Well, thanks for being willing to have us back again today. We're thankful that the weather allowed us to come without any trouble. We had a little more snow where we live, but this is the first winter that I have somebody plowing my driveway. I should have done that a long time ago. I don't know why I didn't do that. Anyway, it was such a blessing to just have to shovel a little bit in front of the door to get to the car. So thankful we had no trouble getting here. The roads were fine. So praise the Lord for clearing the way for us to be together again this morning. Looking forward to the time. I have A little bit of a PowerPoint about our ministry to show here this morning. This is our last trip that we had in September to Zambia with the Beemans. And on that slide, you can see my email address there. And then the Jack and Jennifer Space Mitchell, that's our Facebook name. So if you want to be friends with us on Facebook, That's how to do it. We like to have friends. I don't cook, so I don't put any recipes up there, so mostly just pictures of ministry. Usually when we're away, I'll put pictures on Facebook if we have internet. And then the bottom thing, Godstoothtails.com, it's a website that we have where we put stories of some of our trips. We call them inspiring tales from the field. Our newsletter is called Tooth Tales. So we've written some inspiring tales from the field, a little bit more information about some of the trips and how God worked during those trips. So there's stories there on that website. And I have a couple of pamphlets in the back there. One is a compilation of some of those inspiring tales from the country of Honduras. And then the other one is from where? Ukraine, oh Ukraine and Russia, that was a terrible memory. So anyway, but you know we're just thankful for how God works along the way. It's hard to share all the information in just a newsletter, but we're thankful for God's faithfulness to us. I mentioned last time I think that this is now our 26th year of doing this. I think we have about 15 more years to go, Lord willing. Anyway, so I'm going to go through these pictures. As I mentioned, this is from Zambia. I mentioned the Beeman's the last time, Todd and Kathy Beeman. We've been with the Beeman's for a number of years now. Our first time, was in 2013 and we went, it was just three of us that went and we were actually just doing dentistry and we were underneath that tree. There on the right side, it's a little bit hard to see, but we set up our dental equipment under that tree, outside, and we had a generator for electricity. And we did dental care for people in this village called Chizezo, something like that. Anyway, this was the first time that Todd Beeman went to this village. His goal was to plant a church in that village. This was September of 2013. And so we treated people, and praise the Lord, there were some people that were saved. You see Todd Beaman here sharing the gospel with them. He has taken, I don't know if you're familiar with the bridge track, the bridge to eternal life. Anyway, he has taken that track and put it into the local language, and he has it on a flip chart there. He had permission to do that and been very effective with the people there. And so there were people saved during that time. Again, that was September. of 2013 and by December he had a church in that village. That is unheard of in mission work to be able to plant a church in that short a period of time. He actually had a building in December and so Praise the Lord. Since then, he's planted a church in another village. It's called Muma. And we have been in that location as well. So that was 2013. So September 2021, not long ago, we were back there in Zambia, and we were back. in that Chizajo village again. And you see it's quite different there. A lot more people in that area. And their ministry has grown there. The building up on the top of the hill there, that's their church building there. And so the building in the bottom is where they, it's like a fellowship type hall. And so you can see Todd Beeman there in the green shirt, sharing the gospel. on one of the first days of our ministry there. And when we get there, this is early in the morning, when we get there about eight, between eight and nine o'clock in the morning, there were probably a hundred or so people waiting for us. And so they take advantage of that and share the gospel with the group. And so each day that took place with either Todd Beeman or there was another missionary that he works with now there. I can't think of his name right now, but anyway, he shared the gospel the next day. And then another man that actually Todd Beaman taught in college several years before came and his wife was a nurse. So they came and he shared the gospel and she worked with us as a nurse. So it was a blessing to have local people as part of our ministry there. And so in our ministry, all of our ministry, the gospel has the preeminent place, prominent place. So gospel, no one escapes, we say, without hearing the gospel. And usually it's multiple times, either in the group setting or one-on-one as people wait. Sometimes people have to wait all day for their turn. As I said, usually there's about 100 or so people waiting when we get there. And so some of those people end up waiting all day. So we're thankful for people that Todd Beeman works with that can share the gospel with these folks in their own language. We like to give out reading glasses too. And so to test the glasses, we have them read scripture, usually a portion of the gospel of John so that they get an idea of what the Bible is talking about. and gives an opportunity for whoever's giving the glasses to be able to share the gospel with them as well. So this is the dental area of our clinic, and I share this picture with you for the young lady in the front of this picture. We had been in this location in March of 2021, so we're back in September, and this young girl, I forget now her name, but she was helping me there in March, and she was raised Roman Catholic, as I was, and I was trying to encourage her to attend church back in March. And so she actually attended church service the Sunday before we left during that trip, and she made a profession of faith during that time. And so when we got there in September, she was helping again, and I said to her, have you been going to church? And she looked at me like, No, she said. And so she had not actually been to church since that time. And so we just tried to encourage her to come out. She, as I shared with you last time, was unsaved for a number of years before I came to know the Lord. My wife was saved during that time. She's in the opposite situation. She has been saved. Her husband is not saved. And so she has a little difficulty getting to church. That was her reason. So anyway, praise the Lord. She came out to church while we were there in September, and we trust that she'll be able to keep attending church. So thankful for that. We had a medical doctor with us and several nurses, so different things that people come with. This man had a problem with his knee, the previous one, and a problem with his ear. And so I'm thankful that we can help in different ways. One of the nurses here, the girl in the orange, I think is the wife of that man that was sharing the gospel as a nurse. So she was there with us. My wife usually assists me in the dental office, but here she was helping with giving out medicines. That's kind of the a prominent place. As people see the doctor or the dentist, they end up with getting medicines afterwards. And so we have to be able to package them and give them out. And we usually have someone there to translate so that they can get the right directions for how to take them. This young man was helping me here on the right side of the picture. His name is Dan. You see the man in the background there, his name is John, and John has been my assistant the last couple of times, taking my wife's place. Well, nobody can take my wife's place, but anyway, filling in for my wife, and he just loves He would take my place if he could. He just loves working in the dental area. But anyway, Dan has been saved for not a long time before this September trip. And so I had asked Dan. Dan was working with us every day, and it's our custom to the staff, the people that are treating people, to pray before we start the morning. We just gather together in the room there and we pray. And so one morning we were gathered together there and I asked Dan to pray. And poor Dan, I embarrassed him and he just, he has never prayed out loud before. And he said, well, I'd rather not. He said, but ask me, this was on a Friday, he said, ask me on Monday. So Monday came. And well, first I apologized to him for putting him on the spot like that. And then Monday came and we were gathered together to pray and there's no Dan. He wasn't there. I'm like, oh no. But all of a sudden he came running into the room and he was ready. You know, he grabbed my hand and somebody else's hand. And he prayed. What a prayer. I mean, just praise the Lord for a tender heart for the Lord. And just so thankful for, again, to see how God works in people's lives and uses them in different ways. So this is a picture I referred to last time. I don't like this picture because it shows the top of my head there. And like I mentioned last time, there's not a lot of hair there anymore. And I was kind of shocked when I saw that in another picture. And I told Todd Beeman, don't take pictures of me with my head down. But see, this is one of his pictures that he took of me. That's all he did was take pictures of me in that way. So anyway, I'm thankful I still have some hair anyway. But praise the Lord. So this is what happens when you go to the dentist. This man came and we took out a couple of teeth for him. He got out of the chair and down on the floor he went. He fainted. He just passed out and he was fine afterwards. I joke with the people that are bringing me patients. I say, don't bring me any young men between 20 and 30 years old. I said, they're the worst patients. I said, one, their teeth are hard to come out, and two, they're the biggest babies. And so this guy was an example of that. He was fine after a few minutes, and he was a little bit embarrassed, too. But we're thankful that we can help those people. So I mentioned that the Beeman's have, the first church they started was the one in 2013 called Chizejo, that's the name of the village. And then they started this other church in the village of Muma. And while we were there, they were dedicating the building. They had just finished this church building, and so they were dedicating this church building. And it was kind of a big thing for them. They had the chief of that area. Both of those villages are actually in that same area. The chief came as part of the dedication ceremony to that. for that church, and so I share this because they had people from both churches come for this dedication service, the first church, Chizejo Village, and then the second church, Muma Village, and Todd Beeman asked the people, when they were gathered together, he asked the people from the first village, Chizejo, he said, how many of you came to see the dentist in 2013? And there were about 12 people that raised their hand. For me, that was very exciting to see that in 2013, just sitting there pulling teeth, God used that time in a way that was beyond my thinking. And so praise the Lord for how God works and God uses people to bring people to salvation. Just so thankful for that. So we had a chance to visit a safari place, a game preserve. And so thankful for that time, too. We had been to Africa. Before we went to Zambia, I think we'd been to Africa about 12 times and never saw anything, never saw any kind of animal except cats and dogs. But the last few times, we were able to see some interesting things. I put this. slide up. This is kind of a little bit of self-promotion. But GFA Mission has been doing for the last couple of years now these roundtables. They're roundtables that usually have missionaries, GFA missionaries. It's called Virtual Roundtable with Global Gospel Servants. And I have some cards on the back. But I put this up because on February 12th coming up, A couple of weeks, I'll be participating in the next one. And that one is on being a trailblazer. I don't know what the actual title of it is. I probably should learn that before I have to talk about it. But anyway, that's in two weeks. And you can register for that if you're interested in watching it. It's on a Saturday morning from 9 to 10 o'clock in the morning. But you have to register on the website. There's no cost to doing that. But you have to be registered so you can get a Zoom. It's a Zoom type thing. You can get a Zoom invitation for that. So if you're interested, anybody interested. The people on the panel, all of them are good, except for one. So you'll You will get some good information on that during that time. So I think that's the last picture. Yeah, that's it. All right. So anyway, we're thankful for opportunities to serve the Lord in different ways. It's interesting how, you know, during this time of the virus and so on, that our ministry has changed quite a bit as far as travel and other things. But, let's see, what was it, 2020? A couple of years ago now, we were able to spend some time in Wyoming, kind of doing the same thing, filling in in a church there that was without a pastor. We had to suffer and do it for five weeks. right outside Yellowstone National Park. So that was a real tough time for us. No, it was just a blessing. But the Lord allows us to do these other things along the way, things that probably I'm not as comfortable as I would be if I was just taking teeth out or something like that. But we're just thankful for how God uses his people in different ways. This morning I'd like to share from the Bible in 2 Chronicles 20. I asked my wife, when we found out we were going to be coming here for a couple of weeks, which turned into three weeks, but I asked my wife, I said, what do you think I should speak on? And her first thing was 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I've shared this message before. This is a message that God gave me, for me. I'm not going to be selfish with it. I'm going to share it with you this morning. But it was such an encouragement to me. I remember, this was back now a couple of years almost, really struggling with some things, kind of a major trial that God brought into our lives in an unexpected way, in an unexpected time. It just caught us. particularly me, off guard. And I'll be honest with you and tell you that I didn't respond to it in the right way. And God really convicted me about that. And we were traveling one time, and I was, we were staying in a hotel, and I was, at that time, I was a little bit more disciplined, and I was trying to use a treadmill every day, every morning, and I remember I was on the treadmill reading from my phone, reading the Bible, and I came to 2 Chronicles 20, And I'm like, wow, I kept texting myself as I was reading. This is a great verse, this is a great verse, this is a great verse. So praise the Lord. The Lord really encouraged me during that time. You know, I think I mentioned last time, I don't know if I did for sure, but I mentioned last time, life is hard, but God is faithful. You know, trials come up all the time, but sometimes, major trials come up. And we're just kind of like, I don't know what to do here. I don't know what to do. And for myself, that was what happened. And Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 came up against the same kind of thing. But just a little history about Jehoshaphat before we get into 2 Chronicles 20. But he was one of the good kings of Judah, the southern kingdom. Not too many good kings after King David, but I think he was probably like the fourth, I think it was the fourth one after David of the southern kingdom, Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat had, we'll say, a good walk with the Lord. He really wanted to do what was right. And you can read about that in chapter 17 and how he wanted to do what was right. It tells us in chapter 17, verse four, that he sought the Lord God of his father and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel. So he was walking with the Lord. Verse 6 says in chapter 17, his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. So he had a relationship with the Lord. Unfortunately, in chapter 18, he kind of fell away a little bit. He did what was very common during those times. He made an alliance with another king. The king he made an alliance with was King Ahab. Not a very good king. The king of Israel during that time, Ahab and Jezebel. In fact, the alliance was a relational thing. His son married Ahab's daughter. This was not a good thing. Not a good thing. And Ahab was kind of using Jehoshaphat. If you read the story in chapter 18, there was going to be a battle. Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to come and help him. And I think because of the intermarriage thing, he felt like he had an obligation to help Ahab in the situation. And Ahab told Jehoshaphat to dress up as him. And he was trying to get, in a sense, Jehoshaphat killed during this battle. But the Lord protected Jehoshaphat. But that was not a good part in his life. And then in chapter 19, we come to right after that, when God spared Jehoshaphat's life, it says here in verse 1, chapter 19, and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. And so Jehoshaphat now at that time, as he was confronted with this, he decided again to commit himself to the Lord in verse, not just himself, but the people of Judah in verse four. And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers. So his heart now was turned back to the Lord. He realized what he had done. His heart was turned back to the Lord. Not only that, but he was encouraging the people to follow the Lord, the people of Judah. He was doing the right thing. And I'm thankful, as I read through his life, that he wasn't a perfect man. He wasn't a perfect man before the Lord, but the Lord continued. We'll say, welcome him back. And bless him and take care of him and help him. And I'm thankful for that because, ask my wife, I'm not always the perfect man before the Lord. And so we all have ups and downs, I think. Well, I don't want to say that you do, but I do. I know ups and downs, you know, sometimes we're really zealous for the Lord and sometimes things come up and, you know, but anyway. So this was Jehoshaphat, and so in chapter 19, he was really, we'll say, I'll use a term that's used today, on fire for the Lord. He wanted the people to come back to the Lord. And then we get to chapter 20. So chapter 20, let's pray before we look at this. Father, we ask you to help us during this time. Lord, help us to understand how to deal with difficulties that come up in our lives, trials that are so difficult we just don't know what to do. And so we ask you to encourage us this morning through your word. We pray that you would show us, Lord, how how you love us and how you desire to take care of us. And we pray that you would bless this time. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So in chapter 20, verse 1, it says here, it came to pass after this also, So after this means after this time when Jehoshaphat was confronted by the prophet and then was encouraging the people to follow the Lord. After that, that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them other besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Now the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, you remember that these were the children that were born to Lot's daughters. You remember that incident? They each had a child through Lot. And so one was named Moab and the other was named Ammon. And so these are the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. All of a sudden, this group was coming up against him. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria, and behold, they be in Hazeon Tamar, which is in Gedi. So all of a sudden, we'll say, out of nowhere, Water comes. You can rinse your mouth with this. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So all of a sudden, this great multitude appears basically at the doorstep of Jerusalem, where Jehoshaphat is. It says there that they were in Hazio and Tamar, which is in Gedi. If it's the same in Gedi as in Gedi today, it was about 50 miles from Jerusalem. And so the thought is that these people came around the Dead Sea and they were unseen, this group of Moab and Ammon and others came, and then all of a sudden they appeared there by surprise, a great multitude, a huge trial, all of a sudden. And verse three, Jehoshaphat feared but set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah, all the people of Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord." What do we do? How do we respond when a huge trial comes up like that? We need to respond by seeking the Lord. coming before the Lord and asking God for help, asking God for help. Most times we try to deal with it on our own, on our own. We need to go to God first. And this is what Jehoshaphat did. Verse five, it says, and Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court And he's praying to God. He's praying to God. And he's praying to God with his understanding. It is so important for us to have a relationship with God that we know God in an intimate way. We know who God is. We know about God. And so we can pray to God in an intelligent way with our understanding. And this is what Jehoshaphat did. He said, verse six, and he said, In other words, he appealed to the sovereignty of God. God is in charge. God is in charge of everything. He rules over the kingdoms of the heathen. Now with me, with us, my wife and I, the sovereignty of God has been preeminent in our minds over the last year and a half. I think I mentioned to you last time, we've had to cancel, I think eight trips or so along the way. And a couple of them, we had to cancel at the last minute. I told you the one from Mexico, we had to cancel two days, two days before we went. It takes months for us to plan these trips, months. I had to, I took a trip down to Mexico to make sure everything was in place. We have to buy supplies. We have to get, we have a team in place. We have to buy tickets. We have to do this, all of these things. And to have it canceled at the last minute is not easy for me to take. It's just not. I'm like, Lord, why? Why? Why did you let it get to this point? Well, it's for me. He's teaching me. He's teaching me things. And it's the sovereignty of God. God is in charge. We have to understand that. When things come up like that, in my mind, I say, okay, God, you're in charge. You could have easily allowed this trip to take place. Whatever it was that hindered it. Well, both times it was the virus. One time we were supposed to go to Israel, to the West Bank of Israel, and two weeks before we were to go, the borders were closed. We couldn't get in. And then this time to Mexico. We could have got to Mexico, but some of our team, including my wife, came down with the virus, so we couldn't go. All of a sudden, things change. That's what happened here. All of a sudden, things change, and Jehoshaphat is appealing to the sovereignty of God. Art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? God, there's nothing that God cannot do or change our circumstances, whatever they might be. God is powerful. He's sovereign. He's powerful. He's in control of things and he can change things. And so this is how Jehoshaphat is praying. You're sovereign, you're powerful. And then verse seven, he relates or Or it talks about the promises of God. "'Art thou not our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever?' "'You gave us this land,' he's saying. "'You gave us this land, you promised it to Abraham, and you gave it to us.' And we dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, what will happen? Then thou wilt hear and help. Thou will hear and help." When we cry out to God, God will hear and God will help, no matter what the circumstance is. He's going to hear us. He wants us to come to Him, and He wants to help us. He's not a God that is going to turn His back on us. He wants to help us. And because he's sovereign and powerful, he can help us, no matter what it is. No matter what it is, he can help us. And so Jehoshaphat is just crying out to God, you're sovereign, you're powerful, you've promised us and then you told us to come to you. And here we are. And he goes on, Jehoshaphat, and now, Behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them not." You remember when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they had to go through that part of where Ammon and Moab was. And God said, no, go around them. Go around them, don't destroy them. And so they did it, they went around them. Listen to this, verse 11. Behold, I say, how they reward us. Behold, how they reward us. Do you ever have a friend that turned on you? This is kind of like that. Behold how they reward us. And he's saying to them, Lord, look at what they're doing. They come and they want to cast us out of thy possession. They want to kill us, which thou has given us to inherit. And verse 12, I mean, there's a lot of verses in this section in chapter 20. that are just precious, precious verses. But verse 12, this is the verse that really God spoke to me. Verse 12, O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we, For we have no might against this company that cometh against us." We're not strong enough, Jehoshaphat is saying. We're not strong enough to deal with this group of people. And this is the part I love. Neither know we what to do. We're not smart enough. That's what I say. Lord, I'm not strong enough to deal with this and I am definitely not smart enough. I don't have the wisdom. I don't have the wisdom that God has. But what does God tell us to do when we don't have wisdom? Ask of God, James chapter one. Ask of God. God has the wisdom. God has the wisdom. That's where we need to go. We need to go to God. I'm not strong enough, I'm not smart enough, but what? Our eyes are on Thee. Our eyes are upon Thee. We need to focus on God and not the problem. When we take our eyes off the problem and put them on God, I mean, relief just comes over us. Focusing on God and not the problem. The problem will destroy us if we're focused on the problem. I told my wife months ago, months ago, Stop watching Fox News. I mean, she was consumed. No, I don't want to make my wife sound like she's some. But anyway, it was making her nervous watching the news. It could have been any news, but. I mean, her stomach, you know, was turning her stomach. She was just agitated by what was going on. And it just consumes you sometimes. Focus on God, not the problem. Shut the TV off and focus on God. He's the one that we need to be focusing on. Our eyes are upon thee, verse 13, and all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children. They're crying out to God here now, and now they're waiting for God's answer. Waiting is such a hard thing. Isn't it? Wait upon the Lord, the Psalm says, Psalm 27, wait upon the Lord. I'm like, God, no, I cannot wait. I need this fixed today. And God says, no, wait. Wait. I have a plan here. Wait. I mean, I can't even wait at the gas station, you know, pumping the gas. You know, I can't. That's not my personality to wait. It just is not my personality. Ask my wife today. Today. I told you. I shouldn't have told you. But I told you last time I was addicted to Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I go through the drive-thru all the time. I said to my wife, let's go to Dunkin' Donuts before we left Drake at Massachusetts. I said, let's go to Dunkin' Donuts. I'll buy you a hot chocolate. Well, I wanted to go for coffee, but it's got to be her, not me. But anyway, I said, let's go to Dunkin' Donuts. So we get to Dunkin' Donuts. I said, great. There's only like one or two cars in the drive-thru before me. Great. This is going to go fast because, you know, we're always rushing. And so we get there. The guy in front of me orders. He goes up. I'm standing. We're sitting. I'm next. I'm sitting there. I'm sitting there. I got the window down. It's freezing cold. Nobody's talking to me. I put my window up and, of course, then they start talking, you know. I go up to the drive-through and that truck that was in front of me is sitting there and sitting there. I mean, it took forever. I said, there's got to be a limit. You got to put a limit on drinks, you know. that he had like five or six drinks with the whipped cream and everything. You got to put a limit on that. If you want those things, go somewhere else. If you want coffee, go to Dunkin' Donuts, you know? But anyway, that's the way I was, right? No, don't tell them. But that's, I was like, we got to go, we got to go. I do not like to wait, especially, especially during a trial. during a trial. Isn't it so? It's consuming. It's consuming. Praise the Lord here. These people did not have to wait. God gave them an answer right away. We read about it, verse 14. Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeal, the son of Mataniah, sorry I gave you all those names to read, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. God is answering through this person. Who is this person? It's somebody that God used to give the answer. Sometimes the answer comes from strange people or strange ways. God used this man to give the answer to Jehoshaphat and the people. In verse 15, he said, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours. but God's. Again, the Bible calls it a great multitude. A great multitude. A difficult trial. A huge trial. Have you ever had one of those in your life? A huge trial. Sometimes, like I said, they come out of nowhere. Don't be afraid, nor dismayed. I like Joshua chapter one, be strong and courageous. Repeated several times, be strong and courageous. Don't get thrown off course. Stay focused. Stay focused on the Lord. I say laser focused, laser focused. My wife, I shared that one time someplace else. And my wife said, stop saying laser focused. So every time I hear it, when I'm listening to something or watching something, I say to my wife, laser focused. See, laser focused. It's OK to say that. But we need to be laser focused on the Lord. We need to run to the Lord first when we're consumed with difficulty in our life. That's where the answer is. And that's where we need to stay focused on the Lord. Do not be afraid nor dismayed. God promises us he's never going to leave us nor forsake us. Never. Never. How many of us here today have our lives been thrown upside down during the last year and a half or so? I mean, nothing is the same anymore. Nothing is the same. Except for God. Except for God. Focus on the Lord. Tomorrow, he says, this is God, the prophet talking, this is where God said, tomorrow, go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel." Who knew this? Who knew where they were? God knew where they were. God already knows the answer to this problem. But he wants us to come to him. Come to him. He knows all about it. God is watching. He's sovereign over these things. He's watching. He's watching our lives. He brings things into our lives that for us, they're like, Lord, why did you do this? But he's saying, I'm bringing this to sharpen you, to mold you into the person that I want you to be, like my son, Jesus Christ. God brings these things into our lives, not for bad reason, but for a good reason. All things work together for what? Good. Good. God does not want to punish us. He knows all about the problem. He said, this is where they are. This is where that multitude is. And then he says in verse 17, wow, you shall not need to fight in this battle. You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord with you. Oh, Judah and Jerusalem, fear not. nor be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them, for the Lord will be with you." God is on our side. God is on our side. He's on your side. I love Psalm 56. Psalm 56, let's just turn there for a minute. Psalm 56, oh, it's the other way. Psalm 56, no, it's this way. Psalm 56. I just love this. Let me find it here. We're gonna just start in verse four, Psalm 56. In God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear. what flesh can do unto me. We don't have to fear when problems come into our lives. Verse three says, what time I am afraid, what? I will trust in thee. Verse five, every day they rest my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves. They mark my steps when they wait for my soul. Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger cast down the people, O God! Thou tellest my wanderings." He knows. He knows about what's going on in our lives. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. I love that. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in thy book? God is aware. of what's going on in our lives. He is aware of it. I'm so thankful for that. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. Why? This I know, for God is for me. God is on my side. In God will I praise his word. In the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." We need to trust God. We need to run to God when we have difficulties in our lives. And God will be there for us. I'm so thankful for that. God will be there for us. Jehoshaphat, verse 18, bowed. his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord, worshiping the Lord. This enemy was still there. Now they had peace though, and confidence that God was going to help them. They're worshiping the Lord. They haven't even gone to battle yet. And they're worshiping the Lord. And the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. They were praising God. And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And they went forth. Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, O Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. That's what God wants us to do. Any trials that come in our life, trust God with it. Don't try to figure it out. Don't try to figure it out, trust God with it. Man, I can mess the easiest things up. Verse 21, and when he had consulted with the people, this is amazing to me, when he had consulted with the people, what did he do? He appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness. as they went out before the army, and to say, praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. The choir led the battle. The choir led the battle. Usually, you put your best soldiers in the front. Here, he puts the choir, the singers. Why? They were confident of victory. They were trusting God. God told them twice, don't be afraid or dismayed. Trust God. The battle is not yours. God is in control. You should not need to fight in this battle. Yet, God wanted them to go out against this army. Why? I'm not smart enough to figure that out, but I think God wanted to see. Are they trusting me? Are they trusting me? That's what I'm talking about. Do we learn anything during the trials that we go through? How we can trust God the next time? I think I told you. I don't know if I told you. I don't have a memory anymore. But I think I told you last time we went. The second trip overseas was to Papua New Guinea. Did I talk about that last time? Papua New Guinea, it was horrible, horrible. But I'll tell you, during that time, we learned, we learned we could trust God. I mean, we learned it every day. We got to the point, towards the end of that trip, we did not think there was any way we could get home. There's no way we can get home. But God had a way. God had a way. We can trust God. We need to learn that. So he puts the singers in the front of the army and they went out against this great multitude And when they began to sing, verse 22, and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come together against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and destroy them, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. The enemy killed each other. The Israelites didn't have to lift a finger. Verse 24, when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies, fallen to the earth, and none escaped. Wow. Praise the Lord. Is God sovereign? Is God powerful? Is there anything that he cannot do? Nothing is impossible for the Lord. There's no trial that comes into my life that God can't help me with. I just need to trust him and know that what he is doing is for my good and to bring glory to his name. The Israelites won a great battle here, but they didn't even have to fight. And the spoil, it took them, I think it says four days to gather up all the spoil. And the people in the area were like, wow, look at what the Israelite people's God did for them. God was glorified in this. What can we learn? When trials come, we have to recognize that God is sovereign and powerful. We have to rely on his promises. He tells us, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He tells us to come to me. Be strong and courageous. I will help you. We have to recognize that in our own strength, we can't do it. We can't deal with it. That's the thing for me. We can't deal with it in our own strength. We have to trust God. Our eyes have to be on God and not on the problem. Turn our eyes. upon Jesus. Praise the Lord for God's faithfulness. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for events in the Bible that teach us about how faithful you are, that you are a sovereign, powerful God, and that you are a God that cares for his children. and a God that will fight for his children. And we thank you for that. Help us, Lord, to have our eyes upon you, no matter how difficult things appear to us, no matter how impossible the trial seems to be to get through. Help us to keep our eyes focused upon you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.