A Purpose And an End

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word, providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. How to live through a bad day, a very relevant topic. So who here has had a bad day in the last week? How about the last month?

How about the last six months, okay? All right. Everybody in here should have their hand up. Okay, guys, you know, everybody has bad days, right? We all have bad days.

There you go. Lee's got his foot up. He's really showing us, yeah, bad days happen. And so, and there's different levels of bad days, you know? Like you got the ones that you spilled your coffee, broke a shoelace, you smeared the lipstick on your face.

Did anybody get that? Okay, nobody's a rock, rock, 90s rock person. Okay, that was a fuel song. Last week, I had the Alanis Morissette song. This week, I had the fuel song.

So I just kind of really, okay, maybe that was a little bit to trim down to a genre of music, right? Okay, I had a bad day again. You can look it up on YouTube. And you'll get that. You'll get that.

But sometimes we do. We do spill our coffee in the car, and it just kind of ruins our day, right? Ruins your dress, ruins your outfit, or whatever. Or you break a nail, you know? That could be like a line of a bad day, or your car breaks down.

And then there's those days that just seem bad, like really, really, really, really awful. Like those days that just don't ever end. I mean, it could be a tragedy that happens. It's a day that you've never forgotten, and you've never been able to get past. Or something in your life that changed the trajectory of everything.

And it could have changed it for the good, or it could have changed it for the bad. And we're trying to deal with those days. And those days sometimes tend to be weeks, and those weeks sometimes tend to be years. And people live in those bad day moments. But the writer of Hebrews talks about Jesus and his bad day.

Because the truth is, Jesus went through a really bad day. It was the worst of days. And he gave us some teachings. He gave us some last words that we can take with us and apply them. And they help us through those days.

And the writer of Hebrews says this in chapter 12, verse 2. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. So that's what we're doing. We're studying how he did it.

Because he never lost sight of where he was headed. That exhilarating finish in and with God. And he could put up with anything along the way. He put up with the cross. This cross.

We understand the cross as a figure of religion. But it was to them when they heard the cross, it was a sign of death. He put cross, shame, or whatever. And now he's there in the place of honor, right alongside God. He did it.

He went through it. He can relate. And we look to him. And we've been looking at the last statements of Jesus. Now, there's seven last statements of Jesus.

And we didn't have enough weeks to deal with all seven last statements. But we've been picking some of the most significant statements, I believe, that God has showed me to share with you to help you through those bad days. And so week one, we talked about forgiveness. That's a really hard concept for many people to forgive, to learn to forgive, even when the other person doesn't seem to need forgiveness or should have forgiveness. Because they are, you know, they've done something that doesn't require forgiveness, but we forgive anyway.

And it frees us and helps us through the process. What did Jesus say? As those people were mocking him, spitting on him, crucifying him, he said, forgive them, Father, for they don't know what they're doing. There's something very freeing about that concept. And then, the next week, we talked about helping others who were going through similar struggles as us.

So when we're going through a struggle, what do we do? We help others go through those struggles that we face. Maybe you went through a divorce and somebody else is going through a divorce, and you can help them through that process. Maybe you've dealt with cancer and you have somebody else who's going through the cancer process. Now, you can relate to them.

You can help them. You are the best counselor when you've gone through it yourself. So dealing with other people, helping other people is a way for us to get through those things that we're going through, those bad days. And then last week was really heavy because we talked about crying out to God. That sometimes we don't feel like we can cry out to God, that we don't want to whine, and we don't want to, you know, do those things because God is so big and he's like a holy, righteous God.

But what did Jesus do? He says, my God, my God, why are you forsaking me? My Father in heaven, why have you turned your back on me? He cried out to God in the midst of his hurt, in the midst of his pain, in the midst of his struggle. And he opened up the door for us to be able to do it too.

And we talked about how to walk through pain. And this I considered, this week, I consider it to be part two of what I talked about last week because it kind of branches into that particular thing of pain and dealing with hard times. So the statement I want to deal with this week is the statement in John 19.30, it is finished. It is finished.

Now, most people think of this statement as the last statement that Jesus made. But this was actually the second to the last statement that Jesus made. And this is significant for this message because in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of his pain, in the midst of his hurt, in the rejection and all the things he was facing, he was claiming, he was proclaiming, it is finished. He was not yet done, but he was saying, he was speaking to that situation. He said, it is finished.

So here's the main point I want to get across today as we start this. Be assured there is a purpose and an end. Be assured there is a purpose and an end to what you're going through. Whether you're facing loneliness, whether you're facing a never-ending battle, whatever it is, be assured that there is a beginning and an end. That's what got Jesus through the cross.

He was assured there was a being. He was looking to the Father. He said, it is finished. It will be completed. This pain will not be forever.

I will be at the right hand of God soon, and I can face any pain that I have. So my hope for you today is to help you understand that you don't have to stay where you are. That you can have hope even in the midst, and there is a beginning. That you can walk out here today and say there is going to be an end to this situation. That there is hope even when there feels like, or there feels to be no hope.

Be assured there is a purpose and an end. And the scripture I'm going to deal with today is from the oldest book in the Bible. Can anybody guess what the oldest book in the Bible is? Job. Somebody got it right.

All right. Yay. Great. Yeah. So Job is the oldest book in the Bible.

Some people think maybe Genesis is, but it's not. It's actually, it was written. After Job, Job is the oldest written book. And the Bible isn't written in chronological order of time periods and things like that. It's actually placed in the Bible in genres.

And Job is a poetic book. The way it's written is actually kind of hard to understand in some ways because it's written with this poetry mindset, ancient Hebrew poetry. And what we know about God, or Job rather, is that he had a really, really, really, really bad day. I mean, it was the worst of days. If there was anything outside of Jesus that had, that there was a time, there was a period, there was a story that was really hard, that was Job.

Job dealt with more, I believe, than anybody else in the Bible. He went through a very hard time. Everything was taken away from Job. Job was a wealthy man. Job was a very blessed man.

Job had wealth and had land, had cattle, had homes, had children, had food, had health, had it all. Job was a very blessed man. But in a day's time. Everything was taken away from him. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

Property, and then a few minutes later, his wealth, and then his kids were taken from him. And his health even was taken from him. Everything was taken away from him, except his wife. And Job was probably, and it was like, you know, couldn't you have just taken her away? Because here's why, here's why.

Because the one thing she said to Job, instead of encouraging him, she said, why don't you just curse God and die? Why? He's taken everything away. So he's taken away. So he's just like, okay, God, I got my wife here, and she's the only, you know, and now she's even against me.

So Job had everything against me. Just playing, you know, couples and wives. Don't do that to your wife, okay? But he had everything against him. And for the first 35 chapters of the book of Job, that whole first 35 chapters is all about, where are you, God?

What's going on? There's this whining and crying, and you've taken everything away from me. Give me an answer. Give me an answer, God. I mean, don't you do this?

Don't you do that? Why is this? What have I done? His friends chime in, and they're having a conversation about it, you know, going back and forth. Well, what have you done, Job?

And then, well, you know, I haven't done anything. God's just like this, and sometimes he does this, and sometimes he doesn't. It's just doom and gloom, and in the process of it, God doesn't speak at all. God is quiet. He's silent.

He's silent. In fact, Job 30, 20, I love how the good news says this. I call to you, O God, but you never answer. You never. How many of you have been there?

You never. Maybe you've told your wife, you never make your bed, or your husband. You never take out the trash, and it's just not true. It's just that he didn't do it that week, and you're angry at him, right? Why do I always go through this?

I never, I never. Never. Why doesn't anything ever happen to me? And we exaggerate that never word, and we cry out to God, why don't you ever, God, why don't you pay any attention to me? I call to you, O God, but you never answer, and when I pray, you pay no attention.

And this is just not true. My son, Max, uses the never word all the time. He says this about his iPad after he's been playing on it for two hours, and I tell him it's time to get off that iPad and do something. But I never, Daddy, I never get to watch my iPad. I never get to.

I said, you just watched it for two hours right then. We exaggerate those things. We do that. We're like children when we cry out to God. We never, never, never, and it's just not true.

And through the whole first part of the book, that's what's going on, you know, he's just crying out to God, where are you? You're not there. You're not, you're silent, and, and, and, and, you know, I, I just need an answer, God. I need an answer to my situation, and I love how God chimes in. So he gets, it gets him, it gets all that out of the way.

God gives him time, and then, and then like thunder, I think of, you know, a mountain, and, and the clouds, dark clouds coming around it, and the lightning come over it, and, and mere mortal. Let me talk to you here for a second. Sit down, son, right? And this is what God does. He, he, he says that he comes in the clouds.

It's, it actually says in scripture, he comes through the thunder, and he begins to speak to Job after, after 37 chapters of not hearing from God at all. In chapter 38, he says, who is this that darkens counsel by words with knowledge? Hmm. Now gird your loins like a man. We know what he's saying there?

Let's man up for a minute, because I'm getting ready to lay into you, okay? And I will ask you, and you instruct me. Let, let me ask you the question here, Job, and let, let's see if you can instruct me with all of your knowledge, and all of your stuff, and all of this thing you've, you've been complaining about for the last, uh, 37 chapters through this period of time. Let, let, let me, let me, let me, let me ask, what, why, you can, should I ask you the questions? Should I ask you the questions, and maybe you can answer them?

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where were you? Tell me if you have understanding, who sets the measurements? Do you set the measurements? Do you know?

Since you know, or who stretched the line on it? And then moving on to, to verse, uh, 18, he says, have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell me if you know all this, where is the way of the dwelling of light? Where does light live? And darkness, where is its place?

That you may take it to its territory, and that you may discern the paths to its home. Basically, he's saying, do you know how light started? Do you know where it goes? Do you know where it ends? Do you know where begins?

You tell me, Job. And then he gets really sarcastic here. He says, you know, you're, for you were born then, right? And the number of your days is great, because you were with me from the very beginning, right? So you should know, right?

I love it. Now, isn't the Bible cool? Like, we hear God get all sarcastic with him, you know? Like, where were you? Where are you going?

What are you thinking? And perhaps you find yourself here, you know? You question God, why is it that I do all the right things, and bad things still happen, right? And that we question God in that way, and God's just kind of up in heaven. Do you even, do you even know?

There's a, uh, a movie called Tree of Life. Um, director Terrence Malick, if you're familiar with him, he did A Thin Red Line and some other Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning, uh, films. And, uh, I think it was about six or seven years ago when this film came out, maybe a little longer, but I got to see it, and, uh, it really impressed me. It was actually built on the book of Job. And Sean Penn and Brad Pitt are in the movie, uh, kind of some main characters, and it's based on this family.

And it's done in a very artistic way. Uh, it's like one of those movies you either love or hate, because it's all philosophical, and there's a lot of things going on. It doesn't really have a chronological storyline. There's, like, these pictures of different events happening through different periods of time. And it actually opens up, the opening scene has Job, uh, put on the screen, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

I mean, you got chills at the video. The very beginning. And it kind of takes different events from this family, and then it goes way back in time, and it'll just randomly put something up of God, or not necessarily God, but creation being formed. I mean, it's a beautiful image. And, you know, every time they questioned God, you would see it would flash back to, like, the earth being created, volcanoes erupting, and things like that happening.

And you're just like, oh my gosh, the universe is being created. And we're over here, why God, why God, back, you know, millions of years, you know, star explosions and stuff like that. I know that my sound effects are kind of funny. But it was so intense, you know. And then it would come back.

There was this one scene that really got to me, and it was Brad Pitt. He gets a phone call. He and his wife get a phone call. And their son has passed away. They don't really explain what it is.

If it was, some may think it was war, he was off the war, or something else had happened. And they purposefully do this, because they want you to think. Now don't you just love those films that you get to think a little bit, right? I'm being facetious. But sometimes I just like to watch a film just for, just so they don't have to think sometimes.

But this one just really made you think. And he was complaining. This character was complaining. He's like, how could you do this? I go to church every Sunday.

I pay my tithes every Sunday. I do all the right things. And this happens. Where are you, God? And you can hear the whispers of people.

Where are you, God? Where are you, God? What's going on, God? And then it just shoots back, and the universe is being formed. And it's just mind-blowing, the magnitude and the nature of God and our questions.

And in verse 40 of Job, he realizes that. He wakes up. After all that complaining, and then God just kind of puts him in his place. He says this, I am unworthy. Now can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth. So he's like, oh no. He's right. He's right. So Job makes this statement in verse 42, 1 and 5.

And this is going to kind of give us three things about God that we really need to know when we're dealing with the questions in life. Job 42, 1 through 5. It says, then Job replied to the Lord, I know that you can do all things. I know that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge? So he goes back to that very first statement he says. He says, surely I have spoke of things. And I love this. I have spoke of things.

I do not understand things too wonderful for me to know. Things that are beyond my ability to understand. The heavens and all that you have in store for me. There's things I can't even fathom or imagine that you have in store for me. And I love how he ends it like this.

He says, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen. My ears have heard of you. I knew you as God, but now I'm really starting to know who you are in this process. So if you're going through a process right now, lean into God. He's showing you something.

As he was showing Job something, he's showing you something. In the midst of your struggle, your pain, your circumstances, he is showing you something. And here's what we learn in Job's statement. First of all, that God is all-powerful. That's the first thing we need to know about God.

He is all-powerful. We use the word omnipotent. Omni meaning all, potent meaning power. He is all-powerful. Powerful.

Colossians 1, 16 and 17, and I love how the message says this, the paraphrase. For everything, absolutely everything, everything got its start in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence. He was existence. He created existence.

He was before existence, right? He spoke and everything came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. There was a worship song I used to lead all the time back, you know, in the 90s. Christ, be the center of my life, be the place I fix my eyes. You hold everything together.

You hold everything together. He holds it all together. He is all-powerful. And I don't understand why someone wants to limit God or his purposes. And when bad things happen, we're quick to do that.

We're quick to dismiss his plans, his power, his authority, that he does hold everything together. The first thing that comes to mind when we hurt is we blame God, and we ask God, you know, and then we pretend that we know more than God. You should explain this to me, God. You should do this this way, God, because this is the way the world works, you know. You need to listen to me because I'm in the world and you're not, okay?

Sometimes it feels like that, right? I'm going through the pain and you're not. And he's up there shaking his head. In fact, I wouldn't even say he's up there. He's right in front of you shaking his head, and he's looking straight at you, and you don't even know he's there.

He says, if you only knew how powerful I am and how I hold it all together just by my voice, by my very presence, by my hand that expands the galaxy, expands the universe. That's the width of my arms, if you only knew. And I'd rather have hope in an all-powerful God than uncertainty in a very limited me. Amen? I'd rather put all my hope in a God who knows it all, who holds it all together, who has the power to do anything, the power to change anything, the power to change the trajectory of everything, then limit it to little old me.

And that gives me comfort. That gives me great comfort. And I can't understand everything, guys. I can't understand. A lot of people come to me, why does this happen?

Why does that happen? I don't understand why little children have to die before their time. I don't understand why earthquakes and tsunamis take hundreds and thousands of lives away in one go. I don't understand why innocent people have to suffer, but I trust in a God who does. That's what keeps me hopeful, because I know that there is an end to it.

I know that it is finished. I know that there is victory on the other side. I don't understand all the concepts and the cosmos and everything that's happening in our life right now as we speak. The earth's spinning around an axis and all these things that are put together by the holy hand of God, holding it together. I do see that there is a God that is all-powerful and all-controlling, and I can trust in Him, and all I can do when I go through those times where I feel like I just don't have an answer, I can always lean into a firm rock, a firm foundation, which is all-powerful, an all-powerful God.

And secondly, He is an all-knowing God. He's an all-knowing God. If you're following your notes, you can write that in. He's an all-knowing God. We call that omniscient.

An omniscient God. A God who knows everything. He knows the beginning and the end. In fact, the Bible says He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning.

He didn't create the beginning. He is the beginning. And He is the end. And He, we look to use the same, we like to say these things, you know, when somebody passes away and somebody leaves this earth. Say, well, they just left too soon.

You know, that's a common sense. I say it myself. Man, he was just taken too soon. He was, she was taken too soon. She had so much, many, so much more years left on this earth.

She had a great this. He had this going on, all this, and he was just taken before his time. She was taken before her time. But no, she wasn't. No, he wasn't.

Because we have an all-knowing God. In fact, Isaiah 57 says this, the righteous are taken away to be spared of evil. And if we could look at it that way, why do righteous people, why are they taken before their time? Maybe God loved them so much, he had to take them home with them. You know?

And that's, that's actually scriptural. Hebrews 4, 13 says this, he knows about everyone everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to all, to the all-seeing eyes of the living God. God, he sees everything. He is everywhere.

And nothing can be hidden from him. We think we're hiding things from God. You can hide them from preacher, but you can't hide them from God, right? Amen. He knows.

He knows everything. And frankly, I don't want the responsibility that God has, okay? So you need to be accountable to God more than me. Amen. A lot of people say, let's, let's behave around Leon.

You know, don't behave around me. Behave around God when you're by yourself. That's where it really counts, right? Because God sees that, you know? God is there.

God, God is all-knowing. He, he, he's all-knowing. And it leads me to my third point. God is ever-present. God is ever-present.

I love how, how Job said, I, I once knew him, but now I see him. I see him with my own eyes. I can, I can experience him. I see him. And this may be the most comforting part of who God is.

This may be the most significant point that you can take with you today to know that God is with you. That God is always with you. In fact, he says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And Jesus knew this on the cross.

He knew this. When he said, it is finished, he was thinking about, even though he felt that the Father had turned his back on him, that he felt like there was darkness. It's not about feelings, guys. It's about a God who is still there. In fact, when we can't hear him, when we can't know that he's at, when we don't experience his presence, we know that he is that close.

He is much more closer. He is speaking to us. He is whispering to us. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says, Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.

So we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? I love how that translation says, what can mere mortals do to me? What can just people do to me?

When I have an all-powerful and all-knowing God who is ever-present in my life, I can hold on to that hope. He is always with us. In fact, I don't have any of these on the slides, but you can write these down. There's so many scriptures that tell us this. Throughout the Bible, it tells us this.

Psalm 46, 1. God is my refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 139, 8. If I go up to the heaven, you are there. If I lay my bed in the debt, some translations say in hell, you are there.

Jeremiah 1, 8. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you, and I will rescue you. Jeremiah 1, 19. They will fight you, but they will fail, for I am with you, and I will take care of you. And then, what does Jesus leave us with when he parts from this world?

And surely I am with you always until the end of the earth. He is with us. He is ever-present. We can be assured of that. So, you need to take this statement home.

Because I know that God is with me, I can face anything that is against me. Because I know that God is with me, I can face anything, anyone, any situation that is against me. Because he is an ever-present, ever-present God. Do you believe that today, church? Do you believe that he is an ever-present God?

That no matter your circumstance, no matter your situation, you have a God that is walking it out with you. Surely I will be with you until the end of the age. You've got to believe that. You've got to receive that. You've got to walk that out.

You've got to know that. Anything that's thrown your way, you've got to believe it. So, we've got to be assured today. And if my hope today is for you to take one thing away today, is to be assured that God is with you, he is for you, and he wants to help you. There's an old song, old hymn, Blessed Assurance.

Jesus is mine. It's a beautiful song. It was written by Fanny Crosby, a prolific songwriter. And Fanny wrote, they say, some people say 9,000 songs. 9,000, that's how much.

And the thing about Fanny is she was blind. When she was six months old, just a small babe back then, it was in the 1800s, they didn't have medical advances, and the doctors did some stuff and put some solution in her eyes. They thought they would help her, and it ended up blinding her. So, she spent her entire life suffering from disabilities and things like that because of blindness, learning to operate in life, and blindness. And she wrote this song, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. And the chorus goes, this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior. I can't see, but I know that there's an end to this. I know that there's a purpose for this, and I'm praising my Savior all the day long.

What a foretaste. The things I'm going, what a foretaste I'm receiving of glory divine because the weight of glory is there. Though I suffer in this life, there is a glory waiting for me. It is finished. She was expecting something.

So, be assured today. 2 Timothy 1.12 says this, and this is what Paul says, I am suffering, yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed. And I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for this day. Oh, I'm suffering, but I know.

I know what he has for me. I know there's an end to it. I know that this is just a momentary circumstance that he's pulling me through to teach me something about him, to show me more of him, but there is an end to this, and he will bring me through, and I will have hope on the other side. So, there's four things I want to say in application here. This is about your thought process, okay?

I need to know that God loves me, number one. You need to know that God loves you. You need to know that God loves you. And he loves you so much that he gave Jesus, his only son, for you. This is not something he had to do, but because he was loved, he gave his son.

Because he loved his creation, he gave his son on the cross. The Bible says, What greater love is it than a man to give his life for a friend? What greater love? You need to know that God loves you. I'm a North Carolina Tar Heels fan, and I know we got knocked out in the Sweet 16, and I was hoping that we would make it this year, you know, all the way.

And all the way. I thought they were going to carry it all the way, you know, because they beat North Carolina. If they beat North Carolina, you know, they could beat anybody, right? That was my excuse, but it was pretty bad. Yeah, except Virginia, UVA.

Hey man, hey, I was pulling for UVA. ACC all the way, buddy. Except for Duke. Just kidding, Duke fans. Just kidding, Duke fans.

Not really. Yeah, yeah, not really. But Kenny Williams, who plays for UNC Char Heels, there was an article that came out not too long ago when they were finishing up the regular season. I thought it was the coolest thing. I get the kind of updates from social media about what's going on in the team's life and all that, and these little articles pop up.

And he wrote one about his faith and how much he followed Christ. He's a very evangelical guy. Just everybody knew it. And he had a hard beginning of the year. I mean, he wasn't doing well.

Everybody thought he was going to be the star player of the team. He wasn't scoring his shots like he wanted to. There was a lot of criticism. He was getting a lot of backlash, you know, just from all of that. Come on, Kenny.

Come on, man. You know, you're a star this year. You're supposed to be really performing. And he wrote a big thing about that. You know, yeah, I haven't performed this year.

I haven't done all the things I want to, too. But no matter how I play, and I loved how he said this, no matter how I play, I know that God loves me. Although nobody else loves me, I know that God loves me. And that's what keeps me going, to know that God loves me. What should keep you going is to know that God loves you.

Lamentations 3, 21 and 23 says this, yet this I call to mind that therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. So life cannot consume us because, you know, you know, when you're in that difficult situation, and it seems like there's no end in sight, but you can put your mind on someone. Maybe it's a father or a mother or a wife or a husband or a child, and it helps you through. You know how that works?

You know that love, and I know that they love me. I know that they care for me. I know that they're cheering me on. It helps you through the process, right? But even when you don't have anybody else, and there will be times where it feels like nobody else is there, that no man is there for you, no woman, no friend, no anybody is there for you.

There'll be times like that in your life. It just happens that you feel all along. Guess who you can turn to? You can turn to God, because he's cheering you on. He loves you.

So we're not consumed, for his compassion never fails. His compassion never fails. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Great is God's faithfulness.

He is with us. He is ever-present. It is finished because of him. Amen. Amen.

Secondly, I know that God wants the best for me, and some of you in here probably see God as a mean God. You got like this big authoritative figure up in heaven telling us, just waiting for us to do wrong, right? Just waiting for us. I just want to put this person in their place. They're so full of sin.

I'm just ready to just, you know, throw a lightning bolt down and just tag them real quick. But that's not God. That's not the nature of our God. Yes, he's a God that is just and holy and righteous and all those things that I talked about last week. But he's a God that wants the best for you.

He wants, I know my God wants the best for me. Romans 8 31 says, if God is for us, who can be against us? And most Christians, if you're a Christian here today and you're a believer and you've been in church for a while, you know that verse and you say it. But do you believe it? If God is for me, who can be against me?

God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? He gave up his only son. Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble, calamity, if we're persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? No.

Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ. We have victory today in Christ Jesus. And though it doesn't seem that you're winning, you need to claim it. It is finished. I'm winning.

There is victory in this situation. You got to know that he wants the best for you. Number three, I know that God has a plan for me. I know that he has a plan for me. God is at work in ways that we can't see.

We're not able to see or able to know or able to understand. He's working in us. He's working through us. He's working around us. And we're not capable of seeing the things he's able to do.

When I was called to ministry, ministry was an interesting time in my life. Everything seemed to be going well. I finished my degree. I had the job. I had the new car.

You know, I was advancing. You know, I had all those things together. But there was something terribly empty in me. I felt like I was missing something. I was aiming for the wrong things.

And through that process where it seemed like, oh, Lord, I'm achieving this. I'm doing this. I'm accomplishing some goals. I'm only in my early 20s. I'm already here.

This seems like so awesome, you know. God was pulling me somewhere else during that time because I felt this emptiness and this depression and this, like, God, there's more to this, isn't there? And perhaps you're there. You're going through that. And through the process of those events, God led me to go into the ministry.

And he led me to Virginia Beach where I would enroll in Regent University where I would do my degree in the School of Divinity in seminary there, which led me to end up staying here a little longer so my wife could finish a law degree, which allowed me to stay in ministry, which allowed me to connect with this community, which allowed God to start burdening me with a heart for a community here in Virginia Beach, that started burdening me for a church here that reached out to people here in the oceanfront area, a burden that sunk deep in my heart. And I never would have known it way back then that God had a plan all along for me to be right where I am, right here at this moment, that God would have that for me. All I thought is I was in a place where it felt dark and it felt empty, even though things looked like they were going well, they weren't. And perhaps that's you. Maybe you're in a place where you feel like, is this it?

And it could be a lot worse than my situation. It could be that you're just going through maybe physical situation or circumstance or health issues or whatever it is. You've got to know that God has a plan for you. Jeremiah 29 11, he wrote this in the Old Testament while Israel was in exile. And some of you feel like you're in exile right now, right?

You feel like you're just stuck somewhere and God wants so much more for your life. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. He has a hope and a future waiting for you. He has plans for me. I know my God has plans for me.

And fourthly, and lastly, I know that God will bring me through. I got to know that God will bring me through. Second Timothy 4 18 says this, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the great. And I always used to look at that, you know, and say, okay, he will rescue me from every evil attack, so he's going to rescue me from my current situation, you know, but ultimately I'll die and be with him, right?

Like, so there's this weight here, you know, so are you going to fix the situation, or am I just going to go to be with you? How is that going to work? What's the answer? What's the answer to that question? And it's both.

It's a win-win. And Paul understood this when he said, you know, they told him, I'm going to kill you, I'm going to behead you if you keep preaching. He says, okay, do that, please. Please do that because if I live, it's Christ, but if I die, it's all gain. So it's a win-win.

Paul understood this where if I live as Christ and then to die is gain. And imagine if we all had that perspective in mind where we lived and dying is all the greater, how it would change our process, it would change our thoughts. So I'll leave you with this statement, my struggles have a purpose and my pain has an end. My struggles have a purpose and my pain has an end. You need to know that today.

You need to know that my pain and my struggles, it's all a part of God's bigger plan. It is finished. It is finished. Y'all can bow your heads and close your eyes for a second. God, we are just so thankful for those powerful last words.

It is finished. God, we are just amazed. You could love us, that you have a plan for us, and that you're going to see us through. There are many people here today that have the wrong perspective about you, Lord, and I need you to even at this moment minister to them, God. Let them know.

Let them know that you love them deeply. Today, the Lord loves you deeply, loves you deeply. Receive his love, receive his grace. While some of you have been walking with God for a while, you haven't realized quite yet, you've seen him from a distance as Job did, but you haven't seen him fully and all his glory. Just reach out to him today.

Reach out to him and just ask him, Lord, just come, just reveal to me all you are, Lord. I want everything. It is a win-win situation. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Give me that perspective.

Renew my mind. Renew my heart today. Give me strength, Lord, in my circumstances. Help me realize. Let me flip the script.

Walk in victory. It is finished. Begin proclaiming the things of you even at this moment. I give it to you, God. I'm walking down a path of freedom.

I'm walking down a path of victory. I'm walking down a path of everything that you have in store for me, God. And I receive it today in your name. And with all heads bowed and all eyes closed still, staying in this same spirit of worship, take this moment very seriously. If there's anyone today that hasn't made God their Savior, given their lives to Christ, because he does love you, dear.

He does love you, dear. And you, maybe you were walking with him at one time and kind of turned away from him and started walking in the opposite direction. And you're just realizing now, man, I just want to be with him. And I want to know him. And I want him to come into my life and walk this thing out with me.

Or maybe you're somebody who's never, ever, ever knew. You never even knew that there was a God that was relational. See, that's the beauty of Jesus. He's relational and he wants a relationship with you. He wants to know you.

He wants to walk life out with you. He wants to change you from the inside out. He loves you so much. He has a purpose for you. The devil meant it for something else, but God meant everything that you've been through.

It doesn't matter what you've gone through in this life. It doesn't matter how hard it's been. It doesn't matter the choices you've made. You are not too far from God because he can save the uttermost of what scripture says. If that's you today, and I'm not going to embarrass you.

I'm not going to ask you to come up. I just want to pray with you. I want to pray with you. If you would just gently lift your hand and say, Pastor, I'm ready to give my life to Jesus. I'm ready to make him more of my life today.

I'm ready for him to change my life. I'm ready to give me hope when I felt so hopeless for so long. Come into my heart. Come into my life. Is that you today?

Make that decision. Just be bold and say, I'm in. I'm in, Pastor. I'm in. I'm in because I want to pray for you and I want to celebrate with you.

Just make that decision. Make that decision. That this is a life or death. This is an eternity we're talking about. Fine.

Today is the time. Pray this with me, church. Pray this with me. Father, I believe that you are the son of God. You died on the cross.

You gave your son, your only begotten son. You loved me and you wanted a relationship with me. I give my life. I give you everything. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin.

Thank you for rising again on the third day. Proving that you are God over it all. Come into my life. Your sacrifice. Make me.