Rejoicing in the Lord

I would like to recommend to you before we begin our message today, the

book Steps to Christ. The sermon today has been heavily influenced by chapter thirteen,

Rejoicing in the Lord. How many of you go home and we'll read

that after the service sometime next couple of days. Rejoice in the Lord.

About ten percent of you have raised your hands. If you would, you

can go online and get the Allen White app and read it. It made

an impression on me this last week, and I chose to shape my message

around it. Let's bow our heads, Father God, we ask today to

learn what it means to share the joy of Jesus with others, what it

means to be forgiven, what it means to have peace and purpose in our

lives, to be accepted and obedient by faith, but accepted as we grow.

Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. The ancient Greek philosopher Epictoicus once

framed a noble truth well worth remembering. Here's what he said. He wrote,

as a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has

not, but rejoices for those which he has. Catch that a wise person

does not grieve for what he loses or doesn't have, but he rejoices in

that which God has given him. That's the idea. As Christians, we've

been called to reveal the character of God, a God of love, to

the world. I mean, you're not here just so you can have an

entertainment interaction with God on Saturday morning. I mean, in fact, so

much of modern worship has moved toward worship tainment. We're here to glorify God.

We're here to live for Jesus Christ. We're here to take the word

of God into our community of the weak and affect those dear people in our

lives that would not know Jesus if we were not the Jesus God sends to

meet them. Christ in us the hope of glory. As Christians, we've

been called to reveal the character of a God of love to the world.

The Gospel means the good News because we worship a kind God, whose character,

whose essence is good news. The everlasting Gospel that Christ died for my

sins, he was buried, he was raised in the third Day is an

outworking of the I am who I am kind of God is the description of

the loving character of Almighty God, and so a revelation of God Jesus came

to give. Think about it. We worship a gracious God who is good

and loving and kind off the charts, so much so that he is the

Oh, my goodness, good news kind of God in Jesus, the overwhelming

good news kind of God in Jesus revealed to be the case. We worship

a kind God who loves us more than he loves himself. Now, God

is infinite. God loves us finite beings, more than he loves his infinite

self. Our kind God proved his love by offering himself up in Jesus.

Paul says, God was in Christ, reconciling the world and to him self,

not counting men's trespasses against them. God was in Christ. It broke

the Father's heart to give us Jesus. It severed Christ or he cried,

my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the spirit

that grieves grieved when Jesus died. Paul says, the spirit can be grieved,

and God is jealous for his spirit. If we grieve the spirit,

he defends the spirit much as a husband would defend a wife. So we

worship a just, merciful, kind and thoughtful God, our kind, God,

the King and the universe. Now hear me, is the most humble

being in the universe. In spite of the fact that he has all the

power, all the knowledge, and all the wealth, and the universe,

God Almighty is humble and lowly of heart. Our kind God has not stuck

on himself one single bit with all the power, all the majesty, and

all the glory. Both Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy reveal that the Godhead

lives as one coeternal God in three co eternal beings or persons, as what

Sister White calls the Holy Trio. The Spirit of Prophecy calls these three holy

beings of the Godhead the three persons of the Godhead, and so does Ellen

White in other places. The heavenly trio aligned as three that are one.

It contradicts math three equals one. Doesn't matter because somehow, in the mystery

of who God is, God cannot be loved unless the God, who is

one, can share. And so God is the Holy Trio as well as

one one equals three, and forget the math. It's true. And so

the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit have loved each other in the

oneness of what is God before all time, through time and will for all

time. God is Love, and that from that circle of love it comes

to us the planet salvation came from the Holy Trio. It came from a

circle of love. And Jesus said, the love that I had with the

Father before the world was made, I'm sharing it with the world. Jesus

declared this as the essence of his divine mission to save the world, to

reveal the Father, to reveal the glory, the love of God, the

character of God to us fallen human beings. John fifteen nine to twelve.

Take your bibles, open them, or fall on the screen. It says,

as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. I

think about that. How much does God loved Jesus. God loves Christ.

He loves you just as much as He loves Jesus. Christ. Grasp that,

dear heart. Now I'm gonna say something I'm preaching. I'm gonna say,

Amen, Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, good news. God loves me

as much as he loves Jesus. And so what does that mean? Christ

has abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide

in my love, God's law, God's character, God's love. Same thing.

Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things, I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you,

that your joy may be full. And this is my commandment, that you

love one another as I have loved you. Keywords joy, love coming from

God Almighty through Christ into our lives Romans five, verse three. More than

that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces

character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God's

love and I catch this has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,

which has been given to us. God has extended the third person of

the Godhead into our lives as a gift. And he can think of another

verse where he gave a part of himself for God's so love the world that

he gave his only begotten what son, guess what? For God to love

the world. He also gave us the Holy Spirit because of the sun.

God has placed us in this world to reveal His character of love to others,

to save them and to save us. I tell you the more I

study who God is. The less I know. I don't claim to have

all the answers answers. I'm not some theologian with quick trick answers. Here,

the Bible's deep mystery of who God is is not something easy to understand,

but it is revealed. Friend, we cannot resist Satan's lies without the

omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit, which brings the mind, the attitude,

the love of God into our lives. For this purpose, I write this

quote down. I have it on the screen. It's taken from Special Testimony

Series A number ten, page thirty seven, was written in eighteen ninety seven

after the Minneapolis Conference, and Sister White was interacting with the church as it

grew in Australia. In fact, her fine writings on the Person of God,

the Person, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus and the Gospel come after

eighteen eighty eight in Australia. I've read all of those manuscripts through and I've

been enriched by her deep insights that God gave her to explain the Gospel more

fully. Evangelism Paid six seventeen. It's also found on she says the prince

of the power of Evil can only be held in check by the power of

God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. So do

we need the Holy Spirit our lives? Is the Holy Spirit? Personal personal

is the Holy Spirit. According to Sister White, the third person of the

Godhead. How many members of the Godhead would we have here? Three?

So, and she refers to this as the holy trio God, the Father,

God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit at work in our

lives to share God's love, God's grace with the whole world. We need

God. That's the point. We love God, friend, and only because

God first loved us. Only because of that, we are God's love letter

to a dying world. And God has poured on us his Holy Spirit to

heal us and to heal the world through us. Before I finished my sermon

yesterday, I was writing my sermon. I tend to write these things out

because sometimes do you ever get like, I want to be clear here,

so you have to write it out? Anybody do that? I sometimes write

it out so I have a collection of Him. It's a stack of Him

this high. Before I finished writing my sermon out, I decided to visit

a number of people up Highway Corridor one, which is my ministry circuit in

Laurel, Maryland that I go pretty much every day. I touch bases with

people there. As I'm driving, I stop in to pray, check in

on my parish that never comes to church. I visited Tom at his store

and he shared with me the good news of his family coming to town.

He's so excited, he says, Pastor Mike, my father's coming in.

My mother died. You know a little way back. We prayed together,

but we're gon, we're gonna get around the house. We're gonna have food,

fellowship and this kind of thing. I said, so great, Tom,

And so I prayed with Tom, and Tom bowed his head to put

my hand on his and be prayed together. And I'm Tom's pastor. I

know that Tom doesn't tend church, but I go to work. Tom works

just up the street. I dropped in into another shop to check in on

a lady who's just beginning to open her Bible for the very first time.

She's a business owner. Now, how many of you helped me buy those

nice bibles? Remember that you put money in my hand and I have used

it all up. It's all gone. But we bought a number of quality

Bibles for people who really want to have Bible stays. She got one of

those Bibles, and that nice lady there got one of those Bibles, and

that some of you donated. Her face lit up a nice Bible for me.

I don't have a Bible. A couple of weeks ago, she confide

in me that she feels a little guilty. She says, I have a

hard time reading Bible. I have a d D. So I have that

beautiful Bible, but I can't really read it wrong. So we took the

time to get her hooked up with a nice Bible app so she could listen

to the Bible dramatized. You ever going lie and listen to Bible dramatized?

It's wonderful. I walked in yesterday and she was on the phone. She

got off the phone, she turned to me, smile on her face,

right there in her business, and she says, I got it going.

I'm listening to the Bible, and was like, Hurrah, hurrah. You

know, we talked a little and we celebrate this huge step forward for her.

She's listening to the Bible, smile on her face. You know,

I have an asperger smile. One side goes up and the other down,

kind of like Captain Hook. But I smiled. You know. She's also

trying to get her daughter to listen to the Bible and in her own words,

so my daughter can be saved. And she says, I don't really

feel saved right now, but I'm working on it. That's progress. That

same morning, I read a verse in my personal devotion. See I'm interacting

in the Bible, not just telling them too, And in my devotions I

share with her Right there, I said, I read a verse that it

indicated how alive the word of God is. And did you know that Jesus

and the Word of the same thing. She said, really, yeah,

I said, here's the passage and I'll read it to you. So i'ms

one hundred and seven seventeen twenty one. Some were sick through their simple ways,

and because of their iniquities, suffered affliction that could be all of us

given the right time of her life. We go down because we sin,

we have regrets, because we fail God, we break this law. We

feel the impact in her life, and so what does God do? Verse

eighteen. They loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the

gates. Of death. Some people overeat when they sin, others will quit

eating. Who knows it's trouble. Look at verse nineteen. Then they cry

to the Lord in their trouble, isn't that a good thing? Oh Lord,

I'm in trouble. Have you ever said that, couple of you?

What's a good thing? And then luquid it says next, And he delivered

them from their distress. You cry to the Lord, he delivers you.

Now here's the key phrase. He sent forth his word and healed them and

delivered them from destruction. So how does God heal us? He sends his

word into our lives, and through the word of God we are healed.

Do we need the word of God? It is indispensable for our growth in

Christian character, in our growth and our sustaining of courage in the Christian walk.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love. You see, the

steadfast love of the Lord is mediated through his word, and our response should

be Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, Thank you for your steadfast love. Not

here today and gone tomorrow, but covenant keeping consistent. Love's says for his

wonderful works to the sons of men. God has done for us what we

can never do for ourselves. God has saved us with a right now righteousness

that's good enough for the judgment day. And He has ensured that we will

not be ashamed before God Almighty in his law because of the cross of Christ,

because God Almighty was in Christ on that cross, reconciling the world and

to himself. Now, she shared with me that she's trying to do a

better job at getting no God. I listened to that, and I thought

to myself, who are the children of God? But the ones who are

led by the spirit of God. She doesn't even know that she's in motion,

that God is in her life and working in her life. But I

could see it, and I know God could. And I said, good,

So you were in progress and God is working with you to heal you

through his word. He has sent his word to heal you. Then I

said to her, I read this verse this morning that God sent that God

sent forth this word and healed him. Then I explained to her and John

one one in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God,

and the word was God's that the Word is alive. You go back

to Genesis fifteen one. The word of the Lord came to Abraham a vision

saying the word of the Lord was speaking, and said, I am your

shield and your great protection. Don't be afraid. That was the preexistent Christ.

And I showed her how to connect the dots in her face lit up.

Really, yeah, really, that makes me smile. And the only

Jesus, I said we would ever know authoritatively is found in the pages of

this book. When you read the words of God, when you hear it

on that app Jesus is speaking to you. She says, yes, I

feel it. She's going to listen to Daniel two this week. How many

of you would pray for her? I'm not going to give her name out.

How many of you would pray for her? Good? Next week?

I popped When I pop in, I'm going to draw her a little picture

to explain the prophecy of the four Kingdoms, the image of Daniel two,

and then the Fifth Kingdom, the Torah, Word of God, Kingdom,

and the coming of Christ. And so she's going to be listening to that

as she travels with her daughter. On those audio tapes. This was a

five minute Bible study. How long does the Bible study have to be?

Come on? How what can you get by with five minutes? And when

I focused on Jesus and her word, her face lit up. I prayed

for her and her business, and I left. It was over. I

have a series of five minute Bible studies on Cardo one. That's what I'm

learning to do. God is helping me. I can do the longer small

group studies which go for an hour ninety minutes. I've taught people how to

do them. But there's a place for the five minute Bible study. We

can all do that. I have an appointment next week. I'm going to

do at five maybe ten minute max Bible study deal two right there where she

works. I'm going to pray for her and keep it going. I've done

the same to a man at PC Retro down on Court or two, and

also my mechanic very short, a little at a time baby food. Now,

as I'm getting older, I confess that I have learned more and more

that we are the only Jesus our neighbors may ever see, period. So

we better be in the deliberate business of sharing Jesus in the Bible with our

friends and neighbors as best we can, and spending time in the morning or

whenever it works for you, but making sure you're in God's word every day.

We are to grow and share. God shares with us, we share

with others. Now, I'm a fan of the five minute Bible study format

of one verse, one thought, one prayer for our neighbors and friends once

a week. Can you how many you can do that? One prayer,

one verse, one prayer, once a week five minutes. You can find

somebody to share something with. Now, you'd be surprised how people are just

needing this live lonely lives. They feel broken. You bring a little light.

You shine a flashlight of God's love in their life serendipitously. And you

said, well, Pastor Mike, I might get nervous doing that. They'll

think I'm a fool or nut or antisocial kind of person. Odd, So

what how many you'd like to join the odd club? I'm in the odd

club. I don't care because I care about those people. We can do

that. So I admonish you, for the sake of Jesus, to take

Jesus Joy, Jesus love, to your friends, to your social gatherings,

to your neighbors far and wide, to your work associates, even to your

enemies. If Providence provides the chance to have a five minute prayer and study

with them one verse, one thought, one time a week, people will

never be one to Christ in your family, your sphere of influence by a

grumpy attitude, right, smile up here. Grumpy attitude, a sour disposition.

Some people think being tours spiritual. I'm spiritual, growing your teeth,

and I've been a Christian church so long. You just want to get out

of that place. Hanging around those awful people, you know, a stern

look. You know, God is the judge of all the earth, and

they act like they're the judge in the church. Stern look, unforgiving attitude.

I've hurt my feeling so deeply. How could they hurt me in such

a vicious, mean, harsh way. My soul is poured out like water

in the desert. And we say those kind of things in the church,

and the really the unforgiving attitude is manifested by the whiny, a pious perspective,

you know, the perfectionist. Well, I've arrived. I've been in

this church thirty forty years. I'm a great person of faith. You'll make

it too, if you hang in there long enough or a virtue signal.

Well, I've passed out one hundred the literature, and I'm for doing that.

I'm not trying to diminish that, but to do it so that you

can say, look what I'm doing, or an angry and sorrowful outlook in

life. You know, to hold a grudge. We are to quickly forgive

each other in the church quickly. If you share Jesus honestly, without fear

in your world's fear, you will have the joy and the power of what

Sister White calls the third person of a godhead, the Holy Spirit. To

make the service of God in a relationship with Jesus look attractive and winning and

contagious for others. I need personal power from God, not impersonal power from

God in my life. Look at John ten vers tent. The thief at

Satan comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might

have life, And what kind of life? Have it? Abundantly? Friend,

Jesus declare that we are the light of the world, a city on

a heal for the whole world to see. He called his people to be

the soul of the earth. Jesus said this little flock. That is the

will of this good and kind Father to give us the kingdom. We are

not put on this earth to fail in our relationship with God and become some

tragic outcome. Well, I had a relationship God, but I just couldn't

hold on because it wasn't meant to be. No, God didn't call you

for that. We're not placed here to have some some tragic tale of sorrow

to mourn over all our lives and frown about when we come to church.

Every Christian will suffer trials and challenges, but that is not to be the

theme of our life. God did not make the flowers to cause us to

cry when we see them in all their glory. He did not give the

rain to make us mourn all day long, but to refresh us with life

and joy and a rainbow in the spring. God did not give us the

light so we could hide from it, so as to live with the gloom

and not the glory of God and our trials and challenges of life. You

look at the Apostolic Christians. They were in jail, they were beaten,

they were killed. They were giving glory to God in the flames, glory

to God in the prison praising God. The Lord God gave us Jesus to

make us happy right now, right here. He gave us the best reasons

in the universe to be happy because he gave us God, when he gave

us Jesus, when he gave us the third person of the Godhead, the

Holy Spirit. And Jesus, we are forgiven people if we forgive everyone else,

just like God has forgiven us. There are conditions of salvation. This

business that you're saved just because you say so, it's wrong. When you

have faith in Christ, you accept God's forgiveness for your sins, which are

huge. And guess what, you better forgive everybody else with that same big

heart that God showed towards you. And you're forgiven. And Jesus, we

are accepted as if we had never sinned, because God is kind right now,

right now, and Jesus, God protects us and he grows us in

the good life like trees of righteousness to be are like him, as beautiful

sons and daughters of the King of the universe, the King of Righteousness.

In Christ, we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own

people called out worthy of the highest honor in our relationship to the Son of

God. Because of the Cross, we are royal to the universe. In

Jesus, we have a sure future and noble destiny that is full of hope,

purpose, growth, love, and eternal beauty and glory forever and ever

and ever and ever with God in Jesus. I don't know about you,

but if I were to, you know, I don't buy lottery tickets.

But if I had to buy a lottery ticket, and I don't and I

want one hundred million dollars or billion or whatever, it's nothing compared to that.

I mean. We come to Church, we come to Christ. We

hit the jackpot if we're in Christ. In Christ, we have every good

reason to rejoice in our high calling and to be happy to serve God in

the Church without rank or complaint, because God in Jesus loves us, and

He will love us for all time in the person of the Holy Trio.

God will keep on loving us in Jesus forever and ever and ever and ever.

And the New Testament, Jesus said, the circle of love that I

have of the Father and also the Spirit implied, I bring you into it

so that you're part of the family. Friend Jesus said John ten ten that

the thief comes only to kill and destroy, steal. Therefore, I admonish

you do not believe Satan's lies anymore in your life. Do not let him

steal your faith and joy with his lies. Christ came into this world so

that you can have the abundant life with joy and love and acceptance from God.

It is this abundant life we are called to share with our friends,

our neighbors. Because of Jesus, We're not meant to share some depressing negative

view of the n times. Let me share with you the final message in

the world. The mark of the beast is gonna be so bad you're not

gonna buy herself. Now look teach that, but not that way. See,

the market of beast is gonna be bad. But Jesus good. You

know the market beast goes in the forehead, but the seal of God and

of the lamb, the name of God goes in your forehead. You got

Christ, not the beast in your life. So we must interact with prophecy.

I'm not a person's throw prophecy out. You do that, you're not

in lying with the Apostolic Christians who taught prophecy. But they taught Christ in

the prophecies, not some mournful tale of how bad and heart it is to

live for God, but the joy of knowing God in Jesus you share with

your friends and neighbors. Friend, Jesus is the good news. According to

Paul Roman's one, he is the Gospel, the everlasting gospel that reveals who

God is in his death, barren resurrection. People need to know that.

Take your I'm gonna have a slight up here. Reading from Steps to Christ,

page one one six. From that chapter, I've given you his homework,

she writes. Satan is exalted when he can lead the chilren of God

into unbelief and despondency. He delights to see us mistrusting God, doubting his

willingness and power to save us. He loves to have us feel that the

Lord will do us harm by his providences. It is the work of Satan

to represent the Lord is lacking in compassion and pity. He misstates the truth

in regard to him. He feels the imagination with false ideas concerning God,

and instead of dwelling upon the truth in regard to our heavenly Father, we

too often fix our minds upon the misrepresentations of Satan and dishonor God by distrusting

him and murmuring against him. Satan, ever, seeks to make the religious

life one of gloom. He desires it to pure, toilsome and difficult.

And when the Christian presents in his own life this view of religion, he

is, through his unbelief, seconding the falsehood of Satan. And sometimes we

find it easy to focus on the briars, the thorns and the thistles,

the heart path, the stony ground. We find it easy to complain,

to grumble about the trials, the difficulties, the injustices of life. People

say, well, you know, we're living in a world so much injustice.

Well, what's new. We've been living in a world with so much

injustice since Kane killed Abel. It's been there, It's gonna be there.

The question is what are you going to do about it? You can get

out and throw bricks through windows and cause more tarb are you going to bring

love into people's lives? That's how you deal with injustice. Focusing on the

faults of others that bother us. I've done that, Have you ever done

that? Focused on somebody else's faults and realize you have some too, but

you're focusing on theirs, so you're not thinking too much about that part.

Okay. John Calvin once wrote this that there is not one blade of grass,

There is no color in this world is not intended to make us rejoice.

That's a good thing. Now. That picture of him looks pretty sad

on the screen, but that's how those medieval artists did it. Evidently,

Ellen g White steps to Christ page one one seven. The briars and thorns

will only wound and grieve you. And if you gather only these things and

present them to others, are you not besides slighting the goodness of God yourself,

preventing those around you from walking in the path of life. It is

not wise to gather together all the unpleasant recollections of a past life, its

iniquities and disappointments, to talk over them and mourn over them until we are

overwhelmed with discouragement. A discouraged soul is filled with darkness, shutting out the

light of God from his own soul and casting a shadow upon the pathway of

others. It is our Christian duty to not get discouraged or stay there,

and we have plenty of reasons not to stay there. Paul said, he

forgets the things that lie behind. Look, you messed up, so what

that's not your future, that's your past. God is on the road with

you. You have a bright future. Live for Jesus, Serve him,

love him, be consecrated, focused in the work of the church. Do

with a smiling attitude. Don't point attention to yourself. Give glory to God.

Your testimony to others is not a tale of how hard and bad your

life was as the theme of a tragic story. It's still bad, but

rather how good it is today because of Jesus, who lives in you.

Christ in you the hope of glory. When you feel like doubting God's love

for you because of your mistakes, your sins, your failures, remind that

old snake. You ever talked to a snake? Now I've talked to a

snake. We were fly fishing. My sons would catch a copper head with

the fly rod. D Dad, look what I caught. So I would

say, huh, yeah, you talk at a distance to the snake.

But say this, Jesus died for me, old snake, and Jesus didn't

die for nothing. I'm important to God because Jesus died for me. He

died to heal you, to make you happy, to give you home with

for all attorney. Faith in God means faith in his love for you.

Did you hear that faith in God? Now we're saved by faith right.

Faith in God means faith that He loves you, not just faith that he's

king. Faith in God means trust to him to care for you. Faith

in God means that you believe that God so loved the world that He's gave

is only begotten son for you for me, so that you me we will

not perish, but have every lasting life with him. God loves me.

That's what it means. When you are tempted to doubt the love of God.

Remember John three sixteen is for you, not just for somebody else.

Dear heart, don't give the devil one inch of holy ground in your life

by believing the life that God does not love you and that God does not

want you. God wants you to be saved, not lost. God has,

and God does, and God will save you. And that is the

truth of the Bible uses all three of those tenses to describe his salvation.

Stop hammering your own broken soul with unbelief and doubt, and rejoice in the

truth. God didn't put you into this world to hover over that kind of

foul thinking and reflections until you fall sick of the soul and lost in life.

That's not why He's given you the Holy Spirit. That's not why he

sends angels to encourage you. We've been told them, and God sends angels

to encourage us, and we don't take it. After a while, he

quits sending them. God put you in this world to believe the Gospel of

peace with love and kindness and Jesus to devote your entire life to sharing His

life with others. Friend, there are people out there who will never hear

the truth about God and Jesus unless you can take it to them with a

smile on your face. That's practice with me. Smile. You know,

if I hadn't take a picture, come on, take a picture of you.

If you have a cell phone. My cell phone is back there,

so if I had a picture, I mean use my Bible as a cell

phone. You're like an iPad? All right, Smile. What do you

do when you take a picture, say cheese? Jesus chocolate candy bar,

honey dripping with vanilla ice cream. You don't like that smile? You realize

that people are taking snapshots of you all day long. What's the picture they

see of you? Snapshot, snapshot, It's in the mind's eye. Christ

and us the hope of glory. We are to be joyful Christians with the

sake of the world. Stop hammering on your own broken soul with unbelief and

doubt, and rejoice in the truth. God didn't put you in this world

to hover over that kind of thinking. He put you in this world to

help others. There are people out there who need the truth. You be

the truth of Christ, and you the hope of glory for them. Do

you realize that angels are waiting to hear what kind of report you will give

to the world. They want to know what you will say about God,

how you will represent him. You cannot afford to breathe one negative word of

doubt, despondency, and gloom if you want to save the people around you.

A negative word infects people. It will bring them down. It will

harm their faith journey, just like it would for you. Let your words

be full of joy and light and truth for the good of those who need

Jesus love like you do Roman's fourteen seven. None of us lives to himself,

and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live

to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. So

then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords Verse

seventeen. For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness

and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. He who thus serves Christ,

now look at it. He who thus serves Christ and other words, with

joy and peace, is acceptable to God and approved by men. You can

make a difference in your spere of influence. This past week I had to

be out of town for some business items that were necessary, and also had

some family connections that I was able to pull off at the same time.

Now, While I was away, my wife Dianna called me on last Sunday

on the phone. She said, Honey, I got this letter and the

mail Friday. It's from our bank, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, and

they say that we're in trouble. I said, well, really, She

says, yes, we owe them eight cents or it's gonna wreck our credit.

Yeah. Can you ever get a letter like that. I got two

of them this year. This letter said there would be a fine and that

our credit could be negatively affected. We didn't resolve the eight cent debt in

a few days. Wow. I first thought it was our home equity loan,

which was the problem. I have a little bit on it. It's

our emergency fund. While on the phone, I had Diana go upstairs look

through the bill file box. She said, honey, you're so organized.

I said that that bill's good, but look for the checkbook register. She

found the checkbook register. She opened it up, found the copies of the

checks. Now, I'm from the old analog generation. I don't do this

online instant payment where you just push a button it automatically takes it out of

your bank count I write a check for every bill and sign them that.

Maybe you were with me. You do that some of you haven't. You

go on line some of your online kind of people. All right, I'm

the old analog generation. So I paid the old fashioned way, signatures and

all. So after a few minutes, she finally found the check register and

started stumbling through it. Wells it this one, Oh you spent money on

that? And she looked for a while with some direction, and then she

found two checks in question. I had her take pictures of them and text

them to me in Tennessee so I could get to work on resolving the eighth

cent problem. They could wreck our credit. At first I felt like getting

a little down about it, maybe a lot down about it. But at

that moment I remember that God allows challenges to come into our lives so we

can grow. So I prayed. It's not my natural way, but it

did. So I prayed, and God gave took control of the thing,

and I waited. Some Monday morning, I called my bank to see at

the two checks had cleared. They had. I then called that other bank,

First National Bank in Columbia, Maryland, that had my mortgage and home

equity loan, to see what was going on with that eight cent amounts the

letter. Just after I called the person who answered the phone, I recognized

their voice immediately I knew who they were. They never answered the phone there.

They used to work in the branch in Rockville, but they had just

relocated right then and there I knew why that eight cent problem was happening.

A few weeks before, I had stopped in at the bank branch in Columbia,

Maryland, to pray for this person. She has helped me over the

years with my mortgage needs and some other goals also, and I sensed the

Holy Spirit's working in her life. And I learned at that last visit she

wasn't there. Her associated said she had to leave suddenly a family emergency,

serious issue in the family, health, medical related. She's very troubled.

I said, let her know that I'll pray for her, and then I

prayed for them all there in the bank and they they passed that on.

I also texted her and as I texted her, her name is Nahid,

a wonderful lady. I left a message with a promise from God's word for

her to give her some courage. And here's what I said. I left

a prayer for you and your family and the answering service I was at the

bank branch and they said, there was a medical emergence in your family.

We're praying for you now and this weekend. And then I think we may

have put her on the prayer chain. I'm not sure. I think we

may have maybe not. Then I left her this message and I actually this

passage from Scripture. I texted it right in, So I'm one hundred and

three verse one to five. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and

all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,

oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Look at verse three

with me, Who forgives how many of your iniquities, all of your iniquities?

Who heals how many of your diseases, all your diseases, And realized

the Greek word to heal means to save Jesus, the healer, savior,

who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender

mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is

renewed like the eagles. She sent me an emoji back with hands folded meant

prayer and thanks. But after that text message, I got caught up in

my busy stuff that we all have in life, and I didn't connect again.

At that bank branch in Columbia, I can remember her ever being the

one to I can't remember her ever being the one to answer the phone call,

but she did that day, and she answered the phone. I knew

that Monday morning instantly that my eighth cent problem had occurred because I needed to

connect back with her. God knew that I had unfinished business at that bank

that had nothing to do with my eighth cent problem. She thanked me for

the prayers. I assured her that I would pray for her anytime she needed

it. I said, just call me on the phone. Consider me your

pastor, I'm your friend. I also asked her to remember to call me

if this ever happens again, so that her family has not left alone.

After that, she looked into my eight cent problem and started using her prowess

as an accountant to fix it. All. She said, look, write

me a one sentence letter email right now, and she scripted it out,

transfer eight cents from your checking to your mortgage, and then she did it

now. Of course, it was an eight cent problem. Jesus name in

Greek is eight eight eight. That's the number for Christ. It's a good

number. So I explained to her that I didn't see it right my right

eye. I have an issue with my right eye right now, and when

I'm reading and writing checks, I get blurs in my vision. And so

what I did was is that I had turned an eight into a zero at

the end of the line, she said, well, met, mister Oxon

Tanker, you called just in time so your credit wouldn't go south. That

eight cent er left unattended would have dropped your credit score by one hundred to

one hundred and fifty points. Said, wow, eight cents, you can

do all that? She said, yes, it can. She shared with

me that should we that she would help me fix my eighth cent problem.

She helped me draft that letter. I got it out. She then gave

me the number to call customer service. But by the way, the fine

for the eighth six problem was sixty four dollars and three cents sixty four dollars

and three cents for an eighth cent error. So I asked them, I

gave them a sob story, which was true, she said, And I

said, I'm a pastor, so I used little leverage, and she said,

we're going to help you, pastor, and they forgave me the debt.

You know so, law of economics, debts will always be paid either

by the creditor or the debtor. This is why God had to pay a

debt at the cross. The creditor paid the debt, not the debtor.

After a kind help, I prayed for her and her family, asked God

to bless her and keep her family safe in Jesus. I could tell the

prayer made her happy that day. You know what, it made me happy

that day. I was so grateful for the eight cent problem that my problem

had become her providence. Dear heart, when you feel like complaining about the

problems that come your way in life, never forget that your problem is someone

else's providence and the plan and purpose of God. If you handle it right,

if your attitude is maintained, if you're in Christ and you smile through

it, you have the ability to share His love with them at just the

right time. Friend, we live in a dark and daying world that needs

the light of God and the glory of God. We should stop complaining about

our problems and accept the providence of God. It gives us the opportunity to

explain the good news that God is with us in every circumstance, that He

is with us to overcome. He loves our friends, our family, and

us, and we're happy, and so we can sing and hum a little

bit about the glory of God in our lives. You know, trade that

frown of an unconstancrated life. For a smile. I'm an introvert. I

have a hard time, you know, naturally smiling going. I think of

Jesus. It's like smiling for a picture, a beautiful smile on your face,

because Jesus loves you too. Raise your hand is Jesus loves me.

Jesus loves me. This sigh, no, for the Bible tells me so

little wants to him be long. We are weak. Bah, he is

strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes,

Jesus loves me. The Bibe tells me so, dear heart, rejoice

in the Lord. Be about the king's business of saving others in Jesus name.

Rejoice in the Lord again, I say, rejoice in the Lord,

for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever. Dear Heavenly Father,

we're so happy, so happy that Christ died for us, that you love

us beyond belief. The Holy Spirit is here. We're thankful for him and

Father. We pray in the name of Jesus and Father. I just thank

you today that you have given us life, the abundant life. May we

share it, Lord, not hold it so it grows like bad manner.

Help us to gather it and share it this week with those who need it,

and keep the negative stuff out of the church, out of our life,

out of our minds and hearts. Thank you for loving us in Jesus

name. Amen.