Stubble Instead of Straw 2-4-1996 Sun PM

2-4-1996 Sun PM

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Turn to uh Exodus chapter three, please. Exodus chapter three. And let's encourage everybody in. I hope those uh in the foyer tonight, can you see me okay? Good. Everybody okay back there? Thanks so much for sitting back out there. Exodus chapter number three. And also, would you pick up John chapter 15? Exodus chapter 3 and John chapter 15. If you're visiting here tonight, uh we're gonna speak about some current events going on in our church. And uh as a pastor, I I really don't mind addressing current events. I think it's good for us to be able to be practical with the Bible and apply it to our own lives, and sometimes we need to apply it to the church as a whole, and that's what we'll do tonight. Now, this might be just a little bit loud, Brother Gene. Exodus chapter 3. And notice if you would, in Exodus chapter 3, verse number 7, the Bible says, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the what? The affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters. For I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them. So he saw their afflictions, he heard their cry, he saw what was going on down there, and saw their sorrows, and he said, I'm going to deliver them. In verse 9 it says, Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the what? Oppression, wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. So he said, I saw the affliction, I heard their cries, I saw their sorrow, I heard their oppression. And he tells Moses that he is going to be used of God to deliver them, the Israelites, out of the hand, if you would, of Pharaoh. If you would, in chapter 4, would you look there? Chapter 4 and look at verse 1, brethren. Verse 1. In the four-year, can you hear me okay back there tonight? You okay? Great. In Exodus chapter 4, verse 1. And Moses answered and said, uh, but behold, they will not what? Say it, talk to me. They're not going to believe me. God says to Moses, I want you to go, and I want you to deliver the Israelites out of the hand of Pharaoh, and you know the story. And Moses goes and says, you know, they're not going to believe me. They're not going to hearken to me. They're not going to, they're not going to listen to me. And so God gives him a couple of signs because the Israelites at that time in verse 8 and 9, if you read it, they were definitely, if you would, like to see signs and everything. The rod becomes a serpent. The hand goes in, it becomes leprous when it comes out. And he says, now go show the people that. So if you would pick it up with me, look at verse 29. Verse 29. Exodus chapter 4 and verse 29. Look at it very carefully, please. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. These are the ones who were crying out and afflicted and oppressed. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses and did the signs, that rod that turned into a serpent, if you would, and the leprosy and the hand. He did the signs in the sight of the people. And look at verse 31. Would you say the verse four words of verse 31 with me? Ready? Begin. And the people believed. Would you say it again? And the people believed. So the people bought into this thing, and they they followed, if you would, the fact that Moses and Aaron were set up. And when they had heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and what? Worship. Everything was great. They believed what was going to happen, and they believed the words that Aaron and Moses spake. They believed everything that was going on, and they were going with this program, look up here, by faith. And by the way, brother, that's the only way you could take it. By faith. They were going to leave and follow Moses and Aaron by what? Faith. They had not seen it yet, but they said, okay, we believe. They were believing in something they had not yet seen, but they believed, and they were going to go on by faith. Look at chapter 5, verse 1. And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I mean, they're pumped up. Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice. Turn up just a little, guys. I'm going to save my voice. To let Israel go. I know not the Lord. At least he was honest. Neither would I let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence and with sword. Now the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, comes back and he says, Why should I let you go and release the people from the burdens that they do? And they said, he says in verse 5, the people of the land be many, and Pharaoh, the same day in verse 6 commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. If you know anything and you've read and studied anything, they used to make these bricks, and even uh archaeological finds have seen, if you would, things built in Egypt, some of the smaller pyramids, and they're built out of these bricks that were made with clay and with straw as the texture, and they would put these things together and bake them in the sun. And so he says, I'm not going to give you straw anymore. You're going to have to go find it for yourselves. Verse 8. And the tail of bricks which they did make hereto shall lay upon them. Ye shall not diminish aught thereof. For they be idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. And Pharaoh says in verse 10, thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Verse 11, look at it. Go ye. Get ye straw where ye can find it. Yet not all of your works shall be diminished. And here's, if you would, a text verse, if there is one tonight. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. Now, brethren, let me make a statement to you. Were they still in God's will? Let me ask you again. Were they still in God's will? They had decided that they would believe Moas and Aaron and enter into this situation. They had told them, we believed, and they fell down and they worshiped. The only problem is God didn't tell them that Pharaoh was going to take away the straw. Did you ever have the straw taken away in your life? Did God ever say to you, uh, or you felt like you're in the middle of God's will and doing what God wanted you to do, and all of a sudden you found yourself out gathering stubble instead of being fed straw? You ever been there? If you haven't yet, you will. You say, Well, I don't know if I will or not. If I know God and I know enough about how God deals with people, brethren, sooner or later you will be put in a situation where you will be right in the middle of God's will. You will bought into something that you said you would do by faith for God, and sooner or later God will have a situation where it will seem like the straw is taken away and you'll be out gathering stubble. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but that's kind of what's happening to us right now in the ministry with our rented buses. Now, if you haven't heard yet, uh, I'll give you just a quick scenario and we can certainly give you the details on it. And as a church, I hope you don't mind me bringing up church business. This uh situation with our buses, and uh, if you're in here tonight and say, I'm just gonna hear something about something locally here, oh no, sooner or later, you just mark it down, sooner or later, right in the middle of God's will, God might say, Okay, let's uh let's allow the straw to be taken away, and let's see if they'll go gather stubble. Let's see what they're made of. Let's prove them a little bit. Oh, sure. Happens uh, and this church has been through that a number of times. I hope that was a good laugh. And so what happened was uh oh a few weeks ago, I'm gonna say uh towards the beginning of this year, January, just a few weeks back, our rented bus, the company where we rent bus from, had a had a new manager, and that business manager called over and and talked with us. And uh just wanted to again reiterate the insurance practice and everything that we had set up. And we knew this that if there was a bus that had a collision, because our insurance would not cover our drivers of their buses, and by that I mean this. Our insurance covers our own own buses, the ones that we own. But it will not cover the buses that they own. And it would not cover our drivers to drive their buses. And we knew that if there was a bus collision or anything like that, that the church was responsible to pay for uh a dent offender or or if it was a major uh incident where a bus was totaled, we would be required to pay for that, and we entered into that by faith of the Lord that God wanted us to do this program, which I believe we've been having those buses over uh well over a year now. And it's been a good impact. We uh we had the the biggest bus crowd we've ever had in October. We could have never done it without those rented buses. Our Spanish ministry, our shuttle ministry, uh Bill Long with the friendship class, they were all able to use buses, our deaf ministry, and on and on it goes. Because we had these leased buses. And uh when we talked to this business manager, uh we uh again asked about uh the company and whether their insurance was covered, and something came up that just really hit us that that maybe it should have hit us before, but it didn't. And when we talked about personal injury and personal liability, it came to pass in our minds as we were thinking about that. You know, it's one thing to have a bus that's worth $25,000, $30,000 per chance or $20,000, and in that situation, it's another thing that if people are hurt, the personal liabilities can go up into the millions. And so we asked them again, and we asked a couple of our drivers to check with your insurance company, and after we researched everything, we found out basically that our insurance would not cover our drivers under that personal liability for medical expenses if someone's in uh uh hurt, uh, their bus company would not cover it, and our driver's personal insurance would not cover it. And in fact, if there was an accident or something like that, that literally that that that person could sue the individual and attach their wages for years and years to come, sue the church, etc. etc. And we just looked at that thing and said, wait a minute, we can't operate this way. This this isn't right. And so we began trying to look at the whole thing. And a week ago, Friday, not this last Friday, but I'm gonna say eight or nine days ago, we got the official word from our bus transportation company, and they said, um, our insurance will not cover your drivers. We we asked them to put our drivers on their payroll, and that wouldn't work. And we we we come up with a number of different scenarios and we couldn't get it, so we finally decided that the best thing to do was to back away, to tell our drivers and bus captains and bus workers, which we did on Wednesday evening, that we needed to make a change. Now, I know there's probably a question to say, well, did you try everything? We're we're we're still looking around. Uh North Valley Baptist Church, after they saw that we lease buses, they went in and got their own deal and they lease buses, but their insurance company will cover it at a higher insurance premium. But it's it's a company that uh insures them and they have a large number of buildings, it's uh it's a big uh uh budgetary expense, if you would, but that insurance insurance company will not does not want to cover us. So we've checked that out. We've checked just a lot of different things out. So here we're left. And may I say this? If you uh have ever ridden in one of those 99, 91 passenger buses, and I mean you get up there, guys, and you bus workers and everything, and I mean the seats are nice, and I mean that guy just kind of spins that wheel around like that, and it's got power to go up the hills, and and it's got brakes coming down, and I I mean it's it's it's just it rains out and those wipers, whoo, I mean, I tell you what, that is the straw. It's the Cadillac. And now and by the way, I'm not looking at what we have and being discouraged, but after you've been in one of those buses and driven of it and rode in it and pulled up, and you can put 91 in those buses and all that, and it's all legal and everything like that. I mean, after you look then at some of our buses, it kind of looks like a little bit of stubble. And every once in a while, God allows the straw to be taken away. It'll happen in your life. It'll happen in the life of this church. And by the way, I don't want you to say, well, boy, you really put our buses down. I'm just saying, comparing the the Cadillac of those buses to the ones that we have and the ones that we use. I mean, there's a big difference, I understand. Someone might ask, and you might say, well, then man, maybe we made a maybe we made a wrong decision back there when we decided to to use this company. I don't think it was a wrong decision at all. You need to look at all that God's been accomplishing through those and what it's done to our ministry. There's no way we could have had that big day, that big bus day that we had without those buses. And you can't take away what happened that day. That's recorded in heaven. Whatever decision's been made, it's been made. And by the way, uh, yes, uh, we took a couple of our buses that we had put a lot of time and money and effort, and there were more expenses coming up with us, and we sold them. They were old buses, and and we didn't want to lay under those things and trying to piece them together, and I don't have any problem with that, and I'm not looking with any remorse on what we did. Absolutely not. You say, Well, the devil's really fighting. I'm gonna say this, it's just my opinion. I don't think the devil's really fighting. I think God's proving and testing, and I think God is doing something here. Just let God do what he's doing. I sometimes grow weary if people, everything, sometimes something bad happens. They say, Well, the devil's really fighting. And I understand in principle here, as you read this thing in Exodus, Pharaoh is the type of Satan. And Pharaoh is the one that, if you would, took the straw away, and you could say, Well, Pharaoh was really fighting him, and I agree with all that. But sometimes I wonder if God knows exactly, exactly, exactly what he's doing. May I say this to you, brother? It's not a time to panic. We're not being chastened because we've been lazy. God's not looking down at you in the bus ministry and the Spanish ministry or whoever else is affected by the situation with our vehicles and saying, you're just not producing, you're not, you're not growing, you're not, you're not trying to reach out. In fact, look at John 15 real quick and hold your place in Exodus. Stay with me. And you don't mind me just talking about this straightforward, do you? Let's have the right attitude toward what God does in our lives. In John chapter 15. And you may say, well, I have a different opinion, fine. When you get a chance to be a pastor, then you preach it. But don't think that I don't care. I've spent hours and hours and hours. I've given my life to these ministries. Don't go away and say, well, the pastor just cases around and doesn't care. You don't know how many hours I've spent. You don't know how much time I've fasted for God's will. We're just not taking this lightly. Stay with me. Look at John chapter 15. Let me remind you of something, brethren. Look at verse 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. I don't think that's us. And every branch that beareth fruit, I think that's probably about where we're at right there. If you look at our July, September, October, November, and December, and look at the events that's happened around here, we never had a more productive time in our church for the Lord Jesus Christ bearing fruit. So what happens when you bear fruit? Or every branch that beareth fruit, what does he do? He purges it. Why? That it may bring forth more fruit. Sometimes, though, the purging looks like chastisement. I don't believe we're being chastised. You say, Do you think the devil's fighting? I think I think principalities and powers always fight, but I think God has a plan and a purpose. We just have to wait it out and see what it is. Don't you know that when he told Moses and Aaron to go in, that God knew exactly what was going to happen, that Pharaoh was going to take away the straw? He just didn't tell Moses and Aaron that. He didn't tell the people that. Is that right? Hey, brother, look at Job 1 real quick. Job chapter 1. Here's an attitude. It's a good attitude. It's the attitude that we better have as things happen in our lives from time to time. And you may say, well, this thing, you know, wait a minute, preacher. Uh I you should preach a message to the whole church. This doesn't affect me. I'm not in the bus ministry. I'm not in the span ministry. Hey, you know what? When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer with it. This is a team effort. This is a family effort. Are you listening to me tonight? And I know right now there may be mixed emotion of what's going on and all that and everything. I'm trying to help you discern tonight. And you say, well, you're just, you're just, you might just be making this sound better than this is, and you're covering it up, you know, if you guys made a mistake. Hey, brother, when we went into this, we went into it to make the bus ministry and all the other ministries better and more effective, and we put out more money. So we could bring more in and do more for the Lord Jesus Christ. I just want you to know I'm happy tonight. How can you be happy? I was in the presence of the Lord today, weren't you? He calmed my soul today. Look at Job chapter 1, look at verse 21. Here's what Job said. And he said, Naked came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. Look at this attitude. The Lord what? And the Lord hath what? Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know who gave us those buses in the first place? The Lord worked it out and he paid the bills. You say, wait a minute, we paid them. He paid them through us. Oh no, I gave. He kept your heart beating. And we've been able to use them for a long time, and it's been a blessing to our teens and a blessing to all the workers and everything. And by the way, we're not giving up. Oh, yeah, we're regrouping. Yeah, we're in transition. We're not giving up. Don't think we're not in this thing with the with the mind to, we're not, we don't just lay over, we're occupying. But if the Lord giveth, and the Lord decides to take away, let's retain our integrity. Let's make sure we give God some honor and some glory. I don't know what the conversation has been. I haven't been listening. I've been praying. And I know the word's filtering out through the managers and leaders and everything like that. And I don't know what's going on. I don't know how you're feeling. I don't know if you're feeling discouraged. I don't know if you're feeling like, well, maybe you might be feeling a little bit like those Israelites. Go back to Exodus 5. Are we okay tonight? Trying to help you, church. Brother and sister. Look at Exodus chapter 5 again. Look at verse 12. So the people were scattered abroad. Verse 12, throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. Now, one of the things I want to say to you is we're not going to do what verse 13 says. And the taskmasters hastened in saying, fulfill your works. Hey, you know what? We're not going to crack the whip on you all. We're going to do what we can do. We're going to let the Lord do the rest. Hey, bus captains, may I say to you, I'm not expecting you to go out with the same buses now that we're using and everything and have those huge days until we get this figured out. You do what you can do. You do what you can do. You junior church leaders, I know it's going to be a task. I mean, now we're looking at double runs and double junior churches, and I know some people have already had to make other arrangements for different ministries, and we're working that out and everything. We're not going to be task maskers and crack the rip and drive you. You don't have to worry about that. We're in this with you. Who's we? The leadership. The officers in verse 14, the children of Israel. They they were demanded to go out and make the same amount of bricks. Stay with me. Verse 18, they said, Go therefore now and work, for there shall no be straw be given. You shall deliver the tail of bricks. They want them to do the same amount. And look what happens in verse 19, brethren. Look at it now. And the offer is And the children of Israel did see that they were in an evil case. After it was said, ye shall not minish art from your bricks of your daily tasks. Look what happens. And they met Moses and Aaron. And stood in the way, who stood in the way, and they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge. Hey, wait a minute. Now the people got a bad attitude. They go back to the leadership and say, Yeah, the Lord look upon you and judge. You know what they're saying? You made a mistake, Moses. You made a mistake, Aaron. Tell me the mistake Moses made. Tell me the mistake Aaron made. They were doing what God told them to do. The best they knew how by faith. Is that right? Second. Isn't it? You say, well, you're just making all this up and just making it fit right along. Hey, brethren, you know what? This Old Testament is for our ensample, to whom the ends of the world are come upon, and I'm supposed to look at it and get an example and get some encouragement and keep on going. The people come back and they say, Yeah. The Lord look upon you and judge. You know what they're saying? He made a mistake. And by the way, if we and I, as a pastor, made a mistake, I'll be the first one to admit it. I don't have a problem with that. We entered into this bigger expansion by faith. Sooner or later, brethren, you'll be. It'll be your turn. You'll get your chance to lead. I'll pray for you too. We entered this to do this for the Lord. We knew it'd cost more. Oh, I think we made a mistake in this way, and I'll just be honest with you. We probably should have done as much research as we possibly could, and maybe we would have found out that there was that little crevice in there as far as not just a small crevice, but a potentially a great one that some of our drivers could be without the proper insurance. And if you would, we're left without an umbrella covering. But that's the reason we changed it when we found out. We didn't let it go very long. We started working on it right away when there wasn't even a hint of trouble. We don't want to lose your trust. We don't want to set you up and leave you like Uriah the Hittite to die at the wall. That's not what we're in this thing for. When we found out, we began to correct it. And you know what? You can only do what you can do, and it's not good to cover it up and keep on going. I will say this, I've been on my knees thanking the Lord for keeping us safe over the last year and a half. More than you think. Man, I've walked and prayed and said, Lord, I know you've heard me say this before, but thank you, thank you, thank you, that we haven't had a bus accident. And thank you, thank you, thank you, that we haven't had a lawsuit against us about that whole thing. And thank you for covering us. We were trying to do your work the best we could with the best we knew how to. And maybe we didn't see it, but I just want to know, I want you to know that I appreciate you letting us serve you and helping us to be what we could be and to show us we could do more than we ever thought's possible. And I pray that the people have a good attitude as a stubble instead of straw. Verse 21. The Lord look upon you and judge, because you've made our Savior to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, the eyes of his servants to put a sword in the hand to slay us. I'll guarantee you, I'm not Moses, but as a leader, I'm not going to do what verse 22, what Moses did. And I'm not saying I'm any better than him, but I'm supposed to look and learn about this thing. Verse 22, and Moses returned to the Lord and said, Look at it. Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? What is it that thou hast sent me? And I'll tell you what, sooner or later, you may be out there, and if you've ever been go to the mission field or you go ever outdoing something by faith, you need to be careful once in a while when the straw gets taken away and it looks like you're just having stubble to deal with. Be careful that you don't look at what God's asked you to do by faith and look up to him and say, Oh, whoa! I thought you sat me! I thought you helped me! Why did you get me? Why are you treating me so evil? God is good and he's never treated us evil. Never. He may prove us once in a while, he may test us once in a while, but he's good God.

unknown 26:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

We need to learn from this. Man, as I was looking at those missionary slides of that frozen northern country and where they were living and all the rest of it, he didn't tell you that they had to go back and forth from the city, if you would, to the to the camp out where they were at by airplane, and they had to take the children that way, and one of their children didn't have a their ears wouldn't clear as they got up to altitude, and they'd just sit there and cry and cry and cry all through the airplane flight because they couldn't get their ear canals to clear. You don't hear about all that. I was telling my wife that night, here here, here we got to do. We had to drive home in the rain. We had to sleep in a waterbed. We had to go take a hot shower. I'm just telling you, we got it pretty good. And I'm not saying anybody in here has a bad attitude, and if you feel like I'm scolding you, I'm not trying to scold you. I'm just saying we need to keep the right perspective as God takes us through this pilgrimage, this journey. We can be right in the middle of God's will, and like he said on Wednesday night, the Egyptian army can be coming one way and the Red Sea out in front of us, and all you can do is wait. In God's will. That's why the presence of the Lord, if you listen to the morning message, that's why the presence of the Lord is so important. While you're waiting, you've got to know you're in his presence. You've got to know you're right where you're supposed to be, doing as best you can with what you have. You see, brethren, this is a situation with these vehicles that could shake your trust in leadership. Oh, Prince of Powers and Powers love to get in there and just stir it all up. And you know, I don't mind being judged. You have a right to have an opinion. But may I say to you that Brother Sturger and Brother Proc and the rest of the leaders that I've been working with, they've had a tremendous attitude. And I've not heard a discouraging word among the leadership or anything like that. And if it's going on, you have a right. I don't have a problem with that. Just don't infect anybody else with a bad attitude. Amen? It's infectious. Hey, a positive attitude, an attitude of faith is infectious, also a bad attitude is infectious. It's going to impact a lot of different people. You say, well, why do you keep smiling? Because I've read the rest of the story. I mean, I'll present the negative part and all that, but I've read the rest of the story. He's got a purpose and a plan, the reason he does it. Sometimes he lets us get into a situation where we feel weak so he can show his strength. It's like you haven't even seen it yet. I know, but I've seen him work through the years and I know he's able. One of the things you really have to be careful about as a leader, please look up here, is trying to grab hold and fix it yourself. One of the hardest things as a leader to do is say, okay, Lord, I'm waiting. We're going to do the best we can. We're going to do this, we're going to do that. And I caution you, be careful to try and grab hold and fix it yourself. Sometimes you're best to let go and say, okay, we're going to do this, it's practical, we're going to do this. But be careful about trying to grab home and fix God something that God wants to fix on his own. I've seen Christians try to fix it. Not this, but other situations. I've tried it myself. How about it? And I mean you just grab hold and you and we mess it up more and more if we're not careful. Oh, yeah, we're going to keep working. Yeah, we're going to try. Yeah, we've got a plan. But be careful about trying to, well, we're going to do this, and we're going to be careful. God might have a plan well above that. Are you listening to me? I told you the illustration about one time, and I think about this all the time when I think about this. When I was in Corpus Christi, Texas, flying one of those little T-52 trainers, and we were up and the pilot put us in a spin and we were going downwards, and I was starting to get sick, and I was trying to get the thing right and pushing on the rudder and pushing on the rudder and pulling on the stick and pushing that way and pushing that way and trying to get this thing, and it got it all messed up, and we were flopping around coming down, and the altimeter was going the wrong way. And finally the pilot said, Mitty, get your get your hands off the stick and get your feet off the rudder. Put your hands on your head. So I put my hands on my head and got my feet off the rudder, and that plane just leveled right out. Because it was made to do that. With an injured pilot. I've never forgot that. Such a simple little thing. Oh, I remember, I remember getting out of that airplane. I was drenched in sweat. I mean, I tell you what. I was drained. I was emotionally just a mess. You mean I mean, just just just take me home and wrap me up and put me to bed. Scared? I don't admit that. Man, I was scared, weak knee, never wanted to fly again except straight and level. But I learned a great lesson that day as a leader. Wait. Watch God. Give it over to Him. Please look up here. And follow what He wants you to do and nothing else. And all I'm going to do is do my part and let you do your part and watch God. You say, well, what's the end of the story? Well, look, brethren, look, hey, now wait a minute. Are we okay tonight? Do you feel am I scolding you?

unknown 33:00

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Come on, you're kind of sitting there, you're listening, you're thinking, I understand like that, but you kind of listen like, what's going on with the preachers? He tried, hey man, I'm just trying to give you something that's practical. We're going through this thing, and you'll go through it in your life too. And brother, I'll tell you what, I'll guarantee you, I've seen Christians panic when things hit. And panic is a dangerous thing. When you're in God's presence, you don't panic. You just know he's going to take care of it. And you just do your part and you watch and you wait and you fast and you pray. Why? He's setting up for his own glory. Sometimes he lets things, and in this situation, he let the straw be taken away from Moses and Aaron for a reason. Moses comes back and says, Why have you sent me? Why have you treated this this way? Now look at chapter 6, brethren. Look at verse 1. Then the Lord said unto Moses, then when? Then when the oppression had got even greater, then when the when the affliction had got even greater, then when the cry was even greater, probably, then when it got even worse than it was before, when Moses and Aaron were doubting by faith what they were seeing by sight. I remember Roloff said, never undo by sight what you've done by faith. When you've entered into something by faith, be careful about undoing it by sight when things look bad. Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now, now, now that all this has happened, shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of the land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah, which I'm not known to them. You know what I'm saying? You're gonna know me by a different name now, and I'm gonna prove myself to you, and I'm gonna prove what I'm able to do, and you're gonna call me Jehovah. You think a Jehovah job, it means God will provide. Sometimes God has to set up things in our life so we know him better. So we trust him more, so we see his mighty power like we've never seen it before. Man, we've been afflicted. Last July we were a little afflicted. We were looking at an urgent care facility and knew that wasn't it, running out of space, and the property of the fire department showed up. And look where we're at now. Who got us into this building? I'd have to say Jehovah did it. We didn't figure it out. God dropped it in our laps. I don't know how many times. I've gone to the Lord with something in my family and didn't have this maybe or didn't have that. Started way back on the mission field. God worked it out and just made me look good, like I knew what I was doing. And for a while I just didn't tell anybody, and then I got to the place I thought, no, better stop doing that, I better say something. And once in a while I'll tell my wife, I didn't do it. God worked it out. Now I don't have to tell her anymore, she knows it. We had one of these in our own personal life not too long ago in the last few months. We saw God's hand a couple of times. Look at Hebrews chapter 11, brother. Are we okay tonight? Well, I tell you, keep a right spirit and a right attitude as we go through these trials. Let me show you what I think may be going on. Hebrews chapter 11. Well, I tell you what, when things happen, it's nice to have a Bible to start, okay, Lord, what do you what's going on here? You say, well, preacher, what if you're wrong? Then I'm wrong. But weigh it out. Why do why would God chasten us if we're trying to do all we can for him? Why would he chaseen a bus ministry? After they've just worked and worked and worked and worked and worked. Why would he chase a Spanish ministry that's growing? Reaching people for Christ. Well. And there's a fine line between chastisement and purging. Sometimes the only difference is the peace and the presence of God. In chastisement, his presence is hard to see. Hard to relate to. In purging, his presence is there. Look, if you would at Hebrews chapter 11. By the way, if you're visiting here tonight, welcome. We're glad you're here. But we're going on as a church and as a ministry. And we're going to see this through. God's going to work it all out. The reason I'm bringing it up, there's many affected here by this. Look at Hebrews 11. Verse 32, please. Well, you know it's the hall of faith. Talks in verse 32 about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, David and Samuel. Verse 33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promise, stopped the mouths of lion, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed violent in fight, turned the flight, the armies of the alien. Look at verse 35. Roman received their dead, raised to life again. And others were what? Say it. Tortured. None of that going on here. Not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings, scourgings. Yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were what? Solen asunder. None of that going on here. A little persecution, a little trial, yeah. But nobody's getting sawn asunder. Nobody's getting burned at the stake, brethren. Amen? We have it pretty good. If this is the trials that God asked us to go through as a church, this is pretty cake. Oh, you say, but you don't know the anxieties. Please look up here. I know there's some anxieties, but it's not like you're going down to the funeral parlor. It's not like we're seeing people burn at the stake. It's not like our children are being ripped out of our hands before our because of our Christian belief. Amen? Over the bonds of imprisonment. Stone asunder, tempted, we're slain with the sword. Hey, brother, don't miss a little statement in there in verse 34. Look at it. Out of weakness were made what? Strong. You know sometimes how God makes us strong in faith? Try it. Try it. Test it. Take away the straw. Because out of that weakness, he becomes strong through us and our faith grows. I think in Peter it says we're supposed to rejoice when our faith is tried. Because it's more precious than. Well, it can't be bought. Look at 2 Corinthians 4. Would you real quick, brother? 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Am I hurting anybody in here tonight? Am I? I'm not trying to. Are we okay? You're kind of quiet. It's not a big shouting thing. Are we doing okay? Well, I'm going to go home and be very insecure if you don't smile or something. Hey, this is not, this is not, uh, I'm not scolding anybody. If I am, I don't know what I am. Trying to help us on through some things. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 8. We are troubled on, what's that next word? Every side. You ever been there? But I like what he says. Yet not what? Distress. We are perplexed. Have you ever been perplexed? But not in despair. We're persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Why? Because we still have a hope that's in us. Even when we're troubled on every side, we know that God is able. Even though we're perplexed, we know that God is able. Even though we may feel a little persecuted, God is able. Even though we may feel a little cast down, God is still able. His name is Jehovah. Sometimes he just has to show us who he is. By letting us go through some affliction. And then see his deliverance. You say, well, wait a minute now. The thing's not over. We haven't seen deliverance. We don't know what's going to happen quite next. We're facing something next week. Yeah, I know. Well, preacher, what do you think is going to happen? I don't know. We're going to do the best we can and see what God does. We're not going to drive you. We're going to try to keep those bus children coming. We're doing our best right now to round up what we can for the Spanish ministry and trying to help out in every way we can. I tell you, uh, brethren, we have a couple needs. We have some adults that ride those buses. And they're faithful. And they're good people. And with this new change, we don't have a way to get them from the property at Crawford to the church at the 11 o'clock hour. We're trying to figure out a way. We can't find it yet. We want those adults to still be able to come to church because they're regular on Sunday morning. And they get on those buses. And Brother Sturger said to me yesterday, he said, Pastor, they don't get on those buses because they like to ride the buses. They like to come to church. And we want them to come to church. Boy, they're they're growing, and that's the whole thing about a bus ministry. You get it to where the children come, and then you want their parents to come, and you want them coming to churches. The family. Amen? We've got some adults coming, and we we don't have a way to get over here, so guess what I have? Two clipboards. It says help bring adults to church. Oh man, how could I do that? Well, might be somebody in here that has two cars. Maybe your wife could bring the children in one car, and you could go pick up someone in your car and bring them to church. I'd have to go out of my way. I know. I know you would. I'd have to change my schedule. I know you would. It cost me gas. I know. I know. That's sacrificing. I know. Welcome to the lighthouse. We've got to do what we can. We've got to try everything we can. We don't want to leave those adults out there. Did you ever think that maybe all of a sudden they used to be a bus family coming on those buses, and all of a sudden they got a ride of church everywhere? What a blessing. We just need some help. So let me pass these around and see if we can get any help. Maybe you can find a way. You say what areas? I don't know all the areas. They're come from various and sundry areas. But if you can help out, we could use your help. Is that wrong for me to ask that? We want to try to keep them coming. There's been years and years and years of work. And there are people that love the Lord. Need to be in church. This is their church. We want to try to help them. Oh, I need to say this. You say, man, what's the solution? I can think of one solution that would just be a great solution. Listen to me. Pray ye that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers into the if we could double our workforce. And I say, well, where are they at? They're not here yet. If we could somehow double our workforce on the buses and double up and have a bigger junior church ministry as far as leaders and adult workers and everything, we can accomplish this. You say, where are the workers? So many people involved and so many. I'm telling you, they may not be here yet. Some may be here and don't know it. But others aren't even here yet. They might even not be one to Christ yet. So maybe we'll win them to Christ next week, and a couple months from now they'll be workers. Three or four months from now. We just need the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Can He do that? Oh yeah. Hey, brethren, please look up here. When I became pastor, let me show you how big the church was. About right here. Fill it up. Right up here. About the first four pews full on both sides. That's about the size of the church. Now God can send labors. God is able. But we have to wait and work and pray. And have a good attitude. Hey, our our our next generation needs to see our good attitude. We're not giving up. You say, preacher, you make it bigger than it sounds. It's a big thing. But God is able. Look if you would. And by the way, I'm watching the time. Look, it's 7.45, 7. It's not even 7.45. Can I show you two more scriptures? And I'm going to ask you again, are we okay tonight? This is kind of like, you know what, this is kind of like if there was something going on, I'd talk to my family this way. I don't know how else to do it, just to get up as a pastor and say, boy, I'd like to be sitting there tonight and say, somebody else take care of this. Somebody else address this. Stay with me just a little longer. Look at Ezra chapter 3 and Haggai. Haggai chapter 2. Ezra chapter 3. And Haggai chapter 2. Do what you can. Do what God shows you. And let's see what God does. Well, let's keep going. Well, preacher, what if you were just absolutely wrong and renting those buses? Well, then I'm wrong and God will show me. I think we're right where God wants us to be. I just don't know where he's quite taking us next. Ezra 3, Hagee 2. By the way, you say, now wait a minute, why are you admitting that? Don't you remember when we were at the Spanish Auditorium? By the way, have you visited the Spanish Auditorium lately? I was in the other day looking in there and praying for the Spanish ministry in there and kind of walking around early in the morning and looking around. I thought, we used to fit in here as a church. They all used to use that women's restroom. And now the Spanish ministry is beginning to fill it up. And they used to meet in that trailer. And before that in a little room. It's amazing to watch the Lord work. It's great to be in his work. Great to be a part of it. Look at Ezra chapter 3. Notice if you would, brother in verse number 10. Verse number 10. The builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord. They set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and Levites, the son of Aphi, with symbols to praise the Lord. I mean, they sang together verse 11 by chorus and praising and giving thanks because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. They're laying that foundation, brethren, to that second temple. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But look at verse 12. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were ancient men, who had seen the first house. Remember Solomon's? When the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many shouted aloud for joy. So the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. Some people believe that they were weeping because they remember what it used to be like, and now they're looking at this. Smaller version of the temple. And in fact, if you cross-reference to Haggai, you'll see that that's the problem. Look at Haggai, Haggai chapter 2. And Haggai was the prophet at the time of Ezra. And look what he says in verse 3 concerning the situation. Thank you for turning there. Who is left among you that saw the house, this house, in her first glory? He says, Who's there that remembers Solomon and the way we built it back then? And how do you see it now? Talking to those times in the time of Ezra. Now that you see the second foundation laid, how are you looking at it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison as of it as nothing? You're looking at what's going on now, and you're looking at what it used to be, and you're thinking, man, this is nothing the way it used to be like. And we've got to be careful about something as we go this through this series, this, this, this, this situation. You may sometime look at the bus ministry and watch the buses roll out, and I don't know what's going to happen and how we're going to do it all. We're going to do the best we can, but sooner or later you may say, Man, I remember when we used to have those big, big buses. I remember the day we're bringing in thousands and thousands and thousands. Be careful. Read on, verse 4. Yet now be what? Strong. Say it again, yet now be what? And he was talking to the ones that were looking at that second tabernacle. He says, Be strong, Erzumoveel. And the Lord saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua. The high priest, and he says, be strong again. He says, be strong. Look what he says. According to the word that I covened with you when he came out of Egypt. And I'm going to shake the heavens and the heaven. And the string of the drive. And I'm going to this house. What glory save of the Lord of hosts? What house? The house that will be in the manager's time. Then it says in verse 9, the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. Say at the Lord of hosts. Where's the second house? I'm going to take what you've built here, and I'm going to use it, and I'm going to put my glory in it, and I'm going to put more glory in it than even that first house. I've seen the church go through dips before and periods of seeming stagnation and periods of trial and trouble. And we've got more coming. But I've just come to realize and understand that each time God does it, he's done it to strengthen us. And out of that weakness, he gives us more strength by faith, and we see his strong arm. And we see him work. Look up here, please. It's not a time to run in panic. It's not a time to hide away. It's a time to go to the Lord and say, God, strengthen us. Strengthen our workers, strengthen our workforce, strengthen our ushers and our nurseries and our beginners. Strengthen the church. Strengthen the leadership. Strengthen us, Father, and our faith to know what to do. I believe God's got a plan. Waiting is not a waste of time. Let me say it again. Waiting is not a waste of time. Let me tell you what a waste of time is. Look up here. Grabbing the stick and start jerking it and pulling it and pushing a rudder and pushing over here, pulling back, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna mess up the plane even more. That thing will get going to where it's flopping all over the place. That's a waste of time. What should I do? You preachers that preach in those churches and everything, get ready to preach. You leaders that lead, get ready to lead more. You bus captains, make a plan. Get steadfast. Spanish, we're looking for a bus. We're praying for a bus. Talked to a pastor yesterday, asked me if I had a bus he wasn't using. Brother Longo's already made some adjustments and looking for people to go out and help pick up some of the people they were bringing in. Brother, we're not dead in the water. God chose the timing. God chose the place, God chose the plan. I'll tell you this: I am happy that he revealed to us that we had a problem. Before we had an even bigger problem. Before we could have caused someone to have problems all their life. I'm glad. Oh, am I glad? And I hope you don't mind that we faced it. And are trying to deal with it head on. If you feel our judgment has been wrong or my personal judgment has been wrong, that's okay. Find forgiveness in your heart. And I'll tell you this, may I say this to you? If you're really just struggling inside and just gnawing on you, eating on you, everything, why don't you come see me? Let me know. Maybe I'll learn something. If you need more information, we we're not trying to hide anything. But if God's taking away the straw, unless I go out and get some stubble and keep making bread. And let's see what the Lord will do. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. But he didn't take away what he took away from Job. Boy, Job lost a lot more than what we've lost. I know a church in Visalia, Sequoia Baptist Church. First time I went up there, very first time, to preach for Brother Benefield, I looked on the right at the entrance, I looked, and there was seven pictures up above the entrance there, and I looked at it as you come into where the officers used to be, and there were pictures, uh, and they were uh teenage pictures. And I asked the pastor, I said, what's that? Who are those? Are graduates? And he said, no, brother. He said, they were killed in a van accident on a church alley. It had been years and years ago. But he's still talking to me years later. When he said that, a little tear formed in the corner of his eye. Oh, by the way, their church is doing very, very well. We've had some tragedy. But we've not had anything like that. But if we ever do, blessed be the name of the Lord. As long as we've done everything that we could do. Well, that tore me up. I just stared at those pictures for one hour. You know what went through my mind? How would I handle that as a pastor? And you know what I thought? It really depends on how the church handles it. Family? When you see your dad's under pressure, or when you see your mom's under pressure, you know what'll help them? For you to handle it. Have a good attitude. That'll help your dad and your mom. Workers, when you see your leaders under stress, you know what'll help? Have a good attitude. Be an encouragement. That'll help. Wives, when you see your husband under stress, you know what'll help? Be an encouragement. That'll be a help. Don't kick him when he's down. You don't need to say I told you so. He already knows that. I asked that pastor, I said, What'd you help? What'd you help you through outside of the Lord? He looked at me and he said, My church. He said, Not one of those parents ever attacked me. Not one of those parents filed a lawsuit against the church. He said, in fact, many of them are still here. I said, praise the Lord. Now we haven't had that. They say, oh, don't say that. You'll jinx it. There's no such thing as a jinx. I don't believe in luck and I don't believe in jinx. I believe in God's will. God's testing, God's proving. I don't believe things happen by coincidence. God has allowed it. He said he wouldn't tempt us above that which we're able to. So that means we can bear it. Ezra. He had his problems with a king called our taxerxes. Nehemiah had his problems with Sambalat and Tobiah. Hezekiah, a king, I say it Sennacherib, Rabshekah. You look in that Bible, you know what? Just about all through the ages, they all had their problems to face. Brethren, welcome to our pilgrimage. It's our turn. And we're going to have ours to face. That's why it makes heaven look so much better. That's why it makes it so God is the God of our generation and of our life. Brethren, please look up here. We look back and we say, we want God's power like it like it showed up here. We want power like David had. Look what David went through. Where is the God of Elisha? Where is the God of Elijah? Look what they went through. We want to see you heaven, God. We want to see you move. Look what they had to go through. We want to see your God work in 1996. Well, sometimes he allows the straw to be taken away. Then he rolls up and shows you his mighty arm. I don't know what he's going to do, but I'm looking forward to see his arm. In fact, a finger would be good enough. All we need to do is try to keep our right attitude and let him work. I say again, I hope you're not offended that I refer to our buses that we have. I'm thankful for them. Compared to what we've been driving, it's probably a Volkswagen to a Cadillac. But a Volkswagen will work. We started with less. There was been days when Brother Sturger and some of you all, we pushed a bus across the parking lot, popped a clutch just to get it started. Drove it out, it ran the route and broke down on the way home. I'd be at the church late at night, 11 or 12 at night, and I'd see a light shining underneath a bus. And I'd walk over there. It was you sometimes, Wes. And I'd walk over there and look, there'd be two sets of feet. Lee Nestler would be one of them many times. Who's now working at another church in a bus ministry? And I'd say, How are you guys doing under there? And they'd say, Well, it's coming, preacher. We hope to have it up by Sunday. I said, Man, I'd like to get in there and help you, but I'll pray for you. And they'd say, Preacher, you just pray. We don't, we don't. I said, don't say it anymore, guys. See, sometimes hands are not good if they don't know what they're doing. So I did my part and they worked their part. Brethren, I don't know if you realize that we do get to see God's blessing at this church. And every once in a while we have to face a little adversity. But I know some churches tonight that are facing much greater adversity than this. They're going on. I know some pastors discouraged tonight. I know some pastors wives discouraged tonight. I want you to know my wife and I are not discouraged. We're happy to be a part of this. We're looking forward to the sweetheart banquet, seeing what's going to happen next. We're going to do our part. Well, you say, praise you, you don't have to be over there in those junior churches. You don't have to run those routes that way. I know, you want to trade places? You want to carry what I carry? I got my part and you got yours. But may I remind you of this? God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is still the head of this church. And he knows what's going on. And even if we've made some silly mistake somewhere along the way, as the head, he will take care of his flock. He will take care of his church. You don't know how many times I went back and said, okay, you're the head. What do you want to do? How do you want to handle it? Show me. I'll do the best I can. But I want to acknowledge tonight that he is still the head. And he's still saving people. Some of our staff got to lead people to Christ who's been visiting at our church. Some of our staff got to lead them to Christ this week. We're still rejoicing. I'm still rejoicing. Our ladies' soul wedding, still bringing back reports of people being saved. Our teenage ministry still bringing back reports of getting to get that gospel out, leading people to Christ. I'm still rejoicing. I hope you are. If that cloud has moved in over your house, why don't you look up at that cloud and say, Jehovah's still alive. And he's still able. And get that good spirit and by faith go on. What was the rest of the story? Well, God showed his hand. Man, the first thing, Moses threw down his rod, all the magicians threw down their rod. They all became snakes. And Moses, everybody's rod actually ate the rest of the rods. That'd give me some encouragement. My snake's bigger than your snake, amen. Yours is gone. Give me a rod. Where's your rod, guys? God will still have power, dominion over all of them. By the end of the plagues, if you would, and everything that was happening, out they went with the Egyptians chasing them. And then God intervened, like our missionary said. Brethren, wait a minute, Lord. Be of good courage. You may be going through something personally. Maybe it's a tragedy. Out of weakness, strength comes. Out of trials and testings, our faith is made greater. What we have to do is keep a right attitude. Go on and watch the hand of the Lord. You may say, well, preacher, this was uh, I guess some people needed this, but I don't think I did. Everything's great. Well, file this away for next week. Or two weeks from now, or a month from now. All of us will be tested. All of us will be tried. Let's come forth as faithful. Faithful. Well done, thou good end. Faithful.