Blessed Are They That Mourn: Job to Psalms

Tonight, we find ourselves in a difficult book. Job. Job.

How many of you read through the Bible each year? And you get to Job. It's like tough, tough, tough. But I like how the Bible has Job and then Psalms.

So when you're done with Job, go right into Psalms. Psalms opens, Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sit in the path of sinners. And then it'll go into all these encouraging things.

But the title is Blessed Are They That Mourn. Blessed Are They That Mourn. Job to Psalms.

And then Sunday, Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, and Song of Solomon. Yes, I'm going to tie them all into wisdom. Don't worry, it'll go somewhere.

And then we'll get into the prophets. But the book of Job is interesting because most theologians date it as a very late book. Old book, I should say.

It was written, there's no temple mentioned, the sacrificial system. Actually, Job sacrifices for his own family. So many believe that the book is actually probably one of the oldest books in the entire Bible.

And some will say that it's maybe analogy, lessons for us. However, Ezekiel mentions Job, and James mentions Job as a literal person. And so anytime, like when Jesus mentioned Jonah, and He talked about the big fish swallowing Him, and as three days were, Jesus said He was in the belly of a fish.

That's not allegory. That's literal. And so we do believe that the book of Job, He was a literal person.

However, that guy went through so much. And again, you could do a six-week series on the book of Job. There's so much there.

But in a nutshell, he was given these great blessings from God, and then he lost all of his family, all of his children, a lot of his livestock, a lot of his things he counted on. And if that wasn't bad enough, he gets boils all over his body, his physical. So there's so much here.

We could even, when people teach on demonology, how do you know what demonology is? In theology, it's the study of demons. So in theology, you have demonology, study of demons, pneumatology, study of the Holy Spirit, eschatology, the study of the end times. In demonology, they will look at the book of Job because Satan was given permission to do these things.

And so we see that the enemy can still, obviously, I don't think this power has changed. I don't think just because of the New Testament now, the demonic realm has been completely restrained. We see throughout the book of Acts that we'll be going through as well in September.

Who's ready for the book of Acts in September? Amen. Amen. And it's, again, Job is difficult, but I'm hoping it will minister to a lot of people.

Remember now we're on the Pando app and we're reaching, so far, about 40,000 prisoners have listened to the messages in the last month. And so keeping that in mind too with the messages that there are a lot of people who need hope and encouragement right now. But let's open up with Job.

I won't read a lot of it, but this is important. There was a man in the land of Uz, depending on however you want to pronounce that, I like Uz, whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright.

Another problem we have here is all these calamities were not due to sin. Who sinned? Well, he was blameless and upright. So these calamities, these issues were not due to sin.

And he was one who feared God and shunned evil means basically he pushed back evil. He wasn't receptive to it. He wasn't open to it.

So we've got this incredible man, blameless and upright, not perfect. And it's a good encouragement for us. Did you know you can be blameless and upright? I could go through and I could mention your names right now as believers.

Blameless because of what Christ did on the cross, right? We stand before God. The God's not like, well, there's still some sin hasn't been dealt with. You know, you need to go to purgatory.

That's not biblical. You're blameless as a believer. And also what else is he called here? Upright.

It means you can walk in moral integrity. You can walk in moral integrity. And what that is, it's stepping in the right direction.

And even if you fall, right? You get back up and you go in that direction. That's when you talk about the Christian walk or walking in the spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh or walking uprightly. All these terms, it doesn't mean that you don't stumble or fall from time to time.

Amen, help, right? But it's that you are going in a certain direction and you're gonna get there come hell or high water. You're gonna get back up. You're gonna keep fighting.

You're going through a difficulty. Maybe you're on the verge of separation or divorce, but you're gonna keep walking in that direction. Maybe you're on the verge of losing your job.

You might not have any employment or your home or other disasters. Maybe you got that call from the doctor. Anybody got that call before? Or you need to come in.

We got the blood work back. But you still keep walking that course. And Job had kids and he was prosperous.

Then there was a day, now this gets interesting. You ready for this? There was a day when the sons of God, the sons of God, bal-anah al-ahim, I think I've talked about this before. I didn't pronounce that right, but it's been a while.

But there's this day when the sons of God, the sons of Elohim, came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan also came among them. Well, that kind of throws you for a loop, doesn't it? And the Lord said to Satan, well, from where have you come? So, this is why when they study theology, that there is a thought that Satan is not, even though he was cast out from heaven, there is the thought that he still has access to God.

He still has access to the Father because of this verse. And so Satan said, I've been going to and fro on the earth from walking back and forth on it. So it could mean, like we read about in the New Testament, the devil goes about as a roaring lion.

What's he trying to do? Seeking whom he may devour. So Satan goes about a roaring lion. And to me, the image is pretty clear that he's walking around, he's looking for the prey.

So the responsibility of being prey or not really falls upon us. Do we look like a tri-tip steak that he can grab? Or do we look like some broccoli? Christian broccoli that he just walks right by. I don't want anything to do with that broccoli.

But it's interesting. And if you've been coming here a while, you've heard me give this illustration before where the eyes of the Lord also, I think it's Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth, looking for those whose hearts are loyal to Him. So here's the challenge.

God's looking for you and so is the devil. So who finds you? Who finds you? When we become easy prey for the enemy, more often than not, we've opened the door and let him in. You go back to that addiction thinking just one won't hurt.

One drink, one pill, one pop, one look won't hurt. You open that door and there's a tri-tip steak. And he pounces.

And so that's what Satan was doing, I believe, walking back and forth. What else would he be doing? Not doing good stuff. Then the Lord said something that I worry about sometimes.

Please don't ever say this, Lord, to me. Satan, have you ever considered my servant Shane? Or your name? No, no, no, I'm good, I'm good. I'll just stay in my lane.

I'll just stay in my lane. I don't need, I do not need for Satan to consider me. And most believe and agree that Satan is not omnipresent.

He's not omnipotent, not all-powerful, all-knowing. He can't be everywhere. So that's what the demons do.

And again, I'll get into that in the book of Acts on demonology. They are his minions and they do his bidding. But in this case, it looks like God's dealing directly with Satan.

I like to take the Bible literally when it calls for that. And he's saying, have you considered my servant Job? That there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. Now we could keep reading and that's where I had to make a decision to stop because it goes on to say that God says you can basically sift him.

And like what Jesus prayed about Peter, that Satan has asked for you that he may sift you like wheat. And have you ever seen wheat sifted in the olden days? They would throw it up and the hard stuff would hit the ground that they would collect and the chaff, the bad stuff would blow away in the wind. And that's what that sifting is that Satan often does to us.

And so everything, I mean, all his kids are gone. Everything's gone. And he's still held fast to his integrity, the Bible says.

But then it got so bad that Satan was allowed now to touch his person. And he received these boils all over his body that are extremely painful. And even at that, even his wife said, curse God and die.

Whoa, whoa, what a spouse. How would you like your spouse telling you that? Can you imagine that? That's hard when it's like, just give up. Just give up.

And so curse God and die. But in all of this, he held on to his integrity. And that goes into like 30 some chapters of just his friends are coming over and at first they're sympathetic, but then they start blaming him because of sin.

And it just, this thing unwinds to where you can really understand even the heart of God in adversity and going through challenges, going through struggles. And he gets to like those famous verses, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. And if God breaks a man down, who can rebuild him? If He imprisons a man, who can release him? He talks about the greatness of God.

And that goes into God. One of my favorite chapters, I think, is in Job. And many people don't know this, but it's when God says, who are you? You're gonna answer me like a man.

And He goes, where were you when I formed the earth or told the oceans to stay here? Where were you when I hung the moon? It's like, wow, He's just blasting this guy. In a good way, though. Very, just love that chapter of just, and I just put my Bible down, God is awesome.

You need an awesome reminder sometimes. We get away from, we forget how awesome God is. And He literally controls the affairs of men.

And believe it or not, some think that actually dinosaurs are mentioned in Job. Talks about one of the beasts, he says his tail was like a cedar tree. That's pretty big.

Another one, his mouth opened and gushed in one of the large rivers in the area. And it's an incredible book. It's kind of hard to read as far as, I get a little irritated as friends, but just the theological depth is there if you're looking for it.

And at the end of all this, Job had double what he lost. And we don't use that as doctrine. We don't say, oh, if you lose everything, God's gonna give you double.

We don't, it's not a doctrine, but the principle is there that God often will bless even out of adversity and challenges God will bless. And you know the famous verses what the canker worm is taken and the locust, you know, the Lord will restore. And it's a very important biblical principle.

But it gives us the reality of the demonic realm. And also reminds us that God's sovereignty is our only sanity. Can you imagine living life without God's sovereignty? And everything that's happening to Job.

And maybe some of you know some people like this. I know some people that would be a modern day Job. Have you met them? Maybe some of you are here.

I know there were people who go here that I just can't imagine going through what they went through. And I wish I had answers. It's one of the hardest things for pastoring.

If you're not in this position, you don't really realize it unless you were in the position where you're supposed to be the guy with answers. And when all kinds of hell breaks loose, where's the answers? Where's the hope? And of course we point people to God and it's not the time to quote Scriptures, you know. Don't worry, Romans 8.28, all things work together for good.

You gotta know the Kenny Rogers song. Know when to hold them. Know when to hold it in.

But there are some Job situations and from there Job loses his kids, his wealth, his health, his sanity. He said, curse is the day that I was born. And so those who are struggling with depression, I think it would be a good book for you to read and see because when you can relate to someone, doesn't that help? When you can relate to someone, it's huge.

To know, oh, you've went through that? I can get through that too? Do you know the best counselors for those going through divorce are those who've experienced it? The best recovery counselors are those who've went through recovery. It's one of the wonderful things that God allows us to give back what we ourselves have experienced. And if you're not involved in ministry, let us know.

If you've been delivered from the demonic, if you've been able to break free of certain things, if you've gotten out of an abusive relationship and found freedom. We have people that we'd love to just have you mentor or help because of their certain situations. And usually a church also will attract people based on the calling of the leadership.

So many of you, one thing I've heard so much, I just heard it twice this week, is so many people, mainly guys, can relate to my story. Where other people go to a different church and relate to a different pastor's story and the way they grew up. But because I've lived here and dug ditches, worked in construction, ran heavy equipment, a lot of shooting, right? Background in all those things.

And my favorite song, A Country Boy Can Survive. Hank Williams Jr., right? I lived it. I ran a trout line.

I skinned a buck. I got it. And so a lot of the guys can relate to that.

Other people can't. They relate to the more theological type of upbringing and seminary and never did anything bad and never did anything wrong. And they don't know anything about the party lifestyle and kind of leave it to beaver home.

And so they're gonna draw a different crowd. And God uses all of us in different ways. And I just talked to a guy, many of you know who he goes here, named David.

He's really into like heavy metal. And he's got words of heavy metal, but it's Christian metal. And the stories of who he ministers to, right? I can never reach the Metallica group usually.

They don't want anything to do with church. They don't want to talk to me, but if you can relate to them and show them the hope. And there's so many other stories of that.

Some of the best speakers at Teen Challenge are those who went through Teen Challenge and they point people to the hope. It's hard to listen to someone who never went through what you went through, isn't it? How many parents are tired of getting advice from people who have no kids? Do you think our family will listen to this? Can I go into detail? No. I won't say nieces, nephews, aunts.

I won't say any of that. But when we had our first couple, they're like, just tell them no. Just tell them no.

Tell them to be quiet and behave themselves. You try it. I'm on like three hours of sleep.

They don't want a binky. They don't want a bottle warmed up with milk. They don't want anything.

You try it. I'm going to go to the mall. Well, try this.

Like I read this in a book and this psychologist says this. Try to swaddle and then try to walk around with them or if they're five and they're throwing a tantrum, just know and tell them why. Look them in the face directly and you take control.

You are the parent. And some of these people, we cannot wait until they have kids. We cannot wait.

But isn't that true, right? You listen. Those who have been through what you're going through and you can relate. You're more apt to listen.

And so there are some examples. We have extreme examples. Any of you have heard of Adoniram Jetson? Was a missionary in China, lost three kids and two wives on the mission field.

What about this name? Horatio? Did I pronounce it right? Horatio, yeah, Horatio. Spadford. Anybody heard that name? Have you heard that hymn? It is well, it is well with my soul.

Four daughters lost at sea. Four daughters lost at sea. It says the vessel sank in just 12 minutes, killing an estimated 226 people, including all four of his daughters.

Heartbreakingly, in the last moments of her life, daughter Annie is recorded as proclaiming, don't be afraid, telling her sisters, the sea is His and He made it. That's faith. And his wife Anna was thrown into the sea.

She fell, as she was thrown in, she felt her baby, Tanetta, pulled out of her arms by the rough waves. And all four daughters drowned. When Anna was finally rescued, she was unconscious, floating on a piece of debris.

She sent back a telegraph. Saved, but saved alone. That's how they did it.

Remember the telegraph? It just said, can you imagine him reading this? Saved and saved alone. And then at the end of it, she said, what shall I do? What shall I do? And the amazing thing is, what God brings is beauty out of ashes. So he decided to go to the same location where the ship went down, knowing that the daughters went down, and was able to write, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Four? Four? All your kids gone? How many of you have heard the name Fanny Crosby? Oh, what a happy soul I am. Although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world, content I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't, to weep and sigh because I'm blind.

I cannot and I won't. And she wrote, safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care, safe from the world's temptations, sin cannot harm me there. Free from the blight of sorrow, free from the doubts and fears, only a few more trials, only a few more tears.

What is my point in telling you all this? The key to getting through life's difficulties are holding on to the rock. Holding on to Jesus. You've heard it saying in business, right? It's all about attitude.

Well, it has a lot to do with spirituality as well. Streams in the desert said, it is easy to love Him when the blue is in the sky. When summer winds are blowing and we smell the roses nigh, there is little effort needed to obey His precious will when it leads through a flowered valley or over a sun-kissed hill.

Boy, these writers can write, can't they? It is when the rain is falling or the mist hangs in the air, when the road is dark and rugged and the wind no longer fair, when the rosy dawn has settled in a shadowland of gray, that we find it hard to trust in Him and are slower to obey. So how do we respond? Well, Job gives us a hint of that. On the next screen, we can see that Job responds at the end of chapter 1. Then Job arose after all these calamities.

He tore his robe. That was like the Pharisees did it. You would see it in the movie The Passion of Christ.

It was just like a feeling of, not Hulk Hogan at the RNC. It was more of just humiliation and desperation and tearing this robe they had. And he fell on the ground and what did he do? Did he complain? This is amazing.

He fell on the ground and worshiped. The strongest stance you can ever take when going into calamity or experiencing it is to go down before you go up. Worship God.

And now it's okay to complain. I'm sure he's like, Lord, what's going on? Help me, Lord. Though You slay me, yet will I trust You.

I'm being challenged right now. I don't even wish I was born. I can't get through this without You.

But Lord, I worship You. I look to You. And did you know many people, many people turn from the faith because of calamity.

Why are atheists so mad at God if there is no God? You want me to tell you why? Anger. Anger. How could He take my mom? I was only 12.

How can He take my little brother with cancer? How can He allow all this evil that I experienced when I traveled to Africa? They take the pain and they become bitter and resentful and angry at God. And Job said, naked, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's where that verse comes from, huh? And all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Trusting in His sovereignty.

Oh, how challenging that is though, isn't it? Job, his raising was though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even his wife said, curse God, Job. He experienced depression, cursing his birth.

And so the point is a choice must be made. A choice must be made. Maybe somebody listening now, I guarantee those listening now, even in the prisons, a choice must be made.

You can either become bitter or you become better. If you're bitter and resentful and sticking your fist at God, you will never experience the freedom and joy in that relationship. Let the hammer of God break you.

Let the judgment of God draw you to your knees and cry out to Him. It's all about making the right choice. Be determined to seek God.

Are you going to be critical or are you going to be caring? Are you going to be cynical or are you going to be saved? What do I mean by that? Because a lot of people who don't experience salvation are cynical, correct, and critical. I've never met a very happy person that rejects God. You God people.

You God people. Remember the famous atheist I talked about a few months ago? It was at Dawkins or Hitchens? I don't remember which one. No, he recently died and he told his son, don't let the God-bothers come around our room.

Hating God till their death. A choice must be made. Maybe some even listening.

Or you're here tonight, you've been carrying a lot of that bitterness. A lot of that pain. Mad at God, you need to let that go.

And I know people say, well, it's easy for you to say, you don't know what I've been through. True, I don't. But I know what Joe's been through.

I know what Mr. Spadford has been through. You ever lost four kids at once? These people can relate. And the reason a new song isn't coming out of you like Fanny Crosby is possibly because you're staying bitter at God.

Did you know you can be a Christian and remain bitter at your circumstances? The children of Israel were God's chosen people. Come on, let's get out of Egypt. Let me part the sea, let me kill Pharaoh, let me bring Rana out of Iraq, let me bring Manna, let me bring... And they still complained.

They still complained. Just read this morning, I'm like, this would have got my attention. It's called the Korah Rebellion.

They rebelled against Moses. And Moses said, okay, if you guys die of natural causes, God hasn't sent me. But if God does a new thing and the earth swallows up and consumes you, then God has truly spoken.

And guess what happened? The fault lines opened. And even after that, people are complaining. I'm like, you guys, what do you want to see? A wall of the Red Sea open.

Water from a rock. Your sandals never wear out. Food, I mean, come on.

The earth opens up. It's amazing what bitterness will do. And I know I've been bound in that before.

It's hard to break free, isn't it? Because our defense attorney within comes alive. Do you have a defense attorney within? You do. He will defend you.

Yeah, but Your Honor, yeah, but Your Honor, you don't know my client. He deserves to feel this way. He went into this marriage thinking this.

He had all good intentions. The defense attorney. They will defend you.

And it's called the flesh. Do not listen to it. Fire it.

Fire the defense attorney and seek God. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Pain can be the fuel that re-sparks spiritual hunger. It refocuses you. It reignites you.

It restores you. It renews you. I don't know how.

I don't know why. It wouldn't be my first option. It's not even in my top 10 list.

But pain can lead you to a very deep relationship with the Lord. Those who have been forgiven much love much. That means they've been forgiven of a lot of pain, a lot of sin, a lot of disappointment.

And God has raised them up and they love Him even more. The more you've been through, the more you can cling to the cross and cling to the Savior. Think about it.

Without pain, without disappointment, we would be selfish and spoiled. Pain and marriage can lead you to the cross. It can lead you to repentance.

As long as you're not here saying, I wish my spouse was here to hear this. I've done that before. I've heard something on the radio.

I'll try to find it. I'll send it to Morgan. You got to check this out.

It was on focus on the family today, but it was for me. Anybody else can relate? None of this stuff going on? We have to own it. We have to make sure we're not fueling depression as well.

We're not fueling depression. And I talk about this a lot. I'm not going to spend time because you guys already know, but this is a good point.

Every time you go on social media, it's a hit of adrenaline or cortisol. It's a hit of stress. There's things I'm going through right now on Instagram, Facebook, I'm following.

I don't need to know what's going on all the time. Fed up with California. Me too, but I don't need to know every single thing that's going on because it's a hit of disappointment.

It's a hit of fear. It's a hit of adrenaline and cortisol. And we're constantly being hit with these things and fueling these things.

And no wonder we're a mess emotionally, spiritually, and physically. You might not like what I say tonight, but you'll know what I mean because we need to hear it. Correct? James 5.11 from the Amplified Version.

You know, we call those blessed, happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God who were steadfast and who endured difficult circumstances. The best way to honor God and to walk out your Christian faith is to endure the challenges of life. Who is honored more? A Navy SEAL that quits on day one or one who continues and doesn't ring the bell.

Perseverance is rewarded. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job. James quotes Job.

And you have seen the Lord's outcome, how He richly blessed Job. The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. And I think what happens with Romans 8.28, all things work together for good, to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

See, we don't know certain things. What about if that car accident triggered salvation in someone else? I've often wondered too if sometimes God takes an infant, right? That's hard. I've had maybe just one here.

That's a hard memorial. What if that infant would have rejected God as an adult and God saved that baby and He's in heaven? I didn't say that, but all things work together. I can't go into a lot of details, but there are situations here where people have went through horrific things and it led the spouse to the Lord.

And you're like, why couldn't they just come without those things? I don't know. That's what I want. That's what I wish.

That's what I pray for. Teenagers, accidents, paralyzed from the waist down come to the Lord. See, because that's the most important thing.

If we truly believe our life is but a vapor, like that's your life on eternity. That's it. Can you hear that? You can't even hear it.

It's not worth putting money. But that's if it accomplishes, if it accomplishes. I remember, we've all went through difficult times.

Mine was in my 20s. And yeah, it's God will break you, right? And going through it, I could not believe it. Getting out of it, I'm like, what was that about? I do not want to ever go through that again.

Actually affected mine and Morgan's relationship for a year or so because of my past and even her past. And you're like, why did I go through that? But then you look back and thank God I went through that because had I not went through that, the prodigal son might still be a prodigal and I wouldn't be up here today. I guarantee I would be dead by now.

Absolutely. My dad died at my age. So we don't know with the Romans 8.28, you have to trust in God's sovereignty.

That is your sanity. How could that car accident took this? But how do we know the other person who caused it didn't cry out to the Lord and now is a believer in heaven? Yeah, but it cost their life. Oh, I know, I have no words.

I can't defend it. I don't agree with it. I'm not God.

But all things work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. I often think that with miscarriages, how do we know that God didn't bring that baby home? And you think of what they'd have to go through on this place and where they're at now, the beauty of heaven, the joy unspeakable. Even though it's hard to experience that, look at the outcome.

I don't think anybody would disagree. I'd rather lose a one-year-old, a drowning, than have that one-year-old reject God at 35 and be in hell for the rest of their life. Unbearable pain, never get over it.

You have to live with that pain for the rest of your life. However, all things work together for good. For those who know God, do you know God? Do you truly know Him or know about Him or considering it or pondering it? You've got to know Him and be completely repentant.

And then Job ends, and thank God, it goes right into Psalms. Psalms is the balm of Gilead. What is that? Well, God would often say, I'm gonna put this ointment on your sore and it's going to heal you.

And often it wasn't a physical ointment, it was God's Word that mends and heals and replenishes. And let's just focus on a few of those and then we'll conclude. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd.

So see, you have the heaviness of Job and then you go into the Psalms. The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me in the path of righteousness.

I will fear no evil. I dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 121, I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. He doesn't sleep, He doesn't slumber, He's not on break, He's not on vacation. You don't have to wake Him up.

He's not in a bad mood where He might not help you and ignore you. This is a God who hears the prayers at two in the morning. He is ever-present help in time of need.

So for every Job, you need a Psalms. For every difficult situation, you need it. That's why I don't understand how believers cannot live in the Word of God.

Just turn to the Psalms and be encouraged. My soul waits for God and God alone. He alone is my rock.

He is my salvation. Trust in Him at all times. Oh, people, it's a cry to the people.

Power and love belong to God. God is my refuge. Who will I fear? Though the earth gives away, the nations rage, the kingdoms fell.

Be still and know that I am God. I wait patiently for the Lord. He drew me up from the pit.

I delight to do Your will. Oh God, my heart fails me, but You are my help. That's the balance.

That's the balance of Job and Psalms. And I love this closing verse in Job. Think about this.

I have heard of You. He's talking to God. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear.

But now, but now, my eyes have seen the living God. See, before I went through the difficulty, I heard about God. I knew about God.

But until I went through the pain and the affliction and the outcast and the depression of life, until I went through that and came out of it, now I know God. Now I've seen Him with my own eyes. My eyes have behold the glory, the only begotten of the Father.

That's the difference between knowing, knowing intellectually and knowing through your heart, a heart relationship. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Thank God for that verse. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And of course, I'll close with the question, do you have the joy of salvation? Maybe everyone here, I don't know.

Those listening, probably not everyone listening. But that's where true joy and strength and perseverance come from. That's how to know God's sovereign plan and to rest in His sovereign plan, that the joy of salvation, and the only way to do that is to fix that relationship with God that is broken.

It's broken because of sin. It's broken because of unrepentance. So we have to say, God, I repent.

I mourn over my sin. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be satisfied. Mourn over it.

Cry out to God and say, Lord, I repent, and I believe I need You. And you will experience that joy of salvation. There might not be floodgates opening.

You know, I've heard of so many different stories of salvation experiences are so different, aren't they? There's people say like a bolt of electricity hit me, and I couldn't get off the floor for an hour. I'm like, wow, that'd been cool, not me. I was crying like a baby.

Other people like don't feel too much, but then a couple days later, I'm not cussing anymore. I want to work on my marriage. I want to read the Bible.

Can I buy a Bible? And so something changes. And I don't know why there's, but it just teaches us we can't rely on emotions alone. Now, there is fruit to saving faith.

I'm not going to get into all that. Right now, I have before. But don't beat yourself up if you don't experience tremendous joy right away.

Sometimes it's a process of breaking down the bricks and the walls that we've built in our life. And I know people that, that's why I'm excited about Acts. I'm going to talk about, the book is, there's a book, I Found the Secret, or Christian Experiences of Famous Christians.

And it talks about all these people, like I can mention Adonai Jetson, right? Hudson Taylor, A.W. Tozer, John Bunyan, Oswald Chambers, D.O. Moody, who were Christians, but never had this tremendous peace and joy and spiritual power as Christians. Why? Because they were still living in their carnality and still compromising and still kind of lukewarm. And that day that they finally surrendered everything, gave God everything, then they call what is called the baptism of the Spirit.

I usually say a work of the Holy Spirit, just a filling of the Holy Spirit that they didn't have before. Remember, they had all the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit didn't have all of them. Big difference.

And when they gave, like D.O. Moody said, I realized I was in the flesh. I was pursuing a big ministry. I wanted my name.

I wanted recognition. Now I just wanted the glory of God. And the power of God came upon him so much that he had to run into a room in New York because he just felt the power and presence of God.

You can read about it in his autobiography. So that's my concern too, is there's so many Christians living in this area and they haven't experienced this, the mighty filling of the Holy Spirit, the enduement of power, the brokenness that leads to just a fullness of the Spirit. And that's why they call it, brother, have you received your baptism of the Spirit? You've heard those terms.

Have you received the fullness of the Spirit? Has a second work of grace come upon your heart? Right, all these terms over the years, it just means have you fully surrendered to the work of God and experienced the abundant outflow of the Holy Spirit? And matter of fact, most often than not, this is where the gifts come from. So we read about all the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Bible? This is often where they come from. Because as you're now full of the Spirit, the gifts flow out.

How can you give a prophecy and word of wisdom if you're full of carnality? And that's the abundant life. Oswald Chambers was a professor at a university. He said, the Bible was the most dry, uninteresting book I've ever read.

And you guys read My Upmost for His Highest, one of their top devotionals. He was going through the motions, blah, blah, blah, like Charlie Brown's teacher. And then he got to that moment where he said the last abyss of my heart has been broken.

And I cried out to God and the Holy Spirit came in and filled me. That's the difference, folks, between the Spirit-filled life and those countless Christians who are living in carnality and lukewarmness. And we want you to break out of that.

We want you to experience the overflowing of the Holy Spirit. And you get up and say, Shane, I can't stop worshiping this morning. My heart is so full of God.

And that's where that joy comes from, surrendering and submitting. But be encouraged. I've not done that 100%.

I'm not perfect. But I'd rather be 85% filled with the Spirit than 5%. Maybe some of you need to make that decision tonight.

Say, God, I give You everything. I'm tired of this meaningless life. I'm a Christian.

The Bible's boring. I go to church when I can. I don't get much out of worship.

The Bible doesn't make a lot of sense. I've never led anybody to the Lord. I'm dry.

I'm dead. I'm dull in my spiritual life. That's exactly what it is.

It's quenching and grieving the Spirit. And hopefully that makes sense to somebody because my notes ended 10 minutes ago. The Holy Spirit rabbit trail is what we'll call this one.

But I often say, second to salvation, this is my favorite topic by far to preach. You know, you've seen it over the years. Revival.

Morgan, you know, revival and the work of the Spirit. Because second only to salvation, right? But the second to salvation is Christians on fire for God. That's kind of the point of the Bible.

That's kind of the point of the upper room and acts and going out and doing great exploits for God and being full of the Spirit and taking authority over the demonic realm, praying for the sick. You know, it's kind of the point of the church. The normal Christianity in the Bible is now called extreme.

Right? You go to West Side Christian Fellowship, they're extreme. Holy rollers, extreme. Having church every night for red in the heavens.

All about the Holy Spirit. All about the Holy Spirit. People are getting, oh my, wow, that is extreme.

The early church would probably rebuke us for not being extreme enough. How many people got healed tonight? None that I'm aware of. What do you mean? How many were there? Spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit.

That's good for you, Book of Acts, but I don't know about, that doesn't happen anymore today. And of course it does, and we're open to those things. We want to see God move.