Reliance on Christ

Good evening again to you from the Auditorium of Beacon Baptist Church.

Ryan Cardwell is at the soundboard and I'm here behind the podium and there's no one else here. In fact, the Welcome Center is dark and it's strange because the church is not brick and mortar and wood, it's people. The people of God make the church. So I can't see you but you can see me so thank you for tuning in this evening at our elders meeting this afternoon. The three elders had cause for reflecting and praying and one of the things we talked about was giving thanks to God for your faithfulness, your support of this ministry during these challenging times. For the blessing of God upon our congregation, for meeting all of our needs, for the minimal effect that COVID has had on our congregation.

There have been a few people who have contracted the virus but all have recovered and that's not the way it is in some places and we're mindful of that. I want to thank all of you who have caused for thanksgiving to God for the way He has provided and protected and worked in your hearts and lives and you have remained faithful. Thank you for your commitment to the ministry, to our Lord, and to the Word of God.

I'm from John Newton, penned by John Newton. I've chosen this hymn because we're going to take a big picture overview of a subject or a theme in the Old Testament. This hymn has some overtures of God's dealings with His people in the Old Testament.

A pillar of fire by day, a pillar of cloud by night, or the other way around, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. What those were intended to mean and John Newton tries to capture some of those things in this hymn. So listen for those things but listen to the rich truth. This is words that are to be directed to God in worship and praise. Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion city of our God. He whose word cannot be broken formed Thee for His own abode.

On the rock of ages founded, what can shake Thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, Thou mayest smile at all Thy foes. See the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love. Well supply Thy sons and daughters, and all fear of one remove.

Who can faint while such a river ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace which like the Lord the giver never fails from age to age. Round each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear, for a glory and a covering showing that the Lord is near. Blessed inhabitants of Zion, washed in the Redeemer's blood, Jesus whom their souls rely on makes them kings and priests to God. Savior, if of Zion city, I through grace a member am. Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name.

Fading is the worldling's pleasure, all His boasted pomp and show, solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion's children know. What a glorious hymn penned by John Newton that has blessed the church through the ages. Join me as we ask the Lord to bless our gathering this evening. Father, You are worthy of our praise, You are worthy of our worship, You are worthy of our adoration. We acknowledge that You are God, and apart from You, there are no others. We thank You for the grace that has subdued our hearts and brought us into glad surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Lord, thank You for the Spirit of God that dwells in us, enabling us to stay subdued and surrendered and humbled before You. Lord, there's something about our flesh, there's something about our Adamic nature that is inclined to self-reliance and independence, and that does not honor You. Thank You for the way You order our lives, for the circumstances You bring into our lives to teach us humble dependence upon You. Lord, we're more dependent upon You than we realize.

We say these things, that it is in You that we live and breathe and have our being, but so often we go about our days thinking that our lives and the continuation of our lives is dependent upon us, and that is not true. Our next breath, our next day, however long You ordain for us to be on the earth, is ordered by You. Thank You for gathering the people of God in this way, that we might quiet our hearts from a busy world, and a noisy, chaotic world, and to still our hearts and to know that You are God, and to focus our thoughts and minds and hearts and affections upon You. Thank You, God, for Your Word.

Thank You for its veracity. Thank You for its power to birth sinners into Your kingdom and to sustain our lives all the days we're on this earth. Strengthen us in the inner person this evening, fan the flames of our affection, deepen our love for You, open our understanding that we might know the Word of God aright this evening. Again, Lord, we ask You to draw from our hearts believing prayers, God-honoring prayers, prayers for ourselves, for our church, for our families, for our nation. Lord, we desire to be intercessors.

We desire to be effective intercessors. We thank You that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So help us to be such men and women. Bless our time. Receive our praise and worship. We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. A couple of announcements. This coming Sunday is Harvest Sunday. When we traditionally begin to collect Faith Promise Cards, Pastor Barkman will bring a message from the mission text that's been chosen for this year, and it is from 2 Timothy chapter 2. The theme is that they may know the truth, but let me read three verses to give you the context so that you'll have your appetite wedded for the sermon that will be brought on the Lord's day. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 24 says, And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by Him to do His will.

And again, the theme is that they may know the truth. So, pray about your participation in our Faith Promise Missions program, and if possible, plan on returning your card to the offering plates on Sunday. We are planning a Thanksgiving pray service for next Tuesday.

We've been doing that the last half a dozen or so years. And it's one of the highlights, I think, of our church life here. And we try and do it on Tuesday night to get away from the busyness of Wednesday and the ladies getting prepared for Thanksgiving. So, if you have out of town guests, bring them with you, and we will enjoy a time of praise and thanksgiving to God. We'll have testimonies, as many as you render unto the Lord. We will sing, and we will enjoy a time of thanksgiving to God.

That will be again on Tuesday night, November 24. If you would like to purchase a poinsettia to honor a loved one to be placed in the church auditorium during the month of December, we're asking you to fill out a form at the Usher station and place the form, along with $9, in the attached specially marked envelope and place it in the offering plate. Now, if you're one of the persons who has been participating in our worship via live stream, you haven't been coming to our services, Rose Bradshaw says you can send her an email to rbradshaw at beaconbaptist.com.

List the name or names of those you want to remember and include the number of poinsettias that you will be purchasing. And you may send your funds to the church through the P.O. Box 159, Alamance, North Carolina 27201. And the deadline for receiving those requests is Sunday, November 30.

I'm sorry. Well, she needs your information emailed by November 30. The deadline here at the church is Sunday, November 29. We will continue our service schedule as we've been conducting it since April. That is Sunday morning, people present services with social distancing and wearing masks as we sing just to minister and protect one another. And we will live stream only Wednesday night and Sunday night and praying to God for a return to normal. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Let's take a look at the request side of our prayer sheet this evening.

Our government official of the week is Elon Alter member Emily Sharp. We are praising the Lord for a number of persons and God's intervention in their life. Rob Conrad has reported to us that he has recovered from kidney issues. His wife and mother in law have recovered from covid. But the caregiver that was ministering to his mother in law has died from covid. She was a believer. Carly is thanking the Lord for improvement with her mother. Her mother went to a hearing specialist, had an appointment and they made some changes and Carly was able to have a conversation with her on the telephone and she was able to hear better than she's been able to hear for a long time. Not only did Carly think that, but her mother is rejoicing in the improvement of her ability to hear. So, she's 96 years of age, very good health and that's really been the only serious challenge and that's just been hearing.

But if she can get some help with hearing aid, that is cause for thanksgiving and praise. Dale reports that Webster Ross, their new son, our grandson, had his two week checkup and he is gaining weight and doing well and we praise the Lord for that. John Spencer is recovering from total knee replacement surgery that he had on Monday, November the 2nd. He's doing well.

Lee Vestal got some good news. He had damaged his kneecap. They were considering a knee replacement. The x-rays have shown that his kneecap is completely healed. His pain has been manageable and they've decided to postpone knee replacement until things would get worse.

Under members, some needs that we want you to be aware of. Dawn Burns fell last Friday, broke several bones in her foot. She's scheduled for surgery tomorrow. She'll be non-weight bearing on that foot for at least six weeks. So, that's going to curtail her schedule and life and work and all the rest.

Marseille Councilman is scheduled for eye surgery on December 1. Our sister, Drew Guthrie, has been told by her oncologist that they could try a lower dose of ongoing chemotherapy. But he feels the benefits may not be worth the risk. Or another option is no treatment and down the road, hospice care. So, please pray for her to have peace and comfort in these days, weeks and months.

However long the Lord decrees for her to be with us, that she might have wisdom and clarity in deciding how she wants to proceed. Alice Marley had another fall this week and is now in ICU at ARMC. I got an email from Greg Phillips, I think yesterday, that there was a fire outside the back of his business. And it did a lot of damage to his business, smoke and water damage. And he's had to relocate to a warehouse and he's going to be disrupted with his business for several months. So, he's insured well. He thinks that his inventory and the things that he's lost will be covered. But he will not have a store front and he has a lot of walk-in business. So, his business is going to be affected. So, pray that the Lord will provide for him. Perhaps the insurance company will have some compensation for him and lost income. I don't really know about those details, but just that God will provide for our brother and his family during this time of transition for him.

Let's see. Under others, some needs that Carla and I would like you to be aware of. We've asked you to pray for her cousin, Dale Blosser. Dale is my age.

We went to high school together. He was having some challenges with memory and so on. He's a veteran. They put him in the hospital and medicated him and over-medicated him. And he was in a coma for a while on a ventilator. They took him off the ventilator.

He's continued to live, but he is paralyzed. So, there are a lot of needs in his family. We'd appreciate your prayers for him. The church back home in Pennsylvania where Carla and I were converted, they are dealing with a pretty major outbreak of COVID. About a third of the congregation has been affected.

One lady who taught children's church in the church was infected with COVID and has died. So, they need a lot of wisdom to know how to proceed, when to reopen the church. The church there is a small church. I think they may have maybe 60 people or so. It becomes a matter of survival if the church has its doors closed for an extended period of time.

So, no income coming in, no offerings. The church is in a bit of a crisis, so we'd appreciate your prayers for Seneca Evangelical Congregational Church. Brooke Faust, daughter of Johnny and Pam Faust, was involved in a serious car accident several weeks ago. She's been released from the hospital. She was in Moses Cone for a while. She's now at home and recovering slowly.

Brian Griffin, husband of Rebecca Burns Griffin, is recovering from surgery that he had on Tuesday to repair a tendon in his hand. A couple of folks who are dealing with COVID. Caden Hammond, son of Dawn Driver Hammond, grandson to Eddie and Claire Driver, has tested positive for COVID. Terri Ann Majors, daughter of Erin and Wendy Lynch, has COVID. And she has an autoimmune disease that could complicate her issues.

And then, let's see. Vicki Pope, that is the mother of Art Pope. His father's name is Charles. They're in separate nursing homes in Spokane, Washington.

So they're separated in that way. His father does not have COVID, but his mother does have COVID. But they both need prayer. And Carly's request in prayer for her aunt, Sally Hochman, who's having some serious health issues.

Roger Thompson, an uncle of Sue Vestals, is recovering from surgery for an infected gallbladder that was very close to rupturing. Caroline Whitehead, that is Tony Abernathy's sister, has been diagnosed with AFib. She is a believer. Tony would appreciate your prayers for her. An update for you concerning Stuart Waugh.

This is an interesting story of Providence. The oncologist had detected that Stuart's cancer markers had been increasing. So they ran some tests to try and determine where that cancer was. They had him on some chemotherapy to try and head that off. And because they were running those tests, they discovered that he has an aneurysm. And very likely would have been fatal had it not been detected. But because of the concern about cancer, they discovered an aneurysm.

He's been admitted to the hospital, has to pass a COVID test, and will be having surgery to deal with this aneurysm. So again, not only him, but all of our lives are in the Lord's hands. But it's good to see God's providence and trace his providence in his dealings. So Laverne had sent a voicemail, and they're thanking the Lord, knowing God makes no mistakes. They had planned to return to Zimbabwe on December the 10th.

But those plans are up in the air. So remember Stuart and Laverne, if you would, in your prayers. Under cancer, there's three names that are highlighted.

Rufus Boyd is an uncle of Thad Boyd from Washington, North Carolina. He's recovering from lung cancer surgery. His aunt Patsy will be having back surgery soon.

And there are spiritual needs with both of them. Leanne Michaelhannon's father Gaylord Remmel had surgery to remove a cancerous portion of his lower right lung on November 9. He's in a lot of pain.

Leanne flew to Wisconsin on Sunday to take care of her mother and dad. So remember him and Leanne in your prayers. And we've already mentioned Wilbur Whitehead.

No, we haven't. Wilbur Whitehead is Tony Abernathy's brother-in-law. He's been diagnosed with leukemia and has early signs of dementia.

He is in a rehab facility. He is a believer. So those are prayer requests.

I just have one missionary update. This is from Trevor Johnson. And this just came yesterday. And sometimes we forget what's gone on in a missionary's life. And he gives a short summary of this year. And I thought that might be good for you to hear and be reminded of.

So here is what he has to say. Summary of this year. Our visas have been blocked now back to Indonesia for some time. I got jailed and deported trying to reenter Indonesia earlier in the year. We gave over our village home to lodge children and orphans. I sold my library to support these kids slash orphans.

Most of these books were then stolen. I sold my car to pay flights for the sick. I'm selling the rest of my possessions left in Papua within the next two months to support the dorm slash orphanage.

I just sold my land in Missouri to get out of debt and pay for five teachers for remote villages so that 80 plus jungle kids can get an education. But these children are worth it. Jesus is worth it. Any earthly sacrifice we make pales in comparison to Jesus giving his life for our sins. The mission to the Kawai was a success even though the man, me, is now a physical wreck. I am still suffering chronic pain but I would do it all over again for both Jesus and the Kawai.

He says jump on board. We are doing good work. I will heal.

These kids are worth it. We opened an unreached area for the gospel and not only have believers but church leaders shepherding these believers. We've seen the birth of an indigenous church, something many missionaries only dream about. And yet now I am in miserable pain. My illness is due to malaria 24 times and four parasites and organ damage. These are wounds earned on the mission field.

So please have a little patience with me. The missionary work was a success even though I am now paying a steep physical price. So that's from Trevor Johnson. I read the words of John Newton's hymn, Glorious things of thee are spoken. And the third stanza ends with Jesus whom their souls rely on makes them kings and priests to God. That's God's overarching goal to bring us into a relationship of reliance upon Him. And that is in regards to bringing us to salvation, repentance and faith. And it is the way God works and intends through our life of sanctification. Seeing our new grandson, seeing how absolutely totally helpless he is, how absolutely totally dependent he is for his very existence, reminded me afresh of what Jesus said. Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And I won't take time to elaborate what Jesus is referring to there other than simple. What is a child able to do?

A child is absolutely totally dependent on others. And God intends that we live a life of dependence on Him. That Him, again, the third stanza, on the rock of ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayest smile at all thy foes. The confident smile by the soul that trusts in Jesus is greatly glorifying to God Almighty. He yearns to work that in us and to have us smile at any foe that assails our souls, knowing that there's a God behind the assailing, who has purposed it, who has determined it for our good and His own glory.

What I want to do tonight is do a bit of a quick survey of God's dealings with the children of Israel in the Old Testament in Egypt and their deliverance out of Egypt through the Red Sea and the things that we learn about them and their struggle to trust God and rely upon Him and God's dealings with them over that whole issue. One of the central issues, one of the central lessons of the Old Testament was to teach Israel to rely on God and God alone. In the book of Proverbs, the Lord commands His people. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. That Hebrew word that's translated trust speaks to the issue of security and peace.

And it's frequently translated that way. Listen to Leviticus 25 verses 18 and 19 for those two themes, safety and peace. Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws and you will live safely in the land.

Then the land will yield its fruit and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. Leviticus 25, 18, and 19. The image there is of a peaceful countryside in which God's people live in peace and quietness of heart, untroubled by danger and having all of their needs met. Now, there is an exhortation, an imperative, follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws and you will live safely in the land.

I think too often people think that God's commandments, His laws are meant to just keep us in line. But they are meant to put us in a place whereby God might bless us, that we might know safety and quietness and peace. Listen to these verses that speak of trust. Psalm 4 verse 8, I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, O Lord, may make me dwell in safety. Psalm 25 verse 1 and 2, To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul, in you I trust. O my God, do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear, though war break out against me, even then will I be confident, Psalm 27 and verse 3. And then Isaiah 26 verse 3 and 4, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusteth in thee.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal. Now you remember God's dealings in bringing the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, how He used the ten plagues to bring Pharaoh to the place where he would relent and release the children of Israel. And as they fled Israel, Pharaoh and his army pursued them to the Red Sea.

It seemed there was no way of escape. Pharaoh had encircled them with the mightiest army on the face of the earth. God spoke to them through Moses in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 14.

And we have these words, The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. And how did God fight for them? Well, God walled up the waters of the Red Sea and allowed them to pass through the Red Sea.

And after they had passed through the Red Sea, He let the waters envelop Pharaoh and his army and He drowned them. And notice the result of that intervention and that deliverance. Exodus 14 verse 31 says, And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant. You see, God delivered them and He delivered them in such a way that they might be encouraged to trust Him.

And that's what they did. But God was not through teaching them this lesson of faith. Not only would God be their savior and deliverer, but He would also be their provider as well. So what did God do? God used their hunger and their thirst to teach them this central lesson. That God will supply all of their needs according to His infinite bounty. He provided bread from heaven every day. He provided water from a rock. Daily guidance with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

And by miraculously preventing their shoes from wearing out for 40 years. God taught Israel to look to Him for everything they would need in life. So in the Exodus, God taught these two basic lessons of faith.

He was their savior from all danger and He was their provider for all of their needs. And I would submit to you tonight that that is exactly what God intends to teach us constantly. He will reinforce that to us over and over and over again. He is worthy of our trust to deliver us from danger, from COVID, from sin, its penalty, its power, its presence. He's worthy of our trust in that regard. And He's also worthy of our trust as a provider to meet all of our needs.

He's promised to do that. He's Jehovah Jireh. But what is the enemy of faith? What is the enemy of trust?

It's self-reliance. You see, as soon as the time came for Israel to enter the Promised Land, what did they do? They forgot God. Moses sent 12 tribes, sent 12 spies into the land, one spy for each of the 12 tribes. They went into the land to explore.

God had already told them He would give them the land. So they had this exploration of the land and when 10 of the spies came back, they came back not only with a report, a bad report, but they brought a disease with them. They brought the disease of unbelief. Ten of the 12 spies spread a bad report about the land.

They're giants in the land. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we look the same to them, Numbers 13 verse 33. And what effect did this have? It drained courage from the hearts of the Israelites who then murmured against God and wanted to go back to Egypt.

Listen to what they said. It says, they complained in their tents and they said, because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Because the Lord hates us?

That's what they said. And in that passage in Deuteronomy chapter 1, it's recounting this portion of their history. Deuteronomy chapter 1 says, then I said to you, do not be terrified or afraid of them.

The Lord your God who goes before you, He will fight for you according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet for all that you did not believe the Lord your God. You did not believe the Lord your God. You did not trust in the Lord your God. How did God respond to that? Well, God took this failure to trust Him as the greatest of sins.

Their punishment was extremely severe. God declared through Moses that they would wander around in the desert for 40 years until every one of that sinful generation who did not trust in Him died. That's how much God hates self-reliance. God gave them every reason to trust Him and yet they refused. I think I'm going to have to pick this back up. This perhaps is a good place to stop because I'm going to show you their history of relying on alliances.

Instead of trusting the Lord, they trusted in their alliances with other nations and God was dishonored in that and they suffered consequences because of that. Perhaps this would be a good time for me to share a story about a missionary I met last evening. His name is Bob Mack. He's a career missionary to the Ivory Coast. He's been over there 26, 27 years. I sat across the table from him and got to meet him a little bit. I've heard about him because Bill Hill of Equipping Nationals Worldwide has made 10 trips to the Ivory Coast to help train his men in his churches. But as we were talking, he told me this story, the challenges and the difficulties of planning a church.

I think we're making progress and then this obstacle and that obstacle and we try this and we try that and the difficulties and challenges of seeing an indigenous church established with a national pastor. One of the men in his church came to him and asked him to travel to a part of the Ivory Coast through rebel territory about a 15 hour journey to conduct a funeral for his father. His father had died sometime earlier and he'd got permission from the chief of that village to come back and conduct a funeral. He had negotiated with the chief and he was a believer and one of the conditions that he was willing to go and conduct this funeral was that in the funeral service that he insisted that two hours be given to prayer and the preaching of the word. So he said to Bob Mack, will you be willing to go and conduct this funeral for my father? Bob Mack thought to himself, no, I don't think that's wise.

I don't think that's prudent. It's a difficult journey. It's through rebel territory.

It's 15 hours. He says but I gave the obligatory response, I'll pray about it. He says the only thing is I did pray about it and after a number of days, he said I became convinced that I needed to go. So he went and when they got there, he said they gathered up as many chairs as they could find, about 300 and they planned this funeral service. And he said I didn't know how it would go but he said I had a man share a testimony, another man brought a short message and I preached and we conducted a two hour preaching service. He says and at the end, he said I shared the gospel and I said now I've been, this is again what he's related to me. He says I told the people, 300 people, I've spent two hours, we've spent two hours trying to communicate to you that you were born in this world at enmity with God.

And what God has done in the person of his son Jesus Christ who reconciled you to himself and he gave an invitation and asked if anyone there was interested in talking further to come down to the front and they would continue to talk with them. And he said nine people came down and Bob Mack says I was very concerned that they understood what was being said, that the Spirit of God was working in their hearts and so he directed them to, because he was speaking through a translator. The man who asked him to go and conduct the funeral for his father was also there and he comes to him and he said they want us to do this again tomorrow night.

He said really? So they held another two hour prayer and preaching service the next night. He said there were not only 300 people sitting in the chairs, he says there were 500 or 600 other people standing around. And he said at the end of that service he said something similar about the gospel and God's intention to save sinners and he said 50 people came forward wanting to learn more and talk more. And he said in that culture we were supposed to leave the next day but he said you don't leave without the permission of the chief of the village.

So he said through the translator I said would you go ask him if we have permission to leave tomorrow and he said I thought to myself he's going to have something he's going to want from us and we're not going to be able to leave. So the man said to the chief in the native language, made this request, and the chief responded to him and he said what did he say? This is what Bob Mack told me, the chief said you have 60 converts here, I will not let you leave unless you promise to plant a church in this village and provide a man to care for these people. Now he told me that story and I'm relating that story to you to emphasize here he was doing anything and everything he could to try and plant a church where he was at the Ivory Coast and finding all kinds of obstacles and difficulties. And this is what he told me, God was telling me, he says God was telling me when I want to plant a church I will plant a church and that man whose father had died who was there to help with his funeral, that's a man that Bob Mack had trained in his church, that man is the pastor of that church.

There's a church in that village in this rubble territory of the Ivory Coast. So quite a story of God working in ways that confound us sometimes. Well, I will return to this theme the next time we meet, but will you join me as we remember some of these requests? And I have a hymn that I'm going to close with if I can find it here. Alright, let's pray together. Father, we are mindful that you do have these two cardinal pillars that you want to build into the foundations of our lives. That you are a God worthy of trust to both deliver us from every harm and everything that would hinder us in this life, every besetting sin, every obstacle, anything that would compete with your desire for us to trust you. You want to deliver us from that.

You want to deliver us from self-reliance and independence. Lord, help us to be aware of that and to know that when you are dealing with us many, many times that is your end game to bring us to let go and quit striving and quit working and simply trust you as a little child. And Lord, forgive us for the way we fret and worry about our daily needs. It must be so dishonoring to you to see people who you've redeemed at the cost of the death of your son worrying and fretting and scrambling and acting as if the sustaining of our lives is dependent upon us. Forgive us, Lord, for failing to trust you with these lesser things. Lord, these things are, they're not incidental. They're serious things facing people in our congregation and our families that we know and love and care about.

But that's still not a reason to not trust you. We praise you this evening for your evidence of working in the lives of Rob Conrad and Carly's mother, Jean Davis, and for this good report for Carly and I's grandson, for John Spencer and the improvement that he's known from knee surgery and for Lee Vestal for the healing of his kneecap and the postponement of knee surgery. Lord, that's just a few praises we have. You have shown yourself strong on behalf of those whose hearts have been made right towards you.

You have met needs above and beyond. You have done for us what we could never ask or think. And we thank you, God, for the daily provisions for our lives, for health and strength and soundness of mind and to be able to think thoughts after you and to have a heart for you, to want to love you, to want to serve you, to want to understand your word better. Lord, thank you for these things that you have worked in us. Lord, fill our hearts with thanksgiving.

There's so much that we have caused to give you thanks. We pray tonight for Elon Alder member Emily Sharp. We ask that you would make her a God-fearing person, that you'd make her effective in her service to Elon, that she would be a woman who promotes righteousness and justice. Encourage her in the role you've assigned to her. We want to pray for Dawn Burns tonight as she has surgery tomorrow, that the surgery would go well, and that you would encourage her heart in this.

For Marseille Councilman is facing eye surgery. For Drew Guthrie, she is facing some hard decisions concerning this battle with cancer. Draw near to her. Encourage her heart. Thank you for her loving family. Thank you for hospice and these wonderful people that you've given to care for us and to know what this process looks like and how helpful that can be to us. We pray for Alice Marley.

I know she's been isolated and alone there at ICU. Lord, please draw near to her and bring peace to her and comfort to her and remind her, Lord, of your goodness and your hand of blessing upon her and this church family that knows her and loves her. We pray for Greg Phillips and this disruption in his business because of the fire. Thank you that he was able to find a warehouse to be able to relocate his business so quickly. We pray that he will get an equitable settlement from the insurance company and that they would be favorable in providing for the income loss that he'll have because not having a storefront and foot traffic.

I know Thanksgiving is a time there's increased activity with his business. We pray that he would not lose business because of this fire. We thank you for Greg and Sue Ann and their incredible faithfulness to you in this ministry. Lord, I want to pray for Carly's cousin, Dale Blosser, for her aunt, Sally Hochman, for the church there in Pennsylvania.

They're dealing with COVID there. Lord, please meet these needs. We thank you, God, that you're able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. Lord, you know the needs with these dear loved ones. Give wisdom to the leaders there in the church. Bring healing and recovery to those who have COVID.

Protect others that they will not get it. We pray for Brooke Faust. She's slowly healing at home from this car accident.

Lord, minister to her needs. For Brian Griffin, who's recovering from hand surgery on Tuesday. For these who are known by us through our membership, Kayden Hammond and Terry Ann Majors who have COVID, please, Lord, cause the symptoms to be minimal and the recovery to be quick for both of them. For Art Pope's mother who has COVID, we pray that you will undertake for her. Minister to the needs that are present in both Charles and Vicki Pope's life. For Sue Vestal's uncle, thank you for keeping his bladder from rupturing and allowing him to have this emergency surgery, bring healing to him and recovery.

For Tony Abernathy's sister who has AFib. For his brother-in-law who has leukemia, minister to his needs. We thank you that Leanne Michael-Hannon was able to travel to Wisconsin to be with her parents, help her as she serves them in love, bring relief to the pain that he is experiencing.

And then for Thad Boyd's uncle, Rufus, and Aunt Patsy, minister to their needs, our God. And for Stuart Waugh, Lord, thank you for his tracing the hand of providence and rejoicing in the way you have led to discover this aneurysm. We pray that the surgery would be successful, that you would bring healing and recovery from that, and that he would continue to improve and be able to return to the land of Zimbabwe and to not only the land that he loves, but the ministry that he's given himself to. Lord, thank you for being with us. Thank you for this time around your word this evening, for our people who are gathered around their internet. Lord, thank you for the family of God, for Beacon Baptist Church, for the people that you have saved and made a part of this ministry. Knit our hearts together in love for you and for one another, and keep us by your grace, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I think I will save this hymn for a later time. Good evening.