Ron Dunn Podcast - Our Walkthrough The Valley

Episode Date: December 29, 2021

Ron Dunn continues the series "Strange Ministers"

Well, I can see by the crowd that you all expected me to sing tonight, but I will not do that. I just returned from Anchorage, Alaska, and my feet are not thawed out yet. It was 30 below when we got there, but I called my wife the other night and I said they're praying that we'll have about three feet of snow to warm things up. And we did.

We had a heat wave. It got up to zero one day. So I'm just now beginning to fall out. I first of all want to thank Oscar for relinquishing the pulpit tonight. I thank him for the opportunity to share what I want to share with you tonight. I appreciate his sensitivity and graciousness. This is the first time I've ever just come out and asked somebody if I could preach. It's a new experience for me, but I appreciate it, Oscar. Thank you very much. And Oscar has come to mean, has always been a great deal, but he has come to mean so much more

to us personally since he has come to be interim, and I thank the Lord for him. But as I said, I've never before asked anybody if I could preach, and would you step aside and let me preach. And I prayed much about this before I did it. But as I was flying to Anchorage last Friday night, a week ago Friday night, Saturday night it was rather, the Lord was just so real. Jack Taylor and I were flying up together. We had been in Kansas City. I went up Friday night. Kay went with me Friday night and I preached Friday night. She flew back here Saturday and we flew on to Anchorage. And the Lord was so real in blessing and ministering it was just so tremendous. Jack said they could have turned off the engines and we could have flown them all in. But it was during that flight that God began to just overwhelm me with a compelling desire to stand here before you and to share.

I wanted to do this, and I went to the extent of asking Oscar if he wouldn't mind if I spoke tonight for three reasons. First of all, because I think you folks have a right to hear a report. Many of you, most of you, have known us. We've known you, and you've been a part of our lives, and you've been a partner with us in all of this. And it would be impossible for us to be able to share with you what your love and concern in the past years has meant to us. Many a time I stood in this place trying to preach with wounds that some of you knew about, and I was always conscious of your prayers. And you've been so faithful and so understanding and so loving.

I felt like you as a part of our family had a right to the report. I would not want to do this in any other church because it wouldn't mean as much to them and it wouldn't mean nearly as much to me. So I'm doing this not just for your sakes, but I'm doing it for mine. It's something I want to do. And by the way, let me say that I'll be using the personal pronoun I and me, but when I say that I mean we and us, because the testimony I want to give tonight is not mine alone.

It's the testimony of Kay's and Steve's and Kim's. But I can't break the old preacher habit, and so I'll be saying I and me, but you know who I mean. I speak tonight for all of us. Another reason I felt compelled to share this is in the hope that somebody else might be comforted with the same comfort

wherewith we have been comforted of the Lord. That's a passage from 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I read that this afternoon in the New English Bible, and I want to share it with you. It's a tremendous passage. This is not the text, this is just an introduction. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 4 and following. Paul says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the all-merciful Father, the God whose consolation never fails us. He comforts us in all our troubles, so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs, and to share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God. As Christ's cup of suffering overflows and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows. If distress be our lot, it is the price we pay for your consolation, for your salvation. If our lot be consolation, it is to help us to bring you comfort and strength to face with fortitude the

same sufferings we now endure. And so the second reason I just felt compelled to share this was praying that God would comfort you with the comfort that we have received. But the third reason is the greatest, it's the main reason. Tonight we want to give testimony to the goodness of our God and the sufficiency of his grace. And this is my text. Remember when Paul was languishing in that Roman prisoner, his future uncertain? He wrote this to that church. He said in the first chapter of Philippians, For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation through your prayers and the provision

of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." That text has ministered to me greatly in the past two weeks. For I know that this, whatever your this is, I know what my this has been. Paul says, For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation. The salvation he refers here does not mean the initial act of salvation, for Paul was already saved. Nor does it mean his deliverance from prison, because he goes on to say a few verses following that he's uncertain about that situation. He thinks he may well die. But yet he says,

for I know, and he uses a word that means to know with certainty, I know that this shall turn out to my salvation. I think here the word salvation indicates spiritual welfare, our well-being. And he says, I know that this shall turn out to my spiritual welfare. I think this is Paul's own commentary on what he wrote in Romans 8, 28, for we know that all things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. He did not say, I know this will turn out to my satisfaction. He said, I know this will turn out to my salvation. Not all things turn out the way we want them to turn out.

Even when we pray and even when we believe. Paul does not say, I know this will turn out to my satisfaction. I used to think that my satisfaction was the greatest thing that could happen, but I've discovered that my salvation is the greater. And I've discovered that God sometimes withholds the good from us in order that he might give us the best. You see, God does not exist for my convenience. And so things don't always turn out for our satisfaction, but they can always turn out for our salvation, regardless of what it is. This is something God's been really saying to me lately. Of course, I don't know why

I'm such a slow learner. It's been in the Bible all the way along. Some verses that I've read flippantly in the past have taken on new meaning for me. You know that verse in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is talking about the care of our Heavenly Father, we ought not to worry about things. He says he notices every sparrow that falls. I've always read that, and I said, well, that's wonderful, that's great. God takes note of every sparrow that falls. But I notice that the sparrow does fall.

The sparrow does fall. The sparrow does fall. And that never occurred to me before. God doesn't keep the sparrow from falling. It does fall. But it does not fall without his interest and concern and love. But it does fall. I read in Psalm 23 where David said, Now I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

He didn't say he wouldn't face any evil. We both face and feel the evil, but there's no reason to fear it. But you do face it. The three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. My, what a sermon. You can preach from that. They said, our God is able to deliver us. That's about as far as I've ever read.

Our God is able to deliver us. And they went on to say, but if not, that's all right too. You see, it's the but if not that you have to contend with. I mean, anybody can trust God when he's delivering us. And oh, King, our God is able to deliver us, but if not, it doesn't make any difference. We're still not going to bow down to your God, we're still going to trust the Lord. I was brought again to Paul's thorn in the flesh. He prayed three times for that thorn to be removed.

I don't know why it surprises me when God doesn't answer my prayers. He didn't answer some of Paul's. Paul prayed three times that God might remove the thorn in the flesh. God didn't. God didn't. He gave him something better. He always does. I noticed that Paul didn't regret having the third heaven experience. Now, I want to tell you something. I've known some folks that have done an awful lot of rejoicing when God would give them a third heaven experience, and later on they would renounce it all when they gave them a thorn experience. All of us want the third heaven experience,

don't we? Caught up in the paradise, an ecstatic experience, just thrilled to death. Friends, along with the third heaven, always comes the thorn. And you can pray and pray at times, and God may not remove that thorn. No, things don't always turn out the way we want them to. They don't always turn out the way we expected them to. I read this book some time ago. I read it again this past week, and it meant more to me for some reason. A couple of years ago, Vance Havner, who was with us in 1970, and his wife Sarah, his wife Sarah died. In the summer of 1974, when my mother was laying in the hospital dying, I bought this book and read it.

And I gave it to my dad, and it ministered to him. And I read it again last week. And I want to quote something to you from it. He said, I had hoped for the miraculous healing of Sarah and that we might bear a dramatic testimony to the direct intervention of God. I had a sermon ready. Sounds like a preacher, doesn't it? And folks, I've had a sermon ready for a long time when God answered to my satisfaction.

But it was not to be. My dearest died in spite of the day and night efforts of a medical center equipped with the very latest and best in machines, medicine, and methods. It did not please God to heal her. My disappointment was intense, but sober thinking has changed my view. If a dramatic experience of healing had been ours, it would have been sensational. But such experiences are rare, and my listeners and readers would have said, that's very wonderful, but it happens only once in a while and is the exception that proves the rule.

Most of us do not have such miracles. Our loved ones die and hopes fade, and we need a word for those who walk the valley with no happy ending to the story. I can see now that God denied me what I sought, that I might bring a message to the multitude like myself whose prayers were not answered as hoped. So I preached and write for a host of fellow travelers through the valley whose hopes like mine were not realized and whose deepest wish was not granted. If we can move through this valley and come out in victory, we have found a greater blessing than if our personal wish had been fulfilled in some miraculous way. So things don't always turn out to our satisfaction. This experience with our son has not turned out the way we wanted, the way we expected.

I would like to tell you what I had always prayed for and hoped and very firmly believed. I had prayed and hoped, and it was my deepest wish, that one day Ronnie would stand here in this place and preach the gospel. And yet, I have to say to you tonight, I believe he is. I think like Samson, he has slain more in his death than he ever slew in his life. I can't really explain it, and I'm really not interested in trying to explain it, but I feel closer to him in death than I ever felt in life. Last Friday, Kay and I went to Kansas City, and I was to preach on Friday night. I got

out of the car and we walked up to the building, and I just suddenly said out loud, Ronnie, this is for you. And that night I felt that as I stood and preached, he stood in me, and I felt that ever since. And I feel it tonight. I know, I feel that God had called him to preach, and I feel that now I preach for two. And as I said, I can't explain it, but he's closer to me in death than he ever was in life. For death can hide but not divide. He is but on Christ's other side. He was Christ and Christ with me, united still in Christ are we. So this is not turning out to my satisfaction, but it's turning out to my salvation. And I want to share with you tonight that salvation, that spiritual welfare that God has wrought in our lives through this valley. He says, I know this

will turn to my salvation because of two things, your prayers and the provision of the Spirit. Now, don't get worried, that's just two points. I have another one I'm going to bring up later. But there are two things that contribute to our salvation, prayers of the saints and the provision of the Spirit. He said, I know that this is going to turn out for my spiritual welfare because you prayed for me. I want to share with you tonight, first of all, the prayers of God's people. I got a letter the other day from a preacher friend that I've not seen in a couple of years, and he had only heard about Ronnie's death. He said, you know, he said, for the past four weeks I have been strangely exercised to intercede for you.

I've had a number of people tell me that. God was getting us ready. God was getting us ready. And when we arrived home that Sunday night, and I thank the Lord for those folks that met us, three precious couples, and when they came and said, Ronnie's dead, that's the only way I know to put it, I wasn't surprised. Somehow God had prepared us. I've never known before what that verse meant when it said,

bear ye one another's burdens. I'd always thought, and I'd talked about this with Kay, I said, you know, if anything horrible ever happens to us, if we ever have a tragedy, I don't want to see anybody. I'm a very private person, and so is my wife, and I'd always said, I don't want anybody coming around. I don't want to see anybody. If anything like this ever happens, I just want to be alone.

That's just what I thought. It's interesting how God protects us. We had intended to come home right after church that Sunday morning. We'd have gotten here about six o'clock. And while we were eating, we decided, I decided, let's just stay for a few more hours. So we didn't leave until four. If we had left when we originally intended to leave, we would have been the ones to discover that Ronnie was dead. That would have been difficult. And just coincidentally, we decided to stay longer, and so God spared us from that.

They stayed for a while, then sensed that we needed to be alone, and so we were alone for a little bit and went to bed that night. But I tell you, I woke up Monday morning desperately needing people. Desperately needing people. Never wanted people so much in my life. And boy, did we have them. I tell you, we had a house full. We had a house full. Friends came, people called on the phone willing to fly in just to be with us if we needed it. It's amazing. Miss Bertha Smith calls. She is in Kansas City where I was supposed to be and got Kay and I on the phone.

When we got on the phone, she started singing three verses of How Firm a Foundation. Can't tell you what that meant to us. And the people would come to the house and they'd say, I don't know what to say. And you know, that is a helpless feeling, isn't it? You just don't know what to say. And they'd apologize for not knowing what to say. But you know, you don't have to say anything. Your heart says it all. And so all of you who came to the house and sent cards and prayed and visited and didn't know whether it was all right to come by but cared for us, I want to say thank you. You made an intolerable

burden bearable. And I just want to say this, during those days, there has never been as much joy and peace and victory in our home as there has been. I wish you could have been there the night the Bedford brothers sang and Peter preached. I've never known such joy. It's interesting how you can have joy in the midst of grief. I've never known such grief, and yet, through it all, I've never known such grief, and yet through it all, I've never known such joy. Flying up on the plane that Saturday night, I made a note, and it may sound strange to you, but I made a note to the Lord. I said, Lord, I wouldn't have missed this for anything.

I've never known the joy, the peace, the awareness of his presence. And you didn't have to do that. I was no longer your pastor, but you treated me as though I'd never left. I really haven't. I still live out there. But I want to say something to you that your love and your concern, your care has been a magnificent testimony to others. Really has. I thank the Lord for Jack Taylor and Manny Beasley who flew up to be with us, and Brother T.D. Hall who has been with us in this so much.

They shared out there at the graveside what a blessing it was, what a thrill it was. I tell you, God was so real. They said some things that ministered greatly to us. And so I just want to say tonight that don't ever underestimate your presence, the power of your presence. And God has richly ministered to us through people. He's richly ministered to us through people. Thank you. I just wish I could take in my arms tonight and hug every one of you. You'll never know what you've meant to us during these days. And it wasn't

just your love for us, but it was your love for Ronnie that meant so much to us. And tonight I want to thank those who took a special interest in our boy. Many of you did not know him, but there were some that knew him, and they took a very special interest, would call him up and say, let's go hunting, let's go canoeing. And that meant a great deal to us. It meant a great deal to him. He often talked about you, and I'll not name you because you know who you are, but he often talked about you, and at times I thought he must love them more than he loves us,

but that's typical teenager, isn't it? But I want to thank you tonight for making an unbearable, intolerable burden bearable. God bless you. Now, I want to talk to you about the provision of the Spirit. I've tried to make some notes during these days of what God's been saying to me and what God's been teaching us. When we got home that Sunday night and the word was given that Ronnie was dead.

The first word that came to my mind was Psalm 115, 2 and 3. The second verse says something like this, but now the heathen will say, now where is thy God? Now where is thy God? Now where is thy God? The third verse says, but our God is in his heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. God has said two or three things to us through this. Number one, he's confirmed his word to us. He's confirmed his word to us. A man wrote me a letter the other day and

he said, you know, I know that during these days you are going to be like Bunyan's character in Pilgrim's Progress when he was drowning. He said, I have touched bottom and found that it is solid. Folks, I want you to know in the past two weeks I have touched bottom. And I have got good news for you, it's solid. I think one reason I wanted to come back and speak to you tonight is because for the past several years I've said a lot of things, haven't I? A lot of things. I don't know how many times I have preached, God is good, that God won't hurt you, that you can always trust God, that all things work together. You remember those sermons?

I got a letter today, somebody suggesting I listen to a couple of my own tapes. I want to stand here tonight and announce to you folks that I haven't had to take back a word I've ever preached. Not a single word. Sure than it's ever been, I believe it more than I've ever believed it in my life. You know, I have a sermon I preach quite a bit, and it's been on tape, thankful and everything. I preached that sermon. Skeptics have come up afterwards and they said, well, it's easy for you, but you don't know what I've been through. Just wait until something real tragic happens. When I flew to Kansas City with Kate Friday

night to preach, you know what I preached? I preached in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus. And folks, I believe it. I've touched bottom, and it's solid. And I believe the Bible more than I've ever believed it before. And I've wanted to preach it more than I've ever wanted to preach it before. And I have a greater joy in preaching it than I've ever wanted to preach it before. And I have a greater joy in preaching it than I've ever preached before. And so I just want to share this in case any of you have been wondering and worrying. I haven't had to take back a single word I've ever preached.

It's true. It's true. I've stood here and preached it many a time without going through much sorrow and deep sorrow. But I want to announce tonight from the apex, the top of that summit of grief, friends, God's Word is true and his grace is sufficient. And I still want to say, God is good regardless. Our God is in his heavens, and if done whatsoever, he hath pleased. The second thing that I've discovered through this, God is our comfort, both the Both the source and the subject. God himself is our comfort. That's what Paul says.

He is the God of all comforts. Now, during these days, we've had people that have tried to comfort us by giving some explanations as to why it happened. I've got several letters and several friends that said, and I can understand that. And they said, well, you know this and you know that. And somebody said, I was so glad when we discovered this past August that there were medical and emotional reasons for what happened. And there are, and I could stand tonight and give you explanations, but folks, I just have to tell you that we've not gained any comfort in any explanation.

Because, you see, after you've given all the explanation as to why it happened, Ronnie's still gone. Nothing has changed. And by the way, let me just say for the record, we're not asking any questions at our house, and we're not seeking any answers nor explanations. He is the answer. He is the explanation.

When David was going to the valley, he said, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Not anything else. Not anything else. And I appreciate every word that everybody said, trying to soften the blow by giving a reason, an explanation.

What's the times in which we live, and this and that. And I appreciate that, but folks, that brings no comfort whatsoever. And I'm not interested. God is our comfort. He is our comfort. I've never known as much the truth of that scripture, Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. It doesn't say thou will keep him in perfect peace who knows all the answers and the whys and the wherefores. It says thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. And I have to be honest with you, that peace leaves me when my mind leaves the Lord. And I don't mean to stand here tonight and say, folks, everything's

hunky-dory, we're just having a rip-roaring good time and that there's no grief. Oh, there is. There is. There come those dark moments. You know, the devil kicks you when you're down. We had such a tremendous trip up to Anchorage, Alaska, and we got there, checked into the hotel and it was 30 degrees below, dreary, thousands of miles from home, tired, exhausted physically from the travel. Jack went into his room. I opened the door to my room. There sitting on the end of the bed,

was the devil grinning, saying, I've been expecting you. We've learned that God is our comfort. I tell you, folks, I cannot get over it. I am overwhelmed by God's comfort. I'm just overwhelmed by it. Well, there's a third thing that we've learned. We've learned that we don't need to be afraid of anything.

That's a good lesson. We've learned that we do not need to be afraid of anything. I said a moment ago, some of these scriptures that I've gone over, I've missed some real meanings. And I went over the 23rd Psalm on that plane trip up to Alaska last Saturday night, and he says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And he goes on, and he says, and goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. I'd always thought that David there was talking about his

death. I don't believe he was, because he goes on to say, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. He's going to continue living. He was walking not to the valley of death, he was walking to the valley of the shadow of death. Somebody's death had cast a shadow on David. And he was walking in the shadow of that death. And he said, I will fear no evil. And Ronnie's death has cast a shadow over us. And I live under that shadow. And as I said earlier,

he doesn't say that we won't face the evil. Folks, we've faced it, and I have felt it. But he says, I will not fear it. I will not be afraid of it. And all of a sudden, I realized, you know, I guess there's a fear that every parent has, and that's the fear of losing one of their children. I remember when Ronnie was just a little boy, baby, year old, two years old, three years old. I'll tell you, many a night I would go in, and I'd kneel beside his bed, and I'd say, Oh, God, don't ever let anything happen to him. Every time I'd read in the paper about somebody losing a child, a little boy running out in the street getting run over, something like this.

You know, you parents know what I'm talking about. It's just like somebody twisting a knife in your heart. And I would go and I'd say, oh, God, don't let anything happen. And I always thought if anything happened to one of my children, I couldn't stand it. I just couldn't stand it. But I've learned I don't have to be afraid of any evil. Because I want to tell you something. God has proven to us indisputably that his grace is sufficient.

I just can't fathom, I can't imagine any deeper agony. And I know that if I were to lose my wife, I know that if my other children were to be taken, I know now that God's grace is sufficient to see you through. So why be afraid? Why be afraid? Over in 1 John chapter 5, he says, the devil can't touch you.

I thought he could, yes, but you know, he really can't. There's a funny passage over in 1 John chapter 5, he says the devil can't touch you. I thought he could, yes, but you know, he really can't. There's a funny passage over in 1 Peter chapter 3 that says, nobody can harm you, and even if you suffer. You mean you can suffer and yet not be harmed? That's right. You can suffer and still not be hurt. Last Friday night, after the service was over, my wife was talking to the pastor's wife for the past eight years

they have gone through hell with their son and only that week he had shown up again asking if it would be alright if he came home she talked to my wife and she said you know

there has been one fear that has gripped my heart for eight years. And that's that something would happen to my son. It's made me sick. And she said, after seeing you tonight, I know there's nothing to fear. Even if it happens, I know God is sufficient. I just say that let the devil throw his worst, I will fear no evil. Thou art with me.

God's taught me that lesson. I wouldn't have missed it. I mean, why worry about going broke now? But what is there left to fear? Nothing. Why? He has demonstrated his grace is sufficient. Well, let me hurry this up.

Fourth thing. God in this has pressed us to himself. God has pressed us to himself. There's a hymn we sing. It's number 292. The second verse goes like this. Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest. Now thee alone I seek, give what is best.

And during these days, there's one thing that God's been doing, and that's this. He's been pressing us to himself. He's been shutting us up to himself. Folks, I tell you, all the things that we possess never meant so little as they mean tonight. This world has never meant as little to us as it means tonight. Interesting thing. I think I love my wife and my children more than I've ever loved them before. My love and joy in them has increased. And my love and joy in God has increased all the more. Three weeks ago in Miami, I preached a new message.

I'd never preached it before. I felt strange while I was preaching it. I didn't even have an introduction. When I started to preach, God just gave me the introduction. I had no idea what I was going to say, but this is what I said. I said, my prayer lately has been, God, keep me usable. I said, the thing that jeopardizes my usefulness more than anything else is God's blessings. My text was 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul said that he was just about to be exalted above measure because God had blessed him so much. And I made a statement in that message. I said, this has been my prayer, that God would keep me usable.

And the way he keeps his people usable is by giving them thorns to remind them of their weakness. I had no idea that I was preaching to myself. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I prayed that God would turn off the fire, but he heated the furnace seven times hotter. I prayed that God would not give me the thorn, but he did. But along with it, he gave me the grace. And I tell you, I've learned something in this. I've learned to be pressed into God. There's nobody else to turn to, and friends have done all they can do. There's only one that can reach inside your heart and give you joy and peace and expectancy and make you face it. That's God. He's pressed us to himself. Listen to this. I thank God

for the bitter things. They've been a friend to grace. They've driven me from the paths of ease to storm the secret place. I'm grateful too through all life's way. No one could satisfy. And so I found in God alone my rich, my full supply. I love him tonight more than I've ever loved him before. I trust him tonight more than I've ever trusted him before. He's more real to me tonight than he's ever been before. Not only has God increased my love for my remaining family on this earth,

but I tell you, he's made something else real. As we were driving to the cemetery that day, my dad was sitting on my right. And, you know, it was just a little over a year ago that we buried my mother. I felt sorry for Dad. I knew the heartbreak. Ronnie was especially dear to both of them. He was the firstborn. As we were riding, I put my hand on my dad's leg and I said, Dad, do you remember when

Barry, that's my brother, my only other brother, I said,, you remember when Barry went to Vietnam some years ago? We had hardly even heard of it then. I didn't even know where it was. But I said, you remember how suddenly we got all interested in Vietnam? And when we'd read in the newspapers about something happening in Da Nang or somewhere else, I said, Dad, you remember how we'd get down the map, look up the place and see how far away that was from where Barry was? I said, we had a new interest in Vietnam, somebody there we loved.

And so we were more interested in it than ever before. I said, Dad, you know, we've been putting a lot of interest in heaven lately. God is precious to himself, and I thank him for it. And I want to give that testimony. He emptied my hands of my treasured store, and his covenant love revealed there was not a wound in my aching heart, but the balm of his breath has healed. Oh, tender and true was the chastening sword in wisdom that taught and tried till the soul that he sought was

trusting in him and nothing on earth beside. Folks, that's the way I want it to be. Trusting in him alone and nothing on earth beside. All right, last point. You thought I'd forgotten, hadn't you? I have not come here tonight to magnify my sorrow. I've come to magnify my Savior. And that's the third point, the praise of the Savior. He said, I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit, and that now, as always, in nothing I shall be ashamed.

Folks, I'm not. But now, as always, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. And I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ some years ago, that he might magnify himself in my body, be by life or by death. And I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ some years ago that he might magnify himself in my body, whether by life or by death. I was meaning my life or my death, but I found out that it can be somebody else's life, somebody else's death. And I want to praise my Savior tonight. When T.D. and Manley and Jack finished speaking out the cemetery. I had a song in my heart. I had to sing it. And I said, T.D., let's sing.

We sang glory, glory to the Father, glory, glory to the Son, glory, glory to the Spirit, glory to the three in one. We praised him. Lord, I praise thee. Praise the Lamb for sinners slain. And that's what I want to do. I just want to praise him. Praise him for his saving grace. Praise him for his sustaining grace.

I want you to know, folks, you can trust God. The other day, something came in the mail. Had almost forgotten about it. It was Ronnie's passport. After Christmas, December 29th, as a matter of fact, our whole family is going to Switzerland. Be back after the first of the year. I remember the day I took three children downtown, had the pictures made. It was a lot of fun. It was a good day. We had a lot of fun.

I went over there to the place and had the picture made, and made application for the passport. And then for the next few days, every day, kids would ask, Has the passport come yet? Has the passport come yet? There is a sign in that office that says that if you look like your picture, you need the trip. And the pictures were terrible. That was a good day. We were all looking forward to it. Well, his passport came in the mail this past week.

We didn't open it. We put it away. It will never be used. But he had another passport to a far more beautiful country than Switzerland. I was looking forward to taking the family, still am, to Switzerland, looking forward to showing them the country, showing them the Alps, the Matterhorn, all those beautiful places. But you know, our whole family has another kind of passport. It just occurred to me the other day, I wanted to take Ronnie around Switzerland showing the beauties of that country. One of these days, when we step over, he'll meet us. He'll say, Dad, let me show you around the beauties of this country.

And the hurt comes when I think about what is missing. Isn't that silly? I was in Alaska, we talked about some folks coming up next summer with a family, going on a bear hunt. I thought old Ronnie would love that. I said, Lord, how can I take going to Switzerland? Everywhere I go I'll be saying, I wish Ronnie were here. The Lord said, Son, he's not the one that's missing it. What are the Swiss Alps compared to the throne of a lamb? So I thank God that he had another passport bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our whole family has that passport. And I look forward to that day when we'll all see that beautiful country together.

This is my testimony. Don't feel that I've said it well and said it all, but I trust you know what's in my heart and I simply want to praise him and magnify my Savior. He's good. He won't hurt you. And I know that this shall turn to my salvation so thatsold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.