Raising a Monument of Praise

Well, good evening to you again from Beacon Baptist Church. What a beautiful day the Lord gave to us.

High 70s, summer-like. It invigorates us. We are thankful for every day, but today was a special day in that regard. And tonight there's activity in the church, which is an encouragement to me. Usually on Wednesday night I'm here by myself.

Well, not only by myself. Ryan Cardwell is at the Sound, but the two of us are usually here by ourselves. Pastor LaTour is back there with the teens carrying on a meeting, so we're happy about that. Just a couple of announcements. This coming Saturday evening when you go to bed, please turn your clock ahead. Daylight savings time begins. So turn your clock ahead an hour so that you can be here on time on Sunday morning. We are continuing our people present service on Sunday morning at 930. And just make you aware that not this Sunday night, but a week from this coming Sunday night, we will have a people present Sunday evening service. We'll be having a Lord's Table service.

So plan for that. It's been quite a while since we've had a Lord's Table service, and we have felt constrained about that and burdened about that. So as things are improving, we thought this was a good time to include that in our schedule of services. And then to remind you of the Spring Bible Conference with Mark Webb, beginning on Easter Sunday morning. I think it's April 4, running through April 7, Sunday through Wednesday. He'll be speaking also at the Tri-State Particular Baptist Fellowship on Monday. So we are looking forward to renewing fellowship with Mark, and I think his new wife's name is Paula. So I don't know if she's coming.

I would assume she is. But anyway, that is the Spring Bible Conference, April 4 through April 7. If you are downloading the prayer sheet, you'll see a new address for Pat and Betty Duncan. They are living with their daughter in Greensboro. And we printed their new address that you might be led to send them a card of encouragement. Betty is weakening in her condition, and Pat is laboring under the burden of a loving caregiver of his wife. So they're in need of our prayers, but if you are led to send a card, that's their new address.

3428 Owls Roost Road, Greensboro, 27410. The request side of our sheet, our government official of the week is Haw River Councilmember Steve Lineberry. And we are praising the Lord that Jean Ferris, Wendy Lynch's mother, has been treated for a bacterial infection, and we're encouraged that she's responded to that. Please continue to pray for her ongoing recovery from hip surgery. So we are thanking God for that improvement and for Art and Angela Pope, who are doing well from their ordeal with COVID.

And that's very good news. Under members, Bob Caldwell is at the local hospital, ARMC, due to internal bleeding. He had a procedure done to repair a torn artery in his colon yesterday afternoon. And he is responding well and will most likely be leaving ICU and going to a regular room.

So we're thanking the Lord for God's kind intervention in Bob's life. Drew Guthrie, she is tired and weak in this battle with cancer, but maintaining a wonderful spirit, trust and faith and confidence in God. And God has shown his mercy to her.

She reports that she's had very little pain associated with her cancer, so that is thank worthy. And then Shirley Watkins as she continues to remain at home and regain strength. Alfred Ash, this is under others, and his wife Connie have been on our prayer list for some time. She is the sister and he is the brother-in-law of Sue Elliott.

Alfred is pretty much completely paralyzed from his ALS, but he's recently been hospitalized with pneumonia and he's on a breathing machine. So pray for comfort and for wisdom. Gary Barker, many of you remember Gary and Linda, they were members of our church for a good long time. Gary was in a pretty serious car accident several months ago.

And Linda gave us this update that Gary will be having his last outpatient surgery on Monday, March 15 to fuse the first knuckles of two of his fingers on his right hand. She says pray that all goes well and that he can continue physical therapy at home. Ryan and Martina Boudreau are asking prayer for their daughter-in-law's uncle in Boone. Lee Hodges is his name. He had a serious chainsaw accident on Monday and is in Baptist Hospital. Ryan Kelly, son-in-law of Lee and Sue Vestal, will be defending his doctoral dissertation on this coming Friday. And they're asking prayer for him.

God will grant him clarity of thought as he defends his dissertation. Robert Sweet, father-in-law of Sarah Cardwell, father-in-law to Ryan Cardwell, has been having increased chest pain. He had a heart catheterization at Duke this morning.

And I talked to Ryan when I came in. One of the stints that they had put in a month or two ago was that artery was 99 percent blocked. That there was a lesion or something there.

He doesn't understand that, neither do I. But they were able to open that up and we trust and give him some relief. So it's good to know the chest pain he was having, just no stamina, no ability to breathe. There was some explanation for that.

So they need wisdom moving ahead to know just how to anticipate future problems with him. Under missionaries, I know you're continuing to pray for Laverne as she is adjusting to the loss of Stuart. And death is a pretty common thing in Zimbabwe. I was sent some pictures of a 20 year old young man who died at Reflections Baptist Church. His parents were a couple of the first believers there under Pastor Juma's pastorate there. Back in 2004, when the church started, this young boy was born shortly after that. He was around 20 years of age and he died.

There were 300 people gathered for the funeral service for him. But you could just hear Juma's heart aching for the family and the church family and the loss of this young life. They never get used to it. It's difficult, but they're trusting the Lord. But anyway, continue to remember the churches there and the ministries that we're aware of. Mike Webster, as he's battling with colon cancer, has been through a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. So we lift Mike Webster up in prayer. Under sympathy, Carrie Lane Hinkle, cousin of Wendy Lynch, passed away this week from COVID.

He had pneumonia and could not fight off the COVID. Wendy thinks he was a believer, but she's asking prayer for other needs, spiritual needs in the family and for God's comforting grace. And then Pastor Barkman mentioned on Sunday the death of Tommy Willis, pastor emeritus of Andrews Memorial Baptist Church, who passed away and was buried on Monday.

Under cancer, you see the name of Scott Latour, cousin of Pastor Bob Latour, saw his doctor on Friday and has another appointment this coming Friday to see about chemotherapy treatments. And those are our prayer requests for this evening. Let me see, we've got a prayer verse, Isaiah 55, 11. The prophet says, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.

Our confidence in the word of God as God directs his word to the hearts of people. I just have one missionary correspondence here tonight. This is from Trevor Johnson. Trevor and Teresa are not on the field.

They are recovering from serious illness. But he writes concerning the ministry there. And here's a heading, Fruit Takes a Little While to Grow. And it says, Meet Timo. Timotheus is a tribal kid that grew up wearing a leaf in a jungle tree house. He was sometimes a good kid and sometimes a bad kid, just like most kids, I guess, he says. But he always hung near us and the evangelists and played most afternoons in our yard with my children.

We often swam and played in the creek together and we often had him over to eat and watch movies with the kids. He almost died four years ago. He was skeletal from dysentery and too weak to walk for a time. We treated him and fed him every day for three months and slowly he got stronger. Then, he says, it was my turn to get deathly sick in 2018.

I was evacuated from the village, the start of my two year plus journey of illness and pain, and I am now finally healing. Timo just messaged me on Facebook. He professes faith and is now in his second year of junior high school and lives with a Christian family in town and reads his Bible daily.

He wants to become a policeman. He was very happy to hear from me and he sent me two photos and they're part of this update. He says the first photo is his current photo holding his Bible on the way to church and the second photo is he is saved for the last five years of him and my daughter Alethea in the village, which brought tears to my eyes.

And then he says my illness was worth it to see this happen. Some have questioned my emphasis on education and Christian nurture, but the sad truth is that many tribal adults are so ingrained in their animism and rigid in their sins that even if they are saved, they are mostly useless to any future growth of the church. In 2017, the evangelists voted on a strategy of evangelism through education and each day the kids worship and pray and read the Bible together as a regular part of their school day.

Many have now been baptized. And then he includes this personal note. It's one of the things I've appreciated about Trevor is his straightforward transparency and honesty. He doesn't mask the struggles of missionary life, but he's also very ardent in his faith and commitment to Christ and the work of the gospel.

So here's his personal note. I grieve the loss of our old life living in the village in Papua. It is like a death and I am still mourning. I was privileged to live in a unique environment, one of the last vestiges of such a life in this world, and now I may never return. Once I have experienced the intensity in the extreme highs and lows of such a place, all other places leave me feeling dull and numb. Church programs among the well-fed are hard to get excited over when we've been among the truly sick and starving and have seen the nearly dead revive and return to full health due to our efforts.

I am training and taking vitamins, though some have urged me to teach in a classroom setting. I desire no classroom but a remote village again, even if this means a shorter life. As William Wilberforce, obsessed about the slave trade and worked tirelessly to end it, said, quote, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know, end of quote.

He says, I now know, I now know how much of the world lives in extreme poverty and pain and malnutrition. They suffer immensely and live short lives full of sorrow, and it is hard to ignore these needs. It is hard to do anything else but try to return to them or to an equally needy scenario. How can I be content doing anything less?

I feel I have been ruined by what I have seen, brokenhearted and useless for anything else. My heart aches daily. So that's quite an insight into the heart of Trevor Johnson. He is a precious, precious man and one for whom I'm grateful that we are in partnership with in the work of the gospel. Let us pray together. Father, we thank you tonight for this Wednesday evening where we can come before you and we can pray and seek your face and ask of you. And Lord, you said, ask of me and that you would do great and mighty things which we do not know. Lord, we thank you tonight that you're able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think. We thank you for Trevor and Teresa Johnson, for their lives, for their dedication to the work of the gospel among the Papua. We thank you, God, for how you have used them in that remote place in the world. We thank you for the testimony of this young man who has been converted. We thank you for others who, by testimony, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for raising up a church in that place and we ask that you would supply the needs in that village, that there would be men raised up to care for that flock. We pray for Trevor and Teresa, that you would return them to a full measure of health. Lord, you said that you would, if we desire you first, that you would give us the desires of our hearts.

This man has a desire to serve you in a remote place wherever, perhaps back where he's been, if not there, some other place. We would ask that you would restore his health sufficient enough for that desire to be realized. And we pray that you would raise up others who would be of a similar mind and of a similar heart. We thank you for this pioneer missionary and for the way he inspires others to serve Christ untirelessly. We ask our God that you would strengthen him and use this time in the States that he might find joy and satisfaction in this place that you have for him at this time. Lord, we thank you that we can look to you tonight as we look into your word and we ask that you would cause your word to bear fruit in our lives, that you would instruct us in righteousness, that you'd help us to know your ways, that you would grow our faith and strengthen us in the inner man, and that you would be glorified in our response to you and to your truth.

Thank you for gathering us together in this way this evening. Let us, Pastor LaTour, as he ministers to our teens tonight, continue to bless our planning as we think about moving forward with additional services. We look forward to our Lord's Table service a week from Sunday and for the Spring Bible Conference with Brother Mark Webb. Lord, we ask you to bless these things and receive honor and glory from our efforts.

And this time now we ask in Jesus' name, Amen. We'll pray for some of the needs on the prayer sheet toward the end of the service, but let me return us to the book of Job. The two previous times that I stood here on a Wednesday night, we considered the subject of the development of persevering faith from Job chapter 1. And I want us to consider that same subject ongoingly here in chapter 2, so let me read Job chapter 2, the first 10 verses. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered, my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?

And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause. So Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has he will give up for his life. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast to your integrity?

Curse God and die. But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity?

In all this Job did not sin with his lips. I want you to think about the subject that we're considering briefly as I reorient us again around this theme of the development of persevering faith. There are three things in that title, subject, that I want to draw your attention to.

The first is development. If we're going to have persevering faith, it's something that does not come to us instantaneously. It's something that has to be developed.

It's something that has to be produced over time. I was talking with a man today and he told me how sore he was because he'd been working out with his teenage son. And I thought about this message tonight and I thought, well, faith is like a muscle and faith has to be exercised. And if we're going to exercise, we're going to feel pain.

And strength and core muscle development all comes through a process that has to be developed. And so the fact that God is interested and God is concentrating his efforts in the lives of his children in this way to develop our faith. The development of not just faith but of persevering faith. Faith that stays by the stuff. Faith that remains in season and out of season. Faith that is steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the things of the Lord.

Faith that is not tested is not worth very much. And if we're going to have persevering faith, it's a faith that has to be developed over time. And God's interested in our persevering. That is standing up under the weight of whatever it is that God has brought into our life for the purpose of developing us and strengthening us and growing our faith. And then the third, developing persevering faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is a very critical component. Faith is the vehicle whereby we lay hold of spiritual life, eternal life in Christ Jesus. But God's not just interested in that one time exercise of faith. He's interested in the development of faith.

And listen to how Peter speaks to that issue. He says, we're kept by the power of God through faith. This is 1 Peter 1 verse 5. We're kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. That, or so that, the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes. Whatever premium we place on gold, and it carries a high price in our world, 17, 1800 dollars an ounce, despite how expensive an ounce of gold is, it will perish.

It is going to perish. But the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than. You see, until we value faith, and persevering faith, and faith that's tested to prove the genuineness of it, we will not be able to make too much sense out of God's dealings in our life. Because God is interested in the persevering, developing, persevering faith in us. It's worth far more than gold to God.

Because, what does it say? That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It will be a source of praise, honor, and glory in that day, and therefore it is worthy of our efforts, and our cooperation with the Spirit of God, and His agenda of developing, persevering faith in us. Now you remember, we looked at chapter one, under four scenes.

Faith stated, faith challenged, faith tested, and faith sustained. The book is written, and it unfolds to us like a drama. And when I say that, I do not mean to take away in any way our sense that we are considering historical narrative. That there was truly a man named Job who endured these things, who persevered in the midst of these things. But his life unfolds to us in a bit of a drama. Four scenes. And when we turn here to chapter two, we find a second scene.

The drama continues. I don't know how many of you would be familiar with this, but cotton farmers in Enterprise, Alabama, in the late 1800s, around the 1900s, early 1900s, faced a crisis that threatened their livelihood, to bankrupt them, and that crisis, that threat, was a beetle that was marching from Mexico across the cotton fields of the south. And we know that to be the boll weevil. One farmer was a visionary, and he saw the disaster as an opportunity.

And rather than pack up, give up, he persevered. And he listened to the advice of George Washington Carver, an agricultural scientist at the Tuskegee Institute, who told him to diversify his crops by planting peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. And by following Carver's advice, this town in Alabama, the farmers that made up that town of Enterprise, in contrast to the rest of the state, rebounded economically, and in 1917 had the largest peanut harvest in the nation. A local businessman came up with the idea of building a monument to the boll weevil, thanking the boll weevil for making them so prosperous. This monument stands more than 30 feet tall, and at the top of the monument is a woman who resembles the Statue of Liberty. And with her arms raised, she holds in her hands a platter, and on top of that platter is a large sculpture of the most famous beetle in the world, the boll weevil. The monument was dedicated to the boll weevil on December the 11th, 1919, and has been standing there for over 100 years.

Imagine that monument. Did they forget about its desecration of the cotton fields? Did they forget about the bankruptcy that it caused many farmers throughout the South? No. But they saw the enormously positive effects that that boll weevil had in instigation of diversifying their efforts in farming.

But that monument was only made after the fact, after they saw the benefits. When we think about Job here in chapter 2, here's a man whose life has been decimated, devastated. He is bankrupt. He's lost everything. He's lost his wealth. He's lost his family. He's lost his standing in the community. And what do we see in the life of this man?

Job stands out to us in an even more remarkable way than these farmers in Enterprise, Alabama. In that, he chose to raise a monument of praise to God in the midst of his bankruptcy, in the midst of his devastation, in the midst of his heartache, with no explanation, with no hope. He didn't know what the future would be.

Job had been the wealthiest of men and the most prosperous of farmers, but unknown to him, in a matter of minutes, perhaps hours, Job receives news, and he's bankrupt, having lost all of his possessions, his livestock, and his children, and he experiences the devastating sorrow over his losses. When we come to chapter 2, Satan is not done. We see language very similar to what we saw in the early parts of chapter 1. Notice the first word of chapter 2 says, Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And you remember what we said about Satan. God asked where he'd come from. He had to answer that question.

From where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro from the earth and from walking back and forth in it. Satan, although he has power to destroy, power to ruin, he is subordinate to Jehovah God. And notice that he only speaks when he's spoken to. He responds to the Lord and he does not initiate. He gives a disclosure concerning his activity in response to the question.

From where do you come? He says from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it. He submits to the Lord and he is confined to the limits that are set for him. So Satan is an adversary, no doubt about it.

He would destroy us if he could, but he has an aim that's even more hideous than that. He wants to destroy our faith. He wants us to respond to God's dealings in our life in such a way that we dishonor God, that we disown God, that we curse God, that we blaspheme God.

That is more important to him than his taking of our life. Although you notice that God's the one who said to him, Stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will surely curse you to your face, Satan said. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life. Because Job was on special assignment. God singled Job out that Job would refute the lie of the adversary that men only serve God, only worship God out of self-interest.

And God was going to prove to Satan that that was a lie. I remember telling someone one time that God chooses some people for special assignment. And this particular person was going through a very, very grievous time. And he said to me, I'm not interested in being on special assignment.

And as sensitive as I could be, tried to be, because I wasn't walking in his shoes, I tried to be compassionate to him, I just gently said to him, I understand what you're saying, but we don't get to write the script for our lives. God is writing the script for our life. And I really do believe that God chooses some people for special assignment, for the same purpose that Job was on special assignment.

And again, what is that assignment? To refute the devil's lie that men only serve God out of self-interest. So here we are, Job. Satan cannot believe that Job has refused to curse God, so he raises the stakes even higher.

He says there in verse 4, skin for skin. That is nothing more than a cruel criticism of Job. Satan is implying that Job is more than willing to sacrifice the skin of his children and his cattle and his employees, as long as he keeps his own skin intact. Satan is saying, in effect, every man has a price, and I think I know what Job's price is. Satan believed that Job would do anything to keep his own health. And as I thought about that, I think most people are like that. Threatened when our health is threatened, people take unusual steps to preserve their life.

They'll do most anything to live another day. So Satan, once again, challenges Job's faith. Now, the focus of the challenge is on Job's faith, but keep in mind this challenge is directed at God himself.

Sometimes when we are in the midst of turmoil and struggle, we personalize that and we think that it's all about us. But in this case, it really wasn't all about Job. It was about Satan challenging the integrity of God. So Satan, once again, challenges God, and he brings Job to the point of death and believes that if he does, Job will trade away his precious faith.

Well, the horror of Act 2 unfolds in verse 7. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Now, we have no idea how much time elapsed between the funerals of Job's ten children and the first sight of these boils that came upon Job. But I tend to think not a lot of time went by because Satan desires and enjoys striking believers when they're at their weakest.

Satan knows nothing of mercy and compassion. So the first thing that comes upon Job is skin ulcers, which began to pop up all over Job's body. And it tells us painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job could not stand without pain. He could not sit down without pain. He could not lie down without pain, without aggravating the boils that covered his body.

And this is only the beginning. Blow after blow after blow Satan brings upon Job as you work through the book of Job. Persistent itching, chapter 2 and verse 8. The inability to eat, chapter 3 and verse 24. A sense of fear and dread comes over Job, chapter 3 and verse 25. Insomnia plagues Job, chapter 7 and verse 4. Difficulty breathing, Job chapter 9 and verse 18. The loss of weight, Job 19, verse 20, 33, verse 21. Job was in constant pain, Job chapter 30 and verse 17. It's no wonder when Job's friends came to minister to him and visit with him, they barely could recognize him.

Now keep in mind Job was not at home lying in his own comfortable bed, being waited on by a private staff. He was where all the lepers would be found, quarantined in the town dump. Towns in the Middle East had a landfill, a city dump outside the gates. It's where the garbage was deposited.

Rotting garbage would be burned as a way of sanitation. And we're told that Job found himself sitting in the midst of the ashes. To be sitting among the ashes was to be sitting near the garbage dump. A good many of us have been to the landfill, not a place where you want to pitch a tent and spend much time.

You want to get your business done and you want to get out of there, and particularly in the heat of the summer. Just kind of a word picture for us, where Job was. Here in this ash heap sits the greatest man of the East, scraping his flesh with a broken piece of pottery, hoping for a few moments of relief. And don't forget, Job's heart is still grieving over ten fresh graves and the loss of everything that he owned. Satan must have had a great measure of confidence. Surely Job will curse God now. Surely he will cry out from the ashes, God, you no longer are my God. And much to the dismay of Satan, he does not. But, wait, Satan has one more card to play that he has reserved. In case Job perseveres in his faith, and what is that?

Verse 9, then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die. Those words are the very words that Satan wagered when he talked with God that Job would utter if God took things from him, God took his health from him. And Job's wife becomes a spokesperson for the devil himself. Curse God and die.

Now I want to put the best face on that that I can. And as I think about that, I'm thinking this is a woman who was married to this man and she remembers him prior to this devastation that came upon him. And perhaps she couldn't stand to see the man suffering. And she was saying in effect, it would be a mercy if you would curse God and that he would kill you for doing so.

I don't know. We don't know the mind of his wife, but we do have her words. Curse God and die. Do you remember from the first messenger that came with a report in chapter 1, Job knew that his adversity was brought upon him by none other than God himself. And there, in the ash heap outside the city gate, he raises a monument of praise to God. Through the ashes and the fumes rose a fragrant aroma to the nostrils of the Almighty.

He said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job was not an example of persevering faith. Keep in mind, Job experienced all of this heartache and devastation, not because he had done something wrong, but because he had done right.

He bragged upon him that he was a man upright and one who feared God and askewed evil. God wasn't chastening him. So the question tonight as we come to the conclusion is how strong is your faith? What will your faith endure?

How persevering is your faith? You say, well, is it all up to me? Is it up to me to hang on?

Is it up to me to find it within myself to hang on? Listen to what Jesus said to Peter recorded in Luke chapter 22. The Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when, not if, when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. That's why we can persevere in our faith because we have a God who sustains us and grants grace to us that we might persevere. Are you willing to praise God when life doesn't seem to be making sense? Are you willing to trust God when prolonged sickness shows up at your doorstep? Will you continue to believe in the midst of that that God is still in charge?

And will you live your life to the honor and glory of this God who has saved you and has promised you a life with him forever and ever? One anonymous sufferer prayed this, quote, Oh, God, I trust you. I don't know why I'm going through this. If there's something I can learn. Wonderful.

If there's something someone else can learn. Great. Just get me through it. Hold me close. Deepen me.

Change me. End of quote. I think in the vernacular, that's what it means to raise a monument of praise to God in the valley of despair. May God grant to us such a faith. And may this be our prayer. Oh, for a faith that will endure, though pressed by many a foe, a faith that always stands secure through every earthly woe, that will not murmur nor complain beneath the chastening rod, but in the hour of grief or pain can lean upon its God. A faith that shines more bright and clear when tempests rage without and when in danger knows no fear, in darkness feels no doubt. Lord, give me such a faith as this, and then, whatever may come, I'll taste and hear the hallowed bliss of an eternal home.

Shall we pray? Father, we thank you tonight for this portion of your word, for how instructive it is, for preserving it for us. Thank you for this man who lived a God-honoring life, a man who was on special assignment to refute the hellish lie of the adversary that men only serve you out of self-interest. Lord, purify our faith, test our faith, grow our faith, cause us to have a persevering faith that we might honor and glorify you in this world in which we live. We thank you, our God, that that in many respects is the backdrop of the trials that many of our people are going through. We think of Brother Bob Caldwell, and know that you have good purposes in this for him. Thank you for Bob and Judy and their evidence of believing trust and faith.

Thank you for his improvement. We pray for Betty Duncan tonight, that you would help this dear sister and Pat as well. As they endure this dark and difficult season, help them to see that there is bright hope awaiting them. And for Drew Guthrie the same, thank you for her persevering faith. Thank you that you are keeping her by your grace.

Thank you for the improvement with Art and Angela Pope and the improvement of Jean Ferris. We pray for this Alfred Ashe and his wife Connie, that you would help them to bear testimony of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the midst of these very, very difficult circumstances. We pray for Robert Sweet tonight and ask that you would continue to preserve his life and guide the doctors as they seek to treat this heart condition that has plagued him for some time.

We pray for Ryan Kelly, that you will help him to glorify you as he defends his doctoral dissertation. For Donna Martina Boudreau's daughter-in-law's uncle, who has had this serious chainsaw accident, Lord, minister to him in the trauma of the injury that he has no doubt sustained. Be with Gary Barker and help him to continue to know your grace in this time of testing. We pray for this family of Carrie Lane Hinkle, cousin to Wendy Lynch who passed away. Minister, Lord, to that family and the needs that they have. We thank you, Father, tonight that our testimony can be mirrored in the words of Peter when he said, After you have suffered for a little while the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. And we say to that, To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.