Open—B. Prost, M. Payette, B. Christensen
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Can we sing together #225?
225.
It seems of confusion and creature complaints. How sweet to the soul.
His communion with Saints 225.
Ways I will straight through.
So it was like.
Joy.
All of you.
I don't cry.
Taste of all.
We go ahead.
Let's go over again now we do.
To shine.
Jesus.
00:05:53
When I read part of the first before we pray.
In Acts chapter 10.
Acts 10.
And the middle of starting at the middle of verse 33.
How therefore, are we all here present? We're God.
To hear all things that are commanded thee.
Of God.
Right.
God and our Father, we thank Thee.
For all that thou hast.
Given to us, and particularly this.
Weekend this yesterday.
And this morning, the early part of this day, thankfully for this sweet remembrance of the Lord Jesus this morning.
To enter into just a little of what thou just go through and the great price that that is paid for us.
For our redemption.
Glory of thy Father.
Now we're here, back in this building, and we asked the this open meeting.
That that was direct by thy spirit, our Lord and Father.
That only those with whom to whom thou hast given a message for us.
Stand up to speak.
That we might be ready as Cornelius was.
All his heads to hear the things.
And so.
Has prepared for us.
In this very meeting our garden father, so we commend this next.
Hour or so into thy hands.
Or the direction of Thy Holy Spirit, the Oscar, and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.
I'd like to take a few minutes and talk.
About the subject of suffering.
And to start off, could we turn to a verse in Second Timothy that is well known? Second Timothy chapter 3?
Second Timothy, chapter 3.
And verse 12.
Yay and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus.
Shall notice the verb. They're not simply a matter of the future tense, but shall suffer persecution.
And then if we could turn back to Romans 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
00:10:03
In verse 16.
Romans 8 and verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, And if children than heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared.
With the glory which shall be revealed in.
Then go down to verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Then one more scripture in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
2nd Corinthians 4.
Verse 14.
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
For which 'cause we faint not.
Though our outward man perish, at the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us of far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look at not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
None of us likes to go through suffering, do we?
And yet over and over again in the Scripture, the Word of God tells us that it is the common portion of believers.
And when God saved the apostle Paul, who was then known as Saul of Tarsus?
And when he was to be visited by Ananias, who was to baptize him, and as it were, to welcome him into the family of God.
We find that God told immediately Ananias. I will show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake. And Paul, as it were, was what we might say, the standard bearer for this dispensation. Not that he didn't make mistakes, but he marked out the pathway of a man who walks before God, who belongs to heaven, but who is sent back into this world.
As a witness and a testimony of what he has heard and what he has experienced.
And you and I know, and I trust it's well known, all of the sufferings that some of our brethren and other lands are going through at this very moment.
And I suppose it's a conservative figure, but I understand that probably close to 200,000 believers every year give their lives for Christ. And again, I say that's probably a conservative figure, so that there are probably more believers who are being martyred for the name of Christ today as to actual numbers, than at any other time in the history of Christianity.
I say to your soul and mine.
Are we going to get off Scott free?
Are we going to get off in North America without any suffering? No, it says all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And while we are so thankful for the fact that we are not sitting here under the fear that some authorities will burst through the door and at gunpoint, force us to go to prison or force us to go into death or something more than that.
00:15:17
Yet at the same time, may I suggest to your heart and mind that God in these last days is making us feel a little of what it is to suffer the reproach of Christ. Again, I say it isn't always the direct sufferings that some are experiencing in this world, but the Lord knows how to allow those things in your life and mine which will cause us to realize that we are not yet home.
That hymn we sung has always been a favorite of mine.
And everyone here knows, I trust in some measure what it is like to be at home. I suppose there may be those here who have had a very difficult time in their lives, and maybe you haven't known at every point in your life what it was to have a home. It's the most difficult thing, and I must confess that I have never experienced it.
But I rather think that the man who wrote that him. And if you look in the back of the Little Flock hymn book, you'll find it's a man by the name of Denim.
And if you go over to London, England, you can find his grave there in Bun Hill Field Cemetery on the outskirts of London.
Because he was an outcast, because he wouldn't go along with the prevailing ideas that the Church of England had, and he was what they called a dissenter.
But there's even more pathos connected with the antecedent to that him because some here and probably many know that it was based in its sentiments at least on a secular hymn known as Home Sweet Home that goes something like this mid pleasures and palaces, though you may roam, be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. And on and on it goes. And that was written by a man who was an American by the name of J Howard Payne, who somehow fell into difficulty with the American government and was forced away from the United States.
And he wandered all over Europe looking for a place that he could call home. And he remembered with fondness.
The place that he could call home over here in America.
And he wrote that song Home Sweet Home.
But the story is told of how one day he was wandering in various parts of Europe and he found himself in London, England. And anyone here, if you know anything about London, you know that there is a very wealthy area called Hampstead. And it's been a wealthy area. It's been sort of the area of London to live in for many, many years. It was so way back in the 1800s. And one time Howard Payne found himself.
Homeless, cold, hungry in some of that miserable, wet, rainy weather that is common enough over in London, England. And he tried to take shelter under a large overhanging shrub under the Bay window of a wealthy home in Hampstead. And there he huddled, trying in some way to keep warm and keep out of the rain. And now you can imagine what he heard inside that house. They didn't know he was there.
There were people. There was a family, warm in the light, happy, well fed. They had a piano in the living room and someone was playing the piano and they were singing. What were they singing?
Home, Sweet Home, the very song that he had written. And there he was, homeless outside.
Huddled under a Bush, nowhere to go, and people right within inches of him.
Makes a big difference whether you're on the inside of the outside, doesn't it? Singing his song.
In the enjoyment of everything that home meant. And there he was, huddled outside.
I say to your heart and mind, I don't want to speak too long. There's time for others.
But these verses bring before us the fact that there are sufferings in this present time.
And there are different kinds of sufferings in the believers life which we do not have the time to go into this afternoon.
Thing is suffering for righteousness sake, and everyone who loves righteousness suffers. Today, in an unrighteous world, there is such a thing as suffering for Christ, and we find that expression among other places in Philippians chapter one, To suffer for his sake. That's a higher plane of suffering, because I suffer not merely because righteousness is being trampled under foot, but because the claims of the Lord Jesus are not being honored.
00:20:28
But then there's a higher plane, if I could suggest it even more than that, that we get here.
In Romans, if we suffer with him, suffer with him. Oh, suffering with Christ is even a deeper thing than suffering for Christ, because it involves.
Experiencing everything that he experienced with thoughts that are in tune if I could use the expression in on track with his and we feel as he felt.
When God allows suffering in your life and mine, He allows it to come from different angles.
Some here know what it's like to be without a job.
Very, very difficult and something I must confess that I have never experienced.
People don't usually put medical doctors out of a job.
But it's a very real thing and it's hard to bear.
And yet the Lord allows it. Sometimes there are young people here that are going through various difficulties and hurts of different kinds that maybe you can't tell anyone else about. And maybe you say, why does this have to happen to me? And you look at somebody else, if you're anything like me, and say, oh, he or she hasn't made. They don't have the problems I have. They don't have to go through the difficulties that I have.
Sometimes there's a shortage of money, and Bruce was talking about it. Money is a commodity in this world. It can buy many things.
And it's very important here in North America, isn't it? Very important.
Suffering, and God allows suffering in your life and mine. Sometimes it's ill health.
And it can be very, very difficult.
Very hard to bear.
Very, very difficult suddenly to find out that that health that you took for granted is not there anymore. Or that the things that you used to be able to do, you suddenly cannot do anymore because old age is creeping up on you. And you suddenly find that the faculties that you used to have are not the same anymore. And it's not easy.
What is it all about?
Always say to your heart and mind, and we don't want to go over these scriptures all in detail.
But let's remember what it says there in Romans 8 and verse. What is it 18?
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time.
Are not worthy to be compared, not even worth weighing the one against the other. Why? Oh, because of the glory.
And I say most of all of my own heart, but I say to your heart that if there is suffering in your life of any kind, now there is that which we bring on ourselves. Yes, there is that which is the government of God in our lives. And often there's a mixture. Peter talks about the trial of your faith, but in the same chapter he talks about if needs be.
But nevertheless, whatever suffering the Lord allows, I suggest that it's for you and for me to have a little glimpse of coming glory. A glimpse of coming glory.
And it's a wonderful thing to talk to those who have been in circumstances where they have had everything taken away.
And what has it given them? A glimpse of glory. It has given them a glimpse into what we get in 2nd Corinthians 4 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. Oh, they can seem awfully important at the time, can't they? And we all know what that feels like.
But it's a marvelous thing to see those with whom God has taken much away and yet to find them absolutely rejoicing. Why? Oh, because there's a glimpse of coming glory. An old brother years ago, I never knew him. He's been long since with the Lord, long before I was born. A brother by the name of Crossley. He once made a remark. He said, Oh brethren, he said, if you and I had only the smallest glimpse of coming glory.
00:25:20
We would probably be unfit to be here in the intensity of our desire to be gone.
When the Apostle Paul came back from the 3rd heaven, what does he say? Oh, I can't, I can't.
I just can't. I heard things, but it wouldn't be lawful for a man to utter oh, he recognized that what he had seen and what he is, well, I shouldn't say that doesn't say anything. He saw what he had heard and what he had experienced.
Was of such dimensions, he said. I can't, I can't relate it to you down here.
But sometimes God has to take away what we take for granted down here in order.
To get our attention in order to make us realize that everything down here is temporal.
What does he say there in Romans 80? He says.
Who shall separate us, and notice the expression there? In one case he uses the expression the love of Christ.
And then again at the end of the chapter he uses the expression the love of God.
Why the difference?
If you have time, and I suggest this to anyone, but particularly the young people, go through particularly the New Testament and see how many things you can find that are related both to Christ and to God. We get the love of Christ and the love of God.
There's one more in this 8th chapter of Romans, The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. See how many you can come up with.
Then go and cheat and use the power of Bible or the online Bible or something like that. But do some looking 1St and see how many you can come up with.
Others may have a different thought or a deeper thought, but I suggest in a general way what the difference is.
When it talks about God, the thought is more nature and power.
When it talks about Christ, it's the practical realization and enjoyment of it in your life and mine.
And so it talks here in Romans 8 about the love of Christ. And what does it mention there?
Practical things. Tribulation.
Tribulation.
That word has its origins in the Greek in the word that is used for scourging someone.
Strong word. And sometimes the problems in our lives can seem almost that bad. Tribulation.
Or distress, persecution, famine.
Nakedness, perils, sword. But then what does Paul say? Quotes from the Psalms, as is written. For thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Now that's Israel in the Tribulation, properly speaking. But Paul applies it to us. Why? Because he says, as it were. That is what we are to expect.
Many years ago, in the latter part of the 17th century, late 1600s.
There were godly people who lived in Scotland who were called Covenanters and they didn't do everything right.
And in some cases they took up arms in order to defend themselves, which wasn't the right thing to do, but there were many godly people among them.
And those who have enjoyed that him in the appendix, The sands of time are sinking. It's based on the ratings and on the life of Samuel Rutherford, who lived during that time in Scotland.
And those Scottish covenants stood firm for Christ, in many cases against overwhelming odds.
And what did they learn when their children were growing up? They learned to expect martyrdom. They learned to expect martyrdom.
We don't expect that, but are we that faithful to Christ?
00:30:01
There was once a man who was a preacher among them who was out in hiding. And in those days there were plenty of places to hide if you didn't mind living in a cave and roughing it a bit. And this man was in hiding and everyday people that knew him would bring him food, and usually they'd send out young boys to carry the food to them because they knew how to take the shortcuts and go through the fields.
One day a young boy was taking a parcel of food in a bag to this man and he got caught by the dragoons.
And they tried to make him tell where the old man was. They said, tell us where he is and we'll let you go. Oh, he said, no way, no way.
They held him over a Cliff by the scruff of his neck, by his collar, and said, now are you gonna tell us?
The poor boy pleaded with them. Oh, he said. It's an awful long way down. Have you not got any children at home?
But they were heartless. They said. You've got one more chance. Tell us where the old man's hiding. And.
And when he wouldn't tell, they dropped him.
The old man didn't get his lunch that day and the little boy never came home. And his mother didn't have to ask any questions. She knew very well what had happened. They expected that. That was a fact of life. Those things happened every day.
What does it say in verse 37?
In all these things we are more than conquerors. How can you be more than a conqueror?
Oh, I like to think of it this way. If you were on a ship in the days of sailing vessels and you encountered a storm.
I never was on a sailing ship, at least not to get from A to B. Anyway, I was on them, but just for interest sake.
But I used to read lots of books.
And when a storm came, they'd let out the cry, all hands, shortened sail, and all the sailors would have to turn out of their hammocks down below and go up on the rigging there and out on the yard arms. And they do what they called shortened sail, take the sails in and tie them up, because the storm would rip them to ribbons if it was a really strong wind. And then they just had to let the ship go. And when the storm was over, they got out there sextant and figured out how far they'd been blown off course and how much damage had been done.
And when, if they survived the storm and they didn't have too much damage, they'd say, great, we conquered, we won.
But, you know, occasionally something else happened. They found that that storm, instead of being their enemy, was their friend. And instead of taking them way off course and wrecking the ship, it rather drove them even faster and further toward their goal than they would have gone if they'd had all sales sat in a good, fair wind, as they called it.
That's being more than a conqueror. When the storm works for you, you're more than a conqueror. And God says the storms work for us.
If you asked a sailor that, he'd say, well, huh.
I'll take my chances with the fair weather. No thanks. Don't give me the storm because they usually work against me.
God says they work for us.
And I say to you and to my own soul, they're working for us. The storm is working for us.
And then he goes on to say, I am persuaded. And this time he talks about things that are beyond this world, things over which men have no control.
Death, life, angels, principalities, powers. I suppose that would refer to fallen angels that are always against us. Things present, things to come, height, depth, any other creature, things over which only God has control.
They can't separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I say to each one here today.
God wants you to enjoy him, not merely for his power. Yes, when God is in.
The picture, it is His nature and power, but here it's not so much, shall I say, his nature and power over all of those things, although that is true, but it's the strength of His love. Because God wants you and me to come close to Him as our Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ wants you and me to come close to Him, not only because of what He can do for us, not only because He's able to get us out of trouble.
Not only because he's able to order our circumstances, but for what he is in himself.
00:35:06
Isn't that precious? And so if we go back.
To 2nd Corinthians 4.
For a moment it says for this, 'cause we faint, not excuse me for a moment.
For which 'cause we faint not, that means we don't lose heart, we don't give up.
Why?
Because though the outward man perished, the inward man is renewed day by day.
Some of the greatest encouragements that I had in my life or in the presence of an old brother from Scotland.
Who's still spoken abroad? Scotch accent.
And he'd had a number of heart attacks, and he was scarcely able to get out to meeting. But every time I went to visit him, I was reminded that though the outward man perished, the inward man was renewed day by day. And then it talks about our light affliction, which is but for a moment again, the same thought is more than conquerors, it works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The word wait there I understand has the weight of a heavyweight.
Something that's almost impossible to carry.
It's the same word that is used in that expression.
Uh, those of us that have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Burden, heavy burdens. It's the same word that is used in Galatians 5, where it says bear you one another's burdens, a burden that's too heavy to carry.
Oh, I say, beloved brethren, God has such an eternal weight of glory up there for you and me. We're not going to be able to carry it. We're not going to be able to bear it. It'll be more than we can carry.
An eternal weight of glory.
What does he want us to do?
Look at the unseen things.
We can only do it with the eye of faith, but sometimes it takes suffering in order to bring us there. I don't look for suffering and we shouldn't look for it and I don't ask for it. We shouldn't ask for it. But if God allows it in your life and mine, may we be given grace quietly to bow our heads and say, yes, Lord, give me grace first of all, to humble myself, as it says in first Peter 5, under the mighty end of God. And then.
To recognize.
That in all of that, he's going to make me more than a con.
Isaiah chapter 40.
And verse 28.
Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord?
The creator of the ends of the earth fainted not.
Neither is weary.
There's no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increase its strength.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail, fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as Eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk.
And not faint.
But these verses come to mind in connection with what our brother was saying, the encouragement that we find.
In our God that fainted not, and it never wearies, and that he can produce in our lives those that consistency of going on.
And that these verses bring before us.
I don't have some deep thoughts to share this afternoon, but I would have you noticed that in the 31St verse it says that?
They shall mount up with wings as Eagles.
We only get the right perspective, you know, on things is when we see things from God's perspective and see them, see them from above.
The creatures of God has made in this world with wings are called birds, and he tells us in matches Gospel to consider the birds.
How they depend on God for their food.
And I'd like to talk about a few creatures this afternoon.
00:40:02
Some birds. But before we go to birds, like to talk about some creatures in Psalm 32.
This is good for boys and girls and older ones too. You know all the creatures about us God has made in his intelligence and wisdom.
And just by observing those things that he made, he has put in those things.
Intelligence for us, things perhaps to imitate. We have in the Proverbs the act that we're called to imitate. Industrious, hard working, and others we're called not to imitate. In a 32nd Psalm it says.
Verse 9.
Be ye not as the horse.
Or as the mule.
Which have no understanding or no intelligence.
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and brittle.
Lest they come near unto thee.
If you read in a new translation in my French Bible, it's not lest they come near unto thee, but that they would come near unto thee.
I believe what the Lord is saying here, don't be like the horse.
And the mule come.
When I get a mule going, sometimes you have to push because it's stubborn. It won't go. Sometimes like that we're stubborn.
We don't want to go.
And sometimes we like the horse.
We got some instruction before we finished receiving the instruction.
Away we go. Whoa.
What does the Lord want from us? We had that yesterday in the Reading God Watch fellowship. He wants to have us.
Close to himself. He's going to have us physically close to himself when he comes.
But he will have it that way right now. So let's not be like the horse or the mule that we would be drawn close to the Lord. You know the Lord says in Matthew 11, learn of me, take my yoke upon you. But when the same yoke with the Lord real close by his eyes upon us, we can see his smile, we can feel his approval. We'll be walking in paths of righteousness for sure when we walk with him.
Well, there are other creatures we'd like to consider, and one I just like to get from this chapter because.
David had a serious fall, you know, and was after he went onto the roof of his house.
And he saw with his eyes a beautiful woman, which he coveted.
And he followed through with the covetousness of his heart that was provoked by what he saw with his mind. But it all began because he was on the top, on the roof, and he had a perspective on things perhaps other people didn't have.
Because he had probably a very nice house and a high house and a place he could look from.
And I think of animals that have a perspective like that. I think of a giraffe, you know?
They have long necks and they can see. They can see for.
And it's an advantage for them as they eat the brand food up on the higher limbs of the trees.
But how should I be? Not like a giraffe? Well, perhaps there are things I don't need to see.
Not to stretch my neck out to look at things, because perhaps if I stretch my neck out to look at things, maybe I'm going to see things that are going to provoke the covenants of my heart and I'll get in trouble like David.
In our province, they probably have those here too. It's like safari parks and we were in the car there one day and safari park and.
Those giraffes came along, Beautiful Creatures, long necks, friendly, and we had some fruit. I think it was maybe we had carrots or something, I'm not sure.
This giraffe bent down.
And put her head through the window.
Not only does she have a long neck.
They have quite a tongue.
She got ahold of that carrot and you had to wipe your hands and from all over who from that huge tongue they had, well, you know.
Our tongues. God says every creature man has been able to.
Not domesticate, but to dominate. You might say. I don't have a word in mind but the tongue.
Let's learn from the giraffe and not be like a giraffe. Let's not have a big tongue.
We're going to talk a lot.
00:45:01
About people.
Let's talk a lot about people to God.
Let's talk to him about people.
And if we're going to talk about people, we should talk to the people we're talking about.
May God keep us, dear ones, from harming others with our tongues. Well, David was on the roof and he saw something.
And the covetousness of his heart brought him into trouble.
You know, body, soul and spirit. That's how men understand they're made. But the scripture says spirit, soul and body reverse the order.
In the world we live in today, serve the body.
Well, God says spirit, soul and body. And if we keep our spirits clean.
Those things will not get into our souls and become objects of desires or affections.
And our bodies will not follow through.
To get into trouble like David did.
You know, in the Colossians chapter 3.
Verse one. If he if he, then be risen with Christ. Seek ye those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who was our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth.
And so on.
It's interesting if you consider the end of the second chapter. It says. It speaks of religious prescriptions, you might say.
Chapter 2, Verse 20 Wherefore, if he would debit with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not.
Which are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in all, and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Well, there could be ordinances, touch not, do not, taste not.
That's horizontal, It's coming from our minds. It's our religious minds, religious prescriptions. But when you go to heaven and your thoughts are things that are in heaven in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, you're not going to have these bad thoughts. You're going to have good thoughts and you're going to bring these thoughts into this life down here and mortify this body of sin that wants to do those things that are displeasing to God. So I just enjoyed this, that at the end of the second chapter, their earthly prescriptions, you might say.
But you get into the third chapter having your mind set on things above. Then you can come back down in practical Christianity and apply those things that you enjoy and what you are in Christ to your life practically well.
If I said an elephant, for example, what do I find with an elephant? What's remarkable about an elephant? Well, an elephant's got a pretty long nose, you know.
And we say, don't be like the elephant.
Don't be knows.
Let's not be nosy, dear ones. Let's be discreet.
They have big ears.
You like to listen to things you're not supposed to hear.
Well, I'd like to go to a verse in Job Quickly chapter 39.
Because if you're going to have wings.
You need to be a bird. God has made many birds.
There's one bird that's remarkable.
There are few of them of that similar species. I think they call ratites. I'm not sure if that's the right word in English, but in Job chapter 39.
In verse 13, you have to forgive me because I've enjoyed this portion in the French Derby and it reads a bit differently than the King James, but we'll read it in the King James and I'll suggest to you the thoughts that come from the French version. Gave us thou the goodly wings unto the Peacock, or wings and feathers unto the ostrich.
Which leave it her eggs in the earth, and warm it them in dust, and forget it, That the foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers. Her labor is vain without fear, Because God hath deprived her of wisdom. Neither had he imparted to her understanding what time she lifted up herself on high. She's scoring at the horse and his rider.
00:50:02
Well, the ostrich is a real particular bird, you know.
Because it's really a bird lays eggs.
Has wings.
But it can't fly.
Biggest bird ever? The ostrich. You can say the ostrich can say I'm the biggest bird ever. We could tell the ostrich, but you can't fly.
Birds are made to fly.
And Christians are made to trust and to live by faith.
We can know many things, but until we exercise our faith, we're not going to be flying.
Now the smallest bird I know of, I'm not sure if it's the Hummingbird in English, it's in French. It was a mush. It's a little, it's a very small bird. And this little, small bird, you hardly can see its wings because they beat so fast. But this little bird, maybe an ostrich was look at that bird. Say you're so small, you're really a bird. You look like, like a wasp to me, you know. But that bird can fly forward, it can fly backwards and it can be still when it flies.
I don't know too many birds that can do that, and the ostrich can't do that alone. This little girl we heard about this morning in Sunday school.
I was thinking of that little Hummingbird boy. She could fly. She had faith in the greatness of God. There were small things that she had, but they seemed impossible to us, didn't they? She asked for small things and she got those small things. We can ask God for big things and we'll get those things too. We ask according to His will. But the ostrich here, it says in the 12Th verse, she flocks her wings and she has beautiful feathers, you know.
But she can't fly, whereas the stork has beautiful feathers too. It can fly, but it makes its nest in the trees, not on the earth.
So the ostrich puts her nest as she leave it, her eggs on the earth, and warm at them in the dust, and forget it, that the foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers. Her labor is in vain, without fear.
God tells us here that He has deprived her of wisdom and intelligence and understanding.
Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians. He says be, not, be not without understanding. Understand what the mind of the Lord is.
The Apostle Paul, when you write to Timothy, he says consider what I say. The Lord will give you intelligence, understanding in all things. We had a remarkable meeting before on stewardship.
Very practical on physical objective aspects of life and on spiritual aspects too.
Listening to the Word of God gives U.S. intelligence and wisdom.
In all things.
Now if I said don't be like the ostrich.
Not commit your young to the earth.
Give it your young to the Lord.
Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
It says she is hardened against her young ones.
Can we be hard on our children as believers?
Perhaps we can be.
My wife and I, when you brought up our children, we had some literature given to us and.
I would say it was one sided.
It was one sided. It had.
Multiple applications of the rod.
And I'm not against discipline in any way, but it was unbalanced.
When our children go up, are they going to remember?
The rod are they going to remember that we love them and cared about them and wanted what was best for them?
What we want from our kids is it what is best for us, that they behave in meeting and make us look good.
We want them to be happy and to know the Lord and to enjoy His love. And I think we know through us, the parents, something of the character of God. You know, when God made men, He made him in His own likeness.
And he made him male and female in his own likeness. Genesis, chapter one.
The Apostle Paul, the spiritual father. In Two Corinthians chapter two, he refers to himself how he cared for the Saints as a mother.
00:55:02
Nourish it, her children, and as a father.
What beautiful characters to be imitators of if we have children.
Well, I can't proclaim a success story of my children, but I trust with the Lord with His help.
That my children know I love them.
And I trust that your children.
Know that you love them and that you have the heart of God towards them.
And that and the selfishness of our hearts and the pride of our hearts is not.
Sneaking its way into the way we treat our children. Well, this is what the.
Ostrich was doing. She was hardened against her young, as though there were not hers. Well, you know, our children are ours, and they're the Lords.
And we honor the Lord in the way we treat our children and what we do for them. It says her labor is in vain, without fear. God had deprived her of wisdom. Neither had he imparted to her understanding.
And then she runs up and she laughs at the horse and the rider said, look at me, how fast I can run.
I trust the Lord will give us dear ones.
As we consider the example of the ostrich, in spite of what it says here about her.
There is no humility here. There is no recognition of failure, of lack of wisdom and intelligence.
She has a mocking spirit.
May God keep us, dear ones, may we be true as we listen to ministry every, as we hear reproach, instruction and correction on our own failures, confess them to the Lord and look to him for grace, perhaps to do it better the next time, to correct these things in our lives, and that we would be kept from the blindness of pride.
One last word dear ones, before I close, I just want to mention.
As we consider the body of Christ.
We represent here the body of Christ, that loaf on the table. This morning our sister was remarking how big the loaf was. And I said, well thought in my heart, it's much bigger than that. You know, it's it's.
Represents every flawed thought God, every member of the body of Christ the brother was saying before 200,000 a year cross into eternity and their testimony for the Lord Jesus. We need to have enlarged hearts and keep our hearts enlarged not to go away from the narrow path that's set before us. Continue obeying, submit ourselves to the scriptures, but may the Lord keep us dear ones from having special thoughts about ourselves.
Special thoughts about ourselves not to despise a privilege that is ours. There's no greater privilege on the face of the earth than to be around the Lord Jesus and to show His death together, as we had this morning.
Momentarily Paul is on are going to be in his presence, and we're going to be with them equally in his presence. But may we be kept from thinking of ourselves as anything more than all the others who are so dear to the heart of the Lord as we are also.
That the spices.
Thereof may fall out.
Let's just look at another verse in the 45th chapter of Isaiah.
Wasn't too long ago that I noticed this first. I had never noticed it before. It's verse three of Isaiah chapter 45.
Says And I will give thee the treasures of darkness.
Treasures of darkness.
Well, we generally don't think of much good that comes out of darkness. We think of that darkness that sometimes envelops.
And sometimes it doesn't make us feel very comfortable.
Remember one of the first times I brought a brother from Woodbridge down to Dorothy and he had always lived in the town all his life?
We got down to Dorothy and it got dark and there were no St. lights.
And he said to me, Brucey, it's dark down here.
01:00:05
It's dark down here and I could see he didn't feel comfortable, but here it speaks of treasures of darkness. Let's just turn to the Book of Micah.
Chapter 7.
Says in verse 8, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy.
When I fall, I shall arise. That's confidence in the Lord, isn't it?
When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
Not when I sit out in the bright sunshine.
But when I sit in darkness.
And I think of many of those that.
Suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps put in prison and dungeons.
And when you read an account, perhaps written.
Some years later of their experiences.
You see how very real the Lord was to them in those circumstances.
And I believe that this can be described in those verses that we've just read. When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
And just one or two more verses before I close.
Let's.
For a moment.
Go to the 28th of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 28.
Again, this is a wonderful chapter to read because we see God's handiwork our brother.
Was speaking about God's handiwork.
And those that know me realize that I.
Have a keen interest in birds.
I've probably seen over 1500 species of birds in my life and.
More I read about them and the more I study about them.
I realized the wonders of God's creation from the tiny Cuban bee Hummingbird to the large ostrich which is in the family reiformis, having cousins and.
Australia with the cassowary and EMU and South America with the RIA. You just.
Learn more of God's wondrous creation.
Might just give a brief account of a bird that's somewhat related to the ostrich.
Speaks about the ostrich laying its eggs. There's a bird family.
In the country of Australia called the Mega Parks.
And they will collect a mound of vegetation and dirt and sand.
They will pile it up and the female will lay the egg in that mouth.
They then abandoned the mound for a few days.
They let the heat of that rotting vegetation incubate that egg.
The mother will come back every few days and that mother has a heat probe.
In its bill that could tell the temperature within three degrees whether it was too hot or too cold.
And if the nest was getting too hot, she would remove vegetation.
If it's not hot enough, she would add vegetation. So.
We see the wonders of God's creation. Well, if we read this 28th chapter of Job says surely there is a vein for silver and so forth.
But we see in verse three, he setteth an end to darkness. An end to darkness. Well, what a prospect the believer has of being ushered into the presence of the Lord Jesus. And for the believer that certainly is an end to darkness.
01:05:04
In 208.
#44 in the Appendix 44.
01:10:01
You said for Saints press courage take the cloud is so much dread or big with mercy then fell great and blessings on your head 44.
So much stress.
Yes.
Why not?
That's why we pray and we like to read one more verse and Song of Solomon chapter 4.
Verse 6.
01:15:03
Until the day break.
And that day is coming.
And the shadows flee away.
I will get me to the mountain of America.
And Hill of Franklin.
Thank you, our loving God and Father, we would thank you for thy goodness to us.
We thank thee that we have, so I promise that they will be with us for suffering.
We would think of many of our fellow believers this very time facing great difficulty in trial, so we would bear them up each.
Before provide sustaining grade, we thank You for the practical application of Thy word this afternoon. We would think of those creatures that thou hits created.
We would think of practice of the practical lessons that we could get from my word as a result of considering some of their characteristics. So we would not dancing for those that might be traveling through their several minutes this afternoon. Yeah.
Think of our fellowship together, and we think of the.
Gospel by grace going forth to because thank you in our seasons worthy and precious name. Amen. Amen.