Open—Don DeGraff
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Turn with me into Genesis 39.
Like to quote a verse, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power.
And of the love, and of a sound mind.
Sometimes.
God has to take us to very hard places to reach us. Our brother spoke to us from Ephesians 4A prisoner of the Lord.
Would any of us like to be a prisoner?
Chuck Colson said that God had to take him to the thing he feared the worst. He was imprisoned and he founded prison Fellowship. Will hear Joseph in chapter 39 and verse 20, it says. And Joseph's master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the King's prisoners were bound.
And he was there in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph.
And showed him mercy. And gave him favor. I'm going to read a few more verses of Jeremiah 32.
It's the topic, not the passage. I'd like to focus on the topic. Jeremiah 32.
In verse one, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the 10th year of Zedekiah, king of Judah.
Which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison.
Daniel, Chapter 6.
Daniel 6.
Verse 16 Then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Doesn't say prison there, but maybe even scarier than.
Acts Chapter 12.
Acts Chapter 12.
Verse 4.
X12 and four and Winnie had apprehended him. He put him in prison.
And delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church of God for him. Acts 16.
X16.
In verse 22.
And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the the jailer to keep them safely. Verse 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.
The prisoners heard them.
Why did God allow those people? There's something wrong with Joseph.
Is there something wrong with Jeremiah? Is there something wrong with Daniel?
Mark chapter 6.
Mark 6 and verse 17. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in a prison. Ferocious sake. So Joseph, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, is there something wrong with them?
They're in prison.
They're in prison.
Isaiah 61.
I.
Maybe what needs to happen in our culture, in our society, is a few people need to be.
Able to face prison. There was a pastor in Western Canada who might have been Saskatchewan, I'm not sure. I'm not going to go into the story, but he was willing to go to prison for his beliefs.
00:05:01
The Lord judges all, and knows the motives, the purposes of all these things. Isaiah 61 and verse one. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has set me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourns.
Jesus, read this passage.
He read through these verses, but then when he got to the part of the day of vengeance of our God, it says he closed.
The book.
We need to realize our God does not want to have to do that. But it says he must have the day of vengeance of our God. Our brother David read to us from Revelation 20. It's going to come to pass. All the things that were written in the book will be fulfilled perfectly, exactly, precisely according to the thoughts and purposes in mind of Almighty God.
But that time is not yet. He closed the book.
The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. There was to be a blessing. We need to be strong and of good courage.
And numbers 13.
People have asked the question why? Why is all this going on in our world today?
It's quite a world we live in today. It's something that even I could never have imagined.
In younger years.
Try to find the verse I'm searching for and it's in Numbers 13.
Verse 17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Go you up to this way southward, and go into the mountain, and see the land what it is. And the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, or few, or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, and whether it be good or bad. And what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or strongholds, and what the land is, whether it's fat or lean, whether they're wood they're in or not.
And be of a good courage, and bring the fruit of the land. Now the time was come, the time of the first ripe grapes. And they went up and searched the land, and then after they came back.
They reported on the land.
Says in verse 30 Numbers 13 and 30.
And Caleb spilled the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
Do we serve a big and grand and glorious and wonderful and majestic God? God our Savior? He has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Sometimes God has to take us to the hardest and the scariest and the most frightened places.
To show us how real he is. Psalm 107. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. There's 43 verses. I'll just read some.
Psalm 107.
In verse 22, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. They that go down to the sea and ships that do business in great waters. These see the works of the Lord. Our brothers spoke of people praying and prayers being answered.
They that go down to the sea, and ships that do business in great waters, These see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep, for he commandeth.
He commanded, He commandeth, and raises the stormy wind which lifted up the ways thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits and.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet. So we bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
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We need to have that praise and that Thanksgiving and that worship.
To God.
It wasn't until they crossed the Red Sea that they could sing.
They finally sang when they stared on the other side. They crossed the Red Sea and they sing. And in the New Testament, when did they sing? We're told, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Jesus and his disciples, they sang to him, and they went to the Mount of Olives.
Paul and Silas, they were beaten, thrown into prison and they prayed and saying praises to God.
We want more wonderful things to happen.
Maybe whether really, or at least metaphorically in a manner of speaking, we need more prison experiences, we need more hard times so that we see the goodness of our Lord. We have a day coming soon. We will all be home in the father's house. But as a brother, I remember coming from, I think he lived in Newfoundland and he came to our assembly in Cuyahoga Falls and he said.
There are only a few hours before sunset. We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few hours before sunset to win them. There are battles, Caleb stilled. The people he said we're well able to overcome. Do we doubt that? Do we doubt the authority of his word? There was a brother who said when he died, he said the book, the book, the book, and then he went.
And he met the author of that book. That day is soon coming, very soon coming.
We have work to do, may he help us to do it.
210.
210.