The Church of Eleven22 - It Is Well - Worship is War: Wk 2

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

What do you do when God does not answer your prayers the way you hoped, or when He does not explain Himself at all? From Horatio Spafford’s heartbreaking loss that gave birth to the hymn It Is Well to Jesus’ difficult teaching in John 6, Pastor Joby Martin shows us that worship is not a warm-up or background music. Worship is war. In this message, you will see that when life presses in and the valley feels overwhelming, worship becomes the very thing that sustains us. It silences the lies of the enemy and reminds us that Jesus alone is the Bread of Life. Circumstances may never fully make sense on this side of eternity, but the gospel is enough to anchor our souls. Life is hard. God is good. Both are true at the same time. And in the tension of unanswered questions, worship is how we fight back and declare that our trust is in Him. 📣 Episode Mentions: Scripture Passage: John 6:1-69 Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin Hymns Album 📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: Peace Through Infertility and Loss - The Barber's Story  It Is Well - Worship is War: Wk 2  When God Won’t Explain Himself - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin S23E2 Worship is War Sermon Series  About The Church of Eleven22 The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here.

Amen. Amen. If you got your Bibles, then I hope you do. We're going to be in, we're going to eventually be in John chapter 6 is where I'm going to end up. John chapter 6, as you're well aware, we are in this series called worship his war. And Pastor Olson prayed a little while ago. He prayed, we serve a, we're praying to a real God that gives real peace in really hard times. Amen. And then Jared in that video, again, one of our worship leaders, he says that we don't fight supernatural means with just, with natural means. And so what God has given us as the church is that we join our voices together to say true things to God about God. And worship is war. Speaking of, I know it's already been announced,

but we have a men's worship night Sunday at 6.30. And men, we're gonna show up strong, okay? Just coming hot right after the Jags game, that's what I'm gonna do, praise God. Hopefully with a really good attitude. If you go to 422, cool, just stick around right after that. It's here, it's San Pablo, it's at Jeanne. up at St. John's. And the Bible says, Paul tells Timothy, you tell men to lift holy hands in the

sanctuary. All right. So if you're not a man, don't come. But if you are a man or want to be one, that I need to be here. Amen? You're going to be here? All right, good. Please do. Hey, listen, what an incredible week last week here at the Church of 1122. There's a lot to celebrate. We just came off of saturated. It was pretty incredible. Did you think it was incredible? Did it leak out already? Or are you still saturated? Yeah, praise God. Our total attendance was almost 75,000 people saturated this year. Praise God for that. The people that joined us around the country and around the world to worship live with us were 334,000 people around the world online worship with us.

Pretty incredible. 2.5 million people this week have watched saturated since it happened all over the place. That's right. And then even more exciting. 348 people surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Praise God. And 866 people went public and professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and displayed that publicly through water baptism.

Man. So it was an incredible week. And then simultaneously it's been a really hard week, right? I mean, again, I mentioned it last week, but I'm going to keep mentioning it because I can. that poor Ukrainian girl stabbed to death by that demonic killer. It's all over the news. Two school shootings. And what's crazy, you don't even really hear about that

because obviously the news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk has just swallowed up everything. And then the response. You know, some people ask me, Pastor, do you think things are getting better or getting worse? I just think they're getting more clear. I think things are polarizing. Like one of the things you see is you see these prayer vigils on college campuses all over the place.

I mean, people that were at frat parties two weeks ago are now lighting candles and singing an amazing grace, man. You know what I mean? So they're responding with prayer. And then other people are celebrating his death. Or they just immediately go, you have this tragedy. But in highlighting their disagreements, man, listen. But in America, people flooded to church. So you realize that?

Last weekend was one of the highest attendance of children. church in the history of our country. That's just true. And in the midst of it, we are in this series called Worship is War. It's not like I made this up last Wednesday. We've been praying about this for a year. And the reason that I say that Worship is War in case you missed last week, actually, there's no way you miss last week. Everybody's ever been to 1122 came last week. Holy moly. Worship is war because worship is all about ascribing glory to God. That's what we do. We all get together and we say, he is worth it.

Then the Bible says we become what we worship. So a part of the reason that worship is war is because if we are going to be molded in the image and likeness of Christ, the Romans chapter 8, part of the way we do that is we join together. We lift our voice up to the one true God and God mold us into the thing that we worship. Secondly, a part of the reason that worship is war is because pride got the devil kicked out of heaven. and when we worship together, what we're doing is saying, it's not about me. We're not singing about me. We're not singing to me.

We're singing to God. And it is a reminder to the devil of hell that he can go back because he does not get to sit on that throne, that Christ sits on the throne. And then one day he's going to come and take us home and we get to be seated with him on the throne. Worship is war. And we're going to take a hard left turn. And so what do you do when you don't feel? like worshiping. When you don't feel like singing,

when you don't feel like lifting your hands, what do you do? Well, here's what you do. You worship your way through it. You see, worship is like eating. You just got to have it to live. And you know this. Sometimes things happen in your life

and it takes your appetite away and you don't feel like eating because you're sad or you're anxious or you're struggling, right? You know what I'm talking about? You don't feel like eating, but what do you have to do? You have to eat or you won't survive. Worship is like that. Worship is like food to our soul. So sometimes, especially when you don't want to, what we have to do is worship our way through it.

Man, this little verse in John chapter before, my wife Gretchen pointed out to me one time. We were writing letters to our compassion kids. and there's this verse in John chapter 4 Jesus is talking to the woman at the well in Samaria and the disciples go to get some food and when they come back and they talk to Jesus and they're like hey you need some food boss and he's like no I'm good

I've got a food that you don't even know about it was the presence of God that would sustain him that's what worship is worship is like nourishment to our very own soul but if you ever found yourself in the place where you're just overwhelmed and you don't feel like worshiping. You ever been there?

Well, I got some really good news, man. If that's you, then you're in really good company. And you don't have to fake it. I mean, the Bible is full of real people with real emotions, going through some really hard stuff. But we serve a real God

that gives real peace and really hard times. If there are times in your life where it's not going your way and you don't feel like just lifting your hands, in good company. Psalm 13. The psalma says, how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? I mean, you ever pray and pray and pray and it didn't feel like God's answering? Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you don't answer. And by night, I find no rest. Before Jesus ever quotes that on the cross, David prays that in the secret place. And the God of the universe is like, David, it's really good. Jock that down. There's going to be some other people that need to pray that prayer. How big part of what the Psalms do is they give words to the emotion of the heart.

nowhere does God scold somebody for their feelings you see this Psalm 42 I've told you this the Bible book stores ruined this Psalm and little campy songs have ruined this Psalm as the deer pants for flowing streams this isn't a cute idea at all as the deer pants

for flowing streams I've told you before the only reason a deer would pant is because something like me is trying to kill it chasing it. It's on the run. It's panicked. It feels like the world is closing in around it. It says, as the deer pants for flowing stream,

so pants my soul for you, oh God, my soul thirst for God for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night. Ever been there? While they say to me all the day long, where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul how I would go to the throng and lead them in possession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise.

I remember some happy days at church God. I'm just not in one right now. A multitude keeping festival. Why? And then here's what happens. In every one of these Psalms, these are called Psalms of Lament. And in every single one of those, the psalmist doesn't fake it. the psalmist brings

they bring his real self to a real God because it really matters and then eventually in every one of these Psalms of lament what begins to happen is he quits listening to himself and he starts talking to himself and so he starts talking to his soul

why are you cast down oh my soul and why are you in turmoil within me you see instead of the circumstances being the loudest voice in his life, he says praise is going to be the loudest voice of my life, whether I feel like it or not. Because feelings are a gift from God so that we can navigate this thing called life, but feelings make a terrible Lord of your life. And so he begins to stop listening to himself and he starts

to talk to himself. And the psalmist is talking to his soul when he feels like God is a million miles away and he looks at his soul and he says soul hope in god for i shall again praise him my salvation and my god so what do you do when you're in tough times you're in really really good company you ever been there our hymn writer has been there as you've heard about four times now we're going to look at this old hymn written in the 1800s it was written in it began to be written in 1873 It was written by a guy named Horatio Spafford. He was a successful, wealthy lawyer from Chicago. See, God can save anybody, a lawyer from Chicago.

Can you believe that? And if you're from Chicago, welcome. I'm glad you're here. But there's a reason you don't live there. Amen? All right. So in the 1800s, man, he's crushing it. Everything's up until the right.

everything's going good. Every decision he makes turns to gold. And so he's got so much money. He doesn't know what to do with it. And so Chicago was growing and growing and growing, especially downtown. And so he invests almost everything he has. He invest in real estate downtown. It's going great.

Also, he had a friend from the YMCA, before it was a basketball league, and it was actually like a Christian missions organization. He had a friend named D.L.L. Moody, Dwight L. Moody. and they were good buddies and they would pray together and D. L. Moody came to Chicago and did a big revival. And D.L. Moody was a traveling evangelist

all over the world. D.L. Moody was like the Billy Graham of his day. In fact, if you trace the salvation history of Billy Graham, D. L. Moody is like Billy Graham's great, great spiritual grandfather. Like a guy got saved at one of D.L. Moody's crusades.

and then he became a traveling evangelist, and then a guy got saved at that, he becomes a traveling evangelist, and then Dr. Billy Graham got saved it at one of his events. And so this rich guy, Horatio Spafford, he was what theologians would call a gospel patron of D.L. Moody. I don't know if you ever thought about this,

but every time there's a great move of God, there's always a bunch of like angel investors behind them and they only get credit in heaven but when somebody like billy graham is traveling around the world and renting out stadiums and proclaiming the gospels the millions of people there's some people that are paying the bill well as d l moody was traveling around at this point europe our guy spafford was paying the bill there's a book called gospel patrons i would love for you to read it and it says this the pattern of history is is that God raises up preachers and patrons to work together to spread his word. Some will speak and others will support, but both are partners in the gospel.

So before we dive into it, listen, man, be a gospel patron of the work of God. And be a gospel patron of the work of 1122. Good job, man. You're a generous church. But you individually don't get credit for sitting next to a generous person. I hope you realize that. You know? And so the fact that 2.5 million people this week tuned in to hear the gospel from the church of 1122, every single time you bring your first and best, then you partner with what God is doing in and through this church.

And then also out in the lobby, at all of our lobbies, we have one of our ministry partners called CFR. And what they do is, man, I don't know anything about banking. I'm the worst person to like do a promo for this. Here's all I know is that you can invest your money with them, with redact. returns and all that crap, and they leverage all of that to fund and help give loans to ministries and partner with churches and ministries so that the gospel can advance. We partnered with them to gain access to the retreat center. That's how that thing works.

So you Spaffords in the room, go see him on the way out. Take some of you, honestly, man, if you're with the bigs in the nation, you might want to see with the things that they support and maybe park some of that cash in somebody that loves Jesus and is trying to advance. Amen? All right, do that, yeah. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. So, all right, so anyway, back to Horatio. So he's a gospel patron of D.L. Moody. All right. So they planned this extended vacation for their family. And they were going to get on some boats and they were going to head over to Europe and they were going to travel Europe with D.L. Moody and be a part of his crusades and see people come to the Lord. I mean, it's going to be great, right? And you would think

this guy loves God this guy's involved in his church this guy's bringing in evangelist to the city of Chicago this guy's funding the biggest known preacher in the known world at that point and you would think that somehow he would have

a kind of under the table deal with God that God would take care of him and protect him, right? Yes, it's just not how it works in 1871 these great fires break out in Chicago and a whole lot of Horatio Spafford's stuff gets burnt to the ground. By the time they're ready to go on this trip in 1873 to go see D.L. Moody,

right as they're about to board the boat, Horatio finds out that he's got some business to do back in Chicago with the rebuilding of Chicago. So he says to his family, all right, you guys go ahead, y'all have fun. I'm going to catch up with you in a little while. And so he sends his wife, Anna, and their four daughters. And I want to read you the names because when you hear these stories, you kind of feel make-believe because it's so long ago. This is, here's his four little girls.

He had an 11-year-old little girl named Annie, a 9-year-old little girl named Maggie, a 5-year-old little girl named Bessie, and a 2-year-old little daughter named Tanetta. And they get on this boat, and I can't say the name because it's French. Can you imagine me speaking French? Gretchen and I listened to Google speak about a hundred times that I can't say it. I don't know what it is. And on November 21st, they collided in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with another boat, the lock earned. There were 380 passengers on their boat. A little over 250 of them perished.

Anna, Horatio's wife, clings to a piece of floating wreckage. Their daughters don't make it. A guy on the other vessel sees. sees Anna floating by, scoops her up, she's saved, they take her to Wales. She sends a telegram back to Chicago to her husband after losing her four babies. And it simply says, saved alone, what shall I do? Horatio immediately jumps on a boat. He's going to go to be with his wife.

When they get to near the place where the captain of his boat believes the wreck happened, It was the middle of the night. He wakes him up. Horatio Spafford wakes up and he says, the captain says, somewhere, this is about the place where your children perish. And in that moment he pins these words, when peace like a river attendeth my way. When sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Any parents in the room? How do you write that, right? How do you write that? How do you get there? Now, again, I've told you this 10,000 times. We can't imagine it because new mercies come in the morning, and we don't have the mercies that God, God has not given us the mercies for something like that, and he won't until we need it. That's why you can't imagine it. But how in the world does somebody say, something like that. It is well. Doesn't feel well. It's not actually well, but it is well with my soul. This is why we're going to go to John chapter six. Another way I would say this is what do you do when

God doesn't do what you think he ought to do. I know you're not supposed to say that in church, but don't worry about it. You ever been there? John chapter six is a very, very, very long chapter. 71 verses. That's a lot. It starts out great. It starts out really great. Well, it's great on the surface. The crowds are growing. They get up to 5,000 men. The Bible only counts men. You know, just because whatever's old. So there could be, like if everybody's got a date and a kid, man, that's 15,000 people. Pastor math, that's like 35,000. I don't know how many of it is. It's a lot. The problem is is that they're following after Jesus for signs, not a savior. They're not saying, how can we serve you? They're saying, here's what you could do to serve us. And so they get hungry,

because it happens. And then a big miracle, you've heard about this, Jesus feeds the 5,000. Just a little bit of fish, a little bit of bread. There's 12 baskets full leftovers. It's pretty awesome. Then as the crowds are getting huge, Jesus is like, all right, I'm over this.

I think Jesus was an introvert maybe. He needed his alone time. He goes to be alone for a while. And then he sends the boys in a boat. He's like, y'all head across the Sea of Galilee, and I'm going to catch up. And he literally catch up. He walks on the water.

So you've got two miracles back to back to back. Everybody wakes up from their like, you know, trip to fan. that, you know, like you do at Thanksgiving, the next day, and then Jesus is on the other side. So they go a long way around. When they get around, they realize how did Jesus already get here? He walked on the water. You got two miracles back to back.

Now, if you're in ministry, if you're working for Jesus at this point, you think we have made a wonderful career decision. Because those nets ain't doing nothing. I mean, we look at the crowds, man. This thing's going great. We're stacking up miracles. People are following us wherever we are. We just had high-attended Sunday.

let's go. Pastor Matt Carter talked about this a few weeks ago. Often the dark night of the soul comes after some pretty good days. Ever notice that? By the time you get to about verse 26, Jesus looks at the crowd and he's going to thin it out. Jesus says, you guys aren't following me for me, but you're following you for you, right? And the people say, well, what must we do? And Jesus says, here's what you must do, believe. And the people go, show us a sign. It's, still smells like fish and bread from the previous day. You realize that? Like people still got fresh crumbs under their fingernails from the miracle the day before. And then the people say, well, listen, Moses gave his people bread, man from heaven, to prove that he was from God.

So what kind of bread can you give us? That's the setup. You get to verse 35. And I got to go quick. He says this. And Jesus said to them, so Jesus, Jesus, you can tell he's a little bit agitated already. because people trying to use them for their own benefit. They're trying to fill their bellies instead of their souls. They're just following around the crowd because that's the cool thing to do. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. He said, you don't need gifts, you need me.

You see, the thing that Moses gave them, actually God gave them. And they needed a refill every single day. But when you come to me, I am going to fill that place in your life. your life forever and ever and ever. I'm the only one that can fully finally satisfy. Verse 36, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. That means you can't lose your salvation. Okay. By the way, he's very reformed in his theology. I don't know if that bothers you or not, but that's why I am. Verse 38, for I have come down from heaven

not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father. You want to know what God's will for your life is? Here it is. That everyone who looks on the son and believes in him

should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. God's will for your life is that you would believe in Jesus and be saved. That's God's will. That's what he says. verse 41 in the Jews by the way this doesn't just mean all the Jewish people these are like the Jewish leaders okay and the Jews grumbled murmured you know why because they didn't get what they wanted they wanted a sign they wanted their bellies to be full and so the Jews grumbled about him instead of believing why because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven and they said is this not Jesus the son of

Joseph, whose father and mother we know, how does he now say, I have come down from heaven? And so Jesus is about to call the herd. He's about to draw a line in the sand and see who's with him for him and who's following him for themselves. And Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. it is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Do you realize what Jesus is saying? You cannot say that you believe and follow God the Father and simultaneously reject God the Son.

Very scandalous these days, is it not? Verse 46. Not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God. Jesus is saying except me He has seen the Father Verse 47 truly truly I say to you whoever believes has eternal life

The Greek word for believe there is not believe that it means to believe in It's the Greek word Pistuo It means to believe to trust to commit your whole life into Whoever trust Pistuo believe has eternal life

And he says I am the bread of life This is one of the seven I am statements of the gospel of John. I am is the covenant name of God in the Old Testament. Anybody that you've ever seen some idiot on YouTube saying, well, Jesus never claimed to be God, they're just, they're dumb. They're honestly dumb. They should stick to coloring books because this is too advanced for them.

Seven is the number of completion. Seven times in the gospel of John. Jesus is saying, Yahweh is God's covenant name. Yahweh, the bread of life. Yahweh living water Yahweh the way the truth and the life and no one gets to Yahweh except through me this is what he does over and over and over

I am the resurrection in life he just does it over and over and over and he says your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die I am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread

he will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. This is just straight gospel. So what he's talking about is he's saying, I'm going to give up my flesh for you. I am going to die and go to the cross for you. I'm going to take your sins upon me. I'm going to nail them to the cross.

I'm going to push up all my nail-pierced feet. I'm going to yell, it is finished. And whoever would believe when I died on the cross it counted for you, you will receive the right to be called a child of God. That's what he says. And it just goes, yon, right over their heads, man.

Because they heard flesh, and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They're like, when flesh, did he say fish? Maybe he said fish. We got 12 baskets left over. Is that what he said? That he's going to make it worse.

I mean, because these people are thinking, listen man we're Jewish we can't even eat pork there's no chance we can eat the prophet like what is he talking about now what I want you to see here is Jesus is not going to explain anything this is why I'm using this passage he's not going to explain anything he's just going to double down on it why because we are saved by grace through faith not through explanation I cannot explain you into heaven even the demons believe but they don't they haven't surrendered their life to Jesus. You get this? Theologically, the demons are perfect and they're enemies of God. And here's what's crazy. This is going to hurt your American sensibilities. God owes you no explanation.

And we owe him belief and worship. That's just true, man. All right, so Jesus is going to make it worse. This is what he does. He's not a good preacher if the goal is crowds. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you had no life in you. And they're like, what? Then he makes it worse. Whoever feeds on my flesh. Like to eat is one thing, but feed reminds me of the walking dead. It's like, ah, y, y, y, you know?

He's like, yeah, you've got to get into this. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I and him as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father. So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread the Father's ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Copern. him. And then this is just, I don't know, this, this will freak you out. Look at verse 60. And when many of his disciples heard it, did you know there is such a thing as a false disciple? Somebody that does not believe, does not trust Jesus for their salvation, but they're just going with the flow because they think it works for them. And when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it? this is why I want to look at this passage it's not so much the teachings of Jesus for us that are

I mean they're they're very hard to enact in our life but they're not that hard to like understand you know you ever had a situation in your life and you're like well this is this is hard and I don't understand God I don't understand why you would allow this or cause this or whatever it is. I don't even know the difference. Did you cause it or did you allow it? Now listen, if I was a disciple, listen, I know me. I'm type A, I'm driven, I'm very goal-oriented. I would have been counting. I'm like, what did you do? But we have five thousand men in the house. Let's go. And then when Jesus started going, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me. And when they started leaving, I'd be like, oh, somebody did something.

This isn't going good. Tell you what, I'm going to. take over. That's what I like to do. Hey, Jesus, why hold? You, you seem tired. Hey, guys, we're going to do an intermission in the teaching. The Messiah is a little tired. Remember, he walked here on the water. Remember that. So we're going to hand out some snacks. We've got 12 baskets left over from the previous miracle. And while you're snacking, let me just explain, I'm from the future. Let me explain what's going to happen. He doesn't actually mean you got to come up here and bite him on the tricep. There's this thing called communion. And it points us to the gospel.

So what he actually means, hold on Jesus, what it actually means is without the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, if you don't put your faith in the crucified resurrected Jesus, you have no part with me. We're not cannibals. We're Christians. All right. They're yours. That's what I would want to do.

Okay? He doesn't explain anything. Verse 61, but Jesus, knowing in himself that the disciples were going. grumbling about this, he said to them, do you take offense at this? They're like, uh-huh. Then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? That's going to happen in Matthew 28. What's really crazy is there some people that see that and don't believe. He says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit in life, but there are some of you who don't believe. For Jesus knew from the

beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. Here's what he's saying, man. Your feelings and even your limited understanding make a terrible God. That God is God. And he calls us to trust him even when we can't wrap our little piece size mind around it. Verse 65 and he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father. So, again, I, even though I study the Bible, and I have degrees in this stuff, I will never be able to fully,

I can't talk into heaven, and I can't explain the hurtaway of your circumstances. You just got to trust God. And then this is kind of, it's just kind of icky. I don't know how this worked out this way. Verse 666 says this. many of his disciples turn back and no longer walk with him. And Jesus doesn't go after him.

Jesus doesn't run. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, come. Just hang in here for like two and a half more years and I'll be back. And it'll make a ton of sense. He doesn't explain himself. He doesn't go after him. And again, he could have. We're going to close our service with communion.

We're actually going to do what he said to do. We're going to take the body and take the blood and we're going to remember not just that Jesus died but when he says it is finished it still counts for us for those who believe that's what we're going to do and he he doesn't go and explain it in the crowd that trusted their belly and didn't believe the son of God they begin to walk away I've seen a lot of people walk away because God didn't do what they thought he ought to do and he didn't explain himself. And then Jesus turns to the 12.

These are the apostles. This is like Peter, James, John, these are these guys. Andrew, these are these guys. And he asks a question. Do you want to go away as well? Do you think Jesus just asked rando questions? Think he doesn't know? In Mark chapter 2 and John chapter 9,

all throughout the Gospels, we find out that people think something and Jesus knows what you think. So you better check yourself up in here in church, thinking negative thoughts about the preaching and stuff. Jesus knows, man. He says, do you want to leave too? Because they're thinking, this doesn't make any sense. I mean, man, I left my dad's fishing business to do what?

This thing looks like it's going to fail. And I don't know about eating blood or eating flesh and drinking blood. Like, I just don't know. So again, let's be honest. And I know church is no place to be honest, but you can be honest here. You ever been there? You ever had some kid pain? What are you doing, God?

I raised that joker in kids' ministry, and I prayed the prayers, and I had the Jesus storybook Bible, and I did the things. And the guy said, if you train them up and the way they should go, when they're old, they will not depart from you, and they've departed from you, and they departed from me. God, I thought I did my part. Are you going to do your part? Have you ever been there? or get divorced, and I know nobody's perfect, but this one wasn't your fault, man.

I know nobody's perfect, but you stood in an altar and you promised I'm going to leave my father and mother and I'm going to cleave only to you. And you were, you were faithful, you cleaved only. And they broke your heart and they lied to you. And now it's jacked up everything, man. You got so much in there about your ex, and then you've got to try to act like you don't when you're talking to your children because you're talking about their mom or dad.

You ever been there? Are you got some, like, legitimate, the people that you were serving God with. You got, like, legitimate church hurt. Now, I don't mean like you stumped your toe on a hymnal and then called that church hurt and then left. That's not what I'm talking about. But the people that were supposed to shepherd you didn't.

Or sickness or infertility? I've told you before. I'm just going to admit. this is the one that bothers me the most or the one I have the hardest time getting my heart around as the pastor of this thing, man. I just know so many godly couples like the one we put on the video. I mean, Jared's a worship leader, right? I know this isn't how it works, but doesn't your mind kind of go like, all right,

he gave us whole life to ministry. Can you just slide them a baby? I mean, for real, like, they're going to do good with it. They're going to raise it here. That kid might take over the thing. How did the worst people get babies? And the best people don't get babies. And you pray and you pray and you believe and you pray.

Or like Rebecca talked about several weeks ago when we did the Jesus in your mental health, depression. And you feel the way that you don't want to feel. And you've prayed. I mean, you've done steps. You've read her book. You've went to counts. You know, you've done all the things like, Lord, can you? Come on.

I'm not even for a miracle. I'm just asking, can you get me out of the ditch just to like minimally okay? You pray and you pray. What do you do when God does not do what you want him to do? And Jesus walks up on Peter because, you know, he's going to talk first, he's going to talk most. It's a little bit of a speculation. I know the Bible says he asks the 12, I think he's looking at Peter and he's like, yo, Rocky, you want to leave two?

because he wants to walk he's considering it Peter's answer is an anchor for my soul and Peter says Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life

I don't think this is a quick answer I think most of the time Peter's like oh I'll go I don't think this one was it I think Peter looks around and evaluates the situation I think Peter understands Jesus if I walk away from you I got to walk to something else and nothing else in this world offers what you offer. I have no idea what you're

talking about with this flesh and blood stuff. But if I go somewhere else, it doesn't offer eternal life. Listen, I've been doing this thing what I'm doing now professionally for like 33 years. I cannot tell you the number of people that I have seen walk away from Jesus because they didn't get what they wanted and then they went looking for it and they still didn't find what they were looking for. And if and when they returned, they just came back. Dirty, beat up bruise, scarred, and full of regret. And yet Jesus still takes them back. So what do you do, man? When he doesn't do what you want him to do, where are you going to go? He says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Verse 69, and we have believed and have come to know that you

are the Holy One of God. I want you to see here that belief precedes knowledge. Believe and come to know. So what do you do with your unanswered questions? What do you do with your doubts? What do you do with your unanswered prayers? This is what you do? You pick them up and you just follow after Jesus. Because he is the one that offers eternal life. Horatio Spafford is on a boat. He's heading over to be with his wife as they just lost their four little girls. And he does what Peter does. And he says this, when peace like a river attendeth my way. And when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, this is not a natural response.

The Spirit of God's got to teach you this. It is well, it is well with my soul. And then in this song, it is rooted in the gospel. This is one of the things that I see the hymn writers do over and over and over, that they always rooted in the gospel. my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul. Here's what the song is teaching us. When God doesn't do what you think he ought to do, don't look at your circumstances to see if God loves you, but you better fix your eyes on the cross. because God has demonstrated his love for us in this while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. And then one of the things the hymn writers do is they hardly ever finish the hymn on earth.

You ever notice that? They always talk about the hope of glory when we get there one day, when he's going to be reunited with those little girls. And Lord haste the day when faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. Here's what he's saying is that this world does not have the last word.

That the author of eternity has the last word. It reminds me of a very famous verse in Philippians chapter four. Do not be anxious about anything. But by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, make you a request known to God and the God of peace that transcends understanding. ESV says surpasses. I like transcends better.

And the peace of God that does not make sense on paper. Does that make sense? It's going to guard your heart and your mind in Christ, Jesus. Anybody want that kind of peace? You ever met somebody like that? You ever met somebody like that? We've got a lady on the second row right there, Lisa.

She's a widow. She lost her husband. he died on a motorcycle a few years ago. Anybody who has a right to be bitter at God? Dude, he's a godly man. He's at church. He's helping Ben Williams and some missions thing in like Nicaragua. That's what he spent his free time doing.

If anybody's got an excuse to be bitter at God, it's that chick right there, you know what she does? She's singing, I raise the hallelujah with two hands in the air, man. Keith Kelly, Keith and Tammy Kelly, they sit over here on Sunday morning where y'all are. He just retired, though, and got him a real nice place in Palacca. So he attends down there now, but he'll sit right over there, and they lost their 14-year-old son in a freak car accident.

And they sing with their hands up. You go, how in the heck, man? How? It's because the God of peace that doesn't make sense on paper gave them a peace that transcends my understanding and your understanding. And the king of the universe is standing guard at their mind and at their heart. and that's how you do it. This is what Horatio Spaffer does.

So how do you do this? Here's how you do this. You believe in Jesus more than you believe in your circumstances. I ain't trying to steal my man's story, but when Pastor Britt lost his mama when he was a teenager in high school, he's standing at the back of the funeral parlor for the viewing. It's rough, right? He's like a, I don't know, sophomore in high school or something.

And his daddy stands next to him, puts his arm. around his little boy. And he says, life is hard and God is good. If you deny either one of those, you're going to be in rough shape. You got me? Life is hard. Nobody is denying that life isn't hard, man. Tears are to be shed.

We mourn, but we don't mourn as those without hope. Because whatever the situation is, it doesn't get the last word. You ever seen this in action? This is going to give me a couple more emails. We just send them all. I don't care. Yeah, man. I got some mad Charlie Kirk emails last week. Seriously, I'm praying for you.

I'm praying for you hard. Gretchen sent me Erica Kirk's address to the nation. And I think it hit different because you sent it as a wife and a mom of a guy that stands on stage and says some stuff that some people don't agree with. Now, I'm not afraid. I don't know if you know. I just don't do fear. So whatever.

bring it on but I'd be real sad to leave mine behind for their sake you understand and you see this lady Erica Kirk just no chat can't even read her words and I'm not related to the guy get it and she stands up and this is not the script she would write and she says two days ago my husband charlie went to see the face of his savior and his god Charlie always said that when he was gone He wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith. And one of the final conversations that he had on this earth, my husband witnessed for his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his Savior's side

wearing the glorious crown of a martyr. Just put my cards on the table. She's using the right word. A martyr for the gospel. You can agree with him or disagree with him. He probably shared the gospel. with more college kids in the last five years than any human being on the planet.

Then she says, this next section is the, it is well with my soul part. She says, I mean the mom of a couple of kids, she says, I will never ever have the words to describe the loss that I feel in my heart. I honestly have no idea what any of this means. I know that God does, but I don't. But Charlie, I know you do too.

I know you do. So it is our Lord. And our world is filled with evil, but our God, you guys, our God is so good. He's so incredibly good. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. And then she shared the gospel. on national television, 48 hours after somebody shot her husband in the neck with a high-powered rifle, she says, and for anyone who would believe that when Jesus Christ died on the cross,

if they put their faith in him, that your sins will be forgiven and then you will be saved. How do you say that? How do you do that? Here's how you do that. Here's how Horatio Spafford did it. here's how Erica Kirk is making it is because you believe and trust God even more than your own circumstances. And so how does you say God is good? Because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

What do you do when you don't understand? The number one example of evil in our world that God used for his own glory is the cross. The disciples standing at the foot of Galgotha are looking at God going, what are you doing? God, have you lost control? and he's taking the most evil thing that has ever happened in the history of man a perfectly innocent man is wrongfully accused and wrongly killed and God uses that for the redemption of anybody that would believe and so we're going to do what John 6 says some of you are walking through it man

this is the perfect time for us to celebrate communion if our I don't know what we call our people our hand or outer people would hand out the communion I don't feel like we have us I feel like you have to have khakis to have ushers. What do we have? What do we call them? Do we have a name? Somebody should get on that. We should make up a name for you people. When Jesus says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, he's talking about the gospel.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he sits down with the disciples, the 12 disciples in the upper room. And they're celebrating the Passover meal, so they all, for their entire lives, they have been preparing for this, and they didn't even know it. And the Passover meal hearkened back to God, saving his people out of slavery and bondage in Egypt, and rescuing them and taking them to the promised land. And he sent ten different plagues to defeat ten of the gods in Egypt. And then Pharaoh thought he was God. And so the tenth plague that he sent was called the plague of the firstborn.

And Moses warned him And God says to Moses, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go and I want you to take the blood of a lamb. So you got to shed the blood of a lamb, a spotless, innocent lamb. And I want you to take that blood and take a hiss up branch and I want you to put it on the doorpost of your house.

Okay? And tonight, you're going to cook a meal. And the reason we have unleavened bread is he was basically saying, listen, you have to sleep with your tennis shoes on because you're going to leave quick tomorrow morning. So you don't have time for the bread to rise. And you're going to eat this meal. And tonight, the angel of death is going to fly over.

And whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house, the angel of death will pass over. And whoever does not have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their house, their firstborn will be taken. Well, sure enough, God is faithful to His Word. And the angel of death passes over. kills every firstborn, including the pharaohs. And the Pharaoh says, get out of here.

And they get to the Red Sea, and God parts the Red Sea. And Moses and the people of God cross over on dry ground. And then God tells Moses, you remember this. Every year you remember this Exodus. And so every year ingrained into the ethos of the disciples, they have celebrated this. And then on the night Jesus would be betrayed, he sits at the table, And they're, like they're real traditional. They're supposed to say traditional Moses, Exodus stuff.

And the Bible says that Jesus breaks the bread. And he says, this is my body broken for you. And the disciples are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, it's not. I mean, you're not saying the right words. You're supposed to tell about Exodus and lambs and plagues and pharaohs. And Jesus is saying, yeah, that, Remember what my cousin John said? When he said, behold, the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world.

That Passover Lamb was actually a foreshadowing of me. I am the Lamb of God. And they have no idea what he's talking about. But the next day, when he's hanging, beaten, and bruised, and battered and broken on a cross, then it begins to make sense to them. That he was shed. He was sacrificed. that his body was broken, that he was pierced for our transgressions,

that when the people of Israel were a slave nation to Egypt, the lamb paid the price on their behalf. And Jesus says, that's what I'm doing for you. He says, this is my body broken for you. As often as you eat of it, you should do so in remembrance of me. Go ahead and partate. And then at the end of the meal, he held up the cup. and they're like, what is he going to say now?

I mean, he's breaking all the rules, and he holds up the cup, and he says, this is my blood. And it's obviously not his, I mean, it's not his blood. His blood's in his body at this point. It's wine in a cup. And he says, this is the cup of the new covenant. And by the way, covenant and testament mean the same thing. So the old covenant was a covenant of law. And the new covenant or the New Testament is a covenant of grace.

the Bible says that Moses brought the law and Jesus brought grace and in the Garden of Gassimony Jesus says Father if there be any other way let this cup pass from me is the cup of the wrath of God stored up against the sins all the sins of all mankind not my will but your will be done and he goes to the cross and this is the greatest exchange you'll ever be offered in your life and because Jesus drank of the cup of the wrath of God you and I are invited to drink of the cup of the grace of God. And he says, whenever you drink of this, you do so in remembrance of me,

but it's not just remember that an event happened. The reason that I think Jesus gives us communion is for us to once again participate in a covenant that we were brought into at some point in our life. When Gretchen and I celebrate our anniversary, we don't just remember, oh yeah, 25 years ago, I said, I do. The celebration, the remembrance of that. anniversary is that vow is more true now than it has ever, ever been. And when you drink of the cup of the grace of God, what you are saying is the grace that saved me whenever I put my faith in Jesus

sustains me today. And I remember and fully participate in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, as often as you drink of this cup, you do so in remembrance of me. And then the Bible says that when the early church would celebrate communion, they would do two things. They would sing a hymn and they would pray. So I would invite you to all stand. Let me pray for you and then we will respond. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I thank you for the broken body, the shed blood of Jesus. As a constant reminder that life is hard.

Life is so hard it sent you to a cross. and God is good that though you were buried you did not stay in that tomb but you were resurrected from the grave and God when life is hard when things are not going our way when we pray and we pray and we pray

and we don't understand why you're not doing it our way God will just be reminded Lord if the tomb is empty anything as possible and that your love for us is not primarily demonstrated in our current circumstances your love for us is demonstrated once and for all at the cross of Jesus Christ.

So God, when it's hard, we can run to you, and when it's good, we can run to you. And God, you are a God who cares and knows and even bleeds and has scars because of your great love for us. And so, God, we pray to Jesus, not some foreign entity, but a God who became a man

that has suffered every temptation that we have and knows exactly what we are going through. And because he has been resurrected, we can be too. We pray this in Jesus' name. So we're going to sing, we're going to bring, and we're going to pray. Some of you like Horatio Spafford are called to be gospel patrons. We all are. If you're a follower of Jesus, then we partner with the move of God

for the advancement of the gospel. That's a part of what we do when we bring our first and best. It's an act of worship. And we sing, and obviously we're going to sing it as well as a prayer. Campuses all over the places, including prisons, man. Guys, I wish I could take you into the prisons when we sing it as well. It just hits different. And we're going to sing.

And we're going to pray. In Philippians, when Paul says, be anxious for nothing. Four different ways, he just says pray. He says be anxious through nothing, but by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, make your request known to God. And some of you are walking through it in your own life. It's not just a national ordeal for you. It is a very personal thing. And I would invite you to sprint down here, get on your face, and tell your soul, it is well with my soul.

Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.