Disrupted of Power

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church Podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning everybody. I'm glad you are here. And we are in a series called Disruption. And really the thinking behind the series is that you and I will go through times in life where our lives are just going to be disrupted. We're just going to face things that we didn't expect. We're going to have things in our life that we weren't really prepared for. It's just inevitable and it's inescapable. I even go as far to say it doesn't matter how spiritual you are or how spiritual you aren't, you're still going to go through times of disruption. The Bible puts it this way. It says it rains on the just and the unjust. What that means is that good things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. It just is what it is. We're going to go through seasons of life where we're going to have disruption. And last weekend I told you that life is made up of seasons and cycles. A season is a period of time we go through that's out of our control. Just like spring, summer, fall, winter, it's out of your control. We don't know what the season will bring, how long the season will last. But it's a season. And when you go through a season of disruption, then know this. God has sovereignly allowed you to go through it. But if it's a cycle, a cycle is something that we can prevent. It's something that we have created, it's something that we have caused, and we can end cycles. So it's important you know when you begin to assess where you are and what you're going through, that you ask yourself the hard question, the honest question. Is this a season or is this a cycle? And if it's a season, then this is a time of disruption that I would tell you this morning. God has sovereignly allowed it to happen. And when you study the Bible, you'll find this principle that there is no advancement without adversity. You're going to go through difficult times. In fact, the Bible Says all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer some persecution. Now, when it says that not everybody will live godly in Christ Jesus, but it's saying for the ones who do, this is what you can expect. Jesus even said, the servant is no better than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. So he's just preparing us for the inevitable. And I'm just saying, when the inevitable comes, God can use that in a way that actually brings about something good in your life. None of us really know. Think about this. None of us know how strong we are until we're tested. We don't know how strong our faith is until it's tested. And I would tell you this morning, think about this. A faith that can't be tested is a faith that, that can't be trusted. Because you're gonna need faith to get through the difficult times of life. So to strengthen my faith and to strengthen your faith, the only way faith is strengthened is through adversity, disruption. So God will use these periods in our life, these times in our life, for his purpose. Think about someone who's climbing a mountain. Their goal is to reach the summit. Wouldn't it be a lot easier if they just rented a helicopter and flew to the summit? Wouldn't that be easier? I would much prefer to do that, to be honest with you. But those of you that love to hike in the mountains would say, well, that's not the point. We're not looking for efficiency, we're looking for a conquest. Think about it this way. Wouldn't it have been better if God just birthed into the home brand new baby that is a brilliant scientist. I mean, when they first start talking, they're just talking about scientific things and wouldn't that be amazing? Or if he births into our homes entrepreneurs. And when they first start talking, they're talking about business ideas they have and things they're going to create and things they're going to do. Or if he just birthed into our homes mathematicians or artists. And all of a sudden you have this little prodigy that can't walk yet, but is already proficient in a lot of different instruments and so forth. But listen, that's not how God works. He doesn't birth into our homes, that type of thing. He births into our homes babies. And those babies develop over time into entrepreneurs, business leaders, mathematicians, scientists, doctors, lawyers. But we all started out as babies. So I'm saying, you and I, when we came into this world and we received Jesus as our savior, we, we're Born again. So we're babies. And so God begins a process of helping us discover our purpose. And you can't discover your purpose without adversity, without disruption. And God will use those periods, those seasons, and even the cycles. He will use them in life for our good and his glory. A great verse to try to memorize or at least write down somewhere so you remind yourself when you go through that is Romans 8:28, where he says, for we know. I love the certainty with which Paul speaks. We know with certainty. We know that all things work together for good. Now, he didn't say all things are good. He said all things have the ability to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. So God can take adversity, he takes disruption. And he uses those things as a matter of strengthening us. 2 Corinthians 3:18. I love this. 2nd Corinthians 3:18 gives us insight into what God is doing. It says, we all with an unveiled face. In other words, we're seeing clearly now. Behold the glory of God. Listen. Are being transformed into the same image. And how is this happening from one degree to another? So think about what Paul is saying. He's saying that when you're in a relationship with Jesus Christ, slowly but surely the blinders of your eyes are taken away so that you begin to see God's purpose. And what his purpose is, is he's moving us from one level to the next level so that we are fulfilling his purpose for our life. And we, as a result, are bringing him glory. And he uses the word, in this case, transformed. That's an interesting word. Because when I think about how God works in adversity, he works. The result of adversity is transformation. Remember what he said. Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. He says, don't be conformed to this world, to the system, but be. Here's the word transform. Same word, transform, by the renewing of your mind. Now, it's interesting because the word transform is the same word. Metamorphosis. Now, you remember, boys and girls, where we learned about metamorphosis? Remember science class in school? You remember when you learned that the caterpillar crawls along and one day it creates the cocoon. Goes in the cocoon and. And then one day it emerges as a beautiful butterfly. And what happens in the process of the caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly is the process called metamorphosis. Metamorphosis. It is literally the word metamorphosis. Metamorph. Meta is to change morph is into a different form. Phocis is light. So to be changed into a different form with light. Phocis is light, phosphorous light. Right. So you have the process. Metamorphosis is the transformation process that God is doing in my life today and in your life. And one of the other things you remember we learned in science when we were kids about the process of that butterfly emerging from the cocoon is it involves a struggle. You ever see the butterfly trying to get out of the cocoon? And it's fighting and it's struggling and it breaks free and finally it's still fighting and struggling. Scientists will tell you that if you try to help the butterfly and as tendency as a kid, you want to kind of cut the little cocoon open and open it up and help a brother, you want to. That little butterfly is struggling. But you know what they'll tell you? A scientist will tell you that if you open that cocoon and you help. Help that butterfly out of the cocoon and the butterfly does not have the ability or doesn't have to use its own ability to get out of the cocoon, that the butterfly will not have the strength to survive, that helping it and assisting it out of the cocoon will kill the butterfly. What's the point? My point is God created in nature in the process of metamorphosis, of transformation, a struggle. And the struggle is necessary to have the strength that we need to survive and thrive in life. So if you're connecting dots with me this morning, then you're beginning to understand that God uses. He uses adversity and God uses disruption. And he uses it to transform me little by little into the person that he would have me to become. He's trying to take this caterpillar and get him out of the cocoon and. And so that he can become the guy he wants him to be. And in the process, the struggle takes place and the struggle looks different from everybody, for everybody. Your struggle might not be mine, it might not be yours. But I'm just saying that you aren't going to get out of life without some struggle. There's going to be some disruption. And when you look into God's word, you find that every person in the Bible struggled. You read the Hero, the Hall of fame of Hebrews, chapter 11, and every one of those characters struggled. God used adversity in life as a means of advancing them to becoming the people that he had desired them and created them to be. I've got an incredible character that some of you may be familiar with, but he's one of my favorite Old Testament characters in the Bible that I want to use as an illustration. In fact, I love what Paul said about this. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that the things that happened to them, speaking of the Old Testament saints, the things that happened to them happened as examples for us and are written down as warnings to us. So the Old Testament stands as examples. And I love the Bible. It's the most honest book in the world. In the Bible, you see good examples of good examples and you see good examples of bad examples. And Benaiah is a good example of a good example. He is a young man that God used all of the adversity of his life. He uses the disruption in his life to promote him. And ultimately he became the head of King David's secret service. He was part of David, King David's protective detail. And what's astonishing about that is to understand where he came from. As we'll see in a moment, he came from a little country town. He came from a town called Kabzeel. Kabzeel was in the most remote region of southern Judah and it was a farming community. Benaiah was a country boy. How does a country boy, a little kid from a one horse town, become the bodyguard of the most powerful man in the then known world? How does that happen? He was transformed. And what transformed his life and put him on the map. And what caused King David to see him was not necessarily the success initially, but it was the adversity. It's what God used to cause him and created him and allowed him to be successful that got on the king's radar. He saw how he handled adversity. And nothing will move the heart of God more than when his children go through a circumstance where they're able to bring him glory in the midst of it. Nothing touches the heart of God. When he sees one of his kids go through a circumstance and, and they learn to give him praise in the midst of it. And Benaiah is a good example of a good example. In fact, if you have your Bible, look with me in second Samuel 23, just for a few moments, in two Samuel 23, just a couple of verses. The Bible here opens in verse 20 with this phrase, Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada. Now let me stop long enough to say that anytime you read about Benaiah, it always includes his father. It references his father, Benaiah. He was the son of Jehoiada. Well, I've Got an inquiring man and I want to know, so who was Jehoiada? Why is that significant? Well, Jehoiada was a spiritual man. He was a priest. Jehoiada was a strong man. He was a warrior. And so one of the things the Bible is giving us insight here is in the fact that there is this young man came from a good family. This young man, though a country boy, though raised in a remote area of the world, this young man had a strong home, he had a strong upbringing. That's why I said earlier that scientists aren't born scientists, they become scientists. They're raised to be that. And they're shaped and formed. That's why the Bible. Thank you, brother. That's why the Bible says that we are to bring our kids up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. I should have had enough sense to do this for myself. But you know, what can you do? Hang on. Time out. Okay, time back in. But it always references his father. So that says to me that the Holy Spirit wants us to know that there's something significant about the home Benaiah came out of. And I don't want to miss that in this day. Cause I think the home is probably under attack more than any other institution in the world. As a home goes, so goes a church. As a church goes, so goes a community. As a community goes, so goes a country. And so the home was the first institution God ever established. And in this home, Benaiah learned some things that he would never get away from. He learned character, as we'll see in a moment. He learned to have confidence, as we'll see in a moment. And he learned to have courage. Those are the characteristics that he had coming out of this home. So Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son, note now of a valiant man from Kabzeel, from this country town. His dad stood out as a priest when you study about it. And not only as a priest, as a spiritual man, but as a strong man. The Bible refers to him as being valiant. And notice this man had done many deeds. And notice the three things that underscores that Benaiah did. He killed two lion like heroes of Moab. Now all that expression, lion like is. It means fierce. It was kind of a way by which they described a great warrior. They said, the warrior, he's lion like. He's fierce. He's not to be toyed with. And this was the first conquest of Benaiah. He killed two lion like heroes of Moab, he also went down and killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. Now, some of you are familiar with the book. There's several books about the man who killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. And this is one of the conquests. And I'll touch on that in a moment. So the third thing he did, he killed an Egyptian. And notice how the Bible describes the Egyptian. A spectacular man. He said he wrestled the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Boy, you talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight. I mean, Benaiah goes into this thing with a staff and the Egyptian had a spear, so he just slapped him and took it out of his hand and killed him with it. Now, it's kind of loosely translated, but that's how I see it happening. And so here are these three incredible things that Benaiah accomplishes. And the bible in verse 22, said these things. Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, did, and he won a name among the three mighty men. He was more honored than the 30, but he did not attain to the first three, those closest to King David. And then notice, David appointed him over his guard, meaning his personal guard. He was over like the secret service. And the first thing you see when you study that is the strength that this young man had. And when I talk about a young man's strength, I don't just mean physical. That's obvious. But he had more than physical strength. He had strength of character. As I said a moment ago, he came from a great family. He had strength of confidence. Something gave him the confidence to go out and face these incredible challenges. And he had strength of courage. He wasn't afraid. And I just. Honestly, folks, I really believe that goes back to the fact that he was raised in a home where those values were instilled. And one of the greatest things parents, I think we can instill in, in the hearts and minds of our kids is confidence. The Bible says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. So it's the confidence comes from the courage, rather comes from the confidence that we have in Christ. I can. I can do this, but I can only do this through Christ who gives me strength. So to instill within our kids, as Jehoiada instilled in young Benaiah, you have to have confidence. He went out confidently believing that he could face anything that came in his path. He came out with the confidence that he needed to say, whatever comes my way, God has sovereignly allowed it and I can handle it. And he had the courage. It's crazy because the two words Jesus used more than any other words in all the world were fear not. And somebody. I hadn't counted them, but somebody says that they're in the. And that term fear not shows up 362 times in scripture or something. I haven't counted it. But they say that the times you read the fear not in the scripture. So there's something to be said for the courage we have being tied to the confidence that we have. And I think when you look at Benaiah, it goes back to the home in which he was raised. So here you have this young man who had strength. Second thing you see is not only the strength that you can embrace, but there are some struggles, you know you're going to encounter. Let me circle these three struggles he faced and kind of try to make them practical for us today. The Bible said he faced two lion like men of Moab. Circle the word Moab or write the word Moab in your notes. Moab in scripture is always a metaphor for the flesh. For the flesh. The Moabitish people came out of an incestuous relationship that lot had. That lot had after the Flood. And so the Moabitish people came out of that relationship. They lived among the Israelites, but they never trusted or believed in their God. They were always known for being a very sensual people, very sexually expressive people. And so in scripture, when you read about the Moabite people, it always represents metaphorically for us, the flesh. So if we were applying ourselves to Benaiah, not only do we need confidence and we need courage as we go into the challenges of life, because we know we're going to face flesh, we're going to face our flesh. One of the biggest things that you and I have to deal with every day is the sensual side of our being. God has created us to be attracted to certain things. That's why temptation is a big thing that works. And by the way, there's no sin in getting tempted. The temptation is not in the bait, it's in the bite. That's what gets fish caught. It's not the bait, but the bite. So to be tempted just means you're alive. But what you do with the temptation is important. And I'm saying the Moabites are coming. You're going to have to deal with the flesh. That's one of the things, one of the struggles that we face is the Moabite, the flesh. Here's the second one. He said he Went down. And he faced a lion. A lion. And he faced him in a pit. Worst possible place. On a snowy day, a pit would have been the worst place. If you're gonna have to fight a lion, you don't go there. And you don't wanna do it on a snowy day. Cause it's cold, it's hard to get your footing, it's hard to hold your weapon. So he faced the worst possible foe in the worst possible place under the worst possible circumstances, and he was victorious. And if the Moabites represent flesh, what does a lion represent? Well, if you know your Bible, you know 2 Peter 5, 8, says, Be sober, think clearly, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil. The devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Well, what's one of the struggles we're gonna face? Well, we're gonna face. We're gonna face our flesh, then we're gonna face the Moabites, and we're gonna face the devil. We just finished a series where we talked about spiritual warfare. And I believe that Satan is a real, living, powerful being on the earth today. And since he is not omnipresent, he can't be everywhere. He does have fallen angels who are demonic spirits who are everywhere. And you and I will face oppression, and we will face opposition where we need the Ephesians 6 armor, because this devil is real. He is a decided fact. He is a destructive force. But I'd always tell you, I'd always say he's a defeated foe because you do not have to fall prey to this enemy. But I'm suggesting to your heart and mind that he is on the attack. He said the devil is a roaring lion. I don't know. I've watched some National Geographic things about the lion, and there's such a. They're such a smart predator. They say a lion will be stalking its prey. And the first types of prey that a lion will go after is a prey that is injured or wounded, because that injured or wounded prey is vulnerable. May I suggest to you that you're never more vulnerable to the attack of the devil. When you're hurt, your heart is broken, your mind is confused. Maybe it's a financial issue, a relational issue, a health issue. And when the defenses are down, that's when the enemy often will attack. And so I'm saying he's a smart adversary because he will study his prey to find when they are most vulnerable. He'll attack those at the back of the pack. The lion will circle around behind the herd and he'll try to pick off those who are kind of falling behind the others. Sometimes it's easy to stray and you kind of lose your safe people and you lose your support and you don't have your friends and you don't have your family around you, and you kind of get separated from the pack. And, man, I'm telling you, when you lose your safe people and you're no longer. You don't have some people in your life for accountability and for encouragement, you are vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. So I'm just suggesting when you think about a lion, there's a lot of analogy here than what you and I are gonna face every day. So we're gonna need confidence and we're gonna need courage and we're gonna need our character because we're dealing with our own flesh and we're dealing with this enemy who is oppressing and opposing. And then the third thing is Egypt. Well, if the metaphor for Moab. Moab is flesh and the metaphor for the lion is the devil, what does Egypt represent? Well, in the Bible, Egypt is always a picture of the world. The world. The Egyptian empire prior to the Roman Empire during the time of the pharaohs, was the most powerful empire on the planet. And when you read the Old Testament and you read about people journeying to Egypt, you always see it described this way. They went down to Egypt, lot went down to Egypt, all of those characters of scripture, when it were. Now, that's true of it. Geographically, that's true. But it's more than just the geographical explanation of going down to Egypt. That's the direction a person goes when they're drawn in to the draw of the world. What is the world? If the world is analogous to an enemy I'm going to face, then what does that mean? Well, when you study the Bible, there's at least three different ways we understand. The Bible speaks of the word, of the idea of the world. First of all, there's the created world. In the beginning, God stepped from nowhere to stand on nothing and speak everything into existence. And it's there because he created it. It stays there because he tells it to. God created the heavens and the earth. Well, when 1 John 2:15 says, well, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Well, whoa, whoa, okay. The world is an enemy. Does that mean the created world? No. The Bible also says concerning the created world, God has given us all things richly to enjoy. So if you like to Hike and bike. And you love the mountains or the ocean, or you love the river or the woods. You love the desert, man. Enjoy that. God's created this world for us to enjoy. I'd say get out there and enjoy. Take a walk today and just enjoy God's creation. That. That's not what he's talking about when he says don't love the world. Then there's a second word the Bible uses to describe the word the world, the idea of the world. That's people. People. John 3:16. For God so loved the world, the people that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will never perish but have everlasting life. Well, he didn't die for mountains, he died for people. So when the Bible says not to love the world, it's not talking about mountains and rivers, nor is it talking of people. Well, what is he then talking about? He's talking about cosmos, a system. A system. There's a system that we have now, you and I would call this system, we would call it today secularism. We're in a secular society. You hear that term all the time, right? What does that mean? Secularism means to not involve God. In any of my thinking. A secular society is a society that's excluded God from everything. We don't look at the Ten Commandments. We don't abide by, you know, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. None of those principles really were a secular system, meaning that we are a system that does not. We don't allow God into our world. And that's what he's talking about. In 1 John 2:15, he said, when he says, love not the world, neither things are in the world. And if anyone loved the world, the love of the Father's not him. He's talking about the system. He's saying, if you're a Christ follower, you have to reject the pull of secularism to pull you into a form of thinking that does not include God. And the danger for most Christians is the only time that we buy into our faith is on a Sunday morning. And we'll say, well, I gotta get my church on. I get what you mean when you say that, but we ought to get our church on seven days a week. Some people sow to their flesh six days a week and then come to the church on Sunday and pray for crop failure. I'm just suggesting to you, friend, that what we have to do as Christ followers is commit daily to face this enemy that is trying to separate us in our thinking and our minds from our heavenly Father. Pray about everything. Pray about all things. Give thanks in all things. That means before you sign a contract. Pray over that before you shake a hand for a new client. Pray about that before you bring God into your business. Dwight L. Moody used to challenge the business people in his church this way. He said, if God is your partner, make your plans big. There's not a place in scripture that God ever says, go easy on me. You're asking too much of me. This is way bigger than I can handle. So when you move out of the Sunday set of serving God and you reject secularism, which doesn't want you include him during the week, you are defying this enemy that's trying to separate you in your mind from your heavenly Father. And Benaiah was victory victorious over Moab, which pictures his flesh, the devil, which the lion, which pictures the devil, and Egypt, which pictures the world. What a beautiful example. Here's the third thing I'd give you, and we'll go home. You can see the success then that you can enjoy. There is a success that you can enjoy even in the midst of the adversity, even in the midst of the difficulty, even in the midst of a disruption, there's a success you can enjoy. God wants you to be an overcomer. God wants you to live in victory. Listen to this verse. This is a great verse. Romans 8:37. After he lists all the things that can come against his kids, he says, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. In all these things, when you're faced with the flesh and you're faced with the devil, and you're faced with the secular way of thinking, you can still be victorious in the midst of those things. Here's another one. I'll give you 1st Corinthians 15:57. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory, the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If I could encourage, as I close this morning and admonish you, I would do it by reminding of a great verse in Galatians 6, 9, when he says, don't be weary doing well, man. I don't know what the disruption might be in your life. Maybe there's something going on. You feel this pull of your flesh to do things you know aren't right. Maybe it's the pull of just the opposition you feel. The devil's just man. He's just hammering you with stuff. And you're tempted just to give up or give in or just give out. Or maybe it's just the pull of secularism. You really aren't bringing God into your business. You're not really bringing him in your home. You're just doing a little touch and go with God on Sunday. And you're really just kind of approaching life half heartedly. As far as a child of God, you're struggling a little bit. And it's a battle. It's a struggle. Well, Galatians 6, 9 says, Listen, don't be weary, doing well, meaning, keep up the fight. Don't give in and don't give up and don't give out. Because here's what he says. In due season, in due season. Remember it's a season. In due season we will reap if we don't faint. And can I tell you as I close, nobody faints at the right time. I've only fainted one time in my life that I'm aware of. And I may have to turn in my man card when I tell you the story. But, you know, now that I have got heart disease, I've got cancer stuff. So they check me a lot. They check my blood. And I don't know, we have doctors in our church and medical people. You'll know what this means. I'm going to tell you something, I don't even know what it means. But they tell me that my body was producing too much red cells. And so their solution to that sounded archaic to me. They said, we need to pull some blood off of you. And I thought, that doesn't sound like that's gonna happen without some pain. And how are we gonna do that? They said, we're just gonna draw some blood off you. I said, okay. And they said, we're gonna draw a little more than a pint off of you. And I said, that sounds excessive. They said, well, we're trying to get your levels situated. That sound like a throwback. You know, back in the day, I read where there were places that they took people to bleed them because back in the day of George Washington, in fact, they believe that his illness, that he actually. I'm chasing a rabbit here, but stay with me. They believe that he died because they bled him too much. From. What do you call it when. Too much blood. Anema, anemia. And in fact, the barber poles, you see the red and white candy striped barber poles? Did you know those were actually stations? Google this, kids. Those were stations where they would bleed people. That's what that's a carryover from. Can you imagine going to the doctor like I did? And they said, we're gonna have to bleed you. That's what they told me. So I show up about one or two o' clock to my appointment. And I'm in the big lazy chair and this guy's taking this bag of blood off of me. And so after that happened, he looks at me. Cause I guess I was getting a little pale. He said, you did eat today, right? And I said, no. I thought if you draw blood, you're not supposed to eat. I found out that was wrong. This type of blood draw, you're supposed to eat. Cause they're taking a lot, a lot. And then he said, are you feeling okay? And the last thing I remember saying is I'm feeling lightheaded. That's the last thing I remember saying. When I woke up, I had one nurse pounding my chest and rubbing on it. Another nurse, she's taking my pulse. The other one is about to call the ambulance. Cause they kill my heart rate, all that kind of stuff. So I came to. I'm just soaking head to toe. But now every time I go to the doctor, I'm the guy that fainted. This has been like a year ago. I'll walk in there and she'll go, oh, be careful, Bill may faint. And I'm like, really? Really? You know. And so now I just kind of go with it. I said, I'll sit here and try not to faint on you now. Now I'm the faint guy. And when I think about, you know, don't be weary doing well, you'll reap if you just don't faint. Nobody faints at a good point. One of the other critical times I've. I've been encountered. I've encountered people that almost fainted. We're at weddings. Weddings. Listen, I've never nearly. I've never nearly lost a bride. Never happened. Never. I've never. I've never happened. Brides come in and they're in their glory. They're beautiful, they're in their dresses. Ah, here's the bride. She ain't fainting. Are you kidding me? She's owning this moment. The groom, on the other hand. He might have been goofy the night before for the rehearsal, but it just got real. The day of the wedding, it got real. And I've never done one yet. That the groom wasn't just so nervous. And I remember distinctively. And I always tell them before we go out, hey, don't lock your knees. Keep breathing. Everybody here loves you guys. They wouldn't be here if they did. And these are friends and family. So no, you're not in hostile, you're not in a hostile territory. I'm trying to talk em off the ledge, right? Emotionally. And so we go in, we do this one and this guy was not doing well. I mean he looked like me in the chair. When he starts facing, starts turning ashen a little bit and I never will forget this, he was wearing a cummerbund with his tux. Remember when those were a thing? They may be a thing again now, but back then they were a thing. And I was sitting here looking at him and he starts doing this bob thing, you know what I mean? When he starts doing this weave a little bit and I'm going, oh no. My uncle had told me about a wedding that he did where the groom did pass out and they had to finish the ceremony on the front row and. Cause they couldn't get him, you know. So I always tell my guys, look, marriage, do you think this is hard? You can't get past the wedding, however, it's the end of your trouble. But it's the front end. So that's another thing. But I remember seeing him bobbing, weaving, and I reached forward and I just hooked his cummerbund. I don't know why, if he would have fallen, I'd just been holding his cummerbund. But it was just that moment when I thought, my point is it's never the right. I had a point with all that. It's never good, it's never right, it's never appropriate to faint. And that's why Paul was saying, yeah, you wanna faint, you just wanna quit, you wanna drop out, you just don't wanna do this anymore. It's tough, it's nerve wracking, it's fearful. But he said, if you just will hang in there, just keep battling that flesh and keep battling that devil and keep battling that tendency you have to not bring God into every area of your life. You stand strong, the Holy Spirit will empower you. He will enable you, he will equip you to deal with the adversity. And guys, when you come through it, and you will come through it, you'll be stronger, wiser and better than ever before. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for examples like Benaiah, thank you for his Father Jehoiada, thank you. That from that we years later can draw some principles from the stories, some practical life values that will enable us to face the turmoils and the trials of our lives. Help us Lord, to understand the purpose that you may have in the disruptions of life that we face. And finally, Father, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their Savior, that this might be the moment, the closing moments of this service, whether they're in this room or watching online, where they humble their heart and they simply pray. Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life. I trust you now. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:37:30] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. [00:37:31] Speaker B: Amen. [00:37:32] Speaker A: If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.