What to Do with Your Tears (Greg Laurie)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] you've been soon [Music] for every three job you bet Suzu [Music] chases me [Music] I could earn still you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and I was your food steal your life [Music] [Music] [Music] to me no war you won't Walter covered after you guys see [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the head No the grace buzzers you pull [Music] said me [Music] call me may my heart [Music] lift [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] who we call to - this morning we open our hearts you cry out to you come on by and Evan there is no one I desire besides you my flesh where my fails you were the strength yes I am oh my now and forever monstro as an actor sooner we just lift our hands Riley [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] look where my change now death has no hope [Music] cuz you're crazy [Music] Jesus we believe those words that your grace holds that ground and death has no hold on us Jesus we love you and we trust you this morning and we again just invite you to dwell in this place in such a real way that God we would encounter you that we would feel your nearness we would hear your voice today so Lord we thank you for this moment as a church as a body that we could gather and worship you and hear from you it's in Jesus name we pray amen you can take a seat when I say welcome for any of you that are here for the first time or even watching online for the very first time my name is Jason I'm one of the pastor's here at the church and you know the Bible tells us in Psalm 121 I lift my eyes to the hills from where my help comes from my help comes from the Lord the maker of Earth and heaven when we encounter real tragedies in life I think there's one of two options that we can choose it's either that we run to God or we run away from God if ever your heart inclines you to run away from God it's it's a place of darkness it's a place of confusion it's a place of despair it's a place of just questions but but know that God is always calling us to come to himself to say it run to me matter of fact Jesus says this in Matthew chapter 11 look at the screens a verse that means so much come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light this morning family amen Jesus is who we need most and as one of Jared Wilson's great good friends me I I have this confidence of heart knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and family even though our heart hurts our hope is real Jesus Christ has defeated the grave amen well right now we're going to continue in our service and I'm gonna have the ushers come forward to receive our morning tithes and offerings and pastor Greg is an amazing message today what to do with your tears oh this is so good but how about we pray as we just continue Lord we love you we run to you with all of our hearts this morning recognizing that there's nowhere else we can go to find what we desperately need it's you Jesus I pray you would just welcome us and comfort us and give our hearts and our souls rest today so Lord now as we just think about you and how good you've been we do give to you and we give Lord just with thankful hearts we worship you now in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Music] there's a race with autism [Music] when I look at the switch between you silly and I will never be there was another in the fire to me there was nothing to see should I even leave how I've been set free there is a crawl or submissive bird there is another fire whenever alone is with us amen all my dad no longer slaves in me it should I fall in space between in the stricken either way we've seen cuz I know this is our confidence [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] there is no that is cheating he who wasn't serious through it all so come amazing space between raisin see in this reckoning I know [Music] I know [Music] this is what we cling to this morning I know do with us I know [Music] [Applause] you're here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning harvest we're all together right now worshiping in all campuses and we're gonna have a special song that we're all going to sing together this has become one of my favorite songs of late is he worthy and I just love the questions it asks and then the answers it brings and as we come here to church today you have questions you are burdened so we have sorrow I'll be talking about that in a few moments of my message what to do with your tears but this is a time to look to the Lord you know in Isaiah 6 it says and the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne high and lifted up and his glory filled the temple so basically Isaiah's saying in a time of tragedy when King Uzziah was gone I saw the Lord and you look to him and that's what we're gonna do is we worship together and before we do I'm gonna asked my wife Cathy and come to come in and pray for us right now so welcome Cathy as she comes [Applause] our heads before the Lord father there's truly another in the fire standing next to us even now we are not alone in this all the people in this room who may have come here today with their unique burdens and struggles we know that you're standing beside us and Lord even as you stood beside Daniel and the three who were in the fiery furnace Lord we know you're standing beside us and even as you walked with the disciples who are sorrowing on the road to Emmaus we know that you're walking with us and you're going to reveal yourself to us in the words that you will speak to us through the scriptures for that is our only hope and comfort we thank you that you are here with us bless this time of worship today in Jesus name Amen [Music] do you feel the shadows dude but do you know the dark [Music] getting please [Music] if you could see [Music] is a new creation is the glory [Music] my daughters [Music] [Music] easy world [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the cheese my god [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is he [Music] come on Church sing it out [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen let's pray and Lord you are worthy and you are great and you are loved and you are powerful and you are here and you tell us in Scripture that you're near to the brokenhearted well Lord there's a lot of brokenhearted people here and others that are watching and we're just praying that you will extend your comfort as only you can we commit this service to you I commit this message to you in Jesus name we pray amen you can be seated the title of my message today is what to do with our tears and we'll be looking at some 126 so you might turn there well it was 3:30 in the morning on Monday that I woke up I sometimes do wake up in the middle of the night I don't know about you and my little routine is and I don't know if I want to tell him this or not but I listen to podcast by Chuck Swindoll and they put me to sleep now I've had people say that to me as well you know you I listen to you and I fall asleep listening to you and I thought well now you know what Kathy goes through right but it's not that they there's something very encouraging about hearing the word of God because usually the reason you wake up in the middle of the night is maybe something's troubling you right so listen and maybe get through two of them and doze off but on this particular morning I saw a lot of text which was unusual and they were from my son Jonathan and he says I'm on my way over to tell Jared's father tell Jared's father what and so I called him and I heard the unbelievable news that Jared had died and if that wasn't hard enough it was how it happened Jared had taken his own life I screamed Oh God know why well because I could not fathom such a thing Jared that happy outgoing loving encouraging person always looking out for others always saying to people how are you anything I can do for you love you man the most affirming guide honestly one of the nicest people on the earth that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I thought how could this happen to him because I knew that Jarrod had struggled with mental illness from his youth I knew that he had sought a doctor's care and that he had been taking medication I knew but to me it seemed as though that because he was doing well he wanted to help others and indeed he had a ministry to people he's been described as a as a mental health advocate and I think that's true and he had a ministry called anthem of Hope he wanted to help others who were struggling with this and so many yard since this has happened I've learned a lot more about it one in five adults experience mental illness each year but none of us saw the indicators in Jared's life including his own wife that would cause him to take this course I'm not an expert on any of these things but it seems to me in a moment he had a complete mental breakdown and he snapped and did the unthinkable you know when people attempt suicide and have not been successful every one of them who's been interviewed would say I was not in my right mind I don't believe this was planned I don't believe this is something he was thinking about doing it just happened and I can't explain it so immediately we say well why couldn't he just snap out of this slump why couldn't he just shrug this off I don't have the answer but let me come back with a thought if Jared's illness had been a physical one would we ask those same questions in other words if somebody had been fighting cancer and they died would we say well why didn't they just beat the cancer well no because we understand that cancer can take a life and just as there are physical illness there's mental illness and it just as real it's just different and so it's hard for us to understand something like this a more challenging this how we understand the mystery of Jarrod's inner life long pain pain but I can say this a Monday night he was not in his right mind let's be clear suicide is never the right choice ever the date of our death and the date of our birth is God in gods alone to choose but let me say this was Jarrod's choice a spiritually fatal one and my answer is No while suicide is always the wrong choice we must remember we've all made wrong choices it did not people come for people or did not the Lord comfort people like us I'll tell you Jared made two very good choices in his life number one he chose to follow Jesus Christ and number two he chose to marry Julie his wife who's watching right now god bless you Julie we're all praying for you you know that but he chose Christ and here's a promise of John 3:16 for God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son and whosoever believes in Him will not perish but well I've ever lasting life I believe Jared Wilson is in heaven right now because he made that choice [Applause] one dark moment in a Christians life cannot undo what Christ did for us on the cross in Romans 8:38 says Paul speak and I'm convincing nothing I'm convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love either death nor life or angels or demons or a fierce or today our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of Hell can separate us from God's love listen when you stand before God you won't be judged by the last thing you did before you died but by the last thing that Jesus did before he died [Applause] because if you extrapolate this kind of thinking that says well if you do something simple before you die wow we're all I'm really big trouble right oh I had an impure thought oh I did this thing oh I said that thing suddenly of a heart attack no listen God's grace covers these things because when you're forgiven you're forgiven when your name is written in the book of life it's there to stay if a believer does something foolish sinful or mistakenly that ends in their death it can't cause them to lose what they never earned in the first place so in the aftermath of this horrible tragedy our church is pulled together we're there for one another we're praying together we're worshiping together or learning things together and we're mourning together the Bible says there's a time to rejoice and there's a time to mourn let me direct my words to you that might be facing a real crisis today of another kind maybe you've lost a loved one to suicide or to cancer or you've lost them in an automobile accident or some calamity has befallen you and your dreams of somehow been shattered you thought you were cancer-free and you just got a call from the doctor saying we're concerned about the last x-ray you need come in immediately there was a note on the counter from your spouse II they no longer want to be married to you or your child is run away saying I don't want this faith you give me I don't want to live this life following Jesus or there's a new pain in your body you never felt before the list just goes on crisis it hits fast and it takes no prisoners pain has knocked on your front door and has moved in without your permission and it refuses to leave and this crisis has altered the course of your life well we see it in the Bible for Joe his world came crashing down in him and one day for Joseph it was a betrayal by his brothers that changed the course of his life for Jesus it was religious leaders and one of his very own disciples that turned on him but for you it might be something else it's like a mighty and unexpected storm has overtaken your little boat and you may even find yourself beginning to lose hope it's been said quote man can live 40 days without food three days without water eight minutes without air but only one second without hope we need hope in life as we're gonna face these challenges our world changed of course as you know eleven years ago on July 24th around 9 o'clock in the morning when we heard the unthinkable news that our oldest and Christopher had died and on an automobile accident the air was sucked out of the room I went into an immediate state of shock how do we get through it well let me restate that how do we get through it the one thing you never want to say there's someone who's lost a loved one is are you over it yet a good response would be actually I'm over you right now or at least for the moment for asking that mindless question but what has gotten us through it and what will get all of us through this crisis I would identify four things I'm sure there are more but I'll think of four rather top my head the Bible the Bible because the hope we need is found on the pages of Scripture everything God wants us to know about life and about himself is written in this book that I hope you have a copy of and brought with you to church today because we're gonna open it in a few moments but it's a Word of God but it's not just having a Bible in your hand it's reading the Word of God it's memorizing the Word of God and most importantly it's applying the Word of God I talked to our young adults this last Friday I've been speaking all week long spoke Wednesday night here at harvest Riverside Thursday night harvest Orange County Friday night to the young adults and I was just reminding the kids to to know their Bibles and to learn to think biblically and it's not just for them it's for all of us of course it's the Bible read memorized in a plain number to prayer prayer last night Julie texted me a photograph that Jared had sent her and it was a picture of him holding this Bible to Philippians 4 where it says don't worry about anything but pray about everything and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus she said this picture in this verse has really been encouraging me and and so you take your worries and your anxieties and you turn them into prayer so it's the Word of God it's prayer and then it's the church because we need each other we are not meant to do life alone as Jared would often say to us some things are learned in rows and other things are learned in circles so we're in a row today but a circle means a a small group a group of friends people that you are accountable to that you can talk to that you can reach out to so the church hearing the Word of God don't you find that it changes your perspective when you come and worship and hear the Word of God you know isn't that true because what is happening will you come in with your burden now let's just talk about whatever burden you have because many of you come with burdens today with hardships and and you come and effectively you still have the problem when you leave but what changes your perspective your outlook because yes I have this problem and I have this big issue but I just was reminded of the fact that my God is bigger than my problem and so I've looked to him I've worshipped him I've glorified him and now I look at my problem in an entirely new way so the Word of God prayer the church and friendly and I've already touched on it we're said I'm wired to worship I'm created to give glory to God well I don't think this is an appropriate time to worship oh no this is the time when we must worship this is the time we must worship his worship it's not about how you feel it's about how good god is you know I don't give thanks to the Lord because I feel good I give thinks of the Lord because he is good and His mercies are there for ever so that's why it's so important to focus on the Lord when job had the worst calamities imaginable befall him he got down on his knees and the Bible says he worshiped and he said naked came I into this world naked go I out blessed be the name of the Lord right after I heard my son had died my house immediately filled with people I thought how did they get here so quickly and some had words that were helpful other just after a while it was just noise and I didn't want to be talked to anymore I just wanted to be alone with God so I went to a little room over our garage I just fell down on the floor and I just said oh god help me and then I said I worship you lord I give them back to you Lord and and this is sometimes the thing we just give it to God we don't understand it and the hope we're gonna find is right here and the pages of Scripture so what do we do at a time like this we need to cry out to God now let's be honest crying is easier for women than men and by the way I mean that there's a compliment not a criticism women generally are more in touch with their emotions they're able to express love more easily than men I love you they'll say to one lady I love you two guys were like kind of punch each other in the arm or they'll give the little love you bro you know that's weird we love two girls we're just kind of broken inside man I don't know what to tell you we're wired differently than you but I'll tell you Jerrod was not that guy he was literally the guy that said I love you to everybody any minute so he was a pretty uh he was a great guy what can I say and it's harder for men we bottled these things up more women just often cry out we need to take a cue from the girls here men but in case you're thinking it's not masculine to cry today I have a two-word response jesus wept jesus wept and we can we we can weep too but we need to call out to the Lord in times of crisis when the Israelites criticized and turned against Moses we read in Exodus 15 he cried unto the Lord when Hezekiah received a threatening letter we read in Isaiah 37 14 he spread it out before the Lord when the John the Baptist was beheaded his disciples went in told Jesus according to Matthew 14 12 and that's what we need to do just go and tell Jesus Jesus this happened not he knows already of course but Lord this happened help us what do we do that's what Mary and Martha did their brother Lazarus was sick they were all close friends of Christ he visited them often showed up with his 12 friends often unannounced but their brother was sick and they just sent the word to Jesus Lord the one you love is sick but Jesus did not rush back because they hoped he would and by the time he arrived Lazarus had actually died and then Martha said to him Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died really it was pretty accusatory jesus you didn't do what you should have done and there's some that are heartbroken over the death of Joe and they would cry out saying God why didn't you stop him others are angry at him why did you do this to us this is the most selfish thing you could have ever done these are all normal reactions to the complicated emotions people feel after death and especially after the suicide of someone they love but at the same time this is not a time for condemnation this is a time for compassion because we don't understand all the circumstances and this is a time to just weep depression it's real clinical depression it's real - and there's a lot of variations of it and what is called mental health which I am not even close to being in expert in but I think of one of the greatest preachers in the history of the church CH Spurgeon every self-respecting pastor has his sermons at the Metropolitan pulpit which is a collection of Spurgeon sermons in their library we read Spurgeon we quote Spurgeon we loved him he was a preacher from England years ago the one of the best of the best but yet at the same time I don't know people realize CH Spurgeon dealt with severe depression a so bad was the depression of Spurgeon he would not be able to preach for months at a time he described this depression he dealt with this the mist so he knew what it was like to be depressed maybe some experts who had even described Spurgeon is clinically depressed I don't know but he made this statement about Jesus weeping he said Jesus wept first I want to remind you that Jesus wept because he was truly man secondly Jesus wept for he was not ashamed of his human weakness but allowed himself to reveal the fact that he was in this point made like his brothers thirdly Jesus wept and there in Hijaz our instructor and fourthly he is our comforter and lastly he is our example end quote so when you have times crisis when you have times have sadness you weep like Jesus did and that brings us to someone in 26 what do we do with our tears answer we bring them to God look at verse 1 someone 26 when the Lord brought back his exile in Jerusalem it was like a dream we were filled with laughter and we sang with joy and the other nation said what amazing things the Lord has done for them yes the Lord has done amazing things for us what joy hey so far so good these are happy rejoicing people but clearly something has happened between verses 3 & 4 because in verse 4 they say restore our fortunes Lord as streams renew the desert those who plant and tears will harvest with shouts of joy they weep as they go out to plant their seed but they sing as they return with the harvest so this is a sum about a dream turning to sadness they were joy seeing in the Lord and all that he had done and then suddenly they're asking the Lord to restore their fortune and they described their plight as being in a desert place and they needed fresh water have you ever felt that way all dried up inside thirsty for spiritual refreshment have you ever had some kind of a dream shattered or faced extreme disappointment so what should you do my wife brought a message to me excuse me from Timothy color and outstanding writer and pastor and he actually wrote a message called praying our tears that I would encourage you to look up and listen to he had a great little outline which I've borrowed from him and he brought this up point number one you can expect tears so if you're taking notes point number one you can expect tears sometimes they think as Christians we believe that we'll never have sorrow or or unhappiness it's just now we're Christians now all systems go everything's gonna be great no setbacks no hardship everything's amazing everything's awesome like these thing in the lego movie right are we think this well if I'm a good Christian and I read my Bible and I pray and I do my devotions and I go to church and I make my kid watch VeggieTales instead of Sponge Bob I know the Lord is gonna bless me you missed the joke but that's okay forget it you don't know whose Sponge Bob isn't forget okay in other words if I've done my part God will never let anything bad happen to me oh I wish that were the case but the people in this psalm have not done anything to be specifically repented of that we can see this is not a sum of repentance like some fifty one word david says have mercy upon me O God blot out my transgressions no these are people that were doing well they were actually rejoicing so and evil has befallen them or a difficulty has come their way rather and they're trying to process it and this happened to other people in the Bible David the man after God's own heart experienced depression and discouragement and wrote in some 42:11 why are you down cast on my soul why are you so disturbed within me but then he corrects his thinking it says put your hope in God for I will yet praise Him my Savior and my god you're gonna have times where you're down let's then I have times where I'm down you think I have it all together because they stand here with a microphone and have a Bible that I wave around occasionally I struggle with these things you struggle with pastors are not better than anybody else where people just like you and our God is sufficient for us like he's sufficient for you and I think sometimes people put pastors and spiritual leaders on pedestals and think us think we're gonna walk on water it's just ridiculous and actually I'm biblical so we need to understand that but you can have those moments so David corrected his own thinking with the Word of God hey man put your hope in God job I already mentioned how did all this trouble come his way God was bragging on him in heaven job did not experience his trials and tribulations because he was an ungodly man in effect he experienced him because he was a godly man but he didn't know it you see poor job never read the book of Job if he had read it he would have known the narrative oh wait God's bragging on me in the heaven the devil's testing this that's why this says 70 he didn't know anything up in heaven God said have you considered my servant job a perfect and upright man one that fears God and shuns evil the devil said oh really well let me have a little time with job we'll see what he's made of what we saw what he was made of he came out as gold and we referred he's a point of reference now as a man who suffered but still glorified God Jeremiah wrestled with great loneliness and feelings of defeat and insecurity maybe that's why we call him the weeping prophet and he wrote in Jeremiah 2014 curse it as the day I was born why did I even come out of the womb I see trouble and sorrow and in my days in shame so he had his moments now that's not to say that was right to say that that is to say he was hopelessly human like you are like I am so when we have those moments yes I feel this way then we turn to the Lord and we ask for herself so we all deal with depression and hardship but there's a difference between that kind of depression in clinical depression which means your mind is broken just as your body can be broken even Jesus felt it when dr. Luke tells us he sweat as it were great drops of blood and said father if it's possible let this cup pass for me know this God is with you in your hour of depression difficulty and trial and some 3418 says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit so we need to remember that God can also take these hardships and change us listen to this and Tim Keller brought this and it's a great insight being a Christian may cause you to weep more not less because in Ezekiel it says God speaking I'll remove a heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh semuc sense being a Christian may cause you to weep more not less because God gives us a heart of flesh I can speak to this from personal experience prior to my conversion and I had a heart of stone and I can justify perhaps somewhat because being raised the way I was with seven men who were supposedly my new dad I think after dad number three I was kind of like I'm good for now I'm not calling these guys dad anymore I don't have a dad I didn't my normal was the weirdest altered state of reality and so I developed a hard heart what does that mean it means I I would not a Moute I would not feel I would close off my feelings to survive because of the turmoil I was exposed to screaming yelling fighting hitting and all the rest and I thought I just kind of shut it off and so I was a shut off person I had a hard heart and then when I was in high school and I had experimented with drugs and drinking and other things and knew that was all empty I was thinking him what his life all about I saw these crazy Christians and they perplexed me because they'd be like go to class and then the bell would ring in classes out they'd run up like they hadn't seen each other for 10 years they're hugging each other love your bro praying for you I'm like you people crazy and they did this on Monday not on Friday okay I I get it when people are happy on Friday at school I don't understand Monday happiness in school that they're all deluded that was my conclusion but the problem with that thinking was I knew a couple of them who had been good friends of mine who I used to party with you now we're joining the ranks of the Jesus freaks and I thought I can't completely write them up because I know those people well of course you know I gave my life to the and when I first went to church I remember I walked in in some complete stranger throws her arms around me says I love you brother I'm like you don't even know me why are you even touching me I didn't want people to touch me my mother never hugged me she never said I love you so I didn't know that language it was awkward it was actually uncomfortable for me I mean people say Greg you're not a very good hugger sorry I'm trying I'm just telling you what can happen but when Christ comes into your life your heart becomes more of a heart and you can then feel the pain of others your heart becomes more touchable CS Lewis put it this way and I quote to love it all is to be vulnerable love anything in your heart will be wrung and possibly broken if you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one not even an animal wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries and avoid all entanglements lock it up safe and that casket our coffin of your selfishness but in that casket safe dark motionless airless it will change it will not be broken it will become unbreakable impenetrable irredeemable and then he concludes to love is to be vulnerable and quote Paul said Simon and Garfunkel this dates me how many of you ever heard of Simon and Garfunkel King oh wow these are the old people here they were good though weren't they how many of you have no idea what I mean when I say Simon and Garfunkel it's okay yeah anyway but they were a duo a duo from the 60s Paul Simon was a brilliant writer he wrote a song called I am a rock he sums it up just like Lewis said it the lyrics are I built walls a fortress deep and mighty that none may penetrate I have no need of friendship friendship causes pain it's laughter and it's loving I disdain I am a rock I'm an island you know when you sing it it can I am a rock I am and you know it but if you actually listen to the lyrics it's more of a lament it's not a celebration I told you already that our lives were impacted when the Lord called our son home and my heart was broken in a bad way in a good way it was broken because I would never see him again this side of heaven that was the bad way but it was broken in a good way because I had more compassion and I found myself walking into situations I normally would have walked away from I don't want to deal with that I don't want to talk to these people I don't know if I have the answers I feel inadequate but suddenly having been the person sitting in the front row at the funeral service and hearing the pastor speak I understood what it was like to be on the other side of the story I've always been the guy here I'm gonna say to you what hopefully you need to know and and there's nothing I said anything wrong I just say it differently now because I've been on both sides of it so number one we need to recognize we're gonna have Tears number two we need to invest our tears invest our tears not bottle them up inside but let them out so God can put them in his bottle don't bottle up your tears let them out so God can put them in his bottle because on some fifty six eight it says you keep track of my sorrows you've collected all my tears in your bottle you've recorded each one in your book the psalmist tells us to plant or invest our tears look at verse five those two plants and tears will harvest with shouts of joy they weep as they go plant their seed but they sing as they return with a harvest listen just as the farmer sow seeds you need to sow your tears we're not being told to embrace our sorrows because that's masochistic we're not told to avoid our sorrows because that's hedonistic we're told to invest or plant our sorrows that is biblical what does it mean to invest your sorrows it means have a heart for those who are suffering oh it's so easy to be critical and you know people love to get out on social media snipe away again I said this is another time for criticism is a time for compassion and then you see somebody who's hurting reach out to them trying to help them what is a result of sowing our tears you'll reap and joy look at verse five those who plan in tears will harvest with shouts of joy they weep as they go out to plant but they sing as they return with a harvest we saw that not that long ago at the socal harvest there's over 8,000 people walked on in that field to make a profession of faith to follow Jesus Christ and I can say this a lot of tears and prayers but we were sold by a lot of people to bring forth that harvest I just got a card from the folks that pray for our Crusades let me explain while we're all out there doing whatever it is we do some are setting stages up some are tearing them down some are uttering some are counseling some are doing music and some is preaching you got that joke thank you there's a group of people who miss all the action but in the areia and reality they're in the middle of the action it's been the whole night praying they don't come out look they just pray they prayed through the whole night the whole service especially when I'm preaching they're just praying praying praying and then they allow them out of the room at the invitation and they see the results of their prayers those who sow in tears will reap in joy and yell of joy after tragedy Isaiah 61 3 says to all who mourn in Israel here give a crown of beauty for Ashes a joyous blessing instead of mourning festive praise instead of despair some would say joy after tragedy ago tell that to the widow of Jared Wilson Julie I don't have to because she told it to me last night she tected text and Kathy and I these words and I asked her permission to use them and she gave them Thank You Julie she said to us this was not for public consumption she was just saying this to us she said quote his peace is surrounding me in a way I've never known before I'm only five days into being a widow but let me tell you God is so real in there he's shown me joy in the midst of the deepest pain and has given me hope when all seems lost I still can't explain it but I'm grateful for it powerful number three we need to pray our tears pray our tears cry out to God think how most of David's Psalms ended some sixteen is filled with fears but in the last verse he says you've made known to me the path of life you'll fill me with joy in your presence is fullness of joy and on your right Ken are pleasures forevermore listen one day God is gonna write every wrong one day God is gonna answer every question I have questions you have questions for God but until that day we need to lovingly represent him to those who are hurting and instead of asking why we should be asking who and what we can ask why all day long I can't explain it - I wish I could why why why I don't know okay who who do I turn to I turn to the Lord obviously turn to Jesus bring my sadness and questions to him okay what am I to do I'm to love people and care for them show compassion to them pray for them you want to get an unbeliever to respond to you you'll be surprised if you ask him this question random stranger just say is there anything I can pray for you about anything that's troubling you I was with a friend in a restaurant the other day he asked to tell the waiter I thought this guy's not got it really oh my goodness it turned into like a counseling session our waiter he just poured his heart out I couldn't believe it because yeah he had his troubles everybody's walking around with troubles today and if you just said man I don't know what you've gone through but can I pray for you thank you for asking I really could use prayer that's something that we need to be doing for one another praying for one another and of course preach the gospel to them we want harvest to be a safe place for sad people we want people to know this is the place you can come to if you're hurting if you're struggling if you're having difficulties at there our loving people in this church we want to be a loving place for loving people last Wednesday and Thursday Kay Warren the wife of Rick Warren joined us and just was so amazing just wonderful words you say well why did you ask Kay Warren to come well because she along with their husband Rick lost their son Matthew to suicide in fact I went and preached at their church snd after it happened cuz it wasn't that far from when our own son died but you know this is a different kind of trauma than what we experienced in and though it's is very hard for Kay when she ministers in this area it brings back a lot of pain and memories of her own but she goes out there in her weakness and she ministers and she did an amazing job it's a message that's titled I've forgot now it's a good title though if I can just think of it I'm blanking out on the title what's that very that's right thank you someone was listening here yes the title of the message was hope gets the last word it's archived if you want to watch it especially listen to what she had to say but her husband Rick wrote these words he said these are three things for people with suicidal thoughts they need to know there's a purpose for your life you are loved and you are needed in this world tell that to someone there's a purpose for you life I don't feel like I should live no one loves me no you there's a purpose for your life and you are loved you are loved by so many I think for what we've seen from this is Jared was loved by many by so many he had a much wider circle of friends and I realized far beyond this church he had only been with us 18 months and he had all these relationships that he had developed and things people that he knew and Soto people these things I read about a man named William Cowper he's a man who wrote many of the great hymns of the church that he coined the phrase that we often use about God and and I'm blanking on the phrase I'm just having complete mental breakdown I brung choice of where excuse me thank you my wife is helping me now this is a right okies thank you I thank you for all your assistance today folks I'm gonna be honest with you I'm exhausted and I'm drained and this has been hard but I'm doing the best I can do so thank you group hug know the phrase that isn't one of his hymns is God works in mysterious ways and it's so familiar people think it's in the Bible it isn't but it's a good statement nonetheless because it's true but William Cowper he lived around the time of the Great Awakening in the days of Charles and John Wesley and George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards and so this is a man who had a very hard life his mother died when he was young all of his siblings died his father was very cold sent him off to boarding school and this young man had what would experts would probably call clinical depression today and actually attempted suicide and failed thankfully attempted it again failed and so his father had him committed to an asylum and when he was in the asylum the man who was in charged shared the gospel with young William and led him to Christ okay great so now we think and it was happily ever after right no no he still struggled he still struggled after he came out but he became friends with a man who had a huge impact on him John Newton John Newton wrote the song Amazing Grace by the way John Newton used to be a slave trader so this is a man that had a lot of sin to repent of that's why you think of the words of Amazing Grace are even more poignant Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found in blind but now I see so this was this pastor who really helped William Cowper deal with these struggles he faced even after he became a Christian and my point and bringing that up is we need to be a John Newton to a William Cowper there's someone you know it could be a young person that could be an older person they can be a relative who's struggling instead of condemning them or thinking why can't you snap out of it it's like really why don't you have compassion and why don't you pray for them and help them and tell that person that their life has a purpose and they are loved and we care about them and they're needed in this world again as they said earlier we want this to be a loving place for lonely people in a safe place for sad people it's been said if you preach to hurting people you'll never like for an audience there's a lot of hurting people so we want to continue to reach them let me close by saying this maybe you're hurting person today you've come here but the weight of the world on your shoulders and you don't know what to do first of all the answer is Jesus you need Jesus and he died on the cross for you he paid the price for every one of your sins and he rose again from the dead and the Bible says he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and if you'll hear his voice he'll come in and you'll never be alone again Jesus changed my life he still changed my life he can change your life as well and most importantly change your eternal destiny and if you've not asked Jesus into your life I pray you'll do it today and there might be others who you've slipped away you've walked away you've turned your back on the Lord and maybe this has been sort of a wake-up call I mean it was literally a wake-up call for me when I got that news about pastor Jared it jolted me and I think it's been a wake-up call for our church is just the hurting people that are we doing everything we can to reach these folks and and this is maybe it's been a wake-up call for you or maybe it was something else that this happened that's gotten your attention recently like oh right god I need to know him I need to have a relationship with him I've been thinking about doing that eventually well the time is now get right with him now because only God can meet your needs only God can heal your broken heart only God can deliver you safely from Earth to heaven and the way he does that is through his son Jesus Christ who made the ultimate sacrifice and then rose again from the dead if you need to ask Jesus into your life or recommit your life to the Lord you can do it right here right now let's pray now father I pray that you will speak to the hearts of any person here are watching wherever they are help them to see these words we've shared are true their gospel truth and help them to come to you and believe and all our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to go to heaven when you die you can just pray this prayer with me and also if you want to make that recommitment of christ just pray this prayer right where you are wherever you are just pray Lord Jesus I know you are the Savior and I am the sinner I ask you to forgive me up all of my sin I choose to follow you Lord from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer in answering this prayer now father I pray for everyone wherever they are watching and listening in present in this room some have great burdens some deal with deep depression and you're greater than our problems and as David would say why are you why you cast down on my soul hoping God Lord you're our hope lift your eyes up to you look to you remember you focus on you so we choose to do that right now I pray that you will lift burdens I pray you will heal the brokenhearted I pray you will extend your comfort to those who are in need of it which is pretty much all of us fill us with your Holy Spirit and like job though we don't understand these things we give glory to you regardless and we're thankful that you're on the throne or thankful Jared is with you we're thankful we'll see him again we're thankful that one day we will be with you in heaven and we'll be reunited with loved ones and all of these questions will be answered until that day Lord let us live in hope and trust in you for we ask all of this in Jesus name amen let's stand and worship together [Music] walking around these wall [Music] I thought by now they for [Music] for you and fair [Music] waiting for change to go [Music] going about boy me listen you promised to stand you promised Ilsa [Music] this is my car you [Music] I know the night but your world will come to virus and my see you praise [Music] [Music] Jesus you still Kiwi [Music] Oh I will seek your praise [Music] missing your promise [Music] [Music] this is my do you [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] come on we seem together I see and you move the mouse's [Music] but I'll see you to it [Music] away where there wasn't no [Applause] [Music] come on we sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can take a seat as we just wrap up our service today for all of you that just prayed with pastor Greg listen we love you and we want to welcome you into the family of God by giving you a gift we would love to give you a new believers Bible and so would you please not leave here today without receiving this new believers Bible we want to spend some time just giving you this and praying with you and encouraging you in this brand-new decision that you've made to follow Jesus Christ but also I want to make a special mention maybe after hearing the message today or just this week has been a tough week if you need prayer today can I let you know that we've got pastors and elders and virtual leaders that will be up front at the close of the surface to pray with you to love on you and you know maybe even just weep with those who weep and and be there for you and so if you need that please take advantage of that today you know tonight we're gonna have just an opportunity if you know someone that didn't hear this message today and they're not able to make it this morning tonight we're gonna show Pastor Gregg's message and so we're gonna have a special time this evening and so if you'd like to come back with someone that needs to hear this make sure that you bring them and by the way pastor Greg has just done a fantastic job can we just give him a round of applause as being our pastor him and Cathy you know it's just really just the head of this church you know under Christ they've done a fantastic job of reminding us of what's true and and helping us you know see past the fog and see what's true and and I just want to say continue to keep them in prayer would you would you continue just to not only you know Julie and the family but just our pastors as well you know I want to let you know pastor Greg has taken a lot of time to answer a lot of questions on his blogs and so if you've got questions that you need answers to would you just go to his blog he's done a great job at answering questions and reminding of what's true and so you can even catch his as he mentioned a few moments ago his message from this past Thursday hope gets the last word just great things there that you can pick up on or you can even send links to to people you know that are struggling or just need these these reminders you know in this season as we close today I want to remind you that we are a church now we are body of believers we come together please don't neglect this we've got opportunities to meet together really up-and-coming that I think Jared would really I mean he trumpeted this like crazy he say some people learn in rows other people's learn in circles we've got our small groups up incoming we've got virtue and valor and v2 don't miss out on this year well we can do life together in circles and so today when you exit we've got opportunity to sign up and be a part of the groups we're gonna go through the life of Moses and it's gonna be amazing and so please don't miss out on that lastly we have got life track today if you would like to you know just learn about our church and what we stand on and who we are and our vision for the future today at 12 o'clock we have live track last thing this coming week we are taking a break of our mid weeks and we're gonna have a midweek of prayer in praise so we're gonna take a moment to worship God this coming Wednesday and Thursday we're gonna have a few exhortation 'he's about just who God is and how he's there for us in the midst of the storm and so join us this week as we were gonna worship and pray and pray for each other and pray for the world it's gonna be a great time this week but let me pray for you okay can we pray for you let me pray for you today as we go our way so Lord we we pause and we say God we need you your word tells us that when our heart is overwhelmed lead us to the rock that is higher than I and Lord you are that rock and we are standing on you today and so Lord as we go our way into our mission field lord I pray that you would help us be a comfort to those we've received your comfort help us comfort those that need your comfort help us be a light in a dark place help us speak truth where there might be confusion help us even just let that that word be true that we would weep with those who weep Jesus we love you we thank you and we again just thank you for the confidence and the hope we have in you that you have the final word death is not the end you be death when you rose and so we are so thankful and confident Lord that our hope is in you we thank you now in Jesus name Amen god bless you family have a wonderful day [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 27,179

Rating: 4.8365898 out of 5

Keywords: greg laurie, greg laurie sermons, harvest christian fellowship, bible study, greg laurie sermons 2019, bible study methods, bible study lessons

Id: -3KCbZqcF5Q

Length: 89min 29sec (5369 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 15 2019