, and I just didn't understand. And you look at me and say, well, let me tell you what happened to me. And you're able to comfort them with a comfort that God comforted you with because He's the God of all comfort. And you can help somebody But let me tell you something. When God is trying to comfort you in your suffering, if all you're doing is looking at yourself and looking at your circumstances, looking at the world, looking at the unfairness, and you're going to miss the lesson. What kind of comfort are you going to be down there? Yeah, I know what you mean. I went through the same thing. It sure was a drag. I mean, that's the world, by the way. Let me tell you my sorrowful story. Let me tell you how bad things were for me. And then they go, well, let me one-up you on my badness. Let me tell you how bad it was for me. Oh, wait a minute, I didn't tell you the worst one yet. Let me tell you about this one. And then everything... it's just a vicious circle. You know what I say? Let's break the circle. Let's be different. Let's look at people and say, hey, I am a Christian. I love being a Christian. I want to show the love of Christ to a world that's lost and dying and in need of answers. We think we got the answers on January 20th coming up. We don't have the answers. If we start trusting in Washington because it's not as bad as it was, just don't remember that it's really not as good as it should be. So you're anti... I am not anti nothing. He said something about a... they wrote about a new king and I rebuked that comment. Prebys wrote out about a new king. I said, he doesn't need... listen, retract that. There's no new king today. Some guy jumped on me and says, well, I just give them the benefit of the doubt. No, no, no, no, no. You hold them accountable when they're wrong. That's what you do. We're not going to give a pass to Washington just because it's better than what it was. We need to be active. We need to be involved. We need to be vocal. We as the church do not need to sit back and allow people in Johnson's administration that told us that you can't say anything about politics. You ever hear the thing, don't talk about politics and religion? You know the two things I want to talk about most then? Politics and religion. Why? Because the politics affect our liberty. And the liberty affects our religion and the way we're able to get the gospel out. You mess with one, you mess with the other. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 and we'll close on this. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. He says, Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice." Are you kidding me? Is that in the Bible? Did I really just read the Bible? Rejoice? Rejoice? Fiery trial? Now look, a fiery trial is not when you stub your toe in the bedroom, on the way to the bathroom, when you're getting ready to die if you don't get in there quick. I just had to loosen some of you up. Fiery trial? Rejoice? Really? That sounds like I'm supposed to rejoice. Rejoice. You know, like when we sing, we're supposed to be rejoicing. He says, rejoice when you're in that fiery trial. Look at what he says, verse 13. But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of what? Of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. And you could go in there and you could look at when it talks about... well, it says right there in verse 16. Yet if any man suffers a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf, So he says, look, I was going to keep reading, but I stopped. For those of you that were wondering why it sounded like I was going to keep reading, I was. But I'm done with that verse right there. He says right there, he says, if any man suffers a Christian, let him not be ashamed. I mean, think about it. When you go through suffering, are you ashamed? Because if you are, it is the opposite of what you're supposed to be. What are we supposed to be doing? Rejoicing. Thank you. I answer yours, you've got to answer mine. I'm only kidding. You're supposed to be rejoicing. Say, no brother Stopper, you don't know what I'm going through. Oh my goodness. Do you know we're not Bible believers most of the time? If you can give me an answer for why you can justify not rejoicing and not having joy in your heart during the worst of times, at least when you get right outside of it, I mean, I think if you have a car wreck and, you know, God forbid, some bad things happen, I don't think you ought to be jumping up and down like a Calvinist saying, boy, I'm glad that's over with. That's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is if you have a car wreck today, right around Christmas time, And next Christmas, you know, all the bills are paid on it, all the medical bills, whatever it might be, but next Christmas you're looking at it going, oh man, last year at this time it was such a terrible time. That's what we do. That's what we do. You know why there are more suicides during the holidays than at any other time? For that very reason right there. And listen, I'm not just talking about the world and lost people. I'm talking about Christians. So how are we to do it? You say, well, we can't all be just joyful all the time. No, you can't. But give her a shot. It's better than what we're doing. You go to a restaurant and your meal gets messed up a little bit. I like salmon. But it's hard to cook salmon right. And occasionally I'll eat a dry piece of salmon. Because I'm just not willing to ruin somebody's day. But do you know how it is with a lot of Christians? And listen, you paid for it. You have a right to do that. But listen, let me ask you something. Do you know what that waitress is going through? Do you know whether she had a child that is sick, a mama that is dying, a father that just died, a husband that beats her, a husband that's left her, and she has the children, and you're going to be a jerk? Don't leave a track at the table. Don't let anybody know you're a Christian. Not unless you're going to act like one. I don't mean you can't say to them, by the way, my salmon... Because listen, you know what I do up front? I say, listen, I just want to make sure it's very moist. And you know what they do nine times out of ten? It's moist. Because I made a point of that before I ordered it. I said, man, I just I don't like dry salmon. Especially if you're going to pay that much money for it. I'm pretty cheap. But I used to be terrible. I used to be terrible with the waitresses. You know what I did when I was terrible? I didn't leave a track. And me being terrible was more important than that person's soul. And by the way, do you know that I can give that plate back? I can give that plate back with a smile on my face and still tip that waitress with joy in my heart. and eat the new piece of salmon that's made just the way I want because they're focused on my piece of salmon because it's try number two. But I don't have to jump all over that waitress that wasn't in the kitchen cooking it anyway. Now when she trips and that coffee lands on my head...killer! Oh, we got some waitresses up here. Be nice to waitresses. I was wondering why you guys were having such a good time. People aren't always nice, are they? You know why? Because everybody wants something for nothing and they think if they raise stink, then get a free meal. Not anymore. We're in 2016. They don't care about you and how you feel. Hey, I just wanted to be encouraging. I really do. Sometimes we're going to go through things. Let's look at 2017 and determine Not a New Year's resolution. Determine that, listen, this Bible's true. And if it tells me that I need to look at the things I go through differently, then why not ask God to give you the wherewithal to look at those things differently? I know I want to look at them differently. And I haven't always. I speak from experience. But I don't want to be one of these people that goes around and goes, you know what happened to me today? Listen, by the way, I had one of those days. I mean, it was like we're trying to get out of Dodge and study and I've got a whole 40-page outline that I've got to send to Trinidad on Baptist history. And then I've got Sunday school curriculum and outlines. I've got four books I'm writing. I've got a new ministry we're going to kick off come spring. And I could sit here and I could complain about my day. I could legitimately complain about my day. And some of you wouldn't even care. Alright. Brother Ray? seemed like the worst, or actually the times that were the best. They didn't feel good when you were in the midst of them. As a matter of fact, you probably hated that you were going through those things. But in the end, God used those things to grow you and change you. If you never go through those things, you never get changed. If you never get changed, you never become more like Christ. You never grow in grace. You never are changed more to be like the Lord would have you be. And God can't use you Hear me out on this. God can use you less the way you are today than the way He wants you to be tomorrow. But you're going to have to go through trials and troubles and difficulties and heartaches and frustrations. And it is going to be frustrating. But the question is, do you trust God? That's the question. Father, we love You. We thank You for all that You've done for us. I pray that you'd speak to our hearts, not just at this moment in time, but Lord, we're going to face something maybe before the night's over, maybe tomorrow, maybe before we get back here together on Sunday. There's going to be something coming up in our lives, and it's not going to please our flesh. We're going to despise it, maybe get frustrated by it. Maybe it's going to be something simple, and for some Christians, it oftentimes starts with simple things. But as we grow in grace, those trials get more difficult. Father, we pray whatever we face this week, this month, the rest of this year, coming into 2017, whatever we face, we pray that we would do it in a way that glorifies your son, Lord Jesus Christ, and the people would see our good works, glorify you, and give you the credit and the honor and the glory. All the honor goes to you, Lord. Lord, we pray that our perspective would be changed. We would stop seeing things from our perspective and we would begin to see things from your perspective. If we could do that, we would rejoice in the midst of tribulations, not even just when the tribulations are over, but in the very midst of it. Lord, please change us so that we can make a difference in the lives of other people. We'll be sure to give you the glory for it. Lord, we pray that you would move in our midst. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Heads bowed, eyes closed as she plays. Get the word out of your heart. Why don't you come and ask God to work in you.