Winter of the Soul: Stay at the Table

Space, will you this moment his grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace, grace, thou bord and implants within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our standard. And for our second song we'll be singing Draw Me Close. Draw me close to you. Never let me go. I lay it all down again to hear you. Say that I'm your friend, you are my design, no one else will do. Cause nothing else could take your place to feel the warmth of your embrace. Help me find the way, bring me back to you. You're all I walk. You're all I ever needed. You're all I want. Help me know you are needed. Draw me close to you, never let me go. I lay it all down again to hear you say that I'm your friend. You are my Design no one else will do cause nothing else can take your place. To feel the warmth of your embrace Help me find a way, bring me back to you. You're all I want. You're all I've ever needed. You're all I want. Help me know you are need, you're all I want. You're all I've ever needed. You're all I want. Let me know you are dear. Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, for this morning that we're all here uh together today to listen to God's word and to praise him glorify him and worship. And of course this morning as we all know I'm going to be doing our Bible reading which is going to be in Psalms 31 page 795. And this one's a little bit of a longer one, so I recommend opening to this psalm, which is gonna be Psalm 31. Page 795. I'll give you guys a little bit of time to open up to that place and passage. And it says here In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge A fortress of defense to save me, for you were my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me. For you are my strength. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. I have hated those who have regarded useless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, for you have considered my trouble. You have known my soul in adverse adversities and have not shut me up into the hand of my enemy. You have set my feet in a wide place. Have mercy on me, O Lord. For I am in trouble, my eye waste away with grief. Yes, my soul and my body, for my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and am repulsive to my acquaintances. Those who see me outside flee from me. I am forgotten like a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel, for I hear the slander of many. Fear is on every side, while they take counsel together against me. They scheme to take away my life, but as for me, I trust in you, O Lord. I say, You are my God, my times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make your face shine upon your servant. Save me for your mercy's sake. Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon you. Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously Oh, how great is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you, in the presence of the sons of men. You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man, you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city, for I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplication. When I cried out to you, O love the Lord, all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you Who hope in the Lord. Praise God. And now we'll have uh Sister Vicky and Esther come up and sing a song for us this morning. And then right after that we'll have Pastor Tim come up and uh say a couple announcements. And then right after Pastor Tim, we're going to have Brother Vlad say a sermon for us this morning. God bless. And so afraid and shadows have hit the sun away when my heart is heavy And it's hard to pray. I remember what my mother used to say Shalom, Shalom, peace be with you wherever you go. Shaalong, shalom, let this melody begin to bring you home. In desperation When you're losing sight, you've cried out with everything inside You're still a shepherd, even when you have a bundle. You up and hold you till you find Shahal Shaal Peace be with you wherever you go. Shalom Shao Let this melody begin to bring you home. Bring you home. Let this melody Bring you Wow, what a beautiful song. Thank you, ladies. And we read, uh Dima read over here in Psalms 31, which Caught my eye. It says David says, I am cut off from before your eyes. Sometimes we feel that God has rejected us or he doesn't hear us or he's not there. We're calling out to him, but he ain't answering. But look at this, he says, Nevertheless you heard the voice. And before that he says, Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown his marvelous kindness in a strong. City. The reason why he's saying, Blessed be the Lord, is because his need was already answered and he was saying, Lord, I thought you weren't hearing me. I thought you weren't listening to me, but you answered my need. And my friend, today I want to say this: that you might feel that the Lord ain't hearing your prayers. But he is. And he will answer them. So don't give up. Okay? Don't give up. We are victorious in Christ. I'm not here to preach. I'm here to have a special announcement. We're going to be appointing some people to different ministries and these people were faithful for a long time and the church was looking and scouting and we felt like these are the perfect ones for the jobs. So I would ask our Head usher, Vlad, to please come up. And then I would ask our Sunday school teacher, Ruth. to please come up and then I would ask our main greeter Kayla to please come up. And we're gonna anoint them and we're gonna appoint them to the ministries. But before we do that, in 2 Peter or 1 Peter, Chapter 2 it says here, you also as living stones are being built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And also in the book of Acts, we read where the apostles would appoint people to certain ministries and the Holy Spirit would bound upon them. So uh before we pray I kinda wanted them to to introduce themselves so everybody knows who they are and what they do. So let me get you a microphone. Well like Tim already said my name is Vlad uh and I've been uh coming here every Sundays and kind of helping to watch over and so Tim was said hey I see brother you're always here uh how would you like to actually have it like an an official position and not just kind of doing out out of your own um uh will or so I said yeah that sounds good The Usher position is just here, right? Just to keep peace and we're in the house of God. We want to have honor, we want to have respect for what are we in here? So if I make a comment to somebody, it would be just right to keep to keep order in the house of the Lord. So that's my position. Oh hello, my name is Kayla. I am the head dog reader. Well I became the head drug reader after our other one she moved to Florida and Tim saw that I would come to church. with my dad and he asked me if I wanted to do it and I put together a team to agree everyone that comes into here. Hello everybody. Um my name is Ruth BBCove. Um I've been attending the second service since I think since I moved to Idaho, which has been twelve years. This is my baby Jean. I have four children. This is the youngest. My heart's desire is to teach children God's word and in a simplified way where you know a child can understand. Um yeah, praise the Lord. So as you heard, this is the main usher. If you guys have any questions or if if any Anybody's behaving wrong or disobeying, you come up to him and he'll do the headlock thing and do one of those. Um the greeter every morning I come in there's a bunch of smiles and it just makes me happy. You know, sometimes I have a rough day, but When I come in and I see all them smiling, well at least they act like they want to see me, not did you? Yeah. And uh we're gonna pray for them and our Sunday school teacher. She's been a blessing and um I felt like God has sent her into our church and she's just been doing a wonderful job. So if you guys have kids. that want to attend Sunday school. Yeah, we're gonna pray for that actually after we pray for them. So okay, let's let's all stand up. And we can put our hands out in a blessing, and then we're gonna pray for Brother Vlad right now. Lord God, God, we are thankful. Lord, for sending Vlad into our church, Lord, God, into our lives, Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, we appoint him to the head usher position. Lord God. May he serve under your authority faithfully, Lord God, that that he keeps order in the church, Lord God. And if anybody has any questions, Lord God, that they can come to him, Lord God. May you bless him in this ministry in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. Lord God, we are thankful for Kayla as well, Lord God. She's been a blessing to our church, Lord God. And we are appointing her in the name of Jesus Christ to the head greeter, Lord God, position, Lord. May you bless her in this ministry that she does it with all her heart faithfully. God, how she has been doing. Teach her, Lord God. May you bless her in this position. May she teach with all her heart and soul and mind, God, to teach the kids your truth, Lord God. God, may your uh blessings just abound on her. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. And right now I'd ask for the Sunday school to come out, the the kids and the teachers, and we'll pray for them. Everybody here. Okay, let's pray. Lord God, we are once again, God, just thankful this morning for you, Lord God, that you give us this opportunity to teach our kids your truth, Lord God. May these children, God, that seed that is sown, sprout into a tree, God, that one day will honor you and glorify you in ministry, God. in ministry to be used by you, Lord God. We bless them in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And right now let's take a few minutes to meet and greet each other and then Brother Vlad will share his message. When we have a ritual game, you have to play some games Okay, I'm gonna try. Probably there wasn't a lot probably like because the error is fine. Praise God, brothers and sisters. Well I'll be starting my message today. And um Yeah, so I spoke about this I spoke this word a previous uh service, but brother Tim has asked me to preach it again. Um and I think it could be useful to some people here today. So praise God for that. And you know how many of you woke up this morning and the first thought was, you know, again, I I have to do the same thing today again. You know, um and it's not even a bad thought, it's it's just a thought. And you know, it could be the same alarm, same routine, and the same type of a drive. And at the end of the day, you go to bed and you can't even remember what kind of made today different from the day before. And it you know, it's not that life is terrible. Uh you're getting by, uh but somewhere along the way things start to feel a little bit flat. And it's almost like you're on a hamster wheel. As you can see, like in this picture right here, the life kind of feels like that. You just keep on going and going and going. The days kind of feel the same, and it feels like you're kind of stuck in the same spot. And you know, there's lots of effort, but not a lot of movement. And this also happens spiritually as well. You know, you pray, you fast, you do what you gotta do, but It feels almost mechanical. And you also read the word, you read your Bible, but nothing really comes out at you and nothing really sticks. And you can come to church, sing the songs, you go home, but nothing changes. And You're not backsliding, you're not in some sort of a a type of crisis, but you just feel a little stuck And if that's you today, you're not alone. And today I kind of wanted to show you two people in the Bible who felt the exact same thing and what God did about it. And I'd like to read from Luke chapter 24, verse 13, or verse 14. And this is the story of the road to Emaus, and it's the Sunday after the crucifixion, and two disciples they are walking from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, and it's about seven miles. And they've heard that the tomb is empty, but it hasn't really clicked in their brains yet. And so they're leaving and they're walking away from where everything is about to happen. And so let's read that from verse 14. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. And then we can go on to verse 21. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. And reading these, I kind of noticed three things. And the first is that they're they're talking the whole walk, uh, but they're not really getting anywhere. And they're rehashing the same pain. Um and you could kind of almost look at it like this wheel And then second, Jesus is right there, right next to them, walking with them step by step, and they can't see him. And you know in our lives it's it's many times like this. We pray and it kind of feels like our prayers aren't getting anywhere. It kind of feels like our prayers are hitting the ceiling and they just bounce right back down to the ground. Uh but they're not. And he's on the road with you and you just can't see him yet. And then Third is in verse 21, it said we were hoping, which was past tense. And in our lives, many times we had hoped things would be different by now. We we had hoped that we'd maybe be further along, or that our walk with God would feel different at this stage Or we had hoped that by this season something inside of us would feel a little bit more settled, as you can say. Or You know, when you stop expecting things to change, that's when everything kind of goes flat. And now watch what Jesus does. We're going to be reading verses 27 to 33. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone farther. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent and he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road, and while he opened the scripture scriptures to us. So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. So Jesus, he didn't reveal himself first. He opened the word first, and then he opened their eyes. And he was just going to keep walking along this path. And what they had to do was say, stay with us. And he didn't force it on them. They almost had to want it. And also, when he breaks the bread, that's when they saw him. And in verse 32, the fire was there the whole time. It's just they they just couldn't feel it. So why do we end up on this wheel? Why does this happen to us? I'd also like to read one more place, which is Haggai ver or chapter 1, verses 5 to 6. Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts. Consider your ways, you have so much and bring in little. You eat but do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes. So you're putting in work, but the bag has a hole in it. And God tells them, He tells them exactly why. Because they built their own houses while his house was neglected. And it's not that these people were bad people, it's just that the business of life got to them and their priorities were out of order. But I need to kind of make a distinction. You know, for some of you, the bag has holes because your priorities are off. No, you have different priorities, God is not first. Um and that is between you and God But for others, it could be that you're praying, you're serving in the church, you're reading the word, you're doing everything completely right, and you still feel almost stagnant, or you kind of feel empty. There is an old name for this, and the early church called it the winter of the soul. And it's when everything feels quiet. Nothing seems to be growing And it's it's kind of actually how our brains are wired. When life gets too routine, when uh we do the same things every day, we kind of go on autopilot. And that's that you know kind of flats in between states. But here's what I want you to understand about winter. When a tree hits winter, it looks dead. As like in this image, or if you look outside, it it almost looks dead. But winter is when a tr when a tree it does its most important work. It can't grow up, it has no leaves, no branches, or no branches growing. So what it does is it starts to grow down into the soil and the roots start to grow. And then when summer comes around, it starts to grow the leaves, it starts to bear visible fruits and blessings and things people can see. And when it is that winter like we are in right now, spiritually you could kind of say that it builds your character, it builds patience, it builds trust. And God is growing something in you that you really can't see yourself. But because we can't see the fruit or something on the tree, we kind of start to panic. And so what is the way off of this wheel? First, we kind of have to understand, like these disciples on that path, that he's already with you. No, Jesus just showed up in the middle of the walk and not at the end of the destination. And the fact that some of you showed up to the service today, it means that you are still dedicated. You know, that and that's not nothing. And second is we need to get back in the word And not on autopilots. You know, we we might be thinking, you know, Brother Vlad, I'm already reading the word every single day. But how many of you, you know, sit down at the at the table or wherever you sit to read your word? And it's it's kind of the same thing. It's like you're reading Maybe you didn't understand what you kind of read. You were kind of thinking of different things. It's almost like on autopilot. And Jesus opened the same scriptures, they knew, but he opened it differently. And it set their hearts on fire and they didn't even realize it. And that word that feels dry to you right now, it might already be doing something in you that you won't recognize until later. And if your reading has become routine, try to change something. Try to read a different book. Maybe try to read at a different time or you know how you sit or how you lay. Try maybe a different posture even. But most of all, ask the Spirit to show you something that you haven't seen before. And Jesus was going to keep walking. He was just going to walk right past them. But what they had to do was ask. And some of us haven't asked God for something like this in a long time. We've been praying out of habits, but not hunger. And there's a difference between talking to God and asking him to come in and stay And then we see that picture that was painted to us when Jesus was sitting at the table. Their eyes opened at a table, and not alone on the road. And when you're in this season, the temptation is almost to isolate. But Jesus, He took the bread, He blessed it, and He broke it. And when the bread broke, that's when they saw him and their eyes opened up. And we tend to give up right before that moment comes. We walk away from prayer, from the word, from the altar, because it didn't feel like anything was happening. And so we can see from this example, stay at the table. What you're looking for is on the other side of staying. And if you're thinking, I've tried this, nothing happened, you know I'm not saying to do more. I'm saying just to try it differently. And stay longer than you think you need to. And some of you might feel like a tree in the winter. Bare, still, nothing is growing. But winter doesn't mean dead. And it means that the roots are going deeper and deeper. And spring always comes around the corner. As we can see, it's it feels like it's almost starting to become spring. You know, when I was driving here today. It was also getting brighter. You know, normally when I uh drive to church, it's it's super dark and you're you're all tired and your eyes are closing, but today it felt like the sun was coming up earlier. So we're in that season now where spring is coming. And spring it always comes. And those two disciples walk seven miles feeling nothing. But by the end of the same day, they were running back with fire in their hearts. Same road, but God had opened their eyes. And you know, I had a kind of a short message today, but I'd like to end off by reading from Psalm chapter 40, verses 1 to 3. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit. out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth Praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord. The winter doesn't last forever, brothers and sisters. So all we have to do is stay faithful to God. Amen. Amen. Lord, we thank you for this day that you give us this supper. Lord we have to come to this place. Thank you for giving us for remove Thank you for everything that you give on us, Lord. I'll praise you for you to you, Jesus Christ, Lord. Help us. Lord God, we thank you for the service you've given us, Lord, for the word that you've given us, and for Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins, and who walks right next to us every single day, Lord. Help us help our eyes to be opened, Lord, to see that all of this work that we are doing is not in vain, Lord, but that spring eventually comes, Lord, and that These things bear fruit, Lord. Help us to not be discouraged, Lord, and to walk with you, Lord, and give us strength in all of this by your Holy Spirit, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And for our last song, we'll be singing Holy of Holies. Take me past the outer courts and through the holy place, past the brazen altar. Lord, I long to see your face past me. The crowds of people, the priests who sing your praise. I hunger and thirst for your righteousness, and it's only found in one place. Take me in Into the holy of holies. Take me in by the blood of the Lamb. Take me into the Oh Lee of holies Take the cup, cleanse my lips, here I am Bring me in the honor court. And pass the golden light and through the incense altar. Lord, I long to see your light. Let me touch the colored curtain and close. Clothing linen whites and part the veil that sing Oh that keeps you from inside Take me into the holy of holy Jesus, take me in by the blood of the Lamb, take me in to the holy of holies. Take the comb, cleanse my lips, here I am. Praise God Thank you, Brother Vlad, for your message and let's not leave today the ones who hear the words and not be the Doers, because James says, be the doer, not just the hearer. And we heard today, some of us could be in the season of winter. For Melvin. There's Melvin who comes, but today he's not here. And we're gonna pray for him. He ended up in the hospital again. Um he's just going through a lot, a wintery season, but we're gonna pray for healing upon him. Anyone else want us to pray for you? Yes, Greg. Everybody in my life, everybody in the world. Okay. I like I like your needs. Amen. Because he he thinks about everybody. Amen. Pedro? No? Okay. Let's pray. Lord God, God help us, Lord, to be those that That not just hear your word, God, but apply to our life, Lord God. And today we heard, Lord God, that you are with us us Lord in the good and the bad in the hard and the cold in the heat of our lives Lord God and we pray Lord God give us the strength to not give up Lord but to trust in you God to have our eyes Set on you, Lord. Bless each person here, Lord. I bless in the name of Jesus Christ every person who came this morning. Everyone who's watching us online, Lord God, that your Holy Spirit gives us strength. to endure to the end, Lord. God and we also pray for Melvin Lord God. You see, God, he's been in the winter season, Lord But we pray for healing upon him. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray for healing upon him, Lord God. You see what he's going through, but we believe in your healing power. And Lord God, may your healing power come over him, Lord Jesus. Jesus. And also, Lord God, we pray for Greg's need, Lord. God, we pray for all the people in this world that haven't known you yet. Lord, Holy Spirit, may you touch their hearts. May you God, just stir their hearts, God, that they come to you and accept you as their Lord and Savior, Lord. Bless this day in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For your kingdom, your power, and glory forever are yours. Amen. Be blessed.