his peace, Lord God, just be with him, we ask. Now, Father, we ask that you would anoint our pastor today. Lord God, we ask that you would cover him with your Holy Spirit, that you would indwell him and anoint him in power, Lord God, to proclaim your word from this pulpit, Lord God, that you would speak through him, that you would cancel out the man Cancel out the flesh as I know he prays for himself the same thing Lord God and that your Holy Spirit Would come through loud and clear that your word would come through loud and clear Lord God and father I pray that you would with by your Holy Spirit touch each and every person here equip us this morning Lord God equip us and encourage us Discipline us where we need discipline Give us your peace and encouragement where that is needed, Lord God, and have your perfect work in each and every one of us here this morning. We ask, may we submit to the Holy Spirit and get out of his way and let him have his perfect work in us by the preaching of your word today. Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus Christ's name, we pray all these things. Amen. Amen. Pastor Pell. Okay, we're going to be back in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and we're going to pick it up at verse 3 and The other handouts that I get in for First Timothy, Chapter six, I doubt we're going to get into that. I don't think we'll have enough time, but I don't want to rush through the remainder of First Timothy, Chapter five. But if we do get into First Timothy, Chapter six, you've got those handouts as well. So let's go to Lord one more time in a word of prayer. Father, Jesus, precious name. Thank you, Lord, for bringing to us today. Jared and Rachel, and there's just so much enthusiasm about discipling people and leading people to Christ. But also remind us, Lord, that, you know, they minister in a place that's 98 to 99% Muslim. and that their safety and well-being should be of importance to us, to pray for that as well as the work of the ministry. And so we just thank you, Lord, that we could play just a little part of that. And I can remember, Lord, back to years when Rachel was coming to our church, and she was at our school, and her dad, Denny Smith, one of my buddies, a great man of God that was always there to share his wisdom with me and his friendship and his love. And those of us who knew, if we knew Denny, you missed Denny. But we'll see him when he comes back with King Jesus. Lord, I just pray that you'd be with us in preaching of the word. Your word is infallible and inerrant. The guy behind the pulpit is not. And so despite my failures, I pray, Lord, that you would anoint me with your spirit and that you would fill me with your spirit and speak through me and cause me to rightly interpret your words so I would not lead anyone astray. Remind us all, Lord, that it's not the guy behind the pulpit that is our final authority for faith and practice. It is your word that is the final authority. So may we be grounded in your word to test even what we hear from this pulpit, not just what we hear from the media and from the world. So Lord, be with us. People that are here would not be here if they were content with fake news. So they're tired of the lies. They're tired of the deceit. And they want your truth, Lord. But they want more than your truth, they want you. And we know that you want us. And so I pray, Lord, that you would change us from within through the studying of your word. We would not just be hearers of the word and readers of the word, but we would be doers of the word and we would embody your truth so the fruit would be born in our lives. So we love you, Lord, we pray you be with us. You open our hearts and minds to understand your truth, and then you cause us to be all you called us to be for your glory as we build your kingdom and not our own. In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen. All right, so, you know, here Paul spent three years in the church of Ephesus. You think that would be enough to cover a whole generation? Just within a few years. These guys had false teachers and all. So Paul's gotta tell Timothy, remain in Ephesus and straighten out all the messed up stuff that's going on there. And he's gotta replace, he's gotta go fire elders and replace them with other guys. He's gotta be careful not to lay hands too quickly on a guy who's not ready for ministry. So Timothy's got his work cut out for him. And Timothy, apparently, was the kind of guy who liked to work out. And about one third of the training among the Greeks and the Romans was physical training. I think this keeps dropping out. But it was like physical fitness training. And so Paul had to remind them. that physical exercise is of little temporary benefit, but spiritual discipline lasts eternally. So he was the kind of guy who liked to work out. Paul was good with that. Paul disciplined his body, as long as you put it in its proper perspective. So I got a little bit in common with Timothy. I like to work out. Well, I got a little bit more. Timothy also had stomach issues. And so Paul, had to deal with that. And so what we're gonna learn today when we talk about this, Paul's kind of medical advice to Timothy is that our God cares. We serve a God who cares. You could be hurt, you could be thinking, my wife, she's battling like kidney stones. She's in pain right now, otherwise she'd be here. Praise God, the kidney specialist thinks he knows what it is and how to deal with it. They just gotta run a few more tests. She's in pain right now, she needs to know, God, God cares. And I got stomach issues like Timothy. I think that's my number one investment, other than McDonald's, is I invest a lot in Pepto-Bismol. Been keeping them afloat for like 60 years now. And so I got stomach issues. You know I got back issues. We got people in this church that have health challenges way beyond anything I could imagine. On Tuesday, we found out a loved one Wow, this could be lethal. And then on Thursday, they're released from the hospital, and the hospital doesn't always know what's going on, and they're right back to serving the Lord. So if you're suffering, you're hurting, and some of us wonder, you know, our God is a God who heals, but he doesn't always choose to heal. We need to know that. If he always chose to heal, no Christians would have died, no godly Christians would have died in the past 2,000 years. And so we serve a God who heals, but he doesn't always choose to heal. And when we're hurting, experiencing pain, and we feel all alone, we're gonna learn later on in this passage, not only does God care, but God sees. He sees you in your pain. He sees you when you sin in secret. He sees you when you serve Him in secret. So we serve a God who cares and a God who sees. Pray for Jared and Rachel and their ministry, because I'm telling you, the God of Islam, he sees only in a negative way, and he doesn't care. It's all about fear and submission. We got a God who loves you, a God who cares. And so because of that, you know, Paul's giving Timothy all these instructions, and it's like all this spiritual advice, and it seems like a, wow, all of a sudden, there's a big spiritual, nosedive, and he tells him in verse 23 of 1 Timothy 5, no longer drink on water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. See, God cares. Our physical health is important to him. When we pray for healing, it's not automatic. Always pray in accordance with God's will. If God wants to heal us, great, but sometimes he chooses not to heal. And guess what? We get to identify with other suffering Christians and even suffering non-believers. Some of us can tell non-believers, I know what it's like to go through what you're going through. I've been there before. And look at 2 Corinthians 12. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 7 to 10, after Paul talks about this powerful, he didn't even know if it was a vision or if he was taken bodily to heaven, but this powerful, powerful experience with God, and then he says, unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. So he's saying, hey, God wanted to make sure I didn't get too proud, too arrogant, because of the spiritual experiences I had, okay? He says, unless I get exalted above measure, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Paul was saying, you know what? God gave me, probably in this passage, health issues. God gave me problems to deal with so I would trust in him, not in myself. Verse eight, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. I'm telling you, maybe Paul handles pain better than I do, because when I got pain, my buddy Paul at the boxing gym, every time I go there, he prays with me for my back, and he prays for my wife and her health challenges. I just keep praying and praying and praying, and God says, God might give me the same response he gives to Paul in verse nine. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rest in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So sometimes the Lord says no, I'm not gonna heal you, at least not yet, maybe not till you come to be with me. Now by the way, we will all get the full healing. But that's called glorification. That's when we see Jesus face to face and we get immortal bodies. If you're a pretty healthy individual, you think that's what health is? Wait till you see Jesus face to face, and you get your immortal body, no more pain, no more suffering. And verse 10, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in sicknesses, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And so I guess, you know, Timothy was kinda like me, like, Whoa, it's me, Lord, I got a tummy ache. And stomach issues can keep you, prevent you sometimes from being all that God called you to be. And I'm actually shocked with my stomach issues that I could even hold down a full-time job. I mean, it can be rough. But we might think, oh, that's not a big deal. You know, I got stomach issues. Somebody else has something else. Let me tell you, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he sees your pain, and he cares. Now, Paul told Timothy, drink a little wine with your water. Keep in mind, the water was polluted back then. Most of, I mean, I'd tell a large amount of what missionaries do to tribal people is they train them in irrigation, get them some clean water. You know, without water we die, but you drink some of the water that some tribal peoples are drinking, you're gonna die anyway. Okay? So the water was often polluted back then. And Timothy had severe stomach ailments. And, you know, he might have been, you know, he has a half Jewish, half Greek. He might have been into the certain branches of the Jews that would drink no wine at all. And so he might have been aligned with that. And Paul might be saying, look, knock it off. God needs you, well God doesn't need anything. God wants you to be as healthy as you can be so you can proclaim his name. Till you leave planet Earth. And so the wine was for medical health reasons, to kill germs, to kill parasites, to help with digestion. The water was, it stunk. You know, a lot of the water they got back then, especially in the land of Israel, was from cisterns. You got bugs in it and everything. They try to filter out the bugs. But sometimes the water would come out looking brown. You guys remember Yahoo? That drink is supposed to be like, you know, there's chocolate milk. I'm good with that. I was good with chocolate water. to Yahoo, like drinking mud water. But apparently to help him with digestion or whatever. Now, Paul was buddies with Luke, who was a physician. So he probably got some good medical advice for free back then. But keep in mind, when you talk about drink a little bit of wine with your water, that doesn't mean go home and get drunk, everybody. Remember Ephesians 5.18? And do not get drunk with wine, for this is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit. You get filled with wine, the wine controls you. Or I should say, you lose control of your mind, and evil entities will enter in and take control. Any time you surrender the control of your mind to anybody but the mind of Christ. So you get drunk with wine, that's dissipation. But the Jewish Talmud, based on the oral teachings of the rabbis during Paul's day, they called wine, when the Jew said wine, they meant one part wine, three parts water. So that was just like pretty much to kill the germs and give a little bit of flavor to the polluted water you're drinking. One part wine, three parts water, that's what they call wine. Strong drink was half wine, half water, okay? And then if you drank wine straight, they called you a barbarian. So don't think what Paul is saying is giving you a ticket to be a barbarian. What it does say is that sometimes we got physical ailments, and if we pray to the Lord and they don't leave, you know, there might have to be something. that we might have to do about it now. And by the way, it's not a green light to get drunk. It's not a green light to also get totally dependent upon pharmaceutical drugs. I'm telling you, there's a financial racket out there with the medical profession and pharmaceuticals in this country. Maybe RFK Jr. can help us out of this mess. But I'm telling you right now, it's almost a medical profession. If you got a good doctor, you praise God for that. but it's almost like the medical profession doesn't even care about healing anymore. Don't fix what's broken, just medicate in such a way that they don't feel the bad effects of something broken. And then if that causes side effects, then you get other medication to fight those side effects, and that's a pretty good plan for money making. You know, it's kind of like don't completely fix what's broken, so they'll keep coming back for more and more. So this is not saying, and by the way, okay, where's the government's role, where's the, there's debate between the libertarians and others, there's definitely a big debate, but keep in mind, we got a government that regulates this stuff, and it'll act like marijuana is really bad. Well, it is, but it's not as bad as opioids. And so it's not as bad as fentanyl. So it's kind of the government like regulates but allows some of the harshest stuff. So all I'm saying is look, if you can go the natural route, go the natural route. If you do need a little medication, you might have to drink a little bit of wine with your water. Okay? But just keep in mind that you don't want to be dependent on alcohol. That's a sin. You don't want to be dependent on drugs. That's a sin. You don't even wanna be dependent on yourself. Paul later on, chapter six, is gonna talk about the rich people. God wants you to be dependent on three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now in the meantime, as I depend on the Lord Jesus Christ, and as I go through life, You know, I might get something that, you know, it's like, oh wow, man, my stomach, I can't preach today because of my stomach. I think if Paul were alive today, he'd say, hey, Fernandez, take a little Pepto-Bismol, okay? And so, but keep in mind, just don't let Pepto-Bismol run your life. Allow King Jesus to run your life, but keep in mind, you were created, to glorify him and to make his name known. You could do, someday I'll do a whole sermon on the name. Because that's the whole battle is, is he gonna be blessed to be the name of the Lord? Or are we gonna try to build a tower and make a name for ourselves? Okay, but if he's blessed to be the name of the Lord, It might take a little bit of wine with your water to get back on track and to be all that God called you to be. Paul's dealing with real issues. But what he's telling him is, Timothy, God cares. He cares about your stomach ailments. He wants you serving him. You could tell from reading this stuff a lot about Timothy. He likes to work out. So Paul says, yeah, that's of little benefit. 70, 80 years. But of eternal benefit is spiritual discipline. So that's kind of a bummer for me, because I was a little skinny guy, graduated high school weighing 125 pounds. And so I worked hard for whatever muscles I got. And it seems to me like in the millennial kingdom of the resurrection bodies, I think we're going to be all buffed. Because otherwise, he wouldn't say that. It's just of little. a bit of goodness there. It would last forever. But he had stomach issues, later on we're gonna see he tells them that God's not giving us a second Timothy, God's not giving us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and a sound mind. So this guy was a young guy, in good shape, he had stomach issues, and every once in a while he was prone to a little bit of fear. And I think Paul realized he overreacted with John Mark when that young guy wimped out on him. and left on his first missionary journey. And maybe Barnabas was right, he should have given him a second chance. He eventually wrote the Gospel of Mark, was a colleague of Peter, and late in Paul's life he was a colleague of Paul again. And so I think he's being a little bit more patient with Timothy. And so he tells him, Don't drink only water but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. God may give us frequent infirmities. He may heal some of us, he may not heal some of us. He may heal some of us naturally through doctors or through the wisdom God's given them and the healing process within the Bible. He may also heal us supernaturally and then he may choose not to heal us. And she might say, well, Pastor Phil, I got infirmities. Good, that's fine. I mean, I'll pray for you on that, but are you serving Jesus? So whether you're healthy or sick, rejoicing or suffering, you proclaim the name. We proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, until he returns in glory and takes his stand upon the earth to make things right. So God cares. So Timothy, drink a little wine with your water. But not only does God care, but he sees. And before you say amen, it cuts both ways. He sees when you're sinning in secret, and that's scary. But he also sees when you're serving God in secret. I get amens when I preach. And I'll get a pat on the back. Pastor Phil, that was a good message today. But there's not a whole lot of people when I'm studying the word. I like to get up early in the morning, nobody interrupts you at 3.30 in the morning. And when I'm studying the word and breaking it down, there's no, amen, pastor, keep it going. But God sees not only what we do in public, that's one of the dangers of the ministry. You could look like a holy man in public and be a sinning slob in private. And nobody here knows, but he knows because he sees. he sees. And so Paul says this in verse 24, some men's sins are clearly evident preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. What is he talking about there? Well, Some people, they sin, and it's clearly evident to all. We all know people. Maybe this Thanksgiving, Uncle Harry's gonna show up. It's like, ooh, here's Uncle Harry. This guy's a man. He's like. living like an unsaved 15-year-old in Sodom and Gomorrah. I mean, he's just like, this guy's a mess, okay? This guy's sins are clearly evident and made known to all. Their sins are obvious and public, but others, their sins are secret, not known by others, okay? Now, so some guys, it's like it's preceding them to the judgment. Their sins are already known. People can see, oh, this guy is a sinful man. Other guys, people are thinking, man, this guy, I think this guy is a holy man. I think this is a holy lady. I think they're serving Jesus. But some men follow later. In other words, the judgment comes, and then you find out that person you thought was a saint wasn't really a saint, okay? The judgment will determine that. That's why, you know, Paul talks about when Jesus returns, that the manifestation of the sons of God. Because you got Buddhists saying, you know, even Buddhists don't even believe in God, but saying they're the ones. And Hindus saying they're the ones. And you got the Jews who rejected Christ saying they're the ones. You got the Muslims saying they're the ones. The final judgment when King Jesus returns, the true sons and daughters of God will be manifest. This is kind of like when David said that God's gonna set up a table for him in the presence of his enemies. Okay? And some guys' sins aren't gonna be evident until the judgment. We see, I don't even wanna mention names, we've had Christian leaders who get involved in horrible scandals, usually involving either sex or finances. And some of the scandals come out while they're alive. And it's just a horrible, horrible thing. But sometimes the Christian leader will die, and then we find out afterwards about it, and that their sins were in secret. But their sins might be in secret, not known by others, but God sees. God sees. and said some men's good works are clearly evident, verse 25. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. You know, we're selecting new and appointing new elders and stuff. Well, these are guys, their good works are clearly evident to somebody, somebody nominated the guy. Okay, and we see ladies in the church, whether it's Irene in the prayer ministry, or Kim in the teaching, and Becky in the teaching and stuff, and then Kai, it's kind of like, if Kai took off a Sunday, I don't even know if we'd be able to have service, okay? But we see some people that their good works are clearly evident to all. Oh, and by the way though, The ladies that I just mentioned, there's also a lot of service that they do that we don't see. So some men's good works are clearly evident. Some serve God in the public eye, but even our secret good works are not hidden from God. He sees even when we serve and no one is watching. I want us to look at a few verses here Look at Galatians 6, 9, and 10. Paul's letter to the Galatians. Verses 9 and 10. And let us not grow weary while doing good. I used to watch Dr. Norman Geisler when we'd be speaking at conferences together and he was up in his mid to late 80s and he was having a hard time just standing up and he would just walk real slow and I realized you could suffer for Christ without people bouncing rocks off your head. God would say to him, let us not grow weary while doing good. Timothy, it'd be like, you know, okay, yeah, I want to do this, Paul, but my stomach hurts. We can't grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Okay? Don't grow weary in doing good. Don't count yourself out. They counted me out in football, that's why I had a box. Who's gonna give a football to a 125 pound guy? Right? And I played tackle football with my buddies who were on the football team without pads. That was cold weather. I didn't like the cold weather. So I'd show up, I'd wear like three or four sweatshirts, a wool hat, and gloves on defense. And they're like, who is this guy? This guy's buffed. They didn't even know you peel off all the shirts and there's a little male version of olive oil. But I'd run kickoff backs and catch bombs. I was the fastest guy in the field. Once we put the uniform on recreation, they'd sit me on a bench. What are you gonna do, a little guy, Pete? You know, coaches would count me out. I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob hasn't counted you out. You might say, yeah, but Pastor Phil, I'm so sick, I can't even get out of bed. Well, then be a prayer warrior, okay? Just read Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus. They're trying to bring about through transhumanism and depopulation and AI trying to bring about the God man, okay? When AI does all our work and we no longer serve the wannabe global dictators, Our life will have no purpose. There'll be nothing left for us to do. I'm like, who are you, you wimp? Saying that life's not gonna have any purpose. Get the memo, guys. I don't serve billionaire globalists. If I don't serve a purpose for Bill Gates, you think I care? I don't serve Bill Gates. I don't serve the guy in the White House. I don't care if it's Biden or Trump. I serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he said, you know what he says? He said, I don't count you out, Phil Fernandez. Maybe you grew up in Essex County, New Jersey, and then nobody thought you were going to amount to anything. God doesn't ask me where are you from. God doesn't ask me, are you popular? God doesn't ask me, are you tall? Are you good looking? God just asked me, you wanna serve God and build the kingdom of God through the power of God and for his glory? And if your answer is yes, it's like Francis Schaeffer used to say, there are no little people. Not in God's kingdom, there are no little people. And so don't grow weary in doing good. Look at Hebrews 6, 9 and 10. Hebrews 6, 9 and 10. But beloved, Hebrews 6, 9 and 10, but beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor a love which you have shown through his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Tell you brothers and sisters, you might get burnt out and think that nobody's listening. You might get burnt out and think nobody's watching. You might get burnt out and think that all that you do for God's kingdom is just not important. It's all done in vain. And God's Word says, no, God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love. So whether you're in front of people or you're all alone, You serve the God of the Bible. Look at first, just got a couple more verses to look at. First Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15. Verse 58, Paul closes the chapter. Of course, the chapter breaks, we added later. But Paul closes his chapter on the resurrection. arguing, giving evidence that Jesus bodily rose from the dead and appeared to many people. And that's the down payment guaranteeing our resurrection from the dead. If we're believers, then we'll be raised and have immortality. We're all sickness and sin and death will be removed from our bodies. We'll have immortal bodies like Jesus' immortal body traveling at the speed of thought. So he closes. this chapter, because Jesus rose from the dead and gives us the victory and will raise us from the dead, Paul says this, in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Some of you are growing weary, doing good. I praise God that Jared and Rachel are young people with energy, and they're not growing weary and doing good. They probably have bad days just like all of us, but I'm telling you, 50 years from now, I think I'll be retired by then, but 50 years from now, if they came back and spoke to the church, they wouldn't be young. They wouldn't have as much energy they have now, but by the grace of God, they'll still be not growing weary, and doing good, still serving the King. But the work you do for the Lord is not in vain. I can preach and it's like, every pastor's gotta ask himself, am I serving God for the applause of men? Or am I doing it to please the Lord? Because pastors get so much encouragement, don't get me wrong, like Gary was mentioning, sometimes being a pastor can be pretty stressful. But when everything's said and done, people notice you. They see the fruit of your work, the fruit of your labor. But what about the guy who fixes cars for widows, free of charge? When he's under the car, nobody's there applauding the guy. But the work you do in the Lord, the work you do for the Lord is not in vain. And we'll close with Genesis 16, 13. Genesis 16, 13. God promised Abraham, an old guy, that him and his wife, an old lady, He was going to give them a son, and from that son, raise up his chosen nation. But after a while, Abraham and Sarah started questioning, gee, is that really going to happen? So Sarah comes up with a dumb idea, okay? By the way, any time you don't trust God to fulfill a promise that he really is, not a fake promise, but a real promise that God made to you, In his word, anytime you don't trust God to fulfill a promise and you try to fulfill it in your own strength, that's what theologians call a dumb idea, okay? And so she comes up with a dumb idea and she says, look, look, I'm barren, I'm not gonna have a child. Take my slave girl, Hagar, the Egyptian gal, have sexual relations with her and bear a son for me. They used to call them concubines, wives without rights. Horrible idea. I don't even think Abraham liked the idea, but Sarah knew how to push his buttons. So he has relations with Hagar. She gets pregnant, and her son Ishmael is still in her belly, still in her womb. She hasn't even given birth yet, and Sarah's already getting ticked off at her and despised her. And so Hagar just can't handle it anymore, and she flees. Pregnant lady fleeing, and she's thinking like, man, I'm going to just starve to death. I'm going to die. I've been forsaken by everybody I'm all on. Let me tell you, a pregnant lady who's despised and has no friends and is fleeing into the wilderness, that doesn't sound like a plan for success. So she's out there in the wilderness And then the angel of the Lord, verse seven talks about the angel of the Lord found her by a string of water in the wilderness. Angel of the Lord, this messenger from Yahweh would come and would visit in the Old Testament, doesn't happen in the New Testament times, and this messenger from Yahweh takes on bodily form, appears to people, talks to people, and gets worshiped. So I agree with Dr. James Borland, one of my professors, former professors from Liberty University, that every theophany, every Old Testament bodily appearance of God was actually a Christophany, was Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ before he became a man, he would temporarily take bodily form. In fact, I think he was walking with Adam and Eve in the garden. I don't think that's a metaphor. I think that's a savior. And so the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus, appears to her and then tells her that she's going to give a son. She's going to have a son. Call him Ishmael. And he's going to be powerful, a wild man. And many of the Arab tribes came from Ishmael. And in verse 13, because God comforted her and told her, go back, just submit to Sarah, go back, but you're going to be all right, and your baby's going to be fine. And your baby's going to grow up, and your baby's going to be strong. So this Egyptian lady, slave girl, Hagar could say, Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her. Lord is Yahweh in the Hebrew. She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her. You are the God who sees. That's El Roy. You are the God who sees. For she said, have I also here seen him who sees me? Our God is El Roy. He's the God who sees. Maybe you got stomach issues or some kind of pain. He cares. And when you're suffering, nobody else is around, you're suffering, God sees. When you're serving, serving the king and no one's around, God sees. When you're rejoicing, God sees. But even in secret when you're sinning, God sees. So I'm just gonna leave that with you. Think about that this week as you study the scriptures. We serve a God who cares. And we serve a God who sees. He is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he is El Roy. the God who sees. If you're having a tough time this week, God's there with you. He hears you, he sees you, he really does feel your pain. He loves us enough to feel our pain, but he is strong enough, he is willing to able to heal our pain, because he is El Roy. the God who sees. Father, in Jesus' name, be with us in the good days and the bad days. And though we may grow weary and may grow old and may get sick, just help us, Lord, and empower us to be all that you called us to be and to serve you in quiet places and to serve you in public, we are accountable to you, O Lord, because you are El Roy, the God who sees, and you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who cares. May we praise your name until your son returns in glory. May your name be proclaimed throughout the nations. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.