The Testing of Your Faith | Sunday, April 5, 2020

Hey, Cross Connection Church! Welcome again to Church at Home. I am Pastor Miles, and I want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in with us this morning. We wish that we could gather together here in our church facility, especially because today is a special day—Palm Sunday. We have a special service prepared for you, but we're glad that you're with us.

Before we get into our time of worship and the Scriptures, I want you to do just two things. First, please take a moment to share this broadcast online. Share it on social media, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, or any other platform you like to use. You can share it by using the link live.lifinconnection.com. Invite some of your friends and family to come and join us as we worship together and go through the Scriptures.

The second thing I want you to do is to connect with us today. One way you can do that is by snapping a picture of you and your family or friends watching this together. Post it to social media and use the hashtag #LifeInConnection so that we can see where you are and interact with you.

God bless you as we join together in worship and in the Scriptures today. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, for this day. God, we remember Palm Sunday, and we thank You for the day that You came into our lives and into Jerusalem. We say, "Hosanna in the highest" to You. God, we thank You that You saved us—that's why You came. Now, we want to worship You with our songs of Thanksgiving. We love You. In Jesus' name, amen.

When we see, we first read, "Face the Day" in Your presence. Oh, I washed away, washed away. You are worthy. Turning to You, which can lie. When we find strength to face the day, we do so in Your presence. Our feelings, when we see You, help us find strength to face the day.

The day even the hardest thing in your presence lost. You are worthy. Come, Lord Jesus, you are the God who says, "Come."

Well, Lord, see.

Hey, Cross Connection Church! It is great to be with you guys this morning. If you're new and this is your first time joining us, we would love to be able to reach out to you. You can register at our newcomer page, which is going to be down here below.

If you're someone who has been with us before, whether you are one of our returning guests or a member of the fold, we would love for you to do a couple of things. You could subscribe to our YouTube page at youtube.lifeinconnection.com. You can also go to subscribe@lifeinconnection.com, and that will subscribe you to our weekly email from Pastor Miles, so you get that weekly update.

There are a lot of other ways that you can connect with us at Cross Connection Church, and those are all available on our website, which is lifeinconnection.com. So go to our website to get all those different points of connection.

In particular, I wanted to highlight this morning is prayer. Prayer.lifeinconnection.com is a great way for us to pray for you and for you to share your requests and praise reports. We would love to hear those things from you, so that's prayer.lifeinconnection.com.

If you're looking for the sermon guide for today's message, that's going to be at sermonguide.lifeinconnection.com. So if you want to download the sermon guide, you can go there.

A couple more things before we get started in worship: Moms and dads, we have not forgotten your families.

I have not forgotten; you've not forgotten your children today. After service, resources will be available on Kids.LifeInConnection.com. There are going to be some children's ministry resources so you can worship together as a family. Kids can get involved; it's a great opportunity to shepherd their little hearts closer to Jesus.

Also, we're going to worship the Lord right now in our giving, and we wanted to make that available to you. If you came today and you're ready to give, we want to make that possible. First of all, thank you so much for your faithful support, both in your prayers and your finances.

There are a couple of ways that you can give. You can go to Give.LifeInConnection.com, or you can text a gift to 284321. That's our text-to-give number. Alternatively, you can mail it in to 1675 Sevenoaks Road, Escondido, California, 92026.

Alright, I'm going to pray for the offering, and then we'll get right into service.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this church body. Thank you for the work that you're doing in and through this body. Father, I pray that you would continue to have your hand of protection upon us, that you would keep us safe. Lord, be with those in our body who are serving in the medical field. As they are stretched thin, we just pray that you continue to watch out for them and guide them. I pray that you would use these offerings, Father God, that people give to further your kingdom. Thank you so much, Jesus, for all that you've done for us. I pray these things in your name. Amen.

Alright, God bless you guys. Enjoy service.

I cast my line at Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I see His wounds, His hands, His feet, my Savior. That cursed the truth, His body bound and drenched in tears; they laid Him down.

By heavy stone, Messiah, oh praise the name of the Lord. For the Lord has risen. At break of dawn, He rose again. Oh, trampled, where is your sting? The angels for Christ proclaim, "Oh, praise the name of the Lord."

Oh, be the robes of white, the blazing sun. So here's the night, and I come by grace. Oh, Jesus, your praise is the name of the Lord. Oh, praise His name forevermore.

We will say, "Oh, praise!" We thank You, Lord, for Your grace and mercy that You gave us on that day on the cross. We worship You and bless our time now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Good morning, Cross Connection Church family! Welcome to Church at Home. We are so glad this morning that you are joining with us here online. Hopefully, you have not been sucked into the Tiger King vortex. I keep reading stuff online and hearing things on various podcast episodes that I listen to. Everybody's talking about this Tiger King. I have no idea what it's all about, other than it's a show on Netflix that I do not recommend to you.

I think it's far better that you are tuned in with us here this morning as we come to the Scriptures, which I believe have a lot more redeeming value than many of the things you could binge-watch on Netflix.

Now, behind me this morning on the screen is the city of Jerusalem. This is what the city looks like today from the mountaintop just east of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, from a mountain called the Mount of Olives. The city looks a whole lot different today than it did 2,000 years ago, but this is roughly the same vantage point that Jesus would have beheld the city when He and His disciples came to the city on that Palm Sunday 2,000 years ago. Here we are on Palm Sunday today, and I thought it was fitting to have this view of the city.

This was the vantage point that Jesus and His disciples would have had as they were coming into the city of Jerusalem that Sunday before the final Passover that Jesus would partake in with His disciples. This Sunday is referred to as Jesus's Passion, and it is interesting to note that we call this week the Passion Week of Christ.

I find it intriguing because, in our time, the word "passion" has a different meaning than it does when used in the context of the Passion Week. When we think of passion, we often think of intense desire or emotion; we might describe a person as being really passionate or having intense love. However, when we talk about Christ's passion or the Passion Week of Christ, we are referring to His suffering and a time of trial.

It is at least a little fitting that, as we prepare to celebrate or remember the Passion Week of Christ, we find ourselves this week in the midst of something of a passion—a time of trial and suffering. Every single one of us, not just here in our community in San Diego County or in the state of California or the United States, but around the entire world, is experiencing a time of trial. For some, it is a time of true suffering.

There are people at this very moment who are suffering the actual effects of the coronavirus. They are in critical care units, on ventilators, and having difficulty breathing, fighting for their lives. That is a significant level of suffering. I hope that nobody you know or are related to finds themselves in the midst of that, but we know that there are people suffering, and we want to be lifting them up to the Lord in prayer.

Though we may not be suffering the effects of the coronavirus in that way, every single one of us is experiencing the effects to some extent. For far more people, we are experiencing the effects of the coronavirus in the form of the economic disaster that has come as a result of it. In the last two weeks, 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment in our nation. That is an incredible number when you really think about it.

The previous one-week record of unemployment claims was about 650,000 people. However, two weeks ago, we had some 3.7 million people file for unemployment, and this last week, 6.3 million people filed. I hope and pray that you are not one of the people experiencing that part of this suffering, but we all are beginning to experience the economic impact of this. The fact is, we are all affected in some way. If we had a choice, I don't think that any of us would ever choose to suffer. If given the opportunity to choose, we would choose to not experience trials.

It seems, as we look around us right now, that God has allowed this. If I believe what I say I believe about God, that He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, then I must believe that He is not surprised by the things we are facing as a people. The things happening right now did not take God by surprise. I also have to believe that He is not uninvolved or uncaring regarding the things we are experiencing.

As we think about Palm Sunday today and are reminded of the Passion Week of Jesus, the Last Supper, Good Friday, and ultimately next Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, it is worth remembering that the night Jesus was betrayed, He prayed three times to His Father while in a place called the Garden of Gethsemane. This garden is located right between where this picture was taken on the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount down in the Kidron Valley.

As Jesus was there in that garden, He prayed three times, "Father, if there is any other way, let this cup pass from me." What that reveals is that Jesus, in His humanity—believing that He is fully God and fully man—did not want to suffer, just like you and just like me. We do not want to suffer or go through trials; we do not welcome those things into our lives.

In the brief time we have together today to look at the Scriptures, I want to remember a really important passage in the New Testament book of James that reminds us that although we may not ever welcome suffering, we can have joy in the midst of it.

In the time that we have together, would you open with me in your Bibles to the New Testament book of James? If you have a Bible with you, you can open to about the very last book, the book of Revelation, and then turn just a little bit to the left, and you'll find the book of James.

As you're turning there, when we gather here on a Sunday morning, we always give to everybody that comes a sermon guide. If you're looking for a sermon guide to take notes on the points that we're going to go through in this passage, you can simply use your phone or your tablet and go to the website sermon guide, one word, sermon guide, lifeinconnection.com. You will be directed to the YouTube or the YouVersion Bible app, where these points will be found.

James chapter 1 is where we're going to read from, and we're just going to read three verses, beginning at verse 2. So, James 1:2 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work

God has some things He wants to speak to us. For some of you, this passage, James chapter one, verses two through four, is familiar. You've read it before, you've heard it taught before, and you've thought about it before. Maybe you've even memorized it and meditated upon it in the past. However, there are also some of you joining this morning who are new with us. You have never read this passage of Scripture. Perhaps you were invited to tune in this morning by a family member or a friend. They sent you a text message, an email, or you saw a post on social media. We are really glad that you are joining with us this morning, and I do believe that God has a word that He wants to speak to all of us from this passage of Scripture.

If you find this passage of Scripture familiar this morning, I want to say that sometimes it's good to come to things that are familiar because they often bring us comfort. One of the exhortations, one of the commands really, that we find a couple of times in the New Testament is in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and again in chapter 5, he encourages Christians to comfort one another with the words of Scripture. It is my hope and my prayer that as we look at what this text has to teach us, these words would be a comfort.

In another place in the New Testament, Paul writes in Romans chapter 15, verse 4, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." God, through His Scripture, His Word, is able to bring us comfort, patience, and hope.

As a quick sideline from what we're going to be looking at in the text this morning, if you are having a hard time finding patience, comfort, and hope in the midst of this trial, might I encourage you to spend some time just reading through the Scriptures or listening to the Scriptures throughout the week? There are so many things that we are tempted to distract ourselves with right now—social media, the news, or just stuff on Netflix or YouTube, or whatever it may be. In light of all the distractions, I would encourage you to spend some time listening to the Word of God and reading the Word of God because God, through the Scriptures, is able to give us patience.

And comfort and hope. With that sideline out of the way, back to the book of James. In this passage, he says, "My brethren, count it all joy." I think it's worth noting this morning that this is one of the earliest writings of the New Testament. Many scholars believe that this is the first letter of the New Testament that was written. Not only that, but James, the author of this book, is believed to have been the half-brother of Jesus. He was a key leader in the early church in the city of Jerusalem after Jesus had ascended into heaven.

When James wrote this letter, one of the earliest letters of the New Testament, to the Christians who were living in Jerusalem, those Christians were not exactly going through easy times. They were in the midst of difficult situations. The Christians in Jerusalem were really a persecuted minority, and Jerusalem was a city that was under occupation by a foreign power. The people of the church there in Jerusalem were going through difficult times, and James says to them, "Count it all joy."

The words of this exhortation, the command that James gives in this passage, are fascinating to me because the command is that they are to lead themselves into joy. They are to govern themselves and rule themselves into joy. What that means is this is a willful and decisive move. You have to make a decision to have joy, to step into joy in the midst of trying circumstances.

This brings us to point one on our outline this morning: I have to choose joy in trying circumstances. Now, I don't always do that. I'll be the first to confess that when I am going through difficult things, I do not always immediately choose joy. Many times, I choose pity, frustration, irritability, impatience, or pessimism in the midst of difficult circumstances. That is my default, and I think it's probably your default as well. When we are in the midst of trying, difficult circumstances, we are easily frustrated. We find ourselves being impatient and unkind, and sometimes we lose hope. We can be irritable, and I think that in those moments...

Moments like these reveal our true fallen nature. It often comes to the surface when I am sick, tired, hungry, or going through a tough time. My default nature becomes evident, and I experienced this in a significant way last week. I don't know if it was the change in the weather or something else, but my sinuses were bothering me. There were a couple of mornings when I had the worst vertigo. If you've ever had vertigo, you know it can be a really challenging circumstance.

In the midst of everything else going on, I found myself lying on the edge of my bed, feeling like the whole room was moving like crazy, as if I were on a boat in the middle of a huge storm. It was a horrible situation, and in that moment, I was not the most patient and kind person. I have to confess this; maybe this is a kind of confession here this morning. We can see our default nature, or our flesh, as we often call it as Christians, come through in these circumstances. I'm sure many of you have been experiencing that over the last few weeks.

My wife and I have four kids who, normally at this time of year, are in school every single day. Suddenly, they are at home, and I have been nominated to be a homeschool dad while my wife has been nominated to be a homeschool mom. This was not something we were expecting or planning. In the midst of all the different things going on, we were thrust into this situation, and many of you parents have found yourselves in the same boat.

Perhaps you have found yourself being a little impatient with your kids. Wives, maybe you would confess that you have been a bit irritable with your husbands. Husbands, I won't leave you out; perhaps you have been unkind, harsh, or frustrated with your wives. As we confront the reality of our own flesh in these situations, it might be a good time this morning to take a moment to confess that to the Lord, repent of it, and choose not to default back to our unkindness or lack of self-control or sympathy. Instead, we can make a decisive move of our will to choose joy.

Now, that might seem entirely impractical at this moment. It might appear to be totally...

It may seem implausible to say, "Choose joy in trying circumstances." At this moment, you might be thinking that if there were any sports on television, you would change the channel to watch sports instead or go back to binge-watching Netflix. Please hold on as we look at what the Scriptures have to say.

I want to express that I think James's command is impractical. It is implausible to be joyful in trying circumstances. However, notice that this is not the only thing that James says in this passage. He goes on to say, "My brothers and sisters, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." Then he adds, "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1:2 states, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials," which is indeed impractical and implausible without James 1:3.

I can choose joy in trying circumstances if I understand point number two on your outline: trying circumstances are God's chosen tools for my transformation. This may be a difficult thing to accept this morning—that the trying circumstances you and I go through are the tools that God chooses to use in our lives to bring about the transformation He wants to accomplish. Can you accept that this morning? Can you receive that in the present circumstance you find yourself in? God wants to use the very thing we are going through as a tool in our lives to bring about our transformation so that we would become more like Him.

Some of you are facing very challenging situations, especially as you look forward to the coming weeks and months. I recognize that this is not going to be an easy situation—not just because of the medical challenges but also due to the economic difficulties. You may think, "This Bible teacher just spends his time studying the Scriptures; he doesn't understand what I am going through." I can understand if you assume that in this situation, as I try to challenge you to count it all joy in the midst of difficult, trying circumstances. You may think, "Oh, come on, Bible teacher, what do you think?" It may seem strange to you, and I don't really like to say it like this, but the fact is, the reality is...

In the work that I do, aside from just teaching the Scriptures, I also run a small business. I am the president of an organization called Cross Connection Church. We have a staff, and we have to make payroll. Two weeks ago, we proactively looked at everything going on around us, and we examined our budget. We thought about what some of the easy cuts we could make were in order to prepare for the economic trial we foresaw coming.

We adjusted a number of the benefits packages for our staff to try and set aside some of the variable expenses. If you operate an organization or a business, you have probably been doing the same thing over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps you have been talking with your bank about the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program. We have even been discussing these matters as a board and as a staff, looking at all the different things happening. Maybe you have been submitting applications to the Small Business Administration's emergency loan programs given the current situation.

If you find yourself in a tight situation right now, I totally understand that. But maybe you don't run a small business. Perhaps you are the primary breadwinner in your family, and you are looking at everything going on. Maybe you have already received a call from your employer saying, "I don't have any work for you to do, so don't come in this next week." That can be a frightful and trying circumstance. It is very easy in that situation to become anxious, irritable, unkind, and frustrated.

You might find yourself, as I have, trying to adjust some of the expenses at home. You are concerned, and maybe it's not just the financial situation. Perhaps you are worried about family members who could be vulnerable to this virus. I completely understand those concerns and fears. At this very moment, as we go through the Scriptures on Sunday morning, April 5th, Palm Sunday, my wife is working in a critical care unit at a hospital. She is a critical care nurse, right in the midst of it in the quarantine unit at a local hospital. I can be anxious, and I can find myself worried and frustrated.

Anger, upset feelings, and irritability can arise in the face of challenges like being confined at home, managing kids, and completing work from home. When you add a little bit of vertigo to the mix, all of these factors can come flying in, and we may find ourselves justifying our irritability, anger, or unkindness. We might say, "Well, I'm stressed, and don't you understand?" It is easy to default to that mindset, but it is not an acceptable answer.

This is not just because I am a pastor; it is not an acceptable answer for anyone who is a follower of Jesus or a Christian. It is God's desire and Christ's aim in my life to make me more Christ-like. Through the working of His Word and the power of His Spirit, I can choose to respond in a way that aligns with the Spirit of Christ, demonstrating the fruits of righteousness as we considered last week in Philippians chapter 1.

I can accept that God wants to make me more like Him in this situation. He is using this circumstance as a tool in my life to try me and purify me. I can either accept that or fight against it. My impulse is often to resist this process; I want to give in to my fallen nature, to be irritable, unkind, and upset, and to make excuses for my un-Christ-like responses. However, I cannot do that.

Simply knowing that God desires to use this situation as an instrument for my transformation changes my perspective. When I look at everything going on and say, "Okay, God, you actually want to use this in my life," it helps me find joy in the midst of a trial. I can recognize that God is desiring to make me more like Him through this time.

In James chapter 1, verse 3, it says, "the testing of your faith." I find those words, "the testing of your faith," really fascinating and important because trials and difficult, trying circumstances prove the genuineness of my faith in God. They reveal something about my trust in Him. When I go through a trying circumstance, and when you do as well, it pushes us into a place where we are asked the question: Do I really trust God, or is my trust in the economy, my own ingenuity, my health, my savings account, or my 401(k)? Where is my trust in this situation?

When trying and shaking circumstances come, we are forced to ask the question: What do we really trust in? The word "testing" in this passage is also connected to the idea of a Lloyd metal. The original language that the book of James was written in is Greek, and the word "testing" has the idea of purifying metal. When you take metal out of the ground, you need to purify it. What do you do to purify it? You put it into the fire, into the refining fire.

When you put that metal into the refining fire, the heat melts it, and the impurities begin to separate. The impurities rise to the surface. The same is absolutely true in my life. When God puts me, and He puts you, into a trying circumstance, a fiery trial, all of the impurities of my life start to come to the surface: anxiety, fear, irritability, anxiousness, anger, and impatience. All of that comes to the surface.

The things that God already knows are in my heart are allowed to come to the surface so that I can see them, and so that others can see them. God doesn't place you and me in situations like that to put us in a vulnerable position and point these things out for our own embarrassment. He already knows those things are in my life. He wants them to come to the surface so that I can see them, and so that He can begin to purify them. He can begin to take them away. That's what God wants to do. He allows these trying circumstances, these fiery trials, to bring the impurities to the forefront so that He can expose them to me, and I can confess.

Those to Him and say, "God, would You purify? Would You refine? Would You take those things away from me in my life?" His desire is to refine us.

Point number three on your outline: the fiery trial is meant to purge my imperfections. That's what God wants to do; He wants to purge away the imperfections in my life, all of those things that are not pleasing to Him. This is why another one of Jesus's followers, a friend of James the Apostle, Peter, wrote this in First Peter, chapter 4, verse 12: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing were happening to you. But instead, rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

So, James says God wants to use the fiery trial in your life and in my life to bring forth good things. James also states back in James chapter 1 that the testing of my faith produces patience. I would note that this production of patience in my life, in the midst of trials, is a potential outcome; it is not a certain outcome. The testing of your faith has the potential of resulting in good things; it can produce patience. However, sometimes it doesn't produce patience. Sometimes the result of the trying of our faith is added frustration, irritability, unkindness, and all of these other things. But God's desire is that these things would produce good fruits in my life, the fruits of righteousness.

A lot of times, God allows these things in my life so that He can further the work that He wants to do in my life and through my life. In another place in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote this in Romans chapter 5: "We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope." That word "perseverance" is the same exact word that James uses here when he says the testing of our faith produces patience.

So, patience, perseverance, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness—these are the things that God wants to produce in my life and in your life through these trials. But there's something more that we need to do. James chapter 1, verse 4, says, "But let patience, fortitude, endurance, all these things, let..."

It has its perfect work in you, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. The word that is translated as "perfect" in James chapter 1, verse 4, is a Greek word that means fully grown, mature, and complete. It teaches us our fourth and final point: God's completed work through the trial is the completed worker.

What God wants to accomplish in the midst of this trying circumstance that you and I are going through—whether it's the medical issues surrounding the coronavirus, the economic issues surrounding the coronavirus, or all of the added stress happening in your home because of the coronavirus—whatever it may be, God, through this trial, wants to accomplish a completed work. He wants to make me more mature; He wants to grow me more and more into the likeness of His child. If I allow God to have His way in me through this trying circumstance, He will accomplish that work. He will be faithful to complete it, which is one of the verses we considered together last week in Philippians chapter 1, verse 6. Paul says, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it." The same root Greek word indicates that He will accomplish it until the day of Christ Jesus. He will fulfill that work.

I shared at the beginning of our time today that Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, is an event we are celebrating this week. Here we are on Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus came into Jerusalem, the Sunday before He observed Passover with His disciples. Later that week, He observed Passover with His disciples, and that night, He was betrayed. It was there in the garden that He prayed, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from me."

What's interesting is that just a few hours before Jesus prayed that prayer, He was gathered with His disciples to partake of Passover together. He had a cup and He had bread with His disciples. Today, we are going to partake of communion. I have had a lot of discussions this last week with pastors all over the country and the world who are asking how we are going to partake of communion. Most of us are partaking of communion this first Sunday of the month, or it's Palm Sunday, and so it just happens to be the Sunday that we are partaking of communion together.

If we were gathering together here at church, a lot of people have been talking about how we are going to do this. We have encouraged you to go out and get the elements of communion—some bread, maybe a tortilla or some pita bread. I don't know, get some grape juice or whatever you may have. It really is not in the substance of these things, but in what they represent.

As we prepare to close our time in God's Word together, I want to partake of the bread and the cup. This is a great opportunity for you to share this with your family, or maybe you are at home by yourself watching this. I hope that you have some elements of some sort. Maybe you just have a little bit of bread, or perhaps you have water if you don't have any grape juice. Maybe you have grapefruit juice; I don't know. Whatever it may be, if you would grab those things right now, I want to pray and then lead you to partake of communion, just as Jesus led his disciples 2,000 years ago on the very night that he was betrayed by Judas.

That very night, he prayed, "If there is any way, let this cup pass from me," the cup that represents his blood shed for us and his body broken for us. So let's pray.

Father, I do pray for my brothers and sisters wherever they are right now. As we are together in spirit but not in physical presence, we are reminded that we are united to You, though we are not physically present with You. You gave us something tangible to remember—Your body that was broken for us and Your blood that was shed for us—so that we could keep this in our minds and always go back to it. God, I pray that You would unite us even though we are separated right now as we partake of this meal together. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Paul, in 1st Corinthians chapter 11, said, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, and he said to them, 'Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'"

Let's partake together.

In the manner He also took the cup after they had eaten together and said, "This is the new covenant in My blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me." Let's partake together. Jesus said, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."

This Friday, we are going to be remembering the Lord's death on Good Friday, and we will actually be broadcasting a service at noon. You can tune in live. Unfortunately, we can't gather together here, but we'll have a time of worship together. We will read through the Scriptures and remember that 2,000 years ago on Good Friday, Jesus's body was broken for us and His blood was shed for us so that we could experience salvation, His forgiving grace, and the working of God's Word and His Spirit in our lives.

He transforms us even through the trying circumstances that we go through in this life. He can bring about joy in the midst of the fiery trial. He can grow us in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. All of these things bring Him glory. It is my prayer that God will do that in your life as well.

In this last moment that we have together before we close, I want to say that if you have never put your faith in Jesus, I want to ask you to do that. We are in the midst of a trying circumstance, and I know that a lot of the things happening in the world shake us. Just the other night, not only did we have all this going on, but we had an earthquake here in San Diego County.

In the midst of that, I instantly received some text messages from people asking, "Is this the end of the world? We have earthquakes, pestilence, and all this sort of stuff." People are kind of freaking out. You may find yourself in a place where you are worried, anxious, and without hope, concerned about the future.

God sent His Son into this world, His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago on Good Friday so that you and I could receive salvation and grace in Him. If you would like to receive His forgiving grace, I want to lead you in a prayer of faith right now and then ask you to reach out and contact us to let us know that you did that, wherever you happen to be. So, if that's you, I just want to lead you in a prayer.

Prayer is simply talking to God wherever you are. I invite you to follow along with me now.

Dear Jesus, I realize my need for You. I know that I'm not perfect and that I have sinned. I ask that You would come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith. I want to know You and love You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

If you prayed that prayer with me today, I would really love to invite you to reach out to us. Send us a text message at the Questions Podcast line: 760-814-1223. Let us know that you prayed to receive Christ. We would love to connect you with some materials that might help you grow in your walk with the Lord. We can also connect you to this church if you live here in North San Diego County or to another church in your area. So just reach out to us; we would love to be connected with you.

For the rest of you, we miss you guys. We are praying for you and constantly lifting you up to the Lord. We look forward to the opportunity when we can gather together to worship in person once again.

As we prepare to end our service, I want to call us out for this moment with a benediction. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

In the darkness, we were waiting without hope and without light. Till from heaven You came, there was mercy in Your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets. To a virgin came the Word from the throne of endless glory. Praise the Father, praise the Son.

The Spirit we praise forever to the King, to reveal the kingdom come, to redeem the whole creation. You did not despise the cross, Your suffering. You saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation, Jesus.

The morning that You rose, all of heaven held its breath until that stone was moved. For the Lamb that conquered death, the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe for the souls of all who will come to the Father, restored.

And the church now stands in truth.

Yeah, Steve, the key...