Sunday_Service

Good morning everyone from Hawaii to all points of the world. We all welcome you to The Church Ministries 59th Sunday Service. As you all know I have been lying on my back, in all sorts of pain and anxiety. I have not been able to do much writing or in much prayer, and I have asked the Father for forgiveness, I am deeply hurt and troubled and when I do pray I feel so much more refreshed, plus when you do not do anything, it sometimes opens a crack for a bit of spiritual warfare. I need to get up and out and be around my Christian Brothers and Sisters, it seems when you are really sick you find out who your true friends are. They say 4-6 weeks to be healed but we know by the power of God it should be sooner. So I received a few phone calls and had some fellowship Friday, which was a deep blessing. This week I will just let this sermon flow and I pray the Holy Spirit leads me in the right direction, to edify everyone, with peace, love, and good feelings. My Surgeon had to be shipped off to Iraq and I miss him so. Please everyone, pray for Colonel Wyrick and all the men and women he helps and heals and possibly the lives he might save. Please everyone pray for all military over seas and especially their families at home waiting. My family Doctor, the Angel, has done everything in her power to make me comfortable and I Praise God I WAS LEAD TO HER BY ANOTHER Angel. As I was lying on my back this week I received many letters and E mails telling me not to give up, to keep pressing onward and with all the suffering and battles I am going through. It is written many places in the bible that the Lord will repay you back double for everything you have lost or have been taken away by the evil one. I should post some of these prayers and beautiful letters. They have all deeply helped me. It is quiet amazing; you get so much love and care of people that you never even meet. I had one person say that it could be any kind of curse, like a book or some kind of article that may be causing all of this spiritual warfare, and we all know that any kind of confusion or fear is not coming from God.

Dear Heavenly Father Thank you for being our God.Thank-you for your care and love even though we are still sinners. Father, thank You so much for giving us healing, teaching, and salvation through Christ the Lord. Lord thank-You for the Holy Spirit that guides us and gives us the fruits to grow and the thoughts of the spiritually divine. Gracious Father and Son, the redeemer of our souls and protector of our lives, here we are Father to gather together and to praise You and Your goodness and Your mercy. Dear Lord you are always with us from the rising of the sun, to the darkness of the night, as you watch over us through all the stillness and emptiness of the evenings. Please Lord, give us the strength to carry our crosses with the testimony of our faith and continue to give us all strength to stand firm against all evil and be reliable witnesses of our Christian Heritage. Dear Father we thank You for giving us the health and strength to continue another week in your service. Please guard our church against any indifference and false teachings and let all the pages of information, love and guidance teach us about forgiveness and our relationship with You and Your Son, as we listen to the Word today. Please Lord, comfort the sorrowful, provide for the poor, including myself, and use us all according to Your good pleasure in carrying out Your work here on earth. Please Lord guide me to all the needs of others, please help this church expand into the dream of the mission with the food ministry, and housing ministry in downtown Hilo, Hawaii. Dear Holy Spirit descend upon your church with a loving peaceful anointing and with power and blessings to continue on with our Christian duties and journeys plus the spiritual and physical healings we all need. So we in turn we can heal the broken hearted, and the suffering through the power of Your grace. So in the end we can speak the glory of Almighty God. Please Lord grant me the peace, faith and strength to preach the truth and in spirit. We need to bring others to Christ, through Your love and Your Word, that is our job. Please continue to give us all the strength to spread the word of truth and our Loving God. In Jesus Name, Amen

Job here comforts himself. He could not fathom the mysteries of Providence but God knew the way he took. Job had diligently sought the calming presence of God, but, for a time, in vain. Behold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him" (vv. 8, 9). But he consoled himself with this blessed fact—though I cannot see God, what is a thousand times better, He can see me—"He knoweth." One above is neither unmindful nor indifferent to our lot. If He notices the fall of a sparrow, if He counts the hairs of our heads, of course "He knows" the way that I take.

Job here enunciates a noble view of life. How splendidly optimistic he was! He did not allow his afflictions to turn him into a skeptic. He did not permit the sore trials and troubles through which he was passing to overwhelm him. He looked at the bright side of the dark cloud—God’s side, hidden from sense and reason. He took a long view of life. He looked beyond the immediate ‘fiery trials" and said that the outcome would be gold refined. "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold." Three great truths are expressed here: let us briefly consider each separately.

"He knoweth the way that I take." The omniscience of God is one of the wondrous attributes of Deity. "For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings" (Job 34:21). "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Prov. 15:3). Spurgeon said, "One of the greatest tests of experimental religion is, What is my relationship to God’s omniscience?" What is your relationship to it, dear reader? How does it affect you? Does it distress or comfort you? Do you shrink from the thought of God knowing all about your way? perhaps, a lying, selfish, hypocritical way! To the sinner this is a terrible thought. He denies it, or if not, he seeks to forget it. But to the Christian, here is real comfort. How cheering to remember that my Father knows all about my trials, my difficulties, my sorrows, my efforts to glorify Him. Precious truth for those in Christ, harrowing thought for all out of Christ, that the way I am taking is fully known to and observed by God.

"He knoweth the way that I take." Men did not know the way that Job took. He was grievously misunderstood, and for one with a sensitive temperament to be misunderstood, is a sore trial. His very friends thought he was a hypocrite. They believed he was a great sinner and being punished by God. Job knew that he was an unworthy saint, but not a hypocrite. He appealed against their censorious verdict. "He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold." Here is instruction for us when like circumstanced. Fellow-believer, your fellow-men, yes, and your fellow Christians, may misunderstand you, and misinterpret God’s dealings with you: but console yourself with the blessed fact that the omniscient One knows.

"He knoweth the way that I take." In the fullest sense of the word Job himself did not know the way that he took, nor do any of us. Life is profoundly mysterious, and the passing of the years offer no solution. Nor does philosophizing help us. Human volition is a strange enigma. Consciousness bears witness that we are more than automatons. The power of choice is exercised by us in every move we make. And yet it is plain that our freedom is not absolute. There are forces brought to bear upon us, both good and evil, which are beyond our power to resist. Both heredity and environment exercise powerful influences upon us. Our surroundings and circumstances are factors which cannot be ignored. And what of providence which "shapes our destinies"? Ah, how little do we know the way which we "take." Said the prophet, "O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps (Jer. 10:23). Here we enter the realm of mystery, and it is idle to deny it. Better far to acknowledge with the wise man, "Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

In the narrower sense of the term Job did know the way which he took. What that "way" was he tells us in the next two verses. "My foot hath held his steps. his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:11, 12). The way Job chose was the best way, the scriptural way, God’s way—"His way." What do you think of that way, dear reader? Was it not a grand selection? Ah, not only "patient," but wise Job! Have you made a similar choice? Can you say, My foot hath held his steps. his way have I kept, and not declined?" (v. 11). If you can, praise Him for His enabling grace. If you cannot, confess with shame your failure to appropriate His all-sufficient grace. Get down on your knees at once, and unbosom yourself to God. Hide and keep back nothing. Remember it is written "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Does not verse 12 explain your failure, my failure, dear reader? Is it not because we have not trembled before God’s commandments, and because we have so lightly esteemed His Word, that we have "declined" from His way! Then let us, even now, and daily, seek grace from on high to heed His commandments and hide His Word in our hearts.

"When he hath tried me." "The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts" (Prov. 17:3). This was God’s way with Israel of old, and it is His way with Christians now. Just before Israel entered Canaan, as Moses reviewed their history since leaving Egypt, he said, "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what as in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no" (Deut. 8:2). In the same way God tries, tests, proves, humbles us.

"When he hath tried me." If we realized this more, we should bear up better in the hour of affliction and be more patient under suffering. The daily irritations of life, the things which annoy so much—what is their meaning? why are they permitted? Here is the answer: God is "trying" you! That is the explanation (in part, at least) of that disappointment, that crushing of your earthly hopes, that great loss; God was, is, testing you. God is trying your temper, your courage, your faith, your patience, your love, your fidelity.

"When he hath tried me." How frequently God’s saints see only Satan as the cause of their troubles. They regard the great enemy as responsible for much of their sufferings. But there is no comfort for the heart in this. We do not deny that the Devil does bring about much that harasses us. But above Satan is the Lord Almighty! The Devil cannot touch a hair of our heads without God’s permission, and when he is allowed to disturb and distract us, even then it is only God using him to "try" us. Let us learn then, to look beyond all secondary causes and instruments to that One who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11). This is what Job did.

In the opening chapter of the book which bears his name we find Satan obtaining permission to afflict God’s servant. He used the Sabeans to destroy Job ‘s herds (v. 15): he sent the Chaldeans to slay his servants (v. 17): he caused a great wind to kill his children (v. 19). And what was Job’s response? This: he exclaimed "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21). Job looked beyond the human agents, beyond Satan who employed them, to the Lord who controls all. He realized that it was the Lord trying him. We get the same thing in the New Testament. To the suffering saints at Smyrna John wrote, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried" (Rev. 2:10). Their being cast into prison was simply God trying them.

13One day when Job's sons and daughters were dining at the oldest brother's house, 14a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, 15when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

16While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

17While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

18While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home. 19Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the desert and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

20Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground before God. 21He said,"I came naked from my mother's womb,

and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The LORD gave me everything I had,

and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!"

22In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. Job 1:13-22 NIV

How much we lose by forgetting this! What a stay for the trouble-tossed heart to know that no matter what form the testing may take, no matter what the agent which annoys, it is God who is "trying" His children. What a perfect example the Saviour sets us. When He was approached in the garden and Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, the Saviour said, "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). Men were about to vent their awful rage upon Him, the Serpent would bruise His heel, but He looks above and beyond them. Dear reader, no matter how bitter its contents, (infinitely less than that which the Saviour drained) let us accept the cup as from the Father’s hand.

In some moods we are apt to question the wisdom and right of God to try us. So often we murmur at His dispensations. Why should God lay such an intolerable burden upon me? Why should others be spared their loved ones, and mine taken? Why should health and strength, perhaps the gift of sight, be denied me? The first answer to all such questions is, "O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"! It is wicked insubordination for any creature to call into question the dealings of the great Creator. "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" (Rom. 9:20). How earnestly each of us need to cry unto God, that His grace may silence our rebellious lips and still the tempest within our desperately wicked hearts!

17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, "I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you, and so that my fame might spread throughout the earth."18So you see, God shows mercy to some just because he wants to, and he chooses to make some people refuse to listen.

19Well then, you might say, "Why does God blame people for not listening? Haven't they simply done what he made them do?"

20No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to criticize God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "Why have you made me like this?" Rom. 9:17-20 NIV

But to the humble soul which bows in submission before the sovereign dispensations of the all-wise God, Scripture affords some light on the problem. This light may not satisfy reason, but it will bring comfort and strength when received in child-like faith and simplicity. In I Pet. 1:6 we read; "Wherein (God’s salvation) ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations (or trials): That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Note three things here. First, there is a needs-be for the trial of faith. Since God says it, let us accept it. Second, this trying of faith is precious, far more so than of gold. It is precious to God (cf. Ps. 116:15) and will yet be so to us. Third, the present trial has in view the future. Where the trial has been meekly endured and bravely borne, there will be a grand reward at the appearing of our Redeemer.

Again, in 1 Peter 4:12, 13 we are told: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings: that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." The same thoughts are expressed here as in the previous passage. There is a needs-be for our "trials" and therefore we are to think them not strange—we should expect them. And, too, there is again the blessed outlook of being richly recompensed at Christ’s return. Then there is the added word that not only should we meet these trials with faith’s fortitude, but we should rejoice in them, inasmuch as we are permitted to have fellowship in "the sufferings of Christ." He, too, suffered: sufficient then, for the disciple to be as his Master.

"When he hath tried me." Dear Christian reader, there are no exceptions. God had only one Son without sin, but never one without sorrow. Sooner or later, in one form or another, trial-sore and heavy—will be our lot. "And sent Timotheus our brother . . . to establish you, and comfort you concerning your faith: That no man should be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto" (I Thess. 3:2, 3). And again it is written, "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). It has been so in every age. Abram was "tried," tried severely. So, too, were Joseph, Jacob. Moses, David, Daniel, the Apostles, etc

"I shall come forth as gold." Observe the tense here. Job did not imagine that he was pure gold already. "I shall come forth as gold," he declared. He knew full well that there was yet much dross in him. He did not boast that he was already perfect. Far from it. In the final chapter of his book we find him saying, "I abhor myself" (42:6). And well he might: and well may we. As we discover that in our flesh there dwelleth "no good thing," as we examine ourselves and our ways in the light of God’s Word and behold our innumerable failures, as we think of our countless sins, both of omission and commission, good reason have we for abhoring ourselves. Ah, Christian reader, there is much dross about us. But it will not ever be thus.

"I shall come forth as gold." Job did not say, "When he hath tried me I may come forth as gold," or "I hope to come forth as gold," but with full confidence and positive assurance he declared, "I shall come forth as gold." But how did he know this? How can we be sure of the happy issue? Because the Divine purpose cannot fail. He which hath begun a good work in us "will finish it" (Phil. 1:6).How can we be sure of the happy issue? Because the Divine promise is sure: "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" (Ps. 138:8). Then be of good cheer, tried and troubled one. The process may be unpleasant and painful, but the issue is charming and sure.

"I shall come forth as gold." This was said by one who knew affliction and sorrow as few among the sons of men have known them. Yet despite his fiery trials he was optimistic. Let then this triumphant language be ours. "I shall come forth as gold" is not the language of carnal boasting, but the confidence of one whose mind was stayed upon God. There will be no credit to our account—the glory will all belong to the Divine Refiner (Jas. 1:12).

For the present there remain two things: first, Love is the Divine thermometer while we are in the crucible of testing—"And he shall sit (the patience of Divine grace) as a Refiner and Purifier of silver," etc. (Mal. 3:3). Second, the Lord Himself is with us in the fiery furnace, as He was with the three young Hebrews (Dan. 3:25). For the future this is sure: the most wonderful thing in heaven will not be the golden street or the golden harps, but golden souls on which is stamped the image of God—"predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son!" Praise God for such a glorious prospect, such a victorious issue, such a marvelous goal.

As we close for another week, Father we are all deeply grateful that you are our God, who promised us that you would never leave us or forsake us. You are always there for us. You have carried our grievances and sorrows and have established Your church here on Earth where you can bless us with so much love and mercy and forgiveness. We can feel all your blessings anywhere. We are just so thankful You are our God, and nothing that exists can ever separate the Love we all share with You. Father, we thank You that You have given us all the health and strength to finish up another week in Your Service. Father, we all pray that everyone will be blessed and prosper the rest of the week and please be in our hearts with all the members, visitors, friends and families. Please watch over everyone with the purity of Divine Love only You can carry.

Father, please take full possession of our hearts to remove all sin, pride, and take away any fears or worries that we may be carrying. Please continue to increase our spiritual, loving, relationships. There is one more thing Father, that is very important, teach us the element of pure trust, Lord we all want to trust You 100%, we need Your power and Your trust inside of us all, please forgive us of all doubt, and cast it away to the deepest part of the ocean. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen and Amen .