People in this room, some that I do know and some I don't really know, but I recognize and I see out all the time, and maybe I should know, but it's real good to be here. Marty and I, we don't go way back, but we share a lot in common. I was just thinking this morning, last year at the Bering County Fair on the night of Tractor Pull on Saturday night, we sat down at the picnic tables at the fairgrounds, missed the whole Tractor Pull. We talked politics and talked about the gospel all night long, but we missed the whole Tractor Pull. Could have saved eight or ten bucks if we had just come to church and talked to her. Say ho. But I'm glad to be here and I want to wish Grover safe travel on his trip today. Our message this morning will come from 1 Thessalonians 3. 1 Thessalonians 3, 1 through 5. As in much of the New Testament which we know of that Paul has written, this is a letter written to a town that he has started a church in, and his situation not unlike a lot of what Paul experienced in his life and in his ministry. He went to Thessalonians, started a church, began to preach the gospel, the gospel began to spread, he was preaching Christ, and people got upset. People didn't like the hearing about this new gospel, the new covenant, Jesus. And like what happened to him many times, he had to leave town. He got ran out of town on the rail, had to leave in the dark of night. Not uncommon in Paul's ministry. He had to do that constantly. But in this situation, he really wasn't able to stay around long enough to disciple these new converts, these new Christians, these people that are young in their faith. He didn't really even get the opportunity to establish some leaders in the church to leave behind, which he would always do. He would always pick someone as the leader. God would see that he should pick as the leader, and he would leave, that they should disciple these people. And he didn't even have the opportunity to really do that. So here he is writing to the church at Thessalonians, really concerned for them, concerned for their faith, and concerned about the trials and persecutions that he knows that they're facing. As we read in chapter 3, 1 through 5, Therefore, when we can no longer endure it, We thought it good to be left in Athens alone. I'm reading from the New King James. New King James. Yours may be worded a little different. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it be good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother, a minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith. that no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are appointed for this. For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain. You know, as I mentioned, we're dealing with young Christians here, and Paul is concerned. I haven't had the opportunity to disciple them. They don't understand, they don't know the power that they now have inside of them of the Holy Spirit. And they, more importantly, they don't know what is to come. Let's face it, folks. When you make a decision in your life, when you have accepted Christ, the gospel itself is offensive to the world. By its very nature, the gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. And when you profess Christ, you can count on a few things that we're going to talk about this morning. Number one, trials and tribulations, trials and persecutions will come. Trials and persecutions will come. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. If you're not being persecuted today, it's coming. You're going to be. If you're not going through trials today, it's coming. You're going to be. If you're coming out of a trial today, or if you've just come out of one, believe me, there's another one on its way. Have I beat that in the ground enough? Trials and persecutions are coming. One thing, Grover and I have discussed this. One thing I cannot stand, I hate it with a passion, is what has become called today health and wealth theology, or health and wealth doctrine. I hate it with a passion, I can't stand it, and it just irritates me that one of the most well-known and most sought-after preachers or ministers in the United States is Joel Osteen. When Larry King has a question about faith, he calls Joel Osteen. When ABC, NBC, they call Joel Osteen. So they can get on there and ask him a question and he can tell everybody how great their life will be and how everything is a bed of roses. And tell them how to get God's favor. Folks, it's not in here. Okay? It's not in here. You will not find that type of theology. You will not find that doctrine in Scripture. I know this is a Bible-believing church. I know from the conversations and sometimes debates I would have with Marty and Grover, this is a Bible-believing church, folks. The scripture is clear. When you follow Christ, when you profess Christ, you will be persecuted. There is nothing to anything but health and wealth and you'll be happy and great. Now yes, God does want to bless each and every one of us. And God does have the power and authority to do that if He so chooses. But it's not about the health and wealth of us for our own means. It's all about what's good for the kingdom. God's glory. Sometimes that means that he's going to bless us with wealth so that we can do as he guides us. Sometimes that does mean he's going to bless us with health so that we do have long healthy lives and we use that to spread the gospel and tell others about Christ. I do know of a man, well I'm not going to tell where he's from, but the guy's a multimillionaire from right here in Kentucky. and the town that he lives in. I guess he's kind of like the Kenneth Bale that passed away a few years ago here. My goodness, there wasn't a business or an industry that this man, Kenneth Bale, wasn't involved in and this man is the same way. He's a multi-millionaire and today he is retired and every day he goes to work, goes to his office and gives money away. Some of it's just to your local little league board and stuff like that, but a lot of it is to ministries, foreign and domestic. This is what this man has done with the wealth that God has given him. And he's been this way his whole life, only now it's his full-time job giving away money. But nowhere in Scripture will we find What has become known as the health and wealth theology. And we know this. We know that trials will come. If we look at verse 3. No one should be shaken by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are appointed for this. Now like I said, that's in the New King James. The word is appointed. And it's probably the same in the King James. If you have the NIV or ESV, it's destined. We are destined for trials. We are destined for persecution. There is a couple from our church. Their names are Clifton and Jennifer Phelps. They announced a few weeks ago that they're going to be moving their family to India. I'm not talking about a two-week or six-week mission trip. They're going to come back and do a slideshow. They're moving. They're not coming back to the United States. They are moving to India. Now they have been to this particular town, I can't pronounce it to be honest. I can't remember the name. I can't pronounce it. There is a small Bible college that some friends of theirs started. They have made, for the past several years, they would go on 14 day periods and help them with things they needed at that Bible college. But Clifton, when they move, which will be this September, he will be teaching at the vocational school there as well as teaching Bible classes. And we'll be the dean of this school. It's very small. And the entire reason, the entire goal for this school is to bring young Christians in and teach them more in depth about Christ and about the gospel. It is what we would look at here as seminary, basically. Only not near as structured or near as large. But the interesting thing about this, and I so admire Clifton and Jennifer for the step that they're taking following God's leadership in their lives, is that the people that graduate that school, they get sent out into different parts of India, knowing full well that there is a very high probability they will be martyred. In that country, it's okay to worship Buddha. That's accepted. It's okay to worship Allah. That's accepted. It's okay to worship monkeys. I'm not just pulling that out of the air. They worship monkeys in that nation. It's okay to do all that, but the second you mention the name of Jesus, you are subject to death. In the past, when our mission teams had gone over there, they went through some very strict training before they went. You are a tourist. And they always took one day out of their trip to just see the sites. That way they were a tourist. Because if they found out you were a Christian missionary, you were subject to being executed. Right then. Or not on the spot, but that day you would be executed. People around the world, as was mentioned earlier this morning, but I want to get a copy of one of those magazines. I wasn't familiar with the title of it. They face things we can't fathom. We're persecuted by people making fun of us. We're persecuted by people talking about us behind our back. There are people around this world, people who because of their faith, because of the man that they follow, because of the God that they worship, they live every day knowing it may be their last. We don't know what persecution is, we don't know what trials are, but they're coming. So, if we know that trials are coming, if we know that it's a part of our life, we know that that is a part of following Christ, what happens when trials come? Well, any one of us can attest to here, trials will rock your world. Now, I know everyone here has been through a different situation in your life, different trials, different persecutions that sometimes, sometimes maybe they were major, sometimes maybe they weren't so major, but they absolutely rocked your world. Well, that's another thing you can count on. Trials are going to rock your world. One of two things are going to happen, and we see this all the time. Number one, either you are going to rely on your own strength and turn on your faith in Christ, Or number two, you're going to completely lean on Christ, lean on the Lord. And when you come through that, and when He leads you through that, and you're able to look back, you're able to say, I am closer to Christ now than I was before. Because of what I went through, I am a stronger Christian now than what I was before. I know more about myself. I know more about the Holy Spirit that works within me. I know more about my Savior than I did before because of this trial. One of those two things are going to happen. And we see that again in verse 3, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we were appointed for this. For you yourselves know that we... that no one should be shaken by these afflictions. He's concerned that when they go through these trials in Thessalonians, they're going to. Like I said, these were young Christians. They don't know about the power within them. They don't know what they have. They don't know that the Holy Spirit is really ready and able to work in their lives and help them through this time. He wants them to know what they have inside of them and that they have the ability and the Spirit inside of them to work through these and to lean on when the trials come and so that they will not turn on their faith. It's a shame that not only do we see that and have to worry about that with young Christians, but how many of us have been Christians for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years? But spiritually, we're still babies. This is why discipleship is so, so, so important. And I'll be totally honest, discipleship for me personally is a big, major issue because I lived for so many years turning my back on my call to preach. I knew that when I was 19 years old. Number one, just decided I wasn't going to do it. I ain't doing it. God wants me here. I'm going here. And I ran as hard as I could go. I went for so long in my life without I went to Sunday school. I listened to preaching every Sunday. I just did not allow myself to soak it in. I didn't want to. I figured that was enough. I don't need to study during the week. My mama dragged me to church all the time. I'm at church all the time. I hear all this. That discipleship is so important for this very reason. As parents, we always know that sometimes experience is the best teacher. I've got a three-year-old right now that we can tell her whatever we want, but it goes in one ear and out the other. But experience is the best teacher. Sometimes, I don't know about you all, I'm pretty thick-headed. I'm very thick-headed. We'll put it that way. No need to sugarcoat it. I'm very thick-headed. But sometimes experience is the best teacher. But many of us, and I've been one of them, in the face of trials, I completely turned my back on my faith. Or not turn my back on my faith, but turn my back on the God that had the power to lead me through that and was trying to show me something. He was trying to teach me something. There's another family from right here in church. I talk about this family all the time. Maybe some of you have heard of the Witt family. who in 2007 had a 6-year-old little boy who was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. So I'm sure some of you may know him. To make a long story short, that was in 2007. Today the young man is cancer free, but in the beginning he had a 40% chance of surviving. I don't remember the name of the cancer. But they went through very aggressive treatments. They went for two and three months at a time in Louisville. At one point, the family would come home periodically on Sundays. In our Sunday school class, there were times that this little boy's mom, she just wanted to scream. She wanted to vent. As a class, we just allowed her to do that. We gathered around them, prayed with them, prayed for them. But you know, there were days. There were times, even right in the middle of it, when their little boy, he wasn't out of the woods yet. They did not know and we did not know at that point if he was going to survive. Is he going to make it through these treatments? Is this cancer going to get him? But this woman, this mom, would be telling us how great God had been to her that week and how great God had been to their family and to their little boy. In the face of losing their son, She testified, and this happened on more than one occasion, to what God was doing in their lives and how God was teaching them and how God was growing them. It was just amazing to see that type of attitude and that type of That type of attitude toward something that they were going through when it would have been so easy to just completely turn on your faith and ask, God, why? Why me? I don't want to lose my child. You know, how many times do we go through situations not nearly as severe? The consequences wouldn't be nearly as severe. And we completely turn our backs on the Lord that's trying to lead us through that and teach us something. But the biggest thing that really spoke to me personally through all of that was during the treatments and she told of this. When he asked the question, this little at this point 7 or 8 year old boy asked the question, why did I have to get cancer? How in the world? I have a three-year-old. I cannot imagine. I can't imagine dealing with that, but I cannot imagine having to answer that question. This was this momma's answer. Everybody listen. Please listen very closely. This is momma's answer to her seven or eight-year-old as to why he had to have cancer. Her response was, Honey, do you realize that you have the power now to tell the world just how powerful that your God is in a way that you never could if you hadn't been sick? And you know, that was dead on right. She was so true. But how many of us could look honestly and give that answer? to tell our child, you have something within you now that you have the power to tell people how powerful your God is in a way that you never could if you hadn't been sick. I hope that if I'm ever, ever, ever in a situation anywhere remotely like that, I am mature enough in my walk with Christ, I'm mature enough in my walk with the Lord that I can have that attitude, I can dig deep into the scripture and know that I have that type of approach for the trial that God is leading me through. Hopefully we all could. But if we know the trials are coming, if we know the persecution is coming, and we know that, man, they are actually going to rock our world. Where in the world do they come from? I mean, why do we have to go through these? They have to come from somewhere. Where do they come from? Well, that tells us in 3B, depending on how your Bible is outlined, And no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are appointed for this." I read that earlier. Who has the power to appoint things in our lives? Or who has the power to say that we are destined for something in our lives? Not really. Exactly. Good answer, Marty. Satan can say whatever he wants. He can try to manipulate however he wants. He has no power to appoint things to happen in our lives. We can manipulate our circumstances as much as we want, but when it comes down to it, we don't have the power to say this is going to happen, that is going to happen. Only God Almighty has the power, and only God Almighty has the authority to dictate every step in our lives, how it happens, what happens, when it happens. The trials that we go through come from God Himself. It's interesting, in Acts 9, 16, I think it's real interesting that Paul himself is the one writing about trials and dealing with trials and tribulations. Because this is the man that lived most of his adult life in prison. And the reason he lived most of his adult life in prison was because he was preaching the gospel. He was constantly being persecuted. If there's anyone on the face of the earth that had a reason to turn their back on their faith, it would have been Paul. You would think at some point he would say, look God, I've had enough of this. I've followed you. I've preached. I've made disciples for you. I've started churches. And all this got me is landed in prison everywhere I went. I'm tired of this. I just want to be peaceful. I want a peaceful life. I want my little farm. I want the American dream, so to speak. But he continued to do it, knowing full well that that was God's plan for his life. In Acts 9, 16, God lays it out. Saying, for I will show him, that is Paul, how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. That's God saying right off the bat. You want to follow me, if you want to follow me, I'm going to show you what it's like. Does that sound like health and wealth theology to you? That's something you won't hear on TBN. You won't hear on Olsteen. But guys, we can rest assured, even though that is part of our life, that's part of what it means to follow Christ, that is part of God's plans, part of what God has ordained for us to experience. It's not just for naught. There is something at the end of the line for each of us as an individual. For every situation we deal with, every way we're persecuted, there is something at the end of the line for us. God is trying to teach us. He's trying to grow us some way. He's trying to mold us into being more like Him. You know, I'll just share with you a couple of people that I know that have had life-changing experiences and what are they doing with them. They're telling others about them. And they're telling, believe me, that little boy and his parents, they do tell people on a daily basis just how powerful their God is. And if you question me, let me tell you what happened to me three years ago. I hear it all the time. I hear people talking about this family that they were talking about, and I recognize the story, and it's this little boy that I know. They are taking that experience, and they're spreading the gospel, and they're sharing Christ because of that. If nothing else, folks, we want you to come through the trial. We've learned and we've grown and we've become more like Christ. If we stayed the course, we have something to tell everyone. Let me tell you what my God did for me. Let me tell you just how powerful my God is. Let me tell you how he brought me through this situation, how he delivered me. But just as sure, just as sure as We can come through a trial and come through a time of persecution and be able to tell people how great God is and how He brought us through that. Satan can and will use those situations just like God has. And we see that at the end in verse 5. When I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain." Now rest assured, I don't want anybody to be confused. The trials that we go through, they are of God, they're from God, and God has a purpose for putting us through them. But just as sure as God has a purpose, so does Satan. Satan can turn the situation just like all that is well and good in this world that God has ordained is good. Satan has the ability to just twist it and turn it and make it something evil and bad in our lives. His number one goal is to hinder those of us who have been called to stand in the pulpit. You think Brother Grover doesn't get bombarded with satanic attacks every single day? You are dead wrong. Satan doesn't want him studying, preparing for his sermon. He doesn't want him at that prison. Because he's got those men right where he wants them. He's got them in a desperate situation where even when they get out of prison, they're in a desperate situation if they get out. He doesn't want Grover or anyone else preaching the gospel and letting them know that they have a life in Christ. He can't let that happen. However, not only will he go after the pastors and the preachers and their pulpits, whether he gets to them or not, but if he can't, his next best tool is to make all of his preaching for naught. Convince those in the congregation and those that hear the preaching every day, that's not for you. That's for the person beside him. That's not for you. And make all that pastor's work for naught. Now we all know that anytime we work, anytime that we work for God and do things for God, it never returns void. But man, it can sure be ineffective. No matter what we do in our lives, no matter what we're, or what kind of trial we're in, Satan is always right there. You remember when in Matthew, Jesus went up to be tempted by Satan. The way that Satan tempted Jesus was Scripture. Make no mistake, Satan knows Scripture inside and out, people. He knows the Bible backward and forward. That's another reason it's so important for us as Christians, us as followers of Christ, to take this book seriously, to be disciples of Christ. Because Satan knows it backward and forward and he can use it to tempt us and twist things. And it sounds right! It sounds good! Matter of fact, let's turn there real quick to Matthew 1 through 11. No, Matthew 4, 1 through 11. It says, And Jesus was led up by the Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights afterward, he was hungry. And when the tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Now let's just look at that one temptation there for a second. Number one, Jesus had been fasting. He was hungry. Satan knew that. And Jesus was hungry. He had a physical body. He was hungry. And he was well within his power to turn those stones into bread. Does anybody doubt that? He was hungry and it was within his power. And it's just a rock. It's not like anybody's going to miss it. So wouldn't that make common sense? Wouldn't that make sense? I'm hungry. I've got the ability to make myself some food here. There's nothing wrong with that. Unless you know scripture. And he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And I won't go through any more. That's just one little example, guys. That's why it's so important for us to know Scripture. That's why it's so important for us to study, study, study and know God's Word. So that when the time comes that we're in a situation and we are confronted by Satan, we have the Holy Spirit and the Scripture within us to combat him. I made a comment once to somebody when Satan and Jesus were going head-to-head literally in that situation. If that was a live action movie that you had paid ten bucks to see and this was the big fight scene, you'd walk away disappointed. You really would. Because there's a quote in Scripture. But it's effective. It's one of the most effective tools we have when combating Satan, when dealing with him in our lives, when he's trying to get us off course. God has something to teach me here, Satan wants to steer me here, and let's be honest, sometimes this over here looks more attractive at the moment. If we do not know scripture, if we do not know this book, it's so easy to get steered off course. It's easy to miss the blessing that God has for us as he tries to bring us through that time. We miss it. One more thing. You know, there's a saying that I've heard my whole life and I know all of you have too. We've all said it, which is, it's darkest just before the calm. It's darkest before the calm. Anybody not heard that? Okay, so everybody's heard it. It's darkest just before the calm. Guys, that's not just a saying. That's scriptural. When God is leading us through a time of tribulation in our life, when He's leading us through a trial, He's got a plan. He's got something He's trying to build in us. He's got something He's trying to show us. He's got something He wants us to learn. We don't know when He's going to bring us out of there. We have no clue. We don't know when God's going to say, okay, you've learned what I wanted to show you. You've got the lesson. Okay, it's time for you to move on. It's time to bring you out of that. God knows when he's going to pull us out. We don't. Satan knows when he's going to pull us out too. When we're going through a time of trial, and Satan's kind of working, he's working in the backgrounds, and he knows when the clock is winding down, and God is just about ready to pull this person out. He knows he's got to start working overtime, and he does. So if you've ever been through an experience where maybe you are in the suit, so to speak, and all of a sudden, when it rains, it pours. They just keep coming. We've got this to deal with, that to deal with. I've got a sick child. We're late for this ballgame. I've made commitments here, and it's just all piling on at one time. It's always been hectic, but not like this, and now it's all piling on at one time. Just hang on. You're getting close. You're getting close. Satan is piling it all on you because he knows he doesn't have much time left and he has very little time to get you to give in in that situation. So y'all as a congregation or as an individual, I don't know what you're facing today. I know that odds are that most everybody in here right now, you're going through a trial at this moment. Maybe you're being persecuted. It may be where you work. It may be through another club or organization that you belong to. Or maybe, I don't know what this church is involved in. Maybe this church people are going on this church. But God has a plan for you in that situation. He has a plan for this church in that situation. And ask yourself these questions. Number one, where is God trying to lead me? First and foremost, whatever situation you're in, just ask yourself and pray about, pray to God. Okay, I don't like the situation I'm in, Laura. I don't like it one bit. But I know you're in it. Just help me to see and show me where are you trying to lead me in this situation? And what are you trying to teach me? Where are you leading me? And what are you trying to teach me? What do I need to learn? What is it that I'm going to need in the future that you're trying to teach me now? What do I need to learn? And most importantly, when you finally come through that situation, or you may be sitting here today and you have just come out of a situation, ask yourself this question, and I mean be honest with yourself, okay? Be extremely brutally honest. Am I more like Christ now than I was? You fill in the blank. A month ago, six months ago, a year ago, whenever it was, I was right in the middle of that situation. Am I more like Christ now than I was? Because in the end, that's what it comes down to. Now, I don't mind telling you, and I did say briefly earlier, discipleship is something that God has really placed heavily on me just because of my own life experiences, really. Discipleship. Discipleship. Being in Bible study. Knowing this book. Learning this book. Studying this book. And that doesn't necessarily mean a formal education. Take the time to speak with others. Learn this book, guys. We can help ourselves and learn so much about the God who saved our souls and the God who has so much good for us and the God who is trying to teach us so much. just by learning and being the disciples of Christ that we claim to be and we ought to be in this book. But whatever you're going through, just stay close to your church. If you need to talk to me today, hey, I'm glad to. If you need me to pray for you, you want me to pray with you, I'm glad to. I know your pastor will too. I'm going to close today. I'm going to turn this over to Marty. But just remember, whatever you're going through, whether your trials or tribulations, whether you're going through it today, or if you see one on the horizon or you've been through one, God's trying to teach you something. Just be open to what He's trying to say.