World Challenge

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
They shall know the truth, and the truth shall set
you free. Amen. Please go to Deuteronomy the thirty first chapter,
Deuteronomy thirty one. Why does God allow trouble in Christian lives?
Have you ever wondered why God has allowed so much
trouble in your life? Have you ever wondered why it

(00:21):
doesn't stop? Now? Let's see if we can find some
answers here tonight before we go to prayer. Deuteronomy thirty one,
Let's begin to read verse fourteen. Did it only thirty one?
Verse fourteen? Beginning to read, we're going to read through
verses nineteen. And the Lord said, unto Moses, behold the

(00:41):
day's approach, that thou must die. Call Joshua and present
yourselves in the tabernacle the congregation, that I may give
him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented
themselves in the tabernacle the congregation and the Lord appeared
in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud. In
the pillar of the cloud stood above the door of
the tabernacle. The Lord said, unto Moses, behold, thou shalt

(01:05):
sleep with thy fathers, and this people will rise up
and go hoaring after the gods of the strangers of
the land, whether they go to be among them, and
will forsake me, break my covenant which I've made with them,
then my anger shall be kindled against them. In that
day I will forsake them. I will hide my face

(01:26):
from them. They shall be devoured, and many evils and
trouble shall befall them, so that they will say, in
that day, are not these evils come upon us? Because
our God is not among us. And I will surely
hide my face in that day for all the evils
which they have wrought in that they have turned unto
other gods. Now, therefore, write you this song for you,

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and teach it to the children of visual put it
in their mouths, that this song may be a witness
for me against the children of Israel. Now look at me, please.
This had to be something heartbreaking for Moses. Lord's telling him, Moses,
your time is up, called Joshua, present yourself in my tabernacle,

(02:08):
and hear what's going to happen to these that are
in your flock. Let me tell you what's going to
happen when you're dead and gone. How sad Moses had
to be when he heard God say this people that
you're leading. They're going to cheat on me. They're going
to be become spiritual harlots. They're going to grow cold
towards me. They're going to turn to idolatry. My anger

(02:29):
will have to be kindled against them. I'm going to
have to turn from them. They're going to live in
trouble after trouble. In fact, trouble will befall them on
all sides. In fact, God instructed Moses to write a song.
He said, teach it to them so that they'll know
what's coming. Let them understand that there's trouble coming digital

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because of a stubbornness that's in their heart. They will
say in that day, when all the troubles that have
been prophesied come upon them, and when they're in terrible trouble,
they're going to say, in that day they will say,
are not these evils come upon us? Because our God
is not among us. They're going to feel that God

(03:13):
has forsaken them. In other words, why is it that
God allows Christians who love him to go through such trouble,
incredible trouble. Now, even overcoming Christians have trouble in their lives.
You know that Paul spoke of being troubled on every side,

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and who could be a more honest, godly man than Paul.
Paul the Apostle troubled on every side. David, a man
after God's own heart, said I am so troubled that
I can't even speak. He said, I can't look up.
He was so cast down because of the troubles that
have plled up in his life. The Bible said, many

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are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers
them out of them. All but one thing you can
be sure of. God's heart is set on delivering his
children out of their troubles. Let me read to you
just a few promises from the Word of God, because
the Bible's full of promises that tell us the heart
of God that he does not want you to stay

(04:16):
in trouble, That he allows troubles, He permits troubles. He
has a reason for it, and will learn that tonight.
But that God does not want to keep you in trouble.
He doesn't want to keep you in sorrow. Listen to
some of these promises. The Lord will be a refuge
for his people in times of trouble Psalms ninety nine
in time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion.

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He shall set me upon a rock another, Thou art
my hiding place, Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. And
I could take you all through the Book of Psalms
tonight and show you promise after promise where God says
I will deliver my people out of all their troubles.
He's a deliver His heart is set on bringing you out.

(05:00):
No matter what you're going through. I'm telling you God
wants it to pass. God wants to deliver you. He
wants you to be free. He doesn't want you to
live your whole lifetime in perpetual trouble. And there's a
reason why the trouble remains and won't leave many Christian lives.

(05:21):
Are you in trouble tonight? Are you looking at a
life you look around and say, pastor, that's me. Everywhere
I turn. It just seems that the troubles pow upon trouble,
and I'm never out of trouble. I'm in trouble all
the time. Now, folks, if you're in trouble all the time,

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you've got to stop and ask if God is set
on delivering me, If He's made all these promises that
he's my refuge and he will bring me out of trouble.
Why is it that I'm not brought out? Why is
it that the trouble just keeps going on and on
and never stops. These promises. Here are God's promises, and

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they're faithful, and God cannot lie. Now, why would God
tell you what? Go to Exitus seventeen. I will show
you how God permitted some trouble and the purpose of it.
Exodus the seventeenth chapter. This could be the reason that
you're in such trouble. Right now. God's teaching you something
as he was trying to teach Israel Exitus seventeen. Just

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the first seven verses, and all the congregation of the
children of Visual journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys according to the command of the Lord, and
pitched it refid him. There was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses
and said, give us water that we may drink. Moses said,
unto them, why do you chide with me or argue

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with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? The people
thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses
and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us
up out of each to kill us and our children?
On a catta with thirst, Moses cried unto the Lord, saying,
what shall I do under this people? They be almost
ready to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, go

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up before the people, take with thee of the elders
of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river,
take in thine hand, and go behold. I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in horeb thou soilt
smite the rock, there shall come water out of it
that the people may drink. Moses did is this, did
so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And

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he called the name of the place Masa and Marabah.
Because of the chiding of the children of Israom, because
they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us?
Or not look at me, please, There was no water
for the people to drink. Now, folks, you've got to
understand that God himself directed his people to refidem. He

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brought them to this place where they were either going
to trust the Lord or else. There is no other
place to turn. There's no water. Who in the world,
how can you conceive of probably two to three million
people being fed when there's no spring, there's no water,
there's no rain, there's not a cloud in the sky.
An absolute, hopeless, troubled situation. And God allowed it. God

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permitted it. God had it all arranged. Now, whatever you're
going through now, if you are a lover of Jesus,
if you love Him with all your heart, and you
are facing a situation of dire trouble and difficulty in
your home right now, it could be very clear that
God has allowed it. God has permitted it, even led

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you to this place for a reason. He is trying
to extract from you total childlike confidence in his keeping power,
his unfailing faithfulness. He brings you to a place where
you trusted, or else you have to trust. He brings
you to this place. Now. Please keep it in mind

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that all along the resources were locked up. He had
God had a plan, and you can be sure God
has a plan to deliver every one of his children.
God has a way, He has a plan, and it
has to be very shocking and sad to the heart
of God to sit where he does on the crown

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of glory on the circle of the earth, and king
of the flood, and to know that all the resources available.
And he brings his children into tight places to prove them,
to test them. The Bible said he tested them ten
times and the wilderness, and they failed every one of
the tests. God would lead them into one crisis after another,
trouble after trouble after trouble. And you know, they finally

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spent forty years in nothing but trouble because they wouldn't
learn their lesson. God just gave them over to their unbelief.
And that can happen to Christians. God will lead you
into one crisis after another, hoping that each crisis will
bring you to a place where you rest in Him
and trust in him and give him faith and give

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him confidence. The resources are always there. Locked in that
rock was a river of living water. But see there
was the scripture says, and there was no water for
the people to drink. The Bible says, he humbled thee
there and suffered thee to hunger. And Deuteronomy eight three,

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he suffered another. He permitted it. He permitted it, suffered
thee to hunger, because he humbled you to bring you
to a place of confidence and trust in the Lord
in your walk. You know, I asked the Lord when else?

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Considering this word tonight, why is it that some Christians
never have victory? They go from from pitt to despair,
a pit of dis There's never joy, there's never happiness,
there's never rest. They're always in turmoil. There's always something wrong,
nothing is ever right. They come to the House of

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God and they're so focused on their trouble. They live
on praier requests. I mean, there's nothing wrong with bringing
a praier request here, but they're always looking for a Moses.
They have no personal relationship with the Lord. They have
no walk of faith at all. There's no faith, there's
no confidence. They're going to go to somebody and get
a word. They need Moses all the time. Moses, give

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us water, give us water, give us a word. We've
got people all of the United States running around looking
for a word. Some man, some woman. They're just like hungry,
thirsty little birds. Give me a word, give me a word,
every word, but to God, every word. But do they
have any father running to people looking for that word.

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You look at this scene and you say, well, what's
going on here. You know, the water comes, the elders
go and they see what happens. Just the elders saw
him strike the rock and out of horrbit here comes
a rushing streams right out of rock. I would think
that those men would be so excited, Sam, I would

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think if you'd been there, you're an elderness church John,
if you'd have been there and you your pastor hit
the rock and water just started gussing. It caused the
stream flowing all the way into the camp. And you
watch that stream going. You look at that rock and
you remember the screaming multitudes there crying for water. You
would think those men would outrun the stream and go

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into the camp. Believe it or not, it's coming out
of a rock. You would think when they saw the
water coming and everybody is rushing and they're drinking and
getting their thirst fulfilled, somebody would looked up at the
sky and there's not a cloud anywhere, and somebody said,
wait a minute, there's no cloud, there's no rain. Where

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did it come from. You see, we get so focused
on our problems. When the miracle comes, it's just another thing.
We just take it for granted. They took it for granted.
They learn nothing. Absolutely nothing was taught to these people.
They learned nothing. They're thirsty and they're crying. They say,

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we're we're going to die of thirst. Forty long years
I was grieved with this generation. I said, it's the
people that do air in their heart. They have not
known my ways, they have not known my way. So
I swear at my wrath they shall not enter into
my rest. You can become so focused on your own needs,

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so focused on your trouble, that you have no relationship
with Jesus. You spend your whole time worrying, treading, calling people,
working angles, questioning, God, Lord, why won't you do something
about my problem in my need? And you know, God

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just it seems like he just sits there and lets
it fester and get worse. And folks, every hour that
went by, that people got thirsty and thirsty, and the
Lord didn't move. He just out there. He knew what
he was going to do. The resources were there. All
he was wanting was people to rise up and say, Moses,
we saw the Red Sea open. We've seen God what

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he did in it, bringing wrath upon the Egyptian. We
saw what happened to Pharaoh's army. We served the same God,
the God who delivered us in the past. There should
have been something, some elders, somebody rise up in the
camp and spread faith. But there's not a word here.
They are after all of those deliverance and everything God

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has done, they still are not learning. They're saying, you're
here to kill us. And we have that as Christians
many times, God, you're out to get me, or you
have failed me. Old God, why why? And we accuse
God of being less loving than our earthly heavenly our
earthly fathers and mothers we attribute to our own parents.

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Those of you have good parents, we attribute faithfulness to
their own parents. But we won't attribute the same kind
of faithfulness to a heavenly father. That's why Lord said,
if you earthly know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more your heavenly father. Are you
in trouble? Now? Have you stopped to think that God
may have allowed this and brought to this place right
now to teach you to trust him. To just sit

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still and see the salvation of the Lord. I want
to tell you, I think there was only one or
two days. The whole time we were thinking and praying
about this. There's only one or two days. My faith
was just a little shaken. But time and time again
I would say, God, I believe you, I trust you.
You gave us the theater. You can give us that.
You rest on what God did before. What a miracle.

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God gave us this theater. This theater is now worth
probably thirty million dollars. And God gave it to us.
God gave it to us free and clear. And the
God who can do that can give us that. And
a God who can give a theater and give this building,
you think he's not big enough and great enough. And
that's cerned enough to meet every need you have, your

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financial need, your physical need, your children, whatever it may be.
These people were dead spiritually. Curse it be the man
that trusteth in man, the scripture says, and maketh flesh

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his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. Curse
it be the man. God said, the trust in man
makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
When God did relieve these people and the water came,

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they absolutely took it for granted. The scripture is very
clear on this. You see God, God is trying to
produce worshipers, and all of His miracles are meant to
produce worship, thankfulness and worship. That's why we all stood
and thank God for that, because he rebuked the child
of Visuel because they had no spirit of thankfulness for

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what God had already done. There should not be a
day when you go to work if you've been delivered
from sin and habits and you know you could be
dead and facing a devil for an eternity and a
godless hell for an eternity. There should not be a
day that you're not utterly thankful to the Lord, and
every day raising your heart and faith saying Lord, thank you,

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and what you've done for me in the past, you'll
do it for me today, You'll do it for me tomorrow.
Our fathers did all drink of the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them,
and that rock was Christ. That rock never did stop flowing.

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It followed them. The stream followed them all through the wilderness.
And you know, it's an amazing thing. You would think
that the people who who have filled up all of
their water skins and filled up everything they had with
water to move when the cloud moved, and they go
over mountains, and they go over hills, and they settled in,

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and they say they're thinking themselves and this is the
mindset of these people. Well, is God going to do
it again? Are we going to face the same problem
over on the other mountain side. But everywhere they settled,
they'd no sooner settled in at night, and then in
the morning they go out and there's another stream. That's stream.

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How it got over the mountain, I don't know it,
whether it went underground and came down the other side.
But everywhere they went that the Bible says that stream
followed them everywhere they went. But love it, if you
love Jesus all your heart, that stream of vision follows
you everywhere you go. There is a stream of provision. Hallelujah.

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God's never removed that stream of provision every need. He
said he would supply every need, hallelujah. But they were
overthrown and God was not pleased with them. Isn't an amazing.
They think they're dying, they think they're going to fail,

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they think they're going they're going to just die of thirst.
But God's forgotten them. God doesn't hear their cry. And
all along the rock is sitting there full of a
reservoir everything they needed. And while you're sitting in your trouble,
God has a reservoir waiting with everything you need, everything

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you need. That's why I can turn to every one
of you, converts, every one of you, and I can
tell you God has everything you need. He has all
the power the Holy Ghost, because that river is the
Holy Spirit, that is the spirit of the living God. Hallelujah.
I stopped over at Sarah Houson talking to the girls

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this afternoon and just talking to them from my heart.
When you come to Jesus, you know there's a battle
in our spirit about so there's a battle inside of us.
The flesh fights the spirit, and the spirit fights the flesh.
By trying to tell the young ladies that your flesh

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will always be flesh, Flesh cannot be changed, Flesh will
always be flesh. That's why the greatest victory you can
win over the devil is when he comes to you
and tells you how bad you are. You say, I
knew that all the time. Flesh is flesh. You're not
telling me anything new. You're not worthy. Well not, I
knew that all along. I'll never be worthy. But you

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still have old lust that rise up once and on.
Now that's my flesh. My flesh is always flesh, and
it's always going to fight the Holy Ghost. But that's
why the Bible said, greater is he that's in you,
that's the Holy Ghost, than he that is in the world.
And I told these girls, the moment you came in
to teens, you into Sarah house and give your heart
to Jesus, the Holy Ghost stuck a knife in the

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back of the flesh and started bleeding it. Do you
ever see what happens to a bleeding person. That bleeding
person loses its life, loses its strength. And when a
holy ghost comes in you, he puts a knife into
your flesh and he bleeds it. And little by little
that flesh is bleeding. It'll still rise up sometimes and
fight the Holy Ghost. But as long as you stay

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close to Jesus and you get your supply of that
water that springs out of that rock, that's the Holy
Ghost coming out, that flesh is going to get weaker
and weaker. The spirit of God gets stronger and strong
because he's satisfying your thirst. Hallelujah. And that flesh is
still be flesh. Oh, it's there. It's gonna be pale,

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it's gonna be weak at times. It will gather strength again.
But the Holy Ghost comes and said it's time to
bleed it again, and he'll bleed your flesh. The flesh
will always be there. Don't be upset about it. Don't
be worried about your flesh. You stay close to Jesus,
You stay in the Word of God. You believe in
the power of the Holy Ghost. God will give you
all the power over every demon, spirit, every principle in

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power darkness, and he'll give you the power to live
a holy, righteous life. Hallelujah. The devil's already told some
of you guys. You know, you stay one week and
then you run. The devil trying to tell you, folky fellow,
don't be surprised that those lives, those are gonna be

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the year from now, They're gonna be there ten years
from now, those that line. Devil is not gonna stop
lying till Jesus binds him a thousand years and cast
them in a pit and throws them the ki away.
So you don't worry about because God has every provision
that is flowing the living Word of God and energized

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by the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. People going around trying to
change their flesh. You can't change your flesh. It's called
in dwelling sin. It's in all of us. But the
Holy Ghost comes to give us resources and power and authority. Hallelujah.

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He takes the word and brings it to your face
and holds right in front of your eye and says,
if you'll accept this and believe it and hold on
to it, hallelujah. You believe God's faithful brothers to keep
you by his power. Yes, he is amen. He'll keep
you when you stop listening to the lives of the devil. Hallelujah.

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He lo rebata God, never take your deliverances for granted. Never.
I've got to move on quickly. Now Here the time comes, folks,
when even judgment does not move people to God. The
wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest
of them and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

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But for this they sin still and believe not in
His wondrous works. Therefore their days did He consume in vanity,
and their years in trouble. Why did God send his wrath,
and why did God allow them to live out the
rest of their days in trouble? Now, these were people
of God, These were not heathen. These are God's chosen people.

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And God sang clearly, I'll read it. In the wrath
of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them,
smote down the chosen men, chosen men of Israel were smitten.
And yet for this they sin still and believe not
for His wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume
in vanity. That word vanity means emptiness, nothingness. They had

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nothing to look forward to. They lived in anxiety, and
they lived in despair. They lived in hopelessness, and their
years were spent in trouble. Trouble. You know, I figured,
if there were only if there were six hundred thousand
men that came out of Israel, and there's forty years,

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and they all died in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb.
All the adults that came out of Egypt died. Can
you imagine he had to be attending at least forty
funerals a day. Can you imagine bearing so many thousands
and thousands of dying like flies? Nothing but trouble and

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despair and unbelief. And these are God's chosen people. And
even when they knew that the wrath of God was
upon them, they knew did God start. After while they
become inured to the wrath of God, nothing moved them,
not even the wrath of God. And then when trouble,
when wrath of God came on it, God was judging them.
They just took it as for just happenstance. Well, it

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just happens. See, when you take your deliverances for granted,
you'll take his wrath for granted. Now you've got to
stop and think about that for a minute, because that
leads to a hardness. This is the reason they were.
They hardened their heart. They had no faith and unbelieved

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come into their hearts right now until finally, even under judgment. Folks,
I've seen over the years people the gossip and slander,
and I've seen the judgment of God come on them.
I've seen people who were part of a small group
in a church that I once pastor, and I watch

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people dying. I watch people who touch God's annoying, and
I absolutely wrath of God one after another falling and
the people around them knew that they were next, because
they were in that circle. Totally unmoved, hardened by it.
They sinned still and believe not for his wondrous works.

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Stubborn and rebellious. A generation that set not their heart aright,
and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. All their
days were spent in vain, all their years in trouble.
The scriptures says, when He slew them, they would seek
him for measure. They remembered that God was their rock. Nevertheless,

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they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied
to him with their tongues. For their heart was not
right with him. Neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
They turned back, they tempted God. They limited the Holy
One of Israel. And that's the bottom line, that's the
whole key. They limited God. After God sent the water,

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they got hungry for they wanted meat. And you know what,
they went around saying, can God furnish the table in
the wilderness? Oh? Yeah, we know he sent water out
of a rock. Now stop and think about that minute.
God send us water out of a rock. Can you say,

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could you have said that? Yes you could, because we
do think of the incredulousness of it that they're going
around saying, God gave us water out of a rock,
and have salute impossibility and God did it. And now
they're saying, now, can God spread a table before us?

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There's not a person here before I close. It's not
one of you sitting here before me tonight. You could
almost write a book. Some of you maybe have a
small book, others a large book. Some of you have
a dictionary. Your book would be that thick of miracles
God did for you, how He delivered you. I just

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stopped to think of some of the miracles the other day.
I was talking to somebody about all the miracles. I
just started enumerting some of the great things God has
done in my lifetime. It just overwhelmed me. And isn't
it awful? Isn't it a great sin? A terrible sin?

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Then when we get into the next crisis, to doubt him.
I don't know why God put this on my heart tonight.
I don't have the slightest idea why. I didn't know
who was going to be here. I didn't know even
if you attend this is your home church, I didn't
know what you would be here tonight or not. This
may be a night that you were absent, but you're

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here tonight and God is speaking to you. God wants
this next year in nineteen ninety seven. He wants that
to be a year of confidence in him, that God
is your deliver He's not going to fail you. And
no matter what happens, you're going to trust God, live
or die. We are the lords, and He's going to
be faithful to you. God is not forsaken. God's not

(30:10):
forgotten you. He knows where you're at, I keep saying,
and you hear it from me. He's got your address,
he got your phone number, he knows right where you're at.
He's counted every hair on your head. Why wouldn't he
know the rest? He said, not a spare of falls
without the Father. And you think he's gonna clothe the

(30:31):
lilies and not you and me? No, no, no, no,
Thank God for his faithfulness. He's going to see you through.
He's going to see you through people who have court
cases being sued. God's faithful. He will honor those who

(30:57):
honor him. He will honor those who stay faithful and
trusting in him. Let me tell you what God wants
more than any you can come down here, cry river
of tears. You can cover this alder with your tears.
But if you don't have faith, it doesn't mean a
thing to God. That's what they're doing in Malachi. They're
covering the alder with their tears and being trade restored

(31:17):
their wives. Now, God says, I want your faith. I
know people that I have not seen cry since I've
known that. They hardly ever share a tear, set a tear.
I never hear them call loudly on the Lord. But
there's a quiet confidence in God. They live in faith.
They live faith. I asked Roberts once when I was

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a younger man, and he bought a piece of property
and he said he was going to build a college.
And I just happened to pass by and he had
the plans laid out there and put a hand on
my shoulder. He said, David, I'm not different than anybody.
He said. If there's any difference, it's this. I believe God.

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I believe in the impossibilities. I believe God. That was
even before he broke ground for his college were just
a little model. I walked out. He had no money,
had nothing. I believe God. I believe in the faithfulness
of God. Now you may not agree with everything that's
been done there, but that man has always believed God,

(32:32):
always believe God. I've never heard or Roberts speak a
bad word about anybody in his lifetime. He's probably in
his eighties, none retired. But I've never heard an evil
word out of that man. And every time I've been
near him, all he talks is about the faithfulness of God.
He doesn't talk about people. He talks about the faithfulness
of God. That's the way we should be, all of us.

(32:54):
We speak of the faithfulness of God. Speak to yourself
about it. Hallelujah. So this is just a little ABC's
just a little bit of a little sandwich, so to speak.
But it'll feed your soul if you open up your heart.