Speaker 1 0:44

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Speaker 2 0:45

Hello, Northgate . Good to see all of you online as well as here in the room today. It's great to be here. I come from the state of Arizona. That's where Larry was from and we don't have mass song in church in him. I know, I know, but it's a great experience someday. You'll get to experience that again as well. It's a good thing. I want to thank pastor Larry for inviting me to come and share with you this morning. Larry is a big guy with an even bigger heart and he loves people and he loves you at north gate and he loves the Lord, his God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He is one of our son Jeremy's best friends, and he was truly a blessing to us during the last years of our son's life and Nancy and I can never repay Larry for his kindness to our son in those final days of his life. And so I wanted to say, thanks, just so thank you, pastor Larry, and thank you Northgate for letting me come and share with you today. I'm also so proud to count him as one of my Timothy's . One of the young men and women who have come out of our church and have gone into vocational ministry. It's great. And God has blessed him here with a great church and you guys are doing fantastic. I'm so proud of him and proud of you. And you guys started this series in the book of Jeremiah and what an amazing passage and group of scripture. And today I want to talk to you and teach him how to deal with situations and trials and troubles that seem impossible and maybe seem to exceed what you think that you can handle in your life and deal with in your life. Now, there are a lot of things in this world that seemed to be impossible and back several things that literally, it seems impossible for a person to do. Maybe some of you can, I don't know, but do you know that it's , it's almost impossible for you to sneeze with your eyes open? Did you know that sneeze with your eyes open now don't try it and service, but the next time you're at home, give it a shot and see if you can do so. Do you know that it is almost impossible for you to lick your own elbow, to lick your own? Now don't, don't do it right now, but , but I know when you go home today, you will try that. And unless you have an unusually short arm or an unusually long tongue, it is impossible for that to happen. Do know that it is impossible to talk while breathing in it's it is impossible. You talk while you're breathing in, unless you are a salesman or a preacher who can talk no matter what's going on. Do you know, it's almost impossible for you to tickle yourself, try it right now, try to tickle yourself. It just doesn't work. Even if your most ticketless person in the world, you cannot tickle yourself. And do you know that it's almost impossible for you to break an egg while holding it top to bottom between your index finger and your thumb. It is almost physically impossible for you to break that egg. And if you can, you are probably taking performance enhancing medication, and that's not good either. Now I know some of you want to try these things. When you get home, be my guests, let me know what happens. There are several times in our lives. However, when we find ourselves in situations that just seem impossible, stuff happens in our life. There's just seems to be impossible, whether it's an act of that, God allows Satan to push into our lives or whether it's the fact that we live in a fallen world. And so, because of that bad stuff happens in this world or because of our own actions. When we do something that's kind of stupid and we find ourselves suffering from that. There are some times we find ourselves in things that seem impossible and may be a result of COVID. It may be that because of COVID in the world, you've lost your job or lost your employment, or maybe there's been a death of a loved one because of that. And maybe as a result of an action decision that someone else has made someone who said you in a relationship, I don't want to be in this relationship anymore. Or your kids break your heart or someone's suffering with an addiction, or , or maybe you find yourself and the result of illness and someone in the doctor's office has used the C word in your life. Or maybe someone that you know is going through term traumatic illness or mental illness. It may resolve it resolve of a poor decision that we have done. And because we've done something really silly in our lives, we find ourselves with our back against the wall, or maybe it's because someone has forced demands on us. That seem impossible for us to accomplish many times in our life. We're going to face situations. That just seem impossible. It's been very well said that everyone has either just come out of a crisis or as in the middle of a crisis, or is just waiting for the next crisis. Its own . It's just practical. Everyone is either come out of a crisis is in the middle of crisis or just waiting for the next crisis. That may sound pessimistic in life. But folks that's just reality. One of my favorite movies is a movie called the princess. Bride was a number of years ago. How many know that movie? Okay. How many of your men will admit that you watched that movie? That's kind of a girly flick, but it's a great movie. And in that movie, Wesley says to the princess, this line, she says, he says, princess life is pain, Highness. And anyone who says differently is selling something. And for incentives , just reality. Life is pain and it's tough. It's hard. Actually that statement just echoes what Jesus said. Only Jesus. When he said it said it with a twist in John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus said this, I have told you all this describing the troubles and the trials that are coming. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me here on earth. You what's, the line will, you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world. And in this very profound and simple verse, Jesus tells us precisely how to handle situations. That seem impossible. And I'm going to come back to that a little later in the message. So keep that in mind. But we're focusing on Jeremiah today and Jeremiah, the prophet that's different than Jeremiah, who was a bullfrog. He was a very good friend of mine. Thank you for laughing at them. In Jeremiah, the prophet seems to face an impossible situation. Uh , he was, he was just a farm boy in Israel and God and Israel was in absolute turmoil as a nation because of their sinful rejection of God and their falling deeper and deeper into sinful behaviors as a nation. Does that sound vaguely familiar today? God, and the people wouldn't repent and turn the hearts back to God. God was forced to allow the Babylonians to come in and wreck destruction on them. And the reason he allowed that is to hopefully get them, to turn their hearts and repentance and come back to God in faith. So God says, Jeremiah, I've selected you to announce that I've selected you to tell that to the people and our friends. Listen, that was not a very popular message. God's going to mess stuff up for you because of your sinfulness, because of the fallen world, in which you live. In fact, it was literally a dangerous message. And as you read and stay through the book of Jeremiah, you're going to find how true that really is. But God calls Jeremiah and informs him of his TA his task of his trial. That seems impossible. Grab your Bibles or online. You want to look at the scripture. You can see this passage in Jeremiah chapter one verses five through 10. And it says this, dear God says, Jeremiah. I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. That's amazing statement. I knew you before I formed you in a mother's womb. I knew everything about you. In fact, it's amazing statement about abortion, isn't it? But the reality is he's saying, I , I, before you were born, I formed you in your mother's womb. I set you apart before you were born to be my profit to the nations. So Jeremiah responds in verse six. Oh sovereign Lord. I said, I can't speak for you. I'm too. And the Lord replied, don't say I'm too young. You can imagine that kind of resounded. Don't say I'm too young. Lord replied. And four , you must go wherever I send you and say, whatever I tell you, and don't be afraid of the people for, I will be with you and protect you. I, the Lord have spoken, man, when you hear that phrase, you know , that's like bang. You know, I, the Lord have spoken. Don't be afraid. Just do what I tell you to do. I, the Lord has spoken. Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, look, I have put my words in your mouth today. I appoint you to stand up against the nations and the kingdoms . Some you must uproot and tear down and destroy and overthrow and others, you must build up and plant. Now this impossible situation was way out of Jeremy's Jeremiah's ability. Did he deal with it way out of his ability to deal with it? It was beyond his ability, but not beyond God's ability at amen to that. It was beyond his ability, but not beyond God's ability. And notice what God said when he called Jeremiah. He said, I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb, I made and know what you can and cannot accomplish. I knew you. I made you and I know exactly what you can and what you can't accomplish. Don't worry about it. He says, don't be afraid of the people for, I will be with you and I will protect you. I, the Lord has spoken. Don't be afraid of the people for, I will be with you and I'll protect you. He says, don't be afraid. I will be with you. I will protect you. Do you know someone who said that there are 365. Don't be afraid phrases in the Bible. One for every day of the week. And God wants us to realize that when he's on our side, we don't need to fear the fears , the devil's word, not our word. And then Jay God says to Jeremiah, I have put my words in your mouth. I will give you all. You need to be faithful. I will give you everything that you need. He touched his mouth and he said, I will provide for you. And then God said to Jeremiah today, I appoint you. He said, I believe in you. I believe in you. The word, a point there in the Hebrew is the word. But God, it means to be selected for a special tax. God said, listen , I made you, I know what you can and can't do. I'm there to hope you help you get through it all. Don't be afraid because I'm on your side. I'm on your team. And I believe in you, listen, God will never allow you to be in a situation that he, with your , with you, with his help , you cannot overcome. God will never put you in a situation that is beyond your ability to deal with because knows what your abilities are. And so you can trust him in that truth. Now, is that a good word or what? That's a good word. And you know what? God feels the same way about you. God says the same thing to you. So God wraps this statement up with Jeremiah chapter one verses 18 through 19, he says for four , see today I have made you like a strong fortified city that cannot be captured, cannot be captured as strong words from God. You're like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land. The Kings, the officials, the priests , the people, Judah, and they will fight you. Listen, they will fight you, but they will fail set with me. They will fail. When you go through those trials, that seem impossible. Your life. They will fight you, but listen, friends. If God's called you, they will fail. God says for, I am with you. I will take care of you. I, the Lord have spoken. There's an old song by the heritage singers that says when I think I'm going under part, the waters Lord. When I feel the waves around me, calm the sea. When I cry for help, hear me Lord and hold out your hand, touch my life. Still the raging storm in me. And when you find yourself in impossible situations, it feels like you're going under raise your hand because God said, I am on your team. You will not fail, but they will. But they will. Larry's friend. And our son, Jeremy understood this. Jeremy was born with the disorder called hemophilia, which meant that his blood did not clot. It's not circle surface. That's platelet . That's a different Claudine mechanism, but it's an internal Connie mechanism. So if you bang your elbow, bang your knee, if you bang your head, bang your chest, if you as a, as a child when you did so it would draw a blue bruise on you. Well, that bruise was subdural bleeding and that's what would not stop in our son . And so the only way to treat it is by putting pressure, putting ice on or more pronounced in his age, they were able to start an Ivy with him and to infuse him with a clotting factor that was derived from human blood. And these were the days before, just the very entry time of aids when people didn't know, or weren't quite sure if , if the aids was a bloodborne disease or not HIV. And so our son was being treated for his bleeds. How many, if you've had a toddler in your, do you know how many times they fall and bang their needs and blank, their elbows and bang their heads ? Well, you can imagine what it was like. We would make FIC frequent trips to the hospital so that they could start an IV on this little toddler as early as six months old. And that was his course of life. That was as he went through life. And , and , uh , but when he was aged 10, the opportunistic infection occurred that told us that Jeremy was HIV positive, that he had acquired HIV as a result of blood transfusion. And for the next five years of his life, until he was 15, 15 a month in a day until he passed away on December 7th, 1996 , uh , Jeremy's life was difficult in a trial of struggle. And that's when pastor Larry knew him on one occasion because of medications, because of the illness that he had, he was struck with waves of nauseousness and was just unable to hold anything down. In fact, they , anytime he lifted his head, he would begin to get sick. And because of his sick sickness and illness, his body was very small and very emaciated. If you think Larry standing next to me is like mutton Jeff. So you remember that. You can imagine Larry with my little son, he had no bones on him and no meat on him at all. And he was so sick. And so he would found the only relief you could have would be to lay on our bathroom floor, which has style. And when the wave of nauseous will come, can we get up and hold onto the side of the toilet bowl and stick his head over? And he would wreck, but there was nothing in there. So you could see every fiber of his muscle tense as he would go through that wave of nauseousness. And then once it passed, he would lay back down on the tile floor. And this went on all day along folks all day long as we witnessed that, at one point, he turned to his mother and he said, mom, I don't know how anyone could get through this without Jesus. I don't know how anyone can get through this without Jesus. And as his parents, watching our son suffer and slip away in an impossible situation, he taught us the same truth. I don't know how anybody could get through this without Jesus. I don't know how anybody could get through this or get through what you're going through without Jesus in their life. In Eugene Peterson's book, run with the horses. He states there's an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what goal God calls us to do. Not a great statement. There's an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what God calls us to do. And in this gap, God gives us some promises and Hebrews chapter 13, verses five and six, the Hebrew writer says for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. So I will have no fear. Isn't that amazingly similar to what God said to Jeremiah, that we read just a few minutes ago. There's no reason for you to be afraid. I'll never fail you. I'll never abandon you. And there was no reason for you to be in fear. Once again, the apostle Paul writes in first Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, no test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember. You need to remember this is that God will never let you down. He'll never let you be pushed beyond your limit. He'll always be there to help you come through it. That's a promise with God that is I, the Lord have spoken and that's what we need to remember. So when you're on yourselves with your backs against the wall in an seemingly impossible situation beyond what you think you can deal with, you need to remember these promises. Nelly , let me let you in on Satan's secret plan. This is, this is good. This is worth the price of admission here today. All right . So if you don't get anything else, get this. And if you're asleep at home, a nudge that person on the couch and wake them up, or if you're asleep, you wake up and because this is important, let me let you in on Satan's that Satan secret plan, Satan causes impossible situations to try to turn you away away from God plot. He's already lost the war. He's just dealing with battles in your life. And if he can hurt you, he can hurt God. And that's his only hope. And so his desire and everything that goes on in your life, in this fallen world, everything that happens in your life is Satan trying to turn you away from God, realize that, understand the source. One day when Jeremy was going through a particularly our son , a very tough time, he would have severe headaches. And , and so when he woke us up the whole night and said, just cut my head off, just please just cut my head off. And so I got up with him and carried him into the room. Nancy was sleeping and I put him in a chair. We sat in the chair together and it turned on the TV and the mash television program was on. It was on reruns then, but how many have ever watched the mash program? And in that program, in that episode , uh , Dr. BJ Honeycutt was standing by a general or Colonel or something. And Hawkeye Pierce was doing surgery on someone. And that person in surgery had their heart stop . And so , uh , Hawkeye shouts out, give me a Skype scalpel. I'm going to massage his heart. I don't. And he leaned down and he said, listen, don't let the bastard win . Larry, can I say bastard

Speaker 3 20:26

In this room ? We are good .

Speaker 2 20:30

He said, don't let the bastard win. And so he massage his heart and got it going again. And later the Colonel said to a BJ Honeycutt, the other doctor, what did he mean by that? And he said, well, to , to Hawkeye , uh , death is a bastard and he doesn't want him to win. So we finished that show and Jeremy was kind of calming down a bit. And I said to him, Jeremy , um , do you know what Satan is trying to do right now? I'm your life and my life. He trying just to get so mad and so upset that we'll turn our backs on God, that we'll blame God for everything and get mad at God. And I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let the bastard. When Jeremy said, I'm not going to , Jeremy said, I'm not going to let the bastard when either dad. So I picked him up and carried him into his room and laid in his bed. He was that small and went back to bed. And the next morning I woke up and they came walking out, Nancy and Jeremy were in the kitchen and they were talking and then Nancy walked me back in the bedroom. And she said, I can't believe you taught our son to use the word bastard. That's what she got out of all that. Okay. But no matter what you're facing today, no matter what's going on in your life today, I want you to realize what Satan is trying to do, and don't let the bastard win. We'll let him move. It's okay. To be angry. It's okay to be upset. Just realize the source and focus that anger on the source, not the savior, but the source in second Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 18 and 19, the apostle Paul was given a special treat by God to get a glimpse into heaven. And so that he wouldn't take too much pride in that God allowed a thorn in the flesh to come into his life. We're not sure what that was, but it was painful a difficult time. And so Paul says this in verse eight, three different times. I begged the Lord to take it away. This Soren in the flesh, there are different times. And each time he said, my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. I love this because he said, I asked him three times, God, take this away. And God said, my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. Okay? God, I get that. God, please take this away from me. God said, listen, listen, my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. God is God perfect. Thank you. But God would you please take this away from me . You ever been there? And each time God says, my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So he says, so I'm glad to boast in about my weakness so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weakness and the insults and the hardship and the persecutions and the troubles that I suffer for Christ for when I am weak, then I am strong. Now let me take you back to the words of Jesus in John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus said this, I have told you all this so that in me, you might have peace here on earth. You will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world. Now, fix friends, Jesus states an undeniable truth. Here, trouble on this earth is a certainty. He says, look, it's going to happen. It's not. If it's when and, and when it gets over with just not, if it's when trouble in this world is going to happen, it's a certainty. See when , when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, when they God told them not to. And they did, when they chose to disobey God, they effectively told God to shove off. We're going to do it our way. And God said, that's what you want. I love you enough. Not to make you do something. I give you free will to do it. And this resulted in us, living in a fallen world where sickness and evil and death and COVID happens. There's moral, evil, where man is injust to mankind. And there's natural evil, where the world seems to work against mankind. And this moral, evil, and naturally will , will reign and will do so until Jesus comes back. That's why Jesus said here on this earth, you will have trouble. It's a result of the fall. And Peter says in first, Peter, four 12, dear friends, don't be surprised that the fiery trials that you're going through as if something strange were happening to you, I mean, Jesus told us is going to be that way from the very beginning. So in this first in John chapter 16, verse 33 in this verse , Jesus tells us how to live through the troubles of life, how to live through the troubles of life, troubles are going to happen. And they are unpredictable who would have questioned a year ago that we'd be dealing with what we're dealing with, but we are with God's help can have the victory. So how do we do that? How do we do so how can we live through the troubles of life? Well, first of all, by making sure our peace is in Jesus before the trouble comes before the trouble comes, Jesus said , I've told you all this so that you may have peace in me. It's coming. So have peace in me. There's an old adage that says four warned is four armed . And Jesus wanted us to understand. So we won't be blindsided when this stuff happened that we're prepared for it when it comes. And that means that we need to find our peace in Jesus. Let me remind you of our son's words. He said, I just don't know how anyone could get through this without Jesus. And because Jesus is in his life, Jesus gave him strength to deal with. Walt seemed to be an impossible situation. Friends, listen, Jesus is where the power to endure trouble is found in Jesus. That's where the power to endure troubled is found. And if you don't know him today, if you don't know him as your savior and your Lord, if you don't know him, then I encourage you to find him as your savior. And Lord Northgate is more than willing and happy and desire . Some fact exists for that. Very purpose of helping people find and follow Jesus. And so if you don't know Christ as your savior, I challenge you to make that decision today. And once you're connected to Christ, you need to grow deeper and deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger and stronger because Satan's trials will become deeper, deeper, and stronger. And the world's troubles will become stronger. You need to be prepared to deal with them. Paul says in Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 in verse 13, instead of final word , final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on all of God's armor. So you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. We'll put on every piece of armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. And then after the battle battles coming folks, after the battle, you will be standing firm. When, when the smoke clears and the dust settles, you'll be standing with your foot on the neck of Satan, in the victory on Christ. The solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. So, and we live through the troubles of life while we're making sure our peace is in Jesus before the trouble comes. And secondly, by guarding our hearts during the troubles, by guarding our hearts during the troubles, that's critical, Jesus said, take heart hardest word. And we're not talking about the blood pumper . We were talking about the wheel , the seat of emotions. And he said, you need to protect your heart. During that time, the proverb writer says, guard your hearts, Proverbs four 23, guard your heart above all else above all else, guard your heart for it. Determines the course of your life. Protecting your spiritual heart is critical. Balloon trials and tribulations come that seem insurmountable. There are ways to guard your heart. And when the troubles come, you need to have a wall of protection around your heart. So how do you do that? Well, there's many ways that you can, but one of the ways I want to share with you today is in ecclesiastic chapter four, nine, and 10, and there Solomon, the world's wisest man said this too . People are better off than one for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help him up. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Friends. Listen, when you find yourself in trial, you need brothers and sisters around you to help hold you up. That's part of the reason why God created the church. That's why you need to be in a community group here. So when those times of trials come, you've got someone to help hold onto you and help you be strong. In Daniel chapter two, Daniel Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were some of the ones who are taken captive during the time of Jeremiah and taken to Babylon. And while they are there never can , as her had a dream and never measures a dream was scared him. And so he went to his wise men and he said to them, Hey, listen, I want you to tell me that the message of my dream, what it means. And they said, you tell us the dream. We'll tell you what it means you have. No, no, no, no, that's too easy. You could trick me. I want you to tell me what the dream was. And then tell me what it means. And the Wiseman said, well, nobody can do that. And he said, if you can't do it three days off with your heads. So Daniel's handler went to him and said, Daniel, if you don't tell, never can ask , answer what his dream. Wasn't what it means. Then you're going to be killed. So Daniel said, go back until they came. Give me a little more time. This is important. Just give me a little more time to deal with this. And he ran back to his friend, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he got them together. And he said, guys, let me tell you, what's going to happen. They go, that's impossible. And he said, no, because it's not because God's in this. And so they all got together and they prayed and they fasted. And when the three days were over, God gave Daniel the answer, an impossible situation it's made possible because of God and support of those around him. That's why community is so very important to guard your heart. You need to have a support team. You need to have a support team to help you get through it. In Galatians chapter six, verse two, the scripture says, share each other's burdens. And in this way, obey the law of Christ. When you carry each other's burdens, it makes the impossible be divided by the number of people carrying it. And what is divided suddenly becomes possible. You get that. And our church, we used to say, get it and I'd say, get it. And you'd say, got it. And I say, good. So get it good. All right . So we can live through our troubles of life by making sure our pieces in Jesus before the trouble comes and by guarding our hearts during the troubles. And then thirdly, by keeping our focus beyond the troubles, keeping our focus beyond the troubles. Jesus said, I have overcome the world. Now , son , because of his hemophilia was required to get IVs from actually first one was about six months left and Nancy and um , or nine months. And then thereafter, he would, we'd have to go to the hospital routinely. She'd give me a call. So Jeremy banged, his head doctor said, bring him in. So we'd take him down. We'd at that time we lived in the east bay, we'd drive down to Oakland and twin the Oakland children's hospital. And they'd start an IV in him pumping full of this , uh , clotting factor. And so , uh , that was just a frequent occurrence. And , uh, w w when he was about three, because of a certain condition, he needed to get clotting factor every third day. And so they're , so it's silly to bring them in the hospital for all that. So they arranged to have a home health nurse come to our house. And so this little three year old boy, and we would lay them out on the kitchen table because it was flattened big and they would prepare him and they would start IVs. Now, how many of you like to get shots? Anybody in here? I didn't think so. Can you imagine a three-year-old who's had it again and again and again. And so we would try to do things to take his mind off of. And I would , we would sing, Jesus loves me. In fact, one time we were singing, Jesus loved me in the car and he started to cry because he thought he was going to the hospital. And I would tell him the story of David and Goliath. And he's the David. And then hemophilia is the Goliath and throw the stone at him. And , and then on our table, we had a picture think a picture's gonna come up here. And just a minute, hopefully it's going to come up. Maybe not. Well, if it does, it does, it was a picture of , uh , the image of eternity. It was a picture of an image of heaven and the great banquet feast that was there. And while that was listed, I would tell Jeremy, you know, there's , there's going to come a time in your life, in my life where you're going to, you're going to see a Jesus and there'll be no more. What we call bumblebee stings. There'll be no more bumblebee stinks. So right now we have to go through it, but there's going to come a time where we're going to live forever. And you're never going to have to have never bumblebee sting folks. Listen, sometimes you need to keep that focus beyond the trouble. Keep looking beyond it. Rick Warren , it says, God created you to live in a heaven with him for eternity. Heaven is your home. Her , that's why you sometimes experience Discontentment and this fat , this satisfaction in your life, you're not completely happier because you're not supposed to be. If you were totally happy on earth, you might think you could live without God, but God created you to long for something much better. A home in heaven with him, fish would never be happy to living on the land because it was made for water. And the Eagle could never feel satisfied if it wasn't allowed to fry and you will never feel completely satisfied on earth because you were made for more. So keep looking up. I want to experience happy moments, but nothing compared to what God has planned for you in heaven , there are no more bumblebees. There may be times of troubles. We wonder why dot God doesn't show up or why he doesn't seem to answer our prayers. Why circumstances seems so unfair, but when we realize life on earth is just temporary, it can radically change our values, eternal values , not temporal ones become the deciding factor emotions and the decisions that you make. So Paul and second Corinthians chapter four, verse 17 and 18 for our present troubles are small. Won't last very long, and they seem huge at the time. Don't they? But they're small. They won't last very long. Yet. They produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them all and will last forever. So don't look at the troubles where we don't look at troubles. As we see now, rather we fix our gaze on the things that cannot be seen for the things we see will soon be gone. But the things we cannot see will last, how long will last forever. When our son Jeremy was born, even before he was born, we chose his name and we dedicated a life verse him . You know, this verse, everybody seems to know this first Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11 says for, I know the plans I have for you says the Lord they're plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and hope when Jeremy was born with his hemophilia and that verse became centered in our life. And when he contracted HIV and aids, it caused us to re understand the fact that we weren't made for here. We were made for heaven. Amen. Keep your eyes looking up. Did it mean there'd be no more troubles in life? No , that it mean that there'd be no seemingly impossible situations that we would face. No, that it mean that there would never be times when we felt like our backs were against the wall. No, but what it meant was that God knows, God knows what you're going through and God cares, and God has a plan. That's what God told Jeremiah. That's what Jesus told his people. And that's what he tells us this morning. Just trust. Just wait, just watch, just see. Okay . Has Jeremy has illness progressed? He became sicker and sicker. Um , the infection got into his brain. He , um, began to , um , drift in and out of coma because of the pressure on the basis of the brain. His eyes began to glass over. There are times he couldn't see times he couldn't yeah,

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Speak. He was weak. So weak the last couple weeks of his life. And , um, after we had some friends that came to visit family members, I picked him up and carried him back to his room, put him in. And , um, I turned to Jeremy and I could see his eyes were open. Like he was looking at me and I said, Jeremy, how you doing? And at this time, because his strength was so weak. Um , he was just given one word answers. And so I said, how you doing Jeremy? And he said, I'm okay, dad. And I said, I'm not talking about up here. I'm talking about down here and friends as I stand before you today, I want you to know that I saw his eyes clear to that beautiful blue that they add been since he was born. And I heard a strength in his voice. I hadn't heard in weeks. And my son Jeremy said to me, I'm not afraid, dad. And those were the very last words he ever smoked and seemingly impossible situation. And if my God can help a 15 year old boy face a seemingly insurmountable, impossible trouble and situation and do so without fear, then my God can do anything. I, the Lord have spoken. So the Psalmist says, as you go through those times in Psalm 34, 18 and 19, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to rescue each time. And so I encouragement to you here today is one of my life verses in Galatians chapter six, verse nine, the apostle Paul says, let us not get tired of doing what is right for after a while. We'll reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged. And if we don't give up. And one of the ways that we celebrate that as believers in Christ, as Christ followers, one of the ways we celebrate that victory as we take the Lord's supper. If you want to take your cup out now and very carefully, I encourage you to peel off the top layer and take that little piece of bread out of it. Hold it up in front of you. Would you do that? We hold this bread. We are saying, I believe that God took on flesh. That Jesus is God. In the flesh. I acknowledged that he came into this world and because he came into this world, I can leave this world in victory. So he is the bread of life as we take communion. Would you remember that? And declare today that Jesus is God in the flesh. Amen. No , turn the cup over, pull back. The tab carefully. The juice in this reminds us of the blood of Jesus. Jesus called us to do so. And he said, this is, this is the cup of the new covenant, but it means there's all the old stuff it's gone. We have victory because of the blood of Jesus. And he reminds his disciples at that time that when you take this, remember that I will be with you even to the end of the age. This is a covenant for now and forever. And no matter what you go through in life, you'll never alone because Jesus died to be with you. Amen. So as they take this cup, remember that God wants to be real. Even the difficult times of life. And as we close the service here, I want you to focus on the words of the song that we're going to sing. The words are these. Don't let your heart be troubled. Hold your head up high don't fear evil. Fix your eyes on this one. Truth. God is madly in love with you. So take courage. Hold on me strong. Remember where your help comes from? Amen.