Latest / First Love Revolution / One of Those People series (Part 2): "Worship Amid the Waves" | October 8, 2023

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One of Those People series (Part 2): "Worship Amid the Waves" | October 8, 2023 · First Love Revolution

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Revolution Church Message Series.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: One of those people.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: You can find the entire series in video and podcast format, as well as other messages, at firstloverevolutioncom.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Brandon with today's message.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So, with that being said, I would like to welcome you back to week two of our series, and we're calling it one of those people in this series.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: What we're going to do is we're going to get serious about passion.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Alright, what does it look like?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I got one.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: What does it look like to be someone who pursues God passionately in every area of life?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: What does it take, what does it take to be someone who burns for the Lord with a fire that doesn't burn out?
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And what is it about those people?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Can I be one of those people?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Can you be one of those people?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: You know, I had a friend named Dave back in Chicago when I lived in Chicago and I loved when Dave would sit on the front row.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Alright, because I was a worship leader at this church.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I would typically be on stage and even when the room was dead, even when everyone else was tired, I knew I had Dave.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Alright, dave was there, just jumping and waving his arms and shouting to the Lord.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: He loved, he loved to worship Jesus and he loved people.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: In fact, he loved people so much.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Eventually we just started saying after church to everyone hey, if you're new, just go meet Dave in the back, he'll get you connected.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Alright, because we knew that Dave would handle it.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: He had a million-dollar smile.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: He hugged everyone, he cried with those who were hurting, he laughed with those who were rejoicing.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: He just, he just oozed Jesus.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Do you know anyone like this?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: If so, you know how rare these people are.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: And and why is it so rare that we encounter one of those people?
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, I would propose that one of the reasons why?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Is that life has a tendency to knock the wind out of our sails.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: The pains of life like pound out the passion of the gains.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: So what's the secret?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: How do I live a life of passion even in the midst of waiting and pain and heartbreak?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to tell you the story of a man named Horatio Spafford.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Horatio Spafford, born in 1828, horatio was a successful lawyer and a real estate investor in Chicago.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: He was married to a woman named Anna, and they had five children, one son and four daughters.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Horatio was a godly man who served his church faithfully and lived a life of generosity.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: In 1871, tragedy struck and they lost their four-year-old son to scarlet fever.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: A few months later, the great Chicago fire destroyed much of Chicago and the majority of the properties owned by Horatio.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: It was a devastating time.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Well, two years passed and in 1873, in an effort to grieve and to heal, the Spafford family decided to plan a trip to Europe.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: An urgent matter kept Horatio behind, however, and he made plans to catch up with his family a few days later.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So, without her husband, anna and her daughters boarded a ship and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: On the voyage, their ship struck another vessel and quickly began to sink.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Anna survived.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Her four daughters drowned in the ocean.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Having survived, anna sent a telegram to her husband, and it said this saved alone.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: What shall I do Now?
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: We can only imagine the agony that Horatio Spafford must have felt upon receiving this news, but he boarded the next ship as planned, and he set sail for England to comfort his grieving wife on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: At one point during the voyage at sea, the captain of the ship called to Horatio, and the captain told Horatio to come up on deck.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And he told Horatio that we are now passing over the exact spot where the shipwreck occurred and standing there on the deck of the ship, at the very place where he lost his four little girls, horatio thought about his daughters and he thought about his son, and he thought about the fires and all of the loss that he had been through, and he took out a pen and paper and this is what he wrote when peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrow, like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou has taught me to know, it is well, it is well, with my soul Standing on the ship.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: That day, horatio penned the words to one of the most well known worship songs in history.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: He could have cursed God, he could have crumbled under the weight of it all.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: He could have complained or accused his heavenly father.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Instead, horatio Spafford chose to worship.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Horatio Spafford was one of those people.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Today, I'd like to talk to you about a great battle that all of us face.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: It's the battle for passion.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It's the battle to keep burning for the Lord.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: To keep burning for the Lord no matter what life throws at us.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: You see, anyone can be passionate when they get a raise right.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Anyone can be passionate when they get a promotion.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Anyone can be passionate when they get a new pickup truck.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, lord, the challenge is when things don't go my way.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: The challenge is when I face setbacks.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: The challenge is when I suffer loss.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: The battle is when I face tragedy.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: See, the enemy would have you believe that he can actually sniff out your passion.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: He can't.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you a secret.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Why do some people walk through adversity and come out on the other side burning even brighter for Jesus, while others walk through similar adversity and come out on the other side cold, calloused and dead on the inside?
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: It's because there are what I'm going to call passion kindlers and passion killers.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Passion kindlers and passion killers you see, passion kindlers are activities, behaviors, patterns that kindle passion into flame, and passion killers are activities and behavior that pour water on the fire and snuff it out.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: These are the ways that the enemy, through adversity, can get you to pour water on your own fire until there's nothing left burning anymore.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Passion killers and passion kindlers I would like to propose that one of the great passion killers that we face today is simply complaint, complaining, grumbling, and I would like to lovingly submit to you today that one of the single greatest passion kindlers is worship.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I've titled today's message complaint versus worship our battle for passion, and I want to look at the lives of two people known in history, all right to have faced the greatest adversity and emerged on the other side even more passionate after the pounding.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: These two men are Job and David.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Job and David If you have your Bibles, please turn to Job, chapter one.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: And while you're getting there, lou Holtz, the famous football coach and sports analyst, once said never tell your problems to anyone.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: 20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them right.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Some of you have heard this before.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, I love that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about complaint for a moment.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Complaint is like a plague right now in our society.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You know it, you see it everywhere, you feel it.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: We have been conditioned to gripe and grumble, whether it be the compulsion to leave a saucy Yelp review on a restaurant website.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys are one of those people that leave the review, but I get on there to check out the restaurant.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: There are lots of people that have lost to say, or the temptation to err your grievances to your spouse, or to simply walk around with a chip on your shoulder if something isn't going your way.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: As a society, we are professionals at complaining.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: We have multiple 24-hour news networks filled wall-to-wall with content simply there to get us all fired up.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: We listen to sports talk radio in our car and willingly subject ourselves to complaint after complaint about the Denver Broncos latest mishap.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: What in the world is going on on Thursday night?
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I have no idea.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Some of you work with folks who seem to have a steady flow of jabs and criticisms of people and decisions, and they freely tell you about it all day long.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Our friend John Tyson.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I heard him once say that simply refusing to complain will set you apart from 98% of other men.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Friends, the way of a disciple of Christ is different.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: It's different.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: So today, that's what we're going to explore worship versus complaint.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Are you ready?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Alright?
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Now the next thing I'm going to ask you is can you make it through an entire chapter of the Bible?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Can you do it?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Alright?
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Job, chapter one.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: We're going to read the whole thing.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Alright, verse one In the land of Ooz there lived a man whose name was Job.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: The man was blameless and upright, he feared God and he shunned evil.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: He had seven sons and three daughters and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 Yoke of Oxen and 500 donkeys and a large number of servants.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: He was the greatest man among all the people of the east.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: When a period of feasting had run its course, job would send and have them purified Early in the morning.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: He would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: This was Job's regular custom.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came with them.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: The Lord said to Satan where have you come from?
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Satan answered from roaming the earth and going back and forth in it.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Then the Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant, job?
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: There is no one on earth like him.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Does Job fear God for nothing?
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Satan replied have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and surely he will curse you to your face.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: The Lord said to Satan very well then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: One day, when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, the messenger came to Job and said the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby and the sabians attacked and carried them off.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said the fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheeps and the servant, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said the Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: They put the servant to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you At this.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Then he fell down to the ground and worshiped and said naked, I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: May the name of the Lord be praised In all this.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: This is the word of the Lord.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm sure many of you have read the book of Job and if you have not read the book, I'm sure that most, if not all, of you are somewhat familiar with this guy.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: But here's the Cliff Notes version of the whole story.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Job is a wealthy, upright man who suddenly loses everything.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I mean he loses his possessions, his children.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: We find out in chapter 2.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: He loses his health.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Job does not understand why he's suffering and although there was an explanation for his suffering, job was unaware of what the reasons were.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Later on we see that Job's friends start coming around his buddies and Job's friends.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: They all assume that Job had to have done something.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: This was a result of something that Job had did.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The message of Job's friend group was that Job, he must have done something wrong, he must have sinned, he must have somehow brought this on himself.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: But Job's friends were wrong.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Along comes a guy named Elihu who has been listening, kind of eavesdropping on the conversation.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: He criticizes Job's three friends for being unable to answer.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Job and Elihu had his own assessment of the situation.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: His opinion was that Job had become too proud and that God was punishing Job in order to humble him.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: But that wasn't right either.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: God himself, at the end of the book, finally speaks and we are reminded that God is in control of everything and only he understands really why people suffer.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Job finally learns that when nothing else is left, he has God, and that's enough.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Those who endure great testing will experience great reward.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: But what I really want to dial in on, that's the Cliff Notes.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: But what I really want to dial in on is that first moment.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, I want us to look at Job, that first moment when he realizes that he's lost it all.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna ask you to do something.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Close your eyes, close your eyes, come on and picture it.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Picture it with me, personalize it.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Picture your life right now.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Your business gone, your investments gone.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: You have nothing.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Your spouse gone, your children gone.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: No reason, no explanation, no rational way forward.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Everything you love is gone.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Now open your eyes, hold on to that picture and let's look at Job's immediate response to this news, verse 20,.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: At this, job got up, tore his robe, shaved his head.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Then he fell to the ground and worshiped and said Naked, I come from my mother's womb, naked I will depart.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: May the name of the Lord be praised In all of this.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Upon hearing the news, job fell to the ground and worshiped.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: That was his response.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: All his stuff was gone, all of his children was gone, and he worships God immediately.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: And then Job utters his first words after hearing the news the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: May the name of the Lord be praised.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: And then it's recorded that Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I find it interesting that it's noted here at the end of chapter one, that Job didn't sin.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: It implies that perhaps, perhaps the default mode of others in this situation would be to do something sinful, right To say something, speak something, to retaliate, not Job.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: He didn't accuse God, he didn't complain, he didn't even circle the temptation to do so.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: It's almost as if his knee jerk reaction was to worship God.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I want to propose that this heart posture that we see here was not accidental Church.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: This was a conditioned response.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: This was from years of passion kindling practices.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: What do we see in verse one?
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: This man was blameless and upright.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: He feared God and shunned evil.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we see that Job cared about holiness.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: We see that Job feared God.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: We see that Job shunned evil.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: The Hebrew word for shunned here is wassar, kind of like wassabi wassar.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: It literally means to turn aside.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: So we have a guy who is described from the drop, chapter one, verse one, as a man who pursued holiness, feared God and turned aside from evil.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Then look at verse five.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: It says when a period of feasting had run its course, job would make arrangements for them, his kids, to be purified Early in the morning.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burn, offering to his children for his children, and then he would say I think perhaps my children of sin and curse God in their hearts.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: This was Job's regular custom.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Now, at first glance, something is very clear to me, job must have really, really loved his children.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I mean every morning, early sacrifices for each of the 10 children.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: He had a deep desire for his kids to be pure.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: He had a deep desire for his kids to love the Lord.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: At the same time, it's equally clear to me that Job must have really really loved God even more.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: As I was meditating on his passage, I was struck anew with a desire to love God that much more than anything on this earth.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: This verse also said that this was Job's regular custom, his regular custom.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Like he did this a lot.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: He cared about the purity of his family.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: He got up early to worship God and make sacrifices to God on their behalf, and he did it often.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Worship was an integral part of the rhythm of his life.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Now, I don't understand what fully happens next the whole dialogue between God and Satan.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: What I do know is that Job was living in a manner that he was catching the attention of heaven right, and Job was living in a way that he was catching the attention of hell.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Job was a blessing to God and Job was a threat to Satan.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: He was a blessing to God, he was a threat to Satan.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And if I've learned anything over the last few years, it's this if heaven is paying attention, somebody else is too.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: If heaven is paying attention, somebody else is too.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: So we see this whirlwind of loss and devastation and sorrow in Job's life.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: It comes suddenly, it comes out of nowhere.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: How could anyone be prepared for such a life-altering event?
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Well, it seems like Job was.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Job was prepared.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: He was prepared because he had been conditioning himself for such a moment.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: The purity, the pursuit, the sacrifice, the day in, day out, created a fortress in this man.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So that's how we see what we see in Job.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: When disaster strikes, job's response is to fall on his knees and worship and say to God you gave me what I have.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: You've taken it away.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: No matter what, I'm gonna worship you.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: He didn't hide his overwhelming grief.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: His emotions show us that he was simply a man that loved his family, and I wanna make sure I communicate that to you guys.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: It's not sinful or inappropriate to grieve or cry in these moments.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Some of you are facing unbearable loss right now.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I know many of you.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I know your stories.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Some of you are facing a crisis in your marriage.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Some of you have lost loved ones.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Some of you have lost jobs this year and you don't know how you're gonna make it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: You need to know this.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Grieving is right and good and essential, and it is right and it is good and it is essential to worship God in these times, right where you are right now.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Worship through it, worship anyway.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: I got one amen there and I'll take it Right now.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Right now, it feels like the sky is falling.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: If you're in this situation, it feels like there's no point in moving forward.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Right now, however, is exactly that.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It's right now.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: It's a moment, it's a blink, it's a map dot on the highway.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: The story isn't over yet.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, on a Friday in November, our kids I don't know if your kids did this, but our kids talked to us into putting up the Christmas decorations way too early.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It was like the week after Halloween, and so we're sitting in the living room and we're pulling the ornaments out of the boxes, and that's when the phone rang and my wife answered the phone, and I could see my wife's face turn from light to heavy as she was told that the results from her scan came back and that they had discovered a brain tumor.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: It was a sobering moment.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: We learned on the phone that surgery was necessary and urgent and it would be happening in three days.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: It's hard to describe the weeks that followed.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Becky underwent two operations on her brain.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I was a complete mess.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: The hospital was downtown and so she would go into surgery for hours and I would just walk around downtown Denver for hours and try to pray, but just mostly cry.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Just walk around the city and cry.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: It was during COVID.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: It was during COVID, so the hospital staff would make me leave at night.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: You guys remember those days and I hated leaving Becky there alone every night.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: But I also was happy because I wanted to check on my kids and they were scared and I was trying to keep their spirits up.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: It was a nightmare scenario and we didn't know what was going to happen and my mind would go to the worst places.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: And I remember on one of those walks I began to pray a familiar prayer.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: This is prayer I pray.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: It's the same prayer I prayed when I lost my dad.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: It's the same prayer I prayed after our first miscarriage.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: It's the same prayer I prayed when I lost my mom last year.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: And it goes like this you are still good and I still love you.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You are still good and I still love you.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: You are still good and I still love you.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And these breath prayers.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: They are acts of worship.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: They are simple statements that remind our souls of who our God is.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: They are ways of kindling passion and affection for God, even in the middle of the mess.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: And you know what he is good and I do love him.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And you guys know that we're not completely out of the woods on this thing.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: My wife has what the doctors are calling an inoperable brain tumor, but it's slow growing.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: In fact, our last scan we went in it didn't appear to be growing at all.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Praise Jesus, we are thanking Him for that.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: But this is what I mean when I say that we must condition ourselves to worship in every circumstance.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: We worship through it, we worship anyway.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I want to stand before God on the other side of all the pain that I've been through, and know that I worshiped Him all the way through it.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Come on and I want to stand before God.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I want to stand before God and know that I didn't complain about my circumstances, because there's a very thin line between complaining and accusing.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Philippians 2.14,.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Do everything God bless you.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Everything, without complaining or questioning.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: If I piece together all the original Greek words in this simple verse, it reads something like this make the whole of your life separate from complaining.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Make the whole of your life separate from grumbling.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Complaint is a poison, complaint is a virus and we have to work to keep it out of us.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: I heard Bill Johnson once say All of this if God is enthroned on our praise, who is enthroned in our complaint?
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: If complaint is a poison, praise, on the other hand, it's like a healing balm.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: We know worship is unsa only one, and that's Jesus, our king.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: But man, there are some pretty great side effects To getting our eyes up off our problems and on to him.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: We need to condition our souls to worship God in every season and circumstance.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I Find it interesting.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about this?
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: The book of Job is right next to the book of Psalms.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about that?
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the most famous story of loss and suffering is juxtaposed against the most famous collection of worship songs ever recorded, right there next to each other, and these books are both well known in secular circles.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Many know the story of Job, regardless of their faith background.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Many know that the Psalms are written for worship.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: You guys probably don't know this, but I actually have my bachelor's degree in English Now.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I grew up in Oklahoma, so basically my goal is just to be able to speak normally, so if the Lord ever called me out of Oklahoma.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Actually, I did a six months of student teaching.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I like I cannot do this.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I Love you teachers, man, you guys are champs, I that deserves an applause if we have any teachers in the house.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: But I had to take all the courses, right.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: So I had to take Shakespeare and Chaucer and read all the Emily Dickinson stuff and Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Frost.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: But right up there and all of the mix was the book of Job.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: It's considered, even in the secular world to be a literary classic.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Psalms the same way and I think it's crazy, it's God.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: In the history of world literature, these two books are side-by-side in the canon of Scripture.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I believe that was on purpose.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Pain and praise, suffering and song, weeping and worship side-by-side, right next to each other in God's holy word.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: It's almost as if God is trying to tell us something, right?
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: So with this in mind, let's flip over to the Psalms, psalm 34, if you have your Bible, and I want to say David wrote this one, maybe at the lowest point in his life.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: He was on the run from Saul.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: He was alone.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: He had to say goodbye to his best friend Jonathan.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: He was literally, literally on the run from paid assassins that Saul had hired to kill him.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: That was his inspiration as he was pinning this worship song.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: All right, so just keep that in mind as you read this.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I'm gonna read some excerpts.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Psalm 34.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: This is one through three.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: I will extol the Lord at all times.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: His praise will always be on my lips.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: My soul will boast in the Lord.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Glorify the Lord with me.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Let us exalt his name together.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Verse four I sought the Lord and he answered me.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: He delivered me from all my fears.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, these are the Psalms, this is the stuff.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Verse eight taste and see that the Lord is good.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Verse 10 the lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Verse 12 through 13 whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Verse 18.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: You guys know this one the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: That's when this was written, verse 19 a righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: In verse 22, the Lord redeems his servants.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: No one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Listen, if there was ever a time when it would be okay to complain, david was living it and we don't have time to unpack all this right now.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: But this is he's writing this in the time of first Samuel 21.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Go back and read it later.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Some crazy stuff is going down.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: David's in the land of gath and he has to pretend to be insane While he's on the run.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: And this foreign land because it was, it was not customary to harm mentally ill people.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: So David is literally walking around pretending to be crazy for his own safety.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Soon after this, he escapes to a cave and continues hiding.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: His home is in a cave.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: He's living out his days in a wet, damp cave, homeless, friendless, on the run, fearing for his life, forced to act insane.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: This is the exact point in which David pens, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful songs in all of scripture.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: He's choosing to kindle passion for God.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Nothing's gonna gonna kill his passion, and I like to imagine David in this cave writing and Singing this beautiful song of praise, and the song's just echoing off the rock walls and the caverns.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Just imagine it for a moment.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: His life is a disaster.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, where where is the complaint?
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Where is the accusation?
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: You won't find it here.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: You will only find David worshiping the God he loves.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: After reading, I can't help but think about the lowest points in my life.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I Think about the two miscarriages that my wife suffered through.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I think about losing my dad In a freak accident.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: There was no rhyme or reason why.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: I was 31 at the time.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: He was 50.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: He was only 50.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Why, why do my kids have to be robbed of knowing one of the best men I ever knew?
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I think about this season of intense depression that I faced.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I couldn't get out of bed for weeks, just hopeless.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Those were dark days.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: You guys know.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: I lost my mom to cancer last year.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: I've literally lost All of my hair to alopecia.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I was a young man two years ago.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: It's crazy, just so much, you know.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: And every day, through it all, I've been faced with that choice.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Will I allow these trials To kill the passion in my heart, or will I kindle the fires of passion in my heart for the Lord?
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: What kind of pain have you faced?
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: What kind of pain have you faced?
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: What are you currently facing?
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: These are the kinds of things that the enemy will use to try to take you out.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Some of you are in awful situations right now.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: You're in your own cave.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: You're in pain, you're hiding.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: How will you respond?
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Will you worship God in that cave?
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Could you possibly muster any little bit of strength you have and sing out to God words of praise, even when it hurts, even when it doesn't make sense?
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: That's precisely what jope did.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: It's exactly what David did.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: That's why it's called a sacrifice, because it cost Something.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: That's why it's called a sacrifice.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Anybody can worship God when the sun is out and the bank account is full and your loved ones are healthy.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: In Seasons of pain, that's when we have the opportunity to offer a unique sacrifice.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: You guys know this verse Romans 8, 28 and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: You see, the way I see it, we have an advantage.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Many of us, we've met Jesus.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: You know him, we have access to the Holy Spirit.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: We have tremendous knowledge and powerful promises in the Word of God.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: This verse is just one of them.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: And all things God works for the good of those who love him.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: That phrase, all things to work together, that's only one word, that whole phrase is only one word in the Greek and the word is synergy Synergy Can you guess what word that is in English?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Synergy?
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: I think this is fascinating.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: God is synergizing for good.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Father, son, holy Spirit, all cooperating for the good of God's people.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: And that word good there.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Do you know what that means in the Greek?
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: It means good.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: This means you can trust him.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: He's got you in all things, in everything, no matter what it is.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: But we have a part to play.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Our part is to love him, love him, trust him, worship him.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: You've heard Pastor Shane talk about the already but not yet kingdom of God, right?
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, we see miracles now.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, we see.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: I just saw Andrew that dude, andrew wave your hand.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: First time I met Andrew he was in a wheelchair.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: We see it.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Miracles break through, healing all the time.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: And and we also see a lot of loss.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: We also see a lot of pain.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: It's the already, but not yet, kingdom of God.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: It's breaking in, but it's not fully realized yet.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: But we know, one day God will make everything right.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: No more war, no more disease, no more suffering, no more political division, no more death, no more loss gone over.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you something when you stand before the Lord one day, everything will be laid bare and you will know.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: You will know then.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll shoot.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: That verse was right.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: God truly did work everything out for my good.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: How about that?
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Will the life you lived on earth be summarized as a life of complaint, or will the life you lived on earth be summarized as a life of worship?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Will you enter heaven with a heart that is fully alive?
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Will you meet Jesus knowing that you can bring him a heart that is still burning for him?
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: You see, job got his stuff back twice over.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: David became king, paul and Silas worshiped God together in that dark prison at midnight and the ground shook and the chains fell off and the jailer was saved.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: The seas eventually parted.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Shadrach, meshach and Abednego escaped the fires of the furnace.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Daniel watched as God shut the mouths of lions and on the third day, church that stone was rolled away.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Stop, stop living like your story is over and start praising because you know how the story ends.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Start praising because you know how the story ends.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Drop the passion killing habits, drop the complaint and pursue a passion kindling lifestyle of one who wants to burn for the Lord for a lifetime.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I got a battle cry that I want to teach you.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: You guys up for learning something new, stand up, stand up, everybody stand up.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: We were praying earlier and Rebecca heard the word I don't want to mess this up Otherworldly, otherworldly, was that right?
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: Otherworldly?
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: And what I interpret that to mean is the risk in this series.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: We're going to be in this series for a while.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: The risk in this series is you're going to hear this week after week and you're going to think to yourself those people that are like that are otherworldly.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: They're somehow different than me, they somehow have something that I don't have.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: We got to get that lie out of us right now.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: This is conditioned, as we've just seen.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: This is conditioned.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: This, right here, is a declaration that I want us to embrace, especially if you're walking through a hard season right now, go back later and grab this off the stream.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I see some of you just taking pictures of it right now.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Tape it to your mirror, get it in front of you every morning, do something, get intense about it.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to practice it once and then we're going to read it for real the second time.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Read with me.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: That was pretty good, so we're going to do it again, this time with passion.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: What do I say, logan?
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: No, we're going for state.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: We're going for state on this one.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Here we go.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Before you go, I'd love to pray, if you bow your head.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I'd like to speak to two groups of people.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Some of you have been listening to this message and what's happening inside of you feels scary.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: You know the Lord, but you've been on autopilot for some time.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe something happened in your life, some sort of loss or pain, and you've blamed God and for whatever reason, if you're honest, your passion is gone, and it's been gone for a while.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: My message to you is simple Repent and return, name what you're sorry for and come back.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Return to the Lord, do the stuff you did at first, pursue Him, get back to those passion kindling habits.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: He loves you and wants your heart, your whole heart.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: And there's a second group in the room and as I'm speaking, you're realizing that you don't actually have a relationship with this Jesus I've been speaking about.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: But the good news is that you can, and that relationship can begin right now.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: You see, we've all messed up.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: In some way.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: We're all in the same boat.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: We call that mess up sin.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Sin is all the ways that I've been wrong, acted wrongly, thought wrongly, and that sin actually separates us from perfect union with God or Father.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: The good news is that Jesus died in our place because he loves us and wants to spend eternity with us in paradise, with Him.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: So if you're here today and you desire freedom from sin and a relationship with God, with the promise of eternal life with Him, I'd like to invite you to lift your hand right now.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: If that's you, you can lift your hand.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: This is your way of saying Jesus, I want you.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: You can just lift your hand.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: Everyone's eyes are closed, no one's going to do anything weird or ask you to do anything weird.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to lead you in a simple prayer and pray these words with me from your seat Jesus, I believe in you.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: I believe you are God.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Thank you for loving me, thank you for coming to earth, thank you for dying for my sin.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you for rising from the grave.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: I confess I have sinned and I need your forgiveness.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus, please forgive me.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Do what only you can do Save me.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: I give you my heart, my life.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Fill me with your spirit, lead me all the days of my life In Jesus' name, amen.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Can we thank God for those who put their faith in Jesus today.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: It's good to be with you, guys.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Before you go, if you need prayer of any kind, our elders and prayer team will be in the back waiting to pray with you.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: They'd love to pray with you.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day, have a great week and we'll see you next week.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Blessings everyone.