Bearing the Image of the Earthy

Well, good morning, brethren, and thank you, ladies, for the very beautiful music here this morning. We very much appreciate that, and it adds so much to our services and our worship of God, and it's wonderful to be able to be able to meet together, be able to do so in peace, and I thank all of you for your being here, faithfully being here each day throughout the feast. I was thinking, when we started services here, that Mr. Shamblin, who gave a wonderful message here today, he probably thought he was one of the changes whenever he wasn't announced. And I want you to know that, no, you were not being changed. And, of course, we had Mr. Johnson come up and give the announcements today, and he's introduced twice. And, of course, he came up the other day when he wasn't introduced at all. And I'm thankful for him. I will mention that he's serving in numerous ways here at the feast and as the assistant coordinator, if I weren't able to do what I need to. And so I'm thankful for him. He's a very good friend of mine, the pastor of the Springfield congregation, and he is very, very service-oriented. I thank him for all the work that he does. I do want, before I begin the sermon, I want to greet all of you from the central part of Missouri and the northeast part of Kansas. As was mentioned, my wife Pat and I serve in the Kansas City and the Fulton, Missouri, areas. I know we have a number of breadmen from both of those places here, but I greet all of you from them. And, as Mr. Chamblin mentioned, it is a privilege for any of us as the ministry to be able to talk to you and, in a sense, read the Word of God, because it is the Word, the Word of life. That's what we all have to be keeping in mind. I want us to, as we begin the sermon here today, I want us to turn to 1 Corinthians 15. And I'm pretty sure that many of you, knowing a little bit about your history—you've been studying the Bible for a long time—1 Corinthians 15 is called a resurrection chapter.

A lot of different things are addressed by the Apostle Paul in that chapter. But I want to read just a section of this, and it begins in verse 44. This is talking about what kind of body is God going to give us.

We already know what kind of body we got now.

Mine used to be a much better body, and it's changed over the years. And the aches and pains have increased.

But Paul's describing what kind of body God is going to give us. He calls it a spiritual body.

But that isn't the point of what I want to make. In verse 44, it says, it is sown a physical body. So when we die, we have been physical. We will be in the grave till Christ returns. It is sown a physical body. It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. And to drop down to verse 46, this is a part of what I want to mention. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but it is a physical and then the spiritual.

The first man, verse 47, was from the earth, the man of dust. The second man is the man from heaven. And as was, in verse 48, as was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust, all of us.

So are those who are of the dust, and in the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And verse 49, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will bear the image of the heavenly. And if you want a title for this sermon, bearing the image of the earthy is what the correct title would be.

All of us know that we live in this temporary physical, limited, sometimes painful body and existence, a physical existence that God has breathed into us the breath of life, and we have limited temporary existence. But we look forward to a completely different existence, a remarkable existence, but what we just read here in verse 49 is that we have to bear the image of the earthy first. So whatever we're going through is okay. Although we all have some limitations. Mr. Shamlin was helped off a little off the stage. I have to be helped on and off every time I get up here. And he said he was 83. He looks much less than that to me. But anyway, I'm not 83, but I still have some limitations. But I'd like to point out that we read in Hebrews 2, and I'll only reference these verses, Hebrews 2, verse 14 and 15, that it was necessary for even Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us, it was necessary for him to bear the image of the earthy. He was going to take on that role voluntarily on purpose for a wonderful reason. He had to bear the image of the earthy, and he would then die, and in so doing, conquer the devil. And then by being raised by the Father, be glorified, be given the glory that he had with the Father once again. And so we're simply following his example in our lives. I want to, I know most of you wouldn't have access to the, say, statistics regarding who's here. You know, we have a good attendance, it looks like, here today.

Of the 700 or so of us who are here, who are registered for the Feast of Tabernacles, 350 of those 700 registrations are people who are over 60 years old.

Now, that's important for us to think about. You know, half of us, 350 of 700 are over 60 years old. Actually, a third, 230, are over 70 years old. I won't have you raise your hand, because I don't believe you want to be raising your hand.

Twenty percent of us, and I fit this category, 130 of us are 75 or older.

Ten percent of us, 70 out of the 700, are over the age of 80.

And I know, at least some of you who are older, and I know Mr. Brown, who is from Oklahoma City, he's been a greeter at times back here. I know he's at the young age of 96.

So, you know, we have an older grouping of people here attending the Feast. And yet, why do I even bring that up? Well, I intend to speak to our entire audience today. I very much appreciate those of you who are under 60, because we need you. We need you a great deal, you know, just to try to even function with stuff on and off the stage, out in the parking lot, many, everything that has to be done, it helps to have some youth involved in doing that. But I want to talk to our entire audience, and yet I'm going to focus on our older members, which is at least half of us, and they are enduring. We are enduring under the end, as we suffer the challenges of aging. I think we can all agree, any of us who are older, there are challenges to aging. And yet, we need to realize, well, God created our physical existence. He said we would have to bear the image of the earthy before we would bear the image of the heavenly. He created this existence. He created young people, of course, babies, youth, teens, young adults, mid-adult, and then older adult, even to old age. He created all of that. He wants us to be close to Him as our refuge, no matter what age we are. Whether we're young, as some of our young people are here in our audience, or whether we're old, like many of the others of us. I want us to look at a Psalm 71. It kind of points this out. Psalm 71, it's actually a very hopeful psalm, Psalm 71. And yet it points out that even from youth and all the way up to old age, we want to take refuge in God. No matter what age we are, we need to take refuge in God. Verse 1, And you, Lord, I take refuge. I may never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me, and rescue me, and cline your ear to me, and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. For you are my rock, you are my portraits. Those of us who are over 60, 70, 80, we should be understanding that more and more. Those of you who are younger should also be aware this is the stabilizing factor in your life. It says in verse 5, For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, you are my hope from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from my birth. It was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. If we drop down to verse 9, don't cast me off. See, this is what so many of us could pray as well. Don't cast me off in the time of old age, don't forsake me when my strength is spent. That's what I feel like some of the time. I didn't used to seem to have much limitation. I've had incredibly good health much of my life. But, anymore, I better think about whether or not I should do something, or how I should do it, or how cautiously I should do it, because I want to be able to continue to do it the next day. So, it says in verse 17, if we head on down the other verses here, O God, from my youth you have taught me. So, we need to learn from our youth.

From my youth you have taught me. I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So, even to old age and great year, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come, your power and your righteousness. O God, they reach the high heavens.

See, God, who created us, he created us and he knows the range. He knows what we go through. Verse 20, you who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again. See, that's the verse that talks about the fact that if we die, if we're in the grave, we're awaiting Christ's return. That's the place of safest place of safety. You can possibly be a resurrectionist. That's what's referenced there in verse 20. So, all of us are aware in our own local congregations. I think about this with congregations that we serve. We do have many excellent examples of spiritually strong older members. And, as again, all of us probably receive. If we get email, the home office sends out. I mean, it's something that the ministry can send and it basically goes to everyone as it's distributed. But we have many prayer requests from many people across the country and even around the world. And not all of them are older members. Sometimes they're younger and they need prayers and they need encouragement. But, you know, many of them are older. Many of them are struggling with difficulties. If I don't happen to have that particular difficulty, I'm aware that somebody is struggling with that. And, of course, we also find that, well, we're notified that some of those have died. And their race is finished. You also realize, I'm sure, that we have numerous members of the ministry who are living to an age where they probably never imagined they would get to. You know, we have ministers who have health issues that limit their ability to serve their local congregations. Now, for me, I'm always happy to have a car. And I'm glad to be able to drive around and to go back and forth to church. But I certainly don't have the type of energy. And I know locally, I have even been asked, why is it? This is by some of the older members that I've talked with, you know, why is it that God's keeping me alive so long? Why do I live in this sorrow and pain and this suffering? Because I know, you know, many of us suffer in different ways. Some of it can be physical. There are other ways to suffer. I know I talked to a very, very faithful man the other day. And his question was, well, what good am I to God? And, you know, he was bemoaning the fact that skin issues, breathing issues, all kinds of things were limiting his abilities. His abilities to do what he once did. He said, I'm not able to serve other people as I once did. And certainly, they have done that. He and his wife have done that for over 50 years. But he feels bad that I can't do that right now.

And so even though we may be less physically able, we should have a more mature and spiritual outlook as we age. Again, some of us might wonder, well, why is God keeping me around when I can't do what I did? Well, again, I speak to you about that. I know, again, thinking of our local congregations. We have several people who have died in the last few years. One of them, a very good friend of mine, he was an elder. He lived in Topeka. He was 98 when he died. It was amazing. His health was very good, except for the last few years, and it started to decline. But thankfully, he was still able to come and go to church.

He was still able to preach and teach. He gave a sermonette, I think, the week before he died. We kind of were surprised whenever he died. Wonderful example, wonderful benefit to the congregation. And we've had others who have died here in the last few years, very, very service-oriented to the local congregation. I'm thinking of particular individuals, but you can maybe think of some locally for your own congregation, wherever you normally attend.

One lady was incredibly thoughtful in being able to help virtually everybody in any way, and then she just suddenly died. She didn't, it wasn't sick, it didn't seem, and yet she died. One of the things that this lady did was, and I describe this in a way that I think all of us could benefit. You know, this is something anyone, any of us could do, but it's not something we always think of. You know, this lady was incredibly good at seeing the work. Seeing the work. You can write that down, because that would be an important thing to remember.

She was incredibly good at just noticing what needs to be done, who needs help, how can we fix this? I don't think she thought of herself as a fixer. She thought of herself as a servant, and yet she did. What I'm describing here is seeing the work. You see what needs to be done, and you help do it. That is something that all of us should learn to do. We have another lady who was not able to be here at the feast this year.

She has some very serious, life-threatening cancers that are kind of draining her right now. And yet, when I talk to her in the last few weeks, she's always asking me, well, what's going on regarding the feast? What are we going to do? Or asking all the things that she was thinking about, obviously praying about the feast, about how that's going. And so, the value and the benefit of our older members is incredible.

It's incredible. And I say, older members, since I'm one of them, too, it is. And I hope to be encouraging to you in that regard, because God created us. He created us. We all have different genetics. We don't have exactly the same things. We have same health, same limitations, same incidents that we have lived through. But God still wants us to follow the example of Jesus who came to the earth, who lived out of physical life, and who died, laying down his life for us.

That's our example. That is the pattern. And so, we want to follow that. Actually, I think a right question, instead of what good am I to God, a right question would be, what does God permit me to do?

Because in many ways, we feel kind of limited. We feel like we're unable to do as much as we perhaps have. What does God permit me to do? Well, there's no limit on how much we pray for other people. Not just praying about ourselves, because we can always do that, but there's no limit to what we can do in prayer for other brethren, for other people in our congregation, for other people we become aware of. There is no limit. What are their needs? What are their concerns? Because at different ages, you have different concerns.

We can actually, what does God permit me to do? Well, we can study His Word in a more deep manner, not just come up with some new thing. I don't want to come up with any new thing, per se, because the Bible kind of frowns on that. And yet, I want to more deeply understand what God's doing, and not only what He's doing, but how He is doing that in me and in you. Because, you know, the more I comprehend that, the better my life is going to be. You know, no matter what age we are, you know, we can share some wisdom, even of age. We can encourage others. That's a big thing that we ought to be doing.

And so, I again mention these things because, you know, we find ourselves in this kind of situation where, you know, we're an older grouping here right now. We're thankful for the many younger people that we have as a part of the United Church of God, but we, you know, we have a lot of older people, too. But those older people can be spiritually strong and be spiritually beneficial to the congregation. We ought to consider, as well, that our Father has complete authority over human life. Our Father has complete rule over human existence. Now, we know that. And see, this is when we look into the millennium, the thousand years that Christ is going to rule, and then beyond that, in a time frame of dealing with physical flesh and blood people, you know, we can look back. We don't know, you know, what aging is going to be like in the millennium. I don't know how long people are going to live. You know, there's one reference to a hundred years, as far as maybe could be a norm. Well, most of us are not going to make that in this age. You know, there are a few who do live until they're a hundred, but that's a reference. But all of us know when we read the first part of Genesis that God can have a physical person live for 930 years like He did Adam, or 969 like He did Methuselah. No, it was 600 when He built the ark. I mean, that's amazing. God rules over the physical function of our lives. But of course, you see that change when you read through more in the Bible. Abraham was 175 when he died. Moses was 120, and he had been serving for the last 40 years, wandering in the wilderness. Of course, 40 years before that, he was out as a shepherd. And 40 years before that, he was trained as a king, a prince in Egypt. And yet, we're familiar with many of the Psalms of David. Psalms of David point out a pretty, I would guess, robust life. He was a warrior, and I imagine he had a fair number of injuries. And there was one time when the armies of Israel said, no, we're not going to send David out. We're not going to send David out. We can't protect him. He can't help himself, and we can't keep the enemy off him. And so, we see David dying when he's 70.

I'm beyond that now. Many of you are, too, apparently.

And in Psalm 90, verse 10, we're familiar with that verse that says that we will live to 70, or if we're strong, 80. And whatever it takes to fulfill God's purpose—not my purpose, but God's purpose in our lives is how long we'll live. But in the future, I don't know. Can people live a thousand years? Yeah, they can't. I mean, it's noted that that's possible, but I don't know that that would be the case. That doesn't seem to make sense to me, but God knows what he's going to do. I want us to look in Ecclesiastes 12, because this is a great description of how it is that God fully understands the aging process. Solomon wrote this down, and again, most of us are familiar with Ecclesiastes 12, verse 11, where it says, fear God and keep his commandments. That's the whole duty of man. We're familiar with that verse, but I think we're also familiar with the earlier part of this chapter. Let's jump back in chapter 11. It says in verse 8, even those who live many years should rejoice in them all. So clearly, that's part of God's command to us today at the feast, but also throughout our lives. Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all. Yet, let them remember that the days of darkness will also be many. And in verse 9, it addresses those of you younger, rejoice, young man, while you're young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart, the desires of your eye, but know that all these things, for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. So he tells young people to respect God and honor God, and yet he also points out that, well, however long our age is, our life is, we want to rejoice in all the days that God has given us. Verse 1 of chapter 12 says, Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come. And so here, God is described through Solomon, older age as being days of darkness and days of trouble. Remember the Creatorville, in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near. When you say, I have no pleasure in them. See, that's something we can often say whenever we can't sleep, whenever we hurt, whenever we struggle. You know, I'm I'm finding more and more opportunity to try to think of new ways to put on my pants without falling down.

I used to be able to do cartwheels, but now I tip over putting on my underwear.

But this is God's description. He says, Consider that the days are going to draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them because, or verse 2, before the sun and light and moon and stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain in the day when the guards of the house. This is kind of a symbolic description of things that I think we could only say would be describing older age. No matter what age we are, if we continue to live, we are going to be in the days of darkness and trouble.

Verse 3, In the days when the guards of the house tremble, that's the way I feel about my needs. They just don't work well. That's okay. It's all right. And I know some of you have some mobility issues, and they've kind of increased as you've gotten older. Used to be. I've played a lot of basketball in my life.

Right, Judy? I'm talking to a lady whose sons kept me busy all the time, playing basketball whenever I was a pastor there about 50 years ago. But I've played a lot of basketball over the last 50 years, not so much the last 10 years, but before that. And I know my knees. And when it describes the guard of the house trembling, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few. I don't know if that's talking about teeth or just people working, but clearly, clearly, you know, I've had, I've enjoyed a lifetime of bad dental work. It's still bad. I'm sure my dad hated all the dental bills that I had when I was young, and I hate them now because they're expensive, as any of you who've had to buy any know. Because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly. Okay? There are a few of yous wearing glasses. A few of you. I'm thankful for glasses. Glasses are an amazing, wonderful blessing. And I'm thankful that what they can do, and, you know, but if I take them off, then I might have trouble. Might have trouble. Let's go on. Verse 4, when the doors of the street are shut, sound of the grinding is low, one rises up at the sound of a bird. Does anything ever wake you up at night? I mean, I have trouble sleeping. Some of that's my fault. I don't do things that might help.

So you have to think about that. One rises at the sound of a bird, all the daughters of song are brought low, when one is afraid of heights. Mr. Simcobiac! Afraid of heights! I am too. I don't want to be up on this. Now, my wife has gotten onto me more times than I want to think.

Don't put that ladder up there and try to clean out the gutters, because you'll fall off it. She didn't want to catch me as well. Afraid of heights! The terrors are in the road, the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because almost go to their eternal home. The mourners will go about the street.

We could die. Our funeral service could be before the silver cord is snapped, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was in the breath. The Spirit returns to God who gave it. See, that's God's description of us. He understands what we live through. And see, he knows that he drew us. He drew us to Jesus Christ. And he has set us on a new path, a path that we agreed to follow. And we are greatly blessed because of that, but we want to appreciate the fact that, well, you know, maybe I can't do what I once did, but, you know, God's aware of that. And if I ask him for help, he will. He will help me. I want to offer a few suggestions anyway. Now, how can we meet the challenges of aging? You know, I could say problems of aging, but, you know, we should look at them in a positive way. How do we meet the challenges of aging? Well, I think one thing that I would mention, and this is just me and my thinking, we have to figure out how to compensate for whatever limitation we find ourselves with, but not compromise with God's ways. You know, we know what he says. We know what he wants us to do, like here at the feast. We know he wants us to come to services, and we are going to do that to the best of our ability, but there are some times when I just can't. Sometimes that, you know, either sick or shouldn't, because I don't want anybody else to be sick. There are times when we shouldn't be here. But how do we compensate for any limitation physically that we have and not compromise with God's way? Well, I think one thing, and again, this may apply here to the feast because most of us don't go to church every day for eight days back home unless we're attending the feast there, and we just don't. On Sunday, which is a rest day for me, because I'm wore out from the Sabbath. Now, you may be able to rest from the Sabbath. You may be working through the week, and that's great, but Sunday, I'm pretty much shocked. I'm hardly worth doing too much of anything. And, well, how can I just need, and I think you all could do, you could just pace yourself. That's what you've got to do because you know, okay, God knows what my limitations are. I'm learning what they are, and I need to be smarter as far as how I handle my stuff. I need to pace myself. Secondly, I need to make realistic decisions about what I can and can't do, or what I should do, and use caution in whatever we do. Like I said, with my knees, I'm not going to be running up and down stairs. And like I told Mr. Yex as I was coming in the back of the building here today, you know, I don't just run from one room to the next without a purpose. I want, and sometimes I'll get into the room and wonder, why am I there?

I think I've got another joke about that. Let me see if I can find it. I've reached the age where my train of thought often leaves the station before me, or without me. Anyway, you know, those are things. You know, we can pace ourselves. We can realistically make decisions asking God to give us a sound mind, and He's provided. That's what He says. He says, I give you love, power, love, and a sound mind. That means I have to decide sometimes that, well, it would not be a good idea to go eat again, even here at the feast. Yes, we're supposed to feast, and I'm not saying that, but there are times when I probably could go a day or two and be all right and slow down with whatever I may be trying to do. Another thing that I think is pretty common for all of us is balance. Again, one of our greeters was leaning against the door, and he says he's doing that because I don't want to fall down. My balance is starting to get worse and worse, and I am that way as well. So, balance is often an issue, and in connection with that, all of us bathe. I thank you for that. By getting in and out of a tub, if you have to step over the side, I mean walk-ins are much easier. It's a little less likely you're going to trip, but it's great to have handrails in your shower. It's great to have that. I don't know that everyone does, but it's great to have a handrail in the shower because that causes more injury than you might ever think. Also, I know my doctor tells me this. I've seen him for about the last 40 years, same guy. He doesn't know any more now than he did then. He usually goes over the same stuff and always asks my wife, how old are you? She gets to tell him how old he is, or she is. He always goes through his checklist. I think they give the doctors all the same checklist, check this, check that.

He's always asking, are you holding onto the rail? Or do you have? That's what he says. Do you have handrails on where you've got steps in your house? Oh, yeah, I've got them. They're there, up and down any of the stairs here. They have a rail. But he says, do you use it, though?

Well, yeah, I do because I probably will fall down the stairs if I don't.

Some of those things are just common sense, but I describe those. We want to learn to compensate and not compromise with what God wants us to do. Compensate in order to live a faithful, purposeful existence throughout however long my lifetime is. Because I don't know. I don't know. We live in a world, as we all know, is declining. But it's described as an age of sorrow and pain and tears and loss and suffering and death. That's the description you find for the world we live in now and the world 2,000 years ago. That was the age then. And yet we're looking forward to a world beyond today, and it is going to come. And we are going, we are being prepared for that to serve other people who will need to be guided by the Word of God. And of course, you know, all of us are enduring. That's why we have an age in congregation, not only here, but in many locations. We're all wanting to endure into the end. We know that phrase. It was read this morning, I believe. So that's what we've got to do. But we've got to realize that our lives are in the hands of God.

Whether we're dead or alive, God's involved in that. Whether we're awake or asleep, when Christ returns, doesn't make any difference. Whether we'll be resurrected, had we died, or whether we'll simply be changed, when Christ returns. You know, we have to just think about it that, you know, our hand or our lives are in the hands of God. Our breath, our breath, we have to breathe. We've got wonderful lungs. We need to try to be as healthy as we can. We need to do things. There are a lot of things, as far as exercise and diet, things that we do some. We don't do a whole lot of all of them, I think. We probably could do better. But, you know, we have to think about the fact that our lives are in God's hands. Our breath is in his hands, and yet, you know, what was the old advertisement? You know, you're in good hands with all state. You're in really good hands with God because he knows, he knows what he's doing. There's three lessons I want to point out here from this before I'm not stopping, but I will point out three lessons. I know the hook will come out about a quarter after, so...

One of these, you know, lessons about growing older in the faith. There are probably many, and I've only written down a few that seem to come to mind, but it all involves our spiritual development and preparation to serve God and others throughout the millennium. That's what God is going to achieve by preparing first fruits of a massive harvest that will expand throughout the millennium and exponentially into the white throne judgment. That is what we have to be thinking about. The first of, you know, if you are older, you should understand the joy.

Not being older, necessarily. It could be, but you need to understand the joy of repentance. The joy of realizing I'm wrong. I need to change. You read Revelation 2 and 3, and you'll see that Jesus told every one of the congregations, you need to repent.

That was his admonition to all of them. No matter what the problem was, you just need to repent, because if you repent, that's actually where God starts everything in molding the Son of God. And it's important for us to comprehend that. We enjoy security and stability and peace spiritually because of repentance. See, when we're hard-headed, stubborn, we create problems for ourselves, and we create problems for everybody else. If we are repentant and humble, then we're going to be growing spiritually.

You know, Paul wrote about this, and I'm not going to try to read through the verses, but it's in second. 2 Corinthians 7. From verse 5 down to verse 12, he told the Corinthians that, you know, I'm excited to see that you are accepting my admonition, and you change. You did what I asked you to do. They did it kind of reluctantly. But he says you did change, and he was excited. Here in 2 Corinthians 7, starting in verse 5 down to verse 12, he's describing what a wonderful delight it is to be repentant. And he says in verse 11, what are the results? What are the results of being repentant? Well, an outcome is eagerness to clear yourself. It's indignation. It's alarm. Verse 11. It's longing. It's zeal.

See, that kind of appreciation of repentance, the joy of being repentant allows us a purity and a cleansing where, you know, we realize, you know, I've got to rectify a situation no matter who it's with, wherever it might happen. I need to be quick to make amends, and I need forgiveness when I mess up. All of you have seen a number of my mess-ups already this week, but don't talk to my wife because she knows more about my mess-ups than anybody. And yet, we want, whenever, you know, we are at odds in any way, we want to get resolved. You know, we want to be repentant. We want to recognize—actually, it's amazing when you look through the verses that we didn't read, but if you will read them, you'll see that Paul contrasts a godly sorrow with worldly sorrow. See, worldly sorrow is essentially selfish. It's all about me. How am I affected? Godly sorrow is directed toward God. My concern about how am I not pleasing God, and I need to be rectified. I need to be purified. That's why I call it the joy of repentance. The second thing I'll mention is the virtue of suffering. Now, I know none of you wanted to hear that. We had a verse read the other day about, count it all joy when you fall into different temptation or different trials because you're going to develop patience. You know, well, that's correct. Now, we struggle with that, but see, there is a virtue to suffering. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 12 this time. 2 Corinthians 12. Paul is actually writing about some things that he doesn't really tell you anything about. He says, I've had visions and revelations that nobody could... I'm not even supposed to say, because that's not my job. I'm not supposed to share these with anyone. But he says, what I want you to focus on is what it says, starting in verse 7, it says, considering the exceptional character of the revelations that he said that he had seen, therefore, to keep me from being too elated for what God had shared with him.

You know, Paul had a unique calling. Acts 9 describes it. You know, he met Jesus on the road. I don't know what all he saw then or in the three years beyond that or at other times.

But he says, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. So he wasn't supposed to be puffed up over what God had done for him. And, you know, exactly what this is, I mean, you can think about and argue about all the different words there. It appears to be some kind of physical ailment, possibly even limitation in his vision. Again, there's a reference that alludes to that anyway, but it doesn't say.

He says three times in verse 8, I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me.

But what did God say? What did God tell him? He said to him, the grace of God, my grace is sufficient for you. He says, the value of the grace of God in your life is what you need to focus on, Paul. My grace is sufficient for you. My power, God's power, is made perfect. It's perfected in weakness. It's perfected in weakness. And so I'll boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. And so why did Paul write this down and relay it and certainly provide it for us? Well, he understood suffering. Let me back up to chapter 11 here. See, what was Paul suffering from? Well, something appeared apparently physically, but he says in chapter 11, verse 23, imprisonment, floggings, forty lashes, beaten with rod, shipwrecked, dangers in the wilderness, dangers that see, dangers from false brethren. That's something Paul was concerned about in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst. See, and then he says on top of all that, the care of all the churches. What I have to bear is a burden. He understood what it was, but see, when God told him, well, I'm not going to take that away. I'm glad to see you relying on me. I'm glad to see you trusting God. So he says, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. And so what was the benefit to Paul? In verse 10, he says, therefore, I am content.

I'm content. Can I play basketball like I want to? Nope, I can't. I'd fall down flat. That's okay. I don't want to fall down flat, but you just can't do the things that you once did. But he says, I'm content with weakness, and I'm content with insults and hardships, persecution and calamity for the sake of God, for whenever I am weak, then I'm strong. Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

The virtues of suffering. That's what Paul described. And all of us can think about that as we continue to endure under the end. The last thing I'll mention is actually connected with what Mr. Shaby mentioned in one of the videos that we played. I think the first one, he pointed out that ultimately we have to grow and mature spiritually. That's what we're going through at the end of the age, as we continue to grow in the faith, as we have a unity or oneness in the faith, which is what we are expected to be working on all the time.

See, the fact is, when you think about spiritual maturity, that is not pointing out being perfect, because none of us are. I certainly am not perfect. That's not spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is to know that I'm forgiven. Know that I'm forgiven from God and close to God, and that I put my trust in God.

And beyond that, this is what Mr. Shaby was mentioning, I put my trust in God, and God needs to be able to trust me. He even referenced Genesis 22 as Abraham was being tested by taking Isaac up on the mountain. You know, we need to be able to read at least one verse there. Genesis 22, you can read the example if you wish. Genesis 22, whenever God told Abraham what to do about it, take Isaac up and sacrifice him. You see in verse 11 verse 10, Abraham reached out his hand, and he had already placed Isaac on the altar. He reached out his hand. He took the knife to kill his son, but the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, here I am. He says, don't lay your hand on the boy. Don't do anything to him. For now I know. See, this was a test for Abraham, and see all of us are being tested by enduring to the end, and we may have other tests. But he told Abraham, now I know that you fear God. I know, because you have gone through the trials and you have trusted God. And so I have to ask myself, can God trust me with what he's trying to give me and you? Can he trust me with eternal life?

See, now Lucifer could not be trusted with the physical or even the spiritual realm existence that he had. He wasn't satisfied. He was defiant. He would become the adversary of God. But, see, he couldn't be trusted with what God had given him. See, we have to trust God, live a life of spiritual development, spiritual maturity, and regardless of what we run into physically in this existence, we have to continue to live a life that has purpose, has purpose, and serve other people in as many ways as we can. And in doing that, we can be truly content and secure and clearly faithful unto the end. So, as I started, I will be closing, which are the words you wanted to hear. As we started, I mentioned the title was bearing the image of the earthy. This is our faith training ground. Part of it is older age. Part of it is dealing with situations that are uncomfortable, dealing with pain and suffering. And yes, we try to alleviate that some, but it's something that has great benefit to God. God needs to know he can trust us. So, we desire by first bearing the image of the earthy, and then God says he will allow us to bear the image of the heavenly. He will give us eternal life in the family of God. And at that point, God has achieved His purpose in your life.

So, I appreciate all of you being here today and look forward to seeing you at the luncheon, some of you this afternoon and later tomorrow.