The lesson we're going to have today is a little bit different, unusual. I think it'll be a good lesson, but it's not what I had originally planned. I had planned to begin the book of First Peter. That was my intent, but the Lord changed our plans things happen this week in our own personal lives that I thought it would be good for Joan and for me to talk to you about these plans that have happened with us. And next Sunday, Lord willing, we always say that next Sunday, we'll begin First Peter. We want to do a biographical sketch of the whole life of Peter, so that'll be next week. and then on into the book of 1 Peter. But first of all, I wanted my sweet wife to give you a testimony about some things that have happened to us this week. So, Jo, would you come? My sweet wife. I don't have a sour wife. Just teasing. You have to tease sometimes, just kind of make things be a little bit light. Can you hear me okay? Okay. If you can't while I'm speaking, please just wave at me, and if I see you, I'll try to speak louder. I am having trouble with my voice being strong enough. And you'll also bear with me as I read part of my notes, because I feel like I do better reading than just telling about it. A year ago, my life changed, as yours probably did too, due to the COVID-19. I didn't have the COVID, but during the year I had many changes in my schedule, in my health, my strength, and just many other ways. All through the year, I just kept thinking that the reason it was so difficult was that I was trying to adjust to a new way of life. Masks, not being able to get together with friends, not having our regular church services and activities and all of the rest of the things that we were so used to doing. Some of the changes for me were in my body. I had the loss of smell. I would be cooking dinner and my husband would come in and say, oh, something really smells good. And I said, I'm so glad. I couldn't smell it. My handwriting kept getting smaller and smaller. I would start a sentence or start a word even. And the first part of it was very legible. And by the time I got to the end, you couldn't even read what I had written. My voice got softer and softer. It was harder for me to speak out and I noticed that because people would ask me to repeat what I said or they'd lean over into me to hear what I said. I didn't realize my voice was softer. I started having something like a stooped posture and short steps and my husband very gently, very kindly called that to my attention and when he would, I would kind of repeat it. I would stand up straight and I would take great big steps if I could because he wasn't being critical, he was being helpful. Our sons started noticing some of these things and one of them mentioned that their grandfather, my dad, walked that way and he had Parkinson's. I had kind of forgotten that my dad had had Parkinson's because that's not what he died from. He died from liver cancer and so I kind of had put the Parkinson's back in the back of my brain, I guess. But my husband and I began to realize that I possibly had Parkinson's, which can be inherited. As we read various articles about it, we became more and more convinced that I was probably dealing with Parkinson's. As soon as I started reading about Parkinson's, I asked the Lord for a scripture verse to hang on to. I have a stack of verses on three by five cards at my desk at home, and I was going to go through the stack and find me a perfect verse. I didn't have to go far. I was amazed when I read the top verse in my stack, 2 Corinthians 12, 9. He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Isn't that perfect? It just thrilled me, and I was so amazed, and I've kept that card out so that I see it all through the day, and I'll probably see it through the night. But that was the encouragement that I needed. If his grace is sufficient, I know he can meet my every need. I do have a wonderful doctor and he's sending me to some wonderful doctors. There's a neurologist that he wanted me to see, and I couldn't get in with him yet for a couple of weeks or maybe even a month. And I asked my doctor about maybe looking for another one. He said, no, that's the one you need to see. So he's really looking out for me, and I really appreciate that. This past week, I had an MRI for my first ever I had heard horror stories about being in the tube, not able to move. Some of you know what I'm talking about. So I definitely was not looking forward to it. I had asked several people to pray for me, and I asked the Lord to help me. I can truthfully tell you that it was a great experience. As soon as the machine started, I began in my head quoting scriptures, singing hymns, singing gospel songs, and the time went very quickly. I never even thought about the fact that I was lying there in that big thing. But there was one song that I wanted it to come to my brain, and I just couldn't think of it. It's one of my very favorites. Towards the end of the MRI, I thought of it, and it was Victory in Jesus. So that was the very last song that I sang. Sang, sang, sang, sang, sang. in my mind, victory in Jesus. But when I got finished and got out then, one of the workers said, now are you okay? Do you need anything? I said, I'm just fine. I just sang victory in Jesus. He probably thought I was crazy, but anyway. I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. And that's all I need to know. Thank you for your prayers. If you'll just continue them, we'll appreciate it. On the back table are the shut-ins for this month. So if you'll be sure and get you one and you can contact these folks and let them know you're praying for them. And I know it means so much to get a card or a note or something like that. So I hope you'll do that. All right, open your Bibles please to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Today we're going to have a rerun. I brought this message about 10 years ago when I was diagnosed with MS. And so I know most of you have slept since then. So it's going to be a new sermon anyway. But that's what we're going to look at, Romans 8 and verse 28. Romans 8, 28, God's word says, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose. Let's pray one more time. Lord, I need your help. I have clarity of thought, clarity of expression. My friends here need help. Those who are watching by way of live stream, Lord, we all need the Lord. And I just pray today will be a real help and encouragement to all of our lives. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Romans 8, 28. How many of you believe Romans 828? Lift your hand. Good. All right. Now, second question. How many really believe Romans 828? Really, really believe Romans 828? Even whatever happens in your life, we recognize and realize Romans 828. Let me tell you about a fellow named John Peterson. John Peterson wrote many of the songs that we just love. He took a miracle, you know that song, he wrote that. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Those are all wonderful songs written by John Peterson. In fact, he wrote about a thousand songs. When John Peterson was a teenager, He had a wonderful, wonderful voice. And he began singing in churches, singing around in different meetings. And he was called the Singing Farm Boy. He grew up in the Midwest. Well, he got a job one summer at a factory, and he would sing over the machine. The machine was pretty loud, and John would sing over the top of the machine, and then he realized he was having voice problems. He went to see a doctor, and the doctor said, you have been abusing your voice, and your voice is really gone. It's damaged beyond repair. Well, John was devastated, but then he discovered something else. He discovered Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good to them that love God. And so John Peterson asked for the Lord's help. And John Peterson writes, I did, I could not sing, but I turned more and more to writing songs so that others could sing. And so John Peterson learned that. John Peterson lost the ability to sing, but he got a song in the hearts of millions of other people. He learned Romans 828. And my desire for our class here, for all of us, is to learn to interpret the events of life in the light of Romans 828. Whatever happens, whatever people do to you, whatever people say about you, just to call Romans 8.28 to mind. This took a new meaning to me. I had preached about Romans 8.28 for years, but now the Lord said, Bob Taylor, you're going to get to live Romans 8.28. You're going to preach it, but you're also going to live it. So a few months ago, I noticed some things were really happening in Joan's life. And she mentioned that to you and she blamed it on the COVID. She blamed it on being stuck at home with me and just getting out of church once a week and a lot of other things. And so I told my three sons, and they got their heads together. And one of them said, do you think mom has Parkinson's? Well, we'd never even thought about Parkinson's. But we went to the website, and you can check this out, for Mayo Clinic. And Mayo Clinic has about 10 signs of Parkinson's. And Joan scored really high. She had about 7 of the 10 signs. She definitely had them in her life. So we saw a regular doctor. He confirmed that. And now we're in the process. We had MRIs. This coming week, we see a neurologist. Or in a couple of weeks, a neurologist. So all of these things have been going on. So I want us to take Romans 8.28. I had to go back and look at it myself. And I thought, you know, For our class and for our people, this is what we need. So look at Romans 8, 28, first few words, and we know, we know, K-N-O-W. We don't hope. We don't guess. We don't fret. We don't worry. We know something. Why do we know? Because we know God. We know because we know the Lord. We know he's sovereign. We know he's all powerful. We know he's love. We know that anything that comes in our life, the love of God has allowed it. Now the Greek word for know, I learned my freshman year in college, when I took beginning Greek, is the word oida, O-I-D-A, oida. And oida means to inspect something and to know it thoroughly and completely. For example, some men one time were going to build a railroad bridge over a great chasm. And they had to have a good strong bridge because it was going to hold up a locomotive loaded with all kinds of goods. So the engineer designed the bridge. They got the bridge all fixed. And he said, now, let's take a locomotive out on the middle of that bridge. And so he took the train out on the very middle of the bridge, revved it up, had it loaded down, and the bridge stood. It had been inspected. And they can say, we know this bridge will hold things up. The Christian life is not a hope so life. What we believe is not hope so. It's not wishing. It's not thinking things are going to get better. That's why Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Suppose you had the ability to see one hour into the future, you just had that ability, you could tell what was going to happen. You go to say a football game, you go to a football game, and your team is behind by a couple of points. And everybody in the stands are standing, and they're screaming, they're yelling to the top of their lungs. But you know something's going to happen. You know in the final minute, your team is going to kick a field goal, and they're going to win. You're not bothered. You're just sitting there very calmly, have your arms folded. Everybody else is going crazy. But it doesn't bother you. You know what the end's going to be. Folks, that's us. we know what the end is going to be so we don't worry, we don't fret, we don't stew, we know God is in control. I read of a barbershop one time had a little boy that would shine shoes and then he would In the meantime, read his Bible. Well, a man came in one time, saw a little boy sitting there reading his Bible, and he said, son, do you know what that Bible says? You know what it's all about? And the little boy looked up. He said, yes, sir, I know what it means. It means God's going to win. Well, that's a good way to say it. God is going to win. In the end, God is going to win. In the end, Romans 8, 28 is going to work. And we know that all things work together for good. The news you receive may be bad news, may be what people call bad news, but you know the end. You may have a doctor's report. It's not very good for you. The outcome may not look very pleasant, but we know something. We know Romans 8.28 is real and it really does work. Then the next little phrase in Romans 8.28, and we know that all things Don't forget that little word, all, is probably the biggest word in Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things, nothing is excluded. Nothing is accepted. It all works together. Somebody said, what does all mean? Well, all means all things. And that's all it means. We know that all things, we read this a different way. And I'll confess I've done it too. We say we know that most things, the way we do it, we know that the things we can understand, but all things is what God says about the Bible. There's no asterisk in my Bible. Anybody have a Bible that says, and we know that at all things, and there's an asterisk that says, well, maybe that's so, but God knows all things, good and bad, things we understand and things we do not understand, all things work together for good. All is one of God's favorite words. When you read the Bible, you'll find all mentioned several thousand times in the Bible, casting all your care upon him, not just some, but all of your care. He freely gives us all things. And the one I really like is that Christ died for all. Isn't that great? Christ died for all. That's why I could never be a Calvinist. That's why I could never be a limited atonement person and believe that Christ only died for some people. And if you're lucky, then God died for you. But if you're not very lucky, God didn't die for you. That's not what the Bible says. Christ died for all. God is all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, all. Now, all these things, you know what else that includes? It includes your failures. All things work together for good. All things, even the things you say, boy, I really messed up. I made a dumb decision a few weeks ago or a few years ago. I made a bad decision. I was not the kind of parent I should have been. I have these things in my memory. Friend, God takes all of these and works together for good. So all things. Now somebody here, probably in our class today, you're thinking, you know, I did some wrong things. And you wallow in guilt, and you go through and days come, guilt is there, you get rather sad. May I suggest to you, write down whatever that is, and then at the top of the card, write Romans 8.28. and we know that all things work together for good. Give God your mess-ups, give God your mistakes, and he'll cause them to work together for good. I remember reading a story a few years ago of a man who had a beautiful castle over in Germany, and he remodeled. He had men come in, workmen come in. They just did all kinds of things, sprucing it up, and he decided He would have an open house so folks could come and see all that had been done in this beautiful, beautiful castle. Well, the guests that were there were all looking around and one man tripped and he had a whole cup of coffee and the cup of coffee spilled on the wall. And the man thought, oh my, he's ruined that wall, put coffee on it. and it'll stain it, but an artist was there. And the artist said, well, let me look at that. Let me see what I can do with that. And the artist took that stain on the wall and began to work and to make a beautiful mural. And the stains on the wall became trunks on the trees and had a beautiful, beautiful thing. And then people began to come to the castle to see the painting. God worked all things together for good. Then the next part, and we know that all things, what's the next word? Work together. Work together. Now I grew up in the day before pills in plastic patches. You get pills and they have a little plastic thing and it almost takes dynamite to open it. and you take your knife out and you're trying to get to that little tablet that's in there. Now, in our day, most of us, our day, you took a prescription to the doctor. He had a mortar and pestle, remember that? And he would mix up a compound for you. And he would mix up the compound and say, here's what you need. Now, individually, some of the items in that prescription might have been deadly. There might have been some meds in there that would have killed you, but when it was all worked together and all put together, then it worked together for good. In 1920, over in Wales, there was a very tragic accident in the coal, coal mining was a big thing in Wales and a great accident, many, many men were trapped and then many men died. The village pastor was asked to bring this message. And there were several caskets out in front of him. And the village pastor got up and he said, folks, I know this is very difficult to understand. We have widows here. Your husband was your livelihood. We have children here who now are orphans. And he said, I want to show you something. And he reached into his Bible. And he took out a bookmark and held it up for all to see. On the backside of the bookmark, it was just a nest of threads going every which way. And then he turned the bookmark around and it says, God is love. And the pastor said, folks, right now, We're looking at our side. God's side says God is love. Our side, we don't understand. And he used that as an illustration. One day, we're going to see the other side. One day, we're going to understand why the tragedy happened, why there was an explosion in the coal mine, why many men died. One day, we'll understand, but not now. Now we look at the underside. God sees the upper side. Well, about 10 years ago, as I was working on this message to tell the church about the MS diagnosis, I came across a little poem. And I ask our secretaries today to put that poem so you could maybe put it somewhere in your Bible and refer to it. Here it is. My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me. I cannot choose the colors as he worketh steadily. Of times he weaveth sorrow and I in foolish pride forget he sees the upper. and I the underside. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned. He knows, he loves, He cares nothing this truth condemned. He gives the very best to those who leave the choice with him. Amen? God leaves the best. And we learn to trust him. He is weaving. So keep that. You can have that. Put it in your Bible. And someday, you're going to need it. Where is that poem I read? Or you can Google it, and you can find my life is about a weaving. All right, all things, and we know, All things work together. And what the next two words? For good, for good. You say, well, it doesn't look like good to me. Cancer doesn't look good. Our problems don't look good. Difficulties don't look good. Losing your job doesn't look good, but it's good to God. All things work together for good to God. One of the greatest examples of this truth is in the life of a songwriter that we all have come to love named Fanny Crosby. Fanny Crosby lived in the early 1900s. She wrote Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine, Jesus is tenderly calling, calling today. Praise him, praise him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. I am thine, O Lord. Redeemed him, I love to proclaim it. Rescue the perishing. Tell me the story of Jesus. To God be the glory. Great things he had done. Safe in the arms of Jesus. Those were all a product of the little mind of a little lady named Fanny Crosby. When Fanny was six weeks old, she had some problems, a little girl. They called the family doctor. The family doctor came and put a poultice on her eyes. While he did not know, the poultice was the wrong thing. And it ruined her eyesight and made her almost totally blind for the rest of her life. She developed a phenomenal ministry. Fannie Crosby memorized many, many books of the Bible. Think of that. She memorized, and you have trouble with one verse. She memorized verses and verses and chapters and books of the Bible. In 1903, Fannie Crosby wrote these words. Let me read what she said. The poor doctor, who had spoiled my eye, soon disappeared from the neighborhood. We never heard any more about him. He's probably dead before now, but if I could ever meet him, I would say thank you, thank you, thank you for the greatest favor in the world, not tragedy, the greatest favor. I have heard the physician never cease to express regret for the occurrence, and it was one of the sorrows of his life. But if I could meet him, I would say thank you, thank you, For making me blind, it was through your agency that my blindness came about. I know that although it may have been a blunder on the physician's part, it was no mistake on God's part. I believe it was his intention that I should be blind for the rest of my physical life. I would have not have been able to written the many songs if I'd been seeing the great things around us. And so Fannie Crosby, wrote a song about that, and it's all the way my Savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercies, who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, hereby faith in Him to dwell, for I know what e'er befall me, Jesus, doing all things well. So God does all things well. He works all things together. Then the next part of the verse says to them that love God. Now that means it's for only God's children. Now sometimes folks will be at Cracker Barrel, you see all those little neat sayings on posters and pictures, but that's not for everybody. Romans 8 28 is not for the general public. Romans 8, 28 is for the believer. It's for you and for me. It's not meant to be a bumper sticker. You've ever heard folks say, well, it'll turn out for good. Well, you got to be in love with God because that's when the thing works. Have you ever heard folks say, well, it'll work out? Now we know it does, but it's God's people. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. A loving God, will never allow anything in your life, but that is for your good. Now, there's the next part of Romans 8, 28 is verse 29. And I want you to look at that before we close tonight today. Romans 8, 28 and verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate and watch the word conformed to the image of his son, conformed to the image of his son. Verse 28 is the promise, all things work together for good to them that love God. Verse 29 is the purpose, the promise and the purpose. The purpose is to be conformed to the image of his son. The word conform is the word, the Greek word morphe, to be conformed to the image of his son. It's the word that is used for a caterpillar who becomes a beautiful butterfly. And the caterpillar in the fall of the year climbs up a tree and forms a cocoon around his own body and he hangs there all wintertime, all during the winter snow and cold, that little caterpillar is inside that cocoon. But something is happening. That caterpillar is being transformed. A morphe is going on, and that caterpillar is becoming a beautiful, beautiful butterfly. That's what God does with us. God sends us through the trials and the tribulations, and he's making us more and more like Christ. That's what our loving Father does. I like to compare it sometimes to a woman or a man either one doing ceramics and you pour that liquid in the mold and it forms the mold it forms conforms to the mold God wants us to conform to Jesus this is by the way one of the very basics of ministry here in our church called hope and crisis And Hope in Crisis uses this verse many, many times. We belong to the Lord. God wants to conform us to the image of his son. Now, we sang the song this morning, God Never Moves Without Purpose or Plan. Rejoice in the Lord. That song was written by my good friend and many of you, his friend, Ron Hamilton. Ron Hamilton was a wonderful songwriter had a great memory, great mind, wrote some beautiful songs. But Ron Hamilton noticed he was having problems with his eye. He went to the doctor. The doctor said, we're going to have to check that out. And he told Ron, when you come out of the surgery, you're either going to be seeing or you're going to be blind in one eye. Well, he was blind in one eye. It was cancer in his eye. And Ron Hamilton had to put a patch over his eye. And so he went back to his church. And all the little kids called him Patch, Patch, Patch. And then he came up with the idea, or God gave him the idea, of Patch the Pirate. And Ron Hamilton's ministry was transformed by being Patch the Pirate. He began to wear a patch, and God blessed Ron Hamilton in many, many ways. And one of the verses God gave him was Job 23.10. He knows the way that I take. And when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. And that's the beautiful song written by Ron Hamilton. O rejoice in the Lord, he makes no mistake. He knoweth the path that I take. For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. By the way, Ron Hamilton now needs our prayers and his wife Shelly. Ron now has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and he has lost his memory and lost much of his mobility. But you know, he still is a happy guy, still a very pleasant person. And Shelley has written some beautiful, beautiful tributes to Ron. But God is in all of this. Charles Spurgeon said it this way. I love what he said. Sickness is the greatest earthly blessing God can give to us. Think of that. Sickness is the greatest blessing that God can give to us. So the Lord gives blessings to us. And some of the blessings, we don't understand why, but one day we will. We'll understand it better when? By and by. And thank God we do, and thank God for this promise on Romans 828. Now, next week, Lord willing, we'll start the book of first Peter and began by looking at the life of Peter and it's another illustration of Romans 8.28 as God used the events of Peter's life to transform him. So let's pray together. We're glad for the day. We're glad for your blessings in our lives. Thank you for Joan's testimony today. I pray it'll be used in your way in some hearts today. And then this time to study Romans 8, 28. Once again, to be reminded that God does all things well. He makes no mistake. So help us today. Bless in the service that follows. Be with our pastors. He brings the message from God's word. Thank you again for the leadership, and the heart that our pastor has. We pray your blessing upon him throughout the day. And on us today, we pray in Christ's name and for his sake, amen. Thank you. You are dismissed.