Spiritually Walking Through Problematic Minefields

We do want to welcome all of us here today, meeting some new friends for the first time, and for those that are on the webcast, and those that may hear this message in the weeks, months, maybe even the years to come. Thank you for joining us today.

Well, we've all come to church today. Glad to see all of you. Good to be here. At the same time, seeing you, you probably didn't come alone. Some of you that think you're single, you're looking, and saying, what's Weber talking about? Because there's nobody next to me in the chair. What do you mean that I didn't come along? But probably, we do have company with us.

We have probably brought some of our problems, at least a portion of them. We brought a whole truckload of problems with us. And before going any further, what I'd like to do for a moment or two is just take a very, very important reality check. So let's all check in, listen to what I'm going to say, and then we'll move forward.

Reality check is simply this. If you are human, you're going to have problems. And problems on steroids we call trials. Humans, by our very nature, are problematic. Further, if you're a devoted Christian, count yourself in two, because Christians also have problems. Christians themselves, without that coming towards them. We, as still-being human beings, can be problematic. Sometimes that surprises people, especially when they are newly baptized.

They've come up to a point. They think everything is behind them and full steam ahead towards the kingdom. And that's a wonderful attitude until you recognize that you have problems. And you may not only have problems, but you may be the source of the problem. Building upon what Mr. Karringer talked about as far as humility. And so we look at all of this.

We're not immune. We're going to have problems. So let's all get into this one together and understand that, as I'm speaking with you this afternoon, I have problems. I also have trials. None of us are immune from this. But the Bible gives some answers as to why and what we can do with our problems. We can do it with our challenges that sometimes so readily are with us.

Join me if you would in James 1. James, for those who are not familiar with the book of James, there at the end of the New Testament, is sometimes called the New Testament Proverbs. And that, in a sense, is a book of wisdom. And right from the get-go, right from the very beginning in James, James 1, verse 1, a bondservant. That is, again, a doulo, say, a slave. As Mr. Gartenhauer was mentioning in his message about being clothed with humility, it says here that a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.

Greetings! Now where is he going? My brethren, it says to count it all joy when you fall into various differing trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work. That you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

We're not done. Verse 6, But let him ask, and or her ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord as he moves through this challenge, through this problem, through this trial. That is, if he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, not knowing which way to go.

The rudder is not firm, and therefore sinking. The word there, when you see the phraseology of verse 8, a double-minded man, the word there is an interesting Greek word. I'll build upon Bob's Greek, and the word there is dipsukos. The word there is dipsukos. That means being double-minded. Action is a sense of saying that you actually have two brains working in your head.

Now, today, when I was coming down to 15 from Riverside County, I had two hands on the wheel. We didn't have four hands on the wheel, even though Susan was sitting beside me. Now, that would be like a thrill ride out of Disneyland. I really appreciate Susan being my co-pilot. I think all of you men are the same as I am these days in LA traffic, San Diego traffic, with all eyes, all hands literally on board.

But to use the proverbial thing, you have to have one captain do a ship, and you normally need to have two hands on the wheel to make things and to go straight. So this is kind of the background of what James is saying. There are two words I'd like to highlight if you want to jot a note to stay with me. Go ahead. There are two words that we need to look at here for a moment. And that is, first of all, my brethren in verse 2, count it all joy when, or other translations say, whenever.

It's not if. Notice James, who is a senior spiritual citizen in the first century AD, having tackled his own problems, there is no Christian life that is not problematic, that doesn't have challenges, doesn't have trials. It says, win. And it says, notice, and count it all joy. Sometimes the world makes joy a synonym of happiness. Joy is different than happiness. Happiness is dependent upon or stems from external happy things coming towards us. Wonderful, marvelous, thrilling. Joy is completely different. Happy things make us smile immediately. Just natural. We love happy things, pleasant things, joyous, not joyous things, but wonderful things coming our way.

Smiling like a kid going down a ride at Disneyland long ago. Maybe you're still a kid at heart and you're still going down a ride at Disneyland, I'm not sure. That is, if you can afford it these days. Joy is completely different. Joy is when life is problematic. Joy is when there are trials. Joys are challenges that seem insurmountable. And yet, as we go through that with our God, is to recognize at the end, there may not be a smile on our face, but there is a smile. There is a knowing in our heart. And God is smiling down and saying, that's my child. That's my child. That's my Mike.

That's my Robert. That's my Suzanne. That's my Mike. That's my Dan. And with them, they're growing. It's happening. At times, the reality is that we can look at this and say, what am I going to do? That's what I like to talk about today. That's what I like to talk about today. How do we transform the challenges and problems that we have to experience God's joy? You know, we look today, we come here, and I said we brought our company with us.

We sure have. And maybe we even had company with us when we left the house, our problems. And then we had more problems coming down here, perhaps. What do we do? And how do we deal with that?

One thing I'd like to share with you just up front is sometimes we have had our problems for so long, our challenges for so long, our trials for so long, that we almost become secure in our insecurity. We become secure in our insecurity. It's just like we've lived with it so long, they kind of, in a sense, they're just always there.

They're like an old friend. I'll show you an old friend right here, and this is my wallet. This wallet should probably go in a fire someplace. You know, I've been sitting on this for about 20 years, and it's become a part of me. It kind of looks like a part of me, the way that I've sat on it. And it's kind of broken down, and it's there. I haven't gone out to replace it. I'm just used to it.

And you men know how this is. Maybe you women are like that with your purses, you know? Have you ever noticed a woman's purse sometimes? It almost, when they open it, and they're looking for all this, and it almost sounds like every animal in the bit, an animal of the San Diego Zoo is in there. They're going like, and they're looking for it, you know, and you hear all this clapping.

We just get used to that. We just get used to that. We can get used to our challenges. We can get used to our problems and do nothing about it. So the title of my message is simply this. Spiritually walking. Spiritually walking through problematic minefields.

Spiritually walking through problematic minefields. To begin with, for a moment, let's consider, for a moment, a standard-bearer experience by Abram, how he dealt with a problem. But I want to warn you, guide you, for a moment, we are not going to leave Abram alone. In this, he's going to shine. But we're going to find out more as we go along the way. Join me if you would in Genesis 12. In Genesis 12, and let's pick up the thought in verse 1, if we could, please.

In Genesis 12 and verse 1, let's notice what is stated here. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And notice, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And then one of the great sentences throughout all of scripture is next shown here. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. He departed. He went. He yielded himself to what God wanted him to do. And for years after that, for years after that, he left Ur. For Abram, who is most likely a man of means, he left Ur. That would be almost like somebody leaving on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, up in the high rent district, and crossing river, going across the Hudson, and kept on going to a land that they were not familiar with. He left everything behind. And then for years he went up the Mesopotamian River Valley, and then later up in Syria, then came down finally to the Promised Land. A lot of mileage, a lot of challenge finally comes into the Promised Land. Then notice what happens here in verse 10. Notice what happens. So Abram journeyed, going on still towards the south, and now he's there. He's in the Promised Land, and there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. He had been doing this for years. He thought that he had been obeying God. He thought that he was serving God. He had given up everything at home, gone through all sorts of circumstances. Finally, the promise comes. He's in the Promised Land, and guess what? There's a famine. Question. God, what are you doing? I've done everything. I've left home. I've left family. Everywhere I went, every stop that I made, I pitched a tent. I did not dwell in the cities. I made an altar to you and you alone. I did not worship off of other altars of pagan gods. I have done this, I have done that, and I have done this. Now I'm here, and there's a famine. But it's very interesting. It's very interesting what is stated here, and perhaps what is not stated. And so it says that he went down to Egypt to dwell there. What's going on here?

What we find in this, to bring you into the story, at least as I see it, you don't see Abram stewing over this matter.

He is not second-guessing God at this moment as to what is going on.

But by faith, in a good God that has called him out of that world, as he's called us out of this world, he goes down to Egypt. He uses the senses God has given him, the direction that God has given him, and he goes and waits for another opportunity. One thing I'd like to share with you in all of this, and sometimes you see this elsewhere in the Scriptures, oftentimes a righteous and a humble and a loving and a willing attitude towards our Father comes in one verse. Think about that for a second. Oftentimes just one verse, maybe two verses. My question to you in your own Bible study, how often do people that don't have faith?

That second-guess God, think God is out of the picture, that God doesn't understand can take up multiple, multiple verses and sometimes old chapters. If you don't believe me, just look at Deuteronomy 14 and Deuteronomy 16, the story of the spies, the story of Korah and that rebellion. So we take a look at this and we come to understand that. But this is where a brahm shined. And one thing that I noticed this morning as I was going over every notes is this. Why was he able to do this? By faith. It is interesting, and I'm not going to explore it, maybe you want to do that sometime. Go to Hebrews 11, which is normally called the chapter of faith. And you notice again and again, and stay with me for a second, and take this home and maybe chew on it in your mind and in your heart, that when you look at Hebrews 11 and you notice the cadence, you notice the rhythm that God is inspiring. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. Have you ever wanted to get something really secure and you're building something and you've got a nail and you keep on pounding on it? You pound on that nail. You don't pound around the nail. Sometimes, even as Christians, we can be missing the mark by pounding around everything but the nail that is going to scare us. And it is our faith in a loving God. A brahm left er by faith. He dwelt in the land by faith. He waited upon God for the promise of a son along with his aged wife, Sarah, by faith. Not immediately. We're going to go to that next. But ultimately, he got it. By faith. If there's anything I can really encourage you today, kind of a specific takeaway, read the book of Hebrews. And go, maybe, with your magic spiritual marker. Mark off the number of times it says, by faith. And allow that to be your anchor as we go through life together.

Let's ask ourselves then. Let's ask ourselves and draw on some common ground. Because we're not going to look, you know, it's not fair to simply look at a brahm when he's shining. A brahm is also very much a human being along with Sarai. And sometimes we just center on somebody's righteousness from God, the right example. And to recognize that all of us as human beings are complex. We're complicated. You know, we had that story in our Zoom Bible study recently where we talked about the example of Thomas. So often we just label him, we freeze frame him for the moment, and we say, oh, his name is Doubting Thomas. But yet that same man was the one that, you know, when Jesus said, let's go up. And we are now ready to go see Lazarus. Who is it that said, let us go up with him? Let us go up! That was Thomas. So we're going to flip that now because I've just shared a very exciting example of a brahm's faith. That God had not sent him to the Promised Land just to simply die there, to starve to death in a famine. But that he would wait for another day because this was a good God. So let's share the rest of the story. What are some situations that cause us to continue to go deeper and deeper and deeper into our problems? Landmines, and go like this. Then just when we're done with that one, we haven't learned the lesson, then we go like this. We step on another landmine in this field before us of life. Number one, if you want to take, we're only going to have three points on this one. Number one, we fail to patiently wait for God's solutions. We fail to patiently wait for God's solutions. In other words, we take matters into our own hands. And there's a prime example, and yes, you know who's in the starring role of this prime example? It's a brahm, but in a different way. Join me if you would for a moment. In Genesis 16, and picking up the thought, if we could, in verse 1. In Genesis 16, verse 1.

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarah said to Abram, See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children.

Please go into my maid, and perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarah.

Now verse 3. Then Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. Now let's unpack this a little bit. Let's understand that the fullness of Scripture tells us that a child was to directly come from this aged couple. That it was going to be the child of Abram and Sarai. But now it's ten years later. They have been in... They touched down Houston, we've landed. They've been in the Promised Land for ten years. And by the way, she's not getting any younger.

When we request, or when we receive something of God, something good, and have to wait, the temptation there is to act apart from God's specific purpose and plan. Now, let's just talk. We've all been there before. And that is simply that we've all taken matters into our own hands.

If you haven't, let's take the pen test, prick ourselves, and see if we bleed. Maybe I'm just talking to people that are on a different roller coaster ride of life than I am. God had promised that out of your seed, and he's speaking of Abram and Sarai, the nations of this earth, and seed in the Bible is progeny. It is children. And yet, Sarah said, if you notice too here, notice what it says here, the Lord has restrained me. That's how she was looking at it, that it was a matter of restraint rather than a matter of timing to develop faith beyond human measure. Faith in God moves beyond human measure. It's not measured by our human yardstick. And that's why we go through these challenges, to come to recognize that God is not only the creator of time, but the master of timing. And he deals in a far wider scope than you and I do. He's dealing towards this patience, this righteousness, this holy righteous character to trust in God, even when we do not see it in our hands.

God knows what timing is. Now, you might be in a challenge right now. Join me if you would in Isaiah 55. Join me over there in Isaiah 55, and let's just cement our minds and our hearts on what God is. Self-declosing here. This is not Weber. I'm just going to be reading God's thoughts. These are God's thoughts. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways. My way says the eternal. For as heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Point number one. We fail. And sometimes that failure can almost be like a fud. We fail. God's watching. Even in our moments of humanity, taking matters into our own hands, our Father is still there. He's waiting to see what we're going to do. But more can happen. Point number two. We blame others when our solutions fail. We blame others when our solutions fail. It's called the blame game. Genesis 16. Join me if you would. Let's just keep in the story. In Genesis 16. Let's take a look here.

After Sarah, who had already blamed God, he's constraining me rather than waiting for the right time for her to develop faith. That's her thought about God. God isn't there for me. Then Abram followed Sarah's instruction. So now notice verse four. So he went into Hagar and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. And then Sarah said to Abram, my wrong be upon you. I gave my maid into your embrace, literally. And when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judged between you and me. Here, Sarai had come to Abram. It was her idea. And then what happened is it spread to Abram. He went through with it. And if you go over to Genesis 21, it talks about Hagar, like, well, where's your kid? You know, I've got my kid. So Hagar had a part in this as well. But here's the situation I want to make. When we don't, if you want to take a note, when we do not deal with our problems and have faith in God, it can spread to others. It spread to Abram. And he a big boy. He's responsible, too. But we start the blame game. And then later on, years later, as Hagar's little boy is growing up, and she's scoffing at it, you know, human nature. Here's my kid, and he's going to be the one. You're just okay, fine. You don't know. And there was a look. And you know, when you see a look, you got a look. You know, like, right?

Not off goes her head, but she's out of the camp. Now, it's kind of interesting that there's nothing new about human nature. You know, when you think, go back to Genesis, and you know, Adam and Eve are there in the garden, and God's looking for them. And then he finally addresses the situation. What does Adam say? This is going to be very important. Adam says, It was the woman that you created. Now, I want you to think that through real carefully. If you've got situations going on right now, are we taking responsibility for our own actions, or are we blaming something else or some something else other than ourselves? Talking about humility, Bob, this is humility when we take it upon ourselves rather than scattering it abroad. Sarah did that to Abram. Adam did that. And basically what we're doing, when as people of the book, and people of the Spirit, and people of God, when we do not take responsibility for our own actions, we say, God, what are you doing? Why did you put me here? And to be very blunt, we're blaming God. Now, I know that none of us, none of us, want to blame God.

But we can, and at times we do. Point number three. Oftentimes, rather than dealing with our problems, dealing with our challenges, we run away from them.

We run away from them. And when we don't address them, and then when, number three, we run away from them, it also can hurt and impact others. Again, in Genesis 16, verse 6. So, Abram said to Sarah, Indeed, your maid is in your hand, due to her as you please. And when Sarah dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. And now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, where have you come from? And where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress, Sarai. And then the angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your mistress and submit yourself unto her hand.

That's why I left. I didn't want her hand to have anything to be around me. Not at all. But then notice what it says here. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.

Hagar had a part in this. She was making some derogatory looks at Sarah, her maid.

But the afterburner was coming towards her and Abram. And so she fled. She didn't face the problem. She left. She ran away.

Are you with me a second? Maybe this is where we are all today. This is one of the great phrases in Latin. It's called povatus. Where are you going? Where are you going? And this is one of the great lines that our Father, through His Scripture and through His Spirit, will sometimes prompt us. Robin, what are you fleeing from? Where are you headed? Where are you going? It's a stop check. It's a GPS timeout. Don't go any further. I've got a purpose for you. I've got a plan for you. And at the end, I want to bless you. Just as much as with Hagar, he said, and out of your seat is going to come a great nation. There was a blessing. There is a challenge going back into the hot spot. But God says, I will be with you and down the line. Not tomorrow, just like the baby not coming yet with Sarah. But there will be a blessing. I promise it. Interesting. Again, we often think we can be naive and think that if I do this, God is going to do this. One plus one equals two. I grew up in a way of life. Susie and I, basically about the same age, came into this way of life. Eleven and twelve. And at that time, in our early understanding, we look at God's law, and God's law is beautiful, and He gives us a law to live life successfully. I think we can all nod on that. You can nod with me. He does. This is a blessing. But in our own life, even as we follow God's way of life, things will come upon us. We will not immediately be blessed. And we may not even immediately understand. We know this all too well over the last several years, where we've had so many dear ones, ones that we loved, that died during the COVID. Good people. Wonderful people. We know so many of them, don't we?

No, they're dead. But their families are challenged. Has God forsaken them? I don't think so. Will it be easy for them? No, not humbly it will not be. But by faith. I'm not being naive in this, but by faith that God has called us a Creator God, a Heavenly Father, along with His Son, to give us purpose and meaning beyond the moment. God's way of life is about meaning beyond the moment. Life was not necessarily designed to just be happy. We are to enjoy good things when they come our way. The Book of Ecclesiastes talks about that. Don't be a sourpuss going on through life. There's some good things to enjoy. But when these come along, deal with it. Wait patiently for God's solutions. Don't blame others when our solutions fail. And number three, when we run into problems, look up to God. Satan would like us to doubt our God. Join me if you would in the Book of Job. Look up Job. Let's go to Job 2.

Oh, excuse me. Job 1. You know, it's interesting that Job is probably the oldest literature in all of the Bible. Job was probably predated Moses by somewhat. But we notice here in John, you know, what did... We know that Satan asked for Job. Well, there's Job. No, look at him. Everything in his life with you. He's your pet. You know, 1 plus 1 equals 2 every time. He doesn't have a zero at all. He's kind of your favorite. Just let me deal with him for a while. So God did allow the adversary to deal with him. And we recognize that all of his children, unfortunately, died. And then we come to this point. Notice verse 20. Join me, please, Job 1.20. This is the wisdom that James is drawing upon as one that had grown up as a Jew and now is a Jewish Christian. Going back to the Old Testament. Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all of this, Job did no sin, nor charge was charged by God with any wrong. And then we notice further here where it says in chapter 2, verse 9. Join me if you would there, please. In 2 and verse 9. Again now his wife chimes in in the chorus, but a different part of the chorus. Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold to your integrity when he's got boils on him? Can you imagine? I mean, one boil is enough. Last time I noticed. Not every day, but once or twice in my life we have a boil. But he said to her, You speak, as one of the foolish women speak, shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? And in all of this Job did not sin with his lips. Was Job human? Did he have questions? That's the whole reason why we have the book of Job. We can question God. We can question God. We can go to him. We can ask. You know, if I could just make a comment, that's so Jewish. Where do they get that? Because they read the book of Job.

Now, Job wasn't Jewish. Judah hadn't been born yet, right? But he was the man of God. And you see this questioning going back and forth between this patriarch of faith and his God. But it takes him 42 chapters.

You go to Job 42 in verse 5, and he says, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. But it's only because of what he went through, the experience of suffering plus keeping that dialogue, especially above his three friends, and dialoguing with God, and God then answering him in the right time, in the right way, that he might become complete and be useful to people. You know, what is Job about? Sometimes people make a real quick snapshot. Job is just about a self-righteous dude that God had to bring down some. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all. Job is just like you and me. He's gotten so far, and God's opening up a wider picture. Just a wider picture. A wider picture. And it did, Bob, to bring you into the story, it did humble Job, because Job in general was a good man. He was a spiritual man. But God was wanting him to go wider, deeper, and taller in the statue of his maker. Interesting. Interesting.

Satan wanted Job to doubt.

Can I ask each and every one of you, just as a brother in Christ and a family member, ask God, whatever problem, whatever trial that you're going through right now, do not doubt. Doubt is an answer in itself. Oh, question! Talk to God. Allow him to talk back to you by his Spirit, by the Bible. Doubt is an answer in itself. Doubt is not looking for answers. Doubt is the answer. Question, you go for it. Just use a joke. Well, if a joke can do it, I can do it. Yeah. God's waiting for our questions. And to recognize that God is going to allow us sometimes to go through trials that we don't understand. Join me if you would in Hebrews 2 and verse 10. In Hebrews 2 and verse 10, we're not the first ones that have stepped on landmines. But in Hebrews 2, let's just look at this. Let's wrap the arms of our heart around this in Hebrews.

Chapter 2, verse 10. Speaking of our Savior. In Hebrews 2 and verse 10, it says this, For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Not perfect by being up on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee picking wildflowers with his family. Jesus was made perfect. And he said, well, what's suffering? The suffering—stay with me, please, as we come up to Passover—the suffering of a living man being nailed like an animal on wood. Hmm. Yeah. Sinless. Perfect. The Lamb of God without blemish. But he learned obedience.

That course had been set by him. That agreement had been made by God and the One, the Word, that later on became Jesus of Nazareth. And he went through it. Never doubting. And in his last moment of life, he said, into your hands, I commit my spirit. Right now, whatever you're going through, whatever problem, whether somebody started it or you started it, whatever trial is there that just seems no way out, you commit yourself to God. Don't commit yourself to the problem of and by itself. You commit yourself to God, knowing that he is going to be partnering with you.

If you'll join me over in Romans 8. Romans 8. When we read Romans 8 in verse 28, sometimes we can step into what I might call somewhat of a pasture of naivete. But there's more to it in Romans 8. We oftentimes go to Romans 8, and it says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

End of story. Done. That's not what it says. Are you with me? It doesn't say that all things are good. Not just when you didn't know God, but when you even surrendered yourself to God, to recognize that not everything is going to be good. One plus one is not always going to equal to either what you started or somebody brought into your life. It says, here it says, all things work together. Work together towards a positive end to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, of which there is no mistake.

In Church of God talk at times, we can just go to this verse. We read it. We take the four lines of it. It becomes a bumper sticker. We do not read the rest of why all things are going to work together for good. So let's just do a slight deep read here for a moment. For whom he foreknew. Pronouns are important here. He, who's he? This is God the Father. For whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, think about that one for a little bit. He's saying, Moreover, whom he, God the Father, predestined.

These he also called. Whom he called. That's God the Father. These he also justified through that sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And whom he, again, God the Father, justified. These he also glorified. That's what he did. It's not just abracadabra. It's all of the ages coming through the Father and then through the Son, doing all of this. And we are but a moment in time in this flow towards the Kingdom. And what he's producing in us is to last forever.

Not just for a moment. The bottom line, and sometimes I wish I could be, no, I wish, Oh, I wish God had called me to just be a trinket. But he hasn't called me to be a trinket that you get from the dollar store. He's called us to be his jewels. He's called us to be his diamonds. Diamonds glitter. Have you ever gone to Revelation 21 and seen all the glitter? And that glitter is not only the Father and the Son coming down, but it speaks of the glitter that comes from the saints, now resurrected, now part of the family of God for eternity forward.

That's why we're going through what we're going through. That's why Abram went through what he went through. That's why you and I, as the children of Abram, the Father, the faith, are going what we're going through. And that's why I want to finish up with this story, if you'll allow me to. Let's go to Genesis 50. Genesis 50. And then we'll conclude. This is the story of Joseph. You talk about a boy that ran into trials. I know probably your older brothers and sisters probably did a number on some of you when you were young, but I don't think they ever threw you down a pit and sold you into slavery, okay?

This is the story. This is the story of Joseph. And everything he sold into slavery doesn't see his family for years, does his best in everything. He's a good servant to Potiphar's family. He is the one go-to guy even when he's a prisoner. He becomes the warden behind the jail cell. He's making things work for the warden. Everything that he does, he has that ability to make things happen.

And then that lifts him up to where he becomes the viceroy of Egypt under Pharaoh and then prepares a famine relief effort for the entire world of antiquity, which is usually Egypt having been the breadbasket of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean world. And then he has to face his brothers at the end. Guess what? The old man has died named Jacob. So the brother is a little nervous now, you know?

A little nervous. Our father is gone and what's he going to do? So notice what it says here. When Joseph, verse 15, saw that their father, when Joseph's brothers saw that he was dead, they said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for the evil which we didn't.

He had it in him all the time. He's just been waiting. So they sent messengers to Joseph saying, Before your father died, he commanded. Oh, by the way, this isn't dad's verbal will. Okay? This is the reading of the verbal will. Then you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespasses of your brother and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now, please forgive the trespasses of the servants of the God of your father.

And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. And then his brothers also went and fell down before his face. And they said, Behold, we are your servants. And Joseph said, one of the great lines of Scripture, Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? Sometimes we play little God in the lives of others. I'm not in the place of God. I was when I was a youngster, because the dream that Joseph had was a true dream. His brothers would basically bow down to him. But he never had...

if you read Joseph's early life with that dream, he never mentioned God in it. It was about him. Bob? Word? Humility? I know I'm not the firstborn, but I am... you're going to bow down to me. Oh, I'm just sure that really went over really well with his brothers, right? The dream was true. God had given him a vision, but he did not interpret it correctly. In that dream, he was bigger than God. So God was going to allow him to go through a lot of chapters of challenge, of suffering, to come to a point where he could say this, But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive.

Sounds like Romans 8.28, doesn't it? Now I tell you this, brethren. All things work together for good. God is going to use challenge. He's going to use trials, sometimes self-induced, self-made, self-induced, some trials that come upon us by others. But God will never, ever leave us. Even in our challenges, we can reach out. Why do you... Here, we're family. And I know... Just going to take a moment. Here, Colleen and Julian are leaving us. How do we help one another and come alongside one another and to bear up to one another and help one another through their trials? Help them through their challenges. Help them through their weak spots. Because perhaps we, likewise, have gone through it. But we're not to be left alone. Allow me to finish by reading a quote out of man's search for meaning. Victor Frankl, Austrian Jew, psychologist during World War II... not psychologist, who was in the concentration camps during World War II. I get so much out of his search for meaning. It's such a powerful book. That hell on earth, if I can be so frank, a concentration camp.

And yet, this is what he pulled out of it. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts, comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man. Trials, challenges, problems. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing. The last of human freedoms. To choose one's own attitude in any given set of circumstances. To choose that there is that spot, that moment, between stimulus and response, with the guidance of God's Spirit, having experienced his grace, to know that you're not alone, and that the Father says, Trust in me. To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. To choose one's own way.

But not our way. But the way of God, who simply said this as we conclude, This, this is the way. Walk you in it. Whether you're here today, myself talking to myself up here, and for all of you that are on the screen, let us go forward. And always remember that we read God's scripture on the Sabbath day and every day. To remember, to read, to know that we are not alone.