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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening. Find the seats and find a song but close to you. Turn to page number 247. Song number 247, and we will open the service with saved. Saved song number 247. Let's go ahead and sing it out. On the first. I've found a friend who is all to me. His love is ever true. I love to tell how He lives in me. And what His grace can do for you. Saved by His love and might. Saved to do life as a prime. My vow is sweet and my joy is strong. For I'm saved, saved. Song number 247. Sing it out on the second. Raise me from every sin and harm. Secures my soul each day. Completely strong on His mighty arm. I know He'll guide me all the way. Saved by His love and might. Saved to do life as a prime. My vow is sweet and my joy is strong. Saved, saved. Saved, finished strong on the last. When poor and needy and up are on the move. And that will be said to me. Come unto me and I'll give you room. To build and heal me, return to me. Saved by His love and might. Saved to do life as a prime. My vow is sweet and my joy is strong. For I'm saved, saved. Saved. Amen. Great. We welcome everyone here to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service. We are glad to see everyone here this evening. Let's open the service with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you again for the opportunity to be in your house this evening, Lord. Thank you for the dear people who would come and sing songs to you, Lord, and pray that you bless the service. Pray that you bless the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship, Lord. Pray that everything that be said and done this evening will bring glory and honor to you in the name of Jesus. I pray. Amen. It's now time for favorites where if you're selected, we will sing a stanza from the song that you picked. Go ahead, Miss Selena. Song number 27, the old rugged cross. Song number 27. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. Sing it out. On a first. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. He had the most of me and she. In the love of the cross where the dearest and best. For all the swimmers were singing. So I dare wish the old rugged cross. Till my truth is at last I lay down. Now we'll cling to old rugged cross. And we'll sing a song named old rugged cross. What a search by it. 169. Come thou fount of every blessing. Song number 169. Song number 169. Sing it out on the first. Come thou fount of every blessing. To my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy. Never signs of. Never signs of. How it springs. Teach me Sunday for this morning. Tell my mighty name. To come by. Praise the mountain. Bless the morning. Not to cry. To come by. Hey, everybody. 215. Song number 215. Heaven came down. Glory filled my soul. We're going to sing that tag as well. All right. Song number 215. Sing it out on the first. Oh, what a wonderful wonderful day. May I will never reflect. After that wonderful time is so big. Jesus, my Savior, my man. Oh, what a terrible passion and friend. We've been through it all by heart. Shadows is telling the truth and telling. We will of the darkness our mercy. Never came down. And the years will pass us by. God have not come to save me. My Savior washed away. And my night will soon to come. Heaven came down. And will be through my soul. Sing it out. Heaven came down. And will be through my soul. I see Josiah. Go ahead. 29. Song number 29. 29. Song number 29. At the cross. Song number 29. Alas, and did my Savior lead. Song number 29. Sing it out on the first. Alas, and did my Savior lead. And when my sovereign died. He did not that sacred life. Of such sorrow as I. At the cross. As the cross rose from the sun. And the world went on for me. It was how I feel. I will sing my song. And now I am not for the day. I will save my God. 164. Song number 164. Praise Him. Praise Him. Song 164. We're going to sing it out. Sing it with some passion, all right? Song number 164. Sing it out on the first. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Jesus, our blessed be He. God. Sing, oh, in praise, wonderful, our perfect. Give Him, give Him, highest our kingdom to Him. We strengthen on the two to Him. Like a shepherd, Jesus, the God, His children. In His arms, He gives them all their love. Praise Him. Praise Him. Tell of His love, sing in greatness. Praise Him. Praise Him. Have a joyful song. Sing one more song. Finish with Ms. Larva. Song number 24. We're going to sing it out on the first hand. On the first hand, can it be that I should gain? Song number 24. This will be the last song, so let's sing it out, all right? And can it be that I should gain? Sing it out on the first. And can it be that I should gain? Any interest in the Savior's blood? I give you peace. Praise His name. For I will give you deathless love. I'll be your love. How can it be that I should gain? I don't need amazing love. How can it be that the Lord God shows up? Praise His name. Amen. We want to welcome you to the most exciting service of the week, Sunday night service. We're glad that you are with us. Let's take our bulletins real quickly tonight and we'll look at some announcements. If you do not have a bulletin, raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week, 1 John 5, 3, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. That's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m. We had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad, of course, you're back out tonight for the evening service. And we do invite you to be with us for the midweek service, which we call the most encouraging service of the week. And we'd love for you to join us, of course, on Wednesday night. If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. And then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and Fridays and Sundays. Right now, Thursday and Friday is postponed due to workdays, but on Sundays at 2 p.m. we have a soul winning time, of course. If you are a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we are so glad that you are with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you. As you walk out of the church building this evening, if you go out on our main foyer or our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up. And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight. There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have, but the one we'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made. It's called Being Baptist, very well made, very interesting, we think you'll like it. And we want to give this to you as a gift. And if you are a guest, we ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin. And we would love to have a record of your attendance. We're not going to do anything odd with your info. We actually would like to just send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that. So please take a moment to fill the card out. If you need a pen, you can raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by Verity Baptist Church pen. You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well. And when we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we'll receive the offering. As the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate or you can hand it to me after the service. I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out. And I'd love for you to come by and say hello. I'd love the opportunity to meet you. And I can take this from you as well. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we've got the workdays and we talked about that this morning. But let me just go ahead and give a few minutes to that as well tonight. We've got the workdays back this week. We took last week off. But we have three different days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, three different shifts from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. You don't have to be there that whole time, but we've got three different shifts that cover that. And then on Saturday from 1 p.m. after soul winning to 8 p.m. And we could use your help with that. And again, you know, now that we've kind of got past the painting, there's a lot of miscellaneous things that need to get done. And I just want to give you a list of things that need to get done, because maybe there's something that you can do specifically that you can help with. And then you can go back there and volunteer to help us with that specific thing. But this coming week, we've got lights that need to be installed. Not all the lights have came in, but some of the lights have came in and we can go ahead and start installing those. We need to we need somebody to just who has a mind to do this, to figure out how to make, make, assemble and install a mechanical arm for the projector that is going to be over there. And and some of these things also we're going to install. We need speakers installed. We're getting a brand new sound system over there just because the setup that we have here isn't going to really work over there. That's a much bigger building, of course, and a different setup is going to be a more professional setup. We're going to have the main speakers and monitors on the platform. We're going to have delay speakers in the back. And I mean, everything that you can think of as a normal church setup is going to be over there. But there's some things, some speakers that need to get hang from the ceiling and that needs to happen soon, even though we're not going to install the entire sound system now. That needs to happen now because anything that requires a scissor lift needs to happen soon. So if you could help with that, if that's something that you feel confident or comfortable with, we would appreciate that. Also running the wires for those speakers. We need to install power outlets in the mother baby rooms, the daddy room for the screens so that the ladies can watch the services. Also, we need one in the auditorium to run electrical for those install the outlets. Mudding and texturing in the main foyer, running wires for the monitors, running wires for the security cameras. Security cameras, of course, we don't want to move in there without having security cameras to keep everybody safe. Otherwise, we're just gonna have to make everybody be in the same room at all times, which that's fine, too. We can do that to install baseboards, painting baseboards. These are just things we need to all the doors that came off the rooms for the painting or whatever. We need to put those back on the room so you can hang doors or reinstall doors, installing windows. We've got a couple of windows that need to be put up. Just a lot of random things. If any of that sounds like something you could do, then we would appreciate your help. Please go by the foyer and sign up. We've got the three clipboards there, and we would appreciate your help with that. Of course, you can always talk to me or one of the staff guys or Brother Joel Usher if you have any questions. We can try to direct you in whatever questions you have. If you look at the announcements there, of course, we've got the sermon series. We're gonna continue that today. The Wilderness Wandering's nine chapters a day. I hope you're sticking with it. Don't quit. Don't give up. Stay at it. And then there's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service. They're not a distraction to anybody. And then this morning I mentioned about the move-in date. I know, obviously, a lot of people have been asking about the move-in date because we need to actually start moving things over there. But for now, I just wanted to kind of give everybody a heads up. I'm talking to the landlord, and we may push the move-in date back into the month of February. So we might actually move later than what I announced. We might move back. I'm not 100 percent on that yet. I'll have probably a better idea of that next week, and I'll give you that information. But just be aware of that. We just have to be flexible with the things that we are doing. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of January. Today there's a lot of birthdays. On the 14th, Ms. Laurel Manier has a birthday today. Eric Manier, her son, has a birthday today. Sophia Lee Wilson has a birthday today. Mr. Matt and Ms. Rizel Lee Wilson have an anniversary today. And later this week, we have Ms. Sarah Coffney's birthday on January 15th. Madeline Gonzalez's birthday on the 15th. Ms. Sha and Ms. Eva Redari have an anniversary on the 15th. Shanu Her has a birthday on the 16th. Yaseline De Dios has a birthday on the 18th. My nephew, Moses Thompson, has a birthday on January 19th. And Ms. Tamara Cervantes has a birthday on January 19th. So all of those are this week. Happy birthday, happy anniversary to everybody there. Praise report, money matters. All those things are there for you to look at. We had 240 in church this morning. And I praise the Lord for that. It was a good attendance. It looks like everybody's getting past the sickness and back into church. And that's good to hear. I think that's it for all of the announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week. And we're going to sing this song. His eye is on the sparrow. Now you're singing real well during the favorites, right? So I know that you can sing this one as well. We're going to go ahead and sing it out. On purpose, with purpose, on the first. Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows fall? Why should my heart be lonely? And why do I have them all? When Jesus is my portion, My constant friend in fear. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. We're singing well. Sing it out. I say because I'm happy. I say because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Good. We're going to sing it out on the second. I'm going to ask the musicians. Let's just slow it down just a tad. On the second. And we'll pick it back up in the chorus. Sing it out. Whenever I am tempted. On the second. Whenever I am tempted. Whenever comes around. When songs replace the sighing. When all is in realize. Good. Sing it out. For the post to him. He said. Is on the sparrow. He watches me. On the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Good. Here we go. Sing it out. I say because I'm happy. I say because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight. Thank you for the great singing. Lord, I pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver. We pray that you meet with us tonight. We open up your word and study the Bible together in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. 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Mm? Mm. OOOO union. Uh, highest worship of all time. Mm. Uh, Jesus. Oh. Jesus. of Israel are wandering in the wilderness, and we're actually getting ready to go into the Promised Land. In about a year or so, we're going to be entering into the Promised Land, and the Bible says there in Numbers 21 and verse number 1, and when King Arad, the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners, and Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my land, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities, and he called the name of the place Hormon. I want you to notice that the children of Israel, up to this point, they've had some victories, and here there is a testimony to that. The King of Arad, the Canaanites, went out and fought against Israel, and they took some of them prisoners, but of course they vowed a vow unto the Lord, and the Lord hearkened to them and delivered them, and we see that they've had some victories along the way, and of course we see that they've had some setbacks, and we saw that this morning. They complained about the fact that there was no bread, they complained about the fact that there was no water. Even though they did have bread, they just said that we loathe this light bread, and of course they had that whole episode with the fiery serpents, but I want you to notice in verse number four, and there's a little phrase there that I'd like us to key in on this evening, and it's there in verse number four, numbers 21 and verse four, the Bible says this, and they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass, or to compass, to go around the land of Edom, and we talked about that this morning, that the King of Edom would not allow them to go through the land, would not allow them to go through the King's highway, and as a result, they have to go around the land, and I want you to notice what the Bible says here, because if you remember, Moses asked if they could go through Edom, and he said, we'll stay on the highway, we won't go into the vineyards, we won't drink of your wells, we won't take anything for free, if we drink of the water, we'll pay for it, and the King of Edom said no, did not allow it, and I want you to notice here in the last part of verse number four, the Bible says this, and the soul of the people was much discouraged, I want you to notice this little phrase here, because of the way. The Bible says that the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Sometimes as I read the Bible, there are phrases, statements, I think the Holy Spirit puts there that sometimes hit me in a new way, or a fresh way, as this little phrase kind of captured my mind for a little bit, when the Bible says here that they were discouraged because of the way. I want you to notice, it doesn't say that they were discouraged in the way, it doesn't say that they were discouraged by the way, the Bible tells us that they were discouraged because of the way, they were discouraged because of the way, and I want to begin by just asking this question, and of course I don't want you to answer out loud, but I'd like for us to think about this in our minds. Have you ever been much discouraged because of the way? Have you ever been discouraged because of the way that life has maybe played out? Oftentimes we start out in life and we've got all these dreams and hopes and aspirations, we've got these thoughts and goals and tensions, these things that we think are going to happen, usually at the beginning of a new thing, whether it's a marriage or having children, whether it's going into ministry or starting a business, we have all these ideas and these thoughts of how things are going to play out, but they don't always play out the way we think they should. They don't always play out the way we think they would. Sometimes the way of life takes a detour that we did not expect. Sometimes we have to deal with issues and deal with problems, deal with blocks and hindrances along the way. I found that oftentimes in life people can be discouraged, not just in the way, not just by the way, but because of the way. If you consider the fact that the children of Israel have now been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, for 40 years they have been traveling here and traveling there, walking in circles, doing nothing and accomplishing nothing. It's interesting to me that the Bible highlights for us here right before they start to do something good for God, it tells us that the people were much discouraged because of the way. Tonight, what I'd like to do is I'd like to highlight for you three things that I think God did, that God did for the children of Israel, that the children of Israel did right in this chapter. I know that's rare to say in Numbers, the book of Numbers, we're so often seeing what they don't do right, but I want you to notice three things that went right in this chapter that I think God used to help them in their discouragement along the way. The first is found in verse number 10 and I would like to give you three thoughts tonight and if you can jot these down then maybe you can, I'd love for you to do that on the back of your course of the week. There's a place for you to do that or maybe you've brought your own notebook or notes and of course we always encourage you to take notes. Like you'll notice here in Numbers 21 and verse 10, the Bible says this, and the children of Israel, and I just want you to focus in on these words, set forward, set forward. The phrase set forward is used in the Bible to indicate the beginning of a journey. They're starting something. The Bible says, and the children of Israel set forward and pitched in Oboth and they journeyed from Oboth and pitched at Ijebirim in the wilderness, which is before Moab toward the sun rising. Notice verse 12, from thence they removed and pitched. I want you to notice that in this chapter what we're going to see is a flow of their movement. We're going to see really a tracking of their movement. It's a log of what they've done, but there's this idea that they are moving now. They are moving in a certain direction. Notice verse 12, from thence they removed and pitched in the valley of Zarin. Verse 13, from thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coast of the Amorites, for Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorites. Then I want you to notice verse number 14, because in number 21, 14 we really find something that is new to the children of Israel, something that wording that has not really been used up to this point and not really something that has been part of their history or their culture. Notice this in verse 14, wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord. Now let me just go ahead and say this. What the Bible is referring to here regarding the book of the wars of the Lord, we don't know for sure. It probably was a book that the children of Israel kept as a log of all the different battles and things that they had fought. I don't know that this was something that was ... I mean, I know for sure that if it was a separate book, it wasn't divine scripture, maybe this is a reference to a portion of scripture. I don't want you to get too hung up on that. If it's part of scripture, then it's in your King James Bible. If it wasn't part of scripture, then it doesn't need to be in your King James Bible. But I want you to notice that there was a book of wars here. There's a book of wars of the Lord. The Bible says what he did in the Red Sea and in the Brooks of Arnon. They began ... because remember, at the beginning of chapter 21, they had that first victory, and now they are starting to set forward. They are journeying, thence they removed and pitched, thence they removed and pitched. Now we read that there is a book of wars of the Lord. There is a book in which they're tracking their movements. What I want you to notice is that the way that this is describing the children of Israel is not as people that are just meandering about, but these people are now on what we would call a war footing. They are moving on purpose, with purpose, in a specific direction. In this thought, we find the first point that I'd like to make for you tonight, the first application, and it is this. What do you do? What should we do when we are discouraged because of the way, when things are not working out the way that we think they should, when things have not played out the way we thought they would, when things are taking longer or going slower or not happening at all, when the news is bad, when it's not going in the direction we thought, what is it that we can do, and what is it that God did for the children of Israel? I want you to notice that the first thing that I see here is that the children of Israel went from meandering to marching. That word meander is an interesting word. It means to wander aimlessly. That's what the children of Israel have been doing for the last 40 years. They have been wandering. We call it the wilderness wanderings. They've been wandering in the wilderness. What have they been doing for 40 years? They've been meandering about. They've just been carelessly, aimlessly, without purpose, without plan. They're just kind of out there. We already know from the book of Numbers that God told them way earlier in the book, you're going to stay in the wilderness for 40 years until all of you die. What they've literally been doing for 40 years is waiting and wasting their time. The Bible tells us that as a result of that way, not just having to compass Edom, I believe that the way was, the 40 years that they've been traveling, the 40 years that they've been wasting, the 40 years that they've been meandering about, they've been discouraged because of the way. We see that God begins to change something. They go from meandering to marching. What do you mean by that? What I mean by that is that they go from walking aimlessly to marching to moving in a direction When I was in the Air Force in boot camp, we spent a lot of time learning how to march. Marching, if you've never done it, it takes a lot of learning and practice to be able to get 100 or 150 guys to all walk in step in a direction that gets you moving on purpose, with purpose, not wasting time in a specific direction. Usually, of course, now it's done just for tradition and for discipline, but it used to be to be able to effectively bring men into war. What the children of Israel are doing now is that they're starting to march. They're starting to walk with purpose. They're starting to head in a direction. I want you to understand this, that what I've learned over the last 13 years of ministry, I think what the Bible is teaching us here, is that people are often discouraged in life because they have no purpose. They're just wasting life. They're just meandering about. They're just walking aimlessly, walking nowhere, wandering aimlessly through life. You're there in Numbers 21. Keep your place there if you would. Go with me to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter number 16, Proverbs chapter 16. On Saturday morning at the Soloning Rally, I brought up a story about my wife. When we were 17 years old, we met, and she wasn't saved, and I gave her the gospel, and she got saved, praise the Lord, after many months of debating and whatever. One of the things that I remember my wife saying to me when she was a brand new Christian, 17 years old, just gotten saved, one of the things that she said after salvation was that as a young person, as a teenager, 15 year old, 16 year old, and she was very productive and high production. She worked, and she saved money. She bought her own car, and she was here, and she was there. She graduated early, and she was in college, which is why she ended up becoming an atheist and all these things. One thing that she said to me, which I thought was interesting, because I'd grown up in a Christian home, so my worldview and the way that I'd grown up was a little different, but I remember her saying, she said, you know, I used to always wonder, we're talking about just a 15, 16, 17 year old kid before she got saved, she said, I used to always wonder, is this all that life is about? I mean, is this it? We just get up, and we go to school, and we go to work, and then there's the weekend, and then there's fun, and then there's this, and there's that, and then we go to bed, and we just get up, and we do it again, and we get up and do it again, and she used to wonder these things, it's just a young teenager that was lost. Is this all that life is? Meandering about, wandering aimlessly, doing nothing, accomplishing nothing, now praise God, she got saved, and she got some purpose in her life, but the sad thing is that what one 16 year old learned, many 26 year olds, and 36 year olds, and 46 year olds, and 56 year olds have not learned, that you will be much discouraged by the way, because of the way, in the way, if all your life is, is meandering about. If all your life is going to work, getting a paycheck so that you can buy the next toy, go on the next trip, do the next fun thing, then what's the point? The children of Israel had been wasting their life for 40 years, and God is now getting ready to give them some purpose, and he says the first thing we got to do, is we got to get you to set forward, we got to get you to start your journey, they journeyed, the Bible says, they removed and pitched from thence, they removed and pitched, they began to document and write a book of the wars, they got some purpose about their life, and I'm here to tell you, if you're discouraged tonight, because of the way, if you're discouraged because things haven't played out the way you thought they should, or the way you hoped they would, let me tell you, you may be discouraged because you're meandering about, wandering aimlessly through life with no purpose, no plan, and the children of Israel, in order to be encouraged, they went from meandering to marching, I'd like you to notice in Proverbs chapter 16, I'm not sure if I asked you to go to Proverbs, I'd like you to go to Proverbs, if you open up your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms, right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 16, in verse number 9, the Bible says this, Proverbs 16 and verse 9, a man's heart deviseth his ways, but the Lord directeth his steps, that's where you want to find yourself, that's where you find purpose in life, go to Proverbs chapter number 3, Proverbs 3, while you turn there, I'll read to you from Philippians, you know these verses, I won't have you turn there, remember Paul said, brethren I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, you see I'm discouraged because of the way, maybe it's time you start forgetting those things which are behind, and start getting some purpose in your life, and stop meandering, and start marching, cause Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth, that's purpose, reaching forth unto those things which are before, notice this, doesn't this sound like marching, I press toward the mark, I'm walking in a specific direction, in a certain direction, let me tell you something, nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific, nothing becomes exciting until it becomes specific, maybe the reason that you're so discouraged in life is because there's no specific purpose to your life, and here's what I'm telling you, is you need to figure out why God placed you on this earth, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, notice Proverbs 3 and verse 5, the Bible says this, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thy known understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him, that'd be a great sermon, just that phrase, in all thy ways acknowledge him, don't miss it though, and he shall direct thy path, and he shall direct the path, see what you and I need to do is we need to discern God's purpose, please listen to me, we need to discern God's purpose, and discover our place in his plan, when you and I decide I need to discern the purpose of God for my life, we all have different purposes and we all have different races, we all have different things we're doing, but when you and I really get serious about trying to figure out why did God put me here, why does God have me here, why does God have me in this place at this time, why has he brought me to this kingdom for such a time as this, when you and I begin to discern the purpose, when we begin to discern the purpose of God in our lives, then we must discover the place, our place in his plan, and here's what I'm telling you, is when we align ourselves to find our place in God's plan, you won't be discouraged because of the way, when you are in the way of God, so we see number one this morning, what do you do when you're much discouraged? Well, the children of Israel, they went from meandering to marching, they got a target, they like Paul said, began to press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, but I'd like you to notice the second thing we see in our story tonight. Not only do we see that they go from meandering to marching, but I want you to notice something that I think is unique, it's interesting, if you study the book of Numbers, and if you've been studying it with us, then maybe this will jump out to you as like, wow, this is different, and it's found in verse number 15, look at it, number 21, 15, and at the stream of the brook that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab, and from thence they went to Beer, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, gather the people together, and I will give them water. Now this has been a thing, right, with the children of Israel, I mean, over and over and over again, we've seen them in the book of Numbers, complaining about bread, complaining about water, not having bread, supposedly not having water, they say we don't have bread, but they do have bread, they just don't like the bread they have, and sometimes they legitimately don't have water, and God gives water to them, and here we see another episode where they did not have water, and we're told that they went to the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, gather the people together, and I will give them water, but I want you to notice this picture, because look, what is the normal picture that we've seen when it comes to this issue of water with the children of Israel? What is the normal thing that we've seen when it comes to water and the children of Israel needing water? We normally see this, they complain, they chide, they fight, they stand up against Moses, Aaron, and the Lord, isn't that true? They complain against God, they complain against Moses, they complain against Aaron, they complain about the situation, they criticize, they get upset, they chide, they chided, they do these things, but here we see a different response, see, here we see what happens when people go from being discouraged to encouraged, and here the Bible tells us, we don't see them complaining, we don't see them criticizing, in fact, we see them do something very different, they sing. Look at it, verse 17, then Israel sang this song, they lack water, and this time, instead of this time, instead of complaining, instead of attacking, instead of criticizing, we don't get all the details, but we don't get the story where Moses is hitting a rock, or Moses is yelling at them and saying, you rebels, all we get is that God tells Moses, go over here, I have a well for you, and when they get there, everyone's happy, in fact, when they get there, they begin to sing, notice the song, numbers 21 to 17, then Israel sang this song, spring up, oh well, sing ye unto it, they started singing this song, spring up, oh well, and then in the song, they're telling others, sing ye unto it, now the it there, what are they referring to, I'm not 100% sure, but it sounds to me like they're singing to the well, because they're singing to the well, they're telling the well, spring up, oh well, spring up, oh well, sing ye unto it, and this is part of their song, verse 18, the princes dig the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver with their staves, and from the wilderness they went to Matana, obviously that last phrase is not part of the song, that's telling us about their marching, from the wilderness they went to Matana, we have this song here that they sang, spring up, oh well, sing ye unto it, the princes dig the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver with their staves, what are they saying, they're saying the lawgiver directed certain people to dig this well, and it's now here for our use, and we're singing about it, and we're praising God about it, and they're singing spring up, oh well, sing ye unto it, I'd like you to notice that when the children of Israel were discouraged because of the way, how did they solve it, number one, we saw that they went from meandering to marching, but I'd like you to notice secondly tonight that they went from wandering to worshiping, they went from criticizing, they went from complaining, they've done it all these years and it just doesn't work, every time they complain, serpents come and bad things happen, and now they said, let's try something a little different, and when they try something different, they actually begin to sing, they begin to worship God, they begin to be thankful to God, let's compare that to what they normally do, notice what they normally do, go back to Numbers chapter 20, remember this story, Numbers 20 verse 1, Numbers chapter 20 verse 1, then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of sin in the first month, and the people abode in Kadesh, and Miriam died there, and was buried there, and there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and the people chode with Moses, the word chode is a past tense of chide, which means to speak angrily, displeasure, to speak rebuke, they chode with Moses and speak saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord, and why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die, and wherefore, for what reason, have you made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place, it is no place of seed, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink. Now let me ask you this question, which of these two versions sounds like a better story, Numbers 20 where they're just complaining and criticizing and angry, or Numbers 21 where God provides their needs and they're singing and praising God, look, I'm here to tell you something, if you're much discouraged because of the way, maybe you need to go from wandering to worshiping, maybe you need to start singing, I've never understood Christians who don't like to sing, it makes no sense to me, honestly, it makes me think there must be something wrong with you, I mean, if you have the Holy Spirit of God, you ought to sing, I know some of you can't sing, trust me, I know that, I've heard the recordings, but you know, you don't have to be a good singer to sing, the Bible says make a joyful noise unto the Lord, and the truth is this, if you began to sing, if you began to worship, if you began to just get wrapped up in a love for God, it would help your discouragement because of the way, if you just, if you went from wandering to worshiping, from aimlessly meandering to worshiping God as you march along the way, hey, if you began to worship God, it'd do something for your soul, so what should I do when I'm discouraged because of the way, I don't know, maybe you ought to sing, why should I be discouraged, we sang it right, why should the shadows fall, why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home, when Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he, his eye is on the sparrow, I know he watches me, look, here's all I'm telling you, I don't, I don't believe, I just don't believe that if you're down in the dumps, if you're having a blue day and you're having a discouraged day, I just, I just don't believe that if you start directing your attention to God and you start singing words like, whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sign, when hope within me dies, I just don't think you can sing those words and not start feeling the joy of God, I draw the closer to him, from care he sets me free, his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me, his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me. You say, Pastor, I'm discouraged because of the way, maybe you ought to go from wandering to worshiping, maybe I ought to stop complaining and stop criticizing and stop being so angry and stop being so dark and start trying to be thankful. Let me share a verse with you if you'd like, you don't have to turn here, I'll just read it for you, 1 Thessalonians 5.18, 1 Thessalonians 5.18 says this, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You know, I don't know what God's will for your life is, but I know God's will for everyone's life is this, in everything give thanks, in everything give thanks, and I want you to notice that it doesn't say that we are to be thankful, look, it doesn't say to be thankful for everything. If the Bible never tells us to be thankful for everything, we know that we can't be thankful for everything, there are some things in life that are discouraging, that are evil, that are wrong, that are wicked, and you can't be thankful for everything, but you can be thankful in everything. So when you cannot be thankful because of the way, when you cannot be thankful because of the way things have played out and what has happened and things that have occurred in your life, I can tell you this, when you cannot be thankful because of the way, you can be thankful in the way. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. We don't have to be thankful for everything, but we can be thankful in everything. When we understand that all things work together for good, that doesn't say all things are good, it says all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Notice there in Numbers 21, I'd like you to notice the third lesson we get from this passage. What do we do when we're discouraged because of the way? Why don't you notice that the children of Israel, they went from meandering to marching, they got a target and in fact they got a book of wars and they began to document the progress that they were making, they began to move in a certain direction and I'd like you to notice that they went from wandering to worshiping. They started singing and being thankful and praising God and I want to encourage you to sing for the Lord. Sing out when you're down, sing out to God. I just believe that the Holy Spirit of God will begin to do a work in your life and it will help you when you're discouraged because of the way. And I'd like you to notice thirdly tonight, we see that they went from meandering to marching, they went from wandering to worshiping. Last thing I'd like you to notice is this. What happens in the rest of this chapter is we have two battles that the children of Israel end up being a part of but I want you to notice that they did not ask for either one of these. In fact, in both of these they were attacked, they were unprovoked. I'd like you to notice there in verse 9, the first challenge we see is from Sihon, king of the Amorites. The Bible says in verse 19, and from Matanah to Nahalel and from Nahalel to Bamath and from Bamath in the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah. By the way, Pisgah is where Moses will die later on, which looketh toward Jeshaman. Verse 21, and Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, let me pass through thy land. Just like they did with Edom, they told King Sihon, let me pass through the land. They make the request, we will not turn into thy fields or into the vineyards. We will not drink of the waters of the well, but we will go along by the king's highway until we pass by the borders. Verse 23, and Sihon would not suffer. The word suffer means allow. Would not suffer or allow Israel to pass through his border. Now that's bad enough, but then the Bible says, but Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness and came to Jehaz and fought against Israel. Here, they have an unprovoked problem. Isn't that why we're so often discouraged? We're just minding our own business, going through life, and someone picks a fight with us. Someone decides to hurt us. Someone decides to do something. Someone decides to do, they become hostile towards us. This unprovoked challenge and the children of Israel here find themselves just, they're just asking, can we come by the way? And King Sihon says, not only can you not go by the way, now we're going to fight. Notice it's not the only time it happens in this chapter. It happens with Sihon, by the way. These two kings that fight against Israel become famous in the history of Israel. They're brought up over and over again as an example of the children of Israel. The first is this King Sihon, and then there's another one, a king by the name of Og. Just skip down to verse 32 just to show you, and we'll come back and hit the verses that we skipped here in a minute, but look at verse 32. And Moses sent to spy out Jezer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, went out against them. He and all his people to the battle of Edri, and the Lord sent unto Moses, fear him not. Now, Og comes against the children of Israel, and God says to Moses, fear him not. Now, why does God say to Moses, fear him not? I think God said to Moses, fear him not, because I think Moses and the children of Israel are probably afraid of this guy. He said, well, why were they afraid of this guy? Well, let me show you what the Bible tells us about this man, Og. Keep your place. There are numbers. Go to Deuteronomy, just real quickly. Deuteronomy chapter 3, just you flip over to the next book in the Bible, Deuteronomy chapter number 3, and notice what the Bible says about Og in Deuteronomy chapter 3. It was documented about him in Deuteronomy chapter 3. Deuteronomy chapter 3 and verse 11 says this, for only Og, king of Bashan, look at this, remained of the remnant of the giants. The Bible says this guy was a remnant of the giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead. We're talking about his bed of iron. Is it not in the bath of the children of Ammon? Notice the size of his bed. Nine cubits was the length thereof. Nine cubits. What's a cubit? In the ancient world, the standard measurement of the ancient world was a cubit, which is roughly the measurement from the bottom of your elbow to the top of your finger. In general, nine cubits is going to be about 13 and a half feet. This guy had a bed that was 13 and a half, that was probably close to 13 and a half feet long. Nine cubits was the length thereof. Four cubits, the breadth thereof, six feet wide. Now look, I understand that people generally speak and they sleep in beds that are bigger than they are, but the fact that this guy needed a 13 foot long, six foot wide bed tells me we're dealing with a big boy here. This guy is, you know, he's a healthy boy. The Bible says four cubits, the breadth of it, after the cubits of man, look at verse 13, and the rest of Gilead and Albaishan, being the king of Og, gave eye unto half the tribe of Manasseh and all the region of Argob with Albaishan, notice what it says, which was called the land of the giants. So keep that in mind when you go back to Numbers 21 and verse 34. Numbers 21 verse 34, and the Bible says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not. Yeah, I bet so. It's a big guy, the big army. For I have delivered him into thy hand, God says, and all his people and his land. And thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Zion, king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. Now I want you to notice that we see here that there are some unprovoked problems. The children of Israel are just minding their own business, going about the way. And these guys decide to pick fights with them. And oftentimes, oftentimes, we are discouraged because of the way when unprovoked problems come our way. When things fight, we didn't start. Issues we had no intention of being involved in. They just landed on our lap. They landed in our way. I want you to notice that when those things happen, it's not fun getting sued. One of the problems with being a preacher like me is that when you preach the Word of God and the world doesn't like it, it causes you sometimes to end up in lawsuits. And by God's grace, the lawsuit we were in recently, we won. And the reason I really, honestly, I don't like to talk a lot about it is because the American culture seems to be this, that Americans don't seem to understand that anybody can sue you at any time for any reason, whether it's true or not. So I don't like to talk about it because you bring it up and then people just assume like, oh, you must have done something wrong. Well, let me tell you something. We got sued. We went to court. We won, and they paid us $10,000. That's how much we didn't do anything wrong. They picked a fight with us. But it can be discouraging, these unprovoked challenges. But you know, when these unprovoked challenges come our way, we should allow God to give us some unexpected victories. Why don't you notice what happens when the children of Israel are provoked by Sihon, king of the Amorites? Remember, 21 and verse 24, the Bible says this, and Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land, and Arnon and Jacob, even unto the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. Look at verse 25, and Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. Let me tell you something. They had unprovoked fights, but they also had unexpected victories. And you know what I think? Here's what I believe. I believe that God wanted the children of Israel to have some wins under their belt. He wanted them to have some victories. And look, they weren't looking for this fight, but God brought them to this fight because he wanted them to have some victories. And look, understand this. Sometimes God brings problems and trials in your life because he wants to see you through those. He wants to see you win. And look, we all like the stories, right? We like the stories in the Bible, the David and Goliath stories, the crossing the Red Sea stories, the walls of Jericho stories. But in order to have those great stories to look back on and say, look what God has done along the way, look at the battles that God has given us and the victory that he's given us, in order to have the David and Goliath story, David has to fight Goliath. In order to see God open up the Red Sea, you got to find yourself at the Red Sea with the army of Pharaoh behind you. Sometimes God allows these things into our lives, these unprovoked problems, so that he can give us some unexpected victories. Look at verse 35, Numbers 21, verse 35. So they smote him. The six-foot-wide guy, they smote him. The nine-foot-tall guy, they smote him and his sons and all his people until there was none left him alive and they possessed his land. Go back to Deuteronomy, if you would, chapter two, just real quickly. I want you to notice that God, I believe, the Bible says that God wanted this, Deuteronomy chapter two and verse 30. Deuteronomy chapter two and verse 30, the Bible says this, the Zion, king of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate. The word means stubborn. That he might deliver him into thy hand as he appeared this day and the Lord said unto me, behold I've begun to give Sihon and his land before thee begin to possess that thou mayest inherit his land. We're about to be done. I'm going to finish up here in the next five minutes, but let me just give you a little bit of context and a little bit of history. In fact, go with me if you would to the book of Judges chapter number 11, if you would, just real quickly. If you're there in Numbers of Deuteronomy, after that you have the book of Joshua and the book of Judges. Let me just say this, the children of Israel have spent 40 years meandering about, wandering in the wilderness, no purpose, no plan, nothing really going on, just wasting time. And as a result, the Bible says, as a result, the Bible tells us that they were discouraged, not in the way, but because of the way, because of how long it had taken 40 years, because of all the difficulties they've had, because of all the issues and all the problems. And look, I'm here to tell you, you live life long enough, you're going to be discouraged because of the way at some point. But we see that God helps them to go from meandering to marching, from wandering to worshiping. Now I can notice, thirdly, we've seen it, they go from victims to victors. They start off as victims in this chapter. In fact, the Bible tells us at the very beginning that a guy comes out against them and he takes some of them prisoners. They're just these slaves that came out of Egypt. They're just these victims and now they're being bullied and attacked by these individuals. But at the end, at the end of the chapter, they're not victims, they're victors. They've now taken land. They've now made possession. The children of Israel have actually taken land now that is going to be part of their possession. They've not yet crossed the Jordan River into the promised land. Moses still needs to die and Joshua will take over and Joshua will lead the children into the promised land. They'll begin to conquer the land to take it. But before that happens, they've got this land on the other side of Jordan that is now their possession. In fact, we're going to see later in the book of Numbers that when they cross over, certain tribes ask they can stay on the other side because there's a lot of land there that they can use for their cattle. This becomes their possession and what God is trying to do for these people who have been wandering for 40 years is give them some purpose and give them some victories along the way. By the way, let me just say this. There's a portion here that we did not cover. I'd like to just read it real quickly because you might look at this and think like this is wasted information in the Bible and it's not really needed. I want you to notice that in Numbers 21 and verse 26, the Bible says this. Keep your place there in Judges. I asked you to go to Judges, but go back to Numbers 21 real quickly. Look at verse 26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of the hand even unto Arnon. The Bible tells us here that when Sihon came to fight the children of Israel and the children of Israel had this David and Goliath moment, this underdog moment where they actually won and they took the land of Sihon. In Numbers 21 and 26, the Bible tells us that Hershon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites. Sihon, who the children of Israel just beat, had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand even to Arnon. Wherefore, they that speak in Proverbs say, Come into Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It hath consumed Ar of Moab and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chemosh. He hath given his sons that escaped and his daughters unto captivity. And Sihon, king of the Amorites, we have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophath, which reaches unto Madiba. Thus, Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. You say, What in the world is all of that about? All of that is telling you this. When they beat Sihon and took his land, Sihon had actually just taken that from somebody else. And then there's this proverb that went out as a result and all these things that people say. Now you might think, What is the point of that? Why does God put stuff like that in the Bible? Well, let me explain something to you. Everything in the Bible is there for a reason. Nothing is incidental, accidental, or coincidental. And whenever you see portions like this in the Bible and you think to yourself, What in the world does that have to do with anything? Just make a mental note and put it in your mind because it's probably going to come up somewhere else. And I'd like to just show you how that comes up and why that's important somewhere else in the book of Judges. Judges chapter 11. Just real quickly, look at it. Judges chapter 11. We fast forward several hundred years into the book of Judges. And in chapter number 11, we find ourselves with the judge named Jephthah. If you know the children of Israel in the book of Judges are often, because of the rebelling and their sin, they're under captivity. God raises a judge to bring them out of captivity. Here we find Jephthah who's having to lead the children of Israel into a battle. Judges chapter 11 and verse 12 says this, And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me that thou art come against me to fight in my land? Jephthah is asking this question. He says, Why are you fighting me? Why are you coming to fight us? And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt from Arnon, even unto Jabbuk, and unto the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore those lands again peaceably. All the way in the book of Judges, they come to Jephthah and they say, Israel took our land. We can read this whole passage. I'm not going to do it. They go back and forth and Jephthah's talking about, what are you talking about? When did we take your land? But I want you to notice verse number 20. Actually look at verse 19. This is Jephthah speaking. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon. He's telling them, no, let me tell you what happened. Israel sent messengers of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the king of Heshabon. And Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast. But Sihon gathered all the people together and pitched in Jehaz and fought against Israel. Isn't that what we just read in number 21? Look at verse 21. And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all the people into the land, into the hand of Israel, and they smote them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country, and they possessed all the coast of the Amorites from Arnun even unto Jabuch and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it? And here's all I'm trying to show you is that that section in number 21 that seems like, why is this added here? It's added there because when we get the judges, we're going to need to know that information because they actually come back and they say, you took our land. And Jephthah says, when did we take your land? They said, you took our land. And he has to set the record straight and say, no, Sihon took your land and we took it from Sihon and God gave it to us. And Jephthah says, if you want to fight, let's fight. And of course he wins the battle and the Lord gives him the land. I'm just here to tell you, there's nothing in the Bible that is not important. It's all there for a reason. You start reading the Bible, Genesis X, Leviticus numbers, you might get the numbers and be like, what's this about? Maybe you don't realize the judges or you never realize because you don't make the connection, but that's okay. That's why God gave you a pastor. You get to Judges 11 and you realize, oh, that's why that's there. Nothing in the Bible is for no reason. It's all given by inspiration of God and it's all profitable. Go to Romans just real quickly. We'll finish this thing up. Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. What do you do when you're much discouraged because of the weight? You may be much discouraged because you're meandering, because you're wandering, because you're a victim. And look, I'm not against you if you're a victim. Obviously, if things have happened in life, people have hurt us. We understand that. But you know, the Bible says that you can be victorious in Christ. And what God does for these people is He takes them from meandering to marching, from wandering to worshiping, and from being victims of life, allowing life to just attack them at any point, to being victors. Romans chapter eight, verse 37, it says this, nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Let me give you one more. 2 Corinthians chapter two, if you can, go there. Romans 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter two and verse 14. 2 Corinthians chapter two and verse 14, the Bible says this, now thanks be unto God. Look at these words, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. You say, I'm discouraged because of the way. Start marching. Start worshiping. Start allowing God to give you some victories. Now look, in order for God to give you some victories, you may have to put yourself in a position where you feel vulnerable. You want the victory of seeing a soul saved? I hope you do. But if you want the victory of seeing a soul saved, you know what you might need is to be vulnerable and knock on the door and be scared to talk and to open your mouth. If you want the victory of seeing God do great things in your life, you might have to put yourself in a position where you might be vulnerable and be a victim, feel like a victim, because God wants to take you from being a victim to being a victor so that you don't have to be discouraged because of the way. We are more than conquerors through Him, the Bible says, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. We love you. We thank you for these passages of scripture, these stories. They're not here to fill in space. They're not here to waste our time. There's a reason for them. Lord, the children of Israel have been wasting a lot of time, and I think oftentimes many of us are discouraged because we've also been wandering around. I pray you'd help us to learn these lessons. Stop meandering. Start marching somewhere in a direction with purpose. Help us to be like the Apostle Paul. I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Help us to stop wandering and start worshiping. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to stop being victims and stop having this victim mentality to help us to start being victors. And when unexpected challenges come our way, let us trust you for some unexpected victories. Lord, I pray you'd help us. Help us to do what you've called us to do. Help all of us to figure out our purpose, your purpose, and our place in your purpose, Lord. I pray you'd help us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to give you a couple of reminders before we go. First of all, don't forget, men, if you could help us with the work days, we would appreciate your help. We've got three clipboards over there and all sorts of different things that you can do, different slots that you can sign up for. And if you could help us with any of those things. When I read those, that list, if there's anything you thought, I could do that, I could help with that, I've got experience with that, we would really appreciate your help. So please go by and sign up for that. And also, of course, if you would look around and just kind of pick up, put the hymn books back. If there's any mess that your kids made or anything like that, we'd appreciate you just kind of helping us get that together. Help us with cleaners on Monday morning to be able to, if you can, start putting things away. If there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. Of course, I want you to know that my wife and I love you. We pray for you and we're here for you. If you need us, if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. Hey Mel, let's grab our songbooks and turn to page number 136. Song number 136. We'll sing Master, the tempest is raising. Song number 136, sing it out on the first. Master, the tempest is raising. The billows are tossing high. The sky is more shadowed than darkness. No shelter will help us now. When there's none I doubt we'll manage. How does that lie asleep? When it's frozen so badly it's standing. But even if it may be free. The winds and the waves shall repeat my prayer. Please be still. Let it wrap up the storm to sail. The demons will never let ever meet me. No other can swallow the ship with ice. We'll mask the world with weather and stars. We all shall still be open. We'll mask the world with weather and stars. We all shall still be open. Please be still. Master, we thank you for your spirit. For bowing my name to you. The test of my sin, for my trouble. for the trouble, for we can't save our pain. The last line on our language, speak of my secret soul. In our English language we master, for we serve and take control. The lens and the lens will be in our hand. Please be still, please be still. Whether the wrath of the stars are seen, or to lose the right of whatever we be, no matter the star of the ship we land, for now, we'll be singing our own songs. Please be our source, we believe in the light. We believe in the light, please be still. Please be our source, we believe in the wind. Please be still, please be still. Finish on the last. The last of our tearing is over. The L.M. is here to rest. This night, our public is mirroring, and heaven's within our place. The land of our passion and fame are in the air. The future shall make the best of you, and the sound of peace will show. The lens and the lens shall be in our hand. Please be still, please be still. Whether the wrath of the stars are seen, or to lose the right of whatever we be, for now, we'll be singing our own songs. The L.M. is here to rest. Please be our source, we believe in the light. Please be still, please be still. Please be our source, we believe in the wind. Please be still. The L.M. is here to rest. Please be still, please be still. The L.M. is here to rest. Please be still, please be still. L.M. is here to rest. Please be still, please be still.