In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal story about a young brother in Austria who has two epileptic children. Despite the challenges they face, the speaker points out that it was through the difficulties of caring for these children that the young brother was brought to Christ. The speaker then reflects on the marvel of God's provision and how He satisfies the desires of every living thing. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of not putting our trust in human beings, but rather in God, who is our help and hope. The speaker references Psalm 146 to illustrate this point.

Turn this morning to Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Yesterday, we were thinking about the wonders of God in creation. This morning, we'd like to think of the wonders of God in providence. Psalm 146, verse 1. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns with earth, that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them? This is what we were thinking about yesterday, the wonders of God in creation. And some of us have been suffering from mental overload as a result. Now, the silence goes on to speak of the wonders of God in providence. Who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry, the Lord gives freedom to the prisoners, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord raises those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous, the Lord watches over the strangers, he relieves the fatherless and widows, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. I think the wonders of God in providence are just as great as the wonders of God in creation. When we think of providence, we think of the word providence provide. The connection seems to be close there, and it certainly includes that. It includes God's provision for his people, for his creatures, but it's more than that. In a broad sense, when we speak of the providence of God, we speak of the way he runs the universe. He not only created it, but he runs it moment by moment. Now, that's really marvelous when you think of it. The deists say, well, God just wound up the universe like a clock, and now he just lets it run itself. Of course, that's utter nonsense. God is in complete control every minute of every day. For instance, he's the one by whom all things consist. That's another question that science can't answer. What holds matter together? The answer to science is cosmic blue. Cosmic blue is a scientific way of saying, we don't know. But we do know, don't we? Paul tells us in Galatians 1, by him all things consist. The word of the Lord is the cosmic blue that holds all things together. To me, that's marvelous. Think of God as he who maintains the heavenly bodies in their place. We can be very thankful he does. If those bodies did not stay in their proper orbit right now, the waves of the Pacific would be dashing over the Rocky Mountains. They did it once before, at the time of the floods, and they'll do it again in the tribulation period. Just think of that. When the planets are moved, it's going to cause tremendous disturbances here on the Earth. I'm so glad that true believers will be gone before these terrible catastrophes break out on this world of ours. So, the providence of God has to do even with his control of the planets, the stars, and all the rest. And it has to do with the providing for all his creatures. And that's a wonderful thing, isn't it? I used to think while Desert Storm was going on, what a job providing food for all of those troops that were going to the Middle East. And it is a tremendous job. Job of logistics, as they call it. But that's nothing compared to the marvelous way in which God opens his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing. It's marvelous, isn't it? It's marvelous to think that all over this planet, the Earth is filled with seeds. And all they need is the right distance from the surface, and the right amount of sun and water, and they'll spring forth. If you plow your field a little deeper this year than you did last year, you'll bring up plants that you didn't know were there. That's a marvel in itself, the marvel of a seed, isn't it? They excavated one of the tombs of the pharaohs, and they found some heat there. And they planted it. Do you know what happened? Egyptian heat. How can that be? How can that seed lie dormant all those years, and it's planted under favorable conditions to give forth? And this is true of God's bounty too, providing for his creatures in the oceans of the world. You know, if all the fish's eggs produced living fish that survived, you could probably walk across the Atlantic without getting your feet wet. Now, that's a scientific absurdity, but you know what I mean. The bounty of God in providing for his creatures. God is a generous God. More air than he can breathe, more food than he can consume. Incidentally, there's no shortage of food in the world. If you read about famine in Somalia and these places, it isn't because of the shortage of food, it's because of the greed of the heart of man. People don't want the food, free food, to get to others because it spoils their business. But this is true all over the world today. So, God's providing for all of his people, all his creatures too. And not only that, but loving people individually. This really blows my mind. Among so many, can he care? Can perfect love be everywhere? Yes, he can. What a great God he is, that he can love each one individually. And he really does. And dear friends, if you're a child of God here today, he can't love you more than he loves you right now. You think of the omnipotence of God, there's nothing God can't do. But there are certain things in the moral realm that he can't do. And there are certain things in the spiritual realm that he can't do. But that's one of them. He can't love you more than he loves you right now. And if that isn't enough, he loves you with the same love for which he loves his son. But that won't call worship from your heart and mine, I don't know what that will do. The love for which he loves his son touches his love to me, the great God of Providence. And he not only loves us, but he cares. He really cares. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly father. Isn't that marvelous? The most insignificant of birds, practically. And yet not one of them falls to the ground without you. You wouldn't think he's interested in such an insignificant thing, an insignificant event as that. But he has perfect control, perfect care over all his creatures. And I've often quoted Dr. Ironside. He said, God attends the funeral of every sparrow. And he really does. And not only that, but God is constantly controlling the weather and controlling the seasons of the year. This is part of his providence. And that's quite a task, to control the weather so everybody's satisfied. The farmer wants him to send rain, but the people going on vacation don't. And how can he please everybody? Well, the lesson it tells me is, I'm glad man isn't in control of the weather, because we have wars all over the world. But anyway, if man controlled, if God had given that power to us, it would be terrible. I wouldn't want to live in this world. Because the selfishness and the greed of the heart of man would make him control the weather in his own favor, but in no one else's at that time. God's faithfulness in the night and day. Marvelous, isn't it? This is part of the providence of God. And then, in a wonderful way, God makes the wrath of man to praise him. While he's doing all of these other things, at one and the same time, counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, and raped and hung the dead. And God overruled all of the wickedness of man, and brought great glory to himself, and great blessings to us. And all the time he's doing that, God is controlling all the bacteria. Viruses and germs of the world. Do you believe that? He has perfect control over all of those things. Now, let me just pause here to say, I do not believe that any evil, tragedy, sadness, or sickness comes from God. I don't believe that. They come from the evil ones. God, in certain cases, permits it. And then overrules it. So that he's glorified, so that people are blessed in it all. God controls every bullet flying through the air at this moment. He knows everyone. What an intelligence that he can keep track of all of this. At the same time that he really does. But then God has a lot of hedges to keep, too. We learn in the book of Job that there's a hedge around God's people. And he controls it. Sometimes he lets it down, and allows Satan to have his wickedness for a while. Limited. Satan is not omnipotent. His power is limited by God himself. And that's a wonderful thing, how sometimes a hedge goes down, and maybe a believer is afflicted with a disease. And you talk to that believer afterwards, and he says, I felt closer to God during that time. I felt closer to God during that surgery that I had felt for years. And I wouldn't give up the experience for anything. I can say with David it is good for me that I had been afflicted. God working out his purposes in these wonderful ways. This summer I was in Austria, and there was a very young brother in one of the assemblies there. He's a leader. They have four children. Two of the children are epileptic. And the epilepsy attacks were so strong that it really damaged their brains considerably. So they don't really have control over their mental illness. And the Sunday I was there before the meeting, I was just talking to Peter and this little fella over there in the wheelchair. Strapped in the wheelchair, he couldn't sit up straight. And the other one held in the mother's arms and just flailing wildly. No control over it. What do you say to the father like that? I started to sympathize with Peter. He pointed at that little fella in the wheelchair. He said, that's what brought me to Christ. That was true too. He was living a wild and aimless life until that little fella came along. And Peter just loved children. They're expecting their kids right now. He said, that's what brought me to Christ. God knows what he's doing, doesn't he? You know, Job wondered at times whether God knew what he was doing. Job said some pretty strong things against the providence of God. And I love it when God says to him, the Lord says to him, okay. You clothe yourself in royal apparel. And you get up on the throne. You sit on the throne of the universe. And you run things. See what kind of a job you can do. That really shocked me. Not very wise to speak out against the providence of God. I think of God answering prayer in so many languages. As long as we're here in America, we don't think about that so much. It's just one main language. I think what it leaves us, God, is so many languages all over the world. Every person thinks this is the language of heaven. I go to the north of Scotland where all my relatives speak in Gaelic. And so my cousin says to me, I hope you don't mind if we pray in Gaelic. We don't like to speak to the Lord in English. I'm sure the Lord doesn't mind. But just think of him hearing prayer in every language. And answering every prayer. Answering every prayer. Every prayer. According to infinite wisdom, love, and power. God answers every prayer exactly the way you would answer it. If you had his knowledge. If you loved as he loved. And if you had his power as well. I already hinted at it. How in his administration of creation, he allows man to have his wickedness and then he has his right. It's interesting. He gave us a free will. And God doesn't trample on our will. He allows men to have their wickedness. And then he triumphs over it and has his right. I think it's a marvelous way, while God is doing all these other things that we've talked about. How he's guiding his people. And that's a mysterious thing when you stop to think of it. An invisible God in heaven. And man down here on earth. And yet if he really wants to, he can know the guidance of God so clearly. That to refuse would be positive disobedience. Here's a missionary on the field. He's been there ten years. And the going is rough. And quite a while now he's been wondering, is it time to leave? Is it time to leave? So he's before the Lord. And the Lord reveals to him. Whether I, my wife and children, whether we should get out of here. And go home or go to some other country. And that morning his reading such happens to be in Psalm 37. And he reads these verses. He reads these verses. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on the faithfulness of the Lord. And here's the voice of God speaking. What's the voice of God? You could have read that this morning and it might not have said very much to you. But that was God's voice to him for that morning. Dwell in the land and feed on the faithfulness of the Lord. And on the basis of that verse he stayed in the country and carried on a very fruitful ministry there. Not only that, but God not only guiding his people all the time, but comforting them too. And that's marvelous too. You know, no one is in comfort like the Lord. No one. Earthly friends can crowd around and say things and they mean very well by saying them. But really it's only when the Lord speaks to you that the real comfort comes. Here's a family and they're plunged in sorrow. And the friends are there and really, really trying to be supported at a time like that. And then the Lord comes to them with his word. Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning. And their sorrows disappear. Psalm 30 verse 5 did it. Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning. Weeping is just as old as the night gets. And then comes the eternal joy. Suffering comes at a time not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in a Pretty wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful that there's only one who can number the stars. Who can call each one by name. The one who heals the brokenhearted. Not a great God. He is. And this is God running the universe. And he's doing it in such a way that for his children nothing happens by chance or accident. Those are not Christian words, are they? Lucky. Chance. Fortune. They're words that we remove from our vocabulary when we get saved. You know, the Bible is a book on the providence of God. From cover to cover you can trace the providence of God. You go back to Genesis and you see that dear young fellow Joseph. I love Joseph. I really look forward to meeting Joseph when I get to heaven. And I love to see how God moves men. How he works on the intellect and emotions and will of men. This Joseph hated by his brothers. And he's thrown into a pit. I told you he could have said, look, if God is God and I'm a faithful follower of God, what am I doing in this pit? See, that's what John the Baptist said when he was in prison, don't you? He said, blessed is he who is not offended because he is. But anyway, Joseph is in the pit. Let me get out of the pit. The brothers are sitting there and living it up. They don't intend to let him out of the pit. And months before he ever went into the pit, there's a caravan over here in Midian. And those men are getting ready for a long journey. Down to Egypt. And God sets that caravan in motion. And it moves along. Just at the time when Joseph is in the pit, the caravan comes along. And it comes along and those Midianites start to talk to Joseph's brothers, who happen to have a commercial spirit, you know. Only Gentiles pay retail, that sort of thing, you know. And look, those Midianites purchase him, take him out of the pit, and take him right down to Egypt where God intended him to be. Marvelous, isn't it? And then the poor fellow lands in prison in Egypt. For what? What did he do wrong? He didn't do anything wrong. Falsely accused by a seductive woman, and he lands in prison. That was very important to him, being in prison. In the providence of God, it was very important that he be in prison, because that's where he was revealed as one who could interpret dreams. That's what brought him to the attention of the pharaoh. That's what eventually led him to the second highest place in Egypt, where he had the name Vapnep, Aeneas, the savior of the world. And all the time that God is doing this with Joseph, he's working in that fellow's life. God is looking ahead, if I can use that expression, where God is holding him in His hands. He's looking ahead to the coming of one who's going to be greater than Joseph. And he works out over one hundred correspondences in the life of Joseph. So that, later, when the Lord Jesus comes, people will say, Joseph makes music with me. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's providence of God. He comes with a book of Jews. That's not a story of the providence of God, nor the text. Pre-funeral, Naomi left a widow. Orpah preferred to stay in Moab. Ruth determined to go back to Bethlehem. Strange the time they got there, wasn't it? God's timing of moves, always. All God's praise, love, and power are explained. Wasn't it amazing that he could have gone to a lot of fields with his father? He didn't. He just happened to go to the fields of Moab. It's just all about, what's it all about? God's working out the ancestry from the human standpoint of the Lord Jesus. He does it in that marvelous way, the providence of God. You see it so strongly in the book of Hector, don't you? Interweaving of circumstances, plot within plot. Esther, quiet Jewish maiden, raised to be queen. The hatred against her people. The decree that was drawn up, the law of the Medes and the Persians that couldn't be changed. The series of banquets. And finally, the decree that allowed the Jews to defend themselves. Who could have ever worked it out? Who but God could have ever worked it out like that? So that the Jews could defend themselves and save themselves from extinction. And save the lions as an aside. I think you see the providence of God wonderfully in the book of Daniel, don't you? Providence of God that can shut the mouths of lions. And can preserve free men in a fiery furnace so that nothing is burned but their bonds. The providence of God. And of course you see it wonderfully in the life of the Lord Jesus, all the life of the house. A decree, a taxation decree. Had to go back to your old hometown. That brought Joseph and Mary down from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Just at the right time. Just at the right time for the fulfillment of biblical prophecy concerning the coming of Messiah. So I had a long look. Did you see it in the life of the apostles? I certainly knew what prisons were like. And incidentally they weren't antiseptic clinics such as people live in today in prisons. They were just prisoners. The men are so fruitful for God. I mean, exhibit A! The church of the Lord Jesus Christ can give you land and prison. Look at the season on that. Four prison epistles. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philippians. And how much poorer we would be today without them. Marvelous, isn't it? And you could say that to John, too. Vanished to the isle of Patmos. It seems that God's servants are just baffled to fight better all the time. They find the way up by going down. Here's John on Patmos. And what's the result? The final book of the New Testament, the revelation of Jesus Christ. The providence of God working out its marvelous, marvelous purpose. God is doing that all the time. And I think this will be part of what heaven will be like. I think what God will be showing us how he moved the checkers on the checkerboard. And we will be evil. We will be dumbfounded. We will fall prostrate. It's going on. If you're a child of God here today, it's going on in your life right now and you don't realize it. And the closer you walk to the Lord, and the more you walk in fellowship with the Lord, the more you will see this marvelous working of God within you. Some of the things I tell you, some of you might have heard before, especially those from Florence. I'll try not to repeat myself. One of my colleagues is John Robertson. He's a commended worker, and God laid upon his heart a ministry of sending books to missionaries. Missionaries don't get a lot of books from me, and they're cut off from the kind of fellowship that you enjoy, and that God laid out on his heart to send these books up to missionaries. And it just takes money. I was down to that. And John doesn't talk finances with me. We don't talk about finances one way or another. But I did happen to go down to the post office, and one day he wanted to buy postage for a shipment. He was going up to postage for $2,000. And the postage was $2,000. What were the books? One night, John is sitting in his living room in the front door of the building. He goes to the door, and there's a young fellow standing there. He's in his knees. The fellow said, Are you John Robertson? He said, Yes, I am. He said, Do you live by faith? John kind of recoiled. It's rather unusual for a perfect stranger to come to your door and ask you if you live by faith. And John started to dance the dance of the seven veils. You know how we try to evade the issue and hop around it. We go around Robbins Barn and everything else, and John hit his little speech. And when he got all through, the fellow said, Well, do you live by faith? And John said, Well, yes, I do. And the fellow said, Well, here, God told me to get you this. And he handed him three $20 bills. And John said, Who are you? And he said, Stop making me look like a fool. And he said, Who should I thank? He said, I'm the Lord. John said, I've never seen you before. He left, and John said, I've never seen you before. John thought he saw him once. He went up and asked this man what he was writing in. Kind of embarrassing. And what do you think about that? You say, Well, did he have a need for $60? I don't think that's the point. The point was that everything he gets above his needs goes into the work. And I think the Lord was saying to him, Look, just carry on. I'm the great provider. You don't have to worry about finances. You're doing my work. He'll provide. You don't have to beg. You don't have to solicit. You don't have to make your needs known to anybody. Hudson Taylor said, God's work carried on, and God's way will never last. God is one. It makes me think of another fellow that was engaged in a similar ministry. Only his books were going to servicemen. And one day he purchased, he used all the money he had to purchase books to send overseas. And his wallet was empty. And the next morning he went to the breaking of bread service. And at the end of the breaking of bread service, a woman who knew nothing about it came up to him and shook hands with him. When he drew his hand away, there was a $10 bill in his hand. Well, that allowed him to keep his nose above water financially. That week he got a letter from a lady half a continent away. He had no idea. God had no idea of any need. She did know that this ministry was going on. She did know that literature was going out to servicemen. And she said, I'm praying for you. She said, enclosed is a check for $50. So this fellow wrote her a letter. And he said, thank you very much, dear sister. At the time you wrote, we had a need for $75. And you provided $50 and sent the other $25. She wrote back and she said, I've never been more reduced in my life. God told me to send $75 to you and I only sent $50. She said, here's the other $25. And this is really what we mean when we talk about living by faith, that God can control the mind of a woman or a man and move them into action to provide exactly the right amount at exactly the right time. This is what we think of when we think of the providence of God. But I would just like to say again, I think that the more we're cast upon the Lord, the more we'll see these things happen. Most of us are so well cushioned with various security plans that we don't have to. Some of you may know a missionary down in Mexico, Don Harris. And he's a dear brother of mine, Claire. And this night, Don was going off with a group of Mexicans who were hidden some distance away in a meeting. But he always tried to get home by midnight. He didn't want Claire to be worried and he knew that she would stay awake and stay up until he got home. Well, they're driving along in a rural area. Ah, you have a counselor. I'm glad I wasn't there. I know nothing about auto mechanics. All I know to do when the car stops like that is get out and raise the hood and put my head under it and pray. And I've seen some remarkable things happen. Well, anyway, they got out and they checked the situation. It was no help. Well, they said, so and so is a mechanic. One of our brothers in the Lord is a mechanic. It was miles away. So a group of them started off to try to get to this brother. And then another group said, well, in the nearest town we can go. But nothing was open. No car dealers were open at that time of night anyway. They knew about this other guy. They waited until the next day. You know, Don must be home. Finally, a mechanic came along. They finally got a mechanic and he came along and he checked the car. And he said the generator had just randed up there. And then Don says, you know, he says to one of the others, you know, we're a city here. We have a place. He says, hey, that's right. We have a place. So they all had a place. It was a drive-thru. There was nothing they could do. Three troops, a Volkswagen comes along, plus a Beetle comes along. And, you know, there's a group of men that are about to die. We ride my car. I was two. Two troops. Two cars. It could be an ambush. Laying in wait for your life. But if you go down a couple of hundred meters and it turns around, it's going to pass. Passes them again. Gives them the once over, you know, looking at them. Every time their heart sinks, you know. Because I realize that they're in trouble. But, you know, praise the sun. Volkswagen's going to pass. It goes a little way beyond them. Turns around. And ain't nothing. They said, well, probably not. It's a generator. A car generator. No reason. Seller reached behind him in his Volkswagen. He picked up a Bosch generator. Not a Mexican generator. An imported generator. Better. The ones made down there aren't the greatest. He picked up a Bosch generator from the east side and gave it to them. They installed it. The car worked perfectly. Owned it. In the morning. A Volkswagen with a Bosch generator on the back seat. If you don't believe me, write John Harris. Write John Harris. He got home at one o'clock in the morning. There with his new car. He hadn't driven before. Or even took care of her seat. What a wonderful guy he is, huh? I think when we're really cast upon him, we can see him work like that. I know some of you here know Jim Haysmire down in Honduras. Jim was going out on a meeting and his own car was not working too well, so there was a young Honduran there and he said he would drive him in his car. So they started off for the meeting and driving along this windy road, precipitous road, and Jim was so tired he fell asleep. And he started to dream. And in his dreams the car was careening wildly on the road. What a wonderful dream. It was true. The car was careening wildly. The next thing you know, the car was turning over. And it turned over so that finally when it landed it was on the driver's side, this young Honduran driver. And he was yelling. And Jim was able to crawl out of a window above him. And he tried to move the car. Suddenly the goodness of God, a car passed by and the man saw them and he got out and Jim and the man tried to lift the car. He couldn't lift the car. He couldn't believe it. A bus came by. And all the men in the bus piled out of the car. And they got under it and they lifted it up. And here was the dear fellow there. And his head was here. And there was a rock here. Let me show you this. The part, the crux of that thing was the rock. It did have to be taken to the hospital. It appeared easy to be revived today. With all of that mangled metal and everything happening in a few seconds, how can the God of Providence cause that crux of that thing on a rock next to a fellow? Does he? You don't believe it, right? Jim H. Myers. I remember years ago, Wallace Logan came back from Zambia in Africa. And he took that verse as his text. Can God provide a table in the wilderness? And he told this remarkable story of how he had gone off with some of the nationals on a safari there in Africa. And it proved to be longer than they had anticipated. And they ran out of food. And they're going along through this jungle trail. And they have no food. And they're crying to the Lord in prayer to provide food for them. Just then a bird flew over and it had a fish in its mouth. It was a tiny person. The bird lost the fish. It must have opened its mouth to say something. And the fish came down and landed right in the path in front of them. They took the fish and just sustained them until they got to their desired eating. Can God control a fish, a bird carrying a fish in its mouth, and aim it with such accuracy that it landed on the trail in front of them? Can God provide a table in the wilderness? He does. And he's doing it all the time. Of all the things we're talking about today, he's doing all the time. And he's doing it perfectly. Some years ago George Burr was up in Kathmandu, Nepal. And he had to leave to go to London. And so some of his friends crowded all his things into the back of a taxi there in Kathmandu. And off George set to the airport. And he got to the airport and grabbed his suitcase and hurried into the terminal. And the taxi drove away. And then George realized that he had left his shoulder bag in the trunk of the taxi. And some important papers, too, in that shoulder bag. He's on a plane flying to London. What can you do about it? He prayed. Prayer changed his thing. He just submitted it to the Lord in prayer. He just helped a few of these people. They weren't going to turn the plane around and get a shoulder bag. The next day, Ron Kenney had to take a bus to go from Kathmandu down into India. And the buses were of Victorian design. And the bus went along a few kilometers, and then it sloped down. And everybody piled out and tried to put it together with a pair of pins and clothes hangers. And they all piled back in again. It went a few more kilometers and sloped down again. And this time they tried to put it together with Band-Aids and everything else that was available. And it went a few more kilometers and sloped down. Ron said, I'm never going to get to India this way. And he was right. He never would have gotten there. So he got his bag, and he crossed the street and waited for a bus coming the other way. Huh? The goodness of God, another bus. A bus came along the other way going back into Kathmandu. And he went back into Kathmandu, and he jumped out. And he grabbed a cab to take him to the house. And when he grabbed the cab, he wanted to put his suitcase in the trunk. But he didn't find it. He found George's clothes bag in the trunk. And that's quite remarkable when you think of all the taxis there are in Kathmandu. And when you think of the non-Christian behavior of the drivers. I mean, if the driver had known it was there, it was doubtful that it would still be there. And yet the bag was still there. In the trunk of that particular taxi. But that's the one on Penny's tail going back to Kathmandu. The Providence of God. You say, but that cab driver was an unsaved man. Of course he was an unsaved man. God didn't control him. He was under perfect control. I know some of you have heard this story, but I'm just going to give it again. It's one of my favorites from the Providence of God. Some years ago I was living in Oak Park, Illinois. And one day Greg Livingston came. He had been overseas with young people doing evangelistic work. And he came back and visited me. And he told me about a discipline problem that had arisen overseas. And we had a good time of fellowship together. I said to him, you know, Greg, you told me that you're going to this city. Now in the days ahead there's an elder in an assembly there. You should know that he told me you're here today. I gave him the name and address of this elder. And his telephone number and told him to get in touch with this elder. And share with him the information he has given me. But before he left I thought, I'm going to pitch his brain for the fun of it. I said, Greg, what makes you pitch? He said, here you are. I mean, you've got a couple of college degrees behind your name. Here you go overseas and you throw away your life with a bunch of nobodies over there. What makes you pitch? He said, here you are. He said, let me tell you. He said, I see that it's very hard to live a life of faith in the United States. You have to put yourself in a position where you have to trust God. Where if God fails you, you're a punk. And if you do that, there'll be a power in your life. And when you touch other lives, something will happen for God. And I thought, I never want to forget that. I wrote it down as soon as he left. Brother McDonald, I see it's very hard to live a life of faith in the United States. You have to put yourself in a position where you have to trust God. Where if God fails you, you're a punk. And if you do that, there'll be a power in your life. And when you touch other lives, something will happen for God. Well anyway, Greg left me. He went to the city and I presumed. And then he went all the way out to Los Angeles. And he was having meetings in Los Angeles. And he said, here Brother McDonald. He said, I went to that city. And he said, I had meetings. I had conferences. I had appointments. He said, God knows I wanted to visit that element. He said, is that Brother McDonald? And he said, I'm still going. Well, right after that, his time in Los Angeles came to a close. And he had to go back to Midland Park, New Jersey. And so he grabbed a Greyhound bus in Los Angeles. And when he got on, it was fairly empty. But you know, as it goes through the city, it stops and picks up passengers. It picks up passengers and pretty soon the bus was filling up. So, there was only one seat left. They came to Riverside and the door opened and Greg bowed his head. And he said, Lord, lead on some young person that I can witness to for you. And he opened his eyes and looked and an older man was getting on the bus. And the older man came to the bus. There was only one seat left beside Greg Livingston. Greg said, young or old, I have my duty to do, Lord. And he began to witness to this youth. And the man said, it was a funny thing you should talk to me about, Lord. He said, I happen to be born again Christian. Greg said, you are? He said, my name is Greg Livingston. The man said, my name is... He gave the name of that elder from that youth. How did that ever happen? Well, that man and his wife had a daughter in Phoenix, a married daughter in Phoenix. And they got a drive-away car in the Midwest to drive to the West Coast. Well, the car had to be delivered in Riverside. So when he got to Phoenix, he let his wife off with the daughter. And then he drove the car to Riverside to deliver it. And then he took the bus to go back to Phoenix. He sat right beside Greg Livingston. Quite remarkable. When you think of the number of Greyhound buses in the United States. Think of the number of seats on a bus. Think of the number of the socks that they make. The hours in the day. I mean, quite a coincidence, wasn't it? In God's intent, he's doing that all the time. He's doing that all the time. If we only had eyes to see it. That's why I say, I think the wonders of God in Providence are quite as great as the wonders of God in Phoenix. What a wonderful thing to belong to Him. That we can look up into the feet of God and say, my Father. That we can look up to the Lord Jesus Christ and tell Him, We love Him and will love Him for all eternity. For all He has done for us. Come. Father, our hearts bow very low before You this morning. When we rehearse the outskirts of Your ways. And if these are but the outskirts. How great is the fullness of Your ways. We see the train of Your glory. And if the train fills the temple. How great must the full display of Your glory be. O Lord Jesus, we love You. Not only because You're our Creator. And not only because You're our sustainer. Because You are our blessed Redeemer. To think that You would love us so much. To do for us what You've done for us. We can never cease to praise You. We give You our thanks in Your own peerless and precious name. Amen.