(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Good morning, Church family. Happy Lord's Day. Psalm 145, it reads, I will extol you, my God, O King, and I'll bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord and highly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. As we begin our service, let us continue to reflect on the greatness of our God and that we will come before him with humble and thankful hearts. (gentle music) Sing great is the Lord. ♪ Great ♪ ♪ Is the Lord and most worthy of praise ♪ ♪ In the city of our God the holy place ♪ ♪ The joy of the whole earth ♪ ♪ Great ♪ ♪ Is the Lord in whom we have the victory ♪ ♪ He aids us against the enemy ♪ ♪ He ♪ ♪ Melt down on our knees ♪ Lord, we want.

♪ Lord, we want to lift your name up ♪ ♪ Lord, we want to thank you ♪ ♪ For the works you've done in our lives ♪ ♪ Lord, we trust in your affair ♪ ♪ For you alone are God eternal ♪ ♪ Throughout earth and heaven above ♪ Great is the Lord.

♪ Great ♪ ♪ Is the Lord and most worthy of praise ♪ ♪ In the city of our God the holy place ♪ ♪ The joy of the whole earth ♪ ♪ Great ♪ ♪ Is the Lord in whom we have the victory ♪ ♪ He aids us against the enemy ♪ ♪ We melt down on our knees ♪ ♪ We melt down on our knees ♪ ♪ Lord, we want to lift your name up ♪ ♪ Lord, we want to thank you ♪ ♪ For the works you've done in our lives ♪ ♪ Lord, we trust in your affair ♪ ♪ For you alone are God eternal ♪ ♪ Throughout earth and heaven ♪ ♪ Lord, we want to lift your name up ♪ ♪ And Lord, we want to thank you ♪ ♪ For the works you've done in our lives ♪ ♪ Lord, we trust in your affair ♪ ♪ For you alone are God eternal ♪ ♪ Throughout earth and heaven above ♪ ♪ For you alone are God eternal ♪ ♪ Throughout earth and heaven above ♪ - All right, good morning.

Let me get to a few announcements, again, before we get started. Today's the first day of the Bible Lab that's happening at two to three o'clock. And again, I wanted to just kind of give a plug on this. If you are new to the church or you're taking the Bible study that we're doing on Wednesdays or the home group Bible studies that we're having, if you're coming into it for the first time, we highly encourage you to take this class starting today, it's from two to three.

Basically, Pastor Mark is gonna have three separate sessions on Sundays from two to three going over how to do inductive Bible study. So if you haven't attended our Bible study before, our Bible study format is not just the pastors or the leaders studying and then presenting to you what we found.

We're trying to do Bible study in a way where you will learn how to do Bible study on your own. So you can go in there, understand the context, ask the right questions, so that even without leaders being able to kind of guide you through, that you'll be able to gain insights and understand it in proper context.

And so Pastor Mark is gonna be going through stage by stage how to dissect the text, how to bring outlines, how to ask the right questions, and how to make applications from that. And so if you've never done that kind of Bible study before, this will be very helpful.

I highly encourage you to take that. And those of you who've been at the Bible study, but have a hard time, you need a refresher in how to do that, it will greatly help you in participating in the Bible study 'cause a lot of the Bible study is coming and sharing your insights, not just waiting for the leaders or other people to tell you what they found, but what did you find.

And so the more you prepare, the more you'll be able to get out of the Bible study. So there's three sessions happening, starting today at two to three. You can go grab lunch and then come back. And the Bible lab is gonna be happening at not the cafe side, but the next to it, that's where the youth group room meets, and that's where the class is gonna be taking place.

Men's quarterly ministry that's happening on September 9th at 9 a.m. Our sisters ministry has volunteered to cook for the brothers. They're gonna be making kalbichim. Now I don't know if you know what that is. You know that that's way more than $10. So please come and participate. The subject that we're gonna be getting over is proper accountability, especially in our day and age with so much struggles and temptations going on, especially for our men.

We're gonna be talking about what does biblical accountability look like, and it relates to our sanctification. And so please come sign up. If you haven't signed up for that, we need to know as soon as possible so that our sisters know how much to make, and the cost of that is gonna be $10.

Sprouts PTA. If you have children in our elementary department, they're gonna have a PTA in September 10th at 2 p.m., so mark that on your calendar. And then family ministry community groups is happening. One other one, women's ministry tea time. That's the sisters ministry. That's gonna be happening on Saturday, October 14th.

I'll give you more announcements as we get closer, but that's happening at 9.30 to 12 p.m., so if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that. And again, that one is for the sisters. Two more announcements, okay, and then I'll be done. One is we have a couple people in our church who are very excellent in filmmaking, and they have volunteered to film an introductory video of the church, and they asked if they can film this morning.

And so they're not gonna be filming during the sermon, but they will be doing some filming during your praise, okay? So if you see them around, don't try to be extra spiritual, okay? (congregation laughing) But be aware they're coming around, so you may be caught on tape for life, okay?

So anyway, so they're gonna be here. They're gonna be filming during the praise time, and maybe the baptism and stuff, and so they're gonna do once today, and maybe again in another. So if you see them walking around filming, that's the reason why they're doing that, giving you a heads up for that.

One last announcement, if you can put the picture up. We mentioned after we came back from our summer missions from Korea that we have a group of students. I mean, the right word, the technical word for them is not orphanage, because almost most of these children know where their parents are.

But they can't be united with their parents because the parents have either abandoned them. So in some sense, it's even more difficult than the orphans who don't know where the parents are, because they know exactly where their parents are, but they don't have any contact with them for one reason or another.

The parents got divorced, or they got remarried, and neither side claimed the child, and so they're here. Some of them are there because they had some family issues or abuse, and the state had to come in and put them in a home. And so they're not quite orphans, at least most of them.

There's about 50-some of them in this home that we visited. And because it's a smaller group, they don't have much funding. So they get some funding from the government, and it's just enough for them to pay for school and for lodging and for the staff to come and take care of them.

And they're coming in a couple weeks, and they're headed to San Francisco because a church up there is sponsoring a few of them. But they just happened to be coming to California, and when we were talking to them, they said they're gonna be stopping by, and the church up north is sponsoring them to go to Disneyland.

But none of them speak English, even the directors. They've never been outside the country. And so we volunteered to care for them while they're here. So it's gonna be September 7th, 8th, and 9th. So some of our college students who know how to speak some Korean are gonna be attached to them, and they're gonna be taking care of them.

But the reason why I'm sharing this with you is because we want you to pray for them, and we wanted to, a lot of you guys asked, in what way can we help? While we were talking to the directors, while we were there, we asked them, if we do come out, is there something that we can do to kind of encourage the kids, or maybe have an English camp or something like that?

And then she kind of thought about it for a little bit, and she said, "It'd be great if you just came "and took them out to eat." And he said, "Most of these kids "have never eaten fast food before "because the government only gives just enough money "for them to survive, "and so they've never, especially the kids who came in "when they were very young, "they've never eaten out before.

"So if you guys just came and took them out "to McDonald's or something, "that would be a huge treat for them." So that kind of gives you an idea of what their life is like, so for them to come here. And the kids who are coming, there's only five of them out of 50-some that's coming, and so some of you guys asked how we can help.

And so we wanted to give an opportunity, if you are led to give to that. And so if you are, if you want to give just when you're giving, just make sure that this is for, you can just write there for the orphaned kids, for the orphanage, and we'll make sure that the funds get to them when they're here.

And then, so we're gonna have it, if you want to give today, you can give, and then next week also. And then after that, obviously when they come, we'll be giving it so that they can use that to support the work that they're doing, okay? So again, you'll have an opportunity today and next week, and make sure you mark that so that we can know that it's designated for that, okay?

All right, so let me pray for us. And again, we have a physical box in the back for those of you who are new. If you're headed out, you can just drop it off there. For the rest of you, you can give electronically. All right, let me pray for us.

Sorry, I forgot to mention, we have a brother who is going to be baptized. Philip is gonna be coming up after our pray set, and he'll be giving his testimony and baptism this morning, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your patience, Lord God, truly beyond our own understanding.

Lord, you are a God of love, you're a God of patience, you're a God of sovereign grace. Help us, Lord God, that we may recognize this in a deepening way each week, that we may honor you, glorify you, praise you, and worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us, Lord God, even in this giving that we would give with cheerful hearts.

It may be multiplied for your kingdom's use. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) - Let us all rise as we sing these praises. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ What wisdom ♪ ♪ What wisdom once devised the plan ♪ ♪ For all sin and doubt ♪ ♪ Was cursed upon the perfect man ♪ ♪ Who suffered blood and doubt ♪ ♪ The wisdom of a sovereign God ♪ ♪ Whose greatness will be shown ♪ ♪ When those who crucified your son ♪ ♪ Rejoice around your throne ♪ ♪ And know the glory of the cross ♪ ♪ That you would send your son for us ♪ ♪ I rarely count my life as lost ♪ ♪ Now I come to know ♪ ♪ The glory of ♪ ♪ The glory of the cross ♪ ♪ Righteousness ♪ ♪ For righteousness was there ♪ ♪ Besides the guilty ♪ ♪ That justifies a godly name ♪ ♪ Because of their being ♪ ♪ The righteousness that proved to all ♪ ♪ And justice has been there ♪ ♪ And holy breath has satisfied ♪ ♪ The one who took the end there ♪ ♪ And know the glory of the cross ♪ ♪ That you would send your son for us ♪ ♪ I rarely count my life as lost ♪ ♪ Now I come to know ♪ ♪ The glory ♪ ♪ The glory of the cross ♪ ♪ Your mercy ♪ ♪ Your mercy now has been proclaimed ♪ ♪ For those who would believe ♪ ♪ I love incomprehensible ♪ ♪ Our minds could not conceive ♪ ♪ A mercy that forgives my sin ♪ ♪ That makes me like your son ♪ ♪ And now I'm loved forevermore ♪ ♪ Because of what you've done ♪ ♪ And know the glory of the cross ♪ ♪ That you would send your son for us ♪ ♪ I rarely count my life as lost ♪ ♪ Now I come to know ♪ ♪ The glory ♪ ♪ The glory of the cross ♪ ♪ And know the glory of the cross ♪ ♪ That you would send your son for us ♪ ♪ I rarely count my life as lost ♪ ♪ Now I come to know ♪ ♪ The glory ♪ ♪ The glory of the cross ♪ (gentle music) , (gentle music) , (gentle music) ♪ When I fear my fate will fail ♪ ♪ Christ will hold me back ♪ ♪ When the tempter would prevail ♪ ♪ He will hold me back ♪ ♪ I could never keep my hope ♪ ♪ Through life's fearful path ♪ ♪ For my love is often cold ♪ ♪ He must hold ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Those he saves are his delight ♪ ♪ Christ will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Precious in his heart I sigh ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He'll not let my soul be lost ♪ ♪ Promises shall last ♪ ♪ But by him at such a cost ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my life he bled and died ♪ ♪ Christ will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Justice hath been satisfied ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Raised with him to endless life ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ Till our faith is turned to sand ♪ ♪ When he comes at last ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ ♪ For my savior loves me so ♪ ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ - Amen, you may be seated.

- Good morning, everyone. My name is Philip, and today I'll be sharing my testimony with you. Praise God. If I could summarize what God has done for me in the last eight months here at Berean in two words, praise God. In December 2022, I was invited to visit Berean with my friend Tiffany Pham, visiting from Montana.

Back then, my walk with Christ was almost non-existent. I was living in the flesh, a new grad working in healthcare, just trying to fulfill my life with what I believed was worthwhile. However, no matter how much I tried to satisfy myself in the flesh, it just wasn't enough. There was something lacking, something missing.

My introduction to Christianity started from my two loving parents. At a young age of around six months old, I was baptized into the Catholic faith, and up until the end of college, my relationship with Christ was more of a follow the rules and be rewarded type of relationship. I truly believed that being a good person would earn me favor from God, that on the day of judgment, I would be called back to God's kingdom.

Praise God that he revealed how wrong I was. After college and throughout all of dental school, I rebelled against God, fighting through imposter syndrome, loneliness, anxiety. I found temporary satisfaction living in the flesh and fulfilling my earthly desires. I easily gave in to greed, to pride, to lust. I knew in my heart that what I was doing was wrong, but in my pride and arrogance, I kept running from God.

Praise God that despite my rebellion, he remained present, never ceasing to love and to restore me. I couldn't see it at the time, but he was using every experience to bring me back to him. I remember coming before here to Berean at my first service. I was praying in the car, asking God, "Please, pull me back to you.

I'm done running." I don't remember exactly what was said during the sermon, but what I do remember was the feeling that Christ was reaching his arm back out to me, asking him, asking me to follow him. Praise God that despite my brokenness, he revealed himself to me through his word.

Through the gradual process of surrendering my heart to God, he started using prayer and his word to sanctify me. And through trials in my life, he taught me to grow and develop my faith in him and to rely on his grace. February 2023, I prayed to God, asking for his guidance.

The very next morning, my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. I was so angry and so upset. I felt that she left me when I needed her the most. I stopped going to Bible study, and again, I found myself isolated, and alone. However, now convicted with the Holy Spirit, I knew going back to the flesh would not fulfill this emptiness.

And so through my tears and frustration, I pleaded to God that he himself fill that space. In his mercy, my anger became forgiveness. My sadness became joy. I was finally able to start resting in the Lord and finding comfort in his word. I found myself in scripture during that time, namely 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Praise God that in his perfect timing, he revealed himself to me. That through his death on the cross, he washed away my sins. That his blood on the cross renews me, making me presentable to our Father.

Not by my own works, but only through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that I am saved. I, the person who was lost, the person who ran away from God, the person who felt the most undeserving of God's love. Praise God that through his son, sin no longer has a hold of me.

Praise God that I instead can surrender my life to him. That in his word, I know that I am called, that I am loved, and that I am kept by him. I know that surrendering myself to Christ and bearing my own cross will be difficult. But nothing else in my life has given me more meaning than surrendering it to Christ.

Praise God that in my darkest times, he never left me. Praise God, by Christ's sacrifice on the cross, I can live my life, not for myself, but for him. Praise God for leading me to Berean, to this community dedicated to living God's word. And praise God that he revealed himself to me and continues to renew me.

As I continue on this path, I'm reminded of Romans chapter 6, verse 4, which states, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the death, through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Praise God that in his unfailing love, he saved me.

Thank you. So, Philip, do you understand when you're going into the water, you're being united to Christ's death, and then when you come out, you're being united to his resurrected life? Yes, sir. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right, thank you, Philip, for that awesome testimony.

If you can turn your Bible with me to Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. Let me start reading from verse 14 to 16. "Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." Let's pray.

Father, we pray for insight. We pray for understanding. We pray for your heart. Help us, Lord God, to be more than just hearers, but we would be eager, Lord God, to hear and to apply what you have intended in these words. So we ask for your guidance and your Holy Spirit's power to guide these words.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If I was to give you a test this morning and ask you to name the 12 disciples, how many of you will be able to name all 12? By memory, not looking at this text. Don't do it now. I'm just kind of throwing it out there.

My guess is most of you would be able to name at least six off the top of your head. Some of you may be able to say maybe up to nine. And then maybe some of you can do 12, but most people who are able to give and they forget, and you have to be constantly reminded, it's like, oh yeah, yeah, they are the disciples.

I've heard them before. And the people that we're going to be covering today, with the exception of Thomas, are people most likely are the ones that you will forget. Because there's so little written about them. Their names pretty much only show up on the list of the disciples. Outside of that, we know nothing of them.

So as a result of that, you kind of have to constantly be reminded who they are. So this morning, I want to take some time with the four disciples. And I know Thomas is somebody that we could have kind of taken a separate time just to study him. But there's some unifying factors of all four of them that I wanted to take some time to discuss.

You know what's interesting about these four men is they all have some kind of title on their name. You have, what kind of Thomas is he? He's a doubting Thomas, right? And then we have James, and he is called James the Less. Right? We're going to go over each one of these things.

So hopefully at the end of the service, at least you'll have something to stick in your head that you'll kind of be able to remember. We have Simon, the Zealot. And then the last one's the worst, Judas, not Iscariot. Right? And those are the titles behind these names. Now if you were to think about like, if we died and we had, and like on our gravestone, what would we put on there?

We'd have to, we want to give it some thought. But my guess is most of us are not going to put your nickname that somebody gave you. Right? Slow Peter. Right? Skinny Alex. Right? James the Less. What a name. The name Zealot even itself, I mean, we don't know a whole lot about it.

If you actually understood how the Zealots were viewed and what they were doing to be labeled Simon the Zealot for, you know, for eternity, you'd think that's not what you would choose. And especially Judas. No, no, no, not that Judas. The other Judas. And that's his title. Right? Well, I wanted to make sure that after today that you have at least some understanding of them.

Because every single one of these men had a significant role in the spreading of the gospel in the early church. These were superstars. These are the 12 apostles. You know what I mean? That's how Jesus resurrected and they, the majority of them gave their life preaching the gospel. These are the apostles, the foundation of the church that you and I exist, that belong to today.

But 2,000 years later, we know nothing about, in particular, these three particular men along with Thomas. Now, we're going to get to Judas. Judas, like we're going to spend a special day just talking about him because there's a lot of questions that come up with this guy. Right? Why was he chosen if God already knew if he's ordained?

Why is he even there? But we'll talk about him next week. Right? But today, we want to focus our energy on these four men and who they are and maybe some of the bad rap they may have gotten. Right? Let's start with Thomas. Thomas, again, known as the Doubting Thomas.

And this is not a name that's given in the Bible. It's just that we just call him, you know, the Doubting Thomas because of the event that takes place after the resurrection. Now, it's a bad rap because he's the only one who gets a label. We don't remember Peter as the denier.

The Peter, the denier, or James and John, the potential murderer, right? Or Matthew, the treasonous one. Right? We don't have labels behind them, but for whatever reason, Thomas gets the label, the doubter, right? He's also called Didymus because he was a twin. So he had a twin brother. We don't know what happened to the twin brother.

Maybe, you know, maybe he just kind of followed along, but we don't know anything about it. We just say he was a twin. But outside of that, the label that he got, Doubting Thomas, comes from John 20, 24 to 29. After the resurrection, it says, "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples were saying to him, 'We have seen the Lord,' but he said to him, 'Unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'" Right?

This is where he gets the term Doubting Thomas. But if you understand the context of this, Thomas is not the only one who was doubting. Remember, none of the disciples, none of the disciples were awaiting Jesus' resurrection. So when the women went to go see the burial site and they found Jesus resurrected, they ran back to tell the disciples.

Remember what the disciples did? They didn't believe either. So Thomas is not the only one who didn't believe. They had to see them for themselves, so they also had to go and see Jesus, and Jesus reveals himself to them. So this doubting wasn't just Thomas. All of the disciples doubted, except that Thomas wasn't there when Jesus showed himself to the other disciples.

So when the other disciples said, "No, we saw him just like the other disciples," Thomas said, "How am I going to trust you?" Right? Considering all that's happened, unless I see him. So obviously, Jesus comes into the scene, reveals himself, "Reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believing." Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God." And then Jesus says to him, "Because you have seen me, have you believed?

Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed." Now, I want to explain what he means by here in verse 29. First of all, Thomas gets this rap, and they all should be. We should say the doubting apostles, right? If we're going to be fair, because they were all guilty of this.

Not only are they guilty of this, I think every single one of us could relate to Thomas. Every single one of us. I don't know about you, but that's exactly what I would say if a bunch of my friends came back and said, "We saw Jesus." It's like, "Yeah, right." I don't know about you, but if somebody comes and tells me that they ate at a restaurant and it was the best that they've ever tasted, my initial response is, "Hallelujah.

Let me go check this out." My initial response is, "Well, that's what you think." I don't trust it. Five stars, you know what I mean? You know how many times I've been disappointed at five stars, four and a half stars, and they go, "This is the worst pizza I've ever tasted." I had somebody who told me they ate this burger place, and they said it changed their life, and I remember thinking, "What kind of a life did you live?" It's not a burger changed your life, right?

I don't know about you, but Thomas' response is probably exactly what I would have given. I want to know for sure. Jesus says, "Blessed are you who do not see and yet believe." Now, what does he mean by that? Is he saying that Thomas should not have asked this question?

Is he basically telling us that if Jesus said it, just somebody preaches it, just believe? Don't ask any questions. Is that what he means by that? If it's just stated, if somebody says the Bible says it, just believe it, and if you ask any questions, you're a doubter. Clearly, that's not what he means by that, because in Matthew 7, 7 through 8, it tells us to seek and to ask and to knock.

Again, whenever we study a text, and this is why we do inductive Bible study, what's the first thing that you have to understand about the text? It's another test, right? So if you don't know the answer to this, you need to come to the Bible lab today at 2 o'clock, okay?

The first thing you need to look at is context. Just like you're not going to read a letter and then go to page 3 and take out a paragraph and a sentence in that paragraph and try to dissect it. What does this mean? What does this mean? You have to understand it.

What did he mean by it in the context? So in the context of what Jesus is saying this to his disciples, remember, Jesus has been performing miracle after miracle after miracle, and Jesus very clearly stated to them that he was going to go to Jerusalem, he was going to be caught by the leaders, and then he was going to be crucified, and then he was going to be resurrected on the third day.

Jesus said that repeatedly over and over. In the Gospel of Mark, Mark actually says he made it very clear to them. So you have to understand, one, he's saying this to them because he's not saying don't ask questions. He said, "I've been telling you. I've been showing you, and yet you didn't believe." "I told you I was going to resurrect.

I've given you every proof that I was going to resurrect, and you still didn't believe until you came and saw me." So in the context, he's telling Thomas and the disciples because of what he revealed to them already. But the second meaning to us, he's not saying you shouldn't ask questions.

Clearly, that's not what he's saying. He's saying, just like he told John the Baptist, "Of all the men who were born of a woman, John the Baptist is the greatest, but in the kingdom of God, he's the least." He's referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.

As great as he is as a man, but to you and I, the new covenant, where the Holy Spirit is indwelling in us, he said he is the least in the kingdom of God. He told his disciples that you're seeing greater works, but after I leave, you will see much greater works.

You will do much greater works. So when he says those who do not see and believe, that's the word that he's referring to us. 99.999999% of all Christians have never seen Christ this way. There's a very small group of people at that particular time. In fact, the miracle of that time is that they didn't believe.

How did you see a man walk on water? How did you see a man get gold coins out of the mouth of a fish? How did you see a man cleanse leprosy, raise people from the dead, and then come back to life himself, and then say, "I don't believe"?

The question of that period is, how could you have not believed, considering all that you've seen? But he's referring to us, because most people are not going to be eyewitnesses of all of this. He's saying that the Holy Spirit, who indwells in us with the preaching of the word of Christ, is going to convict you of your sin, and he's going to radically transform you, and you will see the power of the cross in you.

What is foolishness to the world is the power of God. And he's saying, "Blessed are those "who are not here with you, "seeing all of this, and yet they believe." So he is telling us that we do need to seek, we do need to ask, we do need to knock.

Some of us are afraid to ask, because we might not like the answer. You know, we have enough Christianity, and this is about where we want to stay. We know enough about Christianity to come to church and participate in a community and give here and there, and have assurance that we're going to be in heaven.

And that's about enough. But if I ask more, if I get really convicted, that really this is it, that there is judgment for sin, there is heaven and hell, that this life is temporary, that all that we're working for is going to burn up, it's going to mean nothing.

And the more we are convicted, the more we're not going to feel comfortable in the life that we have created for ourselves. So some of us don't ask, don't seek, and don't knock, because we're afraid what's on the other side. Some of us don't want the door to be opened.

If you earnestly ask in prayer, "Lord, do you want me to pack up my bags and go overseas? Would you go if you said yes?" See, some of us don't want to ask that question, because we don't want the answer to that. We don't want that door to open.

He's not telling us not to seek. He's not telling us not to ask. He's not saying, "Blessed are you, don't ask any questions and you believe anyway." That's not what he's saying to Thomas. He wants us to diligently seek him. In fact, Thomas, the doubting Thomas, right? He went all the way to India.

So if you go to the southern tip of India, there's a monument created for him, because they believe that Thomas was the first one who brought the gospel to India. Now, just to give you a heads up, we set the date for our India trip in January, so I'm going to let you know, so those of you who've been asking.

But every time we go to India, especially now for me, in my mid-50s, when I was going in the 40s, I mean, it still was a hard trip, but it wasn't like today. Now when I go, because I've got back issues, I've got knee issues, I've got to go get acupuncture, I've got to get treatment, go to the doctor, because that's a 17-hour ride to Singapore and another five hours to Bangalore and another five, six hours to that place.

By the time I get there, I mean, my back is shot. And then by the time I come back, it takes a while for me to recover. And so it's a long trip. But we have all kinds of medicine, and then we come back, we can rest, and then most of the time we're in air-conditioned places, and we eat decent food, and it's physically grueling for that period, but we're able to come back, sleep on a nice bed.

But you have to remember, at this particular time, if somebody went to India, you went to die. You don't get on a boat to go to India from where they are and then say, "You know what? I'll be back next year." Every single one of these men who went out went with knowing that they aren't going to be able to come back.

This is not a 16-hour trip, two-day trip, or a month's trip, or a year trip. This was a lifelong journey. Doubting Thomas, the guy that we labeled, the guy who doubted, gave his life to bring the gospel all the way to India. James the Less. He's called the son of Alphaeus in our text, but in Mark 1540, he's called James the Less.

Can you imagine one of the apostles who's going to judge the 12 tribes of Israel in the eternal kingdom, his label is James the Less. The word "less" in Greek is "micros," where we get the term "micro," small. Some people think that that is in reference to his physical size, or it could be his age, or it could simply be that he was just a quiet, unassuming guy in the background.

Or maybe it's all of it. For whatever the reason, he's known as James the Less, to distinguish him from James the More, right? The one of the inner three. He's--you know what's interesting about James is he's called the son of Alphaeus, and Matthew in Mark 2:14 is also called son of Alphaeus.

Now, we don't know this for sure. We're just speculating, but Alphaeus may have been a common name, so maybe both of them, their father's name was Alphaeus. Some believe--again, this is all speculation-- that maybe Matthew and James were brothers. And Matthew was the well-known one because he's a tax collector.

And maybe James kind of wanted to separate from that identity. We don't know what the dynamic is, but I don't want to go too deep into it, but there's a possibility that they might be brothers, which makes sense because we have other brothers on the team. What's interesting is James' mother in Mark 16:1 is stated that this James the Less' mother was one of the women who went to the grave to prepare for Jesus' burial.

It says in Mark 16:1, "When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint him." Now, you have to--if you don't know who Salome is, you may automatically read that and think this is James the mother-- James and John's mother that came.

But James and John's mother's name is Salome. So they already mentioned Salome, so the James' mother here is referring to James the Less' mother, which means that there were at least three mothers. My guess is there are probably more, but at least three mothers that were traveling with Jesus, ministering to them.

And so when their sons decided to leave everything to follow Christ, the mothers also took up and left everything to help them, to do support work. So James was not simply an obscure person. He may have had another brother in there, and then at least we know for a fact that his mother was also traveling and doing ministry with them.

So he was not just some anybody. He was not somebody that could have easily been forgotten. He was a significant person. But he also gave his life preaching the gospel, and church tradition says that he was stoned. Simon the Zealot. All we know about Simon the Zealot is the title, Zealot, because there's nothing mentioned about him.

Now you have to understand, at that particular time, there's four distinct groups of Jews. You had the Pharisees, and all of them hated the Roman government. But the way the Pharisees approached it was if they kept the law and if they had enough righteousness, God would bless them, and by God's blessing, they're going to somehow overthrow the Roman government.

That was the Pharisees. That's why they kept the law meticulously, because if they didn't have enough righteousness, they would never be able to overpass this oppression from the pagans. The Sadducees were the liberals. They rejected the miracles. They rejected the resurrection, the angels. And so they had more of a political approach, that if we gain enough power, if we have enough people of influence, that we can get the favor of the Rome, and somehow we can change the destiny of our nation.

So that was the Sadducees. They were the ones who were rich. They were the aristocrats. They controlled the temple, and they were the majority ones in their senate. And then you had the Essenes, and the Essenes are never mentioned in the New Testament because they were out in the caves.

They're the guys who said, "You know what? I don't want to see evil. I don't want to hear evil. I don't want to do evil." So they went out into the cave. And so they're not even mentioned. And that was their approach. "All of this is pagan stuff. I'm just going to go, and we're going to preserve these scrolls." That's basically what they did.

And then you had the Zealots. Zealots carried a knife in their back pocket at all times. If you wanted to be a Zealot, you needed to commit to die. They made a vow that if there is anyone who is treasonous to the nation of Israel, that they would take out their dagger and stab them to death.

Not only were they willing to die, every Zealot had to commit all their family members. Because once they got caught, they know that they would come for their families. So committing to this, they had to commit the possibility that this would lead to not only their death, but their wife, their mother, their father, even their children.

So every Zealot was willing to sacrifice everything that he had. In fact, the very beginning of this movement started in Galilee, where Simon was from. There was a guy named the Judas of Galilee. He's mentioned in Acts 5.37. When Gamaliel came in defense of the apostles, after they give a gospel presentation, and they wanted to kill them, and Gamaliel is the one who stands up and saying, "You know, there was a guy named Judas of Galilee, the leader of the Zealots.

He had a movement." And so they were willing to fight the Romans because of the census tax. So every single person. And again, this is a tax that was just fixed. If you had five people in your family, you had to pay the tax for five people, and it was a set tax.

And they rebelled against that. They were willing to die, and that rebellion got suppressed. And that's what Gamaliel is referring to. So imagine if they were willing to kill, if they were willing to die for paying taxes to Romans, imagine having Matthew as a part of your traveling team.

I mean, he must have been tempted to take out that dagger and stab Matthew every time Jesus turned around. You know what I mean? Every time he turned around. Can you imagine? Not only that. Can you imagine the hatred that came to Simon because he was traveling with Matthew?

I mean, think about that. You know, in India, the reason why the Christians are being persecuted is because of nationalism. Because it's not specifically because they hate Christianity, because Christianity was brought in by the British who colonized them. And so now they have this national movement, and so they think foreign religion is a treasonous religion, so they go after Christians because you're selling out our country.

And so those of you guys who remember many years ago when we showed up in India, our pastors got beat up in front of us, and the reason why is because we didn't stand up on their national anthem. Of course we didn't know. There was a bunch of young men who were drinking, and they got really angry, about 15, 20 of them, and they got angry.

We had no idea why they were angry, and we looked up, and there was a cricket game, and I said, "Oh, it must be the national anthem." And sure enough, that's what it was. And then the pastor said, "Well, they don't know because they're foreigners, and then that's when they attack them.

Then it's your fault because you didn't teach them." And so they ended up beating them up. So can you imagine the zealots? Like, they were willing to kill and to die, and then to have Matthew traveling with them, and then the longer he traveled with them, how he must have been hated by his friends, by the other zealots.

As much as he was uncomfortable with Matthew, you could probably tell, "Well, then Simon needs to be killed." In fact, Simon eventually ends up taking the gospel to Egypt and to Persia. Again, if you know anything about Israel's history, the first oppressors to Israel were the Egyptians, and Persia was, again, one of those nations who suppressed them.

So if the zealots' main goal in life is to rebel against the oppressors, this is the last place a zealot would want to go to preach the gospel. Simon picked up his cross, went to Egypt, to Persia, and in the context of preaching the gospel, was martyred. And according to church tradition, it says he was sawn in half and he was the last one to preach the gospel.

This is Simon the zealot. And then we have Judas, the son of James. Judas, the son of James. And in John 14.22, not Iscariot. He's just not Iscariot. My guess is he was the last Judas that a parent named his son as a Christian. He was the last Christian Judas in the last 2,000 years.

That's my guess. We have some kids whose name is Jude, and if you ask them, they say, "Oh, it's Judah." I've never heard a mom say, "It's Judas." Not that Judas, but the good Judas. So he was probably the last Christian Judas in the last 2,000 years. Judas, in Matthew 10.3, is called Thaddaeus.

Thaddaeus. And Thaddaeus, again, we don't know if this applies directly, but it literally means breast child or heart child. And most commentators believe that that's just another way of saying mama's boy. So we don't know exactly if that's what it means, but again, I think a negative way to put that name is, "Oh, he's a mama's boy.

He's a breast child." Maybe a child that was had late in life, and he was kind of babied. We don't know. We're just speculating based upon his name. A positive spin to his name is the one who is loved. So next time somebody calls you mama's boy, he says, "Yes, I am loved.

What about you?" And that's about all we know about him. But what we do know is he was a loved child to someone, maybe a brother, maybe a husband. But him, we know nothing about him. But he also gave his life preaching the gospel. Every single one of these men, every single one of these 12 men, gave their life preaching the gospel.

They were superstars in their generation. The church that you and I belong to now is because they purchased it through their blood. What Christ did, they took it, and they established the church by their own blood. As Christ purchased us, their blood was the foundation upon the church. They were superstars of their generation.

I'll bet you in that first generation that there wasn't a single person who didn't know any of them. Every single one of them were superstars, and yet today, we have no idea who they are. So typically, when we name our children, I know now we try to stay away from the names because we have enough Peter Kims, Peter Lees, or James Lees.

And we have so many of the same names repeated over and over again. So we go to other names, Hezekiah or biblical names. But normally, when we choose names, it's because we're choosing names of great men or great women in the Bible. But rarely, we're going to say, "Oh, James the Less." We're going to name you the James the Less or Thomas the Doubter or Simon the Zealot or Judas the Other One.

But 99.999999% of us are just like them, are just like them. The church for 2,000 years have been built on people who gave their lives with no recognition. People don't know their names. Most people who sacrifice the most in the kingdom of God, when they die, there's no great funeral.

There's no great books that they wrote. There's no mega churches that they're leaving behind. There's faithful men and women who picked up their cross, lived faithful lives, and then just went home. We have a tendency to fill our minds with heroes and the people that we put on pedestals, and we want to be like them.

We want to do the work. We want to be used just like they were used. But the majority of us, 99.999999% of us, are going to be like James the Less, Simon the Zealot, Judas, not the Iscariot. Mark 10:28, Peter says, "We have left everything to follow you." That's every single one of them.

Every single one of them left everything. Hebrews 11.33-40, the heroes of the faith, it says, "Who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, but foreign armies to fight, women received back their dead by resurrection." And typically, we look at that and say, "Yes, because of faith, God blessed them.

Look at all these powerful things that they did." But the second part is actually longer than the first part. "And others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others experienced mocking and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with a sword.

They went about in sheepskin and goldskin, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. Men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, 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." Among the heroes of the faith, some were doubters, just like us.

Among the heroes of the faith, some were timid, just like us. Some struggled with anger, just like us. Some were very involved with politics, some didn't want anything to do with politics. Some were outspoken, some stayed in the background. Some we know a lot about, some we have no idea outside of their name.

Some had their mothers travel with them, some their families left them because of their faith. Some were single, some were married, some wrote great letters. Some we have no idea even exactly where they died, but every single one of them heard the voice of God when they died, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." You know, in Arlington Cemetery, you have all these graves of soldiers, but they have this one grave called the grave of the unknown soldiers.

And that monument was set up in World War I to commemorate all the soldiers who died fighting for this country, but yet their bodies were never claimed. So either they didn't know or they couldn't find them, they couldn't connect the dots. So as a result, you have hundreds, thousands of men and women who died fighting for this country.

And in order to commemorate them, in order to honor them, they set up that monument. In that monument, they have four bodies. They have one from World War I, one from World War II, one from Vietnam and Vietnam War, and one from the Korean War. Sorry, Korean War and then Vietnam War.

They were heroes like everybody else. And just like there were heroes who fought for this country, there are heroes of the faith, majority of them you do not know. In fact, every single one of us, in due time, we're going to be forgotten. How many of you know the names of your great-grandparents?

Don't raise your hand. Don't show up. My guess is the majority of you don't even know their name. Not your grandparents, but great-grandparents. If you do know their name, when did they get married? What was their profession? What did they do for a living? How did they meet? How old were they?

What were their likes and dislikes? You don't know. In fact, I would say, taking it one step even further, how many of you know your grandparents? Don't raise your hand. I know there's going to be a little bit more. But do you know anything other than the fact that they're your parents' parents?

What are their names? How did they get married? What are their backgrounds? What was their profession? I'm going to go even further than that. Sometimes I ask you how old your parents are and you don't know. They're somewhere between 56 or 66. I'm not sure. So you know. You know your parents.

Of course you know your parents, but you don't know the details of how they met, what their likes or dislikes, what their interest is, what's their favorite food. You don't know. You know a lot about your friends, but you don't know that much about your parents. And oftentimes you don't even think about it until they're gone.

Now the point of this is not to depress you, because it is depressing, but the point of it is, in 50 to 70 years, every single one of us is going to be forgotten. In 50 to 70 years, no one on this earth is going to know your name.

In 50 to 70 years, we're going to disappear and everything that mattered so much during this lifetime, no one's going to remember. No one's going to remember. And to think the kind of energy and the heartache and the money that we pour into making this short period of life significant, when we know just in time, in the next generation, they're not even going to remember our names.

Shouldn't our priority be in the eternal? Whether we live a long life or short life, that we make sure we fight the good fight, the eternal fight. As Paul says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." Every single one of these disciples lived their life in this way. We don't remember them. We don't know who they are. But every single one of them were heroes of the faith that brought the gospel to us. I pray that you and I would have a proper perspective of what it is that we have in Christ.

That this short period of life that we have been given, whether people recognize us or not, whether we are young, whether we are old, whether we are fruitful or we are not fruitful, that the fight that God has called us to fight is a good fight. That we would be faithful so that more than anything else in life, that when we die, that we would hear the same words that these men heard, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I pray that our perspective, and when we think of these heroes of the faith, that we would remember these people as well.

Let's pray. Let's take a few minutes as our worship team comes up to lead us in praise. To focus our attention. If we have been entangled with the things of this world, in the context of eternity, it really doesn't matter. To really come before the Lord and ask, "Lord, help me to be anchored in Christ.

Help me to be anchored on the eternal." Again, that we would focus our heart on the things that truly matter. That we would see these heroes of the faith, that we would be men and women, that follow Christ, proclaim Christ, live for Christ, and eventually die for Christ. Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.

(Prayer is sung) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) (Piano music) Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (Piano music) I have the song. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. (Piano music) The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back, no turning back. (Piano music) (Piano music) No, don't go with me, still I will follow.

No, don't go with me, still I will follow. No, don't go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back. (Piano music) My cross I'll carry, my cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus. My cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus. My cross I'll carry, till I see Jesus.

No turning back, no turning back. I have decided, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Let's pray. 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will order to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Heavenly Father, I pray, Father God, that this would be our confession when it is time for us to go to be with you. Help us, Lord God, to live each day with our mind and our heart and our lives, ready, Father God, to be called, to pick up our cross, to deny ourselves, to follow the pattern of the hero, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, that we would remember your blessing upon them without name, without glory.

Help us, Lord God, to shine Christ wherever you send us this week. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God sent his Son, they called him Jesus. He came to love, he left for dead, he lived and died. To buy my poor will, an empty grave is there to hold my Savior's lips.

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen.