Overview of New Book, "Why Were You Born?"

Fred R. Coulter—April 9, 2016

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. This is a little unusual today because I needed to come down for a baptism over in Simi Valley. That gives us recently three baptisms over there. That' s really a good indication. All of them have come through churchathome.org. I expect that Church at Home will be producing more people wanting baptism. Our four websites:

• cbcg.org—completely revamped. If you've tried it, I think you'll like it. We still have a few bugs we need to work out on it. But to change a website that big with that much on it is a big job. That is finished.
• churchathome.org
• idcb.org (Iglesia de Dios Cristiana y Biblica; Spanish language website)
• afaithfulversion.org

With all of those combined, this quarter we had over a half-million distinct visitors; that is a lot. We're making progress on that and looking forward to things getting better.

Today is a special Sabbath in addition to that, because here is your book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son God: Why Were You Born?

Table of Contents: this will help you get a feel for what we covered in the book.

• Chapter 1: Do Men Know Why There's Human Life?
• Chapter 2: Where Do We Begin?
• Chapter 3: Man and Woman Created in God's Image and Likeness
• Chapter 4: God Continues to Create Through Human Procreation
• Chapter 5: God's Covenant With Abraham

This becomes very important so that people understand that God began revealing these things thousands of years ago to certain select ones, a step at a time.

• Chapter 6: The Family Nature of God
• Chapter 7: Jesus Christ and the Redemption of Man and Woman
• Chapter 8: What Jesus Christ Teaches About Eternal Life
• Chapter 9: Why Many are Called But Few are Chosen
• Chapter 10: Rescued From Satan the Devil to Walk in Newness of Life

That's going to be very important for today because Satan is loose as never before.

• Chapter 11: A Later Revelation of the Sonship of God
• Chapter 12: The Ultimate Revelation of Jesus Christ, From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God

Then after the epilogue, we have six appendices:

• Seven Proofs of God, God Exists
• Did God Create a Devil?
• What Happens After Death?
• Does the Bible Teach the Trinity?
• Can the Sin of Abortion be Forgiven?

There are millions of women who have had abortions.

• What Does it Mean to be Born Again or Born of God?

• Page 34: in the little square there's a dot.

That looks pretty small, but you were smaller than that when you were first conceived. So, whenever you start getting lifted up in vanity about how great you are, how much you can do, how good looking you are, how smart you are, and all of these things, remember where you came from. Everything that you would be is contained in that little speck.

• Pages 35-39: the development and all the development all the way through.

• Pages 40 and 41: the pictures that are my favorite.

• On page 40 is the mother holding her son right after he was born. You can tell because he's still got that wax on his hair. Look how big his foot is; he's going to be a big guy.

• On page 41, this was really quite an interesting thing how this came about. Art work by Anna Rose Bain.

What happened, someone e-mailed it to me and I saw that and I said, 'We've got to have it in the book.' It says there the 'wait and the reward.' What she did, she painted this, as it explains here, when she was 34-weeks pregnant, self portrait, completed when her daughter was two-weeks old, used with permission of the artist. I thought those two really, really told the story.

Then as you turn the page after page, we have all of the different babies of different people. Every one of us came the same way. When you're born of the flesh, you are born of water, the amniotic fluid in your mother. If you didn't have that, you wouldn't get out of there. So you were literally flushed into the world.

I talk a little bit about Abraham.

• Page 45: The Glory of the Sand of the Sea:

When God confirmed His covenant to Abraham, He declared that the physical descendants would be as the sand of the sea. Later King David wrote concerning the creation of man and woman, "You have made him a little lower than God and have crowned him with glory and honor."

I put these pictures in to show the glory of ordinary sand, that you think nothing of. If it's in your house, you have to get it out. Someone sent these pictures about three years ago. I contacted this Dr. Greenburg and said, 'I want high resolution pictures because I want to put it in a book.' He sent them to me. Look at all of this sand here. Isn't that something?

• Page 47 (top): that's what white sand looks like. Have you ever been in Florida and seen all the white sand? Isn't that amazing?
• Page 47 (bottom): Then there's one with the sapphire crystal in it. Then the last one is volcanic sand. It's black and red.
• Page 129: God also promised Abraham that the spiritual seed would be 'like the stars of heaven. Those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars.'

We have eight pages of pictures from the universe of God's creation. Amazing! All of these come from the Hubbell Telescope. I believe that God has given all of this modern technology that we have for the specific purpose of preaching the Gospel to the world.

Not just what we're doing, but hopefully what all the Churches of God are doing. All of the Churches of God belong to God. They may have various problems, one way or the other. The one who is perfect, you shouldn't be here because you would be a spirit being. We all have things to work on and grow and overcome.

That is absolutely a beautiful thing. When we have the re-made new heavens and new earth, we are going to be able to go out into the universe.

Think about this for a minute. What does God tell us in the book of Isaiah? He says He stretched out the heavens like a span and all the stars He has numbered and named and knows them! Think about that for everything that God has made. It's all numbered.

You have genes and chromosomes. Isn't it interesting that all of us have 46 genes and chromosomes? That makes a complete human being! However, the reproductive process only produces 23 chromosomes from the mother; 23 chromosomes from the father.

Think about this: What did God say after He married Adam and Eve? And the two shall become one flesh! The product of that is your children who are one flesh, half from father, half from mother. If it weren't that way, we'd have a lot of half-wits. (humor)

What we're going to send out with the book:

• the CD with the whole book read.
• two DVDs from the Church at Home series Why Were You Born.

That will come by separate mailing. That will be mailed from Unit Packaging, which is about a mile from Thompson-Shore; we get free freight down there. We are sending out 3600 of those. What they're going to do, I asked them specifically—because they have a piece of thin cardboard that they put the return address and postage and the name on them—to put it on the cover, because they're going to put that into a plastic bag and then they're going to wrap it both ways. They'll stuff the two DVDs and the CD in the book.

When you get it, I want you to go through the DVDs and don't think I've been too hard on the Protestant ministers, because I'm not politically correct. You'll notice on #5 I get pretty straight-forward with them because they are the ones who should know why we're here! Every doctrine that they have comes from Satan the devil to keep people from knowing why they're here! I am sure that if Christ or God the Father would talk to them, it would be a whole lot stronger than what I'd be able to do. But some people are so 'lily-flowered,' and so forth that if you raise your voice they get upset.

Rom. 8:14 is the whole thing, a quick summary of our spiritual life and our goal and our destiny and how fantastic that is going to be. Also remember this, to help you get a perspective of what it's going to be like to be a spirit being, again think of that little speck. Every true Christian and all of the patriarchs died. How did God preserve them? With the spirit of man! That can't be much more than another little speck.

At the resurrection, everything is going to be changed magnificently. It is going to be a great thing times how much? I don't know! I saw all of our children born. That's quite a thing!

Regardless of what you're going through—and we're all going through some difficult times, and there will be more difficult times to come—God never leaves us in spite of the problems that we have.

Romans 8:14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now, you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear… [that's what the world receives] …but you have received the Spirit of sonship… [that whole word is almost like 'God-children'] …whereby we call out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God" (vs 14-16).

Keep that in mind with your prayers. When you're having difficulties and troubles and trials—which we all do—keep that in mind. Then, since we're getting close to the Passover, think of what Jesus went through to be able to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. That's quite a thing.

Notice the promise here, v 17: "Now, if we are children, we are also heirs—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (vs 17-18). That's what we need to keep our minds on.

I don't know what it was like during the first century, but I imagine they all thought, because this is what they taught until about the early 60sA.D.: 'Christ is going to return in our lifetime.' Have we ever experienced something like that? Yes, indeed! And look at us: old, gray, gimpy, aches and pains; everything that comes along with aging. God knows all about it, so take the problems to God.

But they "…are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God" (vs 18-19). That's why we're here! That's why we're born!

Let's see what all things means. Remember this, there is only one group of firstborn, just like when you have children there's only one firstborn. Those in the first resurrection, to be in the Church of the Firstborn, and the Family of God, that will be a special relationship through all eternity. We need to keep that in mind.

Next time something goes really, really wrong, figure out how to overcome it. Don't worry about it; ask God for help. Maybe something requires some work for you to do as well. But remember, we're joint heirs with Christ.

Hebrews 1:1: "God Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things…" (vs 1-2)—the universe.

What does God say concerning the earth? He didn't create it in vain! Think about everything on the earth here. The older I get, the more I think about it. How great God's creation is. Every morning I squeeze fresh lemon juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice and lime juice. That's my first shot in the morning.

Verse 1: "God Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages; Who, being the brightness of His glory… [this is also telling us what we're going to look like] …and the exact image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His own power, when He had by Himself… [that's another whole sermon in itself, but that leads up to the Passover] …purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (vs 1-3).

This tells us the ultimate reason why we were born. Michael pointed out that he got the book on the first day of the first month and it's our 14th book. We have many more. The study you went through—The Love Series—I hope that really benefited all of you in understanding more about God.

When you go through the series in Ephesians, that was my first translation, which was a paraphrased translation. It is so inspiriting. Ephesians is the most inspiring book that Paul wrote. I expanded and amplified the meaning of the words, so it is an amplified translation. It is not a doctrinal from the Greek translation that you can say we establish doctrine on it. But nevertheless, there aren't any errors in it. I think that this book is going to be requested a lot.

One last thought: We are advertising it this week in the Washington Times. We done a lot of advertising there and have had good responses. Plus the Washington Times guy is on our mailing list, the advertising executive. Whenever he ends up with a blank page, we get it for $400, a $1500 page. And he had someone drop off the back page advertising and we got it for $200, the outside back page. We haven't an ad in there right now for the book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? What we did in order to order it is this. I called Ron Carey, our webmaster, and I said, 'Check out and see what the domain name is: Why were you born? He checked it out and got back with me and said that whywereyouborn.com is on sale for $100,000. I didn't tell him to take it immediately.

I said, 'Check out and see if there is a .net or a .org. He checked it out and there was available whywereyouborn.net. We got it for the regular price of $119 a year, so we took it for five years.

That was not very smart of the person selling whywereyouborn.com that he didn't cover his base by also doing .net, so I guess God kept that there for us so we can have it. When they go on, we have everything. They sign up, where did you get it, and so forth. I think once this book gets out, it's going to really be one of our best books. Harry Curley is going to put an ad in The Journal, whatever is left of the Journal. We thank you for that. Harry also got the bookmarks.

I need to make this special announcement. I announced in the April letter that you would be getting the bookmarker calendar. You won't! The reason you won't is not because it's Harry's fault; it's my fault. We got all of them and the girls that do the mailing, 3600 on the mailing list, we have to have the letter done, we have to have the CD done, and all of that sort of thing. I wrote in the letter that it would be in the letter, but I didn't tell them to put it in the package. They couldn't put it in the package, because they already had the postage on the envelope, so you can't go back and increase the postage. So, you'll get it next month. Don't worry, your old one has all the dates for 2016 and the new one starts out with 2016. We're all in good shape and we can thank Harry for it. He was able to get all the artwork and get it done and got it printed.

I actually had someone else working on trying to work up the bookmarker. Harry called me and said, 'Do you need them?' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'I'll see what I can do and get it.' He called me back and said, 'I got it. We'll just pay for it and send it up there.' I didn't tell the other person who was working on it and so they all arrived. One of the gals in the office told the one who was working on the calendar that it was already done. That's how some things work.

As we look around us, there is a generational change in the Church of God. Let's see that this has happened over and over again. Let's think about what it was in the first century, as well as our experience in 1969-75, those years. All of the disciples were expecting that they would see the return of Jesus Christ. Everything written in the New Testament up to the beginning of the 60s had everything that Christ was going to return.

After that then we find—especially 1st & 2nd-Timothy, Titus and 2-Peter—that they understood it would be a long way off. Just think, if Jesus would have told the apostles, 'You go out there and preach and you go out there and you apply every effort that you can.' When are you going to return, Lord? 'In 2,000 years.' Jesus said, 'It's not for you to know the times that the Father placed in His hands. You go preach.'

• fervor
• zeal
• miracles
• persecution

Then we have everything that is in the New Testament:

• false Christians
• false preachers

The main one beginning with Simon Magus who now his modern-day successor is Pope Francis I. On churchathome.org I have segments on Was Peter Ever in Rome?

If someone doubts that, you can just say, 'The Bible says that Peter was an apostle to the circumcision. Is that a common practice of the Italians?' No! There's your answer; Peter never went there. It doesn't matter how many stories and fairy tales that they try and work up, try and prove it. They say they've got the bones of Peter. When they examined them, one bone was from a chicken and one bone was from a woman.

Judges 2:1: "And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, 'I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I swore to your fathers. And I said, "I will never break My covenant with you."'"

What is contained in the covenant? Two words: blessings and cursings. All of the conditions are on people. So even when the cursings come, God hasn't left them. We have a lot of that today. So he told them:

Verse 2: "'"And you shall make no treaty with those who live in this land.… [yet they did] …You shall throw down their altars." But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done?' And I also said, "I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."' And it came to pass when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept" (vs 2-4).

They all came to the tabernacle there, all the representatives of all the people. Now, it wasn't all of Israel, but all of their representatives were there. They heard this and knew what it was.

Verse 5: "And they called the name of that place The Place of Weeping. And they sacrificed there to the LORD. And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel left, each man to his inheritance, to possess the land. And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old…. [and they buried him] …And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel" (vs 5-10).

Let's look at that the same way with the Church today.

• How many have died?
• How many were the leaders?
• How many left God?
• How many changed the doctrine?

Verse 11: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim." Baalim is the sun-god.

Understand this, I think we'll see it. When you're watching your television, ask the question: How much of this is opening the door for Satan? What is the latest Star Wars' movie? The Force Awakens! What do all the movies show? Death and destruction, demons and everything like that. God is telling us something!

What's happening in the lives of people? Full of: sin, drugs, alcohol, lying, cheating, stealing, homosexuality, murders, abortions! Every one of them come down as a weight of correction upon the people. We are the descendants of the children of Israel and the curses are coming! Remember this, the curse does come without cause.

We've also seen how this has happened within the Church. So there's a generation there. It's going to be entirely different than it was when we were preaching forty years ago. It was the Bible vs the Protestants and Catholics. Today it's the Truth of God vs all of the satanic elements in the world that have been magnified more and more.

People's lives are all messed up. So, we need to really pray that we will be able to help them, because:

• we need the Spirit of God
• we need the Truth of God
• we need the strength of God's Spirit

to help them! A lot of them will have been involved with demon experiences and things like that. I know I have talked to some and their lives are just shattered, ruined. God uses times like this to call people, because God is not calling the great and the important people in the world.

I've got another sermon here, Job Resume. I don't know when I'll give it, but it will be this: All of us have been called to apply for the greatest job ever offered to human beings and what is your resume? I don't see very many doctors of theology here. We get our education through the Word of God. Everything you need God knows that He has got to qualify you. We start just like the children of Israel here. This is where it is in the world today—serving Baalim.

Verse 12: "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt.…" What is a movie coming out now called? Gods of Egypt! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"…And they followed other gods, even the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of spoilers who spoiled them. And He sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies" (vs 12-14).

That's where we are now. Even if Donald Trump gets elected, are there going to be changes for positive or continuous rides? You have to return to God! 'The Donald' can't help very much. He's just a man.

Remember this, there will not be a true conservative elected President. Never happen the way the morals are of this land right now. Think of what happened when the perfect man came: Jesus Christ. All of those who had the degrees—the doctors, the rabbis, the priests, the Levites—He ignored them. They didn't like it. They said, 'Who are You?' He said, 'I am the Son of God.' What did they want to do? They picked up stones to stone Him, but it wasn't time for Him to die!

Christ had the greatest resume of all! and the world killed Him! God does things just the opposite way; He calls us. There are going to be new people coming in to the Church. They are going to have gone through a lot of things in the world. We need to be prepared spiritually so that we are strong, have all the information that we need to help them. And to remember that God is the One Who forgives sins.

2-Chronicles 33:1: "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel, for he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down…" (vs 1-3).

When there's change in generation, they want to get away from the strict rules, because they don't want to have their lusts confined or reigned in.

I've got the quote from Aldus Huxley that his purpose was philosophical and his goal was to deny that life had any meaning whatsoever, 'because all these rules affected their erotic choices.' Look what they've done.

"…and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them" (v 3). Think of that when you're watching all the ads on television. Watch these movie ads and see what they are: death, destruction, demonism big-time.

Verse 4: "And he built altars in the house of the LORD… [God didn't strike him dead for doing that. He waited.] …of which the LORD had said, 'In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.'"

What did God say of His covenant? He would never break it! What did He say if they broke it? All these curses shall come upon you!

Verse 5: "And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD."

'We're ecumenical. Let's have all these religions get together here. This is the house of God. Look, we've put up this wonderful altar for Baal and God has accepted it. We have to have freedom of religion for all of these people. We can't tell someone else that their god is wrong.'

Verse 6: "And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He also observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger."

You would think, how could God intervene in such a thing? I've got the article that when ISIS destroyed the Arches of Baal in Syria, all the do-gooders said, 'We can't have that.' So, they are getting the money together to put in 250 locations in the world replicas of the Arches of Baal. The more the things change, the more they stay the same. Here's what he did. You talk about affront, right to God:

Verse 9: "But Manasseh led astray Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and caused them to do worse than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to His people, but they would not listen" (vs 9-10).

I had one man write me and say, 'Over here in England everything is just jolly good.' They got Sharia courts, they have all the Islamic gangs just waiting. But everything's 'just jolly good.

'The people, they accept Sunday as the Sabbath, so that's pretty nice. They're sincere and the ministers read out of the Bible on Sunday. We don't need all of these messages that you're giving about how bad it's going to be. Besides, it hasn't brought anybody into the Church.'

I said, 'You read the book of Jeremiah. He was a failure—wasn't he? He preached for 40-years and Judah went down and into captivity. He was a failure. No, he wasn't! He took the king's daughters, kept the king's line going.

What does God tell us? Everything's jolly good? Don't disturb until they're cutting the heads off? No, you warn them! What does God say? Whether they will hear or whether they won't!

In the case of Manasseh, v 11: "Wherefore, the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria… [they controlled Babylon at that time] … who took Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD…" (vs 11-12).

That's what people will begin to do. So that's why whatever affliction we may have, whatever difficulty that may come along, go to God with it and do it daily fervently. God will help you.

Verse 12: "And when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And he prayed to Him, and He was entreated of him and heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God" (vs 12-13).

You read the rest of it. He went in and personally took down the altars that he built there. He cleaned everything up, so he repented.

I think we're at a point today with the world, that we're going to be dealing with a lot of people who have had a lot of difficulties and problems.

(go to the next track)

2-Cor. 1 becomes very important for us to understand. Remember that the Bible, inspired by the mind and Spirit of God, covers every situation for human experience:

• whether for good
• whether for evil
• whether for love
• whether for difficulties

The Apostle Paul was one who because of what he did to the Christians, that God said, 'You are going to suffer for Me.' And he did! Let's see what Paul writes, because his life was full of distress, troubles and trials. Yet, look at the inspiring things that he wrote when he was in prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Hebrews.

2-Corinthians 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the Church of God that is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in the entire region of Achaia: Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (vs 1-2). That is the source of how we get through the difficult times.

Verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort."

What is the Holy Spirit called? The Comforter! When you're in trouble, when you have afflictions, when things get overwhelming too much—and we all go through it; I go through it, you go through it—don't get angry and mad. If you do, pray about it and get over it and return to God. Claim the promise! You can say, 'God, here I am and all this trouble and all this difficulty and all these problems. I never knew it was going to be this way. I'm distressed! I'm afflicted! Comfort me.'

Remember what it says there in Isa. 40. You think you've gone through a lot of things. How many have The Messiah written by Handel? It starts out this way, with the tenor singing:

Isaiah 40:1: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people…"—to the Jews. Think of what they have gone through. He's the God of all comfort.

2-Corinthians 1:4: "Who comforts us in all…" Not some, all. There's no other book in the world that can do this because coupled with the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, it will bring comfort and peace of mind to you!

Verse 4: "Who comforts us in all our tribulation, in order that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trial…"

God will even use this to help others. Especially as we're aging, we're getting older every day. God has designed life that way. Remember what Jesus told the Apostle Peter after Jesus asked him three times, 'Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Feed My lambs, feed My sheep,' and so forth?

Peter, being the consummate politician said, 'And John, this one over here, what's going to happen to him?' Jesus said, 'What if I desire that he remain until I return, what is that to you? Peter, when you are old, someone is going to lead you around where you don't want to go.' So, Peter in his last years became virtually incapacitated.

But you read about how strong Peter was, how powerful he was, how he preached, cast out demons, stood against the Sanhedrin. He told them, 'There's only one name under heaven whereby men can be saved and that is Jesus Christ, Whom you killed.' Now he's weak, old, gray, feeble and someone has to lead him around. That was his tribulation; that was his trial! He got comfort that way, I'm sure.

We can use all of those things to help other people in the things that they go through. You can always tell them, 'I understand what you've gone through. I've been through things myself. Here's where to go; here's what to do. God will comfort you. So you claim that promise.'

Verse 5: "For to the degree that the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. And if we are in distress, it is for your comfort and salvation…"(vs 5-6). Look what Paul went through (2-Cor. 11), great mighty apostle of God.

I always wonder when Paul was holding on to that piece of wood for a day and a half when he was out in the ocean, he says he was 'in the deep' for a day and a half, I wonder what his thoughts were. I wonder what his prayer was. When you're down at waters' level, you can't see very far over the top of the water. Who is going to see a bobbing head and a piece of wood? But somehow he was rescued. Did he get up and walk off and say, 'I'm not going to do this anymore, You never told me about this'? No!

"…which is being worked out by your enduring the same sufferings that we also suffer; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation (and our hope is steadfast for you); knowing that as you are partners in the sufferings, you are also partners in the comfort…. [also partners in the resurrection] …For we do not want you to be ignorant of our tribulations, brethren, even the trials that befell us in Asia; we were exceedingly burdened beyond our own strength, so much so that we even despaired of living." (vs 6-8).

That's really a tremendous trial. Paul, who encouraged everybody, said he reached this point that he despaired of living. 'Oh, God, why am I alive?' 'Now there, there,' was the message to Paul. 'You'll make it.'

Verse 9: "For we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God … [that is the whole purpose, trusting in God] …Who raises the dead; Who delivered us from so great a death, and continues to deliver; in Whom we have hope that He will even yet deliver; while you also are laboring together for us by supplication to God, that the gift to us from many persons might be the cause of thanksgiving by many for us" (vs 9-11).

That's why we have the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The most important thing is to love God and love each other.

The whole life of Jesus Christ was for the salvation of the whole world. Think about all the troubles you have, many are few, and if they're few be thankful. If there are many, overcome. You'll get through it. Sometimes you just have to let the sun go down and end it.

We know this, and you know this going through the Love series, here's how we are to love God. I want you to think about this in reverse, how God loves those who love Him and how God, even through Christ, died for the wicked. They don't know it, haven't been called, yet. Think what a surprise that is going to be. I think in the second resurrection when they're all resurrected back to a physical life, they're going to think, 'I finally made it to heaven.' We'll be there to say, 'Not quite. This is the earth.' Really? 'Pinch yourself.' I'm alive. 'Since you didn't have a chance for salvation, God never gave it to you, now you've got a second life. That's how much God loves you. What are you going to do?'

I want you to read this in reverse. Apply it to God and Christ to us the Church and the world. Did not Jesus do this through the Passover? Think about it.

Matthew 22:37: "And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"

• Did Jesus love us that way? Yes, He did!
• Does God the Father love us that way? Yes, He does!

Verse 39: "And the second one is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" Look at what Jesus suffered. Look what He gave up.

I suppose if we lived in the Midwest, I don't know how they get through all those tornados. It's just beyond me. You go out and you go to a shelter and you're kept from being destroyed with a tornado. You go back to your house and it's nothing but kindling and junk. Everything gone! Most people have an insight at that time. 'Thank you, God, that I'm still alive.' Likewise with the things that we go through.

So here is one of my favorite Psalms, because there are five wonderful 'mays.' Psalm 20:1: "[1]May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble… [that's how God will comfort you] …the name of the God of Jacob set you on high." We have been called to eternal life.

Verse 2: "[2]May He send you help…" If you want an interesting study, just look up the words help and helper, comfort and comforter, just in the Psalms; it'll blow you away.

"…from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion" (v 2). May God do that for you. That's what it is.

Verse 3: "[3]May He remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah."

• all your prayers
• all your crying
• all your tears
• all of your anxieties
• everything that you go through

You pour out your heart to God. It's kind of like the verse says, 'My eyes are like rivers of water running down,' because of what was going to happen to Jerusalem and Judah.

Verse 4: "[4]May He grant you according to your own heart and fulfill all your plans"… [and God's plan for you] …We will shout for joy in your victory…" (vs 4-5). When will that be? The resurrection, on the Sea of Glass! What does it say there? 'I heard the voice of a multitude saying, Hallelujah.' Think of that!

Everything that we've gone through in difficulties will be wiped out, the slate removed, eternal life granted. That's what we need to keep our minds on when we're going through the difficulties.

"…and in the name of our God we will set up banners. [5]May the LORD fulfill all your prayers" (v 5). Not some, not just a few, but all! Sometimes He doesn't answer right away. Sometimes you'll even forget that you prayed the prayer until it's fulfilled and you will think, 'I prayed about that, didn't I?' Then you thank God for it.

This is how we are comforted with God. There are many other Scriptures we can add to it and cover, but the whole Bible is here for us.

If you have Wi-Fi at home, Randy told me we do have it that now it will read consecutively the reading of the Bible going from chapter to chapter, so you don't have to punch every chapter as you go.

I don't know how far along they are on it. If it doesn't come up on yours that way, it will be. But there are certain areas that it will help you. Faith comes by the hearing of the Word. So, it's good that you can hear it.

To show you how effective hearing is, with God's Word it will help, strengthen and comfort you. But just to show you how something comes along that sticks in your mind, have you ever heard an ad on the radio or television with a little jingle? The next thing you know it's racing around your brain like that new thing to make your brain work better and you can't get rid of it.

That's just an example of how hearing builds faith. So, now we have the whole Bible. We don't have quite all the commentaries all finished yet, but we're working on it. Appreciate Mike doing the final editing on it. He finds all those mistakes and everything we miss, he's very accurate at doing that. Then Randy makes all the corrections. When I have to, I do the re-reading.

This means that we are going to provide for many people in the world, many things that they do not have and to help them, right at their fingertip, right in the palm of their hand. You can't get it delivered any better than that. If deflections come along,

• learn the lesson
• receive the comfort from God
• ask Him to help you in it

He will do it!

Scriptural References:

• Romans 8:14-19
• Hebrews 1:2, 1-3
• Judges 2:1-14
• 2-Chronicles 33:1-13
• 2-Corinthians 1:1-3
• Isaiah 40:1
• 2-Corinthians 1:4-11
• Matthew 22:37, 39
• Psalm 20:1-5

Scripture referenced, not quoted: 2-Corinthians 11

Also referenced:
Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? By Fred R. Coulter

Sermon Series:

• Why Were You Born? (chuchathome.org)
• Love
• Was Peter Ever in Rome? (churchathome.org)

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 4-25-16
Formatted: bo—4/27/16

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