Amen. Thank you, Debbie. And turn your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter number 13. Hebrews 13, the last chapter there in the book of Hebrews. And we're going to read just a couple of verses at the beginning. And I want to preach to you on the subject of the providence of God, the providence of God. And we're looking here in Hebrews 13 verse one and verse number two. Hebrews is right before James. Hebrews, James, first, second, Peter, first, second, third, John, Jude, and Revelation. Near the end of the Bible there. Let brotherly love continue. Then here's this strange verse. It's caught my attention since I was a little kid. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Isn't that interesting? I've never heard a message preached from this passage. I want to preach to you about the topic of the providence of God, but we'll reference this and talk about what God is actively doing in every person's life, saved and unsaved. But we do not have a God that's somewhere. We have a God who is actively involved in your life. And I want to demonstrate that, maybe tell a few stories today. It's going to be, I think, a very unusual sermon. And we better get right into it, because I don't want it to be just excessively long. But I want you to be encouraged today, encouraged in your daily walk with God and your work for Jesus Christ. that God is watching and governing and looking and seeking out and helping, providing for you. So let's have a word of prayer. We'll ask God's blessing on the message. Heavenly Father, I pray as I've prayed many times that you would direct this particular message that it would be according to your work and your will. I pray that you would help it to be biblical in its content and that you would help it to be received really in the nature of what it would accomplish, you want to accomplish on people's hearts. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Well, we have a weary and very evil world that has temptation at every hand. And the work is often in danger of becoming dreary. Sometimes you get set back and wonder, am I really doing what God wants me to do? Am I really accomplishing anything? If you're in a state of maybe not as aware of what the Bible says, you might even come to the place you say, what's it all worth? Really, what is it worth? Is there a value in what we're doing? You might look at your life in some way and kind of think that you got here haphazardly. You might think, well, maybe you followed a job and you came to Pocatello following a job. Maybe you were born and raised here. Maybe you'd say, there really isn't any God directing my steps to bring me to this place. And you say, am I really here for the purpose of God? Am I doing what God wants me to do? Many Christians have fainted in that kind of state of wondering, what is it all worth? And they've given up right before the blessings of God. Come your way. And we have been called of God to salvation and to sanctification. The work, both of that, is really us surrendering to God. So we resist salvation, but coming to Him, salvation is free. You've got to give in to God. You've got to come to Him as a sinner and helpless and ask God to save you if you're not saved. And then once you are saved, the Christian faith and living in sanctification is really us surrendering our will. The only thing standing between you and a life of great victory is this heart that doesn't really want to follow the Lord. And as we surrender that to God, we find that God will do the rest. So we do our part, God will never fail to do his part. But listen, God will not do your part. Okay, you do your part. You come surrendering in your heart as a Christian. I'm not talking of first salvation. Salvation is not by works, it's free. But in the Christian faith, it is God that works in us to do what's supposed to be done, but what is standing in the way is right here. Right here, our hearts. Very important to realize, though, that God is very active in everybody's life. I believe every person's life. I think he seeks to, he said when he was there in John chapter 12, that if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. It's his desire. Sorry about that. It's His desire that you and I and every person in the world would come under the leadership of His Holy Spirit, of course, to salvation and then living for the Lord. We do not always recognize what the Lord is working in our lives, do we? Sometime, most of the time, we don't really recognize it. So here we are in the middle of something, and God is looking from the outside. We're looking around, and it's like going up to the mountains, and you say, man, you think you could see the Teton Mountains for hundreds of miles around. And on a clear day, you can see it from Idaho Falls. I was coming out of the road from Salmon recently, and you can look across that, and on a very clear day, you can see the very tips of the Teton Mountain range. But when you're in Jackson Hole, you have to go out by the airport before you can even see it. Why? Because you're in the middle of this and there's a smaller hill here right next to you that is hindering what you can't see. And in life it kind of happens that way that we're down here in the everyday living and we're not seeing what God's trying to accomplish. And down here, there's difficulty, there's drudgery, there's duty, there's things that we do, and we're looking at it saying, man, is it really accomplishing anything? God's saying, just keep coming, I've got you on a journey, I have a plan, and I'm working things out, just keep at it. But if we don't really believe that God is the one that is trying to bring you to a place, then sometimes we can lose our heart and our desire for it. The providence of God can be defined or is defined by a couple of commentators as one said, God's benevolent and wise superintendents of his creation. That's a lot of big words for God's in charge, all right? And he's sustaining the world, he created it, he's sustaining it, but it's not just abstract in that he's not just keeping the molecules in motion, he is governing your life. He's involved on a daily basis in your life. It's also been defined as this, God's activity throughout history in providing for the needs of human beings, especially those who follow him in faith. I like that definition because the Lord did a lot for me and it's biblical that God does a lot for a person to bring them to salvation. He didn't just start working on me in 1986, the day I got saved. He started way back. but God is working in your life. So, if you're taking notes today, I'm gonna give you a list of verses, seven different references, including beside the one we're at, that talk about God being involved in your life. This one in Hebrews chapter 13, verse number two, he even says, don't forget to entertain strangers because you've entertained angels unaware. Now, I told you I'm gonna tell you some stories. I'm not gonna tell you stories about me meeting the angelic host. The Bible just said, if this happens to you, you're going to be unaware of it. The whole nature of it being unaware is that I don't have any stories. I can tell you that there are things that have happened in my life that I can look back and say, it must have been something God intervened in. It could have been the presence of an angelic host that intervened for me. But the fact that it's unawares in scripture means that we're going to get to heaven and God's going to reveal to us all of the things that he did let's say to cushion your fall, when otherwise it would have been destroying your life. God is that attentive to your very steps. So here's some references. Go to Romans, you don't have to turn to these, maybe write them down. I have them all typed up here, so I'll read them to you. Romans chapter eight, verse number 28. Right, you know that verse? It says, and we know, what do you know? And we know that all things, some things, The things that are good in my life, that's easy to see. What about the bad things that we don't like? It says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So how does that happen? God has to be involved in your life. He's working the circumstances of your life. It's another verse. I'm going to read to you Job chapter 23. Job chapter 23 and verse number 8 through 10 and then verse 14. 8 through 10 and verse 14. Behold, he said, I go forward, and he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where doth he work, but I cannot behold him? He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. Right? So what is Job saying? Remember the condition of Job. Lost his family and all of the things that he had and he's lying there in poor health and he's saying, I can't see what God's doing. Have you ever felt like that? This is rough waters. I can't tell what God is doing in my life. I look to my right hand and I can't perceive him. Biblically, I believe he's there, but I can't with my eyes understand. I'm in a terrible way. The next verse, it says there, verse 10, but he knoweth the way, that path or steps, he knoweth the way that I take. Precious verse. And he says, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Amazing verse that God says, Job is lying there and he says, I can't see him, but when it's all over with, what God is doing will be better than anything I could ever do. You might feel that way now. The troubles that you've come here with, the problems that you carry, the disappointments, the discouragements, maybe just the drudgery of the duty that you're saying, man, it's not worth it or it's not working out, but you can say with Job, I know there's a God who's working all things for my good and when I'm done, when he's done with this trial, I'm gonna come forth better than I ever have been. Do you really believe that? And then in verse 14 it says this, for he, God, performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him. A direct verse that says completely and without any kind of hidden words that God directs the steps of a Christian. Even when you make mistakes, God is always there. If you're repentant, God will pick the pieces up and put you back together. I mean, he doesn't leave a Christian despondent. You're his, you're the apple of his eye. You're the precious one in his sight. He is walking and working that your life might come to a place that he wants you to be. Praise God, you're not alone ever. Not ever alone. Jeremiah 29, verse number 11. Jeremiah 29, verse 11. It says there, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, God says. He says, I know these thoughts, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. God has an expected destination for your character, for your life, for your family, for your marriage. Every part of your life, God has a place and a time, and He's been long supervising the circumstances and the events of your life, protecting and helping, not coddling, because He's developing a character in you And he has been working and maintaining all of this and orchestrating it, because he has a place where he wants you to be. He has an end. Christlikeness is really what we get to. And that's found in Romans 8, verse 29, for whom he did for Noah to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So God has a place that he wants you to go. What about Psalm 68, verse 19? Psalm 68, verse 19. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah. Now, think about that. We're not talking about some God that, like a deist, that starts everything, called the clockmaker God, started the world and then he left it go to run on its own and it's going a bad direction. Right? Sin has corrupted the world and it is going in a bad direction. And the Lord is orchestrating things in that wicked world for your benefit. And he's coming again to settle all of the problems. In other words, to a Christian, every day should be a day of rejoicing in the Lord. Because God is working this out. You say, but you don't know the disappointment that I faced yesterday. But God does. And he promises he's working things out, good and bad, working them out for your good, for God's good in your life. And he does it daily. He doesn't skip a day. You have your New Year's resolutions all written out? I do. I have a little list of things. This is the year, right? Whatever, whatever your resolutions are. I'm not gonna miss a day working out. I can tell you I'm gonna miss a day working out. I might miss tomorrow. No, I'm just kidding. Wayne and I, that's why he's laughing. We say we work out together. Edna, do we work out? I did 50 sit-ups yesterday. We drink coffee twice a week. That's right. But have you ever started like I'm gonna work out every day and how long before you miss? Do you know God never missed a day loading your life with benefits? He doesn't miss a day. His mercies are brand new every day. I've gotta hurry, I've gotta hurry. Philippians 1.6, you know this, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Is he a God somewhere out there? No, he's a God that's involved in my very life. And then Hebrews 1.14, it's a very interesting passage. You write down the verse and look it up later. Hebrews 1.14. He's talking about angels and how Jesus is superior to all of the angelic beings because he's God. But what he says in there, he says, are they not, talking about angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? What does that mean? That God has been governing your life and picking you up and protecting you. to bring you to the point of salvation. And he uses the angelic host at his disposal to accomplish this. It's amazing to me. Why would God care about a guy like me? A cops kid from Cleveland, Ohio. Why would God be interested in, but I'm looking back and I'm saying that there are stories and I'm gonna give you a few stories to give you some examples of God at work in a person's life because God is not just abstract, God is real and here and he wants you to love him with all your heart, soul, and mind and he's protecting you for that purpose. It's exciting. even before you were saved. And then we go back to Psalm 37 verse 23, where it says, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. You read that other part that continue to reading, he's gonna talk about it. Even if you fall, you'll be not utterly cast down. God is loving, he delights in your daily walk. Right? Now, so much for those who don't believe there's a God, there's too much evidence of things that we could say, oh, that just happened to be. No, it didn't happen to be. If those events in my life or your life or in our country's history would not have been, there would not have been a country or there would not have been us here today. You know, if it weren't for Christ protecting us, we'd probably have long self-destructed and died. Do you believe that? There are events that we could point at in history. Now here's what I really, I'm fascinated with history. You know that I study history and so forth, but I think you know there are things in history that point. to the intervention of God in a way that you could say, oh, that was just happenstance, if you want to believe that there's no God, but you'd have to believe that against a lot of evidence and some very sincere reports. One example that, I'll just bring one example from history, but you remember that long before the revolution, we had the war of 1812, we had a battle that was going on in Fort Duquesne, and there was a young, major in the Virginia militia that was sent to accompany the British general, General Braddock. And really what becomes a massacre of Braddock and his army in 1755 in this particular battle, they're attacked by the Indians working in conjunction with the French in this battle. And, you know, they basically, they're massacred. I mean, General Braddock is killed and so forth, but what happens in that battle is that Washington ends up with four musket shots right through his own coat. but not one of them hit him. Two horses were killed while he was riding them. They were shot out from underneath him. Why? Well, because if, whatever you believe about history, but this is true whether you believe it or not, I could prove it. No George Washington, there's no revolution. Without him, we do not get through Valley Forge, right? We would have turned it over to what? Benedict Arnold to be our leader. It would have been a mess. And God knew what he was doing, and even probably before he was saved, because as I've told you, he wasn't baptized by the Baptist preacher John Gano to the middle of the war for independence. Here is a man who is indispensable to that in all human relationships, and God says, hey, I'm gonna send you to your battle to get some experience. Now listen to this. There's a report that I read, and I copied it out of a history book I was reading. And it's recorded in a book called God and American Independence. The legendary story is related by an old Indian chief present at this battle. And he came to pay his last respects to Washington. And he says the following words, and this is what's recorded, seeing you were under the special guardianship of the great spirit, we immediately cease to fire at you. I am old and soon will be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me to speak in the voice of prophecy. He says, listen, the great spirit protects that man, he pointed to Washington. and guides the destinies, he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of heaven, who could never die in battle. And I can't explain the origin of what he knew, like he worshiped what he called the great spirits of the heaven, but I can explain to you that God governed what happened in that man's life because of the importance of his work. But I want you to go back in, we could go through history. If you like that Light in the Glory book by Josh McDowell, you can read about the historical things that are unexplained that God did intervening in history to provide for his people. But I wanna draw your attention to your life. And again, it's a different type of message. It's kind of what I'm saying for the looking forward to the new year as we conclude with a few points after I tell you a few stories. But do you not see the hand of God in your life? I was recently talking with my dad because as he's getting older and he has Parkinson's now and he's just been diagnosed. And so he's telling stories that he didn't tell before. And I think he knows that those stories are not always gonna be available to him. I'm gonna share a couple things with you. When my dad was in Vietnam, and he was there in Saigon, and he was stationed at the Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon, which was really not just air, but it was the central headquarters for the Air Force in Vietnam. And it had grown so many people in that particular base, that they had rented hotels down the streets for the officers. And my dad's compound where he stayed had been built right outside the gates. In fact, he had to walk through a couple little villages before he'd get to where he was actually sleeping. And there was, you know, hundreds of these huts built in a compound separate from the base. And on the morning of Tet, they just had, kind of knew early in the morning, it was a very failed, very ill-planned, if you've ever read about it, it was the Viet Cong came out in their last desperate effect to try to defeat America, and it was just really poorly executed on their part. And they did breach one wall, but they never really took control of a base, and it was a failed, the whole Tet offensive was failed. But a lot of our men died and a lot of our to recapture the ground that they came and attacked. And so early in the morning when it began and it was uncoordinated and messed up, they got news that something was going on and my dad had to walk to the base and he just walked through these villages and he was all alone. And he remembers for this particular morning that in this village, he said, boy, it was kind of eerie. So there really wasn't even any dogs barking. and they had been warned that there was something going on, and he couldn't, it was very unusual. And he wasn't saved, he didn't know the Lord. But his mother had sat him on her lap and had quoted the 23rd Psalm to him, right? And he remembered it. And he told me that he started saying it in his head, and then he started saying it out loud, And then before he got to the end of the village, he said he didn't realize it, but he was probably shouting it. And he got to base, and the sergeant that he met right there said, asked him, well, how did you get to the base? You know, they had provided transportation for the others, apparently, another way. And he said, well, I came the normal way. And he said, that village is just, there's no village, it's all full of Viet Cong. You just walked right through the enemy base, the enemy camp, and we don't even know why you're alive. Right? Can you not see God protecting your life before you were saved? And in this case, to tell you that there are other things that have been accomplished with, like I have a sister that's in full-time service, and the ministries that God's allowed us to do, and then now two of my sons going into the ministry, and you say, well, God had a plan. God was doing something, and to do that, he had to take this inner city kid from Cleveland, Ohio. My dad grew up with, and his parents didn't even own a car. They took public transportation everywhere they went, and this kid from Cleveland comes out to the military, and he ends up being totally protected. Hasn't God done some things like that in your life? Are we unaware? As that first verse we talked about, about entertaining angels and how we do that unaware. Are we unaware that God is protecting you because he has a plan? And I'll get to those points in a minute, but I want to tell you that he came home after that from Vietnam in January of 1969. And I'm going to go quick through this because you heard his testimony in July when he was here preaching. but that he was invited, he got home from Vietnam in January and my dad's telling these stories, he would always say, Don, I got a bronze star, but it was not for combat, for meritorial efforts, and it's a long story, but he took that bronze star and his dad was sick and he gave it to his dad, and his dad two weeks later passed away. But in the middle of that, the last couple of weeks, my dad's dad told him, son, you need to You've been invited to church, you need to get to church. So when he died, that put my dad seeking, and an invitation came to go to Cleveland Baptist Church. He went there on a Sunday, he was still stationed down at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, but he came up and he went, because his parents were in Cleveland, he went to the Cleveland Baptist Church, heard the gospel, should have gotten saved, didn't come forward, maybe that's you, maybe you should come forward to get saved and you're afraid, He went back to the Air Force Base, spent that week thinking, man, I'm gonna die, and if I die, I'm gonna go to hell. He didn't know how to get saved, and he thought he had to be in church, so the very next opportunity was Easter Sunday, 1969, and he gets up there, and the first church service was, they had a sunrise Easter Sunday service, like at seven o'clock in the morning, and Roy Thompson preached, and he walked down the aisle. He said he's not even gonna wait, and he just walked down the aisle in his uniform, and one of the men there, Bob Folger, met him there and showed him how to get saved. Now you've heard that testimony about the way that God directed all of that. Can you not see that God, you could say it all happened by chance, but I can say that God had a plan. Because then he stayed that night, went to the evening service, and then he drove back to the air base, and he had to be there, what, by midnight or something, I don't remember exactly what he said. And he gets to that air base, which after the war they named it Eddie Rickenbacker Air Base, and then today it's not even owned by the government, it's privately owned property. But he got there and he checked in, and there's a sergeant at the base whose name was Brother Green, What was his first name? He became a family friend to my parents and I probably only met him, Bill Green. And this man was standing there and he's got the book to sign in apparently, okay? So however they did it in 1969, some of you are in the military since then and things are a lot different now in the digital age. But he's signing in and he looks down and the man that's signing him in has a Bible on his desk. And he said, that's a Bible. Of course, Bill Green said, yes, it's a Bible. He said, I got saved today at Cleveland Baptist Church. And it's amazing to me. You see, how many Christians, people get saved, and for a while, without being grounded in the faith, they sort of wander, don't they? They sort of float, they become vulnerable. But this man, Bill Green, was not only saved, but according to 2 Timothy 2, verse 2, where it says, and the things that thou hast learned of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. He had committed his life on that base to disciple other young saved soldiers. And he told my dad, he said, we have a Bible study every Monday night. And so then the next night, my dad gets done with his duties and he goes out to this Bible study. And for the next 10 months that my dad was going back and forth, coming to Cleveland on Sunday for church and then going down and signing in, every Monday night for 10 months, this man taught him how to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. How does that happen? You can say that just was chance. Somewhere you have to realize that God is doing things in your life to prepare you for something. And these stories get to be exciting, but I think they ought to be written down. They ought to be stories in your life that you have and you say, in my family, this is what happened. Like you go a few years ago, like, by the way, Bill stood up for them in the wedding about a year and a half later, my dad and my mom were married at Cleveland Baptist Church. you know, Bill was part of their wedding. He stayed a family friend for like a decade. Now you go down to 1981, I'm already born, you know, and I'm just like seven or eight years old, and 1981, I guess I'd be seven. In August, my mom had a baby, my little sister was born, and she was like six weeks premature, and us that are older will remember that President Kennedy had one of his babies born and died, if you remember that, I don't know. My sister was born with the same problem that this baby was born with, and she's in an incubator. The doctors got my father and my mother and said, you know, if she lives, we don't think she's gonna make it, but she'll be brain dead or have brain problems, damage, and she might be palsied. They gave them a list of things. Now we have a despondent father, scared. And have you ever been that way? You can say this just happened, but they're down at the Rainbow Children's Hospital, right? In Cleveland, very famous children's hospital there. I remember going there as a little kid looking over and seeing my little sister, and when she'd breathe, every time she'd take a breath and she'd let it out, her lungs would collapse. That's how serious it was. She's just not gonna make it. And so, The doctors go home that day, and my dad's still there. I'll get serious. You know, when my dad was, maybe I should skip this story. He was leaning there outside the room, looking in the glass. A couple of older nurses came out, right? older nurses, and they said, Are you? Are you? Butch Whitaker? They recognized him from the old neighborhood. His mother, my grandmother had been a pediatric nurse at Metro Hospital for 40 years. They had worked with my grandmother. How does that happen? They just happened to be there that night. So they realized something that the doctors are overlooking, and especially at that time. When your babies are born, they recognize the touch of a mother and a father. They know, and it makes the world. And against the policies of the hospital, these two nurses that knew his mother, my dad's name is Donald, but they always called him Butch, like all my cousins called him Uncle Butch. And they took him in there, scrubbed him up, against policy, they stuck his arms in that incubator. Sorry. Not only did she get well, he fell asleep that night, all night. holding her. No brain damage, no palsy. Why? Because God wanted to put her into full-time ministry and become an English teacher at a Bible college. Did she teach you kids English? My sister was their English teacher at Bible school. Say, does God have a plan? God has a plan for your life. Things that could not happen unless God would directly reach down from heaven and come down and grab something in your life and say, I've got to fix this. I've got to catch you. I've got to stop you. Because God has an expected end. God has a plan for your life. In my life I don't have, I'm gonna stop the stories, but I have a memory of being a teenage young man wanting to serve the Lord but facing all the temptations that are out there. And this is one thing I've always been baffled with is that there were plenty of times when I would have done anything wrong. It's like I didn't care, I just didn't feel like it. And then there were plenty of times when I was wanting to be right with God. Do you feel that way sometimes? And I felt that way as a teenager. And I look back and I realized something that in the times when my heart wasn't really right with God and I wasn't really caring, the opportunity to cast my life past the point of no return just wasn't there. And then on the other side, every time there was an opportunity to ruin my testimony or make it impossible, like disqualify me from being a pastor someday, and there were opportunities, and there were things that I could explain to you that probably happened to a lot of people that could have been the end of the possibility of serving God. This heart wanted to be right with God, and it could have been right, and it was right in front of me, but I chose to follow God, and I can't explain to you why. I just know that when the opportunity was there, my heart wanted God, and when my heart wasn't right, the opportunities weren't there, and it's because God has a plan for your life. This isn't just haphazard. The providence of God and the devil is doing everything he can to throw obstacles in the way. He'll cause little misunderstandings to become the basis of people that run away from a church or leave the path of God and they do things all because the devil is trying to stop the progress of God in your life or in your family. There are times that I could tell you about that I, they ought to be part of your family, these stories. I'm saying you have them. We don't even know it. We get to heaven, we're gonna realize how many of those angels were unawares. Like the time that I barely escaped an attack from a hippopotamus in the country of Botswana. I mean, as close as I ever came to dying. And running through my head was my family and my friends are gonna laugh at me to take a hippopotamus to kill that fat guy. But these things that God did, Because God has a plan. Now my points here, let me give you four points. Let me just wrap this up and I'll just read these to you. Number one, because of this knowledge that God is doing great things in your life personally, it brings peace. Peace about what? Well, because the work of God is his work. When you come to understand it more fully and you see the picture at the other side and you say, oh, I can see why God was doing that. You don't understand now, like the worst thing, like the circumstances are terrible, the trials you're facing, they seem like, man, why is this happening to me? But someday you can look back at it and say, I can see what God wanted to be done. Like those that go through great trials. Why did God allow me to go through problems, you might say. I'm talking about your life. Some of you have been through some difficulties that are just hard to explain. Some difficulties that if you would look back and you say, there was no reason, I've been mistreated, I've been mishandled, you were abused, there were problems in your life, and you're gonna look back one day, one day, maybe you can now. And you could because what God did through that at the very least, that he brought you to the other side, so that when you can look out here and you can say, I'm looking at a whole city here of people that are hurt and abused, and they have no hope. And I was there. And God was preparing me to be a witness and a help to people that I other people can't relate to. God is at work in your life preparing even the worst things that are you're facing. can be because all things work together for good. So the pastor's wife in Belize, Mrs. Tara Blanco, went through a time in her life before she was married and she was suicidal. She talks about these ideas, but there have been times when I was pastoring that church and she was in the church and there were people that we'd come across that were in this same point of despair And I could tell him that God loves him. But when she pulls her sleeves back, puts her arm down there and say, come and feel the scars. Where she tried to take her life. The young girls that come out of that despair can relate to what she went through more than I can preach a thousand sermons to try to reach them. So the worst time of her life becomes a rescue for the many young people who are at a point of giving up their great gift of God's life and harming themselves because she could say, I was there! So you look at your life and you say, I don't know why I'm going through this. And what is going to happen in 2024? We don't know. It's kind of the purpose of this is to look forward to what God wants. So the trials you'll face today or tomorrow or next month or next year. The fact is, friend, God has a plan. And there's peace knowing that it's in God's hands. That everything that comes my way has to get God's permission like they did with Job. Satan had to get God's permission to come only so far. And God drew a line. And so he protects his Christians. And when the devil wants to destroy you, God says, stop right there. You can go no further. So that everything that does come my way, I can trust God that he'll give me the strength to overcome. Because he'll stop the devil before it's too much for me. I can also know at peace in my heart that it's up to Him. That wherever I am, in Pocatello or when I was in Belize or in Indiana, in ministering, in this life, whatever it is, where God put me is God's design. So my second point, not only peace, but it's also purpose. You look around and you say, what is all this worth? It's because God saw in you enough to die for you. It took every drop of his blood that was shed to wash away your sins. We're not supposed to be full of pride ourselves. That's not the issue. The issue is God sees value in your own life, and you may not see value. You may wonder if it's worth it. You may say, I feel like giving up and just giving in to the sin and the temptation the devil has there. But listen to me, it is worth it. God has got a plan for your life. He has something he wants you to do. It's God's will. It is God's will. The opportunities missed. The regret that all of us have. Come on, all of us deal with some kind of regret. Right? Y'all deal with regret. I do a lot of people, regret is enough to get them to stop doing something for God because you say, I can't get over the fact that I am not where I could have been. I'm not serving as I could have been because I have something in my past that's a big regret. And God says I'm bigger than your mistakes. And I can use your mistakes for my glory. Because He loves you. It's not just talk. The providence of God, it deals with peace and it gives us purpose. God's will for your life. And you better get what that will is and get it done. You say, what drives you? God called me to fulfill His will like He did you. And before I see Him face to face, I want to get that job done. That's the focus. Colossians 1 says that God would give you wisdom in his will, that you might seek the will of God and get the pathway done in God's will. So friend, listen to me. There's a purpose for why you're here. You didn't just wander here. You didn't just happen to be here. God has a plan for you. He has things he wants you to learn from the Bible. He wants a message of the Holy Spirit, and he wants to send you out like an arrow in battle that we're to accomplish God's work. in whatever particular place God wants you to be encouraged. That's not you doing that, that's God. Thirdly, there's pleasure. The providence of God involves or reveals the pleasure he takes in his creation. The word provide, and I just tell you that it means that God's gonna not only foresee, but anticipate things for you. Right? So it's not just that God takes your hand and you're both discovering the path of life. It's that God goes before you and he puts those things in your way. He gets rid of stumbling blocks. He puts bridges where there needs to be bridges. He protects you. He tells the Viet Cong, you can't touch this guy. He tells the Indians, quit shooting at George, you can't kill him. Right? And he's doing it for your life because he cares about you, but because he has a purpose for you, and his purpose is for his great pleasure. You are his focus. What a joy. What a joy. He superintends. He preserves. He guides. Just in one sense, listen to this. As long as I live in that will of God, Until God's done with me, I am indestructible. Now, I could go and sin, and my sin could lead me to God's chastening, right? But if I live in the will of God, the devil and all of hell can do their best. But if I'm living in the will of God, there's something there that says the whole world could fall apart, but I'm gonna do the will of God. I am right where God wants me to be. And the last thing. peace, purpose, pleasure, and then we have to end with praise. Just as the manufacturer of a tapestry, one time Debbie and I took a trip and we were over in Ephesus. And when you come into the port there, I forget the name of the town, there's all these people there to sell all their trinkets. And of course, you're in the area there, not far from Persian, and every other place was like these Persian rugs. And I was so broke, I couldn't buy anything, but they're coming up, my friend, my friend, come and look at this. And what was unique to see is that every rug was different. And they were saying, my niece, she made this, took her six months. My daughter, she made this one, it took her a year. Right? Nobody goes to the rugs and says, wow, rug, you're awesome. Right? They're looking at the person who made it saying, wow, look what you accomplished. And they were beautiful, silk rugs and everything. We bought one about this big. That's all I can get. Now listen to me. God is using your life for his purpose. and he is making it. You say, I've made some mistakes or I've had some real problems. Hey, it's not done yet. Might be some dark thread going through right now. But I promise when God gets done, it's gonna be beautiful. And then we can look to God and say, glory to God. Because only that loving, caring God can pick up a worthless sinner like me. and find something good, put it there, and fashion my life to make it please Him. Is God working directly in your life? Without a doubt, with each one of you. Saved or if you're not saved? You say, what do you mean? Well, if you're not saved, God is working in your life. You didn't just happen to come here. He's bringing you to know Him. Not trying to convince you of something in your head. It has to be much more. It has to be Jesus meeting you in your heart. He is bringing you to him. Christian, the message as I started was meant to be an encouragement to you. The things that you're planning to do for God, that God has laid you on his heart, it is well worth it. Doing the will of God, resisting temptation, obeying the word of God, These things that sometimes we feel like, wow, it's a lot. Or sometimes we feel like Job, I can't see him, where's God? I don't know what's happening. God says, because I'm producing gold, and it's gonna take some pressure, but I've got you. And we, in our response to this, is to praise God, of course, to have peace, to understand the pleasure of God. These things are true, to know the purpose of God. But as I said earlier, the only thing standing in the way is your will. What God wants to have done in your life and where you are today, the only thing that's gonna prevent that is right here in your heart. And what God says, from all the way in the book of Proverbs, he says, my son, he says, here, give me your heart. Give me your heart. And if you'll give me your heart and let go of it, I'll make something that one day you'll look back on and you won't be able to find words, you'll just be able to say, look what God has done. And you, if you're skeptic, you could say, oh, that all just happened to be. You didn't live it. I know God's protected us. Every head bowed and every eye closed today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please bless this invitation. I pray that we'd have some response, Lord, to you in our hearts and pray that it would be serious. That we'd prepare for the new year with a purpose to live for you, to find your will and to do it. Use this invitation. With your heads bowed and eyes closed, is there anybody here that'd say, Pastor, if I died today, I don't know if I'm going to heaven, but I'd like to. I'd like to have that assurance that if I died, I know I'm going to heaven and I want to be saved. Is there anybody like that? Would you lift your hand up that I can see your hand? Thank you. I see that hand. I'd like to show you how to be saved in a few minutes. Thank you. I see that hand. Anybody else? I need to be saved. I see that hand. God bless you. Anybody else? Anybody else? In a few moments, we're going to have a time of invitation. I will pray for you, but I can't get saved for you. but I can show you how to be saved. And if you're a man or a lady, we'll have ladies and men that are waiting to show you how to come to Christ. And if you're ready to be saved, you can be saved today. But I'd like you to respond to the Lord. He's worked all this out. You didn't just happen to come here today. You are here because God governed and he is working on your behalf towards salvation. Christian, are you here today? Say, pastor, the Lord touched my heart. I want to be encouraged to do the will of God. Pray for me as I seek in twenty twenty four to give everything to God. Would you raise your hand that I can pray for you? Thank you. I see that hand. Thank you. I see some hands. OK, God bless you. And I will pray. Let's pray. Father, I pray for those that raise their hand wanting to give their lives to you in a decision as Christians to follow you, to give themselves to you, to not let our wills get in the way of what you want to do. Then I pray also for those that raised their hand that need to be saved. I pray for them especially this morning that they would respond in the invitation and this would be the day of their salvation. In your name I pray, amen. Please stand at your seats.