Our Instrument Landing Signal

Good afternoon, everyone! Nice to be here with all of you, no matter what a week is like. It always gets just at least a little bit better, if not a lot better, when you walk into the hall here and see everyone's smiling faces. So, very nice to be here with all of you today. I'm going to start with a story that might be a little bit depressing at first, but I assure you that it's got a constructive and encouraging message attached to it. So, I read a book a while back called Outliers. It's a book about achieving peak performance and what people who accomplish great things find different commonalities between people who accomplish great things.

One of the chapters dwelled on this story, which is about a plane crash and the lessons that came out of it and the things that could be learned from it. I'd like to start with that story and then draw an analogy from that into our Christian lives. Flight 801 departed from Seoul Kimpo International Airport at 8.53 p.m. on August 5th on its way to Guam.

This was back in, I think, 2008 when this happened. It carried two pilots, a flight engineer, 14 flight attendants, and 237 passengers for a total of 254 people. The flight was under the command of 42-year-old Captain Park Young Chul. The captain had close to 9,000 hours of flight time and had recently received a flight safety award for negotiating a 747 engine failure at low altitude. Park had originally been scheduled to fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Since he did not have enough rest for the Dubai trip, he was reassigned to Flight 801. The first officer was a 40-year-old named Sung Kyung Ho, who had more than 4,000 hours of flight experience, and the flight engineer was 57-year-old Nam Su Koon, a veteran pilot with more than 13,000 flight hours.

The flight experienced some turbulence but was uneventful until shortly after 1 a.m. on August 6th, as the jet was preparing to land. There was heavy rain at Guam, so visibility was significantly reduced and the crew attempted an instrument landing. So an instrument landing is when you can't see the runway and to use the navigation instruments that are on board the plane to direct yourself to the runway for the landing. The GlideSlope instrument landing system in Runway 6L was out of service. However, the captain believed it was in service, and at 1.35 a.m., he managed to pick up a signal, which was later identified to be from an irrelevant electronics device on the ground.

So before we go on with the story, these instrument landing systems are essentially electronic beacons that are broadcast out from a runway, and they enable the plane's system to triangulate towards the runway.

And they include things like vertical location, horizontal location, and there are also some visual indicators that are attached to it. So even in a fog, you can still see certain things coming from that. In this case, that was turned off, but the flight, as was mentioned a moment ago, picked up a signal, which they thought, at least the captain thought, was this instrument landing system.

The crew noticed that the aircraft was descending very steeply and noted several times that the airport was not in sight. Despite protests from the flight engineer that the detected signal was not the glide slope indicator, the captain pressed on, and at 1.42 a.m., the aircraft flew into Nimitz Hill, about three nautical miles short of the runway at an altitude of 660 feet. 228 of the 254 people on board died as a result of the crash. Some of you might remember that crash on the news. Obviously, like any plane crash, a terribly tragic event. And as they took apart the things that were happening in the cockpit, they realized that what happened in this situation was that the captain was focused on this wrong electronic signal.

And he was so certain that he was picking up the right signal that it had to be the landing beacon that he wouldn't listen to the others in the cockpit. And as simple as it might sound, in a very complex operation like this, not listening, not taking into account the advice and the input that the other people gave in following this wrong signal, led him, in this case, to fly his aircraft and all the passengers in it directly into a hillside. So why do I mention this today?

We're given some similar spiritual instructions in terms of what we need to keep our eyes on in the Bible. And I'd like to turn to Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2. So an airplane that's trying to make an instrument landing needs to find the right signal to guide it in. And as we see in this story, tragically, if it picks up the wrong signal, it's going to head in the wrong direction.

It's going to lead to a crash. What's the signal, what's the instrument landing signal, if you will, that we're supposed to pick up, that we're supposed to keep our eyes and our instruments focused on? Hebrews 12, and let's read verses 1 and 2. This comes after Hebrews 11, the faith chapter in the Bible, where it talks about many different examples in the Bible of people who'd lived by faith, people who kept their eyes on God, who despite things that were going on in their lives, despite the pressures that they were under, put God in His way first and exercised that faith in the way they lived their lives.

In Hebrews 12, verse 1, it says, therefore, because of these stories, we also, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I'd like to focus on that first part of verse 2, the fact that we're supposed to look to Jesus. And in this case, when it's talking about Jesus Christ, it's talking really about God, His plan, everything that God stands for and does, because Jesus Christ, as we know, is the focus of that plan. And so if we think of it in the analogy of an airliner coming in for a landing, it's looking to triangulate on this one signal, this instrument landing signal. And it's incredibly important that that signal be the right one and the true one in order to bring it into the runway. And likewise, as Christians, we have to look, we have to have our eyes securely on that signal and what's coming from God. Now, when we think about an example of making an instrument landing with an airplane, the things that stop you from making a visual landing are things like cloud cover, fog, heavy wind, rain, all of these different things that start to come into play that obscure the things that we can see. And I don't want to spend the day today going through all of the negative or depressing things happening in the world, but I think we've all been experiencing those things, whether it's things going on overseas in foreign affairs, whether it's things in domestic politics, whether it's things going on socially and culturally in our country, whether it's things going on personally in our lives as people are dealing with severe trials and sicknesses and these types of things. All of these things in our spiritual lives cause turbulence. And what I'd like to talk about today is picking up that signal, keeping our eyes on God and His plan and what He stands for in the middle of all of this turbulence that can buffet us back and forth and make sure that we're not focused on any other signal that's coming across than that landing signal that's being broadcast to us by God and Jesus Christ, His way of life that we need to follow in order to properly orient our lives. I'd like to cover three different areas of this to think about as we go through the message today. The first one, and all of these are relatively simple, just like the idea that you should follow a landing signal when landing a plane, that concept is pretty simple. Actually doing it is way beyond me and probably most of us in this room. But these three simple elements, which are not always so easy to practice.

Number one, understanding that God is supreme. Number two, understanding that God has a plan.

And number three, understanding that we have an assignment. God is supreme, God has a plan, and we have an assignment. And if we can remember these things, if we can focus on these things, despite all of the other things going around in life, it can help to keep us centered on His way, help us to keep moving forward in that right direction that, spiritually speaking, is going to bring us into a safe landing and the wonderful promise that God has waiting for us.

Let's talk a little bit about the first point. God is supreme. Now, it's an easy concept to think about, and I think most people who are Christians are going to say, yes, of course, we believe that God is supreme. He's more powerful than anything else. But I'd like us to take a little time and to focus on this and to think about it, especially in the way that we live our lives from day to day.

How do we react to the different forces, the different winds, if you will, or the turbulence that comes across in our lives? If you're like me, it's easy to believe, as things happen, as bad things happen, as we struggle with different things, that those things have incredible power over our lives. And because of that, we have to realize that there's a greater power that's out there. God is out there. God holds power that's greater than anything that can come across our lives. And if we can keep our focus on that, if we can understand that, despite whatever conditions we might be in at that point in time, it can help to guide us through whatever it is that we're experiencing. Let's start by turning to Daniel 4. Last week we heard a sermon about prophecy, and it dwelt heavily on some of the things that were going on in the book of Daniel that were revealed to Nebuchadnezzar. I'd like to dwell in this section on a slightly different portion of Nebuchadnezzar's experience. And we won't read the whole chapter, but this story to me is always very striking, because here we have the emperor of, at that time, the greatest empire in the world, Nebuchadnezzar. And he received a prophecy, a separate prophecy from the one that was discussed last week in the sermon. And the prophecy was about the fact that he was going to be struck down for seven years, and he would live like a beast of the field. And it was because of his pride. So not surprisingly, as an emperor of the greatest nation in the world, somebody who we read in other parts of Daniel, erected this huge monstrous statue of himself and commanded that everybody should bow down to it, not surprising to think that he might be a little bit proud of himself. And God needed to show him that he was greater than Nebuchadnezzar. So after a period of time, Nebuchadnezzar is struck down. In the first part of chapter four, it talks about how for seven years he lived like a beast of the field. He basically was outside, talks about him being out in the rain, his fingernails growing long, his hair growing long, and living essentially like a beast of the field, like a cow, if you will. And then in Daniel 4, in verse 34, he writes what happened at the end of this time period. And this is an interesting chapter in the Bible as well, because it's not written by a prophet, it's not written by an apostle or a disciple, it's written by somebody who was the king or the emperor of this nation of Babylon. He writes it here in the first person. And in verse 34, he says, at the end of this time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, and I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. So at the end of this time, God gave him back everything he had. And if you have ever read accounts of some of these old empires, it's incredibly unusual that after a period of seven years of him being completely mentally incapable of ruling, all of his counselors, all of his nobles, everything came back to him.

If you read accounts of most emperors out there, even when they have their full faculties, if somebody's getting a little old, it's not at all unusual that a son, a stepson, a cousin, a brother comes along, kills that person, gets rid of them, and takes over power. But God engineered it that Nebuchadnezzar would not have that happen. His counselors and his nobles came back to him. He was restored to his kingdom. And verse 37 gives the punchline to the story. As Nebuchadnezzar says, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his way is justice, and those who walk in pride he's able to put down. He's probably, he was able to make that statement more effectively, really, probably than anyone who's ever lived because of the things that he experienced. But God made a strong point here, and it's the same point that's made so many other ways in the Bible, that he is in charge. He is supreme. He directs the way that things happen on this earth, even though we might not understand it, even though we might not grasp what it is that he's working out, and that God has all power. The advantage of that, as we think about it, is that it gives us a great amount of stability. Think about all the things in this world that can cause instability for us. And let's not think too hard about it because it's easy to get down when we start thinking about those things, isn't it? We experience those things every day, so we don't have to go very far to start having our worries, our concerns, the things that frighten us come quickly to our mind. But God gives stability, and that stability comes from the highest power that exists in this entire universe. Think about David for a moment, if you will, a man after God's own heart. I'm going to read a few things that he wrote in the Psalms.

One of the things David spent a lot of time doing, if we read the Psalms, is writing about, and he also says, meditating about, the greatness of God. He had that connection he understood and had in the forefront of his mind how great God was. Now, David lived through some awful things in his life, if you read the accounts of his life, the problems he had in his family, with his children, with enemies, with close advisors that he had. He lived through some awful things, and he continually kept his eyes focused back on God and goes back to God and what his power is and what his strength is that guided him through his life. The Lord's Prayer, as well, when we think about it, starts with the words, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, talking about praising God, recognizing his greatness, recognizing his power and his supremacy, and that's really the entrance point of coming before God in prayer. Because if God is not powerful, if God doesn't have the ability to grant our prayers and listen to us, why would we pray to him in the first place? But we don't always think about that. We have to center ourselves on that as we come to God in prayer and as we rely on him in the different things we're doing in our lives. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. We'll read one of these passages where David is talking about his cares and then the greatness of God, God's supremacy that he was keeping in front of his eyes. Psalm 102. We'll start in verse 11.

My days, he says, are like a shadow that lengthens, and I wither away like grass.

But you, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of your name to all generations.

Then down to verse 25. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak you will change them, and they will all be changed. But you are the same. Your years will have no end. The children of your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before you. So God saw the... or David, rather, or I know some of these Psalms weren't necessarily written by David. The Psalmist, in this case, was recognizing the greatness and the power of God and his permanence. The fact that he was going to live past and be able to direct anything that would be going on in this life. And this knowledge of what's permanent and what doesn't change is something that can give us, again, that center point and that stability. When you think about it, lighthouses are very much that way, aren't they?

If you ever see pictures of lighthouses, sometimes you see these posters, and you see a lighthouse perched on just this rock that seems to be in the middle of nowhere, in a harbor or out near a coastline to warn ships of reefs. And these lighthouses are set up on a rock for a good reason, because people know that, no matter how heavy the waves are, these large rocks that protrude way up out of the sea, or maybe a peninsula that goes out to a point, is a great place to put a lighthouse, because the winds can blow like they might, the waves can crash against them however they want to, and that lighthouse is going to stay put when it's built on that rock. God in the Bible is called, in so many places, a rock. And we'll read a few of those accounts shortly. God is our rock in a guidance point, a point that we can navigate towards. I read a story that comes off the internet that I find humorous and I think makes this point really well, and especially for our society when we think about it. And it starts, believe it or not, this is the transcript of an actual radio conversation between a U.S. naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Now that statement is false. If you look it up, you'll see that this is clearly a fabricated story, but it still makes a great point. The U.S. ship says, please divert your course. It's encountering another vessel. It says, please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision. The reply from the other ship, recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision. U.S. ship, this is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship.

I say again, divert your course. The other radio, no, I say again, you divert your course.

U.S. ship, this is the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea. We are a large warship of the U.S. Navy.

Divert your course now. The other radio comes back. This is a lighthouse, your call.

Now, I don't know what your life is like, but this represents my life at certain points in time, as I'm demanding that things change. And it's God on the other side. It's not going to change.

Our world is like that in so many ways. When you think about that radio exchange, you can liken that to so many different things going on in this world. We can say as much as we want that wrong is right, but God is the rock. God sends forth that beacon of His truth. And we can say as much as we want that it's not true and it does not change the facts. Anymore than a lighthouse facing off against a ship will be able to change its course. The ship can go wherever it wants to. Do we recognize that in our lives? And I don't say that to be something that we need to feel oppressed by.

I see it as something we feel hopeful about, because we've got a beacon. We've got a guide post that so many people in the world, when we look at what's going on around us, so many people are casting around in the dark, struggling for a way forward, trying to understand where they should go. And this light, this beacon, this rock that's God shows us the way. We have that. Do we recognize that? Do we recognize the supremacy? Do we recognize the value that His way and His truth is to lead us through the murkiness, the darkness, and the turbulence that we might experience from day to day?

Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 18. Psalm 18.

We'll read a few psalms here that express thoughts around this, and I would encourage everyone to spend some time in the Psalms as we're thinking about this concept, about the greatness of God. It's an easy concept, but do we really believe it? Is it really emblazoned in our mind as we go through the different difficulties that we do from day to day? Psalm 18, starting in verse 1. I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield in the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and so shall I be saved from my enemies. Look at all the different words that are used in that passage to talk about the strength, the permanence, the protection of God. It's another way a rock is used, right, to hide behind if you're building a defense. You'll build it in the rocks or you'll build it on a high place on top of a rock. You command the high ground. God uses these analogies for a reason. Let's go to Psalm 27. God is our rock. He's our strength, and we can trust completely in Him. Psalm 27, verses 1 through 3. Psalm 27, verses 1 through 3. The Lord is my light, my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked come up against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and they fell. And though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.

Again, the ability to trust in God and to look to Him, the protection He gives, the fact of His permanence and His plan that He takes us through and that He stays with us through that entire time, enables us not to be afraid of the things that happen to us. Because we know, even though we can't always predict the outcome of the things that we're in the middle of, we do know that God is promised not to leave us. He's promised to sustain us. He's promised to take us through whatever trials it is that we go through. Let's turn to Psalm 91. I like the way this states it in Psalm 91, especially in verse 5. We'll read verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 91, again talking about the greatness, the power, the supremacy of God and what it can do for us as it puts our minds to rest.

Psalm 91 verses 5 and 6, you shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noon day.

Verse 5 is the one that always captures me because I don't know how it is for you, but from time to time I'll wake up in the middle of the night if there's something stressful going on in life, and I just can't get rid of these thoughts that come in the middle of the night. It might be something I'm afraid of, something I'm dealing with, something bad that I think might happen, and you wake up in the middle of the night, right, and you think about those things. Sometimes it's hard to get those things out of your mind as you're lying there awake at night, and here the psalmist writes that we don't have to be afraid of that terror by night. We can take those things, whatever those fears are, whatever it is that we're concerned about as we lie restless in bed, lay them up in front before God as our rock and our stronghold, and ask Him to take care of those things for us. And again, even though He's not necessarily going to solve every problem that we have in the way we want it solved, just like we don't do for our own children, those of us who are parents, we don't solve every problem they have in the way that they want it solved. We do it in the way that we believe is best for them, to raise them as good and good human beings, right? And God is doing the same thing for us.

But we can count on the fact that He will always act in our best interest, as He's our rock and He is permanent. So there's so many things that conclude this section in this world that are beyond our power. But we can be happy, encouraged, excited about the fact that there is nothing in this world that's beyond God's power. So as we think about these different indicators that need to be strong in our lives, that take us to the right landing path, let's spend time from day to day thinking about God. Think about His greatness. Think about His power. Think about His supremacy in our life and the fact that despite the fact we're thrown back and forth like an airplane in the middle of a hurricane, we can still focus on Him and He'll bring us through the storms and take us to a safe landing. Let's think about the second element then of this landing signal, if you will, and that is that God has a plan. God has a plan. So once we know we're locked in to the right landing beacon, which is God, we need to follow it. And part of God's plan, unfortunately, is to let mankind as a whole, our society as a whole, to take its own course. So we see in the world around us, there's God does not go and stop mankind from doing things that are against His way. In fact, part of what He's done is set us after the Garden of Eden, let us go on our own path as human beings if we were going to reject God, and walk along whatever path that was going to take us down. And as we experience in our world, there are plenty of things now happening that don't go according to His law and His way. But it is part of His plan, and that's something that to recognize and to understand can also be an encouragement to us. There are a lot of different examples and analogies used in the Bible that come down to the same idea that hardship and difficulty is easier to endure if you know that it's part of a plan. I think we recognize that physically as well. There are different experiences that we go through physically where when we know it's part of a plan and a process that's going to work its way out and have a goal at the end, it's easier to get through that difficulty and that pain because we know what's on the other side of it. Paul used a comparison in his writings about training for boxing. Some people think he was actually talking about the early Olympic Games, and he talks about the fact that an athlete is going to beat himself into submission and work his body hard and really push himself because he wants to achieve a crown. He was talking in this case about what he called a corruptible crown or a physical crown, a medal that comes at the end of a game like the Olympics that we're going to see in front of us. I found an example on the internet that I liked about this. Michael Phelps, I think many of us know who Michael Phelps is. He's the greatest Olympic swimmer that's ever been. His training regimen was listed on a website called MuscleProdigy.com. I'm not recommending this to anyone, but I will talk about his training regimen that he does. And he does these things for a purpose. He does it because he wants to say fit and he wants to continue winning medals. It says here, in peak training phases, Phelps swims minimum of 80,000 meters a week, which is nearly 50 miles. He practices twice a day, sometimes more if he's training at altitude. He trains for around five to six hours a day at six days a week.

To give himself some additional entertainment in the water, Phelps listens to music during his long workouts with waterproof headphones. Swimming in the water, especially that long, can be boring, and listening music can provide extra spark to the workout. Phelps recently added a weightlifting regimen to his dry land work, which is evident by his ripped six-pack abs and body. He lifts weights three days a week, preferably on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, Phelps prefers body weight exercises like push-ups and weighted pull-ups for muscular strength and endurance.

These body weight exercises won't bulk him up like if he was doing more compound-based weight exercises like squats and deadlifts. He keeps a great balance between body weight exercises and weight exercises, and this keeps him lean and won't add too much additional weight that could affect his swimming speed and his movement in the water. In terms of diet, it's been reported that Phelps eats 12,000 calories a day, around 4,000 calories per meal. For breakfast, he eats three fried egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions, and mayonnaise. Then he drinks two cups of coffee, and then he consumes a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast with powdered sugar, and three chocolate chip pancakes. For lunch, that was only breakfast.

For lunch, Phelps eats a pound of pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread with mayo. I guess he likes mayonnaise a lot. He then drinks about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks. For dinner, he eats another pound of pasta and a full pizza, followed by another thousand calories of energy drinks. You might think this is overload and complete overeating, however, as mentioned above, Phelps trains five to six hours a day, nearly every single day, and is giving it his full effort most of the time. His body is burning thousands upon thousands of calories a day. So that's just a bit of the regimen that he goes through as a world-class athlete.

And I don't know, I like eating as much as anybody, but to eat that much is forcing yourself at some point. And if any of you have known, like college football players, college wrestlers, Olympic athletes, they actually, in some cases, have to force themselves to eat, because there's just so much food that they're taking in in order to get the calories that they need. But he goes on, he does this day after day, week after week, month after month, four years long, waiting for the Olympics in order to get there and to win a gold medal and to achieve the goals that he's set in front of him. So going through these different hardships, training like this every day, eating what he has to eat, watching what he eats, because these guys don't just eat kind of anything that comes along, very disciplined about what they take into their body, very disciplined about their weightlifting programs, doing that because of the goal. And they're willing to go through that pain, they're willing to go through those challenges because of what they're looking for on the other side of it. Another example is the pain of childbirth. I've never given birth to a child myself. I think that goes without saying. But women who've gone through that, the Bible uses that very much as an analogy and the fact that we as Christians, the things that we suffer, like the pangs of childbirth, that a woman goes through and is willing and happy to go through that because in the end there's a child that comes out, a new life that she loves and fosters and brings forward.

Let's turn to Romans 8, which illustrates this. Romans 8. We'll start in verse 18.

Again, the point we're making here is the fact that God has a plan, something we have to keep in front of us, His plan, because it lets us, it gives us that sense of reference, that point of reference, so that we can make sense of and endure the things that we're going through. Romans 8, starting in verse 18. Here Paul says, I consider in verse 18, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God, for we know that the creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

And in verse 28, a verse I think we could all recite by heart, probably, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

So this is a fantastic truth, a fantastic guidance point and beacon that we can focus on, and I think it's important to understand that God's plan includes hardship. God's plan includes difficulty. And for people out there, and there are preachers out there in traditional Christianity who preach a so-called health and wealth gospel and simply say, if you really believe in God, and you really follow His way, everything's going to go great for you. You're not going to have any problems. You're going to be rich. You're going to be happy, and you'll have two Ferraris in your garage, and it's simply not true. And preaching a gospel of that sort simply leads to people, if they put faith in that gospel, realizing the truth, which is that doesn't happen, and being disillusioned with God as a result of it. So we have to realize God has a plan, but that plan does not necessarily mean happiness and everything going smoothly for us at every point in our lives. And that's because He's building within us His qualities. Those qualities are built through hardship, they're built through difficulties, and the reliance on God and the faith in God that comes through those things.

And the ways that He refines us, the Bible talks about a refiner's fire, which is used for gold and refining gold, and talks about fiery trials that we go through. And if we realize that those things are part of God's plan, we don't question what's going on in our lives when something is wrong. We don't question if God has left us when something's going wrong in our lives, because we know that God is going to take us through these trials, He'll be with us through these trials, but these trials and difficulties and the things that we experience in the world around us will absolutely happen as part of what God has planned. Turn with me, if you will, to John 16.

John 16. Jesus Christ spoke these words shortly before He was taken away to be crucified, and we'll just read one short verse in verse 33, which also brings out this point.

John 16 verse 33. Here Jesus says to His disciples, these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be a good shear, I have overcome the world. So we know even Jesus Christ, the words that He gave to His disciples, He predicted. He said we would have tribulation, they would have tribulation, but He overcame the world. As we saw in the first point, God having all power is there, and is there with us to take us through these things that we will experience. And the end result of all of this is nothing short of fantastic. We talk about the goals of Olympic gold medals, we talk about birth pangs, the birth of a child, which is an incredibly joyful event. Let's turn to Revelation 21. God tells us about what the ultimate victory will be as Jesus Christ returns to earth, and God's kingdom is set up on the earth, and His way of life, and all the joy and the health and the benefits that come from that are set up for everyone on earth. Revelation 21 starting in verse 1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain, and all of these former things will be passed away. And in verse 7, He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. And isn't that incredible when we think about it?

That's the plan that we have to have in the forefront of our minds. And that makes the difficulties, the challenges, the sufferings that we go through in the meantime, it doesn't make them easy, but it gives us perspective. It helps us to understand why they happen, and it helps us to realize that God's plan works its way out. He predicts that these difficulties will happen, but they're fantastic promises, and a wonderful world, and an end of all of these sorrows that's there for all of us at the conclusion of this. So as we wrap up this portion of another landing signal that we need to keep our eyes on, the Supreme God, as we heard about in the first point, has a plan. You fly an airplane, you have a flight plan for that airplane. You've got a specific route that you're taking it through. God has a plan. He's taking us through a route. That route, unfortunately, does not include smooth air all the way along, but He has a plan. He has a destination, and that destination is incredible and fantastic, and we need to keep our eyes on that in order to give that perspective to the things that we're experiencing in our day-to-day lives.

Lastly, and the third part that I'd like to focus on of this landing signal is the fact that we have an assignment. We have an assignment. So God is supreme. God has a plan, and we have an assignment as part of that plan. So like a pilot who's landing a plane and focused on that landing signal, there's a difference between that pilot behind the controls and everyone else sitting in the passenger seats on that airplane, right? And the things that you expect that pilot to be doing are to engineer a safe landing. And likewise, we're called not to be sitting in the back seat of the plane passive, but to be active as Christians, to be bearing fruit, and to doing things in our lives that are evidence and outgrowths of God's Holy Spirit working within us. First of all, I'd like to focus on encouraging one another. This is something that I think our congregation, many respect, is really good at, and we need to continue doing those things. God, when we look in the Bible, tends to bring people together and not call them in isolation. So when we read about our calling as Christians, we're called the body of Christ. The body of Christ is a group of people, like those that we see here today, so that we can be together and encourage one another and give to one another and help one another. When we think of other examples within the Bible, it's the same way.

Moses was called. Who was with Moses? Moses had Aaron with him, right? Moses was not called alone in isolation. We heard the story last week of Daniel and some of the prophecies that Daniel experienced. Daniel had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Three other young men who were brought from into captivity to the Babylonians, and they encouraged one another. They helped each other.

They supported each other through these things that were going on. When the disciples were sent out by Jesus Christ, how were they sent out? They were sent out two by two. They didn't go out by themselves. They went out in pairs so that they could support each other, so they could help each other as they were going through some of the difficulties that they experienced in taking the Word of God and of Jesus Christ around the surrounding areas. And likewise, as I've already mentioned, we're called to be part of a body. Let's turn to one example in Daniel 2. Now, we read this account in Daniel 2 last week in a different context, and I'd like to focus on lower down in the passage starting in verse 14. Daniel 2 and verse 14.

Of course, this is the section where Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He wasn't going to tell the wise men what that dream was. They told him, sorry, no can do. If you don't tell me what the dream is, I can't interpret it. This is way beyond anything anyone can do. He said, okay, fine, I'll kill you.

So that's basically what happened up until this section. Verse 14, the guard is coming to Daniel because he and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were also part of this group of wise men.

And verse 14, Ariach, the captain of the king's guard, it says, had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. And with counsel and wisdom, Daniel answered him. And in verse 15, he said to Ariach, why is the decree from the king so urgent? And then Ariach made the decision known to Daniel.

And so Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. And here's the section I'd like to focus on in verse 17. Daniel went to his house, and what's the first thing he did? He didn't go kneel down and pray to God first. He actually went to his friends first. He went to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, which were the Hebrew names for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his three companions. That they together, doesn't say the word together, but that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

And then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision, and he blessed the God of heaven.

So I find it interesting. Daniel, a man who was very devout, and he prayed to God even under the threat of death, when this decree came out, the first thing he did was go to his friends and said, and he shared, I'm sure, very emotionally what it was that was happening, and how if they didn't receive an answer, if they weren't able to give an interpretation to the king, they would all be put to death. And he shared that burden with them. They took it together to God, and brought it before God. Just as we share our burdens together as people who believe in God, we take in prayer one another before God, the trials and the difficulties, the health problems that we have, we take those to God for one another, and we trust in Him to give His answer. God puts us together for a reason. So we encourage one another, so we pray for one another, so we help one another.

First Thessalonians 4, verse 18, is another similar section. This comes at the end of a section that again talks about the promises that God has, in this case talking about the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, people coming up to meet the Lord in the air when Jesus Christ returns. I'd like to key in simply on verse 18, which is a very short and simple verse. It says, therefore comfort one another with these words. So we know God's supreme. We know God has a plan.

We're supposed to take that knowledge, that understanding. We're supposed to comfort one another. We're supposed to encourage one another with those words. Sometimes some of us are going through huge problems, trials, and having that encouragement, that focus, that perspective that others can bring can help to encourage us. Sometimes simply having somebody who's sitting there with you and not being alone can be encouraging. So we need to continue to look for those ways to support one another. The other area that we need to do in terms of us having an assignment is bearing the fruit of God's Spirit, the qualities of God's way of life that are supposed to come out in our lives, not just in the way that we interact in church, but in the way that we deal every day in our lives. Turn with me, if you will, to Galatians 5 22. Galatians 5 22.

We won't turn back to John, but in that section of Scripture that we read a little bit earlier, he also talks about the fact that we need to bear fruit. He talks about the fact that he's the vine, that God is the vine, and we're the branches, and that we're to bear fruit, and that, like a gardener, God will prune the branches that don't bear fruit, and he wants us all to bring forth fruit of his Holy Spirit. Galatians 5 22 defines that fruit. Galatians 5 22, we won't read the preceding section, which talks about the works of the flesh. This is the fruit of the Spirit in verse 22, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such, there is no law. Now, the fruit of God's Spirit is multifaceted, but I'd like to focus in on something that we don't necessarily always think about, and again, is somewhat simple. Notice these words like goodness and gentleness and long-suffering, and think about the world and the society that we live in right now. If there's one thing that our world can use, it's just plain some simple goodness, isn't it? You know, we read these stories, we're encouraged by them, they go viral when we hear sometimes about the good deeds that one person does for another person, and it's fantastic. It's great that it happens. It's a shame that it's such an incredible thing when it does happen. Goodness and gentleness as a way of life, as fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Today, we hear so much about screaming and yelling and debating and protesting and venting our rage. But those aren't the things that are demonstrated here as the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

And this world needs that fruit. It needs that example. It needs that balm, if you will, for the wounds that it's suffering. And we, as the people of God, should be exuding these attitudes, these approaches to all of the people that we're dealing with. It's not that we're preaching them a sermon every day as we're sitting down and talking with them, but is there gentleness?

Is there long suffering? Is there goodness that's coming out in our interaction with the people that we deal with from day to day? Do they experience God's Spirit, His mind, His approach, when they're dealing with us? No matter what it is that they're dealing with us about, whether it's just in our regular work, whether it's going to the store, whatever it is, do they experience that from us?

Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew 11, verse 28. Matthew 11, verses 28 and 29. I have a check this, and I'll be interested if someone in the audience has, but I've read in one commentary that this is the only place where Jesus Christ really describes Himself, where He talks about Himself and says, this is what I am and how I am. Verse 28 and 29 of Matthew 11, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. In verse 29, He says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. It's that same spiritual fruit of gentleness it's talked about in Galatians 5. When Jesus Christ describes Himself, He describes Himself as gentle and lowly.

That's why He came to the earth. We hear the Scripture a lot that in John 16, 16, that Jesus Christ came to die for us. And in the next verse, it says that He didn't come when He came the first time to condemn the world, but to save the world from its sins. It talks about His gentleness and the fact that He's lowly, He's humble, He came as a servant. And that's very much part of His spirit and part of the way He is. Now this doesn't mean that we support or encourage sinfulness. It doesn't mean that we turn a blind eye when wrong things are done. But there's an attitude here, an approach, an understanding of why we're called and what we're to do. In a world of screaming, a world of demonstration and violence, it's a place where we should stand out for our focus on God and the gentleness, goodness, and self-control, the fruits of His Spirit that come out in us.

Turn with me to for last Scripture, if you would, to Philippians 2.

So we'll wrap up this section. Philippians 2 verses 14 through 16.

Again describing attitudes that are very different than what we experience in the society around us today. Philippians 2 and verse 14. Here tells us as Christians to do all things without complaining and disputing, that we may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. So again, bringing home that idea that we need to have these fruits, in this case talking about doing it without complaining and disputing, which very much is the same thing as gentleness, as goodness, and long suffering in the way that we live our lives. So in concluding this section, we think about, again, the idea of an airplane coming in for a landing. There's a difference in the plane between the pilots and the passengers. We're not called to be passengers. We're called to be handling the controls, making decisions, being active, and doing things in our lives, encouraging one another within the congregation. God's placed us all here.

I believe He's placed us all here and together for a reason, and every one of us have something to offer in this body of believers, and it very much says so in the scriptures. And the way that we find that and the way that we do that is in the way that we interact with each other. We all have a unique way of interacting. We have something unique to bring to other people, and we need to bring that to them, to reach out and to share the things that we have and be an encouragement to others.

And then, in the way that we deal day-to-day, letting God's Spirit live through us and provide this fruit, these things like gentleness and goodness, which in the world that we're in today are in such short and rare supply. So, looking at this overall, God has called us to focus on Him, as we read in the beginning in Hebrews 12. We have to have our eyes fixed on Him, just like an airplane is coming in for a landing that's honing in on this landing signal. And the example that I used in the beginning of this Korean Airlines Flight 801, it was focused in on a false signal. That signal was a stray electronic signal, and it took that plane directly into a hillside. If we, as Christians, are focused on something other than God and His way of life, His supremacy, His plan, the things that we have as an assignment to do, it can take us off course spiritually. We need to keep our focus on Him and His way, and know that at the end of His plan comes an incredible world that it's not only going to be a blessing for us, but for everybody else who's lived in this world.