Summary
Coming soon!
Transcript
Good morning church. Good morning. It is so good seeing you. My name is Jonathan lead pastor here man I am excited about today. Hey, I've got one thing. I want to share with you this morning before we get into today's message.
And this is just kind of a heads up next week We are going to be taking up a special offering at the end of service So we've been in the process. Some of you guys have been here, you know We've been in the process of going through and improving some of our kids facilities so We took time and we improved the back half of our old sanctuary and created new classrooms new lobby space redid all that stuff And and created two new classrooms so that everyone's in one physical building and moved out of the old building and got over here Which was really exciting and then we've been working on the process of doing some remodeling in what's currently the dk sanctuary So the first through fifth grade area and so we were making plans for the stage and for some of the paint and different different things Changing some lighting fixtures and some different stuff But in the process of walking through there and dreaming and thinking about it And then also we've been utilizing that space a little bit more, uh during the mid midweek Uh, it became very apparent at least to me and and probably to my wife too, but at least to me Uh that we're in desperate need of new flooring in that building For for multiple reasons and some of you but in there are like, yeah, you're just now figuring that out. Yeah, i'm slow
But we we need some some new flooring that flooring served the church really well, I remember when they put it in Uh, it was a really really long time ago when they put it in and it has has served its life Well, and now it is time for it to die and leave, um forever But we're going to be collecting a special offering to go towards, uh, the flooring and the remodel in general We have we have all the funds we need for the original Uh plan that we have that we can start on in fact We've already started some of the process of ordering materials and different things for what we're working towards But this part was uh, it was not on the original scope of work And so we're going to present this to you guys next week if you want to know like the if I should have Read what the square footage is but uh the total cost to replace all the flooring in that whole section is just under 25 000 Which is a lot. Um, but when I realized it was more square footage than my entire house. That's why it like it happens It's a big room. It's a big space and uh, we really we really need it And so what we're gonna put in there, it'll look good. It'll serve us well It'll help the space become a lot more usable. Uh, and also it's just it'll fix a lot of issues that we have in there What was that?
Cleaner my wife says Apparently that carpet's dirty when you don't clean it, you know, I don't know how that works So but here's here's my encouragement for you. I I think it's gonna be great You know, here's what would be great one person can give 25 000 A lot of people can give a little that equals 25 000 and that's the power of being a community, right? Like I wish I personally had the ability to just write a check for 25 000 and just be done with it But I don't and many of you are probably in that same place But here's what is amazing together as a community we can make an investment And so I wanted to tell you this this week so that next this upcoming week You can pray and you can ask god what he would have you do What do you have you and your family invest in that? Some of you have kids in that age group to make sense Some of you don't have kids in that age group anymore But it's part of our our community and i'm really really excited about what it's going to look like You won't even recognize the space whenever we're done with it It's going to look really great and so we just can't wait to get in there and make it happen So that's what we've got going on in there. It's going to be really really cool So I wanted to get that in front of you before we started the message So as we start our message, let's go ahead and stand up. We're going to read our key verse for the series Stand with me while I read this Romans chapter 12 verse 2 It says this do not conform to the patterns of this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind Then you will be able to test and approve what god's will is his good pleasing and perfect Will father we just thank you so much for today We thank you for the fact that we get to come and to worship to be here together But we thank you for this time in which we get to be transformed into your image as a community father Lord that we can hear your word and that your spirit can illuminate your truth in our lives. Lord. We love you We praise you in your holy name. We pray. Amen
All right, you can sit down
Now
We're continuing our series on spiritual formation And today subject matter is going to be it's going to be great But you know 4th of july weekend. This is 4th of july weekend. Some of you guys know this some of you don't Uh, and like this is like a little this is like the insider information in church 4th of july weekend Is the least attended weekend in the entire calendar year
So give yourself a round of applause because you're here, right?
Uh
And of course that's minus like, you know like a blizzard or something like non-weather inclement issues like this is like this the weekend Everyone knows that easter's number one mother's day's number two christmas season's number three And then like there's a tie for fourth from like a thousand other different holidays But then july 4th is the lowest attended weekend of the year
The next lowest Is father's day weekend no guilt or shame fathers
But mothers do better at coming to church just throwing it out there For no reason whatsoever and it has nothing to do with what i'm talking about and i'm just sharing this with you Because you're here and the I say that because you have made a choice to be here this weekend Uh when there's other opportunities to be here, right? You could be at the lake you could be out of town and all those things are great I have no problem with going to lake. I have no problem going on vacation. I think it's awesome And I think it's good, but I share that with you because today's subject Is a subject that it may be a little hard like when you first hear what it is You may be like this is not what I signed up for I usually come for jonathan's really bright and cheerful personality and he's so funny and that's why I come to church every sunday I know I'm usually like that But today In our process we're going to be talking about meeting god And your pain and suffering I know and you're like that is what I came to church here for today That's exactly what I wanted to hear Just a little talk about pain and suffering but here and here's why I think it's important Okay, jesus told us right at the beginning like he told us in this world you'll have trouble
He never hid that from you He never said follow me and life is going to be great in fact, he is like You're going to have some troubles in this world You're going to have some troubles in this world and here's what's the problem with pain and suffering
At some point in our lives at some season. Maybe it's in the past. Maybe it's in the present. Maybe it's in the future pain and suffering Come for all of us in some way in some form or another It's it's unfortunately an inevitable part of living in this world It could be physical pain. It could be relational pain. It could be emotional pain like but these things happen And here's the thing that's important as we start working on and we keep talking about our spiritual formation And many of us are walking through the spiritual formation classes and we're beginning to take some exercises and we're and practices into our lives And we're beginning this journey to look inward Into who we are and opening ourselves up to god Sometimes what we find in that process of opening ourselves and creating time and space for god What we thought we would find is like i'm just gonna wake up early every morning And i'm gonna be still before god and i'm just gonna allow him to Share and speak his love over me what we thought we were gonna find was overwhelming peace and what we find Is things from our past coming up in our hearts and our minds we find wounds We find guilt We we find shame we find anxiousness. We find fear. We find things we weren't expecting to find
Because the journey we thought we were gonna find has led us to this place where we're looking back in our lives And we're finding something that we weren't expecting
Because we were dealing with this because our bodies
carry
These past pain and sufferings with them
They we carry that in your body you carry that inside of you Things from a long time ago that maybe even somewhat you forgot Well, all of a sudden you open these things back up and it's just like it happened yesterday Like if we don't allow these things to heal properly We continue to carry some of this pain and suffering with us And so when we walk through this process of opening ourselves up to god Sometimes what we find Are things that we had shoved away a long time ago And then we're like, ooh And if you're like me The first thing you do is like well, I'm just not gonna do that anymore Problem solved. I get that extra 30 minutes of sleep back And I won't be reminded of that, but that's not that's not the thing and that's why I I want to make sure that we address this this concept this idea Because the world has a very different way to deal with pain and suffering than god does And that's very important to know So so here here's the thing Uh When we uh deal with this when we don't Walk through pain and suffering properly and we just ignore it Like we we have what we consider
undigested pain Undigest it's like it's like food that's not digest. It just sits there. It doesn't go anywhere
And it's there in your life And here's what's amazing about this and this is a picture Emotional pain like when you deal with some of these pains of the past Uh, they are often a trailhead or an invitation Of somewhere that needs to be explored to find healing Like when you begin to open yourself up to god and you begin to pray and all of a sudden you begin to realize There's a pain or a pushback or something or something is happening inside of you. This is like a trailhead Of where things were going and what what can be led to and I love the word trailhead because you know My family and I we we got in we we like to go camping. We like to go hiking We like to do it. Well, I do my kids. I almost killed them. So they don't like it anymore. Uh, but but boy i'm in it uh hardcore hiking and like I remember when I first started hiking and I learned the turn about trailhead and you know trailhead if you don't if You're not like a hiker like that's that's just what it is It is the the head or the beginning the starting point of the trail And here's what's amazing about trailhead if it's a really easy 0.25 mile circle That's all paved. It has a trailhead And if it's like 130 mile trek through the desert, it also has a trailhead No matter how long the trail is It has a trailhead it has a start It has an end but it always has a trailhead and sometimes in our emotional journey You will not know how long that trail is That you need to journey with god to find the healing at the end of that
But the emotional pain that first trigger Is the trailhead is the point is this invitation and it's just like in our physical bodies Pain in your physical body is your body saying something's wrong
And if it's something minor You can maybe ignore it and it'll get better. But if it's something major And some of you tough guys out there. I know You know you rub your disc in your back and you're like fine It's gonna heal up And then the doctor's like if only you would have come to me three months sooner And you're like, ah, see if you ignore the pain It creates a problem. I'm also speaking to myself because sometimes I like to ignore signals that my body's giving But here's the thing the world has three methods For dealing with pain. This is common and this is kind of internal It's not even like a world system It's just kind of a way that humans have have found to cope with with pain The first one when faced with pain whether it's present pain or past pain The first thing that people do is they deny it They deny it What pain?
I don't have any pain. It's fine And and I will say this too. This is particularly popular and has been particularly popular in christian circles in christian circles and the reason is Because sometimes people will confuse the hope of christ and living in faith with denial
And god never asked you To deny that you're going through trouble
He asked you to trust him while you're going through trouble And it's very different And unfortunately there was some incorrect teaching
That spread through the church Which was this idea that all you need to do is speak positively and never admit to what you're feeling Never admit to what you're going through just reject that and do the things and listen i'm all for affirmation I'm all for positive confession. I'm all for speaking in faith and truth without a shadow of a doubt But if you do not accept the reality of what your circumstance is You are denying the truth and you're just shoving it away and you're never actually opening up to the healing power of god And you're just saying that you're not going through the healing power of god Remember when jesus was with the blind man And he's like save me son of god save me save me son of david and jesus had the audacity to ask him What do you want?
And the blind man could have been like a good life I guess He could have said whatever I want he could be like i'm not blind you're blind What did he make him say? Yeah, I got an issue
And he said yeah, I can fix that I can fix that I can fix that pain. I can fix that thing. So denial is this problem It's like this idea of like spiritual bypassing We're like trying to avoid the pain and then we're somehow trying to justify it and reconcile it with our faith. But often We're missing the part of the healing journey that comes from taking that pain and bringing it to god And we're going to talk about the way that god wants us to do it
But but it can be effective bypassing or denying it can be effective for a while It can have a short-term result But it won't result in long-term healing That's why some of you you had some things some hurts some wounds some path and your past maybe in your teenage years Maybe in your early 20s and then like you kind of just like whatever we just shove it aside We just kind of keep moving on and then all of a sudden you find yourself in your mid 30s Your 40s and all of a sudden you're like dealing with stuff from like your teenage years and like what is going on? Why is this coming back up inside of me all of a sudden?
It's because it was never dealt with And all of a sudden when you get a little further down the line your body starts telling you like hey We got some issues we need to address
When you're young you can ignore some of those issues when you get older your body starts telling you like hey We got some issues we need to address
I'm trying to fight it as long as possible, but I think my eyes are trying to tell me hey, buddy We got some issues we need to address This whole holding things out and just needing the light to be just right Like, you know like everything has to be just right to read something like we need to address this somewhere
Just get some readers
Just do it And I told my kids I want to get the kind that I can clip, you know and wear like a necklace
So I can pull so i'm always ready and they were like, please don't Please god don't do that
And I said the only way i'm not doing the clip-ons is if I can find some stuff that are permanently up here That I can just engage with a head flip
Now that would be even sweeter than a necklace
But they also said that was loserville, uh, which is fine. I live there quite frequently, okay?
But but here's the thing
If we continue to deny Whatever we deny in our life It ends up having the most power over us
When you keep denying something over and over and over again It ends up becoming that boogie monster that has so much power over you that you can never seem to turn and address it
So denial doesn't work, but that's the first thing the second one is detachment people detach
They say i'm hurting I'm hurting so, you know what i'm just going to detach myself and i'm not going to feel anything
And here's the thing it actually it works Some of you have the ability to completely detach from pain But here's the issue when you detach from pain and suffering you detach from joy and happiness and family and relationships You're fully detached And now you're just floating through life detached. God did not call you to live detached In fact, he said it is not good for you to be detached
It's good for you to be in community together And so detachment doesn't it doesn't work. You have no pain, but you also have no happiness
That's not God's way So you're not supposed to deny you're not supposed to detach it and then the third one and this is unfortunately very prevalent is We drug it
Now sometimes that's with literal drugs people chase drugs sometimes that's with alcohol But it doesn't have to be like necessarily a substance abuse You could try to drug that pain that you're feeling with with relationships or with social media Or with going out and having fun or whatever that may be you try to cover it up You try to go do something to take away the pain you're feeling so that you can feel better
And you have this short-term benefit with a long-term issue
Denial detachment and drugging will never fix your problems
At the very best it'll give you a short-term relief
But jesus has a different way
And this is this is the point that I want to make sure that we understand
The bible says you don't have a high priest you don't have a savior You don't have a god who is so separate from you that he doesn't understand what you're going through In fact, it says the exact opposite that god made sure that jesus became man and became flesh So that he could be not not just in the theoretical knowledge, but so that he could become well Acquainted with every type of suffering pain and temptation that you can go through But that he not only went through it but that he went through it and remained righteous and upright through every single Circus like that is the type of god that we have That he's not someone who's so distant, but he's someone who's close He's not someone who I can imagine what you're going through. No, he's been through it
And when you realize that your savior that your god has been through what you've been through and worse
It'll change the way you think about pain and suffering And it'll change what you do with pain and suffering
And so I think about the story in matthew chapter 26 verse 36 We'll read it. Uh, it says this it says then jesus went with them. That's the disciples This is right after the passover dinner This is before he goes to the cross and it says he went with them to the olive grove called guessthemoni And he said sit here while I go over there and pray And he took peter and zebedee's two sons james and john and he became anguished And distressed and he told them my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death
He's not been saying any words
He didn't say I'm kind of having a little bit of a rough day My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death Stay here and keep watch with me And he went on a little further and he bowed his face to the ground praying my father if it's possible that this cup of suffering Be taken away from me. Yeah, I want your will to be done Not mine Here's the thing Does jesus deny what he's about to go through It's gonna be fine guys. Don't worry about it Don't wait i'm the third day. It's gonna be fine Just get to that other time. There's a day in the he didn't deny it
He didn't detach like and just become stoic Sometimes we have a lot of pictures of jesus and he looks like a very detached stoic painting That's what it looks like. That's very detached like he doesn't care
That is not the picture of someone who's detached and not allowing his feelings and emotions to be reigning free That's someone who's fully aware with what he's feeling In fact in another account it says that he is so overwhelmed that he in this prayer that he begins to literally sweat blood Which is what happens when your physical body is under the utmost duress like he's literally Going through something very hard Emotionally physically he literally is sweating blood. He doesn't he doesn't deny it. He doesn't detach from it He doesn't drug it and be like kaisles. Try to do it like no What does he do?
He surrounds himself with his close friends
He acknowledges the pain that he's going through And then he goes and he meets his father in prayer
He acknowledges what it is and he goes and he meets his father in prayer
And he gives it all up and he laments what's going on and he even says god if I could take this away That's great, but not my will but your will be done
Can you do this?
And he goes through it and he prays and and here's the thing that we want to look at
Because here's the important part In our emotional healing journey and our ability to be emotionally healthy And take these things to god our spiritual journey and our emotional journey are coupled because you cannot grow And your spiritual maturity while remaining emotionally unhealthy
Because they're connected
They're connected
When god says he wants all of you he means he wants all of you He doesn't want just part of you He doesn't want just the good parts of you that show up to church But the parts that go to sleep and can't fall asleep because you're riddled with guilt or anxiety or fur like he you know He wants that part too He wants the part of your past and your childhood that every time you think about it Create some kind of clammy sweat over your skin because you're just like I can't deal with that right now He wants that abusive relationship. He wants those past mistakes He wants all of it and he says I have come not just for your future But for your present and so that you can be healed from your past
It's complete
It's complete And you can't try to detach like oh, I just want to become a better student of the bible That's great becoming a better student of the bible is awesome. I want to memorize more scripture. That's great But he also says but I actually want your heart
I want all of you
I want all of you and you have pain and you have suffering inside of you that you're either denying or you're detaching Or you're just completely just trying to cover it up with something else and he says and I want to uncover that And I want to expose it to the healing light of christ and allow it to be healed
To be healed
And I want to show you I say it 53 3 says he was despised and rejected a man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief We turned our backs on them. He was despised and he and we did not care
Jesus was acquainted with pain
And we've all been wounded we've all been hurt And we need to be rewired We begin to react we've talked about this a lot We begin to have our natural reactions not line up with the identity of who we are And because of our past and some of these pains and wounds and hurts and we need to be rewired So that we respond to them like god
So that we can find healing
So that we can actually find peace
Because although jesus said in this world there'll be trouble he also said take heart i've overcome the world
He doesn't leave you without hope in fact, he gives you the greatest hope and the hope is not When you get to heaven
The hope is for today
The hope is for experiencing new creation in your body today
To be able to experience the truth of who he is today And here's what i'll tell you i'll show you a personal example
Because I think it's it's one thing to be ethereal, but I think and we can see jesus's example, but i'll give you an example That for me that was in my life, uh, and it's in it's for that's personal that's relatively recent many of you guys know It's been a couple years now Uh that my youngest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes completely hit us out of the out of the blue We had no idea what it was We had no concept of what it was like He just got sick and he wasn't getting better and then he got really sick And we had to take him to hospital and then they tell us Uh, this is what's going on. We didn't even know it was it was such a shock to us when they said like hey We know what's going on with your son. Uh, this is what it is We we were so like they're like he has type 1 diabetes We literally were so ignorant to that entire world that we were like so We're like cool. So y'all like Give him some medicine and he'll be good. They're like, no, this is something he gets to deal with for the rest of his life
And we and and the shock of realizing like oh This is not a week or a month or this is this is something minus God intervening. This is the rest of his life And not only is it something deals with the rest of his life It's this idea of this concept that he lives in a state where you're constantly having to monitor And if his blood sugar goes too high you got to make adjustments And if it goes too low it can be adjustments and there's this constant risk because blood sugar too high many You know for a long term is really bad for your organs But then in the short term if your blood sugar goes too low and too fast Then you can literally go into a coma and you can never wake up
And all of a sudden without any warning without anything you're just living life with Four healthy boys and all of a sudden realizing there's this issue. I'm we're in this place where every moment
matters
And there's times when there'll be an alarm that goes off and it could be three in the morning or it could be three in the afternoon it could be right after I get home from work or it could be while he's at school Then alarm goes off and that it becomes a very present and intense moment where you must address this issue Because the consequences of not addressing this issue is severe
And it's and it's an emergency
It's an emergency you have to deal with it You have to deal with it You have to deal with it And so you're constantly alert and so it's really hard because you're going to bed at nighttime and he's in bed and you sit there And you think boy, I hope he's okay And boy, I hope that this alarm will wake me up in the middle of my sleep because if I don't wake up And I don't address an issue that he has he may not wake up
And you begin to deal with this and you begin to deal with this and you begin to deal with this And I was dealing with this the best way that I knew how just trying to figure it out My wife and I are dealing with it. Our family's dealing with it. We're praying. We're believing for god for healing We're still to this day praying and believing god for healing and we're walking through this process
And it's hard
But all of a sudden
I'm just struggling
I'm struggling And the way it's manifesting in my life is I was basically just angry all the time
I was just angry Not necessarily at anybody Not at anything I was just angry and I was literally
Walking around basically. I like the best way I could describe it was like a pot of water Just at simmer and all it took was the slightest turn of the dial and I exploded
At anybody and anything and anywhere could be myself could be my wife could be my kids could be could it didn't matter
And I felt led at that time like hey, you know what i'm just walking through this thing I i've been going through this process and I was like, you know what? I need to I need to see somebody and so I went and I started seeing a counselor therapist
Because I was struggling and honestly, I didn't even know what I was going to talk to him about
I was like i'm fine denial
But I but I was just like, you know other people I I didn't I had a great childhood My parents were great. They're still married like I have a great marriage like all these things Yeah, everything can be improved. But like I don't have this massive traumatic vamp this thing I'm fine Like i'm fine Like I don't know what's going on But like I probably should just do this and I just felt like I was supposed to do it So I did it obediently and I literally didn't know he even asked me like what are you here for? I was like, I don't know
I'm just here
I'm just here like let's figure it out
And we just talk and I just talk Counselors just let you talk and talk and talk and talk talk talk You know and you're just like what am I saying right now?
But through and and you know, I thought This is like I thought i'm probably gonna go and he's gonna be like you're fine you know just
You know take a nap and you'll be good
And when he was like i'd like to see you next week
And I was like one week break. Wow And he's like probably every week for like the next six months. I'm like Well now that sounds
severe
I thought I was fine I think i'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm so Right. Uh, so we start talking and here's the thing what he helped me. So he's like, hey, listen, you're dealing with something
in your life That creates a sense of urgency
At every moment and you have to be ready to respond at this little thing in an urgent way Because it's actually urgent It's actually important. It's actually urgent and it must be dealt with immediately. There's no there's no like i'm tired today
You have to deal with it He's like, but here's the problem you've been living on a scale of one to ten You've been living at a ten out of ten And the problem is you never allow yourself to come down because this is really real and so you're out of ten out of ten So now with everybody else around you
When someone does something that should need to be a response of a father of a one You're still responding like a ten like it's this urgent immediate like death ends on the line And so one of my kids will spill a glass of water and I will completely lose my crap Like something they may as well just burn our entire house down Because I am so out of bounds in my emotions because i'm dealing with something that I don't know how to deal with That i'm now taking out on everybody around me
Because i'm i'm not there
I'm because i'm not okay
And through a lot of conversations
And a lot of time
He just kept I just kept seeing
I'm hurting
I'm hurting because one of my sons is sick and I can't do anything to fix it
And that hurts and that makes me angry and I don't get it And it's like i'm in this weird place where it's like I love my son and I really hate his pancreas Just this one little part. It's really just the tip of his pancreas that I hate
It's like if I could punch it in the face, I would
I would punch it in the face. I would punch it in the face. I would punch it in the face. And in the process of all this and i'm talking and dealing with this God led me to this in this process outside of counseling to this book
And we some of you guys remember it because we talked about it because I was just at such a hard place I only came to church on sundays preaching to myself
It was called uh gentle and lowly
And I was introduced to this concept where Jesus said If you want to know who I am
I'm gentle
And i'm low
And I realized nothing in my life
At that moment was gentle
Nothing
Not with myself not with others. There was nothing gentle in my life and there was nothing humble or lowly about where I was at
And in the process I just started reading this book and it's like oh my gosh and in this it painted this beautiful picture and I don't have that But it was like listen
Jesus has experienced everything he experienced and not just once he actually is experiencing what you're experiencing right now
And he's experiencing it more intensely because he loves what you love more than you do
But the difference is the difference is Jesus can get angry and not sin
I can't
Jesus can regulate because he's emotionally balanced i'm not
But all of a sudden I have this thing Jesus cares about Felix more and not just in this idea because I thought I could tell myself well He really cared about it. He just healed him
But he actually cares about him even more than that And I just needed to know that there was somebody more angry about it than me So that I could let go of it
And Jesus is like yeah, I'm more angry about it than you
I'm more angry about it than you
But even that he said He said
But I care about your heart more in this moment than anything else
And you're carrying anger and burdens and pain that's not yours to carry And you're responding in ways that are not allowing you to be like me because you're you're carrying a pain that I need to heal
And it's a legitimate pain you've gone through something
It's not because you're weak. It's not because you're broken It is because you went through something that was hard and it created pain and it created suffering, but you Can give it to me? You can give it to me
And i'll keep carrying it because part of my mind thought of it just if I let go
That who's going to keep up the fight?
And also God it doesn't change I still have to wake up at three in the morning if that happens that doesn't change That that thing is still very present in my life
God, so how how are you gonna do he's like can you can you trust me?
To help you respond
To walk in the unforced rhythm of my Love for you. Can you trust me that I love him more than you do and that I would never allow that to happen That if I need to physically wake you up, I will
Will you trust me?
And all of a sudden I'll never forget sitting in my car after a counseling session
And for the first time in what felt like months
Just literally just feeling myself just like let it go
And be like god that's yours
I Don't need to deny that it's there it's there I don't need to detach from it
But you can you can take care of that
And in the end now some time apart a distance apart Our circumstances haven't changed but my life is totally different
I'm not anxious. I'm not fearful. I'm not angry
Because jesus wouldn't allow me to stay there Was it hard and was it painful to walk through that journey?
Was it vulnerable? Did it make me sometimes feel like I was going crazy? Was it this whole thing? Did my family have to suffer through things they shouldn't have? Yeah, they did but jesus was right there with me Amen
Amen
All the minutes and I want to read one for you today
I'm not actually gonna read two psalms 13 says oh lord
How long will you forget me forever?
How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul With sorrow in my heart every day how long will my enemy have the upper hand?
Turn and answer me oh lord god restore the sparkle to my eyes or I will die
Do not let my enemies gloat saying we have defeated him. Do not let them rejoice at my downfall, but I trust
And your unfailing love
I will rejoice because you have rescued me
And I will sing to the lord Because he's good to me
Do you notice this is david
It kind of always has laments and the the traditional sense have this five parts they have the address The title of god oh lord, oh god, oh king of the universe And then the second section is usually the complaint
And then there's a request and then there's usually a statement of trust and then there's usually praise
This this process but the thing that you have to understand is sometimes we like to skip the complaint because we're worried god will like be offended by it And this is david the man after god's own heart and david never What I mean you read david and sometimes you're like, oh he's gonna get struck down by lightning You cannot say that to god
And yet god made sure that he recorded it not once not twice not three times but literally dozens and dozens and dozens of times He said look what a look what david went through Look what some of these other people went through look what the nation of Israel look how they and they pour out He doesn't sit here and deny or detach or try to sugarcoat it. He literally says how long will you forget me forever?
Will you ever remember me?
But then
He turns it around because the thing is you need to be aware of your emotions. You don't need to be ruled by your emotions
Therapy will say that's being emotionally balanced Spiritual the bible will call that being self-controlled Which is a fruit of the spirit self-control
I don't deny my emotions. They're just not the thing and david never denies emotions. Trust me He puts them out there over and over again He never denies them. But then he says but what I know is that your has said your unfailing love will be with me forever So I trust you So I trust you Listen to this one Psalms 142 your bible will tell you depending on how it is that this is this is a a psalm that david wrote regarding his experience in the cave
A literal cave
But this could also be a figurative cave in your life. Maybe you've been in a cave at some point. Maybe you're in a cave right now listen to this
I cry out to the lord I plead for the lord's mercy I pour out my clink complaints before him and tell him all my troubles
When I am overwhelmed
You alone know the way I should run Wherever I go my enemies have set traps for me I look for someone to come and help me but no one gives me a passing thought
No one will help me No one cares a bit what will happen to me Then I pray to you. Oh lord. I say you are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life
Hear my cry for i'm very low
Rescue me from my persecutors for they are too strong for me Bring me out of prison so I can thank you The godly will crowd around me for you Are good to me
I don't know where you're at today
I don't know where your emotional state is I don't know where your emotional state is Maybe when I talked about this this whole thing you've been going through and god's bringing up some things From your past and it's creating some anxiety Maybe like some past hurts or some past wounds or even some very present hurts and wounds Are stirring around The thing I want to tell you is maybe not the thing that you were expecting to hear the thing I want to tell you is
Go home and lament
Go home
And take it to god
All of it
Open it up to him And maybe he'll lead you to talk to a trusted friend or a trusted about maybe he'll lead you to talk to a counselor Maybe he'll he'll lead you to go reach out to a pastor or a friend, but you take that Don't deny it don't detach from it don't drug it and you take it right to god
You take it right to him
And you pour out your heart to him And you let him know what it feels like and you let him know
The hurt and the heartache and the distrust and everything that it generates inside of you And then
You make a choice
To say what you believe
About who god is in your life
And you watch what happens
You watch what happens when you give
A hurt part of yourself to the healer
Watch what happens when you give your past to the healer
When you give your anger or your despair or your anxiety or your depression or your regret
Watch what happens when you give it to the healer
And it may be something that happens more than once this is not a one-time thing
That's why we get to keep reading david over and over and over again
And bring it to the christ
He's with you in it He's feeling it even now And what he asks is is can I take it and carry it for you?
Can I carry that hurt for you Can I carry that suffering for you
So that I can give you something that's far greater and far lighter
Because that's the goodness of god
So as you move forward this week you create space and time for god
If there's a hurting of pain
Give it to him
Give it to him
He will not condemn you he will not judge you he will not get angry with you
He'll embrace you
Right where you're at today
Let's pray this morning father. We thank you for who you are
We thank you for how good you are
Lord if there's anywhere in here in this room
Who's dealing with hurt or suffering
Whether it's from the past or in the present
Your Lord help us meet you in our suffering Help us allow you to work all things for the good of those who love you Help us bring where we're at to you
carry the burden that you give us and that give our heavy burden to you.
I speak healing and hope,
but doesn't come from denial, detachment, or drugging, but from coming to the foot of the cross and bringing ourselves to you.
We love you, Father.
In Jesus' holy name we pray.
Amen, amen.
Hey, listen, church, a couple things before we dismiss. One, if you need prayer for anything, our prayer team's gonna be down here at the front. Maybe you have questions about salvation. Maybe you just need someone to pray. Maybe today's message starts something up inside of you. You want someone to pray with you and agree with you. Our prayer team will be down here at the front and they would love to be able to stand with you. Other than that, know that you're loved and you're prayed for this week. Enjoy this wonderful Sunday. Take a supernaturally blessed nap. It will be blessed, says the Lord. You guys are dismissed. Have a great rest of your Sunday.
