SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: Lighthouse believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let me set this up if you would and listen carefully.
SPEAKER_01: David was allowed by God a monumental task in his later years.
SPEAKER_01: In his former years as the king, he did a lot of conquering and causing enemies to be submitted by the power of God, the Amorites and all the Hivites and the different, if you would, enemies around.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea was that so Solomon, his son, would have peace and rest, and God wanted to conquer.
SPEAKER_01: One of the last large vision tasks he received by the Lord was to build an house for God.
SPEAKER_01: He went to Nathan, a prophet, who he was very familiar with, and Nathan was always one to tell David the truth of what God was saying to Nathan to transfer to David.
SPEAKER_01: And he went to Nathan and they were sitting and he said, You know, I know that the ark, the mercy seat, the depicted throne of God on the earth dwelleth in curtains.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the tabernacle, speaking of the mobile, if you would, uh place that God had had Moses built.
SPEAKER_01: And David said, I know he's dwelling in curtains, and here I am living in a house made with cedar, and I have mine own house, and God is dwelling in curtains, and I want to do something about that on earth.
SPEAKER_01: And Nathan said, Do all that is in thine heart.
SPEAKER_01: And that day they agreed, but that night God showed up to Nathan.
SPEAKER_01: You're holding your place in 1 Chronicles chapter 22.
SPEAKER_01: God shows up to Nathan and He says to Nathan, this, go and tell my David, my servant, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me and house to dwell in.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say there wasn't going to be a temple.
SPEAKER_01: He just said, You, David, don't get to build it because you've been involved in so many wars.
SPEAKER_01: You've been involved in so much conflict.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to have your family, the son that I choose coming into the next generation, he'll build it.
SPEAKER_01: It was something for Solomon to do.
SPEAKER_01: But may I say, God allowed David to prepare for it.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed David to have the vision for it.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed David to blueprint it.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed David to cut stones for it, massive stones and extremely expensive stones and timber, gold, silver, brass, workmen.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everything was laid out, and David spent years preparing for this magnificent work because David said it must be extremely magnificent.
SPEAKER_01: That's Bible terms.
SPEAKER_01: He said, We want to honor God.
SPEAKER_01: We know we can't make heaven on earth, but we can do better than curtains.
SPEAKER_01: Now that wasn't said that Moses did wrong, but David had it in his heart to honor God even more.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, I don't want to say more than Moses, because I got to tell you, a man's face shining is about as close to God as you can get.
SPEAKER_01: And Moses did that and had that, but David wanted so much worship and praise and honor.
SPEAKER_01: And so he decided, if you would, that through God's permission, that he would envision a great temple.
SPEAKER_01: And the preparation took years and years and years and so much labor and effort.
SPEAKER_01: And then, may I say to you, Solomon was going to build that, and God was pleased and filled that temple with his glory as he did the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to see a statement in 1 Chronicles, chapter number 22, please.
SPEAKER_01: And this applies to us today.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Chronicles 22, notice verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Now behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on down to say the magnitude of the vision.
SPEAKER_01: You can read it there.
SPEAKER_01: The huge amount of silver and gold and timber and all the things that he did to prepare, the workmen and everything.
SPEAKER_01: But please listen, I want you to focus on in my trouble.
SPEAKER_01: I have prepared for the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed me a task.
SPEAKER_01: God allowed me a vision.
SPEAKER_01: And in the middle of my task that I was doing, I had trouble.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, when we do something for God, or do something in the way of a vision, or do something that He puts in our hearts and our minds, whether it be for our family or education or business or ministry, anything that pertains to the Lord, sometimes, in fact, many times, may I say most times, there's going to be trouble.
SPEAKER_01: You say, no, no, no, it's a bed of roses.
SPEAKER_01: No, you write, you read the songwriters, they knew that associated with doing something from God and for God, there was going to be this concept of trouble and opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you uh if you're a little unfamiliar with your Bible, David had trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Man, did he have trouble.
SPEAKER_01: The enemies without that were still threatening the security.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, David had problems within his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: His closest counselors turned on him.
SPEAKER_01: David had problems within his own family and his extended family.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know names such as uh Joab and Asahel and Amesa or Amesa.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you realize they were all nephews of David.
SPEAKER_01: Joab was born to one sister of David.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Amesa or Amazah was born to another sister, and Joab killed both of those men for power struggles.
SPEAKER_01: It was nephew killing nephew.
SPEAKER_01: It was turmoil within the family.
SPEAKER_01: It was Absalom turning on David and trying to steal the hearts of the kingdom, one of David's sons.
SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying to you, brethren, is David had trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble like maybe some of us have never faced.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have family members killing each other.
SPEAKER_01: At the most, they might gossip about each other.
SPEAKER_01: At the most they might backbite each other a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: But killing one another?
SPEAKER_01: Going to a funeral where the person who killed the other person is there?
SPEAKER_01: My point being is, brother, David had trouble.
SPEAKER_01: But what do we focus on?
SPEAKER_01: The trouble or the task?
SPEAKER_01: What do we focus on?
SPEAKER_01: The problems or the vision?
SPEAKER_01: Well, sometimes you have to focus and take care of the problems and work on the problems, but it can't not overshadow the vision.
SPEAKER_01: It cannot stop the vision.
SPEAKER_01: It might hinder it a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: It might cause us some problems.
SPEAKER_01: It might slow us down a little bit, but please look up here.
SPEAKER_01: When God gives us a task, we have to look and say, what a privilege the Almighty God lets us, allows us to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter how big the task.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter how small the task.
SPEAKER_01: If it came from God, it's a large task.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me today?
SPEAKER_01: If God burden you to do something for Him, don't be surprised when things get in the way.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised when opposition comes up.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised when unusual things to oppose begin to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Because all through the Bible, that is a pattern.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about you and your family.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about you and your education.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about you and your business.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about you at work.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about being involved in something where people are getting saved at church or a leadership conference is coming, and all kinds of things start to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me today?
SPEAKER_01: The idea, brethren, is trouble may come.
SPEAKER_01: Moses.
SPEAKER_01: Moses was told, hey, the burning bush, I want you to go in and tell Pharaoh to let my people go.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when he went, there were some miracles involved initially, and then Pharaoh took away the straw that was required to make brick, and all the Jewish people turned against Moses.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Moses even questioned it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to ask you to turn there for the sake of time, but listen to Moses' questioning to God.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people?
SPEAKER_01: And then Moses says, This, why is it that thou hast sent me?
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever have in the midst of what you believed God was going to have you do when it was going not well, where you thought, I wonder if I really heard from God?
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if I just made that up.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if God's really in that.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if He really sent me to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say to you, sending is not just being a preacher at a pulpit, sending is family, relationships, business, education, military, whatever it is, it's God sending us on a pilgrimage in our life, on a journey to do something that glorifies Him.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be surprised once in a while if you go, why has thou sent me?
SPEAKER_01: Are you really in this?
SPEAKER_01: Or did I just make it up?
SPEAKER_01: I thought you spoke to me.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you did.
SPEAKER_01: And you have doubts, and about that time the Holy Ghost may say, Focus.
SPEAKER_01: Focus.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the trouble overcome the task.
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't understand it, don't stop.
SPEAKER_01: Focus.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not what you thought it would be.
SPEAKER_01: It's not how you imagined it in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we dream, we usually don't dream, including all the negative.
SPEAKER_01: Now I understand we have weird dreams sometimes that are negative.
SPEAKER_01: But my point being is when we envision, we don't say, boy, I can't wait to get to the trouble.
SPEAKER_01: We envision in a positive way and think, I can't wait to accomplish that by God.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to do that by God.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to experience that by God.
SPEAKER_01: It could be family, business, ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to see God glorified in that.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't show us all the negatives.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord, he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes it's like, did you really send me?
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, Moses carried on.
SPEAKER_01: I think of Naomi and Ruth, if you know the story.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, they they had vision once they left, but they were in great grief because they were both widows.
SPEAKER_01: And unusually the husbands died, very unusually.
SPEAKER_01: And they come back to Naomi's home, Ruth the motivates, and they have to face some problems and trouble.
SPEAKER_01: But please listen.
SPEAKER_01: The vision that started to unfold for Ruth to tell, if you would, uh, Naomi being told by Ruth who she might marry, please listen.
SPEAKER_01: What was the opposition?
SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of cultural hoops to jump through.
SPEAKER_01: Boaz had to go make this right and take care of this and make sure that was right, and over here, let alone marrying a Moabite woman.
SPEAKER_01: And it had to all go just according to Jewish culture and traditions, and there were some problems all along the way.
SPEAKER_01: And please, listening, don't think the town wasn't talking.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, may I say something to you?
SPEAKER_01: I know Facebook is wonderful, and tweet and Twitter and all that is wonderful, but careful, don't look and listen to it all.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna hear all kinds of opinions that don't really matter.
SPEAKER_01: The main opinion is God's vision.
SPEAKER_01: And don't let the trouble overshadow the task, if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah was sent to build a wall.
SPEAKER_01: He was just the king's cupbearer, sent to build a wall, and became the governor of the land.
SPEAKER_01: May I say, while they were building the wall, there came a point in time Sanbalh, Tobiah, and Gishim came at them.
SPEAKER_01: And so Nehemiah said, here's what we're gonna do: strap on your swords.
SPEAKER_01: Leave the sword in the sheath, but if you need it, we have it.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, use your hands with trowel to build the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Use that mortal right.
SPEAKER_01: Keep your sword in because I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: You can't build holding a sword all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Yes or no?
SPEAKER_01: You can't build just constantly being in constant contentions all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I got my sword out.
SPEAKER_01: Look at it.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want to say it says to avoid contentions.
SPEAKER_01: But when they come, contend for the faith.
SPEAKER_01: And they were sent to build a wall.
SPEAKER_01: He said, We'll wear our swords.
SPEAKER_01: Half of us are work and half of us will watch.
SPEAKER_01: And then we'll switch over again.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever you see it, hear the sound of the trumpet, come running to help.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the enemy was threatening and they were going to stop the building of the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble was there, but they stayed focused and completed the task.
SPEAKER_01: Over and over and over and again in the Bible, there was those who faced opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Could I give you, please, a principle?
SPEAKER_01: Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: I say this for myself also, please.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a scripture that many of you are not familiar with, but it needs to be brought up in a timely fashion.
SPEAKER_01: The task or the trouble.
SPEAKER_01: In my trouble, I prepared.
SPEAKER_01: I saw God's vision and I made that vision important.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Notice if you would verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number 3.
SPEAKER_01: Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, please listen, please.
SPEAKER_01: Would you read that with me?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I want the words to come into your ears.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I'll show you in a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
SPEAKER_01: Begin.
SPEAKER_01: Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the idea.
SPEAKER_01: Soldiers, when there's a war, learn to fight on wounded.
SPEAKER_01: They learn to keep going even though they're wounded.
SPEAKER_01: A man or a woman there bleeding says, No, I can continue on.
SPEAKER_01: The task is important.
SPEAKER_01: The principle, the cause is important.
SPEAKER_01: It'll heal, I'll go on.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is you don't leave the war over a headache.
SPEAKER_01: You don't leave the war over a superficial cut.
SPEAKER_01: We're not hirelings.
SPEAKER_01: We don't run from the task, we run to the task.
SPEAKER_01: Character says, by the Holy Ghost, we keep going and we endure hardness.
SPEAKER_01: Endure.
SPEAKER_01: Endure is to uh come up and to continue when the pressure is great in opposition.
SPEAKER_01: Uh endure.
SPEAKER_01: Uh to last, to hold on, to persevere, to continue.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what's what's the concept of hardness?
SPEAKER_01: Uh severe heartache or hardship, emotional or physical, a tragedy, grief, unexpected, if you would, opposition, uh, tremendous sufferings.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, continue on even when the sufferings get tremendous.
SPEAKER_01: Even when there's something that opposes you that you totally unexpected.
SPEAKER_01: May I say, even something that shakes our confidence.
SPEAKER_01: We continue on even though we're not fully confident.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know?
SPEAKER_01: I hope I know.
SPEAKER_01: I believe I know.
SPEAKER_01: By faith I know.
SPEAKER_01: Uh how's your hope?
SPEAKER_01: My hope's pretty good today.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because hope and courage go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_01: And courage is what it helps us to endure hardness and hardships.
SPEAKER_01: People are enduring grief today.
SPEAKER_01: People have things going on today, but the task of serving our Lord is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Would you say amen?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that uh I I'm gonna read just a couple of little scriptures to you, and you don't turn there yet if you would.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Paul said that through much tribulation we must enter into.
SPEAKER_01: Paul was called to do mission work.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, uh he said, through much tribulation, tribulation, severe adversity, things that come up.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, may I say to you, we ought to be comforting each other, not tearing each other down.
SPEAKER_01: We've got enough in the world against us that people, we don't need people in our foxholes to be against us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need people on our own side in our own platoon against us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need headquarters company against us.
SPEAKER_01: We already got enough things against us.
SPEAKER_01: Brother, we we need to encourage one another in the foxhole and get along.
SPEAKER_01: My wife and I are in the same foxhole together.
SPEAKER_01: What's this thing about a foxhole?
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's something you dig.
SPEAKER_01: And when you're tired, you dig it shallow.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're supposed to.
SPEAKER_01: And when the mortar rounds coming in, you're waking your buddy up, said, Let's dig deeper.
SPEAKER_01: Let's dig deeper.
SPEAKER_01: When the shrapnel starts to fly, all of a sudden your hole's not deep enough.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's protection.
SPEAKER_01: And you're in there together.
SPEAKER_01: And I gotta tell you, I I've lived in foxholes with guys when we're in training, you know, type of thing.
SPEAKER_01: Before I was in special forces, in special forces, we didn't dig foxholes.
SPEAKER_01: But in the military, in the in the regular FMF, in the Rather Grunt Marine Corps, we we we slept and lived in foxholes.
SPEAKER_01: I remember living in a foxhole in the Philippines in Mindanawa with a helicopter down, and it was raining and raining and raining, and it's monsoon, and our foxhole is filling up with water.
SPEAKER_01: But we're required to stay in the foxhole.
SPEAKER_01: And so you're lifting your, you know, you're putting your feet on your putting your helmet down there, and you're putting your little boots on your helmet, and it's just rising.
SPEAKER_01: And some guys they happen to build their foxhole in a low spot, and it's just, and and these guys are sitting in there, and here's the way you do a foxhole, stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to give you, but you dig it down, and then you make a little uh a place down there where grenades can go into, where you can shove grenades into so they explode and you don't get exploded upon.
SPEAKER_01: And then you got a little setee or a seat in there that you build.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you dig down and you leave a little seat, and then you dig down, you make what's called a place for the grenades to go into.
SPEAKER_01: See, you don't all know all this stuff, but these things are important.
SPEAKER_01: So these guys are sitting on their little setee, and the water's up to their belt line.
SPEAKER_01: And I come by one night looking at them, and they're just sitting in there, and I said, How are you guys doing?
SPEAKER_01: And they say, Well, sir, we're a little wet.
SPEAKER_01: I put my little red light shining down, but they were in water up to their up to their up to their belt line.
SPEAKER_01: But they were sitting there because they were supposed to.
SPEAKER_01: And you're in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: I just said how long are we gonna be here?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you say I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And you walk away and respect them.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're staying where they're supposed to stay.
SPEAKER_01: They're persevering.
SPEAKER_01: They're staying fast.
SPEAKER_01: Keeping their position.
SPEAKER_01: Especially when you don't even know what you're guarding.
SPEAKER_01: We set this perimeter up around this helicopter.
SPEAKER_01: It was an advanced helicopter that we didn't want anything taken from.
SPEAKER_01: And they had to bring another helicopter in to get it out because when it came out of the sky, it sunk.
SPEAKER_01: And it was sunk down.
SPEAKER_01: They had to bring another helicopter in to get it.
SPEAKER_01: So they sent us in to guard it.
SPEAKER_01: And while we are guarding it, there's a couple of uh uh uh you know insurgents taking pot shots at us.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: They're terrible shots, but you gotta stay low enough just in case they get lucky.
SPEAKER_01: Are you still with me or not?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, normally the rounds would go over our heads, you know, because they didn't have night vision and all that kind of stuff or daytime.
SPEAKER_01: And and you say, well, why didn't you shoot back?
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: Politics.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get into a war in the Philippines when it's part of your, if you would, terror uh uh agreements.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't even acknowledge that there is stuff going on.
SPEAKER_01: What are you saying?
SPEAKER_01: Trouble.
SPEAKER_01: What's the trouble?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's politics.
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
SPEAKER_01: But you stay at it.
SPEAKER_01: Brethren, we are not gonna stop doing what God would have us to do because of where we're at in our society, we can plug away, obey the laws of the land, and keep on going, even though there's stuff swirling around us, but don't focus on that, focus on the task.
SPEAKER_01: That God knew all that when he gave us the task.
SPEAKER_01: God knew the straw would be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: God knew there would be tribulations.
SPEAKER_01: One day Paul was in a storm, and anytime a storm has a name on it, it's a big storm.
SPEAKER_01: Katrina.
SPEAKER_01: If you name a storm, it's a big storm.
SPEAKER_01: This one was named Euroklodon.
SPEAKER_01: Huge storm being out on the ocean.
SPEAKER_01: Well, one day the angel of the Lord showed up and said, Fear not, Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's good.
SPEAKER_01: You're heading for a certain island, and the ship is going to break up, but everybody that's sailing with you will live.
SPEAKER_01: Well is that in the midst of the trouble, God sent a messenger to encourage the one in it.
SPEAKER_01: And he stood up and said to everybody, everybody, be of good cheer.
SPEAKER_01: God spoke to me.
SPEAKER_01: And you said they just all listened.
SPEAKER_01: No, they didn't.
SPEAKER_01: He was the prisoner on the ship.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't listen right away, but they listened later.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, it happened just as God said it was going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: In the midst of the trouble, God gave Paul a word.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What's a word?
SPEAKER_01: A word from the Lord goes a long way.
SPEAKER_01: A word in a message, a word in our Bible reading, a word from a comforting comrade, somebody that's a soldier with you that says you're doing great.
SPEAKER_01: Hang in there.
SPEAKER_01: Keep on going.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: May I say to you, we need each other's encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_01: The idea was even in the midst of that storm in Euroklodon, Paul talked about being in perils.
SPEAKER_01: What's a apparel?
SPEAKER_01: In great dangers, apparel, P-E-R-I-L, and risk.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Please listen.
SPEAKER_01: In perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils, danger, in great jeopardy by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils amongst false brethren.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You know what I have?
SPEAKER_01: I have trouble all around me.
SPEAKER_01: But he endured.
SPEAKER_01: And he kept going.
SPEAKER_01: And brethren, these aren't just little stories that we read and go, well, that's a nice story.
SPEAKER_01: These are stories that are inspired, that we're to take strength from.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, help me to endure hardness.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be, by your grace, a good soldier.
SPEAKER_01: I want to warfare.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to get entangled with things I shouldn't be entangled with.
SPEAKER_01: I want to focus on the task.
SPEAKER_01: Because the task that you had given me, even though I'm not building a great wall, I'm raising this son, or I'm raising this daughter, or I'm having a marriage, or I'm being a grandpa or grandma, or I'm serving in the ministry, or I'm an usher, or I'm involved cleaning during the conference.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you say, well, that's not a big task.
SPEAKER_01: If God has given it to us, it's a huge task.
SPEAKER_01: Every task is important.
SPEAKER_01: Witnessing is important.
SPEAKER_01: Giving out offerings are important.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, these little things where the big purse comes out.
SPEAKER_01: I love it every year, the big purse comes out.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you like it?
SPEAKER_01: Because I know ladies are gonna feel special.
SPEAKER_01: This is a true story.
SPEAKER_01: Six months ago, I'm preaching back east somewhere, shaking hands with one of the husbands.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, his wife was right there.
SPEAKER_01: I looked at her, I looked over, and she had her purse on her little, however, ladies do that.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, That purse looks familiar.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I got it from your ladies, Pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I said, It looks nice.
SPEAKER_01: She says, I love it.
SPEAKER_01: She says it holds a lot.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the size of this one.
SPEAKER_01: I walked away thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01: She was encouraged.
SPEAKER_01: If we can give them something that holds a lot, praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is little things.
SPEAKER_01: And then Paul had this mindset, this trouble.
SPEAKER_01: He said, This the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Sometimes you know what trouble does?
SPEAKER_01: It propels us the way we're supposed to go.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble can direct us.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble can alter the course a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Paul said that that which has befallen me, the perils, the trouble.
SPEAKER_01: He said, that's happened rather to the furtherance of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I've learned if God's in it, he can use trouble to benefit him.
SPEAKER_01: He can use trouble to benefit the direction and what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: And may I say, God often uses trouble to glorify himself.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Trouble weakens us where we're dependent upon him.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble weakens us where we're dependent upon him.
SPEAKER_01: One more scripture and we're finished.
SPEAKER_01: You're enduring.
SPEAKER_01: If I let you out three minutes late, are you going to be mad?
SPEAKER_01: Endure hardship.
SPEAKER_01: As a good soldier.
SPEAKER_01: What was your trouble today?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor kept us four more minutes than normal.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me what in Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 20, and we're done.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 20.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to say to you today by God's grace, and I believe it's the message.
SPEAKER_01: The trouble or the task, the trouble during the task, but the task getting accomplished past the trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he says in Acts 20, and please hang on to this, please.
SPEAKER_01: This is Paul who had much trouble, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Please, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Paul said: inspired by God, give me this mindset, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: None of these things move me.
SPEAKER_01: None of these things remove me from the task.
SPEAKER_01: None of these things cause me to not endure.
SPEAKER_01: Enduring is staying at it, to be set, to be steadfast.
SPEAKER_01: None of these things move me.
SPEAKER_01: Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.
SPEAKER_01: And the ministry, there's the task.
SPEAKER_01: The ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Hold it, let me make a statement.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in college, it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: It's what you're doing for God and it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in the military, it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: We always think ministry is giving out the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Ministry is what we're assigned to do.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in marriage, it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in family, it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever I'm not mentioning that you're involved with, it's your ministry.
SPEAKER_01: It's what God's given you to do, and it's important.
SPEAKER_01: And there'll be trouble that face that.
SPEAKER_01: He said, in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said to testify the gospel of grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm not going to be moved away from that, and I want to finish my course with joy.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say this to you, brethren: endure hardness.
SPEAKER_01: I say that to myself.
SPEAKER_01: Please endure hardness, God.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to endure hardness as good soldiers.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: That we may please him who called us.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the trouble would be there before we were sent.
SPEAKER_01: He already knew Moses what he would face.
SPEAKER_01: Naomi and Ruth, he already knew what they would face.
SPEAKER_01: Nehemiah, he already knew what they would face.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, he already knew what he would face.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus Christ, the greatest soldier.
SPEAKER_01: You say, wait a minute, he's not a soldier.
SPEAKER_01: He put himself in the man's body.
SPEAKER_01: Made himself a servant.
SPEAKER_01: Came a soldier.
SPEAKER_01: Endured.
SPEAKER_01: Trouble?
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Satan opposed him personally.
SPEAKER_01: Endured.
SPEAKER_01: Went on through.
SPEAKER_01: Then on the cross, he said a number of things, but one of those things he said was, it is finished.
SPEAKER_01: It is finished.
SPEAKER_01: I hope we can say that at the end of our life.
SPEAKER_01: It is finished.
SPEAKER_01: You've never trusted Christ as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that that finished work will be done today.
SPEAKER_01: Because He's been drawing you for a while.
SPEAKER_01: Please allow Jesus Christ to become your Savior today.
SPEAKER_01: Our heads are bowed.
SPEAKER_01: Just for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're praying for yourself, please.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're praying for someone across the aisle.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're praying for a family member, a relative.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're praying for a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: Please let's pray for one another.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be encouraging to one another.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not let our church family trouble us and trouble each other.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be in the foxhole together.
SPEAKER_01: Doing what we're supposed to be doing.
SPEAKER_01: With an attitude that let's finish this with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619-461-5561.