There was an article that came out just this week. It was published by the Associated Press out of Los Angeles, and I'm going to read to you a good portion of it, and then we'll go from there.
Their title is, for the article, “California Couple Finds $10 Million (I added that little bit), $10 Million in Rare Coins While Out Walking Dog.”
A Northern California couple out walking their dog on their gold country property stumbled across a modern-day bonanza, $10 million in rare mint condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree. “Nearly all of the 1427 coins dating from 1847 to 1894 are in uncirculated, mint condition,” said David Hall cofounder of Professional Coin Grading Service of Santa Ana, which recently authenticated them.
This happens to be an old hobby of mine. I don’t get to do it really anymore but… just awesome.
Although the face value of the gold pieces only adds up to about $27,000, some of them are so rare that coin experts say they could fetch nearly $1 million apiece.

"I don't like to say once in a lifetime for anything, but you don't get an opportunity to handle this kind of material, a treasure like this, EVER," said veteran numismatist, Don Kagan, who is representing the finders. "It's like they found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

"The pair are choosing to remain anonymous," Kagan said, "in part to avoid a renewed gold rush to their property by modern-day prospectors armed with metal detectors."

"They also don't want to be treated any differently," said David McCarthy chief numismatist for Kagan, Inc., of Tiburon. Kagan and McCarthy would say little about the couple's property or its ownership history other than it's in a sprawling hilly area of gold country, and the coins were found along the path the couple had walked for years. On the day they found them last Spring the woman had been over to examine an old rusty can that erosion had caused to pop slightly out of the ground.

"Don't be above bending over to check on a rusty can," he said she told him.

And then it goes on to finish the article.

Now that I've read this article to you, I would like to ask you to stop and think for a moment. How would you feel if YOU found hidden treasure that amounted to what feels like inordinate wealth? What if you had been the person or the couple who had found all these old coins? How would that make you FEEL. Now I'm not saying how you feel right now, like, "Those lucky dogs!" How would you feel if YOU found it?

Would you feel relieved? I've had times in my past where if I had found this and would've felt relieved because I had debts, and that would've relieved my fears, right? Okay. Or, thankful, thankful that, you know, things are fine, but this covers my future, right? I could say, "Okay, I'm prepared for retirement now." Okay? And, most certainly, wouldn't you feel overjoyed. No matter what, I mean, just all you've got to do is imagine any, whatever your favorite little thing is, finding it in a secret place, in this case lots of money.

Well, why don't you go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 13, you probably know where I'm going, Matthew chapter 13 in verse 44... Again, this is Jesus Christ talking to the disciples in private after he's been in public giving parables and is giving another parable.

"Again the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has... all that he has... ALL! and buys that field."

You could say the treasurer was knowledge to these people who found the gold, our knowledge, in this case, the kingdom of heaven, it was knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, it was knowledge of the gold. But the value of the treasure was found in the Scripture in the man's joy. You knew it was valuable. He was joyful over it, and he was willing to obtain that land that held the treasure; what he was willing to do.

So, I want to bring out two points here, quickly.

First point - Knowledge is a must. It's a must, knowledge, but it is nothing without feeling.

I titled this, "Feel the Knowledge."

Knowledge is a must, but it is nothing without feeling.

The man could've found the treasure and not understood or appreciated its value. He could've counted it, weighed it, inspected it for purity. He could have done any number of things to be able to conclude it was treasure. But without a motivation toward its value he might not cover it... remember in the Scripture, he covers it, hides it, so no one else will find it, or guard it, or be willing to sell ALL that he had to obtain it.

Second point - Feeling is a must, but it is nothing without the knowledge. See, on the other hand, a man might desire treasure and imagine all the wonderful things he could do to accomplish with it; pay off debt, build a bigger house, feed the poor, and give to the church. He can dream about how happy he would be with the treasure. He could even pretend he had the treasure sometimes and play out a fantasy for its use in his mind's eye. This, you know, I did as a kid, (under breath: I still do it sometimes).

But, in the end, if we could not find the treasure, if he could not find the treasure, no matter how much he pretended, his hope and his joy in it would be empty. There would be no substance to the joy he was experiencing.

This couple in California already own the land, so they made no sacrifice, intended sacrifice, in order to obtain the treasure. They own the land. But they were able to easily identify it. Still, they had to appreciate its value. They had to collect it. And it appears they're going to do things with it. You also notice they are hiding it. They're not telling people where it's at. They don't want to be trespassed and harassed and find all these lost cousins, and so forth. So, they're hiding it.

The key point here, though, in Matthew, is that Jesus likened this very scenario to the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven was likened not just unto treasure, but a treasure a man had to guard while he went and sold everything he had to afford the land, which it was hidden on. This man saw that the value of the treasure was, one, worth more than the land, and, two, unattainable unless he owned the land. In this parable the situation is such that to obtain the land that holds the treasure, the man had to literally sell all that he had just to pay for the land. The land was not the treasure, but he knew he would have to give up everything just to acquire the land.

What are we willing to sell to obtain the firm ground which hides the kingdom of heaven? What is the ground we need to buy?

Turn to Luke number nine, Luke chapter 9... And we'll read in verse 23 and 24... and this is Jesus speaking. "Then he said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.'"

In short, he's saying you need to give up all that you are for me, for Jesus.

Romans Chapter 6... Romans Chapter 6, and verse three... And Paul is writing... "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Jesus' life on earth was a perfect life in an imperfect world, and he handed over that life to redeem our lives. Nevertheless, we must recognize the limitless value of God's kingdom, and the price we must pay to obtain the land that hides that treasure.

Though we have no eternal life of our own, the life we have is full value to us, right? It’s all we've got; however imperfect, however determinate; it ends. That's all we have. And so, we've got to give the full value of THAT, the full value of our own being, and Christ requires we give our lives for his if we are at to obtain that treasure.

And just a final comment... His grace is sufficient to provide us limitless eternal wealth though our original value is wasted in sin.

Okay, remember the kingdom of God is the treasure. What is the kingdom of God? You know, it's who's in it. It's what they do. It's how they are. It's everything. You could say, it's Jesus Christ and God the Father, everything they are and do. Not just territory. It's everything, and we can't afford it. It's not the land that's the treasure and we don't have the money for it, okay. What we are offered is that we can take on that land, as it were, that holds the treasure. We give ourselves, all of who we are, and we obtain that land, and then we walk in God's way, we walk like Jesus Christ, and then we can obtain that kingdom. So we give up all we have, all that we naturally are, our whole life. Only then can we obtain the treasure that is the Kingdom of Heaven.

"When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" Those are the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 18:8. And it makes you wonder, this phrase makes me wonder. I wondered, is that a prophecy? Is it saying that when Christ comes He might not find faith on the earth? In some ways, it might be kind of scary saying that the church of God might be lacking faith, that I might be found lacking faith if I'm here when Christ returns. If or when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? Can we take that as a warning that our own faith unbeknownst to us might actually be insufficient?

I want to tell a little story about many years ago on Facebook, which I don't do a lot with Facebook anymore, but one thing, it went through kind of an evolution, if you've been on Facebook for a while, where, I mean, we just accepted friend request willy-nilly, no consequences. Just, you know, didn't matter if they're from other countries, especially if they're friends with anybody else that we know from the church of God circles.

And I remember taking many such friend requests of that type, several of them from people in Africa that just seemed too eager to connect with their brethren in the church. You do have to watch out, though, as we've all learned for spammers and scammers, and people that, you know, they start asking for money, and it's gotten very bad.

But there was one of these gentlemen who seemed very sincere that I spoke with at that time, man from Africa. And we just started up a conversation about faith and some of the struggles he face in his country, struggles I face, different things. It was pretty wonderful, pretty wonderful. Seems like those kind of interactions are more rare now on Facebook than they were in that time when that was kind of new.

But one of the interesting things he talked about was a struggle of faith that you and I don't have much experience with. And he wrote to me and he told me about how people in his country, not necessarily in the church, but people just, by and large, would pray and pray and pray to God for rain because they had been in a terrible drought for a long time. They didn't have kind of the access to those branches of the supply chain to make up for things like that. They depended on local production. They would pray for rain, and it wasn't raining. And it kept going. This year didn't get the rain again, year after year. And people would lose faith in God, whatever faith they had, thinking, "God doesn't care about us, or maybe there's not a God. We're asking for rain and it's not coming. People living on a very thin margin like that, I mean, they risk dying. They were starving to death in conditions like that. It's very serious.

Droughts can cause doubts. They've always happened, but now I think we've come to a situation in modern society... I mean, you know, you've seen the news we are in major droughts in many different parts of the world, including the United States. And the big difference, even though there's been droughts all throughout history in various places, is that now we have millions and millions of people living in these areas that really can't support them when you come to one of these droughts. The American Southwest that's in I think 42% of the U.S. is under moderate to exceptional drought.

I mean, we've got whole cities, massive populations living in what is otherwise a desert siphoning off from these reservoirs that are at historic lows. They said it's the worst drought in 1200 years. We've got our landmark, these famous rivers and lakes and reservoirs drying up, Lake Powell, Lake Mead, the Colorado River. People living there require record amounts of water, not just for daily use but for the agriculture that takes place that feeds them, and for the livestock that also feeds them, and all these things.

I mean, it's just one more hammer to the world that we've had in the last few years. And again, it's not just the U.S., it's also taking place in China. What's happening there has been described as the worst drought anywhere on record in terms of the number of people affected, the size of the area, the extreme temperatures they're experiencing, very bad situation.

And what's happening through all of this, you know, they're facing a very real crunch on their ability to produce. Their factories are being shut down because they don't have enough electricity. They rely on hydroelectric power for a lot of their electricity. They also have a higher demand for air conditioners because of the number of people and the extreme heat that's going on, so it's slowing down production. There goes another poor supply chain. It's like every time I speak, like, something else has happened to the supply chain that's just crushing it. I would feel very bad if I was the supply chain this year.

In Europe, experts are saying the drought in Europe could become the worst in 500 years, so another record drought there. The Rhine River in Germany has fallen to levels too low for the thriving dinner cruise industry that's taken root there. People can't get their nice pleasant cruise down the Rhine because the water level is too low for the ships to pass, but guess what? Ships transporting raw materials for factories also can't pass. That's a major route. So, again, just more and more disruption, more and more.

And on top of that, you've got crop failure taking hold in various places. In France, about half the corn crop, last time I checked, is going to be unsuitable for human consumption because of the drought going on. They've got these very ominous hunger stones that are being revealed as the rivers recede. And doesn't that sound bad, a hunger stone, like you're going to be hungry after you see it? And people have known this for a long time, whenever there's a bad drought and the river levels get low enough and you see that rock, were in trouble. So, what they do is they would write the year on it. So, you know, some of these, they haven't been revealed for hundreds of years. And they can see the inscriptions like, oh, wow, yeah, we're in a bad one. We're in a bad one.

All of this is happening. We can really see how the world is teetering on the edge of disaster more and more, where we've got the suspension of modern comforts down to things that are very life-threatening going on in the world today. It all has a very prophetic feel to it. We wonder, especially with this happening in Europe, is this something that's going to drive European nations together and be one more kind of catalyst for the rise of the beast power? The realignment of power we know is coming in Europe that will most likely be led by Germany, as we understand. Could be the beginning of a puzzle piece like that.

And we know that droughts are a precursor to famine. This is one of the things that the alarm has been sounded on for almost a year now that we are headed for a famine. We got fertilizer shortages, all the many things. And here we are with these awful droughts. They're talking about these bad famines before the droughts really were making the news the way they are. So, what's happening now? Well, here's the fact, whether by drought or other factors, we know that there are going to be unprecedented famines before the return of Christ. That's something that's promised, one of the four horsemen.

Also, there will specifically be droughts because when the two witnesses begin their ministry, they're given the power to shut up heaven so that it doesn't rain in the days of their ministry. There are going to be droughts. Doesn't seem like we're in the big one just yet. We haven't seen the two witnesses. There are also many other things that haven't happened yet, but it does make us start to feel like we ought to be prepared.

Now physical preparations, we talk about from time to time, those are a matter of just earthly wisdom. Honestly, we can have a bad tornado any day of the week and you might be without electricity for a few days, without running water. It's good to have a supply of things on hand, emergency food for a few days, whatever it is. You know, those kind of things happen in all parts of the world periodically. That's just normal. It's good, though, not to overdo that physical preparation to the point where we're trusting in it. God warns us very specifically against that. Our trust is not in the flesh or in the physical, our trust is in God.

So, that brings us to the other way that we can and must prepare. The way that you can never over-prepare is to spiritually prepare. Our spiritual preparations for famines and droughts and whatever may come is absolutely paramount. What we need is the kind of faith in God that can endure even through very intense and very prolonged trials, if necessary.

So, today, I'd like to talk about what does that kind of faith look like? The kind of faith that can endure a terrible drought and famine, what does that look like? How can I make sure that I have enough faith so that when Christ returns, He will find faith on the earth? We can answer that in the affirmative. This is something that relates to...we talked about during baptism counseling. So, for those that I've counseled in baptism or talked with those things about faith is one of the cornerstones of what it takes to have a relationship with God. For many of us, it might have been a very long time since we've gone over those fundamentals of what faith are, so it's good to remember. Turn with me to Hebrews 11, and we'll get started. Hebrews 11, of course, is known as the "Heroes of Faith" chapter or the "Faith" chapter. And it teaches us a lot in a very short span. We'll start in verse 1, and begin reading. Now verse 1 is for many people a memory scripture. It can be a little bit opaque I think, so we're going to break it down.

Hebrews 11:1 It says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

I think for me those words always just seem very mysterious. You know, what do you mean it's the evidence of things not seen? Like, my faith is evidence that there is a God, like, because I believe? Is that what it's saying? And actually, no, no, that's not what it's saying. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The word evidence there, the other translations put that as being conviction of things not seen. It's being convinced that they're there, even though we don't see them.

So much of what God has done through all of history is unseen to us. There are forces like the force of gravity. We can see its effects but we don't see gravity. It'd be kind of weird if we did. Wonder what it would look like. So much of what God has done since creation is unseen. In fact, if we get down to it, the entirety of the events of the Word of God are unseen to me and you. We heard about that in the sermonette, you know, blessed are we if we have not seen and yet believe. We have witnessed testimony that is reliable, we can test it and understand it, but ultimately, it comes down to an exercise of faith if we're going to believe the Word of God or not.

Verse 2, so we're learning about faith. Faith is some kind of conviction of things not seen, right? It's a belief, right? That's the sense we're getting out there. Faith involves belief. You already knew that, I know. But we're going to parcel it out and we'll get to a more concrete working definition of faith as we go. Faith involves belief.

Hebrews 11:2 "For by it," that is by faith, "the elders obtained a good testimony."

In this chapter, if you've read it before, you know it's got a lot of examples of people doing things by faith, acting out their faith in their life by obeying God even through difficult circumstances, and there's examples of all the different things they've done. So, by faith, a person can obtain a good testimony. Faith, if it's going to result in a good testimony, it's because not just a person believes but they are doing something as a result of their belief. You don't really get a good testimony just from sitting around thinking good thoughts. That doesn't get you anywhere really. It doesn't move you in any direction. Faith, therefore, is going to involve actions. Specifically, it's got to be a willingness to act on the things we feel convicted about. It's fundamental to faith.

Hebrews 11:3 "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

Okay, so verse 3 gets kind of interesting. What we're getting told here is a specific article of faith. In other words, this is something non-negotiable that you and I have to believe if we're going to say we have faith in the God of the Bible. We can't bend on this. By faith we understand. So, if we don't understand this, it's really not faith. "By faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God." That all this visible stuff was made out of invisible stuff, that it came to be through the Words of God. In the beginning, He said, "Let there be light."

I mean, there's a big, big challenge to that in the world today, isn't there? We know our young people face that at schools, many of us face that in college. We might face it from coworkers, people we talk with, just because somebody is pushing us and pushing us and pushing us to accept a secular narrative on those things. They're not more informed than the Bible. In fact, they're totally the wrong way. Atheism has become in its own right a false religion that evangelizes harder than anybody. Really, these evangelical atheists, I like to call them in my mind, they've very fervently done so under the guise of public education. They've more or less taken over the enterprise, not the starship.

And they spread absolute foolishness on these things about, you know, well, there's always been matter, there's always been energy, these things are eternal. And they kind of miss the connection that, oh, so you're saying that something has always existed. And the concept of existence loses its meaningness, and it's a lot of confusion that they get themselves in, but they prop it up in a very intellectual style to make us feel like they know better than us, and they don't. They're not speaking according to the Word of God. They just don't.

And thankfully, there's a lot of scientists today that are pushing back against that, that are speaking out. And sometimes having awful repercussions for their jobs for it depending on where they're employed. And they're sharing how their study of science strengthens their belief in a creator, how it supports a belief in a creator, whereas many will ignore whatever in their discipline would support the existence of God.

One organization that does a really great job of that that I've been tapped into for a while, I wanted to share just in case you're interested or want a good resource. They have a weekly newsletter. It's called the Discovery Institute. They do very good work, the Discovery Institute, about kind of that age-old argument between science and religion, are they incompatible? You know, and is there a creator? Does the evidence point to a creator or not? They do a very good job answering in the affirmative that there is a creator.

Hebrews 11:6 Talking about faith. "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Did you notice the word must? More things that are non-negotiable here. We must do these two things, at least. We must believe that God is. In other words, the belief that there is a creator is non-negotiable. If we don't have that, we don't have faith, and none of the good things promised in the Bible can apply to us if we don't believe that. We also have to believe that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. As part of believing that God is good, it's part of understanding that God has a law that's for our good and that it's something that has to be sought out and sought after.

In other words, the faith that leads to salvation requires certain beliefs about God, not just any belief will do. People can have faith in a whole lot of nonsense and falsehood. And so they do very often. This is a belief in the truth. God's truth is objective reality. It's not based on any one person's individual feelings or experience of what is true or what's not. People want to talk all the time around this in the world. This is the way of the world today. It's creeping in more and more to say that, "Well, I have my truth, I'm going to live my truth, speak my truth," as though they have a truth, you have a truth. We can have separate truths and they're both equally valid. Well, no, no, there is a truth with God.

If we're going to...not to walk that back, but to give perspective, yeah, everybody does have their own valid lived experience, okay? And it's good for us to be compassionate towards people, to listen patiently to people about the hardships that they've had, to try to understand the best we can where they're coming from, not to be presumptuous to think that we can, in our minds, reduce a whole person's life experience down to something that I can understand easily. But we have to also be grounded in the reality that there's only one truth, there's not multiple contradictory forms of truth. God, the Father, is the one that actually knows the one truth in all its fullness. And through His Spirit, He reveals certain facts and things about that to us through His Word and His Spirit. And very thankfully, God has given all judgment of that one truth, the objective reality. He's given that judgment to Jesus Christ, and He judges perfectly by the perfect standards of God's righteousness.

It's an amazing fact that you and I cannot even understand or perceive the truth of God unless He has first opened our eyes to it. That's a humbling thing. And every one of us is blessed in that very special way. We've been called to the truth. In fact, very often, within the church of God, people don't ask, how did you come into the church? We ask, how did you come into the truth? I always like hearing it that way.

One older gentleman asked me in a certain way, he said, "When did you first receive these truths?" Sounded kind of poetic, I thought. I like that. You know, actually, just reading through the Psalms very recently, I always thought that was just kind of what we call church speak, you know, things that we say that aren't really in the Bible, we kind of made them up and they sound good. No, no, no. If you read through the Psalms, I was reading through maybe starting in Psalm 60, through 70-something, somewhere in that number, I saw over and over again, David talks about, "We walk in the truth. God's mercy and truth follow Him." There's an emphasis on the truth in the pages of Scripture and were well founded in asking people, how did you come into the truth? You cannot have the faith described in the Bible without being founded and grounded in certain revealed truths of God. That's just a fact.

And the church of God consists of those that God has revealed that truth to by His indwelling Spirit that He's put in us. He's called His Spirit to dwell in us so that He may guide us into all truth. That's a fundamental thing that we understand about the action of the Spirit. And it happens a little bit at a time, and much of that work is left undone, even by the time we finish our race because we're imperfect. We are only capable of so much.

You know, as an organization, the United Church of God, we do our best to codify what we have collectively understood by the Spirit as the revealed truth of God regarding the teachings of Scripture. We put that into our fundamental beliefs the best we can, we put that into our booklets the best we can. I put that in my sermons as best I can. You put that into your speech with others as best you can.

Believing in the truth. I have three things that are essential to faith. The very first one is believing in the truth. In my notes, I put in the truth in all caps. That way, I would know I needed to either yell it or tell you it was really important. Because it's not enough just to believe. You have to believe the right things. You have to believe in the truth of God. The second one, which we've also seen here in Hebrews 11, the second one is obedience to God's law. Belief in the truth is essential to faith, but secondly, obedience to God's law is also essential to faith.

For that, let's turn over to James 2, the Book right after Hebrews. James 2:18-20. In fact, this is probably the most poignant explanation of the difference between belief and faith that you can get, that can even be made. This is as good as it gets and it's powerful.

James 2:18-19 "Someone will say 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works." I mean, that's already a mic-drop moment right there, isn't it? It's like, "Okay, show me your faith that doesn't have any action behind it, I'll demonstrate my faith by my actions." That's powerful enough, but get this. Verse 19, "You believe there's one God." Okay, you've got to believe in the truth. "And you do well. Even the demons believe- and tremble!"

The demons, if you think about it, they believe in the truth of God. They believe in the one God completely. They don't deny His existence. They don't question over who He is. They even know enough to be afraid of God. "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?" You know, for demons, if they 100% know, no doubts, that God exists, that He created all things, that there's no other God, etc., they know what the will of God is, what's the difference? They just aren't willing to obey. Think about that. They know the will of God, they just aren't willing to obey it. Because they don't obey, their belief in the truth does them absolutely no good. They come up 100% empty and unfruitful. Even perfect belief without obedience, it does no good. "Faith without works is dead." You can't just know it, you've got to show it, and you've got to keep showing it. That's the third point.

You really have to continue steadfastly in faith. That's the third point that's essential to faith, it's continuing steadfastly because faith that is lost along the way, faith that is abandoned and left behind, well, that faith doesn't do any good at all. The only faith that will benefit a person is living faith, faith that is ongoing, faith that is growing.

Let's talk about how that happens. And really I want to divert for a few minutes on some things that get in the way, part of our own perspective. I think all of us, well, I can speak from my experience, I struggle with faith sometimes. I think we all struggle with faith sometimes. We wonder if we are lacking in faith, just like that verse.

Luke 18:8 says, "Will He really find faith on the earth?"

Well, if He's depending on me, I don't know if I'm doing good or not, God. How do I judge that? Let's talk about some situations, some questions we might ask ourselves that rattle around in our head that do not necessarily indicate a lack of faith. Number one, just taking action on our own as opposed to waiting on God, does that mean we're lacking faith? And think, "Well, I'm taking something into my own hands instead of waiting for God to work it out." Is that a lack of faith? Well, it can be, but that's a very nuanced question. Depends on what you mean. For example, if we break God's law because we're lacking faith or we're tired of waiting on God, we break His law in order to expedite something, yeah, that's lacking faith if we've... I mean, the pillars of faith are obedience and belief. So, if I stop obeying, I'm lacking faith because faith would have me obey.

Saul did that. One of his first, I mean, big problems as king, he had to go into a battle. He knew he needed God's blessing, he knew they needed a sacrifice, but they didn't have a priest, so he's looking around waiting for Samuel. And what does he do? Instead of waiting for God to work it out, he goes ahead and does the sacrifice. Problem with that is not that...I mean, wanting to sacrifice to God, that's a good thing after all, but God had been very specific in His law that only a priest was qualified to offer sacrifice. Saul swept that aside, thought, "Well, this is just what's got to get done to get God's blessing, and so I'm going to go ahead and do this, even though this is not the way God would want me to do it. It blew up in his face. Big mistake.

Here's a hypothetical that...Somebody actually posed this to me back. Many years ago, I was doing some private tutoring, and this gentleman, his family had been Jewish, they weren't religious at all by his generation. And he told me the story of why. This is a challenge I've heard come up in other ways from people. It's just a common scenario people like to challenge us with for whatever reason, I don't know why.

But this was how he put it. So, his grandfather was Jewish and he moved to this rural area where he didn't have anyone around, no support, and he was down to his last scraps of food. And he goes out and the only thing there, only thing he can find to eat is a pig, a big fat pig. And he looked up at God and he looked down at the pig. Of course, he slaughtered the pig and fed his family, and now the family is not Jewish anymore.

People have asked me that in other contexts. I thought it was a very interesting story just the way he told it because I've always thought it was just a hypothetical scenario people pose. I've heard people pose that and, you know, if that were the case, if we were starving, our family starving, what do you do? What folks like to do is put you down in a little box that you feel like you can't get out of, okay? If I really think about it, well, I mean, do I have neighbors? Where's the nearest person I can go and beg for food? Can I do something else to get out of this? Probably. You can just wait and see how God works it out. You ain't got to eat right then. Anyway.

Okay, so if we're breaking God's law to take a matter in our own hands, absolutely that's a lack of faith. No way to get around it. But the question to remind us, taking action on our own instead of waiting on God, does that mean we're lacking faith? Well, here's how not necessarily. If we are taking reasonable responsibility for what is in our power to control, that is not a lack of faith. That's why as fall approaches, you are not going to look up at your gutters and you're not just going to pray, God, I hope you clear out those gutters for me. I have faith that you are going to clean out those gutters and I won't have to lift a finger. You better get up there and clean your gutters. God makes you responsible for certain things, doesn't He? He does.

Another example, maybe this hits closer to home. A lot of times this comes up over medical issues, am I lacking faith by seeking treatment on this? Where do we draw the line on that? If I've got a broken arm and my arm is snapped in half, and it's the bloody bone sticking out, am I just going to pray that God puts this back right? I think God expects me to take reasonable action and at least put a cast on that thing and get the bloody nub back connected where it's supposed to go.

But we do this with our children. When Elena asks for something, right? If it's something that I know she can be responsible for on her own, sometimes I won't do it. I'll tell her "No, that's your responsibility. You need to put those shoes away. You can go get your own water bottle. It's right over there. You've got two legs."

Even when...I like that phrase. When Israel was crossing the Red Sea, right? They were stuck there at the edge of the sea, nothing they can do, and God did not pick them up and put them on the other side of the water. He opened a way. "You got two legs, walk." He didn't say it that way but it's true. Yes, we need to pray for the things only God can do, but we also have responsibility to do what we reasonably can for ourselves. With God, we always have to put in our part in the relationship. Most often, our parts really involves more than just believing and just asking. That's part of putting it in God's hands, but another part is also doing what we reasonably can to help our situation.

Faith means believing that God can do what we can't do, while also taking responsibility for what we can. Part of that is just humbly admitting our limits compared with God's greatness, knowing even that God's answer might be no, or not yet. We don't know what God is going to do in a lot of cases, but it's important that we believe that He can help. It's important we believe that He hears us.

Second question, sometimes get in the way of faith. What about, does this feeling inadequate, or feeling weak, or feeling worried, or feeling anxious about a big heavy situation, or even feeling depressed over what's going on around us, does that mean I'm lacking faith? Is anybody here afraid of flying? None in this room. I don't see any hands. Well, we all know how this goes. A lot of people do have a fear of flying. My dad was afraid of flying. He still would take a plane once in a while, but he didn't like it the whole way through. That's the thing. So many people do this. They know on paper it's the safest way that mankind has yet devised to travel, and they book their ticket, they purchase it, and they are kept up sweating at night because they know they're going to have to get on a plane in three weeks. And they get there and they're nervous the whole time they board. They're nervous while they're waiting to take off, they're nervous while they take off. They are nervous the whole time they're sitting in that seat, whether there's turbulence or not. They're nervous and anxious about it until they're on the ground. They exercise faith, faith that, yeah, I know this plane is going to make it through. They weren't comfortable with the situation, but they had faith.

Luke 12:50. This isn't just a nice analogy. It helps us understand, but it represents a reality that is even revealed through the person of Jesus Christ in His ministry. Luke 12:50. And this comes right in the middle of just a lot of Christ's teachings to His disciples. The guys really did not understand a lot of what Jesus said, especially anything concerning His death and resurrection. We know it was just that the blinders were kept on by God for that until after it happened. So, here in the middle of a bunch of other teachings, He bursts in talking about something that was clearly on His mind. It comes real quick, if you read through the whole section, but we'll just look at Luke 12:50.

Luke 12:50 It says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it's accomplished!"

What were the disciples thinking on that one? Like, "Guys, He was already baptized, remember? We already saw that happen. What's He talking about?" Of course, we know Jesus was talking about His death that was to take place. His baptism had pictured His death, and He actually had that death on the cross to go through. And look at how it affected our Savior. "How distressed I am until it is accomplished!" I mean, Jesus felt distressed. Yes, He did.

We might have read over, I know I've read over that many times without fully processing it there. We might imagine Jesus just waking up, getting out of bed every day, didn't have any aches or pains. He felt great and ready to face every day like He was not caring the world, smile in His face, pep in His step. He's sitting here telling us He's distressed and probably all the works of ministry that He did were a welcome distraction.

From the awful events that He knew were going to take place that He was really not looking forward to. I'm sure He woke up just feeling terrible looking at the things He knew were ahead that were coming and He couldn't stop it. He knew it was the right thing that He had to go through. He went on with His duty anyway. It's a perfect example for us to follow, in fact. We have that duty to obey God even when it's hard, inconvenient, distressing, or depressing, not just when everything is going great.

The key here is that Jesus Christ did not ever, ever, ever lack faith. That's not what is happening here when He is feeling distressed. That can only mean that to feel that way, whether we're feeling distressed, depressed, powerless, or distraught is not a lack of faith. It can represent a temptation to lack faith or to act against our faith. Maybe if we because we're feeling that distress want to do something wrong or whatever it is to get ourselves out of a situation that we're just ready to be out of. It can be a temptation that we choose not to act on. The feeling itself is not in any way simple or an indication that we're lacking faith. Those feelings are just part of the human condition. And Jesus Christ also wrestled with His humanity, and He overcame it. Just like He overcame the temptations of satan the devil, He overcame the weaknesses of the flesh by resisting the temptations His own body had against Him. It shows it's possible for us.

Turn to Luke 22:41. We see this in a little more depth when He actually gets to that point. I like to show that in Luke 12 because it shows how it was on His mind day-to-day even when He had a whole line of people to heal and a whole crowd of people to teach, it was there coming into His mind. Like, He couldn't stop it. We get that way sometimes when we're tested. Luke 22:41. Now this is where He's at the point. This is where the Passover Supper has ended. He knows Judas is out there about to come with a mob to betray Him and take Him over. This stuff is imminent. And look at how He's feeling.

Luke 22:41-42 "He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw. He knelt down and prayed, saying, 'Father, if it's Your will, take this cup away from me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours.’"

I mean, He was in pretty bad shape. He's up all night praying because He obviously can't sleep knowing what's going on, didn't even try to, it seems like, and praying to God through it.

Luke 22:43 "An angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him."

You might think, "Well, that's nice, you know, Jesus just talk to angels sometimes." No, He was at a low point and He certainly needed to be strengthened, so God gave Him the help that He needed under exceptionally difficult circumstances because He needed it because He was feeling it, just like you and I feel it sometimes. Verse 44 puts it bluntly.

Luke 22:44 "Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly." He kept going to God about this whole night. "And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

His body was just betraying Him, you know. He knew He wanted to do the will of God and His body was just not cooperating with that in the moment. That's deeply uncomfortable, sounds like, physically, mentally, emotionally, all of it. But faith is what kept Jesus Christ doing the will of God, anyway, right up to the end. How do we get more faith? What does that even really mean? Turn with me back to Luke 18:8 now. This is the quote that I started with.

Luke 18:8 Christ says starting in the middle of the verse, "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

So, I was considering this passage, I went looked at the Greek there and found that there's actually a definite article with the word faith. It's not just faith, it's the faith or this faith, that's what the definite article is. Not just any faith, but the faith or this faith in Greek. And we can ponder that for a second, will He really find the faith on the earth? Does that question make sense? Might think, well, okay, not all faith is created equal. Certainly, there's going to be some kind of faith, there's going to be faith in falsehood, false doctrines, all this stuff, lies, and evil. Is He saying that...? Will He really find the faith on the earth? Like, will He really find the church of God being faithful?

Well, there's a problem with that view why it can't be that because Christ had already said that He had founded the church of God on this rock, the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. There was a promise from God that the church of God would be there, and here is a clue. It would not be the church of God if the people didn't have faith. "Without faith, it's impossible to please Him." It's all that in Hebrews.

So, it's not saying the faith. So, what about the other way? The definite article can go is it's saying, will He really find this faith? And that just begs the question, well, what faith? What faith is this faith? What's He referring to? You got to look at the context. So, we're going to go back and do that. At the beginning of 18:1.

Luke 18:1-5 "He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." Again, the only faith that matters is that that endures, continuing steadfastly in faith. So, here's a parable, so that "men always ought to pray and not lose heart. He said, 'There was, in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. There was a widow in that city and she came to him saying, 'get justice for me for my adversary.' And he wouldn't for a while; but afterwards he said in himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, and because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"

Okay? So, he didn't care that she was a widow, and hard on her luck. Didn't care that the law of God said specifically to uphold the cause of the widow. They didn't care about any of that, but just because she kept bothering him about it, kept coming to him about it, that was enough for the unjust judge to take action in her favor. So, here's the resolution of the parable in verse 6.

Luke 18:6 "The Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge said, and shall not God avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears along with them?"

You know, the people of God would not be crying out day and night if there was nothing wrong. There's plenty wrong, always has been, always will be since sin entered the world. It always will be until, you know, God sets those things right. Let me qualify that. "His own elect that cry out day and night to Him, though He bears along with them."

Do we ever give up hope and stop asking God for the solution to our problems? If that were the case, that might be an occasion where we're lacking faith because we've stopped asking God, stopped believing that God can and will address it, whether it's now or whether in the kingdom. We need to be praying to God always.

And I'm not trying to just wave my hands in here and comfort people with false hope saying, "Your faith is enough, don't worry about it," well, we have to worry about it. Absolutely have to. We all have room to grow in faith, even absent truly prophetic trials, the Great Tribulation. We don't have to be going through the Great Tribulation to be greatly tested. In fact, I think every person has been, every person who's been in the faith has been.

Well, we need to understand if we think we're struggling with faith, we have to remember these fundamentals of what faith really is. So, when Christ said, "Will this faith be found on the earth?" He meant a faith that keeps on asking.

Here are the different parts of faith and the things we might struggle with if we are truly struggling with faith. Faith struggle number one, am I struggling with belief in the truth? You know, if we struggle with that, if we're really struggling to believe that God is there that He's listening, whatever it is, we can ask God for help with that part.

In fact, there's a good example of that, Mark 9, where a man, his child has died and he's coming to Christ asking for help. And he says, "Lord, I believe help my unbelief." And what does Christ do? Of course, He resurrected that child from the dead, you know, and that's an immensely difficult situation this guy was in. That was a crisis. And he found himself maybe not believing God could do this because he's never seen anything like that done. Said, "I believe help my unbelief." If I don't have it, help me get it. That's a step we can take with God.

We might struggle at times with such basic things. We can all end up struggling with this just from the experiences we have. We might struggle to believe that God exists, we might struggle to believe that He really will forgive my sins, awful as they are when I repent. We might struggle to believe that He really will provide a future that will make the hardships that I face today feel irrelevant by comparison. And our faith has to be grounded in the truth. We need to be constantly reading the Word of God and taking it to heart, constantly seeking understanding. "He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." If we're seeking Him, He does lead us in His truth. Whatever the truth part of it, we need to know that at that point. We got to be sure we're not just ticking the generic box of belief in God, but that we actually are maintaining a relationship with Him through His work, which is the source of truth for us. Seeking to understand the truth of what He's doing in the broken world around us. Asking God to help us believe when we're in doubt. Those are keys to overcoming the struggles of the belief side of faith or struggling with the belief side of faith.

Well, the second struggle in the faith is the struggle to obey God, right? That's the other part of faith. You've got belief in the truth, you've got obedience. So, am I struggling to believe in the truth or am I struggling to obey God's law? Let me tell you if you're struggling to obey God in any way, that's absolutely normal, absolutely expected. We know that we're here in these physical bodies that are weak and subject to temptations. They just are. It's the situation we're in because we're supposed to overcome. Even Jesus Christ felt temptation and had to spiritually, mentally, physically prepare and show up to a fight with satan in the wilderness being tested. He had to show up in prayer before God that night when He was going to be delivered over, and He did so, He depended on God The answer is to keep asking God, "Lead me out of temptation, deliver me from the evil one. God, give me what it takes to obey you."We can't ever think that, "Well, you know, God will understand I'm under extreme duress here. I know this thing is wrong to do, but I'm going to go ahead and do it." Can't do that. Don't lose faith that God can and will deliver us if we continue obeying Him, even if it's not going to be yet, even if we're going to suffer in one way or another.

The third struggle of faith I think is really all summarized in this is that we have to endure to the end. It's the hardest because we can get worn down over time. Some trials last a lifetime for people, and they're waiting right down to their last breath and they're not delivered yet. It's going to be in the kingdom of God. Keep the faith. Things are hard. When help seems very far away, or when the wicked prosper and it doesn't seem fair, or when your plans don't work out when everything goes wrong, when you're being delivered over to death, when you're burdened, when you're weary, keep the faith.

Endurance means this, you don't ever let the hardships of physical life cause you to abandon those other two pillars, belief in the truth and obedience. Even when the whole world is hungry and starving to death in a massive famine at the end times, even when homes are destroyed, when people's lives are wrecked, when the economies of the world crumble and wars are ravaging everything, even when false prophets are prevailing and everyone around you is accepting lies that caused them to do wickedness and violence against other people, maybe including you and wanting you to turn unrighteousness, too, keep the faith.

Whether we end up living through the tribulation and whether we're all the way there in the end times or not, trials, 100% will make a struggle. Every one of us is going to struggle. But faith is believing in God's truth, anyway. Faith is doing God's will and following His law, anyway. Faith is never giving up the hope of the promises of God and Jesus Christ.

[Paul Moody] The theme for last year's General Conference of Elders was "Labor in the Word," and its focus was to remind all of us in the ministry of the importance of studying through God's Word, for the purpose of understanding it more thoroughly and then being able to go on by extension and teach it more effectively. Now obviously laboring in the Word is not an activity that's limited to the ministry only, it's something that all of us, as God's people, must engage in. Laboring in the Word for us helps us to understand God more clearly and helps to produce growth in our life spiritually, and it helps to direct us to the vision that God has in store for all of His people.

Now this year's theme for the Conference of Elders seeks to build on last year's and it's essentially the next step in the progression of how God's Word is to affect our lives. The theme this year is "Live the Word." Live the Word, because you see, once we've studied into God's Word and we’ve acknowledged the instruction that it has for us and we understand the importance of it, our next course of action as God's people is then to go on to do something with the precious knowledge that we've been given, or to put it in action. We are to live the Word.

Brethren, I’d like to begin this afternoon in the Book of James, James chapter 1, this is probably a scripture that will become an anchor scripture throughout this conference, throughout the next week, and it’s probably the first one that comes to your mind when you think of living the Word. Let’s go to James chapter 1, and begin in verse 21, important principle for us here, James 1:21, here James instructs us, and he says, “Lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness,” he says, “and receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls.” So the first step in the process is we must receive into our hearts with that meekness and humility the Word of God and the instruction that He has for us. We need to recognize it for what it is, because brethren, these are the words of life. We acknowledge our need for them and we acknowledge our continual needs to study and to grow and to practice them.

Now it goes on from there, it tells us that the next step is to do something with what we've been given. Verse 22, James says, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” So James calls “hearing only” actually a deception. And you see, it can be a deception because we can sit here in services, we can listen to the messages, we can look at the scriptures for ourselves in the Bible, and then walk away thinking that we're somehow improved, improved in terms of character, improved in terms of righteousness. But you see, if our forward momentum stops with the obtaining of the Word of God, if we don't take what it is that we've learned and put it into practice in our lives, the truth is we’ve not really gained much of anything beyond now becoming accountable to what it is that we now know.

James carries on in verse 23, he says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of a man he was.” You know, it's not going to stick with him. It’s not what's going to be applied as he goes about his daily routine. He’s simply going to walk away and forget.

“But,” verse 25, “he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the Word, this one will be blessed in what he does.” And so the blessing from God ultimately comes in the doing. It comes putting into practice what it is that God's given us to do. Now knowing is good, and I don't want to diminish that in any way because knowing sets the foundation for us. It points us in the direction by which we need to go and we need to order our steps. Again knowing—laboring in the Word—is essential. But brethren, we've been called in to go on and put it into practical application in our lives. We've been called to put into practice that which God has given us, and it is in the doing that we learned so many valuable lessons.

This afternoon, I'd like to address one specific aspect to living the Word. I’d like to look at just a slice of the pie, one benefit that comes as a result of living according to these words of God. And we find that portrayed here in Psalm chapter 111 and verse 10, so if you’ll follow me over there please, Psalm 111:10, here the Psalmist writes for us and he says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”

So brethren, we essentially have a progression of thought here. It begins with the fear of the Lord, begins with having a proper reverence for God and understanding in terms of who He is and who we are, and the relationship we’re to have with him. But that fear of the Lord then moves into our response to Him. And our response is to do, to do what it is He's given us. The passage then concludes with the outcome of fearing God, the outcome of living His way, and that is our praise. Because you see, as we acknowledge these words and we put them into practice in our life, we begin to see the blessing and the benefit of doing them. We give God the glory and the praise, and we direct our honor and worship towards Him, because of the wonderful blessing of these words. So again, “a good understanding have those who do His commandments.”

Notice it doesn't say a good understanding have those who know His commandments. Again, to know is good, and I in no way want to diminish the knowledge and the knowing, but if we're truly going to have a good understanding as to what God has given us here, the principles behind it, why it works and how it works, then we must go on beyond just the academic acknowledgement of these words. We have to live them ourselves. “A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.” It's in the application of the Word, brethren, that we change, that we grow. It’s in the application of the Word that we begin to develop the mind of God and His character and His righteousness that He imputes to us within our lives. By the doing of those things take place. We learned so many lessons. We understand the ins-and-outs and the operation of the Word of God by doing.

Now, that's a principle that applies both spiritually and physically. There’s so many lessons that we learned in this life by simply walking through the process. I was thinking back recently to my youth, and at the day when I first began to drive, and I remember the first vehicle or one of them that I first began to learn to drive on was my father’s stick shift pickup truck. And probably, a lot of you had had the ability, at one time or another, to drive a manual transmission. And it's one of those things that you either like or you don't. I tend to like it myself, but I was thinking back on that process, and I’d invite you to do the same. Consider what was it that you had in terms of knowledge as to how that process worked. You know, when you first sat behind the wheel of that manual transmission, what did you know about how that process worked? Well, you probably had somebody that told you, “It’s easy.” Maybe it's your parent sitting next to you, they say, “That's easy. You just push that clutch in, put your foot on the brake, put the vehicle into gear, and then as you ease out on the clutch, just give it a little gas. It's easy.” And you know, academically, it ought to be, but how’d that first attempt work out for you? [audience laughs]

I seem to remember my first attempts being filled with things like a stalled engine from popping the clutch, or the opposite which was laying down a strip of rubber. You know, you have one or the other. I remember the vehicle kinda rolling backwards on a hill while I was trying to get started with the engine racing. I remember the smell of the burnt clutch. Ew, nobody likes that. But again, it should have been easy. I knew what I had to do. I knew the principles that I had to apply, but actually doing it was a different story. What I figured out very quickly was the only way I was going to become proficient at it was just simply by getting out there and doing it, by driving. My good understanding wasn’t going to come sitting in the garage reading the manual. It was gonna come by going out there and driving.

So I had to get out, jump on the freeway quickly, I had to sit at the red light on the hill, I had to maneuver my way through traffic, and eventually, I became proficient with the process. Again by doing, I gained a good understanding as to how that vehicle functioned, how that process worked. And you know, I actually got proficient enough at it that I could do it all at once. I could roll back on the hill, race the engine, pop the clutch, and lay down a strip of rubber intentionally. [audience laughs] That was in my youth long, long ago. The truth is the only manual transmission I can have opportunity to drive this today is Mark Mickelson's vehicle. And I can assure you, it's all done according to the strictest of ministerial conduct. [audience laughs]

Brethren, my point is this. In order to become proficient at living the Word of God and coming to truly understand it, you know, if we're gonna know it, we have to do it. And to understand it, we have to live it. We must put it into practice daily. We can study God's Word. We can know what it says and why it says it, but unless we go on then to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, we will not have a good understanding as to how and why it truly functions. You know, until you lay your life down in service to someone else, you'll not have a good understanding of what it means to be a living sacrifice. Until you visit a widow or an orphan in their time of trouble and affliction, you'll not have a good understanding of what it means for pure and undefiled religion to exist in your life. Until you're willing to extend the hand of forgiveness to someone who has wronged you, you’ll not have a good understanding of the concept of reconciliation.

Brethren, you and I learn so much through the process of doing. A good understanding comes from being doers of the Word. A good understanding comes from putting these things into practice. We’ve just walked through the Days of Unleavened Bread, and for us, that was a very enjoyable and very spiritually uplifting time. What did we do in the run-up to those days? Well, we cleaned our house. We vacuumed our car. We did all the things necessary to put the leavening out of our lives. You know brethren, there's a perspective we gain by that action which could not come by simply just reading the command. There's things we learn through walking through the process, seeking out the leavening, putting it out. And that's why it's not just the wife's job or the mom's job to deleaven the house for the whole family, that's why it should be a family event, because we all learn through the process.

Through deleavening, we came to understand more fully the pervasiveness of sin, and the manner in which it can slip into our lives so easily. We learned that sin can be discovered in a place that we weren't even looking. You know, how did that bagel get behind the couch, anyway? It just simply is a lesson we learn. We learned, brethren, that it takes effort to put that sin out of our lives. Now as we continued forward from there, we walked through the Days of Unleavened Bread when we recognized that we needed to replace that leavening with the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ living within us. And so we took in of that unleavened bread throughout the process as well. It is in the doing that so many lessons are learned. And it is indeed how God would have that to work.

And so we go forward from the Days of Unleavened Bread, counting to Pentecost. There’s lessons we can learn in that process as well. We fast on Atonement. We stay in temporary housing at the Feast of Tabernacles. We assemble on the Sabbath. God has given us so many things to apply for the purpose of learning and understanding His ways more fully. A good understanding have those who do His commandments.

Let's go to Psalm chapter 119 and verse 97. We want to look at the words of King David here because he understood very clear the application of this principle in his life. Psalm 119:97, here King David said, “Oh, how I love Your law. It's my meditation all the day.” You know, David says, “It's what I think about, it’s what I focus on. Your Word is what directs my steps.” Verse 98, “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.” David says, “I have understanding and knowledge through both knowing and doing your way.”

The word here translated “ancients,” it's interesting, it could actually be translated “aged,” and it's a reference to those who were older than he was. And so David’s essentially saying that, “Living this way of life has given me more understanding than those who are beyond my years. Those who have lived this life and should have a greater understanding than I,” he says, “I’ve surpassed them because I know and I live your ways.” David was a man after God's own heart. That came not only by the knowing, that came by the doing.

Verse 101, continuing on, he says, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your Word. I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Verse 105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” And so God's way is what, His Word is what illuminated the path in the way before David. It’s what created that perspective then by which he would place his feet as he walked through this life day by day.

Brethren, God's Word must be the standard by which we walk as well. You know, we can never go through this life and just assume that we have it all figured out, that it’s okay, apart from doing it God's way. It will not be okay, the results in this world are not okay. God has called us to live according to His Words. He challenges us to do so. In fact, He says, “Go ahead. Give it a try. Do what I’ve commanded here and see if it does not work for good in your life.”

In fact, He challenges Israel to do so, in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8. Let's go there. Last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8, where God is offering a rebuke and an admonition to His people because of their behavior before Him. In Malachi 3:8, the question is asked, “Will a man rob God?” God says, “’Yet you have robbed Me.’ But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ ‘In tithes and offerings.’” God says, “I’ve told you what you are to do,” but you see, they weren't doing it. So God says, “You’re robbing Me.” Verse 9, “You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.” He says, “’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’”

God said, “Try Me, test Me, prove Me. Live this way, and see if it doesn't work for good in your life. I am Your God. You are My people.” You know, we're not in this for our harm or destruction. God is leading us to life. His words lead to life, so He says, “Try Me, test Me, prove Me. See if in fact, doing it My way does not work for good in your life.”

Brethren, it’s in the doing that we come to understand the mercy and the blessings of God. It's when we submit to Him in obedience and faith that we see His way really does work. And you’ve probably all heard the phrase, “the proof is in the pudding,” and despite what some might say, it's not a reference to rum pudding. The proof is in the pudding. “The proof is in the pudding” essentially means that if you try it, you will see for yourself, because the results are there. That's the instruction for us. Because you see, I could tell you all day long that God's way works. I could tell you why it works and how it works, but you see, you’ll never truly know for yourself unless you go and try it and put it to practice in your life, and see the end result personally, so go ahead. That's the invitation of Scripture, go ahead and do it. The proof is in the pudding.

King David essentially said the same thing in Psalm 34:8. He said, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.” Taste and see that the Lord is good. Give it a try, imbibe in this way of life, put God's way to the test, see if it really does work. And it does. You could read about it; we definitely need to do that. And you could study into it, and we certainly should. But brethren, even beyond that, if you truly want to understand and have a good understanding and a good knowledge of the Word of God, we must practice what it is that we've been given. We must be doers of the Word, not hearers only.

When we live the Word of God, it becomes a part of who and what we are. It impacts how we think, the words that we speak, how we order our lives. Suddenly, everything we do is done through the perspective of putting God first. God's Word actually draws a framework in our life—I kind of envision it as a picture frame—and anything you're going to do in this life cannot exceed outside the parameters of that frame. So I tell the young people at home, the career you’re going to seek, the job you're going to perceive, the education, the spouse you're going to marry must all be done through the perspective of putting God first, keeping that vision clearly in your mind. You know, we evaluate life's circumstances through the lens of God's Word if we're not like the man who looks in the mirror and walks away and forgets. If we’re doing it, that is the perspective then that we keep as we walk through this life.

And so the process of doing the Word that we begin to take on a deeper understanding into the character and the nature of God because, you see, these are His words. They were inspired by His mind for us, and when we live them, we begin to walk in a manner and according to His nature and His character. His ways begin to become our ways as well. If you want to come to know God, if you want to come to have a deeper understanding and a good understanding of who He is, who His Son Jesus Christ is, then we must be doers of the Word.

Notice 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3, 1 John 2:3, here John says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” And so obedience is sort of a litmus test as to whether we know God or not. If you're not keeping His commandments, you don't know God. If you are keeping His Commandments, it would indicate at least you know God's Word, and you're coming to gain a deeper understanding into who He is. The word here “know,” in the Greek, denotes more than just a passing acquaintance. It denotes an intimate understanding and relationship. It denotes personal experience and firsthand knowledge. To know God, it denotes knowing Him by doing, by putting these things into practice. If you want to know God the Father and Jesus Christ in a manner beyond simple intellectual acknowledgment, we must be doers of the Word.

Continuing on in verse 4, it says, “He who says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Again, if you aren’t keeping them, you don't know God. If you are keeping them, you know Him, and by the keeping of them, you know Him even better, your understanding becomes even stronger, and you keep them even more faithfully and the process just simply goes hand-in-hand.

Verse 5, “But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought also himself to walk just as He walked.” And so the example that Jesus Christ set must be displayed in us as well. And it will be displayed if we are hearing, if we are studying, and then we are doing the Word. If we do these things, we will walk just as Jesus Christ walked.

Jumping forward to verse 15, it says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of this world.” And so there's a vast difference in outcomes that come as a result of either doing it according to this world's ways or doing it according to God's ways. Brethren, we've been invited to do it according to God's ways, and indeed the outcome is so much better.

I want to shift gears just a little bit, because I want to talk about the youth in the Church. I want to talk about our children and our grandchildren, our brothers and sisters. Because you see, our children have a calling extended to them from God. They have an opportunity to come into a relationship with God, to be led by Him, to have Him involved in their life. But you see, this world is also calling out to our children as well. And unless they grow up with a good understanding into God's Word and how it works, they may be tempted to answer that call. As parents, we have a responsibility to teach this good understanding and convey it to our children as well.

Listen to this, Deuteronomy 6, familiar passage to us, but it contains some important instruction. Deuteronomy 6, beginning in verse 6, Deuteronomy 6:6, it says, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.” It says, “You shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them, when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” I don't take this scripture to just essentially mean you have to quote Scripture every waking moment of the day, but I do think that there is always opportunity throughout the day to teach our children life lessons in how God's Word applies to those situations.

And one thing I appreciate about my wife is she is very good at that. If our children face a situation, perhaps at school or with another individual, she'll stop and she’ll say, “Now, this is how God's Word tells us we need to handle it. This is how God would have us to do it.” She’ll quote Scripture to them, so explain to them how and why it works. You know what, they come to learn that even if it's not what the other person is doing, they have an obligation to live according to the Word of God themselves, put these principles into the practice. And it is then through the doing that they begin to understand for themselves that yes, God's way really does work.

So we try to teach that to our children and instill that in their lives. Our young children are not converted, but again, God’s Spirit is working with them. He wants a relationship with them. They have the ability, in their way, to respond. And as such, they too can gain a good understanding that comes as a result of living God's Word. You know what, they’ll need that understanding. They’re going to need us as parents and as fellow brethren to reinforce that understanding as well before them, in terms of the example that we set. Because you see, the day is coming where then now, they have to make their own choice. The question becomes, “Which will they choose?”

Darla and I recently attended a high school orientation for our daughter Tabitha. I'm still trying to get over the fact that the baby of the family is attending high school end of this year, but I will get over it, eventually. But nevertheless, we went to the high school orientation, and at the door, they're handing out these welcome packs, were essentially these green plastic bags with a handle, and inside they had all these pamphlets in them. They handed them out to all the parents as they’re coming in, and they smiled and they said, “Welcome to high school.” Then we then proceeded into the cafeteria where the meeting was going to take place.

So we had a few minutes before that meeting started, and I thought, well, I'll just shuffle through the pamphlets and see what kind of information they gave to us. I have to admit, brethren, I was a bit taken back. I was honestly a bit dismayed as I considered some of the pressures that would be facing my daughter with this new advancement. Maybe I shouldn't have been, maybe I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was a little concerned. It was a little sad to me to see her moving into a different, a different set of options in her life. What is it, do you think, that the school wants you to discuss with your children as they enter high school? Academic excellence? Well, I have no doubt that is part of the process. But let me just share with you a little bit what we received in the welcome pack.

This is the bag that they were handing out. And there's a tag on the front that you could take a picture with your smartphone and take you to a website, but it says on the front of the bag, “Start talking now.” And you know, I agree, we need to start talking to our children now, about many things, especially about the Word of God.

But this is what the high school tells us now we need to start talking to our children about now. So I'm just going to show you the contents of the bag here. First thing I pulled out was just this magnetic calendar. You can slap that up on the refrigerator. Actually that's kind of handy. As a parent, you need to know when to wake your child up from summer vacation. That's all right.

Next one, this floppy thing, at first, I wasn’t sure what that was, but that’s a gripper for a jar. You can put that on a lid and grip and open that jar. My wife particularly likes this. But on the other side, there's a message printed and it says, “Your opinion counts. Talk to your kids about alcohol and drugs.” Obviously, it's an important conversation we should be having with our young people, and it brings to light some of the things they face. I kind of like this myself. I told my wife you can use it to keep their heads screwed on straight, but she told me that wasn't funny. [audience laughs] Actually, she's the one who tells me to put a lid on it, but you know, you got to know where the borders are.

The next pamphlet I want to pull out, this one comes from the Northwest HIDA, as well as the Washington State Office of the Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen, and it says, “Say it straight. Marijuana: Myth Versus Fact.” Because you see, recreational marijuana is now legal in the state of Washington, has been for some time, and you have to be of a certain age in order to go and purchase it. If you're in high school, that's not necessarily something that you're legally allowed to do, but I'll just say it is available. It is easily obtained all over the place. And actually this pamphlet went on to say that 27% of 12th graders have admitted to using marijuana in the last month. 27%.

So I thought all right, moving on, maybe there's something more encouraging here for me. Next, this one came from the Seattle Children's Hospital Research Foundation. It's a parent's guide to preventing underage marijuana use. Of course, that's important, but I reinforce it even with those who are of age.

Next pamphlet, this one comes from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. And it says, “Suspect your teen is using drugs or drinking? Here’s things you should discuss with them and things that every parent should know.” Again, it's important information, but the fact is, it kind of just really impacted me and brought to light in my mind just at least even one slice of what it is that our young people face, what it is we need to be talking to them about.

This one was “Underage Drinking: Myth Versus Fact,” and this one, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm getting closer to the end. It’s kind of like the marathon bag, it kept going and going. This one, Washington State Liquor Control Board, “Marijuana: What Parents Should Know.” And I heard a statistic recently on the news in Washington State that said that fatal automobile accidents by those who are impaired, those who are impaired by drugs have surpassed the number of those who are impaired by alcohol in terms of traffic fatalities. So it’s a serious situation.

This one, “Marijuana Facts for Teens,” and it's put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Then I was excited because I got to the end, got to the end, but now we have something new. “Vaping and E-Cigarettes: 8 Things Every Parent Should Know.” This is put out by Journeyworks Publishing, copyright 2014. It says, “By any name, all e-cigarettes are the same,” and it walks through hookah pens, personal vaporizers, e-hookahs, vape pens, mods, tanks, e-shishas. I had to look some of that up online. “But essentially,” it goes on to say, “they are all drug delivery devices.” And I have a family member that teaches alcohol and drug recovery at some of the local churches in Spokane, and he's rather horrified by what he sees in these things. They're simply a gateway to heavier substance abuse. In fact, I was driving down the street the other day, and I see young people puffing on these things all the time. They look like a steam engine.

But you know, brethren, that's just a slice of what it is that our young people are facing in the society, and it can go a hundred different directions. There's real pressures facing our teens and young adults in this world, and if they don't have the vision of the Kingdom of God burning brightly in their mind, this world will give them a vision. It will give them the vision.

Additionally, we need to understand that the pressures facing our young people aren't just social. They're not just societal. They are spiritual as well. We can never forget that we have an adversary on the loose. Satan the devil has his sight set on our young people, have no doubt of it. I've seen it directly. Satan is after the future of the Church of God. He's after the future family of God. There's a very real spiritual contest that's going on around us. And it's not like the battle lines are way off over there somewhere. They've been drawn right at the feet of the Church of God.

Parents, please teach your children to live this way now. Teach them the importance of God's calling, and show them by your example that it really does work, because it's working in you. It’s working in your relationships. It’s working in your marriages. It’s working in how you live this life. It’s working in your relationship with God. Our young people are watching. They're smart. They can make decisions. But they need to see, yes indeed, God's way truly does work. We could tell them until we're blue in the face that it does, but they need to see it applied.

And for our young people who grow up living the Word of God, building a personal relationship with Him, it will give them a good understanding as to why they must resist the ways of the world. Living the Word will give them a good understanding of the value of doing things right in the first place, because it's so much easier not to have to go back and fix all the damage, all the mistakes that were made because you didn't do it right the first time.

God is merciful. God does grant us forgiveness upon repentance, and gives us the ability to go back in and change and clean things up, but there is simply damage, at times, that will not go away physically in this life because of decisions we've made. But living God's Word will help them to understand the value of doing it right in the first place. Living the Word of God will also give our young people a good understanding as to the vision of the Kingdom of God and what is their purpose. Why has God created them? What is it that God is seeking to do in their life?

So let's help instill in them that understanding by living the Word with them today. That's not a responsibility just of the parents, that's the responsibility of the family—the Church of God. Each of us have an opportunity and an obligation to be an example to our young people that God's way does indeed work.

And the final thought I'd like to share with you is that that as you live the Word, others in this world will see by our example that there is something to understand and notice as well. By our light, they can see God's Word in action. Let's go back just a couple of pages, to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 5, Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 5. Here now, that new generation of Israel is preparing to go up and enter into the Promised Land, so Moses has some instruction for them. Deuteronomy 4:5, it says “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.” So he’s saying, “You know what, I’ve taught them to you, now you go and live them.” Verse 6, “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?” And brethren, is that not the relationship we have with God as well?

Verse 8, “And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?” You know, Israel was to go up into the Promised Land. They were to live this way. They were to be a light and example to the nations around them. They were to be a model nation. Now unfortunately, they were never really able to live up to what it is, that standard that had been set for them. But you know what? God has set a standard for us today, as the people of God, and as we live the Word of God in a world that is going completely the opposite direction, people will take notice. Believe me, they'll take notice, one way or the other. And some may even respond favorably.

Brethren, what's the understanding that they will gain from observing us as the United Church of God? What is the understanding that someone might gain from walking in the door to one of our congregations? What is it that they will see when they look at you and me personally? Well, I pray what they see is a people that are dedicated to laboring in the Word of truth, and then applying it faithfully. I pray that they see that God’s way really does work, because it's working in you, it's working in me. For that to be the case, God's way has to be functioning right here. We have to be living the Word and applying it right here at home, because see, we've been given opportunity to then create an environment where others can come in, where they can study, where they can learn, they can grow, and they can gain a good understanding as well. I do believe that is a part of our focus as a Church. I believe that's an environment we're working very hard to create in the United Church of God.

Brethren, God has called us out of this world into His service. He's given us His Word of truth to be a guide as to how we’ll live our lives. It's to direct to our steps, to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Let's use it well. Let's be doers of the Word and not hearers only, so that as we apply these words to our lives, you and I can be a people of good understanding in the sight of both God and man.