["Pomp and Circumstance"]
All right, well, thanks for coming, everybody.
Let's go ahead and enter the service.
I turn it over to song number 68, Remembering Heaven.
Song number 68.
Song 68.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
So, we've got opportunities to get up there in the coming weeks.
Wednesday, Pastor Burzins, next Wednesday, Pastor Thompson, and Pastor Kozarski on the last Wednesday.
So, that's when the shuttle's going up there. If you want to go on Wednesday night,
and you've got the shuttle available, just sign up. Make sure you're here. We're going to go at 5.
Don't forget the Navajo reservation soloing trips are always available to us, as well as the small town trips.
We've got the soloing marathon in Toronto, Ontario. That's in Canada.
Where's that? In Canada. We're going to be meeting up there August 2nd through the 6th.
There's a lot going on outside of that before the 2nd. If you're interested in those details,
come see me. I know Brother Rob in Canada, aka the new IFB Road Warrior.
My guy, every time I talk to him, he's either in this church or that church.
He's been driving here and driving there. He's got, let me just quote Pastor Anderson.
Unless you think this is just me over-calculating things. His words were,
if you ever have an opportunity to be part of a Brother Rob soloing event, you go.
Brother Rob is very good about including a lot of fun. He includes lots of fun.
I mean, there's baseball games, trap shooting, axe throwing. Come on, right?
He's going to Mammoth Cave. The Mammoth Cave, obviously, that's not in Canada,
but like I said, he's got plans even before these days.
If people want to meet up in Kentucky, I think it's Kentucky,
you go to Mammoth Cave or wherever that is. It's somewhere in the eastern Mississippi.
I don't try to think about that place anymore. Ever since I got back from there,
it's like Egypt. I don't want to think about beliefs and here-comers in the Midwest.
Brother Rob is there. He's got people coming. They're going to go to Pastor Robinson's church.
They're going to go do that art experience thing.
If you're looking for a good trip, this is one.
If you're going to go to the Toronto portion of it,
you've got to make sure you've got some travel considerations that you have to consider.
Anyway, we've got the dates there. If you want more information, just come see me,
and that way we can get these announcements a little quicker.
We've got the St. Lucia mission strip coming up in September.
If Toronto's not your thing, you know you're one of the emerald clear waters of the Caribbean.
You've got options here, folks.
You can go to the Great North. You can go to the Caribbean.
Or you can just stay put. Whatever.
On the back, please pray for Sha and Eva Ladari.
As I said, they're not members here. They're members of the Barrie Baptist.
However, a serious prayer request simply because their first four babies,
John, has been born with some severe medical issues, including, we believe,
at least the first report I heard last was, he has leukemia.
Pray for this little baby boy. Pray for their family,
that that child is able to grow and survive and live a full life.
Pray for them. I'm sure they can do it.
Also, pray for the expected ladies in their church.
Then, as a friendly reminder, please do not allow children to run before,
especially during services.
If they're going to run, it has to happen.
Just make yourself during services.
They should never be running.
Anyway, just not here.
Hopefully your kids are running elsewhere.
I know how it is.
My kids are picked up, especially during the summer.
They're indoors a lot.
They get to anywhere where there's a nice stretch of ground,
where they can really sprint.
They like to take advantage of that.
Once people start coming in here, they need to shut that down.
We've got people who can get knocked over and get hurt,
so let's make sure we're not doing that.
Anyway, that'll do it for announcements.
We'll quickly count up the solo name going next Friday.
There's going to be Friday outside for our regular times.
I know Saturday, we've got a good crew going out,
but we were just mopping up some doors.
That's all right. Sometimes that happens.
Does anyone have anything outside the group on Saturday?
Today, just one irate Churchill Price.
Okay.
Well being warned.
Right?
We're a saver of death or a saver of life.
Either way, we're doing the work.
Let's go to song 323 before you begin preaching.
Let's go to song 323.
More about Jesus.
Song 323.
More about Jesus.
And he's saying, don't be afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee,
saith the Lord.
It's because Jeremiah is going to go rip some face.
He's going to go tell them, hey, here's how it is, here's what you need to fix,
and he's going to let them have it.
And here's the thing about when you start preaching hard is people start to make
faces.
They like to express their disapproval through their face, through their countenance.
And it's funny, you know, sometimes when people do this, I've seen people just
like shake their head while I'm preaching.
I'm like, what in the world?
I'm like, really?
And I'm telling you, sometimes it's hard not to just call things out.
You see notes being passed, people looking at their phones, it's just like, really?
I got you for 45 minutes, you know, it's taken me hours to sit down and figure
what I'm going to preach, and you can't give me 45 minutes, right?
The worst is when they start scratching their head and looking at their Bible.
And I go like this, I'm like, what?
I'm kidding, I've never gotten one of those.
How would you know?
You're always looking up here, right?
But he's saying, hey, don't be afraid of their faces.
Don't be afraid of their countenance.
Don't let the faces they're going to make scare you.
It goes on and says at the end of verse 17,
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto all that I command thee,
be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
He says, you know, Jeremiah, I'll tell you what, if you want to start getting all weak
in the knees behind the pulpit, if you're afraid to preach what I tell you to preach,
I'll just go ahead and, you know, confound you.
You know, cause you to be dismayed, cause you to be confounded before them, okay?
If you're going to be dismayed, I'll make you dismayed.
Go to Isaiah chapter number three, Isaiah chapter number three.
So the countenance, a lot can be told just through the look on your face, just through
our expression, right?
People can express anger very easily through their expression, right?
They do it, you know, we see that in the case in Jeremiah's day and elsewhere.
Any emotion can be expressed, right?
The countenance reveals negative inward feelings.
That's why it's important to keep our countenance in check.
Because if we have a lot of negative feelings, you know, that's going to, something that's
going to show up on our face, you know, and we might find ourselves a little bit
more isolated.
You know, people don't want to make friends with people that are always grumpy and angry,
you know.
We tend to keep those type of people at arm's length, okay?
Isaiah chapter three verse nine, it says, the show of their countenance doth witness
against them.
The show of their countenance doth witness against them.
The look on their face is witness against them.
And they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.
Go unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
So it's not just that they declare their sin, or how is it that rather that they declare
their sin?
It's through the countenance of their face.
Their countenance is witness against them.
You can look at these people and see how wicked they are.
You know, our countenance just shows our inward negative feelings, okay?
For example, what are some of these negative feelings that you can look at someone's
face and just pick up on?
Basically one of the first ones we might think of is anger, right?
We can tell when someone's angry with us or upset about something.
If you would, go to Psalms chapter number 10, right?
I'll give you a couple examples on the one in anger, some scripture.
It says in Genesis chapter four, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect,
and Cain was very wroth, right, meaning he has a lot of wrath, he's angry, and
his countenance fell, right?
So you can see how his countenance, or his anger rather, caused his countenance to fall,
and isn't that kind of a good description of an angry countenance?
It's fallen, right?
It's like our brow comes down, the mouth comes down, everything kind of falls when
you get angry.
You get that frowning look.
And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth?
Why is thy countenance fallen?
Again, his countenance alone was enough for, obviously the Lord knows the heart,
but it's something you can just look at his face and say, you're angry, you're
wroth, you're full of anger.
Bible says in Daniel chapter three, then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the
form of his visage was changed against Chad, Rach, Meshach, and Abednego, right?
When he gets mad about the fact that they're not going to bow down and worship the
idol that he constructed, it showed up on his face.
His visage changed and became furious, right?
That's one that shows up on our countenance, anger.
How about this one, pride?
You know, pride is something that you can see often on someone's face, okay?
That's something that shows up.
The Bible says in Psalm chapter 10, verse four, the wicked, through the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God.
God is not in all his thoughts.
It's the pride of his countenance that he will not seek after God.
Again, the pride comes out and shows up on his face.
Go to Psalm 101, Psalms 101.
Keep something in Psalms, we're going to look at a couple of Psalms this morning,
this evening rather.
So again, pride is another one, anger.
These are things that show up on our countenance.
This is why we have to kind of keep our countenance in check because there's a time
and a place for these things, you know?
You know, being, I mean, we might even have something to be legitimately angry about,
but is it necessarily everybody else's fault around us?
You know, maybe we're upset about something that happened during the week out in the
world.
You know, it's really not right to bring it into church and try to, you know, just
walk around angry about something that nobody else had anything to do with, right?
There's a time and a place for these things.
Obviously there's never a time and a place for pride.
Pride is an abomination, right?
But again, isn't it interesting that, you know, the countenance declares, you
know, is witness against them.
They hide it not.
They declare their sin as Sodom and then pride being another one of these wicked abominations
like the sin of Sodom is associated with pride.
The Bible says in Proverbs 6, these six things that the Lord hate ye, seven are
an abomination unto him, a proud look, I mean, tops the list.
A lying tongue, hands that shed on innocent blood, so on and so forth, but it's a proud
look.
God hates it.
God hates a proud look because of why?
Because of the way it looks.
Because a proud look is indicative of a proud heart.
Because what's in a heart comes out on our face and in our words.
And high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin, the Bible says.
We probably could all think of, you know, you know, what, what would be an example?
What would a proud look look like?
You know, it would be that kind of, you know, people kind of look down your nose.
The chin kind of goes up.
I mean, we all, we know.
You think of the sports figure, right?
The guy who's just really proud of his athletic achievements or whatever.
Some of these athlete, you know, these pro sports stars, they get so full of pride
and other people, right?
But there's great examples of that and often you'll see them just like that.
You know, the chin comes up and they're just very proud, right?
And they're kind of, it's almost like they're looking down on people, right?
The Bible says in Proverbs 101, look at verse five.
Who so privily slandered at this neighbor, him will I cut off, meaning I'm not going to
put up with people who slander their neighbor, you know, who say bad things about people
and try to smear people's good name.
I'm not going to, I'm going to cut that person off.
I'm not going to have anything to do with them, right?
Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will I not suffer.
So the high look and the proud heart go together and he's saying, I'm not going to suffer
these things.
So these are some of the countenances, the emotions, rather, that can show up in
our countenance.
If you would, go back to Nehemiah chapter number two.
How about this one, hostility, right?
You know, anger is one obviously that could be kind of, you know, hostility, they might
both kind of look the same on someone's face, but you know, anger really could just
be someone just look, they're just kind of frowning, they're just kind of upset
and then you have pride where people kind of looking down, but hostility is like, that's
a look where you could tell somebody has intent to do you harm, right?
Because that's what hostility is.
It's an, you know, it's an intent to do violence, right?
To be hostile with somebody.
And the Bible talks about this, remember when Jacob had made that deal with Laban
regarding the flock, the string rake and the speckled and those that didn't have
those, how they were going to separate the two flocks and then Jacob's flock increases
and then his brothers, you know, they say he's taken away our father's wealth.
And what did Jake, what does it say of Jacob?
Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban and behold, it was not as him before.
And the Lord said unto Jacob, return to the land of thy fathers and to the kindred
and I will be with thee.
And Jacob sent and called Rachel and laid it to the field unto his flock.
And he said unto them, I see your father's countenance that it is not toward me
as before, but the God of my father had been with me.
So he's saying, I'm doing this and it's looking like Laban is hostile, right?
Which is why he sneaks away, because he's afraid of that, he'll just have everything
taken from him by force, right?
His countenance was a hostile countenance.
Now I'll say this about, you know, the hostile countenance.
It's a, you know, it's good when people who are hostile to us, you know, give us
a heads up through the look on their face, right?
You know, reading expressions is actually a survival mechanism, okay?
You know, I haven't read it, but someone told me it's on my list of books to read,
this book called The Gift of Fear, I think it is.
But the author, I know enough about it where they're talking about how you should follow
your gut instinct.
You know, when someone's giving you a vibe or you're picking up something, it's
usually because it is that way.
And he cites different things where women were attacked and things like that where they
would say, you know, when I first saw that guy, when I first walked into that stairwell,
something in my gut just told me to get out of there.
And what they were picking up on was the facial expressions, even like things like
pheromones, all the body language, all these subconscious things that people will just
communicate to us without them even knowing it, right?
And a lot of that is in the countenance.
And when someone means us harm, a lot of times you can just look at their face and
you know this guy is ready to rumble.
This person wants to, they have bad intent, right?
So really, you know, the fact that our countenance says so much is beneficial, right?
It's a good thing that people, you know, can't help but show sometimes what they're
feeling inside.
Hence the need for flattery, right?
People who want to do us harm, often they have to fool us through flattery by
smiling and faking these things and saying things and complimenting us and giving me
these gifts so that they can hide the fact that, you know, they're really going to
stab us in the back or whatever, right?
Another expression that shows up on our countenances is stubbornness, right?
People, you know, maybe I see a little bit more of this as a preacher, but it's there,
right?
The Bible says a wicked man hardened his face, but as for the upright, he directed
this way.
You know, sometimes people just want to dig in their heels and they get a stubborn
countenance.
Now obviously these are countenances that are going to show up based upon our feelings,
you know?
So we have to, if we're going to have a correct countenance, we really have to deal
with the heart, don't we?
We really have to say, you know what, I'm an angry person, I'm a stubborn person,
I'm a proud person.
You know, if that is us, if that's something that can be seen in our face, we can't
just change our face.
We can't just try to change the expression on our face.
We have to actually deal with those things in our heart.
If we're angry, if we're all these things, you know, we have to go inward and deal
with those, and deal with those things in order for that to show up in our countenance.
Every countenance fits the occasion.
Excuse me, let me rephrase that.
I wrote every countenance is correct if it fits the occasion.
I'm not saying never have an angry look.
Sometimes there is a time and place to be angry, isn't there?
There might even be a time and place to be hostile.
You know, if someone's threatening me or my family, I'm not going to be like,
you better watch it buddy.
You better look out.
I'm going to get you.
It's not going to happen.
It's time to get the scowl, get the mean look, get the mama bear, comes out.
Kids are misbehaving.
We express our disapproval through the look on our face.
We can communicate a lot of things.
So it's not that these countenances are just wrong, it's just that they need to
fit the occasion.
Nehemiah, he had a sad countenance, but there was a good reason for it.
It turned out for his benefit.
God used that to get him sent back to rebuild the wall.
He said in verse 3, why should not my countenance be sad?
I have a reason.
This is appropriate.
I should have had you go to 1 Samuel chapter number 1, but just go to Ecclesiastes chapter
7.
Ecclesiastes chapter number 7.
We'll move along in the sermon.
Countenance is correct if it fits the occasion.
It's not that anger, again, I've said it before, I'll say it again, pride really
never has, there's never really a right time for that.
God hates pride.
If that's showing up on our face, that's something that can be seen of us and our
character, we need to get rid of that, because that's an abomination.
But these other ones, hostility even, anger, there's a time and a place for those
looks.
There's a time and a place for those feelings if it's correct.
We don't want to misread people's countenances either.
Sometimes we can get the wrong idea about what somebody's feeling if we misinterpret
the way they look, the look on their face.
For example, remember when Hannah, who was barren, went up to pray.
She goes into the temple to pray, and she's down and she's praying in her heart,
the Bible says, she's spake in her heart, but her lips moved only, and then Eli sees
that, and he says, oh, she's drunk and calls her a daughter of Belial, right?
She's misinterpreting the look on her face.
She's not some drunken, heathen idolater.
She's just someone who is complaining, as she said, out of the abundance of my complaint
and grief have I spoken.
She's saying, I'm here, I look this way, I'm praying like this because I have a bunch
of grief.
Sometimes a negative countenance is the correct one.
It's not being unrealistic.
If people come in and they look sad or upset, there's probably a reason for it.
If we have people come into our lives that have a certain look on their face, maybe
we should try to find out why, and say, hey, what's going on, are you all right?
Where did I have you go?
Okay, good.
Sometimes a negative countenance is the correct one.
Sometimes that is the correct countenance to have if it fits the occasion.
For example, I'll read to you in Proverbs 25, the Bible says, the north wind driveth
away rain, so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
You would read this.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
It's a good thing.
Is it a good thing to drive away a backbiting tongue?
It's a good thing, right?
He's saying it's effective, right?
Just like the north wind drives away rain, an angry countenance will drive away a backbiting
tongue.
People that want to come and slander their neighbor or start talking trash about people,
what we typically do, I can't speak for everybody, I don't know, maybe nobody's
like this, but I think the typical reaction is just because it's an awkward situation,
isn't it?
When somebody comes and starts talking smack about somebody else, it's kind of an awkward
situation.
What they're really trying to do is just get us to start joining in with them.
Yeah, you're right, so and so is this or that, and start dogging this person.
But when that happens, we typically, good people, they don't want to do that.
They don't want to join in on that.
But how do they typically handle it?
Yeah, I guess, eh.
They try to get out of there, right?
It's really awkward.
You don't know how to respond sometimes.
Well, the Bible tells you how to respond to that situation.
Use an angry countenance.
Say, hey, I don't want to hear that.
Don't talk like that about so and so.
Take that somewhere else.
And you know what?
That person will never come to you again.
They'll know if I go talk trash about somebody or that person, they're just going to get
mad.
So I'm going to go try somebody else.
This works.
I know from personal experience and testimonies of others that if you practice this, if someone
comes to you and starts slandering somebody and talking trash, and you just get mad,
you get that, you know, put that countenance on.
You know, get angry about it.
You know?
And say, hey, knock that off.
You shouldn't be doing that.
You know?
They'll never bother you again with any of that.
It's like the north wind driving away rain.
You know, the sun will come out and you'll never see another cloud.
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter number 7 verse 2.
Sometimes a negative countenance is the correct one.
It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that
is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is
made better.
So is he saying having a sad look is what makes you better?
No, but obviously if you have sorrow, it shows up on your countenance.
You know, people that are grieving, people that are going through hard times, people
that are suffering loss, you know, and we all go through that, people who are dealing
with things, negative emotions, it's going to show up on their face, right?
But the Bible says that actually makes our heart better.
You know, that makes us a more compassionate, understanding, and patient people with others
when they go through those things.
You know, we go through things and we're comforted so that we can comfort others that
are in tribulation, right?
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in
the house of mirth.
So again, there's a time and place for the negative countenance, to have the sad
look, right?
Sometimes it's because of genuine sorrow and ultimately will make the heart better.
Now when would a sad or downtrodden look, a fall in countenance be inappropriate?
I think in certain negative circumstances, you know, that should not affect your countenance.
Go to Psalm 43, Psalm 43.
And this is something that if we kind of look for it, we'll probably find happening
more often than not.
You know, sometimes things will just happen in life that we have no control over and
then we'll let it upset us and, you know, it'll cause our countenance to fall, right?
We'll get mad, we'll get angry.
What happened?
The battery died on my car.
You know, this is something I've experienced lately, along the litany of other things
that have gone wrong on my car, right?
You know, when I can get mad, in fact, I might have, you know, I can get upset
and start throwing a fit, but you know what?
Batteries die in cars all the time.
And that's not the last time it's going to happen.
So what does getting angry and upset going to achieve?
So again, having a negative countenance, you know, having an angry face or being upset
or depressed or upset about something, it's not always a bad thing, but you know, it's
the circumstances that kind of tell us whether or not we have the correct countenance
or not, okay?
You know, sometimes things are just going to happen and you can't do anything about
it.
The milk is going to spill.
Right?
The proverbial milk.
It doesn't do any good to cry over it.
It's not going to put it back in the cup.
Just clean it up and move on.
Look at Psalms 43, verse 1, Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation.
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man, for thou art the God of my strength.
Why dost thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out thy light and thy truth.
Let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles.
When will I go to the altar of God, and unto God my exceeding joy?
Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O my God.
So you can kind of see, you know, what David's going through here, right?
He's saying, you know, judge me, deliver me from this wicked nation.
Why do I go mourning?
Why am I so upset about things I can't control?
And look, when you're living in a wicked nation, obviously it vexes you.
When wicked people are doing wicked things, it affects us, but ultimately we have to
ask ourselves, why?
Why do we let it get to us?
Why are we cast down?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Why art thou disquiet within me hope in God?
For I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.
You know, if we're letting a lot of just, you know, external circumstances get us
down about the way things are in the world, it might just be that we just need to go to
God.
You know, we need to go to the altar of God, right, unto God my exceeding joy.
It's kind of like Psalm 73, right?
Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end, right?
He was envious at the wicked, but when he got with God, when he got in the house
of God, when he got in the Bible, when he got with the Lord, he understood what
was coming to the heathen.
He understood what was coming to the wicked, you know, and it changed his heart.
You know, he stopped being envious at the wicked.
Why art thou cast down?
Why art thou disquieted?
Hope in God, right?
Who is the health of my countenance and my God?
We shouldn't go through this life letting all the negative things that we hear affect
us.
And people do this, this happens a lot.
You know, this is what a lot of people out in the world, and it's hard to understand
how some people can even get up in the morning and face this world anymore who don't know
God.
I mean, I don't know how I'd do it.
If I didn't have the God of my joy, you know, the God that, who is the health
of my countenance to get me through it, I don't know how I could do it.
You know, there's so many things out there that just vex us, so many news stories,
there's just so much wickedness going on, it just seems like it's getting worse
and worse and worse, but you know, if we just sit there and dwell on that, it's going
to show up on our countenance, it's going to depress us.
You know, I think sometimes people get the wrong impression about me because I'm always
kind of preaching about these things and bringing this stuff up and preaching against
stuff, but it's not like I go home and think about it 24-7.
You know, I'm going to go home tonight and go to bed and wake up tomorrow and just
start my week, start my day like any other day, and enjoy my family and enjoy my
work and enjoy the beautiful state that I live in, even this time of year.
I'll probably enjoy the pool a little bit more, right?
Enjoy getting out of the heat a little bit more, but I'm going to enjoy life.
I'm not going to go just walk around with a dark cloud over my head all day just
like, man, these sodomites, can you believe these fags?
It's 24-7, right?
Or just, you know, tune into the news and just let the next depressing news story
just bring me down.
Because violence sells, right?
I mean, if you just listen to only the news, man, you'd think that the world was
coming apart as it seems.
We need to go to God.
Negative circumstances should not always affect our countenance.
How about when persecution comes, right?
You know, Pastor Shelley's up there preaching in Tempe, and I heard he's kind of, he's
kind of given the tell-all how things have been going out there in, at Steadfast
in Fort Worth, and it hasn't been a pleasure cruise the last four years.
I mean, what was the title of the sermon, LGBTQ Terrorists?
Yeah, that guy knows, and that's what they are, you know, and Pastor Shelley has been
going through some things, but you know what, you call him on the phone, you talk
to him, he still laughs, he still smiles, he still has a wonderful family that he
enjoys, he still goes and enjoys his life, right, because he knows that's just part
of the deal, you know, that's part of serving God.
Jesus said, blessed are ye when all men shall hate you and when they shall separate
from you and reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the
Son of Man's sake. When he says, when that happens, it's okay to be sad and
depressed and angry and just want to quit and just walk around with a sour
look on your face. No, he said, rejoice seeing that day. Leap for joy, right?
I mean, Pastor Shelley should probably have increased his vertical quite a bit
over the last four years. That guy's been doing so much leaping. I would
hope, right, he's got a lot to leap for. For behold, your reward is great in
heaven. You know, that's how he's gonna get through that. That's how any of us
is ever gonna get through certain circumstances, right, where we're being
persecuted, we're being hated for Christ's sake, when we're being hated by
other men for the Lord. We're to leap for that. Well, why should I leap?
Because you have a reward in heaven, okay? So, you know, these are some examples of
negative emotions that affect our countenance. They're not always out of
place. Sometimes they are, okay? Now, let me just kind of close giving some,
because the title is A Correct Countenance, right? So we got to first
understand, you know, when is the countenance appropriate? When
should we feel a certain way? Because that's ultimately what I'm talking about,
right? When is it okay to feel this way and feel that way? Countenance is
really just, you know, the thermometer, so to speak, that's kind of giving us
that information, telling us that's what's going on. You know, when is it
appropriate? But let me just close by giving you some, maybe, tips on how to
correct the countenance. You know, a correct countenance, title, sermon, how
do you correct a countenance? How do you have the correct one? You know,
what's interesting about a countenance is that you can actually counter negative
circumstances with it. I'm not saying in every instance. Sometimes
tragedies, you know, grief, it's too much to bear. We've probably all been
through things where it's like we couldn't smile if we wanted to, where
we couldn't help but just weep and mourn. You know, I'm not saying this is
a cure-all, but you know, but if we're just kind of having a bad day and
we're just kind of having a bad attitude, you know, it's our countenance
could actually counter that. We can counter negative circumstances. For
example, put on what I, and this is something I put into practice, put on a
normal face, right? I'm not saying if you want to counter some frustration
in your life, all you have to do is just start trying to grin from ear to
ear, you know, because you're just gonna look weird. If you walk in, you're just
walking to the grocery store, it's super crowded, you're like, so glad to
be here, you know. People are gonna be like, call security, right? What's that
guy on? Or they're gonna ask you for something, who knows, right? But how
about just a normal face, right? Just a normal face, not looking, because you
know, when we get in those stressful circumstances, we're waiting in the
line, you know, when we're going through the grocery store, we're sitting in
traffic, and we're getting frustrated, you know, we all been there, right? Just
it shows up. You see people driving, you know, they get angry, but if I, what I
found, and look, I don't know this will work for anybody else, but sometimes I
just say, hey, that's an opportunity to just try to not let it show, you
know. Even if I am feeling those things, just try not to let it show on my
face, right? To just try and put on a normal face, and what I found is that
actually changes my mood. You know, if I'm in Walmart, which, you know, the one of
the major reasons I got married is so I could never have to go grocery shopping
again. I'm half joking, okay? Although I did hear about that concept as a
single guy, and I was like, hmm, never have to shop again, maybe you consider
this marriage thing, right? So when I go shopping, you know, it's, it's like, man,
this is the whole reason I got married. I'm just kidding. But, you know, I typically
don't like to go shopping. I don't like to be in the grocery store. I don't like
walking around. I don't like crowds, you know, because everyone's just kind of
looking and running into each other. So when I'm there, what I'll try is just
say, hey, you know what, let me just put on a normal face, and what I'll find
myself doing is I'm actually in a better mood just from trying to
change my, it actually works the other way around, okay? And I'm just
throwing that out there, you know, try that sometimes. You know, that might
actually change your mood, you know. There's another actual thing you can do
called the physiological sigh, okay? The physiological sigh, and this is something
that was discovered all the way back in the 1930s, that when a person is
feeling anxious or, you know, upset about something, they can actually do a sigh
that will trigger, you know, their body to, to relax. And basically the way you
would do it is you take a big inhale through your nose, right, and then before
you exhale, take another one, another quick short one, and then, and if you'll
do that, and look, I'll do that sometimes, even if I like, I'm nervous
before preaching, you say, why did you get that closet back there? Why did
you put a door on there? It's because I'm back there doing these weird
breathing exercises, just kidding. But I have done that, you know, sometimes I'll be
nervous about something or I'm just feeling anxious and just, and it actually
calms you down. Because it's, and I don't want to go into all of the reasons why
it's, it's releasing built-up carbon monoxide. It's helping the, the sacs in
your lungs that have collapsed to expand. You know you have, you have
enough surface area in your lung to cover a tennis court? That's crazy, isn't
it? It's a little facto. You get nothing else tonight, you got that. What'd you
learn at church? My lungs can cover a tennis court, okay? Right, but it just
goes to show, you know, we're not always breathing with all that, you know.
A lot of times the stress that we're feeling is just a buildup of carbon
monoxide, you know. Just do a couple of those, you know, because I want to
give you something practical. How are you gonna correct your countenance? How
are you gonna change your attitude a little bit? How are you gonna relax? Okay,
that's one thing you can do. Just try changing your face, try correcting it,
you know. Fix your face, right? That's the saying that's out there. Try the
physiological side. And don't, well let's just close here. What's another way you
can correct your countenance? What's a few other things? Go to John 14, we'll
close in John. Go to John 14, then we're gonna go to John 16. It's kind of
going back to what I said earlier about persecution and things like that. Is that,
you know, if we want to go through this life with a good countenance and not
being vexed by everything, we have to get a biblical outlook on life. You know,
people that are just down, you can see it in their countenance. They're just not
excited about the things of God. They're just, they're not excited about
the preaching the Word of God. You know, sometimes they just look like they
could be anywhere else. And it's like, I wonder if you even have a biblical
outlook on life. Are you even thinking about the things of eternity? You know,
there's a song we used to sing in my old church called, these little hymns we
used to sing before service, before we got into the big hymns. It was called, I
don't know what it's called, but it went, get the new look from the old book,
get the new look from the Bible. I wish Mrs. Martinez was here, she
probably knows this one. Get the new look from the good book, get the new
look from God's Word, get the inward look, the outward look, the upward look
from the good good book, right? Get the new look, get the new countenance from
God's Word, right? Let God's Word give you an outlook on life. You know, keep the
things of God in mind. If we're reading our Bibles first thing in the
morning, we're praying, we're meditating on the Word of God
throughout the day, it's gonna change our countenance. And the law of the
Lord enlightens the eyes, the Bible says. You know, it's gonna be a light
onto our path, a lamp onto our feet, it's gonna enlighten the eyes, okay? It's
gonna give us that countenance. If we have a biblical outlook on life, I
believe that. That's why I know people who have gone through way harder things
that I've gone through for the Lord's sake, for the Word of God's
sake, and yet still have managed to be very happy people. They're not
going through life going, okay, when's it gonna happen again? When's it
gonna happen next? Great, now what? You know, that's not how they go
through life. They're very positive, happy people because they're in the
Word of God. You know, they've got a biblical outlook. If you're there in
John 14, did I have you go there? Verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe
in God, believe also in me. Don't be troubled. You believe in God, don't you?
You believe in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. This is his cure-all.
Don't be troubled, why? Because in my Father's house there are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. See, I'm not lying, I'm not
making this up. This is a fact. I go to prepare a place for you. You know,
obviously in the context he's trying to comfort his disciples about the fact
that he's departing. He's saying, I'm gonna come back, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. It's expedient, I have to go away to send the comforter
unto you, right, but we can apply this to our own lives. We have an
inheritance in heaven. We have a mansion in glory for saved. That's true. You
know, if we really believe that and we meditate on that, I mean, a lot of
these other things in life aren't as important. They're really not going to
get to us as much. You know, one thing I've heard over the years, and I try to
remind myself often, is that you will ultimately eventually lose
everything and everyone. Naked came I, and naked I shall go. We brought
nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. So if we, we
should not spend our lives just making about things and stuff, because all
that's gonna go away anyway. And a lot of those same things, they just bring us
frustrations, and they anger us, and they upset us, and they vex us, but a
man's life consisteth not, consisteth not in the abundance of his
possessions, is what Jesus said. What we do have is a biblical inheritance. We
have a mansion in glory. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come
again receive you. Look, Jesus is coming again. The Lord's are gonna return. You
know, sometimes, even today, we're sitting at lunch talking about some of these
wicked things that are going on, and I just said, you know what? God's gonna get
them all anyway. Sometimes I just remind myself of that. You know, you see
some filthy abomination out there in public, and it vexes you. It's like, well, enjoy
it while it lasts, homo. You hear about, you know, some good godly man in his
church being harassed for years on end? They're gonna get theirs. I understand
it's a lot easier for me to say than anyone that's actually going through it,
but it's true. There's probably a lot of people that are using that exact
same outlook to get them through. Saying, you know what? These filthy sodomites,
they're all gonna get it one day. God's gonna put an end to all of the
wickedness. Praise God. If we keep that in mind, you know, that'll affect our
countenance. It'll help us. He said, if I go prepare a place for you, I
will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be
also. Praise God for that. Go to John chapter 16. We're going to heaven. We
got to think about that. The Bible says in Proverbs 15, a merry heart maketh
a cheerful countenance, but by the sorrow of the heart the spirit is
broken. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of
heart the spirit is broken. It goes on and says, all the days of the afflicted
are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. He that
hath a merry heart hath a continual feast. It's like rejoicing. It's like a
party all the time to the person that has a merry heart. You know, the
person that is dwelling on the things of God, thinking about the things
of God, they're rejoicing evermore. You know, that's what Paul said.
Rejoice. And again I say rejoice. Rejoice evermore. Right? We ought to rejoice
always. You know, we're to rejoice. And if we don't, if we find ourselves
not doing that very often, we find ourselves, when was the last time you
got really excited about the things of God? Well, when was the last time we
really meditated and thought about the things of God and memorized the
Word of God and let these things speak to our heart? If we find ourselves
scowling through life and frowning through life and sad through life and
just pushing everybody away with our fallen countenance, you know, maybe it's
time to fix that through working on our heart. Did you go to John 16 verse
33? He says, these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace. In
the world you shall have tribulation. Say, look, Christian life's gonna be hard.
You're gonna have tribulation. You're gonna be hated for all men, by all men
for my name's sake. You know, you're gonna, you know, all they that live in
godly in Christ, you just shall suffer persecution. But I've spoken
these things that you might have peace. Not in the absence of conflict, in
the midst of it. God comforts us in all our tribulations. The Bible says, be
of good cheer. I have overcome the world. You know, we don't have to sit
around and dwell about all the wicked things that are going on in this
world. They're already overcome. You didn't say, I'm going to overcome the world.
One day I'm gonna get around to that. You know, it's a
work in progress. You know, we'll get there. He said, I have. It's already done. I have
already, I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer. You know, that's something
we should be happy about. How to correct your countenance. Get a biblical
outlook. Get the new look from the old book, right? Get a biblical outlook.
You're saved. You're going to heaven. Jesus has already overcome the world.
The wicked are gonna get theirs. The meek shall inherit the earth. You know,
that's not just a Baptist fairy tale. That's the Bible. And lastly, you know,
surround yourself with positive people. And I know this isn't always possible.
Proverbs 27 says this, iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend. You know, we should try to be friends with people
that sharpen our countenance. Your friends affect your face. It's true. I mean,
is that what he's saying, essentially? Iron sharpens iron. Just the same way
you rub two pieces of iron together, they're gonna sharpen one another. So a
man's count, so a man's sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. The people
that we hang around, they have an effect on us. You know, that's why the
Bible says, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man, thou
shalt not go. Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. We
shouldn't be making friends with angry, furious people. You know, they're
gonna just make you the same way. A man that hath friends must show
himself friendly. You know, and it's kind of just a human, it's just kind of a
natural reaction. People that are not friendly, people that have a kind of a
downtrodden countenance, people that are just grumpy looking and upset and
unfriendly, they typically don't have a lot of friends. Because who wants
to be friends with people like that, right? We ought to want to
be friends, and we all naturally do, with people that are friendly, people
that sharpen our countenance in the right way. You know, the people that we hang
out with, they're gonna have an effect on us. Are we hanging out with worldly
people? They're gonna make us worldly. Are we hanging out with greedy,
covetous people? They're gonna have an effect on us. Are we hanging out
with people that love God and the things of God, that we're rejoicing over
the things of God? That's gonna have an effect on us, right? And it was so
great yesterday to get in the van and go soul winning with 12 people. Why?
Because you got a bunch of people saved? Well, I mean, that would have been nice
too. But it was just great to be in a van full of people that are like-minded,
that love the Lord, that want to go out and serve him. You know, there was
a better spirit there, right? Why? Because we sharpen one another, right?
And again, that's why it's important to be in church, to participate in the
things of God, because not just the effect it has on us, but the effect
it has on you being there, affects other people. And you not being there
affects other people, you know? And it makes it hard sometimes when
everybody else shows up and then, you know, a lot of other people don't.
Tonight's a perfect example, right? You know, and I get it, Pastor Shelley's in
town, people are sick, it's summertime, people are out of town, things come up,
I get it, right? But if we can be there, we should be there and not be like
some of who would have said it's their manner to forsake the
assembling of ourselves together. It's the manner, it's what they do.
They're in the habit of it, right? Look, it's gonna affect you. Where else are
you gonna get good godly influence? Flipping through the channels on TV,
scrolling through some feed somewhere? I doubt there's gonna be, I mean, maybe
you're all new IFB on your social media, I don't know. Maybe it's just
preaching all the way through, I don't know. But the world isn't out there
trying to say, hey, be good here, Jesus has overcome the world. They're not,
that's not the message they're bringing, that's the message we preach, that's
what we bring. That's the message we need to hear, that's what's
gonna sharpen us, that's what's gonna give us that countenance, right?
That's how we're gonna have the correct countenance. We want to have a correct
countenance. How are we gonna get it? You know, by having a biblical
outlook, by hanging out with God's people and letting them to have an
effect on us, right? And understanding that, you know, there's a time and place
for everything. There's a time and place to be upset, to be angry, and
there's a time and place to have joy and peace and long-suffering. Let's go
ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the great love.
Lord, to change us and mold us and make us into the people that you have us to be. Lord, I pray you help us to reflect and show God's love towards others through our countenance. Lord, help us to be a positive influence in those around us. Help us to sharpen one another in Christ, yes, in Christ's name, amen.
Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go. We're gonna sing song number 129, that's Rock of Ages.
Song number 129.
One, two, nine.
One, two, three, four.