If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 35 and we're going to be reading all the way to verse 40. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 35 all the way to verse 40. Reading out of the NASB it says, "Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection and others experienced mockings and scourging, yes also chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground and all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect." Let's pray.

Grace Father we pray that your word would speak to us, allow our hearts Lord God to be molded according to your purpose and will. Lord search us and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us that all that we have we would surrender and that our hearts Lord God in our mind our will will all be molded according to your purpose in Jesus name we pray, amen.

You know when I first became a Christian I think most people in my generation was trained how to evangelize through the four spiritual laws. Some of you guys may know what they are. It was created by a man Bill Bright from CCC and I actually had an opportunity to meet him years ago at a conference and so there was a small number of us maybe about about a 30 of us were able to sit in a room and just pick his brain and a very godly man and I didn't realize that CCC, Campus Crusade for Christ was actually started at UCLA in 1951 and so we were able to pick his brain and ask some questions and he was really into praying and fasting at that time so we were very challenged.

Some of you guys who you know are maybe a little bit older may have been trained in the same way this four spiritual law basically begins by saying God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and then the second part is but all have sinned and fall short of God's glory and we've been separated from this and third Christ came and died for us to bridge that gap in order that we may have life again and then fourth God requires all men and women to repent and receive this forgiveness and so those are the four spiritual laws and again you know paraphrased but in a nutshell those are the those are the meaning.

Again for many years I would say for seven eight years of early life in as a Christian I would go through the four spiritual laws because that's how I was trained and and I realized after time passing that the first part of that can easily be misunderstood and I don't think that was the intention of Bill Bright and that that that his intention was to present the full gospel but that first part where it says God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life I started to see how some people were twisting that to think that God's ultimate plan for us is for us to prosper.

He wants us to be healthy. He wants us to be wealthy and so again I met the man and I know that that was not his intention but I started to see how some people can easily twist how the gospel is presented and said well God wants me to be happy right God wants it there's nothing I can do and God God wants me to be happy and so the gospel is a way for me to achieve happiness and I can't do that unless I repent and I receive Christ.

Now the problem with that type of thinking one is completely unbiblical because the Bible does not teach that in fact the Bible completely contradicts that the text that we're looking at up to verse 35 he's been given examples of men and women of faith how sometimes even in their great suffering and sacrifice how God used that to lift them up and to glorify and to save Israel and to do many great things for God but then we get to the second part of chapter 30 verse 35 and he just simply says you know all women receive back their dead by the resurrection and others you know no big hoopla he doesn't even say but he just says and others were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection and then he goes down a list of all these things that these people experience and they never experienced this abundant life they were tortured they lived homeless they were mocked they starved and some of them just died that way so it doesn't fit this narrative that God's ultimate purpose is so that we can have a wonderful life not in the way that many people experience or think that they are you've probably heard of the health and wealth gospel preachers Joel Osteen probably in our generation is top in the top of that list and no like you know I don't know for whatever the reason that some churches are afraid to call false teachers out because that's part of our job right it's part of our job to recognize that when false teaching and false teachers begin to propagate things that are unbiblical it's not just difference of opinion they are actually going against what the Bible teaches and it prevents certain people from coming to Christ Joel Osteen on the top of that list wrote a book called Best Life Now and this is what he says God didn't make you to be average God created you to excel therefore if you will start acting like it talking like it seeing yourself as more than a conqueror you will live a prosperous and victorious life obviously what he means by prosperous is being very wealthy Benny Hinn is another man who is very well known and had decades of ministry teaching the same false gospel and this is what he is quoting saying God will begin to prosper you for money always follows righteousness clearly he never read the Bible clearly never read the Bible Jesus says when people were coming to me I want to follow you said birds of the you know fox have holes birds of the airs have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head in other words I'm homeless if you follow me you're also going to be homeless so he warned them to make sure that you know what you're getting into all the disciples they didn't live a better life they didn't get a better job most of them with the exception of one were martyred because they believed in Jesus Christ we have countless number of people because of their faith have ruined their lives Apostle Paul a perfect example of one who was on the you know like he's pretty much achieved what every Jew would have wanted in education and in wealth and position and even religiously and yet he ruined all of that because he met Christ I remember years ago there was a man named Fred Price so you guys most of you guys who are younger will probably not remember him but he was a famous preacher in LA and his church bought the Coliseum some of you guys who remember the Coliseum and it could fit probably about 50 to 60,000 people so it was one of the largest churches in this area probably in the United States excellent preacher and so not knowing who he was early Sunday morning before I went to church I wanted to hear a sermon and I had him on and one of the sermons he had people stand up and said anybody who's on welfare stand up so he had a bunch of people not knowing what he was doing just starting to stand up anybody who's who's not you know getting minimum wage stand up anybody who doesn't get paid this much stand up then after they stood up he began to rebuke them and this is on national television he said the reason why you're on welfare is because you don't have enough faith the reason why you don't have a house is because you don't have enough faith the reason why you don't drive a certain type of car is because you lack faith and then he began to expound upon his wealth how he has so many Rolls Royces and how he has so many house what kind of clothes he wears and how much his shoes cost and all of that on national television and you can see just the demeanor of these people who stood up just kind of you know shriveling in shame and I remember watching that being so disgusted that this man was publicly shaming these people simply because they weren't making money sad to say even though we may be disgusted by what he says this health and wealth gospel has so deeply in have been embedded into our psyche we practice it without even recognizing that that's what we're doing even in biblical even in biblical Bible teaching churches even like ours I remember years ago at a conference John Piper came to speak and he was the keynote speaker and he got up on the pulpit and he said you know I had this message prepared but I really felt convicted to preach a completely different sermon and then he began to preach about suffering as a Christian and that's a whole sermon was based upon how God ordained suffering for the sake of his glory it was a great message I always wondered why he decided to change the message I found out later on what the reason was which I'm not going to get into this morning but I remember at that conference there were about 27 Russian pastors who used to pastor in the old communist regime and they were coming in and out of prison and so they invited that to come pay for their airfare got them to stay and they were they happened to be in the room when he was preaching the preaching that then after John Piper finished they asked the leader of that group to come up and give his testimony and I remember that Russian pastor sit up and the first thing that he said was I want to thank John Piper for preaching that sermon because I never thought that I would hear a sermon in America to American pastors about suffering so it was in one sense thanking him for the sermon but at the same sense backslapping everybody else right because they said we never thought that this would ever be taught in an American church the author of the that's writing this letter remember why he's writing this letter he's writing this letter because the persecution in the church wouldn't let up remember in the beginning they were rejoicing in their property being confiscated when their friends were being arrested they went them visited them and and they were rejoicing we're suffering for Christ and they were willing to put up with that for a short period but it wouldn't let up 10 years passed 20 years passed 30 years passed so by the time this letter is written they're in their second possibly even third generation Christians and they're beginning to drift back into their old line now backsliding usually doesn't happen overnight you don't wake up one morning and say you know what it's too hard following Christ so I'm just gonna go and make money you don't do that usually backsliding happens because you compromise but God calls you to do something say oh what if I do this God didn't call everybody or what if this and you start to make small compromises and you begin to see your heart starting to harden up you've never in your mind you've never abandoned your faith you've just made series of compromises that cause you to drift further and further away from God physically you're still at church you're still at Bible study but you know deep in your heart you have a limit to how far you will go in following Christ so the Christianity that we've created is a Christianity that's that doesn't look like the scripture the Christianity that we've created is the breaking of the second commandment of the 10th commandment where he says thou shall not worship any other God and the second commandment is thou shall not make any brave images of me and worship me in other words don't make up a God that is more palatable to you and worship that and say you're worshiping me backsliding typically happens gradually because we avoid suffering at every end if I do this I might lose my job if I do this my friends are gonna be happy if I do this I'm not gonna not be able to get this if I do this I might be not be able to get that house and so after a series of compromises we have created a Jesus that doesn't look anything like the scripture so he's writing this letter to challenge them that Christ is better than anything that you are you are backsliding into that Christ is better than that do you recognize who Jesus is he's better than the angel he's better than Moses he's better than the sacrifices he's better than the priests he's better than the temple he's a he has a better covenant so the whole thing that we've been talking about in the whole book of Hebrews is he is better do you believe that so if that is the priest if he's writing a this letter to a group of people who are having a hard time with suffering you would think that he would leave this out because this would be completely discouraging right leave it at the first 35 women receive back their dead by resurrection all these great things happen because they believe God but then he said but others they're tortured some of them died experienced mocking scourging chains imprisonment sawn in two tempted experienced death sheepskins goatskin destitute afflicted ill-treated wandering deserts mountains and caves and holes in the ground and it doesn't end with they did all of that but God lifted it up them up and so therefore they experience greatness and then they die no they just died I mean if your goal is to write this letter to encourage people who are suffering to continue and persevere you would think that he would say relief is coming for a short time you're experiencing this but after that you're going to experience glory just just put in a year put in a two years and if you continue good things are coming he doesn't say that some experience this some experience this the heroes of the faith that he talks about some experience their children being resurrected and some voluntarily give their life and he says the reason why is because they wanted a better resurrection because they believed that the payoff wasn't here they were willing to even give their life because they knew that the hope that they had wasn't here it was after and that's why they were able to persevere you know I was at a conference not that long ago and you know when I was when our church was struggling and we were small we had like 30 35 people for many years you know we did a podcast you know describing our our church in the beginning because it wasn't a normal church plan we just got thrown out we just try to survive right and I just had a kid another kid and then another kid eventually another kid right we had many kids and in the midst of what we were doing in ministry you know we were just trying to survive and no one asked me about ministry advice back then right in fact everybody was giving me ministry advice right you say oh you should go to that church you should go to this conference oh if you talk to that pastor oh if you were discipled by this by maybe your church would do better but as soon as our church started growing to a certain number you know 300 400 and and then they said what are you doing over there how do you do your bible study what is your teaching like and all of a sudden they want to know so I remember I I was at a conference and I was asked that question and you know we had smart men there's like three or four of the churches that are larger in size and so they asked us to give a presentation about our church and ministry philosophy what we're doing and each one of them were going around and smart guys articulate you know talented gifted and and I was blown away you know I felt like I don't belong here I don't even understand some of the words that they're using you know and they came to my turn so Peter what happened at your church and I told him the story that I we told you in the podcast like I didn't want to be a pastor I just felt bad for the kids and I just held on for dear life right and that's how we got here and I remember it's like huh it was nothing useful that I said oh then I just didn't quit right and I remember after I said that the the pastor was presiding to kind of wrap things up and he said who knows if you did what Peter did maybe your church would be the next Berean and I remember and then I remember I ended up by saying or not it was awkward it was very awkward right clear I didn't belong there right because the point that I was trying to make was that it wasn't ingenuity it wasn't anything because we're not doing anything different that we did the first seven years and then next seven years that that caused it to grow but our natural tendency is to think that if we do certain things right good things are going to come and good things is like bigger church better finances better homes healthier wealthier and long life and then when that doesn't happen we deconstruct what did we do wrong what should we do better what's our plan and then we're constantly deconstructing and reconstructing because of what because we have what we think God wants better life healthier life longer life better bank account right our children are safe better taking care of better education and so we have the same standard that the world has we just brought it into our Christian life and we don't we don't normally filter that out we just kind of you know because it has that Christian name on it we don't recognize that as the health and well it's so deeply embedded in us this passage completely obliterates those thoughts it says that some were sawn in two now it doesn't mention any names none of this has any names because prior to that it was mentioning Abraham and Moses and Joseph and Jacob and all these great men and women who by faith did these great things but then he says but the others who are tortured and killed and you know and they were imprisoned and changed wandering in deserts none of their names are mentioned I think the reason why none of the names are mentioned because there's too many because we have a tendency like when you read missionary books you usually read a book about an individual who went and bore ridiculous fruit whether it's in China or India wherever it is and then we put them on a pedestal we read about them I want to be like Hudson Taylor I want to be like William Carey I'm gonna be the next Billy Graham I'm gonna be the next John something and so we put them on pedestal so we know a lot about very few people majority of the people that have gone before us for every one person that's been highlighted there's probably hundreds of thousands of people who just labored couldn't pay their bills just barely surviving constantly tempted to quit and just making it and it is God using those people to continue to establish his kingdom we didn't get here by the Billy Graham's of the world we got here by the grace of God there were some Billy Graham's there were some William Carey's there were some Hudson Taylor's but majority of the people that is described in verse 35 to 38 are never mentioned in fact for every one Moses you're gonna see hundreds of other people that God used that you never heard of but they're in scripture hundreds of thousands maybe millions of people that have walked out into desert and never bore fruit church planters who suffered for years and just closed up missionaries who've gone to places and never saw a single convert I don't know how many pastors that I know dedicated their lives and in retirement didn't have a single penny in their name no house no retirement no car nothing and they were dependent on other people just just to make the end part I have missionary friends who've been out in the field for 20-25 years come back and they said they feel like beggars because they have nothing in their name I know countless number of missionaries who've lost their children in their faith they dedicated everything to follow Christ and went out to foreign land and their children got caught up in in something and they walked away from their faith for every one Moses's and William Carey's and Amy Carmichael's these people that we write about and put on pedestals many of them experienced verse 35 to 38 he says some were sawn in two we don't know when you think of Isaiah Isaiah is probably the most quoted Old Testament prophet in the New Testament Isaiah according to Jewish tradition was martyred for his faith Manasseh King Manasseh was one of the worst kings that Israel had and just got sick and tired of Israel of Isaiah constantly telling them you need to turn from your sins or judgment is coming and they got sick he got so sick and tired of him according to Jewish tradition he was sawn in two the true prophets who were speaking and trying to turn Israel from their sins they were the ones who were stoned the false prophets kept on coming and saying peace peace when there is no peace the reason why the false prophets were popular is because that's what everybody was looking for peace you know what peace the modern-day translation for pieces health wealth and safety and that's what the false teachers were propagating peace peace when there is no peace Jeremiah here's a man who lived a miserable life he's known as the weeping prophet he wrote a book called Lamentations because the whole book is about lamenting in verse 37b it says they went about in sheepskins goatskins destitute afflicted ill-treated men whom the world was not worthy wandering in deserts mountains and caves holes in the ground now any prophet probably can recognize that maybe this is their life as well but Jeremiah exemplifies this I mean he lived such a miserable life because God was using him to warn the nation of Israel and everywhere he went to speak they hated his guts God had him do such weird things just wandering in the desert and and doing walking around you know in places where he's gonna be harmed all his life just weeping not simply because of what was happening to him externally but internally he was saddened by what was coming pleading with Israel to turn and they would not turn you know when I think about my life there are four periods that you know like watershed moments that I can pinpoint and say that that completely changed my life first is coming to America obviously and I didn't choose that right that happened to me because my parents chose to come to United States and that's the reason why I don't speak Korean here I'm speaking English right the culture where we grew up all that changed because my parents decided come to United States so that was a a watershed moment for me at that time secondly which is probably the most important out of all of them was when I became a Christian 1983 December 26 1130 p.m.

I remember very distinctly when it happened and it was almost like being there for your birth right physical birth that would be gross but that's what it felt like spiritually I knew when it happened like my life would never be the same so that that happened so that was the second and that changed everything for me for me the third thing that happened was when I decided to go into ministry full-time ministry the reason why that was a watershed moment it wasn't because I was choosing between am I gonna serve God or not serve God I don't know how any Christian chooses I'm not gonna serve God right I'm a Christian but I'm just gonna do whatever I want right you're not a Christian how can somebody who who believes what we confessed with whether you are an attorney or business or whatever it is that you're doing live your life saying you know what I'm just gonna live my life and some people are gonna go to hell some people are gonna go to heaven I'm just gonna live my life that makes no sense to me so it wasn't a decision between my gonna serve God and not serve God but specifically I'm going to full-time ministry and the reason why that was a difficult decision is because I'm a third generation pastor I saw the misery that my parents went through and children who are in that family and then my dad came from a pastor's family and the misery that he experienced as a result of that I remember during the war the Korean War because my grandfather was a pastor he had to hide because the communists were coming so he was basically gone and my dad had to take care of his family when he was 16 years old selling medicine because his dad was a pastor and so when I was wrestling with this idea I don't want to like I'll do anything I'll be a businessman I'll go to missions I'll do anything but anything but a pastor I don't want to do what my dad did and then I had to surrender okay what else am I gonna if this is I want to preach the gospel but if I make a lot of money I'm concerned that I'm gonna be tempted so I'm gonna go down this path but then fourth and final thing and I don't know what else is coming ahead but the fourth and final thing was in the context of this church after five six seven years of struggling in the church and not wanting to just I was literally just dragging my feet and only reason why I did what I did is because I felt like the kids that were there they're not kids anymore obviously but kids weren't gonna make it so out of guilt it wasn't out of great faith or or you know I this vision like what was your vision I had no vision like seriously I mean I'm just being honest I had no vision for this church it was out of guilt I can't leave them because if I leave them I'm gonna abandon my kids they were like kids to me right my own kids but I remember wrestling with this idea if I'm gonna I came into ministry thinking like okay I'm gonna do great things for God I'm gonna preach the gospel I'm gonna plant churches I'm gonna go out to missions and even if I die early that's a good way to live and die and I remember thinking reading about Jim Elliott how he prayed that he doesn't have a long life but a meaningful life even if it's short and that's exactly how he went out and I was I remember thinking that's like yeah that's what I want to do I want to do hard things for God and if I die early that's that's a good way to live your life but then the last part of it I had to wrestle with what if God called you to be Jeremiah because Jeremiah just lived a long life just miserable preaching to people who didn't want to hear never saw never saw revival never really saw fruit everybody that he cared about that he was preaching to hated him I mean he's the weeping prophet and I remember really wrestling with that and as I was digging through scripture and I was like wow there's more Jeremias in the Bible than there are Paul's who am I to come before God and say I'm gonna hear my Lord send me there and then God said well guess go to the Israelites who stiff neck and they're not gonna listen to how long until you die because they're not gonna turn will you still go and I couldn't answer that question I'll go to China North Korea you know and I remember during that period like I wanted to do the craziest things because there was some sense of glory in that so I used to do a lot of public preaching you know go out in the streets and I would see the end of the parade and I would be the last person at the parade and I would preach the gospel right and I remember this one thing in Cal State LA they were having the anti-war rally because of the first first war in the Gulf and there were hundreds of people over there who probably didn't want to go to class and they were out there as an anti-war chants and they had a mic set up and and we just happened to be witnessing there in LA and I thought maybe this is a good place so I just kind of you know took about 40 minutes to gear up you know courage and at the end when we were about to leave I said give me a minute I said oh shoot what's he gonna do so I stood up and I got the mic and I started I started preaching and they they didn't know what I was preaching obviously until I said name Jesus and if you ever want to know what it feels like to have 300 people flip them off all at once I'll explain it to you what that felt like right and it was not fun but afterwards there was a sense of glory in that like I did something hard for Jesus right I did something hard for Jesus I was willing to do all of that even if it meant being living in poverty even if it meant having homeless people in my house I was willing to do all of that but I did not want to live the life that my dad lived struggling in the small church taking care having a hard time paying his bills always worried about what the church people are gonna think if he did this and if we bought this car what are they gonna think that we spent too much money on this we can't buy this house we can't take a vacation because we can't do this I don't want to do that but what if God called you to do that and I couldn't say yes I said yes to everything else even homeless ministry my wife experienced having homeless people in my house I said yes to that but I couldn't say yes to pastoring a church because I didn't want to repeat what I saw but the question that was brought to me was clear are you gonna come before God and say here my Lord send me over here to these people at this time so I can do this or are you just gonna say here my Lord send me even if it's to this man that broke me more than the initial time when I decided to go into ministry more than when I became a Christian because when I became a Christian it was just good God loves me God created the universe loves me and he died for me like it was all good nothing that I had nothing that I sacrificed at that time seemed worth holding on to but the fourth watershed in my life was what really broke me and I realized that even in the way that I wanted to do ministry I had my own plans I had my own desires I had my own glory in mind what if God calls you to serve people who don't want to be served all your life will you still say yes Apostle Paul when he was called here's a guy who had everything money already famed religiously on the top of the ladder meets Christ and his life is ruined literally his life is ruined when he meets Christ Jesus says from the get-go I will show him how much he must suffer for my name he didn't say he's gonna glorify me it's all like all that stuff you know he said no I'm gonna show him how much he must suffer for my name when he's writing 2nd Corinthians he's writing to a group of people who are questioning his apostleship because he was not the greatest speaker you know Apollos was the great speaker Peter was a great leader you know Paul was the latecomer and they were questioning his because they didn't like what he was saying so they were kind of disqualifying him saying he's not a true apostle but Apostle Paul in defense and he is defending himself because people were questioning I mean I think naturally he just was not the best speaker in fact the book of Acts says that he was a habit of preaching so long people actually died that's what it said he was in the habit of preaching on and on and somebody fell up and died and so you have to resurrect that guy right that's how bad of a preacher he was right he didn't know when to stop but he in defense this is what he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 24 five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day I spent in the deep I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from river dangers from robbers dangers from countrymen dangers from Gentiles dangers in the city dangers in the wilderness dangers in the sea dangers among the false brethren I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure and so his credential is not his upbringing his credential is not the many churches that he planted his credential wasn't his knowledge his credential was his suffering he said you question my apostasy look at my suffering but along with that verse 28 apart from such external things there's a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches I mean it's hard enough the external things the stoning and the hardship and persecution and the whipping that he got but he says on top of that there's this internal pressure because he's concerned for the churches for the people as he's sitting in prison he's concerned for the Philippians as he's waiting to die in 2nd Timothy he's writing to his protege because he's concerned that even as he is facing death he sees his internal pressure who is weak without my being weak who is led into sin without my intense concern this is a man who understood that he was called to supper just like Jesus said he wasn't just called so that he can stand on a pulpit and hear the say it the Lord and there's where Jesus is it's like no he did that in the midst of much suffering this flies in the face of all the people that I quoted in the beginning of the sermon we hear so many times about how Christianity is flourishing all over the world and I've traveled enough and talked to enough people out in the field to know that the number of Christians have been so bloated I remember talking to a pastor in an underground church in China and I've heard numbers as as big as 350 million Christians and I asked him is that true and he said not even close he said most of the numbers that you're hearing about are people who are coming to faith because of the health and wealth gospel Kenneth Hagin Kenneth Copeland all false teachers because they promise that if you believe in Jesus that you can have the wealth that these missionaries have so they want to be like Americans that if you believe Jesus and Jesus is is their ticket to get wealth and a lot of the people who are coming to faith are coming for that reason it's not the true gospel it's the health and wealth gospel that's spreading all over the world Jesus clearly said that the path to life is narrow and it is difficult and few would be found in it he says all of this and reminds us again in first Peter 4 12 beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you you shouldn't be surprised because Jesus told us the Bible made it very plain to us there is examples after examples that are given to us in the scripture which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange things were happening to you you notice how whenever hardship comes we think what did we do wrong if a church is planted and it doesn't bear fruit it doesn't grow what did we do wrong people begin to leave because you're preaching the gospel what did we do wrong if we started having relational issues and and sinners don't appreciate what you're doing what did we do wrong we planted a church and we're trying to share the gospel and nobody's interested and what did we do wrong we have a tendency to kind of deconstruct everything that we think isn't meeting our standard and so we need to reconstruct constantly deconstructing reconstructing deconstructing reconstructing in order to get what what the world has taught us what success is when all he told us to do is to be faithful do not turn from your the word to the left or to the right in season and out of season whether they listen or don't listen whether you bear fruit or don't bear fruit whether you the church grows or doesn't grow in season and out of season I only gave you one thing preach the word in season and out of season sometimes the children are resurrected sometimes they are not sometimes you will experience well sometimes you will not sometimes people will thank you and praise you and sometimes you will not God uses that all for his glory would you still follow Christ if following Christ meant you can't get into the school that you want if you have to forfeit your career would you still follow Christ if you can't get the house that you want would you still follow Christ if your children are not safe and given the best that you want to give them would you still follow Christ are there conditions upon following Christ you see the problem with the health and wealth gospel is we don't break the first commandment the first commandment thou shalt not worship any other God but the second commandment is thou shalt not make grave an image of me and worship it in other words don't create an idol and then attach my name on it and then worship it thinking that you're worshiping me when we deconstruct everything that doesn't get us to a better life we've created a Jesus that's not in the scripture if the only Christian faith that that we have embraced always leads to a better comfortable life then that Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible see verses 35 through 38 completely blows that out of the water you know the health and wealth gospel people verse Jeremiah 29 11 is a verse that they love it says for I know the plans that I have for you declares or plans for welfare not for calamity to give you a future and a hope the way that the health and wealth gospel people see this is and sometimes we even use it to encourage other people that though it's hard now if you if you endure a little bit better things are coming tomorrow like tomorrow put put in your time and and discipline and sacrifice now then better things will come tomorrow now is that anything different than the world I go to the gym I wake up 5 in the morning and I you know outwork everybody else like this is why I got a million dollars because I put in the hard work early and I suffered you know and I did what the other people are not willing to do and that's why I was successful and the health and wealth gospel people use this verse to basically perpetuate the same thing same wisdom that the world is giving put in your time now sacrifice now discipline now then when you're 30 when you're 40 you're going to be wealthy healthy when he says God has a wonderful plan for your life clearly the wonderful plan is in health and wealth the wonderful plan he's talking about with that though some died and experienced resurrection the others voluntarily gave their life and were tortured for what purpose for a better resurrection the wonderful plan that the Bible talks about is an eternity when Christ comes when Christ comes and if we miss that you didn't just miss a part of Christianity if you miss that you didn't miss you know you weren't a B+ student as a Christian but you weren't a if you miss that you missed Christianity period the Christianity that we practice is a health and wealth gospel mentality is no different than the Buddhist going to the temple you ever go to you know the Asian countries and the ancient ruins are all Buddhist temple you wonder why they went through so much trouble to build statues of Buddha and temples and just weird places up in mountains and you know like this is this is a thousand Buddha mountain right this is a hundred feet Buddha mountain this is mountain Buddha this is river Buddha I mean I remember the first time visiting China and we must have gone to about a hundred Buddha something so why why was this so important because that was their avenue to get health and well that was their way of getting a better life if we're not careful Christians could do the same thing by becoming a member in the church by being faithful and serving and giving that I'm going to trade in something because I'm expecting something bigger and then when that doesn't happen God's not real you're right that God is not real the God that many of those people turn away from was never real because he never promised that that is not the God of the Bible the God of the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11 39 to 40 and all these having gained approval through their faith not through their hard work not through their sacrifice but sacrifices came because of their faith did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect 2nd Corinthians 4 17 for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison do you believe that even in our suffering it is producing in us a glory that you cannot possibly imagine that can be fulfilled here it's far beyond that when his glory comes why did some people experience this great deliverance and why did some people just die in their difficult state the answer is simple it may be difficult to understand but the answer is simple because in Isaiah 42 verse 8 it says I am the Lord that is my name I would not give my glory to another nor my praise to given images God says over and over again he says for my name's sake for my glory over and over again for my glory so the answer is simple why was why did Joseph go through that and then experience why did he experience what he experienced he said for my glory why did Isaiah live his life and then was sawn in two for my glory why was Moses lifted up and experienced all of that for his glory why did Jeremiah live in misery for his glory his glory in our comfort his glory in our suffering his glory in long life his glory in life cut short his glory in living in peace and it is for his glory that we live a life of turmoil it is his glory when we are financially wealthy and it is his glory when we are struggling financially all things good and bad says ultimately for his glory I know what a non-believer will say when I say this that's checked up he's playing with us so he's he's toying with us and letting some people suffer and some people do this and that and he's a jerk some people will say that because they don't believe because they do not see because they only see this life and if this life is all that matters they're absolutely right because it didn't pay off some people are suffering and some people are doing fine he's unfair the end but you have to understand the Bible says that you and I have been created to be his image bearers that's our whole purpose why we exist is so that we may reflect his glory so salvation is for the purpose of restoring us so that we may live according to how he created us now keep that in mind now why is that beneficial to us because we live when he is glorified let me say that again we live we experience the greatest life when he is magnified the most imagine if LeBron James okay I know some of you guys are not fan of LeBron James Steph Curry whoever you want to say right if LeBron James came into came in on the court and he started to interview everybody how can I make all of you happy right just make a list and then he started reading all that okay so I'm gonna design my game to make everybody happy first of all that's impossible because 30,000 people are gonna have different ideas right pass more shoot more sit down sit up right and I'm like the criticism of LeBron James like man that guy he doesn't you know he passes too much he's not clutch you know he should he should take the shot then when he takes the shot he's like dude he doesn't pass all he wants his own glory there's nothing he can do to satisfy anybody everybody to begin with but the best way to make the most number of people happy is to play the best game that he's able to play when he is glorified on the court everybody everybody experiences euphoria it brings people together we experience koinonia high-fiving and you talk about that for years remember remember when you were there when he did this remember when Kobe shot 81 points remember when he did that what did he do other than glorify himself so selfish so egocentric why did we experience this life because Kobe glorified himself because you and I were created for worship so when God is glorified we experience the best life so salvation is to restore us so that our eyes may be open to see this glory and for eternity we're going to be seeing his glory in a in a greater and more magnificent way so we're going to be experiencing this life so this momentary suffering this momentary this blip of a life this mist of a life that whether you live comfortably whether you live uncomfortably whether you are rich or whether you are poor all this is producing in us eternal glory that we may have in his presence that's why sometimes some people are called and they live in North Korea and some of us live in America there's a kind of glory that God can receive only when rich people are giving there's a kind of glory that God gets when we are suffering there's a kind of glory that God gets when we live a long life living for Christ and there's a type of glory that God gets when our life is cut short because when he is glorified what happens the world sees the world sees because what God is interested in is an eternity that more and more people may see his glory and come to him so sometimes God will use our suffering for that purpose let me read the final passage and I know it's a little bit long this is a the verse that I know elder James used to quote when he was younger all the time right and I don't know his suffering in inside but this was one of his favorite verses and Habakkuk is written during a period when Israel it's kind of like like Isaiah he's preaching to people don't want to hear it he's wondering God why are you allowing the unjust to to punish the just and and at the end conclusion of his grumbling before God he says this though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no fruit no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exalt in the Lord I will rejoice in the God of my salvation it doesn't in the end it's not about the vines being plenty and revival and all that in the end is do you believe this God do you believe this God