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  A TIME, TO EVERY PURPOSE, UNDER THE HEAVEN
  by Keith Daniel
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Summary: This sermon delves into Ecclesiastes 3, emphasizing the
changing seasons and values in life, reflecting on the story of Granny
Frances Jones and a man named David Miller. It highlights the importance
of surrendering to God's plan, even in times of tragedy and unexpected
challenges, to realign our priorities with eternal values. The message
urges listeners to seek God's grace in times of silence, forgiveness,
and making peace, illustrating the transformative power of God's love
and grace in the midst of trials and tribulations.

Topics: "Seasons of Life", "Surrendering to God's Plan"
Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 3:1, Deuteronomy 32:39, Hebrews 12:11, 1 Peter 2:19, Proverbs 15:23, Proverbs 13:3, Matthew 5:9, Psalms 46:10, Romans 12:18, Psalms 46:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon delves into Ecclesiastes 3, emphasizing the changing seasons
and values in life, reflecting on the story of Granny Frances Jones and
a man named David Miller. It highlights the importance of surrendering
to God's plan, even in times of tragedy and unexpected challenges, to
realign our priorities with eternal values. The message urges listeners
to seek God's grace in times of silence, forgiveness, and making peace,
illustrating the transformative power of God's love and grace in the
midst of trials and tribulations.

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CONTENT
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Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1, we read, to everything there is a season and a
time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to
kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a
time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a
time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to
embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time
to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend, a time
to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a
time, a time of war and a time of peace. Now in this sobering passage of
God's word we see how radically our values change in life, every one of
us, we see how radically our values change, our priorities, our goals,
they change over time, often to the exact opposite direction to what we
would have done or embraced or pursued in our younger days and more
immature days. My wife, her grandmother was a very godly woman, I think
the godliest person in her entire community, acknowledged by all without
hesitation, her name was Granny Frances Jones.

When she was a young woman she married a farmer in the great Gamtus
valley of southern Africa, semi-desert where nothing survives, but in
this irrigation valley the farms were so incredibly fruitful because of
this amazing river called the Gamtus river. Its size is
uncomprehendable, there are books written about it in the country's
history, the taming of the Gamtus because of the great floods that would
come down in the early days, hundreds washed to death, wiped away. One
night Jenny's granny, her mother's mother, Granny Frances woke up
because of a trembling of the earth, like a rumble and the lights were
all off, there was no light, it was totally dark and it was really dark
and she quickly cried out to the children and her daughters and her
began to wade through the waters, it just was rising up at such a pace
as this river had come down with no warning, this is the rivers of
Africa, the catchment areas if there's falls that were not expected that
just somehow the different elements bring about, within hours there can
be the devastating floods that really are beyond comprehension.

I stood and looked at that river when it washed away the mighty bridges
that engineers from overseas and the best in the world were confounded
as the river just wiped away these massive steel structures and concrete
structures, the taming of the Gamtus river, the contradiction to what it
did when they thought they tamed it by the dams all the way up, there's
no taming that river, but that mother grabbed her daughters and
prayerfully crying to God as the waters just rose, she held on to them,
they're hanging on to her, she waded somehow through and found herself
able to climb up on rocks in the dark in the side of the valley to a
cliff where there was a cave, I've seen that cave and somehow she got
her children there and they sat through the night until the daybreak and
saw the devastation, over 400 people that night had been killed, died,
perished through that unexpected flood that she lived with her daughter.
Now the years went by and one day her daughters, Jenny's mommy and her
auntie Daphne said to their mother, mother why don't you renovate the
house, it's really needing to be maintained, it really does need it and
let's do it, let's break this down and this whole section can be just
developed to something, let's redo the place and oh they gave her the
idea and they would stand with her and work with her and she kept silent
for a while and then looked up and said no, no I won't do that, all that
was taken out of my heart forever in the flood, moments of tragedy,
moments that wound us and leave a scar on us, our values are forever
changed, forever changed but never can be restored to what we would have
perhaps pursued till our dying day, diligence, material things, I've
seen that in many, many, many people's lives and it was in her life, she
was not a morbid person, she didn't sit there with nothing to do but her
life was spent serving God in the most wonderful way, no interest, no in
things that had no eternal value, somehow the flood took all that out of
me forever, there's a man up in Milbank in South Dakota, I don't believe
he lives there anymore but for a number of years he would fetch me at
the airport, the closest airport about an hour or two hours away where
the larger planes come in and I always found it a joy that this godly
man, David Miller, he would meet me and we would drive in the car and he
was such a joy to be with, year after year, he was basically the leading
force for God in that town, he was a businessman and a very prosperous
businessman, he had his pulse on the business and he employed enormous
amount of Christian men and ministered to them, oh they prayed in the
day, they spent time, they had preachers there in the mornings before
they, and I used to go there and speak to the marshal and of course
speak in the church which he basically built, it was a massive building,
it cost what is worth valued at a few million dollars, what a wonderful
man, an achiever, a force for God, but one day I arrived in that airport
and there was no one there to meet me and that was strange, so I
lingered a while and I walked outside and I thought this is the first
time no one was here to meet me, as I looked across the parking areas of
the cars there was a man in his frailty with a stick walking in the most
strange ways, dragging his one leg and he smiled, but he had so changed
physically in one year, I think it was a two-year gap, but I could
hardly believe that this was the same man that I once saw, a strong man,
he had a massive stroke, now no one had told me and when he began to
tell me in the vehicle which they had redone so that his one leg could
do everything with the pedals and the brakes, I said to him, oh brother,
I'm so sorry, what a terrible checkmate and what a terrible cross for
you to bear, but he smiled gently at me and said, no brother, I'm not
sorry, I'm grateful to God that he did this to me, oh brother, I have
been pursuing things, devoting myself to so much that was temporal and
had no eternal value and I thought that was the way things were and
that's how God wanted me to be, but God had to do something radical to
genuinely stop me or I would never have stopped, I found out that the
world does carry on without me and I didn't think it could
subconsciously in my world, I can't work, I can't be of any use there,
I've given everything over in responsibilities and strangely enough,
brother, it's functioning perfectly without me, I just happen to pop in
and talk a bit and, but I marvel, but brother, I'm giving myself to
things that I needed to do long ago in my life, but I withheld myself, I
was diverted, I subconsciously knew I was burying life's opportunity and
not redeeming the time for eternal things, but brother, now I'm devoting
my entire life to things that have eternal value and I've never been
more happy in my life, more fulfilled, oh, I thank God he did this to
me, I would never have listened, I would never have stopped, that is a
strange concept to an unsaved person who's never read through the Bible,
the set workbook in the school of God, I once said to the young man
whose father had great wealth, it was not so long ago, he was probably
one of the wealthiest men in our land and we have 10 of the richest,
wealthiest men on earth, of the 25 richest, wealthiest men on earth
living in South Africa, now his father was of great wealth and this boy
was brought up with great prevalence that few knew in our land, who
could even dream, and he shared when they asked him to share his
testimony with me when I was introduced to him in his business, this is
one man who owns the companies, a very godly man and I have time with
him whenever I'm in that area, but this young fellow in a very gracious
and godly way shared with such humility but such reality of how every
single thing his father had in life without exception, they didn't even
allow him to take his furniture, there was nothing of personal value or
sentimental value, he was on the street with nothing, have you ever
thought of that, from a millionaire in one, it wasn't only Job who in
one day had seen Belos, one after the other, where is it going to stop,
one day Job had nothing, health, no health, agony, suffering, no wealth,
nothing was left, no respect even from his wife, because of the concept
that we have today called prosperity picture, which is trash,
nonetheless this boy shared these staggering words to me, sir, I am so
grateful God did that to my daddy, my father was a very religious man in
the evangelical world, he had a testimony, he was religious but there
was nothing of any reality in his life and I knew that, it influenced me
greatly, didn't worry me, his God was money and I saw my father thrown
down on his face in this world, left with nothing in one moment, through
some fraudulency that was really very evil considering who did it to
him, we won't go into that, but my father at that moment began to seek
God in a way that few people will ever seek God, he sought God with such
desperation for survival, mentally, let alone materially, he found a
walk with God that literally shook me as a young boy, a young man, and
he said I would have grown up a spoiled brat, that's all I was, I had
everything just thrown and I would have till the day I died, just
everything thrown as I thought of it, let alone us, I was just a totally
spoiled brat and I would have been that, had God not intervened, but I
was left with daddy with nothing and all my values changed and I started
to appreciate every little thing and thank God from my heart for every
mercy and I found God as my savior in truth, though I had a testimony
that had nothing of reality in it, because that was the dumb thing in
our church, but I didn't know God in truth. In the broader picture of
life, and that's the only way you dare to look or you go mental as a
Christian, in the broader picture of every single thing that comes in
your life, without exception, we will eventually become aware that God's
hand was in it, it might not have been God who initiated it, so much as
the devil who is there and he's a terrible enemy, I will never undermine
that fact according to the Bible, he's a roaring lion walking about
seeking whom he may devour, don't tell me he can't, if God warns us that
he can, and if he knows he can, I've seen that, but that's when we take
our eyes off God and refuse to see what God had in mind and allowing,
sent by the devil much but allowed by God, or the devil wouldn't,
there's not such a thing as God losing control, till the day you die, no
matter what comes on you, listen young man, listen old lady, your
darkest moment, your darkest moment you will ever know in life if you're
saved, God is doing his greatest work, don't destroy it now, don't ruin
the blueprint of the plan of God in the broader picture of life and
allowing things sent by the devil to destroy you, yes, but allowed by
God to make you in this brief moment called life, which by the way is so
brief, it's frightening, you think you've just started and suddenly it's
ended, it's gone, I warn you, I can't believe it's 47 years ago I gave
my heart to Christ, it was like yesterday to me, I find it hard every
day when I'm praying to actually really accept so much has flown and I'm
66 years old, it was like a moment, but in this crash course that God
has to take us through, he's not interested in giving you heaven on
earth, rather heaven's coming, but in this world he shall have
tribulation, that means total onslaught, literally total onslaught from
Satan, but God allows it, but he doesn't deny himself and lose control
when he promises that all things work together for good, that spiritual
good, to them that love God, to them that are called according to his
purpose, God allows so much, but don't ever doubt it, he's in total
control, not the devil, we read in verse 3 of a time to kill and a time
to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up, then Deuteronomy 32
verse 39, God declared, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal,
don't blame the devil for everything, but God allows because of the
broader picture of what he knows, is what he wants to be revealed in
your life, in this crash course he has to put us through, beloved, there
were times in my life that God in love, perfect love, toward me needed
to wound me, or I would have been in poverty spiritually for the rest of
my life, and the sorrow caused me to experience a time to weep, a time
to mourn, Peter wrote of times wherein he greatly rejoiced, though now
for a season, if need be, beyond heaviness, through manifold
temptations, the word is literally suffering, in these times I had to
learn to cast away stones that I valued, to learn to gather other
stones, as my values swiftly changed, swiftly changed, the apostle Paul
of course testified of these times in 2 Corinthians 5, 12, where he
realized that it was Satan who sent his messenger to buffet me, to
literally stagger me, that I lose balance, I'm unable to stand, then he
sought God thrice, the Bible says, not just three little prayers, he
stopped life in desperation, for God to take this away, was keeping him,
and hindering him, and handicapping him, but God said in amazing words,
no, my grace is sufficient for thee, for in weakness my strength is made
perfect, you see, you will find God casting things upon you, until you
are utterly cast on grace for survival, and that's what God wants, young
man, don't you dare think God's unjust, to bring about things until you
find that all your confidence in yourself, and your abilities, your
ambitions, and all your zeal is going to do, you find yourself cast on
God's grace to survive, there's been times I've been at it, he cast on
his grace to take one step again, nearly not survive, I needed grace,
and I looked to him for grace to actually take another step spiritually,
and Paul went through these times, before I was afflicted, I went
astray, David cried, but now have I kept thy word, Psalm 119, verse 16,
in 2 Chronicles 33, verse 12, we read of how God dealt with the wicked
Manasseh, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, his God,
humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, prayed unto him,
and was entreated of him, 2 Chronicles 33, verse 17, says now the rest
of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer, you see God singled out this
moment, to put in his records, his prayer unto God, all of all his sin,
before he was humbled, but take comfort now, beloved, Ecclesiastes 3,
verse 31, says that the Lord will not cast off forever, though he cause
grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the multitude of his
mercies, etc., all his promises, God knows the time, now I must heal,
now I must wound, but don't doubt it, there will be the time he will
heal you, don't doubt that, you see there are, there is a time to kill,
but there's always a time in God's plan and curriculum in the school of
God to heal, there is a time to kill, and a time to heal, in Deuteronomy
32, 39, God declared, I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal, in
Hebrews 12, verse 11, we read, now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous, that's when we weep and mourn, nevertheless,
oft to it, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that
are exercised thereby, James chapter 1, verse 2, my brethren, count it
all joy, when you fall into diverse temptations, now that word means
sufferings, bordering on trials, but literally sufferings, closest to
suffering, count it joy, knowing this, that the trying of your faith,
work with patience, let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing, there's a time to break down,
there's a time to build up, God says, the times of breaking down,
wounding, we weep, but there's times we laugh, and have great joy, when
God heals us, and he sent forth his word, and healed them, Psalm 117,
verse 20, he always will, in the right time though, but never premature,
to what he's seeking, to do in your life, if you let him, but perhaps
tonight, is a time for you to reflect, every one of you, even young
people, that is very, very healthy, and very foolish not to, sober
reflection, is vital in a Christian's life, continually, is my goal, God
himself, is my goal, does it have eternal values, or am I pursuing my
own goals, do I aim at eternal values, or temporal, in my pursuit of
life, my jealousness and pursuit, be careful here now, we must be
terribly careful, when we listen to God's word, there is a time, a
designated time, by God's grace, mercifully given to me and you, this
passage, I believe is a fearful warning, that I dare not lose, or grasp,
seize that moment, to allow God to fulfill his plan, while we are still
able, to build on eternal values, and to gather stones together brother,
be careful, don't fight against God, don't bury the moment, there's a
time in life, when we must prayerfully, and by God's grace, cast away
things, that have no turn of value, don't hold on to things, don't hold
on to people, to friends, young people, that you will destroy the
blueprint of God in your life, if you do, and don't cast them away, put
them out, don't hold on to things, put aside these things, that have no
eternal value, and will destroy, any chance of you, being devoted to the
pursuit of holiness, and to walk with God, Isaiah 52 verse 2, wherefore
do you spend money, for that which is not bread, and you labor for that
which satisfies not, a Christian won't be satisfied with any
achievement, materially, you might think you were, but every single
thing falls down, according to Ecclesiastes, into vanity, waste, waste,
times in my life, they didn't bring fulfillment, they weren't the
things, I as a Christian should have been pursuing, this passage is
clearly a call, for us to dedicate ourselves, to devote ourselves, to
things of eternal values, while the evil days come not, nor the years
draw nigh, when I say, I have no pleasure in them, and all the things I
did, I wasted, and suddenly I find my life gone, and I look back on a
life spent, on things that had nothing of eternal pursuit, I destroyed
the blueprint of God, for my life, we must need change, to seek
Christian maturity, with all our heart, when I was a child, I thought as
a child, I spake as a child, I understood, when I became a man, I put
away child things, let maturity come, that can, and will, and you change
your values, change your goals, your priorities, your friends, to be
able to walk with God, rather than look back with friends, that forsook
you anyway, and you wasted your life, pursuing their values, to keep
them, in the school of God, we need, to seek grace, to be doers of the
word, this book is the only set work book, we have in the school of God,
and every one of you, the moment you're saved, are in school, God's
school, and this is a set, you don't read it, you read it, you learn,
and you face the exams, and they're terrible exams, in this war against
the saints, from Satan, and his demonic powers, and his evil people,
that are set to destroy you, but in the school of God, we need, to seek
for grace, to be doers of the word, there's a time to keep silence, in
these times, when men rise up, sent by the devil, instigated by the
devil, and men rise up to destroy me, and they will, you're not going to
escape that, as a Christian, if you go through with God, but you've got
to learn from the set work book, that this is a time to keep silence, in
the light of the rest of the scriptures, you read there in Isaiah 53,
that the Lord opened not his mouth, he brought his lamb to the
slaughter, as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth, I don't know how many times, you might think being a preacher,
you're protected in a little wonderful padded box, you know, I don't
know, I honestly begin to wonder, if we haven't been given 10 times,
maybe 100 times more to face in life, than those we preach to, because
how can you weep with them that weep, how can you comfort them with it,
any comfort that's meaningful with it, unless it's the comfort we're
with you are comforted, how can this book become not doctrine, but vital
reality of survival, and hope, which you can give in a meaningful way,
the great Spurgeon, says if it wasn't for the fires, if it wasn't for
the trials, if it wasn't for the sorrows, the suffering, the tragedy,
that I have faced, I would be in poverty, in the purport of God, I would
be in poverty as a preacher, no wonder he suffered like he did, he
became the prince of all preachers, he opened his mouth, God says that
to me again and again, leave the fighting to God, now I have verses,
that the sovereign God, whenever men rose up to destroy me, God made me
be reading exactly what I should be, now that happens not when you
suddenly need God, or you don't really cheat God daily, but only when
the world falls apart, you can get wrong promises then, but I tell you,
you're seeking God consistently, you're real, this sovereign God is so
in control that he has you reading in a way that he can speak literally
to your heart, that you know this can't just be, and the only thing you
do, all you can hear is what God says to you, and it's always to leave
the fighting to me, say to yourself, stand still, the battle is the
Lord's, you know the greatest victories I've ever had in Christianity,
if I really have to reflect, but when I sought God for the grace to keep
quiet, and not defend myself, no matter how obnoxious and cruel and
unjust men were toward me, I suppose the greatest sorrows and griefs I
have in my Christian experience, if I have to be utterly honest and I've
reflected, and when I didn't seek God for the grace to keep quiet, when
I spoke, I'm so ashamed and saddened at the memory of those moments, I
remember a man screaming at me one day, oh my, have you ever been
screamed at with such venom and hatred, and I just cried, oh God said to
watch upon my mouth, keep the doors of my lips, in my heart I just cried
as so many people were watching me, while this man, a very influential
man, I didn't know but in a few minutes he would fall down dead, if I
had fought back, defended myself, I would have just been the same as
him, you see there's a unique grace in the power of silence, the enemy
always comes like a roaring lion, threatening, he always comes with
noise, he wants to scare us, the way to scare him is just to keep quiet,
seek God for the grace to not fight back, I have had whole rooms filled
with preachers, standing in utter devastation and utter respect, when I
just sat silent, most battles in the war against your life as a
Christian are won by doing nothing, by keeping silent, and seeking God
for the grace to which he always will give you, in his holy obligation,
and you want to fulfil his word and commandments, to keep silence, and
men would destroy you, that's not always easy, it takes God's grace,
uncomprehendable grace at times, but it always is given, a man hath joy
by the answer of his mouth, God says in Proverbs 15 verse 23, why would
God say that? In the light of the rest of the scriptures, which is the
only way you can ever understand any verse in the Bible, that's why it's
essential to get through the Bible again and again, and compare
scripture with scripture, more and more, the man hath joy, for the joy
of the Lord is your strength, strength God says, the Holy Spirit dwells
in us, and it is his joy, God's joy in us when we have victory here, a
man hath joy by the answer that when you have victory here, God's joy in
you floods you with joy, joy unspeakable, but when you have grief in
your heart is when you fail, it's God's grief not yours, he's in you,
grief not the spirit of God, oh a man hath joy by the answer of his
mouth, he that refraineth his lips is wise, he that keepeth his mouth
keepeth his life, Proverbs 13 verse 3, Proverbs 21, 23, who shall
keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble, open it
and watch how the trouble escalate, but a sharp answer turneth away
wrath, he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his
tongue from evil, his lips that they speak, no guile, beloved, we must
need to learn that there's a time to keep silence, it takes special
grace not to open your mouth, but negative words about people who are
set on destroying you, on catching you with your words, on destroying
your testimony, your name, your honor, your credibility, your ministry,
and I have lost check of how many the devil sent, but no one hurt me,
closest they did ever come to be able to is when I opened my mouth, it
fools you, we have to learn for grace to keep silence, we cry out to God
to fulfill the word, live it, love, suffer it, long and as kind God
says, do you seek God for grace when you suffer, not just for a minute
but long, do you seek God's grace to be kind, if they see in your eyes
it's not hypocritical, love your enemies God says, that's not a cruel
request, whatever he asks of you he will give you the grace if you want
to fulfill it, so if you don't love your enemies you haven't asked God
for grace, if you don't have a never will, but when you ask him from the
depth of your soul he'll give it to you, the grace to love your enemies,
to bless them that curse you, to do good to them that hate you, to pray
for you, which is spitefully unusual, you see 1 Peter 2 19 spoke of
Christ who leaving us an example that he should follow his steps, who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, when he was reviled,
reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judges righteously, just do that, the heap cold and
fire upon the enemy, if you yourself fulfill God's word and he doesn't
depend, the Lord will fight for you if you will be quiet, I have a
friend for many years now one of the godliest men on earth, I have no
doubt of that, he's such a dear brother to me, he was in the wrong place
in the wrong time, when I first met him I knew him for about two years
maybe, deeply impressed with his young heart and his pursuit for God,
but he happened to just be in a spot the devil orchestrated, where he
was taken by the police to jail, charged with murder, can that happen to
a godly person, oh yeah, we have a terrible enemy, a terrible enemy,
don't ever underestimate him, or play the fool with him, don't give him
any occasion, where he can really hurt you, and you can protect yourself
from most things that he sets up, as dangerous and prohibited territory
to be in as a Christian, even with prohibited people, that could really
destroy you, be careful, this man in innocence and ignorance of
circumstances that were being created by the devil, as the devil saw him
coming, don't doubt that, you've got a lot of people he controlled, many
are demonic, now don't go paranoid and think people are demonic
everywhere, that's rubbish, but people are evil and controlled and
manipulated by the devil, they're so evil, and so given over to the
pursuit of sin, that nothing of God is in them, and the devil uses them
to orchestrate them, to be there, to wear out the saints in your work,
in your school, do you think they honestly just happen to be there by
mistake, there's a war between God and the devil for you, and it really
begins intensely when you get saved, not before, until the day you die,
this man was escorted to jail, that he knew how godly he is, you would
shudder, at such a terrible thing being done to such a good man, there
were people behind it, it all came out in the end, so much of it was
beyond belief, that people could be so evil, to try and orchestrate that
someone else was blamed, what their motives were was really bad, but
this man had one phone call to make, so he phoned me, I'm in jail, I
have been accused of murdering a man, I was trying to visit, about to
visit, they put his wife three weeks away from having a baby in the
jail, and our jails are not comfortable in Africa, I wept and groaned
before God, and prayed for wisdom, I phoned a lawyer, advocate, which
I've since heard is probably the best in southern Africa, born again
Christian, now this lawyer went to the jail, and with the knowledge of
the law, angrily, angrily, with absolute indignation, shouting and
anger, indignation at the wrong that these police had done, the lawyer
said to me, she staggered, as this godly young man stood up, looking at
her with shock, and he touched the policeman, and said, oh no, don't
worry, you're only doing your job, you're doing what you think is right,
and that lawyer said these words, I have dealt with many, many people
who profess Christianity, most of them I've been shattered, by their
integrity and truth, this man, was utterly Christlike, not once did he
raise his voice, not once was there anger in his eyes, it was love,
gentleness, suffer it long in his kind, you see, he wasn't a hearer of
the word, he was a doer, doer, are you, are you, of course, this
advocate, a court case, a judge, who I know, he's also a Christian, high
court judge in southern Africa there, he threw it out in disgust at the
atrocity of this group, And by the by, every single one of those people
in the police force and out have died in the most terrifying ways, and
sicknesses, and tragedies, without exception.

John then loses mind, God says, don't doubt that, but leave it to him,
leave it to him. I sat with this young man the other day, he's not young
anymore, but oh my, I spoke to him about this and asked permission if I
could use what I know of what happened, and then I was speaking to him,
he said words that, I stay close to God in my crisis, brother Mickey,
and trust his word only, I will eventually become conscious of his voice
to my heart. And in my crisis, and that is the injustice that they
showed me, I became willing to die to self.

God was asking that of me, a total surrender, he suddenly made the death
of Christ, his identification in his death real, but don't stay there, I
must not stay in the grave, I must allow the crisis of God, I must, in
the crisis allow God to take me into resurrection life, in every crisis,
there must be death to self, by the grace of God. But a resurrection
from that death, to know the power of this resurrection, this is when I
will find God's grace to be able to love my enemies, to be able to bless
them in truth, those that persecute me, treat me wrongly. And that
lawyer was on the phone to me, just the other day, before I left, and
said, I never saw a more Christ-like man in my entire life, and when
everything comes against you, when people know how Christ-like you are,
never before.

There's a time to keep silence under God, don't cry out to the Lord
words that could be sin, grief, and we send fire, cold under the lies of
the dead, to consume these evil people, oh, you know what not spirit you
are. God had to close his eyes to times when there was ignorance, and
the Holy Spirit was not poured out to give such grace. But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, the evidence is a spontaneous reaction with love.

1 Corinthians 13 is not attained by effort, it is a reaction as a
consequence of dedication, being controlled, the evidence that you're
controlled by God the Holy Ghost, is that you react spontaneously
without any effort of your own. This is Christianity in ultimate
essence, not our efforts, I've not come to destroy the law or the
prophets, but to fulfill, how does he do that? To the degree you yield
it to him, he fulfills it through you, you can't do it yourself, the
Holy Spirit in you, the fruit, the evidence, the Holy Spirit's in you,
controlling you, to the degree you yield it to him. He reveals Christ,
leading us in example, who did no sin, neither was guiled, who when he
was reviled, reviled not again.

He doesn't say, do that in your own strength, he's trying to imitate me.
That's attainable by ultimate dying to self, and rising up by the risen
power of Christ in you to love, God loving through you, living his life
out through you. You're not conformed into the image of Christ with a
chisel outwardly, but to the degree he lives his life out through you,
Christ is seen.

There will be in your life, no matter who you are in this building, a
time of war, but God looks to us and expects us to grasp the time to
make peace. Brother, sister, has the time not come in your life to
forgive? Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the children
of God. Oh brother, you will be called the child of God in truth and in
a meaningful way by anybody until they see things that make them say,
that's Christianity, that's Christ.

You have to learn, brother, sister, to grasp the time of peace and be
reconciled or you die in battle. Don't pass the time limit, the season
God will give you. Whilst thou art in the way with him is a terrifying
warning because in three minutes, Keith, he's dead and you will never
ever have another opportunity in eternity to live peaceably with all men
by any means, to make peace toward all men no matter what they do to
you.

Grasp the time, no matter what wars have been against you. Is that time
not there? Joseph said in his experiential knowledge, they meant it for
evil but God meant it for good. Throughout life, no matter what wrongs
and injustices come upon you, we must always look at the broader picture
that God sees, why God's allowing the evils, the wrongs, the wounds.

Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of
grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide.

In every chain, be faithful, will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has
the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake. All now
mysterious shall be bright.

At last, be still, my soul. The waves and winds still know his voice,
who ruled them while he dwelt below. Be still, my soul.

The hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord. When
disappointment, grief, and fear are gone. When sorrow, forgot, love's
purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul, when change and tears are part. All safe and blessed
he shall meet. Brace yourself.

I guarantee not one of you didn't need to listen right or you wouldn't
be here. Can we stand here? Can we bow and pray, please? Our Father,
forgive us where we take our eyes off thee. We miss the God for our
lives.

If you don't realize each given time is there for us to grasp or lose
all the opportunities that God could have made us into something that
would stagger the powers of hell eventually. Forgive us where we took
our eyes off thee and did not learn from this passage alone, let alone
all the scriptures relating to it. The time to be born, the time to die,
and in between every single aspect we've considered tonight.

Every one of us will face. And we will grasp the moment, we'll lose it,
and find second best in God's plan and hopes for our life. So give us
the grace to leave the building and to face life with these words
echoing in our hearts as we meditate them again and again in the light
of all the scriptures as we face these circumstances.

And every one of us will, even children won't escape. Help us by the
grace of God to be doers of the word of God and not hearers only tonight
concerning this passage in Jesus the Christ's name. The name we love,
the name we live for, the name we would gladly die for.

We ask these things of Thee, our Heavenly Father, in all of our hearts,
in souls and body, for His holy sake.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/n6bv2-zjVn8.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-daniel/a-time-to-every-purpose-under-the-heaven/
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