Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross -Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Father, we thank you for this time together.
We thank you for bringing us together on this
glorious day. This is your day. You made it.
We're going to rejoice in it. We ask that you
open the hearts of our minds. or sorry, open
the eyes of our hearts and our minds to what
you have to speak to us today and help us to
find the knowledge and wisdom how to apply it
and take it out in the world to shine your light
for the world. Amen. Well, again, good morning,
everybody. Welcome to The Cross 66. It's a pleasure
to have you all here. And welcome to those of
you joining us online. You know, have you ever
had one of those times? I know you have. Think
about those times when everything's going good,
right? Maybe it's a little too good. You start
kind of thinking about it. You're waiting for
that other shoe to drop, right? You're like,
ooh, this is too nice. I'm not this fortunate.
I'm not lucky enough for this to keep going,
right? Well, first I want to say it's not luck.
There's no such thing as luck when we got God,
right? God is good. God is good all the time.
But that is part of our mentality, isn't it?
We start thinking about things and we start waiting
for that other shoe to drop. So we start to anticipate
things. We stop taking in the moment that we're
in. Start wondering about what's about to come.
What is it going to be? Where is it going to
come from? How bad is it going to be? We stop
enjoying the blessed moment that's in front of
us. Or maybe we're enjoying it a little bit,
but we're not enjoying it to its fullest, are
we? There's a word for that. I talked a bit about
it last week. I didn't intend for last week to
turn into a series. It's going to turn into a
little bit of a mini -series here, though. That
word is doubt. Doubt. I doubt this is going to
keep going. I doubt I'm going to keep enjoying
this. I doubt I'm going to continue to be blessed
like this. Right? It happens. I feel like we're
living a game of chance. We're waiting for all
those dice are being thrown. This fortune's around
the corner. Well, let me say this. Don't gamble
with your salvation. Don't do it. Secondly, did
you know that this kind of thinking is a sin?
Yes. Sin. We are not supposed to be thinking
like this. It is a tool of the enemy. Like I
said, it ties into doubt. Doubt is right there.
We talked about how this is a sin and how it's
a tool of the enemy last week. Now you do know,
and that's what we're going to be focusing on
today. We're going to be taking a look at it
from this angle, waiting for that other shoe
to drop. So with that said, let's open up our
Bibles, your Bible apps, whatever it is that
you're using. Or if you just want to look at
the screens behind me, that's okay. We're going
to flip over to Proverbs chapter 15, verses 13
through 15. I'll try to give you all a moment
to get there. So Proverbs 15, 13 through 15.
It's easy for me because I got it right here
in front of me already in my notes. That's something
my wife reminds me about, and it drives me nuts,
and I'd be sitting in the pews like you are right
now. The pastor's like, hey, let's turn here,
and then he's just... By the time he's done going
to the next group, he's just barely turning to
the page. Proverbs 15, verses 13 through 15,
the word says, A merry heart makes a cheerful
countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit
is broken. The heart of him who has understanding
seeks knowledge. But the mouth of fools feeds
on foolishness. All the days of the affected
are evil. But he who is of a merry heart has
a continual feast. I've mentioned this a few
times recently. Geigo. Don't remember what that
is. It's garbage in, garbage out. Us nerdy people
remember that from way back in the day. Early
programming stuff is crammed down our throats
by our teachers. But you know what? It applies
to this as well. It applies to our lives. And
we're happy it shows. We have a smile on our
face, a twinkle in our eye. We're feeling good.
We got a little pep in our step, right? But then
we start letting the dread of expecting something
bad to happen. And all that dims over. It kind
of glazes, right? We're not so happy. We're not
so bright. We're not reflecting the light of
Christ the way that we should. You know, it happens.
You walk into a room, and a friend, someone you're
really close to, or a loved one's sitting there,
and they're like, hey, what's wrong? What's going
on? You want to talk about it? It shines that
easily. I shouldn't say it shines. Shadow over
you. Kind of living a little bit in the darkness,
right? A piece of the world is hovering over
you. Almost like an eclipse on your soul. I mentioned
this a couple weeks ago. Garbage in, garbage
out. We fill ourselves with garbage. Cover ourselves
with garbage. We start living around garbage.
What happens? What starts coming from us? Garbage.
Garbage in, garbage out. Garbage shines on you.
Garbage shines off of you. Instead of thinking
about the joyful things and the blessings that
are in front of you, start thinking about what
the world has in store for you. Oh man, what's
going to happen this time? It's going to be worse
than last time. I hope it's not as bad as that
one time. That time was pretty bad. You think
about it, mentally, spiritually, this stuff is
all fed. It's all fed into us. Where does it
come from? TV, the radio, stuff that we read,
the stuff that we listen to, the conversations
we have with people. People are real negative.
They like to complain a lot. They complain all
the time. Right? Starts to leech into you. Politicians
are real good for this one. Sort of lawyers.
Because they like feeding on the negative, right?
And what comes from it? What's that? Negativity,
yeah? Absolutely. There's a phenomenon. Now the
name just eluded me while I was seeing if anybody
had an answer. It's okay, though. It'll come
to me. What's that? There you go. Yes, illusory
truth effect. You hear the same negative stuff,
the same lies over and over and over again. That's
how the enemy operates, right? Now, at first,
you know, this is a bunch of malarkey. I'm not
buying into it. Take that baloney out of here.
It's not the good bologna. We're not frying it
up in a pan, throwing some cheese on it and eating
it, right? Not at all. But you start hearing
this stuff over and over again. It's on replay
all the time. It's being broadcast all over the
place. And eventually what happens is people
start to believe that it's nonsense. Garbage
in. What happens? They start to regurgitate it.
Garbage out. We fill ourselves with it. It impacts
the way we think. We start getting that stinking
thinking. We've all heard that phrase before.
The stinking thinking. What good comes from stinking
thinking? Nothing. That's right. Not a bit. That's
kind of like that song. War, what is it good
for? Absolutely nothing, right? There we go.
I don't have the soul to sing it like that. I'm
not going to try to. I butcher it off just saying
the lyrics. I'll sing it on that thing right
there. And that's what it is. And we start filling
ourselves with all this stuff and all this fluff.
You know, it's something to talk about. Beside
the weather. Because most of us, we go out and
we start seeing people, hanging out with people.
We start talking to people. How often do we turn
that conversation to Jesus Christ? Almost never.
Unless we know, hey, this is a brother or sister
in Christ and say, hey, how you doing? God bless
you. How can I pray for you today? How about
that nonsense that Pastor was talking about the
other day? Wasn't that stupid? That was the worst
dad joke I've heard in my life. Right? Last week
was kind of on a roll with some of those. Pretty
bad. Hey, I don't need you to agree that fast.
But it happens. We stop taking, like I said,
we stop taking that moment to enjoy the good
that's in front of us. We start focusing on the
stuff in the world, that storm around us. Stinking
thinking takes over and the enemy is winning
because we're not thinking about the things that
we should be. We're not focused on the thing
that we should be. We're not focused on Jesus.
We're not focused on Christ. We're not focused
on the wonderful blessings that he's placed in
front of us. Things that should be part of our
testimony. Our attitude of gratitude is gone.
Instead, the attitude that we have is the lens.
That we start viewing the world in. Usually negative.
And we become one of two people on the same trip.
I love this. I wish it showed up bigger. And
do so good on that one. You can still see it.
It's pretty good. These two guys are on a bus.
They're on the road to who knows where. You got
the one guy. He's on the far side of the bus.
He's looking at it. He's got a big old smile
on his face. It's bright. It's beautiful. He
sees the blessing in front of him. You got the
guy on the other side looking sad and depressed.
All he's seeing is the doom, the gloom, and the
darkness. He's over here looking this way going,
ah. Really, all he has to do is turn his head
this way and go, ooh. Look at that. Most of the
time, most of us are like that guy. Sad and depressed
when we start letting these things creep into
the world. Thing is, God wants us to be like
the other guy. Taking joy in the blessings that
are in front of us. Taking joy in the hope that
is within us. And contrast is, we could worry,
we could be depressed. What good is that going
to do? Nothing. How's that going to impact our
worldview? And a lot of the issues that we deal
with in our lives, myself included, we kind of
get sucked into that trap. And we don't see the
silver lining for what it is. Turn with me now
to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter
4, verse 8. Philippians 4 verse 8 where it says,
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are
just, whatever things are pure, whatever things
are lovely, whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things. We need
to redirect our minds. Okay, Brian, you're so
cool. Whatever things are true, whatever things
are noble, whatever things are just, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, all these good things,
right? That's the stuff we should be reflecting
on. Typically, even in some of the worst of times,
some of the worst of things, there's still something
good to reflect on. What we direct our minds
towards, what we focus on, directs. What's going
to come out in our actions, in our thoughts,
in our language, right? Our conversations with
people. Let's face it, sometimes it's really
hard. Some of those moments, mourning, right?
I don't know what it is to mourn. Depression
is a tough one. Depression is a real tough one.
People dealing with issues like PTSD. Now, it's
not just veterans. Veterans is a great example,
yes. Our first responders, great example. Our
nurses, great example. But you know what? PTSD
comes to a lot of people in a lot of forms. Domestic
abuse and accidents. Something horrific that's
happened either to them or in front of them.
It lingers. So it's really hard. And I'll tell
you, just this past week, This past week, less
than 24 hours away from each other. I'm at my
day job, right? For those of you who don't know,
I drive a school bus. I'm on my way to one of
my schools. An accident happens right up here
on Wyoming. Just south of Montgomery, near the
eyeglass world. Motorcyclist. Running a little
hot, not being too smart. Ran into the back of
a car and died. Here I am going to get my kids,
and I'm driving right past this. EMS came out.
They did a scoop and run. Didn't work out so
well for the guy, though. Well, they tried, anyway.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. That's already
hard. Most of y 'all know I ride a bike. I've
ridden a bike since I was knee -high to a turtle.
I've been on two wheels of some sort before I
could even drive a car. That's just a favorite
hobby of mine. So it's hard to see. It's even
hard to hear when you hear it's because the biker
was the one being the fool. That's already depressing
enough, right? You send out the flare to your
fellow writers like, hey, check on your people.
Everybody else check in with us. You know, all
that kind of stuff. You send up a prayer. A little
sad. I said, I'm on my way to a school that's
right around the corner. Now I'm having to figure
out which way I'm going to go so that my kids
aren't having to see the wreckage. The carnage
left all over in the road. Hmm. Kind of hard
to focus on the bright side of that, isn't it?
The very next day, on the exact same road, but
just north of Montgomery, not even a quarter
mile away, we go through an intersection. We
hear a bang behind us. A car hit a motorcyclist.
MS came out. That one didn't really hit the news
too much, so we're assuming the guy lived. We're
hoping so. But still, that one's kind of hard,
especially when you have all the kids running
to the back of the bus like, ooh, look what just
happened. It's tough. It's real tough. Get through
my stops, drop all the kids off. I'm coming back
through the same way to get to my next school.
I see the wreckage there. Send out the flare
again. But it's real hard because now you're
focused on all this stuff. You know, you're praying.
Lord, Lord, Lord, let them be okay. Lord, look
out for these first responders. Look out for
all these people who are driving by, seeing this.
God help the children who might lay eyes on this.
It's tough. Trying to find that silver lining
is tough. After the fact, being able to say,
hey, these kids got home safe, that is a silver
lining right there. You don't think of it right
away. It's safe to say a lot of us in this room
have probably had bad relationships in the past.
Right? Some of us in here have even been divorced
at some point. What happens when you go into
that new relationship? You're still carrying
all that baggage with you. You might not even
think of it right away, but you go into that
relationship and you have this baggage. Like,
hey, this person's wonderful. I'm loving it.
I wonder if I'm actually seeing them or just
their representative. You're waiting for that
other shoe to drop again. You start trying to
compare this person to the last person. They're
a different person, but it still happens. If
you have kids, you're trying to protect your
kids. You might tell me, I've got a kid, but
you're not introducing them for months on end.
You want to make sure that it's okay to introduce
your kids to them first, right? And because of
the positive, because of the negative that's
happening in your life, because of the stinking
thinking that you have, that garbage you're holding
on to and you're not letting go of. We haven't
redirected your mind yet. Now, most of the time,
and as I said, there's some examples there. I
got a little long -winded there. Sorry for the
rabbit trail. But most of the time, though, when
it comes to our stinking thinking, we do have
the control. We have the ability. We just choose
not to do so. And here, Paul wrote what we just
read here as advice to counsel us. He's saying
what's important is that we look to the good
and not dwell on the bad, not get hung up on
the past, that we train ourselves to look past
all the nonsense and focus on what God's placed
before us. Because what God's placed before us
is good and true, loving, right? The blessing.
We have to train ourselves not to worry about
that other shoe dropping. Jesus already told
us, hey, things are going to happen. That's life.
Expect it, right? But stop lingering on it. Take
a second, breathe in the moment, and enjoy it.
Enjoy it for as long as it lasts. Because you're
going to blink an eye, it's going to be over,
and you're going to miss something important.
You're going to miss a memory that you could
cherish. You should be in that moment, and we
should stop making up excuses. No more excuses.
We all make a lot of excuses. We've seen it in
the Bible. Go all the way back to the very beginning.
Matter of fact, look at Exodus. Exodus chapter
4. God's trying to send Moses out. Moses is arguing
with him. He's begging. He's pleading. No, don't
do it. Anyone but me. Send somebody. No, I can't
do it. I can't even talk about it. I got a speech
impediment. Send my brother. He can talk better
than I can. Send anyone but me. Right? He's scared
to death. Isaiah 6. We see Isaiah still overcome
with guilt for his own sins. He's like, no, don't
send me since I'm not worthy. Send someone else.
Excuses. Judges chapter 6, we look at Gideon.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell everybody
just to go ahead and flip over to Judges 6. Judges
6, and we're going to look at verses 14 through
15. I love Gideon. Gideon's one of my favorite
stories in the book of Judges. I don't know,
maybe it's just the veteran in me. I don't know,
something about being a military man. It's really
easy to relate to in a lot of aspects. So Judges
6, verses 14 through 16. The word says, Then
the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might
of yours, and you shall save Israel from the
hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?
So he said to him, Oh, my Lord, how can I save
Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh,
and I am the least in my father's house. And
the Lord said to him, Surely I'll be with you,
and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.
In other words, he's sitting there and he's crying
to the Lord. Are you kidding? I come from the
worst group that you have down here. Not only
that, I'm the worst of them. I'm the weakest.
You want to send me? Like, what am I going to
do? He's focused on his limitations instead of
focused on the God that's before him. We have
a God that's better and bigger than all of our
limitations, all of our doubts. Everything that
we use to hang ourselves up on and hold ourselves
back. I mean, Jesus came to break those chains,
but we hold on to them for dear life. And we
use them to argue with the Lord when instead
we should be saying, yes, Father, step it out.
Trusting in him. We use it to adjust ourselves
instead of trying to find the good in things.
For some people, it even comes down to coming
to church. Oh, I've got this going on. Oh, I've
got that going on. Oh, I got to get right first.
I can't go in there like this. I got to ease
up on my drinking. You know, whatever. Excuses,
excuses, excuses. And we know they're excuses.
When people tell them to us, we know they're
excuses. We're not blind to it. It's not new
to us. We recognize it. What's that? Yeah. You
know, it's a, It's a sad thing. You know, we
have those moments and we put God in a hard second
place as opposed to the first place that he should
be in. We kick him out of those places. Football
season's upon us. For some people, football,
they replace them with that nice idol. It's like,
oh, no, no, I'm not going into church. I'll tune
in online or something. I got the game starting
at 11 o 'clock. Right? Y 'all know them. Maybe,
you know, there's some people out there that
don't typically go to early services. Maybe they
go to a church that has like an evening service.
They're putting it on the back burner right now
for the World Series. Hmm. That's a big one,
right? On that note, I'm going to say go Dodgers.
You know, not to say that there aren't people
out there with a... They don't have valid excuses.
There are people out there that do have valid
excuses, sicknesses, illnesses, taking care of
loved ones that maybe can't get out or aren't
in a position to, right? I can't say all of us,
but at some point, most of us have been in the
hospital. It's kind of hard to get out when you're
in a hospital bed. There's valid excuses out
there, absolutely. And that's why we're online.
That's why we record it and we throw it on the
podcast. Because there are people out there who
can't make it, but they still want to be in the
Word. So you know what? Let's find us a way.
Let's get it to them. We have some people out
there who are lonely. They don't have someone
to actually come and speak with them and share
the Word and pray or anything. So online is the
only thing that they have to go to. It's the
one tool that's in front of them where they can
get fed. Let's use it. Don't cost us hardly anything.
In fact, some of y 'all can see I got one of
my old phones over there. It's running. It has
a camera on it. That's what this mic's going
to. It's recording. Same thing. It's a redundant.
This doesn't work. That one does. It's still
going to get to someone who needs it. Somebody
else comes up here. Pastor Ted. We had our lovely
intern here, Brian, up here. It's all going out
there. People are getting fed. It doesn't matter
who's here. It doesn't matter who's speaking.
Someone's out here, though, and they're giving
the word. Let's make sure other people can hear
it. Let's share it. There's something that sticks
with you. You get to work or you're out there
with a friend. Talk to them. Tell them, hey,
let me tell you about this. Right? It's all part
of our witness. It's all part of our testimony.
It's all part of how we answer the Great Commission.
We need to stop making excuses. We need to shift
our mindset. We need to stop looking at our limitations.
And we need to remember God is not bound by any
of these things. Not one of them. We need to
stop putting him in the back seat. Pretending
like we know our way to the destination better
than he does. He created the destination. He
should be the one driving. We shouldn't keep
trying to rob him of that. Our God is bigger
than our worries. He's bigger than our pride.
We turn to Psalm 118, verse 24. Psalm 118, verse
24. I'm just going to go through this real quick.
Where it says, this is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it. That one's
used in a lot of songs. Gotta love that one,
though, because it's true. That is where our
mindset absolutely should be. I promise you,
we are heading for home. This psalm reflects
the mindset that we should have perfectly. In
fact, now we're looking at it and we're talking
about it. Remember back in Sunday school, you'd
have that memory verse that you'd go through?
You know, typically, especially when you're younger,
there's that verse of the day. You go through
it a number of ways to memorize it. You'd write
it down. I'd encourage everybody, write this
one down, highlight it, underline it. We're going
to just call this one exactly that. This is our
memory verse of the day. This is the day the
Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. That's a good one. That's a good one to meditate
on. That is exactly what our mindset should be.
You see, regardless of what's going on in our
lives, like I said before, there is a silver
lining to be had there. We just have to open
our eyes. There's nothing so bad going on that
we can't take a moment to find God in it. Nothing,
not even combat. You can find God in combat.
Matter of fact, there are some people, that is
how they found God, in combat, in a trial by
fire. It sounds like something out of Hollywood.
Yeah, I found Jesus in a firefight. That ain't
Hollywood. That's reality. The old saying, there's
not an atheist in a foxhole is 100 % true. Someone
could come out afterwards and say, no, there's
no such thing. You have an imaginary friend and
all that stuff. I guarantee you, though, that
is a lie. There's something good to be had and
everything. In fact, I'm going to use Paul and
Silas in Acts 16. We're not going to turn to
it. I'll give you the cliff notes. I'll get you
out of here for lunch. On Acts 16, Paul and Silas,
they're in town. A possessed woman comes up.
They exercise the demon out of her. There's some
merchants there. They get a little upset with
them because they realize that he just took away
their bread and butter. So they go, they file
false charges against them, or both them, I should
say, not him, but them. Paul and Silas get arrested.
They get taken in. They go through kind of a
hoax of a trial. It's just over and done with.
They get beaten. Like, literally, their clothes
are torn. They get beaten. They get thrown in
jail. And it was not bad enough that they were
thrown in jail, but they were jailed with their
ankles locked in stocks. I don't know what stocks
are. You think of like the old pilgrim type images.
They had the people like that with the little
wood thing over them and all that. But they did
this to their ankles. So they're already beaten
and bloodied. So they're hurting. They're thrown
in this jail on a floor. Not too comfy. Think
of how old floors were. Dirt, rocks, you know,
it could have been hardened. Who knows? But then
not only this, they're on this uncomfortable
floor and their ankles are in the stocks. They
can't even hardly move around and get comfortable.
They can't lean back because they're all beaten,
bloodied, and ripped to shreds in the back. They're
in a miserable situation. Not anything any of
us wants to find ourselves in. Luckily, we live
in a day and age, the likelihood of that happening
to us here in the U .S. anyway is pretty minimal,
right? Praise the Lord. But then what was their
mindset? They didn't complain. They didn't moan.
They didn't scream, I'm innocent or Attica or
anything like that, right? A couple people caught
that one, good. I'm not alone in the room on
that one. You know, they weren't taking their
mug and raking it on the bars or anything. No.
They prayed to the Lord and they sang hymns unto
him. Songs of joy. And they did it loud and they
did it proud for everyone to hear. Every prisoner
and every guard. Even in a dire situation, they
raised a hallelujah and they sang it out for
the Lord. Because they found their silver lining
and they knew that he was with them. There was
no doubt in their mind. Everything was going
to be okay. They were being taken care of and
they were being protected. And then after all
this happened, they got out of jail, sure. But
the aftermath, when you look at the cost of what
it was for them to be there, yeah, they got whipped,
they got beaten. What did that cost pay for?
They still pointed the way to the Lord. Prisoners
were saved and came to know Jesus. Their jailer,
their guard that was looking over them, how do
I come to this Jesus? How do I come to your God?
It got their freedom back and brought people
who wouldn't have known Jesus otherwise. Brought
them to the Lord, brought them into a relationship.
How beautiful is that? But some of us smash a
nail and follow it with curse words. Folks, our
problems, our doubts are imperceptibly tiny compared
to our God who is always with us and will never
forsake us. So stop filling ourselves with garbage.
Start filling yourselves with the things that
are good, things that are beautiful, things that
point to the Lord. Surround yourselves with people
who encourage that and lift you up. Because we
all need encouragement. We all need to be lifted
up once in a while. Don't surround yourself and
focus on the bad. Not what God wants for you.
Stop worrying about that other shoe dropping.
Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. Maybe you'll be
called home to be with the Lord before it even
has chance. Don't know. I don't know. No man
knows. Trust in God. Trust in his blessings.
Enjoy those moments. Because even the smallest
moments be the most beautiful blessings that
you'll have in your life. On that note, let us
pray. Father, you're so great. We know that we
keep falling. We know we keep failing, especially
when we get caught up in stuff and we stop looking
at the blessing in front of us and we start looking
for that other shoe to drop. We start wondering
what bad is creeping around the next corner.
Forgive us when we forget our place and we try
to put you in the back seat, try to take the
wheel ourselves when we know Jesus should have
the wheel. Help us to overcome these fears because
that's exactly what they are, fears. Help us
to be focused on those blessed moments that you've
given us. Help us to fully enjoy them. Help us
to form memories around them and use them to
encourage and grow our relationship with you.
Help us to push all the excuses out, not just
to the side, but out the door and gone. Let us
find those silver linings. Don't allow us to
be joy ruiners when we should be fun havers.
Don't let us to dwell in the gloom and doom.
We should be dwelling in your love and your light
for warmth. Pray all this in the precious name
of Jesus. As people said. Amen and amen. Remember,
as you leave here today, you are loved and you
are blessed. So go and be. Thank you for joining
us at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Until
next time, take care and God bless.