All right, Well, it's good to be in God's house tonight.
I just crazy to think. I remember when this church
started and I remember it started out of a hotel lobby and
just to see what the Lord has done with it, even tonight is
amazing. Well, turn your Bibles, if you
will, to book of John chapter 8. John chapter 8.
It's always a blessing to get to visit this church.
I was thinking I was, I was driving up here.
I was like, man, I'm so excited to be in church tonight to hear
all the good singing. And I was so excited.
Then I remembered he was preaching.
So I was like man, and I was disappointed.
But all right, we'll turn your Bibles to John, chapter 8, and
we'll reverse start off with verse one.
Jesus went into the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning
he came beginning to the temple, and all the people came unto
him, and he sat down and taught them, and the scribes and fears
she's brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had sat her in the midst, they sat unto him.
Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses and the law commanded us that such should be stoned.
But what says thou This they said, attempting him, that they
might have, that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground,
as though he heard them not. So when they had continued
asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He lives
without sin among you. Let him cast the first stone at
her. And again he stooped down and
wrote on the ground, and they was heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the
eldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst, when Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman. He said unto her, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?
She said. No man, Lord?
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and say no more. John Bunyan is credited with
this quote. No man without trials and
temptations can attain a true understanding of the Holy
Scriptures. Tonight I'm going to preach on
the topic that the Lord has laid on my heart and that has a topic
of trials. According to Merriamwebster's
dictionary, the word trial is defined as a test of faith,
patience, stamina through subjection to suffering or
temptation. In the Bible, we have just over
70 different instances of people going through trials in their
life. It's hard for me to think about
somebody going through trials without thinking of Job and all
that he endured. And when that comes to my mind,
right after that is Joseph and all that he endured, even from
his own family. Tonight I'm going to just take a
few minutes and go over different types of trials, why
we face them and how to overcome them.
Let's pray. Dear and Father, Lord, I just
thank you for this place, Lord, and just what a blessing this
church is. Lord, I've heard that you would
just be with me now, Lord, help me to deliver this clearly,
Lord, in a way that it can be understood.
Lord, and just fill me with your spirit.
Lord, I've heard that you we would just help us to get
something from the message tonight.
And chase. Name, I pray.
Amen. The first point that I'm going
to start out with tonight is trials that are results of our
own actions. We read those verses in chapter
8 of John and we'll start back in verse #1.
We see Jesus went into the mountain of olives, and early in
the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people
came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken
into adultery. And when they had set her in the
midst, they sat in him. Master, this woman was taking an
adultery in the middle of the In the very act we see here the
Pharisees take this woman to Jesus, and in verse 5 to say,
Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stone.
But what sayest thou? Here we see the Pharisees ask
Jesus what they should do with her.
And when verse six goes on to say this, this attempting him,
you see the Pharisees do this many times throughout the Bible.
They will bring, they will go to Jesus with the problem and then
they'll confront him with Scripture and basically say this
is what the Bible says, but what do you say we should do about
it? And basically all they're trying
to do is trick Jesus or find Jesus in some sort of sin.
And we see here the rest of verse six, that they might
accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote
on the ground as though he heard them not.
I'm glad that we serve a God tonight that can't be tricked in
ascending. All throughout the Bible we see
man have tried to trick Jesus in ascending Pontus Pilot tried to
find sin in Jesus, but he couldn't.
We see the devil even for three days when he tempted him for
three days straight and all throughout the rest of Jesus
ministry as well. But we see the devil couldn't
trick Jesus in ascending. And here we see the Pharisees
tried to trick Jesus in ascending, and they failed at
that as well. And verse #7 says so.
When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said
unto them, He this without sin among you, let him cast the
first stone at her. After Jesus convicts the
Pharisees of their sin, of their sin, we see none of them move,
verse #8 says, And again he stooped down and wrote on the
ground. We're not told what Jesus wrote
on the ground, but either way we know this.
At this point the woman is probably distraught.
She was about to be stoned. Then the Pharisees take her to
Jesus. But then we see Jesus talks to
the Pharisees, then he writes in the sand, and then he addresses
the Pharisees again. All the while this woman is left
here and she has no clue what these next few moments could
hold for her. She has no clue if she's going
to be stoned or released. Then we see in verse 10, much
like in our own Christian lives, at the lowest valley on our
worst day, I'm glad that we can get to verse #10 as well.
We Jesus had lifted up himself and he saw none but the woman.
Those next 4 words are extremely important, he said under her.
This is the first time in this whole passage that Jesus has
spoken to this woman face to face.
She was in the middle of a trial and she hadn't heard from God
the entire time. Verse 10 says he said under her
he didn't speak to her in front of the Pharisees.
Just say, Oh well it's okay, you can go now, you're set free.
We didn't see that happen. He didn't even speak to her at
all. But then we see her when she is
alone. That is, when God speaks.
We have to get along with God in our life if we want to see God
speak. All throughout the scriptures we
say this God is so powerful, yet what is he?
How does he choose to speak when he speaks to Elijah?
He wasn't in the wind, he wasn't in the fire, he wasn't in the
earthquake. He was in the still small voice.
When we get along with God, that's when that still small
voice can be heard the loudest. Thankfully for this woman we see
in the story it worked out well and Jesus allows her to go
through. However, has she not have been
sinning and caught in this in the 1st place she would not have
gotten into this trial. But when we live in sin we
invite trials into our life. Go ahead and turn your bibles if
you will to Genesis chapter 37 as we move into our second point
tonight, Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37 verse one
says a Jacob dwell in the land wherein his father was a
stranger in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of
Jacob. Jacob being 17 years old, he was
feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was within
the sons of Bill Nall in the sons of Zola Zola, his father's
wives. And Joseph brought into his
father their evil report in the verse three.
We see this is extremely important now.
Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was
a son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.
And when his brother saw that their father loved him more than
all his brethren, they hated him.
They could not speak peaceably unto him.
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren, and
they hated him yet the more. Go ahead and jump down with me
to verse #10. And he told it to his father and
to his brother. And his father rebuked him, and
said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed?
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down
ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brother envied him.
But his father observed the saying in these verses.
We see Joseph was just living his life, they trying to please
the Lord. And as we look at verse 18 we
see his brothers were envious and jealous of what was
happening in Joseph's life. So we see him, verse 18, the
verse 18 says. And when they saw him afar off,
even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him
to slay him. And they said one to another,
Behold, this dreamer cometh Come now there for it, and let us
slay him, and cast him into some pit.
And we will see, and we will say, some evil beast has
devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
And Ruben heard it, and he delivered him out of their
hands, and said, Let us not kill him.
And Ruben said under them shed no blood, but cast him into this
pit that is in the wilderness. It laid no hand upon him, that
he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his
father again. And it came to pass, when Joseph
was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his
coat, his coat of many colors that was on him.
And they took him and cast him into a pit.
And the pit was empty. There was no water in it.
Joseph is just living his life and trying to please the Lord.
If we see in just a few verses, his world has completely
changed. His own brothers threw him into
a pit. But even while going through
this terrible time, Joseph still continued to serve the Lord.
Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 says, But As for you you thought
evil unto me, but God made it unto good to bring it to pass as
it is this day to save much people alive.
The Bible says that Joseph forgave his brothers.
He made a decision that it wasn't his place to judge his
brothers for what they had done to him.
He chose to trust God through his trial.
And the Bible says in Genesis chapter 41 verse 52, you don't
have to turn there. But Genesis chapter 41 verse 52
says in the name of the second Claudia Efrium for God hath
caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
God bless Joseph through this trial.
Just like in Joseph's life, sometimes God, since trials our
way figure all him closer to him.
Back in 2020 at the time of COVID, my family went through a
really big trial, as I'm sure a lot of other people have through
COVID. It was just a tough time.
We were in the middle of pandemic, churches shut down and
it was just a really dull time. Well, my grandpa, he's actually
here tonight, but he, he got the virus back in 2020 and from the
virus he developed pneumonia induced COVID-19 basically.
So he got COVID within a few days.
He had to go into the hospital with pneumonia and because of
the COVID restrictions, we couldn't go to the hospital to
see him at all. And so we basically took him to
the hospital. He was there and we basically
could not communicate with him at all.
His he had trouble breathing and he had lots of shortness of
breath, so we couldn't really talk to him on the phone at all.
And like I said, there was restrictions so we couldn't get
in to see him. There was a really trying time
in our life and all we could do. There was nothing we could do
except for get on our knees and pray for God to work a miracle
in his life and through phone calls to nurses and just trying
to get informations from doctors.
It was like a roller coaster. One day he had a good day and it
was like he has seen slight size of improvement.
And then the next day they were calling and saying that he was
going to have to go on a ventilator and that it didn't
look good and we didn't know what.
The next few days could hold and all we could do was trust God.
And I can't remember going into church on Sunday morning to a
prayer meeting and they had, they had a permitting at the
beginning of the month. And I can just remember men of
our church that I looked up to just going and pouring their
hearts out and praying for my grandpa.
And that was just really amazing to see.
I just remember our whole church put out our heart into prayer.
And after about a month of being in the hospital, we got a call
saying that his oxygen level was up high enough to where he was
breathing enough on his own that he would be able to come home.
But the thing was he was going to be able to come home.
But they said he was going to have to have an in house nurse
in house care and he was going to be on oxygen for the rest of
his life. After about 3 weeks he was
completely off of the oxygen. Never needed an in house nurse
and he's here tonight. No oxygen, No in house nurse.
And it's just amazing to see how the Lord worked in his life.
And that's the perfect example of sometimes God will use trials
to draw us closer to him. As I'm moving to my Third Point,
turning your bibles to Isaiah, chapter 38, Isaiah, chapter 38.
My last point tonight is sometimes God sends trials into
our life to make his glory known.
Isaiah chapter 38, verse one says in those days was Hezekiah
sick unto death? And Isaiah the prophet, the son
of Amos came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord,
set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.
Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and prayed unto
the Lord and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee how I
have walked before the in truth it with a perfect heart, and
have done that which is good in that sight.
And Hezekiah Wepsore, here we see in Isaiah chapter 38
Hezekiah is faced with a huge problem.
In verse two and three we see that he turns his face to the
wall and the Bible says he weps sore he got on his face before
God. Hezekiah has just been told that
his life is going to end shortly, and so he gets on his
knees and it says he weps sore before God.
If you want to see God work in your life, you have to get on
your face before him. When was the last time that you
were moved to tears about something and that you wept,
sword and got on your face before God?
In verse five we see that God answers has a car's prayers.
God, God still answers prayer. We serve a God today that still
answers prayer, but we have to get down before him and put in
the effort to meet him and to pray to him.
As a student at the Crown College, there is a story.
You could say it's almost like a staple for our college.
I would like to share you all, share the story with you all
really quick if I can find it. All right, here it is.
On June 4th, 2004, my life was changed forever.
I was only nine years old and this is my story.
It was about 10:30 PM on a Friday night when we got the
call. I was lying next to my parents
bed when the phone rang and my mom got up to answer it.
I remember hearing her call out to my dad, saying that the
president of Crown College wanted to speak with him.
I realized that was the college where my brother had just
graduated from the month before and he and his wife were leading
a traveling singing group for Crown College that summer.
The men sang, my sisterinlaw, played piano, and my brother
preached. As soon as my dad got off the
phone, people were knocking on our back door.
I was so confused and scared. I followed my dad to the bedroom
and I could tell that he was crying.
Dad, what's wrong? He managed to say the words.
Aaron was in a car accident. Scared by his answer, I asked.
Is he okay? All my dad could say before he
shut his bathroom door was no panicking.
I ran to each person in the room and asked what was going on.
Everybody looks scared to tell me anything and nobody said a
word. Finally my dad came out and put
his arms around me. He pulled me closer to whispered
Autumn Erin is dead. I hugged my dad tight and stared
into our dark kitchen. I knew this had to just be a
dream. People started knocking on our
door and coming into our home with tears in their eyes, and I
started to wonder if it was all real.
I woke up the next morning and realized this hadn't been a
dream. As people were still coming into
my home, to my home, I remembered the dream that I did
have that night. It was of my sisterinlaw, Darcy.
I could see her clear as day in my dream and she was shining and
surrounded by clouds. She said to me in the sweetest
voice, It's going to be Okay. It was so real and her smile was
so peaceful. That's when I knew it had really
happened. But it would be okay through the
night and the next day we began to find out the details.
My brother Aaron, Sisterinlaw, Darcy and three other young men,
Brad, David and Jonathan, were traveling in Florida on their
way to a church to sing and preach.
While they were all up towards the front of the van practicing
their songs, a tractor trailer went left to center and struck
them head on, killing all five young people.
Instantly the truck engine flew into the van causing an
explosion. Everything was burned and very
little remained of the van. But one thing did remain
unharmed and untouched by the flames and was found lying on
the side of the road near the accident.
It was a CD wrapped in plastic, but it hadn't been burned.
The name of that CD was God Makes No Mistakes.
I don't know why these Bible college students were killed at
the very beginning of the Main Street and so young in life, but
I know this. God makes no mistakes.
I don't know why we lost loved ones and our church is shut down
back in COVID, but I know God makes no mistakes.
I don't know why a shooter broke into a school in Nashville a
couple months ago and shot 6 people, including three three
children. But I know this.
God makes no mistakes. I don't know what problems
you're going through tonight or what trials you might be in
right now. But I know this God makes no
mistakes in life. It is a guarantee that if you're
not going through a trial right now, one is coming.
So get close to God and get in His word and spend time in
prayer so when it comes, you're prepared to face it through His
power and not your own. And if you're here and you're
going through a trial right now, let God use it to draw you
closer to Him. As I was preparing this message,
the Lord gave me the words to write this little poem that I'll
read to you now closing as I stood there and thought, Lord,
how could this be, these troubles and trials?
Why must it be me? While others do prosper And all
seems so right? Why must I?
Why must I struggle all day and all night?
I'm way down with heartache and feeling defeat.
And all of these trials seem to have me be.
I cried to my Savior. He said this to me.
Bring it all here. Said it all.
My feet. Trials are going to come into
your life. Be prepared to face them through
God's power, not your own. Let's pray.
Dear Lord, I just thank you for the opportunity to speak here.
Lord, I pray that you would just be with each person in this
room. Lord, as we understand, Lord,
trials are going to come in our life.
Lord, I pray that we would just get close to you so that when
they come, Lord, we have, we're able to deal with it through
your power, not our own. Dear Lord, just bless all this
stuff here at night there, Lauren, just give us a good week
as we go out and she's new, upright And then.