From the word of God.
The book of James chapter 1.
Verse 2.
My brethren count it all joy when you
fall into various trials, knowing this, that the
testing of your faith worketh patience.
And then, of course, it tells us how
patience will produce great fruit in our lives.
There's a number of verses in God's word
very similar to this verse.
Showing clearly that as God's people we will
be tested.
We will have trials and suffering and difficulty.
Look at Philippians chapter 1.
Verse 29.
Please read.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 29.
Sometimes we think that our Christian faith is
just believing.
It's just believing.
But what does this verse say?
Not only to believe, but to suffer.
Suffering is not some periphery thing in our
Christian faith, you know, off in the edge.
It's the heart, the very heart of the
Christian faith is suffering.
Look at 2 Timothy.
Chapter 3.
Verse 12.
Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Very clear.
If you live a godly life, you're going
to suffer.
Look at 1 Peter.
So many verses on this subject in the
word of God.
How many verses on this subject in the
word of God?
How many Peter?
At the end.
In prio Jacob Peter.
We don't like trials.
We like the easy road.
But what do these trials do for us?
Look at verse 7.
The trial of your faith being much more
precious than a gold that perishes.
There are many other verses that we could
look at on this subject.
And as you read your Bible, you will
find again and again.
Look quickly again at Corinthians.
2 Corinthians chapter 1.
Verse 4.
Another one of the purposes of trial and
tribulation.
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that
we may be able to comfort them who
are in any trouble by the comfort with
which we ourselves are comforted.
2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 4.
You see, brother Hebel has gone through some
trials because of his background that I have
never had.
So, of course, God is going to give
him a ministry of helping other people who
are going through that same trial.
Some of you have had rejection from your
family because of the cause of Jesus Christ.
That's a great trial.
But through that trial, you will be able
to help others who are going through that
same difficulty.
Now, I have had other trials.
And therefore, that has been training to help
people who are going through those trials.
For the work, I have had to be
away from my wife and family, sometimes one,
two months.
For some couples, being away even two days
is a big crisis.
So, I am unable to comfort those people.
There is great purpose in suffering.
That doesn't mean we go out just looking
for suffering.
Even Paul knew how to abase difficult times
and he knew how to abound easy times.
And our God is good and He gives
good things.
And He wants to bless us.
He wants to use us.
Why every believer in the church should have
better training than what we are able to
give in your church.
We are one of God's rescue programs, one
of God's special programs.
Because so often the church has failed to
give basic training in the word of God,
in discipline and evangelism.
But ideally, every church should have its own
training program just like this and for everybody
in the church.
And because so often we see that the
work that God has created for the people,
the people are not able to do that
work.
And as a result, God has taken away
other branches that God is using.
And if the church were able to do
that work, we wouldn't have such a big
responsibility.
We would be able to do the work
of the church only with the help of
the people who have been taught by the
church.
The author of this book, he is involved
with a church that has their own OM
in the church, attached to the church.
And they have been going for over 10
years.
And then every year some of their graduates
get sent on OM.
So there are local churches in many parts
of the world that are doing the same
work that God has put upon our hearts,
or a similar work.
And this is what we are working and
praying toward all over the world.
But I'm afraid there will be a lot
of suffering and a lot of tears in
the process of seeing this take place.
And sometimes the greatest opposition will come from
people who are within the church but are
bound by legalism and by tradition and refuse
anything that's new or anything that they have
not thought of the idea.
And sometimes the great suffering comes to believers
from the hands of those who call themselves
Christians.
And it does seem that regardless of whatever
we teach, that here on this planet the
wheat is together with the tares.
The wheat, the true believers are together with
the weeds, the tares, those who bear the
name Christian but are not true believers.
So here someday we'll be separated.
Even in churches where their practice is to
have only true believers in the churches.
And as you know, there are those two
types of churches.
And one type is certainly much purer, where
there are only mainly believers in the church.
And even there, there will be some of
the similar problems, because one false brother who
gets into that church can cause as much
difficulty as a hundred people who may be
nominal Christians within another church.
So as someone who has believed very much
in the purity of the church and that
the church is for believers, that's my belief,
I've learned to be a little more balanced,
a little more open-minded than many different
ways that God is working.
So let us not be surprised when suffering
and problems come.
Even if they come on one of our
teams, let us be very patient.
Let us pray more, wait upon God, and
believe Him for the solution to our problems.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for all that you're
doing around the world.
We thank you for so many that are
coming to know you personally.
So many lives are being changed.
Oh God, we need your help as we
do this work here in Bangladesh.
Increase our love for one another.
Help us to learn quickly some of the
basic lessons.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.