Open—Jonathan Boulard
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Oh, Jesus, gracious Savior.
I want my father's father.
We have life aside in the birds. I made our qualification.
I'd be able to do within the heart of the world.
Stranger.
Wisdom.
Grass strip club.
Oh Lord, I do one day instead.
Let's see here.
Why swallow may try and take.
Yes to this, grandparents that wall.
I understand.
Our kids and turn.
And trust. And I've been.
Now trend and dirt, all gravy and trigger for the day in the long run.
May all make fun of the day. It's like I'm translating our substance.
You don't learn the Lord.
You're going to play some grass grass spirit game.
130.
Chair, very few words here.
Let's look at Ephesians chapter one.
Ephesians chapter one, the last part of.
We can read verse 22. Let's put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body.
Just this last phrase, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Often the.
Older will seek to speak to those of us who are younger to.
Encourage us on in the pathway of faith.
What is particularly before my soul this evening is this afternoon is as one that is younger to speak to those that are a little bit older to seek to encourage them in the pathway if they.
Was speaking with Josh Koster and some of it was in jest, but he was mentioning just how difficult it was turning 40 and just the realization sinking in of decreasing ability, decreasing strength, decreasing mental faculties.
00:10:15
And.
Justice, realizing that you're looking back at life more and more than looking forward at life. And so these comments.
Are in the vein with the desire of comfort and justice to reflect on those.
That are in that position and obviously further along as well. It's striking Amy and I haven't been able to to be among the Lord's people traveling about freely for a few years and being here now and you look around and there's a few more Gray hairs on different ones. A few more canes have been sprouted, a few more limps and you realize the passage of time.
So just just this phrase, the fullness of him that filleth All in all. And so I'll try to develop this a little bit further, but just the realization that in each one of our lives we're being formed as the companions of Christ. And there is that which is being done in our lives day by day.
Often, without our even realizing it, we're being formed as suited companions of Christ.
This, this verse is almost incomprehensible, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
The Creator, the sustainer of all things. And yet he has his compliment.
In his church, in his body.
It's astonishing. And that is that takes place as a result of that work which He is doing in our souls, that which He is forming of Himself, that we will be suited companions for all eternity with Him, the fullness of Him that filleth All in all the passage of time in our lives.
Is not, is not inconsequential. The years that pass as the Lord forms in US more of Himself. It's not inconsequential. It's not something to minimize. It's something to look back at and rejoice in and to thank the Lord for. Let's just look at a few verses in Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Verse 2.
Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God LED thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
To humble thee.
And to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or know. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna.
Which thou knewest not.
Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know, that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.
Death man Live.
You can stop there.
The children of Israel as Moses is giving them his closing words.
He's instructing them that they're not to forget those 40 years that they've wandered in the wilderness. We read that history as they went through, and it just seemed like one train wreck after another, one disaster after another.
They weren't to forget it. They were to remember it.
But it's conspicuous in Scripture. You read through the book of Joshua.
And the the conquest of the land, the spiritual power, the energy that was there, yes, there was failure, but.
The state of soul among the people of God after those 40 years in the wilderness.
The wilderness, it had its intended effect. There was real blessing, there was real profit. And so they weren't too.
Just try to forget those 40 years. They weren't to try to forget those failures, that weakness that had been present. They were to remember it. They remember. They were to remember the Lord's mercies through it.
They were to take it with them and profit from it.
And so to just.
Speaking as one that's younger, although.
Talking to young people now and feeling is one that maybe is a little bit older, but just to speak to those that are older, just what a treasure you have.
To look back at the Lord's ways with you in your life.
Is to reflect on his faithfulness.
And I'll just make a few comments on on Jacob. I'm not going to refer to any scripture in particular. I will allude to certain instances in this life.
But I have been much encouraged by the life of Jacob and that it seems like he failed very nearly every test that he had in his life.
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Perhaps up until he comes into Egypt, it seems like every single test that he took, he failed.
And yet when he comes into the land of Egypt and he finally realizes that he is a Prince with God.
His name had been changed for years, but he never, never seemed to take it to heart. Israel, a Prince with God? Jacob a supplant or a deceiver.
So here Israel.
Coming down into Egypt, he had failed just about every test that he had been put through.
But it's evident that there is that profit in his soul.
He had learned the lesson, though he had failed the test. And so he comes into the presence of Pharaoh, and he finally begins to act like he is a Prince with God, and he walks into the presence of Pharaoh and he blesses Pharaoh.
The most powerful man.
Most likely on the face of the earth, he walks into his presence and he blesses him.
And that's the dignity.
Of my dear older brother, and that you have the Lord has worked in your life.
I can't. I can't throw stones and say you've.
You failed any more than the failure that I see in my life.
But the Lord has worked with you.
And he's working to change each one of us to be suited companions for himself.
He's working to change you.
Into a Prince with God and.
When you realize that dignity of the position that is yours and those of us that are younger, we can realize it as well.
And you realize, like it says in first John chapter 3, I believe it is, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
When we walk in the dignity of that, there is tremendous power and there can be tremendous blessings. So you look at Jacob there in the land of Egypt. That was last, I think it was 13 years of his life.
Phenomenal power, phenomenal discernment. His eyes were dim at the end of his life, but his discernment was undimmed.
And he went out in a blaze of glory, He finally.
Finally walked in the dignity that had been his all his life long, but he finally.
Finally receive that blessing from the Lord. He finally walked as a Prince with God. And so that's.
That's all I had on my heart.
The fullness of him that filleth. All in all, that's the portion, That's the position that each one of us will have for all eternity.
To be the compliment, the fulfillment of that which is eternal and infinite.
But that he's worked in our lives, that we can be his compliment in that way, that we're not to forget that those 40 years in the wilderness.
It's not wasted time even if we failed the test.
We can still take those lessons.
And.
Jacob or Israel right at the end of his life.
I think it was a call meant Dave Burns. He's made more than once and I've enjoyed it and perhaps heard it from others as well. But the God that shepherded me all my life long and to this day.
So, Jacob.
Could look back and see that which the Lord had worked in spite of Jacob's failure all his life.
And so.
The desire for myself and for my older brother, and that you would be able to look back and see that which the Lord has done and rejoice in it, Not to look back at the years and regret that which is lost or passed, or regret the lost abilities or energies.
Which is treasuring her soul that which the Lord has worked and walk in the dignity of that position that is yours and be a help and a blessing to those of us that are younger.