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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All right, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to Stromhold Baptist Church. If you could grab your hidden holes and open up the song number 55. Song number 55, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Song number 55. . . . When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. I'll be there. On that bright and loudest morning When the dead in Christ shall rise And the glory of his resurrection share When his chosen ones shall gather To their home beyond the skies And the Roll is Called Up Yonder. I'll be there. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder . When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. I'll be there. On the last? Plant a slaver When all is light is over and our work on earth is done And the road is called a yonder, I'll be there When the road is called a yonder When the road is called a yonder When the road is called a yonder When the road is called a yonder, I'll be there Amen, brother DJ, yoke us up in a word of prayer Amen, amen. Alright, let's turn to our next song, song number 100. Song number 100, Day by Day. Song 100. On the first Day by day and gravely passing moment Strength I find to meet my trials here Trusting in my father's wise bestowment I will pause for worry or fear He who's hard is kind beyond all measure Is untrue each day but he needs rest Like me, it's part of pain and pleasure Being told with peace and rest Every day the Lord himself is near me With a special mercy for each hour All my cares he thank would fair and cheer me He whose name is counselor and proud The protection of his childish treasure Is a charge that on himself he lays As I gaze, thy strength shall be in measure It's the pledge to be he made on the last Helping then in every tribulation So to trust, thy promise is the Lord That I lose not facing consolation Offer me within thy holy word Help me, Lord, with soul and trouble meeting Care to take as from a father's hand One by one the days the moment's fleeting Till I reach the promised land Amen. All right. Great singing this afternoon. At this time, we're going to go through our announcements once again. If you do not have a bulletin, slip your hand up real high. We'll make sure that we get one out to you. And if you open up to the first page, you'll see the service times listed there. Sunday morning at 10 30. Sunday evening again at 5 p.m. And Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. As I mentioned this morning, we're wrapping up this book of Isaiah. We've got two chapters to go. So come on out for that this week. We've got the soul-winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvation and baptisms through the month of July as well as for the year. Let's go ahead and count up. If you have any salvations to report, just slip up your hand. We'll get those counted. Whether it's today or earlier is fine. I think most people already reported before today. So just go ahead and slip up your hand if you have any salvations to report. Yes, sir. One for today. Two for Jesse. One over there. All today. Yes. And one. One back there too today as well. Amen. All right, very good. Keep up that good work. Brother Peter, are we with the assisted living facility, the retirement community? It still kind of slows down due to COVID. I'm going to have a meeting with the leadership team on Tuesday to see if we're going to continue that or if it's going to be lifted. So it's kind of like a visitor restriction essentially, like limiting who and how many people are coming in. Yeah, because it's a retirement home, they can go in and out as they please. Sure. The residents can. But as far as the... Yeah. Unless it's a vendor or something like that. Right, right. But nothing extra is coming in. Okay. Yeah, but there's not any other issue. I mean, other than that, once that's lifted, then we're good. And we're good on the twice a month? Yeah. Going forward? Yes. Cool. Awesome, very good. And for those of you who don't know, we have a ministry now where we go into a retirement community and hold services there twice a month. So the first and third Sunday... First and last? First and last. Or second and last. Second and last. Second and last Sunday of the month. So we go there, and if you have any interest in participating in that ministry, is Brother Carter leading the ministry in general? So you're making sure that everything's handled there for preaching, as well as just visiting if anyone wants to. I mean, obviously right now we're on hold, but in the future, we're not just holding the service, but we're also ministering to the people there. We're talking to them, praying for them, whatever. However, we can be a blessing unto that people we're going in and helping them out in whatever ways that we can. So it's a very nice ministry, very great people over there. So I encourage you to, if you're not going to go and do anything personally, just pray for that ministry as well, that more people be reached, especially with the gospel. There's all different types of people that are in that facility. And then also for the people who are saved there as well, that God will bless them through our service. So let's continue on here with the announcements. We've got the offering totals at the bottom of the page for the month of July. Prayer requests. We added Mrs. Logan as she is with child. We have our estimated due date there. Please be in prayer for her pregnancy. Pray for Ms. Polser with a lung disease. And we got the update this morning that she had been admitted to the ICU, and they were concerned about some fluids in her lungs, but she has been responding well to some treatments that she's been receiving and is expected to be released soon. But please continue to pray for her. And then we did get an update as well on Stephen's father, Carl Smith, there who's recovering from a stroke, and it sounded like he's doing much better after getting some treatments. And so that's good news. And then Brother Peter told us about his brother Frankie and that while he's not 100 percent well yet, he is feeling much better and is not in the hospital. And they're just waiting on the results of his colonoscopy to see what all they could find, whether there's any more information they could get. So please continue to pray for all these people. Pray for him. And then also pray for Brother Mo, Mark's dad. He's not feeling well, so he's been just, as of I guess yesterday, he started coming down with an illness, so just pray that he will recover quickly. And Brother Mo has had some issues with his health in the past few years. He had a heart attack, so just pray. And God's healed him of many things. He's had these other problems. If you remember, he was at that stage three in his kidneys. And I don't remember specifically what they were diagnosing it as, but I know it was stage three, and it was not very good at all. And essentially he was able to go back, and the doctors were able to just inexplicably say that they were no longer detecting the disease that he was having that he was already kind of progressed along with. So praise the Lord for that. That was good news back then. It's still good news now, but he's had different issues, so just pray for him. Hopefully he's not going to be very ill, but he's struggled with his health in the past, so pray for him now as he's kind of starting to feel under the weather and seemingly coming down with something. So pray for him. Pray for St. Vass Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas and all the issues they've been dealing with. Bring these home with you. Pray for people, you know, the things I mentioned. Write them down. Take a picture of this with your phone maybe. Do something so that you could remember to be in prayer for these people. On the next page, the August Challenge. August begins tomorrow, so if you're able to bring in first-time visitors to church, you will receive a prize during the month of August. So be thinking about that. Use the follow-up cards located in the bookshelf to help contact people and encourage them to come to church. Hebrews chapter 4 is our Bible memory passage. We're on week 2 of 10, and I'm giving like extra review weeks here to memorize the chapter. We're not breaking up into chunks. It's just the entire chapter all at once. Prizes, I said I was going to have prizes today. I do have prizes today. Who here completed the soul-winning challenge in June? Raise your hand if you completed the soul-winning challenge in June. One, two, and three. And then what was before that? What was May was baptism. So you, I owe you for May. Can you stack them? One prize per customer. His whole family got baptized basically, so he's like. And then, did anyone else? Brother Devon, you did too, Brother Micah? And then Brother Devon, you got someone to get baptized in May. Right, so three. All right. See me after service for those, for the May and for the June challenges, because I don't want to take up the time right now in the middle of service since I don't have the prizes out here. But come see me after service and I'll square up with you. Congratulations on doing those challenges. But come see me directly after. As soon as I'm done here, I'll pull some stuff out for those prizes. All right. Upcoming events. We've got the soul-winning marathon in Alabama. September 3rd, Labor Day weekend. It's a Saturday, so be in prayer for that, as well as hopefully you could plan on making it out to that. And it should be a really good time there. October 13th to the 15th, Mountain Baptist Church in West Virginia. Fairmount, West Virginia is having a camp, not in Fairmount. Actually, it's in West Virginia, though. It's a little ways away from the church. That was a lot of fun the last time we were there. The past few times we've been there. And if you can make it out to that, try to contact Pastor Robinson and see if they have anything available. Upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. Lots of birthdays in August. Happy birthday to those, especially those having birthdays coming up real soon. And then there's one more prayer request I received from Brother Keith today. His sister, Joyce, has been having some heart trouble, and they did some surgery. They thought it was on one side of her heart, but now they want her to recover from, it wasn't open-heart surgery, but it was like laparoscopic surgery, but they want her to recover from that, make sure she didn't get any infections before they do the other surgery they're going to check, actually the other side of their heart, so they're not able to scope, I guess, around to view the other side once they've already gone in. It's not something you could just kind of route around, so the way that they go in, like through the thigh or something, and then go up with the scope. I don't know how it all works. He was explaining it to me a little bit. I don't think he knows exactly how it all works, but his sister's been having these issues with her pulse, so just a really fast heartbeat is the problem that she's been having. So pray for her, and within the next month I think is when she's supposed to have her neck surgery for them to do some investigation. So pray for Joyce Jones, and that is about it for our announcement, so I'm going to ask Brother Peter to come up and lead us in her next song. Right, church? We can open up your hymnals to song number 114. Song 114, The Great Physician. Song 114. On the verse. Great physician, how is he? The sympathizing Jesus. He speaks the true big heart to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Sweetest love in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessing Jesus. Your many sins are all forgiven. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Go on your way in peace to heaven, and wear a crown with Jesus. Sweetest love in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessing Jesus. All glory to the dying lamb. I now believe in Jesus. I love the blessing Savior's name. I love the name of Jesus. Sweetest love in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessing Jesus. And when to that black world of love, we rise to meet with Jesus. We'll sing around the throne of love. His name, the name of Jesus. Sweetest love in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on mortal tongue. Sweetest carol ever sung. Jesus, blessing Jesus. Amen. Church, we're going to sing in this time. We're going to collect ours this Sunday afternoon off break. That's for the quarter. If you can please do that for us. And church, while that offering plate is being passed around, if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 39. Genesis 39, and as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter. Nice brother Devin, if you can please do that for us. Genesis 39, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him. And he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer of his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not aught he had save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. But he refused and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wadeth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I. Neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, that she called unto the men of her house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. And it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and got him out. And she laid up his garment by her until his Lord came home. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to mock me. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled out. And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. Brother Kevin, can you pray for us, please? Amen. All right, so this evening I'm hoping that this sermon will be an encouragement to you. It's what it's meant to be. We're going to look at just a real simple truth in the Bible, and it's how my sermon is, favor with God and man. And we're going to see here in multiple places in Scripture where the Bible talks about God giving people favor with other people, how God is able to do that. And just real quick, right off the bat, especially if you're visiting here, we don't believe in what's known as Calvinism, the doctrine of Calvinism that essentially believes that, to put it really in a nutshell, that God pretty much just determines what everybody does and is kind of involved all the time in everybody's life and really eliminates the notion of free will from existence, that basically everything that happens is because God makes things happen that way. That's ultimately at the end of where Calvinism gets you to. I mean, some people call it hyper-Calvinism, but you follow it to its logical end. That's where you end up with is ultimately just kind of a lack of free will, where we don't take that stand here. However, God does intervene sometimes into our lives and can intervene in many cases, and we see instances of this in Scripture, and it's very encouraging in many cases, too, where we see this happen. We just have to understand, though, that God's not just always intervening and making things happen certain ways. There's a reason why it's specifically bringing up certain situations where God is kind of leading and allowing for certain things to happen because they're more unique than the standard. God has given us free will to choose whether or not we will serve the Lord, whether or not we will put our trust in Jesus Christ, whether or not we do the things that we do. God gives us guidance. He gives us leading. If you're saved, you've got the Holy Spirit to help guide you and lead you into all truth and knowledge, but the spirit of the prophets, the Bible says, is subject to the prophets, where God helps you and leads you through the Spirit. It's still you who is in charge of determining what you will do. So just understand that that's the case, but there's this great truth where, especially if you are a godly person, that God can put you in good favor and in good standing with people and bless you in that regard, and He's done that in the past with multiple people. We're going to look at some examples of that, and at the end, hopefully, the whole point of this is encouragement, and the reason why is because there's so many reasons to trust God, and as we live in dark times, people may waver on wanting to make stands in certain areas, especially in areas that might cost you something, that might seem like you're going to get in a lot of trouble or might even have some threat to your existence, whether it be the comfort level of your existence or even your very life itself, whatever the case may be. We don't seem to be facing anything life-threatening as far as opposition is concerned against us, although there is a church of ours that we're friends with that got bombed in the United States of America. Yes, in the socialist state of California, they so lovingly bombed a church there that actually is about three days after I preached there. So we don't know what's going to happen. We know that things will only continue to get worse, but we have some really good assurances in the Bible, many assurances in the Bible, many reasons to trust God, many reasons to do what we're supposed to do, but we're going to look at one, and that's receiving favor, especially in the eyes of man. Obviously, we want to receive favor in the eyes of God, but it's nice when you can operate and function and do things and be still found favorable in the eyes of man, even though the world in general may despise what you believe and despise the mission work and the work that we do for the Lord. God can still make it so that you can come into favor with man. This is something that even Jesus himself, the Bible says in Luke chapter 2 verse 52, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. Stature is like his height, like physically he's growing. It's talking about what he's growing from a young child up into a man. He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. So as Jesus Christ was growing as a child physically on this earth, he was growing in wisdom, he was growing in stature and his height, and he continued to grow with his favor given to him by God and man. So people were starting to recognize him, notice him, and he was getting more just I guess you could say attention or just where people viewed him favorably. People had a positive view of him like, oh yeah, I know that guy, like he's a good guy, right, and would not give you problems and treat you well just based on how you're living, how you're acting. Now here's the thing. What you're going to notice in all of these cases though, when God is giving people favor, he's giving it to people who are serving him and obeying him and being godly and being righteous and doing right things. It's not just like, oh, like I won the lotto and now I'm going to just be in favor with God and man for just absolutely nothing that I did, right, like just out of the blue all of a sudden I'm just getting favor. That's not the way it works, that way we're going to see it here. The Bible has a very similar verse regarding growing in favor with God and man with Samuel. So Samuel was someone who was dedicated as a young child to service to the Lord, and he was given unto Eli to raise and grow up as a Levite serving God. In 1 Samuel 2 verse 26 the Bible says, And the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. So he was someone who was well respected and well liked in general with God and man. And you know, as believers, I may preach a lot about how much the God haters and people hate on us and everything else, and that's to warn and to make sure we understand, but we're not out to make enemies with people. It's not like we're looking for fights. It's not like we're looking to just make people hate us or anything like that. And look, if that's your goal, then you're messed up. Okay, we're not out trying to make people hate us. Just like David said, you know, that he is for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Right? We're for peace. We're not out just trying to get people to hate on us, but we are going to preach the truth, and some people do hate that. And if they're going to hate that and come after us, then so be it. We're not going to censor the word of God, but at the same time, we're not out looking to pick fights. We're going to live peaceably with all men as much as is possible. In Genesis 39, where we started, this is, of course, the story of Joseph, and this is a very encouraging story because here we have Joseph. Joseph was a godly young man. We don't really see him getting involved in some of the things that his brethren were getting involved in. His brothers were doing some things that were kind of shady. His brethren were doing things that were not godly, not righteous, but Joseph seemed to be, you know, maybe the goody-two-shoes of the bunch growing up. He's the favorite of Dad. He's the one going out and checking up on his brothers, making sure they're doing what they're supposed to do, and they hated that about him. Man, here comes Joseph again, right? So his brothers plot, actually they plot to kill him, originally, and then instead of killing him, he's saved, and you say, wait a minute, Ruben's like, wait, hold on a second here. You know, they toss him in this pit, and then they end up selling him off into slavery. Now, Joseph, he didn't do anything to deserve this. He's going about his business. He's trying to serve his father and just do the right thing. All of a sudden, he gets ganged up on his own brethren, reject him, and I won't get into all the Christology there and all the references and symbolism about Jesus with Joseph's life. It's amazing. It's a whole other topic for another day. But Joseph, he's serving the Lord. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing, just trying to live uprightly, and then he finds himself in a situation that was not of his own doing, where he ends up getting into bondage and sold into slavery. Well, the thing is, with God, is that God stays with him because Joseph, no matter what situation he's in, doesn't turn and foolishly blame God for his position. He doesn't complain and murmur and do all the things that many people may do in his situation. He continues to have integrity and serve God no matter where he is. Joseph is a good example of someone, like the Apostle Paul says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. In all things, he knows how to serve the Lord. He knows how to be really low, like in prison. He also knows how to be exalted really high in one of the highest positions of the country, and he's able to do so as he serves God. Now, look at verse number 21 where we started reading here. The Bible says, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Now, it's not just because of Joseph's attitude, but God gave him favor. Right? So this is something that God's doing. If it wasn't the Lord, if it was just all Joseph and his personality, then you wouldn't have to say that God would do anything for him. Right? It would just be all his own doing. But God is able to, through whatever means, God does this. I mean, this is somewhat of a mystery to make you favorable in other people's eyes, especially people who might have authority over you. Right? In this case, it was the prison keeper, right? That for some reason, like some unknown reason other than the Bible selling us, God gave him favor. The prison keeper just takes a liking to Joseph. Right? He's like, I like this guy. And then he feels like he can trust this guy, whatever. And God is giving him that favor so that even, you know, God can see, he knows he's not there justly, he knows what's going on, and he decides to bless Joseph and he says, you know what, I'm going to make him favorable in the sight of man, in the sight of this man right here. He's able to help him out and bless him in that way. The Bible says in verse 22, And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. So he's like, I mean, he's in jail, but he's elevated to the status of a prisoner that has this great responsibility. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. And one of the keys here about being in favor with the Lord, hey, God's with him. It said at the very beginning in verse 21 that the Lord was with Joseph, and then in verse 23, again, the Lord's with him. God's with him. Why? Because he's not losing his faith, because he's still trying to remain, keep his integrity intact and do what's right. And God sees the whole situation, and God's with him. We don't need to freak out. We don't need to get all upset over a situation, especially when a situation is out of your control. This is a situation out of his control. He had no control over being sold into slavery. He had no control over the ambush by his own kin, by his own family, his own brothers selling him into slavery. He had no control over that. He could have gotten bitter and upset and given up and say, well, forget all this. God, where were you? Where were you? Why didn't you save me from this? But that's not the attitude he had. And as a result, God's giving him favor in the eyes of people there, to where he's elevating him and says, God is with him. God's working with him. He's helping him to prosper, even in prison. And as we know with the life of Joseph, which we're not going to continue, we're only looking at this one example where God, the Bible specifically says he's given him favor, we know that he continues on to be elevated into the highest position in the land. Right? He was below Pharaoh in title only, essentially, because he ended up running everything. Pharaoh gave him all that power and all that authority, but Joseph still retained his integrity to God and would do the things that were godly and righteous, ultimately. Obviously, he wasn't perfect, nobody's perfect, but whether he was exalted or really low, he stayed true and stayed faithful, and God was able to give him favor with people to help him out. Exodus chapter 3, flip forward to Exodus chapter 3 real quick, and we're going to look at the story again from this morning. We're going to look at Exodus 11 as well. There's one verse there that I didn't cover because I knew I was going to be preaching on it tonight. Exodus 3 verse 21, when the children of Israel were about to be expelled out of Egypt, right? Now, here's the mindset that we understand from Scripture about Egypt. The Egyptians, the Hebrews were their slaves, the children of Israel were their slaves, and Pharaoh was kind of pressing the matter and forcing the matter, but he was making the command like, hey, he was taking away their supplies, saying you got to get your own supplies and everything else, and they were being real hard on them, and they had these taskmasters that were over them and making their lives extremely difficult. They were forced to, as I mentioned before, kill their male children because they had a policy on abortions there. If the Hebrew women were giving birth to men, that they were supposed to kill them and all this other stuff. So I can't believe that the Israelites were viewed very favorably in the eyes of the Egyptians in general when all these things were happening to them, right? But when it comes to them about being ready to kicked out, and then on top of that now you have all these plagues coming across the land, it's probably pretty easy for the Egyptians to look at them as being the bad guys. Why are you bringing all this stuff on us? This Moses is bringing all these plagues and everything on our land, right? Leave us alone. Could be an attitude that many people could take that already probably despise them in that land. Yet when they're about to leave, the Bible says in verse 21, but the Lord, or excuse me, in verse 21, and I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass that when you go you shall not go empty, but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and so on, right? You're not able to borrow all this stuff. It's like, why would the Egyptians give them anything? Well, because God was able to give the people favor in their sight to where they're being, oh yeah, yeah, take whatever you need, right? And has made it play out so that the people were maybe more sympathetic towards them and willing to give even though they're about ready to leave and take off, right? I love it. It's called a borrowing. We're going to borrow over your neighbor. They ain't coming back, right? But it also says that they were spoiling them, right? And God was giving them this so that they wouldn't go away empty. It was part of a payment for them being in bondage and servitude and going out that God was bringing this blessing on them, but God was able to make it so that they gained favor so that people would give to them. In Exodus chapter 11 verse 3, the Bible says, and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, which is kind of a restatement from chapter 3. Then it says, moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. So it's all about Moses being great. He was someone who was well respected. He was someone that the people looked to as like, whoa, there's a, you know, he was a mighty man. He was someone that the people were looking to because he keeps coming back and like all these plagues and everything and he's commanding, hey, let my people go. He's facing off against Pharaoh, and the people see this happening and they're going like, whoa, right? And they're giving heed and respect to him. Even some of them started believing him and fearing the Lord, right? But I'm not going to re-preach that. I'll preach that this morning. Flip over, if you would, to Psalm 5. We're just hitting all these places where the Bible's talking about God making people find favor with man or with man and God just so you can see how many times it's in Scripture that it's not just a one-off. It's not just Joseph. It's not just Moses. It's not just the children of Israel in these few scenarios. It's found multiple times in the Scripture that God can make it so that you gain favor with people. Why does that matter? Well, one of the things that even got me thinking about this is because I feel specifically like I have been blessed in different situations recently in my life where I'm just doing my thing. I'm working like I always do. I'm trying to do church. I'm trying to do everything. And then it's like, you know, nothing's changed in what I believe and what I preach and what I say. But for some reason, I've been well favored on the job. Don't know. All of a sudden, I lost my job for the same reasons, not that long ago, a few years ago, and now I'm in good shape. And all I can say is, you know what? God has blessed me for some reason and has just put me in good favor. And the reason why I even bring that up, one, is to give God the glory from a thankful person here that is appreciative of that, but to give you also some encouragement that you don't have to be afraid to speak your mind or be afraid of losing your job because if God wants you to be in that place, He could put you in good favor with people. I mean, I was talking to Pastor Shelley, which you can see the heat that he's getting now. He's still able to work. He's still able to work. And I mean, my situation was much smaller because I got very little attention. It was some small news story and whatever, and it was little persecution, little everything, right? It was very small. Personal to me, I appreciate it, but Pastor Shelley's, I mean, his name is blasted all over the place. They're having a hard time even getting a place to meet at with the church and everything else. He does have a side job that he's able to do, and he's still able to do it. Why? Because God's putting him in favor with people that are willing to work with him. And it's not that he's working for some fundamental Baptist somewhere, right? He's not like having these jobs where someone's just, oh, I agree with everything that you say. No. You think people in my job believe with everything that I say? No. There may be one or two people, I don't know. There are a few people that are saved at my work, so maybe they believe this stuff. I don't know. They never come forward to me saying, yeah, you go get them. But at the same time, right, they're friendly, and the people there have been friendly, and my point is that God can give you this favor so you don't have to worry. You don't have to let that consume you of, oh, man, what would happen, right? And oftentimes, ladies will start getting more upset and fearful, especially with their husbands. They might be like, oh, honey, don't say that. Don't do these things. Ladies, don't worry. If your husband is godly, he's doing what's right, he's standing on the Word of God, and he's going to preach the Word of God, don't worry about what may happen. Yeah, I understand. It could seem kind of scary. Well, what happens if you lose your job? What are we going to do? Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. God doesn't want us to worry about it. We could cast our cares on Jesus. He knows what you need. It's not like God doesn't know. You need to eat. He knows. You need to be clothed. He knows that, too. He knows that. The thing about all the things, you know, in Scripture, they talk about how much God loves you and cares about you and knows you, and the number of the hairs on your head are all numbered. He knows you inside and out. He knows your fears. He knows your needs. And if you're a child of God, he's not going to abandon you. God the Father is not a deadbeat dad at all, especially when you're making stands for him in defense of the Lord, in defense of his word. Standing up in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation and proclaiming the word of the Lord, God will definitely take care of you. It's like that song. God will take care of you. He will. And, you know, take some comfort. Maybe you don't have anything right now, but don't forget because it does get scary. It does get stressful. It's not always the easiest thing to deal with in the moment, at the time, but it doesn't have to be that stressful. It doesn't have to be if you just remember these things, remember what God's able to do, keep your faith strong with him because no matter what, it's all temporary. The stress, the persecution, the maybe lack of a job, that's temporary. It's temporary. What's the worst thing that happened? You could die? Let me rephrase that. What's the worst that could happen? You could go to be with the Lord? That's the way you got to think about it. To live is Christ, to die is gain. So we go home to be with the Lord a little early. Worst case, right? Perspective and knowledge. Keep this knowledge in mind. Where did I have you turn to? Do you have you turn to? Psalm 5. Did we read that one yet? Look at verse 11. Psalm 5, 11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. So one of the ways that God will use to defend you and be your protection, be your shield, is by putting you in good favor with other people. That's one of the mechanisms he uses to beat you up. In the Psalms you read about God being my buckler, my shield, my defense over and over again many times, right? And we tend to think about that in terms of battle many times. We're thinking about David and his wars and stuff like that. But right here he's saying, you know what? God will bless you. God's going to bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. As with a shield, right? He's using favor as protection. And that favor is like favor with man. Just putting you in a good light. No, I don't want to do anything. You know what? I don't want to can this guy. I kind of like him. He's a good worker. I know we're going to get some heat, but you know what? If God puts you in that good favor, that can make all the difference. Turn to Proverbs chapter 3 here in Psalm 5. Let's flip forward. We're kind of progressing forward through the Bible a little bit here. Proverbs 3 verse number 1. The Bible reads, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life, and peace shall they add to thee. Wait, let me reread that. Forget not my law, let thine heart keep my commandments. They're going to give me length of days, long life, and peace? I thought God's commandments were like, oh man, I don't know. God's commandments are a good thing. They will provide length of days and long life and peace. That's why we should love the law of the Lord. It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's not something to go, oh, the law of God, oh, Leviticus, oh, Deuteronomy. No, it's a good thing. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. So how are we going to find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man? Specifically verse 3 was the antecedent, let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Have mercy and truth in your life day to day to find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Be merciful. Be truthful. Stand for the truth. We ought to be willing to forgive and have mercy, but judge in truth and righteousness also. Verse 5, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, and that is key, too. Don't lean unto your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Trust Him. You trusted Him for your soul to be saved. Trust Him with the rest of your life, too. Trust Him with the life on His earth. Trust that when He says He's going to protect you, He'll protect you. Trust that when He says, don't lean on your own understanding. Well, I don't see how I could possibly say these things about the homos and I could still keep my job. You don't have to worry about that. If that's what God's going to have you to do, then you do it. I mean, no matter what it is, that's the easy hot button thing to keep pressing, the homos, the sodomites, just because they're the mafia of the day that's going to bring the most trouble if anyone says anything against them. That's why I keep pushing that button. I'm going to keep pushing that button. It needs to be pressed because there's not enough people pressing that button and calling it out. There's more people doing that. Maybe they go back into the closet where they belong. Verse 6, In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Well, doesn't it seem like that's what Joseph did? Acknowledging the Lord, and guess who directed his path? Joseph had no idea he was on a path up to the throne, but God directed his paths. Joseph just kept doing what he needed to do, kept doing what's right, whatever situation he's in. We need to do the same thing. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be held to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Flip over to chapter 12, Proverbs chapter 12. Verse number 1 says, Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof, reproof is being told you're wrong, being corrected is brutish or stupid. Verse 2, A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. We want to be favorable in the sight of God and obtain favor of the Lord as well as in the sight of man. So again, let's hear a good man. And what's a good man contrasted with? A man of wicked devices. People trying to do evil against other people. Do what's right. Do good. You'll obtain favor of the Lord. Flip over, if you would, to Psalm 105. So God can make you favorable in the eyes of other men. God also can step in and simply not allow certain things to happen. One way is by making you just look good. Oh yeah, I like that guy. We're not going to do anything about that. We'll overlook it and kind of just give you that favorability. But there's other things that God can just protect you as well and just make sure certain things don't happen. In Genesis chapter 20, there's a story of Abraham and Sarah. Remember Abraham was fearful going into the city and Abimelek was looking at Sarah's wife and he's saying, Oh yeah, she's my sister. And she said he's her brother. And Abimelek is interested, so he's like, Hey, call Sarah over. He thinks it's fair game. He thinks everything's fine. Abraham lied, but God prevented anything from happening in that situation because God was still blessing Abraham for being a godly man, for being the friend of God that he's listening, he's obeying, not knowing where he's going, following the word of the Lord. He's got this lapse. And this is also good news too because this is kind of a lapse of faith by Abraham, but God still has his back. God's still looking out for Abraham. I mean, he's still a righteous guy. He has a lapse of faith. He should have had the faith to just be able to say, Hey, I don't care if they're going to try to kill me. Obviously I care, but I don't want to die, but I'm not going to lie about you being my wife. He should have had the strength to just say, God told me to come here. I'm going to trust this. I'm not going to make excuses and try to say that we're not married. We're definitely married because a situation like this might happen. He thought he was going to be killed, but you know what? If God's telling you to do this, you already know, you should know you're not going to be killed. He had a lapse of faith. He had a little bit of doubt. He was trying to use his own understanding a little bit. He wasn't perfect, but he was a good man. And God was looking out for him. I'll read this passage for you. Sorry, in verse 2 the Bible says, you're still in, you're in Psalm 105. Genesis 20, verse 2, the Bible says, And Abraham said of Sarah's wife, She is my sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, she is my sister, and she, even she herself, said he is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and innocency in my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, for I also withheld thee from sinning against me, therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. He's like, I didn't allow you to touch her. Now again, we don't know specifically exactly how this plays out if God leads someone to kind of walk in to intervene in a situation where maybe they would have been alone together, or, you know, who knows, right? Who knows what distractions or what other things God can do and use to make these things happen, but it's clear that God is responsible for saying, Hey, I didn't even allow you to, I didn't allow that to happen. He was watching out for Abraham. And we'll see a few more instances of things similar to this. Genesis 31 verse 6, the Bible says, And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. We're talking about Jacob when he was leaving Laban with his wives, with all of his stuff, and then Laban gets angry, right, because he's leaving, and he just kind of, he just took away. When he left, he didn't say anything. He didn't get a chance to say goodbye or anything because he was worried that Laban then is going to try to force his daughters to stay there and everything they had and then just send Jacob away empty. So he's like, Look, I know the way Laban works. We're just cutting out of here right now. Laban gets angry. He chases after him. Finally catches up to him, and then they're able to speak to each other, but God warned Laban. He's like, Don't say anything good or evil. You don't mess around with this because God was blessing and protecting Jacob. And this is Jacob now explaining to his wives. He says, You know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father had deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God suffered him not to hurt me. God didn't allow him to hurt me. He's done all these other things to me. He changed my wages and everything else. He's kind of did some things that were not right, but he never hurt me, so God wouldn't let him do that. And it's true. God's able to intervene in ways like this, and as we see this more and more in Scripture, hopefully that can help you to understand, Look, God operates this way and can help you to not be hurt, and God can intervene and step in in situations. Psalm 105, verse 6, the Bible says, O ye seed of Abraham, his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen, he is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac. Verse 10, and confirm the same unto Jacob for a law, unto Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, Will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance? When they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it, when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings, excuse me, for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. One more instance is referring back to Abraham and Jacob and saying, you know, like, hey, he's rebuking kings for their sakes, and not, suffering means not allowing any man to do them wrong. He is watching over and protecting them. God can have that same level of protection over you. You want to yield yourself to serve the Lord? You want to do what's right? Let God protect you. Put your trust in the Lord. Like I said, with everything. Let him worry about it. He knows what your needs are. He's not going to allow you to be put through more than you can handle, also. Turn if you would to 2 Timothy chapter 3, it's the last place I'll have you turn, 2 Timothy chapter 3. Proverbs 10, 3 says this, The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. That is not the same as saying God is going to give you all the riches of the world. Right? He's not going to let you famish. He may let you go a little hungry, but you're not going to be famished. Right? You may go a little lean, things might get a little tight, but he's not going to allow you to famish. And in fact, he's not going to bring you to the point of having to beg bread. Like Psalm says, you know, I have been young and now I'm old and I have yet to see the Lord's seed I have yet to see the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. Thank you. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. So the wicked are what a lot of people are scared of these days. A lot of Christians, a lot of believers, you know, oh, they've got so much substance and so much power and so much money and wealth and fame and, oh, they could do whatever they want to me. You know what? They can't do anything unless God allows it. Because if God wants to protect you, there's nothing they can do about you. He can cast away all of the substance of the wicked in a moment. 2 Timothy chapter 3, and this boils and brings it back in again to kind of the main thrust, the main point of showing you these verses in the Bible, talking about God, giving you good favor and helping you in what you do in general just to live and to survive in this world that God can put you in good favor with people that can help you because he could bless you in that way. Why is this important? 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 1, the Bible says this, Know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. I believe we're in the last days and we're heading ever close to the day of Christ, but whether it happens in our generation or not, I don't know, but it seems to be going that way, and we seem to be accelerating, and the days that we live in are definitely increasingly perilous, and I would say not even from an American perspective, but probably from a global perspective. I'm not living in other places. I only see limited information from what other countries are showing, but it seems to me to be that things are not getting any safer or more godly anywhere really in the world, but are becoming increasingly perilous times, and then the attributes are given here about the people during these last days' perilous times, and it's kind of like someone just turned on the TV when we read this list or got on social media. Verse 2, For men shall be lovers of their own selves. Selfie much? Here's what I'm eating. Seriously, it's a lover of their own selves, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. People become vain and all about themselves, and you know what happens when people think everything about themselves? They think a lot less of everybody else, and when sin abounds, the love of many is going to wax cold, and when you're thinking about yourself, you're not thinking about others. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Sound familiar, like the day that we're living in right now? I don't know about you, but I seem to see this going on all over the place. No natural affection. People out there doing vile things, despising those that are good. Verse four, traitors, heady, high-minded. And how many references and synonyms for lifted up, lofty, full of themselves, heady? You know, heady, again, it's just you're full of yourself. You're full of your own head. Lovers of their own selves, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captives, silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. You know, I mentioned at the beginning, you know, we're not Calvinist here. Well, one of the reasons, because a verse is like this. They resist the truth. The Calvinism, the I in tulip is irresistible grace. Another example is in the book of Acts with the deputy, Sergius Paulus, right? And Apostle Paul is trying to give him the gospel and Paul rebukes him. And he says, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. Huh. I thought it's irresistible. I thought the Holy Ghost drawing is irresistible. How could he resist the Holy Ghost? How could he resist the truth? Well, they do. People do because you have free will because you're able to resist the truth if you really choose to do so. So some people, believe it or not, hate the truth. I know it's foreign to those who love the truth. How could you hate it? Why would you hate the truth? I thought you loved the truth. I love the truth. Why do you love the truth? Because it's true. Because it's real. It's reality. I want to just know what's real, what's true. Some people hate that. Some people don't like the truth. They want to make up their own God, make up their own vision of how they want to live and what they want to do and just do whatever they want. Instead of what's reality, it's like the people who think, well, I'm not going to hell because I don't believe it's real. Okay. Tell me how that works out for you when you're engulfed in flames. Because whether you want it to be real or not has no bearing on the actual truth of the matter. Now, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so did these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. So those are all good things. Apostle Paul is saying, look, you know me. You know my doctrine. You know the way I am. You know my faith. You know my longsuffering, my mercy. Remember we read earlier about getting favor because you're showing mercy? Longsuffering, charity, patience. And then verse 11, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured. But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Paul wasn't a stranger to persecution. Paul wasn't a stranger of going through hard times, of being attacked. We could turn to, I think it's in verse Corinthians where he's saying, you know, within were fears, without, you know, he's in perils of robbers, perils of his own countrymen, perils at sea, you know, just facing all these dangers and having all these persecutions and things and you know what? God delivered him out of them all. And Christians today are like, oh, I might lose my job. I mean, he's talking about like real danger. He's talking about being shipwrecked. He's talking about like someone jumping him and being stoned essentially to death, right? Because they don't like him and they want him gone from the city and they stone Paul, the piles of Paul, but then he's able to get back up, right? Whether he literally died or not, I mean, either God miraculously brought him back or he didn't, but he was pretty much at that point. I mean, they stoned him, right? They thought he was dead. Whether he died or not, that's pretty bad. That's persecution, my friends. I wonder how many people today after getting stoned would continue to preach the word of God and how many would shut up and not say a word after that. Out of them all the Lord delivered me. The apostle Paul is a great example because he's kind of an extreme example on many different fronts. He was an extreme example of someone who gets saved that was someone who was persecuting the church and attacking the church and having people put to death in the church and he actually gets saved and then goes the exact opposite direction of doing like some of the most work for the Lord. He's also someone who's been persecuted probably more than the vast majority of other prophets, believers, Christians out there with how much he endured. We read about other persecutions and other things that happen to other people, but you read about the apostle Paul, it's like, man, unless we're just not being informed. Obviously, I know there's plenty of people throughout history who have faced persecutions and stuff, but it's like, good night. If the apostle Paul could go through this stuff, maybe we can have a little bit of faith in God and not get so worried or concerned about what might happen to me and will I be able to afford to have my air conditioning this month. The apostle Paul wasn't worried about his air conditioning when he was getting stoned outside the city. And I don't mean like smoking or getting stoned for people who might be thinking the wrong way. Stone meaning a rock being thrown at his head. Out of them all the Lord delivered me. Verse 12, Yea, and all, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Persecution's coming, if it hasn't already. If you're living godly. Persecution doesn't come on the lame lukewarm that's not doing anything, that's not living godly. Like this morning I was talking about, there ought to be a difference between the Egyptians and the children of Israel. There ought to be a difference between the worldly and the godly. Well, those who have no difference and they look like they could just fit in completely with the world, you know what? They're not going to be the ones suffering persecution. Because the Bible says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And that's one of the reasons why many people choose not to live godly. Because they don't like the persecution. Because they don't want to deal with the persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. He's telling Timothy here, things aren't going to get better. Okay? They're getting worse. Verse 14, But continue thou, I don't care how bad things are getting, continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Yeah, when people are attacking the word of God in certain points of the word of God, don't abandon the word of God in any of points. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God. All of it. Leviticus 20 and 13 is given by inspiration of God. Leviticus 18, Leviticus 19. Numbers, Deuteronomy. All of it is given by inspiration of God. And is profitable. In the New Testament, spoken to a New Testament preacher. It's profitable. Don't fear, God's able to put you in favor with people. And when you just think about it in the most simple terms, and we're done. Doesn't it just make sense that God would give you some level of protection if God wants you to do certain things? If God wants you to preach, stand up for the truth, be a preacher of righteousness, if that's what God wants for you to do, which I think we could see that in scripture, why wouldn't He take care of you? I mean, anyone who has a dangerous job for someone to do is gonna equip them with what they need so that they don't get hurt. I mean, any danger. You just think about just physical jobs out in the world, right? You're gonna do a dangerous job, well, you're gonna get set up with equipment and harness and everything else and as much protection, whatever. Well, if God's got something for you to do, that might be a little dangerous, or you might think it's a little bit dangerous. Don't you think that God's gonna put in there a way to protect you if He wants you to get that task done? Of course He will. God's not gonna send you on an impossible mission, impossible task, can't do it. No. That's why He says He'll build the church. It's not your job to build the church. It's your job to preach His word. That's why He tells the prophets throughout the ages. You see Him talking to Ezekiel. You see Him talking to Jeremiah. You know what? Don't worry about their faces. Don't worry about whether or not they're gonna listen to you. You just preached My word because that's what you're able to do. Whether they receive it or not, that's not on you. We go out and preach the gospel. Whether people get saved or not, that's not on you. You just preach the gospel. You do what you're supposed to do. In every aspect of your life, do it by leaning on the word of God and not on your own understanding. I'm gonna go this way because this is the way that God tells me to go and if it looks kinda scary, it doesn't matter because I'm gonna trust God and maybe I lose that. Here's the thing. When bad things happen, quote, unquote, there could be something way better around the corner. We just get scared of the unknown. Don't be scared of the unknown. Faith. That's where faith kicks in, right? Look at things through the eyes of faith. All right, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you so much for the encouragement that we can receive and seeing these stories where you've given men favor in the eyes of other men, dear Lord, and that you can basically just allow for various things to happen here on this earth and allow for people to continue to serve you and go through times. Yes, we know we're gonna go through times of persecution, but you could also allow us to go through times where we have some peace and we have some quiet where everything's not up in turmoil, Lord. I pray that you would please help us through those difficult times that we do have. Help us not to lose the faith. Help us to stay strong. I pray that you would please help us to be encouraged by these words and that you would help us in favor in the eyes of God and in the eyes of man, Lord. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Peter, please lead us. Yes, sir. All right, church, if you could open up your hymnal for song number 115. Song number 115, No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus. Song 115. On the first. No other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. All my heart was full of misery and woe. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms about me and he led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me on the last. Every day he comes to me with new assurance. More and more I understand his words of love. But I'll never know just why he came to save me. Till someday I see his blessed face above. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Amen, church. Great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. Thank you.