It's you, and it's you that we need. What a fire
we need. It's only a touch, not a whole thing.
It only takes a little bit. Let it start right
here in this city. These old walls will never
be the same. Over and over again. Thank you.
Thank you. I worship you. I worship you. You
are. I worship you. I worship you. my feet are
on the rock Are you washed in the blood of the
Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace? Are
you washed in the blood of the Lamb? You can...
blessings. It is one of the great blessings or
possibly one of the great challenges of my life
that I get to be in a church filled with beautiful
worship and wonderful musicians and singers and
then I have to get up and preach afterwards and
I'm usually like pretty emotional. So maybe that's
a great blessing because this message also means
a great deal to me today. We're going to dive
right in. Maybe get a little hoot or a little
holler as we say Luke chapter 24. Woo! We will
read briefly now the story of the discovery of
the empty tomb. Luke 24, beginning in verse 1,
says as follows. But on the first day of the
week at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing
the spices which they had prepared. And they
found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But
when they entered, they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus. So you recall, as we've studied
in recent weeks, these ladies have prepared for
this moment. They were intending to serve God.
They wanted to do what was right. It was about
justice for them. I submit to you that they're
a little off course. They're going to prepare
the body, and the body is not there, and they
don't expect to find the body not there. The
kind of spices that they would be using to prepare
that body would not necessarily be the kind of...
thing that you would use to prepare a body that
had come back to life, right? Rub, spice, normally
used for dead people and live people, they don't
appreciate it very much. But that's what they're
doing. They arrive at the tomb, but they did
not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Now in verse
4 it says, and it happened that while they were,
grab this word, perplexed, and your word might
be slightly different there, but it is a word
that means baffled. It's amazed, but beyond amazed,
it's frozen as if to inaction or not knowing
what to say or do next because of what they have
discovered. It says, and it happened while they
were perplexed about this. About what? About
the fact that the tomb was open and the body
was not in it. While they were perplexed about
that, behold, two men suddenly stood near them
in dazzling apparel. Notice that they were not
perplexed at the two men who suddenly stood near
them in dazzling apparel, but about what they
had already found. Verse 5. And as the women
were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground,
now in the face of these angels that they experienced,
they experienced something that the Bible would
call terror. They are blown away. When you encounter
an angel or you encounter someone who has come
to the presence of God, this is the natural response
because a bit of the presence of God lingers
on those who are in the presence of God. And
it will affect people, and it did affect them
with terror. And so they bowed their faces to
the ground. The men said to them, why do you
seek the living one among the dead? See, they,
as I said, were a little bit off course in their
thinking to prepare this dead body. Verse 6,
he is not here, but he has risen. Remember how
he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee,
saying that the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men. and be crucified,
and the third day rise again. And it is as if
these dazzling men are saying, and you know,
it is the third day. And you're coming to anoint
his dead body. Verse 8. And they remembered his
words, and returned from the tomb, and reported
all these things to the eleven. Remember they
were eleven, because by now Jesus has gone out
and hanged himself. They reported all of these
things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now
they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary
the mother of James. Also the other women with
them were telling these things to the apostles.
Verse 11. And these words appeared to them as
nonsense and they would not believe them. Now
there's two things to see real quick there. First
of all, it was not uncommon for a man to look
at a woman and she's speaking to him and for
him to say, these words are like nonsense. Women
didn't get a lot of credence in the society.
They could not testify, for example, in a court
of law. It was not legal for them to do so. If
a 10 -year -old boy back -talked his mother,
and his mother corrected him, and then the father
got involved, the father would side with the
boy. Because he was a boy. So understand, they
didn't have a lot of credence in the society,
so it was not uncommon for them to be taking
their testimony as nonsense. Secondly, it just
sounds crazy. if you don't understand what Jesus
is doing, to go to the tomb and for the stone
to be rolled away, for the body to be missing,
and they saw two angels there, or two men appearing
in dazzling white, and then to be told that he
would be amongst the living, not amongst the
dead. That's crazy. Verse 12, it says, But Peter
arose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking
in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went
away to his home, marveling at that which had
happened. not at the story necessarily that the
women had told him, or even necessarily yet that
Jesus is alive, but that the events that were
related to him through the women, and then that
he found the tomb empty and the cloth just laying
there. There's a few things I want you to see
from the text today. I could have gone a bunch
of different ways. In fact, I had about 11 points
at one time, and I wanted to kind of keep it
brief as we're really focusing on the resurrection
today, and so I began to shorten it down. And
I wasn't even 100 % sure until I got here this
morning. I was listening to God the best I could.
I wasn't even 100 % sure that the points I'm
sharing with you are indeed the ones that God
wanted me to focus on. But now, after worshiping
with you and the Holy Spirit speaking as we've
been here already today, I am absolutely certain
that what I'm about to say to you was hung down
to the exact things that God intended. The first
is, I want you to see that authority is not restrained
by existence. We understand this. The law does
not bear less weight on you because you did not
know the law. If you're speeding and a police
officer stops you, you say, well, I didn't know
the speed limit. He's still likely to give you
a ticket. You're still going to pay the fine.
You're going to still get points on your license.
And it goes on from there. If you don't know
the law, it does not mean that you are not subject
to the law. It just means that you are more likely
to fall under the negative effects of it because
you're likely to do that which you don't know
that you should not do and then be punished for
that which you did that you didn't know that
you should not do. The prophecies of God must
be fulfilled. You or my unawareness of the judgment,
for example, that we will face after death would
not change the fact that that judgment is coming.
Though people have experienced everything of
the living God they really know, his presence
and his character have been made known by that
which has been made. Even so, some try to deny
the reality of God's creative work, of his redemptive
plan, and to assist in that, in denying his redemptive
plan, in denying his creative work, they try
even sometimes to say that he does not exist.
But denying God's existence or his justice or
his wrath, his lordship, the judgment coming,
the second coming of Christ, denying any of that
will not change the fact because authority is
not restrained by ignorance. They went to the
tomb that morning ignorant that God would raise
Jesus from the dead that very day. It's clear
they were ignorant because they were anointing
him for his death, for his burial, not for his
resurrection. They went ignorantly, but the authority
of God did not halt or slow up or in any way
be restrained by their ignorance. A veil of ignorance
then removed will often leave a person stammering.
That moment that you find out something that
you did not know, sometimes it's like, oh! Now
what do I do? What do I do now? What do I say
now? Who can I even be now? Now that I have been
so betrayed or so dismayed or so surprised. That's
what happened for them and that left them perplexed.
And that same thing happens to people today.
At times things will happen that you didn't expect.
At times things will happen that catch you off
guard. And you're suddenly stuck. Suddenly hurting
in a way that you would not. expected. Perplexity,
then, is not the problem. In that moment where
you are perplexed, where you're stuck, don't
know how to go forward, how to be who you are,
what to do, what to say, that's not the problem.
Terror is not the problem. Being so afraid of
what might come next, not the problem. However,
in the moment, it does begin to feel like the
problem. We say, well, I can't fight. I'm not
big enough to overcome this. I can't run. Our
minds scramble for any way to make it stop. But
here's the problem. Perplexity, terror, like
we're describing, is at its very nature stopping.
That's what it is. It freezes you in your tracks.
And there's just one way to make stopping stop.
And that is to go. And so while we're looking
for a way to make what is happening to us stop,
that thing that is happening to us actually is
stopping, and there is only one way to make it
stop, and that is to go, to find purpose, to
honor God in one small way, for example, and
then to look for the next way as a logical extension
of that one. It is the character of the thing
that we do and the connectivity of the two things
and three and then four, the necessity of actions
flowing out of rebirth that makes the whole world
make sense again, and suddenly we are walking
by faith, not by sight. Perplexity is a word
that's becoming super common now. You can google
it and get billions of hits. Not billions, but
billions of hits. You know why? Does anybody
in the room know why perplexity is a word that's
becoming really common these days? Harder? You
know why? Anybody know? Say it again. Yeah. Well,
there is an AI named after it, but it's named
after it because of the reason. Perplexity is
how AI is rated. It is... It rates how well an
AI managed to know what the next logical word
is in a chain of words. So if you're typing a
sentence to AI and you leave out a sentence,
will the AI figure out what you meant? If you
give a command to AI and the AI is responding
to your command, will the AI line up the words
in a way that makes sense with your command and
with itself? That's the definition of perplexity.
It rates how well an AI manages to know the next
logical word in a chain of words. I submit to
you that it is also the same rating for people.
Sometimes for words as in, I just don't know
what to say. Under the circumstance, like, I
can't imagine what I can possibly say. I'm sorry
doesn't sound like enough. Or, I can't imagine
what I'm supposed to say. Your loved one died?
I'm here, but I just can't imagine. What I could
say that would be of any benefit. Sometimes it's
like that. We just say I just don't know what
to say But also in actions where we say I don't
know what to do. I'm not sure what to do about
this How do I overcome this problem? How do I
make this work out in a way? I mean our goal
should be that honors God But really we're talking
about survival about continuing in our own character
being who we are. What would Dan say? What what
would Dan do? This is why James the brother of
Jesus writes consider it pure joy when you face
all manner of trials and tribulations These actions
that are meant to cause us to falter They are
designed by the enemy and all of the enemies
of God to bring us to a halt When they actually
do bring us to a halt, they prepare us for a
time in the future when they will not bring us
to a halt. When you are hit by something you
completely did not expect and you're going, I'm
stuck, I'm stuck, I don't know how to go on.
And then you eventually submit to God, repent,
turn to God, let God do what it is that God wants
to do and start moving again. You become able
again to move when you're stuck. The next time
that happens to you, the next time that happens
to you, you're ready to go. You're like, oh,
I've been here before, I screwed this up before,
I stayed too long in this spot before, so now
I am prepared for this new thing that has come
to try to put me in that place again, and I will
not allow it. So each one that comes trying to
make us falter prepares us for the ones that
come after. And the enemy unwillingly strengthens
us. More. When these things fail to stop us,
when they fail to throw us into perplexity or
into terror, they declare to us and to everyone
who is looking at us to whom we belong and what
we are in Jesus. In the Bible, there is a theology,
if you will, a piece of doctrine that's called
the redemptive reversal of God. And it goes something
like this. Joseph and his brothers, they betrayed
him, threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery.
He gets betrayed a couple of other times. Ultimately
has the ability to punish them for what they
have done. His rise to power in Egypt, though,
saves entire nations from famine. And he famously
told his brother, you intended to harm me, but
God intended it for good to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives. The
story of Esther and Haman. Haman plotted a systematic
genocide of the Jews while they were stuck in
Persia, many of them. Through Esther's courage,
the plot was exposed. Haman was executed on his
own gallows, and the Jewish people were granted
inside that kingdom the right to defending themselves,
which gave them a great victory. The Babylonian
invasion was a brutal act of conquest meant to
destroy Israel's identity. However, God used
that to purge the nation of idolatry because
they were worshiping a bunch of false gods and
spread the seeds of monotheism, which means there
is only one God, across the known world of that
time, preparing the way for the gospel so that
Jesus could come and people all over the known
world could hear the gospel and be saved. The
persecution of the early church, Stephen was
first martyred on the steps of the temple after
he told them what they had done wrong in crucifying
Jesus, and a great persecution broke out around
Jerusalem and all Judea, which was intended to
crush Christianity, but instead it acted like
a bellows to a fire, scattering believers and
the message into Judea and Samaria, and churches
everywhere were started, and tens of thousands,
if not eventually hundreds of thousands of people
were saved in following Jesus. Now let us not
forget the crucifixion of Jesus. This is the
ultimate example where Satan and Judas and the
religious leaders and all the enemies of God
conspired to kill the Son of God, thinking they
had won. But the act of supreme evil was the
very mechanism that God used to provide eternal
salvation to humanity. This brings us to our
conclusion then already. I'm here to tell you
today that if you'll accept this truth, Perplexity
is on the ropes. It's on the way out. It's time
had already come. And with the death of Jesus
and all the life that has come after the rebirth,
the relife of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus,
perplexity is on the ropes. In the boxing ring
of life. perplexity may seem to have us backed
against the ropes. Like, I don't know what to
do. I don't know what to say. We feel the sting
of the situation, unmet expectations. We didn't
get what we were hoping for. But notice as Jesus,
just later in the same chapter in verse 21, is
walking with the disciples down the road to Emmaus.
He shows them that uncertainty does not get to
win the final round. God steps into confusion
and puts an end to it through three distinct
movements. And these are the ones you need to
take with you. These are the ones that you need
to use. These are the ones that will make you
strong and blessed in the kingdom of God. Hear
them. First of all, Jesus, God, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, walks with
us through trial. God does not shout directions
from a distance. He joins us. right in the midst
of the pain. Jesus drew near and walked with
the downcast disciples even while they were still
blind to His identity. He validates our journey
by being present in the walking before He ever
provides the knowing. I look back at when I was
not saved. And I could look, there is a moment
in time at which I prayed unknowingly, didn't
even know I was praying. I was talking to God
and didn't even know for sure that God was real,
but hoping that perhaps maybe there was something
out there that would benefit me in a very difficult
situation. And I look back now and I see miracle,
miracle, miracle. Times when I survived, when
I jumped my motorcycle over the road while I
was drunk, over the railroad tracks at over 100
miles an hour and left the ground and came down
with the steering wheel slightly sideways and
twisted down the road like a broken cyclone until
I finally leveled out and drove on at 35 miles
an hour and drove home and got sober. Moments
like that. My friends and I came around onto
East Broadway at a 85 mile an hour in the rain
and I lost and we went Oh about 600 degrees around
and around and around and stopped inches away
from the concrete pylon Moments like that when
I dated a young woman who was beautiful voluptuous
Whatever she could have been a bottom, but she
was working to be a bottle of magazines I spent
the night at her apartment over and over and
over again. But the first night I met her, I
prayed, Lord, don't get me out of this. Get me
through it. Even though I didn't believe in God,
I was turning a little charm on my neck. I said,
don't get me out of this, but get me through
it. I dated her for nine months, spent the night
at her apartment probably 50 times, and we never
had sex. There's no reason for that. God was
working in the circumstance of my life before
I ever came to East Little Baptist. The day that
I drove to East Little Baptist Church, the day
that I got saved, and it sounds hakey, but hokey,
but it's absolutely true. Alicia, in the car
seat, right? We're driving to East Little Baptist
Church, and I look out into the bar park, and
it is stormy, dark, and gray, and rain coming
down these sheets. But we're driving. It was
sunny. going down Woodville Road, passing Barland,
and it was sunny. Sun was shining on our car
and continued to all the way down East Broadway,
all the way down. We parked our car at the back
of the church. We got out, and as soon as we
went in the church doors, no sooner did we walk
with sun shining on us the whole time, and no
sooner did we walk in the church doors, we get
under the, they didn't have it over there, get
under the railing that they had there, and just
get inside, and you're here. And the rain pours.
God was watching over me and was watching over
you before you realized what God was doing. And
now you're saved and now you should not just
suddenly go, well, sometimes he's watching me,
sometimes he's not. No, God comes down, is with
you, walks with you in the trials. He does not
promise you will have none. He simply says he
will be with you throughout them all. God shows
us a future he has planned. Uncertainty thrives
when we can't see the why. We think, I don't
know why. That's the question people ask when
they lose a love, when they lose a job, when
they lose finances, they struggle. We say, why?
And that question might be meant to drive us
to learn something from it, to grow from it,
to overcome what is the way that God wants us
to go next. But a lot of times we just get stuck
there, feel perplexed, feel in terror, like we
can't understand why, how we can still be us
going forward after this experience. And uncertainty
thrives in that moment. But Jesus countered the
disciples' despair by opening the scriptures
as he walks with them in Luke 24, a little later
in this chapter. He explains to them all through
the Bible how it was meant to be like this. And
you have that too. You have your church, you
have the preaching, you have the teaching, you
have the Bible at your disposal. You can see
that the plan of your life was laid out and written
in incredible ways before you ever reached this
point. And this... Though you may not necessarily
understand why. I don't understand why. God's
ways are so far above our ways. This is part
of God's plan. God was showing them by opening
the scriptures, showing them that the suffering
they witnessed wasn't a detour. It was the road
map. As I said, when things come into your life
that are difficult, they make you better able
to... Don't you understand? There are additional
generations that have to come. If Jesus doesn't
come again, we will have... Children. And our
children will have children, and our children's
children will have children. And for as long
as we are alive, we must show persistence in
Christ and faithfulness on the earth, and then
teach our children, and our children's children,
and our neighbor's children, because they're
not doing it, how to stand for what is right.
How to continue, even through suffering, even
through difficulty, even through that which would
perplex us. By anchoring our current trials in
God's eternal narrative and what he's doing,
his story, his book, we are part of it. He transforms
our seeming dead ends where we go, oh, I'm stuck.
I'm stuck here. I don't know what I can do now.
I don't know what I can say now. I've got nothing
I can do. He transformed that seeming dead end
into a gateway to promised glory. So the first
one was he walks with us through trial. And the
second one is he shows up. and shows us a future
he has planned. And if you can see that he is
with you, and see that he is taking you where
you want to be, then you don't have any threat
in the current moment. It's all taken care of.
It's going to be fine. But notice he also gives
us a task to be about. He has laid out for us
a plan by which we can go forward. So when you
start to feel like, I don't know what I'm supposed
to do, if nothing else, you do what God has told
you to do. Start to feel like, I don't know what
I'm supposed to say, then if nothing else, you
say what God has told you to say. You let Him
guide your steps forward. But the plan is even
a little bit more than that. God ends our perplexity
by giving us a purpose. Once the disciples recognized
Him, their hearts burned within them. That's
in this same chapter. to immediate action. They
jump up as soon as Jesus disappears. They jump
up and walk the roughly five miles back to Jerusalem
to tell everyone else that they have seen him.
And guess what they find when they get there?
I'll ruin the story for you if you haven't already
read it. They go in and they're telling the disciples,
the others, what has happened, and guess who
shows up? Jesus! He sends us back into this world,
not with all the answers, but with a mission
to bear witness. Uncertainty dies when we stop
staring at the tomb and start running toward
the brothers to say, The Lord has risen indeed!
Perplexity may have once had us on the ropes,
but it cannot deliver the knockout blow. When
Christ walks in, shows the plan, and sets us
to work, The fog of doubt is burned away by the
light of the resurrection. All throughout the
Bible, we see God saying to people, do not be
afraid. But then in the New Testament, a slight
change. Not necessarily using the words, he does
say to John... I'm sorry, in John chapter 3,
he says to Nicodemus, do not marvel when I say
unto you, you must be born again. He was telling
them, don't be stuck, don't be surprised, don't
worry about it. I'm telling you what you already
know, what you already need to know. He says,
you must be born again. So he was telling Nicodemus,
don't be surprised by spiritual truths. In Matthew
24, Luke 13 and Luke 21, he says, see that you
are not alarmed, he tells the disciples. Don't
be just surprised by global chaos. Mark 13, be
on guard. I have told you everything beforehand.
Don't be surprised. I warned you. John 15, if
the world hates you, don't be surprised. It hated
me first. Don't be surprised by rejection. John
16, I have told you so that you may be kept from
stumbling. Don't be surprised by persecution.
John 16, in the world you have tribulation. Don't
be surprised by trouble. John 14, do not let
your heart be troubled. Don't be shaken eternally.
I could go on, but the bottom line is this. Jesus
didn't remove hardship in life. That's been here
because a tree can't accept Jesus as Lord and
Savior. An animal can't accept Jesus as Lord
and Savior. The rain cannot accept Jesus as Lord
and Savior. The planet cannot be redeemed until
the redemption is complete. So there will be
suffering, there will be hardship, and there
will be trial. But you have to realize that when
it comes, each one prepares you for the next,
for the next, for the next. I have known people.
that have faced worse things than I have ever
faced in my life, and they have said, eh, God's
got it. And my guess is, you have too. The question
is, are we going to be that kind of people? And
indeed, that's what it means to be a Christian.
If as a Christian... I was walking in Jesus'
shoes and I was asked to go to the cross to save
all humanity. Yes, I know myself. Without a miracle
from God, I would not have done it. Jesus was
a sinless man. He had experienced persecution.
that tried to kill him on a number of occasions
that he just always just walked away because
it wasn't his time yet. But this time, he declined
to summon an army of angels. And he allowed himself
to be crucified for the sins of mankind. A God
who will do that? A God who loves you like that?
Well, he's going to, he walks with you through
pride. He's going to be with you in your difficulty.
And he shows a, The future that he has planned.
See, God's more concerned about your salvation
than he is about your comfort. Your salvation
and your children's salvation and your grandchildren's
salvation and your nieces and your nephews and
your brothers and your sisters and your neighbors
and your co -workers and the students in your
school. He's more concerned about salvation than
he is about your comfort. Shouldn't you be? Shouldn't
I be? A God who loves people like that, he shows
us a future he has planned. And He gives us a
task to be about. And let me say to you, the
next time it hits you, the next time you feel
stuck, surprised, raw, perplexed, you remember
me saying, and I hope you remember the Holy Spirit
saying, perplexity is on the ropes. It has been
ever since every enemy that God ever had went
together to try to bring to an end. got what
they thought was God's plan. And when they did,
they just made God's plan come true. That was
the best they could do. The best they could do
with all their efforts and all the Antichrist
teaching and all the demonic influence and all
of the governmental, all the money offered, all
the prominence, all of it all just came together
so that you and I could be saved. And God can
make the whole world bow down in that process.
And he can make the whole world bow down in your
life. And he'll be there with you. And he'll
show you the future he has planned. And he'll
give you a task to be about. And all you have
to do is say yes. That's it. All you have to
do is be willing. Complexity is on the road.
And that's where it will remain. Until Jesus
comes again. And at that point in time, complexity
will go to hell. With all the rest of the dark
things of this life. And we'll never see it again.
His fate is already determined. And that's the
way we should live. If you're here today, and
you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior, I need you to understand that nothing
less is on the agenda. This is what this moment
is about. It's about your salvation. It's about
you saying, I don't want to ever be perplexed
again. I'm tired of feeling that way when something
hits me. I want to surrender my life to the Lord.
I want to let Him be there with me when I have
those feelings. I want to let Him give me a job
to do and I'm going to get busy about doing the
job that I have to do. At that time when I know
what I want to do. On my list of things to do,
I can't fix it. I can't overcome it. I can't
buy it. I can't talk it down. I can't get a little
nastier to get it right. I can't beg. When I
couldn't do anything, at that moment in time
when perplexity would have me, I need Jesus to
be there with me. Jesus has shown me a plan that
he has for me. And Jesus will lead me forward
in that plan. Accept Jesus today and let him
do that. And you'll never have to face propensity
again. On the other hand, if you're already saved
and you're already here, then I want to remind
you in no subtle way you can commit yourself
right now. That the next time I face something
unexpected, the next time it's baffling me, the
next time I'm in terror, the next time I'm facing
perplexity, I need to remember that if I do fight
perplexity, it's me going to the ropes. Because
perplexity can't come to the center of the ring
anymore. Because God is there. Don't go to the
ropes. Stay in God's will. Live your life for
the Lord. Repent of your sin. Practice the spiritual
disciplines. You stand with people who need somebody
to stand with them. And we'll be the hands and
feet of Jesus. I'm going to lead you in a little
prayer at this time. We're not going to have
a normal invitation. At least she's just going
to play softly. And as I pray, if the Lord is
doing business in your heart, you surrender to
him. You say, okay, God, I'm in for your methods.
I'm in for your way. Who is Jesus? Let's pray
together. Father in heaven, we praise you that
today is a day that we celebrate the resurrection.
We celebrate the coming back to life of your
son Jesus. No amount of armies could have kept
him in that grave. If all the demons that existed
marshaled to stand outside and rank and file
with the greatest weapons they could find, he'd
have walked out unscathed. Our God. It's too
mighty to be trifled with. Our God is too awesome
and powerful to be held back. Our God is to be
trusted. He's shown that time and time again.
Yet we find in ourselves a ready willingness
to be perplexed. Sometimes it goes like this,
and we're not making excuses, but sometimes it
goes like this. We think we know the plan, and
then the plan is not going according to what
we thought, and so we're perplexed. Sometimes
it looks like this. We think, well, if I can't
have it my way, which I think is the way that
God wants it to, but if I can't have it my way,
then I'm... I'm done. I won't have it anyway.
If I can't have it my way, if I can't have it...
What feels good, looks good, seems to help. And
I'm done. I quit. I'll just stop here. I'll jump
off the God train and see if somebody else has
an answer. And Lord, we ask your forgiveness.
Thank you for coming down with us, being in the
ring with us, working to... Grow us. Make us
strong. Even though we might not want to, Lord,
we pray even thank you for trials and tribulations.
Think of like we look back and go, I didn't want
to go through that. But here we are on the other
side of it. Stronger. Able. Some small things
that come now, they don't even touch us. We don't
even recognize. We go day by day and we deal
with people. Ten years ago, they might have taken
us off our stride. They might have knocked us
down with words or the way they act. And now,
it's like nothing. It doesn't even slow us down.
At the same time, in the midst of that, we find
things that will let slow us down. We tarry with
trouble. Lord, we confess to you, we need your
wisdom. We need your strength. We need your healing.
or asking for nothing less. Help us to remember
the next time that we're in that moment, the
next time that we're baffled, the next time that
we're facing terror or perplexity, that it just
doesn't have to be so. We can give up our idea
of what's right. We can give up our idea of who
you are and come to you for who you actually
are. We can overcome the difficulty and it might
It might run us down. Sometimes it might even
kill us. But our eternal salvation is found in
you. And so, Lord, I ask you today again to make
that so well known in us. Make us absolutely
certain that today and our part in it is part
of your plan. Maybe you're here today and you
say, I really need to have Jesus as my Lord and
Savior. No more games. I've been letting people
think something that isn't true. Or I just really
never have submitted my life to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I see how great He is and how much
He loves me and how much He wants me. And I want
Him with me. If that's you, then in your heart
right now, just say, Lord, make me yours. And
every head is bowed. No one's even looking around.
Eyes are closed. But I'm going to open my eyes.
And I'm going to look and I'm going to see your
hand. And I'm going to pray for you. And you
raise your hand right where you are. And just
say, that's me. I'm giving my life to the Lord
today in earnest. No more games. Maybe you're
here today and you'd say, i have known this very
thing the thing that he preached that like really
it's maybe laid out in points but it's nothing
i didn't already know but here i have been allowing
perplexity off the ropes where i've been over
there in the corner with it fighting when there
was no necessity when all i really needed to
do was just be who god made me to be and do the
things that god gave me to do i hadn't thought
about the fact that terror and perplexity is
about stopping that if i Keep looking for a way
to stop stopping, but I'm not really ready to
go. I'll never find a way to stop stopping unless
I go. So I'm committing myself today to walk
with the Lord into that plan that He has for
me. To share the gospel when I can, to serve,
to love others. Not get stuck in myself or my
own desires, but turn those things over to Him
as I once said I would. Maybe that's you today.
With every head bowed and every eye closed, I'll
be the only one looking around. You just raise
your hand, rub your eye, and say, that's me today.
I've given my life to the Lord, but I've tarried
with foolish notions, distractions, pain. I've
allowed myself to be stopped, and I won't anymore.
If that's you, just raise your hand. I'll pray
for you right where you are. I see those hands.
Any others? Father in heaven, as we raise our
hands today, and even the one who was kind of
timid, thinks maybe they don't want Pastor Dan
to see, Lord, if they're committing their hearts
to you, then I pray, Lord, that they would be
finding the strength day in, day out. That they'll
remember the next time they're stopped, the next
time something comes that would try to stop them.
That you are there. That you are showing them
the plan. And that you are giving them purpose.
And that they will indeed be able to make tough
choices, give up what needs to be given up, block
out the time as necessary, find their spiritual
muscles stronger day by day. Help us to remember
in that moment that trouble comes, that this
trouble prepares us so that future trouble will
look like almost nothing to us. Father, we look
forward to that day when we too will be bodily
resurrected into your presence by the great miracle
of our God. You're the one. You have it all.
You own the cattle on a thousand hills. You own
every ounce of my flesh and all that I am. You
own my heart and my mind. I pray, Lord, reign
in me. And I pray these things in Jesus' name.
And all God's people said, Amen. Thank you very
much. This concludes our services today. This
is... Oh, we have one more song. We have one
more song. We're going to sing one song. Praise
the Lord. And then we'll be done. Kids are probably
out there doing hunting stuff. Something like
that. You know he deserves your praise. Buster
it up. Let's do it. Amen. Who but him? We'll
see you next week.