WEBVTT - The Gift Of Grief (Lisa Harper) 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.880 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.160 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:22.680 Goodness, goodness, goodness. Thank y'all, Thank you so much. Please 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.160 sit down. I have a couple of confessions to make 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:33.120 before we dive into God's word. Ah love Elevation. I 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.240 love this house. I really really love Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly. 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.400 As a matter of fact, Holly, I had a message 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:50.920 that was rhymed and everything prepared, and then I've been 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:56.240 doing Holly is grateful for aid And the other day 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.400 I just got wrecked by thinking of what I'm grateful for, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.680 and I realized one of my ates is grief. And 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.600 I thought, what a weird thing to be grateful for grief. 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.039 And I promise I have not been smoking anything medicinal. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:17.640 I know that sounds so counterintuitive when we come from 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:19.720 this great time of worship to then just kind of 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.440 dive into grief. But I realized grief for me and 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.880 I'm in another season of grief. I lost somebody I 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.960 loved very much a month ago yesterday, and I'm just 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:35.720 in that place of I trust in God. And he answered, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.080 but he took a wild answer. And ye know, sometimes 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.240 there's that gap between I trust in God and then 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.440 you're waiting on an answer, waiting on an answer, waiting 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.400 on answer. C. S. Lewis says, sometimes we don't get 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.040 the answer that we're so desperate for. We get more 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.400 of a no answer. He said, but it's not uncompassionates, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:02.080 as if God is saying peace child. You don't understand 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:07.080 this because we see through the lens, you know, kind 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.560 of blurry, and so it's your fault. It's not going 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:15.440 to rhyme today because she wrecks me with just that 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.280 focused on everything that filters through the hands of God 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:26.280 is good. I love this house, deeply, deeply respect your leadership. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:28.800 I'm at an age and stage of life where I 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.920 get discounts at fast food restaurants and I'm turning to 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.799 sixty one next month. So I've lived a whole lot 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.040 of life. So when I get to be around leaders 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.960 like Chunks and Colleen Tunis and people who've stayed the 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.640 course for a while I just so deeply respect that 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.239 kind of longevity. If you're one of those people who 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.240 gets bugged when people go on and on about how 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.200 much they love Elevation, you're going to have to get 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.760 over yourself this morning because I love the house. The 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.240 first time I got to come here, I really thought 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.960 they had messed up. I thought Chunks thought he was 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.560 texting Lisa Turkhurst, and I just wasn't going to tell 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.240 him any different. I was so excited about the fact 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.080 that I got to come and I still feel like that. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.360 I kind of feel like the shy girl, you know, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.800 with a you know, payless haircut, and I got invited 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.800 to prom by the football quarterback. I love getting to 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.480 come here. On the plane in Nashville, they delayed us, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.120 and I was like, if they tell me they are 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.400 canceling in spite to Charlotte, I will get on my 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.839 bike and ride here, which would have been difficult because 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.680 it's a peloton, but still I would have attempted it. 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:44.160 I love, love, love this house, and a couple of 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.880 qualifications extra I'm a spitter, and y'all, I'm so sorry. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.520 I get really excited when I'm talking about Jesus and 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.280 I spew, So y'all are kind of going to get 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.520 rebaptized if your presbyteria'll be cool, because it's a sprinkling. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.280 If you need a full dunking, it's not going to 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:06.200 be that exciting. And then I might slightly wreck your 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.920 Independence Day week because I want to start with a 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.160 Fourth of July story, which is where I actually learned 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.000 to grieve in a way that led me towards Jesus 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.599 instead of into a place by myself. It's about fifteen 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.120 years ago. It was Fourth of July week, and I 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.240 was real excited. I love the Fourth of July. I 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.840 get all the blinkies and the Sparkleys and the red, 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.800 white and blue, and I was really really fired up. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.320 And I was also fired up because I was in 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:39.039 a very serious romantic relationship with a really, really handsome, 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:45.159 incredible man. And I guess enough time has passed that 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.840 I can share his name publicly now. His name is 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:55.680 Larry super fat liar pants and it was such a 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.880 big fat liar. But anyway, we dated seriously for about 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.960 and we were heading to what I thought was I 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.599 was going to finally get to, you know, buy the 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.000 white dress and get all the bride's maid's dresses. I 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.800 was going to do a bush and I was so 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.520 excited because I was almost forty and to get married 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.080 at almost forty, I mean, spanks are going to be involved, 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.720 but that's like exciting, that's a huge relief. And he 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:25.360 ghosted me right before fourth of July, and I know, 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.360 I know I should tell you it was real name, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:33.479 but anyway, he's married another girl but they divorced, so anyway, 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.440 that was hateful and not fruit of the spirit. But anyway, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.440 I'm going to get to gratitude in just a second. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.800 Do not is faster? Stephen watching this. Hopefully he's just 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.600 like being alone with the Lord and doesn't know what's 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.800 happening in his church this morning. We're going to get 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.240 to the Bible in just a second. But anyway, Larry 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.680 Lyerpants ghosted me right before Jolly fourth and we were 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.479 going to this big couple's sway and that I'd gotten 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.080 a new output for It's gonna be so much fun. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.320 And I was like, well, I can't go with all 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.960 the couples, you know, when I'm he just I'm not 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.640 with him. That's like going to Krispy Kreme when you're 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.240 on keto. I'm not going to do that. And so 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.320 a friend called me and said, hey, if you're not 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:11.920 going to go to that party, why don't you come 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.840 over to my house because she was going through a 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.600 real awful divorce and it was the first time she'd 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.000 ever been without her kids. They were with their dad 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.080 for Fourth of July, and she said, I kind of 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.200 need a friend. And then a bunch of us are 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.400 getting together for our own Fourth of July party, and 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.360 I was like, oh great, I'll be with all the 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:34.280 sad single ladies with cats. So I thought, okay, I'm 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.160 just going to own this. And so I go over 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.320 to her house and I thought, you know, she doesn't have, 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.640 you know, her husband here anymore. Maybe I could actually 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.159 help before the party. My dad was a contractor, I'm single, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.880 all kinds of power tools, and so I thought, I'll 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.120 put in some shelving in her garage. That would help 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.960 this nice girl who's a single mom and she's kind 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.640 of sad like me. And so I put these shelves. 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.680 I was putting them in her garage and I was 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.839 way up high on the ladder and the ladder started 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.159 to She had those bougie garage floors. They're real slick. 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.920 And the ladder started to slide and I'm way up 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.480 with this drill, and I thought, oh, shoot fire, I'm 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.640 gonna fall. I can't there's nothing I can do. I 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.160 wouldn't saidhoot fire if I wasn't in church. But so 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.560 I start to slip and I look down and you 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.119 know those tomato those swirly things people put tomato plants 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.480 on the summer metal things. I look down and I 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.920 see those, and the sharp part is up and I 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.320 was like, oh shoot, I'm about to become a kebab. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.920 And so I was trying to you know how you're 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:34.520 like swimming in the air because I knew it was 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.240 going to hit the concrete. I just didn't want to 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.000 hit the tomato spirals. So I'm kind of swimming well. 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.560 When I did, my leg hooked under the ladder and 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.400 I fell from twelve feet on the concrete and knocked 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.440 myself out, and I cracked a tooth and lost a 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.720 tooth right there, which is why I listp a little 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:54.560 and broke my ankle, knocked myself out, knocked the tooth 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.880 out of my head. She heard me fall, she comes 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.800 running around. I promise this will get better. We're getting 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.800 to the Bible and hope, so stay with me. And 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.280 she comes running around while she was really alarmed that 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.440 I was unconscious when she found me in a little 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.480 bloody and so she calls somebody she knows who's the 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.600 medical field, and they say she probably has a you know, concussion, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:17.840 so keep her up and ask her about the president 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.600 of the year and all that. And so she kind 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.240 of gets me on her couch and she's like, what's 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.200 the year? And I'm like, like, what are you doing? 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.400 She keeps asking me historical questions. I've never really liked history. 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.280 And then she comes back in like the fourth time, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.679 because I'm thinking, I just need to go home, Like 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.720 this has just been not at all the day I expected. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.520 I just need to go home. She comes running back in. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.200 I think she's going to ask me about the president, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.920 and she goes, Reeve's dead, and I was like, what 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.680 are you talking about. Well, a friend of mine when 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.640 they had kids, he found out his kids were allergic 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.559 to dogs, and so he said, can you keep one 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.199 of my dogs. I'm finding a place for him. And 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.400 he had a dog named Reba, because is why writes 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:02.680 country songs. And she wrote a cut on Reba's record, 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.360 so named the dog Riba. There's the worst dog in 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.800 the history of time. But I love dogs and I 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:08.600 felt sorry for this dog. Well, nobody wanted the dog, 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.000 and I ended up having the dog forever, even though 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.160 technically I was just keeping the dog for twelve years 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.000 until he got somebody to adopt this dog. So I 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.440 had several dogs, but also I had Riba and little tiny, red, 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.800 fluffy dog. And while I was helping at this girl's house, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.720 I just put RIBA's leash on the fence because I 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.439 was going to go for a run with Riba before 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.080 the party. And when this girl named Kim took me 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.679 under how she just wasn't thinking that this little dog 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.000 the leash was still on the fence. And so when 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.199 fireworks started going off and she's making sure I'm not dead, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.679 Rita but got all twisted up and Riba died, and 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.640 I thought she was kidding me, and I thought it 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.439 was this horrible, horrible joke. I'm like, that's just awful, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.079 and she was no. You know when people get nervous 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.680 and they laugh because they're nervous, So I still couldn't 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.040 tell she was punking me. She was like, no, he 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.000 was dead, and I was like what, Like this is awful. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.199 I've lost my man, I've lost a tooth, I've broken you. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.600 Are you really tell him when my dog died? And 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.600 then she went yeah, I put her in the freezer. 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.480 I was like, you put her in the fresh star 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:17.920 and she said, well it's hot, and I was afraid 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.840 she'd stink and I've never dealt with the dead dog before, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.800 so yeah, she's in the freezer. And for a moment, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.760 I thought, this isn't my life. Like I was supposed 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.720 to get married. I'd picked out the dress and as 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:29.760 July the fourth, and supposed to be all sparkly, and 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.240 now I've lost my man, I've lost my tooth, and 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.120 my dog is in the freezer, and I thought this 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.120 is not one of those I trust in God, And 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.520 he answered moments this is I trust in God. And 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.760 I feel like it's gotten me to a really bad 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.240 place because now I can't even cuss because I trust 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.280 in God and this is just hard and sad, and 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.800 all I want to do is eat been in jerries 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.559 and like, oh, this is terrible. Maybe even go to Netflix. 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:03.320 I what happens when you trust in God? And you 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.880 don't get the answer you want right then. I used 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.200 to never talk about hard things like that. I never 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.600 used to say when I was grieving, when I lost 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.880 somebody I loved. I never talked about the gap between 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.240 I trusting God any answers. Because I grew up in 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.359 a stream of the church where it was just tacitly 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.600 endorsed that you always wear a happy face. I thought 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.960 that was somewhere in the Bible. I thought, if you 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.559 were serious about your faith, you could not ever say 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.000 you were having a hard day. I thought you just 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.440 shoulders back, head up, big smile, hopefully a T shirt 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.199 with a verse on it. Because I didn't think we 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.760 were allowed as Christ followers to say I trust in God, 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.080 but he hasn't answered yet. I trust in God, but 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.840 I'm really sad right now. I thought I'm not allowed 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.120 to do that. It'll be a bad witness, It'll hurt 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:08.640 God's reputation. I used to beat myself up internally and 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.040 just say, if you could just memorize a few more verses, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.199 if you could just muster up a little more faith, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.800 you'd be a more effective evangelist. Lisa, you can't say 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.400 you're having a hard day. Somehow that negates the whole 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.080 fact that he's a perfect God, that he's good God, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.320 that he never leaves us, and he never forsakes us. 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.400 So I curated my emotions and I only brought the 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.040 bright and shiny and the red, white and blue sparkly 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:37.480 wines to church. And I never brought the black and blue. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.800 My heart is broken and my dog is dead. I 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.600 didn't bring that to the family of faith. I just 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.839 ached in isolation because I swallowed the lie that God 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:52.600 is disappointed in us if we're sad. I thought sad 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.960 was bad. You know, it took me a long, long 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.040 long time to realize that our guy is so kind 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.040 that never one time, never, one time, in this love 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.559 story we call the Bible, does he say I want 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.000 you to stuff the sad parts and only bring the 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.160 bright and shiny to me. He never ever people do that. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.680 But our creator, Redeemer has never said I only want 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:23.080 the positivity in you. He never says that. He says, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:33.720 bring me everything, bring me everything. If deep if deep 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.120 fake was a sport, I was a world champion. Then 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.079 I went to seminary the first go round, and I 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:45.480 could wrap Greek and Hebrew around my deep fake, and 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.600 when I got in a ditch between I trust in God, 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.560 and it took a while for me to hear his answer. Man, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:59.920 I got stuck stuck in that ditch, and God did 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:05.839 chastise me, and I didn't get a holy spanky, Uni 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:10.760 said through Holy Spirit. When I was literally and emotionally 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:15.360 flat on my face, he said, Lisa, you've been running 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.520 so hard for so long that I had to put 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.600 a lump under your rug, so big that it would 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:25.120 cause you to trip. Because I love you so much 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.640 and the pretense in you has caused offense between us, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.200 and I want all of you, and so I'm going 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.560 to sit here with you in the dark until fear 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.680 doesn't own you anymore, until you can bring all of 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.880 you to all of me. So I still have deep ends. 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.080 This July the fourth was a hard one too, because 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:54.520 the only man I've ever trusted died, and he died 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.960 way too young, and we really believe that he would 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.360 be healed. So this July the fourth wasn't super bright 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:05.360 and shiny either, But the presence of God in that 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:10.920 place and the way grief has made his countenance a 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.640 little clear. When we're sad, sometimes the veil gets a 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.040 little thinnered, doesn't it, And His presence is just so 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.200 palpable because we need it and we're more cognizant of 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.880 the fact that we need God. I'm not trying to 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.200 be Debbie Downer today. I'm just saying, as a people 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.760 of God, sometimes I think we're missing this whole beautiful 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.640 green pasture and the still water because we try to 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:38.840 put on bright and shiny when we're in church or 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.920 when we were other Christians, and sometimes even the world. 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.720 We've got a world that is so sad and so broken, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.640 and we've become so irrelevant because we try to pretend 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.400 like we aren't. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. We 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.440 talk about how God is with us in the hard places, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.520 not that we don't have them anymore. And it's all 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.800 throughout scripture. I don't know how I miss this. All 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.240 throughout Scripture. We have story after story. You have story 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:08.480 of people who were disappointed, people who were sad. Why 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.560 do we think they are all bright and shiny and 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:17.440 in leather pants. They're not. Every single one of the 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.520 saints went through seasons where they lost their groove. Charles Spurgeon, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.680 who is my pretend theological boyfriend. I love Spurgeon, and 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.440 I was so encouraged when I read the Spurgeon, one 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:34.080 of the greatest saints we've ever experienced as a Christian 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:39.120 people lived in the UK late eighteen hundreds, amazing communicator 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.800 of the gospel. Hundreds of thousands got saved under Spurgeon's ministry. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:48.720 We're still reading his books. He's amazing. Spurgeon said, there 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.240 are times when I feel like I'm living in a 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:57.080 dungeon underneath a castle of despair. That's sad. I mean, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.520 that's like prozac kind of sad. Baby, that is carbo 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.760 loading kind of said, I'm living in a dungeon underneath 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.760 a castle of despair. One of the most effective evangelance 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:13.359 the world has ever seen. And he said, I ache, y'all, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.240 we will all ache. Unless you have not gone through puberty, 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.399 or you have amnesia, or you too are Larry or 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:24.200 Larry at liar pants, we will all ate. Jesus didn't 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.080 punk us. He didn't say everything's going to be perfect here. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.440 He said, in this world, you will have trouble. He said, 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:34.479 take heart, take heart, take heart. I've overcome the world. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.000 And if you've listened to your pasture, I think we'll 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.639 get to the place where we even become grateful for 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:49.680 grief because we realize Oh. Usually revivals follow pits. Usually, 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.480 if you'll look back over the trajectory of your walk 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.000 of faith, you'll go Man, where I really grew wasn't 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.680 a season of where everything was going well. It was 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.320 a season where the bottom fell out of my world 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:08.000 and I found God there. I still have deep ens. 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.600 I'm just not afraid I'm gonna drown anymore. I brought 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.919 a couple of multisyllabic theological words so those of you 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.080 who are enneagram eights would feel like you got your 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.840 money's worth in church today. I learned these in seminary, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:27.480 and I have sweat and blood in my doctoral programs. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.800 So the few long words I remember and I paid 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.439 so much for, I want to humble brag about. But 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.760 these actually are really pertinent when we talk about bringing 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.000 all that we are to all of who God is. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:48.360 First word is orthodoxy, and orthodoxy comes from a Latin prefix, 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.240 a Greek sorry prefix. Ortho means right. That's why you 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.600 go to an orthopedis, because they're going to get your 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.639 bones right. Ortho means right or correct, and dox refers 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.240 to beef. Therefore, in the Christian context, and you'll hear 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.680 orthodoxy as it applies to other things. But in the 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.399 Christian context, for those of us who who love Jesus 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.919 or stumbling towards Jesus, it means to have right beliefs 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.959 about God. So if you are going to Elevation, if 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.440 you're a member of Elevation, if you're Epham, if you're 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.240 online from South Africa, if you believe what's being preached 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.960 from this from this house every single week, what's being 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.120 done the bands that our people are coming alongside to bless, 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.720 then you have probably an orthodox Christian belief system that 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:39.320 means your beliefs are grounded in scripture. Second word is orthopraxy. Ortho, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.760 of course, is that prefix that means write or correct. 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.639 Practice means activity. Actually like practice better than practice because 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.679 practice refers to your hearts in it, so it's not 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:55.919 just duty. So orthopraxy is to have right actions in 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.680 light of what you believe to be true about God. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.760 You still with me orthopraxy, don't take mental field trips yet. 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.720 And then there's a third one, ortha pathy. So we've 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.639 got right and then pathos in Greek refers to feelings 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.919 or emotions, and y'all, this is where usually Christians have 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.000 train wrecks, because so many of us, like me, have 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.919 assumed there's part of what I feel that isn't congruent 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.560 with what I believe to be true about God. How 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:26.880 many of y'all heard a youth pastor when you're growing up, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.440 Usually their next were poking out their veins, were poking 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:31.720 on their macs. I used to think I had to 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.640 scream to be effective. I had a lot of youth 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.800 pastors that slung their bibles and screamed, and so I 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.280 started doing that. One time, Genesis fell out of my 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.200 Bible chunks and hit a woman on the front row. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.920 It's wonder I wasn't sued. But I used to think 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.720 to be effective, I had to scream pathos emotion. How 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.480 many times have you heard of youth pastors say, please, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.800 is not a feeling? Any of y'all heard that? And 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.240 so I thought, Ah, I got to be careful my feelings. 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.760 I can only have, like you know, biblical feelings. I 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.199 can't have sad. Sad is bad. That's where we have 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.359 a train rag, because you can't have right beliefs about 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:16.280 God and segregate your heart. Yes, faith is not a feeling, 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.720 but we feel. In Genesis one twenty six and twenty seven, 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.560 God said I made you in my image. So feelings 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.360 aren't bad. They just have to be under the canopy 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.320 of what we believe to be true about God. So 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:33.959 to be sad isn't bad as a believer. It is 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.400 nothing illegitimate about being sad. Where you go with that 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.960 sorrow or that grief, or that disappointment, or that anngst 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.919 or that anxiety, that's where we get illegitimate. But to 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:51.080 have feelings or the pathy that's supposed to be congruent 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:56.639 orthodoxy or theoproxy how we behave we don't say the 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.600 things sometimes that are in our head about the Larry 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.879 Liar pants in our lives, and then ortha pathy, those 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.720 have to be congruent. I lost a little weight last 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.240 year and I have a lot of hanging down parts 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.880 now which are exciting, and so I was moving rocks 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.800 in my yard recently, and I thought, you know, I've 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.359 seen those big people on television who are trying to 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.720 get in shape of throw tires, and so it would 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:24.040 help me to just instead of move these rocks to 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.360 hurl these rocks. And so I picked up this river 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.120 rock that I needed to move to that garden. From 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.480 this garden, I thought, I'm gonna chunk this puppy over 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.040 my head. And when I tried to chunk it over 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.840 my head, I heard this horrible rip and I thought, oh, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:43.000 that that doesn't sound good. And so I waited for 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:44.800 a while ago the doctor because I thought, you know, 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:46.800 I'm old school. I'm like, oh, take tylernand, don't be 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.800 a baby. And after you know, a week of talan 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.840 on dit coke, I was like, this hurts. And so 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.760 I went to the doctor and after an MRI, he said, Lisa, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.800 I need to know how you did this, because I've 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.000 been doing a surgery for twenty five years and I've 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:06.639 only had one other woman who completely tore her bicep 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.680 to her rotator cuff and her laborum and in one 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.159