[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning.! It is good to be here. Appreciate the devotional this morning.
[0:14] How will we grow?! Be obedient.
[0:33] We'll soon head downhill instead of uphill. The message this morning, trusting God in adversity or being faithful in trials.
[0:51] Yes, maybe not the most popular subject, but I believe that this is where the Lord has taken me for today.
[1:03] We'll start in 1 Peter. In 1 Peter, we have a few verses. In chapter 4 and verse 12, it says, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
[1:30] But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. You know, the fiery trial, the trials of life, the situation, those unpleasant situations, that we go through, they are not comfortable.
[1:50] They are not what we like in the natural. But I believe that they serve a purpose in our life that nothing else can do.
[2:07] The fiery trial, he says, Think it not strange when all of a sudden you find yourself in the midst of a fiery trial.
[2:20] Don't think it's strange. Why? Because it's a part of the Christian life. You know, we heard a few of those verses in Revelation to those that overcome.
[2:37] You know, how will we overcome if it's not a battle? If there's no battle to be won, there's no overcoming, is there?
[2:48] Without a battle, there's no victory. The fiery trial that comes our way. He says, This trial comes to try us.
[3:03] And don't think it's strange as if this were something that is uncommon to a Christian life. No, but it's a common part of the Christian life and the overcoming life that we are living.
[3:22] I believe we've been affected. You know, that, you know, when things go wrong, we want to, we want to, and it's okay to make sure that we're on the right track.
[3:43] That's good. But just because circumstances turn against you does not say you're on the wrong track.
[3:54] Go back and look. Have you walked in obedience like we heard this morning? If you have been walking in obedience and you find yourself in the midst of the fiery trial, just trust in the Lord and keep walking.
[4:11] Amen. Yes. You know, in chapter 1, I want to read a few verses.
[4:27] 1 Peter chapter 1. He talks about that we have a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[4:46] Verse 4. For to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
[5:06] Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found in the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[5:32] The trial of our faith. Here he says, it is much more precious than gold that perishes. You know, here on this earth, there's nothing more precious than gold, is there?
[5:49] No, but in the currency of heaven, there's something that is more precious than gold. It is a faith that is tried in the fire. It is your faith.
[6:01] When it is tried and you come out as pure as gold, it is more precious than gold itself. Yes. In Psalm 66, 10, for thou, O Lord, for thou, O God, has proved us, thou has tried us as silver is tried.
[6:28] Isaiah says, behold, I have refined thee, not as silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. In Malachi 3, he that, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
[6:59] What does he give here as a reason for this purifying work, for these trials, these, these hard times that come?
[7:12] They come to purify us. They come to set us free from the hindrances in our lives. You know, gold and silver, they are refined by heat, and that is what the trial is in our life.
[7:28] It is bringing the heat to burn out the dross and to, to, to remove those undesirable things. Notice Malachi 3, 3, he says, he will purify the sons of Levi.
[7:51] You know, the sons of Levi, they were chosen by God to, to do the work of the tabernacle, to, to offer the sacrifices. And the priests were, were of the, of the Levites.
[8:04] But why? And he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver.
[8:18] Why? That they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And this is what he is after in our life, is that, that our offering to him will be a pure offering, that our life will be free from the hindrances and the things that hold us back.
[8:42] That will be, we will be free from, from all those earthly things, the things of this world that hinder and that contaminate us and keep us from fulfilling all the will of God.
[8:59] Now in, in the book of James in chapter one, you know, he has much the same to say here, but he adds some more. He's in verse two, my brother and counted all joy.
[9:12] When you fall into divers temptations, counted all joy. Do we, that, that's a little tough, isn't it?
[9:23] But he admonishes us. He says, counted all joy. When you fall into these, into these temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith work of patience, you know, we must, we must, you know, and we'll look at this more later.
[9:43] But let me just say this, that as we face trials and temptation, we, we face those hard things in life.
[9:54] And, you know, let, let's realize that God allows them to purify us. But let, let us, let us trust God in these.
[10:09] You know, and we'll look at the children of Israel, how they came into the wilderness, and, and God was providing for them.
[10:20] He, he, he, he miraculously brought them out of Egypt and, and through the Red Sea, and he destroyed the Egyptian army behind them. And all of that.
[10:32] And they came into the wilderness. And the Bible tells us that they tempted God. What did they do that they tempted God?
[10:43] They said, well, can God provide a table here in the wilderness? Can he provide food for us? You know, they were doubting God.
[10:53] They were doubting God in the middle of, of, of all of that in the middle of all the miracles that God had done. They were doubting him.
[11:05] And it is so with us today. God has delivered us with a, with a great and a, a wonderful deliverance. He has delivered us out of the power of this world.
[11:18] And now, when we face trials, let us, let us trust him. The same God that has delivered us, the same God that has birthed us anew and given us this divine life in our heart.
[11:37] The same God, the same God, he will carry us through the trials of life. He will carry us through the, the hard things that we face.
[11:49] If we will, but trust him, if we will walk in submission to him, if we will give ourselves to him, he will give himself to us.
[12:03] I believe that. Yes. Back to James. Chapter one.
[12:14] The trying of your faith worketh patience. Verse four. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
[12:34] Patience. You know, I'll be the first to admit, I, I, I've, I've struggled with that. I've, I've lacked patience.
[12:45] Probably still do. Patience. You know, there's other words that, that come into, into mind when you look at patience. You know, like endurance.
[12:59] Endurance. That's a word out of the Bible. It's used. Yes. And when we, what, why, why do we need to endure?
[13:10] It's because, because we're in a hard fight. We're in a hard work. And it takes endurance. Endurance.
[13:23] Steadfastness. Patience. Perseverance. Yes. Speaks of difficulty. What is our attitude in the midst of trial?
[13:38] Is it, Oh, do we, are we tempted to think that the Lord has let us down? Or can we think, can we realize that his name will be glorified as we walk faithfully through the hard times of life?
[13:59] The genuineness of your faith must be tested.
[14:17] You know, what, how do, how do you know? How does God know that you love him more than anything else?
[14:29] How does God know that you will trust him in the hardest of situations? There's only one way. That is to allow that test.
[14:41] And to see where we're at. To see what we will allow in our life. James 1.5.
[15:00] If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, shall be given him. But let him ask in faith nothing wavering.
[15:12] For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
[15:23] A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Verse 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.
[15:42] Now, I'm going to go to the book of Job. A man that was tested in ways beyond anything, I believe, that we are ever tested in.
[16:03] And we'll just, we'll be picking out. We'll just read, read a few verses here and there as we go through this.
[16:17] You know, it starts out telling us that there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.
[16:32] And it goes on to tell us what all he owned and had and his family and all of that. But we don't know who wrote the book of Job. And so how do we know about that verse that that is really who Job was?
[16:47] Well, God confirmed it. One day, in verse 7, you know, it says that Satan came along with the sons of God.
[17:01] And God asked him what he was up to, and he said, from going to and fro in the earth, from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
[17:26] So God himself confirms to us that Job was an upright man. And God himself said Job is a perfect man.
[17:38] And he fears God and he eschews evil. God said this about him. Well, Satan said, Well, that's just because you protect him.
[17:54] I mean, anybody would serve you the way you've blessed him, the prosperity you've given him, and nothing ever goes wrong for him.
[18:05] Anybody would serve you. Well, we know the story. God allowed him. God allowed him to take away all his belongings.
[18:23] His sons and his daughters and all of his cattle and things that he owned were gone. And how did Job respond?
[18:39] In verse 20, Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Now imagine Satan watching Job.
[18:53] He's over there just a little bit away and he's watching Job. Now what's he going to do? He surely this will upset him. But instead of that, Job fell to the ground and he worshipped God.
[19:10] He worshipped God. And he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb. Naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
[19:21] Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. You know, And let me just point something out here.
[19:41] And I believe this is the most important thing. It was the most important thing, I believe, in Job's life.
[19:53] And it is for us today. Is that we have this relationship with God and we know him.
[20:04] We know Jesus. We know who he is and we have communion with him.
[20:14] And we learn to trust him. We learn to trust him. You know, We are bought with a price.
[20:27] We belong to him. And you can trust Jesus with all of life. We find here Job.
[20:40] He trusted God with his whole life. He trusted God when everything went wrong. When everything was taken away from him.
[20:52] He still trusted God. Why? Because I believe he had a relationship with God and he knew who God was. And he knew that God would take care of him.
[21:06] Even, you know, And I don't know if we'll necessarily get there today. But, you know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You know, what did they say?
[21:18] How did they respond to the wicked king? They said, Our God will deliver us. But if not, We will not bow.
[21:31] King, it does not matter. If we die in that fire, It does not matter. We will not bow. Because we belong to God And we trust our God.
[21:45] And he will deliver us from you, O king. It doesn't matter if it's in life or in death. He will deliver us from you. But they had those three words.
[22:00] If not, You know, Two words. If not, How is it with you? How would you respond?
[22:14] If not. If God does not deliver you Before you're in the depth of the trial, But he allows you to get into it. And he allows you to hit bottom in this trial.
[22:28] Do you still trust him? He's still on the throne. You know, God is still on the throne. It doesn't matter what situation we find ourselves in.
[22:40] It doesn't matter how wrong things might go in our eyes. You know, God is after something in our lives That is worth more than gold.
[23:01] The currency of heaven. Yes. More precious than gold that perishes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[23:12] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Job.
[23:27] Well, We won't spend a lot of time here. But, I do have some verses I want to pick out here.
[23:41] In Job 13. Job. Job. Job. You know, Can we, Can we say this along with Job in the midst of our trials?
[24:13] In the midst of the hardest situation of our life? You know, You know, You know, We didn't finish the story that, You know, After, After, After, After Job worshiped God, Then, God allowed Satan to touch his body, And he brought boils, Which we all know that.
[24:37] But, I wanted to say that, Because, You know, It didn't, That wasn't the end of it for Job. And even his wife said, Do you still hold your integrity?
[24:50] Why don't you just curse God and die? You know, To her, There was no hope. There was no future. There was nothing. All their wealth was gone.
[25:01] Their family was gone. And Job was, Might as well have been dead. But in Job 13, 15, Though he slay me, Yet will I trust in him.
[25:20] Though he slay me, Yet will I trust in him. Oh, What a, What a word. What a word.
[25:31] Out of the mouth of a man. That had lost everything. And was in total misery. 24 hours of the day. Seven days a week.
[25:43] We don't know how long. But we know his three friends came, And they sat there for a week, Before they could even talk. So it must have been quite a while.
[25:58] Though he slay me, Yet will I trust in him. You know, I believe that It is of utmost importance That we know the God that we serve.
[26:11] And we walk with him. That we, That we, Have confidence in him. We know him. In such a way. That, That we've laid our life on the altar.
[26:25] And whatever comes our way, We will trust him. You know, There's Christians today, That are being persecuted. They're being beaten.
[26:36] They're put in prison. And they're being killed, For the name of the Lord Jesus. The prosperity gospel, Didn't help them, Did it?
[26:49] No, But the Lord Jesus did. He was, Standing there, Waiting on them, To come home to heaven. Hallelujah. Yes.
[26:59] Hallelujah. Yes. Job 13, 15 to 18, Though he slay me, Yet will I trust in him.
[27:20] But I will maintain Mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation. For an hypocrite shall not come before him. Hear diligently my speech and my declaration with your ears.
[27:37] Behold, Now I have ordered my cause. I know that I shall be justified. You know, In the midst of this dark trial, This dark time in his life, Job knew his standing with God.
[28:00] Job knew. How did he know? Because he knew God. He had a relationship with God. And he knew, He knew God. You know, In chapter 19.
[28:15] Oh, I marvel at this verse. Every time I read it. Every time I read it. In verse 25.
[28:25] For I know that my Redeemer liveth. And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, Yet in my flesh shall I see God.
[28:41] You know, Job. Job had a confidence. He knew who his Redeemer was.
[28:55] And he had confidence in him, In God. We don't know when Job lived for sure.
[29:06] But it was in the Old Testament for sure. But Job knew that there was a Redeemer. And this Redeemer would come. And he would stand upon the earth someday.
[29:19] Oh, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, If Job could have such a relationship with God, What is holding us back?
[29:34] Now in the New Testament, We have the Holy Ghost within us. The Holy Ghost here. To strengthen us.
[29:45] To live within us. And to bring victory in every situation of life. Job is a great challenge, I believe.
[29:59] He's a great challenge to us today. In chapter 23, verse 6.
[30:10] He says, Will he, will God, Plead against me with his great power? No. But he would put strength in me.
[30:24] Job knew that Even the strength he had was from God. And that God was not coming to condemn him, But to come and to give him strength.
[30:40] Yes. But, verse 10, He knoweth the way that I take.
[30:50] When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. You know, Somehow Job knew. Somehow Job knew.
[31:02] And I believe it was because he knew God. And he walked with God. And even in this trial, He knew. He knew. He knew that it was a trial To purify him.
[31:24] Yes. Verse 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.
[31:35] I have esteemed the words of his mouth More than my necessary food. Job.
[31:48] This is how he viewed God. The words of God's mouth. They are more necessary to me Than this physical food That sustains this earthly body.
[32:07] Yes. Job. Hallelujah. When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold. Yes.
[32:17] And we know That after A while, You know, And we won't We won't go there And look at You know, The What God When God came And he challenged Job And all of that.
[32:34] But in the end, He received Double of what he had before. And I read a couple verses In Psalm Psalm 46 Psalm 46 1 and 2 The Psalms are so full.
[33:00] God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, Though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, There is a river, The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
[33:41] God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that right early.
[33:52] You know, Our God will not forsake us. He has promised to be with us. He's promised to be with us Into the end of the age.
[34:07] He is our refuge and our strength. And he is our help in trouble. Do we turn to him when we are in trouble?
[34:18] Do we turn to him when things go sideways? Do we turn to him when there's problems in life? He has the answer for our every need.
[34:36] He is our refuge and our strength. He is our help in trouble. Because of this, we will not fear. We will not fear even though the earth be removed.
[34:48] You know, though everything go wrong and then. So the earth be removed. That would be very drastic. Would it not?
[34:58] We will still not fear. We will still not fear. Why? Because we know our God. We know our God is in control.
[35:09] We know that he is on the throne of the universe. Hallelujah. Yes, so the mountains be carried away.
[35:22] The waters roar and are troubled. Oh, hallelujah. There is a river. The streams whereof they make glad the city of God.
[35:33] There is a river, the Holy Ghost river. It makes glad the church of God. Hallelujah. That is where our hope is today.
[35:44] Is in this river. The river of God. And it is in our midst. It is in our midst. And if it is in our midst. And if it is flowing through our heart.
[35:56] What does he say? We will not be moved. We will not be moved. God is in our midst. And we will not be moved.
[36:09] God will help us. And that right early. You know, we might think he's a little late. But it says here early. You know, Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus.
[36:22] What? Three days late? No, he was right on time. Was he not? Yes. The heathen raged.
[36:33] The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
[36:45] Oh, yes. Be still and know. That I am God. God is still God.
[36:56] It doesn't matter. The hard time you're going through. The trials. The temptations. How many things have gone wrong.
[37:08] How many things did not turn out the way you hoped. God is still on the throne. He says, be still and know that I am God.
[37:25] He will be exalted among the heathen. He will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
[37:37] Oh, hallelujah. Have you run to him for refuge? You know, when these trials come, do not let them separate you from God, but run to him.
[37:56] Run to him. He will keep you. Run to him. He will protect you. Run to him. He will be the answer for your every need.
[38:07] In the storms of life, God is our refuge and our strength. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thine own understanding.
[38:25] Doubt and wavering. An imperfect faith. What does that come from? I believe it comes from not knowing our God the way we should.
[38:41] Not having that personal walk with him. That personal knowledge. You know, do you know him? Do you really know him?
[38:53] Are you walking with him? Do you know his voice? Do you know the voice of the spirit of God? Do you trust him? You know, and thinking of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.
[39:09] You know, what they faced. What they faced that day. You know, they could have tried to, you know, well, we'll just bow and then we'll confess and we'll make things right.
[39:26] You know, God will forgive us. No. How could they do what they did? They loved not their lives unto the death.
[39:37] So if it costs them their life, fine. Fine. You know, Hebrews, and we might look at this, but a man is not truly free till he is free from the fear of death.
[39:54] Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death. Well, let's turn to Hebrews chapter 10.
[40:21] I just want to read these couple verses in chapter 2. It's talking about Jesus here. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he, Jesus, he also himself likewise took part of the same.
[40:43] That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
[41:02] You know what he's saying here? The human race is in bondage because of the fear of death. You know, all of us, we're going to die someday unless the Lord returns.
[41:21] Do you fear death? Are you set free from the fear of death? The fear of death is bondage.
[41:33] It's bondage. And the only way to be set free from it is to give our life to the Lord Jesus, to lay down our life for him.
[41:46] Yes, now let's go to chapter 10. Let's start reading in verse 32.
[42:03] But call to remembrance the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, persecutions, or whatever it was that they faced.
[42:21] It started when they were illuminated. It started when they came to the Lord Jesus, and they were born again. They gave the heart and life to Jesus.
[42:33] That is when it started. And they endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
[42:53] For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[43:10] Look at this. These people, he says, they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. You know, the things of this life, the material things that we have.
[43:26] Says they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Why? Because they had a vision of the heavenly. They had a vision of the heavenly, knowing in yourselves ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[43:44] Jesus, in Matthew, he said, to lay up treasures in heaven, not on the earth where moth and rust is corrupt and thieves break through in steel, but to lay up our treasure in heaven where it will never pass away, where it will always, it will always bring, it will always bring a return.
[44:12] You know, isn't that what we're, you know, in this earthly, the earthly things, we're always concerned about getting a return for our investment. I believe the heavenly investment is the best we can do, the best we can make here on earth.
[44:29] Verse 35. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
[44:49] The confidence that we have, the trust that we have, the faith and trust, the confidence we have in the Lord Jesus. Let's not cast it away.
[45:02] Let's not, you know, when the going gets hard and tough, let's not let it slip. Let's not be discouraged.
[45:17] But keep our confidence in him. Why? It says here, it has great recompense of reward. He that endureth unto the end shall be saved.
[45:34] Verse 36. Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
[45:47] Patience. Yeah, that's a word we don't like, right? Patience. Patience. Patience. You know, I think it's in James where he says that we should, we should take, we should take the prophets of old for an example in the things that they suffered and in patience.
[46:12] You know, most of those prophets, they had, they lived a hard life. they were hunted, they were chased, they were ridiculed, they were killed.
[46:27] But he says to take them for an example. You have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God, that we would receive the promise.
[46:41] Yes, the promise of eternal life. For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. You know, 2,000 years ago, when he wrote this, almost, 2,000, he said, a little while, yet a little while.
[47:03] Well, that little while has been quite some time. But in the light of eternity, it's just a short time.
[47:15] And the one that is promised, Jesus, he has promised to return, and he will return. He will return, and his reward will be with him.
[47:27] He will take us to be with him forever and ever. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
[47:40] But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. The just shall live by faith.
[47:53] That's us. We are called to a life of faith. You know, it's so easy when we can see where we're going.
[48:07] It's so easy when we can see the end of our path. But when it becomes dim, and we're in the midst of the storm, and you can't see, like yesterday, you couldn't see more than a quarter mile.
[48:21] Well, things get tough. But we need to live by faith and not draw back.
[48:34] If we draw back, God will not have pleasure in us. But he will give us strength, just like Job said, he will give me strength.
[48:48] He will give me strength to continue on. He will give me strength to continue on through this trial. He will give me strength that I will come out as gold on the other side of this trial.
[49:05] Verse 39, is this us? We are not of those who draw back, but we are of those that continue on in faith, trusting our Lord no matter what comes our way, no matter what trial we're in, no matter what condition we find ourselves in, can we trust him?
[49:31] You can trust him with your life. You can trust him with your future. You can trust him. That's why he came.
[49:42] That's why he bought you. Yes. In Luke 18, Jesus asks the question, when he returns, will he find faith on the earth?
[49:55] Will he? Will he find us faithful? Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Men ought always to pray and not to faint.
[50:14] That is the answer, is it not? to just give ourselves to him and to trust him in every situation of life.
[50:25] Psalm 55, 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. Yes. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.
[50:38] In Colossians, Peter, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. Isaiah, thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.
[50:53] Yo, if we're in turmoil, let's fix our mind upon the Lord Jesus. Yes. Consider him. Consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
[51:11] Consider him. Yes. Oh, yes. Consider our Lord Jesus looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
[51:24] Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[51:36] Yes. Consider him. Yes. You know, he went through so much more than we will ever go through, did he not?
[51:47] Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Oh, yes. Well, our brother read a few verses that I was going to read.
[52:00] I might just read them again. In Philippians 3, Philippians 3, verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
[52:28] that I might know Jesus. You know, we all want to know Jesus, but do we want to know? Yes, and we want to know the power of his resurrection, but do we want to know the fellowship of his sufferings?
[52:46] do we want to know to be made conformable to his death? Oh, let us learn to know him more.
[52:59] Let us walk with him. Let us walk with him. Hallelujah. Let us make this our goal in life, to know him more, to know him better, to draw nigh to him, and he will draw nigh to us.
[53:19] Oh, yes. I just feel I've just scratched the surface this morning. But he is there in every situation of life. He is here.
[53:30] He is with you. If you will walk with him, he will walk with you. He has bought you.
[53:41] He desires to have you and to walk with you and to own you. If he owns you, he will take care of you.
[53:55] He will carry you through the hard things of life. Yes, if we will but trust him, be still and know that I am God.
[54:10] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you're with us always, even unto the end of the earth.
[54:25] Yes, to the end of our life, to the end of the age. Lord, you are with us till the day you take us home to forever live with you.
[54:40] Lord, might this be a reality to us today that you are with us. You're with us in the good times as we look at them, and you're with us in the tough times of life.
[54:56] But help us to endure, to persevere and to walk with you and allow you to try us as gold is tried that we will come out as gold tried in the fire.
[55:14] Yes, the true currency of heaven. Hallelujah. Yes, Lord. We just want to submit to you and your will and your plan.
[55:29] Lord, might you have your way in our hearts today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.