Thank you.
One, two, three.
And number twenty said,
A pilgrim was I,
my first.
A pilgrim was I
in a one tree.
In the cold night
of sin I did go.
When Jesus
got my shepherd
from me.
And now
I am on
my way home.
Surely goodness and
mercy shall
follow me
all the days,
all the days of my life.
Surely goodness
and mercy
shall follow
me all the
days, all the days
of my life.
With a sore
at my soul
when I'm
feeling
in here
at least
day by day.
He leads me
beside the
still waters.
He guards me
each step of
the way.
Surely goodness
and mercy
shall follow
me
all the days,
all the days
of my life.
Surely goodness
and mercy
shall follow
me all the
days, all the
days of my life.
One, two, three.
When I go
somewhere deep
my Savior
will walk with
me there.
And
safety is great
and will be
clear.
With a
patience is God
to prepare all the
earth.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall
follow me all the
days, all the days
of my life.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall
follow
me all the
days, all the
days of my life.
And it goes
well in the house
of the Lord
forever and
as it is
the day will
spread free.
Surely goodness
and mercy
shall follow
me all the
days, all the
days of my
life.
Father we thank you Lord
for this wonderful day that you've
given to us. We thank you for God
who has put us together here. I pray
Lord that we can worship you in spirit and
I pray that you would help us
be attentive with the sermon, remove the
distractions Lord and I pray that you
would bless and guide Brother Stuckey
as he preached to us the sermon
this morning and I pray Lord that you
would use him to edify the
people Lord. I pray O God
that you would also bless our fellowship this
afternoon and also the rest of
the activities that we have Lord and
especially the soul winning this afternoon.
We're asking all these things in Jesus' name
we pray, Amen.
For our next song let's turn to the number
121.
Let's sing the song
Like a River
Glorious.
On the first
Like a
river
glorious
is God's perfect
peace
over all
victorious
in his
mighty
peace.
Perfect yet
in flowing
cooler
every day.
Perfect
yet in
growing
deeper all
day.
Spade upon
Jehovah
hearts are
fully blessed
thriving
as he
promised
perfect peace
and rest.
Eaten in
the
balloon of
his blessed hand.
Ever
hope and
follow
ever
tapers hand
not a surge
not a surge of
glory
not a shade
of care
not a
blast of
fury
watch the spirit
stay
up on
Jehovah
hearts are
fully blessed
finding
as he
promised
perfect peace
and rest.
Every
joy or trial
fallen
from above
praise
upon our
diet
by the son
of God
He may
trust him
fully
all for us
to do
He who
trust him
fully
find him
to
stay up on
Jehovah
hearts are
fully blessed
finding
as he
promised
perfect peace
and rest.
Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist
Church. Take out your bulletin.
And our verse of the week
is James 1 verse 3 the Bible reads
knowing this that the trying of your faith
work with patience. That's a great verse there.
We are a family integrated church meaning children and
infants are welcome during the services.
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience
as well as the ladies comfort room.
The men's comfort room is up here in front.
Remember though, eating during the church services, maintain
a professional atmosphere and keep the children
from running and making noise during the church service.
On the next page are service times
listed. First service is at
10 a.m. then we have a short break in our
1130 service and Wednesday evening
Bible study is at 7 p.m. Soul winning time
is listed 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Saturdays we have all day soul winning in
the morning. Lunch provided by church in
the afternoon. Of course we do have soul winning
this afternoon as well. Salvation
and baptism are listed there.
Birthdays and anniversaries for April. We do have
a lot of anniversaries
coming up just within
three days. Well four days. Five, six, seven, eight.
But three anniversaries within four
days is quite a bit. But anyways on the next page
announcements and upcoming events.
And so our Bible memorization
challenge. So if you're
able to memorize a chapter age 11
and above you do get a prize. We do have
I think we have snickers left but also we have the chips
there as well on the table.
Ages 8 to 10, 7 verses perfectly.
Ages below 8, 1 verse
perfectly. And as a reminder
you can pick any chapter
you want. So obviously I'm preaching through
Daniel right now and Daniel is
very hard to memorize. I'll just
warn you about that. But you can pick whatever
chapter. It could be the last chapter
in Esther which is like I think three verses or whatever.
Whatever you want to pick. Whatever motivates you.
But anyways upcoming activities.
We do have a lot coming up so we do have choir
practice here today.
I'm preaching a sermon today on the Lord's
Supper. We're going to take the Lord's Supper next
week. This is something we do once
per year at a church and there's very specific
reasons why. So it's an important
sermon to hear and then of course next week is an important
service to be at because we only take it
one time per year. Then Easter
Sunday is in two weeks and obviously
Easter is an
important service as well. And we do have our
men's preaching service that day.
Of note our soul winning events
coming up April 13th through 16th.
So that's Wednesday through Saturday.
And you know last year our biggest
week we've ever had soul winning was last
year an Easter week because we had soul winning
pretty much every single day. And so
we're kind of making the same push this year.
The church will provide lunch for the
people that go soul winning. So if you're looking to
host an event during that time period you
know let me know. And next week I'll
give you money ahead of time to pay for that.
I'm sure in Bullockon Brother Raffi
I will do some soul winning there and Cavite
Brother Juno and then Ask
Brother Ehrman for Metro Manila. Obviously
Metro Manila is very big so we might have
multiple events but try
to make it out at least one time though during
Easter week because we would like to set a record for
attendance and also number of soul winners.
That's kind of the goal. But anyways that's
coming up here in less than two weeks.
And we're going through the book of Daniel
but we are taking a break from that for a little while.
On the back there is a place for notes for the
sermons here today. So I believe
that's it for announcements. I will just say I
know people are obsessed with chess but I walk
up here there's a chess board on the ground. I was like man
it's like everywhere I go everyone's playing
chess all the time. But anyways we'll have Brother Martin lead us
in another song.
And for the next one let's turn to
hymn number 124.
God will take care of you.
True every day or all the way.
He will take care of you.
God will take care of you.
He's all
day.
When nature
will take
care of you.
You
all over the bay we will take care of you
God will take care of you
all you may need we will provide
God will take care of you
nothing you ask will be denied
God will take care of you
through every day or all the way
He will take care of you
God will take care of you
no matter what may be the test
God will take care of you
leave me one upon his breast
God will take care of you
through every day or all the way
He will take care of you
God will take care of you
Let's take our offering
Amen for scripture reading
please open your Bibles to the book of Job
Job chapter 1
Near the middle of your Bible
Job chapter 1 and as our custom we will be reading the entire chapter
Job chapter 1
Amen
Job chapter 1 verse 1
There was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job
and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil
and they were born unto him seven sons and three daughters
his substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels
and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred sheasses and a very great household
so that this man was the greatest of all the man of the east
and his sons went and feasted in their houses every one day
and sent and called for the three sisters to eat and to drink with them
and it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about
that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all
for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and first got in their hearts
thus did Job continually
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord
and Satan came also among them
and the Lord said unto Satan, Once comest thou?
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth
and from walking up and down in it
and the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job
that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect enough upright man
one that fear God and is true with evil?
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Let Job fear God for naught
has thou not made an edge about him and about his house
and about all that he hath on every side?
Thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance and his grace in the land
but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath
and he will curse thee to thy face
and the Lord said unto Satan, Behold all that he hath is in thy power
only upon himself put not forth thine hand
so Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord
and there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine
in their eldest brother's house
and there came a messenger unto Job and said,
The oxen were plowing and the axes feeding beside them
and the Sabians fell upon them and took them away
Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said,
The fire of God has fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said,
The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away
Yea, and slain thy servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said,
Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house
and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house
and it fell upon the young men and they are dead
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
Then Job arose and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground of worship
and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither
The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord
In all this joke did not nor charge God foolishly
Blessed be the God's word, let us pray
Lord God in heaven we thank you for the prayer this day has given to us
and I pray that you would bless the Lord for this day with the good weather
and for the soul winning later on
and I pray that you would also bless the preaching and the preacher of your word
Lord, we pray this day. Amen
Alright, we are in Job chapter 1 and the name of this sermon is No Pain, No Gain
No Pain, No Gain
and let me just read you what this phrase means
No Pain, No Gain
Probably most people are familiar with this
It's a very common phrase when it comes to working out and exercise
But No Pain, No Gain is a proverb used since the 1980s
as an exercise motto that promises greater value or rewards
for the price of hard and even painful work
Under this conception, competitive professionals such as athletes and artists
are required to endure pain, physical suffering and stress, mental, emotional suffering
to achieve professional excellence
and the idea is in the setting of working out
if you're going to work out and you don't have any pain
it's not hard, it's not difficult
you're not going to get stronger, you're not going to get in better shape
I mean if you're running like this and you're not tired at all
you're not going to get better cardio
The only way to get the gain is to actually go through the pain
It's a requirement for the gain
Now, we're here in Job chapter 1 and look I'm not preaching a sermon on exercise
I'm using this as an example because it's very fitting
the physical explaining the spiritual
but there's many ways we can apply this
and one thing is this, point number 1
the pain itself is not fun
When it comes to No Pain, No Gain
the pain is not fun
Look, I tell you I love working out but the truth is
I hate working out
I hate the pain
I enjoy the gain
I hate the pain though, right?
And it's the same thing in all areas
Number 1, when it comes to this point
think about going through trials in your life
There's an example where the pain is not fun
and in Job chapter 1 we have this great example of this great man Job
and he goes through all of these trials and all of this suffering
Look, I promise you the pain, the suffering, the trials, he didn't enjoy it
Notice what it says in verse 14
And there came a messenger unto Job and said
The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them
and the Sabians fell upon them and took them away
Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
While he was yet speaking there came also another
So basically this man is speaking to Job
and says basically all of your animals were destroyed
at least the ones I was in charge of
and while he's saying this another guy walks up
Now I'd imagine if you're Job you're just like
Oh no, what is this guy going to tell me?
And this is what this guy tells him in verse number 16
While he was yet speaking there came also another and said
The fire of God has fallen from heaven
and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
While he was yet speaking there came also another and said
The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels
and have carried them away
Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
Now, I don't know, maybe I wouldn't have reacted this way if I was Job
but I feel like I would just run away when the next person comes up
to try to tell me something because I wouldn't want to know what it was
Verse 18 While he was yet speaking there came also another and said
Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house
and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness
and smote the four corners of the house
and it fell upon the young men and they are dead
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee
Obviously verse 19 would be the most painful thing
hearing about how all of your kids just instantly died
So he lost his money, he lost his kids in a moment of time
Look, Job handles this situation well, but he didn't enjoy the pain
Right, when you're going through trials in your life, it's not fun
Nobody enjoys that, right?
Turn your Bible to Isaiah 58
Isaiah chapter 58
Look, I'm not going to try to convince you if you're going through trials
that you ought to be really excited that, you know, your life is miserable, right?
That's ridiculous
Obviously when you're going through trials, it's not going to be fun
You're not going to enjoy it, right?
The pain itself is very basic, but the pain itself is not fun, okay?
When it comes through trials, there's pain involved when you go through trials
And there can be a gain on the other side, but the pain's not fun
Another example is this
How about the preaching of God's Word?
Look, when the Word of God is preached, if you're actually preaching the Word of God
it's a bit painful to the people listening, right?
If you're guilty of something and the Word of God hits you, that doesn't feel good, right?
In this room are a group of people that love the preaching of God's Word
You want to make changes in your life, but you cannot tell me that
if you're getting preached against and I'm preaching on your sin
you cannot tell me that it's fun while that's happening
Now you're thankful for it, but the actual preaching against you at that moment, it hurts
You don't enjoy it, right?
Isaiah 58 verse 1
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet
and show my people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins
You see, in Isaiah 58 verse 1, it's very clear their transgression, their sins
and the idea is preaching should be applicable to the people you're preaching to
If I just stood up here and said, hey, I don't care what anybody says, sin is still bad in 2022
I didn't say anything
Preaching has to be applicable, their sins, you can't be vague in preaching
Right now I'm not saying intentionally calling people out for a specific sin
but I'm saying you've got to cry aloud and say exactly what the sins are
and you know what, then it will hit close to home to some people
if what I'm preaching about is something you're guilty about, right?
Go in your Bible to 2 Timothy 4
You say, Brother Stuckey, I love hard preaching
Yeah, but you don't love it when it's hitting home to you
Now I'm not saying that you're not thankful for it in the long run
but when it's actually hitting home to you, you don't enjoy that
Nobody does, right?
I never enjoyed getting preached against
Hearing sermons where I was guilty of something
Now, look, when the pain came, I made changes in my life
but I didn't enjoy the pain
Who enjoys getting stabbed with a sword?
Because that's the analogy the Bible gives
I mean, who wants to have a sword inside of them just boom, you know
Nobody enjoys that, right?
The pain itself is not fun
2 Timothy 4 verse 2
The Bible reads
Preach the word, be instant, end season, out of season
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine
Now the Bible says be instant, end season, out of season
and the idea is that basically when it's popular, it's end season
and then out of season is when it's not popular
So, for example, think of just like the weather
and, you know, here in the Philippines it's a bit different because it's always hot
but, you know, during the wintertime where I grew up
that's when you wear the big coats
During the summertime, though, you're not wearing like a big heavy coat
because it's out of season, right?
There's no purpose to wear it at that time
and when it comes to the preaching of God's word
certain things are popular, certain things are not popular
The idea is this
50 years ago, a sermon on Genesis 19 was in season, right?
Because everybody was against the homos
but that's certainly not in season in 2022
but you preach the word of God whether it's in season, in popular
or out of season, unpopular
and what the Bible says in this verse is
Reprove, rebuke, exhort
Look, reproving is negative, rebuking is negative, exhorting is positive
The idea is preaching should be two-thirds negative and one-third positive
Now, I do believe you should try in every sermon to have an exhortation at the end
Basically, preach against the sins, the changes people need to make
and here's the strategy to fix the problem, okay?
But here's the thing, the reproving is not fun
The rebuking is not fun
I mean, rebuke your child for something they do wrong
They're not happy about it
They're not thankful
When you tell your son or your daughter, no, they're not happy, right?
Turn your Bible to Proverbs 9
I'm not trying to convince you here today that you should love getting rebuked while it's happening
Of course, that's not fun
Nobody enjoys that
I think you should appreciate that preaching
and we'll see why in Proverbs 9
But nobody's going to say why you're getting preached against for a sin you're guilty of that it's enjoyable
I mean, if you listen to rock music and I'm preaching against rock music, that's not going to be fun to you, right?
Getting pierced with the word of God, it's not fun
Proverbs 9 verse 8
You know, a lot of people don't like a church like this
And it's really because of this point because they don't like the pain when they get preached against
Because the Bible says they're a scorner, right?
They're basically a fool
Because the opposite of a fool would be a wise man
See, if you're a wise person, you should appreciate a church that's going to preach against your sin
Why? Because you want to make changes
Look, if you're not getting preached against, you're not going to make any changes
Just think about this logically
Let's say you have a headache
Well, you might start drinking water or eat something or take Tylenol, paracetamol or whatever to try to get rid of the headache
But if you didn't have the headache, you wouldn't do that
But because of the pain, you decide to try to make a change, right?
Because of the pain, you make a difference, you try to make a change
Without the pain, you're not going to make a change
It's the same thing with the preaching of God's word
If you never feel any pain when the word of God is preached, why would you make any changes?
When I stopped listening to worldly music, it was because of a sermon and I felt very guilty
I mean, it hit hard and I was like, man, I'm guilty of this
And I just went to my CD collection
It's like 25 Aerosmith CDs in the trash, 10 Led Zeppelin CDs in the trash
And I just threw it away just instantaneously because the pain basically got me to make a change
I already knew it was wrong to listen to Stairway to Heaven
It's got the word heaven in it, it's still a bad song, right?
I knew it was wrong to listen to some of this music, but I still listen to it anyway
Because my flesh enjoyed it, but the pain caused me to make a change
And at these other churches where they don't preach against anything, why would anybody ever make a change?
See, people don't like the pain, and I understand that because the pain is not fun
But the pain is a good thing
I mean, if every single week you leave church feeling like you're the greatest Christian in the world, there's a problem
You say, why? None of us are Job, none of us are Paul the Apostle
I mean, maybe you are, I'm certainly not, right?
And it's like if you never feel guilty, I mean, are you perfect?
Because you should feel guilty sometimes because we're not perfect
And see, church is meant to help you make changes in your life
And if there's never any pain, you're not gonna make any changes
Turn in your Bible to Genesis 3
I mean, think about it, you get a toothache and what do you do?
Well, you stop eating sweets, stop drinking pop, right?
Because you're like, man, I don't like this pain
Obviously, you know, there's something wrong here, I gotta make a change
But, you know, if you don't have the pain, then you're gonna keep eating the sweets, keep drinking the pop
But because of the pain, that's why you actually make a change, okay?
Pain is actually a good thing that God has given to our bodies to help us make changes
You know, in America, there was this big case like 20 years ago from this doctor who got arrested
And there was these Olympic athletes that were training for the gold medal
It was in the Winter Olympics
And, you know, some of these athletes had these major injuries
And they were not able to compete because they had too much pain
And we have a lot of pain, it prevents you from actually being able to do something
Your body prevents you or stops you
For example, when I tore my ACL and had surgery
You know, the big thing you're trying to do is lift your leg off the ground
And it is incredibly difficult, right?
Brother Martin, did you have to do that too?
Is that not hard?
It's like you got so much pain in your leg and you're looking at your leg like lift off the ground
Lift off the ground
And the pain prevents you from being able to do it
Because here's the thing
Post surgery, I didn't have the pain because I had medicine for basically 18 hours
And I was able to lift my leg off the ground
Then all of a sudden I wake up in the middle of the night screaming
It's like, wow
The doctor was right, this is gonna be the worst pain you've ever felt in your life
And I could not lift my leg off the ground
And I tried and tried and tried
And eventually you're able to do it
But the pain prevents you
But see the pain is actually a good thing
Because it's your body signaling that something is basically impossible
You need to stop yourself, you can get hurt
This doctor got in trouble because these athletes had these major knee injuries
And he injected something into their bodies where they did not feel the pain
So basically they competed in the Olympics
Didn't have the pain, they were able to compete
The problem was they had permanent injuries after that
People that basically lost their ability to walk
Because the pain was there given by God to prevent them from doing real damage to their body
Look, don't be upset at pain because pain is actually a good thing
Imagine if your hand was on the stove
And you did not realize it because you had no pain
And it's just burning and burning
And then all of a sudden you look over and your hand's on fire
Well you got a real problem
Now nobody likes the pain
Look, I've burned myself before
It doesn't feel very good, does it?
But that pain is a good thing
Because it signals to you there's a problem
And look, pain is not a bad thing, okay?
The pain of God's word being preached
That is not a bad thing because it causes you to make changes
Genesis 3
Genesis chapter 3
Another example is hard work
Right, working hard is not something that's really enjoyable when you're doing it
I think we all naturally want to be lazy
Right, we all want to just kind of relax
But working hard is actually a very good thing to make success in your life
Genesis 3 verse 17
And unto Adam he said
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife
And hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee
Saying, Thou shalt not eat of it
Cursed is the ground for thy sake
And sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee
And thou shalt eat the herb of the field
And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread
Till thou return unto the ground
For out of it wast thou taken
For dost thou art
And unto dost shalt thou return
The Bible says here in verse 19
That basically you're going to provide your physical needs
You're going to get your food via hard work
In the sweat of thy face
Now look, I believe in working hard
I preach about it
But I cannot tell you that in my flesh
I enjoy it while I'm doing it
I enjoy afterwards because you realize you accomplished something
But not during it, it's not fun
I think all of us in our flesh
If we could just have money rain down from the sky to us
We would want that
Now we're not fools
So we would reject that because it's going to destroy your life
But in my flesh, of course
Nobody's just born as a hard worker
You say, give me proof of that
Look, when you have your kids
And they're a few years old
And you want them to start putting things away
To get responsibilities
They make a mess
They put away like one thing
And you have to keep telling them
No, every single toy
They put away one more
Ten minutes later
Hey, there's all these toys on the ground
You say, why?
They don't want to work hard
Naturally, they want to be lazy
They don't want to do anything
In our flesh
We don't naturally want to work hard
Right?
Now you say, brother Stuckey
I enjoy hard work
No, no, no
You enjoy after you completed it
You have that sense of satisfaction
Not during it though
Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 6
Proverbs 6
Proverbs chapter 6
Now when it comes to this idea of no pain, no gain
I would say in my opinion
At least for me
When I go to the gym with my friends
Or I did in the US
I did enjoy it because you're fellowshipping
And having fun
But I'll be honest
It was more enjoyable
When I was not the one lifting
And my friend was lifting
You're just telling jokes
I'd have my friends working out
I would always try to get them to laugh
While they're working out
Which I was often successful at
But when you're the one working out
And you're going through that pain
I mean it's not like it's fun during that pain
It's when you complete it
And you're happy
Because you set a new PR
Or you know, whatever
You feel a sense of satisfaction
And you're happy
But not during it
The pain itself is not fun
Okay
Proverbs chapter 6 verse 4
Give not sleep to thine eyes
Nor slumber to thine eyelids
Deliver thyself as a roe
From the hand of the hunter
And as a bird
From the hand of the faller
Go to the ant thou sluggard
Consider her ways
And be wise
And the Bible tells us
You know, don't give sleep to your eyes
Be wise like the ants
Look, ants work very hard
Okay
And the Bible says
We ought to be like the ants
Now look
Every single one of us
When we wake up in the morning
If your alarm goes off
You naturally just want to sleep in bed
For a while longer
Right?
It's that fight first thing in the morning
Am I going to get up
Or am I going to hit the snooze
You know, 55 times
Right?
It's funny because, you know
And I don't know if you've ever said this
But I've heard a lot of people say this before
They're like
Oh, you know, sorry
I wasn't able to wake up
Because my alarm didn't go off
No, no, no
You hit the snooze
Don't say your alarm didn't go off
Right?
You hit the snooze button
And you chose not to wake up
Don't say
Oh, my alarm didn't go off
It's like
This has happened five times this week
What are you talking about?
Get a new alarm then
Right?
Nobody wants to wake up
First thing
And they're really tired
I mean, it's a fight in your flesh to do that
Right now
And you can ask my wife about this
I'm a huge advocate of very little sleep
But
I do enjoy sleep
It's just
I choose or try to choose not to sleep
Right?
I woke up today at 4.30 in the morning
And the reason why I do that is
I start my memorization
I start reading the Bible
I know that if I don't wake up really early
I'm just not going to accomplish it
Look, I understand people are different
People sleep different amounts of time
But I'm just saying this
That if you just want to every single day
Just hit the snooze
And sleep for 12 hours
You're not going to accomplish anything
It's not fun to go on little sleep
But see
No pain
No gain
Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 24
Proverbs 24
And you can ask my wife about this
When we were first married
I would wake up at 4 in the morning
And go running in the dark
And then I'd get back
Take a shower
And I'd go to work
And study for my actuarial exams
For a couple hours
Do memorization
And then I started work
And worked all day
And I would basically go to sleep
At around 11 o'clock at night
Because I was trying to memorize the Bible
And stuff like that
But it's just like
The reason why I did that
Is not because I enjoyed it
It's because like
Well I want to make sure
I have my personal time with God
Right?
But for my career
I had to pass those exams
If I wanted to advance
And get a gain
So I was just like
Well
I guess I'm just going to go without sleep
And look
That's not fun
Many people are like that
I mean when I preach
I see people all the time like
Right?
They're yawning
They're tired and everything
So look
I know other people know the feeling
But the reason why
You're going on little sleep
Is because you want to accomplish something
But look
All of us would love
To get a good night's sleep
Right?
All of us would love
To sleep longer
But you know what
You wake up at that alarm
Because you want to accomplish something
And look
I mean I hope you have goals
And things that you want to accomplish
Now look
I'm not telling you
You have to try to go on
Very little sleep or whatever
But I'm just saying
If you're busy
And you have a lot of things
You're trying to do
To be successful
You do have to make some changes
And part of it is just
Not sleeping as much as you'd like to
Right?
Turn your Bible to Proverbs 24
Proverbs 24
Another thing
Which is kind of similar
To the preaching of God's word
But is the rebuke of God
Being rebuked by God
Is not a fun thing
And I'm talking more so
About the idea of basically God
Giving us the spiritual spanking
So to speak
Basically God disciplining us
When we do wrong
And that pain is not fun
Ask any kids in this room
That are under the age of five
If they love that physical spanking
And the answer is going to be no
But that pain
Is a good thing for those kids
To make changes in their lives
Right?
Here's what it says in Proverbs 24 verse 16
For a just man falleth seven times
And riseth up again
But the wicked shall fall into mischief
And the Bible says
A just person
It's not that they never fall
It's that they rise up again
Okay?
The idea here is
Think of a boxing match
Think of two fighters fighting
And one guy gets punched
And he hits the deck
And he's got basically ten seconds
Or a ten count
To get back up
Right?
And the ref starts counting
Anyway there's often times
Those boxers can get up
But they just choose not to
And look I'm not really blaming them
Because you're going to get some permanent
You know
Health problems just getting
Punched in the face
You know all the time
But I'm just saying
It's like it's a fight
To try to get back up
And a lot of people just choose
To stay down
Right?
Has anybody in this room
Ever been knocked unconscious before?
Just like knocked out
You got a big concussion
And anybody?
Am I the only one?
It's like the same thing yesterday
I mean I've been knocked
Unconscious before
You know in a soccer game
And I can tell you
It's not fun
Right?
I went up for a header
And one of the guys on the other team
And my mind
Has blocked this out
I have a huge block in my mind
I never remembered what took place
Because when you have painful memories
Often times your mind blocks them out
Because of like trauma
And so basically
I went up for a header
And a guy headbutted
Me on the side of the head
Right here
And this is where
I got the nickname
In high school spot
Because I had this
I look like I got beat up
For like several weeks
Right?
But I got hit on the side of the head
But this is not where
I got the concussion
Because you don't get a concussion
From this
You get a concussion
When you land on the back of your head
On the astroturf field
Because even in the UFC
It's illegal to hit the back of the head
Because it's a very weak spot
Of your body
And so I landed on the back of my head
And I don't know if you've ever seen
A boxing match
Where a guy gets knocked out
But sometimes they get knocked out
And then they're still like this
And it's like their natural body reaction
So I got knocked unconscious
I don't remember this
But apparently I stood back up
And moved around
And just like hit the deck again
So the ref thought I was faking it
It's like he thought I was just trying
To get the other team in trouble
Or whatever
And I was just unconscious
On the field
And my coach ran on the field
And there's like this
Huge situation and everything
Look
It wasn't fun
Waking up every day
And icing my eye open
Because I'd go to sleep at night
Both eyes open
I'd wake up like this
Every single day
Just putting ice on my eye
To wake it up for 30 minutes
Not fun
Right
And here's what I'm trying to tell you
The pain is not fun
Getting chased by God is not fun
Nobody enjoys the pain
Okay
Falling seven times
That's not fun
Go to Hebrews 12
Hebrews 12
What's kind of interesting about that situation
Is that the two guys that knocked me out
Because one guy undercut my legs from me
And so the other guy
Kind of like going up for a rebound
And somebody goes underneath you
Which is what made me lose my balance
And then the other guy headbutted me
Well these guys I was playing in the fall league
And they were on my team in the spring league
And they were two of my best friends on the team
And they're the guys who knocked me unconscious
But anyways
proper worry
Hebrews 12
Hebrews 12 verse 11
Notice what the Bible says
Now no chastening for the present
Seemeth to be joyous
Right
The Bible is saying there
The pain is not fun
When you're being disciplined
When you're being chastened by God
That's not fun
No chastening for the present
Present tense
Now
While it's happening
It's not fun
So look
When we're saying no pain no gain
I'm not trying to convince you
That the pain is fun
That's ridiculous
I'm trying to convince you
The pain is worth it
To get the gain
I'm not trying to convince you
The pain is fun
Look if somebody's going through
Major trials in their life
It would be foolish to go up to them
And say well you know what
You should be happy
You know praise God
You get to you know have all these problems
In your life
That's ridiculous
I mean obviously they're not going to enjoy it
Obviously Job didn't enjoy it
In Job chapter one
The pain itself is not fun
Point number one
The pain is not fun
Point number two
The pain is a requirement for the gain
Without the pain
No pain
No gain
Right
When it comes to working out
If you work out
And it doesn't make you tired
It doesn't you know
It's not difficult
You don't sweat at all
You're not getting any gain from that
Right
And I understand people have various goals
Some people they reach a point
They don't really necessarily want to get any stronger
But if you want to get stronger
You got to up the weight
You can't just stay at the same amount
And expect to get stronger
It doesn't work that way
You got to push yourself to the point
Where it hurts
Where it's difficult
And your flesh doesn't want to do it
Because if it's easy
There's not going to be any gain
You have to have the pain
You have to have the difficulty
In order to have the gain
And this is what it says
In Hebrews 12 verse 11
Now no chastening for the present
Seemeth to be joyous
But grievous
The pain is not fun
Nevertheless
Afterward
It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
Onto them which are exercised thereby
So what this verse says
Is because of the pain
You go through that pain
There is the peaceable fruit of righteousness
There is the gain
What the Bible is saying is
No pain
No gain
Without the pain
You're not going to get
The peaceable fruit of righteousness
Look, when you look at the Bible
Look at David
He doesn't make a change
Until he's rebuked
Right?
Once Nathan rebukes him
That's when there's a change
It's the same thing with us in our lives
We do things that are wrong all the time
And we feel like no big deal
But once you know you're being chased by God
That's when you actually make some changes
Because you're afraid of what might come next
Same thing with our kids
Right?
You spank your kids
You discipline your kids
And you know what?
It puts them in fear
To basically get in trouble again
You say brother Stuckey
I don't think you should parent like that
Well do whatever you want
I was raised on spanking
It worked for me
There's generations of kids raised on spanking
It worked for them
Go ahead and just listen to whatever on the TV
And just say well I'm not going to discipline
Because I don't believe what the Bible says
In the book of Proverbs
Go ahead and do whatever you want
What I'm telling you though is
The pain actually causes a change
It causes the kids to realize
You know what?
I don't want to do this
Because I don't want the pain
Right?
Turn to John 15
John 15
Anyway what's crazy to me is like
Baptist churches take this mentality
On a side point about spanking
Because I used to preach at junior church
At my church in West Virginia
And it's like you know
I came to the pastor many times
About problems with the kids
About how
I was like you know
What do you want me to do pastor?
I mean there's like literally a kid
Who was running on the chairs
And throwing stuff in the room
I said
Bunch of kids want to hear the sermon
And this one kid is screaming
And breaking stuff
And he's like
Would you try giving him more candy?
It was just like
That's not going to work
And in fact that's what causes the problem
Where basically you know
Every time they act up
Well let's just reward them
And just well
Eventually you're going to have to
Make a change there
Because it's just going to get worse and worse
Right?
The pain is actually a good thing
John 15 verse 1
Here's another example
I am the true vine
And my father is the husband
Now let me just say this about John 15
Because this is a very misunderstood parable
And people argue about this
And people try to use verse 6 to say
You can lose your salvation
Let me say this
This is not a salvation parable
It is a soul winning parable
It's a parable about holy living
Okay?
It's not about whether someone's saved or lost
I mean we're talking about people that are saved
Okay?
It is not a salvation parable
They are already saved
What this parable is about
Is about making changes in your life
And God purging you
And the reason why it's very clear
Is when it talks about burning
It's using a physical example
It's like if you're working in a field
And all these branches fall off the tree
And these leaves
You gather them together
And you burn them afterwards
Because they're basically
You know in the way of everything
And you know you think of a tree
And if you have branches in a tree
That are not producing fruit
They're actually causing damage
Because they're sucking up the nutrients
From the tree
And doing nothing with it
And the idea is
You'd be better off just getting rid of the dead branches
And there be more nutrients for the rest of the tree
It's not that they're not producing anything
They're actually preventing
From having more fruit produced
And the idea is
That if you're not a fruit producing Christian
Then you're not doing anything
And look I'll be honest
I preached that once in Sacramento
And it was like the most offensive sermon
Not to people at the church
But online listeners
How can you say
That if I'm not a soul winner
Then I'm doing nothing
And not right with God
That's what the parable is about
I mean read John 15 verses 1 through 6
That's what it's about
I mean I can try to sugar coat it as much as possible
But I'm not the one that said
Basically just remove the branches
That are not doing anything
That's what the Bible teaches
And look the Bible teaches
That you know what
If you're following God
You will be a fisher of men
Not that well you know what
If you're following God
You might decide to go soul winning
You might no
Follow me and I will
Make you fishers of men
That's what the Bible says
That's what John 15 is about
But notice what it says in verse 2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
Is taken away
And every branch that
So basically being taken away
Is basically the person who's not producing any fruit
And every branch that beareth fruit
He purgeth it
That it may bring forth more fruits
And see what the Bible says
The branches that are actually successful
God actually purges
Think of making
Purging things out of your life
Getting rid of problems in your life
The idea is
If you're serving God
God still wants to make changes in you
Why?
So you produce more fruits
Here's the thing
The purging's not fun
You say what does that mean brother Stuckey
It means God wants you to get rid of your worldliness
He wants you to quit watching the things you watch
He wants you to quit listening to the things you listen to
He wants you to start reading the Bible more
Be more dedicated and motivated
And meditate upon God
And here's the thing
He does that by purging you
Don't be upset at the purging
Because here's the thing
The pain
The purging is a requirement for the gain
The result is you bear more fruit
But you know what
That's a good thing the pain
Because that is what causes you to make a change
Go to 2nd Corinthians 1
2nd Corinthians 1
You say brother Stuckey
At my old church
You know what
I always felt like
You know I was very right with God and everything
And I'd leave church
And feel like I was really spiritual
And ever since I started coming here
It's just like man I feel guilty all the time
And you know you're ripping on all these sins
And I've never felt this feeling
That's a good feeling
Don't be upset at the hard preaching
That is a good feeling
If you always feel right with God
And you always feel super spiritual
Ask yourself a question
Were you reading the Bible a lot when you felt super spiritual?
Were you going soul winning a lot?
Because it's interesting that these churches
You don't really do much
And yet you feel very spiritual
Look the average Baptist in the Philippines
Has never read the Bible cover to cover
They've never read the Bible cover to cover
And you know what
Here's the thing
They don't feel that motivated to read the Bible cover to cover
Because it's not preached to do it
And then all of a sudden you say
Well I came to this church
And now I'm reading for 30 minutes a day
And I still don't feel like I'm doing enough
Yeah because you realize
At the end of the day
As you get closer to the light
I still have a lot of problems that I can see
And in fact
When the light shines very bright
You start seeing more and more problems
Isn't it better to know there's problems though?
Look if you got a lot of problems in your house
You've got all kinds of you know
EPs and snakes and mice running around
You know what
Nobody wants to find that out
But it's a good thing to know
Nobody wants that
But it's a good thing to know
Otherwise you know
Who knows what's gonna happen right
I mean those are good things to know
Even though you don't wish it to happen
What's the same thing with God's Word
The preaching shines a light on the problems in your life
And don't be upset when all of a sudden
You find out you need to make changes
God is trying to purge you
Because he wants to use you in a big way
2 Corinthians 1 verse 3
Blessed be God
Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
The Father of mercies
And the God of all comfort
Who comforteth us
In all our tribulation
That we may be able to comfort them
Which are in any trouble
The Bible says in verse 4
Because we go through tribulation
And God comforts us
As a result
We can comfort those that go through something similar
The idea is
That if you've never gone through a trial in your life
How can you help somebody out
With the same trial
And the thing that they're going through
If you've been through something though
Then you can kind of give some pointers
On basically
Hey you know what
This is what I experienced
Right
The best thing you can do
If somebody goes through a trial
And you cannot relate to it
Is just say I'm praying for you
You don't have to pretend
Like you fully understand
Because if I was Job's friends
I couldn't sit here and say
I know how you're feeling
No you don't
Right
They don't know how he's feeling
What they can say is
I'm praying for you
You can't go wrong with saying
I'm praying for you
Right
And so if you don't know what somebody's going through
Then just say you're praying for them
You don't have to pretend
Like you fully understand it
Or whatever
But what the Bible's saying is
When we go through tribulation
The result of that is
We can actually comfort those
Who go through something similar
By the comfort
Wherewith we ourselves
Are comforted of God
Verse 5
For as the sufferings of Christ
Abound in us
So our consolation
Also abounded by Christ
And whether we be afflicted
It is for your consolation
And salvation
Which is effectual in the enduring
Of the same sufferings
Which we also suffer
Or whether we be comforted
It is for your consolation
And salvation
Go to verse number 8
For we would not, brethren,
Have you ignorant of our trouble
Which came to us in Asia
That we were pressed out of measure
Above strength
In so much that we despaired
Even of life
And what Paul the Apostle's saying is
You know we went through so many difficulties
So many trials
It came to the point
You know we didn't even want to go on
We despaired of life
We hated what we were going through
We did not enjoy the pain
But here's the thing
What Paul's saying is
Hey I can comfort you
Because I know what it's like
I know what it's like
I know what it's like to be beaten
I know what it's like to be thrown in jail
I know what it's like to have these problems in your life
And nobody enjoys that pain
But yet Paul the Apostle could comfort those
And he does
In the New Testament
To go through similar things
Why?
Because he went through the pain
See the pain was a requirement for the gain
Otherwise he couldn't comfort
Because he hasn't been through it
Turn your Bible to 1 Peter 1
1 Peter chapter 1
1 Peter 1
I'm not trying to convince you to enjoy the sufferings that you go through in your life
What I'm saying is
That can actually be a beneficial thing
And one way we can look at this
Is that if we go through major problems in our life
Remember that the Bible says
We know that all things work together for good
To them that love God
To them that are called according to his purpose
I'm not saying that when you're going through the trial
You're supposed to enjoy it
Nobody enjoys that
Nobody enjoys the pain
But one thing we can do is just think that
You know what?
If I'm right with God
I mean because sometimes you're being chastened or disciplined by God
But other times you're just going through trials
You didn't do anything majorly wrong
And you're just going through trials
And you can look at it and say
You know what?
God is using this for his purpose
You know in the end
All things work together for good
Of course it's not fun
But that's one way you can look at it
Because that's what the Bible teaches
All things work together for good
1 Peter 1 verse 6
Wherein ye greatly rejoice
Though now for a season
If need be
You're in heaviness through manifold temptations
And you know what?
This is the way our lives are
You know you're rejoicing at some times
Things are going great
The preaching
The soul winning
And everything's great
But then if need be
You're in heaviness through manifold temptations
We go through storms
We go through ups
We go through downs
We have our good days
We have our bad days
We have our good weeks
Our good seasons
And our bad seasons
You know since we've been here in the Philippines
I can say I've had Sundays that I'm here
And everything's great
And I'm on an up stage
And then there's other times where you're down here
And look
Over the course of a year
You're going to have ups and downs
You're going to have trials
And at times we rejoice
And things are great
But if need be
You're in heaviness through manifold temptations
And those things actually
If need be
Are necessary
In order to make changes
And basically God is purging you
And there's sometimes things that happen in your life
And God is using that to help you make differences
And changes in your life
Turn your Bible to James 1
James 1
I mean that expression
No pain no gain
The reason why people say that expression
When it comes to working out
Is because they're acknowledging the pain is terrible
It's not fun
Right and you know pain doesn't even go away
You wake up the next day
You're like oh man
I'm so sore
From the workout that I did
Right
But you realize the pain is a requirement to make changes
The pain is a requirement to make gain
Look when I played soccer
You know
Soccer is like my favorite hobby by far to do
I love playing soccer
But you know what
I used to really train
Because my goal in life
The half of my life
Was to be a professional soccer player
That was my goal growing up
I wanted to be a professional soccer player
And play for the US
And the World Cup and everything like that
And to be a professional soccer player
You obviously can't just go and show up to the game
You have to actually train outside of the games
To get better
Right
And I remember being a kid
And you know I was like
Six or seven years old
And one of the things you want to do
Is develop your foot skills
Your ball control
So basically you know
I was trying to juggle a soccer ball
Right
Nobody can do that
The first time they do it
The first time you try to juggle a soccer ball
It just hits off your foot
And you fail
Over
And over
It's very hard to do
When you first do it
And then eventually
You get better at it
And I could
Even today
If I had a soccer ball
I could just sit here
And just juggle it
For a couple minutes
Without a problem
But when I started
It's like a couple seconds
And it's frustrating
And you fail
But see
That wasn't fun though
I didn't enjoy juggling a soccer ball
To try to get better at it
What I enjoyed was having ball control
During the soccer game
And being able to use that
Right
Everybody enjoys playing the basketball game
Everybody enjoys playing the soccer game
But it's not like you enjoy
Sitting there shooting jump shots
For three hours to get better
You do that
So in the game
You can make the jumper
The actual training
Is not the fun part though
Same thing with working out
Same thing with studying for exams
Or whatever
It's not like the studying for the exam is fun
It's not like memorizing all these words is fun
What you're thankful for is afterwards
And you get a 95% or whatever
Then you're thankful
And that's actually point number one
Point three I should say
Point one the pain is not fun
Point two the pain is a requirement for gain
Point three happiness comes after completion
Happiness comes after the completion
James 1 verse 2
My brethren, count it all joy
When you fall into diverse temptations
Knowing this that the trying of your faith
Worketh patience
But that patience have her perfect work
That you may be perfect and entire
Wanting nothing
The Bible says
You can go through difficulties
And have joy
When you realize the fact
These things make you perfect
They make you entire
They make you better
The pain's not fun
But actually getting to the end of it
As you become a better Christian
That is what gives you a sense of enjoyment
The pain's not fun
But the gain at the end
That's what makes you happy
Turn your Bible to James chapter 5
James 5
Let me give you just a very basic example
Just kind of a secular example
When I was a kid I played video games
Super Nintendo most specifically
You play various games
Some games are very easy
And some games are very hard
Certain video games you know
You easily beat the game
It only takes you a few hours
And you're done
Well here's the thing
When you're playing a game
You know nobody likes to die in the game
Like for example Mario's probably
The example people understand
Nobody likes to jump in that empty space
Where you're just like forever falling
Or whatever happens
You know I'm just trying to remember
The doo doo doo doo doo doo
Or whatever
Nobody
I can't remember the tune when you die
I forget
But anyways
Nobody likes it when they miss the jumper
They miss jumping on the mushroom
Or the green pipe or whatever
And then fall into the empty abyss or whatever
Nobody enjoys that
But here's the thing
I've played video games that were very easy
And when you get done
There's not really much happiness
Because it wasn't hard
There's no sense of happiness at the end
Because it didn't take any difficulty
Now nobody enjoys dying while you play the game
But if you play a game
That is really hard
And you lose
Aren't you more happy in the latter end
Than a game that's very easy?
Right
The example I know from growing up
You know one of my favorite games was
Metal Gear Solid
And I don't know if this game is still in existence
Apparently it is
I see people are like
Yeah you know I know Metal Gear Solid
It goes all the way back to Nintendo
I remember the one for PlayStation though
That is like the hardest game
In the history of the world
It's the only game I remember
Where you die within the first 10 seconds
You get right there
You're trying to figure out
Okay what are the buttons doing
You're already dead
It's like what?
Because usually the games start off easy
Right
They start off easy
And they get progressively harder as you go
You learn to jump and move
Not Metal Gear Solid
If you've ever played that game
You die immediately
Right at the beginning of the game
Over and over and over and over again
And you know you want to quit
But you don't
Because you're not going to give up that easily
But see here's the thing
That game is like impossible
But I remember beating that game
And I was just so happy at the end
You say why?
Because you know what?
It was hard
And what I'm saying is this
Going through something painful or difficult
I'm not saying it's fun while you do it
But there's more enjoyment afterwards
Than if it was really easy
If you go running for just 500 feet
There's not much excitement at the end
When you finish
How about if you run a marathon
When you get done with that marathon
You're going to be pretty happy
You say why?
Because it was hard
You had to put in effort
You had to put in hard work
And you get done
And there's a sense of completion to it
Right?
And here's what I'm saying
You know what?
The pain
It's not fun
But going through the pain
It's going to give you a sense of joy
And happiness
When you get done with it
The pain is not a bad thing
James 5
James chapter 5
The Bible says this in verse 10
James 5 verse 10
Take my brethren the prophets
Who have spoken in the name of the Lord
For an example of suffering
Affliction and of patience
Behold we count them happy which endure
Ye have heard of the patience of Job
And have seen the end of the Lord
That the Lord is very pitiful
And of tender mercy
And the Bible says in verse 11
Looking at Job
We count them happy which endure
And if you get to the end of a trial
And you last through it
And you serve God faithfully
There's actually joy on the other side
If you endure through it
But see here's the thing
A lot of people they don't like the pain
So they just kind of quit
This is why a lot of people quit working out
Because they don't enjoy the pain
Everybody wants to get in better shape
Everybody wants to get stronger and faster
And have better cardio and all these things
Everybody wants the gain
But not everyone's willing to go through the pain
To get the gain
Right?
You know I'm just using an example
You know you could do the same thing with schooling
I mean everybody wants to get 100% on the exam
But do you want to study to get the 100%?
Right?
Everybody wants the gain at the end
I'd love to be great at everything
I would love to be able to play the piano
And the guitar and all these instruments
But I'm not willing to go through the pain to do it
To be honest
And I get it
You know we only have so much time
You got to pick what you're going to do in life
Obviously
But I'm just saying
Everybody would love to be amazing at playing instruments
But
It doesn't mean that we're willing to go through the effort to do it
Right?
When I was a kid I had a desire to play the piano
I think it's a really cool instrument
And what?
I never really learned
You say why?
Because I wasn't willing to put in the time
I was more interested in just juggling a soccer ball
You know mindlessly for hours
Something that I don't even use now
Right?
But turn your Bible to Job 42
Job 42
Let us see the end of Job
As it talks about we count them happy which endure
See what I'm trying to convince you is to set goals in your life
What you want to achieve
And you want the process of achieving it
Is not going to be fun
But instead of deciding if you're going to keep doing it
Based on how much you enjoy the pain or the effort
Instead of that
Ask yourself
Is it going to be worth it in the end?
Right?
Is it worth going through it?
I'm not going to convince you the pain is fun because it's not fun
I mean if you enjoy pain there's something wrong with you
If you enjoy burning yourself there's something wrong with you
Right?
I mean I think the term is a masochist is a term
It's bizarre
It's weird
Nobody should enjoy pain
Right?
Nobody enjoys pain
When you get injured it's not fun
Right?
But what I'm telling you is going through suffering
Going through difficulties
It actually can make you better
And instead of focusing on the pain
Focus on the latter end
Job 42 verse 10
And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends
Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before
By the way this is aside from the sermon
But people say verse 10 is a major Bible contradiction
And I'll explain why they say that here in a second
Then there came unto him all his brethren and all his sisters
And all they that had been of his acquaintance before
And did he bread with him in his house
And they bemoaned him in comfort of him
For all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him
Every man also gave him a piece of money and everyone an earring of gold
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning
For he had fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels
And a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand sheasses
He had also seven sons and three daughters
So they say it's a contradiction because they say
Well the Bible says twice as much and he has twice as many animals
But he only has ten kids which is what he had before
He doesn't have twice as much
Here's the thing though
He didn't lose his kids because they were saved
They went to heaven
So it is twice as much because ten plus ten, twenty is twice of ten
Okay, it's not a contradiction
Verse number fourteen
And he called the name of the first Jemima
And the name of the second, Keziah
And the name of the third, Haranhappuk
And in all the land where no women found so fair as the daughters of Job
And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren
After this lived Job in a hundred and forty years
And saw his sons and his sons' sons even four generations
So Job died being old and full of days
The indication is the rest of the life of Job is pretty good
Right, he went through a major trial
He lasted through it
Lived a long life
Got to spend time with his kids and grandkids and had a good relationship
Look, the suffering wasn't fun
But you know what, we can use the example of Job in our lives now
Because no matter what we're going through
We're probably not going through what Job went through
Right
Turn your Bible to get stoned
They think he's dead and then he gets back up
You know, it's not like it was fun when he got stoned
Then you get back up and it's like, well, you didn't kill me yet
Right, I lasted through it
There's going to be happiness
There's going to be joy
Right
When you go through trials in life
The trials are not going to be fun
Right
But if you last through it
There's joy on the latter end
Ecclesiastes 7 verse 8
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof
And the patient in spirit is proud
The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit
The Bible says better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof
And look, when you're going through difficulties in life
You know, this is a verse to kind of keep in mind
And memorize or have it locked into your head
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof
And as you go through something it's not going to be fun
But when you get to the end
There's success on the other side
There's many things in life that you know what
If you're going through it, it's not fun
But if you don't complete it
It's a complete waste of time
You have to get to the end
Otherwise, it's pointless
I mean, what video game is worth playing if you don't end up beating it?
What's the purpose of playing it?
What's the purpose of learning an instrument if you only get halfway and you can't play anything?
There's no purpose
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
Right?
You have to actually get to the end of it
And when it comes to suffering and trials and things you're trying to get better at
You got to last through it
Otherwise, it's a waste of time
Look, just this idea, this motto
No pain, no gain
People have this goal
I want to start working out and getting in better shape
But then they quit because of the pain
It's like, well, there's no point of starting
If you're not going to complete it
Right? You need to actually last through it
Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 11
We'll close off Ecclesiastes 11
Ecclesiastes chapter 11
Ecclesiastes 11
Ecclesiastes chapter 11, verse 4
The Bible reads
Now, this is a verse you can kind of understand here in the Philippines
I think you can understand it better growing up in America
But imagine if you're waking up in the morning
And you want to accomplish something or do something
You want to go for a run, let's say
But it's really raining outside
Right?
Well, I mean, here's the thing
If you wake up and it's raining
And you basically observe the wind that's associated with the rain
And you regard the clouds
The clouds are dark and it's raining
Basically you're not going to do it
Because you're focusing on the obstacle
The idea is focusing on the obstacle is going to prevent you
The reason why it really applies in the U.S.
Is because for several months it's dark and cold
And there's snow on the ground
And when I played soccer I would run an hour plus a day
So basically you'd wake up in the morning
And this verse would have been very helpful for me as a kid
Just quoting this verse because you put on your snow gear
And just go running out in the snow for an hour
It wasn't fun
It wasn't enjoyable
But I just said to myself
I have a goal of running to get in better shape
To be a better soccer player
And it's like
He that observeth the wind
Shall not sow
And he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap
He that observeth the pain
He that regardeth the pain
He that goes through a difficulty and says
It's too hard
It's not worth it
I don't like the pain
Of course you don't like the pain
Nobody likes the pain
It'd be foolish to get up here and say
You need to learn to enjoy the pain
That's ridiculous
Even Jesus Christ didn't enjoy the pain of being crucified
If it's possible let this cup pass for me
Right it's not an exact quote
But you know the reference I'm talking about
He didn't want to go through the pain
Nobody enjoys pain
But the question is
Is it worth it to get the game
It's not about whether it's worth it
Whether you enjoy the pain
The question is
Are you willing to
Do you want to get the game
Is it worth it at the latter end
Look
Studying and working hard for something
And going through pain
And difficulties in trials
It's not fun
You have to realize
That even though the pain is not fun
The pain is a requirement for gain
You don't get better at something
Just via osmosis
You just kind of wake up
And then man
You're amazing at something
It doesn't work that way
You get better by hard work
You get better by putting in effort
And look the effort
The hard work
The pain
It's not fun
But here's the thing
No pain
No gain
Let's close in word of prayer
Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for allowing us to be here today
And getting to see your word on this topic
And ask you to help all of us set goals
And dreams and visions for our lives
God and things we want to accomplish
And help us be willing to endure the pain
Including myself and my family
Help us be willing to set big goals
But actually be willing to go through the pain
In order to get the gain at the latter end
We pray this in Jesus' name
Amen