Sanctified by Suffering

Presbyterian Church, and it's my joy to bring God's word to you this morning. We're continuing our series in the book of Genesis. You'll remember the book of Genesis is the first book in the entire Bible tells the origin story of God's people Israel.

And this summer, we're in the story of Isaac and Jacob, mostly Jacob, found in chapters 25 through 36. If you were here with us last week, you heard the story of the sheep that Laban promised to Jacob.

Jacob would receive every sheep that was striped or spotted or speckled, which turns out to not work out so well for Laban, because suddenly all the healthy sheep, many of the sheep, are striped and spotted and speckled.

So Jacob gains a lot of wealth. Laban loses wealth, which sets us up for the tension of this story that's before us in chapter 31.

Now, we have one whole chapter before us right now, 55 verses. And so, as I say sometimes, I'm going to tell you something, not everything.

We are going to spend more time on the first part of this story, less time on the second part.

And we're not going to talk about the stealing of the household gods.

So we just have to cut here and there to be able to make it through 55 verses.

What we are going to look at is this, how God has used suffering to shape and grow Jacob.

And God using suffering to shape and grow Jacob points to our hope in suffering as well.

And so it's with that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 31, starting at verse 1, which you'll find on page 6 of your worship guide.

Genesis 31 · chapter mention

As we come to this story, remember that Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5 tells us,

Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God proves true. He's a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Which is why we read now, Genesis chapter 31, starting at verse 1.

Genesis 31 · chapter mention

Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying,

Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.

And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.

Then the Lord said to Jacob,

Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.

So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was,

and said to them,

I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before.

But the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times.

But God did not permit him to harm me.

If he said the spotted shall be your wages, then all the flock bore spotted.

And if he said the striped shall be your wages, then all the flock bore striped.

Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

In the breeding season of the flock, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.

Then the angel of God said to me in the dream,

Jacob, and I said,

Here I am.

And he said,

Lift up your eyes and see all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled.

For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.

Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.

Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him,

Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house?

Are we not regarded by him as foreigners?

For he has sold us and he has indeed devoured our money.

All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children.

Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.

Verse 17.

So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.

He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained,

the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan Aram,

to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods.

And Jacob tricked Laban the Aram man by not telling him that he intended to flee.

He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates

and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,

he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days

and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.

But God came to Laban the Aram man in a dream by night and said to him,

Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.

Verse 25.

And Laban overtook Jacob.

Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country,

and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.

And Laban said to Jacob,

What have you done that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me,

so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs with tambourine and lyre?

And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell?

Now you have done foolishly.

It is in my power to do you harm.

But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying,

Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.

And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house.

But why did you steal my gods?

Jacob answered and said to Laban,

Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

Anyone with whom you find your God shall not live.

In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours and take it.

Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants,

but he did not find them.

And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.

Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them.

Laban felt all about the tent but did not find them.

And she said to her father,

Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.

So he searched but did not find the household gods.

Verse 36.

Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban.

Jacob said to Laban,

What is my offense?

What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

For you have felt through all my goods.

What have you found of all your household goods?

Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between us two.

These twenty years I have been with you.

Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried,

and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.

What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you.

I bore the loss of it myself.

From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

There I was.

By day the heat consumed me and the cold by night,

and my sleep fled from my eyes.

These twenty years I have been in your house.

I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock,

and you have changed my wages ten times.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had not been on my side,

surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed.

God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.

Verse 43.

Then Laban answered and said to Jacob,

The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children,

the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine.

But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne?

Come now, let us make a covenant you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

And Jacob said to his kinsmen,

Gather stones.

And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

Laban called it Jechar-Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galid.

Laban said,

This heap is a witness between you and me today.

Therefore he named it Galid and Mizpah, for he said,

The Lord watch between you and me when we are out of one another's sight.

If you oppress my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters,

although no one is with us,

see, God is the witness between you and me.

Verse 51.

Then Laban said to Jacob,

See this heap and the pillar which I have set between you and me.

This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness,

that I will not pass over this heap to you,

and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me to do harm.

The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor,

the God of their father, judge between us.

So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac,

and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country

and called his kinsmen to eat bread.

They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

Early in the morning, Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren

and his daughters and blessed them.

Then Laban departed and returned home.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we come again grateful and thankful

that you speak to us in your word,

that you haven't left us to figure things out alone by ourselves.

And so we ask that you would do that again this morning,

that you would use an ordinary man on an ordinary day

and an ordinary time to instruct your people with your words,

to show us the great mercy and grace

that you have offered us, given us in Jesus Christ,

that you grow our love and affection and obedience to him.

And we ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I think that many of you, if not most of you,

know that last week the elders of this church

went on a two-night retreat to Florissant, Colorado,

and we had some homework to do.

So one of our sessions,

there were some questions to prepare beforehand,

and this was a session for us to sort of name and celebrate

the ways that we've seen God at work in our church

over the last couple of years.

You know, there's lots of business that we have to do as a church,

but we don't want to forget,

hey, there's all these good things that are happening in the midst of that.

And so one question was this,

list the people in our church that you have seen God really transform

over the last two years.

And it sounded a little bit like this.

Now, I've changed names to protect the innocent,

but this is how the session went.

Okay, Nicholas,

his life has turned around 180 degrees in the last two years.

And someone else says,

yeah, you know, Nicholas actually really went through it the last two years.

He's had a tremendous amount of suffering.

We've noticed in Joseph's life,

he's kinder and gentler with people than he was two years ago.

And then someone else would say,

yeah, Joseph's really been through it the last two years.

Olivia, the joy that she has,

you can see it and you can tell that it's larger than it was two years ago.

Oh yeah, you know, it's been a really tough year,

two years for Olivia.

And so for many of the names,

there's this straight line between suffering

and the image of Christ being formed.

Now, if you're a cynic, you might be thinking,

okay, well, who do these elders think they are?

Kind of looking down their noses to see who's changed.

Don't say that so fast,

because the last question was this.

How has God changed you over the last two years?

And it sounded like this.

Elder one, here's how I suffered.

And God used that to grow me in humility.

Elder two, here's how I suffered.

It led me to have greater trust in God's providence and his plan.

Elder three, here's how I suffered.

Now I have greater focus and clarity in my life.

So on and so forth.

And so almost to a man,

there's this connection between growth and suffering.

And by the way, the question did not include that.

The question was not, how have you suffered?

The question was, how have you grown?

How has God changed you to make you look more like Jesus?

But suffering showed up again and again.

So I walked away from that session thinking,

well, that's so interesting.

God's been using suffering in people's lives

in all sorts of different ways in our lives to change us.

Now, it's not an accident.

If you were with us last year,

you remember we looked at Romans chapter five,

which says this, we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance

and endurance produces character

and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame

because God's love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The point is this.

God works through trials and tribulations to change us.

God uses the soil of suffering

to bring out really rich fruit in our lives.

And that is exactly what is going on in Genesis chapter 31.

Genesis 31 · chapter mention

Jacob, as he says multiple times,

has been suffering under the hand of Laban for 20 years.

Seven of those years were working for Leah.

Seven were working for Rachel.

Six then to work for the flocks.

And those 20 years have brought about this beautiful fruit

in Jacob's life.

You remember last week, God blessed Jacob.

Jacob has Laban's sheep now and he has them fair and square.

He has them the way that the deal was made,

that he would have the spotted, the speckled, and the striped.

And so verses one and two, we're getting into the story now.

Verses one and two, Laban's sons and Laban himself are not happy.

Laban's sons have lost their future,

the great inheritance they were looking forward to.

Laban himself has lost his present.

He's lost the great wealth that he had.

Things are not going well relationally,

which prepares Jacob to hear the command that God has for him.

This is verse three, return to the land of your fathers

and to your kindred and I will be with you.

So Jacob receives that.

His next job is to go to Rachel and Leah

and convince them that it is time to go.

That takes us to verses four through 13,

which is what I'm going to call Jacob's but God speech.

This is his extended speech to Rachel and Leah to say,

look, it is time for us to go.

So track with me.

Verse five, he says,

Laban doesn't like me anymore,

but the God of my father has been with me.

Verses six and seven,

Laban has not treated me well.

He's cheated me and changed my wages 10 times.

Verse seven,

but God did not permit him to harm me.

Now remember the accusation of Laban's sons in verse one.

They say, look, he's taken all of Laban's wealth.

He's taken our father's wealth

and we don't have anything else.

Jacob says, you know what?

That's correct.

I did take all of Laban's wealth.

And you know why I did that?

You know how I took all his good sheep,

all the healthy sheep

and left him with the sick sheep, the weak sheep?

That was God.

Verse eight,

if he said the spotted shall be your wages,

then all the flock bore spotted.

And if he said the stripes shall be your wages,

then all the flock bore striped.

Verse nine,

thus God has taken away the livestock of your father

and given them to me.

God plundered Laban for me.

It is God that caused the strong sheep

to be striped and spotted and speckled,

not the silly trick with the sticks.

No, it was God at work.

It was God who did all of these things.

And so he goes on.

Now I want to go back.

Verse five, remember that.

Go back to verse five for a second.

But the God of my father has been with me.

What does that remind you of?

Remember all the way back to chapter 28.

Chapter 28 was the story of the ladder

that goes from earth to heaven.

And it wasn't just a ladder.

God in that story makes Jacob two promises.

Promise one, he says,

I will be with you.

Okay, and that's what Jacob has just said.

Verse five,

but the God of my father has been with me.

And he makes a second promise.

Back in chapter 28,

I'm going to bring you back home.

Well, that's the rest of the speech.

He's saying, look, I had this dream.

This is verses 11 through 13.

The angel of the Lord appeared to me and said,

it's time to go home.

Verse 13,

I am the God of Bethel,

where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me.

Bethel's talking about the very end of chapter 28.

That anointed pillar,

that was Jacob's response to the blessing

and the promise of God.

So he's reminding him,

look, remember what happened 20 years ago.

I'm that same God.

I've now done

exactly what I promised you that I would do.

And it's time to come back home.

It's not simply or merely or just, though,

that God has kept his promise,

but that Jacob now knows it

deep down in his bones.

Jacob has never,

he has never given God this kind of credit

and praise for the success in his life.

And yet, what do we see now in this speech?

Again and again, he's saying,

look, I've had all the success

and protection and blessing

because and only because of God.

Remember, we've talked before

about the family motto of the Abraham family,

the story that they live in,

this narrative that they tell themselves,

which is this,

it is all up to me.

My schemes, my tricks, my plans,

that's what matters.

I protect and provide for myself,

no one else.

And finally,

finally,

over 20 years,

two decades,

Jacob knows that's not true.

God has used two decades

of Jacob's suffering

under the hand of Laban

for him to finally admit,

no, it's actually God

who is in control.

Jacob knows

the family motto

is a lie.

Jacob finally realizes

God is the one in charge

after years of trickery

and deception.

Jacob finally comes to know

that protection and blessing

come from God

and God alone.

Jacob is finally willing

to give all credit

and honor

and praise

and glory

to God

because he knows it now

deep,

deep down.

He's experienced it

over and over again.

the Jacob that we met

in Genesis chapters 25

Genesis 25 · chapter mention

and 28

was proud

and arrogant.

The Jacob

of chapter 31

is humble

and grateful

and thankful.

it has taken

two decades

for God

to bring

that humility

about in his life.

It hasn't come easy.

If you've been paying attention,

you know

that this process

for Jacob

has been brutal.

It's been

back-breaking work

but it has come.

Year by year,

month by month,

week by week,

two decades,

God

has been

at work.

He's been at work

using suffering

to transform

the character

of Jacob

from the inside

out.

The point is this.

God uses

our sufferings.

God uses

the consequences

of our sin

to change us.

Now,

the specific change

in this story

is the change

of humility.

It's the change

of Jacob

finally being willing

to give credit

where credit

is due.

How is it

that we learn

that every good

and perfect gift

comes from above?

We learn that

through suffering.

How is it

that we learn

that we are not

as smart

and gifted

and talented

and exceptional

as maybe

we flatter

ourselves

that we are?

We learn it

through suffering.

How is it

that we learn

that God

actually is

in charge

of all things?

We learn it

through suffering.

how do we learn

as we talked

about last week

that God

really does

hold the whole

world

in his hands?

We learn it

as we suffer.

It is when

our legs

are actually

cut out

from under us

that we have

to trust

God.

It is when

the bottom

falls out

that we do

learn

experientially

deeply

all the way

down to the bottom

that God's

promises

are true

and he will

do

exactly

what he said

he would do.

if you're

a Christian

and you're

honest

you are going

to have to

come to a

place in your

life

where you do

give all

credit

to God.

If you really

understand

what it means

that all

gifts come

from God

that God's

the one

who's arranged

circumstances

and events

and relationships

to lead you

to where you

are

if you really

know how

desperate your

need is for

God's grace

and that without

it you have

no hope

there is

no one else

to give the

honor and the

glory to

but God

alone.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 4:7

chapter 4

verse 7

says this

what do you

have that you

did not

receive?

If then you

received it

why do you

boast as if

you did not

receive it?

Christian

what do you

have that you

did not

receive?

Can you

point to

anything in

your life

where you

say yeah

I'm a

self-made

man

I'm a

self-made

woman?

no

no

that's

God's

grace

and mercy

and provision

in your

life

are you

still

thanking

yourself

congratulating

yourself

for your

skill

and your

wisdom

and your

intelligence

self-congratulation

if you

are

something

is off

something

is deeply

wrong

spiritually

something

in your

heart

is twisted

and pointed

in the

wrong

direction

self-congratulation

reveals our

immaturity

it tells us

spiritually

we are

infants

now you

might be

thinking

well that's

that's

good

I actually

have really

low self-esteem

so I don't

need to worry

about that

got bad

news for

you

the flip

side of

self-congratulation

is anxiety

the anxiety

that drives

poor decisions

because both

of those

things say

God is

not in

charge

self-congratulation

says God's

not in

charge

I'm in

charge

anxiety

says the

same thing

God's

not in

charge

I'm

in

charge

I have

to make

it

happen

both

of those

things

lead to

the same

grasping

for control

the same

belief

that it

is all

up to

me

and since

both of

those things

have the

same

root

they have

the same

solution

which is

this

recognizing

the absolute

sovereignty

and control

of God

over all

things

there is

nothing

outside

of God's

rule

and reign

now if

you've been

in the

church

long enough

you've

learned the

right things

to say

and you

know it's

polite

right

when someone

says to

you wow

you did

such a

great job

you can

say oh

yeah

you know

thank God

and his

grace

that's

what brought

it all

together

right

God

did it

and there

are people

who know

to say

that

and there

are people

who do

say that

and then

what do

we do

the next

moment

we're

thanking

ourself

don't be

a person

who talks

about

God's

care

be a

person

who

believes

it

be a

person

who

believes

it

deep

down

you

know

how

God's

going

to

bring

that

about

in

your

life

suffering

suffering

will cause

us to

believe

more

and more

the words

of Jesus

in Luke

Luke 12 · chapter mention

chapter

12

are

not

five

sparrows

sold

for

two

pennies

and not

one of

them

is

forgotten

before

God

why

even

the hairs

of your

head

are

all

numbered

fear

not

you

are

of

more

value

than

many

sparrows

do

you

believe

it

do

you

believe

that

you

are

of

more

value

than

many

sparrows

can

you

agree

with

the

psalmist

the last

verse

of

psalm

124

our

help

is

in

the

name

of

the

Lord

who

made

heaven

and

earth

do you

believe

it

or

have

you

just

learned

the

right

words

to

say

Jacob

has

learned

Jacob

has

learned

the

hard

way

that

his

help

is

in

the

name

of

the

Lord

who

made

heaven

and

earth

we're

going to

move on

to the

second

half

of the

story

briefly

but I

just

want to

point

out

one

more

thing

about

the

Jacob

story

which

we've

sort

of already

said

which is

this

God

plays

the

long

game

God

plays

the

long

game

year

after

year

after

year

he

has

shaped

Jacob

he's

worked

over

two

decades

he

hasn't

worked

over

two

months

that's

how

God

brings

his

sanctification

to bear

in our

lives

that's

how

he

makes

us

to

look

more

and

more

like

Jesus

in

other

words

there

is

actually

no

two

day

shipping

on

sanctification

no

there's

a

long

process

God

at

work

slow

steady

persistent

unstoppable

that's

how

God's

been

at

work

in the

life

of

Jacob

that's

the way

God

works

in your

life

as well

month

month

by

month

year

by

year

decade

by

decade

we're

going to

talk

very

briefly

about

the

second

half

of

the

story

this

is a

long

passage

as I

mentioned

55

verses

part

one

Jacob

recognizes

!

He

celebrates

God's

faithfulness

in the

past

he

finally

realizes

God

is

the

one

who

has

done

all

things

and

man

it

would

be

great

if

we

could

leave

it

there

there

is

a

problem

which

is

that

Jacob

is

actually

going

to

have

to

keep

trusting

God

he

has

not

arrived

he's

not

finished

he's

going

to

have

to

trust

God's

faithfulness

not

just

see

it

in

the

past

he's

going

to

have

to

trust

it

in

the

present

he

gives

this

speech

as

we've

discussed

and

in

verses

14

they

leave

without

telling

Laban

so

in

modern

parlance

we

would

say

they

ghost

Laban

Laban

pursues

them

Laban

is

extremely

upset

that

they

would

leave

without

saying

goodbye

he

doesn't

like

the

Irish

goodbye

apparently

and

there's

this

language

here

of

military

action

it

sounds

like

he's

tracking

them

the way

the

hunter

tracks

an

animal

this

is

verse

23

pursued

we

should

gather

what

we

already

know

since

you

read

the

passage

his

intent

is

not

great

but

God

appears

to

Laban

in a

dream

this

is

verse

24

and

says

you

know

what

Laban

keep

your

mouth

shut

keep

your

mouth

shut

and

say

nothing

either

good

or

bad

so

Laban

comes

in

knowing

this

he

has

this

warning

from

God

he

then

gives

all

these

accusations

against

Jacob

this

is

verses

25

through

32

and

says

you

kidnapped

my

daughters

and

you

took

my

household

gods

and

this

is

the

kicker

verse

29

it

is

in

my

power

to

do

you

harm

but

the

God

of

your

father

spoke

to

me

last

night

saying

be

careful

not

to

say

anything

to

Jacob

either

good

or

bad

don't

miss

it

don't

miss

it

God

is

still

protecting

Jacob

God

is

still

watching

after

him

he

is

still

providing

for

him

his

protection

and

provision

it's

not

just

past

tense

everything

that

Jacob

has

said

up

to

this

point

has

been

past

tense

here's

what

God

did

for

me

God's

protection

continues

God

is

still

doing

for

Jacob

and

what

Laban

here

says

says

is

correct

Laban

has

Jacob

out

manned

and

he

has

him

out

gunned

there

is

no

trick

that

Jacob

can

run

at

this

point

there

is

nothing

he

can

do

to

save

himself

there's

no

lie

he

can

tell

to

get

himself

out

of

this

problem

but

God

has

told

Laban

in

a

dream

to

keep

his

mouth

shut

and

so

Laban

knows

that

Jacob

cannot

be

touched

and so

he gives

God

praise

again

verse 42

if the

God of my

father

the God of

Abraham

and the

fear of

Isaac

had not

been on

my side

surely

now you

would have

sent me

away

empty

handed

God

saw

my

affliction

and the

labor

of my

hands

and

rebuked

you

last

night

it is

not

just

that

Jacob

sees

everything

that God

has done

in the

past

it is

also

that

Jacob

has to

trust

God

in the

present

the

life

of

faith

never

ends

you

will

never

come

to a

place

as a

Christian

where

you

don't

have

to

keep

trusting

God

and

how

is it

that

you're

able

to

trust

God

and

his

provision

and

protection

and

blessing

and

mercy

and

grace

in the

present

it is

by

remembering

his

provision

and

mercy

and

grace

and

blessing

in

the

past

because

of what

God

has

done

in

Laban's

life

because

of how

the way

he's

protected

Jacob

Jacob

can

have

that

unshakable

trust

and

confidence

and

belief

are

you

still

trusting

God

or

do

you

believe

you've

arrived

that

you

figured

it

all

out

as

a

Christian

many

many

years

ago

when

I

was

first

starting

at

this

church

I

think

this

was

probably

2018

I

went

and

I

got

breakfast

some

of

you

all

will

remember

Ken

and

Nancy

O'Connell

who

of

our

church

for

many

years

Ken

and

Nancy

some

of

the

founding

members

of

our

church

and

so

Ken

and

I

got

breakfast

at

Chick-fil-A

on

Nevada

and

I

think

Ken

wasn't

sure

why

I'd

asked

to

meet

with

him

so

at

one

point

he

said

Matthew

what

can

I

do

for

you

and

Ken

had

been

with

our

church

since

1996

and

there

had

been

some

moments

if

you

know

the

history

of

our

church

you

know

that

there

was

times

I

think

our

church

almost

closed

and

Ken

and

Nancy

and

David

and

Paula

Johnson

decided

no

this

church

is

going

to

stay

open

and

so

Ken

said

Matthew

what

can

I

do

for

you

and

I

said

Ken

I

just

need

you

to

tell

me

that

God

has

been

faithful

to

our

church

in

the

past

and

that

he

is

going

to

be

faithful

in

the

future

that

is

what

I

need

for

you

I

need

you

to

help

me

remember

God's

protection

and

provision

so

that

I

know

that

I

can

have

faith

moving

forward

as

we

lead

this

church

now

that

was

back

in

2018

2019

some

of

you

all

were

here

for

our

congregational

meeting

in

2023

and

remember

we

were

up

against

a

loan

renegotiation

our

interest

rate

was

going

to

go

up

and

we

needed

to

raise

money

to

pay

off

our

building

debt

and

while

we're

in

the

middle

of

all

this

conversation

and

questions

and

talk

David

Johnson

stands

up

and

if

you

were

there

hopefully

you've

never

forgotten

this

David

said

look

you

all

need

to

calm

down

David

said

it

nicer

than

that

said

you

all

need

to

calm

down

I've

been

at

this

one

more

time

he

said

we're

going

to

be

amazed

by

how

God

will

work

that's

looking

at

God's

faithfulness

in the

past

and

moving

forward

in the

future

David

was

right