Good morning. Weren't you glad when you read? I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. What a blessing it is to be here today. I look forward to these times so much. Glad you're here, glad for the safety of your travels, and we pray for those who will listen to us on Zoom and later on Sermon Audio. We're going to be in the book of Acts chapter eight today for a reading and then looking at some other verses of scripture. I want to share a personal experience This last week, our oldest daughter celebrated neck day. 32 years ago, she was in a near fatal car wreck and nearly broke her neck. She had to wear a halo brace for quite a while. A lot of things, it was, you know, we called it a tragedy because the definition of tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and or distress. And that caused some distress for our family, for my wife and I. And I had phone calls from friends all over the United States, or they'd send letters. And in there, once we realized that she was past the point of dying as a result of that crash, they'd say, isn't God good? Isn't God good? He spared her life. Isn't God good? He spared her life. And in that, I learned this, God has never been bad. What if he had taken her? Would he have been bad in doing that? Of course not. God is good. God is always good. God always does good. Now we may not see it that way at times, but God does. He works everything after the counsel of his own will. And here in this chapter, at the beginning of this chapter, we have one of those tragedies Very early after the resurrection, ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this tragedy came into the church, and that was one of the very valuable spokesmen for grace was silenced. Great mourning took place in the church and no doubt among his family, Stephen's family. Many, no doubt, cried out, why? Why did this happen? And you know, the Lord is quick to share with us here in the book of Acts chapter eight, at least two reasons why it happened. And so let us read together over here in the book of Acts chapter eight and Saul, Acts chapter eight, verse one, and Saul consenting unto his death. Now, we read that over there in chapter seven, that they laid their clothes, their coats at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And here he is again, Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So we find in verse one of this, chapter 8, this is the result of what took place. And now there's a couple of examples going to be given after we have the burial of Stephen. It says in verse 2, devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. And then we read in verse 3, As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. And we have some idea of what havoc means. He tore it up. He was ramsacking the church, just as is mentioned there in verse one. And as a result, many of the people that were in Jerusalem left Jerusalem. And we'll notice here as we go on what happened. So it says here that Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women, committing them to prison. So the people that loved the gospel, loved the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, people that loved to hear Stephen, loved to hear the gospel preached on the day of Pentecost, they were, Saul had it in for them. He was going to get them and commit them to prison. And hopefully, I think he goes on to tell us later that consenting unto their death, oftentimes voting against them. Therefore, it says in verse four, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere. Now we can understand that, they went everywhere, they went in every direction. Their families went split up, went there, north, south, east, and west, and all points of the compass. But here is what they did when they left. They didn't leave their religion in Jerusalem. They didn't leave their belief in Jerusalem. They took that with them because of the great work of grace that God had done. It says there in verse four, they went everywhere preaching the word. preaching the word. So out of that tragedy that took place there in Jerusalem, as we read in chapter seven, and as it's brought up here in chapter eight, as we read of that tragedy, we find out that God used that to move people out, to take the word of God out to other people. He doesn't ever move people that know the gospel to some place for He has a purpose in it, and that is there's gonna be some lost sheep there. Well, it goes on and tells us here in verse five, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and notice what he did. He was also one of those great servants of the church. He was there with Stephen serving those ladies, those Grecian ladies, also a preacher of the gospel and a great note there in the early church. And it says here that he went to Samaria, but he didn't go down there to hide, he didn't go down there to leave his religion, his beliefs, his gospel understanding in Jerusalem, but he went down there to Samaria and he preached Christ unto them. The Lord was quick to let us know, a little bit at least, of why the events took place there in Acts chapter seven, the great tragedy, we may call it, of the stoning of Stephen, the death of Stephen. Here we have some that went out preaching the word. Here we have Philip going down and preaching Christ. Now I'd like to ask a question. What do we think when we hear these words? What do we think when we hear these words? The word God, what do we think when we hear that word, that great word G-O-D, capital G-O-D? What do we think when we hear capital L-O-R-D, or Almighty God, or Lord of Lords, or King of Kings? or head of the church, or the rock, or the author and finisher of our faith. What do we think when we hear those words? If we know the gospel, we're gonna think of these words as the highest, most honorable, the most blessed, God blessed forever. We're gonna be thinking of the God of the Bible. And when we read about the God of the Bible, we find out that he often has brought from our estimation, tragedy, but the outcome of it has been for the betterment of the church, for the betterment of his people. Just how involved is the one that all these words represent in our lives? How involved? Well, turn with me, if you would, over to the book of the Psalms for just a moment. Psalm 139. In the Psalm 139, We see here just how involved this great God, this Lord of Lords, this King of Kings, this Rock, this author and finisher of our faith, this one that we read about, and trust, I trust that we have this idea, this knowledge about this one, that he is a great, almighty, God who rules and reigns with such clarity in this world. We believe, but sometimes we don't understand the purpose of God, but we just believe it. But here in Psalm 139, verse one, we read these words, Psalm 139 and verse one, to the chief musician, the Psalm of David, O Lord, thou has searched me and know me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising." Isn't that interesting? That it seems that every time we sit down, God notes it. And every time we stand up, God notes it. He is so close to his people. But this goes to say about everybody, there's nobody in all the world, in all time, past, present, or future, that he didn't have this knowledge about. This is that God we read about in Scripture, and this is that God that permitted, purposed the tragedy, we would say, of Stephen's death, and yet the outcome of that was to take the gospel to a people that needed to hear it. goes on here and says, thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. How clear that is, that the Lord does not misunderstand our thoughts. He understands, He knows what's going in our mind, and I have to say right here and right now that I am thankful for the forgiveness of sin, because that generally is where our sins begin in the heart. And it goes on to say, Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. How close He is! to each and every individual on the earth. Now there's a special relationship that he has with the church. He has purchased the church by the blood of the son. He has purchased the church. He has loved the church with an everlasting love. But everybody that has ever been born in all ages, he has had this knowledge about them. He knows they're down sitting, they're rising up. He knows the thoughts of their mouth, the thoughts of their heart. There is, in verse four, there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Verse five, thou hast beset me behind him before, and laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, for it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whether shall I go from thy spirit, or whether shall I flee from thy presence? I don't know how many times I've had people, and usually it's mothers, who had children that made a profession when they were young, and they've never been in church, they just quit, and they'll say, they're saved, but they're away from the Lord. And I've just got to the point I say, where is that? Because right here we find, where can I go? Where can anybody go that's out of the presence of God? Verse 8, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell or in a dead place, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hide me. You know, it just shares with me, there's not going to be any problem with God bringing all the saints out of every place out of the dust, out of the sea, out of wherever they are, it's not going to be a problem. He knows where they are, He knows where they're planted, and He will be there to raise them from the dead in that day. If I say, verse 11, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light unto me. about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." What a statement we have here with regard to God's knowledge of us. Now all of us have had incidents in our life that we may look at as a tragedy or tragic, and yet we're going to find out that not one thing happened, just like with Stephen, not one thing happened that was not prescribed by Almighty God and His eternal purpose, and here we have Him working it out for His glory, His honor, and His praise. Now we don't ever or I shouldn't say we don't ever, but many times we don't understand why these things happen to us. I do not understand a little bit about why it happened, that incident happened to my daughter, because it showed me, God showed me, he's never bad, he's always good, whatever he does, whatever happens. So he's just involved with everyone. He's involved with the church in a very special way. Turn it over with me here as we hear recorded in the book of Daniel. Now whether Daniel heard these words or not, it doesn't matter. The Holy Spirit gave him this message. Just as we find it doesn't matter that Moses was not there in the Garden of Eden to hear what went on, to see what went on, the Holy Spirit revealed unto him what went on, and we have the record of it. Book of Genesis. All right, here in the book of Daniel, would you turn there with me to the book of Daniel? Daniel chapter four. Now we know the incident that took place here in Daniel chapter four, and that is Nebuchadnezzar got very haughty, just like we do. And God in his great purpose said, I will show him who is in charge. And he did that very thing. And the day that he came out from under that influence, of himself and being turned out into a field like a cow. People say, well, a man couldn't survive on grass that long. Well, tell that to God. I don't understand it, but I know that this is what happened. But in Daniel 4, verse 34, Nebuchadnezzar got to share with us what he learned in all that event. It says there, at the end of the days, Daniel 4, verse 34, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes into heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, And I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. Now notice with me in verse 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and He doeth His will. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven. Now, most people don't have any trouble with that, God ruling in heaven, taking care of the angels and all the celestial beings. But then he goes on to say, and among the inhabitants of the earth. Now, this is where people shy away. God just can't get too involved. in all the inhabitants of the earth because we're free moral agents. We have a will and he'll not go against it. Don't believe a word of that. If it wasn't for God going against our natural fallen will and raising us out of a horrible pit, we would never come to Christ. So, thank God, he tells us here, he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or stop him from doing what he purposed to do, or saying to him, what doest thou? Now that's Nebuchadnezzar, a terrible king at one time, coming forth with some of the clearest statements about Almighty God. When we think of God in this capacity, we find he was ruling and overruling in the lives of all the folks in the New Testament, and then we're going to find the same thing in the New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, between the New Testament and today, and throughout all the existence of this world, he has been ruling and overruling just as a king. Now, let's just for a moment think of three friends, three brothers down there in Babylon. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were not native Babylonians, let's put that. They were from the two tribes and were carried into Babylonian captivity. Now this was an upsetting, I just can't help but think, but this was an upsetting event when they found out they were gonna be carried off with the rest of those that were being carried off into Babylon. They were gonna be servants over there. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 24. In 2 Kings chapter 24, we have the list here of those who were taken into captivity, 2 Kings chapter 24, and there was a host of them that were left behind. But there was this group that were taken into Babylonian captivity, and among them we find Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniel, and we're quite acquainted with another, a couple of other people that were taken into this captivity, and that was Barakai and Esther. Well, they're there on purpose. Well, let's read here in 2 Kings 24, verse 12. And Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon. And he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers and the king of Babylon took him the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord. and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord as the Lord had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valor, even 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths, none remained, save the poor sort of people of the land." So as we find out how important those Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were, and also that Daniel was, they had a ability that was taken with them when they were taken into the Babylonian captivity, and the king of Babylon captured that, He had them, he captured their ability, and caused them to be his servants. And they were great servants. God blessed them in mighty ways as a servant. But this is not their home. They're taken out of Jerusalem, in the area of Jerusalem, and taken down to Babylon with a whole host of people that God said were going to go into 70 years of captivity. Well, here they are, right in the middle of that, and how God blessed. a tragedy turned into a blessing. Over here, we have those folks that were taken into Babylonian captivity, those who knew the gospel, those who knew the Messiah, were taken down there on purpose. And as a result of them and the gospel they took, we have a record of some folks from that area saw the star up in the heavens and followed it by instruction of the Holy Spirit and came and saw the Lord Jesus Christ laying in a manger. Well, God worked his wonderful work of grace and he continues to do that. Now we mentioned another couple that was found there in Babylon at that time. They had too been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity, which had been carried away. Their lives had been disrupted. A tragedy took place. their king is captured and taken off. Oh, the upheaval that took place to them as their lives were turned upside down in a sense. And here we have Mordecai and Esther taken up there to Babylon. In the book of Esther, turn with me to the second chapter. the book of Esther, and we have these words that share with us this great truth that God used the tragedy of the events taking place with regard to the captivity, but he brought some people up into Babylon who knew something. Now God's going to use Esther in a very marvelous way. Also Mordecai, but Esther is going to be put into the second highest position in all of the realm. She's going to be the wife of the king. What a promotion God gave to her for the preservation of God's people. All right, here in the book of Esther, chapter 2, beginning with verse 5, we read these words. Esther chapter 2, verse 5, Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, well we know that, as is recorded, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jehoiakim, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. And he brought up, verse 7, he brought up Hadashah, That is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter." So when Mordecai has taken up, here is his adopted daughter Esther, and we know the rest of the story. What a glorious statement about God's greatness, His sovereignty, His purpose of grace is illustrated there in the book of Esther. You know, as we follow this thought, we find that there are others that were taken in a tragic way, taken from family, removed from family, from friends, from place, from house, from home, and put into a situation that turned out to be, from our vantage point, from the word of God, turned out to be exactly as God had purposed. And just travel with me, if you would, over here in the book of Genesis chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50. Now, we know the account of 11 brothers conspiring together to get rid of one of their brothers that they were quite jealous of. The 11 brothers that got together and conspired to get rid of Joseph, whom they hated. What an illustration he is of our Savior. he came unto his own and his own received him not the brothers of joseph received him not in fact they took money for him they planned on killing him but they did sell him and here in the book of genesis chapter 50 we read these words that are left for our our praise of God, the great God of heaven. What do you think of when you hear the word Lord? What do you think of when you hear the word God? This is what we must think of. It tells us here in the book of Genesis chapter 50 and verse 22, Joseph dwelt in, just a moment, Forgive me, that's Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. Genesis chapter 20 verse 20. But as for you, Joseph speaking, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. We have the record here in the book of Genesis that it was God that moved those sons to sell Joseph. And it was God that meant this good. It was difficult for Joseph and no doubt it was a guilt trip on those 11 sons. Can you imagine the time that they put up with the mourning of their dad and so forth? Well, we just have that problem that goes on We find that this also could be brought out there as we look at the book of Ruth, chapter one, book of Ruth, chapter one. There's a tragedy takes place in the book of Ruth, chapter one, that caused the gospel to be taken out to another place. Here in Ruth, chapter one, and it's during the time of the judges, it tells us right there in the very beginning, verse one of this, it was in the time of the judges and there was a famine. Now, who in the world brought that famine? Well, we would find that God brings these things. He's in charge of the weather. He's in charge of rain. He's in charge of snow. He's in charge of all weather that we have. He's in charge of dry times. He's in charge of wet times. He's in charge of tornadoes, hurricanes. Don't for a moment think that that's the devil. God is in charge. Remember what he was able to do with that great storm that was out there on the Sea of Galilee, when he says, peace be still, and it was calm, instantly. Well, that's God. That's the God that we worship. Well, here in the book of Ruth, chapter one, verse one, now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons." Now, we don't have record of anybody else going. They may have, but we don't have record of it. But we do have record of these four people that lived in Bethlehem, Judah. They lived in Judah, they were part of Israel, and the famine came and they left, and they went over to Moab. Now, Moab is a wicked place. It's got all kinds of false gods, false deities, but it's no different than anywhere else in the world when it comes to false religion. There were people that would bow down before anything. Well, let's just follow this through for a moment. And it says, verse two, in the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Malon and Chilon, Ephraim knights of Benjamin Judah, and they came into the country of Moab and continued there. There was a tragedy took place. They were unable to raise enough food to feed themselves, so they moved over to Moab. Well, when they went, they took something that they knew about. We find that is essential for us to see that when it came time for Naomi to go back, three quarters of her family dies, her husband and two sons. And when it comes time for her to go back because the famine is over in Israel, it's at least 10 years later, we find that as she prepares to go, she sends her daughters-in-law off, says to one of them, go to your family and to your gods, and she did. And then we find Ruth says, no, no, no. No, you didn't come over here from Israel and waste your time talking to me about the gospel. I'm going, your God's my God, your place is my place, your people is my people. And she left and went with him. What a ministry was fulfilled here by Almighty God to one of his lost sheep by a tragedy of a famine. Well, things like this continue throughout the scriptures, just as we find that the Word of God was moved out there from Jerusalem, out into the hinterlands, by the incident of Stephen's death. One of the accounts in the Old Testament deals with a young lady taken captive by a Syrian general out of Israel. She is an Israelite maiden, a Syrian general, goes over there and takes her captive. Let's just read this, 2 Kings chapter 5. In 2 Kings chapter 5, now I don't know what you'd feel like, but if I was a teenage boy and I was captured out of where I grew up and taken to a foreign country, and turned into a servant in that foreign country, I don't know what would go through my mind. I can only imagine what this young lady thought when she was captured and she waved to her parents. Maybe they were killed as a result of the Syrian army coming over there. We don't know, but she is taken out of a family there. Israel and in 2nd Kings chapter 5 we read this 2nd Kings chapter 5 and there in verse 1 We read this it says now Naaman captain of the host of the king of Syria Was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given this deliverance unto Syria he also a mighty man in valor and he was a leper he had given deliverance unto Syria who did and God did. L, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, and that's the Old Testament way of saying Jehovah. Jehovah had given deliverance. Now in verse two, and the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel, a young lady, a little maid, And she waited on Naaman's wife. Isn't that interesting? She's captured over there in Israel. She's brought out. I could just see her crying her eyes out as she's captured. But she's brought into the household of Naaman. And she's not three years old or five years old. She's probably a teenager, maybe early, but just before her 20s. And it says, and the Syrians had gone out, okay, in verse three, and she said unto her mistress, unto Naaman's wife, would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Syria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Now, what else do we know about this young maid? That's it. We have her words to Naaman's wife, and we know the results. Naaman went over there, went to the king first, then he went over there, and that prophet, he was mean, wasn't he? He wouldn't even come out and say hello. He just told him what to do. Isn't that what the prophets do today, what the preachers do? This is what you must do, bow before the king. All right, as we follow this out, we find that so many times, that these type of incidents are brought out in the scriptures. Who is behind all these and how many other incidents can we find in the Bible? Multitudes of other instances do we find in the Bible. I wanna step over back to Genesis chapter 45 and I wanna read, as Paul Harvey used to say, a little bit more of the rest of the story. Genesis chapter 45. In Genesis chapter 45, we have a little bit more brought to us about Joseph's incident, about the tragedy in his life, and the behind-the-scenes acts of Almighty God that was there. Genesis chapter 45, verse 5, Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sow me hither. This is Joseph speaking. For God did sin me before you to preserve life." Who did this? God did this. He had a tragedy take place. He purposed it, if you would, that Joseph would be taken down to Egypt and Joseph realized, for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years in which there shall neither be earing or harvest. Not gonna be planting, there's not gonna be harvest. God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives. by a great deliverance. Isn't that interesting? What we find God's word says at the mouth of Joseph of how and why this all happened to him. God sent me before you. Now only God can teach us that lesson. Left to ourself, we'd be angry and upset that these things happened, that we were sold into slavery, taken down to a place we didn't want to be, asked to do things that we didn't want to do. And yet, by the grace of God, Joseph could see that this was all a blessing of God for the deliverance of his people. How often we find this kind of things, these kind of things happen in the scripture. Over in the book of Exodus chapter four, we have a man by the name of Moses. Moses here in the book of Exodus chapter four, after he'd been to the burning bush and God has called him. to go and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt here in the book of Exodus chapter four. Exodus chapter four, verse 10. Let's read here, 10, 11, and 12. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord. Now, did you notice there that Moses said unto Jehovah, capitals, L-O-R-D, and O my Lord, Capital L, small o-r-d, different word is used here, Jehovah. He said unto Jehovah, my lord, my master, I am not eloquent, neither hitherto, heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the seen, or the blind? Who makes these? Have not I the Lord? What a statement he makes here. God makes about himself and his activities. Remember the young man that was blind, born blind, and the disciples said, who did sin, him or his parents? And Jesus just brought to their attention, neither, but for the glory of God. This is happening because of the glory of God. And the man was caused to see. Well, it goes on there in verse 12 of this section of this passage. Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. What a statement. Who made the mouth? Who makes hearing ears? Who makes seeing eyes? The Lord, God Almighty. He has all power and all authority in heaven and in earth. In the book of Joshua, chapter 11, we read about how a small group, an army of the size that Israel had, Small group against all the hosts that were there in what we know as the promised land land the Canaan that he God had given to to Israel and as they go in under Joshua here in the book of Joshua chapter 11 It tells us how this took place Joshua chapter 11 and there in verse 19 what a tragedy it was that they were going to have to fight but notice what God said about the whole thing and There, verse 19 of Judges chapter 11, there was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon, all others they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts. Why didn't they come and sue for peace? The Lord Jehovah, cause their hearts to be hard, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses. What a statement is made here about what God and how God does his business. He caused a whole host of people. He got in their heads and said, we must take care of Israel. And a result of that, they were all destroyed. One of my go-to verses in the Old Testament. I just love it since we went through the book of Ezra some time ago, and that's the book of Ezra chapter one, verse one. How come a pagan king would allow the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, many of them to go back to the promised land after 70 years? Notice this, in the book of Ezra, the book of Ezra chapter one, verse one, it tells us this. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. Isn't that interesting? At the right time, 70 years, at the right place, Babylon, we even have a new king. He wasn't even king when it all took place to begin with. He's come over and taken over the Babylonian kingdom and now we have the Persians. But this man, Cyrus, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. Now, if he can stir up Cyrus, king of Persia, don't you think he can stir you up? Don't you think he can bring lost sheep of the house of Israel in? by the very voice of his call, oh, how it is that he was able to, against the will of Cyrus, overcome and say, Cyrus, tell these folks to go home. Well, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. And so we can read the rest of the account here over in the book of, the same book, the book of Ezra chapter six. Ezra chapter six and verse 22. Would you look at that with me? Ezra chapter six and verse 22. As we read here, it tells us these wonderful words about God's absolute sovereignty over all things. He has things happen we don't understand. Wouldn't it have been wonderful, we say, that Stephen continued to live and continued to preach the gospel, and he'd not been allowed to be touched, and yet God permitted his body to be touched, and he was taken, his life was taken away by the stoning that was brought on him. And yet out of that, we have some people going and preaching the word. We have some people going as Philip did and preaching Christ, which is exactly the same thing. There is no difference there. But in Ezra chapter six and verse 22, they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the King of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria. What words do we have here as God lets us see a little bit about how he does his business. And in the seventh chapter of the book of Ezra, verse 27, we have these words recorded for our encouragement. God does things on purpose. Oh, that car wreck was on purpose. I might learn a lesson. Now there may be many other lessons, that went out from the result of that car wreck that my daughter was in. But I had got a lesson out of it, and that is God is never bad. He's always good. Whatever he does, he's good. Well, here in Ezra chapter seven, verse 27, blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which has put such a thing as this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. My goodness. God put it in his heart to do this. As we read in the past, we continue to read throughout the scriptures that God, when our God is in heaven, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Psalm 115 and verse three, he's done whatever he hath pleased. You know, we make our plans, but the outcome is appointed by God. And in Psalm 135, would you turn there with me, Psalm 135, as we think of this great purpose of God throughout the scriptures, that he is going to be an absolute directing of all things. He is the director of the world from the very beginning to the very end, from eternity to eternity. In the book of the Psalms, Psalm 135, we read these words that encourage our hearts and causes to rejoice in this great God that is found throughout the scriptures. What do we think of when we hear the word God? What do we think of when we hear the word Lord? What do we think of when we hear the word Lord God or the Lord of Lords or the King of Kings? What do we think of? Well, I hope we can think of, as the Bible declares it, that he does whatsoever he pleases. In Psalm 135, verse 6, we read these words. Psalm 135, verse 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in the earth and in the seas and all the deep places. Whatsoever the Lord pleased. Now, he does not ask permission. He does whatsoever he pleases. Now we're thankful when the Lord saves us that we begin to agree with him. Now we quit arguing with him over this. Lord, whatever you do, cause me to believe it. I don't understand it. Well, let's go down here. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries. He smoked the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. He sent tokens and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants. He smote great nations and slew mighty kings. What do we have here? God's in charge. Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan. gave their land for an inheritance and an heritage unto Israel his people." That's what he continues to do, is to take away that which belonged to someone else and gives it to the church. Oh my goodness, what a blessing it is. The Lord has made all things for himself. That's what we read in the Proverbs. Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Oh, I've had people just get upset when I read that passage of scripture, but that's what we have in the book. When God saves his people, they quit arguing with the Bible. They trust God in the matter. They're gonna trust God that he would move the gospel out there to the areas out of Jerusalem. Next week, Lord willing, we'll look at Philip as he goes down there preaching, and people are saved as a result of the preaching of the gospel. Why? Because God had some lost sheep there. That's why he sent Philip. In the book of Isaiah, it is two other verses we'd like to look or two other passages. One's found in Isaiah chapter 14. No doubt, this is one of your favorite verses, one of your favorite passages. It certainly is for the church and has been for a long, long time. Here in the book of Isaiah 14, verse 24, we have this recorded for us. What a joy it is to read verses like this. It says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, So shall it come to pass. Isn't that a blessing? Never a bad thought is going to come to pass. Now he's brought some hard times upon people. You know, even the Apostle Paul said he saw things that were not profitable or that he couldn't share. And just to keep him quiet, the Lord had given him a thorn in the flesh and then said, my grace is sufficient for thee. I wonder how many of God's people today have been given a thorn in the flesh, and then the Lord says clearly, plainly, my grace is sufficient for thee, my unmerited favor, the salvation I have given you. Well, let's go on here. It says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purpose, so shall it stand. What a statement we have here. That I will break the Assyrian in my land, upon them my mountains, tread him underfoot, And then shall his yoke depart from off of them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purpose, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? What a statement about God. What do you think of when you hear the word Lord? What do you think of when you hear the word God? I pray that you think of verses like this. He is in absolute control of all things. And finally, let's travel over to the New Testament, to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one. And here again, a passage of scripture that has encouraged the church since we've been able to have it. The truth of this has been found out throughout all the Old Testament scriptures. And now we have the apostle Paul led by the spirit, the spirit secretary to write what the spirit had to say to the church. Here in Ephesians chapter one, verse 11, We find here the encouragement that God gives to the church in causing them to know that all things work for the good of them that love God. Now we have that over in the book of Romans, but read here with me. Verse 11 of Ephesians chapter one, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." So, as we look at Stephen, he's taken home to glory, he wouldn't want to come back, and yet there was great mourning. It was a tragedy in the church. And as a result of that, we have God pushing the gospel out to a place that you and I might've had relatives at. What a blessing God is to his people. Nothing is too hard for God. And so we conclude this morning with this, he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. We'll stop here and Lord willing, we'll pick up Philip going to those folks down there in Samaria and preaching Christ. May God bless you.