Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our services here Please join us online. Welcome. Happy to have you all joining us in our services this afternoon. Looking forward to the message that Brother Adam has prepared. Looking forward to just being in the house and seeing what's out. We'll go ahead and get started with our song services. Our first hymn will be hymn number 295, He Leadeth Me. Be with me, O blessed one. and that he leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. This faithful father I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me. Still to take stand and leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me. I. me. And when thy dance on earth is done, When by thy grace the victories won, He leadeth me, he leadeth me by his own hand he leadeth me. This faithful follower I would be for my ears and he Next hymn will be hymn number 202, In Times Like These. Hymn number 202. In times like these, you meet a Savior. In times like these, you meet a Savior. Be very sure, be very sure, His anger holds and breaks us all in one. His rock is Jesus, and He's the one. His rock is Jesus, the only one. ♪ Be very sure, be very sure ♪ ♪ Your danger holds ♪ ♪ In grips so solid and proud ♪ ♪ In times like these, you need the Bible ♪ ♪ In times like these, don't be an idol ♪ ♪ Be very sure, be very sure ♪ The strong is Jesus, testing someone. The strong is Jesus, the only one. He's very strong, he's very strong. Our anger holds and burns a solid ground. In times like these, I'm very sure. I angered old, regrets the solid rock. This rock is Jesus, says he's the one. This rock is Jesus, the only one. I'm very sure. I'm very sure. I angered old, regrets the solid rock. Our next hymn will be hymn number 498, When We All Get to Heaven, Standing for the Sin, if you're able to. Hymn number 498. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his praise. When we all sing, Jesus, we'll sing in shepherdly territory. While we wander, we'll sing in shepherdly territory. One day traveling days are over, not a shadow of a sign. When we all get together, one day every day. When we go trusting, serving every day Just one glimpse of Him in glory Will the tombs ev'ry make When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing every day Jesus will sing and shout the victor's happy victory. Onward to the prize before us, to his dear Jesus. Thank you all for singing so far. We've got some announcements in and whatnot. The Pleasant View Baptist Church Ladies' Thanksgiving Brunch will be this upcoming Saturday, and I was shown the flyer that says that starts at 10 a.m., so thank you, Sister Lindy, for refreshing my memory that I'd already forgotten about. So again, that is this upcoming Saturday at 10 a.m., the Ladies' Thanksgiving Brunch, and then the next Erewha Fellowship Meeting will be on the following Saturday, November the 23rd at 6 p.m. and that will be at First Baptist Church Independence. Mark those few dates down in your calendars. As I said earlier, just remember those that are on the prayer list, those names that are listed, ever-growing. There's always those that just are in need of our prayer, but just names just to keep mention of, Doug Coffkins, Oakland Harrington, Jerry Dodson, Len Hoff, Sylvia Doolin, Valerie Harris, Chris Stevens, Smithers, and many others. And also do continue to pray over Samuel Suprus as he starts his this new missionary endeavor. He's moving on from Trinidad, so he's not a spring chicken, but the Lord still continues to use him, and he is the work. I've just seen, I just think that pictures of some of the work that he does regularly, just building up that church there in Trinidad that he was involved with, so the Lord just continues to use his preachers and his leaders, I do just want to pray over him, pray over our pastors that lead our congregations and those that stand before God's people and do bring his message. I do pray over Brother Adam as he brings the message this hour. The Lord has given the elders from on high just the message that he's prepared that gives them just the clarity and just the wisdom just to bring forth all the The glory of his word as he presents it. Just continue to pray for Brother John and just his ongoing medical challenges that he continues to face. We pray for Brother Tim and Sister Sheila and Sister Donna as they are all traveling back. I think they're in Florida. Florida, get that. So we do just continue to just pray over them. Pray over just, again, just our country. Just for everything that has transpired. I didn't really miss anybody else or anything else that I failed to mention. I continue to pray for Sister Katie as she continues to heal. I remember that as I sat down during the first service. So, I continue to pray for her. I continue to pray for Steve Riles as he heals. It seems like he's almost It sounds like his bill of health has been pretty good, so there's a blessing there. He just continues to pray over those that are shut-ins, Brother Hugh, Sister Iris, Sister Boyceville, and others. He prays for Brother Ray. He just continues to be a strength, and just continues the witnesses that he had. Every time the service door would open here, he'd be still here. He does a better job than what me and my wife do at being on time. So he's got 60 years on us, and he's still able to be on time. So maybe I should ask him. But nonetheless, he is a good witness and a blessing. If you'd rather not have anybody else mention him, go ahead and go to the Lord for prayer at this time. And if you would, Brother David, would you read this at this time? Dear Lord, we thank you this day for thy son, Jesus. that is that you have made a way for us to come to you. We thank you for that. We asked Lord that you would just be with us and given our hearts. Great strength that preach our word and be a good witness around about with all the people that would come into that don't know about you, Lord, that you could just use us in a great way. Lord, we pray for help and guidance each day to help those people around us in all things, dear Lord, just to be generous in these things that would help people that financially need help just be there with us and help us to do these things. We pray, Lord, that you'd be with all those on the prayer list that were mentioned, that you'd just lead and guide and direct there and just give them strength in this time. We pray, Lord, that you just be with the ones here that don't know you as their savior, Lord, that this might be that day that their eyes would be open. Pray, Lord, that you just go with the service now and be with Brother Adam, giving the words to say and us the ears to hear. We do thank you for all the many blessings that we get each day, how this church is just blessed with so many talented people play the instruments and preach and sing, dear Lord, we thank you for this church. We ask, Lord, that you go with us now and just strengthen us each day to get closer to you. And it's all these things in my son Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Our final hymn for Brother Adams' message will be a little slightly different. It'll be hymn number 493, And it's titled, Since the Savior Found Me. We're going to change that. We're going to change the word that says found, we're going to change that to saved. and all my sin. I have had the joy of living hope within. God is all the shame and sorrow of the past. They're underneath the precious blood of Christ at last. Save, save, save. I'm happy on the way. Save, save, save. I love you more each day. Save, save, save. now Jesus justifies and sets me free. Save, save, save, I'm happy on the way. Save, save, save, I love the Lord each day. Save, save, save, I know he's mighty kind. He saves, he keeps, and sanctifies me by his power. living in the realms of joy. when He shall come to get you, waiting right away. Save, save, save, I'm happy on the way. Save, save, save, I love Him more each day. Save, save, save, I know His mighty power, and saves and keeps and sanctifies me by His power. There are some wonderful musicians here. There are some wonderful singers that helps keep me in tune even though I can't carry a tune in a bucket. But it is helpful. Amen. I tell you, this church is blessed, maybe I'll admit it, to have pastors who open God's Word and teach from it. It's sad commentary on the world today that there are a lot of churches that are malnourished and don't even know it, aren't getting fed, and they don't even realize it. I'm thankful that this church is being fed. Amen. Well, I have two texts today. The first one is going to be kind of Right? Two of the more popular books of the Bible, right? Before we read, technology is a good thing. Again, it's all in how you use it. And of course, if you're scrolling on Facebook and you watch one video, it will keep feeding you video after video after video of similar content, And one of the videos that showed up, it was a reel of a guy, and you might know who I'm talking about. I don't know his name. He has several, I've seen several of his videos before anyway, but I don't know his name. And he's an apologetics man, and he goes to what looks like to be college campuses and talks about Christ and the Bible to college students. And one of the videos that I saw with this guy, and he has dark hair, I don't know if he dies I'm assuming that he does. I have a little patch of gravy right here, and I'm only 43. He's a lot older than I am. But anyway, he'll take questions, right? He'll give the microphone over to some college kids, which is pretty brave. And this one college kid comes up, and he, you can tell, he obviously had taken at least one philosophy class. Because all it takes is a kid to take one philosophy class and they think they know all the answers to all the wise questions. Just when I think I know the answers, they change the question. But he thought, oh, I got this guy now, this kid. I could just tell he was probably 20 years old. I'm going to nail this guy. And he goes, if God is so good, then why do bad things happen to good people? And I know I watched the video, and this was a while ago when I saw this. I don't particularly remember his answer, but it was rather lackluster. It left me wanting more. And so I thought, what is the good response to this type of question? I've been at work, neck deep in work, and all of a sudden someone will ask me, we're not discussing anything, we've been sitting there in silence, messing with voting machines, and all of a sudden, hey Adam, what about this? And it's a church question, or a biblical question, or something like that, and it catches me off guard because we had not even been talking for probably a half hour prior to that, we were all just sitting there in silence. But you never know when someone's going to ask a question. How do we answer this question? Well, in Lamentations chapter 3, I found this to be the answer. I didn't want to take philosophy, but it was a requirement to get my degree. And I got a C in philosophy, and I was thrilled with getting that, which meant that I didn't get a C minus or below, which means that I would have had to take the class again. But I got the C because I just wasn't all that interested in what Immanuel Kant had to say or Socrates had to say. They made me take a poetry class too, and I didn't care about that either. What does this have to do with anything? I don't care. I don't care what man has to say. It's irrelevant what my opinion is or what any man's opinion is. Lamentations 3, verse 22. This is the proper answer. It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. That's the proper answer to the question. So the premise of the question, the whole question in and of itself is flawed. We had a young man visit the church in Florida once, a couple times. And he'd been going through some difficulties, and I get it, everybody goes through difficulties, we've all been there. But he was talking to me and Brother Pyle and Justin Meyer was there at the time, so all four of us were kind of standing in the back chatting with this young man, and he was just, and befuddled at why he was having such a hard time in life. Just troubles with work and family. It was very sad. And he said, I made a deal with the Lord that if He did this for me, I would do this for Him. And we were like, whoa, hold on a minute. No, that's not how any of this works. We are vile, disgusting, sinful people, and He owes us absolutely no good whatsoever. The fact that He supplied Christ and salvation and His abundant blessings, that's all from His mercy and grace, because we are not owed one bit of it. In fact, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed Because that is what we deserve, is to be consumed. But I'm thankful it also says here in Lamentations 3, because His compassions fail not. But over in Habakkuk chapter 3, Habakkuk 3 verses 17 through 19, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall. So let's pause there for just a moment. Does that sound good to you? I don't remember how long ago this was, but we are one, if there was a massive drought and the breadbasket of this country was affected, we would only have enough food for just a few months. We are one severe drought away from famine in this country. We like to think of America as being a place of abundance, and it is because God has blessed us immensely and I'm thankful to him for it. not just from a produce standpoint. I always think of 9-11. I think of hurricanes that come and go and the destruction they leave behind. Our country, we like to put it up on this pedestal and think we're almost untouchable when we get touched a lot. And sure, when 9-11 happened, there was a little bit of revival. People put their flags out Maybe there was a little spike in church attendance, a wake-up call to a lot of people, but it sure didn't last too long, did it? Because look where we are now, some, what, 23 years later? It didn't take long, but then hurricanes come, and there's a little bit of turning to God a little bit, but then all of a sudden, You have to be born again. They have little feelings of things, but we can't go based on feelings. This doesn't sound good. If we had trees or olive yards or vineyards or fields that were producing nothing, we would be in sheer panic. What are we going to do? But notice Habakkuk's response here to verse 17, because we've all gone through and worked in a coal dock. And guess what? The coal dock closed. Just closed. The whole company gone. And then he went and worked at a foundry. And it was very hot and there was a lot of work. And then all of a sudden they closed the foundry and it was gone. It's gone. He tore it down. It doesn't even exist anymore. And then he went and got another job. And then they closed that one down. And then he finally got on to the place he would eventually retire from. But it took him a long time to stay because they'd hire him on for a little bit, and since he was low man on the totem pole, when it was time to lay people off, he was the first one laid off. And it was back and forth, back and forth, until eventually he got to stick. We've all been there. We've all had times of struggle. How do we respond? A lot of people will point the finger at God, and shake their fist at God, and blame God, and say, We're getting it all wrong. Look how Habakkuk responds here. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. This is after verse 17. When nothing is producing anything, you can't get anything. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will enjoy the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like I am feet, and He will make me to walk upon my own. I wish, I don't want anybody to go through trouble. I wish none of you had to go through difficulties. I wish I didn't have to go through difficulties. The Bible says in this world ye shall have tribulation. There's no might or if, ands or buts about it. You will endure tribulations and trials and hardships. That's just life. And sin entered into the world and death I wish we didn't have to endure difficulties, but we do. How do we respond to them? What's our attitude toward them? God's not always going to divide the sea and dry the ground for us to walk through. He did that for the children of Israel, and that is a blessing. Sometimes He does that. Sometimes we're going to have to go through the fire. Maybe even a fire that's heated seven times hotter than normal. He might not remove that fire, but he will be with you in it. Sometimes our walk will make us pass through a lion's nest. But he can go shut the mouths of lions and bring us through it. We have this idea that we can only be thankful. And since Thanksgiving is coming up, and it's my favorite holiday, you're going to get Thanksgiving for probably the next time I come up here too. Because I just love Thanksgiving. But I wish we could rename it, Thanks Living, because we should live thanks to God. And it's interesting too, I think Brother John mentioned this on Wednesday, I believe. that people say that they're thankful, and most of the people that say it, and I like to think of us as a Christian nation, but let's be honest, there's not a whole as many Christians as I would like there to be, but there are a lot of people who would never darken the door of a church or crack open a Bible, who would just, they'll say, oh, I'm just, I'm so thankful. We live in such an atheistic society, or maybe even an agnostic society, where they just want to have proof of something, or they just don't believe God exists at all. If you boil it down, they're thankful to themselves, because they think they're the ones that pulled themselves up by the bootstraps, went to work and earned a living, and that's who they're honestly giving thanks to. I always find that interesting to hear people that have nothing to do with church say things like that. But how can we give thanks in the midst of the fire? How can we give thanks in the lion's den? It's easy to give thanks when we We walk, and God parts the Red Sea, and we walk across on dry ground, and we look back, and we see God destroy our enemies with that ball of water that He had just divided for us to safely pass. Boy, it's sure easy to give thanks then, but what of when we're in the fire? I've gone through times in my life where I was just depressed. Didn't want to get out of bed. Had one nothing to do with it. Leave me alone, let me sit here in the dark and just wallow in my own misery. You ever been there before? If you haven't, guess what? I don't think you're telling me the truth. You're lying to yourself. Because I can tell you for a fact, I've had times where I just didn't want to get out of bed. Absolute misery. And it's okay, Christians. It happens. We should let it keep us there. Because we can be thankful even in the hardest of times, even when we're going through our verse 17. But Habakkuk breaks down a few things we want to look at here as we go through. Things to be thankful for, even with our verse 17 circumstances. We can thank God anyhow. And I remember as I was contemplating this, I was thinking back to, I think it was 2012, when Brother Pyle had, well he went in and he had a pacemaker, and if y'all knew Brother Pyle, he was like that big around. I mean, he was as skinny as a rail. And you could see the pacemaker because it was stretched. His skin was just stretched over. He just, he was so thin. But he was going in, all they were gonna do was change the battery and put in a new lead wire. In theory, it should be an in and out, go home that night procedure. But he was in his late 80s at that point, mid 80s. And they knew that his veins and arteries were very small and restricted. So just in case, they had an open heart surgery team on standby. just in case if they were removing that lead wire, they would nick the artery and he would start to bleed. You know, blood thinners and all of that. So I was there, it was me, and I'm going to call her Granny, it's Sister Potter. If I ever say Pat Vaughn Granny, it's Brother Sister Potter, because I call him Pat Vaughn Granny. So if I slip and say Papaw or Granny, you know who I'm talking about. I try to say brother, sister, father when I'm behind the pulpit, but sometimes it comes out. It was me and Granny, and I think Carol had come in for the surgery. Their daughter, Rachel's aunt, Carol was there, and Elizabeth was there. And we had sat there, we were waiting, and all of a sudden they did the code, I don't remember, code blue or whatever, and Granny said that's for him. They were calling the open heart surgery team. She just knew it was for him. And sure enough, they came out and they said, all right, we were removing the lead wire. We nicked the artery, and he started to bleed. But they had planned ahead. And thank the Lord they had the surgery team right there. But it was difficult. Even the surgery they performed was extremely difficult. And he was in months. I was the first one to see him. After his surgery, he was in the recovery room, and they let me go back there. So she wasn't quite ready to go back there and see him at that point. The doctors were kind of filling her in on things, and she said, you go see him while we get some more information. And I went in there, and he didn't look alive. That's the worst I've ever seen somebody look. He was still out. He wasn't awake yet. I think they still have a tube down his throat too, and it was just starting. He went in just for an in and out procedure. It was supposed to be easy, and it turned extremely difficult. He had to go into rehab for a month or two. Who plans on, who wants that to happen? He didn't want that to happen. Granny didn't want that to happen. I didn't want, no one wanted that to happen. But guess what, it happened. And he wasn't able to go to church for a few weeks, probably about a month or two after that. And it about killed him. Because this was a man who never missed church. He was the pastor, and he wanted to be there. And it about killed him. And I remember the first Sunday he was back, it was, I almost cried. Everybody almost cried. Because it had been tough, whether or not he would have been able to make it back. I don't want people to go through that kind of thing. I wish no one had to endure those kind of hardships. But he had to endure it. And I know he interacted with nurses and doctors and caregivers and other patients. Even when he was in the rehab facility, he had a roommate that, you know, Brother Plow was talking about the Lord to him. He got to interact and visit with people and talk to people that if he had not endured that, he would never have been given the opportunity to talk to those people. Maybe that's why God put him in that position. I don't know what seeds were planted. If it's easy, if it's difficult, whatever the case may be, what do you want from me? In Habakkuk here, the first thing we want to look at, in verse 17 and 18, and we just read 17, but let's read it again. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls." They were used to having all of those things. But what if it was taken away? What if all these things fail to produce? My brother likes to listen to a book on tape. Or not on tape, but it's on the internet. And one of the books he's listening to is an apocalyptic book of this terrorist group that's off the EMP, an electronic pulse that wipes out all the power grids. And so there's no more electricity, no more computers, nothing, right? So what are you going to do now? Most people would crumble if they didn't have their phone. I think I'd be able to manage somehow. What would you do if none of this was here anymore? What would you do? We see, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. He can rejoice in the Lord because God never changes. All the other things in this world can change, and they do change. One thing I can guarantee you in life is that it's going to change. There's going to be good times, there's going to be okay times, there's going to be bad times. But God is always the same. He never changes. Malachi 3.6 says, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Aren't you glad for that? Imagine if God changed and all of a sudden we were consumed. We don't have to worry about it. Hebrews 13a says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. He's the same. Egypt has the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. Job had everything and lost everything. Our country went through the Great Depression. It's gone through recessions. It's gone through terrible tragedies and losses and wars and frail economies. that we've rejoiced in the sovereignty of God, that He knows, He's allowing these things to take place. Maybe He's trying to teach us something. It would be wise for us to examine our circumstances and read Scripture and to pray and say, alright, what are you trying to teach me here instead of complaining about it all the time? If I had prayed about it more than I complained about it, I would be far better off. But there I am. Complaining, I can't believe this has happened or that has happened. Sometimes I worry about the things that could happen. And that's a pretty futile exercise. It's like trying to solve an algebraic equation by chewing bubble gum. It's not going to do it. Most of the things I worry about usually never even happen anyway. And all of that energy and all of that time and effort wasted. Just wasted. that could have been used to pray and say, all right, well, what do you want me to do here? I'm going through verse 17. What am I supposed to do here? Habakkuk's kind of painting a very bleak portrait here, but his eyes are turning to the Lord. When I was over at, I preached over at Justin Meyer's two weekends ago, I'm looking forward to a weekend where we actually don't go somewhere. We've been on the road a lot the last few weeks, and I'm excited to not go somewhere for a while. Although I'm always thankful to go and be given an opportunity to preach somewhere. But when I was at... They were there. Derek and Stacey met. I looked up and there they were, and I'm like, hey, I know you guys. I preached in Isaiah chapter 6, and you made reference to that today. We preached on holy, holy, holy. Of course, the Jews would use repetition like that to make it a point of emphasis. Often when Christ would teach, He would say, verily, verily, which means, guess what, pay attention to what I'm about to say because it's very extremely important. But in doing so, Isaiah 6 and verse 1 starts off with the year King Uzziah died. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 1. If you read that sentence, the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Well, King Uzziah was king of Judah, and he was king for 52 years, and during that time, they were very extremely blessed economically, they prospered amazingly, dug wells, away from the things of God. He was so prideful and so arrogant, and look at what I did. I helped you all accomplish all of these magnificent things, and you can just thank me for this. And then God saw his pride, gave him leprosy, and killed him. And Israel, or Judah, thought, well, as long as we have King Uzziah, things are going to be great, because look how great things are now. Then the king died. And then Israel thought, well, what am I going to do now? We were okay as long as we had King Uzziah. So often we get fixated on the leaders rather than on God. And once King Uzziah And the pride was gone. That's when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. And it wasn't holy, holy, holy was Isaiah. It was holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Take our eyes off of man, off of ourselves, and put them on God. You're going to be far better off. Amen. Far better off. Now, I don't know when the seven years of plenty are going to happen. I don't know when the seven years of family is going to happen. I don't know what God has in store for our country today or in the future. Maybe when the Lord comes back, America might not even be here. I don't know. But He'll be the same. His promises will remain true. His word will remain true. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. We can depend on Him in desperate times, in troublesome times. We can believe in Him during unbelievable times. Have you ever used the phrase, this is unbelievable? Oh, I'm stepping all over my own toes. Something bad happens and you go, this is unbelievable. You better believe it, because it happened. Get over yourself and believe it because it happened. How are you going to respond? We may not always know what he's doing. Turn to Isaiah 55. We are not going to get very far. I did preach this one time in one go of it. That's not happening today. I struggle, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I struggle preaching one-offs. I'm more of a series type of guy. It's hard for me to cram everything into one sermon. Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord. We only see what's right in front of us. He sees the big picture. He knows what's going to happen before it happens. His thoughts are most certainly not our thoughts. Our thoughts are sinful. His are holy and pure. His ways are holy and pure. Ours are sinful and flawed. Verse 9, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We like to examine our situation. I often find myself kind of sitting back and observing. I like to observe things. If I'm being quiet, be nervous. We like to examine things. We like to think we have a good idea of how things are or how things might work out. One of the board members of our school came in came to the help desk and was asking a question. He teaches at Cincinnati and he's an adjunct professor there. And I guess he must teach political science courses because he was going on and on about the election. This was on Wednesday. And it was the day after the election. And he said he had his laptop there and he turned around and he had all of these different types of spreadsheets where he was trying to predict how the election was going to turn out with all this and that. And he almost had my head spinning. When he broke out the spreadsheets, I was like, ugh, numbers and math. He had stayed up all night to watch the results and this and that. I went to bed at 10. I go to bed at 10. If you try to get a hold of me after 10, you're not going to get a hold of me. I'm not going to hear it. I'm not going to answer it. I'm going to be asleep. But I talked to a few other guys that had stayed up all night. One guy stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning. Rachel stayed up until 1. Because everybody was interested. What's going to happen with this election? And I thought, I'm going to bed. I knew who I wanted to win and all of that, but ultimately it's irrelevant. There was no sense in me staying up late to watch it, because it was going to work out the way God wanted it to work out, regardless of who won. And I'd rather put my trust in Him than in man, because I don't care if you like one side or the other. Amen. He's never left me high and dry. He's never forgotten me. He makes a promise. He keeps it. I love how he talks about his exceeding great and precious promises. You're going to be disappointed because our government is run by men. And you will be disappointed at some point. But God is the same. Man's standards often change. Often it's what you owe the way they're going to take. Or at least they think will get them to vote. Sometimes that backfires. It did a little bit this time, actually. The one side pushing murder of the unborn, it kind of backfired a little bit. They thought that is what would push them over the edge. But in fact, it hurt them. And I can thank God for that. Amen. There's a little bit of sliver of light in this country, I suppose. although I'm extraordinarily pro-abortion at all. But a win is a win, I suppose. But God's the one in control. His thoughts are not my thoughts. I don't care that people making predictions can predict all that they want. But we can always trust God to do what is right. In Genesis chapter 18, that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do the right? Yes, he will. He does. He is holy. He is righteous. Everything he does is holy and righteous. We can trust him to do what is right. Even if it makes it hard for us, it is for our good, ultimately. In Jeremiah chapter 29, 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. His plan is always going to be the best plan. It may be a rough road to walk, but it will be for our good. Very popular verse, Romans 8, verse 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them the Lord is called. referenced this passage. He even referenced it while he was healing from that open heart surgery in 2012. A man who just, he did not feel good for a long time. And honestly, it took a lot out of him, even after he healed and was back to it. There was a reason and a purpose. He understood that and he was contented I love the verse, whatever state I am there with, to be content. Oh, you say that meant the state of Florida? No. 1 Thessalonians 5. We recognize God is always in control. He still knows what's best. He always does what is right. And I think fulfilling this passage is a possibility in our lives. West Virginia. Yeah, I know you've never heard of it. I haven't either. It was in the middle of nowhere. Boy, it was fun to go there, though. The whole conference was from 1 Thessalonians 5. My dad's verse was verse 17, but let's look at verse 16. For joy severed more, praise without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will What is rejoice every morning? You can rejoice in a good time. Sure, it's easy to do that. But what if times are hard? I heard this a while ago, it's one of my favorite stories. They were put in a concentration camp because they hid Jews during the Nazi time. And in her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells of a time she discovered that that God was working even in the midst of some very horrific circumstances. Corrie and her sister Betsy, imprisoned by Nazis for hiding Jews behind the wall of their Holland home, talks about the Nazi prison conditions. She said, barracks eight was in the quarantine compound next to us, perhaps as a deliberate warning to newcomers were located the punishment barracks. From there, all day long and often into the night, came the sounds of hell itself. They were not the sounds of anger or of any human emotion, but of a cruelty altogether detached. Blows landing in regular rhythm, screams keeping pace. We would stand in our ten deep ranks with our hands trembling at our sides, longing to jam them against our ears to make the sounds stop. It grew harder and harder, even Within these four walls, there was too much misery, too much seemingly pointless suffering. Every day something else failed to make sense. Something else grew too heavy. When they were moved to Barracks 28, Corey was horrified by the fact that their reeking straw bed platforms swarmed with fleas. 1 Thessalonians 5.18. Now they were able to have a Bible. They were able to hide it and have it. If it had been found, it would have been disposed of. But in 1 Thessalonians 5.18 it says, And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So her sister said, that's it, Cory. for every single thing about this new barracks. Corrie said, I stared at her. Then around me at the dark, foul air of the room, they thanked God for the fact they were together. They thanked God they had a Bible. They even thanked God for the horrible crowds of Christians, that more people would be able to hear God's word. And then, Betsy thanked God for the fleas. She might have been cramped in here in these disgusting, horrible living conditions. But they were together, they had a Bible, they were able to read it, and people who might not have heard it otherwise were there and could hear it. But then her sister thanked God for the fleas. And of course, Corrie was like, a flea? What is wrong with you? How can you thank God even for these fleas? This is too much, there's no way even God can make me grateful for a flea. In everything give thanks, she quoted. It doesn't say in pleasant circumstances. Fleas are part of this place where God was put. And so we stood between the tears of the bonks and gave thanks for the fleas, but this time I was sure Betsy was wrong. It turned out that Betsy was not wrong. They had Bible studies in the barracks with a great deal of freedom, never bothered by supervisors coming in and harassing them. They finally discovered that it was the fleas that kept those supervisors out. The things we often complain about, there's a blessing even in those things. It was because of the fleas that the guards had not checked their luggage, and therefore their Bible had not been confiscated. Corrie agreed that she should be thankful for that, but not for the fleas. She could not, she said, under any circumstances, give thanks for fleas. Through those fleas, God protected the women from abuse and harassment. Dozens of desperate women were freed to hear the comforting, hope-giving word of God. Through those fleas, God predicted the women for much worse things and made sure they had their deepest, truest needs met. We all have fleas in our lives. We all have those things which we can see no use for. Things that are obviously horrible, maybe unpleasant, painful things that we want gone. But if Cory and Betsy can be our examples, God can use even these nasty insects for our protection and blessing. Are you thankful for the fleas? Boy, they sure were. Can you imagine if you had heard just someone say, I'm so thankful for the fleas, too? What's wrong with you? But those fleas kept the guards out. And as a result, they were blessed abundantly. And it could have been a whole lot worse. What would you rather deal with? Some fleas or abusive guards? Those fleas kept those guards out. Comfort in the midst of hardships. I'm not done. That was just one point. We're going to have to do that again. We've got the letter. They're officially members of our our assembly down, finally. The church acted very quickly and got a letter of recommendation. And we thank God for that. And as we're singing this last hymn, I'd like for you all to come around and extend a hand of fellowship to Adam and the family here as they've become a member of this body. God bless you, brother. What number, brother? 381. 381. Let's stand and sing a couple of verses. ♪ Democracy is a great degree ♪ ♪ And a purpose we firmly pray ♪ ♪ But you cannot have grace for we're perfectly blessed ♪ ♪ On the altar is laid ♪ ♪ Praise for all of the altar of sacrifice laid ♪ ♪ O Lord, bless the spirit of our souls ♪ ♪ And have peace and sweetness ♪ ♪ That He builds in your proudest soul ♪ ♪ While you walk with the Lord ♪ ♪ In the light of His Word ♪ ♪ May have peace and contentment in your heart ♪ It was to his people to be freeing from the veil of the altar calling us there. Is your own on the altar of sacrifice laid? Amen. Thank you all for that. Thank you, Brother Adam, for the message. And he reminded me of Brother Pyle, and to know him was to love him. And Brother Pennington, he were at a conference at King's Edition, and Brother Pennington was preaching. He said, if y'all need a thermometer, we've got one here. You just fill Brother Pyle up with some tomato juice, and he'd make a good thermometer. And they always joked around with one another. We always had a good time. I was talking to Brother Pyle at a conference with him in Winston-Salem. He'd just taken over down in Florida. And I said, how are things going down there? He said, well, the summers are kind of slow, but in the wintertime, he said, Look back over the congregation, it looks like a box of Q-tips. He said, all the gray head, all the old retirees are back. I said, yeah, I can imagine that. He was something else. I miss him still to this day. He was one of my mentors. When I was going to King's Edition, he and Brother Hobbs and my dad, we would go to different places, and I'd listen to Brother Powell preach. And it was just a blessing in those days. And I look forward to seeing him again someday. So, thank you brother for that and for reminding me. A brother of mine, what a blessing. His sweet wife, Dolores, she's still with us. So, keep praying for her and ask God's blessing on Sister Dolores. She's a little hard-headed. She don't want to join in with this family. She wants to stay there in Florida. And I can't really blame her that we won't pray for those things. I missed the fact that this was supposed to be our business meeting today. And I apologize for that. We can have one this coming Sunday, if that's all right with everybody. So let's pray that God would Just continue to bless as he has. And I ask you, Brother John, if you could, yes, yes, yes, another prayer. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the service. We thank you for the message that you've heard today. We thank you for the word you've served. We look into it. We commend you for preaching it. You've brought light to us. Help us to take the words that we've heard and apply them to our lives. So in this place, we're in a better box. We're going to deal with this as we do better, that we might be better servants, and we might do better business, and we might do the thing that you seem fit to be putting on charge. I do pray for other churches, wherever they are, each member, each member of the family, being the one guy who can strengthen them, and comfort them, whatever the need is. Pray with the ones on the prayer list, and then we'll be finished. We're going to turn our attention to you, and realize that you're living a great life. And also, when you're lost, you might use us to spread your words, spread your gospel. And it's your level when you say you want to bring them into the fold. In Jesus' name, we pray.