Stand Up Against the Lion

Well, happy Sabbath, brethren! Thank you, Carson, for that beautiful and encouraging song. Appreciate that very much.

How many of us are or were children in the church at one time? See your hands? Wow, look at all the hands! You know, many of us actually know each other from a time when we were children. And some are growing up that I, as a former little child in the church, have seen in their childhood now being sent out from here or going out from here, starting lives, having their own children who are children in the church.

I'd like to share some thoughts with you today that are vital to your success. All ages, all of us, vital to our success. Let's begin with goal setting. Achieving any big goal requires choosing on your or my part that goal. It can't just be some idea somebody floats out and we sort of casually adopt it. No, it has to be our goal. We have to be passionate about it.

And choosing that goal comes along with effort. Effort, and if that goal has any value to it, discomfort and certain amount of risk. And yet if that goal is big enough and you and I individually sense that that goal is worth the effort, the discomfort and the risk, there's almost nothing that we won't put ourselves through to reach that goal. You may recall that when William Bradford and a group of people chose to cross the Atlantic Ocean during the stormy seas 400 years ago at risk for everything, including their lives, in which almost half of them would die, ultimately, risking leaving everything behind, going to a new place where they didn't know what was going to happen.

William Bradford wrote in his journal, Difficulties were many, but not invincible in their minds. I need you to help me create a personal connection to this message. Everybody here, I want you to think for a moment. Help me out. Define your goal.

What is that passionate goal that you have? It could be as a child, you know, you wanted to learn to swim or maybe you're in that. And so this death-defying getting into water that's so scary and putting your face into water where you can't breathe and then struggling and choking, but getting in and doing it again and again. And finally, jumping from higher and higher heights or getting on a bicycle.

And what do you do? You go two or three pedals and you crash and, ow, that hurts. But you want to ride, so you get back on that bicycle and you crash and you ride and, ouch, repeat. And as teens, you want to master a goal, education or sports or romance. And so you push the envelope, don't you? You get up early and you strive and you struggle and you push harder and then harder and you lose some sleep.

There are falls, there are blisters. Repeat. And then you transition into young adults. Young adults have quests and desires for achievement. You risk your health. You sweat for that diploma, for that degree, for that job, for that career. You push yourself for that guy or that girl. The sports, the tough mutters, building the house, childbirth, years of diapers, decades of child rearing. And you call this the good life because that's the goal and you're in it. You're all in.

And adults, we have the ongoing education, the changing of jobs, the transfers, the relocations, for new opportunities, remodel another house, put in another garden, risk that start-up venture, adapt to changing technologies and all the risks and losses and gains and revisions. And then we repeat. And so our lives go with the goals that we set. Even small goals, it seems like, going to the Feast of Tabernacles involves a choice with a certain amount of discomfort and travel.

We sometimes think nothing if the destination is good enough in strapping ourselves into 24 inches by 30 inches for hours with somebody else taking up part of that. And then we'll fly across inhospitable landscape that if the airplane ever went down, it would be the end of us. At altitudes that humans can't survive in and environments that you cannot survive in. And we'll come back and call it the best feast ever. See how we willingly choose our goals with discomfort, with effort, with bruises, with sweat?

The greatest treasure-seeking adventure in human history has launched. And a select group will be the richest elite in all the span of time. How strongly do you want to have that as your goal? How much effort and sacrifice and discomfort and risk are you willing to put into the pursuit of that in order to succeed? Let's examine today some components of our calling to become first fruits with Jesus Christ, to sit on His throne, to co-inherit all that exists, and to rule throughout time right at the helm of the God family.

This goal involves choice. In choosing this goal, we accept that it will include extreme effort, discomfort. At times, there will be risk. The title of the sermon today is Stand Against the Lion, and you'll see how that title fits in as we go along. Everyone's personal goal is unique. All have a similar component, the effort required once the choice is made, the discomfort, the risk.

When I was 11 years old, President John Kennedy announced on television, he said this, We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept and one we intend to win. That was when I was 11. When I was 17, Robin Weber and my brother Mark and I were walking down the street in Copenhagen, Denmark, and there was a little crowd gathered outside a shop, and it was kind of curious.

What's everybody doing down there? So we walked down and joined the crowd and looked in the window, and there was a TV set, and Neil Armstrong stepped out of the capsule onto the surface of the moon. That was an incredible amount of effort and risk in those short years of my adolescence. People died trying to help make that happen. It's ingrained on us from childhood that goals are reached with incredible effort.

And that effort involves discomfort and risks, and we humans accept that. Even from youth, we will say, no pain, no gain, suck it up, no risk, no reward, winners never quit, quitters never win. We know these things. And so we're willing to push ourselves. So what goal is it that you are pursuing? What is that goal that you've thought about or you're on? You need to contemplate yours here, help us out with this concept, so that you can understand that, yes, you too set a goal with effort, discomfort, risk, and you're willing, you're all in. It might range from putting in a garden.

You might laugh at that, but you choose to put in a garden, you choose expense, you choose back-age, you choose blisters, you choose sunburn, you choose all the stuff that goes in with a garden, and you risk wasting all that money if it doesn't grow. Or climbing Mount Everest, which is an extreme risk. You know, everybody has their unique goal in life.

It might be childbirth, which has a great goal with discomfort and also risk, and yet the pursuit of that goal can mean everything to a young woman. Don't you readily take up your goal and your pack of tools, your skills, your physical tools, whatever it takes, and you launch into that goal?

Let's use backpack today as a symbol for what we're talking about. On my shelf at home, there's a GoPro... no, not a GoPro... there's a Go-lite Gust backpack.

And it's full of stuff, it's full of equipment for backpacking. And it's there. Notice it's not on my back. I haven't chosen to put it on today. And this backpack reminds me that it's filled with tools for a great adventure. Sometimes it goes on pretty great adventures. It's filled with basic survival tools, not cushy, homey tools. Stuff that you are going to be uncomfortable wearing and eating and doing. It's going to go up and down things that are going to be really hard on you. You're not going to sleep well. It's going to be a miserable actual bed that you have.

The food is lousy, etc. But it's all worth the end of the goal. So we all have this essential backpack for whatever goal it is that you're going to pursue. And it's always there. You know it well. You know your skills. It might be a sewing machine with all the bobbins.

It might be a computer with all the programs. It might be the apps or it might be the skills to perform in a sport. Your bag of gear. It could be all types of things. But you have a backpack.

When you put that on, you choose. You choose to go into something that is going to be demanding. Remember, one winter I decided, because I like solo wilderness adventures, I decided one winter to push into the backcountry at Zion National Park. And I knew when I went in I would be the only person in there because no one else was back there. And the Rangers told me, we're not going back there. So you're really on your own. My kind of adventure. And the only tracks I saw were mine and mountain lion tracks. And pushing up into that high country was the best backpack trip I've ever had. And now that probably seems crazy to you. But to me it's part of a lifetime of experiences I've had personally. It's the type of thing I enjoy. Think about your experience. You have something that's very personal to you. I will readily put on that backpack with its strains and blisters and cold and discomforts. The point is, when I look at my backpack, I see a good friend. What do you see when you look at my backpack? Do you see it as your good friend too? Or do you see that as a potential enemy? I don't want to do that. I don't want to go there. It's kind of like the guy who wants to climb Mount Everest. Sure, I'll do the view, but I'll do it out of a plain window while I eat an ice cream or something. We choose to put on the goals and the tools to make them successful. At the same time, we tend not to want to put on other people's backpacks. You know somebody else who has a goal that's not yours? Can you really sacrifice your life, as it were, and go through everything for their goal? If somebody ever talked you into doing something, then you wish you hadn't. Let's go out to sea and we'll go deep sea fishing. And you spend the whole time barfing? I did that with my dad enough times where I finally told him, you know, this is not my adventure. In Luke 9 and verse 23, we as youth in the church because we're all children of God, but we as youth at various ages are all here today because of someone else's offer to put on their backpack, to join them in a goal. It's their goal. In Luke 9 and verse 23, here we see Jesus Christ.

Luke 9 and verse 23, He said to them, If anyone desires to come after Me, Jesus was on a course, He was on a quest. He had the tools. He had devoted His life. This is a mission that He had been on for a long, long time, actually. If anyone wants to come after Me, let Him deny Himself, take up His cross daily and follow Me. Well, we might say, well, just let you take that journey, Jesus. I've got my own ideas here. I've got my own quest, my own goals in life. To deny Myself and take up a stake, a sacrificial thing, and follow you. How about Matthew 11 and verse 29?

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. He said, put My backpack on. Go ahead and put My backpack on. Join Me on this. Here's how I see My backpack. He says, I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your lives. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. That's how He sees it. From His viewpoint, He was in an incredible journey, being buffeted His whole life from infancy by Satan. He would be tortured to death by Satan, and yet His journey that He was on was worth it all. He's saying, come on, if you want to follow Me, come on My journey. The reason I'm talking with you about this today, and not to you, is because when I look at My backpack, and then I look at His backpack, they're not the same. And I can spend a lot of my life cruising through my life with my goals and ideas without ever putting on His, and think that somehow I'm going to have the same reward that He did. Somehow I'm going to move in and grab that great reward and sit on His throne with Him. And yet, have I ever chosen the goal that He chose? Have I ever chosen the discomfort? Have I ever chosen to actually hike the trail, the narrow, difficult path with Him, to the difficult goal that He said is good?

In Matthew 8, a few pages back here in verse 19, could we fall into a category where we're not really on board, we're associated but not committed?

Matthew 8, verse 19, certain scribes came to Him and said, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. I think we all said that. Certainly at baptism, I'm with you.

And Jesus said, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. We're on a camping trip here. We've got some difficult sleeping equipment and travel equipment, and we're on a road. We're moving. This is a narrow, difficult path. And then another of His disciples said to Him, Lord, let me go first and bury my Father. How many of us get up every day and really are committed to the goal that Jesus Christ and God the Father have created for you and me, and provided a full backpack of tools for us to succeed in that goal? Or do we kind of leave it there sitting and say, I'll get back to that. Right now, I need to go to work. I need to go to school. I need to get on with my goal. It's not everyone's idea of a great adventure. But God's goal for you involves choosing daily to pick up those tools, that sack of tools, and to trudge and hike the difficult trail that has a lion in the way, and find the narrow entrance to the kingdom that only few will find. So how devoted am I to His goal for me? That's a question I ask myself I'll share with you. How devoted to His goal for me am I? Remember, it's His goal for me, isn't it? It wasn't mine. God the Father put out the goal of the kingdom. And He said, you're really going to like this. We've created this. It's very intense. We've given all we can so that you can go down this difficult trail as first fruits, and you can follow Jesus Christ, and He'll actually lead you. He'll mentor you. He'll guide you. He'll partner with you. And so will I. God the Father says. And we say, hmm.

There is a lion who wants us to fail. And we might say, so you want to be a first fruit in the kingdom of God? Great. Well, this lion wants you to choose something else. Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. God gave Adam and Eve a wonderful opportunity. And the lion came along, verse 1. The serpent was more cunning than any beast to the field, which the Lord God had made. And He said to the woman, has God said you shouldn't eat of everything in the garden? I've got something else for you. I've got another goal for you to have. Another trail for you to walk. It's easier. It's more appealing. Verse 6. So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes. You see, we can be tempted by the lion on the trail to go somewhere. Mark chapter 4, verse 14. Let's see this in current form. Mark chapter 4 and verse 14. Jesus talks about how prevalent this is. God offers the opportunity, the lion shows up, and people suddenly don't want it. They want something else. Mark 4 and verse 14.

The sower sows the Word. Here it is. Gospel of the kingdom of God. Everybody in. Let's go to the kingdom. Let's keep the feasts. Come on, youth. We're all in on this. We've been in it from kids. And yet, we're not always this way, are we? Why? Because, in verse 15, these are the ones along the wayside where the Word is sown. When they hear Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts. He says, hey, why don't you do this instead? How many times do we, as young people, say, I'm going to be this way? I'm going to be godly all through my teenage years? Oh, really? Yes, I'm going to keep the laws of God. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to be true. I'm going to just be a perfect, virginous person. Satan says, oh, yeah? You haven't met Freddy yet. You haven't met little Susie yet. You haven't figured out that I've got a whole bunch of things I'm going to be convincing you to sort of try a different path, a different track, a few substances that you can take, a few other creative, fun little things that you can get into. Oh, yeah, he's right there. He's there for all of us. All along the way, humans tempted to be, tend to be tempted away from God's goal for us. And you can just read on down how this works. Satan comes and takes away the Word, and likewise are the ones who sown on stony ground, who when they hear the Word immediately receive it with guidance, yes, I'm in the church. I'm a kid in the church. I'm a young adult in the church. I'm dedicated to this way of life. I'm an adult in the church.

And when they have no root in themselves, and so they endure only for a time, and afterward when tribulation, discomfort, inconvenience, persecution arises, for the Word's sake, they stumble. Why? It wasn't really their goal. It wasn't really their goal, you see. It was really God's goal for them, but they hadn't bought in. And they weren't willing to go through all the stuff that Satan can throw at us and throw at the church, the upheavals that come in life, the dissatisfaction, when all of a sudden you think you're on course, and all of a sudden your course is ripped apart by someone or something, and you begin to say, wow, this isn't fair, and this isn't right, and I didn't sign on for this, and I've got to go back and find safety. I've got to go find calm. I've got to leave the trail. I've got to leave the path. I've got to leave the goal, because it wasn't really my goal. And others are sown among thorns. They hear the word. But the cares of this world, their own goals, the deceitfulness of materialism, riches, the desires for other things choke the goal, the word. Those become more important, and we get up in the morning and, well, I should pray and I should study God, I should seek the kingdom, but you know what? I've got to get to work. I've got a big test. I've got a girlfriend or a boyfriend. I've got a career. I've got something going wrong that I've got to go solve and fix. I've got to go fishing. I've got to go hunting. Something, you see. And next thing you know, we find it's not really our goal. Now, I'm telling you this because I'm finding this through my life, having been a good church kid and growing up and a minister all these years, that I've spent a whole lot of my life not picking up God's backpack, not really declaring in a heartfelt sense that that is my number one goal.

See, I can, I know there's a backpack of God's tools. It's in Ephesians chapter 6. How well do I even know what's in that backpack? Can I name the tools? Do I know those tools? At home, I've got a backpack. I know the tools in it. I can name everyone how they work, their strengths, their weaknesses, how to use them in any situation because, well, I'm in on that one. You and I are called in a very challenging time. And if we have not really taken into our heart that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, His holy righteous character, is our goal above all other things and willing to go through anything and everything and proficiently approach that goal in a systematic daily way and succeed in it, we're going to be the many who were called but not the few who were chosen from here on out.

Things, prophetically, get pretty intense. So let's pause and realize that this is God's goal for you. He designed it, Jesus Christ, with Him. Then they gave their everything for this goal, for you and I to have this goal.

They're everything. They can help you succeed in pursuing it. You know, one aspect of this goal we need to understand is in the Greek word keris. The Greek word keris, which is translated grace, which is out of the Roman, matched with a French word from the 12th century, takes on a bunch of other meanings by itself. But if you go back to that word at the time of Jesus Christ, back in the Koine Greek, you'll find in books like Relational Grace, The Reciprocal and Binding Covenant of Keris, other works you can look at online, archaeologists have found in recent years that that word back in the day meant a reciprocal favor that was given.

You could understand it this way. When a person is trying to get into office, somebody might give them a big contribution, right? That's a favor, so that someday if that person ever gets to be up in government, guess what? A favor is expected in return. And so as Jesus said, as he left to go to a far country, he gave favors, God gave favors, those mina, and said, you work with that, and he came back, and what did he say? How much did you gain?

And one man said, hey, I see you, you come to reap things that you didn't sow. Yes, God does. He wants a favor back from us. Are we involved in reciprocating? God has given us everything on his side. He gave us the physical realm, the entire universe, the earth.

He gave you in me life. He gave us his son's life. He gave us blood. He gave us now a calling for a few firstfruits to have the opportunity to be the bride of Christ and sit on his throne. With the calling, he gave us the gift of faith, another favor. He gave us the gift of repentance, which is another favor. He gave us the gift of forgiveness of sin through the blood of his son, another favor.

Then he gives us his Holy Spirit partnering with us, mentoring us, another huge favor. He gives us the opportunity for eternal life. Could he do more? Is there anything else that God, the Father, and Jesus Christ could do on their side? And now it's time for us.

Do we develop the fruit that they can harvest? Do we develop the character? Do we partner with them and develop that outgoing agape nature of theirs? That's the part that you and I say I'm all in for. That's the difficult trail with the lion in the way. That's the challenge that we have to go forward and develop something with and for the God family as they assist us in developing their mindset.

God doesn't want his part back. He doesn't want back his faith. He doesn't want back his sacri- He does not look back for his spirit. No, he wants something from you and me, fruit for the harvest. That's what he wants. And we will expend human effort if we think the goal is worthy. We will expend the effort to get up daily and study and pray and fight our nature all day. And fight against the temptations of Satan. And we'll struggle against the world. And we'll take the persecution. And we'll take whatever comes if that goal is really our goal.

When the goal is not so desirable, I can find a million excuses not to pursue it. Let's look at the goal in Matthew 6, verse 33. Jesus lays it out for us very simply. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. In other words, first there means primary and first place. Make that your number one objective in life. He's offering that as our objective in life. Is that our objective in life? Or do we put other things in front of it?

That's a question only you and I can answer. Many are attracted to the idea of the kingdom of God. They come, they hear, they watch. But when danger comes, like the disciples, they ran away. They hid from danger. Within this context, consider the goal that God offers us.

First fruits with the first fruit in the kingdom of God, the bride of Christ, sitting on the throne, ruling the nations, assisting God in that privileged position for all times. That's a lofty goal. That's the greatest possible human achievement. Only one has made it so far. That's Jesus Christ. He's been successful. He knows the way. He's the way, the truth, the life.

He's the firstborn of many brethren. But is it my adventure? Is that backpack my backpack too? Or is it just God's adventure for me? In chapter 7, here, in verse 14, he says, If we just look back at that verse 1 glimpse, it's a backpacking trip. Did you see it? There's a way. There's a goal that few will find. And the path is difficult. It goes uphill. It's challenging. It has lion in the path. Few will find it. Few make God's goal their goal. They're attracted, but sometimes people stall before baptism. Sometimes they endlessly circle the bowl, as it were, without taking the plunge. Others get tempted away from pursuing God's goal. Why is all this? It's not their goal with the personal conviction, the courage. An example of this is Israel, slaves in Egypt. God had a great goal for Israel, the slaves. You come out and have your own country, a land flowing with milk and honey. This is going to be great. Was it Israel's goal? Let's look back in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 8. As the book of Deuteronomy opens, we see Israel being brought along on this adventure towards God's goal for them. See, God says, I have set before the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the Lord God swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and their descendants after them. Whose goal was this? It's God's goal. It had been his goal way back at the time of Abraham. This was God's big goal for over 450 years.

Verse 10, the Lord your God has multiplied you. And here you are today as the stars of heaven and multitude.

Going on down here, verse 19. So we departed from Horeb and we went through all that great and terrible wilderness. Was this really their goal? Terrible wilderness? I thought it was milk and honey. Mountains of the Am... mountains? We had to go through mountains of the Amorites?

We came to Kadesh, Barnia, and I said to you, you've come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. And look, the Lord God has set the land before you. Go up and possess it. The Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear or be discouraged. That's exactly what He's telling us. Go in and possess the Kingdom. Those who possess the Kingdom take it by force. In other words, by effort, by conviction, by discomfort, by risk, by a certain amount of sacrifice. You take up and you follow Jesus Christ. Go in and possess it. It's interesting that they sent in spies. I'm not real sure about this. Let us check it out. So the spies in verse 26, they took of the fruit of the land in their hands. They brought it down to us, more climbing. And they said, it's a good land which the Lord is giving us. Verse 26, nevertheless, you would not go up. It wasn't their goal. They hadn't bought into it. Let's drop down to verse 33. We went in the way before you to search out a place. Oh, verse 30. Yeah, to search out a place.

Okay, just back up here a little bit. In verse 32, Yet for all that you did not believe the Lord your God. Verse 46, So you remained in Kadesh, Barnea many days. They were paralyzed. They were stuck there. They didn't go forward. They had fear. They had risk. They had paralysis. Was it just God's idea for them to have the promised land as a goal? I'll share with you a popular goal that people of wealth, some wealth, get talked into or convinced is wonderful. I don't know if you've ever been down to the Caribbean Sea, but it's a beautiful place with beautiful waters. I've flown over several times with my wife and looked down at the islands going by and thought, Wouldn't it be fun to sail between those beautiful islands? It'd be so nice and tranquil. Well, wealthy people actually like to do that. They like to buy big yachts, they like to sail down the East Coast of the United States, some from Canada, and into the Caribbean Sea, and have a nice couple of years of life. Beautiful. It's kind of like the church promoting the kingdom of God. Wouldn't it be nice to be in the kingdom and be in the church? We can sort of hear about someone else's passionate goal like Christ, but then there's a reality side. There's a book called An Embarrassment of Mangoes, and it's a Toronto couple that buys into this philosophy, and they buy a yacht, and they quit their jobs for two years, and they rent out their house, and they pack it up, and they sail down. It's an interesting adventure because with sailing the Caribbean, their goal, they had to ask themselves when they got to Bahamas with hundreds of other yachts that were paralyzed in the Bahamas, fearful of leaving on the multi-day trips it took between the other islands with the trade winds and the water currents that clash and the storms that include lightning and some of the sinking that happens every year in some of those yachts, this comfort, they find out, of sailing days at a time, seasick, tying your bucket to the tiller and throwing up as you stay there, with your body being covered in salt and your hair caking in salt, never even to shower, never able to really eat or use your facilities in order to pursue this goal. And they get paralyzed there. They found that before the hurricane season, start all the paralyzed people that are in the Bahamas, in the ports, afraid and reticent to leave, start trying to sell their yachts. And actually, if they can't sell them, they start selling them off in pieces, equipment, parts, anything to get out of there and go home where it's safe. Why?

Because it wasn't their goal, really. They're just tourists with a boat. They're not sailors.

Why did I come to the church? To pioneer the difficult trail to a heavenly country? Or am I here looking for the tour-best paradise? Kind of a check the box, hop on. You're invited on a journey to the kingdom of God, a journey that Jesus Christ set as a goal before the foundation of the world. Remember how this all comes together for Him? He was sacrificed. He knew what He was going to go through. He had the goal of doing what He did before the foundation of the world. When He came to earth, after all the prophecies were fulfilled and He came to earth, He said, with fervent desire, I desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Oh, He came and He was trained and He grew and that mental character and all that God needed Him to. And He was tested by the lion and He prevailed. In Hebrews 12 and 2, we find Jesus Christ's goal defined. Again, before we even get there, let's ask, is this going to be my goal? Hebrews 12 and 2. Looking unto Jesus. Do we want to look to Jesus here? He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's gone the trail. He is the author of it. He came up with, and God the Father designed the goal for us and the way. Who for the joy that was set before Him, the goal, the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, despising the shame and He sat down at the right hand of God. First of the first fruits. Step up. Now it's your turn to be a first fruit. Now it's your turn to get on the trail. Now it's your turn to go up against the lion. It's your turn to develop the character. The way is trued. It is tested. We have the guide. We have the equipment. Do we have the desire? Do we really have the desire? In Luke 4, in the first two verses, it always involved the lion. You can read of that back in Genesis 3, how the lion would bruise his heel and ultimately he would bruise its head. He was all in for this adventure. Luke 4, and in verse 1, Then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit, just like you and I can be, returned from the Jordan and was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, going up the difficult trail, and guess who was on the trail? Being tempted for 40 days by the devil.

No, that's our journey. Do we run from that? Do we say, ooh, not interested? Or, ooh, hope I don't have to do that. I'm going to hang out here in the harbor. I'm going to hang out here in town. God has called you and me to choose Jesus's goal. Let's look at Matthew 10 and verse 17. Matthew 10 and verse 17.

Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you at the synagogues. Did we sign on for that? Verse 19. For when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given you in that hour that you should speak. Verse 19. Verse 21. Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all nations, by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

That's just part of the journey. And we're coming up to a time at the end where it's prophesied for those things to happen to the true believers. Are we all in? Are we going to run away? Success depends on how much we want the goal. We want to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and nothing will stand in the way of us doing that. If not, we'll dread the risks and the discomforts. It comes down to how much do I want his goal from me. You remember he says in Matthew 5 and verse 6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. See, if that goal is my goal and I hunger and thirst for it, I'll go through anything to get it. Hunger and thirst, I mean, what would you go through for food if you're out in a desert and you're hungry and thirsty?

1 John 3, 16. By this we know, love, that he laid down his lives for us. Therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Are we on? Are we on the journey? Is that what we want to do? It involves some discomfort.

In Matthew 10, verse 34, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. I come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be those of his own household. Verse 39, He who finds his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will find it. Verse 38, He who does not take up his stake and follow after me is not worthy of me. All he's saying is he's not trying to scare us off. He's just saying, This is the greatest event ever in the history of time and it happens while Satan is the God of this world. Are you in on it?

A lot of people say, No, I don't want that. I'd rather wait till there's no Satan and it's real easy. Well, we don't have that opportunity if we're called now.

Are we in? There's an article by Mr. Robert Barrant in Beyond Today. You can look it up online entitled Staying Safe. It speaks about children are not raised to remain at home for life, all protected in Cushion. Ships are not built to remain in port.

It says, True safety for a child of God is not being hidden in some safe harbor. It's preparing for life and then sailing forth into its stormy seas.

We could look at the experience of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 29. I'll just refer to it. How many times was he beaten? How many times was he stoned? How many times was he in the deep overnight? Paul was all in. And in Acts, when they tried to get him to not go to Jerusalem because they were going to kill him there, don't break my heart by telling me not to go to Jerusalem. This was his quest. He was all in.

It's not a passive quest either. If you read the Bible, you'll find my wife Mary often says, look at this word, it is seek, pursue, wrestle, run, fight, overcome. They're all active. Walk, march. But seek, you know, seek means to really seek out and find. It requires striking out on this epic quest in pursuit of God's kingdom and righteousness. And a big part of it involves maneuvering against a lion, not letting him get you off that difficult path onto the Broadway, not getting him to tempt you, which he does all the time from that course of being a model teenager, a model young adult, a model adult, a model husband, a model wife, a model boyfriend, a model girlfriend that is tried and true, got their eyes in the right place.

James chapter 4 and verse 7 tells us something about this lion. Don't fear the lion. Make him fear you. James chapter 4 and verse 7.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. See, if you're really committed like Jesus Christ was, the devil is not a problem. He's going to be a challenge. But get him to run. Get him to move. Get him to change his course. You stay on point. Remember over in Kenya, we have a tribe over there called the Masai. And the Masai believe that when God created the world, he created all cows for the Masai. So your cows, if you have any, the Masai feel are theirs. Don't feel bad if you're missing some cows. It's not personal. It's just the way things are. But the Masai boys have so many cows and the men, it's their responsibility to maintain and protect this heritage, which is basically their only heritage. Their wealth is cattle. And they have them by the droves. But lion out on the Masai Mara on the Serengeti Plain, pick off the cows. So it's the boy's honor to protect those cows. They don't run from lions. They practice standing up to lions from childhood. And they train and they practice. And when they become men, part of the manhood ritual is to stand up to a lion, so that you can show that you have the ability to protect your family and your tribe's property.

We are to go down and walk and get up every day and use God's equipment and training and discipline and take action. In doing so, we develop that which God has called us to develop, holy righteous character.

In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7, to those who are on the path, it's kind of like a backpacking trip, or might be a rock climbing trip, or whatever it is, the passion that you have, a baby-making journey, whatever it is that you do that's challenging, a career opportunity, getting that PhD, building that house, whatever. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We don't do this alone. We have God with us in Jesus Christ. And we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Is he always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifest in our body? We are doing this together, and not even individually. We're doing it as a body, the body of Christ, with Christ, with God the Father. Now you might think, well, it'd be kind of dangerous to pick this journey and pick this goal and really devote myself to it. Well, how safe do you feel right now? We're here, right? We're church members. We're in a nice, comfy room. Air conditioning's on. 1 Peter 5, verse 8.

With holy, righteous character and heart, soul, and mind, he fasted. He put on God's backpack. He stood against the lion. He pursued the kingdom. He pursued righteousness. He succeeded, and he offers you and me this in the daily model prayer outline. Let's go look at it. Matthew 6, verse 11. Matthew 6. We have this model prayer outline, and if we're not careful, we'll skirt the part about our commitment.

He says in verse 9, in this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. It starts out each day with us taking our goal and making it second. When we get up in the morning, we actually have a choice to make every day. What's the goal? If we pray along these lines, it's, oh, it's your kingdom. It's about your name, not mine. It's about your family. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven today. Give us this day our daily bread, the bread of life, the life of your son, the Word. Dropping down, verse 13, a big part of the model prayer. How much do we put this into our daily prayers? Do not lead us or let us be led into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. There it is. I tell you, I personally have not thought much about putting that into my daily prayer life, because deliver us from Satan. Does he have a hold on me? Temptation? When you look at these words, not lead temptation, in other words, resist, help me resist, and deliver from Satan, help me get back onto the trail. He's got me. If you don't realize that, friends, brothers, sisters, brethren, then we're missing the fact that Satan is there with our thoughts. He has so many ideas for us to think about, some other things for us to be involved in and to tempt us with. From the booklet, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God, it says, Satan is not an ordinary opponent. He is extremely resourceful. He is a cunning adversary whose ultimate goal is to deny salvation to mankind by deceiving people, leading them astray, enticing them to sin, and turning them against God. Why do you think in the daily model prayer it says, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us, if there's no Satan there, getting us to think and sin and violate God's laws? To stand up against a lion, consider this. Start from your head and work down. What does God say about my hair? Do I do what God says to do with my hair, or do I do what the God of this world system thinks is good to do with my hair? What does God say about my mind? Do I put the things in my mind that God says to put in my mind, or do I put the things the society of Satan thinks is cool to put in my mind? And you know, those are many very exciting. They're not exactly millennial.

What does God say about my eyes? What should my eyes see? What should they not see? What are they seeing? What about my ears? What should I hear? Who should I be listening to? What should I be listening to? What are the parameters of what should enter through my ears? Am I doing that? Or am I doing what society thinks I should do? What does God say about my lips, my tongue, my throat, my speech? What should I say? What should my heart have in it that I should speak? What does God say about my sexual apparatus? What does it say in there? What am I doing with it? What will I do with it? How do I feel about that? What does God say about my feet? What should they be doing? Which path should they be on? Which path should they not be on? What should they be running to? What should they not be running to? Where are they running? See, we have some standing up to Satan to do every day. And if we're not on top of it, believe me, we're not on the trail. We're just being hopeful somehow that someday we'll be presented by this reward that we all desire. Again, Jesus is there. He's gone the way. He's done it. He's used the equipment. Let's examine His backpack. Let's go to Ephesians 6, verse 10. We're only going to briefly touch on this. I'm going to show you where the backpack is, and it's up to you if you want to know what's in it. If you want to start using it, if you want to take it out. Ephesians 6, verse 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. And in general, we can all say, as I have much of my life, oh, yeah, I'm a godly man. I'm devoted to godly stuff. All right. Well, down in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God. Notice it's not on you. It's not on me. It says to put it on. It's, I don't know where it is. Is it in a bag? Is it in a backpack? Is it hanging on the wall? It's somewhere, but it says put it on. It's not on. We have to choose to put it on. We have to choose the gold, and we have to choose the equipment, and we have to actually put it on. Let's ask a question without reading any further. How familiar am I with what is in this backpack? Can you name the components that are in it? Maybe you've memorized them, but do you know what tools it contains? Then ask yourself, each of the tools that's in this bag or this container or this sack or this gear bag, how proficient are you with them on a daily basis? How well do you know them? How skilled are you with them? Honestly, I've been more familiar with what's in my backpack at home than with getting to really know and train and become really proficient with each of these tools in this backpack. I'm embarrassed to tell you that. I was thinking, not long ago, I said, can I name those? Well, let's see, something about the waist and this and that, and this and that, and this kind of Roman gear, and this is sort of like that.

So let's change that, shall we? Let's change that. Let's choose God's goal for you and me. The Kingdom of God and His righteousness is now our goal. No matter what, all the other goals are temporary. They're short-term. Like Solomon would say, they're essentially meaningless as far as the eternity of time goes. Next, we need to educate ourselves in the way, the truth, and the life.

We need to take on that daily bread. We really need to educate ourselves. Then we need to train with God's tools, one element at a time, beginning with truth. We can look down in verse 13. Therefore, take up. We saw before, put on. So it's lying down there. It's in a sack down there. We have to take up this armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Therefore, stand having girded your waist with truth.

Let's just take one. Let's just close it right there. Truth. You know, what is truth? Do I stand for the truth? Do I really know the truth? Or am I really into speculative ideas, things that cannot be proven to the satisfaction of those whom God has placed in the ministry? Am I all about various theories and ideas and speculative things? I need to learn the truth. I need to begin to practice the truth. I need to live the truth.

I need to counter the fiery darts that Satan's going to throw on me. Remember, one of the first things he goes against is truth. He comes and deceives people and takes that seed away. Fiery darts. You're not a quench of fiery darts? A fiery dart's coming out at you. It doesn't say deflect it. It doesn't say stick it in the shield.

It says quench it. Put out the fire. Render it useless. Is that a skill that I have? Ask yourself. Is that a skill I've developed? Do I even know what that is? I think we have a way to go, then, don't we? Once you get truth, and you're living the truth, and you're understanding the truth, and you become an agent of truth, add to it the next tool. Righteousness. Righteousness. Right in God's eyes.

To use the armor of God, you have to choose the tools to achieve his goal. It's a choice. To put on is a choice. To pick up is a choice. We need to become an expert with God's backpack. As we wrap this up, I want to now take you into the near future.

Matthew 24. Yes, we're going to end time prophecy. We're going to the Great Tribulation. Matthew 24. Let's see how this works in your generation and mine. Maybe you like to avoid it. Maybe you don't even think about that. Is that what God called us to do? Run to port, quit, faint in the day of adversity because it's not really our goal? Or like Jesus Christ, stand. And having done all, stand. Matthew 24 and verse 3. Of course, the disciples came saying, when will these things be?

Sign of your coming into the age. He said, first of all, you take heed that no one deceive you. What was the first element in the backpack? Truth. The first thing you and I need to get really good at in order to go through the end time is truth. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many. But you'll be good. You'll be fine if you have truth.

It's kind of like, remember, in the princess bride, you come to the fire swamp and a ching ching, ching ching. Oh, we got that one figured out. Let's move on. Let's try the R.O.U.S.s. How do we deal with those? So here we come to the end time. We pass the deception part. Let's move on. You will hear of wars and rumors of war. See that you are not troubled. In verse 9, they will deliver you up to tribulation, and they'll try to kill you. Oh, guess what? They tried that with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. I think we're good here. We have God with us, if God's for us, who can be against us.

I think we're good there. You will be hated by all nations for my namesake. Hated by all nations for my... People won't like you for what you believe. And then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. See where this is going.

I just have to speak a little louder. I just have to speak a little louder. I'll just speak a little bit louder, okay? It was there, but it has a buzz. In verse 12, because of lawlessness, what is lawlessness? Lack of righteousness. Remember the second tool was right in God's eyes. Keeping God's laws, obeying His life. The love of many will grow cold. That shouldn't be a problem for us because agape love, the mindset of God, is that which we are developing. Verse 13, But he who endures to the end will be saved. We're expected to endure all this to the end. There's no question that we'll endure to the end. Those who endure to the end are those who have the goal, those who pursue it with God Christ help. In conclusion, the goal of first fruits gets achieved when one chooses the goal of being, God is righteous. He stands up against the mind. And they call on the associated aspect of discomfort, pain, and risk.

Revelation 3, verse 21, let's conclude with this verse. Revelation 3, verse 21, really says it all. Remember, this is Jesus Christ who had this goal. He pursued the goal. He overcame, what? Satan. And he is set down at the right hand of God. Revelation 3, verse 21, says this, What did Jesus overcome? He overcame Satan. You and I are to overcome Satan. You and I are to do just as he did. And if we do, we will sit on the throne with him. You and I have to hike his trail with his backpack. We have to have victory over the lion like he did. And we have to enter through the same narrow gate that he entered through. So let's get to work pursuing the kingdom of God and his righteousness and standing against the lion. Those who do so will enter the kingdom of God as first fruits with Jesus Christ and will reign with him forever.