Personally Experiencing Jesus in Pain

All right, good morning, church. Happy Father's Day. Man, there's like a, there's a thing in the world where it's like, you make dad's the butts of jokes, like, oh, lazy, bumbling, oh, if only the, man, not so. Like in the church, maybe in the world, but in the church, a dad is the one who disciplines, disciples, the provider, the protector, and a servant leader who lays down his life for his wife and follows the Lord. So dad's way to go, atta boy, follow the Lord. And the other thing is, like, a lot of times in churches, like, they can be like ghost towns on Father's Day because like, man, barbecue, fish, we got people sitting in overflow, first and second service, so. Love you, dads. And you think about it, it's like, happy Father's Day to the eternal Father because of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Like, so sometime today, it'd be like, happy Father's Day, my Lord. You get asked a lot of things as a dad, and one of the things that I got asked at one point in time, probably, I don't know, like five years ago, is, dad, we want a tree house. So I did what any dad does, and I go to the tree house store where they build these, like, play sets with slides and monkey bars and swings.

And then I saw the price tag. They're like, we want the Breckenridge model. And I was like, no, you don't. Let's go to Home Depot. I was like, I'm not buying that, that's crazy. I'm not, that's worth more than my car. So we went to Home Depot, and we built a tree house. No, that's from Google. We built a tree house. It was like made out of fence planks, and like, oh, man, it was like, the neighbors would come over, they're like, can our kids play on that? I'm like, if you sign this release, I don't know. There's no blueprints, man, we're just like screwing stuff together. It didn't used to have that green slide. It was like, it had a little hole. They're like, we'll do a lemonade stand here, and Laura's like, it needs a top deck. I was like, okay, I got it. And then the kids were like, dad, it needs a slide. So I Googled slides, tree house slides. Did you know they're like $1,000 for a plastic tube? I'm like, I'm out on that. So I get on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and I found this like ratty old play set that he bought sometime. I was like, hey, man, I want your slide. He's like, well, the tree house is for sale.

I was like, I get it, I just want the slide. He's like, well, the slide is actually broken. And it was, it was like cracked and falling apart. And I was like, that's okay, man. I cannot spend $1,000, I want your broken slide. And so we go with the kids, just pieces, and it is cracked. We put it into the back of Laura's Suburban. We get home and I have to take a drill and like drill holes into the slide and take repelling cord, like parachute cord, and like stitch the slide back together. And my kids are watching me like, oh man, like this is, this is bad. You just like, it's a, it was a bad slide. And now you just like gave it stitches and you put it together. And I think we learned some new words when you put it together. And like, I'm not going down the slide. And I'm like, come on, go, it's attached. Like go down the slide. And they're like, they're like backing up like, mom. And I was like, all right, watch this. And I'm like, been down pre ACL tear and like throw myself down this green slide, all six foot one of me. And it like rattles around. I pop out the other side and they're like, ah. And they just like go, I mean, time after time down the slide, are all just like, get the water hose.

They hook the water hose up. They make it into a water slide. They're putting the animals down it. They're putting action figures down it. Like the slide made the thing. And they were so concerned about it until I did it. Once they saw I could do it, they were emboldened like, oh, this is awesome. And so it is with our lives. Like you read this book and you see the testimonies of other, you lead the theology of Christ. And you're like, yeah, maybe good for them. Good for Moses, good for Abraham, good for David. I don't know about me. And we see Jesus go through the slide of life first. To the cross, through the dark tomb, comes out the other side to show like, I got you. Like this wild ride of life. You will come out the other side. The eternal life forevermore in it is good. And I'll go first, the author and perfecter of our faith that we can follow him through the unknown, the trials, the afflictions, the suffering of life. All the unknown turns in the darkness knowing he came out the other side and we will too. And so today what we're gonna talk about is personally experiencing Jesus. Because it's not enough to just be like, well, good for you. But we in faith have to step into that slide, so to say.

as we follow our Savior. And so today we're gonna be in Psalm 34. We're in this series, Christophany. And a Christophany is an appearance of the eternal Son of God in the Old Testament, prior to the incarnation. It's like when Jesus steps onto the scene with Hagar or Abraham and Sarah or Moses, and we see in the life of David, there are Christophanies. But this is a little bit of a detour because what we've been talking about is these historical narratives in Scripture where you see the angel of the Lord appear. And the reason why we're gonna be in Psalm 34, which feels like a detour, in a sense it is, is because last week there was a detour. I was with two people, two separate people, one in Dallas, one here at Harris Creek, who are battling stage four cancer. And as I sat with them, and one was driving back from MD Anderson, he and his wife, I read to them the words of Psalm 34, because it's such a comfort. And as I'm reading to them Psalm 34 and praying that over them, it's like the Holy Spirit shined a spotlight on verse seven where it says, the angel of the Lord. Which if you've been journeying with us in the Christophany series, you know that is the hallmark of like,

that's the spotlight, this is the pre-incarnate. When it's the angel of the Lord, it means the pre-incarnate eternal son of God. And David says here, the angel, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. And I was like, I walked into the sermon prep team on Monday, I was like, hey, I think we're not gonna do Gideon, which is what was planned. I think we should do Psalm 34. And we all looked at it, we all agreed. And so that's what we're gonna do today. Just gonna walk through and see the angel of the Lord, Jesus, personally experiencing Jesus. Now we have context. You'll see with Psalm 34, there's what's called a superscript. All the Psalms don't have this, but some of them do. Where it gives us a little bit of a context like, hey, this is when this was written. And what we know is that David had encountered the king of Gath, which is where Goliath was from. He's in a bad place with a bad king who wants him dead because he had killed their champion warrior, Goliath. And so he flees from him. And you pick this up in 1 Samuel 21 and 22, and where he flees is to this cave called Agilum, which is Hebrew for refuge. He's in the cave called refuge. And we are told that there 400 men

who were depressed, distressed, and indebted came to him and he became a commander over them. Now, that doesn't sound like a great battalion of men. I got the depressed, the distressed, and the indebted, like, oh, great, let's go to war. But that's who God brought to him. And he gives them the most epic locker room halftime speech where he's like, hey, huddle around. And let me tell you, it's not because of our circumstances, it's because of our Savior that we will win and we will rout armies. I don't care about your circumstances, but you're depressed, distressed, and indebted. And that, in God's hands, he opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Like, we've got the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Son of God on our side, as he's got one wicked king coming this way and another wicked king from his own home country, Saul, coming this way. And here they are huddled in a cave with 400 men. Now, these probably weren't formally educated, these indebted, distressed, and depressed. And so what he gives them, this is crazy. We teach oftentimes with an acrostic. It's a mnemonic device to help you remember the points. David does it in Psalm 34. He takes the Hebrew alphabet, like R-A-B-C-D-E-F-G, and he goes aleph, beit, dalet, gemel. Did I get those right, Julian?

Gemel, dalet. Gemel, dalet. We got a Hebrew scholar right here. I'm like, man, I'm just like, I'm swerving in his lane. Gemel, dalet, gemel, dalet. And he gives them the alphabet. It's the beginning of each line is the Hebrew letter. That they could remember it. These are 400 men sitting in the dark. And he's like, all right, let me tell you who your God is. Circumstances aside, we've got God on our side. And so he teaches them. The other thing that you're gonna see here is there's a cycle that goes in Psalm 34. Charlotte Dixon created a picture. You'll see it on the screen. Look at 12 o'clock at the very top center. Afflictions happen. That's the common denominator of life. You'll see it in the Psalm. Afflictions happen to the righteous. They happen to the unrighteous. But the righteous cry out to God. God hears us. God saves us. We praise and testify to God. Then what happens? Other people hear. They personally experience God. While all along, verse seven.

Angel of the Lord is surrounding us, Jesus. And so you can find courage in the caves of life as you personally experience Jesus. So let's look at this most epic locker room halftime speech as we jump in. So verse one through three, I'm gonna break it up into five parts. Verse one through three, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. They're like, all times you're hiding in a cave with us 400, you're gonna praise him right now? He's like, yeah, because Christ is above circumstances. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. David could have boasted about like, you know, I'm anointed to be the next king. I know Saul is the king, but I've been anointed by Samuel to be king. You know, I could boast in the fact that I slew Goliath, knocked him down with a stone, cut his head off and carried it. Like I am a conquering king. He could have boasted all these things. He said, my soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. We're told throughout scripture, it says God opposes the proud. Like, oh, you think you can do this on your own? Then I will be in opposition to you. But he gives grace to the humble.

You think about what this would have done inside them, these 400 huddled men in a cave who are depressed and debted and distressed. Let the humble hear and be glad. You mean there's hope for us, David? Yes, and be glad. Then he says, oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Magnify to enlarge. When God is big, it makes your circumstances really small. Make God big and your trials small. God big, adversity small. God big, the unknown small. Magnify the Lord. Like, let's focus on him and he's gonna eclipse all the worries and stressors of life. And we're gonna exalt his name together. I was in Big Brand Tire recently and I was doing what this very first point is, which was what David's doing, which is testify to others about Jesus. That's what he's doing. David's like, I'm gonna testify about our God and who we serve. I was in this place, Big Brand Tire, that I've told you about before. Well, you know, you drive by it on Highway 84. You probably drive past it after church and it says, we fix flats for free. And I've been in there eight times in the last two years

because there's a lot of construction going on around our house, apparently. They literally know me by name. They know our cars. They're like, which one today? I was like, it's my wife's. They're like, which tire? Front passenger. He's like, we got it. We'll put it up in the rack. And then the guy at the register says this, just me and him in the store. He goes, you know, a lot of people from y'all's church come in here. I was like, oh yeah, that's because I've shared about it from the stage. He's like, yeah, why was that again? I was like, because it's the only two things that are free in life. Forgiveness of sins through Jesus and Big Brand Tire fixing your flats for free. And he's like, we do. And I was like, I know. I literally haven't spent a dime here. I was like, but what about you? You think you'll go to heaven when you die? He goes, nah. I was like, why, you think you've done too much bad? He was like, no, it's not that, but thanks for guessing bad, I guess.

I'm like. He's like, nah, I just don't think I've done enough good. I was like, ah, well, that's it. That's why I talk about it at church. You see, there's nothing so good you could do to get you to God. There's nothing so bad you could do that would keep you from God. It's just a free gift. Like you guys fixing my tire right now, you're not gonna charge me anything. It's a free gift. That's why I talk about it. It's like Jesus. You just receive it. Would you like to be, you know, would you, do you think you could go to heaven now? And he's like, nah, I don't know about that. All right, hey, put it on the rack, get it up. You know, and that was it. But while my heart longs for him to trust in Jesus, I'm not dismayed. You know why? Because it's not my job to justify people to God. It's my job to testify about God. It's our job to testify to others about Jesus. God does the saving, pressures off of us. Like one plants, one waters, God gives the growth. So it's not your job to save anyone, which means you can tell everyone

and you just trust that God is going to save when he does. I was just out there either planting a seed or watering a seed. I'm gonna leave the results to God. I'm okay, he's okay. God's got it. Our job, point one, testify to others about Jesus. We declare, this is the application. It's as simple as this. We declare our deliverance to others. Declare your deliverance. have sin, but not all have a savior. You can be certain all 8 billion people walking this earth have one thing in common, they have sin. So you get to tell them about your savior. Well, what if they don't trust him? What if it's awkward? What if they deny him? What if they follow another religion? Doesn't matter. Tell them about Jesus. We testify to others about Jesus. And woe be to us if we're content to be saved and not share. We testify to others about Jesus. Let's continue in verse four. I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed. You think about the men listening to the psalm,

the 400 depressed, distressed, and indebted. They're like, wait, really? Really, David? They're sitting in the darkness of a cave. Those who look to him are radiant? Now, my circumstances aren't radiant. My circumstances are full of shame. Well, you look to God and you will not be. This poor, now he makes it personal. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. You think about that cycle. We face afflictions, we cry out to God, God hears us, he delivers us, we testify to others. They trust in God as they face afflictions and on and on and on for thousands and thousands of years. David did it, the apostles did it, and here we sit today doing it as well. Then it says, and here's the Christophany, the angel of the Lord, pre-incarnate Christ, encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. David, we know from some of the other historical narratives saw the angel of the Lord. He had come to know this like, oh, I'm not alone. The angel of the Lord, Jesus, eternal son of God, encamps around me. This is interesting. David's a military man. He was a shepherd, but now he's a military man. He knows war strategy.

He had taken Saul's sword to prove that he could have killed Saul, even though he didn't kill him. And what he did is he had to like tiptoe and navigate through all the outer guard, through all the watchmen, through his very body guards that were surrounding Saul in the encampment, steal Saul's sword, and then back out over all the men lying in their sleep under the cover of night. They, he knew the most important persons in the middle and all the warriors surround. But the most, I mean, think about the assassination attempt on the president. There's a shot, and then all of a sudden, Secret Service are just, they engulf him. You can't even see the president anymore. As he's like engulfed, they're all protecting the most important person. And right here, God flips the script. God's like, no, I will be on the outside. You will be on the inside. You're my precious, beloved son or daughter of God. He flips it and he's like, no, I'll be on the outside. God, the son on the outside, you in the middle. He's our protector rather than him being in the middle. He's like, no, I will protect you. He's the angel of the Lord and camps around those who fear him. We have, to illustrate this, we have a dog. I think we've got a picture of, there's a little,

a little puppy, but then we fed him. There is no AI used in that image. That is an actual, we thought we got a dog. We got a hybrid albino Wookie. So our kids are fine being at home alone. They're like, is Cash gonna be here? Yeah, they're like, see ya. Like, they're good because that dog, while he is nice as can be, if you so much as knock on our door, he loses his mind with these deep barks and growls. He's never bit anyone. He's a golden doodle, so he doesn't even have it in him. But the sounds that he makes, anybody who means ill intent at our house would be like, nevermind. Like, whatever creature from Narnia that is, I'm gonna pick a different house. So the kids are like, yeah, we're fine, he's here. Like, they feel totally at safe. How much more, that's our dog with our kids. How much more your God with his children? And so the second point, we ask God for answers. You're gonna face afflictions. This Psalm testifies to that. You just ask God for answers, and he's gonna give you the answer. It says when we lack wisdom, he'll give it. But you know what else he's gonna give us the answer? His very presence.

Part of the answer is himself. He's like, I'll give wisdom, I'll give you direction. The Holy Spirit is the counselor. I'll lead you, and I myself will be with you. And so we can trust and rest no matter what we are going through in life, the darkness of the slides, the unknown turns, or whatever the Lord may be taking us. And it doesn't mean that it's gonna be pain-free. David's life was anything but pain-free. The Christian life is not pain-free, but it's free. As a former alcoholic, 20 years sober, I can testify, my life is not pain-free, but I am free because the angel of the Lord has answered me and delivered me. Let's continue, verse eight. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. They would have heard, blessed is the man who takes, wait, we're in the cave of refuge, agilum, that means refuge. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. You think about the identity that David is speaking over this huddled group of outcasts. Fear the Lord, you his saints. Like that's how God sees you, his holy ones, his chosen ones. For those who fear him have no lack. Fear God and nothing else.

And if you don't fear God, you will fear everything else. He says, those who fear God have no lack. The young lions who are strong and competent and confident, the young lions suffer want and hunger. But those who seek God, seek the Lord, lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man, this is the only question in the psalm, what man is there who desires life and loves many good days that he may see good? I mean, you can imagine like one guy there in the dark, maybe torchlight, like sheepishly raising his hand, like I do, which then emboldened others too. And David's gonna answer the question. Then keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. We're told two things to seek in this passage. Seek the Lord and seek peace. It feels like seek vertically and then seek peace horizontally with your fellow man. Seek to be reconciled to the Lord through Jesus. Seek to be reconciled to your fellow man. Blessed are the peacemakers. Seek the Lord, which is the third point. Seek the Lord and seek peace. My mom, every time we go home, she'll say, and she's watching right now, hi, mom. She will say, hey, what would you rather have?

Apple crumb pie or French silk pie? And then she'll answer for me. She'll be like, maybe you need both. I'm like, yes, that sounds great. And she makes the most ridiculous, the apple crumb pie has these like, I don't know if there's MSG in it or what, but like, it's like these, it's not crust. It's covered in these like tiny taste explosions of like butter, sugar, I don't know what, that are like, it might as well be street level drugs. It's like, what am I eating right now? It's so good. My dad will put cheddar, slice of cheddar cheese on top and melt it. It's got vanilla bean ice cream beside it a la mode. And I will eat not a slice, but a quarter of it. And then there's the French silk pie that is somehow like, there's no granules of sugar. It's just like butter, sugar, cocoa powder. You don't even chew it. It somehow goes from your mouth to your stomach. You're not at, you're like, I know, I know. And yet here's the thing. Despite every attempt of mine to describe to you the apple crumb pie or the French silk pie, unless you go to Highlandville, Missouri and you eat the pie, you will never know. You'll never know the goodness that I know every time I go home.

And so David is telling these 400 men, he is telling us today by the Holy Spirit, taste and see that the Lord is good. He's like, you can listen to me testify. You can read the theology of the scripture, but unless you personally taste, and then you will see that the Lord is good. It's an invitation. He's like, it's not enough that I would tell you, you must taste and see. And so there'll be an invitation at the end. You know, you can come forward, trust in Christ. Today can be the day of salvation. And for some of you, you're like, man, I've trusted in Christ. but I feel distance. I feel like my spiritual life is dry. I have a thing that I keep on my phone, Laura and I both, and it's called affection stirs. It's like, what are those things that stir your affection from the Lord? We've got a screenshot of it here. So that whenever I'm like, man, I'm like not tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, I feel like there's distance or dryness. These are things, and you don't, don't do my things. Like you do your things. Don't feel like you've got to write these down. The last one that didn't appear on the screenshot is walking through a cemetery, which is like, man, that sounds kind of dark.

For me, what it does is it reminds me like, oh, this life is fleeting. Like the leaky faucet, the broken car, the conflict, like none of that matters. What matters is know God, make Him known, because one day I'm gonna be as they are. And so my life better count for something. Like that's something that reminds me and stirs my affections for the Lord. You got to make your own list of like, this is how I taste and see that the Lord is good. That brings me back to the goodness of God. Verse 15 and following. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry. Think about that, like the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. There's a very personal nature to this. The eyes of the Lord are toward Him. His ears are toward their cry. The face is against those who do evil. And when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears. These are not prayers bouncing off the ceiling. He hears every cry and delivers them out of all their troubles, not some of them, all of them. The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those crushed in spirit. I read this, the Lord is near to the broken hearted. I'm like, man, I don't know, what do you make of that? Because God's omnipresent.

He's everywhere at all times. Psalm 139, where can I flee from your presence, O Lord? If I go to the depths of the sea, you're there. If I fly to the heavens, you're there. Like, where can I go from your presence? You're omnipresent, it's one of the attributes of God. So what does it mean that you're near to the broken hearted? Like, of course you are, you're all present. Well, let me tell you to it this way. Right now, I'm present with all of you. Very present with all of you. The further person in the back row, very present with all of you. John Pasaban, it's all the way back there in the back. The whole Pasaban crew. I'm present with you, am I not? But at the end, with our prayer team, people are gonna come forward and receive people who need prayer. Those who come forward in brokenness or tragedy that need prayer for healing or maybe to receive salvation from Jesus. They are going to receive a hand on the shoulder, an embrace, maybe anointed with oil, prayed over and laid hands upon. That presence is different than the Pasaban's presence. This is omnipresent, so to say. That is a manifest personal presence. That is how David is saying he is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.

What a God we serve. Laura, to illustrate this. Laura, when she was going through her breast cancer and she's five years free from that, praise God. She was in her surgery. Thank you. She was in her surgery and I'm like pacing in the waiting room and it was invasive cancer, which means the cancer cells had left the tumor. So they were gonna have to like try to get clear margins and then radiation and all this stuff. Her parents are in there. We're not even talking. We're just like pacing and praying and pacing and praying. And the medical assistant comes out. She's like, Mr. Elmore, you can come back to the room now. She's out of surgery. They didn't even tell us the results yet. If they got clear margins, I like rushed back there and she's still under anesthesia. And anesthesia, man, that's like, that's a thing. You sign off like you could die. There could be all these complications. And I go back there and she's still under the anesthesia. And she like kind of starts to stir a little bit as I like touch her hand. And I was like, hey baby, you're done. She goes, who is that? I was like, hey, it's John.

You're out of surgery. They're done. You're out of surgery. She like opens her eyes a little bit. And she goes, who are you? And I was like, oh my goodness. Like I have heard these stories. Like she had cancer. Now that the anesthesia has given her amnesia, like this is like 50 first dates, but it's actually real. Like I'm gonna be like, I was like, baby, it's John, your husband. And she was like, who are you? And then she goes, and then she goes, because of the pain as she's laughing at me. And she goes, I gotcha. It's like, what? She was like, I decided I was gonna fake that the anesthesia made my mind erase. I was like, they don't even know. What if they got all the cancer and you're making a joke? You serious right now? I go, when did you think to do that? She's like, three days ago. It's like, you're messed up. But it's my fourth point. It's our fourth point. Trust God with your troubles.

Trust God with your troubles. The reason why my wife could punk me during cancer surgery, it's because she's like, God's got me. I've trusted him with my troubles. Like, he's either good or he's not. He's either faithful or he's not. He's either giving me eternal life or he's not. And I know that he has, and so I can laugh at the days to come. I have no fear of snow. Now, Laura would say, hey, look, I'm not perfect. I don't live this perfect life of faith. But in the moment, with those troubles, she had trusted them to God and therefore was able to laugh and make me laugh because she had trusted God with her troubles. What's the application? You carry the weight and it'll crush you. You give God the weight and you will walk free and at peace and laughing at the days to come. So the choice is trust yourself with your troubles or trust God with your troubles. The last of the Psalm 19 through 22. Listen to how the afflictions both fall to the righteous and the unrighteous. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. That is a prophetic word looking to the, when God the Son would take on flesh

and was hanging upon the cross, the Romans would break the knees of those crucified so that they would collapse and suffocate to kill them quicker. They got to Jesus, realized he was already dead and they didn't break his knees. This was a common practice with every person that was crucified, spare one. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. John records this in verse 19, 37. Affliction will slay the wicked. So we have the affliction of the righteous and deliverance. Now we have affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. Redemption, redeems the life of his servants. Ross van Dyck can testify to that. From Mount Rainier, the Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge, there's that word again, they're in a cave. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. It's like, you know how you feel safe in this cave? What if you were in Christ with the angel of the Lord around you, how much more? So these afflictions that slay the wicked, it says the Lord delivers him out of them all. And I read that and I'm like, if I'm you, I'm thinking like, man, I don't know if that's the case.

Like, you know, we prayed for my grandmother and she passed away. We prayed for this sickness to be healed and it hasn't. And so it's like, well, how do I reconcile that? In Isaiah 57, verse one through two, and you'll see it on the screen. Here's how we reconcile that. Because the reality is that 100% of people who are listening to me right now will die. 100% mortality rate. But listen to these words. The righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart. Devout men are taken away while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter in peace. They find rest as they lie in death. Church, this is not our home. So when the Lord says that he rescues us from every affliction, the last affliction to be rescued from is death. And Jesus said, whoever's trusted in him for the forgiveness of sins has crossed over from death to life and will never perish. Your body will die, your soul never will, and you will be forever at home with the Lord. To live is Christ, to die is gain. Paul writes in Acts 14, 22, he says, it is through many trials and tribulations, you must, not you might, you must enter the kingdom of heaven.

And so you receive eternal life by trusting in Jesus and you will be given eternal life where is there no tear, pain, or sorrow forevermore where the dwelling place of God will be with man after you die in a new heavens and new earth. He will deliver you from every affliction, period. So point five is, endure afflictions because of Christ. Endure afflictions because of Christ. We can endure them because of Christ, meaning he's the author and perfecter of our faith. faith, and so we endure them just as he did. He had to face temptation, yet was without sin, all the sufferings that he endured, and yet followed the Father in faith, so can we. We endure afflictions because of Christ, and we endure afflictions of Christ, double meaning, because we know this is not our home. We know that he's gonna deliver us from every affliction, including the last, which is death. Sergeant Garen Bynum, he's a good friend of mine. He serves on the safety security team here at Harris Creek, and I was having lunch with him one day with he and his wife, Dee, who are incredible public servants with Waco PD, and we were discussing various things, and we were taking Bibles and books to be dropped off at Waco PD for this ministry that they have there. He trains all the new cadets, like, awesome dude, and we're having lunch, and then he's like, hey, you know what, instead of just giving me the box,

why don't you follow me to headquarters, and we can set it up together, and I was like, that's awesome, great, I'll follow you. Did you know I have never, never felt more free and protected than having a police escort? I'm driving through Waco, I'm like, what's up? What you gonna do, you want a piece of this? I'm like, I got Garen lead blocking me through all of Waco, pulling into the police headquarters. I'm like, that's right, yes, Sergeant Waco PD, what you gonna do? No one was actually looking at me, but I felt like that. Like, I am invincible right now, oh my goodness. How much more Jesus? How much more Jesus? We endure afflictions because of Jesus, the angel, the angel of the Lord, God the Son, encamps around you, those who fear him. What a promise, and so what that results in an application is that we live boldly for Jesus. We live boldly for Jesus because what can man do? What can Satan do? What can this broken, fallen world do? But rather, we live every day ordained on fire, moving forward in faith for Jesus, because of Jesus, to the glory of Jesus. If you've been following along, you'll probably see this and notice that David's acrostic gave us an acrostic, testified others about Jesus, ask God for answers,

seek the Lord in peace, trust God with your troubles, endure afflictions because of Christ, and that spells taste, to personally experience Jesus. I remember at the house, at the tire shop, talking to the guy, and I looked around, and it's still just he and I, and I said, hey look, it's a free gift. There's no amount of good deeds you can do to get it. It's just free, you just gotta receive it. Is there anything keeping you from receiving the forgiveness of sins right now? And God removed the veil, and this formality that he doesn't even have to have, put him on the counter, bowed his head, and I was like, pray after me. God, I'm a sinner in need of a savior. Today I place my faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. I confess that Jesus is Lord, I believe in the heart that God raised him from the dead. Send your Holy Spirit to live inside of me and seal me. Thank you for saving me. You gave your life for me, I give my life to you, amen. And he was like, bro, I got chills all over my body. I was like, I do too, that's the Holy Spirit. You have just received the salvation of your soul. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And you can too. If you don't know you're going to heaven when you die, come forward. If you need prayer, come forward. I'm gonna pray, the prayer team's gonna come forward, and then we're all gonna sing together. Oh, Father, pray with me. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, our eternal Father, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, indwelled by the Spirit, we love you. Thank you for adopting us. Thank you for washing us. Thank you that we can taste and see that you're good. We've personally experienced your goodness, your salvation. And we wanna testify and tell others, so give us boldness to do so. Thank you for saving us from every affliction, including the last affliction that is death, for eternal life. In Jesus' name, amen.