Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Max Lucado - God Won't Leave You Alone - Uplifting Sermon
Transcript
- 0:21Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, Now have mercy upon us as we open
- 0:24Speaker 1: your word forgive our speaker. You know his sins are many.
- 0:28Speaker 1: Help us to see Christ, just Christ, to Christ. We pray,
- 0:33Speaker 1: and all the church said, Well, the phrase shelter in
- 0:37Speaker 1: place was not in our vocabulary a few months ago.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Now even our children know it's meaning. Quarantine was, at
- 0:45Speaker 1: least in my vocabulary, an extreme measure to isolate a few.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Now I see it as an extreme measure to isolate us.
- 0:55Speaker 1: All self isolation, at least for me, conjured up images
- 0:59Speaker 1: of a peaceful sabbatical. Not anymore. Those who self isolate
- 1:05Speaker 1: have fevers in cough and the possibility of a deadly disease.
- 1:12Speaker 1: We used to wear masks, I'm sorry. We used to
- 1:15Speaker 1: shake hands, Now we wear masks. We used to give hugs,
- 1:19Speaker 1: Now we keep our distance. We used to smile at
- 1:22Speaker 1: the fellow shopper in the grocery. I was in the
- 1:25Speaker 1: grocery yesterday and people were walking around me like I
- 1:28Speaker 1: hadn't had a bath in six weeks. We're avoiding each other,
- 1:31Speaker 1: walking wide circles around a potential carrier. Now, while the
- 1:36Speaker 1: intended outcome is to keep us safe, a certain byproduct
- 1:42Speaker 1: is loneliness, loneliness. It's as if we each live on
- 1:46Speaker 1: an isolated island, separated from others. We are alone. Do
- 1:53Speaker 1: you know the feeling? Are you acquainted with the downward
- 1:58Speaker 1: spiral of isolation? Do you feel that you're all by yourself?
- 2:05Speaker 1: If you know the feeling, you're not alone. I don't
- 2:08Speaker 1: mean you're not alone in knowing the feeling. I mean simply,
- 2:13Speaker 1: you're not alone. You may feel like you are, but
- 2:16Speaker 1: you're not. That raw, dark sense of isolation and powerlessness.
- 2:22Speaker 1: It's not here to stay. And your gracious, heavenly father
- 2:26Speaker 1: has some words to talk to you to help you
- 2:28Speaker 1: step out of that lonely spot of loneliness. It's a psalm,
- 2:35Speaker 1: the twenty third psalm, perhaps the best known psalm of
- 2:40Speaker 1: all of the book. In the Book of Psalms, King
- 2:42Speaker 1: David wrote this a former shepherd himself, He said, the
- 2:46Speaker 1: Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes
- 2:49Speaker 1: me to lie down in green pastures, and he leads
- 2:53Speaker 1: me beside the still waters, and he restores my soul.
- 2:58Speaker 1: He leads me in paths of right norighteousness for his namesake.
- 3:02Speaker 1: And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow,
- 3:04Speaker 1: of death. I will fear no evil. Why, for you
- 3:08Speaker 1: are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me.
- 3:13Speaker 1: You prepare a table before me, and the presence of
- 3:15Speaker 1: my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my
- 3:18Speaker 1: cup runs over. And surely goodness and mercy shall follow
- 3:23Speaker 1: me all the days of my life, and I will
- 3:26Speaker 1: dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This poem
- 3:32Speaker 1: of worship is easily divided into sixteen stanzas or phrases.
- 3:39Speaker 1: And right at the heart of the psalm is the
- 3:41Speaker 1: heart of the psalm, and that is the phrase, you
- 3:45Speaker 1: are with me. You are with me, because you are
- 3:48Speaker 1: with me, I'll fear no evil because you are with me.
- 3:52Speaker 1: I shall not want Because you are with me. My
- 3:54Speaker 1: soul is restored, and my path is righteous. And I
- 3:58Speaker 1: shall walk through the valley of the sh shadow of death.
- 4:01Speaker 1: But I won't be afraid. Why, because you are with me.
- 4:05Speaker 1: You see, the presence of God changes everything. Let's look
- 4:09Speaker 1: for just a moment at the pain of the lonely,
- 4:12Speaker 1: the pain of the lonely. I have a friend who
- 4:16Speaker 1: worked his way through college at the University of Texas
- 4:20Speaker 1: by delivering goods to nursing homes from a pharmacy. An
- 4:26Speaker 1: additional task, however, was a trip he made right next door.
- 4:33Speaker 1: Every four days, he would shoulder a large jug of
- 4:37Speaker 1: water and carry it fifty or so feet to a
- 4:40Speaker 1: building that was behind the pharmacy. The customer was an
- 4:45Speaker 1: older woman, perhaps in her seventies, who lived alone in
- 4:49Speaker 1: a dark, sparse, tarnished appointment apartment. A single light bulb
- 4:55Speaker 1: hung from the ceiling in the living room. The wallpaper
- 4:59Speaker 1: was aimed and it was peeling. The shades were always drawn,
- 5:03Speaker 1: the room was always shadowy, and Steve, my friend, would
- 5:08Speaker 1: deliver the jug and receive the payment, and thank the
- 5:11Speaker 1: woman and leave. Over the weeks, he grew puzzled by
- 5:16Speaker 1: her purchase. He came to learn that the woman had
- 5:20Speaker 1: no other source of water except what he brought her.
- 5:25Speaker 1: She would rely on his delivery for four days of washing, drinking, bathing.
- 5:32Speaker 1: Odd choice. Municipal water was cheaper. The city would have
- 5:37Speaker 1: charged her twelve to fifteen dollars a month, but her
- 5:41Speaker 1: bill at the pharmacy added up to fifty dollars a month,
- 5:45Speaker 1: and he wondered why didn't she choose the less expensive
- 5:49Speaker 1: source of water. The answer, he came to note, was
- 5:52Speaker 1: in the delivery system. The city water costs less, but
- 5:57Speaker 1: the city said only water. They didn't send a human being.
- 6:01Speaker 1: She preferred to pay more and see a person, then
- 6:05Speaker 1: pay less and see no one. He was one of
- 6:08Speaker 1: the few people she saw all week long. Could anyone
- 6:12Speaker 1: be that lonely? By now you've learned that you don't
- 6:18Speaker 1: have to be alone to feel lonely. Two thousand years ago,
- 6:23Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million people populated our planet. Today
- 6:27Speaker 1: there are more than five billion people. If loneliness could
- 6:31Speaker 1: be cured simply by the presence of people, there would
- 6:33Speaker 1: certainly be less loneliness. But loneliness lingers. I remember, very
- 6:39Speaker 1: early in my ministry, I offered what I thought was
- 6:42Speaker 1: an innocent Sunday morning prayer. I said, thank you Lord
- 6:45Speaker 1: for all our friends. We have so many friends, we
- 6:48Speaker 1: can't get with them all. Didn't think much about it.
- 6:51Speaker 1: After the service, a gentleman corrected me. In the church
- 6:55Speaker 1: for you, a very successful businessman said, you may have
- 7:02Speaker 1: so many friends you can't visit them all. Not me.
- 7:07Speaker 1: I don't have a single friend. You see, a person
- 7:13Speaker 1: can be surrounded by people, he can even attend a church.
- 7:17Speaker 1: He can even be very successful and be very very lonely.
- 7:23Speaker 1: Loneliness is not the absence of faces. It is really
- 7:26Speaker 1: the absence of intimacy. It doesn't come from being alone.
- 7:31Speaker 1: It comes from that feeling of a loneeness, feeling as
- 7:35Speaker 1: if you're facing death alone, facing disease alone, facing the
- 7:40Speaker 1: future alone. And whether it strikes you in your bed
- 7:43Speaker 1: at night, or your drive to the hospital, in the
- 7:46Speaker 1: silence of an empty house, or even in the noise
- 7:49Speaker 1: of a crowded bar, loneliness is that moment in which
- 7:52Speaker 1: you think, I'm all by myself, It's just me and
- 7:56Speaker 1: I ain't much. Does anyone care? Boy? Don't we need
- 8:01Speaker 1: this message today? Even in the pre pandemic era, we
- 8:08Speaker 1: were a country marked by loneliness. Administrators of one of
- 8:12Speaker 1: the largest hospitals in America cite loneliness as the major
- 8:16Speaker 1: reason for overcrowded emergency rooms. The Parkland Hospital of Dallas,
- 8:22Speaker 1: Texas made this startling discovery as they were looking for
- 8:26Speaker 1: ways to unclog their system. They analyzed data and compiled
- 8:30Speaker 1: a list of high utilizers. They identified eighty patients who
- 8:35Speaker 1: went to four emergency rooms look at this five one
- 8:39Speaker 1: hundred and thirty nine times in a twelve month period.
- 8:44Speaker 1: Costing the system fourteen million dollars. Once they identified the
- 8:50Speaker 1: name of these repeat visitors, they commissioned teams to meet
- 8:55Speaker 1: with them and determine the reason their conclusion and loneliness. Loneliness, poverty,
- 9:06Speaker 1: and food shortage were contributing factors, but the number one
- 9:11Speaker 1: determinant was the sense of isolation. The er provided a
- 9:16Speaker 1: source of attention, kindness, friendship, and care, hence multiple return visits.
- 9:28Speaker 1: They all want to know someone cares, don't we all?
- 9:33Speaker 1: When life feels depleted, does anyone care? Most of all,
- 9:38Speaker 1: does God care when I hear him saying no? Does
- 9:42Speaker 1: he have a response when I'm facing an onslaught of challenges?
- 9:45Speaker 1: Will he help me? When life grows dark and stormy?
- 9:49Speaker 1: Does he notice? And when I'm facing the fear of
- 9:52Speaker 1: death or the uncertainty of the future, will he help me?
- 9:56Speaker 1: The resounding answer and welcome answer of Psalm twenty three
- 10:01Speaker 1: is yes. Can you look at this God's promise to
- 10:07Speaker 1: the lonely. This could very well be the promise he
- 10:11Speaker 1: wants you to hear today. His promise to the lonely
- 10:14Speaker 1: is what David said to God. You are with me,
- 10:18Speaker 1: You are with me? Yes, Lord, You're in heaven. Yes, Lord,
- 10:22Speaker 1: you rule the universe. Yes, Lord, you sit on the
- 10:25Speaker 1: stars and make your home in the deep. Yes, yes,
- 10:28Speaker 1: yes you are up there. But yes, yes, yes, you
- 10:32Speaker 1: are in here. You are with me. The Lord is
- 10:35Speaker 1: with me, The Creator is with me. Yahweh is with me.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Moses proclaimed it. He said, what a great nation has
- 10:44Speaker 1: a god as near to them as the Lord, our
- 10:47Speaker 1: God is near to us. Paul pronounced it. He said,
- 10:52Speaker 1: God is not far from each one of us. What
- 10:56Speaker 1: David discovered is the absolute truth of scripture, and that
- 11:00Speaker 1: is you are with me. I don't know where he
- 11:03Speaker 1: discovered it. Maybe in the wilderness when he was running
- 11:05Speaker 1: from Saul, maybe in the pasture when he was caring
- 11:08Speaker 1: for the sheep, maybe in the loneliness of leadership as
- 11:12Speaker 1: he was the King of Israel, or maybe even in
- 11:15Speaker 1: the redemption, the seeking of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba.
- 11:20Speaker 1: But at some point he was able to make that
- 11:22Speaker 1: declaration right at the heart of the psalm you are
- 11:25Speaker 1: with me. He discovered that God meant business when he
- 11:29Speaker 1: said what he said in the Book of Genesis, I
- 11:32Speaker 1: will not leave you, or first King six thirteen, I
- 11:35Speaker 1: will not forsake my people or Psalm ninety four or fourteen.
- 11:38Speaker 1: The Lord will not abandon his people, or God will
- 11:41Speaker 1: never leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy, chapter thirty one
- 11:45Speaker 1: and verse six. The discovery of David is indeed the
- 11:50Speaker 1: discovery of scripture, and that is we are never alone,
- 11:56Speaker 1: never alone. God is with us. And since the Lord
- 12:01Speaker 1: is near, that changes everything, changes everything. You may be
- 12:05Speaker 1: facing death, but you're not facing it alone. The Lord
- 12:08Speaker 1: is with you. You may be facing unemployment, but you're
- 12:12Speaker 1: not facing it alone. The Lord is with you. You
- 12:16Speaker 1: may be facing marital struggles, but you're not facing them alone.
- 12:19Speaker 1: The Lord is with you. You may be facing debt,
- 12:22Speaker 1: but you're not facing dead alone. The Lord is with you.
- 12:24Speaker 1: Would you please underline those words? Would you please carve
- 12:28Speaker 1: them on the entryway to your house? Would you please
- 12:33Speaker 1: tattoo them on your part? The Lord is with you.
- 12:40Speaker 1: You are not alone. Yeah, your family may turn against you,
- 12:44Speaker 1: but God won't. Friends may betray you, but God won't.
- 12:48Speaker 1: You may feel alone in the wilderness, but you're not.
- 12:51Speaker 1: He is with you, and because he is, everything is different.
- 12:55Speaker 1: Hear this. Because God is with you, he will change
- 12:59Speaker 1: You're in to a the He will change you from
- 13:02Speaker 1: lonely to lovelee. You see, when you know God is
- 13:10Speaker 1: with you, everything changes. When you know God loves you,
- 13:16Speaker 1: you won't be desperate for the love of others. You'll
- 13:18Speaker 1: no longer be a hungry sharp shopper at the grocery store.
- 13:25Speaker 1: When I went to the grocery store yesterday, I texted Delan.
- 13:29Speaker 1: I said, is there anything you need me to get
- 13:30Speaker 1: while I'm here? I was just going to the pharmacy.
- 13:33Speaker 1: She said, well, we're all out of chips and we're
- 13:36Speaker 1: all out of crackers. Boy does she live to regret
- 13:38Speaker 1: that mistake. You see, I was hungry. I was hungry.
- 13:43Speaker 1: It's not wise to go to a grocery store when
- 13:45Speaker 1: you're hungry. Every bag of chips looks good, every box
- 13:50Speaker 1: of crackers looks like a candidate. When I brought it home,
- 13:53Speaker 1: she said, I shouldn't send you to the grocery store.
- 13:56Speaker 1: I said, I just shouldn't go there when I'm hungry.
- 13:59Speaker 1: If you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach,
- 14:02Speaker 1: you're a sitting duck. You'll buy everything that you don't need.
- 14:05Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if it's good for you or not. All
- 14:08Speaker 1: you want to do is fill your tummy. Friend when
- 14:11Speaker 1: you're lonely. When you're lonely, you'll do the same in life.
- 14:16Speaker 1: You'll do the same in life, pulling stuff off the shelf,
- 14:19Speaker 1: not because you need it, but because you're lonely, because
- 14:22Speaker 1: you're hungry for love. Why do we do it well?
- 14:26Speaker 1: We fear of facing life alone, for fear of not
- 14:30Speaker 1: fitting in what. We take drugs for fear of standing out.
- 14:33Speaker 1: We wear clothes that we don't like for fear of
- 14:36Speaker 1: appearing small. We go into debt and buy a house
- 14:38Speaker 1: that we don't need for fear of going unnoticed. We
- 14:41Speaker 1: dress to seduce or dress to impress. For fear of
- 14:44Speaker 1: sleeping alone. We sleep with anyone for fear of not
- 14:49Speaker 1: being loved. We search for love in all the wrong places.
- 14:51Speaker 1: That's what loneliness can do for you, if you're lonely,
- 14:55Speaker 1: If you're lonely, would you please today let God deal
- 14:58Speaker 1: with your loneliness. Hear the calming voice of your shepherd
- 15:02Speaker 1: as he says to you, this, this will not last forever.
- 15:08Speaker 1: It's isolation. It's going to pass. This loneliness. It won't
- 15:13Speaker 1: be here but much longer. This feeling of looking around
- 15:16Speaker 1: seeing nobody, or feeling like nobody's here. Listen. God will
- 15:21Speaker 1: help you here on this earth. But I got to
- 15:23Speaker 1: tell you his ultimate answer to our loneliness is our
- 15:26Speaker 1: heavenly home. He's coming for us. He's coming for us.
- 15:30Speaker 1: Praise to his name. Years after David wrote these words,
- 15:33Speaker 1: another Bethlehem's shepherd would say these words that are so precious.
- 15:39Speaker 1: And Jesus said, there are many rooms in my father's house.
- 15:42Speaker 1: I would not tell you this if it were not true.
- 15:45Speaker 1: And I'm going there to prepare a place for you.
- 15:47Speaker 1: After I go and prepare a place for you, I
- 15:50Speaker 1: will come back take you to be with me, so
- 15:52Speaker 1: that you may be where I am. Bote the promise
- 15:58Speaker 1: of Jesus. I will come back. I will come back
- 16:02Speaker 1: and take you to be with me. He doesn't delegate
- 16:05Speaker 1: this task. He may send a missionary to teach you,
- 16:08Speaker 1: angels to protect you, teachers to guide you, singers to
- 16:12Speaker 1: inspire you, physicians to heal you, counselors to counsel you,
- 16:15Speaker 1: pastors to lead you. But he sends no one else
- 16:18Speaker 1: to take you. He has reserved this task for himself.
- 16:23Speaker 1: I will come back and take you home, my friend.
- 16:27Speaker 1: He is your personal shepherd. If you have said yes
- 16:31Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ as your savior. He has become the
- 16:34Speaker 1: shepherd of your soul. And at the right time, in
- 16:39Speaker 1: the right way, on the right day, he will come back.
- 16:42Speaker 1: He will come back. Do not think for a moment
- 16:45Speaker 1: that when you close your eyes to die, that you
- 16:47Speaker 1: will close your eyes to be alone. Your Lord Jesus
- 16:50Speaker 1: will meet you on this side of death, and he
- 16:52Speaker 1: will walk you through. He will come back. He is
- 16:56Speaker 1: personally responsible to lead you home. Once, when we moved
- 17:02Speaker 1: from one house to another, we promised our daughters a
- 17:06Speaker 1: big dog. We had a small, yippity yappity dog by
- 17:12Speaker 1: the name of Salty. We all liked Salty. But little
- 17:16Speaker 1: dogs aren't real dogs, right. I wanted a big dog,
- 17:19Speaker 1: you know, a big, lumbering dog. And so did my
- 17:24Speaker 1: daughter Sarah. She wanted a big dog, and so we
- 17:29Speaker 1: double teamed dinal and convinced her that we should get
- 17:33Speaker 1: a big dog. And I got online and I found
- 17:35Speaker 1: a woman in South Carolina who breeds golden retrievers in
- 17:40Speaker 1: a Christian environment. Must have been Lord's will, right, I mean,
- 17:46Speaker 1: from birth. The dogs are surrounded by inspirational music and prayers.
- 17:52Speaker 1: They're even taught to tie with their dog biscuits. I'm
- 17:58Speaker 1: looking at an empty sanctuary. But you would have laughed
- 18:01Speaker 1: at that joke had you been here. When the trainer
- 18:04Speaker 1: told me that she had read my books, I knew
- 18:06Speaker 1: that this was the trainer for us. What a woman.
- 18:10Speaker 1: She's such good taste. Surely she has to be a
- 18:13Speaker 1: good breeder. Right, So we ordered a pop Maybe you
- 18:17Speaker 1: remember me talking about her, Mollie. We mailed the check,
- 18:21Speaker 1: we selected the name, and we cleared a corner for
- 18:25Speaker 1: her dog, Pillow. Now the dog had not even been born,
- 18:29Speaker 1: and she was already named, claimed and given a place
- 18:33Speaker 1: in the house. Can the same not be said about you?
- 18:38Speaker 1: Long before your first whimper? Your master claimed you, and
- 18:44Speaker 1: he named you, and he hung a reserved sign on
- 18:47Speaker 1: your room. You and Mollie have more in common than
- 18:52Speaker 1: odor and eating habits. You're both being groomed for a trip.
- 18:59Speaker 1: We prefer the turn maturation and sanctification to weaning and training,
- 19:04Speaker 1: but it's all the same. We're all being prepared for
- 19:06Speaker 1: a place in our master's house. You see, Heaven is
- 19:12Speaker 1: a perfect place for those who have been made perfect
- 19:16Speaker 1: by Jesus Christ, and all these challenges that we face
- 19:20Speaker 1: in our lives are part of his sanctification. He is
- 19:24Speaker 1: preparing us. He is using us. He is preparing us
- 19:29Speaker 1: for his prepared place, and he is using us to
- 19:32Speaker 1: get the word out to others about this prepared place.
- 19:37Speaker 1: He's going to come and get us, folks, He's going
- 19:40Speaker 1: to come and get us. But until then, we're just
- 19:42Speaker 1: in training. We're in training. We're learning to lean on him,
- 19:46Speaker 1: learning to lean into him, learning to trust him. That's
- 19:50Speaker 1: why there are, in times of such intense struggle as
- 19:53Speaker 1: these days, it is more important than ever, more important
- 19:57Speaker 1: than ever, that we turn to him. We keep our
- 19:59Speaker 1: bybles open and our knees bent, and our eyes heavenward,
- 20:03Speaker 1: that we do whatever it takes to stay close to
- 20:06Speaker 1: our master. We don't know the day he's coming. I
- 20:10Speaker 1: sometimes wonder if it doesn't seem like he's coming any
- 20:12Speaker 1: minute now. But I don't know. I don't know his
- 20:15Speaker 1: departure date. But I do know that he's just waiting.
- 20:18Speaker 1: He's just waiting for that moment that the heavenly Father
- 20:22Speaker 1: turns to the shepherd and says, now, go get them,
- 20:25Speaker 1: Go fetch them, go save them, go rapture them, go
- 20:29Speaker 1: call them into their eternal home. You can bet your
- 20:32Speaker 1: sweet puppy chow, that you're going to be seeing your
- 20:35Speaker 1: maker someday. This is, by the way, the concluding promise
- 20:40Speaker 1: of David. We're not concluding the study of the twenty
- 20:43Speaker 1: third song, but this is the final scripture of the
- 20:46Speaker 1: twenty third Psalm. And I will dwell in the House
- 20:50Speaker 1: of the Lord forever forever. How could he face the
- 20:54Speaker 1: challenges of life. He knew he was going to face
- 20:57Speaker 1: the challenges He was going to spend his forever life
- 21:02Speaker 1: facing his master in the home of his Maker forever. Now,
- 21:09Speaker 1: you see, folks, this house that we're in, this is
- 21:11Speaker 1: not our forever house. It's not. That's why we feel
- 21:16Speaker 1: so lonely here. That's why, even on good days, in
- 21:21Speaker 1: good times, we have this gnawing sense that we were
- 21:24Speaker 1: not made for this place, this here, this life on
- 21:29Speaker 1: this earth, this houth house. And let me tell you
- 21:32Speaker 1: what it is. It's short term housing. It's a hotel
- 21:37Speaker 1: room on your way home. It's not you were not
- 21:40Speaker 1: made to live here. The scripture tells us that our
- 21:43Speaker 1: homeland is where it's in heaven. I know your passport
- 21:48Speaker 1: says you're a citizen of the United States or a
- 21:51Speaker 1: citizen of Mexico. Or a citizen of Canada. Yeah, I know,
- 21:54Speaker 1: I know. But if you're in Christ, you're a citizen
- 21:57Speaker 1: of Heaven. That's your true home. That's why we're so lonely.
- 22:02Speaker 1: That's why we're homesick. That's why really, this loneliness and
- 22:06Speaker 1: this homesickness will be lifted once and for all when
- 22:09Speaker 1: we're home. When we're home, and oh, what a moment
- 22:13Speaker 1: that's going to be, Mollie could tell you all about it. Yeah, Mollie. Finally,
- 22:17Speaker 1: if we got her to our house a month into
- 22:20Speaker 1: her house life in our new house, she ran away.
- 22:25Speaker 1: She ran away. I came home one night, found the
- 22:28Speaker 1: house unusually quiet. Everybody was sad and concerned. Mollie was gone.
- 22:33Speaker 1: She had slipped out unnoticed. Well. The search began immediately.
- 22:38Speaker 1: Within an hour we knew she must She was far
- 22:41Speaker 1: far from home. Now, if you don't like pets, what
- 22:45Speaker 1: I'm about to say is going to sound strange. If
- 22:47Speaker 1: you do like pets, you're going to understand. You're going
- 22:51Speaker 1: to understand why I walked up and down the street
- 22:54Speaker 1: calling your name. You're going to understand why I drove
- 22:56Speaker 1: around the neighborhood at ten thirty pm. You're going to
- 22:59Speaker 1: understand why put up a poster in the convenience store
- 23:02Speaker 1: and convened the family for prayer. Honestly I did. You'll
- 23:07Speaker 1: understand why. I sent emails to the staff asking for prayers.
- 23:11Speaker 1: Why I emailed the breeder asking if she had any advice.
- 23:14Speaker 1: You'll understand. While we were ready to toss the confetti
- 23:18Speaker 1: and throw a party. When she showed up, she did.
- 23:21Speaker 1: Here's what happened. The next morning, Delon was on her
- 23:24Speaker 1: way home from taking the girls to school. This is
- 23:26Speaker 1: some years ago, but she was on her way home
- 23:29Speaker 1: when she saw the trash truck and she pulled over
- 23:33Speaker 1: lord the window and said, hey, could you keep an
- 23:35Speaker 1: eye out for a little puppy golden retriever. They said
- 23:40Speaker 1: they would. She hurried home to host a a mom's
- 23:44Speaker 1: prayer group. Soon after the ladies arrived, the trash truck
- 23:48Speaker 1: pulled into our driveway. A worker walked up the walked
- 23:53Speaker 1: up the driveway and he had in his arms guests
- 23:57Speaker 1: who yep, little Mollie, Mollie, she had been found. And
- 24:01Speaker 1: when Delon called to tell me the news, I could
- 24:05Speaker 1: hardly hear her voice. I mean it was it was
- 24:08Speaker 1: Marty Gras in our kitchen. Everybody was so excited. They
- 24:11Speaker 1: were all celebrating the return of Mollie. Now that story
- 24:16Speaker 1: pops with symbolism, the Master leaving his house, searching for
- 24:20Speaker 1: the lost victories in the midst of prayer, great things
- 24:23Speaker 1: coming out of trash, But most of all, the celebration
- 24:28Speaker 1: of coming home. You know, that's something else you have
- 24:32Speaker 1: in common with Mollie. You're going to have a party
- 24:36Speaker 1: at your homecoming. Those who love you are going to shout. Now,
- 24:41Speaker 1: those who know you will applaud. But all the noise
- 24:45Speaker 1: will cease when your Master sees you, and when he
- 24:49Speaker 1: cups your chin and lifts your eyes to look into his,
- 24:55Speaker 1: and he says, welcome home. We have a place prepared
- 25:00Speaker 1: just for you. And with scarred hands he'll wipe away
- 25:04Speaker 1: every tear from your eye, and you will dwell in
- 25:08Speaker 1: the house of the Lord forever, My friend. Would you
- 25:13Speaker 1: set your heart on your forever home. May He give
- 25:18Speaker 1: you strength while we're here on earth. May He keep
- 25:21Speaker 1: you faithful, May you find joy. But may you never
- 25:24Speaker 1: feel at home here, because you're not at home here.
- 25:28Speaker 1: And the ultimate mistake is to feel at home too soon,
- 25:32Speaker 1: because this is not your home, but your home is
- 25:35Speaker 1: soon coming. It is soon coming. And for those of
- 25:39Speaker 1: you who have said yes to Jesus Christ as your
- 25:42Speaker 1: personal savior and shepherd, you can take great hope in that.
- 25:46Speaker 1: You can take great hope in that. And for those
- 25:49Speaker 1: of you who, for whatever reason, have not, my question
- 25:53Speaker 1: to you is simply, why not? Why not? Why don't
- 25:57Speaker 1: you just say yes to him? Why don't you say
- 26:00Speaker 1: yes to him? He is the perfect savior, but he's
- 26:04Speaker 1: also a perfect gentleman, and he doesn't force his way
- 26:07Speaker 1: into anyone's life. Once you invite him, he'll come in
- 26:11Speaker 1: and he'll do everything, change everything, make you a better person,
- 26:16Speaker 1: prepare you for your eternal home. But that only happens
- 26:19Speaker 1: upon invitation. Behold, I stand at the door and knock,
- 26:23Speaker 1: he said, I stand at the door and knock. Do
- 26:26Speaker 1: you hear him knocking on the door of your heart?
- 26:29Speaker 1: Open the door, Let him come in. Let him come
- 26:32Speaker 1: in and sit at the table and eat with you.
- 26:35Speaker 1: Receive your shepherd today. Let me lead us all in
- 26:38Speaker 1: a prayer. But for those of you who are saying
- 26:40Speaker 1: yes to Jesus for the very first time, this prayers,
- 26:43Speaker 1: especially for you, Lord Jesus, we thank you, and we
- 26:49Speaker 1: receive you. Father, we receive you as our shepherd. We
- 26:54Speaker 1: thank you, Father for the gift of loneliness, because it
- 26:57Speaker 1: reminds us that we're not home. We thank you for
- 27:02Speaker 1: the gift of your son, Heavenly Father, our shepherd, and
- 27:07Speaker 1: his guarantee that we will be at home with you forever.
- 27:12Speaker 1: During these difficult days, Heavenly Father, would you please reach
- 27:16Speaker 1: out and call in a whole oop expansion to your flock.
- 27:22Speaker 1: Would you please reach out and call those who have
- 27:25Speaker 1: always turned away from you? And would you, right now,
- 27:27Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, call them home, call them by the dozens,
- 27:31Speaker 1: by the hundreds, by the thousands. Dear Father, Yes, please,
- 27:39Speaker 1: and thank you Lord, for these who have said yes
- 27:40Speaker 1: to You for the first time today to Christ. We
- 27:44Speaker 1: pray if you said yes to Christ for the first
- 27:47Speaker 1: time today, let us know, Let us know so we
- 27:50Speaker 1: can encourage you, so we can be there with you,
- 27:53Speaker 1: so we can help you understand the Bible, so we
- 27:56Speaker 1: can see your participate in your baptism, and where you
- 28:00Speaker 1: can belong to this church. God bless you, and we're
- 28:04Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing you soon. M