0:12 Will you please turn your Bibles with me to Psalm 46. Psalm 46 verse1. Some of us know this verse and uh it says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present 0:30 help in trouble. And I want you to turn with me to another parallel passage in chapter 50 Psalm 50 verse 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I shall rescue you and you will 0:48 honor me. And uh another parallel passages passage in um the same book Psalm 22 that's a messianic psalm this says my 1:08 God my God why hast thou forsaken me far from my deliverance are the words of my groanings oh my God I cry day by day, but thou does not answer. And by night, I have no rest. And verse 1:32 11, be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there's no help. And verse 17, he says, I can count all my bones. Dear brothers and sisters, this these verses may remind 1:52 you of the things that some of you are going through and some of us have gone through in the past. We have gone through some real tough times and probably some of us are going 2:11 through presently through some great difficulty, crisis in life, affliction, a prolonged one. There seems to be no end to that. 2:28 Then you feel like crying, Lord, why have you forsaken me? What have I done wrong? Show me. What's the purpose of all this that I have to cry out to you day and night 2:46 and there is no help? Lord, have you forgotten me or have you written me off? Put me up on the shelf, Lord. Tell me. Show me. Is there any hope for me, Lord? Sometimes we may come to a crisis 3:06 like this and wonder where is God in all my trouble. Why he is not answering my prayer? Why is it that I have to go on like this crying day and night and there is no 3:26 help? Sometimes you feel like giving up. Sometimes I feel like I wonder whether there is a God up in heaven or I'm just fooling myself thinking that there's a God. But he 3:46 says, "Call upon me in the day of trouble. I shall deliver you. But where are you, Lord? I have been going through this [Music] for weeks, months, perhaps years. What's wrong with me? What have I 4:04 done?" Not that we are infallible and we have not done anything wrong because the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have all messed up in the past and every one of us has a 4:21 past. And of course, when we come to the Lord and confessed our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquities, the Bible says. And he has done that. He has washed our slate clean and given us his holy spirit, his 4:39 word, and his assurance. But sometimes when we go through things like this, we tend to doubt. Lord, what's wrong? Why are you not answering my prayer? I call upon 4:58 you and you don't seem to hear me. I don't see any answer in the near future. 5:12 Lord, help me. Help me, help me. We keep crying. But you know, dear brothers and sisters, we don't understand why sometimes answers are delayed from 5:30 God. Why things go the way they go and happen the way they happen? And we have no answer. Heaven seems to be like closed up and we come to a point where we feel 5:55 like giving up. I've done that sometimes in the past when I kept God asking me for some answer. He didn't answer. So 6:13 many months and years went by crying, crying, crying inwardly. Lord, what is wrong? You show me. There's no 6:29 answer. He doesn't show what's wrong. Then we need to understand that God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our 6:45 thoughts. As high as the heaven is above from the earth, so high are his thoughts from our thoughts. And his timings are not our timings. We may want everything quick fix just like that. We answer and there 7:05 it is. Like Elijah prayed for fire and before he completed the fire prayer the fire fell down. Certain times God answers like that before you ask the Lord said I will answer. And even chapter six of Matthew, Jesus said, 7:24 "You don't have to pray for these things because your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But first seek God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to you." And my dear brothers and sisters, there 7:41 was a very upright and a godly man who lived much before Moses lived much before Genesis was written. Genesis, the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses as we 7:59 know. But there was a man who lived before that. His name was Job. We read about him in Job 1. The man in the land of whose name was Job. And that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and 8:18 turning away from evil. And he had tremendous wealth. And he was the richest man in the east at that time. probably he was he was number one in the world among the 8:34 richest and he the Bible says that he feared God he was blameless and upright and turning away from evil it's very difficult for a rich man blessed with 8:51 everything has no need of anything to walk in uprightness blameless less and turning away from evil and fearing God. These are very rare things to find in a rich man. You know, most of the rich people 9:10 indulge in all the evil and have no fear of God. They are not blameless and they are not upright. But this man 9:24 was. And we read about a certain time when there was um what to say a gathering in heaven where the angels came to give as it were 9:42 report to the Lord and looks like Satan also had an entry there may not be physically but in the spirit realm and the Lord asks him where do come from? And he says, I roam around 9:57 the world and I I have come roaming about the earth, walking around it. And the Lord asks him, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless, upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." 10:17 And Satan thought that because God has blessed him with all these blessings, he says, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" He counters God and says, "You have made a hedge about him 10:37 and his house and all that he has on every side, and you have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased. But put forth your hand now and touch all that he has, he will surely curse you to your face." And is the challenge that he 10:55 throws to God. And God says, "Okay, go ahead and test him." And he goes and tests. And this is very unusual here that the richest man becomes a popper overnight. We haven't heard of that 11:14 anywhere in the history of humanity. They gradually lose their wealth slowly slowly and then they become poppers and then they're declared bankrupt. But where's this man? In a matter of a few 11:34 minutes, he lost everything. You read that Satan is at work. In verse four of the first chapter, a messenger comes to Job and said, "The oxmen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside him. And the Sabians attacked and took them all 11:52 away. They slew the servants and I alone have escaped. While he was speaking, another man comes and tells that um another band came. Our fire fell from heaven and burnt up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I was I 12:10 am the only one escaped. While he was still speaking, the third man comes and he says, "The Calaldians formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servant with the edge of the sword and I 12:25 alone escaped. While you were still speaking, another man comes." He said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in your oldest brother, their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came and a 12:41 storm across the the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the it fell on the young people, and they all died. I alone escaped." And when you hear the 13:01 Think like that. What will be your reaction and response? The man probably collapsed there had a probably fainted 13:17 and I don't know it's not written there but it says he arose and tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground. He didn't complain. It says he worshiped God 13:36 saying these wonderful words. Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return dead. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Wow. Through all this, Job did not sin, nor 13:54 did he blame God for all the loss that he incurred. And there was another day where the same situation was there and God asked Satan 14:10 again and Satan says skin for skin. Chapter 2:4. Yes. All that a man has he will give for his life. Now God had opened the hedge around his 14:30 property, around his family and now the last hedge around his own personal life, his body. And then Satan demands that also skin for skin you afflict him. Then you see 14:50 what he will do. The Lord says okay go ahead. But only thing don't touch his life. And it says that Satan caused boils to appear on his body from head to 15:07 toe. All over the body painful boils is filled with boils. And he goes and sits in ashes, tore his robe through dust over his head and starts takes a 15:24 poture, a piece of pottery, starts scraping just to ease his pain. And then his wife comes around and says, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? 15:42 curse God and die. She says what a what a pity to have a wife like that. And there Paul says, I mean Job says, "You speak as one 16:00 of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. My, what a man he was. And then the news goes to his 16:20 friends and three of his friends come to comfort him. And it says that when they saw him from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. Each of them tore his robe and threw 16:39 dust over their head toward the sky and then sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him for they saw that his pain was very great. It's very 16:59 unusual to see that these three friends have come to comfort Job. But they didn't open their mouth for seven days and seven nights. They kept silent observing all that he was going 17:17 through. Th this tells me that they didn't come with their wives. They came all alone. That's why there was silence. And after 7 17:35 days they started speaking. Until 7 days there was peace on earth. But after seven days looks like all hell broke loose. They all thought that maybe they were thinking or wishing that this 17:54 man god should you know deal with him. He may have probably by hook or crook he may have made money like this. We are not as rich as him. So maybe in a sense they may have 18:12 congratulated in the in their heart that this befell on him and then you know as usual cuz we have the same flesh. Job opened his mouth in verse one of chapter 3. He says 18:32 afterwards, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth and he started cursing. Why was I ever born? Cursed be the 18:47 day that somebody came and told that a boy is conceived. Let the day perish on which I was to be born. The night which said a boy is conceived. May that be darkness and so on and so forth. He goes on pouring his heart 19:06 out. My dear brothers and sisters, what I'm trying to tell you this morning is that I would like to share with you three instances where every time Satan had to take permission from God to test his 19:24 people, this is one of one of them. Satan could not do anything, could not even touch a hair on Job's head without God's permission. Jesus said that in Matthew chapter 10, he 19:42 said, "The very hairs on your head are all numbered. Not one will fall to the ground without your father knowing it." And he said, "Even about the sparrows, you are much more valuable than many sparrows, but not one sparrow 20:01 falls to the ground without your father knowing about it." What a security that God has given to us. And he says 20:18 that you know there's a verse in the Psalms it says many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers 20:34 him from most of them. Right? Not even three4s of them, but it says from all of them, from every one of his afflictions, the Lord has promised to 20:53 deliver us. So the Lord is a present help in time of need, but in his time, not in our time. God's timetable is different from ours. And we read about another instance where 21:12 Satan had to take permission from uh the Lord that we read in in Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 21:30 8, we know about this demoniac who was possessed by many demons. He had come out into the land and he was met by I'm reading from Luke 21:48 8:27. He was met by a man from the city who was demonpossessed and had not put on any clothes on him for a long time and was living he was not living in any house. He was living in tombs in the grave graveyard in the 22:08 tombs he was staying and saying and seeing Jesus he cried out and fell before him and said in a loud voice you see demons recognized Jesus from a distance because they are seeing Jesus for the first time in flesh and blood on 22:26 earth and they recognized him and they saying, "What do I have to do with you, son of Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg you, do not torment me." They knew that their end is in 22:44 torment. And they didn't want that to be hastened because Jesus was there. And they asked Jesus, "Please don't send us to that place before our time. Do not torment me." Because Jesus was he had been commanding 23:03 those demons, those unclean spirits to come out of the man and it has seized him many times. He was bound with chains, shackles, kept under guard. Yet he would burst his fatters and driven by the demon into the desert back again. 23:23 And when they met Jesus, Jesus asked that man, demoniac, he asked, "What's your name?" And he says, "Leion." Legion is 23:38 6,000. There were 6,000 demons in him. And um they were asking Jesus, if you command us to go out of this man, let us enter, command us to enter 23:57 into these swine. About 2,000 pigs were grazing, eating there, and they asked permission to enter them. And you see even to even for demons to enter a pig Jesus had to give 24:16 permission. So don't you be under any um wrong understanding that a believer can be demonp possessed. He cannot be a believer can never be demonp 24:33 possessed until and unless he comes to a place he renounces everything and the Holy Spirit leaves him and 24:52 then like it happened to Judas, he was he was all right. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He cast out demons. He performed many miracles like other apostles. But the love of money 25:11 slowly slowly drew him away from his savior to an extent that on the day when they were breaking bread at the table it says after he took the bread after he partook of 25:30 the Lord's supper it says not a demon but Satan himself entered into Judas That can happen if you go on persisting in your sin in your private life outwardly. 25:49 Even none of the 11 disciples knew what Jesus and Judas were talking about. Jesus said, "This is the man who is going to betray me. The one who would dips his hand in the cup." And then Jesus told him whatever he wanted to do it quickly. And the 26:08 disciples had no clue as to what was happening. They thought Jesus is telling Judas to buy I mean give some money to the poor because that's what Jesus always used to tell and that was his way of life and they had no clue even at the 26:26 last moment what's happening. Satan entered into him and it says he went away from that meeting and it was night. It says you read about that in John 13 and probably that was the last night 26:45 for Judas. I don't think he saw the dawn next day morning before that he went and hanged himself. If only he had gone to the Lord, probably history would have been different. But he went to the wrong people and confessed to the wrong 27:02 people. So even to possess a demon, my dear brothers and sisters, pigs have to take permission. Pigs had to take permission. And don't you believe that 27:19 false teaching from some denominations? They say a believer can be possessed by demons. He can be afflicted. He can be oppressed or he can be harassed. But he can never possess a believer. You can resist him because 27:39 Jesus has given you authority. Jesus said in Luke 10:19, I think he said, "I have given you, behold, I have given you authority over all the powers of the enemy to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall by any 27:56 means hurt you." When you have that promise to crush Satan under your feet, you don't need to be afraid, my dear brothers and sisters. And another third instance where demon 28:13 had to Satan had to take permission from Jesus was in uh is in another place where Jesus said during the just before his 28:30 betrayal. They were having a meal and Jesus was telling the disciples that the son of man is going to be betrayed and he will have to go through you know lot of suffering and all that. Peter 28:49 said Lord even if any everybody leaves you I will not leave you I will give my life to you. He was so self-confident. But Jesus knew what was going to happen just a few moments from there. He said, "Peter, I tell you the 29:09 truth. Before the crows tomorrow morning, you will deny me three times." And he said, "No, nothing. No way." And then Jesus also told him, "Sat, Simon, 29:27 Simon, Satan has asked me permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not." that after you have turned again or another translation says after you repented, 29:50 strengthen your brothers. So these are three instances where we see Satan had to take permission to tempt Job and to enter into pigs and 30:05 to tempt Peter. In all these three we see without God's permission nothing will happen to you. You can rest assured on that and you can be 30:23 confident and be sure that nothing will happen to you unless it is allowed by God's will. You know when Shimei cursed David, King 30:41 David, one of his generals wanted to come and chop off his head, but David said, "Don't do that. If the Lord has allowed him to curse me, why should he do that?" You see, every circumstance in our life, whatever happens, the Lord 30:59 knows about it. And nothing takes him by surprise. That confidence we need to have, brothers and sisters. The Lord knows, like Job said further on in chapter 23, he says, "The 31:17 Lord knows every detail of what's happening to me." You know the Lord is aware of what's happening to you and he has already planned the outcome also. So you don't have to 31:36 wonder whether I'll come out all right. If the Lord has planned it and you are treading the path that God has set for you, instead of running away from him, you stick with him through thick and 31:55 thin, the outcome will be glorious. It'll be like it happened to Job. You know the end of Job, the Lord restored him twofold. double for your trouble. So the ultimate end that the 32:14 Lord has in mind for you is that you may be blessed more abundantly than what you are today. So the Lord blessed him, restored his health, restored his family, gave him 10 more 32:32 children, and he doubled what he had in chapter one. You read in chap last chapter it just got doubled. So there's a double blessing that God has in view for us when he 32:50 allows us to go through various difficult circumstances and situations. You know, I was in a maybe 30, 35 years ago in a primary school waiting to meet 33:07 somebody and as I was there, I was just looking at the things that were written on the uh wall and I one um wall hanging got hold of my attention and it was footprints on the 33:26 science of time and I was reading there. It was about a man who had finished his life on earth and there was a flashback of his life in his mind. He was going he was seeing that all along his life he and 33:44 the Lord were walking together. When he gave his life to the Lord, he said, "Lord, I want to walk with you the rest of my life." And the Lord was with him all through his life. And he noticed in certain places there were there were two 33:59 sets of footprints going on. Then he noticed at certain times there were there was only one set of footprints and he saw that again another set of single footprints. Then he asked the Lord Lord you said that you will be with me 34:17 always. You will not leave me nor forsake me. But why is it that when I was going through tremendous crisis and most difficult time in my life, why you left me alone? Why you were so far from me? And then the Lord whispers in his 34:39 ear and he says, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you. Never ever. During your trials and testings when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then I carried 34:59 you. Wow. Oh, when I read that that day about 35 years ago, that gave me a renewed hope in my heart that I can be sure Lord doesn't matter Lord whatever the 35:18 circumstance or situation that you allow I know for sure at that time you will not let me go through this alone. You will carry me in your [Music] hand. Such is our 35:35 God. You know, we know that very well-known verse in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation has overtaken you such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. We 35:54 should put an anchor there in that verse and say, "I will never be allowed to be tempted beyond my ability." God will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I can bear. But with the 36:12 temptation, he will make a way of escape so that I can bear under it. And we also know you. I want you to turn with me to this wonderful verse in 1 John 36:31 5:18. This should sink in your heart, my brothers and sisters. Don't waver wondering whether God will help me. You know it says here in verse 18 of chapter 5 of 1 John we know that no one 36:50 who is born of God if you are born of God by the blood of Christ by the word of God and by the Holy Spirit by repentance and faith. It says such one the one who is born of 37:14 God shall not sin. That means consciously you will not sin because he who is born of God that's you and me keeps himself from 37:33 sin. And the evil one does not touch him. Satan cannot touch a believer. This is God's word. Remember that all your life my dear brothers and sisters Satan cannot 37:52 touch you. Sometimes people wonder though devil is after me brother. Well if you allow he will be after you. But if you resist the Bible says resist the devil and he will not leave you not run away from you 38:11 but flee from you. You know flee is a stronger word than running. It's like just you know vanishing from the sight like like at the speed of lightning you know what's the speed of 38:29 light at that rate he will run away from you if you resist him in Jesus name and then it says further I would like to close with this in Romans chapter 8 it's one of the best chapters that there in the Bible I was 38:47 encouraging the brothers and sisters there last Sunday in the electronic city meeting to go home and read Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. There are 39:06 three places where it says the father is for us, Jesus is for us and the holy spirit is for us. Whole trinity is interested in you and me and 39:22 they are for us. If God be for us, who can be against us? It says in verse 30 31 Romans 8:31. What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Remember that God is for 39:40 you? Remember verse 34 or 33. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? Is anybody bringing a charge against you or you are being harassed by Satan or his demons in your 39:59 mind? Is bringing doubts concerning God's love and fear and anxiety. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. When God has justified you, nobody can condemn you. And it says who will who is the one who 40:19 condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died and rather who was raised and is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. Jesus Christ is interceding for you. He's praying for 40:38 you. First you saw God is with you. When God is with you, nobody can be against you. And here it says, "God is praying for you and me. He's interceding on our behalf before the father." And in verse 40:56 26. And in the same way, the spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know how to pray as we should. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. It's the Holy 41:13 Spirit who intercedes or prays for us with groanings too deep for words. We do not know how to pray. It says sometimes we are at loss. We don't know how to 41:30 pray. Sometimes you just cry, cry and cry. No words come and the Lord knows. You know there's a verse in Exodus when the Israel Israelis under the tyranny of Pharaoh in 41:49 Egypt for 400 years they were in slavery and they had enough of that being slaves to Egyptians and it says they side you know what's a sigh we all know that when we 42:07 are under tremendous pressure We sigh. And it says God heard their sigh. They just sighed in their heart. And it says the Lord heard and sent Moses the 42:25 deliverer. So how much more the Lord will help us when father, son, and holy spirit are for us against the devil and intercede for us. Then verse 35 says, "Who shall separate 42:43 us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, even if we are considered like sheep about to be slaughtered." It says verse 37, "In all these things 43:02 we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us, because I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created shall 43:18 be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." My dear brothers and sisters, let this sink in your heart today that none of these things that we read about will ever be able to separate 43:36 you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What will you say to this? Will you say amen? really good for this to sink deep into our hearts that our Lord is in perfect 43:56 control of every little detail, every circumstance in our lives. And when he allows something, he permits something, it's for his glory and for our good. And we can be in absolute 44:13 confidence that that is the case. I was thinking of this verse in Exodus 11 verse 7. I've heard brother Ian talk about this. When the Lord chose in his time in 44:33 the fullness of his time he heard the sighing of his people who were in bondage in slavery for many years when he chose to bring them out of Egypt. It says against the sons of Israel a dog will not 44:51 bark. In some translations it says a dog will not growl. So that you understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. No, I was just imagining this many many dogs in Egypt. 45:10 No, a dog is seeing an Israeli. It's an instinctive thing for a dog to growl. Sound is not coming out. God has commanded don't growl. Yeah, we can think of the story you know 45:29 that uh brother Charles was saying 2 Samuel 16 where Shimmei was cursing David. So you know David had his loyal 45:48 supporters and this is Abishai who's the brother of uh Joab and he says I'll go and cut off his head how can he curse you and the king says if he curses and the lord has told him to curse then who 46:06 shall say why have you done so And verse 11, he says, "Let him alone, let him curse, for the Lord has told him." Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day. And and just to understand that if 46:26 we trust in the Lord and wait on the Lord that he will turn every every cursing, every evil that that any man or Satan devices and intends for us, he will turn it to good. He will work it for his glory and and for my 46:44 good. And truly we can see the fullness of this and understand it in in its entirety only when our eyes are opened in eternity. I believe that it says about Jesus that it pleased the father to crush him. It pleased the father to crush him. 47:03 Isaiah 53. The Lord was pleased to crush him. Putting him to grief grief if he would render himself. So the Lord didn't do something. He did it because he knew that Jesus had chosen to go that way. He had offered himself in that role in that 47:22 sacrifice. And it says, "If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish or travail of his soul, he will see it and 47:39 be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities." See, if we just look at it from an earthly historical point of view, if we are not, if we don't believe 47:57 the words of God and the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our own heart, then Jesus was a good man, died, was crucified as a criminal. There was some rumors that he came up alive again, but who knows how blind we can be. But we see clearly there that it's not 48:16 an earthly blessing. See, in Job's case, because he was in the old covenant, the Lord was faithful and returned him an earthly blessing. He gave him back double of what he lost, restored his health, restored, you know, his family, 48:31 restored his wealth, double in double portion because it he was an old covenant man. The Lord was faithful to do that. But in case of Jesus, because Jesus went the way that he went, all of us, all of us have been so richly blessed. This Holy Spirit has 48:48 been poured out and we will and his name is the name above every other name. Yeah. It says we don't see all things under his feet, but we see Jesus. We see Jesus by faith. 49:07 Now I remember once someone was asking me about Job. It says about Job in in Peter. I mean in James in the book of James it talks about Job. It says u James 49:25 5:1. We have heard of the endurance of Job and seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. I remember someone was asking me see okay the Lord gave him 10 other children but his first 10 children died 49:43 no he'll be sad about that right see from an earth purely earthly perspective it doesn't seem like okay the Lord restored but he went through so much suffering he lost 10 children Lord gave him another 10 children brothers and 50:01 sisters Job has been made a hero for for all eternity. The reason we are speaking about Job today is because God did this. And God's dealings which are full of compassion and merciful are not just full of compassion and merciful for Job, but 50:17 full and full of compassion, merciful for us, for our sake. Job has become a blessing to each of us today. And that's the Lord's wonderful doing to do an eternal work, you know, through through our sufferings. And and brothers and 50:36 sisters, as as we, you know, see it that way to really take it to heart and say, Lord, you have allowed it for a good plan and a good purpose. If that dog is growling or you know whatever it is, that colleague of mine is being 50:52 difficult, my boss is persecuting me, Lord, let me really see it that you have allowed it for a good plan and a good purpose and not just for this earth but for all eternity that I can show forth the excellencies of of of 51:10 you, your excellency, your glory And this can shine for eternity for your name's sake. Yeah. And to really fear God and acknowledge him in all our 51:28 ways. Jesus said in Matthew 10, he talked about the sparrows. He said, "Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your father." Then he said, "The hairs on your head are numbered." And we've heard this, right? The Lord knows every hair, 51:48 every detail of our lives. And then he said, "For this reason, do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." Verse 52:07 28. And he goes on and says in verse 32, "If anyone confesses me before men, I will confess him before my father who is in heaven." See, Jesus has given us a wonderful opportunity to confess him. To say 52:24 that you may not see, but I see. God is with me. He will help me. And I will. If I perish, I perish. But I will stand for him. That window of opportunity is still open. In eternity, every every knee will bow and every tongue will 52:43 confess. But the greatest treasure is for those who gladly serve him now. And uh if Job could do it with the light that he had, he said, I I will see my redeemer and I will come forth as gold. How much more, brothers and 52:59 sisters, the Lord is calling us, inviting us to take this up and say that I want to follow in his footsteps. I want to suffer uh and he will make it work for my eternal good and for his glory. Amen. Yeah. I praise God and for his 53:17 protection over our lives. Um I was thinking of this uh 1 Corinthians chapter 10 uh verse 13 brother Charles mentioned even uh last week uh brother Zach also mentioned yeah God will will not allow us to be tempted beyond our 53:34 ability. Um you know these days uh our children are preparing for the exams and I was thinking uh about this verse uh say for example tomorrow our educational department releases a circular saying that uh all the teachers don't give a 53:53 common question paper to all the children. You have to sit with your child next 10 days spend with your uh uh student sit with them understand with them and then according to their ability prepare a question paper and then let 54:08 them prepare and you know appear for the exam. You feel so happy right? So that's what the lord is saying to me. uh everything that you go through in the life I'm there alongside you know the holy spirit the helper the sable helper 54:25 the lord has given us to uh go through in our every circumstances in our daily life he handpicked each one of us and uh he he comes along and he prepared a se 54:43 separate syllabus for me and he is giving giving a personal chion to me to face every temptation and a trial and all the circumstances. And another thing that I was thinking about uh you know sometimes we go through sicknesses and 54:58 uh uh and the different symptoms and we heard okay so and so died with uh some some sickness and if that symptoms matches to our symptoms and immediately you know the thoughts of anxiety comes oh is it going to lead to the death or 55:16 things like that and sometimes our loved ones depart suddenly and then uh we feel oh it should have been done or we should have done this or we could have taken the person to the hospital quickly or something like that. But uh when I get 55:32 these kind of thoughts when I ponder over about some death, the Lord helped me to uh see it in a different way. It says in u uh revelation chapter 1 uh verse 17 to 18, when I saw him, I fell at his feet 55:51 like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying do not be afraid. I am the first and the last and the living one. and I was dead and I behold I am alive forever more and I have the keys 56:11 of death and of hades. That settled all my thoughts of my anxiety and all these things. So when God says hey I have the keys you cannot enter there. So God has given me so much of rest in this area. And also uh when I looked at Jesus life, 56:28 we learned from the gospels uh when his enemies trying to kill him and uh u when uh one time they were going in the boat there was a huge storm. But Jesus did nothing could happen to Jesus' life and 56:45 his disciples you know because the father did not allow the father did not permit it. And uh when the hour has come, it says in John 17 and uh I was uh you know reminded of this verse from John 17:23, you loved them just as you loved 57:04 me. You know when I heard this verse from uh I mean uh brother Zach's song I initially did not believe did Jesus love me uh did God love me exactly how he loved Jesus? Because many back in my days I used to think I'm not exactly 57:21 like Jesus. uh I'm not capable of you know fighting the sin as long as I was in that illusion I used to take you know I thought okay this impure thoughts it's kind of a uh some kind of you know something that I cannot battle I cannot 57:37 overcome but the lord is saying no I have loved you exactly how I loved Jesus I have my protection over you and the resurrection power that Jesus rose from the dead the same resurrection power is available to fight against the sin 57:52 to stand true to the Lord and be acomer. May God help us.
