2 Kings 3-4
Romans 5:3-4:
"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope."
Wallace Johnson, builder of numerous Holiday Inn Motels and convalescent hospitals, said,
"When I was forty years old, I worked in a sawmill.
One morning, the boss told me, 'You're fired!'
Depressed and discouraged, I felt like the world had caved in on me.
It was during the depression, and my wife and I greatly needed the small wages I had been earning.
When I went home, I told my wife what had happened."
She asked, "What are you going to do now?"
"I replied, 'I'm going to mortgage our little home, and go into the building business.'
My first venture was the construction of two small buildings.
Within five years, I was a multi-millionaire!"
He went on to say, "Today, if I could locate the man who fired me.
I would sincerely thank him for what he did.
At the time it happened, I didn't understand why I was fired.
Later, I saw that it was God's unerring and wondrous plan to get me into the way
of His choosing!"
Often in the middle of difficulties and trials, we often loose sight of Romans 8:28 and the
working out of God's goodness.
Many times we grumble and complain.
Our faith in God and His Word will make the difference in how we get along in this life.
I believe that great blessings from God are just around the corner.
I've been there and I believe God's promises.
You can miss them.
Often, our flesh and the world deceive us into thinking that there will be no blessings.
Are You Ready To Be Blessed?
When the work seems useless and a waste of time!
2 Kings 3:16-20: "And he said, thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.
For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain;
yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand.
And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree,
and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came
water by the way of Edom,
and the country was filled with water."
A young man, accepted as an African Missionary, reported to New York for passage,
but soon found that his wife could not tolerate the climate physically.
Brokenhearted, he returned home.
His father was a dentist and he felt no call to be a dentist.
His father had started a small business on the side making an unfermented wine for use
in the Lord's Supper.
He began to dabble in this business until the time came when he took it over.
What a waste of time, he must have thought, as he worked at making grape wine useless
-- get ready to be blessed!
Get ready for a blessing when the preparation seems wasted and you are weary with your work.
Stick in there!
The blessing is about to be bestowed.
Though your direction is not clearly visible, if God has led, you can step out on faith
and expect the blessings of God to be upon you.
"When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit!
Success is failure, turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close your are,
It may be near, when it seems afar,
So, stick to the fight, when you're hardest hit -
It's when things go wrong that
You must not quit!"
Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White