SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hall.
SPEAKER_00: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_00: Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_02: Well, Pastor Steve is up with a whole group that is hunting, and so we're just praying that they uh kill something, huh?
SPEAKER_02: Um our hope this morning is death.
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: Um, we're just hoping that they're having a great time, that they're uh being successful and what they're doing.
SPEAKER_02: So he called me up and asked me if I would bring the word this morning, which I'm honored to do.
SPEAKER_02: And so I began to pray and I begin to ask the Lord what uh he wanted me to speak on.
SPEAKER_02: And man, I had all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to speak on worship, and I wanted to speak on you know stuff that I'm really passionate about.
SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of in that mode right now with Worship Academy going on.
SPEAKER_02: We're teaching about David, and um, and the Lord said, no, speak on uh this topic.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Really?
SPEAKER_02: That topic?
SPEAKER_02: And um, but here's the thing: I'm not gonna tell you the title of the message until probably about halfway.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna leave you on the cliff, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna leave you hanging.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I do want you to know this that the topic and the issue that I'm speaking on this morning is for everybody.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, everybody take your hand, just point at yourself, say it's for me.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I just got back from Africa, um, Czech Republic.
SPEAKER_02: You talk about two polar opposites, two different extremes, went to Europe, Czech Republic, the worship conference is there, and then the very next week I find myself in Africa, and I'm like, whoa, what just happened?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was just crazy the difference.
SPEAKER_02: But can I tell you that this topic, and what I'm gonna touch on today, was for everybody, whether they lived in Czech Republic, miles and miles away, or in Africa, or here in the United States, Pastor Steve, who leads, who pastors, who teaches us week after week, to maybe you're in church for the first time, never heard about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to know, even when I was in Africa, we were singing songs, You Are the only King forever, and we're worshiping God, and all of a sudden the windows are all open in this building, and we hear burn his horns going off, and they're out there bowing to Allah, and they're singing, and we're hearing their chanting, and we're singing to Jesus, and they're singing to Allah at the same time.
SPEAKER_02: We're like, we got the true God.
SPEAKER_02: We're like, and but can I tell you that this topic even would touch the Muslim?
SPEAKER_02: It would touch both unbeliever, or if you've been in church your entire life, this topic will touch you.
SPEAKER_02: So, what am I gonna talk about?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm gonna talk a little bit about the patriarchs.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone know who the patriarchs of the faith are?
SPEAKER_02: The original patriarchs, who are they?
SPEAKER_02: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, later called what?
SPEAKER_02: Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: God shows up in Abraham's life, and he says, Abraham, or actually Abram, because he hadn't changed his name yet.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I'm gonna make you the father of many nations.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I'm gonna bless you.
SPEAKER_02: And when I bless you, you're gonna bless all the nations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: Every nation on this planet is gonna be blessed to Abraham because I'm gonna bless you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna bless you with the sun, I'm gonna bless you with the promise.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be my chosen people.
SPEAKER_02: How many know?
SPEAKER_02: They still, still today, Israel's around, still blessing the nations.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I'm gonna bless you.
SPEAKER_02: And Pastor Steve gets up here and he says, Hey, you came to church this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Good job.
SPEAKER_02: But just because you came to church doesn't mean that you're walking in the blessings of God.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, the thief cometh not, but for to kill, to steal, and to destroy.
SPEAKER_02: I am come that they might have life, and they might have it more what?
SPEAKER_02: Abundantly.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you are here?
SPEAKER_02: You could have been doing something else on Sunday morning, could have been shopping, could have been hiking, but we came this morning because of this promise, right?
SPEAKER_02: We don't want the blessing, we don't want the stealing, the killing, the hurting, the destroying.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you want the blessing?
SPEAKER_02: We want abundant life, right?
SPEAKER_02: So God shows up in Abraham's life and he says, I want to bless you.
SPEAKER_02: I want to give you abundant life.
SPEAKER_02: But there is only one problem.
SPEAKER_02: God shows up and speaks this promise to a man and a woman who can't have children.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_02: I want to bless you.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be the father of many nations.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, by the way, you're barren.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor Steve gets up here and he says, Hey, good for you.
SPEAKER_02: Way to make it to church this morning.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the key.
SPEAKER_02: If you really want to serve God and walk in abundant life, you gotta give God everything.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give him half your heart, don't give him 99% of your heart, give him your whole heart.
SPEAKER_02: I may have heard Pastor Steve say that.
SPEAKER_02: Be wholehearted.
SPEAKER_02: Tuesday morning, he's telling the guys, hey, you can't do this on your own.
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you, you've made a mess of things.
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you surrender, hand the reins over to Jesus and let him have a chance with your life?
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You'll be blessed.
SPEAKER_02: You'll be better for it.
SPEAKER_02: How many came to church so that you could end up better?
SPEAKER_02: All right?
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're here, right?
SPEAKER_02: The only problem is that sometimes God will show up and He'll ask you to do things that seem impossible.
SPEAKER_02: Point one of my message is this God will ask you to believe things that seem impossible.
SPEAKER_02: You mean I give my life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I don't belong to myself anymore.
SPEAKER_02: I hand him the reins.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not in control, and that's better.
SPEAKER_02: That's the way I'm supposed to live this life?
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_02: And that is the great oxymoron called the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It's counterintuitive.
SPEAKER_02: In our mind, we cannot wrap our minds around it.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_02: Less is more, more is less.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: Have you heard this scripture?
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 16.
SPEAKER_02: For whoever will save his life shall lose it.
SPEAKER_02: But whoever will lose his life, for my sake, shall what?
SPEAKER_02: Find it.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna lose and I'm gonna find.
SPEAKER_02: And then I'm gonna, if I find, then I'm gonna lose.
SPEAKER_02: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't compute.
SPEAKER_02: Abraham, I'm gonna bless you and make you the father of many nations, but your wife is barren.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes God will ask us to believe things that in our minds and in our flesh and in our humanity seem utterly impossible.
SPEAKER_02: Have you read the Sermon on the Mount?
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 5 through 7, incredible, probably Jesus' most famous sermon that he spoke throughout the whole New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: He says this.
SPEAKER_02: He says, But I say unto you, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_02: Bless those that curse you.
SPEAKER_02: Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Somebody's alarm is going off.
SPEAKER_02: Take your pill or whatever you need to do.
SPEAKER_02: All right, okay, all right.
SPEAKER_02: Just turn it off.
SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't make any sense at all, right?
SPEAKER_02: You mean I you mean you're asking me the people that despitefully use me and hurt me and persecute me.
SPEAKER_02: You want me to love them and not hate them?
SPEAKER_02: When everything within me tells me the right thing to do is to lash out and get revenge.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and by the way, he goes on to say this in Luke 6.
SPEAKER_02: He says, if someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek also.
SPEAKER_02: Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them, which despitefully use- I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02: If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them also.
SPEAKER_02: So if somebody slaps you on the cheek, he says, give them the other one also.
SPEAKER_02: Give me another one.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody takes your coat, say, Hey, you want my shirt too?
SPEAKER_02: How many think this sound sounds crazy to you?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, am I the only one?
SPEAKER_02: It it doesn't make any sense at all.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he goes on all through the Beatitudes at the very beginning of his sermon, and he says things like, Blessed are they that mourn.
SPEAKER_02: Huh?
SPEAKER_02: Come again?
SPEAKER_02: What?
SPEAKER_02: Blessed are they that mourn?
SPEAKER_02: For they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_02: And then he goes all down the line, the peacemakers, all the way down to the to the end of the Beatitudes, and he says, Hey, blessed are you when men persecute you, when they say all manner of evil against you, when they revile you, when they oppress you.
SPEAKER_02: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine being in the crowd that day?
SPEAKER_02: He's like, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
SPEAKER_02: And everybody's like, what?
SPEAKER_02: Literally, there's Roman guards roaming around watching the crowd.
SPEAKER_02: The Israelites are oppressed, ridiculed, persecuted, and he's saying, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes God will ask you to believe things that seem impossible.
SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what many of you have done.
SPEAKER_02: If you remember, if you didn't grow up around this thing, if you didn't grow up around church, maybe you're a first-generation Christian, came into the house of God for the first time, and somebody got up and began to preach and tell you, hey, give your life away.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus loves you.
SPEAKER_02: Give him your life, trust him with your life.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, oh, I don't know, I don't know, but something inside of you said, Hey, this way is better.
SPEAKER_02: This way is better.
SPEAKER_02: The way you've been going isn't better.
SPEAKER_02: This way is better.
SPEAKER_02: And then you finally give in, even though it doesn't make a lick of sense, and you don't understand everything about the Bible, and you're confused about some of the things that are even being said.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you would say, When you gave your life to Jesus, my life got better?
SPEAKER_02: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: But it's counterintuitive, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's the oxymoron of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make compute, it doesn't make sense, but we give our life away, and how many know that we gain everything?
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna give a caveat.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give, let's say, an add-on to point one.
SPEAKER_02: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_02: Let me remind you too.
SPEAKER_02: I've not told you the topic yet.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: We don't know the topic.
SPEAKER_02: I haven't given you the title, but here's point number two.
SPEAKER_02: God will ask us to believe things that seem impossible without his help.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it one more time.
SPEAKER_02: God will ask you to believe things that seem impossible without his help.
SPEAKER_02: So that loving our enemy's part, glorying and rejoicing in persecution.
SPEAKER_02: Abraham, you're gonna be blessed and bless the nations.
SPEAKER_02: This is my promise to you.
SPEAKER_02: Yet your wife is barren.
SPEAKER_02: How many know that sometimes God will ask us to believe things that in our minds seem utterly insane?
SPEAKER_02: But we have his help, right?
SPEAKER_02: And we can do it because he empowers us to do it.
SPEAKER_02: And this is exactly what God did in Abraham's life.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Believe me, trust me.
SPEAKER_02: And Abraham does.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, at the very beginning, he tells Abraham, pack up your stuff and go to a new land.
SPEAKER_02: And Abraham's like, Well, where are we going?
SPEAKER_02: And he says, I'll tell you when you get there.
SPEAKER_02: Um, okay.
SPEAKER_02: But Abraham does it.
SPEAKER_02: He actually believes what God said.
SPEAKER_02: Packs up his stuff, they begin to move, and he says, I'm gonna take you to this promised land.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna take you into a new thing.
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, your child is gonna bless all the nations.
SPEAKER_02: And Abraham believes him, and he trusts him.
SPEAKER_02: And Sarah gets pregnant in Abraham and Sarah's old age.
SPEAKER_02: How many know they gave birth to a son, and his name was Isaac?
SPEAKER_02: The promise is coming.
SPEAKER_02: The promise is happening.
SPEAKER_02: It's come to pass.
SPEAKER_02: It's good.
SPEAKER_02: I gave my life to Jesus, and you know what?
SPEAKER_02: Life is getting better.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I'm a first-generation Christian, and you know, I'm still learning a lot, and I'm still learning how to, you know, love people the way Jesus loves people.
SPEAKER_02: I'm learning about God's love.
SPEAKER_02: And man, but I just feel such peace.
SPEAKER_02: I know people have told me when they come to Christ for the first time, it's like their life went from black and white to high definition color.
SPEAKER_02: It was like they took in a breath and breathes for the first time.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa, my life has meaning now.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: And Abraham's believing God.
SPEAKER_02: The child comes, the promise is coming to pass, everything is going good.
SPEAKER_02: And then Isaac has a son, and his name was Jacob.
SPEAKER_02: And then it really starts taking off.
SPEAKER_02: And Jacob believes God, encounters God, wrestles with God, did some screwy things and some stuff that he shouldn't, deceive some people, but God wrestles him down.
SPEAKER_02: He starts having sons, he has 12 sons.
SPEAKER_02: I won't name them all because I can't pronounce them, but there's 12 of them.
SPEAKER_02: One of them was named Joseph, and the last one was named Benjamin.
SPEAKER_02: I know that.
SPEAKER_02: And he has all 12 of these sons.
SPEAKER_02: And now, as the promise is coming to pass, and Jacob's sons, by this time, his name is Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Israel's sons are now having sons, and they're becoming a nation, and the promise is happening, and we're serving God, and we're being faithful, and we're going after the things of God, and we're serving in the church, and we're learning and we're growing.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, let me give you the title of my message.
SPEAKER_02: Dealing with disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: That's what God told me this week.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Lord, you must have another topic.
SPEAKER_02: Anything else?
SPEAKER_02: He said, No, this is what I want you to talk about.
SPEAKER_02: Dealing with disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, you're serving God.
SPEAKER_02: God's promises are being fulfilled.
SPEAKER_02: You're trucking, man.
SPEAKER_02: And then something comes along and wham.
SPEAKER_02: It blindsides you.
SPEAKER_02: And just knocks you and throws you for a loop.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, I didn't what just happened?
SPEAKER_02: I I didn't I didn't see that coming.
SPEAKER_02: God, you promised.
SPEAKER_02: You promised all these good things.
SPEAKER_02: But then all of a sudden you find yourself facing something that is very disappointing.
SPEAKER_02: And it shakes you.
SPEAKER_02: And it tests your faith.
SPEAKER_02: And it says, okay, big boy.
SPEAKER_02: Let's see what you're made of.
SPEAKER_02: Let's take you from childhood to adulthood.
SPEAKER_02: Let's mature your faith.
SPEAKER_02: You've had a certain level of faith.
SPEAKER_02: You've had a certain level of relationship with me.
SPEAKER_02: Let's see if you cannot just endure in the good times.
SPEAKER_02: Let's see if you can endure in the midst of disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: And this is exactly what Jacob encounters.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, it'll come up on the screen here.
SPEAKER_02: It's just a regular day, no different from any others.
SPEAKER_02: So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the Ornite robe he was wearing.
SPEAKER_02: And they took him and they threw him into a cistern.
SPEAKER_02: So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood.
SPEAKER_02: They took the ornate robe back to the father and said, We found this.
SPEAKER_02: Examine it.
SPEAKER_02: See whether this is your son's robe.
SPEAKER_02: Jacob recognizes it immediately.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, that's the robe I gave my son.
SPEAKER_02: It is my son's robe.
SPEAKER_02: Some ferocious animal must have devoured him.
SPEAKER_02: Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.
SPEAKER_02: Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth, mourned for his sons many days.
SPEAKER_02: Blessed are those who mourn.
SPEAKER_02: For they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_02: Is that really true?
SPEAKER_02: Or is it just is that a good concept?
SPEAKER_02: Is that a good theory?
SPEAKER_02: No, you won't understand it until you walk through it.
SPEAKER_02: And here, Jacob is walking through it.
SPEAKER_02: I had twelve sons, but all of a sudden one is no more.
SPEAKER_02: I was humming, man.
SPEAKER_02: We were trucking.
SPEAKER_02: The promises of God are happening.
SPEAKER_02: Point number three is this in the midst of believing God's promises, everyone deals with loss and disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor Steve deals with it.
SPEAKER_02: I've dealt with it.
SPEAKER_02: You've been serving God your whole life, you've dealt with it.
SPEAKER_02: The unbeliever deals with it.
SPEAKER_02: Every person you've encountered has dealt with it.
SPEAKER_02: What are you going to do with it?
SPEAKER_02: What are you going to do with it when you prayed and believed and walked with this better life and then all of a sudden find yourself disappointed?
SPEAKER_02: What are you going to do then?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have heard my story.
SPEAKER_02: I've spoken, I don't know, five, six, seven times since I've been on staff here.
SPEAKER_02: I've encountered a lot of disappointment in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Starting at age eight, sexually abused.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody in my father, who was the pastor of his church, abused me three years.
SPEAKER_02: Threw me into a kind of a tailspin that took me several years to get out of.
SPEAKER_02: But I I know disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've encountered a failed marriage.
SPEAKER_02: And they were dissolving a marriage.
SPEAKER_02: And they just sat there kind of contemplating this message I was going to speak, and I thought, man, I bet these two individuals never dreamed they'd be sitting here right now.
SPEAKER_02: They gave their hearts to one another, and then all of a sudden they find themselves here.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's a failed business.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe COVID.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe COVID ruined it for you.
SPEAKER_02: Man, I was building something, we were trucking, and then all of a sudden, wham.
SPEAKER_02: Disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you lose your job, you know, or a career path, or you're headed a certain direction.
SPEAKER_02: I was thinking about athletes that are training to go pro.
SPEAKER_02: How many have heard this story?
SPEAKER_02: Man, I was on my way.
SPEAKER_02: I was in my third year of college at a Division I school, and then all of a sudden I blew my knee out and my career is over.
SPEAKER_02: How many have heard that story?
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_02: This is where I'm going, but my body says, uh-uh, nope, not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
SPEAKER_02: Disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that son, that daughter, maybe you're a first generation Christian, and you're like, man, it's not gonna be like it was in my childhood.
SPEAKER_02: I'm bringing my kids to church, man.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna we're gonna serve it.
SPEAKER_02: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And then they grow up, and then all of a sudden, they're questioning their faith.
SPEAKER_02: And they're not wanting to come to church anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe that dream you hope for seemingly dies.
SPEAKER_02: Told the story of the conference that I did in the DFW area.
SPEAKER_02: It was this massive regional conference, and then my pastor came in and kind of took it from me and then fired me.
SPEAKER_02: And it was just a really, really hard situation to go through.
SPEAKER_02: And I literally, at that point, God speaks to me and he says, Go plant a church in San Diego.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I thought I was gonna be doing that.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, No, go do this.
SPEAKER_02: And it was, it was really kind of the death of a dream for me.
SPEAKER_02: But how many know that God is a restorer?
SPEAKER_02: How many know that we have a worship conference here now?
SPEAKER_02: And he has ways of kind of turning it all around and bringing things full circle.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you felt like God had a ministry for you.
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna go to the nations, or I was gonna start this ministry, or we're gonna do this for God, and you tried and it didn't seem to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Can I give you three, just three?
SPEAKER_02: I could give you ten, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I could give you twenty things to do to deal with disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm gonna narrow it down to three.
SPEAKER_02: Is that okay this morning for time's sake?
SPEAKER_02: Three things to do when you find yourself blindsided and in the midst of incredible, maybe even life-shaking disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Letter A is this don't give up praying.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what 1 Thessalonians says.
SPEAKER_02: It says this rejoice always.
SPEAKER_02: Pray without ceasing.
SPEAKER_02: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.
SPEAKER_02: You know, as a pastor, for years and years people have come to me and they've said, Brian, it's not that I don't want to do God's will.
SPEAKER_02: I just have no idea what God's will is.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever heard of that?
SPEAKER_02: You ever thought that?
SPEAKER_02: If you would just tell me what to do, I would do it.
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
SPEAKER_02: Can I give you God's will?
SPEAKER_02: Rejoice always.
SPEAKER_02: Pray without ceasing.
SPEAKER_02: Give thanks in all good, bad, ugly circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
SPEAKER_02: Now you know God's will.
SPEAKER_02: Hebrews 11:6 says this, but without faith it is impossible to please him.
SPEAKER_02: For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who what?
SPEAKER_02: Diligently seek him, who keep after it, keep praying, keep believing.
SPEAKER_02: Abraham, I'm gonna bless you with the sun, but your wife is barren.
SPEAKER_02: He kept believing, and then all of a sudden it happens, and God comes through, and God, that suddenly moment comes.
SPEAKER_02: So I mesh these two verses together.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Thessalonians 5, Hebrews 11, and you can write this down just as a, I don't know, a mantra.
SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
SPEAKER_02: This is what you do if you're disappointed, if you're discouraged.
SPEAKER_02: Don't cease praying.
SPEAKER_02: Pray by faith, seek God diligently, and you will be rewarded.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say it one more time.
SPEAKER_02: Don't cease praying by faith.
SPEAKER_02: Seek God diligently, and you will be rewarded.
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe that this morning?
SPEAKER_02: Don't stop praying.
SPEAKER_02: Don't stop believing.
SPEAKER_02: Even in the midst of disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: Keep after it.
SPEAKER_02: Keep praying.
SPEAKER_02: Keep believing.
SPEAKER_02: Because we know that the story is not over.
SPEAKER_02: Letter B.
SPEAKER_02: Praise and worship your way out of it.
SPEAKER_02: Praise.
SPEAKER_02: I know you guys knew I was gonna say this one because I'm the worship leader here.
SPEAKER_02: All right, okay.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, I knew it would come to this eventually, alright?
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I think a couple sermons ago that I spoke, I spoke on this passage.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna say any of the verses, but you can read it yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 16, verses 16 through 40.
SPEAKER_02: We know that Paul and Silas are in jail.
SPEAKER_02: And uh it's pretty bad.
SPEAKER_02: But at midnight, they get this thought.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, we can't help where we're at, but we can help our attitude.
SPEAKER_02: You are the only king forever.
SPEAKER_02: Almighty God, we lift you higher.
SPEAKER_02: You are the only king forever.
SPEAKER_02: And they start singing, and they're singing in jail, they're singing in disappointment, they're singing in their circumstances, they're singing and worshiping and praising and glorifying God in the midst of the jail.
SPEAKER_02: Bible says something starts to rumble.
SPEAKER_02: The jail cell begins to shake.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, their chains fall off.
SPEAKER_02: But not only that, the doors open, but not only that.
SPEAKER_02: Not only do the doors open for them, how many know that the doors open for everybody in the jail?
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if God might use your disappointment or your response to disappointment to touch other people's lives around you.
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I mean, did you hear what so-and-so is going through?
SPEAKER_02: But you know what?
SPEAKER_02: They just they they're okay.
SPEAKER_02: They're still serving God.
SPEAKER_02: Who knows if your response and how you deal with disappointment might affect many people around you that you don't even realize.
SPEAKER_02: So we got to respond the right way.
SPEAKER_02: The third way, and we deal with disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: I remember leaving praise and worship, been doing it for 15 plus years.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, God says, Go plant this church in San Diego.
SPEAKER_02: We show up.
SPEAKER_02: There's a whole team of us.
SPEAKER_02: I had about 15 people that moved to San Diego.
SPEAKER_02: We show up.
SPEAKER_02: And you know, here's the cool thing about being a worship pastor is if you guys come up and ask me any really, really, really hard questions that I don't know the answer, I always say, This is my response.
SPEAKER_02: Steve would be a great person to talk to.
SPEAKER_02: He really knows his stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Like, go talk to Steve about that.
SPEAKER_02: He I know he has the answer.
SPEAKER_02: So here I am, been a worship leader all my life, and I'm the main guy now.
SPEAKER_02: And people are coming up and asking me questions, and I'm like, hey, you know who you should go?
SPEAKER_02: Uh Jesus help me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus help me.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm the guy.
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm the top.
SPEAKER_02: You want to know the number one question and the number one request that I got for prayer, for advice?
SPEAKER_02: My son, my daughter want nothing to do with God.
SPEAKER_02: What do I do, Pastor?
SPEAKER_02: I got that question probably six times out of ten.
SPEAKER_02: That was the request.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if there's anything more disappointing than when you raise them, you bring them to the house of God, you do everything you know to do, and your kids turn.
SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden it hits me.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't even realize it until I was at the end of the sermon that this is exactly what Jacob had encountered.
SPEAKER_02: He raised a son, and then all of a sudden the son was lost.
SPEAKER_02: We know the story of the prodigal son in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Give me everything that I deserve, goes off into wild living.
SPEAKER_02: So here I am, I'm a young pastor, 35 years old, just fresh into being this church, you know, this church's leader.
SPEAKER_02: And all these people, that's a request I'm getting.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Holy Spirit, would you just help me?
SPEAKER_02: Like I just, I want to give them some really good advice.
SPEAKER_02: Like I want to give them some counsel that they really need.
SPEAKER_02: And so that first several that came up to me, I said, Spirit help me.
SPEAKER_02: And I stepped up and I said, Here's what you do.
SPEAKER_02: Shut up.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, huh?
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Holy Spirit, what?
SPEAKER_02: Shut up.
SPEAKER_02: I said, stop talking.
SPEAKER_02: You're the problem.
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna debate them into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna convince them that they need God.
SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden, this story that I had heard in a parenting class early on in my when I was married and we were just starting to have kids.
SPEAKER_02: This man was telling a story of being in uh bed with his uh little girl, and they were saying their prayers, and he reached down, he kisses her on the cheek and says, Good night, honey, I love you.
SPEAKER_02: And then he gets up and he goes to uh he goes to leave.
SPEAKER_02: And uh the little girl says, Hey Daddy, do you do you think I'm pretty?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, My first response was I wanted to turn around and rebuke her and say, Well, honey, of course you're beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: Why would you even say that?
SPEAKER_02: That that's stupid, like you're the most beautiful, and he said, Before I could even say a word, the Holy Spirit said, Shh, shh.
unknown: Shh.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I stopped and I paused.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I went over and I sat on the bed and I put my hand on her head, and I just basically asked, Well, honey, why would you say that?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I just I don't know, and she's all nervous, and I said, Well, actually, actually, um there were some kids at school that were picking on me, and they told me that I was ugly, and they were saying some really mean things, and the father was able to sit there and just encourage the daughter to not believe those things.
SPEAKER_02: But the whole point of that story, and when I was listening in this parenting class, was the man went on to say this he said there are certain moments in your kids' lives that the door of their heart will be open, but most of the time the door will be closed.
SPEAKER_02: He said, and here's the thing that's so hard about it: you do not determine when the door is open.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say it again.
SPEAKER_02: You don't determine when the door of their heart is open and they are willing to receive godly wisdom and advice.
SPEAKER_02: And parents, let me just remind you of two things in this story.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start with the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_02: The prodigal son did not chase after his son to the pig pen.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't go to the pig pen and say, Don't you think it's enough is enough?
SPEAKER_02: Come on now, it's time to get it together.
SPEAKER_02: The father waited at home and prayed with his arms open.
SPEAKER_02: And then when God was ready, when God was ready, and when that young man was ready, and he came to his senses, he thought to himself, I know a safe place that I can go and at least get a good meal.
SPEAKER_02: I can I know somewhere that I can go where I'll be accepted and not scorn.
SPEAKER_02: At least I'll be a servant.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't even have the right attitude.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't even understand how the father was feeling and how he would embrace him.
SPEAKER_02: And then in this story of Jacob and Joseph, do you know that Jacob didn't even know that Joseph was alive?
SPEAKER_02: He didn't even know.
SPEAKER_02: But God was working behind the scenes without him knowing.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, what was lost was restored.
SPEAKER_02: Because God was working behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_02: Let her see is this know when and when not to speak.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible says in Matthew 7, verse 6.
SPEAKER_02: It says this don't give what is holy to the dogs, or cast your pearls before swine, lest you trample them under feet and turn and they tear you to pieces.
SPEAKER_02: What are they saying here?
SPEAKER_02: They calling people dogs and swine?
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, that's that's not the point.
SPEAKER_02: He's basically saying this: when the door is closed, don't take your pearls and throw it at the door.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give what is holy and precious to a closed door.
SPEAKER_02: Just wait.
SPEAKER_02: Wait and give what is precious to somebody who's willing to receive it.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Warful War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_01: To connect with Pastor Steve's discernment, books, and blog.
SPEAKER_01: Visit SteveHomline.