I'm gonna ask you to please remain standing. If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew's gospel. Matthew chapter five, you'll recognize right away, this is the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter five, the scripture reading is gonna be verses 10 through 16. So Matthew chapter five, of course this is Jesus speaking, beginning in verse 10, God's word says this, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before brothers. so that they may see others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Would you all please bow your heads as we pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are for your word. How grateful we are, Lord, that you have not left us to grope around in the dark, guessing what you are like, who you are, what you require of us, but you have given us the 66 books of the Bible. Lord, we thank you for this portion of scripture. We ask, Lord, as your word is preached, that you would give us understanding. We pray, Lord, that Christ would be magnified and your people fed. We pray in Jesus Christ's name, amen. You may please be seated. Before I introduce our speaker, I hope you'll just allow me a little bit of personal reminiscing. I've told you before, it's a little bit, well, it's about 42 years ago, right about the time you started missions in Bolivia. I was living in the Bay Area. I was, like usual, recovering from a very serious motorcycle crash. and wanted to kind of get my life together with the Lord, and there was this man at our, who was parents of these friends of mine in high school. This man and his wife had been missionaries to Taiwan. Again, his daughters went to high school with me, and that's where the Christians in high school would just hang out at their house. When I was in college, I'd hang out at their house also. Me and my roommate would just go over there, just unannounced, sometimes right at dinnertime. And I remember Muriel, the wife, would... you know, always advise, hey, you guys want to have dinner with us? And of course, we did. And I remember the first time we served dinner, and there's these little sticks. And I said, oh, can I have a fork? And she said, no, no, you're eating dinner here. We do things Chinese way, you know. And that's where I had to learn how to use chopsticks was at their house. And when I crashed in this crash, and I was looking to be discipled, I called of this man, Norm Cook, and I asked if he would start meeting with me and disciple me. And he agreed, and we met for quite a while for breakfast once a week, opening up the Bible and him teaching me so much. I learned this Monday from his daughter who lives down here that he had died, just as I learned on Tuesday, he had just died on Monday. And when I learned that, all these thoughts and all these memories came to my to my mind of these times together with Norm Cook and their house and so forth. And it was Norm Cook, again, they were missionaries to Taiwan, that when I came down here to go to Biola, I was actually a missions major. I wanted to go into the mission field like Norm. But God called me into the local church, into the pastorate. But when he did, he gave me a heart for And I was real pleased when I came to this church, and I saw what a heart this church has for missions, with a mission speaker periodically during the year. And so in the providence of God, with just learning of my dear friend's death this last Tuesday, providence of God, I'm grateful to not be preaching today, but to have a missionary. with us. And one of the things that Norm Cook said to me right before I came down here, knowing that I was going to go into the ministry, he said, don't seek to be Billy Graham, or Chuck Swindoll, or anything like that. Seek to be faithful. And the reply that I gave to his daughter when I learned of Norm Cook's death was, boy, and here was a man who was so faithful right up to the end. Well, we have a missionary here today who likewise has been faithful, has been faithful all these years, 43 years there in Bolivia, and of course his dear wife Jan, all those years, and so I'm very grateful to have with us today, Phil Train. Phil, if you'll come up. I call him Phil, it's Dr. Train to all of you, but Phil, we're very grateful to have you here. Thank you. Buen dia, amigos. Nobody's going to respond? Buen dia, buen dia. Como estan? Ah, pass 101. Good, good, good. Thankful to the Lord. Every time I say that when we come, I think it's been about four years since we were here last, but thankful to the Lord. How can I put 43 years in four minutes of time to express thankfulness to the Lord and to you folks? I thank the Lord, I was reminiscing, just looking at the church and what happened here, 46 years, 20 days, and about almost 12 hours ago, right? When we got married here at three o'clock in the afternoon, Pastor Gerringer was still here, and he took part in our marriage. Some of you, there's June and Brother Harvey and the Aurelius were here, and they remember, so I won't tell you how old they are because that kind of reflects on me too, right? But thankful to the Lord for this church and for preparing my best friend and my companion for the past 46 years. Thankful to the Lord for your faithful support. It's been great. The Lord has led us to mentor, Many folks, I knew Norm Cook and I knew several of the other, we were just reminiscing, Ed Murphy and some of the other teachers at Talbot and Biola that we both had and what a heart for God and a heart for reaching people around the world. Difference between unevangelized and unreached, and they were for both, for sure, right? Those who have never heard and those who have heard but have never really decided for Jesus. And we were there getting that same training. Thankful to the Lord. These past few years have been very difficult in Bolivia. I don't know if this statistic is evangelistic, you know what I mean? But the statistic is that through the COVID years, 450 pastors in Bolivia passed away. I did so many memorial services for some of my colleagues that have been serving the Lord in Bolivia. We have been left without a lot of leadership, but the Lord has been bringing them up and we have been involved in mentoring and using the Thompson Chain Reference Bible to help a whole lot of people get trained and get better prepared, give them a tool, a simple tool so that they can reach other people for the Lord, reach those who have not heard of Him. We still maintain Sucre, which is the capital of Bolivia, not La Paz, that's the seat of government, but Sucre is the capital, and we still remain there. We are praying and seeking the Lord about maybe relocating at this time. Sucre happens to be almost at 10,000 feet in altitude. not user-friendly for people like myself who has problems with lungs. I have asthma and I have even COPD, but never smoked in my life, but here I am, right, having a difficulty with those issues. That's why we are back in the States, plan to go back in August, August 3, August the 3rd, we plan to return to Sucre to work and to continue on. I have so many conferences and requests for discipleship and helping people out. Thank you. And I'm sure many of them would thank you for allowing us to serve them and train them and just be with them and be those shepherds that the Lord has asked us to be. So thank you again. Would love to sit down and talk with any of you and would love to discuss any one of these things that I have just mentioned as far as missions is concerned. Timeline. I don't need to really review a whole lot about our last three years, COVID, mask. Vaccines, some people don't want vaccines in Bolivia because they say it has a microchip and it's a sign of connecting us to the Antichrist. Okay, I won't discuss that at this point, but isolation, civil unrest, oh, so much, right? Guns, gas, economy, you name it. the last two days, abortion, and a whole bunch of things. Pastor Wade was, we didn't know about this, but he got away from not having to deal with this little subject today, right? But I am here because I want to share that there's true hope in Jesus. And you might be here, you might've watched the news last night, this morning, who knows, I didn't necessarily, But I believe the passage that the Lord led me to speak on today, honestly, the Lord led me to do that, really is very helpful to us. Coming straight from the Lord in that message that's 107 verses long. We don't know if that was the totality was spoken at one time. or whether it was spoken in different times, it doesn't matter. But I think it's so, so practical for us today. In a day when there's so much distrust in our elected officials, distrust in medicine, distrust in corporations, distrust in the media, and distrust in the church. So sad, right? We aren't what we used to be. And I read news of colleagues, some of them so well-known around the world and their lives, and I just cry, right? I just cry. But they are human people, frail people that have also gone through difficult times. Is sharing the gospel more difficult today? Well, Matt Regan from Campus Outreach would say yes, for five reasons. One of them, the fear of the social unknown. In other words, people don't want to get together. The isolation in public. You see these people, they're at the restaurant and they're not talking. They're doing stuff on their phone, right? And they might even be texting each other and they're sitting right beside each other, you know that. Loss of moral, of the moral high ground. Yeah, Christians are not looked upon as those you want to have working with you anymore, especially in Latin America, because the testimony hasn't been what it should have been. And then, Matt would say, the loss of the villain category. That was interesting to me. In other words, there's a category that before used to say, hmm, that's wrong. But nowadays, people say, hmm, what's good for you is good for you, what's good for me is good for me, and please don't bother me. We're into it relative time. And then, obviously, the endless buffet of distractions. With a fire stick, we can be connected to all your programs. They're in Sucre, right? And receive the same programs. What is very evident is sin is still around. Don't say amen, but yeah. But I got good news. The king of king and lord of lords is still on the throne. Amen? Amen. I know you're not Pentecostal, but that is worth an amen, right? He's still on the throne. So, how does he want us to act? What does he want us to remember as we look at the news, confront, go to work tomorrow, and deal with life? Well, comes out of Matthew chapter five, so you better have your Bible open. Matthew chapter five, verse 10 through 16, gives us the basis of true hope. Why can I have true hope? Well, number one, because Jesus is the basis of hope and joy and not our circumstances. May I remind you again of the verses we read. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you Realize there he changes the person, you, not them as in the past. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This all comes on the basis of verses, you don't have to be studied to go with this, right? But this come, previous to this, we have verses three through nine, blessed, blessed, blessed, eight times. Blessed are you if you recognize that we are in bankruptcy, spiritually speaking. We mourn, but we're comforted. Why? Because The key to this passage is Jesus, the kingdom of heaven. Who is the kingdom of heaven? It's Jesus. They said to the Lord, to Jesus, and where is the kingdom of God? He's right here. He spoke of himself. So really the key to the Sermon on the Mount is seeing Jesus throughout this passage. The first three are in a vertical relationship. The next four, blessedness, are in a horizontal relationship. What happens between me and God, God and myself, affects my relationship on a horizontal dimension. Now that will cause problems. When you stand for the truth, when you stand for what God wants you to stand for, you will be reviled. What does that word mean? It says you will be crushed. That's the idea. You will have a tough time. You will have to fight, you will have to go through very difficult times and all kinds of lies. Persecution is part of our life as Christians for sure. That's what we find in this passage. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A wonderful theologian that died 45 days before peace was declared, he died under Adolf Hitler, said, discipleship is aligning oneself with the sufferings of Christ. So part of being a Christian and following Jesus is knowing that joy doesn't come because of our circumstances. It comes because we follow Jesus and Jesus is the center of our lives. Two things, two comforting factors. One is that we have a great reward in heaven. I won't get into rewards, there's all kinds of rewards that are mentioned in the Bible, but he says, great is your reward, and that is a for sure thing. For sure it's that we will be in the kingdom of heaven, but the reward is great. And number two is that we follow in the footsteps of great servants of God, men and women throughout history. As you go to Hebrews chapter 11, let me just read you a few verses. Chapter 11, verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar. and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. Verse 16, but as it is, they desire a better country that is heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Wonderful words. Daniel, lion's den. Went through a tough time, for sure, but you know what? Integrity, life that counted for Jesus, for God, private and public. And the world is still being touched by his life as he preaches into my life, as he preaches into yours. Joy, not because you're having a good day. That's great. Not because you went to the beach and got real sunburn. No, not that at all. Joy because Jesus. Jesus gives us hope, true hope for the future. Guillermo, a good Bolivian buddy of mine, he's a missionary, has served the Guarani tribe for 40 odd years. We're the same age. We share a lot of things in common. His wife passed away a few years ago. But two weeks ago, he was asked to leave the compound of the Guarani where they live. And he has looked after their sick. He has brought food. He has helped them in so many ways. But certain ideology, political ideology has come in and has asked him to leave. And his kids say, Dad, is that the thanks you get after 40 years of serving this tribe of people? He responded, all things work together for good to them that love. Don't forget that. I have to remember that frequently. All things work together for good. True hope is not based on circumstances, but on the fact that Jesus is the center of our life and he brings true joy. Now quickly, true hope comes As we have the opportunity before the Lord to have an influence to stop that decay, being salt. Look at, it says, verse 13 of Matthew 5, you are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are, you are. That means that my DNA, spiritual DNA, your spiritual DNA, is that we are salt of the earth. And we can go into a lot of details about salt. It preserves, it penetrates, it gives flavor, it works quietly, it spreads, and it is unstoppable. I could go into each one of those. but it preserves, it preserves. I remember as a kid on horseback trips. Yeah, I did a lot of horseback trips, loved them for sure. Missionary horseback trips, right? Where we went for six weeks preaching the gospel. I was a little guy and we used to take jerky. Love jerky, right? That's probably where I got addicted to salt. That hasn't helped me out a whole lot, but right? Salt preserves and is against a decay. You know what? We need to be salt these days. When we love people, everything matters. We're willing to hear people's politics and try to understand So, so very important. Martin Luther King, gotta quote him, right? Because he was a great servant of the Lord and a great pastor. Hate seeks to live in monologue. Love seeks to live in dialogue. as believers and as those who are being salt of the world, we need to listen. I have a reaction, don't you? When we see all these demonstrations and you hear different things to be reactive, to react instead of trying to feel with people. Each one of us has so many pain points, so many things that are painful for us to remember. You see, we don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. All I'm trying to say, I'm not trying to influence your political point of view. All I'm trying to say is let's listen, let's love, and let's let the Lord use us as we face different situations this coming week. What's our problem? Well, some of us have lost our saltiness. Huh, what does losing your saltiness mean? Well, I was checking it out. And where they used to go to get salt back in those days had a lot of gypsum. That is a white powder, it's a chemical, and it's used for plasterboard and all kinds of stuff, but it's white. And it was mixed in with the salt. When the salt had evaporated, gypsum was left. There was no taste. It wasn't good for eating. And I wonder if some of us have lost our saltiness, our love, our desire to listen to people and consider Be respectful, don't be reactive for sure. Bolivia has the largest salt lake in the world, at least at 14,000 feet. In fact, it will probably be the place that most of the lithium will come from in the next few years. It's called Salar de Uyuni, Uyuni. Jan and I have been there, our family has been there. You go onto this salt flat and it is white all over and it is so cold. You know, when people come to get salt, as they're mining salt, they don't get it from the edge. You know why? Because it's contaminated. There's a lot of dirt. Nobody wants to use that salt. So they go farther in to get real pure salt. And I think of myself, am I that pure salt Am I that person that God can use in the life of so many other people? I was teaching a leadership class in one of our Central American countries, one that supposedly has almost 50% evangelicals. Sunday morning, you go down the street, you're driving down the street, and you see people literally walking to church with their Bible under their arm. So we were with the chaplain, the police chaplain, the highest one, a lady. And so we were having lunch and I asked her, I said, so how many policemen are evangelicals? 30%, wow. And then she said, 30% Catholic, okay? And then 40% that don't want to say what they are. Oh, I said, but it was 60% of having a Judeo-Christian idea. You must have a terrific police force. She smiled and said, no, because the Christians are as bad as the rest. That hurt. That really hurt. Is it a lack of discipleship? Is it a lack of Bible teaching? Is it a lack of teaching people to be salt in the world? Well, let me get on because my time's almost up. Not only is there true hope because our joy is based on Jesus, Not only because we can be agents of change and stop the decay within our circle, but number three, we can point to the light. We can point to the light. The light is Jesus, but he is in heaven and he left us, you and me, to be the light of the world. Let me just read it. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand that it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. It speaks to us as a church when it speaks about the city. Corporately, we need to be the light. And as a lampstand, as individuals. In other words, as a church, we need to, how will they know us? By our love. by our love to each other. Jesus prayed about this in John chapter 17 verse 23. He said, I pray that they be one, that they love each other so that the world may know. Sucre has this big, huge beacon. Remember, we're almost at 10,000 feet in altitude. And you have to come over this big mountain top before you drop into Sucre. And on that mountain top, there's always a beacon of light. And I have come, I have returned from many trips, many, many, many, many times. When I'm coming at one o'clock in the morning, I'm tired of driving 12 hours. And I see that beacon of light. I say, I'm almost home. I'm almost home. As believers, we need to be that beacon of hope for many people. Say, we're almost home. The lampstand, you can't hide it. In other words, let's not retreat to our evangelical bubble. We've got to get out there. We've got to be able to share the good news and be able to help others understand. I was reviewing what Paul says in Ephesians. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. That's Ephesians. Philippians says, do all things. Let me just emphasize it. Do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. I don't know if he meant us, but among whom you shine as lights in the world. Wow. We shine as lights. And you say, I've been trying to do that, and I haven't seen any results. This week, I was so encouraged. When we first went to Sucre 43 years ago, we had a Bible study. There was lawyers, doctors, businessmen. We had people from the Supreme Court there. And, you know, never saw great fruit at that time. Because most of these guys were into another organization, secret organization, and they didn't want to get out of that. And has have these last three years, because that's how long we had that Bible study, have they been in vain? Now, last week, found out that in our absence, one of Adolfo Manzoni's son now has joined the church in Sucre and is coming with his whole family. Yes, he says, I knew you, I knew you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. You're still on the throne and you're still doing, you're still changing lives. I just want to encourage you, Sister June, 103 years. Wow, what a testimony for the Lord. Brother Harvey, I won't say how many Harvey has, but sharing about the Lord one day, one day, your reward in heaven, right? As we face a week, there's true hope. True hope because my joy doesn't come from the circumstances, from what I see on television, for sure not. But it comes because I know Jesus. And because he has given me the opportunity to be an agent of change and to be the light that he wants me to be. Oh, what a challenge we have to live for Jesus this week and to share the message of hope to a world that is in so much need. You heard about that swimmer this week? This is the last thing. I know a lot. I have lots of things to say about it. Time's gone. You heard about that swimmer? Mm-hmm. She has won several events in swimming in the Olympics, and she was doing her thing this week, and pretty soon they saw her going under. And the coach dove in to get her and saved her life. Are we ready to do that? Are we ready? Maybe it won't be lots of people. It might be one person this week that we can give maybe a word, maybe a smile, maybe time together with them. so that their lives may be changed eternally and forever. Lord Jesus, thank you for your word. Thank you that it's so practical and that you want to use each one of us for your honor and your glory. Oh, may people, as they see our lives this week, may glorify God. Lord, that is our prayer and our desire, in Jesus' name, amen.