Ever struggled with navigating through a tough season, feeling lost, and wishing you had someone to guide you? Struggling alone can be challenging and that's where Tim Noel, the director of church partnerships with the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries, steps in. Joining him are two dedicated counselors from our Living Well ministry who bring an array of insights on the power of Christian counseling. This episode is a gentle reminder of how scripture and clinical theories can harmonize to help us understand our emotions better and glorify God. It’s a deep dive into the importance of seeking professional Christian counseling and walking through the tough times hand-in-hand with someone who is there to support you.
Have you ever wondered how David, faced with tremendous opposition, kept his faith unshaken? In his message, Tim walks us through the depths of David's psalm of lament in Psalms 3, illuminating his unwavering faith amidst adversity. We explore how his trust in God's faithfulness and his unyielding devotion serves as an inspiration for all of us. As we delve into the transformative power of prayer during times of hardship, we wrap up with a prayer of hope. We invite you to join us, especially if you're feeling discouraged or troubled, to find strength, encouragement, and renewed faith.
Ever struggled with navigating through a tough season, feeling lost, and wishing you had someone to guide you? Struggling alone can be challenging and that's where Tim Noel, the director of church partnerships with the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries, steps in. Joining him are two dedicated counselors from our Living Well ministry who bring an array of insights on the power of Christian counseling. This episode is a gentle reminder of how scripture and clinical theories can harmonize to help us understand our emotions better and glorify God. It’s a deep dive into the importance of seeking professional Christian counseling and walking through the tough times hand-in-hand with someone who is there to support you.
Have you ever wondered how David, faced with tremendous opposition, kept his faith unshaken? In his message, Tim walks us through the depths of David's psalm of lament in Psalms 3, illuminating his unwavering faith amidst adversity. We explore how his trust in God's faithfulness and his unyielding devotion serves as an inspiration for all of us. As we delve into the transformative power of prayer during times of hardship, we wrap up with a prayer of hope. We invite you to join us, especially if you're feeling discouraged or troubled, to find strength, encouragement, and renewed faith.
Hi and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
Speaker 2:We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord. Now join me as we listen into this week's sermon.
Speaker 1:We're grateful today for our speaker, tim Noll. Tim has served in church ministry for the past 19 years, with the last 11 of those years as the senior pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Cersei. He's now serves as the director of church partnership with the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries. He's originally from Paragold and his family Tim and his family have a passion for children and families across Arkansas who need support and love. One of the reasons I asked for Tim to be with us today is to bring a greater awareness to the counseling ministry here at First Baptist Church Living Well. Living Well is a ministry arm of the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries and most of you are aware that it's a ministry on our campus, but many of you are not quite sure how to best point yourself and others to the great work that our counselors do on a daily basis. So welcome, tim, and actually our two counselors are here too today, and we look forward to seeing and hearing God through you and your ministry today.
Speaker 2:I appreciate the opportunity to come and share with you guys this morning. As I was talking to Pastor Brian, he wanted to take just a couple of minutes and introduce, reintroduce. I've been getting introduced for the first time. We were joking earlier that, as God is growing our ministry through Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries well, a lot of people who are employed, and Dr Brown and I joke all the time like we haven't met half of them, and so this is a good day for me as well. So what I want to do is I'm just going to ask them to introduce themselves, tell a little bit about themselves, I'm going to ask them a question or two, but the main thing we really want to do is to put skin on these ladies and let you know that this tremendous resource is here for you and able to serve the surrounding area. So you guys go ahead.
Speaker 3:I'm Kelsey Jones. I actually attend church here, and so my office is also here. Tuesday through Friday, and then on Mondays I get to go to Monticello and go to the children's home there and visit with children that are involved in those programs and then also some local community members there.
Speaker 4:Hello, my name is Elizabeth Lane and my husband is a pastor at Westside Baptist Church, so I do not attend here, but I am blessed to be able to be here and worship with you guys this morning. I also office here Tuesdays, thursdays and Fridays and have been here since it opened, I guess a year ago, a year and a half ago in April Excellent.
Speaker 2:And you do see on the screen right there, that is the local phone number. You can also access through ArkansasFamiliesorg, go to our counseling tab and be able to make contact that way. But as we think about counseling, as we think about mental health and things like that, I'm going to ask Kelsey why is it important for Christians to be comfortable with going and receiving counsel?
Speaker 3:So the thing I love about Christian counseling specifically is that it lets the main thing stay, the main thing you know through learning clinical practices and strategies and also being a believer. It just aligns so perfectly. And so the fact that you know we get to point people to we just sang about it, you know the most powerful and beautiful name. And then our clinical things, our strategies and those things that interweave so perfectly with the way God has created us Well, that just gets to be this wonderful bonus layer. So our job every day is to point people to that standalone, absolute truth, with clinical counseling as a bonus, and that's wonderful. It's a humbling honor to be a part of that.
Speaker 2:Elizabeth, how does a person get to that point to where they feel like you know, I just don't tell people when I go and speak at churches there are certain things that you know you can't just quote enough scripture at, you can't just pray your way out of it. How does a person know that they've come to a point where on their own, they're not going to get that healing and Christian counsel that they need?
Speaker 4:How does a person, especially a believer, how do they know when it's time Well, as we say in scripture, scripture tells us to seek wise counsel and to have advising for many, and so we're called, as Christians, to be discipled and to disciple others. And so obviously, hopefully, that is something that's going on in the believer's life already and I think that, with that wisdom, if there's something that you encounter, like we see people that there is clinical mental illness right, there is bipolar, there is maybe schizophrenia or whatever, but there is also so much that has to do with emotions and learning how to glorify the Lord through those emotions. Our God is a God who feels. We read all through scripture about different emotions that he experiences and that he experienced as he walked here as Jesus. And so, knowing that there's times where we may struggle, we may struggle with the adjustment of that, or with grief, or with the depression that's just heavier in this season, or Anxiety that's extremely heavy.
Speaker 4:Hopefully we are in relationships with other believers and they may recognize it in us that we may need additional help, and I love that part of our job that we get to walk alongside people as they are going through those seasons and help them with the endurance to go through that storm and continue to pursue their faith and grow in their faith with that. So there are times where it's just, you know, it's not that we just slap a scripture on it and pray and send you on your way. We're going to walk through it with you. But, as Kelsey said, all the clinical theories and things I love every day are reminded like man. Scripture goes right along with this theory. Let me show you in God's Word, where it also says the same thing as theorists has led us to.
Speaker 2:Anything else that they need to know about the wonderful world of living well counseling.
Speaker 4:We're here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I feel like it's important for me to move the microphone off of here, because I will knock it off. I tend to get a little animated. I was joking with Pastor Brian that this will probably be one of the shortest sermons that I've ever preached, and so well, that's my intention. You can't hold me to that, but as we were thinking about talking and being able to come and share and let you hear from our counselors located in your church, god led me to Psalm chapter three.
Speaker 2:Psalm chapter three we find David, and we find David dealing with a great deal of discouragement. So think about this have you ever come to that point, found yourself at a point where you're so beaten down, you're so discouraged, that good news, that encouragement maybe, seems nowhere to be found? I mean, I think we all deal with those situations in our life and I want you to hear from me this morning. If I have just described where you are in your life, beaten down, looking for encouragement but can't find encouragement, I want you to hear very specifically this morning God has a word for you and that word is be still, and let me be the one to lift up your head. Psalm chapter three is a lament Psalm written by David. This Psalm ties directly to 2 Samuel 15. 2 Samuel 15 is where, with Absalom, david's son begins the revolt against the throne, trying to oust his father as king and then come in and overtake the throne. And so David is fleeing his son at this moment. And the superscription above our text says the Lord helps his troubled people. If we believe that every word, from Genesis to maps, is inspired by our holy God, then to what I understand, even this superscription the Lord helps his troubled people and no matter where we're at in them, all of us are troubled to some degree. Well, tim, I don't have any troubles. Do you sin? You have trouble. God wants to help his troubled people and so, as we encounter the troubles and the difficulties of life, we have those natural responses right. A lot of those natural responses are to become defeated, to become discouraged. Then David, the king, david, the man after God's own heart, certainly had reason to feel discouraged. He had reason to feel troubled because of the chaos and the affliction caused by his son. The same is true in our lives, the same is true in ministry. I read a story of a young pastor and then his first five years of his pastorate, he hung a sign on his door that said when the world for Christ, amen. And then, five years later, he hung another sign. It said when two or three for Christ. And then, five years later, the sign posted on his door said try not to lose too many Life, ministry, our work, even family. At times can be discouraging, but God has a message for us through David. He wants those of you who find yourselves with your head hung low, for those of you who are beaten down, those of you who are discouraged, to allow Almighty God to lift up your head. You know why. I can say that with confidence, because God is still God, god is still in control and God still loves you. And so there's some steps that I want to look at in David's words, right here in Psalm chapter three.
Speaker 2:The first thing that we come to in verses one and two is is David cries out his lament to God. Okay, let me get a sidetrack. I may not be done in 20 minutes. We say that we believe this. We believe that God knows the thoughts before he utter them, he knows the number of heron and he knows everything about us. Yet why are we afraid at times to simply just cry out to God, and I don't mean like oh God, I mean like cry out in anguish, in pain, to God. Does he not know how we feel? Are we not just agreeing? God, I hate this moment in my life. It's hard. I need rescue. David cries out his lament. Lord, how they have increased. Who troubled me? Many are those who rise up against me. Many are those who say of me there is no help for Him in God.
Speaker 2:David begins this psalm by going to God and telling him God, this is the trouble of my heart, god, this is where I am at. And the one specific person who is causing all the turmoil in his life was his own son. I wonder if, growing up, if my dad didn't refer to Psalm chapter three many times about the turmoil and the chaos, that I was the youngest and so it's expected, it's in the code book that you do that. But it was his son causing all of this distress. But David says many are those who rise up against me. David's trouble with Absalom had multiplied, even to the point where Absalom had mounted an army to come and fight. But the problem doesn't even stop there. David faced numerous people, some even those he might have considered friends at one time, and they turned against him and saying hey, buddy, nobody's there to help you, not even God.
Speaker 2:You ever been in a spot in your life where it seemed that you were stuck in a vicious cycle of trouble that turns into discouragement, that breeds more trouble, only to bring about more discouragement? It goes on and on and on. And then we get in those places and we get that wonderful advice from people when we share with them. Right, oh, don't bother God with that, you just need to fix that yourself. Or we're going through a difficult time and say you know, I've just gone to my church and I've asked my church to pray for me and just to walk alongside with me. And you hear oh, why would you wanna go to church and do that? A bunch of hypocrites anyway. Isn't that the greatest thing we ever get? To hear there's no one who can help you there Sound familiar. What about those times when you're down in your discourage and you get even that better advice, like Job's wife gave him? I tell you what would be better for you just curse God and die.
Speaker 2:So, as followers of Jesus Christ, when we're discouraged, when we're beaten down, what are we to do? Where are we to turn? Jesus tells us in that great sermon on the Mount ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open unto you, for everyone who asks, finds or receives. And everyone who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be open. Cry out, be persistent, just like David, when we find ourself in that downward spiral of trouble, when we find ourself in those moments of discouragement. I encourage you and you don't have to be super spiritual and churchy about this cry out to God, ask, seek and knock, because we're promised in Scripture. When we do these things, we'll find a peace that this world cannot comprehend and we receive a deliverance that others in this world cannot grasp. Church friend, when you find yourself in these moments, cry out to God, cry out to the one who truly, truly, truly, truly, truly cares and the one who can absolutely help.
Speaker 2:So, number one, david cries out his lament. Secondly, david made a strong confession of trust and he just said God, my enemies are all around me and the number is just growing and growing and growing and I'm kind of scared. I don't really like it, but you, O Lord, are a shield for me. My glory and the one who here it is, this word all ties together lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard my heart from His holy hill. When David said but you, o Lord, the demeanor and the tenor of His voice and His attitude and His mindset shifted right there. It shifted from discouragement and dejection to confidence and a renewed faith.
Speaker 2:David confessed four important truths. When no one would help him, god would be his shield. God provided the protection that only God could provide against the attacks of the enemy. David says God, you are my shield, you shield me. Secondly, when David has nothing to treasure, god Himself was David's glory. God meant more to David than all the riches of His kingdom, vast kingdom of Israel. God meant more than the earthly kingdom. God's love for David was priceless. Third, when there was no one to encourage David, god was going to be the one to encourage him. God is going to be the one to lift up his head. And when David cried out to God, it was God who heard him from His holy hill. God heard David from the throne room of heaven. Is your head hung low? Are you beaten down by the struggles of life.
Speaker 2:Then follow the words of James in James, chapter four, verse 10. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Well, tim, what does that mean? I mean, I already beat up, I'm already discouraged. How much more humbling do I need? I'm not saying you need humbling. I'm saying humble yourself Up before your face, in front of God, and say God, I'm out, I can't do it anymore, I can't fight anymore. I need you to rise up and sustain me when we humbly confess Christ's faithfulness and His greatness. He promises to fill us. He promises to lift us up and restore us in Christ. As believers, we can have victory in those times of discouragement, because Jesus tells us we already have the victory, given the opportunity to cry out to God. Giving an opportunity to truly see, even in the midst of my troubles, god, you are still a shield for me Moves us to number three.
Speaker 2:We see that David had a very determined faith. I lay down and slipped. I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of 10,000s of people who have set themselves against me all around. You think about the stress that David was under right there. I mean, think about the threats, the pressure, possible murder, the overthrow of his kingdom, families, friends turning against him. I mean, he must have been an extremely burdened man at this point and I would imagine that sleep didn't come very easy. As a die hard razorback fan, sleep didn't come easy Friday night because I was needing there to be glory in the morning.
Speaker 2:Amen and David, everything had been stripped away. And we find ourselves with these tremendous trials, these exceedingly great tribulations. We find ourselves struggling to do what Eat right, even be around other people. But here David declares a strong faith by declaring that he was able to sleep because of God's sustaining power and God's grace, not because of his circumstance and his situation, but because of God's sustaining power and God's grace. And you say, tim, that's great Good for David. He could sleep in that old, dusty, dark cave. That same sustaining power, that same sustaining grace, that same peace that David knew and enjoyed, that same sustaining power that he allowed David to sleep in difficult times.
Speaker 2:Guess what Malachi, chapter three, says I am the Lord, I change not. That same power, that same strength, that same courage, that same everything is available to us today if we would but just cry out to God. Jesus says in Matthew 11,. Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest in yourself. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. In order for us to experience the rest that David experienced, we must be willing to come to Christ, we must cry out to him. But also this is an important part that Jesus says right here learn from me. The more we learn and the more we experience who Jesus is, just like David, the more determined our faith becomes.
Speaker 2:And then, number four David did something where a lot of times we fall short. I believe I fall short. I'll just say me. I'm the only woman in the room. He cried out to God. He strengthened his resolve. He had a determined faith that God's going to do this. God's got this thing. Except God doesn't got this thing for like four months. What happens when God doesn't give it for an extended period of time? What do we usually tend to do? Well, I tried that. Now it's my turn.
Speaker 2:David continued to lift his plea to God. Enemies are here. God Don't want to kill me. I'm crying out to you. I'm trusting you. But then he says in verse 7, arise, o Lord, and save me, my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people.
Speaker 2:David, after he expressed his discomfort, as he expressed his displeasure for his situation, he kept at it. He knew the source, he knew the sustaining power. He didn't just say it one time and walk away and say, god, it's your turn. God, as long as I'm here, I'm going to keep on and keep on and keep on. David called out for God to arise. David said, god, I need you to take some action on my behalf. He called for God to strike down his enemies, to deliver him from those powerful enemies, and David used the imagery that they were like raging powerful beasts with the strength located in their jaws. If you truly saved, you love. Swamp people right. We understand the power in the jaws. David called upon God to strike at the source of the power of his enemies Breaking their teeth. Is important to note that he was not asking God to destroy his enemies, but he was simply asking that they would no longer be a threat to him and a threat to his kingdom, which ultimately is God's kingdom. He was calling out to God to be safe, to be delivered from that moment, but not only from the enemies, but even from the trials and the troubles and the difficulties and the discouragement that come along with it.
Speaker 2:But David finishes this Psalm by making a tremendous statement. David asked God's blessing upon God's people, even the people who had turned on David. David prayed that they would see your blessing, they would see God's glory. Is that our reaction when we feel like we're oppressed, when we feel like we are being attacked? So, god, I'm not a fan of Tim right now, but go ahead and bless his life. Is that not what we were like? Break his cheekbone too, knock his teeth out. That's kind of where we're at.
Speaker 2:If you don't, I might you know when we feel others actively, maybe even fighting against us, do we earnestly pray for them to see the glory of God? Friend, I don't think we can earnestly pray for them to see the glory of God if we are not first earnestly praying for us to see the glory of God. If you're under attack this morning, my hope is that you will come to Jesus Number one. If you're under attack because you've never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I'm going to tell you and there's no nice way to say it and there's no church it up way to say it the enemy is going to continue and continue and continue to defeat you Because you have no victory. Jesus is the victory and he has come so that we might have victory, so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, right now you have no hope of winning the battle. But you can have hope this morning and come to the one who's already defeated the enemy. What do we think?
Speaker 2:And on the third day breaking forth, he arose. When Jesus stepped out of that tomb, he said to you, to me, to everyone. Created in the image of God, I have made a way for you to be with me forever and for your sins to be forgiven. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I beg you, come today, cry out to Jesus and let him be the one to lift your head. If you hear this morning and you're a believer, but you're discouraged, you're beat down. There's just all this stuff. Stop, just stop it. Come to Jesus, cast your burdens upon me. He says this is what I know about Jesus. If he didn't mean it, he wouldn't have said it Come, cast your burdens on Jesus. Let him lift up your head.
Speaker 2:As David dealt with the trials and discouragement this is what I love and this is my prayer for everyone here. As he dealt with all that, he never lost his faith and he never lost his confidence that God would deliver him. Why wasn't he defeated? Because he believed in the Word of God, he trusted in the faithfulness of God and David was completely dedicated to God in some of the even bleakest, darkest moments in his life. A Christian, can that be said about us? It's my prayer.
Speaker 2:If you hear this morning, and maybe through what Kelsey and Elizabeth shared and through looking at discouragement, maybe God's leading you to seek professional Christian counseling. Do not be ashamed. I deal with people all the time, all the time. I can't do that. Why? He called some to be prophets. He called some to be evangelists. He called some to be teachers. He called some to be mental health therapists, because he's the one that made this thing and he's given them the tools how to unwire it and fix it. Come unto me all you who are weary, heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Maybe that first step is making a phone call. Here it is. Pastor Brian is going to be here as we move into this time of invitation.
Speaker 2:My prayer is that we will cry out to God, we will trust his word, we will have a determined faith and we will continue to cry out and cry out and cry out because we continually need him. Father, we love you, god. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the opportunity to come and share about living well. I thank you for this church's commitment to not just this family, but to the surrounding area. God, we all deal with junk and garbage, discouragement, frustration. God, I pray that, wherever we're at this morning, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we open our hearts, we open our minds, we take an inventory. And, god, that everyone who walked in here today, I pray that we walk out changed, we walk out encouraged, we walk out renewed, we walk out in faith. God, we love you, we praise you, we ask. In the name of Jesus, you are all so Mostincbild Amen.