Page 60, Be Still My Soul. Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain. Lead to your God, to order and provide. In every change, ye faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, your best, your heavenly friend. Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful way. Be still, my soul, your God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Your hope, your confidence, then the All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul, the waves and winds still blow. His voice to rule them while he dwelt below the last. He's still my soul The hour is hastening on When he shall be ♪ Forever with the Lord ♪ ♪ When disappointment, grief and fear are gone ♪ ♪ Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored ♪ ♪ Be still my soul ♪ ♪ When change and tears are best ♪ ♪ All safe and blessed ♪ ♪ We shall meet at last ♪ Well, good evening. Good to see you. I had the privilege last night of going over and visiting Brother Dennis Horne as he was ministering at Brookhaven Baptist Church. Brother Fred Daniel is a pastor over there. Dennis is doing well. He's got a ministry with his dad right now. He travels back and forth. and spends a week at a time with his afflicted dad to help and take care of him, which hinders him from being out in what you'd call churches and so forth, because he has to be with his dad. So he's got help, his brothers, they're rotating. But anyway, it was good to be with him and to share a little bit of time. We went to lunch with him yesterday, as a matter of fact, he and Fred. And that's an occasion within itself. So anyway, I want to ask you a question. You can turn to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would. I want to ask you a question before we get started in the actual lesson. When Dennis was talking about the cat litter box, how did it make you feel? Good? Come on, tell me how it made you feel. Angry, grieved, disgusted, hopeless. Anybody got anything different than those? Come on, help me. How'd it make you feel? Sad? Okay. Anxious about our future and the future of our children? Tremendously disappointed in it. But Dennis knelt on the head finally after he got all his frustration out. When he asked the question, where are the parents? Now if I think I'm a dog, do I go outside and hike or what? And what do I do? This is crazy, stupid, as he said. I think that was a good word, stupid. And I don't mean it as graciously as he did. You're stupid, okay, as a parent to allow your child to think this way. You're not only stupid yourself, you're enhancing stupidity and propagating stupidity because the child's gonna grow up and be just as stupid as this is and so forth. And that's how I feel, okay? So everything affects us, our feelings. 24-7, you are with feelings. 24-7. Now we're gonna change the subject. And as we change the subject, pay attention to your feelings. Some say, well, good. Some say, well, hurry up. I've got to go home. Some say this. Some say that. But your feelings are going to vary from moment to moment, topic to topic, thing to thing, person to person, on and on and on. Don't deny that, by the way. That's sin to deny that that happens because we're created by our Creator with feelings. Now, the first expression of feelings in the Bible, and Dennis and Dean, you want to pay attention to this, because they are Genesis people. Not that we're not, but they are. When God created the heavens and the earth, and after he created the heavens and the earth, he said, it's good. As he created light, it's good. As he separated the day and the night, it's good. All God's creation was good. Then he came to a point where he completed his creation. And he said, it is very good. Now stay with me. The word good in that passage of scripture means that God was very pleased with what he had done. So pleasure is an emotion. And God first expressed pleasure. This is very good. So we move on in the series in Genesis, and we find the first human expression of feelings is shame. And then we find anger, and thus goes the story. And after the fall of man, the emotions became just as wicked at times as the actual activities or thought process. The noetic effect of sin went right along with the physical depravity of man, as a matter of fact, because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The mind is depraved, we are depraved, our total beings are depraved. God sent forth his son born of a woman in due time to deliver us or rescue us from our sins, okay? Not to save us and leave us in them, but to deliver us from our sinfulness. And we believe here in progressive sanctification. And therefore, when God saved us or gave us new life in Christ, he began to grow us into a Christ likeness. Now if that didn't happen and you're not being sanctified, you haven't been saved either. They go together. It's incomplete to say you're forgiven your sins and continue therein. 1 John chapter 3. It's not complete. So no matter what they profess and how many times they were baptized or pasteurized or any other eyes, salvation delivers us from our sins. Romans chapter 6 is a tremendous passage. I keep telling people that. Well, let's move ahead. Unto what? Glorification. Now, thus far, I haven't made it to glorification. Now, glorification would be a Genesis 1 experience where it was very good. That it was totally pleasing to God. How about that? It's very good. Now, God's done some very good things in your life that He's pleased about. He took pleasure in saving you. He takes pleasure in your prayers, the prayers of the saints. There's things about you that God takes pleasure in that are very good because it's the Christ we know that worketh in you. We understand that. So, but along with these experiences and expressions of growth, so must our feelings go as well. And they do, by the way, they do go. So we want to look at that because Why is this so significant? Well, it was significant to God, it's significant to humanity. Period. Why did Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve, their mother and father, why did they hide? They were ashamed. Why was Cain so angry? Because God refused his sinful offering. Why did he kill his brother? Because his brother's works were righteous or pleasing to God. On and on and on. All out of passion. Passion is an emotion. If you study the word feeling and emotion, you'd find out they're synonymous. They're synonymous. In other words, my emotions and my feelings happen simultaneously. You hear this? When I'm preaching and teaching and so forth, I'm putting my heart into it, blah, blah, blah, then all that passion, and that's emotion, and we preach against emotion, and here I am expressing emotion, or expressing God's Word in an emotional way, which needs to be done, because preaching is different than teaching. Let me say that to you. Okay? It's different. Preaching is a proclamation. Okay? Teaching is just what we're doing tonight. Although there will be some proclamations. But proclamations without dialogue. Here's the truth. It's without debate. It's without discussion. It's just simply declared and proclaimed as if it is official. That's why Paul would write that I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Why would he have to mention he's an apostle? For authority's sake. You hear this? For authority, he said, I'm not just a lay preacher that picked up a King James Bible and headed for a pulpit somewhere. I'm not just one of the old country boys who was raised in this church and they just thought I ought to be preaching because I can hack and holler a little bit. That's not what Paul was saying. Paul was saying, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. And he said also he was appointed of Jesus Christ. So this is an appointment, he said. So he did it by authority. And with his authority there came the passion. for truth, and the proclamation of truth, and the teaching of truth, et cetera, et cetera. So Paul himself was affected, if you please, or expressive of his own emotions, as God was as well. But why is this so significant to us today? Well, we have taken, and I mentioned this last week just by way of review, we've taken what is supposed to be subjective and made it objective. Now, you know what I'm saying? We've taken experience, which is subjective, and put it over top of absolute truth. So absolute truth, then, is under, if you please, the subjective. So we do the subjective, and then we try to find an objective truth to support the subjective. That's backwards. Absolutely backwards. But we live this way. I mean, this is how we live. We buy cars this way. Larry, no, not you. We buy cars this way, we buy houses this way, we buy clothes this way, et cetera, et cetera. I have my, I was trying to figure out what watch I got on tonight. I have my, what's it called, help me Edna, iPod something, iSomebody, smart watch. I'm glad part of me is smart, but anyway, it's a smart watch. Why have I got it on? I just felt like wearing it. It don't tell any better time than that old Timex I got laying in the drawer. And I wear it periodically, by the way. Why? Feel like it. Feel like it. You're dressed the way you feel. Hear me? This is what bothers you about some people sometimes. If everybody dresses the way they feel, whoa. I mean, why do they have tattoos all over their bodies? They just felt like getting a tattoo. Well, I hope you never feel like getting rid of them. I mean, we just moved this way. Why is your kid in the school he's in? I just felt like putting him in this school. Why'd you send him to college? I just felt like that was the best place for him to be. I just felt there's no objective reason to do it. I just felt like doing it. I looked at the campus. I talked to the teacher. They don't really teach all the stuff that they're blamed for teaching at this school. They do if they're under the rule of the school. Okay? No objective truth. There's people not here tonight because of subjectiveness, not objectiveness. Okay? Et cetera, et cetera. And some of us may be here out of subjectiveness and not objectiveness. We don't know how you feel, do we? We don't know what mashes your button. We don't know what moves you, do we? But let us talk for a little while. and see how your feelings change even as we sit where we're sitting, et cetera. I was in a conference one time with a particular friend of mine who's like the rest of us. He's a little long-winded. It was outside. It was packed, packed. We'd been at it for three or four hours already. It was getting close to lunchtime. You know what happens then? My little belly starts to growl, you know. Not just that, but I'm old, and the frequency to the restroom is more frequent than ever before. And I thought he'd never close for my sake. You know what I'm trying to say? And then he dismissed in prayer. And he prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed. And I prayed that he'd quit praying. And prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed. And of course, I'm sitting right where if I get up, I'm going to serve a half a row of people, and so forth. So as soon as he said amen, I was out of there. And he said, what'd you run off to later? What'd you run off to? I said, I thought you'd never hush. That's the way I felt. Emotionally, not just physically. But my physical being affected my emotions. Now let's turn that around. And my emotions often affect my physical being. Now let me prove it to you, theologically. Theologically, if you study the book of James, and you can disagree with me on this and be wrong, if you want to. I'm adamant about this, by the way. And I just tell you, you're wrong. I'm like Dennis, it's time we quit push fitting around and say, hey, that's not good. It's not good. In James chapter five, when the sick or the afflicted calls for the elders of the church, remember, to anoint him with oil and pray over him. Now in the context of that passage, we're dealing with sin. We're not dealing with just physical ailments. And that sin is derivative of emotional sins. I mean, that sickness. Depression, anxiety, worry, fear, etc., etc., that promote biological ailments. Acid reflux is one. Ulcers is one. Sometimes migraines is one. Sometimes. And sometimes there are real medical reasons for this stuff. But it's a catch-22 on many occasions. Was it a medical reason that caused, a biological reason that caused this? Or did this cause the medical problem? Now the doctor will treat the symptom, you know that, right? He'll never tell you what to do. He don't know. I had a doctor tell me, we don't heal people, we treat symptoms. Did you hear what I just said? A doctor told me that. He said, well, why not? Because we don't know, catch 22, what causes what here, right? So in James, when we pray over the sick, the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much, you notice in that passage of scripture, and if there be false, you confess your faults one to another, and you forgive one another of sins. That's the context. Now, I don't have time to get into all that, but that's just an illustration how the two tie together and how the two affect or could affect one another. And I'm telling you, medicine cabinets are filled with medicines that treat symptoms that are caused by emotional sins. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I didn't look at your medicine cabinet. I don't want to hear about it. Don't come talk to me about it. Talk to your doctor. I'm not a doctor. I'm a preacher. I love the truth. And I'm telling you, our churches are filled with sick people on occasion because of emotional distress. How about this? Anxiety at work. Now, none of you guys who work out in the field, none of you guys have any anxiety at work. It's a cush job. No pressure, right? No pressure. It's easy going. My boss loves me. He don't care whether I work or not, just so I show up, you know? So I show up at nine, take a break at 10, go to lunch at 12, quit at three. He loves me. Yeah, anybody got that kind of job? Because I'm sure it says want one. No, there's pressure and stress and anxiety. When I was in electronics, there was often days that I wasn't able to be solution oriented enough in a problem in a device to actually repair it on that occasion. And I've gone home and I've carried that home with me many a night. because the customers are calling, the bosses calling, people are calling from upstairs saying, hey, what about so-and-so? What about this? What about that? And all I can say, hey, I'm on it. I'm on it. Well, can you get that out today? I'll do my best. And then what about so-and-so? Can you get them out today, too, and so on and so on? I have even gotten to the extreme. This is a true story. I've gotten to the extreme in that situation. I'll never forget this. I'd worked on this piece of equipment for two days, and that's 16 hours. Okay? Non-stop. Just that one piece of equipment. And the boss was calling and telling me I'd work 16 hours on it. Let's try to get that out. Okay, boss. I'd go home and I honest to you, I dreamed about that piece of equipment. Now don't put any stock in this. Don't go home and ask God to give you a dream. But I had that so much on my mind that I could actually see that circuit. I could see the devices and the modules and all that stuff. I could envision it in that dream. I'll never forget this. And I dreamed that I found the problem. I went to work the next day, Mark, and I put my finger right on the thing I dreamed about, and sure enough, that was the problem. Now, tell me it don't affect you. Of course, there was joy in the house of the Lord that day. See how your emotions change? How about relief? Is that an emotion? Now, I told you last week that psychologists, psychiatrists have 271 terms to describe your emotions. Now, they do overlap, okay? And there are many of them that are synonymous. But if I asked you to make a list of emotions, you probably couldn't give me 10. Why? Because we take these things for granted. For instance, how do you feel right now? Not physically. How do you feel right now? How do you feel? Get serious about it. How do you feel? Resentful? Reluctant? Regretful? I mean, just go down the list. How do you feel? Nobody in here feels like you feel. You feel a feeling that nobody's ever felt before. You're unique. Don't you understand this? We couldn't possibly be sad, you know? I listen to these prayer requests. I'm not filled with hope when I listen to these prayer requests. I'm filled with grief. Whoops, sorry, Brian. I'm filled with grief. I'm just, my smartwatch is talking too smart. It didn't know what I was preaching right now. But anyway, I'm filled with grief. When you're making a prayer request, my brother got cancer. Hallelujah. No, no, no. I'm grieving for him. OK, I'm sorry for him. So don't you have hope that the Lord will heal him? Nope. Nope. I have hope that God's grace will be sufficient. Where did God ever promise me he would heal anybody? Now can God do it? Will He do it? Let's face it, most people you prayed for had cancer, died. Why don't you face that, huh? How do you feel about what I'm saying right now, by the way? I'm not saying not to pray for people with cancer. I'm saying my hope is not in their healing. The psalmist said, I would not have known the law of the Lord had it not been for your affliction. In other words, Marie, there's things that God wants us to learn in times of affliction. Now in times of affliction, now our emotions are really stirred. We might even question what God's doing if we don't get what? Relief. Come on, I'm not the only guy to ever do this. You sit out there like a Pharisee or something. Come on, admit it. You'll never get over it until you admit it, by the way. You're a feeling-oriented person just like the rest of us. Now God did something wonderful. God saved you. You remember when he saved you? Or brought it to your attention that you need to be saved and convicted you of your sins. Put it any way you want to. For Brian's sake, last Saturday night, April 1973, he and I had these discussions. God gave me new life in Christ. But you know what I found out real quick? I found that although I have new life in Christ, I'm struggling with some things that I had before I got new life in Christ. How about you? Where are they coming from? They're coming from that old man that taught me how to do these things. That's where they're coming from. So Paul in Ephesians chapter 4 talks to a church, Ephesus. Now let me tell you a little bit about Ephesus. For those of you in Monday night, I'll get ahead of myself probably. Ephesus was a church that was so well indoctrinated in three chapters, the first three chapters, that you'd think they'd never have any problem, because after all, theology fixes everything. I mean, we're talking about election. We're talking about some of my favorite subjects, by the way. Election, predestination, redemption, forgiveness of sin. We're talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I mean, we're just talking about the richness and the fullness of Jesus Christ for God's people. What a wonderful, wonderful truth that is, and truth that is. We're talking about in chapter two how I was dead and trespassed in sins, and now he's quickened me, given me new life. He's been merciful to me. He declares, for by grace you're saved through faith, not of yourself, Jim. It is a gift of God. And we shout hallelujah. You'd think, man, I'm living in the clouds. I'll never have another problem. And then I walked out, and I saw Brad Houck with a sledgehammer beating on my windshield. Brad. Now the reason I use Brad is that would be a surprise, don't you think? To Deb and me. And Brad, probably. But you know Brad has the potential to get so angry that he could kill. And you do too. Potentially. Potentially. Have you ever seen people that are really angry and the blood vessels in their head pop? And they turn red, I mean literally red, and not just down to the neck. Literally. And they're so angry. They take their fist and hit a wall, punch a hole in a wall. They get a gun and threaten everybody in the room. Anger would cause you to do just about anything. Get out of the jail and talk to them and see. Go on. What about the girl out here Down on Elm, I forgot exactly where it was, at the gas station. They had a minor car incident. A minor car incident. She runs over and kills the girl. Over a minor car incident. I could have a major car incident before I do that, I hope. But a minor car incident. I mean, a fender bender. Come on, people. How valuable a fender was that? And she murdered that girl. and got life in prison, by the way, and she should have. You shouldn't have said, no, I'm gonna say it. She's a murderess. And she did it out of passion, which is nothing but an emotion. That's all it is. It's an extreme expression of emotion, by the way. So Paul addresses this at the church because we're talking about being saved Gentile Jew. We're talking about a mixed congregation here. in the church at Ephesus. And in the church at Ephesus, they obviously have these problems. For instance, when he says in verse 26, be ye angry and sin not, obviously anger was a common practice, if you please, to use their anger in an unjust way. Thievery, I've got to mark Bracewell disease. Thievery, corrupt communication, all those things will come. He's not just writing a list of don't do this and don't do that and don't do this. These things are going on, okay? He gets down to the latter part of the chapter, verse 29. Let's go there, in Berk chapter four. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of Ediphi, that may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption. Here we go. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, he says. Now this is not either or. This is a package deal. So we're not just going to be dealing with bitterness, but we're going to be dealing with bitterness and wrath and so forth and so on. It's a package. You understand that? It's kind of like a good illustration would be in Galatians chapter 5, where he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. Remember that? That's not one or the other. You don't have one of the other fruits of the Spirit, or two and you need three more. That's not how that is. That's a package deal. You hear this? The Spirit of God doesn't pour out Himself in portions. You hear this? He's whole. He's complete. You've either been born in the Spirit or you haven't. Remember 1 John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5? So you either have or you haven't. So in Galatians 5, I'm going to read that because you look like you didn't believe me. Look at this. In verse 22, chapter 5 of Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. It doesn't say love, joy, and peace. It says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. It's a package deal. This sinfulness over here, this bitterness, wrath, and so forth, is a package deal. Now here's where I want to go with that comment. I want to take you to where you are when you are either or, you think. Some people express bitterness. You know the last person to realize they're bitter is the bitter person. And bitterness is one of those elements that defile many, according to Hebrews. So it's, let all bitterness and wrath and anger, so when I'm bitter, I'm angry, okay? I bring about clamor or just, what would you say, what's the ESV say there for clamor? Anybody got an ESV with them? Anybody? Nobody? Anybody care? What? 431. Please, if you come to church, bring a Bible, okay? ESV does? Okay. So I'm trying to think. Disarray, disorganization, confusion. Yeah, scream, the confusion that goes with that, the calamity, etc. That's how I was trying to think. Evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, he says. In other words, here's the root that drives the nail, the hammer that drives the nail, as you're being malicious in expressing these passions or these emotions. You're being malicious toward others, etc. So you see how this sin affects the fellowship of God's people as well, because I'm sure it is directed to this church about members in this church and the fellowship that's in this church. That's why he says to strive for unity in chapter 4 because of this. So that's our idea. But I want you to know this. Since our culture has so perverted this, here's some of the things we have to deal with. I'd like to go to a church where I can feel God moving. He needs to feel the Holy Spirit convicting him. I need to feel peace about my decision. I just feel like it's either right, and sometimes I feel like it's wrong. So right or wrong are determined by you, by your feelings. Isn't that where we are, by the way? In our culture, I'm talking about. If it feels good, do it, kind of thing. I just felt like a good pizza would help me. On what, your diet? I've tried that. It don't work. And don't we often eat by the way we feel, by the way? I just feel like I'd like to have Italian food. I'm not going to start naming foods, because you'll get up and go eat. So I don't want to do that. I'd like to just, I just don't feel like the church loves me. Boy, I smoked a gallon of that the other day. I said, you can't be right about that. Oh yeah, you just don't go to our church and blah, blah, blah. We have no choice but to love you. How about that? God has ordained that we love you. And if we're born of God, we love you. Whether you feel it or not. You don't know your theology, do you? Or if you know it, you don't know what to do with it. I just don't feel like I'm welcome, really. That's based on what? Well, I just didn't know anybody there. What a subjective idea that you have. He cried and cried and cried and prayed and prayed and prayed so he'd be right with God. He'd feel right with God. How does it feel to be right with God, by the way? What's it feel like? It's going to be a subjective answer. It's going to be peaceful, joyful, happy, walking in the clouds, etc., etc. You'll never change being right with God, Christian. You're either saved or you're not. What's going to separate you from the love of God that you have in Christ Jesus? I said, Pastor, you're jumping all over it. You better believe it. It's heresy. There's a lot of days I don't, quote, feel the presence of God. Have you ever had one of those? God, where are you? And you prayed and you wondered if God even heard you. So you prayed a little louder. Why don't you get a knife out and cut yourself? Build you an altar, build a big fire, pour water on it. We'll see if lightning comes down and burns the wood. I'm being silly, but that's where that leads. How about this one? Let's take it out of the church and get out where you work. I have a job opportunity. Should I take this job or stay where I am? Well, how do you feel about it? Oh, it's right near the house. I can save on gas. I just feel like this is the job for me. Well, based upon what? Money? You know, you can have money, Ecclesiastes says, but if that's your goal, money has you. You don't have money. There's people right now got businesses and jobs, but they really don't have them. The job has them. Come on, because they feel like, okay. How about this one? Should your daughter or son date this particular individual? I just feel like he's a wonderful person. Being wonderful is not based on a feeling, by the way. Should I attend a school? I like this one. Should I eat this dessert or not? Now, if Miss Janice passes it around, take it. Take it. Don't hurt her feelings. And I've been good about not hurting her feelings. She's even got Brad delivering for you. You don't have to, I mean, he's the Uber guy. And the point of all that being, are you in authority or are your feelings the authority? Which one? Do you control life as God would have it be? Or does life control you by the way you feel? I don't feel like getting up when the clock goes off. Well, who does? I used to. I used to just spring up out of there. Now my spring has sprung. I don't feel like getting up whenever. It's not the point. Point is, there's things to be done. We've got to get started. The day is going to be short. It's going to be busy. It's going to be this. It's going to be that. Get at it. How about the old song? You've lost that loving feeling. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now it's gone, gone, gone. And we laugh and have a little bit of fun with this, but I counsel a lot of people. I just don't feel like she loves me. He don't love me like he used to. How do you know? I just don't feel the intimacy. I don't feel the this. I don't feel the this. I don't feel the that. Well, based upon what? Well, it's just that way, it's just how it is. We've just grown that way. Well, no, that's not just how it is, et cetera. I don't even feel like we're married anymore. Oh, so now marriage is a feeling. You know, I don't feel like driving, after driving 70 miles an hour, dropping down to 55 mile an hour on a highway either. But you know, Dean, there's a sign there that says 55 mile an hour. And whether I feel like obeying that or not, the sign's gonna say 55 mile an hour. And there's a guy in between that sign and the next sign that drives a funny looking car, or SUV or whatever, or an unmarked car. But I know this, they all have blue lights on them. I know from experience. He's going to stop me and talk to me about, did you not know that this was 55? And I'm going to say, yes, sir. Is there a reason that you're going above the speed limit? Yes, sir. Could you tell me? This happened. I said, I was just being stupid. So he checks out the license, the registration card, the insurance, and all that, comes back to the car, writes me a warning ticket. And he says, you know, I'm just going to give you a warning ticket this time. He said, but let me give you a suggestion. Take your stupidity into somebody else's zone. Would you do that? I said, I promise. So now when I drive through that section, I'm very conscious of the fact he's out there. He's looking for me. And I don't drive how I feel. By the way, we just got off the highway this route. and now it's dropped down to 45 and eventually go back up to 55 and so we try to make sure we hit the speed control and then that way I didn't have to yell at me and say, you're not, how subtle she is, you're not speeding are you honey? I don't feel like I am. Or I'll look at the speedometer and I'll say 70, I'm not going over 70, GPS argument, but anyway. I feel like she or he meant what they said or didn't mean what they said or whatever. And I'm going to respond that way. I don't feel like he ever listens to me anymore. Here's one. I don't feel good about myself. I just feel like quitting. I feel like I need to go to another church. I feel like our relationship can't be reconciled. I feel like I'm going to tell him off. I feel like I need a new whatever, dress, suit, whatever. You see how we are? All emotions. All emotions. The divorce courts are filled with people that live by emotions. If they didn't, they'd operate by covenant. As I told this individual the other night, did you take a covenant when you married her? Yeah. Or did that covenant not mean anything? I mean, what did you say? And what was the promises? And what's the covenant? And so on and so on. And I made him go through all that. Nobody broke the covenant. If you made that covenant in the field, it doesn't matter. You made the covenant. You can't get out of that. Better not to vow a vow than to make a vow and break it, God says in Ecclesiastes. But let me say this too before, and we won't get very far with this, but we'll get started. Therefore, we have to conclude that feelings within themselves are not wrong. Because our creator himself has feelings. For instance, grieve not the spirit of God. What is grief? What is that? You grieve sometimes, don't you? What is that? It's an emotion expressed out of dissatisfaction or disobedience or sorrow, et cetera. But God is a God of emotions. Okay, but not just of emotion, but Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter nine, When he saw the multitudes, the Bible says he was moved with compassion upon them. What is compassion other than a feeling? What is that? It's a feeling of mercy and care and love and all the things that go with that. It's an emotion. Jesus Christ was emotional. And now remember this, he was God in the flesh. Don't ever forget or forsake the teaching of the deity of Christ. That's what the Gnostics do, Heretics do, Apostates do. He's God in the flesh. I said, well explain that. Well, you do it. Bless your heart. You need an explanation. And the best explanation you're going to get, he was both God and man. He was fully God and fully man. That's the best you're going to get out of me anyway. Now, I know you can get detailed about it and so forth, but don't forsake the deity of Christ. And in his deity, he didn't hesitate to express emotions. What about when he looked out over Jerusalem and wept? And he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you, but you would not. As a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not. And he cried. What about the tomb of Lazarus? And Jesus wept. Anybody can memorize that one. And Jesus wept. Now, we act like this isn't significant. Let me tell you why it's so significant. Because God put it in you to express his glory. That's why it's so significant. And that's why it just flows. And God's compassion just flows. And God's emotions just flow. How about this one? He's angry with the wicked every day. Didn't say he's going to get up in the morning and see if he's going to be angry. He said he's angry with the wicked every day. So you don't have to create emotions is the point. You've been created with emotions. So I don't need, Brother Jimmy, 271 terms to tell me that I have emotions. I do have emotions. I have feelings. Feelings. Jesus had feelings. Hebrews 4, 15. We have a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Jesus Christ was counted as a man of sorrow and great grief. Isaiah 53, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And I give you one more about Jesus. I've got several, but I just give you one more. As I stand behind the microphone. As I see Brango. When he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Before he entered into prayer, the Bible says that he was sorrowful unto death. In other words, he was so grieved, so cumbered down with burden of what was going to take place, he said, my soul is grieved unto death. It's killing me. Now he wasn't talking about his soul dying and going to hell and all that. He was talking about his life. My life is consumed in this right now. My whole being and his whole emotions was involved in that prayer in the garden. What about that? Was that wrong? And he prayed. And he prayed with emotion. When he prayed if it be possible, Father, if it be possible to let this cup pass. And he moved on through his emotions and said, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. So see, you can steer your emotions rather than have them steer you. And I take you back, and we'll be suppositional for just a moment. Speaking of his nature and character, he could have done, had he been at liberty to, anything he wanted to do. Well, we're talking about a creator here. We're not talking about some wimp, you know, that come off the Pharisee's bench and come out preaching. We're talking about the Son of God, the Creator. We're talking about a guy that Dennis read about a little while ago. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things are created by Him. This is who we're talking about. So we hear about him calling 10,000 angels, could he? I mean, when the guys came to arrest him and they fell backwards and he said, I am, I'm he. I mean, he could have not just caused him to fall backwards, he could have buried him in the sand. He didn't need Peter to draw a sword. You hear this? He didn't need anything. This is God we're talking about. Expressing emotions, godly emotions. Now, if we're going to follow after Jesus Christ, we want to use ours in a godly way. Use ours in a godly way. And I'm not going to get into it tonight, but just by way of introduction for next week. The Psalms is a book of emotions. You talk about a roller coaster. Up, down, up, down, up. Sorrow, joy, sorrow, joy, grief, fear, anxiety, awe. I mean, a whole gambit of emotions. And this was a man, after God's own heart, David, who struggled emotionally. He said, well, pastor, if you went through what he went through. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, that's the experience-oriented person. David needed to become a command-oriented person. David was experience-oriented. Now, what makes you say that? Well, the armies have surrounded me, so therefore I'm sad. The people are begging, therefore I'm grieved. His circumstances dictated his emotions. Read it and see. If you want a real story on it, read 1 and 2 Samuel and then read those Psalms so you can know where he was and what he was doing. But he was acquainted with grief and sorrow, et cetera, et cetera, as well. But what was David's problem? What's his problem? I mean, he got, we use the word depressed. They used to call it melancholy. But I like depressed better. He was depressed. And I don't mean he was depressed and took a pill and got over it. I mean, he lived in depression. He's not the kind of guy I want to have dinner with and listen to all his problems. You ever do that? You want to have fellowship with somebody and they got more problems than we got food? You get away from the table, got indigestion, not because of what you eat, but what you listen to? You've never done that? Edna and I were in a Cracker Barrel one day in Princeton, West Virginia, and the service was terrible. See, I got emotional. No. We waited, we waited, we waited. Finally, she came over. I'm so-and-so, I'll be your server today. And I said, well, I'm pleased to meet you, blah, blah, blah. I said, I'm Jim, this is Edna, blah, blah, blah. I said, how's your day going? And that stopped her right there. I just was being congenial. I don't really want to know how your day's going. Matter of fact, I really don't care how your day's going. I was just being congenial. You've never done this, I know. I'll get there someday. She sat down at the table. And for how long, Edna, did she pour out her life story there on that table? I want a Diet Coke. I want a biscuit with butter, apple butter, something. And she poured it out. And she'd had a rough one, and it was still rough, and so forth and so on. And I think, if I remember correctly, that we finally ended up praying for her, and we finally got something to eat. Well, I felt better about her story after I had eaten, frankly. Now, if you don't know it, Princeton is halfway between here and home. Okay, so we didn't eat here because at halfway we're going to stop and eat at the Cracker Barrel. Well, I was passing out, crying out loud. I still haven't learned the lesson, don't ask people how they're doing. I still do that. How are you doing? And some of them lie and say doing great. But David expressed himself oftentimes in an evil way. Listen to this. O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the day long. Sounds like the kind of guy I went out to breakfast with. I'm feeble and sore broken, I've roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desires before Thee and my groaning is not hid from Thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth, as for the... You think he was on top of clouds right there? Now let me tell you what's wrong with David. David built his life on experience. And Eddie's done a good job bringing that out, why he's going through what he's going through. But if you ever notice, the conclusion of the matter is when he returned to the Lord, he got his thinking straight. In other words, this army didn't look so great when he had his eyes on God. This problem wasn't even near the size of God. It couldn't overcome God when he got his eyes fixed back on God. And what am I saying? Circumstances affect us, but don't let them direct us. Okay? I'm not going home and put out a cat litter box. Well, we'll put one out, but not for that reason. But not for that reason. If I had a kid come home and tell me he's a cat, well, you can have a mouse for supper is all I'm going to tell you. Circumstances. It's just like the world that we're living in today. It's depressing. I don't care how much money you got, it doesn't bother, it's worthless. You get sick and see what good it does you. Okay? Try to buy your health back, would you? When you start losing it. Try to buy that, see if you get it back. Lay your money on the table. See what it does for that. See what it does for you that are depressed when you're laying in bed at night and can't sleep. Go ahead. When a child has rebelled and you don't know what to do, go ahead, put your money on the table. See what good it does you. Now, I'm glad you got it if you use it for the glory of God. Don't misunderstand me. Money within itself is not evil. It is the love of money that is evil, the superiority of money that is evil. And don't jump behind the banner of stewardship. Don't do that with me, please. My tears have been my meat all day and night. So this is a continual thing. Why? Because he was responding in an adverse way to adversities. We can't do anything about the government. I had a fellow tell me yesterday that we're responsible for our government. I am not responsible for this mess. I do have responsibilities to the government, taxes, et cetera, elections, and so I got that. My responsibility is to God first, primary, priority with God. No wonder he's grieved. If he's responsible for this mess, we'll take him out and do something with him. It's depressing. I watched, Oh, I forgot what, it was the news. I don't do that if I have it, but I did it this morning. And they're talking about the economy, of course, and how that recession, as Dr. Joe said, would be mild. Right. Well, tell the guy with fixed income how mild it is right now, would you? Tell him when he goes to the grocery store and can't buy a dozen eggs. Tell him. Tell him he pulls up to the gas pump and he can't afford to fill up his tank. Go on. Tell him it's a mild recession, would you? Go ahead. Liars. I'm not responsible for that. I don't have an oil well to supply the country with. I'm not responsible for all these things. I'm responsible for this. And so are you. So are you. Why? Because my hope is in the Lord. Now, if I look to Joe or look to some of these people, even some of the good, if there are conservative folks, we're in trouble. We're helpless. We've created a monster. In this country. And there's no stopping it. If you don't believe me, believe the Bible, there's no stopping it. We're headed for the greatest judgment that God has ever imposed on a country. We've had more than the world throughout our history. And look what we've done with it. We've taught them to use litter boxes. People used to come to this country for an education. Now I suggest you leave it for an education. Find some place that teaches right. I'm not depressed. I'm not discouraged. Got less now than I've ever had in my life. Not really. Not really. A tent or a cottage, the songwriter said, why should I care? He's building a mansion for me over there. That's not fiction with me. That's fact. So I can read a newspaper and almost laugh. That's an emotion. I can get angry, that's an emotion. I can do something violent and tear it up, that's an emotion. I can do a lot of things and I can also rejoice in the fact that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Father, bless us tonight, I pray. Challenge us with our feelings. Lord, help us to evaluate why Are we feeling what we're feeling? Why are we thinking like we're thinking, doing what we're doing? Help us to realize there are good expressions of emotions. So help us to do them well. Help us to rejoice. Help us to be happy, to be glad. Help us to have a countenance that shines for the glory of God. Lord, help us to love people. Help us to express that love. Help us to express righteousness in all that we do and say. Help us, Lord, to put the Holy Spirit and his work in our heart and life as a priority. that you would help us to put off the anger and the wrath, the bitterness, all those, that entire package that hinders us from glorifying you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. God bless you folks. Thank you.