Running with the Horses

The prophet Jeremiah was commissioned by God to bring a message of repentance to Judah. And he did so to the people and to the leaders of that nation. And for decades, he spoke to them, telling them to repent. And for decades, basically nobody responded. And he was particularly discouraged by this. There's a reason that Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet, because he was discouraged. He would weep over the fact that he was telling people, God loves you, God wants you to repent, God wants to take care of you. But they just kept living life however they wanted to. They kept disobeying his laws, living life with a disregard for his ways. And no matter what he did, they wouldn't change. And then it reached the point where people from his own hometown were threatening to kill him.

He's doing what God told him to do. He's obeying God. He's living the right way. He's trying to tell the people to repent to live God's way. And the response is, people were trying to kill him, people he knew, his own friends. So he goes to God about it. Let's go to Jeremiah 12. Jeremiah 12 I like the way that Jeremiah approaches God here. He doesn't understand what God's doing. He can't figure out why it's working out this way. He says, righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you. He says, I know you're right. I know you're good. I know you're righteous.

I know you're wise. But I come and I plead to you because it just makes no sense to me. If I do the right thing, shouldn't people repent? If I teach them your way, shouldn't they love you? These are your people. And he's so frustrated with what's going on. He says, why does the way of the wicked prosper? And are those happy who deal so treacherously? He says, you know, the most prosperous people I know, and it seems like the people that are most happy that I know. Now, remember, this is Jeremiah saying this to God.

Are the people who disobey you? They don't care about your way. They don't live your way. They do everything their way. And he says, and yet, they seem to be more happy and more prosperous than those of us that are trying to do your way. 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. I was talking last night at the Young Adult Doctrine class, and when we go through the regular Tuesday night Doctrine class, when we get to the Bible, I'm going to talk about some of the problems of translating the Bible from one language into another.

That word, mind there, in Hebrew, literally would be kidneys. So if we translate this literally, they are near in their mouth, but far from their kidneys. We won't go into why they translated a mind, but there's a legitimate reason why it's translated mind. You would have to understand idioms in Hebrew. But he says they don't think about you, but they talk about you. They claim to be a follower of you. They claim to do your way. They claim to be a person that believes in God and follows God and does his way and obeys his commands.

But he says, you know, they talk, but in their mind they think totally different, and in their mind they don't think that way at all. But you, O Lord, know me. You have seen me. You have tested my heart toward you. He says, Why don't you punish them, basically?

The rest of verse 3 and verse 4. Why don't you punish them because the whole country is deteriorating and collapsing. Your people are falling apart because it seems like you won't punish the wicked. Now, what most people miss is that there's a change here, and in some Bibles they'll actually state this on the heading or something to show this.

But in verse 5 is actually God's answer. This is the beginning of God's answer. What inspired this sermon when I was up visiting my mother this week? I noticed something I'd forgotten. There was a picture, a small picture, on the wall in the living room that was my dad's favorite picture.

He bought it at a junk store, I think, for a dollar. And he paid a dollar for this big frame to put around it. It's a very dramatic picture of horses running through a field. Very dramatic painting. And underneath on the frame is a little piece of tape. And on that tape is Jeremiah 12, 5, and 6. So I went and looked up, oh yeah, why did dad put Jeremiah 5 and 6 on this painting?

Because he would always say, that reminds me of something. When certain things happen in life, when certain troubles happen in life, he says, that painting reminds me of that scripture. Okay, what is that scripture? I went and looked it up.

This is God's answer to Jeremiah. When Jeremiah says, I obey you and nothing works. I know you're right, but it makes no sense. I know you're righteous. But it seems like the bad people get all the breaks. And all I get is persecution. And now, you know, even my own family and friends hate me. Now, you think God would say, well, you know, you're doing a good job. Let me encourage you. Or wait a minute, let me remind you why bad things happen. Let me remind you of judgment. You know, I'm going to judge people. Now, he says some of that in this because the rest of this chapter is God talking to Jeremiah, but it's the first two verses that really catch what how God approaches Jeremiah.

He says to him, if you have run with the footman and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with the horses? It is if running with human beings wearies you, what's going to happen to you when I expect you to run with horses? Now, that's got to be a little offsetting to Jeremiah. You know, he probably expected a pat on the head. You're doing a good job. It's okay, Jeremiah. I understand. Jeremiah, I understand. I guess, wait, wait a minute. If running with people wears you out, Jeremiah, you have no idea what I'm going to have you do in the future, because you're going to have to run with the horses.

He says, if you are in the rest of this verse, and if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wearied you, how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? In other words, if you're running in a good, nice, flat, peaceful area, what's going to happen to you in the flood plains of the Jordan, which are filled with brushes? In fact, that even can be translated thistles of Jordan. That floodplain along the river there that's got lots of bushes, how do you run through that mess if you can't run on good ground? Verse 6, for even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dwelt treacherously with you. Yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you. He says, look, your own family's turned against you, and now your whole community has turned against you. And he says, and they're going to tell you nice things. Jeremiah, you're a great guy, but you know, God doesn't mean for you to be this serious. He says, don't listen to them, because you're going to have to run with the horses. I remember why my dad had that picture up there and why he had that verse on there, because there were many times in life he would say, that reminds me. Sometimes I'm tired and all I'm doing is running with the footman. But there are times in life where we have to run with the horses. All of us have difficult times in life just because we're human beings. We get sick, we have troubles. We have difficulties because of our sins. You know, we all pay penalties because of our sins. But you know, sometimes the hardest difficulties in life to deal with are the ones that come at us because we are doing right, because we're a Christian, because we're following God, because when you follow God, we're supposed to receive a blessing, correct? But we don't live in God's world. And sometimes when we follow God, we receive a cursing, not from God, but from the world around us. And that's what Jeremiah was going through. But I'm doing what's right. It's something bad is happening. We do what's right. Our friends turn against us. We do what's right. We end up feeling like we're alone. We do what's right. And we end up losing a job. We do what's right. That somebody else makes the deal. It makes more money. We do what's right. And it just doesn't seem to work out. Everybody else seems to have more fun. That's how Jeremiah was looking at life. Actually, when you go through Jeremiah, there's a couple times in his life where he came to that conclusion. Everybody's having fun to me! You and I have to run with the footman for God. We're in a race that falls in. But there's nothing about this race we need to understand. We begin by running with the footman. In the end, we run with horses. We begin by running with the footman. In the end, we run with horses. Are we prepared to really obey God when the world says no? Right now, it's easy. We're attracted to the world, but the world allows us to do this. What happens if the world says no?

What happens when we run with the horses? Because right now, we're just running with footman. If we think this is the hardest trials of being a Christian, you've never read the New Testament. How do we prepare for that? What does it mean? How do we prepare for that when we have to run with the horses? Let's start at Acts 14. You know, there are certain statements made in the Bible that are promises, certain statements that are definitive. God says this is going to happen. God says we obey Him, we love Him, He is going to give us eternal life, and He's going to give us rewards so great that He says you can't even imagine them. This place is like in Romans 8. It's beyond our imagination, He says, what God is going to give us, if we believe that, and if we live it. If we don't, then we may not get there. Right now, we're running with the footmen. Someday we'll run. We'll have to run against the horses. Acts 14 verse 21. Speaking of the Apostle Paul, he says, and when he had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. This is Paul of Artemis. Now, notice what they did. They made many disciples.

You and I are disciples of Jesus Christ. Last night at the young adults Bible study, we're going through the doctrine of laying on of hands. For those of you that were baptized, hands were laid on you, and you were set apart by God and given His Spirit, and He said, you are mine. You are mine. One hundred percent you are mine. And everything you do can say, you are mine, and you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. We're to be imitators of Jesus Christ. Our teacher is the one we imitate. I did something a few days ago that I've wanted to do for decades, but I've started to realize there's a point in life where you begin to thank the people who helped you along the way. So I called a teacher I had in junior high school who inspired me to be a writer, because he knew I liked writing, and he would take, and I would write stories, and I would write articles, and just for the fun of it, so he could critique them and he could work through them. And I called him, and I said, do you remember me? He hasn't seen me since 1978. And he said, yes! Did you ever finish the artist, the portrait of an artist, as a young man by James Joyce? And I said, no. And he says, you need to.

Teacher down to the end, right? I said, I never got through the first five pages. You still need to read that. So I put it on my bucket list. I am going to read if it kills me. The portrait of an artist as a young man by James Joyce. James Joyce, of course, is an Irish writer, and he's, you know, it's written in a stream of thought. It's not written logically. He deliberately did that. So I don't even know how to. It's hard even for me to get through the first couple pages. So it's on my bucket list again. In a little bit of way, just a tiny way, that man was a teacher, and I was a disciple of him. So I wanted to thank him. I said, yeah. He said, what do you do now? I said, if I write articles, I pass through to church. I'm on a national television program where I write scripts. He said, don't always write for everybody else. Sometimes you need to remember to write for yourself. He's still teaching me. Jesus Christ is our teacher. And wherever they went, they made disciples. They didn't go every place and make just people who go to church. Sometimes we think, well, if I go to church, you know, I get salvation. How many years throughout the church of icing people make the mistake, if I can just keep my kids in the church? No. We can get our kids to have a relationship with God. They get salvation. They receive salvation through Jesus Christ. We can make them warm a seat, and they never get any of it. I've seen people be in the church 20 years and walk out and leave one day and never be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Ever. What they get convinced was they shouldn't keep Christmas and Easter. So they didn't do that, and they shouldn't eat pork. So now they don't go to any church, but they don't keep Christmas or they don't keep Easter, and they don't eat pork. That's not salvation. Now, does that mean you and I should go eat pork? Of course it doesn't. That's not the point I'm making.

The point is, is we have to be disciples. And I think this is one of the most, and you'll hear, you're going to hear me say this a lot. I've been saying this for about six months, and I'm going to keep saying it. I think it is the most ignored teaching in the Scripture and the church of God. That we should be disciples of Jesus Christ. They made disciples.

They returned a Lystra, an Iconium, an Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith. Exhorting is a very important word in Greek.

Many times you will see exhorting or comforted used in terms of trials. Comfort is a different word. It is introspective. It has to do with finding peace and calmness in the face of difficulties. Exhortation is different. Exhortation in the Greek always looks forward and always involves a course of action. You're exhorting something somewhat. You're motivating them to do something towards the future. So, they were exhorting them. They were motivating them to action towards the future.

Discipleship is not just sort of live this, sort of. Sometimes discipleship is active involvement day by day, minute by minute in being an imitator of Jesus Christ. But notice the next statement they told them. They're exhorting them to continue in the faith because some of them were leaving the faith. They were leaving on the fringes of the faith. You know, we live on the fringe of the church. That way I'm okay. I receive salvation because I live on the fringe of the church. No, we receive salvation because we have a relation with God and with Jesus Christ. The church is where He puts us. The church has never saved anybody.

I've been on radio and television for 10 years and I've reached millions of people and I've never converted a person. God converts people. We give the message. God brings people to salvation. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. That's who we are. And He says, continuing, okay, He exhorts them to continue in the faith, saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. That is a promise and it is a promise you and I must embrace. You know, I embraced, Mr. Locker was talking about, I embraced when I was young that I had to wait for God to give me a woman who would be converted. There were times I thought I would not get married, but I had to wait for that. I had to embrace a promise. We've had to embrace a lot of promises in life. You know, I embrace a promise that God is going to send Jesus Christ back, and when He does, we're going to participate with Him. We embrace that promise. Here's a promise I'm going to ask you today to embrace so you can run someday with the horses. We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. There is a price to pay for eternity. There is a price to pay for the kingdom of God. There is a price to pay for all the promises that God has given to us, and that price is the price of discipleship.

This is a guarantee. This isn't something you can avoid. It is something that you and I will go through if we want the kingdom of God. The more we try to spend or live our lives in absolute comfort where we never face the trials of Christianity. I'm not talking about the trials of, okay, you lost your job this week, and you need, you know, so you've got to find a new job. Everybody goes through that. I'm talking about, well, I got sick. Everybody goes through that. I'm not talking about the normal trials we go through. Everybody watches their family, you know, their parents, their grandparents die as they get older. Everybody eventually faces their own mortality. There's things that we all face as part of the human experience. I'm talking specifically today about what you and I face in order to be a disciple, in order to imitate Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus gathered His twelve disciples together. This was before they were apostles. This was before they had actually received God's Spirit. This was before they were ordained in their positions. He gathered them together and He says, now, here's what I want you to do. Let's go to Matthew 10. Matthew chapter 10. He says, now, fellas, I spent all this time training you and teaching you. They lived with Him. This is part of discipleship. This is why in the church we have to be close. The church can't be just coming together once a week. We have to be with each other all the time because we're supposed to disciple each other. Discipleship is a fascinating concept. And it is not leadership, by the way, although leadership can be involved in it.

Because discipleship has to do specifically with imitating the life of Jesus Christ. But He says in verse 1, when He called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of diseases. Whoa! This is a great time to be a disciple. Okay, guys, that trains you. We've been through this. I'm going to send you out now. And I want you to go from town to town, and you go to the synagogues, and you teach. And when there's debate going on, of course, in the Jewish society, there's always debate someplace. You know, the local little café, whatever's going on. Get involved. And you teach them what I've taught you. And I'm going to give you power so people listen to you. Man, this is a great time to be a disciple. Then He spends the rest of the chapter saying, now, let me tell you about the cost of it. Let me tell you what it is to go out and do this. To live life as a disciple. By the way, disciples cannot hide and wait for Jesus Christ to return.

He and I live in the world as an example of Jesus Christ. He didn't hide. He wouldn't let His disciples hide. Man, they must have gone out really excited or thought really, you know, a lot of excitement when He told them this to begin with. But notice now what He says in verse 5.

The 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying, oh good, now He's going to give us commands. Good, we'll bring down fire on people who stand up against this. You know, nobody will be able to touch us. We'll be tough. Everything will work out great. People will just give us money. We'll never get sick. Man, this is going to be great. We're disciples with power.

Do not go the way of the Gentiles. Do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the Lawsheaf of the House of Israel. Later He would tell them to go to the Samaritans and the Gentiles. He said, right now, I'm just giving you a little job. I want you to go all over Judea a little bit and just see those people. You know, friends, neighbors, people speak the same language. They have the same culture. And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is in hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Whoa! Now, this is exciting. You mean, I'm going to go and maybe raise the dead? Yeah, yeah. You'll know when the time comes that you now have the power to go out and do this, and this little training exercise. Boy, this is going to be great. People are going to be following us around, praising us. We're going to be the most...we're going to be the rock stars of Judea. Okay?

Nothing could go wrong.

First night, provide either gold or silver or copper in your money belts. They say, now, what do I...nothing I want you to do is I want you to go out and I don't take any money with you. You can't go out, and this can't be a materialistic campaign.

So, I'm going to send you out for a while, and you're going to have to trust God to take care of you. You say, boy, am I glad I weren't one of these 12's, but are you a disciple? Sometimes the cost of discipleship, and many times what we don't realize, is what keeps us from discipleship is the materialistic world we live in. We really think the car, the house, the clothes, the boat, the money, the prestige. We really, really still crave those things. It's not wrong to have a house or a boat or a car. If that's the center of your life, your discipleship is already in trouble. So, he tells them that, I don't want you to be concerned with these things. He says, nor bags, nor journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staff, nor staff, nor workers worthy of his food. He says, I'll just feed you as you go along.

They could even take an extra pair of clothing with them. Now, being a disciple, this point's got to be a little worrisome. Okay? It smells sort of bad after a while. How are we supposed to do this? Like, a week? Two weeks? I don't know how long he sent them out for a while, but he sent them out. He says, now whatever city or town you enter, inquire, who is in worthy and stay there. You mean we don't even get to stay at the holiday and express? I mean, they have these great big cinnamon rolls. No, no, no. He'll stay in somebody's house. But what if nobody takes us in? You don't have to deal with that. What if nobody takes us in? You don't have to deal with that. You don't have to deal with that. But I don't have any money! That's true.

Is there like a second-tier disciple? I mean, send these guys out. And this is what Thomas is saying, I'm glad you're sending those other 11 out. I'm staying here with you, Jesus. At least I can eat. The cost of discipleship. Aren't you glad? I'm glad Christ has nastest of you. That's because you're not running with the horses yet. We're still running with footmen.

Sometime in everybody's life, for God, we must run with the horses for his sake.

Every one of us sometime will, in some way. And it won't be easy. And some of you already have.

Some of you already have at some point in your life. You've had to give up. Something so horrible, it was almost impossible to give up for the sake of God.

He says that a lot of people won't accept you. Verse 14 says they just won't even hear you. In fact, verse 16, he says, Now before you think you're going to be like superstars from this, behold, I send you out of sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and harmlessness doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in the synagogues. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't be like scourge. This is like a metaphor, right? This is one of your parables. You don't mean someone's going to beat me? Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're going to get beat. But I said we were going to cast out demons. Yeah.

It's the cost of discipleship. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Now, fortunately, in this training exercise, that didn't happen to them. You don't see recorded in Matthew where they were beaten at that point or brought before kings. That would happen decades later when they had gone to a lot more training. But he's telling them, someday, right now you're going out and sort of running with some footmen here. Someday you will run with the horses. You will have to. For my sake, Jesus says.

He says that when they deliver you up, verse 19, do not worry about how or what you will speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you will speak. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father who speaks in you. He says, I will give you power in that time to say what has to be said. At a time when people are persecuting you, putting you down, turning against you. He says, now let me tell you something about this is a price that you may not even understand yet. He says, now a brother will deliver a brother to death and a father is child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endorses it will be saved. He said, for some, the price you will pay is your own family. That's the price that we pay to be a child of God.

That's a little different than I'm going to go around healing people. I'm going to go around speaking in the synagogues. Everybody will say, oh look, there's Peter. Let's go to church this Sabbath. I like Peter. He's better than our rabbi.

He said, someday you may actually have your family turn against you. Will you be willing to put God above friends and family? What is it that we'll put above God? He says, in fact, you may have to run away from city to city in verse 23. And in verse 24, he says, now let me explain something to you in all this. The disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and a servant be like his master. If they have called the master of the house Belzebub, how much more will they call those of his household? He said, you must do what I do. He says, if they call me a demon, what are they going to call you?

What price you may have to pay to be my disciple, to follow me, to live like I'm teaching you. They understood the privilege. Now they were beginning to understand the cost. They had to be a little shocked by the cost of the privilege of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. But he says, don't worry, verse 26 and 27. He says, I will eventually deal with them. Same thing he told Jeremiah. He tells them not to fear, verse 28. Why? Verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear, therefore, for you are of more value than many sparrows. He says, God loves you. That's why you're called. That's why you have been set apart to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. That's why you have been given a commission to live your life imitating Him. He said, God loves you. So go do it. Trust in His love, and trust in what He will give you, and know the price it has to be paid.

Then he says to them, verse 32, Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. So you follow me, and I'm standing right there beside the Father, saying, There is a disciple. There is a brother and sister. There is a child of God. There is one of your children right there. It's hard to imagine that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God, and sometimes He says your name to the Father. See, Bob, down there, now that is a disciple. That's what Jesus Christ does. He confesses us before the Father all the time. That's why when you pray, you don't pray to Jesus Christ, but directly to the Father. And Christ stands there and says, Hey, there's Bob. Come on, Bob. Come talk to the Father. This is a disciple. Can you imagine? Have you ever thought that Jesus Christ confesses before God your name? That's a reality that He says He will do, and He does today.

Do you believe it? Does it mean anything to you? Does that mean anything to you? That Jesus Christ confesses your name to the Father.

But notice the next verse. But whoever denies Me, remember, He's not talking to the world. He's talking to His disciples. Whoever denies Me before man, Him I will also deny before My Father, who is in heaven. Now, that is a very frightening statement.

But it's real. He reminds Him of the love of God. We're seeing how much Jesus Christ loved these disciples. But He sits there. Now, remember, before Him is John and Peter and Thomas, Bartholomew, Andrew, James. And He says to them, Would you go out here and you deny Me? When I stand before the Father, I will deny you. Now, that's not one of My disciples. I don't know what you would. That scares Me. That really scares Me. Do not think, verse 34, I have come to bring peace on earth. The Messiah was come to bring peace on earth. He is the Prince of Peace, and He tells His disciples, But don't think I've come to do that right now, because I have not.

He says, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against his mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household. So sometimes the price of discipleship is real, real heavy. But if we've been called and we don't pay that price, He says that I will deny you because He paid His price. He paid His price for every one of us to come right before the Father as forgiven children of God. There's nothing He's asked of you that He hasn't done a thousand times more. But He still asks something of you. Be my disciple.

And then He says in verse 37, now we usually read this in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, but Jesus obviously made these statements more than once because they appear more than once in the Gospel. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and fall after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

That's an incredible statement there. Whatever you have lost for God, whatever you have paid, the loss of maybe money over the years, the loss of status, the loss of a husband, maybe you didn't marry somebody one time because they turned against God. And you said, no, I have to marry him to faith. Whatever you have lost, he says, I will pay that back in a way you can't even imagine. I will give you so much more. But the price is still required. And he showed us the way by paying a price. There's nothing in here that he didn't suffer. Jesus Christ, only family, turned against him. All of the disciples turned against him at one point, except John. They all ran away. His own brothers and sisters denied he was the Messiah until after he was resurrected. And they were like, oh, I guess he was. When he starts showing up after he's dead, and he walks through the wall, it's like, okay, you really are a little different than us, huh?

His own friends, he was hated, he was spat upon. He didn't have any great status. He was never able to rise to great wealth.

That's who he was. And he says, now, if you're my disciple, understand at least part of that price you will pay in your life. Now, fortunately, he doesn't ask us. He asked a few people to go through a lot, but he doesn't ask us to go through what he went through. But we are expected to run with the footman all the time. You know, this is a race.

And sometimes we will be required to run with the horses. There will be a price to be paid.

Are we, do we love God? Are we enough of a disciple of Jesus Christ to pay that price? David talks about this a lot. It's interesting when you go into the Psalms. I looked around you to keep saying, why is it just like Jeremiah, the wealthiest, happiest, foremost, fun-loving people don't care about you. How come? And then always the Psalm ends with, and then I remember, wait a minute, I have God. I know God. All that stuff doesn't matter. I know God. God's in my life. When I pray, I feel His presence. I study His Word. At one point He says, and I went to the tabernacle and I remembered why I'm here. I remembered why I'm here. And I remember the future that He promises me. And David talks about that future. We struggle to be a disciple on so many different levels. I'm going to talk here for a little bit then. How do we prepare to run with the horses? I mean, I hate running with the footmen. I really do. You know, I would like a life of absolute comfort all the time.

Doesn't work that way. We're running with the footmen every day because we live in an evil world and it'll wear us out if we're not careful. It will wear us out. We will forget we are disciples. And it's easy just to stop running. Four things. Four things in preparing to run with horses. And I'm going to call them Remember, Accept, Focus, and Act. Remember, Accept, Focus, and Act. Remember this. How you and I experience Christian tribulations, how we experience them, is largely based on accepting those tribulations as part of our Christianity.

You will not? No. We will not see the Kingdom of God without much tribulation. That's a promise. So we have to accept tribulations for being a disciple of Jesus Christ. There's a price to pay for this at times. And sometimes it's not comfortable. Sometimes it'll be friends. Sometimes it'll be a house. Sometimes it'll be a car. Sometimes it'll be a job. Sometimes it'll be family members. Sometimes it can be all kinds of things.

Seeing the difficulties, let me finish this sentence because it's a long sentence. I wrote this down. I shouldn't have made it two sentences. How you and I experience Christian tribulation is largely based on accepting those tribulations as part of our Christianity. Seeing the difficulties of these tribulations as spiritual growth opportunities and accepting the challenges as a way to influence others to turn to God. We accept the challenges as a way to influence others. You accept the persecution as a way to exhibit Jesus Christ. If they did it to our Master, remember what he says to his disciples there in Matthew 10, you're not above me. If they did this to me, they will do it to you. So we say, okay, if I am willing to do that, then I must do this to influence others. When Jesus Christ died and was resurrected, thousands of people responded to God. Every time you face and do the right thing, when you do the right thing, when it's the honest thing to do, when it's the righteous thing to do, what is the uncomfortable thing to do, what is the unpopular thing to do? When everybody else says you're silly for doing it and you do it for God, you never know what seed you have just planted in someone else. You never know what God will do.

That's what his disciples do. So how do you know that? Because it's what Jesus Christ did. It's what he did and everything, how he lived on this earth. The two men on the side of the road, crying out his name, and he walks over and says, what can I do for you? The prostitutes that he sent down and ate with so he could teach them God's way while the Pharisees just tore him apart. And then he went and had lunch with the Pharisees. The very people were attacking him. Okay, let me talk to you too, though. Let me tell you about God's way.

Remember how you and I experience Christian tribulations. It's largely based on accepting those tribulations as part of our Christianity, seeing the difficulties of spiritual growth opportunities and accepting the challenges as ways to influence others to turn to God. But if we're not disciples, we don't see it that way. All we see is, you right person, how dare you do this to me. I hate your guts. I'm going to get you. Yes, wait, I'll get you.

Instead of saying, we have an opportunity, this challenge is an opportunity to reflect Jesus Christ. Accept. That's remember. Accept. Accept that we can't hide from the difficulties we face from being a Christian in Satan's world. We can't hide from the difficulties we're going to face as a Christian in Satan's world. Acts 5, 12. Acts 5, 12. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. They're apostles now, they're ordained. They're at the temple, the very temple there in Jerusalem. The place where people came from all over the world to worship God, and they're there as a group united, worshiping God, following God. Miracles are taking place. It's a great time to be a disciple. Yet none of the rest dared to join them, but the people esteemed them highly. Well, there's 12 of us up here. Come on and join us. Oh, no, we really like listening to you. Come preach to us again. Well, come join us. No way. You know what the Sanhedrin's going to do to you guys? But keep preaching. Keep telling us. In fact, we're going to bring some more sick people by tomorrow. Come join us. No, no, we'll just bring them. Get healed, okay? This is the way the people were responding to them. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, mollitudes of both men and women. And it goes on and talks about how people were being healed. All these great things were happening. And you read the rest of the verse or chapter, what happens is. And the Sanhedrin comes down on them just as hard as they can. What a great time to be a disciple here in jail. There was a price to be paid for all the gifts God gave them.

But they did not hide from what they were supposed to do. You and I cannot hide who we are. We are lights to the world. You are a light wherever you are. So then you say, well, it's awfully alone. You know, I don't see very many people during the week. And I, you know, I go to work and I'm by myself. There's some people go through that. Maybe your wife or your children aren't even part of the church. You say, I'm by myself all the time. You are a light. You're a disciple of Jesus Christ, wherever you are. You are a light. You can't hide that light. And sometimes there's a price to be paid to be that light. It is a privilege to be a light of God. And there's a price to be paid to be a light of God. But compared to the price paid for us, I mean, it's pretty small. It just doesn't feel that way.

Just doesn't feel that way.

Except... Now, this doesn't mean, by the way, go seek persecution. I've seen people like this. Oh, yes, my badge of honor. It's like Justin in the first century. There's a Christian writer named Justin. I don't remember his last name because he's known as Justin Martyr.

He promoted martyrdom so much that that became his name. And he just did everything in his life to get martyred. Eventually the Romans said, okay, we'll kill you. So they did. Because that's my badge of honor. I got martyred. And I tell you what, I'm going to avoid persecution whenever possible. But, you know, we're not allowed to say, oh, well, we know that our kids are being taught evolution, but we don't want to cause trouble. We're not allowed to say, oh, we know adultery is wrong, but we don't want to say anything to the world. I'm not saying you should go out and knock on your neighbor's door and say, you people are living in sin. That's not what it says to do. You don't find people in the Bible doing that. But what happens when someone asks you?

Well, you accept this may cost me something, but there are times you tell the truth. And there's times you just, you know, let it go. But there's times you're supposed to tell the truth. The wisdom is knowing when. Remember, accept. Accept that we can't hide from the difficulties we face for being a Christian and Satan's world. Three is focus. Stay focused on God himself, on Jesus Christ, on the promises and on their power. Stay focused on God. The more every day you're in prayer, the more every day you're in Bible study, the more every day you're thinking about God, the more help you get. When you don't do those things, we don't get any help.

Stay focused. Don't let television, video games, or the newest gadget, be the focus of your whole life. I'm not saying it's wrong to watch television to play a video game or buy a gadget. But those are just little compartments of your life. Your life is to be focused on God. We do have a very interesting instance of a man. We had a particular focus. Now, he lost his focus later in his life for a little bit, then got him back. But look at the time when he had this focus. It's Elijah. Let's go to 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings 18.

Ahab was a horrible, despicable king.

Ahab had to keep going to him and saying, God's unhappy with you. Ahab kept saying, I'm unhappy with you. Well, okay. God's unhappy with you. He has a very unpleasant relationship. And there's a drought. And God says, okay, I've caused the drought. I'm going to show Ahab my power. I'm going to break the drought. So, verse 41. Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat, and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went out to eat and drink, and Elijah went to the top of Carmel. There he bowed down the ground and put his face between his knees. Now, at this point, there is absolutely zero evidence that it's going to rain. He tells Ahab, can't you hear the rain? It's coming. God's sending rain. Now, you go get something to eat. I'll come back later when it rains. So he tells his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. So he went up and looked, and he said, there's nothing. Seven times he's praying. Now, you talk about desperate prayer, but this is focus. Focus on God. Focused on God. He was remembering. Now, he was under the threat of death from Abraham, and he had his wife all the time. Focused prayer over and over again. Relationship with God.

And he said, then he came to pass the seventh time, he said, there is a cloud as small as a man's hand, riding out of the sea. He said, say to go and tell Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Go get in a chariot and get home, or you won't make it today because it's going to rain. Verse 45, know what happened in the meantime. So the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Abraham to the entrance of Jezreel. Here's a man who literally ran with the horses. No. Here's a man who outran the horses.

Now, did he do that because he just had to be a world-class sprinter? It's a long ways he ran. No. No human being can outrun a chariot being pulled by horses. He outran a chariot being pulled by horses because he stayed focused, and God helped him to do it. You see, when you and I have to run with the horses, we won't run with the horses because somehow we are all faster and stronger and better and able to do it. We will do it because we're so close to God that God will help us do it. God will help us do it. Here's a man who literally ran and beat horses because he stayed focused. He remembered, he accepted, he stayed focused. The last thing is you have to act. We should be constantly praying for God's continued work in us, in each other, and in the world. Constantly praying. Regularly praying. I find in Acts 12, there's a fascinating story where Peter is being a good disciple and he gets thrown in jail for it.

He is thrown in jail for being a good disciple. He didn't commit a crime. He didn't do anything. He's in jail. It says that God comes along and opens the door for him in a miracle, and he leaves. The first thing he does is he goes to the home of some of the brethren. When he knocks on the door, it says, well, let's go there. Acts 12. Let's look at the one verse, Acts 12.

Verse 12. So when he had considered this, so he's freed from prison, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

You know, these people knew that they were under, in this case, persecution. There was a price their leaders were being persecuted. Peter was actually in jail. Now, they could have all ridden it, run away and hid, but they did not. Now, what action could they take? They couldn't take up arms and try to overthrow the government. We talked about that last month. Remember when I went through the two sermons on how we have to respond to authority? You know, we talked specifically about the authority of the land. We're not allowed to go take up arms and overthrow the government.

So then what were they to do? What could they do? I suppose they could have put together petitions, although they realized that that wasn't a democracy. If they sent in their petition, all that means that the Sanhedrin would say, oh, we have a list of people to go arrest and put them in jail. So they still knew they had to act. So they got together and they prayed. And Peter shows up at the house. And he reads the story, of course. It's hilarious because a young girl runs over, opens a little slot in the door, and runs off and says, you know, Peter's outside, leaves him outside on the doorpost. He's knocking at the door, and she's running back and saying, guess who's outside? Nobody will believe her, right? A typical teenager telling all the adults something, and none of them believe him. And they go, look, and there is Peter standing outside. Standing outside. Action. If we remember that these experiences are actually for our good, it's part of discipleship. We're learning to be like Jesus Christ. They're growth, spiritual growth opportunities. And it gives us a challenge to help others to turn to God, to preach the gospel through our lifestyle. If we accept that tribulations come into our lives for being a Christian, and it's, we're told, it's a promise. If we focus on God's promises, and God, who He is, His power, His love, we stay focused on them, and then we have to always act. We're always required to do something, even if it's just pray, even if it's get together with other Christians and pray. Get together with other Christians and just pray for God's help, for God's direction, for God's guidance. Pray for each other, especially when you know someone who is suffering because of their obedience. You know, we all suffer because of our disobedience. Yeah, that's what we deserve, right? But we see people suffer because of their obedience, suffer because they're doing what's right. Should we not all get together and pray for those people? Can you imagine some people are visiting each other in the church? You know, so-and-so over here just lost their job because they decided to stand up for the Sabbath. Well, let's all pray for it. Can you imagine everybody praying for that person silently or openly together, you know, one person at a time, or just silently pray? Whatever! Can you imagine us doing that? They were doing it there. Or even taking action by calling the person or inviting the person over to your house or helping the person maybe with a little bit of food because they're out of a job. See? We have to take action because we then take this action that God will continue this work in us and continue His work in others and continue His work in the world. My mom has kept that little picture, that little painting of horses running through a field for all these years on the wall. My dad had it up there for years. Probably there'll be a time. You'll find it in my house someplace. And on it will be a little piece of tape that's going to be all weathered and looking pretty bad. A little tape. It says Jeremiah, and two verses in Jeremiah as well.

You and I are going to suffer these problems, difficulties in life, because we will obey God. And it's only going to get worse. Right now, if you find it difficult, because, well, I know that I should do this. Or, I know I should do that. But, you know, it's just sort of hard. If I'm a neighbor's thinker, if I do that, I won't have as much fun. If I do this, I'll lose out on that contract. Whatever things that we have that keep us from obeying God. If I do that, I won't get the right girlfriend. If I do that, I won't fill in the blank. But I know what I should do. Then remember something. If you do not remember the price paid for you and the price that is asked of you to be a disciple, if you don't accept that price, willingly and lovingly accept that price, if you don't stay focused on God and His promises and His power, and you don't act as a disciple, you don't do those things, then someday you will find yourself before God distraught like Jeremiah. And you may be surprised with the answer. If you can't run with the footman, how can you expect to run with the horses?