"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.

[Steve Myers] If someone asks you, what is the most difficult thing to do? What might you say? Difficult things to do, especially in this world. Of course, I realize we've just watched the Olympics not too long ago and we might say, a double back flip with a one and a half twist to, you know, beautiful dismount. Okay, I'm not talking about that sort of thing.

What is one of the most difficult things to do? You know what came to my mind? Change. It is hard to change, isn't it? I mean, it's not that we don't want to, we want to change. We look around in this world and people do want to change, at least at some level, don't they? Whether it's changing our weight. Whether it's changing our nose. Whether it's changing jobs. There is a level of how we do want to change so that we're dissatisfied with something in our lives.

But maybe taking a little bit more deeply, we probably know people who are more serious about things beyond those kinds of issues. There are those who want to change substantial things in their life. People who want a better attitude. They want a better temperament, spend more time with their families. Want to develop relationships.

And yet, when you consider those things, especially for our own lives, even with the best of intentions, those things can elude us. And I think it's because when it comes to real, positive, lasting change in our lives, there's only one way forward. There's only one path. And that is through our eternal God, and, ultimately, His purpose for our lives. Because if we don't understand what God's purpose is, what His will is for our lives, how can we make the changes that are necessary?

And when we think about change, it can be one of those things that seems kind of not very clear, kind of ill-defined. It can seem kind of ethereal, if I want to change, "Okay, well, how do I do that?" Well, the apostle Paul had a section of his letter to the Ephesians that zeroes in on several elements that are specific. I think they're true. They are lasting elements that can lead to real change, that can lead to spiritual change.

And so I thought it would be helpful to take time this afternoon to look at these necessities. I think you could call them, even more than necessities, they're requirements. They're essential if we're going to change and ultimately find that path, that path that will avoid the difficulties, avoid the disasters that await out in the world, and can help us to a real relationship and a deeper relationship with God.

In fact, I think we can find those over in Ephesians 5:15. If you'll turn there with me, Paul outlines these essentials so that we can avoid the difficulties and the disaster spiritually, that might otherwise await us. Ephesians 5:15, Paul starts this section by saying, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." And so in these three very short verses, he outlines a plan that we can all put into effect in our lives.

So let's look at these three things for a moment. First, he starts out by saying, "walk circumspectly." And, of course, we all understand exactly what that means because we use that word every day in our conversation, don't we? Circumspectly, it's even a hard one to kind of say, "walk circumspectly." When you get down to it he's saying, "Have a purpose, don't just kind of walk around. Don't just kind of amble or meander, or walk to wander.” He's much more specific than that because he's pointing out the fact, this life that we're walking is in a minefield. If you look back just a couple of verses to verse 8, he says, "You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."

You see, we can't grow dim. In this walk of life, we can't blend in with the darkness around us. He says we have to stand out. In fact, verse 11 says, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." And so rather than just thinking that God is light, or Jesus is light, here the apostle Paul says, "You are light." You're the source, and when you walk into a room and you're the light, what happens to the darkness? Yeah, flip on a switch in a dark room and where's the darkness? It's gone. It's gone. And so we're to be that light and think of it in those terms, that we cannot have anything to do with things that are dark.

If you read verse 11 in the Good News translation, it says, "Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light." And, of course, if they're brought out to the light, they can't be dark. They can't be dark. And so we expose the darkness to the light. We reveal it. We recognize it. We see it. We show it for what it is, and, ultimately, it's sin. That darkness is sin. And so we cannot do those things that others do that are in the darkness, and so we bring it to the light. We dispel it. We put it away.

And, in fact, when you look at verse 15, he uses this word, "walk" I think for a very specific reason. "Walk circumspectly" and it's not just, "Well, I'm walking along and that's the image that I can have," but it's so much more than that. So much more than that, especially when you consider the way that Paul most likely used this word in the first-century because we don't do this.

In the first-century, people didn't walk for exercise, did they? Did you read about anybody in the Bible, you know, that that had a treadmill? That just, "Hey, it's great to walk." No, that's not why they walked. They walked for a purpose. They walked for a reason. Of course, they walked because they had to, they didn't have any cars or anything like that. But there was purpose behind their walk. I mean, you can read of so many different times when this was the exact case.

One of the ones, I think it was Acts 10, where Peter walked 40 miles from Joppa to Caesarea, and it was for a specific purpose that he walked. As I began to think about that, I got totally distracted and I thought, "I wonder how far Jesus walked." Have you ever wondered that? Well, you can actually Google that and it'll, you know, give you several sources that will tell you who how far Jesus walked. How far do you think He walked? Well, according to mywellnesswarriors.com, “In His lifetime, Christ walked over 21,000 miles.” 21,000 miles. They've even got to calculate it out.

Now, He is down in Egypt. Okay, He's a little baby but He did have to, as He was older, walk back all the way to Jerusalem… Nazareth. You walk from Egypt to Nazareth, that's 400 miles by itself. You know, they didn't hop on the freeway and take the car and get there. And, of course, you had to go back and forth and back and forth from Nazareth to Jerusalem and back and forth again. They calculate that would have been something like 18,000 miles in His lifetime.

And then just during His ministry, just during that three and a half years, they calculate Christ would have walked well over 3,000 miles. So can you imagine walking over 1,000 miles a year? Now, did Christ have a purpose? Did He have a reason for walking? You see, first-century disciples, our Savior, during the first-century, walked to get somewhere. They walked to a destination. They walked for a purpose.

And so Paul didn't use this concept of walking as just a nice little idea, he's making a point here. Walking spiritually pictures that constant progress toward our ultimate goal, to that destination of the Kingdom of God. That's what this is about. And so you walk circumspectly. You walk for a purpose. You walk accurately. You walk diligently. Because if you don't know where you're walking, what will happen? In fact, I think they have an old saying for that, don't they? "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else," right? Yeah, you won't get where you need to go.

And, in fact, the Bible says so much about the way we walk and the difficulties. If we get off that path, if we don't walk circumspectly, if we don't walk with a purpose, if we don't walk toward our goal, we're going to end up somewhere else. And when we're somewhere else, we're in danger. We're in danger because this world is a minefield that is out there to destroy us spiritually. It's a spiritual minefield out in this world. And we can get so off track that if we're not careful, it will blow apart our spiritual life.

And so God doesn't want us just to meander through life. He's got a purpose and a plan, and if we do that, if we get off track, we're going to end up where God doesn't want us to be. And so we have to pray. We have to pray about that, because, well, you remember what it says in Jeremiah. Is it in me? You know, do I know the best way to live my life? Most Americans, I think, would say, "Well, of course. We're Americans, we know what's best. I know what's best for me, this is what I want to do."

But, really, is that the way we need to look at life? Do I know the best way to order my life? Do I know the best way to walk through the minefields of this world? Do I know the best way to worship and honor God? You see, most people would say, "Well, yeah, I can take that in my own hands. I can decide for myself. I can do what I want. That's the American way." But God inspired Jeremiah to write, "It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." It's Jeremiah 10:23. We don't know the way to walk toward the Kingdom of God. We don't know that way. We need God to reveal that to us. God has to show it to us.

Now, of course, He will direct our steps when we submit our lives to Him, but you know what? There's still a little bit of a catch. We have to choose to walk that way, don't we? God can reveal it to us, "This is the way. Walk this way," but He also says, "Choose life. Choose which way you're going to order your steps." And so when you look back at Ephesians 5:15, "Walk circumspectly, not as fools but wise," because there are the minefields that would spiritually destroy us. And if we are to avoid a spiritual disaster and avoid those minefields of that destruction that's out there, we have to walk circumspectly, carefully, carefully.

Now, how do you negotiate a minefield? Well, I thought of that and got totally distracted as I was preparing the sermon. And do you know there's articles out there on the internet that tell you about how to negotiate a minefield? There are, in fact, here was one by a man named Phil Sylvester, editor for Travel Insights. It's a travel site, website. And there was an article, right, called, "Landmines in Cambodia," and it's subtitled, "Why you should watch your steps."

Now, it's been many years since some of the wars and problems that they've had, so tourists are returning to Cambodia. And if you remember years ago with the Khmer Rouge, and even Vietnam and some of the difficulties between the tribes there, nobody would go there. But now people are returning. And, of course, that means the mines that they laid during that time, they're still there. They're still there.

And so in this particular article, he writes about how to avoid landmines. Now, here's one of the first things he said, "It's when you step outside the main areas that you're taking a risk." When you get off the beaten path, in other words, you are in trouble. You are in trouble. He says, “Tourists… are well advised not to wander around." In other words, "Here's the way, walk in it." You get off the path, you wander around, you could walk right into a minefield. And so he says, "You better consider carefully what you're doing. You better watch carefully and pay careful attention so that you don't end up in an area you don't want to be."

And so we have to be careful. In fact, it’s… well, I thought it was a little humorous. One of the things he said to avoid a minefield is to take a guide along. Take a guide. Because he wrote, "Over the years… the locals have learned where it is safe to walk." Probably by a little trial-and-error and maybe losing a limb or a couple of friends, that sort of thing. So he says, "Take a guide." Well, hasn't God guided us? Doesn't God give us His direction as He tells us, "Walk with exactness, walk with precision."

Trust God. Don't trust your GPS. We probably all know how well our GPSs work, right? Because none of us have ever put a little address into the GPS and we follow it faithfully to our destination, and we pull up and we go, "Wait a second, this isn't the restaurant. Where did it go?" It got it wrong and we just blindly followed it. And so we can't do that, especially when you consider this spiritually speaking because if we do, it's going to be a lot worse than not finding the restaurant. We could end up in a spiritual minefield that could take our spiritual life if we're not careful.

So Paul is reminding us, "Walk precisely." And, in fact, this word for "circumspectly," was a word that the Greeks used in accounting. And, of course, if you're an accountant, is it good enough just to kind of get close to the right total? Okay, we all probably have to do our checkbooks. We're supposed to reconcile our account, maybe not our checkbook, but online. "Oh, did they do it? Did they do it right?"

Well, if you go to reconcile your account and you kind of look at it and you go, "Well, is that 1,000 or is that 10,000? Well, it doesn't really matter. Close enough. I'll say it's $10,000." Well, that isn't going to work too well, right? We're to start bouncing out account all over the place. And so you've absolutely got to be precise. And so when you translate that into how we walk, how we live our life every single day, Paul saying, we've got to walk like true believers. We've got to choose the way we walk. We've got to walk that right path and not be wandering all over the place, because our enemy has strewn that path with dangerous mines that will blow our lives apart, because, he says, "These days are evil."

And we're fighting a spiritual battle. We don't want to kid ourselves. And too often, do we find ourselves kind of strolling around life, not really having a straightforward purpose? I mean, do we flirt with danger? Flirt with difficulties. Don't really pay that close attention to what's really at risk. I mean, if you think about it for a minute, what if the Israelites did that as they were to march around Jericho.

“Alright, God said this is the way, walk, walk around Jericho. You're supposed to do this for seven days." "Well, I don't know if we have to do it exactly that way. Well, how about if we just walk down the Jordan? It's kind of a little bit more scenic, a little bit more beautiful. We kind of take in the sights, enjoy the land. That'll probably be… God doesn't mean we have to do it that way, how about if we just go the way that we want to? Probably a lot more fun."

Well, what would have happened? Certainly, it wouldn't have fallen. The people followed God's instructions. He said this is how you walk. This is the way you do it. This is how you spend your time. And, in fact, He said, "Spend your time every day doing this," so they did it the First Day of Unleavened Bread, they did it the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh day, completeness. A number of completion. Their whole walk was following God's directions because you're not going to get through life's difficulties and life's challenges without some spiritual disaster, a mine blowing up, if we don't follow His guide. There's going to be trouble. There's going to be trouble.

Can we walk our own way and expect not to be attacked by the enemy? You see, I don't think we can. And so God points us in this direction. And one of the challenges I think is, we sometimes convince ourselves, "Well, it's not that big a deal, is it? I mean, it's just a minor little thing." And we kind of fool ourselves. And yet that's not circumspectly.

I was reminded about this as I was reading a little bit about aircraft carriers. And so you can tell in my sermon I got totally off track as I was preparing it and started looking at aircraft carriers. But I learned something kind of interesting about them. Aircraft carriers had a problem when they first started implementing them. I mean, it'd be great. You're out there in the water, we need planes, you know, they'd be closer to the destinations, closer to the targets, easier to refuel, what a great idea? And so they came up, “Well, you build a big boat, you make this long runway, voila! This will work great!”

But you know what happened? Where do you put the planes that aren't flying? “Oh, we'll just put them at the far end of the runway. That will be great.” And so that's what they did. And so the planes would come and they'd land and, wow, that's a really short runway. And they'd end up crashing into the planes at the end of the runway. And, of course, “Alright, we can fix this.” So what do you think they did? “We'll have a net that will catch the planes and that will slow them down as they come in.” And you've probably all seen those YouTube videos, right? The planes come in, they land, “Oh, get the net, they're not slowing down.” And then they hit the net and they flip over the net and then they smash into the planes that are at the end of the runway.

But you know what fixed the problem? You think, "Oh, we've got to go back and we've got to redesign the entire concept. We got to start from scratch and do it over again." No. Nine degrees. That was the difference between success and smashed airplanes, nine degrees. Just nine degrees, you know what they did? They offset the runway nine degrees. So instead of going straight along the whole path of the aircraft carrier, they came in on a nine-degree angle, repainted the lines so planes could come in...  guess where they put the extra planes? In that space that the nine degrees didn't face directly.

So they could come in, land and, uh-oh, if it's too short, I could hit the gas again and take off and go around and try it again. Nine degrees, that was the only difference. And the amazing part to me, do you know when they finally figured this out? Not after World War I. It was after World War II, 1952. Long after the Second World War, they figured out with this minor little adjustment, they could save millions of dollars and all kinds of planes. Just with that small, little correction.

And so I think it makes the point that just getting off a little bit, you get into big trouble. And to make those corrections in our life so that we are aimed in the right direction, it can save our life. It can save our life. And so it's not oftentimes these big things that need to be changed. In fact, I read about another circumstance, I think one that probably most of us are familiar with, but you don't think of it in these terms.

There was a man, back in 1972. I know for some of us that's, wow, pre-historic. But for us, "old guys," isn't all that long ago, it seems. But in 1972, there was a man named Frank Wills. And he was a security guard. And while he was doing his rounds one night, he was walking down a certain section of the building and he noticed a set of doors that had a little bit of tape over the latch on the door. And, you know, you've got the handle and you got that little latch that pokes out and it kind of locks the door, well, he noticed there's just a little bit of tape over that latch that was keeping it unlocked.

He thought, "Well, that's kind of funny." And so he took that little bit of tape off of there and kept going on his rounds. Well, on his next series of rounds he came back. He noticed the same doors and there was more tape, just barely sticking out from the edge of the door, that was back on that latch again. This time he said, "Alright, something's up. There's a little piece of tape keeping that door unlocked." He called the police. You know what resulted from that little piece of tape and Frank Wills noticing it? The resignation of the president of the United States. He worked at the Watergate complex and he just happened to notice a little piece of tape that kept the doors open. It's those little things.

Yeah, he walked circumspectly and noticed it. He didn't overlook his rounds. And we can't allow even the littlest of missteps to throw us off-track spiritually because our enemy that is out here is ready to pounce on us. He is a roaring lion that can't wait to devour us. And so just a few missteps, even the small ones, can get us significantly off-track so that we could be devoured if we're not careful.

And so, here the apostle Paul is reminding us of that very thing. That we need to walk circumspectly. We've got to be deliberate. We've got to be intentional. Don't let life just happen, be intentional. Make the right choices. And then we'll get to where we need to be. Where we, ultimately, where we want to be.

In fact, he expands on that a little, back in Ephesians 5:16. So go back to Ephesians verse 16, chapter 5 verse 16. And Paul will talk about a second essential, a second necessity or requirement. If we're going to avoid the spiritual minefields, if we're going to avoid disaster and truly be on the path to real change, Paul focuses on that in a second aspect. Let's notice it. Ephesians 5:16 he says, "redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

And I think that's kind of a given. I mean, would there be that many people whether they're in the church or out of the church, to say that this is in a pretty evil time that we live in? I think most people will say, “Yeah, there's terrorism, there's difficulties, there's ISIS, there's, you know, difficulties with our health, heartache, tragedies. You know, terrible circumstances out here.” So most would probably agree.

But there's so much more to what he's getting at here. Do you see where he's going? I mean, is God just concerned that we recognize the world's a bad place, or is there more to it? Well, yeah, there's more to it. Do you notice what he's saying here? Because these days are evil, here's something we must do. Because of the world we live in, this is what we have to be able to fulfill in our life. In order to change, we've got to make sure that we realize this is the time to do it. This is the time. Redeem the time.

In fact, we've got that famous phrase, "There's no time like the present." Or, "There's no present like the time." Well, they kind of reflect each other, don't they? Isn't that true? There's no time like the present. We need to redeem the time. So, alright, practically, put that into practical terms, what does that mean?

If you were to look up this Greek word, it's the Greek word exagorazó. It's pretty impressive, isn't it? I press this little button on this Biblical site and it pronounces the word for you, and I'm not sure if I got it right or fairly close, but that's, I think that's about what the guy was saying on the site. Exagorazó has several definitions. There's several ways that the Greeks use the word, and when you consider these different definitions, I think it really brings home what the necessity is here. What is the requirement if we're going to change and grow and avoid the spiritual minefields out there?

One of the ways to think about it, are there any of us here who like to shop? Okay, I guess I got my hand up. Don't go make me buy underwear or clothes or socks. I'm not into that kind of shopping. But many of us are into some kind of shopping in our lives. I mean, who of us doesn't like a good deal? I like to get a great deal. It's like, "Whoa, I got a fantastic deal on this." And in a way, this word for redeem, points to that idea, because it literally means “to buy something out of the marketplace.”

So you go shopping, and it doesn't mean, well, I just went shopping and I bought something. No, it means more than that. It should have us picture a merchant, you know, someone that's a shopper, would be another one. And they go to the marketplace, but what they do is they find the best deal. And it's not just find it, "Oh, here's a cheap thing and it's a great price so I'm buying it." That's not the purpose. The point is, this merchant goes to the market, gets the best deal on the best quality item.

And that's kind of the backdrop to one of the meanings of this word 'for redeem.' To get the best bargain on the best item in the marketplace. And, of course, that means you got to look for it. You got to find it. Because if you're a lousy shopper like me, I show up at the store and they say, "Oh, it was yesterday we had the 20% off, not today. Oh, that's too bad, you just missed it by a day." It's like, “Ah!” Yeah, that's the way I shop sometimes. Like, uh, that's terrible.

That does carry the meaning of this redeem the time because this time is an opportunity. And there are certain opportunities that we have that only come along once in a while, right? You miss the half off sale, sorry you got to wait, maybe until next year, we might do it again there. And that's the sense of what he's getting at here. That we don't want to miss this opportunity, we got to make the best purchase at the best price of the best item.

And that applies to our life, because another definition for this word, maybe brings out that aspect even a little bit more. Because it can mean “to make a wise choice,” but not just make a wise choice, “but use that choice for good.” In fact, if you looked it up in Thayer’s, Thayer’s Word Dictionary, it says, "To make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good." So everything we do isn't just for me or my fun or my self-interest. He says we can have it for a sacred interest.

You know, do we use every opportunity for doing good? I mean, that's a pretty amazing concept, when you begin to think about it. Because we have been given the ability to make wise choices and dedicate them for a good purpose, for a godly purpose, for a sacred purpose. That's what redeeming the time can mean, because it also carries a connotation of redeeming a slave. It's another facet of the definition for this word, to redeem. And what that means, you go to the slave market. Now, instead of going to the store to buy something out of the marketplace, now you redeem something from the slave market. Which means, you as a householder, you go to the slave market, you purchase a slave and then you bring them to your household. And it carries a connotation, they're never on the market again. So you purchase them out of the market so they never can be enslaved again.

And I think that brings to mind some interesting connections when you think about it. Because in some ways, don't you think we can kind of be enslaved to time? I mean, sometimes we'll say, "Our boss is a slave driver," or, "My work enslaves me. You know, if I could just get out from under the slavery of my job." You know, sometimes we think in those terms.

And I think there is a connection when you really consider what it's talking about here because there is a price to be paid to make sacred use of every opportunity. Isn't there? I mean, we can just go through life and it just kind of happens. And it just occurs. But can we use those things for a godly purpose? I mean, this is telling us, don't let time pass without the opportunity to make it right. To make it good. Even to make it holy.

You know, can I do holy things when I do them for God's purposes? Yeah, I think that's kind of what He's getting at, and it certainly reminds us, how often does opportunity knock? Yeah, not very often, once, is the way the saying goes. And so if we waste those opportunities, if we waste that opportunity and we fit in with everyone else in the world, yeah, we're going to waste 11 years of our life watching television. Is that what we want? Is that a sacred purpose for the time of our life?

We waste the opportunity, we're going to spend what, 70% of our life in front of digital media? That's what surveys say these days. Is that a sacred use of our time? Now, some of it could be, but come on, what do we get out of watching YouTube videos hour after hour, "Oh, that's a funny looking cat. Wow, isn't that great? Well, you got to see this." How much time do we waste? Is that really using the opportunity to redeem the time for a sacred purpose? I mean, come on.

Surveys show that men waste a year of their life. Do you know what they do? Watching women. A year of their life. I mean, unbelievable, unbelievable. And then there's all those other things that we really become enslaved by. And so I think that's a question we have to ask ourselves, "Are we enslaved in the way that we use our time?" Because Paul is telling us, God… He's telling us here. You can't retrieve it. You can't relive it. You can't stretch it out or borrow it or loan it or stop time, or store it up.

He's telling us, we got one life. We have one opportunity, and either we use it or we lose it, right? Game of life. "Can I have a timeout?" "Sorry, used them all up. There ain't no timeouts in life. Not going to happen." "How about an instant replay? Can I have an instant replay in life?" Literally, no, ain't going to happen. There's no such thing as an instant replay in life.

And I was reminded of this when I read about a survey that was done by a psychologist. This was done many, many years ago. It was by a guy named Dr. William Marston. And he polled thousands of people and he asked this question. He asked, "What do you have to live for? What do you have to live for?" Now, how do you think people answered that question? What do you have to live for?

And after kind of tabulating all the results and the different responses, he kind of boiled it down to something that was really pretty stark, when you consider it. What he surmised is that 94% of the people he polled were enduring the present while waiting for the future. Ninety-four percent enduring the present while waiting for the future. And I read that and went, "That doesn't... how is that true? How would that fit in a poll like this?"

But as I read more about the survey, they were waiting for something to happen. They were waiting for something to happen, like, "Wow, can't wait for my children to grow up and be independent." "Oh, I can't wait to retire and do all those things I never could do while I worked." "I can't wait to pay off the mortgage and then I'll have some extra money." "I can't wait to take that big vacation I've always looked forward to." "I cannot wait for..." Well, fill in the blank. Do we find ourselves thinking like that? Because while we wait, life is passing us by and it's not enjoyed, it's not appreciated. It's not walking because either we're waiting or we're walking.

So, God reminds us, we got some purchases to make, don't we? You better buy those wasted hours and use them for an eternal significance. You've got to grab every opportunity, buy out of the marketplace every opportunity to grow, every opportunity to come to a deeper relationship with God, every opportunity to conform to His image. And whether it's raising children, whether it's dealing with people, that has to be a part of it as well. We have to be good stewards of all of our resources.

And He says to us, invest wisely. Use those opportunities to give and to serve. Purchase those opportunities for the purpose of the Kingdom of God. Because you know what the challenge is, are we handed these things on a silver platter? Does this world just say, "Alright, you're such a nice Christian. Here it is." No way! This world wants to control us, wants to control our time. It wants to encourage us to use those opportunities for pleasure, for self-seeking self-interest, and whatever self you can think of.

It wants us to focus inward instead of outward. And we can get sucked into that way of thinking. We can be drawn into it, even when we least expect it. I mean, we have a wonderful opportunity just ahead of us. We're going to go to the Feast of Tabernacles. What a wonderful opportunity to redeem the time! And yet all too often, we get into pleasure and self-seeking. "Well, this is the time during the Feast. Well, let's go clubbing, because what a great opportunity!” Is that what we should do at Panama City Beach? Is that what we should do in Mexico? Is that what we're going to do? "Well, now is the time to… well, I don't want to party that much, but maybe just a little tape on the door, maybe just one big bash.” Will that do it? “Well, they're doing it, so I guess that's okay.” Well, is that our standard? Is that redeeming the time? Are we going to be a standard of righteousness striving to live by the standard that Jesus Christ set? Are we putting on His mind? Are we growing in that way, using those opportunities for eternal significance? Or has our runway faced the wrong direction? You see, that's what it comes down to. And we can't allow that.

And we talk about that with our young people. Talk about that as counselors at camp. What do we say? Well, we have a camp standard. This is the standard for camp. This is the kind of swimsuits we wear. This is the kind of behavior. This is in the zone, that's out of the zone. Of course, we all know that only applies to camp. “I'm not at camp anymore, so that standard…” wait a second. We kid ourselves like that. How ridiculous to think that way? We're just fooling ourselves. And we're just putting a little tape on the door, and that can lead straight to that ambling, wandering minefield that's out there.

And so when it tells us to redeem the time, yeah, there's a cost. The cost is saying, “no.” No, to what's dispensable. No, to what's temporary. No, for what's not lasting. No, to what's nonessential. No, to the secondary physical things. And it means saying “yes” to what's crucial. Saying, no. Yeah, that means saying no, to endless hours of video games.

I got to say “yes” to reading my Bible. Yes, to not missing services. Yes, to prayer, to growing in that relationship with God. No, to wasting money on… you know, I don't like that word but, "worldly pursuits." Call it what you want, right? Fill in the blank with what, "worldly pursuits" mean. We got to say “no” to that, and “yes” to what will last. And so walk carefully and use those opportunities wisely.

So, redeeming the time means making the most of those opportunities and taking advantages of the opportunities God's put before us. So, can we live with eternal perspective now? You see, that's what God has in mind for us. It means well, quit saying, "Well, if I only had the time." Because we do have time. What do we do with that time that we've been given? If we quit worrying, yeah, it sometimes means I got to quit worrying about what tomorrow might bring and focus on today, because God's going to take care of tomorrow. He promises to take care of tomorrow.

And so, yes, sometimes it's the other direction. Sometimes I got to cut loose of the past. I can't be wrapped up in what's happened before, and so I've got to make sure that I bury the failures, bury the past in that grave of God's mercy. God extends His mercy and forgiveness as we repent and redeem the time.

In fact, there's such a powerful passage right near here. It's 2 Corinthians 6:2, let's notice it. 2 Corinthians 6:2. Perhaps a little bit of a summary of this whole concept of redeeming the time. 2 Corinthians 6:2. Notice what God inspires, what He says. 2 Corinthians 6:2, it says, "At the acceptable time," now this word for time is the exact one we just read in Ephesians, "redeem the time." That opportune moment, that opportune event. "At the acceptable time, I listened to you. At the opportune moment, God called us, opened our minds to His way." And He says, “'And on the day of salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is the acceptable time." This is it. Now is the time. Now is our opportunity, “behold, now is the day of salvation."

And so we have to respond to that calling that God's given us. Now is the time. And we can liberate our time by dedicating absolutely as much as possible, to grow in our relationship with God and not letting it slip out of our hands and go some other direction. That's what God wants. He's called us right now, so now is the best time. Now is the best time for us. Now is our best shot at this. And so take advantage of that opportunity.

Back to Ephesians 5, we can pick up the third essential, third necessity, third requirement, if we're going to avoid those spiritual minefields, spiritual disaster that's out there and truly grow and change. God inspired Paul to write for us this third necessity. It's not a real complicated one either, once again, chapter 5 verse 17, "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."

Well, not wanting to make changes, makes it happen, not even just wanting to be serious about making changes makes it happen. If we're really serious about making change in our life, we need to understand, what is our purpose? What is God's goal for us? What is His overall purpose in our life? And so if we don't understand the ultimate purpose for our life, we are going to wander off the path. We aren't going to stay on direction to what God ultimately has for us in His Kingdom.

And so Paul uses much of the book of Ephesians to point out that purpose. And we know that purpose. We know there is an eternal purpose for us. We know that God wants to bring us into His family. He wants us to be His spiritual children. He wants us to be divine members of His family. Chapter 3 of Ephesians talks so clearly about all of those things.

Now, the challenge then is, we have to live our life in line with that purpose. Yeah, we can understand that purpose. We can know that purpose. But knowing it, understanding the truth, that doesn't cut it. We got to do something about it. We have to live our life in line with that truth, because it turns out, if it's not the will of God, if it's not in accordance with His word, it's not of God. I mean, we have God's will. This is God's will before us. It is His word. And if my behavior doesn't match with His word, it's not God's will. That's how simple it is. If my behavior doesn't line up with the word of God, it is not His will. We can't claim it to be His will.

And so then we've got to strive to be like David. Psalm 143, don't need to turn there. David praised, "Teach me Your will. Teach me Your will." We need to be taught God's will. "Lead me to repentance," David said. "By Your Spirit, lead me in that path." And so, as we discover this word and internalize it that much more, we find there is a prerequisite for knowing God's will. A prerequisite is mentioned over in John 7:17. I will turn there. John 7:17. Here Jesus states a prerequisite for knowing the will of God.

Let's notice what Christ Himself said here in John 7:17. Well, first He gives the Father credit in verse 16, saying, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me." So we see the humility of Jesus Christ. But then He goes on in verse 17 and it says something, I think is pretty amazing. He tells us, John 7:17, "If anyone wills to do His will," so if we want to do the will of God, it says, "he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority." So he uses Himself as an example, but it applies to all of us.

When we want to determine the will of God, He says it better match up with true doctrine. It better match up with the teachings of the Bible. If we want to do God's will, we better recognize, what is the teaching that really is from God? What is true teaching? And once we recognize doctrine, the truth, it's not just knowing it, now we have to conform to it. We have to live it. We have to do it. We have to really experience.

I think that's another way to think about it. Wanting to do the will of God, knowing the will of God, and then experiencing the will of God, means we put it into practice. And so, like Romans 12 talks about, not conformed to this world but transformed. What is that good and perfect, acceptable will of God? Well, it's being conformed to Him, transformed to His way. That's what it's about.

And so we submit our own life, our own thinking, our own ways, into His hand, and we commit to it. Not just that we're convinced that it's the truth, but we're convicted. We're committed to it. We're committed to each other. We're committed to each other as His Church because if Christ is coming to marry His Church, we better be a part of that. And so we have to have a commitment to each other as well.

So if someone is straying off the path, can we help them? Can we influence them? Absolutely, because if we are to be wise, especially when it comes to His plan and His purposes, then we have to base our choices and our decisions on His eternal plan. That means, “Oh, what I want, what I think might be fun, what I think might be cool, what doesn't line up with the will of God, that's got to take a back seat. I can't go that way. I have to subordinate my plans to God's will and His attitude and His perspective.” It has to be that.

And so, His will dictates the plan, the walk, for my life. And He's going to direct that path. He promises to direct that path. And so, hopefully, it motivates us and moves us to face the tough questions, to face the difficult questions in our life. I think a difficult question is, "Am I completely willing to surrender to what God says?" That's some difficult words right there, "Completely surrender. Completely surrender." Because that means, what, a little bit of obedience? Mostly obedience? Sort of submitting to Him?

You see, it's not in-between with God. He says it's absolute, total obedience. And that goes against our thinking. It goes against our human nature. But it doesn't go against the spirit that God's given us. It doesn't. If we submit to that spirit, we can give up what we want and we can follow what's best. And God promises, that is best for us. And the results will be so much better than if we amble off in our own direction. And so we've got to ask ourselves, "How much sin do I tolerate in myself? Am I drifting into tolerating sin?"

We know those tiny, little compromises. They can take us into a very bad place. And if we focus more on the physical rather than the spiritual, boy, it's going to be pretty tough to go the right direction. So God tells us, don't get caught up in that way. And, yeah, being different might feel uncomfortable at times. We are set apart from the way the world thinks. And it should help us, really, ultimately, to counteract the world's influence.

And that's a tough question too, "Am I really counteracting the world's influence by submitting to God's will, knowing that will, doing that will?" Which means I'm not going to leave my Bible in my car for the whole rest of the week and never take it out until next Sabbath. That's not what I'm going to do. I can't do that. It means I'm going to obey God. It means that I'm going to pray, develop a deeper relationship. It means I'm going to serve others. It means I'm going to fast, and maybe not just on Atonement. I'm going to draw closer to God.

And maybe I ought to ask myself as well, "Have I brought it before God? Have I laid it out before Him?" Have I said, "God, this is tough because it goes against my nature. Help me. Help me to grow. Help me to submit to you. Show me how I can better apply your will and your way in my life. Help me to do that." How do you think God would answer that prayer? He loves us. He cares for us. He wants to help us and direct us and guide us.

In fact, He looks at us and, you know, He sees the ultimate. He sees the completed project, doesn't He? In fact, a couple of pages over from where we began, in Ephesians 5, if you go to Ephesians 2, notice this perspective that God has. I think it's a powerful, positive perspective. Ephesians 2:19, gives us a little insight into God's mind and how He looks at us.

Ephesians 2:19, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners," right, we're no longer wandering and ambling around this world and its ways. “But” instead, we're “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” we're in the family. We're in the house. We're a part of God's family, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fit together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

And so God sees us in a positive way. He sees us walking that path toward His Kingdom and He wants to keep us on that path. He wants to continue to direct us that way. He wants us to grow. He wants us to be built together. He has all the best plan for us. And so He tells us, "Don't live dangerously. Don't walk out there into trouble."

Now is the time to be more fully committed to God. These Holy Days that we're coming to, they help us. They help guide us through the mind of God, to be that much more determined to live it, day in and day out. And if we're going to negotiate those minefields that are out here, and if we're going to avoid that spiritual catastrophe that we might otherwise face, that means we've got to use the time. And we've got to use that time wisely and for sacred purposes. That means we've got to walk circumspectly and know exactly where we're going, and strive with ever more determination, to continue on that path to the Kingdom. And it means we know God's will, and more than just knowing it, we are going to put it into practice.

We've got a great God on our side. We can do this. And so we've got to take that opportunity because He's telling us, “That's the time. The time is now.” So let's be determined to make the most out of every single opportunity.