Obstacle or Opportunity?

So, as you can see from the title on the bulletin, the title of today's sermon is Obstacle or Opportunity? Obstacle or Opportunity? It kind of depends on your viewpoint sometimes, how you look at things. And we all look at life through different prisms. We all look at life through different views. But when we are confronted by various things, it's important that our viewpoint line up, hopefully, with what we learn from Scripture. Because a crisis to one person can be a defining moment to another. Back almost 20 years ago now, as an individual who was called one of the greatest athletes of our time, and even at the time he was playing sports, you can find it on various videos, they considered him the greatest athlete to take the field. My wife's father did not especially like him because he played for the University of Auburn in college, and he's an Alabama fan. But his name was Bo Jackson. Anybody heard of Bo Jackson? We have a couple here. Yeah, okay, half of you have heard of Bo Jackson. You can type Bo Jackson in and watch even an hour of his highlights. Bo Jackson was such an incredible athlete that he was drafted to play professional football, but he was also quite a baseball player. And in football, he achieved everything a man would want to achieve. He was one of the best of the best. He ran over people, he ran through people, he ran away from people. He had speed, he had strength, he had everything imaginable. And to watch him, I actually did that this week, went and watched some of his films, and I had forgotten just how great of an athlete he was. That he also played not only professional football, but professional baseball at the same time, and became an all-star in both. He was so good. Simply amazing individual. Very accomplished. But it's interesting that most people do not realize that at the age of 11 years old, Bo Jackson was picked on. He was bullied. He was a skinny little kid at that time, unlike the 6'2", 240 pound individual that became the famous athlete. And he was picked on so often, and it was so badly, he was picked on so badly, that he couldn't take it anymore. And he wrote this in his autobiography, as most people did not even know, that he actually went home one day and took a rifle that they had at the house, and he went back by the school, because he ran away from school that day, because he had been picked on and beat on, so forth, by this one individual so many times that he was tired of it. Couldn't take it anymore. And so he loaded the rifle and took it to the schoolyard. And just outside the schoolyard, he knew where the bully would be walking, and he lined up the shot. The rifle had a scope, and he knew he could not miss. And as the boy was walking and he put him in his cross airs, he thought for a moment of what this would do to his family. It was a decision he made, but would he regret it? And one of the thoughts that came into his mind was his mother having to visit him in prison. And then he thought about being bullied in prison.

And for a split second, he said, no, there is another way. And he decided at that moment not to take that shot. He decided at that moment that I think I can run faster than him. And then if I can't, I'm going to start working out and becoming strong, so I'm stronger than he is. And he did. He took that obstacle and turned it into an opportunity that made him one of the greatest athletes on the face of the earth.

How about you? Have you had some obstacles that you were able to turn into an opportunity? When Jesus Christ walked this earth, when he started his ministry. And you can read about that in John 2 and John 3. It's an interesting read. Because you can see that the Sadducees were the controlling religious group at the time in chapter 2.

Jesus Christ turned the money changers tables over, embarrassed them. As Christ was showing them, they did not know what righteousness was. And the people were so excited as Christ started his ministry. They were empowered. They were looking to Him. Could this be the Messiah that had always been talked about? And the Pharisees who were the largest religious group got excited and said, this is our man. We want Him! With Him, we can control everything. We will have all power.

All the people will follow us. So they sent their best, their brightest, their top religious figure to Him. Chapter 3, but they did it at night. His name was Nicodemus. Except it didn't turn out the way they planned. Jesus Christ knew what they were up to, was in their hearts.

And here you had Jesus Christ becoming not only an obstacle to the Sadducees, but now to the Pharisees, as they wanted to take their wrath out on Him. So here was the opportunity presented to them, and they didn't see it. They saw Him as an obstacle, not an opportunity, not an opportunity to learn from, not an opportunity to work with, not an opportunity for all the people.

Yet the disciples, do you think they looked at Jesus Christ as an obstacle? That was an opportunity. Mary Magdalene, the woman caught in sin, various people that were healed. Was Jesus Christ an obstacle? No. It was an opportunity. It was a viewpoint. Brethren, it is very important that we have the right viewpoint, and that we sometimes see an obstacle for what it is, an opportunity, an opportunity.

Most of you know the story of Job. Two viewpoints, God's and Job's. At the very first Job viewpoint was lined up a little more with God, but as time went on and these trials came in his life, he began to see everything as an obstacle instead of an opportunity. For God, it was an opportunity for this righteous man to become even more righteous. It was an opportunity for Job's spiritual growth. How about us? Had any obstacles come in your life? Maybe even this week.

If not, you might have some next week. That we get to see if there is spiritual growth or spiritual growth potential that God has seen. The amazing part was in Job 42 and verse 5, the last chapter of Job. Job finally came around and got what? The right viewpoint. Where he actually says, but now, but now, my eye sees you. He got to see things, got to see God, he got to see God's viewpoint on things.

He got to see what he learned from these trials and problems that God allowed in his life. That God allows in your life and my life. And chances are it's going to happen this week, if not happen the week after. But do we look at it and go, hmm, why me, Lord? I think there was a song, country song. Why me, Lord?

Do we always have the right viewpoint, brethren? Absolutely not. I think experience has taught us that. We can look at the world, and I think it's taught us that. Many times an obstacle is an opportunity. We just cannot see it. Me, I've learned something from these bouto shingles. It's been a month now since I came down with that. Just now the headaches have pretty much gone away, and the eye just waters just a little bit, and it's almost back to normal.

Been sick before, not sick very often. I've been here five years and hardly had anything. But when I got sick, I'm like, here, picked up a virus, and in a day or two, you get some rest, drink plenty of water, and you're fine. When I began to say, four weeks? God, how long?

And then I have friends who have been battling illnesses for years, and I had to say, God, I'm sorry. I'm a little short-sighted. A month. Not much. Not much.

I have a friend of mine's mother that I knew very well. She's been battling cancer for had a tube put in her stomach. It's been going on for two, two and a half years. It keeps having to have operation after operation.

And I'm looking at it.

After we're sunglasses now out in the sun.

Wow. We can all look at things, can't we? All look at things in our lives. See, obstacles can draw our focus. And if we're not careful, obstacles can be our focus. Can they not?

Next thing, we can't think of anything else, can we? Something goes wrong. It can sometimes be a little bitty thing that gets so big in our minds, and then we find out that there was nothing really to worry about.

But boy did we ever. Right?

But when obstacles become our focus, in turn, we can be obstacles to other people.

Because we what? We focus on ourself, and we keep talking and talking. And then we have to tell everybody about this, and then we tell you about, oh, did I tell you? You said, well, you've already told me that. Yeah, but let me tell you this. No, you've already told me that five times. Right?

We sometimes can't help but being human, we major in the minors, and all of us do it.

And it's something we all need to work at. There are obstacles like hurricanes.

We just had a brush with one, didn't we?

And short on water, gasoline had to wait, line up, everybody get their gasoline. They get their water, their food, get their stuff.

Was it an obstacle, or was it an opportunity?

I consider it an opportunity. We had the opportunity here to before it hit, to actually pray.

And we did as a group. We prayed that God would spare us.

And I ask, actually ask here, that you would pray that where the hurricane would go, because I didn't want it to hit our brethren in the Bahamas who had hit last year.

And it went exactly as we prayed. Opportunity.

Gave you a chance to see that God's still sovereign. And we all need to make sure we understand we're not. And that we were protected.

Nobody lost their life. We've had some damage. Yes, Janay's had some others. But no life was lost. It went up the west coast, and almost as they fizzled out before it did all that serious damage. They were talking about monumental.

An opportunity to pray.

How about health problems? You have some?

They will drive you to your knees faster than anything, won't they? You know, it's not necessary. God doesn't need to drive us to our knees if we're already there most of the time anyway. He didn't need to humble Job. But He allowed it. He doesn't need to humble us.

But can we thank Him when He does? And we come out on the other side and realize just how blessed we are, and that He brought us here.

About financial issues.

Those can get awfully big sometimes.

But when you put it in the opportunity of your Father, your spiritual Father, is the richest being that ever existed.

How about work issues? Boy, that can become an obstacle. And then we begin to think about these things. I honestly tell you with this, I dread it because I love reading the Bible. I love reading anything and everything, commentaries, and I haven't been able to do that because of my eye problem. It's been frustrating a little bit. And I begin to see that I then had to start going in my mind and start thinking about scriptures because I couldn't read. And I realized if I wasn't reading, how am I going to feed myself?

Spiritually.

And then next thing you know, my focus was on getting well, where usually it's on this. I had to be in contact with a few ministers that are working with me in the Caribbean for the feast of the Tabernacles. It's amazing I touch base with six or seven.

And every one of them is like, I've got this health issue problem. I've got this, I've got this. I've had serious problems here all at the same time. Now, isn't it amazing that God has given the holy days for us to dwell on four holy days in four weeks, a very holy month. And He lets us look and anticipate, hopefully, those holy days. And that should be the highlight, as we're empowered both physically and spiritually as we go to feast of the Tabernacle, we keep the David's home, but we keep trumpets. And it's the highlight, or it should be, of our year.

But if you live here, nobody's looking forward to September or October, are they? It's the peak of Hurricane Sea. I saw a graph the other day, and they showed when hurricane season starts and when it ends, and all of a sudden, everything's just right here, right about the time of God's holy days. Boy, can it ever take your focus off, right? Your focus all, wow, I'm going to get a little more reading done. I'm going to really be prepared for these spring holidays. I'm really going to be empowered. I had a construction company for 20 years that I own, and for the first 12 or 13 of those years, the holy days were an obstacle to me. Honestly, say that. I had the company, I had certain jobs lined up, and we had this, and we needed to get this done, and then right in the middle of when some job would be going on, it's going great, we had to take off. And I began to look at them as an obstacle instead of an opportunity, and it took quite a few years before I began to see. It took growth. It was an opportunity for me to grow as a businessman, but also as a man of God. I'm going to close, and then when I decided finally that the holy days were a blessing, I not only closed my business, but I had other men who were not in the church at the time. Many of them, most of them were not, but a few. So I not only gave them a day off, I paid them for the day off.

Paid to do nothing.

Because I wanted that holy day to be a blessing to them, even though they didn't understand it. And I had to rely on God to come up with the money, many times. I had to learn not to look at something as an obstacle, but an opportunity, and stop taking it into my own hands, do everything I could, but then, you know, put it in better hands than mine. And there are a lot better hands than these. And God in Christ wants us to see that. They want us to view that that way. The other things I used to, thankfully, I've never looked at was second tithes.

This is the 40th year that I have saved my second tithe. It's 10% that I take out every week, and I started it when I was 18 years old. And I just took 10% each week, and when I first had it, it's nothing in there, just a little bitty amount. And as you watch the year go by, every week I put that 10% away. I've had people tell me, oh man, that's just a big problem for me. They looked at it like it's an obstacle. Now you get where we can now, where we open up our savings book that we have been putting in all year, and wow, what an opportunity. Opportunity to go and worship God like I can do no other time. Also an opportunity to share with people, to help other people, and to do things. Obstacle or opportunity?

Viewpoint can be everything. Rather than how do you look at events in your life? Hopefully you are here today on the Sabbath day. We have people over here in the stadium over here that they're not interested. They're interested in Miami playing Toledo, I guess it was. I saw Toledo on some shirts. Okay? Most of you do not even know there's a ball game here. The Sabbath, is it a hassle? Or is it enriching? This day of rest?

Is it an issue? Or is it relaxing? Is it a time to rest our minds? Focus our minds on other things that are not of this world. Get into some extra Bible study that we may need in. Or even get some extra sleep we may need. There's a chance to come together and you look and say, well am I in this alone? And you look around this room and know you're not.

Sabbath is still holy for people in this room. I didn't make it holy, God made it holy. I can't make any other day holy and neither can anyone else. How about the holy days in Feasts of Tabernacles? More trouble than what it's worth? Or is it empowering when you go there?

It's a highlight of our year. Hopefully it is to you too.

Your viewpoint. Obstacle opportunity. Bible study? How's your Bible study?

You feel like, well I really don't have a lot of time. I don't have enough time. Oh, I've only got to get my Bible study in.

Okay. Right? I'm not the only one that's done that.

No time? Or is it time to feed the Spirit? You have to remember, Jesus Christ said, my words are what? Spirit. So you want to feed that Spirit? You want to be lived by the Holy Spirit and let it guide you and direct you? Feed it!

Physically, you need physical food. Spiritually, you need spiritual food. Where do you want to be? You're not happy where you are? Fine. Change it. It's easy to change. Feed the Spirit. God said, chess me. How about prayer? Obstacle or opportunity? Do you feel repetitive?

Or feel refreshed? That you've been cleansed? That you can lay your burdens down? They're gone! They're gone! The only way they're with you is if you still keep them. Because God says as far as East is from the West, and he doesn't mean East Coast whiskers. From one end of the universe to the other. He's forgotten them.

That's kind of nice because you may not be like me, but there's quite a few things I do during the day that I need to... I wish I hadn't said that. I wish I hadn't thought that. I wish I didn't do that. And other things I wish I did.

Like you go with me to Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5.

Because actually Isaiah is laying out some prophecy. This hadn't happened yet at Isaiah's time, but he knew it was going to happen because God revealed it to him.

A lot of people call this a woe chapter of Isaiah. But you see that in chapter 5, God was disappointed with his nation of Israel, or Judah at the time. Israel was already in captivity, but Judah was having their problems. And God compared it to a vineyard.

And he looked at his plants. He looked at these vines, compared them to the people, and go, this is not good. You don't even care anymore. In verse 12, he says, they do not regard the work of the Lord.

Then he comes up in verse 13 and says, therefore, my people have gone into captivity. Had they? No, not at this time. Not at this time. But they were going to. There's only a few short years.

Therefore, my people have gone into captivity because they have no, what? Knowledge. Knowledge. That caused their captivity. They had the opportunity to have knowledge. They didn't take it.

They looked at learning the law of God and keeping the holidays, keeping Sabbath, all these as kind of obstacles instead of an opportunity. And pretty soon, they just quit. They just quit studying. They just quit praying. They just quit living any semblance of the righteous life because they really didn't need God anymore. They seemed to be doing okay. Life was going on.

Well, God wanted Isaiah to warn them before this time happened because it wasn't too long, 20 years after that. And you come to verse 20, Isaiah 5 and verse 20. Is this to us or to the world? I want you to read that as we go here. Is it to us? Could be a warning to us, but it's definitely a warning to the world. Read from the New King James, verse 20. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil! You see that every day on TV commercials. You see that every day on TV commercials. Billboards. News reports. Thing comes out. Woe! Woe to those who call evil good and good evil! Who put darkness for light and light for darkness! Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! So messed up, you can't even tell! Can't tell the good from the bad!

Most of us think, well, we could tell bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Really?

It's amazing, this country. Now, according to the latest polls, this country, as a whole, has accepted that marriage between a man and a man are just as good as it is a man and a woman. They never achieved that before. And they actually did a poll, I think it was Pew, did this poll, and it went and interviewed children from the sixth grade to the twelfth grade.

Almost 100,000 of them. So it wasn't any small poll. And asked them about same-sex marriage. And 81% agreed on same-sex marriage.

Bitter? Sweet?

Two people, two men, walking down the street holding hands. Isn't that sweet? They love each other. 21. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.

See, he mentions up there earlier how he's going to have to humble them.

He doesn't have to. He doesn't have to humble this country if they'll turn. Our job? We preach gospel and we pray. Pray for this country. Pray for this world. That they will. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. A lot of that isn't there. They don't need God. They don't need God. They talk about cell phones, the younger generation. Why they're not interested in religion, they have their God. It's called Google.

If they have a question about God, about life, they can go to Google. Google it. So what does that do as the generations continue? And now they even learn it.

Three or four years old, people give kids tablets and they give them even phones. What happens?

You don't realize, but they don't need you as parents. They don't need to ask you anything.

See, there we go. She could turn her phone right on. She knew.

She couldn't ask for you to do better timing, Mr. Jean.

But think about it. When I was growing up, and many of you, one of the things that even when my parents were there telling me what to do, how to do it, why you do it, and then why are you even asking me questions about why you're doing it? Okay. One thing I would always look for, and before, is if one of my grandparents were around, and you could kind of go to them and ask them some things you don't want to ask your parents, or your parents says, oh, you've had this how many times? How many times I got to tell you? And a grandparent would just sit there and what? They sit and tell you, my time, spend time with you, and they, you know, they made it all. Even if you didn't like some of the answers, your grandparents seemed to always put it in a way that you, you could accept it. Well, you know, the generations growing up, they don't need grandparents.

Grandma and grandpa was called Google, Yahoo!

And you find that it's sad, but even grandchildren around their grandparents, and you see it so much, they don't even talk to their grandparents. They just, and they're sad, but they're going to miss.

And when the grandparent passes on, I remember when mine, and you had that lump in your throat, because of that relationship, because you knew, you knew no matter what, your grandparents loved you.

And you knew one person in this world loved you was gone.

And you would get choked up. I did as a kid, I remember crying. It was 12 years old when my grandmother died, it was 12 years old, three months later, my grandfather died. I'm crying, good boy, those were the ones.

We're looking at a world where there's no, there's no relationship that's going to be built. Because the need to talk is not there.

It's taken over by texting, taken over by a machine, the neon God they've made.

Go up to verse 24. Why? See, we are here to learn. We're here, you know, this isn't one of those churches where you come in and they just make you feel good and everything. We're here to learn the way of God. And sometimes that's a rub on us because we haven't had a good week. And we've kind of needed to learn some things. But we're not one of those churches, ah, you get over here, you're burning hell! If you don't straighten your life up and give more money to the church. We don't do that. We don't even know how much money you give to the church if you give it to the church. That's not our... that's doing you and God.

But we want to make sure that you have the way of life, you have a way of peace that Jesus Christ came and taught about. And that's why next year after the feast ceremony we're going to come back. I want to spend a lot of time and I hope you will join me in studying the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Because most of the sermons will come there. I want you to dig deep. I want to do some Bible studies in it. I want us to be able to walk like he walked. I want us to walk in his shoes. Because it's going to pay off here, and it's going to pay off in the world to come. So I better get wrap this up. But it says in verse 24, because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. That's why all these problems. And that's what's wrong with the world today. That's what's wrong with our country. The United States today, they have just rejected and rejected and rejected anything about God. Just reading a book a while back, and it talked about our Constitution and the Supreme Court, and how all the laws were set up for the entire nation based on the last six commandments. That's what it was founded on. And yet now we have murder.

It's okay, as long as the mother says it's okay to kill a baby, as long as it's inside.

And then you take marriage, adultery.

Number six and number seven. The country's we've changed. I mean, now you marry whoever. And adultery used to be a crime in this country, and it's not anymore. It's tearing down. But brethren, they can't tear down us as long as we stay with this book. That's what's inspiring. That's what's empowering this book. This book. This book.

Proverbs 30 and verse 5 says, every word of God is pure. Every word of God is pure. It actually says in my margin, tested. It's been tested and found pure. Every word of God. How many words of God do you know? I don't know enough. I need to know more. And that's part of my job as a study and know the word of God. But I know I need more. Because why? When I feed the spirit, I'm on top of the world. I can add obstacles coming at me like outer space and one of Chris's space movies. I can just move those asteroids right out of my way. Right? Because when it's right, it's right. When it's good, it's good. It isn't like evil good and good evil. It's the opposite for us. Just feed it. Just feed your spirit. Just live a righteous life. You'll find out the only thing you run into every day is how many people can I help? Let me open that door. I'm amazed, aren't you? I'm amazed at banks or anything else you go into. And nobody holds the door for anybody going in before. It used to be that way, didn't it? I mean, I remember people used to, and if there was a woman, you definitely, you went over here and you held that door. And she'd say, thank you, and you'd go, yes, ma'am. What? Today? They'll slam the door back on you, right? That's this world, but it's not our world. Okay? We get to walk through this world, being a shining example, holding that door. Yes, ma'am, no, sir. Can I help you? Wow! Wow!

I mean, when you really think about, we have jobs, we have these things to do, but when we're not working, when we're not doing this, you know the one thing we do is we walk through this world, walk through this time? The only thing we look at is for opportunity.

Opportunity to help someone else. Even a small thing like a door. Even a small thing like, other guys got to go. Because you remember when, a couple weeks ago, when the lights went out, and you didn't have lights, stop lights, and so everybody had to make a full-way stop?

I went to see Grace one day and came back, and they were, you know, the street behind you, that's Pines, I think, that I took that. Before I could get to the interstate, there were five wrecks, all at these four-way stops because why?

Yeah, they, you know, somebody'd stop, and then they'd go, and then they went, and then there'd be three cars going behind. I saw a policewoman just blowing a whistle trying to get them to stop.

That's our opportunity. It's a small thing, right? The small things make a great world for people to live in, and for us, and for each other.

And Mary and I tried to help some people in our condo complex as much as we could.

You know, and then afterward, they wanted to make a big deal out of it.

Oh, oh, call us! Oh, I heard you! I heard you did! Well, yeah, you would too, wouldn't you? You know, a lot of them didn't say anything. And that's sad. And that is sad, because that's what we should all be doing. But more because of why you're here today, because of this, this book. That is what it's all about. So as we now head to during the next three weeks, the religious appointments should be the highlight of your year. The evil one wants you to see. He wants you to see obstacles and not opportunities. He wants to take your focus off God.

As Chris talked about in Matthew 4, let's go there. I won't spend much time there, but that is such a wonderful story. Matthew 4. The Temptation of Christ, as some people call it, not the credit movie that they have. Matthew 4, in verse 1. This is such a beautiful story for us. That teaches us. In verse 1, it said, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. You know, I didn't say the Spirit was leading Christ. Christ was going, God, why are you doing this to me? He says, no, let him right up there to it. Okay. There's going to be an obstacle. Did Christ look at it and go, wait a minute, that's too big an obstacle? No, it's an opportunity. He looked at it as an opportunity to be tempted by the devil. But when he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, afterwards he was hungry. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But Christ answered him and said, it is written. Did he go, I am the Son of God. You know that. I created you. You spirit dirtbag? No, he didn't, did he? But he went to the same thing we should do when we have these things. Here it is. He went to the Word of God. He could have done anything. He went to the Word of God because he was setting us an example. And he answered him and said, it is written. He didn't go, did you hear it is written? No, he said, it is written.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Period. Didn't go any more. Our great temptation is when we want to go more. But Christ was smart enough to go, okay, this is it. That's all I need to say. The Word of God stands alone. It is greater than any words I could put out there.

Then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written. So if it's good enough for Christ, Satan goes, well, you want to use the Word of God? Well, guess what, big boy? I know it, too. He said, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written. He shall give his angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone, as Chris said earlier from Psalm 91. But Jesus said to him, it is written again. It is written again.

You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again, the devil took him up on exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, away with you. I like how the new Living Translation puts it. Get out of here! You're not going to listen to the Word of God? Well, I'm not going to waste my time with you. We sometimes need to think about that ourself, not waste our time certain things.

Christ showed us there's opportunity daily for us to show Satan that we also, just like him, can overcome him, can overcome the problems we sometimes have in our lives. I guess it's why on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, he said, deliver us from the evil one. It's interesting that in so many translations, one is not actually there. It just delivers us from evil. That's what I learned as a kid. I went to Bible class or whatever it was.

And then I wasn't until later, I had a reading, and I go to the original Greek, and it's one masculine, the evil one. He's the one. We have to realize he's out there.

And James said, James 4, verse 7, resist the devil, and he will what? flee from you. Which means if you don't resist him, what's going to happen? He's going to stay right with you. He's going to be hanging out. Oh, where do you want to go tonight?

How about this place? Oh, no, no, no, there's a better place down here.

Right? So we have the words that not only teach us but empower us and, you know, kind of sometimes keep us out of trouble. This feast season and atonement, obstacles to draw our focus are going to be everywhere, to take our joy away.

God gives you joy. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, second one? Love, joy. The second one?

Love, joy, peace. I mean, it's like, the second one, joy? We should have joy? Everybody talks about love? What about joy? A lot of times we don't have it because we have it taken from us, and God doesn't want it taken from us.

The joy of truly worshiping God.

There are going to be some obstacles for you, those of you, going to the Feast of the Dabernacles. There are going to be some obstacles for those who don't. There are going to be obstacles happening during the next few weeks. But in closing, I wanted to go over some of the obstacles that I've run into. Mary and I, as a matter of fact, half of this writing is hers, because we were talking about that, and we were reminiscing about how joy was taken from us at certain times, because we allowed something to be an obstacle instead of an opportunity.

This wasn't at a feast, but people's attitudes sure can become an obstacle. You see them, and you're saying, well, you know, they're brethren. They're here to worship with us. And then you look at them, and you listen to them, and you watch them, and you're going, uh-uh. What? What?

Don't let that be an obstacle. It's their problem. You've always got negative people. You always got people that want to just drag everything down to its common, most element. As a matter of fact, uh, quite a few years ago, I suppose I've been 20 years ago, my company took a cruise, and we went on just a little three or four day cruise down the Caribbean. And we took everybody as a bonus at the end of the year if we did this. And so here we actually land one day on a private island. You know how they have those private islands. And this was, uh, I don't remember where it was, but it was this beautiful island. And we had it to ourselves. And they had little boats out there. They had things you could land. They had food prepared. You look at this, and it was just, the water was just so crystal clear. You could see from 10 feet down. You could just, and it was just beautiful. And the beach, you could just walk for miles. We had this whole thing. It was amazing. My, my guys. Okay. He always had a problem with seeing the hole and not the donut. Okay. So, he, you look at this, and everybody's just, you walk out, and you, you land on this beach, and you have everything. And it's like a paradise. It's what you see in movies. And you know what? He got out, and we're all looking around. Wow! We get to spend the day here. And we turn to him, and he goes, huh, there's seaweed in the water. There was some little piece of seaweed in the water. To them, that was a big obstacle.

It was mind-boggling.

When you travel, you can expect delays, right? Right Dwight? You travel a lot. Anybody travel? Yes, you just got back in Fiji. Everybody travels here. Okay. You can expect, even if you're driving or flying or wherever you're going, there's gonna be a problem. How are you gonna adapt to that? Is it gonna be an obstacle, or is it gonna be an opportunity for you to learn patience?

That's how you look at it. We went to the feet, stabber knuckles, one time, man, we were so looking forward to this. Mary and I, we worked all year. It's like this, and, and, and so we get to go to Hawaii. And so we're like, oh, um, hooey Hawaii or whatever. And so we're catching the plane, and we got on the plane, we're just so excited, and we're gonna get there the afternoon of the opening service. And so we're just excited because we never want to miss an opening service. We just don't. That's just part of the opening. Man, that just fires us up. And the last one, we just, we're into, we get there, the plane lands in LA for us to go on. Okay. So we're waiting. We all get on the plane. Let's go. You know, it's just four hours over there. And on the plane, plane, up, there's been a delay. We're sitting on the tarmac. We're sitting on the tarmac. We're going, we sat for, I don't know, how many hours? Yeah, was it six? You might be sitting on a plane for six hours, sitting there on tarmac, little bitty seats.

We missed the opening service because we got in there way after dark. We had the opportunity then to let it spoil our feast.

But we didn't. But it could. There's a good chance that something like that will pop up. Maybe it's lost luggage. I've never really lost my luggage. Anybody here lost luggage flying? Oh, you all have. I've never, we did. They got it to us the next day. Yeah, we were home. Yeah, we were home and they lost their luggage going home. Well, who cares that?

That's frustrating, isn't it?

Will it ruin your whole trip? Definitely can if you see that as an obstacle. Illness, seating.

And how about feast? Two things. One is people who are working for you, accommodating you. Okay? Maybe it's at a hotel. How many of you have seen that? I've seen that where we've actually checked in a hotel and the people are so rude. You know, they're not thankful for any of this or whatever. But then after a few days and you're with them and Mary will actually have the little chocolates that she leaves when thanking them for cleaning our room. And the next thing you know, and you say, good morning, by the third floor did, they're just like, oh, hi.

Yes, hey, why? We're rubbing off. Now some you can't do anything about and don't try, but most they appreciate it when somebody does it. And this be tabernacles, you're going to hear a terrible sermon. And it's not only sermon, it's a terrible speaker. Okay?

We all get them. We've all given. You're okay? But we try to give the best. But don't let that shake you. Learn from it. There's something you can learn from everyone. I do if I hear a sermon like that and I have. You know what it tells me? Oh, make sure I never give a sermon like that again. You know? And I may have to dwell a little bit longer on their scriptures where I'm going, hmm. But obstacles are opportunities.

Christ looked at everything as an opportunity. And Satan, he's going to continue with his obstacles. Know what's in front of you. Appreciate what you have. No matter what you do, the answer is in here.