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You're listening to a message preached at Front Range Baptist Church by Pastor Dean Miller. It is our prayer that this message will be a help and an encouragement to you in your spiritual walk. Now, here's Pastor Miller.

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Thank you, Bryce. That's a great song. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 8. When you found that, look back up for just a minute. We, you and I were made for relationships. We have to have relationships. God created the world, and the Bible says in Genesis chapter 1 that everything that God said, God said that was good, and that was good, and that was good, and that was good, and that was good. And then God said something he had not said before. He said, And it was not good that man should be alone. And it's not good that man should be alone. Every man in this room is thankful that God made woman. You wouldn't have known what to wear today coming to church. And you certainly wouldn't have been able to drive here if she hadn't been over there telling you when to break and when to stop and when to turn. Amen. Somebody say amen about that. So we need relationship. We're made for relationship. And I think relationship is far more important than what most of us recognize until relationships are gone. In the 13th century, the Roman emperor, Frederick, wanted to find out what mankind's original language was. So he came up with a crude and cruel experiment. He wanted to find out, was man's original language Hebrew, or was it Greek, or was it Latin? So what he did was he took about a dozen babies as soon as they were born. He had them separated from their mothers, and they brought nurses in to nurse the babies. And they made the nurses make a solemn vow that they would never utter a sound, not make one sound, not speak one word to the babies. And Frederick believed that eventually, if these babies did not, were not pre-printed with a particular language, that they would eventually begin to speak the natural tongue of man, and we could find out if they were Hebrew speaking, Greek speaking, or Latin speaking. The nurses, as though it was difficult for them, abided by their commitment, and they never uttered a sound. And these babies never heard a word. Not one human voice. And within just a few months, every one of them were dead. This is the importance of relationship. You and I are built, we're made for relationship. Relationships will define your life. Some of your lives have been defined by relationships that have strengthened you. Some of you have relationships that have really built you and made you into who you are today. Others of you are defined by relationships that broke you, hurt you, disappointed you. But there is one relationship today that I can tell you with confidence will never fail you, will never disappoint you, and that is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what I'm preaching on today is I'm preaching on a rock solid relationship with the rock. We want to know, Peter's going to be giving us how to have an unshakable faith. But if you're going to be unshakable, you're going to have to have a relationship, a rock-solid relationship with the rock himself, and that is the Lord Jesus. Let's look at our verses this morning. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 8. Speaking of Jesus, the Bible says, whom having not seen, you love, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Now listen, uh, in verses six and seven, the apostle Peter was giving to the believers an understanding of their trials. You're going to go through great trials. You're going to go through fiery trials. You're going to go through difficult circumstances in life. But in verses eight and nine, he gives them an understanding of their treasure. And the treasure that will bring you through every trial is a rock solid relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to tell you, I'm glad that Peter referenced these believers, that they were scattered abroad. They were people out of their homes. They were in isolation. They were in foreign lands and they were suffering and they were being persecuted in incredible ways. And Peter writes to them, and uh these believers had never seen Jesus. They had never heard his voice. They'd never heard him teach. They never saw the empty tomb. Now Peter had. Peter had walked with Jesus. Peter had talked with Jesus. Peter ate with Jesus. Peter saw Jesus die. Peter saw the empty tomb. Peter ate again with the risen Lord and saw him in his resurrected body. Peter had seen the Lord. These believers had never seen him. And Peter was writing to them saying, You've never seen him. And yet something remarkable had happened to these believers. Though they had not seen him, they loved him. And even though they saw him not, they believed. And I want to tell you, that is a rock solid relationship with Jesus. You and I can have today. Let me give you a couple things that the Holy Spirit is going to teach us about how we can, even in our trials, when our circumstances change, when life gets upside down, when life shakes us up, it can never break you from a rock solid relationship in Jesus Christ. And how is that? First of all, a rock solid relationship with Christ is always marked by love. It is always marked by love. Notice what Peter says. Peter says here, he said, In whom, whom having not seen, you serve. Is that what he said? Anyone awake this morning?

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No.

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Whom having not seen, you obey. Is that what he said? No, no, no. He said, Whom having not seen, you love. You love. A relationship, a living and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ is always marked by love. Our relationship with Christ begins with love. We love him because he first loved us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, listen, our relationship with Christ began with love and it's marked by love. And though we have never seen him, yet we love him. This relationship does not begin with obedience and service. It begins with love. Why? Because Jesus intended a relationship with him to be predicated on love. He wants you rooted and grounded not in religion, not in rules, not in obedience, not in mechanical service. He wants you rooted and grounded in love. Listen to Ephesians chapter 3. Mark mark this note in your notes if you're taking notes. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Did you hear that? I want to tell you today, I believe that we are missing out on this rock-solid relationship. And one of the ways that I see that we are missing out on it is a relationship with Christ, a true, solid relationship with Christ, is marked by love. He loves us, we love him, we are rooted in love, we are grounded in love, and we know the love of Christ, which is past knowledge. Do you know that the love of Christ is something that you can know and it's something that you that is not knowable? The love of Christ is you knowing something that is not knowable, you comprehending something that is incomprehensible, you understanding something that is beyond understanding. It is you having a love rooted and grounded in you that is beyond all human ability to understand. It is a supernatural love that Christ gives to you. In Romans chapter 5, when we get saved, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in our heart. We are infused with the love of God so that we may know how to love Him. And that relationship of Christ is marked with love. Now, why is that important? Because love, this kind of love, will produce obedience. It will always produce obedience. Now, listen, obedience does not always produce love. You can obey things that you don't love. And let me demonstrate it to you. I do not love the IRS. But to the best of my ability, I obey them. I don't hate them, I brush up against that every once in a while, but I do not love them, but I obey them. Now I obey them, but I do not love them. But listen, you cannot love without obedience. Love will produce obedience. In fact, Jesus said it this way in John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. This is love that precedes obedience. Man, think about the miracle here in this verse. That these believers had never seen Jesus. They had never heard him speak, they never had a glimpse of the empty tomb. Yet they loved Jesus deeply. Their love was resting on his word, their love was resting in his spirit, and their love was resting on the saving work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. And so does ours. I'm glad that Peter acknowledged that because he's writing to these believers who had never seen him. And we, 2,000 years later, are believers who have never seen him, and him whom, though now you see him not, yet believing. You have never seen him, yet you love him. Now I want to tell you this. The love of Christ constrains us. It's the love of Christ that continues to help us to grow and pursue Christ. The love of Christ constrains me, it draws me, it holds me. Now, church, listen to me. If love produces obedience, then fellowship is necessary to grow love. If I'm gonna grow in my love, it's not gonna grow through obedience. Obedience is a byproduct of love. Love produces obedience. So how do I grow in my love? It has to grow through fellowship. It has to grow through fellowship. Look, look, everybody. No marriage can ever last only because it had a wedding day. Now every marriage needs a wedding day. Every marriage needs a moment where it begins, where the bride and the groom receive one another and make that a covenant relationship. It has to have a beginning. Your relationship with Christ had to have a place where you received him and he received you. You had to be born again. But listen to me. Your Christian life will not grow simply because you had a day you got saved. A marriage will not grow just because it had a wedding day. Can you imagine? If you, if those of you that are married, men, you come home from work and the house is clean, the clothes are washed, everything's iron for the next day, there's a meal on the table, everything's in order in the home, but you come home to a clean house and you sit in that house by yourself. And you sit at the table and you eat that meal that was prepared for you by yourself. And you go to that clean room and you look at those clothes and you get ready for work in those iron clothes the next day, all by yourself. Because you have a spouse who served you but did not fellowship with you. And I will tell you this: there's not a person in this room that wouldn't exchange one for the other. I would much rather you not have my meal, but I can sit at the table and talk to you. I'd much rather not have my clothes iron and be able to sit in the couch and talk with you. Look, look, what makes me what makes me grow in my love for my wife is not her service with me, it's our fellowship together. Fellowship makes the love grow. Look, I want to tell you something. There are many believers right now, you had a wedding day where you married Jesus, you got saved, and you received him, but you've not grown in your love because you don't fellowship with him. I mean, when's the last time that you were alone with the Lord, spending time with him in his word? And just on your face before him in prayer, in worship, in adoration, and you had a sense of the presence of Christ in your life. I mean, do you really fellowship with the Lord? I believe that I believe that our relationship with Christ must be rooted and grounded in love, and that we're not living for him just out of routine service and and uh mechanical mechanical obedience, but that we are delighting in him and fellowshipping with him. I believe that we are in danger of becoming like the Church of Ephesus. The Church of Ephesus was a church that was saved, it was a church that had their theology right, it was a church that had standards and convictions, and they had a they had a form of holiness, it was a church that had strong understanding of who false teachers and false prophets were, and they would call out the error of people who were preaching wrongly. They had everything right. They had bustling classes, they had a busy schedule, their calendars were full, they were laboring, they were serving, the place was packed out, the church, the church was all together in this place where they were all serving the Lord, but then God showed up and said, I've seen all that you're doing, but I have something against you. Nevertheless, he said, I have somewhat against you. You have left your first love. He didn't say you lost your first love, you left your first love. What happened? You got you got busy doing other things, you got busy walking with other people, you got busy pursuing other things than pursuing Christ. And I will tell you, we are in danger of having a rock solid relationship begin to diminish when we do not love Christ as we should. We are to love him supremely. Hey, let me ask you a question today. Are you busy for Christ while neglecting Christ Himself? Have you left your first love? You say, well, I've got my theology straight. Okay. Well, let me tell you what your theology needs. It needs some neology. You need to get on your knees and you need to spend time with Jesus. And uh he'll help you. Number two, a rock solid relationship is not only marked by love, listen, it's maintained by faith. Peter repeats himself. He said, Whom having not seen you love. Then he repeats himself, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing. Hey, he repeats himself. You haven't seen him, yet you believe in him. You haven't seen him, but you love him. And he said, uh, you did believe, but you're yet believing. And I'm gonna tell you, uh listen, this is one of the reasons why many people get saved and they start off like a rocket for Jesus, but pretty soon they and they put her out. Why? And uh they fall away. Why? They never built that strong relationship of faith and dependence on God. I'm talking about, listen, there was a time we did believe, but are you yet believing? This is what John had in mind in 1 John chapter 5 when he said, These things are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Why? That you may believe on the name of the Son of God. You see, Christian, we never outgrow living by faith. The whole Christian life is a life of faith. We do not walk by sight, but by faith. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Faith is not a denial of reality, faith is trust in someone in eternity. Um, I've never seen the Lord's nail prints like Thomas did. I've never seen him, but let me tell you, I believe him. And and Jesus told Thomas, Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe. See, faith, listen, deepens relationships. Every meaningful relationship you have in your life requires trust. You will never have an intimate relationship with anyone if you do not have full confidence in that person. And let me tell you what intimacy is. Intimacy comes from a Latin word which means the innermost. You will never really open up your innermost person to somebody and share with them your dreams, your fears, the things that are vulnerable in your life. You'll never truly open up your real self and commit that to somebody that you don't have confidence in. Most of us are so shallow. We meet people and we just talk about the weather. Hey, how you doing? Boy, it's hot out here. Yeah, it is. And we never get beyond some of these regular things in our even in our marriages. We never get beyond just normal conversation. How was your day? Good, uh, how was work? It was good, how was your boss? It was good. Uh, what did you do today? Where did you stop today? What did you buy today? These are the things that we need to buy. And listen, very few marriages ever get down into deep layers of communication to where you are opening your soul, the innermost part of your life, and laying it bare. And I'll tell you why. Because some of us lack confidence in one another. We do not have trust. Look, you'll never build a rock-solid relationship with anybody that you don't trust. In all my years of pastoring and marriage counseling, I cannot tell you how many couples I have counseled who loved each other. He loved her, she loved him, but they had eroded trust. That brick wall right there is a representation of marriage, and every brick is a brick of love. Now, listen, you can take a whole brick wall, you can stack all those bricks one on top of each other, but it would just take a small push to knock that all down. No matter how strong the bricks are, no matter how vibrant and tough those bricks are, they would easily come tumbling down with the slightest touch. Why? Because there's no mortar. And if those bricks are love, the mortar is trust. It is the trust that holds that love together. Look, you can love the Lord, but do you trust him? Do you wake up every day in full dependence on his word? Do you wake up every day in full dependence on his promise? You know how I know that many people don't trust him? Let me tell you the number one indicator of whether you trust the Lord or not. How's your prayer life? You know why we don't pray? We don't trust him. We don't need him. We look to everything else. This last week I was preaching in the mountains of North Carolina at the Wilds Christian camp, and on Wednesday I went to lunch and I sat my phone down and I had lunch with the people and I picked up my phone to go back to my cabin. I was gonna make some phone calls and do some counseling work here, and I went back to my room and I looked at my phone, and my phone was doing these weird lines. These weird lines were just kind of shooting all over the screen of my phone, and I tried to turn it off, but nothing would show up on the display, and my phone had just crashed. It just burned. I don't know what happened. I didn't drop it, it wasn't wet, it just went kapoo. And I thought, man, I need to go to town and get this fixed. So I went to one of the guys at the camp. I said, Hey, listen, my phone just burned up. I've got to have a phone. I gotta get to I gotta get to town and get my phone fixed. And he said, Yeah, take my car. I'm in the mountains of North Carolina. I don't know where I'm at. Nobody has a Rand McNally anymore. None of you even know what a Rand McNally is. How many of you remember Rand McNally? Okay, some of you remember. Uh some of you remember Rand McNally. I didn't so I I went back to the guy and I said, I don't know how to get to town. He started giving me directions. I'm gonna tell you, Southerners give directions in a really different way. He said, You're gonna go on out of here, you're gonna you're just gonna go on down and just bear to your left over. And he said, When you get on down there, you're gonna see a road there that's gonna have a blue arrow pointing at it. I said, Error? Like they misspelled something on the sign. No, a blue arrow. Like an arrow. Like, you know, you shoot a deer with an arrow. Oh, an arrow. Yeah, an arrow. He's gonna have a blue arrow on it. I said, okay, don't turn there. Well, wait a minute. I got that blue arrow stuck in my head, and I'm not turning there. I mean, he's giving me directions about I gotta go a piece. I don't even know how far a piece is. Look, I took off looking at these directions, and I know two or three times I had no idea where I was, and I could hear banjo music, and I was not happy. But I want to tell you something, it revealed in me. It revealed in me that I have put a lot of confidence and security in Siri. Hey, listen, you know, you know the Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Siri. I mean, in all your ways, acknowledge. Chat GPT. In all your ways, acknowledge Grok. In all your ways, acknowledge AI. No, in all your ways, acknowledge him. And he shall direct your paths. Look, I'm thankful for technology, but I want to tell you something. When the lights go out, you better have a rock solid relationship with Jesus Christ, and you better have a faith that depends on the promises and the person of Jesus Christ. You better know that you know him and rest in him. Some of us are resting in our finances, our possessions, our circumstances, and money. But when the lights go out and the pain starts and the trouble starts, you better know that you can trust in him. There's a little boy named Daniel. Daniel was two years old, he had leukemia. His mother Deborah took him up to Massachusetts, to the General Hospital in Boston to see a renowned doctor, Dr. John Truman. He specialized in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases. When Truman Dr. Truman examined him, his prognosis was very difficult. It was devastating. He said that he had about a 50% chance to live, just this little two-year-old boy. He went to countless clinics, blood tests, intravenous drugs, all the fear and the pain. And Deborah the mother, her ordeal was almost as bad as the child's because she just had to stand by and watch him suffer. But he never cried in the waiting room. That little boy had something about him, but he never cried in the waiting room. And when his name was called, he would always jump up and hustle ahead of his mother into the back. And he would go with a smile back into the back where he knew they were going to poke on him and prod on him and prick him and all those things. When he was three years old, he had to go in to have a spinal tap, and that's a painful procedure for anybody of any age, but at three, it was difficult. His mother sat down with him in front of Dr. Truman and she said, Now, remember, David, this is gonna hurt. And when it hurts, I want you to remember it only hurts because Dr. Truman loves you and he's trying to help you. They began the procedure and it was horrendous. Three nurses had to literally lay on top of that little boy to hold him down. The pain was so difficult. He was yelling and sobbing and struggling. When it was almost over, that tiny little boy, David, soaked in sweat, tears running down his face, looked back to the doctor at three years old and he said, Thank you, Dr. Truman, for my hurting. Thank you, Dr. Truman, for my hurting. At church, let me tell you something. There's gonna be some times the Lord's gonna put you in some places that you're not gonna understand. And if you're gonna have a rock solid relationship with Christ, it's gonna have to be marked by faith. It's gonna have to be maintained by faith. You're gonna have to trust him when you do not understand. Number three, and lastly, notice what he says. Whom having not seen you love, in whom though now you see him not yet believing. Watch this. You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receive in the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. What does this mean? It means a rock-solid relationship with Christ is marked by love, it is maintained by faith. Now, watch this. And a rock-solid relationship with Christ makes fruit. It makes fruit. Now remember the context of the book. When we read that verse, man, if you were to just read verse 8 and 9, you would think he was talking to me and you. You would think he was talking to first world Christians who have our first world problems like our phones break. Or first world problems. You know, the restaurant was closed. There's only a thousand other ones still open. I mean, he's not talking to first world Christians with their problems, he's talking to first century Christians in their persecutions, their sufferings, their heaviness and grief. And in the context of that, he says to them, you've never seen Jesus but you love him. You've never seen him yet you believe him. And look at you. In these trials and these fiery temptations, you're rejoicing with joy unspeakable. This is the fruit of an unshakable relationship with Christ. What are the fruits of that? Here's the fruits of a relationship with Christ. Listen, I cannot see your relationship. You cannot look into my time with Christ. You didn't see in my personal life when I was with the Lord. And I didn't see in your life if you're fellowshiping with the Lord. But I'll tell you where you see it, you see it in the fruit. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them. Don't take my word for my relationship with Christ. Just examine my life. Look at the fruit of my life. The fruit of a Christian that is demonstrated and bears out of our relationship with Christ. What is this fruit? Number one, it is joy unspeakable. The fruit of a Christian that is in strong relationship with Christ has unspeakable joy. What does that mean? It means joy beyond words. It means joy that cannot be expressed in any human language. There are no words to articulate the joy that a Christian experiences with Jesus Christ. It is only Jesus that can give comfort in times of overwhelming grief. It is only Jesus that can give peace in a very violent storm. It is only Jesus that can give confidence to people who are walking in uncertain times. It is only Jesus who can give you a song when you get into prison. You've been beaten, you've been put in chains, and now the Apostle Paul is singing in the prison house. Why? He has a joy unspeakable. It is joy that shows up in places that the world cannot express and they cannot explain. Jesus himself had joy while he endured the cross. Going through the great agony of being spat upon and his beard plucked out and his face battered and his head crowned with thorns and his back scourged to ribbons and nails in his hands and his feet, hung naked before the world. Yet Jesus had joy in that. See, the world can't explain it because the world doesn't know the source of it. They've never drank at the source of joy. And the source of joy is Jesus. Listen, you know what the world wants? The world chases happiness. Happiness only comes from happenings. We're only happy when everything around me is happening the way I want it to. But that's not what joy is. Joy is an inside job. Joy is there when the lights go out, joy is there when the fire's turned up. Joy is there when the pain starts. Joy is deep in the heart. And it only comes from Jesus. That's the fruit of a relationship with Christ is that you can have unspeakable joy. Number two, you can have, you can be full of glory. What does that mean? See, the Holy Spirit has already brought the foretaste of God's glory into your life. He is the Holy Spirit of God, and he has come into you to bring glory. I can't remember the name of the pastor. I want to say G. Campbell Morgan, but I think I'm wrong. But one of the old-time preachers, I think it was G. Campbell Morgan, but he said, When I got saved, it was as if I had swallowed the sun. Man, what a way to say that. When I got saved, it was like I had swallowed the sun. I mean, I just had this light that filled my soul. That's the Holy Spirit coming in. And all of a sudden, the light of God's glory comes into a believer's life, and he's got glory in him. I've told you many times before that Jesus did not save you just to get you into heaven. He saved you to get heaven into you. He wants you to have the glory of God in you. Now, this word glory here means that it is glory to be full of glory means to be imparted with glory. God shares his glory with you. God gives his glory to you. But not only that, it is to render, the glory of God renders excellence in your life. It is what, it is the outworking of your life that brings glory to God. It shows the excellence of God in you and through you. Look, that's the glory of God. The fullness of God's glory in the life of a believer is that whatever you're going through, there is joy and there is glory to God in it. That God is glorified. This is what Peter had in mind in chapter 4 when he wrote these words. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. Why? For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Listen, when a believer goes into the fiery trials, the Nebuchadnezzar is calling you a rebel, and he throws you into the fire. He says, Oh, these people who believe in God, they're always causing trouble. They never bow to my idols, they never do what I want them to do. They're a bunch of troublemakers, they're against everything. They don't just go with the flow in this world. They're just opposed to all the things that we want to do. We've built these idols and they won't worship them. So what does Neb do? Neb throws you in the fire. And on your on his part, you're evil spoken of. But then Jesus shows up in that fire, and on your part, he is glorified. Listen, this is the fruit of a close relationship with Christ. Your life demonstrates the love of God and it demonstrates faith in God, and by that it is full of joy and the glory of God. Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men that when they see your good works, they shall glorify your Father which is in heaven. That's a fruit of a relationship with Christ, that your life brings glory to God. And then lastly, a fruit is having assurance. A fruit of a relationship with Jesus Christ is having assurance, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Now, what does that mean? Peter has already talked about how we were saved, we were begotten again. He talks about how we are being saved, we are sanctified by the Spirit. We're going through our process of sanctification. But we will be saved. It's reserved in heaven for you who are kept. So there's a wonderful eternal security and salvation. I was saved, I am saved, I will be saved. But when I receive that faith, when I receive that salvation, what does that mean? That word receive means to obtain it, to hold on to it. So look, the salvation that Peter explained earlier was that God takes hold of me. I am kept by the power of God through faith. Saving faith means that God takes hold of me. But receiving that faith, receiving that salvation is me taking hold of what God has taken hold of me for. Did you understand that? God has taken hold of me. And by faith I've taken a hold of him. And now I have what I've been promised to be have to have in salvation. I have assurance. I am now everything that Christ has purchased me to be. My salvation is secure because Christ is secure. So when I go through trials, instead of coming apart, I have unspeakable joy. Instead of going dark, I have glory in my life. And I receive, I obtain the things that have been promised to me. It's now mine to enjoy today. That means because I'm saved, I can go to this word and I can take the promises of God and I can stand on them. And they're sure. They're sure. Now look, I'm telling you today, I'm preaching to people in this room. You've been saved for many years, but some of you have never grown in your fellowship with Christ. You've never grown in your relationship with Jesus. You may go to church, but you're not growing in Christ. Your faith is not developed. You've not grown in your dependence on God, and you've not taken hold of the possessions that He has given you. We're like the Israelites. God gave us the land and we went in and didn't take it. Some of us have a great salvation, but we're neglecting it. We need to have assurance. That's why Paul said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Look, I get up in the morning and I go spend my time with the Lord and I open his word and I just can walk in the assurance that I am who he says I am. I have what he says I have. If he says I have victory, then I have victory. If he says that I can resist the evil one, I can resist the evil one. If he says that I can walk in faith and glory and that God can meet my needs day by day, I take him at his word and we do it. Now listen, I'm going to close with this and mark this down. If you're going to experience in life trials and testings, then you better be unshakable in your relationship with Christ. So how do you do that? Grow in your love with Jesus every day. You young men in this room, I wish to God we'd have some young men that were men enough to get up every day and walk with God. I wish we had some young men in this room that get off of social media for a while and get off the video games for a while and learn to cultivate a walk with God and get in this book and know the mind of God. Grow in it every day. Grow in your love for Christ daily. Trust him, even when you can't see him. And then protect your joy. If you're gonna have a relationship with Christ, protect your joy. Do not let your heart be riddled with resentment and bitterness. Don't let your heart become full of fear and fretfulness. No, no, no, no. Protect your joy. Don't let your life be dominated by anxiety. Don't let your joy be dominated, your life be dominated by fear. God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. Listen, church, I want to tell you something. One of the things that I read, I read 1 Peter over and over again. I read the Apostle Paul, and I see these believers suffering. I see these believers going through persecution. I see these believers going through trials. And you know what I see over and over again in the Old Testament or in the New Testament? But ye rejoice, wherein you greatly rejoice. That you have joy unspeakable. Rejoice evermore. I say again, rejoice. And I see the New Testament believers singing their way to heaven. And I look at today's group of Christians and I see a bunch of people who look like they got baptized in pickle juice. And I think, where is the joy of the Lord? You know what the world needs to see? They need to see some Christians who know him and are glad about it. And just have the joy of the Lord. Protect your joy. God forbid that we be Christians full of resentment and bitterness and fear and anxiety and worry and we're walking around all the time. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? I hope, I hope the hope everything works out. Listen, everything's already worked out. I read the back of the book, we win. We don't win, he wins. We just happen to be there. Remember when you're going through trials and tribulation, where your story ends. It ends in eternity. You're gonna go to heaven one day. And this earth, everything will fade away. And you will walk into, hey, you'll walk into a rock solid relationship. And one day, look listen, one day your eyes will see him who you've already loved. One day your eyes will fall on him in whom you've already believed. What a joy that's gonna be, Lord Jesus.