3rd Stage Lung Cancer

alright well good morning and welcome iknow that we have a number of online members that are visiting with us heretoday and i did not get the chance as i usually like to to meet all of you so whatwe'd like to do is embarrass you and have you all stand and give us yoursocial security numbers and i'm just kidding where where you from ohio i love it welcome where's steve fresno steve's here anybody else going once going twice alright let's get started

i did prepare a teaching and a prophecyupdate for today because i knew that if i didn't i would just stand up here andcry for the whole hour and i would not want to do that to you let's make sure our phones are silencedso they're not a distraction during the teaching of god's word and while you'redoing that just kinda give you the lay of the land sort of by way ofhousekeeping we do have the agape box and information table there on the backand for those of you who weren't here when we started before worship we didannounce that we have arguably the most beautiful restrooms on the entire islandand they're located over here on the

side in the parking lot i just want to say guys the red ones arethe nice ones and those are for the ladies and if we see any guys in theladies we're going to tip it over on you and then then you'll be outed so don'teven think about it also want to let you know that again for those of you whowere here at the beginning we did get our permit and we did pull the triggerby faith to have our first service here today and we just praise the lord for it it is inevery sense of the word a miracle and we're rejoicing because of it

alright let's get started we need topray for a couple of brothers in the fellowship that could really use prayerright now the first is patrick matthews i was able to visit him in the hospitalyesterday and this was after he had a relatively good night and was showingsome signs of improvement they took them off the meds that were hewas taken to regulate his blood pressure and lower the oxygen levels but we doneed to pray very specifically for relief from the intense pain that he'sin and then also that the antibiotics he's taken to get rid of the infectionwill be effective and we also need to pray that he gets an appetite because hedoes really need to to eat the second

brother that really could use someprayer is norman kim he was recently diagnosed with stage-four lung cancerand unfortunately they found a large tumor in the left side of his brainbecause the cancer had spread not only to the brain but the adrenal glands thelymph nodes and there's even a small tumor on his spine he has started both radiation andchemotherapy the chemotherapy will start this week so if you would join with melet's just petition the throne on behalf of both patrick and norman lovingheavenly father we want to come to you as the great physician the god who healsand ask on behalf of these brothers for

your healing touch lord would youminimize and even eliminate the pain that patrick is in will you with theantibiotics just remove that infection entirely and completely and even miraculously lord and fornorman the same we're just asking you for a healing completely from his cancerremove it completely from him lord we know that you can there's nothing toohard for you we ask you for this in jesus name amen all right let's get intothe word second corinthians chapter five today our text will be verses 9 through13 appreciate your patience with us we were unable to get our projectorsworking so we'll have to do without that

today i'll have you turn there if you'renot already there and once you're there i'll ask you to stand if you're able youcan follow along as i read again 2nd corinthians chapter 5 well begin inverse 9 and we'll read through to verse 13 the apostle paul is writing to thechurch in corinth and says verse nine so we make it our goal to please himwhether we are at home in the body or away from it for we must all appearbefore the judgment seat of christ so that each of us may receive what is dueus for the things done while in the body whether good or bad since thenverse 11 we know what it is to fear the lord we try to persuade others what weare is plain to god and i hope it is

also plain to your conscience we're not trying to commend ourselves toyou again but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us so thatyou can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is inthe heart if verse 13 we are out of our mind as some say it is for god if we arein our right mind it is for you let's pray we'll ask god's blessing onour understanding lord would you at this time settle us and even center us so that wecan give you our undivided attention as you speak into our lives through yourword lord we don't want anything to

distract us even the magnificence and beauty of thiswonderful church building that you've given us we don't want that to be adistraction we want to hear you speak clearly so lord will you speak your servants arelistening in jesu's name amen you can be seated thank you today's teaching is going tobe part one of a series i've titled spiritual stamina if you're anythinglike me and i suspect that you are you've really come to appreciate theindomitable spirit of the apostle paul i

say indomitable because in spite of theunspeakable adversity in his life paul never burned out paul never gave uphe never tossed in the towel he kept his hands to the plough and he kept pressingon to the high calling and he had his eyes on the prize he just had thisunflinching and unwavering commitment and you've got to wonder i mean this staminathis this endurance on the part of the apostle paul begs the question of bothhow and even why he was able to do this what was his secret in part he answersthis in his second epistle to timothy chapter 4 verses 7 through 8 he says ihave fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faithand then he says this

finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which thelord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to me only but alsoand i love this to all who have loved his appearing longing for even achingfor the appearing the return of the lord i believe that this is one of the mainreasons that paul never burned out this is the main reason to me that he nevergave up he lived his life in light of eternallife he always had the eternal in view hiseyes fixed on that which was unseen not that which was and is seen not on thetemporal but on the eternal and he

longed for the lord's return i think themost excited christian the most committed christian is the christian wholives in this way with their eyes on the lord their mind stayed on the lord theirview is through the lens of eternal life everything is if you will run throughthat template that grid of the eternal what will this mean eternally it's beensaid that soon one life will be passed but it's only that which is done forchrist that will last i suppose you could say that contrary towhat mark twain said paul had become so heavenly minded that he was of suchearthly good mark twain of course set of the other way that you could become soheavenly minded that you have no earthly

good well respectfully i would beg to differ i see it exactly the opposite the moreheavenly minded we are the more earthly good we'll be and as such the apostle paul becomes for us anexample to us and in so doing he shows us his secret if you will to hisspiritual stamina his first secret is in verse 9 he lived to please god and notman one thing that could never be said of theapostle paul and that was that he was a man pleaser

he was not a man pleaser in verse 9 hetells them that in light of the new body awaiting us we keep going we keeppressing on because we've made it our goal to please god i imagine the apostlepaul asking himself introspectively is this pleasing in the sight of the lordif it's not pleasing in the sight of the lord i want nothing to do with it if itpleases god count me in that was paul one of the most valuable lessons thati'm learning in my own personal walk with the lord is that living your lifeto please man will eventually crush you it will eventually crush you if the goalof my life is to seek and win the approval of man the applaud theaccolades of man it's really only a matter

of time before i'm crushed under theweight and the pressure of living that way paul writing to the churches in galatiarhetorically asked if galatians chapter 1 verse 10 for do i now persuade men orgod you can almost detect a sanctified cynicism as it's been called or do ispeak to please men for if i still pleased men i would not be abondservant of christ in other words if i'm a man pleaser i certainlycannot please god is it's not both it's either/or it's one of the other and i wouldventure to say that proportionate to how i live my life to please god i willproportionately displeased man and

conversely if i'm living my life toplease man to be a man pleaser proportionately i will be displeasing togod because of it there's an interesting account in thegospel of john it's in chapter 12 verses 42 and 43 were told about those who believed injesus but they would not publicly' confess jesus and the reason is isbecause they loved the praise of men more than the praise of god it saysnevertheless even among the rulers many believed in him which is interestingbecause when you talk to non-believers they'll almost without exception say oh ibelieve in god to which i usually respond well sort do the demons and theytremble it doesn't really work very well

eventually it's sharingthe lord it's kind of you know is met with a stunned look but it's true the demons believe in god it's that'snot the challenge here the challenge here is confessing him andpublicly professing him and we're told that they didn't do that it says that because of the phariseesthey feared man they did not confess him less they be put out of the synagogueand here's why for they loved the praise of men morethan the praise of god in proverbs 29 verse 25 it says the fear of man bringsa snare it's a trap

you can be trapped in this man pleasingfear of man no christian should ever live theirlives in that place that man pleasing place the fear of man brings a snare butwhoever trusts in the lord shall be safe the second secret to paul's spiritualstamina is that he kept his eyes on the prize he didn't waver this way didn'twaver that way his eyes were fixed the head on the prize that was set beforehim in verse 10 he says that is i think by way of a reminder we're all going toappear before the judgment seat of christ so that each of us may receivewhat is due us for the things we've done whether it's good or bad

now it's important to understand thatpaul is not referring to the great white throne judgment there's going to be twojudgments seats at the end the great white throne judgment is for thenon-believer those who never accepted jesus christ were never born again andthey will be recompensed according to that which they've done what paul isreferring to here is the bema seat of christ it's very different picture inyour mind's eye the olympics and you have the judges seated there judging soas to give the reward to the winner this is what paul has in mind and thecorinthians would have known exactly what paul was talking about

it's in first corinthians chapter 9verses 24 through 27 where he actually refers to the olympic games of that dayhe says do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives theprize there's only one gold medal there's only one crown he says run in such a waythat you may obtain it and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate inall things now they do it to obtain a perishable crown and he'sspeaking of that perishable wreath that they would put over in the olympics ofthat day the winner they would crown them with that perishable wreath that'swhat they do it for but paul contrast and says but we do it for animperishable crown therefore i run thus

not with uncertainty thus i fight not as one who beats theair but i discipline my body and i bring it into subjection lest when i havepreached to others i myself should become disqualified paul had spiritual stamina because hekept his eyes on the prize the third reason paul never burned outis because he knew what it is to fear the lord this is going to require us toreally think through because it's not what it might seem at first read inverse 11 he says since they know what it is to fear the lord notice he doesn'tsay we fear the lord he doesn't say that he

says we know what it is to fear the lordthat changes everything changes the whole complexion of what he's sayingand he's saying for this reason we try to persuade others hoping it is alsoplaying to their conscience now in order to better understand what paul is sayinghere and it would be helpful to first understand what he's not saying paul isnot saying that he fears the lord will punish him if he doesn't remain faithful that's not the fear of the lord thathe's talking about he's talking about his fear that he would grieve the lordin being unfaithful please don't miss this

this is huge this is huge let me share how one commentator put itit's very well said the fear of the lord motivated paul in ministry this was notfear that god would hurt him but rather that he would hurt god think about thatyou know that it is possible to grieve the heart of god you know that it's possibleto hurt the heart of almighty god and that's what paul feared he feared that hewould hurt god through his sin and stupidity having been caught up into thethird heaven paul knew that one day we will all standbefore the lion of the tribe of judah and see him in his majesty in love paulwanted to spare anyone from saying why

did i waste my time on that hobby spendmy money on that insignificant trinket squander my energy so foolishly why didi take so lightly that which jesus did for me on the cross of calvary one of thethings that i'm learning along with all the other things i'm learning is thatgod ruins you for himself god ruins your plans for his god breaks your will forhis will god ruins you for the call that he has on your life and certainly thiswas true of the apostle paul now it's when you view the fear of god throughthis lens this lens of i fear that i'm going to grieve the lord i fear that mylife in some way is going to become displeasing in the sight of the lord andi don't want to do that to him

hi don't want to grieve him i want to displease him when you getinto the proverbs concerning the fear of the lord it comes into a clearer focusproverbs 19 says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom think of fear asbirthing wisdom fear is the commencement of that wisdom from above and theknowledge of the holy one is understanding proverbs 8:13 says thefear of the lord is to hate evil think about that evil grieves the heart ofalmighty god and to fear the lord and fear grieving the lord is to hate evilsee how that comes into clearer focus now when you see it through the lens ofthat understanding of like the apostle

paul knowing what it is to fear the lordit says pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth i hate i hateand arrogance think about this god is humble ever thought of it like that godis humble he is humble and that's why he opposes the proud and knows them fromafar off the proverbs says a humble god cannot be close to an arrogant man andis it not true that the closer we walk with jesus the more we become like jesusand the more we become like jesus the more humble we become because that'slike jesus proverbs 17 says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instructionagain there's this template if you will

this this lens with which we view ourchristian lives in this world and that was the secret to paul's spiritualstamina the fourth and final one we'll look at today is in verses 12 and 13 andit's that paul didn't take false accusations to heart he didn't takecriticism unjust criticism to heart in verse 12 he says that they're not tryingto commend themselves again rather he wants them to take pride in them so thatthey can answer their critics which it appears there were many and in verse 13goes on to say that if we're out of our mind as it appears again some wereaccusing them of we're out of our mind for god i mean one has called it crazyfor christ's can i get a witness on

being crazy for christ i know that you think some think andwe've been accused of being out of our minds you know what it's for god ifwe're out of our minds fine it's as unto the lord if it's that we're in ourright minds then it's for you now paul doesn't say this so that he can boasthe's telling them this so they can answer those who were criticizing themand accusing them if you were to ask me what i thought was one of the fastestways for satan to take us down this would have to be right at the top of thelist and it's so sad because the enemy is met with success in the life of achristian by using those with a critical

and accusatory spirit of antagonism over the years i'vepersonally witnessed this dynamic destroy families marriages and worse yetchurch families and i've seen it more times than i care to remember pauldidn't take things to heart you can't especially in ministry you won't survivelong having a hypersensitive spirit it's been said that if you're going tosurvive in ministry whatever the call is that god has on your life you have tohave the heart of a child the mind of a scholar and the hide of a rhinocerosyou cannot have thin skin you won't make it very far at all

i don't want to end on such a sour noteso i'll close with a quote from d. martin lloyd jones in his book spiritualdepression it's causes and it's cure this book has been a tremendous resource andreference in my library i oftentimes refer to it speaking of the savior jones writes how did jesus do it think about that fora second i mean yes the apostle paul finishedwell he fought the good fight he received the prize he made it he did itagainst unspeakable odds but infinitely more the savior

how did he do it how did jesus do it here's how for the joy that was setbefore him he endured even the cross despising the shame that is how he didit it was the joy that was set before himhe knew about the crowning day that was coming he saw the harvest that he wasgoing to read and seeing that he was able not to see these other things but to go through themgloriously and triumphantly and you and i listen have the privilege of beinglike him did you catch that some of us are justgetting through life just barely keeping

our head above water surviving and i would submit that that'sno way to live the christian life jesus came to give us life and life moreabundantly he says in john 16:33 to be of good cheerto cheer up be encouraged why well in this world you're going tohave trials and tribulations and difficulties and pain and suffering butjesus has overcommed the world triumphantly and gloriously as joneswrites and that is available to us nehemiah 8:11 says the joy of the lord ismy strength you think about what nehemiah didagainst all odds

i mean impossible odds but god but godhe never gave up he kept pressing on and that was hissecret and that was the apostle paul's secret and moreover and more importantlythat was the savior secret and that can be ours as well let's pray father inheaven thank you so much for your word thank you for the example of the apostlepaul in this epistle to the corinthians church how apropos it is for us today asyour church lord would you now take these things and by the holy spiritbegin that process of applying it to our lives and blessing it to our hearts wepray in jesus' name amen