Live Faithfully, and Pursue Wisdom in Perplexing Times

(2 Corinthians 4:5-18)

By Ethan Long

This morning we have somebody who's a very close friend of the church, very close friend of mine. We're excited that Ethan long is back to preach. It's been a little while since we've had you here, I think, but we're excited that you're back.

We even got a meal together for you today. So pick the right week for that. So, Ethan, come up and share the word of God with us.

Good morning. It's good to be here. I was his head and stuff like that before this.

And I'm not saying I'm Paul. Okay, just to be clear, I'm not up here going to be like, I'm Paul, yo, I'm awesome. I'm not saying that.

But if you notice when Paul writes to so many different churches and he talks about having visited them or I'm going to visit them or even talks about please send somebody to me, a Christian fellow laborer, he talks about how encouraging that is to him and you see it and it ripples out in his letters. He is encouraged by other fellow Christians. And I was thinking, man, it's exciting to come here to Northridge and see a lot of faces.

I know some faces I don't know. And to know you guys are serving the lord and it is encouraging to come here. And I was saying that to one of my kids like, well, dad, you're the one who's going to preach.

You're encouraging them. Well, maybe hopefully I'm sharing the bible with them. I'm sharing them God's word.

Hopefully that's encouraging or challenging to them, but they're encouraging to me. And I just thank you guys for having us today, having our family as your guests and being an encouragement to us. So hopefully I can return the favor today as we dig into God's word.

So let's pray and then we'll jump into it. Lord, thank you for this opportunity just to open your word with these people today. Lord, please help it to be something that is valuable to them because it's your word, because it's not mine.

If it was just mine, then it wouldn't be of value to them and they should go about their business. But let it be your word. Help me to speak truthfully and carefully and in a way that you desire today, lord, and help us to be open and receptive to it, to apply it to our lives.

In your name I pray. Amen. All right.

Make sure I got the right direction. Okay. All right.

Live faithfully and pursue wisdom in perplexing times. Our title today, who has been perplexed in their life? Well, yes, thank you. Okay.

I thought I might have people like I'm not going to raise my hand because I don't want to admit that I've ever been perplexed. But a few weeks ago I was very perplexed. I was working on my van.

We got a new van. To us has things that need worked on. You've probably been there before and the back air conditioner.

The blower. Well, at least I thought it was a blower wasn't working. And so I was replacing parts.

And then a few weeks ago, I was like, okay, I'm going to take however long it takes. I'm going to get this thing fixed. So I started ripping out parts and replacing my parts because I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

But I was just this part. I'll try replacing that, see if that works. So I'm setting down to begin.

And I had done this before as a kid on a different vehicle. And it was really easy. You pull out a few bolts or screws and you just pop in the blower and snaps in and you're done.

And I was looking at mine. It's like, oh man, I'm going to have to take apart a lot of stuff to get to it. You've been there working on cars.

Like, you don't understand why they made it so complicated to replace one thing sometimes. So I'm thinking, man, I don't want this to take all day. Spoilers.

It took all day, but I don't want it to take all day. So I go to the greatest resource of education, YouTube University, pull out my phone, find a video. And lo and behold, there's this guy.

He's working on the same van the same year, the same model. And he's removing the air conditioner in the title. It's how to remove the rear blower unit without damaging it.

Like, yes, I want to take most of this apart so I can replace some things. Fantastic. So I jump right in and I start watching the video.

I got a lot of rusted stuff, busted stuff like under the van I got to take out and stuff like that to be able to remove everything. And it's taken me a while. My son comes out and helps.

He I'm sure vividly remembers this as I tortured him was a great sport. And so we're working on it, and he's holding things for me. And maybe halfway through the video or whatever and stuff like that, he had to go back in to eat or something like that.

I don't know. And I just keep working. And then I'm near the end.

There isn't much the video left. I'm like, well, okay, well, it must be just about done here. So I complete like, step 24 or whatever, take the stuff off, and then it doesn't come loose.

I'm like, okay, well, it's got to be one more step. So I get on YouTube there, and I slide it over just a little bit more. And then the video switches over.

And it's this guy. And everything's gone. It's like, wait, I skipped this step or something like that.

So I back it up. I'm like, step 21 or whatever. And I just play it.

And I turn up the audio and it goes to this scene. And it's like the van is empty. The unit is gone.

And he plops down this sauce and it's like, look, don't got any idea what I'm doing. I decide I don't care about keeping the thing because I'm just gutting this thing anyways. And if you're doing the same thing as me, which is converting it into some sort of camper, you don't care either.

So I just cut it out. I've been following your instructions for who knows how long with all this busted stuff and working to make sure like and then you just cut it out. Like did I just waste my entire afternoon or day or whatever, stuff like that.

Oh man. So I'm like frustrated, depressed a little bit. Just wasted all this time.

What a waste. And then of course there's Ethan. Why don't you watch the video first? That's a great question.

That is a great question. Why didn't you watch the end of the video? Why didn't you get like the complete picture? And sometimes in life we end up in scenarios like that where the event happens and then I need answer quick reaction. And you don't have one yet, so you latch onto something, whether it be good or bad, and you respond and it blows up in your face like this.

I wasted a ton of time. So spoilers. I got on there, I used my brain.

I actually looked at stuff and like, okay, this would make sense, this would make sense. This here was a waste of my time. Didn't need to take that off.

Eventually figured out, replaced a million things. It works now. Yay.

But I wasted all the time. If I had only sought some wisdom instead of putting my faith in something. This guy who fine guy, whatever, but he did not help me in my situation because I wasn't thinking ahead here.

So today that's how I want to challenge you is to search for wisdom in perplexing times, but have faith in the meantime. This makes me feel old. I'm like looking up there like, wow, that is really tiny.

Oh man. So I'm going to read it off here I think. Or maybe I'll read up there first.

Corinthians says, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord and ourselves. You bond servants for Jesus's sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. But we all have the treasure in earth and vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

We are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed.

Always carrying about in the body and the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus's sake. That the life of Jesus who may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

All right, so our first point here today, our lives are this way, so we can live for Jesus and let a preach Christ. A little bit of context to what we just read before we dive into it. Paul here is writing a letter to the Corinthian Church, and here he's giving like a missionary update.

If you're kind of familiar with the know, missionary comes to church like, hey, here's how it's been going. Here's some things that happened here's the goals of my ministry and stuff like that. And he writes them and he encourages them and moshes them about some things.

But here it's like, here's how it's going for us, not just him, he's with some others, and he says, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. So we as a group, they're preaching, and they're making sure as they are preaching that they are preaching Christ, which sounds simple at first, but there's a lot of ways that could go wrong. I mean, Paul is performing miracles mean he's getting quite the falling.

He can make it about himself. And we can do the same thing. If you teach a class, a formal class, in any sort of setting, you can make it about yourself.

I've had teachers that way. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything like that, but I'm talking with them years later, like, yeah, I was kind of making about myself. I really enjoy getting up there and talking and having fun and cracking jokes and stuff like that.

You could do that, but most of us probably won't have that situation. We'll have many opportunities of teaching, but not everyone is like upfront teaching at times, but there's all sorts of times where we're teaching, whether you're a father, a mother, an older brother, an older sister, whether you're in a church together with someone, whether you're at work, whether you're talking to your neighbor. You have all these opportunities, these formal, informal, some hybrid in between things where we have opportunities to preach something and we can talk all about ourselves in our football team, or you could preach something eternal, something that would actually matter to people.

And Paul, as he is communicating, is like, okay, I'm going to tell you all these hard things that are happening. But our goal in all these hard things is to make sure we are preaching Christ. We're going to preach the gospel.

We're going to preach what Christ commanded us to do. So my first challenge for you is to make sure that you are preaching Christ, whatever your situation may be. In Paul's situation was very difficult and very hard.

With lots of trials, you will face difficulty and trials depending on your stage of life, that might seem very nebulous out there. It might be very real for you today. I don't know what's going on within your life today, but oftentimes we come to church and we have some crazy hard thing going on.

Then we sit down like, I gotta pay attention to a service when I'm like breaking on the inside. You know what, that's understandable and that's okay. Paul talks about how things are difficult for him, how hard things are for him.

It's okay for things to be difficult, but I encourage you, through those hard times as we talk today, make sure you are preaching Christ. Our next point here, maybe. There we go.

All right. Serve Christ. We'll read here a little bit.

There be a serve Christ and ourselves, your bond servants for Jesus' sake. For is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

So Paul here, as he's talking about serving, how they are serving Christ and how they are trying to make sure the thing they show as they serve is Christ and not themselves. And this could be in a direct way, obviously, as we talked about preaching, but it can show up in all sorts of other ways. They're at my work, just the nature of my work.

There are guys where it's difficult to continuously talk well, repetitively talk to them. That sounds bad. Like I can talk to him one day and then I might not see him the next week.

There's so many employees at my work and stuff like that. If I'm doing my job, I probably won't see someone often. So there is this guy, I won't say his name in case he ends up listening because I told him I was doing today.

But if he is, this is an awesome plus for you. Is this a compliment? I was talking to him. I had seen him a few times around work.

I had heard some of the things he said, but I had not had like an in depth conversation. Been like, hey, hi. Hey, do you need this? Things like that.

And I'd heard him more in depth talk to other people in group conversations, but never a personal conversation. I was listening something to work at something at work the other day, and he pulls up and like, Are you a Christian? And I can't remember it was a podcast of some sort. I was listening to him like, oh yeah.

And he's like, well, what's that about? So I tell him we have this conversation, stuff like that. I ask him, you go to church? Stuff like that. And he's a Christian.

Fantastic. And he says to me, yeah, I'm not sure if I just got saved recently or not, but he was watching some Christian movie and it moved him and it challenged him. And if he didn't get saved, then he says, I recommitted myself to Lord.

So I don't know if I was honest years and years ago, but he hadn't been walking with the Lord, sounds like at least for a time anyways. And talking to him, it was obvious to me you're a Christian? Because I heard you listening to that. But I really struggled to do anything, even like, listening to something at work, because I'm afraid someone will come up to me and be like, are you a Christian? Like, wow, this is a really honest and transparent guy.

I don't even really know the guy. Be honest. It's tough for me to even think about sharing the gospel or admitting I'm a Christian.

It's like if somebody asked me, I'm not going to lie, that'd be wrong. But it's just hard for me to share it with people. It's like, you know what? I can identify.

It is hard at times, it really is. But the thing I wanted to highlight, though, with him, and it's a compliment to him, I was like 99% sure he was a Christian. He never mentioned God, which you should.

He never shared the gospel with anyone that I saw or I didn't see him with the Bible, but there was just something different about him. The way he acted, his kindness was just stuck out like a good sore thumb at work. You're different.

And I've had that with other people at work. And if I don't notice that about someone, it doesn't mean they're not saved. They're not a great person.

But sometimes maybe you've had that before, just something different about that guy. In this sea of people who don't care about God at all, you're a little different. And without even him mentioning God, there's something different about you.

The way you handle yourself, your love for other people, it shows. And I had that suspicion. I told him, I was like, really? Yeah, I noticed.

Even that seemed like that was encouraging to him, and it was an encouraging testimony to me. It's like, even if you're not necessarily directly sharing the gospel, you can still have opportunities you're serving to make an impact for people. And obviously you should be preaching directly as well, but it should show up in our service.

And Paul here says they are doing this in their earthen vessels, talking about their bodies, and they are imperfect and they are infallible, and they are serving God so that people see Christ in them. And that might be in how you open a door, treat somebody at work. It might be how you share some truth from Scripture with them as well.

Tuning on here to our next point. I don't know where to point right now. Okay, there we go.

Suffer for Christ, verse eight here. Paul says, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We'll take these as he says them.

He is hard pressed. I don't have, like, a specific life example here where physically I've been hard pressed upon, except maybe like, my kids all tackling me at the same time and piling on top of me or something like that. And I'm getting enough kids where that's quite a bit of weight.

Now. I was thinking about it a few days ago, like, oh, this might be a good example. I can get up, but it's getting a little bit harder because they weigh more and they're more of them and stuff.

He's feeling hard pressed. They're feeling hard pressed. And this could mean a whole lot of things.

If you get into commentators about this, there's lots of is he talking about this moment that happened at this point in time? And stuff like that. Maybe he is. Maybe he's talking about some others, but he's hard pressed on every side.

So the idea is like, it's hard and it's hard everywhere. There's no, like, I'll just back up and take a breath and it'll be easy or something like that, and I'm still doing the right thing. Now, it's hard from every direction, but he's not crushed.

They are not crushed. They're still doing what they're supposed to be doing. You may be dealing with something that is incredibly difficult, but keep doing what you should for Christ.

We are perplexed, but not in despair. You're going to have moments in your life, or at least you should, if you're paying any attention. No offense, not saying you're dumb, but everyone should be perplexed at some point in their life.

There should be something you're like, man, this is hard to figure it out, and hopefully you try and figure it out. Now Paul here, he is perplexed and he's not confessing, I'm a sinner, I'm perplexed. I don't know or understand.

He's not saying that. It's just like there's something I don't understand. Now, is this God's telling Paul what's right? Paul writes some of the scripture.

I'm not unsure what I understood there. We see that with the Twelve. They went out and preached, and I'm not sure what I said.

Like, I know the words, but I don't really fully know what I mean because the Spirit was guiding them. Maybe it's that for Paul. Maybe it's he went to preach somewhere and he thought, this is where I'm supposed to go.

And he gets there to the door, and then he gets turned away and shot off somewhere else. And like, I really thought I was supposed to go there. I don't get it.

Shares the gospel. Someone seems like they're about to get saved. They're connecting all dots and then they heel turn.

Like, what? Thought that was supposed to work out that way. All sorts of things that could be happening with Paul. He's like, I don't fully get it.

But notice, as he says, he's not despairing. He's still doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's persecuted, but not forsaken.

All these hard things are happening to me. People are being killed around me. I am being threatened, but God is still on the throne.

God is still in control. God is not abandoning me or ditching me. Struck down, but not destroyed.

I mean physically hurt. We see how Paul has been beaten at times he's been ship, wrecked. It hurts, I'll admit.

It been struck down, but I'm not destroyed. I'm still going. I'm still keeping on trucking, always carrying about in the body.

The dying of the Lord Jesus. That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus's sake.

That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So as he's suffering, as he's doing these things, he's doing it so he can be an example to others, so he can bring glory to others. He's doing it so he can preach, he can serve Christ.

So that's why he's going through this suffering. And I guess I got the time. That's right.

Sean told me I got the time. I was debating whether I'd use this illustration or not. I will.

Okay, I got time. Cool. I like having time.

It's fun. There is a show, I won't condone the show, but there's a show called The Chosen. And it's not like the show I would encourage a new Christian to watch, necessarily.

But if that's like your avenue to somehow getting into Scripture and getting to know God, fantastic. But it's an adaption theoretically, of Christ and his ministry on earth. It's interesting to watch and there's a lot of extra biblical things and stuff like that.

And this is one of those things. But I really liked it because it was a good biblical concept and it was acted out well, you could take it out and slap it in any other movie. But there's this man who happens to be one of the Twelve, and we have no idea if this is true about him at all.

It's totally added. But again, the scene is well acted. I really like it.

He has this physical deformity. He's not able to walk the way he wants to. And he sees Jesus and he's healing all these people.

Now, just like in real life, there are many people. Jesus healed many people throughout history. God has performed miracles for, but not for everybody.

You might be one of those people like, man, it'd be great if God would heal me, but he hasn't. And this character is able to directly talk to Jesus and Jesus gives Him a biblical response. Well, all these other people are here for the miracle or the food or something like that.

Maybe they're serving me. Maybe they're not genuinely serving me. You stand unique.

Look at you. Why is that guy serving him. He didn't even heal him.

Why is he still around? Must be something to this. Think about Paul here. Why are you still doing this, Paul? You're getting beaten, whipped, hurt.

He could die. Think about what you had before. This is important, of the utmost importance.

I'm still doing it in the same way in this TV show or in real life for you. You may have a physical problem or a difficulty, and you have that. And God makes it clear.

These sufferings, these trials we go through, he gives them to you so you have the opportunity to point to Him through that trial. And for some people, that might be the tipping point. Because if I see somebody rich serving God, okay, you're rich.

It's easy, right? Got the perfect family. It's easy, right? You're healthy. It's easy, right? But maybe not for the person who is suffering through some sort of terrible trial.

Oh, there's something to this. They're still doing it, and I'm not sure why. Let me dig into that.

So it might be that testimony of suffering for Christ that leads somebody to consider and look at God. All right, we're going to jump here a little bit to two Corinthians 4:16 through 18, verse 16. It says, therefore we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are seen which are not seen are eternal.

Paul points to the things that, hey, there is eternal reward. I'm going to focus on that. There is eternal blessing for people.

If I share the gospel with these people and they get saved, they have a relationship with God for eternity, not just, I made them happy for a moment because I didn't ruffle their feathers. He is focusing on eternity in the same way. We need to do the same, realizing our bodies are all going to die someday, every one of you, unless the rapture happens, your body is going to die someday.

And that's kind of a morbid thought to think about at face value. But there is hope, and he is focused on that eternal hope, that eternal weight of glory. And we need to do the same thing.

So as you're trying to preach Christ, to serve Christ, to suffer for Christ, seek eternity, and don't lose heart, don't lose hope, because there is something far greater to look forward to. Now, we're going to kind of transition here, just a smidgen here. But as we transition there, we mentioned a lot of things like you've probably heard before.

I'm supposed to preach, I'm supposed to serve, suffer for Christ, keep focused on eternity. I could stop right there, and that should be a good challenge for you guys today. But we're going to go a little bit farther, a little bit different, an angle, because those things might sound easy at first, but just some examples of trials we might go through where we might be perplexed, like a Paul or someone we're going to look here at in a second.

But we think of suffering. Maybe we think of bodily or being made fun of or something like that. But what about a divorce? Think about if your wife divorces you.

I don't want to say that. I mean, obviously, that's a terrible thought. Your wife divorces you.

How do you respond biblically to her? Your wife dies, your husband dies, your husband ditches you and leaves you. Or is a terrible husband. Should I divorce him? What does the Bible say? What should I do? Your spouse leaves you and you're left.

Wow. Should I get remarried? What does the Bible say? Oh, man, I'm struggling with lust and I'm married. What do I do? Or I'm not married.

I'm struggling with lust. Or there's someone I want to be in a relationship with. Am I even ready to be in a relationship? Am I mature enough? Could I take care of this young lady or older lady, however you want to put it? Can I be a good spouse for this guy? Am I actually ready? Or is it just a fun lustful or maybe enjoyable personal relationship? But I shouldn't be an ex.

I'm not ready. What does the Bible say? I'm a wife. Well, that sounds weird.

I'm a husband. I'll say that. It just sounds weird to say I'm a wife.

I'm a husband. Okay, what does the Bible say about how I'm supposed to be a husband in my family? It's a little late now, but I better figure it out. Or if you're a girl, you're a wife.

What kind of wife should I be when I get older? My husband wants an abortion. We didn't talk about this beforehand. What do I do? Your friend's husband wants an abortion.

What do you say to her? You're thinking about having kids? I got this question a million times. Oh, you're getting married. How many kids are you going to have? You got one kid.

How many kids are you going to have? Always get asked that question, stuff like that. I don't get that now. It's like, when are you guys going to be done having kids? Get all sorts of questions about how many kids does God have anything to say about how many kids you should have? I'm not going to answer all these questions, but these are important questions that we should get answers for, and I believe there are answers for these questions.

God has principles for this raising kids. Okay, I got the kids. How do I raise them? Or hopefully you plan ahead so that.

You're not perplexed as much when you get there about how to raise the kids, what church to go to. My job changed. I'm over here now.

I moved to take care of family. I moved for whatever reason. How I got to find a new church.

I went to my parents church forever. What's a good church? I don't know now it's a little late. Now I'm looking for one and I don't have one.

A debate with another christian or a non-christian. How do you confront someone lovingly? What's the Bible say about confronting someone lovingly? I don't know. What about death? How do I confront Death? How do I comfort somebody else who maybe is going to die very soon? We know it.

Or someone who is struggling with someone who has died. Homosexuality, transgenderism, obviously very difficult topics. Maybe not to figure out what's right and wrong, but how to interact with the world and still in a loving way.

If of these things that I listed, if not one of them struck you as like, oh yeah, that's hard. I'm not sure. I got questions about maybe this little avenue over here or something like that.

Surely. I mean, if you got a pulse today, one of those like OOH that's I mean if not, I'll come talk to you and I'll try and just get you somehow, some way, because you should be perplexed about some of these things because you are not perfect and you don't know everything. Just like Paul, of all people, Paul, who is writing scripture as God commands him, there are things that perplex him.

Nothing wrong with being perplexed, but if we just stay perplexed, well, I don't know what I'm supposed to do as a husband, Chucks. Well, I'll have you know, if you just stop there like no, that's not what God wants you, but he doesn't want you to have faith when you're perplexed. So our next point, how do I live in this situation or moment? What does it look like and what if I don't know.

And yes, your blanks are question marks because we're going to have questions. It's a nice simple for my kids. They don't have to write out some word and cram it into that space.

So a little bit of context here. We're jumping back in past here, in the past to Mark and there is this man, he has a son who is demon possessed and he loves his son and he is trying to get him help and he's heard some shape or form about Jesus's ministry. Jesus is performing miracles and right before we jump in, he has taken his son and he went to the disciples like, hey disciples, can you guys do something for him? And they've tried and they have failed and Christ will talk to them about why they fail.

But we're not going to focus on that actually today we're going to focus on his interaction with Christ. So starting here in verse 20. Then they brought him to him and when he saw him so this is Jesus, this him.

Immediately the spirit convulsed him, the son, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming at the mouth. Okay, so this mental image here is pretty intense. Like you bring your son up and he has fallen on the ground and foaming his mouth, he's rolling around and stuff like that.

Like if this happened to me today, it would be really freaky and this is happening. So he's taken him to the right place as our point. He's placed his faith in God, as you'll see in a little bit.

And we should be doing that for eternity and for all aspects of our life and we're going to see how he does here in a little bit. So he asked Jesus, asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said from childhood and often he has thrown both him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. So this son is there's debate about this a little bit, but if he is not suicidal himself trying to get to the demon, it seems more like it's the demon that is throwing him in there trying to do harm to him.

Either way this kid's life is at stake or this young man's life is at stake and he has come to Jesus says, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. If you can do anything, catch that if in there, there isn't 100% certainty. There's some amount of doubt here.

Like the guys went to his disciples and they couldn't do anything. Maybe Jesus can't either or something. He's got some sort of doubt here and we can't peer into his mind.

And the text doesn't give us every answer about what he's doubting, but there's something here that is causing him to say if. So Jesus responds and says to him, if you can believe, all things are possible. To him who believes immediately the Father, the child cried out there and said with tears, lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Quite the statement if you really think about it. And it seems like a contradictory statement.

I'm a basketball player, help me be a basketball player. What? You already are. What do you mean? I believe something about you.

I believe you can, but can you help me? Can you help me? Well, no, it should just be I believe, Lord, done. And I mean probably often we think of you have faith in God for something you're just set it's done. It should be easy.

This guy has some belief in God and there are some things he doesn't understand. And Jesus doesn't stop there and say, well, you know what, since you don't 100% believe and trust in everything and stuff like that, that's not enough. Sorry, I'll catch you later.

Get a number and come back some other time. Now, Jesus says in verse 25, when he saw when Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him, enter him no more. And the spirit cried out, convulsing him.

Greatly came out of him, and he became as one dead, so that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and arose. I'm sorry, I'm not advancing my because I can't read it up there, so I keep forgetting about it.

Apologies. So this son is healed, and if we want to, we can make the focus on that, but I want to focus on this father and his belief. Jesus says.

Okay. You believe. Well, if you believe, anything is possible.

I got some belief here, Lord. I got questions. I am perplexed about some things.

Okay, I'm going to heal your son. She got faith. We might be in a situation like that at some point in time.

We're like, man, I trust in Christ for my salvation, but I don't get this and that you might be witnessing to someone like, you know what? I do believe I'm a sinner. I believe that Christ died on the cross for my sins, but I am a hardcore evolutionist, and that doesn't make sense with Genesis. Can they be saved? Well, yeah, of course.

I'm sure there are tons of people who've gotten saved, and they're not evolutionists or creationists, really. They maybe even never thought about it. Like, yeah, I think God made it.

I don't know how I did it. Maybe you encounter someone. Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

I don't really get it at all. I don't even know heaven. I don't have no idea what heaven is like, but it sounds like it's a place I want to be and someone's going to pay for my sins so I don't have to be punished.

Okay. And they die and like, whoa, I had no idea what any this is going to be like. And that's going to be like for all of us, to be fair.

But they might not read anything hardly about heaven, have no idea. There are all sorts of truths in Scripture. You're like, man, trust in Christ for my salvation.

But homosexuality came along, and there's all these people telling me how I should react and do these things, stuff like that. I don't know what to do with it. And I've known so many people of all ages, really, as the hot new type of sin that the world comes up with, which isn't new, but it feels new to us.

They walk away right then and there. I don't get it. So these things that I do get, I'm just going to ignore them and shove them aside.

And that might be you today. It might be someone around you that you need to encourage and like, yeah, I know you don't understand, but have faith and then pursue answers. So letter B here is pray for more faith when you are perplexed.

This man here, when I say pray, you're like, he's not really praying well, he's talking to God, actually, like very directly here. In the same way, when I'm perplexed and I have struggles and have things I'm trying to figure out in life and trying to figure out what God wants me to do and looking in scripture, I might be perplexed in that time and not have the answer. So turn to the Lord in prayer.

Like, lord, I trust you. I don't get it, please help me to, but I'm going to have faith in that time. So we need to be praying for more faith when you're perplexed, much like this man who does.

That our next point here. Letter C. Purpose to make every effort to gain wisdom from God.

Now, I said it a little bit before, but if you are perplexed about something, but you don't do anything about it, yes, have faith, but don't just stay pat. Pursue wisdom in Proverbs chapter two. So jumping back here, it says, my son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.

Yes, if you cry out for discernment, lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. There's a lot of really cool wordage here to communicate just how valuable wisdom, understanding and knowledge are.

You receive it, so you accept it when it comes. You treasure my commands, something really valuable, like I'm saying of pirates, just because of treasure and stuff like that. But you value it, you fight for it.

You incline your ear to wisdom. You're trying to listen. If you're a little kid here today, listening is one of the best ways you can learn.

Just make sure you're only listening at the times that you're supposed to and sleeping when you're supposed to. I have my kids sometimes, like I'll find out they've been listening for like 3 hours a night or something like that. Weren't you supposed to be sleeping? But that's okay? Well, it's not okay, actually, they should be sleeping.

But listening is one of the best ways that you can learn if you're a child. And in the same way for an adult. Sometimes we think, you know, I'm an adult, I've learned everything.

No, you haven't. Paul hasn't, others haven't either. So incline your ear.

Be willing to listen and to learn. Apply your heart to understanding. What you care about should be about what God cares about.

God says you should pursue wisdom and understanding. So you should make that something you care about. Make it your hobby.

Somebody asks you what your hobby is, and I don't know about you, but I always think towards secular stuff. Okay. Basketball, I guess.

Okay, things like that. Your hobby should be not saying, like, you should be prideful and be like, hi, I am a great theologian. That's my hobby.

I'm a Godly Christian. That's my hobby. I'm not saying that you need to try and be prideful when somebody asks you, but if you're honest with yourself, what's your hobby? One of your Hobbies should be studying God's word, and you should enjoy doing it and want to do that.

Even when it's hard. You cry out. Yes.

If you cry out for discernment, if you're crying for something, you really want it, just ask one of my kids or my baby at the moment. You lift up your voice for understanding. You speak up for it.

Like, I got a question. Hey, I'd like to know the answer to that. That's important to me.

You seek her as silver. I mean, if you find out there is riches and money to be had, you go and you look for it. You search for her as head and treasures.

I mean, if some of you are like, Sorry, Jordan, if you're like, oh, she is back there. If you're like. My wife with maps.

Maps, not her thing. North, south, east and west, not her thing. Memorizing addresses and street names and stuff like that, that's her thing, not my thing.

So we're a good couple, but you got a map. Following a map can be hard. It can be tricky.

It could take time to find that treasure, but you're willing to put in the effort, willing to go through that struggle to get that hidden treasure. And then God says, here at the end, you do this. You seek for it like this.

You search for it like this. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Whoa.

That's quite the statement. So if I'm really honestly trying to get this stuff, god's going to help me get it. Now, this doesn't mean you're going to understand every situation ever.

He doesn't say, and then you'll know exactly everything about everyone all at once. He doesn't say that. But the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God, you'll find it.

And we can find that in His Word. And we need to be studying it. Even when it's hard.

We need to be making every effort to gain wisdom from God so that when that perplexing time comes, maybe it won't be so perplexing. Maybe you're ready to respond and you already know, I know how to respond here. And then you'll have less of those, and you can glorify God even better in those situations.

And as you grow in some situations and you gain wisdom in some situations, then maybe that other time where you don't necessarily know so much about it, but you know how to respond in the moment, to have faith in the moment until you get answers, till you can seek, in God's word how you should actually be handling that and responding. Our last point here, don't be a fool. That sounds blunt, but hey, scripture uses the word, don't be a fool.

Do life, god's way. In Psalm 119, verses 59 through 1660, I thought about my ways, says the Psalmist, and turned my feet to your testimonies. I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments.

So notice the psalmist here. He thought about God's truth. We could say the Bible.

He thought about the Bible. He knew about the Bible. He knew what he was supposed to do.

And then he turned his feet to his testimonies. So he didn't just I got lots of information. I know how I'm supposed to use information.

Like a Solomon, maybe. Solomon was very knowledgeable. Bible says that he is the wisest man, okay? He knew between right and wrong.

He asked for that a great thing to ask for. God rewards him extra for that. Yet if you know about Solomon's life, he made lots of stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid times a thousand, whatever mistakes over and over again.

Seems like a contradictory statement. Like, if he was so wise, why did he do all this stuff? Well, he knew what was right and wrong. He had gained the knowledge and the wisdom of that, but he didn't actually use it.

And how many times have we been there, been taught my entire life. My parents always said, my dad always said, mom always said, my pastor always said, my teacher always said, I read in the Bible many times I memorized verses about it. And then I got there and what did I do? Oh, I didn't actually use it.

I was a fool. So don't just learn it, which you should do. Don't just figure out what it means and how it applies to you, but then turn your feet to it and do it.

Make haste, don't delay to keep God's commandments, wherever that is in your situation, in your life. We need to do that. So I have a few questions that I would encourage you to ask yourself here as we close.

Have you been living faithfully? Now, maybe you've listened to this entire sermon like, yeah, I know all this stuff. Ethan fantastic. Great.

You're smart. I'm excited for you. But this question is something we should be asking, whether you know everything or not.

Have you been living faithfully? I know all the information. Yeah, but are you living faithfully? Do you need to be praying and asking God to help you live faithfully? Have you been pursuing wisdom because you don't know everything? Sorry, you don't? Because I don't either. And Paul doesn't.

And God makes it clear we don't know everything. How much are you actually trying to learn? Are you waiting till the moment happens which is, most of us like, oh, man, so and so is getting divorced. I better figure out about divorce now, man.

What does God say about it? It's good that you're doing that. How about you do it ahead of time? And it's easy to say that because I'm a procrastinator, too, because we're all sinners, we all procrastinate. But have you been pursuing wisdom and then with these two things, have you been praying that God would help you do it? I find myself praying for maybe wisdom and understanding about stuff.

I praise God for things. I ask God for healing or help for someone in a situation or something like that. But the direct phrase, I guess, would you help me have faith? Help me to believe.

It almost sounds like, well, if I say, help me to believe, does that mean that I'm not saved? Well, no, but there are times where we clearly show evidence where we're not truly believing God. When we say God, you say this, this is what's best. You created me, you made everything, but I'm going to do this instead.

Doesn't make any sense. And that really shows an evidence of, well, stupidity and foolishness. But you're not truly believing in some aspect of your life, what God says.

So we need to be praying for that. And the last question here, if you're not doing these things, why not? What's getting in the way? Is it entertainment? Video games, movies? Is it sports? Is it your family? I don't like saying that. I love my family.

Somehow your family getting in the way? Hopefully not. Is it your work? Is it just sloth? You're lazy? Is it oh, it's hard because, yes, I know it's hard to study the Bible, let me tell you, it is hard, but it's really fun, too. It's really enjoyable and it's really challenging, and it makes you want to rip your hair out, but at the same time, it's so rewarding.

I'm a mixed bag, but it really is. And if there's something that's keeping you from being able to answer one of these questions in the right way, in the way that God wants you to answer, and to live them out, figure out what that is and then get rid of it. Stop it.

Knock it off. I could say the same to myself because I know I'm not perfect either, right? We're going to pray, and then I think someone's going to come up and lead a song before we do communion. So I'll pray as we think about these things, lord, thank you for Your word.

Thank you that we can be challenged by the example here of Paul and of this Father, and they're showing faith during these challenging situations for them. And Lord, help us to do the same. Help us to turn aside from the cares of this world and put all care upon you that we would pursue to live faithfully in every aspect of our life, even when we're perplexed, that we would pursue answers, pursue wisdom.

We would make that our goal and our aim. And I pray if there's someone here today who maybe needs to put their faith in you for their salvation, that they would do that. And if they need to put their faith in you for all of their life, every aspect of their life, that they would do that as well.

In your name I pray Amen.