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Examples and Encouragements In Suffering - Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  And what sounds 1:22 says, I was glad when they said to me, let
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  us go to the house of the Lord. I was glad when I got invited to
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  go to church. That was the greatest invitation
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  that I could receive. Can I ask you a question?
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  If somebody were to ask you, Where's your favorite place to
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  be? Or where would your favorite
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  place to be? What would you be able to
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  answer? Would Church be the first thing.
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  I hope so. Do you know why?
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  Being in the house of God is the greatest place to be on this
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  side of Heaven. Because it's the closest thing
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  to Heaven. That's why to be surrounded with
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  God's people, to be surrounded with the truth of God and to
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  sing praises to God. Ephesians 2:20 to says that we
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  are being built up together as a dwelling place for God as a
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  dwelling place for God. So, even if your bone tired this
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  morning, because I see a lot of baggy eyes today, I know we had
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  we celebrated many people here, celebrated marriage, a marriage
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  between a man and a woman that represent Christ in the church
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  and are part of this church. So, I'm fully aware that many
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  people in here are exhausted, but even when you're exhausted,
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  it's still a good thing to be in the house of God.
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  With that being said, turn to James chapter, 5, James chapter
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  5, beginning in verse, Eight. James 58.
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  You also. Be patient.
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  Establish your hearts. Prepare your hearts.
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  Get your heart to ready. Establish your hearts for the
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  coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not Grumble against one
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  another brothers, so that you may not be judged behold the
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  judge capital J. The judge is standing at the
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  door. Verse 10 as an example of
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  suffering. And patience Brothers, take the
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  prophets. Who spoke in the name of the
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  Lord behold. We consider those blasts Who
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  Remain steadfast you have heard of the steadfastness of job.
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  And you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is
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  compassionate and merciful. Let's pray together.
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  Lord, as we just saying. And as we just read We establish
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  our hearts Lord, for your coming.
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  And we pray that. You would find us ready.
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  Lord, we just ask that you would speak through your word in the
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  power of the holy spirit that even through our weariness.
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  God, your where would grip has penetrate into the depths of our
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  soul. Or if there's anybody in here,
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  who's not ready for your return? Make them ready.
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  By convicted me of sin and reminding them that they need.
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  Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.
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  Let it be done today in this house for the glory of your
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  name. We ask that this meeting be free
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  from distraction discouragement. Or destruction.
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  And now your purpose is Prevail. We ask and the precious name of
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  the Savior Jesus we ask amen. Amen.
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  The scriptures are emphatic, Ali?
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  Clear that the second coming of Jesus Christ is an undeniable
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  event, that will take place at one point in history, based on
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  the trustworthy, testimony of the Bible.
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  You and I could be sure of this, that in the midst of all the
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  things that are happening in life.
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  Jesus said as in the days of Noah, this is fitting for our
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  context. There will be people who are
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  marrying. There will be people who are
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  buying they'll be people who are selling in the midst of all of
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  that. Jesus Christ will interrupt all
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  of our plans for his ultimate plan to bring the church to him
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  and to bring judgment on the world.
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  It's coming, it's coming whether you believe it or not, it's
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  coming whether you're ready for it or not.
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  And James here is reminding us of that.
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  But there's something else that he wants us to.
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  My to be reminded of that between this moment now and that
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  event that will take place whether it's in our lifetime or
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  not, there is a guaranteed experience that we will have in
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  that time period between now and Jesus returning.
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  There is a guaranteed just like the sucking Second Coming, is
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  guaranteed. This also is something that will
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  happen inevitably and it is this, that you and I will to
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  some degree. Free suffer.
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  And not just suffer, but be tempted in the midst of our
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  suffering. To become weary.
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  And to become relaxant and are faithful zealous obedience to
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  the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit does
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  through James and verse 10, verse 8 and verse 9, he's
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  telling the people his audience, he's telling us today.
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  Hey, hey, Jesus is coming back. And then he goes into this
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  seemingly random subject relating to suffering and
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  patience. And you go, what's the
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  relationship between now? And then we might suffer, and
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  some more than others, some with greater intensity than others.
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  But it is something that is surely to come to pass in the
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  Christian experience. And so he says, listen.
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  It's going to happen, the second coming and trials and
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  tribulations, and this is a beautiful thing for us because
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  he's not providing a philosophical explanation of why
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  Christians suffer he could have. And there are some places we can
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  go to explain that instead of giving us an explanation of why
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  we suffer, he wants to give us examples of suffering. he wants
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  to give us clear pictures in the Bible that you and I are to take
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  hope in and find life in You know what he does.
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  He says Annex as an example of suffering.
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  I want you to look to the prophets.
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  I want you to look at the prophets of old who spoke in the
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  name of the Lord. And I want you to see what they
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  experienced as as a means by which you can continue to walk
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  Faithfully with the Lord. Like they walked Faithfully with
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  the Lord. And this heads-up from the Lord
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  to say, hey, things might not go your way in life, should not
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  discourage you, and I should not discourage us if anything.
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  It should encourage us because we know that he already knows
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  what's to come, and he is Sovereign over our suffering.
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  So I have hope and I have, I have an anchor of my soul to
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  know that I've read in the Bible already that if I've been
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  stamped by the blood of Christ, if anything goes against me and
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  it's not for me per se on the surface level.
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  I can rest to know that God is in control.
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  Control. And we have this commandment
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  from God. This this prescription go to the
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  Old Testament and look at the prophets of old.
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  He says, because they suffered and James.
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  I don't think James has one type of suffering inspired by the
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  Holy Spirit, one type of suffering in mind.
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  When you hear the word suffering, what comes to your
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  mind immediately. Severe persecution, physical
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  pain, severe disease, extreme poverty.
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  What comes to your mind? What jolts in your mind as an
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  image? When you think or hear the word
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  suffering, the reality is suffering comes in different
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  packages in various forms. And I believe James here does
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  not have one idea of suffering per se.
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  Why? Because he says look to the
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  prophets, plural, not one prophet.
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  And what we know from the prophets, Is that though they
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  all suffered in different in one way in the sense that they were
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  persecuted. They all had their unique
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  experience. Each Prophet had a slightly
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  different bent to their experience of pain and trials
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  and tribulations, which is amazing to us as a source of
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  encouragement because we can look at the vast roster of
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  profit, and look at one of them in a season of life and say, oh,
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  if he went through it, I can go through it.
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  So, if that person experience that, surely I can experience it
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  and this is the beauty about the Theology of suffering in the
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  practical sense, isn't it true that when we go through
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  something, we tend to Magnetize ourselves towards those who have
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  gone through the very same thing or something, similar and have
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  overcome it. Our ears are more open to those
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  who can relate to US based on experience, because no matter
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  how shattered we are in the midst of what we're going
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  through. We are faced with someone who is
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  flesh and blood like us but as overcome and there is hope even
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  if it's a small small dosage of it, we are drawn to people who
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  have experienced what we've experienced.
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  And James is saying, listen, go to the prophets and draw some
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  help from them. Because as much as they're
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  calling was very preacher, like and full-time Ministry.
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  Based there is something about the prophets in which the Bible.
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  In wisdom says you can actually relate to them more than you
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  think. And there's suffering is not as
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  far-fetched as you are experiencing in this Western
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  age. The purpose of this message, the
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  purpose of James's message to us this morning, is that we would
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  glean from them. And that we would have the
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  strength from that to continue to walk Faithfully with the
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  Lord. Which profits can we go to?
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  Which profits can we go to someone who has overcome?
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  Something that we seem to be overcome with.
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  I think one that is. Undeniable is Jeremiah.
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  Jeremiah turn to Jeremiah chapter 20.
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  Jeremiah chapter 20 beginning in verse 7.
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  Jeremiah chapter 20. What's the context here?
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  Jeremiah is doing? What Jeremiah was called to do.
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  Preach the word of God. And I one point, his audience
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  was greatly discomforted uncomfortable by his words and
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  verse 1, you can just lean over as his Passion of the priest,
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  the son of immer, who was the chief officer in the house of
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  the Lord, her Jeremiah prophesying these things.
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  And what did he do? He beat the guy up and threw him
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  in a holding cell overnight. Some response to a message and
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  what is Jeremiah experience? What he's been experiencing for
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  most, if not all of his ministry, rejection after
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  rejection after rejection, after rejection, And in this chapter
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  in particular it seems like Jeremiah the single-minded
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  devoted man of God has reached a Tipping Point in his soul. where
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  he now begins to Open his heart bear before God, and begin to
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  express without filter. What he's truly sensing.
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  What is he saying? First verse 7 O, Lord you have
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  deceived me. And I was deceived.
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  You were stronger than I and you have prevailed.
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  I'd become a laughing stock, all the day, everyone mocks me.
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  Think about what he said, you have deceived me.
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  And you're stronger than me. And you and In this wrestling
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  match, you actually overcame me. That's a bold thing to say to
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  God. you have tricked me, you have Manipulated you have hidden
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  goals behind this whole thing. What does he mean?
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  By say, you deceive me? He's going back to when he was
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  called in chapter one. When he was called as a young
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  man to be a preacher in the first place.
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  And he is now slipped into such Despair and discouragement and
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  such raw form. He pretty much just saying in
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  modern language, I did not know that all of this was a part of
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  the package. So when you came to me Lord and
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  you this you just brought this idea to me and you you said
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  these wonderful things about who I was that I was consecrated for
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  my mother's room and I was chosen to be a prophet to the
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  nation's and when I came to you as a response to that and I
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  said, listen I'm but a youth. You told me not to worry and I
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  said I can't speak very well and you said, don't worry, I'm going
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  to be with you. And when I was fearful of this
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  apostate Nation, you said I will be with you to deliver you.
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  That sounded really, really Good.
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  But I didn't know all of this would be a part of it.
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  Because up to this point, I'm not really seeing much fruit in
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  my Ministry. That was all Splendid.
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  That was beautiful. Lord, that call.
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  I mean, we all go to that. Even we go to that chapter to
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  bring us, hope to know that God really has a plan for our lives
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  from the moment that we are even conceived in our mother's womb.
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  But Jeremiah saying, I feel tricked.
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  I did not see this in the small print.
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  I'm getting beat up and I'm getting thrown into prison and
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  I'm getting laughed at by everybody.
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  I was humbled at first, I was excited at first I was willing
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  to make any sacrifice. Do you realize in Jeremiah 16:1,
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  probably one of the hardest things that Jeremiah had to
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  hear. Read it read it one day, God
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  tells them you're not getting married.
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  And you're not going to have children.
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  In this place, it's not going to happen.
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  I don't think we really realized the waiting is the depth of this
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  ministry and the sacrifice that this man had to make in order to
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  serve the Lord and Jeremiah was willing to do it.
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  Whatever it is. You want to put a hold on my
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  season of marriage. You want to put a hold on?
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  I mean, wanting to have children.
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  That's fine. I'm willing to serve you Lord.
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  And who knows what was going on in Jeremiah's, my, but all these
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  wonderful things that God had called him for no converts.
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  I mean, at least, if I'm going to make these sacrifices, I
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  would see some fruit. Come out of my Ministry.
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  If I'm going to go to these Great Lengths of putting things
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  on pause and life and and preaching an unpopular message,
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  surely there's going to come some fruit out of it.
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  And in fact, I'll top of all the things that he had to lay aside
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  for the Lord. He's getting pummeled by his own
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  people. Never mind Gentile Nations.
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  Did God deceive him? Did God leave that out with God?
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  Like well if I don't tell him the whole thing he's not gonna
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  know know Jeremiah just did not realize the extent of it here.
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  This in chapter 1 verse 19. God told them this stuff was
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  already going to happen, but it's just in our fallen nature
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  that we have selective hearing. Not only that, we didn't, we
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  don't just do that. Jeremiah is not just doing that
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  because it's Jeremiah we do that with our Bible reading the only
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  We find ourselves picking the things that we like, and we find
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  ourselves kind of muting our ears to the things that we're
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  not too fond of. Jeremiah 119, this is what the
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  Lord says they will fight against you.
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  But they shall not Prevail against you for.
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  I Am with You declares the Lord to deliver you.
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  It's going to happen, Jeremiah, but it's not to the point where
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  it's going to overcome you. so he's just frustrated here, he
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  and in chapter 20, is come to a place of just Total despair.
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  And I believe a great part of his despair as the weeping
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  prophet was. He did not see much apparent
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  success. In terms of people turning from
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  their ways and walking Faithfully with the Lord.
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  And that crushed him. And you say, what's the point?
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  How does that relate to James five?
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  It relates in this way that between now and waiting for
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  Jesus to come back, you and I can suffer in the same way
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  Jeremiah did in what sense that we remain faithful and Ministry
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  and don't really see much things coming out of it.
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  And that can make us weary of remaining faithful in Ministry.
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  This point is for those who really want to live for Christ.
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  If you don't want to live for Christ, this point means nothing
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  to you but if you have made it your ambition to bear fruit for
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  the glory of God. I hope this encourages you.
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  Because you hear it from pastors and you even hear from Layman
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  that want to serve God, you hear from people that really want to
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  serve the Lord. And we're not seeing things.
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  What? They've been praying for what
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  they're believing God for what they read in biographies and
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  stories, but they're not really getting it, it wounds them.
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  It weighs them down. It takes the fight out of them.
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  Like Jeremiah. Especially when you believe that
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  God has called you to something, especially when you felt like,
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  God is open a door and gifted you with something and you're
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  walking into that and as you're walking into that, you seem like
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  everything else seems to be crumbling.
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  All the things that you knew that you sacrifice to get to
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  this point all the hours, all the energy, all the driving, all
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  the prayer meetings and nothing Little bit of Hope here and then
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  it ends up. It doesn't take much long before
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  the people that your ministry or backing, all these things that
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  are crushing the man can Crush you and me as well.
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  And it feels tricked. Was this really worth it?
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  Man, I could have bought into something else.
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  That would have brought me instant results.
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  I could have invested my time and energy and other things, I
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  would have brought some kind of instant satisfied satisfaction.
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  But here I am living for God. Feel like I'm all alone and all
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  these wonderful things that he's given me as promises and I don't
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  really seeing things I thought I would see.
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  Been there. Are you there?
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  My get there. One day.
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  But take hope. Because something happens to
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  this man in a moment. And what happened to Jeremiah in
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  this text. I believe it's happened to many
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  great men and women of God, you hear me very carefully.
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  In 1793, there was a man by the name of William Carey was a
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  missionary to India. He felt his heart stirred to go
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  to that place to preach the gospel and so he picks his stuff
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  up to go. He goes with his wife named
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  Dorothy and his sister-in-law Dorothy's wife sister Kitty and
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  they go to this place in India and they met a man named John
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  Thomas who was an acquaintance, a partner in the ministry.
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  So they have this band of people, you have, William Carey,
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  you have his wife, Dorothy you have.
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  Her sister Kitty of this man named John Thomas and you have
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  their families in a new land with Great Hopes believing that
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  Christ has commissioned, all Christians of all generations to
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  make disciples of all Nations. And it in a matter of a few
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  short years. In order to to, to sustain and
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  to live, William, Carey John, Thomas work in a factory, to
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  gain some income from their family, but this man John Thomas
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  ends up squandering all the money.
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  Within a short amount of time. William, Carey son, Peter died
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  at the age of five. Within a short amount of time,
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  William Carey sister-in-law, chitti abandons, the mission
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  field to go, marry a British shoulder Soldier within a short
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  amount of time because of some believe of the death of the sun
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  and the whole environment itself.
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  William carries wife literally, goes insane, To the point where
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  she saw her husband as the greatest enemy of her life.
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  And where people were trying to convince this man, put her in an
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  insane. Asylum.
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  And so wired, was she? With this mental illness that
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  she ended up dying. Probably due to that.
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  And you think, okay, this man had it on his heart to go.
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  He goes with his family, he has this plan, this Vision.
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  Surely something came out of this.
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  How many converts do you think William Carey saw in the first
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  seven years? Seven years baptized one person.
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  God, what did I get myself into did he have that know this man
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  is known now as the father of the modern Mission movement and
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  the fruit that came out of this man's sacrifice, As far beyond I
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  believe, what he thought, Bible translation school, and converts
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  in the hundreds after those first terrible years, at least
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  in the natural sense. What kept this man going?
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  What made him not jump ship and go back to England.
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  What was it? What was it?
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  That anchored him and faithfulness?
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  And not growing weary and serving the lord and proclaiming
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  the Lord? I believe, what?
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  Jeremiah in? Jeremiah 29. if I say, I will
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  not mention him, Or speak anymore in his name.
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  He's saying, if I say that if I come to the point where say I'm
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  done with this, I'm not preaching anymore.
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  I'm not gonna go and do these Mission things anymore.
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  I'm not going to serve and this I'm done.
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  I'd rather invest my time and my energy elsewhere.
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  If I say that there is something that reacts to very thought
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  before it leaves my tongue, what is it?
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  There is a my heart as a were a burning fire.
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  Shut up in my bones. And I am weary with holding it
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  in. I cannot I try to convince
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  myself. I try to make myself look like
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  the victim and right, when I'm about to press, right?
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  When I'm about to bring in my papers, right?
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  When I'm about to bring in my two weeks notice Something
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  begins to burn up inside of me and it's a fire.
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  What is that fire? I believe it's Jeremiah. 23:29
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  were Jeremiah says is not your word like a fire.
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  Like a hammer that smashes The Rock in pieces.
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  There was something in Jeremiah that was greater than the
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  discouragement that try to overcome Jeremiah and it was the
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  word of God. The word of the Lord that
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  consumed him and even listen, it was so deep inside of him, even
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  when he came to the place where he thought that he would not
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  even share it, he couldn't, he would burst open. and I believe
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  it's something that we can relate to in Acts chapter 4 20,
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  For Peter and the rest of the Christians were commanded.
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  Don't you dare preach anymore? In this name Jesus?
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  And you know what they say we cannot help but speak of what we
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  have seen and heard. We cannot help but to speak what
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  we have seen and heard you know what, Peter was trying to say
• 24:35
  there. I've seen too much.
• 24:40
  And I've heard too much. For me to retire.
• 24:46
  And to retreat from what I believe, God is calling me to do
• 24:50
  in this life. In other words, there are too
• 24:55
  many testimonies, and too many Revelations that I have been
• 24:59
  exposed to, for me, not to move forward for me to stop or to go
• 25:04
  into reverse is actually in a possibility.
• 25:08
  I have a question for you, this morning.
• 25:11
  What have you seen? And what have you heard?
• 25:20
  Have you been so blinded by the glory of God in your walk with
• 25:23
  Christ? That to give up is actually
• 25:27
  equal to dying. Have you been so enamored?
• 25:35
  Have you been so stunned? Have you been so touched by the
• 25:38
  Holy Spirit through the word of God?
• 25:40
  Has your deliverance and salvation been so great?
• 25:46
  That you're single purpose and the Earth is to glorify Christ
• 25:50
  and whatever way he asked you to and if not then Lord take me to
• 25:53
  Glory because it's all about your glory.
• 25:54
  Anyway, Have you so burn the bridges behind you brother.
• 26:04
  Have you so burn the bridges behind you sister.
• 26:08
  Like, Elijah, when he was called by Elijah, he went back and he
• 26:11
  made a barbecue out of his business.
• 26:13
  You realize that he was a farmer with oxen and with plows, and
• 26:18
  when Elijah call them, he said, let me just do one more thing
• 26:20
  here. Hey guys, no turning back.
• 26:22
  We have it on our sweaters, right?
• 26:26
  I'm burning all of this and let's have a feast because it's
• 26:28
  one way, and there's no turning back, you know, where God wants
• 26:34
  to bring all of us this morning. God wants to bring all of us to
• 26:37
  such a place in our devotion to God.
• 26:40
  Is that turning back or retreating or ceasing is
• 26:46
  actually impossible. Because that's the only reason
• 26:49
  why you live. I don't live for any other
• 26:53
  purpose. So I go back and there's nothing
• 26:57
  to go back to because there's no Bridge.
• 27:02
  Onward. Christian Soldiers.
• 27:08
  Jeremiah say I can't do it even if I'm trying to convince myself
• 27:12
  it's not working. Peter says, Hey we've seen and
• 27:15
  heard too much to keep silent. The only way you're going to
• 27:18
  actually keep us from doing what God's called us to do is if you
• 27:21
  kill us and they ended up doing that.
• 27:24
  I'm sure all of Hell, had vacation when Paul Peter and
• 27:27
  John died. Jeremiah.
• 27:37
  Said there's a fire in my bones. And I'm weary of holding it in.
• 27:42
  This is the place where God wants to bring us.
• 27:45
  So if you're here today and you're suffering and what sense
• 27:49
  if you're suffering, With the emotions of discouragement and
• 27:54
  despair in light of the lack of apparent fruit in your ministry,
• 28:00
  take courage, it's not about the fruit, it's about the
• 28:04
  faithfulness that God looks for in our ministry.
• 28:08
  I believe Jeremiah Jeremiah Was A spectacle to Heaven and Hell.
• 28:13
  Why? Because when all the nation was
• 28:16
  going downhill, you had a man who would weep because he knew
• 28:19
  God's heart and he remained the course, And he's just as human
• 28:24
  as you and I are. Take courage.
• 28:30
  Don't give up. Let's look at another profit
• 28:36
  together. We might not consider this man
• 28:40
  as a prophet. He was a man that perhaps
• 28:45
  suffered in a way that we would not necessarily immediately
• 28:48
  consider suffering. But once we explain them or
• 28:52
  perhaps, you'll be able to say, oh yeah, I know what that feels
• 28:54
  like. This man is a prophet according
• 28:58
  to the scriptures saying, who is he Abraham?
• 29:04
  Abraham Genesis 27, God describes Abraham as a prophet.
• 29:12
  And this man is another faithful servant of the Lord.
• 29:20
  And he had an experience like Jeremiah that we can all
• 29:23
  somewhat relate to if we really meditate on it.
• 29:26
  How did Abraham suffer I believe Abraham experience suffering and
• 29:33
  patience like James says, in light of this one thing that all
• 29:37
  of you have experienced all of us will experience something
• 29:40
  called waiting on God. Waiting on God.
• 29:48
  Go to Genesis 15. Genesis 15 too.
• 29:59
  Genesis 15 too. But Abram said, Oh Lord God,
• 30:13
  there's a cry. They're all Lord God.
• 30:16
  What will you give me? Fry continue childless.
• 30:21
  And they are of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.
• 30:27
  You can't read that verse without feeling the ache in this
• 30:30
  man's heart. And he had a desire, and it was
• 30:37
  not a selfish desire. This man had made great
• 30:40
  sacrifices to follow the lord as well.
• 30:43
  He was called to leave the comfort of his own home.
• 30:46
  He was called to lead the familiarity of his area.
• 30:49
  He was called to go somewhere where he did, not even really
• 30:52
  know where he was going and to drag his family with him.
• 30:56
  This man after a great victory in chapter 14 over many kings.
• 31:04
  Had an underlying cry in his heart and that cry was I want a
• 31:09
  child. I want somebody to continue my
• 31:16
  legacy, I want to success sir, I want an heir from my own for my
• 31:20
  own seed. And this is something that when
• 31:24
  you read verse to, you know, that this is an ache in his
• 31:26
  heart, you know, it was in the back of his mind, oh, even
• 31:30
  throughout the whole adventure of following the Lord and all
• 31:32
  the great acts of faith. And all the interventions of
• 31:35
  God, this was still something that he could not fully bury.
• 31:39
  This was something that always surface.
• 31:40
  It was something that always came up, I'm sure as he laid
• 31:43
  there in his tent at night, I'm sure when he saw other families
• 31:47
  with their children, something was stirring and Abram.
• 31:50
  And he would say, Lord, I really This.
• 31:53
  And it's not a sinful desire. It's not a bad thing too long
• 31:58
  for it's a. Holy thing.
• 32:00
  It's a wonderful thing. It's a joyful thing.
• 32:02
  It's a gift from God. He says, God will you give me
• 32:06
  this? And God makes him wait.
• 32:11
  And he's not in his 20s. He's not in his mid-30s, he's in
• 32:17
  his 70s. He gets to his 80s and he's
• 32:22
  just, he looks at his wife and he realizes, this is just
• 32:24
  getting crazy. This is not going to happen.
• 32:27
  Is it? But God promised him.
• 32:31
  It's so this isn't just like it's going to happen within the
• 32:35
  spent every single day counted at this point in his life.
• 32:40
  It was a day by day thing that this man had to walk through and
• 32:44
  trusting in the Lord's timing and again you could see that
• 32:48
  because he is worried and he's anxious about this.
• 32:51
  Very awesome thing. He starts to make plans even in
• 32:55
  that statement. So as Eliezer of Damascus
• 32:57
  supposed to be my Heir, is that the plan that somebody that's
• 33:01
  outside of my family is going to continue my name and what
• 33:05
  happens in the next chapter in chapter 16, his wife starts
• 33:08
  getting antsy and a Buys in. And what does he do?
• 33:12
  He marries Hagar. So, you can see that this guy,
• 33:16
  he's fidgety in the soul and he's longing and he's wanting so
• 33:19
  desperately that he begin to. Now maneuver In the Flesh, plan
• 33:23
  in his own ways, to make something happen that God said,
• 33:26
  what happened? But didn't tell him when it
• 33:27
  would happen. And this man love God, he
• 33:35
  sacrificed for God. But he had a concern for his
• 33:39
  future, you have a concern for your future.
• 33:46
  Do you want something from the Lord?
• 33:48
  But you just want to right now. That's what Abram wanted.
• 33:54
  The sooner the better Lord. Have you ever prayed that?
• 33:57
  I'm ready to get it now. What else do I need to do?
• 34:02
  What else do you want me to fulfill until you bring this
• 34:05
  thing into my life? And we even start to give God
• 34:10
  advise. Lord, I'm getting old here.
• 34:15
  Laura. I think it can bring you more
• 34:17
  glory in my younger years. If I do it.
• 34:19
  Now, if you give me this opportunity, now if you give me
• 34:23
  this relationship, now if you give me that job, now if you
• 34:26
  give me that Ministry, now I think I'd be better now.
• 34:34
  No answer. and you wait and you wait and you wait and you saying
• 34:43
  yeah, I know that Abram waited So, what does that have to do
• 34:48
  with suffering? Waiting can sometimes be
• 34:52
  torturous. Sometimes the hardest thing in
• 34:56
  life is to wait. In fact, some people in here,
• 35:00
  maybe could testify that the most difficult thing in their
• 35:02
  life right now. Is that they're waiting?
• 35:05
  It's not that they don't have enough.
• 35:07
  It's not they don't have the right people in their lives is
• 35:09
  not like, no, they're waiting for something.
• 35:12
  They're not getting it. And some maybe would even pay
• 35:18
  money to get that thing, whatever it is.
• 35:22
  Just so you can be satisfied in that area of your life.
• 35:29
  But here's the joy. If you were suffering between
• 35:32
  now and the second coming of Christ in your desire to walk
• 35:34
  Faithfully with the Lord because it's amazing like Abram, we can
• 35:38
  allow waiting on, God become so overwhelming that it begins to
• 35:42
  affect our faithfulness. We get so impatient and we get
• 35:47
  so antsy that we begin tonight. Begins to affect the way.
• 35:50
  We obey him and walk by him and wait on him and seek Him and we
• 35:54
  go. Well if I don't get it then I
• 35:56
  can't serve him the way I want to serve him.
• 35:57
  Listen listen, listen. Listen this morning if God says
• 36:01
  wait, is he still worthy to be loved and served?
• 36:07
  If God says, hold on, hold on. Wait is one thing?
• 36:11
  Let's take another notch if God says, no, Is he still worthy to
• 36:16
  be served? It's convicting.
• 36:24
  You know, why you can say yes to both of those things?
• 36:26
  Do you know why you can say, yes, brother.
• 36:28
  I can, I can love him and worship him and adore him.
• 36:31
  I can do it with joy. You know why?
• 36:32
  Because whenever God says wait or no, it's always because he
• 36:35
  has something better. Always, God is not in heaven,
• 36:38
  using you as a guinea pig, just for the thrill of testing you to
• 36:43
  see what he can get out of you. That's not God's heart or mine
• 36:46
  God because he's your father and mine whenever like a good dad
• 36:50
  says wait or no, it's because he loves you enough.
• 36:54
  Can I give it to you right now? That's where the pain begins to
• 37:02
  drain. When we realize, the reason why
• 37:06
  he's not letting it happen in our timing is because he has a
• 37:11
  mind and thoughts that we don't. Sometimes we need a sermon like
• 37:17
  this. We need to be preached to for us
• 37:20
  to be reminded of that. Even if it's a truth that we
• 37:22
  already have memorized, You know how we can believe that?
• 37:31
  It's because we know why Abram had the way to some degree.
• 37:38
  How do we know? Let me read this to you from
• 37:40
  Hebrews 11 12. Therefore, as is describing
• 37:46
  Abraham. Therefore from one, man.
• 37:51
  And him as good as dead. Were born descendants as many as
• 37:55
  the stars of Heaven, as many as the innumerable grains of the
• 37:57
  Sand by the seashore. Did you read that slowly?
• 38:01
  Therefore, why did God make him wait so long?
• 38:04
  Why at 100 years old of all times at 100 was Isaac born to
• 38:09
  Abraham. You know why?
• 38:11
  Because Hebrews says that God was waiting for him to be as
• 38:14
  good as dead. Abraham.
• 38:20
  I want to get you to an age and I want to get you to a Frailty.
• 38:25
  I want to get you to such a dependency that when I deliver
• 38:29
  what I promised to you. And when I want to give to you,
• 38:31
  that very thing that's been stirring in your heart, all
• 38:33
  these years I'm going to time this so specifically that the
• 38:40
  timing itself will be a testimony to my glory. so that
• 38:45
  when people see little Isaac in your arms, Whenever heat, they
• 38:50
  hear his giggling and whenever they see him stumbling across
• 38:53
  the field, they will know that this is a gift.
• 38:57
  It miraculous provision from God.
• 39:02
  They won't be able to attribute it to Natural circumstance.
• 39:05
  They won't be able to say. This was some know, every time
• 39:09
  they see Isaac, they'll see God. Every time they see your little
• 39:13
  family picture that sent over to the neighbors for Christmas.
• 39:17
  They're going to see God. In other words, I'm going to
• 39:20
  make that desire that you want so bad I'm going to time it for
• 39:24
  a testimony. God's timing is for a testimony
• 39:28
  for his glory but all the goodness of God it goes even
• 39:31
  deeper than that my family. Genesis 21:6.
• 39:36
  Look what happens to Sarah. When Isaac was born and Sarah
• 39:39
  said, God has made laughter for me.
• 39:45
  Everyone who hears will laugh over me?
• 39:48
  So when this baby comes, when Isaac the promise is fulfilled,
• 39:52
  you know what she says? She's not speaking,
• 39:53
  sarcastically hear someone assume.
• 39:56
  She goes, whenever people hear of this they're actually going
• 40:01
  to rejoice. So I look at that truth and I
• 40:08
  say okay I really want something really badly and God knows that.
• 40:14
  But I can take comfort to know that the timing of this being
• 40:16
  fulfilled is so that God would get maximum glory.
• 40:20
  And that my joy would be to the brim And that not just my joy
• 40:24
  like Sarah, who laughed, but when other people see it, and
• 40:28
  hear of it, they're going to rejoice as well.
• 40:32
  What an awesome God. We serve That's hard for us.
• 40:36
  You know why? Because the day we live in
• 40:38
  everything in our day is almost instant.
• 40:42
  You can order a precious product and get it at your front door
• 40:46
  without you putting your shoes on in a matter of hours,
• 40:50
  everything is in your hands whenever you want it and it is
• 40:53
  so affected us. Listen, it is so affected us and
• 40:57
  I'm not pointing I'm saying I'm included here too.
• 41:01
  Here in the west with all of our services, we are growing more
• 41:05
  and more impatient to things that are ridiculous.
• 41:08
  Even things that 10 years ago would have taken weeks now, take
• 41:14
  hours minutes even and unfortunately, because our food
• 41:19
  comes so quick because our internet service comes so quick
• 41:22
  because of our products that come in so quick, all of these
• 41:25
  things that can come right in the snap of a finger.
• 41:27
  We've translated that into our relationship with God, listen,
• 41:31
  Amazon might have changed how their products come quickly to
• 41:33
  your house but God's ways do not change.
• 41:38
  God is the same in Genesis as he is today.
• 41:41
  And God has wisdom. in his timing and he knows when to give
• 41:46
  it for his maximum glory and for the joy of your own heart and
• 41:50
  for those who would witness your patient endurance, Or you can
• 41:55
  birth in Ishmael. I don't want to birth in
• 42:00
  Ishmael. If there's a prayer, you can
• 42:03
  pray between now and God fulfilling what you believe.
• 42:05
  He wants to fulfill in your life or give to you a gift.
• 42:08
  A natural. Holy Gift.
• 42:11
  Ask God between that time. Don't let me birth and Ishmael
• 42:14
  please. I rather not have one then have
• 42:21
  one that's enough from you. Gosh.
• 42:25
  You hear some married? Couples.
• 42:26
  Say that even today. We can go on two different
• 42:34
  Prophets. How many prophets can we go
• 42:37
  through? We can go to so many prophets
• 42:38
  that have experienced a unique Dynamic of suffering, but we go
• 42:43
  back to James. And what is James choose to do?
• 42:45
  Inspiration of the Holy Spirit? He goes to not a man who was a
• 42:49
  messenger? Not a man who was a messenger
• 42:51
  called to full-time Ministry but a family, man.
• 42:57
  And in james511, it says, behold we consider those blessed Who
• 43:02
  Remain steadfast, you have heard of the steadfastness of job.
• 43:07
  And you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is
• 43:10
  compassionate and merciful. So now he's owns it and he says,
• 43:15
  I want you to consider job you've heard of him, right?
• 43:19
  And not only have you heard of him, but you've seen how his
• 43:22
  patient endurance during that time has brought about a
• 43:25
  manifestation of the compassion, and mercy of God.
• 43:30
  Now, if you've ever read the book of job, you might have a
• 43:32
  different opinion. Because if you read the first
• 43:36
  chapter of job, I encourage you to do this.
• 43:38
  The next time, you read the book of Job, take a timer.
• 43:41
  And we've done this before here. When we went through job, a long
• 43:44
  time ago, anybody remember that long time ago, we've talked to
• 43:46
  Joe, take a timer and read the moments where everything was
• 43:52
  stripped away from Joe. From the moment you he gets the
• 43:55
  news and read it and then stop the timer and realize that the
• 43:58
  man lost his business, his family, everything around him
• 44:02
  burned to the ground within a matter of seconds.
• 44:05
  That's how the text reads because one person comes in.
• 44:08
  As soon as he finishes another person comes, as soon as he
• 44:11
  finished another, it was just literally chaos in a minute.
• 44:15
  You know what that tells you and me though, because there was a
• 44:17
  hedge of protection, if God were to remove hedge of protection
• 44:20
  over you, and I it would be a matter of seconds before
• 44:23
  everything in our lives would be destroyed by the devil.
• 44:25
  Oftentimes, we don't see God doing something and we get
• 44:29
  frustrated brother and sister, you have no idea what God is
• 44:31
  saving you from every single day.
• 44:35
  Seven. Job chapter 1 shows you and me
• 44:38
  that when moment God lifts his hand from your life, all of Hell
• 44:42
  will eat you up like cereal in a matter of seconds.
• 44:46
  So we praise him and we thank him.
• 44:52
  You read job and you go. Compassion and mercy.
• 44:57
  Not only do I see that? The devil attacked a man to his
• 45:00
  very bones. I see that God allowed it.
• 45:10
  And like many things in life, it's not really until you get to
• 45:13
  the end of the story where you see God's mercy and compassion.
• 45:18
  Even during, but that's for another time.
• 45:21
  Because something happens at the end of Book of Job job 4212.
• 45:25
  He says in the Lord blessed the latter days of job, more than
• 45:28
  his beginning. And the Lord blessed the latter
• 45:33
  days of job, more than his beginning.
• 45:37
  The end of the matter produced something greater than if
• 45:40
  nothing had happened to job in the first place.
• 45:44
  And in light of what James is saying, look to job and see the
• 45:47
  mercy and compassion of God in light of suffering.
• 45:49
  And patience, this is what we can take out of this, that no
• 45:51
  matter what suffering I experienced between now.
• 45:54
  And when Jesus comes back, we'll always in the end proof for
• 45:59
  greater fruitfulness and blessing in my life.
• 46:02
  That's the principle of the story of job in light of James.
• 46:06
  So as I go through it, I may not get it.
• 46:08
  But the at the end of it, there's going to be something
• 46:11
  better in me, through me. And for me, then if I had not
• 46:15
  been touched by the devil in the first place, do you see the
• 46:19
  win-win in the Christian Life? That have God protects you.
• 46:22
  It's a blessing, but of God allows the devil to touch you.
• 46:24
  I'm going to be better at the end of it than what I've started
• 46:26
  without it. so God bless him and in the Old Testament, there's an
• 46:32
  emphasis on physical blessings material blessings, but in the
• 46:35
  New Testaments emphasis on spiritual blessings, but I think
• 46:40
  there's something even more that job experience that was greater
• 46:42
  than more fields and crops and lands and everything else that
• 46:45
  God gave to him in verse 5 earlier and job 42, the same
• 46:49
  chapter liquid job says, I had heard of You by hearing of the
• 46:54
  year. but now my eyes, see you This was a faithful man.
• 47:04
  According to chapter one who feared God, who interceded for
• 47:07
  his family without missing a beat day by day.
• 47:09
  While they were having their celebrations out their houses
• 47:11
  and they were eating and drinking.
• 47:13
  This father came not in self-righteousness or hypocrisy
• 47:15
  and Camus said, oh God less they've sinned against your
• 47:18
  hearts. Would you forgive them?
• 47:20
  Oh God I bring my children before you.
• 47:21
  I love in the midst of all of his prosperity and blessing.
• 47:24
  This guy was a business guy he'd never lost priority about God.
• 47:28
  He never lost his relationship with the Lord and yet Through
• 47:33
  his suffering and God's revelation of himself in that
• 47:37
  suffering. Job says, at the end, I've only
• 47:40
  heard of You by ear, but now I see you, like, I've never seen
• 47:44
  you It's a wonderfully dangerous thing to ask.
• 47:54
  God to know him more because he just might use suffering to do
• 47:58
  it. Not to destroy you.
• 48:02
  Not to harm you not to crush you, but only as we sang to
• 48:06
  refine you. And in that refining, not only
• 48:09
  do you look like him more, you get to see him with Clear
• 48:12
  Vision. He said, how can you say that?
• 48:17
  Because I know people who have suffered and when they've
• 48:21
  suffered, they said, brother Jesus is near to me than ever
• 48:27
  before. I don't want this to end.
• 48:33
  You don't want this to end, man. You have cancer.
• 48:35
  I know, but I know that the moment this cancer comes off me.
• 48:40
  I'll start walking my own way. I only heard of you with my ears
• 48:50
  but now I see what is he trying to say?
• 48:51
  I perceived you in a manner that I've never perceived you before
• 48:54
  in the midst of all. This chaos.
• 48:55
  Oh God. If this is the only reward that
• 48:56
  I have that you are more beautiful than you were.
• 48:59
  When I first knew you then. Let me suffer.
• 49:09
  Jesus is coming back soon. That's a promise. but know, this
• 49:16
  is another guarantee that you and I as Christians may suffer
• 49:20
  And some more than others, maybe you're suffering right now, in
• 49:24
  light of these three examples, maybe you're suffering in the
• 49:27
  fact that you're serving the lord Faithfully like Jeremiah.
• 49:29
  But you are not seeing what you thought you would see.
• 49:31
  In fact, you were seeing the opposite of what you
• 49:33
  anticipated. To maybe you're suffering like
• 49:37
  the prophet Abraham suffered in what sense, in which he was
• 49:40
  waiting on God for a promise that he was walking with the
• 49:42
  Lord. And you are, you are on the
• 49:44
  verge of birthing and Ishmael God, right now is telling you
• 49:47
  don't wait for the Isaac. Or three.
• 49:58
  Maybe you have suffered like job has in a very real way where
• 50:01
  you've lost someone or something and you don't understand why.
• 50:05
  But let me tell you this, according to this book.
• 50:07
  Wait till the end of the story of your life. you'll realize
• 50:13
  something about God that you never thought you would realize
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  and you'll realize that it was better for you in the end and it
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  was before you were put on this journey of Trial.
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  Let's pray. Before we pray corporately, I
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  want to end with this note. Do you know how each of those
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  men handled their suffering while they were going through
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  it? Because though they're suffering
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  was unique, they all experienced one, common thing. if you read
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  those men's stories carefully, they all Express their pain to
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  the Lord while experiencing it. each of them came to God in
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  honest form and brought about their need While they were going
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  through it and funny enough here, this just hear it in James
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  5:13 after these instructions, about suffering and being
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  patient. Look what he says in verse 13.
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  Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
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  That's what it says. It is anyone among you
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  suffering? Let him pray.
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  I can come to God if I'm not seeing what I'm supposed to,
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  what I believe. I'm supposed to be seeing, it's
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  a god. I don't know what this is all
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  about. I did not sign up for this
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  necessarily. Would you help me as you're
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  waiting? God, when will you give me this
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  shot him? I say, get out of here.
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  You faithless kid. Jabba says all that I would have
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  a mediator. Oh that I would come before him
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  and plead my case and God comes and blesses him.
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  So if there's one Avenue between now and the end of this thing,
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  it is this that I can come before the Lord and say I need
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  you. He's all ears.
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  So now as a response to this message, we're going to do just
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  that because maybe you find yourselves in one of those three
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  categories or you're in a whole different category itself, James
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  by the holy spirit gives you permission to pray when no
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  matter what you're suffering with and God is there, why pray?
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  Why does why do we pray while we suffer what kind of, because
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  there's something that comes out of it for you to endure it,
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  that's why. Let's pray now.
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  You seek the Lord on your own just in your own heart.
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  You know what you're going through.
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  You know what? What part of this was for you
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  and just bring it before the lamb and just speak to your God.
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  And then we'll sing together and then closing prayer.
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  But just now just do what the Bible says and pray.