Learning from the Wilderness Experience of Life

Good evening again to you from Beacon Baptist Church. Thank you for tuning in to our livestream service.

We have been doing this now for several months, three, maybe three months. Live streaming on Wednesday night, only live streaming on Sunday night, only live streaming on Sunday morning. Plus, having a people present service on Sunday morning. So live streaming all the services and just one people present service on Sunday morning.

And we're encouraged by the support of what we're doing. And thank you for praying and giving and supporting the pastors and cooperating with us as we seek to steer our congregation through this pandemic.

This, too, shall end. We don't know when, but it will come to an end and we're trusting that it will be sooner as opposed to later.

A couple of things I've noticed. I found this the focus life. It's a leather bound songs and proverbs reading plan founded on the back pew is a very back Pew or the next pew here on the piano side, maybe three, four weeks ago. And I set it out on the counter in the welcome center. So if you've been missing that one or two words that it'll be out there on Sunday, you can stop and get it. It's something you probably want to retrieve.

It's it's a nicely bound addition. So some of those things are better drawing your attention this way than put in the lost and found.

I want to make you aware we did on Sunday. But if you weren't here or didn't tune in, that the Ocean City Bible conference has been canceled for September, it's just too problematic with the Koven restrictions.

Governor Murphy has imposed restrictions on 33 of the 50 states people have becoming from coming into New Jersey that need to be quarantined.

And it's just not not feasible. Not doable. So they've canceled the conference. So we had, I think, nine or ten or planned to go.

So just a heads up, if those of you that were planning to go now that you know of, make sure everybody who was planning to go is aware that it's been canceled.

I love that hymn that you heard being sung prior to our coming online. Oh, father, you are sovereign. Words penned by Margaret Clarkson. Oh, father, you are sovereign in all the worlds. You made your mighty word was spoken and light and life obeyed.

Your voice commands the seasons and bounds the oceans shore.

Sets stars in their courses and stills, the Tempus Roar. Oh, father, you are sovereign in all affairs of man. No powers of death or darkness can thwart your perfect plan. Boy, is that good news. All chance and change transcending supreme in time and space. You hold your trusting children secure in your embrace. Oh Father, you are sovereign. The Lord of human pain. Trance muting earthly sorrows to gold of heavenly game all evil overruling as none but conquerer could your love pursues its purpose. Our souls eternal. Good. Oh, father, you are sovereign.

We see you dimly now, but soon before your triumph. Earth's every knee shall bow with this glad hope before us. Our faith springs up a new our sovereign lord and savior. We trust and worship you. By with me, if you would, please. Father, we come to you with an acknowledgment of our dependance upon you that we are your creatures. We are dependent upon you for life and health and strength. It's in you that we live and breathe and have our being. You are worthy of our worship and we offer that to you this evening through the merits of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, it's good for us to pause in the middle of the week and give attention to internal matters and the the maintenance of our spiritual lives. We thank you for this means of grace that causes us to be reminded of how dependent we are upon you. And these times together around your word and offering our prayers and our praises and hearing updates concerning our missionary family that we are supporting and being engaged in intercessory prayer for the needs of the congregation and the people that are related to it. So, Father, thank you for your kindness and your mercy and your great grace that has reached down and saved us and redeemed us and made us your possession. We thank you, Father, for these things. We ask you to help us to live in the light of these realities. We are grateful tonight that we have this throne of grace that we can come to that the heavens are not silent. Now your ear is open to our cry. We have audience with the God of Heaven. So our God, as I offer prayer on behalf of my brothers and sisters who are coming to you with an acknowledgment of our need and a desire to hear from you and to receive from you tonight. We ask that you would meet with us, that your spirit would give success to your word, that you would help us to be engaged in our hearts and minds and with our wills concerning the principles and truths of your word. We ask you now to take this time and redeem it for for eternity and for time as we ask it in Jesus name. A man.

Let me go over the prairie quests with you.

I trust that you're able to access the prayer sheet that's posted each Wednesday afternoon. We are praising the Lord that Gail Davis has fully recovered from from Cauvin 19. It was good to see her in the service on Sunday morning. We are praising the Lord that Josiah Voronoi has known improvement from the abscess that he had in his mouth, and it appeared that it was going to be absolutely necessary for him to be put under for for oral surgery.

And he got sick and that had to be postponed.

And in the meantime, they put him on an antibiotic and then a stronger antibiotic.

And that stronger antibiotic has brought relief from this abscess that he had in his mouth. So we're thankful for that. And it didn't create any side effects that would be problematic for him and for his parents. So, again, we're praising the Lord for his kindness and intervening in that way. Rob Conrade. Had a procedure today for kidney stone.

Let we see. Don't have any.

Current update on that, he'd ask us to pray. Trust that you were praying that the surgeons would be guided as he was having these kidney stones removed. Art Pope is scheduled for an MRI on September the 2nd. Pray for him.

These hot summer humid days make it difficult for him with his COPD.

And as I think of Rob, I think of others in our congregation who struggle in that way.

Lenny Brayley is is one who comes to my mind. Lenny and Bernie have not been out since the Cauvin wise for them to air on the side of caution.

And they have been engaged in church life through live stream and they're very grateful for these means. But that's why we have not seen them. They're more vulnerable than some.

And taking a very cautious approach under others. We have the name of Stacy and Steve Collins. They have an unborn child that has been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy.

She's the mother has found out that she is a carrier of this gene. So. Pray for strength and wisdom for this family. This is a friend of Rose, Bradshaws sister in West Virginia. Dwayne Craig's mother, Janice Craig, is declining. She had a fall recently and has been in a lot of pain and hospices helping take care of her. So please pray for her physical needs as well as spiritual needs. Sheila is recovering from serious surgery. You can see last week to remove bones and muscles in her chest area to repair damage that was done by radiation that she received in her cancer treatments several years ago. Robert tells us that she still has some pain, but she is improving slowly and moving in the right direction.

So we're grateful to give you that report.

Marie Forbes. This is a request that's come in from Cheryl Ingold. She'll have shoulder surgery on Friday, this coming Friday. I don't know this woman, but Cheryl's ask us to pray for Marie Forbes'. Mark Mitchell is a brother in law to a friend of Jane Le Tours. He is in ICU with Cauvin.

He's on a ventilator and is and he's a very man. Been on a ventilator for a week. And Jane is asking our church to pray for Mark Mitchell.

Robert Sweet.

Sarah Cardwell's father has continued to have chest discomfort despite the fact that he had a stent put in maybe six weeks or so ago and had another cath resolution on yesterday, and they were able to diagnose that. The problem that he was persisting with is related to a stent that he had put in years ago, and they were not able to deal with that satisfactorily.

So they put him on some different medication.

And just overnight he's known some improvement. So time will tell whether that is gotten any lasting effects.

But that's an encouraging bit of news. So continue to remember, Robert, in your prayers, Mark Teir relatives, Sue Vestel was admitted to ICU at the regional hospital here last Friday.

He has kidney and liver failure. He'd had a heart attack in the ambulance and he's now on a ventilator. If he survives, he will be on dialysis.

He's not a candidate for a liver transplant. And his greatest need, along with his wife Barbara, are four salvation Mark and Barbara Teir.

Under missionaries, I have an update concerning Stewart war. We got a text from Eric Johnson that was forwarded to us from Laverne that they were called, that there was a possible liver available for him and they needed to get to the hospital and be tested for Cauvin and to return to the home and wait for a call.

And we have no update since that last bit of information.

So. He said he's been, you know, within is right at the edge of receiving a liver and in God's providence, that has not materialized and we're trusting that perhaps this is the time for that take place.

So please uphold Stuart in this matter.

Laverne, if she's there in Johannesburg with him and if we hear anything significant along these lines, we will get it out to you in Beacon in the No.

Corey Oakley is making us aware of some needs among our ESL students. Maggie Marino has had some tests done the past few weeks, and she has a mass that they have identified. She's a 41 year old mother and most likely will be needing surgery. Pedro Reyes has tested positive for Cauvin in Concepcion. S Marone has also tested positive for Kozo. Three of our ESL students have these needs and we want to bring those before you.

Our government official of the week is Village Alamance Mayor Donald Tickie.

And I ask you to remember him in your prayers.

That's what I have in terms of prayer requests. Oh, wait a minute. I've got this that came in at quarter after 3:00 this afternoon. This is from Sue Elliott. She says, I just wanted to update our church family about my aunt. I have a booker. She met Jesus face to face this morning. Our family would appreciate. Prayers. She was 98 and living a long, healthy life, loving Jesus and serving him. Boy, that's good to hear and know. And then she adds, my aunt Mary Hicks is still in cone hospital.

So the home going of her aunt Ivor Booker and the ongoing need of her aunt Mary Hicks.

OK.

Couple of things related to our our missions endeavors here, the church.

We sent some money through our missions account to the Institute of Creation Research and we got a note acknowledging that it says we received your recent gift to the Institute for Creation Research with great thankfulness through you.

God met ICRA needs during the mandatory closure the past few months and helped us persevere through a most unexpected and turbulent time. We're so very grateful for your gifts.

The.

Stayed home mandates forced applause. It was certainly challenging. We made excellent use of the downtime by giving everything a deep clean, working on a myriad of maintenance projects and installing significant upgrades to various exhibits. And now, with the reopening of the Discovery Center on June 30, 2020, we are thrilled to engage with visitors again. This came the middle of July.

So just that note from the director of operations, Henry M. Morris. The fourth had this letter from the Piedmont Rescue Mission, an update on a couple of things. You are aware that there are major fund raising event for Elements pregnancy services.

Is the baby bottle boomerang? And because of the colvert and what was been going on in the churches, they had significantly less participation in that this year.

We didn't participate in the bottles per say, but we sent fifteen hundred dollars to the mission in lieu of doing that. We just thought it would be problematic to be distributing bottles and doing all of that. But there are mentioning that, that they had only half of what came in last year, came in this year through that project. And I'm surprised that that it was that much. They're having some difficulty with planning the greater vision banquet.

Not certain about how to proceed with that. I had a talk on the phone with Tony Honeycut this afternoon. It was this morning, maybe around lunchtime or sometime today. And we discussed several possibilities. So just pray about that matter, if you would, that the Lord would give wisdom and direction in that matter.

There are a couple of possibilities that are a bit problematic in and of themselves. And so we're not exactly sure what what route to take.

He writes that the community meals. You know, that Thanksgiving at Christmas they feed five, six hundred people there at the mission. It's a major community effort for community ministry.

He says the community meals will also have to be handled in a totally different way this year. Please again, pray for wisdom for us to make decisions for each of these events. And when he says each of these events, he's talking about the Bible, the baby bottle boomerang and the funding for the pregnancy services, the greater vision banquet and the community meals. He says the men's division and the pregnancy services have been trying to keep things going as close to normal as possible, we're seeing new clients in the pregnancy services on a weekly basis with all safety measures in place. We had put a hold on men entering the program, but as of this week, we are opening the doors for men to come in under strict supervision and safety measures. We'll be taking their temperatures daily, requiring them to wear masks and win out of their rooms for at least their first two weeks here. Please pray the men will stay healthy, even with the new men being brought in. And then a couple of things related to the family shelter. He speaks of progress being made.

The apartment wall divisions have all been put, put in place, are waiting inspection before the sheet rock can be installed. The plumbers waiting on inspector dance are few questions for him.

Got some. When does it need to be dealt with? Has to be a window in each of the outside walls and each of the rooms. And so there's progress being made. So we're we're thankful for that.

All right. And then this short email correspondence from Tony Payne. He writes, Dear friends, this came on Monday of this week.

We arrived in Atlanta yesterday afternoon. Tired but safe. And Lord willing, free of Koven 19. We are to self monitor for 14 days and isolate. So we are camping in our basement of the home we lived in when we were caring for Kathie's mother. We've already been able to make Skype calls to two families in South Africa and the church, and they assure us of their prayers for us and for the work to prosper in our absence, he says. Won't you please pray that God will use this time to cause the body to function healthily, healthily and to grow in grace. And in the development of their gifts for the work of the ministry. So the pains are here for a short furlough. He said, we anticipate returning to South Africa in late October, Lord willing. The South African airports may open up as early as September, and we pray so.

So just that reminder.

From the paints.

Well, tonight, will you turn with meat in your Bibles to Deuteronomy, Chapter eight, Deuteronomy, Chapter eight.

And while you're turning there, let me make a confession to you. Number of weeks ago, maybe a month. Now it's banned.

Pastor Bachmann brought a message on Sunday morning from Numbers. Chapter 11 about the children of Israel.

And they're complaining in the wilderness and God's dealings with them about that.

And they're clamoring for meat and God sending quail. And it was an excellent message, as I recall.

And it caused my mind to turn to some other passages in the book of Deuteronomy and begin to think and pray. And so this message kind of was provoked by that message that Pastor Bachmann brought in from numbers Chapter 11. So tonight, I want to bring a message to you from Deuteronomy, Chapter eight. Let me begin to read at verse one and read to the end of the Chapter 20 versus Deuteronomy, Chapter eight.

Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your father's. And you shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did you. Did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone. But. But man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, and nor did your foot swell these 40 years. You should know in your heart that as a man, Chasen's his son. So the Lord, your God, Chasen's you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord, your God to walk in His ways and to fear him for the Lord. Your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of olive oil and honey. A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full. Then you shall bless the Lord, your God for the good land which He has given you.

Beware that you do not forget the Lord, your God by not keeping His commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today.

Lest when you have eaten and our fall and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them. And when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silvering, your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness and which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water. Who brought water for you out of the flinty rock?

Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. And you shall remember the Lord, your God for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means, forget the Lord, your God, and follow other Gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish as the nations which the Lord destroys before you.

So you shall perish because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord.

Your God titled My message tonight is learning from the wilderness experiences of life. Now, obviously.

Well, we can't recreate and God is not going to put us in the wilderness like he did the children of Israel. This is unique to redemptive history. For 400 years, Israel was a slave in Egypt, and for 40 years they had been a pilgrim, people wandering in the wilderness. And here are admonitions and instructions that God is giving to Moses for the people. Moses and another generation of Israelites are camped on the east side of the Jordan, poised to enter the land of Canaan, the land that God had promised their forefathers as an inheritance. Now, often we hear the phrase that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Well, perhaps you've discovered, as I have in traveling, that rarely do you get from point A to point B by a straight line.

Well, for the Israelites, an 11 day journey straight line has languished into a 40 year wilderness experience. And the Kadish Barnie event is recorded in numbers Chapter 14 in the New Testament, commentary on that event is Hebrews Chapter three and Chapter four.

But we have this admonition in Hebrews. Take heed, brethren. Less there be and any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And that is how God characterizes the children of Israel in this 40 year period. They were people with evil hearts of unbelief. And despite all that, God had cared for his people. Those 40 years in the wilderness, they weren't unbelieving people.

Moses is calling the people to remember the wilderness experience and learn some lessons that will help them in their present journey.

And again, wanting to make an application and make a transition here is we think about what we are going to see here in Deuteronomy, Chapter eight.

Perhaps you are going through a wilderness experience of life, may be and may not be a result of God's dealings with you because of unbelief. But please take heart. God is a covenant keeping God.

And as we look tonight at Deuteronomy Chapter eight, we'll discover some truths, I believe, that will encourage us to keep on in faith and trust. And God has a purpose in every experience along life's journey. There are no wasted experiences. So if you're have your Bible open and you're in the habit and custom of taking notes.

Let me give you three headings and then give you some direction as you as I bring this message and you can put these sub points in their place.

Three points. Point number one, the remembrance of the wilderness experience. The remembrance of the wilderness experience. And under that heading, that will be six. Some points won't be long, but there'll be six some points. Number two, the purpose of the wilderness experience and God's insistence that they remember it. The purpose of the wilderness experience and God's insistence that they remember it and for some points under that heading. And then number three, the lessons of the wilderness experience and for some points there.

So that's kind of a sketch. I don't have a handout for you tonight, but I sketched a sermon outline for you. And if, again, if you're in the custom of taking notes, you'll be able to follow me. So let's start the remembrance of the wilderness experience. I want you to see and again here, the sub points under that heading the remembrance of the wilderness experience.

Number one, the fact of his leading verse two, and you shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way these 40 years.

The fact of his leading God led them. God did not abandon them. God was faithful to them, despite their unbelief, despite their murmurings, despite their complaining.

God led them.

And that is wonderful news because there are times that we are disobedient children that we are not everything we ought to be.

And God does not abandon us. God continues to be faithful to us. So, number one, the fact of his leading. Number two, the comprehensiveness of his leading.

And what do I mean by that? You shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way.

He led you all the way. He didn't lead you. Seventy five percent of the way. 80 percent of the way. 50 percent of the way. He led you all the way.

Folks, that's the way it has to be for us. Because if God only let us 90 percent of the way and left the other 10 percent for us to finish, we would get lost. That's our nature. Number three, the duration of his leading.

You shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way. What, these 40 years?

The duration of this wilderness experience.

And we're talking here about the remembrance of the wilderness experience.

And three times in this chapter, God is calling them to remember.

And let me point them out to you. Verse two, and you shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way.

And there's more. I've got three more sub points under that heading. But I do want to point this out to you.

That's verse to Noah's verse eleven. Beware that you do not forget the Lord, your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today. And then verse 18.

And you shall remember the Lord, your God for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establishes covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day.

God wanted them to remember the past. You'd say, well, how could they not remember the past? Well, obviously there was a danger God wouldn't have continued to recall. Ever call them to remember it.

Our fourth southpoint under this heading the remembrance of the wilderness experience, the place of his leading back to verse two again.

And you shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way these 40 years.

Where? In the wilderness. In the wilderness.

Folks, sometimes God has that purpose for us is new.

New covenant believers, God has things that he wants to teach us and show us. And he leads us in the place of wilderness.

Where it's sparse, where it's dry, where it's difficult, where it's bewildering at times. God hasn't forgotten about us. God has a purpose in what he's doing and let's be reminded of that.

And then number five. Think with me about the purpose. The purpose of his leading notice.

You shall remember that the Lord, your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness.

And here is to humble you and test you.

The purpose of God's leading first, that they might learn their own heart. Not that God might know their heart, but that they might know their own hearts.

To humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. God knew what was in their hearts, but they needed to know the condition of their hearts.

And out of this humbling, this knowledge was going to come.

They needed to learn, they needed to be humbled and God needed to test them, and that's the purpose of what he was doing. Notice in the Sixth Sense, we're talking about the remembrance of the wilderness experience, the miraculous nature of his leading, the miraculous nature of his leading.

We're sorry. He humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know.

And he says something similar done in verse sixteen. Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end.

We're talking about the miraculous nature of God's leading.

He provided manna for 40 years. Heavenly food, supernatural. Extraordinary. Nothing ordinary about this. This is extraordinary.

The Murlak miraculous nature of God's leading verse for notice. Their clothes did not wear out. Your garments did not wear out on you. Notice number three, their feet did not swell. Your garments did not wear out, nor did your foot swell these 40 years.

Interesting.

You'd think if there was ever a situation or conditions ripe for that, it would certainly be this God provided water for them out of Iraq.

Verse five. You should know in your heart that as a man, Chasen's his son. So the Lord, that wasn't the right now done. Verse 15, numbers five, verse 15. Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water?

Who brought water for you out of the flinty rock?

And then, you know, God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The miraculous nature of his leading.

Now, with all of that said three times in this chapter, is this exhortation to remember, not to forget. And the question is, how could you forget that?

Well, Moses is suggesting that there would be a real danger of them doing that very thing when they entered the land of Kanon. He warns them of the peril of prosperity.

When you build houses and you dig lands and you eat fruit and you enjoy all these things that God provided for you.

Prosperity is a gift. It can be a blessing and it can be a test. And here's the warning abutments may well produce spiritual amnesia, abundance produces complacency, which leads to forgetfulness, abundance, sea races, the memory of the struggle of the past. And God is telling them, don't forget. Remember.

Roman numeral two, the purpose of the wilderness experience. The purpose of the wilderness experience and it again, it's to humble them.

You see, pride exists in all of our hearts and that pride needs conquering. That pride needs uprooting. Pride is what the stubborn refusal to let God be God with the corresponding ambition to take his place. It's the attempt to dethrone God and do what enthrone ourselves. And that must be conquered.

So that he can be gracious to us because God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

We're talking about the purpose of the wilderness experience. The second is to prove them or to test them.

Notice that to humble you again, verse two, and to test you to know what was in your heart to prove them. And what did the wilderness experience prove? What did it prove? It proved that they were a disobedient people. It proved that their hearts were hearts of unbelief. It proved that they had a murmuring, complaining spirit in the wilderness. Experience was designed by God to show them not God, but to show them what was in their hearts.

And that's one of the most important discoveries we can make, and that is the condition of our own heart. Nothing exposes our hearts more than times of testing, times of adversity, times of prosperity. So it's both adversity and prosperity that have that function in our Christian lives. They test whether or not we have a commitment to the Lord that will help us see both those experiences in relation to him. You see all Christians encounter one or the other. Most of us have regularly experienced both. And the question is, have you pass that test? One, has prosperity proven?

What is it shown about your heart and your proclivity in your relationship with the Lord? What are you learning about yourself?

And God has this purpose that he might teach them that they might know. Notice what he says.

So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know. This is verse three. And your fathers did not know that he might make you know, the man shall not live by bread alone.

But but but live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. God had a purpose in this. To teach them that they might know. They might know what. They might know that there's something more important in life than having all of your temporal needs met to teach them the what sustains life is not physical food, but the word of God.

It is food for our soul that nourishes our soul and sustains us. That's what we need. And without it, we will die.

So the Lord humbles his people.

He creates hunger and desire for spiritual food, and then he fills and feeds his people.

He feeds them with Christ, the hidden manna, which they were ignorant of and many times were ignorant of.

I ask you earlier, what are you learning about yourself?

And subsequently, what are you learning about God? Are you growing in your dependance upon him?

See, all of life is designed by God to knock the self-confidence out of us. That is to humble us and to bring us to say I am nothing but thou art everything.

And one other purpose. We have one more purpose.

This is under the purpose of the wilderness experience and their God's insistence that they remember it. It's the fourth sub point and it's in verse five.

You should know in your heart that as a man, Chasen's his son.

So the Lord, your God, Chasen's you.

To know that God has chastening purposes in these things.

And we have the admonition in the book of Hebrews that we're not to despise the chastening of the Lord.

I don't know what you may be dealing with if you're his child.

Be lots of reasons why God's brought difficulty and challenges to your life. But one could be that he's chastening you. Well, don't despise that. Learn from that. Grow through that. Draw nearer to God because of it.

Now let's consider the third sub point or third main point here. The lessons from the wilderness experience. The lessons in the first is remember the Lord of the experience. And I pointed that out to you in verse two, verse eleven, verse 18.

It's easy to lose sight of the Lord. It's easy for our life to be confined by the wilderness.

The difficulty, the problem, because the more you focus on it, the bigger the problem gets.

And it seems the lesser and more obscure God gets in our perspective. So don't lose sight of the Lord.

Don't lose sight of the Lord. I'm watching my time here. I wanted to show you something here, but I think I'll have to move on. Lesson number two.

All of life, all of life, its joys and sorrows, its ups and downs are all uniquely designed by God.

All for what?

The purpose of making us and of making plain to ourselves what we are and to teach us an ever increasing dependance upon him.

That's what God is doing.

Notice, he says in verse sixteen, who fed you in the wilderness with man in which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end, to humble you, to prove you and to do you good in the end, aren't you glad that God has an eye toward the end, that there is a purpose in what he's doing and is to do us good?

It's to do a spiritual good. It's to do us eternal good. And that's what makes every temporal challenge and difficulty and trial worth it, because God's not wasting experiences.

He's using them for our ultimate good.

So God's purpose that they might be humbled, that I might be humbled, that you might be humbled, that we might know ourselves by observing how we're responding to life and its challenges, that we might be taught how to depend on the Lord and him only for all of our needs to find our sufficiency in him and to find the supply of his grace as more than adequate.

God's big purpose is conformity to Christ's likeness, ultimately to bring us to full glorification. And although we may lose sight of this ultimate purpose from time to time, God never loses sight of that purpose.

He's always working to that ultimate in our conformity to Christ's likeness.

God is working here in the lives of these Israelites to bring them under his authority to bring them into obedience submission to his will.

Lesson number three, the lesson that God is a faithful covenant keeping God. That when we are faithless, he remains faithful. They would be brought in to the land of cane and not because of their faithfulness, but because of his.

And he tells them in verse 17, warns them not to say in their hearts, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.

Now, that's the height of ingratitude. That's stealing God, stealing glory from God. And then a fourth lesson, that is let's guard our hearts against idolatry and serve him obediently and faithfully. Let's guard our hearts against an inflated view of ourselves. In response to how gracious and merciful he has been to us.

The words of that team win were the whole realm of nature, mine that were a present far too small love.

What's so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all. Let's strive to be humble people. Let's strive to be thankful people.

Let's have an eye toward God and his activity in our lives.

And settle in our minds that God is not against us. He's for us. And God is intending to do us good. Through all the ebbs and flows of life, just as he did here. And it's not because we have such a track record of good performance. It's because his purposes are rooted in his nature. You see, it's all mercy. It's all grace.

God will ensure that he will be faithful to the end toward us, not because we've been faithful. Not because we've done well, but because it's the nature of God to be that way.

So let's rejoice in him in that and come away from Deuteronomy Chapter eight with maybe a fresh awareness, as we've learned from the wilderness experiences, and maybe translate those things to our own lives.

So thank you for your interest tonight and your attention to the word of God. I told my wife what I was planning to do and she said, I'll have my pen and paper ready. I'll be eager to take notes. And I was glad to hear that eagerness with her.

And I know that that's also the heart that God's given our people.

This is a hymn that you probably have heard, Carly came across it recently and said this would be a good poem to. Bring to your attention on a Wednesday night. It's called Reach Out to Jesus, is your burden heavy as you bear it all alone? Does the road you travel harbor danger yet unknown?

Are you growing weary in the struggle of it all? Jesus will help you when? On his name you call. He is always there, hearing every prayer, faithful and true, walking by our side in his love.

We hide all the day through when you get discouraged.

Just remember what to do.

Reach out to Jesus.

He's reaching out to you.

Is the life you're living filled with sorrow and despair? Does the future press you with its worry and its care? Are you tired and friendless? Have you almost lost your way? Jesus will help you. Just come to him today. He is always there hearing every prayer, faithful and true, walking by our side in his love. We hide all the day through when you get discouraged. Just remember what to do.

Reach out to Jesus for he's reaching out to you.

Will you be with me as well?

Here we are as I pray.

Lead us in prayer. Father, we come to you tonight with thankful hearts, rejoicing that you have a purpose to do us good in everything. Lord, may we not believe the lies of the evil one nor the lies of our our hearts that are 10 that tend to be deceived.

And to think that you've turned against us, all we have to do is look to Calvary and see the fact that you gave your son. And if you spared not your own son, how shall you not with him freely. Give us all things, everything else that we need to make our way to heaven. You will provide. You're not against this. You're for us and you're for us in a way that no one has ever been for us.

Thank you for meeting the greatest need in our lives. We were strangers to God, alienated from you, enemies of yours. And you, through the giving of your son, reconciled us to yourself. You made us your children. You adopted us into your family. You wrote our names in the Lamb's Book of Life.

You've guaranteed us our heavenly inheritance.

How we thank you for what you've done for us in Christ Jesus. We thank you tonight that we have a God who hears prayer, a God who answers prayer, a God who delights to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are made right toward you. So, Lord, we give you praise. And thanks for Gale. Daviss improvement for Jaci of Roys Improvement.

We thank you for the confidence we have that you've been with Rob Conrad today, that you've been with Robert Sweet as he's been dealing with discomfort in his chest related to heart blockage. We pray that this medication would indeed address that need and allow him to continue on and work without having to have open heart surgery.

We pray for this couple that is related to Rose Bradshaw's sister and the challenges that they're facing with a child with major disability coming.

We pray for Dwayne Craig's mother, Janice Craig, and ask our God that you would minister to her needs.

Lord Minister, do her physical needs, but oh, God, more importantly, reach into her heart and do for her what she could never do for herself. Lord, she needs Jesus and she needs Jesus before she leaves this world.

God, would you, in mercy and in kindness, come to her? We thank you for Sheila actor and for bringing her through this major surgery. We pray for Robert. Help him not to become weary and well doing. We pray that Sheila would be gaining strength day by day. We pray for Cheryl, Engle's friend, who's needing shoulder surgery on Friday, that you'll see her through that for Mark Mitchell, who is in very serious condition with Cauvin.

Pray for Mark tIere and his wife Barbara and their need for Christ.

Lord, how we bring Stuart Wall to you. And this need it's been ongoing for years and years. And, Lord, could it be that you brought him to the very eve of a liver transplant? And Lord, if indeed that's your purpose, that you would superintend the doctors and then you would provide all that's necessary, that you'd calm his heart and keep him safeguard his life, help him to trust you. And Lord, we're trusting you on his behalf.

We ask that you do have mercy on this, brother and Lord, indeed, this would be the time that he would receive this much needed liver to extend his life. We pray for our ESL students and their needs for this one who's got a mass. We ask that you would help her to trust you, that you'd use this to bring her to a deeper faith and trust and dependance upon you. For these two who've been diagnosed with Kova, that you'd see them through this, you'd have mercy on them. Lord, we confess, are our native you.

Lord, we are so much like these children of Israel.

How easy we can forget your mercy to us, how easy we can be blinded by prosperity and think that somehow by our own works, by our own hands, by our own ingenuity, we've done these things, accumulated these things when they've all come from you.

Lord, please cause us not to dishonor you with these false notions. May we always acknowledge that every good and perfect gift does indeed come from above.

Lord.

We are asking that you'd use these difficult times in our country, in this upheaval that's all around this and the uncertainty and the social unrest, that you would use all of this for good.

We thank you that we were able to sing or I was able to remind our people of the song that we often sing, Oh Lord, you are sovereign and all the work world's you made your sovereign in this world, your sovereign over everything that's transpiring around us that has caused concern in our hearts and minds.

Lord, we pray that you would accomplish your sovereign purposes.

How glad to know that. No man, no evil purpose can for your sovereign plan, accomplish your will.

Oh God. In this world. In this country. In this nation.

Good Lord. Would you do that in each of our lives? Lord, awaken us to your divine activity in our lives.

It's so easy to go through the mundanes of one day into another day and one week translates to another week and another month.

And we're often clueless to the spirit's activity in our lives to grow us in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to conform us more and more in the likeness of him who loved us and gave himself for us. So, Lord, awaken us. Alert us. Bring us to a fresh cooperation with the spirit of God. May we discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness? May we view your chastening work in our lives as a good thing, despite the pain that it might bring? Realizing that you are a loving father and yet you only bring pain into our lives for our ultimate good and improvement.

So, Lord, thank you that we've been able to gather as a church in this way tonight to hear these prayer requests. We pray for the pains. We ask that you would keep them from Cauvin as they have been quarantined for these days. Give them refreshment from this long trip from South Africa. And Lord, cause they are short furlaud to be successful, that they would be able to make contacts and and make connections with their supporters.

We thank you, God, for bringing them here. We pray for the needs of Piedmont Rescue Mission with the pregnancy services and the banquet and for the family shelter and those needs. God does so much that we we need to be fervent and earnest in praying about grow us in this dimension and grow us in this discipline. We pray. Now we ask that you would dismiss us with your rich benediction that make it rich and add no sorrow. Watch over us. Keep us. Use us for your honor. For your glory. We pray in Christ's name.

A man and a man.