Well obviously last night was a big night and a very important night for the fellowship as we celebrated 40 years and this past week personally speaking I've been very busy with one thing and another trying to prepare for lifeliners and get the invitations out and obviously then yesterday evening traveling up to the dinner, and one thing and another, it's been quite a busy week with hospital visits. And so after it all, last night after the meal, I sat down and just wrote down a few thoughts about the fiery, cloudy pillar. You see, I believe here we have a We have a, how would you put it? We have a symbol of the Lord's presence that has been with us as a denomination for the last 40 years. Now, I want you to remember that the cloudy, fiery pillar that escorted Israel from the Red Sea to the land of Canaan, it was with them for 40 years, okay? I want you to grasp that. For 40 years, the Lord guided, directed, and protected his people Israel. And surely we can say for the last 40 years that the Lord has done the same for us as a fellowship. Thank God we have known the guidance and the protection of the fiery cloudy pillar. down through the past four decades. Now, I wasn't born, I wasn't around whenever the fellowship begun in 19... well, some said it was 1974, others said it was 1973. I think, strictly speaking, it began late in 1973, although I don't think there were any services or any churches constituted until January 1974. So I think really, strictly speaking, it is 1974. But back in 1974, the fiery cloudy pillar appeared. And that pillar has guided our denomination down through the past 40 years. And we give thanks to God that that pillar has been with us every step of the way. My parents joined the fellowship in the year I was born, 1975, and they have received great blessing through it, down through the years, and I thank God for our fellowship. I thank God for the encouragements that God's servants have been to me, and for what I've learned, and for how I've been guided and nurtured down through the years. And I'm sure that you can also thank God tonight for a blessing that you've received. And thank God, as I said this morning, the Lord is not finished with our fellowship. The Lord's not done with us. He's not through with us. Thank God there's more work to be done. And we believe that the Lord will continue to help us and to strengthen us for the battles that lie ahead. Now, as we think about the last 40 years, there have been many ups and downs. And some of you know more about the ups and downs than I do. But the wonderful reality is that Jehovah has been with our fellowship every step of the way. The Lord has been with us. We've read tonight in Exodus chapter 13, those last two verses, my what? Tremendous verses they are. Verse 21 of Exodus 13. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. Isn't that amazing? The Lord took not away the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Down through the 40 years, the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud was always there. Mind you, the Lord had to put up with a lot. He had to put up with the murmurings and the grumblings and the complainings of Israel. And if it wasn't for the mercy and the grace of the Lord, then Israel would have been consumed. But our God is a gracious, and as we heard last Monday night at the harvest, he's long suffering. And he put up with a lot from the people of Israel. But you see the pillar of cloud and fire, it was always there. You know what that reminds me of? It reminds me of Hebrews 13 verse 5, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You see, the church of Jesus Christ is assured of the presence of Jesus Christ. As believers, we can be certain that the Lord is with us because He has promised that He will always be with us. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And you know that lovely verse, it actually has five negatives. I will never, no never leave thee, nor ever forsake thee. That's what it literally means. It's just as if the Lord is emphasizing to us that he will never ever leave us. And what an encouragement that is as individual Christians and as a denomination, that as we move out into year 41, that the Lord is with us and we can be assured of his presence. The Lord said to Moses, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. From the moment that infant Israel left Egypt until the moment that they entered into Canaan, the promised land, the Lord was with them every step of the way. And I want you to know tonight, child of God, whether you're saved for 50 years, whether you're saved for five years, whether you're saved for five months or five weeks, or maybe only five days, I want to tell you that the Lord is with you too, and he will never, ever leave you. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. No, not one. The Lord Jesus isn't a fair weather friend. You've heard me say before that if you want to know who your true friends are, make a really big mistake. Make a really big mistake. And very, very quickly you'll discover who your true friends are because your fair weather friends, you'll not see them for dust. But your true friends, they'll stick it out with you. And I want to tell you tonight that there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and his name is Jesus. He has promised to his people his abiding presence. Now, when I think of this pillar that guided and led Israel through the wilderness, it reminds me of strength. A pillar speaks of strength. You think about the pillars that stand at the front of a great cathedral or of a great courthouse or some other great government building and the pillars are there to support the building. The pillars are there for strength. You know, when the Israelites looked up into the Judean sky, they saw the cloudy pillar during the day and then the fiery pillar at night. My, they must have been encouraged because they were reminded that our strength is in the Lord and our strength comes from Him. You know, Paul, on one occasion, he said that there had been that the Lord had given him a trial, and he prayed three times that the Lord would take away this trial and this affliction, or thorn, that's the word that Paul used, a thorn in the flesh. And he prayed on three occasions that the Lord would remove it. But the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. What a perfect combination that is. That's the combination that the Lord is looking for tonight in His church. His strength, His infinite strength and our weakness, our frailty. That's a perfect combination for success in the work of God. On the front of your bulletin today, we have put that verse from Isaiah chapter 26. Trust ye in the Lord forever. Why? Why should you trust in the Lord forever? For in the Lord, Jehovah is everlasting strength. Hudson Taylor, on one occasion, whenever he was asked why it was that the Lord had used him, Hudson Taylor simply replied to the inquirer. He said, God was looking for someone weak enough to use and he found me. And you know, God is still looking for weak vessels that he can use. You see, whenever he takes a weak vessel and he uses a weak vessel and a vessel that people laugh at and despise and look down their nose at, you see, whenever the Lord uses that kind of a person, then guess what? The Lord gets all the glory. And that's the way it should be. And I'm sure that We as believers, we realize our weakness, or at least we should realize our weakness. You know, the wonderful encouragement is for us tonight who feel our weakness, we can say with the Psalmist, the Lord is my strength. The Lord is my strength. What do you need strength for this week? You need strength for something, and I need strength for something, and maybe what you need strength for, your circumstances, your situation, it's different from mine. But whatever the trial is, whatever the problem, and whatever the heartache is, God can give us the strength we need. Indeed, God will give us the strength we need. We've just got to simply trust in Him. What does trust mean? That's a word that's bandied about in evangelical circles. What does it mean to trust? Well, it just means to rest and just stop all the worrying and just stop fretting about your situation because God has it under control and you can trust in him for he is the God who gives his people strength. You know, there's a lovely title of Jehovah. We know some of those titles, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there. Jehovah Nisai, the Lord my banner. My, those are beautiful names. There's another lovely name, Hebrew name, Jehovah Sorai. T-S-O-R-I. It literally means the Lord my strength. The Lord my strength. And the Lord says to you tonight, child of God, just trust me. Just depend on my strength. And you know what? The amazing thing is, whenever you just depend on the Lord's strength, it'll be amazing what you can do. I've proved it. I have proved down through the years that whenever the Lord strengthens you, then you will be surprised at yourself what you're able to do. And thank God tonight the Lord would say to us, don't depend on yourself, depend on me. So whenever we think about the pillar, we think about strength. Then, of course, we need to consider the purpose of this pillar, the purpose of it. Why did the Lord send Israel this pillar? Why did this pillar appear for Israel? Well, first of all, this pillar appeared for direction, for direction. And we're thinking here about how this pillar led the people of Israel, it went before them. During the day it was the cloud, at night it was the fire, but it constantly went before them. And all Israel had to do was follow. You know, I remember when we were growing up in the church there in Five Mile Town, I remember there was a lovely old chorus that Brother Ian Humphrey used to sing. Some of you know what I'm going to say. My Lord knows the way through the wilderness. All I have to do is follow. You know, that's true. My Lord does know the way through the wilderness of this world, and all we have to do is follow, and we've just got to take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Don't rush on, and don't try to see too far into the future. Just take it one day at a time, and you'll be amazed how God guides you. As one old preacher said, just take the next step. That's all God expects us to do. Just take the next step. And maybe the Lord is saying to you, well, child of God, your next step is to come to the prayer meeting. Or your next step is to come to the communion table. But whatever the next step is, we must take that step. We must follow the Lord. I wonder have you ever started to follow the Lord? Because I'm speaking to believers here about continuing to follow the Lord day by day, step by step. But maybe there's someone here tonight and you've never begun to follow the Lord. Well, Jesus says to you what he said to the fishermen on the shores of Galilee all those years ago, follow me. Follow me. That's still the same call that goes out today. Follow me, Jesus says. Jesus doesn't say follow the minister, follow the church, follow the creed. No, Jesus says, follow me. Jesus doesn't say, follow what other people tell you to follow and do what other people tell you to do. Jesus just says, follow me. And for those in this service tonight who have never started to follow him, tonight's your opportunity. Why don't you begin to follow Jesus tonight? That pillar was for direction. but it was also for protection, protection. The pillar that led Israel for 40 years and this pillar that in a sense has led our fellowship for the last 40 years, this pillar is for protection. You see, we've read tonight in chapter 14 of Exodus and in verse 19, And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them, and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other all the night. What is happening here is that the Lord is protecting His people. The Lord sees the danger long before we see it. And in Exodus 14, He sees the danger long before the Israelites saw it. And the Lord steps in to protect His people from their enemies. You know, down through the last four decades, the Lord has stepped in to preserve our fellowship. to preserve our denomination, to protect our denomination because there have been agents of the devil who have risen up and have sown the seeds of discord and have tried to bring division to the church of Jesus Christ. And the Egyptians and Pharaoh were drawing near to God's Israel and they wanted to wipe them out. But thank God, down through the past 40 years, that blessed pillar of fire has moved from before this denomination to behind it. And that pillar has come between this denomination and the enemy. You see, dear friends, the reason why the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches is still here in 2014 is not because of the ability of this preacher or any other preacher. It's not because of the great gifts and talents in the work. It's simply because the Lord has been protecting His church and His people. And I want just to say tonight that our denomination's not the only denomination that God blesses and protects. Thank God for other denominations, whatever their name is, and the Lord has been with them too, and he blesses their ministry as well. And it's the same for every grouping and every organization that seeks to exalt Christ and endeavors to walk in the ways of God. You can be assured, you can count on it, The Lord will be the protector of his people. And for you as an individual Christian tonight, I don't know what your situation is. Pastors, you know, sometimes know very little about the flock. And then sometimes people say, oh, well, why didn't he do that? Or why didn't he visit so-and-so? And the reality is, well, he didn't know about it. Sometimes the pastors and the ministers don't know very much, but the wonderful truth is the Lord knows all about it. And the Lord knows when his people are under threat and when they're in danger. And you see the Lord comes to protect and to aid his people. And there we have it. Whenever Israel was about to go through the Red Sea, and the Egyptians were coming and breathing down their necks, we find that God Almighty placed a wall of fire between Egypt and Israel, and there was no passing through. Oh, thank God tonight we have, as the hymn writer put it, a sovereign protector. The Lord protected Israel from the Egyptians, But there's something else here. The Lord protected his people from the midday sun. The midday sun. You think about it as the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness. You think about it, traveling through the wilderness for 40 years and the midday sun, 40 degrees Celsius beating down upon them. They needed shade. They needed protection from the burning heat of the sun. And the Lord provided that protection, that cloud, that cloudy pillar. The Bible says, the book of Psalms tells us that it was a covering. That's the word the Psalmist used. Picture it in your mind, this great cloud. Now there's somewhere in or around 3 million Jews here going through the wilderness. That's a lot of people. Last night, I thought 300 people at the dinner was a lot, but here's 3 million people. That must have been some cloud. And it shades them all. You know, the Lord is still able to shade his people today. And if you're going through trials and troubles and problems, and you don't know where to turn, and you just wonder if you'll be able to make it through, I want to tell you tonight that your Savior has a wonderful way of shading you. You see, the psalmist said, Psalm 121, what a Psalm it is. But what did the Psalmist say? The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. What do you need the shade for? To get your strength back again. Oh, the Lord has a wonderful way of renewing the strength of his people. So whenever I think about this pillar, it reminds me of the abiding presence of the Lord. It reminds me of the strength of the Lord. It reminds me of his guidance and his protection. But let me finish tonight. Whenever I think about this pillar, it reminds me of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice that this pillar was one pillar, not two pillars. You could be forgiven for thinking from the hymn that we sung earlier, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, you could be forgiven for thinking that during the day there was one pillar of cloud and then that pillar disappeared and then at night time another pillar appeared of fire. And the hymn we sung, open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream shall flow. Let the fire and cloudy pillar, that's a wee bit deceiving. I would say it would be better, let the fiery cloudy pillar, because the pillar was one. This was one pillar. This wasn't two pillars, it was one pillar. And during the day, this one pillar was in the form of a cloud. But at nighttime, when the darkness descended, this pillar was transformed into fire. You know, that reminds me of the lovely Lord Jesus, because my Bible teaches me that the Lord Jesus was God, but He was also man. Our blessed Lord Jesus, if you like, was cloud and fire. He had to be God, 100% God, but He also had to be man, 100% man, otherwise He couldn't save you and me. And this pillar was one. And this pillar reminds us of our blessed savior and his two natures. But you know, I want you to notice as well that this pillar came down. This pillar came down. We read on several occasions that the pillar descended to, and the Lord spoke with Moses and Darren and other people. The pillar came down, the pillar that had been covering Israel, it descended, it came down and the Lord started to talk and commune and encourage his servants. 2014 years ago, God's blessed pillar came down to Bethlehem. Because the Lord Jesus Christ, as the hymn writer put it, our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. God was manifest in the flesh. We're in October, and it'll not be too long until December arrives, and we'll be singing the Christmas carols. And there's one lovely carol, and this is how it goes. He came down to earth from heaven. Who is God and Lord of all? Aren't you glad that he came down? Aren't you glad that the Lord Jesus Christ came down into this sin-cursed, vile, fallen world to save you and to save me. Thank God He came down. But I see something else, and this I want to finish. Time is gone. When I think of the pillar that led Israel through the wilderness, we notice also that it went up, that it went up. You see, there were times whenever the Lord said, now, time to move on. And God wanted his people to move on. He wanted the camp of Israel to take down their tents and to move. It was time for a change. It was time for them to start moving and to start journeying through the wilderness. And whenever the Lord wanted Israel to move on, Then the pillar went up from the tabernacle. You know, when I think of the pillar going up, it reminds me of that day whenever our blessed Lord Jesus went up from this earth. And on Friday night, we were teaching the little children about that. Acts chapter 1. The disciples are standing there, and the Lord Jesus miraculously rises up and disappears through the clouds. goes up through the clouds, through the first heaven, up into outer space, the second heaven, up into the third heaven, God's dwelling place. And he's there tonight at the father's right hand. And he ever liveth to make intercession for us. We're teaching the children about how the Lord Jesus went up. You see, children, and indeed all of us, we need to recognize that the Lord Jesus is at the Father's right hand. He's in heaven tonight. Oh, He's alive. There are people today who think He's still on the cross, but He's not there. Don't leave Him on the cross. The cross is important, but Jesus is not there any longer. His work is finished. He's not in the grave any longer. The grave is empty. The Lord Jesus tonight is in the glory. Just like the pillar that went up from Israel, so the Lord Jesus has ascended up on high. And the Bible says he has led captivity captive. Ah, but he's coming down again. He's coming back again for his own. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Let me ask you tonight as we finish, are you prepared?