Pete McKenzie 0:01
It’s really great to be together again, right? We’ve been, we’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, we’re gonna get to start meeting on Wednesday, this coming Wednesday, the next Wednesday. And we’re looking forward to that to up in Fullerton. And you know, I’m always asking God, what do you want me to share with the guys and message from your heart to my heart to their heart. And this week, and every week has its own news breaks and things that are happening around the world and you just wonder what next is coming out of the White House or Congress or what’s happening in every sphere of influence in power in the country. And, you know, one of the reasons that we need to talk about this subject today and I want to talk to you about faith, because we’ve been put in a place of being fearful, you know, man is basically fundamentally fearful. And Jesus says, In this world, you will have tribulation, trouble, heartache, disease, pandemics, hurricanes, floods, snowstorms, and Houston. And so, take heart though I’ve overcome the world. You know, our biggest challenge, through all of life in general and in through what we’re dealing with in America today, politically, and pandemic Lee and all the other ladies that we’re dealing with, is that you keep a perspective that you keep a godly perspective that you keep your eyes focused on the real deal. I was talking to a guy this week, I had a chance to play golf with Derek and Jeff over here, and they showed me how to hit a golf ball after all these 70 years of trying. And and I was talking to one of their guys, and he’s involved with links ministry, which is a wonderful ministry, it’s it’s with they’re under Derek’s leadership, there’s a lynx Bible study in every country club in Orange County. Guys, it’ll never go to church, but they’re coming to a Bible study at their country club. And one of the guys said, Man, now he was bemoaning the fact that, you know, I was a five handicap and now I’m 11 handicap and all this relational golf is killing my handicap. And I said, Well, here’s a little thought for you. The greatest danger in your life is not that you’re going to fail at something you think is important, but you’ll succeed at things that really don’t matter. He says that’s a good point. We got to keep our eyes on what really matters, don’t we? Because there’s a lot of things out there that they’re alarming. Maybe their fear fear mongers out there. But we don’t have to be fearful Isaiah 4110. Jesus says, Do not fear starts it out. You look, Jesus says you’re gonna have tribulation. Isaiah 4110 says, Do not fear. Jesus says you’re gonna have trouble in this world. Because it’s a fallen world, a sinful world. In the last days, men will be lovers of self and lovers of money and boastful, arrogant pride, for irreconcilable disobedient to their parents. Having a form of godliness but denying its power. It’s what you’re going to be living in. You’re going to be living around men like that. Make sure you’re not that kind of man. Stay away from those kind of man. So Matter of fact, he said, so do not fear. You know why? Cuz I am with you. Everywhere you go, Susan left, but Jesus is still here. And so he’s never gonna leave. Every every relationship, every loving relationship will end in pain except one. That’d be my relationship with Christ. So we have to keep those things in mind. Don’t anxiously look about you. Why? Because I’m your God, I am with you, and I am your God. Now, what’s your concept of God? That’s the important thing? Is God good? Is God sovereign? Is God with you all the time? Will he never leave you or forsake you? Says he won’t. says don’t anxiously look about you. That means you’re looking for answers in other places other than him. Don’t be looking for answers in politics. They got no answers, no answers to the human soul, no answer for peace, no answer for joy, no answer for all the things that matter in life that are good for health and happy happiness and
joy that we just heard him sing about. I will now here’s now when God says that you can take it to the bank, I will strengthen you. I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. So if God’s is promising, that’s a promise you can take it home. You can count on it. He never goes against his promise. He always keeps his word he’s got he always knows the future. Do you know the future? I heard a guy say, not long ago. He says if I want to plan out three weeks, he says that can be pretty firm. If I want to plan out three months, that’s a maybe if I want to plan out three years, that’s fiction. What we can count on is things being uncertain. What we can count on is not knowing the future, not knowing what’s going to happen next. I mean, the things that are happening right now we can’t believe are happening. So what do you think the future holds more stuff we can’t believe is happening. But it is. Now I’m glad I don’t know about your God. But my God’s not up there biting his fingernails going, I wonder what’s going to happen next. He knows what’s going to happen next. Matter of fact, he allows he may not have planned it, but he allows it. And he allows it for good reason. I’ll oppose you with my righteous right here in the hand that sturdy and strong and cannot can be shaken but not shaken out. The hand that can hold you can keep you can encourage you strengthen you help you no matter what you’re going through. Hebrews 1112, if we’re going to define faith, faith is the assurance now assurance means confirmation. Now we’re saved by grace through faith. Grace, unmerited favor. Faith has an object. And so face object can salvation is Jesus Christ. We’re saved by grace through faith. It’s not of ourselves. It’s a gift of God, not a result of work. So no man can brag about it. So we have to be rooted in faith. But it starts with grace it Oh, the doors open by grace. And then we walk through it by faith. And faith. Again, it has an object, the object of our faith is Christ. So we have assurance, confirmation, that means I’m sure I’m confident I’m certain of this. You know, one of the things that the devil wants you and me to do is a doubt. He wants us to doubt whether God’s really real or not, he wants us to doubt. And you know, when we doubt the most is when bad things hard things difficult things happen. When we have heartbreak and loss. Then we start wandering and doubting sometimes when when my when my granddaughter’s grandmother died, that would be Susan. She said 1000s of people were praying, and she still died. The devil wants to come along and say, See, God’s not real. God can’t be counted on his promises he can’t keep. Why did he tell us to pray and then he let her die? Well, you know, spend, spend a lot of time and mostly Assayas, and it’ll November the first Oswald’s chambers answered the question, the first thing God does is to get us grounded on strong reality and truth, strong reality and truth, what is really real? And what’s the truth? what’s real and what’s false. You have to be able to discern between the two. And you can only do that if you’re a man of the word. If you’ve been in God’s word and studied God’s word and heard God’s word, preached and meditated and memorized on God’s word, you can know the difference in truth and error. Light and Darkness right and wrong, strong reality and truth. He does this, until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission with his way for the purpose of his redemption. So what God is trying to do in our lives as well saying is he’s trying to form and shape us into what he wants us to be and into his truth. We’re called into intimacy with the gospel. And things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. In other words, we had no control over it. Things happen, the God puts things in and God takes out things out. But it’s his purpose of redemption that he’s after. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Now there’s a kind of trick Question.
You had your heart broken? Why shouldn’t you? You’re in a fallen world. You know, God didn’t say in Isaiah 41, we just looked at I will uphold you with your righteous right hand if he was going to take all the pain away and all the challenges away and all the difficulties away. He didn’t do that. He lets us go through and he lets us experience the heartbreak of the loss, the difficulties, the wounds. Why does he do that? To strengthen us, to build us to make us rock hard to establish our faith on the rock, to get us in touch with a real reality and truth. Why shouldn’t we go through heartbreak? through those doorways, God is opening up ways of fellowship with his son. Nobody prays more than when you’re in heartbreak, when you’re in difficulty in trouble when the hard things are happening. At least that’s been my experience. I pray more than those days guys open up doors of intimacy with himself through heartbreak and hurt pain. I wish it wasn’t true. But that’s the way it is. And if we accept that, and it’s important that we accept the things that God puts in and takes out of our lives. We’ll talk about accept more in a minute. Most of us collapse it the first grip of pain, we sit down at the door of God’s purpose, and enter a slow death through self pity. And all the so called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed, but God will not. He comes with a grip with a pierced hand. I love that phrase. Imagine it. He comes with a grip of the pierced hand. That means he comes with a hand it’s been suffered. It’s gone through heartbreak and separation from his father and pain, being accused falsely spit on mocked, laughed at, humiliated. He comes with a grip of that hand, this gone through all that. He can also the grip of the pierced hand of his son and says enter into fellowship with me. arise in shy if God can accomplish His purposes in the world through a broken heart. And thank him for breaking your heart. When’s the last time you thanked him for the thing he had to love that he took out thing you didn’t want that he put in? When’s the last time you said Thank You, Lord. See, only the guy that wants to be conformed and shaped into his image is going to do that. Only the guy that wants to become like Christ. And that’s the end game of everything we do. discipleship, we talk a lot about discipleship, what’s the point? Why study the Bible? Why make Jesus Lord of your life? Why spend time and having quiet times and having devotional life? Why memorize verses? Why fill in the blank in your Bible study? Why read the books? Why do you do all that? To build the inner man. Because the outer man is fast in a way but the inner man is eternal, to make you mature in Christ, so that when the heartbreak say Thank You, Lord, now you may have to work to get there I did. You may have to do a little porn out to God before you can say thank you God for taking my loved one away or whatever your experience is. But that’s where you want to end up. That’s the deep water stuff. That’s not the shallow water where you don’t need water wings. That’s a deep water maturity in Christ. And that’s what God has called us to thank him for breaking your heart. And that’s where faith is I talked to a young man whose wife is going through this challenge right now. In God has taught me things to challenge through childbirth, and they’re having some issues with that. And I had the opportunity to share with him. My experience that most of you if you’ve been around five minutes in this group, you’ve heard these stories, but I always come back to them because it was life changing new watershed moments in my life. Like you have when God teaches you the hard things, the difficult things that you have to go through to exercise faith, to trust him anyway. And so I’m in the father’s waiting room and you recall this. And my wife and my son’s life are hanging in Amman born son’s life and hanging in the balance. And I’m in there and I’m praying God I pray Susan to be okay and I pray the baby be okay. And I’m praying that about five or 10 minutes. Now said God, that’s all I got. I don’t know what else to pray. He said Well, let me ask you a question. How much control do you have over what’s going on in there?
Have you ever Mandela To be in, not in control. We like to be able to call the shots. We want to know what’s happening before we take a step. We want to be in control. But I realized I had no control, there are certain things you just don’t have control over. I didn’t, I had no control over what was going to happen with Susan and the baby. That’s why I was praying. And that’s what I told God. He said, Well, if that’s the case, and I’m in control, then would you purpose in your heart? to praise me no matter what happens to Susan in the baby? You mean, if they doubt I praise you? He didn’t answer that one. Because I knew the answer to that question. Would you purpose in your heart to praise me? No matter what you guys, that’s what we’re talking about. When we talk about faith. We’re talking about Yes, my god good and sovereign debts, he had my best interest in mind. Does he really truly love me. And his loving may mean, he’s gonna keep me from experiencing pain and difficulty and trouble. No. But he has a purpose in it. Just like he has a purpose in this pandemic. He has a purpose in everything that’s going on, we can grumble and complain. And we just become useful idiots with the devil. When we do that. Instead of trusting that God knows what’s going on, he’s in charge, I can trust him. There’ll be an endgame here, in the end game is going to be to deliver us from evil. And that’s what he does. And that’s what he wants to do. The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. So if you have weak faith, that’s normal. But if you want to have strong faith, take that next thing, that thing you’re going through right now. And thank God for work through it, fight through it. get to that place where you could say, God, you’re in control. God, you’re my god, god, you’re trying to shape and mold me after your image. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give to give his life a ransom for many. Christ makes us acceptable. Before God, faith makes us great. before God. I love that quote. Let me scroll it again. Christ makes us acceptable before God. Faith makes us great. before God. First Corinthians 1613 starts with Be on your guard. Are you on your guard? Are you alert? The first thing you think of when the traffic light stops you and you’re in a big hurry? Thank you, God for stopping me at this traffic by. I’m sure that’s the last time you did that. That’s what you did. Be on your guard stand? Are you standing or falling? Stand firm in the faith. See what we need today as men that are standing firm in the faith. I can’t we got no time today for lollygag for want to be Christians for guys that as long as the seed that fell among this shallow soil, and has sprung up quickly, but when the persecution, the hardship, the difficulty came and died away. And what we’re going to see in the last days, and everybody keeps talking about last days, because all that’s going on, and I believe we are in the last days have been for the last 2000 years. But what people talk about what the scripture talks about it in the last days, people will fall away from the faith. There’ll be a mass exodus out. And one of the reasons is because we’re going to have to pay a price for our faith. It’s going to cost us It has Christians for the last 2000 years. There’s been persecution and they’ve had their heads cut off. They’ve had been their arms and legs tied to horses and torn apart. They’ve had their children fed to wild animals. There’s been persecution in every Christian generation. More people died because of communism and because they were Christians and not friends of communism in the 20th century than any other than all the other centuries combined. And we gotten a pretty good start in the 21st and set new records. Why shouldn’t God let us be persecuted? Why shouldn’t we go through that hardship?
Are you prepared? Are you ready? Is your faith on solid ground? Are you standing firm In the FE act like men. Now that’s a controversial question today. What is what is a man? But it wasn’t controversial when he wrote this. And I’m not confused about it, I hope you’re not. Act like men be strong, do everything and love. See, we’re so over challenged in this Christian life that it just makes you want to laugh sometimes. See, you know, that guy that just slapped your cheek, he just humiliated you what he said, turn the other cheek. Well, that’s a high standard. Bless those who persecute you. That’s a high standard. Love those who don’t love you and don’t wish you will. That’s a pretty high standard. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I can do it. But I’m crucified with Christ. So I no longer live Christ lives in me. thing that brought me to Christ is not being able to be Christian. When I thought I was, I couldn’t keep the rules, couldn’t do it. Didn’t want to do it. And finally I got became this desperate man and Christianity is a rescue effort for desperate man. Family, I got to the point where I just thought, I’m giving up on this stuff. I’m frustrated, I read Bobby Richardson store a Christian ballplayer. He said, for the first time in my life, I began to realize I could be a professional baseball player and an uncompromising Christian at the same time. And I said, that’s my problem. I compromise. Things I know I should do. I don’t do things I know I shouldn’t do I really love doing, Richard man that I am who saved me from the body of this death. God, I know, I’m not the person who created me to be I’m not the man. But I want to be would you make me that man. I’ve been spending the last 55 years trying to learn to be crucified with Christ, trying to live up to this high standard that he has that I cannot live up to its Christ in you the hope of glory. You can’t love your wife the way she deserves to be loved and needs to be loved. You can’t do it. Christ in you has to do it. Christ can love her. And that’s the deal I made with God. One time I said, God, I can’t love Susan the way she deserves to be loved. He’s a wonderful person and wonderful wife. I’m shooting my mouth off in all these marriage classes, and I can’t even back it up. But if she was married to you, she’d be married to the perfect husband, who understood her who took her seriously. who cared about her is a person and a woman. So here’s the deal. I made a deal with God. I’m making myself available for you to love my wife through me. The way you love me. You love me no matter what. You love me in all circumstances, you never stop loving me. You never stop serving me. I can quench your spirit but you never leave. And I’m going to close this. These few thoughts with when we were going through the deal with Susan with a brain tumor and all that. I was writing caringbridge any you guys follow that caringbridge during those days, and I would make a post every day or three or four. And just to let people know it’s a website that you can get on and you can if you want to keep up with someone who’s going through a extended illness. Then you can read how they’re doing on the website. Just plug in and it alerts you every time a new post comes. Anyway, they tell me that’s how it worked. I was oblivious to at that time. Anyway, this is my journal entry on July the 20th. This was 14 days before she died. I wanted to get this journal entry out last Friday, but things have been a little hectic around here the last few days Please forgive me. We have found that to approach life in a fallen world with all its complexities, mysteries conundrums, paradoxes, bruises, heartbreaks crisis in pain, it’s imperative to have a simple faith and a shepherd that is absolutely trustworthy. The word simple means not hard to understand or do not complex or fancy.
When we got the news that cancer had spread all over Susan’s brain a couple of weeks ago, I asked God for passage to prepare us before we heard it. He directed me to Psalm 131, one and two which says, oh, Lord, our hearts are not proud. Nor are I Saudi. Nor do we involve ourselves in great matters. Are things too difficult for us? Surely we have composed and quieted ourselves. Well, what I’m about to share comes from the place God has kept us throughout this whole ordeal, place of simple faith that here’s God saying Oswald Chambers devotional, as we regard his mastery and lordship over our lives are require extreme service from you. With no complaining on your part, and no explanation. Oh, my. This is how we understand simple faith and lordship that is God that has a God who knows us. Who cares about us, who’s intimately involved in all that happens to us, and who has Almighty God who can do anything to us through us and for us? The question we faced after finding that cancer was all over Susan’s brain was where do we go from here? We were referred to an excellent neuro oncologist at UCI Cancer Center to discuss your options. So last Thursday, the 13th Susan, our oldest son Chris and I met with Dr. Botha. After showing us the MRI that pictured how extensive the cancer was in her brain, she asked how aggressively we wanted to treat this cancer. And I asked her Was it me and she said aggressively, to aggressively attack the cancer, we’d have to do surgery on Susan and that would be putting a port in the top of her skull, where chemo would be inserted into her brain five times every other week. The prognosis would not be clear at that start. On rare occasions when it worked, it could give a patient a year or two. At the same time, it may not have any effect at all on the cancer in which case that stopped their procedure. Keeping in mind that from this medical perspective, the effort would not be to cure the problem. Only God can do that. But to extend her life as long as possible, while giving her the best quality of life is we can. The second option is to do nothing. As far as medical treatment goes and allow the disease to take its course in her body. I asked her to give us a prognosis as to how long Susan might last if we did nothing. She said, Well, I’m not God, and I’m not certain. But I’d say a month or two. She went on to say that she also needed an answer that day as to which way we wanted to go. Because we decided to attack the key. If we decide to attack the cancer aggressively show it put Susan in the hospital that day, and do surgery to install the port the next morning. We had no time to lose because she said the spirit of cancer was spreading like mold on bread in her brain. While she left us alone to discuss these options, I prayed before we talk that God would lead us in this surreal decision that we were about to make and give us unity and making it we discuss this for about 15 or 20 minutes each of us sharing our thoughts as it should be. After Susan shared her thoughts and feelings a decision was made. In considering this scenario over the years as Susan and I’ve seen others go through this. She has emphatically stated that she never wanted to use her art method methods and measures to save her life, especially when the verdict was already in as far as modern medical science can determine. So our decision was to do nothing and leave the final result to God in His good plan for Susan’s life. Simple faith. As soon as we made this decision, we all had supernatural peace that this was a path God designed for us to travel. There was even a joy and relief that accompanied the peace that is unexplainable apart from the presence of our comforting Holy Spirit. One of the special blessings in this is we all that all of our children and grandchildren around here to word is able to be with Susan to help encourage and to be encouraged which are what they are when they see her sweet spirit and attractive, joyful attitude and possible, positive attitude.
In the middle of one of the worst scenarios a family could go through God’s grace surrounds us and we’re resting in his strength and shepherds care. Our oldest son Chris and his beautiful family of five from Scotland are here until August 5. Our youngest son Patrick and his three year old are here a lot and our daughter Jenny lives 10 minutes away with her family. Last weekend, we were all on the back patio. Enjoying a time that is all too rare just being together in one place has been glorious in such a blessing to Susan in May. So we might say that in a way, it’s the best of times, in the worst of times. I’m not trying to think too much about the future and how it will unfold. Our wonderful are the wonderful past with Susan, which has been glorious for over 50 years of marriage and full of such different emotions. So I’m just focusing on the matter at hand, being the her MVP caregiver sticking with simple Fe. She is also under hospice care, who do an amazing and wonderful service to help and support pantsuits and families in our situation. In my Bs, where’s God, and Shepherd in all this, he’s right here with us and around us with attending angels, both human and otherwise. And he is great, the great Shepherd Shepherd in our hearts giving grace for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Shepherd doesn’t drive us, he leads us. He knows we are helpless with no power or plan. So he comes to us in our great hour of need in so many ways. Susan is so looking forward to seeing Jesus face to face and has a joy in her eyes when we talk about that. So Matter of fact, we were sitting out on the patio a few days before she died, and we were just having a quiet breakfast together. It was a magic moment. And I just said, No, she said, I am so disappointed. And I said Why? She says because I thought I’d wake up with Jesus today and here I am with you. I said I’m not gonna take that like it sounds. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever faced watching her slowly slip away. But I’ve always found that whatever God has called me to in any given day, His grace and strength is always sufficient for the task. He’s my shepherd. He’ll never let me down. He says that in Psalm 23. The Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not know. He makes us slide down in green pastures. He leads us beside quiet, peaceful streams. He renews and restores ourselves. He guides us in paths of righteousness for his namesake. So even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we can fear no evil. For God, our Shepherd is with us, his rod of correction, rescuing and comforting us. He prepares the table before us in the presence of our enemies. He has anointed our heads with a wall and our cup overflows. Surely his great goodness in tender mercies in loving kindness will follow us all the days of our lives. And our great hope and joy is that we know that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. One of Susan’s favorite hymns was of simple faith, have that own way Lord, have their own way. Though out there, Potter, I am the clay, Mo me and make me after your will, while I am waiting, yielded and still have that own way, Lord, have that own way. Hold over my being absolute sway field with the spirit. So all can see Christ always only living in me. Thanks for your care and concern and prayers. Guys, what we’ve learned is you’re going to have faith, you gotta let go. Who you praise me, no matter what that’s saying, you have to just let go of it. And God comes in comforts and gives strength and faith. But as long as you’re holding on and you’re anxiously looking about you, you cannot have peace. You won’t have freedom. You cannot find joy. But when you let go, that’s saying, God, I’m trusting you. I’m giving it to you. Then God comes and all the power that he comes through the Holy Spirit. And he makes men of God for such a time as this. And that’s what we need. We don’t need namby pamby guys at wonder and hope and doubt. We need men who are standing firm in the faith. They’re acting like men. They’re standing strong.
And they’re not confused about who they are, why they’re here, where they’re going or how they’re going to get there. They’re men of faith, simple faith. So I want to challenge you this morning. I don’t know what it is you’re going through. Some of you I know what you’re going through. But I don’t know what you’re going through. But God does. I don’t know what you need, but God does. If you want at you can have it but you’re going to have to get it through faith, trusting him believing in him. Your whole concept of God is the foundation of everything worth living for, in faith in him. So I’m going to pray for you and me this morning. Let’s go to prayer. Father, thank you for the time that we’re spending together today. Thank you for giving us faith. It’s a gift. Help us to let go of that thing that’s causing us to be fearful and anxious, and to praise you and to give you glory through the way that we live and how we respond to all lives. heartbreaks. Lord, we don’t ask for heartbreaks but when they come, you’ll be you uphold us with your righteous right hand and they will come help us to glorify you and I’m in Jesus name And all God’s men said amen, give’m heaven guys
Transcribed by https://otter.ai