Surpassing Your Smile

Psalm 43:5 | January 10, 2021

Do your facial expressions ever get you in trouble?

I saw something this week that said the typical human face has 43 different facial muscles that can be activated to make thousands of different expressions.

If that’s true, some of us could win a body-building contest with just our face. 

The folks at Google and researchers at UC Berkley got together for an intense study using YouTube videos from all over the world to analyze facial expressions.

They released their results a few weeks ago and detailed the 16 facial expressions most common to emotional situations worldwide – and here they are…

• Amusement
• Anger
• Awe
• Concentration
• Confusion
• Contempt
• Contentment
• Desire
• Disappointment
• Doubt
• Elation
• Interest
• Pain
• Sadness
• Surprise
• Triumph

Here’s a little game for home – go to hollandavenue.com and click on the “notes” tab for this sermon for a list of those 16 words.

Then at dinner one night this week, go through the list and have everyone make their face for that word – or if no one is around for dinner just make those 16 faces in the mirror by yourself – I promise it will be fun.

And sometimes we need to find some fun, right?

Because there are far too many times in life when the only 4 those 16 that seem to dominate our face are the expressions of anger, disappointment, pain and sadness.

So, what do we do when it feels like gray skies are not going to clear up and we can’t bring ourselves to put on a happy face?

What do we do when despair seems to be the only expression we have?

About 3,000 years ago, the psalmist was overwhelmed with despair and depression and rejection.

His country had become ungodly and he was surrounded by deceitful people obsessed with getting their own way.

We can’t make a connection with that, can we?

So, what did he do?

How did he deal with the despair of all that was happening in his life and in his country and in the world?

Let’s find out.

Listen to Psalm 43, verse 5…

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?

 

Despair and disturbed – we know those words, don’t we?

The entire world seems to be in some state of fearful despair or angry disturbance. 

And let’s not be foolish and just say, “It’s all in your mind.”

• Fearful despair is real
• Angry disturbance is real

“Deaths of despair” is terminology that has been used to describe death from substance abuse or suicide.

A report out this week notes an increase in deaths of despair over the last 12 months.

As people who profess to follow Jesus, how can we respond to that kind of despair?

Well, I’m just one guy and this is just one sermon, so, there’s no way to answer every need in that question.

But let’s consider a few things starting with a truth from the Bible. 

About 2,600 years ago there was a man experiencing deep despair.

We don’t know for certain, but we’re fairly confident that man was the prophet Jeremiah. 

This is what he wrote…

Lamentations 3:1

I am the man who has seen misery…

This was a prophet of God – a preacher, a pastor.

For the next 16 verses he describes his misery in greater detail and then he says this…

Lamentations 3:17-18

My soul has been excluded from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, “My strength has failed, and so has my hope from the Lord.”

Again, this would be like you reading a letter from your favorite TV preacher – misery, despair, no happiness.

I saw something recently from a pastor who experienced deaths of despair more than once in his church.

He made a couple of statements that I think are deeply important for our hearts and minds – and they are simple and clear enough to just be left alone…

John Piper

That is a horrible choice. But between the terror that we should feel about that choice and the hopelessness for the victim of suicide, between those two I am waving a flag of hope that true faith can have a season that dark.

It can. 

But he countered those statements with this – again I think it is clear enough to be left alone…

John Piper

Don’t do it. There is a better way. I promise you, in the name of Jesus Christ, there is a better way. You don’t feel that, perhaps, right now, but your feelings are not true. They are deceiving you. It is true that God has another way for you. He always makes another way.

He does.

So, don’t be a mean, arrogant Christian, that rolls your eyes and tells people to buck up in their darkness. 

Likewise, don’t be a mean, apathetic Christian that ignores the opportunity to say, “God has another way.”

Be a Christian that speaks truth with love.

Be a Christian that avoids rude and unnecessary and unwholesome comments.

Be a Christian that avoids rude and unnecessary and unwholesome silence.

Be a Christian that looks for ways to help a psalmist or a prophet or a pastor or a preacher or a spouse or a kid or a parent or a stranger to find some light for their darkness. 

And be a Christian that does what the psalmist does. 

• Talk to yourself
• Challenge yourself
• Ask yourself questions

That’s what he was doing, right?

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?

He’s in the bathroom and he just finished brushing his teeth and he looks up in the mirror and says…

• What’s going on?
• Why are you so discouraged?
• Why are you so disturbed?
• Why are you so angry?
• Why are you so frustrated?
• Why are you so overwhelmed with despair?

Talk to yourself!

In your moment of despair, talk to yourself. 

There’s a moment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Return of the King” when the character Sam is deeply discouraged.

He’s been on a quest to try and make the world right.

And it’s been hard and difficult and now he’s sitting in a moment when the doom of the situation is hanging over him thicker than ever and it all feels impossible.

And in that moment, he pulled a psalmist. 

It seems he started talking to himself about the situation and asking himself some questions because this is what Tolkien writes…

J.R.R. Tolkien

To his surprise he seemed tired but lighter, and his head seemed clear again. No more debates disturbed his mind. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set, and only death would break it.

Listen to those words again…

J.R.R. Tolkien

He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them.

You know why I started our daily devotional podcast?

Because we are so deeply surrounded right now with the arguments of despair and conspiracy and depression and aggravation and fear and arrogance and pride and self-idolatry.

And in my limited realm of the universe, I wanted to offer a brief, quirky, gospel moment because you know who seems to be listening to and reposting and losing their minds over all those arguments the most?

We are!

People, just like the psalmist, who claim to know the one, true God of the universe, overwhelmed with arguments.

Why?

Because we aren’t being like the psalmist – we aren’t preaching to ourselves. 

We are letting other people preach to us.

We are listening to their despair more than we are listening to our divine Creator.

We are listening to their conspiracies more than we are listening to Christ.

We are listening to their grumbling more than we are listening to the gospel.

Listen, that doesn’t mean we should be foolish, out-of-touch, citizens.

It means that we should be wise, fully informed citizens. 

Fully informed that it has been appointed unto all people to die once and then to face God.

Fully informed that the God everyone will face is Holy, Holy, Holy and he was and he is and he is to come!

Fully informed that God is God and there is no other!

Fully informed that Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us that we might be saved from the wrath to come!

Fully informed that Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us so that we might have life and life abundant and free!

Fully informed that no power of hell and no scheme of man can ever pluck a believer from the hands of God!

And then we take our fully informed selves and we go to work and we go to school and we go buy stuff and we go sell stuff and we go to the doctor and we go to the grocery store and we go vote and we go run for office and we go to Guatemala on a mission trip and we go eat bacon and we go eat cheesecake and we wear a mask and we social distance and we do it all for the glory of God because it is supposed to be well, well with our souls!

Is it well with your soul?

J.R.R. Tolkien

He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them.

Here’s the thing, though – it’s not enough to just not listen to them.

You have to do something – engage in something.

What do you have to do?

5 Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

You have to hope in God. 

That’s the only true resolution we need…

Hope in God!

Again, the psalmist is talking to himself.

He’s talking to his soul. 

Let me ask you a question…

Who is the most influential person in your life?

You got their name or their face in your head?

Ok, good, here’s the deal – you’re wrong.

That’s not the most influential person in your life. 

The most influential person in your life is you. 

Nobody talks to you more than you. 

• What are you saying to yourself?
• What are you saying to your soul?

Listen, people will lie to you.

• Well-meaning liberal politicians will lie to you
• Well-meaning conservative Christians will lie to you

They might say things like:

• “Everything will be alright.”
• “Everything will change for the better.”
• “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

But what if none of that happens?

• What if it gets worse?
• What if you get a lot more than you can handle?

People that lie to you don’t always know that they are lying to you.

More often than not they really are just trying to help, and they feel like they are telling you the truth.

But they aren’t God, so, they don’t have the ability to always perfectly tell you the truth.

So, here’s one simple truth that God handed down for you to know – and you know who he sent this truth through?

A miserable preacher who was full of despair. 

This is what Jeremiah said after his misery manifesto…

Lamentations 3:21-23

This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

In the moment of his life when he had 10,000 reasons to feel like God had abandoned him, he talks to himself.

And he says, “Self, God is faithful.”

Your spouse, your kids, your parents, your pastors, your politicians, your doctors and everyone else in your life are usually doing the best they can or at the very least the best average they can, but they are not perfect.

However, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is perfectly faithful.

• He cannot fail
• He will not fail

How do we know that is true?

Here’s just one reason…

Galatians 4:4

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son…

For hundreds and hundreds of years the trailer for the Messiah had been running.

For hundreds of years hundreds of detailed prophecies surrounding his birth were proclaimed.

And at just the right moment in history, when it seemed like God had gone dark and abandoned the world for hundreds of years, when it seemed like God had turned the reins of the world over to political leaders and military leaders and religious leaders, he broke through the darkness with the Light of compassion that cannot fade.

At just the right time, Jesus was born.

And at just the right time, Jesus was crucified.

And at just the right time, Jesus was resurrected.

And at just the right time, Jesus will return.

Are you ready for his return?

One day, Jesus was being confronted by a politician and this is what Jesus said to him…

John 18:36

“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

The only kingdom that is forever is the kingdom of Jesus.

Are you ready for his kingdom?

If so, then you can live in the kingdoms of this world with deep and lasting hope.

You can hope in God!

So, are you hoping in God? 

The psalmist is full of despair.

He’s confused and frustrated and maybe a little angry.

And he says to his soul…

• “Soul, why are you down?”
• “Soul, why are you disturbed?”
• “Yes, soul, this is tough!”
• “Yes, soul, this is hard!”
• “Yes, soul, we can’t eat or sleep!”
• “Yes, soul, we are crying ourselves to sleep!”
• “Yes, soul, we are angry!”
• “Yes, soul, we are in despair!”

And then in the middle of talking to himself, there is a beautiful interjection in his mind…

• “But soul…we have God!”
• “Soul, God has saved us!”
• “Soul, God is for us!”
• “Soul, God is the maker of heaven and earth!”
• “Soul, God is the beginning and the end!”
• “Soul, God is the Great I Am!”
• “Soul, God loves you with an everlasting love!”
• “Soul, hope in God!”
• “Hope in God!”
• “Hope in God!”

Is your soul troubled today?

Someone once said that troubled souls become hopeful souls when we sing truth to our souls.

• What are you singing to your soul these days?
• What are you saying to your soul these days?
• What are you preaching to your soul these days?

Listen, you can shut God out right now. 

You can sing different songs. 

You can rally around your politics or escape into Netflix or dive into your despair and completely or casually ignore God and block out his truth.

I heard it put this way once…

The diameter of the sun is about 865,000 miles.

But you can block out the sun. 

How?

Just hold your fist up next to your eyes.

You can do the same thing with God. 

We can become so overwhelmed with our situations or our opinions or our misgivings or our desperations that we lose sight of God. 

You know what the psalmist is doing here?

He’s telling himself to take his fist down from his eyes. 

He’s turning his face and his mind and his heart toward hoping in God because God was his exceeding joy. 

He might have to do it again in five minutes, but he will – over and over and over again he will keep hoping in God.

And what will happen?

He says his countenance will change – his facial expressions will change.

Why?

Because he will hear all the arguments of despair, but he won’t listen to them.

More than just a smile on your face, the facial expression of your soul can change. 

How?

Because through the birth and death and life and resurrection and return of Jesus, God has proven that his mercy and his compassion and his love and his salvation and his authority and his power and his grace are new every morning and every moment, over and over and over again!

• Hope in God!
• Hope in God!
• Hope in God!

Message by Dow Welsh

January 10, 2021

© Holland Avenue Baptist Church

Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

Suicide and Salvation | Desiring God

we owe. Do your facial expressions ever get you in trouble? Facial expressions Ever get you in trouble with anything? E. I was reading something this week that said that there are about 43 muscles in your face that can be activated to make thousands of different expressions. Now there's that many muscles in your face. Some of us could win a body building contest just with our face alone and our facial expressions. Well, the folks that Google and the folks that u. C. Berkeley, they got together for an intense study, analyzing YouTube videos and looking at facial expressions. This intense study has gone on for a while. A few weeks ago, they released the results and is part of their results. What they have released is 16 of the facial expressions, most common to emotional situations worldwide. In other words, the facial expressions that everybody on the planet makes in emotional situations. So here the 16 I'm just going to run through them amusement, anger or concentration, confusion, contempt, contentment, desire, disappointment, doubt, elation, interest, pain, sadness, surprise and triumph. Those were the 16 that are common to everybody now. Well, fun game for you to do it home this week. I want you to go to the website, go to the sermons tab and click on this week's sermon, and then click on the little red box that says notes. And if you click on that, you'll see in the notes these 16 things. Here's what's going to do. You should get those 16 things and one night, or maybe over the course of the week dinner. Won't you sit around? Get everybody in your family to make those faces? Alright, get make the facial expressions that match up with all those words. Now, if nobody is at dinner, if it's just you, go do it in the mirror. I promise it'll be fun, you know, on. And we all need something a little fun, right? We need to find the fund in these days. That's true, right? Because there's there's not a lot of fun. Sometimes there's a lot of difficult. In fact, if we were to look at those 16 things and if we're honest with our hearts, the facial expressions that seem to show up the most would be these four anger, disappointment, pain and sadness. That's that's what would be on our face more often than not in these days. So what do we do when it looks like the gray skies are not going to clear up? And we're not going to be ableto just put on a happy face? Just smile. What if the expression of despair seems to be the Onley expression that we can muster? What do we do in those moments? What do we do in those times? Well, about 3000 years ago, the Somis was overwhelmed with despair. He was overwhelmed with discouragement. He was overwhelmed with rejection. His country had become deeply ungodly. And there were deceitful people obsessed with getting their own way. You know things that we can't make any connections with at all. Right. So what did he do when he found himself in the exact same moments that we find ourselves? What did he do? How did he deal with the despair? How did he deal with the discouragement? How did he deal with Ian? Godliness. Let's see if we can find out. We're looking at some 43 first five. This is what the Psalmist writes. Why are you in despair? Oh, my soul. And why are you disturbed within me. The entire world seems to be in a state of fearful despair or angry disturbance. And it's foolish, really, for us to say, Oh, it's just it's all in your head. It's not fearful. Despair is really and angry. Disturbance Israel There's a phrase terminology out there called deaths of despair. It's it's used thio reference. Death from substance abuser suicide as followers of Jesus. How how do we respond to that type of despair? The reality of that despair, the reality that a report out this week says the deaths of despair have increased over the past year. How do we respond? Well, this is just one sermon on just one guy, so there's no way for us to meet all the needs of that question here. But let's just consider a few things. And the first is the truth from the Bible. About 2600 years ago, there was a man full of despair. We don't know for absolute certain, but we're fairly confident that man was the Prophet Jeremiah. And this is what he said. Limitations 31 I am the man who has seen misery, misery, this this was a prophet of God. This was a pastor, This was a preacher, and misery is his story. And for the next 16 verses, he details what that misery is like. And then he says, this my soul has been excluded from peace. I have for gotten happiness. So I say my strength has failed and so has my hope from the Lord. This would be like your favorite TV preacher sending you a text or an email or a letter saying I no longer hope in the Lord. My, my hope in the Lord has just failed. That's that's misery. That's true mystery. I saw something this week from a pastor who has had multiple deaths of despair in his church over the years, and he makes a few comments that I think are very, very important and very helpful, and they're pretty simple. I'm just going to kind of leave them as they are first. When it comes to death of despair, he he says, It's a horrible choice. It's a horrible choice. But then he tries to take that horrible choice, and he tries to take the hopelessness of the victim, and he tries toe bring a little bit of the hope of the gospel in the middle of and this is the comment he makes between those two. I am waving a flag of hope that truth faith can have a season that dark and I can. They can. But then he counters that he balances it and he begins to say. But there is another way. There's another way. This is what he says. I promise you. In the name of Jesus Christ, there is a better way. You don't feel that perhaps right now, but your feelings are not true. They are deceiving. It is true that God has another way for you. He always makes another way. He does. It can get that dark, and he does make another way. So with just those few thoughts, here's what we do is believers first. Don't be a mean, arrogant Christian that tells people toe buck up when they're in their darkness. And don't be a mean, apathetic Christian that just says nothing in the dark. Instead of saying God has another way. Rather be a Christian that speaks the truth in love. Be a Christian that does everything you can to avoid unnecessary, rude, unwholesome comments. Be a Christian that does everything you can to avoid unnecessary, rude, unwholesome silence. Be a Christian looks for ways to help the prophet looks for ways to help the Psalmist look for ways to help the pastor, the preacher, the parent spouse. The child looks for ways to help the stranger find some light for their darkness. That's the good news of great joy that's supposed to be living in us and be a Christian that does what the psalmist does. He talks to himself. Yeah, it does. And then somebody I'll do that when you're in the car and everybody beside you is looking at you weird. But he talks to himself. He talks to himself. He asked himself questions. He challenges himself. That's what he's doing, right? Listen again, why are you in despair? Oh, my soul And why are you disturbed within me? I mean, can't you see he's in the bathroom? Is the morning he just finished brushing his teeth. He's looking in the mirror, and he's like, What's wrong with you? Why so down? Why you so discouraged? Why are you so stressed? Why are you so angry? Why are you so frustrated? Why are you so overwhelmed? with the spirit. What's what's going on? He's talking to himself. He's challenging himself in your moment of despair. Talk to yourself. Do it. Challenge yourself. Ask yourself questions. There's a moment in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Return of the King when the character known as Sam is discouraged. He's full of despair. He's on this quest toe, literally save the world, but it hasn't been going very well. Things have been hard, things have been difficult. And now he's in this moment where the doom of everything that's going to happen is hanging over him. Very thick. Everything feels impossible. And then, undoubtedly, Sam pulls the psalmist. Undoubtedly, he starts talking to himself. He starts asking himself questions. He starts challenging himself. And the reason we know that is because of what Tolkien rights next about Sam. This is what he says. To his surprise, he seemed tired but lighter, and his head seemed clear again. No more debates disturbed his mind. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set and Onley death would break. That's so he knew all the arguments of despair. He knew him. He heard him. He had seen him. People told them to him. People from Facebook and Parlor and every other social media thing in the world said, Here's what's going to happen. Here's the doom. Be ready for the doom. Be ready for the doom. Be ready for the doom. And he said, I will not listen to them. I will not. You know why I started are daily little devotional podcast Because right now in the world, we are deeply surrounded with the arguments we are. We're deeply surrounded with the arguments of despair, the arguments of depression, the arguments of discouragement, the arguments of conspiracy, the arguments of arrogant, the argument of fear, the argument of pride, the argument of self idolatry. We are surrounded by arguments, and I just in my limited little realm and all of the universe just wanted to give a few moments of quirky gospel truth just to help our hearts. Remember that what we believe is true, that God's resume is flawless. And you know why I did that because of all the people that seemed to be overwhelmed with the arguments of despair, you know, who seems to be a the top of the list. We are, we are. It's the professing Christians that seem to be saying For some reason, God's resume is no longer flawless because it's 2020 and it's 2021 this is going on. So everything is going to hell in a handbasket. So God is not riel. So we have an option. We can listen to the arguments of despair. We can not people just like the Psalmist us people who claim to know the one true living God overwhelmed with the arguments, overwhelmed with the arguments. You know why? Because we're not being like the Somis. We're not talking to ourselves. We're not preaching to ourselves. We're letting other people preach to us. And we're taking every sermon from every person from every walk of life as truth. And we're not listening to the resume of God. We are listening to despair more than we're listening to our divine creator. We're listening to Conspiracy Mawr than we're listening to. Christ, we're listening to Grumbling Mawr than we're listening to the gospel. Now, that doesn't mean we should be foolish out of touch citizens. By no means. Now I feel like we should be wise fully informed citizens, fully informed that it has been appointed for every person to die once and then face judgment fully informed that that judgment will be before the one same true God for everyone. The God who is holy, Holy holy, the God who was and is and is to come the God who is the only true God fully informed that Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us so that we could be saved from the wrath of God. Fully informed that Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us so that we can have life and life that is abundant life that is free, fully informed if we choose to believe it that no power of hell and no scheme of man and no pandemic on no shut down and nothing else anywhere in the universe can ever pluck us and separate us from God's hand. And then as fully informed people, we go live, we go to work, we go to school, we go buy stuff, we go sell stuff. We go to the doctor. We go to the post office. We eat Jesuscake, we eat bacon, we wear a mask with social distance and we do all of it for the glory of God because that's why we exist as believers for the glory of God, fully informed that we don't exist without the glory and grace of God. So we live for his glory. We live for his grace. And why should we live like that? What's the What's the old ham says We live like that. Released. We should live like that because it is well, it is well with our souls. So how's your soul? How's your soul? San Wise has something for us. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to. Here's the thing, though, is not enough just to not listen way have to do something else. We have to engage in something. So what do we engage in? Psalms tells us First five. Hope in God, for I shall again praise him the help of my countenance and my God, the help of my facial expressions and my God. That's the only true resolution we need. Right hope in God again, The psalmist is talking himself. He's talking to himself. He's talking to his soul. So think through this, who's the most influential person in your life. They could still be living That could be argued with the Lord who is the most influential person in your life You got got their face in your head. Got their name in your head now. Okay, here's the thing. You're wrong. You're wrong. Unless you said yourself You are the most influential person in your life. Nobody talks to you more than you. Nobody. So what are you saying to yourself? What are you preaching to yourself? What are you saying to your soul? Listen, here's the reality. People will lie to you. Okay? Liberal politicians, they lie to you. Conservative Christians, they'll lie to you. And sometimes they won't even know that they're lying to you. Right? Because most of the time people aren't setting out toe lie. See, some of the best people in the world will say things like this. Hey, everything's going to be okay. Hey, don't worry about everything is going to change for the better. Hey, you know what? You're not going to get more than you can handle. But what if I didn't happen? I mean, what if things aren't all right? What if they don't feel like they're turning out for the better. What if you do feel like that? You have a lot more than you can hand. People don't mean to tell lies like that. They're really just trying to help. They're really just wanting to encourage us along. But the reality is nobody in your life except God is God. Therefore, no one can perfectly always tell you the truth. They don't have that ability. So here's one simple truth that God wanted you to know. Made sure it was written down for your heart and my heart. And he sent that truth. Guess who through through a miserable preacher. Miserable. This is what Jeremiah went on to say after all of his misery manifested limitations. Three. This I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope the Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease for his compassion. Never fail their new every morning. Great is your faithfulness In the moment of his life, where he had 10,000 reasons to feel like God had abandoned him, 10,000 reasons toe have absolutely no hope in God. Jeremiah, like the somen, said, You know I need to preach to myself. I need toe talk to myself and he says, self God is faithful. It's faithful. God was faithful. In every war. God was faithful in every pandemic. God was faithful in every moment where everything was falling apart. God was faithful. His resume has always been flawless. Listen, your spouse, your kids, your parents, your pastors, your politicians, your doctors. Look, they're all doing the best they can. You know again. Just a gracious shout out for doctors and nurses. They aren't gods. They are. They don't have every single answer that we always want at any given moment. I spent a couple hours with my doctor this week. I love him. He's great. I know he's doing the best he can to help me. But then you have every single answer in the world. See the people in our lives that we seem to demand so much from there. They're doing the best they can. Because you know what? They're just like you. You're doing the best you can, or I mean cut us some slack. Maybe the best average we can. You know, we're just doing some But the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the Godof Jacob. He's not just doing best average. He's perfectly faithful. He cannot fail. He will not fail. How do we know I'm just give you one reason? It's just one reason from the Bible. Okay, Galatians 44 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the trailer had been running for the Messiah. People had been hearing all about the Messiah, and for hundreds of years, hundreds of prophecies about the coming of the Messiah have been proclaimed over and over again, and it just the right moment in history. After four hundreds of years, it seemed like God had abandoned the world, left the world in the dark at just the right moment when it seemed like God had turned the reins of the world over to political leaders and military leaders and religious leaders. At just that moment, God sent the light of compassion into the world that cannot fail that will not fail at just the right moment. Jesus was born and not just born at just the right moment. Jesus was arrested at just the right moment. Jesus was crucified at just the right moment. Jesus was resurrected and it just the right moment. Jesus will return. These are the promises of God. This is his resume and it has been flawless. And so I asked, Are you ready for the return of Jesus? Everything else is perfectly come true. Everything else God has imperfectly faithful in We have every reason to believe he'll be perfectly faithful In this one day Jesus was being confronted by a politician. And this is what Jesus said to the politician John, Chapter 18. My kingdom is not of this world. And so he says, If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting right now so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this. Well, the Onley Kingdom that is forever. The Onley country, nation Kingdom that is forever is the kingdom of Jesus. There is no other kingdom that is forever. And so the question for your soul 24 hours a day. Are you ready for the Kingdom of Jesus? Are you ready for his kingdom? If you are then you can live in any kingdom on this earth and have hope and God you can. Why? Because of Jesus? Because of what he's done Because of what he's accomplished because of what he continues to problem, his kingdom is forever. So are you hoping in God? Are you hoping in his kingdom? Are you hoping? And God the Psalmist is full of despair? He's full of it. He's full of discouragement. He's confused. He's frustrated. I'm guessing he's probably a little angry. Hey, why is all this playing out this way while this ungodly nous in my nation? Why all these deceitful people in my country? That's what he said throughout the song. So what is he doing? We talked to Seoul, talks to himself. He says, Soul, why are you down? So why are you disturbed? So I know this is tough, so I know this is hard. I know some nights we can't sleep. Some nights we cry ourselves to sleep some nights way nash our teeth to sleep. Sometimes we don't want to eat. Sometimes we don't wanna do anything. Sometimes we're angry and sometimes were in despair. I got it. So why are we in so much despair? And then then he kind of interrupts his own conversation is having with himself, he says. But soul. So we have God. So God has saved us. The God the one true God, the one who made the heavens and the earth the beginning and the end. The same God who is known as the great. I am the same God who loves us with an everlasting love soul, Hope and God Hope and God, Hope and God. He didn't stop talking to himself. It gets a little deeper. Is your soul trouble today? Is your soul angry? Today is your soul over it today. But where is your soul today? Someone once said that troubled souls become hopeful souls when you start singing truth to your soul. Sorry. What's on your playlist for yourself? What you're singing to your soul these days. What do you What are you saying to your soul? What do you preaching to your soul? And I might have a little side note. What do you preaching thio? The souls of your family? What do you preaching to the souls of your kids and your grandkids? Of your parents of your aunts and uncles? What do you What do you singing to the souls of people you work with people, you go to school with her people, you go to church. What are we singing to our souls? Here's the thing right now every single one of us have the ability to shut God out. We could do it waken shut him out We can sing different songs We can rally around our politics We can escape in the Netflix Or we could just dive into our despairs At first just either completely are casually ignore God, we can do it. We can block him out and block out his truth I heard somebody put it this way The sun The diameter of the sun is about 865 0 miles as that's a big bottle light. But you know what? You could block the sun out. You can write. I mean, we do it sometimes, right? You know what you dio you know, Just kind of hold your hand up, Hold the fist up. Just kind of block the sun. You know that Z what you're doing You're riding down the road sometimes writes like that sons in the weird place and you're like we can block the sun out. You know what we could do the same thing we've got. Please splash him out. Just kind of hold her hand up. Just just block out his truth. Just not listen to it, not read it, not think about it. We could just block it out. And that's what's happening with Somis. He is so overwhelmed with despair. He's so overwhelmed with his discouragement. He's so overwhelmed with his ungodly nation. He's so overwhelmed with the deceitful people that he's just blocking God out and he loves it. He's doing it on purpose. But then he catches himself and you know what he's doing. He's just taking his hand. That's that's what he's doing over and over again. He's taking his thing that you know why? Because he put his hand back up. Give another hour on hour after church when he's in the restaurant. When he's heard a great sermon about the greatness of God and some scaly Waggett table next starts talking about how awful everything is, he'll put his hand back up. You know your block got out again, but then they'll take it down because he'll keep preaching to his soul. Get your hand down, man. Get your hand down, keep facing the truth of God. Keep facing the exceeding joy that you have in God so that you can hope in God. You know what happens, he says. Something changes as he begins to hope in God, he says. His countenance changes. His facial expressions change. But that's what's happening. Why? Why are his expressions change? And why is his countenance change you? It's changing because he's hearing all the arguments of despair in his own heart in his own mind. But he has decided I will not listen to them. Look, this psalm is not just about putting on a smile and, you know, put on a happy face. You know that's not what it's about. This song actually is geared to help the facial expressions of your soul change. How how in the world can the facial expressions of your soul change very simply in the same way that they did for the psalmist? Because the truth of God changes them, his resume changes countenance, and for us we would simply say this the birth in the life and the death and the resurrection and the promise return of Jesus. Everything about Jesus constantly reminds us that God's compassion and his mercy, his authority and his power and his love and his grace and any other wonderful thing that you can possibly put in that sentence is brand new every morning. Because he is faithful, He is faithful. His resume is flawless. He is faithful. He is faithful. So hoping God hope in God. Pull your hand down, over and over again and hope and God.