>> All right, good morning. Welcome to Breen Community Church. Let me jump into the announcements before we get started. First of all, today's child safety training class is taking place in the youth room at 1 PM. So if you are in that class, please head over there by 1 PM and that class will start.

Church cleaning day is next Saturday, so if you are able to come, we encourage you to sign up for that. And they'll give you instructions when you get here from 9 to 12 this coming Saturday. Women's Tea Time is happening in October 14th. Members meeting on Sunday, October 15th at 1.30 PM.

That's not next Sunday, but Sunday after that. And we're going to be having Church Service Team Fair. So if you come to that, you'll be able to find out more about what's going on in church and how you can serve. And then Thanksgiving Regional Dinners. If you are able to host one at your home, please sign up for that and they'll give you instructions and place people in your group.

And then those of you who are going to attend and participate, make sure you sign up for that early so that we can assign you in the area that you're able to go to. We have an announcement from our college pastor, so Pastor Nate's going to come up. Hi everyone.

My name is Nathan. I'm the college pastor of this church. We normally have a new visitor kind of lunches on a quarterly-ish basis. But once a year, we have a welcome lunch just for the college students. So that's going to be next week. So next week, we'll be meeting right after this service, after second service in that youth room over there.

And all are welcome to come. If you have any questions about the church, we're going to have a lot of our members there ready to meet you. If you want to meet people in general, that's a good place to come because we know the church has gotten a little bit larger.

We're going to be explaining the history of the church, some of the things going on around the church, how to get involved in membership class and different things like that. So if you have any questions, you can direct them towards me and then any other college student that's sitting around you.

Thanks. All right. Let me pray for the offering. And again, if you did bring a physical offering, there's a physical box as you're on the way out. Okay? Let me pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for the grace that we are aware of, the grace that you cover us with, Lord God, that we may continue to persevere in our faith.

I pray that today as we've come to seek you, to worship you, that you would search our hearts and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us, that our worship, Lord God, would be sanctifying, would be pleasing in your sight. I pray, Father, that you would help us that even in this giving that we would give cheerfully and that it may be multiplied for your use for 30, 60, and hundredfold.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Each week as we gather together, we come together with joy and with hope. And I'm reminded that this hope is something that the world without Christ does not have. And as believers, our hope comes only in trusting the one who has died and crushed the curse of death by his resurrection.

And so we as a gathered church, we can sing hallelujah because Christ assures us of a glorious future. So as we sing this next song, it's important for us to reflect on the resurrection and how these truths give us hope in the darkest storms. Whether it's sickness, fear, or suffering, hardships afflict us all.

And yet our hope remains. And even in the darkness, we can sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. So would you please stand with us as we sing this next song together. There is a hope in life and death. Christ alone, Christ alone.

What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong. Who holds our days within His hand? What comes apart from His command? And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand. Oh say hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh say hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death.

The truth of hope. We've been called the troubled soul. God is good, God is good. Where is His grace and goodness known? In our pain, in timorous blood. Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trail? Who sends the waves that bring us down? Unto the shore the rock of Christ.

Oh say hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh say hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. To the grave what will we sing? Christ He lives, Christ He lives. And what reward will heaven bring? Everlasting life within. There we will rise to meet the Lord.

Then sin and death will be destroyed. And we will feel the endless joy. When Christ is ours forevermore. Oh say hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh say hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Oh say hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh say hallelujah.

Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. I will trust my Savior Jesus when my darkest thoughts befall. Trust Him when to simply trust Him seems the hardest thing of all. I will trust my Savior Jesus, trust Him when my strength is small.

For I know the shield of Jesus is the safest place of all. Jesus, only Jesus, whom we trust You are alone. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be at ease. I will trust my Savior Jesus, He has shown His way is best. And I know the path is chosen, next to heaven, last to rest.

Jesus, only Jesus, whom we trust You are alone. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be at ease. On the cross, how it was seen, a King don't have ever trusting in the One who died for me. What could I bring, for Your gift is complete. So trust You, simply trust You, with every part of me.

On the cross, how it was seen, a King don't have ever trusting in the One who died for me. What could I bring, for Your gift is complete. So trust You, simply trust You, with every part of me. Jesus, only Jesus, whom we trust You more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever Yours.

Jesus, only Jesus, whom we trust You more and more. Jesus, only Jesus, may my heart be ever Yours. Amen. You may be seated. Alright, good morning. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 6. And I'll be reading from verse 20 to 26. Luke chapter 6, verse 20 to 26.

Again, reading out of the NASV. And turning his gaze toward his disciples, he began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and insult you and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets, but woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way." Let's pray. Father, we pray for illumination, a deepening understanding of your grace and love and your presence in our lives.

Help us, Lord God, to respond in your word, Father, that we would not just be hearers, but be doers. That we would be eager, Lord God, to receive and to apply. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As I mentioned, the beatitude that we are in this week, the more thorough version of it is in Matthew chapter 5.

And so, again, if you were in Matthew 5, we would just go down the list of what it says. But basically, the beatitude is the entrance into the kingdom of God. Right? So Jesus is talking about how he came to bring the kingdom. We talked about that last week, the kingdom of God, or the week before that.

And the beatitude is basically the gospel presentation. If you read that carefully about "Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger, thirst for righteousness." And basically, it goes down the list and that these are the characteristics of the new citizenship in the kingdom of God.

Luke's version is a summary of the beatitude that he gave. And basically, there's four things that he mentions here. But every single one of these things that he mentions is a complete overturn of what the world tries to work toward. We looked at that last week. "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." I mean, think about when we enter into this world, since we're little kids, we desire for ourselves, for our children, that they, at one point, will become wealthy.

And then, for Koreans, they have that "doljabi" thing, and then they grab different things, that this is what they're going to become. They're going to become a doctor, they're going to become a lawyer, they're going to become a businessman. And whatever it is, it's for the hope that at some point, our children will be blessed, and they'll have money, and they'll hopefully, by doing that, you'll be able to bless other people.

But the beatitude tells us, "Blessed are the poor." How often have you gone to a poor country thinking they are blessed? How often have you seen somebody who is struggling financially, and said, "Man, you're really blessed." We typically think of it the other way. If you win the lottery, you're blessed.

You got a good job, you're blessed. If you made some good judgments, and you bought the house at the right time, and it double-tripled, then you're really blessed. God really blessed you. But the values of the kingdom is not just different. It basically takes what the world pursues and values, and completely flips it upside down.

That whatever it is that before you met Christ that you are pursuing, it's not just a simple tweak that the gospel challenges us to pursue. It's complete metamorphosis, complete change. "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied." Today, the next two that he talks about goes even further than that.

He said, "Blessed are you who weep." "Blessed are you who weep, or those who mourn." This is not just talking about somebody who is sad, or something difficult happened in your life. This is uncontrollable weeping, crying. Somebody who is experiencing deep pain. He says, "You're truly blessed." Basically, again, we think that when somebody's home is filled with laughter and joy, it's like, "Man, you guys are so blessed.

Everybody is so happy in your home. You guys are so happy. There's joy." But here it says, "Blessed are those who weep." When Christians stand out different from the world more than any other time is when you're suffering. Because everybody knows how to rejoice. Good things happen to you.

You worked hard. You got a good grade. You prayed for a job, and you got the best job that you could possibly imagine. Everybody knows how to rejoice when good things happen. What differentiates us from the rest of the world is when we get squeezed. When suffering comes into our lives, when mourning comes into our lives, what comes out of that squeezing is what differentiates us from the rest of the world.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, it says, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep," asleep meaning those who died, "so that you will not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope." That's the difference. The difference between the suffering of the world and suffering of Christians is that we suffer, we mourn, we cry, but it says we have hope.

There's something beyond the suffering. If you've seen somebody who has no hope, suffering, all you can do is to be there. Distract them. Just distract them from their pain. You can be there. You can maybe provide some help, but it's temporary because there's no real hope outside of that.

We're just trying to share some of that suffering, to distract them so that they would forget the pain for a short period of time. But he says for Christians, we do not suffer like the rest of the world. He says we grieve, but we grieve in hope, knowing that at some point this grieving is going to end.

John 16, 28, it says, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation." In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world. He doesn't say he's going to save you from any kind of troubles.

He says you will have tribulation. As long as you live on this earth, you will have tribulation. But he says the hope that we have is that our Savior has overcome this world. We are not bound to the suffering of this world. It is temporary. Again, in Psalm 34, 15, "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saved those who are crushed in spirit." If you've ever experienced tremendous pain in your life, maybe you lost somebody that you loved.

Recently, for whatever reason, we've been having a lot of trials that are coming to our church, or members of our church, whether it's with children, or whether it's family members, mother, father. There's a lot of sorrow that has come in. If you've ever experienced pain as a Christian, you know exactly what Psalm 34, 15 means.

Not in theory, not in theology, but from your personal experience. What the promise of the presence of God means to you, personally. Not just a theological statement, not just a wishful thinking, but the actual presence of God when He says, "I am near to those who are brokenhearted." When you are weeping, and there is no consoling, there's no words, there's no friend, there's no family member that can take away that pain, when you sense the presence of God and His promise and what He has done.

The best that we can do is distract you, to temporarily cover over some of that pain. But the promise that Jesus makes is real, because He's the only one who can promise and actually carry it out. In the middle of your pain, I can say, "I'll be with you.

Call me when you need me. I'll come running if you need me." I can tell you that, but I can't guarantee that, because something else might happen in my life. I may not be here tomorrow. I may change my mind. Maybe something that you said bothered me, and I just changed my mind.

No amount of human comfort will bring satisfaction to somebody who is truly weeping and mourning. And He says, "God promises us that those who mourn in the kingdom of God, they will laugh." Revelation 21, verse 4 says, "And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.

The first things have passed away." I want to share three things that every Christian will experience, or should experience, in mourning and weeping. One, we mourn simply because we live in this fallen world. We experience pain like everybody else. We lose loved ones like everybody else. We have hardships like everybody else.

We sense rejection like everybody else. Disappointment. In Genesis 3, 16-17, it outlines that you will suffer in life. Every human being that is born in this world, because of the fall of man, you will suffer in life. He says to the woman who was created for the purpose of being a suitable helper, that she's going to bring child into this world and raise them in much pain.

She was meant to be a suitable helper, but they said that you're going to desire your husband, meaning you're going to desire to conquer your husband. There's going to be contention in the home. So you're going to experience the hardship of having a relationship with another sinner. And that, I don't know anybody who doesn't experience that.

Even the best of marriages, depending on when you ask them, they'll tell you how difficult it is to build a healthy marriage. And the Bible says this came as a result of our sins. To the men, he says, you will work night and day, toil all day, and at the end of it, you're going to experience, it's going to produce thorns and thistles.

And at the end of that, you're just going to die. From the dust you came, to dust you will go. Every human being is going to experience the hardship. At some point in your life, if not now, but at some point in your life, if you are working full time, you probably asked yourself, is this it?

You thought, maybe I should have been a pastor. They seem like they're having a lot of fun. Or maybe if I was a lawyer, I should have been a doctor. Or maybe if I'm a businessman, I should have been an engineer. I don't know anybody who wakes up in the morning thinking, the blessing of God is upon me this morning.

I get to go to work. Maybe there's one or two of you in here. Majority of you, it's the dread of like, I got to work, I got to do this, I got to labor, I got to pay the bills. Well, the Bible says that this is what you're going to experience.

That's not what God intended, but it says your labor and the frustration that comes from that labor is a direct result of the fall. That's what the Bible says. Every single human being that lives on this earth will experience the result of that fall. In Psalm 90, verse 8, it says, "As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years.

Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for soon it is gone and we fly away." For Christians, the hardest part of our existence is now. The hardest part of our life is now, because we're still in this flesh. And because we're living the ramification of the fall of mankind, and we're still part of that, until we're fully delivered in our glorified body.

So for a Christian, no matter how hard, no matter how difficult it may be, we struggle and we mourn in the context of the hope that Christ will bring. That's why we eagerly wait for Him. We eagerly wait for Him, because life is hard. If life was easy, it'd be very difficult.

What are you looking forward to when heaven is already here? But heaven is not here. You know it's not here. But we don't suffer like the rest of the world. Though we suffer, though we cry, though we mourn, there is hope for Christians. And that's what He means. "Blessed are those who mourn now." And that mourning will turn to laughter when Christ comes.

The second reason why Christians mourn, we mourn because of our sins. Typically, we would normally think that the blessing of God is rejoice, laugh, be thankful. And yes, the Bible does talk about that. But there are instances where He calls us to do exactly the opposite. In James 4, 9, it says, "Be miserable." That's not my words.

That's the Bible. I'm reading the Bible. It says, "Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom." That doesn't sound like the gospel. The gospel is rejoicing, life, abundance. God loves you just the way you are. There's nothing you can do to make Him happier with you because you've been covered by the blood of Christ.

And yes, there's a part of what we understand in the gospel for that to be true. But the Bible also calls us to experience this life. He calls us to repentance. The path to life isn't just raising your hand and walking down the aisle. The path to true rejoicing is the path of repentance.

And when we repent, when we truly repent, and we meet Christ, He says life is at the other side of the cross. So He calls all Christians to repent. That if you are rejoicing while you are compromised, if you are seeking life while you are toying with sin, if you think something is off because I just don't feel good, and you're trying to fix how you feel, but you're not trying to fix what you're doing that is causing that, all you are seeking is a superficial smile on your face without the blessing of God.

God calls us to mourn when we are sinning. You're not supposed to rejoice if you're caught in sin. You're not supposed to go and laugh when you have unconfessed sins. In 1 Corinthians 5, 2, it says, "You have become arrogant," because Paul is addressing the Corinthian church. Because of their spiritual pride, they're comparing who's better than others, and it divided the church.

And as the leadership was divided, they were allowing all kinds of sins to come into the church. And there's this one particular sin that he points out. There's a young man who is having physical, sexual relations with his mother, it says. Now, most commentaries will twist that a little bit and say, "Oh, maybe it's the mother-in-law." No, not mother-in-law, sorry, stepmother, right?

Most commentators will say, "Oh, he married another person, and that's why they're able to have physical relations," and because they can't fathom the sin that is so grotesque that this was happening. But the Bible doesn't specify, right? It could be that, but the Bible doesn't specify. All he says is this sin is so grotesque that not even the pagans are practicing this, and you're allowing this in your church?

And this is what he says, 1 Corinthians 5, 2, "You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst." So he writes a harsh letter. "Shall I come to you with a whip?" he says. He's going to bring judgment.

If you don't deal with this sin, and this is where he says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" In other words, if you don't deal with this, if you sweep this under the rug, God will bring judgment upon your community.

That's what Paul says. One of the harshest, most difficult letters that he writes. The follow-up letter in 2 Corinthians 7, 8-10, this is what he says, "For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it." Let me stop right there.

Did he regret it or did he not regret it? Which is it? He said, "I regret it, though I didn't regret it, but I did regret it." I think this is so perfect because this is exactly how we feel when we discipline our kids. Paul's just being honest. He loves this church.

He said, "I regretted it because I caused pain, but I didn't regret it." If you ask a parent, any parent who disciplines a child, and you inflict pain upon that child, he said, "I didn't regret it, but I did regret it." I think it's just an honest expression of how Paul felt when he had to write that letter rebuking them.

"For I see that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while." But he says, "I now rejoice, not that you are made sorrowful, but that you are made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you are made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret." Let me say that again. "For sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." When we try to fill our lives with superficial laughter, superficial joy, eventually it leads to regret.

You know, fill our lives, because we think somehow that if there's sadness in our life, for whatever the reason, that this is not good. We try to protect ourselves. We try to protect our children. We don't want our children to be sad. We don't want our children to suffer.

We don't want, I mean, we don't want our children to experience the suffering that we've suffered, whatever that may be. But anybody who raises children knows that sooner or later, you come to a point, you realize you don't have control over that. As much as you and I are living in a fallen world, so are they.

And because of that, every suffering that we've suffered, they will also at some point experience that suffering. The pain that you've experienced, they will also experience that pain. But the problem of having resources like you and I do, is that we think that if we manipulate the circumstance, if we fill them and surround them with friends and family and activity, that we can prevent somehow the suffering that they will experience.

As a result of that, we may be raising children who have no idea how to endure suffering. I mentioned to you what a pansy is, right? I know some of you guys may be offended by that word, but pansy is just a plant. It's just a flower that withers of any sign of difficulty.

Pansy will die if you don't give it enough sunlight. Pansy will die if you give too much sunlight. A pansy will die if you water it too much, if you don't water it enough, if the ground isn't tilled, if you don't pay attention, if it's in the sun too long.

If anything, that is a pansy just dies. If you look outside, we have snake plants outside. Not the prettiest. Pansies are pretty nice looking, but they die. But the snake plants, not the prettiest, but they will not die. From our past experience, our pastors are not good at taking care of plants.

Every plant that we were responsible for at some point died. So we came to the conclusion that we have to, only plants that are going to survive in our hands are the ones that we can't kill. Imagine living in a culture where we are convinced that laughing and having fun and joy is the purpose of life.

And we try so hard to prevent any kind of sorrow. And as a result of that, even repentance is rejected. When a church or the Bible study or preaching causes somebody to feel guilty, it's like, "That's legalism. If I feel guilty, that's your fault." The church is actually advertising, "If you come, you're going to feel uplifted.

You're going to be encouraged." And so the call to repentance has been dying down. But the Bible calls us to repent. He says, "Even though I regret it for a little while, I'll call you to sorrow." He said, "Now I rejoice, not that you are made sorrowful, but that you are made sorrowful to the point of repentance." And at the end, he says, "Leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." Third and finally, we mourn because of the suffering of others.

If you really want to understand the heart of God, not just the mind of God, not just the letter of God, if you really want to understand the heart of God, ask God to teach you to learn to mourn for other people's pain. That he would open your eyes so that you can understand why he sent his only begotten son.

There is no Christian, no matter how well things are going, how obedient your children are, no matter how well you're taking care of financially, that we have no cause to mourn. You and I are living in a fallen world where even the richest of billionaires at one day will be judged.

Even the best athlete will one day be judged. I remember years ago when Magic Johnson, who was at the top of his career, came out and said he had AIDS. And that he had to retire. Just the morning that came upon the sports world as a Lakers fan. It was shocking.

One of the most shocking news outside of Kobe passing away. But I remember people talking about how tragic it is that he can't play basketball. How tragic it is that he had AIDS and his career was cut short because he had AIDS. But in the midst of that, I thought something was strange.

That even the Christians were concerned more about his basketball career than his salvation. That even if he played out and he was declared to be the greatest player to have ever lived, and became a multi-billionaire, and he lived to a ripe old age of 100, at the end of that is judgment.

For Christians to value what the world values is completely inconsistent with what we profess to believe. Learning to mourn for other people's suffering is fellowship with Christ. Because the only reason why Jesus suffered is because he placed himself in that position. In Ecclesiastes 7, 2-4 it says, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting." Because that is the end of every man and the living takes it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter. Think about how mind-blowing that is. Sorrow is better than laughter. You ever hear that from any other place? You ever hear that from any other book of wisdom? That sorrow is better than laughter. Only reason why somebody can say that is because there's something better coming after that.

It's not sorrow in itself, but it's what sorrow produces. It says, "Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be happy. The mind of the wise is the house of mourning, while the mind of the fools is the house of pleasure." You and I live in the context of much suffering.

Maybe you don't know it. Maybe your life has been smooth sailing. Maybe you haven't wept in a while. Maybe you have memory of it when you were young or you see other people weeping. And you kind of see that and say, "Thank God that's not happening to me. Thank God my family is safe.

Thank God my children are taken care of." But if you really want to understand the heart of God, pray that God would open your eyes and see the world the way God sees the world. Pray that God would soften your heart, that you would weep for the lost, like you weep for your children, like you weep for your family members and your close friends.

That God would open your eyes to see the suffering of mankind, even the ones who had the greatest of life. At the end of it, it says, "Will come judgment." If you want to understand the heart of God, why He did what He did, ask God to open your eyes and soften your heart.

I remember years ago, there was this young girl. We were talking about the suffering of the world and sex trafficking and poverty and how we need to be a light in this world. I remember one of the most honest confessions that I've ever heard. She was praying and asking for forgiveness for being so callous.

I asked her, "What's going on? What are you confessing?" She said, "I remained ignorant on purpose." It's not that she didn't know before. She knew people were suffering. You hear it. How can you not know? But she said, "I didn't want to know because if I took a close look at what was happening, I don't know if I can handle it." She said she would hear it in the background.

She would hear it in the sermons. It was in the background, but she never really paid much attention to it. But when she finally did, she realized how self-centered her life was. She confessed. She said, "I repent. I repent of my ignorance because I chose it on purpose." Oftentimes, we don't know about the suffering of others because I've got enough things to worry about.

I've got enough concerns. You can understand the mind of God, but you will never understand the heart of God. What would cause a holy God, perfect in existence, to send His only begotten Son to die for people who do not deserve it while they are in rebellion? What would cause God to do such a thing?

Was it a logical thing that He did? Was it a moral thing that He did? What compelled Him to do such a thing? Did He sit down and calculate that this must be done for this reason? No. The Scripture says that He had compassion. He had compassion. That's why when we see Jesus in front of Lazarus' tomb, we don't understand.

You went there knowing that He's going to die, knowing that you're going to raise Him, and yet at the presence of His tomb, with a friend who is dead, He was weeping like any other human being would. He's going into Jerusalem. He knows that judgment is coming upon them.

He knows why He came to do what He did. He predicted all of that, and yet He wept over Israel. He was moved for them. He mourned for them. The only reason the Scripture gives us why He did what He did was because He mourned for us. He mourned for us.

He wept for us. And so when Jesus calls us to follow Him, it is not just the steps that we're supposed to take. It's not just the path that we're supposed to take. If we don't understand His heart, you won't understand His words either. If you don't understand what compelled them to come, they will never be enough to compel you to go.

We mourn because we live in a fallen world, and there's suffering all around us, and even the richest of people are in dire need of the mercy of God. Fourth and finally, it says, "Blessed are you when men hate you." Now, that would be enough, but He goes even further than that.

They ostracize you. Think about it. Ever since we were little kids, we tried so hard to fit in. You want to be part of the cool kids. You want to wear the right stuff, and you have to have the hair a certain way. You want to join the sports team, and you don't want to be ostracized.

So that desire to want to be accepted and loved by people is innate in us, and it causes us to do weird things. It causes us to cut our hair a certain way, wear our pants a certain way, drive certain things, try new things, all because we want to be accepted.

Nobody wants to be ostracized. Nobody wants to be hated. Innately, inside of us, we avoid, like a plague, being ostracized. That's why it's so hard for us to do anything and say anything. You may be perfectly fine here, but then all of a sudden you go to work, and everybody wears a hat, or they wear certain shoes, and all of a sudden you feel this pressure, and automatically it starts to change your behavior.

But blessed are you when they hate you, they ostracize you, they insult you. It's weird, right? I think every Christian is weird by nature. Aren't you? You're weird. You're a bunch of weirdos. What you believe is weird. Jesus came from the dead. You worshipping a guy who was crucified on the cross, you believe that?

You don't believe in evolution? Bunch of weirdos. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you do everything to get more money, you weirdo? Why are you giving a portion of your hard-earned money to the church, you bunch of weirdos? Are you already tired working 40, 60, some of you 80 hours a week, and then you come to church and you clean up the church?

For free? No one's paying you to do that? You bunch of weirdos. You're babysitting kids without pay every week? Weirdos. Everything we do is weird. If you don't understand why we do it, if there isn't joy, if there isn't salvation in Christ, if the Holy Spirit is not working in you, what we are doing is weird.

It's like, "Oh, hey, we're going to go clean up the church next week. Everybody come out. We're going to sweep. We're going to clean the toilets." We had a brother today who was fixing a toilet. How much did he get paid? If we had a plumber come out here and do that for us, that's minimum $200, $300, just every time a toilet breaks, $200, $300.

Somebody's car breaks, somebody's picking up people. Everything that you do is weird. I remember when we used to go out to China, we had some of the parents complaining because they didn't understand. "Are you going over there and teach English for free? You're spending thousands of your own money to go to a country where you're uncomfortable, you don't speak the language, and you're going to teach English to a bunch of people who don't know you for free?" They couldn't understand.

You bunch of weirdos. To the world, the more we look like Christians, the more weird we are. And so we get into danger when we try to avoid that like a plague. The very nature of who God called us to be stands out like a sore thumb because we're light.

Light and darkness cannot exist together. Either you will influence the darkness and light will be turned on, or you will avoid the darkness so that it will remain dark, but you can't have it together. One will overcome the other, period. He says, "Everything that we are called to do is to go against the tide." There's a saying that even a dead dog can swim with the tide.

Okay? Think about that. Even a dead dog can swim with the tide because you don't need to do anything. Only a living dog will swim against the tide. Only one who is living and has the Holy Spirit inside of us, working, changing, challenging, and sanctifying will even make an effort to swim against the tide.

It's very easy to conform. It's very easy to do what everybody else does. It's very easy to be liked. Just don't be a jerk. When you go to work, don't be a jerk. On somebody's birthday, bring a cake. Bring enough for everybody. Everyone wants to take them out to lunch.

It's not that hard to be liked. If you're not liked in this world, you need to change something. Right? But it's very difficult to stand with Christ when everything is flowing the other direction. But he says, "You are blessed because you have found true treasure in Christ." John 15, 20-21, "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." He said, "A person who is living his whole life trying to avoid suffering will eventually avoid Christ himself." If you go where he goes, and he's headed toward suffering and rejection, you can clap for him.

You can praise him. You can thank him. But you can't follow him. Because if you follow him, if they persecuted your master, they're going to persecute you too. And that's why the scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 3, 12, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Will be persecuted.

You know, the current day statistic is 1 in 8 in the world, 1 in 8 Christians in the world is facing some sort of persecution. 1 in 6 in Africa is being persecuted. 2 in 5 in Asia practice their Christian faith in the midst of intense persecution. 2 in 5 in Asia.

That's why right now the world mission is concentrated in Asia because there's so much opposition. But in the context of opposition, the churches are being strengthened. And the people who are being persecuted, who are hated and ostracized, who are having a hard time feeding their children, they're the ones who are advancing the gospel in this area.

The people who are living their life and every decision that they make is to make their life easier, we're just in the stands applauding them. But we don't know the joy that comes with walking with Christ, suffering with Christ. Blessed are those, blessed are those who rejoices, who suffer for his name's sake.

He says, Acts 14, 22, "Strengthening the souls of the disciples, we encourage them to continue in the faith, saying, 'Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.'" Through many tribulations. And then, a passage in John 16, 2, "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." You know what that means?

Primary opposition to the gospel is within the church. As much as we say the atheists, and as much as we say the politics, and the school systems, and all of these things are in opposition to the gospel, but the greatest opposition to the gospel are false Christians. The greatest opposition who actually hate us-- I mean, from your own personal experience, right?

Are the atheists the ones who hate you? Are the Buddhists the ones who hate you? Are they the ones who are in your house debating with you? What kind of a person are you? I remember years ago I was out in UCI, and they asked me to speak, you know, preach the gospel.

It was like an all-campus gathering where they were getting non-Christians to come to hear the gospel. And I was preaching, and in the preaching I shared regularly on campus at UCI sharing the gospel. Probably about twice a week I was on campus sharing the gospel. One of the leaders came up to me, offended.

He said, "Hey, Pastor Peter, why do you do that?" He's like, "You mean evangelize?" He said, "No, go out on the street and share the gospel." Because Jesus said, right? And he said--this is literally what he said--he said, "You make us look bad." That's what he said. He said that the non-Christians are going to think we're weird.

That you are out there trying to share the gospel with people. He said, "You make us look bad." And I remember thinking, "This guy's a leader." That you make me look bad. You make other Christians look bad. The primary opposition to our faith are either nominal Christians, who may not be Christians, or liberal Christians, who we know for sure they're not Christians.

They are the ones who will oppose you. They are the ones who will ostracize you. They are the ones who will hate you. The ones who preach the false gospel, they are the ones who will ostracize you, slander you. Because the type of Christianity that they want to build, the type of church that they want to build, we stand in their way.

Paul, when he gives his credential for his apostleship, I want you to look at what he says. The whole letter of 2 Corinthians is written to defend his apostleship, because they didn't like what he said in 1 Corinthians. So the people who are offended, they say, "That guy's not an apostle, he's a latecomer." "I remember that guy used to come and try to kill us, and all of a sudden, now he's coming and rebuking us.

Who is he?" Maybe he's not a true apostle. And this is how he defends his apostleship. "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as insane." And then he says, "I more so, in far more labors, in far more imprisonment, beaten times, without number, often in danger of death.

Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes." You know what that means? That number 39? Because they deemed if you get whipped 40 times, you'll die. So 39 is the harshest punishment that you can get without a death sentence. And he says, "Five times." Can you imagine what Apostle Paul's back must have looked like?

Can you imagine? 39 times, five separate times he was whipped to the point of death. "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 have been on frequent journeys, in dangers of rivers, dangers of robbers, dangers of my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers in the sea, dangers among false brethren." His whole life was lived in danger.

"I have been labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, apart from such external things. There is a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches, who is weak without my being weak, who is led into sin without my intense concern." Who would follow him?

Who would follow him? If the gospel was presented by this man, "Follow me as I follow Christ." He said, "Follow me as I follow Christ, as I go to Orange County, right? Take care of my children, the bills are paid. Follow me as I follow Christ." Oh, that looks good.

You know, Christianity in China, part of the reason why it was flourishing when it was open, was because Americans came representing money. So a lot of the students thought that if they became a Christian, that they would be blessed like the Americans, that they would have money. So if we follow these people, we'll have the privilege that they have.

So I remember talking to an underground church leader, and he said that the doctrine that is spreading like wildfire is the health and wealth gospel, Kenneth Copeland. He said they were using that material, Kenneth Copeland. Kenneth Copeland is one of the key health and wealth gospel guys, and I asked him, "What percentage of the underground church is being taught with this material?" And he said, "I don't know the exact number, but it's huge." It's huge.

They're embracing Christianity because they think that if they follow Christ, that their life would look like ours. They'll have money, privilege, safety, bless our country, be able to do what we want to do. But who would follow this? Who would follow if this man said, if he brought the gospel, and he said, "If you want to follow Christ, follow me, and here's my credential." And yet, that's exactly what Jesus said.

"If you want to come after me, you also pick up your cross and deny yourself and come after me." The Christianity that you and I have accepted and created, and sometimes even propagate, doesn't look like the gospel in the Bible. It doesn't look like the gospel that Jesus preached.

It doesn't look like the gospel that Paul preached. He called us to suffer with him. In fact, this is one of my favorite passages in Galatians. Paul ends the letter to the Galatians by saying, Galatians 6, 17, "From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus." His credential was his scars.

Was his suffering. Was his beating. Hungry and thirsting. He said, "If you want to test me to see if I'm a true follower of Christ, I bear on my body the marks of Jesus Christ. As he suffered, I suffered. As he was rejected, I was rejected. As they hated him, they hated me." How much of our experience in our walk with God is because we try to create a Christianity without suffering?

We try to live our life without mourning. We want to raise our children where they're not going to experience the crying and weeping that we see around us. And as a result of that, what ends up happening? A church filled with pansies. Yeah. I'm talking about the plant. A church filled with pansies that wither.

Wither with the weather? Wither because people don't like me? Wither because it's too far? Wither because it's too early? Wither because somebody didn't invite me to a party? Wither because we don't have a certain program? Wither because we don't have people our age? A church that has been raised without understanding that suffering for Christ is our sanctification.

Now, I remember giving this message years ago as a youth pastor. And one of the girls after that was convicted and she came up and asked for prayer. And she said, "Can you pray for me that God will bring suffering in my life?" Right? I said, "You don't need to ask for suffering.

You don't want that." She said, "I don't understand. You said that we should embrace it. You said that we're blessed." I said, "But you don't need to ask for suffering." I'm going to pray that there will be weeping and mourning in my life. "Don't pray for that. You don't want God to answer that." Then how do we experience this?

Be obedient. Be obedient. You don't need to ask for extra suffering. You don't need to ask for extra mourning. If you follow Christ, if you follow the footsteps of Christ, suffering will come. If you say what He says, rejection will come. If you do everything He tells you to do, hardship will come.

You don't need to ask for extra. Just do what He tells us to do. Go where He tells us to go. Say what He tells us to say. And let me say this with utmost confidence. The greatest place of joy in life is at the center of the will of God.

When He invites us to life, it's not superficial smile that we put on our face by filling any kind of void that we have with something that's going to make us happy for the moment, whether it's watching TV or movies or going somewhere or eating something or hanging out at Disneyland.

Right? Like just superficial momentary happiness. And as long as we feel, as long as we don't have reasons to mourn, we think things are good. But what it's producing, what it's producing, and I would tell you right now, I mean, let me give you something, you know, in confession.

After raising four kids, you know, now that we're experimented with the three, and then now we have the fourth one, everything that we learned, right, that we didn't do perfectly, natural instinct as a parent is to provide what's best for the kids. I don't want them sad. I don't want them not to fit in.

If the other kids have things, I don't want them going to school and being with the kids and being a weird kid, doesn't have the right shoes and doesn't have the right haircut, doesn't have the games and the phone that other kids have. And so our natural instinct is we don't want them to be ostracized.

After years looking back at it now, how much of that instinct hurts the kids? Because we don't want to see them suffer. We don't want them hurt. And as a result of that, they don't know how to hurt. They don't know how to suffer. If we're not careful, the best thing that we can do for our children is to walk with Christ faithfully and have them follow you on that path.

That's the best thing that you can do for your children. Walk faithfully in following Christ, and whatever comes with that, let them follow you on that path. Blessed are those who are poor. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who weep. Blessed are those who are rejected in this world.

For they shall find satisfaction in Christ. Let's pray. We're going to open up the communion table. And again, I want to remind everyone that the communion table is for baptized believers in the church. We ask that you would come up, get your elements, and then go back to your seats.

If you have unconfessed sins, this is the time that you want to confess and ask for forgiveness. If you have not been baptized, we ask that you would stay in your seats and come talk to one of the leaders. If you have never confessed your faith in Christ and you don't know him, we ask that you would remain in your seat and come to the welcome table.

If you have any questions, to think about anything that you've heard, that you want further explanation or understanding, we welcome you to come and talk to us. And for the rest of you to come with ready hearts. The Bible warns us not to participate in an unworthy manner. An unworthy manner is somebody who doesn't recognize the weight of what we do.

We're coming into the presence of God, proclaiming what he has done, receiving and celebrating his grace. And so I'm going to pray for us. I'm going to read this text and I'm going to pray for us and open up the communion table. And so one by one, when you're ready, come down.

And we do have, again, for those of you who struggle with gluten-free, you want to go to that side because that's there. 1 Corinthians 11, 23, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread.

When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.'" Father, as we open up this communion table, I pray that you would help us to reflect upon ourselves, where we are with you now. Help us, Lord God, to apply your grace, your mercy, your righteousness, Lord God, into our lives through the blood of Christ.

Help us to be humbled, those who are proud. Help us to be lifted up, Lord God, those who are mourning and in difficult circumstances. May your grace and your grace alone be sufficient for this table. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The community table is going to be closed in a minute.

So if you haven't come up, we invite you to come now. The community table will be closed. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. This is my body given for you. This is the cup that holds the blood of a new covenant. This is forgiveness, simple and true.

This is the way that I have made for you. Before you eat, before you drink, take a long look inside and tell me what you see. He said, do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me. This is the bread of life broken for you. This is the cup that holds the wine of a new covenant.

This is the love of Christ poured out anew. This is the Son of God who died for you. Before you eat, before you drink, take a long look inside and tell me what you see. He said, do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me. Before you eat, before you drink, take a long look inside and tell me what you see.

He said, do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's pray. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

Amen. God sent his Son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to keep my Savior there. 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. And justice, just a guilty world in love. Who his love will not remember, who can see.