And that's chapter 23. And if we ever wanna go and see somebody that really went through difficult times, it was Job. And Job 23, you get a sense of what was going on in his life. So I'd like us to just give this time to the Lord. Lord, would you open my mouth? At least as I open it, Lord, would you fill it? Fill it with wisdom. Fill it, Lord, with a word in due season. Fill it, Lord, with what you want spoken today. I pray for all of us that we might have ears to hear, hearts that are ready to obey, and, Lord, that we might face the challenges that we have in our day, and to do it with joy and anticipation of your working in us and through us to accomplish your perfect will your good and perfect will. So Lord, we thank you for this time together in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Job, as most of you know, was the man that went through the worst difficulties probably that any person could go through other than Jesus himself, because Jesus suffered all things and suffered more than we'll ever understand. But when Job speaks these words, I'm gonna read it very quickly again. Job 23, eight. Look, I go forward, but he is not there. Now, Job says, I go forward, but he, that he is God. It's kind of like, I'm moving forward, but God's not there. I don't see him there. I don't sense him there. and backward, but I cannot perceive him. When he works on the left hand, I cannot behold him. When he turns to the right hand, I cannot see him. But, but, oh, I love that word. Three little letters, but it makes all the difference in the world, amen? Job says, I can't see him. I can't sense him no matter where I turn. I just don't think he's around me. I can't feel him. How many of you can identify with that at times? You're going through things and it's like, where are you God? What's going on? I can't see you. I can't perceive you. I can't, I don't have this sense of your nearness. But Job goes on and he says, But he knows, but he knows. See, we're always looking at what we know, but it's really important what he knows. He knows the way that I take. And I shall come forth. Well, actually, when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way and not turned aside. By the way, you know, sometimes we think that the Lord's not, we're not sensing the Lord because we've been disobedient or something. Now that can be true. You can lose the sense of God's presence because you've been disobedient. You can lose a sense of direction because you've been disobedient. You've not followed the Lord in something that he said to do. And he said, fine, you stay right there. And when you finally get to the place you're willing to follow what I've said to do, then you'll move on. You'll progress. You'll feel my presence. You'll sense goodness. But Job isn't in that situation. It's not because Job's done something wrong. As a matter of fact, God himself said, you know, his servant Job, he was a perfect and upright man. Although Job had flaws. Go figure that out. He's perfect and upright, and yet he had flaws. Because when he questioned God, he got to the place where he was almost getting to the point where he was really saying, God, I'm not so sure about you anymore. Yet his faith was still there. In any event, Paul says, or Paul, Job says, I've kept his way, not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandments of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Now, I'm going to try to deal with something today, but I know I'm not going to get done with it. So just be prepared for that. Next week we have worship on the square and so we'll see what our other brother says up there. I'm not sure what he's going to be preaching yet, but I know that Doug preaches a solid word from the Lord. So you'll be blessed next week up on the square. What I want to talk about this morning is this thing called uncertainty. We've been in contact with Tanya over in the Ukraine who is the young lady that we work with with Nehemiah ministries and She's asked us to do a video call on Tuesdays with her working with refugees and the first thing that we're going to be doing is working on the subject of uncertainty because they're going through a lot of uncertainties in their life over there and the complications that that brings to life is And so some of the things I'm sharing with you now come out of our thoughts about that. So let's look at this word uncertainty. One of the things that Jesus says is, he says in Luke's gospel that men's hearts will fail them for fear of things that are coming upon the earth. Now, If I'm reading the climate right, the spiritual climate right, I sense that there's a lot of people, a lot of people, who are fearful, anxious, worried, and part of that, the main part of that is not because they've done something necessarily wrong. but because of the days that we live in are days of uncertainty. Uncertainty is when you can count on certain things, when you can count on certain things being a certain way. And we all like routine, we all like things to flow easily, don't we? We all like it to be, you know, I know where I'm going, I know if I do this, this is gonna happen. We like it when there's, a perception of if I do this, this will happen. But in our day, what's happening is you can do all the right things and it seems like out of nowhere comes chaos, pain, difficulty. And it seems like nothing is certain anymore. I mean, just think, and I'm not trying to get you on a downer, okay? That's not my purpose of this. My purpose is we're gonna go somewhere with it, but before you can solve a problem, you have to know what the problem is. Before you can fix a car or a motorcycle or anything, you have to be able to diagnose this is the issue with it before you can bring a remedy to it. Now, I think all of us in here would agree that we have been through and are going through right now, some of the most uncertain times that we've had in our lifetime. I mean, everything from COVID, you know, what is it? Where'd it come from? How do you fix it? Do I have it? Did I have it? What'll be the result of it? Is there a long-term issues? I don't know. It's uncertain. What about the vax? I get a vax. What kind of a remedy does it bring or what kind of a problem does it bring? We really don't know. You look at the economics of today. You know, the dollar at one time was a pretty secure instrument. Right now they're talking about the possibility of China. becoming the monetary standard in the world, which means if the dollar stops being the standard that's used throughout the world, the dollar will be worth very little. Your savings, my savings, your 401k, the things that you are relying on, trusting will be there. Suddenly there's the thought of maybe it won't be there. What about social security? Great thing, but how secure is social security? Are you starting to get depressed? How secure is it? You don't know if you can go down to the mall safely anymore. Can you drive there and get out of your car, go in, come out, and be safe to get home? The uncertainty, is this person that's approaching my car, are they some nut or are they a good Samaritan telling me I've got a low tire? Uncertainty is all over the place. And when uncertainty comes, it fractures our lives. I think of relationships. One time you could pretty much count on people. You could know that here's a person that I have a friendship with, a commitment to, and they have a commitment to me, and we're friends. But now all of a sudden, for almost no reason at all, people cut off relationships. It's like, I don't want to be your friend anymore. Facebook is the worst of all. You look at young people and how much they're facing right now with just rejection. One minute somebody's their friend and the next minute they're being called all kinds of names. Who can I trust? And with that uncertainty comes fear. Fear of trusting, fear of moving on with people, fear of investing, fear, and so fear and worry begin to take hold of us. And we're in a day today like never before where fear, is ruling and it's, I think, mainly because of uncertainty. The uncertainty of politics. You think somebody wins and they don't win. You think somebody else will be a good candidate and they turn out to be a flop. The uncertainty of your taxes. Oh, how much will you pay this year? I was talking to somebody the other day, I was talking with Sherry about how to give their kids a lesson on taxes. You know how to give your kids a lesson on taxes? What you do is you take them down here to King Cone and get them a banana split with three scoops of ice cream, you know? And then, before they start to eat it, you take a third, one of the scoops completely out, and a third of the whatever it is, chocolate cherries or whatever it is, you just scoop it out and say, there, that's what taxes is all about. That'll teach them real quick. Well, the wars, the rumors of wars, the things that are happening in Ukraine and around the world. And you say, well, pastor, why are you giving us all this bad news? Because you hear it every day. And to hide your head in the sand and pretend that it's not there. I hear some people say, well, I don't watch the news because it's always bad stuff. No, it's the stuff that's happening. And for some of us, we don't want to hear those things because it upsets us, it stirs us up. Well, have you ever thought that maybe God wants you stirred up? Have you ever thought of the blessing of uncertainty? When you're unsure about things, that can either be a blessing or a curse. It depends on how you deal with it. Matter of fact, that's pretty much true in most of life. Sex can be a great blessing. Ask any husband and wife who are madly in love with each other. Great blessing. It can also be a curse. Ask anybody who's had an STD. Ask anybody who's had a situation in their marriage where there was an infidelity. See, sex can be a great thing or it can be a bad thing. Money can be a good thing or it can be a curse. One of the things that Paul talks about in First Timothy, as he talks about money and riches and the deception of riches, and actually he uses a word, uncertainty of riches. And so we have Our lives being shaped many times by these uncertainties, these things that we have no control over, and really, we don't have any control over. There's some things that you can do, that you have control over, but some things you have absolutely no control over. None, zero, zilch, nada. So how do you deal with those things that you have no control over? Is there a solution to it? Well, yeah, there is. Jesus talked about it often. In fact, Jesus talked about it so often, and yet you'd be surprised at the times Jesus talked about things and people just didn't hear him. I want you to go to a chapter in Luke's gospel, I think it is. I'm not sure right now. I think it's Luke 12 or 13. Hold on. Well, no, I want to, like I said, this is not going to be a completed message today. So you're going to hear most of the bad news today. Which means you're gonna have to come back for the good news later on. Okay, or you'll stay depressed. No, I'll give you a little bit of good news. Jesus is Lord, that's the best news you'll ever hear. I'm gonna go to verse one. I'm gonna read a whole bunch of scripture here. Not because I have nothing else to do, but because it's just, I think we need to hear the word of God more than me. Chapter 12, Luke's Gospel, verse one. In the meantime, oh, you got it up there? I'll read it up there because it's easier for me to see up there. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they had trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Go on, just keep going as soon as I'm done reading it, okay? For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. By the way, that's just something to throw in your memory banks. There's nothing in your life that's hidden that won't sometime be revealed. That can be scary unless it's covered by the blood of Christ. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and whatever you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. You know, you may think, Oh, I don't want to imitate our president. No, I'm sorry. Oh, I did it again. Purr. No, but you can whisper in somebody's ear in the central room in your house and you think nobody hears. There's no mics there. You know, we're not living over in the former Soviet Union where every room is mic'd. But God hears. He heard what you said this morning when you were getting up. He heard what you said to your husband, to your wife, to your kids, to your parents. He heard it. And not only did he hear it, unless it's covered by forgiveness and grace, unless it's covered by the blood of Christ, it's gonna be heard by everybody. Well, that ought to be enough to take us home. Depressed or repentant, right? one of the two. It will be proclaimed on the housetops. I say to you my friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and that have no more that they can do. Don't fear them. But I will show you whom you should fear Fear him who after he is killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Do you think that's a pretty serious subject Jesus is talking about? Don't be afraid of people. People can only do so much to you. But once your life is over, they can't do another thing. But God, after your life is over, You see, we never really die. We live someplace. We either live with him or separated from him. We live either in glory or we live in misery. So this is an important subject Jesus is talking about. Are not five sparrows sold two copper coins and not one of them is forgotten before God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore, You who are more valuable than many sparrows. You get in a sense that you've got some value before God? Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. You think that's a pretty important subject right there? Pretty important. Now, when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Don't make a lot of plans about what you're going to say because they may not answer you the questions you've already got the answers for. Trust God. Rely on God. Lean upon the Lord. Let your thoughts be captured by the goodness of God and the presence of God, even when you can't feel him. Then one from the crowd said to him, now this is the point I want us to see. Then one from the crowd said to him, teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. I would be asking Jesus about all these kinds of things. Like, what about this thing about blaspheming the Holy Spirit? I think I'd be asking a question about that. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you have some questions about, well, Lord, how are you going to take care of us? How are you going to provide for us? What about when we go and people are persecuting us or doing things to us? I'd want to know some answers to that. I think they're pretty important. But this man, he lays aside everything Jesus has been talking about because he is concerned. He's concerned about one thing, his inheritance. And when you're concerned about one thing, it's very easy to set aside numerous other things that are far more important See, he had uncertainty in his life. He wasn't sure what's going to happen. He knew what was happening right then. He knew he wasn't getting his one third of the inheritance, which was usually the proportion they'd get. And so he comes to Jesus to get his problem fixed. But he said to him, man, who made me or a judge or an arbiter over you? By the way, the answer to that is the father did. But Jesus is basically saying, who am I that I'm supposed to speak into this situation? And he said to them, them meaning not just this man, but all of those that were around listening to him, to them, take heed and beware of covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Okay, I'll say the same thing to you, take heed. Your life, my life, it doesn't, it's not in the things that we possess. It's not in the size of the house, the car, our education, it's not in this, it's not in anything that we have. Our health, don't trust in your health. Your health is uncertain. Just ask some of the people in our congregation who are godly prayer warriors. lovers of God whose health went down the tubes in just a short time and on the verge of death. We can't trust in our health. You may be, you may be built like Brendan over here, you know, Mr. America Jr. or something. I know, I shouldn't puff him up, right Katie? Right, okay, I won't do that. But you know, your health is not guaranteed. I found that out. I was a fairly strong, even though I'm an older man, I was a fairly strong man until COVID hit. And now I have trouble standing at times. Is my faith weak? No, my God's just as strong as he's ever been. And I'm trusting him that he'll take me through this season. Just like he'll take you as you rely upon him. But what Jesus is saying is, look, your life, it's not wrapped up in what you have. You know why? Because what you have is uncertain. It has no foundation whatsoever as far as eternity. It has no foundation as far as something that cannot be moved or shifted. But that's why people are having problems. Because we're thinking of things as being certain, instead of just believing what God says, things are not certain. Except one thing, God Himself. He never changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love never changes. His justice never changes. His mercy never changes. His kindness never changes. His fidelity towards his people never changes. Great is thy faithfulness, O God. That's the reason why we're not consumed. So Jesus goes on a little bit further and he says this. Then he spoke a parable to them, saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this. I'll pull down my barns and build greater barns and there I will store all my crops and my goods. Boy, I'm certain I'm going to have this for a long, long time. And I will say to my soul, soul, You have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But what does God say? But God said to him, fool, I don't know about you, I don't like being called names. But I sure wouldn't want to be called that name by God. Fool. This night, Your soul, that soul that you thought had a lot laid up for it, that soul that you thought had plenty of stuff, this night your soul will be required of you. It's required. By the way, when something's required it means, it means just what it says, it's required. You can't get out of this. When God says your number's up, guess what? Your number's up. You can't change that. Now I know, I know Hezekiah in the Old Testament. I know he was told he was going to die and he prayed and God gave him that extra time. That's the only guy in the Bible I know about. And God had a reason for it. this night your soul will be required of you. Then the question is, and then whose will those things be which you have provided? Who will have your stuff? Who will have all your junk? Who will have to clear out the closets? Who's going to be fighting about it? This is mine. No, that's mine. Mom said I could have it. No, dad said I could have it. Who's going to get your stuff? You've got no control over that. You say, well, I've got a will in place. You know, wills get contested a lot. There's very, very much uncertainty in that. You think you're going to inherit mom and dad's money? Think again. Uncle Sam may get all of it. And you're waiting for that because you've got bills to pay. I think I'm speaking to somebody online right now more than here, but, so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Jesus uses a parable to talk about stewardship and to talk about not trusting in riches, but the fact is, He's bringing into this, this very issue of uncertainty. You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. And neither do I. And every one of us are in that same situation. We don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. And the more things that pile on, the more things that come our way, the more things that frustrate us, the more things that change our plans when we didn't intend to change our plans, The more the pressure comes, the more the uncertainty comes. And with that uncertainty comes anxiety, worry, fear. So what do you do about it? Well, I'm gonna give you a verse. Now, by the way, I hate it when preachers or counselors or anybody just, you know, pop a scripture pill to you. Now here, here's a pill. Take this pill just and that'll fix it all. No. The scripture is the answer. That's true. The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God and the Word of God together. Those two things are the solution to every problem. Every problem. I don't care what it is. God's Spirit and His Word will fix it. But you have to do it God's way and in God's Spirit. So I know I did something I should never do because I tell people never to do it themselves, and that's to take a verse of Scripture and use it out of context. Jesus was not talking about uncertainty, although there was uncertainty in the verse. Right? So now, what do you do? Most of you know that scripture of Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. We're going to kind of take that as a base, but then here's where I intend to go, just so you know. Next week we're meeting up on the square for worship. The following week I hope to take this particular issue of uncertainty and worry and fear and anxiety and break it down on how you can overcome it, how you can deal with it in your own life, how you can help your kids because right now Children and young people are going through tremendously difficult times of uncertainty. And we have to be able not to put on a face and make like, everything's wonderful. We need to be able to say, you know, life is tough, but God is tougher. Life is difficult. Jesus said that. We shouldn't paint rose colored glasses on their glasses. Life is tough. and it's going to get tougher. But the people of God can get stronger. We, by the grace of God, can be strong enough to stand in a day of adversity, a day of uncertainty. We can do that in God's strength. Now, I was going to name this message, The Blessing of Uncertainty. You say, why is uncertainty a blessing? Very simply this. It forces us to cry out to God. We come to the end of ourself. We say, I cannot handle this. I don't know what to do. And it forces us, which is a blessing, to come before the Lord. Just like Job was doing. Job was saying, I can't find him any place. But I know this. I know that when I've come through this thing, after he's tested me, I will come through like gold. The trying of your faith works patience. Patience, experience, and experience hope. The days that we are facing now and I will be facing in the future can be days of tremendous hope as we draw near to the Lord. That is our hope. So Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, I want every person in here to memorize it before next week. Every person. It's not hard. You can do it. Trust in the Lord. Put your confidence, stand firmly upon the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not some of it, not some parts, some a little over here. With all of your heart, everything that's within you, Lord, I trust you. I rest myself upon you, upon your character. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. That's where we get in trouble. We're trying to understand it all, figure it all out. We're trying to fix it all. Now, don't misunderstand me. There are issues you have to deal with in life. You have to fix certain things, but you can't fix it with your own wisdom. You can't fix it with your own strength. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding, but instead of leaning to yourself, in all your ways, all of your ways, not some of them, but in all of your ways, what? Acknowledge Him. In all of your ways, acknowledge Him. God, You are in the midst of this with me. I'm not alone. I am here in this situation, but I am not by myself. I may not feel you. I may not sense you, but the truth is it's not what I feel. It's the truth is who you are and what you've promised. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am with you always. Yes, even until the end of the age. So trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. You can go on a little bit more, but just those, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Memorize it. Not just up here. Put it in your heart. See, unfortunately, we have this capacity to know things here, but not apply them here. Giving definition to love is not the same as understanding love and practicing love. Giving definition to faith is not having faith. Giving definition to trust doesn't mean you trust it, you just know what it means. But you really know what it means when you do it. And that's what God is calling us as his people to. To be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deceiving our own selves. So I know that God has something in store for all of us. If you're in trouble in terms of worry, in terms of any area of this, of just being overwhelmed with life, I understand. This is not a put down of every one of us has faced difficulties, some far more than others. So this isn't a put down of anybody who's going through difficulties, but it is a call for us to rise up and be the men and women of God and to not let the things that overwhelm the world overwhelm us. We don't have to live that way. We can be more because we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. not just past tense, He loves us right now and He will love us into the future of eternity. So with that, I wanna let, as we're gonna call the kids in, I'm asking you, would you just commit today, Lord, teach me to trust you? Teach me how to trust you, lead me in that. That's something you can do right now. As a matter of fact, why don't we just close our eyes for a minute. Would you just, right where you are, quietly, in your own heart and spirit, Lord, teach me to trust you. I thank you that you will. I thank you that you're faithful to your promises. And so now I'm leaning on you, the best I know how. And I thank you that you will do what your word says. You will be with me. In Jesus name, amen. All right.