Thank You, May I Have Another?

Fraternity initiations. Many times it was in Tennessee where people would rush to be put into a fraternity. We even had fraternities back in high school. But we also had fraternities in college, or your colleges had different fraternities. And part of the initiation was that you had to go through this order and bend over a lot of times and take your swats. And you were instructed, as some of my friends were, I was never in a fraternity, maybe perhaps anyone here in, maybe. Yes. Did you ever have this used? No. No, girls typically didn't do that. I guess that's why they had more people turn out for that. But one of the things that the guys had to go through, a couple friends of mine, was to bend over and you would take a swat. Pause just a second to let the burn get in. And you were supposed to say, thank you, sir. May I have another? At which point you would take how many they decided to lay out for you.

Larry Stewart, this paddle that I actually made this week with, because I had another one back in Tennessee, actually just got a piece of wood with a utility knife and a sanding block. I made a rough estimate of what my junior high, elementary and junior high, and even high school principal used on me. It looked something like this. I've got about four or five, well, exactly five, whippings with a paddle by the principal.

I wasn't as sweet as I look. I know you find that hard to believe growing up. But his name was Larry Stewart.

And he would have you bend over his desk, because you did something wrong. And he would proceed to tell you first. He would explain why he was whipping you, paddling you, and how this paddling was to motivate you to be a better person. It was interesting that whenever you saw him march people into his office, they were basically the same people. So I don't know if it worked.

The first time I was in there, it didn't teach me that I didn't want to be in there again. Oh, it did for the first 10 minutes after the stinging. Yet.

But I deserved every whipping I got from Larry Stewart.

Probably deserved more. Just didn't get caught, as most of us let out. But I have before you today, I call them, or I called them at the time growing up, implements of torture. I was a kid. I looked at this as something dreaded. Some principals even had holes drilled in theirs. It's supposed to make me be able to swing through the air. Harder.

Anybody ever had this used on school? Raise your hand. Even Mary did. Okay. No? Oh, I want to get to my implement. This is a switch. Switch. Did you ever have a switch used? Yes.

Cane. Bamboo cane.

Real cany. Okay. Right there. Oh, yes. Remember that? This is actually my dad's belt. When he passed away, my mother gave me a couple of his belts. And I don't know if this is old enough. It looks pretty old. It's probably the same one he used on me. Because my dad's favorite discipline tool was a belt.

And he knew how to use it. My wife's mother used a switch. That's why I bring the switch out.

Where is it? Bigger than this? Or is it about like this? It's about like that. And see, I never had the switch used on me. It didn't. It was either the belt. And so I was... As a matter of fact, I went out and got one. I asked her this week to cut me a switch, but she didn't do it. She didn't do it. Come up here. But I never had this used on me before. So I was walking out and found it out on the yard out there as I was coming in today. So I use this and I go, boy, that stings.

But I never had the switch. Mine was always my father the belt. And he used it often.

And he would usually love to take it off. And that was just... You stand right there. And then he would unbuckle the belt. Oh, and it seemed like it took him forever to take that belt off. Let's get on with it.

My mother, after 12 years after I was born, she gave birth to my little brother and sister. And then things changed. And so she used the flyswatter on them. And I, when I first heard about it, I thought, boy, that's an easy way of getting off discipline. Until I realized that she made them pull their pants down and lay on the bed and see.

And I found, wow, that can't hurt. Especially when I saw her do that to them. I realized she made an impact on them. But I had a second grade teacher whose name was Mrs. McElroy. Mrs. McElroy was pretty old when she taught me. She died, she was 94 when she died just a few years ago. A second grade teacher, I moved from Indiana.

And in Indiana, they didn't, at my school, even use any type of corporal punishment. And when I moved to the South, Mrs. McElroy ran the old type that you didn't even talk during class. Otherwise, you would get to come up front, which I did when I first got there. And she had a ruler, but her ruler was about twice as thick as this, about twice as wide. And she made you come up to the front in front of the class. And I remember she got, Chuck, you come up front.

Okay. I came up there. I hadn't seen this done yet. And she said, put out your hand. You remember that? Yes. Put out your hand. And I was thinking, what? And she pulls us back and goes, and I pulled my hand back. And she says, don't you dare do that. Put your hand out here.

I didn't pull my hand out. She grabbed it. And then she went, I mean, with great fury and with passion.

She spanked my hand. Boy, it was red for quite a long time.

All of us, hopefully, can relate to this. In some way, shape, or form, we were all disciplined or disciplined, our children, our grandchildren. We've all experienced it.

But we usually think of chasing or discipline in the physical realm. Well, how about spiritually? Have we ever been disciplined by God?

Are we so perfect spiritually that we cannot stand any correction by God the Father, or Jesus Christ, our elder brother?

Too many in God's church, even. They seem to want smooth words. They don't want a guilt trip. And that's true. We want people to come in every Sabbath and be a joyful and peaceful meeting.

But also, there is instruction, as you can find from 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17. Tells us for His correction, even the words.

Joel, Osteen's church, tomorrow morning, all 22,000 gathered in one place in Houston, Texas. We'll all come there, and they'll all be given instructions.

But not any correction. He says it's not His job. His job is to make people feel good when they leave. Well, I wish it was that simple. But as you read the Bible, it's not. And if you've ever raised children, you realize it's not that simple. It would be great if you never had to discipline.

If you never had to correct.

But I've never met a parent. Never met a person that did not have to correct or be corrected themselves.

I worked at summer camp a few years ago.

And the person came up to me since I was doing the Christian Living time, and they came up telling me about their pastor. This has probably been four years ago. And they were saying how every week he just hammered them and just talked down to them and corrected them and just made them feel really bad every week.

Now, those are two extremes.

There is a balance, as there is in correcting your children. But I look back on the lessons of my youth.

And when I was disciplined, it served me very well.

That I had some tough love sometimes.

I remember Larry Stewart, my principal, after I had received five of those down through the time. And I actually did something that I knew was wrong later on.

And I went to him and told him that I did something wrong.

And he set me down and didn't whip me.

He said, I'm glad you came to me and talked to me about it. You know it's wrong. Now you're beginning to grow up.

And isn't that how we've been spiritually a lot of times? We begin to grow up when we see God working in our lives at different times.

And I'm thankful that I am still growing spiritually. Larry Stewart's discipline and correction, as also my parents, they were helping me to build character. And you try to explain that to your children, and they don't always understand. That you're trying to help them.

God's goal with us is to build godly character. That's why we're here. That's why He's called us to become like Him.

Excuse me.

You know, I'm a pretty positive person.

I think most of the people in this room try to be. A lot is easier to live when you're positive. You don't get down as much. You aren't as negative.

You look for the sunshine and not the rain.

Wouldn't it be great if every week you had was a great week? That you had no problems?

That Nathaniel did exactly as his mother told him every time. And picked up every toy and did everything just like you want.

And that Brandon never had a bad attitude. Never sassed back. Never said anything but, Yes, mother, what else would you like me to do?

She looks back. This obviously hadn't taken place in a while.

But think about it.

When I had my company, Corporation, for 20 years, I hardly ever had a week that something didn't go wrong or bad at your jobs. Not many of you have had weeks that just went so great.

But occasionally it happened, didn't it? And you thought, Wow, this is great.

But I thought back on my years of sometimes very trying times in business. And I look back even now, some trying times in the ministry. Problems, phone calls that come from the Caribbean that you have to deal with, handle.

But I thought if all those years, 20 years, in business, if everything went well, and I had no problems, what kind of businessman would I have been?

Chances are not a very good one.

Because a business, when the economy is strong and all is well, it's an easy job and just about anybody can do it. But during hard economic times, when things happen during your job, you know Mike probably knows more about this than I do.

You really become a better businessman through the hard times because you learn to handle problems. Big things aren't as big when you've been through them quite a few times. Just like many of us who have been through many trials in our lives, family.

You handle them a lot better the more you've gone through.

It's like death.

I remember in my 20s, teens and 20s, I would never go to a funeral. I just didn't want to go. Parents couldn't make me go. People couldn't make me go. I just didn't want to go. It was negative. I didn't want to deal with it.

Now it's something I do. I'm involved in quite often. And it's the death of many people down through my life that helps me to handle it better now. And we all handle it. As you get older, once you lose a parent, you lose a grandparent. You lose things. It's not that you become better at handling death. It's just that you learn to adjust. And it's something you deal with.

Can you imagine a farmer? Anybody here been a farmer? I've farmed. Not many farmers here. If you've ever been a farmer or you've met farmers, you ever shaken their hands?

They have real strong grips and calluses. Right? Because they work with their hands.

As do framers, roofers, bricklayers, landscapers, even men who deal with concrete.

They all earn the calluses.

But you know something came before calluses. Right? Blisters. Everybody's had a blister, right? Right. And I realized how soft my hands have gotten over the last two years in the ministry because I started whittling on this thing and found I had almost a blister come up from just a utility knife.

And thought, boy, I went back there and worked now. Guys would sure get a laugh out of me.

Calluses.

They toughen the skin. They're the tough part of the skin now.

But before you get calluses, you get blisters.

I'd like to look at something today because it's hard for most of us to deny that God is correcting and working with us.

Like you'd turn to James 1. James 1, verse 2-4.

For those of you who plan on owning the book of James, this is one of those scriptures that is a memory scripture for me. It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or perseverance.

But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. That's hard to do.

Why did God give us this instruction? Because it's good for us. It's good for us to look back on those trials and realize we've learned lessons and we've learned to overcome.

And we can help other people.

And we realize a plan is being worked out in our lives. Do you realize that? Now, some people say, Well, yes, I know I'm being trained, but after 70 or 80 years, that's when the payoff comes.

That's one payoff.

That's the big payoff. But between now and then, do we dread every trial that comes before us? When the Scripture says, Count it all joy, when you fall into various trials, which that actually means in the Greek, multi-colored, doesn't mean the same trial time and time again. It means multiple different kinds of trials.

That's what the Greek means.

Didn't most of us enjoy growing up, even though we were disciplined, even we were chest eyes, even though we experienced the belt, the switch, the paddle? We enjoyed those times, didn't we? Growing up, most of us probably did. You reflect back on really enjoyable times. Even though we had our little trials, that were not really that big of trials.

Is it so different now, with God the Father, that we cannot enjoy this life that He's given us now? Even though we have trials, or do we get so bogged down in these trials?

I'd like you to turn where I have my helper back there, is going to hand something out now.

To each one of you that I'd like you to take home, you'll turn back one page. It's one page of my Bible to Hebrews 12.

This is a collection. Collection of translations that I'd like to go through today.

I'd like you to take them home. And I'd like you to circle or underline certain words that jump out at you.

Because these are about 10 verses that are, to me, very important. They help me to understand what God is doing.

So before you, if you can go through there, it's like six or seven different translations. The last page I actually marked up, because those are my thoughts. Hopefully on the other pages, you will do your thoughts. And then look back at this as you read each of those. And then you go through and you mark those words that stand out strong to you. And then go back and read it again. And you'll see how God is working with you through His Spirit to enhance your understanding of His Word.

I'll read here from the New King James Version. Chapter 12 and verse 1 of Hebrews says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, as you understand, He is talking about chapter 11, because that's a faith chapter, as most of us all know. So He said, hey, there are some witnesses there.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Isn't that incredible? He's comparing our walk, our time, on earth now, our training to a runner. And He said, let us run this race.

So we are called to be spiritual athletes, and we are not called to be sprinters, because He says, and endurance persevered. So we are going to have to run, be trained to run a long race.

May involve a lot of things.

And He says, lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. What sin or sins are weighing us down? You realize if you've seen runners, if it's a marathon runner, have you ever seen one that was overweight?

Doubt it.

He hasn't run a lot of races.

Long distance runners.

So the writer is comparing us to them, and says, what is that extra weight? Spiritual weight you've been carrying around. What is that sin that's been hanging on or entangling you?

What's holding you back?

I want you to be a fine-tuned spiritual athlete, is what He's saying.

And then He says, the race God has mapped out for each one of us is a different race. Do we realize it? He's mapped out that race for you. I do not have the same race that Mary has, that Janae has, Cecile has. Different races, different party. God has mapped that race out for you and you alone. He's going to take you down, that truth.

And He wants you to lay aside those things that hinder you. If we all had to write one thing that we have to spend more time repenting on, we could all write that down. Good one.

He says, let's concentrate and let's lay that one aside.

Let's really try to get rid of it because it's holding us back.

And He says, verse 2, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do we fix our eyes on Christ enough?

Then verse 3, For consider Him who endured hostility from sinners against Himself. Almost every leader in Christ's time looked down on Him, despised Him, made fun of Him.

Even family members mocked Him.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraging your soul. So He's saying, think about Christ, what He went through. Even His family made fun of Him.

Every leader around, consider Him. You have not yet resisted the bloodshed striving against sin. Most of us have not had to shed blood for what we believe. Yet.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons, which says, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him, for whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son who He receives. That's why Job 5 verse 17 says, Happy is the man whom God corrects.

And He went through a lot of correction, didn't He?

Verse 7, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Listen, we must focus on the long-term benefits of the trial.

Not the short.

Romans 8 verse 38, if you'll turn there, quickly. Romans 8 verse 38. Very powerful word. Why don't you think this is our father?

And even this chastening, as He's having to do it. It's in verse 38. Romans 8. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, any trial, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 8. But if you are without chastening, of which you have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Right? I do mine. I look back now.

Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?

You know, unlike our human parents, God is always correct in the discipline. He hands out. My parents sometimes would whip me, not that I didn't deserve it, but overly so. Occasionally, they would be mad.

God doesn't do that. He knows just how much chastening we need.

Verse 10. For they, indeed, for a few days, chastened us for what has seemed best to them. But He for our prophet, that we may be partakers of His holiness. God trains and develops our spiritual nature. He uses discipline as part of that training. Verse 11. Now, no chastening seems to be joyous for the present, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained. I pull out this now, because I actually have mine here that I went through as I spent time.

And I underlined certain words in mine in the very first. Matter of fact, I did it on every page. And it helped me so much when I was going through it that I actually did it on the last page. I actually had these copies run and didn't mark that down and then had to go through yesterday and mark 35 different copies to the last page there. All those things.

But can we look at this? Can we just... We spend 10 minutes here as a training tool looking at the different translations because this is such an important part of Scripture. This is so important for us to understand.

Don't give up! After all, you have not yet given your lives in struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging word? God speaks to you as His children. He says, My children, don't make light of the Lord's discipline. And don't give up when He corrects us. For the Lord disciplines who He loves and He punishes each one He accepts as a child. As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Whoever heard of a child who is never disciplined by His Father, if God doesn't discipline you as He does all His children, it means that you are illegitimate and not really a child at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined, shouldn't we even submit more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us so that we might share in His holiness contemporary English version. Such a great large crowd of witnesses all around us. So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially that sin, that just won't let go. Got any?

And we must be determined to run the race as ahead of us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to the cross because He knew that later on He would be glad. He did it! Now He is seated at the right side of God's throne. So keep your mind on Jesus who put up with many insults and sinners. Then you won't be discouraged. And what? Give up!

None of you have been hurting your battle against sin. But you have forgotten what the Scripture says to the children. When the Lord punishes you, don't make light of it. When He corrects you, do not become discouraged. The Lord corrects the people He loves. And He loves and disciplines those. In verse 10, our human fathers corrected us for a short time and they do it as they think best. God corrects us in His own good for our own good because He wants us to be what? Holy! Holy! Amplified! The next page, amplified. In verse 1, it talks about the sin that so readily or deftly or cleverly clings to and entangles us.

Verse 3 says, So that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart, relaxing, or fainting in your minds. Because it can happen. You go, you know, I prayed to God about this. You know, it's just this trial and I just, it's going on and on and on. Why do I even worry about it? And you become faint, become discouraged. How are you become relaxed? Well, this is why it's going to be. Why should I pray about it? I've already prayed a dozen times about this.

Verse 8, Now, if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all of God's sons share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons at all.

And verse 9, Moreover, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded to them and respected them for training us. Shall we not much more what? Cheerfully submit to the Father of Spirits.

Over to the next one. Easy to read version. Easy to read version.

Verse 1, it says, We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we too should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us... What's the worst thing a runner can have happen? Fall. Fall.

We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith and He is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on the cross, but He accepted the shame of the cross as if it were... What? Nothing. Nothing. Because of the joy He could see waiting for Him.

Do you see the joy waiting for you?

In the Kingdom of God? And now He is sitting at the right side of God's throne. Think about Jesus. He is patient. He patiently endured the angry insults of sinful people were shouting at Him. Think about Him so you won't get discouraged and stop trying. You are struggling against sin, but you have not yet given up your life for the cause. You are children of God and He speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words. My child, don't think the Lord's discipline is worth nothing and don't stop trying even when He corrects you. The Lord disciplines everyone He loves. Everyone He loves. He punishes everyone He accepts as a child. So accept suffering like a father's discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all the children are disciplined by their father, but if you've never received discipline that every child must have, then you are not children and you don't really belong to God.

And at the very last, God disciplines us to help us so that we can be holy. The good news translation. Verse 1 on the next page. As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then let us rid ourselves of everything that what gets in the way and the sin that holds onto us so tightly.

And let us run with determination that race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus with whom our faith depends from the beginning to the end. Verse 3. Think of what He went through. How He put up with so much hatred from sinners. And verse 4. For you struggle against sin and you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed. And then verse 5. My children pay attention. Pay attention when the Lord corrects you. And don't be discouraged. Now in verse 8. But if you are not punished as all His children are, it means that you're not real children. But what?

Bastards.

Strong word.

In the case of our human fathers, they punish us and respect us. How much more than should we submit to our spiritual Father? And finally, the last page is the message. And I underline this. I hope you will go back and underline your own words in each of those as you relate it to you. I did this so that you could see some of the words that I thought really hit me between the eyes. Really touched me from the message. Said, do you see what this means? All these pioneers, oh man, they were, who blazed the way. All these veterans cheering us on. It's as if they came before us and they were setting us that example. It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running, and never quit. No extra spiritual fat. We've got to get rid of that spiritual fat on us. No parasitic sins. Keep our eyes on Jesus, who both began. And finish the race we're in. Study. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed. That exhilarating finish in and with God.

He could put up with anything along the way. Cross, shame, whatever. And he's now there in the place of honor right alongside God. When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again. Item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls. In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you. To say nothing of what Jesus went through. All that bloodshed. Don't fear. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children? And that God regards you as his children. My dear children, don't shrug off God's discipline. But don't be crushed by it either. If the child he loves, he disciplines the child, he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you. That's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment. It's training. Training, brethren. The normal experience of children, only irresponsible parents leave their children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training us and not spoiling. So why not let... Why not embrace God's training so that we can truly live while we were children. Our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best. Training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later on, of course, it pays off handsomely. For it's the well-trained who find themselves what? Mature. Mature.

Now, I went through that. It may seem redundant to you, but I hope you will use this as a training tool so you can look at it and see what God is really doing with us.

Mary's correction was a switch. Mine was a belt. But there are different types of instruction and training. I was born very bowlegged. Anybody here born bowlegged? You don't want to admit it? Well, they had these big braces. I was the only freak in here, I guess. But my parents didn't have a lot of money when I was born. And so they said, well, you're going to have to get braces for his legs and keep that because I was really bowlegged. And so they went to the doctor or the doctor who delivered me. And he said, that's silly. Don't be doing that. Take his shoes when he starts walking. But his good shoes and put the left foot on the right and the right foot on the left. Lillian obviously knows what it is. I didn't know that. My mother had to tell me that later. I didn't know I was a freak. So she told me. And that corrected or mostly corrected my bowleggedness. Those shoes were there to help correct me. Anybody have braces? Yes. Yes, Mary had braces. I didn't have braces. Those braces, they're not pleasant when they're first put in, right, Hampi? I know Mary. She had them for what? Two years, 18 months, two years or whatever. She had to get in and brush. It took her forever at night to just get in and brush her teeth. And then she couldn't eat certain things. Then she couldn't eat this, this, this. And she always had to wear a retainer. And now you had all this kind of stuff. It was like, well, that's ridiculous. I'm not going to do that. Of course, my teeth didn't look anything like my wife's now either. Why? Because the braces correct your teeth. They help to perfect. They help you to become more perfect.

The job is to straighten your teeth to correct.

God is working with us. Now, I'm going to tell you a story. We saw that Christ corrected Peter, corrected James and John, chastised, chased. There are stories all through the Bible of people who were corrected.

People came to Christ in Luke 13. You don't have to turn there, but the story of the Galileans. And it tells how they were killed, and their blood was pilot, used their blood, and mixed it in with the sacrifices.

And they said, are these Galileans worse sinners than other Galileans? What did Christ say? No! I say no! But unless you repent, you will also die. Are the eighteen that fell at the start of the Bible? Die? Are the eighteen that fell at the tower of Siloam? Were they worse? No! But unless you repent, God's going to bring discipline on this country, because they will not repent. The penalties are going to have to be paid. It's coming.

With us, His children, a lot of things happen in our lives. We may even have sickness that we just can't get rid of. We may have back problems. We may have all these various things that we have to put up with. We may have job trials. We may have problems. But He knows it.

I remember the story. John 9, Jesus Christ goes and heals this man who is blind from birth. Remember the story? He walks by and He heals him. The guy who gets up, He didn't even know who healed him. Later on, He couldn't even pick him out. Jesus Christ had to go tell it that He was me.

And so His disciples turn because they still look at this as God is just like this guy with a big pattern. He says, who can I whack today? That's what they were looking at. And the disciples, because that's the way the Pharisees would teach you. Guys, He's going to whack you. Oh, He's your Father.

That's what Christ said. He came to reveal the Father to us. He's a loving Father. We have to understand that. We have to understand that more than anyone else. And so, what happened? And they asked, oh, this blind man. The disciples asked Him, who sinned? This man or his parents? Whose fault was it? What did Christ say? Neither.

Neither. But that the works of God should be revealed in Him. God's working out a lot of things. He's smart enough to know. Just like my parents were smart enough to know. When did discipline mean? Like you turn back to Job as we wrap this up.

The book of Job. Job went through quite a lot. He was a righteous man. In Job 2. In Job 2, verse 6. So the Lord said to Satan, since most of you already know the story, He says, the Lord said to Satan, Behold, He is in your hands, despair His life. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and He struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head.

God allowed Job to be tested. And do you think we're any different? God allows us to be tested. Does God tempt us? No, you read James and you see that. But He allows us to be tested and sometimes we pass the test and sometimes we don't. And He gives it to us again. In verse 8, then He took a pot-shirt which had to scrape Himself while He sat in the midst of the ashes. Then His wife said to Him, good old encouraging spiritually-minded wife, Do you still hold to your integrity? Curse God and die! Curse God and die! But He said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.

Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? And in all His lips Job did not sin with his lips. New Living Translation puts that well. I like it. Job said, Should we not accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? Should we? God has given me a lot. More good than bad. Turn back to 2 Corinthians here.

2 Corinthians. This is a child of God. Not only a child of God. 2 Corinthians 11, please. 2 Corinthians 11. Not only a child but God. But God's main man at the time. A faithful servant who loved God, who followed God, and did everything and lived his life for God. And what child did he go through? 2 Corinthians 11 verse 24. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

A hundred and ninety-five lashes. You want a strap up here? A hundred and ninety-five times? Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I have been in the deep. In journeys often in perils of the water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of Gentiles, in perils of the city, in perils of the wilderness, in the perils of the sea, and in perils among false brethren.

And I am wearing as in toil, in sleeplessness, often in hunger, in thirst, in fastings, often in cold, in negatives. Ooh! My father up there hadn't done that yet to me. Yours? And then above all that in chapter 12 verse 7. Unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to beat me.

Unless I be exalted above measure. The teachers and scholars believe it was an eye problem. That he just couldn't. Whether it was just pours out or whether he just ran at the eye all the time or just had this problem and just stayed with him the entire time. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he said to me, But my grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. What he actually tells us there is Paul is saying, If God didn't do this to me, guess what? I probably wouldn't be his child because you couldn't stand me. He'd become just like he was before. I know it all. And some of us, God needs to work with that. God loves us. And to prove that, I turn to the final Scripture as we wrap this up now. I need you to turn back with me to Psalm.

Such an encouraging thing. Because some of us are going, and all of us will go through things. But you must understand your Father and understand this love. And Jesus Christ wanted this. No matter what your problem, no matter what your situation, think of your Father and think of this Scripture. And it's in Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 4. Psalm 37, verse 4. It says, Delight yourself in the Lord. Do we? Is he our delight? And he shall give you the desire of your heart.

Do you understand that, brethren? He will give you, now if you want, the desires of your heart. How powerful, how loving is that? In verse 5, commit your way to the Lord. Have we? More than we did yesterday. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Bring what to pass? Your heart's desires. Only one thing left to say. Thank you. May I have another. Thank you. May I have another.