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What are the odds that an outnumbered tribe of people could survive a genocide sanctioned by the government’s most powerful forces and a lone woman have of saving her entire people? In this message, Pastor Mike Novotny shows they're great odds when you remember God.
The episodes are the weekly sermons from 922 Ministries (St. Peter and The CORE) of Appleton, Wisconsin.
God's Odds
Week 3 - The CORE
Pastor Mike Novotny
Well, good morning everyone. Welcome back to week number for I think, three for would week, is this of the sermon series? This is 3, if you should all preach because apparently, I have no clue what I'm doing today. Week number three, of our sermon series on the Old Testament, book of Esther called Gods. I hope this doesn't seem like an awkward or offensive way to begin a sermon. But I want to ask you the question. Why are you here?
I don't mean that to be rude if I wanted to be rude. I would say, why are YOU here? But why are you here? How did you and I end up in this exact place at this exact moment in history? What are the odds? How is it possible? Why, and how did you and I end up having this conversation in this very moment, If I thought about that. Like why do you end up in one place instead of all the other possible places? Why are you with this family? Or this group of friends, why do you have this job? You're at this company. This school instead of another you ever thought of how and why you ended up at a specific time and place in history? Never thought about that before, what's our processing that together? Why are you here? Well, the answer might be, this is my parents' church. My parents are super religious, they take us sometimes and they dragged us to church. So honestly I wanted to sleep today but that's why I'm here at this moment. Others you would say, I just grew up here and I fell in love with this person and they were super passionate about their face. So they started taking me to church, then I got connected and then I got interested. That's the reason why I'm here.
You're watching at home today on TV, on YouTube, on a website. So, why are you here? Really going through something like that was kind of difficult and you were searching for something more. Something spiritual, something that would last and maybe you were just flipping through the channels. Maybe a friend told you about our church and now just things worked out that you logged on. You found the channel and you're here with us today. Just some looking out at all of you. I'm brain processing all the stories of when you first came to this church and I ask you, how did you find us? How did you end up here?
I know people who just got out of a 24 year prison sentence. That like found our church randomly and we're sitting here Among Us. I know people who really weren't church people and until things started to fall apart in their life a bit. And the anxiety was like super high and the marriage was starting to fray and they started to realize, you know, I need something more because the way I'm doing life just isn't working. Other people just like to walk by our church and somehow come in. I know there are people who have super religious coworkers or friends, who like to keep asking them. So just to, you know, get them off your back. You say, fine, I'll show up on Sunday, sometimes it's Love. Sometimes it's a hard egg. Sometimes it's a baby. Sometimes a divorce is a million different reasons that people end up in this place. So, I want you to think about your reason.
Why are you here today? As you process what that reason might be, I think there are two big categories that you can fall in. You might realize, okay? It was a job. It was a move. It was a friend. It was a relationship. But if you're taking notes in your program, want you to write this down. The two kind of big reasons why that might have happened in your life for this. Some of you think, and you believe, Number one, that it's just a coincidence.
It's just random.
It's like flipping a coin. You met this person who went to this church and you didn't meet that person who didn't go to this church. You were flipping through the channels at home and you for some reason stopped on this one. Instead of another one that's just coincidence. You people who believe this say, well this is just the hand that I was dealt. Which essentially means like of all the lives. I could have been shuffled up totally at random. And here's the one that I got, that's why I'm here. Or maybe like me some of you believe the second answer to that question which is not coincidence but Providence.
So Providence is a big fancy religious word. It was much more popular years and generations ago in American history. Providence essentially means the plan of God. Right. That God had a plan. God had a reason. God's not like the dude who made your Apple phone, who just created it and sent it to you. And now it's just, you know, that God actually controls and uses history for the good of his people and for the glory of his name that it wasn't a coincidence or an accident that you lived here or got that job or went through this difficult thing. That was actually the plan for the Providence of God. And we're going to take a vote today, but I'm just wondering, you know, on a scale of total coincidence and total Providence. How do you think about life?
Like yeah, it's mostly coincidence but maybe sometimes God has a. There's some reason for what I'm going through. Are you kind of here? Are you in the middle? Like sometimes it feels random but sometimes there's just too many things that line up and you think no there's got to be something or someone. Are you one of those super? Super like biblical religious people that everything is God.
The light turned green when you're trying to cruise down Main Streets, like totally God, he knew I was late, right? Is it? It's up to stop lights and jobs and people that you work with is, is that too religious, are you way over here? I'm just wondering on the spectrum of coincidence and Providence where you are. Now, I want to play my hand really early in this message to tell you that my goal in today's message is to push you this way. Is that she gets you to believe that what you go through the good stuff and the bad stuff is not random. It's not just bad luck, it's not just pointless, pain and suffering.
There's a guy. Who is not just love, but he's also power, and sovereignty and control. And that God, even when you don't understand him, he has reasons and purposes for all the things he does in our lives. I know if I'm going to get you all the way to this extreme, but I would push you one to three degrees closer in this direction. And here's why: Because people who believe in Providence, instead of coincidence, have two things that the coincidence people do not. They have immense gratitude and they have profound peace.
Say that again. If I can convince you to believe more in Providence than in coincidence, what I can offer you a God can offer you is a bigger sense of gratitude. In a more profound sense of peace.
Because when good things happen in your life, You know when you're at a great concert there's amazing live music and you're just totally into it. You don't want the moments and everyone's cheering, celebrating singing together when you have one of those moments. Instead of just saying huh? What luck? You start to think. This is God. My God loved me so much. He didn't just forgive my sins 2000 years ago. He's actually working orchestrating this very moment so I can have this amazing experience to get this little glimpse of how good it's going to be to be with him in heaven. You go to a restaurant or you throw some really good food on the grill and you're enjoying that meal instead of thinking, huh? Wow, this is just a weird total happenstance coincidence that we are eating this meal now. Instead like a meal turns into a moment of worship.
He starts to process despite all the things I mess up. Despite all my flaws as a human being, despite the dumb things that I do, the sins that I commit all the time. God cares so much about me that he gave me my daily bread. He actually provided this meal for my joy. Right? If you believe in Providence in every good moment in life is like this trampoline that likes it amps up your gratitude and it humbles you and it makes you so grateful. That God is so good to a person like you that he would give you so many good and perfect gifts
And, And when life is not good. When you're going through something heartbreaking, When you're, you know, sitting in the hotel room and you're looking at your phone, there's so much like hate and criticism and comparison and you're feeling anxious and you're feeling depressed or you go through something in your home country and you're an immigrant and you're just life is difficult, or the relationship is just not happily ever after you're struggling, you're going to counseling. You're talking about the same thing again. And again, you're sitting in a jail cell. You're sitting in a nursing home when life is bad. If you believe in coincidence, he would just
Sucks for me, I guess. Totally random.
But if you believe in Providence, what you got to say,
God's working through this.
All right, maybe I don't understand why he allowed this. Maybe I don't get why he didn't stop this, but this is not pointless. This has a purpose. If it is true. What the Bible says that in all things, God works for the good then that must apply to this thing. Then the reason I'm in this Valley is because God has a purpose. The reason I lost my parents when I was still young is because God has some purpose and I'm not God and I don't claim to know what that purpose is, but I believe it because he's a good God, who gave me his one and only son, you see, if I can get you to believe in Providence, you can get through breakups, you can get through mental health struggles, you can get through success and failure. Everything can be going well, everything can fall apart, if you stop being a person of coincidence and starts becoming a person of
Providence. The highs are higher and the lows are bearable. Good gets better and the bad won't break your hearts.
And so today for the sake of your gratitude, for the sake of your peace, for the sake of your soul, I want to once again open the Bible to the Book of Esther, what I think is the most interesting book maybe in the whole scriptures.
And try to push. Correction. To become a person that I'm trying to get to as well as to become a person who deeply passionately and frequently believes in Providence, the plans of God. So quick survey who you are here for the first time in the series today, bunch of you, I'm guessing you had dozens of you, let me do a super quick recap in the Book of Esther just in case you've never read it before. You're not, you're not going to believe it. When I say it Esther is about the first ever season of The Bachelor. Did you know that there was this kind of sketchy perverted King whose name was Xerxes. He lived like 480 BC in ancient Iran. He's a real dude. You can find us archaeological records and he deposed the queen that he loved because she wasn't submitting to him and he had this big contest, The Bachelor where he slept with dozens, if not hundreds of women. Yes. Is in the Bible and he picked one. She happened to be an orphan named Esther and she became the new Queen.
Everything was awesome, right? Until the Kings right-hand man. His name is Heyman. I was picturing Jafar with a Hitler mustache. All right, he's an anti-semite. He hates Jewish people and he hates one particular Jewish guy named Mordecai. Who just happens to be Esther's cousin and so he pressures and pushes King Xerxes into putting his stamp of approval on an ancient Holocaust. He doesn't just want to kill Mordecai. He wants to kill all of the Jewish people so that Jesus can never come and enter into the world. Right. Everything's falling apart
Art and when we left the story last week, a mordecai was trying to tell her cousin Esther who's Jewish identity has been a secret. You have to take the risk.
Like you think no one knows you're Jewish and you're going to just be the queen and live happily ever after. But no, no, you have to do what's right? You have to take the risk, you have to approach your husband, the king even without an invitation, which would cost her her life. That's for Esther chapter 4, ended. She said, I'll do it. If I perish, I perish, I'll walk into the presence of the king. Hopefully, he doesn't tell the guy with the axe to chop off my head. Hopefully extends the gold scepter of Mercy. Who's going to try to save her people?
Today's, we cover chapters five and six, you're going to find a whole bunch of things that seem way. Way, way too crazy to just be coincidence. Today through the crazy story of Esther. We're going to see God's absolute Providence. So, if you have a Bible with you or just want to fall on the screen here, zester Chapter 5, the moment she approaches the king.
On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner Court of the palace in front of the Kings Hall. The King was sitting on his Royal throne in the hall facing the entrance when he saw Queen Esther standing in the court. He was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So, Esther approaches and touches the tip of the scepter, The King asks, what is it Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom? It will be given you. “If it pleases the king”, replied Esther, “let the king together with Haman come today to a Banquets that I have prepared for him.” Esther is a super, super smart woman. The Greek historian Herodotus…. ever heard of him before? He wrote lots and lots of history. He talked about King Xerxes and he said that Greek King Xerxes was a very, very impulsive man driven by his natural appetites. So what does Esther do? She Taps into his impulses, his love of beautiful women and lots of food because when she puts on her royal robes, she's making herself up. She's looking beautiful, she steps into his presence. Okay, he's already on her side. What do you want? You want me to give you money? Do you need time? But she says, okay, if it pleases you, all I want to do is feed you.
I've prepared a banquet, just for me and you and our friend Heyman here. I want you to come to it tomorrow. And Xerxes opens up the invite and he RSVPs immediately. Yes, he's super into it. He's already on her side. Everything's looking really, really good. Until a Twist in the plot. Let's keep reading chapter 5 verse 9. He even went out that day happy and in High Spirits, but when he saw Mordecai at the Kings gate cousin. And observed that Mordecai, neither rose and showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home.
Coming together, his friends. Zero's his wife Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, many sons and all the ways the king had honored him and I'll elevate him above all the other Nobles and officials. And that's not all I was practicing earlier this week. I don't know how to do a man's voice, but he's a total. He's a total tool box. So I don't know how he went out. He said, and that's not all. I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet. She gave and she has invited me along with the King tomorrow. I wish I had more time to preach about this verse.
But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that just mortdecai sitting at the Kings gate. That's all the sermon right there, right? You can have so much in life but if you don't get that one thing that just proves we need something bigger than this life has to offer. Alright, verse 14. His wives are ash and all his friends said to him have a pole set up reaching to a height of 50 cubits. Keep it elbow to fingertips but 18 inches or 75 feet tall and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the King to the Banquets and enjoy yourself. The suggestion delighted Haman and he had the pole set up. All right. I know Christians are not supposed to hate people. But don't you hate these people? I mean Haman is petty and he's proud and he's arrogant and he's ego-driven he's violent and vengeful and he's racist and he's wretched and his wife is even worse. Did you catch that? What? Hey listen guys, when you go home and tell your wife about the guy you don't get along with and she says, you know what, we should skewer him like a shish kebab, you got yourself a keeper right there. Don't cross that woman or it will cost you. Raise like let's murder him and all. Yes, this is a great plan that delights him but here's the problem. Did you catch the timeline? In the morning.
Have him murdered and then go to the feast and enjoy yourself. What does that mean? It means that Haman and Xerxes did everything that Haman wanted. Haman was going to murder Mordecai before Esther had any idea, right? She was working out her plan and at the banquet, she was going to point the fingers at Haman who is trying to kill your wife, Xerxes. But before that even happens, Mordecai is going to be skewered on the 75 foot pole, she has no idea. He has no idea, it's just between Xerxes and Haman and neither of them have this great love for Mordecai. They don't even know who he is. The plan is falling apart. Until a coincidence.
Until the sweetest moment of Providence. Mm, my favorite part of the whole book. Great chapter 6 that night, the king could not sleep. So he ordered the book of The Chronicles, the record of his Reign to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai, had exposed Bigthan, and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. What honor and recognition Mordecai received for this, the king asked nothing has been done for him. His attendance answered Khanna. What are the, what are the odds of that? What are the odds that? Like the only nights that Mordecai had a chance to be saved that the king could not sleep. And what are the odds that when he couldn't sleep, instead of counting ancient sheep or, you know, getting up early to work? What are the odds that the king would just happen to ask for the monthly meeting minutes of the Kingdom to be read to him? And when the attendant brings the big scroll, what are the odds? You know, that Mordecai's saving a King Xerxes happened 5 years before this day? What are the odds that he just opens the scroll to the only section that mentions Mordecai?
What are the odds? That this The Drowsy King is listening. He actually cares enough to say oh boy. What reward did that, manet f gor saving me? And what are the odds that five years earlier when Mordecai had done, this great thing and foiled the plots that nothing was given to him, which sparked the king's heart? What are the odds?
And what are the odds that in a very moment? That King Xerxes is thinking. I need to Delight this man who saved my life. That someone else comes walking into the palace before the rooster crows first thing in the morning. First thing on the king's agenda. It's Heyman. And this is my favorite part. I shouldn't gloat about this, but this is by far my favorite part, Haman's coming in to ask for Mordecai's death, but before he can ask for it. King Xerxes has a question. And the question is, “Haman, what do you think the king should do for the man that he Delights to honor him?”
And because Haman is a total tool. What does he think? Well obviously that's me and so he thinks big, he says, okay, I have an idea, you should get a royal robe one that only the king himself has worn and you should put it on that man. And then you should find a royal horse that only the king is ridden and you should put that man right on the horse and then you should get a royal servant. Someone who's big in the kingdom and have him lead the Parade, walk through with the horse among all the people of the kingdom and Proclaim as he points to that man. This is what happens to the man, the king delights to honor him.
And Xerxes says, You're so smart, Haman. Get the Rope, find the horse, you're leading the parade. Because I can't wait to honor Mordecai, the Jew.
And Haman's face goes and actually, this is such a great moment that many of the greatest like artistic Masters in history have tried to capture this. Rembrandt tried. Michelangelo tried, let me show you one picture from history, I love it. There's Mordecai. He's in the Royal robes in the fancy dressed up horse. I just love the look in his eyes. He's boiling with embarrassment inside and he's just trying to get through it and he literally has to parade.
To the kingdom and say about his worst worst enemy. This is what happens to the one, the king Delights to honor as soon as the parade is over, the Bible says he covers his face. He runs home. He gathers all his terrible friends and his terrible wife together. He gushes about what's happened. What the king said about Mordechai and even his wife knows, oh. This is bad and just, when they're wondering, what's going to happen to all of them? Last verse of chapter 6. While they were still talking with Haman, the Kings eunuchs arrived and hurried him away to the Banquets that Esther had prepared. So, what happens next? Come back next week as we continue our thrilling ride to the Book of Esther. I really want to keep reading its so good. Someone's gonna die in the next chapter. So just in case you're not in every Sunday church person. You have to come back for that. But I do want to pause here on the story because I want to talk about you. Here's what I take away from this story that just is corroborated by a thousand passages in the Bible. Write this down. But because God is powerful and God is in control. And God is Sovereign. He wants us to believe that there is no coincidence. Just Providence.
But the king is not sleeping. The meeting minutes of the Kingdom, just happening to be on that entry. That was not a coincidence. That was God quietly working like a ninja to carry out his grand plan for the good of his people. I hope that you can start to believe.
That simple phrase. There is no coincidence, just Providence.
Let me picture it like this. These oversized I dominoes up here that there's about a 42 percent chance is going to work. All right, so just stick with me when I ask you, you know, why are you here in church today? Why are you watching at home today? You know, maybe here's you.
And maybe your answer was. That’s right. It was the move. It was the job. It was the relationship. It was the baptism. It was The Break-Up, it was the transfer. It was, you lost your job and you ended up back with Mama tonight. Here's the reason why you physically ended up in church today, but if I ask you, why did that happen?
Why the job? Why the struggle? Well, you think back and you'd give me? This answer. You do want to be married anymore or covid, messed up the company or covid, expanded the company. And I got the job, you know, you'd have these reasons and if I ask you, why did that happen? You'd think back. And you give me that and fast. You will. Why did that happen? You think back and you give me that if we went back in the history of your story and in your family and tried to figure out how we got to this moment, There's two things you could say. You could say. Coincidence or you could believe that there is a God. Who for reasons that often only, he knows he, he, he sets in motion a sequence of events. Because he cares about not just the moments but where the moments lead. He has a grand plan and his job found out that plan is beyond our understanding. Sometimes we grasp it. But most of the time we don't know that God actually sets history in motion. Because he wants us in certain moments.
And I'm not just saying that as some like, Hallmark, Good. Oh, my life. Has purpose. This isn't pointless. I'm actually saying that because of a passage I found in Acts 17. Have you heard this one before? How about this? The Apostle Paul is speaking to some intellectual philosophers in the Greek city of Athens. And in chapter 17, he says this: The God Who made the world marked out their appointed times in history. That's when people would live and that same God marked out the boundaries of their lands. So, where would they live? And why did God do that? God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though. God is not far from any one of us.
I thought that's the Bible's answer to that question. Why are you here? At this time, in this land, in this place, Well Paul said The God Who made the World Mark that out for you so that you would seek him. Not everyone. Does it? Perhaps you'd reach out for him. And you would find him.
That God actually cares and loves you so much. He wants to give you something better than family, better than friendship. Better than food and better than Fame. God doesn't want you to live your life, only getting joy out of temporary things that are here today and gone tomorrow. God doesn't want you to, like, riding high and then sitting in a hotel room, like wondering why you're so depressed in your heart. God wants to give you something so big, he wants to give you himself.
Perry orchestrates the where and the when so that you would have a chance to reach out and find him.
So let me teach you before I say man how to put that into practice, right? I want to teach you to think about Providence during the good times. During the bad times. And especially during the gospel times. Let me wrap up with a Good, The Bad and The Gospel the next time, something good happens to you. And I would bet it will happen within the hour. I want you to thank God.
Every good and perfect gift. Is from above. Like the people at my work, they don't know me. The people on my block half them don't even know my name but the God who should be busy, running the universe actually cared so much about me. He gave me this. My family and girls are sit in the front row over there. We love to think about this when a great song comes on the radio. How do you think? What are the odds right out? Like our Jam came on, like for us for Kim and me it's like 90s hip-hop. My girls got their own thing and that comes on and you think, oh God. Sorry I just said, God loves 90s hip-hop. I'm not sure if that's the logically correct raven. Like, he's got these good moments and you could just think, wow, that was just some random DJ put in a random song on the radio. But what if, what if there is a father in Heaven, who loves our whole family, more than I love those girls. And just like that, I love to bring happiness into their life. What if, what if it's possible that God is even a better dad than I am and he's working out history and everything to show his love to shower it upon us. What if every good thing you go through, is God trying to say I love you, I see you.
I forgot about you. Are you coming? How many good meals do you have? How many funny friends? Do you have any good songs? Are they on the radio? How many opportunities is God? Giving you to like cement this relationship? And believe he is not just here but he is so infinitely. Good next time. Something good happens, say this. This is God, this is not coincidence. This is Providence, God marked out the time and place so that I would experience his glory and love him even more.
Number two.
Not every moment of life is like that.
Sometimes your song doesn't come on the radio, there's nothing on the radio, and sometimes, you're not laughing with friends. Sometimes you have a falling out with friends. Sometimes you're riding high but it feels like more often life is if not.
In those moments, maybe more than any moments. I hope that you believe in Providence really quickly. Here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that God wants people to hurt you or sinned against you. My God hates sin. And so if someone abused you that wasn't like God pulling the levers because he wanted you to get hurt. If someone betrayed you or bailed on your marriage or your mom and dad didn't didn't work at, that's not God, doing that? That's a sinful human choice. But I do want you to know that even through the mess that we humans create God is at work.
He doesn't like he doesn't bail because things are getting too messy. You know, the famous Psalm, the most famous songs and human history, Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are You're with me.
King David who went through all kinds of drama believed, even if I'm in the Valley, even if I'm struggling with my own mental headspace and I just wish God would rid me of this, even if I've been through a war. Even if I have struggled in life, like God is going to turn that mess into a Ministry. Got us going to turn this Brokenness into a blessing. God takes what the enemy meant for evil He flips it He turns it for good.
I'll tell you what, there are people who got through the Holocaust because they had hope. There are people who come out stronger and better people after tragedy because they believe this wasn't just random there. People sitting here today who have been through more than any of you can understand. And yet they praise God because they believed there was a purpose. There was a reason. So if you want your suffering to be pointless, Have fun with coincidence.
But I must stand with King David and say no no no, this is Providence.
This is a God who promised in Romans 8 verse 8 in all things, God works for the good. And so the next time good things come you say this was God. And the next time. Bad things calm you say. But still God. God's got this, he's got me and one day, I'll see.
Finally, number three. The gospel, I think that's actually Paul's points in Acts 17, The God Who marked out the times and boundaries, God did this so that people would seek him.
Did you know that the most important thing about God? It's not the music, it's not the food, it's not the friends. The most important thing about God is the Forgiveness. He offers through Jesus.
It's like the bread-and-butter most important thing you need to know about the Christian faith is that we don't believe in karma. We don't believe in balancing the scales, you know, I did some bad stuff. So I'm going to give to charity. I'm a be a good person. We actually believe that the only way to make it to a better place. And to be with the best person, you can even imagine is not through our efforts. Our works, our character, our Improvement it is through the cross of Jesus Christ. Some of you have a little experience with religion. Some of you have a lot and maybe that religion was all like, do don't rules earn it be good. And God will love you. If you're bad, he won't.
I want to tell you today and maybe you're here for the single sentence.
That ain't God.
Two thousand years ago, when Jesus Christ came to this earth, he didn't bring a ladder and hand it to humans and say good luck. Love your neighbor. Forget people don't get lost. You better not steal. Give to the poor. Hope it goes well for you. Be perfect. God's perfect.
Do what Jesus did is he talked about that ladder. He said, You're not going to get there, are you?
Let me give you another way.
And he took the wood of that ladder and he refashioned it and he turned it into that place where there would be forgiveness every single time. A place where you and I could have a relationship that we wouldn't blow up with our own mistakes. I'll place when we feel criticized or forgotten or unloved. There is just God pouring out Grace on top of Grace, on top of Grace. On top of Grace, there is a God who actually loves people unconditionally
And when we open our hands and let go of control of Our Lives, the Bible calls us repentance and we use those empty hands to just grab onto Jesus. We get everything that our souls crave and desire. We could God now tomorrow and forever.
So, I don't know your story. It might seem like a coincidence that you're here, or maybe God marked out this time and this place. So that you would seek Him, perhaps reach out for him and find him. Because he is not far from any one of us.
Once upon a time, there was an ancient Rabbi who only owned four things. A scroll, the Bible a lamp, a rooster and a donkey.
And that Parabola I was traveling in. After a long day of walking, he saw a small village and he went inside to look for a place to stay, but the inhospitable villagers rejected him.
And so we took a scroll, his lamp is restoring his donkey. There was a nearby Forest. He tied up the donkey, got the rooster in a safe place. He found a tree leaned up against it, he lived his lamp and he unrolled the scroll to read the Bible and remind himself of the Providence of God. Except just when he started reading the scriptures, guess what happened? Wind swept through the forest and his lamp fizzled up. And the old Rabbi said. Everything that God does, God does well. And then he felt the first raindrop and his head. And his lamp was soaked and he couldn't relight it to read his scriptures. He tried to protect his ancient Scrolls, and as the rain soaked his entire body chilled him down to the bones, he said, but everything that God does God as well.
Then while he was starting to sleep, something started him awake. Some wild animals from the forest had found out. His rooster was nearby. That stuck-up stealthily grab the rooster, their jaws and they raced off into the forest, and now his rooster was gone.
I know he was tempted to say otherwise the old Rabbi reminded himself, but everything that God does God does well. Finally, God gave him the gift of sleep. He passed out. But while he was sleeping a group of unsavory men who were wandering by the edge of the forest, all this random, donkey tied up,
Not the best people near the village, they untied the donkey and they stole it, they took it for himself. And so when the rabbi woke up, the rooster was gone and the donkey was gone and the lamp was so then the Scrolls that he had were near his heart, but those Scrolls reminded him even now Everything that God does, God does well.
Well the tired so crab. I wandered back into the village when the sun came up and that's when he understood. It turns out the village that he was attempting to stay and had been at war with a neighboring Village. And during that night some Warriors from the other Village had invaded and killed as many people as they could find and their homes in their beds. If they had given him a place to sleep, the rabbi would have
And as those villagers who are trying to eliminate any Potential Threat and enemy would have seen the light of his lamp out in the forest, they would have gone into the forest and
And if it's rooster would have Crowed just a single time giving away his location. Those Warriors would have come in and If a donkey would have braids when he saw the enemies and giving away the location of the rabbi, he might have
So the old Rabbi left the village, scroll tucked under his arm and he repeated what he said in the good times and the bad, the best, and the worst.
Everything that God does. God as well.
So, Are you here?
Coincidence. Providence.
I hope, you know, and she was with the rabbi did. That's right.
God, we live in a world that forgets you
Sometimes it hates you and reject you. But most of the time it just forgets you
But if we forget you God, we don't have you. To make those good moments even better, to make the worst moments bearable. So today we're trying to remember you. We're trying to remember that. You are a God who controls and knows all things. You are a God who holds the universe and our lives in the palms of your hands. God help us to believe that. Help us to cling with everything in our souls to that ancient verse that the Apostle Paul wrote. In all things, you work for the good. Tell me, Father, we want to know that you're not, just a God who cares about us, but can't do anything. Neither you are a God who can do everything, but doesn't care about us. You are the perfect combination of power and love and you proved it through the death of your son. How many fathers I'm grateful were here today? There's a lot of us who needed to hear this. We need to remember just how intimately involved. You are day to day moment. To moments by because you are a good good father. So, today we lift up your name and we try to find gratitude for the good. We try to find peace in the midst of the bad. And we know that one day just like that Rabbi, we will understand the grand plan, you have for us until then help us to seek Jesus. With all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, help us to make your word, the center of our Lives, the sun around, which everything revolves
God, at the end of all things, help us to one day, see what we believe in this moment that you are good and your love endures forever. I proudly pray these things in the beautiful name of Jesus and all God's people said, Amen.