Coping Well In Troubled Times

That was sure beautiful music, wasn't it? It's wonderful that God has given us so many abilities to praise Him and to just lift each other up and courage each other. It's wonderful.

Well, brethren, as I mentioned in the sermonette, many of us have been in the church quite a long time. You know, we've been around a few years. We've seen a lot of things happen in the church.

We've seen a lot of minor things happen, some major things happen. Suffering and death are certainly not new to the church of God. I mean, we've been around long enough. We've seen quite a bit of suffering and death in various ways. The Bible catalogs much suffering and death, of course, among the children of God for the past 6,000 years. And there have been some pandemics in the past. You know, we were aware of the bubonic plague and the havoc that it wreaked upon the world at the time. As I mentioned, a little over 100 years ago, there was the Spanish flu that killed somewhere around 50 million people, they say.

So this pandemic is not near as bad as some of the other extreme times that have faced the earth, but I think we would all admit that in the last 90 years of the modern era of God's church, we likely haven't seen as much sickness.

You know, if we've been paying attention to all the prayer requests, what happened right before, during, and after the feast, and how it affected a number of our feast sites. You know, God allowed this COVID-19 to certainly affect a lot of people's lives. Some have died, you know, that I'm sure you've heard about and are aware of. We had a minister, Randy Delisandro, who died prematurely, no doubt, because of COVID.

You know, we've had others who have been affected, certainly some even in their 40s, by this. So anyone that says this is a hoax and continues to say that really, I think they need to pull their head out of the sand and realize, no, it's not a hoax.

It's real. It has affected real people. It has caused the death of some. It certainly made some sick for weeks, months. I've had people tell me it was the worst thing they've ever experienced. They've never, and they were older, but they had never been that sick before. They thankfully survived it, but it's definitely not a hoax. I mean, I think we need to try to have a balance when it comes to these sort of things.

We know that God is always in charge. We know that God's our healer, and we know the vast majority of people do survive COVID. You know, the vast majority, the high 98 percent of the people or more actually do survive it. But on the other hand, I must say that I haven't seen as many sick people in the Church of God, given the size that we are now. I don't think, I know, I just don't think that's happened before, at least not in my mind.

So people are dying, some are suffering. So I'd like to address that in the sermon today. In fact, the title of the sermon is Coping Well in Troubled Times. I believe we do live in troubled times, and we don't know what's going to follow this. We don't know if this is going to clear up, and then we'll have many more years or quite a few more years of relative peace and quiet, or if it's going to get steadily worse for all of us. You know, we really can't say. We don't know. God doesn't tell us that.

He doesn't give us that. I was going to say, we don't have a crystal ball. Well, if we had a crystal ball, that wouldn't be a good thing, because that's not the way God works. But let us consider four truths today during this sermon that will help us to understand and cope with the troubling times that we're living in right now. Number one, we should all rest assured that God knows what's going on. He's fully aware of all the suffering, the death that's happened. We've had some people die who've left a number of children.

A widow, a widower, there's children who don't have a father now. It has certainly affected us, but God is fully aware. God has allowed these things to happen in the Church of God, as well as around the world. We often are affected by what's going on around the world. This is certainly the case now. God is allowing these challenging times to affect His children in His Church, but He is fully aware of what it's doing.

So we can go to God. We can talk to God about these things. We can ask Him for His protection. We can ask Him for His help. We can thank Him for His protection and continue to do that.

The Scripture is clear that God knows what's happening. In fact, in Job chapter 34, and you don't need to turn here because I'm just going to be there very briefly and read one verse, Job 34 verse 21, Elihu, who was one of the friends that came on the scene a little bit later, spoke up later, then the three friends of Job, Elihu said, For His eyes, speaking of God, are on the ways of man, and He sees all His steps.

There isn't anything that's hidden from God. God is all-powerful. He's omnipresent. He knows exactly what's happening in our lives, and God does care what does happen in our lives. In 1 John chapter 3, verse 20, the Scripture says, For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. You know, God knows all things. He certainly knows what's happening here on the earth right now. He knows all things. God really does know what's going on, and as the Scriptures clearly point out, He understands and loves His people very fully. God is love, so this ought to be reassuring. Just having that reassurance, knowing that God's in charge, knowing that He understands what's happening, and if God allows it, the Scripture says, All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. So obviously, how we respond to what God allows is very, very important. All things work together for good if we respond in a proper way.

If we put God first in our life, if we accept God's will, if we make peace with it, and sometimes it takes a while to do this, I know. Humanly, we're emotional people. We hurt. We struggle. So it's difficult, and that's why we all need to be here for each other when people have these issues so that they know they have support, so we can encourage them through it and help them through it.

So it ought to be very reassuring. God is love, and if He allows these things to happen, it's going to be okay, no matter what it is. And it does put emphasis on the fact that this is a temporary life. Right now, it's very temporary. You know, if we live to be a hundred, we're doing pretty well these days, right? Not too many people live to be a hundred, and sometimes they wish they hadn't lived that long because their health isn't that great. So it's temporary.

And realizing that God inhabits eternity, and one day we will inhabit eternity. You know, that's hard to grasp. It's hard to... I mean, we have a beginning. God never had that beginning because He's always existed. But from, you know, we're going to live on and on and on. So really, what happens in this life, in some ways, isn't nearly as important as what happens when we die. You know, what's going to happen after we die? What's going to be our fate? Obviously, what we do now is important. You know, as I mentioned in the sermon at, we need to stay faithful. Loving God, loving God, loving His truth, loving His way of life will help us stay faithful. Then we will live for all eternity. God will grant us His kingdom. So to me, that's extremely reassuring. You know, it helps me realize that there's much more than today. There's a tomorrow that's so much more magnificent and so much more wonderful than any of the hardships that we face on a day-to-day basis. God acknowledges His servants who strive to keep His laws. You know, I have no doubt God was pleased that we kept a feast. That we kept a feast, even knowing that there's some danger out there. But we wanted to keep the feast. This is what we do. We observe God's holy days. We keep His feast days. Most of us did fine. You know, I had a great feast. My wife had a great feast. Most of us did fine, but some people really had some hardships this feast. It was unlike any other. You know, I know some people that had to drive two and three thousand miles to get home with COVID because they couldn't fly back home. You know, they were diagnosed with COVID. They had to drive from Montana to Florida, or they had to drive Montana to Texas, or they had to drive from Panama City to California. You know, I mean, that's a hardship that, thankfully, we don't have to face that, you know, every feast. But this was this was a harder feast. I don't I can't recall any feast that had this these kind of ramifications.

So, I guess the point I'm making is we obey God no matter what happens. You know, we put Him first in our lives, but we also have to be circumspect. We have to be careful if someone believes their health is in danger and they decide to maybe not travel so far. Maybe usually they traveled across the country. Now they decided they would stay near home. Maybe go to Lake June, Alaska, if they live near there. That might have been a very wise decision in their case. So, we're all responsible for the decisions that we make. Now, next year, I think we all need to be a little more careful, maybe, in considering what we do if if there's that much of a danger out there. And a lot of us didn't realize that there was that much of a danger either. You know, sometimes you don't know things until you're in the middle of them. But, again, the point I'm making is we're all trying to do our best, right? We're all trying to make good decisions, wise decisions, and so we should give people the benefit of the doubt and not be critical. Everyone has their own situation and why they do what they do. And some people, their health is much more precarious. So, they have to make certain decisions that some of the rest of us might not make. And we should respect that. You know, we should show our love toward them and support them and know that as soon as they're able to be here and fellowship with us, you know, right here in the room, that's great. But, in the meantime, we support them so that they will look forward to getting back to see us. You know, that's important.

We know God isn't asleep. We know that God cares. We know He hears our prayers. We know that God answers our prayers, oftentimes in a very positive way. Sometimes we have to wait and we get a little anxious because God doesn't answer our prayers exactly the way we would like. But I also know miracles are happening right now. You know, God is deciding in some cases to restore people's health completely. You know, I know some people that thought they were going to die because of COVID survived it and they believed it was God who saved them, gave them that extra time to live.

So we all need to just see God and try to be as close to Him as we can be so that whatever help we need, it will be supplied for us. And God will give us that help and that need. It makes life a lot easier, though, when we put ourselves in God's hands and don't fret so much. You know, the Scripture tells us not to fret, not to be anxious, but to place our faith in God.

You know, another thought would be sometimes we wish God would just heal everyone, right? You know, we know He can do it. We know God has the power to heal anything and everyone at any moment. He's done it in the past. He's healed people of huge things. You know, He's made the cripples stand up and walk and leap. You know, He's brought people out of death. You know, Lazarus died. Christ raised him from the dead. We know that that power is still present today, but why doesn't God always heal us? Well, what would be the result? I would venture to say that if God healed everyone in this room, we would have a lot more people in this room.

Because word gets around. The church would be much bigger. Christ had thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of people following Him. The biggest reason was He healed people. He had the power to heal them. People came to see this healing person. If that were the case, if everyone was always healed, there's no way you could contain that. I don't believe God's ready for that yet. I don't think that's in His plan to pour that out. In the book of Acts, we see that God was pouring that type of power out for a time for a little while. Peter's shadow would go by and people would be healed. Obviously, that didn't continue. That didn't go on because that wasn't a part of God's plan. The kingdom wasn't yet to be. That was 2,000 years ago. The kingdom is not here yet. It's not time. When God is ready to send His Son back, then we're going to see some really miraculous things happening. I personally believe the Scriptures indicate that there will be a renewal of that kind of power in God's church before Christ returns. There's going to be persecution that will come upon us. Usually, that happens when something miraculous is going on.

Christ made the people jealous because He had the power. God was with Him. The religious rulers of the days were the ones that turned against Him and had Him killed. I believe we'll see similar things in the future. The beast power rising up, the false prophet rising up. Those things all come to pass. The Scriptures are true. They will come to pass. We're waiting on those things to happen.

So, again, God hasn't chosen to heal everyone now for a number of reasons. Another one is, I don't think we would be near as compassionate as people if God always healed everyone. We wouldn't suffer as much. Other people wouldn't suffer as much. We wouldn't learn to love each other as much. When times are hard, we look to each other. We turn to each other and we try to be there for each other. That's humbling, isn't it? Sickness can be humbling. We realize we're not going to live forever in the flesh. God wants us all to learn humility. It's another reason why God doesn't heal everyone now. We wouldn't be near as humble if everything went so smoothly all the time. Everything went as we would like it to. Humbling is a good thing. We are humbled by our frailties, by our weaknesses. Scripture talks about that. So, the first point, and I'll talk more about this in point number three, again, the first point is that God sees everything. God is fully aware of what's happening down here on earth. He knows about all of us sitting here together today keeping His commandment of remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. That means something to God. That's powerful to God. Secondly, Satan is also quite aware of what's happening on the earth.

Who's the God of this world? Satan is the God of this world. So, Satan is also fully aware of what's happening. In fact, he's no doubt responsible for a good bit of it.

Satan has his hand in the events that go on in the world that affect the world, that affect all of us.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 33, it shows that God is not the author of confusion.

God is not the author of confusion. God wants peace in the churches. He doesn't want confusion, but we have quite a bit of confusion in various ways. So, who is the author of confusion?

I believe it's pretty obvious that Satan is the author of confusion. He wants to confuse things, and nothing's been more confusing than this plague, this virus that has come upon the earth and upon God's people. Satan is the author of confusion. He's involved in all the confusion, and he's trying to use it against God's people. In Job chapter 1, and you don't need to go there, but hopefully we're familiar with the story of Job, Satan was allowed to touch Job's life. First, he couldn't touch his body, but he could touch his family. He could touch his riches, his goods, and God allowed Satan to take that all away from him. Now, Job had no idea that there was a meeting between God and Satan. He had no idea that it was because of his righteousness that God said, what about my servant Job? Have you noticed my servant Job? No doubt, he was wanting to perfect Job. Job was not perfect. Job was the most righteous man, but he wasn't perfect. God had an interest in helping perfect Job, teach him lessons that Job needed to learn.

At first, he allowed Satan only to touch his family, to touch his wealth. Then he said, after Satan claimed that Job would not continue to worship him if he allowed him to touch his body, that's when he ended up with boils all over his body, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. I can only relate to that in a small way because I had poison ivy that badly when I was a teenager. I was most miserable. I felt horrible. For about a week it lasted, and I had it all over my body. It was not good. I can only imagine that boils would be much worse. I haven't had a boil. I've seen boils. They look pretty nasty. I know they're very painful. To have them cover one's body like that, no wonder he laid down and scraped himself. He was a very good man.

That would be a horrible experience to go through.

And yet Job didn't curse God and die like some were suggesting he might do. He still was faithful, but Job also had other issues that God wanted him to see. He wanted him to realize he wasn't perfect. Job was self-righteous. Job was basically telling God that he knew more than God, or he was right and God was wrong. God should have never allowed this to happen to him. Things like that don't happen to righteous people. He wanted to take God to court, and he really felt he would win against God. That was his attitude. That was his approach, and that was wrong. He came to see that eventually, but Satan had a hand in that mess with Job. We have no idea how much Satan has a hand in things. We don't know. In Luke chapter 13, it shows that Satan had a hand in this situation with a woman who had been sick for many years. 18 years she had been sick.

Let's go to Luke chapter 13 verse 10. Luke chapter 13 verse 10.

Now he the Christ was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years, and it was bent over. She probably attended the synagogue for 18 years, very likely. She was bent over. She could in no way raise herself up. Maybe you've seen people like that, that they're so bent over they can't raise up.

A huge issue. But when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity, from your sickness. He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight. And she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. And he said to the crowd, now this is that letter of the law I was talking about. You know, this is a ruler of the synagogue, who a Pharisee likely, he said to the crowd, There are six days in which men ought to work, therefore come and be healed on them. So he was berating the woman.

Even though she had nothing to do with this, I mean, she just going to synagogue, like she always did, probably for 18 years, Jesus comes along and heals her.

He says, There are six days on which men ought to work, therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day. So he obviously shows his self-righteousness. The Lord then answered him and said, Hippocrates, you know, that's not some tame word. If you call someone Hippocrates, those are fighting words. People don't like that.

Hippocrates does not eat one of you on the Sabbath loose as ox or donkey from the stall. So they were doing that. They were taking care of their animals on the Sabbath day, making sure they had water, making sure they had food, and lead it away to water it. So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound. See that? Satan was the one that was involved in that. Satan had bound her for 18 years.

Think of it. For 18 years, he loosed... I'm sorry, think of it. Think of it! Let me say this again. Think of it! That's what Christ is saying. He said, Look, think of it, you hypocrite! This woman's come in here for 18 years. She's been bent over like this.

She suffered greatly all these years. You'll take care of your animals, and you have a problem with me healing this person on the Sabbath? The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was wonderful to do good on the Sabbath. So Christ was doing good. I mean, that was the greatest good anyone had ever done to this woman. And he did it on the Sabbath day. And it's okay to help people and serve people on the Sabbath day. We don't work on the Sabbath, but in emergency situations, you know, I got suspended from church because I told a minister that I felt it was a sin to work on the Sabbath. It's back in 1995. You remember the time. In early 1995, I got suspended and was no longer allowed to preach. I wasn't allowed to get up here because I said the Sabbath is holy. And I really didn't care what any human being said. The Scriptures say that six days shall you labor and do all your work. So anyway, interesting times back then, you know, we live in interesting times, oftentimes in the Church of God. But Satan was binding this woman. He was involved in it. God loosed her. Christ loosed her from this. So we don't know, again, when exactly what sicknesses Satan may be involved in. You know, there may be just certain ones that he's really involved in. And other things are just, you know, time and chance and human frailty. And things happen to us. We get old, you know, things go on. In Luke 22, there's another instance where Satan obviously was involved. This was Luke chapter 22 verse 31. You remember Peter, who was pretty impetuous, the disciple of Christ. Luke chapter 22 verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you.

Christ said, I prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, because he knew he was going to deny him three times, but he also knew he was going to return. Jesus prayed for him. He knew Peter's heart. He knew that Peter was weak and that Peter would betray him. But when you have returned to me, then strengthen your brethren. That was what Christ said he should do. Take care of the brethren. Strengthen the brethren. Help the brethren. But he said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. You know, he was so sure of himself. Peter was so sure that he would do the right thing. Then Christ said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny me three times. Deny that you know me. So we know that happened. And Satan was involved in that. Satan wanted to destroy Peter at the time. Christ was not allowing that to happen. So Satan is the author of confusion. He's involved in much of the mess that we see around us day by day.

In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7, there's another instance where Satan had a hand in Paul's thorn in the flesh. Remember the thorn in the flesh that Paul had to deal with? It was a sickness that God wasn't healing him from. God said, my grace is sufficient. You can live through this. You don't have to be healed. Well, Satan had a hand in that. Luke 22, Luke 22, verse 31. Oh, that's not where I want to be, is it? 2 Corinthians 12. Yeah, I went back to Peter. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure, this is what Paul's saying, lest I be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. Because, you know, we would be hurting if we did not have the revelations that God had given the Apostle Paul. Now, look at 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter. Now, we would not understand things near as well if we didn't have what Paul had written, what God had revealed to the Apostle Paul. So, he said, lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me.

You know, Satan does things, but God always uses those things for our good. And oftentimes, it is to humble us. You know, Satan is trying to destroy us, trying to hurt us, and God turns that around for our good. He said, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Now, when we learn to rely on God in our times of weakness, that's when we're perfected. When we learn to trust God, when times are difficult, when times are hard. So that's how we cope in troubled times, by turning to God, by relying on God, by trusting in Him, believing in Him, having faith in Him, and then acting on these things, and not being so anxious, but just placing our faith and trust in God.

Satan is allowed to some degree to touch our lives, and to even cause havoc in our lives. We don't always know how directly he's involved, but we know the Scripture is clear that if we submit to God, Satan will flee from us. Satan can only go so far. God only allows Satan to have so much impact in our lives. James chapter 4 verse 7, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil. Yes, Satan is the tempter, right? Satan tries to tempt us to sin, and then he will accuse us before God if we do it. He will attempt us to sin, then he accuses us before God, because we gave into that temptation. That's the kind of being that Satan is. So learn to resist him, and not give into his temptations. Don't let him have victory in your life. Resist him. Don't allow him to tempt you to sin. Instead, resist him right off the bat. Don't let him get a stronghold in your life.

Now, the Bible says we're to bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience of Christ. So we need to learn to practice that. Think on the things that are good and right and pure and lovely, and don't go down that path that leads to sin. So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So we don't have to fear Satan, because God's so much more powerful than Satan.

The scripture says in verse 8, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts. You double-minded. We're all sinners, aren't we? We're all double-minded at times. We're not as single-minded as we should be.

Satan messes with our mind, so we need to learn to resist, draw near to God, and let him give us victory over Satan. Satan is quite aware and is responsible for much of what we've been experiencing. So I hope we understand our enemy, our adversary, and that we are praying each day that God give us courage and strength and faith to resist our enemy.

Now let's go on to a third lesson or a third truth that God reveals to us in the Bible that will help us to cope in these troubled times. And that is, know that God is with us, and he's refining us. He's refining us spiritually. God is working a work in us, and he is not satisfied until that work is completed.

So God is not done with any of us as long as we are not done with him, then God is not done with us. We have not committed the unpardonable sin if we still have some desire to obey and follow him. If we're not done with him, he's not done with us.

So Lamentations chapter 3 verse 19.

I was struck by this a few weeks ago. I think it was actually right before the feast.

How Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations talked about how awful things were. You know, things were horrible. I mean, people were killing one another, even becoming cannibals during these difficult times. You can read about that in the book of Lamentations. It talks about it.

Worst times in what we see today, surely, you know, people didn't have food. It wasn't toilet paper they were concerned about. It was food. You can live a lot longer without toilet paper. You'll figure out leaves. You know, there's plenty of leaves out there. There's other things, but when you don't have any food, then life is hard. So let's go to Lamentations chapter 3.

So right after the book of Jeremiah, we find the book of Lamentations chapter 3 verse 19. So Jeremiah went through more than probably any other prophet in terms of hardships and things. You know, he was tossed in a dungeon. He was left there for weeks. You know, he suffered a great deal himself. But notice after commenting and relaying all of this in verse 19, he shows that he still has faith in God. He says in verse 19 of chapter 3, remembering my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall, my soul still remembers and sinks within me.

And he says, so it was these were very difficult, troubled times for him. He says, this I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. So we need to recall these things to our minds. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed. Because his compassion fails not, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. We sing about how great God's faithfulness is. It's a wonderful song. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him. To the soul who seeks him, it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. God will give you salvation if you wait patiently for him, if you place your trust and faith in him. God will provide. Let's go to James chapter 1 and read a little bit more about trials and how we should look at trials that come upon us. These are verses that we're no doubt familiar with. We've heard ministers give sermons about trials, and oftentimes they'll quote the book of James in chapter 1. Verse 1, it says, James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12th tribes which are scattered abroad, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

Now, that's not something we typically do right off the bat when we're going through trials, but he says, count it all joy knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. God is perfecting us just as he was perfecting Job.

God is perfecting you and me, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like the wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man. He is unstable in all his ways. So we should single-mindedly believe that God will deliver us. I mean, the Bible is so full of God delivering his people. You know, just read it. Next time you read it all the way through, just think about the many, many times God delivers his children who turn to him, who seek to know him better and humble themselves before him. God is the God who delivers. Now, he does deliver for us. We have to believe that. Count it all joy when you come into trials and God will see you through those trials. In Malachi chapter 3, we see that God is making up his jewels. He considers us his jewels, precious jewels, precious stones.

Somewhere it says that God could raise up stones to be his servants. Well, that's what he's done. And he's changing us into jewels. Precious, precious jewels. Malachi chapter 3 verse 17.

They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels. He's talking about his children. He's talking about you. You know, he's talking about me. He's talking about all of us in this room. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. You know, if he doesn't spare your life during some trial in the future, as long as he spares your eternal life, that's what really matters. And that's what he's talking about here. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. So God is looking for people who will serve him, who will follow him, who will obey him, who will humble themselves and yield to him. In Isaiah 48, verse 10, this is prophetic. God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah. He says, Behold, I have refined you. So we're looking into the future. And God is saying, Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Life is the furnace of affliction, especially the hard times that come in life. God is perfecting us in the furnace of affliction. That's Isaiah 48, verse 10. And this is for God's called, chosen and faithful. Those who are called, chosen and remain faithful will become his special precious jewels. They are being refined in the furnace of affliction. Hard times.

In Zechariah 13, verses 8 and 9, again, prophecy, And it shall come to pass, in all the lands, says the LORD, that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die.

Two-thirds of who he's talking about here are going to die. That's 66% of the people he's talking about here are going to die. But one-third shall be left in it. I will bring the one-third through the fire. I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, This is my people. And each one will say, The Eternal, the LORD, is my God. God is with us, and he is refining us spiritually. That's the whole story of Job, is how God was refining him spiritually.

So that's the third truth that we should cling to during troubled times. God is with us, and he is refining us spiritually. Whatever we go through, it's worth it. But our attitude, our approach, our response is all important. Number four, last point, last truth, God wants us to learn to love each other more. I believe that's a very important lesson that God wants us to learn now. These troubled times come on us so we could learn to love each other more, so we can learn to reach out to others more, pray for each other more faithfully, more fervently, care for others more abundantly than perhaps we have been doing. I believe that it has affected me that way because I've seen a lot of suffering. I did a survey, I went out to our ministry, asked them, how many people do you know who've had COVID? And pretty good-sized numbers. You put them all together. A lot of people have been suffering in the last few months. You know, since this Delta variant came in the summer and then it hit hard right before, right during, and after the feast, it's affected a lot of our members. In various ways, we've had some who have died. We have some who may have debilitating effects from the COVID. Now, COVID is not everything. I have a very close friend in Texas who has stage four cancer and she found out about this just before the feast.

Her name is Melissa. You might pray for her if you're... There was a prayer request that went out for her. Melissa Puzarov, she has a stage four cancer. She has a little boy named Guardian who's three years old. She has a husband. She's just been attending church for about three or four years now. Her family, she was in the church as a child, came back to church a few years ago.

She's suffering hardship. The family is, you know, it's a time to unite together, all of us, for one another. Whether it's COVID related or other, you know, we're all getting older too, aren't we? You know, and there's more sickness just that comes, more issues, more, you know, just little things, but there's also bigger things that come about us. So we should care for each other, pray for each other. Remember John 13 verse 35? What does that say? You remember what John 13 verse 35 says? By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. The only way that you'll truly be known as a disciple of Christ is if you have his love. If you have his love for each other, that's what identifies you more than the Sabbath. A person who can keep the Sabbath but not have the love of Christ, they're not his disciple.

No matter how much they think they are, they're not because you have to do both. If you love me, keep my commandments. Keep the Sabbath, keep the Holy Days, but you're known by your love for each other. That's the spirit of the law. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 25, there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 25, And if one member suffers, then all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and you are members individually.

So Satan wants to divide us, but God wants to unite us.

Satan wants to divide us, God wants to unite us.

And he oftentimes unites us through suffering and through learning to love each other more, caring for each other more.

You know, Job's three friends weren't great friends in some ways. They started out pretty well. You know, they just sat there for seven days with Job. Sat down in the ashes with him. Didn't say a word for like seven days. So that was pretty commendable. But then they opened their mouth, and they were also somewhat self-righteous. And they were saying, Job, you must have really sinned because there's no way God would allow this to happen if you hadn't really been some grievous, egregious, awful sin that you're not willing to admit, basically, is what they were saying to him. That wasn't the case. He was more righteous than they. In fact, who had to pray for them? Before the story was over, God said, Job will pray for you.

Otherwise, you're in deep trouble.

So those three friends weren't the greatest of friends, and God was showing them that they should be better friends.

Benefit of the doubt. You know, if you don't really know the story, don't act like you do.

Don't think you've got it figured out. Most of the time, we don't have it figured out.

They would have been much better off just staying silent or saying, Job, we're here for you. We don't know why you're going through all this. You seem like a fine guy to me. From what I've seen, you take care of the poor, you do all this good stuff. I don't know what's going on here. So be there to commiserate, to show empathy to Job, but not to condemn him.

That's another huge lesson God wants us to learn. Don't condemn others. You don't know the whole story.

That's between them and God. Just leave it alone.

You know, in James 5, when it says, Is anyone sick? Go to the elders, have them pray over him. That's the first thing we should do, is go be anointed. Seek God. Seek his healing.

Oftentimes, God does intervene and heals us of these things.

Sometimes, not so quickly. Sometimes, we have to suffer for a while.

It says, Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So we should pray for each other, brethren, and we should do our part. You know, God wants us to assemble together. I appreciate all of you coming today to be here. This is good. You know, having the fellowship, the camaraderie, breaking bread together, this is what God's church does. And we're all part of God's church.

So, brethren, let's just rehearse these four truths once again as we close. First of all, know that God is always here, and he knows what's going on down here. He knows what's happening. He's fully aware of everything that we suffer and everything that we go through. Everything that our friends and our neighbors and our relatives, God loves all people. Not just the ones he's calling today. There is a special place in God's heart for those he's calling now to be in the first resurrection. But God loves everyone.

Secondly, Satan is also quite aware and is responsible for much of what we've been experiencing in the church of God.

In a third truth, God is with us and is refining us spiritually.

And a fourth truth, God wants us to learn to love each other more than we do now. He wants us to learn to reach out to each other. Now, hopefully we're past the worst of our health issues right now, this COVID thing. Hopefully we're going to get past this soon.

But regardless, let's all stay faithful and put our trust and faith in God. Let us all turn to God who knows us and knows what is going on in our lives. Let us resist Satan and draw near to God in prayer and also fasting. Now, I hope you're taking some time to fast. That's not easy. We don't relish fasting, most of us.

Probably none of us really relish it. In some ways, I think we do because we see the spiritual benefit of fasting. We feel good that we've done it once it's over.

And it's a good thing. So I would encourage you to fast more, pray more, love more. Learn to love each other more as we see the day of Christ's return. And even more troubled times coming. We haven't seen the worst. It's going to get worse before it gets a lot better. So I hope, like me, it's helped you see the importance of doing more as God's people to pull together and to support each other, to love each other, and also to love God. So it's been a pleasure being here with all of you today. I've enjoyed it. Looking forward to the potluck. I've already enjoyed some jalapeno venison. That's good stuff.

All right.