Pathemata Mathemata

Well, thank you to the Youth Choir. Beautiful song. Thank you guys so very much. Such an important message and that trusting in God and putting our eyes up to Him as we go through life and deal with the challenges that we face fits very much into the sermon that I'd like to bring to you today. You know, brethren, as we go through life, we learn lessons in a lot of different ways. There's a variety of ways in which we learn things. Sometimes those lessons come easy. Sometimes we appreciate those lessons. When we can learn the lesson in an easy way, we experience ease and comfort as we learn those things, as we gain that knowledge and that experience, but we also realize that there are other times in which the lessons that we learn come at the expense of our comfort and we learn through adversity and hardship. And sometimes, I think we also realize, sometimes this adversity and this hardship is a direct result of our own decisions and choices in life, right? Sometimes we are our own worst enemy at times, but there are also times, and I think we realize this as well, external circumstances simply are what they are, and we find ourselves in a situation beyond our control as we are working through to the best of our ability. And as that situation progresses, we learn lessons along the way as we experience the depths of the challenge of that particular situation. And because we're human at times, when we experience these things, we might wonder why we're experiencing them. We may question God's favor. We may question His love for us in that moment. You know, we see examples in Scripture such as Joseph. Think about the things that took place in Joseph's life, Job, Daniel's friends, Ruth, and so many more as we go through the Bible, and we see these these characters, these great giant characters of Scripture, and we consider the tragedy and the difficulties that took place in their lives, the pain that they experienced in the process. And again, in our own human reasoning, at times we might even ask the question, was it necessary? Did they really need to go through all of those things in order to learn what it is that they learned? Couldn't that lesson have been learned in some other way? Why does God allow difficult times and circumstances to take place in people's lives, especially those who love Him? I think when we're in the thick of the trial sometimes it's hard to see that. I think when we're in the thick of it, but often as we clear the other side and as we get out of the thick of that trial we have the benefit of hindsight, and we can look back and we can recognize that God knows us better than we do, and that He knows that there are certain lessons that are nearly impossible for us to learn in any other way other than through the suffering and the challenges that we face.

Stephen Covey once wrote, just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition, he says, such as lifting weights, you know, pumping iron, he says we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity. Our strength in God, our character, our spiritual character, our trusting in His might is developed through the hardships that we face, through the challenges that we experience, through the times in our life where we don't surrender in the face of those challenges, and with God's help and trust and faith in Him, we push through and persevere through those struggles. The ancient Greeks had a proverb that reflects this concept. It's two simple words. Sounds a lot like a tongue twister and something you might have heard in a Disney movie. It is pathomata mathematica. Pathomata mathematica is the Greek proverb, p-a-t-h-e-m-a-t-a, the Greek word pathema references that which befalls someone, generally came to be recognized as suffering, pain, or misfortune.

Mathematica represents something that has been learned. When you put the proverb together, pathomata mathematica directly translates to learning through experienced pain and suffering.

The lessons that are learned in life through the challenges and the adversity that we face.

With the time that we have left today in this split, I'd like to explore this concept, and what I'd like to do is tie those lessons on adversity into this recent trip to West Africa. As I alluded to in my pastor's letter here this morning in the announcements, things have gotten incredibly challenging in Nigeria and Ghana. Even in the eight years since I've been traveling there, this was unlike anything I've seen before. And so it's become much more challenging for our brethren in that area. But the title of the split sermon today is pathomata mathematica, not hakuna matata. That's a different concept, but pathomata mathematica. There are four primary lessons that we can learn through adversity and challenge, and it's these four that I would like to explore today. That is the lesson of compassion, which is something we gain through struggle and hardship. The lesson of perspective, lesson on limits of our own control, and lessons relating to flexibility. And one of the things that I've noticed with our brothers and sisters in West Africa, they are learning these lessons firsthand. And as we share in the struggles that they experience, and I'm going to share with some of you today, I'm going to share some of those with you today, it's my hope that in sharing those circumstances with you that we are able to build perspective, we're able to build compassion, as we share in these sufferings together as the family of God. Again, compassion, perspective, limits of our own control, and flexibility. The first lesson we learn from suffering or sharing in the suffering of others tends to be compassion. The English word compassion comes from the Latin word compassis, which translates directly to suffer together So compassion in general comes from a shared struggle and a shared suffering in the sense of the empathy that builds as a result. And it's a feeling that develops in each and every one of us when we witness someone else's suffering. Compassion comes from seeing someone struggle against something else, and having that innate desire that we wish that we could alleviate that pain to some degree. In that sense, it's a multi-textured response. It involves kindness. It involves empathy. It involves generosity to some degree as we experience these things together. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 12 today to begin. 1 Corinthians 12. We see an analogy here built by the Apostle Paul with the church as a body, Jesus Christ at its head. And the Apostle Paul goes through this idea of these different parts of the body and how those different parts of the body interact with one another. He goes on to bring out the idea that as a body, what happens to one impacts the other. You know, if you stub your toe, you know it, right? I mean, your body is connected through nervous structure and everything else. 1 Corinthians 12. We'll go ahead and we'll begin in verse 20 of 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 20. It says, But now, indeed, there are many members, yet one body. We are members of one another. We are an international body.

We have brethren all over the world dealing with challenges. You might have noticed in the National Prayer Request update today the update on what's going on with our brethren in Bangladesh and the challenges that they're facing as their country politically comes apart. We are all members of one body. Verse 21. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather, those members of the body, which seem to be weaker, are necessary. Those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable on these, we bestow greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. He goes on in verse 24 to say our presentable parts have no need, but God composed the body. God composed the body.

He put the body together, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be, verse 25, no schism, that there should be no division, there should be no dissension in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. Verse 26. If one member suffers, all of the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all of the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. It was akin to what we see in Romans 12. Romans 12 and verse 15. Paul writes that we must rejoice with those who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep. Brethren, we're in this together. We're very much in this together.

And suffering together, either experiencing those challenges directly or even witnessing them indirectly, builds in us compassion. It builds in us a desire to alleviate. It builds in us a desire to help. Mr. and Mrs. Moody and I left for Nigeria on the afternoon of August 14th. We connected up in Seattle. We flew from Seattle to Amsterdam and then south over the Sahara once again to Lagos. We arrived in Lagos late in the evening on the 15th. I'll give you an idea of kind of the timing and how long it takes to get there. You know, it's interesting having done this trip so many times now that some of the newness and the wonder is gone. You know, you know how that works. You know, you go over for the very first time and everything is new. Everything is interesting. Everything—this time you're driving through traffic and you're asleep on the side of the car. You know, you just—you don't necessarily have that same newness of wonder, so to speak. But what was really interesting, even despite the surreal realization that I'm halfway around the world and somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, some of the specifics of that trip become routine. But what's interesting with Darla having it be her first trip over, it was neat to see the trip through the eyes of someone who had never seen it before. That was interesting. You know, to see the newness and the wonder, but not just the newness and the wonder and the expressions of joy, but the shock and the pain of someone witnessing these things for the first time.

And you go back and you remember what it was like the first time you went, and the shock and the pain that you had at that time as well, until it became normal, until you become numb to it. And that's the danger. There are times in which the things that we see around us, we can become numb to them. We can ultimately not necessarily see it. We can realize there's nothing I can do to fix this. There is no amount of money in the world that can be thrown at this problem. And when that happens, you run the risk of it becoming commonplace. You run the risk of it becoming normal. You know, West Africa has always been a very challenging place to live. Even eight years ago, when I first started going, it was a very difficult place to live. Most folks that you meet on the street are in permanent survival mode. They're working two to three jobs for an average monthly salary of around 275,000 Naira. Okay, that's an average median salary in Nigeria. Some people make much, much, much more. Other people make much, much, much less. But 275,000 Naira per month comes out to about $172 US. So it's about $172 US per month. The federal minimum wage in Nigeria is $65,000 Naira a month, which is about $40 US. In both of these circumstances, whether you're making $40 US a month or $172 or more, because of rampant inflation across all sectors, the Naira has devalued to the point that it is now $1,600 Naira to a dollar. When I first started traveling, it was $400 to one. And that's been within the last eight years. It's gone. And honestly, within the last couple of years is when it's gone worse. But things have really moved on to a point where any semblance of affordability is really gone. And just one perspective and one thing to keep in mind, gas prices right now in Nigeria are about 900 Naira a liter. Okay, so a liter, that's about four liters to a gallon, comes out to about $225 a gallon. And all of us are going, yeah, that sounds awesome! $225 a gallon, which it is cheaper than Oregon currently. But when you consider that filling a 20 gallon tank comes out to about 72,000 Naira, 72,000 Naira to fill a 20 gallon tank, that's 30% of the median average salary per month.

That's a third of your money gone right there in one fill up. One fill up. Yom, which is one of the primary food staples in West Africa, has gone up 230% year over year. Yom's like a big sweet potato, basically. It's about this big around. It's one of the primary food staples. It used to be 540 Naira a year ago. It's 1800 now. Rice is up 40%. Beans are 260% since this time last year. Eggs have gone up 200%. Tomatoes are up 200%. Recent news reports have shown many people in Nigeria are actually skipping at least one meal a day. Some of them that are a little worse off are skipping two to make ends meet. How long is that sustainable? How long is that sustainable? You know, the government reports 33% inflation. That's their official estimate of inflation. Most other humanitarian groups estimate it's really closer to 60 to 70% at the moment on the street inflation.

Once you take into account the devaluation of the Naira, as well as the soaring costs of goods and services that get factored in. For the first time in my life, many of you that have lived through the 70s, you've seen this. For the first time in my life, I saw gas rationing and fuel lines.

And there were cars for miles and miles and miles waiting to get into a gas fill-up location so that they could fill their tanks. Again, for a third of their monthly salary. So these things that are taking place are incredibly challenging. There's been a desperation that has led to an increase in property crimes, scams, famines beginning to take hold nationwide, especially in rural areas.

Transportation and rent costs skyrocket and people are much less able to afford food. Now, our brothers and sisters are doing what they can to get by. They're cutting back in places where they can. They're working extra jobs. They're doing what they're able. And they are very thankful for the support and the distributions that have taken place to this point. Good Works actually put together a series of food distributions to Nigeria. You might have seen that on Mr. Moody's News of the Work that we put together. But they essentially took in donations, bought rice, beans, oil, and then distributed it to the members in Lagos, Benin, City and Wary, the three congregations that we have. And they were expressing those thanks significantly in those areas. In Acts 11, we see Agabus prophesied of a great famine that was going to come upon the Roman world. Ultimately, that famine did take place. A number of the early church congregations provided relief to those that were experiencing those challenges in Judea. They helped to kind of bear the burden of those individuals in those congregations that they were experiencing. And again, recently there has been a couple of these food distributions that have taken place to help alleviate those challenges that were experienced. Let's go ahead, actually, and let's turn over to Galatians. Let's turn over to the book of Galatians. In Galatians 6, we see a principle that's in place that is outlined here by God for our spiritual lives, but that extends over into our physical lives as well. Galatians 6, and we'll go ahead and we'll pick it up in verse 1. Galatians 6 and verse 1.

Galatians 6 and verse 1 says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. He says in verse 2, bear one another's burdens. So fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.

Verse 5, for each one shall bear his own load. So we see a principle here put in place in Galatians 6. Spiritually, as we see our brothers and sisters struggling, the principle that is provided is that those who are spiritual should, as they are able, restore one who has been overtaken in a trespass, in a spirit of gentleness, in a spirit of gentleness, to help to bear that individual's burden.

It mentions here, and it talks about how it's important that we consider our own situation.

You know, we don't want to end up spiritually in this scenario helping someone else end up being tempted and sinning ourselves, right? That's what Paul kind of outlines here. But the idea is that when we see a brother stagger under their load, that if we can come alongside and we are able to support spiritually as needed, Paul says that we should, that we should, to the best of our ability.

Now, he also goes on to say, ultimately, that person is responsible for their own burden. That is their responsibility. That is their load. But as we are able to help, God says that we can and we should, and in doing so, we fulfill the law of Christ. This principle spiritually extends physically as well as we see in the example in Acts 11 of the famine. As we see needs, those congregations at that time put together and were able to support those congregations in Judea to help kind of bear that burden as time went on and as they went through.

We do need to be very cautious. We need to be discerning. We certainly don't want to end up in a spot where our assistance ends up enabling bad behavior. We never want to end up in a situation of that. We also don't want to end up in a situation where we are unable to care for ourselves because we've overextended our compassion. But when we're able, and when we see our brothers and our sisters in challenging circumstances, if we're capable of supporting one another in such a way, it is a good thing to bear one another's burdens, to help share that load.

Based on what I observed on this trip, based on the conversations that I had with the brethren, we're going to go ahead and we're going to open up an earmark in our local account for West African assistance for both Nigeria and Ghana as things get more and more challenging there. If you wish to assist with that, it is available to you. I'm not telling you to. I'm not, you know, throwing it at you.

I'm saying it's available. And if that is something that you are moved to do, then please feel free. But at the moment, the U.S. dollar is leveraged in such a way to be able to help even more than we normally would be able to because of the exchange difference. So it enables us to be able to have the ability to respond quickly as issues might come up. So compassion is one of the things that we're able to learn through suffering and through the shared suffering of others.

Another thing that's gained through perspective, or sorry, through hardship, is perspective. You know, difficult circumstances have a certain way of shifting your perspective. They have a way of showing you what it is that's really important. They have a way of showing you who you are. You come face to face with who you are. I had told you once before I had a friend who ran a marathon one time, which, you know, is pretty difficult. And I asked her if she was ever going to do another one, and she said, you know, no. And I said, why is that?

And she said, because at about mile 20, I came face to face with myself. I said, yeah. And she goes, I didn't like what I saw. I don't want to do that again. Fair enough. Hardship has a way of shifting your perspective, has a way of showing you what you put priority on, what you find to be important or unimportant.

And the lessons and the things that you learn from those challenges and those hardships help to reveal your limitations, beliefs, or maybe things you didn't necessarily appreciate before. But what it does is it enables you to make new choices and to focus on what is really important. You know, every time I travel to West Africa, I tell myself, when I get home, I am never going to complain about traffic again.

I'm not going to complain about road conditions. I'm not going to complain about crowding. I'm not going to complain about long lines.

Traveling to other parts of the world shifts your perspective. It has the opportunity for you to see something different, and that helps you to put your own circumstances in perspective. When that shift is temporary, when you're only there for a short period of time, you revert back once you return home pretty quickly. I'll tell you, I made it almost to Eugene this morning before complaining about traffic. Almost! I'll tell you, it lasted about that long. No, that's mostly a joke, but not totally joking. The reality is, when it's temporary, you revert back. When you are living it, and when you're in it permanently, you don't have the option to shift back. Your perspective has to remain the same, or has to remain new and different. When you're living it day in and day out, you realize—and our brethren know this in West Africa—that the only true lasting solution for the ills of their nation doesn't lie in politics, doesn't lie in industry. There is no political candidate that is going to fix the issues.

The only solution is the return of Jesus Christ. And when that's the only way out, your priorities change pretty significantly. Your perspective on what is truly critical shifts significantly. Let's go over to Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Again, suffering changes your perspective. It changes what you see to be important.

Matthew 6—and we'll pick it up in verse 31. You know, this is a memory scripture section. We go here quite a bit. Matthew 6 verse 31 says, Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. He says, verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. God says, When you are seeking my kingdom, when you are seeking my righteousness, He says, I will care for you. I will ensure that you are taken care of. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

You know, our brethren in West Africa understand these things. In my discussions with them, asking generally how they're doing, I mean, over the last eight years, we've become dear friends, you know, and checking in on them and seeing them, seeing the various things that they're dealing with. The refrain that I frequently heard was, well, we're coping. We're coping, which translated to from West African means things are really hard. Things are really hard. You know, they are coping. They truly are. One of the things that has impressed me about the people of West Africa is they are insanely hardworking people, and they are resilient. They take adversity head on. They find ways to make the most of it, but they recognize in all of it that God is in charge. Now, as we had this conversation there in the church hall in Lagos, I commented to one person as we were talking about these different things. I said, you know, if this, if what was happening to you guys right now were to take place in the United States at the same scale, I said we'd collapse in two weeks.

This country would be at its knees in two weeks if we had hyperinflation in the way that they have.

We've never known what it means to be hungry. Not really. I mean, you know, isolated circumstances, sure. Those of you who lived through the Great Depression, absolutely. But in the last 100 years, we have lived in incredible abundance. And when that ends, things are going to get ugly fast. They're going to get ugly fast. Just to give you a little bit of perspective, okay, just to put it into terms that we can relate to so that you can see how big of a change this has been for them in Nigeria. Imagine for a moment, okay, suddenly your dollar is worth a quarter. That's been the currency devaluation. It's been a four-fold devaluation from 400 to 1600. Okay, so your dollar is now only worth a quarter. What used to cost a dollar takes four dollars to purchase now because the prices haven't changed. You know, they've increased, only increased. Now we've seen that. I don't want to belittle our inflation. We've seen inflation, not to that degree, however, not to that degree. Gas prices as a result skyrocket because they're pegged to the U.S. dollar.

So the gas prices are pegged to the U.S. dollar. In the case of Nigeria, there has been a roughly 400 percent increase in gas prices in the last year. Last year around this time it was 185 naira to the dollar, or sorry, to the liter, and this while we were there was 900 naira a liter. Again, four liters makes a gallon of gas. So for perspective, again, because sharing and understanding one another's challenges helps to help us understand these things. According to the internet, a gallon of gas in Oregon right now is 376. That's the average, 376. If the prices increase the same way that they have in Nigeria, next year a gallon of gas would be $18.31. That's the percent increase that has taken place proportionately. That's the increase.

And that's because gas subsidies and fuel subsidies have been removed. That's what's taking place right now. That's why 10 days of rage took place in Abuja. That's why the Nigerian government ended that protest with live fire rounds. Because the people are fed up. They're upset. Our grocery stores have a two to three day supply. You imagine the costs of transport of groceries, if it's $18.31 a gallon. Those goods that did still exist would be much harder to find. They would cost significantly more. Those who hoarded or those who have the money would hoard what they could, ultimately. And anything that is left would be incredibly expensive. But keep in mind, your dollar's only worth a quarter. So to be able to then purchase it, it requires four times what you once had to be able to purchase the same thing. The store shelves run empty, the prices skyrocket, the average American can't afford to buy what's there, and that's where the collapse takes place.

Because at that point, riots in the streets, you have all sorts of other things.

You know, our stability in the United States politically over the last hundred years or so, economically over the last hundred years or so, has enabled the work of God to go out in that timeframe in a way that has been incredible. You consider the way that the word spread from the United States really is the tip of the spear, so to speak. You know, as we go out from there, that gives us the ability to develop leadership. It gives us the ability to develop congregations. It gives us the ability to serve in these ways. In Mark 16 verse 15 says, we go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Well, there may well come a time where Mr. Moody and I are not able to do that in West Africa. For whatever reason, we might not be able to travel. We might be prohibited from doing so. Prohibited from traveling to Ghana.

We need to know that they're in a spot that they can care for themselves going forward without additional assistance from the United States, possibly financial, possibly print media, digital media. What happens if the website goes down? What happens if it's removed, censored, or the internet just closes down completely?

In Ghana, there's a language barrier. So in Ghana, there's a language barrier. Both countries are English-speaking, but about 60% of the church in Ghana, outside the city of Accra, speaks Twi. And it's a Khan language. It's similar to Fanti, but they speak Twi. They read it and they speak it, and most of the brethren that are out in those far-flung kind of village congregations, by and large, one, don't really read or speak English particularly well, and two, they're newer to the faith. The only real group of individuals that have connection to the worldwide Church of God going far enough back are in Accra, and those individuals, there's about six of them that go back to worldwide. The church itself is relatively new in Ghana, and so there's a need for things to be produced in the local language. Well, there's a problem with that. You know, a lot of people in the US speak Spanish, a lot of people in the US speak French, a lot of people in the US, even people speak Portuguese, but a pile of other languages as well. You're running down all that many people that speak Twi. You just don't. And the manpower in Ghana, it's just not there to be able to go through and do large-scale translation. They recently translated over the Passover paper, which was an incredible benefit, the paper the church has put together on the Passover and how it's conducted, and they basically sat down and went word for word for word for word on translating this thing over into Twi, and it just took them forever. On this trip, we were meeting out in Quiñaco, out in the village with Sam Well, who's the leader there of the Quiñaco congregation, and we were talking about this problem. I had two bars of service, so I popped my phone out and I opened chat GPT, and I discovered, somewhat accidentally, probably not accidentally, thank you God, the chat GPT speaks Twi. It turns out I quickly copied over the church's fundamental, first fundamental belief, belief number one. Popped it in, said, could you please translate this?

Spin it out in Twi. I handed it to Sam Well. I said, is this accurate? He goes, I can read it and understand it. I said, well then, with a little bit of proofreading and a little bit of editing, we could do a booklet. No problem. I got home. It took me four hours to translate the entirety of the fundamental belief booklet into Twi. I've shipped it off. Our hope is it'll be proofread, edited, and printed by the Feast of Tabernacles. It's incredible. I mean, what we're able to do now, now, while things are good, is incredible. But we got to make hay while the sun shines.

We may not have this time going forward. What's important? What's truly important when you consider the perspective that we need to have? If we knew we had a limited amount of time when it comes to preaching the Gospel or seeking the Kingdom of God, how would that inform our actions? Because brethren, we do have a limited amount of time. There must be a sense of urgency.

I've had an opportunity now to see what a country looks like when it hyperinflates.

I mean, and this isn't even close to, like, Zimbabwe when it was a bucket-la-wheelbarrow of money to buy a sandwich. You know, we're not even there yet. But the challenges are huge.

At the moment, the U.S. dollar has significant buying power. We're able to do what we can with what we have. But again, there may be a time coming in the future where that's not the case.

And we got to make sure this gets done while we can. I will say, any of you that may be interested in translating future booklets, if you are detail-oriented, you know your way around a computer, talk to me after services. I'm putting a team together and I'll put you to work. So come talk to me about it, please. We have some other ones we'd like to also translate as they're able to go through and edit those things. You know, another lesson that we learn is the limits of our own control. You know, we learn compassion, we learn a new perspective, but another thing that we learn from suffering is that there are just some things that are simply out of our control. That we just have no control over whatsoever. The brethren in Nigeria and Ghana, they can hope for better economic circumstances. You know, they can work at their hardest at their jobs. They can pay their electric bill every single month on time, but at the end of the day, the currency is worth what it's worth. Their employer may not be able to pay their wages despite working a full month's work. One gentleman has not been paid for three months of labor and he consistently goes and he works and his employer has not paid him for the last three months because there's no money.

They may pay their electric bill faithfully to only have the electricity on 40% of the time.

And in the U.S., we look at these things and we would come unglued because that's not fair!

I paid my bill! What do you mean there's no electricity? You know, what do you I worked a whole month? What do you mean you're not paying me? But our brethren in Nigeria and Ghana, brethren, they they largely take these things in stride. Honestly, they kind of joke about it a little bit.

It's probably the only thing that keeps them sane. But they have determined what they have control over and they recognize what they don't have control over. They can't force the power to stay on. They can't will their currency to perform better on the world stage. But they can control their attitude as they deal with these circumstances and these hardships and they can be grateful for the times when the electricity is on. And they're very thankful when the power is on.

That's an incredible shift of perspective. It's an incredible recognition of what is in and what is not in our control. Let's turn over to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5.

We'll see Paul's instructions regarding some of the circumstances that we face.

1 Thessalonians 5. We'll pick it up in verse 16. Paul writes, Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5. 16-18. God says, Rejoice always. In every circumstance rejoice. In the midst of all the things that we experience, there's always something that we can rejoice about. There's always something that we can be grateful and thankful to God for, even in the most difficult of moments. He says, Pray without ceasing. Be constant in prayer, constant in giving thanks. In every circumstance, Paul says, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. God's will for us in some ways is the recognition of the limits of our control and when our control ends, ensuring that we are thankful and putting those situations into his hands, because they are well in hand in his. He says, Pray without ceasing. Rejoice always, giving thanks regardless of our circumstances. And that can be really difficult. That can be really, really difficult. Sometimes even just to have the necessary perspective to recognize the good in those tough situations. But hardship brings all these things together. It helps us have the perspective to see it. It helps us recognize the limit of our control. It helps us to build compassion, none of which would be possible without the experience of that hardship.

Philippians 4, if you want to turn over there real quick, just a few pages. There's a few pages in the other direction. Philippians 4, we'll go ahead and we'll pick it up in verse 6. You know, a recognition that God is firmly in control, that kind of regardless of the outcome, is necessary in order to receive even a little bit of peace in troubled times. Philippians 4, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 6. Philippians 4 and verse 6. Paul writes, "...be anxious for nothing, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, verse 7, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Where does this peace of God come from? Where does this peace of God come from? Well, it comes from Him, obviously. It comes from God. But it comes from a perspective and a recognition of the limits of our own control. How do we have peace in our relationship with God? We recognize and we know that God is in control, that He understands our situation.

Again, with thanksgiving, with thankfulness to God, with prayer, with supplication, we can make our requests known to Him. You know, in Matthew 6, we saw it doesn't do us any good to worry about it.

God's in control, and often we are not. There are some things we have direct control over. There are certain aspects of our life that God expects that we will do everything in our power to better our circumstances with the things that are in our control. But when we've done all of that, when we've done everything and there's nothing more to be done, we bring our requests before Him in prayer, in supplication, with thanksgiving, being grateful and thankful to God for His work in our life.

And God gives us peace, even in the midst of total chaos.

I'd say our brethren in West Africa probably understand this principle better than most in the U.S., to be honest, just in interactions with both sides. I think hardship and struggle has shown them what they have control over and what they don't have control over. And honestly, they're an incredible example of handing what is out of their control over to God and dealing with the situation. I have been blown away over the years at how thankful they are to God for the very little that they have. You know, we're rarely thankful to God for our extreme abundance, and they're thankful for the little that they have. They see the need for God's hand in their lives, and they don't let the challenges that they face destroy their faith, their joy, or their love for one another. They just forge ahead, despite the circumstances, placing their faith and trust in God and in one another to get through those challenges.

And that forging ahead really leads to the fourth and final lesson that we learn from hardship and struggle. And that's flexibility, the ability to pivot, the ability to roll with the punches, to move forward despite the challenges. It builds resiliency, it builds grit in the face of adversity, and it allows a person to learn and ultimately to become more agile to deal with rapidly changing circumstances. You know, when you ask the brethren in West Africa how they're coping with the challenges or how they could even function in an economy when their money is worth half of what it used to be just weeks ago, their response is very simple. We adapt. I say we adapt.

And in some ways, as I look at their circumstances, that's almost unfathomable to my American viewpoint. I'm not sure how you adapt to a currency that devalues so quickly that it's worth half of what it was the week before. I don't know how you adapt to that. I'll give you an example. In Ghana, one of our members was working for some time. He works a very good, solid career. He's very successful. He's doing very well for himself. He's done everything right. He has worked hard. He has saved his money. He's invested his money. He's gotten married. He's bought a property, and they're building their life together. They're building their home. You know, it's the American dream, so to speak. In this case, the Ghanaian dream. In 2022, the Ghanaian seed he began unraveling. For a time, actually, it was the worst performing currency in the world. You know, it was the worst in the world at that point, and theirs is a similar situation to the Naira. It's devalued fourfold over the last two years. Not to the same scale. It's only 16 to 1, but still a fourfold devaluation. Again, what was once worth a dollar is now worth a quarter, and it'll take four times what you had before to purchase the same thing. Well, he had almost saved enough money to build his home in its entirety, and then the currency halved. And now suddenly, wait a minute, this is not a good situation here. Currency's beginning to be shaky. It's not really doing the things that it's supposed to be doing. Building costs, skyrocketing, materials skyrocketing. So he made a decision. He was flexible. He opted to pull the trigger and start the project, and so what he chose to do was to take the money he did have, which was now worth much less than it was before, purchase all of the block that was needed to complete his property, purchased it all outright, just all of it. And that way, the money was sitting in a tangible asset that could not further depreciate, and in the meantime, the home is in the process of being built. We actually visited it. It's coming along very nicely. You know, they're doing a wonderful job with it, but instead of rotting away in a bank being eaten apart by depreciation and hyperinflation, they put it to work. They flexed. Would he have preferred to wait and do it all at once? Of course! Of course! Why not, right? In the process, his wife opened up a successful bakery business as well, making wedding cakes and cakes for other events. She also teaches baking classes to help supplement the income and to enable their home to be completed. They estimate, as a result of all of this, it's going to take about three more years to finish their house, but it's in process, and they're going through the things. You know, people in West Africa find a way.

Everywhere you look, driving through the streets of Lagos or Accra, the fronts of people's homes are storefronts, and they sell anything and everything. You can literally find anything. It's like Fred Meyer. You can find anything you want, one-stop shopping, anywhere on the side of the road. You want to buy a toilet seat? Honestly, you can buy it in traffic. No joke. Driving down the road, somebody's walking down the street, walking down the street, towards you, selling toilet seats. Why are you selling a toilet seat in traffic? I have no idea, but if you need one, there's your guy. Windshield wipers. That, to me, makes sense. If you're going to sell something in traffic, windshield wipers, steering wheel covers, those things make sense. Toilet seats, maybe not so much, but everyone in West Africa has a side hustle. Everybody has a side hustle. They are jack-of-all-trades. They know how to dig ditches. They know how to set block. They can wire houses. They can build roofs. They can cook and cater food. They can flip cars. Everyone has something else that they do on the side. But unfortunately, what that means is 12 to 16-hour days or more for the vast majority. Enough time to basically get up early, work, eat really quickly, and go to bed and get up and do it the next day. They don't have TV. They don't have leisure time. Leisure time is not a thing. You work, you eat, you sleep, and you do it all again the next day. And that's so you can survive. That's so you can put food on the table. They have a can-do attitude. They have an incredible work ethic, and they do not let their circumstances dictate the end result. I was talking with Matt Miller after services in Eugene. We were talking a little bit about some of this, and he was just was telling him a story about the folks that work down at the pier. They go through and they do these huge sand, big old baskets of wet sand that they go down. They dredge the sand out of the channel. They go down. They get a basket full of wet sand. They stick it on their head. They walk it from the bucket or from the boat up to the pile. They stick it in the pile. They walk back and do it again. Eight hours a day. I asked somebody this trip, I said, how much you think that wet sand weighs? They said about 60 kilograms. I said, are you kidding me? That's 120 pounds. He said, yeah, it's about 120 pounds. And they're throwing it up on their heads, and they're walking with it from here to there, from here to there, all day long. Sometimes the water is so deep that when they go out there with the weight on it, they're underwater for a period of time. You just see them come up out of the water. They put their thing in the pile, and they go back down, and they go back under the water. Sometimes they go under the water with an empty basket, and when they come back up, it's full of sand. I don't know what they're doing. I don't know how they're getting it, but they are hard working people. Matt Miller and I were talking a little bit about it. He goes, if I told, like, if I hired a crew of people to do that, they'd quit.

Yeah, you're probably right. Yeah, you're probably right. You want me to what? Fill a whole back of a truck with shovels? No, get a digger! You know, but anyway, Philippians 4. Sorry, I digress. Philippians 4. A little bit further down than where we are. Philippians 4. The only Apostle Paul writes about his experiences. He writes about the different things that he experienced as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. We'll pick it up in verse 10 of Philippians 4. Philippians 4 and verse 10, he says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now, at last, your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. He says, not that I speak in regard to need, for I've learned in whatever state I am to be content. He says, I know how to be abased. I know how to abound everywhere, and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things, verse 13, through Christ who strengthens me. The Apostle Paul knew where his strength came from. He understood that it was through God, and only through God could these things be done. Whether he was abased, whether he was abounding, whether he was full or hungry, whether he abounded or suffered need, he could do all the things that he did, everything that he did through Christ who gave him the strength. The Apostle Paul was the definition of flexible in the experiences that he had, and that flexibility came through the faith and trust in God, and the hardship that he experienced that he had to give to God to get him through.

Paul has a litany of experiences that he outlines in 2 Corinthians 11.

And through his faith and his trust in God, he was able to forge forward in spite of all of those things. Now we all suffer experience, or we all suffer hardship and adversity.

John 16, verse 33, Christ told his disciples to be of good cheer. He said, Be of good cheer. While you may experience tribulation, difficulty, hardship, and suffering, he told them that in him they would find peace. Because he had overcome the world. They could have hardship viewed in the proper way. They could see it as an opportunity to grow.

You know, hardship and suffering is different in different areas. And while we may not be experiencing economic challenges or political unrest to the same degree as those in West Africa, I don't want to make light of the suffering that we experience in our own lives either. We have incredibly difficult circumstances that we take place, that take place in our lives. You know, I hope that we're thankful for the opportunities that were afforded. I hope we're thankful for the things that we have. We don't despise those things, but we do experience difficult situations. We experience health challenges, circumstances of job losses and unemployment. We have relational challenges. We experience the death of loved ones. You know, we go through difficult things. In that sense, suffering is universal. But the method of suffering varies. You know, people experience different things in different places. But what does not vary are the lessons that we learn from the suffering and the hardship that we experience.

Pathimata, Mathematica, Pathimata, Mathematica. There are lessons we can only learn effectively through the suffering and hardship that we experience, through the suffering that we share with others. Things like compassion, perspective, recognizing the limits of our control, learning to be flexible. All of these things are lessons that we learn through hardship or in the sharing of that hardship and suffering of others. I'm pleased to report that despite the challenges that our brethren are facing in West Africa, overall, they're doing well. Overall, they're doing well. They are coping. They are adapting. They are making it happen in an incredibly difficult economic circumstance. God has cared for them, has continued to care for them. He's protected them. He's provided for them. And there is room for continued help. There's room for continued assistance and certainly continued prayer on their behalf. When I go over there, the first thing they ask about is all of you. They want to know how you're doing. They want to know how things are going in your congregation, in your lives. They ask every time we go over.

Your brothers and sisters in West Africa are grateful to you for all of your prayers, for all of your love. They send their warmest greetings, the congregations in Lagos and Accra, the leadership in Quenyaqu, Winnebok, Cape Coast, and Almina Gona. They wanted me to let you know grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.