Chris Gaynor

well honestly y'all i um i have a i have two boys uh 13 and 14. um and i'm used to being under attack that's a part of my normal normal life it's really good to be here i've known brandon for several years now gotten to interact with him through the network of churches and so i'm just thankful to have the opportunity to be with you this morning and share out of god's word if you have a copy of the scriptures with you and i hope you do you can go ahead and turn with me to psalm 42 that's where we're going to be this morning as we walk through the experience of the psalmist in a broken and hard and sinful world i had the chance back in the early 2000s to lead multiple mission trips to chiang mai thailand and on one of those trips we had the chance to serve uh in a leper colony that actually still exists in chiang mai thailand honestly y'all i didn't know much about leprosy i only really knew what i'd read in the bible and so my expectation was that i was going to encounter people with really serious skin issues and problems and i just expected to see a lot of that but what was most surprising to me was that most of the people in the leper colony had very normal looking skin actually had very beautiful con complexions but what they what most of them uh did have were missing uh fingers and toes and so in some cases entire limbs i was completely unprepared for that i didn't understand what the correlation between that and leprosy was well what i learned was that leprosy is much more than a skin disease it actually affects the peripheral nerve endings and causes a loss of feeling well you can imagine what happens when you have a loss of feeling in your peripheral nerve endings you experience injury and because you're unaware that you've been injured you don't do anything about it so infection sets in and then ultimately limbs toes fingers have to be amputated i hadn't really given it much thought up into that point but suddenly i realized that being able to feel pain when you're injured is a good thing it's a good thing because pain leads me to pay attention to where i'm hurting and seek healing not just relief did you know that that is true spiritually and emotionally feelings are like the warning lights on our cars okay i i i don't know i'm i'm married my wife doesn't seem to think that those are big issues the light goes off and a month later i get in her van and i say um what what what how long has it been i don't know it came on two or three years ago i didn't actually those things are there to tell us that there might possibly be a problem and the objective is not just to make the light go out the objective is to figure out what the issue is and deal with it feelings don't need to be ignored they really should be investigated they don't need to be covered or masked because our feelings are telling telling us something they're they're telling us that something needs attention and it's an attempt to move us to action to today what we're going to talk about as we walk through psalm 42.

is uh what do you and i are supposed to do in seasons when we feel spiritually depressed when there's darkness when there's pain when there is confusion what are you and i supposed to do now i want to say this i know that depression is a complicated thing somebody in the room may actually struggle with this in very deep ways and i'm not suggesting that all depression is spiritually or even primarily spiritual in nature but i am talking about those seasons when you haven't lost your faith in god you haven't lost your commitment to him but you just can't seem to feel god you don't hear him speaking you don't know what he's doing you feel confused he feels distant you feel spiritually cold and hard and dark psalm 42 is a haunting picture of what it feels like to struggle spiritually but it's not just a description it also i think gives us a prescription so i want us to i want you to join me in psalm 42 and let's walk through this this morning and we're going to consider two things first what does spiritual drought and depression and darkness feel like how do you identify that and the second thing is what are we supposed to do about it what's our best practice when we approach this when we're in it when we're anticipating it what should we do in seasons like this all right let's start with this what spiritual drought darkness and depression feel like let's just walk through the psalm okay join me verse one as the deer pants for the streams of water so my soul pants for you my god my soul thirsts for god for the living god when when can i go and meet with god anybody in the room ever sung the little song as the deer penteth for the water so my soul longeth after thee okay completely wrong idea completely wrong idea really sweet and tender but that's not the picture here of the psalmist in psalm 42.

this is not a precious little deer in a peaceful green meadow sauntering up to a babbling brook to lap up cool refreshing water on a warm summer day okay the picture here is a deer on the run frantic desperate running for his life dying of thirst and unable to find a stream to drink from it's intense and frantic search for water the psalmist is distressed and desperate for god but he can't seem to find him he doesn't even know when he's going to be able to meet with when can i go and meet with god it's this urgent desperate kind of longing for something he's not experiencing look at verse three my tears have been my food day and night while people say to me all day long where where is your god he can't he can't stop crying crying day and night have you ever been there have you ever been in the season where the tears just come for sometimes feeling like no reason at all and it seems like he's not eating because he says my food my only food has been my tears and you see from these verses that the outside world is is looking in they notice that things are bad for him and so they ask him where's your god it looks to them as though he's been abandoned by god it's not just an internal struggle it's pretty obvious to everybody around him that things are amiss verse 5 why my soul are you downcast why so disturbed within me my soul is down downcast within me listen he's in the depths it feels like a never-ending downward spiral he's downcasted and depressed he acknowledges that to himself verse 7 deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls all your waves and breakers have swept over me listen he's overwhelmed he's absolutely overwhelmed it feels like he's drowning just gasping for air the storm has really become too too much for him and he's wondering why isn't god calming the wind in the waste surely he could do that right surely he's the god who's the lord of the wind and the waves who could say to them peace be still but it's not happening verse 9 i say to god my rock why why have you forgotten me why must i go about mourning oppressed by the enemy listen he feels forgotten he feels like he's left defenseless he has no protection as his enemies oppress him it seems like god isn't doing anything about his situation verse 10 my bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me saying to me all day long where is your god it's not just an internal struggle there's a physical component to this he's suffering physically from what feels like to him like a fatal disease and in here again his enemies his foes add insult to in injury claiming that all of this is evidence that god has abandoned him no that's rough it's hard it's painful it's painful to even read that and think deeply about what it means but but you know what this is not an uncommon experience for the people of god for some of you it's possible that this morning this all sounds way too familiar it feels like your reality and it's hard to stand in a place like this and sing hope has a name his name is jesus and i have victory in him because everything around you everything inside of you everything you're experiencing feels much less much more like defeat than it does like victory but it's not an uncommon experience surely you remember david on the run from absalom surely you remember job surely you remember jeremiah the prophet surely you remember paul listen the scriptures are littered with men and women who experienced this kind of season of darkness and hardship and pain and suffering and wondering how long oh lord how long listen if you're not there here's the truth there will be times of darkness there will be seasons of drought there will be loss and grief and times of deep hurt and feelings of depression if you haven't been there guess what you will be it's coming these things are inevitable in a sinful and broken world trust me nobody in the room is exempt from this but this psalm this psalm teaches us what to do i think embedded in this psalm are seven ways that you and i should respond seven ways that we should encourage each other as we walk together y'all as the body of christ one person so what does the scripture say we mourn with those who mourn and we rejoice with those who rejoice we walk through these seasons together and we help each other do the work of persevering and clinging to hope in hard seasons all right so i'm going to give you seven things i'd love for you to jot these down i think this is a good practice for you i believe that you and i are accountable for what we hear from god's word we aren't just that accountable to apply it we're we're accountable as the people of god to search the scriptures and know if the truth has been preached to us so i'd love for you to write these down this morning and interact with them as we walk together all right what should we do in seasons of spiritual darkness drought and depression well number one we need to refine our desires refine your desires look at verse 1.

as the deer pants for the streams of water so my soul pants for you my god my soul thirsts for god for the living god when can i go and meet with god listen to what he says my soul thirsts for god in seasons of want listen to me brothers and sisters you have to clarify your longings what you think you want or need and what your soul really longs for may not be the same thing in fact i think it's probably safe for me to say that they aren't the same thing can we be honest this morning i'm allergic to pain i have an intolerance for difficulty i'm pretty sure i was created for comfort and luxury i'm attracted to abundance and pleasure and peace i want to be strong and sufficient anybody else in the room resonate with that that's that's really what we want but you know what truthfully what i want truthfully what i think i want is a life that is free of the need for god but that's not what i was created for i was created to know and love and depend on and rely on god i was created for dependence not independence but if i don't tell myself the truth about what my soul really longs for then y'all i'm gonna devise schemes that attempt to get for myself the idols that promise fulfillment but never deliver i don't i don't know you personally but here's what i know some of you in the room this morning are running so hard after stuff and things and experiences and status and success and image and relationships and approval and most of you should know by now from the trail of disappointment and dissatisfaction behind you that none of that will ever satisfy you what you really need is to be with jesus because in his presence his fullness of joy and as it at his right hand are pleasures forevermore let me say one thing before i move on to the next point and that's this to refine your desires doesn't just mean articulating a noble desire it doesn't just mean saying the right thing by definition refining is the exposure and removal of every impurity and you know how that happens fire the heat causes the impurities to rise to the top and then they're discarded listen the fiery trial that you're experiencing isn't intended to destroy you but to test and prove and purify your heart you can't have a pure desire for god alongside every other desire love for the things of the world and love for jesus y'all can't co-exist they can't coexist in our our heart so what do you and i have to do we have to fix our eyes on him we have to turn our hearts toward him we have to be in the process of refining our desires all right number two the second thing you and i have to do is we have to remember the presence of god remember the presence of god look at verse 4 these things i remember the psalmist said as i pour out my soul how i used to go to the house of god under the protection of the mighty one with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng what's he doing here the psalmist it call is calling to mind times when he gathered with the people of god and experienced the protection of god when he enjoyed being with god these aren't just general memories of going to church right okay some of you have those you grew up going to church and you have general ideas general memory that's not what he's talking about here he's calling up specific encounters remembrances of encounters with god at the temple listen he's not forgotten when when god showed up when god spoke when he moved in power he has vivid memories of the manifest presence of god among the people of god and listen those are critical in seasons of darkness dwayne dane told you i've been on the same church staff for 36 years this summer 36 years on the same church staff and y'all there are some moments that are etched in my memory that i saw god move i've watched god heal i've heard him speak for 25 years i led worship and i led worship primarily through a choir and i will never forget one wednesday night choir practice a young unc student who was deaf named covey latham was sitting in the back of our choir practice she came we had deaf interpreters at this time in our church and she came to choir practice because she wanted to feel the music that we were learning so that she could sign it and we were singing and all of a sudden from the back row she shrieks i mean literally screams and runs out the door in an instant her hearing had been restored i will not forget the easter sunday when i saw jones wayne another one of my choir members i saw her in the first service on easter sunday with her unbelieving husband y'all they've been separated for 25 years he had been living with another woman and she had waited and prayed faithfully for him and on this easter sunday morning i watched them walk into the first service that service was over and everybody dismissed and i saw them standing in in the back of the auditorium and i wondered what was happening so i kind of walked back that way in between service and i was like jones everything okay and she goes tommy wants to stay again he wants to hear the message again y'all by the end of the morning by the end of the morning that man gave his life to christ and he was baptized on the spot i won't forget that i won't forget i don't i can't forget the first time i ever heard our pastor pastor j.

d greer say from the pulpit the gospel isn't just the diving board off which we jump into christianity it's the pool itself it was a moment of awakening it was a moment that i i suddenly understood that the gospel isn't just the beginning of the christian life it is the christian life to live in the gospel is to live the christian life you need to experience and recall moments like that because they remind us y'all they remind us that god shows up and god moves and god works and he speaks and he saves and he heals and he delivers listen when we gather when you gather you should expect to experience god we should be looking in and listening for him not just watching out for each other not just being in the room and singing but we should come in with this holy anticipation that the god of the universe is gonna meet with us and show himself to us and speak to us and move among us you should approach church attendance like it's the most important thing in your week other than your personal time with god you need to prepare yourself you need to show up regularly and i'm about to give it a little ouch here you need to show up on time you need to get here early and be ready to go there needs to be something about the way you approach this time that says i'm expecting something to happen here's what this just baffles me okay i'm old man so i'll just go off on you here okay nobody shows up 15 minutes late for a movie it doesn't happen now you might try to skip the previews and get to when the movie starts but can i just tell you that what happens on the stage here before brandon gets before dwayne gets up to preach is not previews it's not the same thing it's the worship of the people of god you should be here should be ready to go you need to engage in worship and you need to bring your bible and notebook like you think god might actually say something to you that you don't want to forget y'all you can't afford we can't afford to be ambivalent or indifferent to the opportunities that we have to know god and celebrate him alongside the people of god trust me there's coming a day when you're going to need to know when and how god has met with you all right number three number three verse five number three repeat truth to yourself look at what he says why my soul are you downcast why so disturbed within me put your hope in god for i will yet praise him my savior and my god do you see what's happening here he's questioning himself he's questioning himself he's he's asking himself why do i feel like this why do i feel this way he's examining his feelings and then he's speaking to his own soul surely you guys know by now that your feelings aren't always reliable right you all got this you're aware of this anybody followed their feelings and found out oh i didn't i didn't need to do that that wasn't a great idea most of you know follow your heart just do what feels right is horrible advice don't say that to anybody your heart is deceitful and more desperately wicked than you know your feelings are real but they may not be telling you the truth they may very well need some attention and action but it's probably not obedience that they need just think about what the psalmist felt was not true just think about this he felt abandoned but that wasn't true the truth was that god was present and listening he felt like he would be swept away and destroyed but that wasn't true the truth was god was his rock he felt like god was against him that wasn't true the truth was that god loved him and was for him listen imagine what kind of mess he would have been in if he hadn't known the truth this is one of the primary reasons that you and i need to spend regular time in god's word and i'm not talking about five minutes of casual reading in the morning i'm talking about soaking in it i'm talking about saturating yourself with it i'm talking about filling your mind and your heart with the word of god i'm talking about meditating on it and memorizing it i'm talking about getting it inside of you so that what comes up in you in seasons of hardship and difficulty is not the lies of the world but the truth of the god of the ages listen satan is a liar and he attacks your heart with lies about the character and the purposes of god don't you listen to me often those lies come in the form of feelings and if you're going to be able to navigate those lies you better be armed and ready to speak truth to yourself the very word of god that's why paul would would charge the church to put on the full armor of god and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of god listen can i just tell you this the problem with so many of us is that we're going into battle daily into battle without a weapon we don't have our sword with us we don't we're not we're not gifted we're not trained we're not ready to use the word of god and listen can i just tell you this like last night i don't really want to own a gun but i kind of wanted to own a gun for a minute nobody goes into a battle no soldier goes into a battle without a weapon right that's suicide it's stupid it's foolish and you and i as followers of jesus need to be armed not with the weapons of the world not with weapons of flesh but with the very word of god all right number four we reaffirmed the sovereignty of god look at verse seven he says deep calls to deep listen to it in the roar of your waterfalls all your waves and breakers have swept over me don't don't miss this he acknowledges that what is happening to him listen to me is under the sovereign rule of god all your ways your breakers have swept over me he says god this is this is from your hand they're your waves and breakers they're subject to your command they're not out of control they're not on their own you god are over these they belong to you the psalmist acknowledges that god is involved even in his troubles even in the storm my brothers and sisters god is still sovereign the scripture repeatedly affirms this truth i love psalm 11 verses 3 and 4 it says when the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do when it's all falling apart when everything is crumbling when the building is caving in what can the righteous do there's not an action given there's a knowing verse 4 the lord is in his holy temple the lord is on his heavenly throne do you catch that what's essential when everything is caving in around us and the world seems to be falling apart what's essential what's necessary is our awareness that our good god is still seated in the place of all authority and power on his throne in heaven the sovereignty of god listen to me the sovereignty of god is a glorious doctrine that should bring us immeasurable hope and peace don't dare let go of this don't dare let go of it don't let your confusion don't let your inability to reconcile the sovereignty of god with the difficulty of your circumstances don't let that rob you of the confidence that comes that no matter what happens to you god is still in control even in chaos and pain and confusion god's still firmly on the throne faithfully working all things together for our good to conform you and me into the image of his son and he will one day jude 1-24 present us before his glorious presence faultless and with great joy listen to me if he's not sovereign if he's not sovereign y'all we don't have a shred of hope and you and i need to reaffirm the sovereignty of god even when we don't understand it i said this last week i was preaching somewhere else on a different subject and i said y'all there's lots of things i don't understand right anybody in the room besides me things i don't understand there are some mathematical uh equations and laws i do not understand right there's some science there's lots of science i don't understand i'm married i don't understand how a woman thinks there's lots of things i don't understand but my lack of understanding doesn't make them not true right i don't i don't understand gravity i don't understand how it works i don't understand how it works here and how it doesn't work other places but it doesn't make it not true because i don't understand it y'all listen just because we can't reconcile in our finite mind the greatness of the sovereignty of god over everything that's happening in the world all at once for all of history and all of timey tier just because we can't understand it doesn't make it not true you all got to cling to things and believe and trust in the sovereignty of god all right number five recall the love of god look at verse eight by day the lord directs his love at night his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life y'all this verse is the one bright spot in the whole depressing psalm it's the one way of hope it's the one little glimmer of sunshine that's coming through by day the lord directs his love at night his song is with me a prayer to the god of my life even in the midst of great darkness battling depression and discouragement he still recognizes the love of god directed toward him at night he sings of that love and turns that song into a prayer listen to me you need to hang on to god's great love for you and there's no clearer demonstration of that than in the gospel romans 5 8 but god demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners christ died for us god's demonstration look at me god's demonstration this morning that he loves you is not your circumstance his demonstration today that he loves you is christ jesus on the cross suffering for your transgression and your sin no greater love hath any man than this then he lay down his life for his friends all your circumstances are not the measure of god's love for you and here's why that's important because today christians in ukraine in afghanistan in north korea and india and iran and somalia and nigeria all of them all of them can be confident and seeing of god's great love for them they can pray knowing they are beloved children of god even in the face of great persecution and in spite of their horrific circumstances can you do that in the middle of your trouble and your heartache and your disappointment and your pain can you this morning be confident of god's great love for you or have you mistakenly tied the idea that god loves you to some set of circumstances that you think you need to be happy god's measure the measure of god's love for you is never your circumstance never listen to me if that's the case the vast majority of the world will never experience the love of god as you've defined it the love of god is christ jesus on the cross listen to the writer of lamentations you know these verses lamentations three pick up at verse 19.

he says i remember my affliction and my wondering the bitterness and the gold listen remember he's not he's not like calling up something in the distant past he's saying i'm aware of it i'm calling it to mind i'm aware of the bitterness and the gall the affliction and the wondering i well remember them and my soul is downcast within me i'll listen does that not echo the psalmist in psalm 42 downcast i remember that i'm very well at where well of that i know that very well how many of you this morning can describe your trouble you're aware of it right you're not ambivalent to it you're not unaware of it you know what it is but what does he say i'm not dwelling there i call this i call this to mine and therefore i have hope because of the lord's great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail they're new every morning great is your faithfulness the writer of lamentations in the middle of bitterness and gall and being downcast called to mind the great love of god for him and knew that that was why he was not destroyed can i tell you this morning that if god's intent in your present circumstance was to destroy you you would already be destroyed you would already be consumed you would already be burnt up the fact that god has preserved you and kept you by his grace and goodness in christ jesus listen to me that's your assurance that god is still working to show goodness and love to you listen be aware of your affliction understand it don't ignore it don't shut off the feelings but be more aware of a greater and more necessary reality you've been loved with an everlasting love and your father has drawn you with loving kindness all right number six sixth thing we need to do remain in prayer remain in prayer look at verse nine he says i say to god my rock why have you forgotten me why must i go about mourning oppressed by the enemy y'all i love this he hasn't lost sight of who god is to him and he has not stopped praying can i tell you this morning god can handle your complaint he can handle your questions he already knows what they are anyway just because you stay silent doesn't mean god's you know like our little kids who think if you can't see if i can't see you you can't see me right god's aware he knows what's in your heart you might as well be honest with him the psalmist is honest why have you forgotten me god why but he says i say to god my rock listen no matter how dark and depressing he's still calling god his rock he still identifies god as solid and reliable the very foundation of his life and he's asking questions why have you forgotten me why must i go about mourning oppressed by the enemy listen he's still pursuing relationship he still wants to understand god's purposes in his current trouble he still believes in god's activity in his life y'all i'm absolutely amazed that at no point in this entire psalm does he ask god to change his circumstance not a single solitary time does he so much as breathe a word that leans towards asking god to change his circumstance he doesn't cry out for god to silence or defeat his enemies there is no request for the removal of physical suffering his solitary plea is for the presence of god don't miss that he wants god he wants to be with god he wants to know what god is up to there's this element of trust in him there's a belief that what he is experiencing god is using it listen if god never changes your circumstances or brings relief for your suffering but you get before him and know that he's heard your cry that's enough because the primary purpose of prayer is not to get something from god but rather to get to god can i say that again the primary purpose of prayer is not to get something from god the primary purpose of prayer of engaging in dialogue with god is to get to him to be with him to cultivate relationship with him and the more you and i need what uh hang on the more you and i need what god more than you and i need what god can do for us we need who god is more than you need god's hands you need his face you don't just need his action you need his heart you need to be with him and know him all right number seven the last thing i think this psalm teaches us to do is this reset your hope reset your hope look at verses 11 look at verse 11.

why my soul are you downcast why why so disturbed within me this is a repeat of an earlier verse and then he says again to himself put your hope in god for i will yet praise him my savior and my god all right look at me by the time he gets to the end of this psalm there's no resolution to his difficulty there's no relief there's no sudden change in his circumstance but yet this psalm ends with a declaration of unrealized hope put your hope in god he says for i will yet praise him my savior and my god he doesn't seem to know when but he expects that there is coming a day when he will praise the one who is his savior and he's his god he is choosing to set his hope on the promises of god he deliberately chooses future hope instead of resigning himself to present despair can i tell you that in your trouble you have that choice you can either set your hope on a future you can set your heart on a future hope you can choose that instead of choosing present despair i know that most of us want to believe that things will get better and i hate to tell you this but we don't have that guarantee when the pandemic started march of 2020 there's only one way out of my out of my neighborhood out to everything at least out of the section where i live in and at the stop sign right there as you're coming out of my neighborhood somebody took a piece of plywood and they painted a message on it and they bolted it to the stop sign they clearly meant for this thing to stay for a while and on that sign with all these pretty pastel colors and flowers and all this kind of stuff they wrote it will get better it will get better and y'all i for two years i drove out by that time and i can't tell you how many mornings i thought to myself maybe maybe not maybe not in the way you expect maybe not in the way you hope maybe not in the way you thought i wondered what they meant by it will get better what their anticipation was just a couple of weeks ago the sign disappeared i don't know if the dmv took it down i don't know if the person who put it up took it down i don't know if they thought it had actually gotten better i don't know if they gave up and just realized it's not going to i have no idea the sign's gone but listen to me all of us live with that internal longing we just want it to get better we just want to get to peace we just want things to be easy for a season for a stretch right anybody in the room besides me y'all are so quiet right does anybody like you just like i just can we just have like a few months right we want it to get better we want it to get better for a long time but nothing in scripture promises us earthly comfort and ease and pleasure you know that right in fact if you read the book it pretty much tells us it's going from bad to worse jesus said himself in this world you will have comfort and ease and pleasure and joy and gladness and abundance and prosperity now what do you say in this world you will have trouble trouble you're gonna have trouble here's an announcement you're gonna have trouble be blessed but then he said this but take heart have hope i've overcome the world the word of god repeatedly tells us to set our minds on things above to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven and not on earth listen y'all i'm not called to put my hope in the temporary but in the eternal we have a greater hope that is beyond this life that's why paul i think expressed it this way in philippians 1 20 and 21 he said i eagerly expect and hope that i will in no way be ashamed i'm not going to be ashamed i'm not going to be made the fool but i will have sufficient courage so that now as always christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death for me to live is christ and to die is gay listen to me that's eternal hope and y'all that kind of hope takes deliberate intentional daily setting our minds and hearts on things above and not on earthly things listen paul didn't get to that magically god didn't sprinkle jesus dust on him and he just suddenly felt that way paul walked through great hardship and difficulty and he chose to believe the eternal good promises of god and set his hope on something greater than this earth you can't say to live as christ and to die is gang if your hope is all wrapped up in stuff and things and people and experiences you have to cultivate that kind of hope you have to make sure you haven't set your heart on the wrong thing for many of us who struggle with disappointment and frustration it is a clear indicator that we've set our hope on the wrong thing i want to make one final observation before i wrap this up this morning go back to the beginning the heading of this psalm tells us something that i think is very important about the significance of this psalm for the gathered church look at it it says for the director of music a maskel of the sons of korra y'all these kinds of things in scripture aren't incidental they're there for a reason everything about this heading indicates that this psalm was written for use in public worship all right for the director of music all right i think that's pretty obvious anybody other than jordan i don't know your wife's name alexa anybody other than alexa have a resident director of music in their home okay you got you got one i'm not talking about the person who chooses the spotify playlist or controls the you know the the music playing in the house okay obvious direct for the director of music a maskel a maskel is a poem or a song for instruction and of the sons of korah well they were a group of priests whose ministry was singing in the temple worship all right here's why this is important y'all this psalm was intended not for private meditation but for public worship they sang this in the temple they sang this when they got together excuse me why why did they do that because it represented a common experience and not an isolated incident y'all this is this is so important can i just plead with you this is why you have to be real with each other we we live in a culture that prizes image management you know that's what facebook and instagram are all about it's about putting forth your your best image it's about making people think something about you it's about putting forth an idea of who you are i call it fake book i look at pictures and i'm like i've been to your house and it don't ever look like that it is never that clean who you think you're fooling i mean i watch these people post all these glorious glorious posts about their children how sweet they are glorious and wonderful and obedient and kind and how they at three they're already devoted to the scriptures i'm like i know your children like i don't know i don't know where you're coming up with this i watch what people post about their dinner i'm like i've been to eat at your house at least 25 times and you have never served me anything that looked like that listen to me the people in this room look at me this morning the people in this room do not need to think you have it all together that's not helpful to them that's not helpful to them they don't need to think you don't ever have any trouble and you don't ever fly off the handle and you don't ever lose it and you don't ever not know what to do that's not helpful to them y'all we need to be real with each other we need to unpack the discouragement and difficulty and the hardship of life so that together we can attack it and call each other to set our hope on god when you come in here you need to sing things that point you to jesus y'all what we experience is common that's why the scripture says no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and god is faithful he'll not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but will with the temptation provide a way of escape so that you can stand up under it can i just tell you something this morning some of you have experienced temptation and seen the deliverance of god and you need to talk about that because somebody who's encountering that same temptation needs to learn from you what the way out is there are some people in this room who feel oppressed and they need to know that somebody else has had that same experience and it's not just them you do know that the enemy will lie to you and tell you that what's happening to you is your fault and you're significantly messed up more than everybody else in the church and y'all that's a lie hardship and difficulty and pain and suffering and darkness and depression and doubt are common and we've got to get to the place where we get over ourselves enough to realize we're supposed to be helping each other deal with this can i just tell you this like i have my my 14 year old lord jesus help him so the night before last he rails at his brother he says something mean and ugly to him that couldn't say and so we begin to deal with that and then he says to us and this y'all this happens so much i can't even count it on all my fingers and toes with exponents you know well he did such and such and you didn't do anything about that i said i didn't know it i didn't know i can't deal with things i don't know about if you're gonna react to him hitting you with the remote and i don't see it you have to tell me he hit you with the remote okay i'm not omnipresent omniscient i'm not clairvoyant i don't know everything that happens listen y'all we've got to talk about stuff with each other so we can help each other some of y'all are upset because nobody's helping you but nobody knows you got any trouble nobody knows there's any doubt as far as they know you've got the world by the string the tale of kite whatever the phrase is y'all we gotta walk through this stuff together we gotta stir up faith and hope in one another it's why you gotta sing songs like you sang this morning hope has a name his name is jesus listen i don't care how good you sing you need to sing it because the person seated next to you is still trying to figure out if they have any hope this morning and they need somebody in the room to say that hope has a name his name is jesus in christ i have the victory don't fake it without y'all that's why for for centuries the church has sung this kind of song you know this when darkness seems to hide his face i rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gal my anchor holds within the veil when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul those aren't joyful songs those aren't happy go lucky songs they aren't dancing and shouting songs they are songs that call us to recognize the reality of difficulty and hardship and pain and suffering and darkness and drought and depression and say i'm setting my hope in a place that is not in this world church we've got to do the work of encouraging each other to find hope in god it's a fight but it's a fight worth having can we pray together god i'm thankful this morning that not a single solitary part of what we experience it's outside your careful watchful eye god i'm thankful that you told us things in your word like you are working everything together for our good to conform us to the image of your son i'm thankful god that we have the testimony of joseph who said to his brothers what you intended for evil god meant for good god i'm thankful that we have the testimony of countless other saints through the ages who clung to your word and exclaimed together great is thy faithfulness oh god my father there is no shadow of turning with thee great is thy faithfulness god great is your faithfulness lord thank you for the body thank you for gifting us with each other thank you god for your word and i pray today god that you would strengthen us to find our hope and live with joyful hope and expectation like paul did that we will not be ashamed we will not be ashamed that you will be exalted whether by life or by death because for to live to live is christ and to die is gain we pray this all together in his name amen