​​​Second Timothy chapter 3, we're going to begin in verse 10. Apostle Paul is talking to Timothy. This is his second letter to Timothy. Timothy is a young minister, a young brother in Christ who was actually discipled by Apostle Paul, and he's encouraging him because there is a coming apostasy. And I tell you what, this is so needed today. We see an apostasy coming on the scene, false doctrine. We see the Christian church accepting and receiving things that we should never accept or receive. And this isn't about not loving people, this is about separating ourselves from sin and ungodly behavior, but sadly we have accepted it into the church. The only way it comes into the church is through us, because we are the church.
So it's not like this building has a problem. It's we bring these things into the church. We compromise our values. We compromise what we know to be right. Marriages are being destroyed right now. As we speak, marriages are being destroyed around the country. There are marriages that are at risk right in this congregation today.
We've seen marriages destroyed because we have chosen to follow our own selfish will. I'm not talking about the abusive relationships where there are reasons for separation. I'm talking about the completely unnecessary divorce that comes out of our own selfish desires and lack of will to be Christ-like.
I mean, if we were really Christ-like, we'd do everything that we could to save our relationships, making sure that we are bringing honor and glory to God and everything that we do and everything that we say.
But there's a coming apostasy that we're seeing right here, right now, and Apostle Paul was dealing with it way back then. Back in about 67 A.D., Apostle Paul was dealing with the same thing. What does that tell you? Humanity does what? It cycles. It's like we go through the same thing all the time.
How many of you remember when bell bottoms were in? The first time. [Laughter]
How many of you remember the second time they were in?
How many of you have been around long enough to maybe a third time they've been in? [Laughter] I don't know.
And some people say, you know what? they were bad the first time. They shouldn't look ever come back. We should have just killed them. Everything cycles because we're humans and God is giving us the opportunity to learn from our past but when we don't learn from our past we repeat it. And that's what's happening right now. The end times are coming. Jesus Christ is coming soon, and if we don't get ourselves in alignment with His word, which has nothing to do with you saving yourself. It has everything to do with your depending upon Christ to save you because he paid the price for your salvation. If you're not trusting in Christ, you're not saved. If you're not trusting in Jesus Christ, you're not saved. And I beg you, please, re-evaluate where you are, and realize that Jesus Christ is the only way that we can get to the Father. Reconciliation comes through Him. Period. End of story.
And Apostle Paul was trying to equip Timothy because he saw this coming and he knew that this was coming and I need to tell my son Timothy, his spiritual son, Timothy. Why was he getting so emphatic? You know what I love about Apostle Paul? There's a lot of times when we're Christians and we get older, we start getting softer. We don't want the battles anymore. We're tired of the fight. So we just start accepting things.
I know the Bible-believing God-fearing men and women that have been saved for years and years, decades, and they're to the place that they've gotten tired and they're starting to accept things into their life and into their church and it's destroying their testimony. And how is it destroying their testimony? Because it's leading people away from the true gospel. And they're going to stand before God one day and not understand why they can't come in.
The apostasy is affecting us all. Why was it so important that Apostle Paul was so determined to get this last message in? Because Apostle Paul was getting ready to die. He knew the Lord had just revealed it to him and his spirit. He was getting ready to leave the planet, to leave the earth. And he knew he had to seed one last testimony. One last nugget. Confirm one last point in the word of God to his son Timothy because he would no longer be here with him to encourage him.
So as we begin to read in verse 10, Paul is talking to Timothy and he says but you have fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my charity, my patience. Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”


You can stop right there, and that's not an American message. Wow, wait a minute.
And you that live godly, and all, and all, A-L-L, all, and all-inclusive who will live godly in Christ. Not godly out of works or godly out of himself righteous, but godly out of Christ, declaring Christ as the banner of their life, as the Savior of their life, “all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer.”
But then he makes it very specific. Suffering to us is not getting our morning cup of coffee. Suffering to us is not being able to run through the McDonald's drive-thru on the way to work and pick up a good old sausage biscuit McMuffin or whatever. Suffer persecution. Persecution. Because Jesus said “if you're my disciples, you're going to suffer because of my name.”
Verse 13 he says, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse." What does that mean? That means that they're imposters and they're going to go from bad to worse. Deceiving and being deceived. You see that? They're deceiving and they're being deceived. They're allowing themselves to be deceived and now they are deceiving others.
“But continue you, Timothy….” See what he's saying here?
“But you, Timothy, you continue in the things which you've learned and have been assured of, knowing whom thou hast learned them.”
Knowing who taught you these things, watching the manner of life of those that have taught you these things. Think about that. So many times we don't listen to the counsel of God's Word as we are to prove ourselves out by our manner of life, and so we end up taking counsel from people who aren't walking it out. But we do that all the time, spiritually. We don't turn to God's word and we ask and seek advice from people that have been proving themselves out to be godly men and women.
Paul is telling Timothy, continue in the things that you've learned and been assured of and remember who taught them to you. And he's not just saying about him but he's also talking about his mother and his grandmother who taught him as a young child.
And then he says, "And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
What are the scriptures able to do? I'd get my pen out and I'd mark that. I'm giving you a second because I'm marking it. Wise unto salvation. How? Through faith. In who? In Jesus. Not faith in yourself? No. Not faith in yourself.
Because you were already sinning yourself to hell. The Bible says we were condemned already. So no, not about faith in myself, it's the Holy Scriptures which are able to make me wise unto salvation. Not unto wealth, not unto prosperity, not unto being this perfect person, not into acquiring all these things in the earth, but unto salvation.
The things that we have on this planet are not going to make any difference when we go to heaven. All Scripture. There’s that word “all” again.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Wow, so it's telling you that the Word of God is good for everything. Do you know that archaeologists have used the Bible for years to locate certain things they could never find? And then when they didn't believe the Bible and they found these certain things, they found the accurate description in the Bible of what they could never find and realized that it was here all along? Do you know that medical science has proven the Bible over and over again? Do you know that the solution for the black plague after thousands and thousands of people died, the solution was found in the book of Leviticus and they finally figured it out, and started applying it, and it saved the lives of all the people?
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Why? I love this last verse, verse 17. Why? That the man/woman -- I'm not adding to or taking away -- it's talking about humankind.
“So that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Does that mean perfect? Like there's no problem at all? No, it means whole, complete. It means you are being perfected in a continual basis, and you will be thoroughly furnished under all good works. Thoroughly furnished, equipped, ready, able, prepared.
Don't you want to be equipped, ready, able, prepared? I do. How many of you love being unprepared? Isn't it just the best feeling in the world? I remember one time I got in the shower and for some reason I was all alone and I knew I just knew some for some reason I had been out working and I thought you know, “Usually I don't take middle-of-the-day showers. It's usually in the morning or the evening and that I was dirty and I wanted to get clean, but I just knew somehow somebody was going to come to the door when I walked in the shower. Nobody called no messages no text no nothing finally. I'm like, this is it. This is my chance. I'm just going to do. I will not be driven by fear, right? And so I jump in the shower. I have soap all over my body. [Knocking sound.]
You've got to be kidding me. I felt completely unprepared. Nobody likes to feel unprepared and it's the Word of God that is going to prepare us.
Verse 1 of chapter 4 says, "I charge thee." This is Paul. He's saying, "I charge thee. I command thee. I entrust to you. Before God, Timothy, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."
Before we go on, I want us just to look at that. Verse 2 says, "We are to be, as members of the body of Christ. We are being charged, entrusted with, preaching the Gospel, proclaiming, and that means proclaiming with authority, but we won't know the authority until we remember what our identity is and who our identity is in.
Remember last, the two weeks ago, we talked about we don't know who our identity is because we don't know who God is. The church spends more time doing things for themselves than they do doing things to understand God and then allowing him to move through them. I told you about the example in that I had a brother in Christ up in Corning, California. The guy read more books about the Bible than he ever read the Bible and he always had a message to preach but it rarely lined up with scripture. But it was positive. But if it's not lining up with Scripture, it's not positive.
I can give you tools to make you the best person on earth that you'd ever want to be and you'll still go to hell. I personally don't think that's a positive message.
Richard, what do you think? I don't think so.
I want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we are to preach or proclaim with authority the Word. We are to be instant and that means to be ready in season and out of season. In season means when it's convenient. Out of season means when it's not convenient. We are to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all-long suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.
Now listen, the teachers don't have the itching ears. It says they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears because they want to hear what they want to hear. They want to hear what they want to hear. They don't want to hear anything else. And many times, I'm going to say 100% of the time God tells you what you don't want to hear so that you can be in the image of Christ. Because we're always trying to protect ourselves. We're always trying to protect our ego. We're always trying to protect our image. We need to die to that. So that we can be transformed into the image of Christ.
And then it says “And they will turn their ears away from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.”
So God will actually allow them to go to fables because that's where they want to go to. That's their God. They'll turn to a false gospel. But watch. Now here's commission to us again. But watch, right? We're to watch. That means we are to be circumspect. And the cool thing, that word actually means that we're supposed to think carefully and consider the risks before acting or speaking. Boy, wouldn't you love to be able to have that on a button before you start talking. Wait a minute, I need to be a little bit more cautious before I open my mouth. And it just puts these cage doors over your mouth and gives you just a minute to think.
That would be really nice, wouldn't it? Somebody told me one time before you open your mouth, do a 10 second fast. A 10 second verbal fast. You start to open your mouth and shut up for 10 seconds and just maybe something good will come out. I think that's a pretty cool idea.
“But watch now in all things,” and then it says, “endure afflictions or hardships. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry.” Make full proof. Carry out fully the Christian service and teaching that God has told us to do. That's what we're supposed to do, Alex. That's where we find our contentment. That's where we find our satisfaction.
If my dad and I are working…. Does anybody work on their own vehicles? Every once in a while, right, I know. Anybody over 30 says, "Are you kidding? I pay somebody to do that now." But before, I was smarter and I didn't have as much money, which I don't have as much anyway, but when I was younger my dad now would work on cars, and he would say, “Hey, do this or do that and so I do it, and it always felt good when I pleased him. I knew that my his love for me wasn't based on whether or not I did good. But it always made me feel good, Mark, when he'd say, “That was a good job, son. You did really good.”
What did that make me want to do? Do it again. Can we take it apart and do it again dad so you can say that again? Because I wanted to please Him, right? Make full proof of Thy ministry. Don't we want to please the Father? Don't we want Him to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant?" Well done.
And Paul's getting ready to close this letter out. And in fact, this would be the last time that we know of, historically, that he actually was able to talk to or write or correspond with his son, Timothy. And in verse 6 he says, "For I am now ready." I mean, when I hear those words, I think, "God, can I say that, if I knew that the Holy Spirit told me my time has come.” I don't know what it's going to look like, but I'm sitting here in a Roman prison. Nero is cutting the Christians' heads off. He's putting them on stakes around the city and setting them on fire. That's where the term "Roman candle" came from. So if you've ever used it as a catchphrase, you might not want to do that anymore. Roman candle was when Nero took the heads and bodies of Christians. He would impale them and he would put them along the streets, coming into Rome and he would set them on fire at times in order to show the people coming in that we do not accept Christians.
“Oh, wait a minute, does that sound familiar? Something that's maybe happening today?” Yeah. And that's where Paul was sitting. He didn't know what was going to happen. And he tells Timothy, "I'm now ready.” I'm okay. Me and God are great, but it's not because of me. It's because of his grace. And the time of my departure is hand. I'm ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is a hand. I have fought a good fight, because remember what we talked about last week? God gives us a free will. Don't say, "Jesus, take this from me, Jesus take this from me.” ‘
Jesus says, “I gave you the power to put it off, so stand in my power and put it off in my name. And then put yourself in a place of accountability, put yourself in a place where you will be standing with men and women of like faith that will hold each other accountable, you'll encourage each other, you'll read the word together. I will be the priority in your life, your life will no longer be self-centric, it will be Christ-centric. Everything will hinge upon your relationship with Jesus Christ.
“I'm now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
Paul says, "I'm now ready. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course, and I've kept the faith." Henceforth, there is. There is. There is. It's present tense. Nate, it means “there is.” It means it's not something that I have to wonder if it's going to happen or Is God going to be on time with this? It is already in existence waiting for me. There is, laid up for me, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also, that love is appearing.
Are you truly looking for Jesus' return? And if you are, what are we doing to prepare? What are we doing to prepare for God's return? He says that it's His desire that all men would be saved. Are we moving in that direction? Are we allowing ourselves to be used by Him that all men would be saved? Are we fulfilling the purpose that God has given us? Will we, in that last day, say, "I am ready. I am now ready"? Because it was within, according to history, it was within possibly six months of the writing of the finishing of this letter, and Timothy reading this, that his mentor, Apostle Paul, was beheaded for his faith in Christ.
And shortly thereafter, Apostle Peter was hung and crucified upside down. What legacy are you going to leave? I can't imagine how many times Timothy poured over these letters and thought about his mentor, Apostle Paul, and cried about the fact that he didn't have him there to talk to anymore. But then the more he read, he was continually reminded that it wasn't about Paul, it was about the Jesus that he continued to teach me, and he is still here with me, and I can go forward, and I will be victorious for his glory in his power.
The things, the memories, that Timothy must have had of Apostle Paul, of Apostle Paul. They're trips together, they're times together, they're persecutions together. They're being in jail together, you know, the fun times. Maybe drinking some fresh water together and talking about the Word. What legacy will you leave? What will your friends and family say about you when your life is required of you? Whether it's by natural causes, whether it's by an accident, or the possibility of losing your life for the sake of Christ. What will your family say about you? What will your children say about you? What will your spouse say about you? Well, they breathe a sigh of relief quietly because they don't have to deal with you anymore. And they don't have to worry about you bringing an approach to Christ.
They don't have to worry about you saying inappropriate things to them or treating them wrong or putting them on second-rate or second-shelf or not talking to or valuing your family and your children. Our family is our first field of missionary work. What are we doing to make them feel valued? How are we allowing Christ to love them through us?
My wife and I were married two years and I reached the climax of my love for her. And it doesn't mean that I was done. It meant that I wanted to love her more, and I didn't have it to give. I literally felt a spiritual ceiling on my love. I was done. And it wasn't that I was writing her off. It's like putting your foot on the pedal, and it's going 55. But you want to go 180. But there's nothing you can do to go any faster and I cried out to God and I said, “I want to love her so much more because I know that that your love is what's going to make this happen.”
And he said “Then get out of the way.”
“What do you mean?”
“She needs my love.”
“No she doesn't need your love. She needs my love. She doesn't need your love, she needs my love.”
And I had to pull myself back. And then I saw a funnel. And I saw the Holy Spirit saying, "Now I can love her. As long as you let me be the vessel of my love, then you get to enjoy the benefits." And they're great because I get to be loved back.
But I had to allow the Lord to use me as a vessel to love my wife without expecting her to love me back. We're not used to that, are we? We're used to always, well, you know, we love you, we want to hear it back. Half the time when we say we love you to somebody, it's because we need it. I love you. I love you too.
Good.
That felt good.
I love you more.
I love you too.
I love you.
You're an idiot. Stop saying that.
Love the way God loves. Love your wives, husbands. Wives love your husbands. Parents love your children. Brothers and sisters love each other. That's your first testimony. That's your first mission field. If we fail in that, we have failed sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the manner in which God has commissioned us to do that.
Are you ready? Are you ready to receive the reward of a life dedicated to God's purposes? Or will you stand before Him empty-handed with nothing to offer? And maybe you'll make it in, but you've lived your life for yourself. And if you haven't lived your life for yourself, you think you've lived your life for everybody else, and you want to make sure that they know that you lived your life for everybody else. Which means, in essence, you lived your life for yourself because you just wanted the glory. All glory goes to God, and He has equipped us and given us the tools necessary through the salvation provided by His Son, Jesus Christ, through the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God to empower us. He left us with His Word to educate us, to fill us, to equip us so that we might be able on that day to say “I am now ready and I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course and I have kept the faith.”

​

​Quiz: Confidence, Love, and DiscipleshipAccording to John 13:34, what new commandment did Jesus give?
A. Pray without ceasing
B. Love each other as He has loved us
C. Fast every week
D. Forgive seventy times seven

What is sometimes mistaken for true love, according to the passage?
A. Letting people do whatever they want without confrontation
B. Strict discipline
C. Material generosity
D. Silent treatment

What kind of judgment did Jesus emphasize?
A. Condemning judgment
B. Discerning judgment
C. No judgment at all
D. Judgment based on appearance

Why can’t we condemn others, according to the text?
A. Because we are already perfect
B. Because Jesus didn’t come to condemn
C. Because everyone is innocent
D. Because condemnation is easy
What does abiding in God’s word and demonstrating love for Christ produce?
A. Physical strength
B. Confidence as His disciples
C. Financial gain
D. Popularity among peers

What must we do to walk in the fullness of our identity?
A. Obey what we know
B. Ignore our conscience
C. Rely on others’ opinions
D. Seek worldly success

Why did the brother at the pastor’s retreat believe God heard his prayers?
A. Because he prayed loudly
B. Because he tried to do things that pleased God and dealt with sin
C. Because he fasted often
D. Because he quoted scripture

What is a “clear passage of communication” with God dependent upon, according to the brother’s testimony?
A. Reciting prayers perfectly
B. Having no unaddressed sin in one’s life
C. Attending church services
D. Charitable deeds

What might happen if we are not “tuned in” to God when we pray?
A. We always get what we ask for
B. We may not hear what God truly wants to say
C. We lose our faith
D. We become more popular
​
What analogy was used to illustrate confidence in identity?
A. A shepherd and his sheep
B. Children confident in their parents’ love
C. A builder and his house
D. A teacher and students

​Many of you have maybe heard this story, but sometimes we assume people know Bible stories and maybe they don't.  So we're going to start in Exodus chapter 3 beginning in verse 1.
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush is not burnt?"
And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here am I.”
And he said, “Draw not nine hither. [Or, “Don't come any closer.”] Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where on thou standest is holy ground.”
Moreover, he said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Parasites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
And Moses said unto God, "Who am I that I should go into Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
And he said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain."
And Moses said unto God, "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them, ‘the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, 'What is his name?’ What shall I say unto them?'"
And God said unto Moses, "I am that I am." And he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, "I am hath sent me unto you."
That's quite a statement, "I am."
I mean, “Hey, so who's your daddy?”
"I am.”
“Who sent you over here?”
"I am."
It's kind of a hard one to explain it first, unless you know and understand what God is telling Moses. That simple, simple phrase, "I am," encompasses everything that God is. God says in that one phrase, "I am," He says, "I am that I am. I am because I am." Basically, that's what He's saying. And when He says, "I am," He's saying, “I exist.” Not, “I existed” or “I will exist.” “I exist.” It's a constant. “I exist.” “I have always been and I will always be. I abide.” Meaning, “I'm continually here. I abide. I continue. I never began and I will never end."
That pretty much sums it up. God's saying, "I am." You don't have to look any further. You don't have to hope for something better. You don't have to look back and think of something that maybe was better in the past. “I am.”
God was declaring it to Moses his identity and Moses's question was, “Who do I say sent me?” He declares his identity and then, as you remember, Moses then goes into Egypt and he begins to fulfill all the things that God told him to do. Moses couldn't have done this without the experience he had at the burning bush. He couldn't have done that without the experience he had in the wilderness place. A lot of times, we think about our wilderness places as being a curse from God, or maybe we're outside of his will, and maybe at times we have created our own desert place. We have to check our own heart in regards to that.
But there are times that we might be doing everything right. Everything is in line. Everything is in order and yet we find ourselves in the middle of the desert and there's a burning bush. Those times in your life can be life-changing. And you can either look at the burning bush and turn away, or you can look at the burning bush as an opportunity to meet God face-to-face and change your life forever and establish who you are.
When Moses walked away from that burning bush that day, he knew who he was. He knew he was a servant sent by “I am.” From that point on, you see no doubt in Moses. Throughout his entire course of the Exodus journey, you see no more doubt in who sent him. He doesn't ponder, "I wonder who sent me. Man, was that real? Did that really happen?” He was secure in his identity because God established it that day.
I want you to turn with me to John, chapter 8. We're going to begin in verse 48. Jesus is having a discussion with the Pharisees. Discussion might be putting it mildly, but they're accusing him of everything under the sun, and he is telling them who he is. He's expressing this to them, and in every way that they can think possible, they continue to accuse him that, “You're not of us” and Jesus specifically says, "You know, you're not of God. As a matter of fact, you do have a father and you are of him and he's the devil.”
Now you've got to remember this is generations and generations of steeped in, “We are the children of Abraham.” They were more interested in being called the children of Abraham than they were being called the children of God. Jesus is expressing this to them and they're not him and finally he says, "You know what, I'm going to leave and you're going to die in your sins." See ya. And they're like, "Wait a minute, we're the Jews. We are the chosen people and not only that, we're the Pharisees. I mean, we're the law keepers."
Jesus said, "I said that because you're going to die in your sins because you don't believe in me. You haven't put your trust in me. You are of your Father and your Father is the devil. So obviously, this stirs things up a little bit. They're not happy with Jesus at all (again).
And in verse 14.
"Then answered the Jews and said unto him, ‘Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil?’”
Because they didn't like what he was saying. And you can please, as disciples, you can read pre of what I'm talking about.
Verse 49.
Jesus answered, "I have not a devil, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I seek not my own glory, for there is one that seeketh and judgeseth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keeps my saying, he shall never see death." Then the Jews said unto him, "Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead in the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keeps my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our Father Abraham which is dead and the prophets are dead, who make us thou thyself?”
Or, “Who do you think you are?!”
“Jesus said, ‘If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth me of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you, but I know him, and I keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and he was glad.’”
“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”
“Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, ‘I am.’ Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
All of a sudden, in the New Testament, here we see Jesus declaring himself as God. We might not have a complete handle, or ever, until we stand before the Father, about how that all works. About how the Father and the Son and the Spirit can all be one, yet revealed in three different manifestations.
We see Jesus getting baptized, Jesus the Son getting baptized, and we see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, coming down and landing upon him, and then we hear from the heavens the Father saying, "This is my Son and whom I am well pleased." We might not ever I have a handle on that and we just need to kind of accept that and I'm not saying to be ignorant. I'm saying that that's where trust and faith comes in. God is God. He is “I am” and that settles it. He was pretty insistent about that with Moses, wasn't he?
And yet here comes Jesus. He's very confident. If you notice, I love reading his dissertations with the Jews. Sometimes we could see maybe he would be getting frustrated upset and yelling and, I mean, I would be. You know, you'd want to just say, “Idiot! Do you not get it?! You know, have you not been studying what I've given you all these years and you don't recognize me?” But he doesn't.
I believe that he had so much confidence in his mission and in his identity that he just spoke to them passionately and reasonably.
And yes, I believe Jesus was a passionate, was very passionate, when he was on earth, because he gave us passion. But I believe his passion was tempered and it was perfectly timed.
As he's speaking to the Pharisees and the Jews, and he's sharing with this with them, they are getting more and more upset.
You ever had anybody, you talk to them and you're so mad and you're so upset, and they're just you just don't think they're getting it because they're not sharing in your anger? And that makes you more mad and more upset? Husbands, you ever had that with your wife? They're trying to share with something with you and they're elevating and you're just still not getting it? Or you think you are getting it, and you're trying to be very, “Hmm, wow” and you and you're just trying to let them, “See, look, I am thoughtfully considering what you're saying.” But you're not crying and you're not getting mad and you're not screaming and so then they escalate.
Isn't it great that Jesus doesn't do that? And husbands we need to be a little bit more sensitive to our wives because we don't want to force them to get that place. Amen?
So these Jews are just getting frantic And then when he drops the bomb, he says, "Before Abraham was, I am."
Wow. "Before Abraham was, I am."
He just declared himself equal with God. They couldn't handle it anymore. They picked up stones and they were going to stone him to death. Jesus didn't waver in his identity. He stuck to exactly who he knew he was. When Jesus said, "I am," that specifically means that, “to be.” When Jesus said, "I am," he said, "I exist." He said the same thing that the Father God said back in Exodus to Moses. He said, "I exist. I happen. I am present. I'm present everywhere, all the time. The furthest back in the past and the furthest forward in your future. I am.”
And Jesus was confident of that because he knew who his father was and the church isn't confident in who their father is.
Let's just lay it out there. You see, what's happening in the churches today. We're compromising. We're compromising. I'm not talking about traditions of men. I'm talking about we're compromising the word of God. We're saying that what's good is bad and what's bad is good. We're contradicting the word of God. We're bringing sin into the church and accepting it. Not bringing sin into the church to eradicate it and to bring salvation and deliverance but we're bringing it is as a part of the program. Churches are having to identify whether or not they're on the left or the right. I don't want you to be on their side or my side. We need to be on the Lord's side. There's a lack of identity in the church because we've forgotten who our father is.
Look at the political race we're seeing run. Oh my goodness, there's so many presidential candidates this year, it's like ants, man. And each one of them has a little platform. And the ones that are creating the biggest stir and actually getting the most attention and support are the ones who are reminding us what our identity is. I'm not putting a call out for any one of them at this particular point. I'm going to pray about it and whoever God says, "I'm supposed to check on that box," that's who I'm going to check on that box. That's where I'm going to put my check. But if you look at it, the ones that are making the biggest impact, the biggest stink, and they're actually getting the most support are the ones that are reminding us who we are as Americans. They're reminding us what we're supposed to stand for. They're reminding us that we are not supposed to be compromising principles that were established in our Constitution. And the American people, as a whole, are loving it because somebody's standing up and reminding them who they are. And how is that? And why is that? It's because those that are speaking those things are the ones that are remembering who our forefathers were. They're the ones that are confident in the intention of our forefathers. They're not manipulating and twisting history, but they're saying “No, our forefathers created this nation for this purpose” and they are reminding us of what that purpose is but they couldn't be confident if they weren't confident in what the forefathers were establishing.
And there are there is a large stream of Americans that are saying, “Let's do it. Let's go back to what we're supposed to be as Americans. Let's stand for truth. Let's stand for righteousness. Let's fight whatever battles we need to fight in order to re-establish safety in our homeland. Let's remind people that the freedom that they're exercising to be idiots was freedom that was fought by the blood of those that they're persecuting.”
And there's a certain amount of patriotism that, just, you can you can see the flag? [Singing the national anthem.] And you see the fireworks going off. Does anybody remember being patriotic? I do. I loved being patriotic. Red, white, and blue men, those were my favorite colors. I had American flags hanging in every corner of my room. I mean, hey, we’re American and at one point it used to mean something.
And there's a sense of patriotism that that starts rising up when people start reminding us of who we are and what our purpose is as Americans, and so we start rising up in that spirit of patriotism. I want to say something about that and I think that's all good and everything, but that's not going to save anybody. Being a patriot doesn't get you to heaven. Being a… I know. Ready for this? Being an American doesn't get you to heaven. We have a message that we need to be declaring and people need to hear it, but they need to hear it from the church who is convinced of who they are, and we're not going to be convinced of who we are until we are convinced of who He is.
The world looks at the church and they wonder, "Do we really believe what we say we believe?" It's not that we can't have struggles. That's what Christ came. He came to help us overcome those struggles. But When we live in the past, when we live in an old lifestyle, when we continue to perpetuate old lifestyle habits, that doesn't bring any glory or honor to God. That doesn't bring any validation to our witness, any credibility to who Christ is. If we really, really know who God is, Our heart's desire will be to live in a way that honors him and glorifies him.
And if we sin, scripture says, it doesn't say “when.” Do you ever notice that in 1 John? It says, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We are no longer supposed to live in sin anymore. We are no longer supposed to practice sin anymore. We are supposed to call upon God and walk in His holiness. And if we miss the mark, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and we can live that life before a very watching world.
We see things coming into the church. We see this rush of homosexuality and just sexual perversion. And you know, one of the biggest cries is they're finding out who they are. Why is that? Because everybody's desire is to know who they are. Who am I? And when you put that out there and you put it in an open market, Satan's going to have a heyday. And he is allowing people…. Or, he is feeding people a lie that they are somebody that God never created them to be. And that lie will create a lifestyle that will make them miserable, it will destroy them. And I'm not just talking about homosexuality, I'm talking about sin in general. And it will take them to the place of reminder that the wages of sin is death. But if they continue on, it'll remind them that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But why is it? Because they don't know who they are. They don't know their identity. This is in the church, folks. I'm not even talking about outside the church right now. I'm just talking about what's going on in the church. We have to know who God is in order to be confident in who we are.
So we say, "Well, how do we be confident in our identity?" "Man, God, I want this." Maybe you're here today and you're saying, "I do, I want that. I want to know how to be confident in who I am." Well, Jesus, it's really funny because if you read chapter 8, He's talking to the Jews and He's discoursing with them. And all of a sudden, He pops out of nowhere and He begins to talk to Jews that are believers. It says, "Jews that believed on Him." And He gives them about two verses and then He goes back and He starts talking to the other Jews. And in those two verses, he gives us the key. And it's chapter eight, verse 31 and 32.
He says, "Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, ‘If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’" And then he begins to talk to the other Jews again.

If you want to be confident in your identity, we must continue. That means to remain, abide, to endure. We must continue in, and that little word “in,” I love that little word “in” specifically, in certain passages of scripture. It means “a fixed state of relational rest.” We are to remain in, or abide in, a continual fixed state of relational rest.
And then he says this, "…in my word." “My word.” He's saying, "The word that came from out of me." Are we remaining in his word? Are we continuing in him? Then, there's the conditional word, “then” … “if you do this, then….”
So “if” is the condition and “then” is the result. “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. You are my disciples.” That means, “You're my own. You belong to me. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
There's two reasons that we, as a church, aren't walking, I believe, in the confidence. I'll just say two basic reasons. In the confidence that we should be walking in.
How many times have you seen infomercials? Anybody watch infomercials? Has anybody seen an infomercial? Come on, it doesn't mean you're going to hell. There we go. Everybody has seen infomercials. And they sell stuff, right? And they're good at selling stuff. We were channel surfing the other day and this lady, she's holding up these two little charms on a necklace. And you know, they do the zoom in, you know, and you see all the little bling and the glitters and all that stuff. And they're talking and talking and, “Oh, look at how marvelous and, isn't it amazing, isn't it just astounding, look at the colors on this, and I'm thinking, “These guys are great at what they do because you can watch the little items sold. “Click, click, click….” And quickly, only have so many, “Click, click, click…” (faster). Because they're passionate about what they're doing. Sadly, they're being paid to do it, so more than likely, it's a paid passion. It's not a true conviction. But they're making enough money to wear, I guess, that pays for their passion, huh?
See, we've been paid very, very well. We've been given eternal life. We have not only been given eternal life. Think about this. We have been forgiven of our sins. God didn't just say, "Great, you have eternal life, now you get to live with your sins forever. And ever and ever and ever eternally.”
He says, "I'm going to wipe that clean and then I'm going to give you eternal life, clean!"
But we've got to have that passion and that confidence in who God is in order to know who we are. And there's two specific things, basic things, reasons, that we as the church aren't making the difference that we should make or that we can make. And I want to say, I believe that there are so many in this particular body that are making a difference, that is, you're going to be blown away.
But do you want to make more of a difference? I know I do. One is that your confidence of who you are is directly affected by your confidence of who Christ is. So you've got to get to know Christ. Christ got to know the Father. You have know the Father through Christ. You have to know your identity.
The second reason is our confidence is affected. If we really know who we are in Christ, and we have that level of confidence, we know who Christ is, we know who the Father is, and we then, because of that and what He did for us, now we know who we are. The second reason is if we have that confidence, and we're not walking in who we are, we will then waver in our confidence, because the Bible says “to him that knows to do right, but doesn't do it, it's sin.” And sin separates us from God and affects our confidence because our identity has been skewed. You see what I'm saying?
The first thing we have to do is we have to know God. We have to know the father. That's going to be the that's going to be the key of knowing who we are. Once we know who he is, then we will know who we are. Once we know who we are, if we walk in who we are, then our confidence will be strong and we'll be able to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. But if we know who we are and we're not walking in who we are, we're going to be oppressed and we're not going to be confident in our presentation because we know we're hypocrites.
And Again, I'm not talking about having struggles, things that we take to God. I'm not talking about missing the mark, and then going back and asking God to forgive you if you sin. You have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and asking whoever else was affected to forgive you, and then getting back in there and staying focused. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when we willfully and continually decide to walk outside of who Christ created us to be, our confidence is now broken, not because of anything God did, but because of what we refused to do, and that was walk in Him.
Those are the two things that will affect our confidence in presenting the gospel. To remain confident in our identity, we must continue in His word, and He says, "Then you are my disciples indeed." And you remember, continue in. That means continue in Christ. Do you remember what we talked about last week? Is that we were talking about being overwhelmed and all that ocean and sea out there when we were out on the ship in the middle of the ocean. And yet Christ says, "When you are in Me, I am above the situation?”
When you're in a boat, you're above. If you're in a boat and you're not above the water, you're not in a boat, you're in a submarine or a sinking ship. But in Christ, we're above the water. We're above the situation. So if we're in Christ, we're above the situation, amen?
So in order for us to remain confident in our identity, we must remain in Christ. And then in order for us to remain confident in our presentation and in our execution of what he's called us to be. What does the next verse say in verse 32? It says, "We'll know the truth and the truth will make us free. We'll know the truth. We'll walk in the truth. We will be free and we'll be able to walk out in confidence our identity in Christ." I want that and I believe you want that too. 

​We had a balcony room. If you ever go cruising, this is just a tip, cruiser tip, if you ever go on a cruise, see if you can get a good deal on the balcony room. It only costs us an extra $100 for the week and it is so worth it. You can walk out on the balcony, you don't feel claustrophobic, and you can get that great air and view.
Well, Lauren goes out and she's looking at this ocean, and she comes back in. And I'm just enamored by it. “Wow, this is beautiful.” And she comes back in and she says, "Dad, that's a little overwhelming."
I said, "What part, baby?"
She said, "There's no land. No land anywhere. It's just water."
And I got to share with her how that, so many times we feel overwhelmed by the things that are going on around us. And if we don't stay in Christ, or, in that ship, we can be lost very easily.
As I sat out on the balcony and I began to look at different things that, or the ocean as it went by, and I began to think about the vastness of this ocean. And I thought to myself, one night when I was out on the balcony, I thought, “You know, if somebody falls off, I just hope you know Jesus because you will not be found. More than likely you will never be found.”
They have had people on cruise ships that have just disappeared. Ron and I were talking about that the other day. And so I was able to share with Lauren, the world can seem like an overwhelming place, can't it? Just completely overwhelming. Look at the things that are happening in our government. Just in America, let's just start in America, the good old USA. It's disheartening to say the least. It's almost a feeling of hopelessness, the way we're being sold down the river by those that we have elected into public offices.
God is not being honored. Christians are falling under persecution in our own nation, United States in our own nation, and not being protected by the government. Anything to do with speaking the truth of God's word is being considered a hate crime, and there are now lawsuits right now that are happening against pastors and against schools and against anybody else who is willing to speak out against sin.
In Kentucky, they've already let go certain pastors that were clergy in juvenile detention centers because they refused to sign a form that said they would not identify sin. The form said you must not identify certain things as sin, that we are calling publicly accepted. They refused to do it, thank God, but they were let go.
These are things that we're seeing, these are things that we're seeing being imposed upon us by our government and by our society and we look out beyond that and we see what's happening in the world and the persecution against Christians, specifically targeted. And it can be overwhelming, but we've got to stay on the ship. We've got to stay on the ship.
As overwhelming as those things can be, it becomes even a greater depth of that overwhelming feeling when you realize that the church is following suit. When you realize that all of these things that have been happening, you realize the sin that is being accepted, you realize that the same-sex marriage legalization is a complete affront to everything that Christ stands for, because God created us to be His children and He created us in a certain way so that we could have healthy relationships and that wasn't part of the deal. Yet we as men and women have decided that we are going to change that because God isn't relevant anymore.
It's not God's responsibility to be relevant to you or I. It's our responsibility to align ourselves with His Word, and then our life will be in proper position.
But we begin to see the church fall away. We see pastors like Rob Bell from Mars Hill, who is openly accepting sin and homosexual relationships. He is becoming Oprah Winfrey's guru. We see Tony Campolo, once a very respected Baptist minister. I love some of his ministry stuff and he was hilarious when he would just drive the point home and it was right on target. And just recently he came out and said, "Yeah, I've changed my stance on that." And has now begun to twist and manipulate scriptures to say what the populace, or what the popular issues want them to say.
What does that mean? That means that they're saying God's a liar. God's not a liar. God doesn't lie, and he doesn't change.
Hillsong United, some of the sermons that they've been preaching and quoting certain scriptures out of certain translations that aren't even translations, and they're making it to where each sin is something that, “Well, you know, it depends on the person.” No, sin is sin. And Jesus Christ came to deliver us from sin. But if we don't take a stand, nobody's going to be delivered. And as one person said, “We all have our own sin.”
I don't want one. I've got a dog. I don't need a pet sin running around. Do you understand what I'm saying? I don't need something that's going to separate me from God, hanging around and claiming it as my own. Jesus paid the price for that. And I need to rebuke it in the name of Jesus and I need to live my life in a way that will honor and glorify Him.
Recently, T.D. Jakes, how many of you know T.D. Jakes? How many of you have been blessed by his ministry over the years? I have. I've loved some of T.D. Jake's stuff. Incredible. Years ago we listened to some of his, his messages, some of his sermon series, but over the course of the past several years he's become more and more liberal and he just came out with an official statement that he is changing his stance on homosexuality and it is “evolving” and that “if you are a practicing homosexual Christian, you need to find a Christian church that will accept how you have chosen to live so that you can be at peace.”
Verbatim, I read this, folks. My heart was broken. We're not talking about pastors of little storefront churches somewhere. We're talking about pastors of megachurches that affect millions of people, not thousands, millions.
The historic First Baptist Church of Greenville, where the first Southern Baptist Convention was held, which, I want you to know the Southern Baptist Convention came out in June and had a very strong stance against homosexuality, but loving, you know, reaching out to the homosexual but not accepting the sin, same thing the Church of God did, so they're right on target but yet this specific historic church has now opened their doors, their leadership, their ministry, to any practicing homosexual or any basic, I don't know why then, not any practicing sin, that they can be allowed to do anything that they feel is okay and they're not going to judge them for it, and they will be a part of their ministry team, and they will even do any kind of same sex marriages or unions that are requested of them.
So where's the “overwhelming” in this? I'm really not overwhelmed with the world anymore. I'm really not overwhelmed with the government anymore. I'm pretty underwhelmed. But I'm really close to being overwhelmed by the things that are happening in the church. But we can stand. We can stand. We have to stand. We must stand. We have no other option.
Apostle Paul says that we are to prove our own salvation, whether or not we are in Christ. We don't have to be overwhelmed.
John 16:33. Jesus is dealing with a lot of things as he's talking to his disciples. He's promising the Holy Spirit. He's comforting them. He's talking about the relationship to him. He's predicting his death and resurrection and at the very bottom, in verse 32, he says,
“Behold the hour comes, yea ,is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”

 You see what Jesus said right there? He's telling the disciples that “You're getting ready to have your complete world rocked. You will be on the hit list of every person that hates me. You will feel like you are completely alone because I am no longer there with you, but I want you to know, I've spoken these things to you so that in me, in me, not outside of me, not away from me, but in me, you might have peace, because in the world, you will have guaranteed. You will have tribulation but be of good cheer or comfort, or be courageous, for I have overcome the world.”
Jesus has overcome the world. We can go from being overwhelmed to being an overcomer, but we have to be in Christ. And if we're in Christ, we need to realize that we're not alone. He hasn't left us. He hasn't forsaken us. And we are now above the world system. That ocean that Loren saw -- that world system that seems like it's going to just envelop us?
Jesus says, "You are now above that because you are in me." Because when I was in the ship, guess what? I was above that. I was above that world system. I was above that taunting threat of death. I was above that taunting threat of being lost forever in a sea that I could never find my way back in and nobody could ever find me because I was in the ship. I am in Christ and I am above the situation, not because of me, but because I am in Christ.
Then I begin to think about Genesis chapter 1, "And the spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the water.” That's meaning the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the water. And when it's talking about the face of the waters, it's talking about the multiple faces of the water. So whatever water was there, the Holy Spirit was hovering above it, which means as great and as overwhelmingly huge as the ocean and the waters were, the Holy Spirit was over it all.
So I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to be afraid of death. I don't have to be afraid of threats. I don't have to be afraid of the legal system. I don't have to be afraid of the world system because the Holy Spirit of God is over it all in the name of Jesus Christ. Do not be afraid. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. But know that I am telling you this because you will suffer tribulation.
You know, you never experienced the thrill of victory until you know what it's like to be defeated. If all you do is win, that's all you do is win, you get cocky. You get pious. Because you lose the feeling of what it was like to lose. To be defeated.
But the person that remembers what it was like to be defeated, the one that was remembers what it was like to lose, when they win, they should have a humility about themselves that enjoys the celebration of victory, but doesn't revel in it to the point of putting down the one that lost because they remember they were just there.
We are overcomers in Christ. We are no longer to be overwhelmed by the world system, but we are to look for those that, at one point in their life, have been defeated, downcast. They're lost. And we don't look at them from a pious perspective, as though we're the high ones on the boat looking down into the water, the vastness of the sea, but we remember what it was like to be there at one point.
And then we remember God is above it all, and we do whatever we can to bring the message of the gospel to those that are in the same sea that we were once lost in.
In 1 John 5:4-5, it says, "Whoever is born of God overcomes the world."
Do you want to be an overcomer? Whoever is born of God overcomes the world. Who is he that overcomes the world? He that believes that Jesus is the son of God. If you want to go from being overwhelmed to being an overcomer, you must believe that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. You must confess your sins, acknowledge the fact that you have fallen before God and that He is the only one that provides the way back to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. You confess your sins, you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the message that we need to give those that are lost in that sea still today. We don't need to become a cruise ship filled with Christians that aren't putting their hands out, their life preservers out, and maybe even at times, putting themselves in the water in order to pull somebody out. That's the that's the kind of ship we need to be, a rescue ship because we were the ones that Christ rescued from that as well.
Your life will present the gospel, but your words should support it, your actions should support it. When we were at dinner, When you're at dinner, you share a table, and it's all included, and so you share a table, and we had three other people that we shared the table with. Great people, Joe and Ruth and Joey, and they were from Belize, actually.
Where's our family from Belize? Are they still in here? Are they in the back room?
They're from Belize, and so it was really wonderful. They're in America. They've been in America for years, but that was originally where they were from and so when we would pray, I would say, “Excuse us just a second while we pray.” I'm not going to force them to pray with me. I'm not going to say “Let's all bow our heads” you know I mean if God tells me to that's fine but I just wanted them to know we were praying. “So excuse us just a second” and so we prayed. And that's at the time the wife wasn't there. And the husband didn't say much, but he said, "Thank you." Nice guy. So we had very good fellowship and everything.
So then the next night, I believe it was, or two nights later, because sometimes you hit and miss as far as dinner. And we did it again. And he said, "I told my wife that you guys, I think, are committed-- or she told me, I think they're committed Christians." And I said, "Really?" He said, "Well, yeah, you pray."
And it was bittersweet because I thought, "Wow, to be a committed Christian, all you have to do is pray over dinner." That's where our society has come to, to where if you just take the time to pray over your meal, that means you're a committed Christian. But I said, "Thank you, Jesus, that he got it." So what that opened up the door and all of a sudden we're talking with their family about the Lord, encouraging them to be in church, they had certain religious background, certain Christian background, but weren't necessarily in anywhere, so by the time it was over, and we're still texting each other now.
So we exchange numbers, so we're texting each other, so it's really cool. And then another couple we met. That was interesting too because we were from some of the same places in California and we hadn't really been able to talk a lot. It was kind of like just on the bus excursions.
So one night, I took Lauren out. Lauren had to have a midnight pizza. Because you can get pizza at all hours of the night. And so Robert and I did that on the other cruises that we did. We did a three-night, one time about 13 years ago, I guess it was. And so it's all Lauren, “Dad, we've got to do the midnight pizza. Robert, you did it with Robert, you're going to do it with me.”
“All right, baby, let's do the midnight pizza.” So, you know, the older you get, the midnight pizza seems that much longer in the evening. So we ended up, it was a little bit less than midnight, but I said, “Let's go get our pizza.” And she says, “Okay, dad!”
So we go, and we meet this guy that we have been talking to him and his wife, his name was Sergio. And I said, "Hey, Sergio, how's it going?"
And he says, "You know, it's going okay."
And I said, "All right, everything all right?"
He said, "Yeah, you know," he said, "Mama's missing the kids. It's been almost seven days now," and she's been away from them, it's been hard."
And so I said, "All right, well, we'll be praying for you guys, you know."
So he said, "What would you like to join me?" It was just him, his wife was in the cabin.
And so I looked at Lauren, and she's like, "Yeah, that's fine, Dad."
I said, "All right, we'll go over there." So we go over there and Lauren and I sit down and I said, "If you don't mind, we're going to pray real quick."
And he says, "Oh, please, please do." And he reaches out his hands. All right! Well, we're praying now, man!
And so we pray and he says, "You know," he said, "I told my wife," he said, "those people are committed Christians, I can just tell."
And she said, "I thought the same thing, I could just feel it when I was around them.
And we weren't around each other for more than 20 minutes total before this time. So we spent that evening fellowshipping, praising the Lord. And I thought to myself, “Thank you, Lord. We came down here for midnight pizza. And here we are being able to minister to this brother.”
And it was so cute because we were talking about ministering and witnessing and The Way Of The Master. And Lauren's right in there, telling them how to, you know, “Are you a liar? Are you a thief?” And all this kind of stuff. And it's like, “Thank you, Jesus. It's sticking, huh?!” [Laughter]
Did you do it, Ron? [Laughter] It's sticking! [Laughter]
Praise the Lord. But we've got to take our faith to the world, and we can't do that if we're overwhelmed. We have to realize that if we're in Christ, Christ is above everything else. Not just in glory and honor and praise and worship and power and everything else, in regards to that but he's over everything in your life. He is above everything in your life.
So picture yourself jumping on the Jesus ship and being above the waters that you've been so overwhelmed with and stand in the victory that Christ has given you. Take your faith to the world in Christ because in him, you have overcome the world. You're no longer overwhelmed, but you're an overcomer. The world will see the difference in you, I guarantee it, and you will have the opportunity to share with them the glorious gospel message.
 
 

​Of course. Here is a ten-question quiz based on the sermon transcript you provided.


Overwhelmed to Overcomer Quiz
1. What experience prompted the pastor's daughter, Lauren, to say she felt "overwhelmed" at the beginning of the sermon?
a) The number of people on the cruise ship
b) Seeing the vastness of the ocean with no land in sight
c) The size of their balcony room
d) The number of activities available on the cruise

2. The pastor mentions being disheartened by events in the government. What is one specific example he gives of Christians facing persecution in the United States?
a) Being forced to close their churches
b) Pastors in juvenile detention centers in Kentucky being fired for refusing to sign a form that would not allow them to identify sin 1111
c) Being unable to buy Bibles
d) Being charged higher taxes than other groups

3. While the government and the world are causes for concern, what does the pastor say he is "really close to being overwhelmed by"?
a) The state of the global economy
b) The things that are happening in the church 2
c) The number of people who have fallen off cruise ships
d) The lack of Christian programming on television

4. The sermon uses the analogy of a ship on the ocean. What does being "in the ship" represent?
a) Going on vacation
b) Being wealthy enough to afford a cruise
c) Staying in Christ 3333
d) Attending a megachurch

5. According to the sermon, Jesus says that in the world we will have tribulation, but we should "be of good cheer." Why?
a) Because our friends will support us
b) Because the tribulation will not last long
c) Because He has overcome the world 4444
d) Because we can always escape on a cruise ship

6. According to 1 John 5:4-5, as quoted by the pastor, who is it that overcomes the world?
a) He that is the pastor of a large church
b) He that prays the loudest
c) Whoever is born of God and believes that Jesus is the Son of God 5555
d) Whoever wins many arguments for Christ

7. True or False: The pastor tells a story about praying over a meal at dinner, which led to a conversation about faith with the family they met from Belize.

8. The pastor contrasts a "cruise ship filled with Christians" with the kind of ship the church should be. What kind of ship is that?
a) A battleship
b) A rescue ship 7
c) A luxury yacht
d) A submarine

9. What simple action led other passengers to identify the pastor and his family as "committed Christians"?
a) Handing out gospel tracts
b) Singing hymns on the deck
c) Praying over their meals 8888
d) Always carrying a Bible
​
10. What is the central message of the sermon about how to move from being overwhelmed to being an overcomer?
a) By ignoring what is happening in the world
b) By realizing we are above the world's problems because we are "in Christ" 9999
c) By starting a new political party
d) By protesting outside of churches that are changing their stance on sin


Answer Key

1. B) Seeing the vastness of the ocean with no land in sight 10101010
2. B) Pastors in juvenile detention centers in Kentucky being fired for refusing to sign a form that would not allow them to identify sin 11111111
3. B) The things that are happening in the church 12
4. C) Staying in Christ 13131313
5. C) Because He has overcome the world 14141414
6. C) Whoever is born of God and believes that Jesus is the Son of God 15151515
7. True 161616161616161616
8. B) A rescue ship 17
9. C) Praying over their meals 18181818
10. B) By realizing we are above the world's problems because we are "in Christ" 19191919