Perplexity is on the Ropes Luke 24:1.12

It's you, and it's you that we need. What a fire

we need. It's only a touch, not a whole thing.

It only takes a little bit. Let it start right

here in this city. These old walls will never

be the same. Over and over again. Thank you.

Thank you. I worship you. I worship you. You

are. I worship you. I worship you. my feet are

on the rock Are you washed in the blood of the

Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace? Are

you washed in the blood of the Lamb? You can...

blessings. It is one of the great blessings or

possibly one of the great challenges of my life

that I get to be in a church filled with beautiful

worship and wonderful musicians and singers and

then I have to get up and preach afterwards and

I'm usually like pretty emotional. So maybe that's

a great blessing because this message also means

a great deal to me today. We're going to dive

right in. Maybe get a little hoot or a little

holler as we say Luke chapter 24. Woo! We will

Luke 24 · chapter mention

read briefly now the story of the discovery of

the empty tomb. Luke 24, beginning in verse 1,

says as follows. But on the first day of the

week at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing

the spices which they had prepared. And they

found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But

when they entered, they did not find the body

of the Lord Jesus. So you recall, as we've studied

in recent weeks, these ladies have prepared for

this moment. They were intending to serve God.

They wanted to do what was right. It was about

justice for them. I submit to you that they're

a little off course. They're going to prepare

the body, and the body is not there, and they

don't expect to find the body not there. The

kind of spices that they would be using to prepare

that body would not necessarily be the kind of...

thing that you would use to prepare a body that

had come back to life, right? Rub, spice, normally

used for dead people and live people, they don't

appreciate it very much. But that's what they're

doing. They arrive at the tomb, but they did

not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Now in verse

4 it says, and it happened that while they were,

grab this word, perplexed, and your word might

be slightly different there, but it is a word

that means baffled. It's amazed, but beyond amazed,

it's frozen as if to inaction or not knowing

what to say or do next because of what they have

discovered. It says, and it happened while they

were perplexed about this. About what? About

the fact that the tomb was open and the body

was not in it. While they were perplexed about

that, behold, two men suddenly stood near them

in dazzling apparel. Notice that they were not

perplexed at the two men who suddenly stood near

them in dazzling apparel, but about what they

had already found. Verse 5. And as the women

were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground,

now in the face of these angels that they experienced,

they experienced something that the Bible would

call terror. They are blown away. When you encounter

an angel or you encounter someone who has come

to the presence of God, this is the natural response

because a bit of the presence of God lingers

on those who are in the presence of God. And

it will affect people, and it did affect them

with terror. And so they bowed their faces to

the ground. The men said to them, why do you

seek the living one among the dead? See, they,

as I said, were a little bit off course in their

thinking to prepare this dead body. Verse 6,

he is not here, but he has risen. Remember how

he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee,

saying that the Son of Man must be delivered

into the hands of sinful men. and be crucified,

and the third day rise again. And it is as if

these dazzling men are saying, and you know,

it is the third day. And you're coming to anoint

his dead body. Verse 8. And they remembered his

words, and returned from the tomb, and reported

all these things to the eleven. Remember they

were eleven, because by now Jesus has gone out

and hanged himself. They reported all of these

things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now

they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary

the mother of James. Also the other women with

them were telling these things to the apostles.

Verse 11. And these words appeared to them as

nonsense and they would not believe them. Now

there's two things to see real quick there. First

of all, it was not uncommon for a man to look

at a woman and she's speaking to him and for

him to say, these words are like nonsense. Women

didn't get a lot of credence in the society.

They could not testify, for example, in a court

of law. It was not legal for them to do so. If

a 10 -year -old boy back -talked his mother,

and his mother corrected him, and then the father

got involved, the father would side with the

boy. Because he was a boy. So understand, they

didn't have a lot of credence in the society,

so it was not uncommon for them to be taking

their testimony as nonsense. Secondly, it just

sounds crazy. if you don't understand what Jesus

is doing, to go to the tomb and for the stone

to be rolled away, for the body to be missing,

and they saw two angels there, or two men appearing

in dazzling white, and then to be told that he

would be amongst the living, not amongst the

dead. That's crazy. Verse 12, it says, But Peter

arose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking

in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went

away to his home, marveling at that which had

happened. not at the story necessarily that the

women had told him, or even necessarily yet that

Jesus is alive, but that the events that were

related to him through the women, and then that

he found the tomb empty and the cloth just laying

there. There's a few things I want you to see

from the text today. I could have gone a bunch

of different ways. In fact, I had about 11 points

at one time, and I wanted to kind of keep it

brief as we're really focusing on the resurrection

today, and so I began to shorten it down. And

I wasn't even 100 % sure until I got here this

morning. I was listening to God the best I could.

I wasn't even 100 % sure that the points I'm

sharing with you are indeed the ones that God

wanted me to focus on. But now, after worshiping

with you and the Holy Spirit speaking as we've

been here already today, I am absolutely certain

that what I'm about to say to you was hung down

to the exact things that God intended. The first

is, I want you to see that authority is not restrained

by existence. We understand this. The law does

not bear less weight on you because you did not

know the law. If you're speeding and a police

officer stops you, you say, well, I didn't know

the speed limit. He's still likely to give you

a ticket. You're still going to pay the fine.

You're going to still get points on your license.

And it goes on from there. If you don't know

the law, it does not mean that you are not subject

to the law. It just means that you are more likely

to fall under the negative effects of it because

you're likely to do that which you don't know

that you should not do and then be punished for

that which you did that you didn't know that

you should not do. The prophecies of God must

be fulfilled. You or my unawareness of the judgment,

for example, that we will face after death would

not change the fact that that judgment is coming.

Though people have experienced everything of

the living God they really know, his presence

and his character have been made known by that

which has been made. Even so, some try to deny

the reality of God's creative work, of his redemptive

plan, and to assist in that, in denying his redemptive

plan, in denying his creative work, they try

even sometimes to say that he does not exist.

But denying God's existence or his justice or

his wrath, his lordship, the judgment coming,

the second coming of Christ, denying any of that

will not change the fact because authority is

not restrained by ignorance. They went to the

tomb that morning ignorant that God would raise

Jesus from the dead that very day. It's clear

they were ignorant because they were anointing

him for his death, for his burial, not for his

resurrection. They went ignorantly, but the authority

of God did not halt or slow up or in any way

be restrained by their ignorance. A veil of ignorance

then removed will often leave a person stammering.

That moment that you find out something that

you did not know, sometimes it's like, oh! Now

what do I do? What do I do now? What do I say

now? Who can I even be now? Now that I have been

so betrayed or so dismayed or so surprised. That's

what happened for them and that left them perplexed.

And that same thing happens to people today.

At times things will happen that you didn't expect.

At times things will happen that catch you off

guard. And you're suddenly stuck. Suddenly hurting

in a way that you would not. expected. Perplexity,

then, is not the problem. In that moment where

you are perplexed, where you're stuck, don't

know how to go forward, how to be who you are,

what to do, what to say, that's not the problem.

Terror is not the problem. Being so afraid of

what might come next, not the problem. However,

in the moment, it does begin to feel like the

problem. We say, well, I can't fight. I'm not

big enough to overcome this. I can't run. Our

minds scramble for any way to make it stop. But

here's the problem. Perplexity, terror, like

we're describing, is at its very nature stopping.

That's what it is. It freezes you in your tracks.

And there's just one way to make stopping stop.

And that is to go. And so while we're looking

for a way to make what is happening to us stop,

that thing that is happening to us actually is

stopping, and there is only one way to make it

stop, and that is to go, to find purpose, to

honor God in one small way, for example, and

then to look for the next way as a logical extension

of that one. It is the character of the thing

that we do and the connectivity of the two things

and three and then four, the necessity of actions

flowing out of rebirth that makes the whole world

make sense again, and suddenly we are walking

by faith, not by sight. Perplexity is a word

that's becoming super common now. You can google

it and get billions of hits. Not billions, but

billions of hits. You know why? Does anybody

in the room know why perplexity is a word that's

becoming really common these days? Harder? You

know why? Anybody know? Say it again. Yeah. Well,

there is an AI named after it, but it's named

after it because of the reason. Perplexity is

how AI is rated. It is... It rates how well an

AI managed to know what the next logical word

is in a chain of words. So if you're typing a

sentence to AI and you leave out a sentence,

will the AI figure out what you meant? If you

give a command to AI and the AI is responding

to your command, will the AI line up the words

in a way that makes sense with your command and

with itself? That's the definition of perplexity.

It rates how well an AI manages to know the next

logical word in a chain of words. I submit to

you that it is also the same rating for people.

Sometimes for words as in, I just don't know

what to say. Under the circumstance, like, I

can't imagine what I can possibly say. I'm sorry

doesn't sound like enough. Or, I can't imagine

what I'm supposed to say. Your loved one died?

I'm here, but I just can't imagine. What I could

say that would be of any benefit. Sometimes it's

like that. We just say I just don't know what

to say But also in actions where we say I don't

know what to do. I'm not sure what to do about

this How do I overcome this problem? How do I

make this work out in a way? I mean our goal

should be that honors God But really we're talking

about survival about continuing in our own character

being who we are. What would Dan say? What what

would Dan do? This is why James the brother of

Jesus writes consider it pure joy when you face

all manner of trials and tribulations These actions

that are meant to cause us to falter They are

designed by the enemy and all of the enemies

of God to bring us to a halt When they actually

do bring us to a halt, they prepare us for a

time in the future when they will not bring us

to a halt. When you are hit by something you

completely did not expect and you're going, I'm

stuck, I'm stuck, I don't know how to go on.

And then you eventually submit to God, repent,

turn to God, let God do what it is that God wants

to do and start moving again. You become able

again to move when you're stuck. The next time

that happens to you, the next time that happens

to you, you're ready to go. You're like, oh,

I've been here before, I screwed this up before,

I stayed too long in this spot before, so now

I am prepared for this new thing that has come

to try to put me in that place again, and I will

not allow it. So each one that comes trying to

make us falter prepares us for the ones that

come after. And the enemy unwillingly strengthens

us. More. When these things fail to stop us,

when they fail to throw us into perplexity or

into terror, they declare to us and to everyone

who is looking at us to whom we belong and what

we are in Jesus. In the Bible, there is a theology,

if you will, a piece of doctrine that's called

the redemptive reversal of God. And it goes something

like this. Joseph and his brothers, they betrayed

him, threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery.

He gets betrayed a couple of other times. Ultimately

has the ability to punish them for what they

have done. His rise to power in Egypt, though,

saves entire nations from famine. And he famously

told his brother, you intended to harm me, but

God intended it for good to accomplish what is

now being done, the saving of many lives. The

story of Esther and Haman. Haman plotted a systematic

genocide of the Jews while they were stuck in

Persia, many of them. Through Esther's courage,

the plot was exposed. Haman was executed on his

own gallows, and the Jewish people were granted

inside that kingdom the right to defending themselves,

which gave them a great victory. The Babylonian

invasion was a brutal act of conquest meant to

destroy Israel's identity. However, God used

that to purge the nation of idolatry because

they were worshiping a bunch of false gods and

spread the seeds of monotheism, which means there

is only one God, across the known world of that

time, preparing the way for the gospel so that

Jesus could come and people all over the known

world could hear the gospel and be saved. The

persecution of the early church, Stephen was

first martyred on the steps of the temple after

he told them what they had done wrong in crucifying

Jesus, and a great persecution broke out around

Jerusalem and all Judea, which was intended to

crush Christianity, but instead it acted like

a bellows to a fire, scattering believers and

the message into Judea and Samaria, and churches

everywhere were started, and tens of thousands,

if not eventually hundreds of thousands of people

were saved in following Jesus. Now let us not

forget the crucifixion of Jesus. This is the

ultimate example where Satan and Judas and the

religious leaders and all the enemies of God

conspired to kill the Son of God, thinking they

had won. But the act of supreme evil was the

very mechanism that God used to provide eternal

salvation to humanity. This brings us to our

conclusion then already. I'm here to tell you

today that if you'll accept this truth, Perplexity

is on the ropes. It's on the way out. It's time

had already come. And with the death of Jesus

and all the life that has come after the rebirth,

the relife of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus,

perplexity is on the ropes. In the boxing ring

of life. perplexity may seem to have us backed

against the ropes. Like, I don't know what to

do. I don't know what to say. We feel the sting

of the situation, unmet expectations. We didn't

get what we were hoping for. But notice as Jesus,

just later in the same chapter in verse 21, is

walking with the disciples down the road to Emmaus.

He shows them that uncertainty does not get to

win the final round. God steps into confusion

and puts an end to it through three distinct

movements. And these are the ones you need to

take with you. These are the ones that you need

to use. These are the ones that will make you

strong and blessed in the kingdom of God. Hear

them. First of all, Jesus, God, God the Father,

God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, walks with

us through trial. God does not shout directions

from a distance. He joins us. right in the midst

of the pain. Jesus drew near and walked with

the downcast disciples even while they were still

blind to His identity. He validates our journey

by being present in the walking before He ever

provides the knowing. I look back at when I was

not saved. And I could look, there is a moment

in time at which I prayed unknowingly, didn't

even know I was praying. I was talking to God

and didn't even know for sure that God was real,

but hoping that perhaps maybe there was something

out there that would benefit me in a very difficult

situation. And I look back now and I see miracle,

miracle, miracle. Times when I survived, when

I jumped my motorcycle over the road while I

was drunk, over the railroad tracks at over 100

miles an hour and left the ground and came down

with the steering wheel slightly sideways and

twisted down the road like a broken cyclone until

I finally leveled out and drove on at 35 miles

an hour and drove home and got sober. Moments

like that. My friends and I came around onto

East Broadway at a 85 mile an hour in the rain

and I lost and we went Oh about 600 degrees around

and around and around and stopped inches away

from the concrete pylon Moments like that when

I dated a young woman who was beautiful voluptuous

Whatever she could have been a bottom, but she

was working to be a bottle of magazines I spent

the night at her apartment over and over and

over again. But the first night I met her, I

prayed, Lord, don't get me out of this. Get me

through it. Even though I didn't believe in God,

I was turning a little charm on my neck. I said,

don't get me out of this, but get me through

it. I dated her for nine months, spent the night

at her apartment probably 50 times, and we never

had sex. There's no reason for that. God was

working in the circumstance of my life before

I ever came to East Little Baptist. The day that

I drove to East Little Baptist Church, the day

that I got saved, and it sounds hakey, but hokey,

but it's absolutely true. Alicia, in the car

seat, right? We're driving to East Little Baptist

Church, and I look out into the bar park, and

it is stormy, dark, and gray, and rain coming

down these sheets. But we're driving. It was

sunny. going down Woodville Road, passing Barland,

and it was sunny. Sun was shining on our car

and continued to all the way down East Broadway,

all the way down. We parked our car at the back

of the church. We got out, and as soon as we

went in the church doors, no sooner did we walk

with sun shining on us the whole time, and no

sooner did we walk in the church doors, we get

under the, they didn't have it over there, get

under the railing that they had there, and just

get inside, and you're here. And the rain pours.

God was watching over me and was watching over

you before you realized what God was doing. And

now you're saved and now you should not just

suddenly go, well, sometimes he's watching me,

sometimes he's not. No, God comes down, is with

you, walks with you in the trials. He does not

promise you will have none. He simply says he

will be with you throughout them all. God shows

us a future he has planned. Uncertainty thrives

when we can't see the why. We think, I don't

know why. That's the question people ask when

they lose a love, when they lose a job, when

they lose finances, they struggle. We say, why?

And that question might be meant to drive us

to learn something from it, to grow from it,

to overcome what is the way that God wants us

to go next. But a lot of times we just get stuck

there, feel perplexed, feel in terror, like we

can't understand why, how we can still be us

going forward after this experience. And uncertainty

thrives in that moment. But Jesus countered the

disciples' despair by opening the scriptures

as he walks with them in Luke 24, a little later

in this chapter. He explains to them all through

the Bible how it was meant to be like this. And

you have that too. You have your church, you

have the preaching, you have the teaching, you

have the Bible at your disposal. You can see

that the plan of your life was laid out and written

in incredible ways before you ever reached this

point. And this... Though you may not necessarily

understand why. I don't understand why. God's

ways are so far above our ways. This is part

of God's plan. God was showing them by opening

the scriptures, showing them that the suffering

they witnessed wasn't a detour. It was the road

map. As I said, when things come into your life

that are difficult, they make you better able

to... Don't you understand? There are additional

generations that have to come. If Jesus doesn't

come again, we will have... Children. And our

children will have children, and our children's

children will have children. And for as long

as we are alive, we must show persistence in

Christ and faithfulness on the earth, and then

teach our children, and our children's children,

and our neighbor's children, because they're

not doing it, how to stand for what is right.

How to continue, even through suffering, even

through difficulty, even through that which would

perplex us. By anchoring our current trials in

God's eternal narrative and what he's doing,

his story, his book, we are part of it. He transforms

our seeming dead ends where we go, oh, I'm stuck.

I'm stuck here. I don't know what I can do now.

I don't know what I can say now. I've got nothing

I can do. He transformed that seeming dead end

into a gateway to promised glory. So the first

one was he walks with us through trial. And the

second one is he shows up. and shows us a future

he has planned. And if you can see that he is

with you, and see that he is taking you where

you want to be, then you don't have any threat

in the current moment. It's all taken care of.

It's going to be fine. But notice he also gives

us a task to be about. He has laid out for us

a plan by which we can go forward. So when you

start to feel like, I don't know what I'm supposed

to do, if nothing else, you do what God has told

you to do. Start to feel like, I don't know what

I'm supposed to say, then if nothing else, you

say what God has told you to say. You let Him

guide your steps forward. But the plan is even

a little bit more than that. God ends our perplexity

by giving us a purpose. Once the disciples recognized

Him, their hearts burned within them. That's

in this same chapter. to immediate action. They

jump up as soon as Jesus disappears. They jump

up and walk the roughly five miles back to Jerusalem

to tell everyone else that they have seen him.

And guess what they find when they get there?

I'll ruin the story for you if you haven't already

read it. They go in and they're telling the disciples,

the others, what has happened, and guess who

shows up? Jesus! He sends us back into this world,

not with all the answers, but with a mission

to bear witness. Uncertainty dies when we stop

staring at the tomb and start running toward

the brothers to say, The Lord has risen indeed!

Perplexity may have once had us on the ropes,

but it cannot deliver the knockout blow. When

Christ walks in, shows the plan, and sets us

to work, The fog of doubt is burned away by the

light of the resurrection. All throughout the

Bible, we see God saying to people, do not be

afraid. But then in the New Testament, a slight

change. Not necessarily using the words, he does

say to John... I'm sorry, in John chapter 3,

John 3 · chapter mention

he says to Nicodemus, do not marvel when I say

unto you, you must be born again. He was telling

them, don't be stuck, don't be surprised, don't

worry about it. I'm telling you what you already

know, what you already need to know. He says,

you must be born again. So he was telling Nicodemus,

don't be surprised by spiritual truths. In Matthew

24, Luke 13 and Luke 21, he says, see that you

are not alarmed, he tells the disciples. Don't

be just surprised by global chaos. Mark 13, be

on guard. I have told you everything beforehand.

Don't be surprised. I warned you. John 15, if

the world hates you, don't be surprised. It hated

me first. Don't be surprised by rejection. John

16, I have told you so that you may be kept from

stumbling. Don't be surprised by persecution.

John 16, in the world you have tribulation. Don't

be surprised by trouble. John 14, do not let

your heart be troubled. Don't be shaken eternally.

I could go on, but the bottom line is this. Jesus

didn't remove hardship in life. That's been here

because a tree can't accept Jesus as Lord and

Savior. An animal can't accept Jesus as Lord

and Savior. The rain cannot accept Jesus as Lord

and Savior. The planet cannot be redeemed until

the redemption is complete. So there will be

suffering, there will be hardship, and there

will be trial. But you have to realize that when

it comes, each one prepares you for the next,

for the next, for the next. I have known people.

that have faced worse things than I have ever

faced in my life, and they have said, eh, God's

got it. And my guess is, you have too. The question

is, are we going to be that kind of people? And

indeed, that's what it means to be a Christian.

If as a Christian... I was walking in Jesus'

shoes and I was asked to go to the cross to save

all humanity. Yes, I know myself. Without a miracle

from God, I would not have done it. Jesus was

a sinless man. He had experienced persecution.

that tried to kill him on a number of occasions

that he just always just walked away because

it wasn't his time yet. But this time, he declined

to summon an army of angels. And he allowed himself

to be crucified for the sins of mankind. A God

who will do that? A God who loves you like that?

Well, he's going to, he walks with you through

pride. He's going to be with you in your difficulty.

And he shows a, The future that he has planned.

See, God's more concerned about your salvation

than he is about your comfort. Your salvation

and your children's salvation and your grandchildren's

salvation and your nieces and your nephews and

your brothers and your sisters and your neighbors

and your co -workers and the students in your

school. He's more concerned about salvation than

he is about your comfort. Shouldn't you be? Shouldn't

I be? A God who loves people like that, he shows

us a future he has planned. And He gives us a

task to be about. And let me say to you, the

next time it hits you, the next time you feel

stuck, surprised, raw, perplexed, you remember

me saying, and I hope you remember the Holy Spirit

saying, perplexity is on the ropes. It has been

ever since every enemy that God ever had went

together to try to bring to an end. got what

they thought was God's plan. And when they did,

they just made God's plan come true. That was

the best they could do. The best they could do

with all their efforts and all the Antichrist

teaching and all the demonic influence and all

of the governmental, all the money offered, all

the prominence, all of it all just came together

so that you and I could be saved. And God can

make the whole world bow down in that process.

And he can make the whole world bow down in your

life. And he'll be there with you. And he'll

show you the future he has planned. And he'll

give you a task to be about. And all you have

to do is say yes. That's it. All you have to

do is be willing. Complexity is on the road.

And that's where it will remain. Until Jesus

comes again. And at that point in time, complexity

will go to hell. With all the rest of the dark

things of this life. And we'll never see it again.

His fate is already determined. And that's the

way we should live. If you're here today, and

you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior, I need you to understand that nothing

less is on the agenda. This is what this moment

is about. It's about your salvation. It's about

you saying, I don't want to ever be perplexed

again. I'm tired of feeling that way when something

hits me. I want to surrender my life to the Lord.

I want to let Him be there with me when I have

those feelings. I want to let Him give me a job

to do and I'm going to get busy about doing the

job that I have to do. At that time when I know

what I want to do. On my list of things to do,

I can't fix it. I can't overcome it. I can't

buy it. I can't talk it down. I can't get a little

nastier to get it right. I can't beg. When I

couldn't do anything, at that moment in time

when perplexity would have me, I need Jesus to

be there with me. Jesus has shown me a plan that

he has for me. And Jesus will lead me forward

in that plan. Accept Jesus today and let him

do that. And you'll never have to face propensity

again. On the other hand, if you're already saved

and you're already here, then I want to remind

you in no subtle way you can commit yourself

right now. That the next time I face something

unexpected, the next time it's baffling me, the

next time I'm in terror, the next time I'm facing

perplexity, I need to remember that if I do fight

perplexity, it's me going to the ropes. Because

perplexity can't come to the center of the ring

anymore. Because God is there. Don't go to the

ropes. Stay in God's will. Live your life for

the Lord. Repent of your sin. Practice the spiritual

disciplines. You stand with people who need somebody

to stand with them. And we'll be the hands and

feet of Jesus. I'm going to lead you in a little

prayer at this time. We're not going to have

a normal invitation. At least she's just going

to play softly. And as I pray, if the Lord is

doing business in your heart, you surrender to

him. You say, okay, God, I'm in for your methods.

I'm in for your way. Who is Jesus? Let's pray

together. Father in heaven, we praise you that

today is a day that we celebrate the resurrection.

We celebrate the coming back to life of your

son Jesus. No amount of armies could have kept

him in that grave. If all the demons that existed

marshaled to stand outside and rank and file

with the greatest weapons they could find, he'd

have walked out unscathed. Our God. It's too

mighty to be trifled with. Our God is too awesome

and powerful to be held back. Our God is to be

trusted. He's shown that time and time again.

Yet we find in ourselves a ready willingness

to be perplexed. Sometimes it goes like this,

and we're not making excuses, but sometimes it

goes like this. We think we know the plan, and

then the plan is not going according to what

we thought, and so we're perplexed. Sometimes

it looks like this. We think, well, if I can't

have it my way, which I think is the way that

God wants it to, but if I can't have it my way,

then I'm... I'm done. I won't have it anyway.

If I can't have it my way, if I can't have it...

What feels good, looks good, seems to help. And

I'm done. I quit. I'll just stop here. I'll jump

off the God train and see if somebody else has

an answer. And Lord, we ask your forgiveness.

Thank you for coming down with us, being in the

ring with us, working to... Grow us. Make us

strong. Even though we might not want to, Lord,

we pray even thank you for trials and tribulations.

Think of like we look back and go, I didn't want

to go through that. But here we are on the other

side of it. Stronger. Able. Some small things

that come now, they don't even touch us. We don't

even recognize. We go day by day and we deal

with people. Ten years ago, they might have taken

us off our stride. They might have knocked us

down with words or the way they act. And now,

it's like nothing. It doesn't even slow us down.

At the same time, in the midst of that, we find

things that will let slow us down. We tarry with

trouble. Lord, we confess to you, we need your

wisdom. We need your strength. We need your healing.

or asking for nothing less. Help us to remember

the next time that we're in that moment, the

next time that we're baffled, the next time that

we're facing terror or perplexity, that it just

doesn't have to be so. We can give up our idea

of what's right. We can give up our idea of who

you are and come to you for who you actually

are. We can overcome the difficulty and it might

It might run us down. Sometimes it might even

kill us. But our eternal salvation is found in

you. And so, Lord, I ask you today again to make

that so well known in us. Make us absolutely

certain that today and our part in it is part

of your plan. Maybe you're here today and you

say, I really need to have Jesus as my Lord and

Savior. No more games. I've been letting people

think something that isn't true. Or I just really

never have submitted my life to the Lord Jesus

Christ. And I see how great He is and how much

He loves me and how much He wants me. And I want

Him with me. If that's you, then in your heart

right now, just say, Lord, make me yours. And

every head is bowed. No one's even looking around.

Eyes are closed. But I'm going to open my eyes.

And I'm going to look and I'm going to see your

hand. And I'm going to pray for you. And you

raise your hand right where you are. And just

say, that's me. I'm giving my life to the Lord

today in earnest. No more games. Maybe you're

here today and you'd say, i have known this very

thing the thing that he preached that like really

it's maybe laid out in points but it's nothing

i didn't already know but here i have been allowing

perplexity off the ropes where i've been over

there in the corner with it fighting when there

was no necessity when all i really needed to

do was just be who god made me to be and do the

things that god gave me to do i hadn't thought

about the fact that terror and perplexity is

about stopping that if i Keep looking for a way

to stop stopping, but I'm not really ready to

go. I'll never find a way to stop stopping unless

I go. So I'm committing myself today to walk

with the Lord into that plan that He has for

me. To share the gospel when I can, to serve,

to love others. Not get stuck in myself or my

own desires, but turn those things over to Him

as I once said I would. Maybe that's you today.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I'll

be the only one looking around. You just raise

your hand, rub your eye, and say, that's me today.

I've given my life to the Lord, but I've tarried

with foolish notions, distractions, pain. I've

allowed myself to be stopped, and I won't anymore.

If that's you, just raise your hand. I'll pray

for you right where you are. I see those hands.

Any others? Father in heaven, as we raise our

hands today, and even the one who was kind of

timid, thinks maybe they don't want Pastor Dan

to see, Lord, if they're committing their hearts

to you, then I pray, Lord, that they would be

finding the strength day in, day out. That they'll

remember the next time they're stopped, the next

time something comes that would try to stop them.

That you are there. That you are showing them

the plan. And that you are giving them purpose.

And that they will indeed be able to make tough

choices, give up what needs to be given up, block

out the time as necessary, find their spiritual

muscles stronger day by day. Help us to remember

in that moment that trouble comes, that this

trouble prepares us so that future trouble will

look like almost nothing to us. Father, we look

forward to that day when we too will be bodily

resurrected into your presence by the great miracle

of our God. You're the one. You have it all.

You own the cattle on a thousand hills. You own

every ounce of my flesh and all that I am. You

own my heart and my mind. I pray, Lord, reign

in me. And I pray these things in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen. Thank you very

much. This concludes our services today. This

is... Oh, we have one more song. We have one

more song. We're going to sing one song. Praise

the Lord. And then we'll be done. Kids are probably

out there doing hunting stuff. Something like

that. You know he deserves your praise. Buster

it up. Let's do it. Amen. Who but him? We'll

see you next week.