Calvary Baptist Church - Canyon Texas - David Crump, Pastor David Crump

We serve a great God. Throughout history, he has done great things for his people.
We worship a victorious savior. He defeated sin, death, took all the wrath of a righteous God, he bought us back from slavery to sin and made us sons and daughters of

Last week - even in our failures, the victory of Christ is demonstrated.
When we fail, when we sin, we remember that Jesus' victory on the cross carried away my sins.

God wants you to think about, meditate on, study and explore the victories of Jesus. He wants you to see that his grace really is greater than all our sin.

There is no moment or circumstance of my life that is not impacted by God's greatness and the victorious work of Jesus Christ.

What about those times when we're discouraged and worn?
Do God's people get discouraged?
Ps 77:3, I remembered you, o God, and I groaned
Ps 102:4-6, I forgot to eat
Jer 20:14, I curse the day I was born.
Job 10:1 I loathe my very life.

Why does God allow his people to be discouraged?
1. Emptiness - Absence increases our desire, presence increases our joy.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Blessings lost and then found again become extraordinary.

2. Disappointment - So we find that nothing else will fulfill us and come to him alone.
Hosea 11:2-4
V. 2. God called, they went further away. Worshipped Baals
V. 3. They did not see God's kindness, took it for granted.
V. 4 God led them in kindness and love.
Hosea 11:5-8
V. 5. Return to Egypt - after God set them free, from slavery, they wanted to return there. We return to old idols, old habits, looking for fulfillment.
V. 6 God will allow them to be invaded by Assyria.
V. 7. My people are determined to turn from me.
Man comes to God only after finding emptiness everywhere else. William Bridge
So long as we can find fulfillment anywhere else, we will not come to God.
V. 8. In triumphant, unfailing love, God will not give up on you or let you go.

The greatness of God's love will bring you back to him.
His unfailing love will remind you that even if you have discouragement all around you, you have the greatest possession in the universe, you have the love of your great God.
You are His and He is yours.

God wants to have all the love of his children.
He allows us to figure out that no other pursuits will satisfy us.

3. Conviction - Jesus as a surgeon, uses discouragement to repair what is wrong in us. He points out areas in our lives where we are looking at external things rather than the demonstrated love of God for us.

Read the scriptures much. The promise yields its power when you put it to work, not before. Relying on the promise makes it yours.

Psalm 94:19 "when anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul."

I want to spend the next few weeks talking about our triumphant God.
About the victories of God and, specifically, the victories of Jesus Christ.
Our God is victorious.
Our Savior has overcome.

God's patience overcame Israel's sinfulness
Jesus' obedience overcame Satan's temptations
God's forgiveness overcame man's sin
God's power overcame the schemes of Satan
Jesus' power overcame the grave
God's wisdom overcame man's deceptions
God's glory overcame man's suppression of the truth
God's love overcame man's hatred

But it's not just that He has overcome. His victory means something for our lives.
The story of God's victory is not just God's story.
God demonstrates his greatness in the lives of his people.
God's triumphs impact the lives of his people.

Jesus' blood overcame the sinful stains in my life and made me holy
Jesus' sacrifice overcame the wrath of God and made me a friend of God
Jesus overcame the bondage of my sin and gave me freedom
Jesus overcame the death that I dwelt in and gave me new life

Jesus' victories in life and teachings and in his death and resurrection and in His teachings have an impact on our lives today and every day.

There is no moment or circumstance of my life that is not impacted by God's greatness and the victorious work of Jesus Christ.

Even in our failures, the victory of Jesus and the greatness of God is seen.

John 13:36-38 Jesus' last night with his disciples. Peter promises to go all the way to death

Luke 22:31-34 Satan asked to sift you like wheat
God allowed Peter's faith to be tested
"When you have turned back" Jesus knew that Peter would stumble
But Peter's stumbling was not the end

John 18:25-27 while Jesus was being accused, Peter warmed himself and not only didn't speak up in Jesus' defense, he denied even knowing him

John 21:15-17 three denials, three opportunities to be restored

God never permits his people to fall into any sin but that he intends as an inlet into further grace.

We should be humbled by our sin, but not discouraged because Jesus has overcome our sin - past and future - all our sin, every stain, every one - Jesus Christ has covered by his blood.

When you sin, see it on the cross. See Jesus carry it to Calvary.
See his death carry it away and see his Father accept Jesus' sacrifice as payment in full for your sin when he resurrected Jesus body after three days of death.

Hearing and doing are what make the difference. - Andy Stanley

James 1:22-25

22. Do not merely listen; do. Listening without doing is deceptive.
We can come to church, sing the songs - even feel emotion.
But if we don't put into practice what we're learning, there's no real growth.

23-24. a word picture - we fix the outside but not the inside
Coming to realize after being in Gods word yourself or hearing Gods word and realizing you need to make a change
Honor God with your body,
Invest more time in your kids,
Or more in your marriage,
To become aware that something needs to change and then to leave and do nothing is like looking at a mirror, and forgetting what you see.

It'd be like getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror and see you need a shave, your hair is flat on one side and standing on the other, your teach need brushed, but you immediately forget and do nothing and go to school or work.

You stand in front of the mirror until you're better - until it's fixed
You do something about what you see.

James says when you read or hear the a Word of a God and become aware that you need to confess, or forgive someone, or address an addiction, or honor God with your body or your finances, or your marriage, or a relationship, an apology I need to make - if you become aware of the need for change and do nothing...
It's as foolish as looking into a mirror and forgetting what you've seen.

There's no credit for just being aware - God lovingly calls us to change.
We'll spend hours in a week on the outside, but it's the heart issues, habit issues, relationship issues, forgiveness issues, attitude issues that cause moral or relational or financial crashes in our lives.
Why wouldn't we dare to walk away from an issue in our appearance, but we refuse to deal with the internal issues we've been confronted with?
25. God's law gives freedom
The younger we are and the less time we've followed Christ, the more baffling this is. Seems like the Scriptures are filled with "NO" - not freedom.
God' sword seems restrictive, not freeing.

But then you gain some life experience and you find its true.

Money: Bible teaches us to be generous, don't spend all your money on yourself. Your money is not your money. Don't go into debt.
Give, save, then live on the rest. If you do that, you'll have financial freedom.
It works because the Bible is true and if you follow its teachings - if you apply them - if you put them into practice you'll find freedom.

Forgiveness: the perfect law that gives freedom says when someone hurts you, forgive. But we don't want to. Someone hurt me. I'm going to hold it against them. I'm not going to let them off. Why would I give them the gift of forgiveness?
The Bible says, cancel their debt. Forgive.

You know people who haven't forgiven. They are angry, bitter. And people around them suffer. People wound them get all the venom from some other relationship.

But we know that when we forgive, the person being set free is us.
We know that forgiveness removes the shackles - not from the person who hurt us - it removes the shackles from our own hands and feet.
There's freedom when you apply Gods Word and forgive.

The Bible teaches to honor God with your body and with what you put in your body. When you're young that seems so restrictive.
Honor God with where you take your body,
Honor God with what you look at,
Honor God with your relationships - with your sexuality.

There is freedom in God's perfect law, but only when we practice it.
Only when we do something with what we hear.
Jesus Christ died to set us free.
But you're only free when you do something with what you hear.
There is blessing when we hear and do.

Practice Makes Perfect

Psalm 84:1-4 blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever praising - those who dwell in worship are blessed - they find happiness, joy in God's presence

Psalm 84:5-7
v 5 "set their hearts on pilgrimage" - journey to God's temple, to his presence.
blessed are those who journey to God's presence.
v 6 "valley of Baca" "weeping" no physical place identified.
Here's the picture -
Blessed are those who journey through sorrow to God's presence.

A place of springs, rains cover the valley of weeping with pools.
The practice of digging cisterns in the desert.
In the middle of desert, they would dig holes in the ground or cisterns.
Despite the thirsty, dry conditions, they knew the rains would come.

v 7 The rains did come, filled the holes like pools in the desert.
The. They pass through the desert, from one pool to the next, "strength to strength".
Those who go to God in times of sorrow find strength.

Even in dry places, you have to prepare for rain.
In the midst of discouragement, go to God's presence, prepare for his blessing
Discouragement is disorienting, but God is still good.
He is for us.
Our struggles do not overcome the joy and strength we find in his presence.

Scott Auth, Church Elder and DPS Officer speaks of his recent experiences helping to secure the southern border of Texas.