Address—R. Pilkington
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Genesis 22 and verse 8 and Abraham said, my son.
God will provide himself.
A lamb for a burnt offering.
So they went, both of them together.
And Abraham said.
My son.
God will provide. I like to stay to my own heart. Each brother and sister here, God will provide. God will provide. Dear brother and sister, this passage is so well known, it's not necessary to give you the background. We are amazed.
And the quiet words of Abraham may be the supreme trial of his life when God was asking for everything.
The son that he promised. And when God asked for that son, he promised. I'm feel sure it didn't make sense. And then the sun going along together with the Father, and suddenly the sun turns to the Father and says, behold the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb?
The son putting his finger on that sore spot in Abraham's heart. Unless he had got to the answer already.
And Abraham quietly saying, My son, God will provide.
Dear brother and sister, I desire with all my heart that you and I.
Might leave this place, go to that front door, a side door with those words ringing in faith in our hearts. God will provide.
God will provide. There are problems and difficulties. God doesn't allow us to go sailing through life without problems or difficulties. But the great comfort is that when we can turn to the Lord in the trial.
The solution to the problem is really when you get to this point.
When you see quietly, God will provide. I don't know how it's going to workout.
I feel the pressure is almost greater than I can bear. The problem is insoluble, but deep down in my heart.
I would say God will provide. So I desire that you and I, as we leave this place, might leave this place with those quiet words in our hearts, start each day, an ordinary day in our lives when we leave here and when we're really faced with ordinary life and all its problems again.
That we might face each day quietly looking up in faith and saying, Dear Lord.
You will provide.
I don't know how to solve this. Maybe it's an ordinary day. Maybe you say, I wish I could do something for the Lord.
Look up in faith and say God will provide the opportunity for service.
I'd like to give you and my own heart several other verses.
First Corinthians, chapter one.
It's probably chapter 10, First Corinthians chapter 10 I think it is.
Yes, First Corinthians chapter 10.
And verse 13.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such is his common.
To men.
But God is faithful. But God is faithful.
Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it?
This is what Abraham was saying in the Old Testament. He said it in the words God will provide. Are you convinced? Am I convinced in the very depth of my heart when things don't make sense?
Door seems shut.
Life seemed too ordinary to suit our fancy.
Way down deep in your heart, are you convinced God will provide? He'll open away.
00:05:01
Here it says.
Very beautifully. But God is faithful. You know, we know these things. We know these things. There's not a person sitting in this room this afternoon that would say would doubt.
That God is faithful.
But dear brother and sister, when we get under pressure, it's another thing.
It was hard.
Back the tears.
What day was it Saturday when Brother Jaeger read that letter to us, Dear sister Barbara?
And I was sitting there and I was thinking.
I almost found it that morning. We had collectively a tremendous.
Sense of compassion for her sister.
I was thinking, it's easy to pray, but Can you imagine what was in Barb's heart at that moment?
God is evil.
The doctors say no hope.
Can you imagine how Barb's heart must have been really scraping bottom?
One saying since saying I know that God is able to keep me from this trial to to cure my husband.
And yet, in the daily light of facts, the doctors saying no hope now.
God is faithful. God is faithful. He knows how to help us in those moments when we don't seem to be able to be able to go forward.
And so it here is saying there's no temptation that's taking you accept is common. Other people also have these temptations. But the wonderful fact about you and me, dear brother and sister, God is faithful. God is faithful. What is saying is you can count on God. Dear brother and sister, want us to leave this conference with the conviction in our heart.
That God is faithful and he can be counted on.
To interfere in our lives and to lead and guide in a very real way as his God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but He'll make a way of escape.
So that you'll be able to bear it. He might not take you out of it, he might not take you out of it, but he's very faithful and he feels very much for you.
And he will make some way in the trial, he'll twist the circumstances so that he will take the pressure off of you so that you'll be able to stand it and to come through that trial victorious.
But we ought to.
Have faith and another thing I wanted to share.
Is to always remember to be honest in prayer, whatever you do.
Whatever you do, don't feel that because you don't bring a problem to the Lord. He doesn't know about it. He knows all about it and he's just waiting. He chased those two that were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. He chased them down the road and he said, hold on, what are you talking about? And he said, well, don't you know, we think to the Lord, Why don't you know what I'm under?
Understand it? Why should I pray about it? And the Lord said quietly to them, What things? What are you talking about? What's bothering you?
And then their heart opens up completely. They pour out their heart and they talk about things that had happened. And then last of all they said, but we hoped, but we hoped that He would be the Messiah. They told him their innermost secrets and hopes of their heart. And then the Lord turned around.
And he opened up the scriptures and their problem was solved.
First Thessalonians, chapter 5.
First Thessalonians, chapter 5.
Verse 23.
First assigns chapter 5 and verse 23.
And the very God of peace, the very God of peace, I want both you and me.
To spend a little time over these verses.
Word by word, the very God of peace. What about it? Sanctify you, holy, and I pray God, your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved, blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:10:04
Star period. No it isn't. There's a verse that follows, isn't it? And the verse that follows says faithful, is he that calleth you who will also do it? I want to encourage your heart, dear brother and sister. I want to encourage my own heart to leave this place with a very sense in my heart. God will provide.
I can't see how, I can't know why, but I know that God will provide in some way.
You say, I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved flameless under the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, I'm not blameless, I've got false.
In one sense he will when we stand before him blameless.
But in our ordinary life, as we realize that we have false weaknesses.
Then always remember.
Count on the faithfulness of God. Even when you failed and failed the Lord, count on the faithfulness of God. He restoreth my soul.
But actually.
Very quickly, this verse is not really an individual prayer for oneself. It's very beautiful because this is Paul praying for these Thessalonica sometimes.
Putting it in the context, we have someone very dear to us.
In our own family, maybe a father, mother with a son or daughter.
Maybe a brother with a sister might be just somebody that you're kind of fond of and you see them.
Getting into a dangerous situation.
It's almost as if you can't reach out and pull them back.
Have you counted on the faithfulness of God?
I know my own heart, this little instinct says very precious to my heart where a sister was concerned about her brother.
On a dangerous course.
And so she he was going with a girl that wasn't all that helpful to him.
So she prayed to God and she said.
Lord Jesus, I'm not telling you what to do.
But I know that if it continues on like this, the life is going to be a disaster. I'm asking you to do 2 Things. Either break up the relationship.
Or.
Create a desire in that girlfriend of my brother to please you so it'll be a happy relationship.
She counted on the faithfulness of God to do that. She didn't tell him how to do it. She just said, I'm asking you to do that for me. I know you're faithful. I can't reach my brother. I like to pull him back. I can't tell him what to do.
In the end of that story was that the brother broke up with the girl he's married today to a very lovely girl that really wants to please the Lord and his life is different as night and day. Dear brother and sister, reach out and take hold of the faithfulness of God. We're unfaithful, don't be afraid to come to the Lord.
To say, Lord, I'm just counting on you. That's what I want to say to your heart and my heart this afternoon.
Dear brother and sister, bank on the Lord, Bank on the Lord. He's faithful. He won't let you down, but really?
When you get into difficult, say, I don't, I don't try to explain the difference. I don't even feel that the problem is soluble, dear Lord. But I'm banking on you and your help in this situation. Second Corinthians.
Chapter 12, verse nine. A very beautiful verse that we all know.
2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and verse nine. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
I'm going to tell you how it says that in Chinese.
No, use me saying Chinese to you, but I'll translate directly from the Chinese. So beautiful.
It says He said unto me, my grace.
Is enough for your use.
To me, it's a mother in a kitchen baking a cake.
She says, hey, have I got enough flour? Goes over the tin, lifts the the cover, looks in, say hey, there's enough flour for this cake.
00:15:11
That's what he's saying. My grace is enough for your situation. My grace is quite enough for your situation. And then it says in Chinese.
Because my strength.
Is displayed perfectly on human weakness.
My grace is perfectly displayed on human weakness. We're all weak.
What I want to say is that in the meetings, and it is basic, that we must come to the end of ourselves.
Death to us, but it's not enough to stop there. We all know that we have weaknesses, but have you come to the end of yourself? Do you realize that you have weaknesses? But now to go beyond that and say, Lord Jesus, I've come to the end of myself, but I'm banking on you. I'm banking on your grace to be really enough for my situation.
Enlightened.
And the last verse I want to give to each one of us is Mark 9, Mark Gospel Chapter 9, Marks Gospel Chapter 9 and verse 23. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe it.
Final background to the story is that someone has brought his boy that has a dumb spirit and the spirit takes over.
Wrecks the whole boy's life and he brought him to the disciples and disciples couldn't do anything and the Lord is saying to him if he could believe everything is possible. If he could believe everything's possible. We all know that you know, everybody believes that God is can do anything. But boy, when we get down to the basic facts of life, sometimes we lack the faith. Look at the reaction of this Father, the Lord Jesus says to him straight out.
Facts if you could believe everything is possible.
What does he say? Straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe.
Help mine unbelief. What did he mean? Lord I believe. Help my unbelief or either believe or you don't believe in Chinese again. So beautiful. It says I believe but not enough.
Helped by unbelief, and so often in my own personal life, I know that God can do everything.
I'm looking here to him to help, but I know that my faith really doesn't come as high as it should.
So this father cried out with tears. He had a real problem. It was insoluble doctors, no use. And he says I believe but not enough. I don't come up to the 100% mark. I believe I only come to 50%. Would you take care of that other 50% of unbelief in my heart type of idea is what he's saying. So I want to encourage dear brother and dear sister as we leave.
Leave these meetings.
Encouraged by fellowship and reading over the Word of God.
Maybe each one of us take away those few little words, Abraham saying quietly, My son, God will provide, and he can provide in your situation. And if you're like me and like that father said Lord, I believe, but not enough.
Then you can cry out. Also, Lord, help my unbelief. I'm just banking on you, Lord Jesus, even though I don't see and I don't come up to 100% faith in you and trust in you still, Lord Jesus, I'm banking on your faithfulness, not on my faithfulness. I'm banking on your faithfulness to really come in and work in my life, in the life of those I love, and in my surroundings.