Mastering Trials and Adversity

I want to talk today about the challenges that we have and try to put them into an honest perspective. I grew up from birth in the church, and I began to think that the Church of God would be the perfect place with all the happiness in the world, with the perfect structure and all perfect people. I had the opportunity to grow up right at the headquarters, living on campus. I found that that was always an elusive goal, dream, whatever you wanted to say. One that people, including myself, sometimes mentally want to bring about, but it always hasn't been the exact goal that Jesus Christ, the head of this church, has had. Rather, we're here to build some character. We're here to be tested. We're here to be given various examples that we can follow, supposedly church examples, that would maybe appeal to our human nature, and other examples that are biblical and individuals who are more grounded and godly, that are a little more difficult to implement in our daily life, and yet that choice is ours individually.

We go back to the foundations of this particular country, the United States of America. I've had the pleasure to serve in British Commonwealth countries, and have friends and relationships around the globe in those, and just retired from one of them in British Columbia. The United States has an interesting perspective, and growing up in the United States, I have had that perspective. Certain inalienable rights that we have. We go back to the day that July 4th represents, back in the 1700s. We find a group of British citizens living in 13 colonies up in the northwest, and the businessmen there were having some challenges, and they weren't very happy. They were, in fact, throughout the 1770s, making plans to secede from their own country, from the British Empire, under King George. They were very unhappy about their circumstances, because what they really need was more trade with Europe. And European trade required them to be an independent country, not a colony of the British Empire. So, that opportunity of greater success in the business world, and the trade that was going on with shipping, and all the commodities that were being produced here, and the better markets in Europe, and the larger markets in Europe, required them to be independent. If war resulted, because of this desire for them to secede and become independent, well, then it could interrupt their trade, and that would, obviously, marginalize the whole success. But, if they could get that trade with Europe to be guaranteed to be uninterrupted, they thought it would be successful. And so, John Adams went over to France and created a document, and he got France to sign what he had written, called the Model Treaty, that guaranteed that free route of trade would continue if the colonies declared civil war against Britain. The signing of that document actually made France a de facto ally of the thirteen colonies. And so, the war began.

For the purpose of the sermon, I want to focus on one narrow aspect of the rationale that the founders of this new country used. The rationale was stated clearly by Thomas Jefferson in his 1776 document, The Declaration of Independence. Some excerpts from that are this. And I want to just narrow this down. All men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, those sound noble. They sound great. Everybody should have those rights. Maybe except for the four million slaves that they had brought in. But anyway, the rights seem good.

Essentially, men's rights included life. They should be able to have life. But they were living. The British weren't killing them. They were British citizens. They actually had pretty good lives. So, liberty. Liberty from what? From government. That's what they were implying, but they were about to form their own government. And the third was the pursuit of happiness. That's an interesting one. Unhappiness seems to be the main justification here that was written as a rationale for waging what they called themselves the British Civil War during that conflict with Britain. That was their name for it. It wasn't until a year or two later some newspaper guy wrote the Revolutionary War that it began to change from the British Civil War.

Now, the centrality of pursuit of happiness grows as a key justification as you go through the document. If we continue, it says, whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, life, the head life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish the government and institute new government. Oh, it wasn't about freedom from government, right?

As to them shall seem most likely to affect, what, two things. Their safety, safety, had the British Army there, and happiness. The one that keeps popping out is happiness. And the one thing that really comes forward is this right of happiness that continues today in the minds of citizens as some inalienable right that we have that almost justifies anything. My happiness and a pursuit of my happiness is a prominent reason for creating the United States of America and for what the United States of America engages in. As Paul Johnson, a British historian and an empire, calls it, this 1776 British Civil War may seem a noble cause.

And to you and me it may seem noble because this is what we grow up with. This is kind of in our mind. This is an inalienable right. What does the Bible say? Let's go to 1 Peter 2 and verse 13. 1 Peter 2 and verse 13. Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme. It's kind of interesting. We in North America have two countries. There's the United States of America and then there's Canada. And then there's Mexico right below us, which is also part of North America.

But Mary and I have lived the last few years right at the border of the United States. And so we have America, the land of the free, which knocked out the British. And then we cross the border and we take King George Highway to the church at Vancouver. And it's an interesting dichotomy. On this side you have those who got independence from Britain and on that side you have those who got independence from Britain.

Now we fought our independence in the Civil War and they gained their independence and retained a relationship even with the Crown today. They welcome in the royalty and the ceremonial figureheads and they enjoy that today. But what we find here is it says in verse 14 now, Or to governors, or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

For this is the will of God, That by doing so you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice. Boy, do those words jump off the page. Not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King. So you and I are called into a different body, a different mindset, and we really have to look at our calling, at our relationship within the body of Christ, in the Word of God, through its own lens, without our background.

And that's what I would like to do today. So feeling unhappy is not a biblical sanction called arms against your king. You know, modern America, as we know it, is known globally for its intense pursuit of personal happiness. Just whatever feels good. You know, going through the villages of Africa, some little store, some little gathering place will get a color TV. And boom, there's American entertainment, movies, music, video, grinding out the most just outrageous stuff in a society that is, in a sense, very God-oriented, because they talk about God. They're very religious. They're very cultural. They have their ways. And here is all this just rebellious in your face, the worst of the worst.

And all the shows get played over there, and the people just sit there with their mouths open, and then they begin to adopt it. And the clothing changes, and the youth changes, and the mindset changes. Now, America drives a universal entertainment industry. It drives a music industry, a tourism industry, the largest consumer of materialism. It promotes declining limitations on human restrictions, on sexuality, sensuality, hedonism, drug use, even now law compliance, because there's this right for me to do what makes me happy.

And from youth, we might carry an expectation of happiness and wonder in the church, why am I not happy? Maybe this isn't the right place for me. Maybe someplace else would be better, because I'm feeling some challenges. My life has some uphills to it. We think sometimes we can escape responsibility, escape some form of difficulty, trials.

In James 1 and 2, it simply says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Now, that's a contradiction to the carnal mind, joy and trials. How can you put those two in the same verse?

And yet, really, if you want to look at the human existence through the lens of the Bible, that is sort of its summary of our experience here on earth.

To understand, we have to know why trials exist, that they have a purpose. And that purpose needs to be derived from God's Word, not from opinions. So, let's ask the question, is happiness the purpose of your life? Is it God's purpose for your life?

Is having as many toys and contraptions and entertainment and sounds and feelings and health and everything else, experience, is that God's purpose for life? And then, what do we do with those trials that seem to dash our expectations, our happy feelings? How can I get rid of them?

The title of the sermon today is Master Your Trials. Master your trials. Now, pleasures forever would be nice. In fact, they will be nice. Just not in this life. We look forward to pleasures. Let's go to Psalm 16, verse 11. God is not one who is without pleasure, without desiring pleasure.

I think daily as I pray and I come before God, I try to think of the wonderful, most creative environment that He is in, and how looking at some of how the temple was decorated and designed, how the spiritual realm there where God is, must just be over the top in sounds and in glory and in decoration, in detail, in color, in splendor.

God is not at all against things being nice. However, those things accompany eternal life where He is, as it says here in Psalm 16, verse 11. You will show me the path of life. Now, we know that path, as Jesus described, is the narrow path, the difficult path. It's the one that few people find.

And we'll have that path now, and then in Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So we need to be doing what we should be doing now and building a holy, righteous character and having that tested and having it tempted and having it developed, tempered and having it developed, so that we can be with God and Jesus Christ right there with them, with pleasures forevermore.

Down in verse 10, it says, up in verse 10, You will not leave my soul in the grave. You will not allow your holy one to see corruption.

So through the words of Jesus Christ or about Jesus Christ, they also apply to the other firstfruits. We will go through this life and ultimately we'll die. And that's not a pleasant thing to go through. But, verse 11, after this path, we will be with God and His pleasures at His right hand forevermore.

Now, God also provides us with pleasures. It's wonderful at this time of year to see the animals, the birds.

It's wonderful to see the different colors that exist in nature, even to own some of those, to have property with some of that on there. If we look over in Psalm 104, beginning in verse 10, we see how God provides these things. We would call it blessing. Who wouldn't want a little acreage? Psalm 104, verse 10. He sends the springs into the valleys. They flow among the hills. It's nice to have a spring. But along with the spring comes deluges and thunderstorms.

And springs rise and they begin to cut and they begin to destroy. And then there's repairs and maintenance. And there's issues with roofs that leak. And they give drink to every beast of the field, yes? And they can rise up and flood. And then you've got to get those beasts of the field out of the flood.

The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds have their home. They sing among the branches. Verse 12, He causes the grass to grow for the cattle. And that grass grows up and has to be cut. And cut. And cut. And cut. And cut. And care for. And weeded. And vegetation for the service of man that has to be pruned. And then it falls.

Or then it starts, you know, getting into your foundation or your pipes. That's just part of life. That He may bring forth food from the earth. And so we have this food, but it has to be processed. And it has to be canned. Or it has to be somehow stored and then cooked. And then you have electric failures. And you have freezers that go bad.

And the wine that makes glad the heart of man. And oil that makes His face shine. And the bread with strengths of a man's heart. But you don't just get oil. You have to go out and take it off of trees. And you have to press it.

And you have to grind up grain. And you have to harvest it. And you have the trees. And you have the deer that eat the fruit. And you have the birds that spoil the fruit. And you have the bugs that spoil the fruit. And they get into your crops. You know, it's life. It's life. So every element contains adversity. And we think, Why do I have all this adversity? When God put man in the garden to dress and keep it, that was a full-time job. That's a lot of repetitive work. God's creation, each element of it, was not intended to be experienced or lived without the Creator involved.

You know, when the Creator is involved with the person and the creation, you have an Adam and Eve situation in the garden. But when mankind disses himself from God, and he's out among all these adversities and trials and diseases, and bugs and stinging things and biting things, that is not happiness. That is not joy. That is not the way of life that God wants us to have. Humans don't want God's direction.

They are getting rid of God as fast as they can unload Him. No prayer in schools. No Bible verses. Everything is against God. Use God's name in the most vile, foul way possible at every opportunity. Connect the word holy only to the worst things. Only when you're really angry, use God's name, etc., etc. Trash all of His laws, all of His commandments. Just basically then say, there is no God. I'm the Creator. We're the Creator, and these animals, we all Creator ourselves. We all evolved. We are the Creators. Aren't we intelligent? We have made ourselves, and that's the way it is.

And rather, humans say, all right, I'm going to pursue pleasure. I'm going to pursue happiness. Happiness is in the Bible once. One time. And I'll give you a clue. It's not about the pursuit of my happiness.

Let's read it. It's an interesting verse. Deuteronomy 24, verse 5 is the only place that contains the word happiness. It's in conjunction with a God-ordained relationship. Deuteronomy 24, verse 5, when a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business. He shall be free at home one year and bring happiness to his wife. There you go, ladies. If you haven't had that year yet, guys, pay up. Bring happiness to his wife.

The only instance in Scripture is that's something you give another in God-ordained marriage covenant. Now, this life with God has pleasurable moments in it. But often those pleasurable moments are at the peaks of having climbed up a difficult cliff and turning around saying, whoa, the view is really nice from here. And we've all experienced that. Sometimes you go through the valley of the shadow of death, and you think, oh, what am I doing here? This is miserable. But there are elements of that. If you work with it, if you engage with that trial, if you master it, you come out of that and say, wow, I have learned things. I have grown.

I have developed. I have endured. I am more mature. I am more beneficial to those around me and to the family of God than I was before that trial. I couldn't wish it on a dead dog. I wouldn't trade it for anything. What's next? And that's kind of how life is, wherever you are. You can't run away from that. You can't sort of skip churches or skip companies or skip relationships or skip spouses.

You have to deal with these trials or these challenges, any adversity, and master it. A fuller picture can be gathered if you read all the Psalms. The Psalms are written by several writers. And David, who is a model citizen and, after God's own heart, just pours out real life in all of its phases. Sometimes they're wonderful praises to God, but sometimes in the very next verse it's like, Save me! They're killing me! I'm dying here! What are you going to show up? That is life. Psalm 104 verse 10, for instance.

I tried to pick one out that might be representative of what we're discussing here today. He sends springs—oh, no, I got the wrong one. This is Psalm 69 verse 2, where we read that one. Psalm 69 verse 2. It's a Psalm of David, and it's titled, An Urgent Plea for Help and Trouble. Save me, O God!

verse 1. Verse 2, I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. You know, mentally, we can be here. Jesus Christ was there. Paul was there. The apostles were there. Church members in Hebrews 11 were there. Many of us have been there, and feeling like I'm sinking, there's no place to stand.

I've come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I'm weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail while I wait for my God. This is real life. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. How's that for a charmed life full of happiness? Verse 8, let's drop down here. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's children. You know, when you come into the church, sometimes that happens. Jesus talked about that. Verse 9, because zeal for your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach you, you have fallen on me.

As we read through this, something begins to come to mind. Verse 17, do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul and redeem it. You deliver me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I look for someone to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. Verse 21, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. It's Jesus Christ.

It's not that you alone go through issues like this. We all do. It's part of our time living in an age where Satan has been given the authority to rule. That's what he told Jesus Christ. He said, I have been given the authority. I've been given the rulership as he was tempting him. And so under that rule in this present evil age, we are targets because we are not under his rule. We have submitted to the rule of Jesus Christ and the rule of God and their laws. We might say, well, what's with all these trials?

Well, let's remember that the ruler of this age has a motive for every trial you go through. It doesn't mean he's throwing them at you like Job might be. Don't know. He's got a motive, though, for every trial, and that is your failure. Quit. Just quit. I mean, look at what he did to Jesus. Look at what he did to the Apostle Paul. Look what he did to Job. He wants to put distance between you and your father. So you'll quit praying.

You'll quit trusting God. You'll say, I don't think God's here. You'll say, Father, Father, why have you forsaken me? And that feeling will get you to maybe do something, maybe, if possible, to doubt God. Hopes to discourage you from enduring to the end. Remember, we're to endure to the end. At some point, if he can just get you to quit enduring to the end as a godly person, obedient person, one who is under the rule of God and obeying God, no matter what, then he will recognize his objective.

Hopes you'll give up like Job's wife. Curse God and die! You know? Maybe we could think that and give up.

Don't finish the race. How many people have been in these difficult races and they're close to the end, but they see something, they hear something, and they just, you see them walk. They walk off. They quit.

Why doesn't God just make my life happy? I want to ditch my trial. Trial be gone!

Be gone! Some people might say that. I'm looking for a miracle here.

Rather, make your trial a tool for success. Trials, challenges, the things that cause resistance actually are things that we like. You don't think so? What are sports? Sports are about opposition and the fun of having opposition. Difficulty. Sports like what is mountain climbing. Well, that's one of the most difficult things you can find. Sure, it's impossible, so let's do it. Okay. Think of some of the enjoyable things that we like. Oh, let's flip this house. Let's buy an old fixer-upper. Let's fix up an old car. You know, there's so many things in life that humans just say, yes, this will be great. But when it comes to personal character development, it's like, ah, I'm just here to be happy. Just here to be happy. We don't have happiness as our goal. We have holy, righteous character as our goal. Let's look in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Wow! His own special people. In this present evil age, we have a purpose. Young people, old people, little children, you are moving along through a progression of being God's own special people. Small group, and it will get smaller, Jesus said. So hang in there. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. That message of, oh, God is the ruler, obey His laws, is not going to be popular in this age. Who were once not a people, but are now the people of God, who have not obtained mercy, but have now obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Get away from personal happiness, which is about me, my lusts, my feelings, my desires, all the things that might make me happy. Verse 12, having your conduct honorable among those without, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in their day of visitation. This calling is a wonderful calling because if God directs your life daily, it will automatically be blessed. You don't have to ask God to bless you. Just ask God to direct you. All things will work for good if we're led by God's Holy Spirit.

So God needs to direct us like David said, hey, I'm just a sheep and I trust that you will lead me. Even if I'm in the valley of the shadow of death, I won't fear because you are with me. You are leading me. You're guiding me. I trust that this will work out for good. And it does. The darkness brightens, the rain ends, the sun comes out, and wow, this is really a good life. But there's another challenge that comes along shortly thereafter. Trials we face are never pleasant. Let's look at that statement in James a little closer, just back a couple of pages here. It's not just count it all joy when you fall into various trials, period. And the word joy here doesn't necessarily mean glee and laughter and floating on a cloud. But it does imply something positive. That word in the Greek implies a positive. So count it all, you might just say positive, count it all positive when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces, as the margin says, endurance or perseverance. See, patience, we're not sitting around waiting for God to show up. We're here persevering in godliness. Patient endurance is what that Greek word means. It's translated patience. So it produces perseverance or enduring patience. And that's a good thing. You know, I have this saying that I made up years ago. I'll share it with you. You can use it if you want. It's called the seven-year rule. If there's something going on that you absolutely cannot stand, you cannot tolerate it in somebody else, in the church, in some matter, something that's just really upsetting you. Wait seven years and it won't be there. True. That's patient endurance. We want it now. But no, wait seven years, and that situation invariably no longer exists. Now those who can't endure it, they're gone. They're not around in seven years to see, oh, it's not a factor anymore. And I've seen so many float off throughout time. So continue living the faith no matter what. Continue loving others, blessing your enemies, doing good for those who spitefully you. No matter what. Be godly in every situation and circumstance. No matter what. Yes, it'll be unfair, young people. Capitalize that word. Unfair. Now strike it out. Because that's life. Don't let these things stop you from persevering in godliness. Because once you continue to be godly and you speak good things of evildoers and you have good thoughts and loving actions towards those who spitefully use you, God kicks in. Well done. Have a blessing. And that's a wonderful thing to receive. You won't get legal satisfaction. You won't get some sort of restitution. You won't get your name shining in lights. You won't get repaid. You will get God saying, well done. That's what you're called for. To this we were called, as Jesus Christ was, to suffer for doing right.

So the purpose of trials is to help us to be convicted, as we just read in James, to help us with our endurance. And that's why we say, yes, I did it. I count it all positive. I went through that trial and guess what? I did it according to the Scriptures and it worked out.

Now if I do it according to logic, I'll call in the attorneys, I'll get a bigger gun, I'll get out on internet, social media, and that's what human nature wants to do. But you do it God's way and you end up sitting on the throne next to Jesus Christ if you do it His way. That's a much better result.

The result is enduring through all of life's trials. Let's go to Romans chapter 8 and verse 35. Romans chapter 8 and verse 35. I'm going to share with you that I think that this is not translated correctly. Because we know God never leaves or forsakes us, no matter the circumstances, He is always faithful. That's not a question here. Paul's going to raise a question here. Let's see his question. Romans chapter 8 and 35. Who or what shall separate us from the love of Christ? I think that's the question. Not going to separate Christ's love from us. That is certain. But who's going to take that love of Christ out of us? Who's going to separate out of us the love of Christ and make me selfish? What's going to come along that's going to make me stop being loving my neighbor, loving God? How about a trial? How about an unfair situation? How about a circumstance that's really testing me? And then Paul begins to list them. He says, Shall tribulation? When you're in tribulation, will you stop loving? Will you stop enduring? Or distress? Or persecution when they're saying horrible things or taking things from you? Is that when you'll stop loving and being a loving person? Stop expressing holy righteous character? Or famine when you can't eat? Or nakedness when you feel ashamed? Or in peril? Or sword or a gun? Modern sword. As it is written, verse 36, For your sake we are killed all the day long. We are a counter, a sheep for the slaughter. Will you or my going into events that feel like that or that literally are like that take out of us the love of God and of Christ, that He has put there with His Holy Spirit? Will we stop and be selfish? Verse 37, Yet in all these we are more than conquerors. You see, it's about us conquering that through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither my death, nor life, nor angels, demons, or principalities, or powers, nor things present, or things we might worry about, to come, nor height, afraid of heights, or depth, the ocean, or the lake, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate out of us the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And when we come to that state, we have developed a character that is stable, that is enduring. And our little trials, which seem huge at the moment, build this in us, as James says. Our trials then need to be mastered. We need to get the focus off of the self, get it onto godliness-loving, do like Christ did, like many examples and scriptures are, and to come through this and retain the agape love of God in all circumstances.

Everyone wants his or her ailments removed. Everybody wants to be restored to vibrant health. Everybody wants to be 18 again, except not the brain. But you know, sickness is normal. That's why we have anointing in James 5. That's part of life. Sickness in Israel was normal. That's why they had the situations they did.

Look at all the people, the droves of people who were ill who came to Jesus Christ.

Healing is up to God, and when it occurs, it happens in God's time. It can be very, very encouraging. It's not necessary for salvation. It's very helpful to, whoa, God healed me. That was a miracle. I know there's a God. And that happens usually in an early phase of one's calling, a dramatic miracle that helps us. Know there's a God, and that'll last a lifetime. We don't need it after that. But it would sure be nice. If we go to 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 7, we find that sometimes remaining in a state of poor health or a trial can be more beneficial for us in our development as sons and daughters of God.

2 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 7, The Apostle Paul said, "...unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me." A thorn in the flesh? Not sure what it was?

A messenger of Satan to buffet me? Be gone! Get out of here!

Verse 8, "...concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he said to me, My grace, my, my favors, reciprocal favors to you, are sufficient for your life." Right? You're in a calling. You're in a relationship. You have a work. And my favors to you are sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Jesus Christ saying this, His strength was made perfect in the things that He went through. He became stronger and stronger, evidently.

Therefore, Paul continues, Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Suddenly he says, yeah, this is good for me. And now I see there's meaning for these things. And the power of Christ will grow here because of the circumstance. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.

For when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

But if we just say, oh, I can't bear this infirmity, I can't bear this trial, oh, and I'm not happy, and oh, this isn't fair, and woe is me, and where is God, and you see what's happening, we're not mastering that trial. It is not developing us that endurance. We need to get up and say, hey, self, be gone. God and fellow man, what can I do to help?

Put your effort into eternal relationships and not in temporary good feelings, and you'll get much further down that difficult road. In Ephesians 6 and verse 18, we find that we have a role with infirmities that we need to be engaged in. Now, I'm sure we are all engaged in this, but perhaps we can do it more. Rather than just having this international prayer list that says, you know, infirmities be gone, you know, let's get rid of them. Maybe there's a reason why all of us have infirmities, and we all do. Let's look here in Ephesians 6 and verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. All these illnesses, all these challenges that you and our fellow brethren go through, give us an opportunity to do this. Persevere and present supplication for each other to God. Concern. Show compassion. Show any assistance, any help that we can give. Show that we love something beyond ourself and our own, say, personal happiness. You know, we live in deteriorating times, and prophecy says that conditions will worsen. These actually are pretty good times compared to what Jesus Christ describes in Matthew 24, in Revelation, what we see in Daniel 11 and 12, what we see in various places in the Bible. So we know difficult times are coming. And yet with God, in the physical creation and with the human civilization, we can prevail. Again, we're not meant to live through these times without God. Jesus himself said, don't worry about tomorrow. If you're worried about tomorrow, if you're out there just reading all the stuff that Satan is doing through all of his emissaries that is undermining this world civilization, well, you need to shift over and realize you're part of a body of Christ. You're part of the rule of God and Christ, and we're not part of that. We're not part of that. In Hebrews 13 and verse 5, it says, For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Verse 6, so we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Now, we need to be responsible. We need to do all the things that Proverbs speaks of.

But in the end, we are made to live this life with God leading us as our helper. And not fear these challenges, these trials, the adversities that come along, but master each one with his help and come through them as a more godly person with stronger character and a greater resolve to be like Jesus Christ. So in conclusion, godly love or holy righteous character or the mindset of God that's in us through the Spirit, however you want to term it, it involves living your faith in every situation, in every circumstance. If you come to something and somebody takes something, damages something, steals something or whatever, look at it through the eyes of a God family member.

Not a personal loss, not something about me, but rather, what can I do here? How can I respond? How can I do this a biblical way? And then have God working with you to make that trial a success in his eyes.

Exercising deliberate concern for others. This is a channeled concern. This is deliberate. This is forget my feelings, my emotions, my logic. Here's what Jesus Christ said to do when you're persecuted. I'm going to do this deliberately, even when I'm suffering, just like Jesus' words when he was being crucified. That's being a son of God, a brother of Jesus Christ. I'd like to conclude with reading 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16-18. 2 Corinthians 4, chapter 16 will begin because the Apostle Paul was constantly buffeted, but he had a focus through it. He didn't go around saying, oh, that's not fair. You people just aren't nice. Just stop that or I'm going to quit.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, therefore we do not lose heart. I don't care what Satan's motive is, his agenda is. We do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So, brethren, engage with your trials. Master those trials. Let them benefit you in developing holy righteous character, that agape love in every situation in life. And you will receive God's wonderful blessings now and happiness for all eternity.