7 Reasons Why God May Be Silent

Seven reasons. Seven reasons why God may be silent. But before we get there, let's talk about this for a minute.

Why did Jesus need to be buried? Couldn't He have just died, and hey, the price was paid, and we're all saved in a couple minutes. Couldn't it have just been a quick death? Just something quick versus this agonizing death. So the reason He had to be buried was actually to establish death.

To prove the resurrection. He's in the grave. His body is.

He's not in spirit. It's a very interesting theological dilemma. You know, fully God, yet fully man.

Was tempted like we are, but was without sin. Miracles. Did the will of the Father, yet He submitted to the will of the Father.

He said the Father's actually greater, yet the Bible teaches the Trinity. The triune nature of God. And just an encouragement, if I were you, I'd try not to get too far out on either extreme, because there's some things... Paul called it a mystery.

And when you put it in your back pocket as a mystery, it'll save you a lot of trouble. Because you start getting into all these weird debates, all these things, and when you start talking about God, you want to be careful. We don't know exactly how He does things, but we just know that it is taught.

It proves the resurrection. And the Apostles' Creed says Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. And what the Apostles' Creed was before really the Bible was getting a lot of traction, it didn't have printing presses, so it was a little difficult unless you had the scroll and the parchment.

But the Apostles' Creed, they came up with this creed, and it's long, you can read it online, but it says crucified, dead, and buried. And Jesus said in John 12, truly, truly, I save you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

So there's something about the death, burial, and resurrection. And the irony is, did you know that that resembles baptism? The early church was serious about baptism. You can actually read the Didache, or Didachte, depending on how you want to pronounce it.

They would encourage people to fast days before they were baptized. Just getting ready in this event, because it's now this profession of faith where you're buried, death, burial, and then resurrection coming to the new life. And there is something, I believe, pretty profound with baptism.

We don't teach or believe baptismal regeneration, which is the teaching that you're not saved until you go under the water. And there's lots of problems with that. I mean, let's say they pray and they repent and they're filled with the Spirit, joy.

Oh, I just love the Lord. I can't believe my sins are forgiven. Can I get baptized tomorrow? Yes! But then they get in a car accident tonight.

And go to heaven. They didn't get baptized. And people say, well, God makes provision for that.

But then it becomes a work, isn't it? Okay, Jesus' crucifixion, thank You, but I'll take it from here. I'll go get baptized. Now, ironically though, the early church fathers, a lot of them did teach it because there's three verses, I'm not going to get into it now, that really talk about the washing of water and removing the filth, but it has to do with our conscience, a good conscience before God.

And Jesus says, he who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who believes not will be condemned. But it doesn't say does not be baptized.

But it always came with belief. That's what we miss I think in our churches today. It's believe and be baptized.

Maybe I'll do that later. I don't want to get that serious yet. If you're like me, that's what you probably thought.

No, no, no, no, I'm not that serious yet. I don't want to go to hell, so I'll take the get out of hell card. But the baptism stuff, no, I'm still wanting to have some fun.

It doesn't work like that. We really have to check our heart. So it resembles the death, burial, and resurrection.

And just, I mean, there's teachings on that that are very profound from a lot of the Calvary Chapel guys on how they're resembling in Christ's death and the baptism. But I like what GodQuestions said. GodQuestions.org. His suffering in our place was completed.

His soul, his spirit went to Hades, the place of the dead. Jesus did not go to hell or the suffering side of Hades. He went to Abraham's side or the blessed side of Hades.

Jesus' suffering ended the moment He died. The payment for sin was paid. He then awaited the resurrection of His body and His return to glory in His ascension.

And we'll get into some Scriptures in just a minute. Let's read one I guess right now. 1 Peter 3.20, it says, Jesus went and made His proclamation to the spirits now in prison who once were disobedient.

And I like what John MacArthur said. Indicating that He purposely went to an actual place to make a triumphant announcement to the captives being before He rose on the third day. So it's interesting.

I read Ellicott, Benson, Paulpa Commentary. It's like there's so many different views because we don't know exactly, but He did something. And there's a teaching out there, Jesus had to go to hell.

I believe it originated maybe with Roman Catholicism. I don't know, 3rd or 4th or 5th century. He went to hell and was suffered again.

There's nothing for that because if you understand Hades and Sheol, Gehenna, all these words for hell, I think I broke them down in Revelation. But one place, it's actually not hell. It's a holding place.

It's because they couldn't go to heaven yet. Jesus had not died for their sin. So it was called actually Abraham's bosom.

And Jesus told a story about how the rich man died, and the poor man, Lazarus, died, but Lazarus was being comforted in Abraham's bosom. And the rich man, there was this huge gulf, like a chasm. Yeah, it was just probably very deep.

Probably bottomless pit. Who knows? And you couldn't cross it. Basically, those who were waiting for Christ were on one side, and those heading towards damnation were on the other.

And he said, Father Abraham, please, let me just touch... give me a little bit of water that my tongue may just touch that water. I thirst and I can't do that. Well, could you send people to go warm my family? And there's a lot in this story.

I mean, about the person being conscious of what's happening and wanting their family. I don't think it's just a parable. I think it's a reality.

Jesus used specific names and different things. So they were holding. It's like we can't go before God yet.

Jesus hasn't died. He hasn't paid the price. So it was called, what God's question alludes to here, Hades.

It's a place of the dead. It's a place where people would wait. And it could be that Jesus went into Hades and led those captives free to heaven.

But He also makes a pronouncement, a judgment against the souls who are in disobedience. I would love to see that. How about you? And then Ephesians 4a.

When He ascended on high, He led a host of captives. So, hmm... Most agree, when He ascended on high, His ascension, that's when the people who had been waiting for Jesus went with Him into heaven. And again, there's different theological views.

But something happened. And that's why the Old Testament was looking forward to Jesus. What are we doing? We're looking back.

All of us need that same redemptive work. And it blows your mind how not only complex God is, but how it makes sense. Like all these pieces of the puzzle.

So He actually led a host of captives. So it's not like they were in darkness. They were in a holding place.

They were captive to the holding place. And Jesus led them to heaven. And then it says He gave gifts to men.

Interesting to kind of put that on there. But God questions again. It says by leading captives out of captivity, He had a busy Saturday.

Unless this happened at His ascension 40 days later. There's some interesting things here. But let's just say He was busy on Saturday.

I don't think He was sleeping. The body's dead. But now Jesus is alive, obviously spiritually.

Jesus demonstrated His authority over death and His authority to give gifts. And maybe Paul uses the phrase led captivity captive to refer to those who had died before and who awaited Jesus' sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sin and had access to heaven. If that is what Paul was talking about, then after Jesus descended to the grave, Sheol, Jesus would have led those who have been in captivity to death into the promised freedom of life with God.

But because the text does not specify what Paul is talking about, we cannot be dogmatic on this point. So, interesting though, He led them and then He gave gifts to men. So when Jesus left, so many dynamic things happened.

The church was born. It was born on Pentecost. You've got a lot of people who believed in Jesus, but they weren't yet filled with the Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit came upon them and we're reading about that in the book of Acts. And as a result of coming upon them, now the church is born. And because of that, Jesus gives these gifts.

And it gets interesting because denominations are divided on these things. Interesting people use them in weird ways. But then you've got others that kind of deny these gifts.

And then you'll hear the term five-fold ministry. When I hear that, I understand what people are saying, but it makes me a little worried sometimes because it can get a little bizarre. Especially when they want to put apostle and prophet on their business cards.

Every time I say this, I get those apostles emailing me. Brother, I earned that title. No, you didn't.

God gave it to you. But the gifts are an apostle. So some people, Jesus, He's actually giving a gift to the body, to the church.

He's given the gift of being an apostle. All that means, lowercase a, probably should put a lowercase. Okay, there we go.

It's not, we don't say people are apostles like the apostles. The word actually just means those people that God sends. So if somebody feels like, hey, I want to go to Guatemala or Mexico or this place, or even traveling in America and doing different things, they have an apostolic type calling.

They're called to be sent. When we planted the church, in one sense, it was God sending us out. So that's all the title means.

We don't have to get all worked up about it. And people, I don't know why they put it on their business card. I don't know why they put it in their title.

I mean, it's just, it's kind of silly, but that's what it is. And then the other gift, he says, and prophets, prophets. Again, that can be misconstrued.

I kind of backed away from just, there's so many different people saying so many different things, but the legitimate gift that Jesus gives to some people is what that, again, biblically, it's about people can kind of see into the future, of course. They can see things that are kind of coming. We've seen things over the years, of course, but primarily in Scripture, it's a forth telling of God's Word.

It's a preaching of God's Word. It's actually, it's a little bit different than a pastor and a teacher. They've got the DNA of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

They've got that John the Baptist in them. They've got that ruffle your feathers, upset you, because that's what the prophetic is. Look at, go read them.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Man, whoa, cut to the heart and just boom. They were just, that was that, because God said, I have called you to be that voice to my people.

Don't say smooth words. That's what they want to hear. Speak what needs to be said.

Jeremiah, pull down, root down, pull out and destroy, and then eventually you will rebuild. So it's kind of one of those gifts where it's one tool in God's work chest or toolbox. Man, you know, you're not gonna grab a hammer if you need a screwdriver.

So some churches or some callings, God will have different things for that. And that's why when I talk to a lot of pastors now or encourage, you know, churches, we always have this, like, I wish you preach like this, or I wish you did this. I've got people telling other pastors, I wish you'd preach like Shane.

And the people telling me, I wish you would be calm and preach like this guy, like Chuck Smith, like just go through the Bible. Like just, can you be, can you stay in one spot and just be monotone, just start in Genesis and end in Revelation? Well, I can recommend a good church for that, but that's not my, he didn't create me to do that. And there's different, and that's why God gives different callings.

And so that's why we really shouldn't be judgmental. We just, we should be thankful, thankful for the Chuck Smiths and the John McArthur's and the David Jeremiah's and the Jack Graham's and the, you know, all the guys that are just very good teachers, but thank God for those that go out and they're apostle type ministries where they plant churches and they're driven and they're prophetic and thank God for shepherds and teachers. And that's when he gets into evangelists, those who, their heartbeat, you know, of course you think of Billy Graham.

Now there's a mixture of some people in all of these things, but there's a primary gifting that often stands out. The evangelists, they're so burdened for lost souls. They're so burdened for lost souls.

Like I've got to go do something at a stadium or I've got to go minister in this area. I've got to do something at the park, lost souls, which is like, we all have a passion for that. I'd love to do that.

But really what my burden is for the church and revival and calling the nation back to God and repentance and awakening. So although I do that, I do avenge, but you'll see where your primary passion is. And that's what God's probably the gift He's given you.

And then shepherds, that's more of a, I didn't mean to spend this much time on this, but it makes sense. That's more of those people who they really just love. And I've got pastor friends like this.

They could counsel all day long, but they don't like to preach. Or some of them, it's the opposite. I want to tell people in counseling points, everything I tell you, I tell you from the pulpit.

Like, I'm going to tell you the same thing. But that's right, they're shepherding. They can run a men's organization or some women will lead a women's.

And they're shepherding and that's kind of their heart and they want to get curriculum out. And they want to make sure people are being discipled. And they've got a shepherd's heart.

And then of course, you know the last one, teachers. Gifting teachers. I mean, I have to confession, when I first, I think when I just met my wife, and I had this desire to read all these books, and I was reading all the systematic theology and all kinds of books from seminary.

And I got kind of, because we had a first child and I'm preaching more, and then I read somewhere, and Dave, and Donnie, you probably know, because you went, I read that John MacArthur spends like 20 to 25, 30 hours a week on sermon prep. Like what? What? Maybe five. I mean, how is that possible? But if that's the calling, because from that are going to come commentaries and different things.

And if you really, I mean, if you take 12 verses and you're going to look at the Greek breakdown structure of that word and how it's used, is it active verb? Is it passive verb? I mean, you can spend an hour on one verse before you even get to the next half of the verse. And then you bring in the commentaries, you bring in the church fathers, and it's just, man, that is deep. Teacher.

Teacher. But we do want to talk briefly, that's why we're here, about seven reasons why God may be silent on that Saturday. And this should hopefully help some of you.

It wasn't planned on being a long message, because I know we've got to be back tomorrow morning. But number one, and I think this will help a lot of people tonight, because when God is silent, do you get discouraged? Frustrated, maybe? Okay, now there's more head shaking. Confused? That silent time, that waiting time is tough.

Because I like to pray and see the answer, don't you? Silent. Sometimes God is silent to strengthen you. I can say without a shadow of a doubt, there's nothing more than God being silent and waiting that will strengthen your faith.

It'll strengthen your faith. Did you know, this is amazing, when I first read about this, I didn't want to try it on our first child, because it's not actually a good idea. But if you, I don't know, I still remember the house we were in, J5, 20th West, and she comes just walking to me at the, I'm sitting on the bricks, I'm like, get a camera, let's go.

But do you know, if you never let them do that, and you just always pick them up and bring them somewhere, they'll never be able to walk. I didn't believe that. Think about it.

No motor skills, no muscle. If they're just, oh no, I'll help you. I'll help you.

I'll help you. And you just take them everywhere, they'll grow up disabled. It's in that struggle.

It's in that letting them push through, letting them persevere. Same thing in the Christian walk. I look back and like, Lord, thank You for those silent times.

Thank You when I had to keep pressing in and I didn't even feel like it. Thank You, Lord, when You made no sense. Have you ever prayed and there's no answer? Often though, the reason is He wants you to step out in faith.

Think about the Bible verse that says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. If we always knew what to do, that wouldn't be faith. As soon as God took that away, you'd be scared.

So it's, Lord, I know You're silent and I'm just going to trust You. I've got my heart right before You. I'm trying to live right.

I'm keeping sin on a very short leash. I want to have the right heart, broken heart. This is a biblical principle and I'm just going to trust You.

That's how you strengthen faith. So get used to it. He's silent a lot more than He answers.

Have you realized that? Have you seen that in your life? I mean, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but most of my prayer requests aren't answered right away. Some, I'm still going. There's some people who I'm praying to get at this altar someday.

For years, direction on, Lord, what do you want to do with the church? Want us to build a building across the street to accommodate? Parking structure? What are you doing? Silence. Silence. Reminds me of that song, Sound of Silence.

It has a sound, doesn't it? The sound of silence. That would have been a good sermon title. Seven reasons why God may be silent.

Next is He's silent to shake you up a little bit. To get you moving. Oh, I think I used all S's.

I just realized that. Strengthen, shake, show, say, okay. Now it makes sense.

But when He's silent, it's a little disheartening, right? I mean, He'll shake you out of your comfort zone. When God's silent, you start moving around a little bit. You start going out and handing out those resumes if you're looking for a job.

You start to maybe work on your marriage. You start to, He shakes up a lot of things in the silence. And you know, when your parents used to be silent, it would shake you up.

And then also, number three, what I mean by that is silent to show, to show you really your own heart. I've grown the most in those silent times because we really don't grow when prayers are being answered, things are going great. Life is, man, I just love the Christian life.

God is so good. We'll wait till the challenge comes. Wait till you have to come up, Madeline, John, and lead worship when you don't feel like it.

And you look out there and you're like, do you even want to worship? Same thing with preaching. Same thing with you living your lives, the jobs you work, taking care of people as they get older and different things. And it will show you, it shows you your own heart.

The depravity, the selfishness comes out. Over the years, I remember when my kids were little, they would throw the biggest temper tantrums when we were silent. Make me a sandwich.

Nothing. Five minutes later, they're getting mad. I said, make me a sandwich.

It comes out, isn't it? When God's silent, Lord, what are you doing? What are you doing? Why is my marriage not back together? I've been praying. Why is this stronghold not leaving? God, I've been praying. I'm getting tired of this.

And if you're not careful, you can drift into bitterness and discouragement. Oh, listen, I'm preaching it because I lived it. And that's a very dangerous spot.

Let that silence bring you back to the Savior. And of course, four is clear. God might be silent because He's steering you.

We often don't get up and do something for God when we're filling the blessings. Everything's going good. But when He's silent, let's say you're, I mean, how many of you have been in a financial bind and God's not answering? That big check is not in the mail, it's not coming.

Your stock market investments are not doing good. You bought some cryptocurrency that folded. You've lost a lot.

Lord, well, you don't just sit at home, do you? You go what they call pound the pavement, get a job. You go, okay, Lord, what do you wanna do? You become active, very active. That silence, it can be a really good thing.

It makes us get up and do something. Do you ever call out for somebody in your house and you don't hear them? You get up and you go find them. You wanna make sure something is not wrong so God will use, so don't become bitter.

Don't become discouraged. Use these things. Lord, are you steering me in a certain direction? And then silence.

Oh, I love number five. When He's silent, that's the time to stop and wait. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

And if you're like me, any type A personalities, borderline AD, HD, just kinda doing something. I think I was gonna order one of those fidget spinners. Did they work good? Did they work? I liked them.

I'd bring them up here and do it, or driving, you know. But it's hard to stop when you're a go-go person. Go, go, go, go, go.

And that silence can really just make you stop and seek God. Because that's really where spiritual power is found and insight is found. We talk about often in the prayer closet, that quiet heart, that quiet hour, and finding a quiet place.

And when God is silent, I have to stop. Yes, sometimes you move, but sometimes I don't do anything because He's silent. We wait on Him.

And then sometimes God will often be silent. I mean, I've had people, many people in the prayer room and talked to them who've come to this church and like, I haven't heard from God in years. I'm lost.

He's trying to get them to surrender. To surrender their lives. To submit.

To finally say, Lord, I need you. I give you everything. Because on this point, you know the verse in the Old Testament we talk about often that where God says, my ear's not heavy, my hand's not short.

I can save you, I can hear you, but your sins have separated me from you so that I will no longer, I can't hear you. Of course, He can hear. Really, what He's saying is, I'm not gonna respond to your prayer request because of the sin you're holding in your heart.

And that sin divides me from you. And what He's talking about there with the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, they're writing 50 years after Israel had experienced 50 years of financial success and all these things, and now they're bowing to the asteroids and the bells and the molex and they're following all these gods and they've drifted from God and they've committed spiritual adultery. And like, why aren't you hearing our prayers? He said, I can, but your sins have separated you from me so that I cannot hear.

And so it does beg the question, could the silence be caused by sin? Guys, that's just a biblical truth right there. Silence, sin will damper that communication. It's like, I gave the example before of like a water hose, you know, that you have it on full blast, but no water's coming out because there's a kink in the hose.

You ever experienced those? Kind of frustrating. You pull as hard as you can. I've done that before.

I pulled and it broke the PVC pipe. And I got water shooting out and I had to turn off the water meter and there goes three hours. Get that kink out.

But see, there's things that kink, that clog our spiritual insight, our passion for God. And that's what sin does. Sin is never looked upon in the Bible as something that kind of is fascinating.

No, it fascinates before it assassinates. It says, make no provision for the flesh, crucify it, kill it. One of the Puritans said, be killing sin or sin be killing you.

And we have to take that so seriously. And so God will use silence. How many people get in desperation? Desperation.

I know the three people right now in rehab. And God wasn't talking to them. They were distant from God.

That silence though drew them back. Drew them back. And then obviously, number seven is important.

Some of you need to hear this and it's what I actually just said. Sometimes He's silent because that's what has to happen in order to save you. Silence in order to save you.

But what can we do tonight? Well, you can worship while you wait. Worship while you wait. If God's got you in a holding pattern, and I guarantee if we took a survey, many people are in a holding pattern in some area of their lives, for sure.

Worship while you wait. Then follow that by prayer and obedience to the Scriptures. Guys, that's when you come alive.

What I love about worshiping, praying, and obeying is because you can be completely content in that waiting time. Have you ever been restless in the waiting time? Can't sleep too well? Well, come on, let's be honest. Restless nights come from often God being silent or not knowing how we're gonna handle a situation or not knowing what the situation that we're about to face is going to, how it's going to pan out.

And all those things, and while we wait, we worship in that waiting time, that silent time. Guys, looking back, I thank God for the silent time. Who I am today is because of the silent time.

It's because of the valleys, not the mountaintop experiences. As a matter of fact, I've been able to get to the mountaintop experiences because of the valleys. Though I walk through that valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, David said, because he knew the shepherd.

Also, an attitude check. Attitude check. This is becoming more apparent to me as the months go by.

Me and my wife talked about that. I don't know why, but a lot of people in the American church, I guess I've been there, they kind of have an attitude. Don't they? You know the attitude.

I mean, I can make the gestures. Men or women, they just got an attitude. Attitude about everything.

Attitude about the job. Attitude about church. Attitude about... It's just like, golly, I've been an attitude before.

Today was tough. Me and my wife had to pray. It's a tough day today.

But this verse, let us come before Him with thanksgiving. Is our worship being hindered by our attitude? Absolutely. Absolutely.

And that really, we're supposed to enter into His gates with praise and thanksgiving. Sometimes I'm guilty of this. I come with an attitude.

And we will never get breakthrough unless we come to His courts with thanksgiving. We should be the most thankful people on the planet. I'm really going to pray about, at some point, show you guys videos of churches on fire in Nigeria.

Dirt floors. Chairs like that. Are you kidding me? Maybe those metal folding chairs that are falling apart.

Air conditioning. Heating. Baptism.

We got it at 82 degrees. We got clothes you can change into. Why do we have such an attitude? I really don't understand.

I'm preaching myself now as well. But right, think about that. We are so blessed.

Boiled. Yep, exactly. And it turns into entitlement.

And church, we've got to break from that. We really do. We've got to come into His courts with thanksgiving.

Let us come before Him. It actually says, let us come before Him. Bow.

Bow to the Lord God, our Maker. Can you imagine? I know I can't get everybody. I'm going to try at some point.

Can you imagine if all of you came in? Or when we go into closing worship, if we just became thankful? Man, if we could see, if our hearts would be reflected on the ceiling, bitter, controlling, manipulator, alcoholic, porn addict. Oh, that's a bad one. Right, if we could see what we come in here with, thank God.

And it's just been, I mean, probably for a couple of months just, Lord, we don't come into Your place with thanksgiving. We come into Your place with problems. God, I don't want to see Your face.

I want to see Your hand, what You can give me. And we will never see revival until we can get thankful. No matter what's happening, God has saved us.

We're children of God. He'll be with us no matter what. That cancer diagnosis, that death, that whatever it is, just come in, people, thanksgiving.

And again, I'm not rebuking, because I can look in the mirror. And I have been the last few months. I'm like, God, where is this thankfulness? It's like you guys, if you have wonderful kids or they've grown or grandkids, why are we always complaining? Oh, but this and that and this and that.

All the stock market. Oh, there goes Trump again. I'm going to take that one out, right? Continue to humble yourself through service.

I want to encourage you guys, if God is silent, if you're waiting, you've got to serve others. We were not designed to just take it in. I'm not trying to convict anybody, but if the shoe fits, wear it.

We've got, I don't know, 600 families or so on our local Facebook page. And it's private. And we said, hey guys, we need some help for CM tomorrow.

Nobody responds. Children's ministry. CM? Is that what CM is? Yeah, children's ministry or nursery.

And again, I don't want you to rush out and do it. We've got to know you. But it's almost like, and I've been guilty of this myself.

Feed me. I don't want to miss worship. Did you know caring for a six-year-old and praying for them can be a better form of worship? Because when worship is self-centered, man, now we're going to get 20 volunteers.

I know it. But I'm not using it. It's an irony that happened.

But isn't that true? I'm guilty myself. I'm guilty myself of this. If I go to a conference or different things, and I just want to go and be fed.

I just want to go and be fed. Or on vacation, sometimes they'll ask me to preach at churches. I'm like, no, no, I'm on vacation.

I just want to be fed. Now sometimes that's good. Don't get me wrong.

You've got to deal with the Lord in that area because I believe there are seasons of just rest and be fed. You've served enough, and you've got to have that time to rebuild back up. But if the shoe fits, wear it.

We do need help tomorrow. So let Phil and Carrie know. And then finally, allow silence to build trust and strengthen faith.

When I begin to not hear from God, how I just, it actually, it has to build trust and strengthen faith if you let it. It can go the opposite direction where you can get disgruntled. But you just, how do you build faith? How do you build physical muscle? We know.

What are you doing? People say, oh, lift weights. Do you know, how many of you know you're actually not building up the muscle when you do that? You're tearing it down. You're actually ripping the microfibers.

You're ripping it. And now it has to strengthen for the next time. That's how, and really it builds when you're sleeping.

And deep REM, sleep, good nutrition, and the amino acids, branching amino acids. That's how it builds up. Now spiritually though, what is the muscle that's being exercised? God, I don't see anything.

I don't hear anything. I don't, what is, all I can do is trust You. I'm being tore down in order to be built up, spiritually speaking.

So allow that silence to build trust and strengthen faith. And guys, I have such a desire for this because we thank God a lot that if everybody came here that calls this the church, we would need to see 2,000 people. Right, and I run into people all the time and they're so discouraged.

God's not answering or this is going on. God's silent. He's allowing this to happen in my life.

And the enemy uses discouragement to get you away from fellowship and to get you out of His Word. I'm not one to read the Word and worship. God, Lord, what are You doing to me? And then that becomes an excuse to return to our favorite stronghold or addiction.

I mean, it can be video games. I mean, you name it. Anything to get away from God not answering like we thought.

And I don't want to get off this topic too much, but sometimes dreams must die before there's a resurrection. Oh, my goodness. That could be 20 minutes, but I'm not going to keep you.

Sometimes you have to let your dream die in order for God to resurrect something. Like Abraham brought his son Isaac. He honored God.

Sometimes we're holding onto things so badly if you just let it go. Lord, I'm going to let this dream go. I'm going to follow You.

I'm going to trust You. I want this dream to die. And sometimes there is a resurrection.

Because I believe God wants more for you than what you want for yourself. In the right way. Eye has not seen.

Ear has not heard. Nor has it even entered in the heart of man the good things that God has in store for those who follow Him. Of course, that could relate to heaven as well, but I believe.

I believe. That's why the prosperity gospel and name and claimant, they have a little bit of truth in there where I believe God can bless a person. It's very biblical.

We can start in Abraham and we can work our way down, but what's your definition of being blessed? It's always healthy, wealthy, and wise. I've got $14 million in my bank account and I'm my Bentley and I never get sick. Oh, that's very wrong.

You might have a Toyota Corolla. Not a lot of money, but you're still blessed. Your kids are walking with the Lord.

Your house is paid. That's blessed. And so I believe God will bless His people.

The right kind of blessing. But there's also challenges. Remember, He said the road would be narrow.

He said the road would be narrow. He said the cross would be heavy. Carry your cross.

Follow Me. Die to self. Come and take... My yoke is light and my burden is light.

That tells me there's going to be a yoke and there's going to be a burden. Now the context is He was dealing with the religious leaders and they said all these burdens, all these laws, all this legalism, and Jesus said, no, no, no, just follow Me. My burden is light.

It means there is a responsibility though to follow Him. He is King though of our lives. And a reminder, He's not a butler.

He's not a butler. He is the Lord. He's not a genie in a bottle.

He is a King on a throne. He's not our servant. He's a Savior.

He's not your sugar daddy. He's God Almighty. So sometimes He doesn't answer prayers according to what you want.

Oh, thank God for unanswered prayers. Thank God. Before Garth Brooks, dang it.

Was it Garth Brooks? I don't remember. Back in the day. Thank God for unanswered prayers.

We thank God for unanswered prayers, don't you? How many of you would be married to someone else? Would you? You would? I think you would. Oh my goodness. I might too though before I met her, right? Thank God for unanswered prayers.

Oh my goodness. Can I tell you guys? I don't know if I've ever shared this in my life. My wife knows it.

I was a little buddy, probably 12. And my dad, I was into, I had all up on my wall. Terry Bradshaw, you know, Broncos, Steelers.

But I also had all this Remington. You know, shotgun shells we would load and primers, wads, shot, powder, duck hunting. I was into all of that.

And I was like, I was studying for, I remember even praying about it. I wanted to be a game warden. That's what I'm doing.

High Sierra mountains. Just me in the mountains. And legally carrying a loaded weapon.

I actually wanted to really fish. But I mean, for a couple of years, that's what I'm praying about. Well, he had other plans, obviously.

I remember Quartz Hill Little League. People, they're back when now they're using, they were using, just started using one of those, how fast you're pitching. It was a new thing.

And I'm like doing 63 miles an hour in Little League. And just, and my dad's getting me, and we've got, and I'm, man, this is like, I'm gonna play college ball. We've got it planned out.

And boom, I hit my elbow on some concrete. Now I've got bone chips. And there goes that surgery.

And bye-bye baseball. I couldn't even throw good for two years. And there goes that.

And praying, and you know. And so all these things, though, that you're praying for, that you think, oh God, do this. And pray.

Before the church, I was praying for something different than this. Because I didn't know. I didn't know that God wanted me to do this.

I honestly thought pastors wore glasses and always smiled and had to say nice things. I had no clue. I had no clue you could be bold.

But trust Him. Trust Him. I'm gonna end with this quote from Puritan Henry Greenwood.

I also began to pull out a lot of my Puritan books. These guys are deep. Christ's righteousness is like a wedding garment that covers our nakedness on the day of judgment.

And faith is the hand of the soul that puts it on. So because it's resurrection weekend, I want to just encourage you. John even threw it out there.

But you've gotta put on Christ's righteousness. You've gotta trust and believe in God. So many people know about God.

That's why many people even come here. I know about God. I've heard about Him when I was little.

Jesus died on a cross. Yeah, I know. Ask Joe Rogan that.

He'll tell you that Jesus died on a cross. Is He saved? At some point, I hope so, but not right now. Because you can know, it doesn't matter.

You've got to put on that righteousness by faith and belief and repentance in the one true and living God. And maybe some have even came or they're listening later who've drifted from God. You've drifted from God.

The prodigal son. I was gonna use this tomorrow, but I'll tell you, I'm just gonna read it now. Oh, I remember that day when I came home.

How many of you remember that day when you came home? Thank God. And Richard Andrews sings about it. There's a song called The Sound of Coming Home.

Did you know coming back to God has a sound? It really does. The demonic realm is disabled. Your rage turns into worship.

Your pride turns into prayer. Toxic relationships are dismantled. Strongholds are broken.

Addictions are annihilated. Fear fades, depression disappears. And so can you hear the sound of coming home? Because when you come home, everything changes.

The prodigal son ran to the father and the father embraced him. And there was joy from that moment forward. Oh, if the prodigal could just come to themselves.

Oh, they're so satisfied. Eating with the pigs, eating with the swine. And the father says, just come home, son.

I've been waiting for you. It's a call to come back to the father.