WEBVTT 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:05.120 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:08.720 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.320 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit Grantparkway.org. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:15.519 Let's pray together. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:17.280 Lord Jesus, that is our confession. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:18.079 We believe. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:21.519 That's why Christians are called believers because we believe certain things. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.320 We don't just try, we don't just feel certain things. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:27.359 We don't go through life trying to sustain this feeling. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.399 We're not at the mercy of what we feel because we believe the truth. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:31.760 The truth sets us free. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:42.079 And so we ask your Holy Spirit to lead us in the truth this morning, set us free from nonsense, deliver us from politicians, and believing that the Texans are going to get it figured out this year. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.679 Lord, we enjoy that, but we don't put our hope in it, okay? 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.840 And so, Lord, we believe. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.439 It's not what we feel. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:51.679 We're not prisoners to what we feel. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:53.679 We're liberated by what we believe. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.079 So cause us to believe something today. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:03.280 Teach us something new today, God, from your word that'll shape the trajectory of the rest of our life. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.760 As long as we're here on this earth, we believe the Bible is that consequential. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.519 It's quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.719 It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be taught. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.159 And so I just stand here. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:23.760 It's a fallen yet redeemed man, and I endeavor to teach what the Bible says in a language that these beautiful people understand. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.480 Aid me in that process, I pray, in Jesus' name. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.480 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.000 You can have a scene if you have a Bible. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:33.120 I invite you to take it and open it up to the 88th Psalm. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.000 The 88th Psalm, if you don't have a Bible, there's one in your row. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.760 I'm on page 494. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:44.719 And I want to just say by way of introduction, I think someone already mentioned it, we begin a new series today entitled Seasons of Faith. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:46.079 Seasons of Faith. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.239 And uh we'll we'll uh uh kind of unpack that as we go. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:56.079 But basically, uh I said to Clyde, he he texted me and said, Hey, the seasons of faith, and what order are you gonna take them? 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.640 And I just texted back, James Taylor. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:01.280 Thanks, you're with me. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.319 And he texted back, all you gotta do is call. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.959 And I was like, we've got the right man in this role. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.319 And if you don't know who James Taylor is, I'll see you after the service. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.240 We'll have a special time of prayer, okay? 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:16.879 And so we're beginning today with winter, spring, summer, and fall. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:18.560 And I'll talk a little bit about the season. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:23.039 We'll kind of look at where the Bible talks about this, uh, but I want to kind of do a couple things this morning. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:27.439 I want to kind of give a few introductory thoughts about the series, seasons of faith. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.479 And then I want to give you some ways to know that you're in winter. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.800 Now, by the way, you don't have to be in this season. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.000 Some of you this morning, you'll walk out and go, that's where I am. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.240 And some of you walk out and go, that was good. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:39.520 That's not where I am. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:40.879 No pressure there, okay? 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.280 Let me just give you some introductory thoughts about this series. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.159 Number one, the Christian life is seasonal by design. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.719 The Christian life is seasonal by design. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.560 In other words, if it weren't for joy, you wouldn't know sadness. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:56.560 And if it weren't for winter, you wouldn't have a frame of reference for spring. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:58.400 And so you just got to get your head around. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:04.960 If you read through the Bible, you'll see the people of God in all different seasons of the faith. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:05.360 Okay? 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.439 Secondly, by way of introduction, not every season is a fruit-bearing season. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:17.840 The Bible says in Psalm chapter 1, talks about how blessed is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the seed of the scornful, or sit in the seed of the sinner. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:24.319 But in his delight, I mean, excuse me, but he delights in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:28.400 And then it's like the writer scratches his head and says, How can I explain what this is like? 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:35.680 And then he says, he's like a tree planted by rivers of living water that yields its fruit in due season. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.159 Not every season is a fruit-bearing season. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.719 In due season, though, it's gonna happen. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:47.039 But the third introductory thought to this whole series is this all of the seasons are necessary to produce fruit. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:48.000 All of them. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.560 You gotta go through winter to get to spring. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:52.400 All of them are necessary. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:52.879 Okay? 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.439 And so you may be thinking, how do you know when you're in winter? 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.599 Let me give you some ways to know that you're in winter. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.319 First one is this people tell you things you know are true, but it just irritates you. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:09.520 They try to help you, and you're kind of like, you need to go help somebody else because I'm getting more angry the more you talk. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:13.919 Not the kind of exchange you hear in the Christian bookstore, but you should. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:20.480 Second way you know you're in winter, you feel ashamed or embarrassed about where you are, but you don't have the energy to do anything about it. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:22.000 Here's the posture of winter. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.040 Here's what you do. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:23.839 Yeah. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:26.000 Yeah. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:27.759 Aren't you concerned? 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:28.480 Yeah. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:31.279 Here's another way you know you're in winter. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.279 Life has lost its flavor. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:35.839 And by the way, I'll just begin with some confession of my own. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.920 I get in winter about three times a year. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.600 And my wife knows that I'm in winter because she starts suggesting things for me to go do. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.199 Like she knows I enjoy playing golf. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:45.680 Here's what I know when I'm winter, because life has lost its flavor. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:47.279 She'll say, Hey, why don't you go play golf? 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:48.160 And I'll be like, eh. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:50.800 And I go play golf and come back and she'll go, How was it? 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:52.879 I found 12 golf balls. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.199 And she's like, But how was the golf? 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.279 I found 12 golf balls. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.160 It's just kind of like things that once brought me a lot of joy. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.360 It's just kind of like bland. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:02.079 It's like, meh. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.279 It's kind of when you get sick and you lose your sense of taste for a little bit. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:06.399 Winter's like that. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.560 You're just kind of, uh, okay. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:09.920 Everything tastes the same. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:11.360 Also known as chilies. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.319 But anyway. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.319 What? 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:15.600 What? 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:17.199 They've got a new menu. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:24.319 Anyway, fourth thing, here's how you know when you're in winter, your issue is not knowing, it's doing. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:26.160 It's not knowing. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.319 You know, it's just doing. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:30.079 You just don't have energy to do. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:38.240 You just wake up and you're like, I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds, and I'm gonna lay in bed with a big tub of chocolate chip cookie dough and eat it and watch Judge Judy. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:40.399 That's winter. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:42.319 And you don't feel any you don't feel bad about it? 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:45.040 Your husband looks at you and he's like, Well, babe, would you like no? 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.959 I'd like you to go to work and just leave me alone. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:48.000 I'd be fine. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:49.279 Thank you very much. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:50.720 And you say, What do you mean? 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:52.160 The Bible talks about this. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:56.399 Is a man, this is written by a man that's in winter. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:56.879 Okay? 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.120 Psalm 88, it says a song. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:08.000 A psalm of the sons of Korah to the choir master, according to Mahalet Leonith, a mascell of He man the Ezrahite. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.160 If you're gonna have a baby boy, that's a name you need right there. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:13.839 What's your son's name? 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.240 He man the Ezrahite. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.240 Nobody has that. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:29.920 The Bible says this, oh Lord, this is what winter, by the way, the 88th Psalm gives us words for winter, and it breaks the silence that we don't know how to break. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:36.000 It kind of hangs words on our feelings that we we haven't even thought about them long enough to put words to. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:43.519 And this is what he says in the 88th Psalm, O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:52.079 Let my prayer come before you and incline your ear to my cry, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.120 I am counted among those who go down to the pit. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:06.240 I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:11.600 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:18.079 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves, Selah. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.879 Now the word Selah means stop and think about what you just read. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:32.319 And so if we went back and we kind of thought about the first seven verses, this guy says, He man says, Hey, uh, God, are you even listening? 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:34.639 I feel like I'm forgotten here. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:39.920 And he starts off using the personal pronoun I, and then about verse six, he switches it to you. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.160 You have put me in the depths of the pit. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:47.920 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:53.360 He's forgotten, he doesn't feel like God's listening, and he thinks it's God's fault. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.399 That's what winter feels like. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:00.720 He continues in verse 8, You have caused my companions to shun me. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:02.720 You have made me a horror to them. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:07.920 I am shut in so that I cannot escape, and my eye grows dim through sorrow. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:12.800 Every day I call upon you, O Lord, I spread out my hands to you. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.360 Do you work wonders for the dead? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.560 Do the departed rise up to praise you? 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:19.920 Say Lah. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:24.399 He says, Think about these three passages, these three verses. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:25.360 Say La. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:27.199 What is he saying? 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:29.680 He says, God, I don't have any friends. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:31.600 This feels hopeless. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.679 He says, Every day I called you, O Lord, I spread out my hands to you. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.080 You say, What does it mean spread out my hands to you? 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:44.320 Remember when your kids were little, and some of you have little kids right now, and they walk towards you and they spread their hands out towards you. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.200 You just by instinct just been down and pick them up. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:53.039 Who among you, when your kids were tallers, they did that, and you're kind of like, No, no, mommy's not gonna hold you. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:54.320 You're bad. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.519 That even sounds bad to say, doesn't it? 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.039 Some of you are like, don't even say that. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.240 That's not funny. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:06.240 The psalmist said, Hey, every day I spread my hands out to you, God, and you won't pick me up. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:10.159 You have the capacity to make this better, and you're not making this better. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:21.519 It's gotten so bad, he's wondering if God's gonna answer him before he dies and begins to doubt the doctrines that he once believed. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:23.840 He says in verse 10, Do you work wonders for the dead? 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.919 Do the departed rise up to praise you? 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:27.440 I mean, is the resurrection real? 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:30.399 Those who departed, they're gonna rise up and praise you. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:39.039 In verse 11, he says, Is your steadfast love declared in the grave or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.679 Are your wonders known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.799 But I, O Lord, cry to you in the morning. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:48.399 My prayer comes before you. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.279 Oh Lord, why do you cast my soul away? 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:53.440 Why do you hide your face from me? 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:58.799 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:09:59.679 I am helpless. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.159 Your wrath has swept me away. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.559 Your dreadful assaults destroy me. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:07.360 They surround me like a flood all day long. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.279 They close in on me together. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:12.960 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.320 My companions have become darkness. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:23.200 Now, most psalms, when they start off really dark and sad, they get better, they end on a good note. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:24.080 It's like a sitcom. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:27.919 They present a situation, they solve it, everybody lives happily ever after. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.519 This psalm doesn't. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.120 It doesn't get any better. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:34.960 Walter Bruggerman said this is an insult to traditional faith. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.000 He says, God, you're silent, you're hiding from me. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:41.200 I've been afflicted and close to death for my youth up translation. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:43.440 I've been feeling this way for a long time. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:49.919 You've caused my beloved and my friends to shun me. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:54.559 And then he ends with this phrase, My companions have become darkness. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:59.360 Some translations get at it easier and say, Darkness is my only companion. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.480 The only thing I have is this deep sense of darkness and separation. 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:07.440 Winter is a time for four things. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:08.799 Four things happen in winter. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.960 It's a time for us to be mindful of four things. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:13.279 And the first one is this is dormancy. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:14.639 Dormancy. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.480 Things go dormant in the winter. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.639 This weans us from the unbiblical thought that every day is going to be a journal entry. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.799 I didn't become a Christian until I was 18. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.080 And when I did, I started going to the first Baptist church in our town. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.159 And like most First Baptist churches in a small town in Texas, they had pews. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:31.200 Remember pews? 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.840 And they had racks on the back of the pews, and they had books in there. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.639 We sang enough called hymnals, yes. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.039 And we would always sing the first, second, and last stanza. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.960 And when we got really, really charismatic, we would stand on the chorus. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.120 And so I remember the first time I heard this, I was kind of like Scooby-Doo. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:50.240 I was kind of dorking around and they started singing, and I was like, huh? 00:11:51.679 --> 00:12:03.679 And I was like, uh, either they're right and I'm wrong, or and this isn't about right and wrong, but and then the song they were singing said this every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.879 And I just thought, not so much for me. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.080 And I thought for a while there's something wrong with me. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:17.600 Then I got around other people that were really honest, as believers, godly, godly men, who kind of looked at me and said, No, that's that's part of it. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.440 It is sweeter, but there's days of low, low, lowness. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.600 And I learned that at the barber shop. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:29.200 Because there was a man there that cut hair and he had a hula girl tattooed on his forearm. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:32.720 And he'd come up to me and he'd go, hey boy, you want to see that woman dance? 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:33.440 Mm-hmm. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:42.799 When I became a believer, I would still go to the barbershop and they would uh sit around and critique the sermon like most of you do at lunch. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.159 What are you having today? 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:46.240 We're having fried preacher for lunch. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:52.320 Uh and I remember Doyle McClung, a brother rocked a flat top and he had butchwax. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:54.000 And he would whoa whoa-whoa. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.240 I mean, you could bounce a quarter off that thing. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:05.440 And I remember him cutting hair and they were all, yeah, and and and he just said, Hey, you know, every day is not sweeter than the day before, but it ends well. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:14.559 And that that resonated with me more than the choir up there singing, every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.720 And the pan player, Tom, tam, tam. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.639 And I was like, I am not going to participate in this lyrical lie. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:27.360 Winter is a time of dormancy where God kind of wings us from this unbiblical thought. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:31.679 It slows us down by reminding us that we can't control everything. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:42.159 That's why yesterday when I got up and I was like, oh, it reminds us that there's somebody bigger in the world, and his plan is probably better than your plan for your life. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.720 Winter is a time of dormancy. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:49.679 It's about the absence of light, the absence of God, and the absence of friends. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.320 And so if you're not in winter, you will be. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:54.720 You've been there before and you will be there again. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.279 So the first thing about winter, it's a time of dormancy. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.120 Secondly, it's a time of death. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:00.399 It's a time of death. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.080 You're like, is this getting any better? 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:03.440 You lean over to your wife. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.600 Do you have any Prozac in your purse? 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:07.759 No, stay with me. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:08.559 Stay with me. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:09.840 And here's why. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:16.480 Because there are things, there's revelation that God gives in each season that He doesn't give in other seasons. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:20.879 There's things about yourself and God and the faith that you can only learn in winter. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.960 And here's how you know you're not fully aware to what season you're in. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.000 You have the same answer to every spiritual question. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:36.960 Because you're not received in winter and in spring and in summer and in fall. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.799 You're just kind of like, hey, man, you just gotta trust Jesus. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:42.879 Got to cut back on your caffeine. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:44.559 Have you worked out lately? 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:46.639 Have you shut up lately? 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:48.639 You annoy me. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:53.679 I said that to a friend of mine last time I was in winter because he wanted to fix me. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:55.919 He drove over here to meet with me. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.480 Hey, bro, you sounded down on the phone the other day. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.480 I wasn't down, just kind of I get wintry about three, maybe four times a year. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.879 Well, what can I do to help you? 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.399 You can stop talking. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.200 Number one, shut your mouth. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.559 And because he's a preacher, he couldn't do it. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.559 Well, you got a Bible, I want to show you some passages. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:19.759 Oh, oh. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.919 I got a stack of Bibles, and if you open one, I'm gonna hit you. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:26.799 Because I'm in winter. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.639 Winter's also a time of death. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:32.559 Things die in winter, so they can come to life in spring. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.720 Jesus himself testifies to this in John chapter 12. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:41.200 He says, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.840 But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:45.600 That happens in spring. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.559 And you see even more evidence in the summer. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.759 But in winter, the seed falls to the ground and dies. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.919 In winter, you should ask yourself this question: what needs to die in me? 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.879 What needs to die in me? 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:04.399 Some of what needs to die in us is the immature insistence that we always feel good. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.679 The immature insistence that we always be happy, clappy, bright. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:16.559 People need to see that we go through difficulty and God's still good and faithful. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.840 That we don't get our way and yet that's okay. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:23.200 Winter is a time of death. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:29.279 When you find yourself in winter, ask yourself, what needs to, do I just need to let die off? 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.519 Winter's where you find out where your friends are. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:38.240 And sometimes when you're in winter, your friendships, you'll realize there's some friendships you've had that they've come as far as they're gonna go. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.279 Like here, here's how I know who my friends are. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.519 People that know me, understand me. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.159 When we're in a social setting and I'm not talking, they don't ask me if I feel bad. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.639 People that don't know me, if I'm not being the life of the party, they come over to me and go, hey man, you feel bad? 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:56.480 No, I'm I'm great. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:56.879 Why? 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:03.279 Well, I mean, usually, I mean, you're like, on Sundays, you're like funny and stuff, and you're just kind of sitting over here drinking coffee. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.680 Who told you this was coffee? 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:10.319 But I digress. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.319 But my friends, they just look at me and go, hey, you need anything? 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:25.200 One lady said to me one time, I was at their house, and I just I just was in, I was just, and and and she said, we get ready to leave, and she said, Hey, let me just say, thanks for just being yourself. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.319 When you come to my home, you don't have to be on all the time. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:32.160 I was like, thanks. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.279 My wife was like, Great, six more weeks of winter, here we go. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:42.319 Third thing about winter, winter is a time of deep feeding. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.920 Winter's a time of deep feeding. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:50.000 I was talking to a landscape uh plant friend of mine this week, and he's he told me, he said, I said, What happens to plants in winter? 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:54.000 He said, Well, they they go dormant, they're deciduous, and I was like, deciduous? 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.720 That's an SAT word, I'll use that. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.359 Leaves fall off and the limbs stop growing. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.720 He said, But you do the deep root feeding in the winter because your roots go down deep in the winter. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:07.599 I just kind of smiled. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.079 He's like, Why are you so excited about that? 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:20.799 Yeah, and I thought about Colossians chapter 2, about verse 6 and 7, where he says, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him rooted and built up. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:25.839 See, the Christian life is seasonal by nature because God knows there has to be a balance. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.079 You have to be rooted and you have to be built up. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:39.759 You can't just be built up and built up and built up and built up and built up because pretty soon, if everything about you is external, the size of your life is going to tip over the underdeveloped nature of your root system. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.319 Winter is a time of deep root feeding. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:45.519 It's deep feeding. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:46.640 So, what do you mean? 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.519 Doctrine is your friend in winter. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:51.759 I know that doesn't sound sexy. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.759 It's a time for old things, not new. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.480 You don't need stimulation, you need education. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:58.240 You need to think about some things. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:04.880 Like this past week, almost every day I just told myself, I'm gonna think about a doctrine. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:14.400 A doctrine is a is a truth, it's a belief that the church has held because the Bible teaches, like for me this past week, I just kind of meditated on the doctrine of original sin. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:16.400 That's sexy, isn't it? 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:18.880 You look down like, you need to get cable. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:29.759 Yeah, and so every day, not all day, I didn't walk around, let's ponder the mystery of original sin, but I was just kind of at one point just settle myself down and think about the doctrine of original sin. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.720 Got a legal pad and just kind of wrote out kind of kind of some thoughts that begin to kind of gel in my head. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:36.720 And here's one of the things I wrote down. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:46.640 How many people can you know who were born incapable of going to heaven and call yourself loving them or even caring about them and not share the gospel with them? 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:57.680 Because the doctrine of original sin says, teaches that, because the Bible teaches this, like in Romans 5, it says, just as sin entered into the world through one man and all became sinners. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:11.920 Yeah, the Bible says because teaches because Adam and Eve sinned, that your nature was affected, and you and I were born by nature sinners, and when we got the old enough to exercise the freedom of choice, by choice we sinned as well. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:16.640 And so our our life was a reflection of our nature. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:21.680 And man is born incapable of going to heaven. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:29.359 And so, if you believe the doctrine of original sin, how much do you have to hate somebody and sit there and watch them go through life? 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:33.119 Like I have friends of mine, they're like, well, you know, I think man is inherently good. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:36.799 And so I just say, okay, great, what do you do with Eric Frain? 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:40.400 You say, who's Eric Frain? 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:47.440 He's the guy in Pennsylvania who shot those two two state troopers and then went out and camped out in the woods for 28 days, how long, until they caught him. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:56.160 If man is inherently good, see, here's why you should have some doctrines, you should have some things that are deep in the core of your being that you believe that you'll never change your mind about. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:02.640 Not because you're narrow-minded, not because you're a fundamentalist, not because you're right wing or whatever they're saying on CNN these days. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.160 Just because it's what the Bible says, and that settles it for you. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:14.880 Because either you embrace the doctrine of original sin or you have to blame God for all the wrong you see in the world. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:21.680 Because the Bible says with original sin, when they sinned, sin entered into the world. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.920 And not only is sin in people, but creation is under the curse of sin. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:33.039 Matter of fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8, the creation groans like a woman in the pangs of childbirth. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:40.079 And all this is because I would just kind of sit and think about the doctrine of original sin. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:42.960 Someone called me on my cell phone, a friend of mine from out of state. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:44.720 He said, Hey man, am I catching at a bad time? 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:47.519 I said, I'm just meditating on the doctrine of original sin. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:49.119 I'll call back. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:50.640 No, we can talk. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.480 No, you sound like you're really compressed. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.799 You might need me to say something compressed. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:56.720 Nah, I'll catch you tomorrow. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:57.599 Click. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:58.480 Okay. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.720 Say, what do you mean? 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:06.799 See, here's my fear that we've impaled the doctrine of original sin on our cowardice and called ourselves liberated. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:14.079 So we ask the question, in other words, like, oh, well, I because I don't want to share the gospel, I've got to deny the doctrine of original sin. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:20.960 And so we ask, when, by the way, when anybody asks the question, well, what about the guy in Africa who's never heard the gospel? 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.839 What about the nice lady on my street who loves everybody? 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.920 I mean, she just she's not very religious. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.279 She didn't believe in Jesus, but she makes cookies for all the kids. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:33.680 A person that says that is a person who's lost the doctrine of original sin. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:40.720 And without the doctrine of original sin, you don't need heaven, you don't need hell, you don't need the gospel, you don't even need a savior. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:41.920 You don't even need Jesus. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:42.400 Why? 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:44.400 Because what's he saving you from? 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:48.960 You don't need the cross, you've you begin to tick off the list. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.599 You say, man, you're making a big deal out of that. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:52.480 See, here's my fear. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.640 This is what we've done with doctrine as a whole. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:57.119 We've substituted the word community. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.160 Now, let me just say this before I go any further. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:05.119 I pastor this church, and we have four core values, one of which is community. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.920 So I'm practicing what I preach here, okay? 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:15.119 I'm not making fun of community, but community is not just us sitting around on couches, just buffing each other with affirmation cream, looking to find friends. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:21.200 Community is not, the church does not exist for single people to come look around and go, hey, do you have a singles ministry? 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:25.759 Because I'm kind of 26 and I want to get married, and it's your job to find me a husband. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:27.039 No, it's not. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:30.160 No, you're in the wrong place for that. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:31.359 Do I want you here? 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:37.279 Absolutely, but when did you get to consume the church upon your midlife crisis? 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:44.240 See, what we've done is we instead of doctrine, we've cut the buzzword now, it's community. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:45.680 All church is about community. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.400 It's about community, it's about finding friends. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.839 So much so that some of you parents say, Well, it's really important that my kids go to church where their friends go to church. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.519 And I say, No, it's not. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:59.039 And they look at me like, well, why do you say that? 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.200 Your kids are with their friends seven hours a day at school. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:07.759 If it was so important they go to church with their friends, the school would be a place of revival. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:09.839 Have you been to your kids' school lately? 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:16.720 Now, because in community we don't really have heart dialogue. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.200 It's kind of like, hey, I'm good, you good, you good. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.559 Hey, is there more of that cheesecake? 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:22.079