1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor, Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,840 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,560 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow Him today. 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,040 Hi everybody. I want to begin with our 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,440 confession. Our confession each week just 8 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,040 brings us back to good news. It gives us the grace that we 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,840 need to not be anything other than what we are. 10 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:35,400 We come to the cross not because we're good, but because he's 11 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,880 good. And so our confession is we're 12 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:42,320 badly broken. Yes, you are grace and peace to 13 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:43,160 you. I'm excited. 14 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:47,480 Today we begin our summer series and we're going to look at the 15 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:52,760 life of King David and the hope is that through the life of King 16 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,680 David, we're going to see the God that he loved and the God 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,680 that loved him. Now just kind of to set some 18 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,040 expectations for this series. It's not going to be a 19 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,680 chronological look, right? We're going to we're going to 20 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,560 look at vignettes, right? We're going to look at scenes 21 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:08,920 from the life of David. They won't necessarily come in 22 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,960 order. In fact, they may come wildly 23 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,600 out of order and that's OK because the focus, our desire is 24 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,400 to see the father through that. Another aspect of our teaching 25 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,400 team, if you're here you've come relatively recently is during 26 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,920 our summer series. Our teaching team presents that 27 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:32,080 we have been gifted at River City to have an abundance of of 28 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,920 talented teachers. And so I want you to know that 29 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,000 each of the the well, couple things, the reason we do that is 30 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,200 there's a couple reasons. Number one, it's an opportunity 31 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,760 for me to get away. Teaching is a lot, right? 32 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,040 The content creation every week to come with something every 33 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,560 week. It just it I'm tired, right? 34 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,640 It makes my brain is kind of like like ooze and like mush and 35 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:55,400 it kind of wants to drip out of my ears, right? 36 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,320 It gives me an opportunity to rest, gives me an opportunity to 37 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:00,800 pray. God, what's going on? 38 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,040 What are you doing around River City? 39 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:08,720 What's coming next for us? The other part of it is 40 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:16,600 important for you see, my job as a pastor is to make sure that 41 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,960 you know, and that we know that God speaks even when I don't, 42 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,040 right? That God's voice doesn't just 43 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,320 come through my lips. And I know that. 44 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:28,960 We all know that. I know that, you know that. 45 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,800 But I also know that in the churches that I grew up in, when 46 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,120 there was a guest speaker, that was a free Sunday. 47 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,320 And I want to encourage you that that's not the case. 48 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,040 The speakers that you're going to hear have been vetted. 49 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,600 We've talked to them, we've prepared together. 50 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,520 I know the things that they're going to be talking about. 51 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,960 I know enough to know that these speakers, the way that they 52 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,560 handle the Scripture is powerful and it's good. 53 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,200 I know that the way that they communicate the Scripture is 54 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,040 good and it's important, and I want you to listen. 55 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:58,840 They're going to have different perspectives. 56 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:00,600 They're going to have to take the different takes. 57 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,120 They're going to see things in the Scripture that I don't. 58 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,640 And you need to hear that as well because our eyes are on 59 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:11,560 Jesus, Jesus. Jesus is the one that saves us. 60 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,040 Jesus is the one that has truth for us. 61 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,480 And so I am excited for us to hear what they have. 62 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,720 And so my hope and my prayer for you is that you'll show up each 63 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,840 week, first of all, because it's incredibly vulnerable for these 64 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:25,080 speakers that are going to be coming. 65 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,320 They've been preparing for a long time. 66 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,720 They've worked hard on these. And when you come and show up 67 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,960 and look back at them to receive, it's, it's encouraging 68 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,040 for them. So my hope is that you'll show 69 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:37,960 up, and my hope is that you'll show up expectant. 70 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,600 I hope that you won't see this as the B team, but this is the 71 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,400 team that the Lord has put together. 72 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,720 And I would put our our, our teaching team up against a lot 73 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,720 of other pastors and teachers that I've sat under in my life. 74 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,800 They're good, they're gifted, and they're talented and I see 75 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,960 them as a great resource for River City. 76 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,120 So I'm excited about what is what is to come. 77 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:02,080 And so I hope you'll show up too. 78 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:03,920 And we're going to be talking about David and we're going to 79 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,360 start today in Second Samuel, chapter 12. 80 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,760 So if your Bible or your phone or your iPad or wherever you get 81 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,080 the Scriptures, you'll turn there. 82 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,720 And I want to acknowledge something from the outset before 83 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,040 we jump into this. I want to just kind of set a 84 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,160 little bit of a tone. Today's story, the account that 85 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:25,360 we find in the life of David, is emotionally tender, and it may 86 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,200 call up some things in you that may be difficult, some things 87 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,360 that maybe are are hard to process. 88 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,440 And especially the theological weight of what we're going to 89 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,200 talk about today may be disorienting for some of you, 90 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,560 especially if you grew up in a tradition. 91 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,800 And maybe it wasn't intentional, maybe it was subconscious, maybe 92 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,560 it was unintentional and well meaning. 93 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,920 But if you grew up in a theological tradition that liked 94 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,080 to kind of wrap every story up in a nice neat theological bow, 95 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:01,120 today may be difficult for you. If your exposure to stories in 96 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,720 the Scripture was that they all in kind of in like this kind of 97 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,720 like a moralistic Sunday school way that now we see this and 98 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,040 Jesus did this, so everything's going to be OK today may be 99 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,600 difficult. We're going to begin the story 100 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,720 with may be an uncomfortable declaration of God's 101 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,160 sovereignty. And so we want to declare from 102 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:29,400 the outset is God is sovereign, he reigns and he rules over 103 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,720 creation. From that sovereignty we journey 104 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,720 into a very real experience, a very real human experience of 105 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:42,080 grief and pain and lost. And it's not easy. 106 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:44,320 But what I want to say from the outset, here's what I want to 107 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,600 give you. The end of the story points us 108 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,040 to something that is true. And because it is true, because 109 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,360 it's not circumstantially easy, but because it is true, it's 110 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,840 filled with hope. It's not an easy hope. 111 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,240 It's not hope with a nice neat bow on it. 112 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:10,200 But if you're grieving, it's hope that's not rooted in just a 113 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,760 circumstance that everything's going to be nice and mean and 114 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,800 it's going to be OK. And especially also if you're 115 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,200 here today and you're like, I'm not grieving at all. 116 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,160 I'm happy. This was the best week of my 117 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,600 life. I'm so happy for you like that. 118 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,600 Seriously, that makes me it gives me joy. 119 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,840 And where you at? But I also want to acknowledge 120 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:31,200 the reality that life has both celebration and sorrow. 121 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:39,120 It has joy and it has pain. And God is present in both, and 122 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:45,760 He is not only present in both. He is sovereign over both and He 123 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:54,280 is faithful in both. OK, so we begin on the road to 124 00:06:54,280 --> 00:07:00,520 trust as we come to Second Samuel chapter 12. 125 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,720 The chapter begins with the prophet Nathan going to King 126 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,520 David and telling him a parable about a guy who had sheep. 127 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,320 And it's kind of weird. The context is David has just 128 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,160 committed what may be the defining sin of his life with 129 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,640 Bathsheba, but it didn't stop with Bathsheba. 130 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,120 He not only committed violence and adultery with Bathsheba, but 131 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,000 he followed that up by hunting down her husband and making sure 132 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,120 that he was killed so that he could get his way. 133 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,600 And the prophet Nathan confronts him with that. 134 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,000 So that's the backdrop. David has committed a sin. 135 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,160 His life has been marked by this. 136 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,720 It's part now of his story. And so when we come to second 137 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:50,400 Samuel chapter 12, starting in verse 15, we read this. 138 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:57,800 The Lord struck the baby that Uriah's wife had born to David 139 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:03,600 and he became deathly. I'll oof. 140 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:11,520 So as we sit with the weight of this, as we sit with kind of the 141 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,440 theological weight, I want to hold up two things. 142 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:21,280 The first kind of aspect of this theological weight is this story 143 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,320 is wrapped and surrounded by sin. 144 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:33,799 David's sin had consequence. As much as we don't like the 145 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:39,600 idea of this baby, of this child being born sickly and ill and 146 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:45,080 deathly ill, we recognize that the story of this child's life 147 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:50,000 is wrapped in sin. David's sin was the catalyzing 148 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,600 factor of this. And so the reality that we have 149 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,840 to contend with and this theological weight is sin has an 150 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,240 impact. And it's not always only on the 151 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:07,120 one who sins. The weight of sin leaks. 152 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,800 If you've ever told a lie, you know, and you've ever been 153 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,600 discovered and found out, you know how the weight of that lie 154 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,960 gets out. It gets all over other people 155 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,920 and it causes pain and it causes harm. 156 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,120 Sin matters it there's no such thing as a private sin. 157 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:28,920 And I don't say that to judge you. 158 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:31,760 I say that so that I, because I hope that this gives you the 159 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,720 reality to just know. We know this instinctively in 160 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:36,640 our bones. That's why we hide it. 161 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:38,600 That's why we try to keep it to ourselves. 162 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,240 That's why it comes with pain and that's why it comes with 163 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:42,840 shame. And so I want to say like we 164 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,640 begin every week with this idea that we say it out loud. 165 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,000 We are badly broken, and we're not just talking about the 166 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,400 brokenness that come. Sometimes we're broken by the 167 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:56,400 way of other people's sin, but sometimes, often and often in a 168 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,720 way that's that correlates, the brokenness is our own. 169 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,960 And what I want to say is if you're here under the weight of 170 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:07,160 sin, whether it's yours or someone else, this is the place 171 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,560 to be. And this is the message that we 172 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:15,080 need to hear. The second theological weight, 173 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:19,040 and this was maybe heavier, this is maybe more difficult to 174 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:26,200 wrestle with and to understand is that God is sovereign even 175 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:32,000 over suffering, even over the suffering of what we would 176 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:41,640 consider the innocent God. It's listen, I want you to know, 177 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:47,680 I want to explain this away. I want to find a way to make it 178 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,440 not say what it just says right there. 179 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,040 I want to to justify this. I want and here's what I'm 180 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,640 trying to do right. I'm trying to make God look like 181 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,000 the good guy. I'm trying to make sure that you 182 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,560 don't pick up an offence against God. 183 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:05,320 I'm trying to make sure that you don't say God. 184 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,440 How could you? But on the other hand, I'm also 185 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,840 trying to do that for myself. I'm also trying to look at the 186 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,000 things that have happened in my life that I don't understand, 187 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,400 that don't seem to make sense, that were handed me and I go, 188 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:17,720 Lord, I didn't ask for that. That's not what I wanted. 189 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:19,360 That's not where I came came from. 190 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,120 But what I've got to point out and what I've got to hold up is 191 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:27,280 there's no explanation given. It's just stated as a fact. 192 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,640 This baby's affliction, God saw it. 193 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,640 God could have reigned over it. God could have taken it away and 194 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:40,480 he chose not to. And So what I have to resist, 195 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,960 and I want to encourage you to resist, is don't try to offer an 196 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:51,560 explanation where none is given. See, when we start to do that, 197 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:55,040 we move from kind of being submitted to the scriptures, 198 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:59,040 submitted to God's plan, to being pretty presumptuous about 199 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,920 our ability to to be over that. We ask the question why and why 200 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:08,000 is is a fair question, but the question of why is often so 201 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,720 heavy that we want to answer. And let me just let me just say 202 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,680 I had to do a funeral for a friend that I loved this week. 203 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:18,080 And the question why always hangs over those those things, 204 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:19,480 right? But here's the thing about the 205 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:24,760 question why even if I knew in a cosmic sense why something 206 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,640 happened, even if I knew in a cosmic sense why my friend died, 207 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:30,880 I would still want my friend back. 208 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,880 Why would still the answer to why is often unsatisfying and 209 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,000 that's OK. And the bigger problem is when 210 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,600 we start to answer questions why God does something that God 211 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,840 doesn't answer, we get into start, we start getting into 212 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:52,360 heresy and and the reason that things are so often difficult is 213 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,920 because someone well meaning, well-intentioned and a desire to 214 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,680 deliver us from discomfort. Somebody started to say things 215 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,800 about God that God never said about himself. 216 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,840 And so then we begin to build a theology that's not built on the 217 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,680 character of God. And So what I want to say is, as 218 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:14,000 difficult as it may be to contend with a God who sits over 219 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:18,200 pain, the way this story resolves gives us hope. 220 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,480 And it's not necessarily the hope that we think we want in 221 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,400 this moment. It's not the the the relief that 222 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,440 we think that we need in this moment. 223 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,800 What I want to say is it's better when we sit with the pain 224 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,920 and when we sit with the grief and when we sit in the tension 225 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,200 and the discomfort and we don't unnecessarily or unnaturally or 226 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,560 in an untimely way when we don't resolve it. 227 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:47,560 What we get to is the real hope that the Father offers in this 228 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:51,200 story. We don't see why God does what 229 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,120 He does. And so we're not going to try to 230 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,200 talk about that. What we do see is David's 231 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,960 response when God does something that we don't understand. 232 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,200 And So what we're going to do is focus on that. 233 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,360 Remember over the last couple weeks we've talked about when we 234 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,080 find in Scripture, when we see Jesus or the Father, things in 235 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,120 US want to tend to identify with that and say, don't do that. 236 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,400 I like, I'm not, I'm not Jesus and you're not Jesus. 237 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,000 But we can, by identifying with the people in the story, by the 238 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,920 people in the Scriptures, we can see God more clearly. 239 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,920 And we can't find, you know, an example that we can follow. 240 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,480 So we look at David that way. We move now to verse 16. 241 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,560 The Lord struck the baby in verse 16. 242 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,120 David pleaded with God for the boy. 243 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,720 He fasted, he went home, and he spent the night lying on the 244 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,400 ground. The elders of his house stood 245 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,480 behind him for him to get up. They tried to pick him up off 246 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,360 the ground, but he was unwilling and he would not eat anything 247 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,360 with this. This is spiritual desperation. 248 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,560 We read about fasting and it's like, Oh yeah, we did Lent a 249 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,440 couple a little while back. This is like Lent. 250 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,600 This is not a spiritual discipline. 251 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,720 This isn't like David going, oh, maybe I can manipulate God's 252 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,040 hand. This is utter emptiness. 253 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,080 This is laying on the floor. Have you ever laid in bed and 254 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,160 you just can't get out from under the covers? 255 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,440 Have you ever been too desperate to eat? 256 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:24,040 You're fasting and it's not like in a nice, neat, spiritually 257 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:26,400 open way, like, oh, look, look at how spiritual I am. 258 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:31,600 It is absolute emptiness. David on the ground, weeping, 259 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:37,800 begging, God, take this away from me, thought this can't be 260 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:39,280 real. So much so. 261 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:40,960 And the people around him are uncomfortable. 262 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:42,600 Like David, this is too much. You got to get up. 263 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,840 You can't do it. And he won't be comforted. 264 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,680 He won't be consoled. Can you identify with that? 265 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,000 Have you ever been so broken you're just not sure that you're 266 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,280 ever going to be able to breathe again? 267 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,400 You're not sure you're ever going to be able to get out of 268 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,240 the house. But David's wailing isn't 269 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,200 without hope. David is pleading to God. 270 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:10,400 He believes that the God that he serves is able to move in this 271 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,920 situation. He believes that the God that he 272 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,320 loves is able to intervene. He's laying there. 273 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,320 He doesn't probably have words for it. 274 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,440 It's grown. Romans talks about the Holy 275 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,880 Spirit interceding on our behalf with groans that words can't 276 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,080 express. He didn't feel like he was being 277 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,640 theologically neat, right? Remember when we talked about 278 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,960 Jacob several weeks ago, wrestling in the night with God, 279 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,920 Jacob didn't feel like having he was having a, a neat spiritual 280 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,440 experience. He felt like his life was about 281 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,360 to come to an end. But that's the place where he 282 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,320 met God. That's the place where he, I, he 283 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:53,320 realized who he was, who his identity was, who God was in 284 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,600 him. And so one of the things that's 285 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,920 difficult but important, and I think often it it it was too 286 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,599 often absent in my theological upbringing, is a theology of 287 00:17:04,599 --> 00:17:09,960 suffering, a well developed, well defined ability to 288 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:15,960 articulate when our lives are broken, where is God? 289 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:20,359 And what does it look like to say that God is sovereign over 290 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:24,280 our pain and over our suffering? And the reason that we have to 291 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,520 contend with this is so that when the suffering comes, when 292 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,640 the pain hurts, when that thing that threatens to crush us comes 293 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:36,160 so that we're not crushed, so that the inevitable pain in this 294 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,320 life doesn't destroy us, so that we don't get disoriented, so 295 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:45,400 that we have a stage and A and a foundation to stand on because 296 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:49,960 it's coming. And the good news again is that 297 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:56,560 God is in it, that he hasn't abandoned us into that. 298 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,320 And So what we see in the beginning, in the midst of this 299 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,440 story, is that David clings to the hope of God's nearest 300 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:09,440 nearness, aching for grace in the darkness. 301 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,720 This is what it is. He, he aches, he hungers, he 302 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,200 desires God. Where are you? 303 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,040 God, Can I, can you find me in this? 304 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,920 What I want to say is that ache is part of the human experience. 305 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,080 The pain that we feel lost to varying degrees at varying 306 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,480 times. That's what it seems like. 307 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:35,120 That's what we feel. And when God gets involved, it 308 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,880 doesn't always look like we want it to and it doesn't always look 309 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:46,120 like we expect it to. Verse 18 on the 7th day. 310 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:48,400 So you got to imagine David laying on the ground for seven 311 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,000 days. On the 7th day, the baby died. 312 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:58,680 OK, so this is important, David praying for grace, for the grace 313 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,760 for salvation of an innocent life. 314 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:07,880 And God said no, God didn't do what he wanted to. 315 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,960 But David's servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. 316 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,920 They said, look, while the baby's alive, we spoke to him 317 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:16,280 and he wouldn't even listen to us. 318 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,600 So how can we tell him the baby is dead? 319 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,880 He may do something desperate now. 320 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,760 When David saw his servants were whispering to each other, he 321 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,480 guessed that the baby was dead. Have you ever been that you in a 322 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,920 room and your friends because they love you, they're just, 323 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,960 they know the news. They know what it is, and they 324 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,080 want to protect you from it. They want to save you from it. 325 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,320 And so they're kind of whispering and they're kind of 326 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:44,920 hovering around. But you know, when he saw that 327 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:46,960 his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the 328 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:48,760 baby was dead. So he asked his servants, is the 329 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:50,920 baby dead? He is dead, they replied. 330 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:56,280 Now look at David's response. David got up from the ground, he 331 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:01,400 washed, he anointed himself, and he changed his clothes. 332 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:07,880 So David pleads with God. He pleads for grace until God 333 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:12,600 says no. And I think the problem is, at 334 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,720 this point we feel like Grace has stopped. 335 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,240 We feel like when God says no to us that He said no to the grace 336 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,120 that we want. The problem is we have too 337 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,240 narrowly defined what grace means. 338 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,080 We have defined grace as an escape or a deliverance from 339 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,040 consequence. We have to find grace. 340 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:39,560 We have imagined grace in our head is getting rid of or out of 341 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,400 or circumventing the pain that we spend our whole lives trying 342 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:47,000 to avoid, trying to get away. If God would give us grace, then 343 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,920 we wouldn't hurt anymore. Then we wouldn't have pain. 344 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,240 But what we've seen over the last several weeks is often 345 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:58,080 times grace looks like a presence through suffering. 346 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:01,360 Jesus didn't abandoned Peter after his failure. 347 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,640 He met him on the beach and called him back. 348 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,040 He didn't. God didn't, or Jesus didn't get 349 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:09,760 Paul. Jesus's grace from the apostle 350 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,000 Paul was his grace is sufficient for the thorn. 351 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,200 The thorn remains and grace is sufficient. 352 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:24,520 And all David does is get up and change his clothes and wash his 353 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:31,400 hair and brush his teeth. There's no sign here that David 354 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,760 is denying the impact of what's happened. 355 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,200 David doesn't now begin skipping, going, OK, well, 356 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,200 everything's fine, I'm fine. You're fine. 357 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,360 Clearly God says no, that's OK. Let's go hop around like this. 358 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,400 David is still grieved. He is still struck. 359 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,240 He is still struck. But what he does is, are you 360 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,720 listening? He just gets up off the floor. 361 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:02,400 Sometimes simply getting up is all the faith that we can 362 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:10,160 muster, and that is enough. Sometimes the only strength that 363 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:17,840 you have is to move from the place of intercession to begin 364 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:23,840 processing loss. Honestly, faith begins by 365 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,720 getting up, but it doesn't stay there. 366 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,720 OK, we have faith. David believed that God could, 367 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,320 and now he believes that God didn't. 368 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,920 And the second part of this is where, again, it becomes grace 369 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,280 and it becomes faith. He got up, He changed his 370 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,240 clothes, he went to the Lord's house and worshipped. 371 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,920 And I want to stop right there. When we were, he went to the 372 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,600 Lord's house and worshipped what we kind of maybe imagine is he 373 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,120 went and sat in the Rose and and sang some songs. 374 00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:57,240 And he may be saying, you know, our God is an awesome God. 375 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,960 Nope. David went to the temple. 376 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,840 He left his house. He went to the temple where the 377 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,600 presence of God was, and he submitted A sacrifice to the 378 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:14,680 priests for the forgiveness of his sin, for his faith. 379 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:19,880 It took him getting up and going to the place where he knew God 380 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,800 was in the Holy of Holies, and he offered a sacrifice. 381 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,240 It was costly for him. In that moment. 382 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,880 He worshipped, and then he went home and he requested something 383 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,640 to eat. So they served him food and he 384 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,480 ate. He hadn't forgotten his son. 385 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,480 He had simply began to process life different. 386 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,360 I don't imagine he asked about the sports scores. 387 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,520 I don't believe. I don't suspect he was all that 388 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,640 caught up or interested in the local gossip of the day. 389 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,360 But he knew that life was going on. 390 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,280 He knew that life was continuing. 391 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:03,240 And from that moment, he probably didn't eat another meal 392 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,320 where he didn't have that as part of him. 393 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,640 See, the grief and the pain that we suffer, it leaves us a scar. 394 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,320 Jacob limped for the rest of his life. 395 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,280 Peter, I don't imagine ever forgot. 396 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,120 When he abandoned the Lord by his fire. 397 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:17,960 We see it. We see traces of it in the 398 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,720 letters that he wrote. David was forever different, but 399 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:27,080 he was able to move forward. His servants asked him, why have 400 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,760 you done this? While the baby was alive, you 401 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,000 fasted and you wept. But when he died, you got up and 402 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,720 ate food. What's going on, David? 403 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:36,920 I don't. I don't understand. 404 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:38,080 Why are you not grieving anymore? 405 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,680 And listen to David's response while the baby was alive. 406 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,480 I fasted and wept because I thought, who knows, Lord may be 407 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,720 gracious to me and let him live. But now that, listen to hope, 408 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,000 are you listening? Now that he is dead, why should 409 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,880 I fast? Can I bring him back? 410 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:07,000 Listen, I'll go to him, but he will never return to me. 411 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,640 David didn't have a theology of the Astor afterlife like Jesus 412 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,280 taught and like Paul extrapolated. 413 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:16,760 And he didn't have the Revelation. 414 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:21,080 And in Revelation chapter 21, he didn't see the throne of of 415 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,120 gold. But David had a sense that the 416 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,320 God whom he loved is a God of life. 417 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,640 He's a God who creates and sustains life. 418 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,680 So in a way that he probably didn't even understand, he 419 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,520 believed that God was going to restore this child to him. 420 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:46,720 And where he found that is in worship and got up and he went 421 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,840 and he offered a sacrifice that he probably didn't feel like. 422 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,800 There's probably no sense in David's life where he said, you 423 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:55,640 know what I want to do? I want to go be around a bunch 424 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,440 of people in the temple. I want to go stand before the 425 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,480 priest who now that you know, the prophet Nathan, he knows all 426 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,680 about my sin. Everybody knows Bathsheba, 427 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,480 everybody knows Uriah, everybody probably knows about it. 428 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,960 David probably wasn't looking real forward to go and be seen. 429 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:15,080 But what he did was he chose in the context of his grief to go 430 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,080 and worship. And that's what worship is. 431 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,760 It is a sacrifice in the shadow of grief to stand before a God 432 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:28,360 who is good, to be reverent, to be, to honor to God in the midst 433 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:30,400 of the good, to be reverent to the pain. 434 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,800 David doesn't minimize it. Go now, I'm all done hurting. 435 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,680 He just chooses to believe that God is present in the middle of 436 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,440 it. David didn't shut down. 437 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,600 David didn't stay on the floor for the rest of his life because 438 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,200 his loss was so great. And listen, I want to speak so 439 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,600 tenderly to some of you who may be in that place right now. 440 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:58,120 What David did not do was make an idol of his pain. 441 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,920 He did not. He chose, let me say that 442 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:07,640 differently, He chose not to make his wound the defining 443 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,880 trait of his life. He probably always walked with a 444 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:17,200 limp heart of Nathan's proclamation of judgement on 445 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,240 David's sin was that the sword would never leave his leave his 446 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,160 house. David was not a great father. 447 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,400 We see the marks of his sin and his pain and he walked in and he 448 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:33,160 walked under it. But you know, the very next 449 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,360 verse that we read, look very next verse when we come to verse 450 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:40,200 24 says this. After all of this, David 451 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,040 comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and slept with 452 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:48,240 her, and she gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. 453 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,960 And the Lord loved him. And Solomon would go on to be 454 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,000 the next king of Israel. He would go on to be the wisest 455 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,560 man in history, to have a wealth and preside over a Kingdom that 456 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,760 people came from around the world to marvel AT and to wonder 457 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,120 at. David never forgot that child. 458 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,760 He never walked out from under that pain and that grief and 459 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,640 that wound. But he did live again, and he 460 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,520 did experience God's favor and his God see that What he found 461 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,680 out, what he knew is that his God is a giver. 462 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:29,840 Even when he seems like he's taking away, he's a giver, and 463 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,880 he's a giver in your life. And that's what grace is. 464 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,720 That's what a theology of grace tells us. 465 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:42,800 Grace isn't an escape from grief, but a close companion 466 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:49,080 through it. Grace is a God who sits by our 467 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:56,320 side as we weep. Grace is a God who sees and 468 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:01,000 knows the pain of his people. That's the crazy thing about 469 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,480 this story. This story reveals something 470 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,920 that's essential for us if we're going to walk through and know 471 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,360 what it means to walk with God through some. 472 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,600 See, if we ignore a theology of suffering, then our entire 473 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,000 theology comes down to who's the strongest, who's the best, who's 474 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,560 going to win, who's most likely to deliver me from pain and hurt 475 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:22,560 and wounds. And that's not the God that we 476 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,920 find. We find a God who says in this 477 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,000 life you'll have trouble is what Jesus said, but take heart 478 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,560 because I've overcome the trouble. 479 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,120 I'm with you through it. It doesn't mean the trouble 480 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,040 doesn't come. It means the trouble doesn't get 481 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,400 the last word. And faith is how we find God 482 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:43,200 when he doesn't rescue us. And grace is standing in that 483 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:47,760 place to worship him. And we need both. 484 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:57,080 We began our time this morning by taking communion together and 485 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:03,280 David's story. David's time on the floor leads 486 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:09,360 us to the communion elements. In David we find a father who 487 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,880 grieved over the loss of his son. 488 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:17,440 In communion, we find that David isn't the only father who knows 489 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:19,960 what it's like to lose a beloved child. 490 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:26,240 We see that our God knows that pain and that loss. 491 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:31,120 When you grieve loss, you grieve in the presence of a Father who 492 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,880 understands, who knows who has been there. 493 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,360 When we take the communion elements, when Jesus spoke of 494 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,960 his body broken, Jesus spoke of His body being broken for you. 495 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:47,000 Jesus knew that God's answer in the Garden of Gethsemane was 496 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:52,160 going to be no. Jesus knows what it is to have 497 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:57,680 His pleading for reprieve from pain and suffering rejected. 498 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:06,320 And Jesus knows what it is to sacrifice in worship, to give 499 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,920 his life for a pain they didn't want. 500 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,920 He didn't like that. He didn't understand. 501 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:20,720 But in those elements, in that story of a Father who knows and 502 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,080 of a Savior who enters in and walks through and those 503 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:28,640 elements, we receive grace. We see that the suffering of 504 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:35,520 loss leads to the redemption of resurrection in the elements and 505 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,800 in the life of Jesus. We see that pain is going to 506 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,720 come, but we see what it means to overcome the world. 507 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:47,840 We taste resurrection in the aftermath of ruin and pain and 508 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:53,160 sin and destruction, when we take those elements, when we 509 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,160 enter into the pain and when we wait there and we don't try to 510 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,120 escape it and run around it. What we declare is our 511 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:05,080 declaration is that death doesn't define us, that the pain 512 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,360 and the wilderness that we're in right now, that this wrestling 513 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:12,280 season that we're in right now, that this grief and the sorrow 514 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,320 and it doesn't undo us. But it doesn't get the last 515 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,600 word. Grace gets the last word, and 516 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:25,160 you may not be there yet. Maybe all you're doing is laying 517 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:29,320 on the floor weeping. If that's where you are, that's 518 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,240 OK. That's the place where you can 519 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,720 meet the Lord. But I want to hold out that 520 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:42,040 maybe, maybe it's not time for your grief to end, but maybe 521 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:48,520 it's time to begin getting up, not to have final closure and 522 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,960 never think again. But maybe it's time to begin 523 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:58,720 imagining what life may look like with a limp for you, what 524 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:04,320 grace may mean in the light of unimaginable loss. 525 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,480 Maybe it means cleaning up. And maybe it looks like 526 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:18,160 beginning to worship, to stand before God and declare that he 527 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:23,080 is good even when my experience hasn't been. 528 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,960 Maybe it means to declare a trust in his sovereignty, 529 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,520 because if he's sovereign, I'm not. 530 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,960 And that's good news because I'm really bad at controlling the 531 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,200 world. I'm really bad at making the 532 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,640 sunrise. My wholeness, my whatever 533 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:52,120 wholeness is in my soul. It begins with the declaration, 534 00:33:52,760 --> 00:34:00,640 you know, It begins by declaring and stating I am powerless and 535 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,000 everything in my life is out of control when I try to be the 536 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,320 boss. And so I want you to know 537 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:17,400 wherever you sit today, the Lord is with you and he is for you 538 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:25,679 and he sees you and he knows your grief, not theoretically, 539 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:32,760 empathetically, He has suffered as we suffer so that he might be 540 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:37,760 a faithful high priest to take your pain and offer it to Father 541 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,159 and bring about a good redemption. 542 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:47,639 And so as believers in that God, as believers in that Savior, as 543 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:54,880 followers of that Jesus, we say by faith, your grace is 544 00:34:54,880 --> 00:35:00,600 sufficient even for this, even in this moment. 545 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:08,360 Can we pray together? I know not everyone here today 546 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:12,520 is suffering, but I just want to take a second at the front to 547 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,120 acknowledge those of you who are. 548 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,400 And maybe it's not an A new wound that you're feeling. 549 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,200 Maybe it's an old one that never really got to heal. 550 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:27,080 And maybe it's one that you've covered over and you've resisted 551 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:31,040 the scatting process and it still feels like it's bleeding. 552 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,800 I just want to acknowledge you today. 553 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:43,200 Not with Sunday school answers, not with a nice neat theological 554 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:50,880 bow that tells you everything's going to be OK, but with the 555 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,280 suggestion of hope that God may be in it. 556 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,680 And if that's you today, maybe what you have is just a cry in 557 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,600 your heart and a declaration of dependence. 558 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,680 God, I haven't even let. I haven't even consider that you 559 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,920 might be in this, but today I do. 560 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,960 And maybe what you need to do is just confess that God is 561 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,440 sovereign over your grief. He could have done it 562 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:33,600 differently and He didn't. And open your heart to the idea 563 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,680 that there may be a grace that waits. 564 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,280 And now maybe you're in here and it's not. 565 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,640 You're not in the darkness. You're not in the pain. 566 00:36:49,720 --> 00:36:53,520 And I just want to invite you to consider, where is God in your 567 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,920 joy? Have we acknowledged the season 568 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,120 of grace that we're in together when all the flowers are 569 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:06,720 blooming and the spring and fall rains have men of fruitful 570 00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:09,400 harvest for our lives? Have we stopped and acknowledged 571 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,560 the reality that that is from our God and our Father? 572 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,240 The hope in our story, Jesus, is that you are sovereign over both 573 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:26,800 that when we weep, you weep with us, and when we celebrate, you 574 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:32,680 celebrate with us. And so Jesus, I pray that that 575 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:40,160 awareness, that that reality would prepare us to bring grace 576 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:43,200 and life and hope to those around us. 577 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,440 When we are celebrating and we see others grieving, I pray that 578 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:49,960 we would remember that you met us where we were, not because 579 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,200 you had to, but because you chose to. 580 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:59,520 And Jesus, when we grieve and we're on the floor, I pray that 581 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,880 our eyes would be on you and that you would call us to a new 582 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:06,320 life and a New Hope. We thank you that you haven't 583 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,320 abandoned us. You have met us. 584 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,720 And so Jesus, with all the love in our hearts and all the hope 585 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:18,440 that we can muster, we ask for grace in your name and for your 586 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,480 glory. Amen. 587 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,640 Thank you for joining us today. River City Church is all about 588 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,360 experiencing and expressing God's love in our lives and 589 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,040 community, and we hope that you've been able to experience 590 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,680 that today. As grateful as I am that you've 591 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:35,000 spent this time listening in this morning, this podcast is no 592 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,040 substitute for full participation in a local church. 593 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,640 I love it when River City people listen to other pastors, but it 594 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,720 is those who show up week after week faithfully giving their 595 00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:47,520 support and time and resources that make all of this possible. 596 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,440 If we can help you get connected to a local church, pray for you, 597 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,720 or support you in any way, click the link in the description and 598 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:56,840 let us know. If you'd like to financially 599 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,680 support the ministry of River City, click the give link on our 600 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,840 website in the description. Don't forget to subscribe and 601 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:04,560 don't forget to share this with your friends. 602 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,560 Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless and keep you 603 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:09,160 in all grace and peace.