Grace to Let Go | Dating and Marriage Medicine 6

Hey, what up?

It's Mark Carter on, the pastor of Fierce Church.

Welcome to our podcast.

I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.

Enjoy the message.

I want to talk to you today about what to do when our heart breaks.

We've been in this series called Marriage Medicine And this is the very last message of this series.

We've got a ton more online, a bunch of stuff on our YouTube channel.

If you want to go search marriage, you'll find a bunch of marriage stuff.

But this is the last one for a while.

But it occurred to me that I've never preached on what happens if the medicine doesn't work.

What happens if it doesn't work to take the medicine anymore?

What if it's too late?

What if that relationship is over?

What if the divorce has already happened?

What if the promises that we were hoping for and maybe even believing for and doing everything we knew to do for, what if those are gone?

now And now all we have is a broken heart and an empty heart.

I want to make you two pitch two ideas to you as we go through this message.

The first one is this a broken heart doesn't mean that you're damaged goods.

A broken heart doesn't mean that you're damaged goods.

I encounter people all the time who you know they've been through some kind of relational turmoil and something on the inside kind of wilts, and they begin to shut down And they start to see themselves as like well, you know, i'm kind of like a damaged thing now, like I've got issues.

I'm messed up And let's be clear, we all got issues And nobody not got issues.

But they begin to like, categorize themselves differently.

Okay, well, i don't know if that is really for me.

I don't know if I can believe anymore, i don't know if I can have any optimism, but I want to encourage you today.

A broken heart doesn't mean you're damaged goods.

Here's the next one.

You can still achieve your purpose, even when your dreams can't come true.

You can still achieve your purpose even when your dreams can't come true.

We've all got a picture, don't we?

We've got a picture of what life is supposed to be like or was gonna be like, or should be like.

And you know, maybe that's well, you know, here I'm gonna graduate and then you know we're gonna get married and then the kids, and then on the way we go all the way to retirement.

And sometimes our dreams come true And it's awesome.

And sometimes it's just gonna take a long time for our dream to come true.

Sometimes it's a lot of hard work.

It's more work than we thought.

Sometimes it's more perseverance, more patience.

We got to push through.

We need some other people's help.

One of the greatest Bible examples of this is Caleb Caleb.

His dream didn't come true until he was 80 years old And I just believe that gives all of us hope Like, hey, man, there's still time.

He was 40 when he didn't get his dream to come true And he waited 40 more years And it was just as strong.

He and Joshua, they're the only ones that lasted And he saw his dream come true.

But then sometimes the thing you thought was gonna happen just it's not gonna happen because that's not what God wanted to happen.

That's not what's going to happen.

And there's something in us, there's a dream that begins to die.

And what do we do when that dream begins to die?

And we find ourselves?

we say I didn't picture this.

I didn't picture finding myself at this point in life alone, and you've seen this For some people this begins to fester And it begins people get angry And they're like I'm irritated, i'm frustrated that this didn't go the way that I want.

And sometimes they're even a little bit frustrated with God.

Sometimes they're themselves a little bit to blame, sometimes it's somebody else.

You know they were involved and they were a part of it and they didn't do their thing And they kept oh, they just wouldn't stop and they wouldn't leave it alone.

And then they just let go.

And sometimes that that was partly our fault And sometimes it wasn't our fault at all.

Sometimes it looks really promising But then they never texted back And they never called back, they never wrote a note, they never did anything like that.

And then when you asked them about that, like oh, i think maybe you misunderstood or you know that wasn't my narrative, you know like it was pretty much your narrative when your hands were all over me.

I don't know what happened there.

And yet somehow it's just not coming together like we thought it was And sometimes even when we took vows, it's not ending up the way that we thought.

Nobody as a little kid dreamt someday I'll be divorced, like they didn't think about that.

But that's where some of us find ourselves.

And what's even more infuriating and difficult is when it seems like everybody else is getting their thing.

For everybody else it's coming true, so like they have my dream.

Like how did she get with him?

She is such a.

What is he doing with her?

You know, like I'm doing it right, i did it good, i was doing it by the book, but they didn't do it by the book.

Or even though we both did what we could, for some reason, man, it just one thing led to another and then we were kind of out of control.

And then you're not even paying attention.

Everything's so hard.

It's like being in a cage full of knives.

And then it was.

Here I am and I'm all cut up and my heart's all cut up and I Don't even know if I can move forward anymore.

And if that's you, i Just want to say I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that that's where you are and I don't know your specific pain.

But we can all imagine each other's pain.

I mean, you hear about somebody.

You can imagine what that's like, even if it's only for a few minutes.

You can imagine the difficulty and the hardship of that.

But I want to let you know That the people that came before us, the people that followed Christ, the people that were used by God to write down the inspired words of scripture, and they passed it on to us How you can bring that out, thanks.

And they passed it on to us and then, down through the centuries, they passed it on to us.

Every one of those people Had dreams that didn't come true.

Every one of those people had stuff that they don't, maybe this and then no, then it didn't happen.

See, god uses people whose dreams don't all come true.

Now we want to be like Caleb, we want to push forward.

I mean, i really believe this is this is New Testament.

I mean like we should believe every chance we get.

We should know I'm taking this, i'm digging in, and even the New Testament points out that there's some things you're you're just not gonna get because you You're not willing to believe God again.

But then there's the other version, where it's just not what God wanted to happen And we're like God Do you know about my dream?

He's like oh, i know, i just had something else.

Every one of those people down through the centuries that lead right up to us.

They weren't cursed, they were chosen.

They weren't broken, they were blessed, even though not all their dreams came true.

They didn't like the hand that they were dealt, but they decided.

Somebody online say decided, type, decided.

In the chat They decided I'm gonna trust the dealer even though I don't like the hand that I've been dealt.

Let's look at some examples.

We'll start with Mary.

Many remember Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Okay, her life is totally turned upside down.

She's like a teenager and she gets this news.

You're going to have this on.

It's gonna change everything.

You're gonna be rejected.

Your reputation is gone.

Man, like, everybody's gonna be talking about you, probably for the rest of your life.

And then, once she even has the child, she's told get this prophecy.

Yeah, how would you like to hear this one?

This one is gonna cause the rising of and falling of many in our country.

And, by the way, a sword is gonna pierce your own heart.

How'd you like to read that in the fortune cookie?

That's what's spoken over her.

Oh gosh, i saw.

A sword is gonna pierce my own heart And yet she's called to walk through it.

And this what she says Luke 138 Behold the Lord's bondservant may be done unto me.

According to your word, it wasn't her dream, but she embraced it.

Then there's John the Baptist.

Remember this guy?

400 years, he was prophesied.

For 400 years, this forerunner to the Messiah was supposed to come and he finally comes.

And I'm thinking he might, he probably.

It's gonna go Pretty well for him.

I mean, this whole time everyone's been waiting for him And he has, like you know, 20 minutes of fame.

And then one of his disciples come up to him and they're like hey, man, um, yeah, everyone's starting to follow Jesus.

And just you know, like John, he doesn't know this yet, but he's, he's just a few steps away from getting his own head cut off.

He's gonna be violent.

That wasn't his dream.

But even when people start to not follow him anymore, he says John, 3, 27.

A person can receive not even one thing unless it's been given to him from heaven.

He's like, look, this came, this didn't come from me, and so God wants to take it away now.

Let him do it.

Let him do it.

And then, most important of all, jesus, he's in the garden to get some any.

He's about to be arrested, he's about to be tortured and crucified And bear the sin of the world and he says I mean I think it's important that we know that he said this.

He says, father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me.

I mean he asked for this, not that he's asking.

Just like you've asked for some things to not happen, jesus asked for something to not happen.

That Was it.

He's like this dream, but if it's your dream, god, if it's what you want Yet not my will, but yours be done.

And here's what happens.

We see people you've seen them, i've seen them, we see.

But we see people begin begin to when they Begin to sense, oh, i'm losing control again, oh this isn't gonna go the way that I wanted it to, and they just begin to panic and they begin to resist and they begin to push back and they just go into kind of like flight mode or fight mode, and What they're really doing?

they don't mean to do it, but they're trying to control their circumstances.

They're just trying for this to never happen again And sometimes they reject everybody and other times they, because their their worth has been so attacked, they just say yes to everybody And they just give themselves away and they don't respect what God made them And they do this thing that we all do To a degree, and it's we try to manipulate, we try to control, we try to control the outcomes of our life In such a way that we're not even really listening, we're not even caring whether or not What God wants is actually about to happen.

But then we see other people, and you know these people.

These people Are in our church.

There's people Yeah, their dream did not come true And it hurt, just like it hurt you, but they decided You know, i'm still gonna believe God for opportunities.

I still think God can do something.

I didn't, i didn't plan on this, i didn't want this, but I think God can still do something.

I think there's more to the story.

Maybe I think maybe God is so in charge that he saw this coming And that maybe he knew my dream.

But he has a better dream And he's gonna use the pain, just like the Messiah experienced, to bring me into his perfect will.

And so they remain open and they don't allow themselves to become cynical and they don't allow themselves to become bitter.

Now, something that takes folks out when it comes to this Is they just have some wrong presuppositions.

There's a phony deal that is made sometimes.

When my wife Kenzie and I were in college, we were together.

We did a summer of summer stock, okay.

So we stayed at our, our school.

We were both acting majors at the time and we decided, hey, we're gonna stay and do some shit.

That means you do a bunch of shows really fast, okay.

And so all this, this group of people, were all living together off campus and they were all living together Off campus and there's no campus foods.

You got to go and you got to go to places like Aldi and you got to buy this nasty Knock-off stuff.

Okay.

So it's stuff like Dr Thunder and not a Coke.

Okay, and I had one taste of this Dr Thunder.

I'm like never again.

And I threw it down and in Jesus name, I've never had that again.

Like I will not touch that junk.

Okay, now, if you like that, hey, it's America, you can like whatever you want to like, but for me it was a vow.

I'm never doing this again.

Those ones are easy to tell, though It's so bad that it's like oh, that's pretty easy, that's not the original deal.

But there's other things that are ah, they're close though, okay.

So, right here, i've got crisp rice.

It's not rice crispies, it's not, but my kids like it Like they eat it.

You know, it's not even like we've given them knockoff cereals that they spit out.

They don't.

They don't like this stuff.

They're like yeah, we'll eat that.

It's close enough to rice crispies that they're like eh, might've fooled me, i don't know.

There's a problem, though, when we get to a version of the gospel, a version of the message of Jesus.

When it's really it's just a fake thing.

It came in a wrapper that we thought that looks like the gospel, but it's not really the gospel.

And here's what characterizes that particular gospel It's since I did God must, since I did, since I did this and I tried this and I went after this and even my heart was right And I made a deal.

Since I did God must, and we just gotta understand I get that.

I've made that deal.

We've all gotta know that's in us.

We'll make deals that God is not making, but that that even tastes a little like it, because you're still trusting Christ for forgiveness.

But that is not the gospel.

That is gospel adjacent.

There is no God that says I'll never allow good things to happen or bad things to happen to good people.

You say, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people.

Well, just consider this The best person there ever was.

The worst possible thing happened to him.

That's the nature, that's the way of the gospel.

And see, when Jesus invites us, he doesn't invite us.

Hey, if you do, god will do.

He invites us.

Hey, come to me with your broken heart, and if you lay down your life, i will give you a version of life that you've never experienced before, and I'll make your whole life count.

You'll trade in some of your plans, some of your plans, some of your plans and some of your plans, and you'll be able to do that.

You'll trade in some of your plans, some of your dreams, some of what you want.

You trade that in and I'll give you something better.

And sometimes it's just a consolation of more of his presence, and sometimes it is it's open doors and it's rewards and all that kind of stuff.

But Jesus says here's the deal about the deal.

The deal is, yes, you give me your sin and I'll forgive your sin, but there's more to the deal.

The deal is when my plan isn't your plan, you choose my plan.

When my plan isn't your plan, you choose my plan.

That's the deal.

That's the deal that Jesus is making And he said if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily and follow me.

Well, deny himself.

So we didn't reckon that that included some of our dreams.

That included some of the stories that we wanted to be told about us.

So let's spend the rest of the message talking about three different scenes in David's life.

This is a lifelong lesson, man.

We gotta learn this over a lifetime, because you'll get it now, but five years from now you'll get it deeper.

We get it, but then we gotta get it again.

David, he's kind of like he's a young celebrity man.

Okay, so here's the guy.

He ran up to the line He took on Goliath, the enemy that's taunting the entire nation of Israel, calling him putzes He is talking smack dude.

And David, he's just basically a kid.

He runs out there and he says this is in God's name, in the name of the God of the armies of Israel, today I'm gonna cut your head off.

And he's not afraid, not because he's powerful.

He runs at him with a slingshot right in the head, cuts his head off and things are going pretty good for him for a while.

Then he marries a princess.

Can you believe that?

He kills the giant and marries a princess.

That's like a true fairy tale.

But then it gets not so good because the king, his father-in-law, is starting to get jealous because people are singing David's praises.

And so the king, the mad king, begins to chase him down.

He starts to throw spears at him and David is freaking out.

And David, the one who trusted God so greatly, he goes on, the run man.

He's running, he doesn't know where to go.

And so he goes to his friend, a Himalek.

He's the high priest.

He comes up to the high priest.

He's like hey, man, i'm kind of on a special mission.

I don't know why he lies, but maybe he doesn't want a Himalek, maybe Himalek's in it, he's gonna turn me in, we don't know.

But David's, some of his men are with him.

And here's where we pick it up 1 Samuel 2, or 1 Samuel 21, 8.

David said to a Himalek now is there no spear or sword on hand?

For I brought neither my sword nor weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent.

I can't imagine to like some of David's entourage.

You know they're like what is David doing?

Why is he lying?

David doesn't lie.

David's the Psalm writer man.

What is he.

That's not who he is.

I mean, that's who we are sometimes, but that's not who David is.

I wonder why he's doing this.

The priest said the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Eila.

Behold, it's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephah.

If you would take it for yourself, take it, but there's no other except it here.

And David said there's none like it.

There's none like it.

Give it to me.

David's trying to manipulate the outcome.

I mean, i could see.

Maybe you know.

That was the sword that he grabbed And after he threw that, slung that stone and the Lord made it hit dead on.

He took it and cut off Goliath's head.

And so maybe he looks at that and there's maybe some identity in there.

He's like that's the sword that reminds me I can do this, even though the king is chasing me.

I got this.

This'll help David.

What are you doing, man?

He's like this proves my worth.

And we all like that.

We go back and forth Like one day we're full of faith and another day we're like, ah, we're freaking out.

What am I gonna do?

And I gotta arrange the situation, i gotta save the day and I gotta find a way to get the dream to not die, cause David had a dream.

He was prophesied Samuel came, you're gonna be king, you're gonna be fine.

And David says, no, the dream's about to die, cause I'm about to die.

Saul's gonna get me.

And so he's taking it into his own hands.

And this is a real moment of shame, cause everybody sees it, everybody watches it.

Well, david takes the sword, and then Saul and his army show up And they're like a Hithifal did you help David?

And he's thinking that was a good thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, help them, give him that sword.

And they proceed to kill the entire village, including 85 priests and all their wives and children.

They kill them all.

And David hears about it, and so he's.

Can you imagine what that's like?

You, taking that sword, got 85 people and all their families killed.

That's heavy, that's dark, that's a weighty thing to carry.

His decision to try to control the situation led to bloodshed and humiliation.

Well, david, he comes out of it.

It's cool as you read his story.

He comes out of it and his conscience begins to get pricked again and he does things God's way And he's letting God fight his battles.

He's like I have the chance to kill the king a few times, and I'm not even gonna do it, i'm gonna trust God.

God will get me where I'm supposed to go at the right time.

But then he becomes king, and he's getting a little bit older and he's got so many skills.

He got so many organizational and emotional and administrative powers.

Like he is putting the nation together, he's getting rid of a lot of their enemies.

But one spring he's like you know what?

I'm good, i'm not going to war this spring, y'all go.

And he hangs out and has an affair.

He doesn't just have an affair, though.

Instead of running to God and trying to help you know, get God's help to get out of this messy situation he's in, or somehow remedy it or make restitution or something.

He has the husband killed, and he hardens his heart toward the Lord, and he's got his fingers in it again.

He's like well, i'm just gonna have to fix this.

This isn't the dream.

The dream's about to like, get off the rails.

So I've got to fix it.

I've got to get in on this and make sure we're all good, and of course that doesn't go well, and he is convicted.

But, man, it's a tragedy from here on out.

The story of David was all up And the Lord speaks to David and he says I would have done much more, haven't I already given you all this?

But I would have done much more if you would have just obeyed me.

And so the rest of David, like David, is still king.

But there's this judgment that is coming, this impending doom that is coming.

David doesn't know necessarily exactly what it's going to look like.

Well, years later, david's son, absalom, raises an army and marches on the city And he's trying to break in to kill his old man because of some failures that he legitimately did have as a father.

And so here comes Absalom into the palace And David's got some of his friends and some of his crew with him.

David's like we can't beat these guys, let's just go.

And so they're on the run again.

Here he is again, probably in his 60s about this time, and he's a fugitive again.

And it's dark.

His future is looking dark.

Second Samuel, 1523,.

While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people were crossing over.

The king was also crossing over, the book key drawn.

So they're about 20 miles away from Jerusalem.

They're going over this little body of water And all the people were crossing over toward the way of the wilderness.

Now, behold, zadok that's a high priest also came And all the Levites these are the people that they have to be around to carry the ark, carrying the ark of the covenant of God, and they set down the ark of God And Abiyathar came up as another priest, until all the people had finished crossing over from the city.

See, before they left, they're like, oh, we got to grab the ark.

And in their mind, the ark is kind of like it's got power, man, the ark is going to give us a victory.

In fact, if you go back to the beginning of first Samuel, this was the major first problem, as the Israelites were treating the ark of the covenant as some kind of a lucky charm, some kind of a talisman.

And it really was.

You know, it's a piece of furniture, it's a box where God's presence was supposed to dwell when he's in the midst of the temple.

But they're treating it just like, hey, if we got this, it's kind of like enemy repellent And it'll just kill all of our enemies.

And you know, god's not going to be down with that.

And sometimes we do that.

We're like, hey, if I just do a little bit of this Jesus stuff.

God just got to have my back And we're carrying him around like a talisman.

Well, i did this And even sometimes in marriage or in a relationship, we're like, oh, i don't even know why.

We went to church a little bit And we even tried the Bible study And we gave, and I don't know why God didn't.

And we're starting to think well, because you were thinking about him like a talisman.

You were thinking if you just gave yourself a little bit of Jesus, he'd just make everything OK.

And that wasn't the deal.

David's been trying to manipulate these outcomes all this time.

He's seen bloodshed on account of his attempted situational rearranging.

He's been completely humiliated before.

Check this out verse 25.

And the king said to Zadok return the ark of God to the city.

If I find favor on the sight of the Lord, then he will bring me back and show me both it and its habitation.

But if he says I have no delight in you, then here I am.

Let him do to me as seems good to him.

Can you imagine?

They're carrying the ark And David's looking at him and he's just like guys, set it down.

Set it down.

Who are we kidding?

That's not God.

Yes, that is the holy piece of furniture, but that's not.

We can't force God to do what we want him to do.

God is going to do what God wants to do.

God has his own plan.

He is God and we are not God And he's going to do what he wants to do.

And so he used to get sick of it.

on the third try, after a lifetime of trying to get this lesson, he's like what are we doing?

We're trying to control this situation again.

Why don't we just let God have the day?

Why don't we just take our dream and say I wanted this And I don't know why we're here.

I don't know why my son is raised up an army to kill me, but here we are, but I love him.

Verse 25, he said if I find favor in the sight of the Lord, if I find favor in the sight of the Lord, have you found favor?

Because, even though David is wishing and hoping and believing, maybe he's found favor with God.

You have found favor in that God has brought you to Jesus.

I'm going to say it again because it's way deeper than the amens I got.

You have found favor.

David wanted favor.

You have found favor.

It is here.

You have found favor if God, the Father, through the Holy Spirit, has brought you to Christ.

And Jesus himself declares this John 6, 44,.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me And I'll raise him up to life on the last day.

Jesus says unless God gives you the privilege, unless he alerts you, awakens your understanding, awakens your understanding that you need me, you won't even know you've truly found favor If you're beginning to realize I am a sinner that needs a savior.

There's a penalty due for my sin and I have nothing to pay it with.

And there's someone who loves me so much he willingly wants to pay it if I found favor.

There's this old illustration, gosh.

It's probably from the early 2000s.

It's a Kirk Cameron illustration, so maybe you've heard it.

Just flow with it, man.

There's these two people going onto an airplane and they're both given these giant packs for their back And they're told hey, man, why don't you just sit in the normal-sized, you know seat and wear this pack, and it's gonna make all the difference, alright?

So the first one.

He's like oh great, so something's cool gonna happen because I have this pack.

And he sits down and he's trying to get comfortable, but he really can't.

He's knocking the people next to him and they're like what do you do, man?

Other people begin to ridicule him because he's like what are you, you moron, why do you have that?

What are you trying to do?

He can't go to the bathroom and so he just he's kind of steaming for almost an hour, like why do we even have this stupid thing?

And he gets up and he smashes it down.

I don't even know why he took that.

This isn't what I signed up for.

I thought it was gonna have a better flight.

Well, the other man who's given the backpack it was the same size, same backpack, only he was told.

Just, you know, this plane is going down and there's a parachute in there.

It is your only hope to survive this plane ride.

So that man, he's got the same pack on him.

He's sitting there and he's delighted.

He's like yeah, it's a little uncomfortable, but I don't care, because I know what this is really for.

It's not to give me perks, it's not just to make my life awesome, it's not to be extra cushy and extra comfy.

It's to save my soul is what this is for.

And when we treat Jesus like Jesus, why didn't you do the thing?

Why didn't you come through for me?

And I'm not saying there's not legitimate things to be discouraged about and ask God those questions, but when we're demanding and we're hardening our heart toward God because he didn't do the thing, precious, could it be possible that you are wearing the parachute because you thought it was supposed to make the plane trip easier and it's actually supposed to save you from the eternal penalty?

do your sin?

That's what Jesus is for.

That's why Jesus came.

It wasn't to give you a great life.

It wasn't to give you everything your heart could ever desire.

It wasn't to get you out of every jam.

You're going to keep some of those jams.

And Jesus said I came to save your soul.

That's why you put me on, so that your sin is covered.

And see David.

He begins to realize he's like guys, what are we doing?

And he finally begins to rest.

You can almost feel him exhale in the passage.

It just leans back.

You know what?

Let's just all rest in God, who is powerful and sovereign.

And yeah, it's a messy situation.

Maybe he'll take us out there like Moses.

Maybe we'll just be out for the rest of the time in our lives, in the desert.

I don't know.

We'll see what he does, i don't know.

But I've got to trust that even when God interrupts my dream, he's not forsaking his own good plan.

Even when he interrupts my dream, he's not forsaking his own good plan.

So he tells the guys why don't you take this ark back?

And they do Verse 29,.

Sozatic and Abiyotha returned the Ark of God to Jerusalem and remained there, and David was going up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went.

His head was covered.

He was walking barefoot, of course, okay.

So one son was killed.

His next son, absalom, is about to be killed.

He's been kicked out of his own palace.

He kind of feels responsible for all these people that are with him and who knows what's going to happen to them.

And he's being legit, okay.

So he's not just being hard about it.

He's not like well, what are you going to do?

I shouldn't have demanded so much of God anyway.

I should have just trusted his plan.

No, he's being human and real and he's freaking out a little bit, but he's doing it unto the Lord and before the Lord.

His heart's broken, he lost his kingdom, lost his dream.

But then there's something else about him that's composed because he's not looking for Goliath's sword anymore.

He's not calculating what plan can I do to get out of this thing, like I did with Bathsheba.

He's not putting anything in his hands at all.

He's giving himself to the wisdom and the sovereignty of a good God And he says God, here's my dreams.

I really wanted this And I want to invite you to join David.

He's God, here's my dreams.

Some of them were really.

They were good dreams, they were really good, and I'm sorry that so and so didn't do whatever.

But they're yours, god.

These are your dreams.

You can do whatever you want with them.

I'm tired of trying to control the situation.

I'm tired of trying to move this way or get them to do or talk them into.

Ah, ah, ah.

I know, god, you know what to do with my dreams.

I'm not bargaining with you anymore.

Some of you lost some big stuff.

You did lose a marriage, you lost some kids Or you lost you know proximity to them.

You lost money.

Maybe some lost an inheritance, some of us, man, you've lost legit stuff and my heart breaks for you and with you.

That mount evolves.

It's so, it's so trippy.

This mount that David is running up crying is the same mount, a thousand years later, that Jesus is pleading in the garden Through great drops of sweats coming down his face that are blood.

He's saying God, i want you to deliver me, but if you don't man, your will be done so that you are glorified.

A broken heart doesn't mean that you're damaged goods.

God knows all your desires.

If there's somebody's keeping you from you, dear heart, he's doing it because he's your friend.

That's why he's doing it.

He's so wise that he sees all ends and he knows when we mess with certain things, it's just it's going to miss.

It's not what he wants.

And here's just as good a news You can still achieve your purpose.

Even when your dreams can't come true, you can still achieve your purpose, isn't?

this?

blows my mind, okay, so listen to what it says in Acts 13, 36.

This is written a thousand years later and it's writing about David and it's inspired by the scripture.

And it says for David, after he had served God's purpose in his own generation, fell asleep and was buried among his fathers and underwent decay After he had served God's purpose.

David still served God's purpose.

David, the one who ran from Saul.

David, the one who committed adultery and then murdered David, the one who was such a crappy father sometimes his own kid wanted to kill him That one, that one that didn't do everything right, that one who had some dreams that died, that one was still able to fulfill God's purpose in his generation.

That's pretty deep man.

That gives me hope, because I jack stuff up all the time and I don't want to think that I'm disqualified from fulfilling God's purpose.

And even if you've been through hell and you've been through a marriage wreck and you've been through all kinds of other health problems, you've been all through all kinds of difficulty.

I just got to tell you I know that it's hard, i know you didn't expect it, i know that this was not the dream, but you can still fulfill God's purpose, even if not your dream, and we're in good company.

Let me say this one thing and then we'll close in prayer.

Here's something we forget sometimes Our dreams and our stories.

They are supporting cast to God's story of Jesus.

They're supporting cast only They're not the main character.

They don't get to get all the best stuff and win in the end.

Jesus' story wins in the end.

Our story is supposed to highlight God's grace.

That means it highlights the fact that when I did wrong, god forgave me, and when I obeyed, god blessed my obedience and opened new doors for the gospel to go through.

But it always highlights Jesus' story.

So I just want to challenge you today.

One challenge is take your story and really ask and really reflect, and I know it'll take many more years of reviewing it, but let's do it today anyway, really ask and really reflect.

Are my dreams… Am I thinking about them as these are for the purpose of glorifying Christ?

They're about him, which means he gets to not use them if he doesn't think they're the right ones.

Am I doing that?

And then for others of us, or maybe the same people, god is going to be faithful to glorify himself, but he's also going to be the very thing that he is.

He is the Comforter, and so, even though there's dreams that can't come true and there's ones that you're really disappointed with, still he will meet you in that, and so I just want to have a time Right here at church.

You can follow us along online, you just do it wherever you're at.

Take some of those dreams and we're going to bring them to Jesus, or say Jesus, i like this, it's pretty, it goes the way I want it to go.

But if this doesn't look right or is this off a little bit, it's yours And I relinquish any right to see that come to pass.

In fact, i'm even going to invite those of you who want to, if this is helpful to you, if you want to come down during the next song and just kind of like kneel by the stage and that's where you want to do business with God.

Maybe there's like a physical expression that I want to bring God my thing.

No one's going to bother you and no one's going to think different if you come or don't come, but I want to invite you in this time.

God is a real person and He wants to be our Comforter.

Let's pray Man Lord.

There are some really good dreams that we really wanted to see And we don't like all the ways that this goes.

We're also tired of living a life where we're trying to control everything and we're trying to, in panic, sidestep everything And we just say God, I'm setting it down like the Ark, i'm just setting it down, let God do what God is going to do.

I don't need to control it, i don't need to make it come to pass.

Even with my faith, i can't pull it off.

So, god, we give these things to you and we ask for healing.

As we give them, we'd have the consolation of your spirit and really your better thing anyway, as we lose our lives.

You promise Jesus that we'll find it.

So here we are, lord in Jesus' name.

Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.

If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church.

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Whatever challenges you're facing, i know you can make it.

Don't give up.

Hang on to Jesus.

He won't let go of you.

Jesus loves you so much and we love you.

I hope someday we get to meet in person.

Thanks again for listening.