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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If you would turn over to first Kings chapter 19 first Kings 19 while you're turning to first Kings 19 I'll read for you from Jonah chapter 4 verse 3 it says therefore now Oh Lord Take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live Jonah is just saying hey, it's better for me to die than to live man. Just take my life from me I mean he's saying this to God in verse 8 it says That the Sun did arise and God prepared a beam and East wind and the Sun did beat upon the head of Jonah And we can kind of relate to this in Arizona this this feeling right sun's beating on your head you're fainting The Sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and whisked on himself to die and said it is better for me To die than to live and God said to Jonah doest thou well be angry for the gourd and He said I do well to be angry even to death He's in a low point he's going through a bad time He just had a great victory in the previous chapter now. He's got a low point, right? first Kings chapter 19 verse 4 how about Elijah look at the Bible in verse 4, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and Came and sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die And said it is enough now. Oh Lord take away my life for I'm not better than my father's and stop anything about this guy Literally just had the most awesome experience of his life He was just on Mount Carmel Facing off with the prophets of Baal He literally prayed down fire from God out of heaven that consumed the sacrifice and the altar and He had this marvelous victory He got to kill like 850 false prophets and Just have the whole nation see the mighty power of God What a victory and then right after that Next chapter he's super depressed because now Jezebel's trying to kill him and this and that he's an outlaw. He's on the run. I Mean that's just kind of how life works often as you read scripture Great victories in the Bible are often followed by great defeats But the converse is also true Sometimes the darkest hours just before dawn and you'll go through a low point and then things will get better you know and and there have been so many times when I was super gloomy and down in the dumps and Then just in a matter of hours or a day or something Then I'm just doing great and nothing even changed about my situation You know, I just changed my attitude and just and just started looking on the bright side just started enjoying life a little bit now Look, I think that many of us if not, all of us have despaired of life at some point now Look, I've never been suicidal and let me just say this right now If you ever hear the news that Pastor Anderson committed suicide, it means that they got me Okay, whoever everybody knows who they are Okay You know, don't ask me who that you know who I'm talking about, okay, somebody got me are you fill in the blank You know, somebody got me somebody got to me, you know, don't let them suicide me folks and and get away with it All right further, you know, I just want to go on the record right now. I will never commit suicide Okay, so if it's ever reported that I did it's a lie Okay, I've never been suicidal. I don't understand suicide You know, I look I've known people that have committed suicide and let me say let me say this people who committed suicide I'm not angry at them. I felt bad for them. It's really sad You know whenever whenever somebody that I've known has committed suicide, I'm not just like oh man So, you know, I'm not some Roman Catholic like oh, it's the worst unforgivable sin No, I'm just like man. That's so sad and usually you dig a little deeper There's a reason why they committed suicide and and you're they were going through a lot of bad things And and whatever and they despaired and gave up and committed suicide. Obviously suicide is not the answer. I will never commit suicide I've never been suicidal But there have been times when I have despaired of life in the sense that I kind of like Jonah I just wish that I was dead sometimes Because I was so miserable and I will say this that most of the time that I've ever felt like despairing of life and again not actually thinking of doing something as stupid as committing suicide, but I'm just saying like You know just where I've just been thinking like man, I don't even want to be alive right now, you know I'm just despairing even of life. Like I don't even want to live, you know, it's sort of like Jonah sort of like Elijah You know Elijah's not slitting his wrists under the juniper tree folks But he's basically just despairing of life and saying God I don't want to be alive anymore and you know I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands But probably most of us at some point have had that feeling of I don't even want to be alive anymore I'm sick of it and just kind of just despairing of life And whatever maybe you haven't well good You you will tomorrow. No, I'm just kidding but but the point is You know for me like the times that I felt that way was usually when I was dealing with like an extreme amount of physical pain You know like like I mean when you're just going through Extreme amounts of physical pain and you know You just the painkillers aren't working and you're just miserable and you're just in an enormous amount of pain I mean that's when I've probably more than ever despair of life But there have been other times when there were emotional things that made me despair of life You know, obviously different people go through different things, but look I've been through Some pretty painful things in my life, you know both physically and emotionally, you know I'm you know, I'm not gonna get up here and and and you know Give you the sob story of my life or something, but you know what I can honestly say I've been through some stuff Okay, and so I've been through enormous amounts of physical pain and maybe you've been through things that were worse I don't know. I'm not here to have a contest with you about it But you know what? I've gone through some things that that were such torture and so much pain and so much misery that you know I despaired of life and and you know what I found though is that no matter how bad things are They always end They always end, you know, and I've been through so many bad things and and I felt like this is never gonna end This will never be normal. This pain will never go away This ailment will never go away this, you know relationship problem or this emotional problem Whatever, you know will never go away, but you know what it always does It always ends and you say well, I you know my problems every well when you're dead it will end But either way it's gonna end but you know what most of these things end much sooner than that But you know what? I've noticed though is whenever I'm going through something really bad whenever I'm going through physical pain or sickness or an injury or You know just a relationship problem financial problem. You know what? I always feel like it's never gonna end while I'm there in the midst of it It just always feels like man. This is just my life now It's and people come to me even as a pastor and say to me things like, you know I can't just live the rest of my life this way, but it's like well I say it No, you know, you don't have to live the rest of your life this way You just have to live today this way because you don't know what a day is gonna bring forth Usually we think of that in a in a in a negative sense Like hey don't boast thyself of the morrow for that. No, it's not what a day may bring forth But you know if we can flip that over and say well don't get too depressed about your situation Because you don't know what a day is gonna bring forth Somebody who's sitting in prison today and thinks that they're not gonna get out, you know They might find out tomorrow the news that they're gonna be released. I'm sure somewhere in the world that's happening literally today and tomorrow Right because all throughout this world People are going through bad times that they think won't end and then boom something happens something changes something unexpected We don't know what a day will bring forth. That's why we've just got to take life one day at a time and Just let God bless us or put us through trials as he sees fit and Whatever God gives us. We just have to just deal with it You know and just be thankful for the good and endure the bad and just grind it out and get through it The Bible says in Psalm 28 verse 6 blessed be the Lord Because he has heard the voice of my supplications The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusteth in him and I am helped Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth and with my song while I praise him, you know, you can't really be greatly helped Unless you've had great problems You can't really have great healing unless you've had great injury or great illness right you can't Have great deliverance unless you've been in bondage or captive captivity, right? And so life is this series of ups and downs and the good times and the bad times and you've got to learn To endure the bad times get through it even try to find the joy in it even try to find the beauty in it Just like the Apostle Paul And and Silas and they're in jail and they're singing praises to God Literally having been beaten the same day that the wounds and the blood and the bruises are still fresh on their back And they're singing praises to God at midnight in the prison. They're just having a party How can they be having a party at midnight in jail with a fresh beating? Because he that is of a merry countenance hath a continual feast It's just life is one continuous party for them. You just enjoy Right, but then the people who just want to be unthankful Ungrateful Discontented not thinking about all the good things that God has done for them not enjoying the beauty that's out there in this world instead You know, they just want to just be self-centered and just complaining and miserable And they you know, their life's not a continual feast Their life is just a drudgery and even when things are good they find a way to complain about it Plus there are people today who've just they've dulled their senses With with things like drugs or overindulgence and really overindulgence in anything But especially overindulgence and things like video games and entertainment Just just laziness slothfulness, right people are indulging in pornography They're indulging in you know, whatever just Going overboard into just continual entertainment and enjoyment whatever their senses are so dulled Their reward center of their brain is so worn out that they can't enjoy the sunset anymore You know, they can't enjoy a cold glass of water on a hot day They can't you know what you know, it's like it's like people who you know, don't eat a lot of sugar You just put a little sugar in the food and it tastes really sweet to you You know the Bible says to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet But the full soul loatheth in honeycomb And so the people who just overindulge in the pleasures of this world then it's like they can't enjoy the sunset They can't enjoy Uh, you know a bite of watermelon or something, you know, they can't enjoy I don't really like watermelon that much That was a bad example, but you know, they they can't enjoy You fill in the blank whatever the food whatever the drink and you know what these people that's why they don't understand verses That talk about like wine making glad the heart of man oil causing his face to shine and bread strengthening his heart they think like You think grape juice made people glad? Because to them it has to be booze That's all they can enjoy Right for them. It's like yeah, you know all I can enjoy is beer They can't understand just the joy of literal just fruit or bread or just buttered bread You know or milk washing down your butter bread or butter bread with salt on it washed down with a cold glass of milk Okay, you know If you look at this verse about wine making glad the heart of man It's literally in the context of like bread and grass and water, you know, and then but their mind just goes to alcohol You know hand me another bud dumber And and so I can enjoy what god has given me, you know, and they want to get drunk because you know again They don't get it They don't get it. They don't understand the joy of just food and drink You know, but somebody who actually is content and thankful and doesn't overindulge Lives life a little bit hungry all the time Well, you know, they understand perfectly how much joy there is In just a cold drink or a warm bite of tasty food Folks there's so much to be thankful for Life can truly be beautiful and you know what when you're a christian Life is beautiful When you're a christian now look if if you're unsaved Well, then, you know, maybe your life just sucks and then you're gonna die and go to hell and whatever It's just not you know, there's not necessarily a lot of beauty there to be seen But but but for those of us that have believed on the lord, jesus christ as our savior You know our life is beautiful and even the trials and tribulations even the pain and suffering even the misery that we go through It's beautiful. It's like a woman giving birth Is painful, but it's beautiful Don't laugh at me back there What do you know about childbirth you've only given birth to 12 kids The point is hey, it's there's beauty to be seen maybe you don't see it, but I see it But honestly we all go through the you know, and plus, you know Childbirth in women. It's sort of like when men have a cold, you know, it's kind of a similar It's a similar level of suffering and discomfort, you know women don't understand how bad colds hit us Okay But here's the thing, you know At the end of it all you look back Over your life and if you loved god If you were number one saved and number two you loved god Then i'm telling you life will ultimately be beautiful And you will end up in a good place because of the fact that all things work together for good to them that love god And them that are called according to his purpose. I'm not saying that there aren't going to be some ugly things in your life I have a lot of ugly things about my life. I have a lot of ugly Memories and bad things and painful things and sorrows and trials and tribulations just like you i'm just like you I'm, not some just smiley joel osteen up here just where everything's going my way all the time No, my friend, you know You know, i'm not trying to compose a blues song up here, but you know But i've been down a long time my friend But the point is that you know at the end of the day though God has blessed me immensely And i'm thankful And at the end of the day You know when when it's all said and done There's been more beauty and more good than bad and so you've got to just learn to focus on those things and you know, what's so funny is like You know You could think about your childhood And you could think about all the negative things that your parents did or you can think about all the good times with your parents You know, you could think about your your marriage and think about all the good times with your spouse Or you could just think about all the times that your spouse was a pain Because I guarantee you that in any relationship both are going to exist You could just think about all the bad things about fill in the blank relationship siblings spouse You know, whatever, you know, you you could just think about that or you could choose to think about all the good things And be a much happier person Than to just sit there and just dwell on that time when you were treated unfairly just get over it, man You've treated people unfairly in your life You've been treated unfairly move on This is the day which the lord hath made we'll rejoice and be glad in it Let's bow down and have a word of prayer lord. We thank you for this beautiful day that you've given us lord We thank you for our church. Thank you for all the beautiful relationships that we have in this church Thank you for the beauty that we see in your word every day when we read it Thank you for the beauty that you've given us in the natural world lord Thank you for all of the countless blessings that you bestow on us every day help us to stop and realize it And be thankful and not to be bitter And murmuring and complaining about the things that don't go well help us to just realize that that suffering and pain are just a part of life lord And help us to find the beauty In this world wherever we can in jesus name we pray. Amen Amen if you need the song book 195 I will sing of the mercies 195 I will sing of the mercies of the lord forever sing it out I will sing My faithfulness Forever I will see I will see I will sing of the mercies of the lord forever. I will sing of the mercies of the Good thing tonight. We are So