I Will Live by My Convictions.

Review / Introduction:

What is Conviction?

Definition: A strong Personal belief, derived from God's Word, that determines a specific Conduct or Course.

Conviction Clarifications:

Five "Nots" About Convictions

1. Convictions are not always Instant
2. Convictions are not about Personal Preferences
3. It's not about Adopting someone else's convictions
4. It's not about Disregarding advise
5. Convictions are not Enforceable on others

Examples:

• Schooling
• Ministries

Impact:

• Conviction drives out fear

Living with Conviction is Living Without Fear:

1. I will not fear Disapproval? (Acts 21:1-6)


2. I will not fear Drama? (Acts 21:7-12)


3. I will not fear Death? (Acts 21:13-16)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:35-00:41

  All right, grab your Bibles and open them up with me, please, to the book of Acts, chapter 21.

  00:42-00:49

  We're getting back to the book of Acts, and we are following Paul in Acts, chapter 21.

  00:49-00:52

  We are following Paul on his third missionary journey.

  00:53-01:02

  Who's Paul? He's this former Pharisee, church destroyer, turned Christ-following church planter.

  01:04-01:14

  I posted on our website, if you go to the blog section, there's basically a recap of everything we've covered in Acts so far, chapters 1 through 20. You could read it all in a couple of minutes.

  01:15-01:21

  Or, you can go back and listen to every sermon so far in the book of Acts.

  01:21-01:23

  You know how you binge-watch shows on Netflix?

  01:23-01:29

  Well, you can spend a weekend and binge-listen to every sermon that we've done so far.

  01:29-01:31

  We've covered every verse up to this point.

  01:32-01:33

  Good idea or bad idea?

  01:34-01:34

  Good idea.

  01:35-01:35

  I agree.

  01:37-01:53

  So Acts chapter 21, Paul at this point is on his way to Jerusalem with an offering from some churches to be given to the poor church in Jerusalem.

  01:55-01:55

  Are you there?

  01:55-01:56

  Acts chapter 21.

  01:57-02:00

  Before we look at the text, I gotta tell you this story.

  02:01-02:10

  Many years ago, this was actually during my college days, I was working at Walmart.

  02:12-02:18

  And I had the glorious job when people would come in and buy giant heavy things like futons and TVs.

  02:18-02:25

  And by the way, back then TVs weren't these skinny little things that you can just slide into your glove box.

  02:25-02:29

  They were the big box TVs that weighed about 800 pounds.

  02:30-02:30

  Right?

  02:31-02:34

  So it was my job to load these things into people's cars.

  02:36-02:47

  And this one particular day, this woman had come in and she bought, I don't remember what it was, but she bought this giant Walmart thing and she needed help getting it into her car.

  02:48-02:50

  And I'm out there putting this thing into her car.

  02:51-02:54

  And I guess the woman was probably in her fifties.

  02:54-02:59

  I don't even know if I'm supposed to guess that, but she was much older than me at the time, 'cause this happened a long time ago.

  02:59-03:00

  Are you with me?

  03:02-03:03

  Okay, making sure, I was in college.

  03:04-03:33

  All right, Walmart, okay, so I'm loading this thing in the car, and as I'm getting it in the car, this woman says to me, "Are you married?" And I stopped and I said, "I wonder where this is going." At the time I wasn't, I said, "No, actually, "I'm not married." And then she asked, "Would you let your wife wear pants?" And I'm gonna be honest with you, I definitely did not see that coming.

  03:35-03:37

  Would I let my wife wear pants?

  03:38-03:40

  So my mind's racing, right?

  03:40-03:43

  And I'm like, as opposed to what?

  03:45-03:48

  As opposed to not wearing pants.

  03:50-03:54

  And then I'm thinking, wait, you don't want my hypothetical wife to wear pants?

  03:55-04:00

  I have never considered the attire of people I have not yet met.

  04:02-04:14

  And then she looked me dead in the eye and she said, "Women should never wear pants." Like, oh, she meant like women should only wear skirts and dresses.

  04:17-04:18

  What do you say to something like that?

  04:20-04:27

  Hindsight's 20/20 usually, but to this day, 20-some years later, I have no idea what I should... what would have been the right response?

  04:27-04:28

  Anybody? Anybody?

  04:29-04:30

  What should I have said?

  04:31-04:35

  Like, "Keep fighting the good fight!" What do you say to something like that?

  04:36-04:39

  But this lady had something that we should all have.

  04:41-04:43

  But we should know what to do with.

  04:44-04:46

  And today we're going to talk about that thing.

  04:48-04:53

  It drove Paul, because it drove out fear.

  04:53-04:57

  And the thing we're going to be talking about today is conviction.

  04:59-05:01

  So what is a conviction? Jot this definition down.

  05:03-05:05

  What is a conviction?

  05:06-05:21

  A conviction is a strong personal belief derived from God's Word that determines a specific conduct or course.

  05:23-05:26

  Okay, it's a belief, yes, but it's a personal belief.

  05:28-05:33

  But it's a very strong personal belief, and it has to come from God's Word.

  05:34-05:36

  It's fueled by the Holy Spirit, by the way.

  05:36-05:45

  So if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, a lot of what we're talking about today is not going to make sense to you, just to be honest.

  05:46-05:48

  Because this is for born-again believers.

  05:49-05:53

  But if you're sitting here today and you don't know Christ as your Savior and Lord, today can be the day.

  05:54-05:55

  Today can be the day that you recognize, "You know what?

  05:56-05:57

  I am lost.

  05:57-06:01

  I am lost without God and He sent His Son to die for me.

  06:03-06:05

  And I receive Him by faith." That can happen today.

  06:07-06:17

  The conviction is a strong personal belief derived from God's Word that determines a specific conduct, as in, "This is how we live.

  06:18-06:24

  This is how I choose to live. It's my conviction. Or it determines a specific course.

  06:25-06:31

  I feel like I need to do this in the name of the Lord. That's a conviction.

  06:33-06:40

  And followers of Christ, you must, you must have convictions for yourself. You must.

  06:40-06:45

  This isn't an optional thing. If you are a believer, you must have convictions for yourself.

  06:45-06:53

  and parents, parents, you must have convictions for your family.

  06:54-07:08

  You must. Why? Because otherwise, hear me, because otherwise you are showing yourself unable or unwilling to apply God's work.

  07:09-07:11

  That's why I say you must have convictions.

  07:13-07:19

  John 13, 17, Jesus said, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." Right? James 1, 22.

  07:21-07:25

  James says to not just be a hearer of the Word and deceive yourself, be a doer of the Word.

  07:26-07:40

  So if you're a believer prayerfully in the Word of God, strong beliefs about the way you conduct your life, the way you conduct your household, if you have a family, you should have those convictions.

  07:41-08:09

  If you don't, either you're unable, like that's what the Bible says, but I don't know how to apply it, or you're unwilling, like, "Well, the Bible says I should do this, but I'm gonna kind of do my own thing." But I need to clarify, before we get into the text here, I really feel like we need to clarify some things about convictions. So this is conviction clarification. I'm going to give you five "nots," okay? I'm gonna say these in the negative. Conviction clarification, five You ready? The first one is this.

  08:10-08:11

  Convictions are not always instant.

  08:13-08:18

  Most times convictions develop over time and after study of God's Word.

  08:19-08:23

  Or maybe you hear a sermon on the Word of God and it causes you to want to dig deeper.

  08:24-08:25

  But convictions aren't instant.

  08:26-08:31

  It's not like you pray to receive Christ on a Tuesday and that following Wednesday morning.

  08:31-08:34

  All your convictions are set for the rest of your life.

  08:35-08:38

  Usually they take time over studying the Word of God.

  08:40-08:42

  Secondly, they're not about personal preferences.

  08:42-08:44

  OK, so completely different thing.

  08:45-08:52

  If you have what you think is a conviction, but it is not based on the Bible, what you have is called a preference.

  08:53-08:54

  And we all have those, right?

  08:55-08:59

  Music, color, flavor of ice cream, whatever.

  08:59-09:00

  Those are preferences.

  09:00-09:07

  When we're talking about convictions, we're talking specifically about this comes because of what God said.

  09:08-09:12

  That's a conviction. Does it find its origin in God's word?

  09:14-09:18

  The third not, it's not about adopting someone else's convictions.

  09:19-09:24

  Okay. So younger people, you can't say, well, I guess he's in my convictions because they're my parents.

  09:25-09:29

  You should be growing to understand why do my parents have this conviction?

  09:30-09:38

  Is it from the Word of God? Is this a conviction that I should have as I'm entering adulthood?" You can't just adopt somebody else's convictions.

  09:39-09:40

  They won't work.

  09:41-09:44

  Your convictions won't work if they're not sincerely held by you.

  09:47-09:49

  It's not about disregarding advice, okay?

  09:50-09:52

  We're going to talk about that in a couple of minutes.

  09:54-09:58

  But some people like to play the "The Holy Spirit told me" trump card.

  09:59-10:03

  I said, "You're having a discussion." And you're like, "Well, the Holy Spirit told me this!" And you drop that card.

  10:03-10:08

  I was like, "Well, I can't say anything to them because the Holy Spirit told them something." We're gonna talk about that in a second.

  10:08-10:13

  But some people use that as a way of ignoring advice from godly people.

  10:14-10:22

  And you should never, ever, ever, everybody say ever, get to the point in your life that you're done taking advice from godly influences.

  10:22-10:41

  You should always be seeking that out in your small group, in your church, you know, the elders, the pastor, you're you know an older more mature Christian brother or sister whatever you should always be looking for advice because that's one of the ways that God speaks to you and works in your life is through speaking through other people.

  10:42-11:48

  Okay so having convictions doesn't mean that I'm done listening to what anybody else has to say. Then the last one convictions are not enforceable on others. They're not enforceable on others, meaning don't judge or criticize someone else who has a sincere conviction that might be different from yours. Talk about your convictions, yes. Seek to understand their convictions, yes. Condemn them for their convictions, no. Because when you do, basically you become like Pants Lady at Walmart, but you can't enforce your convictions on other people, right? We're talking today about wisdom, we're talking about personally applying God's Word in specific areas. I'm going to give you a couple examples. We said convictions are about conduct or course. I'm going to give you a couple examples here, just in case your feathers weren't ruffled yet today. Here's an area where people have some very strong but very different convictions.

  11:49-11:50

  Schooling.

  11:51-11:59

  Because you have some people that say, "I have a really strong conviction that because of the wickedness of the public school, my children should not be in public school.

  12:00-12:05

  So my children are homeschooled." Okay, great. That's your conviction.

  12:05-12:06

  Then you have people that say, "You know what?

  12:06-12:14

  My kids, they have a strong walk with the Lord, and they're going to school, and they're telling people about Jesus Christ, and they're bringing those kids to youth group.

  12:14-12:19

  and I have a conviction that my kids have an opportunity to be missionaries there.

  12:20-12:22

  Fantastic, if that's your conviction.

  12:22-12:23

  Some people say, you know what?

  12:24-12:38

  Christian school is the way to go because they're not only around other kids for the socialization, but they get a foundation in the word of God that's gonna lay that foundation for them growing and as future leaders in the church.

  12:38-12:40

  And I have a conviction kids should be in public school.

  12:41-12:41

  Right.

  12:42-12:43

  So which one of those three are right?

  12:46-12:47

  The answer biblically is they're all right.

  12:48-12:54

  Right? Because they're basing their convictions on biblical principles.

  12:54-13:06

  But the problem is when the homeschool people look down on the public school people, you know, you're just sending your kids out into Sodom and Gomorrah, and then the public school people are like, were you homeschooled?

  13:06-13:19

  Yeah, that's why your kids, you know, they don't know how to interact with other kids because they're not around other, and they build these caricatures that aren't true, but they condemn and tear down, and that's not the point at all.

  13:20-13:21

  You have to live by your convictions.

  13:22-13:27

  You have to base them on the word of God, and you have to hold on to them.

  13:28-13:30

  But we don't condemn other people.

  13:32-13:37

  Another example, that's more of like a conduct thing, a sort of a home thing.

  13:37-13:51

  But talking about course, it's about a specific conduct Some people have convictions concerning specific ministries, and I've certainly seen that with our small group, because we've done many different outreaches.

  13:51-13:54

  And, right, Ryan, some of them not so good.

  13:55-14:01

  Remember that thing we did down in Aetna that was just like, you know, that lady's like, "Don't touch my tools," or whatever, and like, "Well, you want me to work?

  14:01-14:04

  How am I going to work without the tools?" "Use your hands!" I don't know.

  14:04-14:05

  But it wasn't so good.

  14:06-14:07

  Wasn't so good.

  14:08-14:13

  But then through Russ's leadership, we've been involved with the ministry, Mars Home for Youth, we've talked about that.

  14:13-14:14

  We have another event coming up.

  14:15-14:21

  And what I love about the Mars Home for Youth is just watching Russ lead that outreach with such conviction.

  14:22-14:32

  You know, when we're there, Russ leads like, "God called me to do this." And I appreciate that conviction, I do.

  14:32-14:36

  It's obvious that that's something that the Spirit has really laid on his heart.

  14:36-15:42

  And it's that kind of ministry conviction we're going to see in our passage today. Everybody turn to your neighbor and say "Man, this is a long introduction." So the impact of convictions we're going to see in the text. But here's the impact. Conviction drives out fear. Right? That's our theme this year, right? "I will not fear." So we're going to see that conviction drives out fear. Because when your faith is taking action in your life, when you are living out what you believe God has called you to do, you will have no fear. And that takes us to Acts 21. Okay, Paul delivering the offering to the poor in Jerusalem. He's on his way to Jerusalem. We saw in chapter 20, this is very important. Verse 22, Paul says, "And now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem," look at this, "constrained by the Spirit," not knowing what will happen to me there.

  15:44-16:13

  Constrained by the Spirit. In other words, he's saying I have this strong conviction that I'm supposed to be heading towards Jerusalem. God told me to do this. I'm under conviction. With all that said, chapter 21, taking some notes, living with conviction is living without fear, because number one, here's what happens when you live with conviction. You will say, "I will not fear disapproval.

  16:13-16:22

  I will not fear disapproval." Look at verses 1 through 3. By the way, your A lot of Bibles have maps in the back, and you can trace this.

  16:22-16:24

  I did all this this week, and I thought about doing it in the service.

  16:24-16:31

  But you can do this on your own. It's pretty easy - Paul's third missionary journey, find a map, you can trace this whole course.

  16:32-16:41

  It says, "And when we departed from them," those were the Ephesian elders that they met at Miletus, "and set sail, we came by a straight course to Kos.

  16:41-16:44

  And the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Pterah.

  16:46-16:50

  found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

  16:51-19:04

  When we had come in the sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre. For there the ship was to unload its cargo." Okay, so they end up at Tyre. That's on the east coast of the Mediterranean, and he says basically they're having a layover. The ship had to unload cargo and take care business so they had they had a layover look at verse 4 and having sought out the disciples we stayed there for seven days that's a long layover you thought your two hours you know it's Chicago was a long layover seven days look at this verse 4 says and through the Spirit they the disciples they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem when our days there were ended we departed went on our journey and they all with wives and children accompanying us until we were outside the city and kneeling down on the beach we prayed and said farewell to one another then we went on board the ship and they returned home I will not fear disapproval you know some people a lot of commentators look at this passage and say Paul was being disobedient to the Lord because the Holy Spirit very clearly told him not to go on to Jerusalem and he just completely ignored them and I completely disagree with that. I don't think that's the case at all because we already saw back in chapter 20 Paul said I am constrained by the Holy Spirit. I'm being convicted about this so the question is was Paul being disobedient in this passage of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely not. The Holy Spirit said that trouble was ahead so it was natural for the disciples to want to try to protect Paul from harm you're going to see this we get down to verses 11 and 12 it's crystal clear what you're seeing in this passage is a natural reaction like Holy Spirit told us this is not going to be good when you get there don't go don't go they love them they wanted to protect them but again that phrase the Holy Spirit told me. The Holy Spirit told me to tell you something.

  19:06-19:31

  That means I'm about to say something jerky and you can't say anything because the Holy Spirit told me to tell you. The Holy Spirit told me to tell you something sometimes. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will tell somebody to tell someone something. But I want to say this. First of all, You need to be extremely careful saying.

  19:33-19:39

  You shouldn't be able to say that to somebody without tears and trembling and ultimate humility.

  19:40-19:47

  And you better be so careful saying that to someone and be discerning when you hear it.

  19:48-19:49

  Be discerning when you hear it.

  19:51-19:55

  I don't question the authenticity of these disciples here at all.

  19:55-19:56

  They loved Paul.

  19:57-19:59

  And they knew that he'd already been through so much.

  20:01-20:02

  They feared for his life.

  20:04-20:04

  But I want you to jot these down.

  20:05-20:08

  Here's two questions to ask yourself when your conviction is met with disapproval.

  20:09-20:20

  You know, when you feel like God's calling me to do this, and you have a bunch of people saying, "I don't think you should do this! I don't think you should do this! I don't think you should do this!" There's two questions you have to ask yourself that'll really help you with your conviction.

  20:20-20:21

  The first one is this.

  20:22-21:50

  line up with the Word of God. That should always be step one. Like, I have this conviction about this and somebody comes along they're like, "I think you need to check yourself," then you need to stop and say, "First question, is this biblical? Do I have a biblical conviction or do I have some conviction like Pants Lady that, you know, I don't, it's not really in the Bible and I'm sort of talking to strangers about this conviction I have that really doesn't find its origin in the Word of God. If the first question is yes, here's your second question. How would I feel if I wasn't doing this thing I'm convicted about? How would I feel if I wasn't doing this thing that I'm convicted about? Meaning this. Let's pretend for a second, we're just pretending, let's pretend they're like, "Paul don't go to Jerusalem," and Paul's like, "You know what? Alright, I'm gonna take your advice." How do you think Paul would have felt entire? Miserable, right? He would have been like, "I really feel like God wanted me to take this offering down and, and, uh, gosh, I just feel like, I just feel like being disobedient to what God's called me to do." And you always have to consider the alternative. Would I feel some sense of not being faithful to my calling if I didn't do this thing I'm convicted about? Because here's the thing, true biblical conviction is more concerned with what one God said over what a billion people said. That's how you know you have a real conviction.

  21:51-22:02

  It doesn't matter how many people line up and say, "I don't think you should do it," when it's so clear in your mind, "But this is what God said to me!" I will not fear disapproval.

  22:03-22:06

  Secondly, I will not fear drama.

  22:08-22:09

  I will not fear drama.

  22:10-22:22

  Look at verse 7, it says, "When we had finished the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemaeus, And we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

  22:23-22:25

  On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea.

  22:26-22:35

  We entered the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him." One of the seven what?

  22:37-22:38

  Days of the week, dwarfs?

  22:39-22:45

  No, Acts chapter 6, remember there were seven set aside for ministry, and Philip was one of the seven.

  22:46-22:50

  says he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

  22:52-23:05

  I wish the Bible told us more about what this was like. It doesn't say they were pastors, but apparently because they were unmarried they were set aside for ministry perhaps.

  23:06-23:12

  We do know that they were unmarried and we do know that God spoke through them.

  23:12-23:13

  They prophesy.

  23:15-23:20

  It says, "While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

  23:22-23:48

  And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, 'Thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' We heard this, "We and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem." Pause right there.

  23:50-23:56

  Agabus gave a specific and a dramatic warning, right?

  23:57-24:00

  Sort of in the style of one of the Old Testament prophets.

  24:00-24:05

  Now, we already saw in Acts 20, verse 23, Paul knew that hardships were coming.

  24:05-24:06

  He knew that.

  24:06-24:11

  Paul knew that this wasn't going to be, you know, a trip to Kennywood.

  24:12-24:16

  This was going to be nothing but hardship and trial and suffering and persecution.

  24:18-24:20

  And Agabus really lays it on thick here.

  24:20-24:21

  Could you imagine that scene?

  24:23-25:01

  Like, they're just all hanging out, and Agabus is like, "Paul, give me your belt." "Why do you want my belt?" "Because I'm going to do a little one-man show for you." you and he takes Paul's belt and has Paul standing there like holding his clothes up now he takes Paul's belt and ties his own hands and feet up and says this is what's going to happen to the owner of the belt. Paul could have said you know you could have told me that without taking my belt. Save the drama for your mama Aggie because um in the previous passage disapproval the The disapproval was impersonal. Do you see that?

  25:02-25:13

  It's like the disciples are like, "Yeah, we kind of think it's not a good idea." But I think in this passage here, kidding aside, it becomes very personal because now you have somebody named.

  25:13-25:16

  Agabus actually was mentioned back in chapter 11, verse 28.

  25:17-26:12

  So this wasn't some, you know, Johnny-come-lately pew-sitter that's like, "You know, I'm new around here, but I want to put my two cents..." And this was a respected leader in the church at this point and I think that would have really made this harder on Paul like how so well it's one thing to say like taking it into our context here but imagine you're convicted about something and you're about to make this choice and I come to you and I say you know what people at Harvest Bible Chapel don't think that's a great idea it might be easier for you to shrug that off. You know, I figure people wouldn't like it. But if I came to you and said, "You know, Darren Keller, he's one of our elders, he is such a wise student of the Bible, and I really respect his opinion, and I really listen when he talks." If I came to you and I said, "Hey, Darren Keller doesn't think what you're doing is a great idea." Now all of a sudden it's different, isn't it?

  26:13-26:19

  It's not this unnamed group of the general consensus, "We took a poll and most of us aren't for this.

  26:19-26:22

  This is a name of a respected leader.

  26:24-26:25

  I think that would have cranked it up.

  26:27-26:33

  We see even a trusted brother's warning meant nothing to someone convicted.

  26:35-26:39

  And I just like to remind you here because I think sometimes we lose sight of this.

  26:40-26:51

  When you're convicted about something and somebody comes to you to talk to you about that thing, whether it's your position on schooling or course of ministry or whatever.

  26:52-27:02

  But when people come to talk to you about those things, I want you to remember that people in general, 99 times out of 100, people have good intentions.

  27:04-27:10

  And we don't need to get bent out of shape when someone voices a genuine concern, okay?

  27:12-27:19

  Very rarely is the guy at home like, man, I can't wait to hear what his convictions are I can just run in, you know, wet blanket, rain on his parade.

  27:20-27:27

  And when people come and talk to you about your convictions and voice their concern, they have good intentions.

  27:28-27:33

  And I just want to encourage you, when that happens, you need to thank people for their concern.

  27:33-27:37

  And if it's appropriate, explain why.

  27:38-27:40

  Hey, this is what I believe God laid on me.

  27:41-27:43

  And I hear what you're saying and I hear your concern.

  27:44-27:54

  And I want you to understand that this is why I believe what I do, and this is why our family is doing this, because we really feel that God has called us.

  27:55-27:57

  I like to remind people this simple statement.

  27:59-28:04

  Don't ask me to go against my convictions, and I won't ask you to go against yours.

  28:06-28:11

  So when you're living by conviction, not only, first of all, you're not going to fear disapproval. Secondly, you're not going to fear drama.

  28:13-28:18

  Thirdly, finally, I will not fear death.

  28:19-28:21

  I will not fear death. Let's look at these last few verses.

  28:22-28:30

  Verse 13, okay, so you're back in the scene, like, okay, Agabus has his belt, he ties himself up with it.

  28:30-28:32

  This is what's going to happen to the owner of the belt.

  28:33-28:46

  So all the people see this show and they're like begging, like, "Don't go to Jerusalem!" But look at verse 13, "Then Paul answered, What are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart.

  28:47-28:54

  For I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

  28:57-29:03

  I love verse 14, and since he would not be persuaded, there's Luke with a little bit of an understatement, right?

  29:04-29:07

  Yeah, we couldn't talk him into it. Yeah, I'm ready to die.

  29:07-29:09

  Luke's like, okay, we couldn't talk him into it.

  29:10-29:20

  And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, "Let the will of the Lord be done." What a great statement.

  29:21-29:26

  This wasn't fatalistic, like, "Oh, whatever." It's like, "You know what? This is what God's calling him to.

  29:26-29:33

  We're going to trust that God's going to do great things to us." After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

  29:34-29:46

  And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Manasseh of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge.

  29:48-31:16

  I will not fear death. Paul's conviction regarding his mission, I think made him hearing these things from Agabus, just made him even more fired up. You know when it's a real conviction by the way, when somebody comes alongside and says, "Hey, this thing you're convicted about is going to be incredibly hard and you're like bring it. I hope it is because I am so ready for this! God has called me to this and he is with me and it's not going to be hard enough because the God of the universe is on my side. That's conviction. But saying all this I don't want to give anybody some lopsided picture because even living under conviction, even living under conviction have to tell you sometimes discouragement comes. I think back to the early days of planning this church, dealing with some of the opposition and some of the naysaying that went on, people telling me literally, quote, "You know the church is going to fail." You know there's enough churches in the North Hills of Pittsburgh At one of our open houses, we had a couple visit, and we presented the mission and the vision of the church, and the one man in the open house said, "How do we know that you're just not going to go back to your old church and abandon this one when it doesn't work?" I'm like, "Wow, thank you for the vote of confidence.

  31:17-31:23

  Where are your pom-poms, Mr. Cheerleader?" Joking aside, those were incredibly difficult days.

  31:25-31:33

  the naysaying, the criticism, the, it's not gonna work, it's not gonna work, you don't have people, you don't have money.

  31:35-31:37

  But during those days, there was one thing that kept me going.

  31:39-31:40

  One thing.

  31:41-31:53

  And it was on my face, in prayer, wrestling with God, tears, repeating this back to God.

  31:55-31:56

  God, you called me to this.

  31:59-32:01

  God, I hear what people have said.

  32:02-32:04

  I hear what people are saying to me.

  32:04-32:16

  I see the circumstances, but the one thing that I can't shake, despite all of that, the one thing I can't shake is God, you called me to this.

  32:18-32:20

  And that's the place where conviction has to bring you.

  32:22-32:41

  Conviction has to bring you to the place where you say, "I will obey no matter what is said, no matter who says it, no matter what the price, no matter what this is going to cost me, money, job, so-called friends, this might cost me my very life.

  32:42-32:49

  I may suffer, but I'm reminded that a servant is not above his master.

  32:49-32:55

  I'm reminded that to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

  32:57-32:58

  So I will not fear death.

  32:58-33:03

  I will not fear anything up to it, including death, but I won't fear death itself.

  33:04-33:36

  That's why Howard Hendricks said-- this is a great quote-- Howard Hendricks said, "A belief is something you will argue about, but a conviction is something you will die for." So church, a walk with Christ, a genuine, true, living walk with Christ will always bring convictions on how you're going to serve Him and how you're going to conduct yourself along the way.

  33:37-33:41

  Here's the good news. There is no fear in this walk.

  33:43-33:47

  because a convicted follower of Christ, like Paul in this passage, says three things.

  33:48-33:51

  First of all, I will not fear disapproval, no matter how many.

  33:52-33:55

  I will not fear drama, no matter from who.

  33:56-34:01

  I will not fear death, because if God called me to it, He's going to lead me through it.

  34:02-34:03

  Let's pray.

  34:04-34:09

  Father in heaven, already I pray that you are driving out fear.

  34:12-34:16

  Your word tells us that it is your perfect love that casts out fear.

  34:17-34:39

  Father, we live out our convictions, not with a spirit of detached obligation, but with a spirit of love, with a spirit of trust, that God of the universe called me to this, and I want to live these convictions out.

  34:41-34:42

  So Father, I pray for all of us here.

  34:42-34:48

  There are some people that have been holding on to convictions for a long time and maybe they need to evaluate.

  34:50-34:57

  Maybe there are some people that have some convictions that they should continue to be holding on to but have been letting go of.

  34:58-35:09

  I'm sure there are some young people here right now, Father, who are in the time of their life where convictions are being developed and formed and solidified.

  35:10-35:25

  Father, I pray that we would be a people like Paul, who are so sold out to Your Word and so sold out to Your mission, that we stay the course, no matter the opposition.

  35:26-35:34

  So much of Your Word and action we've seen is opposition from the world, opposition from the religious people of the day.

  35:35-35:47

  We see in this passage, Father, we can even get opposition from the church, not in a spiteful way, but in a, just getting in the way of what you're trying to do in our lives.

  35:49-35:56

  Father, help us to be able to live them out. Help us to be encouragers.

  35:58-36:04

  Help us to be a people who glorify you by putting your Word into practice in our lives.

  36:05-36:08

  And we will give you all the glory and praise and honor.

  36:09-36:11

  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 21:1-16 

1. What personal convictions have you been criticized for? (While sharing, don’t criticize each other's' convictions.)

2. Was Paul being disobedient to the Holy Spirit (Acts 21:4, 11)? Why or why not?

3. How do you KNOW when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through another person, and it’s not the other person just giving their personal opinion?

4. How do you know when a conviction is from the Lord, and a conviction is just "from yourself / just in your head"?

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another to seek (and keep) godly, biblical convictions.

I Will Not Fear.

Introduction:

Top 10 Fears in 2017:

1. Holes
2. Flying
3. Germs
4. Small Spaces
5. Thunder / Lightning
6. Dogs
7. Open / Crowded Spaces
8. Heights
9. Snakes
10. Spiders
Mayonnaise (Bonus)

What Are You Afraid Of?

Proverbs 28:1 - The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a Lion.

1. Should I be afraid of my Past? (Romans 8:33-34)


2. Should I be afraid of anything Today? (2 Timothy 1:7)


3. Should I be afraid for my Future? (Psalm 118:6, Hebrews 13:6)

Acts 23:11 - The following night the Lord stood by him (Paul) and said, "Take courage..."

Acts 28:15 - On seeing them (Paul's Christian brothers), Paul thanked God and took courage.

Psalm 56:4 - In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid...

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:26-00:35

  All right, open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Proverbs 28, verse one.

  00:36-00:38

  Proverbs 28, one.

  00:38-00:40

  We are going to be covering one verse today.

  00:42-00:48

  If you're visiting and you plan on returning, don't get used to this.

  00:50-00:55

  But we're going to be looking at our theme verse for the entire year.

  00:56-01:00

  Okay, so this isn't an introduction to a sermon.

  01:01-01:04

  This sermon is actually serving as an introduction to the entire year.

  01:05-01:07

  So this is a very important message.

  01:07-01:09

  Are you there? Proverbs 28.1.

  01:09-01:13

  I want you to look at it in your own Bible.

  01:14-01:16

  I believe we'll have it on the screen as well.

  01:17-01:19

  Here's Proverbs 28.1.

  01:19-01:40

  says, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." That's our theme verse for the year, and today we are going to talk about fear.

  01:42-03:14

  Because some of you, we talk about, you know, our theme for the year, "I will not fear you're like yeah I already got that I ain't scared of nothing yes you are actually when I was preparing for this I googled you know top fears that people have and there is a website that has this so updated that it had the 2017 top 10 fears like wow apparently that changes from year to year right like I I guess in olden times they were afraid of being in stagecoach accidents or something I bet it's changed over the years, so I'm just pleased to be able to tell you this is this is fresh. Okay, this is farm fresh top 10 fears 2017 and I'm gonna give you another little disclaimer. I'm gonna go through this list quickly I'm not going to give you the technical terms Okay, like it's such and such phobia and that means I'm just gonna tell you what it's a fear of okay, all right So number 10 and most surprising to me top 10 fears holes I Didn't make this up so when I read this I'm thinking oh, it's like somebody's afraid of like walking down the street And there's a manhole. It's like But that's not what it means. It's that and there was a little description of all these fears And it said people, and listen, if you have this, I'm not making fun of you, I just don't understand, okay?

  03:15-03:18

  But it says that people that have this fear are even afraid of things like sponges.

  03:20-03:23

  And it must be terrifying to have a bowl of Cheerios.

  03:24-03:29

  And again, I'm not making fun of you if you have this, because I'm gonna share mine here in a second.

  03:29-03:34

  I'm just saying, I don't understand, I don't understand, but that's a fear that people have.

  03:34-03:36

  Number nine is flying.

  03:37-03:38

  I kind of do get that one.

  03:38-03:42

  When you're in an airplane, you know an airplane is made of six million parts and none of those parts fly.

  03:44-03:45

  Just saying.

  03:47-03:48

  Number eight is germs.

  03:51-03:51

  Get that?

  03:52-03:54

  They're devastating, you can't even see them.

  03:54-03:56

  Number seven is small spaces.

  03:57-04:00

  How many people here are a little claustrophobic?

  04:00-04:03

  Alright, that's a common fear.

  04:03-04:05

  Number six is thunder and lightning.

  04:07-04:09

  Number five is dogs.

  04:09-04:10

  Okay, I don't get this one at all.

  04:11-04:13

  And if this is you, I don't even want you to try to explain it.

  04:15-04:16

  >> Who's afraid of the little puppy?

  04:17-04:17

  >> I'm kidding.

  04:18-04:20

  I understand why dogs are terrifying.

  04:21-04:24

  When they come at you, they lead with their head and they are all teeth.

  04:24-04:25

  I get they're terrifying.

  04:26-04:27

  So it's a common fear.

  04:28-04:29

  It's a common fear.

  04:29-04:31

  Number four is open or crowded spaces.

  04:32-04:38

  Even for some people to come into a room like this is -- And I know we're having some fun here, but some of these things are very serious.

  04:39-04:41

  You know, some people have that anxiety.

  04:41-04:46

  I can't be in a room like this because there's a lot of people and it's crowded and it's just so not comfortable for me.

  04:46-04:49

  And number three is heights.

  04:51-04:52

  Number three is heights.

  04:54-04:55

  Ryan Stroop.

  04:56-05:02

  How many times have you called me when you're up on that thing that puts you like 8,000 feet and you're like, "Guess where I am.

  05:02-05:38

  I'm going to send you a picture." I'm like, "Stop!" okay because now this is hitting home i'm like that's why you do that and that's why i'm a preacher because this job requires me to be no higher than this okay you do that stuff maniac number two is snakes did somebody just say amen number two is snakes i totally get that or as some people call them, the "nope rope." You know what the number one fear is?

  05:39-05:40

  Spiders.

  05:41-05:47

  Spiders are the number one fear, according to this website that keeps us updated.

  05:48-05:53

  Yeah, there's plenty to be afraid of, but I want to ask you, what's your fear? For some people it's public speaking.

  05:55-06:09

  According to one poll, asking fears, they polled people that The number one fear that, in the one poll, they said it was public speaking, and the number two fear that they had was death, meaning that there are people that would rather die than speak publicly.

  06:10-06:11

  For some people, it's drowning.

  06:13-06:14

  For some people, it's needles.

  06:16-06:19

  For some people, and I have a good friend that falls in this category, it's clowns.

  06:19-06:21

  Scared to death of clowns.

  06:23-06:25

  For some people, it's ghosts.

  06:26-06:26

  So what about you?

  06:26-06:53

  one of these things that we've talked about, some of these things, but like I said, I know we're having fun, but I want to get real personal. And I want to get really serious for a second here. What is it, honestly, what is it that seriously gnaws at your soul? What is it that Seriously, gnaws at your soul.

  06:55-07:01

  When I was little, I'm not, I'm not making this up, but when I was little, do you know what my greatest fear in the entire world was?

  07:03-07:04

  Statler and Waldorf.

  07:05-07:06

  I'm not kidding.

  07:08-07:11

  Now, you don't know who Statler and Waldorf is, you're about to in a second.

  07:12-07:14

  They are the two old Muppets that sit in the balcony.

  07:17-07:17

  I was scared.

  07:17-07:18

  I'm serious.

  07:18-07:19

  You guys are laughing.

  07:19-07:20

  It's no longer funny.

  07:20-07:22

  I was scared to death of them.

  07:22-07:26

  And I remember my brother and sister, they'd be watching the Muppet Show in the living room.

  07:27-07:28

  I couldn't even be in the room.

  07:30-07:35

  I mean, those guys were terrifying because they're set apart and they're up there looking down at everyone.

  07:35-07:36

  (laughing)

  07:37-07:38

  Look at the frog.

  07:39-07:41

  And it was terrifying to me.

  07:42-07:43

  And I've gotten over that.

  07:44-07:46

  I'm not scared anymore much.

  07:48-07:50

  But that was when I was a kid.

  07:50-09:06

  I had that fear, but now as an adult I have some, I guess you could say more mature fears, but just as real, just as real. My wife will tell you one of my fears, I'm just going to be honest with you, okay? I'm just going to stick my neck out here and be honest with you. Permission to be honest in church granted. Okay. My wife will tell you, I fear saying hard things to people. That is very difficult for me. Middle child syndrome, maybe you could call it. I want everybody to get along. I have a really hard time, right Aaron, when I have to say hard things to people. And Aaron says, "Your problem is you just want everybody to like you." I'm like, "Well, that's not a problem. I think everybody should like me." But she's right. Sometimes you have to speak the truth in love, and I have this fear of damaging the relationship by doing that, and my wife reminds me that I'm in a position where I can't worry about damaging the relationship if I have to speak the truth in love. I'm gonna tell you that's a fear that I have, I'm just being honest. I'm working on it, I'm a work in progress like you, and God's growing me and teaching me, but I have a very difficult time with that.

  09:08-10:12

  Probably my greatest fear is what's going to happen with my kids when I'm gone, my wife's gone, they're adults. Who's looking after them then? You're visiting with, as you know, our kids have some developmental issues and I'm concerned for, more than concerned, it frightens me to death. What's going to happen to them when I'm gone? Who's going to take care of them? Who's going to protect them? Those are the fears that I have. Let me ask you, what is it for you? What's it, if I brought you up here and said okay now it's your turn to be honest you know correct me with microphone let's let's i'm not going to do that but if you were being totally honest what is it for you is it failure are you afraid of being a failure is it abandonment are you afraid of being left alone are you afraid of a loved one passing what am i going to do when he dies i don't know I don't know how I'm going to live when he...

  10:13-10:14

  Is that a fear that you have?

  10:16-10:19

  Maybe your fears are tied up with money and stuff.

  10:19-10:26

  I can't lose this, and I've tried so hard, and I've worked so hard to protect this, and you have this constant fear about this stuff.

  10:29-10:34

  Maybe for some of you it's infidelity or divorce.

  10:35-10:50

  You live in this constant fear, borderlining on paranoia, that your spouse or significant other is going to cheat on you or leave you. And you live in that constant fear of that.

  10:52-11:05

  Is that yours? You know, we talk about church business. There's a lot of fears associated with that too, isn't there? Like witnessing, sharing the gospel of Christ with people.

  11:05-11:07

  For a lot of people that is a huge fear.

  11:10-11:16

  Some people fear letting God down. What if I try to do this and I don't do it right?

  11:16-11:30

  Is God going to be disappointed in me? And maybe you need to take some step of faith as it pertains to your job or as it pertains to your ministry and you haven't taken that step because you are afraid.

  11:33-11:37

  So in your outline, the question we're asking today is, what are you afraid of?

  11:39-11:40

  One verse.

  11:40-11:41

  Let's look at the first half.

  11:42-11:57

  Proverbs 28, first part of verse 1 says, "The wicked flee when no one pursues." Let's just think about that for a second.

  11:57-12:01

  The wicked flee, the wicked run, the wicked, let's get out of here.

  12:02-12:06

  And when there's no one pursuing, what in the world is that about?

  12:07-12:08

  Why does that happen?

  12:08-12:13

  How, why are we, why are we afraid when literally nothing is happening?

  12:14-12:19

  Why are there people that act on imagination?

  12:21-12:27

  And if we're honest with ourselves, as people, we like to look for things to be afraid of, True or false?

  12:27-12:29

  Like, yeah, we don't really, yes, we do.

  12:29-12:32

  How many people remember this was before like social media was big.

  12:32-12:41

  When you get back quite a few years when it was email chains, you know, how many people remember the, make sure you pass this email along to your friends, but there was a burst.

  12:41-12:42

  I know some of you remember this.

  12:43-12:44

  Remember the whole hypodermic needle scare?

  12:45-13:00

  You know, what's going to the gas station because people are putting needles, hypodermic needles in the pump handles and the hypodermic needles have the HIV virus needle so you got to watch and make sure you share this with everybody.

  13:01-13:09

  You remember how long that went on? And then it was there's hypodermic needles with the HIV virus people are now putting them in movie theater seats.

  13:09-13:44

  Does anybody else remember this? You know make sure you forward this to all your friends and when you go to the movies you know better check your seat before you sit down and I'm like where are people getting all these hypodermic needles with viruses in. They're apparently everywhere. But we're looking for things to fear. I'm here to tell you this morning, if you don't know the Lord, you have much to fear. If you don't know the Lord, if you're going to be honest, you live a life of uncertainty.

  13:46-13:53

  Why am I here? What's my purpose in life and what happens to me when I die? If you don't And the Lord, you have judgment to fear.

  13:55-13:56

  Somebody's got to pay for your sin.

  13:57-14:02

  And if you won't receive the provision that God made in Jesus Christ, God says you can pay for your own sin.

  14:03-14:06

  And that's eternal separation from God and hell.

  14:08-14:09

  And you should fear that.

  14:09-14:15

  Jesus said we should fear Him who is able to cast our bodies into hell.

  14:17-14:27

  You have much to fear If you don't know the Lord, you should constantly be in fear.

  14:29-14:34

  Now why is it that he says, "The wicked flee when no one pursues"?

  14:34-14:39

  Well, one reason is because, notice he says, "The wicked", not "the foolish".

  14:39-14:43

  He's talking about a person that's living in some kind of sin.

  14:45-14:56

  And you know that when you are living in sin, in some way, You are always in fear. Like in fear of what? Always in fear of getting caught, right?

  14:58-15:04

  Always looking over your shoulder, always trying to cover something up, always hiding something.

  15:06-15:08

  And that brings some self-induced paranoia.

  15:10-15:29

  The person living in sin, "I can't let my wife find out about this, and I've got to make sure that, you know, delete the history on the internet, and I gotta make sure I hide this thing, and I gotta make sure that I don't let my wife have access to my cell phone, and you're always trying to hide something.

  15:30-15:35

  And after a while, "Does she know? Does she know? Does she know what I'm doing?

  15:35-15:37

  Does she know? I think she knows. Why did she say that?

  15:37-15:38

  Why did she say it the way she did? I think she knows.

  15:39-16:18

  I think she knows what's going I'm trying to hide is crippling me because of the fear that I'm going to get caught. Now all of a sudden I'm running when nobody's pursuing. I'm acting on things that aren't even true because my sin has made me parent. Look at the second half of the verse. Okay, so the wicked flee when no one pursues. This is the main reason, this is our theme verse for the year. It says, "But the righteous or bold as a lion.

  16:20-16:21

  Isn't that great?

  16:21-16:23

  The Bible compares us to a lot of things, right?

  16:24-16:26

  Bible says we're like sheep.

  16:27-16:30

  Not so crazy about that comparison, honestly.

  16:34-16:35

  Sheep are weak.

  16:35-16:36

  They're helpless, right?

  16:37-16:37

  They're helpless.

  16:39-16:45

  When threatened, the most dangerous thing they can do is use their hair to knit you a sweater.

  16:45-16:47

  And that's it for the sheep.

  16:48-16:50

  So it's true that we are like sheep.

  16:50-16:53

  We're dumb, we go astray, we're slow to learn, we need a shepherd.

  16:53-16:54

  That's the main reason we're like sheep.

  16:55-16:57

  But I really like this verse.

  16:58-17:02

  Because here the Bible says, I'm not making it up.

  17:02-17:02

  Do you see it there?

  17:03-17:06

  It says we are like a lion.

  17:08-17:09

  How so?

  17:10-17:12

  I did a little studying on lions.

  17:13-17:17

  You know, lions, when they hunt, you know how lions hunt?

  17:17-17:23

  The females actually go and hunt and they form a semi-circle around the prey.

  17:23-17:33

  And the weaker female lionesses herd the prey towards the middle and then the strong female lionesses, boom, jump in, make the kill.

  17:35-17:36

  And do you know what happens next?

  17:37-17:39

  The male lions come and eat.

  17:40-18:18

  And I'm like, "So we are like lions. The women do all the work, and the lazy men are the first to reap the benefits. The Bible's right. We're like lions." But that's not the point of this passage. Here's something else about lions that was interesting. You know, lions are the only social cat. You look at every other cat in the cat kingdom, they prefer to be alone. They're a little aloof, right? Cats like talk to the paw, right? Cats are just like so snobby. But lions aren't like it.

  18:18-18:42

  They're the only social cat. That's why they'll lay in a pile of each other and you see they're like licking each other's faces and the tops of their heads. They're the only cat that does that. I'm like, well that makes sense that the Bible says we're like lions because we need others, right? And we're not gonna, okay, if you're visiting, we're not gonna lay in a pile and lick each other's heads after church, but I'm just, it's an illustration.

  18:46-18:53

  Something else I found is, they say that lions sleep for 16 to 20 hours a day.

  18:54-19:13

  I'm like, man, I wish I was like a lion that way. That sounds great, but that's not the point either. Well, an adult lion's roar can be heard from over five miles away.

  19:14-19:20

  And you're like, that's the point. You can hear my kid scream from over five miles away.

  19:24-19:34

  Right? That might be true, but that's not the point. But we're getting closer to the Yes, a lion's roar can be heard from over five miles away.

  19:35-19:36

  Why do they do that?

  19:37-19:48

  Why in the world would a lion roar at the volume that can let every other animal in the area know, "I'm here!" Do you know why they do that?

  19:50-19:52

  Do you know why they're not hiding themselves?

  19:53-19:54

  Why they're not camouflaged?

  19:55-19:58

  Why they're not underwater with snorkels, afraid of the predators?

  19:58-19:59

  Do you know why?

  20:03-20:05

  Because lions are not afraid of anything.

  20:06-20:09

  You know lions if they get hungry enough, there's not enough other food.

  20:09-20:13

  They will attack an elephant and try to eat an elephant. I kid you not.

  20:15-20:28

  Who does that? Who goes after the biggest thing walking and says, "Well, I'm hungry. Guess I'm going to have to eat that." But that is the boldness of lions. They are not afraid of anything.

  20:31-20:46

  And this is the point of this message and this is the point of the entire year that God says in Him you are bull as a lion.

  20:48-20:49

  How's that working for you?

  20:51-20:52

  What are you afraid of?

  20:54-20:55

  I'd like you to consider three things.

  20:57-21:26

  of all, letter A, should I be afraid of my past? Some people are like, "Yeah, Pastor, if I eat your sandwich, you don't know what I've done." Romans 8 says, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who who indeed is interceding for us.

  21:29-21:30

  Love this passage.

  21:31-21:42

  How many people here by show of hands, how many people watch court shows, courtroom shows, real or, we only watch the Gaithers at our house.

  21:42-21:43

  Come on, one of you?

  21:45-21:46

  How many people have seen Judge Judy?

  21:47-21:50

  Oh, okay, and all of a sudden, okay, all right, all right.

  21:52-22:12

  Okay, so imagine you're watching your favorite court show, and just imagine this scene that the judge, you know, slams down the gavel and he says, "Not guilty." And then all of a sudden in the back of the courtroom, the door kicks open and somebody runs into the court and points his finger in the judge's face and says, "You're wrong.

  22:12-22:13

  "He is guilty.

  22:15-22:21

  "He is guilty of sin and you are wrong." What would the next scene be?

  22:22-22:31

  The judge going, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. I guess we'll have to start this over." No, the next scene would be the bailiff dragging that guy out by his ear, right?

  22:33-22:37

  Well, this passage in Romans is God's courtroom. Do you see it there?

  22:38-22:45

  "Who's bringing charges against you? Who is condemning you? God is justifying you.

  22:45-22:51

  And the one who paid our penalty for our sin is also our lawyer interceding for us.

  22:52-22:54

  Put yourself in God's courtroom. Do you see that?

  22:55-22:59

  You are the defendant, Satan is the prosecuting attorney.

  22:59-23:00

  You're guilty, you're guilty, you're guilty.

  23:01-23:05

  And God the Father is the judge, and your lawyer is Jesus Christ.

  23:07-23:10

  And the question is, who's going to bring a charge against you?

  23:12-23:50

  When Jesus says, "His sin has been paid in full, Father, Your Honor, because I paid for it." And the Father slams down His gavel and says, "You are not guilty of sin, now and forevermore." So when someone receives Christ, when someone is pronounced forever not guilty, Who is going to rush into the throne room of God, the courtroom of God, and say, "No, God, you're wrong. He's still guilty. You're wrong." Is somebody going to say that to the Almighty?

  23:52-24:07

  When God says, "No, I'm the judge of everything, and because He received my Son, His sin is forever history, and He is pronounced not guilty.

  24:08-24:11

  So should I be afraid of my past?

  24:12-24:13

  The answer is no.

  24:14-24:15

  Because God has that confidence.

  24:16-24:17

  He already pronounced not guilty.

  24:19-24:21

  Secondly, should I be afraid of anything today?

  24:22-24:24

  Should I be afraid of anything today?

  24:25-24:29

  Like, I hear what you're saying, "Pastor Jeff and I received Jesus, but you know what?

  24:31-24:35

  I'm staring down some pretty serious things when I leave this building today.

  24:37-24:42

  There's stuff today that I'm afraid of. I got some good news for you. Look at 2 Timothy 1.7.

  24:43-24:55

  For God gave us a spirit, look at this, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

  24:57-25:27

  Fear is a horrible place to live. If you or someone you know lives in fear, you know how debilitating that can be. There's something good though about the things that cause us or the things that tempt us to fear, whatever that is for you. The good thing about those things, when they come, you're going to see what your faith is made of. And you're going to see whether you live in fear or whether you trust God.

  25:28-25:36

  But I want you to see from this verse from 2 Timothy, you have three things right now, three tools in your tool belt that can squash any fear.

  25:37-25:38

  Do you see them?

  25:40-26:52

  You know, for the person that says, "Well, I'm really afraid to witness, I'm really afraid, I feel like God's called me to do this ministry, but I'm really afraid to do it." God's answer is, "No, no, no, I didn't give you a spirit of fear, I gave you I gave you power And for the person that says I'm just I just have a lot of fear in my relationships And I'm I'm just not sure how to handle people God's answers. No. No, no. I didn't give you fear. I gave you love And for the person that says well I'm so afraid of what I might do and I'm tempted to to lose my anger lose my temper and get angry and I'm afraid Of what I might do when when I'm tempted to lust God says that you don't need to fear Because I gave you a spirit of self-control No fear that you face can stand up to those three things Power love self-control. That's what God gave you You're not going to face anything today that should cause you fear it can't be stopped by one of those three things Then finally should I be afraid for my future Okay past "Pastor Jeff, okay, alright, alright.

  26:52-26:55

  Pass is covered, I'm good today, but...

  26:56-27:02

  next week, next month, next year, I got some things that are..." Look at Psalm 118, verse 6.

  27:02-27:09

  This is one of those verses that God was so fired up about, He put it also in Hebrews 13, verse 6.

  27:10-27:22

  God's like, "I'm gonna put it in both Testaments, so you don't miss it." But it says, "The Lord is on my side. I will not fear." What can man do to me?

  27:23-27:27

  Notice he says, "I will not." "I will not." Did you see that?

  27:28-27:32

  Not today, I'm not going to fear today, and I will not, I'm not going to fear tomorrow.

  27:32-27:37

  Why? Because God is on my side.

  27:38-27:44

  Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished, God is on my side.

  27:45-27:47

  What can man do to me?

  27:48-27:53

  God is sovereign over all, and God uses pain to bring joy.

  27:54-27:57

  And what's the worst thing that anybody can ever do to you?

  27:57-27:59

  Just shout it out. What's the worst thing anybody can ever do to you?

  28:00-28:02

  Somebody said kill you? That is incorrect.

  28:04-28:04

  Why?

  28:06-28:09

  The worst thing anybody can do to you is send you directly to heaven?

  28:10-28:12

  That's what you're saying is the worst thing somebody can do to you?

  28:13-28:18

  One-way ticket straight into the presence of my Savior? That's the worst? That doesn't sound so bad to me.

  28:21-28:26

  So I'm not afraid of what might happen tomorrow because God's already in the know.

  28:28-28:36

  And the worst thing that anybody can do to me, which technically I guess is killing me, that would actually be the best thing that ever happened to me because, goodbye earth.

  28:37-29:03

  So I would suggest to you that if I'm covered in the past, and my sin is gone, I'm covered in the present because I have power and love and self-control today from God, and I'm covered in the future because nothing's coming that God won't use in my life, and my finish line is heaven, let me ask you, what could I possibly be afraid of?

  29:04-29:10

  This year, we are going on a journey in an amazing passage.

  29:11-29:21

  Acts 21-28, and preparing the sermons for this year, pre-preparing all the sermons for the year.

  29:21-29:25

  I was studying this passage extensively, and I was staggered.

  29:27-29:28

  Some of the things that we're going to see.

  29:29-29:31

  We're going to see Paul get arrested.

  29:31-29:36

  We're going to see Paul stretched out, about to be flogged.

  29:38-29:41

  We see Paul facing attempts to kill him.

  29:41-29:44

  We see Paul put in prison. We see Paul shipwrecked.

  29:45-29:50

  We see Paul at one point bitten by a viper, which is the number two fear in the world, by the way.

  29:52-30:09

  And as I was reading all of this and rereading it, rereading it, I'm seeing all this stuff Paul's going through, and I kept asking myself, "What's keeping him going?" Because let's be honest, temptation is real at any one of those points to say, "I'm done! I'm out! I can make tents!

  30:09-30:13

  Enough with sharing the gospel because every time I do, I get my tail kicked!

  30:14-30:18

  I'm done!" But what kept him going? What kept him going? What kept him going?

  30:19-30:22

  And I found the answer right in God's Word, twice.

  30:23-30:24

  We have those verses.

  30:24-30:54

  Acts 23 11 says, "The following night the Lord stood by him, Paul, and said, "Take courage." Now on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of an impact do you think that would have on you if you're going through a period of fear and trials and God personally shows up and says, "Hey, don't be afraid. I'm with you." What kind of an impact would that have on you?

  30:56-30:59

  Scale of 1 to 10, that'd be like a 13, 14, right?

  31:02-31:04

  And we see it again, Acts 28.15.

  31:04-31:05

  We're going to get there.

  31:06-31:25

  But it says, "On seeing them, Paul's Christian brothers, Paul thanked God and took courage." So we see, the thing that kept Paul going was he was getting courage from God And he was getting courage from God's people.

  31:27-31:40

  So we could say Paul was able to take on dangerous situations, and Paul was able to take abuse from man, because he was also able to take courage.

  31:42-32:31

  Very simply, our goal this year for this church is I want every one of us to not just know but to live it, how Psalm 56.4 says it, "In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid." In other words, everyone in this church, I want us all to be able to say, with great conviction, from the heart, "I will not fear." Will you pray with me, please?

  32:32-32:39

  Father in heaven, I thank you for the glorious promises of your Word.

  32:39-32:49

  If we didn't have your word, Father, we would all be lost and desperate and mad.

  32:51-32:52

  Father, you've given us your word.

  32:54-32:59

  Your word tells us that you've taken care of our past, you're with us in the present, and you're already ahead of us in the future.

  33:01-33:04

  What in the world are we going to face that should possibly make us fear?

  33:04-33:07

  but Father, we take our eyes off of You.

  33:08-33:17

  And we start magnifying our circumstances, and we start magnifying the perceived threat from other people, and we take our eyes off of You.

  33:20-33:34

  God, I pray for my brothers and sisters here, and I pray for myself with all these fears that we are staring down as we go through Your Word and look at the life of the greatest missionary that you've ever used.

  33:35-33:53

  I pray, Father, that we would learn what it looks like when we take courage from you, from our brothers and sisters in the Lord, that we'd learn what it looks like when the declaration is made, I will not fear.

  33:54-34:05

  I pray, Father, that we would experience what it looks like and what it feels like when your word tells us that the righteous are bold as a lion.

  34:07-34:12

  By your power, Father, and for your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Proverbs 28:1 

1. What were you afraid of as a child? How did you handle it?

2. What do you think the are biggest fears of people who don’t know the Lord? What do you think are the biggest fears "church people" have?

3. Do you fear God's judgment on your sin? Why or why not? What does Romans 8:33-34 say about this?

4. Proverbs 28:1 - Why are the wicked fearful? Why are the righteous "bold as a lion"? What accounts for the fear / boldness?

Breakout Questions:
What is your biggest fear (or temptation to fear) today?
How can the Lord help you overcome that fear?

Walking Wisely

Introduction:

Ephesians 5:15-16 - Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

LOOK CAREFULLY – How is YOUR Walk?

1. Is my walk Working? (Eph 2:10)


2. Is my walk Worthy? (Eph 5:2, 4:1-2)


3. Is my walk Wise? (Eph 4:17, 5:8, 5:15-16)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:32-00:35

  Open up your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians.

  00:36-00:39

  We are going to be in Ephesians chapter 5.

  00:40-01:03

  Now typically at Harvest Bible Chapel we are walking through a book of the Bible a chunk at a time, a verse at a time, but we had a couple of flex weeks built into the schedule and I went to our elders and I said, "What would you say this congregation needs to hear?" and we get some great feedback on that.

  01:03-01:04

  And this message comes from that.

  01:04-01:26

  One of our elders said, "This congregation needs to hear, 'You need to redeem the time.'" So today we're going to be talking about the title of the message is "Walking Wisely." We're going to talk about time and your personal walk with Jesus Christ.

  01:26-01:30

  So let's talk about time while you're turning to Ephesians 5.

  01:30-01:37

  Nothing on the earth is more valuable than time.

  01:39-01:42

  You realize you only get so much time.

  01:44-01:46

  And you don't even know how much time you get.

  01:48-01:50

  And it's not like you can go get any more, right?

  01:51-01:56

  They don't have a factory in Dayton, Ohio that's making more time.

  01:56-02:06

  And hey, honey, let's get in the car and take a road trip pick up some more time. You get what you get and that's it. Once it's over, it is over.

  02:08-02:30

  Because it's so valuable and so precious and it's just so funny how we view time. Because an hour watching a television program seems so short, but an hour at church? Oh, oh. You're which was only an hour.

  02:32-02:33

  We're praying for you.

  02:34-02:38

  But it's the same amount of ticks on the clock.

  02:38-02:42

  But the perception seems so widely different.

  02:43-02:46

  Or watching a two-minute YouTube video is nothing.

  02:47-02:52

  But standing in line at the post office for two minutes, we lose our minds.

  02:53-02:54

  Or how about this?

  02:55-02:56

  We're going to get really radical.

  02:57-02:59

  praying for two minutes.

  03:00-03:02

  You're like, "What am I, a Byzantine monk?

  03:03-03:12

  Two whole minutes?" Another not-so-funny thing I guess you could say about time is you don't know the value of it until it's gone.

  03:14-03:15

  Think of your kids growing up.

  03:17-03:19

  Think of the stage of life for those of you that have children.

  03:22-03:26

  Where they are right now, I'm never going to be able to recapture those days again.

  03:29-03:31

  It kind of makes time seem more valuable all of a sudden, doesn't it?

  03:32-03:45

  You know, I think of our father, I spent almost 14 years since he passed away, and I think back to those times with him, and oh, the further I go, the more valuable that time seemed, right?

  03:45-03:50

  I think of my friend Mike, who around this time, three years ago, was killed in a motorcycle wreck.

  03:52-03:54

  I think back to the times that we spent together.

  03:55-04:02

  I know how valuable that time was, and I didn't even realize at the time how valuable that time was.

  04:05-04:09

  But for being so valuable, we sure treat time badly, don't we?

  04:10-04:13

  It's so valuable, but we treat it so horribly.

  04:14-04:15

  Like, what do you mean?

  04:15-04:17

  Think of the things we do to time.

  04:17-04:18

  We lose track of it.

  04:19-04:21

  I'm sorry I'm late, I lost track of time.

  04:23-04:25

  We waste time, or here's the worst.

  04:26-04:27

  You know what the worst is.

  04:27-04:28

  We kill time.

  04:30-04:30

  We kill time.

  04:31-05:49

  And if you want to kill some time and experience irony, go on Google and type in "best apps to kill time." There are dozens and dozens, probably hundreds, I stopped looking after a while because I would be hypocrite, but I just was scrolling through and you know applications for your phone there were countless lists online that people put together these are the best apps that you can purchase to kill time. Like there are people, it just blew my mind, there's people out there that are like I just have so much time I don't know what to do with it I better find a way to to kill it? I mean think about that. Let's put that into perspective for a second. Let's think about something else that we deem valuable, which is money, right? Could you imagine if somebody came out with a product and said, "Here's something that will help you kill your money." We would go, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. Something Yet you have people all over the place. Oh this app will help me kill my time I better download three of these like what?

  05:52-06:03

  Ephesians 5 Verses 15 through 16 all of that light. Let's look at what God's Word has to say in the subject where Paul writes look carefully Then how you walk?

  06:05-06:15

  Not as unwise but as wise Here it is over 16 Making the best use of the time.

  06:17-06:20

  Because the days are evil.

  06:22-06:27

  I want to talk about your walk here for a second, and then we'll see how he ties that into time.

  06:29-06:34

  At Harvest Bible Chapel, our mission is to make disciples.

  06:34-06:36

  That's our mission, because that was the mission that Jesus gave us.

  06:36-06:37

  We didn't make that up.

  06:37-06:50

  "What do you want to do at the church?" "Let's think about it." Jesus said, "Go make disciples." We're like, "Okay, that's what we do." You're like, "Well, how do you know you've made one?" Well, we believe a disciple of Jesus Christ does three things.

  06:50-06:52

  I'll begin with W. How's that for alliteration?

  06:52-06:55

  We believe a disciple, first of all, worships Christ.

  06:56-06:59

  Jesus said God is looking for worshippers.

  06:59-07:00

  A disciple worships Christ.

  07:00-07:04

  Secondly, we believe a disciple walks with Christ.

  07:04-07:06

  And we're going to talk all about that this morning.

  07:06-07:07

  That's the whole message.

  07:07-07:10

  But the third part is that the disciple works for Christ.

  07:13-07:20

  "Walk" is the word that the Bible uses to describe your life in Christ on the earth.

  07:21-07:27

  It's your journey, it's you living out your years, it's God taking you through each chapter of your life.

  07:28-07:32

  The Bible calls that a "walk." Why?

  07:34-07:36

  Why is it called a walk?

  07:38-07:39

  I'll jot these things down.

  07:40-07:47

  The reason the Bible calls your journey on earth with Christ, the reason it's called a walk, first of all, walking is intentional.

  07:47-07:49

  Walking is intentional, right?

  07:50-07:51

  That's a no-brainer.

  07:53-07:56

  Walking is intentional. You don't walk by accident.

  07:57-08:10

  If you're sitting on the couch, and you need to move, If you have to make the decision, the intentional decision, "I'm going to get up and I'm going to walk." It's intentional. So is your walk with Christ.

  08:11-08:14

  It is to be an intentional thing, not accidental.

  08:15-08:20

  You don't roll around in bed every morning and say, "Gee, I hope I follow Jesus today.

  08:20-08:24

  I hope I make choices that honor Christ today." It has to be intentional.

  08:24-08:28

  And secondly, walk has to do with perseverance.

  08:30-08:31

  You keep moving.

  08:33-08:34

  You keep moving.

  08:35-08:38

  Okay, well, I walked this far and I have the rest of the way to go.

  08:38-08:39

  I have to keep walking.

  08:41-08:52

  But I think one of the biggest reasons, and we're going to see this here in just a second, one of the biggest reasons the Bible calls it a walk is walking also denotes progress, doesn't it?

  08:53-08:59

  If I was going for a walk today, right here, I'm moving, it's intentional.

  09:00-09:04

  I'm persevering, but I see the progress.

  09:05-09:09

  I was there, and now I'm here.

  09:10-09:11

  That's progress.

  09:14-09:17

  And if you're a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you should see that in your own life.

  09:18-09:31

  You should be able to look back at your life a year ago from today, and say, "Wow, I see how the Lord has grown me." You should be able to look back on this day last month, I've seen some ways that the Lord has really matured me.

  09:31-09:35

  It's a constant growth. It's a constant maturing.

  09:35-09:36

  It is constant progress.

  09:37-09:44

  That's a great sign that you're in Jesus Christ, and He's working in you when you see that maturity over time.

  09:45-09:56

  If you say, "Well, I gave my life to Christ like 17 years ago, but I don't really see any change." I say this to you lovingly, maybe you didn't really give your life to Christ, if you're not seeing that maturity, because living things grow.

  09:58-10:00

  Right? And the walk is the progress.

  10:02-10:14

  But in the text here, the apostle Paul says in verse 15, he says, "Look carefully. Look carefully at your walk." And in the Greek, this is in the present imperative.

  10:15-10:15

  What does that mean?

  10:16-10:19

  That means I should have spent more time paying attention in English class.

  10:19-10:22

  Present imperative means continual.

  10:23-10:25

  constantly being on guard.

  10:26-10:29

  It has the idea of surveying the scene.

  10:29-10:33

  How about, was it King James that says to walk circumspectly?

  10:33-10:36

  Right? How many people have heard that? Walk circumspectly?

  10:36-10:38

  Some of you guys have heard that? You know what that fancy word means?

  10:39-10:42

  Circumspectly just means look around. That's really all that means.

  10:42-10:43

  You're looking around.

  10:44-10:48

  And that's what the Greek is communicating here.

  10:48-10:52

  It's looking around. When I was studying this, I was thinking about looking around.

  10:52-10:55

  when we lived in Prospect, we had a running gag.

  10:55-10:56

  It wasn't funny at the time.

  10:56-10:57

  It's kind of funny now.

  10:57-11:01

  But every time we would go for a walk, what would happen, Aaron?

  11:01-11:04

  We would get attacked by pit bulls, yeah.

  11:05-11:07

  Or sometimes other dogs, but mostly pit bulls.

  11:08-11:10

  But it was just a funny thing.

  11:10-11:16

  Don't go for walks in Prospect, Pennsylvania, because we would get attacked by dogs all the time, all the time, all the time.

  11:16-11:17

  Sometimes it was pit bulls.

  11:17-11:18

  Sometimes it was labs.

  11:18-12:18

  I get attacked by a flock of wiener dogs one time and that was really weird, but we were always getting attacked by dogs Now when you're walking with these children That you're also keeping in mind You know They can't be running out into the road and there's traffic and all these other things are going on now all of a sudden you're worried About the dogs so you know people must have thought I was like too much coffee man when I was going on these blocks because I'm just like looking around always surveying the scene are there dogs is there traffic you know constantly looking around one time when we were walking this enormous brown dog came after it was just Owen and I on this particular walk and also in this walk we took our dog with us if you know our dog he's not exactly he's not exactly a fight let's just put it that way he's a boxer but that's purely a name only he's not exactly a fighter so We're walking with Owen, and we have our dog Gordy, and he's just happy-go-lucky.

  12:18-12:24

  He's just like, "Every day's the best day of my life." And we're walking, and this dog comes across the field just...

  12:24-12:25

  (growling)

  12:26-12:30

  I'm like, "Oh." And of course your mind's racing a thousand miles an hour.

  12:31-12:40

  And so the genius thing that I did was I grabbed Owen, I tucked him under my arm, and I turned him like this, so towards the dog, and I don't know what I was thinking.

  12:43-12:51

  was I'm hoping that as this dog eats me, he'll be full by the time he gets to my son, and he'll leave us alone.

  12:51-12:53

  That's the only thing I can think that I was thinking.

  12:54-12:58

  Okay, so I grab Owen, I tuck him under my arm, and I'm like, okay, that's the end of my plan.

  12:59-13:02

  And here's Gordy, but then I'm like, oh, Gordy will protect us.

  13:03-13:04

  (imitates dog growling)

  13:05-13:06

  This dog comes around.

  13:06-13:07

  You know what Gordy starts doing?

  13:08-13:11

  He starts like, the only way I can describe it is he starts dancing.

  13:12-13:20

  He's like prancing around, he's wagging his butt, and he's like, and I kid you not, this dog stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at Gordy.

  13:21-13:23

  And Gordy's just like, "How are ya?

  13:23-13:24

  How are ya?

  13:24-13:24

  You wanna play?

  13:24-13:24

  You wanna play?

  13:24-13:25

  You got a ball?

  13:25-13:27

  You wanna play?" And this dog just, he was staring at us.

  13:28-13:35

  So here's this scene, I got this dog dancing on my arm, I got my kid under my arm, and there's this dumbfounded dog, and he literally just turned and walked away.

  13:36-13:50

  He's like, "I don't know." He's like, "Apparently they're just letting anybody move into this neighborhood." But my point of that story is, because of the dog attacks, I learned to constantly be looking, constantly be looking.

  13:50-13:54

  The Bible says you need to do that in regards to your walk with Christ.

  13:54-13:58

  Constantly evaluating, "Am I honoring Christ in every area?

  13:58-13:59

  Am I honoring Christ in my home?

  13:59-14:01

  Am I honoring Christ in my workplace?

  14:01-14:03

  What about the way I'm interacting in small group?

  14:04-14:07

  Am I honoring Christ in all of my relationships?

  14:08-14:13

  In every way, am I honoring Christ, constantly looking around?

  14:15-14:17

  So let's do that biblically.

  14:18-14:19

  Jot these down. Look carefully.

  14:20-14:23

  We're going to do a little checklist today, three points of evaluation.

  14:24-14:25

  But I want to ask you, how was your walk?

  14:27-14:29

  Okay, this is your time to have your head on a swivel.

  14:29-14:30

  How was your walk?

  14:32-14:34

  And these all come from the book of Ephesians.

  14:35-14:41

  Honestly, before this week, I didn't realize how much this walking concept was just in Ephesians.

  14:41-14:46

  I didn't realize that, and I did some studying this week, and there's so much more even than I have time to get into today.

  14:48-14:53

  But this is like one of the major themes of Ephesians is your walk, so let's fly through some of these.

  14:55-14:56

  I want you to evaluate yourself.

  14:56-15:00

  First question you need to ask is you're looking carefully at your walk, is my walk working?

  15:02-15:04

  as my walk working.

  15:06-15:20

  This comes from Ephesians 2.10 where the Apostle Paul writes, "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works." Notice that. I think "good works" has gotten a bad name in the church.

  15:21-15:24

  As soon as you say "works," "Oh, we're not saved by works!" How dare you talk about that!

  15:24-15:26

  You're not saved by works.

  15:26-15:27

  You can't do a thing to save yourself.

  15:28-15:29

  But here's the biblical truth.

  15:29-15:30

  You're saved for good works.

  15:31-15:33

  Not by, you're saved for.

  15:35-15:51

  I love this, it says, "Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." God has a glorious purpose for your life that's going to glorify Him, that's going to bless others, and it's going to give you joy unlike anything you know on this earth.

  15:52-15:55

  But don't you notice the Bible says that God prepared them beforehand.

  15:56-15:57

  What does that mean?

  15:57-15:58

  God prepared these works beforehand?

  15:59-16:55

  think of to compare it those of you with kids again we're not trying to single out just you people but I was trying to put this in a context that made the made sense how many people have ever gone to Lowe's on Saturday morning and did the little craft project with your kids anybody done that some of you have okay a few of us you know so some of you know what I'm talking about if you don't like okay on Lowe's on Saturday morning like in the lumber aisle they have like these craft projects for kids and I use the word craft loosely but when you go they have like everything's laid out everything's already cut and sanded and there's stickers and there's little nails and the nail holes are sort of already pre-drilled so basically you know you go there with your kid and you know he puts the pieces together and he takes his teeny tiny hammer and ting ting ting ting and he's like look what I made and so proud of himself. Great. Great.

  16:55-16:58

  anything to get them away from the time-wasting apps, right?

  17:01-17:07

  But that stuff was already prepared beforehand, right?

  17:08-17:09

  I didn't let my kids do it.

  17:09-17:13

  I'm like, you want to make a wood project, you go cut the tree down, you go sand it.

  17:16-17:17

  No, I didn't do that.

  17:18-17:19

  But you understand the point.

  17:19-17:20

  All that stuff was prepared.

  17:20-17:21

  So it was like, look what I made.

  17:22-17:23

  It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

  17:23-17:24

  We're all very impressed.

  17:26-17:29

  But it's already prepared.

  17:29-17:32

  And all you have to do is what?

  17:32-17:34

  Show up, right?

  17:35-17:37

  And I think about that in terms, God's prepared good works.

  17:38-17:47

  That's not like I need to try to put all this thought and creative energy and effort into making something great happen for God.

  17:47-17:48

  That's not what the Bible says.

  17:48-17:52

  The Bible says, He already has something prepared for you to do.

  17:54-17:55

  He just needs you to show up.

  17:56-18:04

  He's like, "Look, I already cut the wood, it's already sanded, holes are pre-drilled, grab your little hammer, tink, tink, tink, let's get this done." But He's the one that's prepared the good works for us.

  18:06-18:07

  So you're going after that.

  18:09-18:11

  What are you doing in your life right now?

  18:12-18:18

  Right now, what are you doing in your life that you can point to and say, God called me to serve Him by doing this.

  18:20-18:22

  Ask yourself, is my walk working?

  18:24-18:26

  God prepared stuff for you to do.

  18:26-18:26

  What are you doing?

  18:27-18:28

  Secondly, is my walk worthy?

  18:29-18:30

  Is my walk worthy?

  18:31-18:44

  Ephesians 5.2 says, "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

  18:46-18:48

  A worthy walk is sacrificial.

  18:48-18:54

  Laying down my life every day for God, every day for others, laying down my life.

  18:54-18:56

  Can you be more specific about what that means?

  18:56-18:58

  Yeah, actually, the Bible is.

  18:58-19:00

  Ephesians 4, verses 1-2.

  19:00-19:08

  Again, see, "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." Here's the specifics.

  19:09-19:15

  humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love.

  19:18-19:21

  Is your walk worthy? Is Christ honored by your conduct?

  19:23-19:46

  You see, we all have that in us still, to some degree, that we want to make much of ourselves, and that's pride, and I have to be boisterous, and I'm intolerant of other people, and those characteristics are completely opposite of what the Scripture says it says, "Be humble, be gentle, and have patience." See, we talk about humility.

  19:46-19:56

  People think that humility means I get to walk around and think that I'm dirt, and I'm no good, and I have to talk poorly about myself.

  19:56-19:57

  And that's not humility at all.

  19:58-20:01

  Humility is not thinking less of yourself.

  20:01-20:02

  It's thinking of yourself less.

  20:04-20:08

  You see, the person that's constantly walking around, like I'm such a loser, I'm no good.

  20:09-20:16

  That's not humility because they're still so focused on themselves, that's all they can think about is me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

  20:16-20:17

  That's pride.

  20:18-20:22

  The guy walking around constantly self-avoidant, I'm just such a terrible person.

  20:22-20:23

  That's actually pride.

  20:24-20:27

  Humility says I'm not going to think about myself.

  20:28-20:33

  I'm going to put the mission of Christ and the needs of others ahead of myself.

  20:34-20:35

  That's humility.

  20:37-20:37

  That's humility.

  20:40-20:42

  Notice Paul says, "You bear the name of Christ.

  20:44-20:44

  Act like it.

  20:45-20:51

  Walk in a manner worthy of the calling which you've been called." So is my walk worthy?

  20:52-20:54

  Thirdly, is my walk wise?

  20:54-20:55

  Is my walk wise?

  20:58-21:08

  Ephesians 5:8 says, "For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." Walk, there it is again, walk as children of light.

  21:11-21:12

  That's the glorious truth about the gospel.

  21:14-21:17

  The gospel is not about adopting a religious philosophy.

  21:19-21:22

  The gospel is not about just getting a ticket to heaven.

  21:24-21:28

  The gospel is about inward transformation.

  21:30-21:33

  Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin.

  21:34-21:46

  rose from the dead to give you eternal life and so much more, but one of the "so much more"s that Jesus Christ provided for you is a new identity.

  21:48-21:59

  You see that in the text. He says, "You were darkness." Operative word there is "were." You're not like that anymore, but now you are light in the Lord.

  22:01-22:05

  Paul says, "Look, act like it.

  22:06-22:11

  Stop identifying yourself as 'I'm just this lowly, no-good sinner.

  22:13-22:17

  That's who I was, but I've been redeemed and I have a new purpose now.

  22:17-22:27

  And I need to walk according to who Christ says I am today, not who I think that I was yesterday.'" Walk as children of light.

  22:29-22:32

  That brings us back to where we started.

  22:34-22:44

  Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

  22:47-22:49

  He says that you need to walk wise.

  22:51-22:51

  What is wisdom?

  22:52-22:54

  Well, understand there's a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom.

  22:55-22:57

  Knowledge is just facts, right?

  22:58-23:04

  It's, "I'm ready for jeopardy. I know all the facts. I can list them for you." That's knowledge.

  23:06-23:10

  Wisdom is knowing how to apply biblical knowledge.

  23:10-23:19

  That's why he says, "Don't walk as unwise." See, unwise people, they have knowledge of the Bible, but they don't know how to apply it.

  23:20-23:28

  Like, "I know the Bible says this," but they have no clue what that looks like in their daily interactions.

  23:31-23:37

  They know the Bible says that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, or we should love others the way Christ loved us.

  23:37-23:41

  They know the Bible says that, but they have no wisdom on how to apply that.

  23:42-23:46

  They know the Bible says that we should forgive from the heart, 70 times 7.

  23:47-23:54

  They know the Bible says that, but they have no idea how to apply that when it's actually their turn to forgive somebody.

  23:56-24:04

  They know the Bible says that we should be a witness for Christ, that we should take every opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with boldness.

  24:04-24:13

  They know the Bible says that we should share Christ with others, but when the opportunity comes, they have no wisdom in how to apply that.

  24:13-24:18

  So do you understand there's a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom?

  24:19-24:36

  Wisdom says, "Yes, the Bible says this, therefore I know how that's going to apply in my life." He says, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise." All that stuff was introduction, because here's what I wanted us to land on here today.

  24:38-24:44

  Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

  24:46-24:49

  I'm going to do something I don't like to do, but I'm going to preach to you about what the Bible doesn't say.

  24:50-24:54

  The reason I'm doing that is because Mark and I were talking this morning before we prayed.

  24:55-24:56

  People get this verse wrong all the time.

  24:57-24:58

  They misquote it.

  24:58-25:03

  And I want you to see what the Bible actually says, not what you think it says, or not what you heard somebody misquote.

  25:04-25:06

  First of all, it doesn't say don't waste time.

  25:08-25:11

  God says make the best use out of it.

  25:13-25:16

  or redeem, maybe your Bible says that.

  25:16-25:17

  Make the best use of...

  25:17-25:19

  Do you know that's one word in the Greek?

  25:20-25:22

  And it is such an interesting word.

  25:22-25:25

  It is not at all what I was expecting when I was studying this.

  25:25-25:30

  And I don't usually stand up and share, well, here's what the original language says, but when it's relevant, I think I need to share that.

  25:30-25:37

  And it really was here because when I looked this up and was studying this, I was like, I was not expecting that.

  25:38-25:54

  The word for redeem or make the best use of or however it's translated, it's one word in the Greek literally translates to "out of market" or "buy out of the marketplace." What is that all about?

  25:55-26:02

  Understand in this day when Paul was writing this, there were certain merchants that would only pass through town on one day a week.

  26:04-26:28

  They'd come through town, they'd set up, they're available to sell things to you for a while, and then they tear down and they're gone, and we'll see you next week." So this idea was, when the merchant was coming in town, you better be ready, because you need to take that opportunity to buy up what he has, because he's not going to be around in a little bit.

  26:28-26:38

  Okay? You can't say, "Well, I'm going to take a nap, and then I'm going to go down. He's not going to be there." Or, "You know what, I'm not feeling so good today, I'll check back tomorrow." He ain't going to be there tomorrow.

  26:39-26:47

  He's passing through just once this week, and if you miss this opportunity to buy up what he has, you're out of luck.

  26:49-26:49

  You're out of luck.

  26:51-26:53

  We have something like that in more modern times.

  26:54-26:56

  Well, when I say modern times, I'm showing my age.

  26:57-27:01

  So here's one just for the more mature among us.

  27:03-27:06

  How many people by show of hands remember the Blue Light Special at Kmart?

  27:08-27:11

  Just come on, just satisfy my curiosity.

  27:11-27:13

  How many people have no idea what the Blue Light Special is?

  27:14-27:15

  Okay, a bunch of you do.

  27:15-27:16

  That's okay, we're not judging.

  27:18-27:19

  You're just showing your age.

  27:20-27:22

  Okay, how does the Blue Light Special work?

  27:22-27:23

  Come on, shout it out.

  27:23-27:24

  How does the Blue Light Special work?

  27:25-27:36

  They make the announcement over the thing, attention Kmart shoppers, and then they're like, "We're having a Blue Light Special on Sony Walkman." Like, that's really showing your age.

  27:37-27:41

  on sundials. We're having a blue light special on sundials.

  27:42-28:09

  Get them while they're hot. And what that meant was you had an hour to get to the sundial department and save, you know, 20 percent or whatever on a sundial. But you only had an hour. That was the Kmart blue light special. Believe it or not, this is the same kind of thing that he's talking about here. Redeeming the time is buying up opportunity. That's what he's saying.

  28:09-28:19

  You only have a limited opportunity, so make sure you rush and get after it and be urgent and buy every opportunity that the Lord provides to you.

  28:20-28:23

  So he doesn't say don't waste time, which is good advice.

  28:24-28:26

  More specifically, he says make the best use of it.

  28:27-28:34

  But also, I want you to notice, he doesn't say make the best use of time because the days are short.

  28:35-28:37

  That's true, but that's not what he says.

  28:39-28:50

  Look, he says, "Because the days are," say it, "evil." "Make the best use of time because the days are evil." What in the world does that mean?

  28:51-28:52

  Listen really closely.

  28:54-29:00

  I won't misquote it on this, but this is the key to this text, so I want you to hear it.

  29:02-29:07

  There is one good thing about evil, and that is this.

  29:08-29:12

  It gives us the opportunity to show the love of Christ.

  29:15-29:31

  I'm not saying evil and calamity and hardship, I'm not saying those are good things in and of themselves, but there's something good that happens when evil shows up, as it provides the opportunity to run in there, to show the love of Christ.

  29:32-29:35

  In other words, days of evil are days of opportunity.

  29:37-29:38

  Can you elaborate? Absolutely.

  29:40-29:50

  For example, children without a stable home environment, for whatever reason, children who are abused, neglected.

  29:53-29:55

  I think we'd all agree that's an evil thing, right?

  29:57-29:59

  But that gives us opportunity, right?

  29:59-30:11

  And our small group goes to the Mars Home for Youth to show the love of Christ, play with these kids, leave them with a Bible.

  30:11-30:16

  So do you see how something evil turned into an opportunity for us?

  30:17-30:19

  That's why I get so fired up about outreach.

  30:20-30:35

  Like, do you mean to tell me there's nothing in this community that you see that you're like, "Man, we need to run in there and take advantage of an opportunity to share the love of Christ?" Yeah, it's a horrible thing when children are not treated the way they should.

  30:36-30:39

  Therefore, we see that as opportunity.

  30:39-30:42

  Let's go in there and love them. Let's go in there and tell them about Jesus.

  30:44-30:47

  Another example is, think of the hurricane relief.

  30:47-30:51

  Again, horrible, but it's also opportunity.

  30:53-30:58

  To give, to go, to pray, to help.

  31:00-31:01

  Days of evil are days of opportunity.

  31:03-31:12

  Domestic abuse, always evil, always wicked, always wrong, but also always an opportunity.

  31:13-31:22

  jump in there with the love of Christ. Say, "Look, you are love." So you see, the days of evil are days of opportunity.

  31:24-31:29

  And I think if you meditate on this, you can understand what a glorious thing this was.

  31:29-31:41

  Hypothetically, if the world was perfect and optimal, and everything was always running the way it should, and everybody was honoring Christ as they should, we'd never have opportunity to to show grace and forgiveness and mercy.

  31:42-31:44

  We never have the opportunity to go the extra mile.

  31:47-32:00

  Paul's saying because the days are evil, if we're smart, or if we're wise specifically, we're going to take up every opportunity that we can get and let the light of Christ shine through us.

  32:01-32:01

  That's wisdom.

  32:02-32:03

  That's wisdom.

  32:03-32:09

  I'm going to buy up every opportunity I can in every stage of life that I'm in.

  32:11-32:17

  Let me ask you, what life circumstance are you in right now that you won't always be in?

  32:19-32:24

  What life circumstance, what stage of life are you in right now that you won't always be in?

  32:24-32:39

  And when you answer that question, whether you're a teenager or an empty nester or wherever you are in between, I'm a single person, I'm married, I have like seven kids under the age of five, and that applies to most of us in here.

  32:39-32:45

  And whatever stage of life you're in shows you your opportunity.

  32:47-32:54

  God's provided for you, because we always think, I've been guilty of this church, let's repent of this.

  32:54-32:58

  We always think this, it's going to be easier at the next stage of life.

  33:00-33:05

  I'm going to get serious about serving Christ when...

  33:06-33:09

  And it's easy to sort of do that all through life, right?

  33:10-33:12

  Like when you're in high school, you can say, "You know what?

  33:12-33:23

  I'll serve Christ when I'm done with high school." But then when you're done with high school, you think, "Well, I wanna, you know, I gotta get in the workforce, or maybe I'm thinking about going to college or whatever.

  33:23-33:39

  Once I get that stuff figured out, then I'm gonna get real serious about serving Christ then." And then once you're in college, if that's the choice you make, then you're studying, and you're working eight jobs, and doing all this other stuff, and you're like, "I can't really serve Christ now, but you know what?

  33:39-33:42

  When I'm done with college, that's going to free up my schedule.

  33:42-33:48

  I'll be serving Christ." And then you're done with college, and you're looking to get married.

  33:49-34:21

  It's just hard as a single person to do it, but I think it'll be a lot easier once I'm married, And now you're waiting until that point, but then once you're married, you realize, "Now I have less time than I did when I was single and more responsibility." But you know what? When we have kids, that's when I'm going to get serious about serving Christ, because we're going to want them to grow up in the church, and then we have all these kids, and you're like, "Well, obviously they're too little now. I can't really serve Christ now because they're so little.

  34:22-34:25

  and they get a little older, we'll be able to serve Christ better.

  34:26-34:37

  And they get a little older, and you say, well, maybe when the kids get a little older, and that turns into, you know, when the kids are out of the house.

  34:37-34:44

  When the kids are out of the house, that'll be really the time to serve Christ then, because I won't have the...

  34:44-34:50

  But then, oh, the kids are getting married now, I'm helping get them started with their life.

  34:50-34:57

  And after I help them get settled, now all of a sudden, you know what?

  34:57-34:58

  They need help with the grandkids now.

  34:59-35:06

  So it's hard for me to really get involved in serving Christ because I got to help them with the grandkids and then it's over.

  35:09-35:13

  And foolishness looks back on that and says, well, I guess I never had the opportunity to serve Christ.

  35:15-35:21

  When the reality is this, you had many different opportunities.

  35:23-35:28

  Many different opportunities you just weren't wise enough to take.

  35:29-35:33

  You get one trip through life. What are you doing with it?

  35:34-35:38

  Next week kicks off our new ministry year, as Corinne said.

  35:39-35:43

  We're going to be back in verse-by-verse study through the book of Acts.

  35:44-35:45

  And I'm so excited for this.

  35:45-35:49

  We're going to go through shipwrecks and snake bites.

  35:49-35:57

  And we're going to see the apostle Paul continuing his journey to spread the gospel as we go through Acts chapter 21 through 28.

  35:58-36:01

  And I was reading and preparing the preaching calendar.

  36:01-36:06

  And when you see all of these things, I just kept asking myself, what keeps him going?

  36:06-36:08

  Because we live in a day, it's just so easy to quit.

  36:09-36:11

  And yes, following Christ is hard and ministry is hard.

  36:11-36:12

  And I just want to quit.

  36:13-36:15

  Not Paul, he was like the Energizer Bunny.

  36:15-36:16

  He just kept going and going and going.

  36:19-36:23

  I saw the theme at least twice in that chunk of Scripture.

  36:23-36:25

  The answer is right there in the Bible.

  36:26-36:34

  Paul found his courage and his strength in the Lord.

  36:35-36:38

  That's why if we have that slide, this is our theme for the next year.

  36:41-36:42

  I will not fear.

  36:43-36:44

  I will not fear.

  36:46-36:49

  This is going to be the message next week that's going to kick us off.

  36:51-36:54

  Because you might not want to admit it, but every single person in this room is afraid of something.

  36:55-36:57

  I'm not afraid of anything. Yes, you are.

  36:58-37:01

  There is something deep down that maybe you don't want to talk about.

  37:03-37:09

  There's something lingering over you that brings you into the temptation to fear.

  37:10-37:19

  How do we get from being overwhelmed with the anxiety and fears that life brings to being like this guy here?

  37:19-37:31

  Well, the reason we picked that image is because our theme verse for the year is going to be Proverbs 28.1. It says, "The righteous are bold as a lion." The righteous are bold as a lion.

  37:32-37:45

  And when you know the Lord, and you are walking with the Lord, you will get the fearlessness of the Lord, knowing, "How's that go, Darren Keller?

  37:45-37:53

  There's the two things, God has a plan, and God's in control." When you know that, you are this guy.

  37:55-37:57

  So as I close, you know, church, there's lots to be done.

  37:58-38:01

  There's lots of leadership that's needed, and there's lots of work that's needed.

  38:03-38:06

  We have a lot of opportunities ahead of us right here in this church.

  38:08-38:09

  With our facilities ministry.

  38:11-38:16

  You know, the Lord blessed us to be able to move into this place that requires a special stewardship.

  38:17-38:18

  We're going to need help in that area.

  38:19-38:21

  We're going to need help with the AV team.

  38:22-38:41

  If you're a technical savvy person, you like video and production and all those kinds of things that I know nothing about. We have a great team that's looking to grow and produce videos to be used in church and to use them as a tool in making disciples.

  38:43-38:45

  We need help with the web podcast.

  38:47-38:50

  It's ridiculous how many downloads we get of that podcast every week.

  38:50-38:54

  What's the average, Mark, would you say? 350?

  38:55-38:58

  Yeah, we get about 350 downloads of the sermon every week.

  38:58-39:03

  And it's not like my grandma's on there like 350 times.

  39:03-39:05

  Download, download, download, download, download, download, download, download.

  39:05-39:07

  This will make Jeff feel so good about himself.

  39:08-39:09

  My grandma doesn't even know how to do that.

  39:10-39:14

  It's coming from all over like Ghana and Japan and like what?

  39:16-39:18

  But we need help in that particular ministry.

  39:22-39:23

  Communications, advertising.

  39:23-39:26

  We need small group leaders to raise up.

  39:27-39:29

  We need Bible study leaders.

  39:31-39:35

  We need help with children as we continue to grow.

  39:36-39:46

  The nursery, the Harvest Kids, the Harvest Academy, Youth Group, Arrow, as we continue to grow.

  39:48-39:53

  And more people are coming and seeking to be growing as a disciple and making disciples.

  39:53-39:54

  We're going to need help.

  39:54-39:55

  Hospitality.

  39:56-40:00

  Making sure that every single person that comes through these doors knows the reality that they are loved.

  40:02-40:09

  If you go to our website, there's a page that says "Opportunities." You can see some of the opportunities posted now, and more are coming.

  40:11-40:15

  I like that word "opportunity" because that's exactly what the Bible says here.

  40:16-40:18

  Right now, we have opportunity.

  40:19-40:21

  The Lord put many opportunities for you.

  40:22-40:37

  right here, for us, in this place, right here, right now, the question we have to wrestle with is this, will we be wise enough to take the opportunity?

  40:38-40:39

  Let's pray.

  40:40-40:45

  Father in heaven, that's not the motivation to get busy serving Christ.

  40:46-40:55

  That's not the motivation to get busy in evaluating our personal walk, Our motivation is because the days are evil.

  40:57-41:01

  God, You have provided us so many opportunities to serve You.

  41:02-41:15

  There are so many people in this church that have been tirelessly, long hours and putting in the extra effort to do ministry with excellence, Father.

  41:15-41:16

  I thank You so much for every single one of them.

  41:17-41:22

  Father, I pray as Jesus told us to pray in Matthew 9.

  41:23-41:28

  He said, "Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the field." And that's what I'm praying for, Father.

  41:29-41:54

  That from this group, you would raise up more ministers, more disciple makers, whether it's people that are looking to lead, or whether it's people that want to serve behind the scenes, Whether it's people that want to work on the technical end of things, or it's people that want to really interact with others in a very relational way.

  41:56-42:02

  Father, give us the discernment to evaluate every opportunity that you put before us.

  42:04-42:07

  Give us the wisdom to take these opportunities.

  42:09-42:11

  It's to your glory and honor, it's for the advancement of your kingdom.

  42:13-42:19

  Father, I thank you for the unspeakable joy that you give us when we serve you.

  42:21-42:22

  In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Ephesians 5:15-16 

1. Honestly, what ways do you personally waste too much time?

2. From Ephesians 2:10, how do we know what works God prepared for us beforehand? How can we discover them?

3. Ephesians 5:8 says walk as children of light; what does that mean, exactly? How does a person obey this? What effect will this have?

Breakout Questions:
What circumstance of life has put you in a unique opportunity to serve Christ? How are you doing with "making the best use of the time"?

What Were You Expecting?

Introduction:

The Biblical facts:

1. You are born with a Sinful, Selfish nature. (Isaiah 53:6)


2. You are Surrounded by a world full of people with sinful, selfish natures. (Romans 3:23)


3. The world is under a Curse. (Romans 8:20-22)


4. Satan is, for now, called the Ruler of this world and has incredible influence on it. (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11).

Five Gifts Jesus has Provided that Give us Peace in a Hard World:

1. People (John 13:34)


2. Promises (John 14:2)


3. Presence (John 14:16-17)


4. Power (John 15:5)


5. Prayer (John 16:23-24)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:29-00:30

  Open your Bible's with me, please.

  00:32-00:34

  To John, chapter 16.

  00:36-00:43

  While you're turning there, you know, about eight years ago, seven, eight years ago, our kids were...

  00:44-01:28

  seven or eight years ago, I guess it was, our kids were about four or five, our kids, we have two boys, they're about a year apart, and Aaron went shopping, and she came home was something for the family. She brought this home and I'm gonna be honest with you, there wasn't anybody more excited than me. I looked at this thing, Aaron's like, "Look what I picked up at the store!" and I'm like, "Let me get my trunks!" and I'm like, "Well I'm getting dressed, why don't you call all of our friends and we're gonna have a pool party! Look at that thing! You know, you got the basketball going on, you got the ring toss, and look at this little girl on the slide.

  01:29-01:33

  She's like, "Ahh!" Down the slide, and look at that.

  01:34-01:36

  That thing looks awesome.

  01:37-01:38

  And Aaron's like, "Tell me about it.

  01:38-01:46

  "Let's get that bad boy open, "and let's get this party started, right?" And, oh, absolutely.

  01:46-01:54

  So I got it open, and we sort of unfolded it together, and got it inflated, and we have that other picture.

  01:56-01:57

  (congregation laughing)

  02:02-02:03

  Get it out of your system.

  02:06-02:07

  That's not a picture of us.

  02:08-02:19

  We got that picture online because after we inflated it, we burn it, dug a shallow grave and danced on it.

  02:21-02:22

  Can you believe that thing?

  02:22-02:24

  You see that basketball hoop?

  02:24-02:31

  Those basketballs that were pictured on that box, those basketballs weren't even the size of major league baseballs.

  02:32-02:34

  And the hoop was like this.

  02:35-02:38

  And those rings were about the size of Cheerios.

  02:40-02:44

  And I kid you not, that slide, that picture doesn't even do us justice.

  02:44-02:47

  That slide was not even a foot tall.

  02:47-02:50

  But when you look at the picture of the box, did you see that girl?

  02:51-02:57

  I'm like, "Whoa, look at this!" And I found out the product was made by Banzai.

  02:59-03:10

  And I found out that's a Japanese word that translates loosely to "gotcha, sucker." But you know, thank you for getting rid of that.

  03:11-03:17

  Many of us, many of us look at life like this, don't we?

  03:18-03:24

  I was expecting this, and I got this.

  03:26-03:28

  Pretty much sums up life for a lot of us, doesn't it?

  03:30-03:31

  You know, for some of us, maybe it's your job.

  03:32-03:39

  I took this job, and I was expecting this, and I showed up to work, and I've been there for a while, and I just got this.

  03:40-03:42

  Or maybe it's your marriage.

  03:43-03:49

  Like, you know, I thought marriage was going to be like this, and now that we're married, and...

  03:49-03:50

  It's just not.

  03:51-03:53

  It's not what I was expecting.

  03:55-03:57

  For some of us, maybe it's a health issue.

  03:58-04:08

  You know, I was expecting to be strong and healthy, and I have this constant debilitating...

  04:08-04:12

  And I was expecting this, and I...

  04:12-04:14

  I got this, you know?

  04:16-04:23

  And you know my personal testimony, how, you know, let's just say parenthood is not at all what I expected.

  04:25-04:29

  Not at all how I envisioned it, and I couldn't possibly love my children any more than I do.

  04:31-04:34

  But today we're going to be talking about expectations.

  04:36-04:42

  Because here's the thing, And failed expectations bring disappointment.

  04:45-04:49

  And disappointment can ultimately lead to losing heart.

  04:51-04:58

  But correct expectations keep us grounded in reality.

  05:00-05:03

  So first question, I want you to jot some notes down on your outline.

  05:04-05:36

  gonna take a giant step back look I know we're all dealing with stuff we are we're gonna take a giant step back and we're gonna ask ourselves what should we realistically expect on the earth and on your outline here's the biblical facts okay so this is what we should expect on the earth number one I'm gonna get through these quickly number one you are born with a sinful selfish nature you You inherited that from your parents, who inherited that from their parents, who inherited that da da da da da da.

  05:37-05:38

  Adam and Eve, right?

  05:38-05:44

  Romans 5 says, "They passed a sin nature down." You were born with a sinful and selfish nature.

  05:46-05:48

  That should leverage your expectations about things a bit.

  05:48-05:52

  But number two, it gets worse.

  05:52-05:57

  You are surrounded by a world full of people with sinful, selfish natures.

  05:59-06:06

  Every single person that you know, by nature, is sinful and selfish.

  06:09-06:10

  That should help us leverage our expectations.

  06:11-06:15

  Number three, the world is under a curse.

  06:17-06:21

  You know, the Bible says the entire world is under a curse.

  06:25-06:58

  sin being present but decaying and wearing out and ultimately going to be replaced but the world is under a curse and number four better get this down Satan is for now called the ruler of this world it has incredible influence on it. Did you know that? Jesus referred to Satan as the ruler of this world.

  07:00-07:05

  But that's reality. Satan is called the ruler of this world. Did you know that?

  07:07-07:23

  So Satan isn't sovereign, but Jesus was pointing out the fact that this world under the grip of sin, Satan has tremendous influence. He's still the prowling lion seeking whom he may devour." Let's put it this way.

  07:23-07:30

  Imagine as a baby, you were able to read and they were passing out brochures.

  07:30-07:31

  You're alive, here's life.

  07:32-07:34

  And you get a brochure about life.

  07:36-07:40

  What you can expect now that you are on the earth.

  07:41-07:48

  And imagine you get this brochure and you open it up And it says this, you know, "Welcome to earth.

  07:49-07:51

  Everything is going to be great.

  07:53-07:54

  You're always going to win.

  07:56-08:04

  Everyone's going to love you." Let me ask you, would that brochure be honest?

  08:05-08:12

  No, but some people live their lives as if that's the brochure they got.

  08:13-08:26

  But if we were given a brochure of life when we're born that we're able to read somehow, if it was honest, if it was biblically honest, this brochure would say something like this.

  08:26-08:27

  Welcome to earth.

  08:27-08:31

  This place is currently dominated by someone who hates you.

  08:32-08:35

  The world itself is under a curse and soon be replaced.

  08:36-08:40

  And you are going to be surrounded by people whose nature is hatred.

  08:42-08:43

  Is that honest?

  08:44-08:45

  You might not like it.

  08:47-08:48

  That's biblically honest.

  08:49-08:51

  That's why I get so frustrated.

  08:51-08:55

  You know, you get these preachers coming out with books like, "Your best life now, really?

  08:55-08:56

  This is my best life now?

  08:57-08:57

  This is it?

  08:57-09:02

  This is your best life now?" Rip off.

  09:04-09:06

  The glorious reality is, this is not your best life now.

  09:08-09:09

  It gets better, right?

  09:10-09:24

  So we had a couple of weeks in between sermon series, and I went to our elders, and I said, "Hey, what are some messages you think this congregation needs to hear?" And I'll just sort of give a word from the elders.

  09:24-09:27

  What do you think this congregation needs to hear?

  09:27-09:38

  And one of the immediate answers, one of our elders said, "You need to speak on not losing heart, persevering through hardship." And that's exactly what we're going to do today.

  09:38-09:43

  You see, this is why we don't persevere.

  09:44-09:46

  This is why we lose heart.

  09:47-09:59

  Because we have these expectations that everything's going to be great, and we're unable to handle it when things actually play out the way the Bible advertises they will play out.

  10:01-10:01

  And we lose heart.

  10:03-10:04

  I didn't think it was going to turn out this way.

  10:06-10:11

  So, if life is hard, as advertised, how do we persevere?

  10:13-10:15

  How do we keep from being overwhelmed?

  10:17-10:18

  How do we keep from being depressed?

  10:19-10:21

  How do we keep from losing heart?

  10:22-10:25

  And here it is, look at John 16.33, here's your answer.

  10:27-10:28

  Here's your answer, look very closely.

  10:28-10:32

  This is what Jesus Christ said, this is the conclusion of a very long teaching.

  10:32-10:43

  He said, John 16.33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

  10:46-10:58

  In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." You see the obvious contrast.

  11:00-11:13

  Jesus said, "In Me, there's peace. In the world, there's tribulation." So you're going to find yourself in one of two camps.

  11:16-11:22

  You're going to identify yourself as being in Christ, or you're going to identify yourself as being in the world.

  11:24-11:34

  Trouble is going to come to all of us, but the question is, We find ourselves in Christ to appropriate the peace that only He gives.

  11:36-11:37

  Like, wait a second, I have a question.

  11:37-11:38

  Look at the first thing He says.

  11:38-11:43

  He says, "I have said these things to you." What are these things? What is that?

  11:45-11:52

  Well, John 13-16, that whole chunk of your Bible, that's something that we call the upper room discourse.

  11:52-11:55

  This was the Last Supper. This was before Jesus was crucified.

  11:56-12:07

  He was sharing this last meal with his disciples, and he says, "There's some very important things I need to tell you." And it is an absolutely incredible passage.

  12:09-12:13

  Those are these things that Jesus is talking about here.

  12:13-12:32

  Jesus, after this long meal over dinner, and all that he taught them, he said, "Do you know why I told you all this?" It wasn't, "FYI, best of luck to you." "The reason I told you this is because you're going to have trouble in the world, but in me, you're going to have peace.

  12:32-12:41

  So pay really close attention to what I told you." These things are going to equip you to thrive in a hostile world.

  12:43-12:46

  I'm not going to read all of that text today.

  12:46-12:58

  What I want us to do, we're going to do a flyby, and look at some verses, and look at some of the things that Jesus was talking about, and I encourage you to go home and read the rest of it yourself.

  12:59-13:08

  But for today, on your outline, five gifts Jesus has provided that give us peace in a hard world.

  13:09-13:13

  Five things Jesus has provided that give us peace in a hard world.

  13:14-13:16

  You can turn back and follow along if you like.

  13:18-13:28

  Like I said, we're going to be hitting some key verses, But I want you to see these things. These are the things that Christ has given us to give us peace. Number one is people.

  13:30-13:38

  John 13.34, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

  13:39-13:49

  Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Now you see, the whole "you should love each other" thing, that's not new.

  13:49-13:53

  Why would Jesus say it's new? Here's the new thing. Did you catch it in the text?

  13:54-14:00

  Jesus said we're going to love each other as He loved us.

  14:02-14:06

  That's how we are to love one another. So let's talk about that for a second.

  14:06-14:16

  When you think of how Jesus Christ has loved us, what are some words that you would use to describe the love that Jesus has for his people?

  14:16-14:18

  Go ahead and shout some out. Shout them out.

  14:19-14:24

  I heard somebody say unconditional. Yeah, that's on my list too. Unconditional.

  14:25-14:31

  Like, look, I don't care what your past was, and I don't care if you mess up tomorrow.

  14:32-14:41

  You realize that Jesus loves you the same, whether you've had the best day of your life, or you've had the worst day of your life. You served and honored Him, or you sinned today.

  14:41-14:45

  His love is unconditional. Right? What else? Shout out another one.

  14:46-14:48

  Sacrifice, somebody said sacrificial.

  14:49-14:51

  You're not gonna believe this, but I have that on my list too.

  14:51-14:54

  Oh, actually I have it on mine, it's called self-sacrificing.

  14:55-14:56

  All right, that's the love of Jesus.

  14:57-15:00

  Your needs before my needs, right?

  15:00-15:01

  Isn't that the whole ministry of Jesus?

  15:02-15:05

  I'm going to step down into the earth, I'm going to die for you?

  15:07-15:13

  To glorify the Father, yes, but to purchase your salvation, your needs before my needs.

  15:14-15:16

  Let's have a couple more, shout 'em out.

  15:17-15:19

  Eternal! Yeah, eternal!

  15:19-15:21

  Like Jesus, when are you going to stop loving me?

  15:21-15:27

  He's like, "Never!" Never? Never? Eternal!

  15:28-15:29

  What else? Give me another one.

  15:30-15:32

  It's a command. Okay?

  15:33-15:35

  Here, let me give you a couple more that I have on mine.

  15:36-15:37

  I put accepting.

  15:39-15:39

  Accepting.

  15:41-15:44

  Jesus doesn't care what the color of your skin is or how much money you have in the bank.

  15:45-15:46

  He loves you.

  15:48-15:49

  I also have a mind forgiving.

  15:50-15:52

  I know these kind of overlap a bit.

  15:53-15:53

  Forgiving.

  15:54-15:59

  "Jesus, I messed up today. Will you forgive me?" What's his answer every time?

  16:01-16:02

  "Yes!" Okay.

  16:03-16:11

  So like I said, on my list, and I appreciate the other ones that were chimed in here, on my list I have accepting, unconditional, forgiving, and self-sacrificing.

  16:12-16:15

  Now, imagine if we as a church loved each other like that.

  16:17-16:27

  Imagine if as a church, our love for every single one of us in here, we accepted, it was unconditional, it was forgiving, and it was self-sacrificing.

  16:28-16:36

  If we loved each other like that, we would find our church family to be comforting and refreshing and encouraging.

  16:36-16:43

  We would look at this place, if we loved each other like this, We would look at this place right here as an oasis.

  16:45-16:49

  In a desert of garbage from the world, we would run into here.

  16:49-16:58

  "Oh, this place is refreshing, because these people care about me, and they encourage me.

  16:59-17:12

  And yet I messed up out there, but I come in here and they love me!" If our church, if we loved each other like that, We would find that one of the greatest gifts that God has given us on this earth is each other.

  17:14-17:16

  And that's exactly what He intended.

  17:18-17:21

  Number two, five gifts that Jesus provided to give us peace in a hard world.

  17:21-17:23

  Number two, promises.

  17:25-17:25

  Promises.

  17:26-17:30

  Jesus said in John 14, "Two in my Father's house are many rooms.

  17:32-17:41

  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" Jesus, for it is so what I've told you.

  17:42-17:44

  Jesus was saying, "This isn't false hope, okay?

  17:44-17:56

  This isn't fairy tale stuff." Jesus wasn't like, "I'm just gonna tell you something to calm you down, I'm about to die, and I'm gonna give you a little Easter money story that'll calm you down." Jesus is like, "No, here's reality.

  17:56-18:18

  If this wasn't true, I wouldn't be telling you, but my father's house has a lot of runes, and I'm going to prepare a place for you." You see, the promises of Christ give us peace because sometimes we act as if this life is all there is.

  18:19-18:19

  Sometimes we act that way.

  18:20-18:20

  "This is it.

  18:20-18:21

  This is it.

  18:21-18:23

  It's never going to change.

  18:23-18:25

  Today is just like yesterday.

  18:25-18:26

  Spoiler alert.

  18:26-18:27

  Guess what tomorrow is going to be like?

  18:27-18:28

  Just like today.

  18:29-18:31

  Things aren't ever going to change." Is that biblically true?

  18:32-18:33

  No.

  18:34-18:35

  Things are going to change.

  18:36-18:38

  And that's why I love the promises of Christ.

  18:38-18:45

  That's the promise Jesus said in Revelation 21.5, "Behold, I'm making all things new." There's going to come a day that everything's going to change.

  18:48-18:50

  And those promises give me peace.

  18:51-18:52

  They give me peace.

  18:54-18:56

  You know, when I was in high school, we had a guy.

  18:58-19:00

  He did this thing, it was so annoying.

  19:01-19:04

  He just walked by and he'd just ping you right in the throat.

  19:05-19:06

  Anybody ever get one of those?

  19:06-19:07

  Anybody ever get pinged in the throat?

  19:09-19:09

  Just me?

  19:11-19:12

  Wow.

  19:13-19:15

  All right, well, that'll actually help.

  19:17-19:26

  Because we're gonna take a volunteer, and I'm gonna bring you up here, and I'm going to ask Darren to ping you in the throat.

  19:28-19:29

  Oh, look at him, he's too ready.

  19:30-19:30

  (audience laughing)

  19:31-19:32

  No, no, I want you to be the pinger.

  19:34-19:45

  If we did such a thing, and I'm not, you're welcome, but if we did such a thing, and I said, "Who wants to be volunteered "to be pinged in the throat by Darren?" You'd be like, "No way, man, that's gonna hurt.

  19:45-19:46

  "It's gonna hurt.

  19:47-19:49

  "I wouldn't wanna get pinged in the throat by him.

  19:49-19:56

  "That'll hurt." But what if I said, "Steve, I'm gonna make you a deal.

  19:57-20:04

  "If you let Darren ping you in the throat, "I'll write you a check for $10,000."

  20:04-20:06

  (audience laughing)

  20:07-20:09

  Well, wait a second, wait a second.

  20:09-20:13

  Just a minute ago when I talked about it, oh, it's gonna hurt, it's gonna hurt.

  20:14-20:19

  But do you see when I said there's $10,000 involved if you go through it, Steve was right out of his seat.

  20:20-20:22

  I'm like, but Steve, I thought it was gonna hurt.

  20:23-20:25

  He's like, well, not for $10,000, it's not gonna hurt that bad.

  20:27-20:28

  What's your point?

  20:28-20:29

  Here's my point, listen.

  20:31-20:32

  It's the same amount of pain, isn't it?

  20:33-20:34

  A ping in the throat is a ping in the throat.

  20:35-20:46

  It's the same amount of pain, but the pain was perceived much differently when there was a huge payoff at the end, wasn't it?

  20:48-20:51

  And this is exactly what Paul was talking about in Romans 8, 18.

  20:52-20:53

  We have that verse.

  20:54-20:55

  This is exactly what he was talking about.

  20:56-21:04

  For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

  21:05-21:06

  That's what Paul's saying.

  21:06-21:11

  Paul's saying, you know, a ping hurts, but a ping doesn't hurt when there's $10,000 on the other end of it.

  21:12-21:15

  He goes, all the stuff that I've got, did Paul go through some stuff?

  21:15-21:16

  We're going through Acts in our church.

  21:16-21:18

  Did Paul go through some stuff?

  21:19-21:20

  And like, Paul, isn't that hard?

  21:20-21:22

  He's like, it's kindergarten!

  21:24-21:28

  Because of heaven, because of the glorious promises of Christ.

  21:30-21:35

  That's why He had such peace, and that same peace is available to you, because the promises are available to you.

  21:36-21:40

  Number three, jot this down, presence. Presence.

  21:43-22:02

  John 14, verses 16 through 17 says, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth," the Holy Spirit, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.

  22:03-22:12

  You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." The presence of the Holy Spirit.

  22:13-22:18

  So much I could say about this, but one thing in particular I want to highlight here that should give you great peace.

  22:20-22:28

  Look in the text, Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you..." Do you see that? "Another helper." I want to talk about the word "another" for a second.

  22:29-22:36

  Because you know, the English language is very non-specific in a lot of instances, isn't it?

  22:37-22:39

  The Greek was more exact.

  22:40-22:48

  And the Greek word for "another" here is huge, because there's actually a couple different words for the word "another" in the Greek.

  22:49-22:55

  One word was "heteros." That meant another, but different.

  22:56-23:01

  And the other word was "alos," which is another, but the same.

  23:03-23:09

  Or to illustrate, let's say that you brought me some cookies.

  23:09-23:30

  And you're like, "Pastor Jeff, I brought you some cookies." I'm like, "That's fantastic. What kind are they?" And you say, "These are grandma's famous mayonnaise and radish cookies." I would say, "I do love me some cookies, but can I have another cookie?" What do I mean by that? I want a different kind, right?

  23:31-23:43

  But if you brought me a plate of chocolate chip cookies, I would take one, I would shove it in my mouth, and I would say to you, "Can I have another?" And what do I mean by "another" there?

  23:44-23:48

  I mean, can you give me a cookie just like the one that I just ate?

  23:48-23:53

  "I want it exactly like that one." That's the difference in these Greek words.

  23:53-23:59

  Heteros is another of a different kind, you know, like heterosexual, heterosexual.

  23:59-24:02

  It means another person, but a different kind.

  24:02-24:04

  Men and women are different.

  24:05-24:06

  You guys knew that, right?

  24:07-24:08

  There's a difference.

  24:09-24:13

  Heteros, both people, both humans, both in the image of God, but different.

  24:15-24:18

  Alos is another exactly the same.

  24:18-24:21

  That's the chocolate chip cookie exactly like the first one.

  24:22-24:24

  Like where in the world are you going with this?

  24:24-24:43

  Well, you see, Jesus said, "I'm going to give you another helper." Parenthetically, he said, the word, he's saying, "I'm giving you a helper that's exactly me." In other words, if you've ever thought to yourself, you know what, my life would just be so much easier if I was with Jesus, right?

  24:43-24:45

  I read the Bibles and I see these guys with Jesus.

  24:45-24:48

  I'm like, yeah, my life would be easier if I was with Jesus.

  24:49-24:49

  Well, here's the deal.

  24:50-25:02

  The fact is Jesus is with you in the most personal and intimate way possible because the Holy Spirit literally is Christ's presence in your life.

  25:03-25:05

  He is a helper exactly like Jesus.

  25:05-25:10

  Now there's, you know, God exists as three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

  25:10-25:13

  I can't understand that, okay?

  25:13-25:15

  because God is God and I am not.

  25:17-25:20

  But here's what I do know, Jesus said the Holy Spirit is exactly like Him.

  25:22-25:26

  The same love, the same grace, the same attention, the same counsel.

  25:27-25:30

  The Holy Spirit is Christ's presence in your life.

  25:30-25:32

  You know, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy.

  25:34-25:36

  What's the next one? Peace!

  25:36-25:38

  Right? And what are we talking about?

  25:38-25:43

  Jesus said, "Here's things that I've spoken to you that you may have peace." Jesus said, "Listen, catch this.

  25:44-25:46

  Here's one of the ways that you're going to have peace in this hard world.

  25:48-25:54

  My presence is going to be within you by the power of God's Holy Spirit." He is another helper.

  25:54-26:02

  And one of the fruits of the Spirit, one of the godly characteristics that are manifested is peace.

  26:04-26:09

  So if you're sitting here today and you're like, "You know what? I've never had that peace." I just want to encourage you.

  26:10-26:13

  Maybe you don't know the Lord like you think you do.

  26:15-26:24

  Maybe you've never actually received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior because the Bible says when you do, He transforms you.

  26:25-26:30

  And He transforms you by giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

  26:30-26:32

  That's where the transformation comes from.

  26:33-26:38

  When you receive Christ as Lord and Savior, His Spirit indwells you and He changes you.

  26:40-26:44

  If you haven't made that decision to follow Christ, I want to encourage you today.

  26:47-26:47

  Today's the day.

  26:48-26:52

  And what you need to do is you need to personalize the message.

  26:54-26:59

  You see, coming to Christ means you go from, "I believe God loves the world.

  27:00-27:34

  I believe God loves people." But you need to personalize that to say, "I believe God loves me." You need to go from, "I believe Jesus died for the sin of the world," to, "I believe Jesus died for my sin." You need to go from, "Yeah, people are sinners and bad," to, "I'm a sinner and I'm bad, and I need a Savior." You see, when you personalize that, when you realize that Jesus Christ isn't just some objective truth, He is that, but He is also, He needs to be subjective to you.

  27:34-27:39

  He needs to be not just a Savior, He needs to be your Savior.

  27:41-27:49

  And when you receive Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit gives you the peace of Christ.

  27:50-27:50

  Two more.

  27:52-27:53

  Number four is power.

  27:55-27:55

  Number four is power.

  27:57-28:03

  John 15.5, Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches.

  28:03-28:07

  "Whoever abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

  28:09-28:20

  For apart from Me, you can do nothing." He is the vine, we are the branches, and we are called to - here it is, one word - we're called to abide.

  28:22-28:23

  Do you know what that word means in the Greek?

  28:24-28:25

  It just means to stick around.

  28:26-28:28

  It means to hang out with.

  28:30-28:32

  I'll hang out with Jesus great. Where is he? How do I do that?

  28:34-28:52

  How do I abide? I Want you to jump down look at verse 10 real quick John 15 10 Jesus tells you how to abide He said if you keep my commandments You will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love So do you see that abiding in Christ?

  28:53-29:02

  defined by Christ is obedience to him So there's a sense in which abiding in Christ is a passive thing.

  29:04-29:13

  You're hanging out with him, receiving his strength, but it's also an active thing because you need to be pursuing holiness and obedience to the things that he's commanded.

  29:15-29:22

  So if you don't feel the inside-out peace and presence of Christ, you know, you might be saying, "You know, I go to church. I go to my small group.

  29:22-29:29

  I'm going to this midweek Bible study, and I'm doing all these things, but I just don't feel this peace that Christ promised.

  29:29-29:31

  You need to ask yourself this question.

  29:32-29:36

  Is there any area of disobedience in my life right now?

  29:38-29:49

  Because when we go through trials, listen, when we go through trials, we often turn to sin for comfort. True or false?

  29:51-29:51

  It's true.

  29:53-29:55

  When we're going through trials, we often turn to sin for comfort.

  29:55-29:59

  but it might be pornography for some.

  29:59-30:01

  It might be a food addiction.

  30:02-30:12

  It might be turning to the bottle, or smoking something, or popping something, or gambling.

  30:13-30:22

  But so many of these sins find their root in, it's my escape, I'm going through a trial and it's just my escape.

  30:23-30:25

  Well, here's the problem with that.

  30:25-30:39

  When you find your escape in those things, you're never going to find the peace that Christ is promising through those things because you're grieving God's Holy Spirit as a child of God engaged in those things.

  30:41-30:47

  The most miserable person on the planet is not an unsaved person heading for eternal separation from God.

  30:47-30:49

  That's not the most miserable person on the planet.

  30:50-30:51

  You know who's the most miserable person on the planet?

  30:52-30:54

  It's a Christian that's stuck in sin.

  30:55-30:59

  So you're not going to find peace if you're not willing to let go of your sin.

  31:01-31:02

  He provides the power to do that.

  31:03-31:06

  Finally today, let's talk about prayer.

  31:08-31:14

  John 16, Jesus said, "In that day you will ask nothing of Me.

  31:14-31:21

  Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give to you.

  31:22-31:25

  "Until now you have asked nothing in My name.

  31:26-31:33

  Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full." What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?

  31:34-31:40

  Well, it's more than tacking the magic phrase at the end of our prayer.

  31:41-31:51

  Praying in the name of Jesus doesn't mean, "God, I really need this in Jesus' name." you have to do it because I said the magic phrase.

  31:52-31:53

  It's not that.

  31:54-32:01

  It's not our means of manipulating God to our will because we said open sesame or abracadabra or whatever.

  32:01-32:02

  It's not that.

  32:03-32:08

  Okay, nor is praying in Jesus' name, jumping on Santa's lap.

  32:08-32:10

  Like, here's my list.

  32:10-32:12

  Here's the things I'd like for you to bring for me.

  32:12-32:14

  That's not praying in Jesus' name either.

  32:15-32:16

  Praying in Jesus' name is simply this.

  32:17-32:19

  It's praying for the things that Jesus would want.

  32:20-32:25

  Like Jesus, remember when He was praying in the garden, sweating the drops of blood?

  32:25-32:26

  Do you remember what He prayed?

  32:27-32:31

  Agonizing over, facing the wrath of the Father on Him for the sin of the world.

  32:32-32:33

  Do you remember what He said?

  32:33-32:39

  He said, "Not my will be done, but your will be done." That's praying in Jesus' name.

  32:40-32:48

  Like, this is what I want, but God, if this isn't what you want for me, I'm asking for your perfect will in my life.

  32:49-32:58

  Because when you pray, when you really pray, you'll find that maybe circumstances don't always change, but you always change.

  32:58-33:03

  And you become less concerned with what you want, and you become more concerned with what will glorify God.

  33:05-33:14

  And when that becomes your agenda, it doesn't matter what the world throws at, because you're in tune with God.

  33:15-33:22

  So, you can expect the world to be brutally hard at times.

  33:23-33:26

  You can expect the world to be sorrowful and painful.

  33:28-33:30

  And God's answer to all of that is this.

  33:32-33:35

  He's saying to you, "I'm going to put people in your life who are going to love you.

  33:35-33:38

  I'm giving you glorious promises to look forward to.

  33:38-33:45

  I'll be present always, providing you power, I'm going to be available by prayer 24/7.

  33:47-33:52

  This morning, church, your circumstances may not change.

  33:54-33:55

  Your health may not change.

  33:57-34:02

  That struggling relationship that you've had, that might not be resolved today.

  34:02-34:10

  But, if you change your expectations, Your life will change.

  34:13-34:18

  Everything will change, even if nothing changes.

  34:20-34:24

  Father in heaven, I pray that today we turn a corner in our minds.

  34:26-34:31

  So often, Father, we are trying to cash checks that you didn't write.

  34:32-34:35

  We're trying to claim promises that you never made.

  34:36-34:44

  And we're so let down and disappointed like a child with completely unrealistic expectations.

  34:46-34:57

  Father, I pray that we would turn to your Word and find our expectations from the things that you have promised.

  34:59-35:16

  that we would rest our souls in the things that you have provided us to get us through this hard world, and that others in this hard world would see the peace of Christ reigning in our hearts.

  35:18-35:24

  To your glory and honor, Father, we are asking that you do something in us so that you can do something through us.

  35:26-35:30

  Thank You, Father, for Your indescribable gift.

  35:31-35:33

  We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read John 16:33, and read corresponding verses with each point. 

1. Tell of a time you were majorly disappointed by something (serious OR fun story!).

2. Why do people seem to expect an “easy life"? How do your expectations affect other areas of your life?

3. How can we actively love others (in our Small Groups, in the church) the way Jesus loves us? Be specific!

4. What does it mean to "abide in Christ" (John 15:5, 10)? Is this a “passive” activity, or is there "action" to take on your part? Explain. 
    

Breakout Questions:

Confess areas of your life where you’ve had wrong expectations. Which "gift from Jesus" (hint: the 5 sermon points) do you personally need to experience most right now?

Shaped by the Master Sculptor

Allow God To SCULPT Your Life While In The Land Of The DYING

1. Submit to God's Sovereignty. (Rom 8:28 | Jer 29:11)
   
   
   1. Discover the power of "TIPHLAH" (Job 1:22)
   
   
2. Confess your Weakness.


1. Don't deny it or indulge it (Psalm 61:2) The ELIOENAI Treatment – 9 times


2. Remember what we really are
   
   
   1. Weak Sinners (Rom 5:6, 8 | Matt 26:41)
   
   
   2. Self - exaltation denounced by Paul (Rom 12:3b)
   
   
   3. God knows your frame (Psalm 103:12-14)
   
   
3. Realize that accepting weakness can breed strength (2 Cor 12:10)


4. Strength comes from humbly abiding in God's Presence (Ps 91:1 | Isaiah 57:15)


5. Don't LIMIT the Holy One by a lack of trust or unbelief (Psalm 78:41)


3. Understand God's Big Picture
   
   
   1. Develop a "Better than I deserve" mentality (Rom 6:23 | Luke 17:10)
   
   
   2. Remember God is the Creator and Owner
      
      
      1. You NEVER have a right to be ANGRY WITH GOD!!! (Matt 5:22)
      
      
   3. Remember: A strong root always produces fruit
   
   
4. Leave Self on the Shelf
   
   
   1. Change your focus to the Lord – BELIEVE (Psalm 16:8-9 | Isaiah 26:3)
      
      
      1. Not like Job (Job 29:20-23)
      
      
   2. BELIEVE (2 Cor 1:3) – "the God of all comfort"
      
      
      1. God is NOT a persecutor, abandoner, adversary, accuser, or prosecutor
      
      
      2. Replace your Why with a What (Acts 9:6 | 2 Cor 1:4)
      
      
   3. Don't just Live With your mistakes, Learn From your mistakes
      
      
      1. Don't live in the WHAT IF, but in the What Now (Phil 3:13)
      
      
   4. Confess rather than depress (1 John 1:9 | Proverbs 28:13)
   
   
   5. Use your gifts to serve others (Js 4:6 | 1 Pet 5:5b)
   
   
5. Praise God for His Provision
   
   
   1. Praise is the ULTIMATE "Depression Medicine" (Psalm 61:8)
      
      
   2. Take a "Scripture Prescription" and rejoice
      
      
      1. Psalm 16:8-9 | Phil 4:6 | 1 Cor 15:55-57 | Rom 8:37)
   
   
6. Testify to God's AMAZING GRACE
   
   
   1. The LIBERATING "Stephen Principle" (Acts 7:51-60 | Rom 1:20 | Eph 2:10)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Frank Zitzman:

  00:29-00:31

  Yeah, famous, world famous.

  Frank Zitzman:

  00:32-00:33

  Well, I'm humble. I just call it famous.

  Frank Zitzman:

  00:33-00:36

  I took the world out, because I'm humble.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:36-00:37

  Give it time.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:39-00:57

  When I knew Frank was in the air, Frank and Sue lived in Kentucky, when I knew Frank was in the air, I said, "I would love to have Frank share the word with us here at Harvest Bible Chapel." This man has had, and his wife Sue, they have had a profound influence on my life.

  Pastor Jeff:

  00:58-00:59

  I'll give you a specific.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:00-01:21

  Fresh out of Bible college, you know when you go to Bible college, you sit in the classroom and they say, "Well this is what the Bible says, but Professor so and so says this, and Doctor so and so says this, and maybe it doesn't really mean this, because so and so says this." And one of the things that Frank really poured into me was, "Hey, what does the Bible say?" That's what it means.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:22-01:29

  God meant what He said, and He said what He meant, preach that and who cares what Dr. What's-his-name says.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:30-01:36

  Just go ahead and just really challenge me on being a better Bible student.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:38-01:41

  You're back out of Bible college, that's really where my education started.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:42-01:47

  So I just wanna publicly thank you for that, Frank.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:47-01:51

  That's just one of many things, but you've had a profound influence on my life.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:52-01:55

  But before you speak, I also got to tell a story about Sue.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:55-01:56

  Uh-oh.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:57-01:58

  This is a true story.

  Pastor Jeff:

  01:59-02:00

  This is a true story.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:01-02:02

  Sue tried to get me a record.

  Frank Zitzman:

  02:03-02:04

  Oh, yeah.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:05-02:06

  You remember this Sue?

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:06-02:06

  Oh.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:06-02:07

  You're going to.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:08-02:10

  I've been keeping this story in the hopper for years.

  Frank Zitzman:

  02:10-02:11

  Oh.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:12-02:14

  And I'm like, now's the time to share it.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:14-02:28

  Back when we did prison ministry together and we'd go into the guy's side and Sue and somebody would be doing the girl's side, to hand out Bibles, share the gospel, and that's where I've really learned to appreciate.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:31-02:42

  But anyways, so I don't know where you are this night, but I'm in the lobby, it was at the old prison up in Bowery, I'm sitting in the lobby, waiting for them to let me back for Bible study.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:43-02:49

  And one of the prison transport lobby, and he's standing, do you remember this now, sir?

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:50-02:52

  You're going through, he's standing there, I remember this.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:53-02:56

  And he was doing some paperwork.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:56-02:57

  And I'm sitting there.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:57-02:59

  And he turned around and just looked at me.

  Pastor Jeff:

  02:59-03:02

  He goes, take your laces off.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:04-03:05

  What?

  Frank Zitzman:

  03:06-03:07

  [LAUGHTER]

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:07-03:09

  He's like, take your laces off.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:15-03:16

  What were we talking about?

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:24-03:31

  I'm like, "I have no idea what's going on." Finally, the guy goes, "I can't transport you with laces in your shoes.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:31-03:40

  You've got to take your laces out." And I said, "I'm not a prisoner to be transported." And that's where Sue jumped in.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:41-03:48

  I said, "Yeah, this is your guy." I'm here for Bible study.

  Pastor Jeff:

  03:48-03:48

  it

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:16-04:17

  uh...

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:18-04:18

  (laughter)

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:22-04:23

  You have to forgive, though.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:23-04:25

  I know, forgiving people forgives.

  Pastor Jeff:

  04:28-04:30

  But anyway, let's give a warm Harvest Bible Chapel welcome.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:31-04:31

  Thank you.

  04:31-04:31

  (applause)

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:31-04:33

  Praise the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:37-04:38

  Praise the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:39-04:39

  Oh, man.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:41-04:43

  Darren, I want to thank you so much for the music.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:46-04:50

  I can tell a lot about a fellowship when you go and they play their music.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:51-04:53

  I mean, you can tell so much.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:53-04:58

  If the leadership sings along, or if they're just going through the motions.

  Frank Zitzman:

  04:59-05:02

  I'm sure everybody's - you've been to churches where they just go through the motions.

  Frank Zitzman:

  05:02-05:09

  It's so refreshing to go to a fellowship where when they do the music, they're really doing it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  05:09-05:11

  I mean, everybody's just really singing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  05:12-05:13

  You don't know what a blessing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  05:13-06:00

  The older I've gotten, I've learned I guess really really appreciate music and That's I have just loved since the first Sunday. I came here. It's just such a blessing I'm so thankful just have the opportunity to thank you personally Darren for because it's just been a blessing for me a great lesson So keep up the good work Or I'll leave Now but it's a blessing one of us, you know Jeff says it We had an impact on his life. Let me tell you you don't know what a blessing you folks have To have this guy's your pastor I'll tell you what I mean from the day. I met Jeff Miller From the day I met him his heart for God Is such a blessing to me I?

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:02-06:10

  Mean I just so he's the master of analogies. He's just such a great job with analogy He told me something about a fly in his office today, and I'll never forget it now.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:10-06:12

  I hate flies. Now I've got to like them now.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:12-06:15

  But anyhow, geez!

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:15-06:16

  He's just a master of analogy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:17-06:21

  But more than pouring it out, he's just his heart when he speaks and stuff.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:22-06:26

  And you know, everybody knows, anybody that's been in church for a time, you know when someone's speaking.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:27-06:29

  If it's coming from the heart.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:30-06:31

  And it's just such a joy for me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:32-06:33

  It is such a joy for me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:34-06:35

  To even be able to come here.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:36-06:46

  When I found out we were an hour away, I said to my wife, "We're going to Jeff's church." The first time I walked in, I'm like, "Whoa." The last time I saw his church, it was in a school building.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:47-06:49

  I come walking in, I'm like, "Wow, what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:49-06:52

  This place is amazing." Jeff said, "I didn't do any of it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:52-06:58

  It was everybody else here." But it is such a blessing, and it's a blessing for me to be here.

  Frank Zitzman:

  06:59-07:01

  First of all, you're invited to Troy's Creation House.

  Frank Zitzman:

  07:01-07:02

  That's our house.

  Frank Zitzman:

  07:04-07:11

  what we do there is we have folks stay with us. I want to go see the Creation Museum. I want to go see the Ark. And I give them a tour if they so desire.

  Frank Zitzman:

  07:11-07:22

  And it's a real blessing for me to be able to do that. And what we're all about is firming family foundations to the glory of our - and please take note of that word there - awesome Creator.

  Frank Zitzman:

  07:22-08:51

  That's the other thing I so appreciate about the fellowship here. You really emphasize that a lot. And we use that word so many times for things like a cookie or a cake. We ought to reserve that just for the Creator. I mean that is just, and that's what we're all about. And it's interesting, we encourage others to bring glory to our sovereign God by building their life on the solid foundation of God's Holy Word. That's the passion behind our ministry at our home. And that's what I try to do. Everybody comes to our house, I have a lot of great discussions with them, I take them on tours, is it's really a blessing. And it's interesting to me, I took this off the internet, I think this is interesting, consider a fallible psychotherapy. Listen to this, I read this right off an internet site. When you're going to get counseling, somebody to help you, okay, somebody's going to give you a foundation, all right. Listen to what this says, "No therapist will be right all the time." Now if you know that when you walk through the door, why would you even gonna be there all right now it says of course and it may be that your expectations for change are just unrealistic or misguided yet sort this out together but the final word is yours what are you paying this other guy for if the final word's yours why so what a joke that is see if you don't have a foundation now if you don't have a credible reliable authoritative source of truth in your life and that's what the Bible is by the way the Bible is a credible, reliable, authoritative source of truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  08:52-08:54

  If you don't have that in your life, this is what you're left with.

  Frank Zitzman:

  08:55-08:59

  What a tragedy. If you're here and you don't know the Lord, I feel sorry for you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:00-09:03

  Because see, what's great is there is something that's perfect.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:04-09:14

  And the Bible says this. And what you're going to see, whenever Jeff asked me to do this, I wasn't going to do this PowerPoint, but when I started to look at it, I have so many verses of Scripture in here. And I'm thinking, you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:14-09:18

  If there's anything I want people to remember when I'm done talking is the Bible.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:19-09:21

  I don't want them to see me, I want them to see scripture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:21-09:24

  So I thought, I'm gonna have to use this PowerPoint 'cause I've got so many verses in here.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:24-09:31

  But look at it, Psalm 19, seven says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:31-09:39

  "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise and simple." One of the things that I do a lot of times when I study the Bible is I look words up, like that word perfect, for example.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:39-09:52

  That word means complete, whole, and this particular commentator said it, "An unerring guide of conduct conveys the idea of something able to cover all aspects of an issue." Now, see, if I have a problem, that's where I want to go.

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:53-09:55

  Why go to somebody that's not right all the time?

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:55-09:57

  We've got something that's right all the time!

  Frank Zitzman:

  09:57-09:59

  I mean, it's perfect! How many things in this world are perfect? Nothing!

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:01-10:04

  But we have a book that is! Oh, what a blessing that is!

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:04-10:07

  And then, the word "sure" means reliable and trustworthy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:08-10:12

  And see, that's what I love about the Scripture. It's like, I don't care what issue you have.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:12-10:15

  You may not like what it says, but it will address it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:16-10:17

  It will address it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:17-10:18

  And what a blessing that is.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:19-10:24

  And this is one of my favorite verses I want to start with before we do our full message here.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:25-10:33

  1 Thessalonians 2.13 says, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, "because when you receive the word of God," now this is Paul talking to Thessalonian church.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:33-10:50

  "When you receive the word of God which you heard of us, "you received it not as a word of men, "but as is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." See, the Bible's perfect, it's sure, and because of that, it will effectually work in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:50-10:55

  And what's really interesting, you look that word up, and that's the word "energeo." Now, what's that sound like?

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:55-10:57

  Energy, right? It sounds like energy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  10:57-11:02

  Energeo, that means to be operative, be at work, to put forth power, to aid one.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:02-11:15

  It's actually used in Hebrews 4:12 when it says, "The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword." So this verse is saying that God's Word will work effectively in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:15-11:21

  But notice what it says, "in you that believe." See, the issue comes down to, it's not that the Bible doesn't work.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:22-11:30

  I've had people tell me, "I don't know, you tell me that it doesn't work for me." And I say, "Well, I know what the problem is." I can tell you, you don't believe.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:31-11:35

  See, if you really believe what the Bible says, it will work.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:35-11:36

  That's the issue.

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:36-11:55

  Anytime that you're given a Bible verse that applies your life situation and it's not working for you. I guarantee you I know the problem. You're not believing it. You're just not believing it so Just so you know Jeff gave me an introduction I'll say it's really important that you know, the credentials of the people that are speaking to you. Okay?

  Frank Zitzman:

  11:56-12:31

  So this is my these are my credentials. All right here they are. I have a THD from HKU I got. Okay, now this is what it is. Now, HKU, you may not have heard of this, but it's a prestigious school with facilities all around the world. Though the majority of my training took place at HKU branch located in Western Pennsylvania, that's where we're from. I continue to routinely attend HKU classes in my local area. Okay, so this is where I want you to understand, you don't just have some rookie here. Okay, now you might be wondering now Now what's THD and HKU stand for?

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:32-12:32

  So here's what they stand for.

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:34-12:36

  THD is a Truth Heralding Degree.

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:37-12:38

  I got that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:39-12:42

  And I got it from Hard Knocks University.

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:44-12:44

  And you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:45-12:46

  All of us go to that school.

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:47-12:49

  The issue is, are you learning anything when you go there?

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:51-12:52

  But you know what's really neat?

  Frank Zitzman:

  12:52-12:59

  When you start to become somebody, when you're a Christian, and you love God, Hard knocks really started coming from the world.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:00-13:02

  Just because we live in a fallen world.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:03-13:06

  And God a lot of times behind those hard knocks just to shape us and mold us.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:07-13:13

  Well back on June 20th, 2004, I lost my dad to a sudden brain aneurysm just out of nowhere.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:14-13:15

  He just got a brain aneurysm and he died.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:16-13:17

  It was a major shock in our family.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:18-13:23

  But nine days after that, just nine short days after that, something else happened.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:24-13:31

  I lost my 17-year-old son in a motorcycle accident, nine days after I lost my father.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:32-13:34

  My son actually was in one of the pole barrels at my dad's funeral.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:35-13:36

  And I spoke at my dad's funeral.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:36-13:41

  I spoke on behalf of the Lord, because I didn't know where my dad stood with the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:42-13:44

  And any time somebody asks me to do a funeral, I'm very honest.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:45-13:46

  I just stand up and tell people the truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:47-13:48

  I have a truth-telling degree, OK?

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:48-13:49

  I tell people the truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:49-13:50

  I don't know where my dad stood.

  Frank Zitzman:

  13:51-14:21

  And I'll never forget the day I left that hospital, my son said, "Troy, my boy," said, "Dad, no one here has an excuse. They heard the message today." He said, "They have no excuse." Nine days later, that son was killed in a motorcycle accident. And soon I had to go to write past the scene where it was at, and it was just a horrific, horrific thing. But you know, the good news is, let's see, if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, you know that there's There's nothing that comes into your life that isn't Father filled.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:23-14:25

  It comes through the hands of your loving Father.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:26-14:28

  God allows it for a reason.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:29-14:38

  And today what I want to do with you is I want to share with you a little cross I put together called "Sculpt." And we're going to go through this and I have an outline with you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:38-14:44

  It's called "Shaped by the Master Sculptor." And I try to emphasize to people, allow God to sculpt your life while you're in the land of the dying.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:44-14:45

  See, we're in the land of the dying.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:46-14:47

  We're all going to die someday.

  Frank Zitzman:

  14:48-15:18

  gonna die someday. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take that word sculpt we're gonna use each letter, highlight a biblical principle and this is the principle that helped us, my wife and I, my whole family actually get through what we went through in losing my son. And the first letter, S, stands for submit to God's sovereignty. Submit to God's sovereignty. You know there's no better book in the Bible that you turn to to see an example of this than the book of Job.

  Frank Zitzman:

  15:19-15:45

  If you read the book of Job, Job chapter 1, what happens in the book of Job, just to summarize for you the Job chapter 1, Job loses, he loses 11 ,000 animals and 10 children in one day. Now can you imagine that? Here's a man, he He lost his entire livelihood and his entire family, all his children, in one day.

  Frank Zitzman:

  15:46-15:48

  Now I know what it's like to lose one child.

  Frank Zitzman:

  15:49-15:54

  I can't imagine losing that in one day.

  Frank Zitzman:

  15:54-15:55

  I can't imagine that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  15:56-16:00

  But really interesting in the last verse in the book of Job, is Job 1.22.

  Frank Zitzman:

  16:01-16:47

  look at verse up it says in all this Job sin not nor charged God foolishly I mentioned to you before see when I read the Bible I like those words that just I call them jump out words they just jump out to me and that word foolishly jumped out to me when I read it and this is way long when I first became a Christian when I was reading the book of Job I remember telling my wife hey this job character I mean Job or what's his name again I I thought his name was job at first. You know when you're on a Christian, I mean I don't know, I thought job what? I'll read this book I like to know about a job, I find out it's a guy's name's Job. But anyhow, I said this character, this is something else what he's going through. I remember reading it, but when I got to this word foolish, I thought you know there's something about that word. I just looked that word up. And it's the Hebrew word tifla.

  Frank Zitzman:

  16:48-17:51

  Now that almost sounds like a like a whisper, like tifla. But what that word means is so significant it means that which is empty now what I do then is let's take out and put that in Job 122 in all this Job sin not nor charge God of that which is empty see Job knew Romans 8 28 before it was ripped he knew that all things were together for good but as a love God and are called according to his purpose. He knew that before that verse was even written, all right? And actually, so I tell people all the time you need to discover the power of Tiflah in your life. You need to realize if you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, and you know isn't it great to be a Christian? I mean, you know when I talk with atheists sometimes I'm just like, "Oh, you're just, you have no idea what you're missing. No idea." But what I try to emphasize to people all that whole idea that nothing comes into your life that's empty.

  Frank Zitzman:

  17:52-18:00

  And see, the reason this was so significant to me is because in the prison ministry, and Jeff can vouch for you for this, one of my major topics in the prison ministry was worship.

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:01-18:03

  And I would tell guys all the time, "You know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:03-18:04

  God deserves to be worshipped no matter what.

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:05-18:06

  I don't care what you're going through.

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:07-18:11

  He deserves to be worshipped no matter what." And I used this passage as an illustration of that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:12-18:47

  Because right before this it says that Job fell down and worshipped God dust and ashes. He basically repented in dust and ashes and he worshipped God and this is right after that this verse and that's why he could worship him because he knew nothing was empty because it was life. Now I really made an issue of that. Well see when I realized my son, see this is when you hear people talk about when the rubber meets the road. Well this is when it does, when you have something like this happen. But I remember so specifically. We got to the hospital and the people at the hospital said, I said where's my son I want to see him. They said well sir he was on a motorcycle accident and they had already told us that he was that he had died. I said I don't care what he looks like I want to see him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  18:48-19:46

  And they said well okay so I took me into a little room where he was at and I walked into that room and I saw a Troy lying on a garnet on a gurney he was covered up to his face and his face didn't have a scratch on it. I don't know if the Lord hid that from me or what but he didn't have a scratch on it. And I looked at him and I looked at him it's like I felt like he was sleeping. That was the only time we had peace in our house when the kids were sleeping. I used to go in and pray my kids when I watch them sleep but I stood there looking at Troy and I'm thinking and then it hit me I realized he's not going to get back up and let me tell you when you're in a situation like that there is nothing that any psychotherapist any human you can't handle it and I said to God I said what am I gonna do without this young lad in my life anymore and my god because I All I could hear was that word, "Tiflah" in my ear.

  Frank Zitzman:

  19:48-19:49

  And you know what's so neat?

  Frank Zitzman:

  19:49-19:54

  Is that since Troy died, I've had so many opportunities to share with people.

  Frank Zitzman:

  19:55-20:00

  Troy used to say, when he was a, he said, "Dad, he used to play golf." And he broke like 40 on a golf course.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:00-20:01

  He's 13 years old.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:01-20:02

  He loved playing golf.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:02-20:06

  He said, "Dad, someday when I'm a professional golfer, "I'm gonna buy a radio station.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:07-20:10

  "And I'm gonna put you on there to talk to people about God because you're really good at that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:11-20:14

  You know, that never materialized into Roy's life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:15-20:18

  But through his death, God's made that possible for me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:19-20:19

  In a lot of ways.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:20-20:21

  Don't believe me, I'd rather have him back.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:22-20:31

  But you know, there's a lot of times I told Sue, the relationships that we've established down in Kentucky now with different people, all since this happened, it's amazing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:32-20:35

  So you need to, folks, you need to discover the power of Tiflin in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:35-20:36

  I don't care what's in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:36-20:37

  I don't care what it is.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:38-20:41

  People use it if you have the right perspective.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:41-20:42

  You've got to have the right perspective.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:43-20:45

  And tragically, a lot of us many times don't.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:47-20:55

  Romans 8:28, the verse I just said, "We know all things work together for good, and them love God, and them are called according to His purpose." Here's another good verse, Jeremiah 29.11.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:55-20:56

  And all these things are on your outline.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:56-20:57

  All the verses are on there.

  Frank Zitzman:

  20:58-21:00

  But I like to just print them out for people to see.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:00-21:02

  It's because I love this verse, Jeremiah 29.11.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:02-21:06

  "A future and a hope." Everybody wants that, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:07-21:08

  I've never met anybody who doesn't want that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:08-21:09

  Everybody wants that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:09-21:10

  Well, the Bible tells us that we can get it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:11-21:13

  That's what I love about the God's word.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:14-21:15

  Let's move on to the C.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:15-21:19

  The C stands for confess your weakness.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:19-21:26

  Now this ought to, after you do the first one, in fact, as we go through each one of these, you're gonna see a progression, all right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:26-21:32

  Well, when you see submitting to God's sovereignty, hey, if you submit to God's sovereignty, it's gonna be real easy to confess your weakness, 'cause you're gonna see it real clear.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:34-21:34

  I mean real clear.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:34-21:35

  You should.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:36-21:39

  If you're really submitting to God's sovereignty, you should really see it real clear.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:40-21:44

  Because, see, you don't want to deny it or indulge it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:45-21:47

  See, that's what a lot of people do when they go through a tragedy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:48-21:51

  They try to say, "I'm just going to block it out of my mind." Well, that won't work, but it's still there.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:53-21:56

  Or they end up not being able to function in anything.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:57-21:57

  They indulge it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  21:58-21:59

  You don't want to do either one of those things.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:00-22:00

  You know what you need to do?

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:01-22:04

  You just need to confess your weakness to God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:04-22:07

  That's what I did when I went and saw my son on that gurney.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:07-22:16

  I just admitted, "Hey, I can't handle this." And the great thing about our God, if you're a Christian, He sees that and He answers.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:16-22:17

  Oh, this is so wonderful.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:17-22:18

  It's so great to be a Christian.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:18-22:21

  Psalm 61 too is probably my favorite version of the Bible.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:22-22:24

  I was telling Jeff in his office, I was saying this a lot yesterday.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:24-22:27

  I was working on some jobs at my daughter's farm.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:27-22:29

  And you'll use this verse a lot in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:29-22:30

  You need to memorize this.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:30-22:35

  Okay, it says, "From the ends of the earth "Woe, I cry unto thee, lead me to the rock.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:35-22:42

  "When my heart is overwhelmed, "lead me to the rock that's higher than I." See, that's what's great about being a Christian.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:42-22:43

  We got a rock.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:44-22:46

  And that's what's so sad when you don't.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:47-22:52

  You know, when I talk with people and they don't know the Lord, I always tell them, I said, "Just wait, time's coming.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:53-22:55

  "You're not gonna be able to handle a situation.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:55-22:58

  "You need a rock." And I just love Psalm 61 too.

  Frank Zitzman:

  22:58-23:00

  That's one of my favorite, favorite verses.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:02-23:03

  See, we need to remember what we really are.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:04-23:12

  In Romans 5, 8, Romans 5, 8 says, God commends his love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:12-23:13

  Now, I wanna show you something here I think is really neat.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:14-23:23

  See, the verse right up from that, Romans 5, 6, look at it says, "For when we were yet without strength, "in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." See the connection there?

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:24-23:25

  Sinner without strength.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:26-23:27

  You wanna know why you're a sinner?

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:29-23:29

  I'll tell you why you're a sinner.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:30-23:32

  because you don't have the strength not to be.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:34-23:35

  And you never will.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:36-23:37

  That's why you need a rock.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:38-23:40

  That's why you need one that has no sin in your life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:41-23:48

  In fact, the Bible says, Jesus said that the disciples watched and prayed that he entered into temptation, the spirit of need is willing, but the flesh is weak.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:50-23:55

  So on your outline, you see you have a blank there, and I even put the number of letters in the word, it'll really help you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  23:56-24:00

  So you gotta put weak, W-E-A-K, we're weak sinners.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:00-24:05

  We're actually weak sinners in need of a mighty God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:06-24:07

  Boy, don't ever forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:08-24:10

  And it's easy to forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:10-24:11

  You need to remember that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:11-24:13

  You need to remember you're a weak sinner in need.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:13-24:19

  And see, what's interesting is that the apostle Paul actually chimes in for us.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:19-24:28

  He says, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that's among you, you ought to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." That's another good verse to keep in your mind a lot.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:29-24:35

  Psalm 103, 13 and 14, "Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him, for He knows our frame." He remembers we're just dust.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:37-24:50

  See if you just keep the perspective right all the time, keep God up here and you down here, you can handle anything. I can't think of anything more tragic for a parent than to lose a child. There isn't any. Jeff already highlighted up here how important that is.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:51-24:58

  But with the Lord, you can handle it. And we've just been able to do that, and I'm I'm so thankful, and I give all the glory to God for that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  24:59-25:01

  You have to realize that accepting weakness will breed strength.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:02-25:14

  2 Corinthians 12.10 says that, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, and approaches, and necessities, and persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." Then am I strong.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:15-25:20

  See, I guess the reason I'm really emphasizing all these verses to you is because, see, that's where it's at, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:21-25:26

  You need to put these deep into your soul before the tragedies come.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:27-25:30

  And if you do, when they come, it's like a flood.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:32-25:33

  And I know that, I've experienced that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:33-25:35

  It's amazing, it's amazing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:36-25:49

  My wife and I did a seminar one time, they said, somebody raised their hand, it was like a question and answer thing, they said, "Can you recommend a book "that could really help with tragedy?" And Sue and I were both sitting on a stage, I looked, I went,

  Pastor Jeff:

  25:49-25:49

  "Oh,

  25:50-25:50

  the

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:50-25:56

  Bible?" They were like, "Oh, well, I know that." I'm like, "Oh, see, as soon as they said that, I said, 'No, you don't.'" They don't.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:57-25:59

  See, we underestimate the Bible.

  Frank Zitzman:

  25:59-26:01

  We do, we just underestimate the power of it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:01-26:03

  You put God's word into your heart and you really believe it?

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:04-26:05

  Folks, it really works.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:06-26:07

  It really works.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:08-26:10

  Strength comes from humbly abiding in God's presence.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:11-26:13

  Two verses that support that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:14-26:14

  Call 911.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:15-26:16

  I tell people that all the time.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:16-26:16

  You hear that, call 911?

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:18-26:26

  Okay, Psalm 91, one says, "He who dwells in the secret place of the most high you'll abide under the shadow of the Almighty. You want to call 911? Go to that one.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:27-26:41

  That's the one that can really help. Isaiah 57 15 says, "Thus saith the High and Lofty One of Heaven's Eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in a high and holy place." That's what I love about this music. You don't know. I just, oh, it's so great.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:41-26:51

  "I dwell in a high and holy place with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. He revives the spirit of the humble and he revives the heart of the contrite ones." If you If you aren't being revived, I'll tell you why that's a problem.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:51-26:53

  It's certainly not because God isn't high enough.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:54-26:55

  It isn't powerful enough.

  Frank Zitzman:

  26:55-26:59

  It's because you're not humbling enough.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:00-27:01

  You're not contrite enough.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:01-27:02

  See, that's what I love about the Bible.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:02-27:03

  Like I say, it has the truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:04-27:05

  You might not like it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:05-27:06

  I don't like that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:06-27:07

  It offends me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:07-27:08

  But I'll tell you what.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:09-27:10

  It heals.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:10-27:12

  The truth heals and the lie kills.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:12-27:13

  Don't forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:13-27:15

  That's a Dan Smith little rhyme.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:17-27:47

  You don't want to limit the Holy One by lack of lack of belief. That's what Israel did and in Psalm 78 41 Yea, they turned her back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. You don't ever want to limit God and So exciting folks. I can't you know, I wish I could put into words the experience it is to know God's Empowering and stamina in your life. I mean once you feel what it's like man. I'll tell you what That's why when I meet an atheist they say to me. Oh, there's no God My first thought was, "Oh, you're just ignorant.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:48-27:55

  You're just ignorant. That's the problem." Because I'm just like, "Don't tell me there's no God." I mean, it's just, you've got to be kidding me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:55-27:57

  But whatever, that's another story.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:57-27:59

  I could go on all kinds of stuff about that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  27:59-28:00

  We'll have to come back and talk about that message sometime.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:01-28:07

  So we'll go to the next "U." Understand God's big picture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:08-28:09

  Understand God's big picture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:09-28:11

  And here's the number one thing you need to do.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:12-28:14

  You need to develop a "better than I deserve" mentality.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:14-28:35

  When I was coming in today, I was asked, "How you doing, Frank?" First thing I said was, "Better than I deserve." But my buddy Dan Smith, friend of another friend who was in the prison ministry, I was talking with him the other day, we were at a wedding, and Dan goes, "Oh, I came up with another thing," I say, "Now." I said, "What do you say now?" He said, "Well, when people ask me how I'm doing, I'm saying, 'Not as good as I'm gonna be.'" And I'm like, "Whoa, that is really good!

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:36-28:39

  "Not as good as I'm gonna be!" 'Cause then right away people say, "Well, what do you mean?

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:39-28:41

  "You're gonna inherit something?" I go, "Well, I am!

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:42-28:46

  "I mean, it opens the door That's a good one too, but that's another good one.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:46-28:48

  Okay. I mean, it's really great.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:48-28:53

  And I get that you need to develop a better than I deserve mentality for Romans 6.23, because this is what we deserve.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:53-28:55

  The wage of sin is death.

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:56-28:58

  So if you're still breathing, guess what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  28:59-29:00

  You got better than you deserve.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:01-29:02

  'Cause you're a sinner, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:02-29:03

  We've already established that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:03-29:04

  We know you're a sinner.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:05-29:06

  Well, you deserve death.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:06-29:10

  And people say to me about my son, they say, well, I said, my son lived for 17 years.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:11-29:12

  He lived for 17 years.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:12-29:13

  He should have been dead when he was born.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:14-29:14

  All this should have been.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:15-29:19

  The fact that we breathe it all is such a blessing from God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:19-29:20

  And see, we forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:21-29:21

  We forget it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:23-29:25

  We got this horrible mentality in America.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:26-29:33

  Luke 17, 10, "So likewise you, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded to you, say, 'We are unprofitable servants.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:33-29:38

  We have done only that which is our duty to do.'" I've had so many people say to me when they've gone through something, "I don't know why God would do this to me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:38-29:39

  I mean, I go to church.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:40-29:41

  What's happened to me?" Oh, really?

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:42-29:43

  I hear that and I think, "Oh yeah.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:44-29:44

  Have you done all?

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:46-29:54

  I mean, the Bible says, see, that's just a, you might not like that verse, but see, that verse is telling you that after you've done everything, after you've done it, then you're supposed to say you're on your duty.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:55-29:56

  You shouldn't be expecting anything.

  Frank Zitzman:

  29:58-30:03

  And again, we don't wanna hear that because we've got the Joel Olsteins preaching on TV and all these other knuckleheads.

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:04-30:08

  I mean, just polluting God's word and polluting what, ah, it just drives me nuts.

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:09-30:14

  I mean, people that love God, love the Lord, when they hear that stuff, it's just like, You just want to crawl out of your skin.

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:14-30:20

  I mean, it's so hard for me to deal with that, but anyhow, we had to go through that sometimes in a jail a couple times.

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:20-30:21

  It was kind of interesting that happened.

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:21-30:27

  Okay, remember, God is the creator and owner.

  30:29-30:30

  Please don't ever forget that.

  30:30-30:36

  See, that means, see, when you own something, that means that you get to say when it stays here, when it comes here, where it goes.

  30:37-30:38

  See, that's what I remember.

  30:38-30:39

  When my son died, I thought, you know what?

  30:40-30:40

  He's not my son.

  30:41-30:42

  Ultimately, he's God's son.

  30:43-30:46

  And if God chose to take him out of this life now, he has a reason for it.

  30:47-30:54

  See, if you just remember that, that God is the Creator and Owner, it'll really keep you from ever getting into this situation.

  30:55-30:59

  You never - I can't make that word big enough or bold enough -

  Frank Zitzman:

  30:59-31:03

  you never have a right to be angry with God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:04-31:04

  Oh.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:05-31:13

  You know, when we lost our son, we had a pastor call us and tell us, "We can do counseling." counseling with people, grief counseling with people that lose loved ones.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:14-31:18

  I just want you to know that, you know, if you get angry, when you get angry with God, you can give me a call.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:19-31:21

  Like, a moment Sue said that to me, I said, "What?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:22-31:23

  Angry with God?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:24-31:27

  Are you kidding me?" I said, "What?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:28-31:29

  Like it was God's fault?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:30-31:32

  I mean, we brought sin in the world, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:32-31:33

  I mean, and my son was a sinner.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:33-31:36

  It's like, well, so now we're going to get angry with the only...

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:36-31:37

  You know, and you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:37-31:38

  Here's the real big thing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:38-31:40

  I mean, this is a selfish thing, but it's just the truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:40-31:45

  I mean where else you gonna turn? Why you gonna get angry with anyone who can help you?

  Frank Zitzman:

  31:46-32:42

  I mean that's about stupid isn't it? I mean I'm just saying even if you're just being selfish about it but more importantly than that look at this verse Matthew 5 22 Jesus says this but I say unto you whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in the danger of judgment whosoever shall call his brother Raca shall be in danger of the council whosoever shall say Adolf Full shall be in danger of hellfire now this word Raka means a senseless empty-headed man all right the word fool there is the word moros it means kind of like moron right foolish impious godless okay so but the point of this verse is is that Jesus is saying if you get angry and disrespectful with a fellow sinner look what you're in danger of what do you think you might be in danger of if you get angry and disrespectful to the sinless one.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:44-32:45

  You don't want to go there.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:45-32:47

  I had a famous Bible teacher and he's really famous.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:47-32:48

  He's written a lot of books.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:49-32:52

  Him and I had a conversation one day and he told me, "Oh, Frank, listen.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:53-32:54

  It's okay to be angry.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:55-32:59

  You just don't stay there." I'm like, "Oh, you mean like murder.

  Frank Zitzman:

  32:59-33:00

  It's okay to murder.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:00-33:07

  Just don't keep doing it." "Well, it's just not quite the same." I said, "It's exactly the same because being angry is God's sin, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:07-33:10

  It is." Now again, you might not want to hear that, but that's the truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:11-33:13

  People say, "Well, it's only the natural thing." Guess what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:13-33:15

  As Christians, we don't live in the natural.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:16-33:17

  We should be living in the supernatural.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:19-33:20

  And I understand why that happens.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:20-33:23

  I have a whole message I do on angering God, and maybe I'll come and do that sometime.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:24-33:26

  I try to be sensitive with people.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:26-33:27

  I don't have time to be sensitive today, so I'm going to be real blunt.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:29-33:32

  But anyhow, you just never, ever want to be angry with God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:33-33:34

  Don't ever get in that situation.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:34-33:37

  It's just not a good place to be.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:38-33:43

  No, the next thing, remember a strong root always, always produces fruit.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:44-33:48

  And when you have a strong root in God's word, there'll always be fruit from it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:48-33:50

  What a blessing it is to know that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:51-33:52

  So let's go to the L.

  Frank Zitzman:

  33:53-33:58

  The L is leave self on the shelf.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:00-34:05

  All right, now there can't be a better illustration of that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:06-34:07

  Well, you know, change your focus to the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:07-34:08

  Psalm 16, 8, 9.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:09-34:11

  I've set the Lord always before me, 'cause he's in my right hand.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:11-34:15

  I shall not be moved, therefore my heart is glad, my glory rejoices, my flesh will rest in him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:15-34:17

  Take a moment and just look at that verse, okay?

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:17-34:19

  I want you to see what that says.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:19-34:24

  Okay, it says, "I shall not be moved." That means stability.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:25-34:28

  It says, "Therefore my heart is glad." Okay, that's happiness.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:29-34:30

  And my glory rejoices.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:31-34:32

  That's joy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:33-34:35

  So you get stability, happiness, joy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:36-34:41

  and the last one, "And my flesh shall also rest in hope." Stability, happiness, joy, and hope.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:41-34:43

  Do you know anybody that doesn't want that?

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:45-34:48

  I have never met anybody in my life that doesn't want that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:49-34:50

  And you know what, the way we get it?

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:51-34:52

  We set the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:52-34:53

  See, that's why I hate evolution so much.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:54-34:56

  'Cause what evolution does is it takes God out.

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:56-34:57

  You know what it does?

  Frank Zitzman:

  34:57-34:59

  It deprives everybody of that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:00-35:01

  They'll never have stability.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:02-35:02

  They'll never have happiness.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:03-35:03

  They'll never have joy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:03-35:14

  have hope without God. That's one of my favorite favorite verses. But see the only way you're gonna do that is if you leave self on the shelf. So you quit looking at self, quit looking at self's problems and everything else. You look at the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:14-35:33

  You keep the Lord always before you. That's why knowing his word and having it ingrained in you is so helpful. Then the next verse, one of my favorites too. I'm probably gonna drive you people crazy I keep saying every verse is my favorite verse. I just love God's word so much. Isaiah 26 3 and 4, "Thou will keep him in Perfect peace! Who doesn't want that?

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:34-35:41

  "Who's my estate on thee, because you trust in Him." Trust you in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:41-35:44

  I mean, perfect peace, everlasting strength.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:44-35:45

  I mean, who in the world?

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:46-35:47

  Think about that, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:47-35:51

  And if you're a Christian here today, that's available to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:53-35:54

  No matter what you're going through.

  Frank Zitzman:

  35:54-35:59

  And see, I can say that with all authority, because I went through the most horrible thing a parent can go through, and I'll tell you what, I had it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:00-36:07

  It wasn't that second I was angry with God, because my God was there right by my side, and His word was flooding my mind.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:08-36:09

  It made all the difference.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:09-36:10

  Oh, it made all the difference.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:11-36:18

  And then, you know, "Perfect Peace" is just something that I heard a guy do an illustration one time about peace, and he said they wanted this artist to draw a picture of peace, and they had this big contest.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:18-36:28

  And one artist drew this picture of this beautiful summer setting, and there was a lake and a house, and everybody's like, "Oh." Then the next person, they showed their picture, and it was like a winter scene.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:29-36:32

  And there's this little cabin and snow around and a little smoke coming out of the cabin.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:34-36:35

  Then the third artist showed you this picture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:36-36:39

  Everybody goes, "Ah, there's a big gas!" Like, "What?" "It's a waterfall!

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:39-36:43

  "Waterfall coming over this, waves crashing and everything!" People were like, "What?

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:43-36:49

  "Who's the jerk that made a picture like that for peace?" And the artist's like, "Wait a second, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:49-36:57

  "You're not looking so close, like close enough." He went over to the waterfall and he showed a little branch sticking out there and there was a bird filling this nest right there.

  Frank Zitzman:

  36:59-37:09

  And this author said, "See, you have peace when in the midst of the turmoil, you're making a nest in your home right in the middle." That's perfect peace.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:09-37:17

  And see, it's available to us if, if you put your mind on Him and not on you and your problems.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:18-37:23

  So, but here's the ultimate example, Luke 22, 42 to 43.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:26-37:29

  Anybody that knows the gospels, You know who's speaking here, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:30-37:30

  This is Jesus.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:31-37:33

  And I wanna show you something here that a lot of people miss.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:33-37:35

  I think this is so, so important.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:36-37:41

  Saying, "Father, if you'll be willing, "remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, "but thine be done." That's verse 42.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:43-37:48

  Then verse 43, "There appeared an angel unto him from heaven." So here you have the scene.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:49-37:56

  Jesus has gone through the most horrendous trial and event anybody go through, carrying the sin of the world.

  Frank Zitzman:

  37:57-38:03

  And he's crying out to God, but he says, but you know what, I would just let this cup pass from me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:04-38:05

  So there's nothing wrong with asking for that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:06-38:09

  But notice Jesus right away says, nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:09-38:12

  So he basically submits to God's sovereignty.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:12-38:18

  And there appeared an angel into him from heaven, and look at what the angel does, strengthening him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:19-38:22

  See, if you want God's strength, that's what you need to do.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:23-38:24

  He is the ultimate example.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:26-38:30

  And I'm telling you folks, and when you do it, it's astounding.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:30-38:34

  It is absolutely astounding what God can do in your life and the strength He brings.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:35-38:36

  It's just overwhelming.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:37-38:37

  Overwhelming to me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:38-38:40

  And again, I don't know how anybody...

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:40-38:41

  Well, they just don't know.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:41-38:42

  But here's an example.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:42-38:44

  We talked about Job at the beginning.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:44-38:45

  I was saying what a great guy Job was.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:45-38:50

  But see, if you read all the books of Job, you start finding out, uh-oh, there's a few places where Job's not too great a guy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:51-38:52

  And here's one of them.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:52-38:53

  Job 29-23.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:53-38:55

  Notice the words I have in white.

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:56-38:57

  Can everybody see them?

  Frank Zitzman:

  38:58-39:05

  "My, me, my, my, me, me, my, my, me." Now, does that sound like you've got the Lord always before him?

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:06-39:08

  I mean, what's that sound like?

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:08-39:12

  "My words, they spoke, they waited for me as the fruit of the rain." He's remembering how great he was.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:14-39:17

  You know what? If you read Job 29, that's one of the lowest parts in Job's life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:18-39:18

  And isn't it interesting?

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:19-39:21

  Isn't it interesting where he's focusing?

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:21-39:23

  And you'll see that throughout the book of Job.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:24-39:28

  Anytime Job's at a low point, take a look at what he's thinking about God, and what he's thinking about him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:29-39:33

  He's derailing God, essentially, really, and he's thinking about him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:34-39:37

  See, you need to believe what 2 Corinthians 1:3 says about God's character.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:38-39:48

  And that is, "Blessed be the God, even the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort." He's the God of all comfort.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:48-39:50

  One of the greatest titles there is in the Bible for God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:50-39:56

  And when you go through a tragedy, let me tell you, you realize that's a man's life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  39:56-39:59

  See, God is not a persecutor.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:00-40:02

  And He's not a forsaker.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:02-40:04

  Now I know your outline says abandoner, I never changed that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:04-40:06

  Forsaker, that just sounds like a more educated word.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:07-40:13

  Forsaker! He's not an adversary, He's not an accuser, and He's not a prosecutor.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:13-40:14

  Not a persecutor or a prosecutor.

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:15-40:46

  And the reason I put those on there like that is because unfortunately, If you look in the book of Job, you're gonna see that's exactly what Job says about God And every time he says it He's always down He's not able to deal with the situation What a great picture see if we can just avoid it. See that you know what folks That's why the book of Job is there by the way. That's why God gave that to us to show us that's humanity But we know with Christ see we can overcome that So we need to replace our why?

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:47-40:48

  With a what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:49-40:51

  You know when every time tragedy happens you go why just why?

  Frank Zitzman:

  40:52-41:05

  You need to replace it with a what and I use an example that acts 9 6 And acts 9 6 it says and he trembling. This is the Apostle Paul God slammed his face in the dirt and he looked up and he said why are you doing this to me?

  Frank Zitzman:

  41:06-41:09

  No, he says Lord. What will you have me to do?

  Frank Zitzman:

  41:10-41:14

  So you need to get that mentality in your life. You change your why to a what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  41:14-41:29

  You know what God answers prayer in that passage by the way if you if you read through it Then second Corinthians 1 for just another verse that I threw in there to talk about how the reason God Comforts us in our tribulation is so we can cover other people. I mean that makes sense, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  41:30-41:34

  I have a pastor our pastor down in Kentucky. He when we first moved there. He said, you know what Frank?

  Frank Zitzman:

  41:34-42:00

  He had me speak at their church and he said that you know He said there are that Sue and I were on special assignment in Kentucky When he said it I thought you know what that's so true See whatever trial you go through some big tragedy if you go through a major tragedy you ought to consider it a privilege if you're a Christian Because God's chosen you with a special son You're gonna be able to comfort others and go through the same thing. How's the world gonna get comfort?

  Frank Zitzman:

  42:01-43:10

  Gonna do the psychotherapist We already find out he ain't gonna help. Okay, so You just don't want to live with your mistakes you want to learn from them. Psalm 85 8 is a verse that I just kind of threw understanding your outline but this is about the God saying to the children of Israel I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints and let them not turn again to following. See when you have make a mistake in your life you just need to learn from it. Okay now see the reason this is significant to me is because guess who bought my son his motorcycle me see the day that Troy was killed what do you think I was second you know what maybe was a mistake but you know what there's nothing I can do about now I mean I said I'd live with but see that's where my next point comes in we don't live in the what-if we live in the what now don't ever forget that. Even if you're responsible, you know what? That's in the past, man. You can't do anything about the past, but you know what you can do? Something about the future. And really, we don't live in the past, we live in the future, we live in the present, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  43:11-43:36

  So what we need to do is focus on the present and learn. Just learn. And believe me, hey, we all got a lot to learn, right? We're never done. We're never done learning. Philippians 3.13 illustrates that. "Brethren, I count on myself to apprehend it, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth with those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

  Frank Zitzman:

  43:36-44:51

  That word "press" is really interesting. It's a word in the Greek is "dioko" and what it means is to pursue in a hostile manner. Are you doing that? You need to pursue the goal of being Christ-like in a hostile manner. And actually, another thing is that that word is in what they call the present tense in the Greek. What that means is it's a continual action so you should always be doing that now I know that's not easy but I'm telling you we should be doing that and again like I say the Bible has answers we just have to just gonna do it so the next one you need to confess rather than depress a couple verses there for that first John 1 9 I'm sure you're all familiar with that one just about all of us know that one cuz we gotta do that lot if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us And then Proverbs 28 13 another one of my really favorite ones that anybody that confesses and forsakes going to have God's mercy So and then the last thing I have on this point is you need to use your gift to serve others and You can look those verses up But both of them talk about being good that God gives grace to the humble God gives grace to humble We just need to be humble and the best way to do that serve others. That's my that's my wife She's like oh my gosh. I mean I've never met anybody in my life that serves like her.

  Frank Zitzman:

  44:52-44:55

  I mean, everybody's needs all the time.

  Frank Zitzman:

  44:55-44:57

  I mean, she's just a blessing, but you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  44:57-44:59

  That's how Sue can deal with her situation.

  Frank Zitzman:

  44:59-45:00

  You know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  45:00-45:02

  You need to use your gifts, whatever gifts God's given you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  45:02-45:04

  You're in a tragedy, hey, get busy using those gifts.

  Frank Zitzman:

  45:04-45:07

  Get your eyes off of you, and you'll see such a difference.

  Frank Zitzman:

  45:08-45:14

  Okay, so the next one, P, praise God for his provision.

  Frank Zitzman:

  45:16-46:17

  And I like to say that praise is the ultimate, depression medicine It really is Psalm 61 8 and I never think Psalm 61 8 is just the reverse of Psalm 16 8 Look what it says so I sing praise and I name forever that I may daily perform my vows and I really prefer this translation when it says that because some parents I should say as And I think it should be that because let me tell you that's how you end up doing your vows If you start singing praises unto his name that that's where the power comes from to do this that's why you don't indulge your weakness and you don't lay in it you praise God and move on and it's just a blessing and once again the scripture tells us that pretty clear there so I always encourage people to take a scripture prescription and rejoice and this is the verse that applies with that be anxious for nothing but everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be known to God and the peace of God, there's that peace again, passes all understanding.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:17-46:24

  I had a lady stay at our house one time that was going to the museum, she said to me, she says, "When you're in a fix, "think of Philippians 4:6.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:26-46:37

  "And if you want a piece of heaven, read verse seven." So I thought that was pretty neat, 'cause she said, "You're in a fix, "and then you get a piece of heaven "because God gives you your understanding." I'll just never forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:38-46:39

  You're in a fix, think of Philippians 4.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:40-46:41

  I'm kind of a poet at heart.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:43-46:53

  Okay, 1 Corinthians 15 is another great verse that shows, that just illustrates this point of how when you praise God, you put these verses into your mind, He gives you victory.

  Frank Zitzman:

  46:54-46:58

  I mean, think of this, folks, victory over death and the grave.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:00-47:02

  That's our biggest enemies, and they've been conquered.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:04-47:06

  Oh, I'm just so thankful for that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:06-47:10

  You stand by a girl with a dead child, Let me tell you, you're really thankful.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:12-47:14

  Isn't it just great to be a Christian?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:15-47:17

  If you're here today and you're not a Christian, I feel sorry for you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:18-47:19

  I really do.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:19-47:20

  I really do.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:22-47:28

  Romans 8, 37, "Nay, in all these things, "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Think about that for a second.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:28-47:29

  More than a conqueror.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:29-47:31

  I mean, everybody, I mean, conqueror, that's like the peak, isn't it?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:31-47:32

  I mean, how could there be more?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:33-47:34

  What in the world?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:34-47:38

  What would be more, what's better than a conqueror?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:38-47:41

  I mean, and I think I have the answer for that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:41-47:44

  And it's this, an endurer.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:45-47:47

  'Cause see, sometimes when you conquer, you just quit.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:48-47:48

  Hey, I won!

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:49-47:52

  But see, somebody that's an endurer, they never quit.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:53-47:55

  Win or lose, they keep going.

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:56-47:56

  And you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  47:57-48:00

  That's exactly what Christ does in your life for you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:00-48:03

  He enables you to keep going if you keep your focus on Him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:04-48:05

  What a blessing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:06-48:15

  The last thing in sculpt is T, and that is testify to God's amazing grace.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:15-48:26

  And again, like I told you before, the progression there, if you're submitting to God's sovereignty, you're confessing your weakness, you're understanding God's big picture, you're leaving self on the shelf, you will praise him and you will testify.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:26-48:27

  That's gonna happen.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:27-48:28

  It's just gonna flow.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:29-48:30

  It's just gonna flow.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:31-48:33

  And I wanna show you something here that I think's really interesting.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:34-48:36

  You're probably familiar with this passage, Matthew 7.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:37-48:49

  "Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, "I will like him unto a wise man "and build his house upon a rock." So this is a very powerful passage, but I think a lot of people have never seen this, I'm sure you probably haven't.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:49-48:56

  It says, "The rain descended, floods came, "and they beat upon that house." Now see that verse 25 says, "Beat upon that house." But notice what's different.

  Frank Zitzman:

  48:57-49:02

  Beat upon in verse 25 is a different word, a different Greek word.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:03-49:04

  Now this is why that's important.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:06-49:07

  Okay, this is Matthew 7.25 again.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:07-49:09

  "Beat upon that," that's the word prospecto.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:10-49:12

  It means this, to fall upon.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:13-49:18

  Every place else that's used in the Bible, it means to prostrate oneself before in homage or supplication at one's feet.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:18-49:19

  That's worship, folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:21-49:23

  Okay, now look, six times it refers to Christ.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:24-49:25

  I have all those verses down there for you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:25-49:26

  One time it refers to Paul.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:28-49:29

  Now think about this.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:29-49:32

  The Bible's saying that if you're built on a rock, the storm comes.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:33-49:35

  See, when you're built on the sand, you just get knocked over.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:36-49:36

  You're built on a rock.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:36-49:42

  Not only does it not knock you over, it bows to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:43-49:49

  See, you can use your grief instead of your grief abusing you when you're built on a rock.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:50-49:51

  That is such a powerful...

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:51-49:54

  You know, when I found this, it got so good to me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:55-49:59

  I found this one day I was grieving, just really upset about losing Troy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  49:59-50:00

  I was just having a rough day.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:01-50:03

  And the Lord laid on my heart, you need to read Matthew 7, Frank.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:03-50:05

  And I thought, why do I need to read that for?

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:05-50:06

  I know what that says.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:07-50:09

  I mean, I taught that in a jail for years.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:09-50:10

  I don't need to read that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:11-50:15

  I went and I looked it up and I found out, I discovered this.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:16-50:17

  Now, isn't that interesting?

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:18-50:22

  See, so many times the Bible is, they're such so rich, it's so deep.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:22-50:24

  We don't even scratch the surface.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:24-50:25

  Don't even scratch the surface.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:25-50:26

  That's just a powerful truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:27-50:32

  And it's another reason I testify to God's amazing grace because God showed that to me when I needed it.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:33-50:35

  I just think that's a powerful, powerful truth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:36-50:38

  Then a couple other verses there I'd draw your attention to.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:38-50:43

  The invisible things of him, Romans 1:20, for the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:44-50:49

  He was the eternal power and God had, oh, I could stand here for a long time and talk to you about the things that were made.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:49-50:51

  But I want you to see that that's creation, okay?

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:52-50:56

  Now that word there for creation is the same word here for workmanship, Ephesians 2:10.

  Frank Zitzman:

  50:57-50:59

  We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:00-51:01

  Here's what's really interesting.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:02-51:04

  Poiema is the word for both of those, things that are made in workmanship.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:04-51:05

  What's that word look like?

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:07-51:07

  Home, right?

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:08-51:16

  You realize, folks, that God's creation and God's recreation, us, are God's poetry for the world.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:17-51:19

  And we should be, you know, what's poetry do?

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:20-51:22

  Poetry's just so comforting and soothing.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:22-51:23

  That's what we're meant to be.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:24-51:28

  And if you apply what I share with you here today, I'm telling you, you'll be able to do that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:29-51:30

  you will be able to do that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:30-51:32

  It's just such a wonderful blessing to know that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:34-51:38

  I have a poem I want to read to you, Real, that I think will bless you, I hope it does.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:39-51:43

  It's a poem that I wrote about this whole situation we went through.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:44-51:48

  And it's just really meaningful to me and I hope it's a blessing to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:48-51:50

  I call it an opportunity to.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:51-51:52

  And it goes like this.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:52-51:55

  Several years have passed since we lost our dear Troy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:56-51:58

  Words can't describe how we miss that boy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  51:58-52:03

  We will never forget his smiling face and the joy that he brought us here in this place.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:04-52:07

  Yes, the grief is real and sometimes hard to bear.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:08-52:12

  But praise be to God, there's still victory to share.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:13-52:20

  Death's ugly sting has been vanquished, you see, by the Jesus who died for you and for me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:21-52:25

  Oh, tragedies will come on this old cursed earth, but they can quickly become opportunities for birth.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:25-52:33

  If we keep our dear Lord in his rightful place and offer him praise, oh what a difference it makes.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:35-52:42

  So here's my praise to the awesome one who not only holds my precious son.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:43-52:50

  Thank you dear Lord for the opportunity to tell others about the glories of you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  52:50-53:14

  for the way that you comfort in the midst of such sorrow, for the hope that you bring and you give in a brighter tomorrow, for the doors that you open for us to proclaim the soul-cleansing gospel that wipes away shame, for the stamina that comes from your powerful word, for the freedom that comes when your message is heard, for the way that you take what is broken and crushed and infuse it with life through your sovereign touch.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:16-53:18

  Oh, what a blessing to be a child of the Master.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:20-53:27

  and experience from the face of disaster, just thank you, dear Lord, for the opportunity to tell others about the glories of you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:28-53:31

  If you're a Christian, folks, that should be your attitude.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:32-53:35

  Telling others about the glories of God, no matter what happens.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:35-53:42

  And I assure you, folks, if you develop that attitude and cultivate it, whatever does happen, well, you will.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:44-53:50

  We are so blessed, so blessed to know the King of Kings And Lord of Lords.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:51-53:54

  The last thing I have up there, the Liberating Stephen Principle.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:55-53:58

  That's out of Acts 7, 51 to 60, and I'm not going to read all those to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:58-53:59

  Everybody will go to sleep.

  Frank Zitzman:

  53:59-54:00

  But I encourage you to read that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:01-54:04

  I really encourage you to read that because this is a story about Stephen.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:05-54:07

  And what I really love about this story is this.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:07-54:08

  This really ministers to me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:08-54:09

  I hope it ministers to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:10-54:12

  See, Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:14-54:16

  Now, just imagine how the church felt.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:16-54:18

  You got this firebrand.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:18-54:20

  I mean, this guy that's turning the world on fire, man.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:20-54:25

  He's standing in front of this anhedral bonus, and all of a sudden he's dead!

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:27-54:29

  People will be like, "Oh man!

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:29-54:30

  Why God let that

  54:30-54:32

  happen?"

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:32-54:32

  Oh!

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:33-54:42

  But when I mention Stephen in the Bible to anybody that knows the Bible, the first word they think of, it isn't coward.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:44-54:45

  And it isn't timid.

  Frank Zitzman:

  54:49-55:15

  courageous, brave, bold. See, Stephen's job for the church was to infuse it with that at that particular time at the church of all. You know what folks, whatever your gift is, God wants you to use it. But when you're done using it, it's time for you to leave. When I lost my son, there's so many things I remember about Troy as a 17 year old. If he'd have been a 30 year old, I might not remember I remember those.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:16-55:16

  He may have changed.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:17-55:20

  But I'll never forget some of the greatest things that he did in my life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:20-55:21

  I'll never forget that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:22-55:23

  I had another dear friend, his name was Joe McEwen.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:24-55:26

  He went into the prison ministry with me for years before Jeff came along.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:26-55:27

  And Jeff's a lot like him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:28-55:29

  That's why I love Jeff so much.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:29-55:30

  I love Joe so much.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:31-55:32

  Joe died of a sudden heart failure.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:34-55:35

  And I'll never forget when that happened.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:35-55:38

  I was like, and one of the guys in the prison, this is what the prison was like.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:38-55:45

  We went into prison, I went into prison the next week, and one of the guys in the prison says to me, "Hey, tell us about your good God now.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:45-55:46

  It's your buddy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:46-55:54

  What happened to your buddy?" You know, sometimes in the prison ministry, it was really hard for me to restrain myself.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:55-55:56

  In fact, that's why Joe was there.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:57-55:59

  And I really believe that's why Jeff came to my life too.

  Frank Zitzman:

  55:59-56:00

  'Cause there was times I was telling

  Pastor Jeff:

  56:00-56:01

  him, "Whoa."

  56:02-56:02

  And

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:02-56:06

  I'm like, "Okay." And right away, the Lord's so good to me now.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:06-56:07

  God says.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:08-56:09

  So I said, "You know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:10-56:13

  I'm really glad you brought up about that God, that good God.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:14-56:16

  Because that guy, that guy you talked about, Joe, I said, "Do you know him?

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:17-56:19

  "Did you know him really well?" Well, I knew he came in here.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:19-56:21

  I said, "No, I mean, do you know him really well?

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:22-56:25

  "I mean, Joe McHugh wouldn't come in here "and take the shoes off his feet and give to you guys.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:26-56:27

  "He was a giver, man.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:27-56:33

  "I mean, he was so compassionate, he just gave everything." I said, "He came to a point in his life, "he had a bad heart.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:34-56:39

  "He's got to be a taker and not a giver." That would have been a living hell for Joe McHugh.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:40-56:51

  So what did my good God do? He says, "Hey Joe, you're done spending your gifts this time." So I'm glad you brought him up. Let's talk some more about him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:51-56:54

  About what you need from that good God. It was a great night.

  Frank Zitzman:

  56:55-56:59

  But the whole point of the Stephen principle is, you know what, God has a purpose for everybody.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:00-57:05

  So when anybody passes and you, I mean, you know what, that was God, God's gonna use, you just need to think.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:06-57:08

  God thoughts. Just gonna think God thoughts.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:09-57:12

  But see, usually when I share this message with people, I say, "You know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:13-57:14

  I'm talking to people that are Christians.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:14-57:24

  I want to believe everybody here knows the Lord, but I'm not so naive to think that everybody does." So all the things I told you about the sculpt, those are applicable to a Christian's life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:25-57:28

  But if you're here today and you're not a Christian, I have something I want to share with you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:29-57:30

  And it has to do with my son.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:32-57:40

  Whenever we were in a hospital and we first got there, they took us to this little room And Sue was just devastated.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:41-57:46

  I was devastated too, but to tell you the truth, I kind of felt in my heart, we drove past, we had to drive by the accident scene.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:46-57:51

  We saw the motorcycle smashed, book bag splattered over the pavement.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:52-57:54

  So I kind of figured that Troy was gone.

  Frank Zitzman:

  57:55-58:01

  And I was praying the whole way from that scene to the hospital, God just give me the strength to hold my family together.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:02-58:36

  And we get there and they get us to the room and we're in the room and Sue's just begging the nurse is saying, "Hey, is my son, how is he?" And I said, "Ma'am, we can't say anything, the doctor ought to tell you." And Sue was just like, "Just tell me if he's alive, tell me if he's alive." Well, the doctor comes in the room and he walks in and we're both standing there and Sue's just, you know, tears, doctor looks and he says, he's standing there and he leans over to the nurse and he goes, "What was his name again?" I'm standing there thinking, "What kind of an idiot?" I'm, you know, that's just my flashback.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:37-58:43

  What kind of an idiot would come into a room with a grieving mother and father and not even know the boy's name?

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:44-58:45

  But he wasn't done yet.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:46-58:47

  They said his name's Troy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:47-58:49

  He looks at us, he goes, oh, Troy's dead, he died.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:51-58:51

  Just like that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:53-58:55

  I'll tell you, soon she collapsed in my arms.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:56-58:56

  It's a good thing she did.

  Frank Zitzman:

  58:57-59:00

  'Cause if she had not collapsed in my arms, the doctor would have probably collapsed on the floor.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:00-59:02

  'Cause I was ready to nail him, buddy.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:02-59:03

  I was like, you gotta be kidding me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:04-59:05

  And I looked at the nurses, I said, you know what?

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:05-59:08

  The best thing for you to do is to get this man out of here and get him out of here now.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:09-59:10

  So they took him out.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:13-59:20

  I share that story with you to let you know that, see that doctor, he had a message of death for me.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:21-59:26

  He had a message that was communicated to me very rudely, a life and death message.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:28-59:34

  Well, the Lord impressed upon my heart, he said, you know, Frank, You have the real life death message, the gospel.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:36-59:39

  And you don't wanna be rude like that doctor was to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:40-59:42

  And sometimes I have been, and I feel bad about that.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:43-59:46

  So if you're here today and you're not a Christian, I don't wanna be rude to you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:47-59:48

  But I do want you to know something.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:49-59:56

  You need the God that I know, and you need him desperately, desperately.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:56-59:57

  And here's how you get him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:57-59:58

  You need a sculpt.

  Frank Zitzman:

  59:59-01:00:00

  You need to submit to God's sovereignty too.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:00-01:00:01

  You need to confess your sin.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:02-01:00:10

  You need to understand that God sent his son, his only begotten son, to pay for that sin, and then you need to turn away from self and put your trust in him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:10-01:00:14

  And if you do, you will praise and testify to God as well.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:15-01:00:17

  Now for the final picture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:18-01:00:19

  Isn't that great?

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:19-01:00:19

  I love that picture.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:20-01:00:26

  People, when they see this picture, they usually say, "Oh, it's the lion laying down "with the lamb and the millennial and everything.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:26-01:00:33

  "In fact, there's a millennial theater "that they have this out in front of there "and everything." And everybody goes, "Oh yeah, it's the lion." If you do a little Bible search, you're gonna find out He talks about the lion and the lamb laying together.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:35-01:00:38

  Talks about the wolf and the lamb, but never says a lion and a lamb.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:39-01:00:46

  See, the reason I love it, we came to Kentucky, and I said, I have this at home, I pick it up when I do a presentation, when I have it with me, but I can't pick that up, so we'll get it up first.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:46-01:00:50

  I always tell people, praise the Lord for Hobby Lobby, 'cause I got that at Hobby Lobby.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:51-01:00:55

  But what I love about this picture is that it's a lion and a lamb.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:00:56-01:01:02

  See, Jesus came the first time as a lamb, In humility, offering salvation.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:04-01:01:06

  He's coming the second time as a lion.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:08-01:01:10

  In wrath, offering judgment.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:11-01:01:13

  I don't know how much you know about a lion or a lamb, but you don't want to meet a lion.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:14-01:01:15

  You want to meet a lamb.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:16-01:01:21

  So I encourage you here today, if you don't know Jesus, come to Him as a lamb.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:22-01:01:25

  Because I assure you, you will be coming to Him.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:26-01:01:28

  If you don't come to Him as a lamb, you're going to come to Him as a lion.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:29-01:01:30

  and you don't want to see him that way.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:33-01:01:35

  So, praise the Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:36-01:01:38

  Thanks so much for this opportunity to share with you folks.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:40-01:01:41

  But let's pray, and I'll be done.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:42-01:01:46

  Almighty God and Father, what a blessing, Lord.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:47-01:01:53

  I'm so thankful to my brother Jeff for just giving me an opportunity, Lord, to go through all this information again for my own life.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:01:54-01:02:04

  Forgive me, Father, for the many times that I have forgotten all the things that I've encouraged and exhorted everybody else here to do, Lord, there's so many times when I get frustrated.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:04-01:02:06

  I don't think of Psalm 61 too like I should.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:08-01:02:09

  I get frustrated with my wife.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:09-01:02:10

  I don't treat her the way a lot of times I should.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:12-01:02:17

  Thank you, God, so much for your Word and the cleansing power that it has.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:17-01:02:25

  And I do pray, Lord, sincerely for all these people, that if they know you, God, that they grow deeper in your Word and fall deeper in love with you.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:25-01:02:26

  It makes all the difference.

  Frank Zitzman:

  01:02:26-01:02:36

  don't know you God please burden their hearts Lord God use us Lord as a tool to reach them for your glorious kingdom it's in Jesus name I pray