This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. John Fane is going to come forward. Those that don't know, John's on staff of Pioneers here in his family working in East Asia, in Thailand, and they work there and work on the ministry of planning churches and raising up ambassadors for the Lord all around that part of the world. As he comes forward, I want to pray for him, just for his time here in pray for their ministry there as well. We support them and it's a real treat. Hopefully you get a chance to talk to them after the service if you haven't already as well. But you join me in praying one more time for John and Don. Father, thank you for the fangs. Thank you for the ministry that they've had a powerful one, got in my own life, in the life of our family and our church family. As they've come, and they've been with us from the early days when we started the church, and now as they continue to come back from time to time, from overseas. Father, we thank you for your work and your ministry through them. We pray that you continue to do that. You would provide for them. We rejoice in the exciting news that David, their son, is getting married next month, and we pray that all those plans and details would come together smoothly, that you would bless that new marriage. Be your glory and honor. We pray that you continue to work through them and through Christy as they serve now and continue to serve overseas. So use this time now, God, would you speak through your servant, John, and would you minister, God, your truth and your grace and your mercy during this time? We pray this in Christening, amen. Amen. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone. It certainly is an honor to be back here at Christ Kingdom Church. You folks are most gracious to come here and old man speak again. I know I look a lot worse than it really is. It was behind a tube on July 4th with my nephew trying to get me off, and after the handstand, and then on my back, he managed to do so as he was taking me whipping around the edge there. And as I put my foot down, I wrenched my whole knee out. So that's why I look kind of crippled here today. But just know that the fangs are really honored to be back here in this place with you. It's amazing how fast life goes, isn't it? How fast time goes hurtling by from one generation to the next, and how few are the days that we have to really know him and to make him known. And I've been refucting on that a lot recently, particularly in our own journey. And I just want to share a few thoughts from the word this morning, but try and tie it in with some of the personal journey as well for you. So it'll be interesting to see the way the Lord takes this. If you have your Bible, as you can turn to Revelation, chapter 7, verse 9, a very familiar passage of Scripture, you'll know that the Apostle John, as he was taken up into that heavenly vision, saw this. He says, after this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, with some from every nation, tribe, language, and people. Standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb, they were wearing white robes and were carrying palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God, our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. All of the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And this entire throne, this great multitude that no one could count, these angels, these four living creatures that represented different aspects of the character of God who were standing before Him in worship. Each and every one of them fell down on their faces and they worshipped God saying, amen, praise, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks, and honor, and power, and whatever it is, praise, some translations say, and praise, some say, and thanks. Be to our God forever and ever, amen. This passage has been working on me recently. It's really been capturing my attention and bringing me back to what really matters is I've gone now into my mid-50s or so and I'm looking at what are the days that God has remaining for John Fain and for our family, as I see our kids coming along and being raised up into developing new families. And as they too capture, thank you very much, God, that's very helpful. Capture an essence, may it be better than watching me win some morning. The reality of a vision that is far beyond any of us, this vision that is given to us in Revelation 7.9 is a vision that is of a day to come, a day in which all of us will someday be there. This vision captures my attention because it's a vision that includes you and I. We are a part of that great throng that will be sitting there someday. And this vision is full of symbols, symbols that give us hope for the future, give us hope for the present and hope for that which is to come. It infuses life into us now. It gives us a vision of the way in which we can invest our lives here for things that really matter, for things that really do make a difference, for things that really are on the heart of God. You see, when it talks about us being clothed in white robes someday, and standing before the throne and in front of the land, and crying out concerning this salvation that is real for us now, as well as for that day that is to come, those white robes are a symbol of absolute victory. White throughout the scriptures continually point us to the fact that the finished work of Christ really is enough that when we are standing in white, we are complete, we are whole. This is a compelling vision of all that God desires for that which is to come. We will someday be clothed in the righteous robes of the Lamb of God which have been washed white because of the finished work of Christ, because of His blood that really was enough for you and for me no matter what. It really is enough. Some of you know I've been going to Egypt pretty regularly and hope to be there the end of September again, as that vision has been presented to the Egyptians and God helped them at this time. The Muslim Brotherhood getting into power can be nothing but bad from a human perspective. Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, we can say with Paul from Ephesians 1-11, in him we were also chosen as those believers in Egypt, our dear brothers and sisters can say, in him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything and conformity with the purpose of his will or we can look back as God has already reminded us to Psalm 139. If you take that Psalm 139 and look in the new living translation, verse 16, it talks about the fact that every moment of our lives was laid out before a single day had passed. If you think in terms of Ephesians 1-3 praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ for he chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. He has had a plan that is being worked out and it will be worked out in the hearts of our brothers and sisters who are in Egypt who now have to live under what will be guaranteed the tyranny of the Muslim Brotherhood, those who are the founders of the Al-Qaeda, those who have been behind so many of the rebel terrorist movements that have revealed themselves through Hamas and others in different parts of the world. And yet those brothers and sisters simply will not give up. That's why I can't wait to go back the end of September. I may have told the story here last year and forgive me if I did, but one of those times they asked me to come and speak on suffering and it was pathetic in my mind that they would ask John Fein to speak on suffering. I don't know what suffering is. I'm an American living in Changmai Thailand, which is easier than living in Orlando, Florida actually. And they asked me to come and speak on suffering. I wrote them three times and said please don't, anything but that. I feel like a total hypocrite to stand and speak about suffering. But they said no, that's what we want you to do. And so I took the pattern of suffering in the life of Paul, which is what they requested. And as I stood to speak on that day, my heart was very burdened because if you get into the life of Paul, you see of course from second Corinthians the way in which that suffering comes like a wave in the original language. It's like a wave breaking over you, over and over and over. And Paul describes the way he was beaten beyond belief. He was whipped with those whips that had bits of metal and glass in them so they would open up a man's back. And he was whipped 39 times because they know that anybody that got 40 or more 90% or above would die from getting that kind of whipping. Yet five times he went through that kind of torture. Paul knew what it was to be tortured on the outside. But yet he was the one who would say that the torturing was worse from within the heart that was hit by the suffering was so intense. And as you guide up and describe that, that is what God has called us to, to live in the midst of suffering and to take on whatever it is that he gives to us. And to endure for the sake of his name by the time I got to the end of that sermon, I was depressed. I remember this, this, this, this, uh, captic priest with this huge gold cross looking up and saying too heavy, too heavy. And as I walked off the stage, I thought, you, amen brother. You hit that one on the head and I went out and wept. I couldn't, I just couldn't believe. And I said, Lord, why? You know I didn't want to come and speak on suffering anyway. But, but that's what you seem to have. And I just feel like such a failure. Certainly somebody else could have brought them greater hope. And this kid comes out, this Egyptian kid and sits next to me and he said, he said that was awesome. And I said, what? So it was awesome, right? I'm thinking that's right. It was an awesome colossal failure. Forgive me, Lord. I went to bed praying for forgiveness. Got up the next day and a young man came up that I recognized. He said, John, do you remember who I am? And I said, yeah, remember your face, brother. I don't remember names so well. So please don't do that to me after the service. But he says this. He says, because we had just heard by the way before I gave that sermon on suffering. We just heard about a short-term team from that conference. And I had been speaking in that conference for a pattern of three years. I guess prior to that. And so these were kids that we had motivated. And the word of God had motivated to go. And so they'd gone into the new mountains of Sudan, these young Egyptians. And they went to show the Jesus film. And I'm glad I can be back in Orlando and say to you from Crusade and from the Jesus film. Praise God for that and the way God has used it around the world. But as they went that night and showed the Jesus film. It wasn't just a matter of seeing people come to Christ. It was a matter of terrible suffering because on the way back, some of those al-Qaeda who were in the area ambushed them. And not everyone was killed or anything like that. Thankfully, but one of the young men from one of the machine guns that were being shot at them, it ricocheted off a part of the open bed truck and hit them right in the chest. His name was Daniel. Daniel lived about an hour until they were able to get back to the base before he could receive medical care. He looked up into his friend's face and he said, tell my father. I died for Jesus. And that young man who had heard this sermon the night before on suffering was Daniel's best friend. And he came up to me and he said, you know, I struggled for months with Daniel's death. I wondered where is God in the midst of all of this. I could not even pray. It hurt me to the core of my being to just begin to think about the death of Daniel. We were so close. He said, but that sermon last night, the one on suffering, the one that you talked about. It was so honest and it was so real and it was so terrible in one sense. He said, I just want you to know that God used that sermon specifically for me. You see, when I heard how honest and real it is that what Paul went through and endured to the very end, and there was one bit of hope in that sermon. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Second Corinthians 4, 16 and following. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a greater glory that far outweighs them all. A glory that enables us to fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen, that's temporary, but what is unseen. That is a living, vibrant, throbbing reality. And he said, that sermon gave me a vision of that which is to come. He said, I just want you to know, brother John, that God has called me to go and replace Daniel. I want to go into the new mountains. I want to go wherever God sends me. And I want them to see. And you know why he caught that vision and had nothing to do with John. He had nothing to do with the sermon. He had everything to do with the living God, the Holy Spirit coming and revealing to this kid, just what we are talking about this morning. That someday there will be some from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. We participate with him in the receiving of the inheritance that was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that has been given to us as the spiritual seed of Abraham. We are the recipients of that vision. We have been called out to go and to give everything toward that end. And I'm sorry if I yell and I'm sorry if my voice gets louder, but I've decided that you know it really didn't matter. I've only got a few years left perhaps. I don't know how long I've got. And it really doesn't matter how long I've got. It doesn't matter if cancer wins or whether it loses. Oh, that matters. Is that compelling vision? Because that is what will bring glory to the Lamb of God someday. And you know what's so glorious about that? It's no different if you're in Egypt or in Thailand or in northern India or in other places that we serve or whether you're right here in Orlando, in eastern Orlando, in Avalon Park and the surrounding, you know, what do you want to call them? Villages, I guess we could say, surrounding that. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to draw people to Himself from right here in our backyard, all the way to the ends of the earth, so that that vision, that photo, if you will, of what brings Him greatest joy will be what compels us and sends us forward. But brothers and sisters, the beauty of that vision is not just that they were wearing white robes. They were carrying those palm fronds. Those palm fronds represent certainly the triumphal entry of Christ as He headed into Jerusalem during His last week, where He was then going to bring about the fullness of the purposes of His Father and the dying within that context and that vortex at that point. But it was also the reality of the celebratory liturgy, if you will, from the Old Testament that oftentimes drew the people to come to Jerusalem. I believe it was three or four times a year, forgive me, I haven't preached on it in a long time. But as they came to Jerusalem, they were oftentimes using these palm branches in celebration of all that God had done. And so here we are on that day as a great throng, carrying palm branches in our hands because it points back to the completed work of the land. It points back to all of what transpired in the celebration of the work of God on us on this behalf, our forest, on our behalf. And we participate with Him, but the great thing about this particular picture is actually all different angles that we could look at it from. But some more thoughts just to keep in mind this morning, I promise I won't take this too long. But brothers and sisters, this vision, which is to come, includes a great throng of people who are not just there in their white robes as we oftentimes are on Sunday morning decked out in our best and looking so well on the outside but were broken on the inside. Yet that great throng represents a picture of us whole and complete. Nothing else mattered on that day. Nothing else will matter on that day. People were not around the throne in order to draw attention to themselves. There was absolutely no sense of competition whatsoever between those who were there. The deepest heart issues that break so many of us and drive us oftentimes away from God rather than towards Him. The pain that we endure in this life on that day will be taken care of. Aslan is not just on the move in the future there. Aslan is on the move now. He's making whole people right now, right where they are all over the world. The gospel is not just needed among the Muslims and the Hindus and the Buddhists that our teams serve in all of Southeast Asia and parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific where our guys are going and where your teams are oftentimes going on the organizations you represent or where you are going as members of Christ Kingdom Church and as you move into your neighborhood. It's not just a matter of the gospel going out to those who do not yet know Him. But what I love about that picture is it is for you and it's for me in the midst of our brokenness. I need the gospel as much as any of those who are out there. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne first and foremost for me and for you as well as for those that we oftentimes term unreach peoples. Wow there's a lot coming to mind. Forgive me. Can I go real quick? Second Corinthians one Paul understood that there was a reason for all of this suffering and this pain. He talks about the fact that he comforts us in all of our trouble so that we may comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. He describes the way that yes we participate with and we receive the sufferings of Christ but we also receive his comfort. He goes so far as to say in verse 8 after describing all of that of second Corinthians one. He says we don't want you to be uninformed brothers of the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure we were under a great suffering far beyond our ability to endure so that we dispaired even of life. Indeed he says verse 9 we had already tasted death it was that real it was it was it was that much a part of his life. Brothers and sisters that that pain in that suffering that is a part of our journey on this earth is real. Yet he who worked out every moment before a single day had passed as we already saw from Psalm 139. He who has his hand on us to fulfill his purposes day by day within us he is the God. He is the one who has a purpose in pain a purpose in suffering in order to fulfill his sovereign plan as we were just singing about earlier. Why did this happen? Verse 9 and this has become my hope I got to say my own prayer my own hope day by day because the pain has become intense within my own life. After that last treatment on December 10th it was unbelievable what I had to head off into Cambodia the next day and it just hurts. It hurts so bad there was no place to run and as we were kept going step by step and I won't be labor or bore you with all the details but we were trying to be wise and trying to not do something stupid and yet God was taking a step by step into further hinterlands until we were finally way way way out to where there was no way to get any medical treatment that was for sure. Not without about a two day journey somewhere and it was there on that night when the pain was at its most intense and I had gone out because we wanted to encourage these new believers and encourage the team that was there and a new God had me to be a part of that but that night the pain went beyond anything I'd ever known and that night there was just no sleep to be had and you're there. And it was so intense that you got to where you couldn't pray just any prayer you wanted to pray because it hurt too bad and the fear that comes then at a moment at moments like that when you think well what are we going to do and where are we going to go and what if this spirals out of control and I finally got to where I all I could pray was two words Lord help Jesus help would you please be there. I think you back to second Corinthians one a second why do those things happen why does he allow pain within our lives I'll tell you why because of verse nine of second Corinthians one but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. That's why these trials and tribulations these dark areas of our lives are there he's fitting us for something greater he's shattering those pathetic dreams that we often have to hang on to the things of this world he wants us to embrace a greater dream the dream of the glory of him being sufficient and all things and brothers and sisters he is and he was. You know I fell asleep that night clutching the sheets it hurt so bad and wondering if I could even wake up I thought I'd only be asleep for 15 minutes because that's all I've been able to for rushing back to the bathroom again but I slept four hours and got up and I was able to go out and and participate in their pain not my own yes we're on motorcycles and yes we're bouncing around and whoo whoo those will be memories I'll never forget. But as we got out there there was a young leader who had God had used powerfully it only brought them to himself like two years earlier but he become a powerful leader he was killed spiritual warfare is intense in these places all alone cutting down a tree you can't convince me that it wasn't somehow related to something beyond just a mistake and cutting down that tree he was such a powerful leader in church planner but he died. To go out with his widow and others on these motorcycles and to head off into their little house church and to sit there and to hear what they were up against now and to see their tears and to hear their pain and to know that God was doing for them just what he was for. To me to I think she was about eighty five years old this woman that had that had gone through the dark days of the marriage who stood as a believer when no one else would who prayed and prayed and prayed was the spiritual leader of the area and they asked me to pray for and I could even stand up straight I was hurting so bad and I reached my arm out and as I held her shoulder and as she hung on to me and as I prayed in English and they trained. And as we got into the middle of that prayer I couldn't even pray any longer and we just sat there that old lady and I weeping and I thought what an honor. What an honor to hang on to a believer yeah we think in terms of the big and the economic you know powerhouses of our ministries that are so big and powerful and great and I was thinking if we could see the unseen realm I believe the gates of hell were shaking that day. It's an old lady saw that vision of a day to come in which Christ will be glorified over all of the earth and all of the villages and all of the pathetic tribulation that the enemy had hurled at her year after year and decade after decade and people making fun of her but nobody made fun of her anymore because they knew they couldn't touch her because in Christ even though that pain had been coming at her year after year. She was strong in him she smiled at me with a toothless grin she held on to me in Christ and together we envision that which is greater than either one of us and greater than any pain that any of us could ever endure brothers and sisters let's be honest we have stiff next that must be broken. John Fane has a titanium net maybe it's diamond actually I don't know what it is it must be stronger much stronger than the nation of Israel which is why that pain needs to keep coming by God's grace he will see us through by God's grace the pain now doesn't matter doesn't matter this day didn't matter last week it won't matter tomorrow because God has a purpose in it. A purpose to give us a new vision vision that will enable us to endure by the way brothers and sisters my pain is nothing compared to some of yours. I don't have a child who is rejected Christ I don't have the kind of things some of you have had to go through so please forgive me if I pointed to John Fane this morning. I want you to hear out and clear however deep the pain is that God has you walking through he will be enough and there's a vision of a picture to come that will all be a part of and on that day the pain will be gone and we will see him and we will be known even as we fully know him and it will all make sense. Have your way oh God in Christ kingdom church I pray that whatever they may be going through that you would give them a vision of a new tomorrow. I cry out to you that if there's some here this morning that don't yet know you may they see Jesus may they understand the full extent of all that he went through so that we might have life so that we might live now so that we might be a part of that picture standing around with brothers and sisters from around the world who are crying out in all kinds of languages and all kinds of praise and all kinds of ways of doing it Lord we can't wait for that day we look forward to that which is to come. I cry out to you for my brothers and sisters who are hurting here this morning some who have endured things beyond words I ask that you would come and wrap your strong arms around them I pray that you would make it right today I ask that you would you would comfort them and draw them close into yourself and that you would help them to see that which is out there which is to come. And I pray that you would enable all of us to fall deeper in love with you I pray Father that you would be more beautiful to us than anything else that the compelling desires of our heart would be for you and for you alone I pray that only in Christ would we be set free. And before your cross and as we are seated with you and having your arms that we would make sense of it all and that we would know that you are enough we love you Lord others I see some of the friends that we have in this congregation as I looked out earlier I just cry out to you for each and every one of them. You would show yourself to be enough in this terrible fallen day that we live in I pray that we would endure we would obey that we would love because that vision is coming true he can't wait in your name we pray.