Transcript
Speaker: Mic on. Good evening, folks. This is Harmonica Player speaking on the 16th of March, 2025. Tonight I'll be playing another episode of Mic Off.
Speaker: Mic on. and And tonight I'll be playing Mic Off.
Speaker: Mic on. another Another feature that Jeff Griffin did called Heroes Enduring Hardship. must you worry about Pad 10 empty. Adjustable. Pad 7 loaded with pad 8 empty. Adjustable.
Speaker: Mic off.
Speaker: Mic on. Heroes Enduring Hardship Hall of Fame. Or Heroes Enduring Hardship Valiantly Hall of Fame. Here we go. Enjoy. And may you be blessed. Mic off.
Speaker: What's up everybody? Welcome to Compass Online. My name is Jake. I love that we get to be here together because i'm going to be honest. Winter is dragging on.
Speaker: It's still not over. And I don't love that. I'm ready for the beach, warm weather, sitting by a pool. I miss it. You know, sometimes when I miss things like that, it really causes me just personally to get discouraged.
Speaker: The biggest thing I'm discouraged about is not being able to put on weight. But that's a different story for a different time. Do you deal with discouragement? You know, I was wrestling through that lately, and I came across three very short verses in 1 Thessalonians 5 that have helped me immeasurably dealing with my discouragement.
Speaker: It's really simple. The verses just simply say we need to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in everything.
Speaker: Very small tasks that can help us take our mind off of ourself and put it in conversation with the one who is actually in control of our circumstances.
Speaker: You know, life change happens when we study the God of Scripture, come to life through Scripture. And I'm excited that the next sermon series that we are going to be studying together is called The Writings.
Speaker: The importance of studying the Bible. We're going to get to that really soon. But let's not put the cart before the horse because we still have to conclude our series, Hall of Fame.
Speaker: So let's do that together now. And let's start it off with a time of worship. The weapon may be formed, but it won't prosper.
Speaker: For the battle belongs to you, Lord. I'm gonna see a victory. I'm gonna see a victory.
Speaker: For the battle belongs to you, Lord.
Speaker: You take what the enemy has for evil and you turn it for good. You turn it for good.
Speaker: I love rock climbing! Are you impressed?
Speaker: you impressed
Speaker: Friends, this is it. This is our final, the seventh week in our series called Hall of Fame, where we have been looking at this wonderful passage in Hebrews 11, where these Old Testament saints are listed for their greatness and their exploits of heroic faith are described. It's been so fun.
Speaker: And so here we are in this final week coming to you at this amazing rock climbing facility. What do you think of rock climbing? It's incredible.
Speaker: You know, it was just a few weeks ago when my brother Mark was visiting from California with his whole family. And his two sons, he's got two sons who are in their early 20s, they were trying to think of something fun to do. And they proposed rock climbing. They found this place nearby and I said, let's do it.
Speaker: And so we came and I'll tell you, I was so blown away by my nephews. They are ripped for one and experienced at this sport.
Speaker: And I stood amazed as they scampered up these walls like spiders. There were some times where they came to overhangs and they were literally hanging upside down with their feet dangling and their upper arm strength being their only power up. But they made it.
Speaker: it was It was truly amazing. Well, my brother Mark turned to me and he said, well, Jeff, what do you think? Should we give it a ah try And i was like, yeah, you know, Mark, i've been thinking about it.
Speaker: think today I'm going to take a pass and just watch my nephews. And my brother's like, yeah, that was what I was thinking too. And I provided my excuses. I said, for one, it's costly. and ah We'll spend the money on others, you know, real selfless of me.
Speaker: And then I also pointed to my age. I said, you know, this is really a young man's sport, young woman's sport. But then I thought to myself, you know, Lillard Brown at our Wheaton campus, a friend of mine who climbs these walls at the age of 89 years old.
Speaker: So that excuse is not really based in fact. And then I also pointed to my knee. I said, you know, Mark, I've got a a bum knee. Back when I was in college, I went real rock climbing on the Rocky Mountains.
Speaker: It's true. I dislocated my kneecap, and it's been bothering me ever since. so I had my spoken excuses. I had some unspoken excuses like, I'm too heavy and I'm too weak and I'd make a fool of myself if I tried.
Speaker: Didn't mention those, but excuses. Well, what what do you think of excuses? You may say, Jeff, those excuses are very real. Those are warranted. You should not be rock climbing. Yes, that's true.
Speaker: But sometimes we use excuses to keep ourselves from God's vision for our lives. People where God's got big dreams for them, but they've got big excuses.
Speaker: Like Gideon, for example. Do you know Gideon? It's interesting. In the passage here at the end of Hebrews 11, the passage we're going to be looking at, there's rapid fire listing of six Old Testament heroes.
Speaker: their exploits are not mentioned. Simply, they're on the list with their name. The first of the six is Gideon. And Gideon was one with excuses. Can I show you?
Speaker: ah Gideon was hiding in a hole because he was afraid of the Midianites. The Midianites were the arch nemesis Israel. and And the Lord shows up in the form of the angel of the Lord.
Speaker: And he looks down in the hole at Gideon and he says, Hello there! Mighty warrior, mighty warrior. Gideon is like, who are you talking to?
Speaker: The Lord goes on. I'll read. This is out of Judges chapter 6, verse 14. God says, Gideon, go and save Israel from the Midianites.
Speaker: I am sending you Well, verse 15, Gideon says, pardon me, sir, but how can I possibly save Israel?
Speaker: My family is the weakest in the tribe, and I'm the least important member of my family. yeah He's insecure. He's got excuses. And so do we.
Speaker: God wants to do great things in us and through us. He wants to transform our lives in with assignments of meaning where we pour into people and we advance God's cause being used to impact the world.
Speaker: God wants to transform our relationship with Him, so we're like historically tight in connection, friendship-wise, with God. God wants to transform our character, where we increasingly are beautiful, reflecting Christ and who we are. And in so many ways, God's got aspirations that we would join the Hall of Fame.
Speaker: Do you feel that you've got it? He's like, I want to achieve spiritual greatness. Many of us say, not me. We've got our excuses.
Speaker: Reasons why there's just no way that we at this stage of life should aspire to anything with big dreams. God disagrees.
Speaker: And in this study, we're going to see a look, a better understanding of our excuses. And with God's help, we will overcome them.
Speaker: All right, my online friends, are you ready? Time for us to look at the last verses of Hebrews 11. Here we go, verse 32. How much more do I need to say?
Speaker: it would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets.
Speaker: I love the the humanity. You know, God's writing the chapter, but he's using a human author. And and the writer's like, you know, this chapter's getting long.
Speaker: i probably shouldn't elaborate anymore for the sake of brevity. And so he kind of brings his survey of faith in the Old Testament to a quick conclusion by listing off one, two, three, four, five, six heroes of the faith by name.
Speaker: Here's the observation that I have made, although many, many biblical scholars have observed the same. It's a bit of a curious list that the writer picks.
Speaker: Curious in that they're all notorious failures or sinners. They're all flawed. Let me just do a quick review. Gideon. Gideon, a great guy, but at the end of his a reign of leadership, he commissioned this beautiful piece of art to be sculpted.
Speaker: It was called his golden ephod, and it was so beautiful, and it drew the heart of Gideon to worship it like it's an idol. His family then worshipped it, and the whole nation started to gather to worship it.
Speaker: Just a sad moment. of hurtful turning from the Lord in the life of Gideon. Barak, he's an interesting guy. He was called to lead the army, and he was so nervous that he he turned to the prophetess, Deborah, and said, I will only go into battle if you come with me.
Speaker: And God announced judgment and said, well, I'm going to bring victory, Barak, but you won't get the credit for the victory. Deborah! We'll get the credit for the victory.
Speaker: How about Samson? He's kind of notorious for having a thing for Philistine women. And his lust and his rage repeatedly led him into sin.
Speaker: What about Jephthah? Jephthah was this judge who made an incredibly foolish vow that it resulted in his precious daughter being killed.
Speaker: And then David, you know, David and Bathsheba, where adultery led to a cover-up involving murder. hey And Samuel, Samuel was a great leader in Israel, but he failed as a parent.
Speaker: And his sons were not godly. And then Samuel was caught up in his love for his sons when he installed them into high positions in the government, even though they spiritually were not qualified because of their sin.
Speaker: Every one of these people are remarkably flawed. And yet though they've got sin in their lives, they've also got faith in God. And they made themselves available to God in faith. And God chose to use them even with the junk in their past. Friends, the first excuse that I see coming out of our text that we tend to use is, but I'm flawed.
Speaker: I've got too much junk in my past. I'm going to use a prop here for this one. This is one of my old camping cups. You may be able to tell.
Speaker: It looks like it's been through a war. you know It's flawed, if you will. it's It's obviously got some past. And yet it's still precious to me. And if you're camping and you're missing home and you get a cup of coffee, oh, it will serve you well and be a delight. So it is with God and his people.
Speaker: One of the things we see in scripture is this theme of God in his grace using even very flawed people, to advance his cause. So if if you've got some embarrassing stuff in your past that have made you think, ah, I'm not the type that God can use, think again.
Speaker: I talk many times when I invite folks to church, they say, Pastor, the roof would fall in if I came to your church. And, you know, this is conveying the sense that they have no business being part of the work of God because of their past.
Speaker: Listen, the grace of God is amazing in that he uses notorious sinners. I was driving with my brother Mark. He's from California, but we were driving around our area.
Speaker: and we passed a strip club. And my brother pointed it out. He's like, oh, look at that, Jeff. He said, that's where my pastor used to work. I'm like, come come again? His pastor out in California, believe it or not, in his pre-Christ days, was a male stripper and prostitute, radically saved and called by God into pastoral ministry. Yeah.
Speaker: that causes us to say, ay is that true? but But look at Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute and became one of the heroes in the hall of faith. Yes, it's an undeniable principle found in Hebrews 11 that don't let your past be used by Satan to get you to think that I'm no good. I'm just, I can't. I'm disqualified. I'll never be used by God.
Speaker: In his grace, he wants to use you touch the lives of the people in your family, to impact your neighbors, to serve in our church. God has big plans. Don't use the excuse, ah I'm too flawed.
Speaker: the The second one, excuse we're going to see here is I'm too weak. I got a pickle jar here. Maybe you struggled to open the pickle jar and had to ask for help. Yeah, well, we'll put that there to remind us of that excuse.
Speaker: I'm too weak. Next verse, verse 33. By faith, these people shut the mouths of lions quenched the flames of fire, escaped death by the edge of the sword.
Speaker: Their weakness was turned to strength. Isn't that interesting? I mean, these great accomplishments, you know, standing up to a lion or not being devoured by the flames. First of all, who who does this make you think of?
Speaker: The lion, that's Daniel. Daniel in the lion's den. And the flames, that's Daniel's friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were thrown in the fiery furnace and were not burned.
Speaker: ah escape the edge of the sword. That makes me think of Elijah who was chased by Jezebel wanting to cut him down, but she never got to him. Friends, these examples of great heroics were not because they were great, but that the power of God was at work within.
Speaker: Daniel had no special ability with lions. That was God doing a miracle. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they had no special capacity to withstand fire. That was a saving work of God. This is weak people being filled with the Spirit of God and by His power and able to do things that they would not be able to do on their own.
Speaker: i love this phrase. Their weakness was turned to strength. You know what that makes me think of, this weakness actually becoming strength? It makes me think of what the Apostle Paul wrote on in 2 Corinthians 12.
Speaker: He was talking about his weakness. He had a problem in his life or in his body. He called it the thorn in his flesh. And he was begging God, please, Lord, take away this weakness.
Speaker: And God said, no, I'm not going to do it. Let me read what Paul records in 2 Corinthians 12, 9. He said, God said to me, my power shows up best in weak people. God said, my power shows up best in weak people.
Speaker: Paul then responds, so now I boast about how weak I am. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The weaker I am the more I depend on him.
Speaker: Isn't that fascinating? do you see that? God likes when we're weak because weak people know their desperate need of God and that humble reliance is precisely what he's looking for before he'll pour out his supernatural strength.
Speaker: And so being strong can be a real problem. Strong people tend to operate on their own power rather than looking to God's power. The verse continues. Verse 34 says, they became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.
Speaker: Became strong. They weren't strong. But they became strong in battle because of their reliance on God. You know, Gideon comes to mind. We've already read about him being the one in the hole saying, I'm so afraid of the Midianites.
Speaker: And God calls him a mighty warrior and calls him to lead the Israelites into battle against the Midianites. And this coward, I'm the from a small, weak family, and I'm the least important in family.
Speaker: All of a sudden, he's transformed on the battlefield, and he's charged. And you're like, where did that come from? That's what God does. He likes taking weak people who will desperately cling to him, and he uses them.
Speaker: Friends, I find it ironic that I have a chronic fear of public speaking. Back in college, I had to be given a special exemption. to not give speeches because of my panic attacks associated with what now God's called me to do.
Speaker: But the key has been my fear has driven me to this desperate reliance on him, and I'm enjoying you know God enabling me to do that which...
Speaker: I am so weak on my own. And so if if you're sensing God giving you a vision to reach your neighbors or impacting your family or your coworkers or serving at church, and you're like, but I have nothing. i am so pathetic.
Speaker: Oh, there we go. We're on the path to victory. Take that insecurity, that awareness of weakness, and channel it into this desperate reliance on God.
Speaker: And then you will see the supernatural come about. Their weakness was turned to strength. Isn't that beautiful? What do we have so far? We've got, but I'm flawed, but I'm weak. And now, but I'm overwhelmed with life.
Speaker: I can't handle life as it is. How can I live for God? I'm going to use a crucible. This is what a jeweler uses to melt down silver and gold. In fact, that this melting is a purifying process.
Speaker: The impurities rise to the surface and through the hostility of extreme heat, the the the silver gets better. And so can we.
Speaker: When life is overwhelming by God's power and through faith in him, the best of us can come about. where Where do we see the excuse or the overcoming of the excuse, but I'm overwhelmed with life? Well, take a look.
Speaker: Verse 35. There were others who were tortured. Some faced jeers and flogging, even chains and imprisonment.
Speaker: They were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two. They were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated.
Speaker: you know what? The world was not worthy of them. I'll be highlight that the world was not worthy of them. Friends, I love this passage. i mean, it's it's grieving. It's so sad as the writer of Hebrews is reflecting on the persecution, the hardship that many of God's people endured because of the mistreatment of the world. Yes, there were many of them who died by <unk>ning being sawed in two, by the way.
Speaker: The tradition says that Isaiah was the one who was killed by being sawn in two. Killed by the sword. ah the The tragedy and the suffering that many of these people endured is celebrated here when the writer says, you know what?
Speaker: The world isn't even worthy of these heroes. It's rather ironic because often the the people of the world were saying that these godly people aren't worthy to live.
Speaker: And God's perspective is brought, saying, it's the other way around, my friend. These heroes are so remarkable and so beautiful in the Lord that, you know what, the world doesn't even have business sharing life with these people. They're they're remarkable.
Speaker: and And their remarkableness is seen in their capacity, their faith-filled capacity, to endure persecution and hardship even unto death.
Speaker: When someone can go through that for God, oh that is faith. That's heroic. Now, as we apply this to ourselves, we have to admit that our hardship and trials are usually not persecution. We're not going through the hardship because of our faith most of the time. We live in a more agreeable environment compared to some of these ancients who were killed for their faith.
Speaker: But that said, we do go through hardships. We do go through trials. And when we do so, God is calling us to go through this hardship. And when we go through and we endure the hardship faithfully, that's heroic.
Speaker: What is this telling us? You know, when when you say, I can't do anything heroic because I'm already overwhelmed with life. The heat is on in my life and I'm finding it melting me. You know, I can't even make it, let alone aspire to spiritual greatness.
Speaker: Friends, before we look at our struggle as an obstacle to spiritual greatness, Maybe we should view it as an opportunity for spiritual greatness. You see, as it turns out, hardship, when you're overwhelmed, when the circumstances of your life seem too much, this is precisely where God's faith-filled power is best seen.
Speaker: Hardship, it's been said, never waste a good crisis. Hardship is an opportunity to demonstrate faithfulness to God. Did you ever look at it that way?
Speaker: When your life stinks, when things are falling apart, have you ever said, thank you, Lord? This is a golden opportunity for me to demonstrate heroic faith.
Speaker: But that's true. The best faith-filled heroics are seen in the crucible of hardship and trials. And so rather than viewing them as an obstacle, we should start to view them as an opportunity.
Speaker: And God will say of us, you know what, the world's not even worthy of them. You know, I think of my father. Just a week ago, he got out of the hospital after being trapped there for nine days.
Speaker: He had a gallbladder surgery that went bad, and he spent nine days in the hospital. Here's a guy who's never been in the hospital in his life. And I was so impressed as my dad viewed his eight days in the hospital as an opportunity to honor the Lord.
Speaker: he He said, I've never been in a situation like this. This is a trial. And boy, it was. He was in extreme pain. And they like were torturing him. do you know like every Throughout the night, every couple of hours, they would wake him up to shove him with a needle in order to draw blood for a blood test. How would you like that? you know It's like knowing I'll try to sleep, but I know they're going to come at me and stab me any minute. Yeah.
Speaker: It was a test of his character, and he leaned on the Lord. And my wife and I, we were so impressed with the godliness my dad demonstrated. As the days wore on and as we were fatigued just in watching him, he remained joyful and kind to the hospital staff.
Speaker: My wife said, boy, your dad is just so patient. And she looked at me and she goes, you would not have done so well in that situation. I'm like, I wasn't necessary to point out that he's doing better than I would have done. I didn't see that as necessary, but she's right.
Speaker: I was so impressed with the God. My dad did there, as he said, I've never faced the trial of nine days in the hospital before. Extreme pain like this before. But I'm going to receive it as a path God wants me to walk.
Speaker: And I'm going to do so with his help. And by God's help, I'm going to do it well. And my dad did. His heroic faith was demonstrated in trial. And so can ours be.
Speaker: And so if you're overwhelmed saying, i life is too much, say, Lord, thank you that life's too much. This is a chance for me to lean into you and find you bringing the strength necessary for me to have heroic endurance, even in hardship.
Speaker: Don't say, I'm too flawed or I'm too weak or I'm too overwhelmed. No, no, no. This is the kind of stuff God loves to use in order to make our lives extraordinary.
Speaker: let Let me just read the last two verses. I love this. It says says this. Not one of them, these are the people of faith who all died. It says not one of them received God's great promise.
Speaker: They received it in part, but it was only in heaven that they would get the fullness of the promise. Not one of them received God's great promise because he, God, planned something better.
Speaker: God wanted to make them perfect, but but not before we could at all enjoy that blessing together. Being made perfect, that the Bible calls it glorified, or theologians call glorification.
Speaker: You know, when all of our brokenness is made perfect in heaven, this great culmination of our journey with Christ, that's been withheld from them so that we could celebrate that great climactic victory with them.
Speaker: The Lord envisions heroes of old and us celebrating together. Isn't that weird? You're, by God's grace, going to be part of the hall of faith, celebrated in heaven along with the saints that we've studied it's it's imagine it's ah It's amazing to imagine that in heaven we will be given high fives to David and Rahab and reminiscing that we too are heroes through faith.
Speaker: It almost reminds me of, well, this Cubs fan named Petey. Back in the when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, Petey was in junior high in California. He grew up in California.
Speaker: But Petey was ah Cubs fan because his dad was from Naperville. And he was so excited when the Cubs won the World Series. His favorite player was Javi Baez.
Speaker: He just loved Javi. Well, I imagine, or you would imagine, that when Javi Baez was traded to the Mets a few years back, Petey would have been crushed.
Speaker: He wasn't crushed. You know why he wasn't crushed? Because Avi Baez was traded for him. That's right. Pete Crow Armstrong was 19 years old when the Cubs gave up Avi Baez to get him.
Speaker: Pete Crow Armstrong has said, it's so weird to be a Cub. You know, the team I had grown up, admiring these players from afar, and now I'm rubbing shoulders with them in the bullpen.
Speaker: It's something like that that we'll experience. when we're rubbing shoulders with Enoch and Gideon and Moses and Abraham, celebrating what God has done in our lives, we're going to feel like, this is so weird, I can't believe I'm one of them.
Speaker: But we are one of them. Even though we don't live in the biblical era, God cares about us, this moment, just as much as he cared about those.
Speaker: And so what a great calling we have. I've loved studying the Hall of Fame with you, not so that we can just admire them, but so that we can be like them. May we have the faith to follow God's call, to become all that he desires us to be. May we not use excuses, but follow Jesus entirely. In fact, I'd like to pray for you towards that end.
Speaker: God, I thank you much for my friends and for the dreams that you have for them, the ways that you want to to work in them and through them. God, would you please give them your vision for their lives?
Speaker: Let them rise up and follow you into exciting days ahead. And God, may all my friends truly become heroes of faith.
Speaker: We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker: Holy, holy is the Lord.
Speaker: Lord.
Speaker: thousand generations. Sing, worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
Speaker: With one voice, a thousand generations
Speaker: The name is Hacienda
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us today. I love being here with you, even if it's still wintertime, the last I checked. You know, if you're interested in learning more about the Compass Church, connecting with somebody here, or just having somebody pray with you and your specific needs, you can do so by filling out an online connection card. We pray for you every single week. So if there's something you want us to celebrate with you or something you want us to pray for with you, let us know by filling out your online connection card.
Speaker: And to everyone who is partnering with us financially here at The Compass Church, a huge thank you to you for your partnership as well. We love being in a church community with you wherever you are.
Speaker: If you're interested in giving, there's a link here on the screen. You can always also go to our website, thecompass.net slash give. but There's also a handful of other options like text to give available. No matter what, just thank you for helping people find and follow God, whether you're doing that here, near, or far. I've loved this sermon series and I am so excited for the next one.
Speaker: So join us. Come back next time as we study the writings here at Compass Online.
Speaker: like on this concludes episode well now for michael
Speaker: Gaining demos and other interests.
Speaker: Mic on. Till next time, thanks for listening and may you be blessed. Mic off.
