Well, good evening, and we do have, there is the handouts again for you. If you turn with me in your Bibles tonight, I'd like to look at help out of the hole of no hope, and it is showing up there, so we're good. Remember, Proverbs chapter four, verse 23, we'll start off there tonight, and then we're gonna continue. Every one of us has known pain in our life. Every one of us have suffered difficult times, tragic times, impossible times, and we're gonna look at that tonight. So in Proverbs 4, verse 23, it tells us, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And the scars of tragedy are etched on every one of our lives. And as we think about this, the incidents in our life that happen that literally crush our hearts. From that moment on, from the time that heart is crushed and emotionally broken, I begin to filter my entire life all through that incident. And I need the Lord to heal it, but it's a very difficult thing and very painful, and it hurts, and it just literally crushes us to the core. And God's desire is to heal. And we're going to look at that, and I mentioned the young woman, Rebecca, that, not my wife, but from the material that was training to be a doctor, and her life was falling apart as she was there in med school. Because of the abuse, she had suffered at the hands of her uncle growing up. And so let's pray and then we'll continue our study this evening. Our Father, we thank you for your grace. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the love you've given to us. Lord, you're so kind and caring. And Lord, I pray that I do this very sensitively. Lord, in a way that would provide the healing that only you can give. God, please do a work. Lord, you're our Savior, and you came to heal the brokenhearted, and Father, if maybe we don't have the brokenheart, but maybe we could help someone. Whatever the situation is this evening, Lord, I pray that you would show yourself mighty, and Lord, may you be exalted. I love you, give wisdom and strength. I yield tonight to thee in Jesus' precious name, I pray, amen. We're gonna look at the next one. In Genesis chapter two, verse seven, the battle for the soul. And God breathed into man the breath of life. Your soul is spiritual, not just physical. And I began to talk about this. And what happens is there's a battle in my soul. But I was talking to someone recently. He says, I feel so empty. And I began to talk with him and this particular individual. Just, there were some challenges, there were some decisions that were made that were leading to a dryness of soul. Began to go through scriptures and began to find refreshment. So as we think on this, Satan's desire, I spoke about this last week, Satan's desire is to get you to become disqualified. His desire is that you would have these various things, temptations would come along, and these temptations would cause you to give in to the devil. Maybe you're confronted with something in your life, and you're struggling to move forward, or maybe even depression, and get you out of being effective for God or tragedy. Something tragic happens in your life. Something that is so horrific or in your mind changes how you look. From that day on, everything changes. Or trauma. Abuse or anger. Various types of abuse that can occur. And all sorts of things. That anger, you know, kind of an anger of, you know, as we talked last week about Ahithophel, Bathsheba's grandpa. Obviously Ahithophel would have known that David killed her husband his grandbabies granddaughter's husband And he never forgot that And so Satan's desire is to disqualify you and I from service from the Lord He wants to get us out of the fight for God out and and to use you know out of us Get us out from praising God He wants to devour us And he wants to keep you and me distant from the Lord. In Proverbs 16, verse 5, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Brother, you want to check on that live stream back there? Just make sure it's started if you could, please. As we think about this, on the idea, and also in Proverbs 15, 13, would you look at me at Proverbs 15, 13? Good. You wanna switch slides if you, just change the, use the arrow and then move it over and you can just do arrows down. In Proverbs chapter 15, verse 13, a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. But by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. And he wants to get us to a broken spirit. He wants to, look with me at Proverbs 12, 25. There are various things that he will do to seek to remove us from being effective in God's service. In Proverbs 12, verse 25, the Bible says, Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad. He wants to keep you and I in bondage. Proverbs 18, 14. Let's look at this. A few chapters over. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit, who can bear? When your spirit is wounded and a word is spoken and it pierces, beyond just any measures I have and it pierces, wounding our spirits, creating a great struggle in proceeding forward. We don't grow spiritually with a wounded spirit. 2 Corinthians 7.10 talks about the sorrow of the world work of death. There is where sorrow, work of death, and avoidance of God's goodness. I get that wounded spirit, I get that wound, and I just can't move forward. There's a sorrow of the world, there's something in my life, there's a sorrow, there's a pain, there's a struggles, and it says the sorrow of the world, work of death. All I know is trying to figure out how to just put one foot in front of the other, but I don't know how to have a close relationship with God. And I begin to downward spiral emotionally. In John 14.1, God tells us, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And what happens is when my heart is troubled and I am undergoing a very difficult situation, many times, let not your hearts be troubled, he says in John 14.1. God says, when my heart is troubled, I don't wanna look at God. All I wanna do, it's kind of like when you hurt yourself, you're out there and maybe you whack a hand or you cut yourself and when you're cutting and doing other activities, what are you gonna do? You're gonna be much more careful around that wound on your hand or arm or wherever it is. You're gonna nurse it, you're gonna protect it so it doesn't get pushed again. Many times it's like that in our lives with respect to being troubled. We forget our purpose and mission under troubling times and compromise. I'd like you to look with me at 2 Timothy 1, verses 6-8. In 2 Timothy 1, verses 6-8, As you think about this idea of finding hope, can I tell you when our heart is troubled and we look at life, we begin to look at life from a fearful outlook. Things just don't look like they used to look. And when I begin to get into that state of fear, many times I'm given to wanting to compromise. 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, Wherefore I put thee remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. We also must settle our confidence, would you look with me at verse 12 in the same passage, 2 Timothy 1.12. For the witch cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Can I tell you, when your heart is troubled, rather than giving into the fear, I've got to continue to do what I know is right. Settle my confidence. And there's times where, maybe you roll your ankle, and man, you're like hobbling on it, and you're trying to compensate, to not hurt it again. But can I tell you in an emotional life, when we begin to deal with these struggles, I've got to settle my confidence that he is the physician. Now, there's a lot more to this, but in verse 13, hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. And he's saying don't give in. Man, when it hurts, Just don't quit. Settle where your confidence is. You know what? Men or women will fail me. They will hurt me. But God won't. And it says here in the idea of verse 7, God wants to give us, as you think about it, not the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. Can I tell you, God wants you to have a sound balanced mind. That's exactly what we need when we're going through some difficult times. And I mentioned this last week, we are in a spiritual battle. You can take it to the bank that when you begin, I remember any time in my life I've made a decision to move forward for God. Whatever that next step is that God's called me to do, there has always been Temptations and other things that have come to try to get me to fall. Sometimes they may come from the least likely sources. Sometimes the things that are, I remember, you know, when I was going, leaving the military to go to Bible college, there was some very profitable offers given to become an engineer. When I was leaving Bible college to go on staff at a church there in New Mexico, they were saying, why don't you become a franchise owner or an operator for the restaurant that I was at? We are in a battle. You can think about it that Satan's forces would end up withstanding Daniel. The Apostle Paul would tell him that Satan withstood me. We fight, as Ephesians talks about, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, that's angels or demons. Against powers, that's authorities, there at another level in Satan's empire. Against the rulers of the darkness of this world, that's government. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. And here in all of this, the Bible calls us in Ephesians 6, 13, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. Our relationships will take us out of the battle for the Lord. I'd like you to look with me at a couple passages of Scripture. We did look at Proverbs 4.23 as our opening passage, but I'd like you to look with me at Proverbs 23.7. Can I tell you how you think in your mind is how you will behave? It is very telling, and Scripture gives us this. In Proverbs 23.7, The Bible tells us, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. As he thinketh in his heart, you behave how you think. You might think I'm going to behave really good, but if I'm really struggling with my thinking, then my behavior will be likewise. Here's the truth. Proverbs 4.23, keep thy heart. That word keep is guard, protect. Protect your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Can I tell you, when I was getting to know my wife, I made a phone call. We began talking on the phone and then I, just the Lord was kind of impressing on me. I needed to call and talk with her dad. It's her stepdad. Both of her mom and dad were widowed and And so anyways, I called him and asked him permission to begin to talk with his daughter. And the reason is to protect her heart, because if I'm some scoundrel, he can say no, and he's the bad guy, right? Protecting her heart. And as you think on that, God's desire is that we protect our hearts. We want to protect our children's hearts. We want to protect our own hearts. Keep thy heart. Protect it with all diligence. Man, protect your heart. The truth is you heal the heart. You heal the person. Because when your heart is healed, you're going to behave different. The mind is information, but the heart is where your pain comes from. The battle's in our hearts. There's this story, the gentleman, the author, Dr. Tom Souter, he was a police officer before he became a pastor. And he pastored for 25 years. He says, back when I, he told me this as I was talking with him on the phone, he says, back when I was a police officer, there was a lady that had a heart transplant. She had nightmares every night of being violated and stabbed, every night, though this had never happened to her. She had been a heart transplant. The donor of that heart had that exact scenario happen to her. He said, we were completely baffled there in the police force hearing this information. They asked the lady if in her dream she could give them a description of the perpetrator. And she did. And they caught the perpetrator. He said, I began at that moment when I had that incident happen, that story of this woman. She was a heart transplant. She had never suffered that type of abuse. But the donor of that heart did. She says, he began to think from Proverbs 4.23, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. When we begin to really struggle in our lives and what's going on around us and in our thinking, we've got to go and say, God, where is it in my heart that there's been an injury? There was a young man at a boy's home that was struggling. He went back as a four-year-old boy where he was abused by an 11-year-old boy. And that 11-year-old boy had threatened him, if you ever tell anyone then your parents will no longer live. And the boy carried that for a long time. Actually, that boy would go on to say, you're gonna have to live with me if you ever tell anyone. He believed the lies. There was a lady reading a portion of scripture, came to complete confusion, and not able to continue reading, right, Brother Souter, The page became blank, and Pastor Souter had said he rebuked, by the power and the blood of Jesus Christ, that demon, and that woman, things cleared up, and she continued to read the scriptures. Am I saying all of this is demonic? I'm not. But I'm saying that when our heart is injured, it affects our thinking. A person's life is turned upside down. You can ask a question, and you can do this in your own time. But you're gonna have, in all of our hearts, what was the most painful, emotional or hurtful experience of your life or experiences? And as we think on this, hope deferred, make it the heart sick. When I believe that I, that just, that incident happens and it's like, who cares about tomorrow? I just want to live. I don't even care. You just kind of give up. Your heart is, your heart is just completely mangled by what is going on in your life. And Proverbs 13, 12 talks about hope deferred, make it the heart sick. This Rebecca that is in the story had a long dream of becoming a doctor, but because of the emotional static in her life, it was gonna disconnect her purpose in life. She was sick and she began to go in a hole of no hope, even to the point of saying, I wanna die. Here's a woman, young lady, very successful, training to become a doctor. In Psalm 69.3, would you look with me here? Psalm 69.3. And I understand, I hope, I'm trying to be sensitive with all of this because we're dealing with the emotional struggles and it's a very sensitive, painful thing. Maybe this isn't necessarily pertinent to you, but maybe you could use it to help someone else. We are recording these and able to have people watch them at their own free will, and the handouts are provided online as well for people to print out. Psalm 69, verse 3, the Bible tells us, I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. There's an emotional clutter, I'm weary of my crying. Many of you ever have that where you just cry and cry and cry and it's like, you're still crying but no tears are coming? Because like, you've just teared it all out? I mean, you've cried it all out. My throat is dry as my eyes fail while I wait for my God. It's like, God, where are you? And this woman, Rebecca, would struggle with anorexia, bulimia, nightmares, panic attacks, headaches, and even hearing voices. Struggle to concentrate. So what are some things in our life that can make our hearts sick? Number one, it can be depression. And what happens is that signs increase in severity and long to escape. Ever have that in time? And you're just going through a time and you're like, is there no escape from what I'm in? And you're just like, I'm stuck in this hole and I can't get out of this valley. I mean, this is like, I feel like I keep walking, but I'm going nowhere. And I'd like you to look at me at Psalm 42, verse one. You're asking the question, God, where are you? Your heart is sick, you're there in depression. I mentioned that I'm weary of my crying, my throat is dry, my eyes fill, I wait for my God. I mean, there's just like, it just feels like I'm always carrying this emotional pain. Psalm 42, 1 is the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? Ever feel like that? They're like, where's your God? Look at me at Psalm 143, verse 7. You know the wonderful thing about Scripture? And here in the Psalms, I love the transparency. Here's the penman. The author is God. He inspired the Word of God, but humans penned the book, they wrote it out. And this, it talks about not just how good God is, not just of God's creation, not just of what Jesus did, but it also talks about Man, I'm struggling. And I love that, that the Bible is so transparent. Everything that we may encounter in life, it gives us an answer. Psalm 143, verse seven. Hear me, speedily, O Lord, my spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest I be likened to them that go down in the pit. Your heart is sick there with depression. Another might be anger. fret not thyself because of evildoers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity psalm 37 1 fret worry anger and it goes on in psalm 37 verse 7 we'll look here you're going to know the psalms pretty well here going back and forth in psalm 37 verse 7 It says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Don't fret, don't get angry. Let's look at another Proverbs 14, 17. But this is some indicators that my heart is sick. There's this constant worrying and anger and frustration in Proverbs 14, 17. The Bible tells us, he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. We hurt others and do not mean to. Man, you can be like on a hairpin trigger. Something happens and you go from a good attitude to just like, you know, something just like dynamite. It just flips that switch. Maybe feel ashamed because of things said. In Proverbs 18, 19, a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city in their contention like the bars of a castle. It tells us, Proverbs 15, 1, but grievous words stir up anger. And the idea of this anger that it's showing some things going on in my heart and discouraged. Colossians 3, 21, fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged but disheartened and want to just give up and say it's not worth it. But many times in our anger, we commit evil. We say things, do things we ought not to do. We worry about God providing. We don't, you know, day-to-day activities consume us, not with anger, but just, you know, it's kind of like, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. You're just like, oh. Are we going to have enough of this? Are we going to do this? Is this going to happen? Is the economy going to crash? Are my funds going to be... All these things can be on our hearts and minds and we just worry. But the Bible tells us that anxiety will rob us because you don't get the peace of God. Philippians 4, 6 and 7 discusses that. Another thing in the heart of sickness is loneliness. Man, you're desiring a help me. You desire a spouse and we don't want to be alone. It's like no one understands the pain I'm going through. And you're struggling. God, why do I have to wait so long? God, why is there, you know, it might be lonely for righteous believers and lonely for a helpmate and friends, and there's a loneliness that just comes upon us. In Exodus 3, v. 11, Moses was even questioned his ability Who am I that I should go into Pharaoh? God, I'm worthless. And I tell you, it's showing some things that there's some things wrong in our heart. I have these feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness. Did you feel that Job felt hopeless? God, my soul is weary of my life. Why was I even born? bitterness, childbearing. You think about 1 Samuel, Hannah, man she wanted kids and she just couldn't have them. She was in bitterness and others would make fun of her and only you can really as Proverbs 14 10, the heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. Simon was bitter about the loss of power, and Simon, this man that used to be a sorcerer, and he was selling his wares, and supposedly he got saved and baptized, and then he comes to Peter, can I buy this? And then God gives him judgment. He just wanted the people to look at him and see how great he was. Esau was brought to a place of no hope. Look with me here at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. Hebrews 12, verse 14. We'll look at verses 14 through 16. Follow peace with all men in holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness bring up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. And Esau would go out, he was just angry at what his brother had done to him. Bitterness of soul in his heart and greatly. Sometimes a childbearing Hannah, she was there in the temple, in the tabernacle, and she's just weeping, and Eli the priest comes up to her and he's like, she must be drunk. I mean, she must be drunk. And she's like, I'm not drunk, I'm just so heartbroken, I have no kids, and sometimes, we might be very misunderstood and we're trying to get our point across but it's not getting across and we feel misunderstood and it can't happen in some person's life. Maybe there's a physical disability and they're trying to express it but their motor skills just aren't there to do it and they can be great hurt. And we begin to ask questions like, why me, Lord? Why do I have to go through such hurt and pain? All of us have two basic emotional needs. When life or those closest to us do not meet these needs, we lose hope, your expectations, right? Hope deferred, make the heart sick. The Bible reveals that if man goes anywhere except to God to receive these two basic needs, You will experience emotional, mental, and physical disappointment and disorders. We all have a need for security and we all have a need to be significant. Security is the ability to feel safe. Some questions, am I safe? Is someone there for me? Can I tell you, in a relationship, it's important. Why is it, in a dating relationship, if someone's unfaithful, the security is broken? Because they're not there for you, right? Is someone there for me? Significance, right? Security and significance, the ability to feel important, that I matter to someone. Does someone need me? As a parent, do my children need me? Does somebody else need me? Does my spouse need me? Does someone love me? Am I important to someone? But the truth is, God and God alone can give us true security and significance. The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 31.8, But God alone can give me true security and significance. And this is the challenge that we have in our life, is I want to feel like I'm secure, that someone is there for me. I want to feel that somebody needs me, right? The lack of hope is, you know what, I'm better to be gone than to stay here because no one needs me. That's a very despairing position that we're getting. But we've got our eyes off of it. And sometimes it happens to us, not that we're choosing it, but circumstances and these various things we've discussed. But God alone. We look at security in Matthew chapter 10 verses 28 through 31. Here's to fill in the blank. Dying and death. create dying and death, create a great plague of fear and insecurity in the human race. Look at this in verse 28 as you see up there on the PowerPoint. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul, body, and hell. We need to, we should often have a fear of God more than the situation because ultimately God is in control. And it gets back to the foundation of what is our faith? Who am I trusting in? Where does my security, where does my significance actually lie? Now this is much easier to say than it is to live out. Can I tell you, in my relationship with my wife, or our daughter, and there's things here and others that, you know, if somebody abandons you, it is a terrible, crushing feeling. But Jesus tells us the truth is a person. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And if we fail to accept Christ, and the Bible is truth, then my security, my significance has no foundation basis from which I can actually base everything else off of. And some questions that might come, where did I come from? There's three questions that we all will have. We will always lack security and significance in our life without these answers. And the entire human race was produced and so some questions is why am I here? Where did I come from? And where am I going? I need to know those answers. Where did I come from? Why am I here and where am I going? Essentially, does somebody need me? Does somebody love me? You see, God wants us to come and live with him forever in heaven on this. The need for security is experienced as early as being in the womb of your mother. You realize this, that when a baby is in the womb of its mother, its senses, maybe mom and dad, are fighting. The child will feel it. The child will experience the happiness of the mother. Fear, a mother's fear, that child will experience it. As an infant, the need for a security blanket shows up. A little picture there. You know, a little kid might suck on their thumb. They might have a pacifier. They might have a blanket. They might have something else that they have to have. It's their security. I need this. As we grow into adulthood, we put on security alarms. We lock the doors of our vehicles, lock the doors of our house. When that security is breached, man, our world begins to fall apart. Individuals might put their most important possessions in a security deposit box at the bank. Purchase health insurance, life insurance, home insurance, auto insurance, all those things to protect our possessions. Maybe in a safe at home. Life insurance and health insurance, I mentioned all of these, but then we come to security. Again, only God can give us security. This is the promise that he gives us in the Bible is our security both now as we are living in our skin, our earth suits, the skin that we currently have, as well as after this life is over. Where am I going? And I tell you, every one of us wants to know what happens when I step from this life into the next. When I breathe my last breath here, what's happening when I step over the divide of death? I want to know. In the Bible, Matthew 10, verses 29 through 31, the second basic need of man here and the significance should be up here in just a moment, but Matthew 10, verse 29, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? One of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. You see, God knows when a bird falls to the ground. They're important to him. If he takes notice of two sparrows, look at me, verse 30, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. God says, and you matter a lot to me. You matter unbelievable amount. The animals, yes, they matter to me. Yes, I know when they die. Yes, I know the food that they need. But he says, listen, I know how many hairs are on your head or how many lack thereof hairs are on your head. And I tell you, you have great significance with God, of great importance. Does someone need me? The answer is yes, God needs us. Does someone love me? Yes. Am I important to someone? Is there someone who needs me? And many times when we can get older, and I remember visiting some elderly homes back when I was in university and other times, and man, I loved just sitting there and hearing stories. And some of these folks I would talk to would never have children or anyone come visit them. They were all alone by themselves, and it was quite heartbreaking. living out the rest of their days with no one that they cared about or any family to stop by. It can be a very lonely place. Some of the things that may have a great assault on our significance is an unwanted pregnancy. Someone might say that you were an oops. None of us are an oops. You were not anticipated. We didn't want you. That can be very hurtful. It affects our significance. Rejection from family or friends. Because of some choices, or maybe as you've come to the Lord and things are happening, a family says, no longer do I want you. There was a great struggle in my own personal life when the parents were going through divorce and things happened. Man, I felt incredibly rejected. Like I didn't matter. Like I wasn't important. And sometimes those who are in an adoption. Why did my parents not want me? I must not matter. Someone is abused. And they might have all sorts of thoughts that go through their mind. Maybe they were taken advantage of financially or some other means. They were taken advantage of. Maybe they were too kind and taken advantage of. And again, I guess I'm just like, you know, the thoughts might go through, I guess I'm just like a piece of trash or something easily to be discarded. And those are all lies of Satan. And we'll talk more about that, but I want you to, I just want to put it out there. Those are all lies. Those aren't true. When our security and our significance is out of control or controlled by someone, we compensate. There's a temptation to get significance through money. If I get money, then I'll be, you know, it's kind of like my family grew up quite poor. There was, as I got into high school and then into university, a great drive. I need to show I'm successful. I can make money. I can get positions and the desire to continue to try to get higher and higher and higher on the scale there in the military to prove that I can rise above. my circumstances of childhood. And as Rebecca would have to go through this, and she lived in a very educated family with great financial means, but yet her uncle would abuse her many, many times over, robbing her of great significance and security. They were destroyed. She privately harbored a bitterness towards her parents because they did not protect her. The truth is, her parents never knew anything about this because the uncle had told her, if you tell anyone, I'm coming after you. And so we might tend to compensate when this happens by trying to control something. So I can control my eating, so I'm gonna control this. When security or significance or both of these get out of whack, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna control something in my life. I'll control my eating. Maybe I've got some fears and I just can't move forward like a three-year-old who doesn't get his way and becomes so mad he bites himself on the arm. And oftentimes in our hurt and bitterness and things, we drink poison hoping that the other person dies from it. It doesn't help, but it destroys us. Because of keep thy heart with all diligence, my heart is damaged before the Lord. I'm trying to compensate, to not let anything else in this box to control it. And what I've done is I've in essence, I've pushed God out from being my true security and significance and God being in control. Rebecca had developed these characteristics What are the characteristics that reveal we are being lowered into the hole of no hope? What are some things that we might look for in our own life? And I tell you, we're going to talk more about this the next time I'm here, and this finishes up lesson one. But the first characteristic of the hole of no hope is questioning, why me? Why did I have to go through this? Why did I have to suffer this? Why did I have to endure this? Why did I not die in that accident or whatever might have happened? Why, why, why? And what it's showing in these questionings are just showing that there's some damage in our heart. Our emotional makeup is damaged. There's nothing wrong with, I'm not saying that it makes us less before God, it just shows that there's something there that God wants to heal and God wants to draw you closer. We're going to talk about this. You might, maybe, they're on your sheet there, there's some, if you want to put it, homework, but there's some questions for your own personal advancement, personal enrichment. Maybe write out some why's in my life. Why did I have to, you know, some might say, why was I born into this family? Why was I living, you know, living here? Why, why, why? Those are, they're real to you. And you might be saying, God, please reveal yourself to me. And God's desire for you and God's desire for me is a whole heart, a healed heart. Jesus Christ came to heal the brokenhearted. Man, God wants to do a great work in your life. The cross that Christ died on and rose again is not just to bring us security for salvation, not just security from death and hell. It's also to give me a healing so I can walk day by day in light of what God has done. that I can have that close relationship with the one that made me. And I tell you, there's nothing more important in our life. The first and greatest commandment that God gives us is thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine, what does he say? What's the first thing? Heart. God wants your heart. And when that heart is damaged by stuff in our lives, all sorts of ways that we compensate or cope or all various mechanisms you might state, But God's desire for you, my friend, is to heal. As Matthew 11, 28, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And I tell you, that's what we're all seeking for. I want rest. I want a relief from the weight of the burden that I'm going through. And that's God's desire for you. So as we come to the time of invitation this evening, We're gonna just take some time between you and the Lord to talk and I really just. Spend some time praying and talking with God. The song that I'll play is number 75 in our blue hymn book. You're welcome to sing along or just spend some time praying and talking with the Lord. As the music plays, you don't have to, if you want to just pray and talk with the Lord, you're welcome to do that. You don't have to sing along. You can just wherever you're at, quietly. But I just want to give you some time to pray and talk with the Lord. The first thing I want to ask all of you, even if you're watching, is do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Is there a time in your life where you have personally given, you've allowed God and you've asked Him to forgive you for all the sins you've ever done? And your sins put Jesus on that cross. You accept the truth that God says, you're the guilty party that put me on the cross. I'm the guilty party that put, every one of us is guilty. Put Christ on that cross and you ask Him to forgive you and be your savior. And God says you're forgiven if you do that. If you repent of your sins and ask Him to forgive you, you're forgiven. to become God's child. And Christian, it's not just the unbeliever that struggles with this, it's Christians. Man, there was many years I struggled in my life, many years. I struggled with why, and I struggled with anger, and I struggled with all these various things of things that I grew up with. I'm not saying that whatever, mine might have been less than yours. It doesn't matter on a comparison of how, but it was real to me and what is real to you in your life. But can I tell you that God wants you to be whole in your heart? So tonight as the music plays, I pray you just take some time to pray and talk with the Lord. The song is Abide With Me.