Where Would We Be Without God

The question sums up the subject. You use it as a title, if you wish. Where would we be without God? Where would we be without God? I heard a saying a number of years ago. It was true then, it's true now. It's still true, and it will continue to remain true. And you may have heard it yourself, here and there over the years. God without man is still God. Man without God is nothing. Think about that for a moment. Where would we be without God? Let's look at that. Let's look at it in its fullest ramifications. Let's not take just one aspect of that, but in answering that, let's look at it in its fullest ramifications.

First, as a starting point, without God, without Him in the picture, you and I wouldn't even exist to begin with. We exist. We're here. We're each an intelligence. We're a being. We reason. We think. We hope. We plan. We dream. But without God in the picture, we wouldn't even exist to begin with. Notice with me John 1.1. John 1. And we'll actually go verses 1 through 4.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1.1. The same was in the beginning with God, and of course was God also. Verse 3. All things, including us, all things were made by Him. And without Him, without the Word, was not anything made that was made. In Him, verse 4, was life. Now, we're talking here, not just spiritual life. We're talking physical life. In Him, there is no life system. There's no life that didn't receive life through Jesus Christ as the Word.

God the Father, as we know Him, engendered life, life systems and all of that through the One who became Jesus Christ, through the Word. And Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Now, let's go to Colossians 1, verses 16 and 17. Colossians 1, verses 16 and 17. Now, the Apostle John wrote what we just read. Now, we're reading what Paul wrote.

He says in Colossians 1, verses 16 and 17, For by Him, by Him, through Him, were all things created very comprehensively that are in heaven, that are in earth, the visible, the invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist or exist. Let's stay with the words of Paul, but let's go to Acts 17. Acts 17, verses 22 through 24. Acropolis, Mars Hill, the Greek philosophers, the great thinkers, the activity of getting together and being philosophical and trying to figure a lot of things out as the Greeks did.

Verse 22, Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious, for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Of course, in one sense, in case they left somebody out. You know, they had all these gods, and some of them thought, well, it would be good to do that because, you know, there may be a god we've left out. Or, they knew there was a god that they didn't know however it was. But to the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I to you.

Notice verse 24, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven. And again, everything was carried out through the word. God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands. And then verses 25, verse 25, neither is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything, because God without man is still God.

Seeing he gives to all life and breath and all things. It's interesting. He gives to all life. You know, no matter how good a person is over at this end of the scale, and no matter how wicked a person is over at this end of the scale, they're all breathing the same air that God has created and given and envelops this earth with. And all things. And then verse 28, notice, for in him we live. Don't you think about this statement? And again, where would we be without God?

We many times put all the dependency on the spiritual plane. But there's a dependency on the physical plane that people don't stop to think about. In him we live and move. We walk, we sit, we arise, we come and go and have our being. Where do we think the intelligence comes from that we are? We're each a separate, distinct intelligence. We're each an intelligent being who can think and reason and plan and prepare and all of that. That's given to us by the creative powers of God. We live and we move and we have our being in Him. As I said, I'm standing here exact opposite to my son, Lauren, down on the other side of the globe.

One of us should fall off. But we don't because of gravity. And there are certain things, whether it's fire, which still cannot be fully scientifically explained. Oh, it can be defined and we all know what fire is, but it cannot be fully scientifically explained as to what it is. And gravity, we understand it. We understand how it works.

But it still cannot be fully explained. Yet without gravity, we couldn't move and do. Things wouldn't hold together. Without this thin envelope of air with oxygen in it and the right amount of oxygen. You know, when they detonated the first atomic bomb on the sands of New Mexico back in 1945, one of the fears was, will this start a firestorm because of the oxygen in the air? And will this huge firestorm just rage all the way around the globe and encircle it and kill mankind? Burn up all the oxygen. That was one of the concerns because they didn't know.

It's just interesting. And when you sit down to a plate and if there's a stake on it, that came from a cow or a steer or a bull, which ate grain or grass, and which has energy packaged in it. And if you have some green beans on it and a baked potato or whatever, bread, wheat, those are all little packages of energy. It's energy that got packaged in that in a way that your body will thrive on it and draw from it.

I mean, just go eat dirt and see how long you stay alive. Go try to eat grass like a cow. Our systems can't handle it. The point is, even these systems we live by, the biological system of water that we have to have. And I'll tell you, I don't drink the tap water in Rome. I don't drink, whether it's Cusa or Ustanala or Etowah or whatever.

I go to Stanley Spring, about 12 miles from where I live, and get all the free water that I need. It's a spring that's been there for who knows how many years.

It's on the old Dalton Highway, about 12 miles out, provided by somebody who set it up for the public years ago. And you just go there. If somebody wants to know where it is, I'll be glad to tell you.

You just go there and fill your jugs up. Pure spring water coming out of a mountain. And that's what we drink and cook with. Of course, when we're in Paducah, our water there was Ohio River water and Tennessee River water. And we'd get these reports, it would say. I mean, actual reports each month, it would say, since your source of water is surface water, it's probably contaminated to some degree.

They'd put that in print. We weren't about to drink it. I use spring water there also. I had a spring. I would go and load up sometimes 100 gallons or more at one time. Anyway, but just these things we don't tend to think of that much. You know, again, it goes back so basically.

Without God, we wouldn't even exist to begin with. You know, I exist and I know I exist. You know, who was the philosopher that says, I think, therefore I am? We know we exist. When you look in a mirror, you look in a mirror and you can say, I'm looking at an intelligent being.

I'm looking at a being of intelligence who has a mind who can think, who can reason. I exist. We exist due to God. You know, in Genesis 2 and verse 7, when God started off our existence in one sense by creating the first human being. It says in Genesis 2 and verse 7, "...and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground," we're made of the 16 elements, "...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and that is nothing more than air that has oxygen in it." Sculpted him, got him ready to live, breathed the breath of life, air with oxygen in it, oxidized his lungs, his heart started beating, started pumping, oxidized blood, he was alive.

And man wasn't given, people don't read the Bible accurately so many times, became a living soul, or became a living nephish in the Hebrew creature. It's only due to God that we're able to have an existence to even continue to exist.

Job 12.10, you know, we read some scriptures, Job chapter 12 and verse 10. We read certain scriptures and whether we fully understand them or we don't understand what you can. And there's plenty to build foundations of understanding. We're going deeper into understanding Job 12 and verse 10. Job, here in the book of Job, it says, in whose hand is the...it says, soul in the King James, it means life in the Hebrew.

And whose hand is the life of every living thing? Notice how this is worded. And the breath of all mankind. Kind of humbles a person when they really stop to think. You know, we have the proud and the mighty and those who really stomp about on the face of the earth. And whose hand is the life of every living thing? And the breath of all mankind. And with that thought in mind, if you look at Job 34.14, Job 34 and verse 14. If he set his heart upon man, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath, what would be the result?

All flesh, verse 15, shall perish together and man shall turn again to dust. These systems that had to be put in place and become operational for us to exist have to stay in place and have to stay operational for us to continue to live. You know, our opportunity to even exist is because of God. Our opportunity to be maintained and sustained is because of God. The very totally necessary life-sustaining systems that we are totally dependent upon and can't get away from depend on God.

I do nothing to maintain the systems about me, around me, and the creation that I'm dependent upon for my existence. That's all due to God. Notice Psalm 104, verse 30. There's more than one aspect that we could take out of this, but Psalm 104, verse 30, says here, you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

God pours out His spirit, His energy, His power through the Word to create. And the second part, you renew the face of the earth, is a reference, first of all, it's a reference to when God remodeled the earth after the satanic rebellion and cast it into a vast wilderness, Bohio and Tohio, He poured out His spirit to renew the face of the earth, to remodel it and resurface it and renew it to get ready to create mankind. But also, it can refer to the fact that He is doing renewal all the time.

He's keeping the systems renewed. He's keeping them going. They don't just happen by fiat. They happen because He renews them, uphoes them through His power. Isaiah 45, 18. Here at scriptures like this, as we used to say, help us not to get too big for our britches. Isaiah 45, 18.

I am the Lord and there is none else. And forming it to be inhabited, He formed it with the life-sustaining systems. And then if you back up to Isaiah 42, verse 5, Isaiah 42, Thus says God the Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out, He that spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it. And what comes out of it? Well, for one thing, we've got the growing season upon us. Some of you will have gardens. It's going to be a time for planting seeds and having plants that produce fruit that we can eat and enjoy and that help to sustain us.

That's part of what comes out of it, obviously, which comes out of it. He that gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. Again, Scriptures that have to do with He created life and all the necessary life-sustaining, life-supporting systems, He maintains them.

He maintains them without Him. They would not be. And therefore, we who are dependent on them would not be. So at the most basic fundamental level, and that's what I'm dealing with at this point, at the most basic fundamental level of all, where would we be without God? Sadly, I have known people and I know people. We're the cock of the walk. They're the bull of the woods. They feel invincible. They don't bow to God our man, and they walk in their pride.

And how, if you and I realize these things and our dependency upon God, how do we walk around like the bull of the woods, or the cock of the walk, or, you know, King Kong? I mean, how do we? How do we get too big for our britches? A lot was said about examining ourselves in the sermonette. Well, something like this can help in the process of us examining ourselves. Where would we be without God? And I tell you, when you go through what my wife and I have been going through, and what some of you have gone through, and some of you are going through, and some of you will go through, it just drives it home even more.

Where would we be without God? Well, the simple answers would be nowhere at all. And even more simple than that is we would be nothing at all. I mean, we would literally be nothing. We would not even exist to begin with. So at the most basic fundamental level of all, how true the saying of, God without man is still God. But man without God is nothing. You know, I think of a sermon like this as a very important reality check sermon. A reality check sermon because it should help each of us to... It should help generate a deep and an abiding humility in us.

You know, there are people who will fix their plate of food and never ask God's blessing on it, never offer up thanks. When I fix a plate of food, whether I say it verbally, out loud, depending on the time and place, or I say it silently in my mind, depending on the time and place, I acknowledge that that life-giving nourishment that I'm eating, that I didn't create it. I may have planted seed.

I may have harvested. I may have put in the work, but I didn't create it. I just worked with it. And in most cases, I'm not... I haven't worked with it. You know, I buy it somewhere. It's given or I buy it, and it's prepared. But I'm aware that take that plate away, leave that plate empty. Of course, when we fast on the Day of Atonement, or any other time, we kind of realize our dependency on something we didn't create, that we've got to have.

So, humility, which that does have to engender, is so crucial for walking with God. Remember Micah 6, 8? We don't need to turn there, but in Micah 6, verse 8, O man, or woman, what does the Lord require of you? Number one, to do justly or fairly. Number two, to love mercy. And number three, to humble yourself to walk before your guide. And as I've said, if we humble ourselves truly before a guide, we will automatically be humble with each other.

Again, where would we be without God? Nowhere, nothing, nowhere, and nothing. But because of God, we are here. And we, mankind, humanity, have been here for about 6,000 years. We don't know the exact date. There are some gaps in the chronologies. But we do know that we've been here somewhere around, since Adam and Eve, somewhere around 6,000 years.

Now, let's just be scientific for a moment. Let's ask ourselves a question. On a scientific basis, with world conditions, will we, that is humanity, continue to be here? If you look at all the factors that are part of our world, you'd have to say no. Humanity will not continue to be here. It's headed towards extinction. You may have seen in the latest prophetic times that I forward on from Mr. Tuck, the Russians, they've not given up world domination.

They've got a new supersonic missile, nuclear warhead. There will come a point in time where some of these things just simply cannot be countered or stopped. We still are in an armed camp. Where will we, humanity, be without guide? Where will we, humanity, be without guide? One word expresses it, extinction. That's where we will be, a dead planet, no flesh left alive. And that's prophesied, and we know that.

Matthew 24, 21, and 22, Matthew 24, it's prophesied. And it's not prophesied because God has to bring it about. God knows human nature, and He knows the nature of Satan and the demons. And He knows the forces that exist around us, unseen. I'm not talking about the spirit forces. I'm talking about energy forces. Can you imagine the vast amount of energy that's contained in an atom, and it being split, and what it releases in terms of energy? It's mind-boggling. And He knew that knowledge of such and skill with vision or fusion would only be withheld so long. So He could simply predict what was going to be eventually based on all the factors that are involved.

I mean, I can watch a kid going down practically a cliff of a hill on a bicycle faster and faster and faster, and I can pretty well predict what's going to happen, especially if there's a concrete wall down at the end of the way, and the bicycle has no brakes. God can predict. And so here in Matthew 24, in verse 21, He says, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be.

It's a one-of-a-kind measure of trouble because this is not like the noation flood that God brought on. This is what man, under the influence of Satan, is bringing on himself. And except those days should be shortened, if the course is not cut off, there should no flesh be saved. You know, that's pretty dire. See, without God, there's no future for this planet. If man is left completely to his own devices, mankind will kill itself off. It will commit cosmocide, planetary suicide. It will follow a course. If they're left unchecked, it will bring planetary death.

Death to every living creature on it. How much power do you have over Putin? How much power do you have over the Chinese leadership? How much power and sway do you have over any of the deadly, dangerous leaders of this world, and the ones that are going to arise, and probably already arising? And Kim Jong-un, I mean, how much power do we have?

None. Who's going to stop them? Where will the world, collective, mankind eventually be without God? Well, nowhere and nothing, because again, see, let's rephrase it a little bit. God without the world is still God. But the world without God, without God's involvement, comes to nothingness. You know, this nothingness has been in the face of the world since I was a child, in fact, before I was born. The reality of what can be and will eventually come to be without intervention began with the birth of the nuclear age, July 16, 1945.

That's when the nuclear age was born. July 16, on the white sands of New Mexico, 1945, was the first explosion of an atomic bomb. And it was that summer in August that the first two were exercised on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And they were exercised because if you knew the Japanese mindset, or they would not surrender, those of our soldiers who had to fight the war in the Pacific was a totally different type of fighting on the continent against the Germans. Japanese would not surrender.

If they had one or two of their own that would try to surrender, they would kill them. They would shoot them. We knew what we were facing if we had to try to defeat Japan on their own mainland. We estimated that there would be at least of our soldiers at least one million casualties. Not counting the millions of civilian casualties, those two bombs actually, the lesser of two evils, stopped the slaughter of millions, literally.

It took the second one before Hirohito would surrender. The first one didn't faze him. It took the second one. They just didn't know how many more we had. Anyway, I grew up in the shadow of the bomb. I grew up during the Cold War. I grew up with that threat hanging over me, over my friends, over the world. By 1950, when I was born, there was by 1950, between Russia and the US, the USSR and the United States, there was enough stockpiled to at least wipe out the world one time over. And that was enough. Of course, now, who knows how many times over it could be done. But because of God, nothingness will not be allowed to happen.

You are part of the elect. I am part of the elect. We don't have to apologize for that. We can be thankful for that. We don't get proud about it. That would be sin. We're not better than others. We're more blessed. It's a great honor, privilege and blessing to be part of the elect. And it's for your sakes and my sake.

That God will intervene. Verse 22, chapter 24, And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, for the body of Christ's sake, for the church. Because during those days of great tribulation, a part of the church will be in a place of safety. And the rest of the church will be caught in the great tribulation and have to die martyrdom deaths. There are reasons for that, but that's for another time. But for the elect's sake, the church's sake, the days will be cut short because otherwise the elect would wind up dying right along with the rest of the world into extinction. And God is not going to let that happen. That's why it says in verse 30, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Verse 30, And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Because that's the event that will cut short the course that is running and will not allow it to run its full course. So because of God, the world will still be here. Because of God, there will be intervention, and because of God, there will be survivors. And because of God, guess what? Life will go on. The world will go on.

If Christ comes back on a Monday, there will be Tuesday morning next, and then Wednesday, and then Thursday, and then Friday. Life will go on. The world will go on. Only from that point on, though, it will go on under the rulership and the guidance of Jesus Christ, under the leadership of the Son of God, with the resurrected saints at His side. That would be the difference. And that will make the difference. But again, at the most basic fundamental level, the level of physical, human, mortal existence, where would we be as mankind without God? Extinct. Non-existent. Out of existence. But now, we've talked about the basic physical level of the individual. We've talked about mankind at the physical level. But let's raise the issue to the level of ongoing, ultimate, continuing existence. That is existence beyond this lifetime, beyond this temporary mortal life. Where, if you want to talk about ongoing existence beyond this lifetime, where would we be without God? Would be extinct. Even if you lived out of full lifetime, you'd be extinct. Out of existence, due to what? The second death that every single one of us has either had on us, and it's been removed through baptism into Jesus Christ, into His death, or it's still on us. And yet, at the right and proper time to be moved off of us in the future. You know, that's the death, the second death, is the death of eternal extinction.

If I don't attain to the first resurrection, it's not like, well, I'll live forever anyway, in a lake of fire. No. I would exist, probably for a split second, in a lake of fire that will melt the elements. I'd exist for a split second, a nanosecond. I'd be smoking ashes that quick. Extinction. And I know that. Out of existence. See, Romans, and just two or three scriptures we're familiar with, just, quote them, Romans 6.23, For the wages of sin is death. We know that. The wages of sin is death. It's not ambiguous. Romans 6.23. That's what sin produces. Death. And in case I should have any doubt about, well, okay, wages of sin is death, I don't doubt that. But whether I'm caught in that same net, Romans 3.23. Romans 3.23. Kind of hard to get around God and what He's inspired His writers to put in there. For all is sin. Well, God, You mean all but me, right? Just me and You, Lord. You haven't sinned, and I haven't either, right?

All has sinned. Romans 3.23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of us have measured up truly or fully to God's design. Of course, way back in the book of Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 18, in two verses back there, in Ezekiel 18, verses 4 and 20, it so plainly and clearly says, the soul that sins, it shall die. A soul can die. It's not an eternal being that, oh, it's just an issue whether you go to heaven forever or you go to hell forever. No. So, as this season...I started to say, as this season approaches, but actually, this season isn't approaching. We're into this season, but as the core of this season pass over, and what it means is approaching, again, I bring myself back to the reality, and I bring us back to that reality. Where would we be, each and every one of us, eventually without God? And the answer is, is extinct. Non-existent. Never. And here's the sad thing about the second death. See, you can die now, a natural death. I mean, if you died and were buried, you'll live again. If I died, if Angela had died, if Angela should, I know that I will see her again at the first resurrection. I know that. So, this death isn't near as scary as the second death, because whether it's Lazarus that died, as he did, or it's one of us, we can be resurrected again, brought back. But the second death, and the lake of fire, means you can never, ever be resurrected again. There's nothing left of you. And God makes that plain in Scripture. There's just nothing left. It's not like a million years later, God says, huh, I think I'll bring so-and-so back. There's nothing left at all. There's no record. There's nothing. Never to exist again. Potential for re-existence destroyed.

That is the scary death. But that's also the death that Jesus Christ has preserved us from. And that's the death, since we're mortal beings, and we can only continue to exist if the second death of extinction has taken off of us. And Christ, who was totally innocent, never sinned, and was God, who became flesh, since he died, then his death is unlimited as to the number of those who can be in him, come into him through baptism, repentance and baptism, and have the death penalty lifted off. And so, through him, we can be ushered into eternity. We know that. And again, we picture that at Passover, Christ is our Passover. But at this point, I want to substitute a different word into the question, where would we be without God? I want to substitute a synonym for God. Maybe you haven't thought of this as a synonym for God, but it actually is, and it's found in 1 John 4, verses 8 and 16. 1 John 4, verses 8 and 16, here's the synonym for God, L-O-V-E. God is love. God equals love. God is the fullness of love. God personifies love. God is the personification of love. However you want to word it, that is what God is. And we're talking about love in the fullest ramifications of what makes up love.

So with that understood, let's ask the question this way. Where would we be without love? Isn't that saying the same thing? Where would we be without God? If God is love, and we substitute that synonym for God in there, and we're talking about the fullness of love, Godly love, God's love, God as personification of love, where would we be without love? With that thought in mind, let's read the famous words of John, written somewhere in the 90s A.D. by the last of the surviving original apostles, who himself was somewhere in his 90s, John 3, 16 and 17. Where would we be without love? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. For God so loved the world.

Romans 5, 8.

Romans 5.

And verse 8. See, there wasn't a time when God the Father looked upon the planet and said, Oh, I see, I spot 20 absolutely righteous people, Son, just like you and I are. He never looked upon the planet and could point out even one person that carried the righteousness of God without sin. I mean, the first two humans that were created innocent, just as soon as they got a chance, they both sinned. So it wasn't like, oh, we spot 20 people that are totally innocent, never sinned, totally righteous like we are.

Those 20 would need a Savior anyway. Think about it. Now, when they looked upon the planet, and especially from Genesis 3 on, because from Genesis 3 on with Adam and Eve sinning, then it became comprehensive throughout the generations what Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned. And, of course, again, we know that God set, prepared a plan ahead of time. He prepared for all contingencies. So, verse 8, but God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died because He knew we were sinners, and He knew that we had to have help, and we had to have a way out. And as I believe it was mentioned in the sermonette, and it's very true, there's not a one of us in this room that called ourself. Now, we responded, but we didn't call ourself. And there was nothing we could do to make God call us. God made the decision. The Father made the decision whom to call, whom to give opportunity, true opportunity to. Now, we have a responsibility to respond. I responded, but you know what? I also have the responsibility that I must continue to respond. I must continue to respond. That lies in my power, and as I continue to respond, God will continue to support.

But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So, if we look across the page, as it is in my Bible, to chapter 6, verse 23, Yes, we said, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. It's because God is love, because of living love in action. We will someday be in eternity with God. So, once again, where would we be without God? Where would we be without love? Where would we be without the living God who is living love? Where would we be in the ultimate endeavor, the attainment of eternal life without God, without His strengthening and support? In Philippians, Philippians 1. And I hope over time that some of these scriptures, not just in terms of the content which is most important to have burned into our memories, but even locations, even if we don't remember the specific verse, we begin to remember which book they're in, what chapter they're in. We highlight them in our Bible as prime scriptures that we can find very readily. Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Verse 6, we'll perform it, we'll finish it, we'll stay with it. And how that God will strengthen and support, like Paul said in this same chapter of Philippians, Philippians 1 verse 19, where in verse 19 He says, For I know that this shall turn a result to or in my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

You know, I'd be honest with you with what I went through with Angela.

With the dire prediction before the first surgery, Angela was devastated, Leanne and I were devastated.

I just had to go out and walk in the parking lot. I got a call from my brother.

The next day, how do you feel? I told him how I felt. I could be honest with my brother.

I felt awful, and I felt worse than awful. I walked through the valley of the shadow of death with Angela three times now, in 06 and 09 and now. I prayed to God. God knew my heart. God knew my mind. He knew what an absolute roller coaster ride it was. Our hopes were dashed, and then they were raised, and then they were dashed again. That kind of emotional roller coaster ride just totally drains you.

But I know what I've preached. I know my first sermon here. I know my second sermon here. I know what I've preached and what I've covered and what I've emphasized. I continually and consciously brought my mind back to those things. I addressed God, and I had a conversation with God. I talked with Him, and I prayed to Him. I fasted. I remembered Scriptures like chapter 4 here in verse 19. But my God shall supply all your need. All your need. We have physical needs. We have spiritual needs. We have emotional needs. Psychological needs. We have needs. I have proof after proof after proof in my life and the lives of my loved ones and the lives of the brethren. Of God's presence, He said He'd never leave us or forsake us of His presence.

And I come back to the square one fact that whether you're in a good time or you're in a bad time, God is with you. He's in the bad times with you. This was the good times. It's just harder maybe because we're human to see that sometimes, but He is. He's there. He's with you. My God shall supply all your need. And I reminded myself of that. And I went to God and reminded Him of the needs we had. I reminded Him of the spiritual needs, the physical needs, the emotional needs. And I love this verse because it doesn't put it just in one category. It says, "...shall supply all your need." But then again, there's a key word there, need. Doesn't always give us our, as we say, druthers in the South. Doesn't always give us extras. Doesn't always give us luxuries. But He knows what our needs are. Where would we be without God's strengthening and support? And I think about Philippians 2. And again, one that is or should be very familiar to us. In Philippians 2 here, verse 12, "...wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, and now much more in my absence, work out." It is work. It is hard. It's not easy. It takes effort. Work out your own salvation. It's talking about shouldering the responsibility for what you've been given, taking yourself in hand, and dealing responsibly, and staying in the fight, and doing it with humility. Doing it with fear and trembling, with humility, with submission to God because...the word for can synonymously be used with because, verse 13... Because, for or because, it is God which works in you. You're working, and you've got to work and do and make effort. But you're not in it alone. God is also, maybe even more than you realize sometimes, there inside you, working with you to will, to help with your motivation, to help with your mind and your will, and to do of His good pleasure. And because we have God's strengthening and support, due to God's strengthening and support, we will attain. We can attain. That section in Romans 8...I don't think we need to explore all of it, but just a touch upon it in Romans 8, beginning about verse 35...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? What will get in the way? What will become a wedge and wedge between us in the love of Christ? Is it going to be tribulation? Is it going to be distress or persecution or famine or nakedness, peril or sword? And these are things that God's people have faced down through the ages. Things that God's people face today, and things that God's people are going to continue to face in this world where Satan is the God of this world. And verse 36 talks about, for your sake we're killed all the day long, so to speak. We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But then again, you have verse 37. No, and all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And Paul goes on to say, and again, he was an authority on this. He was probably more of an authority on this just by his experiences, by the number and volume of his experiences, than any of the other apostles. For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, powers, things present, or things to come, height, depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So again, where would we be without God? And again, this sermon can serve as kind of a reality check in terms of our personal gratitude and humility. It's very pleasing and solicitous to God. I want to close with 1 Corinthians 1.

I'm thankful that God has granted me to reach a life of 68 years. And of course, obviously, I pray that if this age stands long enough, that He will allow me to reach a much higher age. But I'm thankful to have reached the age I have and to begin to, more and more, as I've gotten older, look over a lifetime, panoramically, and glean and gather and garner from experiences and lessons and life. Many of them personal, many of them connected with other of God's people. And just to see and realize some vital eternal lessons. So important. You know, I've lived a life where I was fleet of foot, I was strong of muscle, I could go day and night, I was blessed with certain athleticism, blessed with opportunities. And I've seen a lot of that fade away. But as that's faded away, and I realize it serves for a time, the most important things don't fade away. You grow stronger in them. And I'm so thankful for just simply having had the life been given. You know, I know me, and I know human nature, and I know carnality, and I've learned certain things about God, and I obviously want to learn even more. And I know our Savior Jesus Christ, and I know our Father. And I know the application of what it's saying here in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, beginning in verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, who knows my name on this planet outside a few people? In this 7.6 billion, I'm not one of the wise or mighty of this world. I know that. But I am so privileged and blessed to know what I know, to have been called of God, and to be able to look forward to sitting with my Savior in His rulership when He returns. Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Now, it doesn't say there aren't any that are ever called. It just says, not many. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and there's a time in the future to explore this more fully. And God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And based things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are.

And you have this set in there, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Think about that, what it speaks to, that if we really capture the magnitude of all that's involved, that we're not going to puff our chests out in glory before God. Not while we're flesh, and certainly not after the resurrection, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glories in I do glory, let Him glory in the Lord. Let Him glory in the Lord. One of the most important questions for me to always ask myself is, where would I be without God? And along with the question, never to forget the answer, and I remind myself of this. God, without me, is still God. But I, without God, am nothing. And that realization helps me to walk humbly with my God in deep gratitude and to glory in Him.