I was reading and I believe this was Sunday, I think it was Sunday, maybe it was Monday. We woke up with a Who Hath Believed Our Report, the Sunday school lesson that we read. We didn't teach it last Sunday, we weren't here, but it was weight heavy on our heart because there's a lot of people We've preached our heart out for many years and they don't seem to believe any of it. We got up Monday morning and this was on our mind. The Lord allowed us to read this 53rd chapter of Isaiah and the 54th as well. I don't know where to break in and where to read to, but anyhow, The Lord sent prophecy, and over and over again, you find it in the New Testament. It says, and this was done so that the prophecy might be fulfilled. But yet, if you read the prophecy beforehand, you really wouldn't even know that, in certain instances, that this was talking about the Messiah. It's in hindsight that we see it, right? But God knew. And God revealed it to his prophets. In one particular place he said, so that people might know that it was God that brought things about. That it was God that was moving and working. And so it is as we read the first part of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. The Lord shines a light on just what we needed long before he sent it. but I'm thankful that he was faithful and he sent it. So anyhow, it says, and if you're struggling with telling people the truth and them not believing it, it's been going on for a long time. The Bible says, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Well, it's revealed to them that have the faith. It's revealed to them that believe. And if you don't believe, you're never gonna be able to see the workings of God. You won't put your faith into action. You won't be moved by the Word of God because we don't believe. We don't believe what's coming to pass. The unbelief in our country is just astounding that people won't even believe what they see and they hear. Now I was raised that, and we heard this saying, don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. And I guess they're talking about now that AI technology, that artificial intelligence. The technology behind that is getting so good that there might even come a day that you won't even be able to believe your eyes if you see something, say, like on a computer screen or on television, that they can actually make people look like me or you, even, and doing things like it was being recorded. Well, you don't have to wait till then not to be able to believe because there are a lot of people today that will not believe their own eyes. They won't believe what they hear. They say it isn't true. And it's a shame, isn't it, that our government and the people within our government and even unfortunately people within the walls of the church has shattered people's trust to the point that they don't believe nothing. So it ain't even the men of God that would say who have believed our report, but there are people even today that are just, as it were, relaying the facts and people get angry because they don't want to believe a reality. They live in a world where reality is all muddled up within their persona that they have created on Facebook or anywhere else, but the Bible says who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as the root out of a dry ground, and he hath no form nor comeliness. and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our grief. and carried our sorrows yet, for we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wound for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. All we lacked, Oh, we like sheep. Hold on, I gotta wipe the tears. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. Oh, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before shears is he dumb. so he opened not his mouth, so he was redeemed. And we understand that there was those, no doubt, just like today, even maybe, when you see bad things happenin' to good people, you think that God's mad at them. No doubt they thought that the Son of God oughta been a little bit more purdy, a little bit more dynamic. Can you imagine? He come and walked on this earth and he healed the sick. He restored the sight to the blind. He made those that never able to leave their place where they sit. He straightened their legs. Oh, when hard times begin to come, They said, oh my God, he's a gimme of. As it said here, we esteemed him, strict him, smitten of God, and afflicted him. But he was smitten of God for me and you. It was for our iniquity. Oh, like sheep we have gone astray. If the Lord is walking by you today, would you just not have the faith to believe and to hear him say, when troubles come, for this I have shed my blood, I have beat thee over death, hell, and the grave, because when the Lord, and the world looked upon me and seen me stricken as it were by God. It wasn't because of my iniquity, it was for your iniquity. And yet I received it as a dumb man, though he gave speech to the dumb. Yeah, when he bore our iniquity, he could have sung like a canary and said, what are you doing? I'm doing this for you. Why do you mock me? Why do you spit on me? Why do you strike me? But yeah, he did none of that. And all like sheep, we have gone astray. There ain't one of us that is worthy of what Jesus Christ has done for us. But we can read a little further and we realize just how good a Savior he is. And for this, whatever you're struggling with, for this, He shed his blood, because every one of us, we needed him. Every one of us had turned from the way. Every one of us had an iniquity, and it was laid on Jesus so that we might be able to escape. of the death, of the crucifixion, that was rightfully ours. But you read in the 35th or in the 54th chapter, because we read a little further in our devotion, and it says, single burn, thou that steadiest not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud. Thou that didst not travail with child, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. So we understand. We went about a year, almost, until, well it was a short of a year, by a little bit. that before our wife, we knew that she was pregnant. And you know what? When we first got married, there was even those that gave us the counsel to be a little careful. You don't want your wife to get pregnant right off the bat. And then her have a baby, maybe a little early, don't carry it to full term. Because people would be counting on their fingers And then they'd go and they'd spread lies, wouldn't they? About, oh, you had to get married. Or you didn't remain. A pure, tedious man. So this had been said to me by more than one. And I thought, once you got married, maybe, that it was so easy for your wife to get pregnant. But there we was. and we was going on near a year. Then I realized maybe that it weren't God's will that we should have a child. I couldn't imagine being 53 years old, being married 26 years, a daddy and not having a child. That kind of experience, that longing for a child, that emptiness in a mother's arms has got to be something. You never know what it's like. To smell the milk, a mother's milk on a baby's breath. Until you have a baby, amen. You can smell it on other babies. But I tell you what, there's something sweet about that. We've been able to experience it. But you know what? Though there are those that are barren and they wring their hands, the Lord said, sing. So what are you gonna do? Are you gonna mourn? Are you gonna have faith? As it says here, who hath believed? Our report, and to who is the arm of the Lord revealed? It's revealed, bless y'all, to those that believe. It's revealed to those that put one foot of faith in front of another. And see, because of it, well, then, when we want them all, I'm preaching the devil to my daddy. When we want to mourn, the Lord says sing. And if we sing, we'll find a blessing. But you know what? We're thinking about that. There might be maybe something a little bit even more sore to the heart. of a husband and a wife than to be married. And that's to have a child. Them turn their back on everything they've been taught. You held them in your arms. You prayed over them. You sang to them. and you lifted up their name in prayer. Over and over and over again. And now you see, where they have no regard for the things of God. And they don't even want it for their children. Oh my, tell you what, that's something to mourn about. But the Lord wants us as well to see the Bible says here, This is enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. What he's saying is that the tent you're living in ain't big enough and you need to extend it a little bit more. You need to, with the ten, a small one catches a wind, and a bigger one catches all the more wind. So the stakes of a ten, for just two, ain't adequate enough. When the Lord begins to expand, or to expand, enlarge as it were the curtains of your tent. So it's sometimes the Lord wants us to step out on faith just like he said to the mama. that has about a child, sing to me, honey. Praise your God. Look to me. I bore your iniquity. Yes, you strayed. Yes, you were in need of a savior, and I bore the shame of it. And because of that, when we put one foot on the cross, one faith in front of another. Then sometimes the Lord begins to move on our behalf. He begins to tell us to drive them stakes a little bit deeper. You're gonna need a bigger tan, as it says here. For thou shalt break forth. On the right hand, and on the left, Jubal's been reshooting the chicken house. And he's been wanting to build him a little small shack, if you know what they call it. He was saying 12. by 18 I think it was, or maybe 12 or 16, I can't remember. But he's been siding at the old chicken house. And you know what, sometimes you can draw it out on the ground, you can draw out, but when you're looking at it out in the wide open, you don't have no concept of how big it is. Well, he said to me, I went out there, I said, Jubal, instead of building that one, when you get done the chicken house, instead of building that one, you ought to build one this size. He said, no, it's bigger. I said, I don't think it is. He said, yeah, it's 12 foot wide. Well, we measured the chicken house. Guess what? It's 12 foot wide. He said, but yeah, it's longer. I said, I don't think so. And I measured the chicken house, and it's 24 foot long. But the point being is, that's not a very big house. But for a single teenager, it'd be all right, right? You'd have a living room, and a kitchen, and a place to sleep. What about a bathroom? An 18-year-old boy. I don't need a bathroom. I told that to a man just today that you don't need air conditioning. He nearly fell back. I reckon in the last few, in the last year, he's probably spent $40,000 on a solar system big enough to run everything he wants. You know what? You can sell your sweat. For a hundred dollars a month, it'd take you a long, long time to come up with $40,000. But the point being is, we have grown so accustomed to wanting more than we need. We've become so soft that we don't even know how to live. And anyhow, but as we was talking, this is how, and this is why I'm bringing it up. I says, "'Cause once you get that built, then you can build a lean-to on the backside of that 12 by 24." And I said, and basically, you can double your living quarters. And so it is here, it says, "'For thou shalt break forth On the right hand, and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit, listen, the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. What's it talking about here? How is it that you can inherit the Gentiles? It's talking about adoption, ain't it? He was telling. of the men of God back here in Isaiah's day. Though it might look like you're barren spiritually, though it might look like that there isn't anybody that wants to have the things of God. Oh, won't you believe? Don't be like those that don't believe. Won't you? Let the Lord reveal to you my plan for your life. and my plan for your life is that you might adopt those that were not a people, those that were in desolation. And in doing so, there's joy to be had. We can read a little bit further and it says, fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forgive. of the shame of thy youth, and shall not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy maker is thine, a husband of the Lord of hosts, is thy redeemer, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called, and the Lord's Now listen, and the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth when thou wast refused, saying the Lord. The Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick. I believe that's in Proverbs. And that's what he's talking about here. The young bride, the woman that was promised, the woman that got together, no doubt her hope chest, and planned all that she was gonna do as the newlywed wife of her husband. only be forsooken or forsaken before they was married. Oh, have you ever met anybody that had that first love and it just didn't work out? And they could never, ever love another. They couldn't trust to love another. And then Jesus, praise God, come by and the woman that has been without love for 20 years, that has lived that moment over and over and over again in her mind. That one day, that changed her world. And then the Lord says, Let the God of Israel know that the God of the world would be her husband and that we could be his bride, hallelujah. I don't know what's gonna make you shout. Well, even the pearly gates make you raise your hands and say, I'm here, I'm here. And all like sheep we've gone astray, but the Lord has led us here. Hallelujah. and the maker, and thy maker is thy husband. So then, we don't need to lack anything because unfortunately my wife has been disappointed in her husband many a times. Why? Because her husband is a man. of limited resources, but when your maker is your husband, when the creator of the universe is your husband, then what do you like? What do you need that he won't provide for me and you? What is it that you find in your life that you're wanting Well, if he ain't, it might be because he said, believe. And when you didn't believe, his will wasn't revealed. Might it be because he said, believe. of let me bear your sorrows. Sing to me. And you wouldn't sing. Might it be because he said you need to go and drive the tent stakes a little deeper. But you wouldn't drive on. Why, because you didn't believe him. And you knew who he was, but you didn't, and you wouldn't believe what he'd do. over and over again in the Bible. You follow it through in the New Testament. The Lord will talk about those that believed on Him. And then just in the next chapter, just a few verses down, it'll say because of their unbelief. You know, wouldn't it be nice that when you believed, you believed everything? That's why the Bible tells us, strive to enter in. That's what Robbie Worth was teaching in one of his classes. We've got to believe the Word of God. Amen? And if we believe the Word of God, we've got to believe all of it. Because if you just believe that you need two walls to your house, well, it'll stand until the high winds come. And then you'll discover that I shoulda, I oughta believed that I needed four walls. I oughta built my house, as the Lord said. We can read a little bit further and it says, for a small moment, listen, we'll read to six and it says, for the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. See, they thought it was over, and it ain't over. They thought God was done with them, but He ain't done with them. They thought their opportunity to do as God had commanded had passed, but it says here, for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. Listen, in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Now he's making a promise to those that believe. He's telling those that have believed, he's revealing himself to them and what he's willing to do. And though he had turned his back on the nation of Israel in the past, he's making a promise to all, not only to the children of Israel, for he said he is the God of the whole earth shall he be called. The God of the whole earth shall he be called, it says in the fifth verse. And He is the Redeemer. And He has showed mercy and everlasting kindness to every one of us. And He hasn't hid Himself but for a moment. I don't care how dark it is. I don't care how forsaken you feel that you've been. It's been for a small moment. It's been but for a little while. But there is coming a day that there are those that will be forsaken by God for all eternity. Aren't you glad that if we put our trust in Him, though we might have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He's promised that He'd be there. But sometimes, and we don't feel Him. Sometimes we don't see Him. Sometimes we don't understand. And can't we be honest with ourselves and say that most of the time, and I would say maybe 99.5% of the time, It's because we ain't believed God and He's just wanting us to believe Him just a little bit more than we've been believing Him so that He might reveal Himself unto us. He wants to extend our tent on the right hand and on the left. Oh, but we've got to obey Him. We've got to drive the tent stakes a little deeper. We've got to see to it that the cords holding that tent up are strong enough. There ain't no point in giving us a bigger tent to live in. ♪ We're too lazy to drive the stakes and to tie the cords ♪ That'll hold it down when the winds of change ♪ And the winds of false doctrine go to blowin' and to goin' ♪ Pressin' against our home off of us so sore ♪ We better make sure that the Lord is the one that we look to. And if you feel like you've been forsaken, call out on him. It's just for a little while, honey. He's there for you. The Bible says. For this is as the water of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wrong with thee, nor rebuke thee. If you are obeying God, if you are one of his children, Just like he said, I'll never destroy this earth with water again. Just like he said, if you're alone, if you're feeling like I'm not near, it's just for a little bit, honey. You hold on. I won't destroy you. I made a promise. I swore by my own name. For there is no greater name given unto man But the name of Jesus, and he made true, he made us a promise that's as sure as the rainbow, don't you just hate how them old sodomites have sullied and dirtied. That glorious property don't change, does it? Though they might claim the rainbow for their perverted ways, glory to God. And that promise is still true. Every time we see that rainbow in the sky. And you know what else is true? The promise that followed up. He ain't gonna destroy this world with water again. but it'll be far the next time, and he'll do it for the same reason. He did, for Solomon Gamorrah, because of the pride, and they even called themselves Pride Month. That's why Solomon Gamorrah was destroyed, for fullness of bread, and the pride of life, and the arrogance that all comes with it. But the Lord has made a promise to me and you. This is the 11th verse. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles. Now why wouldn't he make your gates with agates? That kind of makes sense, don't it? It'd be easier to keep straight in your head. You know what's the difference between a carbuncle and a gate? I have no clue either. But these are stones. And he said, I will make thy windows of a gate. I'd say that's probably a transparent stone. But I'll have no authority. I'm not a mineralogist, if that's even a word. And I didn't know what these were. So I looked them up. You know what these stones are. These are the stones that the high priest had adorning of their breastplate. But the Lord ain't saying that. I'm going to bless you and my blessings are going to be close to your heart. Like the stones were on the breastplates of the priest. He says, I'm going to bless you. and you can take my blessings and you can build your house with them. This is something that only the high priest was able to wear, probably to afford even, on their breastplate. But listen, breastplate's important to have, ain't it? When you're in a medieval battle. But you know what's even more important than that? That's a place to live. And the Lord has said that he would take that which is precious, that which is, that he considers to be precious. And these would be blessings that we didn't earn and we don't deserve. And we can take those blessings and we can build our house with them. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shall thou be established, and thou shalt be far, listen, and thou shalt be far from oppression. For thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall, For thy sake. He's not promising us that we won't have hard times. A matter of fact, He's promising us that there's gonna be people that's gonna gather against us. But He won't be one of them and that's what we need to make sure. And that's what we want to determine in our heart and in our mind. Is that though the world be all against us, we can have the promise that God won't be against us. if He's on our side now, as long as we're on His side. And when we're doing His will, that doesn't mean tonight that I leave this house, or that a drunk driver might cross the center line and hurl me into heaven. Does that mean that Satan got victory? No, that means Daryl got victory. did it by the way of a drunkard. And so there are those that would like to destroy me and you. But we've read the end of the book. And we've read the innards of the book. And we know that God is the giver of life. God is the one that is dying for all of mankind. And if we believe, we can know his will. And if we believe and repent of our sin, we can find salvation where the world goes by and passes it and doesn't even see it for what it is. They think the things and the ways of Christ is that which is disgusting and abhorrent, but we know different. And yes, the Lord has promised us that there will be those that surely shall gather against us. But not by him, and not from him. Behold, I have created the smith, now listen. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. And that bringeth forth an instrument for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy. So he created two people here. The blacksmith, right? Or the swordsmith. Or the bronze smith. But a smithy. Created them to create weapons to destroy. And then he created the waster. And the waster is to destroy. But then listen here, it says, no weapons that is formed against thee shall prosper. and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. So what heritage do we have? Well, we have a godly heritage that his righteousness is from him, so that means that we can receive his righteousness, but the heritage, when it says this is the heritage of the servant of the Lord, and then it says and, so and's not, what follows this is not talking about the heritage. This is including the heritage, but the heritage is that every tongue shall rise against thee, and judgment thou shalt condemn. This is what, what else? No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And so, doesn't matter what is devised. I guess back then, there was, one could say that the Smith was one of the high tech fellers of the day. There was in times past during the days of judges, it even talks about, that there was foreigners that knew blacksmithing skills greater than the Israelites had, and they had weapons of war that were superior to the children of God, and because of that, because they didn't believe God, they thought that these smiths, these blacksmiths, these wasters that destroy, is going to come against us and wipe us out. But the Lord, if our heritage is God, if our heritage is His righteousness, well then, though they might intend no good to come of it, God will get the victory. We're seeing some troubled times. I was just telling a fellow some of the Current events, right? He don't listen to the news. And one day I say, oh, they shot the former president in the ear. And he said, what? And then a week goes by, then sees me again Monday. And I told him at that time, I said, I don't think it's over with. I wouldn't be surprised if Biden didn't conveniently die of a stroke. He'd stroke out or something. Well, then a week goes by and this old Biden, he didn't stroke out. But he's no longer in the race. And the guy goes, what? And whatever reason, that bummed him out. And he don't want to hear about current events no more. And I promised him I wouldn't tell him. But the point being is, is there some people that think because dark times are all around us that the dark's winning? There are some people that think because wicked people rule in high places that God's no longer in control. You're an utter fool. Jesus Christ said, when he was in the flesh, no man takes my life, I give it. Well, he's sitting now in the right hand of the Father. Well, listen, he was in full control then, and he's in full control now. He said, if my kingdom was of this world, then my children would fight. What was he talking about? It was not their job to prevent him from being crucified, because that's why he came. It was not to set up an earthly kingdom, it was to set up an eternal kingdom. And because I don't belong, as it were, to a godly, earthly kingdom. I belong to the kingdom Jesus Christ established in his death, burial, and resurrection, and that he is coming back again, I feel like, in the near future, that each and every one of us You can take part in that, and we don't have to worry. He's still in control. Even though He said, I go away, right? I would send a comforter. But we're not comforted because we don't believe. We're not comforted because we read the, I heard something just today, that in the Apocrypha, I guess there's another book of Ezra, and somebody's come forward, and I guess that somebody in this book And I've never read Apocrypha, but somebody had a dream about an eagle. And the tail feathers in that eagle was talking about all the rulers. Well, they figured out how on one side of the tail feathers, they figured out who all the rulers are. And that eagle's America. And the first feather was Herbert Hoover. And then the last one on that side was Barack Obama. And then I guess they were going to reveal or they want you to buy the book or whatever. I don't know. I just caught the tail end of it. And they was going to reveal all the feathers on the other side. Listen, if you're worried about feathers in a dream of the Apocrypha, you're probably a little sidetracked. You might want to worry about the condition of your soul. You might worry about the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the only way you're going to make it to heaven is not to figure out what the eagle signifies and what the tail feathers represent. But what's important is who is your Savior? Who is your Lord and Master? And are you belonging to His kingdom? Or are you wanting to be so intertwined with the kingdoms of this world that you won't lay down sin and follow Him? We know who wins in the end. But there might be some bumps in the road. There might be some bridges washed out. But rest assured, His children in righteousness shall thou be established. Thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. The Bible says in the last days, men's hearts will fail them. Is that talking about the children of God? Well, not if they believe. Not if they're trusting in the Lord, and no, to be absent first and foremost. To be absent from the body. is to be present with Christ. But if you don't believe that, well then you've got troubles. You might have trouble going to sleep at night. You might have trouble staying asleep at night. You might wake up in the morning. But is that how the world is? No, unfortunately. I know way too many people that ought to spend sleepless nights on their knees praying. But they sleep like tuckered out babies. Because why? They don't believe nothing. And when you don't believe nothing, you'll fall for anything. Let's get some song to sing. We want to give a