Be Encouraged by Bible Characters Who Didn’t Always Feel Okay

Even the most faithful people in the Bible had seasons when they didn’t feel okay. In this message, Pastor Chris Teien shows how God met them in their struggles with His presence, His promises, and His grace. Through Psalm 34, Romans 7–8, and 2 Corinthians 12, discover how you too can find hope and encouragement when life feels overwhelming.  

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/17919740

1. Admit we’re not okay – God is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18; Psalm 119:25–28, 143).
2. Bring your burdens to Jesus – He offers rest for your soul and freedom from condemnation (Matthew 11:28–30; Romans 7:14–25; 8:1).
3. Find strength and restoration in God’s grace – His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9; Matthew 11:29).

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:

• Falling on the ice and saying “I’m okay” when he wasn’t.
• Getting hit in the head with a post driver and insisting he was fine while bleeding.
   Both stories remind us of the pressure to pretend, and how we need to be honest with God and ourselves.

Notable Quotes:

• “It’s okay to not be okay—but it’s not okay to stay that way.”
• “Jesus knows everything about you. You don’t have to fake it with Him.”
• “God’s grace doesn’t always remove the struggle, but it restores and strengthens you in the middle of it.”

Actionable Takeaways:

•  Admit when you’re not okay and turn to God’s Word.
•  Bring your burdens honestly to Jesus and rest in His promise of no condemnation.
•  Trust His grace to restore your strength in weakness.
•  Lean on Scripture and the Holy Spirit to carry you forward in difficult seasons.

Scripture References:
 Psalm 34:18; Psalm 119:25–28, 143; Matthew 11:28–30; Romans 7:14–25; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Matthew 11:29

Keywords: Bible characters, brokenness, grace, Romans 7, Romans 8, Psalm 34, hope in Christ, encouragement, no condemnation, Well Faith Podcast

Challenge:
Don’t hide behind “I’m okay.” Be honest with God, bring your struggles to Jesus, and be encouraged by the same grace that restored His people in the Bible.

25.0928de I’m Not Okay - Bringing Our Brokenness to Christ

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Wasn't sure how many people are gonna show up with the sermon titled, I'm not okay. So if you showed up, it doesn't mean you're not okay. It does mean that we all have troubles, we all have difficulties, and we all try to make it look like everything's okay. So if you were a guy that grew up in my time with a dad like mine, you quickly learned that it wasn't good to cry about everything, and that if you got hurt, if you could still move it, it wasn't broken, walk it off. Things like that. And so maybe my dad didn't even teach that, I don't know, but that's just my mindset. And all my life I've always been trying to look good. Maybe you do too. So it seems like once a year I wipe out on the ice, and first thing I do is I get up and I look around to see if anybody saw me. And if they saw me, I say, I'm okay. I don't even know if I'm okay. I just say, I'm okay. And then I look around to see if anything's broken. So I try to be like that father-in-law, dad that gives good safety instruction. So some years ago, I was helping my daughter and son-in-law put a chain link fence in the backyard. And so we had the post pounder, it was sandy soil, not like here where the soil is all clay. Boy, that was a mess. I had to get a power post driver to put my fence in my backyard here. But there it was sandy soil, and I told him, I said, so when you use these post drivers, you got the post, it's like starts at eight feet up, and you got to pound it down into the ground, three feet into the ground, and for your five-foot fence. And so you're doing all this. I said, You got to be careful because sometimes when you hit it, it will move more than you think. And if it moves more when you than you think, and you go up like this, it might fall back and hit you right on the head, and that would be terrible. You don't want that to happen. Be safe, be safety conscious, and don't let that happen. So we're going along. I've seen this happen to other people, but never to me. And so we're going along, and so we're almost done with the fence, and I'm just getting kind of tired of it. So I'm like pulling down on this post driver as hard as I can, as fast as I can, to get it done. And sure enough, that thing moved a lot because that big steel post driver fell back and hit me on the head. And I fell back down through the post driver to the side. I fell down on the ground. And what did I say? First thing I said is, I'm okay. You saw that coming, right? And my daughter looked at me and she's like, No, you're not okay. I said, I'm fine. She's like, No, you're bleeding. You need to be done. And so I felt bad because I was the one that said, be safety conscious, and I was the one that thought I was okay. The reason I bring that up is because as you hear this about, you know, things in the Bible about people that weren't okay, that sometimes we are okay, but we see other people that aren't okay. And sometimes we need to come alongside them lovingly and say, Hey, you're not okay. Let me help you. Let me help you through that struggle. Now, there is a pressure to pretend. I mean, every time you see a new person or you're walking, an old person, whatever, hey, how are you doing? Answer is always how are you doing? I'm fine, I'm okay. Yeah. It'd be weird if you started to list off all the reasons or all the things that you're not okay with. However, on the other side of that, the other flip side of that is you have to be careful when you tell people you're not okay. So one of the worst principles of leadership that I've heard or read or studied in the business world that I think is really bad advice is if someone offers their resignation, you should always take it. So I think that's a really bad thing. One, it's hard to get new employees trained in, it's hard to get new people. If you've got someone that's good, but they're resigning for some reason. I think the first question you ask is why? And sometimes they're such good workers, they're so conscientious, they don't think they're doing a great, a good enough job. They just want to do the best and they just feel like they're not okay. Then someone needs to come alongside of them and say, We don't want your resignation. We see what you're dealing with. Let us get you training, let us get you help. We just need to encourage you, let us help you work through that conflict with your overseer supervisor or whatever. And so, on one hand, we need to admit we're not okay. On the other hand, we want to be careful who we admit we're not okay to. So, trusted people and to the Lord. Jesus knows everything about us, Jesus cares about us in every way, and we need to be careful that while there is a pressure to pretend that everything is fine, that is not the way it needs to be in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to be transparent with the Lord. Tell him how we feel. We just went through a series on the Psalms, and there are so many Psalms where David cries out, I'm not okay. I'm not okay. Saul's trying to kill me. I'm not okay. I feel so low. I'm not okay. I've got unconfessed sin in my life. I'm not sure how long David went with that unconfessed sin, killing Bathsheba's husband and keeping it a secret until Nathan the prophet brought it up. But so many things. So this isn't a message on depression, by the way. That's a different message. Depression can be caused by chemical imbalance, by seasonal darkness, by all these different things. I want to focus this message on the choices that we make and the things that we do and the results that we get that sometimes leave us so that we feel that we aren't okay. We need to admit that we're not okay. Adam and Eve weren't okay. They sinned, felt shame, and hid from God, but God came looking for them, covered their shame, and promised a savior. Noah wasn't okay. He lived in a violent, corrupt world with an evil all around him, but God gave him an ark of salvation and preserved his family. Abraham wasn't okay. He grew weary of waiting on God's promise of a son, but God took him outside, pointed to the stars, and reminded him of his covenant. Moses wasn't okay. Overwhelmed by his calling, he said, Who am I to go to Pharaoh? But God answered, I will be with you. Elijah wasn't okay. After his great victory, he collapsed under a broom tree and prayed to die. But God sent an angel with food and gave him rest and spoke in a gentle whisper. David wasn't okay. After a sin with Bathsheba, guilt crushed him, but when he confessed, God forgave and restored him. Job wasn't okay. He lost his family, his health, his wealth, and sat in ashes, asking why, but God revealed his greatness and restored Job's hope and life. Jonah wasn't okay. He ran from God's calling and grew bitter when Nineveh repented, but God pursued him with mercy and taught him compassion. The apostle Peter wasn't okay. He denied Jesus three times and wept bitterly, but the risen Christ restored him on the shore and said, Feed my sheep. Thomas wasn't okay. Doubt gripped him so strongly that he refused to believe. But Jesus came, showed him his scars, and turned his doubt into faith. The Samaritan woman wasn't okay. Broken by failed relationships and living in shame, she gave she came to the well at noon, but Jesus offered her living water and sent her back to her town as a witness. The adulterous woman wasn't okay, dragged before Jesus, humiliated and condemned, but Jesus silenced her accusers and said, Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. Paul wasn't okay. Tormented by a sworn in the flesh, he begged God to take it away. But God said, My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. John wasn't okay, exiled on the barren island of Patmos, cut off from the churches, but Jesus appeared in glory and gave him a vision of heaven's hope. So if you've never felt like you're okay, or if you've ever felt like you're not okay, you're in good company. So the Bible is full of people that went through seasons where they weren't okay, and the Lord helped them to move forward. Psalm 34, 18. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. David wrote it while he was on the run from King Saul, hiding in caves, fearing for his life. He knew what it meant to be brokenhearted, to feel crushed in spirit. He didn't write from victory on a battlefield, but from the dark valley of despair, and yet even in the valley, he testifies the Lord is close to me. You know, the world tells you to keep it together, the world tells you to keep a smile, stay strong. But the Lord understands what we're going through. And he's close to the brokenhearted. He's close to those who grieve the loss of someone they love. He's close to those who are concerned about their future or maybe have made a terrible mistake. He's close to those who feel that they are treated poorly or lonely or isolated. So many things can lead to those difficulties. But the Lord is with us. David knew that. One of our Sunday school classes is going through Psalm 119, the one in the fellowship hall there. And I'm not sure if they've gotten to this verse yet, probably. But David writes, I am laid low in the dust. Preserve my life according to your word. I gave an account of my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your decrees. Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds. My soul is weary with sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word. And sometimes when we feel that we are not okay, when we can focus on the things that we know that we're to do in God's word, when we focus on the promises that we know we can claim in God's word, when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us to understand and apply things in our life, and we ask the Holy Spirit to point out whatever sin there is in our life so we can confess that and receive that forgiveness and to receive that renewal when we pray for understanding, when we meditate on the things that God has done in his word and the things that he has done in our lives, it helps us to get forward, it helps us to go forward, it helps us to be strengthened according to his word. Sometimes memorizing scripture, when you memorize it, it doesn't seem like it's doing much for you. You've memorized it, you've you can check it off on a list, you know the words, but then when difficulty comes, when hard times come, those words come back to memory, to mind, and to your heart, and they comfort you and guide you, even in a time that you don't have the scripture in front of you, or you're not sure which scripture the Holy Spirit brings it to mind. And it is a good thing that God does that. So we need to balance scripture and honesty together. We need to admit where we are and how we feel. You know, feelings they're like the weather. One morning recently it started out cold, doomy, and foggy. And it was like, oh, this is probably not going to be a good day for anything. And then by the time afternoon rolled around, it was clear and sunny and beautiful and a great day to do whatever your feelings are the same thing. Sometimes you just feel so sad, so lonely, so down, so not okay. And then as the day goes on, as time goes on, you feel better, and you can't trust your feelings, they're not 100% trustworthy, but God's word is trustworthy and we can move forward. Paul in 2 Corinthians 1 8 says, We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. And Paul has gone through difficult things. Jesus went through difficult things in Matthew 26, 38. Jesus said, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. And David, as you as we've read, has gone through difficult things. He wrote in Psalm 119, 143, Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight, to trust in God's word, to allow God's word to work. Now, sometimes when we break a bone, say we were to break our arm or break our leg, they can set it and maybe put it in a cast, and then they tell us not to use it for a bit while it heals and while it mends, and sometimes it mends even stronger. And we can trust that when we go through difficult times, when we go through hard times, when we're trusting in the Lord, when we're applying his word for our healing, our spiritual healing, for our ability to overcome that, or when we're brokenhearted, or when we've lost a job, or when we feel under stress, or we don't have peace, or when we're wondering about finances, or what's going to happen next in the world and all the difficulties in the world. Instead of just trying harder, we trust in the great physician. We trust in the Lord to get us through. We pray. And sometimes we get other people to come around us and to pray and encourage us. Sometimes it really helps to find another Christ follower that you can talk to to tell how you're feeling. They don't even need to fix it, they don't even need to give an answer at the time. They can just listen and show care. And sometimes when you're talking it out, you start to find solutions, you start to realize that what you're going through is a common thing. Sometimes Satan wants to make it seem like you're all alone. He's the accuser. He tries to destroy you, he tries to shut you down, he tries to make it so you have no desire to follow Jesus, you have no desire to come to church, you have no desire to find unity or seek forgiveness. You have no idea, no desire to serve God. But then as you pray it through, as you talk it through, as you work it through, a new season comes, or even a new part of the day comes in which you are empowered, in which you are ready, in which you can take the pain and the hurt of the past, the thing that you've experienced, the thing that you've endured, like in 2 Corinthians 1, that compassion the Lord shows you that you can show that to other people, to know that God can get us through. And to pray earnestly, as David did. Lord, I'm weary. Revive me by your word. You don't have to fake it. You don't sometimes people are like, oh, if you just fake it to make it, but that doesn't work with Jesus, who knows everything about you, he knows what you're thinking, he knows why you said those words, he knows what those words were and the reasons for that, for them. And that brings us to number two: to bring our burdens to Jesus. To bring our burdens to Jesus. So that is a great thing to do. A great thing as, you know, praying is talking to the Lord. And sometimes when you're driving, when you're walking, sometimes people like to write down their prayers. It helps them to stay more uh concentrated, um, to just go through and to tell the Lord the things that burden you, because He's told us in Matthew 11, 28, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. So when you're worn out, when you don't know how you're gonna keep going on, when you don't know how you're going to make it through, weary means worn out on the inside. Burden means carrying a load too heavy for your soul. So Jesus can help us through. A yoke joins two together for shared work. To take his yoke is to be joined to Jesus, so he sets the pace, carries the weight, and teaches us his way. Rest for your souls is more than a nap. It is a deep relief, settled peace with God, and renewed strength to live as his servant. And easy does not mean effortless, it means well fitted. His way fits the redeemed heart because he shoulders what he cannot. And now I want to look at Romans chapter 7 when I think about this, because Romans chapter 7 is this amazing passage that talks about Paul's struggle to live the Christian life. The Apostle Paul, who gave us a lot of the New Testament, is being real about how he feels about things, about how he's not perfect, about how sometimes life is messy, and I find great comfort in it. In Romans chapter 7, we'll start in verse 14. Paul says, We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do. Now, some people, some theologians, some Bible teachers, some Christians say, Oh, this is Paul's life, of what we're going to see here. This is Paul's life before he became a Christian. So he struggled with these things because this is before he became a Christian. I think this is his life as a Christ follower, as a Christian. I really think that if you're not a true Christ follower, you really don't care about the things of God, about the things that God knows about your heart and the reason that you do things. I don't think that you're sensitive to the things of God. So I think that if you're a non-Christian, you're like, whatever, why do I care? But if you are a true Christ follower, the closer you get to God, the more the Spirit's working in your life, the more sensitive you are to the things of God, to the sin and to the difficulties that are in your life, often caused by the choices that you make. Romans 7 talks about Paul struggling. In Galatians 5.17, Paul says, the sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so that you are not free to carry out your own good intentions. Paul continues, and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but sin living in me. So God's word points out what is good and what is bad, how we should live, how we shouldn't do it. And Paul is saying, if I'm continuing to do these things and I don't want to do them, then I'm still struggling with sin. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the chains of sin in our life are broken and we're no longer under its control. We're no longer like puppets on a string, so the strings are cut. But we do make our own choices all the time. And often our own choices are not the godliest choices, are not the true things that we truly want to do, not the things that God truly wants us to do. We come up short. We come up short all the time. And I also think that the longer you mature in Christ, the struggles change. So when you first come to Christ, you might struggle with a lot of you know simple things like using God's name in vain or you know, just simple, easy to see sins. But as you grow in Christ, as you learn, as you get closer to the Lord, then it's not just the actions, then it's the heart motivations, and it's the attitudes, and it's the those different things, those heart issues that the Lord knows. Paul continues, for if I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out, for I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Paul points out this is a struggle, this is a difficulty, this is a hardship, and we all go through this, we all do these different types of things, and determination is not enough. Without Christ's Spirit empowering us, the current of sin is too strong to sin to swim against. So desire isn't enough, knowledge isn't enough, but God can get us through. Verse 19, or from sorry, verse 20. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. So this isn't the verse where you go, oh, the devil made me do it, or sin, it's not my fault. I'm just I can't, because what are some of these things here? What are some of these struggles that maybe you struggle with or other people struggle with? Spiritual dryness. So reading the Bible and praying, but feeling nothing. Or lingering guilt, you've confessed that sin over and over again, but you still haven't accepted forgiveness. Battling with temptation, following into the same sin again and again. Sometimes the best way to battle temptation is to get that temptation far away from you. So I know that if I were to take a package of Oreo cookies, even the Oreo thins that are supposed to make you thinner, it's a lie, it doesn't work. That if I have a couple and I take them down to my home office and stuff, that's good. It's okay. It's controlled. If I take that package down with me, it will mysteriously disappear. And I'll look at the dogs and I'll be like, Did you eat all the Oreos? But I'll just on autopilot through the day and I'll eat the whole package. And so the way to battle that temptation is to make sure the package doesn't come near me. Having doubts about faith, wondering if God really hears or cares. Sometimes when we struggle with our faith, the best thing we can do is to search for answers. And as we go down that path, as we ask those questions and we find those answers, not only does it reinforce our faith, because now we know whom we believed and why we believed and where in the Bible it says we can believe and the proof to believe, has that's not only built our faith, but now that's given us something in our toolbox to help someone else that struggles with their doubts about faith. Unanswered prayers, asking and waiting, but nothing seems to change. Sometimes there are long seasons of waiting on God for Him to answer your prayers. And sometimes you come to the conclusion that the thing that you were praying for, it wasn't God's will for your life. A fear of the future, an anxiety about finances, health, or family, that grips us all. It seems like everything is getting to be so much more expensive and so much more unpredictable between the high prices, the high costs, the increase in taxes, the increased possibility of wars and all sorts of things. It's tough. Grief and loss is another struggle we have. Wondering where God was. Why did He allow our loved one to die? Did my loved one know Jesus? Loneliness. Loneliness is something Satan can use big time to make you feel sad and down. Sometimes too much loneliness will cause you to choose friends that are not good for your character. But feeling unseen or disconnected, even in a church, family conflicts, stress from strained marriages or prodigal children, weariness and serving. People get burned out from constant responsibility in ministry or caregiving. Unforgiveness, bitterness towards someone who hurt them deeply. These are all things that people struggle with. Comparing yourself to others, health struggles, feeling inadequate, believing you'll never measure up in God's eyes, a failure to witness, regret over missed opportunities to share Christ, a fear of man, worrying more about what people think about you than what God thinks. Battling perfectionism, striving to earn God's love through performance, spiritual attacks, facing seasons of unusual temptation or oppression, and shame and weakness, hiding struggles instead of admitting, I'm not. Okay. Those are all the things, and there's so many more that we struggle with, that we have difficulty with. And on a good day, we just push past all that and say, Praise God, everything's good. Praise God, everything is right. Sometimes you have that, sometimes you don't. But we can trust in God. And Paul writes, For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin. So Paul goes through this whole thing. He goes through this whole struggle. He lays it all out, and it's like you ever watch TV shows and you like binge watch them, and so you come to the end of the season and there's some kind of cliffhanger, you know. It's like, oh, did that did the star just die? Is it all over? Will they lose the ranch? Has the starship been blown up? Or whatever it is. And now you have to wait six months to a year to find out if you're lucky, if they don't cancel the season, and then you have no idea what happens. You just have to make up your own ending. And the Bible chapter, verses, and the scripture, they weren't given by the Holy Spirit by God. They were added later. And so it seems like a really weird way to end Romans. But Romans 8.1, Romans 8.1 brings it all together. Paul goes through this whole thing. It's oh man, I am not okay. And these are the reasons why I am not okay. But then Romans 8.1 says, therefore. It's like who starts a chapter with therefore. They always tell you, like in Bible study training or whatever. Whenever you see the word therefore, you want to look around and see what it's there for. Well, therefore is because of what I just read in Romans chapter 7, and Paul says, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Matt is the source of our hope. We have a real struggle, and we are to do the work, to go through the struggle. But we need to know at the end, when we stand before God, that He's not going to condemn us for our imperfect life. He is going to see what Jesus did on the cross, that Jesus paid for our sin on the cross. And by believing in Jesus, we applied that payment of sin to our accounts. So therefore we are, in God's eyes, sinless. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So your conscience may condemn you, and Satan may accuse you. Others may remind you of your failures. But if you're truly in Jesus, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ Jesus? Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Now, I wanted to mention there's this tension between there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that Jesus has done it all, so therefore I don't need to do anything, and the thing that we need to work, that we need to work out our salvation, that we need to serve Jesus, that we were be bought at a price. We're supposed to honor God with our bodies. We need to struggle with sin. We need to choose to do what's right. There are so many things in Scripture that say that we should do what Paul was saying in Romans 7. We should analyze our life, we should realize we've got a struggle, we should push on and be successful in it, we should find victory, we should serve the Lord and do great things. Otherwise, how is he going to reward us? How can you go from there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Thank you. I never did anything. I just, you know, that's great. I just kind of coasted along. To well done, good and faithful servant. You have served, you have endured, you have gone through so many things, you have tried to increase your skills and training, and you've tried to lead people to Christ, and it was messy. There's no condemnation because of what Jesus did, but there's also a reward for what you did as you were working out your salvation. That brings us to number three to find strength and restoration in God's grace, to find strength and restoration in God's grace. Second Corinthians 12 9. So Paul has got this thorn in his flesh. He's got this problem, he's got this thing he's praying for. He's like, God, I want to be used by you. I want to be successful. I could do so much more if it wasn't for this thing. And nobody knows what the thing is. So some say he might have had a problem with his eyesight. Some say maybe he had arthritis, because he wrote, see in one of the epistles, see what large letters I use when I'm writing this myself. I don't know what it was, but he struggled with something and he was asking for healing. And the response he got from the Lord was each time the Lord said, My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. Sometimes God allows us to have difficult things in our life. He doesn't always change the circumstances. We pray and ask that God would remove this difficulty or provide this thing or help us with our finances or do all these things. And God says no. And he leaves us right where we are. So there was a period of time when my wife and I were young and we were kind of trapped in a housing situation. So we'd like to move, but we couldn't move because we were stuck where we were. But the stuck where we were is exactly where we needed to be. God left us in that place until it was his time for us to move on to the next thing. So God didn't answer every prayer that we wanted, but answered, gave us our need, not our want, and did so in such a way that we would be where we needed to be, and that it wouldn't be easy for us to run off to the wrong place, because we're all like sheep who have gone astray. But Scripture confirms this. So Isaiah 40, 29, he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar in wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. John fourteen, twenty-seven, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. And finally, Philippians 4 7, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So the grace of God does not remove every hardship, but it restores, strengthens, and gives peace in the middle of them. So we are able to move forward. Again, Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. If you've come here and you've never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it's not a simple prayer that just makes it all go away. It's not the words of a prayer. Asking Jesus into your heart and praying a prayer is a great way to actually come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. And every time I hear people online or pastor saying, the Bible doesn't say anything about asking Jesus into your heart, it makes it pretty clear that we are called into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that we are sinners in need of salvation, and that by believing upon Jesus Christ, that he died on the cross for sin, that he rose again, that he was seen by others, by placing our faith in Christ, by acknowledging that we are going in a sinful direction and repenting, heading in the other direction, running towards Jesus to turn from sin is a good way. And we want to tell you more about that if you have questions. And we have these How to Find God New Testaments that clearly tell you what it is. And I'd love to have a discussion, but maybe you already know all the information, all the answers, and you just need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and to come into your life and save you. Since I know most of you here, and I assume that most of you have already received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there's a time in the Christians' life where we need to recommit our lives to Christ, where we need to realize that we've been doing our own thing, running off doing life the way we want to do life, and not acknowledging God, not spending time in his word, not asking the Spirit to reveal sin in our life, not wanting the best from God, not wanting to be used by God, not wanting to serve God, not wanting to seek forgiveness, find forgiveness, pursue unity. And we need to rededicate our lives to Christ. And maybe whether you want to receive Christ or you want to recommit your life to Christ, a good prayer might be something like, Lord Jesus, I come to you with honesty. I admit I'm not okay. I confess my sins, my failures, and my weakness. I've carried burdens I was never meant to carry, and today I lay them at your feet. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you that in you there is no condemnation, and your grace is sufficient for me. If you've never received Jesus, just pray, Jesus, I admit I'm a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin. Come into my life and save me. I want to follow you. And if you are saved, if you are a Christ follower, Lord, please take control of my life. Help me to follow you in the ways that you want me to follow. Help me to live in the way that you've intended me to live. Lord, help me to do your will in your way so that I can make a difference with the time that you've given me around the people that I live among, with the resources that I have, so that you'll be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're gonna watch a little video and then the worship team is gonna come up and sing.

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So, God, as we step into an uncertain future, we just want to say out loud that we need you for the dark nights ahead and the dry deserts, the deep valleys, for the shattered dreams and the broken promises. You see what we can't see, and you know what we can't know, and you heal what we can't heal, and so, God, we need you, we need you to walk with us, we need you to guide us, and we need you to carry us, and so we forsake a thousand lesser options and a thousand lesser saviors, and we sing to you and you alone, and we look to you and you alone, and we run to you and you alone, and so we join with a choir of saints and angels all throughout the earth and all throughout every generation, and we worship you and you alone, Jesus. We don't know what tomorrow is gonna look like, but we know about eternity, and it's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you, and so we worship. We worship.