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[00:00] Yes, I am wearing a coat because I am always cold.
[00:03] - And boots.
[00:05] - And boots.
[00:06] That's right, I live in God's country of Harna County now,
[00:09] so.
[00:10] - I ever love boots.
[00:11] - Mike, every ex of boots and Mike always says,
[00:14] it's cultural appropriation, so.
[00:17] (laughs)
[00:20] But we'll wear them anyway.
[00:22] All right, so, let me get all this stuff.
[00:26] Okay, now I'm gonna need that a little bit.
[00:29] So, today, James one, two, through four.
[00:33] Now, before we get to James,
[00:34] so when we're done with James,
[00:36] we're gonna be doing,
[00:37] sorry, I gotta make sure Jacob's a little speaker.
[00:41] Before we, once we get done with James,
[00:44] we're gonna be in Genesis.
[00:45] And one thing we're gonna talk about in Genesis
[00:48] is at the very beginning of the narrative,
[00:50] we learned that we as humans don't like to be exposed.
[00:55] When Adam and Eve sinned, they realized they are naked.
[00:58] And they rushed to cover themselves up.
[01:01] That's just a short little synopsis.
[01:03] I'm sure my dad will talk all about nakedness
[01:05] in those couple of weeks.
[01:07] And as a general rule of thumb,
[01:10] I generally try to be,
[01:11] I generally try to avoid being naked in public.
[01:14] I think it's a good rule.
[01:16] Stephen likes running around naked in public.
[01:18] (laughs)
[01:20] Big Stephen, by the way.
[01:21] No, no, no, no, no.
[01:22] (laughs)
[01:24] (laughs)
[01:26] So I generally try to avoid being naked.
[01:28] But there was one time when I was playing basketball,
[01:32] this was when I was living in Pennsylvania,
[01:34] and you have a whole warmup outfit on.
[01:36] So pants, shirts, the whole deal.
[01:41] And we're getting done.
[01:42] And they're like, "All right, like starters,
[01:44] "take your warmups off, get ready to go in the game."
[01:47] And I'm there by the bench.
[01:49] And so you have like your spandex,
[01:51] you show it to your pants.
[01:52] And I just thought I'm taking just my sweatpants down.
[01:55] I'm taking them all down.
[01:57] (laughs)
[01:59] And it was a split second,
[02:00] but there were people who saw
[02:02] and everyone started laughing.
[02:04] It was a lot of humiliation, not a huge fan.
[02:07] So not only do we not like to be exposed physically,
[02:10] but at least I hope.
[02:13] We also don't like our inner selves to be exposed.
[02:17] We don't like people to see how we truly are,
[02:20] how we truly act, and how we truly behave.
[02:23] And nothing exposes us quite like suffering.
[02:28] When suffering and trials come,
[02:30] and we know the fact that they will come,
[02:32] and for some, they're already here,
[02:35] when we suffer, our hearts are laid bare for all to see,
[02:39] and most people in this room
[02:40] are gonna handle suffering differently.
[02:42] Some suffers, will bow their heads, bless the Lord,
[02:47] and say, "You are good."
[02:49] While others might curse them.
[02:53] Some will say through flowing tears,
[02:55] God, I trust you regardless,
[02:57] while others will refuse to pray.
[02:59] Some will collapse in the God's presence,
[03:01] learn to love him with a broken heart,
[03:03] and others will turn their backs, walk away,
[03:06] and say, "How can you do this?"
[03:08] So the question that begs to be asked
[03:11] is why are there so many differences
[03:13] between people who suffer?
[03:15] Now, I'm sure there's plenty of reasons.
[03:18] Well, I know there's plenty of reasons why,
[03:20] but one of the most significant is determined
[03:23] by what we know about suffering.
[03:25] What you know and believe about suffering
[03:27] will affect how you handle your suffering.
[03:30] What you know and believe about suffering
[03:32] will affect how you handle your suffering.
[03:35] So I'm gonna read James one, two through four,
[03:37] and it's not, it is not the most fun passage.
[03:42] I mean, I'll see if we're already saying,
[03:44] it kinda stooks.
[03:47] So James, one, two through four.
[03:50] Counting all joy, my brothers,
[03:52] when you meet trials of various kinds.
[03:55] For you know that he is testing your faith
[03:59] produces dead fastness,
[04:01] and let steadfastness have its full effect,
[04:03] that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
[04:07] So James, who is writing to a predominantly poor community
[04:12] of Christians who are being riddled with
[04:14] suffering and persecution,
[04:17] and they're such a poor and suffering community
[04:20] that we would be probably shocked,
[04:22] probably believing what they were in.
[04:24] But he is telling these Christians to suffer faithfully
[04:27] because of what they know.
[04:30] Consider it all joy in my brothers
[04:32] when you meet trials of various kinds for you know.
[04:37] Rejoice, James says, because you know
[04:40] something about suffering, and what did they know?
[04:44] They did not know many of the specific goods
[04:47] God was working in their trials.
[04:48] They didn't know why these trials
[04:50] should be happening right now,
[04:52] nor did they know how long these trials
[04:53] were gonna last for them.
[04:55] But they did know a simple promise.
[04:57] For you know that the testing of your faith
[05:00] produces dead fastness.
[05:02] So some translations, I don't know, I'm reading the ESV.
[05:05] I have the Holman Christian standard Bible,
[05:09] but I'm reading the ESV.
[05:10] The Holman says endurance,
[05:12] or you might have a translation that says patience.
[05:15] But I really liked ESV translation of steadfastness.
[05:20] And steadfastness, coming from the
[05:25] all-knowing dictionary.com, says steadfastness
[05:29] is firmness in purpose,
[05:31] resolution, faith, and attachment.
[05:33] I love that definition.
[05:37] I don't know about you, but I wanna be known
[05:39] as someone who is steadfast.
[05:41] Someone who has firmness in purpose,
[05:43] who has firmness in resolution,
[05:45] who is firm in their faith,
[05:46] and firmness in attachment.
[05:48] I mean, essentially that's why we're all here.
[05:52] We are here because we want to be steadfast
[05:54] in following our Lord Jesus Christ.
[05:56] We wanna be steadfast believers.
[05:59] And James says to these believers,
[06:01] you know that this testing produces steadfastness.
[06:06] Testing produces steadfastness.
[06:10] Testing produces steadfastness.
[06:11] And it's only when we let these three words
[06:14] sing deep into a heart, soul, and mind,
[06:16] that we can face our trials
[06:18] with the most radical of responses.
[06:20] And that radical response that James says is joy.
[06:23] So I like to do this because I'm a little OCD.
[06:29] I like being a note taker,
[06:30] so I try to have a title for your notes.
[06:33] So if you're taking notes,
[06:36] the object of, I guess the sermon
[06:38] is why do we find joy in our trials?
[06:41] Why do we find joy in our trials?
[06:45] And point number one is testing is what refines us.
[06:49] Testing is what refines us.
[06:52] James begins his promise with a word
[06:55] lifted straight from the world of metalworking.
[06:58] And that word is testing.
[07:00] And we see the same use of this word
[07:02] a few times in 1 Peter 1, 67.
[07:05] And 1 Peter says, in this you rejoice,
[07:07] so now for a little while, if necessary,
[07:10] you have been grieved by various trials
[07:12] so that the tested genuineness of your faith
[07:15] more precious than gold that perishes,
[07:18] though it is tested by fire,
[07:20] may be found to result in praise and glory and honor
[07:23] at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[07:24] Now I spent way too much time last night on the YouTubes
[07:30] watching how gold and silver is refined.
[07:36] And it was more complicated today than I was expecting.
[07:38] A lot of chemistry, a lot of supercomputers.
[07:41] But there is a specific process
[07:45] or a general process of what happens.
[07:49] So you have, let's say, a thing of silver,
[07:51] a huge thing of silver.
[07:53] Actually, that's right.
[07:54] Let me pull up the picture.
[07:55] So you'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about.
[07:59] You're a play.
[08:01] Okay.
[08:05] So you have this precious metal that you put in the furnace.
[08:10] And the precious metal is in this silver canister
[08:13] and this outside part is the furnace.
[08:15] And you've probably seen it when they pour,
[08:16] it looks like molten lava.
[08:18] And basically what it looks like.
[08:19] So it all heats up and you're heating it up
[08:21] and heating it up and the impurities in this basin
[08:24] will arise to the top.
[08:26] And the silver smith,
[08:27] you can't tell it right here.
[08:28] It's got this glow, this little tool thingy.
[08:30] As the higher the temperature gets,
[08:34] the impurities race to the top.
[08:36] And the silver smith sits here and watches
[08:39] and he sifts the impurities away from the top.
[08:41] And he keeps repeating this process
[08:43] and keeps repeating this process
[08:44] until the gold and silver is pure.
[08:46] So just as silver and gold are refined in the furnace,
[08:50] so Christians are refined or tested by their trials.
[08:54] The image of testing or of metal cleansed in the flames
[08:58] both confirms and confronts what many of us feel
[09:01] and are suffering.
[09:02] It confirms the basic fact that suffering
[09:05] puts us into the fire.
[09:07] In other words, as I already said, suffering sucks.
[09:11] It's not fun and into process.
[09:15] As I already said, you tell, this is a hot furnace.
[09:17] And this is just a small one.
[09:19] This is like just a guy who has his own,
[09:22] people do this themselves apparently.
[09:24] I'm like, okay, this is some of the big operations,
[09:27] but this guy has his own little operation in his garage.
[09:29] Psycho.
[09:30] But so it's not fun and to process.
[09:34] So it is a furnace and it is hot and it burns.
[09:38] So therefore, James is not saying you should rejoice
[09:41] because of the pain and the loss.
[09:44] He's not, this is not a call to joyful Christian stoicism
[09:48] and pretending that everything is okay.
[09:50] And I feel like that's typically how we act in the church.
[09:52] Oh, your mom has cancer.
[09:53] Oh, it's all good, it's all good.
[09:55] Oh, so you're dealing with a sickness or health issue
[09:59] or a job loss or all these things.
[10:00] Oh, it's fine, it's all good, it's all good.
[10:02] That's typically how we act.
[10:04] But that is not what James is calling us to.
[10:06] Joyful Christian stoicism.
[10:08] Rather, James is saying you have reason to rejoice
[10:11] in the middle of your testing
[10:12] because suffering in the hands of the ultimate silversmith
[10:15] is a powerful tool of personal growth and transformation.
[10:19] Suffering in the hands of the ultimate silversmith
[10:21] is a powerful tool of personal growth and transformation.
[10:25] We have joy because we know that our suffering
[10:29] is not meaningless.
[10:30] So we don't need to pretend that in the heat of our trials,
[10:34] it does not hurt us, nor that our souls,
[10:37] even years afterward, no longer bear the marks of the flames.
[10:41] One of my favorite movies and anyone who knows me
[10:44] is Lord of the Rings, all three movies,
[10:46] but specifically the first movie.
[10:49] And in the first movie,
[10:51] Frodo gets stabbed by this blade,
[10:53] like this Nazgul blade.
[10:55] And throughout the whole movie,
[10:57] it brings him pain and it bothers him.
[11:01] And even after he goes through the whole trial
[11:03] of carrying the ring to Mount Doom
[11:06] and destroying the ring, even afterwards,
[11:08] he still feels the pain of that blade.
[11:11] And it isn't until he reaches in middle-earth world of heaven,
[11:15] the undying lands that he is able to escape this pain.
[11:18] When you were in the furnace, yes, you were being refined,
[11:22] but you were still gonna bear the marks of that trial.
[11:27] And that's okay.
[11:28] I don't think we have to think,
[11:30] hey, because I went through this,
[11:31] I know it's just like, oh, it's gone.
[11:33] Boom, like, forgotten, don't have to worry about it.
[11:36] I think an example of this is Everett, my wife.
[11:41] Two years ago, may you probably one knows
[11:45] that she lost her father.
[11:46] And I remember during that time
[11:49] of obviously a man's sadness and grief and heartache,
[11:54] even during a sunrise, she was able to say God is good,
[11:58] which is insane to think about.
[12:01] But, and so she was able to say God was good then.
[12:03] She's even now continued through,
[12:05] even though, you know, the tears are renewed
[12:07] and new seasons of life after we bought her first home
[12:10] or really was born and things like that.
[12:12] She's still able to say God is good,
[12:13] even though she misses her father.
[12:15] There are days when tears flow
[12:17] and the pangs of death grip the heart.
[12:20] And that is okay.
[12:22] Because the good news is that we serve a God
[12:25] who has been with us through the fire himself.
[12:28] We know that the flames as they raise higher and higher,
[12:32] we can believe it isn't meaningless
[12:34] and that we are still safely in his hands.
[12:37] And in the midst of our suffering,
[12:39] he is drawing us near to himself.
[12:41] That is what he's doing.
[12:42] In our suffering, we're drawing closer to himself.
[12:46] So that is why, even when she is in the midst
[12:48] of the most mental heartache anyone here has probably
[12:51] experienced, she's still able to say God is good.
[12:53] Isaiah 43, one through two, one through two says,
[12:58] if you're not, why have redeemed you?
[13:01] I have called you by name and you are mine.
[13:03] When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
[13:07] And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.
[13:10] When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned.
[13:13] And the flames shall not consume you.
[13:16] Charles Spurgeon talks a lot about suffering
[13:18] and I quote him later on, you'll hear me say.
[13:21] But one of my favorite quotes I heard him say back in college
[13:24] is that as Christians, we need to learn to kiss the wave
[13:28] that throws us against the rock of ages.
[13:31] The waves of pain and suffering learn to kiss them
[13:35] because they are throwing us to the almighty king.
[13:38] So why do we find joy in our trials?
[13:40] One, testing is what refines us.
[13:43] And two, suffering strengthens our faith.
[13:46] Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes
[13:51] of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith
[13:54] more unshakeable.
[13:55] I mean, Jay specifically says, the testing of your faith,
[14:01] the testing of your faith.
[14:02] Your faith is the target of all the arrows or shot at.
[14:07] The furnace is kindled for the trial of your faith.
[14:11] And improving of your faith, you were discovering
[14:13] whether it is genuine faith or not.
[14:15] And improving your faith, you were discovering
[14:18] whether it is genuine faith.
[14:20] So this brings me to a caveat about trials producing
[14:23] steadfastness and how in the beginning, I said,
[14:25] some people handle suffering different than others.
[14:28] Not every believer you know who faces trials
[14:32] will come out at the other end.
[14:33] We all know believers who have experienced hard times
[14:38] and walked away.
[14:41] We've used this example of the refinement process.
[14:45] So what this looks like is essentially they're being
[14:47] refined and the impurities are being lifted away,
[14:50] but there's nothing beneath.
[14:52] 'Cause when you lift off the impurities,
[14:54] what stays is the goal and what stays is the silver.
[14:57] And when you don't end up at the end with steadfastness,
[15:01] it's because there was nothing left.
[15:03] It was just impurities.
[15:04] There was no solid foundation.
[15:09] They don't have a foundation and they didn't have true faith.
[15:11] And it is by our faith that we are saved.
[15:14] It is by faith we are justified and brought near to God.
[15:16] And therefore, it is no marvel that it is our faith
[15:19] that is attacked.
[15:21] It is by believing in Christ that we are delivered
[15:23] from the reigning power of sin.
[15:25] Faith is as vital to salvation as the heart is to the body.
[15:28] Hence, the arrows of the enemy are mainly aimed
[15:32] at this essential grace.
[15:34] Spurgeon says this about faith and it being attacked.
[15:39] The hand of faith is against all of evil
[15:41] and all of evil is against faith.
[15:44] Faith is the blessed grace which is most pleasing to God
[15:46] and hence it is this pleasing to the devil.
[15:50] By faith, God is greatly glorified and hence by faith,
[15:54] Satan is greatly annoyed.
[15:56] He rages at faith because he sees therein
[15:58] his own defeat in the victory of grace.
[16:02] Romans 1 17 says, "The righteous," or some versions,
[16:06] say, "the just will live by faith."
[16:08] And to live by faith means you'll be tested.
[16:11] To live by faith means you will be tested.
[16:14] And our faith grows when in the stretch.
[16:16] That's how it grows.
[16:18] You don't grow in the peaks, you grow in the valleys.
[16:21] Now, I'm trying to be more disciplined in my life.
[16:25] I'm trying to hit the iron church.
[16:27] As you can tell, I don't go very often.
[16:31] I wanna be a unit, but I'm not.
[16:34] But when I am constantly working out,
[16:37] I can see and I can feel myself getting stronger.
[16:40] That's just a fact.
[16:41] When you're hitting the weights,
[16:43] when you're stretching your muscles,
[16:44] you're getting stronger.
[16:46] And the same way for faith.
[16:48] Faith is like a muscle tissue.
[16:50] If you stretch it to its limit, it gets stronger, not weaker.
[16:54] When your faith is threatened and when it's tested
[16:57] and it's stretched to its breaking point,
[16:59] the result is greater capacity to endure.
[17:02] Or as James calls it, steadfastness.
[17:05] So first Corinthians 189, Paul says this,
[17:08] we do not want you to be unaware of brothers
[17:10] of the affliction you're experiencing in Asia.
[17:13] For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength
[17:16] that we despaired of life itself.
[17:18] Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.
[17:23] But that was to make us rely, not on ourselves,
[17:26] but on God, who raises the dead.
[17:29] Change!
[17:30] I mean, that is incredible suffering and incredible faith.
[17:35] And when Paul says, but that was, okay, first of all,
[17:39] ATMC specifically, Paul, anywhere in scripture,
[17:41] the word but, buckle up, pay attention
[17:44] because he's got to throw out a banger.
[17:47] So Paul says this, but that was too.
[17:50] He is showing that there was great purpose in suffering.
[17:53] And that purpose was to drive them straight
[17:56] into the arms of the Father.
[17:58] And to be in the arms of the Father
[17:59] is where your faith grows.
[18:01] His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger
[18:03] in our confidence that he himself is all that we need.
[18:06] We've been saying about that, that he is worth it all.
[18:08] Like come to the end of my life, I have nothing,
[18:10] it is okay 'cause I have you.
[18:12] Psalm 73, 25, he 26 says this.
[18:15] "Whom have I in heaven but you, Lord?
[18:19] And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.
[18:22] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is my strength.
[18:25] Of my heart and my portion forever.
[18:29] I think a great example of what this looks like.
[18:31] Of suffering, making you stronger
[18:38] and suffering you, bring you to the arms of Christ
[18:41] is when my mom was in the hospital.
[18:43] So I didn't know this until,
[18:45] so after she got out and I don't know how long away
[18:47] she had like the celebration of wife thing at the cafe.
[18:49] Maybe, I don't know if anyone was there for that.
[18:51] But she told this story about how
[18:55] when they did that we're doing this emergency surgery
[18:57] where they're trying to prick her arm or something like that.
[19:01] That is something in her neck.
[19:03] So she has this like mask on.
[19:06] I don't even know the details
[19:07] 'cause I was like what the heck, I did not know about this.
[19:09] But they're trying to prick her
[19:10] 'cause she's like dying essentially.
[19:13] So they're going into this emergency surgery
[19:15] and there's like blood hitting her face shield
[19:17] and stuff like that.
[19:18] And she's starting to go into unconsciousness.
[19:20] And what my mom says is in that moment
[19:23] she thought I'm gonna either wake up and see my family.
[19:27] Or I'm gonna wake up and see the presence of Christ.
[19:31] And that is someone who obviously sees
[19:38] in the midst of her suffering
[19:39] probably thinking they're going to die and says it's okay.
[19:42] God is good.
[19:43] So maybe we all have the type of faith
[19:46] where we can truly say to live is Christ and die is gain.
[19:50] So why do we find joy in our trials?
[19:53] One, testing is what refines us.
[19:55] Suffering strengthens our faith.
[19:57] And three, steadfastness finishes the race.
[20:02] The whole point of this testing
[20:04] is so that we will have steadfastness.
[20:06] And steadfastness finishes the race.
[20:08] So we've talked a few times about this image
[20:11] of gold and silver being refined.
[20:14] And what does our faith, this gold that we have,
[20:19] once finished with the refining process look like?
[20:22] Well, it produces a thousand good things in us.
[20:25] It really does.
[20:26] Once you make it through it,
[20:27] it really does produce a thousand good things in us.
[20:30] But the chief good is steadfastness.
[20:33] And it may not attract our attention as much as faith,
[20:37] hope and love.
[20:38] I mean, it doesn't like steadfast, baby.
[20:41] But it is one of the most beautiful badges
[20:44] of Christian character.
[20:46] And by it, and it's by the steadfastness
[20:49] that we bear our burdens,
[20:50] we raise our hearts toward heaven
[20:52] and press on to eternal glory.
[20:55] Come hell or high water.
[20:57] So the question is, what does steadfastness look like?
[20:59] What does it look like?
[21:00] We've been through the trial,
[21:01] our we have been strengthened by our suffering.
[21:04] And now we're steadfast.
[21:05] So what does this look like in our lives?
[21:08] Well, when you are steadfast,
[21:10] you are constant in prayer.
[21:11] Romans 12, 12, rejoice in hope.
[21:14] You patient in affliction and be persistent in prayer.
[21:18] We cast away worldly pleasures and sin.
[21:21] Hebrews 12, 1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded
[21:24] "by so great a cloud of witnesses,
[21:26] "let us lay aside every weight and sin,
[21:28] "which clings so closely.
[21:30] "And let us run with endurance,
[21:31] "the race that has set before us.
[21:34] "Believers who are steadfast do not faint
[21:36] "in the face of affliction."
[21:38] They've seen it before,
[21:40] and they'll see it again, and they get through it.
[21:43] 2 Corinthians 1, 6 says, "If we are afflicted,
[21:46] "it is for your comfort and salvation.
[21:48] "And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,
[21:51] "which you experience when you patiently endure
[21:53] "the same sufferings that we suffer.
[21:55] "And when we are in the furnace of testing and suffering,
[21:59] "people on the outshot side should look at it
[22:02] "in astonishment.
[22:04] "May they see what the guards saw outside of the furnace
[22:06] "of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and say,
[22:08] "Look, they're walking around unharmed,
[22:11] "and there is another among them.
[22:13] "And he has the appearance of the Son of God.
[22:15] "That is what it should look like.
[22:17] "Unharmed by these trials, because we are walking
[22:21] "with God in the furnace.
[22:24] "And those who are steadfast will tell the story
[22:28] "of the battles, one, temptations defeated,
[22:30] "and the crown of glory awaiting."
[22:34] James 1, 12, which we'll get to,
[22:37] is essentially the bookend to James 1, 2, and 4.
[22:41] And he says this, "Blessed is the man
[22:43] "who remains steadfast under trial.
[22:46] "For when he has stood the test,
[22:47] "he will receive the crown of life,
[22:50] "which God has promised to those who love him.
[22:53] "This is why we rejoice in our sufferings.
[22:56] "Trials are a joy when God is our goal.
[22:59] "He is our ultimate pleasure and joy.
[23:04] "And that is why when we are going through trials,
[23:06] "when we are going through praying,
[23:07] "it brings us towards him.
[23:10] "And that is a joy for us,
[23:11] "it is a joy to be closer to him.
[23:14] "Our trials bring us closer to the one who created us,
[23:17] "loved us, and died for us.
[23:19] "He is the one working together,
[23:20] "all things for our good.
[23:22] "This momentary of friction
[23:23] "is producing incomparable eternal weight of glory.
[23:26] "So why do we find joy in our trials?
[23:30] "Testing is what refines us.
[23:32] "Suffering strengthens our faith,
[23:34] "and steadfastness finishes the race.
[23:37] "And believer, we do not suffer forever.
[23:42] "He is coming, and he is coming soon.
[23:44] "Revelations 21 one through five.
[23:46] "Then I saw a new heaven in the new earth.
[23:50] "For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
[23:54] "and the sea was no more.
[23:56] "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
[23:58] "coming down out of heaven from God,
[24:00] "prepare the bride adorned for her husband.
[24:03] "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
[24:05] "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
[24:10] "And he will dwell with them,
[24:11] "and they will be his people.
[24:13] "And God himself will be them with them as their God.
[24:16] "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
[24:19] "and death shall be no more.
[24:21] "Neither shall there be mourning nor crying,
[24:23] "no pain anymore, for the form of things have passed away.
[24:27] "And he who has seated on the throne said,
[24:29] "Behold, I am making all things new.
[24:33] "So that day is coming, and it will be here shortly,
[24:37] "and you will be crowned with glory.
[24:40] "So fight the fight, finish the race,
[24:43] "keep the faith, the crown of glory awaits.
[24:46] "Let's pray.
[24:47] "Dearly father,
[24:50] "to say that we can rejoice in our sufferings,
[25:01] "and to count trials as joy,
[25:04] "is almost hard to say.
[25:08] "Not even almost, it is hard to say.
[25:10] "Through the diagnosis, through death, through pain,
[25:19] "internal anguish, through money issues.
[25:23] "Lord, I pray that no matter what we are dealing with,
[25:29] "that we will turn to the one who is in control of all things.
[25:33] "That as Spurgeon said, that we will kiss the way
[25:36] "that throws us on to the rock of ages.
[25:38] "Lord, what do we have if we do not have you to stand on?
[25:46] "You are good and holy king,
[25:50] "who loves us and cares for us.
[25:54] "And I pray that we will remember that throughout our suffering,
[25:56] "and that we will draw closer to you
[25:59] "and be refined through its process.
[26:06] "Lord, be patient with us as we go through our trials.
[26:09] "Give us wisdom, give us strength, give us courage.
[26:14] "And I pray that we will have a hope
[26:18] "that is beyond just today.
[26:21] "But we will hope for what is coming in eternity.
[26:25] "Lord, we love you and we pray all else in your name. Amen."