Wrung Out

hi Matt Chandler here pastor of the village Church just want to thank you for streaming this sermon on your device I wanted to just before we get going here just lay before you a deep conviction we have that this video sermon that we've prayed really stirs up your affections for Jesus and shapes you and mold you into the image of the son would just be supplemental to your relationship with the Lord and in no way would replace the church you should be plugged into or the pastor that God has put over your life to Shepherd and care for your soul and so please enjoy the next hour or so of this message we have prayed that God would use it in a profound way in your life blessings from darkness to light this is the story we all share as the people of God he draws us out to draw us in from the birth of Israel to the church today God delivers and dwells with his people he draws us out of our sin our Egypt and draws us into his presence into relationship with him well if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab those we're going to look at Exodus chapter 5 if you don't have a Bible there should be a hardback black 1 somewhere around you just want you to grab one so that you can have it we're gonna look at all of chapter 5 and I just want to point out a couple of things not sure how long this will be a short we like we don't know let's just give it a go when we last looked at our story in Exodus what we saw is that Moses showed up to the people of Israel and showed them the three signs that God had given them now remember signs aren't parlor tricks but rather acts of God outside of the natural order that are meant to point to something beyond themselves so it's not like God's just trying to show off God's trying to communicate and so there was the staff and to the snake there was the leprosy and there was all Tamilian aisle that was turned to blood so if you remember back to the story Moses shows up in in Egypt and gathers the the elders and the leaders among the Hebrews and tells them exactly what God said to tell them that hey Here I am God has sent me to you Who I am Who I am has sent me here the Lord has sent me here and and here are the signs and the people understood the signs because the last thing you and I read together was that when they had heard that God had heard their cries and was there to answer those Christ's they fell on their face and worshiped now II don't want you to move too quickly past that moment because it's a significant moment here's what I mean by that for over 400 years this group of men and women have been oppressed crushed murdered raped used abused treated as subhuman and they have pled and cried out that God would hear and save and deliver and then Moses shows up right the guy that had started that rebellion all those 40 years ago and it just ruined the whole thing right who it ran away and fear is now back but now he's got some signs right the the serpent yeah I I control the sir the sign of Egyptian power and my leprosy that this that this thing that the Egyptians have no power over no ability to conquer yeah I'll conquer it like that and then finally the Nile the very source of their wealth and ability to rule the world is in my hand so he shows them the signs and if you can't imagine the type of rejoicing that would have occurred now that God has heard so now if you're human which I believe is a hundred percent you might have like a dog in your purse or something like that I'll get to that in January when we do the live sermon but for now just keep Bootsy quiet during the sermon and and ultimately since we're all human here's what we know that the second we smell hope righty I mean our minds and hearts just run wild with it here we go good news is here let's go get them and then Exodus chapter 5 this is such an important chapter for us as human beings verse 1 of chapter 5 afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh thus says the Lord the God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness but Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go I do not know the Lord and moreover I will not let Israel go then they said the God of the Hebrews has met with us please let us go three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword but the king of Egypt said to them Moses and Aaron why do you take the people away from their work get back to your burdens and Pharaoh said Behold the people of the land are now many and you make them rest from their burdens the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their Foreman by the way those are Hebrews not Egyptians right you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as in the past let them go and gather straw for themselves but the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall still impose on them you should by no means reduce it for these people are idle therefore they cry let us go and offer sacrifice to our God let heavier work be laid on men that they may labor at it and pay no regards to these lying words so the task masters in the foreman of the people went out and said to the people thus says Pharaoh I will give you I will not give you straw go and get your own straw for yourselves wherever you can find it but you but your work will not be reduced in the least so the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw then the task masters were urgent saying complete your work your daily tasks each day as when there was straw and the foreman of the people of Israel whom Pharaoh's task masters had set over them were beaten and were asked why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday as in the past then the foreman of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh why do you treat your servants like this no straw is given to your servants yet they say to us make bricks and behold your servants are beaten but the fault is in your own people but he said you are idle you are idle that is why you say let us go and sacrifice to the Lord go now and work no straw will be given you but you must deliver the same number of bricks then the foreman of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble and when they said you shall by no means reduce the number of bricks your daily tasks each day so they met with Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh and they said to him the Lord look on you and judge because you have made a stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to kill us then Moses turned to the Lord and said o Lord why have you done evil to this people why did you or send me four since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to this people and you have not delivered your people at all right so it just went from better to much worse so here we go we get the good news hope is in fuse there's excitement about what might come and then what we just read really could be described as the anatomy of disappointment it's just the anatomy of disappointment there's excitement there's hope gods finally heard God's going to work things just got a lot harder this is not what I had in mind this is not what I had in view and I got the good news that God was for me the guy was gonna say that God was gonna rescue that God was gonna help that God was gonna come alongside had my own vision of what was going to come and it wasn't getting beaten worse and overworked near to death was just not in my 20 year plan right see what we all know about disappointment as disappointing as always rooted in hope you can't be disappointed if you didn't first hope that something would be different so let's just be honest no one in here is exempt from this so every one of us had this kind of vision for our lives we had this vision for what life would be like and and some of us that was in Christ and some of that was before Christ and during present after Christ having a we which have this vision of what we think life should be and how it should work and then when it doesn't happen disappointment sets in I'm going to say a lot about disappointment it shatters our dreams right that's not overstated shatters our dreams it erodes our confidence it highlights our limitations and inadequacies something that we hardly can live with us in this day in age because we bought into the hype that were not limited if we just worked hard enough when just we could do anything we wanted to do like I'm glad your mom loves you she lied to you it's just not true right you can't right you just can't um it diminishes our hope it makes us even hesitant to hope again in any real way it can make us feel desolate and lonely doesn't disappointment make you feel a little lonely especially if you think about the world we live in with Instagram and Facebook and and just the faux happiness of everyone on earth slammed right into your face it doesn't make you feel alone when you're disappointed it creates doubt and fear it can cause us to question our belief in God is very existent it certainly can make us wrestle with whether or not we think God is actually trustworthy and he's for us right in a very real way what disappointment does is it takes hold of us and it just rings us out right if we thought about vitality and energy and life as a sponge filled with water disappointment is the act of wringing that sponge out dry then and so we said from week one in the series that's why I've been so excited about Exodus because it hits us right where we are and there's much more to come in fact through May I think 26 we're gonna just watch God work among us and through us and in us through this beautiful tale of recreation and God setting up his people to be a light to the world around them and so what we see here is a common experience that we all have what we said in week one or week to week 1 and week 2 that God was working a plan and that plan was almost always going to play out differently than we think it's going to right we said that you remember that in fact that was one of the big premises that we wanted to set before we could get to doing a chapter at a time we wanted to very slowly say to everyone on repeat so that we could get it in our gut that God is working a plan and that that plan is a good plan but it will almost always play out differently than we think it should and so we said all those weeks ago now like five weeks ago now there was some things that we needed to adjust in order to take those waves in such a way that they don't drown us and so here are the three things we said we were going to need to do if we're going to be able to survive God's good right plan playing out in ways that are confusing and disorienting and if we're really honest really disappointing at times right that the first thing is that we were going to have to come to grips with our humor what we said is that we would need to acknowledge our limitations like we're just gonna have to acknowledge that we're not ultimate that God is so for all mankind's giftedness that no man is omnipotent has all the power there is no man is omnipresent is everywhere at once in his fullness and and no man is omniscient knows everything and everywhere at once seamlessly past present and future all kind of flowing together one event leading to other events leading to other events only God is in that space and and we're not and so our position is one of a gnat trying to figure out complex chemistry right we're just not gonna do a good job at it look if you're straight even with your human brain you're not going to do a good job at it right but but we're less it so we've got to acknowledge our limitations that God is going to behave in ways they're really confusing to us so we've got to acknowledge our limitations you've got to grow comfortable in the sovereign brilliant size of God as opposed to our tiny nough said it to you I know the rest of your week is spent with people trying to convince you in the other direction but to be small and in the hands of an infinite God is so much better than being big and strong and bold and able and having all things under control know just be small and in his hands it's awesome I just embrace the fact that you can't and he can so we should probably let him just such a better way to do life but that's not all that we need to acknowledge we also and I said this I want to give better examples this time or more detailed examples we're gonna have to learn to read the scriptures honestly right read the Bible honestly again in in a world where people can take texts and and make create little meme out of it and stick it on Instagram which is you like proof text verses about how easy life is and if you just trust God like $100 bills rain down on you and you never get sick again and and these verses that are pulled out of the scriptures with a complete disregard for the Bible's complete honesty of what life's like in a Genesis 3 world a world that's fallen and broken with sin so let me give you some examples the one I used that that that week was this John 16:33 I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace so I've said some hard things to you because I want you to walk in peace in this world you will have tribulation but take heart because why what was that because I've overcome the world so look that's not soft selling life in this world you will have tribulation you will have difficulty you will cry you will hurt you will get sick people you love will be lost in this world you will have tribulation but take heart why because I'm here because I've got you and because I've overcome the world right um some of my other it's weird to call these passages favorites but they really are because I think that if you'll stop for a bit these are warm blankets on our soul because this is the world we live and not the imaginary world we thought up this is the one we're in right now in Matthew 11 2 through 6 there's this surreal and I think beautiful moment where John the Baptist is in prison basically he's called out the ruler of Rome there in Jerusalem because he's he's divorced his wife and he's sleeping with somebody who's not his wife and so John the Baptist calls him out and and has and then arrested not a lot of free speech in the Roman Empire and so John the Baptist is arrested and thrown in prison which seems really strange since he's the one that makes away for the Lord I prepare a way for the Lord he understands himself to be the front runner of Jesus Christ he's been faithful in fact even Jesus would say that born of man there's not a greater man born than John the Baptist so that's like if you got a resume and Jesus is like hey of all humans besides me this guy's incredible and I've got the I've got the fully god thing going for me also so just man John the Baptist he's my kind of people and so John John the maps is now in prison death sentence more than likely coming and so we pick up the story and the story is super intriguing here's what he says in verse two now when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ he sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another alright so so here's what's happened John the Baptist is in prison he hears all these things that Jesus is doing and he's like okay I get it but why am I in prison so something's gone wrong here you've been there wait wait something's not adding up in my life because I've been faithfully preaching Christ I've been eating locusts and honey Drive sacrificed everything for the plan of God something's gone wrong here guys go find Jesus and asked him are you the one or should we be waiting for somebody else what was I wrong when I baptized him in the joint cuz I could have swore the Holy Spirit fell at that moment but look at Jesus's response it's stunning and jesus answered them go and tell John what you hear and see the blind receive their sight and the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them and blessed is the one who is not offended by me so like all on the surface we that that looks look like great news right but here's what Jesus just did Jesus just quoted the prophet Isaiah concerning the coming of the Messiah and he left off he quoted him verbatim outside of one little line you know what the line was and the prisoners will be set free the very last line of that Isaiah kind of prophetic word about the coming of the Messiah is the prisoners will be set free so men if you've got a verse memorized in your mind and somebody starts to say it you're kind of able to finish it well if you're John the Baptist and you're in prison and your guy runs backs like okay here's what he said remember the prophet Isaiah he quoted him here's what he says he starts to quote I say what do you think John the Belgae huh uh-huh yeah yeah oh yeah yeah lepers okay got you deaf got it Blanc that's all he said wait that's all no no because Isaiah said that the prisoners will be set free let me just try to explain what just happened Jesus just said to John the Baptist I am the one and you're gonna die in prison then what am i again like I can just feel Jeremiah's angst in Jeremiah chapter 20 first day it's important to know Jeremiah 1 God comes to Jeremiah and here's what he says to Jeremiah if you will say what I tell you to say and you will go where I tell you to go I'm gonna give you the power to build up nations and destroy him now and be straight I don't know too many men that would turn that gig down I just don't I just don't know a lot of men if God showed was like just with your mouth I make you such a good kind of communicate or such force that you say what I tell you say you're gonna build up nations and you're gonna destroy them like bro I'm in what my life will matter count build otário' nations I mean that's my kind of talk right there right it's like a pregame speech and then what happens is almost every time Jeremiah opens his mouth and testifies what God tells him to testify he's beaten he's imprisoned he's thrown bloody into a ditch and finally after Jeremiah faithfully says what the Lord told him to say he's literally beaten naked and thrown into a ditch bloodied and here's what he says to Lord Jeremiah 20 verses 7 and 8 oh Lord you have deceived me and I was deceived you are stronger than I and you have prevailed I have become a laughingstock all the day everyone mocks me for whenever I speak I cry out I shout violence and destruction for the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long right so remember what we said last week is that the power of God most always flows obedience rooted in faith will obedience to what the Word of God well Jeremiah says you tricked me you deceived me he literally just said you lied to me I did what you told me to do and the only thing that's been tore down is me I am a laughingstock I am mocked all the day long the word in my mouth is derision and shame like if if you heard a brother praying like that at home group don't you like scooting your chair back just a little bit and I mean whoa I don't know if I would remaining on it but we'll pray for him all right so what is this look at me this is heartbroken disappointment this is heartbroken Jeremiah loved Israel he loved the people of God and they were far from God so what do you think like as a pastor what do you think is hearts like when God goes look I'm gonna build up a nation imma tear down he he sanded your might look I'm gonna draw my people back to me so look Jeremiah's good-hearted he's out there proclaiming the Word of God in the hopes that his brothers and sisters would repent and come back to the Living God and be rooted in what's true and right for their own good in the glory of God in the ancient world and when the Book of Jeremiah ends Israel is led into captivity and Jeremiah with them like we don't like Bible studies like this right we don't but this the Bible is filled with this King David 1st chronicles 28 2 to 3 this week my last example here I know some of you like amen 1st chronicles 28 2 to 3 then King David rose to his feet and said hear me my brothers and my people I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord for the footstool of our God and I made preparations for building you're gonna learn more about that in the spring look at verse 3 but God said to me you may not build a house for my name for you are a man of war and have shed look at me who sent David out to war against the Philistines God did I mean you want to talk some serious discombobulation alright David make war right I want you to drive out the Philistines I want you to destroy when you go on a rampage for those who despise my name I want you to lay hold and if you've ever worried about David as you read through the Psalms and he's like I mean coming off as schizophrenic think of there's just no way this brother doesn't have PTSD I mean he has killed hundreds and hundreds of people at point-blank range he has seen the slaughter of friends he seen his life is marked by war and his heart's desire me if you think of the cries of David's heart right one thing I ask and all that I seek is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple when you think about the Psalms where he laments not being able to go in and worship the Lord he's a man whose heart is captivated by God he's been obedient to God and now he wants to build for God the temple and the God goes no no you you're a man of war you've killed too many people I'm not gonna let you and David's heartbroken spoiler alert on Exodus Moses doesn't make it into the Promised Land hate to give away the punchline for me but he's not gonna make it in all this faithfulness you're not like the Bible is filled with this we ignore it gonna read the Bible honestly now you and I in 2016 are looking back at these men as these mighty men of faith and tell me they didn't accomplish all that God had for them to accomplish we're here it's crazy that you and me are in Dallas Texas worshipping Jesus I have to say what are we doing it this is on the other side of the earth what are we doing here faithful men and women that's what we're doing here and their stories played out differently than they thought you but God moves the ball we don't write we're just faithful ordinary people day at a time faithfully doing what God's calls do it's God who moves the ball it's God who's faithful so we need to read the Bible honestly so we're not ize din the day of trouble should never be surprised in the day of trouble natural disaster shouldn't surprise you disease shouldn't surprise you death shouldn't surprise you I'm not saying it did that not being surprised means it hurts less it doesn't hurt less right but if we're gonna survive waves of disappointment we need to acknowledge our limitations as human beings but we also need to read the Bible honestly right and then lastly and I I just will preach this until you take my face mic away and even then I think my voice could carry this room at least three or four services before it gave would be good man in if we're going to survive the waves of disappointment that are sure and bound to come to all of us we must continually look to the cross of Jesus Christ as the objective evidence that God is for us and not against us that he sacrificed his own son to purchase us as sons and daughters by his blood and if you start putting all these pieces together you can really start to draw some parallels in regards to how you if you have children right now but like I disappoint my children all the time sometimes because I'm not all that I should be for them but sometimes because I know more than them and I'm going to tell them no and they're gonna be disappointed but I know what's best for them now there are some things so here we go we need those things to help us kind of survive the disappointment but there are things that can be present in our lives that will exasperate or make disappointment even worse and that's what I think you see happening in this text and so let me give you three things quickly that kind of exacerbate what's absolutely coming and your life affects some of you might be in that right now you're so disappointed right now so lack trust in God so just feel like I just can't trust him again I've already been through that not doing it just really doubt that he's good or that he's even there if he is there I just don't know that he's good right so what can exasperate disappointment three things that and we see all three of them in this text the first is half-hearted obedience and I want to unpack that look at look at verse one afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh thus says the Lord the God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness ok look at me that's not what God asked him to say in Chapter three he's guaranteed full liberation alright so what's he doing he's like trying it well you know that seems a little aggressive God just don't look I know this King I'm just saying if I say that it's gonna go bad so i'ma help you lord I mean I get it I mean you kinda I just met you we're gonna get to know each other but let me help you out here and he asks for a few days to go rest this is half-hearted obedience and it makes disappointment worse so maybe maybe this would help I I think it makes disappointment worse is because some somehow we've justified that we're being obedient when we're not and the God should have done something because we were obedient even though we weren't really obedient are you tracking on that so if I could if I could once again I want to throughout the series press on what I see in front of me easily we spend most of our time in the marriages at the village church the brokenness and those marriage is the the hurt in those marriages it's very real it's very painful it's ever-present and and I think one of the things we oftentimes see is men and women who are just so disappointed in what their relationships has turned out to be and a lot of times they have not been obedient to the Lord in regards to trying to cultivate that not always because sometimes they have been and there's either abuse or neglect or some other type of foolishness or wickedness or sin but oftentimes what we see is a is a man who's not given himself over to full obedience to cultivate his wife's heart to love her and serve her and build her up and encourage her and then is really frustrated at this this and this but he hasn't given himself over to full obedience or a wife who has not given herself over to full obedience and is really disappointed in the Lord but what we say about the power of God most always flows through what obedience rooted in faith obedience rooted in faith so our horizontal relationships can oftentimes be on fire doing all this disappointment about those horizontal relationships yet we have not been fully obedient to the Lord we've been half-hearted at best now what would it look like to just sell out my my son is playing a little tackle football right now he's not actually on the team he's just practicing with him and um and it's fun that coaches are still saying the same stuff they were saying like when when I played and feel like you played well I was on the team all right uh and and and so here's what that this little coaches are telling right you full-speed are you gonna get hurt right you better go full-speed you you kind of trot in there you're gonna get yourself hurt so you need to go full-speed right I mean that mantra was laid on us in my football years like it was the only thing coach could say right like he had been electrocuted or something was on repeat like someone need to smack him so he can move on to whatever was next right no no's full-speed go full speed full speed every play every time over and over again well this is what it looks like to be fully obedient right full speed I'm gonna obey you whatever you ask I'm going in I'm gonna trust you with the results not being obedient to get results god help us in the burbs we're driven by results if I don't get results why should I spend my time well because God's getting results that you can't see or fathom God's getting results aue you want results to feel better about you not to be in any kind of glad submission to God right then I I think the second thing we see here not only is their half-hearted obedience but but I think fear has really gripped everyone so from a human perspective um what we see is a clash of titans I mean from a human perspective now we know all these millennia later looking back at the scriptures that it's not really a clash of titans at all and in fact it's a it's an NFL linebacker playing with a kitten and even that's probably soft selling it but but look at what's happening really if you dial into what happened verse 1 it says the Lord says and then in verse 10 it says thus says Pharaoh in verse 9 Pharaoh calls God a liar right so so you've got this thus says the Lord and then you got Pharaoh goes thus says fair you tell them Pharaoh said and Moses saying God said and and then you've got this space where there's this huge argument about what's true and what's right and who should the people serve and Barrow's calling God a liar and the interesting thing that's happening here is God says to the people of Israel come out and rest and Pharaoh says no stay in and work Pharaoh thinks they need work God says they need rest and it's all about who the people will serve what's interesting to note here and it's interesting to note even as we think about our own relationship with the Lord is the the Hebrew word for slave and worship are the same word so that God has not gone you know what come on out on the wheel and use to lay down I know you come out and you worship me you serve me now this works even in our English language see are we not in a real way in a worship service right that we're here to serve the Lord - praise the Lord - make much of the Lord and to be recipients of the kindness and grace of God among us so the words are similar but look at where the people side look at verse 15 and 16 then the foreman of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh why do you treat what your servants like this no straw is given to who your servants yet they say to us make bricks and behold your servants are beaten but the fault is in your own people so there's this clash of titans / the human perspective Pharaoh thus says Pharaoh and the Lord thus is the Lord with the prize being the service or the worship of Israel and the people frightened used to they're used to their oppression frail and weak worshiped just a few verses ago and are now calling themselves servants worshippers of Pharaoh your servants why would you do this to your we serve you why would you do this to us we're making bricks for you so I think what I'm who you ultimately work for us who you ultimately worship who you ultimately workforce who you ultimately worship so the activity in the intensity of your minutes seconds efforts and days really if you pay close attention to that who you're working for is actually who you really worship that this is why I think that Jesus can say you want to know where your heart is look at your wallet who you work for is who you worship and and what we have here I think is a fear that's wrongly placed and is leading to greater slavery see good fear creates confidence and bad fear creates a type of enslavement all right so so good fear it is our confidence knowing the full scope of scripture being confident of that our God is the I am Who I am we are confident that our God is able and will ultimately when all said and done accomplish all that he is going to do and we're confident and we fear because he's big and holy and profound and powerful and nothing could stay his hand so the fear of man begins to kind of lose its way over us and we find ourselves not working for the approval of men not working for the gaining of trinkets and toys not not working for our own self value and worth what we find ourselves then when fear is rightly placed working to please the Lord serving the Lord in gladness we see here that their fear is misplaced and then the last thing I think we see in this text which we'll see throughout the Scriptures is forgetfulness I put here only the love patience and grace of God is more consistent in the scriptures than the forgetfulness of God's people right so look at verse 22 then Moses turned to the Lord and said Oh Lord why have you done evil to this people why did you ever send me for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to this people and you have not delivered your people at all well I feel like if I mean I don't have the sharpest mind but I think that God has told him this is exactly what's gonna happen like four times right like starting back in Chapter three you're gonna go you're gonna tell Pharaoh I'm gonna harden his heart he's not gonna listen I'm gonna show signs and wonders I'm gonna pull you out completely you're gonna go you're gonna tell him this is my name he's not gonna listen his heart's gonna be hardened things are gonna get harder with signs and wonders I'll lead you out Moses you're gonna go you're mean with Pharaoh well first gonna meet with the the elders of Israel they're gonna sing and rejoice then you're gonna go to Pharaoh he's not gonna listen his heart's gonna be hardened he's gonna put heavy burdens on the people and with signs and wonders I'll lead you out you will plunder them right and then what happens like it the first little sign the the first little sign of opposition the first little sign of typical Moses forgotten everything about the snake and the hand and the blood and the burning bush and the voice of God and that obedience rooted in faith is the conduit through which the power of God flows in a second all the mercies of God in his past have vanished and all he's aware of is the current crisis and loss he forgot he forgot we are not different than him I've been pastor this church for 14 years were not different than him it doesn't take much for us to forget the billions of ways God's been faithful to us leading up to this moment of crisis and then the wave comes in and we feel betrayed and deceived and lied to then we forget all of those answered prayers and those moments where God really sustained us when we didn't think that we would make it through those tender mercies God has given us we forget all about the common grace that he's given to all of us so it the way you see it most often is nobody ever really praises God that they're healthy but they certainly complain when they're sick right like if you woke up you had good energy and you're able to workout and run and do the things you kind of love like it's a rare thing in the middle of your workout just like praise your name Jesus now I'm not saying in the middle of your workout you don't call out to Jesus but I'm saying they'd like they in the middle of one that you're just not really grateful that you have movement mobility and the physical ability to do those things because there's some people that don't but you're not one of them but very little gratitude and gratefulness in our heart for that why well because we deserve that now once you ask why do you deserve that things start to fall apart it's a forgetfulness that makes disappointments so much worse because if you're not forgetting when disappointment lands you've got this kind of treasure trove of God's faithfulness behind you and so you can swim pretty well on that wave when you just remember we've been here before God has been good when you think about this like God saved me like I often times in moments of just trying to remember God's goodness in my life wonder about why I cared when Jeff started sharing the gospel with me well my friend in high school started to share the gospel like why was i interested why didn't I just go you're a weirdo Jeff leave me alone like when just in the middle of like wouldn't have been cool for me to say something witty and sharp I don't know if you picked up on that I've got that gift like and just like I need to tell you about Jesus when do you want to do that like wouldn't wouldn't the most natural thing for me to do in that moment to have some kind of snide remark that dismissed him as a fool but why didn't I and why did I think Church was such a goofy thing and keep going back but why did I find this insatiable desire and need to understand I'm far from God what is that what's why it's God willing me it's got calling me unto himself I got saved I wasn't looking for him he came and found me like that's amazing how could I ever question the other waves that my wife and I and me as a as a man have had to ride when he saved me stuck his hands down into the muck and the mire and he pulled me out and he set my feet on a rock over the last twenty years he's refined and cleaned and healed and put me back together ways I couldn't imagine how could I dare question him because of this waiver that waiving brothers sister I have rode some waves don't forget remember so I I want to I want to end our time just with this here's the thing about disappointment here's where I think you can take disappointment and you can leverage it for your own spiritual good because you're gonna have it right we already agreed on that this isn't a sermon on how not to have disappointment just Bab really low expectations no don't ever do I want you to have the highest expectations imaginable right but because we're not God we hold all those expectations with open hands and never clenched down onto him because we don't know because he's eternal and we're not so we know that he can't so I when I was sick one of the things I wanted to draw your attention to is the fiery furnace right I'd recognize Shaq about it right you know what because their response to Nebuchadnezzar was God can save us he will save us and even if he doesn't gosh I love that right he can he will but even if he doesn't I'm gonna praise him right that that's the default position of the Christians heart I know he can it's not well God you know I don't know I've lured probably won't we never want to be there we never want to be he probably won't we always want to fight against even our doubts that in the moment while we're praying God won't completely heal this person we want to just believe no you will heal I'm gonna cling to I'm gonna trust that you're able and I want to even rebuked myself here for a moment for doubting for a second that you'd be willing and if you're like well doesn't Jesus teach us to pray you know your will be done on earth as it is in heaven yeah but the will of God is going to be done but he's also commanded you to ask for healing right no no we're not set in low bars we've got this crazy high bar we hold it all with an open hand here's where you can redeem your disappointment disappointments will reveal what's really going on in your heart what you really want what you're really after what it is you truly desire because the Bible's right when it says the heart is deceptive above all things so how do we know well when you pick up that ham that's really disappointing okay so why why is it disappointing well I really wanted this and and your wants listen you're once so I I'm guessing your disappointments are built around not getting like bad thing you there's probably good things you wanted that you didn't get you were disappointed in now right but they reveal your heart more than likely the idols of the evangelical heart are good things not wicked things they're good things made ultimate that ultimately enslave they reveal your heart and and so here's here's what I want us to do what do we do this would you do me a favor just bow your heads close your eyes let's just spend a moment or two together I don't know plain oh this might be weird for you but go head and bow your heads close your honest just nobody really looking around but me and it doesn't matter you leave this place and just want to just want to give you an opportunity here I want to give you permission I wanted to show you that you're in such good company in the Bible if you're in that space where you're disappointed you're weary you're struggling with doubt you feel overwhelmed you don't know how much longer you can hang in there I want to just ask this question if you're in this place and your confession would be if I have to be honest before God who already knows me already knows what's going on in my heart I am disappointed and I'm I'm trying to hang in there but I had this picture of what life would be like I had a picture what marriage would look like at a picture of what work would be like sure what things would look like and I have been walking in disappointment for a while now and I'm a bit weary and overwhelmed by it all would you do me a favor that you would you just raise your hand you need to be embarrassed by that I'm just disappointed all right praise God why don't you put your hands down let me encourage you in this way there are a lot of hands that just went up in the room and so let me end just by laying this before you one of the reasons that we want to be serious at the village church about a couple of things one is we want to be serious about being it being okay to not be okay right we don't ever want you to pretend that you're not disappointed if you are because that that's gonna eat you up and destroy you right we want you to understand that it's okay to not be okay and it's also why we're really serious about you actually belonging and not just attending right to be in a group with other people where you can be honest about having a season in my life where I'm really disappointed in the years what I'm disappointed at see studying the Scriptures knowing the Bible in community is how God shapes and molds and moves us it's why even in the announcements this weekend you heard so much about group connect and single connect on these things that you have opportunity to be a part of because we're trying to put you with other people who can walk alongside of you in this disappointment and so let me pray for you who raised your hands and those who should have been didn't and bless you and then men from from there we just want to respond to the Lord and our time together father thank you for these men and women I thank you for the boldness of so many who lifted their hand and said man right now I'm just disappointed she said this picture of my head is not gone like I planned and then I I'm blaming God for that mostly thank you that the good news of the gospel isn't that things go our way but that you go our way and I thank you that you are enough regardless of the disappointments in this room build our faith to believe that and embrace that and love that you are king over all and we praise you it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 40,701

Rating: 4.8634148 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, wrung out, exodus, part 9

Id: ozfUG7S9kmQ

Length: 48min 42sec (2922 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 02 2016