In this sermon, the speaker discusses the moments of failure and darkness in our lives where we feel like everything is falling apart. He emphasizes that it is in these moments that Jesus comes in and ministers to us. The speaker shares three important things to remember: a word of encouragement, a word of endorsement, and a word of excitement. He uses the example of Paul in prison to illustrate how even in our lowest points, God is still with us and we should be of good cheer. The speaker also mentions a four-part audio series called "Dare to Be Great" that explores tangible ways to pursue and strengthen our friendship with God.

It's the 2011 Summer of Sermons with Steve Mays. When you need a word of encouragement, Pastor Steve Mays says, God is always there to support you. God will never leave you nor forsake you. Your friends might not be there. Your wife might not be there. Your husband or your children might not be there. Your boss might not believe in you. But I tell you what, God does believe in you. And when others are unwilling to stand with you, God is willing to stand right by your side. He has done this and He'll do it forever. Light of the world, light of the world Hope that shines in darkness A voice that will be heard Light of the world, light of the world Hope that shines in darkness So we'll follow the light of the world We all need encouragement from time to time, that's a fact. Some of us need encouragement all the time, am I right? Did you know that Abraham Lincoln carried with him a newspaper clipping stating that he was a great leader? And like Honest Abe, we also find strength to keep on by way of motivation from others. So today on Light of the Word, we're reminded of the encouragement and the endorsement the Lord has for us when we abide in Him. Let's listen as Steve shares the example of the Apostle Paul and the comfort he found as he sat in a very lonely prison cell. Would you turn with me to Acts chapter 23, Acts chapter 23. And we want to draw your attention this morning to Acts chapter 23 verse 11. And as we mentioned, this whole principle of greatness kind of just happened. Sometimes when I teach, most of the times I know exactly where I'm going. I like to be methodical and lay things out. I'm pretty organized in a lot of areas. But every once in a while, God just kind of takes me down a road. And it was coming back from having both my knees replaced with knee replacement that I knew that I was not going to be able to come back and do four services and then do Sunday night would be five because I just couldn't stand on my legs. So I had to come up with an idea of how I'm going to get back into this thing before I could start teaching Sunday night. So we asked Charlie Campbell, who has been so good, to come help me on Sunday nights for a month. Well, because we teach on Sunday night through the Bible and we're teaching the book of Revelation and then usually I take one little portion and teach Sunday morning, I couldn't continue in Revelation unless I get everything mixed up. So I started to teach the book of Job Thursday night in-depth study. And from that came to this one passage how much God began to brag on Job. And you remember what he said. He said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, how upright and how faithful he is. He hates evil and he loves me. And so it just dawned on me that sometimes we are able to kind of brag about what we do or other people say that we do pretty well. But what a concept when you begin to realize that God is bragging on you. And so here God is defending and bragging about Job's commitment to him. And that took me over to Luke where we see John the Baptist. And John was speaking and John the Baptist walked away and people began to talk behind John's back. And Jesus began to defend John. And you remember what Jesus said. He said, what did you go out into the wilderness to see, a reed blown in the wind? Nay, you went out to see a man who was after my heart. And what did you go out in the wilderness to see, a man dressed in fine clothing? No, you saw a man who was after my heart. This is the greatest man born among women. And that took me then to Abraham. We did last week which all of a sudden he was ready to kill his son. I want you to offer your son Isaac, your only son. And when Abraham was coming down with the knife, God stopped him. And then God said, now I know that you are my friend because you have put me before your own child. And so it really kind of shook me up in a good way. God, do you see me as your friend? And do you see me as your servant like the servant Job? Or do you see me as someone that has a voice that's willing to speak with authority? And then lastly, it brought me to Paul the Apostle where all of a sudden, here in his moment of despair, Jesus pops in and says, be of good cheer. In other words, I'm with you, Paul. You can make it. So when God drops into your life, and when the Lord begins to speak to you, those are the greatest moments of your life. So let me read to you Acts 23, verse 11. And the night following, the Lord stood by Paul and said, be of good cheer. Paul, for thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Let me read it one more time. And the night following, in other words, it didn't happen overnight, the Lord stood by Paul and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so much thou bear witness of me in Rome. What a message that the country needs to hear, be of good cheer. And what a message that the church needs to hear, be of good cheer. And what a message our children need to hear, be of good cheer. So often we look to people and they do not encourage. We look to others hoping that they will see something good, but they're too involved in who they are. But I want you to know that God does encourage, and God does see, and God does understand. I came across a cute little story about a man who was training to be a paratrooper. He was in the army, he was a private, he was being instructed to jump out of an airplane. He was told to count to ten, pull the ripcord. If his primary parachute didn't open, he was to pull the ripcord on the front pack, which would open his auxiliary suit, whereby he would float to safety. After that, a truck would pick him up and take him back to the base. The private did exactly as he was told. He was commanded to jump out of the airplane, which he did. He counted to ten, he pulled his ripcord, nothing happened. He pulled the other ripcord on the front pack, again nothing happened. Great, he thought, my pack didn't open, my backup didn't open, probably the truck won't be there to pick me up either. Well, I think a lot of times life's like that. You know, you pull, you pull, and the truck's not going to be there. Well, I'll tell you what, someone's going to pick him up. But that happens in life. We get discouraged, and we are perplexed, and sometimes, believe it or not, your plans don't work out the way you think. You think God's going to use you this way? He doesn't. You think you're going to be a business guy? You're not. You think you're going to be married, and you're not. You're married, and you wish you weren't? It's not going to happen. In other words, things happen in your life. And when things happen, you need to understand they throw us off. But if I could hear one word, it would be, be of good cheer. Stephen, I'm in this mood. I'm in this change. And things are happening to you, but they have to go through my hands. And so I begin to realize what Paul needed. Now let me tell you, Paul had been in Jerusalem before this moment. He had been in Jerusalem 20 years prior to this time. And you remember, he was kicked out right where he was saved. They didn't like him. They didn't trust him. They were afraid of Paul. He was a murderer. He brought people into all kinds of different things before he was a Christian. And so people did not believe that he was really changed. On that Damascus road, God changed his life. And on that Damascus road, God told him, I'm going to show you the great things you're going to suffer for my name. You're going to be persecuted. You're going to go through difficult times. But you're going to stand before kings and you're going to stand before rulers. And Paul was faithful to the call. But in his heart, he wanted to go to the Jews. But God gave him the calling to the Gentiles. And so if it wasn't for Paul reaching out to the Gentiles, teaching us really the grace of God, we are indebted to his teaching. But when he went into an area, he always would go to the synagogue first. He had that in his heart. God, I know you called me to do this, but I think I'm better over here. Has that ever happened? God, I'm doing this, but I think I could do it better. And in the back of our minds, we're always thinking, I'll do what you want, but really, if you let me do this, I could do so much better. But you see, God knew what would happen if Paul would try to do that. Now, 20 years in the future, Paul comes back. He goes into the temple. He shaves his head. There's a riot. All of a sudden, they begin to take him away. He goes up the side of these stairs. He begins to preach. He had waited 20 years for this moment. He knew that he could change the Jews. He believed that he could bring them to a knowledge of Christ. And you remember, he was the Hebrew of Hebrews. He was a Benjamite. He was a Pharisee, as touching a lot, blameless. He begins to speak in Hebrew. Everyone is spellbound. The Roman guards don't really know what he's saying, but the Jews are just riveted to what he's saying. Things could not be better until he mentions the word Gentiles. And then the Roman guards saw something absolutely bizarre. They begin to rip their clothes. They threw dirt up in the air, and they begin to curse at Paul. And at that moment, Paul had to be delivered. And so the Roman guards took him away. They put him in prison. And all through the night and the next day, no one came to visit Paul. There were no prayer meetings, nothing. Paul was stuck in the bottom of a cell. I believe it was the most lonely spot he had ever been in. He had been persecuted. He had gone through difficult times. But he always had Luke or Silas or others around him. This time, he was by himself. And most of all, the dream, the ambition that he knew that he could do, he was a failure. His sermon went down. No one got saved. It caused a riot. It couldn't be any worse. And I think we've gone through that in our life. If I could just get married, everything would be cool. You get married, it's not cool. You have to work in this thing. If I could just have children, it'd be so wonderful. Now you have teenagers. And, oh, God, what am I going to do now? In other words, it's not. If I could have my business, things would go great. And all of a sudden, you have to hire and fire. And you're not made for this. And sometimes you realize it's not as easy as you thought. And so they rip their clothes, and here he sets as a failure. It's in that moment of failure, in that moment of darkness, in the moment where you thought you could be a wonderful wife, or you thought you could be a wonderful parent, that everything falls apart. That Jesus comes in and begins to minister. So I want to share three things, and I hope you never forget these three things. Number one, a word of encouragement. A word of encouragement. Number two, a word of endorsement. A word of endorsement. I like the third probably the best. A word of excitement. A word of excitement. Now picture Paul in prison. His dream is shattered. The message he's thought about for 20 years, he is a failure. No one is with him. No one's coming. His dream is gone. He's now setting. This is the lowest point of his life. He feels like God let him down. He was anticipating. It didn't happen. He was excited. It backfired. Sometimes that happens in our life. We anticipate great things. It doesn't happen. We expect wonderful things. It doesn't happen. And what happens? We get devastated. And the problem, we quit. And I want to teach you, you cannot quit. Here in Acts chapter 23 verse 11, And the night following the Lord stood by and said, Be of good cheer. Stop right there. A couple things I see in the area of encouragement. Your friends might not be there. Your wife might not be there. Your husband or your children might not be there. Your boss might not believe in you. But I tell you what, God does believe in you. And when others are unwilling to stand with you, even when you're depressed and discouraged, God is willing to stand right by your side. He has done this and he'll do it forever. You remember, he stood by Daniel in the lion's den. When Daniel was thrown in, who was there? The Lord himself to protect Daniel. When Nehemiah was building the wall, Tobiah and Sambaled discouraged him. But the Lord stood with him. And when all of a sudden, Moses was being challenged by Korah, God opened the dirt and Korah was sucked in because the Lord stood with Moses. And I want to tell you that God will never leave you nor forsake you. And he's not embarrassed with you. You say, well, time out, you can't believe what I did. Well, let me tell you, what you did didn't shock him. He knew that you were going to do it before you did it. Because when he had you and bought you and made you, he knew exactly what you were going to do. And he still wanted you. That's kind of cool. Now, if you could marry the same guy and knew what he put you through for the last 30 years, would you do it again? No. No. That's his honest truth. If I knew every fight we're going to be in, no. But God won't show you that, so you don't know. You have to work through these things. So when I got my 25th anniversary and was going to do it again, and I stood before Chuck, this is what Chuck said, Gal, now that you know everything wrong with Steve, are you sure you want to go through this again? Well, she said, yes. It meant more the second time to me than the first time. First time, I just want to get her married. I just I was a knight in shining armor. I was everything. I knew that probably after a couple of months, she realized what did I do? And she couldn't divorce me. She was a Christian. So I had to really figure this thing out. I was young and coming off of LSD. And, you know, the whole thing after 25 years, when she said yes, the second time, I thought, boy, God, you have blinded her eyes, given her amnesia. We're OK. We're going to make it. And it's been the best. But I'm serious. Women don't think that way. Guys think, boy, if you know who I am and you want to continue, that's great. Well, who was Gal's encouragement? God. Who stood with Gal? God. And who's going to stand with you when your kids leave? God will stand. And so we talk about the empty nest syndrome. Well, let me tell you, God will stand in the middle of that nest. And God will stand in the middle of that depression. And God will stand. If you don't believe that, then you don't believe the Bible. And it's in the darkness that he wants to stand. When God lights that match, in the deepest, darkest areas of your life, Christ is illuminated and you see him. Sometimes you light the match in the day, you don't really see the contrast. But when things are devastating and God lights the match and you see God, all of a sudden you see the glory of God. Paul's in prison, devastated, his message was a failure, his dream ambitions, and guess who was there? No one was at the temple when Paul was in the riot. No one was at the Sanhedrin when he was being accused. No one was at the court and no one came to prison. Guess what? God was there. And sometimes I think God just gets rid of people just to teach you, I'm with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And so number one, very, very important, God's with you. Let me ask you a question. You remember when the disciples were on the sea and the wind was against them? And Jesus came, what did he say? Be of what? Good cheer. In the middle of the storm, he didn't come and say, you are a bunch of failures. You can't even get it together and get to the other side. No. They were afraid. He identified with them and he said, be of good cheer. In other words, I'm here. I'll get you through this storm. So maybe you're going through a storm right now. What's the message for you today? Be of good cheer. No. I want to talk about how horrible things are. No. What is the voice of God telling you? Be of good cheer. Why? Because you're going to come through this and you're going to be tried and you're going to be better when you get through it. You remember when the disciples were hiding? Because of fear. Christ had been crucified. Bless the women. They were at the tomb. I mean, they were believing God. The boys, they were hiding in fear. Jesus walked through the wall and what was the first thing he said? You guys are a bunch of ding-a-lings. The women are trusting me. You're not. He didn't say that. He said, be of good cheer. Why? Because you are going to overcome this world when I get done with you. Be of good cheer because greater he that's in you than he that's in the world. You see, Jesus knew they were afraid they were going to die and that was true. They weren't ready to die but he was going to get them ready. And what about the woman who had the issue of blood? Bleeding, just having a tough time. She said, if I could touch him I'd be healed. And you remember the story? As he was walking she reached out and touched and he stopped. He turned. Why? Because you can never touch God without God knowing it. And he said, who touched me? And she said, I did. And he said, be of good cheer. You are whole. And one last one. You remember the four that brought the man who couldn't walk and brought him down to the roof? Jesus said, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. Now pick up the bed and walk. So here's how it goes. You might be in trouble and in sin. Be of good cheer. I've come to deliver you. You might not be able to walk be of good cheer. I'm going to heal you. Or maybe you're in that storm. Be of good cheer. Or maybe you're afraid and hiding because of fear. Be of good cheer. Or maybe your dreams have been shattered. Your marriage is shattered. Everything's shattered. Be of good cheer. I'm here. You say, I can't believe it. I know. It's in the darkest, difficult moments that God wants to become the greatest friend in your life. That's number one. Would you like to hear a word of encouragement? Hey, be of good cheer. You come to anybody else, they're going to say, sirs, you're right. You should be going through this. God would never do that to you. He understands the pain, the agony. Be of good cheer. Well, it's neat to be encouraged. But the second one is a word of endorsement. Now, can you imagine if you took over Billy Graham's ministry and you got up and started talking about cats and dogs and forgot the altar call and didn't know what to do? I mean, would you feel like a failure? Yeah. Would you ever go back? Nope. When you saw your name smeared and all the people criticizing you and everybody questioning, but yet God is with you, if God told you to go back, would you do it? If God sat down and said, listen, it's Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, get back up in this pulpit and preach the gospel. Could you do it? No. Why? Because you don't believe that you've been endorsed by God. You think that God just makes perfect people? He takes failures. He takes broken marriages and broken dreams. He takes angry men and women. You know, it's like marriage. You finally get a guy and you marry him and all of a sudden you realize he's like any other guy. You know, he doesn't pick up his underwear, doesn't do this, squeezes a toothpaste. My goodness, you know, you think you got one. And guys the same way. We finally get one who's quiet, we marry him, and they talk for the next 40 years. Drives us crazy. I mean, it's just crazy. But God puts people together. You need to be driven a little bit crazy and you need to be a little bit more organized when you get through that. Or you get a job and you get fired. I got fired. Well, now four years later you look back and you know, I should have been fired. My attitude stunk. And you realize that the teacher flunked you. She isn't dumb. You were dumb. You didn't pay attention. And so you begin to realize as you get older, all these failures and all these problems are part of growing. You think a pastor just becomes a pastor? No. He makes lots of mistakes. And if I go to God, He covers them. If I don't, I got to confess them. But I've made mistakes. And guess what? I still make mistakes. And I get hurt and devastated. And I'm afraid to make another decision. You have to know that God's called you. So here's what he says in verse 23, verse 11. Thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem. Now that's cool. What he's saying is, Paul, are you a failure? Yep. Did you really do what you wanted to do? Nope. Did anybody listen to you? Nope. Was there any fruit? No. Do you think you should not have been here? I don't think I should have been here. God basically said, I disagree. You testified. You preached. You spoke. You mentioned my name. You talked about Christ. I want to tell you, Paul, I appreciate that. Now, you didn't do it maybe the right way. Maybe the motive wasn't right. Maybe you shouldn't have been here. But you did do it. Let me give you an example. David wanted to build the house for God. What did God say? No, you're a bloody man. Solomon will build it. When Solomon got done building the temple, he dedicated it. What did Solomon say? This is the house my father built, David. Because he had a heart for God. And this is what God said. David did right in that his heart was for me. So God took a heart and built a kingdom. So that tells me that if you have a heart, God can build a kingdom. If you have a desire, God can do it. If you're trying to be a parent, God will help you. If you do a business thing and you make a mistake, God will correct you. You have to learn. And so all of a sudden I begin to realize that God didn't condemn him. And the reason why, I think the most valuable lesson to me as a Christian, there is no longer anything in vain. In other words, from this point on, God will use everything in my life. He'll make evil to praise him. That which you meant evil is good. And if you try to do something to devastate somebody, God can turn that thing around. Like Mordecai and Haman. Haman wanted to kill Mordecai. God turned the corner. God can turn the corner. And that's what he did for Paul. He came in. He saw Paul. He said, Paul, let me tell you, you're not thinking straight. You testified. You honored me. And I appreciate that. I don't think you have to look at everything. Well, maybe you didn't do things right. Maybe you could do things better. Maybe the motive. God will straighten all that out. But the bottom line is you tried. And when you're trying to heal a relationship, you're trying to build something, God understands that and God will stand with you. And he said to Paul, very simply, Paul, listen. It's not commission. You're on salary. You are not responsible for the results. You did what you thought you should do. And it honored me. And I think that's a great thing. I'm here. And Paul is saying, Oh, Lord, I don't think so. You know, I just blew it. Paul, I want you to be encouraged. Okay, God. Paul, I want to endorse your life. I called you. I made you. I bought you. This is part of the training. Let me end by saying the third word, a word of excitement. And this is kind of cool. He says in chapter 23, verse 11. So must. Would you underline that? So must thou bear witness also of me at Rome. Are you kidding me? Would you take Paul? Would you let Paul do something else after this? Where you know that all of a sudden, I told you not to go to Jerusalem. Your calling is with the Gentiles. And you thought you could do this in the flesh. And boy, you messed everything up. He didn't hear that. His heart was driven. His love was driven. And God used it. Paul, be encouraged. Paul, you testified of me. Oh, by the way, Paul, would you pack your bags? We're going. Oh, you're kidding me. No. Well, don't you want to use somebody else? No. You are the man I chose. And I believe that God has chosen you. I believe the marriage is ordained by God. I believe the kids you have are God-given kids. I believe the trials you go through, where you work, all that stuff plays into the hand of God. Do you believe that God wants to encourage you where you are? Do you believe that God wants to endorse your life? Steve, you have no idea. I feel like a failure. No. You can't think that way. Is your heart right? Do you want to please God? Yes. What will you hear next? Okay. Let's get excited. God has a future for you. Paul, you're going to go, Now, here's what I like. Paul, you went to jail. Yes, I did. What a bummer. No, no, no, no. Who's going to pay your way to Rome? The Roman government. You got a free ticket to Rome. You see, God will turn even the evil into good. Paul, I want you to go to Rome. Now, you're going to be taken to Rome by the Roman soldiers. So you're going to Rome one way or the other, sir. And when you get there, because of this lesson and all the other lessons, you're going to stand before Nero and put your head down. They're going to cut it off. But you're not going to be ashamed. And so at the very end of Paul's life, what did he say? I'm not ashamed. I have run this course. I have finished. I've done it well. Why? Because right here. The moment we make a mistake, we want to quit. The moment things don't work out, we want to give up. That's not a Christian. Because, number one, God will never leave you. Number two, we live, we move, we have our being in God. Number three, if God before you, who could be against you? So let's change all that. In your darkest hours, you will hear him say, Be of good cheer. Secondly, you will sense God's touch upon your life. I've called you into this marriage. I've called you into this job. I've called you into this church. I've called you into this parenting. I will touch your life. And thirdly, I want you to get excited. Because you're not done being a parent. And you're not done being a businessman. And you're not done being a failure. You've got a world to reach, and you need to know that I'm with you. And so maybe this morning, you say, Well, what does this have to do with the greatness of principle? Well, if I can't see through it, and I don't believe this God, and I don't believe that God's for me, and I don't believe that God can get me through this, I'm never going to be what God wants me to be. So I know in this flesh I'm going to make mistakes. Amen? Lots of them. And I know I'm going to get angry. I know I'm going to make bad decisions. But if my God is the God that I believe, when I'm sitting over here feeling really bad, he's going to tap me on the shoulder, and he's going to say, Be of good cheer. Why? Give me one good reason why. Because I'm here not killing you. That's why. Be of good cheer. Okay. You're speaking to me. My dog won't speak. My wife won't speak. No one's speaking to me. But if you speak, that's okay. I just need to know. You still like me? I love you. See, if God speaks, that's my security. Okay, great. Stephen, I'm standing with you. I'll stand with you in victory. I'll stand with you in defeat. I'm standing right here. I'm not leaving you. Stephen, get up. Why? Because you've got to go teach. I've called you. Get up. Go. I don't feel like it, Lord. I'm bummed. Get going. I've endorsed your life. I've touched your life. Go. Okay, okay. I'm going. I'm going. Oh, by the way, when you get done here, I've got something else for you to do. You're kidding me. You want to use me? Yeah. You see, in my mind, I have this attitude I have to be perfect. There's no one perfect. There's no super pastors. We're all sinners saved by grace. It's the mercy of God that He speaks, He stands, He encourages, and He sends. So never give up. You just don't understand. I've been divorced. Okay. You've been divorced. Ask God's forgiveness and get back on track. But it doesn't give you a right to go out and drink and smoke and cuss and everything else. No. But don't blame God for that. You got a divorce because someone was unwilling to die. God forgive me. Would you change my life? Sure. Be of good cheer. Pastor Steve Mays, with good insight concerning the Lord's desire to encourage, endorse, and excite us as we abide in Him. Now a good friend has been defined as someone who knows all about us and likes us anyway. God is that friend to each and every one of us. He knows us quite well and loves us just the same. The question is, what are we bringing to the friendship? How are we showing the Lord our love for Him? In Pastor Steve's popular audio series called, Dare to be Great, he shares tangible ways we can pursue and strengthen our friendship with the Heavenly Father. Using the example of Abraham, you'll discover principles of greatness that you can begin to use. Principles that'll bring you and the Lord real satisfaction. Dare to be Great also highlights principles of greatness found in the lives of Job, John the Baptist, as well as today's message on the Apostle Paul. Get the details on this four-part audio series at our website, lightoftheword.org, or reach us at 1-800-339-WISE. That's 800-339-W-I-S-E. And ask for the set called, Dare to be Great. On our final SOS program, Steve shares the curse, the cause, and the cure for adultery. It's one of Steve's most requested lessons from last year, so please be sure to be with us next time here on Light of the Word. Light of the Word Light of the Word Hope shines in darkness So follow the Light of the Word