1 John 2:18-29

I was trying not to. Stefan's got some liquid in his eyes. I was like, I've got to go up here and put some words together. I've got to hold it together.

Allergies, yes. We're in central Texas. It's so great. We've heard so many great things about those two weeks of kids camps.

We just had our first youth camp with the younger youth this last week, and then the older youth will be there this coming week. We had kids give their lives to Christ, give out times in the Holy Spirit. They experienced healings. Tons of seeds were planted in their lives.

You can just see that so many of them deep in their faith in God. We're just so grateful for all the leaders that went out there and poured into our children and to have a facility like Keras Canyon for them to go out to. It's just awesome. This morning, we are continuing our series.

Some are series. Love illuminated. We're walking through the book of 1 John. Today's message is going to be similar to the last two, but it's definitely going to be like a Bible study.

If you are a Bible nerd, if you like to read a ton of scripture and look at commentaries in the Greek and the Hebrew and all of that, you're going to love today's message. I just need you to buckle in and put your buckle on tight and stay focused because we're going to have a ton of scripture that we're going over today. We're going to be picking up where Omar left off last week in 1 John 2 verses 18 through 29. Before we get there though, I want to cover some background and some history just to kind of set the scene for us.

When we read the book of Acts, it talks about the beginning of the church after the resurrection of Jesus, the author Luke, he describes this incredible birth and expansion of the church through the acts of the apostles powered by the Holy Spirit. We read about their preaching and their miracles and Paul's missionary journeys. And at the beginning of the church, it started off with a bang. I mean, it really did.

The Holy Spirit fell on all those people of the day, a Pentecost, and 3,000 people were saved. You fast forward two chapters from there in Acts 4, and you see 5,000 people were saved, and it says that Jesus added to their number daily. So you have this incredible start to the beginning of the church. You fast forward 30 to 60 years when John writes the book of 1 John, and there's some things happening, and he tells them false teachers are infecting and infiltrating the church of Jesus Christ.

They're spreading lies. They're teaching something contrary to what the apostles have taught you and what Jesus taught us himself. And it's causing Christians to leave the church and to leave the faith. And if you remember, at the time that John is writing 1 John, he's not on the island of Patmos.

He left there and he got to Ephesus, the city of Ephesus. So it's likely, even though it doesn't say in 1 John, it's likely that at least his first audience was that church at Ephesus, the Ephesians, but also it's written to the church at large because it wasn't just happening in Ephesus. You have people leaving the church and becoming false teachers. And in Revelation 2 verse 4, Jesus says to that church in Ephesus, to the Ephesian church, he says, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

And that's what we find with a lot of these people that were leaving the church, they left their first love, they were leaving the gospel, they were leaving Jesus. And we know from our study so far that at least some of these people or the majority of them were Gnostics. They were practicing Gnosticism, and that comes from the Greek word Gnosis, which means to know. So the Gnostics, they only a select few, received this special revelation from God, and they believe that what they believe about God trumps the true knowledge of God.

And it doesn't really matter how we believe or how we live, all that matters is the spiritual, because anything physical or material, it's inherently evil. So because of that, we live in physical bodies, we're going to sin anyway, so we might as well give in to it, we might as well go ahead and sin, because we're in sinful bodies. They also believe that Jesus was not the Son of God, and they believe that he couldn't have been because he was in a physical body. They believe the spirit of Christ entered his body at baptism and left his body when he died the cross, and he died just a man.

That's Gnosticism in a nutshell. And because of all these false teachings that are going around at that time, John decided to write first John, because to know God is to know Jesus. And those who know Jesus want to please him and follow his commands. So John is trying to warn these Christians, don't leave your first love, don't leave the faith.

And also, there's people that are leaving, and they're spreading a bunch of nonsense, beware of false teachers. And that's the title of today's message if we were to give it a title, beware of false teachers. So in first John, as a whole, again, we're just setting the scene here, as we go through this series, you'll see, scattered throughout this book, that there are three core truths that John is communicating. And we know that these are core truths, because every time he mentions one of these, he proceeds it with, this is the message we have heard, this is the message I have for you, or this is why I'm writing this.

And the first core truth is God is light. We covered this in week one, in first John 1-5, this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. We won't repreach that, right? Go listen to week one.

But the gist of it is God is good. He's always been good, he always will be good. There's no darkness in him at all. There's no evil intentions in our God.

So we need to keep walking in the light, and we need to not live a life marked by sin. I mean, Christians, you are the light of the world. The light of Christ is inside of you. Sin has lost its hold on you.

You are no longer chained down by sin, and you can leave it behind, and we need to press forward in the things of God and what he has for us. But, everybody say, but, when we do sin, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. And his blood will cover our sins, and also his grace, his ability, his strength that work in us will help us to not sin. It will help us to follow his commands.

So that's the first truth, the God is light. The second court truth is God is love. We all know these scriptures, right? God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son?

So that, amen, amen, right? God so loved the world he gave his only, his one and only son. And Jesus said, there's no greater love than someone who would lay down their life for their friend. See, love is not just a verb to God.

God is love. And Jesus gave the command in John 13 for the disciples and for us to love one another. And John echoes Jesus' command in 1 John 3, 11. It says, for this is the message which you have heard from the beginning that we are to love one another.

So, Church, we should love God. We should love his ways, and we should love his people. Okay? You know, with me so far?

Pretty simple. All right, the third court truth is God is life. 1 John 5, 13. These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

So, when you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life. When you give your life to Christ, you get to live for all eternity in heaven. And you don't experience the death and the destruction and the nastiness of hell. And God is the creator of life, and every single one of us, the only reason we woke up and were have breath in our lungs is because God gave us life.

So, these three truths, God is life, God is love, God is life. They tie together the Father and the Son. And these false teachers who were leaving the Church, they were trying to break the connection with Jesus. And Church, when you break the connection with Jesus, you break the connection with Father God.

And in this series, John, and in the book of 1 John, he's covering ten spiritual tests throughout the first two. We've already covered five of them, so there will be some repetition, as I said before. And these tests help us determine the difference between a genuine Christian and a fake Christian. He wanted to make sure that all these Christians, he was writing a letter to, that they know that they are of the faith.

And here are the two tests that we're going to look at today. Is Jesus the Messiah or A Messiah? Is Jesus the Messiah or A Messiah? And the next one is, do we stick it out or bill out?

When life hits hard, how do we react? Do we leave the faith? Do we say, well, God, there's no way that God could be good if this is happening in my life, or somebody that I know they're experiencing this, do you stick it out or do you bill out? Do you leave a faith, do you leave church?

Do you stay in your relationship with God and stay in fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ? So before we get to the first test, I want to cover a little background on the word Messiah. So in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for Messiah was, Mashiach. And in the Septuagint, everybody say Septuagint.

The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament that was translated long before Jesus was born a man. And the Greek translation translated Mashiach to Christos. And that's where we get the word Christ. So when you hear Jesus Christ, that's literally Jesus Messiah.

He is the prophesied one. He is the one that was foretold in the Old Testament. And he is the one, Jesus Christ. And the definition of Christos is anointed one or chosen one.

So this word was used in for any object or person that had been set apart for service to God or for sacred purposes. And in the Old Testament, Christos and the Septuagint, it wasn't just used for the coming prophesied Messiah. It was also used for any prophet or king that was anointed to a sacred office. So in the Old Testament, according to the Septuagint, many were called Christ, but only one was called the Christ, the Messiah.

Which leads us to that first test. Is Jesus the Messiah or a Messiah? Because if Jesus is not the Messiah in our lives, here's the truth for us, there is something or someone that is taking over as Lord and King over our lives. And at best, Jesus is just a good teacher with cool quotes.

And if you really know Jesus and you really love him, that one kind of hurts a little bit when you hear it. Because that's not who he is. In Matthew 24 verse 11, Jesus is describing what the church is experiencing at the time that John is writing 1 John. He says, many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.

That's exactly what's happening. That's why John is writing this letter. And we have to be aware of these false teachers because they will try to pull us away from Jesus. And it's not just people who are teaching.

It's the culture around us too. I mean, there are so many things that try to pull us away from Jesus and keep us from God's light, his love and his life. So that's the intro today. Let's pick up where we left off last week.

We're looking at 12 verses today. We're going to break them up into two chunks. You ready? You ready?

Great. First John 2, we're going to start with verses 18 through 23. Dear children, this is the last hour. And as you have heard that the anti-Christ is coming, even now many, anti-Christ have come.

This is how we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the anti-Christ, denying the Father and the Son.

No one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So a lot there to unpack. We're going to start with dear children. It starts with dear children.

It starts with dear children. This comes from the Greek word, pideon. And other places in scripture, it usually literally refers to a young child, probably seven, eight years old. But when you do your studying and you look up the lexicons and look at this, John, when he uses this word in first, John, he uses it as an affectionate address from a spiritual father to young Christians at that time.

So he's the mature spiritual father, walked with Jesus, has this incredible ministry, and has this heart for people who just came to the faith. And it's a young, vibrant church and people are starting to leave and there's some dissension. Like what's going on here? And he is writing as this dear children, like please listen to me, listen to this wisdom.

And he's trying to warn them to be where are false teachers. And he gives these false teachers a name, the anti-Christ. So let's talk about the anti-Christ. Now it's clear from scripture, if you read scripture, that anti-Christ is not what some of us have been led to believe.

And that usually comes from this modern day dispensationalist belief of end times. And dispensationalism, when it comes to the anti-Christ, this is what it teaches. That the anti-Christ is a literal future global dictator who will rise to power after the rapture of the church. He will institute a one world government, he will enforce a peace treaty with Israel, and eventually demand global worship during the final seven year period before Christ's return.

Does anybody heard anything close to that before? Yeah? So that is not correct. And we could go down a whole rabbit trail and get into end times we're not going to do that today.

We're just going to stick with the anti-Christ. And that may or may not sound familiar to you what I just described, but if it is, and that's what you've been taught, I just ask, would you have an open heart and open mind today, and let's let scripture and scripture. Is that fair? Okay.

Now it might be shocking to some, but the word anti-Christ doesn't show up in Revelation, not one time. So when we think about Revelation, we think about future, right? But anti-Christ isn't even in there. And even more interestingly, Revelation has the same author as the book that we're reading here, in which he mentions anti-Christ, isn't that interesting?

In the word anti-Christ, it shows up in the Bible. Are you ready for this? Four times. That's it.

Four times. And three of them are in first John. One of them is in second John. We'll have the scriptures, they're up on the screen for you there.

In the interest of time, we're not going to read through them today. I'm just going to summarize what these scriptures say about the anti-Christ. So John tells the believers that they have heard the anti-Christ is coming, but he says, there are many anti-Christ already here. He also says that the spirit of the anti-Christ is already in the world at the time that John is writing this letter.

And he also says that the anti-Christ is anyone who denies Jesus is the Messiah. They deny the Father and the Son. They don't believe that Jesus came in the flesh and they are spiritual deceivers. They're deceivers.

And in the scripture that we just read in 1 John 2, we see that these people were a part of the church and they left the church and they're teaching nonsense now. They don't believe that Jesus is God. These are the anti-Christ. That's all the Bible says about it.

So it's not someone that we need to look out for in the future, some crazy dictator, some huge figure. There are many anti-Christ that had already shown up in the first century. And there are many people with the spirit of the anti-Christ alive and well today. So simply put in any Christ is someone who is a spiritual deceiver.

We can sum it up right there. And we need to be aware of and look out for these false teachers. So real quickly before we get to the second half of the passage we're looking at today, I just want to give you three telltale signs of a modern day spiritual deceiver. So that we can be aware of false teachers.

Three telltale signs of a modern day spiritual deceiver. The first one is they don't see a difference between Jesus and other great teachers. And if you look across the spectrum at different religions, some of them will even say Jesus was a man. He lived and he was a great teacher and he was a prophet, but they will not say that he was the Son of God.

Universalism believes that all roads lead to the same God. It doesn't matter what you believe, doesn't matter how you live. Just be a good person and God will eventually, everything will turn out fine. You'll somehow in some way reach some kind of reconciliation or salvation with whatever divine being there is.

And that's just not the truth because Jesus Christ, Jesus Messiah, He said, I am the way, not a way. I am the way, I'm the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. And John is echoing what Jesus taught him in verse 23 when he says, no one who denies the Father denies the Son has the Father.

And this reminds me of C.S. Lewis. You ever heard his liar, lunatic Lord argument? Anybody at all?

He's basically saying, whatever you believe about Jesus, you have to believe one of three things. You can't believe two of them, you can't believe all three, and you can't believe none of them. You fall in one of these categories, which one do you fall in? So either Jesus was a liar, he knew he wasn't God, and he lied, and he deceived a ton of people.

Or he was a lunatic, he believed he was God, but he was delusional and insane person. Or he was Lord, and he was exactly who he claimed to be. And I think the resurrection proves that he was Lord. He is alive and well today.

All of those other religions, their leaders are D.E.A.D. dead. Our leader is alive and well, right next to the Father. So the first telltale sign is that they don't see any real difference between Jesus and other great teachers.

The second telltale sign of a modern day spiritual deceiver is they talk big but live small. I mean, usually they're pretty cunning with words, right? I mean, they can really lay it down when it comes to knowledge and communication and eloquent speech and maybe even the information that they know. But what do their lives look like?

One of the things that I love about Kingdom families is this training that we have for parents on how to raise God the children. How to pour in the good things of God and the good character of God and purge out the things that the devil is trying to eliminate in their life. The first thing that Pastor Miles, President of our church network, when he teaches us, the first thing that he covers is we need to be good fruit inspectors. So we don't just go onto the internet and find the next influencer that sounds like they're smart and just start downloading from them.

What's going on in their personal life? What fruit is in their life, right? They may talk big, but do they live what they speak? 1 Timothy 1, verses 5 through 7 in the message version, says the whole point of what we're urging is simply love.

Love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep this point soon wander off into the coldest acts of gossip, they set themselves up as experts on religious issues, plenty of influencers trying to do that. You just go into any social media app, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence? Wow.

So it said those who fail to keep this point, what point? Love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. That's the kind of person that you want to follow. That's the kind of person that you want to learn from, a person that is teaching God's truths from his book and they're living them out.

Jesus calls this the fruit test. In Matthew 7, 16 through 18, Jesus says, by their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a battery bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. You will be able to recognize them by the fruit in their lives. How is their marriage? How are their children?

How is their ministry? Man, it's not rocket science. If you're doing things God's way, He blesses it. Right?

And you'll see the fruit. The message translation says the last sentence this way. I just love it. Don't be impressed with charisma.

Look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not simply what they say. So we look for people living big lives in God, who are led by their faith, and not just by what they see, but what they believe. And they lead Godly lives.

And they're an open book. You come up to them and they're happy to share the struggles that they've had and the ways they've overcome it, but also the struggles that they have currently. They're an open book. And then open to God and open to Godly men and women that God has gathered around them.

So that leads us directly to number three. Telltale sign of a modern day spiritual deceiver. They aren't under authority. Pretty much every time.

And they almost always have problems with authority at work. They always have a problem with their boss. Well, you don't understand. They just don't know.

They always want to mean it. And it sounds a lot like that. Well, I can see somebody talking about their boss like that, but what about your teacher? Well, you're giving me the ability.

What about the pastor? He's only trying to give me the change. None of that is in my notes. I'm not sure why I'm doing that.

And in church, a lot of times these people turn into church hoppers. Right? Now, before we get there, there are legitimate reasons to go to another church. Sometimes there's a scandalous sin issue amongst leadership or people in the church.

It's not a healthy place to be in. Sometimes there's unique growth needs that you need as a Christian. And your church is not meeting them. And God is calling you elsewhere.

Sometimes you just move. Move to another state and move to another city. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about those people who go from church.

They don't move. They go from church to church to church. The primary reason for that is because they will not submit to or be under authority. And they're really easy to pick out because all you have to do is listen to them because they never honor anybody in authority.

It doesn't matter if it's in church or elsewhere. They don't speak respectfully or in an honoring way to anybody who is in authority. Government, church, work, school, anything. There's no honor in the way they speak.

But first, Timothy 517 says, the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. Right? So we should honor those, not just the people that I described there, but we should honor those who God has put above us. And we should submit to them.

And we don't just do things that are contrary to God's word when they tell us to do those things. We respectfully say no. But we still honor them because God put them in a place of leadership above us. And everybody said, amen.

So three tell-tale signs of a modern day spiritual deceiver. They see no real difference between Jesus and other great teachers. They talk big but live small. They aren't under authority.

We need to watch out for these people. This is good counsel. And then this is good advice. We don't want your life or your family to be shipwrecked.

Amen. Let's look at the second half of our passage today. First John 2, 24 through 29. As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.

If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us. Eternal life. I'm writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

As for you, the anointing you receive from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. Stop. Hold on. Let's talk about that one real quick.

And then we'll break this one down. Okay. So this is one of those things. I mean, there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of things that people will pick out of the Bible and they'll say, see, I'm justified for doing this.

And they'll say, see, Christ gave you an anointing and you don't need teaching, so you don't need to go to church. That's not what this is saying. If you just read it as a whole and you take it in context, he's saying, you've received the real gospel. You've received the truth.

You know the truth. The anointing is on you. You don't need anybody teaching you something different or tweaking it or twisting it. You know the truth.

Stay in the truth. Okay. So that's the first thing there. Otherwise, why would the apostles start new churches and continue teaching and preaching and preaching?

And that's the model for churches, right? Right. Yes. Okay.

But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit, just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. So again, kind of a bigger chunk.

Let's talk about some key things that we get from that passage of Scripture. Remain in what you have been taught. Remain in the gospel. Remain in those core truths that you have learned.

Remain in the Son and the Father. Continue in him. Remain in him. Don't be led astray by false teachers.

Continue in Jesus anointing. That's a gist of what that passage is telling us in. In that passage, we have our next test testing whether we are a genuine Christian or a fake Christian. And that is, do you stick it out or do you bail out?

Do you stick it out or bail out? Real Christians stick it out. Pretend Christians bail out. Real Christians, it doesn't matter what happens in their life, no matter what circumstance that could happen in their life.

They will not give up on their faith. They will not stop believing in Jesus. They will not stop following him because he is good and they know that he is the truth and he is the way to the Father. He is the way to everlasting life.

They will not do it. But if you don't have your faith right, if you don't have a genuine relationship with Jesus, life don't hit hard. It's going to. It's just a matter of time if it hasn't already.

And when that happens, what is your foundation? What are you standing on? So why do some people bail out? Well, there's three primary reasons that we're going to look at here.

And all of them are contained in the parable of the sower. In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches the parable to a large audience. And in beginning in verse 18, he gives the disciples the meaning of the parable. And the seed here in that parable is the seed of the kingdom.

And that is to grow in the life of every believer. And he tells them that there are three primary reasons. The seed of the kingdom is not growing in people's lives. And it's never the fault of the seed because the seed comes from God himself.

It's always the fault of the person. So here's the three reasons people bail out on church or bail out on their faith or both. Number one, they never had it in the first place. Jesus said in Matthew 13, 18 and 19, listen to what the parable of the sower means.

When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. So listen, church, the message of the gospel is very simple. Everybody said that.

It's very simple. It's simple. All of us have sinned. Every single one of us.

And as sinners, we cannot be with a holy and pure God. And God being righteous and just, he solved this problem by sending his son to live a perfect life and die in our place and take our sins upon himself. And all we have to do is believe this and accept him as both Lord and Savior. That's it.

It's very simple. People don't understand this, not because it's complex or it's hard to understand. They don't understand it because they don't want to. Because that means I'm going to have to make some changes in my life.

That means that I'm going to have to treat my spouse differently, treat my kids differently, handle my finances differently, handle, you know, change how I spend my time, change my priorities. I'm not really interested in that. And as Jesus said in verse 15 of the same chapter, Matthew 13, he said, their ears are open, but they don't hear a thing. Their eyes are awake, but they don't see a thing.

They stick their fingers in their ears, so they won't have to listen. And they screw their eyes shut, so they won't have to look. They do this, so they won't have to deal with me face to face. So you see these people, they see it, they hear it, maybe they can regurgitate some of it, maybe they've learned some of the lingo, but they never received it.

They never really made that commitment. And they fall away because they never really had it in the first place. And we read this earlier in 1 John 2 19, let's read it this time in the message version. They left us, but they were never really with us.

If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colors, showed they never did belong, because they never really truly gave their life to Christ. They never truly believed. And this is the problem with cultural Christianity.

You grow up in a family and maybe you grew up in a Christian household. And you see a lot of this in the nation of Georgia, where we do Mission War. You see a lot of it in America too, a lot in the Catholic Church, but it's not just the Catholic Church, right? You see your religion as family tradition, you go on Christmas and Easter, you might wear a cross necklace.

And if anybody said, do you believe in God, you'd say yes, but if anybody said, well, who is Jesus? Well, I believe in God. But I mean, do you pray? When I get around to it, you know?

But who is Jesus to you? Well, he died on a cross and things like that. There's no real relationship there. There's no real faith.

It's just this cultural Christianity and cultural Christians, when life hits hard, they bail out. They don't stick with it. You got to make sure your foundation is right. So that can be a knockout punch when life hits hard, right?

So how do we avoid this knockout punch? In 2 Corinthians 13, 5, it says, test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups.

You need first-hand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail to test, do something about it. I love the message version.

It's great. It just cuts the heart of it, right? So at church, get in a quiet place. Don't be in a rush.

Don't hurry to the next thing on your list. Check your heart before God. Make sure that your faith in Christ is real. And make sure that it's your faith, not your parents' faith, not your spouse' faith, not your friends' faith, not your child's faith.

You're the only one that can make that decision for you. And make sure your faith is a living and active relationship with Jesus. I've heard Pastor Miles say before, President of our church network. I love this analogy.

He said, your faith life is like going on roller blades on a slight incline. And if you stop, you know, pressing into it and working on it, then you just start rolling backwards, faster and faster and faster. You don't stay in the same place, you go backwards. So make sure that your faith is growing.

It's going somewhere. It's going forward. So that's the first reason people bail out. They never had it in the first place.

The second reason people bail out is they are disillusioned by trials. Now, I want to be sensitive on this one because, man, we go through some really, really hard things in life. Some harder than others in our lives, personally, but also, you know, comparatively speaking, like, maybe you've gone through way harder things in your life than I have. I've gone through some hard things, but maybe what you've gone through, just, it's incredibly difficult.

But Jesus says, in the parable of the sower, Matthew 13, 20, and 21, he says, the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and it once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, come on, since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. So so many times you see people shrinking back or leaving the faith or falling away.

They're saying, man, in this circumstance, how could God be good? I thought that he was the God of love. I thought he loved me. I thought if I gave my life to him, that things would get better.

I thought if I gave my life to him, that I would be without any problems. And listen to this, God never promises us a life without problems. But he does promise that he'll be with us in the midst of those problems and he'll use them for good in our lives. Sometimes it's to test our character.

Sometimes it is to, it's, if you don't go through this, Ryan, then you will not become this and do what I've called you to do. So, Ryan, you need to go through this. But I don't want to go through this, God. It's good for you.

I'll be with you through the whole thing. Hold my hand and we'll get to the other side and you'll be looking back and you'll be grateful. How will I be grateful? This is so hard, Lord.

I don't want to go through this. This is so difficult. Just trust me. Trust me.

First Peter 1, 6, and 7 says, in all this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Did you notice how that started? In our trials we greatly rejoice.

When's the last time you did that? Man, this is really hard. Thank you, God. But that's what we should be doing because we know that he's working something in us, working something out in our lives and on the other side it's going to be better.

Sometimes we don't see that in this lifetime. We don't see it for months or years, but we just got to trust in church. But since they have no root, oh sorry, that was back up at Matthew 13. In all kinds of trials, these have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Did you catch that church? These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. When you overcome trials, when you overcome hardships, it proves the genuineness of your faith. We don't need to be disillusioned by trials.

We don't need to lose hope because of the difficulties that we face. We need to press in and press into God and we need to trust him and hold his hand during those times. Trust in him. 1 Corinthians 1013, the message version says, no test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face.

All you need to remember is that God will never let you down. He will never let you be pushed past your limit. He'll always be there to help you come through it. So this scripture right here is where a common misconception happens and you probably heard people say it or it's come out of your mouth.

Well, I know that God will never give me more than I can handle. I want you to think about this logically. If we could handle everything on our own, why would we need faith? Why would we need God?

Rather, what this is talking about is temptation. It's talking about temptation to sin. And there's no temptation that we can't overcome when we are abiding in Jesus. So there's three keys to avoiding this knockout punch right here.

The first one real quick. Realize that others have gone through what you've gone through, maybe much worse. And they've come through it successfully and so can you. I've talked to so many people so as Pastor Rob and you talked to these people and I think I've done this in my life too.

But you don't understand. My situation is so unique. No, it's not. Well, yes, it is.

The only reason you think that is because you're going through it. You have not faced anything. There's nothing new under the sun. You've not faced anything that other people haven't faced before.

And some of those people have not overcome those things and some of them have. Let's find some people that have overcome something similarly and let's let them pour into and talk to your life. Get counsel from them. They've won that victory and they'll help you win the same victory.

Other people have gone through what you've gone through. And also, number two, remember that God is with you. And He is for you. He's with you.

He's with you in the mountaintops. He's with you in the valleys. Man, that was amazing. When my friend Dusty, who just lost his son, our church, first service, we got a bunch of people together and they paid for his whole family to have lunch delivered here in Buda.

And Victoria and Mary Pound delivered that lunch to them. And Dusty just couldn't stop talking about Victoria afterwards because she's 18 years old and she has so much wisdom and she knows God's word. And he's like, man, you know how many times I have read that scripture, even though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. You know how many times I have recited that and read that?

And Victoria just blew my mind today. I'm like, what are you talking about? He said, she just said, even though you walk through the valley, it's just a shadow. It's not death.

It's a shadow of death. Christ defeated death. I was like, I haven't ever thought about that either. Hey, I'm going to go, Victoria.

That's cool. And God is with you in those dark moments, but he won't violate your will. You have to make the right choice. That temptation will come, but you have a choice to make, but once you make that right choice, he will give you the strength to carry it out.

And here's key number three. So realize that others have gone what you've gone through. Remember, God is with you. He's for you.

Number three, keep going to church. And what I mean by that is keep fellowshipping with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Be in each other's lives. We don't have life groups going on right now.

Invite people over to your house. Have dinner with them. Don't just talk about the weather and the World Cup. Talk about what's going on in your life and your relationship with God.

Hey, I like the World Cup. It's pretty awesome. I'm hearing that the U.S. is crushing it.

And Austria is not too bad, right? We have some friends from Austria over here. Give my hand today. Stay in relationship in fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. It's not on the PowerPoint, but you've heard this before. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together a summer in the habit of doing but encouraging one another. Men, we need to be together.

God designed this life for us to do that. So don't forget others have successfully gone through what you've gone through. God is with you and there's tremendous value in fellowshiping with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Here's the third reason.

Last one that people bail out. They're seduced by worldly treasures. Seduced by worldly treasures. Jesus says in the parable of the sower, Matthew 13, 22, the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

So about six years ago, seven, seven years ago. Kate will remember this. I was in sales and it was going very well. I was making more money than I'd ever made in my life.

And I remember having a conversation with Kate. The church is not doing very well. We're in a very different place than we are right now. And this pastoring thing is really hard.

And God is blessing my work. And I kind of like making a lot of money. So maybe we should just think about, and we should pray about, but really I was talking about, maybe we should think about hanging this pastor thing up and just climbing the corporate ladder. We'll fund the kingdom, but, and I probably said it in better words than that, because I know the Christianese, right?

But I know my heart. I know that there was greed starting to creep in. And I was starting to really like the luxury and making that kind of money. And pastoring, like I said, it can be hard.

And as long as sporadic hours are carrying people's burdens, it's a lot to carry. But I stuck it out. And a year later, our lead pastor at that time, he said, I'm done. And we had to figure out who's going to take over the church, and through many conversations, many of you have heard that story before.

And the fingers kept pointing at me until I realized God was pointing at me. And I didn't want to be a lead pastor. I didn't want that. And I answered the call.

And I'm grateful that I did because I love what I do every day. And they say, you know, do what you love and you don't work a single day in your life. Well, do what God has called you to do and you won't feel like you're working a single day in your life, right? Amen.

And I could have thrown all of my energy into making money, and declining that ladder. And maybe I would have been successful at that. I don't know. But I know myself, it would have become an idol in my life.

It would have. I would have replaced God in my heart with worldly treasures. And, you know, money is not the root of all evil. It's the love of money.

You know, money builds churches and funds, mission, work. I mean, money can do incredible things when it's in the hands of God and His people, man. But I know that it would have become an idol in my life, and I knew I couldn't let that happen. If I would have done that, I don't know where my marriage would be.

I don't know where my kids would be. I don't know where this church would be. And I don't see that. I don't say that egotistically.

I just say, like, God called me to do something, and I wouldn't have been living out my call. So he would have defined somebody else and he probably would have. But I don't know the answers to those questions. And I'm so glad I don't know the answers to those questions.

Because I want God to use me however he wants to advance his kingdom. So I chose to stick it out rather than bail out in a way. So I wonder what your story is. Right?

Does anybody ever watch Young Sheldon? That show? Man, it is hilarious. You know, Pastor Jeff in that show?

You've seen the episode where he is being seduced by a toaster oven? And it's so funny. At the end of the episode, he had talked about it earlier in the episode, and he goes to that store and he's like, I'm not going to. These are just barley treasures that I want.

And he starts walking out and he runs back in, grabs the box and buys it. You know, that's funny. But I think we do have to check our hearts. Right?

Are the comforts of this life and the world around us, are they more important to us than a relationship with God and the things that he has for us? Because there's no better life to live. And here's the bottom line. We're laying in the plane.

Good starts don't guarantee happy endings. And every single person who gets saved, it's a good start. It's a great start. You feel the love of God.

You get baptized. I mean, it's just wonderful. Good starts don't guarantee happy endings. We have to persevere church.

We have to hang in there. Alas, scripture, Hebrews 10, 35-36, and the Amplified. Do not therefore fling away your fearless confidence for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God and thus receive and carry away and enjoy to the full what is promised.

God's promises are yes and amen for those who are in Christ Jesus, and they are amazing. And that's what John is saying. This is what real Christians do. We stick it out.

And in verse 39 it says, but our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery, and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe, who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ the Messiah, and by faith preserve the soul. Or as the message translation puts it short and to the point, we're not quitters who lose out. Oh no, we'll stay with it and survive trusting all the way. Amen.

So as we go out this week, is Jesus the Messiah or a Messiah? Amen. And in the trials in your life, in those tough situations, it seemed like you can't even breathe. Are you going to stick it out or you're going to bail out?

Can I encourage you? Reach out to someone. Of course reach out to God, but reach out to someone. Let someone carry those burdens with you.

Let someone love on you. Let someone point you to Jesus in those moments. And then, what y'all stand? Let's pray.