Ask God The Hard Questions

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. A series called How to Live Through a Bad Day, and if you were just catching up with us, perhaps you missed the first part of our series, or you missed last week, or whatever. The idea of this series is that everyone has bad days. Everybody goes through those different times in their lives where it just feels like, oh man, you know, it's just one of those days, right?

It's like a Chick-fil-A on a Sunday, you know? You're interested in a chicken sandwich. Oh, it's closed. Or it's like traffic jam when you're already late. No smoking sign on your cigarette break.

It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Okay, I'm, you know, 90s boy, so I got, some of you catch that song, some of you might not. But Alanis Morissette, it's like the Tar Heels losing to Auburn. That was a really, really hard night for me. And the next day, and I thought I was going to have to call somebody to preach for me today because I didn't think I was going to get through this Sunday.

And not only did they lose, they lost pretty badly. So that was really a sad time for me. So there's different levels of bad days, but some days are just even worse. Some days it's like, how do I even get through this day? And it just seems to never end sometimes.

Sometimes the days end up being weeks and weeks, months and months, even sometimes years. Am I ever going to get out of this situation? How am I going to deal with this? And so the big idea is that we're looking at Jesus. Jesus actually endured the worst day of all.

On the cross, He faced everything that we faced. And He gave us, even in His misery, even in His hurt, even in His pain, even in the shame that He was experiencing, He was still teaching us. He shared seven statements on the cross. He gave us some things, some nuggets that we can take, and it can help us through a bad day. So we've been taking some of those statements on the cross and talking about them each week.

And last week, or the week before, we talked about unforgiveness. And that's always a hard thing. He said, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And then last week, we talked about helping others who are going through the same struggles.

It's a way for us to deal with our own struggle. We can actually reach out to others, and it's a coping mechanism for us. And next week is going to be really good. I think you should be here for this because what I want to talk about is there is hope, and there is a purpose, and there is an end. Even if it seems like the season is so, so long, and it never ends, there is a reason, there is a hope, and there is a purpose.

But this week, I want to talk about a statement I think that we all deal with, a statement that everybody can relate to. But the theme scripture for this, just to kind of go back here in Hebrews 12 too, it says, keep your eyes on Jesus. Why? Because he began and finished the race we're in. The same race that we're in, he ran that race, and he endured it, right?

Study how he did it. It tells us that. I love how the message paraphrase puts that. Study how he did it because he never lost sight of where he was headed. That exhilarating finish in which, in and with God, but could put up with anything along the way, the cross, shame, whatever.

And now he's there in the place of honor, right alongside God. And we're studying how he did it. We're studying those last statements. And this statement this week is one I think that all of us can relate to, and we all ask it. And Jesus has already, at this point, been beaten.

He's been shamed. He's hanging naked on a cross. He's been through the scorn. He's been through the suffering. And then things get worse.

Because darkness, all of a sudden, hovers over the earth for three hours. So he's in darkness now. He's close to death. Could it get any worse? Everybody had rejected him.

Everybody had left him. And here he is. And now he's experiencing the Father, God, turning his back on Jesus. And here he is in his pain. He hung there.

And he makes a statement that we all can relate to. And perhaps we've kept from saying it before, this very statement, because we've never felt the liberty to say this statement. Some of you are like, will you give me the statement? I'm building you up to this statement, okay? But perhaps all of us have felt this.

And probably because we have an unhealthy view of God. Because we don't ever like to ask God things. We don't like to approach God with things that we're struggling with. We don't know about the why. So what I'm saying today is it's okay.

Jesus gives us the liberty. We've seen him do it. He says this, this very statement. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? My God, my Father, the one I was in heaven with, the one I left heaven and came to earth and became human.

Why are you forsaking me? Jesus himself, fully human and fully God in his humanity, pouring out to the Father, asking that question. And perhaps you felt that need to ask God, why? But maybe you've held back because, you know, we think of God as this God who's up in the sky with lightning bolts waiting to strike you and punish you and tell you when you're doing wrong. And he's excited about it, right?

And it's a very, very wrong view of God. And what we need to do, the main point here is when we're dealing with hard questions, when we're dealing with those why questions in life, we need to make this statement. Aim your hard questions at God and not man. If you'll write that down in your notes. Aim your hard questions to God and not man.

Why? Because man is not always going to have an answer for you. The doctor may not have an answer for you. Your parent may not have an answer for you. Your best friend may not have an answer for you.

There could be something in your life, the why that's there, that you may not have an answer for. That nobody in this earth can give you the answer or the solution to the problem. So that's why we go to God. The all-sovereign, all-knowing God. We can carry our cries.

We can carry our pains to God because we're not always going to know the why. The difficulties of life, we're not always going to know the why. But God knows the why. And we can go to him. And even in those moments when we don't feel like we're getting an answer, he desires for us to cry out to him, to ask him, to reach out to him with our whys.

My very first vivid example of a why was my senior year in high school. We moved to this very small community my junior year in high school. It was a very, very small school. The very first day I was there and they were introducing me to the school, I moved there kind of halfway through my junior year. I was walking down the hallway and I had one of the student guides, you know how you have the person.

And it's like, oh, this is our class. This is this and this and that. And we're walking through, and I'm coming down the hallway, and I turn the corner, and there's another hallway, and I ask them where the rest of the school was, and they said, this is it. And that's how small the school was. Very small school.

I came from a very large high school to a very small school, so that was kind of a little bit of a culture shock for me. And there were about 70-something people in my graduating class. That's how small the class was. Very tight-nit school. In fact, I don't really think I ever fit in there, because I was a kid.

I was always the new guy. Even a year and a half after being there, I'm still the new guy, right? Because these people had grown up in this school. They had family there. Half the people were cousins.

I mean, yeah, that's my cousin. That's my cousin. And I don't even want to go to where, you know, some of the things that were happening in that community were. But there was a lot of families. There was like three or four families in that community.

It was a very interesting, very, very, you know, southern-type community. And I'll never forget the day that I walked into my high school. And as I'm sitting in class, Mr. B., the principal, comes on the speaker system.

I don't even know what they call it now. Intercom, intercom. Some people are like, what's an intercom, you know? Now you have email and things like that, so. And he told us that two, a junior and a sophomore, two students, had been killed in an accident that morning.

Ray and Laura were their names. Precious people. And not only that, a young guy named Jamie, who was on his way to the incident, apparently he heard it on his CB radio. He was a volunteer fireman who was racing to the scene and run off the road, and he was in critical condition in the hospital. Small community.

Shocker for them. Everybody grew silent. And not even five minutes later, Mr. B. came back on the intercom and said Jamie had passed away.

We lost three people that day. Three kids that day. Laura, a junior in high school. Ray, a sophomore in high school. And Jamie, a sophomore in high school.

And it rocked this little community's world. The why questions came. Why? Why these people? Why did this happen?

Why did this unnecessary event happen with Jamie on his way to the incident? Why would God allow this to happen? Why? Why? Why?

I mean, the crying and the mourning and everything. I never experienced anything like this in my life. Three funerals in one day. It was just tremendous. Just the sadness that came over that community.

And the question is, do we really know the why? Recent incidents in our church. I mean, since we started Salt Church, we've had several things happen. But I kind of go back to this story because this is a big why for me. Is two similar things that happened.

Number one, Dwayne Duvall, who was very close to me and a part of the church from our very beginning. Even back when we were back in a workout studio with ten people. He was coming to our church. And Dwayne got saved in our church. Got rededicated his life.

Was just like really super on fire for God. Love Salt Church. Was just out trying to minister. Tell everybody about Jesus. Sometimes I would have conversations with him.

You know, you need to... He would get so mad because people didn't know Jesus, right? He's like, why do they do that? Why don't they understand? You know, it was just so exciting to see a young Christian so vibrant for God.

And wanting... And he was growing. And you know, he had his hang-ups and things like that. But it was great to be with him and disciple him. He'd just show up at my house someday unannounced.

And like, I need to sit down. I have some questions, you know? Like, things like that. But as our church was getting ready to move into the school, we started out in the brewery. And we were kind of building a foundation for our church in this brewery situation.

And we were getting ready to launch into a school, not even about six months before we did this. Dwayne's girlfriend at the time called me and said that Dwayne is in the hospital. He had a seizure while he was cutting grass. And when we found out what was... So I went to the hospital to find out what was going on.

And sure enough, it was a glioplastoma in his head. He had a very aggressive one, cancer, very low survival rate. And within not even a few months, he was gone. And my question was, why would you take him at this moment, Lord? Why?

I don't understand. And within that same season, we have a family. We still consider them a part of the church. They moved to Florida about a year ago or so so that he could... The husband could start his own practice, the Zubergs.

Very close friends of us in grad school. And Peter did law school and business, master of business. And while I was at Regent, we played... Did worship together and played music together. And it was...

We just had a really special connection starting this church and just a close family of ours. And they had a few kids and Wesley, their youngest at the time, I believe. Am I right about that? Elsa had just been born, but Wesley was their second youngest. And what was he, three years old, two years old when he was first diagnosed?

Eighteen months. He was very sick. And they took him in and found cancer. I mean, within the same amount, period of time. In fact, they both passed away around the same time.

And as a young church, a young pastor in a very young church, how do you deal with this? I never expected to have to bury a baby and bury still a young man. A young man who had a lot of heart and a lot of years on his life. I never expected that, being a young church. And I asked myself, why, Lord?

And then I started to blame myself, you know? Like, is it because I started this church? Is this spiritual warfare? Like, it's like everybody I touch, is this happening to? You know?

And it was just a really, really tough time for me. And the only thing I could do is just cry out to God and ask those questions. I knew I wasn't going to get the answers to those questions right away. But I knew that God was there listening to me. And my response was, why, God?

Why, God? You know, there's all this stuff going on in life right now. Why is this happening? It's a very hard time. So what do we do when God doesn't make sense?

How do we cope? How do we go through these things? What does the Bible tell us? Well, there's three things I want to talk about. Well, the first one is when we can't make sense of things, the trust in His nature.

The first thing I have to go to when I'm struggling with whys in life and not understanding all the cosmic things that are happening around me is to go to God. That's the only place I can go because nobody else is going to give us the answer. The only place we can go is to God. And who He is helps us through the process. Who He is?

He is a compassionate and a God of comfort and a God of justice and a God of righteousness. And all those beautiful attributes of God, they help us pull. Look what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1 and 3. He says, Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of... What church?

Compassion and the God of all comfort. The Bible even says God is love and I have to trust that God, even when it doesn't seem very lovely, when it hurts, when it seems like chaos, I have to trust that I have a God that isn't chaotic. I have a God that is about love. I have a God that is compassionate and I have a God that does understand because my ways are not His ways and my thoughts are not His ways. And I have got to lean into that.

He is also a just God. Even when the injustice comes, when we can't figure out what is happening and whether justice is going to be served in a particular situation, it says this in Job 34, 12, as Job was crying out to God and to his friends, he said, surely God will not act wickedly and the Almighty will not pervert justice. He will not pervert justice because He is a pervert. He is a perfect, holy, holy, righteous, compassionate, God of comfort. Deuteronomy 32 even says this, He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice.

So we can lean on the nature of God, who He is, when we cry out to Him. We know and we understand and our thought process is that God's got this, His nature. We can also trust in His promises. If you're taking notes, write that down. We can trust in the promises of God because He has a promise.

If we look through the Bible, in fact, the Bible is a book of promises. It's a love story. It's a love story. It talks about all the things that are for us and He has provided for us. He has an answer to all of our problems.

He has solutions, in fact, to our problems. He gives us these promises. When we're going through promises, through difficulties, the promises are there at our disposal. Absolutely everything you go through in life, there is a promise available to you. You're dealing with fear, there's a promise in that situation.

You're dealing with finances, He tells you, if you do this, I promise you, I will do that. There's an app for that, if you want to see it that way, you know. There's an app for it. That's a series for the future, by the way. I think I'm going to do that on God's promises, an app for that, you know.

There's an app for everything on an iPhone, right, or a mobile phone. There is an app. There is a promise. There is a promise available for everyone if they call on the Lord. 2 Corinthians 1.

20 says, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. And so through Him, the amen is spoken by the glory, by us to the glory of God. Hebrews 13.5 says, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. I will be by your side.

That's a promise you can take home. When you're going through the most difficult place in your life, you can know that He will never leave you. He will be by your side. He will pick you up. I love how the psalmist says it in Psalm 34, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

That's a promise He gives us, that when we're dealing with pain, when we're dealing with a place in our lives that's, why, God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you turned your back on me? We can be assured that He is still close to us. He is right by our side. He is our comforter.

He is our deliverer. He is there. He is our strong tower. Even when the pain is there, we can trust in Him to be by our side. Number three, we can trust in His final destination.

That this is not it. This is not a stopping point. This is just a little piece of the puzzle. This life now, what we're living today, what we're going through is just a small piece of the puzzle. I love how Paul puts it as he's going through some difficulties in his life in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 and 18.

Therefore, we do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. When we're going through hard times, we do not lose heart. When we're going through things, when people reject us, we don't lose heart. When we lose a love, when we do not lose heart, when the most unspeakable things that happen to us come our way, we do not lose heart.

That should be our chant. We do not lose heart. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. What does that mean?

Outwardly, these bodies are dying, right? We're going to all die. That's doom and gloom, right? I mean, that's a, pastor, would you be positive for a second? I am positive your bodies are wasting away, right?

As we speak. I know that's not very funny, but it's true. Our bodies are wasting away. But inwardly, this is the good news, inwardly, spiritually, we're being renewed day by day in Christ Jesus. That we live for much more than this.

We live beyond this. For, here's what he says, for our light and momentary troubles, that means the hardest thing you'll face in your life, the most difficult trail you'll walk down in this life is just momentary and light. Your momentary and light troubles are achieving for us. And what eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Everything we go through light, there is a glory waiting for us.

This is not the end. The destination is ahead of us. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, which we tend to do. We want to fix it on the seen things. We want to fix it on the disease.

We want to fix it on the loneliness. We want to fix it on the depression. We want to fix it on the heartache. We want to fix it on all those things. But the things that are not seen are where we need to focus, since what is seen is temporary, right?

What is seen is temporary. And I say that again, what is seen is temporary. We don't get that as human beings. What is seen is temporary. But what is unseen is what?

Thank you, church. What is unseen is eternal. It's the hope of heaven. It's the hope of God that Jesus has left and he's preparing a place for us as we speak. And this is not the end.

Jesus experienced the worst so that we could experience the best in heaven. So, during the why, because often the why isn't going to go away, but during the why, what do we do? What do we do as we're crying out, my God, my God, why is this happening? My God, my Father, why? Please give me, give me some answer to this question that I have.

What do we ask? Well, Isaiah gives a prophecy. Isaiah 63, 9. I love how the New Living Translation says this. He says, in all their suffering, he also suffered.

And he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years. Now, I want you to take that them and their and replace it with me. Okay?

In all my suffering, he also suffered. We can, he can relate to us. In all my suffering, he also suffered and he personally rescued me. He personally rescued me. In his love and mercy, he redeemed me.

He lifted me up and carried me, carried me through those years, those days. Those months, those weeks of darkness and whys and why is this happening? Why am I going through this? Why, why, why? He carries us through the pain, through the why.

So during the why, we need to do number one, learn in the why. Learn in the why. The writer of Hebrews says even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. Even in the midst of his struggles, he learned. He didn't learn in the miracles that he performed.

He didn't learn in the large crowds that he drew. He didn't learn by spending time with his disciples and his family. He didn't learn in any of that. He learned through suffering. He learned his greatest, in his greatest point of humanity, he learned how to obey, to listen to God, to walk the course, to take the road, even in his suffering.

There's a pastor named Levi Lusko that I follow quite a bit. Amazing church in Montana called Fresh Life Church. He launched a church about 12, 13 years ago. And it's just, it was one of the fastest growing churches in America for a number of years. Just an amazing, amazing ministry.

He just wrote a book recently, a few years ago, called Through the Eyes of a Lion. Through the Eyes of a Lion. And as Levi and a lot of success going on in their church, I mean, they were just growing, putting up new campuses. Things were happening. Just out of nowhere, no explanation for it.

Just the favor of God, the finger of God on their church. He was preparing for a message for Christmas Eve, about five days out from Christmas. A lot of things going on around the house, as you know. During Christmas, you have presents and gift shopping and all that stuff. And he had a few daughters.

I think he has four daughters in all and maybe a son now. But his youngest daughter at the time, or his next youngest daughter, they had like a three-month-old or something like that. Five-year-old Lenya, in the midst of all of this, had a severe asthma attack. Right before Christmas, a severe asthma attack. She just laid out on the table, went unconscious.

In fact, Levi said, right before that happened, I feel more relaxed than I ever have. And then his daughter collapsed of an asthma attack. And they rushed her to the hospital. And within the hour, the doctor came out and says, there's nothing more we can do. And just reading the story, having a five-year-old daughter myself.

It's just, just reading the book, it just broke me. But to hear him tell his story, he said, pain is a passport that will take you places that you couldn't have gotten to any other way. He says, I'm hurting. And I'm experiencing pain. Every day I think about Lenya, which means lion, where he gets through the eyes of a lion.

And that's how he wrote the book, that's the kind of principle of it. He talks about dealing with pain and how pain, through the pain, we can actually experience hope. 2 Corinthians 1.9 says this, in fact, we expected to die. Paul said, we expected to die in these moments in our lives where we're going through stuff.

But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and we learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. Because what else could I rely on? The God who raises the dead or men? C.S.

Lewis said this, pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures. Because when we're going, life's going good, you know, God whispers to us. And speaks in our conscious, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Well, I asked the why when Dwayne passed away. I didn't tell a lot of people this at the time. I don't even think I told my wife at the time. But when we started the church, God gave me a vision that I was able to minister the gospel on First Street in front of hundreds of surfers and beach people. I mean, it was so vivid to me.

And, you know, I kind of dismissed it as maybe a thought or just something that kind of bypassed or whatever. You know, just something that came. It was like Paul, and he says, I don't know if I was in the body or if I was, you know, just thinking about it or if God actually took me somewhere. It was kind of one of those moments where I just had a dream that I was able to do that. And shortly after Dwayne passed away, I was asked to come and speak as a part of the Memorial Paddle Out at First Street.

And when I showed up there that day, I knew Dwayne was very popular, but I didn't realize how popular he was. Hundreds of people were there at the beach that day. I think some of you out here in the audience were probably there with me. And they gathered around, and I saw the very thing that God showed me as I was able to open up the Bible and share the life of Dwayne and how he come to know the Lord and how he was excited about Jesus. And then I opened up the opportunity that Dwayne would want you to know Jesus as well.

And I was able to share the gospel right there on First Street at the oceanfront in front of hundreds of surfers. Amen to the glory of God through Jesus Christ through Dwayne's life. God used Dwayne's life so that people could know about Jesus. And to this very day, I still have people walk into this church and say, I knew Dwayne. I knew Dwayne, and I come to check out your church today.

See, his life is still speaking. We don't always know the whys, but we know that God is up to something. Number two, we need to love in the why. I'm not going to spend too much time on that because I talked a little bit about that this week, but who can we help when we're hurting? We need to ask that.

Who can we relate to? Who can we help when we're hurting? I love how Hebrews 13, 16 says this in the New Living Translation, and don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Underline that word sacrifices.

It is a sacrifice sometime to please God. He desires it. This is what pleases him, the sacrifices that make. What does that suggest? It's something that we don't want to do.

Sometimes it's hard to love others when we're going through painful places in our lives. Amen? It's really hard, but he asks us to go and to minister to others. And there's healing when we make that sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 1 and 4 says this, He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.

And when they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. I remember my brother-in-law, Steven, passing away a few years ago suddenly of a heart attack in his mid-30s. A very, very sudden thing. And it was very tragic on my father-in-law. My father-in-law had a special place for Steven.

It was almost like his baby, you know. That was his boy, his baby, coached football and baseball and all that with him. It was just a very, very special bond with Steven. And I saw, you know, the struggles that he went through as he was trying to get through Steven's death. And I remember at his funeral, another guy walked up to him and put his arms around him and says, I know what you're going through.

And they just started crying. And he said, Falling together and hugging each other and said, I know what you're going through, I know what you're going through, because just weeks before, he had lost a son in that similar age range, suddenly, and sometimes we just need somebody who's going through the same hurt that we're going through to reach out to us and hug us and tell us it's going to be okay, and maybe you're that person for someone else to reach out to them. We will be better, it will be better than any pastor, any trained counselor, anybody that you can possibly throw somebody's way who's going through a difficult situation just by relating to somebody. You have that ability to help somebody through the process, and you've been trained on the field, is how I look at it. Hands-on training, and you are capable of helping others.

And thirdly, we worship in the Y. We worship in the Y. If we can reach past ourselves to God and worship in the Y, rather than focus on the pain, there's this thing that the Bible tells us that's an all-consuming fire of God that can cover our pain. In fact, here's what it says here in Hebrews 12, 28 and 29 in the New Living Translation. It says, since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, meaning a kingdom that cannot be stirred, that it's a firm foundation, this kingdom that, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and all, for our God is a devouring fire.

Fire, as I worship the devouring fire, my accent right there, fire can burn up the pain, can burn up the hurt. As I am hurting, as I am going through difficult situations in my life, sometimes, even when I don't feel like it, and even when you don't feel like it, the best thing we can do is respond in worship. Because what worship does, it kills the pain, it burns the pain, it burns the depression, it burns the loneliness sometimes, and it works best when we don't feel like doing it. It's in the times where it's the most powerful that we reach out to God in the midst of, I don't feel like it today, God. I don't feel like worshiping you today, God.

But I'm going to do it anyway because I know that you are God. I know that you are Lord. I know that you know beyond what I know. That you do things that I cannot understand, that I cannot put into words because I'm merely human, Lord. It hurts right now, but I know that you've got something for me one day.

I know that you've got something waiting for me, Lord. And I know that there is a purpose. I know that there is a plan. I love how David, I love looking at David's life because David, even in the scripture where he says, where the prophecy was spoken, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was going through that.

In fact, even before the scripture, he says, rescue me from the mouth of the lion. Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. And save me from these people. I'm going through tremendous pain, God. In the middle of that, he says, why have you turned your back on me, Lord?

He says this in the New Living Translation. I love how it puts it like this in Psalm 22, 22 and 24. I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. It hurts, but I will proclaim your name. I will praise you among your assembled people.

I will do that even when it hurts, even in this place today as I'm sitting in church and I'm going through some things that I don't understand. I'm going to proclaim your name anyway. Praise the Lord, all who fear him. What does that mean? All who reverence him.

All who understand that he is so much bigger than I am. And he understands so much more. And he is a God of compassion. And I know his nature. And I know he is good.

I know he is loving. I know he is everything that I could ever need in this life. I know that I have a God that's good. And I reverence him, all you descendants of Israel. For he has not ignored.

You need to underline that. For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not ignored your suffering. He has not ignored your pain. He has not turned his back on them.

But he has listened to their cries for help. Here's the main point. Real worship. True worship. Is not when I feel like worshiping.

But it's worshiping when life doesn't make sense. That I can turn to God and worship him. And when Peter, my friend Peter, not Peter in the Bible. My friend Peter made that statement. I've moved past the lie.

That powerful statement. Because I understand. I can't begin to understand all he is. But I know who he is. I know who God is.

And we can know who God is today. Amen. You can lean into a firm foundation. You can lean into the strength of God. No matter what you're going through.

There is nothing too big for our God. There is nothing you can go through that he doesn't understand today. Amen. Can you believe that? Amen.

So be it. Hallelujah. It's okay to say amen in this service. Amen. We're giving it to God today.

We're giving all of our stuff. Let's bow our heads and let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we are trusting in you today. We're giving it all to you today. No matter what we're going through.

It could be something as simple as a financial situation. Which is super easy for you, God. And we know that you can deliver that. Or it could be, God forbid, the loss of a young child. Whatever we're going through, Lord, we know that we can have comfort in you.

And we can stand on your foundation. That you are a God of love and compassion. And in that same spirit of worship with all heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to ask this question today. Maybe you're here today and you've never trusted in a God of compassion. A God of love.

A God that is not too far. That he doesn't understand your problem. He is a God who desires to have a relationship with you. He is a relational God. That's why he sent his son, Jesus, to die for us.

Because he wanted us to be connected to him. The bridge that connects us to God. And the Bible says, If you confess and believe, you will be saved. He says, trust in my son, Jesus, and you will be saved today. If you're going through that right now, and that's you, I'm not going to embarrass you.

I'm not going to ask you to come to the front. But if you would just gently lift your hand and say, I'm in. I'm ready to make a decision for Jesus. I'm ready to trust him as the lover of my soul. I'm ready to have a relationship with God today.

If that's you, just gently raise your hand. Because I want to pray for you and I want to celebrate with you. Let's pray this all together. Father, let's just pray this all together. Because this is a great moment.

This is a great moment. Whether you raised your hand or you didn't today. Father, thank you for giving your son the cross for my sins. I confess that I've done things my own way. But today, I trust you as my Savior.

Come into my heart. Come into my life. Make me new. Today, I trust in you, Jesus. I trust in your blood.

I trust in the cross. Change me from the inside out. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Hallelujah. Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise? Hallelujah. If y'all would stand with me, this is our time of giving our tithes and our offering. If you are new with us today, you do not feel obligated to give.

This is a gift to you. But we like to celebrate giving and we're excited about that. We just love to give to the Lord. I just want to congratulate our church because we had one of the highest giving months we've had since the existence of the church this past month. So praise be to God because God I know is blessing you and doing amazing things in your life.

And I know he's going to continue to do some awesome things. Make sure you grab some cards on the way out before you leave. And begin to invite people to Salt Church on Easter. Also, another thing, we are collecting candy for the Easter egg hunt. We are having an Easter egg hunt directly after service on Easter.

So we'll have something for the kids. Not only an exciting, engaging worship environment, Easter focused, and some fun prizes and things that are going on there in the kids. We're going to have something directly after that. So we ask for donations every year for candy. Obviously, the church will cover anything that's not covered, but we just, it helps if we can, because there's a lot of candy and a lot of eggs we want to put out there.

Amen. So let's pray for our offering and this day and you go out in the name of Jesus and make a difference in this world. Amen. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for the offering. We thank you that we are able to do this.

Not because we're giving to get, but because we so believe that what you tell us to do, we are obedient because you're that good. Because your principles are strong, your heart and your nature is that very thing, Lord Jesus, good and compassion. And you've chose us as a local church to minister to the world. So God, I pray that you would, we would, as we give our offering, as we give our tithing, that you would bless it and double it and triple it as we pour it back into our community, as we pour it back into the world, as we pour it back into missions, as we pour it back into reaching more and more and more people for the glory of your name. In Jesus Christ, we give it to you.

And everybody said, Amen. Enjoy your day. Go make a difference today.