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. Hey everybody, welcome to the sanctuary.
It's great to have you with us as always. So
as we get started here, I'm going to ask a few
questions. You can either mentally write them
down or physically write them down. do something
because I want you to keep these in the back
of your mind as we move forward today. All right,
so let's start off with why has God allowed you
to fail at times? What did you learn from it?
And how did you respond? What are the frustrations
in your life right now? And how should you ask
God to help with them? All right, now with those
questions in mind, Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
147. So Psalm 147, and we're just going to look
at the first few verses here. So Psalm 147, verses
1 through 6. The word says, Praise the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises to our God, for
it is pleasant. Praise is beautiful. The Lord
builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the
outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds. He counts the number
of the stars. He calls them all by name. Great
is our Lord and mighty in power. His understanding
is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble. He
casts the wicked down to the ground. So, as we
go into looking at this passage here, I'd like
to tell you about someone. You may have heard
of him. His name is Phil Vischer. Now, back in
the early 90s, he founded a film company. By
the mid -90s, around 1994, it had a revenue of
about $44 million. The company had become a big
name in the game. It just, you know, it built
up its prominence from just an animated TV show.
And in this TV show, he voiced several of the
characters himself. And this show, you know,
it became so big that his company had been contracted
to make a full -blown movie. And as it happened
with many companies, though, does continuously,
we've seen throughout the decades, the cost quickly
got out of control. Revenue plummeted into the
red. The company that had contracted them ended
up taking them to court for breach of contract.
And it was because he and his company couldn't
deliver on time. They didn't have the goods.
You know, setback after setback after setback.
Yet you see, Phil is happy. He was one happy
dude. And it's that happiness that surpasses
all understanding because he had pushed himself
to the limit, to his absolute limit, to achieve
a dream. Now, you see, when he was a child, his
father left the home. And his dream was to create
a company that could deliver positive messages.
That would be able to strengthen families and
bring hope to young kids. In doing so, well,
he was stressed. And stressed does ugly things.
Stress, in his case, it led to heart issues.
It led to other illnesses. Stripped throat, shingles.
But those heart issues, I mean, broken hearts,
no bueno. That's a tough deal, right? And this
was all before he even got to the point where
he had to start laying off people that he loved
dearly and considered family. But he was still
happy. He was happy. Why would he be happy? We're
talking about a man in dire straits. We're looking
at a horrible, horrible situation. The downfall
of a company. It doesn't make sense. How could
he possibly be happy, right? But here he was,
and he's happy. And it's because after this trial,
he was listening to a preacher. And this preacher
asked the question, what does it mean when God
gives you a dream, that dream comes to life,
and then the dream dies? And the answer is profound.
You're going to love this. I love this. The answer
is, God wants to see if you can live without
the dream, depending only on Him for meaning.
For Phil, this was a wake -up call from God.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That alarm was
going off. It was ringing loud. And his eyes
were opened because he realized along the way
that he had stopped pursuing God. God was no
longer at the forefront. Instead, he was looking
at cultural relevance. He was looking at the
world, what the world demanded, what the world
expected. And when he realized this, the trajectory
of his career and his life changed profoundly.
It changed profoundly. Today, Phil still provides
the voices for the same characters, but only
for a small percentage of the royalties, which
in turn has left him with the freedom to go after
a number of other ventures in service to God.
The company that we're talking about here, it
exists only in name today. It's a subsidiary
of another company. Big idea. Big idea is the
name of the company. And the movie? Oh, you're
going to love this, especially those of you who
are probably my age, maybe a little bit younger
even, because the movie is called Jonah, a VeggieTales
movie. That's right. Phil being the voice behind
many of the main characters in that show. Right
about here is where Paul Harvey would impart
those awesome words of, And now you know the
rest of the story. But for us, we're not done.
We're just getting going. We're going right back
into scripture here. Sometimes we feel frustrated
in life. Almost aimless, right? Sometimes we
don't even understand ourselves or even what
we should do about it. But our God is huge. He's
so much... bigger than all of that. He's bigger
than a failed business venture. He's bigger than
a failed relationship. He's bigger than that
devastating loss that you've had in your life.
And even bigger than that dream that either never
came to fruition or it actually started up but
then died. I mean, I'm sure someone out there,
you know, has anybody out there, you know, had
that dream that came into fruition and then died?
I know I have. Romans 11, verses 33 through 36,
the word says, Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
For who has known the Lord of the mind, or who
has become his counselor, or who has first given
to him, and it shall be repaid to him. For of
him and through him and to him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen. You see, we need
to remember that God has all understanding. He
knows it all, right? He's the creator of all
things. He's omnipotent. He's all -knowing. So
when we're feeling troubled, when we're feeling
down, we need to find a way to pick ourselves
up and take our mind off of ourselves. When I
say pick ourselves up, I'm not saying, oh, just
get up and get going. I'm talking about refocusing
our mindset, getting out of that stinking thinking
and get refocused on God. God, who possesses
absolute power and absolute wisdom. We need to
remember, When we go to Him, that we are the
ones who need the counseling. We are the ones
who need the help. We're not in the position
to be making demands or telling Him what's best
or how to do things. He already knows. He already
knows it all. He's the source of all things,
the living water from which everything gets life.
Everything is to be His will and to bring Him
glory. If we turn to 1 Corinthians 10, verse
13. I'll give you a second here. So 1 Corinthians
10. Alright. So 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. The
word says, No temptation has overcome you except
such as is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what
you are able, But, this is the part that gets
left out, but with the temptation will also make
the way of escape that you may be able to bear
it. See, far, far too many people hear the first
part of this passage, right? But not the last
part, which is truly the most important. Too
many people, they start off well, they get this
first part out, and then they forget and they
drop off the last part. No, no, no. We need it.
Because we need the context. We need to understand
what's going on here. It's not saying that you
won't be tempted with more than you can handle.
It's saying you'll be given a way to overcome
that temptation. And the way that you overcome
it is by leaning into Jesus Christ, by going
to Jesus Christ, by praying to the Holy Spirit.
The first part is saying that you will be tempted.
You're going to be tempted. That is life. And
just like everybody else in this world, because
everybody is tempted. However, you have a choice
to make. You have a very, very important choice
to make. You can either choose to go it on your
own, in your own selfish desire. And I don't
know about you, but I mess up every time I do
it. I screw up royally. Or you can choose to
go to Jesus and trust him to guide you through
whatever it is that's in front of you. See, going
back to Phil, Phil originally tried to do it
on his own. Fortunately, he figured out where
he went wrong and he went back to Jesus. And
because of that, things have worked out really
well for him. Unfortunately, most of us, well,
we're more like David and Bathsheba. 1 Samuel
11, verses 3 -4, the word tells us, So David
went and inquired about the woman. And someone
said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David
sent messengers and took her. And she came to
him, and he lay with her. For she was cleansed
from her impurity, and she returned to her house.
David, who... Wanted what he wanted. He put his
own desires first, like so much of us. He put
his own lust first. He did not put God first.
He didn't go to God. Instead, he put himself
there. He went to himself. He gave into his evil
heart. He gave into his desires. And in his desire
to name and claim what he wanted, he went astray.
See, there's the problem with the name it and
claim it. Prosperity gospel, right? You see,
he went astray. And what happens, he committed
adultery. And if that wasn't enough, he plotted
to cover it up. And when that didn't work, he
sent Uriah to his death. His death. He's guilty
of murder. Adultery and murder. He's not loving.
He's not loving God. He's not loving his neighbor.
He's breaking the greatest of all commandments
here. And ultimately, when he did this, it brought
a whole lot of grief to his family. A whole lot
of grief. And all of us, we all do this with
far too many things. We don't look at the choices
in front of us and ask if what we're doing is
God's will. If what we want is in accordance
with God's will. Instead, we become frustrated
with things that arise in our lives. We become
frustrated with what happens. With our perception
of failure. Those things that we perceive as
a failure. We don't look to learn from it. We
don't look for any blessings in it. We don't
look for a way to reconnect with Jesus or grow
our relationship with Him. We don't look to God
for the right way to respond. And we don't ask
Him for help or intervention in our lives. We
don't ask Him for direction. Remember the questions
that we started with today. Why has God allowed
you to fail at times? What did you learn from
it and how did you respond? What are the frustrations
in your life right now? And how should you ask
God to help with them? God is at work. He's watching
you. He wants to help you. You just need to go
to Him and ask for that help. You need to stop
talking. When he's giving the answer and listen,
especially when you think you don't like the
answer at first. And finally, you need to remember
that it's not about your will, but his will.
And what he wills is so much greater than what
we do. And what he wants for us is so much greater
than what we want for ourselves. Remember this
and you will do well. Meditate on these questions
and use it to guide your prayer the next time
you sit down and you talk with the Lord. Remember,
you are loved and you are blessed. Now go be
the church. Thank you for joining us at Healing
Scars with Pastor Burton. Until next time, take
care and God bless.