Prepare to Run With the Horses

The prophet Jeremiah is one of my favorite people in the Bible. He was commissioned by God to bring a message of repentance to Judah in the last few decades before they went into Babylonian captivity. And it's an extremely frustrating message for him. You see, the different prophets have different personalities. Jeremiah is one of those prophets that felt very deeply about the people. I just love Amos. Amos really was like, your people are wrong and God wants you to tell you you're wrong and you're wrong. Jeremiah, on the other hand, agonized with the message. But God, we want him to repent. We want him to repent. At one point he even tells God, and I'm paraphrasing it, but he tells him, you told me to go tell them to repent. They did repent. I'm not even going to mention your name anymore. And God's answer was basically, I didn't tell you they would repent. I just told you to go tell them to repent. And he just wanted results so much. He wanted the people to respond to God so much. And it was so frustrating. And then, to make it worse, there's a point in his ministry that he finds out the people of his hometown are plotting to murder him. The people he grew up with, probably family members, and they're plotting the killing. So he takes it to God. Let's go to Jeremiah 12. Jeremiah 12.

He takes it to God because he's just devastated. And he tells God in verse 1, Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you, yet let me talk with you about your judgment. That's a very interesting introduction, sort of like Abraham did. I know that you're right, but this makes no sense to me. That's what he's saying. I know you're right, but can I talk to you about this? It makes no sense to me. No, probably most of us approached God at some point and said, I know you're right. I can't figure this out.

He says, why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so traxiously? He says, why is it that the wicked people of Judah keep getting richer and richer? And why is it that everybody in Judah is happy? Everybody's partying, everybody's having a good time, and I'm wretched because I keep talking to repent and I'm a crazy man. He said, I'm depressed for following you. I don't understand, but they're all so happy. You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind. He says, oh yeah, they have a religion. They praise God. They talk about God. And remember, at this time, there's still been a certain amount of Sabbath-keeping going on because the temple still exists. So they still would have had holy days, plus all the paganism extended. And so he's saying, they worship you, they praise you, but in their minds, it's a different way of thinking. But you, O Lord, know me. You have sent me and you have tested my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter. So he finally looks around, instead of begging God for mercy, he looks at these wicked leaders and he says, kill them all. I'm tired of it. I've been asking for mercy. I just want you to go kill all of them. Now, God's response is very interesting. Let's finish verse 4, because this continues when he says to God, How long will you the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed for the wickedness of those who dwell there, because they say he will not see our final land. In other words, God will judge us. We're good people. We're His special people. His judgment won't come on us. Now, you'd think God would respond with, calm down. Again, there's other types he didn't tell you. Or, you know, Jeremiah, I love one place where he told Jeremiah, look, I know it's bad, but wherever you go, I'll be with you. That's all he told me. Words of encouragement. I'm with you no matter what. The answer of God here, He doesn't encourage you. He doesn't tell you, go back out and tell him I'm going to kill him.

Here's God's answer. Verse 5. If you have run with the footmen, and they have weared you, then how can you contend with the horses? And if the land of peace in which you trusted, they weared you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?

Now, understand what He's just told them. He tells Jeremiah, if you're weary and upset, and all you're doing is running with the footmen, you're running with other guys, what are you going to do when I make you run with horses? Now, there's Jeremiah, this is the easy time.

He talks about, you're in a land of peace. I mean, Jeremiah was living in a land filled, I mean, Judah was prospering. Their economy was booming. They were part of a trade route where goods from all over the world came through Judah. They were wealthy, they were good, times were good, they had military power. It was like, if you can't live and you get tired of what I want you to do in the times where there's peace, what are you going to do on the floodplains of Jordan? Now, that's an interesting statement, too. The floodplains of the Jordan were just a narrow strip along the Jordan that was marshy all the time because it would flood. And you wouldn't want to be on there when it flooded. But because of that marshy land, it was real thick with vegetation.

And it was famous, in fact, you even see it mentioned two other places in Jeremiah. It was famous because that's where the lions would hide. So, he says, if you're in the land of peace walking around and you're upset because a few people say they're going to kill you, what are you going to do when I have you in the marsh and the water's rising up past your knees and in the bushes around you are the lions? What are you going to do then? He said, wow, why wouldn't he be a little more encouraging here? But he's making a point, a very important point.

There are difficulties you and I have in life because of our sins. There are difficulties because of other people's sins. There are difficulties because we're human beings in a deteriorating environment. This wasn't what God had created the world to be. It's what thousands of years of humanity and Satan has done. So we get sick. We suffer things that God never intended us to suffer. So we suffer all kinds of difficulties because of sin and because we live in a deteriorating environment. We also suffer, and this is what Jeremiah was dealing with, we also suffer because we have to live as children of God in Satan's world. You and I will suffer difficulties in order to follow God. You know, my dad, who died five years ago, had in his living room a cheap painting with a great big cheap frame around it of horses running in a storm. And underneath of it, on a piece of masking tape, was Jeremiah 12, 5 and 6.

And he would always say, look at that painting, Gary, isn't that great? All those horses running? Oh, yeah, you're going to have to run with the horses. Remember that. Now, today, I don't have that painting, one of the other siblings, or somebody else wanted it, so I'm in when we cleaned out the house. But I tell you what I do have in my office, and this was a gift that the church from San Antonio gave me when we left there. The original King James Bible was printed between 1611 and 1650, and then they did a second edition. I have a page from one of the original King James Bible printed somewhere between 1611 and 1650, in my office. And it's this, if you see the page, it's Jeremiah 12, right in the middle of these two verses. It's a little hard to read because English was more like German than English, but, you know, it's written in Germanic scripts, but you read it, you finally can figure it out. What it is is that. So I have these two verses in my office, not like my dad did with a picture, although I may find a cheap picture some day with a cheap frame, and I may put it up there with a piece of masking tape beside this.

What are you going to do if you can't run with a horseman? God says, what are you going to do when I make you run with horses? You can't run with horses. I can't run with horses. I can't even run anymore with my seven-year-old grandson.

What are we going to do if we run with horses? It's so easy for you and I to be overwhelmed in society. We are right now living in a society very much like the society that he lived in. Everything seems so wealthy, but nobody is happy with their wealth. Everybody wants more and more and more. A car, a big screen TV, a computer, a house, air conditioning, it's never enough. It's just never enough. But we're watching a society collapsing into immorality at a frightful rate. It's hard to even imagine what's happening in our society. I mean, the transgender issue was mind-blowing.

You think, how could this be the number one moral issue in our country? And yet for many people, that's what they see in it.

You and I live in this time, and you and I can feel overwhelmed by it. And of course, if you really want to get depressed, just watch ABC, NBC, Fox News. It'll drive you nuts!

Is there a sane politician left? I've come to the conclusion there is not.

But that's what Jeremiah was saying. Finally, Jeremiah said, kill them all. I've had days where I've almost thought that.

Just kill them all!

And we can start to get, like Jeremiah, overwhelmed with the evil in a type of peace. Because you and I don't face persecution yet.

We don't face persecution yet. He thought he was facing persecution. Oh, is it going to get a lot worse? I don't know what kind of persecution you and I will experience in life. All I know is this message rings true whenever you're a Christian. If you're at a time of peace, but you're overwhelmed by the world around you, stop and prepare. Because if you're weary now, how are you going to deal with what may happen in the future? I'm not saying this to make us all gloomy and worried and upset about the future. I'm going through this with the exact opposite.

That even if you and I must face persecution in the future, how are we to face it and deal with it? Because God doesn't want you to be fearful. God doesn't want you to face the future with fear and trepidation and, oh, no, I've got to hide. And because this is going to happen, no, no. God wants us to face the future with the understanding that you can run with horses. That's what he was telling Jeremiah. He didn't say, what are you going to do when you have to run with horses? Or if you have to run with horses? Or you may run with horses? He said, what are you going to do when you run with horses? Jeremiah, you have no idea what you're going to do. Jeremiah at this point said, I can't run with horses. And I'm sure not going to go down to the floodplain of Jordan and preach. They may be a flood and I can eat them all alive.

And God said, no, no. You're going to go to the floodplain of Jordan and preach. I mean, not literally. But what's going to happen is going to be like that. And what's amazing is, Jeremiah did. A whole book of Jeremiah and Lamentations about how he did. And he didn't like it. I mean, some people seem to thrive, you know, the hard times, and they just get tougher, like Paul. Jeremiah was like, I don't like this. I like being the nice guy. I like being a good guy. I don't like this. Paul was like, let me at him. You know, they stoned him, right? Leaving for dead, the rock pile moves, he crawls out and marches right back into the town. Jeremiah would have said, what I like those people. They're good people! They're my brothers and sisters! They're all Jews! He would have been depressed for three days. Then he would have gone back in. He had a different experience in the way he processed things than Paul did. So how are we going to do that? I'm going to cover four ways for you and I to prepare to run with horses. First one. And they're simple things. But they're things you have to think about. In other words, we can't be prepared to not be weary unless we prepare not to be weary. First thing, remember that entering the kingdom of God involves personal sacrifice. Remember that entering the kingdom of God involves personal sacrifice. When you and I were called to be the children of God, we were also called to be His representatives to a rebellious world. That very fact, think about it, you were called to be His representative to a rebellious world. You say, yeah, but I'm not called to be a preacher. I'm not called to be this. I'm not called to be that. How do you hide your Christianity? You can't. You are called to be His representative and how whatever situation He puts you in to an evil world. You don't think your neighbors know you go someplace every Saturday morning?

Unless you sneak out, then they think you're really weird. You can see your neighbor with binoculars. They're sneaking out again. Look at him. He's got hoods over their heads. When we committed to God, we committed to the sacrifices that it would take to enter into the kingdom of God. We committed to that. Look at Acts 14. I remember hearing sermons throughout the years, especially as a kid, about the future, about persecution, about things like that. And I would go home absolutely frightened.

I think we have to look at this differently. We have to remember who it is that's with us and why we may be persecuted. Some people experience their whole lives and never have persecution. In the 1960s and up through the 1970s, I can tell you that persecution in the Church, against the Church, was a whole lot more than it is now. A whole lot more. I don't know if you, hopefully you were here last week and listened to the sermon by Mr. Bob Dick. And he mentioned that. Because there were no laws. Back in the 50s, you worked on the Sabbath and your boss didn't like it. You were fired. And there was nothing you could do about it. And I can remember lots of people going to the Feast of Tabernacles, knowing that when they went home they would not have a job. And there was no recourse because it was the civil rights movement that caused other issues to be dealt with, including freedom of religion. Now, that forced businesses to give people a right to have a different religion. That was good at that time. Now look what it's doing in terms of Muslims. Every solution human beings come up with ends up bad. You know what I mean? We solved one problem, and now you can keep the Sabbath, but now there are rights given to people who, in some cases, not all Muslims do like that. But in some cases, want to destroy it.

It's the problem with human solutions. Human solutions eventually create another problem. It's just what we do without God. So let's go to Acts 14, verse 21. Talking about Paul here and Barnabas. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Now, it's very interesting. They made disciples. They just didn't tell people, God's going to come and judge you. It was more than that. They made disciples. They took people who responded, and they spent time with them, and they taught them, and they turned them into disciples of Christ. Straightening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in faith and saying, we, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. Now, that's a promise, because if you go through the book of Acts, the one thing that's caused them is they had good times, and there were times they were persecuted. And it went back and forth and back and forth. That early church faced persecution on a regular basis. Violent persecution on a regular basis. People went to jail. People were killed. Other times, they had peace. And it depended on what part of the world you were in at the time. Some parts of the Roman Empire, Christians weren't persecuted. And that's the way it was for hundreds of years. It's interesting, at the beginning of the second century, there's a letter to one of the Roman Emperors from a governor saying, What am I supposed to do with Christians? I mean, officially, they're enemies of the state, but I found a bunch of them, brought them before me, and I can't find anything wrong with them. There were two deaconesses. It's interesting. There were two deaconesses. They tortured. I still can't find anything wrong with them. And basically, the Emperor wrote back and said, we have copies of the letter, so we know what happened. Not actual copies, but they were recorded in history. The Emperor wrote back and said, look, unless they're brought up on charges, just leave them alone. You're not real danger to us. But if they're brought up on charges, then you have to persecute them as Christians. So there was a part of the world where the governor said, okay, I'm going to leave them alone. Now, in other parts, they were actively seeking them out. So Paul tells them, it is through much tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God. Now, he's not talking about tribulations brought upon us because of our own sins. He's talking about the tribulations that come upon us through persecution, through people who want to stop what's happening in your life that God's doing in your life, and they definitely want to stop you from sharing that with anybody else.

I bring this out because we're in a society that's headed more and more towards that.

That the truth of God could be actually held down in this country.

And other places, too.

In Canada, here in the last few weeks, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that schools could not have the Lord's Prayer done publicly. The children could not cite the Lord's Prayer publicly. But they actually brought suit in one of the provinces that Muslim prayers could be given, and it was passed. Not by the Supreme Court, but by the Prophet. So now it's going to the Supreme Court.

So you can't do this, but you can do this. So there is a desire to suppress the Scripture, to suppress the Bible, and that's happening in our country. A desire to suppress the Bible.

It's like I tell people, I...well, I won't go there.

It's interesting, in Matthew 10, when Jesus sent out the disciples, He told them, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to give you power, and you're going to preach to people, and you're going to baptize people, and you're going to heal people. And because of that, people are going to hate you, people are going to persecute you, and He even tells them, and some of your greatest enemies will be people in your own household. And some of you have gone through that. Your greatest enemies became people of your own family, who, because you no longer kept Christmas, didn't talk to you for years. You know, that happens all the time. What's funny is, today's society, you and I live in a time of peace, most people, if you don't keep Christmas, just say, oh, okay.

Then I'm going to give it to you again.

But you're not persecuted over it. Right? There was a time in this country, we're not keeping Christmas, and I know lots of cases, people were persecuted. Family members turned against them. Friends turned against them. It would have nothing to do with them. They lost friends, they lost family members, because of the Sabbath or Holy Days, lost their jobs, and it could be very serious.

And He told the disciples that would happen. So remember, okay, this is the first thing we do. We remember that persecution happens, and that we were told it could happen.

And so, when it happens to us, it's always a shock, but we're told. The second point, to be prepared to run with the horses, is that accept the tribulations, or steps, on our spiritual journey. Now, you've got to remember, now you've got to accept it, that these are steps in our spiritual journey. How you and I deal with persecution is largely based on accepting persecution as part of our Christianity. I remember I'm told this is going to happen, so I accept when it happens that this is part of my learning process. This is part of my growth process. This is part of how I learn. This is part of my faith process. It's easy to trust in God when you feel great, and the money's coming in, and you have no problems.

It gets a little harder to trust God. When you've lost your job, family members hate you, and in Jeremiah's case, all the hometown folks are plotting the killing. Now, trusting God was all...you know, he just says, I'm tired of this.

It's so out of character, Jeremiah. Just don't go, don't go. Wipe out the whole village, okay? Because I'm tired of it. Which is the opposite of how I use the adult things, but he just was worn out.

And the guy said, if this makes you tired, and you're just running with footmen. 1 Peter 4 You know, 1 Peter 4 has actually been an inspiration of my life, and a couple times where I've come face difficulty. 1 Peter 4 Verse 12. 1 Peter is a lot...tells him a lot about persecutions, because the church at that time was suffering persecution. Of course, Peter isn't writing to a specific church. He's writing to the church at large. So this is going out all over the Roman Empire, all over the...wherever churches are. And there's lots of persecution. And it's one of the themes carried throughout the letter. In verse 12, he says, Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you. In other words, you're going to go through...it's going to be difficult. As though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice! What? I'm supposed to rejoice because I'm being persecuted? Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed that you may also be glad with exceeding joy. He says, I want you to remember...see this? Remember an acceptance. Remember an acceptance. The very...acceptance is going to happen. Now remember, if Christ had not suffered for you, there would be nothing. So if you have to suffer for Him, find some joy in that. Because if He didn't suffer for you, we're lost, right? If Christ was not brutally tortured, died, or resurrected for us, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians, we are of all people most miserable.

We have no hope. So he said, if you're being persecuted, you're suffering a little bit like He suffered, that's a good thing.

That's a good thing. Different viewpoint. Remember? Now you have to accept it. He says, verse 14, if you're reprouched for the name of Christ, blessed are you. It's a blessing? It only is a blessing if we accept it as part of our Christian growth, as part of our commitment. Blessed are you for the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you, for their party is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. God is glorified when we take persecutions in a proper way. Verse 15 is a little parenthetical statement. He says, But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Not too many murderers in the church, they're out murdering people or a thief, but I guess busybodies are pretty common. So he throws that in there. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, that's interesting because Christian isn't used in the Bible that much. Christian wasn't a term that the followers of God took upon themselves. It's what other people called them, and it was sort of a derogatory term. You are a follower of Christ, that's what it means.

So he uses the derogatory term. If you suffer as a Christian, he says, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this manner. Glorified God, if we are persecuted because we're being stupid or mean or rude, he says, well, that's our problem. Because sometimes we will confuse. Rudeness or lack of love as truth. Well, it's how we say it, too. It's what we do with it. Verse 17 is still part of this context. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So we have to accept this. This is part of our spiritual journey. So when, remember, we made a commitment to follow God in tribulation. And we accept what happens. It's part of the journey.

The third thing we do is we have to focus on God and His promises and His power. We have to focus on God. So much of what we do in life is what we focus upon. Let me give you an example. What if I had a 20-foot-long plank about two feet wide? So it's nice and wide. And I laid it up here, and I said, how many of you want to come up and walk the plank? I said, come on! I challenged you. Who can walk this plank? You'd all walk the plank. In fact, some of the younger men would probably get into competition, so you could run across the plank. Shove each other off the plank. We would be walking the plank. All of it. I could do that. You'd come up here and walk the plank. But what if I took that same plank and I put it on blocks so it was five feet high?

Who wants to walk the plank?

Yeah, about half of it. No one would walk the plank. Why? When it's on the floor, you're just looking at a plank. When it's up here, what are you focusing on? The distance between the plank and the floor.

Right? It's the same plank. It's actually just as easy to walk that plank five feet up as it is at night. We say it's not. I used to look on scaffolds when I was painting with my dad. It's like, this is a death trap. I see.

Now, wait a minute. Why? I could walk in that plank and never think of anything about it. It's just as easy to walk that plank five feet in the air.

It depends on your focus. Right? What if I took that same plank and put it across the ravine that's 80 feet high? I wouldn't walk it. It's the same plank. It's just as easy to walk across something two feet as it is on the ground. But you're not focusing on the plank. We're focusing on the bottom of the ravine.

And that's the point. When we focus on God and His promises and His power, we're focusing on the plank. We're focusing on what we're standing on, not what we're not standing on. But that's not what persecution does to us. It causes us to focus on the persecution. And now we're not standing on it. Or we're afraid of the fall.

Focus on God. Focus on His promises. Do a study on His promises and His power. When you and I face loss of friends, loss of career opportunities, inability to financially grow, maybe we go through financial difficulties.

We must choose to focus on God, not the hardship.

Focus on the plank. Focus what you're standing on.

You know, it took about a year for the Israelites to leave Egypt. And they traveled to the Protestant land. Until they send in twelve men, twelve spies, right? So they send in twelve spies. And they go into the Promised Land, and they come back. And they all tell this great story. It is greater than we even imagined. When God has promised us, it's there. This place has rivers and fertile ground and food all over the place. It's incredible. They all agree on that. And then ten of them say, but there's a problem.

The problem is, there are soldiers there. And they've got armor and cherries. And there's walled cities. And there's really big people.

It'd be like you and I walking into an NFL football team.

And saying, come on, I'm picking a fight.

These are big people! I mean, really big people! And we don't have a chance against these people. And two of us all saw something different. Let's go to Numbers 14.

Numbers 14. See, it's what we focus on. So I said that Scripture in Peter there has been a focus of my life when I get off someplace. And you see something silly. I received some kind of criticism from a minister because they didn't like I'll be on today. So I'm running around like a chicken with my head off. Oh, I'm being persecuted. That's not even running with a footman. That's just a comment from somebody. Right? Or I get a letter from somebody that's not in the church saying that I'm going to go to hell and burn forever and ever because I'm this false prophet. I would have write them back a letter. No, not. Kill them all. Right? I'm not even running with a horseman here. I mean, with a footman here. This isn't that important. And then I go back and I think, yeah, this isn't that important. Maybe I should reach out to this person instead of wanting to slay them. Right? Maybe this is the point that God wants. Just reach out to the person. But you've got to step back. You have to focus. Are you on the plank? Are you focused on what you're standing on? Are you focused on what you're not standing on? What you're not standing on? What does Joshua tell them? So now the people are discouraged because ten of these guys are saying, No, no, no, can't take it, can't go there. Impossible. But Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the son of Jeff, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregations of the children of Israel, saying, The land we pass through the spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land with clothes and milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. We'll just go eat them up. They have no chance against who? God. Well, yeah, if I'm going to go fight, I'm really overmatched here. But if God is fighting, they have no chance at all.

Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us, do not fear them. The Lord is with us. Focus what made Joshua and Caleb so different. They focused on God. They didn't run back and say, Oh, no, there's chariots. They ran back and said, It's just waiting for us, and God's going to kill them all.

It's your focus. We have to stay focused on God, His power, His promises. Look at Philippians 4. Philippians 4 is an interesting book. We turn there, usually for a few verses. There's so much in Philippians.

Philippians 4, verse 6. He says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. So he starts with, Take everything to God, and be thankful. Which is in a modern nation. He started to say the word that came out wrong. He's exhorting us to... You ever do that? You go to sneeze or something? All of a sudden... It's easy on television. It's just, Cut, Gary, we do that.

To go to God with thanksgiving. Not just go gripe. Now, He says, Take your supplication, but just don't go gripe. What we do sometimes, we just gripe, we gripe, and we gripe. He says, With thanksgiving, let your prayers be known to God. Now, this verse is also a verse.

It's one of my memory verses, because this verse has come to mind many times in life. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ. The peace of God, which is one of the fruits of His Spirit, which surpasses all understanding. You can't get this peace from the psychologists. You can't get this peace from the self-help book. Now, we can learn things from those people, but you can't get this because it comes from God. You can't even get this from your husband or your wife or anybody else.

The peace that comes from God, which surpasses understanding. In other words, you can't figure out how this peace comes. And I tell you what, if you've ever been up at two or three o'clock in the morning, wrestling with or dealing with the things that people deal with, grief, pain, suffering, depression, and suddenly in that crying out to God, this peace comes. It's like, I didn't do that. Then you understand this verse. Then you understand this verse. It comes upon you and it will guard you. Now, this is interesting. It will guard your hearts and minds. It will guard us from the very things that are making us distraught.

He didn't say, he will guard you from all persecution. He will guard your heart and mind during the persecution, so that you will have peace during it. He didn't say you'd like it. He said you have peace. The peace that surpasses understanding. What is our focus? If our focus is on God, and that's what is so amazing. How many times through the New Testament, you see people being persecuted.

They don't like it. But you see them have a strength and a courage and a peace, and you say, where did that come from? I don't understand that. Because he's from God. Our focus must be on the plank of what we're standing on, and that has to be gone. And then our last point here is that in the midst of tribulation, persecution, we must actively live God's way. Now, I'm going through this, and most of us are saying, I don't get any persecution. No, we're just skipping. We're not even running with the footmen. We're just skipping along, right? All of us run with the footmen from time to time.

And someday, we may have to run with horses. So we must be prepared. The fourth point is, we must actively live God's way. We cannot be halfway doing this. Sort of a halfway Christian. And then the persecution comes. Because you know what you'll do as a halfway Christian? You'll give in. As a halfway Christian, when the persecution comes, you'll give in. Because you're not prepared. If we can't live this in this time, we're still in peace when we're living in a time where we're not going to have to go to the flood plains of the Jordan. We're not fighting lions and water up to our knees. How are we going to do that? Well, we'll give in.

Look at Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5 brings out this last point. Acts chapter 5 and verse 12, picking it up here. Now this is what the disciples were the apostles at this point. Through the hands of the apostles, many signs of wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. What a great time to be an apostle!

What a great time to be a member of the church! Miracles were happening left and right. Peter and John and James, the very men taught by Jesus, and many of these people would have known Jesus. At least they had been aware of Him.

They saw Him preach, and now they knew He was resurrected. The church was growing by leaps and bounds. Three thousand people in one day were baptized. What a great time. What an exciting time. This was a good time to be part of the church, right? Verse 13 says, Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. People were afraid to join them because of persecution, but they really looked up to them. They really liked them. They thought they were special. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord's multitude of both men and women.

So they brought the sick out of the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. And a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities of Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, they were healed.

What a great time! Then you start in verse 17, the high priest says, We have to stop this. So the Sanhedrin gets together, and they decide we have to stop this. We have to do something about it. So they go and they arrest the apostles, and they put them in jail. But God doesn't own a miracle. He opens the jail and they walk out. And they go to get them to bring them to the Sanhedrin, and they're not there.

Now what's interesting is they didn't run away. Well, where are they? Well, they're back in the temple. Talking to everybody again. So they go arrest them again and bring them back. Verse 40. Here's where Gamaliel... Let's go to verse 29, because I think verse 29 is important. Peter and the other apostles answers the Sanhedrin this way. We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom he had murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.

We are his witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us, those who obey him. He said they were furious. They wanted to kill them. Verse 40 says, this is where Gamaliel comes along and says, Look, guys, if they're of God, it's best we not persecute them. If they're not of God, they'll destroy themselves. So the best thing we can do is step back and see what happens. So they agreed to let him go.

Verse 40. And they agreed with him, with Gamaliel. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them. Oh, we agree, but we're still going to beat them up. This is serious persecution. They've been put in jail, publicly dragged off, falsely accused, and now beaten up and beaten. And I have to admit, I've never gone through all that. They said, well, I've never had to even run with them, let alone with the horses.

And they beat them and they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. Now, they had been told this was going to happen, they would be persecuted, in Matthew 10. They knew, they remembered that, they accepted it. Their focus was on God, so what happens? So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing. Wait a minute. You see these old guys stagger out of the... You know, stagger out of the council, meeting a halt. Those little bunnies beating, you know, you've got to get a black eye.

You know, they're sort of looking at each other, and you look bad. And someone says, we're beaten for Christ. Now, they just watched Christ be beaten, remember? And it's like, yes, if He can do that for us, we can take it for Him. Whoa! They're rejoicing. They're not depressed, they're not down. Didn't say they liked it. Why are they rejoicing? Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Thank you, God, that we can suffer shame for Your name. Can you imagine? Thank you, God, that my children, my mother, my father, my husband, my wife, won't talk to me because they think I'm a member of a cult. Thank you, God. It's shameful, it's hurtful. I don't like it. But thank you for letting me suffer be counted worthy of this for you. All different viewpoints, isn't it? But that's because we have to be actively living God's way. We can't be halfway Christians and face persecution.

Losing a job because of the Sabbath, having friends and family turn against us, being made fun of by others. Now, all of us have gone through those kinds of things. I've lost jobs over the Sabbath. We were made fun of as a kid by other people. I didn't understand why I brought crackers to lunch during the days of the London Red.

Of course, kids make fun of each other. All kids are abused by other kids. Kids are cruel, you know? And you learn to take it. Or you become a little bit emotionally off. Right? Sorry is true. We live under a stress because of the world we live in. People all the time say, but the United States is going down. Now, my answer is always the same. Ever since I was a child old enough to understand, and that would have been about age 12, I've known the United States is going down.

It's always been going down. It never was God's government. Never. This is the greatest thing that human beings can come up with. This is it. This is the absolute pinnacle of what human beings can do. It never was God's. It had elements of the Bible in it, which is what made it special. Now they're removing the elements of the Bible. It's no longer special.

See what I mean? It was only special because of the promises made to Abraham and elements of the Bible. You remove those two things? It's not special. It will self-destruct, which even the founding fathers worried about that and said it. Their greatest fear was the self-destruction of what they would create. It's amazing to me. Our Constitution in the United States is brilliant, but inside of it is the seeds of self-destruction. So what do we do? Remember, how you and I experience tribulation is largely based on accepting that tribulation as part of our Christianity.

Remember that we were told. We remember the commitment that we had to make. That commitment is real. Once we remember the commitment, we remember the promise that only through tribulation will you enter the kingdom. We remember that this is part of the journey that we accepted as part of the journey. We have to stay focused.

Stay focused on what we're standing on, not what we're not standing on. And that we must act. You and I must live every day actively following God. Personal. Personally following God. You know, I read earlier where Jeremiah was challenged by God. I find it interesting. In one of the passages we read, the Apostle said to exhort people. Exhortation in Greek is an interesting word. It's not the same in Hebrew. Exhortation in Greek is a proactive word. It has to do with the future. Comfort is a totally different word. If you're really down, you want comfort. You'd think God would have comforted Jeremiah, but He didn't.

He exhorted him. I'm using the Greek word. That would have been in Hebrew. But you understand what I'm saying. He exhorted him. He said, move forward. That's what exhortation is. Exhortation is, get up, move, go forward. You're looking in the future when you're being exhorted. Or sometimes in comfort you're looking at the past. You're grieving. He's trying to mean, and that's part of what you go through. So comfort and exhortation are different things. The guy was exhorting him. He was challenging him.

He was getting up to get moving. There is one story of the Old Testament. I just want to glance at 1 Kings 18. This is the time of Elijah. In Elijah there had been a drought in the land. He had been told, he had gone to Ahab the king and said, there's going to be a drought. God is punishing us. So there had been this drought. Now Elijah has to go talk to Ahab. Verse 41. Then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat, and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

So Ahab went up to eat and drink. He came and said, listen, to hear the rain, God is going to stop the drought. Now, there was no rain yet. But he said, listen to it, you are going to hear it.

God is going to start the rain. And this drought is going to end. He is going to start the rain. So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, where he bowed down on the ground, put his face to his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now and look towards the sea. So he is praying. God, he said the drought was going to end.

I went and told the king, you better end it. It's not ended. Nothing is happening. So he went up and looked and said, there is nothing. And seven times he said, go again. Can you imagine? Go and look again. No. God, you said I went to him. It's not happening. Have I done something wrong? Did I get the message wrong?

No. Okay. God, I am here a third time. He just went through it over and over again. Then he came and passed the seventh time that he said, there is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising up out of the sea.

I heard a little cloud come up out of the sea. What's that mean? And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops. He said, the rain is going to come. You won't even be able to get the chariot through the mud. It's coming. Go. Now, verse 45. Now, it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind. There was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. He got the horses hooked up to the chariot, and off he goes.

Behind him, he could see these clouds rolling in, probably thunder and lightning and all this rain coming. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah. He girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Now, why don't you think about that? The king hooks up his horses, and he's riding the Jezreel. This, in my mind, is like a cartoon, you know? Here comes Elijah. How fast is his feet going? He's like a roadrunner or something.

He outruns horses. And when Ahab gets there, he's standing up there. He's standing at the entrance. What took you so long? You know, when he told Jeremiah, you've got to run with the horses? Poor Elijah literally ran with the horses, and he beat them. Why? Because the Lord was upon him. He could have done that.

Just like you and I can't face our tribulations of persecutions and weather them. It is God in us. It is the plank we're standing on that matters. The race for the kingdom of God involves many tribulations were promised that. And sometimes racing with the footmen is exhausting. And it makes us weary. Apply these four steps in your life.

Because there will probably come a time. When you're going to have to run with the horses. I can still see that painting hanging in my dad's room. And every once in a while I pull out that page from a 19-11 or I mean 16-11, 16-20, whatever. King James's Bible. And I read the little fine German script. Those two. Apply these. Live these now. Because there may come times when you have to run with the horses. And if you, if God is with you, you will run faster than the horses. Apply these. Apply these.