2020-07-25 One Who Understands [Healing: Restoring the Broken #3] - Pastor Jason Canfield

B of A series we're going through healing or deep healing and restoring the broken so this is part 3 you should be able to find at those other sermons on our website for audio or on YouTube for video. So there's many ways you can find them as are in the announcement. So without further Ado we're going to move into this third message one who understand one who understands. So let's let's begin with a word of prayer. Shall we Our loving father in Heaven. We just want to thank you so much that we are going to get to the point where we can reopen. We thank you for the protection. You have brought on our church that we haven't had any cases internally, but we pray for your continued protection as we do move forward with reopening. We asked Lord that you would really be with each and every person that is tuning in that is hearing these words right now, you know our broken places, you know, the damage we have inside of us cuz life is rough sometimes and so Lord. I just pray right now that you're Holy Spirit would touch each one to let them know that they are not alone that you do love them that you care for them. And you desire to heal them. So Lord be with us and may this message bring some of that healing today as we read and Ponder you and your word and scripture today. We love you Lord and pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Again, we're going into a message but let's do a quick review just to recap very very briefly. So we started with Sozo. This is the the word for healing to say to forgive it comes with a forgiveness physical protection demonic Deliverance raising the dead physical healing and so on and so forth. It is the primary word that is used in the New Testament that was used by the gospels to describe what God came to do. He came to seek and to Sozo to save the Lost he came to bring about complete healing and restoration in our lives. And so that was the first one just understanding the little bit more of what God came to do last week. We looked at some of the additional challenges that come to common causes for emotional problems among Christians were basically failure to understand receive and live out God's unconditional love Grace and forgiveness if we don't, Can God correctly we act in light of how we understand God to be and so failure to understand that the balance of grace and works and how this works in our lives is often a real challenge for some people. It's kind of like diagnosing the symptom instead of the costs. And so when we understand the real cause is that we have a distorted view of who God is then once we correct that and then the symptoms become corrected as well. The second reason is failure to give out God's unconditional love Grace and forgiveness to others. So if you don't have the first one, you're likely to have the second but you could potentially understand Grace and still not be able to give it to others. And so these are two of the most common problems where we find Hang-Ups and troubles. We saw that many see every unkind and unjust action toward themselves as a debt that is owed them causing them to become grievance debt collector. So that was it the message last week that we looked at not being a debt collector and trying to collect Grievances and hold grievances against people in that way. I know what I wanted to touch on as it was that the memory verse last week, but I didn't really emphasize it was this idea in the Lord's Prayer where he says and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This was kind of the core concept that we forgive those with emotional. Or I whatever it may be towards us as we in other words. It's conditional that we on an ongoing present and future tense actively forgive those web death against us in order to receive the Forgiveness of our debts. So this is an ongoing that sound like OK I did that once I'm good often. It is an ongoing process as we as a continuous way of looking at this that we need to continue doing that again, this morning's message one who understands Hebrews 4 14 through 16 is going to be our main passage will be looking at this morning. So he Brews 444 talks about Christ and who we But it has often been said I'm this is why Ralph Waldo Emerson has been credited to say it's a luxury to be understood. Have you ever been misunderstood? Well, probably we all have at some point in time to be understood in to have someone understand you is how we have genuine intimacy and closeness to understand each other. I remember a brief illustration when we were living for a year in South Korea. I remember once going on the subway system there and you can see the signs in this picture. They're not in English many times. You can see transfer or way out a few signs might have some English, but for some reason I got off at the wrong stop one of those quick mistakes where I thought I was in the right place. I got off and they were trains all over the place and I remember thinking now what because I couldn't read the signs. I didn't know how Get where I was going. I was lost and I was stuck in a very very large city. Wondering how I was going to do this tonight. I tried going around and asking people can you tell me how to listen if they would just shake their heads and I remembered that the train's coming the trains going and it was fairly empty and finally one person said you're looking for that train and I've been there for probably 15-20 minutes and they'd clearly understood me the entire time but chose not to say something cuz they were afraid to use English and I remember feeling Grateful Dead at least someone understood. I wish they would have spoke up a little quicker but none the less. I was thankful to have someone to understand I've had similar experiences anytime you're living where English or your language isn't the dominant language to have someone that just understand you at that core level with our mother tongue that kind of brings about a lot of who we are and our culture. Going back to Hebrews do we see that? We have a high priest who understands us and says seen them that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. They goes on to say for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but it wasn't all points tempted. Like as we are yet without sin not important to adjust Zoom back a little bit and recognize the book of Hebrews is written to a Hebrew or Jewish context. They understood scripture through the Old Testament primarily the rules and rituals the temple and all these things. So explaining Jesus in the concept of him as our high priest was that way to help them understand Jesus and what he is doing for us. And so this was a high priest that could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now, this word infirmities comes up a number of times and it comes to clear through scripture. You might recognize if you were here in our first message, it talked about that. We talked about in Matthew 8:17 at says that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Zeta. Prophets and he speaking of Jesus himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness and we can look at the same passage in Isaiah with it was referencing yet. It was our infirmities that he bore our sufferings that he endured while we thought of him as stricken as one Smitten by God and Afflicted Jesus came and one of the things about him coming entering into Humanity. He took on our infirmities. Now, these infirmities are very directly tied in the Old Testament to sacrifice has offered by the priest. It was their means of having forgiveness through God was through this system in it. This was all the way back to Genesis on this was established right in the very beginning. If you can recall Adam and Eve they had children they have Cain and Abel and their becomes a dispute over which one has the right kind of sacrifice and so infirmities are connected directly. That it's connected with the priest in with the offering and so as we it just doing it a brief overview cuz you could find countless passages in scripture. There were a few critical details. If you were going to come and get forgiveness you had to have a lamb or a sacrificial animal without spot or blemish that would be the same reference essentially to infirmities. It was a blemish it was something was wrong with it. And it goes on to say if you were you we can see that it was pointing towards Jesus here in John 1:29 the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so we took the infirmities, but he also takes our sin. So Jesus becomes all we need in many ways. If you were to go back to Leviticus, you would find that these infirmities actually tie in with the priest himself as well. So in a sense, this is Jesus fulfilling a prophecy. To be our high priest he met the qualification for it Leviticus 21 verses 8 3 18 through 20 says for any man who has a defect and infirmity if you will shall not approach a man blind or lame was a mark face or any limb too long. They get really quite particular a man who has a broken foot or broken hand wears a hunchback or dwarf or man who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scab or is a eunuch to have his long list of what would disqualify someone one of the sons of Aaron and it specifically States verse 21 says no man of the descendants of errands to priest who has a defect now if you were to go to the lxx Septuagint that word effect there would be the equivalent of infirmity. So anyone who has a defect of any kind it couldn't be a blemish land but couldn't be a blemished animal or priest Chowk. I'm here to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God and other words to really have ultimate forgiveness. You needed to have one that could take the infirmities because he didn't have the infirmities. Does that make sense? But he also took on the informers. Let me explain this a little further cuz when we get to the New Testament, it comes up an interesting way in Ephesians 5:27 that talks about how God wants to make his church or his bride the Glorious Church having not spot or wrinkle says that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish now, I read this and I think well to church sure has a lot of blemishes and defects. How's this work? But God is cleansing and doing this for us. What that's one of the Beauties about Scriptures. It shows us what Jesus does for us and it's pretty comprehensive just like we saw was Sozo this infirmities in the New Testament refers to primarily mental moral and emotional weakness. They are not sin, but they undermine our resistance to Temptation. What does that mean? Well, this is the idea if someone was born with an addiction to alcohol because of things our parents did does that mean they're craving of it is a sin know it would be an infirmity by the New Testament definition because it would break down and give them weakness making it harder to pass up the temptation to drink. So this is one of the aspects of Fitness is primarily how it is used clear through the New Testament this idea of infirmities and the idea that God can understand us. Jesus came and inexperienced Fallen human nature if you will he came and experience what it felt like to get tired to get hungry and so on and so forth. And so we see in this is a quote from the Desire of Ages and this is a reference to when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and it's interesting as we look at it because it's important to recognize that Jesus understands what it feels like to be tempted. In fact his Temptations are much greater than our Temptations and you can see that here in this one passage when Jesus went to the Wilderness right after his baptism. It says the enticements with Christ resisted where those that we find so difficult to assess and they were urged upon him in a much greater degree as his character is superior to ours with the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon him. So a little bit higher consequence if he had messed up than us. It goes on to say that Christ was stood the test upon appetite upon the love of the world and upon the love of display which leads to presumption. These were the Temptations that overcame Adam and Eve and that's so readily overcome us. When we look at this week and see if you ever been hungry or crave something and this could even be to an unhealthy addiction of something that a chemical that you could be addicted to Christ understood the idea of having a temptation to want something when he was fasting in the wilderness. He been fasting for 40 days. I've never even come close to trying that but I can pretty well tell you I would be hungry and Jesus was very hungry until the first Temptation. He has is something that wouldn't tempt me at all quite frankly. If you came to me and I was hungry and you said hey, can you turn a rock into bread then you can eat it. I would laugh at the Devil because I can't turn a rock into bread. But for Jesus he actually had the divine power within him to remedy all his struggles. And this is why it's a little different in that he could do something about it. And so was a greater Temptation with a greater consequence because had he send we would have no savior because it took the Spotless lamb and one that is that also endured The Temptations to be able to be our high priest all this had to come together. Again Hebrews 4:15. It says for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. You can put that in the positive say high priests. It has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but it wasn't all points tempted like at tempted like as we are yet without since he was tempted he struggled and he understands not just what the infirmities are. But this feeling of our infirmities did he feel things was it hard for him were there times when everything was easy for Jesus absolutely not he struggled and we could see this in a number of places throughout scripture. He he literally cried out in the garden saying not my will but thine be done implying he had a will of his own he wished this cup pass from him, but he understood my will is Underneath God's will God's will is superior to my will and how he ordered his life and we can see this coming out in a number of ways. The book of Hebrews actually points out that this even entered into is prayer life. Have you ever been in a dark place struggling having a hard time for whatever reasons? It could be the loss of a loved one that could be depression. It could be so many things that come into our lives it when you feel like that. Do you feel like I just need to spend an hour in prayer. Not if you're most people most people win their struggling with life, you don't really want to prayer. It's actually hard to pray for many people because you're struggling it says well Jesus was here on Earth. He offered prayers and pleadings with a loud cry and tears to the one who could rescue him from death and God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. This is the New Living Translation, you'd find similar phrasing and others but the idea that he was in an anguish. He was struggling he was crying. He was in such a difficult place in yet. He came to the only source that could really give him freedom from all of those feelings. And so he understood what it was like, I want to look it up a little bit more of this as we look at kind of the closing scenes of Christ life. We eat we've been admonished. This is also Desire of Ages page 83, we're told it would be well for us to spend. A thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the Life of Christ. We should take it Point by point and let the imagination graph each scene, especially the closing ones as we dwell upon his great sacrifice for us. Our confidence in him will be more constant. Our love will be quickened and we shall be more deeply involved with this Spirit. Now, let's just look at what the benefits of this are. So if we spend time actually thinking about Jesus what he went through particularly the closing Scene It says we do that our confidence in him will be more constant. You will trust him deeper. Isn't that the goal our love will be quickened? And we shall be more deeply and viewed with this. You will have his Spirit to help you to guide you to direct you to comfort you all of this comes as we begin to understand a little bit more about how our savior really understands us. He really gets what we're going through even when it feels like nobody else does Jesus understands how it feels to be extremely sad and depressed with nobody seemingly there to provide help and comfort. Have you ever been there? It seems like everything's falling apart and you don't even know where to reach out to and maybe you can think back on a time. It may not be now. But some point in the past where you have struggled and people often even come to me and say where was God when this happened And I say it with that kind of excuse it Terry Towing the you know that they're really not happy cuz they feel like God wasn't there because something bad happened and the reality is God was there and often if you tell them that they did just that much more Angry cuz why didn't he stop it that's kind of the idea that comes in people's hands until we begin to distance ourselves from God because how could he do that? Well, it's not God doing that and let me remind you of that. This is never God's desire that we go through pain and anguish. You can look at Lamentations 3:33. He does not willfully desire men to in beat go through pain and suffering like this. That's not what he wants. But as we value our rights and freedom of choice what happens is people choose bad things. We choose bad things and sometimes we become the result of other people's bad choices, even when we are seemingly innocent. Well, Jesus understands at 2. We'll get there in just a minute. But the reality is God was there and God wept and got hurt. In a way that only a parent can fully understand or at least partially understand if you see your child being hurt and you can do nothing about it is a very painful experience when you feel there's nothing you can do because you have to allow free choice cuz that was the cost. It pains you so you have to stop looking at Jesus is the one that was letting this happen. He was there stuck with in circumstances where the only way around this is you could say. Well, why didn't you just hit the stop button with sin? Well, that means everybody dies cuz we're all Sinners. So God appreciating your freedom of choice allows freedom of choice for everyone. And is he saw whatever terrible thing happened? He wept it mourned him it deeply hurt him and he struggled with you as he struggled through your pain is you hurt and so he knows what sadness has he knows what depression I know. We don't usually say, oh Jesus was depressed. Well some of the experiences and the words that he used when he was in the garden. Is it a sin to be depressed know? It's a feeling now can the devil use those feelings to trip us up by sure, but Jesus understand Sadness loneliness where it seems that nobody was there when he was at the Garden when there were times in his life where he just needed someone there and they weren't there. Let's walk through these closing scenes to see some of these Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane literally wept and sweat out droplets of blood. This is how bad his English was. I've never been that bad. So Jesus again had it worse than I've ever had it. He was all alone in the garden taking on your sins my sins and even the people that will never choose forgiveness through him sins because he died for Austin whether people choose it or not. Hear it tells us in Matthew 26 will read 37 through 40 and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed ever been sad and deeply depressed deeply distressed cuz that's how it's describing Jesus here. He was sad, then he said to them my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death ever felt like you were just going to die. You are so overwhelmed with negative emotion. He said stay here and watch with me for 39 says he went a little farther and fell on his face and pray. They know my father if it is possible. Let this cup pass for me nevertheless not as I will but as you will Embers 40 says then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter Peter Peter. What could you not watch with me one hour? That's a loan that feels abandoned that feels rejected. All of these types of feelings. We have a high priest one in heaven as we can read further in the book of Hebrews that is pleading on our behalf because he knows your pain. He understands the challenges. They may not be the exact same thing. But today are in principle and expanded upon in Jesus, but this is just one scene. Let's look at some more Jesus understands be Trail false accusation mockery and dehumanizing actions and words. Hoof that's a heavy load. Can you imagine all of these and we're just talking about a couple days of his life when it really came down really hard Jesus understood betrayal. He was not only betrayed by Judas but Peter also betrayed him and denied him three times. False accusation when you came before pilot, but it came before Herod was he accused of doing wrong accused of things even before that? He was accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub. Do you know this idea that he was accused falsely if you've ever been accused for something you didn't do you understand this hurts. It doesn't feel good. What about mockery the idea that you could be mocked made fun of quite frankly. This one reminds me of middle school and high school man kids can be meet, you know, this idea being mocked and cheese for whatever was whether you had glasses or pimples or whatever is going on. Did we just mocking mocking mock dehumanizing actions and words someone making you feel like you are even less than a human being because of the way they treated you said things to you told you you were worthless, no good, whatever. It may be. These are hard feelings and many times. We don't understand and some of the reasons why I want to go through. This is I think it's important for us to understand that we have a loving savior that actually understand because that privilege to have someone that understands you when you know, Jesus understand you and Jesus wants to help you that can help you overcome hang ups at that may be causing you from that pain even way back even many years ago. We think of Judas and he comes and he even betrays him with an act of affection. That's got to hurt friends. If you ever had someone betray you a friend. Maybe it was or even someone even closer or you just feel like they just betrayed you at the deepest level that you can't even begin to forgive them. You don't even know what to do about it because it's so overwhelming in here. They do it. You just comes and kisses him on the cheek tender seemingly love feels that's an act of Love genuinely and hear Jesus experiences betrayal. What about Jesus in his trial when he goes to trial? It's quite a scene. In fact, some of the things they say to him and do them are pretty remarkable Mark Chapter 14 verse 56. So it says form any bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not even agree. I know what that feels like if you've been falsely accused and then you find out other stories don't even make sense. They don't even agree with each other here people were coming. Belittling him bearing false witness against him painful. It's not a fun feeling Jesus understands again in Matthew 26 verse 67 67. It says then they begin to spit in Jesus face and beat him with their fists and some slapped him actually read an article that said one of the most dehumanizing things a person can do is to slap someone in the face. It makes them feel less than human. I don't know. I've not really been slapped in the face. But if you've ever been slapped in the face, you might know what that is or spit in the face is about the greatest insult. You can put upon someone. I just want us to take a moment and soak in. Yes. You've been hurt. Yes. You've been through pain. Jesus understands. Jesus knows what it feels like in Jesus did it so you can be free of it. I took a little more first 63 and 64 Luca says now that men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him and having blindfolded him. They struck him on the face and asked him say prophesy. Who was the one who struck you and they'd even mocked him in his beatings over and over Jesus endured hardship after hardship and he did it for us. Jesus understands division grief unfaithfulness and even divorce now, you're going to say to me way. What about that? Last one? That. That didn't happen. Jesus wasn't married. Well God and the godhead is one God and according to scripture. He understands betrayal what this is like and studies show that the two greatest stress producing factors to body mind and emotions are the death of a close loved one. And a divorce and impact a divorce can even be worse because the death of a loved one can be kind of a clean cut if you have hope that you're going to see them in heaven it it hurts. There's no doubt about it. And it's at a very deep level but divorce is like a festering wound that never goes away. It is one of those things that you often still have them in your life at some points and different things and it's one of those things that many people struggle with for the rest of their lives over these things. And God understands this Jeremiah 3:8. It says then I saw that for all for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery spiritual adultery here. I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce yet. Her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but went and played the Harlot also, in other words what this versus saying is God understands what it's like to have someone that is completely unfaithful to him and actually have to go with separation in a painful way. God even understands the divorced God understands the ones who have been cheated on God understands what we're going through. God understands our pain Jesus At The Cross it continues. And saying who destroyed the temple and build it in three days save yourself. If you are the Son of God come down from the cock cross. They mocked him on the cross and said, you know, if you are the Son of God now if you've read much of scripture, this is the exact same insult the exact same challenge that the devil threw him when he was first tempted at the beginning of his ministry in the wilderness. If you are the Son of God so it could be Tim disabled. Yeah. I'm the Son of God I can get myself down he had the power to do that, but that would have been done at all. He was tempted. He struggled he knew what it was like, Again, he was despised and rejected a Man of Sorrows Isaiah 53 3 acquainted with the deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and look the other way. He was despised and we did not care. What's sometimes difficult to understand is we we understand God's love in part not necessarily in fool. It's too difficult given that the Fallen state or will it really understand? What truly unconditional love is? We often grasp it in Little Bits here. And there we understand he accepts us entirely but most of us when we send question it. Does he really love us too enough to forgive us again this idea that God. Understood the deepest rejection and that part of that is us part of his pain was that we don't accept him and that we don't allow the healing he desires in our life. I want you to imagine for a minute if your parents shouldn't be a stretch. You have a child or someone you love deeply and they're suffering terribly terribly suffering and you have the Cure in your hand. All you have to do is convince them to take the Cure and they would be healed the pain would go away and yet your child anguishes struggles and suffers continue non-stop because they won't take it. This is what God sees God sees the pain we go through the Deep wounds of our past the deep wound. We've gone through that often make us a little bit of that the roughness in our characters that we often find a got to the I can heal that I can take care of that your complex a feeling. You're not good enough your complex of this or that or whatever they may be your think. You're ugly duckling syndrome or whatever. Maybe that's that's something I can take care of. I got a very interesting. I read a study and maybe I can share a little bit more of the next week, but there was a famous plastic surgeon and ran these big ads that he said we can cure many of people's problems by simply doing plastic surgery. I don't buy that line and frankly. He didn't buy it for very long because he started doing all these surgeries and making people beautiful and they didn't see themselves as any different when they looked in the mirror. They still saw the division the negative comments that you'll never be pretty that you'll never be good enough all these negative words that they'd heard clear through their life, even though that was gone. They couldn't believe it. You get the point. God says do you really believe I've saved you I've so Soju. I've healed you. I can restore you I can make you like me. I can take even your weaknesses in the things that make you have a hard time with temptation. I can take those away. I used to be tempted and things I'm not tempted in anymore. I still am tempted. Don't get me wrong. There's always things were tempted in but God can remove the things that tempt us. If you're struggling with something and you're finding yourself just really not finding the victory. You desire not finding it. God actually says I will take those iniquity those those challenges those those Fallen Tendencies away from you. God can actually give you Victory Here and Now not just in heaven. We have to remember that God is not just a god of the future is Adventist. We're often pointing towards the Future II coming and when everything gets great and that's good heaven is coming in. That's there's nothing wrong with that and we can't even point back at. Yep. God change me back in the past. But we need to be people who recognized the god of the present the I am that I am the present God the god that is here right now that says I can take care of this now. You don't have to wait for heaven some things he can take care of him. Now. There are some things that may take till heaven but God can take care so much of it now because he understands he knows what it's like I found it interesting this division thing and I kind of already mentioned this this idea. That is there life after high school was a book that was written that actually ended up going into a musical. I haven't seen it don't know what it's all about, but I get the picture. Some people actually go through life with a complex because of what happened in high school. And I know I I have trouble with friends at times in high school and I carried that for some time and many people go through that. They were teased. Maybe you were the kid that was a little too big for a little bit too thin or a little bit this or that end. It doesn't even matter what you were because they can find a reason to make fun of you and I school or middle school either one until we carry that and what happens as we let someone else's words dictate Who We Are I want to challenge you that God is the one who should dictate who you are right. Now. He says you're my beloved Son. You're my beloved daughter. I love you unconditionally and I have amazing plans if you'll never even dream of there. So great. Would you just listen, would you allow me to work in your life? Would you allow me to redefine who you are in me? Whatever you think you are. And in a negative sense that can be Rewritten when you read yourself into scripture and recognize what God sees you have the potential to become. Isaiah 53 verse 2 and 3 put it this way just talking about Jesus in this idea of his understanding again. It says my servant grew up in the Lord's present like a tender green shoot like a route in dry ground ticket take a look at the picture that's being painted right here. It says a tender green shoot that means so little little plants you're planting something and it's really small and tender and you know, it could die. If just a little bit of frost came or I got too hot or you watered it too much or Water Tattoo little tender and it says it's like a route in dry ground how well does Roots do Roots do when they're in dry ground not very well and they shrivel up. This is how it's describing Jesus. There was nothing beautiful or Majestic about his appearance. Nothing to attract us to him this idea that he wasn't Beautiful. Did he understand? Maybe he was teased who knows nothing good can come from Nazareth write this idea that he was mocked that he was ridiculed even his present there. It says he was despised and rejected a Man of Sorrows acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and look the other way. He was despised and we did not care reading that verse again and Psalms 22, we get a little bit of what they did just Agony he went through so there's if you've never seen these there are a number of Psalms that are actually Messianic in the sense that you will find the exact words of Jesus and he's quoting from Psalms where David or the author of the song often. It's David is in it in a desperate dark place and it describes the anguish that he was experiencing and so Jesus borrows from this and it gives us an inside when you read that you can read the whole chapter of Psalm 22 Understand a little bit of what it was like it says my God my God. Why have you abandoned or forsaken me depending on your translation should sound familiar. Why are you so far away when I grown for help? Never felt that way. I need help. I need it now. I don't know what to do. I groan for help and I don't feel it. You see this is one of the troubles we have feelings are very misleading. Feeling needing to feel God's presence. That's a luxury and it's nice and I felt God's present and it's a beautiful thing. But faith is recognizing he's there even when you don't feel it you see when you have a great face and just God that understands you that I understand pain to understand what it's like and loves you with this infinite. Love you can believe he's there. You can believe he's helping you even when you don't feel it feelings get overrated by faith. So you can believe in God irregardless of what your circumstances are. You can recognize God is still good even if my world is crumbling because frankly isn't the world going to kind of crumble around us as we get closer to the end again, he says everyday I call to you my God, but you do not answer every night. I left my voice, but I find no relief. This is a type of phraseology. I hear from Member after member people in the world everywhere. I go it's a universal problem where there's been times when we're in darkness in life a depression. If you will where we just feel like we're crying out to God, but Pastor, I don't feel him. I don't I don't feel an answer. I don't get an answer. It's not going away. God knows what that feels like And God wants to help. He recognizes there's pain. Jesus went through it too. But remember Jesus was Victorious even when he didn't feel it and you can be victorious even when you don't feel it.

Let me tell you a quick story. I don't know if any of you have heard of Joni eareckson. She was a fascinating story. She's been all over you might see pictures of her with Billy Graham and other things she was a young woman in the prime of Life physically fit very active. She was involved in sports. You can see her in the picture on a horse hurdling who is really moving forward until a career in this the prime of life. Everything was great. And then she did something that none of us should ever do but she did it anyway and she decided this is a picture diving into a lake rather she drove off a cliff into a lake and hit a rock. And when she hit this rock when she jumped in not knowing how deep it was. This is her afterwards. paraplegic All her careers all her dreams all her Ambitions gone everything she lived where she lived for sports. She was involved in all these things and when she became paralyzed she went to a dark place a very dark place a dark place where she was so depressed. It was like Jesus At The Cross kind of feeling like why have you forsaken me God? How did you let this happen? Why didn't you fix it? Why did you let this happen? In fact she became so depressed her best friend would come and visit her with her and her best friend was there one time and she said would you just give me more pills? I want to die. That's how bad it was. She was ready to die. She did not want to live life like that because life like that was not the life she planned and so she felt like there's no hope there's no point and people get their people struggle with this. Her best friend Cindy told her one day though. She just kind of blurted out. Jesus knows how you feel. You're not the only one who's been paralyzed. He was paralyzed to now just kind of struck Joni and she was a little thrown off at the comment because she's like no no, no, Jesus doesn't understand this. He was never paralyzed and this is the kind of thinking we often have we often think our experience is so unique that Jesus doesn't understand but she went on to explain what she meant to her friend Cindy explain remember he was nailed to the cross. His back was raw from beatings like your back sometimes gets raw. Oh, he must have longed to move to change his position to redistribute his weight somehow, but he couldn't move Johnny he knows how you feel. And for Joanie this this was a new revelation. She had never really thought of it this way. She she just figured Gadot abandon her and when she began to realize that God understood her that privilege to be understood. Understood how she felt at some level. She began to experience change. She began to see the darkness kind of lift. She she began to let him in because he understood and I see this very often. We don't want to share with someone the deepest pains in our life. If we don't think they would even understand and I think that's why this is such an important thing in the process of healing. We need to recognize that God understands and we can open up our heart because he knows every thought we've ever thought anyway, but when we open it up to him, there's something cathartic something healing about it that is difficult to put words to and that's exactly what Joanie began to do. This is her many years later and you may recognize her from the picture or at this point Johnny went on to become a famous painter. That's right a painter. With no use of her arms. You can see the painter in front of her. It's the wise men on the road to follow the star all painted with a paintbrush in her mouth. I can't even imagine how hard that would be. But it's quite an amazing feeding. If you see some of her art you will see that it took quite a Brilliance to do what she did but what she understood was when God recognize when she recognized the god understood her. She began to be a wounded healer. She began to be someone who experienced pain went through pain, but decided to let God work all things together for good because she loved him now. She wanted his purpose in her life and she began to find new purpose and new meaning and it took her places. She never dreamed she would be able to go with better than she'd ever dreamed possible.

But she never would have thought it would have come by becoming a quadriplegic. It's amazing that even the deepest hurt and pain we experience in life. God can say I'm going to use that you're going to bless others lives and you're going to understand what being blessed really means when you do that when you share yes and you heal and you go through many times. We need someone that is experienced something like us to experience healing we had that in Jesus and he can use you to be that as well. The message translation translates the Hebrews 4:15 this way and I thought it just had an interesting ring to it. It says we don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He has been through weakness and testing experience it all all The Descent. I like that. It's capturing the meaning behind it in the idea that Jesus was is not someone who's out of touch with our reality. He knows what's going on. He knows what weakness is he knows what testing is he's experienced at all yet. He was without sin and when we live our lives in him, we become Victorious as well. We can actually overcome sin in this life not just waiting for the future because when we allow Jesus in us when we recognize his full potential his full Sozo healing as we're going through this process, we can become a whole new creation something so much more beautiful than we ever understood. He continues this verse to get that last verse 16 in so let's walk right up to him and get what he is. So ready to give take the mercy accept the help other translation and say that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to accept help in time of need this idea that yes, we might be Sinners. Yes, we may have messed up. Yes. We are damaged good, but we can come boldly. That's not timidly like, I'm not good enough. I can't come anybody ever been timid to go maybe turn something into a teacher or take something your parent you were worried. It wouldn't be acceptable that it wasn't quite good enough and you're so concerned that you have this timidity. That shouldn't be our relationship with Jesus because Jesus is our high priest because he understands what you been through because he has overcome we can walk right up and we can go boldly to his throne. We can go to him in prayer and say okay here. I am gone. Take me. I want your mercy. I need your help bring me your Sozo healing Transform Me continue that work you begun in me make me like you that should be our prayer. I believe the fact that God not only knows and cares but fully understands is the most therapeutic factor in the healing of our damaged emotions when we feel damaged and we recognize we've got problems. I find it very very comforting at least for me to know that I have a high priest a high priest and a Heavenly sanctuary in heaven right now pleading for me. One, who knows when I'm tempted the says he's going through this right now. Would you help him give him that way of Escape? We're told there's no attempt no temptation. So great that God Will Make A Way of Escape he knows and he's got all the angels of heaven. It is dispatch. Will you let him help you? Will you let him change you that's my prayer that's close with her father in Heaven Lord. What a thing it is to spend a thoughtful hour contemplating what you've done contemplating the pain you went through. So when we go through pain or we contemplate the pain we have gone through in the past the pain of rejection the pain of whatever it maybe we can understand that you understand and we can know that we have an advocate. We have one that is there for us. The one that pleads for our case, even when we when we don't know how to put words to that prayer. We're told that the holy spirit will help us even know how to say it how to deal with it that you can remove those Temptations. Oh Lord. We want your change. We want your healing we want that Sozo would you do it for us now help us to override feelings and no by faith that you are a God who cannot lie a god? What is infinite in Love full of mercy and wants to give it to his now? May we believe it in faith and be transformed because of that faith. Thank you, Jesus. We praise your name. Amen. Happy Sabbath.