WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:03.950 Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton, 00:00:04.129 --> 00:00:07.269 the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship, 00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:10.769 Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:14.150 where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.809 here. Hey everybody, welcome to the sanctuary. 00:00:18.010 --> 00:00:20.629 It's great to have you with us as always. So 00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:24.429 as we get started here, I'm going to ask a few 00:00:24.429 --> 00:00:28.750 questions. You can either mentally write them 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:31.760 down or physically write them down. do something 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:33.659 because I want you to keep these in the back 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:37.700 of your mind as we move forward today. All right, 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:41.520 so let's start off with why has God allowed you 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.979 to fail at times? What did you learn from it? 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:50.460 And how did you respond? What are the frustrations 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:54.359 in your life right now? And how should you ask 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:59.039 God to help with them? All right, now with those 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.679 questions in mind, Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:10.680 147. So Psalm 147, and we're just going to look 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:14.079 at the first few verses here. So Psalm 147, verses 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.799 1 through 6. The word says, Praise the Lord, 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.400 for it is good to sing praises to our God, for 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:27.760 it is pleasant. Praise is beautiful. The Lord 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.140 builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:34.480 outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.439 and binds up their wounds. He counts the number 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:42.780 of the stars. He calls them all by name. Great 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:47.939 is our Lord and mighty in power. His understanding 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:52.739 is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble. He 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:57.730 casts the wicked down to the ground. So, as we 00:01:57.730 --> 00:02:01.209 go into looking at this passage here, I'd like 00:02:01.209 --> 00:02:03.670 to tell you about someone. You may have heard 00:02:03.670 --> 00:02:07.510 of him. His name is Phil Vischer. Now, back in 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:10.830 the early 90s, he founded a film company. By 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:14.590 the mid -90s, around 1994, it had a revenue of 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:21.509 about $44 million. The company had become a big 00:02:21.509 --> 00:02:29.409 name in the game. It just, you know, it built 00:02:29.409 --> 00:02:31.590 up its prominence from just an animated TV show. 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:34.969 And in this TV show, he voiced several of the 00:02:34.969 --> 00:02:38.849 characters himself. And this show, you know, 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:45.469 it became so big that his company had been contracted 00:02:45.469 --> 00:02:49.750 to make a full -blown movie. And as it happened 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:53.759 with many companies, though, does continuously, 00:02:53.939 --> 00:02:56.780 we've seen throughout the decades, the cost quickly 00:02:56.780 --> 00:03:00.960 got out of control. Revenue plummeted into the 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.099 red. The company that had contracted them ended 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:06.979 up taking them to court for breach of contract. 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.860 And it was because he and his company couldn't 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:12.759 deliver on time. They didn't have the goods. 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:16.020 You know, setback after setback after setback. 00:03:16.699 --> 00:03:20.169 Yet you see, Phil is happy. He was one happy 00:03:20.169 --> 00:03:24.129 dude. And it's that happiness that surpasses 00:03:24.129 --> 00:03:27.189 all understanding because he had pushed himself 00:03:27.189 --> 00:03:32.289 to the limit, to his absolute limit, to achieve 00:03:32.289 --> 00:03:36.689 a dream. Now, you see, when he was a child, his 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:41.090 father left the home. And his dream was to create 00:03:41.090 --> 00:03:44.650 a company that could deliver positive messages. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.659 That would be able to strengthen families and 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:57.939 bring hope to young kids. In doing so, well, 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:00.300 he was stressed. And stressed does ugly things. 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:03.379 Stress, in his case, it led to heart issues. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:08.280 It led to other illnesses. Stripped throat, shingles. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:11.900 But those heart issues, I mean, broken hearts, 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:17.040 no bueno. That's a tough deal, right? And this 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.339 was all before he even got to the point where 00:04:21.339 --> 00:04:24.220 he had to start laying off people that he loved 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:29.779 dearly and considered family. But he was still 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:34.019 happy. He was happy. Why would he be happy? We're 00:04:34.019 --> 00:04:36.660 talking about a man in dire straits. We're looking 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:40.620 at a horrible, horrible situation. The downfall 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:46.759 of a company. It doesn't make sense. How could 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.100 he possibly be happy, right? But here he was, 00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:52.879 and he's happy. And it's because after this trial, 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.939 he was listening to a preacher. And this preacher 00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:02.420 asked the question, what does it mean when God 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:05.759 gives you a dream, that dream comes to life, 00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:11.540 and then the dream dies? And the answer is profound. 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.350 You're going to love this. I love this. The answer 00:05:14.350 --> 00:05:18.970 is, God wants to see if you can live without 00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:23.949 the dream, depending only on Him for meaning. 00:05:25.329 --> 00:05:28.329 For Phil, this was a wake -up call from God. 00:05:28.470 --> 00:05:30.009 Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That alarm was 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:33.709 going off. It was ringing loud. And his eyes 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:37.410 were opened because he realized along the way 00:05:37.410 --> 00:05:42.620 that he had stopped pursuing God. God was no 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:46.720 longer at the forefront. Instead, he was looking 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.220 at cultural relevance. He was looking at the 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:52.439 world, what the world demanded, what the world 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:59.879 expected. And when he realized this, the trajectory 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:06.680 of his career and his life changed profoundly. 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:11.829 It changed profoundly. Today, Phil still provides 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:15.889 the voices for the same characters, but only 00:06:15.889 --> 00:06:21.350 for a small percentage of the royalties, which 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:25.129 in turn has left him with the freedom to go after 00:06:25.129 --> 00:06:28.089 a number of other ventures in service to God. 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:33.370 The company that we're talking about here, it 00:06:33.370 --> 00:06:35.870 exists only in name today. It's a subsidiary 00:06:35.870 --> 00:06:41.439 of another company. Big idea. Big idea is the 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:44.759 name of the company. And the movie? Oh, you're 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:48.019 going to love this, especially those of you who 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:51.180 are probably my age, maybe a little bit younger 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:55.699 even, because the movie is called Jonah, a VeggieTales 00:06:55.699 --> 00:07:00.000 movie. That's right. Phil being the voice behind 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.180 many of the main characters in that show. Right 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:07.279 about here is where Paul Harvey would impart 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.889 those awesome words of, And now you know the 00:07:10.889 --> 00:07:15.089 rest of the story. But for us, we're not done. 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:17.870 We're just getting going. We're going right back 00:07:17.870 --> 00:07:20.709 into scripture here. Sometimes we feel frustrated 00:07:20.709 --> 00:07:23.490 in life. Almost aimless, right? Sometimes we 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:26.370 don't even understand ourselves or even what 00:07:26.370 --> 00:07:29.990 we should do about it. But our God is huge. He's 00:07:29.990 --> 00:07:33.589 so much... bigger than all of that. He's bigger 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:36.829 than a failed business venture. He's bigger than 00:07:36.829 --> 00:07:39.410 a failed relationship. He's bigger than that 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:42.810 devastating loss that you've had in your life. 00:07:42.910 --> 00:07:47.730 And even bigger than that dream that either never 00:07:47.730 --> 00:07:53.490 came to fruition or it actually started up but 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:57.639 then died. I mean, I'm sure someone out there, 00:07:57.699 --> 00:07:59.759 you know, has anybody out there, you know, had 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:02.060 that dream that came into fruition and then died? 00:08:02.180 --> 00:08:07.379 I know I have. Romans 11, verses 33 through 36, 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:10.839 the word says, Oh, the depth of the riches both 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:14.759 of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.300 are his judgments and his ways past finding out. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.899 For who has known the Lord of the mind, or who 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:24.800 has become his counselor, or who has first given 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:29.879 to him, and it shall be repaid to him. For of 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:33.940 him and through him and to him are all things, 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:40.440 to whom be glory forever. Amen. You see, we need 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.220 to remember that God has all understanding. He 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:45.960 knows it all, right? He's the creator of all 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:48.690 things. He's omnipotent. He's all -knowing. So 00:08:48.690 --> 00:08:50.830 when we're feeling troubled, when we're feeling 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:54.210 down, we need to find a way to pick ourselves 00:08:54.210 --> 00:08:57.769 up and take our mind off of ourselves. When I 00:08:57.769 --> 00:08:59.269 say pick ourselves up, I'm not saying, oh, just 00:08:59.269 --> 00:09:02.750 get up and get going. I'm talking about refocusing 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:04.669 our mindset, getting out of that stinking thinking 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:12.049 and get refocused on God. God, who possesses 00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:16.889 absolute power and absolute wisdom. We need to 00:09:16.889 --> 00:09:22.190 remember, When we go to Him, that we are the 00:09:22.190 --> 00:09:25.570 ones who need the counseling. We are the ones 00:09:25.570 --> 00:09:28.009 who need the help. We're not in the position 00:09:28.009 --> 00:09:31.129 to be making demands or telling Him what's best 00:09:31.129 --> 00:09:35.090 or how to do things. He already knows. He already 00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:38.409 knows it all. He's the source of all things, 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:42.149 the living water from which everything gets life. 00:09:42.809 --> 00:09:46.850 Everything is to be His will and to bring Him 00:09:46.850 --> 00:09:52.919 glory. If we turn to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:56.779 13. I'll give you a second here. So 1 Corinthians 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:05.980 10. Alright. So 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. The 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:09.100 word says, No temptation has overcome you except 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:13.000 such as is common to man. But God is faithful, 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:18.720 who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:22.330 you are able, But, this is the part that gets 00:10:22.330 --> 00:10:26.649 left out, but with the temptation will also make 00:10:26.649 --> 00:10:29.970 the way of escape that you may be able to bear 00:10:29.970 --> 00:10:35.730 it. See, far, far too many people hear the first 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:41.210 part of this passage, right? But not the last 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:44.590 part, which is truly the most important. Too 00:10:44.590 --> 00:10:47.450 many people, they start off well, they get this 00:10:47.450 --> 00:10:49.210 first part out, and then they forget and they 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:52.110 drop off the last part. No, no, no. We need it. 00:10:52.330 --> 00:10:54.210 Because we need the context. We need to understand 00:10:54.210 --> 00:10:57.970 what's going on here. It's not saying that you 00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:00.610 won't be tempted with more than you can handle. 00:11:00.970 --> 00:11:04.149 It's saying you'll be given a way to overcome 00:11:04.149 --> 00:11:07.450 that temptation. And the way that you overcome 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:11.450 it is by leaning into Jesus Christ, by going 00:11:11.450 --> 00:11:15.149 to Jesus Christ, by praying to the Holy Spirit. 00:11:15.990 --> 00:11:19.370 The first part is saying that you will be tempted. 00:11:19.470 --> 00:11:22.350 You're going to be tempted. That is life. And 00:11:22.350 --> 00:11:24.610 just like everybody else in this world, because 00:11:24.610 --> 00:11:28.509 everybody is tempted. However, you have a choice 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:30.950 to make. You have a very, very important choice 00:11:30.950 --> 00:11:33.690 to make. You can either choose to go it on your 00:11:33.690 --> 00:11:37.649 own, in your own selfish desire. And I don't 00:11:37.649 --> 00:11:40.789 know about you, but I mess up every time I do 00:11:40.789 --> 00:11:45.690 it. I screw up royally. Or you can choose to 00:11:45.690 --> 00:11:49.529 go to Jesus and trust him to guide you through 00:11:49.529 --> 00:11:54.980 whatever it is that's in front of you. See, going 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:58.259 back to Phil, Phil originally tried to do it 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:02.720 on his own. Fortunately, he figured out where 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:06.679 he went wrong and he went back to Jesus. And 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:08.279 because of that, things have worked out really 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:14.039 well for him. Unfortunately, most of us, well, 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:18.710 we're more like David and Bathsheba. 1 Samuel 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:21.850 11, verses 3 -4, the word tells us, So David 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:24.789 went and inquired about the woman. And someone 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:27.809 said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of 00:12:27.809 --> 00:12:32.370 Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:34.970 sent messengers and took her. And she came to 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:39.429 him, and he lay with her. For she was cleansed 00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:43.009 from her impurity, and she returned to her house. 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:48.970 David, who... Wanted what he wanted. He put his 00:12:48.970 --> 00:12:50.730 own desires first, like so much of us. He put 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:53.409 his own lust first. He did not put God first. 00:12:53.490 --> 00:12:57.769 He didn't go to God. Instead, he put himself 00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:01.149 there. He went to himself. He gave into his evil 00:13:01.149 --> 00:13:05.570 heart. He gave into his desires. And in his desire 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:10.590 to name and claim what he wanted, he went astray. 00:13:10.850 --> 00:13:12.730 See, there's the problem with the name it and 00:13:12.730 --> 00:13:16.299 claim it. Prosperity gospel, right? You see, 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.940 he went astray. And what happens, he committed 00:13:18.940 --> 00:13:22.879 adultery. And if that wasn't enough, he plotted 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.519 to cover it up. And when that didn't work, he 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:30.139 sent Uriah to his death. His death. He's guilty 00:13:30.139 --> 00:13:35.399 of murder. Adultery and murder. He's not loving. 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:37.840 He's not loving God. He's not loving his neighbor. 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:39.759 He's breaking the greatest of all commandments 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.620 here. And ultimately, when he did this, it brought 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:47.320 a whole lot of grief to his family. A whole lot 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.899 of grief. And all of us, we all do this with 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.259 far too many things. We don't look at the choices 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.740 in front of us and ask if what we're doing is 00:13:56.740 --> 00:13:59.480 God's will. If what we want is in accordance 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:02.799 with God's will. Instead, we become frustrated 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:06.259 with things that arise in our lives. We become 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:12.210 frustrated with what happens. With our perception 00:14:12.210 --> 00:14:15.610 of failure. Those things that we perceive as 00:14:15.610 --> 00:14:19.769 a failure. We don't look to learn from it. We 00:14:19.769 --> 00:14:22.529 don't look for any blessings in it. We don't 00:14:22.529 --> 00:14:24.850 look for a way to reconnect with Jesus or grow 00:14:24.850 --> 00:14:28.190 our relationship with Him. We don't look to God 00:14:28.190 --> 00:14:34.070 for the right way to respond. And we don't ask 00:14:34.070 --> 00:14:37.809 Him for help or intervention in our lives. We 00:14:37.809 --> 00:14:41.450 don't ask Him for direction. Remember the questions 00:14:41.450 --> 00:14:44.750 that we started with today. Why has God allowed 00:14:44.750 --> 00:14:47.190 you to fail at times? What did you learn from 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:50.629 it and how did you respond? What are the frustrations 00:14:50.629 --> 00:14:54.389 in your life right now? And how should you ask 00:14:54.389 --> 00:14:59.809 God to help with them? God is at work. He's watching 00:14:59.809 --> 00:15:03.450 you. He wants to help you. You just need to go 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:06.830 to Him and ask for that help. You need to stop 00:15:06.830 --> 00:15:10.289 talking. When he's giving the answer and listen, 00:15:10.450 --> 00:15:14.470 especially when you think you don't like the 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:18.509 answer at first. And finally, you need to remember 00:15:18.509 --> 00:15:20.990 that it's not about your will, but his will. 00:15:21.330 --> 00:15:25.570 And what he wills is so much greater than what 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:30.029 we do. And what he wants for us is so much greater 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:36.820 than what we want for ourselves. Remember this 00:15:36.820 --> 00:15:40.240 and you will do well. Meditate on these questions 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:44.200 and use it to guide your prayer the next time 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:48.080 you sit down and you talk with the Lord. Remember, 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.500 you are loved and you are blessed. Now go be 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:55.620 the church. Thank you for joining us at Healing 00:15:55.620 --> 00:16:16.389 Scars with Pastor Burton. Until next time, take 00:16:16.389 --> 00:16:17.950 care and God bless.