All right. All right. Let's open in prayer. You're good.
Thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to come together and study your word. And we pray that as we look at word, it would be an encouragement to all the believers here. And of course, I pray that if anyone here does not know you, that this will give them something to think about, and that you may soften their heart towards you.
I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So I got to start with a question here.
How many fans of Classic Rock do we have here today? Okay. All right. A few.
How many of you remember the song, the Bob Dylan song, the times they are changing? Yeah, a few. I realize I'm getting to that age where half the congregation is looking at me like times they are, what? My Bob Hoop.
The other half is like, kid, hey, you know that song. It is a little bit poor my time from the 60s. But Mr. Dylan's lyrics have never been more relevant in many ways than they are today, right?
The world is indeed changing. I've said before, I think that it's changed more maybe in the last 10 years in a lot of ways than it has in the last 50. As we see things changing around us, we know that the truth of God's word does not change. And those of us who study history, who have read history, we know that there's a pattern throughout history.
When you have the unchanging word of God and you have this constantly changing world, eventually there's going to be conflict. With more that, the ideals and the morals of the world change, all position to the truth increases and becomes more and more intense. So today, that's what I want to talk about. I want to talk about something that I think a lot of us have been thinking about as we observe the world around us and that is persecution.
Now, I don't want to get into sensationalizing any events from the past. I'm not going to get into horrifying details of medieval torture methods on people, Fox's book, and Martyrs has that well covered. I'm also not planning to try to speculate anything that may happen in our country in the future because we really don't know. We don't know where these troubles are going to come from.
We don't know what form they're going to take. There's no sense in spending too much time on that. What I want to do today is I want to rally the troops. We know we're facing hard times so that much we know.
We know there are hard times ahead. We know that there will be suffering. There will be hardship before the Lord returns. And so that's why I want to call this message today, staying faithful in dangerous times.
How do we remain faithful? Where do we find our hope and our strength to face these dangerous times? There was a story that I wanted to share. I was watching a documentary some time ago about the terror attacks from September 11, 2001.
Now that's something anybody here, if you're older than say 30, you definitely remember where you were doing. It's one of those moments in history. We all remember, even if you're maybe younger than that, no doubt you've heard about it before. That day that terrorists flew these jet planes and skyscrapers built a lot of people.
And there was a story that I heard that this unit of firefighters as they approached the scene and they're looking at these smoking buildings. And this fear began to well up in them. They're looking at this scene. This is like nothing they've ever faced before.
And it's an interesting thing because for anybody who grew up before 9-11, we all thought it was an accident when the first plane hit. That's something I had to explain sometimes even to people today who've grown up post 9-11. Terrorist attacks, the ever-present threat of war and conflict, as kind of gripped us in the quarter century since then. But prior to that, relatively, at least in our country, it was a relatively peaceful time.
But when the second plane hit, that was the moment when we knew. This is serious. This is no accident. Somebody did this to us.
And this firefighter, this fire captain, he was the captain of the unit. He said that at the moment that they knew that the second tower was hit. He looked at his men and he said, his men were very nervous. They didn't know what they were dealing with.
And he said, boys, somebody is attacking us. We're at war. Let's go to war. And the mood changed in that unit.
These men, who many of them, I think, were aware that that was going to be it for them, that they weren't coming out of this live. But the mood changed. They began to shake hands with each other. They began to pat each other back and motivate each other.
Let's do this. Let's go to war. We are at war. In 2026, the church is at war.
So how do we go to war? How can we go to war with courage and with boldness to do what we need to do? Well, there's two things you need when you're going off to war. First thing, when you join the actual military, Steve is not here to confirm this, but believe in the Canadian military, they give you a rifle in Canada that would be, I believe, a Colt C7 rifle.
That's the standard issue. So they give you a weapon. We have the word of God that is our weapon. But the second thing, this is vital.
You got to know where to point that weapon. That brings me to the first point here. The first thing, know your enemy. It's important that we know our enemy.
I had Bob Dylan stuck in my head. Now I have Green Day stuck in my head. So who is our enemy as believers? Who is our enemy?
Is our enemy the government? Is that non-believers? Is that people living in sin? Is that our coworkers or bosses?
Maybe in some scenarios? It might feel like those people are the enemy, but those people really are enemy. Ephesians 6 makes it very clear who the enemy is. Ephesians 6 verses 10 to 12.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. I think we're often tempted to view other people, people who oppose truth as our enemy. I think we're very tempted in this hyper-political world that we're living in now, this hyper-political time. Everything is so political.
You go online and it's not like the old days where you can agree to disagree. You're either on this side or this side and if you're on the wrong side, it might be better if you didn't exist. That is the attitude the world has taken on with these, especially with each new generation. And it's tempting for us to fall into that.
It's tempting for us to look to a politician and either say, that guy's going to save us, which is idolatry, or this guy, he's the enemy. Our fight is not with governments. It's not with the Canadian government, the US government, the Russian government, Chinese, whatever you want. Our fight is not with any of these world powers, these governments.
Our fight is certainly not with unbelievers. The unbelievers, these are the people behind enemy lines that we have been sent by God to rescue and bring and win over for Christ. We are the special forces, the special ops for God's kingdom, for God's army. Those soldiers that go behind enemy lines to carry out the dangerous missions.
And in our case, that mission is to bring people to the truth, to point them to Christ. Nonbelievers are certainly not the enemy. Is our fight? Our fight is not with people who are living in sin, no matter how weird or perverted that sin is becoming.
That's those people are not our enemy. That's not our fight. That distracts us sometimes from the bigger fight. Those people have been deceived by the enemy.
There's some brainwashing going on. The scriptures say in the last days, what is good will be considered evil, what is evil will be considered good by the world. These people have been deceived. So who's our fight with?
Our fight is with the temporary ruler of this world, Satan and his angels, not the guys on the Harleys, but demons and evil spirits. Those who do the work of Satan to deceive the people, just as God has people that follow him, that do his work, that he's called to do his work, Satan does the same thing. Satan will call people to do his work for him as well. Ultimately, he is the one.
He is the enemy. So the question then, why does God allow this? I know I've asked that question. Why does God allow so much evil to carry out against his people?
Why does God allow people speaking the truth? Their lives are threatened. They are arrested, imprisoned, tortured all over the world. We talk about persecution as coming.
Persecution has been here. It's been around as long as the church has been around. Just days after Christ ascended back into heaven, persecution of the church began. Even before that, God's people have been persecuted.
Ever since the day that Cain murdered his brother Abel, because Abel found favor with God, the game was jealous. He took his brother's life ever since that day. There has been a war between good and evil, between God's people and the forces of evil. So why does God allow this evil?
Why does he allow Satan to cause harm to his people? God has temporarily given Satan the freedom to tempt and test his church. There's one story going back again to the Old Testament, one of the oldest stories in the scriptures where we find a precedent for this. The story of Job.
I'm going to Job chapter 1, and read from verses 6 to 12. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down on it.
And the Lord said to Satan, if you consider my servant Job, there is none like him on all the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and says, just Job, fear God for no reason. If you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every site, you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to your face.
And the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only do not stretch out your hands. In other words, take his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
So Job was a righteous man, and he was also a very wealthy man. The Lord blessed him in this life. And Satan, he wants to prove a point here. God, people are only going to follow you if times are good.
This guy is following you because he is wealthy. You have blessed him. You have given him all this property. He has got a big family, big piece of land, all this livestock.
Not like the livestock that I got in my property, mostly frozen raccoons. He is actually a useful livestock. And he is saying, of course he follows you when times are easy. But I bet if you took these things away, he would fall away pretty quick.
And so God answered Satan and he says, okay, challenge accepted. But you know what? This is a good test for Job. Go ahead and take his possessions away.
You can't kill him. Take his possessions. And let's see what he decides. Let's see what he does.
And boy did Job suffer. Boy did Job suffer. He lost all his children. He lost his property, his livestock.
He became very ill. And Job eventually found himself sitting in a pile of ashes. This one is a very wealthy man sitting in a pile of ashes. Sick, wounded, lost everything.
Job struggled, man. Job really struggled. We see that throughout the book. He suffered with his faith, struggled with his faith.
He struggled even with his own existence as well to live. But you know what happened to Job? His faith was tested and refined through that struggle. His faith was tested and it was refined.
He became stronger through all of this. In the end, Job could stand there and say, my redeemer lives and he will stand at the end of the world. Just as God tested Job, he must test and refine the church through suffering. You know, I think there's a lot of this prosperity gospel being taught in this day and age.
If you believe in Jesus, all your physical needs will not only be met, but he'll keep piling on the wealth. Right? You'll have the three character ads. You might even have a private chat.
You know, there's a lot of that these days. That's not really what Jesus told us what happened if we followed him, is it? Jesus said that we would face our ship. Just as Job faced our ship, we will face our church.
The church will face, the church will face opposition, the church will face persecution. John chapter 6, chapter 6, verse 33, he says, he has just told the disciples in very troubling things. He's finally broken it to them. What's about to happen to him?
And ultimately what's about to happen to them? But then he tells them this, I've told you all this so that you will have peace. That's a little surprising. All these troubling things, but I've told you this, why?
You may have trials and sorrows, but take heart because I've overcome the world. And so that brings me to my next point. We know who our enemy is. If we're in the scriptures, we know who our enemy is.
When we look through our history, it doesn't matter who's in charge. It was the persecution came from the Jews and then came from the Romans and then from the Church of England, the Ottoman Empire and then the Communists, whoever throughout history. Persecution has taken many forms. It has come from many sources.
Ultimately, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. It is Satan the deceiver who was our enemy. But how do we be prepared to face that enemy? I think the first most important thing, we trusted the one who went before us.
So Jesus says, John 15, 18 to 19, we shared the first part of this, the first verse here. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The world hates us because it hated Christ first.
As we face difficult times, we compare it to driving in a snowstorm. So those of us who are born and raised Canadian, we're very familiar with that, of course. You know, when you have that snowy road and you can't see very good and your cars moving around a lot, cars as much as we've tried to adapt them for the snow, they weren't really built for it. And so you're driving down a road and what do they tell you to do?
Follow the tracks so the cars in front of you. The cars that already went down that road, if there are tracks, the snow has been beaten down and kind of pushed aside and you can see a little bit of road where the cars in front of you have gone. And so if you just stay on those tracks, you know, especially if those tracks, you know, sometimes you'll see the tracks that become kind of cinnamon roll shaped and then lead into the ditch, you don't want to follow them then. But if the, when you see those tracks leading straight down the road, then that means another car is gone before you.
You follow those tracks. And we have someone who has gone before us, somebody who knows what we're facing. Hebrews 218, for because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. What is that temptation?
Well, in the early church, that temptation, when it talks about him being tempted, the Lord Jesus Christ being tempted, us being tempted, they knew exactly what that meant. We, in our world full of distractions, we face all kinds of temptations. There was one temptation for the early church. There was one thing kind of constantly on their minds.
The temptation for most early believers is the temptation to deny Christ in the face of persecution. That has been the greatest temptation for the church. From the moment Christ ascended into heaven, right up to today, for 99% of the world, for 99% history, the greatest temptation people have faced. Again, we are very insulated.
In my lifetime, we have been very insulated in our country from persecution. And so we kind of think that we read these verses and we apply other things to it. And of course it applies to other forms of temptation as well. Christ was tempted in many different ways.
But I think the greatest temptation the church has faced is the temptation to deny Christ. Just as Job was tempted even by his friends and his wife to curse God and die, that has been the greatest temptation the church has faced. And it will be the greatest temptation we face moving forward as things get worse. The greatest temptation, and I spoke about this a little year ago, Jesus was tempted in many different ways.
But the greatest temptation Jesus faced throughout his ministry on earth was the temptation to avoid the cross, to forgo that horrible day on the cross that saves humanity. Jesus did not look forward to the cross. That was going to be a very, very painful morning for him, very painful weekend. In John chapter 12, verses 27 and 28, we kind of see this surface a little bit.
We see Jesus kind of speak about this a little bit. He says, now my soul is now is my soul troubles. He was troubles looking forward to the cross. It was a very, very troubling thing for him.
I don't think anybody would look forward to that. And what shall I say? Father save me from this hour. But for this purpose I've come to this hour.
Father glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven. I've glorified it and I will glorify it again. Christ's suffering brought glory to God.
Our suffering can do the same. And so we can face persecution joyfully knowing that there is a purpose behind it. That God has put us here, he has saved us for the purpose of bringing glory to his name. And when we face these trials, sometimes you know you wonder why is this happening to me?
Did I do something wrong? Did I go off the rails somewhere? Our suffering brings glory to God, just as Christ did. Just as Christ did not look forward to the cross.
He dreaded the cross. There may be fear of some of the things we could face. And some of the things that when we look at the subject of persecution, when we look at these hard times that we're facing, you know, what are some of the things that we fear? Mocking.
How many people here have been mocked for their faith before? Well, Lord Jesus was mocked. He was certainly mocked. We may fear loss of possessions of property.
That's something that could become very real in the coming years for Canadian believers, right? Jesus had everything taken from him, right up to what including the clothes on his back. Everything was taken from Lord Jesus Christ. We may fear physical suffering.
That's not typically been a reality here in Canada. Sometimes I do know a street preacher who was once punched in the face, well, preaching the gospel. But for many, that's been the reality throughout history, imprisonment, beating, torture, even death. Lord Jesus Christ was beaten and was beaten beyond human recognition.
He has gone before us. We may fear rejection. How many have had relationships lost or at least changed because of your faith? How many have you were close to somebody, but then because you turned to Christ or because of your witness, the relationship is not the same anymore.
Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was denied by another close friend, and in his darkest moment, almost all of his followers abandoned him. Lord Jesus Christ certainly faced rejection, continues to face rejection. But you know what?
The Lord Jesus Christ not only has gone before us, he went to a place that those who put their faith in him will never see, and he suffered in a way that we will never know. The Lord Jesus Christ stood before God and man and answered and paid the price for my sin. This is suffering I will never know. He paid for my sin.
All of my sin was put on him. He carried the weight and the shame of all of my guilt to the cross. Is it too much to ask that I suffer a little for him in this life? I think that's something we need to ask ourselves.
Isn't it? Is it too much to ask that I suffer a little bit for him in this life? But it doesn't end there. It doesn't end there.
This sermon has been a little bit ominous up to this point, but this is the turning point. Matthew 16 verse 24, first Jesus tells us what to expect here. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. So there is self-denial when following Jesus.
This is not an easy life. This is a fulfilling life. It's a hopeful life, a life full of purpose, but it's not an easy life. Not in this world.
He never promised that it would be an easy life. To follow Jesus means self-denial. To put myself aside, to pick up my cross. These crosses come in all different shapes and sizes, don't they?
We all have a cross pickup. Every believer will endure certain hardships to strengthen and refine their faith. However, there is good news there. Jesus carried the cross, but the story didn't end there.
Hebrews 12 verses 1 to 2. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cleans so closely and let us run with endurance, the race that has set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Dispising the shame and is seated at the right hand of God. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross.
Jesus endured suffering knowing the joy and the glory that awaited him. The same joy and glory that awaits those who follow in his path. The same joy that awaits those who pick up the cross to follow him. We have a great hope.
A great hope of a life far greater than this one. Someday, we'll look back on this life and the suffering that we faced here. It won't matter that much. The joy that we experience when we're in his presence, we won't really think much about the things we suffered in this life.
And that brings me to my final point here. As we face difficult times, it is important that we set our minds on things above. So Paul, the apostle, obviously no stranger to persecution, no stranger to suffering. Paul found himself in prison awaiting trial when he wrote these words, Philippians.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 20 to 24. Now do you think Paul was afraid as he was suffering? I'm sure he was at times. But do you think that fear overcame him?
Do you think that fear got in the way of him doing the Lord's work? He got in the way of his ministry? Philippians 1, 20, 24. Starting verse 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death.
For to me to live as Christ and to die is gain. For if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which? I shall choose.
I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to part and to be with Christ. For that is far better.
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Paul desired to continue to do the Lord's work, but did he fear death? He certainly did not fear death. He knew that there was purpose, both life or death for him.
He knew that he was meant to glorify God either in his life and eventually in his death. Paul did not fear death because he knew something greater awaited him. There is hope for the believer in both life and death because of the promise of eternal life made possible by the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is one of the most important aspects of the hope that we have.
It is the reason that we do not need to fear these hardships. I want to tell you another story here, a hockey story. I used to play hockey. And I remember I was playing for my college team, the Nova Scotia Community College, the each campus had a team.
And in the final tournament, this would be 2010 maybe. Somewhere around there. We had a very good team, but we came into one of the last games and we were playing another very good team. They kind of surprised us.
I remember we went up to nothing. And then they stormed back and they scored. I was like, okay, now I got to tighten up a little bit. And I remember they scored again.
Uh oh, tie game. And remember us, we are going out there and we are gripping the sticks a little too tight. We are making mistakes because we cannot focus. We had this game locked up and then they came back and tied it.
And I will never forget, I was on the bench which is where I spent most of the time. And we turned the puck over. The other team was headed into our end. And I still remember seeing there were two people in that one moment.
There were two people on the entire Earth. The guy with the puck and our goalie. Skinny kid from Cape Breton, Jameson the guys, it was his name. And you could see the whole season, the whole tournament flashed before our eyes as he skated in on the net.
And we are already kind of in a fragile mood here because we just gave up a two goal lead. I still remember, I do not know even how it happened. Somehow Jameson managed to stretch his leg out and stop the puck, stop the breakaway. And it kept us in the game.
And something changed. Just like on a much smaller scale, just like maybe for those firefighters, something changed on our bench for our team. This guy could stop the puck. It is okay if we make the odd mistake.
Let's go. Let's win this game. The way we attack the game from that moment on was completely different because of that turning point. That's safe.
The resurrection had the same effect. You see these people who had been timid, who had been fearful. People like Peter, who had been very timid most of their lives. They did not want to get into too much trouble.
And then they see Jesus crucified and that timidness kind of goes to another level, isn't it? Like they're hiding in the attic and they're terrified. But then all of a sudden he appears to them. Just like we talked about earlier this morning, he appears to them.
He's risen. He's not here. He's not dead. He's risen.
Something changes there. Something changes in the mindset of the apostles from that point on because all of a sudden death itself has been defeated. My sin has been defeated and now death has been defeated. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means the last enemy.
Death has now been defeated. What can man do to me if death has been defeated? What can man do to me if death itself has been defeated? First John 4, verse 4.
I want to kind of wrap up with this. As we enter challenging times, it's easy to be overwhelmed by evil, isn't it? We're starting to see evil that we didn't. I know I didn't think was possible when I was younger.
Easy to be overwhelmed. I love this verse from first John. Little children, you are from God. You have overcome them in the world.
For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. We can face these dangerous times because the Lord is with us. Not only is the Lord with us. He has gone before us.
And not only that, he now lives in us. He also will put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus now lives in you. The truth is in you if you have believed in Christ.
What can man do to me if the truth is in me? And if he is gone before me. This is important because his persecution intensifies. So too does the hunger for the truth.
Warren and John on Friday nights, have you noticed this? There's kind of that tension between those who hate the gospel and those who are hungry for it, right? And that contrast is only increasing. You know, Stephen, last week, talked about all these men in his unit.
150 men asking for Bibles. That's mind blowing me. I grew up, I knew some military guys growing up. They're not the type of guys typically that want to buy us.
But in 2026, people in our military asking for Bibles. Kids in the schools, they want Bibles. They want to know the truth. There's so much uncertainty.
What is the truth? What is right? What is wrong? Who knows?
They need the truth. They're hungry for the truth. And so the task at hand, no matter how scary, how dangerous it may get, or if the task at hand is to share the truth, to share the Word of God with the lost world, we must pray for boldness and sharing the good news. This is how I want to close.
I want to apologize to the guys on the booth because I gave you guys one verse from here. I kind of want to read the whole passage now. That's okay. Acts chapter 4.
Acts chapter 4, I'm going to start at verse 23. So persecution of the church, or Christ has gone back into heaven at this point. The church is being started. And Peter and John have been arrested.
They were questioned. They were kind of threatened, pushed around a little bit, and then they're sent back. And people are starting to go, okay, maybe this is what Jesus was talking about when he said they will hate you because they hate me. And so this is what they prayed.
Now I want to invite everybody here. You don't have to pray it aloud with me. You don't have to read it with me out loud. You can pray it in your own heart, in your own words.
I would encourage you to do that. I think it's important as a church, moving forward in these times that we pray things like this, that we pray for boldness, for continued courage. Life isn't going to be the same as it was when we were younger. Starting on verse 23, this is what they prayed.
When they were released, they went to their friends, and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and earth, and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage? Why did the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves.
The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and his anointed. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats.
Look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. Look at the threats when you go online, people who hate believers, people who want us gone. Give us boldness to continue to speak your word. Well, you stretch out your hands to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. It is imperative in these times in 2026 that we continue to live in prayer, that we be firm in the truth, and that we ask that God give us the boldness that we need to be firm in the truth. And I pray for anybody here that does not know Jesus. Again, I can't promise your life to get easier in this life.
But what you crave is purpose. What you crave is love from God himself, that you crave. And what you need is redemption and payment for your sin. And there is great reward for those who follow Jesus.
Let's close in prayer. God, I pray for your church today. I pray for Northbrook, for every other church in Dartmouth, in Canada, around the world. God, would you give us boldness to speak your word and to be firm in the truth?
Would you give us courage to face whatever is coming? God, I thank you for your salvation, for everything you've done for us. Thank you that you went before us, how you suffered for us. Lord, maybe we may be willing to do the same, knowing the joy and the glory that awaits us.
I want to pray for those who do not believe, you give us your love for them. I want to pray especially today for our leaders. God, I pray for our Prime Minister, Mr. Kearney, for our premier Tim Houston, for the mayor of our city, Andy Fillmore, for all those in leadership.
Lord, would you draw them to you? Would you soften their hearts for the gospel so that they can no eternal life? You do not see them as opposition to you, you love them and you long for them to come to you. Would you give us your heart for them?
We pray, I pray blessing on this congregation. And I thank you for your word and to pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.