SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Kevin, and thank you for the pre- I'm scared to death to walk out on this thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie to you.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, I do not like heights.
SPEAKER_01: Two things scare me to death hair and heights.
SPEAKER_01: But um, but hey, I just wanted to thank you guys.
SPEAKER_01: As a dad, um, my son Landon got to speak here with you guys a few weeks ago, and he had an amazing time.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you guys for just loving on him and welcoming him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh John called me at about 8:30, 9 o'clock at night, and he's like, Can you preach for me?
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm dying.
SPEAKER_01: And um I said, I'm at my kids, it was Landon's birthday, so I'm like, hey, it's Landon's birthday.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I got a meeting tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Let me chat.
SPEAKER_01: And then Landon's like, I'll do it, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, Landon will be there.
SPEAKER_01: I told him, I said, this is the best case scenario because if it goes bad, you can just say I had like three hours to prepare for it.
SPEAKER_01: But um, but again, thank you guys for just being a huge blessing to him.
SPEAKER_01: And again, my name's Kevin.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go back to here.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and so John asked me if I could cover his vacation, and I told him it'd be great to be back with you guys.
SPEAKER_01: I had the privilege of speaking last year with you guys, um, and John just kind of shares how amazing you guys are.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you again for just allowing me to be here.
SPEAKER_01: But he told me you guys are going through Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay, that's like 150 chapters I get to choose from.
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing anything specific?
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Nope, just pick something.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, All right, well, we'll kind of narrow that down.
SPEAKER_01: But um, but I just wanted to talk with you guys this morning through one of the passages of Psalms that kind of jumped out at me.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've been living or breathing for more than five minutes, you understand that there's a lot of times life just isn't fair.
SPEAKER_01: And and I know that is one of those things we know and we understand, but it's also one of those things that we have a very hard time wrapping our heads around.
SPEAKER_01: And Psalms is just one of those amazing books, books that has multiple different authors, and yet it is just so raw.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just the heart from the different authors that that are that are uh writing different things in here.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna be honest, a lot of times as a pastor, one of the traps we'll fall into is feeling like I have to present to everybody else that I got my junk together and that everything is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: And there are a lot of times where we just take a step back and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Life isn't fair.
SPEAKER_01: And we know this because I've explained it to my kids a million times.
SPEAKER_01: Weston, so we have Landon, he's our oldest, he just got married, just turned 24.
SPEAKER_01: Then we have our next one, Weston, who's 20.
SPEAKER_01: He's starting this whole adulting thing, and then we have our youngest who is 16, uh, a rising junior, and all boys literally just trying to keep them alive.
SPEAKER_01: This whole parenting adult kids is a whole different situation, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Um, but Weston, when he first got his license, he got my 2004 Elantra that I first bought when we moved to Virginia.
SPEAKER_01: So he's tooling around in this thing, and then he comes home and says, Dad, his buddy, my buddy just got a brand new truck.
SPEAKER_01: Brand new, can I get a new truck?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Listen, two things, bud.
SPEAKER_01: I said, my truck is an 07.
SPEAKER_01: So you'll never have a newer vehicle for than I do than I'm paying for, first of all.
SPEAKER_01: Second of all, his dad chose to be an engineer, your dad chose to be a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: So no, you cannot get a new vehicle.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's kind of, we understand how fairness works.
SPEAKER_01: And but a lot of times, when it comes to our Christian walk and this relationship that we have with Jesus, I will find myself falling into this trap of, well, Jesus, I gave you my life, so things should break my way more than they don't.
SPEAKER_01: Life should be fair for me.
SPEAKER_01: Life should be pretty easy, and that's kind of the mindset we will fall into.
SPEAKER_01: The unfortunate thing is that's never promised to us in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Because if that was promised to us, Jesus probably wouldn't have had to die on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: And if it was promised to us, Stephen probably wouldn't have been stoned to death in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist probably wouldn't have lost his head sitting in prison.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples, 11 of the 12, probably wouldn't have died a miserable, horrible death.
SPEAKER_01: And John the 12th, who died of natural causes, trust me, plenty of times he went through it.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and so it's kind of interesting when we take a step back to think about the fact that if Jesus knew those guys were going to suffer, and those guys were gonna struggle, should I be too surprised when I kind of read through some of these Psalms and there's struggling going on and there's hurt going on?
SPEAKER_01: And I kind of wrestle with this message because I I didn't want it to be a doom and gloom.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want it to be, you know, uh, you know, a harsh message, because it's not.
SPEAKER_01: The reality of it is we're gonna struggle at times.
SPEAKER_01: And if if we don't understand that as followers of Jesus, we're going to struggle in our relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So in in Psalm 73 is kind of where I'm gonna chat a little bit, but there's a guy named Asaph, and he is the one of the men who lead King David's choir.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so that's kind of his job, and this guy is going through it.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, so as I was kind of scanning, I kind of looked at what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles, open up the Psalms 73 uh with me, because we're gonna read verses 3 through 5 real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, because he is saying probably what not very many of us are brave to say out loud.
SPEAKER_01: All right, but because here's what he says if you have your notes, kind of follow along with me, or they'll be on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: But he says this, he says, For I have envied the proud.
SPEAKER_01: When I saw them prosper, despite their wickedness, they seemed to live such painless lives.
SPEAKER_01: Their bodies are so healthy and strong.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and then I'm gonna kind of skip verse six, because this next verse seven, I didn't even know it was in the Bible, all right, because this may be my new favorite verse.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it says, These fat cats have everything their heart could ever wish for.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I I'm kind of looking at this verse, I'm thinking, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Listen, he's struggling.
SPEAKER_01: All right, because it doesn't take long for us to drive through some of these neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'll pull into Battlefield's parking lot, Lexus, Mercedes, BMW.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, where does this kid go if his first car is a Lexis?
SPEAKER_01: There's nowhere to go but down.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and so listen, my enviness, I'm like, I'm driving a 2007 truck.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, baby blue looks beautiful, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You would never know she's an 07.
SPEAKER_01: But um, but you know, just these envy that comes through from the area that we live.
SPEAKER_01: There's always someone better off.
SPEAKER_01: And and and so, you know, a few things I just wanted to chat about when it comes to understanding that sometimes life's gonna be tough, is that comparison makes life feel unfair.
SPEAKER_01: I think it was Theodore Roosevelt who said that comparison is the thief of joy.
SPEAKER_01: It's the thief of joy.
SPEAKER_01: You know, in ASAP, he wasn't questioning whether God existed.
SPEAKER_01: In this passage, he was questioning God's judgment and fairness.
SPEAKER_01: And so for us to kind of understand that a little bit, because you know, as he's watching everybody, you know, the wicked are prospering, the arrogant are succeeding, the ungodly are thriving, and he's doing a pretty good job comparing himself to everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: And only two things happen when we compare ourselves to other people.
SPEAKER_01: All right, we either think we're better than someone, or we feel like we are worse off than someone.
SPEAKER_01: And and we can compare ourselves financially to others, career-wise, family-wise, health-wise, you know, and again, and it can be kind of easy to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I was hanging out with a buddy a few weeks ago, and his son came into the room, and then his son's buddy came into the room, all right, and so the dad was catching up with his son's best friend, and he just said, Hey, you know, the kid just got married.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, So how's the job going?
SPEAKER_01: How's the family going?
SPEAKER_01: And and the kid said, Oh, it's going, job is going great.
SPEAKER_01: The one of the supervisors just quit, so I've been taking over his responsibility, but I asked for a 20% raise, and that should get me somewhere to about 250,000.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, in my mind, I'm thinking, what?
SPEAKER_01: You are 12 years old making that much money?
SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, to put myself in check and to understand that, you know, when we compare ourselves, we're gonna feel less than.
SPEAKER_01: How many times have you been scrolling through Facebook's Facebook and come across someone else's family vacation or someone else's child's birthday party?
SPEAKER_01: And it literally makes you feel this big when you see them pretty much spend their college first, their their child's first year of college funds on their child's first year birthday.
SPEAKER_01: I listen, they're never gonna remember this birthday, and they just rented in trapee artists and everything.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And we look at this and we think, I'm a horrible parent.
SPEAKER_01: I'm never gonna be able to do this for my kid, and it's easy to fall into this trap.
SPEAKER_01: All right, health.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, this turning 50 stuff is for the birds.
SPEAKER_01: All right, listen, I for like three months, every time I would get up, my foot was killing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what is wrong?
SPEAKER_01: And someone's like, You got plantar fascitis.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: All right, I'm like, it takes me 15 minutes just to get out of bed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like limping, I'm like, oh my god, like tears are strong.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I can't believe this.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm stubborn, I'm like, I'm not going to the doctor, I'm not going to the doctor.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I went to the doctor.
SPEAKER_01: And so the doctor's like, we got two options.
SPEAKER_01: You can stretch or you can get a cortisone shot.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, give me a shot.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm ready to be done with this.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, our health, how about you know, dealing with our aging parents?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes life just doesn't feel fair.
SPEAKER_01: And and just to the struggles that we have.
SPEAKER_01: And ASAF, he continues to go on.
SPEAKER_01: He gets a little bit deeper in Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
SPEAKER_01: Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
SPEAKER_01: I got nothing but trouble all day long.
SPEAKER_01: Every morning or every morning brings me pain.
SPEAKER_01: And and so as he is, he listen, he's unpacking here.
SPEAKER_01: All right, he's just kind of going through it and he's venting and he's letting it all out.
SPEAKER_01: But I I know this he's not alone.
SPEAKER_01: Because how many times have we asked that same question?
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying, and it seems like everyone else at work is succeeding.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else maybe is cutting corners, cheating, not doing their best, and yet they're getting their promotions.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm trying to study and get good grades, but these people are cheating over here using Chat GBT, and they're doing all these things and they're messing up the curve, they're doing this.
SPEAKER_01: What's the point of even trying?
SPEAKER_01: You know, these are all thoughts that go through every one of our minds.
SPEAKER_01: And for us to take a step back and say, God, is this what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: And to ask God why isn't wrong.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it's how we respond to the answers.
SPEAKER_01: And and that's what we're gonna kind of unpack for a little bit, all right, because we're all gonna struggle.
SPEAKER_01: And and then Asaph kind of realizes something.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 21, he says, This then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
SPEAKER_01: I was so foolish and arrogant.
SPEAKER_01: Asaf realized that this wasn't a circumstance situation, but it was a heart situation.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's kind of where I want us to camp out a little bit this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Understanding that our perspective of this life is huge, and what God expects from us on this journey that we're on.
SPEAKER_01: All right, because we are, we're on a journey.
SPEAKER_01: And and here's the the second point I want to talk about a little bit is is limited perspective leads to wrong conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: The perspective that we have in life, how we view life, how we see life, how we understand life, how we accept life, that is our perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Do we see life as a battlefield that every front is a battle?
SPEAKER_01: Do we see life as the playground where I want to have fun and I want to be excited?
SPEAKER_01: How we perceive life and our perspective of life kind of determines how we're going to live this life.
SPEAKER_01: And ASAF realized real quick that it wasn't a perspective of everything that's going on around him, it's how his heart viewed everything and how his heart dealt with everything.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: Because it doesn't take long for me to realize how blessed I truly am.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and how much favor God has actually, you know, poured out upon me.
SPEAKER_01: I may not have the biggest house in the world, but the truth is I struggle keeping my one-tenth of an acre yard maintained.
SPEAKER_01: Never mind a 10-acre yard.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and so for us to realize that God blesses us and to understand that we have amazing things and changing the way we see the world and changing the way we respond to things.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not necessarily, and this is hard for us sometimes to fathom.
SPEAKER_01: All right, this is hard sometimes for us to think about.
SPEAKER_01: This life is the journey, it's not the end result.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it's everything that takes place after this, for the rest of eternity that's gonna matter.
SPEAKER_01: And for us to kind of to understand that can be very foreign for us.
SPEAKER_01: You know, my wife and I, we had the privilege of going on an amazing trip a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01: We did a Mediterranean cruise, we we saw so many amazing things, and and we got to experience a whole different culture.
SPEAKER_01: It was a blast, probably one of the best trips we've ever been on.
SPEAKER_01: But the flight was just a means to the end.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times, this life is the flight.
SPEAKER_01: This is preparing us for what's next.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of times we're gonna miss out on what's next because of the flight.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if I were to say to babe, listen, I'm not, I don't want to sit on a plane for eight hours to enjoy a 10-day vacation touring the Mediterranean.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us would understand, yeah, let me go through the flight.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not getting on this flight so I can go hang out in a Capital One lounge as much as I do love doing that.
SPEAKER_01: All right, listen, that's not what it's all about.
SPEAKER_01: I was enduring this flight so I could benefit and be on this trip with my wife.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times we need to realize that this life, listen, there's gonna be some struggles, but it's all about what takes place after and to train our mind to do that.
SPEAKER_01: A few years ago, I had to go pick up my brother-in-law at um Reagan Airport.
SPEAKER_01: And he his flight was coming in at 11, so it wasn't anything too too crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, all right, I'll leave at 10:30, I'll drive there, and you know, that'll give him time to get off the plane, come find, get his bag, come in and we'll meet.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm driving down 66, and I roughly, you know, I know how to get there.
SPEAKER_01: You go to exit 75.
SPEAKER_01: So I have, but I had my Waze on, and Waze kept trying to redirect me to 395.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm thinking, why is it doing that?
SPEAKER_01: I just want to stay on 66, I just want to go the direction I know I'm going.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just got the windows are down, the music's on, I'm just I'm just cruising.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm like, I'm just gonna go the way I know.
SPEAKER_01: So I ignore what Waze is telling me, and I pass the exit that it was telling me to get off of.
SPEAKER_01: And and so now it starts recalculating, but it's taking a little longer than usual.
SPEAKER_01: And I swear, when the nice lady on the Waze talked to me, she said, Hey, stupid, your trip now is gonna arrive at 12.04.
SPEAKER_01: It added an hour just like that to my trip because there was a lot of traffic up the road.
SPEAKER_01: So I came around this bend and it's just bumper to bumper traffic.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is literally stopped because of construction.
SPEAKER_01: And I was so mad at myself for not listening to ways.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and I realized right then and there, never doubt ways, kind of like the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: All right, but the truth is, listen, we don't see everything.
SPEAKER_01: We can barely see the hundred yards in front of us when we're driving.
SPEAKER_01: All right, but the Lord sees the whole journey, and he knows exactly what's in front of us, he knows exactly what we're coming to, and he knows the struggles we're gonna go through, and so he may say, Hey, let me navigate you this way.
SPEAKER_01: You may not understand why I'm saying get off a 66 and take 395.
SPEAKER_01: And I may say, Yes, I'll do that, or no, I won't, and then deal with the consequences.
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times we don't get to see the whole journey, we don't get to see it all, and to understand that God is still in control.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine what it would have been like to be Paul?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: I love reading about Paul, I love trying to understand his life a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And so you have Paul, who is probably the greatest missionary the world has ever seen.
SPEAKER_01: All right, what he has done for the kingdom of God is undeniable.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and and then he has this amazing story in the first few chapters of Acts, where he gives his heart to Jesus, and then he goes on this missionary journey, and he is beaten and thrown in prison for doing exactly what God has called him to do.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, again, if someone were to come in here and beat me up for preaching, I'd be like, God, I was what is going on?
SPEAKER_01: I was literally just doing what you asked me to do.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it would be very understandable to understand why Paul would have been upset.
SPEAKER_01: But here's Paul thrown in prison, and he's in the center of the prison where the worst of the worst go, and he's singing praises.
SPEAKER_01: And I bet the acoustics were probably amazing.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so he's singing praises, they finally fall asleep, and there's this earthquake, all the doors bust open, if you're not familiar with the story.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and the jailer wakes up realizing that the prison is now open, that if any of the inmates escaped, they're gonna put him to death.
SPEAKER_01: So he's about to commit suicide, and Paul yells out to him, don't do it.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody is still here.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow, Paul convinced every prisoner to stay, which is amazing in itself, all right?
SPEAKER_01: And then Paul, the jailer's so thankful, he ends up giving his heart to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He ends up, his whole family ends up giving their heart to Jesus and getting baptized.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, it's just an amazing story.
SPEAKER_01: Then you fast forward a few more chapters later, it happens again.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's beaten, he's thrown in prison, and I would imagine, alright, again, I'm a daydreamer.
SPEAKER_01: I just like to daydream about stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And again, this isn't technically in the scripture, but I'm thinking, this is how I would have responded.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure everybody would have.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm assuming that Paul was sitting in prison thinking, oh man, I'm gonna sing some praises.
SPEAKER_01: God's gonna do an amazing miracle, some amazing stuff is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: And who would have denied that?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's exactly what happened before.
SPEAKER_01: First night goes by, no miracle.
SPEAKER_01: First week goes by, no miracle.
SPEAKER_01: First month goes by, Paul's still sitting in the same cell.
SPEAKER_01: First year goes by.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest missionary the world has ever seen is still sitting in prison.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what I would have been thinking.
SPEAKER_01: God, I got some important things to do.
SPEAKER_01: I could be out starting churches right now, I could be out leading people to you, advancing your kingdom, but for some reason I'm still sitting in prison.
SPEAKER_01: This makes absolutely no sense.
SPEAKER_01: This is unfair.
SPEAKER_01: All I've done was what you asked me to do.
SPEAKER_01: Why would you do this amazing miracle last time and then leave me in prison again for a year?
SPEAKER_01: So that's probably a conversation that would have been going through my mind pretty often, especially after the second year.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so Paul is in prison for two years, not just two years, three years, four years.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so can you just kind of fathom this a little bit?
SPEAKER_01: A whole high school career, a whole college term.
SPEAKER_01: He is sitting in prison for four years.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest missionary the world has ever seen is sidelined completely.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I would, if I was Paul, would have been thinking very often that that, listen, God, this is a little unfair, makes absolutely no sense to me.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what happened during those four years?
SPEAKER_01: All Paul could do at that time was write letters.
SPEAKER_01: All he could do was write letters to all these churches, whether he was rebuking them, uh, hello, Church of Corinthians, stop messing around with your stepmother, stop uh taking advantage of the poor, or he was encouraging people, telling them to, hey, listen, you're doing great.
SPEAKER_01: I know you're being persecuted, I know you're struggling, but keep your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, Paul was writing letters to everybody because he probably had nothing else going on.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Two thousand years later, thank the Lord, he slowed down a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Because you know what we have now?
SPEAKER_01: The new half the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Because God said to Paul, listen, you may not understand what I'm trying to do, but it's not all about you right now.
SPEAKER_01: Two thousand years from now, there's gonna be this knucklehead named Kevin who's got to preach a message, and he's gonna need some of your books.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna need some of your letters.
SPEAKER_01: So you may not see the big picture, but if I, God, don't slow you, Paul, down a little bit, you're never gonna write these letters that I need you to write so people will understand what I'm saying for the rest of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times we can take a step back and not understand why God is allowing something to happen.
SPEAKER_01: We can take a step back and really not make sense out of it.
SPEAKER_01: And please hear my heart when I'm saying this.
SPEAKER_01: I am not trying.
SPEAKER_01: To belittle anything anybody is going through because I know there's some heavy hearts in here, I know there's some struggles, I know there's some fears when it comes to the unknown about what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: But what we need to understand is we don't know what God is doing, and we may never see it on this side of heaven, but what I do know is that God is still in control and that God is still the God who sits on the throne, and none of my struggles is catching him off guard, none of your struggles is catching him off guard.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's just trying to slow us down.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's just trying to get us to wonder why.
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times the question of why, all right.
SPEAKER_01: Again, like I said a little bit ago, John the Baptist asked why.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, are you the one I should be looking for?
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist, his own cousin, said, Are you the one I should be looking for, or should I be looking for someone else?
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't understand why I'm sitting in prison and about to get my head cut off.
SPEAKER_01: Makes absolutely no sense to me.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and and so the question why, depending on our heart tone of that, isn't an unfair question to ask.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: It's are we willing to accept the answer we may not get?
SPEAKER_01: Are we willing to accept the fact that there may not be an explanation?
SPEAKER_01: It's just our perspective of how we're going to view this situation.
SPEAKER_01: Am I going to be angry at God every time something doesn't go the way I feel like it should be?
SPEAKER_01: Or do I need to take a step back and try to figure out, all right, God, what is your perspective?
SPEAKER_01: You never promised me of uh a stress-free life, uh a trouble-free life.
SPEAKER_01: Because that happens when I get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's when all my problems go away.
SPEAKER_01: Again, there's no time where where the Bible promises you and I that things are going to be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Asaph says in Psalm 73, verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: He says this, yet I still belong to you.
SPEAKER_01: You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, leading me to glorious to a glorious destiny, whom I have in heaven but you.
SPEAKER_01: Whom do I have in heaven but you?
SPEAKER_01: I desire you more than anything on earth.
SPEAKER_01: My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart, he is mine forever.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, so here's the last thing we're just going to chat about for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: God is fair even when life doesn't seem fair.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: The struggle that Asaph had didn't just stop.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't just, you know, and how he ends this chapter is completely different than how he started this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: When his perspective changed.
SPEAKER_01: Understanding that, listen, I had a lot of struggles.
SPEAKER_01: The wicked didn't stop prospering.
SPEAKER_01: What changed was his perspective of everything.
SPEAKER_01: What changed was the way he viewed everything.
SPEAKER_01: And and for you and I to force ourselves that when life doesn't go fair, that we force ourselves to remember the blessings we do have.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's easy to forget them.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to get distracted by all the stuff going on in our world.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to forget the amazing things God has done in our lives because this one thing happened.
SPEAKER_01: Or there's a struggle that we have.
SPEAKER_01: And again, there's some big struggles that are that are all consuming.
SPEAKER_01: All right, again, so please know that I'm not trying to minimize anybody's struggle or anybody's hurt or anybody's pain.
SPEAKER_01: What I'm trying to maximize is that we still serve an amazing God who is fair and he is just and he loves you and I, and he is still sitting on the throne, and he is still in control.
SPEAKER_01: And and when our boys were little, all right, when uh Karen and I, she was pregnant with our youngest, we took the two older boys, they're probably eight and four, we took them to Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're staying at a friend's house in Sarasota, and we were so excited to bring the boys to Disney World because again, who doesn't love Disney World, all right?
SPEAKER_01: So uh so we get to Disney, we drive from Sarasota, we drive to the park, we're gonna stay there two days, and we go through all the stress of getting tickets, getting a hotel, doing all those things.
SPEAKER_01: We walk into the park, and I am so excited.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, they're gonna love this, it's gonna be amazing, they're gonna have an amazing time.
SPEAKER_01: We get, you know, I we I literally just had to throw my credit card down and they're swiping.
SPEAKER_01: It's like smoking, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Because it ain't cheap going to Disney.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so we get into Disney World, I'm like, look at this, boys.
SPEAKER_01: You see the castle, look down at Landon.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Can we go back to the hotel pool?
SPEAKER_01: I almost lost my mind.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know how much it cost us to get into this park?
SPEAKER_01: You are gonna have fun and you're gonna like it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go find Dumbo.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, that was pretty much my whole mindset.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean you want to go back to the hotel pool?
SPEAKER_01: This is Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: And that's all you're focused on?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're you it's like saying, hey, I'm gonna get some wagon steak later today, but I'm gonna settle for this double cheeseburger right here, right now.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, God has some amazing things in store for you and I.
SPEAKER_01: And when we lose focus of that because we are so bogged down in just this life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't get me wrong, I love my comforts.
SPEAKER_01: I love my AC, I love my TV, I love, listen, I love my phone.
SPEAKER_01: I listen, we we love our comforts.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and they're not bad things.
SPEAKER_01: They're not things that we have to be ashamed of or to be afraid of.
SPEAKER_01: But when those things become our priority, when I get so frustrated that a drive-thru line is taking five minutes, or that my Wi-Fi is buffering, you think the world is coming to an end when our boys are playing Xbox and the Wi-Fi stinks.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's it's it's over, all right?
SPEAKER_01: And so understanding that God is still in control, all right, and that we're going to struggle no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the reality: this life is preparation for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Because one day, every one of us in this room is going to be standing before Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and we're listening every one of us are going to be standing before him.
SPEAKER_01: And I am willing to bet and guarantee I am not going to bring up once the size of my house.
SPEAKER_01: The fact that I never, that I don't have a new vehicle, or that I didn't have the fanciest wardrobe, or that I didn't have the the the biggest retirement plan, I promise you that is probably gonna be the that is gonna be the furthest thing from every one of our minds.
SPEAKER_01: When we are standing before Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's the destination we're working towards.
SPEAKER_01: But do you wanna know one thing I do think is gonna be running through our minds when we're standing before Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: How many more people could I have told about him?
SPEAKER_01: How many more, how many more people could I have prepared for their time where they stand before Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Listen, that's what's gonna be running through our minds.
SPEAKER_01: I again I'm not gonna the stuff that I stress about and dwell on now, yes, it's important.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and it's and it matters to me.
SPEAKER_01: All right, those are things I dwell on and think about.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality of it is, is when I'm standing before Jesus, this is just a flight.
SPEAKER_01: For all of eternity, we're gonna have a mansion with him.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see, we're gonna have the best retirement plan ever for all of eternity with him.
SPEAKER_01: All right, we're gonna we're not gonna stress about the retirement plan or the health.
SPEAKER_01: Our bodies are gonna be made perfect.
SPEAKER_01: The pains and the struggles and and and the stuff that is hurting us now is gonna be gone.
SPEAKER_01: The loved ones that we're missing right now, because maybe they were taken too soon.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna spend eternity with them.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, eternity.
SPEAKER_01: All right, sometimes that makes me nervous thinking my mother-in-law is gonna be there for all eternity with me.
SPEAKER_01: All right, listen.
SPEAKER_01: So, so yeah, is it fair that we're missing them right now?
SPEAKER_01: It stinks, it does.
SPEAKER_01: But for all of eternity, we're together.
SPEAKER_01: So don't lose focus of what the amazing things God has in store for you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't lose focus.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're gonna struggle.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're gonna have heartaches, yes, there's gonna be struggles.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, maybe you're looking for work or or your job stinks.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I'm gonna challenge you to do.
SPEAKER_01: You got a week to quit and come to camp with me.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: So listen, if things are struggling, again, I keep saying this, I don't want anyone to think, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I may not, but God does.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to minimize anything anybody is going through.
SPEAKER_01: But that is why we have this.
SPEAKER_01: Just look, the church, we're not designed to go through it alone.
SPEAKER_01: We're not designed to deal with this pain alone.
SPEAKER_01: That's why God said, Hey, go start the church.
SPEAKER_01: You and I are foolish when we live in isolation.
SPEAKER_01: We're being foolish when we keep our hurts and our struggles to ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, as a church, as a family, I don't care that we're sitting in a high school auditorium.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you are the church, and you are supposed to be praying for each other.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know in the book of Acts, when the church was being persecuted?
SPEAKER_01: We can't, I bet we can't even fathom this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: When the church was being persecuted and they were going after Christians, and they were literally shutting their businesses down, that the other followers of Jesus were selling everything they owned and possessed so they could take care of each other.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we're like, look, listen, church, I'll tithe, but that's it, you deal with the rest.
SPEAKER_01: But they were willing to give everything up for each other.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you guys are we're the church.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and so no matter what we're going through, we should have each other's back.
SPEAKER_01: And so let me just do this.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how how I would love to end.
SPEAKER_01: And I know in a room this size, there's hurts, there's struggles, there's pains, there's drama, there's marriages that are barely holding on.
SPEAKER_01: There are loved ones who are dealing with a sickness and and who watch them struggle is hard.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us, life is going great.
SPEAKER_01: There is listen, here's like, yeah, everything is going perfect right now.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, give it time.
SPEAKER_01: Something will pop up.
SPEAKER_01: That's just life.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I would love to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna close in a minute, but if there's anything that we can pray for you about on the bottom of your message notes, I think there are tear-off sections, at least I know that's how it is in Haymarket.
SPEAKER_01: Um, anybody wanna hold up their notes so I can see them real quick?
SPEAKER_01: No, you don't have any notes?
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I've been living a lie.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Someone's gotta have a prayer request somewhere that they can share.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So listen, if there's anything we can be praying for you about, let us know.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you send us a carrier pigeon.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let us know.
SPEAKER_01: Do not struggle alone.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna ask you to do something pretty bold real quick.
SPEAKER_01: All right, and and a lot of us, this may be stepping out of our comfort zone.
SPEAKER_01: But if you need prayer, in a moment, I'm trying to give you some time to mentally prepare for this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask you to stand up so I can pray over you.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to do it right now, all right?
SPEAKER_01: But I'm gonna pray for you because you don't have to deal with this alone.
SPEAKER_01: You I'm not gonna ask you to share, I'm just gonna, the Lord knows, but I'm gonna pray over you.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: And there's also probably some of you in here who maybe don't understand this relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: After we pray, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to take that step.
SPEAKER_01: Because listen, this is just the first, this is just the flight to the destination we're going to for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And man, I want to make sure you're there with us.
SPEAKER_01: That you're getting to celebrate for all of eternity the creator of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so listen, why don't you bow your heads, close your eyes, and I'm gonna ask you to do this.
SPEAKER_01: If there's something you need prayer for, would you be bold and stand up just for a moment so I can pray over you?
SPEAKER_01: If there's anything that you're struggling with, if there's anything that you're hurting with, if there's just something that is eating you up, said I'm gonna pray over you.
SPEAKER_01: And I may not know exactly what's going on, but I promise you this we serve a God who knows exactly what you're dealing with.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jesus, you see everyone standing.
SPEAKER_01: God, you know every one of their hearts, you know about what every one of us are struggling with.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, and I would imagine there's some who are still seated that are just struggling.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you would wrap your arms around them.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that they would feel your presence.
SPEAKER_01: And that when we know that life isn't fair, God, our perspective will change to what matters right here and right now, to what is going to matter for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: God, so I pray you would pour your blessing out upon them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, if you can ease their hurts or their struggles, God, I pray that you would do that.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you would give us a peace of mind.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you would help us to understand why, maybe not.
SPEAKER_01: God, but I pray for everyone who was bold enough to stand.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you would just watch over them and protect them.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray as a church that we would continue to come around them.
SPEAKER_01: God, because it's today it's maybe this person, but tomorrow it could be me.
SPEAKER_01: God, and I'm gonna want a church to wrap their arms around me and my family.
SPEAKER_01: God, so I thank you for giving us the church.
SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for you giving us your spirit, God, that dwells within us.
SPEAKER_01: God, that gives us the strength to change our perspective, God, and to rather seeing everything about this life, because that's where I'm at.
SPEAKER_01: God, that's where we are all at.
SPEAKER_01: God, that we would change from just focusing on this life to focusing on what's next for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: God, so again, I thank you for everyone that was bold enough to stand.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you would just continue to pour your blessings out upon them.
SPEAKER_01: I pray as a church that we would seek after them.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, as they sit down, Lord, I pray that for the people maybe in this room who don't know you, God, who are struggling, um uh understanding what does it mean to have a relationship with you?
SPEAKER_01: God, what that means is for all of eternity we're with you.
SPEAKER_01: That we don't have to worry about what happens when we take our last breath.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to worry about God what happens when we're not here any longer.
SPEAKER_01: God, so I pray that if there's anyone in this room who that does not have a relationship with you, God, I pray that it would start one now.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, with everyone's heads bowed and everyone's eyes closed, if you're in this room right now, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make, and that is where you will spend eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, the careers we have come and go, the finances we have comes and goes.
SPEAKER_01: Where you're gonna spend eternity, listen, that's literally gonna matter for all eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're not a hundred percent sure what that looks like, I'm gonna challenge you to pray this prayer with me.
SPEAKER_01: It's something as simple as this.
SPEAKER_01: It's simple as saying, Jesus, thank you for loving me.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you forgive me of the mistakes that I have made and the sins that I have committed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I pray that you forgive me.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: And I give you my life to do with it as you see fit.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you would just help me to live this life to honor you and to bring you to glory.
SPEAKER_01: And it's in your name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, if you've prayed that prayer, we would love to know, share that with somebody as you're walking out.
SPEAKER_01: If you see someone with a blue shirt, just let them know.
SPEAKER_01: We want to celebrate with you.
SPEAKER_01: That is the greatest decision you will ever make.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you that may have a heavy heart, if there's something you need, same thing, let us know.
SPEAKER_01: We want to come alongside you.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jesus, thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for giving us this Bible.
SPEAKER_01: God, that has so that has literally all the answers that we will ever struggle with.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing in this life that we deal with you don't give us an answer to in your word.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jesus, I pray that we would stop focusing on just the here and now, and that we would think about the after.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, thank you for loving us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for the church, thank you for the family that you are building here.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for John and Melinda that you would just continue to watch over them, bring them back safe and refreshed.
SPEAKER_01: And we just pray that you help the rain to stop, and unless you have a farm, but we'll pray that the rain would stop and that we would just have a great rest of the day.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your son's name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_00: If it blessed you, share it with a friend and follow so you never miss a new episode.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: We meet at Patriot High School 10504 Kittle Run Drive.