1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,560 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered 2 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:21,000 how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,200 pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we 4 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:35,440 can recognize what God is saying through them. We're so glad that you're with us this morning 5 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:39,640 and we are starting a new series today and I'm very excited about it. Have been for quite 6 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:46,360 some time. Defining moments really has to do with everything in our lives that are defining 7 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:51,320 moments that happen to us over the timeline of our whole lives that affect us for the 8 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:57,320 rest of our lives. Defining moments can be all kinds of things. Some of them can be tragic 9 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:02,560 moments. Others can be incredible moments of opportunity and blessing. But we have a 10 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,560 certain number of defining moments in our life. I think we would all agree with that. 11 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,080 There are these mountain peaks of life where you can look back and you say, well, I remember 12 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,600 that happening. I remember where I was when this happened and I remember how I felt when 13 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,560 this particular thing took place. And my life has not really been the same since that moment. 14 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,080 And so today we're going to begin talking about defining moments over the next few weeks. 15 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,080 Today I want to talk about immovable life events. Events that happen that can't change. 16 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:33,000 We can't change them. It doesn't seem like anyone can change them and we have to learn 17 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,280 to deal with these immovable life events and the title of the message today is A Moment 18 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:44,200 of Silence. I want you to take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians today, chapter 12 19 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:51,200 beginning in verse 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7 and stay with me and we'll read 20 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:56,200 God's word together in just a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 beginning in verse 7. 21 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:03,200 By the way, as we walk through this text, keep in mind this text is written by the Apostle 22 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:10,200 Paul about a defining moment in his life. An immovable life event that he prayed that 23 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:16,200 God would remove but God did not remove and so he found something of God's provision in 24 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:21,560 the midst of that disappointing unanswered prayer. Some of the terminology I'm using 25 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,360 is terminology you probably have experienced in life. A mountain you can't move. A prayer 26 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,720 you prayed that didn't get answered the way you thought it would get answered. A surprising 27 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:37,200 provision that God has made in your life or one you're still looking for. All those things 28 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,760 will connect with us in a powerful way. As I read this text, keep in mind Paul has had 29 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:48,200 an incredible revelation of God. He's caught up into third heaven. In fact the first seven 30 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:54,080 verses of chapter 12 talk about this man that God revealed so much to. And the Bible says 31 00:02:54,080 --> 00:03:00,520 as a result of the surpassing value of the revelations, the surpassing glory of what 32 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:05,640 he saw if you will, God allowed a thorn in the flesh to happen in his life. To keep him 33 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:10,280 humble, to keep him dependent upon God. And that's where we pick up the text in verse 34 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:15,240 seven. Paul says this by himself. He says because of the surpassing greatness of the 35 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,480 revelation, for this reason to keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn 36 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:27,480 in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning 37 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:33,120 this I implored, that means he prayed desperately, I implored the Lord three times that it might 38 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:39,840 leave me and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected 39 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:45,280 in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the 40 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,400 power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weakness as Paul says, 41 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,780 with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake. For when 42 00:03:55,780 --> 00:04:02,320 I am weak then I am strong. Man this is an incredible passage. It's going to be an amazing 43 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:07,520 encouragement to you today to see how it built up Paul's life and how it can affect you. 44 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:14,520 Father in Jesus name let this passage powerfully touch our hearts. Father in the same way that 45 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,920 Paul was lifted up and the same way that he was encouraged and in the same way that he 46 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:26,560 experienced your amazing grace in his life, his ministry, I pray God that we in this room 47 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,280 will experience it to the same degree. Thank you for your goodness, your faithfulness to 48 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:36,560 have every resource we need at the time we need it the most. We believe you for this 49 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:43,560 and we look forward to seeing it in our lives in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated if you 50 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:45,480 would. 51 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:50,800 So this passage deals with a defining moment in the life of a very, very great man, the 52 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:57,800 appellation of Paul. This text talks about how God met with him in a really, really troubling 53 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:03,920 time. I am convinced that when you see how God met with Paul in his time of great trouble 54 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:09,200 you will see how God can meet you in your time of great trouble. That is the purpose 55 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:14,200 of this text for us today. You will see that as it unfolds. I have used this passage as 56 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:19,760 my personal life verse for many, many years. At some point in life, probably about the 57 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,840 time I was 20 or 22, I began to look back at all my life leading up to that moment and 58 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:31,840 realize that just about everything I was experiencing I could trace back to this passage, to this 59 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:39,160 text because I found a lot of things in my life that were problems and insurmountable, 60 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:45,600 things I couldn't move away, couldn't get around and prayer that God didn't answer. 61 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,760 And I look back at this verse and realize just how powerful God used this verse in my 62 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,960 own life and I hope my own story will help you with any immovable life events in your 63 00:05:54,960 --> 00:06:00,160 life and I am convinced we all have them in some form or another. My story really begins 64 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,600 back in my very first waking memory. Everybody has a first memory, right? How many of you 65 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,720 can remember the earliest time in their life and it is a really definite memory? Would 66 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,440 you raise your hand if you can remember that memory? I hope they are all good memories. 67 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,320 I hope it is you on a swing set somewhere in a beautiful park or something like that. 68 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:20,640 But my very first memory, my very first memory that I can acknowledge at the earliest point 69 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:27,640 was the memory of my parents in our bathroom pushing me into a bathtub full of ice. I was 70 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:33,120 just under six years of age and I remember looking on their faces and seeing their desperation. 71 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,880 I was confused at what was going on and there they were pushing me in this bathtub full 72 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:42,480 of ice and it was freezing cold obviously and I didn't understand what was going on 73 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,280 but what had happened was I had contracted a very high fever. It was over 106 degrees 74 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:52,040 for a number of hours. The doctor on the phone advised them to put me in a bathtub of ice 75 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:57,920 in order to break the fever or else I could be in danger of organ failure at some point 76 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,880 and actually die. So that is my first waking moment. 77 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:08,200 To make the long story short, the fever broke and I got better but within the year my parents 78 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:15,200 learned that at that moment of that high temperature in my body I lost 80% of my hearing and within 79 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:21,480 a few years I lost eventually 95% of my hearing which means that without hearing aids my world 80 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:26,240 went suddenly silent, completely and totally silent. 81 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,080 Now my parents didn't realize I had lost my hearing. When they gave me instructions 82 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:38,080 I didn't obey them. They thought I was just ignoring them. It was a first grade teacher 83 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,680 within a couple of days after I was placed in the first grade that said your son has 84 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,640 a hearing loss and he is not ignoring you. People still think I ignore them sometimes 85 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,280 but the reality is I really do have a good reason. 86 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:57,980 So I entered immediately into that world of silence where people are moving their lips 87 00:07:57,980 --> 00:08:03,040 with all kinds of action taking place around me but no sound associated with that at all 88 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:08,160 and really no comprehension of what people were saying to me. I realized by face expressions 89 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,680 they were communicating with me, they were looking right at me but I didn't know what 90 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:13,280 they were saying. 91 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:19,780 And the defining moment in my life happened when all that unfolded and from that moment 92 00:08:19,780 --> 00:08:24,360 on really things began to change in a different direction from what it would have gone otherwise 93 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:29,560 and a different direction from what other people were taking as six and seven year old 94 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,780 kids I was going in a completely different direction. 95 00:08:33,780 --> 00:08:39,080 Imagine going from a hearing world to a silent world in a very short period of time. Imagine 96 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,600 trying to adjust to school where everyone else just simply watches the teacher or listens 97 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,880 to the teacher and they hear what she might say and they do what she might say and I'm 98 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:53,300 looking around like what did she say and what am I supposed to be doing? 99 00:08:53,300 --> 00:08:58,680 Those early hearing aids they fitted me with were awkward devices to say the least. They 100 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,680 were very large ear phone type things that I wore around my ears larger than my ears 101 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:08,540 themselves and they were connected to a little box that went into a pocket. Now listen no 102 00:09:08,540 --> 00:09:13,120 first grade boy really likes to wear a button up shirt with a pocket but I had to do that. 103 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,960 I was the ultimate nerd at the first grade. I won the championship for that. 104 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:22,380 It was awkward in every way but it was the only way that I was able to hear any sound 105 00:09:22,380 --> 00:09:28,360 at all. The only way I was able to really connect with anything going on around me. 106 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:34,960 And I knew I stood out. I knew I was different. I knew it was visible. I knew other people 107 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:41,960 would stare and I didn't feel like I was in a good place at all even as a young boy. 108 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:47,720 Gratefully I was surrounded by some incredible people. I was surrounded by a mom and a dad 109 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:54,080 that were as spiritual as I can possibly imagine. Godly people who were incredibly patient, 110 00:09:54,080 --> 00:10:00,480 incredibly loving and encouraging to me. I was living in a small community where my parents 111 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,200 raised me and this small community was just kind of a one big family. There were 700 people 112 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:11,080 total in the community. It still does not have a stop light in that town. And yet that 113 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:18,800 town adopted me as family. And I loved it and I appreciated it. I had some great teachers. 114 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:23,160 I remember the first and last name of my first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, 115 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:28,200 fifth grade teacher because they went the second mile in helping me do what I needed 116 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:33,140 to do. And at some point early on my parents made a strategic decision not to send me to 117 00:10:33,140 --> 00:10:38,400 a school for the deaf which was typical for most students that have lost their hearing 118 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:43,760 to that degree. My profound hearing loss meant that there was not going to be a big chance 119 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:48,040 that I could articulate words well even though I had already learned to speak. Not a great 120 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,360 chance that I would be able to do well in school but my parents believed as they prayed 121 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,800 through that that they wanted me wired for the hearing world. So they began to secure 122 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:03,400 people who would train me how to read lips, how to pronounce words, how to read out loud, 123 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:08,280 how to read and then how to read out loud. And one particular young woman who was a college 124 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:13,560 graduate who worked with me every day for almost three years, about two or three hours 125 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:19,280 a day did a phenomenal job of teaching me how to read lips, teaching me how to pronounce 126 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,960 words. The problem was she was from South Houston and I sound like someone from South 127 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:29,960 Houston y'all. I got her accent. My parents have perfect Midwestern accents and I do not. 128 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,400 I'm also a killer at reading lips still to this day so be careful what you say to the 129 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:41,400 person next to you because I might know what was said. But this event and all surrounding 130 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:49,520 that event made me feel like I was behind instead of ahead. It made me feel like something 131 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:54,240 was wrong instead of something right. And I can remember moving forward searching for 132 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:59,840 ways to cope instead of just learning things that I needed to be learning like reading, 133 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:06,840 writing and arithmetic. It made me feel inferior. It made me feel lacking. I can remember as 134 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:12,080 a young boy worrying about my future. What will I do? What do people do that can't hear? 135 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,360 Where do they go? Where do they work? What happens to them if they can't hear anything? 136 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:21,240 And I found myself asking different questions than most people my age were asking. Questions 137 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:28,240 like why me? And God where are you? And if God can do anything why doesn't he change 138 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:37,120 this in my life? And I also realize now all these years later that we often ask these 139 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,960 kinds of big questions when huge challenges come in life. It's natural isn't it? And 140 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,240 all of us have had something that happens in our life that makes us turn to God and 141 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:52,360 say why me? And where were you? And what are you doing? Immovable life events tend to unfold 142 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,800 in three phases and we see them in this text. And I've experienced them personally and I 143 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:03,800 believe you have too. Those three phases would be problem, prayer and provision. Problem, 144 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:12,440 prayer and provision. You know what problems do? Problems drive us to God, to prayer. And 145 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:17,080 when we go to God then we find that God can meet our need but it may not be the way we 146 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:22,280 think he's going to meet our need but provision is always there. And I fully identify with 147 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,600 those three words and those three phases because I've lived these out over the years and the 148 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:31,480 more in ministry I've been over these many, many years the more I realize everybody has 149 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:38,480 had some immovable life event happen to them, good or bad, visible or invisible. And they're 150 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:45,480 all dealing with that in some way. And it's a defining moment in their lives. Well I want 151 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:52,440 you to know today that the apostle Paul, this great man of God had a defining moment like 152 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:57,120 what we're talking about. Now this defining moment teaches us, these phases, teaches us 153 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:03,880 also how God meets us in our moments that are immovable, unchangeable and definitely 154 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:09,920 negative in our lives. When we can't see the way out of it we have Paul's example here 155 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:16,920 of how God met him. And it all begins with first of all an unsolvable problem. If you 156 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,960 go back to verse seven where Paul begins his description he says, there was given to me 157 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:27,960 a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. 158 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:33,200 Commentators over the years and scholars over the years have debated about what Paul's thorn 159 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:38,480 in the flesh actually was but nobody really has a good answer to what it is. We have a 160 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,800 number of possibilities. When you look at the scriptures themselves you can see some 161 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:47,240 things come to the surface, they could have been personal issues. He called it a thorn 162 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:52,360 in the flesh. So we get the idea that something physical was going on. The wording itself 163 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:57,640 in the original language deals with a stake that usually is normally used in war to impale 164 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:03,880 someone else and Paul uses that kind of word. Some think he had eyesight problems because 165 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:09,920 of his difficulty in seeing. Some thought he had piercing migraines that inhibited his 166 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:14,960 ability to move around and travel. Others said the wounds from being beaten as the preacher 167 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:20,880 of the gospel were part of what these thorns in the flesh were. Still others said the betrayal 168 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:27,880 that he experienced, the deception that was always attempted on him and the disappointment 169 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:33,760 in his life were these personal issues. Others say no, they're spiritual conflicts because 170 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:39,440 in the text it says a messenger of Satan. Satan's mention brings us to the reality of 171 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:45,440 spiritual warfare. So certainly whatever was going on could be part of the spiritual warfare 172 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,520 that Paul was experiencing. I think we would all agree Paul was on the front line. He was 173 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:54,120 that man that went into new cultures with the gospel so obviously the enemy would want 174 00:15:54,120 --> 00:16:01,120 to stop him. In one interesting place of scripture in Acts 19 verse 15 we read about seven sons 175 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:06,220 of Skeba who are trying to cast out demons in the name of Jesus and the demon actually 176 00:16:06,220 --> 00:16:11,080 speaks to them and says, Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you? It's a really 177 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:17,400 interesting text. But my point is even the demons knew who Paul was. Paul was probably 178 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:23,120 under some sort of spiritual oppression from the demonic world as well and some say no 179 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:29,240 these were people problems. Maybe demonically inspired people problems. The word messenger 180 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:35,040 insinuates that certain people were bringing messages to him to discourage him. Rick Renner 181 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:41,720 makes a great case about this possibility that really resonates. Number one it's entirely 182 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,280 possible that people are the opposed leaders in the gospel and that's what was going on 183 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:50,680 with him. But number two we could biblically verify names of people that opposed Paul but 184 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:56,440 the main idea of this text is not exactly what the hardship was but that there was incredible 185 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:02,840 hardship and the life of Paul. It was an immovable mountain. He couldn't do anything about it 186 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:08,120 and nothing was changing about that mountain. The point is that no one knows exactly what 187 00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:14,700 it was, what the thorn in the flesh was, but that it was present. And I think that mystery 188 00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:21,700 is intentional. Why is this so mysterious and all encompassing? Because I think God wants 189 00:17:21,700 --> 00:17:28,080 every one of us to identify with this passage. Because if we said no it's because he was 190 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:32,520 an apostle that Satan directly opposed him that would exclude you from that picture perhaps 191 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:37,920 and me from that picture. If we said oh no it's a physical ailment and yet you are physically 192 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:44,640 healthy that would exclude you from that picture. I think God makes this obscure for a reason. 193 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,040 He wants every single one of us to experience what Paul experienced in the end when we have 194 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:54,000 immovable life events. And I'm convinced again that everybody in this room has something 195 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:59,880 in their lives that affected them in a powerful way. Some visible, some invisible. For people 196 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:05,280 like me it's visible, it's evident, you can tell. But for others maybe nobody knows about 197 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:12,120 it. It might be personal, it might be invisible. Few know about it. It could be a traumatic 198 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:18,200 experience that happened to you. A devastating loss. An incredible disappointment that took 199 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:24,240 place in your life that you haven't gotten over. An overwhelming fear or doubt or pain 200 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,760 that pulverizes you. Or maybe a catastrophic failure where you thought you were going in 201 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:33,360 the right direction and you miserably failed at whatever that was and it can't get undone 202 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:39,680 and you can't fix it. In any case these kinds of immovable life events bring us to the place 203 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:46,680 where we can't do anything about our problem at all. And we're just kind of there. I wrote 204 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:51,640 this down the other day. It defies human solutions and when it does God has us in a position where 205 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:57,920 we must depend on Him. And I've got to tell you that's the bigger work God is doing always 206 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:03,960 in your life. He's always about you depending on Him. He's always getting you to believe 207 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:08,720 in Him and trust in Him even more than you possibly might imagine. It's not about just 208 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,000 giving you an easy life. It's not about just lifting problems out of your life. God wants 209 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:20,000 you to depend on Him in every way. And when you trust Him in and through your situation 210 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:26,600 you're going to experience some things you might not imagine. Now these unsolvable problems 211 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:32,880 are things that we actually kind of like when we see them in other places. Like the movies. 212 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,960 We love unsolvable problems in the movies don't we? We go to movies because there's 213 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,480 an unsolvable problem. There's a mystery of how it's going to be fixed and we love when 214 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,880 the hero comes through. Right? That's how we are motivated to go to movies and there's 215 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:53,280 always some sort of a hero out there and they become our hero because they come through. 216 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:58,880 But you know it's also the theme of dozens of characters in Scripture. The unsolvable 217 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:04,240 problem of sin. The unsolvable problem of Israel's bondage in the Old Testament. Who 218 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:09,240 will set these people free? The unsolvable problem of the Red Sea when they came to the 219 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:14,600 Red Sea and didn't have a way across. The unsolvable problem of Job's affliction in 220 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:21,480 the book of Job. The unsolvable problem of Goliath the giant until David came along. 221 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:26,320 The unsolvable problem of 5,000 hungry people listening to Jesus teach on a hillside in 222 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:32,000 Galilee that day. How do you fix that problem? The unsolvable problem of Lazarus dead in 223 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:37,120 a tomb for four days until Jesus comes and resurrects him from the dead. The unsolvable 224 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:42,160 problem of Jesus being crucified on a cross. What do we do with our Messiah when he's being 225 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:49,160 impaled on that cross? Unsolvable problems are what God specializes in. And over and 226 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:55,700 over in the Scripture God comes through. As a matter of fact, Scripture constantly reminds 227 00:20:55,700 --> 00:21:02,560 us of this one verse that we find in Luke 1 verse 37, for nothing will be impossible 228 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:09,560 with God. Say that verse with me. For nothing will be impossible with God. So unsolvable 229 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:16,680 problems in our life should lead us to the next phase which is prayer. We're driven to 230 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:22,040 prayer. We're driven even into seasons of prayer. And sometimes we experience what I 231 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:29,040 call an unanswered prayer which is what Paul experienced. Look at verse 8. He says, concerning 232 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:34,440 this thorn in the flesh, concerning this pain that wouldn't go away, I implore the Lord 233 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:41,440 three times that it might lead me. Now the word implored is a passionate word. To implore 234 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:49,720 is to beg, to plead. It's not just a casual prayer. It's not just making a request. But 235 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:56,720 this is Paul on his face crying out to God. Now it's not just three prayers. This text 236 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:04,280 says there are three separate seasons of prayer where Paul went to the Lord over and over. 237 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:10,400 This is Paul drawing as close as he can to God and continuing to pray. And probably words 238 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:16,520 like this, I'm going to follow you but please remove this so I can do it better. I'm going 239 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:21,240 to follow you. I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to turn my back on you Lord. 240 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:26,280 And his sincerity and his earnestness and everything that makes a prayer answerable 241 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:33,280 makes it surprising that God didn't do that and answer that prayer. It's Paul. It's the 242 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:39,040 apostle Paul. It's not me and you praying. Listen, this is one of God's men that God 243 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:46,040 raised up and rescued from a deadly direction and placed him in a place on the globe for 244 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:53,040 his glory, for his honor and God did not answer that prayer. And you know what that feels 245 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:58,000 like, don't you? How many of you have had a prayer over the years that you have not 246 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,480 seen the answer to? I've got my hand up. How about you? How many of you have experienced 247 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:08,480 that? I've had many times like that. I can't tell you the endless number of times I cried 248 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:14,960 out to God to change my hearing to heal me. It seems so simple to me as a boy that if 249 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:20,800 God is powerful, if God can raise people from the dead, if God is granting salvation for 250 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:27,800 those that put trust in his son's name, Jesus, then he could heal me. My godly parents prayed. 251 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:33,200 I mean I trusted their prayers more than I did mine as a young boy and I heard my mom 252 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:40,200 and dad call out to God and ask God to heal my hearing loss. I remember in junior high 253 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:45,200 being desperate asking God to change that in high school years when it became more of 254 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:50,200 an aggravation to me, more visible. It began to hold me back socially and in other ways. 255 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:55,200 I remember being on college on a college spring break trip, actually a mission trip where 256 00:23:55,200 --> 00:24:01,200 those that we were ministering to paused and surrounded me with dozens of people including 257 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,200 a leader that anointed me with oil and was convinced that God was going to heal me on 258 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:11,200 that campus on that day and we trusted God, we begged and we prayed and believed God deeply 259 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:18,200 that God would heal me but that prayer was never answered in the way we asked for. And 260 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:23,200 you've been there too haven't you? It's part of the process. It's part of what you have 261 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:30,200 to go through in walking from this insurmountable problem to this time of prayer. But it also 262 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,200 leaves us with some questions doesn't it? Let me give you some answers to a question 263 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:42,200 of why doesn't God always answer our prayer or always change our situation to the way 264 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:47,200 we're asking. Why doesn't he do that? Well there are three ways in scripture we know 265 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:53,200 that he doesn't answer our prayer our way. Some situations he allows to transform our 266 00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,200 character. God allows us to remain under a certain difficulty physical or otherwise because 267 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,200 he's changing our character, he's transforming us. It's always God's will that we become 268 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:10,200 conformed to the image of Jesus. But in James chapter 1 there's a great text that reminds 269 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:16,200 us of this. Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing 270 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:21,200 that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect work that 271 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:27,200 you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. In other words it matures us, it 272 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:37,200 perfects us, it grows our character. So some situations transform us. But some situations 273 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:44,200 he allows to testify of his grace. In other words he allows us to go through these times 274 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:51,200 so he can demonstrate his sufficiency when we're struggling. Demonstrates how he meets 275 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:57,200 our need when we don't have a way of doing it on our own. In the Gospel of John chapter 276 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:06,200 11 Jesus heard the story that he was encountering with Lazarus and he said this sickness is 277 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,200 not to end in death but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it. 278 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:17,200 In other words this person wasn't going to die but he was going to be raised up just 279 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:24,200 for the glory of God. But that very line also reminds us of some situations he allows to 280 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:30,200 transport us home. Sometimes sickness isn't to death. Sometimes sickness does lead us 281 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:36,200 to the point of death and God is calling us home. I remember one mentor of mine saying 282 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:43,200 to me after he went through many, many illnesses and had the do not resuscitate kind of marker 283 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:51,200 on his wrist in the hospital he said if I go, if I die do not bring me back. Do not 284 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:58,200 put those paddles on me. If I die you let me stay in heaven. I'm not coming back to 285 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:04,200 you. I'm staying with the Lord. That's a good mindset to have. Sometimes God uses certain 286 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:12,200 situations and circumstances to bring us home. So God has reasons beyond our comprehension 287 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,200 why he allows certain things to happen and doesn't allow other things to happen but 288 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:22,200 ultimately they are for our good. God is always working for our good. So one of the things 289 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:27,200 we have to learn to do is to hold our prayer requests loosely in our hands. We have to 290 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,200 hold our expectations loosely. We have to hold our life loosely because God literally 291 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,200 has it in his big hands and we don't really need it in our hands. It's never been in 292 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:43,200 our hands anyway. And what we have to do is rest in his grip. Whatever that means. And 293 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:49,200 that's what trust looks like. God I really want you to change this situation Paul said 294 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:55,200 but since you haven't I'm just going to keep serving you and keep trusting you. And that 295 00:27:55,200 --> 00:28:00,200 leads us to the third thing what I call an unexpected provision. Paul says in verse 296 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:08,200 9, and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. 297 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:16,200 So God spoke to Paul and said, I'll make it possible to bear. I'll give you grace. And 298 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:21,200 the grace that I give you will be sufficient for anything that you need. In other words 299 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:26,200 God was saying to Paul, you've been endowed with everything you could possibly need to 300 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:31,200 overcome and I'll keep giving it to you even though it's inexhaustible moment by moment 301 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:36,200 by moment you reach for that grace it's going to be there. The word grace by the way is 302 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:42,200 often interpreted as enablement. It reminds us that he gives us just the strength we need 303 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:48,200 just for what the challenge is. And I call this grace an inexhaustible well. It will 304 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:53,200 never run dry. Let me tell you the grace of Jesus that saves us from our sin, the grace 305 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:58,200 of Jesus that washes our sin clean so that we can be right with a holy God forever and 306 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:03,200 ever in heaven. That grace is so big in order to clean us. Everything else on this planet 307 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,200 is small stuff compared to that big thing. You've been reconciled with a holy God. That's 308 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:14,200 a big deal. That's what grace does. But grace also helps you while you're on this planet. 309 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,200 With all the challenges you have in your life you'll always have all you need to do the 310 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:25,200 will of God. So it's not I'll give you more but what I've given you already is enough. 311 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:33,200 So try grace and trust grace. It's proven in your weakness. Some of you are still back 312 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:40,200 here in this prayer period. Why will God not answer my prayer? And I understand that. I've 313 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:45,200 been in and out of that from time to time. But here's what I've learned. Listen carefully. 314 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:51,200 When God does not answer the prayer you may be asking for the wrong thing. At some point 315 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:58,200 you just say, okay. Then whenever you want to make it different you make it different. 316 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,200 But until then I'm going with what I have and what you've given me. At some point we 317 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,200 just have to say that. At some point we just have to trust that he heard us, that he's 318 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:13,200 aware, that he's not tied up with other important events. He knows everything going on in our 319 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:20,200 lives. He could change it in a moment. And if he doesn't it's because of his sovereignty 320 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:29,200 and he's got a different plan. And that different plan is this unexpected provision. I love 321 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:37,200 the idea of that line. My grace is sufficient for you. Now look at how it works for Paul. 322 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:42,200 Paul went on to be the greatest apostle of them all. The most prolific author of the 323 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:47,200 New Testament scripture that we read 2,000 years later. He brought thousands to healing 324 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:53,200 and deliverance and freedom in his lifetime. We never find that God ever removed that thorn 325 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:59,200 in the flesh. But what he did do was give him grace day by day to deal with everything 326 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,200 he had to deal with. And he continued to draw from that inexhaustible well of enablement 327 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:12,200 and grace that allowed him to carry out his life and even be content in that weakness. 328 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:19,200 Because of his thorn in the flesh, Paul became known not for pride and ability, which is 329 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,200 what he was known for before he came to Christ, but for his weakness and his dependence on 330 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:30,200 the grace of God. By the way, that's what you want to be known for, not pride, but weakness 331 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,200 and dependence upon God. Because that shows that God is working in your life and you're 332 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:41,200 trusting him to do it. And that's where God wants all of us at some point in our lives 333 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:47,200 to live that way. And basically, we now read the words of this 334 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:53,200 apostle Paul as we read what he wrote and it's full of grace. Let me read some of those 335 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:58,200 words for you. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider 336 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:04,200 anything that's coming from ourselves, but our adequacy, our sufficiency is from God. 337 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:11,200 Well, 1 Corinthians 15, 10, but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward 338 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:16,200 me did not prove vain, but I labored more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace 339 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:21,200 of God with me. Some of you will argue with me about who authored the book of Hebrews, 340 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:26,200 but I believe it was the apostle Paul. And look at these words. Therefore, let us draw 341 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:31,200 near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace 342 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:36,200 to help in time of need. How many of you have looked at those verses over the years and 343 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:41,200 drawn all kinds of encouragement from them? You know the common word in all of these? 344 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:48,200 Grace, grace, and more grace. Grace to help in time of need. Sufficiency that you don't 345 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:54,200 have. Superabundance that you could never have apart from his grace. And I'll be the 346 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,200 first one to admit that it's not easy to understand and walk and wait for the blessing 347 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:04,200 of sufficient grace, but it comes through a lot of disappointment, sometimes a lot of 348 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:11,200 grief, but Paul walked through that, got the blessing, and now has the testimony of it. 349 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:16,200 Grace emerges in our life when we keep trusting God in spite of no change and what we're 350 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:23,200 asking him and our steadfastness and continue to follow him in spite of that unanswered 351 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:28,200 prayer. Notice how Paul concludes that passage in verse 9. He says this, he said, 352 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:33,200 Therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses. I've always thought that to be a 353 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:39,200 strange phrase. I will boast, I'll brag about my weaknesses. Why? So that the power of 354 00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:45,200 Christ may dwell in me. When you get to the barest common denominator of what Paul says 355 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:55,200 in verse 9 and 10, it's this, I have no complaints with God. No complaints. I'll just 356 00:33:55,200 --> 00:34:01,200 keep serving him and keep trusting him to the day I die. And we have every evidence 357 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:07,200 that that's exactly what he did. Now my own story of how God's grace was poured out 358 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:15,200 in my life is that it was poured out all around me. I know I'm not the only one that has 359 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:19,200 a hearing loss and I'm not trying to magnify that, but I am trying to say it was an immovable 360 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:27,200 issue I had in my life and still have in my life that God makes his way through and around. 361 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:34,200 But I see his grace poured out all around me through people that God placed around me. 362 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:42,200 Friends who understood. An incredible set of parents who would not let me give up. Who 363 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:47,200 kept quoting the book of Philippians to me. I can do all things to Christ who strengthens 364 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:52,200 me. And every time I said I can't, my mom would respond by saying I can do all things 365 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:59,200 to Christ who strengthens me. She would not let up. My wife who had amazing patience. 366 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:07,200 Oh my goodness. Amazing patience and encouragement. A family that understood. It's amazing how 367 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,200 much grace was poured out in the churches that I practiced, that I pastored who practiced 368 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:19,200 unconditional love and grace to me. You people in this church who accepted me for who I was 369 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:27,200 16 years ago when I came in spite of any deficiency that some may have seen. Co-workers who gave 370 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:32,200 me respect. Who took up slack. Who helped me hear the things I needed to hear in the 371 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:38,200 gaps when I didn't hear them. The joy I get from identifying with people who think 372 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:42,200 things are holding them back and I can look at them and say I understand what you think 373 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:48,200 and how you feel but that's not the end of the story. That God is able to give you all 374 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,200 the grace you need to do all he's called you to do. I love identifying with people who 375 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:57,200 can't hear, can't see, can't walk. Whatever it is in their life I love to encourage them 376 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:03,200 because I've been there in a sense. I'm amazed at how God's grace is poured out through 377 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:10,200 an uncanny ability to hear what I need to hear and not hear what I don't need to hear. 378 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:18,200 I'm kind of surprised at what I do hear sometimes and some of you are too. I love the idea that 379 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:28,200 95% of my hearing is gone so therefore 95% of criticism directed my way. I never hear. 380 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:35,200 I have no complaints. If it were up to me I'm not sure I would bring healing. If I could 381 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:39,200 just flip the switch and get all my hearing back I'm not sure I would. In fact I'm pretty 382 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:45,200 sure I wouldn't. Because if I said yes to that I would have to stop the flow of grace 383 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:51,200 that comes every day for me. It gets me through all that I need to get through. There are 384 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:59,200 some advantages to silence you know. And I've learned after a lot of years that I'm not 385 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:04,200 behind I'm ahead. Some of you are just now getting hearing aids and I'm way ahead of 386 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:14,200 you. When I was 10 years old my audiologist said to me when I was complaining about having 387 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:19,200 to wear hearing aids he asked me some of the reasons I didn't want to wear them and you 388 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:24,200 know they're awkward, they're visible, people make fun of me and on and on. And I don't 389 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:29,200 know how wise he actually was or whether he was just trying to encourage me but he said 390 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:35,200 John he said someday all your friends will wear hearing aids. I didn't know he meant 391 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:42,200 55 years later. I was speaking at a Gideon convention not too long ago a group of people 392 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:46,200 well over 65 years of age most of them were. I asked them to raise their hands if they 393 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:51,200 had hearing aids. 75% of them had hearing aids on. I told them I'm way ahead of you 394 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:58,200 I've had them since I was 6 years old so I know about this stuff. But I also think I'm 395 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:03,200 ahead in the way of having to trust God in things. You know there's something about an 396 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:12,200 immovable object in your life an unchangeable event that makes you trust God. Not that we 397 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:17,200 go seeking them or looking for them I'm not saying we should look for tough situations 398 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:23,200 to walk into I'm saying that when you face them realize that God is going to grow you 399 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:31,200 through them. He's going to build elements in your life that make you stronger more patient 400 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:35,200 he'll give you character you wouldn't have if you didn't have to go through those times 401 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:41,200 and when you go through those times you come out ahead not behind. And learning to walk 402 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:46,200 with God when nobody else maybe has experienced that. But ultimately I don't want you to 403 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:54,200 miss this. Ultimately your life will not be defined by immovable life events but in how 404 00:38:54,200 --> 00:39:01,200 you allow God's grace to work through them. That's what's going to identify you. Not 405 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:06,200 how big the tragedy was not how heartbroken you were at that point not how unfair the 406 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:15,200 thing was but how you trust him in that moment. That's what will characterize your life until 407 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:23,200 the day you die. And you want your life characterized by faith in a God who has enough grace to 408 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:36,200 get you through. Amen. Ron Dunn was a great teacher a great pastor and author and in his 409 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:42,200 book When Heaven is Silent he shares something that he shared with his church after he had 410 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:50,200 come back from a sabbatical which was taken because his older son committed suicide. The 411 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:57,200 ultimate tragic event for a parent is that. And he took some time to just get his bearings 412 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:03,200 to get back on his feet spiritually. And when he came back to the church he read these words 413 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:09,200 to them. He said God's power and authority are such that even the actions of the enemies 414 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:15,200 of God and his people must be subservient to his will. If this is true it means my complaints 415 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:21,200 against life and God no matter how understandable or not legitimate. If this is true it means 416 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:26,200 that I have no right to cling to anger or to harbor bitterness against whatever injustices 417 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:33,200 I may have suffered. If this is true it means that if God subtracted one pain one heartbreak 418 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:38,200 one disappointment from my life I would be less the person I am now less than the person 419 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:44,200 God wants me to be in my ministry would be less than what he intends. And if this is 420 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:48,200 true it means that I can climb over those hurts and disappointments over the tears and 421 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:54,200 heartaches over the graves and sleepless nights and stand on top of that ash heap and declare 422 00:40:54,200 --> 00:41:03,200 all these things God is working together for my good. That's powerful. It's deep. It's 423 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:09,200 real. You know Romans 8 28 does say God causes all things to work together for good for those 424 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:14,200 who love God for those who are the called according to his purpose. And I have a feeling 425 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:19,200 in this room there are lots of people that love God and lots of people who are the called 426 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:25,200 according to his purpose and if you are that then all things will work together for good 427 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:30,200 in your life. That's just the truth that you learn when you go through the hardest times 428 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:38,200 of your life. So a moment of silence can be a blessing in the end. Unimmovable life evokes 429 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:45,200 no matter how difficult the tragic can be the greatest thing to climb on. You have to 430 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:52,200 learn to experience the inexhaustible wealth of God's grace in your life. Test it. Try 431 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:59,200 it. Trust it. And watch him come through. You know we first experience God's grace when 432 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:04,200 we place our trust in Christ for salvation. That's when it begins. His grace to forgive. 433 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:10,200 His grace to give us eternal life. His grace to make us right with the Father. And when 434 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:16,200 you get that grace you get everything you need until he calls you home. But it all begins 435 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:22,200 there. You can't get his grace without getting his salvation first. And you can't get his 436 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:27,200 salvation without having enough to help you all the time you are on this planet. They 437 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:32,200 go together. That inexhaustible wealth of grace. Maybe today you need to take that step 438 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:39,200 and put your faith and trust in Christ who by his grace gave his life for you on the 439 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:46,200 cross. And by his power will help you through every day of your life. When I pray at the 440 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:51,200 end of our prayer we'll have our decision stations manned and lit up. A chance for you 441 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:56,200 to stop by and ask some questions. Or maybe make a decision today to put your life in 442 00:42:56,200 --> 00:43:01,200 the hands of Christ. I invite you who are part of our service and maybe your guests 443 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,200 for the first time to our guest reception center. I'd love to meet you and tell you 444 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,200 about our church. Let's stand together. 445 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:25,200 Father today as I pray I am very aware of those in the room today. Many of whom face 446 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:34,200 and have for some time immovable life issues. Lord I don't pretend to know what they are 447 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:40,200 but Lord you know. You are intimately acquainted with every person in every situation, every 448 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:49,200 event, every hurt, every pain. Lord I ask you today that you be very real to every person 449 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:57,200 in the room today. Let them know of your presence. Let them know of your sufficiency. That if 450 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:06,200 they learn to test you and try you throughout their hardship that you will be there. Let 451 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:09,200 them know it's not overnight. Let them know it's not something that happens instantaneously 452 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:18,200 but it is real. And it is powerful. And it is forever. And by my prayer today is that 453 00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:25,200 you will draw us closer to yourself. Don't let us run away. Don't let us turn our back 454 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:33,200 on you. Draw us closer to you in our heartbroken difficulty. And there we will meet you in 455 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:48,200 your grace. I ask this in Jesus name I pray. Amen.