(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good morning. Looks like everybody's ready to sing. All right, so let's go ahead and find a hymnal, and we'll get started with song number 364. Thank you for being patient. Good to see everybody here this morning. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If we can find a hymnal, we'll go ahead and start in 364 in the red hymnal. Song number 364. Standing on the promises. Song number 364. Standing on the promises of Christ my King. Through eternal ages, let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout and sing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail. In the howling storms of doubt and fear assail. By the living Word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord. Bound to him eternally by love's strong core. Overcoming daily let us be restored. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot fall. Listening every moment to the Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all in all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God. Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord we love you and we just thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church. Just to have a great church to attend and sing unto you and hear great preaching Lord. We love you and we just ask you to fill this church with your Spirit. It's in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Alright for our next song let's go to song number 359. Song number 359. Thy word have I hid in my heart. If you know it well sing it out. Thy word have I hid in my heart. Song number 359. Thy word have flipped my feet. A light to my path always. To guide and to save me from sin. And show me the heavenly way. Thy word have I hid in my heart. That I might not sin I can see. That I might not sin. That I might not sin. Thy word have I hid in my heart. Forever alone is thy word. Established and fixed on high. Thy faithfulness unto all men. Thou mighteth never die. Thy word have I hid in my heart. That I might not sin against thee. That I might not sin. That I might not sin. Thy word have I hid in my heart. At morning at noon and at night. I ever will give thee praise. For thou art my portion O Lord. And shall be through all of my days. Thy word have I hid in my heart. That I might not sin against thee. That I might not sin. That I might not sin. Thy word have I hid in my heart. Through him proof thy word hath foretold. The savior and warning star. Salvation and peace have been brought. To those who have strayed apart. Thy word have I hid in my heart. That I might not sin against thee. That I might not sin. That I might not sin. Thy word have I hid in my heart. We're working on Proverbs 31. Hopefully you've been working on memorizing that. And you kiddos, any of you that remember the verse of the week or can quote the verse of the week can get a special treat on our Wednesday night services. So there's an incentive there. On the inside we have our service times. We have a Spanish service at 4.30 in the afternoons on Sunday. And then down below is our church wide soul winning. That meets here at the building. We also have regional soul winning times that meet in different parts of the city. We also try to divide up our church into soul winning tribes. And so if you are newer to our church, you should automatically get grafted into a particular tribe. But that is also just a way for you to record soul winning, be encouraged, also have someone to go to and just ask if you have any questions about that. And so if you do have questions or you're not sure, please ask me or one of the ushers and we can help you determine that information. As far as our soul winning times though, all you have to do is just show up. And we love people that come new to soul winning. We love to help take you out soul winning with us. It's where we go and just preach the gospel to different people and just invite them to church. So there's no pressure. And also just being just a supportive partner, just a silent partner is what we call them. That's always very appreciated. Down below we have our church stats. And then on the right we have a list of expecting ladies. And we have several there who are expecting. So please make sure that you're praying for our expecting ladies. Down below is also a prayer list. We try to update this once a week. And so if you have various prayer requests, please email them into us or let us know and we'd like to just update it or put in extra information. On the back is the note about preaching class and upcoming events. We do have a preaching class on the 17th. So that's that Saturday. It's at 2 p.m. So our preaching classes are at 2 p.m. If you have a question or you're interested and you haven't already been a part of the class, please just ask me or Brother Dylan and we can give you that information as far as the next preaching class. Also I just wanted to put on your radar, one of our friends, Pastor Jimenez, his church, Verity Baptist Church, is hosting a youth conference or a youth rally in April and he just wants to invite as many like-minded church members and other people to attend and to visit as well. I know they did this last year and I heard it was a great success. I know at least a few people have indicated that they wanted to go from our church and so our goal is just at least we'll have a sign-up sheet in the future but just for those people to at least know who's going and if they want to maybe carpool or have some kind of similar accommodations or meet up or just whatever. Let me double check on that because I don't know what the youngest group but I think it's just basically all ages. I think but I could be wrong. It might be like the young, like really young, aren't necessarily that involved but of course parents are welcome to attend with their children to the event as well so I'll double check on that for you. Down below we have the congratulations to the Galaso family on the birth of John Christian. He was born on the 11th at 3.18 a.m., nine pounds 14 ounces and measuring 21 inches long. Congratulations Ben. I like how babies just come whenever they want, right? Like three in the morning or whatever so that's really convenient but congratulations to them, that's great and that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We're gonna go ahead and sing our third song this morning which is a psalm of the week, Psalm 146. We do have a special handout for that or you could use your Bible but the handout makes it easier. Psalm 146. Brother Dustin's gonna lead us. That was Psalm chapter 146 in your handout or in your King James Bible, Psalm 146. Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, while I praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God, while I have any meaning. But not your trust in princes, nor is the Son of man, in whom there is no hell, whom there is no hell. Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. His breath goeth forth, he returned to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perished. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, the Lord is God. Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Which made heaven and earth the sea, and all that there is which keepeth true forever, which executed judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry, the Lord will loosen the prisoners. Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind, the Lord raiseth them that are bow down, the Lord loveth the righteous, but the Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widows. Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. But the weight of the wicked, he turneth him upside down, the Lord shall reign forever, even my God, oh Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord. Alright, great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. That's Genesis chapter number 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Now as the offering plates are passed out, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. Genesis 32, the Bible reads, And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, and he called the name of that place Mahanayim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now, and I have oxen and asses, flocks and menservants and womanservants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and divided the people that was with him and the flocks and herds and the camels into two bands, and said, If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidest unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant, for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same night, and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother, two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch-camels with their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants. Every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou, and whither goest thou, and whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's, it is a present sent unto my lord Esau, and behold, also he is behind us. And so commanded he the second and the third, and all that followed the drove, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And say ye moreover, behold, Thy servant Jacob is behind us, for he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face, peradventure he will accept of me. So went the present over before him, and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives and his two woman servants and his eleven sons, and passed over the four Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this chapter, and I pray, Lord, that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit now, and bless the sermon. And, Lord, I pray that you would give him clarity of mind as he preaches to us. And also, Lord, help us to pay close attention to the message and apply the sermon to our lives so that we can glorify you in everything we do. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse 24, and the Bible says, And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him, until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. Now, in this story, it's very clear that Jacob wrestles with God. This would be what we would consider the pre-incarnate Christ. This is a manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ before he was ever even born in the manger. And obviously here he wrestles with Jacob. And there's a lot of symbolism and all kinds of interesting things about this chapter, but I'm not really going to focus on the spiritual in this. I'm kind of just focusing on the physical for a moment. Because notice, when he wrestles with God, for whatever reason, for the spiritual reason specifically, the Lord Jesus Christ allows Jacob to win. And I believe the spiritual picture is just simply how the Jews ended up killing Jesus. They ended up crucifying Jesus and how he let them take his life. He laid down his life. I would say that's similar here to how Jesus is kind of letting Jacob win in this particular fight or this particular battle. And yet we understand, obviously, Jesus isn't going to lose a wrestling match unless he allows himself to lose, right? It's kind of like Dad wrestling with his kids, and maybe he let his kid win or something like that. But because he doesn't win, and the story is that he can't win, at least in this context or whatever, that he ends up touching Jacob and he causes something, some kind of deformity in Jacob's thigh. Now skip down to verse 31. The Bible says, And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, talking about Jacob, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew it shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. Now sinew is just a part of your body, talking about the different muscles and the different groups in your body that basically just keep it all together. And so Jacob basically has to walk with a limp or walk halt, or another way to word this is a gimp. A gimp is if you are a disabled person or you walk with some kind of impediment. So he's kind of like, there's something obvious about the way that he walks now that something happened, okay? And so here's something that's permanent about Jacob. Now what's interesting about Jacob is prior to this incident, Jacob is noted as being kind of a superstar when it comes to a physical prowess. Jacob is capable of lifting heavy objects. I mean the Bible talks about him lifting off the stone from the well's mouth that typically would take multiple men. Jacob obviously is denoted here as being very strong considering the fact that he wrestled with God for an entire day. And in fact, according to the Bible, God can't even beat him in a wrestling match. Now obviously we understand the context around that, but showing that Jacob is really probably kind of a star athlete, very strong, has a lot of, you know, greatness to his physique. But after this event, he's now a gimp for the rest of his life. And I think that that, you know, we don't really understand what it was like and the Bible doesn't really elaborate on this too much, but I'm sure that was really frustrating to Jacob. I mean I'm sure no one wants to walk, halt for the rest of their life. I'm sure nobody wants to have some kind of an impediment or some kind of a physical deformity for the rest of their life. But even more so, I think all of us men, it would really hurt our ego. Like I'm just thinking like myself included, you know, we all kind of typically take a little bit of pride in our ability to run, jump, or play sports, or do all kinds of different physical activities. And if that were to be stripped from us, that would be really frustrating to our ego. That would be kind of a blow to our ego. It may cause us to feel depressed or to feel upset about the fact that we now have this gimp. And what I want to talk about this morning is just the gimps of life. Because the reality is a lot of people end up having gimps in their life. And I'm not saying just physical deformities. I want to expand that. But I think what you have to realize is life itself is going to be full of gimps. And one aspect of this is the permanency of this. Like, Jacob's never going to walk normal again, ever. And you know, unfortunately, there are people in this world that have something happen to them, and it's a permanent thing. Like, they get in a car accident, or they have an injury, or something happens, and now they're never going to be the same ever again. They're never going to walk the same way or run the same way. This happens a lot in athletics. Players will get injured, and then they just never get to play again. They never get to compete in a high level, or they're just never the same. This happens to people that aren't even in athletics, just normal people. They get in a car accident, and then they have to have a knee surgery, or now they have some kind of a limp. Or it's just the aspect of getting old. That's the other scary part. When you get old, sometimes things just happen. Or parts of your body just don't work the way that they used to. Part of life is accepting the gimps that you have. Just kind of accepting. That's point one that I have. Go to Job chapter one. We don't have to go back to Genesis, but if you just go to Job chapter one, I want you to realize that it's really important that you accept the gimps in your life. Think about it this way. Jacob can go the rest of his life, and every single step that he takes, he's always thinking about his gimp. Every step, just like every single moment of every single day, he can just be focused on the fact that he can't walk normal, on whatever pain, whatever grief, whatever sorrow that he has. That is one option. But you know there's another option that he never thinks about. Apart from the fact that obviously you're walking and you have to take care of yourself. I'm sure that he might have to be careful when he goes upstairs or whatever. But at the end of the day, he doesn't have to dwell on the gimp in his life. He can dwell on other things. And you know there's people in my life that always inspire me in this area. People that I know that have problems or have issues, yet they're never bringing it up. They're not talking about it. They seem like a jovial and happy person. You know someone that I think of often and someone that's on our prayer list is Brother Cameron Hall, who's had a severe leg issue. And you know it's kept him, like we've gone to our men's conference every year. He's like gone every single year. And he's usually kept from a lot of the physical activities that we do as a result of that. But then the guy is still so happy. Like I would think, me personally, I would really struggle not being able to participate. Even recently we had our Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship Conference and I had injured my ankle right at the perfect time. And so I didn't get to necessarily enjoy all the activities everybody else would normally do. I just went to the trampoline park, but I didn't get to jump. I know a lot of people played softball on the weekends and that was fun and I didn't play. And so me personally, I may not have had the best mindset around that. But that doesn't mean that I should. I should focus on the things that are good. And sometimes we get permanently injured and we can't necessarily fix that. We just have to accept that reality. And even if you're not permanently injured, maybe you're just temporarily injured, sometimes you've just got to accept what state you're in and focus on the good things that you have. But again, point one is just accept. Don't focus on it. Don't bring it up constantly. Don't allow that to affect your mood and your attitude all the time because everybody has some kind of an issue. I guarantee if we just went down the line and we asked people, it's like my back hurts, my head hurts, my ear hurts, my knee hurts, that's maybe the same person. We go all up and down. Everybody has some kind of disease or some kind of issue or they struggle with gastrointestinal issues or they have some kind of thing that's bothering them. They have some kind of a wart or some kind of a pimple or they have something going on in their mouth. They have something going on in their head. I guarantee you talk to people, everybody has something and then sometimes people have multiple things. Almost everybody just has some kind of an issue and some of them are temporary but then also what I'm really kind of focusing on in this sermon is the permanent ones. When we talk about this issue for Jacob, realize he's never going to walk normal ever again. You know what he has to do? He has to accept that I'm never going to walk normal again. You know that's a big component to our lives is accepting the gimps that we have. Now in Job chapter 1, look at verse 13. And there was a day, talking about Job, when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have carried them away. Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And Job rose and rend his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. You know, think about this, he has so much loss, he probably can't even mourn all of it efficiently. Because he can't even think, like that's so much loss, it would be hard to even know how to respond. Like, do you mourn for the oldest child, the youngest child, your favorite child, your flocks, your herds, the houses, your servants? I mean, he has so much loss, there's like, it's hard to even know how to grieve or how to mourn because he has so much to possibly even think about. He obviously is upset. He rents his mantle, meaning his coat or his jacket, he just rips it off of his body, he's so upset. He shaves his head. That's just weird, isn't it? Like, you just found out everybody died and you're like, the first thing I need to do is get a haircut, you know. Obviously, it's just kind of a picture of mourning, typically in the Bible is what that is. Like, you know, there is no normal emotion here. I mean, you just lost everything. It's like, what's the playbook here? I don't know. I mean, obviously, the guy is just distraught. But notice, it says this, he fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord and all this Job said not, nor charged, goes foolishly. I mean, if you just found out this information, isn't it kind of a limitless possibility of what you might do? I mean, you could like run to the house and just see it for yourself. Maybe you don't want to believe it. I mean, how many parents, if they just heard all of their kids are dead, would not believe it immediately? I mean, they would be like, I need to find this out myself, right? Just accepting the fact that your children are dead would take a lot of people a long period of time. Just accepting the loss of just your finances or your other things. Sometimes people won't accept loss financially, and you know what they'll do? They'll go on a credit card binge. And it's like, you know, it's real. You don't have the money. You can't buy these things. But then they're like, I don't want to accept the fact that we're broke, so I'm just going to keep spending like I'm not. It's called the United States government, okay? It's like, we don't have money. We'll just keep printing some. Nothing bad will happen, right? Yeah, okay. But it's just, it's one of those things where sometimes the first step is just accepting the reality. But notice that Job seemingly accepts reality right away. He right away, he just gets on his knees, he worships God, and he says, you know what, blessed be the name of the Lord. He gave me all this stuff, and wow, that was amazing. That was the best part. He took it away. That's the worst part. But you know what? Still, I should bless God. And I think that that is just, this is the epitome of someone having the right attitude when faced with the worst circumstances. So if Job can do this, then I believe we can as well. Now that doesn't mean that necessarily we're as good a person as Job or spiritual as Job, but I'm saying that we're physically capable. God would give us that opportunity if we would make the right decision, but we have to sometimes accept our gimps in life. This is a major setback. I mean, to lose 10 children, and you know, I was talking about they were drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. Obviously, some of these children are at least 20 years old or maybe even older. I mean, think about how much investment you've made into a child when they're 20 plus or they've already moved out. I mean, you've invested so much time, effort, and energy into these children and to lose them is just, it's overwhelming. Some people's hearts might just even burst just because of the grief, the sorrow, the pain, the suffering, the evil. But Job, for some reason, just like immediately accepts it. He just immediately just says, well, that's my life, but you know what? I can still praise God, right? I mean, let's say none of this bad stuff happened. Couldn't he have gotten on his knees and worshiped God that day? Yes, he could. Couldn't he have gone to church that day? Yes, he could. Could he preach the gospel or do something spiritual that day? Yes, he could. Now, he lost all of that. But did any of that stop him from worshiping God that day? No. Did anything stop him from going to church that day? No. So you know what he did? He just accepted the gimp that he had in his life and he just said, you know what? I'm just going to worship God anyways. And I think that sometimes we have to realize there are going to be things that happen to us in our lives that are going to permanently alter our lives, maybe a permanent disability or a permanent loss or a permanent grief or a permanent sorrow, but we can still praise God that day. And you know, you're in church this morning. We're here to worship and serve God. That doesn't mean that God won't bring you extreme sorrow in your life. I think that the Joel Osteen message, we sometimes mock, but then yet it still sticks with a lot of people like, it's your blessed life now. You know, your best life now or your blessed life now is when you go to heaven, right? When we're in the millennial reign of Christ. That's when it's all blessing. But you know, in this life there is sorrow. In this life there is pain. In this life there's going to be loss. In this life there's going to be gimps. And sometimes what we have to do is we have to accept the gimps of this life. We have to accept the evils of this life and no one did it better than Job. And you know, what I'm saying, let's be real. Let's be honest. It's pretty easy for me to say. It's difficult to do. This is the most difficult thing that anybody's probably ever done is to serve God after such extreme loss. The Bible then goes on even further to show that he ends up suffering boils. So it even affects his body. And the devil literally throws everything at Job that he possibly could. And yet Job still is capable of worshipping God. Showing us that you always have a purpose. Like no matter what happens or no matter what evil or no matter what suffering, you can still have purpose in this life. I mean, from a human perspective everybody would think that Job is not worthwhile. Like if Job went to the hospital in Canada, they would say, you should probably just take medically assisted suicide. They're just like, you're not worth living anymore. You have boils, you lost all your money, you're just like worthless. From a human perspective, Job was just kind of like meaningless from a carnal perspective. He's a leper in a sense almost. You wouldn't want to touch him. You wouldn't want to be around him. He can't benefit society. He's lost everything. He's broke. You know, his wife's a nag. I mean, nobody wants to be around Job, right? I mean, Job is basically a zero. He went from everything hero to zero just like that. Absolutely nothing whatsoever to be desired carnally speaking. But at the end of the day, he still had value to God. And I would argue this, he was still technically the most valuable person to God. He was the VIP spiritually, but he was the worst carnally. And of course that's because Job pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The Lord Jesus Christ had everything in heaven and he decided to lose everything to come to this earth. And then to go onto the cross at that point was basically the worst of the worst, carnally speaking, the lowest of the lows, something that nobody wanted anything to do with, carnally speaking, yet Jesus was the MVP on this earth, spiritually speaking. And so I think that sometimes we get too focused on the carnal, we get too focused on our circumstances, we get too focused on the gimps of life, rather than accepting the spiritual responsibility we have to accept our reality. We must accept our reality. We must accept who we are. We must accept where we are. We must accept what's going on in our lives and just say, you know what? Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know, sometimes we could sit here and be mad. I could be mad and be like, why am I not six foot five? You know, when I was young, I was very short growing up, pretty much consistently. I was always the shortest kid in school. And I remember just all the time just being upset about being short. But you know what? Some people are tall, like some people are giant, and they're mad about being tall. Some people, you know, people get upset about who they are, no matter what they are. They're too short, they're too tall, they're too ugly. Maybe even sometimes people hate themselves for being attractive. Because, you know, you would think like in your mind, like why would being attractive be a negative thing? But when you're attractive, often it causes you to be vain and the people to be around you to be vain and for you to be focused on things that are meaningless. And so people sometimes get frustrated even by beauty. Sometimes people get frustrated by success. I mean, we always think that if we had all these things, we'd be happy. But then why are all the people with all the money and the good looks so miserable all the time? I mean, there are so many women in Hollywood right now that are actually very attractive and then they're getting plastic surgery because they're upset with how they look. They're already in the top one percent of looks department and they're just not even satisfied with that. They're still so upset about how they look and many a times, if not almost always, plastic surgery will make you look worse. I mean, if you've got a physical deformity or you were in a fire or something, hey, I'm all for cosmetic repair. I'm not going to say that that's necessarily wrong. But, you know, when you don't have some kind of an issue and you're trying to fix what God did, you know, those plastic surgeons aren't as good as God. He already gave you as good a nose and all the other stuff as you're going to get probably, okay? And so you need to just embrace who you are. Embrace the gimps of life. Embrace what you look like. Don't be mad. There's so many people that are mad about the color of their skin. It's so meaningless. It's so silly. You know, if you're black as night, well, enjoy not getting sunburned as much. You realize that? And if you're white as snow, well, embrace the fact that on cloudy days you'll get vitamin D and you'll probably be healthier. You know, there's pros and cons to your skin color no matter what shade it is. There's pros and cons to everything. There's pros and cons to being shorter. There's pros and cons to being taller. Like, you'd think, like, what's the pro to being shorter? Well, usually people that are shorter have better eye-hand coordination and they're actually better at using their body parts, whereas people that are bigger and taller are usually a little more awkward. Maybe they don't have as good eye-hand coordination. Often, a lot of times, their joints also suffer more pain over time because they have so much more stress and so much more weight being applied to those joints, and so it actually causes them more issue. So you think, like, oh, I want to be tall, but then you have these issues. And then you're like, I want to be short, but then you can't reach stuff on the tall shelf. You know, it's like, there's always a pro and there's always a con. You know, we always often try to think of things in a carnal way, but we usually have the wrong perspective. And we sometimes just have to accept who we are. We have to accept the personal limitations that we have. We have to accept the issues that we have in our lives. And once you've accepted them, then focus on the good. Accept the gimp, point one. Point two, focus on the good. Now, go to Job chapter 42. Go to the last chapter of the book of Job. And I want to look at a couple verses here. Focus on the good, and really, I want this to be the point, but another really important aspect of this is just, and a way to focus on the good, is just loving other people. Why is it, you know, what's the problem when we talk about not accepting the gimp that you have is you're focused on you. You know, other people typically don't care that much about your problems. We're all a little bit more narcissistic. We really don't necessarily, we can't truly appreciate pain and suffering. Like, we can all feel bad for Job, but you know what, we have no idea what it's like to be Job. Like, Job's pain level is higher than us trying to feel bad for him, okay? And whoever's experiencing pain, we can try to empathize and we can feel sadness, but it's not the same. Like, my wife, when she's having contractions, I felt bad and I felt pain, just like watching her feel pain, but I guarantee her pain was worse. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't really experience the contractions. I have no idea what it was like, okay? I'm sure it was horrible. But it doesn't mean that I didn't feel some pain, but it's just not even close to that same level of pain. So we'll never truly understand the pain level that another person has. Therefore, no one's gonna truly understand you. But you know what you can do? You can just still love other people. You can still just do good unto others and stop focusing on yourself, stop focusing on your problems. I mean, doesn't Jacob still have a lot to offer in his life, even though he's halt? I mean, isn't it important for him to raise his 12 children and daughter? Isn't it important for him to give instruction unto Joseph? Isn't it important for him to bless Joseph and to bless Pharaoh, and he has a lot of works left for God to have him accomplish in his life? You know, isn't it important for him to still lead his wives? Yes, it's important. Jacob has a lot of work to do, even though he's halt, okay? So it's not for him to just give up on life or quit on life or stop doing right just because he has a particular gimp in his life. No, he needs to accept that gimp and then focus on the good and love other people, okay? Same with Job. Job is in a really bad spot, a really bad issue. I mean, he has boils over his body, he's been rejected, his friends aren't even his friends anymore, basically. Job's lost everything, okay? And God ends up finally showing up at the end of Job and kind of helping him get the right perspective. And then God tells him how his friends were wrong, and he wants them to do some kind of an offering, sacrifice. Look at verse 8. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly, and that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right like my servant Job. That's a really important verse in the Bible to understand that you shouldn't be quoting Job's friends authoritatively. God says he won't even accept sacrifices from Job's friends because of how badly they spoke about God. So when anybody's quoting the book of Job, be careful who's talking, okay? When it's Job, that's fine. When it's a friend, that's suspect, okay? Now, and the thing that's difficult about Job is his friends often even quote Bible verses or they quote things or say things that are right. It's just usually they have the wrong context, like fake preachers today. There's a lot of churches today that they'll use a Bible. They'll even read verses, but you know what the problem is? That they didn't say that which is right about the Lord because they take it out of context. They twist it. They pervert it. They rest the Scriptures to their own destruction. So you got to be careful how you apply the Bible. It's just like a sword or a gun. There's nothing wrong with a sword or a gun, but they could be really beneficial and they could be really harmful depending on how you use it. Just like the Bible. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit. This will do spiritual battling and warfare. It can heal people and it can destroy people very quickly, and so you want to be careful how you use the Word of God because it's powerful. Now, this is what's interesting. Job's friends just came and trashed him over and over and over. After he's having the worst few weeks of his life, he's lost everything, and then notice what God is telling him. Job shall pray for you. Isn't that kind of a bummer when God is saying, like, pray for this person that's treating you like garbage? Right, imagine you have a bad day and then someone just comes and attacks you and is vicious towards you and evil towards you and says horrible things about you, and then it's like God's like, hey, will you pray for that person? You're thinking like, yeah, like an imprecatory prayer or what am I praying exactly? No, you're praying for their good. You're praying for their mercy. You're praying for their kindness. And you would think like, wouldn't Job think like, hey, God, could I pray for myself? Like, could I pray for my problems? Could I pray for like my issues here? How about my gifts that I have in my life, God? Don't you care about me? I mean, my friends are bozos. My friends didn't even say that which was right. I said what was right, and now you're asking me to pray for them? How does that even make sense? Wouldn't you think, does God even care about me? Like, why does he want me to pray for them? I'm pretty sure my life's worse than theirs, right? But he's still asking Job to pray for them. And then look what it says in verse 10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Did this verse say the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for himself? When he asked for things for himself. When he was thinking about himself. God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. What did he do? He focused on the good that he could do. He focused on loving other people. He wasn't focused on his problems. He was focused on other people's problems. And you know what? That is typically the best way to get through difficulty or sorrow is to think about other people. Because you know what? There's an endless supply of other people that need things. There's an endless supply of other people that need prayer and need help. You'll never run out of that. And let's be real. Even if you could fix all your problems, you'll have new problems pop up. Like, we always have problems. Like, we always have issues. We always have things that we could worry about. But at the end of the day, you know, why don't you focus a little bit more on other people instead of focusing on yourself? Accept your problems. Just say, hey, if I have to have this problem for the rest of my life, fine. But can I pray for other people? Can I do good on other people? You know, what if Job never got recovered? What if nothing good ever happened to Job? Couldn't he still pray for other people? Yeah, he could, right? But you know, then God ends up deciding to bless him anyways because he did that. Now, I want to be careful here because the majority of my sermon, it's different than this because I don't want to focus on the recovery of Job that much because, like, for Jacob, there was no recovery. And when we talk about these gimps, many things are just going to be permanent. There's no, like, fixing it. And even for Job himself, there is a permanency to his loss. He will never have those ten children ever again. Never. He's never going to hold them in his arms on this side of heaven. He's never going to get to, you know, giggle and laugh with them and enjoy their presence. He's not going to have any of that ever again. It's been wiped away. It's been taken permanently. He's halt for life. He's a gimp for life. He can never love that child again in this life, in this world, in this context. Obviously, in heaven, we get that, but I'm just saying, to this life, But while he was on this earth, he's halt for the rest of his life. Job has the loss of his children for the rest of his life. You know, money comes and goes, but you can't replace children. Like, you're going to always have a spot in your heart for that child. You're always going to love that child. And you lost it. And, you know, this makes me think of how many people in our lives and people that we know and even ourselves, you're going to suffer loss. And there's been people that lose children through miscarriage all the time. Like, the numbers are staggering, and most people are very private about it. Like, most of us, we don't even know, like, what... We don't even know, like, what happened, or we don't even know what's going on there. And, you know, me and my wife, we've suffered that too. And here's another thing, though, about that, especially with miscarriage, is, like, sometimes you could have a miscarriage and then you could have another child. From a timeline perspective, you could have never had both. The timeline, you know, you can't have both because they overlap too much. So, in essence, you could have only ever had one. And so there ends up actually being a positive. There ends up being a good side of this to where you still get to have a child. Right? And here's the thing, with Job, he ends up getting 10 more children, as the Bible says. Look at verse 12. The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, for he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 sheasses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. So he gets 10 more children. And maybe Job would have had those 10 children regardless. I don't know. But maybe it's also a result of this loss that they ended up having more kids or whatever. God opened his wife's womb when he wouldn't have opened it, necessarily. And so, you know, there is a type of replacement. Just like Jacob, you know, he's never going to walk normal again, but maybe there's some kind of grace in that situation. There's something that comes out of it that was a positive that would have never happened if he weren't hauled. So out of Job's suffering, he ends up getting blessed, and maybe he would have never had that blessing or got those children if it wasn't for this particular loss. And so sometimes we have to just receive God's grace. Okay, so those are the three points I want to make this morning. Number one, we need to accept the gimps. Number two, we need to focus on the good. And number three, we need to receive the grace that God has. I mean, this is a lot of grace that God showed unto Job to where he then recovered him. He got full health, full strength, money back in the accounts. He got new children. And that's a type of grace that God is showing unto Job and giving unto him so that he can be somewhat comforted. Again, he doesn't get those previous ten children back. And some people could just decide I'm just going to stay mad at God for the rest of my life because I'll never have those ten children. But why can't you focus on the ten that you do have? Why can't you focus on the grace that God has shown you? Why can't you embrace what God has bestowed upon you rather than just being frustrated about what you don't have or what could have been or, you know, whatever issues? Because sometimes you just can't have both either. So just embrace what God has given you. You know, one thing that I was thinking about in this context is how women who give birth, they have permanent stretch marks on their body. I mean, that's just a reality. You know, there's a lot of celebrity women and young women that won't get pregnant or don't go through that because they don't want their bodies to be different. They don't want to have to go through that. And, you know, the mothers in this room that have stretch marks, you know, praise God for you and praise God that you'd be willing to take that permanent gimp, that permanent suffering, that permanent mark, that permanent whatever scar so that you could have a child. You know, you have to accept that and then focus on the good and then receive God's grace that you now have a child. Here's the thing, you can't have both. You can't have the child without the stretch mark. Both are together. It's a package deal. And, you know what, just like this life, you know, you can't live life without having some scars, some pain, some sorrow, some evil. You know, some people, oh, like, Job at one point in the Bible was wishing he could have just never lived, right? Like, he wished that his day had never, he'd never been born. He'd never seen the day. But, you know, if you live, you get to experience good, but you also have to realize sometimes you're going to experience bad. Sometimes you're going to experience evil. Sometimes you're going to experience sorrow, too. To be able to be young, you know, means you're going to get old, right? To be able to live and do all these things. Like, there's a good and a bad to life. Go if you went to Philippians, chapter number four. If you want to go to Philippians, chapter number four. Here's another thing, when you get older, and you could lose your hair color forever. Once you go gray, like, we all, you know, we all started different, but then eventually we all get the same hair color. Okay, it all gets white, gray, or whatever, right? And you could never get it back. Now, some people, they get mad about this. They dye their hair or color it or do something. But, you know, naturally speaking, I mean, once it's gone, it's gone. You know, old people, they all kind of have that white hair and I was thinking about this, you know, the Bible says the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. So, you know, being older and losing your hair color, you could look at that as a gimp or a negative or a bad thing, but you know what, God is saying, I like the person that has white hair or gray hair, and they're a righteous person. Meaning that, you know what, God still finds joy and spiritual value in a person that's older, a person that has no hair color. God's not looking down from heaven like, well, what use do you have anymore? No, he's saying, hey, if you have righteousness, then that's a crown of glory. That's a good thing. That's a positive thing, showing that you're an older person that still serves God. Because a lot of older people are just bitter and upset and do nothing for God. And they just focus on retirement. In fact, it's funny how people get even more selfish when they get older. Like, it's all about them now and their vacation and going and doing the things they want, and they'll even just say stuff like that, like, I've been working my whole life. I finally get to spend some time on me. And it's like, well, if you've been doing this for 60 years, what's another 10 or 20? You know, it's like, if you've been focused on other people your whole life, why stop now? Right? But there's a lot of people that are like that, they just basically kind of become really selfish and bitter when they get older. Why do they get selfish and bitter? Number one, they didn't accomplish the things that they want in their life. They don't have their youth. They don't have their mental capacity that they used to. There's a lot of pain with being older. And so as a result, they're just focused on themselves instead of focusing on other people. You know, we have a church filled with a lot of young people. And I want you to have the right mindset when you get older that, you know, you are focusing on other people when you're young and just keep doing that when you get older. Because older people have a lot of value in this life. And unfortunately, the reason why a lot of our world's terrible is because of the older people. Because the older people were not staying focused on their children and on their grandchildren and teaching them the ways of righteousness and trying to help them. But rather, they're just focused on themselves. You know, a lot of times the Democratic Party is elected because of the older vote because they're so focused on Social Security and Medicaid. And usually the Democrats are the ones that are giving out all this money. And so they're just so selfish, they're so concerned with them and having some kind of money and government assistance that they'll literally vote in the devil himself just to harm the country. Okay? And you know what? That's a terrible attitude. You know, maybe if they had worked hard or continued working or were more involved in their children's lives, they wouldn't have to be such a way to become a parasite on society. You know? And I'm just telling you that, you know, just accepting the gimps that you have will help you then to focus on the good. Now, Philippians chapter number 4 reminds us to focus on the good things. Look what it says in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Maybe Job was thinking something like that. Hey, even in this suffering, I'm supposed to rejoice in the Lord. Verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know, that's an unpowerful verse because sometimes people can be at peace when you look at their lives and you think like why are you not upset? Like I would think like I would be more upset than you. Or I would be more frustrated. I would be more fixated on my issues if I were you. But then God can give you a peace which passeth all understanding, meaning sometimes people can accept who they are or what's going on in their life more than you can. Like some women that are very vain, they look down on other women who maybe aren't as attractive or don't have as much going for them, and they think like why are you not obsessed with your clothing and your hair and all this stuff? Like if I was as ugly as you, I would be so obsessed with that. But it's like they've just accepted who they are. And they're not going after this vain challenge of trying to be something that they're not and going and getting plastic surgery and ruining their face and putting on hours and hours of makeup to change who they look like. I mean if I just put someone else's face on mine, what's the goal of that? Right? What if I carry around a face mask of Brad Pitt and I just put it on or something? Like what's the point of makeup exactly here? You know it's just like you just got to change who you are to a completely different person? So then whenever the makeup runs off in the morning and your husband's like ah who's that? He's like Leah I thought it was Rachel. You know it's like what's going on? And look I'm not against you if you wear makeup. I'm just saying just generally speaking like why can't people just accept who they are? Just accept what you look like. Don't be so focused. People get upset like you're not a narcissist like they are. You're not focused on all these things that they are focused on. You know but at the end of the day God can give you peace with passable understanding. There are people that are just you know weird and awkward and they have problems or whatever and they just don't even care about it. They're not they're not concerned with it. They don't have an issue with themselves. They just accepted who they are. They're focusing on the good and you know what God can sometimes give you that peace that passable understanding. You know how could someone be okay when they've had severe loss? I don't know but God can sometimes just allow people to have peace when they're going through great difficulty and look what it says here in verse 8. Finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think on these things. This is the opposite of the news media. Have you ever noticed that the news media only report stories about bad things happening? This person got shot this person was killed this store was robbed like that's the news. The news is not like hey this person had a baby. Hey this person got a promotion at work. Hey this positive thing happened. It's just all negative. It's just like this person was shot this person was killed this person was drugged through you know the sea by a shark and you're just like ah! You know it's like that's all it's focused on. And it's like what is the Bible saying? It's like think about things that are pure true how about things not the news media not the internet not Hollywood not a lot of these things but then what is everybody obsessed and focused on? They're focused on things that aren't even real. They're focused on things that aren't even pure. They're focused on music that is telling them to sin and to do wickedness. I mean people listen to music so much today and look I get it I like music I'm sure a lot of you like to listen to music and everything like that but what is the world's music? Most of the world's music is not thinking things that are pure honest things that are lovely it's usually thinking about sin, evil, bad things negative things if it's country music it's definitely not something that's good I mean country music is like the worst genre of music in this category I mean it's like the exact opposite of what I'm preaching this morning they cannot accept who they are they're just so upset about how they lost their dog and their wife and their car and their house and I'm not as good as I once was and whatever it's like they're just like sorry a tear in my beer or whatever and it's like their lives are so miserable they have to drink themselves drunk they have to drink themselves into oblivion because their life is so miserable but you know what Job didn't have to drink himself out of his misery you know what he did? He worshiped God he praised the Lord he was focused on the good you know what's a good place to think about good things? Church you know if your life's getting hard get more in church not less if your life's hard read more Bible not less if you feel like your life's a train wreck preach the gospel more think about more people think about other people receive God's grace and you know sometimes things can change I'm not trying to say that some of our suffering won't get even better but some suffering is definitely permanent go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12 go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12 you know here's some ones that just hurt my heart I don't know how you feel but if you ever get a new car once it loses the new car smell I'm just telling you it hurts my heart like a new car it just smells so great like there's just something about that scent and that feeling and then your kids vomit in the car you're like no like it used to smell good and there's something about toddler vomit that is the worst I don't know what it is I remember Jackson he threw up in the car like a few times on a trip and it's from these like fruit bars and it just had this overwhelming sweet smell it's so bad and my wife like she doesn't throw up from bad smell but she makes the worst sounds like it's like she's gonna throw up so she's so she's just like over here in the corner she's like and I'm like smelling this and I'm just like no there was one time it was cold she's like making these sounds she's not cleaning it up the kids vomit all over themselves in the car I just wanted to run like I was just like this is the point when I'm done with my family like no I don't want to do this anymore but you know what I had to do I just had to accept reality I was like if I don't clean this up you know what I mean and it was just like I don't know then your car is permanently just like it is what it is does anybody need to buy a car I'm just kidding you know when your favorite shirt from like a long time gets a hole in it and your wife's like we should get rid of it you're like it's just a small hole you know you have those sunglasses and they get a scratch on it I remember I went to the store and I bought these sunglasses and went to church and I set them down on the chair while we were doing praise and worship and then I sit down I just sit right down on my glasses and smash them as soon as I got them I was just like no here's another one when the honeymoon's over and here's the reality you never get to do that again like the honeymoon is a special time in marriage that you never get again now it's not that you can't have special times in your marriage again but I'm just saying the honeymoon is a special event it's a lot of fun it's really exciting and then it's over and you never get it back and then you have to accept I'm still married to this person like you were like I married them for the honeymoon but it's over get over it well you know I wish we could go back everyone does everyone wishes they could go back you know maybe you had a terrible honeymoon I don't know some people do but virtually speaking I really enjoyed the honeymoon phase of our marriage it was a lot of fun but you know it's over accept that it's over and focus on the good and focus on you know the grace that God gives you and there's still going to be good things in your marriage how about vision problems that's frustrating tooth problems you know there's a Bible verse that says confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint and you know the first set of teeth you lose it's okay you get new ones but that second teeth they're not coming back folks and boy that can be horrible tooth pain can be some of the worst you know we talked about losing your hair color what about just losing your hair I mean there's some people in this room like Jason I mean this is not coming back okay sorry but you know what he can just accept that and he's just like I'm getting rid of the rest of it you know the other parts you know they're gone too and he's you know he's like fine I'll just work out I'll be so buff that nobody'll ever say anything to me you know it's like they won't be like go up bald head he'd be like what'd you say but Ecclesiastes chapter 12 look at verse 1 remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them this is a scary verse but it's real there can come a like when you get old it gets to a point where carnally speaking you don't enjoy life that's rough but you know what instead of just being focused on how it sucks you could do what you could focus on other people you could focus on the good you could focus on the reality I have a lot of other verses I want to go to one more go to Galatians chapter 6 and I want to focus on that for a few minutes but think about Hosea Hosea has to go and the Bible says this about him love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteress wow that's rough what if God told you you have to love your wife even though she's committed adultery against you multiple times you have two children that are not yours that you have to raise and you have to pay her pay your wife money not to cheat on you wow that's a pretty good marriage isn't it but you know here's the reality about marriage and I want you to just think about this for a second realistically in a marriage it takes two people one spouse will be better than the other like it's impossible to say like both spouses love each other equally like they're both exactly the same in that marriage no the reality is one spouse will be better than the other and you know you could say like well that sucks that my spouse isn't better but do you really want the flip to be true do you want to be the person that's the worst spouse in the relationship I mean let's just be honest objectively speaking Hosea is the better spouse than his wife it's not even close in their case it's not even a competition alright it's just a fact in 1 Peter chapter number 3 the Bible talks about wives who are obviously superior in that relationship than their husband the husband is not very good in that relationship the wife is doing good ok so when you look at your relationship in marriage often what everyone is focused on is them what am I getting out of it or my marriage isn't great or blah blah blah rather than thinking about this I'm just going to be the best spouse that I can possibly be I mean Hosea is being a better spouse than most men in this room are to their wives who have never cheated on them when his wife did cheat on him that tells me that you know what there's no excuse for you not being the best spouse that you can possibly be but why is it that everyone tells me that they don't want to be a good spouse because their spouse sucks well I would try harder if she tried harder well I would be nice if she was nice well I would treat him with respect if he deserved it if he deserved it well I would you know be kind on him or I would look it's like it's always about the other person is the reason why you're not doing what you should be doing but you know what that is an excuse that is an excuse and you're not accepting the gimp that you have in your life you know what's a major gimp what if you married this woman it's not my fault I didn't marry Hosea and his wife okay and yet you know it's something he has to live with for the rest of his life but God says just love her anyways just do good under her anyways you know quit looking at marriage as like what you're going to get out of it and start looking at what you can put into it it's the way you look at marriage from now on you're only concerned with one thing how you treat your spouse and loving them and making them feel good and making them do right and helping them and blessing them that's what you should do in marriage marriage is not about you it's about them you're one flesh and when one hurts the other hurts and you know the problem is everybody in marriage just wants to think about them themselves what they get out of it they're focused on their gimp they're focused on their issues and I guarantee every marriage problem is just because both parties are being selfish because because here's the thing I guarantee Hosea's wife doesn't have a lot of complaints doesn't have a lot to bring to the table to the marriage counseling or whatever right just like the woman in 1 Peter chapter 3 her husband doesn't have a lot to bring to the table like well she always has the meals on the table she always says to me sir she's always doing everything for me it's like what is he going to say he can't so you know what he's probably happy with his relationship she might be miserable she might have the worst relationship but he's having a grand old time but okay that's just life what if what if the rest of my life I have to suffer and like my side of the equation marriage sucks but on my wife's side it's great okay I mean isn't that isn't that what I'm called to didn't I make a vow at the altar to do that I said till death do us part for better for worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in health I mean that's what I said did I mean it or was I just saying it thinking about the honeymoon just like whatever honeymoon that's dumb that's a bad way to look at marriage marriage is choosing to love someone when they don't deserve it oh yeah that's what Jesus does for us he's focused on us now here's the last one I want to look at look at verse 17 the bible says from henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus so the apostle Paul had permanent scars in his body from having been beaten for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ was he focused on his physical beauty or his physical ability to do things or was he focused on other people hearing the gospel you know he was willing to take gimps so that other people could be saved other people like in order for some people to be in heaven the apostle Paul has to get beaten up he has to have scars on his back like the scars on the apostle Paul's back literally represents certain souls going to heaven just like the stretch marks on a woman's body signifies the baby being born just like the apostle Paul he has stretch marks on his body for spiritual births that are happening but you know what that's someone that just says I'm willing to accept the gimps of this life and focus on the good and just take God's grace say you know what hey God is going to give me this life in this area I don't know how he did it it's pretty incredible and you know if you look a little bit earlier in this chapter it says in verse 12 as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only less they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ so an interesting aspect of this is in the Galatians chapter 6 the Pharisees or the Judaizers are trying to teach work salvation they're trying to add to the gospel they teach that salvation is not by faith in Jesus Christ it's by circumcision also and not just by circumcision in fact just keeping the law is what they pretty much are packaging in with that saying and the apostle Paul in the book of Galatians is combating that and saying salvation is a free gift I'm not going to frustrate the grace of God if righteousness come by the law then you know Christ is dead in vain I mean just make it abundantly clear like salvation is a free gift just by faith not circumcision and the people that think it's adding circumcision he says he's afraid of them he says they're not saved he says that they're going to go to hell that's what he's saying very clearly and yet these individuals what's interesting in verse 12 is they're not constraining themselves to be circumcised they're constraining others to be circumcised other people to take this potential mark for other people to be permanently altered for what? for their benefit and notice if they didn't they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ so I was thinking about this this is really an interesting idea like how are they suffering by not getting people circumcised okay well look at verse 13 too for neither they themselves are circumcised keep the law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh so what's interesting is how people who teach a works-based salvation kind of fall victim to not accepting certain things and what I mean by this is there's a modern-day context where people preach what you call repent of your sins as being necessary for salvation who's heard that? you got to repent of your sins to be saved yeah here's the problem there's not one verse in the Bible that says that zero verses say repent of your sins now of course we all need to acknowledge that we're a sinner and admit that we're a sinner so that we can be saved but turning from sin is impossible notice what it said in verse 13 it says for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law you know what it's saying? they don't keep the law no one keeps the law so the people that get up and say you have to repent of your sins to be saved let me tell you something about them they have it repented of their sins they don't repent of their sins and they only want to bring up big ones that they're not guilty of like well I don't murder oh okay wow but you know the Bible says having a foolish thought's a sin the Bible says looking upon someone that's the opposite gender and desiring them is lust and that's a sin if you desire someone that's not your wife that's a sin and if we were really to study the Bible we'd realize we sin all the time you know you realize when you read the Bible for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God that there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not that we all sin all the time here's something that we accept the gimp in our life that we're a sinner we accept the reality that we're a sinner and not just like a past sinner a present sinner and a future sinner you are a future sinner if you think that you're going to give up sin you are only deceiving yourself no one in here will believe you I for sure won't and these repent of your sins preachers they want to get up and pontificate about oh you got to repent of your sins to be saved I repent of my sin liar you've never repented of your sin ever you might have given up one sin but guess what you still have thousands that we haven't been talking about and they want to get up and say you got to repent of your sins to be saved it's a liar and they don't keep the law but you know what they are trying to do they are trying to bring in converts and get them to do a big show so that it can look like they are actually reaching people and you know these repent of your sins they always want people to come up on stage and give a testimony and it's their fair show look at this person that I brought in he was a gang banging drug dealing whore mongering freak or whatever and now he's saved but it's like what if we ask this guy hey do you still look at people with lusts yeah did you still get high before here it's like yeah it's like okay have you had any foolish thoughts yeah did you read your Bible yesterday no it's like did he really repent of his sins or did he repent of a few big ones hey I'm all for repenting of a few big ones but you know who's also for that everyone that's why it's not controversial it's not controversial to tell people to live a better life to clean yourself up to not do really big bad things like even killers think that murder's bad did you realize that if you go to jail even they think that lying and stealing and murder and those things are bad and they really hate pedophiles they'll kill them praise god but at the end of the day what is not offensive is telling people to clean up their lives you know what's offensive? telling them that you can't clean up your life telling them that you're permanently a gimp telling them that you're permanently a sinner destined for hell and there's nothing you can do about it you can never fix it that's offensive that's offensive to people and you know what brings in that offense the cross of Christ which says the only way that you can have salvation is through what Jesus did and that is only by humbly accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ and focusing on the good of the gospel that'll get you saved and then what you have to do is you have to then receive that grace so just like our three points we've been talking about you have to accept that you're a sinner number two, you have to focus on the goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then number three, what you have to do is you have to receive that grace but those who believe in or repent of your sins they don't do that you know what they do? they pretend that they don't have a gimp repent of your sins preachers they don't have sin in their lives they still have issues in their lives they're still permanently scarred they're still a sinner and they can never ever fix it and the first step to getting saved is accepting and realizing I have a gimp for the rest of my life I'm a sinner and point two is realizing that the gospel gives you that salvation but you know what they do? the gospel grieves them in their heart it tells them that they're insufficient it tells them that they're inadequate it tells them that they're not capable and you know what? they don't like that feeling of feeling like they're incapable of saving themselves they don't like the feeling of feeling like they can't earn their way to heaven they don't like the idea of someone telling them that they're not good enough and that they need the gospel that they need a savior that's why they're so offended by the gospel message that's why they're so offended by salvation that's why they're so offended by believe only is because they get no glory the flesh hates this doctrine the flesh hates every aspect of what I preached this morning the flesh hates the idea of you not focusing on your problems or focusing on you or focusing on your belly or focusing on your mind the flesh wants you to focus on you the spirit tells you to focus on others the flesh wants to focus on glorying itself and lifting up itself like repent of your sins false preachers the spirit says you know what I'm a sinner I can't reform myself I can't save myself I need to just accept what Jesus did and lastly they won't accept grace they just won't accept grace and you know the vast majority of this room is saved today praise God if you're not saved you need to get saved right now but the vast majority of people are saved in this room but are you applying that same principle those three steps to other areas of life are you accepting the other problems you have in your life are you focusing on the good and embracing the grace that God has for you you know we have to recognize that we have issues and we will always have issues I will always have sin issues you will always have sin issues and we're even going to have permanent issues and as we get older you're more and more likely to have permanent body issues where your back's not right or your leg's not right or your arm's not right your eyes aren't right or your hearing boy the hearing goes what did you say sonny you know it's just like it's frustrating it's frustrating it's not fun but you know what can't we just say right now you know what God I'm going to accept who I am right now you know what I'm just going to focus on the good you know whatever my marriage is like whatever my body is like whatever opportunities I have whatever losses I've had I'm going to accept them right now and I'm just going to do the best that I can with them right now and then I'm just going to embrace whatever grace God is going to bestow upon me when I think about other people if I'm permanently halt I'm permanently halt if he restores me whatever you know the Lord gave bless and be the name of the Lord thank you Heavenly Father so much for what you've given us thank you so much for the free gift of salvation I pray that you would just help us in our hearts and our minds to just accept our reality accept our lives that we have and that we would just focus in on the good focus in on loving other people and I pray that as we focus on others and as we focus on good things that you could just give us grace that you give us mercy peace that passes all understanding and I pray that you would help us to realize there's so many people dying and going to hell right now being lied to by false preachers that we would be motivated to go out and preach the gospel that you would stir up our spirits and our minds and our hearts to be focused on other individuals because this life is so short and it's so vain but the things that we do for Christ will have eternal value I pray that we would see the benefit of being spiritual and that rather you look at the outward appearance but rather you look at the inward part of man and I pray that we'll be motivated to serve you all the days of our life and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen Alright, in closing, let's go to song number 81 Very applicable words Song number 81 When we see Christ Song number 81 Life's gimps will seem so small when we see Christ Song number 81 Life's gimps will seem so small when we see Christ Song number 81 Off times the day seems long Our trials hard to bear We're damned into the plain to burger and despair But Christ will soon appear to catch Him right away All tears forever over in God's eternal day It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials seem so small When we see Christ One glance of His dear face All sorrow will be raised So bravely run the race till we see Christ Sometimes the skies look dark with not a ray of light We're tossed and driven on No human help inside But there is one in heaven who knows our weakness Let Jesus solve our problem Just go to Him and pray It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials seem so small When we see Christ One glance of His dear face All sorrow will be raised So bravely run the race Till we see Christ Life's joy All storms forever cast We'll cross the great divide New glory safe at last We'll share the joys of man A heart will be vanished We'll lay our burden down It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials will seem so small When we see Christ One glimpse of His dear face All sorrow will be raised So bravely run the race Till we see Christ We have brother Colton coming for baptism Brother Colton have you trusted Christ your savior? Then I baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost buried in the likeness of His death raised to walk in newness of life Congratulations Make sure to congratulate our baptism You are dismissed. God bless you