Open—Matt Richerzhagen
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Well, that's been said this week.
It's been a wonderful time. Like Tim was saying beyond he's able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask for, even think.
It's kind of hard for us to imagine because we can think way out here, but his desire to bless us is far beyond that. I was just thinking.
Tim was talking as Steve talked at the end of the other meeting. We're all looking forward to going home.
I don't think there's anybody here that wants us to end. I know I don't. We can just live here. Can you imagine? Just be together. I know over time we grate on each other because we, you know, see more of each other a little bit. But this, oh, man, it's beautiful to work together and play together. It is. As our dear brother just shared, this is a foretaste of glory. We will say, what are we gonna do in heaven? We're gonna be with him. We're gonna be with each other, and we're gonna enjoy it forever. I was thinking as we go.
Back, you know, we we don't have the circumstance around us. It's really easy to umm.
Do the right thing, if I could say that to, to walk with the Lord when we're all here. Our, our dear brother was just saying sharing. We need, we're going back. What do we have to take? And I was just thinking of a couple verses here. And this is a note that I wrote down, umm, from a dear brother-in-law And, uh, this is our resource, you guys, as we go back.
We're not going to have all of our friends around us the same. We're not gonna have reading meetings.
In the morning, at least we don't. Reading meetings in the morning and addresses and gospel meetings and hymns, things like this.
We try and read every day as a family and I try to read every day myself with the Lord. But here's something I just thought I'd share and this is the in in these couple verses that I'm going to share. God is faithful as we leave this place.
We have a resource.
It's not in our own strength, it's in him.
If the Lord has called us his will, as brother Dan was saying, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And so let's let's first look in Isaiah 49.
And I don't know how many the most of the kids are gone that played capture the flag.
But the first time that we played and then the second time that we played, there was something that was different when we were when we were picking teams. Does anybody remember the difference?
What? Well, yeah, the flags were different.
OK, what she said was the first time we had team captains and the second time we numbered them off. I want to read listen to this verse. This is Isaiah 49 verse 7.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One.
So jump down to the verse and it says, Because the Lord that is faithful and the holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
You know the Lord is doing the work in this world, and as our dear brother said earlier, He doesn't need us. His work is going to be accomplished whether we join the team or not. Because He's God, He can do anything. He spoke this whole world into existence. But you know what? He's drawn up teams and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you and He wants you.
You're chosen.
You're not the last one that gets picked because maybe people think you're shorter, or you're not as fast or you're not as smart or you're not going to hide the flag as well. No, He's chosen you. He wants to use you for your blessing and for His glory.
So as we go from this place, don't think about ourselves, you know, and especially the kids and the young people. I'm just, you know, what can I do? Don't know. He's chosen you and he'll use you if you let him. OK, so the next one is First Corinthians one. So the the first one was chosen First Corinthians 1.
Verse 9.
It says God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
So not only were we chosen, we're called into communion. God wants to spend time with us.
00:05:01
There was a book that that we have and he talked about having trouble getting up in the morning to spend time with the Lord, and one time they were going to go fishing or something and he woke up before his alarm went off at 4:00 in the morning.
Because he got to go fishing and he realized, you know what, it doesn't have to do with me not being able to get up.
It's not a physical hindrance to get up and read the Word and spend time with the Lord. It wasn't important enough.
And that really smoked the authors of this book's heart.
He wants to spend time with us. He wants to tell us what to do and how to do it and how to live a blessed life.
Who in this who? Who here wants wants to be blessed? I know I do. I raise both hands.
Were chosen, were called into fellowship. Lord, the prayer of my heart, the prayer of our heart should be Lord, show me what you want me to do today.
Because we can't do anything without him and he'll walk with us.
The next one is in chapter 10, verse 13. Sometimes we face things as we go through life. There's been, it's been referenced a number of times, umm, First Corinthians 10/13 We, we face you. Sometimes there are challenges that are so big we can't see around them and that's OK. He doesn't expect us to see around him. He expects us to trust him.
It says here, there hath no temptation.
Taking you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.
He knows what we passed through. He knows. He knows our weakness, He knows our strengths, He knows all about us and he's never gonna let us be over tempted. That's it. You have his word on it. He's faithful. And so when you feel like there is no way, there is a way, you just can't see it. Trust him. Trust him.
Let's turn to 2nd Thessalonians 3. Three.
Chosen call protected.
2nd Thessalonians.
Three verse 3.
It says, but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. You know, brethren, what we need in this world is to move forward. It's been mentioned several times how much everybody's grown physically.
You can't help that. You're gonna, if you're alive, you're gonna grow physically, right? I mean, if, if there was a baby here.
How many of her years ago? I don't remember all the years, but I remember little Naomi on the, on the whatever that thing, the slack line. She was little. Now she's way bigger. You can't help it. If you're alive, you're gonna grow until a certain point. But that's not true spiritually. You can be alive for years and years and years and years and years and years and still be a newborn babe. But he tells us that he's faithful. He's gonna establish you so that we have a foundation.
So that we build, so that we move forward. And one of the things we need to do is spend time with him every single day in communion. Because we're not. It's not about us, it's about him. It's about letting his light and his love shine into our lives.
Let's turn to Hebrews 10.
Verse 23.
It says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised.
It talks in the Proverbs about a double minded man.
The challenges are going to come in our lives.
But remember, he's chosen you.
Remember he's called you into fellowship. Remember he promises to protect you.
He is faithful. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Don't. Don't get so discouraged that you give up. Don't get so discouraged that you go backwards. Hold on, hold on.
00:10:02
It's it's been said the the darkest night is just before the dawn, and the the battle is often won in the preparation.
You know people, they would, uh, I remember my soccer coach telling me, he said. When you're tired and you can't take another step, you're just like totally exhausted, he said. I want you to know that everybody on the other team is too. The guys that win the game are the ones that keep running after that ball.
Don't give up, He's almost here. We just talked about how close the Lord's return is. Perhaps today. The Lord is so good. Let's thank him.
Our God and our Father.
We would return thanks with grateful hearts for Thy goodness and Thy mercy and Thy.
We thank thee for this tremendous week.
The blessing that we've enjoyed the liberty to be here without fear.
Thank you for taking care of our animals and our properties and our businesses while we've been here. Just bless us, Lord, as we go back as our brother to share that we would have a portion for others.
Lord, may we remember that we're chosen, that we're called, that we're protected. Help us to hold fast to you.
How we long as our dear brother shared this morning, to see thy blessed face.
We pray this in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
Yes.