Know God Is God

Well, good morning to everyone. Pleasant Sabbath to all. Again, greetings to those who are visiting here with us, either from near or far. I hope you're all having a very fine Sabbath. And I've got a question for the sound crew. This is looking at me right in the nose here. Should I lower it down? Is it okay? Lower it down. Good, I like that better, too. Hopefully he'll make his adjustments all right. Well, as I was introduced as a non-salaried elder, it even gets worse than that. I'm retired. Actually, that's not worse than that. That's a good thing. So anyway, nobody's paying me. Well, brethren, religion is under attack today. I think we're all aware of that. Not just religion in general, but especially Christianity. God, the Bible, are under attack on all fronts in the news programs, the evening news, by scientists, at school, wherever we go. We're ridiculed, or religion is ridiculed by others. And unfortunately, the attacks will get worse. We are in a battle, a spiritual battle, on many fronts. As we're told in Ephesians 6, we need to be strong. We need to stand. We need to fight. We need to use God's spiritual armor. Well, how do we do that? How do we stand? And how do we fight? How do we keep our perspective during these times, as well as in the days ahead of whatever may come? Well, let's turn back to Exodus 7. We'll start in the book of Exodus, and we'll see an answer to this question, a lesson that we can learn, another lesson we can learn from the book of Exodus. Exodus 7, and I will start reading in verse 1. Exodus 7, verse 1, it says, The Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you as a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he must send the children of Israel out of the land, or out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay my hand on Egypt, and bring my armies and my people, the children of Israel, out from the land of Egypt.

And then here's the lesson, that Egyptians shall know. They shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them. Again, the Egyptians are going to know that God is God. Dropping down into verse 15.

Verse 15, if I can just turn to page, and only get one page.

Here again, it's addressed to Pharaoh. Verse 15, it says, go to Pharaoh. These are instructions that God is giving Moses. Verse 16, and you shall say to him, verse 17, so that's just setting the context. You shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, by this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, thou will strike the waters which are on the river of Egypt, with the rod that is in my hand, that they shall be turned to blood. So again, first of all, it said the Egyptians shall know. Now it said Pharaoh shall know. But Pharaoh at that time, obviously, did not know. He learned the lesson later, but he did not know at that particular time.

I saw a TV program a while back, maybe some of you have seen it or something similar, where it talked about the coming of Israel out of Egypt, and it talked about the ten plagues. And it talked about them like, well, these were natural occurrences that happened. These were events. These are explanations of why these unusual events actually happened. It started out explaining, well, the Nile turned red because there was a volcano, and it spewed a lot of volcanic ash into the river, and the river became red.

Well, this led to fish dying. And after that, the frogs came out of the Nile because it wasn't a good place for them to be. The frogs died. So now that they died, and then there were lice, and the lice thrived. And then the lice died, and there were flies. And after the flies came a disease on the animals, and it all sounded somewhat logical. Not totally, but somewhat. Actually, as it got into some of the other plagues, the logic kind of escaped me.

You know, how do you naturally go from flies dying and frogs, etc., to boils and hail mixed with lightning? That's kind of a stretch. But they did have an explanation. I just didn't quite follow it. But I think you get the idea. They're all natural explanations for God's intervention. Pharaoh did not look at these events as being acts of God. He looked at them as coincidences of something that just happened to happen at that particular time or just happened to occur. He did not look at them as God's hand. Some recall a story about a small boy who was in school.

Again, still on the subject of the Exodus. It was the spring of the year, and they were talking about the Exodus in school. And the boy explained, God is great. God is great. He brought Israel through the Red Sea. And the teacher explained, now, now, you know, don't get carried away here. You know, because of the moon, you know, the full moon, and because of where they crossed, the water was only about a foot deep.

And, you know, so they could wade through, you know, without any problem at all. The boy exclaimed again, God is great. You know, God is good. He drowned the Egyptians in one foot of water. Again, it's an old story, but it illustrates a point. It certainly does. Well, we know better. Obviously, these events that occurred back in Egypt were not just coincidences. God caused these events to happen.

I came across an interesting book a while back. The name of the book was Jesus on Trial, and it was written by David Limbaugh. In there, he had a phrase. It's called God Incidents. God Incidents. And actually, this phrase was used by his pastor. In other words, things didn't just happen. They weren't coincidences. They were God incidences. They were things that God brought to pass, something God caused to happen. Well, what about us? What about each of us in our situations? When we pray, and the answer comes, do we give God the credit?

Are we thankful? If we're telling a skeptic, you know, well, I prayed and I got an answer, the skeptic's going to think that's just a coincidence, not a God incidence. Probably something that just would have happened anyway. It's like Pharaoh must have at least started out believing at the beginning. But he obviously came to know that God was God.

And when he knew, this wasn't academic knowledge. This was knowing and understanding by experience that God was God. Turn to Exodus the 10th chapter, a couple pages over. A couple pages over. Exodus the 10th chapter, I'll start reading in verse 1. Exodus 10 and in verse 1. It said, The LORD said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine before him.

And that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and your son's son, the mighty things I have done in Egypt, my signs which I have done among them. So God not only wanted Egypt to know, or Pharaoh to know, he wanted Moses to know. He wanted Israel to know, his son and his son's son. And he wants us to know that God is God. That he is the God who he says he is.

Just like Pharaoh and just like Moses, we need to know that. Again, that God is God. Well, how do we do that? How do we do that? Well, think about it. We all have friends. What do we do with our friends? We communicate with them. We talk. We listen. We communicate.

And in addition to that, we also have activities. We do things together. So what about with God? How do we get to know God and to know that God is God? Well, we communicate with him. And also, we have activities. We live our lives before him, and he is very much involved in each of our lives. So through communication and activities, we know that God is God.

Again, there was a booklet that the church had in the times past, The Seven Proofs That God Exists. And these were, I'll say, more academic or logical proofs, if you will. But this is more, when I'm talking about knowing God, this is more than academic knowledge. This is knowing in a relationship. This is walking with God. This is communicating with God. This is doing activities with God. And this will help us in the times ahead, knowing that God is God, that he is who he says that he is. Now, I mentioned that we know God through communication and through activities. And I'll probably be repeating that a few times during the message. I'm going to talk first about communication, prayer. You know, we talk to God. Also, we communicate with Bible study as he talks to us through us reading his word. But I'm going to concentrate mostly on prayer in this message this morning. We have access to God through prayer, and all of us are praying, people. I understand that. But do you ever think that we're going to kneel down and pray, either in the morning or at night or whenever we pray? Do you ever think about, you know, what am I doing? What am I doing? I'm approaching the ruler of the universe, the Great God. He's listening to me. And he also communicates with us. I don't mean by a voice or anything like that. But he communicates with us. But we're kneeling down before the ruler of the universe. We have his intention, his attention. He listens to us. Some might wonder, you know, well, why should I pray? Because God already knows what I need before I ask. And it says that, and we'll read that. So why should I pray? Well, the first reason, and probably the most important one, is we're instructed to pray. God and Jesus Christ expects us, his people, to be praying people. Turn to Matthew 6, Matthew 6. I'll start reading in verse 5. And I'm just going to pick up parts of certain scriptures going through here. Matthew 6, in verse 5. Jesus Christ had a lot to say about his people praying. Matthew 6, in verse 5, it says, And when you pray. So it's not if you pray, or if you decide to pray, or if you want to pray. It says, When you pray. He's expecting that we will. It says, You shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love standing in the synagogues on corners of streets. Skipping down to verse 6, it says, But you, when you pray. Again, that expression, When you pray, go into your room. And when you shut the door, pray to your Father, who is in secret, who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly. Continuing on, verse 7, When you pray. Do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. And again, the passage I refer to, For your Father knows the things you need before you ask. God knows us very, very well. So why do we pray? God wants to hear from us, His children. He wants to know what's on our minds. And again, in verse 9, it says, In this manner, therefore, pray. More instructions to pray, and then what follows is what's called the Lord's Prayer, or the Sample Prayer.

Not necessarily, not necessarily, not at all what we should repeat over and over, because we just read, you know, don't have vain repetitions.

But it is the Lord's Prayer that follows the, quote-unquote, Lord's Prayer. Dropping down to verse 11, just picking up part of that, it says, Give us this day our daily bread. You ever think about that, our daily bread? God doesn't tell us to ask Him for a year's supply.

It says, What do you need today? God wants to hear from His children daily. And often, not just once a day, several times throughout the day, He wants to hear from His children. He wants to know what's on our minds. Turn to Luke 21, Luke 21. We'll see some more instruction about praying.

Luke 21, and I'll start reading in verse 34.

Luke 21, and in verse 34, it says, But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness. Christ is talking about the day of the Lord that is coming. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness, and the cares of this life. And that day, the day of the Lord, come on you unexpectedly. For I will come as a snare on all those who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. Verse 36, watch therefore, and pray always. So we need to be watching, and we need to pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. So here we're told to watch, and we're told to pray. Now some people look at this and say, pray that you know that I'll be worthy to escape. And I suppose that's not a bad prayer to pray. I don't think anyone wants to go into this. But that's not really what this verse is saying. It said, pray always that you will be worthy. Pray so you will be strong. Pray that you will be close to God. Pray so that you may be counted worthy to escape. The Bible in basic English translates this verse in this way. It says, but pray so that you will be...excuse me, I'm in the wrong spot.

But keep watch at all times with prayer that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and be able to take your place before the Son of Man. Again, that's the Bible in basic English, and that's the sense of the verse. To pray so that you're close to God, and because you're close to God, you will be worthy to escape.

We'll look at some further instructions. We'll read 1 Thessalonians 5, and we'll start reading in verse 17.

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17, where we have some instructions from the Apostle Paul.

1 Thessalonians 5, 17, and a simple start. Pray without ceasing. In fact, that's the whole verse. Pray without ceasing. In other words, never stop. Never give up. Pray without ceasing.

And then continuing on in verse 18, it says, 1 In everything give thanks, which is a type of a prayer, giving thanks to God. 2 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Sometimes there used to be an expression we heard in the past. We don't hear so much.

Well, if it's God's will, I'll do this. If it's God's will, I'll do that. This is God's will. This is God's will that we pray without ceasing. And it says, For everything give thanks. Notice it didn't say... I think I misquoted it. It says, In everything give thanks. Yes, it didn't say, For everything, for all I have. It's in everything. Remember, the Apostle Paul was content in whatever state that he was in.

He was content, and he was thankful. So, in everything, whatever our situation, we need to give thanks. Sometimes in our personal Bible studies, we wonder, well, what will I study now? What's a good subject to go into? Actually, prayer is a good thing to study. You might want to look in the subject of prayer. There are various types of prayers that are mentioned in the Bible. There's also... just look at the Scriptures on prayers and what it has to say about prayers.

There are things we can learn from a Bible study such as that. As I mentioned, the Bible has a lot to say about prayer. Turn ahead to a few pages to James 4 chapter. James 4 chapter. And I'll start reading in verse 1. We'll see some more instructions from the Apostle James about praying. James 4, and starting in verse 1, and again, I think it's a familiar passage for most of us, it says, Where do wars and fights come from among you?

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members? You lust and you do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight in war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. So again, God wants us, His children, to ask. However, in the next verse it says, You ask and do not receive. Just because we ask doesn't mean God is automatically going to say yes. And I'll come back to that a little bit later.

But it says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. So He wants us to ask. He wants us to communicate with Him. He wants us to talk with Him. But now we see in verse 3 here, there are conditions. Again, God just doesn't say, you know, you ask, you know, I'll provide. Not necessarily. Not necessarily at all.

There are conditions. God is our Father. And as a Father, He doesn't automatically say yes. Just as a Father, a human Father, doesn't automatically say yes to His children. You know, they want something. And again, a Father loves their children. They would like to say yes. But there's times when no is a more appropriate answer. Likewise, God gives us what we need. And He gives us much of what we desire, what we want. But He does what's best for us in any situation.

So we see there are conditions to answered prayer. It's not just something that God is automatically going to provide. There are conditions on our part. We read in Matthew 6 and verse 7 about a condition saying, Don't use vain repetition. Don't say the same thing over and over and over and over again. And hopefully that will be heard. None of these canned or standardized prayers. We understand that we should not do that. But how are some of our prayers? Do we say the same thing over and over, not necessarily repeating something that's in the Bible?

But do we say the same thing where we can just kind of, how can I say, our lips are going through the motions, but our mind might be somewhere else? Or maybe there's a so-called sleepy time prayer where you realize you need to pray at the end of the day, and you kneel down, it's been a rough day, it's kind of late at night, really kind of tired, and you're praying and you may fall asleep on your knees.

Again, sleepy time prayers. We need to realize, you know, who we're talking with, who we're talking to. Prayer is communication with God. You know, we wouldn't treat a friend that way. We shouldn't treat God that particular way, either. Turn back to Luke 11, chapter, Luke 11, chapter, and I'll start reading in verse 5. Luke 11 and verse 5 will continue to look at more conditions for answered prayer. Luke 11 and verse 5 will go through a couple of parables. Luke 11, 5, it said, and he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight? Notice the timing, midnight. Now how many of you go to your friend's house at midnight and say to him, friend, you know, lend me three loaves?

For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me, in other words, get out of here. The door is now shut. The children are with me in bed, and I cannot rise and give to you.

I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, in other words, the guy's not going to go away, because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

And then continuing on in verse 9, it says, I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find, knock, and you will be opened, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives.

He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? And if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer a scorpion? Of course, the answer obviously is no. If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?

So God wants us to be persistent. He wants us, and He wants to know what is really important to us. You know, what we want, what our desires are. But on the other hand, persistence is not nagging. Persistence is not whining. Persistence is, again, being persistent, saying what's on your mind. I think most of us, at least most of us who have been married and had families, you know, only have small children. Child really wants something. I think we've all been there. You know, maybe it's a nice shiny red bike. Maybe it's a special doll. I don't know what the popular toys are right now.

Our family is past that particular stage. We went through Cabbage Patch dolls and Pound Puppies and things like that. You know, the important things at the time. At the time. Anyway, the child, I really, really want this. He said, no. Oh, but I have to have it. You know, and again, they're not bad dream, but they're letting you know. This is what my heart's desire is set on. God wants to hear our heart's desire. He wants us to be persistent. Also down here in verse 13, there was another condition. Well, the condition actually is not here. It says, God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

And He will. But again, there are conditions on that. Think of Acts 5.32. He also gives the Holy Spirit to those who are obedient. Obedient. So action is also important. It's not just praying and receiving. It's praying and doing something. And receiving. Turn ahead a few pages to Luke the 18th chapter. We'll look at another parable. Luke 18, and I'll start reading in verse 1. This is the parable of the unjust judges. It says, Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and lose heart.

So again, this is the specific purpose right here, that men always ought to pray. God wants to hear from us, His children. We always ought to pray and not lose heart. Why would we lose heart? Well, we'd lose heart if we're praying and praying and praying, and nothing is apparently happening. We're not getting a yes. For that matter, we're not getting a no. But we're not getting what we want. You know, back to the little child, you know, I really want this. But it's not happening. That could be a reason to lose heart.

Well, continuing on, He gives this parable so that people would not lose heart, that His children would not lose heart. There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now, there was a widow in that city, and she came to Him saying, avenge me of my adversary. And I would imagine that widows were relatively poor at that time.

It was very hard for, again, a widow to live at that time. And he would not for a while, that he the judge would not hear her for a while. But afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man yet, because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her. Lest by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said, and shall not hear what he said, and shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry out day and night to Him.

Again, persistence, crying out day and night, though He bears long with them, I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? And when it says avenge them speedily, it doesn't mean, obviously we're talking about a process here where this person has prayed for quite a while, day and night. When God acts, the answer comes. It is speedily. It may take a little while before He does act, but when He does act, it will come, and it will come speedily.

So God wants us to have faith. He will answer our prayers. And as I mentioned, there are various types of answers. One of the answers is yes. You know, yes, I will do that. Another answer is no, for whatever reason.

God knows what's best for us, and the answer could be no. Or the answer could be wait. You know, wait. Maybe God wants to see how persistent we are. You know, how much we really want something, how important something is to us.

Again, God interacts with us as we communicate with Him. We learn more about God. We know that God is God, again, through communication. Some other conditions for answered prayer on 1 John 3.22, which I'm not going to turn to. 1 John 3.22, it says, we receive what we ask of Him. Again, our prayers, we make requests because we obey, because we keep His commandments. Therefore, we receive answers to our prayers. And again, it's not just rote obedience. It's living life. It's going forward with God. We have a relationship with God, and we know that He is God. And we know that we know, not academically, but in a relationship through experience. Another condition, James 1, verses 5-8, which I'm not going to turn to, says that we need to have faith. And I think that's a no-brainer for most of us, for all of us. We must have faith and not doubt. And also, James gives us a comforting bit of advice in James 1, verses 5-8, where it says, we must ask in faith.

Not doubting, not wondering if God is really going to do this for us. We have to ask in faith. Turn to Hebrews 11, chapter. Hebrews 11, chapter. And I'll read verse 6. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter. And again, James says we need to ask in faith. Here again, this also says we need to have faith.

Hebrews 11, verse 6, it says, without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For He who comes to God must believe that He is. In other words, not believe in God. But also must, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So again, we need to believe that God is who He says He is. And then you say, well, here's another condition to diligently seek Him. How diligent are we? Hopefully as diligent as we need to be. Again, think of those of us who are parents and have reared children, are rearing children. Those who have children out of the house, you know, could we have been more diligent?

Yes, I believe we could. Those who currently have children in the house, you know, could you be more diligent? And again, I believe the answer to that is yes. But the thing is, we're not looking at some standard here. We're living our life daily. And if we're doing the best we can with what we have to work with, we're diligent.

So it's not like we have to get up to some kind of magical standard, like could you be more diligent? Could you be more perfect? Yes, you could be more perfect. However, we need to be doing the best we can with what we have. God wants us to be diligent. So there are conditions to answered prayer. There are other conditions to answered prayer which I've not gone through today.

Again, this makes a good Bible study. As I mentioned, there are various types of prayers that we can pray. Prayers of praise, you know, just praising God, thanking God for His goodness and for His greatness. Prayers of repentance, of confessing our sins. Prayers for our enemies. Prayers for forgiving others. We have a relationship with God. And God wants to hear from us.

God wants us to know what is in our hearts. And again, if we don't know what to pray, we can't even ask God to help us in this. The Holy Spirit will help us in our prayers. So communication. I mentioned communication and activities. Communication is one of the ways that we know that God is God. That He is the God who He says He is. The second thing I talked about was activities.

Again, communication and activities. I'm going to look at some examples of activities. This is probably the best way to explain this. We're in Hebrews 11. Just drop down a couple verses to Hebrews 11, verse 8. Verse 8, it says, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. He went out not knowing where he was going. At a message a year or two ago, I heard the way this was phrased, and it just kind of was one of those phrases that sticks within your mind.

It says, he was going, not knowing. Abraham was going, not knowing. And I don't know about you. At that time a little light went off in my head, you know, this is our Christian life. This is what it's all about. This is going, not knowing. We do not know what is going to happen tomorrow. We don't. Now, sometimes in our minds we think, oh, something bad is going to happen. And it might. It might be something really good, too. It might be a life-changing event. It could be good or bad.

We don't know. We don't know. But whatever it is, you know, we're going forward with God, following His instructions. And God is bringing us through the various situations that we will face. Again, an example, and I'll use a personal example in this regard. So I was at the feast, it was a year ago. And this was an event, an experience that happened at the feast. I'll back up a little bit. But previously, I had known a man about 50 years ago in the church in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We weren't great friends, but we were friends. You know, we were acquaintances. And I had known him. I'm going to call him J.T. And I hope there's nobody here that's the J.T. But anyway, I'm going to call him J.T. I'm not going to say anything bad about J.T. But I just, I hate to use examples of someone who's right here. Anyways, about 20 years later or so, I saw him at the feast in Keystone, Colorado, in 1996. It was good seeing him again. This is a voice out of the past. It was really good seeing him. And we had an enjoyable time with him and his wife.

Well, for the feast a year ago, I saw that J.T. was going to be there. We had signed up for various activities, and we had signed up for boat crews. And J.T. had signed up for the same crews.

I thought, great, I'm going to see J.T. again. This is going to be fine. Well, the boat crews wasn't until the middle of the feast, something like that. So when the feast started, I started looking for him.

And then I really wasn't seeing anyone that looked like him. There were about 500 people there. And so I would go through various sections of the hall, because we as a group, or as individuals, tend to sit in the same places all the time. We do. So I was going into various places, figuring I'll run across him sooner or later. Then I thought, well, I wonder what he looks like now. How much has he changed? Would I recognize him? I didn't know, but I was looking.

You might say I was going, not knowing. I was looking for him. Well, the day of the boat trip came, and I thought, this is going to be, I don't know about easy, but easier, because there's only about 50 people, give or take, on the boat. I ought to be able to find him. Even if I don't recognize him, talk to enough people, I'll find him.

Well, it didn't happen. It didn't happen. I didn't see him on the boat. And I thought, hmm, I don't understand what's actually happening here. So a couple days later, I ran into someone at services from his church area. And I said, oh, here in that church area, do you know J.T.? And he said, yes.

And I said, oh, I said, why knew him several years ago? And he's supposed to be here at the feast, and I haven't found him. Do you know? Is he actually here? And he said, well, no, actually, he's not here. He died. He died a year or two ago. And I said, well, who's the J.T. that's here at this feast? And he said, oh, that's his son. Well, that's not bad either. Now, his son was only eight to ten years old or so when his family moved away.

But in any case, I said, well, I'd like to meet his son. And then, again, I had no clue, had no idea how to find his son. Last time I saw him, he was eight, ten years old. Was he tall, short, stocky? What did he look like? Athletic? I had no idea. But actually, this person that I'd ran into introduced us a couple days later.

And I got to talk with J.T. and I'll call him Junior. I don't know if he actually was a junior or not, but he had the same first and last name. And it was nice catching up with him. He actually remembered me, you know, an eight to ten year old kid. And we talked, we had a nice time talking about his father, his family, about what they'd been doing, you know, just catching up. We really had a nice time. But the point of it is, you know, with his father and with him, I was going, you know, not knowing. I didn't have a clue. I thought I did, you know, I thought I'd recognize him, but, you know, again, certainly with his son, I didn't have a clue. I was going forward, again, going, but not knowing. Likewise with us. You know, we have activities with God. We go forward with God, and again, not knowing, as I mentioned, what might happen tomorrow.

Could be good. It could be bad. But whatever it is, we know that our God is a loving father. He has our best interest as heart, and he's going to be with us, whatever it is. Another example I'm going to use is from the Bible. It's the example of Gideon. Example of Gideon. Gideon was a reluctant servant of God.

Of course, God gave him a task that wasn't really very easy to do. I mean, think about, you know, you're sitting here, you know, minding your business. In his case, he was, I think, threshing wheat. And he gets a message saying, you know, I'm going to send you to defeat the Midianites and deliver Israel out of their hands. Put yourself in that situation, you know, whether you're an accountant or, you know, whether you're a plumber, you know, whatever you might be, an electrician, you know, whatever it might be. You know, God says, I've got a job for you to do, you know. So Gideon was rather reluctant, but he wasn't the only reluctant servant of God. There were others. Moses actually wasn't that enthusiastic. He said, you know, I'm not up to this. You know, I can't speak. I can't do this. And then there was Jonah, who actually took off in the opposite direction. He says, I'm not doing this. And then there was Ananias, the Ananias that was sent to anoint Saul of Tarsus. You know, when God struck him blind and Paul goes to Damascus and God says, Ananias, I've got a job for you to do. Yes, yes, Lord. So I want you to go and lay your hands on Saul of Tarsus so that he can receive his sight. And you have to read between the lines a little bit, but you can just see Ananias saying, you know, are you sure? Do you know why he's here? He's here to kill Christians. And you want me to go see him? And God said, I'm sure. And of course, we all know the outcome to that. Anyway, back to Gideon. Turn to Judges 6 chapter. Judges 6 chapter. And we'll read a few verses back here. Judges 6 chapter. And I'll start in verse 11.

It says, Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under a terebinth tree, which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abazrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress. So he was hiding in the building, so he wouldn't be seen in order to hide from the Midianites. So here's Gideon. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, a mighty man of valor.

Now that seemed like kind of a strange greeting. You know, the guy's hiding in a winepress, you know, threshing his wheat. O mighty man of valor. And continuing on, it says, And Gideon said to him, O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his miracles, which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? You know, why is this happening, and why isn't God strong on our behalf? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us in the hands of the Midianites. Then the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours. Again, imagine how strong he felt. Not very. Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? So he said to him, O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Again, what am I going to do? I'm just a farmer up here with wheat. What can I do? How can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. So now Gideon was a cautious man, and maybe to say cautious, that's not strong enough a word.

He was really cautious. He said, then he said to him, If now I've found favor in your sight, show me a sign. Show me a sign. And I'm not going to read through here. You may or may not want to read through here later today. But anyway, he said, Make a sacrifice. So he brought out food, he brought out bread, he put it on a rock. Angel touched the rock with his rod. Sacrifice disappeared. It was burned up. So he had his sign. And at least he was convinced partially at that particular point. Drop down to...well, in verse 33... Verse 33...I don't want to read a lot of verses here. But in verse 33, the armies of the Midianites and the Amalekites assembled.

Let's see if we can get one page here to turn. Verse 33, the armies had assembled. And they were like the sand of the sea, so to speak. So now, you know, Gideon's looking again, and he's thinking, Oh, what have I gotten myself into? So it's like another sign. And God is very loving and patient in this case. Then drop down to verse 36, where he said, Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, look, I put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. So he wants another sign. He said, I put this fleece of wool on the threshing floor. And if tomorrow morning the fleece is wet and the floor is dry, I'll know it's a sign. I know you're with me, you know, and I'll go forward and I'll fight the Amalekites in the Midianites. Well, gets up the next morning. The fleece was wet, the floor was dry, and he thought, Great! But what if it would have happened anyway? You know, back to Pharaoh, what if this was a coincidence? What if it wasn't a God-incidence? What if it was a coincidence? You know, what if that's the way it would have normally worked out? So he said, Please be patient. I'd like another sign. And so God says, Okay, I'll put the fleece on the floor. The next morning, the fleece was dry, but the floor was wet. So now, now, Gideon was convinced, pretty much. Pretty much. He was convinced. He assembled his army, and he was ready to go forward. And still, you know, he had his reservations, and God gave him, God gave him another sign. He gave him more encouragement. Of course, before I gave him the next sign, he said, You've got way too many soldiers with you. You know, we need to thin the herd, so to speak. So he gets down from whatever army he had, down to 300 people, 300 soldiers. And so now you've got 300 against, you know, this horde, this great army. God wanted to make sure that they knew that this was not a coincidence, that this was a God-incidence. So he needed further encouragement. So God said, Okay, you go up, you know, listen to what the guards are saying. And dropping down, let's say, in verse, yeah, in chapter 7, verse 9, it says, It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, Arise, go down to the camp. I've delivered it into your hand. But if you're afraid to go down, go down to the camp with your servant. So he went down, and then dropping down into verse 13, it says, And when Gideon had come, there was a man, this is one of the enemy, telling a dream to his companion, and he said, I've just had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. And it came to a tent and struck it, so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.

Verse 14, it says, Then his companion answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. For into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.

So here again, more encouragement that God was giving to Gideon.

Gideon was going forward not knowing. Now he had his signs, and he was cautious anyway. He had three signs. But he still, you know, not knowing exactly what was going to happen, but he was going forward with God. Again, he had a relationship with God. God was building a relationship. I could talk about other examples. Actually, at the Bible study this last week, Mr. Petty talked about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And by the way, if any of you have not heard that Bible study, I'd recommend that you listen to it. Again, it would be a good Sabbath activity. But in any case, Mr. Petty talked about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Talk about going forward not knowing. You know, here they are, you know, the king's up there, and they play the music. Everybody bows down to the statue except the three of them. And the king gets mad. You know, he gets, what's the matter with you guys? You know, he is really mad. So he says, stoke up the fire. And he says, I'll give you one more chance, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, you talk about going forward not knowing. They didn't know what was going to happen. They didn't. They knew they were going to get thrown in that fire. I will say that. You know, they had a big trial in front of them. They knew that was going to happen. But they didn't know they were going to walk out. But they did. They were going forward with God again, going, not knowing. They didn't know what the answer was going to be. This is quite often as we, you know, go forward. Not exactly knowing what the answer is going to be. Not knowing what God is going to do. Well, what about us? What about us? As I mentioned, we go forward going and not knowing. Going forward with God. We may not know what the future has, but we can know God. We can know that He is the God that He says that He is. That He is our Father. We don't know what the future holds, as I've mentioned. It could be good. It could be bad. But we know that God is with us. And as we go forward, He will continue to be with us. Turn back to Mark the 10th chapter. Mark the 10th chapter. And I'll look at verse 17. Mark the 10th chapter. I'll start reading in verse 17.

It says, Now as He was going out on the road, one came running and knelt before Him and asked Him. I still hear a few pages turning, so... One came and knelt before Him and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to Him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one. He says, You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. And He answered and said to Him, Teach her, all these things I observe from my youth. Then Jesus, looking at Him, loved Him and said, One thing you lack, go your way. Sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, take up your cross, and follow Me. Now again, we don't know the exact situation here, but it looks like this man has appeared to be offered an apostleship. Now, of course, he had to give up everything. He wasn't willing to do that. He wasn't willing to go forward with God. In any case, he would be blessed tremendously, whether it was an apostleship or not. He would be blessed tremendously, but he chose not to. And Jesus Christ said, Come, take up your cross, and follow Me. And then verse 22, it says, But He was sad at this word, and went His way grieved. For He had a lot of money, and He did not want to give up His money. But notice, it says, Take up your cross, and follow Me. Think back in the Roman Empire. When a person took up His cross, how far did he carry it? And I'm not talking about one mile, or two miles, or three miles. The person who took up His cross was a condemned individual. They carried it to the end of their life. Likewise with us. You know, those of us who are baptized, there's no break from being a Christian. We're a Christian. This is our identity. This is who we are to the end of our lives. We're going forward with God, and He's going forward with us. And again, there's no break. There's no coffee break. There's no one to sit this stake down for a while, and, you know, set the cross down, or the cross beam. I want a coffee break. You know, I want to... There are no breaks. We are Christians to the end of our lives. Dropping down in verse 28, then Peter began to say, look, you know, we've left everything, and we've followed you. What's in it for us is essentially what he's saying. So Jesus answered and said, I assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my sake, and the Gospels, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. So again, we have a relationship with God, and God blesses us. Now there are some things that we may have to give up. In times past, some people have had to make some very hard choices. And that might not all be in the past. It might be in the future as well, where some may have to make some hard choices. Again, we don't know what the future holds, good or bad. But we go forward with God regardless. He's a loving Father. He knows what's best for us.

I'm not going to turn there, but Jeremiah 29, verse 11, says that God has good thoughts for us, His children, to give us a future and to give us a hope.

Again, He's a loving and a wonderful God and Father. We need to know that and understand that and know that He is the God that He is.

So again, brethren, we go forward going, not knowing, going and not knowing. We know that God is God, one through communication, through prayer, through Bible study, and I could say fasting and meditation, but just talking mainly about prayer today.

Communication with God, also through activities, living our lives, going forward with God, doing things together with God, doing His will, understanding more of what He wants us to do. We need to know that God is the God who He says that He is. He is a miracle-working God and He is also our loving and wonderful and heavenly Father who is for us and wants the best for us.