"Give Care, GOD Cares"_Prov 19:17_Rob Gardenhire

[Music] never let you down someone who won't turn their back on me someone knew [Music] [Music] yeah yeah [Music] someone who oh [Music] they show it good afternoon and thank you for joining us for this worship hour this final worship hour of the day to those of you who are returning this is your second iteration with us today thank you for being here as well of those of you who are here for the first time and to those of you who are in our beauty viewing audience thank you also for tuning in just a few announcements before we begin first a note of thanks comes to us from cardelia bender patricia greene teresa mcclure they are the sisters of brother alton greene and loretta greene the sister-in-law also a note of thanks come to us from sister lily kroger in the passing of her loved one please join with us as we offer our condolences and prayers on behalf of the following families angela and max starks miguel and sonya hayes and family in the loss of their uncle ronnie lee hayes who passed away on wednesday september the 1st services were held on september the 8th here locally in nashville also to maurice and don delay phillips in the passing of maurice's brother jeffrey phillips who passed away on september the third there will be a public viewing on thursday september the 16th at the highland hills funeral home and then on the uh september 17th there will be a public viewing as well at beginning at 11 until 12 o'clock noon please direct your attention to the bulletin for other details regarding these services and then finally there will be a a viewing on september again september the 16th at two until six o'clock p.m there is also please join with us in offering our condolences for to carlos and denise lohan family in the passing of his mother sarah estella lowe who passed away on september the 6th there will be a memorial service and visitation here at the schrader lane church of christ on september the 18th 10 o'clock until 11 30 a.m again that's here at the schrader lane church we announced earlier we want to encourage all of us to pray for one another often especially for those who are listed in our bulletin those who are homebound battling different maladies we want to also make you aware of one of your shepherds brother walter steele who is hospitalized please remember him sister steele and their family as well i want to also on behalf of all of our leaders again thank you for your generosity and how you contributed and supported the disaster efforts for our neighbors in waverly and in haiti you did above and beyond what was expected but you did so in your usual fashion in extending your your love your generosity to assist those residents in those two different locations again we thank you on behalf of our elders our deacons and our ministers thank you so much there will be a virtual tutoring available to our students mondays and thursdays six o'clock until 7 30 pm if you're interested please tune in participate in that great service again please direct your attention to the bulletin for other details regarding our activities and and different occurrences of the church let us pray dear god our heavenly father again we are thankful to you for all of the many ways you demonstrate your love and your commitment to us thank you father for leading us for providing for us for sustaining us and father for protecting us father you go before us you are all around us and you allow your ministering angels to watch over us we pray father that uh as we engage in our service this afternoon that you will help us to focus on you help us father to engage in the message allow it to sink into our our hearts and to internalize it father so that we are better in our service to you we pray again for all of our members father wherever they may be in their specific circumstances we pray father that you will touch them you will heal them and you will grant them all that they need according to your will guide us father as we serve you and one another and this community and father we also ask that you would just continue to watch over your children here and abroad there are many who are suffering father just because they are your children and they bear your name and and we ask father that you will strengthen guide and protect them and guide each of us as we serve in your kingdom now father we commit these things unto you in the name of your dear son jesus the christ amen good afternoon how great is our god let us lift up lift up our voices in song praise and worship how great is our god let us sing how great is our god sing with me how great is our god all will see how great how great is our god let's sing that again how great is our god sing with me how great is our god and all we'll see how great how great is our god the splendor of a king clothed in majesty let all the earth rejoice let all the earth rejoice wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice and trembles at his voice oh how great is our god sing with me how great will is how great how great is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is our god [Applause] how great how great is [Music] is [Laughter] [Applause] this portion of our service has been set aside for those who have not had an opportunity to give as we see on our screen we have various ways of giving either online or if you have your offering with you now you can drop it off to the ushers or whatever but you know uh so we have various ways that you can give and as brother washington pointed out thank you so much for the way we all responded to those in need in waverly and in haiti i'd like to read a passage from the book of second corinthians regarding giving we are all familiar with the passages that talks about sowing sparily reaping also sparingly sowing bountifully but i'd like to continue on in that particular chapter that's chapter 9 of 2 corinthians it says as it is written he had dispersed abroad he has given to the poor his righteousness remaineth forever now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causes through us thanksgiving to god for the administration of this service not only supply up the want of the saints but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto god while by the experiment of this administration they glorify god for the professed subjection unto the gospel of christ and for your liberal distribution unto them unto all men by their prayer for you which long after you for the exceeding grace of god in you thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift and as stated the way we gave to our neighbors here waverly and those abroad in haiti to me these particular pastors kind of make reference to that giving let us pray father god in heaven we offer our thanks to the lord for allowing us to gather here once again today on your day to worship you in spirit and truth thanks thank you lord for allowing us all to have the ability to give give a mean give of our means to help those in need please help us and continue with to be with us as we continue to have this spirit of giving father that we may continue to glorify your name upon this earth for these many blessings and favors i ask in jesus name amen in the letter to the corinthians the first letter to the corinthians and paul also wrote on the subject of the communion and in this particular letter you know there was a bit of a chastisement to the corinthians because of the manner in which they were using the supper in a manner that was not designed and he had to write to them to remind them for which the communion is is for he states in first corinthians chapter 11 starting with verse 23 for i have received of the lord that which i also delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take heed this is my body which is broken for you this dude in remembrance of me after the same manner he also took the cup when he suff saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye is office you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the lord let a man examine himself and so let him eat that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drink his damnation to himself not deserting the lord's body those among us who have not had this opportunity to take of the lord's supper we'd like to use this particular time in our worship service for that purpose let us pray father god in heaven we offer our thanks to you the lord once again for allowing us to be able to commune to son jesus christ by partaking of this unleavened bread which represents his body and this fruit of the vine that represents his shed blood let us always remember that jesus died for the remission of our sins and that as we participate in his communion we memorialize that act unselfish act that was committed by him so many thousands of years ago father god this is our prayer in the name of jesus we do pray amen we shall assemble on the mountain let us sing we shall assemble on the mountain we humble hearts unto his presence [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] unto the kings [Applause] oh hallelujah hallelujah [Music] we shall assemble on the mountain we shall assemble at the throne with humble hearts into his presence we bring an offering of souls [Applause] unto the kings [Music] oh hallelujah hallelujah we sing the song of the redeemed [Music] unto the lamb unto the kings oh hallelujah hallelujah [Music] oh hallelujah hallelujah [Music] we sing the song of the redeemed [Music] good evening i will be reading proverbs chapter 19 verse 17 proverbs chapter 19 verse 17. and it reads he who is kind to the poor lends to the lord and he will reward him for what he has done i have just read proverbs chapter 19 verse 17. all right your grace and mercy where will we be without the lord's grace and mercy all right let us sing your grace and mercy brought me through i'm living this moment because of you and i want to thank you and praise you too cause your grace and mercy brought me through [Music] your grace and mercy brought me through i'm living this moment because of you and i want to thank you and praise you too because your grace and mercy [Applause] [Music] church say amen all right that's a that's a simple simple song but it's powerful it's powerful a lot of times you know i know we sing songs because we know them we are uh familiar with the songs and sometimes i even catch myself just singing the song but i'm not thinking about the lyrics i'm not internalizing the message and uh when you do when you do that when you pay attention to what you're saying it is powerful the word of god is always powerful so so let's let's keep that in mind and it just takes some focus sometimes let us all stand as we sing the song before our brother garden how brings us the message this evening sing hallelujah let us sing when we reach that city of the new jerusalem oh we're gonna sing hallelujah sing hallelujah oh we're gonna sing hallelujah [Music] [Applause] in is [Music] [Music] [Applause] hallelujah oh is [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah oh [Music] hallelujah oh [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] [Music] is thank you brother mccleskey for leading us in each of those songs didn't you enjoy that i i just find it inspiring i sometimes talk with people about our worship experiences and people say well what about sunday night and there's something about sunday evenings that somehow brings together a special joy i think i know that those of you who choose to come do so with hearts willing and ready to worship and it it shows thank you thank you brother mccleskey and who's the young man sitting beside you that's miles mccleskey see what happened when we weren't watching i i uh thank you miles you did a fantastic job it's so good to see miles here carrying on as his grandfather his father his uncle another mccleskey doing god's work thank you i i know a few months ago when i first saw miles after probably a year of not seeing him i really did have to ask who is that young man he has grown tremendously and i'm just grateful for that thank you thank you brothers for leading us brother moore as well and brother washington as always thank you for bringing us to this portion i i want to share with brother washington in asking your prayers we have a tremendous tremendous fellowship among us one of the things our elders and ministers do is meet every thursday evening via zoom and in the recent weeks our brother steele hasn't been up to meeting with us and he's hospitalized right now and i just i just want us to pray just to pray pray for brother steele and for sister steele in like fashion you know of members of the congregation who have been in and out of the hospital such as sister dorothy amos who's at home right now pray for sister dorothy amos and others who have that similar circumstance we just need prayer and i want you to know that god hears and he answers our prayers i saw this evening as i was coming in a lady by the name of sister rhonda moore and she had picked up a straggler with her oh and she told me that was brother moore our elder who has been away as well and uh boy i'm i'm glad to see him and i tell you god answers prayers he's recuperating don't pick him up hug him shake him or do anything like that but just be thankful for his presence tonight i want to share with you in the the message that comes to my heart from a similarity to that which we did this morning this morning as we talked about the the need to not worry we emphasized reasons that god gives us for not worrying we see that he strengthens us we see that he fights our battles we see that he forgives us of our sins we see that god hears and we have every reason although we are troubled on every hand to not worry because we can do all things through christ which strengthens us tonight i want to share a bit with you in terms of the fact that god cares for us and why he cares i recall as i shared with you this morning those days of childhood with my parents they cared for us and i sat and i asked myself the question why did my parents care for us as they did why did they teach us as they did why did my parents feed us and clothe us why did they instill principles in us why did they correct us when we were wrong why did they reassure us when we had lost confidence and why did they forgive us although we were bad at times at least my brother and two sisters were and as a result of that i come to recognize assuredly that they did so because they loved us they didn't have to do that because they were our parents they did so because they love us why is it that god cares and then if time permits tonight i also want to discuss briefly why we have troubles in spite of his care sometimes there are folks who decide if christians have the same troubles that everyone else has then why bother to be a christian or if we pray for god's intervention in our lives and yet christians die christians are hospitalized christians have coveted christians lose their jobs and then why bother to be christians now i want to give that some perspective so first from the passage that we read this morning we said cast all our cares on him because he cares for us in the passage that myles read tonight you noted that god cares and provides for those who care for others now i'll emphasize that more at a later date so why is it that god cares for us well it begins with the same reason that our parents care for us he loves us he loves us every child who is now an adult should be able particularly if you have children to reflect back on your childhood and come to the conclusion wow my parents must have loved me i think of some of the disastrous things that my brother and i particularly did and they loved us any adult who was a child who has children can look back and be thankful for the love of his or her parents likewise you and i can be grateful for the love of god why does god care for us because it goes beyond just care it's because he loves us in first john chapter 4 verse 8 it's a very simple yet powerful statement it says god is love and from verses 9 through 15 it does some things to characterize the love of god and then it concludes again with that book in statement in verse 16 god is love so right away the reason that we need not worry realizing that in all of our circumstances god cares for us is because he loves us i don't know of anything more valuable than the love of god the love of god it was for his love that is shown in his graciousness in exodus chapter 34 verse 6 is one that you can look at in particular but when the children of israel had sinned egregiously against god they had worshipped the golden calf and god had said from the very beginning thou shalt worship the lord thy god and him only shalt thy serve god's word told us early that god is a jealous god yet aaron and the israelites worshiped a golden calf and god and moses had conversation about that and i've shared that with you several times and noted that god was so angered with them that he said moses those people that you led out of captivity your people and moses had to have the conversation with god you know moses is the one who the bible says that god spoke to moses as a man does with his friend and moses took advantage of that and said god these are your people and god ultimately forgave them did not destroy them allowed them to continue on the wilderness journey moses said god we're not going to go out into this wilderness journey if you're not going to go with us because see at first when god began to relent from his fierce anger he said i won't destroy them you moses lead them moses talking to god his friend said god i'm not going to take them unless you go with me your presence with me and ultimately god did so and when you read in exodus chapter 34 verse 6 you will find that it was the graciousness of god let me tell you that one of the things that keeps us capable of enjoying the care of god is the graciousness in his love god is a gracious god paul saw that in second timothy chapter 12 verse 8 you remember that paul talked there to the corinthian church about the fact that god had allowed him to see things that were were unspeakable and as a result of that and when you read carefully in that passage lest i become conceited paul says god gave me a thorn in the flesh i like to say that god recognized that the revelation which he had given to saul now paul were such that if saul only thought he got that from his own wisdom that he would have a problem of self-conceit so god gave him a thorn in the flesh and this is described in in that chapter chapter 12 where paul appealed to god we don't know what the thorn in the flesh was we don't know what the ailment was it could possibly have done with his sight his vision that's a popular belief because he was stricken on the road to damascus but that was an entirely different day an entirely different circumstances but whatever his thorn in the flesh may have been it was significant because paul appealed to god in prayer to relieve to remove that thorn and god answered my grace is sufficient not one time not two times but three times he asked god to remove this thorn in the flesh this ailment this malady that beset him and god's only response was my grace is sufficient my grace is sufficient god cared for him enough to have his grace as his all sufficiency and you and i know that we have offended god we have offended the church we have offended mankind we've even offended ourselves and we appeal to god often for our lives to be better and for our circumstances to be changed and quite often god reminds us that even the most lofty heights we may achieve or even in the depths of our sorrow god's grace is sufficient god cares because he's gracious demonstrating his care and not only is that true but as daniel pointed out in the ninth chapter of that prophetic writing and the ninth verse daniel speaks to the fact that god is merciful god is is merciful he is one who cares for us because he is merciful now the difference between god's grace and his mercy and thank you for singing that song your grace and mercy have brought me through grace we often like to refer to as unmerited favor it is a favor that we do not deserve it is a blessing that we do not deserve god's grace but god's mercy on the other hand is when we deserve his wrath and he withholds his wrath that means we don't get what we deserve and we're happy about it there's a difference between god's grace and his mercy but as daniel says god is merciful to us and his love is demonstrated in that and the 136 psalm we see perhaps the most vivid description of this reality of god's mercy oh give thanks unto the lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever now when you read that verse and it's familiar to us we says yes god god's mercy is wonderful it endures forever and you and i know that god cares and we can not worry in his care because he loves us and it's demonstrated in his grace and his mercy but in this passage the 136th psalm verse 2 said o give thanks unto the god of gods for his mercy endureth forever in verse 3 give thanks to the lord of lords for his mercy endures forever and for 26 specific statements none of which are the same the psalmist proclaims the greatness the goodness the power the awesome nature the all-encompassing the the great i am-ness of god and then he says but his mercy endures forever why does he do that well he's pointing out that god is all god has all god is a sovereign god he can do all of these things god who created man god in verse 9 the moon and the stars and that rule by night and in verse 8 the son to rule by day for his mercy endureth forever everything that he says about god god does not have to be merciful to you and me but he proclaims those things to manifest the point that god is merciful and his mercy endures forever so you and i don't have to worry because god loves us and it is demonstrated so consistently in his grace and his mercy if there's anyone who deserves god's love i haven't met them neither have you we are loved by god because of his grace and mercy in first john chapter 4 verse 18 the bible says we love god because he first loved us so we know assuredly that all the love and all the mercy and all the grace that we have is because of god we love god because he first loved us first john 4 19. now when you say god loves us then it leads us to the following things to recognize god cares and god cares for each of us individually i won't take a lot of time to talk about that tonight but you know as the bible tells us that god loves us because of the way he created us in genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 the scripture says that god created man in his own image if there were no other reason when we had those three little babies and we looked at them it wasn't just that we were on the records as their parents but we i remember being in the delivery room and them handing angela to me our firstborn and i looked at her and she looked at me and i began right away to be bonded with her and i recognized that this child is of my flesh she is created in my image when the scriptures tell us that god created man in his own image in his own image created he them male and female created he them it's not just about us physically looking like god we know that god is a spirit but god has made us in his image as spirits later in that chapter and early in chapter 2 the bible says that god breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul it doesn't say that about anything else that god created a living soul god created us in his image why does god care why does god love us because he created us in his image in john chapter 3 verse 16 why does god love us well we know the scripture says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but should have everlasting life what are you saying preacher i'm saying that god loves me because he has invested in me by giving his son he didn't just stop with creating us in his image god has invested in us in our souls in our future in our eternity by giving his son he didn't create us just to see us die and go to eternal damnation god gave us the investment of his son god has justified us god has adopted us god has given christ as a propitiation for our sins god has done all that is necessary with an investment that is designed to bring us again to him in eternity that's why god loves me god loves me because he knows my heart and when you read in first samuel chapter 16 verse 7 when god had sent samuel out to anoint a king and samuel looked at the the sons and he saw them and not one of them was the one that god had chosen and finally little david came and what samuel had to say was man looks on the outward appearance but god looks at the heart what i'm saying to us is that god cares for you because he sees your heart he knows your heart we sing a song here from time to time listen to our hearts and when we sing that i can't help but appreciate the the necessity and the joy of knowing that god hears my heart because i don't have the words to say what i ought to say and what i want to say to god so god just listen to my heart but god knows my heart and even when i don't get it right even when i do wrong just as was the case with david who i all i love to talk about when david did wrong the bible still says that david was a man after god's own heart god loves us individually because he sees and knows our hearts yes when we read from matthew chapter 6 verse 33 says seek ye first the kingdom of god his righteousness and all these shall be added unto you but when you're reading in that chapter you'll find that god knows us intricately he knows our hearts and it's for that reason that he cares i don't know about you but every now and then i like to watch sports josiah there plays football i want to get to go to one of his football teams i don't know who front football games i don't know who he will be playing against when i go but i can guarantee you that i will be cheering for josiah why because i know him i don't know all those other folks they may be as good looking as him they may be as strong they may be as athletic but the difference between them and him is i know him and the reason god loves us brothers and sisters he knows us he knows our hearts he knows your heart and mind and god cares because of that in the 139th psalm it's accentuated there that god knows us intricately in verse 6 such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high i cannot attain unto him whether shall i go from thy spirit or whether shall i flee from thy presence if i send up into heaven thou art there if i make my bed in hell behold thou art there if i take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me if i say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me the psalmist is saying that god you know me and because he knows us as he does he loves us god created us god has invested in us by giving christ he knows us and his infinite knowledge of us prevails throughout our lives wherever we go and whatever we're doing and then comes the question then well if god knows us and loves us as he does why do bad things happen in our lives brother phil sometimes it just gets difficult why do sicknesses come why do children get sick why do divorces happen why do relationships go asunder why do christians go bankrupt why do we get diseases why why why if god cares well there are some clear answers to that in the scriptures first of all if you turn with me to james chapter one you'll see that james points out that we experience some things in our lives in order to grow in patience the way james says it in chapter one beginning with verse two my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations that's king james language into different trials if you're reading from the niv remember this morning i shared with you that the word temptations has multiple meanings in the in the original language that have been translated as the word temptation the better word in this spot is trials trials and first corinthians 10 13 that god will provide a way for us to escape from temptations is temptations to sin but here it's it's trial james says count it all joy when you fall into different trials knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience the trying of your faith works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing the short answer here is that one of the reasons we have trials is to create in us patience and that's that's hard to to see when we're looking at trials on the front end but when we've gotten past those trials and we look back and we begin to understand that's why those of us who are older ought to have more wisdom than those who are younger than us because we've been through some things we've seen some trials and those trials sometimes say son just wait it's going to be all right take your time god has this trials bring patience and that's pointed out here in second corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 through 10 we see that trials are also such that strengthen us this is what paul dealt with i shared with you from that passage a few moments ago that god said to him my grace is sufficient but go back to the passage of second corinthians chapter 12 and note specifically i'm going to begin reading at verse 2 at 7. unless i should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given unto me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure for this thing i besought the lord thrice that it might depart from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness don't miss that part therefore i take pleasure and infirmities in reproaches and necessities and persecutions in distress for christ's sake for when i am weak i am strong there it is again what paul is saying to us is that sometimes we will experience adversity and hardship trials if you will not only as james says to engender patience but also to increase our strength our spiritual strength comes quite often through trials there's no wonder that men and women in the kingdom of god experience trials it's no wonder that those who are elders and ministers and deacons have to be qualified in some ways because you're going to have some trials to do this and those trials bring strength moral strength intestinal fortitude if you will and spiritual strength job said it well in the 42nd chapter it was the fifth verse after job coming through his trials his afflictions his seven sons and three daughters dying when the house collapsed his 500 000 sheep or i believe that was the number i have to go back and read it now but everything that you saw when you read about job who the bible described as an upright man and then job lost it all and everything that you see that job lost including his sons his daughters his sheep his donkeys his crops everything god ends up when you read the 42nd chapter of job's writing not only giving it all back to him go over there and look at that my time is about done but i want you to see the marvel of what god does with us through our hardships the bible says in verse 5 well let me read verse 1 of chapter 42. then job answered the lord and said i know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholding from thee who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge therefore have i uttered that i understood not things too wonderful for me which i knew not here i beseech thee and i will speak i will demand of thee and declare thou un to me and then he says this i have heard by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee what job is saying is these hardships i had heard about god sometimes we go about as christians we we give ourselves high fives in the fellowship and we feel good about being called christians but sometimes as you were saying brother mccleskey about us singing the songs and not internalizing the meaning sometimes we live calling ourselves christians and not internalizing what our relationship with god is and especially when the road is rough when the rubber meets the road not realizing that god is with us one of the things that i like to say and i'll say it again i didn't say it at the 11 30 service today but when we are having hardships and when someone tells us that god doesn't give us anything that we can't handle just just erase that thought we do have god does give us things that we can't handle that's why we have god he handles them on our behalf and job says here now i see job wasn't handling his uprightness all along it was god and god the bible says gave to him and he returned unto him verse 12. he blessed the latter end of job more than his beginning for he had 14 000 sheep at first he had seven thousand and six thousand camels at first he had three thousand and a thousand yoke of oxen at first he had 500 yoke of oxen all of this demonstrates that god allows us to have hardship so that we can see so that we can see so that it is revealed to us that god is and that god provides god protects and as his children he can bless us as much as he wishes because he's sovereign he will have mercy on whomever he pleases and god says that well finally god also is a god who chastises us and i would i i would be cutting short i would be remiss were i to leave here one of the reasons that we have hardships is because god chastises us when i was growing up i sometimes did things that were contrary to my parents wishes i misbehaved and when i did so they chastised me sometimes it was with words sometimes it was with my father's belt sometimes it was with my mother's switch and those mother switches are still the worst ones because when mama whips me she cries and tells me how much it hurts her and i'm the one that's suffering but i understand now what she meant when she said that it hurts her i remember chastising one of my daughters and i love my daughters those are my little girls they're grown now they're my babies still and as their daddy i recognize and take full responsibility for protecting them that's what daddies do and i remember my daughter really getting out of line with something that a church member taught her that they shouldn't have taught anyone's child and when she told me what she told me she repeated something that had been taught to her by a church member that they thought was cute i turned her over my knee and i spanked her she was an early teen then i don't spank my teenage children i i've done enough of that before they get there for them to understand i didn't expect to have to do that with her she knew better and once i had spanked her she cried i had her to leave the room and i cried it hurt so i understand what my mom used to say god does not enjoy chastising us but sometimes brothers and sisters the only way he can save us from ourselves is to chastise us so these scriptures for example genesis 45 verse 48 i didn't talk about it but sometimes we have hardships so that god can benefit us and others that's what was with joseph why did joseph get sold why did joseph get in prison because ultimately it was for the well-being of a nation but when it comes to chastisement hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 and in fact much of that chapter the scripture points out that god chastises those whom he loves and when you read the king james language it's rather vivid it says he chastises us because we are sons if god did not chastise us this is king james language and y'all aren't going to like all of this but it's king james language king james language says and if he did not chastise us it would be because we were bastards that's strong language isn't it but that's that's how it that's how it reads god chastises us because he loves us so we've seen tonight the reasons that god cares his grace and his mercy we have seen that god has created us in his image we have seen that god has invested in us in the giving of his son we have seen that when we were yet without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly romans chapter 5 verses 7 and 8 and we have seen that god cares enough for us to have us experience some hardships to strengthen us to cause us to be patient to cause us to grow in the spirit to cause us to grow for the benefit of ourselves and others and that god sometimes chastises us all because he loves us god cares god's caring is such that we also need to recognize that sometimes we look at those who oppose us our enemies if you will and as you'll find over in proverbs chapter 37 verses one and two sometimes we we forget we fret when our enemies or our perceived enemies are doing better than ourselves the bible tells us to fret not and we wonder well if god loves me why are my enemies prevailing and i'm not doing well the bible tells us in the 37th psalm verses 1 and 2 that god will un will will allow the unjust to prosper but when you read that you're going to find out that the unjust will prosper only temporarily we have to remember that and sometimes when we're asking does god really love me we'll we'll recognize that our opponents or those who we see blatantly as sinners seem to be doing quite well you have to remember what matthew 5 verse 45 says it rains on the just and the unjust now quite often put that in context quite often when we say it rains on the just and the unjust we think of that as hardships come to those who are good and hardships come to those who are not but that's not it at all in that passage in its context what is being taught is that the good comes to the just and the good comes to the unjust the rain is a good thing and quite often we lose our perspective when we see that someone who we know is is contrary to god and we suspect is unkind to us seems to be doing well just recognize that god causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the just as well as the unjust and know that god loves us and since god loves us i'm going to be just as i was as a child to the best of my ability i didn't worry because my mom and my dad loved me and i'm not going to worry with all of the circumstances of life yes i'm going to be concerned and yes i'm going to do my best to make a difference and yes i'm going to push and i'm going to fight and i'm going to labor and yes i'm going to lose some sleep i'm going to wake up early and i'm going to go to bed late but at the end of the day i'm going to convince myself not to worry because god loves me and he loves you and as a result of that as you face the trials and circumstances and even the consequences of life do so knowing that god cares and cast your cares on him because he cares may god bless you and may god strengthen you those who have not obeyed the gospel of christ i invite you to a fellowship with a god who cares hear the gospel of christ believe it repent of your sins confess your belief in him and be baptized today for the remission of your sins on the screen you'll see how you may contact us and we will assist you with that and those of you who desire the prayers of the church contact us our elders and ministers are tireless in praying for members of this church in this community and may god be with you and may you not worry until we meet again [Music] smiled on me [Music] he has set me free [Music] me [Music] he has set me free [Music] oh my god has smiled on me and he's been good to me once again let us all say amen we have heard another message to help us understand clear who god is and how much he loves us and cares for us again our thanks to brother garanhari hire for another wonderful and powerful message it's not as many in the auditorium as were this morning so our dismissal instructions will be as follows the two aisles to my right here at the dismissal period you all will move forward and exit to my right your left and the two ios here pews on this side will do the same to my left your right again please remember to pray for all of our members pray for one another often especially for those who are listed in the bulletin who are homebound who are sick and again just continue to pray for one another we cannot get enough of that if you brought your contributions in with you this this evening as you exit the ushers will be standing at the doors and you could deposit your contributions in the baskets again thank you for your attendance and to those of you who are in our viewing audience let us pray father again we are thankful to you for this this period of worship this final worship hour of the day here at the schrader lane church of christ thank you father for the message and the messenger and father thank you for allowing us to hear another installment from your holy word thank you father for revealing yourself to us through your word and your servant now father we pray you be with each of us as we are about to separate from this location but help us to never be separated from your presence in jesus name amen god be with [Applause] with you [Music] [Music] until we meet god [Music] with you with you oh god be with you until we meet up again until we meet again until we meet up [Music] [Music] dirty [Music] man as i journey through this land singing as i go pointing souls to calvary hello i'm robert garden-hire minister of the schrader lane church of christ thanking you for joining in to today's live-streamed worship service i'm also elated to tell you that we have resumed in person worship services on sundays at 9 15 11 30 and 5 pm guests are welcome we are practicing protocols including social distancing mask wearing and sanitization vaccinations although not required are encouraged please consult our website straighterlane.org for more information regarding our worship services our prayer line and other offerings of the schrader lane church of christ again thank you for joining us today i look forward to connecting with you and may god be with you until we meet [Music] him again must win singing as i journey you

Channel: Schrader Lane Church of Christ

Views: 276

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 1B_3TGqJeOc

Length: 83min 49sec (5029 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021