Address—Dave VanHolstyn
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Shall we begin?
This meeting by singing #31 in the appendix.
We're going to sing the 1St in the last verses.
Lord, thy love has sought and found us.
Wandering in this desert wide, thou hast thrown thine arms around us.
For us suffered, led and died.
Sing my soul, He loveth thee. Jesus gave himself for me #31 in the appendix.
First and last.
Lord, I love.
My love.
1.
Fly.
So I don't know thy mind around the.
Oh.
My God.
913.
All right.
Shall we look to the Lord for help?
What I have before me I would like to speak about.
Trials and temptations.
I couldn't help but feel lately how many trials that the Saints have been going through.
Even in our prayer meeting that we just had, there was a number of main names mentioned, but there were many that weren't mentioned too. And then in the prayers there were yet more names written.
Norm names spoken.
People who are going through difficulties.
And I know there are many more too, even in this room, who are hurting, going through difficult times.
But what I would like to bring before us is that the Lord, The Lord is working through these trials. I want to turn start with Malachi.
Malachi Chapter 3.
Malachi 3IN verse 3.
Says and he's.
Shall sit as a refiner.
And purifier of silver.
Here the Lord is the refiner. He is the one who's working with us.
So that we might bring forth more the glory of God in.
US Let's look at Isaiah chapter 54.
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Isaiah 54 and verse 11.
O thou afflicted, tossed with Tempest, and not comforted.
Behold, I lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
And I will make thy windows of air gate, and thy gates of carbuncles, and of all thy borders of pleasant stones.
We know that this these verses right here refer to the remnant that.
Have just gone through.
Many difficult times through the Tribulation period.
And they could, surely this is their voice. Old thou afflicted and tossed with Tempest.
They felt.
These trials.
Perhaps.
There's those.
Here and abroad that are also feeling the affliction.
But notice it says.
I lay thy stones with fair colors.
He is doing the work, the Lord is doing the work in each one of us, and we're going to look at.
Some more versus.
Some in the old and some in the new.
That shows that the Lord is doing at work in each one of us. You know when you accepted Christ as your Savior? That was just the beginning.
Of the work that he has in US and he is doing the work in US.
So that we might be shined to the glory of God.
Let's just look at a verse in Isaiah chapter 43.
Isaiah 43 and verse 2.
When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee.
And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Oh, here we see again, passing through the waters.
And notice the promise I will be with thee. It's in those difficult times the Lord's presence is felt the most.
You can remember too, my father, Winnie had cancer.
And.
That that time.
There weren't that many survivors, but he had a surgery. But he said I never felt so close to the Lord as when I went through that time.
And I'm sure the same for those.
Think of Shadrach, those that were cast into the fiery furnace. When you see them in glory and you ask them what they wanted, what they valued most in life, and what event took place, I'm sure they would say it's when I was in the fire because I was so close to the Lord at that time.
The Lord promises to be with us in those trials, in those when we're passing through those deep waters.
You know I wanna take a portion up.
In the Old Testament, a story in Second Kings chapter 4.
And what?
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Particular free that I desire to bring out is that in this story things were going.
Good things were going good in their life and then all of a sudden.
Tragedy Stu struck their home.
And we'll see the response. Let's look at Second Kings chapter 4.
And verse 8.
Says and it fell on a day that Elisha passed.
To.
Shusam where was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as of as he passed by, he turned in thither, and did eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now I perceive that this is an holy man of God.
Which passes by us continually.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, and a wall, and let it let us sit for him there a bed and a table, and a stool, and a Candlestick.
This shall be when he cometh to us. He shall turn in thither. And it fell one day that he came thither, and he turned into his chamber and lie there.
That's far enough.
Here we see there was.
This husband and wife.
And.
What a blessing it was to have a wife that not only.
Feared God but had a desire.
To serve God's people.
This woman.
That says she was a great woman.
And we see that she encouraged her husband perhaps and it says let us perhaps she even.
Helped build this little room.
For the man of God, because it says we.
She built this little chamber.
Notice the.
Furniture that he had.
In this room.
A bad place of rest.
I think of that and I think of.
That's what should be in every home, should be a place of rest.
A table.
What do you think of a table as a table Is where we eat there should be food.
A home should be a place of food, not only physical food, but spiritual food.
She had the perception to know that these are important in the home and she had them for the man of God. Every one of us, the man of God, he too needed that spiritual food as well as that physical food. And then it says.
A stool.
What is that? A place, A place to sit and study, to study the word of God? How important it is to have a home?
With a chair or a stool, some place where you can have some quiet time with the Lord and then a candle stick. You need that light.
Perhaps the only time because of the busyness of the day, you need that little time with a stool and a little Candlestick to read the word of God.
No doubt she had that spiritual understanding to bring those things in this room.
Things went well with them.
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But let's go to.
Verse 12 It says, And he said unto Gaziai, his servant, call this humanite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now to her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us.
With all this care, what is to be done?
For thee what is thou have spoken.
For to a king, or to a captain of the host. And she answered, I dwell among my own people.
She was.
Just content to serve.
She didn't ask anything like wanted. Well, I wanted a son, and the Lord never gave me a son. No, it wasn't even an expression on her heart.
And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gazy I answered, verily, she had no child, and her husband is old. And he said, call her. And when he had called her, she stood at the door. And he and he said about this season according to the time of life.
Thou shalt embrace thy son. And she said, Nay, my Lord.
Thou man of God, does not lie unto my handmaid.
For 17 that says and the woman conceived and bear a son.
At the season that Elijah had said unto her, according to the time of life.
Here, this woman, this great woman.
She got no doubt more than what she even asked.
She got a son. A son would speak of hope.
She got hope in the sun.
Then something happened. Things were going great in their life.
Uh-huh.
It says when verse 18 and when the child was grown it fell on a day that she went out to his father to the Reaper reapers.
And he said unto his father, My head and my head.
And he saith to the lad, Carry him to his mother.
And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother.
He sat on her knees till noon and then died.
All of a sudden, things changed.
And there has been many that things were going great in our lives.
And we often we get a phone call.
Things change. How are we going to react?
When we're passing through trials.
Through.
The waters.
I wanted to bring that song that first, first because I wanted to speak of the Lord's love because He is doing it for His glory and it is in love that He is working with each one of us.
Just as with this woman.
It says, And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
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No doubt I can imagine her with her son.
How helpless she felt that she had him on his on her knees.
And watched him.
Pass away.
How helpless. Sometimes when we're going through these times, we feel so helpless.
But like we had in that verse.
The Lord is when we had the verses as we go through, and the Lord is with us, so we're not alone.
We see.
It says in verse 22 when she came to her husband and said, send me, I pray thee, one of the young men and one of the *****.
That I may run to the man of God.
And come again.
And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? It is neither new moon.
Or Sabbath. And she said it is, it shall be well.
And she saddled her *** and said to her servant Dr. And go forward slack, not die riding upon me, except I bid thee.
So she went and came.
Unto the man of God in Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he saith to gaze the eye. Thy servant behold, Yonder is that humanite. Run now, I pray thee.
To meet her, and say unto her, It is well with thee, it is well with thy husband, it is well with thy child.
And she answered it as well.
How could she say such a word?
She was looking beyond the circumstances in which she found herself.
So she could say it is well.
And when she came to the man of God, to the hill.
She caught him by the feet and gaze. I came near to thrust her away.
The man of God said let her alone.
For her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath not, hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
Then she said.
Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, do not deceive me? Then he said, Gaziai, gird up thy loins, and take thy staff in thy hand, and go.
Thy way, if thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again.
And lay thy staff upon the child, the face of the child, and the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And he arose and followed her.
Oh, he.
She had no means of herself, but she cleaved to the man of God. She knew that only He could help her.
Then it says in the mother.
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Verse 31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid his staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again and met him, and told him, saying, The child is not awakened when Elijah, Elijah, Elijah.
Was come into the house. Behold, the child was dead.
And laid upon his bed. And he went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.
And he went up and laid upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth.
And his eyes upon his eyes, and stretched out his hands upon his hands, and stretched himself upon the child.
And the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned and walked into the house to and fro, and went up and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed 7 times. And the child opened his eyes.
And he said and he called Gehazi and said call the Schumannite. So he called her and when she was come into.
In unto him he said, Take thy son.
Now she went in and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son and went out.
Here we see.
This woman.
Son was raised from the dead.
And.
Notice what happened. What was her reaction after she got word that her son was alive? What did she do?
Did she? I can imagine myself. I would just run and give my child a hug.
So happy to see him again, but notice what she did.
It says.
She fell.
At his feet, at the man of God's feet, and bowed herself to the ground.
She gave thanks.
Before she embraced the child. It shows no doubt appreciation.
For what this man of God did for her son. And then he says he took her his her son and went out.
What? What wonders what grace we see in this woman?
You know I wanna look at some verses in the New Testament.
In in first Peter.
First Peter, chapter 2.
OK.
First Peter 2.
First Peter, one verse, umm.
Verse 6.
It says we're in for speeder 16, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if needs be. ERN heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of your faith be in.
Much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
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I think.
The key part that I wanna bring out here is that it's at the appearing.
That perhaps during the trial, it's not, we don't value it, but it's precious and it says at the appearing it says that it might be.
Found praise and honor and glory.
At the appearing Jesus Christ.
Let's look at a verse in.
Umm.
Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2.
In verse.
10 you know we we have if if you would go to verse eight, you would speak. It speaks about how we were saved. It says not by for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast our salvation is.
Something that we we received by grace alone, not by works, not by anything that we have done. And then it continues on.
It says for ye have.
For ye are his workmanship created.
In Christ Jesus unto good works. We are his workmanship, our work. We're still work in progress, every one of us.
We could probably put that on us. Work in progress.
The the work the Lord has in US isn't completed yet.
Let's look at also a verse the same thought in in Philippians.
Philippians 2.
Verse 13.
It says, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
When when we see and feel the Lord's hand, do we see His hand of love and care? He does. You know, when the children of His or when the Lord Jesus was on the earth?
And he saw the people.
When they were hungry, what did he say? It says he had compassion.
On the multitude.
He has a care for each one of us, and it is.
Notice it says.
Of his good pleasure he delights to He wants to work with us and to bring out more of the glory of God and we're going to look.
At.
Averse in Revelation.
Revelation Chapter.
21.
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Remember, we started with that, that we, we, we started that first in Isaiah that spoke about our affliction and that that brings out the.
Glory of Christ in it.
In.
Well, let's just look at this first and maybe we'll go back and turn to that, but in Revelation 21.
And verse 9 to bring this out. This is the bride.
Revelation 21, verse nine, it says. And there came.
Unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come up, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
And he carried me away in the Spirit in a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
Having the glory of God and the light, and her light was like unto a stone, most precious, even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal.
And then if we go to.
Verse 19.
We have the 12 foundations.
This is in Heaven verse 19.
It says. And the foundations of the walls of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones, and the first foundation was Jasper in the second, sapphire in the third.
Tell send me and the 4th and emerald in the 5th.
Sardinex and the six Sardis, the 7th crystal light and the 8th barrel so forth. Here are these these stones that are in.
In heaven, and they're shining forth.
The glory of Christ in them, and I believe it speaks of those those 12 Stones is the same.
Shining out, you know.
I've collected a number of these stones myself.
And I actually brought them to the conference, but they're at the hotel.
But.
One thing that you'll notice when you look at these stones, if you shine a light in them, the light that reflects that, umm, the prisms of light that come out of them, it's, it's very beautiful.
And.
That's what's going to take place in heaven.
When we are.
Around the Lord.
Those times of difficulty and it just shines out the glory of God, you know?
With those stones, where are the stones found?
Well.
Most of them are found in the earth, they're in the dirt, they're hidden and with the pressures of the earth itself and the right chemicals, 'cause these gems to come forth to produce.
And those gems are under the earth. Nobody can see them. Somebody has to take them.
And take them out of the earth and put them in another place.
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That's like sanctification.
Every one of us are sanctified and sanctification, not only is it means separation, but separation for a purpose.
It's important so those gems that were taken and put into one place so that they might shine forth.
To the glory of God. And that's what He is doing with each one of us now. He is shining forth, and He is in a coming day, He will.
The glory of the Lord will shine and I'm sorry I didn't bring them but.
We see that the Lord is doing a work in each one of us.
And.
He will complete it.
It says He that hath begun a good work in thee will complete it, and He will in each one of our lives, and.
So as we see these.
Circumstances we find ourselves.
Remember the Lord, The Lord is with us and we may not understand all the things that are happening in our lives, but I can assure you if you are His that He is working with you individually.
So that we might bring glory to the Lord.
Wondered if we might.
Sing song.
#100 No 301.
What I really have before me is verse one and four but.
We'll, we'll re, we'll sing the whole thing.
Our rest is in hell.
All right, it's not here.
That my should be trembled.
When thy own bloody hands.
In my sunset in the airplane.
All right, I can come.
By so I'm going to cross around to me, I'm going to.
Uh-huh.
Yes, yes, my God.
It's making power and 11:00.
And umm, can you tell me? Oh yeah, I'm getting $1000.
Oh my God.
Wait for the Lord of the Rings.
I cannot be long.
My thorn and the fish go on a throat. I'm not expecting for the Lord. We need to do what's not my God for me. I'm close to the country to go home.
Without my phone and sun, the Greens can't come on Cortana.
Oh yeah, let me make sure Lord cleared out the full.
I'm trying.
Tomorrow, what can I bring you all?
00:45:03
10-4 point 4:00 I'm going to look at the book and look at them.
May possible.
With on the background.
I got it.
Be my son and stay.
On his mind.
I'm going to make him cry.
And look for a barefoot all the time.
WellCare everyone.
Come.
Well, it it says in this 4th stanza, Let trial endanger our progress, oppress the only, make heaven more sweet at the close. Come joy or come sorrow, whatever.
May be a home with our God will make up for it all well, we know that there's.
Many besides trials, we have opposition.
If you want to please the Lord, you're gonna have to.
Stand perhaps alone.
I know.
In this last time that we were in India, we felt there was much oppression, much umm, difficulties from all angles from the government.
From the community, from even those that were within that left and.
The Lord There's a verse that I wanna close with.
In.
Isaiah.
Umm yeah, Isaiah chapter 59.
I know many of us, we feel the.
The oppression and more and more we're seeing it that.
The Lord is allowing.
As much difficulties, but it says in 40 in Isaiah 59 verse 19.
So shall thy, so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the east, and His glory from the rising of the sun here. Here's the part that I want to bring out. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
The Lord will only allow it to go so far.
He will look, he will watch after us.
And we don't have to be.
Discouraged that, we think. Well, it seems that.
Evil is becoming more rapid and and it seems there's no justice. The Lord sets up a standard. He only allows it to go so far.
The Lord rules.
Shall we pray?