Faith-Struggles

thank you pastor amen praise the lord everyone it's great to see you all here this evening thank you for coming and if it was announced in advance we would be here thank you for coming anyway so i appreciate it's good to see your faces uh greetings from my entire family you just heard the rundown i bring greetings it's good to see you i was in southern california last month and i told them it's uh it's nice to see familiar eyes and hairlines it's good now to see familiar faces amen amen so grateful for this congregation and what it means to our family of course we recognize pastor and sister willaford and we don't refer to them as pastor because they are a fellow pastor we don't refer to them as pastor because they are the pastor here we refer to them as pastor because they are our pastor we continue to look to them and depend on them they were

on business in seattle in april and we begged them to stay over for some pastoral counseling my wife and i needed some counseling and we're surrendered to them submitted to them i haven't made any major changes systematically or process wise in our congregation without running it by him first what do you think when they're there we invite a temperature setting how does it feel what's going on what do you think am i missing anything because as he mentioned for 14 15 years this congregation this leadership nurtured our family and tutored our family and cared for our family and provoked and challenged and inspired our family and so for me to be here just for a service tonight is an amazing treat and we love you folks tremendously and so very grateful and as was also mentioned i wouldn't know any of you without my dear friend pastor nathan rieber he took a risk and gave a job to a young

man from ohio and it changed the trajectory of our ministry opportunity and i'll forever be grateful that you took a chance on us amen amen i'm gonna share the word of the lord for a little while this evening and uh in conclusion i will invite us to pray and we'll just see what happens i'm going to share some things years ago when i was involved in running district youth camps one of the preachers came through and he said every year i throw out my messages and i start all over again and i always bring fresh manna wow i wish i had that many ideas but i do bring something this evening that is new in my heart and mind and god has been working me over i spent the early part of this year reading and re-reading and revisiting the prophet jeremiah jeremiah was alone in his conviction among a godless nation an unbelieving and rebellious nation i'm not certain

how things are here anymore in st louis but where i live in the great pacific northwest it's the heartbeat of godlessness and so i was pursuing jeremiah to figure out the message and the thought and the call and i'm gonna combine a little of that you'll get a little jeremiah tonight and i've also been now recently in the book of hebrews so hebrews 11 and verse number one hebrews 11 1 scripture says now faith is the substance or assurance of things hoped for thank you the evidence the conviction of things not seen faith is the substance or the assurance of things hoped for the evidence or the conviction of things not seen i want to talk to you for a little while tonight about faith struggles faith struggles as a one-word hyphenated entity faith struggles you may be seated due to a variety of elements regular people like you and i bring expectancies into our experiences i came here tonight

with some expectancies of who i would see and who i would chat with if you you knew i was going to be here tonight we've had a history you came here with some expectancies for this service when we meet someone new we have expectancies for how they're going to respond how that exchange is going to take place when we we visit a new place we've got ideas about the outcomes we think we should enjoy we begin a new job we bring expectancies for the role we're filling and the roles of our co-workers i remind us that it's amazingly difficult to enter into any new circumstance completely neutral because wherever we go whatever we do we always bring ourselves with us so let me pose this question and we'll chew on this a little bit tonight what happens when reality doesn't measure up to expectancy reality doesn't measure up to expectancy how do we react when there's a gap between those

two what happens when that amazing bundle of joy that we brought home from the hospital nursery turns into an independent thinking fifteen-year-old how do we react when that awesome person with whom we've exchanged vowels no longer displays the traits or actions that inspired that wedding how do we feel when the wonderful new boss of a couple of years back has now for the third time denied our promotion do we have questions we confused is there disappointment is there frustration do we face loss and anger how do we react when reality doesn't measure up to our expectancies sometimes there's no response sometimes the gap is so minimal that we're able to ignore it here's what i hoped for here's what happened we can live without it sometimes we've built sufficient faith in the person or the situation to fill that gap our experience is proven that while there is a gap that person hasn't acted that way before we don't expect

those kinds of actions or situation this is an anomaly and we can live with the gap at other times the gap is large enough that our current faith is insufficient there are times when the gap becomes too large to ignore and then i'm asking what now when that gap opens up and i don't have the faith to fill that gap what happens when facing that gap sometimes we retreat we back away from the person we back away from the situation some people leave jobs some of us abandon relationships game over we retreat there's another type of response that we can engage in sometimes we confess and discover when there's a gap if it's in a relationship and there's a gap between expectancy and reality we go to that person and we confess the distance we go to the person responsible for the circumstance and we confess the gap that we're experiencing we have a conversation with the boss about no

promotions we talk to our spouse about his or her changes in behavior but more than confessing our concerns we also discover more about the person or more about the situation what's the boss think i need to do to improve and secure that promotion i desire has my spouse been aware that uh the changes of his or her actions are there reasons for the changes in those actions so when response is required we might confess and discover and with that information then we might adapt we can choose to learn from the confession and the discovery and we find faith to fill the gap we continue in the relationship or the situation we learn more about ourselves or more about others and we choose faith to move forward some spouses grow through the gap and they build faith in their marriage they renew actions to fill the gap some employees take the boss's evaluations to heart some find that the boss takes

the employee's concerns to heart sometimes it works both ways whatever the case we adapt our expectations to become closer to reality and we get a new perspective of our reality and it it narrows the gap such that faith can fill the gap and we go forward well this is a historically well taught biblically founded church you've perhaps jumped ahead of me already what happens about god expectancies do we come to god with preconceived notions of what he should do and how he should respond and what we're holding him accountable for and what happens to our faith when reality doesn't measure up with god expectancy what happens when here's the way i figured he would act and what he would do and here is my experience this is where i'm living what happens when that gap comes into play now perhaps that's never happened to you or perhaps you're completely unaware or deceiving yourselves we get this idea what happens when

they don't measure up sometimes that gap again is minimal what i expected of god what i'm living right now the gap is small no big deal i can ignore it or you know what i've got sufficient faith i know god i've walked this path i've been in circumstances and right now this is my reality this is my expectancy and i know god will fill the gap i've got faith to fill that gap everything is going to be fine but there are times when that gap becomes large enough that our current faith is insufficient to fill the gap there are times when the gap is too much for our existing faith and that's when we encounter faith struggles look at first peter chapter 4 and verse number 12. first peter 4 12. dear friends i like how he sets us up by saying friends now here comes the punch don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as

if something strange were happening to you you see what i'm saying he sets you up dear friends and then he's got this smart aleck tone right don't be surprised at fiery trials like something strange and bizarre and wild is happening to you instead now here's where it gets weird instead in verse 13 be very glad i don't in this moment i don't sense anybody gonna stand with a hanky and wave it and run a lap peter said instead be very glad these trials make you partners with christ in his suffering so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world can i just remind us of something here this evening as we are designed to mature physically and emotionally and intellectually we are designed to mature spiritually faith maturity is just as natural just as expected as physical maturity and faith testing life events are points of growth in every

disciples life i'm here just to put it out there faith struggles are legit and they're going to happen it's part of the god stretching that he is intentionally doing and allowing in every life we recognize in scripture there are others that face faith struggle psalm 73 asaph is the author listen to this truly god is good to israel to those whose hearts are pure there's his god expectancy god's good to the israel and people whose hearts are pure good people get good stuff look at verse two here's his faith struggle confession but as for me i almost lost my footing my my feet were slipping and i was almost gone why was that happening verse 3 because i envied the proud when i saw them prosper despite their wickedness y'all with me here's the god expectancy here's the reality and asaph is saying i got a gap here and i'm about to lose it i'm not sure i've got some

issues i got a i've got a faith struggle going on because what i expected of god and what i'm living in god it ain't making any sense to me right now job is the classic for faith struggles job 29 verses 2 to 6 i love this language and phrasing i long for the years gone by when god took care of me when he lit up the way before me and i walked safely through the darkness when i was in my prime god's friendship was felt in my home the almighty was still with me and my children were around me my steps i love this my steps were a wash in cream and the rocks gushed olive oil for me that's in there for all the foodies in the house job is going through the loss of everything what's he saying he's saying where was my god expectancy what about the way it used to be and what i'm living right

now he goes on like that for the rest of chapter 29 on and on and in other verses perhaps jeremiah here's what gets me going as vocal he was probably as vocal as any about his faith battles he's known for lamenting or what we'll talk about in a minute confessing his challenges jeremiah 4 19 my heart my heart i writhe in pain my heart pounds within me i cannot be still for i have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries waves of destruction roll over the land until it lies in complete desolation suddenly my tents are destroyed in a moment my shelters are crushed how long must i see the battle flags and hear the trumpets of war he's a prophet he is preaching deliverance he is preaching the return of god's kingdom for the israelites someday he's the one voicing the god expectancies yet here he's saying here's my reality and how long

is that gap going to exist no wonder peter writes decades later dear friends don't be surprised at the fiery trials you were going through as if something strange were happening to you our situations in this room vary and at times of life they vary but we face faith struggles just like these asaph job and jeremiah come on people who have watched god heal others who have themselves been healed previously then succumb to illness too soon in our estimation there's a gap what about those who faithfully tithe and support missions and help the needy with their excess then suffer a job loss or a career setback what about people who pray sincerely about close relationships and then discover the person they married is imperfect what about god sought children that are dearly loved but can be tough to manage in the day-to-day sincere people come to god for deliverance of destructive habits that they are feeling the guilt of and the

burden of and the challenge of and the conviction of and they want god to deliver them but in reality they continue to battle and struggle and they are not completely delivered by the hand of god what what happened surely as these biblical characters we can join in and say wait a minute here i prayed about this it's not supposed to work out this way where is god in all of this and in each of these case we face these faith struggles and i pose the question will we believe god when there are gaps in america it's incredibly easy for disciples to operate under the expectation that the lord jesus exists to make us happy the role of the savior is to make us happy now jesus he's not against happiness but our individual happiness is not his goal aim and target it's not why he came he came to seek and save that which was lost not to come and

make people happy his goal is redemption and then to transition through sanctification till we are complete in him it's a lifelong process he wants to return us to the perfection of his original creation in adam that's what he came that's what he's all about he's trying to extend redeem a relationship and deepen a relationship and extend the god development in every life that's what he's about are there times of happiness and periods of happiness absolutely but some think jesus is mostly about happiness and that's not true let me ask you do people get great jobs or buy fine homes with the help of god sure they do but but do people get great jobs and buy fine homes without the help of god oh there is that yeah that happens does does the lord want his best for me absolutely yes he does but then is is my idea of a great job and a nice house the same as

god's idea of a great job and a nice house maybe for disciples then i have to ask are all better jobs and nicer homes god's planned for us not necessarily what's your point preacher we can believe that a situation is best when god didn't provide it perhaps he's merely allowed it perhaps he's not involved in it any whatsoever because some seem to think that if it makes me happy then it must be god and that's not true and here's the dangerous flip side of that false conviction if jesus exists to make me happy then if i'm not happy he's abandoned me and if i'm not happy he doesn't love me that's the flip side of that problem if i'm unhappy then god is taken off now that thinking is a problem because god doesn't exist to serve us we exist to serve him as pastors tim and kathy keller observe if we believe in god only when he is doing

great things for us we are not really serving him we are only using him reflecting on asaph psalms psalm 73 that we read just a few moments ago they write the psalmist concludes that a good life has not brought him wealth or freedom from troubles that was his expectancy and therefore his good life has been in vain but this unmasks his heart asaph's obedience was not a way of pleasing god but rather a means of getting god to please him they go on to write when we say to god i'll serve you only if this happens then it's this that we love and god is just a necessary apparatus for obtaining it in every difficult circumstance if we would tune in we might hear god saying this to us now we're going to see if you came to me to get me to serve you or those that you could serve me again i hear the words of peter dear

friends don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you hear me when faith is tested when faith struggles and soon how are we going to respond what do we do when that gap broadens beyond our current level of faith i think we witnessed it quite a bit in the last 12 to 15 months what will happen in people's lives because we brought the american expectancy of ease and happiness and people who thought being a good christian means it'll be an easy american we're no longer able to follow christ because they saw him as servant to them rather than themselves as servant to him so when faith is tested some people they retreat when expectancy of god and reality don't measure and faith hasn't filled the gap some people back away from congregational engagement and disappear some pull back from discipling relationships they stop answering phone calls replying to emails or

text messages they retreat some step away from reading the bible and studying the word some hide out in other activities well it's not that i don't want to be a church but i'm engaged in this activity or that activity and i'm going to this place and they're really retreating from faith when current faith falls short some retreat and allow doubt to prevail you've been around christ a long time you've been following a long time perhaps you've seen people maybe you've been the person who seems to have a yo-yo relationship with christ find the lord come in fired up for three months six months 12 months following christ always excited and then all of a sudden there's a retreat disappearance three months six months a year later they come back around and they're stepping in again there's new fire there's new emotion there's new strength and they're back in for a few months for a short time and then all of

a sudden retreat they're backing away again you see this yo-yo effect coming back and forth here's what's happening every time they get to the place where the lord says all right reality and expectancy is going to widen it's time for your faith to grow they're not able to fill with that extra faith it's a maturity mark it's a maturity element they come up against that same growth space and say no and they walk away and their heart begins to get hungry again for god and they come back thinking this time when i talk to jesus it'll be different he won't want me to grow like he did before he won't expect me to expand like he did before and it'll be easier this time around they pray through in an altar thank god for that and they begin to feel the presence and power again thank god for that but they get into the power and the word and the

spirit starts to draw on them and they say nope i'm not growing that far and back and forth and back and forth because here's what that person has stopped learning they don't understand that our points of maturity don't change only how we respond to them can change and in that time we're struggling in these faith gaps the enemy wants to fill those gaps with doubt and confusion and we have to choose what voice will influence us the most the voice of doubt or the voice of faith and so the hebrew writer pens faith is the substance the assurance of things hoped for the evidence the conviction of things not seeing faith is what fills the gap faith says this is what i know god to be here's where i'm living but i'm all right with that gap because faith has filled it's my assurance it's my confidence it's my evidence it's my conviction some can retreat but others say you

know what if that gap has opened up beyond my current faith here's what i'm going to do i'm going to go back to the faith-building practices that brought me this far and during struggles i'm not going to retreat i'm not going to deny god i'm not going to let my feet slip no i'm going to build more faith i'm going to accept the maturity challenge and i'm going to add to my faith and so in faith struggles we increase our faith through confession and discovery confession is acknowledging the gap now we don't go around complaining to other people about god that's not confession we go to god and complain right to him scripture says when you have ought against someone you go to that person same deal with god if god is disappointing us right now we don't go to friends family you go to god hey um this is not right tell god preacher that i don't know look

at jeremiah 15 10. then i said what sorrow is mine my mother oh that i had died at birth i'm hated everywhere i go i am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose no a borrower who refuses to pay yet they all curse me there's his god expectancy i am living upright in business i am cheating anybody i'm not doing anything wrong but my reality stinks i shouldn't have even been born you know who he's telling that to god look at this one jeremiah 20 verse 7 oh lord you misled me well that's pretty direct i allowed myself to be misled you're stronger than i am you overpowered me and now i am mocked every day everyone laughs at me well that's pretty open isn't it that's pretty now he didn't go tell the whole city that he didn't gather together the other prophets he didn't get other disciples he didn't get somebody that he's been working with he didn't

get his family and children together and start griping about god he went to god he said i got a gap here i don't understand what's going on take your struggles to the lord when we have a gap and we will when we see that i don't have enough faith to fill that we start by talking to god be straight with him well preacher i'll just tell you how it is i don't feel like praying well this preacher going to tell you how it is your feelings are lying your feelings are lying paul made it clear in philippians 4 6 don't worry about anything instead pray about everything tell god what you need thank him for all he's done then you will experience god's peace which exceeds anything we can understand his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in christ jesus if we'll go to him in prayer we'll confess what's going on it's amazing what happens

in our attitude in our spirit well i i don't feel like it and i don't feel like it business i could preach another whole sermon on it but i will give you just a short bit is that all right hebrews 10 24 let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do but encourage one another especially now that the day of his return is drawing near one another those words we find the sharing and the receiving of christian community we see the the give and take in discipling relationships together i am motivated by you and i have opportunities to be motivating to you when we're together i'm encouraged by you and have opportunity to encourage you as it presents itself these benefits exist as we engage each other as we build and maintain relationships my words are helpful to you and your words

are helpful to me my story is helpful to you your story's helpful to me my words challenge you your words challenge me we get a faith struggle we get a faith gap here's the kind of things that maybe cross our minds boy i could use some extra inspiration right now i'd like to grow but it'd be easier if somebody worked with me and helped me i know i need to mature but sometimes i lack enthusiasm and at times i don't have the drive i need now and then i i could use a little more fire for discipleship or or maybe you've thought like this you know what i feel like i'm just not good enough i i've messed up too many times my my situation is holding me back from further development you know it's tough to move forward i don't feel like i can i feel unable i feel unworthy there's part of me that wants to grow but

i'm afraid i'm going to fail those are real thoughts that exist in real minds like people in you and i and evidently they existed in that hebrew audience because the writer said hey y'all need to motivate one another you need to encourage one another you need to spend time together because there will be faith gaps there will be times you don't feel like praying you don't feel like being engaged you don't feel like being in the word but it's the people of god that encourage one another and and inspire one another and and motivate one another and people who retreat leave the very thing that could help them succeed in fact the writer said think of ways to do that think of ways to motivate and encourage think of ways share your experiences good and bad we just read scripture of bad experiences you know what that made me feel like well they were human back then too motivating encouraging

one another that amazing blessing no wonder the author says don't neglect meeting together because when you're isolated you don't get those powerful benefits think of ways to accomplish those things like to ask questions i'm going to fire off a bunch of them all right so you just hang on in what ways are we consistently discussing our discipleship with fellow believers who stirs up our god thoughts who challenges our god assumptions i got this god expectancy i share that with somebody else am i trusting somebody to say you know what that ain't the proper god expectancy how often do we allow others to remind us of scripture that we may have forgotten or overlooked or even never knew about how do we invite evaluation of our deals how do we welcome biblical spiritual challenge not like we're looking for a fight not to prove superior order but to discover what's best for our lives when where and with whom are we

having faith discussions and are we thinking up ways to accomplish this a little food for thought beyond confession beyond one another we want to discover more about the lord of glory we need to evaluate our expectancies through correct insight and understanding of god first corinthians 14 paul wrote to that church brethren do not be children in understanding however in malice be babes but in an understanding be mature you know what's healthy it's healthy for disciples to know this our god knowledge is not perfect it's healthy for disciples to know our god knowledge is incomplete and i need more understanding of him i need more development in him i need to figure it out more i don't have it all memorized i don't have it all figured out i need more understanding of him if we don't constantly pursue growth and we get lazy and fall away here's what could happen romans 1 21 this is the other end of the

spectrum yes they talking about the wicked they knew god but they wouldn't worship him as god or even give him thanks you know that is that's retreat and they began to think up foolish ideas of what god was like as a result their minds became dark and confused the wicked started defining god their own way rather than pursuing and receiving his divine revelation how many of you have had a conversation with somebody at work or a neighbor and they say i think god this or that and you're thinking that's crazy if you don't have those discussions i know a city where you can people have wacky ideas about god ridiculous concepts of how he should act and what he should do and what he approves and what he validates they are in no way biblically founded you know what they have decided i don't need any more god understanding i'll define god and when they do they come up with

foolish ideas and their minds become dark and confused instead in colossians paul said we've not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you we ask god to give you complete knowledge of his will give you complete spiritualism and understanding then the way you live will always honor and please god your lives will produce every kind of good fruit all the while you will grow as you learn to know god better and better there's no disciple that's arrived at the perfect knowledge and understanding of christ it is our call each and every one to keep our noses buried in the book to keep our ears open to the word of the lord in fact paul told the romans faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god we build faith not just by being around other people not just by confessing there's a gap but when there's a gap you say i don't understand what's god's doing

then we get in the word and we hear the word and we discuss the word and we find the scriptures because our faith is built in the word here's my math teacher days coming out in me god's word and faith struggles are inversely proportional you increase god's word you decrease faith struggles you decrease god's word you increase faith struggles god's word transforms our minds gives us right god expectancies and it corrects those expectancies and makes them legitimate and the word of god changes our perspective even of our realities and what i see that i'm going through i got this idea of it when i read the word of god i get another idea and it it changes the gap and it fills the gap by faith and a final thing we build our faith by confession we build our faith by the encouragement of others we build our faith by discovery and we build our faith by the holy spirit

galatians 5 the holy spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness living by faith is empowered by the holy spirit if you're in the sound of my voice in the room or online and you've not received the free gift of the holy spirit let me tell you step number one you need to receive the power of god in you to have the benefits of the fruit you have to first take possession and reception of the fruit be filled with the holy spirit but then i i ring a bell of reminder today to god's spirit-filled people when we make it recognize a faith struggle and the gap widens beyond our current faith can i remind us we need to engage the power of the holy spirit we need to engage the benefit of the holy spirit writing on that empowerment first corinthians paul said well then what shall i do i will pray

in the spirit i will also pray in words i understand listen to me when we pray in the spirit it's not to change our reality and make it come up to god's expectancy it's not some magic kind of prayer that all of a sudden is going to change my reality no no no no what i'm doing when i pray in the spirit is saying god work on me filled my faith fill in that gap i can live in this reality by your power i can live in this reality by your anointing by the power of the holy spirit we pray in the spirit we want his immersion and his saturation and we ought to expect faith that we need stand with me i want to read this final passage and we're going to pray a minute in romans 15 the apostle paul penned these words i pray that god the source of hope will fill you completely with joy and

peace because you trust in him then you will over flow with confident hope through the power of the holy spirit you'll overflow in confident hope by the power of the holy spirit overflow preacher you don't know my circumstance i expected god to do this i heard this i prayed this i felt this somebody gave me a word i'm not invalidating any of that i got this god expectancy right here here's my reality preacher and my faith isn't anywhere close this one's knocked me for a loop i only have answers for this one the bible says the spirit gives you hope and confidence overflowing not just enough to fill the gap more than enough to fill the gap more than enough to keep us going when we need to have that fill more than enough in this house right now if you've got some faith struggle going on i want you to raise your hand and begin to talk to the

lord i want you to invite the holy spirit to saturate your mind and your heart and your life and your family whatever it is that you got a faith struggle happening i want you to invite a spirit overflowing faith to happen right now if you're not in the middle of a faith struggle i want you to get a hold of god for the people around you i want you to call on the name of the lord that as he has given you faith in times past he will hand it out right now to brothers and sisters around you to fellow disciples nearby come on come on mom and dad the spirit is here to move in our faith struggle the holy ghost is here to make a difference in that don't think it's strange don't think something odd has happened this is a moment of faith maturity this is a moment of spiritual development this is a moment where god

is saying it's time to grow i'm here with you i've given you the tools i have what you need look to me trust me come on mom come on young mom you're doing the right thing god sees what's happening husbands and wives come on the lord knows exactly where you're at he's just been waiting for you to adapt and to receive and to accept a growing moment in faith i want families nearby i want you to put your arm on one another put your hand on one another i want you to pray over one another right now i want you to speak faith into one another's lies if you're here by yourself tonight i want you just to do the best you can to pray for somebody near you i want you to think about someone near you i want you to pray that the lord would move in the name of jesus come on pray faith into lies right

now pray faith into your spouse pray faith into your kids pray faith into your husband and wife pray faith into your parents come on some of you got family that's not here tonight but you know they need faith in them they need a change they need something to happen would you pray for revelation would you pray for insight would you pray that the retreat stops and they turn and come back and there's no more yo-yoing there's no more back and forth there's no more disinterest there's no more blame in god and accusing god but instead there's confession and discovery and the fellowship of the brethren and the faith and motivation and encouragement of one another and allowing the spirit to invade our lives come on we're not here that he can serve us we are here to serve him we're here to embrace him we're here to follow him we're here to allow his transforming blood his cleansing power to

motivate inspire and direct i want you to hear me for a moment there is there's no fault there's no sin there's no error in confessing the gap i just feel like i don't have enough faith the enemy says you don't you bum walk away leave retreat we're human god knows it the writers of scripture the apostles knew it they saw it they said don't be surprised don't act like it's strange times the enemy that's where he gets his foothold he whispers from our shoulder into our ears oh your reality is pretty far from what you thought god would do you've been around god you've claimed to be a disciple and he fills in the blanks with some year you've been involved in this ministry you got a gap you profess this you got a gap the devil's such a lying punk don't gripe to people you're in a faith struggle it's fine to go to someone and say listen i'm

struggling right now i need some encouragement i need some motivation will you pray with me noth that's what should happen but don't go to your friends and family and your kids and your parents and start complaining about god go to god and complain about god he can handle it pastor before we move to seattle you know very well there was ministry transition in my life and confusion and things i didn't understand i'm a bit of a cyclist and i rode farm roads out in saint charles when i did some serious yelling at god those ears of corn heard some stuff people didn't hear nothing god never got mad at me never got mad at jeremiah he only got mad at job because job defended himself and claimed against god to the other people but when job took it to god he's got big shoulders he can handle it when we allow him he'll hear it get into his word let

me let me read something to you about how powerful this can be and i'll walk away and pastor will button this up in her book titled through the gates of splendor missionary elizabeth elliott wrote these words god is god if he is god he is worthy of my worship and my service i will find rest nowhere but in his will and that will is infinitely immeasurably unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to now on its own that's an amazing phrase but we have to understand that elizabeth elliott wrote that her missionary husband was killed by a tribe of ecuadorian tribe that he was trying to evangelize he's trying to proclaim the gospel and they killed him she penned those words and for two years she and others went back to that same tribe and shared the gospel and saw people impacted by jesus christ how in the world how in the world and we got folks

come on things in the last 12 15 months have been irritating and unsettling and confusing but nobody killed my spouse for the gospel here's what the writer of hebrews says hebrews 10 39 we are not like those who turn away from god to their own destruction we are the faithful ones whose souls will be saved it's the faithful ones whose souls will be saved won't always be easy won't always be smooth we won't always understand all the ins and outs but you know what the faithful ones say this god is god his ways are higher than my ways his thoughts are higher than my thoughts i'll never be able to fully define and describe but here's what i've decided i'mma fill that gap with faith i'm going to immerse myself in the people of god i'm going to look for motivation and encouragement i'm going to bury myself in the understanding of god's word i'm going to bury myself in

the immersion of the holy spirit and when he comes he's coming for me because i will be one of those faithful ones i will not retreat i will not run i will not back down i choose to be one of those faithful ones would you clap your hands under the lord yes yes yeah that's right clapping giving praise we give you praise god we give you praise we give you praise thank you lord hallelujah would you just lift your hand and let the lord know i'm going to be a faithful one just talk to him a little bit i want to be i'm determined i'm determined oh god we don't know everything that will come our way but we do know we have your word and we do know we have your spirit to depend upon and we do know that we can confess to you oh god thank you thank you thank you for your mercy thank you for

your mercy hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank god thank god