Tale of Two Lighthouses

The permission is given to use as well, or at will. So, the lighthouse. There wasn't a certain city of harbor, where ships from all over the world would come and dock. However, the harbor was in between a treacherous and rocky shore. During stormy nights, ships would see the city lights off in the distance and head toward the lights hoping to find refuge from the pounding surf. The ships would struggle against the storm as they made their way to the safety of the harbor.

But as they drew near, seeing the dangerous rocks ahead, the captain of the ship would try to turn and avoid striking the rocks. But often it was too late. Many ships were destroyed. Hundreds of sailors lost their lives because they did not know of the danger. You see, the people of the city did not feel it was necessary that they should build a lighthouse. And besides the reason, it would cost too much money. So, year after year, in storm after storm, ships would wreck and lives would be lost. There was a man in that city that began to see a need.

He felt grief and heartache because the people of the city were content to let the ships be destroyed and they were not willing to rescue the drowning sailors. And so he took it upon himself to do something about it. He tried to recruit volunteers to get others to help him.

But at first, no one wanted to. He persisted, looking for someone else to help him. But they all just laughed at him. And some said he was crazy to risk his life to try to save strangers and oftentimes people who looked a lot different. Determined to make a difference, he sold everything that he had and bought a piece of land close to the shore and built a house. And he made it into a lighthouse. And so from that time, during stormy nights, the man would make sure that the light from his lighthouse was shining as brightly as it could so the ships would be warned of the danger that lay ahead.

His lighthouse began to save hundreds of lives and numerous ships from being shipwrecked. But it wasn't enough, because even with the lighthouse, some of the storms were so powerful that the ships struggling to come into the harbor were tossed about by the wind and the waves, and they would still get smashed against the rocks.

Being a compassionate man, he would then also run out to the roaring sea at the risk of his own life to rescue as many sailors as he possibly could. Then he would bring them inside, into the warmth and safety of the lighthouse. And once there, he would bind their wounds, he would feed them, he would nurse them until they were able to go and sail on again.

Well, this man labored by himself for years, rescuing sailors and caring for their needs. Each person that he saved was so grateful to him that they couldn't thank him enough for rescuing them from death. That all this man could feel was sadness, because many more sailors died in the sea than he on his own could possibly save. If I only had help, and one day he prayed, Lord, please send someone to help, because I can't do it all by myself.

I'll pause there from the story. It always reminds me when I read that of the statement of Christ there in Matthew 9, that we should pray to the Lord of the harvest to send in laborers. And Mr. Luke and Mr. Cubic have recently reminded us of that. Pray for laborers to bring in the harvest. Well, back to the story. Two more paragraphs. One day it happened. His prayers were answered.

His generosity became well known throughout the land. People in the city began to volunteer to come and help the man keep vigil during the stormy nights. Men began to take shifts, keeping watch. They went forth to rescue sailors. The women from town started cooking. They prepared bandages to bind the wounds of those who were injured.

The children from the town did whatever they could to help lift the spirits of the injured. Well, ships still wreck along the treacherous shoreline. But now, because there are so many people involved to help this first man, many, many more lives are saved than are lost. Because together, they make a difference.

Together, they accomplish more. I think that story speaks to major reasons as far as why we're here. How many times do we read in the New Testament of the need to watch you therefore and be ready? There's a letter written, several letters written to churches back in Revelation 2 and 3. As I remember, the one to Sardis says to watch therefore. It talks about, essentially, that responsibility. Let's turn over to Luke 21. Luke 21.

I'll be reading you from the giant print version today. I have a smaller one that's for travel. I'm wishing I had my giant print because the electron seems like it has shrunk just a little.

This is the New King James.

Luke 21, late in the chapter, verse 34. Jesus says, Essentially, the calling we have been given can be divided into three responsibilities. Watching is where it starts. Warning is the next step. And then rescuing would be the third. God called us to be on guard, to have our eyes wide open, to be looking in the right places. And there are those times when we can sound an alarm. And then there are those we go out, and they need somebody to put an arm around them, to hug them, pick them up, to go and help them pick up the pieces of life. So watching and warning and rescuing.

I like reading westerns. I used to read so many of them. I had to break myself. I thought it was a habit at one time. I read a number of Zane Gray's, but when I picked up Louis Lamour books, when I was, you know, a long time ago, I think I could count 40 some I had read. And I finally, we were in Oklahoma City, about to move to Birmingham, a long time ago. I took a whole box. There was a teenager in the church there who liked them as well. I took a whole box of about 45 of these, and I gave them to the guy. I still pick one up once in a while. And I like the old western movies. You know, Open Range, Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner. They're out moving their cattle across back in the free grazing days, before we put up the barbed wire fences all over this country. And I like reading stories, histories also, like old D. Brown wrote The Day of the Longhorn. He claims we don't have any of the old original Longhorns left at all, but not far from our house, as we drive through, headed toward town, we look over and there's some Longhorn cattle over there. And, oh, years ago, John and I went on about a 12-mile hike across Rhone Mountain as we got further along there, out in the middle of nowhere. Here was a herd of, looked like Longhorn cattle, but not quite. And we're out in the middle of some of those open places along the Rhone, you know, those open areas on Rhone Mountain. And we got close, and I said, John, stay behind me. And as we'd go, you know, there's a bunch of rocks over here if we have to make a run for it. And then there were trees over here, but they turned out to be as tame as could be, thankfully.

The old cattle drives farm that I grew up on in Oklahoma was only a few miles away from the old Chisholm Trail that went from Texas up toward the, where the railhead ended there at Abilene, Kansas. We lived out in West Texas a little bit further in New Mexico. We were on the loving Goodnight Trail. And you think about the days of when they, I mean, basically that was their whole year's work there, the cattle that they would gather together, and the men are herding with the ones that they hired to help, herding these up to a railhead somewhere. And at night, somebody was always watching. Several somebodies were watching. They're out there taking turns, making the rounds. They're watching for rustlers, Indians, animals, watching maybe for a storm that might be coming. And they were out there at all times. Some of you have had your term, your times with branches of the military. And someone who's in an infantry unit knows what standing watch is. And you better stay awake. There's a man in the Murfreesboro Church who retired years ago as a chief petty officer and spent a lot of years, about 20 years of his life, out on the Navy, out on the ships. And he told me after I gave a similar sermon there, he was telling me about what would happen to a man who was on watch that they found falling asleep on the job. Where we live there in west of Huntsville, we've had in the last two years a couple of tornadoes come frighteningly close to the house. We'll always remember dates like April 27, 2011. There was an F-5 that cut a path a half mile south of the house. And we were in our house and we were... I don't have to tell you this, we were praying.

Middle of the afternoon was pitch black, deathly silent, and then you hear that proverbial sound of the freight train.

But you know the storm sirens had been going off. There were those on duty, and of course it's all done electronically. But there were those who had to make a decision on when to sound the alarms, and the alarms were going off. And after those tornadoes went through, then you had all kinds of people coming through neighborhoods, just... Even, you know, ours, our house was completely untouched. But there were those with the local rescue squad coming through, just house to house, making certain everyone's okay. And in a lot of places, they weren't okay. And there were people under rubble, and there were people injured, and there was worse. And so you had people watching, and some warning, and some rescuing. And then this last spring, March 3rd, 2012, March 2nd, excuse me, I was close. We thankfully weren't home, but there was a smaller one, but still a tornado, and it cut a path through the north end of our subdivision. And it was a, you know, frightening, eerie feeling to drive in. You have to show identification to even get back there because they want to verify you belong back, the street back behind. And you go street to street to street, finally get back to our street, and on the north side of the house, you still had substantial roof damage. But our house was about the first, nothing wrong at all. Protection is good, isn't it? But still, we were, Denise was downtown at work, I was up going to anoint someone up in Tennessee. But still, some were watching, the asyrens went off, and then there were those going back through helping the people who needed help.

Ancient Israel, let's go back to Ezekiel 33. It seems like in the church we used to read this a lot as far as this Ezekiel Watchman type of a commission. And we've always felt that with the calling God has given us, that we have a similar responsibility to be on guard, to be watching, to be warning, to be rescuing. But here in Ezekiel 33, let's review these verses. Verse 2, Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory, and make him their watchman, When he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, If the sword comes and takes him away, his blood is on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning, his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. Well, verse 6, if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not warn, does not blow the trumpet, And the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them. He is taken in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

And so you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth, and warn them for me. And the story continues on. I think in the Church of God, even back in the days when we were much larger in numbers, we still felt like we're a very small voice out here. We today really are a very small voice. And that's where I think we can relate to the first story of the one man of that community, that area, that recognized the need and decided, I've got to do something even if no one else helps me. I sometimes wonder how Noah would have felt. He was given 120 years, but Peter did say he called him a preacher of righteousness. I think there was a warning also that went forth. I wonder how many times he was laughed at. I wonder how many times he was laughed to scorn. How many people. Just jeered him as he and those helping him would continue the construction of this big ship out in the middle of a desert. Well, let's talk about the responsibility to watch and to warn and to rescue. And as we read those scriptures, watch you therefore. Pray always that you be accounted worthy to escape. I think, number one, we have to be looking. We can have perfect eyesight, which none of us does, probably. We can have excellent eyesight, as probably a number of you do. But if we aren't using it, then we're of no value. You think back to an infantry squad. There's a man in the Birmingham church. Two men there who were sent to Vietnam. One man was in an infantry unit and went through things he won't talk about, can't talk about. But when I gave a sermon down there along this line, he was telling me about the watch men that they would put on watch at night, and how often they would switch places. Because they wanted somebody who's fresh. Vision sometimes at night, after a while, staring off in the darkness, he gets kind of fuzzy and blurry, and everything looks the same. You want a fresh pair of eyes on watch. So we must be looking. We must be able to see. He said, if you'd seen battle and you had someone who had an injury and had his head all patched up, you wouldn't put him on watch. Because he's hurting. He might have his head patched up where he can't see, even. When Christ walked the earth, it always strikes me when you look at the healings there in the Gospel accounts, how many, many times the miracle of healing was giving eyesight to someone. Now, in John 9, there's a statement back to the fact that from the beginning of the world, there's never has it been recorded that someone gave sight to him who was born blind. And yet, Christ did it many, many times. There'd be blind men who'd cry out to him, have mercy on me, Lord. And he'd sometimes touch their eyes. Remember the one time he spit on the ground with the dirt, made a little salve, put on their eyes, and then the healing, the miracle was made. Let's turn over to 2 Peter 4. 2 Peter 4 is a listing of some of the true values, some of the things of greatest importance, where we need to continually be focusing our eyes on, our spiritual eyes.

2 Peter 4, excuse me, chapter 1, beginning of verse 4. 2 Peter 1, verse 4. 3 By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. And then it says to virtue knowledge. Verse 6, it speaks of self-control and perseverance and godliness. Verse 7, you add to that brotherly kindness, and then adding to that love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who likes these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his own sins. And so we look on these things as the things that really matter, the really important values. If we aren't looking, you know, there's that old saying, there's none so blind as he who will not see. If we're not looking, looking at ourselves, looking at the world and the conditions of this world around us, I'm glad to hear that there were comments that have been made of late regarding last month's elections. We were a different country. I gave a sermon the Sabbath after. I called it the State of America, but then I said, or the alternate title can be the question, what happened to my country? It's different. And we've taken steps where it will never be the same again. It's not the country so many of us knew. Some of you in the 40s and the 50s, I mean, I remember that. In the 60s, we were never perfect. But freedom has been assaulted and continues to be assaulted. And yes, as was mentioned in the sermonette, the Health Care Act funds...

Well, I prefer the term infanticide, which is what it is, the murder of baby children, all the way to partial birth abortions. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Well, you must be looking... Number two, we must be looking in the right places.

Jesus was asked by the disciples... Let's go to Matthew 24. He was asked by the disciples if he would explain to them, what will be the signs of your coming? What do we watch for? Where do we need to look? What are the signs of the end of the age? And in the rest of chapter, he gives his answers.

He cautions them that you don't let anyone deceive you. Because in verse 5, he speaks of the specter of false religion. There will be many using his name, many saying, well, I'm coming in Christ's name or I'm telling you what Christ said. There's going to be a lot of confusion. We live in the midst of that, especially this month of the year. A lot of confusion and religion out there.

And there will be wars and rumors of wars.

I think that the little country called Israel was watching the election, and they realize they're on their own. They're on their own. How would you like to have a son, a daughter, a nephew, especially a son or a nephew, someone close to you, who's in one of the elite forces of the military, after what happened in Benghazi, Libya?

How would you feel? How would they feel? Because they'd realize, you know, if push comes to shove, I may be out here on duty, and I'm on my own.

Because for hours, nothing was done to help those individuals.

And an embassy of a country, even though it's within a foreign country, it is the sovereign property of that country whose embassy it is.

And our ambassador, you know, well, I won't go into the disgusting things that apparently were done to him before he was killed. And nothing was done. And in fact, well, let me go on. We watch this world because it is an armed camp.

We watch, there's an article in this latest Good News magazine about India. India is rising, a nation on the rise. And of course, China is on the rise and may well pass us very soon as far as having the greatest GDP of any country on Earth. And we're going down. We're going down. We can look at what has happened to what was formerly Great Britain. We look at what happened to Britain, and we're following the same path. So we have a specter of the violence. And we have nation rising against nation. And then it says, verse 7, in the middle there, famines, pestilences. You know, we have diseases that are resistant to any treatment, continually mutating and changing. And earthquakes in various places. An earthquake yesterday off the coast of Japan, seven point something, but far enough away, it was not of the magnitude of the one that hit there, and the tsunami, you know, the nuclear, all the event that happened there, not that long back. There was an earthquake down in off Samar in the Philippines. But we hear that all the time. It used to be once in a while we'd hear about an earthquake off somewhere, and now it's just one after another, just a regular event. All these are the beginning of sorrows. They'll deliver you to tribulation and kill you. In verse 9 it says, you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

Verse 12 speaks of lawlessness, well abound.

You know, we live in a country that still overwhelmingly professes to be Christian. Recent Beyond Today program, I think the stat that they had was something like 81% say they believe there's a God, and then a little later, I think it's 77% think that they're going to go to heaven.

But then again, the same people, by the way they vote. You vote to support certain policies. You vote to make certain the health care act goes through and it funds infanticide. There's a disconnect there. We can't have it both ways.

But he who endures at the end, the same shall be saved. It goes on talking about the preaching of the Gospel. And so all kinds of areas we watch. World events. We keep our eyes on Europe. Not that long ago, we puzzled over, wow, 27 nations in the European Union. How's that ever going to get down to 10? And now we realize that they're discussing whether there'd be kind of this elite 11. And we see the UK, the Britain being kind of on the outside more and more. You've got more countries realizing, wait a minute, the way this thing's going, it's going in a direction we didn't realize. We don't want to give up that much national sovereignty. So this good news had a little burb there on the news, the two pages that has the news blurbs. And one was from the president of the Czech Republic just realizing, and this thing's going in a direction we didn't realize when we first got started. So we keep our eyes on the Middle East. Wow. What a mess we've got there. Syria. Saran gas, some of the components being loaded on missiles. Why would they load it when they've only got a window of time and it has to be used? Or it, I don't know what happens to it. I'm not studied in that. But apparently it expires after a while. Why would they start going through certain processes unless they intend to set off missiles? So we live in a world that is an armed camp, and we watch world events.

And we watch this country. Last Good News had articles on our growing national debt. I looked up the U.S., what was it called, the U.S. debt clock. We have a national debt of $16.3 trillion, whatever that is. I mean, when you start having a terrillion at the end of it, it just is beyond our ability, I think, to comprehend it. But then our annual gross domestic product is 15.9 something. We could take every dollar this entire country makes in a year, and we couldn't pay off what we already owe. And you know, the proverb, and back in the Blessings and Cursings, it talked about, you know, there was a time when we were the great lender, and now you start owing other countries. The day comes they want their money. They want it to be paid. So we don't have the wherewithal to pay it. And anyhow, the Gospel is being preached. Work continues on. We watch the work of God. Sometimes I think we get our eyes pointed in the wrong direction, and we forget why we're here. But anyhow, I've got another story of a lighthouse that I think carries a warning for us. Thirdly, you have to be awake. You can have the best eyesight in the world. You can know exactly, precisely where to focus it, but if you fall asleep on the job, you're of no value in watching. Here in Matthew 24, down to verse 44, it says, Therefore, be you also ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. You know, I look around this room, and some of us have been at this calling for 30 and 40 and 50 and more years. That's a long time. The danger is we can get lulled off, and something happened right in front of our faces, and we're not paying attention. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food into season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing, and speaks of the reward that will be given. So we continue to focus on the work that is to be done. Keep ourselves awake, alert, be watching, and be ready. Matthew 25, parable of ten virgins. I think we need to remember here that it does say that every one of them fell asleep on the job. Matthew 25, verse 5, But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out and meet him. Well, we know the story. Some could recover. They had the oil. Oil is one of those beautiful emblems for God's Spirit. Others didn't have the oil, and it was too late. Verse 13, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

And so we must ask ourselves, Am I asleep at the wheel? Am I snoozing away? If so, we can't watch, and we sure can't warn, and we certainly can't go out and try to help someone else who needs help worse than we do. Matthew 26, as we get down to the final story here of the final hours of Christ's life on the earth. In Matthew 26, of course, you've got the new symbols given there of the Passover night, and a little later they go out and they go to Gethsemane, verse 36.

Tells the disciples, Stay here, and I'm going to go over there and pray. He takes Peter and James and John a little further with him, and says at the end of verse 37, They began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Well, verse 39, apparently, He left them there. He went a little further, and He prayed, and cried out to His Father, If it's possible, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from Me. But then He said, Nevertheless, not as I will, but Your will be done. Comes back, verse 40, and He finds those disciples sleeping. Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And so we have to stay awake on the job, watching world events. But you know, there's a very important word I remember as a kid hearing in the church. The word balance. And I think it's a very important balance. As human beings, we tend to go off on tangents, and we get our life out of perspective. We get out of balance. If you have a wheel weight that falls off your van or your car, your pickup, and you're driving down the road, you realize, hey, I've got a wheel out of balance. And you can feel it. But sometimes it's not as easy to realize when we're out of balance. Because it is possible to be so involved in watching world events and staying up on current events that we've got a family life falling down around us, and we don't even see it. And it is possible in the Bible to be so addicted to prophecy. We're always going to these areas of prophecy. And we don't realize that, you know, I'm not getting along with other people as well as ought to. So we've got to maintain a certain perspective. We can go out there, and we can pass out brochures and magazines and booklets of the church far and wide. But if we're wrecking our health or allowing our health to fall apart, then what good is that? It might be interesting as a study sometime to go to a concordance, look up the word watch. The word watch, there's more than one Greek word that's used. In some of the places, it's gregorio. G-R-E-G-O-R-E-O. Gregorio. And it simply means to be awake as to be aroused from sleep. And we live in a society that's asleep on the wheel. We live in a nation that does not realize what we're doing to ourselves economically, if nothing else. Let alone, morally, what we're doing to ourselves. We've been to the Philippines on church business three times in the last 14-15 months. And once in a while, somebody will say something about what they've got over there, and I realize where it came from. It came from America. You know, something in the media, or some kind of a product. Or, yeah, just take McDonald's. McDonald's is all over the world. Anywhere I've been, you can find McDonald's, and you want to just say, I am sorry. We did that. We Americans, we're guilty. Let's look at Romans 13.

Romans 13, and it speaks about waking up out of that sleep.

Romans 13, verse 11. And do this, verse 11, and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let's cast off the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light, let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry, and drunkenness, not in lewdness, and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. We don't have time to follow the will, or the pull, of the flesh. Well, number four, we must also be alert.

We may have good eyesight, we may know exactly worded look, we may be wide awake, in the one sense, but you know we need to be on edge. We need to be what, maybe instead of alert, maybe vigilant, is a better word. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5.

And in verse 6, we read, Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober, for those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. Let us be, or let us, who are of the day, be sober. And that's what it says, speaking about here, being, being visionately awake and alert on the job. Be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

So which influence are we under? Are we being walled off to sleep? Are we being impacted by the sleeping and abreated world around us? Let's go on to a fifth thought here. As far as watching and warning and rescuing, number five, we must be willing to place someone else's welfare first.

We must be willing to place someone else's welfare ahead of our own. Now, there are examples. In fact, let me just refer to one here. You could make a note of 2 Kings 11, verses 4 through 12. 2 Kings 11, verses 4 through 12. And that's a passage where you've got this young king, Joash, or Jehoash, he's called in some places. And he was very young, and actually he was taken and hidden for years there in one of the rooms in the area there of the temple. But then when he was of a certain point, here you have these when he's being brought out so that he's not killed. You've got these batteries of men who were on watch. And they were told to be on either side and to be around him, and if anyone approaches, you go and essentially you have to be willing to go and put your life on the line. Now, you go back and you read in the days of some of the great mighty men of David. I mean, those were some bad dudes. Those were some tough fellas. I forget the name. The guy who went down the pit and fought a lion, and another one went and killed 300 people. You might have somebody like that coming at you, but you're on guard, and you're guarding the king. You're sparing his life, and you go out and meet these people, or whoever is coming is a threat. And if it costs you your life, so be it. So we have to be willing to place someone else's welfare ahead of our own.

Noah, again, he did a work until the time when God sealed the family into the ark. And we have a work to do until, whenever it is, God tells us it's over, or we take our last breath, and it's over then. Another Greek word that you will find that's translated, watch a number of places, is kustodia. K-O-U-S-T-O-D-I-A. We have our English custodian, or custodial. So kustodia means to keep guard, to be vigilant. And you look at some who've gone before us.

The Apostle Paul, we'll look here in just a little bit at his listing of some of the things he went through. I forget the town it was. It was Lystra, Derby, somewhere there in Asia Minor, where the events and the enacts led to where they took him out of town, they stoned him, they thought he was dead.

Later he got back up, and you read later in the story, he went right back in that same city. Now, that takes a man. That takes a tough man to do that. But he realized, I am here for the work of God. And there were those, you read there, what is it there at the end of Luke 9? The verses that lead to where Christ said, no man had him put his hand to the plow and looking back as fit as the kingdom of God. But he used that as an example. When one came and said, Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go. And when we were baptized, that's essentially what we were saying. That God, I'll follow you. Christ, I'll follow you wherever it takes me. And wow, we've gone a lot of places, done a lot of things. I never foresaw whenever I was immersed underwater. Back at Lake Lomond, the college at Big Sandy, I had no earthly idea where all we would go. We could all bear our hearts, so to speak, and compare scars because we've gone down paths we never saw. But we willingly go because the reason we're called is to watch and to warn and to help other people. And sometimes we walk into places where it might be putting our life on the line to do the work God has given to us. One of the great keys of growing and being able to put someone else first is through prayer. Let's look here at Colossians 4.

Colossians 4, verse 2.

Colossians 4, verse 2, Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.

There's that word, vigilant. Be vigilant in your prayer with thanksgiving.

Prayer is the means of renewing the Spirit of God. Study of the Word of God is the means of drinking in of God and what God says to us every day. And through the process, the inner man is renewed day by day. And so we were given a work. And if we just put it in terms of the life around us, we as a part of the work of God, we have a message the world desperately needs. They need the message of the kingdom of God. They need to realize that life's not going to just go on.

Life is not going on or happening without any purpose. It's going somewhere. Sometimes we want to help God out with his timing. If only this guy will win. If only that policy will pass. We want to help God out and we have to remind ourselves that God's plan is right on time. And God establishes leaders as he wills. And we do this work for those who a few weeks ago were killed in Benghazi, Libya.

And we do this work if we go back a few years. If we go back for a number of years, we do this work for the lives lost on 9-11-01. We lived here then. We all remember. We all remember when we first heard what was going on when those towers were assaulted. We do this work for friends, family members, those we all know around us, people we work with who do not have the same hope burning within them. They don't know where it's all going to end. You and I can read and we realize the end is awesome. What's going to happen between here and there? We don't know. We'd like to know when, but we repeatedly are told we can't know. We do this work for every person who takes his or her own life. Sadly, that's a part of our society. There are those. We had a high-profile case here, the football player in Kansas City recently. There are those who are in pain. I cannot relate to it, but they are in pain from whatever their life is like to the extent that they decide it's not worth living.

We do this work for every home where there's bickering and arguing and fighting taking place behind the door. We do this for every person who steals, say, time materials from their job. We do this not for ourselves, but for the world. We watch. We warn. We live. We walk in the steps of Christ. We hope that some may see that example and decide to ask questions. Watching, warning, rescuing. It takes a strong sense of accountability and responsibility.

The branches of the military have their own codes. They have their own terms that mean something very deeply to them. Duty, honor, country. I just read a book just before the feast. Mark Owen wrote No Easy Day. Now it's an assumed name. A number of you may have read that. An assumed name because he was one of the SEALs on SEAL Team 6 that took out Obama. But he talked about the training they went through. The training they went through to become a SEAL. And then the selector group chosen to be a part of this Dev Group program. He couldn't tell names, dates. He very carefully hid everything because you've got crazies in this world who want to go and find the families of people like that. But he mentioned that one of the mottos of the SEALs is this. The only easy day was yesterday. The only easy day was yesterday. Now, 2 Corinthians 11. Let's look over here at the Apostle Paul. Paul, as he said, he was an Apostle, but he was as one born out of dew season. He came along a little later than the others. And especially with his first letter to Corinth, and now he addresses it to a lesser degree with his second letter to Corinth, you realize there are those who are questioning him, who are doubting his credentials. And so this is one of the places where he says, okay, you want to match up brownie points? I'm going to give you a list of what I've been through. And it waits for it, and he obviously didn't like having to do it, but hey, here's what it is. So 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. So he said, all right, I'm going to step out of my normal role. I'm going to speak as though I were a fool. I am more, and labor is more abundant, stripes above measure, and prisons more frequently, and deaths often. Of the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. So five different times. We wouldn't want to go through that apart of one of those times. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, which surely refers back to that time in Pisidia where he was, they thought he was dead. Three times I was shipwrecked. We can read of one of those accounts in Acts 27, where on the way he had appealed to Caesar at Rome, and they shipwrecked there off of what is Malta. A night and a day I've been in the deep. So apparently in one case, the ship broke up out in the sea, and at least as I envisioned in my mind, a night and a day he's out there hanging onto some timber to stay afloat to survive until they can get close enough to land or be rescued by another ship. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen. We can go to the book of Acts and read what happens to him when it came down to it there around Acts. Oh, I forget 20-something, but you remember the story where he's there and false charges are made and he's taken, and you had to have the Roman contingent from the tower come out and spare him. In perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness, in toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting's office, in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes on me daily? My deep concern for all the churches. So, he goes on here with another well. In example, down in verse 32-33, he was in Damascus, and the aratas, the king, they were after him, and he was let down in a basket down a window and escaped out of the way. Pretty impressive credentials. The endurance of many hardships. We do not know where the calling of God is going to take us.

I sometimes wonder, when I come to the times of the, amazingly, the anniversary of my father's death, was just, oh, it was the end of October. It was after the Feast of 92, and I thought, 20 years ago? And my mother died in the faith 12 years before him. Tied a horrible death of cancer. And, you know, I think about, oh, in the resurrection, I don't want to look him in the face and say, well, sorry, Dad, sorry, Mom. It got too tough. I couldn't take it. I mean, we all have stories like that. We have our loved ones. We have, I mean, I look at this congregation, I think, man, what a different group of people it was in 1996, in 97, in 98, and on. You know, we've had a lot of the old soldiers who've gone before us, aren't here anymore. And, you know, how do we look at Christ and say, well, I know I said, Lord, I'll follow you wherever you go, but I couldn't take it. And you think about the method in which, the manner in which he died. Or the Apostle Peter, who was condemned to die, crucifixion, and his dying request was, well, if it's going to be crucifixion, at least let it be different than the way our Lord died. And so they crucified him upside down. And so you can go to Fox's Book of Martyrs, you can go to a number of books and read stories. But it's like the Apostle Paul told those at Ephesus that it is through much tribulation we're going to enter the kingdom of God. But watching and warning and rescuing is kind of a summation of the calling we've been given. Now, let's also remind ourselves back in Daniel. Let's go first to Daniel chapter 8. And then we'll go to Daniel chapter 12. Just two different statements that are made. Just to be reminded, we, as the saints of the Most High, are in the crosshairs of the adversary, Satan the Devil. Daniel 8, of course, we have a story here of the two goats, Greece and Medo-Persia. And then in verse 23 it skips down to the time of the end. Daniel 8 verse 23. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise having fierce features, who understand sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. And that reminds me where you read there in Revelation 13, I think, verse 2, speaking of that beast of seven heads and ten horns. And then it says, the dragon gave him his power. And the chapter just before told us who the dragon was. So it's not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. Probably a two-fold message there for the physical descendants of Israel surviving at the time of the end, but those who spiritually are Israel. The people God has called among all groups, all races, all ethnicities, who spiritually are Christ's. And through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule, and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity.

That didn't quite read there the way that I thought that it did. It must be different in the King James. The King James, I think it says that he will seek to wear out the saints of the Most High.

Let's look at Daniel 12. Daniel 12 verse 7, because it speaks here of destroying the power of the holy people.

Daniel 12 verse 7. When I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him, who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time, and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. And we look at the body of Jesus Christ, we look at what has happened in the last, especially say, 20 years, and it continues to happen. None of us likes it. I don't know of a human being who knows how to change it.

I think Christ wants us all together, and in due time we will be, but at any rate, what is is what is right now, and we continue with what we have. But there is a time of the wearing out of the saints of the Most High, and a time of the destroying of the power of the holy people, and I believe that's the time where you and I live.

The second lighthouse story.

And this one is written by Ernest W. Corti, C-O-R-T-Y. An inspirational lighthouse story.

Many years ago there was a little village on a rocky seacoast, whose storms often battered and seas were ever treacherous. Many ships were driven onto the rocks by the storms. The lives of many sailors were lost because of the raging seas. One day the people decided among themselves that they should establish a lighthouse. They should establish a life-saving station on the peninsula, on the coast, to warn ships away, but then to save the lives of those who were cast into the icy waters.

They began to secure the necessary funds for the project. They set it forth. They built a tower. And they set a beacon on top. They organized a lookout system. They bought boats. They learned how to man the boats, even in rough seas. And soon they were in business. They were in the business of saving lives.

Soon the effects of what they were doing became known far and wide. Fewer ships wrecked upon the rocks. And when such a tragedy did occur, the alarm was sounded. The people risked their own lives to rescue those who had been cast into the raging waters. Within a few short years, people came from great distances to study this lighthouse and to use it as a model and to go back home and to do likewise. One day someone suggested that since we spent so much time at the lighthouse, we should gather there occasionally and enjoy social, good fellowships. Soon they began to get together. At first it was infrequently and then more often. And they always gathered at the lighthouse. And in fact, in time, many people began to build their homes near the lighthouse. Then when the lookout sounded the alarm, they were right there, ready to go out.

Well, next it was decided that if they were going to spend so much time there, they just as well make the place more comfortable. You see where this is going. So arrangements were made to heat the lighthouse. The gray walls were painted a beautiful, brilliant white. Some of the walls were paneled. Rugs were placed on the floors to disguise the bare concrete. A fine kitchen was installed with a beautiful stove. Generally speaking, the lighthouse became a nice place to spend your time, waiting for the alarm to be sounded. Everything about the lighthouse was made comfortable and warm and nice. It became the center of life in the little town that grew up around it. One night, a fierce storm blew in. As storms had blown in for years, many ships were tossed onto the jagged rocks. The men at the lighthouse spent long hours picking sailors from the bitter, cold, icy waters and taking them to the lighthouse. Once there, they were fed. They were provided with dry clothing. This happened many times over the years. But this one time, after the storm subsided, the sailors had all left the lighthouse. There were some men of the city who became angry. It seems the storm had made them leave the comfort of the lighthouse and go out into the wet, dangerous, cold seas. And they got bitterly cold. The sailors, when they were delivered to the lighthouse, had also soiled up the carpets. The kitchen was now a mess, not to mention the beautiful stove. After a brief meeting, it was first decided that the sailors, when they were brought to the lighthouse, should no longer be taken into the nice areas, but down into the basement.

Well, a time later, another storm blew in. About half of the men went out in the boats and picked up sailors from the frigid waters. But this time, the ship, which had broken apart on the rocks, was from another nation. And the men who manned that ship spoke another language. And even worse, their skin was of a different color. After the storm, a few more men joined those who refused to go out into the sea. They decided that men like these did not belong in their lighthouse at all. Some said they felt that the lighthouse's job was not supposed to be saving sailors from other lands because they were too different. There were those who objected to leaving the comfort of the lighthouse at all to go out into the storm. And so finally, it was decided that the beacon would be kept lit, but the rescue work would be discontinued. A small group disagreed, and they moved down the coast a short distance, and they started building a new lighthouse. The small group decided that they should establish the biggest life-saving station on the Little Peninsula, and so they did. Every day, they warned of ships and sometimes attempted to save lives from the icy waters. The fame of the new lighthouse grew, and the lighthouse back up the bay eventually, completely turned out its light. Some people say the beacon can still be seen today in you and me. And yes, they also say that the small group that moved down the coast and is now running the new lighthouse is completely composed of those who were once rescued themselves from the raging sea.

We, as people, all have a choice to make with regards to our rescue work. We can choose to allow our lives to become so comfortable. We can find ourselves very content with life. And oftentimes, we may find that we turn out our beacon of hope for one another. Or perhaps, hope and pray, that we find ourselves lighting and warning and saving the others through both our words and our deeds. Let's go to Luke 12, and we'll close over here. Luke 12.

As God looks down at this world, someone has to be watching, and someone has to be warning, and someone has to be there to give a cold cup of water or to give a saving hand out to someone who's in danger of drowning from whatever's happening. And happening to them in their lives. Luke 12, beginning in verse 35. Verse 35, Let your waste be girded and your lamp's burning. And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return for the wedding, and when he comes and knocks that they may open him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. For surely I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. If he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So the return of Jesus Christ is as close for any of us as the stopping of our heart beating. And then with the next breath, the next waking moment, it will be the seventh trumpet. So thank you for having us. We know where you meet. It's nice to be able to come back. It's difficult to get up as much as we would like to, but have a wonderful Sabbath day, all of you.