You Asked For It III Week 3

Welcome to Free Life Travel, where we help you discover and live the free life in Christ. My name is Bria, and I want to invite you to come check us out in person. I am so glad that you're tuning in to this online message, but it gets even better when we connect face to face. If you're ever in the Central Florida area, come check us out. I also want to encourage you to check out our website, freelifetravel.org, to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can be a part. Now, let's get into what you've been waiting for. Check out this message. We have been in a series called You Asked For It. If it's your first time with us, never been here, just to let you know how this runs. Over the past month, month and a half, we've been embracing taking in questions from the church. This is our third year doing this. Tell us where your questions are, and we hit as many of those questions as we can to bring some understanding from God's word to those situations. The Bible is an ancient book, but it has modern answers. We're trying to apply those so you understand what's God's opinion, what's his view of that. Matthew 7, verse 14 tells us this, the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it. Only a few people find it. It's narrow. It's tough. You know why it's narrow and why it's tough? Because you and I have to get good at saying no to us. Anybody got a little bit of rebellion still kicking inside of you? See, some of y'all are rebelling right now. One of you, raise your hand. One of you is saying no. None of us enjoy hearing no, and especially telling ourselves no.

I work my life through trying to tell myself yes. I want to say yes and give access to whatever I want, but God's word is saying no. In order to live this life fully, you have to get good at telling yourself no, just because you feel it doesn't mean it's right. And just because you, but I really want it, yeah, I know I'm going to smack your hand if you do that. That's what God's word is telling us. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12 puts it this way. You may think you're on the right road and still end up dead. Like the last thing we want to be doing is going down the road, going party, and the bridge is out. You don't want to live your life that way. You and I need to know truth and direction for our life, and that's what, in my opinion, makes church an incredibly important place and time in our life. You and I are the church, but when we gather together like this corporately and we discuss God's word and we speak about what his plan is for our life, it should shape and hone the decisions that we make throughout that week, because that's why God's word is here is to direct our life. So based on that, we want to draw direction on these modern issues that we're going through. Here are some of the questions that were presented to us, another series, another round of these questions. Here's what it says. The first question, is converting into another religion a sin or a betrayal in any type of way? I was raised and baptized Catholic. If I get baptized at FLC, am I betraying the church, God, or the Virgin Mary? That's a great question, especially if you were raised Catholic, if that is your upbringing, your heritage. We have a lot of folks who Catholicism was what you came up in. In fact, just wave at me.

If you're in the room and say that, that was my world. That's where I came from. Yeah. Look at that. They're everywhere. We probably need to become a Catholic church. That's probably it. We just welcome to mass. It's good to have you all today. I'm father Thomas and so good to have you with us. Don't call me Pope. I'll take father, but, but, but no, no, it's, and I love this and I just, just, just please hear me. Let me tell you this. There's Catholics going to split heaven wide open. There's Methodists going to split heaven wide open. There's Lutheran Episcopalian going to split heaven wide open. There's even some Pentecostals are going to make it to heaven. I've heard, I've heard like, like it's going to happen. So, so I just, I just want to lay that out, but let me put it this way. Sin is not connected to a religion or to a church or to a denomination only to God. So it's not a sin. If you're saying, well, I was attending a Catholic church, but now I want to come to a, what's considered a Christian church or a non-denominational church free life. Catholics love Jesus, but let me help you with this. Being Catholic doesn't get you to heaven. Just like being Pentecostal doesn't get you to heaven or Lutheran, your denominational affiliation does not get you to heaven. The only thing that gets you there is repentance through Jesus. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man gets to the father except through me. That's not slamming on our Catholic brothers and sisters. I love you. And I'm grateful for your, for your dedication and your heart. Uh, when, when Cindy was growing up, uh, all of her family were Catholic and she said, I remember that my uncle, we were going to go to Disney world, couldn't wait, but it Sunday and he said we're not going to Disney until we first go to mass 6 a.m. Get up. We got to go to mass I love that. I love that dedication and that buy-in we need more of that today But let me just say this no church owns access to heaven No church owns access to heaven and let me just put it this way if I can go so far as to say this The Virgin Mary cannot be betrayed Because we don't worship her or deify her We respect and honor what this young girl did and saying God use my life in however you want to she becomes a Model for all of us to say I need to live my life that open if God approached you and say I want to do Something in your life. That's gonna be pretty scandalous in the culture, but can you hold can you hang on? Can I use your life? That's a big thing this young lady did but the Bible doesn't put her in the light that were to worship her or to Deify her in that in that capacity. So here's the answer It doesn't matter which church or denomination you relate with and your baptism is about your personal Relationship with Jesus not a church and so baptism has to do with showing I've died out to myself And I'm alive in Christ some have asked can I get baptized a second time? I've been through some life I made some bad decisions since I first got baptized and my life is brand new in him Can I get baptized a second time? Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am Let's go. Let's go And so the goal is to move your life towards him and be in personal relationship and make that declaration strong Here's another question that came up pastor Scott references that God has a sense of humor Where can I find that in the scripture? If you'll turn to the book of Isaiah so chapter 4 verse 3

but I Got called out and I love it. Let me just put a little postscript on here Don't ever be afraid of asking question that you don't understand or think that we went sideways and that doesn't make sense. That's okay No one is infallible No we're all humans and we're walking this through and I'm doing my dead level best to present the gospel as Purely as I can take Scott out and let the word speak and that's why I try to present so much Scripture to you in my message to show you it's not just something I'm coming up with or tradition But what does Bible say about this? And so this is a great question We talk about faith and fun is what we do here And we serve a God who laughs and so there needs to be some reference and there needs to be some backing behind that It's a great question Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 tells us this that we're all made in the image of God You're made in the image of God I am as well that means the emotions that you have in your life are God-given Those are not just human and then he is an Emotionless God that would be pretty sad No, we are and in his image. We have his likeness We have those dispositions every emotion you have in your life is God-given except for Fear He said I did not give you the spirit of fear But power love and a sound mind But but we do see throughout the Bible love joy grief anger all of these things the Bible references where God gets angry There is a there is a time that that were it grace runs out and God looks at your enemy and said I gave You time to back off But you keep on playing with them and my anger is boiling and God steps in with the wrath and an anger to deal with Enemies in your life. Is anybody glad that God has a short fuse that he deals with stuff? Yes, God says I'm done with this like let's go God does that and it's his anger that he says he Attributes to that. So so please understand that that the joy that we have in fact Psalm chapter 16 verse 11 says this Here's my anchor for why I say God is it got a joy you make known to me the path of life

You will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand When I'm in his presence, I am filled with joy. Why? Well, it can't be because he's an emotionless God He must be a God of joy himself If I am filled with joy because I'm in his presence That's pretty good stuff and at his right hand There are eternal pleasures God is a giver God is a God who laughs he's a God of joy he's a father and if I can love and laugh and joke and be cheesy as an earthly father and I can Like really good cheesy like I can go there. I'm not tall. I'm not calling God cheesy I'm just saying that he can laugh and be full of joy and comforting as well So that is why we say we serve a God who laughs and God my Glad that we serve a God who's not angry and he's not out to get you and he's mad But he'd know that we he is for us that matters that matters Here's another question when God said let us make man in our image. Who is he talking to? That's a good question. Some of y'all go on. Oh shucks. I never thought about that if he's in heaven and nothing exists yet And he goes yo Let's uh, let's make man in our image Who's he talking to? Have you ever asked yourself a question before Have you ever answered yourself after you asked your question, yeah Yeah, have you ever argued with yourself over the answer you first gave? Yeah We'll talk about that later, but I'm just saying hey God God was not God was not just having this conversation in his head. In fact many faiths Believe that God was talking to angels The angels they were going to be a part of helping to form man And so because they were there he was speaking to them in their participation some faiths actually talk about like wisdom and truth was personified and God was talking to them that we are going together in order to to make them. Those are all speculative We don't have that laid out in the Bible

But I'll tell you what we do have laid out in the Bible that I believe is a solid answer for this and I've built My life on it That when God said let us make man in our image after our likeness That he was talking to the Son and the Holy Spirit God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit three and one the triune Godhead pre-existing humanity creation Notice this Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 says this this is called the Shema for all of our Activate students. They know this they memorized it here. Oh Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One Shema Yisrael. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know I don't know if I'd do not say a hard because you will spit unless you've really practiced it Well a hard a hard is the Hebrew word for one. Watch this. Why do I bring this up? Our God is a hard one because the that the word a hard Literally means one that is made up of a plurality It is multiples that are united to make one When you when you ask for your spouse to make you an egg in the morning, you do not tell them Yeah, would you please get me a shell of white and a yolk? I Would like an egg an Egg is all three of those, but it's one now. That's a really bad analogy. I'm not calling God an egghead That's not what I'm doing here. I'm not good I'm just saying it becomes a picture for you and I to wrap our head, but watch this Let me give you another example this in Genesis chapter 1 when God is creating He created the morning and the evening and the Bible says that they were one echad two Echad two Becoming one it shows multiples inside of one The Bible goes on in Genesis chapter 2 says that man and wife they come together. They become one

two are echad one the same Hebrew word is used in those settings as God is one echad. So what am I telling you? I'm telling you father son and Holy Spirit three in one Three co-equal co-eternal persons not personalities persons distinct yet Indivisible the same divine nature in all three yet is one God now if you're saying ah Oh, I got a brain cramp. I don't know if I understand it. That means you got it. Just like you're supposed to Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen if You have the ability to cognitively humanly Comprehend everything about a divine and supernatural God then you've made your God really small to fit into your finite brain There needs to be aspects of God that I take by faith, but not just by faith We could walk through I can do an entire message of walking you through Scripture from the beginning to the end Showing you the Father the Son and Holy Spirit the three-in-one the one in three all of that together So this is why I believe we have in Genesis one Let us make man in our image after our likeness God wasn't talking to angels He was talking to the triune Godhead together the three-in-one the one in three and that's what we have there That's what I see as the biblical answer to that Here's the next question. Are there books missing from the Bible? Scandalous we don't have the full Bible Okay, it's it's a great question and many people have actually looked at it and scrutinized in fact over the past couple of years We've actually done some teaching during this series on how do we know that the Bible is true and we give the evidence for that Not just faith evidence historical evidence right down the line Identifying that if you want to find that go to our website and you can see our resource page there where we answer that But here's how I would answer this are there books missing from the Bible? No, there's absolutely no books missing from the Bible because there were many books that were actually Considered about being brought into the Bible But they didn't pass the test of the scholars and the church fathers when those books were looked at scrutinized read to see if it matches the one line of truth that goes from Genesis all the way to Revelation I'm explained to it this way

Many many books and these books are mentioned in your Bible You might not have recognized this but numbers 21 talks about the books of the wars of the Lord Joshua 10 and 2nd Samuel 1 talks about the book of Jasir of Jasher First Kings chapter 11 talks about the acts of Solomon That's another book 1st Chronicles 19 the book of Samuel the seer the book of Nathan the prophet the book of Gad the seer in 2nd Chronicles chapter 12 talks about the book of Shemiah the prophet and then we also have References in the Bible to the book of Enoch Judith Jubilees Maccabees There's there's multiple books that are out there some most many mentioned in the Bible and others that were never even mentioned in the Bible But still existed they were all looked at as to if they fit into This what is called the canon the canon is what you call all 66 books put together That forms and creates our Bible canon though is a is a word that literally means the measuring stick It's the ruler in other words This becomes the measuring stick for everything and so any book that was included had to also fit into that same line You couldn't have books that were fighting in in in doctrine or understanding or one book was conflicting with another But the reason they chose this book and not this one is because this book was affirmed by these other 610 12 books and this one was standing on its own So this one could not fit in because it's not matching and it's refuted because of the consistency of these other books So I hope that begins to make sense There was theological differences in some of these books that did not make it questions of authorship who even wrote it Do we even know is it just fairy tales? We also have where it didn't align with established Bible doctrine going on at that time and other books were just considered historical Not inspired so read them and and glean and we can draw a lot of things from these other books I've read many of these other books that have informed me and given me perspective and context to scripture But it's not inspired only these 66 books right here are the inspired scriptures that we have to live by 2nd Timothy 3 16 says this all scripture is God is breathed out by God All scripture is breathed out the exhale of God it is life to you and I this is why we build our life on it This is why God's opinion where he has one mine is irrelevant I do it God's way his word is truth and it lasts for all generations

Let's learn more of this David said I'll hide your word in my heart that I will not sin against you This book will show you how to live your life. We lean into it build your life on it. Nothing's missing You've got everything you need Here's the next question. How do you get free from lust and porn addiction and stay free? It's a great question It's these these issues are large big in the church world much less culture today You don't have to go very far in social media and you've got things that are thrown in your face left and right our kids Are battling things today that you and I never even imagined That they would have to experience and it's our world in fact, but not just lust and porn although those were asked here We also have others regarding alcohol gambling drugs The phone oh I'm sorry, y'all feel that cold wave come back at me right there. I was good until you mess with my phone Can I tell you That The average person today picks up their phone 144 times average to check the If when you wake up in the morning you have to take your phone to the bathroom with you If you left the house and realized oh my god I forgot my phone and you get back on a plane from vacation fly home and get your phone you We live on that in fact 57% of people today With a phone, admit an addiction to their phone. They live by it. It dings, and they start salivating. I mean, Pavlov's dog, they've got us all down. That's where we're living today. Let me just put it this way. An addiction is any vice that controls your life. Any vice that I can't live without, that becomes something that is controlling your heart and your life, and it needs to be addressed. It's not to just be left running.

We have to address. So whether it's porn, whether it's substance, whether it's gambling, whatever that looks like, here's what I would say very seriously, but very simply. The answer is simple. Following it through is difficult, but there's hope. Here's what I would say. It starts with repentance. Repentance is not just saying a prayer. Repentance literally means to turn and walk the opposite way. I was walking this way, I repented. I'm not walking that way anymore. I'm walking this way. That's a new life, a whole new agenda, a whole new plan that I'm living my life by. So it starts with repentance. Number two, I would say discipleship. We need to find out what God's word says and stop living without the answers and then wondering why I don't know where to go and what to do. This word will break things down in your life, things that try to hold you hostage when the truth of God's word steps up. Because here's what I've found. It's exciting when I start reading the word, but when the word starts reading me, that's when things get really exciting. And it begins to come alive realizing,

oh man, this is where I am. And the spirit of this word. This is not just a book. This thing is alive. And this word, when you begin to read it, it begins to speak to you and give you direction, filling full the empty places in your life. And it begins to help in these areas of especially addiction. So discipleship is important to learn the word. By the way, inside discipleship, I'm sorry, is a word called discipline. I know, sucketh, right? I'll go King James, it sucketh. I get it. But listen, ladies and gentlemen, there's no, we're not just gonna walk in and just pray a prayer for you and all of a sudden, oh, my lust is gone. This is amazing. That would be great. And people would be lined up from here until whatever and we just pray a prayer and get it done. That'd be great. But when you leave here, do I go back into the phone and am I back on and I'm scrolling back through? Where am I running? With any vice, that's why you and I have to understand that the discipline is important. It's extreme.

God says, anything in your life that's causing you to sin that you can't get away from, break it off. Throw it away. But what about my social media? Yeah, turn it off. Turn off. It's not a sin issue. It won't get you to heaven. But we enjoy it when it dings, I salivate. I know, I get that. But all of these things, we've got to make sure that it's not running our life. So starts with repentance, goes to discipleship. And then number three, I would tell you, professional counseling. Get some people in your life that can help you navigate and figure out the wiring. Why am I thinking this? Why am I craving this? Where did this desire kick in? And how do I begin to create some new paths and new routes for my life that don't make me pass this way? I need accountability. Usually, addictions are things, it's handles that the enemy has in the dark that control you in the light. And if you and I will expose where I'm struggling, see, we can get really good at hiding what's controlling us for years

from people that we love and love us. But we have to make sure that we choose to expose that so I can get the counseling and the help that I need to break the cycle in my life so that I can get back to living. People that are addicted don't want the addiction. People that are addicted are in pain. They hate what they're going through. And so I hate the fact that we live in a society where if you admit that you have a weakness, you're frowned on, you're laughed at, you're mocked instead of being able to say, I need some help in this area. You're human, we all need help in areas of our life. It's nothing wrong with you saying, I need some counsel, I need some help. We need those things in our life. Repentance, discipleship, counseling, and accountability. But listen to this, Romans chapter 12, verse two says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We gotta change how you think. And changing how you think starts with repentance. And changing how you think goes to discipleship. And changing how you think gets into counseling and accountability, changing how I think, changing the people that's in my life, changing the voices in my life, changing the routines in my life. It sounds extreme, welcome to freedom.

That's what it's gonna take. It's not an easy path, but if we'll do it God's way, we can have his results. Change your mind, you'll change your world. That's how we do it Next question. Are you supposed to put your spouse before your children? I'm coming Are you supposed to put your spouse before your children Yes You made vows to your spouse not your kids You married your spouse you didn't marry them kids Married your spouse now, we don't throw our kids away. We did we get Spend time with them say hello know their names What's your name well, yeah you know that that's not good spend and know them care for them love them Enjoy your time with them, but not at the expense of your marriage No, no, no you we've got it. We got to make sure that we're putting things in proper context Have fun. Ladies and gentlemen when you had kids the goal the plan God's Word does not tell us that you and I lose our life and then we live our life To just make sure that our kids are happy That will destroy your life When Caleb was born and he was in our home We didn't stop our adult routine just to make sure that our son was involved in everything and had everything he wanted and make sure He's happy and is everything good, and he doesn't want that get him something else to eat I like all with it. No we made him fit into our world. I Love you, and we're gonna laugh and play but come on we're going to church right now. Mm-hmm. That's exactly right Let's go. We're going to church. Let's go. I don't want to go. Do you want to eat? I thought so. Let's go. Yep Yeah, yeah, that's how we were. I didn't ask you if you wanted to do anything It's called life. It's called authority. It's called honor and respect This is how it rolls and by the way, that's my wife before. She's your mama. She's my wife treat her, right? Respect her speak correctly to her there's order. There's a there's a plan put together here

So if you're gonna if you're gonna It's possible. We've all seen it Why is it that people are married 25 years and then going through divorce? 25 years and then going through divorce Because they saw through themselves into the kids and they lost each other in the process that when the kids were gone There was nothing else to hold them together. You can't lose yourself in your kids That's why you got to take date nights and you leave them kids at the house you you got to take Vacations once a year twice a year and the kids don't go But I want to go I'll bring you a t-shirt you're staying here you can stay with whoever we're out of here like yeah No, no, you take care of your kids Genesis chapter 2 says man and wife become one but unity requires ongoing work You got a fight for the unity Ephesians 5 husbands love your wives wives see that you respect your husband's love and respect require time that doesn't just happen In fact, let me put it this way. Do not allow your duty as a parent to replace your commitment as a spouse Do not let your duty as a parent replace your commitment as a spouse I'd we do not make your child the center of your universe Continue to be you and take them with you. They will not be hurt they will grow and mature and they'll enjoy it and and then we show them as a Woman sending our husband and wife in front of our son. He saw us laugh joke He saw us mess up up repent apologize Repent apologize forgive and keep going he used to love to watch his kids do it again do it again And I and but he saw and he developed a love for family and was excited to understand This is how it's supposed to be your marriage is to be modeling should be the most important teacher to your children This is how mom and dad and family operate because there's order inside this house kids feed off of a great marriage Let me finish with this with this question right here How do you biblically deal with grief? Anybody ever been through a horrible situation in your life where it broke you down anybody and we've been through a few several Life can hit hard Life can hit really hard

And I'm glad that God's Word doesn't run from this but actually leans into it. We have Job Naomi We Hannah David the Bible tells their stories of how they were broken down grief. They were losing it. They were a mess. They were hurting They were in pain in their life and they were processing it and the Bible processes their story Showing us how they dealt with it I want you to understand the attitude and the mindset that God has towards you record regarding grief when it tough time hits first Peter chapter 5 verse 7 says this cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. He's not running from your pain. He goes, no, I'm going to step into it with you. You're hurting. I'm hurting. I'll do it with you. Let's go. And it's good to know that God doesn't bail on us in difficult times. In fact, handled well, grief is a natural process to loss. Grief is not to be thrown away. Grief is to be embraced, but done in a healthy way. Mishandled we can get stuck in grief. And just because the loss happened 10 years ago, doesn't mean I'm over it yet. We have to be willing to embrace it, deal with it, admit that you were hurt. Look at the scar, go there and don't ignore it and just try to act like everything is fine and just stay busy because I promise you now or later, that grief is going to surface. We have to deal with it. So how do we deal with it? Well, the Bible gives us a really interesting perspective in Nehemiah chapter one and chapter two. This guy named Nehemiah wrote a book after himself that that's not, you know, egotistical. That's just so we know who he is. Nehemiah is, it tells us that he was, he was very locked into Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem, the walls have been burnt down. The people were run out. Nehemiah was broken. He was distraught over this catastrophe that had taken place. And in chapters one and two, we see how Nehemiah dealt with his loss. The Bible says in Nehemiah chapter one, verse four, he sat down. First thing he did was sit down. When a hit happens in your life, sit down. Don't run around bleeding everywhere. Stop and sit down and gather yourself. Breathe deep and allow that moment to be what it needs to be. Don't create more drama for yourself, but you've got to sit down and just localize right for just a second. And then the Bible says he cried. He sat down and he cried. He expressed his pain.

He didn't cover it. He didn't hide it. He didn't just, big boys don't cry. He's not there. He loses it. In fact, the Hebrew word that is used there means he was dripping. He was sobbing. He was doubled over groaning. He was a mess in this passage. He sat down, he cried, he mourned. That means he, his body language, he was heavy. He didn't just get over it. It wasn't a bad weekend. This was deep. And his body language was carrying this. If you knew Nehemiah, you knew something's wrong with him. It was obvious it had affected him physically. He was in mourning. In fact, the king that he worked for said, what is wrong with you? They identified immediately that Nehemiah is not himself. It was obvious. Sit down, cry, mourn, allow that pain to be dealt with. And then it says he fasted and prayed. He took a spiritual perspective in the middle of his pain. It's not just emotional. The same God that I serve in good times is the same God that will help me in my bad times. And so when we hit those moments, we open his word as well. So while you're crying, open his word. And while you're losing it and you're angry, open that Bible and say, I've got to find a way out. I can't live in this for the rest of my life. There's got to be a source. There's got to be some hope. There's got to be some peace. And you begin to realize when you read the word, I'm not alone. I'll never leave you nor forsake you, but I'll go with you all the way. Romans chapter 8, when you don't know how you should pray, I will pray through you with groanings that can't be uttered. Holy Spirit runs to us in those times to comfort and strengthen and lift us so that you don't do it alone. Grief, we've got to go through it when the hits happen, but never do it alone. Allow Holy Spirit to run in by your side. Be your help. Be your hope. Be your strength and let God's words, oh my goodness, some of the most powerful verses, personal verses to me, became personal in my life in my worst moments. Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord. I'm never going to fully understand why bad things happen in this life and hit like they do, but God, I'm going to trust you when I can't understand the next step. I know you're good and you're there. I drew strength from that in my time. So he sat down, he cried, he mourned, he fasted and prayed, and then he got up and moved forward.

Again, not just over a weekend. There's a time to sit down. There's a time to gather yourself, but you got to get up and keep moving because life is for the living and I got to keep moving. And so instead of grief owning me, I'm I'm just going to take grief with me for a while. It might take me a couple of months to process this and it's okay. It's okay. But I'm going to keep moving. And if people say, what's wrong with you? I'm going through some stuff. It's really hard, but I'm still here. And the fact that I got out of bed and showed up today is a miracle. God is on my side. I'm coming through this thing and you just keep moving. You just get one step at a time, one day at a time in this hit, we don't isolate. We get counseling. I'm going to go find someone that can help me understand and process. I need to get some stuff off my head, heart and chest. And I can't even find the words to express what's going on. We need professionals that can help us find those words and alleviate that. But we get back to working. We get back to living. We get back to dreaming. Here's the good news. Hebrews chapter four tells us that Jesus went through grief like you and I do. That means that when you're talking to Jesus about your situation, he goes, I got, I understand been there, done that. I know what a broken heart feels like. I know what it means to be distraught. Do you feel like nothing is working? You feel alone. You're, you're, you're gutted inside. Scoops have been taken out of your soul. I understand what you're going through. And he rushes by. That's why the Bible says that he is sits at the right hand of God ever interceding, praying for you and me. When he's talking to his father about what we're going through, he's going, dad, I've been there. I know what this is like. Release some strength, release some hope, release some joy, help get them through this season. And he's there.

Holy spirit rushes by your side to pick you up and help walk you one day at a time, one day at a time. It's not all of a sudden the light switch flips, but it's a day to time. I walk myself out of that. So express the pain, but expect healing and take time to heal, but keep moving and enjoy private time, but also stay public. Don't disappear and get counsel, but also keep talking to God and keep his word alive in your life and realize that when waves of grief come, God's also going to send waves of grace into your life. He's faithful to get you through this. Psalm 30 verse five says this weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning. Would you please stand to your feet? Yeah. I want to pray today for people who might be going through a grieving situation right now. Your heart's broken and you might not have ever expressed it to anybody. Maybe you say, Scott, I've never really processed it. Had a friend or a loved one that passed. That was a couple of years ago and I've not cried a tear yet. I've been stuffing it. I'm just white knuckling it. And if people only knew how shallow my emotions were right now, I smile on the outside, but man, right there, I'm broken. I'm hurting. I want you to know you matter to God today and Holy spirit loves you. And he wants to break through those walls and sit down with you, cry with you, strengthen you, help you process this. And he promises I'll make it all work together for your good. If you'll just give it to me, I'll make you stronger on the other side. I'll fill in the holes and the gaps that are missing. I know how to do this. That's what he does.

He's the comforter and he knows how to comfort. So today, if you're going through that, we're going to pray. I'm going to just, I'm going to be praying for you and I just want you to say, God, that's me, man. I'm hurting today. I need you. He gets that. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you don't leave us alone in our times of difficulty, but you draw close to us in our time of need. That's what your word tells us. And so today, God, in this room, those watching online, maybe some by podcast, we, we're in a season where we need you right now. We're brokenhearted. We're, I haven't even told anybody what's going on inside. I'm tired of crying myself to sleep by myself. I'm tired of carrying this evidence that I can't seem to break out of this. It's swallowing me whole. And instead of trying to self-medicate just to get through the pain, I need to deal with this. I need to get it out of my heart. I need your help today. Father, I'm asking for you to touch hearts and spirits today. Would you lift and strengthen and, and wrap arms around my friend today and let them feel your presence, your love, your healing, your power, Holy spirit. We need you. We need you to do what we can't do. We need you to do what a counselor cannot do. Let that word come alive and give us a hope and a strength that does not make sense in this season. Let waves of grace overtake the waves of grief. Give, give my friend an ability to breathe deep again. I pray God to find movement in our life and start walking forward and find that counselor, find that professional help, find community that help us to process this so we can get back to living the life that Jesus died to give us.

I will not live In this grave for the rest of my life, I'm coming out of this, and I will live with the hope, strength, and the blessing that God provides. Today, God, bring a healing and a strength to my friends in this room, to families in this room, marriages, a mom, a business owner, a friend, a student. God, strengthen and heal as only you can. We look to you as our source and our help. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. If you're grateful that Jesus loves you like that, would you put your hands together in this room? We really hope this message encouraged you. For more encouraging messages, feel free to check out our website, freelifechapel.org. I hope you have a fantastic day.