And I mean it's crazy to think that the 2014 year is about to end and we're about to start 2015. And you know, just kind of reflecting upon what's going on in my family's life, most of you guys already know that in about a little bit over 100 days or so, our family will be moving out to East Asia to permanently do ministry out there.

And so with this kind of move, again, I had never moved to a different country before, and so I'm being exposed to a lot more different kinds of factors and burdens and stresses. And it's pretty interesting. And you have to think about, okay, who's going to take the cars?

Who's going to take the furniture? What are we going to do about all of our clothes and books? And I know some of you guys have asked me about my books. Yes, I might be giving them away for free. Just give you guys a heads up for that. And so there's a lot of adjustments that we have to make.

And on top of that, when we actually get there, there's a lot more adjustments, you know, the language, the culture, the smells, the weather, the pollution. I know, I've heard it all, heard it all, been through it all. And I have to confess that when I take all of those factors all at once, it becomes really overwhelming.

There's days where I wish 2015 would not come, you know, as if I had some sort of cosmic power to prevent time from going forward or whatnot. And so obviously I know that's not the right attitude. I know that's not the right perspective. And so a lot of times it just comes down to two factors.

You know, I need strength and I need courage. And that's why Joshua 1, 1 through 9 stands out to me, because this is a passage that if you want strength and you want courage, if you want conviction for those two things, this is the passage that you need to go to, to study from and to really have that marinate in your heart.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to look at Joshua 1, 1 through 9 this morning. And I just want to emphasize three aspects of what strength and courage truly is. Okay. Three aspects. And so we'll read the text and then and then we'll begin our study.

Starting from Joshua chapter 1, verse 1. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous for you shall cause this people to inherit the lamb that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to come to your word in a full submission, desiring, Lord God, as you have commanded Joshua, to meditate upon your word.

And as we cover this topic of what true strength and courage is, help us, Lord God, to have an open mind and open hearts to hear. Help us, Lord God, that if perhaps we're going through transitions in our lives, especially with the new year coming, to really take hold of what you have commanded your people to, what you have commanded your people to respond to when there are new transitions, to be strong and to be courageous.

And so, God, we ask for your blessing upon this time. In your name we pray. Amen. Alright, so again, we want to emphasize three aspects of strength and courage, at least according to the Bible. And so the first aspect that I want us to look at is strength and courage.

True strength and courage highlights humility. True strength and courage highlights humility. And we find that in the first five verses in Joshua chapter 1. Now, you have to know, you kind of have to take a step back and look at Israel's history at this point. Israel is in the midst of great transitions.

The people themselves are in the midst of transitions, right? If you guys remember that the people that comprised of the nation of Israel in the time of Joshua are not the same people that left Egypt so many years back. There was a shift in Numbers 14 where the first generation of Israelites, they were about to go into the promised land.

They sent in the 12 spies. The 12 spies came back and they gave like this really negative report like, "The land is good. The fruit is good. But the people that are living in this land are really strong and we're going to get destroyed by them." And because of their unbelief and because of their unwillingness to go forward in spite of God's promises to them, God says, "This generation of Israelites will never enter the promised land." And so that led into the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness where within those 40 years, the first generation of Israelites had to pass away.

And so here we have in Joshua, this new generation of Israelites who have experienced what they've seen in the 40 years of wilderness, wandering there. And they're about to enter into this promised land. It's not like these Israelites had training to fight battles or, you know, if they had any kind of military acumen.

But yet they're still commanded to go. But more importantly, I think the greater transition that's taking place here is the leadership. If you guys go back to Deuteronomy chapter 34, I mean, it details Moses' death. And we all know Moses is a central figure in the Old Testament, especially from Exodus to Deuteronomy.

He's the one that led Israel, a young nation, out of the nation of Egypt into Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. It is Moses that led them from Mount Sinai to get to the promised land in Numbers chapter 13. And it's Moses that had to lead the nation of Israel into the wilderness to wander for 40 years.

And so Israel's attachment to Moses was pretty strong. He was the only leader that they've ever known or ever talked to. And yet Moses is dead. And Joshua is the one that's left to take the reins. And so if you look at it from a human perspective, oh yeah, there's a lot of reasons for the nation of Israel and for Joshua to feel very unsettled, uncertain.

These changes, these transitions seem to be coming so quick. And if you look at everything all together, yeah, you might think that Joshua and the nation of Israel are feeling very overwhelmed at this point. And so what is the response? What is the heart motive that Joshua and the nation of Israel is supposed to have during this great transition in their history?

It's humility. And the reason why I say that is because look at Moses in verse 1. "After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord." Verse 2, "Moses, my servant, is dead." God's description of Moses is the key to unlock, unlocking the motivation that Joshua is supposed to have as the new leader of Israel.

Again, while we may get caught up in looking at Moses and thinking that he is this great leader that led thousands of people out of one nation and was their spiritual leader and whatnot, the higher identity or the more prominent identity that we need to ascribe to Moses is that he is the servant of the Lord.

That he is the servant of the Lord. Again, it's emphasized again in verses 13 and 15 of Joshua chapter 1. And again, the image of a servant isn't really positive. You know, a lot of times when you think of a servant, you think of someone who is weak or lacks power and control.

But if you've read your Bible and if you're aware of the scriptures, you know that the image of a servant, especially when it's connected to God, is something that contains a lot of strength and a lot of courage. Right? If you just look at the introduction of every New Testament epistle, right, whether written by Paul or Peter or John, you'll notice that they always introduce themselves as a servant of Christ or the servant of God.

Now, if you take the negative connotation of the word servant and apply it to them, you wouldn't think of Paul, Peter, and John or any other writer of, or any other author of scripture as being weak or lacking a power or control. Right? I mean, Paul himself is someone who is convicted, someone who exudes strength and courage even in the midst of persecution.

And so being a servant is not a bad thing. And I know there's a lot of characteristics that comes with describing who, like what is a servant. But the one characteristic I want us to highlight this morning is the servant's humility. Someone who desires to be humble before their master.

A summarized phrase for humility could go something like this, "Less of me, more of Christ." Yeah, I know. I took that from John the Baptist. You could do that in scripture, you know. "But less of me, more of Christ." A servant of the Lord will exhibit this type of humility, wanting their whole life not to be about themselves, but to make more of their master, to make more of their Lord and Savior.

Again, using Moses as an example here, his whole life was marked by leading. And yet, in Numbers chapter 12 verse 3, it describes Moses being humble, as being very meek out of all the people in the land. A better example would be the better Moses in Jesus. Even Christ himself, he's described as a servant, right?

In the book of Isaiah, there are four servant songs, and all those servant songs describe who Jesus is. Mark chapter 10 verse 45, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Servant, being a servant is not a bad thing.

Being humble before the Lord is not a bad thing. Philippians 2, right? Christ had to humble himself by putting on human flesh in order to redeem mankind. We need to understand that humility plays a role in exhibiting true strength and true courage in the Christian faith. Everything that this world tries to inform us of what is strong and what is courageous is always tainted with a sense of pride and entitlement.

There's always a sense of pride and entitlement whenever this depiction that the world gives of strength and courage comes up. But when we consider the scripture, true strength and courage stems from a heart that desires to be humble, that desires to be weak before the Lord. It's a heart that acknowledges a need for God in your darkest period of life.

It is a heart that cries out to God for assistance in time of need. It begins with a heart of prayer that seeks God and understands that every bit of action in your life needs His grace and mercy. Psalm chapter 69, if you guys would turn there with me.

And if you're to ask me like out on the side, like what are you going through your devos through? I've been going through the Psalms and it's been a really good study and just understanding about, you know, these poems and these Psalms that's praising God. And Psalm 69 sticks out to me for various reasons.

And Psalm 69 is a Psalm written by David. And obviously if you just take a quick glance at the Psalm, David's going through a lot of stuff. Just read the first three verses. He says, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold.

I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out. My throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God." Just reading the first three verses alone kind of informs us that David is going through something really desperate.

He's going through some hard times here. I don't know if you guys ever drowned. I drowned once and it wasn't pleasant. There's no foothold for you to kind of push off, you know, to try to get back to the air. You're just kind of suspended in the water and you just don't know where your help is going to come from.

And so clearly David is going through some intense stress and intense burdens. And you would think that his response to the Lord would be, "Hurry up, God. Can you hurry up and answer my prayer because right now I am desperate for you." But look at verse 13. David writes, "But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness." David's response in verse 13 exudes true strength and courage because he humbles himself before God. He understands that the situation he's in is troublesome. He understands that his prayers are being heard by God.

But only God will answer his prayers in accordance to God's time, according to, as David says, his acceptable time. Instead of trying to pump himself up to overcome his situations, David chooses to humble himself and to yield to the sovereignty of God. That is true strength and courage in the midst of trying times.

And I'm sure as we as individuals continue to grow and experience more in this life, we're going to find that the solutions to our problems and sometimes the obstacles that come are not going to be our willpower or it's not going to be our problem-solving abilities. Rather, the answer is going to come through humbling ourselves before the Lord, seeking Him out in prayer continually.

I remember when I was going to seminary that seminary is tough. There's a lot of studying to do. A lot of the drive itself was killer. When Pastor Peter talks about me, he always says that I'm a workhorse. I just get stuff done. I take pride in that. Because that's kind of how God designed me.

But when I was in seminary, I really felt that that gift that God has given me, this ability to try to get stuff done, this willpower, was not being used in a manner that would glorify God the most. I remember hitting a wall my fourth year in seminary, where I was just utterly, utterly slammed with work.

I just felt like I couldn't stay up as late as I could have. I couldn't put forth the effort that I used to put when I was younger. So I remember I had to confess before God. God, I'm kind of in a funk right now. I think part of the reason why I'm in this funk is because I've grown proud in this gift that you have given to me.

I remember confessing that before God and seeking His forgiveness. I remember ever since that fourth year, I decided to say, "Whatever someone asks me for prayer requests," because we pray for each other at seminary. I think that's a good thing. One of my prayer requests that I would say to them is, "Pray that everything that I do in seminary is an act of worship to God, that it's not just simply about getting stuff done, but to really have that humble perspective that everything matters before Him." That changed everything in seminary.

It really did. Even when Haddon was born and I had to juggle all those things, the last year and a half that I was in seminary was such a testament to His grace and to His mercy in my life. I can't imagine getting through that without relying upon Him, to having that strength draw from God.

We need to understand that true strength and courage is going to come by humbling ourselves before the Lord. The second aspect of true strength and courage is this. True strength and courage derives from believing His promises and His Word. We find that in verses 6 through 8. "Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause these people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." So after God commands Joshua to take Israel into the promised land, God uses this phrase to be strong and courageous twice in verses 6 through 8. The repetition of this phrase implies importance to what God is saying.

And in the Hebrew, this phrase is actually an imperative. So it's a command. There is no other option for Joshua at this point. He has to be strong and courageous. There is no room for cowardness or fear as he leads Israel into conquest. And thank God that he didn't just simply tell Joshua to be strong and courageous, and then he just leaves Joshua.

And he gives him two sources to draw from in order to be strong and courageous. And the first source that he lists off for Joshua is God's promises. We find that in verse 6. Joshua is to be strong and courageous because God's told him, "Through you, Israel is going to inherit the land." Again, if you've been at Berean for a period of time, you know that the land is pretty significant in Israel's history.

This is, in one sense, already promised to them ever since Abraham in Genesis 12. And so this nation of Israel has been waiting for several centuries, waiting to attain this land once and for all. And in the midst of waiting, they've endured slavery. They've endured wandering in the wilderness.

In the midst of waiting, they were able to experience God's grace and mercy in their lives as they traveled. And so when there's a promise made by God, and he's making that pretty clear in verse 6, God is going to keep that promise. And if you go through Scripture, you know that God has an excellent track record of keeping his promises, especially when they're listed out in Scripture.

Just think about Jesus' birth. We just celebrated Christmas a few days ago, right? And I know we're celebrating that it's the birth of Christ, and it's the beginning of God's redemption plan for the lost. But at the basis of his birth is a promise. God promised that Jesus would come in Genesis chapter 3.

God promised that Jesus was going to come in Isaiah chapter 9. And so while we're celebrating his birth, we're also celebrating that, man, God keeps his promises. What he says, it will come. And think about all the promises that hasn't been fulfilled yet, that we look forward to, right?

Think about the promise of the resurrected body, right? I mean, one of these days, you know, we're all going to pass away. And if we're believers in Christ, and we believe that we will be resurrected with new bodies, bodies that won't be tainted by sin, bodies that will last for eternity.

That's a promise to look forward to. I mean, I'm looking forward to looking like, what am I going to look like in my new heavenly body? Am I still going to have this scar on my forehead? You know what I mean? I'm not worried about it, but I ponder that.

What about the promise of salvation being complete, right? If you're a believer in this room right now, you know that you're in the process of sanctification, right? Meaning, you're in the process of being made more like Christ. God reveals sin in your life, and you confess it, and you're repentant over that.

Well, what is it? I mean, he promises us that one day, my salvation will be complete. You will no longer have this sin nature in you. You will no longer have to wrestle with sin. Which leads me to a third promise, no more sin and no more death. I mean, that's the promise for me that I'm looking forward to seeing, right?

No more sin, no more death. No more cancer, no more pain and suffering. No more tears, no more disappointments. That is a promise that God hasn't fulfilled yet, but he will keep that promise in the very end. And when you consider all these promises, and what I presented to you is not the full load.

It's only a scratch. But when you consider these promises, it gives us strength and courage to persevere in our present life. To live out our faith. The second source that God gives Joshua to draw from, to draw true strength and courage from, is his word. And we find that in verses 7 and 8.

And what makes God stand out from all the other false gods in this world is his clarity. He clearly communicates what his desire is and what his will is for his people. Again, in my experience, when I'm given clear instructions in what to do, I can perform that task with much more confidence, right?

I think about this time where Jen was at work, I was at home with Hadden, and I opened the refrigerator for lunch, right? Like lunch for Hadden, not for me. And so I noticed that there was nothing in the fridge for Hadden. And so I'm kind of wondering, hmm, like what's going to happen, you know?

He doesn't like the baby food, so I'm like, I don't want to give him that. So I'm like wondering, what am I supposed to feed him? And so I remember texting Jen, and I say, Jen, there's nothing in the fridge for Hadden. I don't cook? So what are we supposed to do?

And so Jen very graciously gave me instructions. She gave me instructions on how to make this rice porridge that Hadden likes. And now, again, like I have a big fear of the kitchen and cooking in any sense, shape and form. In China, I think I almost burned down our apartment because I mixed some water and grease and fire, and it was not pretty.

So I was kind of afraid, but Jen gave me very detailed instructions on how to make this porridge. And so I followed that instruction to the T. I was just like, okay, get one scoop of rice, put it in the bowl, put it in the pot, let it boil with water for a few minutes, and then pour a little soy sauce and put a little this and that, and just stir it for five or ten minutes.

Wait for it to cool down and then insert a spoon into the porridge and put it into Hadden's mouth. Okay? I followed it to the T, and he ate it all. So I count that as a success. But I use that illustration to tell us, like, when we are given instructions from God, it is clear what we're supposed to do.

And we can perform that with confidence because this is exactly what he wants. Because Joshua had the word of God, he has tremendous confidence in leading Israel into the promised land. Right? If you go a little bit further into Joshua, in Joshua chapter 6 and 7, Joshua is hit with crossroads immediately that tests whether or not Joshua will obey God's commands completely.

In Joshua chapter 6, it's the battle of Jericho, right? And we know this story from Sunday school. The battle of Jericho is where God instructs Israel to walk around the walls of Jericho once every day for six days, and on the seventh day to walk around the walls of Jericho seven times, right?

And at the seventh time, blow their horns, and then the walls are supposed to fall down. If you were a skeptic back then, you probably think, "Is that really going to work?" Well, Joshua had the opportunity to either obey or disobey, and he chose to obey. And look what happened, right?

In Joshua chapter 6, the walls of Jericho falls down and they're able to conquer the city. As it says in chapter 6 verse 27, "So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land." Joshua chapter 7 is another time where he had to face whether to obey or disobey God's law.

In Joshua chapter 7, I titled it "The Sin of Achan." See, after they defeated Jericho, they went to another city called Ai, and it's a lot smaller than Jericho, and yet Israel actually lost that battle. And the reason why they lost that battle was because of sin. Someone sinned.

And so there was this elaborate way of trying to draw out the sinner, and finally Achan, this one man, confessed that, "Yeah, I sinned. I took some gold. I tried to hide it from myself." So Joshua is at a crossroads. Does he show grace? Does he show like, "It's okay.

Just don't do it again, Achan." Or do I just carry this, or do I have to follow God's law, which is to execute his family? And you see in Joshua chapter 7 that no matter how hard the situation is, Joshua obeyed the law. And so we need to understand that God's promises and his word are a tremendous source for strength and courage in the Christian life.

Now, if I could say something, we need to remember that God's promises and his word are inseparable. You can't have one without the other. And I know we're at a Bible-teaching church, and when you talk about Berean outside of Berean, they always say, "Oh, that's a Bible-teaching church," right?

But the danger that we have here is that we may assume that we know the Bible. We may assume that we know the Bible, and so we're satisfied with that assumption. Assuming to know the word and not taking time to dive into it, like what God commanded Joshua to do, to meditate upon it day and night, will cause us to be separated from the promises of God.

And I don't mean that separation to be based upon knowledge. I think we know the promises of God. I think some of us know the word of God. But the separation that I'm talking about is your personal faith in his promises, your personal faith and trust in his word.

I mean, the question that you could just phrase this is, "Do you believe in his promises?" Right? You know there's a difference between knowing and believing something, right? I'll use a polarizing figure. I'll use Jeremy Lin as an example, right? Some may know and might think that Jeremy Lin is the best point guard in the world, right?

But they don't really act it out. They're just kind of on the sidelines, just kind of like, "Yeah, I think that." But if you actually believe that Jeremy Lin is the greatest point guard in the world, then you'll be the staunchest Jeremy Lin advocate wherever you go, right? So knowing and believing is two separate things.

And that's the danger that we live in, especially in our church. We cannot separate God's promises from his word. 2 Peter 1, if you guys could turn there really quick. 2 Peter 1, towards the end of the Bible. 2 Peter 1, verses 5 through 8, kind of gives us a list of-- Peter is writing to his audience and he's saying, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith." And he gives a list, right?

"Your faith with virtue, with knowledge, with self-control, with steadfastness, with godliness, with breadthly affection, and with love." And then if you go down to the next paragraph in verses 9 through 15, Peter writes, "Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things." Peter is acknowledging to his audience, "You already know this.

You already know that your faith needs to be supplemented by these lists of things. But I'm going to remind you one more time." And as Christians living in this day and age, the source of our reminders of any of God's promises and any of His commands is going to be from His Word.

So we cannot separate God's promises from His Word. We need to be in it day and night, meditating upon it. The moment we stop reading His Word is the moment that the separation from God's promises begin. And when that separation occurs, we will lose strength and courage over a period of time.

Hebrews 2, 1 says that. "Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, or in our situation, what we have read, lest we drift away from it." And so, we cover two aspects of it, of what true strength and true courage is. True strength and courage exhibits humility.

True strength and courage derives from believing in His promises and His Word. The last aspect that I want to highlight this morning is this. True strength and courage comes from being in God's presence. And we find that in verse 9. "Have I not commanded you, 'Be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'" He commands him one more time, "Be strong and courageous, Joshua." And he affirms this command by using the negative phrase, "Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed." And this is the second time that the Lord assures Joshua that He is going to be with him.

His presence is going to be with him, right? In verse 5, it says, "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you." Joshua is one of two Israelites from the first generation that's able to enter into the Promised Land.

And so, in Joshua's eyes, he saw the presence of God. He saw the presence of God when he took Israel out of Egypt. He saw the presence of God at Mount Sinai when Moses went up to receive the Ten Commandments. Joshua saw the presence of God when he provided the manna and the quail for the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness.

He saw the presence of God when Moses struck the rock and water came down. And so, Joshua, if there's anyone who understands the weightiness of having God's presence in the mist, it's Joshua. He understands the implications that are involved when God is with him. And so, what does God's presence entail?

I think there's a lot of components to it, but the one component that I want us to really focus on is this, relationship. The presence of God entails relationship. When you look at the life of Moses and Joshua, and two men who really are marked by the presence of God, they had an intimate and deep relationship with the Lord.

In Joshua, the phrase, "The Lord said to Joshua," appears 17 times in this entire book. This implies the closeness of their relationship. God doesn't just speak to anyone. He speaks to those that he has a relationship with. Moses, in Deuteronomy 34, verse 10, he's described as someone whom the Lord knew face to face.

Again, the implication from that phrase, "face to face," implies intimacy. It implies a closeness with the Lord. And so, the question that we have to ask ourselves this morning, if we want true strength and true courage with regards to our faith, do we seek after the presence of God in our lives?

Is the presence of God real? And as I was thinking about this question, it kind of led me to a book that I read a while ago. It's a fictional book. It's called, "Safely Home," by Randy Alcorn. And I remember just picking it up one summer while we were in China.

We were staying at someone's apartment, and I was reading through it, and it really got my attention really fast, so I was trying to read it before I left. Couldn't, so I had to order it and wait for it to come. But it's a fictional novel that tracks the lives of these two friends.

This guy named Ben Fielding, who's an American, and this Chinese man named Lee Kuan. And their paths kind of intersect in college, and Ben Fielding was a Christian, Lee Kuan wasn't. And so he was evangelizing to him, bringing him out to Bible studies and whatnot, and eventually Lee Kuan confessed faith in Christ.

Because they were in college, they eventually graduated, and so Lee Kuan went back to China, Ben Fielding continued to live his life in America. And the story basically tracks their lives, their faith, and Ben Fielding's faith was lukewarm, and Lee Kuan began to take his faith more seriously. As I'm answering the question about, "Is the presence of God real in my life?" In this story, there was a discussion that takes place between Ben Fielding and Lee Kuan.

And the discussion was over a chair. There was this handcrafted chair that Lee Kuan had in his home. And his home wasn't the best home, it wasn't well kept, but this chair stood out because it was really nice. And so Ben Fielding was like, "How come no one sits in that chair?" You have all these people over at your house for church, but no one sits in that chair.

How come? And so Lee Kuan would like, you know, throughout the story would like kind of tell them, "You're not ready yet for the answer, you're not ready yet for the answer." But finally he gives them the answer. And this is what Lee Kuan writes. "But most important, this chair is a remembrance of Jesus' promise to always be with his children.

At every meal we have, we remember he is with us. When we sit in the evening, when we go to sleep at night, we remember he is there watching over us no matter what." When I read that passage, what struck me so deeply was this man's faith. That he actually believed that Christ's presence was in that chair.

That he believed that the reality of Christ's presence was much more real than the air he breathed, the food he ate, the people he interacted with. It's not enough to acknowledge that God's presence exists in this world. As Christians, do we desire to actually believe the presence of God is more real than what we see, feel, touch, or smell in this world?

Is it real? And do you desire it to be real? I think of when we go to Acts chapter 7 and the account with Stephen and him being executed. I was kind of reminded of this, that as he's about to be stoned in Acts chapter 7 verse 55, it says, "But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'" I mean, at that moment, the presence of Christ was real to Stephen. He saw it. Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us to fix our gaze upon Jesus. Not facts about Jesus, not the doctrine of Jesus, but Jesus himself.

So the question that I'm asking myself and I want to ask you guys too is, do you desire to see the presence of Christ being real in your life? Psalm 105 verse 4 says, "Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his presence continually." When the New Year rolls around, I don't know about you guys, but I want the presence of Christ to be so real.

I want it to be more real than Jen and with Haddon. I want him to be that real in my life. Because when Haddon grows up, I don't want him to view Jesus as some sort of fairy tale or some invisible being. I want him to know that the presence of Christ is real.

As we conclude, I want us to look at these three observations again. I want us to understand that these observations are interlinked. You have humility, you have God's word, and you have the presence of God. You can't be proud and still claim to be in the presence of God.

It just doesn't work that way. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The absence of the word, when you're not in the word meditating on day and night, you cannot remain humble and dependent upon God. If there's an absence of the presence of God in your life, it will surely create a divide when it comes to reading his word.

It becomes more academic than really an act of worship and devotion. As we close this message, I really want you guys to consider those three aspects and to look where are you strong in, where are you weak in. Come before the Lord and say, "God, sometimes I don't think you're real." Or, "Sometimes maybe I don't feel your presence." Instead of just giving up in that pursuit, maybe there's a need for us to wait quietly until the presence of God comes into our lives.

Or if you're a proud individual, maybe you need humility in your life. Pray for that. Or if you need more time to study the word, ask God for that time. But whatever it may be, as we just bow our heads for this moment, really pray and ask God for help in one of those areas so that we can be strong and courageous.

There are going to be times coming up in the new year that you expect. There will be times where it will be unexpected. You know, blessings, tragedies, we don't know. But what we do know is we need strength and we need courage no matter what. And so take some time to pray as the Praise Team leads us in a time of response.