Thanks for watching! there is no substitute for the preaching and teaching of God's Word. Each weekday on Enjoying the Journey, Scott Pawley leads us in a brief study of Scripture. Today, on The Weekend Pulpit, we are happy to share a full-length Bible message given through Scott's pulpit ministry. These messages were recorded live in a local church or gospel event in recent days. It is our prayer that the message will be a help to you today. And I return to Mark chapter 1 to bring you to a phrase that is used four times, the divine repetition that the Holy Spirit has arrested me with the last few days. And I'm not going to preach along to you tonight, but I want to make an application. And really, I want to encourage your faith. The Bible says in the book of Job that man that is born a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Have you lived long enough to figure that out? Everybody's got problems. It may be physical. It may be emotional. It may be financial. It may be spiritual. But everybody has their struggles, their stresses, their strains in life. And there's a phrase here that I find so interesting. Let's begin reading in verse 1 again. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize. in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Would you take your pen tonight and mark in verse 3, in the wilderness, and in verse 4, in the wilderness? How many of you think that seems like a strange place to have an evangelistic crusade? Not in a beautiful auditorium, not in a lovely place, in the desert, in the outlying areas where you had to go on purpose. Nobody just went there on accident. Nobody went to the wilderness for a good time. In fact, the opening letters of the word wilderness is the word wild. Think of this, into the wild, where the wild beasts are, the devourers are, where the sun bakes. Interesting, isn't it? That's John in the wilderness. And then you come to the verse number 10. Remember, Jesus, baptized of John of the Jordan, verse 10, and straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Let me ask you a question. Is that a high holy moment? The baptism of Christ, heaven opens up, the Father speaks, he's pleased with his Son, and then you come to verse 12. And immediately, the Spirit driveth him. What's it say, church? Into the wilderness? Does your Bible say into the wilderness? Seems like that'd be the moment to call crowds of people together. He's beginning his public ministry. The spirit, like a dove, is lighted upon him. The Father from heaven has given testimony that is well pleased in him. Seems like that'd be the moment to start a healing line, don't you think? And that's the very moment that the Spirit of God then drives the lovely Son of God, Mark it a third time, into the wilderness. Verse 13, and he was there. Where? In the wilderness 40 days, tempted of Satan and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered unto him. Four times. Do you see it? John in the wilderness, in the wilderness, and Jesus into the wilderness, and in the wilderness. Did you know that God works in the wilderness? The word wilderness is a fascinating word. I'd like you to write this down somewhere, if you will. The word itself literally means to be alone. That's the meaning of the word. We're not just referring to geography here. How many of you know you can be in a crowd and be very alone? In fact, some of the loneliest moments in life are the moments when you're surrounded by people, and they may be people that you know and love, and they know and love you, but they have no idea what you're dealing with, and you can't put it into words. They can't figure it out, and nobody can fix it. It's the wilderness. I do not know who I'm preaching to tonight, but this I do know. Every person listening to me at this moment has either been in the wilderness, you're in it right now, or sometime in the days ahead, the Spirit of God is going to lead you into your own wilderness moments. And this is what I want you to get from the Word of God tonight. It is this, that the Lord doesn't just work in the religious places. The Lord doesn't just work in the public places. The Lord doesn't just work in the beautiful places. The Lord works in the wilderness. I've enjoyed through the years reading the life of Winston Churchill. I don't know of any Churchill fans here or not, but I've enjoyed reading about his life. We were in England several years ago and toured the war rooms. That was a fascinating thing to me. If you get acquainted with much about the life of Winston Churchill, everybody talks about the golden era of his influence, how he held Britain, how he held off Hitler, how he was used to advance the cause of liberty and democracy around the world. But nobody, nobody ever talks about the decade that preceded that moment. There's a book out, and they've even made some, I think, television series about it now called The Wilderness Years. You know why they call them The Wilderness Years? Because those were the years that everybody forgot Winston Churchill. In World War I, he was a hero. He was the Lord of the Admiralty. He was a man who was highly respected and followed. He was everybody's hero for a period. And then it was like the curtain dropped on his life and they put him out to pasture and he was the old fellow that didn't belong in the cabinet anymore and they didn't need him. And for about a decade he sat in some very lonely places just doing his writing and doing his business and waiting his time and then there came that moment when England needed somebody who had the courage to stand up and speak out and take the leadership. And that was the moment that Winston Churchill stepped again onto the stage of history and was so used, I think, in the providence of God. suggesting to you that Churchill was a saved man, at least that he was not a spirit-filled man. But I do believe in the sovereign work of God in people's lives. And here's what I very often learn. I've learned that many times on the other side of the wilderness, God grows his most beautiful fruit. Let me show you something before we walk through the passage. Go back with me in the Old Testament just a moment, would you please? You see, sometimes we're in the wilderness because of our disobedience. You know that, right? Israel is a good example. Go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 8 for just a moment. And then sometimes God in his good providence gets us into the wilderness. Abraham had his wilderness. Isaac had his wilderness. Jacob had his wilderness. Joseph had his wilderness. David had his wilderness. Elijah had his wilderness. Sounds to me like God sure puts a lot of people in the wilderness. What do you think? Look at Deuteronomy chapter number eight, because Moses said a little word about this. By the way, Moses had had his own wilderness experience, 40 years on the backside of the desert. You won't talk about a lonely, solitary place, but that's where he met God in the burning bush. That's where he learned that God was great and he was not. It was in the wilderness that God made his servant ready. And the same thing was true in the people he was going to lead. Look at Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse number two. He says, And thou should remember, All the way which the Lord thy God led thee. These 40 years in the what? In the wilderness. Interesting, isn't it? Why were they in the wilderness? He tells us to humble thee. Did you know in the wilderness you get all the snot knocked out of you? In the wilderness, God reminds you that you're nothing and you need him. In the wilderness, he said to humble thee, watch this, and to prove thee. to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. Might I say, we'll come back to this thought in a moment, that in the wilderness God not only proves you, in the wilderness God proves himself. Watch this, in the wilderness God shows you you, but praise God, in the wilderness God shows you him. Look at verse number three, and he humbled thee. Wonder why it says it twice. You ever wonder why he has to say in verse two to humbly, and then in three, he has to say it again to humbly. I'm going to tell you why, because we all got a lot of pride. And the humbling work of God is not something God does once, it's something he does over and over and over. And if I could give you the counsel that one of my spiritual mentors gave me, praise God for everything the Lord uses to humble you. Has he touched your body? Has he touched your body in some way? That instead of complaining about it, thank God that in the touching of your body, the Lord reminds you that he's the one who made the body, he's the one who sustains the body, and though Jacob you might limp, you can lean on the everlasting arms of a mighty big God. Has he touched your finances? And you say, we don't know how we're going to pay for anything. God's going to meet your needs like He's always met your needs. Because there's no lack in the bank of heaven. Thank the Lord for everything He uses to humble thee. Keep reading. Verse 3, He suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna. How many of you are glad it didn't stop with suffered thee to hunger? The idea is he brought them to the end of their own resources so he could bring them to the divine resource. He fed them with manna, which thou knowest not. Oh, hear Jeremiah 33 in this. Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Can I just tell you, there's some things God teaches you in the wilderness you can't learn anywhere else. The Lord likes to hold class in the wilderness. Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Time out, time out just a minute. When Jesus goes into the wilderness, doesn't he quote this exact same portion of scripture? Let me tell you one thing God will show you. Everybody lift your head and look up here. In the wilderness, the word will mean more to you. I'm going to tell you what God does when God gets you very alone. Where you got nobody to talk to, you start talking to God. Where nobody else's words minister to you, the word of God ministers to you. You get beyond just communication to communion. You get beyond man to God. Where does he do that? In the wilderness. Look at verse number four, thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell. These forty years thou should also consider in that heart that as a man chastened his son, so the Lord thy God chastened thee. He said, look, daddy's going to take care of you in the wilderness. Daddy's got his eye on you. He may chasten you, but know this. He's going to meet every need you have. Oh, praise the Lord. God's not bound by geography and God's not bound by circumstance. The only thing God is bound by is our unbelief. Believe this. God works even in the wilderness moments of your life. On our way back to our text, stop off in Psalms just a minute. Would you look at Psalm 107? Psalm 107 is a historical psalm. It references what we just read in Deuteronomy and it prepares us for what we're going to see in Mark chapter number one. It's a Thanksgiving psalm, but notice the context in verse four, they wandered, mark it please, Psalm 107 verse four, in the wilderness. Wait a minute. Then he defines what the wilderness is in a what? A solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distress. As old Van Saverter said, when Jesus is all you have, you find out He's all you need. When you get to the bottom, you find out the foundation's still there. Somebody said, I'm out here in the wilderness. Well, I got good news. The Lord's in the wilderness, too. Somebody said, I'm out here and nobody's around. Nobody knows what I'm going through. No, nobody knows. But look up. The Lord has his eye on you. His ear open to your prayer. Has every hair on your head numbered. He knows your frame. He remembers that you're dust. And he promised he would never leave us and he would never forsake us. Look at verse number seven. I love this. He led them forth by the right way. Let me ask you a question. You think God knows his way through the wilderness? He'll lead you by the right way. Watch it, that they might go to a city of habitation. Aren't you glad the wilderness is not the final destination? No, there's a habitation on the other side. By the way, the habitation is not just Canaan. The habitation is the very presence of Almighty God. And if you'll learn to live in the presence of God in the wilderness, you can enjoy the presence of God everywhere that you go. Notice something. You're still in Psalm 107? Look at verse number 33. He describes God's work and he says in verse 33, he turneth rivers into a wilderness. Mark that in your Bible. Did you know that God has a way of taking bounty and turning it to nothing? You know why he's doing that? Because he's bringing us to the end of ourselves. Sometimes God will knock all the crutches out from under you. All the props are gone. And you say, well, Lord, I was leaning on that. That was the problem. You're not to lean on your own understanding. You're not to lean on the arm of flesh. You're to lean on the Lord. And sometimes God has to get you out there, and suddenly the river dries up, and the brook goes dry. Prophet, and now you're sitting in the wilderness, in a desert, in a barren place, in a lonely time, and you're wondering what God is up to. Don't you ever, ever forget that God is always working to bring you nearer to himself. Keep reading. Oh, it gets better. He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water springs in a dry ground, a fruitful land and a barrenness for the weakness of them that dwell therein. But look at verse 35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water. and dry ground into water springs. Would you connect verse 33, he turned the rivers into a wilderness, with verse 35, he turned the wilderness into a standing water. Did you know that the most beautiful places in life without the presence of God become ugly, barren, wasteland places, but the most barren, dry, desert, lonely moments of life become glorious paradises if God is there? And do you understand that out in that wilderness, as surely as the Lord brought water out of that rock and took care, quenched the thirst of millions of Jewish people, that the rock still flows today and the Lord knows how to meet your needs even in the wilderness. We were in Amman, Jordan a few years ago. We were training a group of Iraqi pastors, and it was an amazing time. When we were done, the Jordanian pastor that was hosting us said, I've got to show you some things. And he took us up, and he showed us the Dead Sea and lots of interesting Bible lands on that side of the Jordan. He took us up on top of Mount Nebo to Pisgah where Moses looked over in the promised land and died and God buried him. We're standing up on top of Nebo and we're looking out and it's just barren wasteland as far as you can see on the Jordanian side. It's just all wilderness and the man said, you know the children of Israel walked right through here. He said, you're doing a little Bible geography. They walked through this very area, and I thought that was fascinating, and we talked about that a little bit. And then I looked off yonder in the distance, and I said, what is that little green patch out there? And he started to laugh, and he said, it's an oasis in the desert. He said, if I had time to drive you out there, it's not little, it's actually very large. He said, right out in the middle of this vast, barren wilderness, he said, there's palm trees and flowers and fruit growing. He said, it's amazing. And I said, what causes that? He said, right in the middle of all of that, there's a massive rock and there is water gushing out of that rock continuously and it has been for centuries. And I said to him, could that be? And he said, we don't know. He said, the reality is we don't know that for sure geographically. We're not sure that would have been the place where Israel would have been when the rock was smitten and flowed out with water from the rock. But he said, whether it is the rock or whether it isn't the rock, it's a good reminder that in the middle of the desert, God can make water come out of a rock and meet everybody's needs. And I came to tell you tonight that the rock of ages is still flowing with more than enough for all of God's children. And whatever your wilderness, God's got enough water to meet you in the midst of that wilderness. With that in mind, go back with me now to Mark chapter 1. There are four references here to the wilderness. Let me give you four little applications. I'd like you to write them down, would you please? And they all come straight from the text in the wilderness. First of all, notice in verse 3, That it's a quote, we studied this this morning from scripture, from the word of God in the book of Isaiah. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Number one, would you write this down? In the wilderness, the Lord opens his word to us. I think one of the reasons God gets us so alone sometimes is because he wants to talk to us and we're too busy talking to everybody else. We are the most connected and the most disconnected generation in the history of the world. And the sad reality is most of us spend way more time on our mobile devices than we do in the Word of God. And something is desperately wrong with that. If I said to you at midnight tonight, God is going to be right here in this auditorium. Our Lord will stand right here in this place and he'll speak. How many of you would come back for a midnight service? Would you raise your hand? Friends, you wouldn't even leave. You'd fight for the front seats. You'd call all your friends and neighbors and say, you're not going to believe it. The Lord's going to speak to us at midnight tonight. Somebody said, well, wouldn't that be nice? Do you understand God made a way so he can speak to us every day? Somebody said, yeah, yeah, but I'd like to hear him speak out loud. All right, then read your Bible out loud then. But the Bible is the very voice of God to us. It is the Word of God. It is the message of God. And I'm going to tell you, sometimes God's got to get us out yonder in the wilderness before we finally dust our copy of the Scriptures off and open the Bible and begin to feed our souls on it again. Maybe it would be a good idea if all of us just got back in the Word right where we are. I'll tell you, I'll tell you how to be sure to get a word from God on your hardest day. Get a word from God every day. This is fascinating to me, but if you come down to verse number five, notice the Bible says there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem. Out. In fact, in one of the other accounts it says that they came from all the cities. They came out of the cities. Do you know what the cities were? They were beehives of activity. They were abuzz with life. and marketplace and relationships and society, just like our lives. You know what the wilderness is? The wilderness is symbolic of the place where there is no distraction, where we are not consumed with what everybody sees and does, and all eyes are on the Lord. And I think sometimes the Lord's trying to get us in the wilderness so he can open the Word of God to us. Here's a second one. Verse number four, in the second mention of the wilderness, notice what he's dealing with. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance, watch this, for the remission of sins. In the wilderness, God not only opens the word to us, he opens us to him. Did you know that in the wilderness, God shows us our sin and our spiritual need? See, we clean up good for public consumption. I mean, we got this thing down to a science. We've been in church long enough, most of us, to come in and nod our heads and say, God bless yous, and we carry our Bibles and sing our hymns, and we look very spiritual. But beneath the surface, very often, there are things growing there that should not be there, and the Lord knows it. And sometimes God has to almost separate us from the things that just make life feel normal so that suddenly we'll start seeing us like God sees us. I'll give you a prayer, but if you pray it, I forewarn you, brace yourself because God will answer it. And here's the prayer, Lord, be thorough with me. The psalmist prayed it this way. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Oh, Lord, I want to be. I want to be clean and pure and right. I want to be cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. Well, in the wilderness, God will begin to show you those things. There's a third one. Come to verse number 12. I've always found it interesting that it is the spirit of Christ that drove him into the wilderness. I mean, you think it's the devil. When he gets there, he's going to fight the devil and face the devil. I mean, my soul, he's going to enter into temptation in the wilderness, but the Bible says the Spirit is the one that drove him there. Never forget this. Often the Lord will lead you into wilderness moments, not to leave you there, but to reveal something in that wilderness and then bring you out on the other side in greater victory and power. Write this one down, number three, in the wilderness, God proves us. In every temptation, in every test, in every trial in life, what is the Lord doing? He's proving us. He's allowing us to demonstrate what we say we believe. It's easy to sit in church and say one thing, but then you've got to get out yonder and live it, right? Where do you live it? In the wilderness. You don't serve God in the church house, you serve God in the wilderness. People don't see your faith in the church house. They see your faith in the wilderness. And it was in the wilderness that our Lord Jesus proved, on any shadow of a doubt, recorded in Scripture for us exactly who He is, the sinless Son of Almighty God. It's not my purpose to study the temptation of Christ tonight. All God, all man tempted, yes. Incapable of sin, though, because we believe in his impeccable nature. But do you understand we have a high priest that's been touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. And do you understand that it was in that temptation that the foundation was laid for the great ministry of reconciliation that Christ did while he was here? In fact, look at the rest of the chapter just a minute. Let this sink in. The rest of the chapter, we'll come back to the chapter, the rest of the chapter is filled with victory. It's powerful. In verse 16 and 17, he calls Simon, Peter, and Andrew to himself. In verse 19, he calls James and John to himself. In verse number 21 and 22, he preached and the authority of his doctrine just absolutely knocked them all down. In verse number 23, he heals a man who's possessed of an unclean spirit. I mean, he's got power over demons. That's pretty powerful. You come down to verse number 30, he heals Peter's mother-in-law. And don't make any connection between the demons and the mother-in-law here, all right? Two totally different stories. The mother-in-law is set free from her illness. About that time, they hear rustling at the door. You come to verse number 33, the whole city shows up at the door. And they bring the sick ones. And look at verse number 33, they're all healed. Demons cast out. I mean, it's powerful stuff. Verse 38, he continues his evangelistic crusade, and on and on and on. Lepers cry out in verse 40 for mercy, and Jesus in verse 41 touches a leper. You don't touch lepers, but he touched a leper, and he made that leper clean in a moment of time. I don't know about you, this sounds like the power of God. What do you think? Did I just point out the most obvious thing to you? If the Lord Jesus had done the wrong thing in the wilderness, we wouldn't read any of that. What chapter of Mark are we in, class? Talk to me. I'm sorry, what chapter? You understand the next 15 chapters wouldn't have been possible if in chapter 1 our Lord Jesus had not proved once and for all in the wilderness exactly who he was? that every good thing and every God thing that grew out of the ministry of his son on this earth and the death and the burial and the resurrection, all of that was precipitated on what God proved in the wilderness. Did it ever dawn on you that the wilderness is not the end of the story, that on the other side of the wilderness God's getting ready to do something mighty and powerful? Don't you quit just before God is getting ready to demonstrate his mighty power. And so, in the wilderness, the Word opens to us. In the wilderness, we open to God. In the wilderness, God proves us. Write a fourth one down. Look at verse 13. He's there in the wilderness 40 days. By the way, 40 in the Bible, always representative of testing. Tempted of Satan. Interesting, isn't it? Israel in the wilderness for how many years? Forty years. Jesus in the wilderness for how many days? Forty days. tempted of Satan. Somebody said, I don't think I'd like to hang out with the devil for 40 days. No, I don't think I would either. And on top of that, he was with the wild beast. I mean, think about all of the threat and all of the danger and all of the difficulty that our Lord faced for 40 days and nights all by himself in the wilderness. By the way, when you start thinking you're having a hard time, know this, you've never endured what Jesus endured for you. And watch this, in your wilderness, Jesus is right there with you. And if Satan shows up, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And if a wild beast are nipping at your heel, just remember this, Christ is greater than all. Look at the end of the verse. I love this. And the angels ministered unto him. Do you understand that in the wilderness, God will minister to you in special ways? God will demonstrate His wisdom and His ability. The Lord will do what only He can do in the lowest moments of your life. When you feel like you can't put one foot in front of another and you have no strength, that's where the Lord demonstrates His greatest strength. I've got to show you something. Don't lose your spot. There's one more thing I want to show you in Mark, but hold your place. Turn over to Luke just for a second, to Luke chapter 4. Can I show you something? Comparing Scripture with Scripture, look at Luke chapter 4. I love this. When Jesus finished the 40 days in the wilderness, 40 days of temptation and returned, look at Luke 4 and verse 14. And Jesus returned, would you mark it, in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And the went out of fame of him throughout all the region, round about, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." Let me ask you a question. When he's sitting all by himself in the middle of the night in the wilderness and Satan's on the prowl and the wild beast are too, that did not look promising. Can we all agree? But that is never the last chapter of the story. Can I show you something? You know what the Lord wants while you're in the wilderness? In the wilderness, He wants to prove the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, so much so that when you pop out, and you're going to pop out, when you pop out of that wilderness on the other side, you know what's going to be on your life? The blessed presence of the Spirit of God abiding on you in such a way that not only will you know the blessing of God, you'll be a greater blessing to other people. Matter of fact, can I show you something really interesting? Before he went into the wilderness, something happened. He got baptized, right? And when he came up out of the water, the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. But something else happened. Anybody remember what else happened? A dove, a picture of the gentle, pure one, the third person of the Trinity. You've got God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the triune God, the Godhead, all three represented right there at the baptismal waters of the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit came and lighted on Jesus. Could I point out to you, there's no reference that he ever left. The Spirit was given not by measure to him. He had all of the Holy Spirit of God, and there was never a moment that he grieved the Holy Spirit of God. I'm not suggesting that Jesus walked around for three and a half years with a dove on his shoulder either, by the way. But I'm suggesting to you the Spirit of God was upon his life. Oh, I love this thought. And the Holy Ghost is on him. And in the wilderness, the Holy Ghost is with him. And when he comes out, the Holy Ghost is working through him. Do you understand that the comforter is given to you not just for you to be comforted. The comforter is given to you so that through your life other people will come to know your great God. The purpose of your wilderness is not to glorify you. The purpose of your wilderness is for Christ to be glorified in you. For Jesus to be exalted. What was it Paul wrote? That we comfort them who are in any trouble with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Are you in the wilderness? Well, know this, you're living in a world of wilderness wanderers. And they're all looking for help and they're all looking for hope. They're looking for the one you know. Go back to Mark 1. I'll give you a little footnote to the story before we pray. I didn't notice this till this week. I was reading this in the wilderness, in the wilderness, into the wilderness, in the wilderness. And I read all the way through to the end of the chapter, and I came to verse number 45. He's now healed the leper. He told the leper, don't tell everybody now. What did the leper do? He told everybody. By the way, before you scald the leper, if you'd been healed of leprosy, you'd tell everybody too. Verse 45, he went out, began to publish it much, and blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but, now wait for it, he was without in desert places. Would you mark that in your Bible? Did you know the word desert here is the exact same word used for wilderness? It is the exact word. So John has his wilderness, God worked in that wilderness. And Jesus has his wilderness, and God worked in that wilderness. And somebody says, got that behind us? Listen to me now. There's never just one wilderness. How many of you ever said something like this? If we can just get through this, if we can just get this figured out, If we can just get beyond this, then it's going to get easier. I hate to bust your bubble, and I really don't want to depress you, but it's not going to get easier. It's called life. Welcome to my country, all right? People got problems. That's not going away till you get a glorified body and the devil's shut up and we're in the presence of Jesus forever, and won't that be wonderful? But until then, know this, there are going to be seasons of life. There are going to be wilderness moments of life. And I love the last phrase of verse 45. And they came to him from every quarter. That sounds a lot like the ministry of John the Baptist. He's out in the wilderness and the people are coming to him and coming to him because there's something different. That guy in the wilderness, he dresses funny and eats funny things. But man, when he speaks, it seems like he knows God. And suddenly now Jesus is out yonder in the desert places, in the wilderness places. And guess what? People are being drawn in from every corner because they want to know the power that rests upon his life. And here's what I'm saying to you tonight. I'm saying to you that it is through the wilderness that God is demonstrating not who you are, that God is demonstrating who he is. Oh, I love this. Are you listening? In the wilderness, you're going to come to know God better. In fact, you'll never be the same. But in the wilderness, lots of other people are going to come to know him, too. I'm thinking about some wilderness seasons in my own life. I remember early after we got married, we were so excited, we were going to have a family and serve the Lord, and we found out we were going to have a baby, and we, like most young couples, just excited, started telling everybody, telling everybody. Sometime into that pregnancy, there was a complication, and that baby went to be with the Lord. Lots of families have gone through much more difficult things, but for us as a young couple, it was difficult. I remember the little apartment we were living in at the time in Tennessee, and I remember quietly saying to the Lord, alone. Now, we were together, but I was a lonely moment. I said to the Lord, why, Lord? We're trying to serve you, and we wanted to have a baby, and why'd you let that happen? I remember the night our pastor said, pray for a certain young couple in our church. They've lost a baby and they're having a hard time. This was several years removed. And I remember the Holy Ghost said to me that night, I helped you, didn't I? Yes, Lord, you helped us. Go tell them. Go minister to them. See, sometimes not when you're up and things are going well, sometimes when you're down, God's going to make you the greatest witness. And people are going to see Christ in you when you're most broken. That's when the light shines through. That's when the treasure is seen. Nearly a decade now ago, hard to believe, God rocked my world. We were very set and settled where we were living and serving, had been there for almost two decades. Kids were happy, we were happy, beautiful home, well cared for, thought to be there the rest of my life in ministry. Everybody else thought that, too. And then the Holy Spirit said, now, I want you to leave here. And I argued with the Lord. I gave him all the reasons why that was not a good idea. Did you know that's not an argument you're ever going to win? I was preaching in D.C. a few weeks ago. And I turned on a road, headed to church that Sunday morning. And I remembered, you know, you had those flashback moments. I was at the very place driving on that road when I was preaching in that city. Where I was having my hardest time. Leaving what I was so familiar with. And you know what I was struggling over? It wasn't me. It wasn't Tammy, she was right with me on it. It was my children. I was concerned all three of our kids were at home, and here God was disrupting my plans. Evangelism? How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to live? Where am I going to preach? All these questions. But my greatest struggle was with those children. I remember saying to the Lord, what about our kids? I was in the car alone, talking out loud to God. You can do that, you know. And I remember that moment, and I tell you, just a couple weeks ago when I was there, it just all came back to me. I remember the Holy Ghost said to me, oh, I didn't have some vision or hear some booming voice. It was louder than that. God very plainly spoke to my heart, and the Lord said to me, if it's the will of God for you, it's the will of God for them. I've never forgotten that. I remember that wilderness season in my life. Tammy will remember it very well. We were, we were having a hard time. Oh, we didn't have to leave there and nobody wanted us to leave and we didn't want to leave, but we were in a wilderness, not of our own choosing or making it. Suddenly it was like, where did this come from? And I remember we, we spent several weeks reading our Bibles and fasting and praying and she could speak for herself, but let me speak for me. God opened the Bible to me in those weeks. And I'd read it and taught it and preached it for years, but suddenly I was seeing things in the Bible. I got a text from a man this morning, this morning, and it was a photograph of a message I gave about how to find the will of God. And he said, I'm preaching from this text today. And he said, I opened my Bible, saw these notes here, and I knew exactly where that message had come from. That message had come from that season. And I'm looking back now, a decade later, saying to you, I wouldn't have traded what the Lord has done and is doing for anything in the world. God always exceeds expectation. When you're in the wilderness, just know this, God's trying to speak to you, and God's trying to get you thoroughly right with Him, and God's trying to prove your faith, and God's trying to prove His resources. But God is always working, even in the wilderness. And if you'll let God work in your wilderness, not only will you be better for it, your family will be better for it, but they'll come from every corner, because everybody's going through the wilderness somewhere, and everybody needs Jesus. If this Bible message has been used of God in your life, or we can pray for you in some definite way, please contact us at enjoyingthejourney.org. We hope you will share the message with others who may also be encouraged by it. For additional full-length Bible messages, please visit Dr. Scott Pauly's YouTube channel. Tomorrow is the Lord's Day, and we want to encourage you to be faithful to attend a Bible-preaching church in your area this Sunday. Thank you for listening to The Weekend Pulpit, and don't miss Enjoying the Journey daily devotional podcast each Monday through Friday.