SUFFERING FRUITFULLY
BY: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
Solve Church Problems
P.O. Box 150484 ~ Longview, Texas 75615 ~
(903)452-1835
©2010 Bob Gray, Sr.
Published by Bob Gray Sr. at Smashwords
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All Scriptures are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
DEDICATION
19 years ago May, 7, 1991, Bob II and his dear wife Kelly Gray had a son whom they named R. G. Gray III. Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, was hosting the 11th NATIONAL SOUL WINNING CLINIC. Dr. Jack Hyles was the key speaker for the conference. The day that R. G. Gray III was born it was to be the beginning of an adventure for the good for Bob and Kelly. It was a tragic announcement and we were all devastated and shocked when the doctors told us that R. G. was not normal. It was not until years later that the doctors discovered what had happened. Little did we know that the years a head would provide some of the finest moments of life in a son who would never be normal but would be a miracle and a testimony of the grace of God. R. G. was supposed to be blind, deaf, never walk, and a brief life span but he sings in the teen choir and goes soul winning each week. He has a smile on his face and brings a smile to our faces as well!
Dr. Hyles was unaware of the news that had been given by the doctor to our family concerning R. G.'s prognosis. Tuesday night Dr. Hyles mounted the pulpit at LBT to give the key note sermon for the NATIONAL SOUL WINNING CLINIC. He made an unusual statement! He said that he was not sure why he was being led of the Holy Spirit to preach the sermon he was about to preach. He said this sermon really does not underscore the theme because this was a SOUL WINNING CLINIC. He announced his sermon would be "Where Be All The Miracles?" He went on to state that he had never preached this sermon that in years to follow there was not some report of a miracle that occurred that very night. We believe that R. G. III was that miracle.
INTRODUCTION
John chapter 15 is a fruit-bearing chapter. It is very interesting that when we move toward Christ we are purged in order to produce more fruit. If we move away from Christ we are punished in order to cause our return to Him. The truth is that we are going to have suffering either way. If we move toward Christ He purges and if we move away from Christ he punishes! I would rather suffer fruitfully than to suffer fruitlessly! If I must suffer, and I do, then it only makes sense to have something good come from my suffering. Life is filled with suffering from the time of birth to the very end at death. The life that we have is given of God and must be given back to God if we are suffer fruitfully. God makes no mistakes! Romans 8:28-29 does not promise that God will change the "things" in our life. It is a promise that the "things" will change us! He has "predestinated" us to be conformed to the image of His Son. If we are to suffer fruitfully then it has be that we allow God to do what God does best and that is working on us to be more like His Son.
One day all of us will look back at our lives and either say, "Would God I had" or "Thank God I did"! The choice is left up to us to allow God to do what is best for us as His children. We as frail human beings have no idea what is good and what is bad. We must trust by faith our God as He works in our lives so that we suffer fruitfully. Which will it be suffering fruitlessly or suffering fruitfully?
CONTENTS
THE BURDEN OF THE VALLEY OF VISION
THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY
THE HONOUR OF KINGS IS TO SERARCH OUT A MATTER
FACING THE BATTLE IS HARDER THAN THE BATTLE
MAKE A CROWN OUT OF YOUR THORNS
II Chronicles 32:27-31, 27“And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; 28Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks. 29Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much. 30This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 31Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
Hezekiah led in a great revival and he was given fifteen additional years to live. The Scripture then says, “…God left him, to try him…” Have you ever felt like God left you? “…God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” This is difficult for me to understand! I know God is Omniscient and He knows everything, but it seems that God sometimes will allow Himself to be blinded in order that He might test us to find out something about us. Why did God leave Hezekiah? The Scripture says, “…to try him…” Why did God try Hezekiah? To find out all that was in his heart.
Job had lost everything! He had lost his wealth, his children to death, his health, the loyalty of his wife, and, in the 13th chapter and the 24th verse, he asks this question, “Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?” Job was asking the question in essence, “Where are You hiding, God?”
David had lost his son, the son born from his unholy union with Bathsheba after his arranging the murder of Uriah. David goes to the grave of his baby boy who has died, and in Psalm 10:11 David said, “…God hath forgotten: he hideth his face…” Just prior to this, David was running from Saul. He was hiding, fleeing, and escaping, as a fugitive from justice, with Saul, the king, chasing him in an attempt to kill him. David said, in Psalm 13:1, “How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?”
The Israelites are facing some 70 years of captivity and we find, in Psalm 44:24, they ask God, “Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?”
Heman was one of the men whose advice was rejected by Rehoboam when Rehoboam followed the counsel of the young men instead of that of the older men. The older men told Rehoboam to not raise the taxes but give the men less burdens. The younger men told him to raise the taxes and make the burden greater. Rehoboam, the young king, listened to the advice of the younger men and rejected the advice of the older men. Heman, one of the older men, whose advice was rejected, said in Psalm 88:14, “Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?”
Every person reading this chapter has faced times of challenge when you felt that God had left you and had forsaken you. There are times when God is so close to you that you feel you can almost reach out and touch Him. There are other times when God is so far away you wonder if He is even with you at all! What is that burden you are carrying that you bring to God but you feel God is nowhere to be found? What is it that makes you look up to Heaven and ask, “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?” If 100 folks are reading this chapter, 75 to 80 have confronted a time in your life where you felt like God was so far away He had forsaken you.
If it could happen to David, a man after God’s own heart, it could happen to you and to me. If it could happen to Job, a man with more patience than any man that ever lived, then it can happen to you and to me. If it could happen to Heman and the Psalmist, it can happen to you and to me. All of us have come to times in our lives where it looked like God was not working on our behalf. All of us have faced times where it looked like truth was still on the cross, error was on the throne, it looked like God had withdrawn from us, and that God was not working for us. Most adults have dealt with this at some point in their lives.
What is yours today? Is it an illness and it seems you can’t get over it, and you wonder if God is really with you when you pray? Then you find yourself saying to yourself, “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?” What is your burden today? Is it a marriage problem, a child rearing problem, a financial problem, or a health problem? You find yourself looking up to Heaven and crying out, “God, I can’t see You! God, where are You? Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?”
Could it be a teenage daughter who has broken your heart? She has become everything you have preached against and taught against! You find yourself weeping at the midnight hour and you find yourself saying to God, “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?”
Could it be the death of a loved one, like David and his boy, or Job and his children? Have you gone to the silent city of the dead and laid to rest a little body that you loved like your own soul, come home to an empty crib, a bronze shoe, a hurting heart, and you looked up to Heaven to ask, “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?”
Could it be an enemy that stalks you like Saul was stalking David? Is yours a rejection, like when Rehoboam rejected Heman? Is yours a wayward child like David’s? Is your heart broken because of a child? Allow me to help you!
God Really Never Leaves You
God cannot leave you! He is Omniscient and He cannot help it that He is God! It may seem that God has left you but, in reality, He cannot leave you and be absent from your presence. There is a difference in what seems to be and that which is reality! Sometimes God is with us, but obscures our vision and ability to see Him and to realize His presence. God tells His children, 366 times in the Scriptures, that He is always with us and will never leave us. That is one for every day of the year plus one for leap year! AMEN! God says 366 times, “I will not leave thee.”
I have some good news for you! God really isn’t gone! You may not feel His presence, you may not see Him, and you may look up to Heaven saying, “Wherefore hidest Thy face from me?” but, the truth is, His face is there, you simply cannot see it! He is shrouded, concealed, veiled, but there is a purpose! There are times when God seems to withdraw, and you cannot see Him, and you may ask, “Why have You hidden Your face from me?” However, His face is never withdrawn from you because He promised to never leave you nor forsake you. He will never depart from you. If you are saved, born again, and in Christ, it is impossible for Him to ever leave you!
God’s Seeming Hiding Is Not Permanent
“God, I can’t see You!” Did you say that to Him? Can you imagine God looking down and crooning in your ear, “This is just for a little while?”
When God found out what was in Hezekiah’s heart, God once again revealed Himself to Hezekiah. God has a purpose in His silence, just as our earthly parents, at times, used the tool of silence to speak loudly to us as their children.
God knows exactly how to get our attention. He sometimes gives us the silent treatment. You married men know exactly what I am talking about! Ha! Her silence certainly does not mean she is not there. She will be back!
God Has Hidden Himself So Hezekiah Might Know What Is In His Heart
It was only when God discovered what was in Hezekiah’s heart that He revealed Himself. Could it be that Hezekiah needed to see what was in his own heart? The Scripture identifies our hearts as wicked and deceitful. Many times we are deceived by our emotions, and we need some times of testing in order to reveal to ourselves the truth about ourselves.
LESSONS
Keep on doing right because it is right.
Focus on the doing of right and not the feeling of doing right.
Never let feelings lead you.
Allow the heartaches and burdens to reveal you to you.
Focus on being better, not bitter.
Realize one day you will see God’s face forever.
How God Works In Our Lives
Proverbs 16:1-2 1“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. 2All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
God has you in mind. He loves you, and you are the apple of His eye. Never think that you are alone in the world and no one cares about you. It is not true, because God loves you and cares about you.
How does God work in our lives? We segregate our lives – our work, our school, our family – and think that God is not in everything. We think He is only in the “spiritual parts” when we go to church on Sunday, but that is not true. He is working in our lives twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He is with you when you go to the grocery store and when you are washing and ironing the clothes.
God already knows the end before the beginning ever occurs. He has a blueprint for you in Heaven, and He has wills for your life. Reality does not live up to God’s wills for our lives, so He makes adjustments accordingly. When we do something He did not plan for us, He changes His will for our lives and works in our lives. He will do whatever it takes to keep you on the path He has for you. People feel empty on the inside when they do not accomplish what God has for their lives.
You need to know how God works in your life so you will not become bitter and angry at God. At times He may have to do something to get your attention, but God is still working in your life. Do not become angry at Him.
God Gives Us People
God uses people to work through our lives. You love God by loving people. Simply saying you love a person does not prove anything. You need to work a bus route, feed some hungry people, and clothe some naked people. Through this, God can work in your life.
Proverbs 16:1 says, “…the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” Before you take offense at a statement someone makes, remember that God allowed it to happen because He loves you. He is trying to keep you on the right path, so that you will conform to His blueprint.
You live in the reality of today. If the reality of today does not match His future plan, then God must work in your life. Maybe God wants you to become a great preacher someday, so He will use people to keep you on the right path. When someone offends you, subconsciously he is trying to help you.
If you do not keep the right attitude, you will bail ship. If you quit, thousands of people will burn in Hell. Let God work. If you believe the Bible to be true, you have to believe that Proverbs 16:1 is true, and that even the answer from the tongue is from God.
When I first became the pastor of the Longview Baptist Temple, the members did not want me to remain as pastor. Yet, even that was of God. God was teaching me to fight. If I had not had to fight, I would not have the grit and conviction I have today.
God Gives Us Judgment
Verse 2 tells us that God weighs the spirits. The word “motive” is not found in the Bible. People always talk about motives, but we really should be concerned about our spirit. God weighs, or judges, the spirit, not your motive. If you become bitter, God has to do something in your life to put you back on track.
Judgment can be either good or bad. In the country fairs, the animals are judged, and some will receive a blue ribbon, a red ribbon, or a white ribbon. That is a good form of judging. God judges your spirit to see if it is good; if it is, then you are further down the road to fulfilling the blueprint He has for you. If you have a bad spirit, God will have to make some adjustments in your life.
God Gives Us Work
Verse 3 says, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” If you want God to work in your life, you need to be doing something now. What are you doing for God? Your thoughts are not right if your work is not right.
If a Bible college student tries to avoid working in the bus ministry or tries to avoid working in the ministry of the local church, he is not doing what God wants him to do. You need to be on a bus route, teaching a Sunday School class, or doing other work for God. The responsibility will help you be where God wants you to be. God wants to put some pressure on you so that you will prepare to work.
God Gives Us Pain
Verses 4 and 5 tell us, 4“The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. 5Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” When He talks about the evil day or evil, He is talking about pain, not wickedness. My wife is constantly in pain. Why does God give us pain? He gives us pain to correct and direct. Remember, God has a blueprint for your life. If you go off the path, God will put pain in your life to correct you.
You will never be happy until you do what God wants you to do. People are miserable because they are not doing what God told them to do. They seek alcohol and drugs to try to numb themselves and keep from thinking about what they should be doing for God.
God Gives Us Enemies
In verse 7 we read, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” God says you can have peace even with your enemies. In order for you to have peace with your enemies, you must first have enemies. Whenever you do what is right, you will have enemies. Those who are doing wrong will be your enemies. However, when you do wrong, you will still have enemies. You will have enemies no matter what you do. It would be better to have God happy and have the wrongdoers angry with you! Since you will have enemies anyway, the wrong crowd should be your enemies.
God Gives Us Direction
Verse 9 says, “…the Lord directeth his steps.” God directs you down the right path, even if you choose not to follow the right path.
I once was driving in New York City, where man is at his worst. I was driving in mass confusion. A policeman directed me in one direction, but I was confused and went the wrong way. Another policeman stopped me and corrected me. I was going somewhere, but I was not following directions. In the same way, God will direct you if you will let Him. If you do not let Him, then He will have to do other things to get your attention.
God Gives Us Authority
In verses 12 through 17, we see that God gives us authorities over us. 12“It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. 13Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right. 14The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it. 15In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain. 16How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! 17The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”
Everyone has a different set of authorities in his life, and these authorities change as a person grows older. Thank God for each set of authorities, because He sent them to you.