The Seasons and the Reasons - Holy Living in a Hostile World

Tornadoes are just one of the things that happens when the season is changing. Sometimes it's very turbulent when the seasons change. And many people even here who have talked to me about this are in a changing season of your life. Yes? Now in some area of your life, it may not be everything in your life is changing, maybe it is. But the seasons change and when they change physically you know they are because of the weather, right? Yeah, and uh uh and then because of you go to Walmart To get a wardrobe, you have to have different clothes. Now it's on the W roll there, you know, so I was like, how do you do allergies? So I just put down wet noses um let you know that it's changing season I'm desperate. But it can be turbulent when the seasons are changing. Think about it. One visit to the doctor and your season can change, yes? One virus that we never heard of before. We can't see, but changed all our lives Changing season. Immediately. Your job. Retirement. Changing season. Suddenly there's a financial change in your life. And you have to live on less or spend more. And that can be a changing season. Empty nest. You know, when Brad was talking about identity, he said, you know, if if your identity has been being a mom, it's a little tough. Who am I now when when the kids are gone? Take it from me. You lose somebody you love. Very changing season changes everything. Unexpected changes of all kinds. Do you know what Daniel chapter 2 verse it's not going to be up on the screen, but Daniel 2. In verse 21, Daniel says, it is the Lord who changes the seasons. So it's not, it, it, it is, there is purpose, there is meaning. There is direction, there is sovereignty in your changing season. You wouldn't have picked it many times. But God did. We're going to look at, you see your title this morning, the seasons and the reasons. Because God says something in Deuteronomy looks back on the history of the Jews and says, this is how you can expect me to work. And he gives us some interesting seasonal guidance, you might say. I saw um we were Karen and I were driving across the country to go some meeting in, and uh we stopped at a truck stop, and we saw a truck that had this on the door. Amazing grace verse 3. I was like, that's cool. First of all, it must be a Christian brother who by the so Kieran is funny was funny this way. She would She would uh she went up to meet the guy 'cause I was right nearby and and uh he was saying, Yeah, you know one of the ways I get across the country, I know where all the Christian stations are. So I get out of this one, you know, and I know when to turn, you know, tune. to hear the next Christian station and I kind of get a coast to coast Christian radio and he said there's this one guy I like he's got this this short program Karen never tells who she is. She just goes, oh, yeah? Oh, who's that? Um really? And um and then finally she said, actually that's my husband. It was just kind of crazy. But I thought that is really cool, a truck driver. Amazing Grace, verse 3, through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far. Grace will lead me home. Every season. Every season, right? The seasons change, the grace doesn't. Kind of cool. You might want to put that on the door of your cart. You probably don't, but it's a you can have it put on the door of your heart. So changing seasons. They are tools. In the life-building toolkit of God. And we're going to look at some verses that say that And God has two things that he's got in mind when he decides which tool to pull out of his toolbox, which season to pull out of his season box. One is to so you will have a bigger God. He will he says right now for you to have a bigger God than you realize you have, you need to have this kind of a season. Secondly, a better you That's ultimately his goal. A bigger guy than a better you. Not that he gets bigger, but you have a bigger view of him And in Deuteronomy, God reveals what I call four life-building experiences to help us become what we would never become if it weren't for those experiences. And he expresses his loving purpose in those seasons and those experiences in Deuteronomy 4. 35. We're going to be in Deuteronomy 4 quite a bit here. You were shown these things, and we'll talk about these things, so that you might know that the Lord is God. Ultimately, he said, those experiences which he has just given talked about a variety of experiences, you went through those You come out of there to know the Lord is God. Now, will you own that purpose? Not get all caught up in in whether you like or don't like the season. Own the purpose To know that the Lord is God. Besides him, there is no other. So this is not Very seminarially. Seminarially? Seminar? Seminarial? Whatever. But God's tools touch us in one of three ways. Sometimes it's Ow! Sometimes it's wow and sometimes it's pow So you get the owl? You will not hear this anywhere else because you gotta have a really weird teacher. to come up with stuff like this. But there's the owl seasons and there's the wow seasons and there's the pow seasons. And they're all in this passage. I'm too glad for this deep theological insight. Here's bold choice number six. I will embrace God's purpose, whatever the season. Whether it's an owl, a wow, or a pow, I will look for his purpose and if I whether or not I know it, whether I can see it or not I will embrace the fact that there is purpose, and he is a good God, and I will be looking for and listening for his purpose. I will not focus on the pain. I'm going to focus on the purpose, if there is pain involved, of that pain. Changes everything. Proverbs 1921 was kind of my anchor verse during the COVID upheaval. Which just it it threw our ministry up for grabs, not its existence, but everything, you know, your muscle memory didn't matter matter anymore, none of that works. your methods now we know we're we're here we get to this point this is what we do forget that you couldn't do it uh it was just everything is upside down look at this many are the plans Isn't that the truth? Many are the plans in a person's heart. Oh, I'm a planner. They were pretty much all in the trash can with COVID. But something didn't change. It is the Lord's purpose that prevails. No virus, no loss. No upheaval, nothing political, nothing economic can change the second part. It can change the first part. Plans can go down the tubes, but it is the Lord's, the Lord's purpose is prevailing. Whether your plans are or not Good news, huh? Because he's the Lord your God. Matthew 26, 39, Jesus in the garden. It's interesting the struggle of the on the human side of Jesus. He too knows what it feels like to struggle with God's will. Nothing in the Bible says you have to like his will, but you embrace his will. I didn't sound like Jesus liked the will here. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my Father. Can we is there any do we my father if it is possible may this please may this cup be taken from me I I'm comforted by the fact that even he and his humanists struggled With the Father's will. Yet, not as I will. I want your will to win. Even though I'm going to tell you what my will is. I want your will to win. Four experiences. We're going to go to Deuteronomy 4. Four experiences that turn our heart upward. and open our eyes and open our heart. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Ask now about the former days, long before your time. From the day God created human beings on the earth, asked from one end of the heavens to the other, has anything so great Has this ever happened? Or has anything like it ever been heard of? Whoa, what is it? Has any other people Heard the voice of God speaking, out of fire, as you have, and lived. Has any God ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation? Now here comes the toolkit. By testings. by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes. You were shown these things that we looked at this verse so that all that stuff so that you might know that the Lord is God, beside him there is no other. From heaven He made you hear his voice. Why? To discipline you. On earth, he showed you his great fire And you heard his words from out of the fire, because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them He brought you out of Egypt by His presence and his great strength to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance as it is today. Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Couple things to point out here. Did you notice where you hear him? In the fire. He said, you heard my voice in the fire. I hate going through the fire, don't you? Whether it's health or family or finances, relationships, but all I know is that's where you hear God's voice the loudest. Listen for it. You can hear him better in the fire because he has your attention. Our flight was from Newark to Pittsburgh. It was that early morning flight, it's mostly businessmen and women. So when the flight attendant gives their announcements, you're like, your lips are moving like I could do this for you. Something happens to the flight attendant, we could do the little little spiel, you know. And we're about to land in Pittsburgh and and uh We're not, you know, seats in the upper ends of our position and, you know, fashion seat, blah blah blah. And so uh we're not paying any attention. All of a sudden When we get to that runway, you get that two for the price of one landing. And we're like, oh, you got our attention. Man alive. We're like, whoa, head out of the briefcase. And uh they uh Flight attendant, one of the few that has a sense of humor, said and said, ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your attention That's good. We boy did they ever now that we have your attention I knew I want to make a few announcements There are times when you're having a bumpy landing in your life, and the reason for the bumpy landing, you will hear God say, now that I have your attention, I want to make a few announcements. That's what happens with the bumpy landings. He's got with the fire. So he says if you the the the fire is is really uh where we hear his voice the best I wrote down, it's not in your notes, but I wrote down four things here that we hear in the fire and that he said was his purpose. Number one You should come out to know that God is in control and deeply in love with you. This is out of the verses we just heard. God is in control. That's what he wants you to hear in the fire and deeply in love with you. Number two, he will use your season to get you to his will. He knows what season to bring out to get you to the next place in his will. It is his tool to get you to the next step in his will. Number three It is his tool to get you to obey him where you haven't been, to get you to obey him. And fourthly, it's his tool. To bless your future. That's to me in those verses that we just read. So let's look at the toolkit. Because you've got one of them going on right now. And in fact, because of the different arenas in your life, you may have all four of them going on in different parts of your life. If you have children A lot of times they determine your seasons because their season determines yours, doesn't it? You kind of go with them into their season So that's another factor. Let's look at the first part. Trials and testings. In the Hebrew, that's pretty much how it comes out. Trials and testings. This is ow. It's interesting that our grandson Blake, who was a philosophy major at Dartmouth, was a philosopher years earlier. Listen to this. This is pretty good. He probably was 13, maybe 12 or 13. He said, you know what? He said, God and school are different. Yeah? What do you mean by that, Blake? He said, well, in school First you get the lessons and then you get the test. He said with God. Yeah, you you getting there? He said, first you get the test Then you get what? You get the lessons from the test. I'm like, well, you should be a philosophy major at Dartmouth. Um so that's pretty good. He's like he's a budding f young philosopher. I never thought of it that way. So In school, first you get the lessons, then you get the test. In God's school, first you get the test, then you get the lessons. So what is God trying to build? If he's pulled out the toolkit, a season of trials and testings, what is he trying to accomplish? Because I believe this, if you're going to get the pain, get the point. In God's plans, there's always a point to the pain. There's always a point to the pain. So if you're gonna, you might as well please get the point. So what's God trying to build? Well, Romans 5. 3 tells us one thing he's trying to build. We also glory in our sufferings. Really? Why? Because we know that suffering produces perseverance. So one thing got us, see he says, it's time. You're gonna need more perseverance. I know what's coming. You're gonna need more perseverance. I'm now pulling out of my toolkit Testing and trials to build your perseverance. Here's my definition of perseverance, the strength to go the distance. Perseverance is the strength to go the distance. And you're going to need that. And he said It's gonna take some some hard stuff for you to develop that. So you will be you'll still be going when other people are quitting. Our guys played football in high school and they found out very early that if you want to impress the coaches It isn't just what you do in practice, it's the weight room. The coach will come in and uh visit and uh take note of who's there and what they're doing and how hard they're working. So those guys who are in there working on their bench press, trying to increase their bench press and lift more weight, be stronger, and impress the coach. How do you get stronger? Well you don't get stronger if you just keep lifting the amount of weight you've been lifting You go back in and they're and they're gonna want you to uh be lifting more. You're gonna want to be lift- guys are always pushing for more. I uh I worked, uh I had some uh some there were some security issues and the guy helping me out was a recently retired Marine, a young guy, and he had been on the presidential detail. And it was when George Bush was president, you know, physical fitness guy, and there was a there's a weight room and a workout room in the in the White House He was a spotter for the President of the United States. He said, Ron, do you know how weird it is? to have to stand over the President of the United States and go, breathe, Mr. President, breathe. Just a little sideline. Anyway, that is has nothing to do with anything. So listen, God says if you're gonna get stronger, you're gonna have to lift more than you've lifted before. His purpose is not to crush you. He's your spotter It's to strengthen you. He knows you're going to need to be stronger. Go with it. Embrace his purpose in the season. Whether you know the purpose or not, you can count on the fact. That in God's weight room you are there to be able to cr increase the load. I was um In Washington, DC, one one time when uh all the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Just beautiful. By uh by the tidal pond there and the Jefferson Memorial and so on And um I saw an interview while I was there, uh, somebody from the Weather Channel interviewing a park ranger, and uh he said the that the these uh cherry blossoms have a life expectancy of about 60 years. And they will blossom and they will bloom for over for about 60 different seasons. He said, but if we prune them, he said they can blossom for up to a hundred years Now this only I think this way. So what if what if the cherry blossom tree could think and feel and talk? As this guy is coming with this big knife and lopping off branches. He's like, you're killing me. Leave me. Look, why do you hate me? Stop it. I'm only making you more fruitful. God picks the tool that will help you become more fruitful. And sometimes you're like, he's killing me. This really hurts. And he says, wait till you see who you become because of it. You will bloom more and you will bloom longer when I'm done with this painful season. So he's building perseverance and he's building compassion. 2 Corinthians 1, 3 and 4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so we can be comfortable. Nope. comforts us in all our troubles, so we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Karen had only been gone probably two days. And it was sudden. My friend John was one of the first to call me, maybe the first. We had been to his wife's funeral in Des Moines. Karen and I drove up there five years earlier. She'd had a long lingering death from cancer and still a pretty young woman. And John called and he knew what not to ask and he knew what not to say and was a tremendous help and comfort to me. Sent me some things that were very helpful Because he was comforting me with the comfort that came from the worst thing that ever happened to him. Two months later. My friend in Chicago, dear friend, they had been to the president's retreat not long before, been to the Cove when I was speaking. And uh his wife never made it up the stairs that night, died of a heart attack at the bottom of the stairs suddenly. Suddenly I found myself being for him what John had been for me. And I knew what not to say, and I knew what to say because I had walked the trail. God builds compassion through the times of trials and testings. Embrace his purpose in the season. Get the point. So sometimes God will pull out that tool and and uh in fact um for someone this might I just Pick this up again this morning. Listen to these poetic words. Strength to bear is found in duty done. And he is best indeed who learns to make the joy of others cure his own heartache Often the best thing you can do for a broken heart is reach out to someone else who has one. It's even though it's the last thing you feel like doing, maybe. So um those are the the that's what this tool kit does. Sometimes he uses hard things For correction. Remember when we read about discipline you? Sometimes he does it to get our attention and say, you can need a little pain to wake up and realize what you're doing. Stop and think about what you're doing. Sometimes he does it for connection. So we will need him more and reach out for him more and end up closer to him than we were before. I I I I remember I didn't tell Lisa about it. Um Lisa and I have um We like to share things as a family. So some of you know I've had four shoulder surgeries. Yes, you're right. I only have two shoulders Never mind. You don't want it. So Lisa now uh had shoulder surgery much Like mine, I'm so thrilled that we could share that as father and daughter. But I didn't tell her that this part But a little while after I had the surgery, they sent the hospital sent me a description of what went on during the surgery. This was disturbing. There were words in there like hammer Saw drill What am I a home improvement project What I'm like good night I'm glad I didn't see that before I went in. What do you is that what they did to me? A hammer, a saw, a drill? All I know is My shoulder was unbearably hurting before that and um and didn't work very well and I got a shoulder now, so it was painful, but the pain is over and the hammer and saw and drill are behind me. Uh uh Chuck Spurgeon, those of us close to him uh call him Chuck. Um Charles Spurgeon said, I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire, the hammer, and the file than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. He said, that best stuff in my life is because of the hammer, the fire, and the file. Embrace his purpose, no matter what the season. Now, you know what God's most powerful classroom is? The wilderness. You've been there? Yeah, I have. We all have. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Be careful to follow every command, and I'm taking the most time, it won't all take this long, but this is the one we struggle with the most, so a little more time on this. Be careful to follow every command I'm giving you today, so you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years. What's the purpose of your wilderness? To humble you to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you causing you to hunger, and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out, your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you So here's some insight into our wilderness stretches. The wilderness is humility school. It's humility school. That's what God said. I did this to humble you. And here's why it is I will tell you what I believe is the curse of our flesh is our self-reliance. And many times God's selection of a tool is to say, how can I break your stubborn Hold on self-reliance. And the more gifted you are, and the more successful you have been, and the more victories you've had, And the more strong-willed you are, I'm looking in the mirror right now. The more make it happen you are The harder it is for you to be broken of your self-reliance. I have a dear friend who has been strong and active, not acting his age, kind of like me. And But he he he has it be a condition you're very aware of. And Has gone into a season of excruciating pain. The medications aren't working. There was problem with the medications. And very life-altering. Most of the ways I described him suddenly weren't true. And we had we had an uncr unbelievable conversation a couple weeks ago. And he he said, I sat down one day and I just said to my wife, this is going to be the rest of my life. This is what my life's gonna be like. And he said at that point I found myself saying, God, if this is the rest of my life, I accept your purposes I'm okay. You do what you want to do with this It's almost incidental that the pain over the next couple of days marvelously subsided. But that wasn't what he was most interested to tell me. He said, you know, I've always, when I've read the Bible, I've I've always had my devotional helps, and that's good. And he said, don't worry, don't worry. We still read a word with you over breakfast. But he said, I've always you know had different he said all of a sudden for the first time in my life I just want to read the Bible And he said, it's just coming to life for me, like it's never been before. And he said, I just I just I led a good friend of mine to Christ And he got baptized in our swimming pool. And he said, I've started a Bible study with my very best friend. And we are just, we are growing like crazy. And I said, we have in common two strong guys. That need to go through a lot to break our self-reliant will In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul said, we went through such hardships that I despaired even of life. He said, it's like I had a sentence of death in my soul. This is the mighty Apostle Paul, who said, I felt like dying and wanted to. He said, and then I realized why I'd gone through this. And it's pretty simple, he said, so we would not rely on ourselves. But on God, Paul, gifted, mighty, warrior, starter, make it happen, make a difference, guy. Wanting to die. That's what it took. So he got to the point, he said, you know what? I no longer am relying on myself. I'm relying on God. That's where it got me. The wilderness is to cure us of the curse of self-reliance. You know why? Because there's no mead to depend on in the wilderness. I need to get to the point where there ain't any me. I'm so desperate. And that's when I'm weak. I become strong. Does that make sense? Do you like it? No? No, we don't. I don't like the experience, but I sure like the result. I really do. So um It's humility school, a cure for self-reliance. It's a hard exam, God says when you're in the wilderness, it strips away the veneer It it shows you you don't have your rhetoric, you don't have your usual life rhythms, you don't have your usual routine, and it reveals how far your faith goes, how big your God is, how unconditional your love is. And it's also an appetite enhancer. He said, I made you hungry, so I could give you manna. He he literally gives you a deep appetite that only he can satisfy and then he will. So the soup here's what I learned. This literally after Karen went to heaven. And I've journaled this. There was a day I wrote this down. The sooner you embrace his purpose, the sooner you'll experience his peace. And as long as you're battling over the over the trial and the wilderness, you will have turmoil and storm in your soul. But when you embrace his purpose, not knowing what it is, but knowing that it is and that it is good, the peace comes. Not because you have it all figured out But you've embraced the purpose of the Lord, your God, Yahweh Elohim. And the peace comes. And at that point, it may be that your greatest gain may come from your greatest loss. So what kind of person is God trying to produce with trials and testings? A champion. A finisher. Let's go on to uh this will be more fun. Signs and wonders. He said I'm gonna in my toolkit I have signs and wonders. Now we go from wow to wow. Woo! Did you see what he did Man. By the way, um let me just a little sideline here. There are three kinds of miracles There's the immediate miracle. Blind man says, I want to see. Jesus touches him. He sees. Some you you need it now and you get it now Some miracles are late, quotation marks. Just ask Mary and Martha after Lazarus dies. Jesus intend do you know it specifically says Jesus loved Mary Martha and and Lazarus well why of course he loves everybody that it doesn't usually tell you he loves a per particular person Well, they're gonna need to know that because he lets he lets Lazarus die. Martha goes, if you wouldn't have been here, you it's kind of like she's almost accusing him You could he you could have healed him before he would not have died. Jesus is like, oh, you have no idea See, all they could believe him for was healing a sick man. Jesus said, you're going to see me raise a dying man, a dead man. Sometimes the reason for the delay is he's got a bigger miracle planned. So hang on. He's not late. He's right on time. The other kind of miracle is I just call it a different kind of miracle. He doesn't do the miracle you asked for. He doesn't do the healing. He doesn't send the big the miracle check. Sometimes he does. But sometimes none of that happens. Because he wants to do a different miracle. Because he wants to do something in you that will make you a miracle person on the inside. And he changes you by not giving you that answer. The answer is, I want, I want to, people are going to be amazed at your hope. And your grace. And you're going to touch more lives for me. By not getting your miracle. I got a different miracle. I'm going to make you somebody you've never been before. I'm going to change you. I'm not changing the situation. I'm going to change you. So the signs and wonders come in different ways. But what he's building is great faith. You gotta have you gotta have something impossible to see him do something impossible. Two guys are out fishing and the one guy is like The other guy keeps throwing he'll catch a fish and then he'll throw the next one back and then he'll catch you know then they'll throw a couple back and then he's like, what are you doing? Why are you throwing some back? He said, Well I've only got an eight inch pan What? Yeah, I just this is all I'm prepared to catch, you know? Listen, sometimes You're limiting God because you only give him an eight-inch pan. It's like, oh, this is a uh you can't believe him, do you know This is the Lord, your God, creator of 200 million galaxies, hello, ruler of all those galaxies, for whom nothing is too hard. Pray like that. Oh dear God, thank you for your blessings and help us with our many problems. Bless the missionaries, whoever they may be. Our prayers are pitiful. Do you know who you're praying to? Do you know who you're with? You're entering the throne room for which the galaxies are governed and crawling in your daddy's lap, who runs it all. Hello? Dear God, thank you for this day. And please help me with my problems. Would you pray, God-sized, for heaven's sake? So, I'm talking to me too. Don't go to him with an eight-inch pan. Signs and wonders. Standing for Jesus in a world that's getting darker requires Great faith in a wonder-working God. And he's going to pull out signs and wonders sometimes. And those are great times. So what kind of person is God trying to produce? When does he pull out the signs and wonders tool? He wants to build a risk taker for him. And you need to see some of these dramatic, much like we did with the Leadership Center. Because he's asking this ministry to take some risks for him. And we're gonna remember our Red Sea and our delivering a nation in a night And our manna from heaven and water coming from rocks. We need to remember those wonders. And that's what makes you a risk taker for him. And the people who aren't risk takers for him miss so much of the supernatural part of belonging to him. Here's his third tool, battles. He called I the word in our translation here was war. This is the POW. POW. We're in battle now. What's God trying to build with his bat why does it why does he bring battles out sometimes? To build courage? You don't have any battles, you don't build courage. And confidence. Deuteronomy 7. You may say to yourselves, these nations are stronger than we are. And they were How can we drive? How can we? You ever ask that question? How can I? How can we? How can we drive them out? Do not be afraid of them. Remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. Here we go. Remember, remember. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, signs, wonders. Mighty hand, outstretched arm with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God, you got the same God. He will do the same to all the peoples you now fear Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among, this must have been interesting, will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you. have perished. I the hornets, I guess, can find him. Do not be terrified by them. For the Lord your God who is among you is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. Where do you find out he's a great and awesome God? You find it out in the middle of a battle that you cannot win, but the battle is not yours. The battle is the battle is the The battle is the Lord's. The battle. That's what David said going against Goliath. I'm coming to you in the name of the Lord, my God. The battle is the Lord's. And that's what builds courage and confidence. If you remember the previous battles, same God in this battle. Because victory is not something you achieve. It's something you receive. The Lord said, I will drive them out ahead of you. So your successes in life, ultimately that's not something you achieved It's something you received. God says, I will give you the victory. You show up for the battle, but I will give you the victory. 1 Corinthians 15, 57, you know. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you didn't have any battles, you wouldn't know that. You know what kind of person God's trying to produce by bringing a battle into your life? A fearless spider. That's how he makes fearless fighters. No battle, you don't learn courage. Here's that last tool, and I love this. A mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Which, when I looked at it in the Hebrew, is awe-inspiring spectacles. Awe-inspiring. This is the wow. We're back to wow again. I thought this was a an it a great insight into how God works. I think you'll be able to relate to it. I sure could. And I as soon as I I'll love finding it. Here it is Jesus rarely comes when we expect him. Anybody had that experience? He appears where we least expect him, always in the most illogical situations. He says, I love this. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord's surprise visits. Now you can't calculate them. You can't make them part of your plan. You can make them part of your prayers, but you can't make them part of your plan There'll be a surprise. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality. These are the key words. Expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. Expecting Jesus at every turn This sense of expectation will give your life the attitude of childlike wonder. that he wants it to have. So these awe-inspiring spectacles, it's when God is the intervener when everything is catapulting one direction. Boom! And he he does it in a moment. Suddenly his intervention, everything changes in a moment. He's the Waymaker. Wanna sing? We give it a song. Waymaker, miracle, worker. Um Ron, don't sing. Stay in your lane. Um the the the way the way maker the Red Sea parter you got a red sea you know he parts those he's the game changer he defies odds he changes outcomes So what's the answer to all of our questions, how can we? Remember when the angel came to Mary and said, you're going to have a baby? And her answer was, how will it be since I am a virgin? Everything I know about reproduction There is no way this can happen. How can it be? And he says, the Holy Spirit will come and overshadow you. And so don't be overwhelmed by the impossibility, because the Holy Spirit's going to overwhelm you. Let God be overwhelming. to you. And he's going to do something that is is humanly unimaginable. So um The answer to all the how can we's we already saw it in Deuteronomy how did God when they asked how can we These nations are stronger how can how can we drive them out when we started down that road of the leadership center Boy did I have some how can we. And all the way through the process. But don't be afraid. Remember what the Lord drew God did. He's already shown you. The mightiest ruler on earth with the mightiest army, they are all going to go for a swim in the Red Sea. This same God that showed up for the previous battles will intervene on your behalf again. You know what God builds through the awe-inspiring spectacles? Hope. He's the God who is the way when it seems there is no way. And this is how he produces overcomers. Let me read you something I wrote. Um one day I We have something in our family we call them mom bushes. That's a mom ambush. You know how grief has triggers, right? And we'll hear a song or somebody will say something, sounds like something she said, or it'll be a memory and um y'all know how that goes. And I think it was a time I'd had a mom bush. And I wrote this. Lord Jesus. You used her life to make me more like Jesus. You've used her absence now. To deepen my grip on you. And my sensitivity to you. And to other people. He used her life. He's really used her absence. Continue. continues to. For all seasons are God's seasons. Embrace his purpose. No matter what the season. We uh we're only about five hours away from when we were in New Jersey from the color of fall in Vermont. And usually I was too busy to go, but a couple of times we were able to go up to Vermont and be a leaf peeper. And I remember we had just come through the Adirondacks and I was driving in Millbury, Vermont, and this struck me for some reason. I looked over this way and there were the Adirondacks and over this way were the Green Mountains of Vermont. And I thought, those are the mountains we've just crossed. And there we're in the valley between the mountains we crossed and the mountains we gotta cross. And I thought that's where we live with the Lord. Because there's always mountains he's brought us across. And there's always mountains ahead. There's always something to praise him for And there's always something to trust him for. And we live in the valley between the mountains, don't we? Trust his choice of tools. And deciding what season you need now to have a bigger God and a better you. So we've talked about six fold choices. that literally defy the darkness. I will rest in his sovereignty. For do it with me. He is the Lord. My God. You might need to do that several times a day sometimes. People wonder what's wrong with you, but you'll know. I will rest in his sovereignty. Number two, knowing who he is, I know who I am. Child of God, chosen of God, treasured possession. And I will not settle for anything less. I will not believe anything else about myself. I will look in the mirror and I will see who he says I am. His workmanship, his masterpiece created for things he put me here to do. No one gave that to you, and no one on earth gave that to you, and no one on earth can take it away. I will live my true identity. And because of who I am, I have to resist the drift to be less than that. Pulled by the forces all around us. And I will be intentional about building faith in my family. It won't be incidental. It will be intentional. And it will become a defining agenda of my priorities. To build faith in my family. And I will do only what God blesses. And if He can't bless it, I won't touch it. His blessing becomes the driving factor in my decisions. Is this possible? And I will embrace God's purpose, whatever the season. This is a life that is not defined by your culture. By your feelings, by your obstacles, by your fear This is a life that is not deterred by the news tonight, by that great loss in your life? It's not defined by your past. It's not defined by your disappointment. Your temptation. Your pain, it's not defined by the choices others make. Because you've set your course and you're not going to change it. Holy living in the hostile world. And so I read to you this kind of summary from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 12 You have not yet reached the resting place, my friend. It's not time to retire. Spiritually. Nope, you ain't uh are we there yet? Nope. You have not yet reached the resting place And the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. You will cross the Jordan, my brother. You will cross the Jordan, my sister. And settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you, but you've still got a river to cross. Don't stop now. Chapter Ten For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome Chapter six. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. with all your strength. Deuteronomy 33. Your strength Will equal your days. The eternal God is your refuge And underneath and the everlasting arms It matters not whether you're on Earth or whether you are in space. You can always navigate by the North Star. It never moves. You have your North Star. He is Yahweh Elahin. He is the Lord. He's your God. One last thing before I pray. Gail was a beloved volunteer at our office in New Jersey. And she came in one day and she said, I've had the best weekend of my life. How come? She said, well, I waited a long time, but she said I finally got baptized this weekend. I said, that is so cool, Gail. And when she was talking about it, she had something in her hand. And she said, I had this with me. Your handkerchief. Oh, of course, you know. Um you didn't get immersed or you know, you probably wanted to cover your mouth. Oh, she said no, no, no She said, that's not why I had it. She said, this is my wife flag. I think the word is surrender. And well as we've journeyed together these couple of days, I'd suggest that there may be one or a couple areas you might need to have a make a choice in. See, believing something, believing God's truth is not enough. You have to choose it We have people who go to church every Sunday and they believe all the things they hear. They don't have a belief problem. They have a choosing problem. This will be the truth I live. I choose this. As counterintuitive, as counter-culture, as costly as it will be for me to choose it, doesn't cost you to believe it. Cost you to choose it. So maybe when we talked about your love growing cold, You still look fine, you're still doing good stuff. But the love maybe it's time for this Or maybe it's drifting. It's just been a slow drift. But you've been moving away from some things. that you once were toward things you shouldn't become. Maybe it's time for this. Maybe it's obedience. Because God's been saying go. And you've been saying no. Or maybe he's been saying don't. And you are doing it. Maybe he's been saying now. And you've been saying wait. Maybe it's time for a new surrender. So he truly is the Lord. God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your tender presence. Your loving call on our heart. Your persistent not giving up on us. Your skillful and beautiful ways of getting our attention Your absolute trustworthiness in our darkest times And the blessings you want to pour out on us. If we'll just clean our room, you'll bring in the gifts. Lord, I thank you for those of us here who, whether we are kneeling here or kneeling in our heart, Pray you'd show us next a next step. We all need a next step. You brought us here to meet with you. What do you want us to do next? This afternoon, tonight, tomorrow. What's our next step? Would you show each one that? Show us our sin. Show us our idol. And help us abandon them at the cross. Give us courage to take the next step. To forgive, to be forgiven, to say yes to a risky call from you, to go out of our comfort zone and obey you beyond the comfort line to reprioritize bringing Jesus to our family Whatever it is, Lord, give us the courage and give us your strength to do it. And may we all leave here with greater courage Less fear. Knowing that courage is not the absence of fear. It is the disregard of fear. It will not decide what we do anymore. And would you mindly use each one with surrendered hearts here today? And may we look ahead saying the best is yet to come. Your best. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen