[0:00] Grab your Bible, if you would, turn to the book of James. We're going to start there in the book of James, then we'll be in the book of Genesis. I'll preach on something here that, a message I've preached a number of places, it's just kind of a special memory.
[0:18] The Lord is, there's some times, I'll tell you what's going on this Wednesday, there's some times where I will preach on a certain topic, or something will spark my interest, the Lord will just start giving me some stuff on a message or two.
[0:31] This Wednesday, I have a very unique topic that I have to preach on. What I do when watch night rolls around is I'll have 12 different guys preach for 10 different minutes on subjects that I give them.
[0:43] Now that subject, literally I think last year, I think one of them was flamingo, one of them was chlorine. It doesn't really matter what it is, I give it to them a week in advance and I tell them to spiritualize it.
[0:54] And me and Jonathan were talking earlier this morning, I was last couple of last week, I had a supper on a subject where they now give me a subject. And last week I preached on, or last month I preached on a roundabout and I despiritualize a roundabout.
[1:07] And that was the challenge to me. And this Wednesday, I'll tell you what my topic is, it's going to be a little difficult. I know the Lord's got something. Well, explain what I do here is I give these guys, these 12 men, these 10 minute messages, and then I give them a week to prepare and then watch night service.
[1:22] We have 12 guys get up and we preach for 10 minutes. And a couple of years back I said, this is what I want to do, is I want to give you the opportunity to give me a subject. We've got 12 months, so that means one Wednesday night we're going to have what we call a supper and a subject.
[1:34] We'll meet downstairs. We'll just kind of dress down, enjoy each other's fellowship, have supper. I'll do a subject that whatever it is that the subject was for that week. And then we'll have dessert afterwards.
[1:44] It's just a good time of fellowship and really enjoy it. And the men enjoy now giving me a subject to challenge me. And so it's just kind of been a fun thing to do, you know, to preach on certain topics.
[1:54] The Bible says that Solomon had Proverbs and he spoke about different trees and animals and everything. And you can learn a lot from different things. So this upcoming Wednesday, I have to preach.
[2:05] I pulled it out of the hat. I pulled it out of the cup. I only get from Sunday to Wednesday to figure out the topic. But I pulled it out Wednesday a week early since I was there because I'm not there today. And it is a couple of days from now.
[2:17] I've got to preach on the subject and somehow spiritualize. And so far, God has always come through for every topic that a man has given me over the last few years. But I've got to spiritualize fingernail clippings.
[2:29] Pray for me because I'm not exactly sure how this one's going to go. But I know the decoration on the table will be this. We'll have fingernails. We'll have fingernail clippers and different things. And I told my wife, so we're going to go out and get coconut shavings and put them right there in the middle of the table.
[2:44] You know, make it look like fingernail clippings on the table, you know. Just have a good time. We have a good time at our church. I like to do different things. But this message came to me about 12 years ago, 13 years ago, as I was at a citizen's police academy.
[2:58] And a dog came in. The canine unit came in. And Officer Reese brought in his dog. And I was sitting there looking at this thing. And I just felt like the Lord said, start writing down what you're hearing.
[3:11] You need to start writing this down. And I've preached this message a number of places. It's called Canine. Canine is man's best friend, supposedly, right? That's what they say, anyways.
[3:23] Look, if you would, here in James chapter 2. James chapter 2, verse 23. It says this. Abraham was what we'll look at here today in his life as an illustration of the canine that God used.
[3:51] Right by God's side. Obedient to the different things that Lord would have him do in his life. Three times the Bible refers to Abraham as God's friend. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 7, it says, Art thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and givest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend, forever?
[4:09] In the book of Isaiah, he says in chapter 41, verse 8, But thou, Israel, art my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. I mean, imagine getting to heaven.
[4:20] We're not just the sons of God or the family of God. But imagine getting to heaven and being looked on and recognized as the friend of God. God's best friend.
[4:31] What a wonderful thing. When Officer Reese brought in, and I've seen Officer Reese travel around town. He's the only, not, he is, not Officer Reese necessarily, but there is an officer that goes around.
[4:43] But Officer Reese will travel around town and there will be that canine unit. And Officer Reese brought Lucy in. Lucy was a yellow lab. And I started writing some things down.
[4:53] I mean, I was jotting down everything that he was writing and he was saying about the canine unit. I'm going to give you five things here real quickly in the introduction that make for a good canine. When you go through the qualifications, before they ever used Lucy as one of the canines for the dog unit there in town, she had to meet some criteria in order to become, even picked, become a canine unit.
[5:14] And one thing was motivation. Motivation. The canine must possess and display a highly motivated personality. When I was in New York, yesterday I was here, yesterday and there was a lady here.
[5:27] And she says, I'm always going. She goes, you preached on being patient and still and waiting for God. And she goes, they used to call me the Energizer Bunny. And I said, there was, it's funny, there was a person in New York who brought me a little Energizer Bunny emblem and gave it to me and said, that's who you are.
[5:41] Just never seemed to stop. And I was always motivated. So the canine, first is motivation. The canine must possess and display a highly motivated personality. If they don't have that, they're not going to be in the canine unit.
[5:54] Now, I've been at the Wolski's house and I'm pretty sure their dog automatically does not qualify for that. He's motivated to yell and bark. But after that, it's just plop down.
[6:04] I can understand a little bit, right? But some dogs, they're just different. You ever seen those memes where you've got that dog, I don't think it's a Corso or whatever it is, and it runs and it jumps up this wall and jumps something. It says their dog and it says my dog.
[6:15] And there's a picture of their dog just laying under a bush with its tongue hanging out. Yeah, the dog has to be highly motivated in order to be a canine. It has to have intensity. When the dog is using its nose, it must have an insatiable desire to get to the source of the odor under any circumstance.
[6:34] It must have some intensity. It must have, listen to this, scent discrimination. That is the ability to discern between different types of smells. Now, I was out there on a golf course yesterday or a couple days ago, and I started smelling some things that you don't typically smell in Idaho, but free-flowing here in California.
[6:54] I was wondering why some of those golf balls were going really high up in the air, you know? I mean, there was the smells wafting through. You probably don't even recognize it anymore, but I'm out there and I'm listening. I'm like, man, somebody out here is smoking something.
[7:06] They probably shouldn't be smoking. Toby's like, no, you can smoke it here. I was like, really? So then we went out and just joined. No, we didn't do that. But I started, I have never, I don't smell that smell all the time.
[7:18] But I had a little bit of a scent discrimination. That was an abnormal scent to me. And a canine, in order for it to get picked, it has to have that scent discrimination. It has to have socialization.
[7:29] The dog must possess the confidence and experience to be able to work in varied environments and situations like the handler. What you'll find is that the dog, the canine, and the handler, they have to walk in lockstep.
[7:44] The fifth thing they have to have is retrieving ability. The dog should display a high desire to retrieve any object that is thrown or hidden from it. It is not enough that the dog simply runs out and picks up the object that was thrown.
[7:59] The dog must carry the object around and return it to its handler. I was watching a video one time. We were trying to train a black lab. I say trying because it never happened. And we were trying to train a black lab.
[8:11] And I was talking to a man. And he said, he goes, very, very, very important that a dog listens when you throw something out there. Say you shoot a duck down and it goes off into the water. They have to listen.
[8:22] Their first reaction is to go out there and grab that duck and swim back. He goes, but sometimes the current is too strong. And that the hunter must know that. So when the dog is going out there and he realizes he can whistle and call him back.
[8:33] And that dog has to turn around and come right back. He said one time he saw that he saw a dog go out there and he said the current took that dog. He said he realized it was too much. He called it. But that thing was too intense to go this way.
[8:43] It didn't come back. See, that dog would that dog didn't survive. That dog died for a canine dog. It has to pass these five things before it's ever part of the canine unit.
[8:54] Now, once it's part of the canine unit, I mean, it's in it for life. It now becomes a police officer, if you would. I mean, it gets full honors. And it is a very important unit, a very important structure to the police force.
[9:09] I want to look at four things here in the life of Abraham, the friend of God, in relation to a good canine. I want to look at it in my life.
[9:20] We'll look at the canine. We'll look at the handler. And then we'll summarize it all up here in the end. Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll jump to the book of Genesis. Father, I thank you for this opportunity, God, to be in church today.
[9:31] Lord, to be able to open up the Bible. God, to be able to look at a subject or a topic here, Lord, that just sparked my interest. And I remember just listening to still small voice saying, write this stuff down, write this stuff down.
[9:43] And Lord, I learned a lot of stuff just by watching what this man and this dog were doing in front of me at that citizens police academy. Lord, just being able to learn from Lucy. God, I pray, God, that I would get to heaven and find out that I was better than a dog here on this earth.
[9:59] Lord, to you, I was a friend to you, that I passed these four things here. God, that I might be something that you could be pleased with. That someone that you could say was your friend.
[10:10] Lord, we know that Abraham was. And as we look through these stories today, God will know that, Lord, he was your friend and he was your friend for a reason. Lord, he passed some tests. He did some things just the way you would do it.
[10:22] Lord, I pray that we would learn. Lord, that we'd be observant for the world around us and see how you could speak to us through many things. We love you, God. Thank you for all you're doing. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Turn, if you would, to the book of Genesis.
[10:33] Turn to Genesis chapter 12. Let's start off here with Abraham. And the first thing that I want to say about a canine, what makes a good canine, or some very important things about the canine in the canine unit, is number one, and it was kind of mentioned within those five things, but number one is a canine must have an insatiable desire to please the handler.
[10:56] Everything about that dog should beat, every heartbeat, every pulse, every moment of that dog's life should be to please his handler.
[11:09] Genesis chapter 12, verse 1 through 4 kind of paints that picture that Abraham just wanted to obey God at any cost. Now the Lord said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.
[11:23] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cursed at thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And Abraham asked God, Where would you like me to go?
[11:36] And at what time would you like me to do it? And what will it cost me? Oh, that's not what he did, did he? It just says, So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.
[11:47] And Lot went with him. And Abraham was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. You know what Abraham did? What you'll find that Abraham does throughout his life is when God says do something, he just oftentimes just gets up and does it.
[12:00] He has an insatiable desire to please the handler. You know how many times I've been witnessing to people, and even talk to Christians in this earth, and I'll say, Let me ask you a question. Why are you here?
[12:12] What is your purpose on earth? Man, I've got noble answers through life. I mean, you know, you start asking people, like a lost person, Why are you here? And they kind of like, Oh, they want to know my worth. Well, I'm here to be a good neighbor.
[12:23] Man, I've heard these ones. I'm here to be a good father. I'm here to help out others and do good works and all that. And I say, Wrong on all accounts. The Bible says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power.
[12:34] For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. You are here. You were created to please God. Now listen, there's a whole lot of things that I do in my life that I find pleasing to myself.
[12:46] Today, I said what I was going to do. I did the two things I said I was going to do this afternoon. You know what they were? I took a decent nap, and then I got up, and I watched the end of the Masters. You say, Why? Because those two things pleased me.
[12:56] I enjoyed it. After church today, you know, you say, What do I'm going to do? I'm going to probably go get something to eat. Maybe have another cup of coffee and some ice cream, because those things please me. Oftentimes, our life revolves around what pleases me.
[13:09] But what should be the case is that everything within my heart, every breath I take, should be for the pleasure of God. There should be an insatiable pleasure.
[13:20] We should not be satisfied with what we've done with our life unto this point, and say, Well, here it is. You should just be happy. I've just turned 46. You know what I want? I pray this every year.
[13:31] I pray, God, I pray that my next year will be more glorifying to you than my previous one. I just want to be more pleasing to him. A canine should have an insatiable desire to please their handler.
[13:45] The Bible says, Everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have formed him. He says, Later this people have I formed for myself, that they should show forth my praise.
[14:00] I think immediately when I knew that the canine unit was going to come in, that session, I think there was about, I think there was about 16 different sessions that we went to on a Tuesday night, for about an hour or two.
[14:12] And they talked about everything that the Lewiston Police Department does in the valley. It was really neat, very interesting, eye-opening. But I was looking forward to this one, because they told us, they said, We're going to have the canine unit come in. And of course, I'm thinking it's going to be a German shepherd.
[14:23] But in comes this golden retriever, or this golden lab. I think it was a golden retriever. She comes in. And I'm telling you, there was 32 of us sitting there at that table. But in her eyes, there was one person in the room.
[14:36] One person. When Officer Reese was standing here, and Lucy was over there, I mean, she would sit there, and just kind of look at it in intensity, just looking at his every moment, every movement that he did.
[14:48] If he flipped his hand a certain way, she would move a certain way. Everything that he did, she was locked onto. And you could sense it. You could drop a pen. You could have whistled.
[14:59] She might have perked her ear up, and maybe took a glance. But everything was, her eyes were on her handler the whole time. You say, what I saw right away. Yeah, I started writing this down.
[15:10] I don't want to be beat out by a dog when I get to heaven and find out that I didn't care enough, that my eyes weren't locked on. We preached looking unto Jesus, but too many times we're looking unto ourself.
[15:22] I don't want to get to heaven and find out I was beat out by Lucy, a dog without a soul, because she cared for her handler and everything that her handler wanted.
[15:32] I need to have an insatiable desire to please my handler. Here comes God to Abraham. Abraham's 75 years old. Now we know he lived for much longer than that, but 75 years old.
[15:46] You know what? People should start paying him a little homage. People should start looking at him as the elder and saying, what can I do to please you? And here comes God to him and says, this is what I want you to do, son. And he gets up and he goes, yes, sir.
[15:58] Whatever you say, sir. Whatever you want, sir. That's what I'll do. Where are you going to go? I'll show you the land. And God did show him the land. God showed him exactly where.
[16:08] He didn't need to know exactly what the next step was. He knew what the next step was to get up and to go do what God told him to do. Listen, if I do that which I am told to do, then I'm not just a great servant, am I?
[16:22] I need to do more. I need to do more. Abraham did everything he could do. When you get done with your Bible reading, your prayer, when you get done with your church attendance and your tithes, are you still looking around or do you chalk it off as I'm done for the day?
[16:36] Guess what? Service is over here in about another 45 minutes to two hours. You understand that? We're going to be going home. You're not done. Being a Christian for God.
[16:49] You might go out to eat. You might go to the gas station. I don't know where you're going to go. You might be sitting on your front porch. Guess what? You're not done. The insatiable desire to please God will go with you till you go to bed. And when you wake up in the morning, you know what you should do?
[17:01] You should drop on your knees if you can. Amen? You should drop on your knees and say, God, what would you have me to do? Today is your day. You know what I find? He gives me a whole lot of things to do that are nice for me.
[17:15] I'm looking forward to tomorrow. You say, what's Monday? Monday is a day to kind of chill out. Enjoy life. You know, do some things. But even when I'm out there Monday kind of letting some steam off from Sunday, you say, what are you going to do?
[17:27] Remember that I'm a Christian and that everything I do should be to please my handler. Genesis chapter 18. Look over there. The canine not only has the insatiable desire to please its handler, but the canine, now we're going to look at the handler for a minute, but the canine needs to work just as hard as the handler.
[17:47] I remember Ross Officer Reese saying that. He goes, that dog will only be as good as I am. That dog will only do its job as good as I do my job.
[18:01] So the canine works just as hard as the handler. Look what God says about Abraham in chapter 18, verse 17. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
[18:17] For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
[18:29] You know what we know about Abraham? The reason he was a friend of God is because he tried to live like God. He tried to act like God. He lived his life in a way of holiness, of obedience.
[18:40] He lived his life in a way that was separate from what the world was doing. Even his own family, the worshipped idols. You know what he said? I'm going to walk by faith. What we know about Abraham and why he was such a good person was because of the handler, God, who took care of him.
[18:56] So let's stop for just a second. Who's your handler? You know my handler is Jesus Christ. You know what that means? That I am supposed to work hard and be like my handler.
[19:06] Let's look at some things that my handler did. What's some things that are like my handler? When I was looking at Officer Reese on this side and Lucy on this side, I realized that this dog is only going to be as good as her handler is.
[19:17] My handler is perfect. My handler does all things well. The Bible says this. There are some things about, I'll read you some verses here, but as I put these points about the handler together, the first thing about the handler is the handler must have prior work performance.
[19:35] You know I'm not the first canine that Jesus Christ ever took under his wing. I'm not the first one that he ever said, now you're mine, you must do what I say. The Bible says that Jesus said this in John chapter 8 and John chapter 9.
[19:47] It says this, He that sent me is with me, and the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him. If I'm supposed to do everything to please the handler, I need to look at the handler and see that He did everything that His Father told Him to do.
[20:01] Jesus said this, I must work the works of Him that sent me. You know that Jesus is never going to ask us, God is never going to ask us to do anything that He Himself didn't already do. Boy, I love it about the shepherd.
[20:13] You know what the Bible says He does? He takes the sheep out of the fold and that He goes before them. He has never led us in a place where He has not gone. He has never asked us to do something that He has not done.
[20:25] You get into a world of temptation, and praise the Lord, isn't it nice, that in all points He was tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Man, you know what I can do?
[20:37] If I'm supposed to be like Christ, I guess I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. I look at my handler and I find out, you know, He's got prior work experience with this. He's got prior work performance with different people through the years.
[20:50] You know what I know He's not going to do? He's not going to let me down. And I begin to look at the way He works and the way He does things. And that's exactly how we're supposed to do it. 5,000 people follow Jesus to the edge of the desert, into a grassy place.
[21:05] You know what He didn't do? He didn't turn those 5,000 plus people away. He fed every one of them. But we went out there, and in Mark chapter 4, or Matthew chapter 4, the beginning of His ministry, begins to preach and teach.
[21:17] And they begin to bring Him the lunatic, and they begin to bring to give Him the blind, and everybody the diseases. And I love this verse. It says, And He healed them all. You know what I know about my handler?
[21:29] He's got prior work performance. He knows exactly what he's doing, and I can trust him. You know, a key component for a handler is this. I like this one. His family's commitment and support to the canine program.
[21:42] See, behind Officer Reese, what you don't see is you don't see his wife, and you don't see his kids, because this dog right here is going to take a large portion of his time. And everybody backing Officer Reese must be on board with his commitment to this dog.
[21:56] You know what I know about the family behind Mike Handler? Is that he's got his back. He's all in on this. The gospel, everything that we go through, started with the Father.
[22:09] I mean, didn't it? He gave His only son to get this thing going. He is backing His son in everything. We got, His family, His family is backing him in everything he does.
[22:22] I like this one. The handler, he must have availability for call-outs. Man, you know what it's like when I'm sitting there, and I'm trying to do something that I want to do, and then all of a sudden the phone rings, and it's a person that I know, and I'm like, swipe right, or swipe left.
[22:42] Ah, I don't want to answer this phone call right now, but you know what my job is? I think it's swipe right. Answer the phone and say, can I help you? Hmm. Pastor, I need to talk to you.
[22:54] Okay. Pause. We'll get back to finding out if they actually do make that shot. You say, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to be available for call-outs. You say, why? Because my handler was.
[23:05] My handler was bothered one day by ten lepers on the road on his way. You say, what did he do? He stopped what he was doing, and he healed ten lepers.
[23:16] He heard as he walked along the roads, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And others were saying, hey, be quiet, buddy. Don't you know who this is? And Jesus made his way over there, and he healed the blind man. Jesus got off that boat, and while everybody else would step away from that maniac, everybody else would back away from him, and they tried everything they could to get that person to be tamed as best way they could.
[23:38] You know what Jesus did? He walked up to him, and he put him in his right mind. Aren't you glad today that he had a call-out for you? I mean, he stopped what he was doing. He stopped what was important in the universe at that time to take care of our needs.
[23:51] Jesus Christ is available for call-outs. Even when he was weary, and he sat himself down there on that well, and while his disciples walked into the city, walked right past that woman, walked right past them.
[24:05] You say, why? Because their tummies were growling. Because they were hungry. Because they wanted something. See, it was about their pleasure at that moment. And that lady walked by with that pitcher of water. Man, her life was wrecked by sin.
[24:18] Her life, her memory, her mind, everything about her life was tainted and scarred by the decisions she had made. And they just walked right on by her on the way into the city. And she sat, as Jesus sat there by the well, she came up and he said, can I get some water?
[24:32] Before you know it, he gives her living water. He was weary and worn out. You know how many times I'm just done? You know what I do every Sunday night? I quit the ministry. I'm done.
[24:44] You know what I do every Tuesday night? I get back in because I've got to preach Wednesday. I mean, Sunday will ring you out as a preacher. You say, why did you leave the room a minute ago?
[24:55] Well, I had to get out of here because that song was too high and I'm about to lose my voice. You say, I will blow my voice. I am all in on Sunday, man. I will sing to the top of my lungs. I get done with Sunday and I'm just like, I'm done.
[25:08] I lay down in bed and I just like, I'm done. You know what? There's times where Sunday ain't done with me. Sunday night after church, I'll be in my office dealing with somebody.
[25:21] You say, why do you do that? Because my handler did it when he was weary. I'm supposed to work as hard as he does. This is a team here and whatever he does, I'm supposed to do.
[25:32] Jesus was available for call outs even when he was weary. I like this one. He must have prior canine experience. That handler, he's not just somebody that has prior work performance, he has prior canine experience.
[25:47] Jesus says this, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I kept and none of them is lost. And John, he says again, that the saying might be filled which he spoke, of them which thou gave me have I lost none.
[26:03] Having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. My handler's perfect. My handler's great. You know what he expects of me?
[26:15] To be just like him. The last thing about the handler is this, he must have personal commitment to the program. You know what I think this right here is? I think that's personal commitment to the program.
[26:28] I think him giving his life for the program is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be all in. Every moment of our life, even unto death, should be for the program.
[26:43] Right? Jesus Christ was committed to the program. From 12 years old to the garden, to 33 years old, Jesus Christ did everything he could do. That's what I'm supposed to do.
[26:55] My meat, Jesus said, is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish the work. And that's exactly what he said on the cross. It is finished. A canine must have an insatiable desire to please the handler.
[27:08] A canine must work just as hard as the handler. This one's really interesting. Look at Genesis chapter 15. Very important to the canine unit.
[27:19] We won't read the whole chapter, but I think you get the gist of it. This is kind of an interesting chapter. This is where God promises something to Abraham and the horror of great darkness comes upon him. And this is where faith, the faith of Abraham is really implemented.
[27:33] See, we like to do this. We like to go by what we see. We don't like to go by faith. Yet, as we heard this morning or just a few minutes ago, without faith, it's impossible to please him.
[27:43] Amen. Genesis chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision and said, Fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?
[28:01] And Abraham said, Behold, to me thou wast given no seed and lo, one born in mine house is mine heir. Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of an old bow shall be thine heir.
[28:12] And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said to him, So shall thy seed be. Listen to this verse. And he believed in the Lord and it was counted him for righteousness.
[28:26] I don't see how this is going to happen, but I believe it. Let me tell you about the canine. The canine's main scent is smell, not sight.
[28:38] You know what our main scent is? It's faith. Not by sight. We are to walk by faith, not by sight. You walk by sight, man, you'll be mixed up.
[28:51] I used these verses last night when I was preaching. But behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, I cannot perceive him. On the left hand where he doth work, I cannot behold him. And he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him.
[29:02] But listen to what Job says. But he knoweth the way that I take. And when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job said, I can't see God at this moment, but I know he's there.
[29:15] And I'm going to continue to move, not based on this, this, this scent, but by faith. You know what you need to do? You need to get your nose in the book.
[29:27] You need to get your nose in the book. That nose of that dog, I'll talk about it in the next point, is the most important thing on that dog and on the canine unit. You know what Jesus said?
[29:39] Search the scriptures. For in them, you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. Officer Reese and Lucy were called to a stop that the police had made there in Lewiston.
[29:55] Something was off. They had pulled him over and they had called the canine unit in. They had opened the door to the car and almost immediately, Lucy sensed something that no human could ever do.
[30:08] You say, why? Because her scent of smell was pinging off the radar. And in that car, right in the center console, they ripped that console off and they found a package.
[30:20] They found cellophane. If I get this right, I'm going to read off how this guy did this. They found three ounces of meth that were wrapped in cellophane, then in coffee grounds, then in cellophane again, then in dish soap, and then a third layer of cellophane.
[30:38] Stuck down there in a council. Now me and you would have never seen that. You say, why? Because this isn't what we go by. We go by this. Now they had something going on. Their spider senses, I guess you could say, were saying something's not right about this guy, but they got the canine there and the canine's scent of smell took them right to it.
[30:52] You need to get your nose in the book. There's going to be some things in your life you're going to be like, I don't see how this is going to work. You know what you need to do? Put it in here and just stick it in there and just read that book and read that book and quit looking out here at the way things are going in life and start looking at what he has said to you.
[31:10] You say, you know what? I've found that this thing right here. I've had people come in dressed and in their right mind and I've mentioned this before. I had a young lady come into my office a number of years ago, 14, 15 years ago, 16 years ago, whatever it was, and she came into my office and she said, I've got eight godly counselors that told me that I have the right to divorce my husband and I thought, well, I'm not one of them and I'm just like, something just doesn't sound right and she said this and I've prayed about it.
[31:37] You say, what was wrong? Something wasn't right. I just sit here thinking, I know your story and I understand these different things and listen, I'm not coming down on anybody that's been divorced today. I'm just saying in this situation, there was something that wasn't right and you say, what was it?
[31:51] I had to say, God, everything seems right here but what's wrong? And I started letting her talk and then I dug deeper and I was like, lady, you don't have a reason. I started looking into her life a little bit more and I'm like, my goodness.
[32:05] You say, what was going on? There was something that didn't smell right. You know what I needed to do? I needed to have some faith in God. I needed to trust God a little bit. Say, Lord, help me out with this situation.
[32:15] I have people come into my office and I don't know what's going on. I don't know which way's up. I'm just like, God, you've got to help me because from what I can see, everything is right but boy, I've got to have my other senses alerted.
[32:29] Lucy did and she got that guy. That's a very important thing. You know what I tell my church to do? I tell them to read their Bible. I tell them to read their Bible.
[32:39] You know why? They need it but number two, it keeps me in line. I tell them to go home. You don't like what I said? Go home, read the Bible and prove it. That's what the Bible says those in, they were more noble, those that were in Berea, those were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
[33:04] They went out there and when the preacher got done preaching and I'm not saying that you shouldn't take some things the preacher says and just trust him on it. Cry out loud, I don't need to be checked on every check and balance but there's some things when the preacher gets up and he says something, you know what you say?
[33:16] Well, let me just go prove that. Let me just make sure that it's really that. Get in the book. You know what it does? It keeps the preachers honest because we know you are implementing your nose in the book just as much as we are.
[33:31] Amen. You couldn't trick Lucy. You could trick Officer Reese. Lucy's sin of smell was her main thing. Not the sin of sight. Or not the thing of sight.
[33:43] The fourth thing and this is really important about the canine is that the canine has to score 100% on a test each year in order to stay part of the canine unit.
[33:57] It has to score 100%. Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22. You know what God did?
[34:08] He came down to Abraham and now he's Abraham. I mean, now he's got that promise. He's going to be the family of Abram, man. No longer Abram. Abraham. And listen, I made this promise and you believed it by faith and you got up and you went with an insatiable desire and you, I know you, you're just like me.
[34:25] You're going to raise your family and my commandments. We see everything about Abraham is right and boy, I mean, he's trucking along for God and he knows that he's going to have a son. He's got his son. He's going to now have a family one day and a posterity.
[34:39] He's going to have seed like the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea. God comes down to him in Genesis chapter 22 and says something that's so off the wall. It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abram.
[34:55] We know that this temptation here is not of sin. The Bible says in Hebrews that God tried him. Abram, I want to see if you've been a good boy. You've been my best friend.
[35:09] You haven't done me wrong at all. But you've got to pass this test. See, the canine has to pass the test. It doesn't get a choice. What was your test last year?
[35:22] Boy, I've been through some tests. Seems like every year. You know what I want? I want 2026 to be better than 2025. And the next thing I know, he puts me right into another test. You say, what's he doing? He's keeping me alert.
[35:34] Checking me out. Trying me. Some tests are bigger than others, but I better pass or else I don't get to be in the canine unit. Genesis 22. And it came to pass after these things that the Lord did tempt Abram and he said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am.
[35:49] There's that insatiable desire to please him. God, I'll do whatever you want. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee in the land of Moriah and offer him there for burnt offering upon the mountain which I shall tell thee of.
[36:01] God provided the place for the test and then God said, All right, let's see what you're going to do. You know, Hezekiah went through some things and the Bible says that God left him to try him to see what was in his heart.
[36:16] You know what happens in a test? God gets really quiet. The teacher is usually quiet. Well, the student is taking a test. And that's the way God gets with you sometimes.
[36:27] You say, What's He going to do? He's just going to see what you're going to do next. See, He has taught you and you've walked with Him. And now when the test time comes, He steps back and says, Let me see what you're going to do.
[36:39] You're going to do the way you've been trained? Abraham, this is what I want. I want you to take that son that I promised and I want you to offer him. And look at this.
[36:51] Verses 3 through 7. His insatiable desire to please the handler kicked in. And Abraham arose up. What's the next word? Yeah, I don't know about you, but I might have drug my feet that day.
[37:04] My only begotten son, God, once I might have waited as long as I... I might have pushed snooze a whole bunch, but God, Abraham, rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and claved the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went on under the place of which God had told him.
[37:20] Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son and took the fire into his hand, fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together.
[37:37] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, You know what I see Abraham doing here? I see his insatiable desire to please his handler kick in.
[37:51] Next thing I see is that Abraham's willingness to be just like his handler. So what do we know about God? God gave his own son for us. Look at verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God, will provide himself for a lamb for burnt offering.
[38:04] So they went both of them together and they came to the place which God told him of. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him upon the altar of the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
[38:16] And if you know what Hebrews says, Hebrews says that he did it already, man. He believed it. He believed that God would resurrect his son but he had already done it. He already plunged the knife into his son. You say, What was Abraham doing?
[38:26] He was going to that second point where he was going to act just like his handler would. And we know that's what God did for us. He did everything that the handler would do. And in verse 11, we see that the third one come in, that scent of smell, not sight.
[38:47] Right before he was about to plunge that knife into his son, the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and Abraham said, he called and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. He knew something was up. All right, Lord.
[38:59] Here I am. Here I am. What do you want? Look at verse 12. And the angel said this, And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine son, thine only son from me.
[39:20] Say, what did he get? He got a 100% on his test. God said, Now I know. I just wanted to see if you were going to do what you said you would do for me.
[39:31] I just wanted to see if you would act the way. I wanted to see if for one second you would step away from what you had purposed in your eyesight to do to be listening to what I say in the moment.
[39:45] And now I know that you will do what I've asked you to do. And you scored 100%. In Idaho, it is the only state that if a dog alerts, that means he barks or he scratches, on a car because what it smells, drug smell, that law enforcement does not need to go through the long, drawn out procedure of getting a warrant.
[40:11] Idaho is the only state. The dog's nose is considered the search warrant. It means if a dog comes up to your car and starts scratching on it or barking at your car, the officers do not have to go to the judge.
[40:24] They just say, open the door. That nose of that dog is the search warrant. Lucy alerted on a car one day, barking, scratching, on a car with a woman and her paroled boyfriend.
[40:38] They found drugs and they found a gun that he was planning on going and killing somebody with. They say, what did Lucy do? She passed the test and lives were spared.
[40:53] I'd mentioned it yesterday about going through some things and in my office just weeping but passing the test.
[41:05] It wasn't shortly after that that the Lord provided a home for us and he blessed us. But I'm telling you, I came this close to missing and messing up the test.
[41:16] Oh, that was 2017. Let me tell you something. Ever since then, there's been test upon test upon test of Nathan, are you going to do what you said you were going to do?
[41:31] Are you going to act like me? Are you walking by faith? Are you walking by sight? And over and over, you say, what's 2026 hold for you? A test.
[41:42] I'm in it right now. I kind of know a little bit about what it is. I've got some scriptures to show me what this one is and he's just like, just see if you're going to still abide. It's not bad. It's just life.
[41:54] You know what I expected? I have to score 100% on this test or I fail. A couple of things here before we quit. This is pretty cool.
[42:06] When a canine retires, it goes to live with its handler. How about that? The Bible says in Luke chapter 16 that Abraham, remember that rich man died and Lazarus died and he was in Abraham's bosom.
[42:21] Abraham's down there in paradise and he's like, hey bud, come on, sooner or later we're going to go up. We're not going to be down here anymore. That two other components about a good handler are this, willingness to care and shelter the handler and a residence suited to house the canine.
[42:36] I know what the Bible says about my handler and his family is that in my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to repair a place for you and if I go and repair a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.
[42:53] Whether it's, I end up sleeping in a graveyard one day or I go up at the sound of the trumpet, I know this, I'm going to go live with my handler. He has prepared a place for me and I am going to go home.
[43:08] You know, canines, they can change their handler but it takes a whole long, it takes a long time and a whole process to do it. You know, you've been bought with a price as we mentioned this morning.
[43:22] You've been bought with a price. You belong to God. Oh, you can go back to the world. You ain't going to ever be comfortable there. Your handler that you once had before, he hated you.
[43:32] He wanted you to be in hell and then you gave your life to God and now you're going to heaven. You know what I've watched Christians try to do? Step away from this life and go back to that one and they find out that they're miserable.
[43:45] Oh, and after a while you'll ignore it, you'll be able to live in the world a little while but it'll bug you. Man went to the races, just what his thing was.
[43:56] He liked to go to the races. There's nothing wrong with going to the races. He went to the races. He loved those cars going around the track and just enjoyed it. I mean, that was his bread and butter, man. He loved it. He got saved and he said, that king kind of just faded away.
[44:09] Got him to church and he did right for a while and he says, you know, just things just kind of got a little stale. God got a little quiet. We get used to God talking to us.
[44:21] We're spoiled. Let me just say something to you today. If you don't feel like God's talking to you but you're doing everything right, why does the Father have to tell you how to walk your life every day?
[44:33] You already know what to do. I got six kids. I don't tell my 22-year-old, my 20-year-old, my 18-year-old, 16-year-old to brush their teeth. They know what to do. They don't hear that instruction from me.
[44:46] But for crying out loud, my 12-year-old and my 8-year-old have to be told every night. You say, why? Because they're not mature. When I was learning how to walk with God, you know what? I was getting a lot from God all the time.
[44:57] This is what you need to do and this is how you need to do it. But as you grow, you know what? I already know what I'm supposed to do. I don't have to be told like a little child every day to get up and read my Bible and pray and go to church to do the things I'm supposed to do to witness.
[45:13] But boy, when he does speak, now it's all that much more precious. That man said that he was living and he was in church, he was with God, he was faithful, then things got a little quiet.
[45:24] He started pulling away. You know what? He went back to the races. He said, I just sat there. He goes, you know what? It just wasn't the same. Nothing had changed.
[45:35] Car's still going around tracks. It was still a thing that he liked to do. But he goes, something wasn't right. He goes, so I went back to church. You can go hang out in the world, but once you've known your handler, don't expect for it ever to be the same.
[45:52] Are you a good canine today? I don't want to get to heaven and find out that I got beat out by a golden retriever here on this earth who cared more for her lost handler than I would for my eternal savior.
[46:15] Are you a good canine? If the head's bowed and your eyes closed this evening, boy am I glad God said, just start writing some things down about Lucy and Officer Reese.
[46:29] You know that man still in my town driving around has no idea that I've preached this message a number of times. Preached about a dog who is oftentimes more faithful to do what it is supposed to do than I am.
[46:44] Boy, I don't want to get beat out by Lucy. Lord, spoke into your heart today as the piano begins to play and you need to talk to God. Maybe you need to say, Lord, increase my faith.
[46:56] Maybe increase my desire to please you. You know what happens? We grow up a little bit more and man, you remember those little kids and they just want to hang on every word dad and mom say.
[47:07] They can't wait to see dad and mom and then they grow up a little bit more and they get a little more independent and ah, dad and mom, whatever. We kind of get that way with God sometimes, don't we?
[47:19] That insatiable desire to please our parent kind of falls away. I'm 46 years old.
[47:32] You say, what do you want to do tomorrow? I just want to please God. I just want to please God. I want this year to be more for God than it's ever been.
[47:49] I know the way he's worked for me. I need to work for him just as hard. He's done everything. He's committed to this. You know what I need to do? I need to be more committed.
[48:01] There's so many things pulling on me. I need to quit looking around and all the different things that my eyes see and all the different problems I foresee and just put my nose in the book and a faith that what he said is always going to come to pass.
[48:18] And then when that test comes, Christian, if you're doing those things, when that test comes, those things that you've been trained in will kick in. You'll pass the test.
[48:28] But he's going to try you. He's going to try you. And you can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you.