Address—Bernie Roossinck
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Well, it's certainly good to be with you again.
Uh, quite a many few years that we've been here together at this camp and the Lord is good. The Lord is faithful and it's so good to see each one of you. So welcome.
I would like to start with him #288.
#288.
O thou whose mercy is far.
I fell pimple.
With that Brown and every time I go away again. And yet I said it's our whole.
Till out of gold on me. That's my father name.
In our thumbprints and thou crystal, praying and praying and praying and praying and throwing that down.
Assess for the Lord's self.
Her loving God and Father we.
Come before the the beginning of this meeting, Father, and we quiet our hearts before the.
We ask for a blessing out of thy word tonight.
Father, we thank Thee for Thy faithfulness and goodness and grace and mercy and kindness.
So many things, gracious Father, that thou hast poured out upon us, Lord, we ask for blessing, encouragement, strength.
Umm, help as we go along together these last few days.
We commit this meeting into Thy hands. We turn today for guidance. We pray for the right words, the right thoughts. We thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for thy well beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, who has done all things well. We ask for those that are traveling at this time, perhaps.
Caught in traffic or just about here? Lord, we just pray for.
Traveling mercies for them too, in Jesus name, Amen.
Well, as I look around, I know a lot of you.
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But I don't know all of you. My name is Bernie, I'm from Grant, MI.
And other than Doug and Sue, I probably live the closest to this camp of anybody, so we're about 15 miles from here.
Some of you have traveled a long ways. I see a lot of children here and I love children.
I still think I'm a young man, but turns out I have a kid that's almost 20 now. So I'm not a young man anymore, but see a lot of young people here. I value you young people.
A lot of families.
I hope that, uh, your time at the camp this year is gonna be a time of encouragement and blessing.
You know, we're living in a in a day where there's not much faithfulness.
I have on my heart tonight to talk about the faithfulness of God.
And that's a big topic and we're not going to cover every single aspect of it, but I have a few things in my heart that I hope will be a help and an encouragement.
You know, I just said we're living in a day where there's not much faithfulness.
You know, you turn on the news and you hear about fake news. You hear about.
Umm, bad character. Uh, you hear about broken promises. You know, we just had an election here in Michigan this week and, uh, it was a primary election. So you got candidates that are on the same team, more or less bickering with each other. Oh, this guy is no good. He promised that he wouldn't wear.
Black shoes and he did can't be trusted. I'm just making an example, right? But umm, all kinds of decay in the world around us we see, uh, you know.
Solemn wedding vows being tossed aside.
You know, umm, recently we were at a high school graduation and they were announcing the graduates and, uh, surprising, shocking to me how many kids were announced as uh, from multiple homes.
And it's.
It's sad, you know, some of us, uh, come from assemblies that are getting smaller.
And they're shaking in our assemblies.
We're living in a day in the business world where character hardly matters at all.
But you know, despite all of that turmoil.
And stress.
God is faithful. God is faithful.
So there's a lot of places we could turn, but let's turn to Lamentations chapter 3. And we all know the song Great is Thy Faithfulness, which is taken from this passage. I thought about singing that tonight, but I don't know the words well enough. I would be the blind leading the blind, probably.
So.
This book of lamentations is written by Jeremiah. Now you young people will remember Jeremiah was living in a day.
In, uh, the land of Judah. That was much like our day today. Umm.
The people of God were given to idolatry. They were given to uh.
Sexual immorality. They were given to uh.
All kinds of problems and Jehovah had been pleading with his people, turned back, come back, and finally.
The judgment of God was given out and Jeremiah had to preach the message.
God is going to judge, and right before he wrote this that we're going to read in Lamentations, umm.
The enemies of God's people were amassing their armies and they were going to come into the land and there would be a Holocaust.
Thousands of people slaughtered, people carried into captivity.
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Jeremiah suffered because he was God's messenger. So let's read from verse 19.
Uh, remembering mine affliction, my misery.
The Wormwood and the gall, my soul happened still in remembrance and as humbled in me. We often read that on Lord's Day morning, uh, in relation to the Lord Jesus. And it's a beautiful application. Uh, but I think for tonight, uh, I would like to drive this with Jeremiah was saying in a literal way, yes, ma'am, I have been having a hard time.
Any of you relate to that?
I can.
That would look what he says in verse 21. This I recall to my mind. Therefore I have hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion's failed not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.
You know Jeremiah, I take from this every morning. When he got up, he took an inventory.
Of his life. And you know what the conclusion was The conclusion was.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Thy mercies, thy compassions, fail not. They're new every morning.
Young people.
Are you what? What is? What is your life anchored on?
You know, sometimes we sing, uh, the hymn Will your anchor hold in the storms of Life?
You anchored on the Lord Jesus. You anchored on the promises of God. God is faithful. He's for you in every way, and you can trust Him.
You can trust the purposes of God for your life. You can trust the counsels of God for your life.
God wants to bless you.
And here Jeremiah could think over all the hard times that he'd been going through.
And say.
I recall to my mind the Lord's mercies, and I have hope.
This I recall to my mind therefore, and I have hope, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion's fail not. You know, sometimes bad things happen to you Christians.
And we'll get into that a little bit later here, but.
I wanted to start with this. You can trust God. God is faithful. You can trust his Word, You can trust his purposes for you. You know, I think sometimes of the.
Song abide with me. There's a line in there that says change and decay and all around I see.
O thou who change us not.
Abide with me.
The Lord never changes the rest in that. So there I would like to go into the faithfulness of God and three things to start here. And the first one is God's character. You know, people talk about character and it brings to our hearts, uh, words like trustworthy.
Honesty. Umm.
Change.
And a person that is faithful has good character. God has perfect character.
You know it says in Hebrews chapter 13, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever ever changes.
Malachi, it says, I, the Lord, do not change. He is faithful.
Absolutely trustworthy.
You know young people.
I think I imagine some of you are asking yourselves, is God trustworthy? Can I really turn my problems over to God? Does he care? Yes, he cares. God loves you.
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God is staple. Think about some of the character of God, Mercy, God merciful. We could spend the whole camp studying the mercy of God, Gracious, God gracious. What is grace by the way, Brittany?
Grace is getting what you don't deserve. You know how I learned what grace was? Kids, How many? How many of you like candy bars?
I do. When I was a kid, there was a man named Ron Reeves from Iowa that was a brother to Mrs. Beliselli that some of you know, and Ron Reeves was a great umm.
Object lesson guy and I was in the back of the Sunday school, absolutely misbehaving in every way. And he had this candy bar. I don't know how big it was, but it seemed big like this. And he said you there in the back, you come up here and get this.
So I went up there and he goes, this kid is the least deserving of this candy bar and we're giving it to him.
And I never forgot what grace was. God gracious.
Yes, God is gracious, holy.
God compromises holiness. No, it's been the whole camp on these subjects. Uh, righteous. Absolutely righteous.
And so.
We can take courage that God has the.
Absolute perfect character and he's faithful. Faithful. You can anchor your soul in it. You can some, Yeah. If I can use the expression you get that, the firearm on it, you won't be disappointed. God is faithful. He loves you.
OK, now.
Let's say that Tim has character.
And he's kind of committed to helping you, but suddenly he crashes his car and he's no longer able to do it.
That can happen, right?
Happened with God. God loses ability to be faithful ever.
God is capable of keeping you. Yeah, we think of, I think it's Ephesians chapter 3. Let's turn to that.
Is God able to keep us? Is God able to help you?
In your time of need, yes. Ephesians 3, verse 20 Now unto him that is able.
To do abundantly, exceeding abundantly.
Above all that we ask or think.
According to the power that worketh in this, and to him the glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, World without end. Amen. Capable. You know I could be willing to help you, and I might not be able to.
God never has that problem. God is absolutely totally able in every circumstance of life, no matter how hard it is, God is capable.
June tells us.
Like I can quote this properly now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you blameless.
God can do that. God is faithful. He has the ability to do it.
About commitment.
The three C's about God's character. I wanna bring out God committed to his people.
All right, we could turn to a lot of scriptures for that, couldn't we, God?
Is committed to his people in so many ways.
Umm. One of the my favorite verses about this is Romans 8.
He despaired, not his own son, but the.
Delivered him up for us, so now let's read Romans 831.
What shall we then say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us?
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He that spared not his own son, but delivered Him for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
God committed to you.
Yes.
Yes.
You know, there are a lot of umm.
Covenants and promises that God made.
Just turned to a couple of them just to see.
These are unconditional covenants that God has given to His people.
There, there are. There are some things God has said that if you do this, then I'll do that.
But there are three that I wanna just notice really quickly that are unconditional.
First one is Deuteronomy 7. Sometimes we call this the Levitical covenant. This is what God said to his people Israel.
Umm Leviticus 7 verse 9.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to 1000 generations.
God is faithful.
Turn to Psalm 89.
You, uh, young people will remember that, uh, David, King David was a man after God's own heart and.
Umm, God gave him a promise that there would never lack a person to sit on the throne of David, uh, forever. And we know that the Lord Jesus was in the royal, umm, line of David and he is the king of kings. But, uh, let's look at Psalm 89. And this is the sum of.
Uh, David, I believe I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
Verse Two. Mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Umm, first three, I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed though I established forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Seal.
And then if you go down through the chapter, the psalmist is taken up with the faithfulness of God. Verse five, thy faithfulness. Verse 8, thy faithfulness. So on, thy faithfulness. Well.
Goddess faithful, he promised David that he did it.
There's no way that God wasn't going to do it. Uh, let's look at the new covenant.
Umm could spend a lot of time on this too, but we're not going to, uh, it's mentioned in Luke 22. Umm.
Luke 22 uh, verse 20 likewise also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and.
Uh, we could read in Romans 9 and in John chapter 10 how God was bringing out blessing to the Gentiles and to be blessing his own earthly people. God has an earthly and a heavenly people and we're not going to spend time on this, but it'd be good to study this, umm.
Where God says to his people, umm, while this quote, a few of them off the top of my head, uh, John 10 you know, other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring. And so the Gentiles are brought into blessing. Romans 9, it talks about Israel and the Gentiles being brought into God's favor.
And Jeremiah speaking to, uh, God's earthly people, There's a.
Well, let's just turn to it so I can get it right to Jeremiah 32.
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Umm, verse 37.
Behold, I will gather them out of all countries.
Further down in the verse I will bring them again and I want you to notice how many I wills there are here. I will bring them again. 38 I will be their God. Verse 39 I will give them one heart and one way.
40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will not turn away from them, I will put my fear in their hearts. Verse 41 I will rejoice over them, I will plant them in the land, and so on. Now this is written 600 years before Christ was born into this world, now God faithful.
Where are the Jews today? Are they in their land? Yes, they are.
Everything God said he would do, He will do.
OK, now.
Let's change gears a little bit. Turn to 1St Corinthians chapter one.
I wanted to spend some time, probably more time than I should have, on God's faithfulness, but now.
I want you us to think about.
God's faithfulness in keeping us and protecting us and in nourishing us.
God care about your protection. Yes he does.
God care about your spiritual growth. Yes he does.
God wants to nourish you in your life. Yes, he does. OK, Now before I read these verses, umm, so for some of you kids that don't know the word as well, First Corinthians was written to, uh, it's a letter. It was written to the assembly at Corinth and that assembly had some serious problems.
Let's get a list of some of that I can think of.
Quarreling, bickering, arguing, disagreements, Paul says. They were carnal, boastful. They had superior attitudes toward each other. They were allowing immorality in their assembly.
They had domestic problems, marriage problems, they didn't understand the resurrection.
They were dabbling in idolatry. They were abusing the Lord's Supper. A sound like a.
An assembly where there can be progress and growth.
God is faithful.
So let's read these opening verses of First Corinthians.
Paul, that's the author called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Suthanese our brother unto the Church of God, which is at chorus to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be Saints.
With all that, in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, and in everything you're enriched by him. You know utterance and in all knowledge.
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.
So that you come behind and no gift.
Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was thinking of whispers. God is faithful.
Whom you were by, whom you recalled unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. You know God is faithful, and God is interested in your.
Spirits will growth and well-being.
God is faithful. How could, how could the apostles say here that you might be blameless?
Given all these problems that they were having, be.
Because God is faithful.
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Gladys Staple.
Turn over to 1St.
Let me think where to go first.
Second Peter, chapter 3.
I know we're moving around quite a lot here.
Second Peter, 318.
God is interested in.
Your growth but growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
God is faithful and He will work in your life to produce growth. We're gonna get into this in a minute or two here. Umm.
Any of you kids, uh, ever wonder if you're really safe?
I used to wonder that any of you, even adults, how many of you wondered once asked the Lord more than one time to save you?
I did.
Umm, let's turn to John Chapter 6 for something.
A way to think about and hear what the Lord Jesus himself says.
Alright, umm, I don't like standing behind that thing. Is it OK if I stand out here?
John, Chapter 6.
Uh, we'll begin with uh.
Verse 38.
Yeah, verse 37.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.
And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which sent me. That of all which He hath given me I should lose.
A couple.
Is that what it says?
How about it? Is that what it says? I'm just I'm only going to lose a few. I should be able to hang on to most of them.
No, I should none.
Excuse me?
All that the father giveth me all. How much is all? One of your kids, Alison, How much is all?
Most.
More than most all is everything. The Lord is not going to lose any better. His none.
So rest in that you know you can worry about your salvation. God's not worried about it. He knows what he did.
And he says here I should lose none, none, zero says in John chapter 10, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and most of them should be able to squeak through. Is that what it says, Rich?
No. Most of them, no.
How I gotta turn to it because I got my cell phone messed up. Gotta stick to the word.
Uh, by the way, uh, kids, uh, do you ever wish that there were good books you could read that were exciting?
Go read the book The Stories of the Grace of God in Bolivia.
Uh, about the missionary name Eric Smith, I wish, you know, sometimes you ever wish that you could go back in time and meet somebody.
If I could do that, I would like to spend a day with Eric Smith.
Anyway, he gave this verse to uh Inca Indian chief.
And it led to his salvation. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never. How much is that, Shannon?
How often is never none for perish, neither shall any man pluck the men in my hand. OK, you kids, is God able to save you and keep you?
Is there a chance you might slip through his fingers? God is faithful. Never. It's not going to happen. You know, it says in I think it's Second Timothy.
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God is faithful. He cannot deny himself. I'm not quoting that right. I got second Timothy. Let's let's look at that.
I think it's chapter 3.
No, it's not. Somebody help me with that.
Second Timothy, 213.
Yes, if we believe not yet He abided faithful, He cannot deny himself.
OK, can God be unfaithful to himself? Kids, could you slip through the hands of God if you're really his? It's not going to happen. Rest in it, anchor yourself in it. You're safe. You're in God's hands.
Your safety and security. I I don't worry about that anymore. I used to because God's Word tells us God is faithful and you are secure.
OK, now let's go back to growth again. Uh, First Thessalonians 5.
All right, First Thessalonians 523 the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God, your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that called you, who also might be able to get it done.
Did I read that right?
No. Who also will do it? He will do it right, is faithful.
And so here we have.
Your whole spirit, soul and body being preserved, blameless. God is faithful to do that.
Does that encourage your heart? It does mine.
Let's go to 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3.
Verse 3.
But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil.
You wanna be established in your Christian life?
God is faithful, faithfully working in your life to establish you, to ground you in the truth. You know, young people, do you spend time in the Word of God?
The open it up. Do you read it? Is it?
Mean anything to you?
God is faithful.
Get into the word. Pour it into your soul.
God will, uh, bless that and bring out growth. Establish your heart. He's faithful to do that.
Turn to Hebrews 10.
Alright now.
In case you think that I umm.
Am a seasoned professional at the Christian Walk. I'm not.
I'm not.
Some of you heard me talk at Saint Thomas Conference about confidence.
We need confidence.
There are things that happen in our lives that shake us.
And I confess that I'm one of those people, but I take great.
Umm, comfort and great encouragement out of the fact that God is faithful. So here Hebrews 10 verse 23.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
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OK.
The Lord Jesus is sometimes called the rock.
Now.
Is the word Jesus shaking and.
In anticipation of how he's gonna get me through tomorrow. Is he nervous about it? No.
Now I sometimes I find myself on the rock shaking.
But the rock is not shaking, is it?
And here's some encouragement for you.
Let us hold fast without wavering. That's hard to do.
It is hard to do.
But think about young people. Who are you putting your confidence in? This is God. This is God's Son, the Lord Jesus.
Perfect in every way.
Totally trustworthy. You know, I, I maybe this is a man thing.
I like to know what the plan is.
Often we do. I don't know what the plan is. I asked my wife about this. What's the plan? What are we doing? What are we? You know, it's it's 8:45. What's that happened at our house? Ready.
It does, you know.
I find myself sometimes wavering, but young people, God is not wavering. God is solid. He's trustworthy.
Faithful is he that promised? Promised what?
Let's go to first John's chapter 2 and we'll see what he promised, promised a lot of things. Uh, one of my favorite verses, uh, in Peter is whereby are given unto us exceeding and great and precious promises.
And I have to ask myself, am I walking in them? But anyway, let's go to uh.
Uh, first John chapter 2.
And verse 25.
This is the promise that He had promised us, even eternal life.
Eternal life, you know, if you've given your heart and soul to the Lord Jesus, if you have confessed to Him that you're a Sinner and asked Him to wash your sins away, and he's come into your heart and He's your Savior.
You'll never be lost. You are gods and He is in all the way home, Savior all the way home.
God is trustworthy. He's faithful. He has promised eternal life.
Now think about this with me.
Uh, when God told Noah to build the ark?
Umm, did you read? You ever read the verses about the handles on the outside?
Have you seen?
No, I haven't either. Are you glad that God didn't tell Noah? OK, for at least the next 40 days and then I'll let you know what the next step is. Dave, you read about that? No.
God, there's no handles on the arch.
Oi and his family went into the Ark.
God said come, bow into the ark and say go, and he said come in, which means God was in there, right? And God shut the door and they were safe now.
Are you trusting in, uh, God for your life? Do you care about the decisions you're going to make tomorrow? You care about what college you're going to choose to go to? Does he care about the recent death in the family that you're sad about? Does he care about the family tragedy that you've had to deal with this year? Yes, he does. He loves you. He's in all the way home, Savior.
And you can trust him, fully trust him.
And you can revel in that, you know, it's, uh, sometimes there's a, a him that really, uh, strikes a chord with, with you. You ever have him like that? Uh, one of one of those hymns for me is how good is the God we adore?
Our mostly faithful. Is that what it says? Faithful, Unchangeable acquaintance?
Friend, he's your friend. How good is the God we adore, our faithful, unchangeable friend?
00:45:03
Maybe we'll sing that at the close, but.
Think about hymns like that, you know I have driven to work and then in real struggle.
I got a 50 minute drive to get to work.
And maybe anticipating having to let somebody go.
Or.
Hope I can say this without getting in trouble this winter I sat across conference room table from a farmer that owed me.
A million two.
And he looked at me, said you owe me 1,000,005.
And I ain't paying, so sue me.
Tell you what, man.
That hurts. I think I went as Gray as Tim's shorts in three nights.
The Lord preserved me. He brought me through that time of stress.
And I tell you, young people, it's so helpful to be in the words and to sing and to pray.
Yeah, you're driving over there and you know, you got to go meet this guy or whatever your situation is.
You know, just open your hymn book and sing.
You know, things like a little talk with Jesus how it smooths the rugged Rd. He sang that 1000 times this winter.
Day by day.
So encouraging the Lord speaks to your soul.
Pours his love in.
Says, am I trustworthy, Bernie? Yes, Lord, you are.
Yes. OK, now for the rest of the time, I wanna deal with a, uh, another aspect of God's faithfulness that's maybe a little more difficult. Umm.
Some 119.
This is a sum written.
Where the psalmist was in love with the Word of God.
But I want to look at verse 75.
I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that, and that Thou in Thy and faithfulness has afflicted me. Ouch.
Thou in thy faithfulness has afflicted me.
Anybody here enjoy affliction?
I don't see any hands why it hurts. But here the psalmist could say, Lord, in your faithfulness you have afflicted me.
So just in your minds imagination here.
It's just.
Sit beside the road in in ancient Bethlehem had a hot summer night.
And we see 2 ladies coming.
Up the track.
And we're looking and others are watching and.
Can see that they're not having a very good time of it.
And maybe they have most of their possessions in the sack on their back.
And.
One of the older people in Bethlehem says, you know, I think that's Naomi.
Could it be Naomi?
Get up there and see you, Naomi. Don't call me Naomi, call me better. The Almighty has afflicted me.
Ouch.
Was God for Naomi?
Yes.
But he was against her ways.
Now we all have affliction in our lives.
And those of you that are really young, you will have affliction in your life because God is faithful things, sad things, tragic things happen that God allows.
A couple weeks ago I had a guy in my office, one of my applicators, and uh, he was trying to get a raise out of me.
00:50:02
We talked back and forth for a couple weeks. One Monday morning he said no, I can't do it, I'm leaving. Got another job driving over the road, truck make 20 or $30,000 more. I broke. I got to have the money. It was fine. So we had a nice discussion together.
Next day he called me. He says I'd like to keep my phone number. Yeah, that's no problem. Next day I got a call. Randy just had a massive heart attack and he's dead. Boom. Dan 8, probably day and a half later. He's in eternity and his widow was devastated. Young children.
You know what? And I know those of you that are my age or older, you felt it. You know you've had to have surgery on your back right then. Is that fun?
No, a loved one has passed away.
Somebody that's dear to you is, you know, broken home.
All kinds of problems, yeah. So I'll use Jim Highland as an example of cancer to have surgery.
The Lord has allowed it.
So what is our response? Is it gonna be like the psalmist David that says bored in your faithfulness?
Thank thankfully Naomi didn't stay there well.
Why do Christians suffer? I'm going to be really pointed here. Sometimes Christians suffer because you're too far into the world.
That's the facts of it young people, you get out into the world, God will have to bring you back and it can hurt. Think about lot lost is umm.
Marriage losses, yeah. I lost everything you had financially. Lost his home.
Lost his testimony. He lost everything. Why? Because here he was seated in the gate of Sodom. Should he have been there? No. Absolutely not.
OK, why else do you Christians suffer unwise use of the tongue?
Get ourselves into trouble? Yes, we can.
How about, uh, sewing to the flesh and reaping what you sow?
Says in Galatians 6, Be not deceived, God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth that, so he also reap. And God in his faithfulness you will reap what you sow Count on it now God will be with you.
In the valley, it takes to go through that reaping.
But you will reap what you sow.
But it's not all bad. How about, uh, Christians and Dave, uh, how about Christians in India right now suffering from persecution? It's real, It hurts, but God has allowed it. How about Joe, you know, his friends thought he had all kinds of problems, but he was caught in a spiritual battle and God allowed Satan to take away.
His goods, his family, his home, his health.
Sometimes we can suffer from the sins of others, right? Think about how it must have burned Samuel's heart when the children of Israel said, you know, Samuel, your sons are no good. We're not following them. Oh, ****.
Hertz.
Physical problems, you know, your hands are your knees hurt, you have bad eyes, whatever. You got cancer.
Sometimes it's for the glory of God. Think about the man who was born blind, right? And his disciples say Lord, was it him or his parents that were bad?
That deserve to be born blind, Lord, says neither one.
It was so I could be glorified, right? You're willing to suffer in those circumstances?
Umm, think about the what Paul could say about the fellowship of Christ suffering.
Umm, his daily care for the churches, how he loved them and went through agony of soul for their good.
But you know, young people.
00:55:02
You will have affliction because God in His faithfulness afflicts us.
But it's for a reason. We're almost out of time, so go to Hebrews 12.
Umm, you know, God chastens us as sons. Yeah, If you're not feeling anything from God, I wonder if you're really in the family.
Umm, my God, it it says here he chases us.
Umm.
Hebrews 12 Umm yeah, it's hard to know where to read because we're almost out of time here. Umm.
Verse six for whom the Lord lovethe chaste nip and scourge of every son he receiveth do you endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons and so on. You know there are multiple reasons God could chase in you. Umm, one of them is to punish for wrong behavior.
That's the reaping what you sell. One of them is to purge things out. You know, I have tendencies and pieces of my character that God has to deal with.
And you have that too. And there are things that he has to purge out. It's like pruning the vine so it brings forth more fruit.
The Lord might afflict you to prepare you for something.
You know, it's not everybody that that can come along, a person that has lost a loved 1A son or a daughter and comfort that person.
God might be preparing you for a life on the mission field.
Uh, another way is, uh, that God, uh, uh, afflicts is to prevent this from things. You know, the apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh and he wanted to get rid of it. And God gave him that thorn in the flesh to prevent him from getting all proud and puffed up because he was caught into the 3rd heaven. And God said, no, Paul, I'm not taking it away, but my grace is sufficient for you. I'll give you the grace you need.
You know, I I brought something long to show you and we're out of time, so I'll be quick here.
You guys see this right here?
This is a wooden yoke and uh, this part of it right here is made from a piece of cherry wood that I got from Art Buchanan at the, uh, Lawrenceville harvest party. And I went down there with the young people and I wanted, it was harvest time and I thought, man, I'd really like to get in the combine, but it was raining, so Art said I got a brand new band saw and I really wanted to try it out.
So we cut up a bunch of logs and he gave me a bunch of cherry boards. And I like woodworking, but you know what? I cut this piece of cherry wood in that grain and begin to turn and it was twisted. And when I cut it, it snapped way out like this. And that's how it is when God is working with us. Sometimes every piece of wood that I'm working with is different.
You have to work it differently because of the turn in it.
Umm and God works with us that way in our lives. It's it's kind of affliction, but God is faithful and he's doing something good. Now these pieces then used to be straight. These are curved. They used to be straight. And I like woodworking, so I took these. These are pieces of ash, which is a long fiber wood.
And I steamed them and I bent them and now they're this way. And I had to do it really slowly.
And carefully. And I had to use heat.
And that's kind of what God is doing in his faithfulness. He might say, I need you to be this bent stick.
And he applies the heat and the gentle pressure and He gets you to where He wants to be. You know, God never promised to change your circumstances or mind, but He did promise to be with us in it. He never said, I will take it. I will take you out of your circumstances.
He's working with us. I hope that analogy is helpful to you kids. God is working with you as an individual. None of us are the same.
You can't compare your life to somebody else's and say how come he's doing this and she and I'm not and.
Everything God is doing is for your good and your blessing. God is faithful. He loves you. Well, now we are out of time.
01:00:05
When you're out of time, there's a lot, lot more to the faithfulness of God. But I hope, especially you, dear young people, I hope that you will trust him for your life, for your lives. You know, the decisions you're making, the places you're going, who you're choosing as friends, what you're thinking about.
God is faithful.
Absolutely for you in every way. He loves you.
All right, let's sing #23.
I was telling you has meaning to me.
Umm, when I was a 11 year old, you had to be 12 to get invited to the Belicelli's camp. And my brother Rez was old enough, and my friend Shane was, and I wasn't. But I was really hopeful because I knew the character of Missus Belicelli was kind and I thought, man, she's going to invite me too.
But she didn't.
So off they went to camp and I had to stay home.
And my great cousin.
I think it's my great cousin Kathy Reno was at our conference and she was singing this song to herself and I heard her singing it and it really meant a lot to me.
Never forget how I felt when she sang that hymn. She had no idea I was listening to her saying that. A couple of years ago my dad died and uh.
After he passed away, he was laying there.
Uh, we sang this hymn.
Around his bedside.
And I found out that I didn't know this. I found out that this was the hymn that my mom and dad sang at their wedding. They started their married life with it and they ended it. Same song.
Is the Lord faithful?
Anyway, that's why.
That's why I love this song.
So let's sing it.
Word cell.
Grace's Heavenly Father.
Oh, how?
Thankful we are for thy faithfulness, Father.
And the faithfulness of thy well beloved son.
Lord, I pray for each of the families that are here.
He said the young people.
Each of the children.
Lord help us.
To trust in you.
To turn to you.
In the good times and in the bad times.
Where you're faithful.
Can never change.
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Here for us. Oh Father, thank you. We pray for blessing upon the camp this year.
Pray that the Word of God would be powerful and real. Uh, the fellowship and the times we have together would be uplifting and encouraging that we would go on together.
Until thou hast come.
Lord, it would be great if that would be tonight.
While we're waiting, we lift up our eyes, our faces today, and trust.
Banking the that thou art totally totally faithful. We bless you and praise you. Pray for those that are still traveling in Jesus precious name, Amen.