The sermon transcript is a collection of fragmented thoughts and phrases that touch on various aspects of faith and God's sovereignty. The speaker acknowledges that they may not fully understand or explain God's ways, but they emphasize the importance of giving glory to God in all circumstances. They mention the story of a student who burned down a barn but found redemption through faith. The speaker also references the biblical story of Naomi and highlights the idea that God's ultimate plan can outweigh the bitterness of our experiences. Overall, the transcript encourages believers to trust in God and participate in the sufferings and joys of the Christian journey.

Oh, yes. We like lollipops. We like everything sugar-coated. Oh, folks, it's the Lord. Folks, that's a feudalism, you know that. He brings into our lives the bitter. Oh, the death of her husband was a bitter thing. The death of a son-in-law was a bitter thing. Famine in the land was a bitter thing. Immigration was a bitter thing. Immigration was a bitter thing. Living in a foreign country among historic enemies was a bitter thing. Yet that woman was in the center of the will of God as far as she was concerned. Oh, yes. Why does God bring into our lives the bitter? I would not presume to give a complete answer, but I can give a partial one. The Lord brings into our lives the bitter in order to make us better. Now, some Christians become embittered with the bitter and call it quits, but that is due to their attitude, to their failure of confidence in the wisdom of Almighty God. But His purpose is to make us better. You've read in Romans, all things work together for good. So those that are, they're called according to His purpose. But people stop there. Then if you read on, it says that we might be conformed unto the image of His Son. God's ultimate objective for you and me is not for us to dance a spiritual jitterbug or roll on the ground with rough music, however religious it might be. God's ultimate objective is that we might be found in the likeness of His Son. That is what He is after ultimately. And that is why God has to bring all sorts of bitter, among other things, things into our lives. Now, Naomi didn't understand. What she experienced was bitter. But what God ultimately did, far, far outweighed the bitter which it caused her. You remember when Jesus had His disciples for a communion service? And He said to them, handing them the cup, drink ye all of it. Now what did He mean? Amen. All of you drink of it, but more than that. All of you participate in the experiences, the sufferings which is involved in this cup, which it symbolizes. So God comes with the bitter. But Brother Buechler, I'll tell you something. I've been a Christian forty years, and it has been nothing but Monday I am happy, and Tuesday full of joy, and Wednesday I have peace within. That could be children, which never grow up. And there are children. Children of the Heavenly Father He has to coach along with all kinds of goodies. But He can never bring them into maturity of real men and real women of God. Right. So, Naomi said in 21, The Lord hath brought me home again empty. Who? Empty. Oh, the emptied lives. I get around. How often over the years folk have come up, told me of their emptied lives. Children moved away, care little. Wife or husband gone for one reason or another. Empty life. And even as we go on with the Lord when we are younger, there is an emptying. We can sing, Lord, fill me to overflowing. Well, that's an awful lot of spill. With many people there is no problem of an overflowing fullness because there is so little vacancy. As soon as they get a blessing, it flows right over anyway. There is nothing there to hold, no capacity. Oh, the Lord wants to fill us. Not just to overflowing, but to have a real capacity. And that just may take some excavation. Has the Lord ever come to you alive and excavated? Excavated. Oh, yeah. Say, Oh, Lord, I want to be a big tower for your glory. I want to be a tall tree for you. I want to be a real tower or whatever. Oh, lift me up and let me stand. Oh, yeah. And then he comes along with what do they call it? The pneumatic hammer. Hey, Lord, I want to go up. You want to go up? Ride with it. Come to dump truck. Lord, it's the wrong way. I want to go up. I'll take you up. Hey, don't put a skyscraper on the surface of the ground. I used to watch them in New York City, some of those big buildings like the... Oh, no, no. I forgot now which. Why, take a holy old wonder how far down they'll go. Way down. We like to be up there in the bell tower somewhere, ringing the bells. They say, hallelujah, this is me, I'm up there. He comes along with his... The higher the tower, the deeper the foundation. The more we want to go up, the more we need to take a stand so we can stand. Otherwise, empty. Lord, fill me more with Yourself. Lord, fill me more with Yourself. Allelu, allelu, allelu. Then they're looking for a chill in the spine or something. Lord, I want more of Yourself. It's not funny. I've got a book on my mind. The Origin of Species. Lord, I want more of Yourself. Allelu, allelu, allelu. The Origin of Species. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's from the high school library. I graduated three years ago and I still have the book from the library. Oh, Lord, that must be the devil disturbing me. I rebuke this Satan in the name of Jesus. The Origin of Species. Lord, give me more. I have to go to the library and return the book and pay the fine for three years. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Ratatatatatatatatatata. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Allelu, allelu, allelu. Lord, more of You, more of You. Glory, glory, glory. Allelu, allelu, allelu, allelu. How did You make that A grade in math? A grade in math. I made it. So, Hello-hallo-hallo-hallo! How did they make that A grade? I copied it! Right awesome! Now, what about it? A dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah! Back to high school with a grade C, the principal, and have a talk. Ah bu-ah-bu-ah-ba-ba-bu-uh! Lo! Lift me up! A dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah! Or that screwdriver in the basement I came from the factory where we work. Or that wrench that belongs to the boss and he has wanted for a long time. What happened to it? Nobody knew anything about it. What's hanging down in the basement? Dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut dut. We better empty this. We better finish this. That letter of apology, that restitution of money, paying of that bill. We had a boy in school, and he was a youngster. He burned down his uncle's pond. Burned the whole thing down. Well, he got saved, came to Bible school, saw the Lord, and he had a pond on his mind. Couldn't get rid of that pond in his head. Ruh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord. Ruh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh. What about that pond? Our Lord sat sprained down. I'm sorry, but I can't. There was the pond. He came to me. I was his teacher. He said, Brother Buechner, is this the story what you make of it. He said, from all appearance, the Lord wants you to straighten out the bond situation. I can't do that. My uncle isn't safe. He put me in jail. He'll have me locked up. He'll be so mad. I said, wait a minute. I said, so I went to see a lawyer. He told me, no, he can't be put in jail. That's past the, what is it, limitations or something? There's a limitation there. You cannot prosecute a person after so many years. Yeah. I said, you're safe. Yeah, but what will my uncle say? He went to him, told him he was the one not wearing down the bond, so you are the one. Apologize? Nothing I can do now? Well, his uncle said, just forget about it. No more dah, dah, dah, dah. He strained it out. I'm sorry, I'm troubling some of you people, but just a little bit and we're home. She said, the Lord has testified against me. What she meant was, people are pointing their finger at me. People are using these incidents of my misfortune as evidence that I have done something with that displeased God. Incur it. The displeasure of God. Ah, Naomi, something's wrong in her. Look at all the trouble they've had to take there. The Almighty has afflicted me. True, providentially this woman was afflicted. But at the end of the book, when you see the whole thing in perspective, God had planned, no, God had chosen that Moabiter's Ruth to become a link in the chain to Christ. And God wanted to bring that Ruth up into the tent of Judah to marry Boaz. And later on, Jesus would be in the line, in the godly line. So God, throughout His famine, emigration, immigration, death, and then a return, God in His providence overruled the whole thing and used Naomi to bring Ruth and Boaz together. And as you know at the end, Naomi had this little baby in her arms, and she was the happiest woman in Judah. God had overruled and overruled everything for good, for His ultimate purpose. And so, folks, you and I have the advantage of having the revelation of good, so that when we go through affliction or through misfortune, call it deep waters if you wish, we have the revelation of good. When I had this attack in Bangkok, as I told you, and gasping for breath, I would say, among other things, God is good. God is present. God makes no mistake. God is real. And in between, God is just affirming the righteous faithfulness of the character of good. And it seems that this is it. And in a strange country, folks, we are under the hand of divine providence. A beloved child can breathe its last. A wife, husband, or whatever it might be, we who know good, have done that which is right and everything in our power can stand in the midst of misfortune and say, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? I know that my Redeemer lives. I don't understand it. I cannot explain it. I do not know what it is all about, but one thing I know, glory be to God in the highest, for His kingdom ruleth over all, and thereby not sin with our lips, but giving glory to God in the midst of circumstances that defy explanation and solution. Our faith anchored And what God is, in spite of what He does, all permits. Show me now thy way, that I may know.