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  SUBMITTING TO THE LORD’S DEALINGS
  by Dan Young
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of abiding in the Word of
God, being faithful in all circumstances, and fulfilling the ministry
that God has given each individual. It highlights the need to be
prepared to share the gospel, to endure hardships, and to be disciplined
by the Lord for growth and maturity in faith. The speaker encourages
listeners to seek the nearness of God, make Him their refuge, and be
ready to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with patience and instruction. The
message underscores the value of receiving correction and instruction
from the Lord and being faithful in the tasks He assigns, ultimately
aiming to finish the race and keep the faith.

Duration: 46:33 Topics: "Abiding in the Word", "Faithfulness in Ministry"
Scripture References: 2 Timothy 4:2, Jeremiah 10:23, Psalms 73:28, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:5, Isaiah 30:21, Acts 14:22, 1 Thessalonians 2:11

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of abiding in the Word of God,
being faithful in all circumstances, and fulfilling the ministry that
God has given each individual. It highlights the need to be prepared to
share the gospel, to endure hardships, and to be disciplined by the Lord
for growth and maturity in faith. The speaker encourages listeners to
seek the nearness of God, make Him their refuge, and be ready to
reprove, rebuke, and exhort with patience and instruction. The message
underscores the value of receiving correction and instruction from the
Lord and being faithful in the tasks He assigns, ultimately aiming to
finish the race and keep the faith.

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CONTENT
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You know, a lot of the times when we read Psalm 91, we don't, we
consider it and re-read it in light of the fact that Jesus was tempted
with those verses in Psalm 91, so we neglect the fact that it is the
Word of God and it is true that He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty, you know, it's a true
promise. If we abide in Him, we will bear fruit, if we abide in Him, we
will have life, and that's a true promise. That's what we read in John
chapter 15 about abiding in the divine, He who abides in me will bear
much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

You know, we can try and do lots of things in our life, but apart from
the Lord's will, we can absolutely do nothing, we can't get anything
accomplished. So we don't want to take away from Psalm 91, because a lot
of the time we read it in the fact that Satan used it against Jesus, and
so a lot of the time we look at Psalm 91, at least I do, in light of
that, but we can't forget the fact that this is a sure promise of the
Lord that He will help us get victory over sin. Our enemies are not
flesh and blood, you guys.

Our enemies are principalities and powers. And so, you know, a thousand
may fall into temptation, or a thousand may fall into sin, but those who
dwell in the Lord and abide in Him, He will keep you from falling. To
Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before His throne, it's of Him.

It's from Him, it's to Him, and it's for Him, but He's the one who keeps
us. You know, when I see Psalm 91 as a picture of God's grace, you know,
He has to help us. Without His help, we can do absolutely nothing, you
guys.

We can't get anything done. Nothing will happen in our lives, but praise
God, as we abide in Him, He will cause these victories to happen, little
by little, every step of the way, as we walk with Him. And I'm
encouraged by that, so we don't want to lose sight of that.

In Psalm 91, it says, He will call upon me and I will answer Him, and I
will be with Him in trouble and I will rescue Him and honor Him, and
with a long life I will satisfy Him and let Him behold my salvation.
It's a very similar verse to Psalm 50, about some things that the Lord
does as well. In Psalm 50, there's a similar verse, Psalm 15, verse,
Psalm 50, so sorry, Psalm 50, 5-0, verse 7, it says, Hear, O my people,
and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am your God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and
your burnt offerings are continually before me. I see all the sacrifices
that you're making, but that's not what I want.

It says, I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats
out of your folds, for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on
a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything
that moves in the field is mine. You know, many people would say that
verse, you know, the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and they
refer it to money, but in this passage, he's referring it to sacrifices
that you're making for God.

And he says, I don't require your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices,
and all the things that you're doing. I don't require it. I already own
all the cattle on a thousand hills.

That's the context in which that scripture is used. And so it says right
here, verse 12, If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is
mine, and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the
blood of male goats? You know, should I offer these things that I've
made? Why should I do this? It says right here, this is what he wants
them to do.

It says, Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to
the Most High. Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. You know,
that's what he's looking for, is a thankful heart.

A thankful heart. You know, sometimes we don't know what to do. Lord,
what are you requiring of me? What do you want me to do? Sometimes the
Lord just wants you to give thanks.

He just wants you to praise his name, to rejoice, and say, Lord, thank
you for all that you do. Thank you for all the trials you bring me
through. Thank you for the blessings that you give me.

Thank you for the difficulties you bring my way. Thank you, Lord, that
you give and you take away. Thank you, Lord.

You know, I'm grateful for that, all the things that you're doing. And
sometimes we're stuck, and we're wanting to hear from the Lord, and you
know what, the only thing you can do in a situation like that is just to
start praising his name. Start thanking him.

Say, thank you, Lord, for all that you've given me. And sometimes these
things happen to us so that we learn to be thankful. Sometimes we lose
certain things so that we learn to be grateful for the things that we
have.

So often we're seeking for more, we're seeking for more, but the Lord
wants us to be grateful for all the things that he's given us already,
and we have more than enough. It says, verse 15, call upon me in the day
of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you shall honor me. What does he
say? Call upon me in the day of trouble.

Call upon me in the day of trouble. There's nothing wrong with that.
Sometimes we think, like, because I've heard so many good sermons that,
you know, in the day of trouble, I'm supposed to endure, but, you know,
the Bible clearly states that we're supposed to call upon him in the day
of trouble.

Lord, I need your help. I need your help. I need your strength.

I need you to have mercy on me. I need you to have pity on me. Spare me,
Lord.

Help me, Lord Jesus, to endure this. Help me to get through this
difficulty. Help me to know your ways.

Help me to understand you, Lord. Lord, I don't know you as I ought to,
but I want to know you more. You're not requiring of me some great
sacrifice to appease you, Lord.

No, Lord, you want me to have a humble heart. You want me to have a
broken and a contrite spirit. Help me, Lord, to be like that, but let me
to call upon you in the day of trouble.

I shall rescue and you shall honour me. But to the wicked God says, what
right have you to tell of my statutes and to take my covenant in your
mouth? For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you. This is
a wicked person who hates discipline.

A man who loves discipline and the discipline of the Lord is a good
person. That person is a wise person in God's sight, but a man who hates
God's discipline, you know, where you react when the Lord disciplines
us, we get frustrated with them, that's not a good reaction. When I
discipline my children, I don't want to see the reaction of them
retaliating.

I want to see them learn from the discipline, and that's what offers
compassion in my heart. When I can see that they have a broken and
contrite spirit and they're sorry for the things that they've done, and
you can see that in their heart they're remorseful for what they've
done, then that encourages me, and I want to hug them and love them. But
sometimes when you discipline your child, they have a retaliation of,
you know, how dare you? You know, my wife said that my daughter said to
her the other day, who gave you the right to do that? Like, that's what
she said, and I was like, oh my goodness, you cannot speak that way to
your mother.

But that's what, it's in our hearts, and so when the Lord disciplines
us, we can't have that attitude. We have to learn to accept it. But it
says you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you.

It says right here, verse 18, when you see a thief, you are pleased with
him and you associate with adulterers. Look at what verse 19 says. You
let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit.

You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's
son. And so the Lord is saying, listen man, you're speaking against your
brother, you're speaking against these things, what right have you to do
this? And you know, it's easy to do that, and this is how the devil
brings division amongst brothers, husbands, and wives, he forms
arguments and cases against one another, and then we speak against each
other.

And when we do that, guys, this is not pleasing to the Lord. You know,
your mouth, you let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames
deceit. You paint a pretty picture, but behind it, there's deceit behind
it.

And we have to be careful that we don't do that. We have to guard our
hearts and our tongues and our minds. It says right here, verse 21,
these things you have done and I kept silent, you thought that I was
just like you, but I will reprove you and state the case in order before
your eyes.

You thought I was just like you, and the things that you were saying, I
agreed with. But he says, I'm going to come in and present my case to
you now. I'm going to talk to you about the things in your life.

And so we have to be careful that we don't do that. Now verse 22, it
says, now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces
and there be none to deliver. This is a fierce statement of the Lord.

The Lord tears in pieces these people who are wicked. Verse 23, it says,
he who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me. And to him who
orders his way aright, I will show the salvation of God.

So Psalm 91, we talked about that, call upon him in the day of trouble,
call upon him and the Lord will show him salvation. He will show him a
long life. But it says right here, to him who orders his way aright, I
will show the salvation of God.

So this is how we order our way aright. Okay, I'm going to stop doing
this. You know, another thing is honoring your parents.

Another verse that gives a promise. It's in 1 Peter, I believe it is.
Actually, it's in Ephesians chapter 6. This is another promise where
there's a condition.

The man who calls upon the Lord, the Lord in Psalm 91 says, I will show
him the salvation of God. In Psalm 50, a man who orders his way aright,
the Lord will show him the salvation of God. In Psalm 91, it says that
he will show him a long life.

He will give him a long life. He will see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living. And look what it says here in Ephesians 6 verse
1, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a
promise that it may be well with you and that you may live long in the
earth. There's a commandment there, a promise there for children is that
they would honor their father and their mother and that the Lord would
be pleased with that. And sometimes we have to ask the Lord to help us
with that because fathers do this.

It says, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them
up in the discipline and in the instruction of the Lord. And it's a
danger as a father for us is we can provoke our children to anger. We
can load up the yoke so much that they can't bear it and they don't know
how to.

And so we have to be cautious of that as fathers. We have to guard our
hearts and our minds in that area. And we have to say, Lord, I can't
provoke my children to getting so discouraged that they get angry.

You know, you can see that when you do that, you put too much on their
plate. And so you can't do that. But you need to bring them up in the
discipline and the instruction of the Lord.

So there's two aspects. There's the discipline and the instruction or
the encouragement of the Lord. A good father knows how to do that.

He knows how to show discipline when there's time for discipline. And
then he also shows how to show instruction and encouragement at the same
time. And that is truly like a father is the gift of a prophet.

A prophet has one who can admonish, but he also knows how to exhort and
he also knows how to encourage. That's the gift of prophecy in a church.
And so some of us here have that gift and we need to use that gift
faithfully because we need to hear from that.

We need to hear from the spirit. We need admonition. We need
encouragement.

We also need instruction on how we should walk in this with our lives,
how we should walk in in our day to day life and how we may learn to
please the Lord. In First Thessalonians, verse two, it says or chapter
two, it says right here in verse eleven, just as you know how we were
exhorting and encouraging you and imploring you and the word imploring
you is testifying to each one of you as a father would his own children.
This was a man of God who would encourage them.

He would implore that each one of you as a father with his own children,
that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his
own kingdom and glory. And so this is what a good father does is he he
teaches them, he instructs them, he leads the way. And he says this,
that they're exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you.

So there's three aspects of their exhorting, encouraging and imploring.
And I want to talk a little bit about, you know, we we hear a lot about
exhorting, but we also want to talk about encouraging, too. And we need
encouragement and encouragement to keep running the race, guys.

What does it say in Hebrews three? It says that we would encourage one
another day after day lest any of us be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin. And in Hebrews 10, 25, it says, let us not forsake the assembling
together, but let us continue to gather together, reminding ourselves
that we don't want to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This is
why we gather.

This is why it's important that when we fellowship one with another,
that afterwards we would have a sense of encouragement that we got to
continue to run this race. We don't want to let our hearts get deceived
by the deceitfulness of riches, the desires for other things. We need to
be reminded of actually what's important in this life.

And what's important is that we would grow and run the race that Jesus
has set for each of us individually. And so that's what's important.
That's why we gather.

And a father will do that. He will exhort them, but he will encourage
them and he will testify to each one of them as a father with his own
children that they may walk in a manner worthy of God. You know, I was
with my nephew yesterday and he's really into basketball.

And so I had some videos of high school when I played basketball and we
were watching them on the TV. And he was like, this is amazing. You are
really good.

And he says, we were watching the last game. And I remember watching
this game and we lost this game. It was the last game of my grade 12
season.

And all my hope was in basketball. I wanted to be a great basketball
player. And some of us may not have wanted to be a great basketball
player, but we wanted to be something in this world.

We wanted to have significance. We wanted importance. So we worked
really hard at it.

So with basketball, I did. I worked eight hours a day. I did it for four
straight years.

I literally practiced eight hours a day. I would go up to the gym and I
would bang on the door at five in the morning so the janitor would let
me in and I would play from five thirty in the morning till eight
o'clock in the morning. And then I would take a shower and start school.

That's how I did it in grade 12, grade 11 in the summer. I worked very
hard at it. And so all of my focus went into my sports.

It went into that and to making a name for myself, having fame and
honor. And remember my nephew watching me and he says, Dad, again, what
happened in this game? And in my mind, I didn't like watching the game
because it was the last game that I played in high school and we lost
the game. And I was so discouraged.

I was so discouraged. I lost all my hope. And I looked at him and I
said, Lord, what should I say here? And I told him and I said, you know
what, this was the game was where I lost.

But it showed me that all of my hope was in this thing and not in Jesus.
I ended up putting this thing above the Lord. I ended up putting this
thing in my life above God's will for my life.

And, you know, we are in great danger of that all the time. You guys, it
may not be a sport. It could be music.

It could be some work thing. It could be my business. It could be my
family.

It could be anything in your life that comes above the Lord that you
focus so much on that it keeps you from fulfilling God's will. And you
put it above the Lord in your in your heart. You put it above the Lord.

And when you do that, you leave the blessing of God. And I remember
seeing him there. And I said, watch me in the game and you will actually
see my attitude get frustrated at different times in the game.

And I said, I pointed it out to him and I said, you know what, a good
Christian would not act that way. A good Christian would not have that
type of attitude, retaliation, frustration, these things. That's not
what a good Christian does.

I said, this showed me that the Lord was not first in my life because I
was out there for myself. I wasn't out there for God's glory. So we can
do this.

And I exhorted him and I could see that he was listening. And I said,
son, I said, you need to put Jesus first in your life here. I said,
Jesus will give you the gifts and the abilities.

But whatever it is you do, we find our hand doing whatever it be, a
sport, a job or a business, raising our family, whatever it may be,
we're doing it for the glory of the Lord. We can't let these things
consume us that we forget that God's will for us is to put him first and
to come to know him, to become like him. That should be our focus.

So let's remind ourselves, this is what a good father would do,
imploring him and encouraging him. And I found myself encouraging that.
And this is why we gather, because we want to encourage each other as we
see the day drawing near.

The day is drawing near, guys. The time is short and we need the Lord to
fill us with his spirit, to fill us with his spirit. So we have boldness
to speak the word of God without fear.

Let's turn to Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter 14, verse 1. It says, And it
came about when they entered that in Iconium, that they entered the
synagogue of the Jews together. And they spoke in such a manner that a
great multitude believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. But the Jews who
disbelieved or unbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and
embittered them against the brethren.

Therefore, they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance
upon the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace,
granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. It's amazing
that the Lord gave them boldness to speak the word of God without fear.
And accompanying that, he gave them signs and wonders.

He allowed that. The Holy Spirit was testifying to these people that
Jesus Christ is the king of the earth. But it says right here, it says,
But the multitude of the city was divided and some sided with the Jews
and some with the apostles.

And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with
their rulers to mistreat and stone them, that they became aware of it
and they fled and they left those cities and they went to the
surrounding region. But there they continued to preach the gospel. And
at Lystra, there was a man who was sitting there without strength in his
feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his
gaze upon him and when he had seen that he had faith to be made well, he
said with a loud voice, stand upright on your feet. And he leaped up and
began to walk. And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they
raised their voice, saying in their language, The gods have become like
men and have come down to us.

It's amazing that the Lord used them at that time to heal this man who
had been lame from his mother's birth. And Paul, seeing that this man
had faith to be healed in Jesus name, it's not in his own name, in Jesus
name, he said to him, stand up and walk. And he leapt up on his feet and
he walked.

But shortly afterwards, what happens? The temptation to become proud
right away comes, right away comes. It's not even like within a day or
two. No, it comes right away.

And what do they do? They come down and they began to exalt them. And
this is a great danger when the Lord starts to use you, is you can
become in danger of pride. And that's scary.

We don't want to do that. And they said, these men are like Zeus and
Hermes. And verse 13, And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just
outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and water to
offer sacrifices with the crowds.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their
robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, saying, Men, why are
you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you and
preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain
things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea
that is all in them. And in the generations gone by, he permitted all
the nations to go their own ways. And yet he did not leave himself
without witness in that he did good.

And he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful season, satisfying you
hearts with food and gladness. And even saying these things, they with
difficulty restrained the crowds from offering sacrifices to them. It's
amazing that he preached to them that they should turn from vain things
to the living God.

But it says, verse 19, But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and
having won over the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of
the city, supposing him to be dead. That's amazing. He goes to one
place, he preaches the gospel, many believe, and then there's division.

And that's what happens when the gospel starts to be preached. You will
find that there will be persecution and division. It will be a struggle.

And so what do they do? They leave the city hoping that the opposition
would follow. The opposition didn't follow. The opposition followed
them.

It went right back to where they were and they had to go through the
exact same trial again. And this time he didn't get stoned in the one
city. He ran from being stoned in the one city and he goes to the next
city.

And what happens to him? He gets stoned there and then they leave him
for dead in that city. But what does it say? What does he say? But after
that, but while the disciples stood around, he arose and entered the
city. And the next day he went with Barnabas to Derby.

It's amazing that after he'd been stoned, he got up and he went right
back in the city. He faced the same, same problem. Sometimes we want to
run from our problems, but the problems won't run from us.

They're not going to turn. They are literally going to keep coming until
we face them and ask the Lord to give us the victory over them. We will.

The Lord will allow us to go one season after another season after
another season until we learn the lesson that the Lord is trying to
teach us. And I think this is the pursuit of God in our lives to become
like Christ. It's the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit.

Some of us would consider us to be very faithful workers. We work
overtime. We come in early and we go late and we do everything and we
don't do anything wrong.

We don't. We work very hard at the jobs that the Lord has given us to
do. But there's one greater than that.

It's the Holy Spirit. He does such a better job than us. You want to
know why? Because he continues to work in our life.

He continues to pursue us and he continues to chisel away at the hard
parts of our heart. He continues to break us down, to break us down so
that the Lord can use us. And the greatest fear that I have in my own
life, in my own life, I fear this, is that I won't surrender.

I won't surrender my will to the dealings of the Lord so he can't shape
me into the things that he wants me to be. That's my fear. And at the
end of my life, I can say I'm serving Jesus and I'm doing this and I'm
preaching the gospel and I'm doing this.

But that will mean absolutely nothing in the Lord's sight because he
wanted to give me so much more. He wanted me to know him so much more. I
hope that we don't get so caught up in all of our doings, whether it be
our job, even spiritual things, that we forget the fact that the main
goal is that we would come to know the Lord.

We would come to know him in a deeper, intimate way. And may the Lord
keep working in our lives. He is more faithful than us, my friends.

We as humans, we give up. We've worked hard for people for so long and
then we end up, they're not grateful for the work that you've done.
They're not happy.

They're not thankful. And you can become very discouraged and you say,
you know what? I just give up. I'm not going to do it anymore.

But that's not what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit won't strive
with a man forever. But praise be to God who continually with his mercy
and his love, which is far greater than ours, continues to work on us.

He continues to pour out his spirit on us, to refine us, to burn up the
chaff in our life, to make us more like him. That's amazing. And so the
next time we think that we can get puffed up because we're doing
something great for the Lord or we're doing some great job or doing
this, let's remember that the Holy Spirit does a thousand times, a
million times better job than we do.

That should humble us enough. That should humble us enough. And when we
think that we've been doing our job so well, so well, and then people
mistreat us and it makes us and it brings out the anger and the
frustration and the bitterness in our hearts, what does that show us? It
shows us that we haven't really been doing our job that well.

It shows us we've been doing it for our own glory. And now that we
haven't been getting our own glory, we're upset, we're frustrated, we're
bitter. That's different than this situation.

Paul was being faithful. And I'm talking about our natural circumstances
and how great the Holy Spirit is at working in us because the Holy
Spirit doesn't give up on us. He continues to show mercy to us.

He continues to work in our lives. He continues to change us from glory
to glory so that we become more like Jesus. And so the more we do not
submit to the dealings of the Lord, the instruction and the discipline
of the Lord, the more it will continue to happen until we learn, until
we learn the thing that the Lord's trying to teach us.

May God give us grace and humility to be able to receive that. May he
help us to learn, to grow, to become more like him. And it says right
here, he went back into the city and the next day he went away with
Barnabas.

And after he had preached the gospel to that city and made many
disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and do it. It's amazing.
The next day he went and preached to Zephaniah in stone.

Can you imagine what he looked like? Probably had black eyes. Turn to
Jesus. And many disciples came, literally.

And it says right here, verse 22, that he strengthened the souls of the
disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying through
many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Praise God for
tribulations, guys. This is a reason we can give thanks.

Call upon him in the day of trouble. I don't know about you, but I've
had lots of tribulations here, lots of it. But you know what? The Lord's
going to work it together for my good.

He's working it together for my good so that I will learn to love him,
depend on him, thank him, give him all the glory and honor and praise.
Let's do his name because it's all from him. He's helped me many times.

I can forget that in my stubbornness, in my pride, in my own pursuits.
He is the one who's done the work in my life. Praise me to God.

He is continually working and he wants to work everything after the
counsel of his will. So sometimes things don't go as planned, but that
might be different than God's plan. God's ways are higher than ours, and
it's praise God that he does that.

I want to turn to Jeremiah chapter 10. Encouraged by this verse of
Jeremiah, he went through some bitter circumstances, but the Lord was
dealing with him as well, too. Jeremiah 10, verse 19, woe is me because
of my injury.

My wound is incurable, but I said, truly, this is a sickness and I must
bear it. My tent is destroyed and all my ropes are broken. My sons have
gone from me and are no more.

There was no one to stretch out my tent again or to set up my curtains.
For the shepherds have become stupid and have not sought the Lord,
therefore they have not prospered and all their flock is scattered. I
thought, man, the shepherds are stupid.

Like, Lord, am I stupid? Have I not sought the Lord? His word says that
they were stupid. They did not seek the Lord. That's sad.

Shepherds of this age, we have to seek the Lord. Encouraging each other,
imploring, we need to seek the Lord. We need to seek his face.

Remember what you did at first. You've left your first love. Remember
the things that you did at first.

You sought the Lord. You called on his name. You asked him to be near to
you.

You asked him to be near to you and you felt the nearness of God. You
sense his presence. Over time, as we go through his dealings, we don't
do that as much anymore.

Maybe we're too many kids. Maybe we're tired. It's true.

These things are difficult, but we can't forget to seek the Lord because
we want to know him. He's our best friend. It says right here, verse 22,
the sound of a report.

Behold, it comes a great commotion out of the land of the north to make
the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt of jackals. This is God's
judgment on the nation, on the nation of Israel. They have turned from
God and served other gods and worshipped idols.

And God continually sent his prophets. You know when he sends his
prophets? He sends them early in the morning, that they would turn from
their ways. He sends it three times in Jeremiah, that he would turn from
their ways.

He sends them early in the morning to warn them. God speaks to us early
in the morning, my friends. He speaks to us time after time to help us,
to teach us, to instruct us.

What does it say? He awakens me morning by morning. He opens my ear that
I may listen as a disciple that may know how to sustain a weary one with
my words. You know, praise God when he gives you those words.

Use those. Be faithful with those that the Lord can cause you to sustain
a weary one because we need to be sustained. Look at what verse 23 says.

I know, O Lord, that it is that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it
in a man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O Lord, but with
justice, not with your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. Correct me,
O Lord.

This is Jeremiah pleading with the Lord. Correct me, O Lord, but with
justice. Don't correct me with your anger.

You know, I read that and I wept because when the Lord corrects us, it's
a difficult thing. It's a difficult thing when the Lord is correcting
us. But Lord, have mercy on me in your correction.

Correct me not with your anger. Correct me with justice. This is a
principle for a father when we correct our kids with justice, not with
anger.

Help us, the Lord. Help us to do that, to become like him. It says right
here, pour out thy wrath on the nations who do not know thee and on all
the families that do not call on thy name and on all the families who do
not call on thy name.

For they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him
and have laid waste his habitation. It's amazing, he turns his prayer to
the Lord, pour out your wrath on those who do not call on your name.
When I am your child, I'm coming to you and I'm asking you to help me.

In Psalm 73, it was another verse that really encouraged me. We talked
about correction, encouragement. We also need instruction.

Psalm 73 talks about a man who is envious of the wicked. He's envious of
people who just live their life, they're prosperous, they get away with
whatever they want. And here he is going through suffering, heartache.

Psalm 73, verse three, it says, I was envious of the arrogance and I saw
the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no pains in their death and
their body is fat, it's rich. They are not in trouble like other men,
nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace.

The garment of violence covers them. Pride is their necklace. Their eye
bulges from fatness.

The imaginations of their heart run riot. The imaginations of their
heart never stop. How many of you guys can say here that you have
perfect rest in the Lord and the imaginations of your heart are never
stop running? Come on, if we're honest, if we're honest, many times in
my heart, I cannot stop thinking about other things.

That's not good. That's bad. If you can't be at rest or at peace,
sitting still in the Lord, that's a problem.

You need to search your own heart and repent and ask the Lord to help
you because your focus is not on the right things. It's on something
else, an idol, your own life, your own honor, your own fame. Riches,
David was stuck here with this, or Psalm of Asaph was this guy, his
name, not David.

It says right here, they set their mouth against the heavens and their
tongue parades through the earth. Therefore, his people return to this
place. The waters of abundance are drunk by them and they say, how does
God know and is their knowledge with the most high? It almost seems as
though the world is getting away with all their wickedness, all the
things that they're doing wrong.

It seems as though the Lord's, but the one who's getting frustrated here
is Asaph, it's not, it's not them, it's him. He's getting frustrated
that the Lord isn't dealing with them. Verse 12, it says, behold, these
are the wicked.

They are always at ease. They have increased in wealth. There's no
problem with them.

Surely in vain, I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands of
innocence. This is amazing. Here's this man who's crying out to the
Lord.

He's saying, surely in vain, I've kept my heart pure. Surely in vain,
I've washed my hands of innocence. There's no point.

He's probably frustrated. He's discouraged at this point. He's saying
there's no justice here, Lord, for I have been stricken all day long and
I've been chastened every morning.

Some of us get chastened. I get chastened in the morning. Some of us get
chastened every morning.

You wake up and you know the Lord's dealing with you. Yes, praise God
that he is. But this is the same man.

And the result and the reaction that he had was not good. His reaction
was bad. He said it.

But then he said to himself, if I had actually spoken this and I'm going
to speak this way, behold, I would have betrayed the children of this
generation. If I had said, man, it's in vain to serve the Lord. Surely
in vain, it's worthless to serve the Lord.

All these difficulties that I'm going through, these tribulations, while
everybody else seems to be getting away with it and their life is good.
How come, Lord? Why are you dealing with me? I've been there. I've cried
out to the Lord.

I said, Lord, Lord, how much? Like, who am I? I'm nobody. What impact do
I have on the kingdom of God? There's great men of God out there. Why do
you deal with me in such and such a way? It's because I'm his son.

The Lord disciplines those that he loves. He's working in my life. Here
he is saying this, you know, it's a man who has been dealt with by the
Lord who goes through bitter dealings.

That man will be used by the Lord. He will be. Peter received a harsh
rebuke from the Lord.

He said, get behind me, Satan. That would have been a very difficult
thing if Jesus told me that you're Satan. I mean, I don't know about
you, but that would be very hard for me to hear.

I'd be very discouraged at the point if Jesus said I was Satan. You
know, but the Lord, he dealt with him and Peter was broken because of
it. And he realized that in him, no good thing except part from Christ.

And the Lord wants to continually teach us that. And that's why he
allows these tribulations to come to show us that in us dwells no good
thing, only Jesus. It says right this, when I pondered this, it was
troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God and I
perceived their end.

Until I came into the sanctuary of God, until I came into the house of
the Lord, I perceived that their end was in was destruction, that
they're going to stand before the Lord. I was reminded, I was reminded
of what's important. I was reminded of Jesus.

I was reminded of him. Thank you, Lord, for renewing my mind. This is
why we gather together.

This is why we get together as brothers and sisters. This is why we
encourage each other in the Lord, lest our hearts get hardened. Hey, I
got to continue to run this race.

I hope that I'm encouraged by that. Surely, Lord, you will set them in
slippery places and you will cast them down to destruction, how they are
destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by seven terrors,
like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, you will despise
their form.

When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was
senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before you, Lord. When my
heart was embittered against these people, I was like a senseless beast
before the Lord.

Man, this guy had got a revelation. He got a revelation of how sinful he
was. The bitterness that was in his own heart towards this situation
showed him that he was like a senseless beast, showed him that in him
was no good thing.

We need a revelation of that, how unclean we are. Man, he was so mad at
these people that they were going. But then when he came into the house
of the Lord, he was reminded, my goodness, these people, the end of
their lives will be destruction.

Why was I bitter at them? Why was I frustrated with them? Why, Lord?
Lord, I'm like a beast. Help me, Lord. Nevertheless, I am continuing.

With thee, you have taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel, you
will guide me and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
by thee? And besides thee, I desire nothing on the earth.

I can't say this truthfully, guys. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and
there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee. Lord, put that in
my heart.

I asked the Lord to put that in my heart. Put it in my heart, Lord,
because it's not there. I'm asking you to do it.

Give me a devotion to you, Lord, a pure devotion. I woke up the other
morning and I had a song in my mind. Praise God when you wake up and you
have a song in your heart.

How many of you guys can wake up and say that you get songs on your
heart? I know that everybody can raise their hand here. Praise God when
you do. That's the Holy Spirit ministering to your soul, to giving you
strength for the day.

And the song that was in my heart was called Pure Devotion. And I was
like, Lord, help me, help my heart to be turned towards you. Let my
compass of my heart be towards heaven in you, Lord.

Today, while I go through all the struggles and the trials and the
difficulties, all the things that are going to come to my plate today,
let my heart be devoted to you. Lord, let that be on my lips every day.
Let my heart be turned towards the compass.

True north, my friends, towards the Lord. Don't let the compass get you
off course. With your counsel, you will guide me and afterward receive
me in glory.

This is another thing, the instruction of the Lord. With the Lord's
counsel, he will guide you guys. He will hear a voice behind you saying
to the right or to the left, this is the way walk in it.

You will hear the voice of the Lord. This is the counsel of the Lord.
Praise God for his wonderful counsel.

Is not his name wonderful counselor? Is he not a counselor? Somebody
would say, what am I going to do? I don't know what to do. God can give
you wisdom and instruction, even in your natural day to day life with
your job, your family, everything. The Lord cares about those things.

You have to believe it in faith that when you ask him to say, Lord, give
me wisdom for this situation, he will give it to you. We can't be
doubting and unbelieving. We can't be.

Whom am I in heaven? And besides, he is there in my verse 26. He says it
again, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you
will perish.

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to thee. The Lord has
destroyed them. Destruction has come into their life.

Why? Because they were unfaithful to the Lord. Some of us would say, why
are these things happen to me? We have to ask it. Sometimes it's the
discipline of the Lord, but sometimes we have to ask the Lord, have I
been unfaithful to you in any way? We have to examine that.

The world today is disciplined by the Lord. The wrath of God is poured
out on the world and men and women are going through difficult things
because the Lord loves them. If perhaps their heart would turn to the
living God, if perhaps their heart would turn and sometimes you guys
will be associating with unbelievers in your job, you will meet people
and you will ask them, how's it going? And they say, my life is a mess
right now.

I'm going through difficult things. And I want you to know that that
Lord, the Lord has given you that opportunity to share God's love with
them, to point them to Jesus. The reason that they are in your life.

I'm telling you this right now to all the evangelists out there, you're
in your day to day job or you're running about in your business, you're
doing your thing. And the Lord literally brings people and they
literally start talking to you about spiritual things or how their life
is going. The Lord has opened the door for you to preach the word of God
to them, to tell them about Jesus, to point them to Jesus, because God
is working in their life.

If perhaps they would repent. And many of us miss this opportunity
because we're too busy. No, my friends, when the Lord gives you a divine
appointment and opportunity, it's because he's brought that person to
you just so that you can share the gospel with them and point them to
Jesus.

That's why God will equip you for the task that he's giving you to do.
If it means raising your family and your children, he will equip you to
do that. He will help you to be patient.

He will help you to raise them. He will help you. And he's working in
you more when you're doing that sometimes than when you're out doing
ministry.

I'm telling you, the Lord worked more in me when my wife was sick for
the last two months of her pregnancy with Daphne. I worked from home and
I literally every day took care of everybody, including my wife. She was
sick.

She had mono. She had bronchitis. She had something else.

She literally had all those two things. I couldn't even go in the room.
She was sick.

I had to take care of her and the other family. And I wondered, Lord,
what is the purpose of all of this? What is the purpose of all of it?
And the Lord, he was working in my life. It made me very weak.

I had a job to do, too. But the Lord was more concerned about me
fulfilling that task as he was working in my life. And you know what? I
said, Lord, thank you that you're working this and refining me, you're
teaching me something.

Dependence on you. But let us not grow weary when those things happen.
But this is the last verse I want to share in verse 28.

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. The nearness of God is my
good. I have made the Lord God my refuge.

I don't know about you guys, but I want God to be near to me. I want
Jesus to be near to me. Look what it says.

I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works,
that I may tell of all thy works. One more verse in 2 Timothy 4. We
talked about instruction in the Lord. We can learn from one another.

Talk about discipline. We talked about encouragement. And he talks about
instruction in the Lord.

And this is the instruction that Paul gave Timothy. To all the Timothys
out there, it says this. Chapter 4, verse 1, I solemnly charge you in
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great
patience and instruction. Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with great patience and instruction. For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to
have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance to their own desires. This is why we have to be careful that
we don't accumulate teachers in our own desires.

We can do that. We don't want to hear that right now. I want to hear
something else.

And that's what's going to happen in the end. They're not going to want
to hear the truth. They're going to want to have teachers who do not
reprove, rebuke, and exhort them.

Guys, it's a valuable thing when you have a teacher or a preacher who
can do that in your life. That's a very valuable thing. Don't ever take
away from that.

Don't ever devalue that or discredit that. You know what I mean? The
piece of gold, that one piece of gold that is very hard to get and it's
very difficult to acquire, that thing is worth so much more than just
all the countless pennies that you can hear that have no value. Pennies
are nice because there's lots of them.

But that one little nugget of gold, there's a lot to it. When you can
hear somebody who's been refined in the fire, who's been gone through
the dealings of the Lord, who has the word of God and the anointing on
their life, and it challenges you, it reproves you, it rebukes you, it
exhorts you, it gives you instruction. You may not like hearing it, but
I'm telling you, that is good for you and healthy for your soul.

As much as you go to the table and the banqueting table that's got all
the candy and the junk food and the cake and the pie, I mean, it's
really good. But the table that's full of vegetables, the table that's
full of all the good things that's for your heart and your soul, that's
what you need to eat from. Many of us would do that.

We're concerned about our diet. We don't eat certain things. But when it
comes to somebody rebuking us, exhorting us, imploring us, how we may
walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord, we don't want to hear it all the
time.

We want to hear something different. We need to obviously hear grace and
truth, but we also need not discredit those things in your life because
the Lord wants to impart those treasures to you because it's good for
your soul. I remember when I was in grade six, my twin brother, he would
be put in a separate class than me.

And my teacher was really nice, very nice, very friendly, let me do
whatever I want. My brother's teacher, he was very strict, very strict.
You messed up.

Well, it was no good. But I'm telling you at the end of the year, do you
want to know who was smarter? It wasn't me. Praise God for those strict
teachers.

Two years later, I got a strict teacher and I didn't like it. I remember
my English teacher. I didn't like English.

They made us read these essays and man, she would she was so difficult
on me. She would she would mark up all my essays. She would write on
them.

What are you talking about? She would write on them. This makes
absolutely no sense. Like the circle, all the grammar mistakes,
everything.

And I'm telling you, I was so discouraged at the end of the year. But
back then you had to go and write a provincial exam to pass your course.
And if you didn't pass that course, if you didn't get 75 percent on the
English exam, you did not pass the course.

You failed. So I remember going into that provincial exam. I was
terrified, like, oh, man, so I went and I wrote that provincial exam.

You know what I got on that exam? I was getting like 68 percent in the
class. I was like so discouraged because like I wanted a better grade,
but I was getting discouraged because I wasn't I didn't like English.
I'm telling you, I got 98 percent on that final exam.

I ended up with like an 84 percent. I got like a B. I couldn't believe
it. And I thank the Lord for that teacher.

But at the time I was very discouraged. But I'm telling you, when the
tests come, we need to be prepared for those tests. When the trials
come, we need to be prepared for those trials.

And the only way that you're going to be equipped for those trials is in
the day of ease and the day of relaxation that you're preparing your
heart. Because a man I mean, there's a worldly statement because there's
a man who sheds blood, not while he's at war, will not lose any blood or
shed any blood while he's at war. Jesus says he prayed with loud cries
and tears to him, was able to save him from death and he was heard
because of his godly fear.

So we're going through trials now. Let us not grow weary. Let us not
lose heart.

Let us ask the Lord to help us to finish and fight the race. It says
right here. Verse five, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry, do the work of an
evangelist, I don't mean going downtown.

Some people are called to do that. I'm talking as the Lord brings them
to you and he prepares their hearts to receive the word as it comes to
you. Be prepared in season and out of season.

Have the word in your heart. Have the feet shod with the readiness of
the gospel of peace. Have them on.

Don't be walking around barefoot. We need to have the gospel of peace on
our hearts, something that we can share with people. I had a man come in
the other day, he's fallen away from the Lord and he's starting to come
back to the Lord.

I went with Sean one day to a game and while I was there, we left early
and it just so happened this is a long place away from here. We ran into
this guy. I was like, Lord, you ran into this guy for a reason.

And I told him, Jesus is calling you back home, brother. And he stood
there. He didn't know what to say.

He stood there completely silent. This is in the middle of downtown
Vancouver. And he's literally completely silent.

And he's like, and I knew that the Lord was speaking to him. And he was
looking at me. He didn't have anything to say.

He ran away. He was like, oh, my goodness, I ran away. He called me the
next day and I said, brother, the Lord is calling you to return to him.

And he says, I know. I says, you brought me there. I'm telling you, the
Lord, wherever you're at, he can bring somebody to you.

He can in the middle of some place that I'm like, what are the chances
of it happening? There is no chance. The Lord put him there. And I want
to be ready in season and out of season to share that word of hope.

He came to see me the other day. I said, brother, I said, keep seeking
the Lord. I said, but you need to make amends when you've gone wrong in
some areas.

You spoke against certain people. I said, you need to apologize to them.
I said, it would be nice for you.

And you know, and so I'm praying for him that the Lord will help him.
And I encourage him in the Lord. And I'm thankful that he did.

But we have to be ready. We have to do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink
offering.

And the time of my departure have come. I have fought the good fight. I
have finished the course.

I have kept the faith. I fought the good fight. I finished the course.

I have kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award me on
that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved this
appearing.

Not only to him, but also to all who have loved this appearing. I'll
leave this invitation with you to continue to be faithful with whatever
task the Lord gives you to do. Ask him to help you and to give you
strength in your day-to-day life.

Some of us are very alone. We don't have anybody, but you do have the
Lord. And even though we're in a body, sometimes we're all, we have our
own things that were going on in our lives.

But, you know, from my own life, I know that the Lord has continued to
encourage me to just be faithful with the task that he's given me. Don't
involve myself with too great of things. Just be faithful with the
little task that God's given me.

And perhaps the Lord may bless him. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you that
you help us today and just ask that you would multiply your word to us
and to those around us.

I ask that you would increase the severe that's in our lives, that we'd
be ready in season and out of season. And you ask that you bring people
in our hearts that we can share the hope of Jesus with. That men would
turn to you and be saved.

That they would be saved, Lord. Let us not be useless Christians. Lord,
we want to be useful.

Forgive us, Lord, where we've gotten caught up in other things, focusing
on other things. Help us, Lord, to focus and to turn our hearts towards
you.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/YQg9P_SxdYc.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/dan-young/submitting-to-the-lords-dealings/
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