Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. So the normal way we do this now, since we're doing this, is the notes will be over there when you come in that door. If you come in that door, you have to walk all the way over here to get them. So either way, Romans chapter 12. We all there? All right, let's pray. Father, we come to this evening, Lord. Thankful and grateful. Lord, if we were sick, we would be thankful and grateful. If we were in a miserable condition, it'd be harder, but we would be thankful and grateful. Because Lord, we know, because of Calvary, what our destiny is. And Lord, we are thankful that someday we will walk the streets of gold. or there have been those that have gone home this week that are now walking the streets of Gome. Thank you for that assurance. I pray tonight you'd give us some wisdom from thy word, show us some things, teach us, help us. We have to live in this mess. There's things we have to do right. And so, Lord, I pray that you'd lead us and guide us. Take this piece of dirt, stand behind this pulpit. Me and my flesh dwells no good thing. You know that. I know that. Lord, I'm just a clay vessel. I pray, Spirit of God, you'd fill me with yourself, not me, but with you. Pray that you would give me power. I pray that I would be impassioned. I pray that you'd give me your wisdom and your words and whatever else is necessary. for you to be able to communicate to your people tonight because that's what we're doing here. You're communicating with your people tonight. You're our father and you're giving us, giving advice to your children tonight to help us as we live in this mess. So Lord, we pray that you would do whatever you need to do, Lord, to speak to us. We pray for your blessing in Christ's name. Amen. Last week we finished with the talking about being not slothful in business. Looked at some verses on being slothful, talked about the fact that a slothful man is always under somebody's control. The diligent, that's the people that get the positions of leadership, the managerial positions, the foreman positions, et cetera. The slothful are always under somebody. They may not like it, they always complain about their boss, but if they'd be diligent, They wouldn't have to complain about a boss. They'd be one up. We talked about the fact that a slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. He's too lazy to go out and get his own food, so somebody's got to support him. And in this country, it's usually the government. Talked about the fact that the way of a slothful man is difficult, like being on a hedge of thorns, that he's the brother to a great waster. Talked about the fact that the slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom and will not so much as bring it to his mouth. You got to be lazy when you can't even take your hand, pick the food up, and put it in your mouth. But that's a lazy man. Talked about the lying in the streets conspiracy. where it said, the desire of the sloth will killeth him, for his hands refused to labor, and right after that, or in that next chapter, it says, the slothful man saith, there is a lion without a ch, I shall be slain in the streets. There's always some excuse for not working. Proverbs 24 talked about a guy laying on his bed, and his house has gone to pot, his fields have gone to pot, not literally pot, but you know what I'm saying. And the fact of the matter is, he had a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, And so shall that poverty come. A slothful man, the Bible says, is like a door turning on its hinges. That's a guy rolling over in bed. We talked about the idea that you do need eight hours of sleep. You need eight hours of sleep. That's what everybody's saying now. If you want to live longer, if you want to be healthy, you need to get eight hours of sleep. And if you're an old coot like I am, a nap in the afternoon is okay, too. But beyond that, you know, I mean, as a preacher, I want to bed at midnight, and you get up at 11 in the morning. That's not what I'm talking about. You go to bed at midnight, you got to be up by 8. You go to bed at 11 o'clock, you got to be up by 7. I mean, that's 8 hours. You know, some guys say, well, you know, you got to get up, you know, you got to get up real early in the morning. I like getting up early in the morning. I think it's the best time of day. It's cool, it's still cool outside. I sit there, I read my Bible, I start doing some work. I open the windows, not the windows, I open the blinds, big picture windows. I got bird feeders, I watch the hummingbirds come, I watch other birds come, watch all the stuff going on. Best time of day for me. But for some people it's not. When I was younger, I would stay up till two o'clock in the morning. You know, I mean, we would get to the point where, okay, 10 o'clock, time to get some work done, and sometimes work till one or two o'clock in the morning, but then you sleep later. Doesn't matter when you go to bed, doesn't matter when you get up, but as long as you limit your day to about eight hours of sleep. I remember hearing of the guy that ran the bus ministry for Hiles. He used to talk about, you know, getting up at four o'clock in the morning and just chiding the other guys, getting up four o'clock in the morning, but he went to bed at nine o'clock at night. People say, well, you go to bed at 9 o'clock, and you get up at 4. OK. I can do that. I just do it differently. I go to bed here, and I get up here, you know. So sounds good, though. I'm up at 4 o'clock and more. Sounds good, but get your eight hours of sleep. Dr. Walker's standing up here telling you, get your eight hours of sleep. You'll be a happy camper. I read a story, I put it in your notes there, about a fellow just coming to town. He came to the laziest man in the town to ask for directions. So the lazy guy underneath the shade tree, he had a hat over his head, over his face. So the guy said, how do I get to Golden Gate? Not the bridge, but just how do I get to Golden Gate? And the lazy guy didn't even get up, didn't move his hands, he just took his foot and pointed that way. And the guy didn't get that. He didn't understand what he was saying. So he said, I'll give you $5 if you tell me how to get there. So the lazy bum pointed with his foot again, rolled over on his side and said, just stuff the five in my pocket. That's a lazy dude. That's a lazy guy. So we don't want to be lazy. Be not slothful in business. Then he goes on to say in verse 11, and I've talked to you before, this is a great part of Romans now where we're making the application. Went through the doctrinal stuff, went through the prophetic stuff, now we're making the application. This is like the Proverbs of the New Testament. This is, here's how to live, here's how to do this thing. You know, you could say, well, you know, that was pretty deep stuff in chapter four and five, and you're getting that stuff in chapter six and seven, eight, and all that. That's pretty deep stuff there about nine, 10, 11, Israel's past, present, future. That's pretty deep stuff. This isn't. This is not deep stuff. This is practical stuff. And by the time we get through the practical stuff, you're gonna say, let's go back to the deep stuff. Because this practical stuff is too practical. But this is what we need. So Paul is finishing the book of Romans with stuff like this. So verse 11, he adds to being, not being slothful in business, he adds the phrase fervent in spirit. Fervent in spirit. Now the word fervent, and I looked up the definition here, Because you always hear preachers talk about fervency and being fervent, usually fervent prayer, and they'll say it means red hot. Okay, how does that apply to me? It'd be red hot. If I'm red hot, they're gonna put me in the hospital and test me for COVID-19. What do you mean red hot? And I understand where they get that definition from because that's what the word means. It means boiling, hot, glowing, figuratively, in some cases, violent, impetuous, and furious. Well, I don't think that's what he means here. To boil, to glow, if you look at the rude word, to boil, to bubble, effervescence, to burn. But then the figurative sense is what we're looking at. The figurative sense means to be impassioned. And that was first used around the 1400s. So the idea of being impassioned. But again, the idea of heat and all that. I mean, it works in 2 Peter 3. Look at 2 Peter 3 and look at verse 10. It says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Okay, so there's your fervent heat right there. And by the way, you say, how much heat do you need to melt an atom? Well, it varies. Most of the time, it's over 200 degrees. Tungsten, it has to get over 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit for tungsten to melt. That's why it works so good in incandescent light bulbs. But they'll all melt with fervent heat. But notice how fervent is associated with heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Which is a good point. You know, I mean, people spend their whole lives because they want to get this thing here, I want to get this big house over here, and I want to get this, I want to get all this stuff. And two things will happen. They're going to die, and they're going to leave all the stuff. Forget who said it, but they summed it up by saying you never see a U-Haul following the hearse to the cemetery. Or number two, it's all going to burn up anyway. All this wonderful stuff you see, all this junk that you see, it's all going to burn up. So in other words, let's not fall in love with this stuff because it's temporal. He goes on in verse 12 and says this, looking for and hastening into the coming day of God, where the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, there we go again, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. So there's where they get the idea. And true, the meaning of fervent is hot, hot enough to melt elements and all that. But the thing is, I'm gonna make that application in my life. And so I've got to look at it in the figurative sense. The figurative sense, again, meaning impassioned. Now, what helps me is that there is one guy in the Bible that is said to be fervent in spirit, and that's in Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. And what's interesting about this guy, he is said to be fervent in the spirit before he's truly saved. Acts chapter 18, verse 24, we're talking about Apollos. So a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man. Now think about that, an eloquent man. How did he become an eloquent man? I mean, men are not born that way. I always told my girls, understand this, men are a bunch of dogs. Men are just dogs and pigs. Just stay away from them as long as you can until you find the one that God wants you to have. He won't be that bad. But the rest of them, just a bunch of dogs. That's the way men are. We're just as happy playing in the mud and getting dirt all over us, grease all over us, tar, paint, whatever it may be. We don't have a problem with that. If we don't take a shower for a couple days and we're working with each other, it don't matter. That's the way men are. So to be an eloquent man, you're kind of going against nature. To be a gentleman, you're kind of going against nature, which means that he had to make a choice on what kind of guy he was going to be. Now, let me ask you something. That choice he made must involve some kind of passion that he had about being that way. So that's the idea. We're looking at Apollos and we're seeing places where fervency is working through. It says he's an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures. How did he get mighty in the scriptures? Did he wake up one morning and start quoting Bibles? Bibles. I'm in the right age, aren't I? Start quoting the word of God? Is that how it happened? You know, people used to ask us when we were on the road, do your kids How did your kids learn how to play those instruments? And sometimes I would say, just to be whatever, I would say, oh, they woke up one morning and could play. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Everybody knows it doesn't work that way. And to be mighty in the scriptures is the same way. You don't wake up one morning and are mighty in the scriptures. You know what you have to do? You have to work at it. And to work at something, to be good at something, takes a little passion. Again, here's where the thing is, a lazy person is not going to succeed. You take somebody with some passion to say, you know what, I'm going to do this and I'm going to work on this. Well, preacher, it's easy studying the Bible. Apparently you don't study it then. Did you mention, remember what Brother Hearn said in the letter? When studying becomes counterproductive, we go out and pull weeds. How many have been there? The more you say that, the less I understand this. I'm gonna go pull weeds somewhere until my brain straightens out. It takes a passion to do that. So we see the kind of guy Apollos was. He was impassioned on how he conducted himself. He was impassioned about the scriptures. Verse 25, he said, this man was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in the spirit. He spake and taught diligently of the things of the Lord. So it takes some fervency, it takes some passion to want to go out and speak the things of God and to teach the things of God and to be taught the things of God. That's the kind of guy he is. But it says, knowing only the baptism of John. So the only light he had about the truth was he heard John preach. He got it. He got baptized. And then being an impassionate individual, he said, I got to take this out. I got to tell others. If you're having a problem with your ability to speak for Jesus Christ, maybe the issue is passion. Maybe I'd ask the Lord to give you passion. I like people that have passion. I like to listen to preachers that have passion. And I'm not talking about guys that just yell all the time. There's guys that yell all the time. I'm talking about guys that have passion. You can tell when they've got something going on right here when they speak. You know, I've told you before in North Carolina that you haven't preached unless when you're done you're soaking wet. Then you have to walk out and come back with a trench coat on because that's all part of the whatever it is. That doesn't necessarily mean you're impassioned. A guy can get up and be very passionate and not really raise his voice. But if the passion is there, man, you get into it. Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, that was that great sermon where he, you know, you hear people talking about, that was a great sermon he preached, and people grabbing the back of their pew because they thought they were going to hell. He read it. He wrote that thing out the night before and he read it. So where did all the power come from? Because he fasted and prayed the whole day before. And then when he got in the pulpit holding a candle and reading that message, the passion of his heart and the spirit of God just took that thing. Yeah. So you can tell the difference between guys that just want to shout and just want to whatever from guys with passion. So maybe we need to pray that God would give us the passion, that we need a passion for Christ. Anyway, he goes on, verse 26, he began to speak boldly. See, if a fellow's passionate, he doesn't have a problem speaking boldly. In the synagogue, in the synagogue, do you think that they invited him in the synagogue? Do you think they were thrilled with the fact that he came in there and he starts talking to them about John's baptism? He went into an unpopular situation and spoke boldly. That says a lot. It says, whom Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. What did they do? Well, they said, dude, you're a little behind the thing here. After John came Jesus, and Jesus lived, and Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried, rose again the third day from the dead. That's what you have to be trusting in. And he said, oh, okay, I'm in on that. And so he gets converted, born again, but all that other stuff he had going for him is now part of his being born again. So he continues on, verse 27, and when he was disposed to pass an acaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come helped them much which had believed through grace. Now look at verse 28, for he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. This guy is a public witness. Stood on a street corner? Probably. Went in the streets and talked to people? Absolutely. And would talk to any Jew that would be willing to listen and try to convince them that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. That is a fellow right there that's fervent in the Spirit. The Bible also speaks about having a fervent mind. A mind that's impassioned for the things of God. Fervent prayer life. fervent charity, I was reading today, I believe it was at Plymouth where the pilgrims landed, that they befriended the Wampanoag Indians. there was a plague that went through that affected the Wampanoags and I mean it was hitting them bad. They didn't know what to do. They got out so bad they would crawl out of their teepees to go get water and die in the process of going to try to find water. And the pilgrims, even though they were afraid of getting whatever the Indians had, their charity, their fervent charity said, we're going to help them out. And so the pilgrims went into the Wampanoags and ministered to them, helped them with water, helped them with everything they could, tried to get food in them, tried to do everything they could for them. The amazing thing, they never got sick. They never got sick. But they're with these people all the time, but never got sick. And the Wampanoags from that action realize these people are for real. It's one thing to say something, it's another thing to come into our tents knowing that we've got this sickness and try to take care of us knowing that you could get sick too. And then it's amazing that your God allowed you not to get sick. Fervent charity. So that's what we're talking about here tonight. Same with love. Love is the same thing. Somebody can say they love you. I mean, they can say, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. They can say all that stuff. Love is an action. Love is a verb. Run your mouth all you want about, I love you, I love you, I love you. But do you really? Does your life prove that you love somebody? If I said, I love my wife, I love my wife, and I'm cheating on her, how would that work? You say, if you loved me, you wouldn't have done this. Absolutely. I love my children. Then you'd get a job and you'd support them, wouldn't you? And you wouldn't do stupid stuff and get yourself all messed up. So run your mouth in one way, but I'm going to look at your life and I'm going to see your life doesn't back up what your big mouth says. Amen, amen, amen. So fervent, when we talk about being fervent, what we're talking about is a figurative sense, and we use the term on fire for God. I knew of one preacher who had a guest speaker in, and he said, let me introduce you to Brother so-and-so. He's on fire for God, and we're gonna sit here and watch him burn. But that's figurative sense. But the passion, that's what it means. If you're impassioned, you're on fire for God. Then he says, or he said fervent in spirit. So there's two things you look at in the Spirit. Spirit's either the immaterial part of you or it refers to an attitude. Daniel chapter five and verse 12 says this, for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belshazzar now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. So Daniel is described in chapter five verse 12 as having someone with an excellent spirit. We're not talking about the material part of the man. We're talking about his attitude, which came out as he lived. Daniel chapter 6 and verse 3, then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because he had an excellent spirit, because an excellent spirit was in him. So he was preferred because this is a guy, and you've been around people. You've been around people that have had good attitudes. You've been around people that have had negative attitudes. I don't like to be around people that have negative attitudes all the time. And I like people that have a positive side to them. And you've been around people that always seem to be upbeat. He said, well, I don't like those kind of people. Well, that kind of says a lot there, but I like people that are upbeat. I like people that are upbeat and seem to have a positive attitude about them and nothing can get them down. The guy that helped me, one of the guys that helped me with the bus had a very good attitude. We were building the bus and doing stuff and my wife came in one time and said, would it be possible to do this? And he said, we can do anything. And I'm thinking, really? But he was of that mentality. If something needs to be done, if something needs to work a particular way, we can make it happen. That was just the kind of guy he was. I like guys like that. You know, I wouldn't want to work with him. He said, no, there's no way you could do that. I mean, nobody could do that. You know, forget that. I like guys who have a positive, and they get places. They get places, like Daniel did. For as much as an excellent spirit, again, not an excellent spirit in the sense of which the phrase is sometimes used now as denoting a good or pious spirit, but a spirit or mind that excels, that is, that is distinguished for wisdom and knowledge. Excellent spirit, a spirit that excels. That's the way we should be. What's over thy hand findeth to do, do it half-heartedly and just hope to get it done, right? Is that what it says? If you're doing something, do it and be excellent in what you do. Colossians 1, verse 29, it says, So there's the idea. You work hard, you try to do your best, and God helps you. because he's working in you, whatever it may be. Then the next phrase is serving the Lord. So you see the progression. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, and then he says serving the Lord. So if you take this aspect of it, being not lazy, and this aspect of being fervent in spirit, then you're gonna have this aspect here of how you serve the Lord. If you're lazy over here, you're gonna be a lazy servant of Jesus Christ. If you're not passionate here, you're not gonna be that passionate for Christ. But if you can get this thing down, where I'm gonna be not slothful in business, I'm gonna be fervent in spirit, I'm gonna be passionate about what I do, and then when it comes time to serving Christ, that stuff all carries right over. J. Frank Norris, who was a well-known preacher of the day, used to say the trouble with most Christians is that their get up and go is done got up and went. Acts chapter 20 verse 19. Paul made this statement. Now he's with the elders of the church at Ephesus. He's going to see them for the last time, most likely. And so there's kind of a farewell thing here. So in verse 19 of Acts chapter 20, Paul talking about his His attitude while he was with them, he said, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. So Paul said, Ma'am, while I was with you, I served the Lord. I did it with humility of mind. I did it with tears on occasion. There were temptations which befell me. The Jews are always out to get me. The Jews were always trying to figure out a way to stop me, to put me to death. But Paul said, that's the way I serve the Lord. I want you to look at the point there where it says, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Understanding that you have the ability to do what you can do because God gave you the ability. Or the gift, we talked about that a couple weeks ago. There are, in some churches, it's like the pastor is the king, the pastor is the poobah, the grand poobah, and his wife is referred to as the queen of the church, or the mother of the church, or first lady of the church, and honestly, folks, that's a bunch of nonsense. You know, you give honor to whom honor is due, I get that, but, you know, first lady of the church? We serve the Lord with all humility of mind. Keep it humble. Luke chapter 17, this is one of the best sections of scripture on servitude. And we're all servants, whether you're serving or not. God's called you to be a servant. Jesus said in Luke chapter 17 in verse seven, he said, but which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he's come from the field, go and sit down to meal. Okay, so let's stop right there. In those days, a guy's got a guy out in the field and he's working, he's been plowing all day. It's hot. It's cold. It's whatever it is. And here the guy comes in. It's time to quit. Who knows what time that is? Sun's starting to go down. Whatever. He comes in. The master doesn't say, Matt, you've been working hard all day. You need to sit down and eat. Doesn't say that. Look what he says. Verse 8. And will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup? and gird thyself, get your dirty work clothes off, get your kitchen clothes on, get your apron on, whatever it is, gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk. So the guy comes in off the field and he says, all right, I'm ready to eat. What are you making me for dinner tonight? So he switches from being the guy that's been working out there and changes his clothes and cleans up and starts cooking dinner for the master and sits there and waits for the guy to eat it. Notice what he said there. till I have eaten and drunken. So, you know, you're going to do this until I'm done eating. When I step up, step out of my chair and leave the table and you take care of my dishes, then it's your turn to eat. Afterward thou shalt eat or drink. Verse 9, here's what really gets you. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things which were commanded him? Did he say, thank you man, that was a great meal. Thanks for working in my field today. That's what Jesus said. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things which are commanded him? I trow, which is an old English word meaning I think, I hope, I believe, I trust, not. I don't thank him. Hits his job. You know what kills me? Going to some of these restaurants, well, you're used to, and you go up to the counter and you order your food and you pick it up Well, you get your cup of coffee and you pick it up and you go and sit down. They have a little box there saying tips. For what? You stood there and took my order and punched some buttons on a computer. I was supposed to tip you for that. You ought to tip me. I'm the one picking it up. I'm the one taking it to the table and I'm the one that's going to throw it away when I'm done. Tip me. Good grief. We got to think so backwards around here. Anyway, Jesus said this. He doesn't say thank you. Now look at verse 10. So likewise ye. Okay, so now he's addressing it to the disciples. When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants. You don't go and say, Lord, about time for me to get that Sunday school badge, hasn't it? It's been a while, it's been about six months, I need another one of them Sunday school badges about how good of a teacher I am. Need another one of those bus route banners, you know, to wear, another thing to wear. About time I got one of those, preacher. About time, Lord, you gave me something. No. You take the attitude. We are in profitable service. We have done that which was our duty. duty. It's your duty to serve Jesus Christ. The preacher didn't thank me. It doesn't matter. It's your duty. If you're called to drive a bus, it's your duty to do that. If you're called to teach a Sunday school class, that's your duty. If you're called to preach, that's your duty. Whatever it is, that's your duty. And if I don't thank you and say, oh, pat you on the back, I'll do that now. And I'll say, you're doing a good job. But some of these churches, every few months, they parade the people up on the platform. You know, it's the award day. You know, they're getting awarded for faithful service and all that. Say, why not? Because it goes right here. And that's why the Lord said that. If you don't approach this thing with that attitude, it's going to go right here. And when it goes right there, that's always trouble. We talked about that. Pride cometh before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. What's the other verse? Only by pride cometh contention? So pride's a nasty, nasty thing. And the Lord said, here's the way you solve that. Just keep it in mind you're an unprofitable servant. And think about it. What are you outside of Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing. You're an unprofitable servant. Do your duty, do your duty. All right, Romans chapter 12, verse 12. Let's look at this one. He says, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. So rejoicing in hope, Titus chapter 2, verse 13, that's our blessed hope, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ. We rejoice because he's coming today. See, preacher, he's coming today. I hope so. If he doesn't come today, I think he's late. But that's the idea. So we can rejoice in hope. Remember, hope in the Bible is not, I hope maybe and I hope maybe, I hope it comes, maybe it will, maybe it won't. Hope in the Bible is, it's coming. It's just, I'm hoping it's today. See, that's the idea. So we can rejoice in hope because we're getting out of this mess. You know, you look at the world and you look at all the troubles. What if there's a second wave of the corona? What if there's a third? What if there's a fourth? You know, what if there's earthquakes all over? What if all the, you know, what if everybody starts shooting everybody? What about, what's gonna go, what's gonna happen? This world's gonna go crazy. I'm getting out of here. I'm getting out of here one way or the other. Either by a trumpet or my heart stops or I get a bullet in the front of my head or something like that. I'm out of here. And you're out of here if you're saved. So for us, death is just beginning. I've told you and told you and told you. The world thinks that life is from the cradle to the grave. And if they make it this far, they're satisfied. And if their loved ones make it that far, they're satisfied. The problem is tragedy sometimes strikes. And because they only made it this far, people feel cheated. My loved one only made it this far. They're supposed to live this far. I feel cheated. I feel God took that away from me. You know, the whole thing. If I'm, you know, here I am and I'm paralyzed at this age right here. I feel cheated. I had this taken away from my life or what have you. If you only view the world from cradle to grave and something happens, you feel cheated. Christians don't feel that way. Christians know it's cradle to the grave. The grave is the door to eternity. So it really doesn't matter what happens here. Yeah, I know it's a bad thing, and I went through this, but it's all for a reason, because my real life begins after the grave. It doesn't end at the grave. My real life begins after the grave. That's the hope we have. So we rejoice he could be coming today. And I've told you before, the only prophetic sign for the church is that the church will go into apostasy before he returns. Are we there? So what about the temple? The temple's not a sign for the church, it's a sign for Jesus Christ coming back. It's a tribulation sign, it's for the Jew. If the rapture took place tonight, they could build the temple in the next three weeks. Doesn't matter, that's not the sign for the church age. The sign for the church age is apostasy. And Timothy and somewhere else, it gives us some of the other things that'll be going on without natural affection and truce breakers and all that. But specifically for the church, as the church goes into apostasy, people start believing crazy, crazy stuff. Well, we're there. So the one sign that we're looking for has already happened. So it's just a matter of maybe tonight. So he says this. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation. So the Lord says, I understand you want to go home. He says, you've been reading your Bible, especially those last two chapters, and you kind of get an idea what that's like, aren't you? And you've been reading that stuff in Thessalonians about, you know, the new body, the resurrection, all that, and you're looking forward to that, aren't you? Yeah, Lord, I'm looking forward to that. He said, well, just be patient. Nobody likes to be patient. And I don't like to stand six feet from another person in line. A line's this long and it should be this long because we're all divided up. I don't even like that. I'm not a patient person. I'm not a patient person. But he said, be patient in tribulation. Now patience, you look at the history of the word. Capable of enduring misfortune. This is from the mid 14th century. Capable of enduring misfortune, suffering, et cetera, without complaint. Okay, we've lost that one already. Yeah. You go in the old French, in the Latin, bearing, supporting, suffering, enduring, permitting. Again, late 14th century, slow to anger, self-restrained, having the temper which endures trials and provocations. Say, preacher, the guy that wrote that never had children. Maybe not. Late 15th century, awaiting or expecting an outcome calmly and without discontent. All right, how many patient people are there? And I'm gonna tell you something, you young people, the older you get, the worse it gets. You think, well, if a person's older, that'll be more patient. Oh no, oh no. It gets worse when you get older, man. Romans chapter five, verse three. He said, be patient in tribulation, so here's how it works. You're patient in tribulation because tribulations work with patience. Romans 5 verse 3 says, not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations work with patience. Patience experience, experience hope, hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. So God put you through tribulations to help you be patient. So you can be patient in tribulations. You say, preacher, is there a way out of that? That's straight up. James 5 and verse 11, he says, behold, we count them happy. We count them happy, which endure. And you know what? When you're patient and you go through stuff, I'm happy for you. You have heard of the patience of Job. So it always goes back to Job. When any subject of patience or tribulation or endurance or whatever, it always goes back to Job. And Job is a perfect example of it. Now you think about Job, he gets hit one day, loses sons, loses daughters, loses possessions, all that stuff. And he goes through that and he gets to the point where he says, naked came out of this world, naked I'm going out, blessed be the name of the Lord. And he's probably thinking, that was tough to go through. And then just a few days later, he wakes up and he's covered with boils. Here we go again. You know, most of the tribulations that we go through in life, most of the tests and trials that we go through is a one thing. It's tough. We get through it. We have a chance to catch our breath. We have a chance to be blessed after that, knowing that, yeah, down the road, there's another one coming. We used to travel Pennsylvania turnpikes, 76. And it was pretty cool because they had to make part of the road through the mountains. So there's like four tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. And you go through one, that's pretty cool. You come out of it and you look on the map. But the other one's about 50 miles down the road. Okay, that'll be cool, you know. And you go through that one. Then the last two as you're heading toward Philadelphia, Harrison. The last two, I think it's called Catani, Catani Mountain. The last two are kind of like, right across from each other. In other words, you go through the one part of the tunnel, the first tunnel, and as you're going through, you look down the end and say, oh, I see the end of it right there. You know, I see the sun and all that. And then you drive along and say, uh-oh, there's another one right after that. So you go through the one, you go through just a little bit of no mountain, maybe a football field, you're back into another one. And then when you get out of that tunnel, there's an immediate right-hand turn. Excuse me, left-hand turn. Immediate left-hand turn. And they've got the signs there that warn you, you know, turn coming up. And if you miss the turn, You know, you're now a pilot for a while, because you're gonna be flying right down. I mean, there's this mountain, and you know, and I look at, you know, tests and trials are like that, and we go through in life. Sometimes it's one big thing, we go through it, okay, we got time to recover, we got time to be blessed, and we got time to catch our breath, and then way down the road, there's another one. Some tests and trial in life, you go through it, I'm through it, and all of a sudden, you're right in it again, and as soon as you get out of it, oh, I gotta make a right turn, or a left turn, or what have you. Be patient in tribulation. Go through it. 1 Peter 2, verse 20. So for what glory is it if when you're buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if, when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, that is acceptable with God. So again, if you deserve to be punished for something, don't say, well, I'm taking it patiently. You deserved the punishment. But if you're unrighteously, if you're framed, if you're set up, if you're not at fault, but they think you are, then take it patiently. Hebrews 10, verse 32, but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. partially while you made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly which you became companions of them, which were so used." So he's reminding them, when you first got saved, people thought you were weird, strange, you were oddballs, they rejected you, they rebelled, not rebelled, but they denied you access to something you may wanted or what have you, they treated you real bad. And, He said, just remember those days, you endured a great fight of afflictions. But in the process of going through that, they developed patience. 2 Timothy 2, verse 10 says, therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake. So the idea is this. So why do I have to be patient? Well, because there's other people that are watching you. Paul said, I endured all things for the elect's sake, for the other Christians that are watching me. I went through this stuff. I suffered to try to get the word of God to the Jewish people. I suffered to try to minister to the church. And if you look at it that way, if you're going through something that possibly is gonna help somebody else, that does help sometimes when you go through some stuff. That's an altruistic approach. That means it's not for my benefit, it's for somebody else. And if I, let me put it to you this way. So you've got some sickness. And you're saying, why am I going through this sickness? Why do I have to go through this? Or maybe there's a tragic loss in your life. Why did I have to endure that? Why did I have to put up with that? And what's happening is you're going through that to help somebody else in the church that's gonna go through the same thing eventually. Either have to go through the same sickness or have the same kind of loss or what have you. And if you realize that every test and trial is not only just for your benefit, but it's for the benefit of other people. That helps you to get through it. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse three, here's the greatest of all. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be worried and faint in your minds. Now you think about Jesus Christ, what he endured. But he endured it with a purpose. And that purpose was you and that purpose was me. Lester Roloff one time had a preacher call him up And this guy's just pouring out it all on Brother Roloff, all that he's going through, all the struggles he's having, and all that stuff. And the guy's almost in tears. And Roloff's response was, well, praise the Lord, brother. And the guy was kind of taken back. He said, well, why did you say praise the Lord? Did you hear what I was saying, all these things I'm going through? Is that all you can say is praise the Lord? And Roloff said, I'm praising the Lord because you said this is what you're going through. And eventually we go through. We're not going to be isolated from tribulation and trial and testing and stuff like that in this life. We're not going to be isolated from that. The idea is I'm going to get through it. Like the tunnels, I'm going to get through that and be out the other side. Continuing instant in prayer. Just a little bit more here. So, he said, patient in tribulation, rejoicing in hope, Instant, continuing instant in prayer. Colossians chapter 4 verse 2 says, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. First Timothy 5 verse 5, now she which is a widow in deed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. First Thessalonians 5, 17 says pray without ceasing. The idea is keep on praying, don't give up. Keep on praying, don't give up. What was I talking about the other night? When somebody had prayed for somebody, was it 10 years or 13 years? I forget what that illustration was. That was a long time ago, probably a week or two ago. But the idea is don't give up after six months. I've been praying for this person. I've been praying about that. Pray, continue to do it. Continue in prayer. Keep it up. Don't give up. Keep on praying. And here's an interesting thing. I don't know if you've ever experienced this. There are some things I'd prayed for that I gave up on. I prayed for it for a while and I gave up on it. And a year or two or four or five down the road, I get an answer to that. And when I get the answer to that, I'm thinking, you know what? I prayed for that back there and I stopped praying for it right there. But those prayers right there, God heard, and though I should have been continuing to pray for it, I quit, but God says, you know what, you prayed back here, I'm gonna give it to you anyway. You know what you call that? The mercy and grace of God. See, that's a good God. That's a wonderful God that says, you know what, I prefer if you would continue in prayer, I would prefer that you faint not in prayer and what have you, that's really the way you need to do it, but I understand. Spirit is willing where the flesh is weak, I understand. And sometimes God will answer that prayer even though we stopped and didn't continue in the thing. But the idea is try to do it, try not to give up, keep on praying. And then he says instant. Instant with the idea that is now, present, of the moment, current. Again with the idea of instant. And see, that's not a word we use for right now. The idea with the word instant is, well, it can't be in the past because that's over, and it's not in the future, it's right now. In other words, the idea is if I'm instant in prayer, I'm not gonna say, well, tomorrow I'm gonna pray about that. No, right now. Sometimes you have people come up to you and say, brother or sister, could you pray for me? I've got this problem. We used to get that all the time being on the road, you know, somebody would come up there on the surface, you know, and I've got, I want you to, could you pray for me? I said, let's do it right now. For two reasons. One, because you need to do it right now. And two, I'd probably forget. You know, not because I wanted to, but I, you know, I don't know if any of you forget. I forget some things now and then. But the idea is it's a present thing. Continue instant in prayer. Be ready to pray at any time. The example of that in the Old Testament, Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter two, verse four, it said, then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. In other words, he had to taste test all the food. If somebody was gonna try to poison the king, they would do it through the food. So Nehemiah got to taste it first, or drink the wine first, or what have you, and then the king would sit and watch him for a few minutes. Feel okay? Doing all right? You know, to be funny, you know how to have fun in a situation like that? One of those times, just grab your chest and flop over, you know, and just scare the daylights out of the king. He'd probably kill you if you did that, but anyway. So here's Nehemiah, and Nehemiah is coming in the presence of the king, and the king says to him, I've never seen you like this. You look depressed. You look bummed out. He said, usually you come in, you got a pretty good attitude, but you look kind of depressed today. He said, I don't think you're sick, so what's going on? Verse four of Nehemiah two. Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make thy request? Because Nehemiah said, I need to talk about something. So he said, what do you want? He said, so I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king. There you go. Nehemiah as he's about to answer the king. And I don't think he got on his knees, you know, and did all this stuff and didn't want to talk to the king. I think he, I think he said, Lord, here we go. And talk to the, talk to the king. Now he could do that. He could do that because if you look, go to chapter one, And you look at verse four, he had heard what was going on in Jerusalem with the group that went back with Ezra. He had heard about all that was going on, not going well. And so in verse four of Nehemiah chapter one says, it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. So he had a prayer life. And when you have a prayer life, you can walk into somebody and say, Lord, help me here and do it. That's not an excuse for not having a prayer life. Well, I don't have to have a prayer life. I'll just pray about everything right away when it happens. That's not the idea. Nehemiah had a prayer life, and because he had a prayer life, he could walk right into the king. He could say, Lord, I need some help here, and say, King, here's what I need, and watch God take it just like that. But being instant in prayer. If you've got a prayer life, you can be very instant in prayer, you know. whatever it may be. You go through that a lot of times when you're witnessing to somebody. You're witnessing to somebody and they're bringing a bunch of stuff up and you think, okay, I could answer it this way, I could answer it this way, I could respond this way. And while they're talking, you're thinking, Lord, I need some help here. Lord, I need to know just exactly how I need to talk to this guy. I need you to bring some scriptures to my memory. And you're standing there looking like this, like you're listening to the guy and you're praying all the time. But Lord, I need your help on this. That's a case where you're instant in prayer. Chapter 12, verse 13. He goes on and says, distributing to the necessity of the saints. So he's talking here about helping out the brethren when there is a need. And we're not gonna be able to get through all this tonight, but my first goal, my first responsibility is for you folks. If you have a need, Now we get a lot of people walking off the street. You know, I need this and I need that. Well, I'm sorry, but my first response is to my people here. You know, I'm not gonna give you something when I have somebody in my church who could use something like that. And the fact of the matter is, I really didn't wanna get into this tonight. There's a difference between people that are poor and people that are poor on purpose. Now, someone that's genuinely poor, I'm gonna help them out because somebody that's genuinely poor still wants to work. And they still wanna do what's right. We got a lot of people that are going up and down these streets here that are trying to get a handout from anybody for anything and trying to make you feel guilty about it if you don't give them a handout. I'm sorry, I don't fall for that anymore. Preacher, you don't know what I'm going through. Well, whose choice was that? got this young kid that shows up now and then, Dustin, 19 years old, who decided life was too tough, so he's gonna go live in the desert. And I said, that's the stupidest choice you'll ever make in your life. He thought it was really something, you know, this is what I'm gonna do. And I came around and I said, that's stupid. And he kind of looked kind of shocked. I said, what a stupid way to live. I said, you need to go back to your grandma. You need to get right with her about whatever ever caused her to throw you out. You need to humble yourself, go back and get yourself a job and do this thing right. And on top of that, you need to trust Christ as your savior. I ain't putting, I'm not, I'm not, I've heard the stories. I have heard the stories. There's always a kid with diapers involved in it. There's, you know, I need gas to go visit my dying mother. I've heard the story. Well, why doesn't your church take care of you? Well, I can't get a hold of my church. Okay, give me the name of your church. Tell me your pastor's name. I'll find who it is. I'm a good church member preacher. Well, give me your pastor's name and a church name. Well, I don't remember. Oh, you're a good church member and you don't know your pastor's name or the name of your church? Yeah, I heard that. Anyway, I'm not gonna get into that tonight. Any questions on anything? And no, I'm not giving you anything. Any questions? No.