Eagle Brook - Guest Speaker Bob Merritt
The days might seem long, but life? It's short, and we don't get re-dos. So don't miss out on even the littlest moments God's given you today.
Those baptised last weekend - die to self to live the way God wants us to live.
Been five years since he was the senior pastor.
James 4:14 - how to live our life. We are just a mist. What ever you are going through is temporary. Life is short and how we should live it.
Hunting story - 6 years of preparing and dreaming. 800 pound Elk and he hit the tree. It is no longer about the kill... it is about the moments that lead up to and which follow it that are the blessing.
Enjoy the little things...
Your life is so short - enjoy the little things the moments of life
#1 Do some good every single day. James 4:17, In all our planning fir thr future, we can miss the beauty of today. HUG people. Smile at people. Give a kind word. What is your life all about.
- Love the Lord
- Love Others
#2 Give up Control. Let go of things you can not control. James 5:7 Stop stressing about things you can not control. Focus on what you can control. We can control how much you consume. Love is a behavior, it is a choice. Feed your faith and God will honor your life. We all have difficult people in your life. Don't allow them to control our peace and our joy.
- Lower your expectations.
- Limit your exposure. Proverbs 13:20
- Outlast them - wait them out.
- Pray - sometimes all you can do is ask God to help you control your anger and emotions. Sometimes the person that we need to control firsyt is ourself.
Jesus coming is near. James 5:8 Trust him. It can take time, it can take years, but he is coming for you.
#3 Don't live life mad. James 5:9 It is ok to get angry. Ephesians 4:26 Do not be the person who is always mad. Be grateful and you won't live mad. Thank God for coffee; Genesis 1:11 It is a miracle, watermellon. Sight is a miracle. Puppies are one too.
#4 Persevere through difficulty. James 5:10-11 Blessed are those who push through - they are blessed. God has a purpose for our pain. Job 42:10 God is working for my good. Persevere and push through. Bower (basset hound), was put to sleep after 15 years. There is a kind of grief in life that you can not fix. It increases our joy.
Blessed are those who push through!
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- Pray for those who were baptized last weekend.
- Continue to support and pray for those who have taken steps of faith.
- Reflect on personal relationships and consider reaching out to loved ones.
- Practice gratitude daily to combat living in anger.
- Trust in God's plan and persevere through personal difficulties.
Living a Meaningful Life: Lessons from the Book of James
Created with Smart Noter
Pastor Jason Strand 00:06 God speaks to us through a variety of
voices. Whether it's a funny story, a challenging idea, a word of
encouragement, God can meet us right where we are. We're in a message series
called Voices with a different gifted speaker each week, bringing their own
unique perspective, wisdom, and Heart for God's word.
Pastor Jason Strand 00:27 Bob Merritt was our senior pastor at
Eaglebrook for twenty nine from nineteen ninety one to twenty twenty. Now he
coaches and advises pastors and church leaders, drawing on his own experiences
of both success and struggle. Bob is the author of three books, Proud dad of
two kids and grandpa to seven grandkids, and the lucky husband to his high
school sweetheart, Lori. Please welcome back my friend, Bob Merrit.
Pastor Bob Merritt 01:04 Thank you. They did that last night. And
my family sits up here and I can see them. They don't stand. That touches me in
a place in my soul that you'll never understand. Thank you for that. I love
this church. I love what God is doing through you and through this church, our
leadership. Jason's doing such a fantastic job. I'm so grateful to him. Those
of you who were baptized last weekend, I just have been praying for you all
week long that this would be a new beginning in your life, that God would do a
new work because of your obedience in going public with your faith. We all make
mistakes, and even after being baptized, you'll make mistakes. Life is not
perfect. It never will be. But I'm just so proud of those of you who took that
step of obedience. You know, denying yourself, laying down your life, being
buried in the watery grave, if you will. Just dying to self and then being
raised to new life and dying to self is an everyday thing.
Pastor Bob Merritt 02:32 Even as a pastor and Christian, I need
to die to myself every single day in order to live in the way that. That God
wants me to live. But way to go. Those of you who are baptized, praying for you
will continue to do that. You know, it's been over five years since I stepped
down as senior pastor of this amazing church. And on my last day, the whole
church showed up. Two kids, my two kids spoke, the dog came. Blue, by the way,
is good. People ask about blue. They never ask about our grandkids, but they
ask about the dog. But the minute we got home, here's what my wife said after
that service. She said, well, that was your funeral. She said, I'm not going
through that again. When you die, we're gonna put you in a box and bury you out
back. My wife's very pragmatic. I love that about her. But ever since my
funeral, I'VE wondered about my life and really what it all means.
Pastor Bob Merritt 03:34 And so I'm gonna dive into the book of
James a little bit today with you. James is such a great book, teaching us how
to live our Christ. Those of us who are followers of Christ, look how James
describes our life. He says, what is your life? Great question. Have you ever
thought about that? What is your life? He says you are a mist that appears for
a little while and then vanishes. He says we're just a mist. I should have come
on tried this earlier. But he says we're just a mist that appears for a while
and then we're gone. Which means that whatever you're going through right now
is temporary. Whatever you and I are going through right now, whether it's good
or bad, is temporary. It also means that if we're going to do something
significant with our lives, we really better get to it. The title of this talk
today is Live like a Mist. Since life is short, how should we live it?
Pastor Bob Merritt 04:51 And James touches on four ways we should
do that. But before we get into the verses, I want to tell you a hunting story
because you are starving for hunting stories. So last summer I spent hours
shooting my bow because I finally drew a coveted Montana out tank. And my good
friend Ron Iverson lives out there. Ron and Pam are watching right now today
from Montana. And Ron would guide me for eight days in September, last
September. So Ron has guided me five other times. We've come close. But some
years you don't even see an elk. So if I ever got a chance, I was practicing
and practicing so I would be ready. First two days we didn't see anything. But
the third morning Ron did some bugling and immediately. I love that sound by
the way. Beautiful sound. Immediately a mature bull answered back about a
quarter mile away and Ron quickly grabbed his cow call and literally it's
called the hoochie mama.
Pastor Bob Merritt 06:02 That's what it's called. And this is
what a cow elk sounds like. So Ron was doing this and his bull elk hears it and
he wants to come to see this co Ron told me to move one hundred yards up the
ridge and get ready. I tell you, my heart was pounding out of my chest. The
adrenaline was surging through my body. Ron kept calling, the bull kept coming.
We could hear him coming. Six years, six years of preparing and dreaming came
down to this. One of the most intense and surreal moments of my entire life. By
now this eight hundred pound animal was coming fast and the first thing I
through the timber where the tips of his Antlers just kind of swaying back and
forth. Then, steam blowing out his nostrils, he closed to one hundred yards.
Seventy five yards. I drew my bow. And at fifty yards, I had this six inch
window between two pine trees. And I thought, this is it. All the practicing,
all the waiting and trying, for this one single moment, I held steady, I took a
deep breath, I let it fly.
Pastor Bob Merritt 07:30 And smack, right into a tree. The elk
ran off, out of my life, gone forever. Here's a photograph of my arrow that
just sunk into the tree and I'm unscrewing it. Ron is making fun of me. That's
why I'm smiling. Twenty years ago, though, I would have been so upset by this,
it would have bothered me for months. Here's what I'm learning. After sixty
eight years of life, it's no longer about the kill. It's no longer about the
trophy or the deal. It's more about all the moments leading up to and after it
that really matter in life. It's about the woods. It's about the sunsets, the
mountain streams, and the absolute joy of even seeing an animal that. But
mostly it's about sharing with a good friend and knowing that God has blessed
us with all of it. Well, the next morning, we were out again. And two hundred
yards away, we spotted not another elk, but a grizzly bear that was coming our
way.
Pastor Bob Merritt 08:48 Now, you do not want this to happen when
you're carrying a bow. I literally jumped behind Ron and hid behind him, and
then I pulled out my bear spray. Ron, however, unsnapped a. Fifty seven Magnum
that was strapped to his chest. And I thought, I'm standing here with a spray
can and he's got a. Fifty seven mag. Seriously, I'm Pee Wee Herman and this is
Clint Eastwood standing next to me. The bear eventually caught our wind and ran
off the other way. But, man, what a moment. What a moment. I love what author
Robert Ralph says about life. He says in Enjoy the Little Things, for one day,
we will look back and realize that the little things were actually the big
things. So true. So James asks, what is your life? He says, it's so short.
Don't miss the little things. And then he mentions four ways to not miss the
small moments. And the first way is this. Today.
Pastor Bob Merritt 10:05 Do some good every single day. He says,
since life is short, anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it
actually sins. So I want to raise a question. Is there good that you and I
ought to do today, or is our schedule so full there's Actually, no time for
doing good. James warns us. He says it this way. He says, there are those who
say, you know, today or tomorrow, we'll go to a certain city. We'll stay there
maybe a year. We'll even do business. We'll make a profit. But James says, how
do you even know what's going to happen tomorrow? And notice here, they've got
it all planned out. When? Today or tomorrow. Where? To a certain city, not sure
how long, for about a year. What are they going to do? They're going to expand
their business and make a profit. Now, there's nothing wrong with making trips
and making money. What he's saying is this. That in all of our planning for the
future gang, we can miss the urgency.
Pastor Bob Merritt 11:19 We can miss the beauty, the absolute
gift of what today is, what today holds for us. He says, you don't even know
what's going to happen tomorrow. So anybody who knows the good he or she ought
to do today and doesn't do it misses the point. One of the things that I don't
want to miss are the little opportunities to do good that come along every
single day. Things like a hug. I have become a hugger. Shocking, But I have
been a smile, a kind word. Two years ago, we got a wedding invitation. And it
was for the son of my wife's sister, Carolyn. But I immediately dismissed.
Cause it was in Baltimore. And who wants to go to Baltimore for a wedding?
Plus, Carolyn and I have some history that goes way back to when I was dating
her sister Laurie in high school. I didn't like the crowd she hung with. And
she didn't like me, always pointing that out to her. In fact, this is prom
night.
Pastor Bob Merritt 12:35 We were just mad. We were always mad. It
didn't matter about what, sometimes about nothing. We were just mad. We didn't
like each other at all. Today, Carolyn, who's in the foreground here, one of my
favorite people. And it meant the world to her that we would come to her son's
wedding in Baltimore. The night we left the reception hall to come home, we
were saying our goodbyes. And Carolyn singled me out of about a hundred people.
And this is what she said. She said, bob, I can't tell you how much it means to
us that you came to Andy's wedding. And I kind of brushed it off, said, of
course we come. And then Carolyn did something I will never forget. She took my
face in her hands and she said, bob, look at me. Tears were pooling in her
eyes. And she said, I will never forget that you came. And the words you said
in your toast to Andy about being a real man was so good for every young man
here.
Pastor Bob Merritt 13:46 And then she said, I love you, Mom. I
mean, what's that worth? We arrived home tired. I was behind at work, hadn't
exercised in four days. But the moments spent with Carolyn and Tim were so
good. I have missed way too many of those moments. So James says, look, what is
your life? What's it all about, gang? Isn't it mostly about relationships? You
know, Jesus, when he was pressed on this, he said, look, life comes down to two
things. Do these two things and your life will work. Love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart, soul and mind. Have a relationship with the Creator who
loves you and knows you. And the second thing he said, love others. If you do
those two things, you got life nailed. James said, anyone who knows the good he
should do and doesn't do it mainly in relational. The relational world misses
the point. That's why. Does anybody here need to get on a plane and go visit a
son or a daughter, a sister or brother?
Pastor Bob Merritt 15:09 Or maybe just send a text, a kind word,
make a call. One of my favorite Instagram reels of all time is of an older
Irish couple who are recording a message for their daughter who just had a
baby. And they totally mess it up. I want you to watch this and just smile.
Take a look. Hi. Hope you're having a wonderful time. Won't belong now till you
hold your. Please. Sorry, Joe, we're not used to making videos here. I know.
Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine for your dog. Oh, sorry, love.
We have the now. Anyway. Can't wait to see her. Hold her in our arms. Know you
and Sha will make wonderful parents. I'm sorry, O. He's laughing at me. Anyway,
hope you have a great day, sweetheart. We will see you soon. Yeah. I just love
these two. Don't you wish they were your parents or grandpa? I mean, they're
just good people wanting to do a good thing. First way to live like a mess, do
some good every day.
Pastor Bob Merritt 17:01 Second way, give up control. I'm a bit
of a control person. I like to be in control. Most of us do. But people who
know that life is short begin to learn they can't control everything. They
shouldn't try to control everything. They need to let go of things they can't
control. So. Verse seven. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its
crop. He has no control over this. How patient he has to be for the fall and
spring rains. I just Want to ask anybody here? Waiting for something that is
beyond your control, like a promotion or a ring or a date, he says, look, a
farmer has to wait and be patient because he has no control over certain
things, like the weather. So what does he do? He does what only he can do. He
plows his field, he plants his seed, and then he has to wait patiently for
rain. When you live like a mist, you stop stressing so much about things you
can't control.
Pastor Bob Merritt 18:26 Like the way weather or world events or
another person's behavior. We have no control over those things. So what should
we do? Focus on what we can control. Dang. We can't control what's on the news.
That just spikes our anxiety. But we can control how much we watch of it. Same
with social media. You know, after scrolling through Instagram, not once have I
said, oh, I feel so much better about myself. I always feel worse. We can't
control what's on our screens, but we have a hundred percent control over how
much we consume it. I tell my kids all the time, Megan, Dave, control what you
can control. Number one, love your. Love your spouse. Love, by the way, is not
a feeling. Primarily, it's a behavior. So when you love your spouse, if you're
married, you learn how to forgive. You learn how to overlook faults. And every
one of us has many, many faults.
Pastor Bob Merritt 19:31 You learn to bite your tongue. You learn
to give up certain things. That's what love is. It's a behavior, it's a choice.
It's not necessarily a feeling. Feelings come. I tell my kids, control, love
your spouse, raise your kids, which is the second most difficult thing you'll
ever do in your life. Raise them, you can control some of that. Go to work.
That's a thought. You have control over some of that. Most of that. Fraud in
your faith. That's up to you to feed your faith and grow in your faith and God.
I tell my kids this all the time, control what you can control. And I'm telling
you, God will honor your life. Another thing we can't control is other people.
Have you noticed that? Do you have anybody in your life who's difficult? I
asked that question last night. Some lady back here, but just the guy sitting
right next to her. Yeah, this guy right here.
Pastor Bob Merritt 20:36 I don't know what's up. We all have
difficult people in our lives. It could be the person we're married to.
Marriage is hard. It could be another parent who just annoys the heck out of
you because their child is on your child's soccer team. And they just drive you
nuts. Worse than nuts. Could be a coach, could be a co worker, could be a
teammate, a neighbor. I've had that neighbor, by the way. We all have difficult
people we can't control. But what's tragic is when we allow somebody else to
control us, to control our peace and our joy. Friends. We can't control the
other people, but we have one hundred percent control over our responses to
them. I gave this a lot of thought this week, actually this whole last month.
How should we respond to difficult people? Four quick tips. Number one, lower
your expectations. People aren't that good. I'm not. You're not?
Pastor Bob Merritt 21:48 Don't expect a foolish person to be wise
or a dishonest person to be honest or a toxic person to be kind. A foolish,
dishonest or toxic person will always be that way because that's who they are.
Stop being so shocked when a fool behaves like a fool. Lower your expectation.
Second, limit your exposure. This is so important. It is okay to lovingly avoid
a fool. Proverbs thirteen twenty. Love this verse. A companion of fools suffers
harm. I take this verse very seriously. It is a warning to avoid people who
don't take responsibility for their foolishness. Boorish, toxic behavior. Did
you see him in aisle four? Duck into aisle six. That's okay. Third, difficult
people sometimes just outlast them. Sometimes you just gotta wait them out
until they just kind of die off or whatever. This the eleven o', clock, I get a
little loose. Neighbors move.
Pastor Bob Merritt 23:20 Co workers quit. Classmates graduate.
Just outlast them. Finally, form. Here's the biblical word. Pray. Biblical
response this is so true. Dang. Sometimes all you can do is say, God, help me.
Help me control my emotions. Help me control my anger. God, would you fill me
in this moment? Fill me with your spirit. Fill me with your love, your joy and
self control. By the way, you know who else is difficult? I. I know that's
shocking for some of you. I can be very different. I can be very self centered.
I can be very petty. I can be very harsh and unfair to the point where you'd
wonder he's a bastard. I love this. I agree with this quote from author John
Ortberg. He says we have all been idiots and we'll be idiots again. It is that
bad. So true. Sometimes the first person we need to control is ourselves.
Control. You can control the virus plows his field, he plants his seed and then
he waits patiently for God to show up.
Pastor Bob Merritt 24:55 Ben James adds a very interesting
statement at the end of this. It says for Jesus coming is near. Farmer has to
wait patiently. He's planted his seeds. He's waiting for Jesus. It's kind of an
odd state. What it means is that no matter what you're going through in life
right now, Jesus is coming. He has come. He will come. He sees what you're
going through, how hard it is sometimes. Friends, Jesus is coming. Maybe you're
single right now, you don't want to be. By the way, I have a huge heart for
young people in their twenties, single, wanting a relationship. And it's not
happening for whatever reason. Twenties are very difficult. Trying to figure
life out, careers, relationships, all of that. And you're tempted, sometimes
you're tempted to make a bad decision out of desperation. If you're single
right now, God sees you. Jesus is coming. He said, I'll never leave you or
forsake you.
Pastor Bob Merritt 26:19 He is with you. He knows all about that.
Trust him. Maybe you're in a job without much purpose. So you show up, you put
in your time and wonder, is this ever going to get better? And it can take
time, it can take years. But if you, you control what only you can control, I
promise that Jesus will reward your effort. He is coming for you. Maybe you've
prayed for children and it's your deepest sorrow and you wonder if God even
cares anymore. I don't know why, I don't know how, but if you will trust him.
Jesus is coming for you. Maybe not, not in the way you think, but he's coming.
He will come. He has come. And he will show you his goodness in ways you might
not even expect. Or maybe it's just a sadness that you can't even explain.
James says our life is so short. And he promises that no matter what's
happening right now, Jesus is coming for you in this life and the next.
Pastor Bob Merritt 27:27 The farmer plows his field, he plants
his seeds. He controls what only he can control. He shows up, he does the right
things, and then he trusts that the right time in the right way. God knew what
only God. Third way to live Like a mist. Don't live mad. Don't live mad. He
says, don't grumble against each other or God will judge you. And the word
grumble here is in the present perfect tense, and it refers to someone who's
just always mad, just always in a bad mood. Don't anybody like that. Hey, it's
okay to get angry. In fact, we should get angry at things like theft and abuse
and dishonesty. But the Bible says, in your anger, in your anger, don't sin.
It's okay to get angry, but don't let it turn into ongoing anger. Do you know
anybody who just. They're just mad. They wake up mad. They go to work mad. They
drive mad, for sure. They wait in line mad. Is that you?
Pastor Bob Merritt 28:58 I lived mad for a very long time. I had
almost no patience. Critical. Harsh. I still struggled with these things. By
the way. My wife and I used to go on long walks together. And there was a lady
on our route who watched us from her window. And I'd never met this lady, but I
heard through the grapevine that she had a name for me. She called me the Mad
Walker. Apparently, I walked mad. But in recent years, I'm happy to tell you I
have found something finished, changed me. Mister Gratitude. Because when you
look for things to be grateful for, it cures you from living man. First. First
thing I do every single morning. I did it this morning. I thank God that I'm
alive. That he's. That he's actually gifting me another day. It's amazing that
I can feel this new day. I thank God that I'm alive and that the absolute joy
of mourn. Coffee with French vanilla creamer.
Pastor Bob Merritt 30:08 It's heaven. You tea drinkers. What are
you doing? Coffee. Have you ever thanked God for the coffee bean that comes
from a tropical plant that God created from the very beginning and the vanilla
bean that originated from Reunion island in the Indian Ocean? God sent, said,
let the land sprout with every sort of seed bearing plant. When was the last
time you marveled at a watermelon seed? Can the camera catch this? Just tiny.
When was the last time? I love what William Jennings Brown wrote about the watermelon
seed. When you can tell me how this siege is. Sprouts as a tiny leaf that turns
into a sprawling vine that blooms yellow flowers that forms a hard surface of
green with a red heart so delicious it drips down your chin. When you can
explain the miracle of the watermelon seed, or peach, apple, pear or avocado
seed, only then can you explain the miraculous work of God.
Pastor Bob Merritt 31:22 This comes from this. You've got to be
joking. You're not just seeing a watermelon in Sam's Club or Costco. You're
seeing a miracle every time you see it. The only proper response is gratitude.
Sight. Your retina transmits data through an optic nerve at a rate of ten
million bits per second. And I don't understand any of that. What I do
understand is this body part filled with fluid and nerves and muscles can see a
million different Shades of color. Your eye has the ability to pick that up.
Some people can't see color. Grateful for puppies, Grateful for God's grace.
Grateful that God has forgiven a sinner like me and continues to do so. James
says, your life is a mist, gang. Don't live it madness. Life's too short for
that. If you live it grateful, I'm telling you, it'll change your life. It'll
change your marriage, it'll change your family, it'll change your friendships,
your work, culture, the whole thing.
Pastor Bob Merritt 32:50 Mostly, though, it'll change you. Wake
up, be grateful for what God has done in your life. Finally, when you live like
a mist, you learn to persevere through difficulty. James five eleven says this.
Be patient. He says, be patient in the face of suffering. Be patient for
blessed. This is kind of strange. For blessed are those who push through,
persevere through the hard times in life. You've heard of Job's perseverance,
seeing what God finally brought about with him. Friends, everybody suffers in
this world. But those of us who have Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who've
received him into our life know that our suffering is temporary and that God
has a purpose for our pain. He doesn't cause our pain, but he uses it for
greater purposes that often we don't see to form our character, to form things
like tenacity and perseverance. Wisdom. James references Job in a two day
period.
Pastor Bob Merritt 34:06 Lost his family, health, money. He lost
everything. But his faith never wavered. He didn't understand his pain, but he
had a quiet calm that no matter what happened to him, God was in control and
God had a purpose for his life. The Bible said God made Job prosperous again,
gave him twice as much as he had before because he persevered through
suffering. What I've learned when I'm going through a season of suffering is I
might not understand why in the moment, but that in all things, even in the
hard and painful things, God is working for my good, that God has a plan and
purpose for my life, and that my job is to persevere, push through, see what
God has for me. A few months after they were married fifteen years ago, my
daughter and son in law bought a basset hound who they named Bauer after Jack
Bauer. Even though Jack Bauer is a guy, Bower's a girl and this dog was often
the steady source of calm through the early years of marriage, med school,
residency and now the last four years relocating here in Minnesota.
Pastor Bob Merritt 35:36 Bowers, droopy eyes and floppy ears
endeared her to everyone. So Last fall, when it was becoming too hard for her
to walk, we knew it was time. And the girls, the gals at the vet, were so kind.
They were so compassionate. We lifted Bauer out of the back part of my truck
that day. She was able to walk in. But I'm telling you, it was heartbreaking to
watch my daughter lie on the floor grieving, holding her beloved dog for one
last time, just beyond words. So Laurie and I got down on the floor with her and
we held our daughter and we cried with her. Eventually, the vet asked if we
were ready and she gave the medication. Laura closed her eyes, her breathing
slowed, and she was gone. Fifteen years of loyalty and love. Fifteen years of
waiting at the door, howling in protest when they left her home alone. Fifteen
years letting the kids lay on her, tug on her ears, pushing her away from their
snacks.
Pastor Bob Merritt 37:21 That evening, Nellie drove to her house
after work, and they lifted Bauer out of our car. He carried her to the
backwoods and laid her next to the hole that we had dug. And then Nellie, this
wonderful man of God, got down on his hands and knees and he just cried over
her. None of us said a word as we let Nellie grieve and say his goodbye. A
couple months later, the kids made a cross, and we planted it there to remember
the sweet. As I reflect on this and other losses that we experience in life,
there is a kind of grief in life that you can't fix. There are losses that you
can't avoid. You just have to go through them and trust. And God will meet you.
You. God will carry you. Some of you, it's not a dog that you've lost. Some of
you here today, watching online, fourteen campuses just lost your spouse of
fifty years or sixty. Or you've lost a son or a daughter. I can't imagine.
Pastor Bob Merritt 38:51 Or you've lost a friendship, or maybe
your health. Through his servant James, God says to us, be patient in the face
of suffering. He says there is a blessing, there is a strengthening. It's
counterintuitive, but he says there's an actual joy that comes through
suffering. My capacity for joy has actually increased because of suffering.
Isn't it true? If it wasn't for suffering, we wouldn't know the joy of being
comforted. If it wasn't for sadness, we wouldn't know the joy of being happy.
If it wasn't for loneliness, we wouldn't know the joy of being loved. If it
wasn't for fear, we wouldn't know the joy of having peace. And if it wasn't for
death, Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior. When he died, it was darkness
around the planet. The universe cried. It was over. There was no hope. But that
death was the cause for the best moment in human history.
Pastor Bob Merritt 40:15 The resurrection of Jesus Christ, who
defeated to death. And paid for my sins. And paid for your sins. And he says,
whoever put their faith in me, I will forgive you and I will raise you as well
someday. The worst moment three days later became the very best moment. Some of
you are going to season of suffering right now. And it's so blinding that it's
hard to see your way through. It's hard to see any sort of purpose in it. Dang.
It's a hard world. It is. But God understands it. And he sees your quiet
moments of desperation and loss. He knows all about your loneliness. He sees
you right now, right here. He loves you. He is for you. He. He has a plan for
your life. And he gives us this promise. Be patient in the face of suffering.
For blessed, blessed are those who push through, telling you Jesus is coming.
In the meantime, in this brief existence we call life, do something good every
day.
Pastor Bob Merritt 41:47 Give up control of the things that are
beyond your control. Don't live life mad. Push through the tough stuff. And I'm
telling you, if you do, God still has a plan and purpose for your life. The
farmer plows his field, he plants his seeds. And then he waits patiently for
God. So great to be with all of you today. Next week, Jason kicks off a brand
new series called Escape Room. It's about how to deal with temptation. We're
all tempted in this life. Jason's going to deal with that. Let me offer a quick
prayer. We'll be on our way. Father, thank you so much for your love and grace.
Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for puppies, thank you for
watermelons. Thank you for all the great things you pour into our lives. We
love you. You too. We're so grateful for you in Jesus.
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