The Dark Night of the Soul

I'm going to talk about something tough this morning, but it's needed. And the title is, The Dark Night of the Soul. The Dark Night of the Soul.

And it is unapologetically topical. The Dark Night of the Soul. And this phrase has been around for about 500 years in church history.

And last week I talked about Peter being imprisoned. He probably saw or heard about James being killed, being martyred. And guess who's up next? I don't know if you've had a dark night of the soul like that before.

But that's pretty overwhelming. And I'm excited, I'm already ready for next week to get into more about Peter's prayer and Peter's imprison and how God delivers him and he goes to the church and the church doesn't believe it's him when God delivers him. And that's so important.

I think the title of that message is, In Case of Emergency, Break This. And it's gonna be about prayer. But this week, God was just pouring so much into my heart on this topic.

And we'll probably leave Isaiah up there for many of you to just focus on if you need to focus on something up on the screen. How about this one? Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

So, here we go, buckle up. You ready? The dark night of the soul refers to a period of intense spiritual desolation. It's a crisis of faith.

It's a profound purification where one feels abandoned by God. No doubt Peter did. Ultimately intended to deepen our spiritual union with God.

And I think why this is so important, too, is I wanna get it in, you know we're in the prisons in the Pando app. 500,000 views last year of prisoners throughout America watching this and needing that encouragement. And there's people here that need that encouragement.

There's people watching live and on radio. It's such an important topic. The dark night of the soul.

It's a time where you feel God is not listening. Anybody ask those why questions? Where are you, God? Why am I going through this? Or more importantly, why is my child going through this? Oh, it's one thing to go through something, but it's something else to watch or lose a child. It could be a destination prison or a diagnosis.

Anybody had those dark nights of the soul? Everything's going good and the doctor says, I need you to come in. Or you get that news about someone else. It could be an intense struggle.

Maybe you're doing great in all these areas, but there's an intense struggle. Spiritual warfare is real. Or a great catastrophe.

I'll tell you what, when you're going through it, the book of Job comes alive. Get out the highlighter. Man.

I don't even know what to say about that story. If you think you're going through it, just read the first chapter or two. It's incredible.

And any other speculations at real is this, the Bible quotes it. I think God used it as one extreme example to show that we can get through things. And here's the takeaway I'm really wanting to help you out as well.

God's got this. Nothing happens outside of His sovereign control. It actually, God said, have you considered My servant Job? And I prayed that.

Lord, do never, never say, have you considered My servant Shane? It's been a while since there's been affliction. Everything's going great. And as you know, when that happens, pride comes in.

Comfort can be the enemy of Christianity. In this dark night of the soul, it is a battle that breaks you and it is warfare that shapes you. It deeply challenges your faith and it tests every fiber of your spiritual being.

And you don't choose it, it chooses you. You grope through the dark looking for the light as everything you trust in, hope for, and counted on completely falls apart. That's the dark night of the soul.

And this is the time the enemy, his number one weapon without a shadow of a doubt is discouragement. Because I can get through it if I'm encouraged, kind of joy-filled, God's in control. I can get through it.

But when that discouragement comes in and that fear comes in, that's when depression sets in. He loves to discourage the believer. And I'm well aware today's topic may not apply to some of you.

You might be doing great. There's not a care in the world. And thank God for that.

I thank God for the mountaintops, don't you? I do not just want to live in the valley of the shadow of death for the rest of my life. Thank God for that. But comfort and ease won't sustain you, they will destroy you.

You can look this up when the great sequoias are here, you know, a couple hours away and even, you can look, they've studied the soil and trees and things don't grow when it's a nice, sunny, calm day. They grow when the wind beats upon the branches and the trunks and that's when they have to dig down and get those roots very strong. They have to strengthen themselves through the storm.

And guys, I love comfort. I love vacation and the lakes and there's just not a care in the world. But it does make you spiritually lazy, doesn't it? It can.

So the dark night of the soul, here's the benefits though, it intensifies intimacy with your Savior. It can intensify that intimacy you have with God. It can strengthen your trust in God.

It can build faith, it develops humility and it shapes a worshiper. Many of those, most I know who are worshipers, let me tell you their story. And it leads to deep repentance.

Now, the negative side to that is it can take you away from intimacy. It can hurt your trust in God. It can hurt your faith.

It can lead to pride. It can force you to walk away from worshiping. I've met so many people who are mad at God, decades later.

And I understand it, but you can't live there. I mean, the prophets would ask, Isaiah would ask, Lord, why? Why do the wicked prosper? Why? And they would go on some, I mean some, wow! David, or was it Psalm 71? I mean, the dark night of the soul, man! But you know what? They never leave it there. But it had not been for the Lord on my side, yet His mercies are sustained every day.

Nevertheless, oh, you need a nevertheless in your heart sometimes. Nevertheless, the Lord is my strength. And you turn that fear and that frustration, that failure, you turn from that and you turn back to God.

It doesn't mean all that's fine, but it means now you're building your house on the right foundation. And let me tell you, the problem with pity parties is that they weaken you instead of strengthen you. We love pity parties, don't we? Nobody cares.

Nobody cares. They're nobody cares about me. Nobody's concerned, they're living their life.

Look at what I'm going through. And that's hard, isn't it? But realize people will let you down every time that your spouse will let you down. Because you're going through hell, but they're trying to live in heaven.

You're living this hour by hour. But they've got a life to lead as well. People got things to do.

It's hard, especially pastoring, it's hard when you try to be gripped by so many things going on. It can really wear you down if you begin to feel the pain and the passion of what people are going through. And that's one thing that comes from stress of ministry is feeling the pressure of that.

And we hear that, you know, the church has let me down. You ever said that? I've said it many times. Leaders will let you down.

Everybody will let you down. And that can actually be really good if it draws you closer to the one who will never let you down. So you gotta get rid of the pity party.

I love the pity parties to myself sometimes. Because you can eat whatever you want. Nobody's around.

Now here's the good news too, the light of revival. Everything we've been praying for, you'll hear that talk a lot in America. Oh, revival's here, revival's here.

Revival doesn't come by a superstar worship leader and a superstar speaker coming together on a platform. That's not revival, that's an event. Revival comes from humble, broken believers crying out for more of God.

We will not let go until we find you. I will not let go. I will not let go until you bless me.

Lord, I'm gonna seek you with all of my heart, with all of my strengths. I'm gonna cry out to the one true and living God and that he revives. And often that light of revival comes from the darkest hour.

I mean, I don't know of any revival, and I've got books this high probably. Going back to the 1700s, to the Welsh Revivals, New Hebrides Revivals, Duncan Campbell, Evan Roberts, Hal Harris, Griffin Jones, Daniel Rollins. You get into the First Great Awakening and Wesley and Whitfield and Edwards, and you get into many of the revivals you've never even heard about, the camp revivals.

They had revivals during the Civil War in America, and none of them happened without first pain and darkness because that drew them to their knees. That is what sparks revival, the flame of revival. So don't immediately pull someone out of the flames and become an enabler.

God might be wanting to break them and break them and break them. I remember, I think it was Lancaster, you know, guys up at the altar, he's just weeping, and it's a deep thing, and somebody's like, hey, pastor, aren't you gonna go pray for them? I'm not stopping that. Uh-uh, God's dealing with them.

God, let God, let God do it. I go, hey, you okay, Pastor? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, Pastor. You just ruined that moment.

Now, there's a time and a place for that, of course, but when God breaks you, only He can make you. Words of men fall on deaf ears. The light of revival often comes out the darkest hour.

I just saw this week in CBN News, Christian Revival is taking over the Middle East. Isn't that amazing? Why don't we read that here? We hear about Epstein files and all kinds of junk and the debauchery. Super Bowl halftime show, some guy's gonna be, I guess, dressed up as a woman, like, oh, this is wonderful.

My Lord, America needs to repent. And here's a great reminder for you, corporate revival, what we're praying for, never begins without personal revival, does it not? What we need is personal revival in your hearts, and then watch what God will do. I often wonder, and Stephen can relate to this too, I'm sure, at that moment, 1999, hungover, if I said, you know what? God hasn't helped me out of this, and I became a bitter alcoholic, we wouldn't be here.

My family wouldn't be here. You plus God is the majority. Watch what God does with one person, on fire for Him and your family.

And you might not reach a lot of people. Can I just be honest? Now, I am the whole morning, but, you know. Kids, this might be good for you guys, golly.

And when you're young, you think, that if I could just make it, if I could just have that 100,000 followers, 500,000, if I could be as, it will destroy you. It will bring you more stress than you've ever felt in your life. One post I did a week ago has got 2.2 million views, and I've never been called the F-word more in my life.

My whole day is block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block. You shouldn't do that, it's my page. Go do something on your own page, you clown.

Sorry, I told you, I don't speak perfectly for an hour. Sometimes the flesh gets in there a little bit. But you think that, oh, if I could just get this, and the higher you go, the deeper you better go in humility.

The deep, that's why you're saying ministry, this person falls, this person falls, this, this, this. It's because they don't have the foundation of character, and they're trying to build the name instead of build Christ. It's hard to fall when you're on your knees a lot.

And I've heard it, you've said, God has forsaken me. God has forsaken me. No, He's trying to awaken you.

Big difference. By the way, He never forsakes. He's there, it just feels.

He's trying to awaken you. But what do you do if He doesn't deliver you, or heal you, or fix you, or those you love? What do you do then? Because that's why we're sometimes joyful and encouraged that God's gonna do this, He's gonna heal me, He's gonna fix this, He's gonna, and then you kind of realize, you know what, this isn't happening like I thought. Anybody think a certain way and God's not really inclined to follow your way of thinking? And guys, this is so important.

I wanna get this point across. I did, I know, a little bit last week. Especially the older you get, you've gotta trust in His sovereignty.

You've gotta trust in His sovereignty. Now, trusting in His sovereignty, it's not just an intellectual exercise. Ah, yes, I know that.

Trusting in His sovereignty, it's really a life grounded in belief, it's anchored in faith, and it's sustained by worship. Sovereignty, trusting in His sovereignty is not just a one and done. It's a lifestyle pursuing Him and seeking Him.

So the sovereignty of His hand of sovereignty gets anchored into your life. That's the anchor because of worship, because of prayer, because you've been seeking Him, because of the Word, that's your anchor. That's the anchor that holds everything in place.

Now let me drop some truth bombs. It does not mean that things will go as planned. I learned the lesson the hard way on that one, because I thought when you become a Christian, God's sovereignty, my plans, yes.

I will truly have my best life now. Retire by 40, have a bass boat, go to the mountains. God's sovereignty, yes.

But the reality is people become sick and pass on to glory. Some careers and marriages don't work out. Some calls to ministry never materialize, and some dreams do die.

Guys, I'm not trying to be a negative Nelly. I'm trying to shoot you straight, because when you're prepared for life, you get through life. And also, here's one of my big concerns, especially in what they call charismatic churches.

You cannot always blame a demonic attack, blame something on a demonic attack when it may be God's sovereignty, His sovereignty. And we start to say things like this. I've heard, God always wants to heal you, always.

So the problem's not on His end, it's on your end. I've seen people with much better faith than me pass away, and then these people, their life gets rocked because this genie in a bottle called God, this butler, isn't answering the prayer the way they thought. Sovereignty is, Lord, I trust, I know you can heal.

I have no problem, I believe, but help my unbelief. But Lord, I trust in you, because often we pray for that healing to get us out of the fire. Let's be honest.

But sometimes God allows us to stay in that fire. Not everything is a demonic attack, you can't name it and claim it. You can't speak it into existence if you just have enough faith.

What about all the people healed in the Bible who didn't have a lot of faith? Now, Jesus says, because of their unbelief, I could not do many miracles there. So that obviously plays a role of a grumbling, complaining, woe is me, Eeyore, Charlie Brown fans. That's not good.

Was Eeyore in Charlie Brown? Oh, Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, yep. This is supposed to be a serious message, guys. Here's, you know what, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I liked Eeyore.

I remember as a kid, I wanted to watch Eeyore, not some big teddy bear put his hand in honey, and like Eeyore, everything's negative. But we can't always blame something challenging on a demonic attack. Or no, no, no, no, no, God doesn't want this.

What about Jesus said that in the garden? Father, take this from me. Take this from me. Nevertheless, nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done.

Lord, take this from me, fix this, but what about if it's gonna lead my kids to the Lord? What about if it's gonna lead to a very deep and intimate relationship with God? Sometimes He might leave that thorn. You might get that diagnosis you have to live with for the rest of your, what about the God who heals? What about the God who uses that to break you? What about that God too? See, this whole thing out of healing has got me upset sometimes. Because it sounds good, but then when it's applied, it's not working out, and then they lose their faith.

Their kids walk away from the Lord. You've gotta get that into your soul, just like Daniel. My God will deliver me, but even if He doesn't.

Can you say that? That's the key, is that not the key? You're gonna throw me into this fire. God's gonna deliver me, but guess what? Even if He doesn't, I'm not bowing to you. I'm not walking away from my Creator.

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. He said, take this cup from me. What about on the cross? On the cross.

Father, why have you? We don't know who holds the future. That's why sovereignty is so important. What if God extended 15 years on your life and you birthed a Manasseh? Let me fill you in.

God gave the king warning, put your house in order. This time, your time's up. And he cried out to God, and God said, okay, I'll give you 15 more years.

And in that 15 years, His wife gave birth to the most wicked king that Israel had ever known. Again, I'm not preaching doom and gloom. I'm trying to prepare people for the dark nights of the soul.

Because when you're prepared, you can get through the storm. You guys remember, we probably still do it with our kids, but I remember when I was little and that storms would come. If my parents were good, I'm good.

Oh, we see this, Jane, when I was younger, it's no big deal. Or like me, I don't know if I should tell you this either because I'm being vulnerable, but I like to sit in a plane up front and then I can watch the airline, the stewardess. How are they doing right now? If they're talking, they're on their phone, okay, good.

But if they're like, preparation. And pastors don't always have the answers. We're supposed to point you to the one who has the answers.

Here's the key, don't ask why. I'm preaching myself, by the way. Don't ask why, ask what.

What are you teaching me? What do you want me to learn? How can I grow from this? Because the why's are never ending. Why's are never ending. And here's why, maybe you're different than me.

I want to know why so I can fix it, correct? Lord, why am I feeling this way? Because you need to fast. Oh, okay, I'll fast and fix it. I need to be carnivore, that will fix it.

I need to be plant-based, that will fix it. I need to know why. Do I get on this medication again? Why? Lord, tell me, why is this happening to my kids so I can fix it? And rarely will He show you the why.

Maybe later, but it's the what that we need to unpack. This is from Dr. David Jeremiah's book, When Your World Falls Apart. And if you want to listen to part one of what I'm giving now, it's not really part one, but it goes in line with this.

Listen to last Sunday. But he did this, Dr. David Jeremiah. He wrote a book, When Your World Falls Apart.

And this is a letter, he kind of said, like he could see it being from God. And he said, my child, I have a message for you today. Let me whisper in your ear that it may overcome any storm clouds that may arise in your life.

The smooth, and smooth out the rough places upon which you have to tread. It's short, it's only five words, but let them sink into your innermost soul. Use them as a pillow upon which to rest your weary head.

And the five words are, this thing is from Me. This thing that you're going through is from Me. Nothing can get to us without going through God.

Are you passing through a night of sorrow? This is from Me. I'm the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I have let earthly comforters fail you, so you turn to Me unconditionally.

This thing is from Me. Boy, that's a perspective change, isn't it? I've meditated on that all week. Because if we're not careful, we think, oh, this is from the enemy.

This is from this person, this is from this. And we get scared because, God, what's going on? This enemy, is the enemy stronger than you? Even if the enemy attacks you, God first has to allow it under His sovereign control. And again, I got a lot of why questions myself.

But if you look at things, or at least say, God allowed this. God, You allowed this for a reason. And hopefully for a season.

Because I've seen this many times too, guys, on this topic of healing. We forget that sometimes it's time to go home. It's time to go home, the Lord says.

Yet we pray healing, we claim healing. No, no, no, Lord. But what about, we all die.

So you get healed at 65, it's time to go at 70. I mean, let me tell you, heaven's a lot better. That's from 65 to 70.

From now, a million times better. So just be very careful on this topic. We forget that it's time to go home sometimes.

And we can rest in that. Oh, no, no, you just have enough faith. I want to go home.

I want to go home. I remember, I want to say their names, in case their husbands are watching. But I went and I prayed, and I said, Pastor, don't pray for me, I'm ready.

Whoa, pray for comfort, pray for my spouse. Pray, but I'm ready. Anybody sign those don't resuscitate orders? Hello? Yeah, let me go.

But the reason many don't want to is because of fear. So you need to settle that this morning. Fear's normal, we all fear it.

I actually don't fear death. I'm ready to someday be with my Lord. I just, I don't like the process of what that involves.

I don't like leaving my family behind. Things like that, that's good, that's a good thing. If we didn't feel that, we'd just say, oh, we'll jump off the cliff.

I'm ready to go. So there's a little self-preservation involved, obviously. And don't overanalyze.

Church, oh my goodness, any overanalyzers there? Oh my goodness. Well, if this is going on, then this could have caused it. This might have, back then, over there.

That's what, that'll fix it. Yeah, yeah, okay, well, maybe because of... And what does? It robs you eventually of peace and joy. It will rob you of peace and joy.

Did you know that disruptive moments are often divine appointments? Ron Mel said about these disruptive moments, they always leave us with a list of things to clean up and to fix. Isn't that true? You know, as a believer, you get some bad, you know, something's going on in your life, you're fixing things, just in case it's causing it. I'm fixing it, I'm getting my... And God, we need those little recharges sometimes.

Because everything's going good, everything's going great, and then pride comes in. And God begins to spank us and level us. And He, actually, He chastens those He loves.

He disciplines those He loves. There are times when God restores to us the things we lose through negligence and ignorance and rebellion or sin. And there's times we just have to trust in Him.

But I do know what He does restore, intimacy. Intimacy. Wouldn't you rather want that than good health? A big bank account? You don't? Some of you maybe you don't because you don't know what that is.

Is that right, Lang? You don't know what that is, yeah. Intimacy, intimacy. Man, that relationship with God, there's nothing better.

That's what keeps everything together. That's what keeps everything together. I mean, I've heard of people almost committing suicide when Bitcoin dropped.

Boom. Last couple weeks. What's their trust in? We have to get our trust anchored in God.

And trust in God's sovereignty, Lord. Trust and obey. Trust and obey.

Worship leader by the name of Jason Upton released a song, fairly new song. Talks about Jesus being the good, good shepherd. And he said, if you let me in, Jesus said, if you let me in, I'll lead you out.

I can't tell you where you're going, but I can tell you this. Little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd. Little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd.

Who's going to protect you when the darkness settles in? I don't like it, but I prefer preaching through pain because there's a special anointing on the service. The message seems to bring life into others. And to be honest with you, that's the problem with many preachers, many teachers today, myself included.

I can fall into this camp as well. They preach from pride and not from pain. They preach from pride and not from pain.

Same thing you could say with worship leaders. Any type of, if you lead through pride, you might be gifted. And the people might say, oh, not bad.

But you preach through pain and they'll be touched. The tears keep you tender. Pride is replaced with passion and arrogance with kindness when you allow the hammer of God to continue to break you.

And we have to say like Paul, God, I'll bear this thorn if your grace floods my heart. I'll carry this thorn. I'm so glad, aren't you, that we don't know what Paul's thorn was.

We would say, well, yeah, Paul, but you don't know what I'm going through. Have you ever been there comparing? Paul, whatever it was, a messenger of Satan was sent against Paul. And Paul said, take this away, take this away, take this away.

And God said, no, my grace is sufficient. It means it's enough. You don't need more than God's grace.

And that intimacy upon a person's life, that deep relationship they have with their Savior, that's what keeps them steadfast. So Lord, we gotta say, I can bear this thorn if your grace will flood my heart. I can bear this thorn if your grace will come upon my life.

And I'm going through pain. I'm going through this difficulty. I don't understand.

I've got a lot of why's, but Lord, let your grace flood my heart. And it's through that brokenness and that dependence and that crying out to God that he begins to fill you with his spirits. I love what John Wesley said.

He said, our people die well, the Methodists. And the Methodists of then are not the Methodists of today. By the way, just to let you know, we sing about the goodness of God.

Have you heard that song? I've had on Rewind, what's her name? C.C. Wyans, did I pronounce that right? Just on Rewind, on Rewind, the goodness of God. We sing about it, but have we lived it? Have we lived it? You have led me through the fire and the darkest night. You are close like no other.

You can only sing that with emotion and understanding and let it get down deep into your heart when you've experienced, when you walk through the fires. And like the Bible says, when the floods overcome me, it will not hold me down. The God will hold me up.

When the fires come against me, I will not be scorched by the flame. Then you can sing those songs, church. Won't be the person who's never went through anything.

They're like Napoleon Dynamite who needs to hit the weight room. That's how you build spiritual strength. That's how you go, you get the report, you get the diagnosis, you go through hell.

You've been given this news, you lose somebody and you say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I will keep my, where does my help come from? My help comes from the hills, from the Lord. He who holds Israel will not slumber.

Oh my goodness, I feel like preaching this morning. Whether you're incarcerated or incapacitated, his sovereignty will rule in your hearts. Whether it's a diagnosis or a disaster or distress, you have led me through the fire.

In the darkest night, you're close like no other. Oh, the dark night, it rebuilds the broken. It rebuilds the broken.

It fills the empty. It restores the fallen. It returns joy to the lonely.

It comforts the fearful. Yes, it's a battle. It's a battle for trust and it's a battle for truth.

Have you ever cried out or thought, Lord, nothing is working? Have you ever been there? Nothing is working, what's going on? Everything is going down. Nothing is going good, Lord. What is happening? Nothing is working.

Man, these people have let me down. The doctor told me this, nothing is working. Like I said last week, you're almost there, church.

If you get to that point, you're almost there. The deeper the pain, the deeper the relationship with Christ, those who have a powerful intimate relationship with Jesus have been through hell and back and he's pulled them from the flames. That's why they have that deep and abiding relationship.

That's why. It's through the pain, not around it. I wanna go around it.

I need your love more than I need water. I need your love more than the breath that fills my lungs. When all else fails, worship.

When all else fails, worship. Well, what about prayer? What do you think I'm doing when I worship? And I thought about it, like I don't know, how would you separate that? I'm worshiping, but I'm not praying. No, worship is a form of prayer.

That's what it is. Prayer actually, petition and prayer, we can get technical. Yes, we're saying something, but do you know what it really is? The heart.

Do you know I cannot say a word and just weep at this altar? Not saying a word, just weep at this altar. And that prayer reaches heaven. More than words.

When all else fails, when you're going through that night of darkness and the darkness of the soul. I forgot what I called it. Oh, yeah, the dark night of the soul.

Choose worship. We see that throughout the Bible, don't we? That the woman who came in, Jesus, my daughter is severely vexed with the devil. Have you ever seen that before with your kids? I hope not.

It's terrible. You can't sleep. Your home is like a raging volcano.

We need help, Lord, we need help. Lord, help me. Help me, God.

My daughter is severely vexed with the devil, but she ran to Christ and the Bible says she worshiped Him. She worshiped Him. My son is possessed, but he worshiped Jesus.

Like I said earlier, what about Job? The pain is unbearable. The pain is, when your wife tells you to curse God and die, the pain was unbearable, but what did the Bible, you can read it, Job fell and he worshiped. Can you imagine, he's going through all this instead of getting mad at God, he fell and he worshiped.

Naked have I come into this world, and naked I shall go back. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He giveth and He taketh away.

The Lord is my shield. Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. All these, oh, we love to quote these scriptures, but they went through hell in order to get us those words.

And church, we are no different. Oh, and I feel for Jarius. Oh, remember Jarius? He goes to get Jesus and they say, don't trouble the teacher.

She's already gone. Oh, the pain. Don't trouble the teacher, she's already gone.

And that same Jesus you follow today, He said, don't worry, don't worry. Just have faith. Don't worry, just have faith.

He went, how can you forsake me, God, to raising people from the dead? He had the full scope of that. Eli, Eli, Lama Zabatchini, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I'm on the cross alone. And then He'll go and He'll raise people from the dead.

Sometimes we need to say like the prophet Micah, do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will rise. And when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

And get that deep within your soul like Paul. Oh, death, where is your sting? How many of you can say that to death? Oh, death, where is your sting? When you go and the doctor gives you that really bad news, I don't care, oh, death, where is your, it's lost that sting, it's lost that cutting. I'm not gonna die twice, I'm gonna die once and be in eternity with my Savior.

The second death is what gets you. Watch out for that one. Watch out for that one.

That one, there is no return. That's why for the believer, I'll leave you with this closing statement. For the believer, the dark night of the soul is temporary, but for the unbeliever, it's eternal.

But I want you to think about that. The dark night of the soul for a believer. At some point, there's light at the end of the tunnel, isn't there? But for the unbeliever, there's only darkness.

There's only darkness. There's no hope. There's no dark, the dark night of the soul just keeps going.

Yeah, but haven't you heard Kirk Cameron's view? And you know, well, I just don't want to find out. I don't want to, are you annihilated years from now? Are you, the Bible's clear, you don't want to find out. You do not want to find out.

For eternity, there's gnashing and weeping of teeth. And I only say this, I don't like to scare people, but the Bible does. Not me.

The Bible says these things. Did you know Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven? Jesus said, do not fear man. Do not fear man, but fear the living God.

So maybe some of you need to make that decision that morning, or you need to fully surrender. That's where I was at in 1999. God had to get me, get this prodigal son home.

It was a battle. And I looked back, why was it so hard? Why are we fighting God? So what was wrong with me in my 20s? You know, it's actually very simple. It's a five letter word.

Yeah, some of you, I heard it. Starts with a P, I'll help you. Pride.

Is that not true? That's the only reason. That's the only, that's what's keeping you away from a deeper relationship with the Lord. Even as a Christian, pride.

I've got as much of God as I want. And if you don't know him, the Bible's clear. You have to repent and believe that Christ will save me.

I need to trust in him.