Be of Good Cheer

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So I want to begin by expressing my heartfelt thanks and the opportunity to serve you today. It’s truly a privilege to be in your company and to spend this time together discussing a topic that is both deeply important and incredibly timely. Our Lord’s command to be of good cheer, as found in our theme text of John 16:33. Preparing for this service has been a personal blessing to me and for me. It is my earnest prayer that our comments today will be a source of blessing and encouragement to all of us.

To all of you. If I seem particularly cheerful today, is it because I consider myself an optimist? Not because of anything in this world, but because of my faith in our Heavenly Father and the glorious certainty of his plans and purposes? When we truly believe that every circumstance is being overruled by his hand for our ultimate good, we cannot help but find that steady gladness of heart with that spirit of confidence, with that spirit of cheerfulness. Let us begin.

It is, by all earthly metrics, a challenging time. Society seems fractured, the economy feels precarious, and the basic foundations of truth are questioned each and every day on a global scale. But, my dear brethren, we are not looking only at the world. We are looking to God. We are looking to the Great Architect of the Universe who holds the times and seasons in the palm of his hand.

Nothing that is happening today is a surprise to Him. The unfolding of history is proceeding exactly according to the divine plan of the ages. You have been called to follow our Lord in the narrow way during a truly unique, highly transitional, and immensely privileged period of time. To our young dear brethren, those of you in high school, college, navigating early years of your careers or starting families, we tailored our thoughts for you today. To anchor our hearts, we take our theme from John 16:33.

John 16:33 these things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace in the world ye will have tribulation. But be of good cheer I have overcome the world. In our search for this peace and cheer, we eventually run into a sobering question, who is sufficient for these things? As we look at the outward chaos of today’s world, our own fragmented attention, and our falling flesh, we realize that on our own we simply aren’t enough. But here, dear brethren, is the indispensable bridge to the Victory of John 16:33.

It is found in 2 Corinthians 3:5 2 Corinthians 3:5. Our sufficiency is of God. When Jesus looks us in the eye and says, I have overcome the world, he isn’t just listening or listing a personal achievement on his resume, he is giving us an invitation to participate in the very same victory by tapping into the very same divine strength he utilized during his earthly walk. Before I enter into the sacred atmosphere of the upper room of John 16, we must first travel back to the foundation we find in Matthew 16. To truly understand how to maintain a spirit of good cheer in a world dripping with tribulation, we must first be absolutely certain of the one whom we are trusting.

In Matthew 16 Jesus purposely, purposely brought his apostles to the region of Caesarea Philippi. This was a key choice of location. It was a place steeped in pagan idol worship, dominated by a massive grotto dedicated to the Greek God Pan and a white marble temple built to deify the emperor. Against this stark backdrop of worldly confusion and competing gods, Jesus asked the most important question in human history. Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?

It is here that Peter, inspired by the Father, delivered that great unshakable confession. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16 Jesus confirmed that this specific truth, his own divine identity, is the rock upon which the true church is built. Dear brethren, your cheerfulness must be built entirely upon this rock. There is a deep spiritual logic to this. If your faith is built on the shifting sands of modern culture, corporate stability, or the opinion of peers, your joy will inevitably collapse when those things fail. But when your cheer is anchored to the reality that Jesus is the Son of the living God, you possess a faithful anchor that no storm can move.

This revelation in Matthew 16 is what makes the peace of John 16:33 possible. We can be of good cheer because our Savior is not a mere man offering good advice. He is the one who has beaten the system of sin and death on our behalf because the head of our body has already overcome the feet. Members today can walk through the chaos of the world with a calm, steady gladness of heart, knowing our captain has already won the war. Let us therefore build our joy not on what we see, but on who we know.

Our Lord’s victory was not a feat of sheer human willpower or grit. It was the result of a total, beautiful submission to His Father. Jesus was the first to demonstrate the Reality of Philippians 2:13 Philippians 2:13 for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. By relying entirely on the Father’s sufficiency, he was able to walk contrary to the heavy currents of this world. Even in the face of absolute life shaking opposition, he maintained a posture of simplicity and godly sincerity.

He showed us that when God is our source, our stability does not depend on our surroundings. Immediately after this high point, Jesus introduced a sobering reality. He must go to Jerusalem, be ridiculed, scorned, beaten, abandoned by his followers, crucified, and then raised three days hence. Matthew 16:21 Matthew 16:21 When Peter reacted to this with raw human emotion, Jesus issued a stern correction to him because Peter savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matthew 16:23 Matthew 16:23 as brethren in the world, but not of the world, we will often be tempted to savor the things of men, comfort, ease, and social acceptance.

But Jesus tells us, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Matthew 16:24 Brother Russell notes that there is no other way to enter the kingdom than by self sacrifice and mortifying the flesh. To be of good cheer does not mean avoiding the cross it means carrying it joyfully, knowing that losing your earthly life for his sake results in an eternal weight of glory. To being an overcomer like Jesus, we must embrace a paradox. Our good cheer is directly linked to our willingness to give up our own earthly lives. The Apostle Paul gives us the practical formal formula for this when he declares, I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I die daily. 1st Corinthians 15:31 1st Corinthians 15:31 this dying daily is the very essence of the narrow way Described in Matthew 7:14 Matthew 7:14 because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The way is narrow because there is no room on it for our own self will, our own earthly ambitions, our own definitions of success. Jesus did not overcome the world by being stronger than his enemies in a worldly sense. He overcame by a total beautiful submission to the Father. He said in John 6:38 John 6:38 For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but but the will of him that sent me. He died daily to his own preferences, every morning, so that he could be a perfect vessel for the Father’s purposes.

Because he had already died to his own will, the threats of the world had no power over him. This was the source of his calm, steady gladness of heart, his cheer. How does this apply to us today, dear brethren? We cannot truly overcome the world while we are still white knuckling its tangible securities. It is a spiritual impossibility to hold onto the corporate ladder of the world’s approval with one hand and expect to grasp the Lord’s peace with the other.

The reason we may lack this good cheer is that we are still trying to protect our own earthly interests. But when we die daily, voluntarily surrendering our time, our reputation, and our futures in God’s hands, the world loses its ability to make us feel afraid. If we have already given everything to God, the world has nothing left to take from us. This is the faith that overcometh the world.

It is the courageous confidence, the cheer to let go of the seen and the temporary and to anchor our joy in the unseen and the eternal. By walking this narrow way of daily sacrifice, we find that the strait gate the leads not to a life of gloom but to the most profound and unshakable cheer imaginable. This is a journey, dear brethren, a process that takes an entire lifetime to complete, transporting our minds forward to the final hours. In the flickering torchlight of the Upper room, we find John 16, a holy briefing given by a master who was about to die for the men who would soon abandon him. It is a masterpiece of tender realism and divine hope.

John chapter 16 begins with a all this I have told you so that you will not fall away. Jesus looks directly into the eyes of his young apostles and tells them that the world will mistake persecution for piety. Yet he offers a glorious trade it is for your good that I am going away. This was the great allowance, trading his physical presence for an internal power, the Holy Spirit, to guide them into all truth. Jesus promises that while he must leave them for a while, the Holy Spirit will move into the very corridors of their hearts and minds to lead and to encourage them.

Jesus pulls back the curtain on his Father’s heart, telling these young men, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me. He assures them of direct access to the throne of grace. Every single promise was whispered for a single purpose. To build a bridge to this verse 33 to truly grasp our theme, we must look at the specific language our Lord used. The Greek word here to be of good cheer is it does not describe a fleeting emotion or a bubbly personality.

It describes a state of mind. It means to be courageous, confident, and to possess a bold, unshakable heart in the face of imminent trouble. When Jesus speaks this in the upper room, he isn’t really suggesting that we feel happy. He is issuing a command to be confident, to take courage, and to stand firm because of a reality that exists outside of your circumstances. This brings us to the heart of the matter truth.

Our sale is a sacred functional strength born from the realization that we don’t have to be enough. Because God is our sufficiency is of Him. Because our Lord overcame the world by leaning entirely on the Father’s sufficiency, He has already entered his glory. Now he tells us to take heart because that exact power is bestowed, legally guaranteed to us by our covenant. We are cheerful not because of the journey is easy, but because the outcome is secure.

As we look back at the crucial trials of our Lord and see how the hand of Jehovah upheld Him through every shadow, let it strengthen our personal faith. It is to us the final potential members of his body that he speaks those words of fire. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. This isn’t just history, it is our current reality.

As the Apostle John reminds us, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

There is a beautiful, specific promise in the 91st Psalm for these closing days. Jehovah has commissioned his angels to bear thee up in their hands. Let thou dash thy foot against a stone. Psalm 91:12 Psalm 91:12 in the anatomy of Christ Head and Body the feet are those members living today. That is us brethren.

You and I are the feet members, and you have a vital role in completing the sacrifice of the body. You are the ones who cross the finish line on behalf of the entire body that has walked before you. Because you are at the end of the path where the stones of stumbling are most prevalent. God has promised a unique level of support. The promise is that you will not be dashed against the stone.

This means that we we should expect tribulation. We are also guaranteed that no trial will be permitted to prove too much for us to handle. God is faithful, and he will not suffer you to be tempted beyond that which you are able.

As surely as God’s hand upheld the head, Jesus through the cross so surely will upbear the feet to the end. We are part of the same body, governed by the same spirit and destined for the same glory. Lord willing. Therefore let these words from Luke 12:32 ring in your hearts. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Think of that. The Creator of the universe takes pleasure pleasure in giving you the kingdom. He is not looking for reasons to disqualify you. He is commissioning the very host of heaven to ensure that you make it home. We walk through much tribulation to enter the kingdom, but we walk with the quiet, unconquerable cheer that comes from knowing our Lord is holding our hand every step of the way.

As we descend from the mountain of spiritual privilege into the valleys of our daily lives, we must acknowledge that our internal peace will frequently meet external friction. The secret place gives us the strength to face the world as it truly is, not with the anxiety of the world, but with the quiet confidence of a witness. This leads us to a very practical, contemporary look at their struggles and our younger brethren face in the business space, perhaps professional settings and the classroom today. The struggle you face as a believer in Christ is not just a theory, it is a lived reality. In my own job, my vocation, I quite often meet with engineers, salespeople, supply management professionals.

More and more in those meetings I’m finding myself becoming the old guy in the room. But I truly enjoy working with these yites. These young, bright professionals. I often hear firsthand how they are struggling. They are navigating a barrage of challenges that didn’t exist in the same way generation ago.

Overseas supplier complications, domestic production interruptions, relentless cost increases and the weight of office politics. They’re often caught between angry suppliers and unsatisfied customers, fielding anxious calls and urgent emails that make it profoundly confusing time for them, and this is even before they get home for a family dinner, soccer games and a midweek Bible study. I often make it a point to listen intently to what they tell me. I want them to know that I recognize they have been through a tremendous amount of challenges these last few years.

I try to remind them that they hold a very important role in their employment and that their dedication does not go unnoticed while the world around them is losing sleep. I encourage them, and I encourage you to find the good in your daily life. Do your job to the best of your ability, but remember that you have access to a profound peace because you know God’s plans and purposes. Blessed are your eyes for they see, and blessed are your ears for they hear. Matthew 16:13 Matthew 16:13 you understand why the world is shaking and the glorious outcome, the restitution of all mankind that lies just ahead.

You are not meant to merely survive these life quakes, but to be a comforting light on a sinking ship of modern society. Part of that light is maintaining a healthy balance in life. I always try to leave these young folks with with a positive message. Take the time to take care of yourselves and your family, whatever that may entail. Gather sticks for others.

Listening kindly to a peer’s disappointments or supporting a stressed co worker. You bring the warmth of Christ’s love into a cold uncertainties of today. Your inward peace is secure because it is provided and protected by God Himself. To our younger brethren, we, we older brethren understand that what you are going through is real. The world you’re inheriting today is faster, louder and more demanding than the one we knew at your age.

These challenges are part of your specific Christian development. Just as the apostle Paul was shaped by the literal storms of the Mediterranean, you are being shaped by the metaphorical storms of this hyper connected and busy world. Every time you choose a higher principle over a worldly shortcut, or choose the peace of God over the panic of the day, your new creature is growing. I must confess to you, my dear brethren, that even as an older brother in Christ, my flesh is rattled at times too by what I am seeing and hearing on today’s news. When I see the world systems trembling, I’m reminded of the Scripture that the Lord shall have them in derision.

Psalm 2:4 Psalm 20:4. I see the geopolitical posturing and I hear the echoes of Joel 3:10 where let the weak say I am strong.

It is increasingly evident that the Lord’s great army, the forces of discontent being used to dismantle the old order, is alive and well and doing its work. We find the biblical description of this force in Joel 2:11. Joel 2:11 and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great, for he is strong that executeth his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide the purpose of shaking?

In reprint 5553 three fives and a three. It’s a good article. If you get a chance, read it. It’s called Rejoicing in Tribulation. Brother Russell clarifies that this army is not composed of saints, but the masses of humanity whose interests and passions are being overwhel, overruled by divine providence to break down the current selfish systems.

He writes, the Lord’s great army is dissatisfied and discontented of the whole world. God is using this army for the very purpose of destroying the present order of things to make ready the new order. When my flesh feels that rattle of anxiety, my new creature finds peace in this specific knowledge. We are not witnessing a world that is falling apart in a random or chaotic way. We are witnessing a world that is being shaken so that those things which cannot be shaken, the kingdom of God, may be established and may remain.

The cheer I feel today is the quiet confidence of that architect of the universe is using even the wrath of men to praise him while the world sees a disaster. We, through the lens of truth, see the necessary clearing of the ground for the desire of all nations to come. Therefore, let the systems tremble. Our anchor is cast within the veil, and our captain has the situation entirely under control.

We must remember that although these challenges in the world loom large today, they are utterly, utterly incomparable to the peaceful blessings and the radiant glories that our Heavenly Father has in store for all of us, for all mankind. As for the Apostle Paul so beautifully captures in Romans 8:18.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Think of that. Every supply chain disruption, every angry email and every geopolitical tremor is but a light affliction when placed on the scale of eternity. The Father is not just preparing a place for us. He is preparing us for the place.

If you look for the chaos, you will certainly find it. But if you look for the good, if you look for the evidence of the Father’s hand moving behind the scenes to bring forth the kingdom of righteousness, you will find it there too. Look for the good, dear brethren, and you will find the very face of God smiling through the clouds. But we must also remember that the Father does not expect us to find this good or maintain this cheer in isolation. He has not only provided us with his own divine strength, but he has also placed us within a family designed to support us.

My dear brethren, as you navigate the trials of this present time, please realize that you are never, never walking alone. You are lovingly supported by our Lord, a magnificent cloud of witnesses and a rich spiritual lineage that spans generations. We are continually strengthened by the faithful brethren of the past, whose voices still reach out and encourage us through recorded talks, profound discourses and the enduring chronicles of their faith. Yet our support is not merely historical. You also have an entire world of living brethren to rely on.

Today. Through the sweet bond of the Holy Spirit, we are united as a global family. From our local fellowship here in Bellevue to every corner of the earth. As a beautiful, practical example of this present care, Brother John Slavic in the Orlando, Florida class has thoughtfully and methodically prepared a detailed list of experienced brethren and who are eager to assist you. Anyone with legal, medical, career, accounting or spiritual matters, whatever.

Should you ever need guidance in any of these areas, please reach out to Brother John directly or myself, and we’ll put you in contact. This is a perfect picture of the body of Christ in action. A global family. Tenderly and practically bearing up the feet along the narrow way to have this help, we must invoke it. We must live in an atmosphere of prayer, praying without ceasing.

If our Lord needed to retire from busy scenes to find quiet communion with His Father, how much more do we? In a season of heavy trial, the darkness may deepen until the stars of hope seem to vanish. Yet if we hold on to the omnipotent arm of Jehovah and say, nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done, his grace will always be sufficient.

All of us, regardless of age, are bombarded with millions of pieces of data every single day. Through devices, through peers, through our workplace. Without a filter, our minds will become as fragmented, as anxious as the world around you. But do not think you but you do not have to think according to the latest thoughts. You think through the lens of the Holy Spirit.

Brother Russell provides a clear insight on this the Lord wishes us to learn, not as children fix certain rules, but as philosophers, the fixed principles which can be applied. Good article in reprint 4006. This is a key to navigating Today. Rules tell you what to do in one specific situation, but principles tell you how to be in every situation. Think of it in terms of growth.

As children, we are told, do not touch the stove, and we obey out of simple fear or respect for authority, even though we do not truly understand the why. But as we mature and we grow in our knowledge of God’s laws, we realize the principle of the matter. We understand that the stove is hot, and because of the laws of thermodynamics, if we touch it, we will inevitably burn ourselves. We no longer need a rule because we understand the reality of the heat. In the same way, brethren, you are moving beyond memorizing Thou shalt nots.

You are becoming spiritual philosophers who understand the heart of the Father and maybe more importantly, the heat of the world Spirit. When you cultivate this mind of Christ, you gain a wonderful and powerful tool, the ability to choose what you allow into your consecrated heart. I’m reminded of a brief but powerful thought shared by our dear brother Obie Albert, at the General Convention many years ago. He described driving his car one day, way back in the 1900s, when car radios had those mechanical push buttons. As he was listening to the broadcast, some of you know what I’m talking about.

He began to really discern the content of the program. He didn’t wait for a rule to tell him what to do. He simply asked himself, why am I listening to this? It is not good for my new creature. In that moment of clarity, he simply reached out turned it off.

My dear brethren, this is a lesson for all of us in the digital age. Whether it’s social media feed that leaves you feeling anxious, a conversation filled with office politics or or entertainment that dulls your spiritual sensitivity, you have the fix the power of a fixed principle. You can simply turn it off. Anything that is not pleasing to our Heavenly Father or healthy for your new creature does not deserve a place in your mind. By applying these filters, you protect your peace and ensure that your mental filter remains clear and focused on the things above.

While thinking and discerning through principles is vital, we must also be deeply sensitive to God’s active leading in our lives. I learned a very important and personal lesson on this topic when my mom and I several years ago visited Sister Mary Dewaice in the final days of her life. Sister Mary and the entire Dewaice family was a big part of my formidable years and a leading influence on me. Moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan and also finding Sister Sarah.

On her deathbed, I asked Sister Mary how her relationship was with her Lord and Savior. We talked. Beautiful talk. She told me. One thing she wished she would have done better in her life was to be more open to God.

Brother Sam touched on this as well. Be more open to God, meaning actively looking for the opportunities that he provided to her regardless of where she was in her walk. Before I left her bedside, I asked her if there was anything else I could do for her. With a twinkle in her eye, she asked me for a piece of coconut cream pie. She told me that she had always loved it but hadn’t had a slice in a while.

I knew exactly where to go. A local bakery called Arnie’s in Grand Rapids.

If you ever come to Grand Rapids, I’ll take you. It was the same place Mary and Jean Dewis used to take me when I first in Grand Rapids. When I first arrived in Grand Rapids as a young man fresh out of college, I had to travel for a few days for work, but as soon as I returned, I brought that pie. I bought the pie and drove it over to the Dewy’s home. As I pulled into the driveway, my heart sank.

I saw several cars I hadn’t seen in a long time. I gripped the steering wheel tight, thinking that I was too late. But then Leah, her daughter, came out to meet me. She told me that by a beautiful providence, the whole family had gathered together for a nice meal with her mom. When I explained Sister Mary’s wish for a coconut cream pie, Leah simply smiled with a tear in her eye and said, thank you.

We needed a good dessert. It was a small act, but it was a moment of good cheer provided by the Lord for a family in their house of need. Friends, I had many reasons not to buy that pie. Not to take it, not to do it, but one to do it, and I did.

Sister Mary finished her course just three days later. To me, that pie wasn’t just dessert. It was a reminder that the Lord cares about the smallest details of our hearts and he uses us, the members of the body, to provide peace and joy to one another right until the very end of the path. All of us have examples in our lives where the Lord opened a door for us, and yet we withheld and did not pass through. Perhaps it was a witness opportunity, a call to service, a prompt to check on a struggling brother or sister, or simply, yes, a piece of pie.

This lesson is deeply personal for me. I too am trying to be more open to God and His leadings. To be of good cheer today means having our spiritual eyes wide open, expecting the Father to work through us in small, quiet ways every single day. Do not just wait for the big life quakes to find meaning. Find meaning in the open doors he placed before you each and every day.

I thought he was coming up. Let us bring the beautiful promise of John 16:33 deeply into our hearts. When life feels chaotic and your mind races, Jesus is offering you a quiet, unshakable internal peace, anchored entirely in the precious promises. Please do not be alarmed by the inevitable friction you will feel with the world. This distance simply proves your new creature is growing and drawing intimately closer to the Lord.

In the midst of this transformation, he tenderly invites you to be of good cheer, to stand with courage, bold confidence rather than fear. Take heart and rest, dear brethren, for your Savior has already overcome the world. You are not fighting for victory today, but living beautifully from the victory he has already secured for you. Let us turn to the Apostle Paul. Shipwreck off the island of Melita.

I looked up Melita, present day Malta, as a blueprint for your life today. This is not just an ancient sea story. It is a spiritual case study of how to be of good cheer when the systems we rely on begin to fragment. Imagine you’re on a voyage in your career. You are sailing alongside professional colleagues, your young engineers, managers, professionals, bosses in the great, seemingly unsinkable ship of modern society.

Then the storm hits. It might be a massive organizational collapse, a sudden economic downturn, or a disruption in global supply chains that no one predicted in Acts 27. The worldly leaders did everything. They knew what to do. They cast out anchors of strategy and hoarded resources.

But the storm was simply too strong. Today your peers are doing the same, relying on market data and clever maneuvering. But when these fail, and they will, they are left in total despair. Throughout that storm, when the sky was black for 14 days and everyone else had lost hope and courage, Paul stood up, and he stood out.

He was entirely calm. He didn’t lecture them on their poor navigation. He exhorted them to be of good cheer. Where did this cheer come from? It was rooted in his absolute submission to God’s will.

Paul knew that no matter how the wind blew, he must stand before Caesar. He had a divine appointment that the storm could not cancel. Dear brethren, when worldly institutions crack, your peers will look to you. You have the anchor of faith, the unshakable assurance that the Father is at the helm of your life. Your calm presence in a high stress office or a failing project is the greatest witness you can offer.

As we all know, it is sometimes better to see a sermon than to hear one. As you know, the ship was finally lost and all 276 souls dragged themselves onto the beach, wet and shivering in the freezing rain. Paul was the hero of the hour, the man who had just seen an angel and saved their lives. Yet we find him doing something unexpected. What was he doing?

Gathering sticks. Acts 28:3. Acts 28:3. Dear brethren, this is your instruction. Emmanuel.

When a crisis hits your workplace or your ecclesia, you do not stand apart in spiritual superiority. You gather the sticks. You are the first to serve. You are the one who helps a laid off co worker update their resume. You are the one who listens kindly to a manager’s disappointments.

By performing the lowly tasks with a cheerful heart, you build a fire of God’s love that warms everyone around you. As Paul laid his sticks on the fire, a viper fastened onto his hand. The shipwrecked survivors watched in horror, expecting him to swell up and to die. But Paul simply shook it off into the fire and survived with no harm. When you are busy serving others, a viper may strike you.

It might come as unfair criticism, office slander, or the sting of being unappreciated. The world expects these things to embitter you, to kill your spirit. But because you are hid in the cleft of the rock, you can simply shake it off. The venom of the world, bitterness, resentment and fear cannot kill your joy. You stay focused on the fire, focused on the service, and focused on the master.

Paul’s journey is a powerful reminder for us today. It proves the Lord does not always stop the shipwreck from happening. He may permit the corporate restructuring, the health challenge, family troubles, or the social storm to run its course. While he may not always save the ship, he always provides his children with exactly what they need to endure the situation.

This way. To escape isn’t always an exit from the trial. Often it is the internal strength, the specific scripture, or the helping hand of a brother that allows you to bear it and to emerge with your faith intact. You can be of good cheer because you are never in a situation where the Lord has not already provided the necessary supply of his spirit to see you through to the other side. It can be a common misconception that a life of faith is a life of ease.

In reality, those who follow the Master often incur more than their fair share of difficulty. But Jesus left us with a source of comfort. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.

God is currently selecting a little flock to serve as the future leaders and healers of the human race. He knows. He knows. Those who overcome their own trials today are the ones best equipped to assist others during the millennial kingdom. Our trials are proof of divine love.

Discipline is proof of sonship. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned. Romans 8:18. Romans 8:18.

To help us grasp the depth of our theme, we must recognize that internal peace is not a passive reaction to external ease. It is an active, sacred choice. A choice in the consecrated life. We are never victims of our environment unless we choose to be. We always retain the right to choose our response to the world.

Flesh and the devil. Human existence provides a very powerful confirmation of this spiritual truth through the life of Viktor Frankl. Many of you know who that is. He’s a psychiatrist, or was a psychiatrist who survived the horrors of the Holocaust in concentration camps. Frankl observed that while the guards could take away a prisoner’s clothes, their food, and even their physical health, they could not take away one final thing.

The last of the human freedoms. To choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance. For us today, this is a vital realization. You may not be able to choose the market conditions, the demands of your marriage, or the political climate of your country, but you have the absolute right to choose your spiritual posture. This is the heart of our theme.

Be of good cheer. Jesus is not suggesting we wait for a happy feeling to wash over us. He is commanding us to choose, and a stand of courage and Boldness in the face of trouble. We see this defiant choice beautifully illustrated in the words of the prophet Habakkuk.

He describes a total economic and agricultural collapse. No figs, no grapes, no cattle, nothing. Habakkuk 3, 17 and 18. Habakkuk 3,17 and 18. Yet in the face of total external ruin, he looks around him.

He uses the word yet. He says yet I will rejoice in Jehovah. That yet is his choice. It is a decision to look past the empty stalls and the empty yards and see the full heart of God. Similarly, we look to Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail.

Their backs were bleeding and their feet were in stocks, but their minds were free. They made a conscious choice at midnight to what? Sing hymns? They chose praise over protest. This choice was so powerful that it shook the very foundation of the prison and led to the jailer’s conversion.

When you choose your attitude, your response becomes a witness that can change the lives of those watching you. Choice also extends to how we interpret interpret our trials. Frank, you. Frankl argued that suffering ceases to be suffering the moment it finds meaning. Suffering ceases to be suffering the moment it finds meaning.

Very similar to Romans 8:28. Right as brethren, we find that meaning in the hands of the master refiner. You have the right to choose how you will view your trials. You can choose to see them as random tragedies, or you can choose to see them as divine appointments for our growth of our new creature. See how I’m doing?

Till when?

Okay.

How much longer do I have good things? I’m going to speed it up a little bit. Ah, let’s see. I love the story of Joseph. You know it very well.

But I love this, this, this verse. But as for ye, as for you, ye thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Genesis 50:20. Genesis 50:20.

If you get a minute, go back and read the story of Joseph. I love it. I want to talk about a few things quickly. To be of good cheer, we must master what today’s business performance coaches call the skill of finishing. In our modern world, a world of constant notifications and fragmented attention, we may become professional starters, but amateur finishers.

I’m guilty of that. We start a new study, a new witness effort or a plan to attend a convention. But when the initial excitement fades, the task remains unfinished. Unfinished tasks create massive mental clutter and spiritual noise that aggressively drain our joy. When we leave things undone, we carry a heavy burden of Someday, someday I’ll do this, someday I’ll do that.

But when we finish, we experience the quiet well done that brings immediate refreshing peace. As brethren, finishing is a sacred skill because it mirrors the character of our Lord who, and we all know this, at the end of his earthly trial, his earthly life, he could triumphantly declare, it is finished. John 19:30 Without a plan to finish, our spiritual goals are merely wishes, and wishes have no feet to walk and no strength to endure. To help bridge the gap between our new creature and our flesh, we can apply a process known as the PDCA Cycle Plan Do Check Act.

This framework was championed by W. Edwards Deming, an American physicist and statistician. Interestingly, Deming’s history offers a lesson in good cheer as well. Following World War II, Deming tried to implement these quality improvement methods in the United States. But the American auto industry, flush with post war success, was complacent and largely ignored him. Undeterred, Deming took his plan do check act philosophy to Japan in the 1950s.

And as you know, Japan in 1950 was a nation that was shattered and flattened by war. The Japanese leaders were desperate for a way to rebuild and they listened. By applying the diligence of this cycle, they transformed their economy from one associated with low quality junk to a world leader in manufacturing excellence. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the United States rediscovered. Deming realized that his process was the secret to the Japanese economic miracle.

Just as a shattered nation used this PDC cycle to rebuild, we can use the same cycle of our soul to build a resilient, joyful character that stands firm even when our personal world is shaken. So first, I’ll run through this real quick plan. A cheerful day does not happen by accident. It is intentionally designed. It is vital to have a concrete plan for your major life goals, your consecration, your marriage and your career.

Because without a plan, a goal is merely a wish that will eventually fade away. Consecration is not a one time wish of intent. It is a daily plan of service. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thought shall be established. Proverbs 16:3 Proverbs 16:3.

I also like the morning resolve. Read that. What shall I render unto the Lord? That’s a very good way to set up your thoughts for your day. Second is do.

Once the plan is set, we move to do. This is where we strictly apply the skill of finishing. We do not lazily start our daily studies or a walk of consecration. We do them in excellence. Finishing as a project, even a small one, brings a quiet well done to the heart and provides immediate internal peace.

This consistency brings the quiet, unconquerable confidence needed to face a world that speaks too loudly. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all of your might. Ecclesiastes 9:10. Ecclesiastes 9: 10. The check phase is perhaps the most important of our spiritual health.

We must pause to observe our results. Did I maintain my cheer today? Was the quality of my response to that difficult supplier or angry customer worthy of the Lord? This is the process of moving from an inherited faith to an own conviction by honestly examining how our principles hold up under pressure. Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone.

Galatians 6:4. Galatians 6:4. The last part is act, and I thought it was kind of interesting that Deming, later in his life, changed ACT to study. Kind of interesting.

Finally, we act by refining our approach. If we find ourselves losing our chair in the messy middle of a trial, we don’t despair. Instead, we use God’s grace to adjust our filter and try again. We do not settle for good enough in our character when better is possible through the Holy Spirit. By continually cycling through this process, Plan, do, check, act.

Plan, do, check, act. We transform the shaking of life into a steady, positive disposition. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

My dear brethren, when we apply this diligent process to our faith, we find that good cheer is not a fleeting emotion we wait for, but a sacred skill we cultivate each and every day. But a skill, once learned, must be put into practice. If the PDCA of the engine is our spiritual growth, then our daily habits are the steering wheel that keeps us on the narrow way. I have five lessons, but I’m going to hold them. If you’re interested, come see me next day or two and I’ll share them with you.

Before we conclude our thoughts, I want to share something deeply personal with you. Today is May 16, 2026. You know what’s coming. This date is not just the day of our gathering beautiful convention here in Bellevue. It would have been the hundredth birthday of my mother, our dear sister, Halida Malinowski.

She was born exactly one century ago today, on May 16, 1926. She walked this narrow way with faithfulness for many years and finally finished her course just a few months ago, on January 25, 2026.

Since her passing, our family, Sarah, John, Will and myself have experienced a beautiful phenomenon. My boys, Will and John, our boys, Will and John will often turn to Sarah and myself and say, you know, Nana’s still giving to us. Throughout our days, in the middle of a laugh, a tear, or a quiet moment of decision, we find her giving through the thoughts she shared, the comments she made, and the special moments we carry in our hearts. That’s my throat. I’m getting choked up.

Literally. It is fitting, then, that on this special day, I leave you with one final thought. A gift from my mom.

It was her favorite sentiment from Pastor Russell, and it is the ultimate secret to being of good cheer in a world of transition.

The truth is the Lord’s keeping power. You keep the truth, and the truth will keep you. The truth is the Lord’s keeping power. You keep the truth, and the truth will keep you. My dear brethren, no matter how much the world shakes around you, hold fiercely to your faith.

We are far too close to a heavenly port to suffer a shipwreck. Now, to be of good cheer is to rest in the quiet, unconquerable confidence that the architect of the universe has your life entirely under control. He gave you this high and holy calling at the very close of this age because he knows you can walk it. When you make mistakes, remember that Jesus factored your weaknesses into his beautiful plan before you were even born. His boundless grace covers every single one of them.

Therefore, expect tribulation, but cling tenaciously to his peace. Step in tomorrow not with the heavy anxiety of the world, but with the joyful certainty that your captain has already won the war. Be of good courage. Be of good cheer. He has overcome the world, and by his grace, so will you.

Amen.

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