Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20230618 - What Do I Do When I’m Overwhelmed? - Psalm 61:1-2
Transcript
- 0:04Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
- 0:08Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
- 0:11Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
- 0:14through abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream
- 0:17Services. Visit us online at Calvary, Co
- 0:21dot church or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 0:25Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
- 0:30Amen. Amen.
- 0:32Well, with your Bible is already open to Psalm 61.
- 0:35I want to draw your attention to verse 1.
- 0:37There it says, Hear My Cry o God and attend to my prayer from the
- 0:42end of the Earth. I'll cry to you when my heart is
- 0:45overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I and the
- 0:51title of our Bible study today is what do I do when I'm
- 0:54overwhelmed? What do I do?
- 0:56When I'm overwhelmed the word overwhelmed It means to overcome
- 1:03to be overcome, or overpowered by thoughts, or feelings, and
- 1:09that's it. It describes.
- 1:10So many of us today, overwhelmed, overcome the
- 1:16Hebrews, and the original language in the Old Testament.
- 1:20They used a word to describe overwhelmed as to turn or to
- 1:25cover or to be wrapped up and that sounds like being
- 1:29overwhelmed to be wrapped up with you.
- 1:31Emotions to have your thoughts turn you in a specific
- 1:35Direction. In the Greek language there.
- 1:38The definition has the idea of a person becoming weary worn-out
- 1:44in spirit who feels like they have nowhere to turn as the idea
- 1:51of being feeble and faint and week.
- 1:54And I know there are many times when life leaves us exasperated
- 2:00and overwhelmed, life takes its toll on us day in and day out.
- 2:07And we all have our fair share of problems.
- 2:11Pains and toils and may I say some of you would even look at
- 2:15your life and say you have more than your fair share.
- 2:19Seems like you get a double portion of pain and for that I'm
- 2:22sorry I wish it wasn't that way. The old hymn writer put it this
- 2:27way through many dangers, toils and snares.
- 2:31I have already come You add to the day-to-day issues, all sorts
- 2:38of things that happen to us. Some of you have people in your
- 2:40lives that are causing you actively right now, great harm
- 2:44and pain do their choices and decisions.
- 2:48Others Among Us face marriage challenges that are filled with
- 2:51discouragements disappointments and even loneliness.
- 2:56Still others have the pain of a divorce.
- 3:00Whether it was your marriage or it was your parents marriage.
- 3:04Others face, the daily issues of health concerns feeble bodies,
- 3:09wracked with pain and declining Health.
- 3:13Others Among Us have serious family problems issues with
- 3:17their parents or with their in-laws or even painfully.
- 3:21So issues with your children or your grandchildren.
- 3:26I mean the list could continue on and on for the remainder of
- 3:28our time today. But all this to say that being
- 3:32overwhelmed is something that's common to us all Things can
- 3:37happen so quickly, so suddenly, so sadly.
- 3:41In Psalm 119 and verse 25. It says my soul clings to the
- 3:45dust revive me according to your word and in a general way today.
- 3:53Our whole church here at Calvary Is living in the first part of
- 3:58that verse thinks forever changed last week.
- 4:01As we received the news of the passing of our beloved Pastor a
- 4:05van, They kicked in so much, grief and sorrow and pain and
- 4:13regret and anger and depression and sleeplessness it awakened.
- 4:20Other pains in your life that had gone dormant or you felt
- 4:23like they were completely healed.
- 4:25And now they're back again. It brought back memories of
- 4:28things that you thought you had forgotten and on and on.
- 4:33But these are very normal responses and you need to
- 4:36understand that you're not an abnormal person for feeling the
- 4:40way that you do. I know that some of you are more
- 4:43sensitive so that you beat yourself up.
- 4:45Like I shouldn't be feeling as I shouldn't be feeling this but
- 4:48these are normal responses for someone like you that would be
- 4:51going through a situation like this.
- 4:57Our soul clings to the Dust. Why?
- 5:00Because overwhelming events have a way of gripping us and taking
- 5:04hold of our minds and our Focus difficult circumstances are like
- 5:10driving in fog. When a heavy fog Bank comes in,
- 5:14we aren't able to see clearly anymore.
- 5:17We can't see too far ahead. Driving in fog can be very
- 5:21disorienting, very difficult. It's like driving in the snow in
- 5:27the night. You know, when you're driving in
- 5:29snow or you're driving in fog, two things you don't do.
- 5:34First of all, number one, you don't speed up.
- 5:38And secondly you don't put your high beams on because it gets
- 5:42worse, it reflects back on you and you now you can see even
- 5:45less but rather Times Like These are just like driving in the
- 5:50fogger and snow at night and that is it's time to slow down.
- 5:56We just need to slow down and take it in.
- 5:59And proceed forward little by little prayerfully and
- 6:05carefully. The difficulty that overwhelms
- 6:14us. Can blind us from the
- 6:18faithfulness of God. It's easy to forget.
- 6:24God's faithfulness in difficult times.
- 6:26We enjoy it in, Good Times, the Temptation is to forget it in
- 6:32bad times. Sudden tragedies stumble us.
- 6:38They trip us up, we get knocked off balance.
- 6:43Feels like a punch in the gut. Which, for many of us we haven't
- 6:48had since our school days. Real nonetheless.
- 6:55These are times to look to Jesus as our only hope.
- 6:59In Psalm 119 verse 49, it says, remember the word to your
- 7:03servant upon which you caused me to hope this is my comfort.
- 7:08In my Affliction, for your word has given me life, Psalm 28
- 7:13verse 17. The Lord is my strength and my
- 7:15shield. My heart trusted in him, I am
- 7:20helped therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
- 7:23And with my song I will praise him.
- 7:26Psalm 90 for 19 in the multitude of my anxieties within me your
- 7:31Comforts Delight. My soul, Jeremiah 15:16 your
- 7:37words were found and I ate them and your word was to me the joy
- 7:41and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by your name O Lord
- 7:46God of hosts. Post and wow, our soul clings to
- 7:50the dust. I want to help you with the
- 7:53second part of that verse that God might revive us, according
- 7:58to his word. When all is swirling around us,
- 8:05when we've lost our equilibrium, when we can't see the
- 8:08faithfulness of God, when our feelings are overwhelming us,
- 8:12it's God's word. And the steady, sure, truth of
- 8:16what God has shared with us. Helps us to revive us and to
- 8:21Breathe new life into us. We are overwhelmed now, what?
- 8:29What do we do when we're overwhelmed?
- 8:32Well, here in Psalm 61 David is in such a place.
- 8:37He's overwhelmed. He experienced in his in his
- 8:42life difficulties that overwhelmed him.
- 8:46He's wrapped up in pain and sorrow and sadness.
- 8:53David had a hard life, very difficult life layer upon layer,
- 8:58upon layer. It's easy to look at the men and
- 9:03women in the Bible and think somehow they're different than
- 9:06us. How they received a pass on?
- 9:09Some of the things that we experience, but David went
- 9:13through a lot layer after layer, for those of you that have
- 9:18studied David's life, you know this.
- 9:19But for those who haven't, let me let you in on a few of the
- 9:22issues that David lived with every day.
- 9:26Sees a young man, David was affirmed by God and approved by
- 9:30God and chosen by God to be the next king of Israel.
- 9:35The Bible word for that is he was anointed as a young child.
- 9:41And yet as an adult. He spent 13 years of his life at
- 9:45the very least on the run, from the present King, who is very
- 9:49jealous of him. Imagine living on the living
- 9:53your life on the run in the middle of the desert.
- 9:58In all of the haphazard difficulties that he experienced
- 10:01there. David lived with an unloving
- 10:04wife. Uncaring and unkind and he
- 10:09complicated things in this difficult.
- 10:11Marriage by choosing to marry many other wives and made life
- 10:17even harder for himself. David had.
- 10:23Really hard issues with his kids.
- 10:26He wasn't the perfect family that people think you should
- 10:30have gave him great heartache to heartache.
- 10:34David lived a compromise life at times committed adultery with a
- 10:39woman stealing her way from her husband.
- 10:44Murders her son. Her husband.
- 10:47And as a result is, child dies. He lives with those
- 10:52consequences, he lost his best friend through that as well.
- 10:57David experienced, great sadness, grief, and mourning,
- 11:00his life was filled with turmoil and strife.
- 11:06And here in Psalm 61, we have another trial that leads him
- 11:11many commentators believe that Psalm 61 was written after the
- 11:16death of his son Absalom. I agree with them.
- 11:21His relationship with his son. Absalom was a complicated
- 11:24difficult one, for sure. But it was, as the sudden death
- 11:29that led, David has finally sit down and write out his heart on
- 11:33this event. It wasn't too many years
- 11:38earlier. The David expressed, great love
- 11:42for his son, Absalom. But his son brought him great
- 11:46grief, tried to steal the throne away from him and undermine him.
- 11:50It was a very difficult thing. Crying out.
- 11:52Absalom Absalom I believe the Lord will use this psalm.
- 11:58To help us walk through our present pain sorrow and grief
- 12:01that is overwhelmed us. Notice again with me in verse 1,
- 12:08Hear My Cry o God and attend to my prayer.
- 12:13What do I do when I'm overwhelmed?
- 12:15I seek the Lord. If that's all you leave with
- 12:19today, please take it in value and treasure it.
- 12:23What do I do when I'm overwhelmed?
- 12:25I turn to God. For the comfort and the help and
- 12:31the strength that I so desperately need because, you
- 12:34know, when difficulties, come people turn to a lot of
- 12:37different things. People run.
- 12:40There's that fight or flight response and when difficulties
- 12:44come to temptation to run is ever before us and we will turn
- 12:48to someone or something. Be careful where you run.
- 12:55There's a lot of options to run away. to run to alcohol or
- 13:00drugs, some new relationship to run inward to run, run every,
- 13:09which way You could turn to a familiar coping mechanism
- 13:15although it will destroy you personally.
- 13:18Many people do that. They don't know where else to
- 13:22go. Or what else to do.
- 13:26We learn in David's life, that the problems of David always
- 13:31seem to bring him to his knees, causing him to cry out to the
- 13:36Lord. We have an example here in the
- 13:39song as he writes it down, while you, and I will not be riding
- 13:43new. Psalms The practice and the
- 13:46habit of prayer journaling is a wonderful Habit.
- 13:50To develop you too. Can write these things out here.
- 13:54Me God Hear My Cry. Don't you see where I'm at?
- 14:00Don't you understand what? I'm going through and to write
- 14:04it down and to get it out, that's where David is, he didn't
- 14:09sit down to write the Bible. He sat down to ride out his
- 14:15heart. Here he is on his knees.
- 14:21Crying out to God. I love that about my
- 14:27relationship with God. I can trade him anytime I want.
- 14:31From any place I want in any way.
- 14:34I want for error. By definition is just talking to
- 14:38God. In a very similar relationship
- 14:42that you talk with your friends and family, you can talk to God,
- 14:45we call that prayer, you can talk to them while you're
- 14:48walking around. You can talk to him with your
- 14:49hands folded in your eyes closed.
- 14:52Not when you're driving, but you can if you like, you can pray
- 14:55with them and Whisper, you can pray with him.
- 14:57In your mind, you can talk to God anywhere.
- 15:01Even in those times, when you feel like you're all alone,
- 15:04that's where David speaking here.
- 15:06He says, from the end of the Earth, I'll cry to you.
- 15:09He is not literally at the end of the Earth, he's using a
- 15:12picture here. He feels like he's at the end of
- 15:16the Earth. Like, he's all by himself.
- 15:21Pain and sorrow can make you feel that way.
- 15:26Even in a room of over a thousand people like you are
- 15:29right now, you can feel alone. Like nobody understands and
- 15:36nobody knows. Nobody cares.
- 15:42That's not true but it can feel that way.
- 15:47It's a time to turn to the Lord. To ask him for help.
- 15:53Because you see David describes himself in verse 2.
- 15:56When my heart is overwhelmed, we don't need to guess where David
- 15:59is right now. He's overwhelmed.
- 16:02He's wrapped up, he's struggling, he's hurting.
- 16:07He doesn't want to be there. But I'm overwhelmed God.
- 16:13And he has his big ask. I know many are afraid to ask
- 16:17God for big things. You can ask, God for big things.
- 16:20This is a big thing. Here I am.
- 16:23God, I am overwhelmed. And his big asked, was lead me
- 16:29to the rock. That is higher than I, Lead Me
- 16:34To The Rock. So many things that overwhelm
- 16:39us. I think of a friend you know
- 16:43when a friend or a loved one is dying and the doctors have come
- 16:47to the place where they can't do anything else. it leaves you
- 16:51helpless, when your spouse has become interested in someone
- 16:55else and you see the pain of your family being torn into you,
- 17:00think of the kids and your own loss you feel helpless When you
- 17:05come home from work and the divorce papers are on the table
- 17:10and you were hoping you were hoping and you were hoping but
- 17:13here you are. And a place of hopelessness.
- 17:17When you lost your job, you lost your job in.
- 17:22You don't know how you're going to pay their bills.
- 17:24You don't know how you're going to pay the rent.
- 17:26You don't know how you're going to feed your kids.
- 17:31How about when your children as with David or an open?
- 17:34Rebellion living again, stand apart from the Lord.
- 17:40These things don't resolve themselves so quickly.
- 17:42Do they were kind of used to experiencing pain, especially as
- 17:47new Believers. We experience pain.
- 17:49Like like you know, trials we were in a trial and then it has
- 17:53a short middle and then it's resolved and we move on and then
- 17:56it becomes a testimony things like you know, I had a flat tire
- 18:00on the way to church but then somebody pulled over and they
- 18:03fixed it. And here I am, I get to worship
- 18:05you and pray with you and we all Rejoice of how quick things get
- 18:08resolved and those. Today's I think God allows us to
- 18:11be experiencing all these things that quickly resolved quickly
- 18:14resolved but over time you learn not every trial is quickly
- 18:18resolved. and while there's a beginning and there's that
- 18:25hopeful end, there's a long middle.
- 18:34Long, there's a lot of long middles in, like, in the room
- 18:38right now. A lot of them.
- 18:44It's so overwhelming that you don't know what to do.
- 18:49And how will you make it through another day?
- 18:51Let alone another hour. you face things that you say, man how
- 18:58much can a person handle And you're actually describing your
- 19:03own life. That's David.
- 19:07And he says, when I'm overwhelmed God, I'm asking you
- 19:11to lead me to the rock. That is higher and then I God, I
- 19:16need your help. I need you to rescue me.
- 19:20I need you to help me in this difficult situation.
- 19:26Lead me to the rock. That is higher than me and how
- 19:29wonderful it is church. How wonderful it is to know that
- 19:33there is a place of comfort and there is a place of Refuge.
- 19:36There is a place of rescue and there is a place of peace that
- 19:40is higher than I and these times of pain.
- 19:44Can I get an amen on that? There is that time.
- 19:52And there is that place. It's not only a place, but a
- 19:56person, there is one who is able to take these things when I've
- 20:01come to the limits of my ability, when I'm emotionally
- 20:04drained, when I've come to that place where I've hit the wall,
- 20:09and I'm overwhelmed when I don't know what to do, when all seems
- 20:12lost when my heart is sunk, when the frustrations of my inability
- 20:17Rage Against My Flesh and I'm tempted to jump in and control
- 20:21things how wonderful it is to go to the Rock, that's high.
- 20:24Higher than I. Which leads us to a question.
- 20:29Who is this? Rock.
- 20:33The Psalms answer that very quickly notice with me in Psalm
- 20:3662. The very next Psalm David writes
- 20:40in verse 2. He only is my rock and my
- 20:43salvation. He is my defense.
- 20:47I shall not be greatly moved verse 6.
- 20:51He only is my rock and my salvation.
- 20:54He is my defense. I shall not be moved verse 7 in.
- 20:59God is my salvation and my glory.
- 21:03The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God, we run to
- 21:10Jesus, we are led to Jesus our Rock.
- 21:16Rock speaks to us of stability, it speaks to us of strength.
- 21:22It speaks to us of a place that's above our trials.
- 21:28And you can be on the Rock and be sad.
- 21:33You can be on the Rock and be hurting and you can be on the
- 21:38Rock and have a really unresolved middle of your trial.
- 21:46Somewhere along the way. this false thought of false teaching
- 21:51of when you run to the Rock, Everything goes away.
- 21:58That's simply not the case. Some of the issues in our life
- 22:02won't be resolved in C to wear it with the lure.
- 22:07And certainly the difficulty of our bodies, we won't have these
- 22:11bodies replace until we get our new bodies.
- 22:15But you can endure through anything with The Rock.
- 22:20He's faithful and reliable. We learn about this rock in the
- 22:24New Testament. In First Corinthians chapter 10
- 22:26and verse 4, talking about the Wilderness wandering Paul
- 22:30describes, they all drank and ate the saint.
- 22:33They all drank the same spiritual drink for, they drank
- 22:36of that, spiritual rock, that followed them, that rock was
- 22:40Christ in Psalm 18 verse 46, the Lord lives Blessed, Be My Rock,
- 22:47let the god of my salvation, be exalted.
- 22:50It Psalm 27, verse 54 in the time of trouble, he shall hide
- 22:56me in his Pavilion in the secret place of his Tabernacle.
- 23:00He shall hide me, he shall set me high upon a rock Psalm 62, as
- 23:06we read, he only is my rock and my salvation, second Samuel, 20,
- 23:1022. And he said, the Lord is my
- 23:13rock, and my Fortress and my deliverer when my heart is
- 23:16overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is greater than Than I that
- 23:21is higher than I. Notice.
- 23:25We need to be led. To this rock, it doesn't come
- 23:31naturally. The natural response is to run
- 23:34away. The natural response is to get
- 23:38drunk again. The natural response is to go
- 23:41through the cabinet to where you hid those pills and pull those
- 23:45out. Again, the natural response is
- 23:48to pull away from people the natural response.
- 23:53Are many things that take us away from The Rock.
- 23:57And David says, know what I need.
- 23:59You need to lead me there lead me to that rock.
- 24:05This, my friends is the work of the holy spirit in your life.
- 24:09The Holy Spirit, leading us back to Christ.
- 24:12Leading us back to safety. The Holy Spirit.
- 24:16Does that work in your life from the inside?
- 24:18And from the outside he sends friends into your life.
- 24:21He has text messages show up. You have Impressions.
- 24:24The holy spirit will bring you back to a relationship with
- 24:28Christ so you can abide in him and he abides in you which also
- 24:32ends up. You come back to church and you
- 24:35start to worship with the Saints again, so that the room filled
- 24:38with worship will minister to your soul.
- 24:41It means you start to forsake those things that have been
- 24:44controlling, you. Those addictions, you begin to
- 24:47lay aside because you know, by now it doesn't help you.
- 24:51It only hurts, you anything apart from the rock is going to
- 24:55hurt you. It's going to make things worse
- 24:59for you because you have the pain in the problem now and it's
- 25:03going to be Complicated by these bad decisions.
- 25:07No, David says, I need to be led to the Rock.
- 25:10He's my only source of comfort. He's my strength, my defense, my
- 25:15rock of Deliverance, my help in time of need and here's the
- 25:20thing. This is the thing that's
- 25:22challenging. The thing that's challenging is
- 25:26that in order to be led, you have to be willing to follow.
- 25:31God will lead you, he's faithful.
- 25:34The Bible says, even when we are faithless God, he remains
- 25:37faithful, he won't deny himself. At the same time, parakletos the
- 25:44holy spirit is leading you to Christ leading you back.
- 25:50Your response must be a willingness to follow, which
- 25:54requires humility. It requires a lot of humility.
- 26:02I want you to be careful of a very dangerous emotion that
- 26:05comes up in these times when you're fighting the work of the
- 26:07Holy Spirit and you're fighting the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- 26:11And I want you to know I'm sharing it with you, right now,
- 26:13from a place of personal experience, I'm not speaking
- 26:17about this in the abstract because for some, this is going
- 26:21to sting when I'm about to say, this is an example of speaking,
- 26:26the truth and love, which is what we needed in this time.
- 26:30But it's also something I've experienced personally and I've
- 26:32had to overcome myself and it's simply this in difficult times,
- 26:38grief and sorrow and mourning and overwhelming feelings can
- 26:42very easily lead you to a place of self pity.
- 26:48And this is not a time for you to have a pity party for
- 26:52yourself. Bad also won't help you really.
- 26:58If you think about it, any self other than self-denial are going
- 27:02to make things worse. Self-reliance, self-pity, You
- 27:09know, the focus on self takes you away from The Rock.
- 27:15And the focus on self takes you away from the help and the
- 27:20comfort that you're so desperate for and it makes things harder
- 27:23and it delays your healing and it delays your help.
- 27:28And even today, if you're in a place of self, pity God wants to
- 27:31lead you away, it's a fine line. I don't know where it is for
- 27:35you. I know where I crossed it, but I
- 27:37don't know where it is for you. That fine line of sorrow and
- 27:40sadness and heard and I don't know how things are going.
- 27:42And they just like, all, what about me?
- 27:45Nobody cares. Nobody calls.
- 27:47Nobody, it's all about me. It's it's not going to help you.
- 27:51even though you may be feeling it, this is not the time for
- 27:56self-pity, it's the time for self-denial so that you might
- 27:59follow the leading of the Holy Spirit be willing to follow.
- 28:04Let me show you one of the places that he leads, you turn
- 28:06over to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4.
- 28:14Jesus Christ is our Rock and this is the place that he leads
- 28:18us right into the throne room of Grace where we can find help in
- 28:21our time of need. Notice this in verse 15 of
- 28:25Hebrews chapter 4, Hebrews 4 verse 15.
- 28:31For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
- 28:35weaknesses but was in all points tempted.
- 28:37As we are yet without sin, Let Us therefore come boldly to the
- 28:42throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to
- 28:47help in time of need. This is Jesus knows you
- 28:52personally, if you haven't already in your Bible Circle the
- 28:56phrase high priest and just right next to it.
- 28:58Jesus. So you remember who he's talking
- 29:00about Jesus in his high Priestly role.
- 29:06Knows you. When you're led to the rock,
- 29:10your let to someone, who knows you God in human flesh.
- 29:15He walked in the same broken human body that you walk in.
- 29:19He won't he walked in the same broken world that you walk in.
- 29:24And he's ready to receive you. The psalmist describes the
- 29:29father. As the Lord Jehovah is like a
- 29:32father to his children tender and compassionate to those who
- 29:36fear Him for. He understands how weak we are.
- 29:40He knows that we're only dust and it's just too easy.
- 29:46To turn the focus of life back upon ourselves and our
- 29:49weaknesses, and our failures, and our doubts, and our losses,
- 29:52and our anxieties, and our fears, and our pains, and our
- 29:56hardships. When God is ready to heal and
- 29:58forgive and help you, we have a high priest who understands us,
- 30:05he knows what we're feeling. He faced Temptation himself and
- 30:08he was Victorious. He lived where we live face,
- 30:13what we Faith? He can sympathize literally, it
- 30:16means to have compassion on us. He cares for us.
- 30:20He's not some abstract, God, some constructive man-made
- 30:23religion, he's your creator, your father, the Triune God is
- 30:28involved in healing, you in difficult times.
- 30:34I know a little more now in my life than I have in previous
- 30:39years even though I don't fully understand why God allows us to
- 30:45go through such difficulties and tribulations.
- 30:50I know little more I've experienced a little more and
- 30:52I've understood a little more why God I don't fully understand
- 30:56it. That's one of our difficulties
- 30:59that we have as humans. We really believe that.
- 31:03If we understand everything it will be better.
- 31:08And all the questions that we have, all of the, why questions
- 31:13all of the things if we would just know, then we would be
- 31:19better off with this information.
- 31:22Last week when I taught the bible study on facing death, it
- 31:27was forwarded to someone. And as a result of that Bible
- 31:31study, she called and asked, if she can meet with me and I said,
- 31:34yes, come Saturday, I'll meet after service on Saturday and I
- 31:37met with her and a part of her family last night, and she came
- 31:42to share with me that on a recent trip that her husband
- 31:46took for business. A few months ago, he was
- 31:50viciously murdered She lost her husband.
- 31:56Instantly on a typical regular business trip that.
- 31:59He regularly he always took. He always always traveling for
- 32:02business and I sat across the table with her and she had a lot
- 32:05of questions. And they were good questions and
- 32:10valid questions and I had some of the answers for her and was
- 32:16able to talk her through some of her thinking.
- 32:19But also, there were many questions that I couldn't
- 32:21answer. Well, you know, I could open the
- 32:24Bible and I could give her a theological answer.
- 32:28I could take her to this verse and to, that person to this
- 32:31person to that verse and I could say, that's what the Bible says
- 32:34about what you're thinking right now.
- 32:37And on some of the questions I did just that I took her to a
- 32:40few places and explain things to her, but I also took the
- 32:44opportunity to tell her when I'm telling you right now that the
- 32:49answers that you're seeking will not give you the piece that
- 32:53you're seeking. Because peace is a gift that God
- 32:57gives a piece that gives that is beyond understanding is
- 33:02surpasses understanding be anxious for nothing.
- 33:05All things by prayer, supplication Thanksgiving, make
- 33:08your requests be made known to God.
- 33:09And the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding will
- 33:13guard your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus.
- 33:16You see God, he wants us to live by faith and not information.
- 33:21And he wants us to live by faith and not explanations.
- 33:25Along the way he does give us understanding and he gives us
- 33:28partial understanding. The Bible says though, that now
- 33:32we live we see as in a mirror dimly but then face to face that
- 33:38we know in part and then but now but then I shall know, just as.
- 33:44I'm also known we live in partial knowledge.
- 33:47Now, There will be a day when we'll get it all, but it's not
- 33:51now. Because God, he's leading you
- 33:54not to a place of answers. He's leading you to a place of
- 33:58Peace. Lead me to the rock.
- 34:01That is higher than I. And I've learned that God allows
- 34:08us in these difficulties and trials in many ways to be able
- 34:14to see a fresh revelation of God and how good and faithful.
- 34:18He really is. Oh the circumstances they Cloud
- 34:22us from that, but God is good. He's with us going through it
- 34:27alongside of us. Seeing us through all the way.
- 34:32You see when things are easy we have a tendency to forget about
- 34:35God lose sight of his eternal purposes times of comfort and
- 34:40ease with Little Resistance, little difficulty, have a
- 34:44tendency to build up a little self pride in US.
- 34:48As if we've done everything. And it's our good life and it's
- 34:52our good deeds and it's are good.
- 34:54And then the difficulty comes and we remember that.
- 34:57It's every good and perfect. Gift comes from our father above
- 35:02And it's in the fires of life that we have revelation.
- 35:07We want and desire information. What what God has for us is
- 35:12revelation. You see God in a whole new
- 35:15light. You understand a piece of this?
- 35:20Comfort. That's also something I share
- 35:23with this dear sister last night.
- 35:26It wasn't a very long meeting but I shared with her that, you
- 35:30know, I've always believed to some degree that in my pastoral
- 35:34Ministry. I'm, I've been a caring Pastor,
- 35:37I've been compassionate, I have been able to walk with people
- 35:41and and I love what I do and it's not a job for me is what
- 35:45God has called me to do and But when my son Eddie died, I
- 35:52changed. You know, I didn't really
- 35:58understand loss to that degree before.
- 36:02I didn't really recognize the families in our church that had
- 36:06lost children before I do now. I would read through the book of
- 36:12Acts about widows and I see it for what it is.
- 36:15And I understand widowhood. And I've done memorials and I've
- 36:18cried with families. But, you know, I see the Widow's
- 36:21now. I excite can feel the pain of
- 36:26divorce. Now, And I couldn't say this in
- 36:31the first two years or so after my son passed away, but I'm 10
- 36:34years, it's been 10 years now and it's still hard crushing in
- 36:38this whole situation with Pastor Avon is opened up all kinds of
- 36:41wounds again but I'm going to tell you this.
- 36:45God has used the loss of my son to make me a better man.
- 36:51And you may not be able to see that in your own life today.
- 36:55It may still be very cloudy and very foggy.
- 36:59But God is revealing to you how he will use the tragedy in your
- 37:05life. For his glory.
- 37:09Of course, you don't want it. And of course, you wish it was
- 37:13someone else or not even that. But why me Not that you would
- 37:18want your pain for someone else, but you get what I mean, like,
- 37:21you don't want to go through it, of course.
- 37:24But that's not real life. Real life means we all go
- 37:29through things emphasized. All everyone suffers even the
- 37:35ones that think that look like they never suffer believe me.
- 37:39Sin has touched everyone. And one day you'll be able to
- 37:44look back. Maybe just a little bit, maybe
- 37:46just an angle, maybe just something new where it just like
- 37:49maybe you'll be able to embrace and go, you know?
- 37:56I'm a better woman for this. I'm a better man.
- 38:03You followed the lead of the Holy Spirit to the Rock, that's
- 38:07higher than you. And that's what you'll find
- 38:11strength, stability perspective, Revelation, help, comfort.
- 38:18The Bible is very clear. Today.
- 38:22Right now, as you're listening to me in this room downstairs,
- 38:26live on the radio, on the radio, some other time online wherever
- 38:31you're hearing my voice. When the problem is too great
- 38:36for you to handle. When you're buried under the
- 38:39weight of sorrow and grief, when you're overwhelmed by the
- 38:43situation, when you don't think you can make it another day,
- 38:47there is a rock that is higher than you.
- 38:51And your situation and difficulty is not too great for
- 38:56Jesus Christ. He has overcome sin and death
- 39:01and he can handle the situation. He is able to deliver.
- 39:07Today. Right now, as you're listening
- 39:10to my voice, if you're overwhelmed by the things in
- 39:14life, if you're overwhelmed by your present circumstances, it's
- 39:18more than you can bear. Allow me to encourage you to
- 39:22come to the rock. That is higher than you because
- 39:26Jesus Christ will help you. He will deliver you.
- 39:29He will strengthen you. He will lead you out.
- 39:32He will carry you and bear your burdens and bring you to a place
- 39:37of strength and victory and peace.
- 39:45At a Vance Memorial. I will definitely use this
- 39:49phrase but I'll use it for us today.
- 39:51If I have permission from the family and I get it ahead of
- 39:54time, I'll ask them. If I can say, if your loved one
- 39:58was here today, this is what he would say.
- 40:02And almost every family gives me permission to say that.
- 40:05So I can say this to you. If a van was here today, This is
- 40:11what he would say to you. Right now, he would say this,
- 40:17read your Bible every day. The Bible is reliable and
- 40:23trustworthy. Pray everyday frame or develop a
- 40:32prayer life prayer is your key. He would say that prayer.
- 40:37Avon is one of the examples of a man that literally prayed like
- 40:42breathing. He was always praying that was
- 40:45his go to pray and then he would say, do the Lord's work, he
- 40:50would tell you, do the Lord's work.
- 40:53No, the Bible, pray Through the Bible and do the Lord's work.
- 40:58And if you were ever here, Avon say that.
- 40:59Because he said that many times before, it would sound a lot
- 41:03like Jesus. Jesus said abide in my word.
- 41:09My word will abide in you. Jesus said, men ought also
- 41:14always to pray and not lose heart.
- 41:19And Jesus said do business till I come, do the Lord's work.
- 41:26And the echo of Jesus voice. Is heard through the voices of
- 41:32our congregation. And through the memory of Pastor
- 41:36a van, many of the men and women that died in the Lord that we
- 41:40love. So greatly that will be reunited
- 41:43with soon. Enough Church.
- 41:45Read your Bible and pray everyday and then do the Lord's
- 41:47work. God will help you through it.
- 41:51Amen. Father, thank you again for your
- 41:54word as our, our soul clings, to the dust, but your word revives
- 41:58us. And so let today be a Reviving
- 42:01moment for us in our hurt and our pain.
- 42:05And I know and recognize it many listening to me that the pain.
- 42:09They're feeling is not directly related to a vent.
- 42:13And yet, it's real pain. Nonetheless.
- 42:17Help us. God lead us to the rock.
- 42:19That is higher than us that we might find strength, safety
- 42:23security, peace, patience, kindness goodness.
- 42:27Be everything that we've ever wanted.
- 42:29Is there And we are willing to follow.
- 42:36We pray these things in Jesus name.
- 42:38Amen, we pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible.
- 42:42Study delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
- 42:46prayer. Call us at 877, 30 Grace.
- 42:50That's eight 77304, 2:53 to listen to this message in its
- 42:57entirety or to join us for our live stream Services.
- 43:00Visit us online at Calvary Co dot church or download our Free
- 43:05Calvary Church app, be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.
- 43:05Free Calvary Church app, be blessed as you worship Jesus
- 43:09this week.