Proverbs 17. I think this will probably be the last message from Proverbs 17. the heart of the matter. I don't know that this is possible, and I'm not sure if I've done things well or rightly, but I've made an attempt to tie these four verses together. It may or may not work out right and come out right in your mind, but I have at least attempted that. The verses tonight, Proverbs 17, 13, 17, 19 and 22. 13, 17, 19 and 22. Verse 13. If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. Verse 17, where I'll spend the majority of my time. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. 19, whoever loves transgression loves strife. He who makes his door high seeks destruction. And verse 22, which is another great verse. A joyful heart is good medicine. but a crushed spirit or a depression, crushed spirit dries up the bones, takes the life right out of the room. A couple of statements that have to do with verse 17 and then, okay, yeah. Paul said that, just remember Paul, this thing about a friend loves at all times and a brother's born for adversity. The Apostle Paul said that no one stood by him at his first defense. So he experienced this in almost a complete abandonment of anybody that would stand by his side. And we know the Lord was by his side, we'll talk about that later. But he did experience all humanity abandoning him. The Lord Jesus, I forgot what chapter, John 16 maybe, said that everybody forsook him and left him alone. And then the famous words, yet I am not alone. And so Paul and Jesus understood what it meant to be forsaken by those who claimed to be friends or claimed to love them. Now, I wanna take the four things together, these four verses, just in a little thing, maybe it will help you. And so I'm gonna do it with Joseph, just to maybe get you to think this way tonight. So taking these four verses into the life of Joseph. Joseph received good from the hand of his father. received good from his earthly father. He had a nice coat and the favor of his father. He received good. Joseph loved his unlovable brothers. Very tall task, but he did it. he did not make his door high to his brothers. We'll talk about what making the door high means later in the sermon, but he didn't make the door high unto his brothers. And the joy of his heart produced reconciliation in his family. So from Joseph, I can see those four things. favor from his father, loved his unlovable brothers, did not make his door high, and the joy of his heart produced a reconciliation in the end. So I could say in like fashion to Joseph, the Christian, you and I, have received good from our father. We've received good. The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. giving us the ability to love the unlovable. And the Christian now speaks, not with a door that is high, but speaks with a voice of humility. And fourthly, since this, hello, since his joy is personified in Jesus Christ, He becomes good medicine to those who are hurting. Okay, those are the four concepts of these four verses tonight. The central idea that I'm shooting for is that the heart's response, how your heart deals with these areas, so thus the title, The Heart of the Matter. A proposition for you tonight is simply the continual responses of your life Display the condition of your heart. How you respond when good is given to you. How you respond in your relationships with other people, whether you're genuine in your relationships. How you speak, do you make your door high? And also, when you enter the room, when you come into the presence of others, do you bring medicine? Or do you just take life out of the room and bring condemnation? My proposition is, if you would just look at your life, I look at my life over the last 10 years, how is my heart responding in these areas? What does it look like? Is there evidence that I'm responding with a good heart? If not, I need to repent and he asked God to work on my heart that I could respond rightly as we could learn from these four verses. My purpose for you tonight is simply to exhort you to honestly examine your heart. Understanding nobody in the room is perfect. None of our hearts are perfect, but there needs to be some level of a track record. I mean, I responded wrong in this, right? I responded wrong in that. I mean, yeah, we do dumb things, right? But is there also a pattern? that I'm very thankful for the good things God's given me. And I really do love a brother, even in the midst of his adversity. I mean, is there any record of that in my life? Have I been a true friend to somebody I said was my friend? I mean, there should be some track record of this. Do I speak arrogantly all the time? Am I always right and everybody else is always wrong? That's not good. Do I ever bring life to a room? Do I ever encourage anyone? Do I ever have a word that is like a good dose of medicine that makes you feel better? I need to examine that and see if there's any evidence of that in my life. Verse 13, you can look at the text again, short and clear. If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. I think the verse is signifying something like this. We'll start here and we'll work to a scriptural foundation, but gracious gifts. Let's contemplate. You can make the list a lot longer than what I've made it, but let's think about goodness. If anyone returns evil for good, so good was given and you returned evil. What was good? Well, we've been given the gospel. I think that's good. God's been very gracious and he's given us good news of how we can be right with him. We have been given a local church. Not everybody has one. Not everybody has access to one. Some people have to drive extreme long distances. Some people never find a church in which they feel like it's a healthy church. And I wanna be optimistic and say I think that we have a decent local church and that we're somewhat healthy here and God's given us that. That's a good gift. Whatever you may think of our nation, We still live in a Christian nation. I understand there's lots of things, and we can talk about the negativities, but on a whole, we still do live in a Christian nation. It's still a good nation. If I was going to be political, I'd probably say it's the best nation in the world. God let us be born here, and we live here, and we reap the benefits of all that this nation brings for us. You don't like our nation? Try living in a third world country. I mean, we've been blessed. God's given us something good. We have access to the entirety of the word of God literally at our fingertips. All these computer programs and apps, you can access and find stuff. You can do searches so fast and you got a problem, you can type it in and you can find stuff so fast. It's a good gift that the Word of God's been made so accessible to us. Think about in the New Testament, they literally depended upon oral tradition. They didn't have a Bible. They had to wait for somebody to preach. There's Lydia praying by a river. I wish somebody would tell me what the Bible says about Christ. They didn't have access. So God's been good. I'm just, there's four things that I would say are very gracious gifts. What is an evil response to these good things? An evil response to the gospel is to reject it. I do not, I will not believe Christ, I will not be baptized, and you can't make me. That is an evil response to the goodness of God. Here's my son, bleeding and dying as a substitute, being resurrected from the dead, and if you would believe in him, you could be forgiven of all your sins. No, I will not. That's returning evil for good. to take the church for granted. I know God's given me a church. I know it's a great church. I love my church. I love my pastor. I'm being presumptuous. I love it there, but you know what? I just take it for granted. I don't really invest anything. So you got a good gift, and you could do so much to be a blessing to your church, but you're like, yeah, I ain't got time for that. That's evil for a good gift. Or you could take the blessings of this nation, being a good nation in a sense, and take it and respond by living materialistically and just sucking in the materialism of the day. That's an evil response. You should take the goodness of the nation for the furtherance of the gospel and the edification of Christ. Don't take the goodness and respond and become a materialistic idolater. or an evil response to the great benefit of access to the living Word of God is for you to literally be biblically illiterate. We don't read our Bibles. We don't do memory verses. We don't meditate on scripture. And it's like God's given you a book and you don't know what it says. That's an evil response. God's like, here, I wrote it all down because I want you to know me. I want you to fellowship with me. I want you to grow in knowledge and understanding. You're like, I ain't got time. That's an evil response to good. Now, scripturally and other portions of scripture, I won't belabor this much longer at all, but think about from the beginning. So I'll give you one from the beginning and then one from the prophets and then one from the New Testament. So from the beginning, here's a good gift. You ready? You know the story. All the trees, every one of them, you can eat anything you want to eat. The whole bounty is yours. That's a good gift. Just don't eat of this one. An evil response is to partake of the one and to despise the great gift God gave. Or if you go to the book of Isaiah, chapter one, and he says, it's like all these good gifts, and he says to the nation of Israel in Isaiah one, verse two, hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. This is what the Lord said. Children, I have reared. I have brought up. Think about God's goodness in raising His nation, raising His children. I've brought them up. I've led them. I've delivered them out of Egypt. I've provided manna. I've provided quail. I've done all of these things for my children, but they have rebelled. That's an evil response to a gracious and good Father. And then I have to turn there, in Luke, you can turn there if you like, but in Luke chapter 10 and verse 10, Luke 10 and verse 10, this is an evil response to good. So after he sent out the 72, Luke 10, 10, whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets, and this is what you're gonna say, you're going out in the street, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this." Here's the good gift. The kingdom of God has come near. There they are in the city, declaring the great gospel, bringing the good news. The city says, we don't want it. That's an evil response. It's like the kingdom of God came to your door. And then he says, I tell you, it's going to be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Because they responded in an evil way to God's goodness. Think, God didn't have to send anybody to that town. God didn't have to send anybody to this town. God didn't have to send anybody to you. But when He does, all we should receive and be thankful to reject puts us in a worse predicament than Sodom. Good, the kingdom came to your door and you wouldn't open the door. It's a disastrous response. And the text says, here's the consequence. The person that responds this way to God's goodness, evil will not depart from his house. You're always going to have trouble. And I don't want to pursue this too far, but people wonder at the troublesome nature of their house, why there's so much conflict, why there's so many problems, why people never get along in their own home, but they never consider how they have responded to the goodness of God. So if you have a life or a heart that's responding in an evil way to God's goodness, you should not be shocked that your home, in a sense, becomes a mess. You say, what should I do? You should be thankful for good. And you should give God thanks and be overwhelmed with gratitude at His kindness. Because if not, you're responding with evil to a good gift. Number two, relationships, a relationship that's genuine. Verse 17, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. A friend loves at all times. First of all, I submit to you a friend in a negative sense. This is from an old writer, Bishop Hall. What passes under the name name friend, what passes under the name is too often brittle stuff. The word friend is brittle stuff. You're my friend, I'm your friend. And you're like, there's not any weight to your statement. I'll be your friend, will you be my friend, can we be friends? Facebook has this stuff, we're friends, we're friends. I think it's really brittle stuff. Like if you took in 100 Facebook friends and then you actually went through some very difficult process, I wonder how many would show up to help. So it's a brittle stuff it's made of. He goes on, Bishop Hall goes on, the fickle excitement cools by distance or by the coldness of our friend. This is a personal example. I remember in my little world, I poured out my life for three years as a youth minister in a church in South Texas and then by God's providence we were brought to seminary. ate with those people, stayed in those people's houses, hunted with those people, fished with those people, farmed with those people, walked hand-in-hand with those people, went to funerals together, went to weddings together. We moved here, and they've never spoke to me again. This is brittle stuff. I thought that we were together here. It's brittle. There's a negative concept to this word friend. I submit to you Job's friends in Job 6, 14 and 15. He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers are treacherous as a torrent bed, as torrential streams that pass away. Job's saying here, I'm in dire straits and my so-called friends don't even know how to be kind. He's like, it's very brittle stuff. True friendship wouldn't be unkind in my darkest hour. In my darkest hour, they would comfort me. That's what Job is saying. This type of indifference by these three friends to his suffering can easily move to the level of hatred. When a friend goes astray, He is forsaken. This is a problem. You have a guy that has a fault, a guy that has a sin. I don't know. It's public knowledge. There's not anything hidden, but I don't know what's going on in the sense of Steve Lawson's life, but everybody loves him one day. Everybody respects him one day. Everybody honors him one day. I understand disqualification from the ministry, all those things. I'm not speaking for anybody. I'm just saying that sometimes people like David's sin. I just wonder at this point in his life or in the life of David, does he have a Jonathan? Does he have somebody that would love him? Does he have a Nathan that would care enough to confront him and show him away? I mean, if a brother sins and you're supposed to be a friend, do you follow him with a caring, loving heart, with a hope of restoring him? Or do you say, man, I'm done with you. You did that and I'm through and write him off. It's very fickle, very brittle stuff, the way people use the word friend. But in a positive sense, A friend loves at all times. It's almost like a wedding, rich or poor, health and sickness. Friendship, whether it's positive, whether it's negative, whether my friend has a swimming pool or doesn't have a swimming pool, whether my friend has things I like or doesn't have things I like, positively, whatever my friend has or doesn't have, I still love him. Because we love at all times. Circumstances don't change the relationship. Not for true friendship, because you love at all times. I mean, we became friends under this circumstance, but now we have this circumstance. I don't care, I still love you. Because a friend loves at all times. Barnabas, the situation changed. I'm out. Do you know what Silas and Luke and Timothy went through being a friend to Paul? But whatever they went through, they went through together. Wherever Paul went, they went. And so that's true friendship. And true friendship will hang out with a guy who gets beaten to head with rocks and gets shipwrecked and bit by a snake and thrown out of town. It's like, do you know Paul? Yeah, he's my friend. It's gonna cost you. He's still my friend. I love him. Even though all this has happened, I'm with him. It's true friendship. And this is very rare, but it's very valuable. I'll give you some biblical examples. We won't look up and read all of these. I'll just give you the examples. Joseph's love for his brothers, as I mentioned. Or get this picture. In a weird situation, do you not see Ruth clinging to Naomi in this situation? You say, well, what's the situation? Well, the other girl goes back. She parts, the circumstance changes, she's gone. Ruth says, your people are my people, your God is my God, I ain't going nowhere. That's friendship. David and Jonathan, hearts bound together, genuine love, under Jonathan's father, grandfather, doing all these things, and there they are, the souls knit together. Here's an odd one. Who's gonna be a friend to Mary when Jesus dies on the cross? Behold your mother, behold your son, and he took care of her from that day forward. Positive, loving at all times. and then Jesus loving his disciples through so many faults and so many things, but he never stopped loving them. I'm not afraid to use the word love, even if it's abused in our contemporary society. Jesus loves people even when they do dumb things. Jesus loves me, and I do dumb things all the time. He's patient with me, and he's kind with me, and his love's real, because that's the way true friendship is. I would say also to you this, Christ is the friend who loves at all times. You look at John, and you look at chapter 13 and verse 1, and you see it in print there. You can take it home with you. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. Friend loves at all times. A brother is born for adversity. He loved them all the way through. I would say to you tonight that God loves us on our good days and God loves us on our bad days. I would say Christ forgives, he encourages, he comforts, he rebukes from a heart of compassion and he always provides for your deepest needs because he loves you. Secondly, a brother is born for adversity. Not a brother's born for adversity like he likes to fight with you, that's not it. But he's a brother born for adversity that when you go through adversity, he's willing to go through it with you. It's like in your darkest hour, this brother is a synonym with friend. And when everybody else is abandoned, this brother sticks it out with you no matter what the cost. In some notes I have, quote, this is not to say that a brother only shows loyalty when there is trouble, nor that he always does in these times. The true friend is the same as a brotherly relation. In times of greatest need, the loyal love is displayed. Whatever happens, you see the loyalty of it. And I would submit to you that Christ knows our adversity and has walked in our adversity. Hebrews 4.15, we don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us. That's not the kind we have. We have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are. He can identify with the adversity that we go through. And then we use this for marriage, and that's rightly so, but in Ephesians 5, there's this little part here I want you to see about the Lord taking adversity we go through very personally. And the text says this in Ephesians 5, 29, no one's ever hated his own flesh. He nourishes it, He cherishes it, just like Christ does for the church. In all of her afflictions, He takes care of her. She's His flesh. It goes on, because we are members of His body. A brother is born for adversity. Whatever adversity the church goes through, Christ takes it personally. cares for her, nourishes her, loves her, and sustains her, because his love for his bride is very real. And you say, well, that church did this and that church did that. Yeah, but Christ's love will triumph over that. So the believer can be assured that in the midst of every adversity, Christ will never abandon you, never turn on you, and he will always be sympathetic toward your situation. And in a sentence like the Apostle Paul that is 18 miles long in application, Christ loves us when we sin. Christ loves us when we're lazy. Christ loves us when we're cold. Christ loves us when we're indifferent, when we don't pray, when we don't sing, when we don't forgive, when we're carnal, when we're selfish, when we don't come to church, when we don't serve the church, when we don't tithe to the church, and through all of eternity, He's always going to love His own. You can't do anything to make Christ stop loving you. Why? Because a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity, and those things are fulfilled in Christ. And I would also say in application one more, Christ was there, talking about adversity, Christ was there when Shimei cursed David, when Elijah was alone by the brook with nothing to eat, when Amos preached to Israel and they told him to go preach somewhere else, when Stephen was being stoned, Christ is standing by the throne, when Paul was forsaken, when the martyrs bled and died, and when the missionary wept himself to sleep because he's so alone, when the barren mother ran out of tears because she can't have a baby, when the lonely pastor suffered through seasons of depression like Spurgeon did, he will remain with his children through every adversity because he loves you more so than you can possibly comprehend this night. And if that's not enough, I don't have time. But if you don't think that's true, then read the opening chapters of the minor prophet Hosea. Number three. I'm doing R's and G's this point don't even make any sense. Rigid goofiness. Rigid goofiness. That's what I came up with because I had you know relationships that are genuine now We got rigid goofiness much shorter, but 19 verse 19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife or you can you can swap it It doesn't matter whoever loves strife loves transgression. He who makes his door high seeks destruction It's a tension here The proverb that we're looking at, verse 19, is about a quarrelsome and arrogant person who loves sin and invites destruction. That's what it's about. Now, this is gonna be hard for you and some of you, I don't know that you'll listen and it's gonna be difficult because this is not what the world says and this is not the way your brain is trained. The heart of the genuine Christian doesn't respond to transgression and strife the way the world does. They slandered me. They gossiped about me. They did me wrong. They did this. They did that. I need to get even. I have a right. They took my right. I have a right to say, this is how the cow eats the cabbage. And I'm going to tell them, for the last time, you're not to... And we have all these types of responses. That's not the heart of the Christian. In 1 Corinthians, there's probably a lot of other passages, but there's the last verse I'm gonna read is hard for us to swallow. But in 1 Corinthians 6, I would encourage you to turn there just so you know I'm not making it up. But in 1 Corinthians 6, this is very, very difficult for us because pride is a real issue. 1 Corinthians 6. Verse one, just doing seven verses. When one of you has a grievance against another. Does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more then matters pertaining to this life? We should be able to make judgments about this life. So, If you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? Pause. You've got relational issues in the church. Why are you laying them out on social media or at the courthouse? It doesn't make any sense because that's not the heart of Christianity. The heart of Christianity doesn't air its grievances in the world in order to get sympathy for the way they've been done wrong in the church. Verse five, I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle the dispute between your brothers? Nobody here has enough wisdom in your heart to know how to handle relational difficulties within the church. Verse 6, brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers, this is like I can't imagine that you would be like this. But verse seven gives us the heart. Here's where we lose rigid goofiness and we come to a position of humility and Christlikeness. Here it is, write it down, memorize it, meditate on it, chew on it the rest of your life, you're gonna need it. To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat. But I was done wrong! I was done wrong! I have a right! Here's your answer. Why don't you rather just suffer the wrong? Just eat it! They did me wrong, and I'm just gonna forgive them. I'm just gonna let it go. I'm just gonna, in the heart of Christianity, I know I've been done wrong. I know I've been slandered. I know I've been gossiped. I know they did this thing behind my back. I know they hurt me this way. I know they said this about my wife. They said this about my kids. I know they did all this. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm not gonna sue. I'm not gonna yell, and I'm not gonna fight. I'm gonna say, I forgive you. I'll just eat it. And I'll trust that my God is able to deal with the issue. Why not, the verse says, just be defrauded. Just be defrauded. Can you not see Christ? Can not Christ be saying, you have no right. I've done no wrong. I've committed no crime. You people are all going to hell. And then you see him there. Father, forgive them. This is the way of Christianity. It's just to just eat it. Just take it in and offer up. You say, how can I do that? By meditating upon the reality that that's what Christ has done for you. You did him wrong. You sinned against him. You're an idolater. You're a thief. You're an adulterer. You're a Sabbath breaker. And Christ says, I forgive. And because we've received it, we give it. It's a good word. You might not like it, but it's a good word. The person in this verse exalts himself above his neighbor and in effect treads his neighbor under his feet. He will even rise up and take issue against God at times. That's what it means to raise the gate or to put the bar way too high. To make his door high is he is a man of pride and arrogance that runs over people with his words. Figuratively, the gate is the mouth and so to make it high is to say lofty things. He's a man who brags too much. 1 Samuel 2.3, talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth. Proverbs 18.12, before destruction a man's heart is haughty. Humility comes before honor. Proverbs 29.23, one's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Be very cautious to the bragging tongue who's always right. and running over people with their speech. It's rigid goofiness. Why I say goofy, because I'm working with the letter G, obviously. But there is meaning there. Because the person who's like this, they never get anything. Always right. Always running over people. Always blasting people. And have nothing for it. It's just goofy. You wasted your whole life tearing down and causing division and hurting people. And all you got was nothing. That's just goofy. Be wise and say, I forgive. Use humility and esteem others higher than yourself. There's reward in that. Application. Don't be like a rattlesnake. always, always curled up looking for a way to strike. You're going to come to church just looking for an opportunity to bite somebody? It's terrible. Honestly, examine your heart. See whether or not that there's the motive for genuinely helping a brother, or if you just want to run over him with your words, making your door too high. Remember, the one who had the most justifiable reasons to give a tongue lashing offered forgiveness. Last verse, verse 22, rejoicing gladness. Another great verse, wonderful verse. A joyful heart is just good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. I'm thankful for my wife for lots of reasons. She's not in here so we can talk about her, I guess, but the Lord gave me an optimist and a good pessimist needs a good optimist. That woman could find something positive about anything. You know, like it's extreme. If a hurricane come through here and there was nothing left, my wife would say at least we got rain. I mean, that's just the way it is. I'm not very optimistic, but I think there is a good place for it, and I think this verse brings it out. A joyful heart is good medicine. Optimism. I'll give you a definition. Beverly. Or we can make a longer definition. We'll take Webster's. An inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events are to anticipate the best possible outcome. He's always seeing things in a better light. He's the optimist. The receiving of forgiveness of sins, here's optimism, ought to make us eternally glad. I'll give you a couple things. Understanding our identity in Christ, that's what should give us a joyful heart. Now, identity. Think, these are all could be sermons, but just listen, you'll make the connection. Paul and Silas, we'll get to them later in Acts, at midnight in a cold jury prison, optimism. praying and singing. You have to ask the question, if I'm locked up unjustly in a prison where it's mildewy and they give me nothing to eat, have you ever had the thought, what would I sing? What prayers of thanksgiving would you give? But when you know who you are in Christ, even in the dungeon, your heart has something to sing. And I would suggest that when Paul sang, it was medicine to Silas' heart. And when Silas sang, it was medicine to Paul's heart. We think that in the dire straits, that when there's hope and life and joy that is exhibited, it just brings a soothing medicine to all who are in the room. I think about Hebrews 11, women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept relief so they might rise again to a better life. I'll walk through martyrdom because I know what I'm going to receive. Optimism. You can burn me, you can drown me, you can hang me, and you can shoot me, but all of those just give me access to eternity with Christ. Optimism. Biblical optimism. Ecclesiastes preached through. How can you make it any clearer? Here's my great counsel for you in verse 22. You don't have a joyful heart and you want to be good medicine. Here's what you do. Go eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments always be white. Let not all be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun. This is your portion in life. This is your toil which you toil under the sun. Enjoy what God has given you. And let that joy bubble over to be good medicine to others. Solomon said elsewhere, Proverbs 1225, that anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down. The good word makes him glad. Ecclesiastes 8 one who is like the wise and who knows the interpretation of a thing. A man's wisdom makes his face shine. And the hardness of his face is changed. Yes, a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Oh, the refreshment of being in the presence of a person with a joy-filled heart. It just makes you feel better. Again, I am thankful for that. I go home complaining almost every day because I'm a pessimist. It's not right. It's not good. I have to work through those things. But it sure is nice to come into a home with an optimist who always sees something positive that can encourage my heart. I take from that healing and also take from that that I need to be that way in speaking words and living life with a joy-filled heart that I can be a blessing and medicine to you. And we ought to be that to each other. And I understand that I've read the Bible, actually the whole thing. I've actually read all the chapters at some point in life. And I do know that people go through hard things. I do know there's times for weeping. I do know that life is difficult. I do know that great men of God suffer with depression. I understand that you read the Psalms and you'll see people pour out some really deep things. There's times for that. But there's also should be times for our heart to have joy that is good medicine for those around us. A crushed spirit refers to one who is depressed. His circumstances have beat him down. His melancholy spirit beats down those who are around him. I would say that Solomon would say this. For everything there's a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. I'm thinking of a guy, I won't allude to who it is, but every single time I talked to him, he's not in this church, it's not somebody you know, but every time I talked to him, it was like death warmed over, and I'm like, I understand that you can be down, I get that, I get down, but you can't live there. There's got to be some season, there's a season for everything, there's got to be a season in which there's some level of joy, a smile on the face, to be thankful for all the good God's done when we start this sermon, and we'd be thankful, and that joy in our heart would be good medicine. And when we have the depression, somebody else that has joy can help the depressed person, and we can work these things together that we could all profit. Does that make any sense? Make sure there's some balance in your life. Depression and anger, cheerful and calmness. Be grateful for God's goodness. Christ is a genuine friend. Be humble in your speech and exhibit a heart full of joy. God has been and will be good and we should receive his goodness with a thankful heart. And lastly, in conclusion, I just encourage you and I encourage myself to firmly understand our relationship with Christ. And I'll say it again. I've said it so many times in my life. As a Christian, you are never alone. Never. God, forgive us for the times that we say, I have no friend. Do you seriously want to make that application to Christ? God, you want to make this statement, nobody loves me. Do you seriously want to make that charge against God? Nobody appreciates what I do. You actually want to make that charge to God? This is the issue. God loves you. God's with you. You're not alone. You might could refresh your statement and say, I don't know any human that's with me, but I know Christ is with me. And submit to you, He is enough. Look, if I don't get one text message this week, and not one person calls me with any reassuring word, and nobody has sympathy for the poor little preacher, you know what? I'm not alone. You're not alone. If nobody comments on your social media post, it doesn't mean you're totally forsaken. Christ is enough. He loves you. He cares for you. He walks through your adversity with you and learn to relish in having the best friend that the whole universe and heaven could offer. Christ. You can't get a better friend. He loves at all times and he was born to walk with you through adversity. And I close with 2 Corinthians 2. Verse 14, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to death and the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? Oh, that we would smell good as Christians. But the John's going to come. Brother Justin's going to come. Sister Susie's going to come. Who else is there? Charlie's gonna come. All right, y'all come and we will pray for you to close out our service tonight. As we learn in the book of Acts, churches send people out for mission work. And y'all sit right there. These guys are heading up towards Canada. John has a list. I'm sure he has it all typed out. You want the itinerary and all that stuff, you can get that from him. But they're gonna leave Wednesday. They're gonna come back supposedly on April 1st and be praying for them daily as they're going. And I'm sure he'll send out some reports and things like that. But this is, Wow. This is our team. Wow. This is it. This is all we have to send. No, but we are thankful. We're thankful that you're going. Thankful that you're going to represent the Lord. Thank you. You're going to represent your church. And so, as Tony said, make sure you know who you represent. You stop at stores, wherever you go, your attitude, your words, gospel tracks, the way you relate to people, the way you invest in people. It all matters. It all matters and Christ records it all. Let's pray for these tonight. Father in heaven, you are good and you do with all things well. And you are a friend and a brother to John and to Justin and Lord to Charlie and Susie. I pray that you would walk with them, encourage them, strengthen them, give them joy for the journey. Give them a merry, merry heart, that they'd be good medicine to those that they run into. or that they would present Christ with joy, they would go to give good news, they would set Christ evidently before people in written form, in verbal form, in example form, that their hearts and their minds would be focused on helping as we learn in Acts. And the help people need is an explanation of the gospel. So help them in whatever venues and avenues. Help them to represent you well and to exalt you highly. Give them traveling mercies. Provide for their every need along the way. Give them good and sweet prayer times. Have them to meet new friends, build new relationships, bond with other churches. Encourage other churches. Encourage other individuals in their walk with the Lord. Whatever it is that you have that maybe there's some people somewhere in Virginia or Canada or on the border that are just sitting out by the river wondering what's going on and that you would direct their path there. And so God that eternal things would happen because this team has gone. And Lord, for us as a church here at Brought by the Word, help us daily to lift them up in prayer, intercede for them, to seriously get on our knees and ask you to work in their day and to use them for your glory, that we would be a part of this trip by interceding on their behalf while they go. And Lord, we look forward to their return. We look forward to the reports they will give. And we thank you even now for what you're going to do. We pray this by your spirit in Christ's name. Amen. Right, you are dismissed.