Speaker 1: Church.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to see you guys today.
Speaker 1: If nobody said to you on the way in, today, I wanna say to you happy New Year's.
Speaker 1: We're in 2025.
Speaker 1: Can we give a hand to the Lord for that?
Speaker 1: You're starting the year off on the right foot.
Speaker 1: You're here in God's church.
Speaker 1: You're here with God's people, about to hear God's word.
Speaker 1: I hope it's a help for you today.
Speaker 1: Today's message for me is gonna be just a little different.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in Psalm 18, if you want to open up to it, Psalm 18.
Speaker 1: And really, what's going to be different is that it's much less of a message, really a preaching message, but more of a testimony.
Speaker 1: Personally, for me, it's something that God's been trying to teach me in the last couple days, last couple weeks and, I'll even admit it, last couple years.
Speaker 1: Really, it's something that God has been trying to get through my thick skull sometimes, and that's the fact of that, that God is our rock.
Speaker 1: We've been singing about it.
Speaker 1: Pastor Cody and Pastor Nate talked about it, but really, what does it mean to have God as your rock?
Speaker 1: And we're going to take a look at Psalm 18, verse 2, right here.
Speaker 1: It's a Psalm of David and he's talking about God here attributes who he is.
Speaker 1: And we read in Psalm 18, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Speaker 1: Here, in this one verse, we see a phrase repeated.
Speaker 1: And when the Bible repeats something, it's not because whoever was transcribing it was stuttering right, it's not because of oh, I forgot to mention that.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, I already did.
Speaker 1: Whatever.
Speaker 1: When God repeats something in the scriptures, it's because he wants to emphasize it.
Speaker 1: And when he wants to emphasize it, he wants our ears to perk up.
Speaker 1: He wants us to listen and zero in on what he has to say.
Speaker 1: And in this verse, talking about God, he's described as the rock of David, something to build his life upon.
Speaker 1: And it's one thing to know that God is your rock, but it's another thing to know that God is your rock to live, that God is your rock, but it's another thing to know that God is your rock to live, that God is your rock.
Speaker 1: And I know, I know I've read it in the Bible, I've even preached it before.
Speaker 1: Right, but it's not until you are at that low point that, really, when your world gets shaken that it really tests you to see what truly is your rock.
Speaker 1: One such a time for me came a couple years ago.
Speaker 1: I was working for a different church at the time and we were going to an all-day church conference and my wife Tyler many of you guys know my wife she was starting earlier that week to feel a lot of really strange symptoms.
Speaker 1: She was feeling chronic fatigue out of nowhere and a few other things.
Speaker 1: So she decided she wanted to go and she wanted to get a doctor's appointment to get it checked out.
Speaker 1: It was on the same day as the church conference, it was on a Thursday.
Speaker 1: I remember that.
Speaker 1: Well, I went to the church conference and before everything started, I got out of the church and I texted my wife and she said, hey, I'm already at Kaiser, I'm just waiting to get seen by the doctor.
Speaker 1: And so I said okay and I went and I heard the conference.
Speaker 1: It was about noontime that we broke out for lunch and when lunchtime came, I ate my lunch really quick and I went over outside of the church to check my phone and I got a text message from my wife that I'll never forget Never.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm back from the doctor.
Speaker 1: They wanted to do a blood test and they said they would get back to me.
Speaker 1: But I already got a message back from on the Kaiser messenger.
Speaker 1: They said they wanted to book a phone appointment with me.
Speaker 1: But I'm really concerned is that it says it's from the and I saw the word and my heart sank oncology department.
Speaker 1: Now, if you don't know what oncology is, it's the study of cancer.
Speaker 1: And so when my I just stopped reading when I saw that word oncology.
Speaker 1: Oncology, it's going to only mean one thing Cancer.
Speaker 1: The C word right, and my mind raced.
Speaker 1: I'm a terrible person in the fact that I am a clamor.
Speaker 1: When I get stressed, when I get angry, when I get upset, I'm a clamor.
Speaker 1: I'm not an exploder.
Speaker 1: I'm a clamor.
Speaker 1: And even though there were people around me from my church that I knew loved me, that I knew prayed for me, that I knew would support me, I clammed up.
Speaker 1: I clammed up and I didn't say anything to anybody.
Speaker 1: I remember that car ride home was really quiet that day, but my mind started racing and I did the worst possible thing you can do when something like this happens.
Speaker 1: I looked up Tyler's symptoms, I went MD and with the oncology thing, I could only come up with one conclusion Does Tyler have leukemia?
Speaker 1: I mean, I just married her at the time.
Speaker 1: We were less than three years married at the time we just started than three years married at the time.
Speaker 1: We just started our life together.
Speaker 1: We didn't have a whole lot in our savings, right?
Speaker 1: Our insurance wasn't that great.
Speaker 1: If she has leukemia, what are we going to do?
Speaker 1: What's the playbook Like if her life ends right here?
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm going to do God, why I'm trying.
Speaker 1: I'm at a church conference.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do God, why I'm trying.
Speaker 1: I'm at a church conference.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to serve you with my life.
Speaker 1: I'm a pastor.
Speaker 1: I'm here trying to do what I can to serve you, and now my wife possibly has leukemia.
Speaker 1: What am I going to do?
Speaker 1: My heart sank, my stomach dropped, my feet felt like the rug got pulled underneath them, and it's at that moment that, even though I knew, even though I've read it, even though I've preached it, that God is my rock, it's not until you're at that point in your life where you realize what are you standing on?
Speaker 1: Look, I get it.
Speaker 1: Life sometimes has highs and sometimes has lows.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it can feel like you're in control and everything is going well.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it can feel like you're on a roller coaster and you're just going up and down and up and down and everything is just going wrong.
Speaker 1: So then it is important for us to think about then what does it mean truly?
Speaker 1: What does it mean truly?
Speaker 1: What does it mean to have God as your rock?
Speaker 1: Today, I want to share with you guys just three things that God has been teaching me about this, and I hope it's a help to you as it's been a help to me.
Speaker 1: First of all is this it means that he is unchanging, that the Lord is unchanging.
Speaker 1: He can be our rock because he is an unchanging God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to open up in Psalm 102, we're going to be looking at a few verses.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry they're not going to be on the screen today, but Psalm 102, verses 25 through 27, another Psalm of David.
Speaker 1: As he was writing how he adored God and how God was his rock, he had this to say about God Of old you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Speaker 1: I love to see beautiful landscapes on this earth.
Speaker 1: I love to see God's creation right.
Speaker 1: If you've ever been to the Grand Canyon, you know how it can be when you're just awestruck by God.
Speaker 1: If you've ever been to Yosemite, you see the half dome, you see how big and how majestic God's creation can truly be and you think about how old these things are.
Speaker 1: They've been here for centuries, for millennia.
Speaker 1: When the Native Americans first crossed the Bering Strait and got here to North America, they were the same then and they're the same today.
Speaker 1: They're much grander in scope than our mere human lives can even comprehend, but even to that extent in our mere human lives can even comprehend.
Speaker 1: But even to that extent, they are nothing compared to how stable and how constant God is.
Speaker 1: Even before those things were, God was, and even after those things are.
Speaker 1: When God makes everything new, when he starts a new slate, he will still be there.
Speaker 1: When he starts a new slate, he will still be there.
Speaker 1: You are the same.
Speaker 1: Your years have no end.
Speaker 1: God is our constant and that's the first shade of meaning of what we can get that God is our rock Because, look, even when we feel like God is distant, he is still there.
Speaker 1: Even when we don't feel lovable, God is still there and he still loves us.
Speaker 1: And look, I'm the first to admit I felt unchristian at times because I've had doubts right.
Speaker 1: I'm the type of person who I like to have a plan, I like to be in control, and when I don't feel like the steering wheels are in my hand, I feel like I'm out of control.
Speaker 1: I need to start getting control right and in times where I felt like everything is going wrong, I feel like everything is spinning out.
Speaker 1: I've doubted the fact that God's had a good plan for me.
Speaker 1: I've doubted the fact that God is still there for me and when I feel like I stumble and I stumble and I stumble in the same sin.
Speaker 1: Every time I feel unlovable, I feel unworthy of forgiveness.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says this that God never changes, that God is still loving, God is still blessing, God is still in control.
Speaker 1: God is still on the throne.
Speaker 1: He's still got everything.
Speaker 1: Even if I feel like I have nothing, he is still there.
Speaker 1: He is still in control.
Speaker 1: Things change in our lives.
Speaker 1: People change.
Speaker 1: Our relationships change.
Speaker 1: People come and people go.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we have friends that are only friends for us with a season and then we just drift away.
Speaker 1: Sometimes our jobs change.
Speaker 1: Sometimes our where we live change.
Speaker 1: We change.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm 29.
Speaker 1: I'm already getting all my gray hairs in right, but there is one constant in this life, and that is that God never changes.
Speaker 1: Even if we've doubted, even if we've backslided against God, even if right now, I don't know how your 2024 was, but if maybe this is your first time in church in a while and maybe you haven't read your Bible like you know you should, maybe you haven't prayed like you know you should, and even if right now you are farther away from God than you ever imagined, he is still right there.
Speaker 1: He is still waiting for you in open arms, because our God never changes.
Speaker 1: James, chapter 1, says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Speaker 1: I have good news for you God hasn't changed.
Speaker 1: He is still in control, he is still on the throne and he still wants you.
Speaker 1: He wants a relationship with you, he is willing to forgive, he is just, he is loving and even when we don't feel blessed, he is still blessing us every step of the way.
Speaker 1: We can take comfort in the fact that God doesn't change his mind about you.
Speaker 1: People may change their minds about us.
Speaker 1: People may leave us, People may go from us, but God will never leave us or forsake us.
Speaker 1: He will be our constant, he will be our foundation, he will be our rock.
Speaker 1: So, through the valleys, through the mountaintops, through the roller coaster of life, when we feel like everything is spinning out of control, we can rest in the fact that God is still in control.
Speaker 1: We can rest in the fact that God still loves us, even when we feel unlovable.
Speaker 1: We can rest in the fact that God still forgives us, because it's based on his faithfulness, not on our faithfulness, because it's based on his faithfulness, not on our faithfulness.
Speaker 1: We can rest in the fact that he is our rock.
Speaker 1: Second of all, I think of the fact that nothing can fill us like God.
Speaker 1: Nothing can fill us like God.
Speaker 1: We see this in the life of someone that was near and dear to David's heart his own son, Solomon.
Speaker 1: Solomon is a name that's not only known within just general churchy culture, but in regular culture.
Speaker 1: Right, we know of the wisdom of Solomon.
Speaker 1: That's a name that's not only known within just general churchy culture, but in regular culture, right, we know of the wisdom of Solomon.
Speaker 1: That's a common thing.
Speaker 1: Well, the story goes that when David was about to step down from the throne.
Speaker 1: God came to Solomon in a vision and say Solomon, I'm going to give you anything you could ever want.
Speaker 1: You name it, I'm going to give it to you because of the favor that I found in your father.
Speaker 1: David and Solomon had an opportunity right there to ask for anything.
Speaker 1: There were no asterisks, there were no strings attached.
Speaker 1: He could ask for anything.
Speaker 1: You know what Solomon asked for, God give me wisdom, Give me applied knowledge, right To rule your kingdom, to be there, to have the knowledge of what you would like me to do.
Speaker 1: And he started that reign off on the right foot.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately in the biblical account we saw him drift away slowly and then drastically.
Speaker 1: We read in the biblical account how he married over 700 women, for physical pleasure, but also political power.
Speaker 1: We read how he worshipped other gods because of the way that he wanted to please other people.
Speaker 1: We read that he amassed wealth like you would never imagine.
Speaker 1: It says that silver and gold were like stones in Israel at that time because they were so common.
Speaker 1: He expanded trade beyond the borders of Israel.
Speaker 1: The first mention of a gorilla in the Bible is because Solomon he wanted one.
Speaker 1: He just felt like it.
Speaker 1: So he got one right.
Speaker 1: He had everything you could ever imagine, exponentially more than any riches many of us will ever see in our whole entire lives.
Speaker 1: He had everything you could ever want.
Speaker 1: And then, at the end of his life, he wrote this book called Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 1: It's in the Bible.
Speaker 1: It's a good, solid read 12 chapters when, as a regretful old man, he realizes the pursuit of things left him feeling empty.
Speaker 1: He opens the book with the verse vanity of vanity.
Speaker 1: All is vanity.
Speaker 1: The word vanity has the connotation of what remains after you pop a bubble.
Speaker 1: Right, you see a bubble.
Speaker 1: You pop it.
Speaker 1: Well, what is there?
Speaker 1: Before there was substance, before there was a bubble.
Speaker 1: But once you pop it, what is there?
Speaker 1: Nothing, Emptiness.
Speaker 1: And he's saying all of the things that I've tried to pursue after women, power, status, my career, advancement, money.
Speaker 1: Everything has left me feeling empty, has left me feeling deeply unsatisfied.
Speaker 1: I've been to the things.
Speaker 1: I've had times of mourning, I've had times of dancing, I've had smiles, I have joys, I've had tears.
Speaker 1: I've had everything under the sun, and nothing is new under the sun.
Speaker 1: I've had everything you could possibly imagine, but it's left me feeling like there's more, there's more.
Speaker 1: So he goes through 12 chapters, of going through this internal dialogue.
Speaker 1: He has trying one final time, as a regretful old man who wasted his life in pursuit of things, to try to reason with us, not to fall under the same trap.
Speaker 1: And he gets to the conclusion.
Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes 12, 13 says this at the end of the matter all has been heard Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Speaker 1: When he's talking about fearing God, it's not talking about a terrifying shirking away from him.
Speaker 1: It's talking about a reverent respect with him, it's talking about a communion with him, it's talking about a relationship with him and it's talking about keeping his commandments to live in the way that God would want us to live, because he knows best.
Speaker 1: He made us, he made this world and he knows what's best for us.
Speaker 1: So when we are in a relationship with him, when we align our lives with the way that God wants us to live, Solomon says this is our purpose.
Speaker 1: This is the whole duty of man.
Speaker 1: I mean, think about when God created Adam and Eve.
Speaker 1: He gave them dominion, he gave them responsibilities, but at the same time it says that after they sinned, God came down, as was custom for him to do.
Speaker 1: God came down and he wanted to walk with them in the cool of the night.
Speaker 1: God, the creator of the universe, wanted to walk with humanity side by side, but sin separated us.
Speaker 1: So when God created mankind, he did so for this purpose.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 43.7 tells us this everyone who is called by my name I created let's read those next three words for my glory, whom I formed, I made.
Speaker 1: Our purpose is to glorify God.
Speaker 1: That is our significance, that is our purpose, that is our meaning To be in a relationship with the God that made us and to be glorifying to him, to thank him, to give him the glory, to revel in him and to enjoy him.
Speaker 1: That's our purpose and that's why each and every one of us has a God-shaped hole in our hearts.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard the phrase before.
Speaker 1: Some say it's overused, but I think it's really true.
Speaker 1: Think of it this way have you ever seen a kid play with one of those block toys?
Speaker 1: You know the ones I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Right there I got a picture of it where you put the square block in the square hole, the circle block in the circle hole.
Speaker 1: Picture of it where you put the square block in the square hole, the circle block in the circle hole.
Speaker 1: It's a thing that kids have to do to learn.
Speaker 1: It's a cognitive test for them.
Speaker 1: They learn it and they have to learn pattern recognition.
Speaker 1: When I'm looking at them, I think of one of two things.
Speaker 1: If I'm feeling nice, I'm thinking I really want to help them, but at the same time I know it's like a cognitive test for them.
Speaker 1: They have to learn that pattern recognition skill.
Speaker 1: It's like taking a caterpillar out of a chrysalis before it turns into a butterfly.
Speaker 1: It's going to do more harm than good.
Speaker 1: If I'm feeling a little more less nice, I'm thinking man, what a dope, why can't they just put the block in the thing?
Speaker 1: Come on now, right.
Speaker 1: Eventually they grow up and they learn where the blocks go.
Speaker 1: They put the square in the square, they put the moon in the moon, they put this triangle in a triangle.
Speaker 1: They grow out of it, they learn it.
Speaker 1: But how often have I, I'll admit to it how often have I tried to fill that God-shaped hole in my heart with things, With a certain amount in my bank account, With approval from my peers, from accomplishments, from a pat on the back from a parent, from my own self-worth, and you can go on and on and on and on.
Speaker 1: I've pursued things, I've pursued a financial goal and when I reached it, you know what I said to myself I feel like I should probably keep going.
Speaker 1: It's not meant to fill you, it's not meant to get there for you.
Speaker 1: The only thing that can fill that God-shaped hole in your heart, just like the picture, is one thing, and that's God.
Speaker 1: Not to say any of these things are bad things.
Speaker 1: To pursue your career is a great thing.
Speaker 1: Money is not evil.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that love of money is the root of all evil.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 1: And to pursue that, to provide for your family, that is a great thing.
Speaker 1: Career relationships, those are good things, but they are not meant to be filling things.
Speaker 1: And I thank God for the blessings that I have.
Speaker 1: I thank God for my wife, who's still here, right.
Speaker 1: And just to finish the story, I know I kept you guys in suspense.
Speaker 1: What ended up happening was that my wife had her phone appointment.
Speaker 1: She called the doctor and they said hey, so you, we had the blood test and you're just running low on magnesium.
Speaker 1: This is why you have these certain things.
Speaker 1: You can come by the office, we're going to give you magnesium and it'll be that.
Speaker 1: And my wife said, whoa, whoa, hold on.
Speaker 1: I got a message from the oncology department, what's up with this?
Speaker 1: And they said, oh yeah, that here at Kaiser, the hematology department is right next to the oncology department and sometimes the wires get a little mixed.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the message gets sent from the yeah, Kaiser, for you, right.
Speaker 1: But you know what that made me realize when I considered the fact that I could have a life where I lost my wife.
Speaker 1: I cherish her, I thank God for her.
Speaker 1: I am so blessed the fact that she's in my life.
Speaker 1: I have a family, I have a home, I have a church family.
Speaker 1: God's provided in ways that I would never imagine.
Speaker 1: And I don't say those things to brag.
Speaker 1: I don't say those things to say, look how good I am.
Speaker 1: I say those things because those are blessings from the Lord and I glorify him for it.
Speaker 1: I thank him for it.
Speaker 1: And all those things that I have in my life, all those things that were never meant to fill me, God has put in my life, Even though he is my rock, he is my foundation.
Speaker 1: He has given me above that, more so I could thank him for it, so I could glorify him for it.
Speaker 1: But I understand this, that the only thing that will fill me, the only thing that will leave me satisfied, is God, because nothing can fill the God-shaped hole in your heart.
Speaker 1: So that's the second chain of meaning, by God being our rock.
Speaker 1: And the final one is this that he will always be there for you.
Speaker 1: God will always be there for you.
Speaker 1: Let me read this verse in Psalm 27, another Psalm of David.
Speaker 1: It's near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why here in just a bit.
Speaker 1: But Psalm 27, 10, says this when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.
Speaker 1: I think of the life of David, and in this Psalm in particular, the context is this Think of the life of David, and in this Psalm in particular, the context is this David was being persecuted by the king of Israel, Saul.
Speaker 1: David had a lot of respect for Saul.
Speaker 1: Saul was the father of David's best, closest friend and David.
Speaker 1: He loved Saul.
Speaker 1: He was the chosen king of the Lord.
Speaker 1: But Saul got jealous of the popularity David had, and it was in that demonic anger that he had that he persecuted David.
Speaker 1: He wanted David killed, and so David had to forsake everything, had to forsake everyone and go on the run.
Speaker 1: People distanced themselves from David, as evident by this verse.
Speaker 1: At some point, even his mother and his father had to retreat themselves from him as he went on the run.
Speaker 1: And I think of the life of David and how difficult it was really.
Speaker 1: We learn about his triumphs, we learn about it in his Sunday school right.
Speaker 1: We learn about David and Goliath, but we don't hear about how David's best friend, Jonathan, died on the battlefield like a dog and how his closest friend, who he was closer to than any other human on earth, died for nothing.
Speaker 1: He had incredible loss.
Speaker 1: I think of the fact that later in David's life, two of his children, on two separate instances, tried to wrestle the power and the throne away from David.
Speaker 1: They said Dad, I don't care about you, I don't care about your life, I just want to be in power.
Speaker 1: I'm going to kill your people, I'm going to steal your wives, I want the power.
Speaker 1: What incredible loss David had.
Speaker 1: But even at the worst of it, he said this when my father and my mother forsake me, then I know the Lord will take care of me.
Speaker 1: David knew the Lord was his rock.
Speaker 1: Then I know the Lord will take care of me.
Speaker 1: David knew the Lord was his rock.
Speaker 1: David knew he could count on God when anybody else wanted to retreat away from him.
Speaker 1: When everybody else was gone, David knew the Lord is my rock.
Speaker 1: Now I said this verse is near and dear to my heart, and that's because it's the favorite verse of somebody who's near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 1: It's the favorite verse of somebody who had not been for her prayers I know I would not be here today and that's of my mother.
Speaker 1: When I asked my mother's favorite Bible verse when I was 15, 16 years old, she told me Psalm 2710 and read it to me, and I asked her why.
Speaker 1: You know what's the story behind it, Because she's typically a very cheery person.
Speaker 1: This verse is, admittedly, just a little gloomy, it's a little somber.
Speaker 1: Why is this verse important to her?
Speaker 1: And as we end off today, I'm going to tell you exactly why it all starts.
Speaker 1: My mom was born in the 1960s in Mexico and she grew up in a very, very staunchly conservative Catholic family.
Speaker 1: Right and I'm talking hardcore like Virgin Mary in every room pictures of the saints, the crucifix with Jesus still on it, going to Mass every single day.
Speaker 1: Every single day going to Mass there.
Speaker 1: My grandparents are very, very staunchly Catholic and it wasn't until my mom started dating my dad that my dad was going to a Baptist church there in Mexico at the time and encouraged my mom to read the Bible for herself to see if the things that she was learning in that church were still in line with the scripture.
Speaker 1: And as she read the Bible, as she talked with my dad, she learned I don't have to go to a priest to ask God for forgiveness, I can just go talk to him.
Speaker 1: And eventually, by going to that church, she learned that she could have forgiveness of sins by trusting in the death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And she did.
Speaker 1: She got saved and she was happy for it, she was joyful, she was jubilant about it and she wanted to share it with her family, of course.
Speaker 1: So she went to her mother and her father and she began to tell them how.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go to a priest, you don't have to go through all these things.
Speaker 1: You can just ask God for forgiveness through a priest.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go through all these things, you can just ask God for forgiveness.
Speaker 1: But what you have to understand is that in a lot of Hispanic cultures and a lot of cultures that stem from Spain, being Catholic and being your nationality are intrinsically linked.
Speaker 1: So to betray one is to betray another.
Speaker 1: To reject Catholicism is to reject your Mexican-ness, really.
Speaker 1: And so my grandparents didn't take it well at all.
Speaker 1: There was shouting, there was screaming, there was name-calling, and it got to the point where my grandpa looked my mother in the eyes and said you are dead to me, I don't want to talk to you ever again, and she read this verse when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.
Speaker 1: Well, because of that and the abandonment of her family and a few other reasons, my parents, when they got married, immigrated to the United States.
Speaker 1: They started off in Los Angeles and eventually, in the late 80s, they worked up to renting out a studio on Worley Lane, just up the road from there, across from the apartments.
Speaker 1: There was a little lot there, and they rented out a studio right there and they found jobs.
Speaker 1: They found the best work that they could do.
Speaker 1: My dad worked as a, my mom worked as a tutor, sometimes, sometimes as a house cleaner, and they just did the best they could.
Speaker 1: I even got a picture of them right here.
Speaker 1: They have two of my older sisters right there.
Speaker 1: I wasn't even a twinkle in their eyes.
Speaker 1: I was born in 95.
Speaker 1: This is the late 80s.
Speaker 1: And when I asked my dad, well, how'd you manage to get a nice portrait done of yourself?
Speaker 1: He said well, one time I was working for a fella and he had a newspaper clipping coupon for a free photo shoot at JCPenney's.
Speaker 1: And this is the only reason I have that.
Speaker 1: And I said, Dad, me and you are very similar.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, they could only afford one car, and it was on a Sunday morning in the winter that they found out there's no food left in the cupboard, there's no food left in the fridge, there's no money in the savings account.
Speaker 1: What are we going to do?
Speaker 1: Well, my dad did what I think every self-respecting man would do to protect and provide for his family, and that was he was going to take the car and he was going to go to try to find, anywhere he could find, an odd job or two.
Speaker 1: He'd get $20 in his pocket so he could go get eggs, milk, whatever for the family.
Speaker 1: Right, he took the car, but my mom knew what that meant At the time they were going to a church that's still there.
Speaker 1: It's on Brown Street, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Vacaville.
Speaker 1: They were going there at the time but my mom knew if my dad took the car kind of later in the day.
Speaker 1: They had no phone, they had no car, she couldn't get to church.
Speaker 1: But my dad took the car and he went and he tried to find work.
Speaker 1: And my mom sat there two young girls, both of them under the age of three.
Speaker 1: No food, no money, no family.
Speaker 1: Both of my parents were first-generation immigrants to the United States.
Speaker 1: There was no family for them there.
Speaker 1: Mother and father left her.
Speaker 1: So my mom began to cry, to doubt God why I left my mom and my dad so I could follow you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing the best that I can do, working any job that I can, to provide for my family, and I don't have enough.
Speaker 1: I don't have food, I don't have money, I can't even go to church.
Speaker 1: And she just began to weep, to sob, and she heard a knock on the door and when she opened the door, standing there there were two members of Emmanuel Baptist Church holding boxes filled with canned food, bread and boxed food.
Speaker 1: She was wondering what's all this about?
Speaker 1: Both my parents were proud first-generation immigrants.
Speaker 1: Like I said, they would have never asked for a handout.
Speaker 1: They would never.
Speaker 1: They believe you should work for your food.
Speaker 1: You should work for your money.
Speaker 1: They weren't going to ask anybody for help.
Speaker 1: Well, the church knew.
Speaker 1: The church knew they were in dire straits with two young kids, right.
Speaker 1: And they said, when we got to church and we noticed you guys weren't there, we decided amongst ourselves we're going to take an offering for you guys.
Speaker 1: We're going to, after church dismisses, we're going to go out to our homes, we're going to get whatever food we can have.
Speaker 1: We're going to get it together, meet back at the church, get it in boxes and we're going to go deliver it to you guys.
Speaker 1: And my mom was just awestruck.
Speaker 1: She was in the valley, Nothing was going right.
Speaker 1: She was doubting God's goodness at the moment.
Speaker 1: And there he was the rock, there he was the deliverer, there he was the one who is the fortress, the one who is there, the refuge, the shield.
Speaker 1: He was there.
Speaker 1: So my mom took the food and she praised God for it.
Speaker 1: My dad got home.
Speaker 1: He couldn't find any work.
Speaker 1: Nobody wanted a handyman when it was cold and rainy outside.
Speaker 1: He felt like a failure.
Speaker 1: He was going to go home empty-handed to his hungry family and when he walked in through the front doors he went straight to the kitchen where my mom was sorting all the food in the cupboard, putting all the food in the fridge.
Speaker 1: She turned around and said look what the Lord has done.
Speaker 1: And she remembered in that instance Psalm 2710, when my mother and my father forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.
Speaker 1: I think of God's faithfulness.
Speaker 1: I think of the fact that even when we are at the valleys and even when things are going well and we're at the mountaintops, he is still faithful.
Speaker 1: He is still our rock.
Speaker 1: He is still there.
Speaker 1: He will provide, he will protect, he will be there for us.
Speaker 1: And know this that God will never leave you, God will never forsake you.
Speaker 1: God will always be there.
Speaker 1: He is our rock, he is our foundation, he is everything that we can confide in, he is everything that we can be confident in because he is there.
Speaker 1: So today, as we wrap up, I just want you to know two things, Just two things.
Speaker 1: First of all, count your blessings.
Speaker 1: We're entering into a new year, we're looking, with 2024, back in the rear view mirror right, and think of all the blessings that we have from the Lord.
Speaker 1: If you have your family, hug them, cherish them, Thank God for their presence.
Speaker 1: If you have a church family which you do we are better than me here at this church Thank God for it.
Speaker 1: If you have food when you get back home you've got food on the table thank God for it.
Speaker 1: And second of all is this connect those blessings to God's faithfulness.
Speaker 1: Realize that everything that you have is, in addition to God, being our foundation, being our strength, being our deliverer, being our rock.
Speaker 1: He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Speaker 1: He will always be there for us.
Speaker 1: And as it's taken me months and years to learn that I can confide in God, years and months to learn that I, even though when I'm out of control, I feel that God is in control.
Speaker 1: I hope and I pray that you can do the same.
Speaker 1: Realize that God is there.
Speaker 1: God blesses us and every blessing we have is from the Lord.
Speaker 1: Let's pray together.
Speaker 1: Church.