Faith Lesson 14
Mike Doyle · Aug 16, 2015
Faith, No. 31
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492651213524

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK, we're less than 14. Everybody got a 14? I think there's two or three of them left back there if you don't have one. But before we get to question number one, I think every time we switch the batting order up here, we go through these four things. And it's only because repetition is really important. Especially for the remedial group. So, there are four aspects of physical faith. And if you can read, you can see what they are.

What's the first one? The essence of faith. What's the second one? The faith. What's the faith? The set of truths that we believe. It could be the whole set of truths that we believe, the whole Word of God, or it could be something specific in the Word of God. like identification or the gospel or salvation. And then personal faith, which is probably the one that we're all the most familiar with. And then faith as a principle.

So here's what I want you to do. I want you to put all four of those together. How do they work? What's the sequence or how does all four of these things go together to form a dynamic? on how believers still live. I didn't ask this question in the questions that I handed out, but I got to thinking we probably, we've talked about each one of them individually a lot, but they do all go together.

So if I had to say where would you start, where would you start? Which one of those would you start with? In January, all of you would have said number three, right? Isn't that right? No. Yeah, you would have. No, we wouldn't have. Well, that's what you did. Every time I asked the definition of faith, you gave me personal faith. So put them together. Where would you start?

I think de-faith. De-faith? What do you think? De-faith. How many think it's number two? How many think it's number three? Four. One. What a consensus we have here. It's one. It's number one. Number one is faith and its essence. You have to start with what it is. Right? Don't you? Or not? What's that?

That's why I thought it was number two. I took it as that's what it is starting with. Don't you have to, in almost every study of everything, you start out with what it is? Or not? It's almost like one, two, and four are the same in a way. How are they the same? Because it's what, and who, and how, like all together. And then personal faith kind of seems to be like on its own.

Interesting. So you're saying essence is the core. Truth. That's pretty good. I have written down here the faith. This is from way back in six. The faith is the essence of faith plus personal faith. Personal faith is resting in the essence of faith. So if you're going to start, you're going to start with the essence of faith, because as we look at Hebrews 11.1, I think my penmanship is better than Courtney's. The substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen as it was diagrammed. When it comes to faith, what are you after? You're after what the things of God are, because your faith has to have an object, doesn't it? So you better find out what the object is. So would that mean reality? What's that? Would that mean reality? Yeah, and what is reality? What is reality? Fox News? Well... What is reality? What is reality? Reality is God! Yeah.

And the things of God. So, the very essence of faith is substance or the reality of the things of God and it's proof of the things of God which you can't see. Because if you don't live by faith you're not going to see them. So you have to start there. Now, take it to the next step. Well let me ask you this, where are you in the essence of faith? Are you involved in the essence of faith in any way?

Answer, no you're not. Because we're just talking about faith itself. We're not talking about your involvement in it, we're talking about what it is. Gravity would be there whether or not we were here to experience it. Now you're talking about the principle. See, they're all together. Would you say that number two or number four is next? You guys are in a way... No, we're not answered anymore. You say number two?

The Faith. Because it gets specific now. the specificity of what the things of God are, the substance of who he is, and as he's revealed himself to us in his word, that's where the definite focus is on. As a non-believer, here comes the information in the gospel about salvation. That's a THE thing. We're not talking about the whole word of God, we're talking about 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel, specific. We've talked a lot about that being saved is not receiving Jesus into your heart. It's not making a commitment to Christ.

It's exercising faith in the specifics of the gospel. You believe it. Oh, so far they're in pretty good order, aren't they? So what's next? Four. You think four is next or three? I'm going to say since you have it listed as number three, it's probably three. I think it's three too, because this is where you enter in.

So what do you do in personal faith? What is personal faith? This is what you as a person believe about God. I think it's acceptance. Acceptance. Accepting Christ. I like the definition that Hal Molloy came up with. He says it's rest. in the things of God. I like that, because that's really what it is. Rest in the things of God. When we were with a lady friend of ours last night, we were talking about faith, and we got to this point in talking about the faith in the Word of God, and she said, really all it is, is God gives you information in His Word.

What do you do with the information? What you do with the information is critically important to you. It doesn't change the essence, but it's critically important to you. What do you do with it? You can do all kinds of spiritual push-ups, you can jump around, you can get excited, you can do whatever, but what does God want you to do? Believe. He just wants you to believe, and believes the specificity of what he has revealed to you in his word. Does that mean your emotions are going to verify whether you're doing it right or not? No. Are you sure about that? Okay.

So then, what is the principle of faith? What's the principle? It's how a thing functions or operates. It functions or operates the same way every time. Somebody mentioned gravity. Gravity functions and operates the same way every time. So what's the principle of faith? It's defined by the Creator. Faith as a principle. What does it mean, faith as a principle?

What does it mean? It's the way it works. It's the way it works. How does it work? You just went through it. How does it work? You understand the essence? God reveals to you in his word the information or the focus of your faith which ultimately becomes his son. You exercise personal faith or rest in what he has told you and that's how it works every time.

And it seems to be, I think, the only thing that God really wants from us. Isn't that interesting? I think you're right about that. Why would that be so? Why is the only thing God really wants from us is faith? He wants us to think that he's number one. He wants us to depend on him. Why? Because he's God.

And oh by the way, it's all done. It's all done. People argue with me all the time that our faith is to be focused on facts and not promises. No arguments about that? There are so many facts, especially in Paul's epistle, that are absolute facts, that are true, whether you believe them or not. And, you know, this resting on the promises of God, I'm not, I mean, he is God and I do believe his promises, but I'm more interested in what's already true. What are the facts? The facts are the essence, and that's where the focus of the faith should be.

So would you say it's the Bible? Not all of the Bible, because you have to bring in the specificity, the faith. I could say, well I believe all the Bible and I'm going to live under it, that means I'm going to be 25% Jewish, 30% Gentile, and 45% Christian. Because I've got to cover all the bases, because they're all covered in the Bible.

See, all the Bible is written for us, but it's not all written specifically to us. Paul's epistles, Peter, James, and John are written specifically to the believer who's a member of the body of Christ in this dispensation. The four Gospels are not written to us. They're for us, but they're not written to us. Do you see the difference there? Do you understand that? You don't understand that. They're written for the Jews. The four Gospels are written for the Jews?

Primarily. Could you say that faith as a principle, once you believe it, personal faith, that that allows the Holy Spirit to make that concrete in you? I think your personal faith has a capacity under grace to allow the Spirit to re-reign within your personhood to show you more and more and more. And that is his work, to conform us to the image of Christ. That's his work, to show us the things of God. It seems like unless you have that, he's not going to conform you, because there's nothing to work with.

So what does the issue always come down to then, with believers? It always comes down to what you believe. Every time. Because here comes the circumstance in your lives. And this chapter we're going to talk about now has to do with trials. Here comes a circumstance in your life and there's one of two options you have to exercise your will. Both of them are options of believing. I'm either going to believe what God says in his word or I'm going to believe what my emotions and what the world and what my friends and what myself My trust and faith is going to be in self rather than in Christ. That's it. Those are the only two options you have.

Am I right about that? Or not? You tell me. Yeah, that's what it comes down to. It comes down to what you believe. Really? And that's why you have a will. Argue with me if you think I'm not right. So you're putting your eyes on yourself instead of God. So that's a bad thing. That's right. And one of the most difficult things for believers to do is to not make their faith and their Christian life about themselves.

My anecdotal evidence verifies the fact that what I believe is true. That's nonsense. It's true because God said it so. and I rest in it by faith. I don't make it true, it already is. But the Spirit of God, because I've rested my faith in him, persuades me and settles me down in not only the facts, the essence, but really in the person.

It's the person that we're really after. Because it's like, you know, Courtney and I banter back and forth, but any relationship you have with another human being is based on how you perceive them to be real. And my faith in him is an ongoing thing, hopefully building. Iron sharpens iron. If he buys lunch, I have more faith in him. By grace you're buying next time. It goes the other way too.

That's really true. The veracity of God in revealing to us the things of himself through the Spirit demonstrate to us, is he personally trustworthy? Is he telling me the truth? Or am I going to buy with my emotions and my fears and what the world is selling?

That's the only two options I have. There's a big difference. But you only know the big difference if you begin to live and walk by the principle of faith. Now, question number one, lesson fourteen. How does faith determine our walk? I think it affects whether we struggle or rest. Okay. Struggle, whether we struggle or rest. Anybody else?

How about this idea that our walk is determined by what the object of our faith is. Either the object is going to be the Lord Jesus Christ or it's going to be self. Any other option I have? The object of my faith, what I'm going to believe or who I'm going to believe in, is either going to be the Lord Jesus Christ or it's going to be self. Any other option? Which I think is struggle or rest. If it's in yourself or whatever, you're going to be struggling doing. Or if it's in Christ, you're going to be resting in faith. As you grow. As a young believer, a lot of times you trust in yourself.

God is so gracious to us. But then there comes a day in everyone's spiritual growth when And he stops treating you like a baby and starts to treat you like an adult. Which means you're going to have to trust him no matter what the circumstances are. Because we really do, as young believers, we're always going to God about him changing the circumstances. And he's gracious, he will. But then that day comes when we've got to grow up and he doesn't respond. Because he's about changing us in the middle of those circumstances. so that we will walk and live by faith no matter what the circumstances are.

Thank you. But it's always in God's time. It may not be what we are looking for may not happen right away. It may happen half a year later or five. Yeah, that's right. Courtney, what do you think? I think what Hal has put a long time ago is that we walk by the principle of faith and personal faith in the Word of God. Right. I like walk by the principle. And I think that we discussed that.

How does how does faith operate? How does it work? And we're to walk by the principle. about us, what he's told us, you know, as I've been compiling more and more of these things for the after lesson, you know, I just... He's creating a whole new course and doesn't even know it.

You know, I just, I look through this and, you know, even I, you know, I was thinking, last weekend at the campfire, you said something and I was like, oh yeah, well, you know, I don't do, well, I can't do that, or you said something and I thought, you know, we do that so many times on these truths, And it still comes down to us believing these things. And as I'm compiling more and more of these things, it's like, if we just rest in these things, I mean, if we believe it, we have all those things of rest, peace, joy. But you've got to believe this. And then that brings me back to the intimacy and all the things you talked about. The intimacy with Him. You've got to trust Him.

So one of the big principles, or one of the big elements of the principles of faith, is what's the object of your faith? What do you believe? Or better said, who do you believe? Do you believe me? Or do I believe the Lord Jesus Christ? Those are my two choices. Or, I mean, coming out of Catholicism, their whole focus on faith was faith, which is hard to say, faith for faith's sake. I'm a man of faith. But what does that mean? Well, I believe stuff. What do I believe?

I believe that I am a believer, so the focus is on me, not on Christ. So, faith determines our walk, and if we walk by the Lord Jesus Christ as being our object, as Courtney puts it, rest in peace, doesn't mean you're going to, well, I'll save that. If you have yourself as your object, you're going to be disappointed. I was thinking there that you either walk in the spirit or you walk in the flesh. Right. Right? Those are your two choices? Right.

If you're walking in the spirit, one of my favorite questions is, if I'm walking in the spirit, what's going on behind my eyeballs? What am I looking at? What am I thinking about? Christ. Yeah. I think it's when you accept that you're free, that you're no longer, bound up, you know, suddenly it's such a relief. You're free. Yeah, it's one of the benefits of resting in the provisions of the faith about us, about what Christ has done and who He is. We're free. We're free from who? Who's the guy you're most excited to be free from? Me. Me. I'm going to get more questions in than Courtney did, I promise. When trials and suffering come into your life and it overwhelms us, does God allow the testing? Does God allow the trials to come in? Yeah, I mean, you guys would all be ducking under the table if one of you said, no, he doesn't.

So if you look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, let's go there. And I forgot to write down the verse number. Oh, 1 Thessalonians 3.2.

Somebody read that. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker, in the Gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.

Destined or appointed. So this morning we're praying for Freda or Trevor. Or Hannah? Or Ralph? Whatever's going on in their life, has it been appointed by God? Yes. So why are we always begging Him to stop it? Really, isn't that what we do? Because we put our eyes on Him. So maybe He's pleased about that. Here comes a circumstance in my life that's a trial. And it really does overwhelm me. So what do I do? What's the first thing I do? Lord, what is this? What are you doing there? This isn't part of what I'm signed up for. I need some answers. And you can take this thing off of me anytime. I don't like it.

How long does it take us to get to the point where we realize maybe he's the one that brought it? Oh, Satan brought it. Trust me, Satan doesn't know your address. He doesn't know where you live and he doesn't care. He doesn't have to. You got to send nature. He lives in Washington.

It kind of seems like we're praying for people in their trials, you know, like Joe. when his friends are like, oh, you must have done something really bad to deserve all this. You can figure out what it is and think that God would be happy with you. Right. Or you get a wife like Job had who told him, curse God and die. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's kind of showing in a way our support through the trial. We're not saying that this can be for your benefit and we're not judging you by saying that you brought it on somehow yourself by sinning. You might have. You might have. Okay, but it's not assuming that you did. But you might have. You might have, but maybe not. Sure. So let's talk about this.

We have a sovereign God, and you know what having a sovereign God means? It means that none of you have free will. None of you have the power to do anything that he doesn't allow or orchestrate. The sooner we settle down with the idea that our God is absolutely sovereign and we're one of his sons, then he's intimately focused and caring about your growth every millisecond of every night, every day, every circumstance, every time. That's the first thing we've got to get straight, that God is... He not only is the sovereign God, but He's my dad.

And He loves me, and He cares for me, and He watches over me, and He child trains me, and He does send these trials and tribulations in my life. just because he's got nothing better to do? So if the Word of God says that we're appointed to our trials, then what are we complaining about?

What have we got to say to God about, oh boy, okay, you appointed them, but the one you gave me, I was hoping that David would have it, because I can handle David's a lot better than the one you gave me. And he looks back and says, yeah, but it wouldn't be as effective. So we recognize from question three that we're appointed. Now, appointed to trials, this word appointed is like, oh boy I hate to use this example, but let's say you get the call from the president and he says I want you to go and represents your country, and I'm appointing you to do X, Y, and Z. And you say, okay, I'll do what you've appointed me to do, which means I'll do only what you say. I won't interject my own thought process or my own opinion into it. You've appointed me to be an ambassador. Are we all ambassadors? What kind of ambassador are we?

Of Christ. Of Christ. For what reason? To bring glory to his name. More specific than that. That's an answer coming up. What are we to do as his ambassadors? Represent him. Yeah, what does an ambassador do? He represents the one who has chosen him to be an ambassador. So initially what does an ambassador for Christ do? He represents Christ and he represents him to a lost world, to a civilization that God is the creator of but have turned away from him and offers him a solution or a remedy to their problem.

You know in contemporary evangelism, the focus seems to be, well, we're going to come into your cesspool, and we're going to figure out your cesspool, and we're going to make it really nice, and you're going to probably want to come to Jesus, because he's the big fixer, the screwdriver in the sky.

But what an ambassador really does is say to you and the world, why don't you leave where you are and come over here? You come over here, because you need to come and see the one that I represent. Which means you've got to be where you are. OK, so that's what you do, right? You're an ambassador because you... Every one of us are.

I know, but you're the teacher, so... I wasn't a teacher when I first came in here. I knew nothing. So how do you as ambassadors function? You get to talk down, you know. For me, it's like... outside of the Holy Spirit working through us. I mean, that's the only way it works. But I guess what I was thinking with the Ambassador is that you have to really know I think of growing in the grace and the knowledge. You have to know who you're being an ambassador for. Yeah, this stuff has got to be in play.

All this stuff we're talking about, what I'm thinking in my head is, from the first time someone introduced me to Christ to today, there's a lot of things that have happened and a lot of growing. It's taking place and everyone's at a different place. It's just the knowledge grows. It comes up with the testing of the trials and how we represent Christ through those trials. There we go.

And 1 Peter 1.6.

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that what? The proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor unto revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

So again, that's the ambassador you represent through the trials. How do you get through that trial? I just wonder, if you don't have Christ, how people get through the trials? Well, look at it this way. If you're an ambassador, where do you come from as a representative of Christ? Where did you come from? Aurora? Where did you come from?

And where is He? Where is He? He's in the heavenlies. So that's where you come from. Because that's where your home is, right? So what do you represent? Him. What do you represent? You're seated with him in the heavenlies, right? Your position. And that's the place that you represent. You don't represent a denomination on the earth that just does things a little different than the church down the street. We're brand new creatures in Christ and we represent, we're heavenly men and that's who we represent. Where are we from? We're not from Dubuque, Iowa. We're from heaven. That's who we're ambassadors from.

Seems like there can be a fine line between also people themselves in the flesh or whatever trying to represent, you know what I mean? So it's like trying to look good, but then it's like if you are just in your faith and then it's like two-sided, like people may not like see it unless The Holy Spirit has prepared that other person to see it. Or prepared you. Both.

So why did your trial show up? Why did the squirrel get in your house? To teach a son for me to the image of Christ. Why did the trial show up? It may have shown up because you don't know the difference in the fine line. It may have shown up because you're trying too hard to be a representative of the Lord Jesus. He represents himself through you. He doesn't need to be imitated. I'm not sure where this squirrel comes in. The squirrel wasn't a trial, huh? I don't know. It's not a heavenly squirrel. Probably. Everything is. Send him over to my house, I'd have sent him back to heaven.

But don't we always, at least initially, we look at the Lord and say, why is this happening to me? Don't we ask that question? And isn't it, it says like, why, I forgot who said it, why be surprised by all these fiery trials? Because they're going to happen. That's what Peter says. Why are you so surprised? Duh. That's kind of the flavor of it. I thought I was a child of God and God is allowing all these to happen to me. I'm kind of wondering now if I really am a child. I can't believe that God would allow this to happen in my life. Ever heard that dance before? Okay, let's talk about it. Everybody hear what Marla said? No. What about the fellowship of his sufferings? Philippians 3, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings. What are his sufferings? How would you have fellowship with Christ's sufferings? Okay, where are you from? Heaven. And who do you represent? Christ. And what did the world do with Christ? Crucify.

And kicked him out? Guess who replaced him? We did. So are they going to treat us any better than they treated him? No, they're not. I read something in the devotional, the Hungry Heart thing, and it says something about we suffer for Christ. And I thought, that isn't right. We suffer, we don't suffer for him. He did all the suffering. We're suffering in fellowship with him. The suffering of rejection? Yeah, that isn't for him though. I don't know, let's see. It seems like we're proving something then.

I'm going to suffer for him, like a monk thing. But there's that verse that says we fill up the sufferings of Christ. It seems like if Christ is in us, then it's a... If the fellowship of the sufferings in Philippians is... What is the fellowship of the sufferings? We get to see the movie or we're really in the game? Oh, yeah, definitely in the game. We're in the game. How about death works in us? So that there might be life in you. Yeah. That's certainly fellowship with the sufferings.

You know, being conformed to that cross is not a fun game. It doesn't happen, my buddy used to say, on a yacht in the flat river. That's not how you're going. So with these trials and sufferings, we all fail miserably. Initially we do, I think, because when they first start, I don't think we understand. I don't think we understand what's really going on and what God is doing. Why would he allow such a thing? I'm a Christian and a good guy and a swell dancer. What are you doing?

When you're talking about trials and suffering, are you talking about things that happen, like we lose somebody, someone dies, you get your arm cut off, those kind of things? Or are you talking about things that we fail at? Both. Any circumstance that causes, I would say any circumstances that causes upset in your life and knocks your little boat and gets some water in the bottom of it.

I mean, you know, how many times have you awakened and said, Lord, you must be in Hawaii this week. Don't you see what's going on with me? We're going through an IRS audit. Trust me, the Lord isn't in that room. No, he is. Now you think of all the big hurricanes and mass killings. Those are on a big level. But think about this. If I adopt the attitude that whatever my circumstances are, that God isn't really paying attention.

What have I said about God? That's right. He's not omnipotent. And he's lying to me. Now where do you think that comes from? Gee, let's see. Satan said to Eve, God's lying to you. Isn't that what he said? What do you think your sin nature is saying to you? God's lying to you. Here comes a decision. Am I going to trust God? Or am I going to trust my sin nature? Get back to the same exercise of your witness.

You see that? And so you feed upon that, and you feed upon that, that, oh my goodness, Lord, I hope you get back here by Monday, things are tough. When in fact, God orchestrated the whole thing from the beginning to the end. And after all, He is God. Do we appreciate the fact that we are the legitimate, organic offsprings of the God of the universe? We are his sons. Yes.

Last week Vern said that we are not to, that doesn't mean take up your cross and follow me. There are an awful lot of people in the world that don't go to this church and maybe there are other churches that teach that too. But it's the first time I ever heard that. I was camping last week. What was the gist of what he said? He said we are not to take up a cross. Oh, I see. Christ has already taken up a cross.

But it does say that in the Bible. And specifically, where does it say it? Well, I don't know. Is it in the Gospels? It's in the Gospels. Who are the Gospels written to? Let me look it up. Who are the Gospels written to? It should be in Luke. It's probably in Luke. That's where he's teaching from. It probably had a Luke. So it's Luke 9 or whatever it is. Okay, now listen to me. Who was Luke written to? Christians? The church wasn't even created by them. Who's he writing to? The Jews? He's writing to Jews. So?

So it isn't until Acts that the Holy Spirit comes and that the church is formed. Now there's some transitional stuff going on in there in John and Acts. But the first book of Christianity is Romans. That's where it starts. And it is demonstrably different than anything that went before it. I mean, it's the difference between law and grace.

It's Luke 9, 23, and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. It's also in Mark and Matthew. And Luke 14, 27 also. So to the Jews that meant, again, you work. Pick it up. Take it up. Follow me. It's millennia. Yeah. You can't do it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So we've got a couple of minutes. Yeah. You know, there are so many trials. And I was thinking about the parents that lost that girl on the set in San Francisco that was shot by the case.

So with all of the problems and they evidently have faith because they said that They accepted that, if maybe something could change because of her death. that it would have been well worth her dying if certain people had come to God because of this incident.

And they had such strong faith, they weren't upset with God or anything, they just embraced what happened. That's the same way with those people from the AME church in Charleston. What did they do? They forgave the guy. Why? Because they recognized that they have a sovereign God.

And these things, the trials that came in their life weren't by happenstance. That thing in Charleston was absolutely orchestrated by the God of the universe. And think about, now think about this. If I'm sitting in that Bible study and a guy opens up and I get shot, is that a tragedy?

No, I'm home. I'm out of here. The only people that are sad are the doofuses that are left. Those 11 people got to go home that day. Glorious day. Right? Glorious day. Well I think in James 1 it says consider it pure joy when you go through. And we are studying right now in our Bible lesson at Fort Collins Bible Church the fruit of the Spirit. You know, part of that is joy. You don't have joy unless you're connected to the Spirit. It's just considering it pure joy. You kind of think of joy and all that stuff, and you're just like, how can I?

And that's kind of what I think, when you're being an ambassador, that's what people see. That's a representation of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is a really wonderful thing because it's singular. It's not however many are there. They're either all in play at one time or none of them are. Because why? What is the fruit of the Spirit? What is it? It's Christ's life. It's who He is. This is how He functions and operates moment by moment or in eternity. It's who He is. So if I'm joyful, all the rest of the things are in play. Because he is actually living his life through me at that point. And you know what the great freedom is?

I'm not watching. I'm not peeking at the fruit. I'm focused in on him. See that? That's really cool. And I think that's right. When your instinctive reaction to a trial or circumstances counted all joy, okay Lord, what are we doing now? Let's go. You know, I sort of got upset, not upset, but I thought, what an attitude.

I'm in the prep room, ready to go into surgery, right? There's this Korean doctor that just got done sticking all these things in my arm. I asked him a question. He said, you know, he couldn't find a vein. I said, well, keep working. He said, I'm not fine, did you die? And the guy doing the surgery, this Dr. Brett Reese, he's a jet pilot type of mentality. So he comes into the prep room, he's all with the greens on, and he said, come on, let's do this thing. That was his attitude. He said, OK, let's go.

Mike, the other, is having my favorite verses, you know, consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials, knowing at the end of that, which in all this class, the testing of your faith. Yeah. That's what the trial is there. And we're going to spend some time on testing and tempting as part of this lesson. There's a difference in those two. OK, that's close.

Father, how we thank you for your grace, and how we thank you how you work in our lives to really cause us to be conformed to the image of your Son, and trials and testing are definitely part of that, so that we might rest in the fact that you're a sovereign God, we are your sons, you do love us, and that we, as we grow, can rest more and more by faith in who you are. We pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.