# God using problems to make him king

Category: Suffering, Trials & Burdens
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 22, 2025

I’ve given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my raptured soul can only sing of care was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. My burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

Love that drew salvation’s plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.

Was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdens all fell, liberty at Calvary.

Good singing. You may be seated. Amen. I hope these songs have been reminding you about when you got saved. Nothing like that. The day you accepted Jesus as your personal saving. I hope you’ll think about that as we sing some of those songs. Don’t just zero out. Think about that. And I also was thinking about how pleased the Lord is with all of you that are in his house on a Sunday morning. The Lord just smiles on you. He’s very pleased with that.

I see a man I haven’t seen in a bit, but he’s been here the last two Sundays. In fact, I see a couple people like that. And God’s just so happy with that effort, all those of you that are in church. God’s happy with you being in his house. We got a couple young folk that are moving up from sixth grade to seventh grade, so they’re new in the auditorium with us. Help me out, Brother Patrick. Who all we got?

So we got Bentley. I know Bentley, raise your hand over there, man. Come on, Bentley. There you go. That’s the man. Bentley, Nicholas. Nicholas, raise your hand, please. Good. And was it? McKinsey. McKinsey, right here. McKinsey, raise your hand. Good deal. Now, if you raise them real high and you smile, every person here will come by and give you $20 each.

Bentley’s ready to go. Can’t let your dad have any of that either, by the way, you know. So a good deal to have everybody. And honor to have guests. I hope our guests have gotten a little folder. And if you turn that out at the Welcome Center with a little card, we’ve got a book we give. But nowadays we give also a little gift card for coffee, whatnot. You like that for sure. And so get one of those, that would be a blessing there.

The Fourth of July is just right around the corner, not this Friday, but the next. If you’ve seen on the church calendar, we have a church picnic that day. We’re having it later on. We’ll start around 4:30. You don’t have to be here at the end, but you want to be here by 5:30 because we’re eating at 5:30. The church will have hamburgers and hot dogs. We’ll have men grill that out.

If you could help us bring sides and desserts, there’s a sign-up sheet on the back table for bringing things. If you’re going to come, we would ask if you would sign up. That way we’ll know how many tables to have preparing all those good things. We’ll have some games. We’ll have a great time, just a good time of fellowship. Then around 8:15, 8:30, we’ll have our fireworks. We typically have those on a Sunday night, but we’re going to change them to the Fourth of July that night. So I want you to come. You have plenty time in the morning. Spend time with family, do that. And then say, “Well, I’ve got to slip out of here because I’ve already ate here. Now I’ve got to go eat somewhere else.” Amen. Be here by 5:30. We’ll have a good time. Good food and good fellowship and fireworks around 8:15, 8:30. And please sign up so we’ll know how many are coming for that.

By the way, next Sunday will be a special Sunday. It’ll be a God and Country Sunday. We’ll focus on our country. Come dressed patriotic, not decorated. We’ll have a good time with it. If some of you have your uniform still and you can wear it, that’s the key, you can wear it. Somebody’s already coughing up front here. Bring it next Sunday. Ask your wife to put some extensions in there so that they fit. But that would be awesome. I would love it if some of you can do it. It would be a great thing. We’ll have just a wonderful time. By the way, it’s not perfect, but it’s still the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, America. Praise God for it. We’re going to celebrate it next Sunday. And I hope you’re here, everybody. It’ll be grand. By the way, Sunday night, brother Lucas Rains grew up in our church, graduated. He was in the Marines. How many years, Miss Mickey? Eight years in the Marines. Now he has graduated from Crown Bible College, going for his master’s. I went on for his graduation. I said, “Are you a professor now?” He said, “Not yet, but I’m working on it.” So that’s Lucas for you. But he’ll be preaching next Sunday night. It’ll be fitting for a Marine preaching force. It’ll be grand, just the whole day. Make sure you’re in your place for all that.

And then we’re about to make a change on Wednesday night. It starts in July, so we have one more Wednesday night at 7 o’clock. The church voted on it: 6 or 6:30. It was overwhelmingly 6 o’clock. So we’re about to make that one more 7 o’clock Wednesday night. And then the month of July on, it’ll be 6 o’clock thereafter. Being the last one at 7 o’clock, being the first one at 6 o’clock, and I’m excited about that change. Everybody’s comment is, “Okay, we’re starting an hour early. Do we get out an hour early?” You got to come and find out, amen. That’s what you got to do. But looking forward to that, that would be great.

Teen Camp is just right around the corner, July 7th through the 11th. If you’re going to get that discount, you’ve got to register, pre-registered by today. See Brother Patrick and Ms. Marlene about that. And you pray. Teen Camp’s awesome. It’s a great opportunity for the teens to have a great time, have a blast, and then God to work in their hearts in a great, great way. So pray for that, if you would, please. Ushers, thank you for all you do. We appreciate that.

And Brother John and Miss Dina Sharp are about to get new flooring in their house. We’re hoping that will help a little bit with Brother John’s lungs, but right after service, Brother Marlin and a couple men, if you would be willing to help, we’re going to head over. It doesn’t live far from the church here to move furniture for them. That way they’ll be ready by tomorrow for that change. We have a couple men that will be able to help in that right after service, help move furniture. Good, Dawson. Appreciate that. We’ve got Brother Marlin. We’ve got Brother Dawson. Come on, we need a couple more guys. All you strong, young, good ones. That’s getting their attention right there: there are no $20 bills on this event if you can help. If you can help, see Brother Marlin. We could use a couple more guys. Any other guys can help us out right after service? Any more guys? I don’t think we get the bus to stop by there. We’ll see what we can do on that, Brother Marlin, but we’ll try to get that furniture moved for them, and I appreciate the men that can help us out on that. That would be great. Praise the Lord for young backs. Amen. That’s all I got to say.

Brother Marlin said, “What are you talking about young backs then?” I appreciate those folks helping us. That would be a great, great blessing. Appreciate all the help on that.

God’s been so good to us, and the building fund is growing. Last time I looked, I think around $434,000 in that. I’m excited about that. The church puts $14,000 into that every month, and then whatever comes in. I appreciate those that are pledged to give, and you’re fulfilling it. It’s great. We just voted recently—it was last Sunday night—it was unanimous to take a loan out. It was unanimous to put this property up for sale. That’s in the works, and real estate agents are coming out, maybe Wednesday, to take pictures and all those things, so it’s all in the works. I’m excited about what God has done and what he is going to do. Just praise God for his goodness, his blessing. In spite of me, he’s just good to us. And wonderful people, praise God for great people in church and on board, wanting to see God work in our day and time. We need an old-fashioned Baptist church where God’s working, people getting reached, lives getting changed—that’s what we need. I appreciate all those of you that are on board doing all you can to make it happen. What a blessing.

I’ve got to quit, but I think about one of our men that took an extra job after his regular job, two nights a week, and he worked for months. He said he took that job, and everything he made went to the building fund. Brother Adams, their treasurer, said they wouldn’t even send it in Venmo or anything because they’d take a percentage out. They said, “We want every dime to go to the building fund.” So they made sure they brought a check or cash. I appreciate God’s people doing all you can. God blesses when we do what we can. That project’s bigger than us, but it’s not bigger than our God. The key is we do what God wants us to do. He’ll take care of the rest. And he is, by the way, and I’m excited to see God work. So thank you very, very much for your part.

In God’s Word, just a blessing. So many good, faithful, godly people doing what you can. That’s the key. And God bless us. Pray for Brother Frank and Ms. Wanda. I was over there a little bit yesterday morning. Ms. Wanda said, and I don’t think she’ll mind me sharing this, but she said he, of course, last Sunday, thank you all those of you that were there. Some of you could not understand him. But loving on him and him loving on you, just special, just awesome, that pre-groundbreaking service, putting the first shovel in the ground. She said he’s got to do that. That was his desire. He got to see his son. And she said, just seeing him suffer now kind of makes me more willing to let him go. So you pray. Praise the Lord for peace, God working. But you keep praying for both of those. He can still talk. Sometimes it’s hard to understand. You’ve got to listen real close. I’m kind of in and out. He’s been on morphine for a while now, on a little bit of the patch now too, so pray for them if you would, please, and this week especially. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints.” He’s going to beat us home, and he’s going to be better off than us pretty soon here, but we’ll miss him. What a precious, precious Brother Frank and Miss Wanda. Both of you pray for those this week in a special way.

That would be a blessing. Brother John Casey, we appreciate the Casey’s, and just God working in their life all these years. What a blessing they are. Would you, at least in a word, pray for the offering, please, brother?

Let’s all stand once more. We’ll turn to number 329, “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary.” We’ll sing all three of those verses. 329. Days are filled with sorrow and care. Hearts are lonely and dream. Are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is there at Calvary. Cast your care on Jesus today. Lean and feed. Jesus is veiled, a Savior can see every heartache.

Good singing. You may be seated. From the battle you’re fighting, does it seem like the storm just won’t break? Turn in front of you, that doubt says will never move, and you wonder if God makes a way. Tell me, were new. Tell me a moment he was able to carry. There was never a time. So be strong in the Lord and remember, take hold of faith and stand confident. The Lord keeps his promises. If you doubt him, just read through his words and tell me His mercies weren’t new. Tell me a less than when he could tie. Child, when you’ve gone through the impossible, if you don’t believe it, just go on. Been faithful. Tell me a morning his mercies weren’t new. Tell me a moment when he was unable to carry you through. He was less than… You’re going to find there was never a day he was less than almighty when he couldn’t roll back the time. Child, when you look back, you’ve gone there was never a time. You’ve gone there was never a time.

Amen. Praise the Lord. He is faithful. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter number nine. 1 Samuel, chapter number nine. Thank you, Ms. Angela, Ms. Sarah, for reminding us of his faithfulness. 1 Samuel, chapter number nine, in God’s Word. While you’re turning, let me kind of get you on board what’s going on here.

In Scripture, there is Saul. He was not king at this point, and he basically worked farming, if you will, ranching with his dad. His dad had lost some of their cattle, some of their donkeys, whatnot, had gotten out, couldn’t find them. So Saul goes looking for these donkeys. It takes him away out of town, a good ways off, but God had a reason for that. Now we’re going to find out the reason. I’m just going to use this as a springboard today. This story illustrates the truth that God sometimes uses problems in making you a king. You see, God was wanting Saul to be the first king, but God had to get Saul out of his normal place over to where Samuel was, for Samuel to anoint him. We’re going to use that just as an example about God using problems in your life in making you a king.

Now, I want you to think for just a moment, maybe at the very beginning here, let’s do this: What are the problems in your life? Would you ask the Holy Spirit what the problems are in your life? Sometimes the problems that seem so very frustrating are the very things that God’s using to get us to the point where we can be anointed. When I say king, Saul actually did become the king of that nation, Israel. You might not be a king, but being a king is you finding and doing the will of God for your life. They’re always the same. Don’t compare, but you finding and doing the will of God for your life. By the way, that’s success. Success in life is you finding what God made you and wants you to do, and you doing that. It may be a Sunday school teacher. It may be a mom to raise some children for the Lord. It being a husband to love that life and raise those children, and on and on. But you finding the will of God for your life in doing it is success. Well, that equals you being a king, but on the road to you being successful, being a king, there’s going to be all kind of problems. But God often is using those problems to get you where he wants you to intersect with Samuel the prophet to anoint you.

We’re just going to use this. So in 1 Samuel 9, we’re going to start in verse number 15. Would you please stand just to show the Word of God in respect, if you’re able to? 1 Samuel 9 and verse number 15. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good. Here we go. The Bible says, “Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, ‘Tomorrow about this time, I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people, Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon my people because their cry is coming to me.’”

And when Samuel saw Saul—Saul, say that ten times: Samuel, Saul, Samuel, Saul, Samuel, Saul, Saul. Yeah, not Saul like that. Come on now, brother. Don’t give me laughing, brother. We’re trying to preach here. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said in him, “Behold, the man whom I spake to thee of, this same shall reign over my people.”

Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house is.” And Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me under the high place, for ye shall eat with me today, and tomorrow I will let thee go.” By the way, if you study out the Greek, they ate chicken, I promise you. Baptist bird has to be. And tomorrow I will let thee go, and will tell you all that is in thine heart. And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, look at this, it’s very important: Set not thy mind on them. Years ago, I read this whole passage, and that’s the part that really spoke to me. Set not thy mind on them. If we’re not careful, those problems dominate our mind. You’re going to dwell on them some, but easy. Don’t set your mind. Set our thoughts somewhere else. Set not thy mind on them, for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee and on all thy father’s house?"

Look in chapter 10, just that first verse, chapter 10, verse number one. Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head, kissed him, and said, “Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?” He was anointed the first king of Israel.

For just a bit, would you ask—let’s pray together. Don’t listen to me, but let’s all pray. Ask the Lord to speak to your heart about this thing: God uses problems in bringing you to kingship. Would you pray with me that God would speak to his… Father, Lord, I know I cannot give the people what they need without you. But Lord, for some reason, you’ve allowed me; you want me here. I’m humbled, honored. My Lord, I don’t want to be just me. I can’t get the job done. I pray that you would work through me. Father, would you speak to every single person here? Lord, help me to say a little phrase if it needs to be said. Help me to say it well. If I don’t need to say something, let me skip over it. Let us leave being refreshed and encouraged and washed by your water of the Word. Father, thank you for what you do. Lord, one more thing: If someone here is not saved, I pray they’ll be saved before they leave the grounds today. Lord, we’ll brag on you for what you do. Father, we’re asking for this, not based on my merit, Lord, there’s not much there, but based on Jesus’ merit. Would you do it, Father, please? We’ll thank you for it, and we pray, amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Losing animals is truly a problem. I’ll never forget years ago. We were babysitting my sister and brother-in-law’s little bitty, foo-foo chihuahua dog. Does anybody here love chihuahuas? Oh, no. Oh, we got a lot of them. Oh, no. Would you, those of you who love chihuahuas, would you plug your ears up? You know, little chihuahuas. My goodness. We were babysitting this little bitty black and white chihuahua. They called him Batman. If he could win over a fly, I’d be saying something. That’s a little bitty thing. I don’t know if it was a teacup chihuahua or not. It was a little bitty thing. I carried him into the house and I put him down. I was being very good. We had made friends. We had carpet at that time years ago. We put this animal down, and as soon as I put it down, it ran over on the carpet to the couch and hiked its leg on our couch. It just brought it in the house. It hadn’t said hello to anybody yet. Instinctively, I did what any good man would do. I yelled at that dog, “Hey, don’t you do that!” It was a kind, very kind yell, very loving. As soon as I yelled at that thing, it took off. Out the door, it was gone. It turned around and said, “See ya.” My sister loved that dog.

So we spent over an hour. I was just thanking the Lord the whole time for that problem. Okay, I’m in church. I better be careful. We looked that neighborhood. We looked all over the place. The kids were at home at the time. We were all over that neighborhood yelling for Batman. They thought we were drunk because we were looking for Batman, trying to call that wonderful little dog in a sweet tone, “Batman, come here, come here!” It was the next block over, the next street over, down the road, gravel driveway, out in the field, underneath their porch is where that wonderful little dog was. Sorry, we’re going to have some people here. I say all that to say I understand losing your animals; that is a problem.

I say that to illustrate this: Saul’s dad, Kish, losing those animals—that’s a problem. The problems in your life are real. I’m not going to stand and say, “Well, those are no big deal.” They are a big deal. My sister would have divorced her brother if we’d have lost her dog. It’s a real problem.

The problems, whether they be physical problems, sickness, or disease—physical problems over a week can get you, but imagine over years. Some of you have been through that. And relationships—sometimes you just can’t make the other person do right, no matter how nice you are. Maybe you’ve got someone who is just not right toward you, and they’re not going to be right toward you. Jesus had people who didn’t treat him right, friend. Over the years, that can wear on you. These problems are real. I’m not trying to make light of your problems this morning. If you want to live a problem-free life, that’s called heaven one day, friend. You say, “Well, I’m living for the Lord, but I have problems.” It doesn’t matter if you’re living for the Lord or living with the devil; you can have problems either way. I’d rather have problems because God’s trying to make me a king than have problems because of the sin of my life. Mother, you think you have problems? Wait until you’re hooked on something because you’re living in a sinful life and can’t get off of it, and it affects your liver or your body. Now you’ve got big problems. Sometimes as Christians, we just say, “Well, I’ve got all these problems.” Everybody’s got problems. Everybody does. I’m not trying to make light of it, but that’s going to happen. It’s just part of living in this world. It’s just going to come.

But God so often has taken us on a journey. He had to get Saul out of that town over there in Benjamin, get him away. He had to get him over here to where God was going to do a great work—the prophet, the preacher of the nation, the Billy Graham of the day and time, you know. Samuel had to get him over there for Samuel to anoint him to be king. God allowed it.

I think about my wife who had cancer 14 years ago, colon cancer, about a third of her colon taken out and chemo and all that. Those were not fun days, but God taught us so much. He was doing the work we didn’t even understand in the middle of it. Sometimes in the middle of it, you think, “I’m going to be so close to God.” I’ll be honest, there were days we felt like we didn’t feel real close to the Lord right then. We were praying, everybody says that, we were looking for it, but it didn’t make sense at that time. But 14 years later, we look back and we’re like, “Wow, we know a lot of what God was trying to do now.” Problems come, and they’re not like problems, but God is using that so much to make you king. I was much of a loner growing up, just alone or off on my own, but God was using that in my life to draw me closer to him. Friend, the problems in your life so often, God’s allowing that for a reason. He’s trying to bring you along the path to being the king that he wants you to be.

I think about a lady. If I say the name, most of you will know. If I start telling the story, a lot of you’ll know. Brother John, what about those socks you got on right there? Wow, I tell you what, now you know. Everybody wants to see them; he can’t hold his leg up high enough. But where was that? Oh.

Six weeks old, little baby, six weeks old, and she had some eye problems. We know now later on it wasn’t that major of problems, but they were getting infected and whatnot. They wanted to get the regular doctor of the community years ago, but he wasn’t there. So they got a guy in there that was somewhat of a doctor, but he was really a quack, and he gave her the wrong medicine. They put the wrong medicine on this six-week-old little girl, and she was blind for the rest of her life. What a problem.

I think of the five senses. If I were to lose any one of those five senses, blindness would be the worst to me. Six weeks old, blind for the rest of her life. And yet, can I read for you a little bit of what she said? She said, “When I was six weeks old, a slight cold caused inflammation of the eyes. Our usual doctor was away from home, so a stranger was called, and he recommended the use of hot poultices, which practically destroyed my sight. When the sad calamity became known, the unfortunate man thought it best to leave the neighborhood, and we never heard of him again.” Some say, and I don’t know—you hear a lot of different things—but some say he was found out that he regretted that for the rest of his life. We don’t know.

But she added, “I have not for a moment”—listen to this—“for a moment in more than 85 years felt a spark of resentment against him.” Wow. “For I have always believed that the good Lord in his infinite mercy by this means consecrated me to the work that I am still permitted to do. And when I remember how I have been blessed, how can I repay?”

Many of you already know that lady was Fannie Crosby. She wrote eight, some say up to even 9,000 songs and poems. Everybody says different numbers, but thousands. Some of the songs we sing in our songbook—I remember a man in our church, his favorite song was “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of heaven divine.” Fannie Crosby wrote that. A lot of the songs you sing in your hymn book, Fannie Crosby wrote those: “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Hear My Humble Cry.” Yeah, Fannie Crosby. “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.” All those songs that thousands, probably millions have sung all these years, were written by this lady.

She says, let me read for you what she says: “I have heard that this physician never ceased expressing his regret at the occurrence. That it was one of the sorrows of his life, but if I could meet him now, I would say, ‘Thank you, thank you,’ over and over again for making me blind.” Wow. She says there are many reasons, and I will tell you some of them. One is that I know, although it may have been a blunder on the physician’s part, it was no mistake of God’s. I verily believe it was his intention that I should live my days in physical darkness so as to be better prepared to sing his praises and incite others so to do."

You see, Fannie Crosby realized, “Hey, God allowed this major problem in my life because he’s making me into a king.” Sometimes the most frustrating things that bother me so very much are the very things that God’s trying to use in my life to get me to the point he wants me to be so he can exalt us to kingship, doing God’s will for our life.

I think about one of our men. I was very proud of him, but he was going through a difficulty with someone else in our church, a tough time and tough situation. I said, “Man, how are you doing with that?” And he said, “I think God is trying to grow me in handling difficult people and difficult times.” And I thought, wow. In fact, he convicted me a little bit about some of my problems. Friend, don’t always get frustrated and mad and ask, “Why have all these problems?” Those problems might be God trying to get you where he wants you to be so he can use you more. Amen.

Look back at verse number 20 right there, 1 Samuel 9 and verse number 20. He says, “As for thine asses, the ones that were missing that were lost three days ago, set not thine mind on them.” Would you say that little phrase with me, please? Here we go: “Set not thy mind on them.” Oh, it’s so important. So very, very important. What if Saul would have gotten so mad and frustrated about, “Well, I can’t find those stinking donkeys! Where in the world are they?” God said, “I don’t know if I want to make a king after all,” or maybe he said, “I’m giving up and going home.” But God had a reason. And this preacher, this prophet Samuel, gave words of wisdom: Don’t get your mind set on that. You have to deal with problems. You have to.

I think of a lady that lost her son, a teenage son, and she was crying for days and weeks and months, ongoing. Finally, a man told her, “Lady, would you do this? You know how it is—she hadn’t changed anything in his bedroom.” He said, “I want you to go in that bedroom every single day, and I want you to go in there and cry and weep and shed tears and look at all his clothes and everything and trophies. Look at everything, and I want you just to cry your heart out.” Maybe half an hour, maybe an hour, I’m not sure. Then I want you to leave that bedroom, and I want you to go out there and take care of the siblings, go love on them, go do something for your husband, go make some cookies, take them to the nursing home, and don’t have your mind on that all the time. Set not thy mind on that. That’s so important.

Look over in Isaiah. I think I have it somewhere. Isaiah 56, remember right? Verse number three. Isaiah 56 and verse number three. I don’t have my notes, but I want to go there anyway. Isaiah, and I hope I’ve got the right place because I don’t have them in notes. I think I can quote it, but I’m all about quoting them. I don’t have it. Let me quote it, and some of you know where it’s found: “That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.” You might remember where that’s found. Is that 56:3? Come on, y’all know. Ms. Bishol? 26:3, thank you. Isaiah 26:3. Let’s go over there. Isaiah 26. There it is. Isaiah 26, verse number three. Ms. Bishol, you want to come up and preach for me? No, I’m joking. Thank you, Ms. Bishol.

Isaiah 26, look at verse number three: “That will keep him in perfect peace.” You know, the Bible never really talks about perfect peace. Over there, Philippians 4:7, I knew that reference. Okay, all right, now. Give me a break. And verse number six, you do these five things, verse number seven, and he says he’ll keep your hearts and your minds; you’ll have peace. Remember that? It doesn’t talk about perfect peace over in Philippians 4:7. It says peace that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds. But here it goes beyond that. It says that will keep him in perfect peace. Wow. That’s pretty amazing. Perfect peace. Now, who is this that will keep him in perfect peace? Whose mind is stayed on the problem? Right? No. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. I like that next verse: “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”

Be so very careful. Satan wants that problem to dominate your mind. You’ll get to where you’re thinking about that problem sun up to sun down, even when the sun’s down, you’ll think about it in the middle of the night all night long. You just can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you can’t talk to anybody else, you can’t be good for anybody else, because that thing is dominating your mind. The preacher, the prophet, said, “Hey, don’t set your mind on that.” If you have your mind set on that problem, you can’t have your mind set on him, and the Bible says he’ll give you perfect peace. Whose mind has stayed on thee? You’ve got to work at that because Satan is a roaring lion. He’s trying to be loud in front of your face, intimidating you with all those problems, and you have to say, “No, I’m not going to let that problem dominate my mind. I’m going to get my mind back on the Lord.” That is so very, very important. Trust God; he has a reason for the problem. He knows what he’s doing.

Job lost all 10 children one day. I’ve been with parents that lost their children, and that’s one of the toughest things in the world to overcome, but I’ve never been with someone that’s lost all 10. Just losing three is hard, but can you imagine losing all 10 in one day? He lost his job, basically. It was a recession; all his bank accounts, all his investments were gone. And then his wife, his most trusted confidant, the one that believed in him, she was battling bitterness. She says, “Curse God and die.” His health was horrible. He was setting out basically like a place where they would burn trash, one of the convenience centers, if you will. He had basically a pocket knife because he had sores all over his body and he was just scraping the sores. And you know what? God was doing something.

We don’t know exactly how long, but the book of Job took about a year, a year and a half. At the end of that, God said, “Job, I’m going to bless you twice as much.” You say, “How could he do that?” Well, they gave him 10 more kids. I don’t know about the first set of kids; I’m not sure what they were like. I know he offered up a lot of sacrifices; it seemed like maybe he was worried about them. But those second 10—at least the girls, the Bible names them, and those names mean “the most beautiful girl in the world,” “the most friendless girl in the world,” “most tender-hearted girl.” The second set was just amazing. Then God gave him twice as much financially, gave him twice as much influence. The influence—many people, not only back in his lifetime but all these thousands of years, have been encouraged by the Book of Job. God knows what he’s doing. Don’t let your mind get dominated by that problem. Hey, I’m going to work at this. I’m going to keep my mind on the Lord. That might mean you learn a Bible verse and claim that Bible verse, but you’re working on keeping God on your mind. What if Fannie Crosby had gotten bitter and said, “God, let me get blind by a quack doctor, I don’t want to serve him anymore”? All these years, how many thousands of people have been comforted and encouraged by her songs and hymns that she wrote? Millions, I’m sure. God’s doing something. He’s working. Don’t let that problem dominate your mind.

If you look over in 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter four. This is an interesting verse, sometimes for the faith healers. I say, everybody ought to be healed all the time, every time. That’s not biblical. This is a good verse to show them sometimes. 1 Peter chapter 4, and look in verse number 19. 1 Peter 4 and verse number 19. When you’re there, would you say amen?

He says, “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God…” That can be tough sometimes. Maybe you just have a heartache that is breaking your heart. Paul said that thorn of the flesh is the messenger of Satan. He’s beating the snot out of me. That’s what he said: messenger of Satan, he’s come to buffet me. That means he’ll just beat me. And yet that was God’s will. Sometimes that’s hard to accept. But notice what it says: “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator.”

Can I paraphrase a little bit? All of us have problems we don’t like. But sometimes when you prayed about it and you sought God, and God said, “Hey, this is my will,” you accept it. You accept it. All right, God’s got a different plan. Not my will. I don’t like it. I lost my fingers years ago. Oh, my goodness, I can’t do the math. I can’t count past eight, so you’ve got to do the math for me. Get your calculator out on your phone. But I lost my fingers in an accident.

I was all right at first. I really was. I was in Bible college, so I wasn’t married, I wasn’t dating. I’d be careful how I say this; I’m looking over at my wife because I don’t want to sleep on the couch. But it wasn’t dating; I was single. So, boy, I got sympathy from all. There were a couple thousand people there, and all those pretty girls. I’m getting sympathy from them; they’re bringing me cards and food. My wife’s getting their brass knuckles out—it’s for them, not for me. At first, I was, honestly, all right for whatever reason. But after the initial shock, I started to go back to life, and I realized, man, this is going to be different for the rest of my life.

I never forget the first time I played basketball with someone in a pickup game out on the courts, and my shoestring was untied in the middle of the game. It’s embarrassing for everybody to wait for you to tie your shoes in five minutes. Try to tie your shoes like that sometimes. And I just realized, man, I’m going to be like this for the rest of my life. I mean, I can still pick my nose; I still have my pinky if I really need to. Everything’s different. Just try to get dressed sometimes without a thumb and a finger. My whole world changed. That’s where the battle became. And there’s no going back. I put Miracle-Gro on it; they didn’t grow back. It was a good day when I just accepted it: God’s got a reason for this. I understand it as best I could, and I thanked him for it. The Bible says, “In everything give thanks,” not after everything, but in everything, for this is the will of God concerning you. That was a good day for me—just accepting it. Things are going to be different. Sometimes you just accept that God’s doing something here. I don’t like it, I can’t make sense of it all, but I’m going to trust him.

John the Revelator was exiled out on the Isle of Patmos and put out there to die. They tortured him. They had a big old huge pot of cooking oil. You know, when you’re cooking fried chicken, you need that hot oil. That’s what was boiling like that, and they put his whole body in there. They took him out there on that isle and left him out in the rain. They thought he was going to die out there. You talk about a problem. Yet when he was out there on the isle, he said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” and God said, “Hey, John the Revelator, while you’re out here on this island, you’re going to pen the book of Revelation.” I know who’s going to win because I read the last chapter of the book. The last chapter of the book was written by a man going through a major problem. God’s got a reason. Don’t set your mind. Don’t get so caught up.

Sometimes that reason is to get you to trust Jesus as your Savior. I think about a dear friend, a good man. I loved him. We had known each other for years, and we had somewhat worked together. But when I tried to witness to him, he just wouldn’t hear me out. Good man, moral man, but morals don’t take you to heaven; Jesus takes it. I never could finish the gospel with him, and he had a stroke, just a slight stroke. After the stroke, he would let me. He lived close to me, and he would let me. He didn’t want to use his chainsaw anymore, so I would do the chainsaw work for him because he was a little limited after the stroke. I tried to witness to him; I could talk to him a little bit more, but he wouldn’t let me go all the way. Then, maybe a year later, he had a major stroke. Major. He never really had use of his left side of his body after that. Never got out of facilities after that. But I went to the hospital, and I went in his room. It was so sad. Side of his face couldn’t move, so he couldn’t talk real clear. But I went to give him the gospel. Man, he was so ready to hear it. He wanted to hear all of it. Came time to draw the net. You want to put all your faith in Jesus. We’re all sinners. Penalty for sins is death and hell. Jesus died to pay for that penalty. He’ll give you heaven as a gift if you put all your faith and receive Jesus as your personal Savior. He was ready. He’s now been in heaven maybe for two, three, four years. I’m not always good about time. But that problem got him to get saved. He’ll be in heaven for all eternity. You say it was so sad he had a stroke, but I’d rather have that problem of a stroke and go to heaven for all eternity than burn in hell for all eternity.

If you’re not a born-again Christian, you don’t know for sure you’re saved—the most important part is he’s trying to get you to that point where your path intersects with Jesus Christ, and you accept him as your only way to heaven. By the way, it’s more than knowing about Jesus. More than believing there was a Jesus is believing on Him, calling on Him, trusting in Him to pay for your sins and be your Savior—the day when you’re truly born again, born from above.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Heads bowed and eyes closed. You’re here this morning. You said, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart somewhere along the line. God spoke to my heart about these problems, and God is trying to grow me. He’s working to get me to a certain place.” God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you this morning. You lift your hand. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart about that.” God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, me too. Me too. All of you. God’s doing his work, and we know that all things work together for good to them to love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Good. God bless you.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I feel like I just need to accept it. I prayed, I’ll trust the Lord. I believe he’s kind of spoke to my heart. This is his will for my life. When I don’t like it, I’m not accepting it. I’ve resisted. I’m just going to accept it. This is God’s will for my life. I’m going to accept it. I believe God, this is what God wants for me. God’s doing this. He’s got a reason. I’m going to accept it this morning.” God’s working on my heart about just accepting it. If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand up, just lift it up. God bless you. God bless. That’s key. That’s key. Oh, that’s so very, very important. Thank you for your act of faith, trusting the Lord. He’s pleased with that. He’s pleased with that. What a good thing.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I want to ask the Lord, help me to learn and grow and get what I’m supposed to learn and grow out of it. I mean, I want to get, I don’t want to go through it, not pass the test, not get one.” God spoke to my heart about that. I want to learn and get and grow what I’m supposed to get out. That’s me. Just lift your head in, and that’s me. God bless you. God bless you. I’m with you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s what it means when he says, “Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.” Why? Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. He’s trying to grow you to be mature, perfect and entire, wanting nothing. That’s his plan.

One more question. You said, “Preacher, I’m not saved. I need to get saved.” Maybe the problems, God trying to get you to the point, I need to settle this thing. We would love to be a help to you. If you’re not sure you’re settled, if you don’t know for sure you’re going to heaven, we want to be a help to you. If that’s you this morning, I would love to pray for you. If you’re not sure you’re going to heaven, if that’s you, would you give me the privilege just praying for you? Anybody like that? Would you slip your hand up? Just slip it up. “I’m not sure heaven’s my home.” Just slip it up, anybody. I don’t see any hands. By the way, if you’re not sure, we would love to help. You ask me, or maybe a person from church would be glad to help. I didn’t see any hands.

Hey, Christians, let’s go to him today. So, Lord, help me not to set my mind on the problem. Help me keep my mind stayed on you. I’m going to accept it. I’m going to grow, get what I’m supposed to get out of it. Would you please stand and have order of prayer? You’d be obedient. If God wants you to come to an altar, you do that. Whatever God wants you, just be obedient to him. Would you do that? Father, Lord, we come to you. Thank you, Lord. You’re big enough, loving enough for us to trust you with all our problems. Please give us boldness just to come and trust you during these few minutes. We thank you, Lord, for what you do. Jesus, then we pray. Amen.

God’s tugging at you, but you come, just spend some time. You’ll be obedient to whatever he’d have you to do. Tell him, “Lord, I’m going to trust you. Help me.” Oh, for grace to trust you more, the song says. Spend some time with him. I’m going to accept it. Not saying I like it, Lord, but I’m going to accept it. Let him know that. He’s pleased with that. All right, Lord, I’m not going to fight you on this anymore. I’m going to accept it. I want to grow. Help me to learn and get what I’m supposed to learn and get. Spend some time to tell him that. Maybe there’s a part of your heart that’s just, “I can’t let go of it.” Tell him that. Let him open up; pour out your heart before the Lord. I know about that.

This is Doris, and Doris has been coming. Her daughter brings her, and I appreciate that. Angel brings her, and it’s a blessing. They both come. Doris, she’s been saved, been baptized, and she’s been talking about this for a while. She wants to be a member of the church, and she’s just got a heart for the Lord and she wants to be involved right in the middle of everything. We’re going to get her involved for sure. If you’re for Doris coming and joining this morning, would you say amen to that? And praise the Lord for that. I appreciate Angel, her daughter, bringing her to church. What a blessing.

We’re going to pray and be dismissed, but we want to come by. Angel, do you think Doris can stand here? Okay, good deal. Doris, can we get you up here? We’re going to get you standing up front here. I want you to come by and welcome her to the church. Angel, if you think you need to stand with her, you’re welcome to do that. But I can’t remember which way we went last time. This way last time. So we’re going this way this time, and that way we don’t have any roadblocks right here. No streetlights right there. So we’ll come by this side. Just let her know you love her, you’ll be praying for her, and we’re honored to have her in the church. She’s been involved in some good churches over the years, and she says, “I want to be involved at a good church, a member.” Praise the Lord for that. We’re so thankful, glad to have Doris being a member of the church. What a blessing that is today. Thank you for being in God’s house. Don’t let those—keep your mind on the Lord in the middle of all those problems. He’s doing something, and let’s just do our best to keep our focus on him in the middle of all those problems. Praise the Lord for the Cooks. Brother Mike Cook, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer, please, brother?

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂God using problems in your life to make him King＂- Sunday AM 06⧸22⧸2025 [XrCCCudPdZQ]