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Encouragement Through Trials
00:03:42
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| So 2019, that's happening, and it was happening so powerfully that we decided, let's just keep that for next year, too, 2020. | |
| Little did we know. | |
| So 2020 changes, and I mean, 2020 comes around, and everything changes all over the world for almost every church, yet God is speaking to our church. | |
| All things are going to work together for good. | |
| Because you know me, you love me, you stand in my word, you preach, and I'm by you, not just me, but the whole church. | |
| We worship him. | |
| We're doing our best, excuse me, to keep our church as pure and as biblical and as holy before the Lord as possible with, you know, with God's help. | |
| And so we turn that corner and all of these threats of church closures and all of this stuff, what are we going to do? | |
| And I just kept telling the church, listen, God's going to work in this. | |
| Long story short, do all things, are all things always perfect in our life just because we love the Lord? | |
| No. | |
| And that's not what that scripture says. | |
| Do all things, you know, sometimes people will misquote scripture and turn that misquote into saying, you know, the Bible says, and I've heard people say, you know, the Bible says that God will never put more on you than you can handle. | |
| It doesn't say that. | |
| It says that what the Bible says is there's no temptation that has ever come to you that's greater than any temptation in anybody else, and that he will provide a way out of that temptation. | |
| I don't know of a scripture that says he'll never put anything more. | |
| Ask Job about that. | |
| Ask Noah, who probably wanted to give up in 120 years. | |
| Ask, you go down through the line. | |
| But what it says is, though, in the middle, ask Joseph, who's serving the Lord, getting prophetic visions and dreams, and winds up a slave in Egypt and winds up in prison. | |
| But there's, like Paul Harvey used to say years ago, page two, what happens in the midst of that? | |
| Joseph becomes the head of Egypt right under Pharaoh and delivers his people. | |
| And we know the rest of the account from there. | |
| And how even Israel comes out of all of that. | |
| That's where Israel is born. | |
| Out of that, Joseph being in prison. | |
| That's what this means. | |
| It means God says, I'm not slapping my forehead saying, I didn't see that coming. | |
| I'm the one directing it. | |
| I know what's going to happen. | |
| And for those who are obedient, I will be certain that all things will work together in many good ways for you, earthly speaking, even in the midst of the trials, the tribulation, all that happens. | |
| But in the end of it all, no more pain, no more death, no more crying, no more mourning. | |
| I'm making all things new. | |
| So cling to this promise. | |
| I'm in control. | |
| Romans 8, 28. | |
| All things work together for good for those that know him and love him and are called according to his purpose. | |
| So I'm encouraging God's people. | |
| That's just number one. | |
| I'm encouraging God's people in these days, hold on to these promises of God's word. | |
| You say, those are pretty words. | |
| Oh, they're way more than pretty words. | |
| They were bought with the blood of Jesus at Calvary, bought with an empty tomb. | |
| This is a promise of God's word. | |
| Hear it again. | |
| All things work together. | |
| And I'm going to add the word eventually because that's what it means. | |
| Eventually for the good, for the purpose of God's kingdom and what he's doing for those that know him and love him and are obedient to him. | |
| All right? | |
| Now, so then, so we had that, and we watched that happen in our church all through 2020. | |
| It's like the Lord was just shifting things around. | |
| This is really weird to say, but it seemed like he was doing it only for our church. | |
|
What Then Shall We Say?
00:03:18
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| I mean, you know, and a lot of Christians feel that way. | |
| It's like, oh my gosh, if this hadn't happened, we couldn't do this. | |
| And if we didn't do that, then that wouldn't have happened for this kingdom work. | |
| And surely God's doing this for everybody. | |
| But we're watching this, and here's the banner, and we're watching God doing it. | |
| And I wish we had time for me to go into it. | |
| It's just unbelievable. | |
| And our church just learns so much from that. | |
| And doors have opened, doors have closed, and it's been powerfully going forward. | |
| And that story's not over with yet. | |
| So we round the corner to 2021, and God lays on our heart just to keep going through. | |
| So the next banner we had was, what then shall we say to this? | |
| If God is for us, who can be against us? | |
| Now, again, if you're for God and God is for you in this fallen world, a lot of people can be against you. | |
| A lot of stuff can be against you. | |
| Okay? | |
| So as a double prong, it's like, okay, you live in a fallen world. | |
| Satan's the prince of the power of the air. | |
| He's the ruler of this age. | |
| So people and things are going to come against you because God is for you and because you are for God. | |
| Right. | |
| But to keep that perspective of, of, but what then shall we say to this? | |
| What this? | |
| All things work together for good for those that know the Lord and love called according to his purpose. | |
| What shall we say to that? | |
| If God is for you, in the end of it all, who can be against you? | |
| And even in the middle of the fight, you will see people that will come against you. | |
| They will fade into the background as you continue to go forward in these last days. | |
| If you're being obedient. | |
| And so we've seen that happen. | |
| I've seen that happen in my own life. | |
| You guys have lived through all of this that I'm speaking right now. | |
| You know this is truth. | |
| You've lived through it all. | |
| Okay? | |
| And so we rounded that corner. | |
| So now the scripture we have fallen upon for, and by the way, that's Romans 8.31. | |
| Now we fall upon 8, 37. | |
| So you take 8, 28, if God is for you, I mean, all things work together for good for those that know the Lord and are called according to his purpose. | |
| Romans 8.31, what then shall we say to this? | |
| If God is for you, who can be against you? | |
| Romans 8.37, I want to read because there's a portion before it, is where we are now. | |
| In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. | |
| But watch, here's what comes before it. | |
| So really, our theme starts in verse 35, but we just chose 37 to punch it home. | |
| So who shall then separate us from the love of Christ? | |
| Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword? | |
| That means wars, rumors of wars, nations against nations? | |
| Who's going to separate us from the love of Christ? | |
| As it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. | |
| And we're considered as sheep to be slaughtered. | |
| You know, God's people, the world, Satan looks at us that way. | |
| But verse 37, nope. | |
| In all these things, we're more than conquerors through him who loved us. | |
| For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, angels or demons, present or future, powers or anything else or height or depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. | |