Open—D. Rule, B. Prost
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Lord, what does man tis he who died?
And all thy nature glorified, Thy righteousness and grace is played, when He for sin atonement made.
Obedient unto death was slain. Worthy is he, or all to reign, 219.
Lord what?
For that time coming, when that will return for us, and also for that time when thou will appear and reveal thyself to Thy people and set up a Kingdom that will umm be glorious. We thank Thee for the privilege of being together around thyself. Over Thy word we ask for help, guidance. Thou should be glorified. Lord Jesus, we pray in thy precious, worthy name. Amen. Amen.
Turn with me to First Samuel.
Chapter 17.
1St Chapter 17.
And everybody, I'm sure that can understand what's going to be said is very familiar with the story of David and Goliath that we have in this chapter. So I'm not going to read that part. I just want to. So we'll start in the middle of it. David has come up because his father sent him to see how the war is going in the state of his older brothers that are in the army. And so he comes up with the food from home.
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And, umm, we're just going to start in verse 28.
It's Eli of his older brother speaking, and he says, And Eliab his older brother heard, when he spake unto the men, and a lie of anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hit her? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle.
I trust that the Lord is going to leave in your heart out of the words. Just read the expression those few shape in the wilderness.
I want to a trust of the Lord to impress upon your heart and mind.
The significance of that little statement? Those few sheep.
In the wilderness.
We're going to look briefly at two young men.
David young man.
And another young man in the book of judges. And we're going to contrast a little bit out of their two lives.
I trust it will be a challenge to you young men and young sisters in this room, as well as to those of us who are older.
And it is connected. We will see. What we see here is connected with gathering and scattering. That was the burden that was presented to us in the prayer meeting this morning.
Here we find the expression those few shape in the wilderness. I I begin here because I I want those words impressed upon your soul. But before we take up the significance of them, we're going to look at the other young man and see a contrast that we'll see later. Go back to Judges chapter 17.
In Judges chapter 17 verse 6.
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did what which was right in his own eyes. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah, who was the Levite. And he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn, where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim, to the House of Micah as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence cometh thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite.
Of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn, where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be with me a father and a priest, and I will give thee 10 shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy vittles. So the Levite went in, and the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was with him as one of his sons.
And before we comment on that.
Turn over to the next chapter.
And there are later on in this young man's life, he has met five other young men who are part of another tribe of Israel, and they have come and we read about them in the next chapter in verse 15.
These spies come back, and they turned in, hit their word, and came to the House of the young man of the Levite, even unto the House of Micah, and saluted him. And the 600 men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
And uh, they go into Micah's house. And in verse 18 and those went into Micah's house where this young man was living, and fetched the carb damage the the tariff and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. It is better for thee to be a priest unto the house. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the House of one man?
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Or that they'll be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel. And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the effort and the Terrapin and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. So we're going to read, uh, about this young man.
He lived in a time when every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
That is more and more the characteristic of the day in which we live. It's more and more the characteristic of the Church of God or the profession of Christianity. We live in a time when more and more there is the tendency of, as it says here, every man to do that which is right in his own eyes. And here's the young man I want to say comes from a good place, comes from Bethlehem. I think that's a good place.
He was of a good family and that sense of the tribe of Judah. The other young man, David, comes from the same place.
And of course, the most famous, the Lord Jesus comes from that same place. And so here this young man, he starts out life and he lives in this period of time and.
Grows up like any young person does, comes the time when you need to decide you're going to do something with life. And, uh, so he goes out with the idea of finding himself, some work to do in his life.
And umm, so he comes to this man's house, and because he was a Levite, that gave him some place to be able to do the kind of work which he did. And it happened to be, and I'm not emphasizing this aspect of it, religious activities that were necessary for Israel or were proper to Israel. But in this case, it's connected with idolatry. And more and more, even in Christianity Today is connected with idolatry.
But that isn't really the point here that I want to bring out in verse 10, it says Mike is said unto him, dwell with me and be with me, a father and a priest, and I will give thee 10 shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel. So now he comes to a place and he's, he's got something to do. He's got a job and, uh, the job is going to pay him. And I heard a excellent talk, uh, one time on this subject, which we're not going to get into any of it, but.
I, I can't think about the young man except in the way the talk described him out of this verse here it says, uh, I will give the 10 shekels of silver by the year in a suit of apparel. And he was referred to as the young man of 10 shekels and a shirt. So I'm going to call him the man of 10 shekels and a shirt. So this young man with his 10 shackles and a shirt, he's got a, he's got a job, he's got something to do.
But the man that employs him says, be a father to me and take care of my deeds.
And so he seeks to do that in his life.
But it's a day when every man does that which is right in his own eyes.
And time comes when somebody else comes along to offer him another opportunity.
And they present to him the opportunity and it's more than 10 shekels and a shirt because they say, why are you? Why are you just gonna take care of one house?
We want you to be for a whole try all the tribe of Dan. You come with us.
And.
Uh, righteousness, when every man does that which is right in his own eyes, righteousness suffers. And so they actually go in the house and I would say rob the household of those things that had been set up that the young man was using in his service. They take it out of the house and they say, as it were, you're not going to lose anything. You're gonna gain. So you come along and with us.
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And the response that shows us what's in his heart. He says his heart was glad.
That's good. I'm going.
And he goes.
That's one young man.
And.
You can ask yourself.
Is in any way this young man's life have any similarity to your own?
Are you presently occupied with 10 shekels and a shirt?
Is that the characteristic of your life? There's somebody you might say you're helping besides yourself?
But you're available and ready and willing if a better opportunity comes along, even if there might be some things about it which, hmm, you maybe wish were a little bit different. Not quite as straightforward, or perhaps upright or good. But your heart can be made glad.
With some improvement in the circumstances of life.
OK, enough on the young man for the moment. Now let's go back to the other young man where we started. Go back to First Samuel chapter 17.
Here we have two brothers.
All of us belong in families. We have brothers. We have sisters. Perhaps we have fathers and mothers. We have relationships.
In the families that we are part of.
Here's a young man.
Name is David.
And uh, he goes to a place and his brother, his older brother, looks to him.
And he gets angry with him.
And so where he says, what are you doing here?
Uh, he, the older brother, the older three brothers were there in a war.
And here's come the younger brother and, uh, he's not appreciated in the place where they are and what's going on and so in his feelings about it.
He asks him the question.
With whom hast thou left those few shape in the wilderness?
That's a put down, as we would say that is. He's putting down the importance of what his younger brother was doing. He was just a young fellow and his job was just to kind of be off.
In a place, a wilderness, not a very important place as we would say. And he had a little job, He was caring for a few shape.
Tremendously important.
Can't emphasize to you enough the importance of what that young man was doing.
Turn back.
A little bit.
So earlier in the chapter.
To umm.
1St.
Well, I don't know what order to explain this to you. Uh, let's go back to chapter 16. Read a little bit.
Chapter 16. Verse 10.
Umm, verse 9.
Samuel has been told to find a OR God is going to guide him to a replacement for King Saul because Jehovah had rejected Saul from being king and now he is going to replace Saul with another king and his prophet. Samuel has the responsibility in that matter. And so here in the 16th chapter, umm, the Lord has set Samuel.
To Bethlehem to.
Umm, anoint the replacement to identify and renoi anoint the one who's going to replace King Saul in God's time. So here we go and we're at the House of Jesse and uh, verse 17 says.
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Well, first, sorry, chapter 16, verse 6. And it came to pass when they were calm that he looked on a lion. That's the one we just read about in the next chapter, the oldest son. And he says.
Samuel thinks Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For the Lord looketh on the man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called him in a dab, and made him pass before Samuel, And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this.
Then Jesse made Shama to pass by, and he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are there any are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hit her. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was Ruddy, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and goodly look too. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
Now turn over to the next chapter for one more short verse, chapter 17 and verse 15.
Verse 14 Now David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul, but David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep.
At Bethlehem.
If you have been there and you've seen this family of eight sons.
You might have expected as Samuel did with the amount of discernment he had. Oh, surely the oldest one is.
The chosen 1.
And down the line.
And in fact, in the matter of presentation, the youngest wasn't even present. He didn't count. He wasn't important enough in the eyes of the father to be present, because surely his older children would be the ones that would be chosen if one was to be chosen. So they have to call him in. And it's significant what they call him in from.
He keeps the sheep.
In the next chapter.
We see it recorded. David went and returned from Saul to keep his father's shape.
That's everything.
His father's shape.
That's everything.
God wanted a man.
For an important job of king.
And God wanted to choose a man.
After his own heart.
That is a man who felt about things the way God feels about them.
The older brother is refused.
Because to him.
They were just a few sheep in the wilderness.
To David, they were my father's sheep.
And that's God's heart.
That's why he wanted that man.
Because it isn't all that happens in his life afterwards.
He had that heart as a young man.
He was gonna go through a lot of experiences later in his life, but when God was choosing someone.
For a responsibility, he wanted somebody after his own heart.
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And here's a young man that showed his heart.
In caring for a few sheep in the wilderness.
But they were who she.
His father's shape? Mm-hmm.
God wanted a man to care for his sheep.
Who did he chose? His son.
To care for his father's shape.
We find a little bit earlier in the chapter that.
Actually, later, I guess, not earlier. We don't know about it until we're not told about it until David is up.
And we might stay ready if the matter facing Goliath and he's brought before King Saul after what he's saying to people is.
Record, uh, taken up to the king and reported to him and uh, so David says something about his experience in caring for sheep at that point to the king, he says well.
A lion came up and took one of the sheep.
And I went after him.
I went after him.
And I took him out of his mouth.
And uh.
He resisted me and I killed him.
And likewise the bear.
What does that tell us?
Tells us.
A man after God's own heart.
God cared for those sheep.
They were just a few sheep in the wilderness. To him they were sheep.
Lord Jesus.
And his shepherd's prayer, if I could call it that, in John 17 at the end of his life.
He could say to his father, Those that thou hast given me, I have lost none save the son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He cared for the sheep that the Father had entrusted to his hand. If you would ask the people in Israel, they would have said there are a few sheep in the wilderness. They don't count.
They're who are these men came out, They're mostly from Nazareth.
They're nobodies, they don't count, they're not important.
Lord Jesus could say to his Father at the end of his life, I'd lost none of them.
First Young Man is the character that scatters.
It's scatters.
When the hard.
Is taken up or controlled by 10 shekels and a shirt.
It's a hireling it it will not stay with the shape.
If a better opportunity comes.
It'll look OK because one's doing what's right in one's own eyes, and it's defensible.
I'm not doing anything wrong.
My life's all right.
But what originally you might say were the sheep to be cared for can be left for some better opportunity to serve a bigger audience or something like that, and one passes on to the next thing.
Every young person here, every older one here.
God would have you take care of a few sheep.
Are you gonna take care of them?
With the sense in your soul.
My father's sheep.
Some of you may be newly married.
And in this sense, your shape might be your wife or your husband.
You're bride or you're grim.
Some of you have little children.
They may be your present shape.
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Maybe few, maybe nothing in the eyes of man.
But to God, he's given them to you.
As my father, she.
And they're yours to care for.
Perhaps you're in an assembly that has very few.
Are you going to be able to say as a shepherd at the end of the course?
Of my father, those that thou my father has given me, I have lost none.
Humbling, humbling.
But those few sheep?
Express what's in your heart.
My father's sheep.
And they're given to you.
To care for.
Whether it in some cases you might be an employer.
And I grant you, not every person that works for you necessarily is a believer in the Lord Jesus.
But still you have a responsibility.
In your care for those few.
To treat them.
As given to your responsibility.
For God's glory, even if they're not literally sheep.
In the fold.
I'd like to turn over before closing.
I've never actually, I haven't referred her, rehearsed this, so maybe we'll come out in a rather stumbling way, but.
Turn to Psalm 23.
I want to turn the song around and paraphrase it.
To drive home the point of a few sheep in the wilderness, I'm going to read this Psalm as you, the shepherd.
The Lord has made me the shepherd of a few sheep.
They shall not want.
I will make them lie down in green pastures.
I will lead them.
Besides still waters.
I will seek the restoration of their soul.
I will lead them in the paths of righteousness.
For his name's sake.
Yeah, though they walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
They shall fear no evil.
For my Lord shall be with them.
The rod, the staff the Lord has given me to use.
Shall be a comfort to them.
The table shall be prepared for them in the presence of their enemies.
And by the Lord's blessing, their cup will run over.
Shirley.
Goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their life.
And they shall dwell.
In the House of the Lord forever.
Be a man, young person.
After God's own heart.
Take care of his few sheep in the wilderness.
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Could we follow up on that for a moment or two?
This likewise hasn't been rehearsed.
First Samuel 24.
First Samuel 24.
I'm sorry, Second Samuel 24. I beg your pardon?
Second Samuel 24.
Same thought.
Same character of David.
Long way down.
Years later in his reign.
David had sinned in numbering the people.
As a result, God, and we won't go into detail, but God had offered David three things.
As punishment for numbering the people.
And David had refused to choose in this in that sense, he said, let me fall into the hands of the Lord. And as a result God allowed a pestilence to fall upon Israel for three days.
Notice verse.
17 of Second Samuel 24.
And to David spake unto the Lord, when he saw the Angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done?
Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my Father's house.
David felt keenly the fact that.
He was the one that had sinned, and yet here where his people Israel under the hand of God.
And yet we know from the beginning of the chapter that there was a reason for it. It says the the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
If we read the account here in Second Samuel, we find that the Lord moved David against Israel to number the people.
If we go to the account in Chronicles, which we won't turn to, we'll find that Satan moved David to number the people, which is right.
Both. Both. Satan was behind it, just as he was behind all of the trials that Job endured. And yet the Lord allowed it because the Lord had a purpose in it. Satan had an evil purpose.
The Lord had a good purpose.
And this brings me to what?
It comes to my heart that I have spoken on before.
Let's turn to the New Testament now for a connection to all of this.
Johns Gospel, chapter 16.
John chapter 16 and the last verse verse 33.
The Lord Jesus speaking here in the so-called Upper Room ministry.
Although probably this discourse took place on the way out to the Garden of Gethsemane.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
And then going on to Acts chapter 15.
The Book of the Acts, chapter 15.
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Verse 20 or sorry, it's chapter 14.
Acts Chapter 14.
And it's verse 21 That we want to start with.
Here are Paul and Barnabas.
Going about revisiting places where they had ministered and preached the gospel, and it says there Acts 14 and 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium at Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith. And here's the phrase.
And that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God.
And one final verse in Revelation chapter one.
Revelation chapter one.
And verse 9.
Revelation One and verse 9.
Hi John, who also I'm your brother and.
Companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
Let me read that as it is in the Darby translation. Maybe not word for word, but this is the sense of it.
Hi John, who also I'm your brother and companion in the tribulation and Kingdom and patience of Jesus.
Leave out Christ.
Was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony.
Of Jesus.
David could say these few sheep, although he didn't say few in the passage in Second Samuel 24. But these sheep, what have they done?
And yet there was a cause.
The Lord is allowing a lot of tribulation among His people these days.
I don't think it's out of place to say that. Last week I was in Vestal, NY.
Had the privilege of visiting with David and Priscilla Jenkins.
And it made my heart weep.
See that dear brother in his condition, suffering from the deterioration of ALS.
Lou Gehrig's disease.
And to see his dear wife having to care for him. And that's only one of many trials. Family problems, work related problems, difficulties of many kinds.
The Lord Jesus said in the world you shall have tribulation and sometimes we think that all of the tribulation will come from a hostile world and perhaps we expect it and say well.
If it came from a hostile world, I could take it.
What have I done to deserve this? Maybe we don't say it out loud, but perhaps in our hearts we say why?
Do I have to go through this?
My brother John Rusink sitting here mentioned about his daughter and son-in-law and the things that their daughter Emma is going through.
It's no secret, I suppose, because others doubtless get the blogs that Eileen writes.
And that likewise makes my heart weep when I read them from time to time and realize what they're going through.
And many other things.
Is there a reason for it?
I don't pretend to be able to explain at all.
I still remember, though, a comment I think made by Mr. Wigram in his ministry that I felt was very penetrating. Referring to this ninth verse of Revelation One, he said the failure.
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In those three things.
Tribulation, Kingdom and patience of Jesus.
Was probably the ultimate failure. That runs as a thread all through the seven assemblies detailed in chapters 2 and three. Now we thank God that there was not the same failure in every one of those assemblies. We thank God for a Smyrna that was faithful in the face of persecution. We thank God for a Philadelphia that was faithful. And I trust most of us are aware of the prophetic.
Meaning of these seven assemblies that they give us a panoramic history of the professing church from the time that the apostles left the scene until the Lord's coming.
But nevertheless, there was a lot of failure going down the line through the centuries, and I appreciated Mr. Wiggum's comment if you have a Darby translation and you look in.
So the footnotes at the bottom of the page, you'll see that he makes a comment that those words, tribulation, Kingdom, and patience are very intimately tied together.
And when Paul and Barnabas visited those assemblies in Lystra where Paul had been stoned and left for dead, and where there was terrible persecution, and other places in that general area, among other things, they told them that we must.
Through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.
It's not easy.
Is there a need to be? Sometimes we won't turn to the scripture but in first Peter chapter one.
We read about.
If needs be.
Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation.
There can be a need to be.
Only those going through the trial.
Can appreciate that.
ET Can you give me that bottle of water? I should have brought it with me. Thank you.
Only those passing through the trial can appreciate what the needs be is. I would say to the rest of us, don't try and figure it out. It doesn't mean that we can't be of help if we know the individual well.
But only the individual himself or herself.
Can appreciate if there's a need to be.
But in the next verse or two, it says that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. What does that mean?
It means, at least to my own soul.
With all of the tribulation through which the Lord passes you and me.
Is ultimately to give us a deeper and richer entrance into the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? It's the moral character of that which characterizes the rightful king in his Kingdom, which ought to characterize those who own that rightful king in the day of his absence and rejection.
It doesn't say in Acts 14, we might. Through much tribulation, it says we must.
I for one would like to see my life run smoothly.
And I don't suppose it's betraying any secret.
To say that there have been times, and maybe you can relate to this, some of you, there have been times when my wife and I have sat down together, look back over the years and have sometimes said we didn't realize that everything would turn out the way it has.
No, don't get me wrong, there have been many unexpected joys and blessings that we didn't look for either. But there have been sorrows, there have been twists and turns. And you can relate to it. And not only in my generation. Some of you that are younger have already seen things happen in your life that maybe you didn't expect. And you say, why me? And what have I done to deserve this? And why can't things go a little more smoothly? And maybe in our mistaken human wisdom.
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Taking a short term view, we can say oh if things only went more smoothly.
How much more I could do for the Lord, how much better I could serve Him in the context of what we had this morning.
How much greater a sacrifice I could lay before the Lord?
Really.
Let's always remember that the Lord is far more interested in what He is doing in you and me.
Rather than what he is doing through you and me.
And he would far rather put you and me.
Through 40 years of training.
In order to have 10 years of Labor.
And the other way around. Now I don't say that that is always necessary. And we can thank God if He is enabling you and me to serve Him for many years.
But as a brother used to remind us, God is a God of quality, not necessarily quantity. Not that God doesn't value the quantity, but it is not as important as the quality.
If you and I are passing through tribulation.
It is only that we may appreciate more of the Kingdom.
And the patience.
Of Jesus? Why Jesus? Why not the Lord Jesus or Jesus Christ?
Sometime if you have a chance and it's worth the time, and I can't say that I've done it in the extent that I would like to, to the extent that I would like to, but it's worth going through the New Testament. And you'll probably want to use a Darby translation and see the number of times that Jesus is referred to.
Simply as Jesus without his titles, because Lord and Christ are titles.
But Jesus springs before us who He is in the essence of His person as Savior. But.
In his essence as the one.
To whom you and I are brought in an intimate relationship.
You get it, for example, in Ephesians chapter 4, The truth as it is.
In Jesus isn't that beautiful? That brings the person of Christ into the whole picture, Not merely a set of truths, a set of doctrines, a set of principles. However true, it brings before us a relationship.
And it's been said before that there are so many things that we will learn in the glory, things that we don't know down here, because Paul could say, then shall I know?
Even as also I am known wonderful.
But there are some things we can't learn in the glory. I can't learn God as the God of all comfort. I can't learn Him as the God of all patience and long-suffering. I can't learn Him as the God who can draw near in every circumstance and give me a joy and comfort in the midst of sorrow. I can never learn that in the glory, because there won't be any sorrow up there. There won't be any suffering. And there are those in this audience whom I know have been through suffering that I have never experienced.
And maybe never will.
May I say to you.
And it's easy to talk when you haven't been through it.
Perhaps you are the more privileged ones in the audience. Perhaps you are the ones that are the more privileged than all of us because what we learned down here by going through tribulation.
Will last for all eternity. The tribulation is limited. The tribulation is finite. The tribulation lasts only for this life.
But what we learn?
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Of the Kingdom.
And patience of Jesus.
Will last for all eternity.
I say again, I appreciated Mr. Wiggum's comment because I believe it was a very penetrating observation.
That in a general way, the professing church once had lost sight of the fact.
That in the world it would have tribulation.
It lost sight of the Kingdom. It lost sight of the patience. They gave up the Lord's coming. They gave up their heavenly calling.
And fell down to the level of the world. And that's what's happened and it is accelerating today and it's what we had before us to some extent in the reading this morning.
May God give us grace on the one hand, not to look for tribulation.
I'll relate to you. A rather amusing story that is actually true took place long before my time. But there was a brother who said to an older brother, you know, I'd really like to know more of the Lord. I'd like to get closer to him. I'd like to know more of Christ.
Well, the older brother said after some conversation, let's kneel down and pray about it. So they kneel down and the older brother LED off in prayer.
And he prayed, among other things, he said, Oh Lord, he said, this brother wants to get closer to you and wants to know more of you. Lord, I pray thee that thou wilt send into the life of this brother lots of trials and difficulties.
And lots of problems and difficult times in his life, Lord. And before he could finish the prayer, the other brother said, stop, stop. I didn't tell you to pray that kind of thing, the brother said. The older brother, he said that's the route to it.
Or route, as you say in the US That's the way it goes. That's the way you have to learn it.
Our late brother Norman Berry, whom some of us remember and some here are related to, said to us once in an open meeting. He said all of our blessings come through the obedience and suffering of the Lord Jesus.
And our enjoyment of those blessings comes in the same way.
It didn't hit home as much at the time as it does now, because that was quite a few years ago. The.
The more I go on, the more I see it's true obedience but suffering.
It brings blessing. It brings us closer to the Lord.
Now again I say there may be a need to be.
We may have to address that. Let's not pretend that all the suffering is because I'm learning more of Christ. There may be something.
That the Lord is speaking to me about.
But equally true, let's not assume that everything in our lives is because I have been a total failure, because I have, to use modern terminology, messed up enough that the Lord is laying His hand on me. No, sometimes it is not that. Sometimes it is the trial of your faith and mine, and it'll be found under praise and honor and glory at His appearing.
01:05:23
And wake us and try.
Always God we may flame.
No Fear of Dino.
We're done.
See.
Acts Chapter 13.
Acts Chapter 13.
Verse 36.
For David and then skipping down to the word served.
Served his own generation.
By the will of God.
And that was, it was there as he was carrying for those animals that he, he learned how to care for thy people. And, uh, we think of how.
He, uh, he served his generation and father, we, we're reminded too that, uh, there was also failure in David's life and scripture faithfully has reported that as well. But we're so thankful for the, uh, lessons that can be drawn from his, from his faithfulness. We think of how.
Uh, he had a heart that was like thy heart, and that made him.
Useful Father, we pray that you would cause our hearts to become more and more like die hard through thy spirit, through that work in US, through the, the influence of the word of God, uh, through the enjoyment of Christ, that our hearts would be changed into a heart that, uh, reflects mine. So we just thank you for the privilege that we have had to sit under the sound of.
This ministry and ask that you would make it a blessing to each one of us that there might be a little fruit born for for the little time that's left. There might be blessing in the lives of those that each one of our lives come in contact with.
That we might be able to enrich those who have needs.
Like to remind you, uh, to not forget to make your BTP purchases here for the gospel meeting. You have about 25 minutes here for the next meeting. So, uh, maybe that's a good time.