sermon. test

Good morning! We're so happy you
chose to worship with us for another

exile service. My name is Gabby Gomes
and this is my husband Paulo. I'm one

of the administrative assistants here
at church. I also serve in Awana and

in the women's ministry.

[In Portuguese: Hi, Good morning! It’s so good to
have you with us this morning to worship our God.]

Good morning church, I'll be reading
from The Book of Psalms Psalm 63:1-5,

“O God, You are my God; Early will I
seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My

flesh longs for You; In a dry and
thirsty land where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the
sanctuary, to see Your power and Your

glory. Because Your lovingkindness is
better than life, my lips shall praise

You. Thus I will bless you while I
live; I will lift up my hands in Your

name. My soul shall be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness, and my mouth

shall praise You with joyful
lips.” Danny, will you

please lead us in worship?

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Well church, we have an opportunity,
even in the midst of this eleventh

exile service to honor a brother that
has been faithful to this Body of

Christ and to our ministry, Weston
Christian Academy, for over a decade.

As many of you know, I would imagine
all of you know by now, Pastor Steve

will be retiring, and boy will he be missed.
His testimony among our staff

and among our church is unmistakable.
One of the things that stands out in

Pastor Steve's ministry, and it's hard
to narrow it down to one thing, but

the one thing that stands out to me
as his Pastor and as his friend and

fellow elder, is not only his love for
the word of God but his commitment to

hide the Word of God in his heart.
It's been such an inspiration to me

for the five years I've been able
to serve together with him and be

influenced by his ministry and it's
been an inspiration to the rest of our

staff. So Steve, I'd like to invite
you to come forward. We want to

present something to you. We've got a
couple of gifts for pastor Steve as he

retires. One of them is kind of a fun,
adventure gift because pastor Steve

is a fun, adventurer type and
they're going to have some wonderful

adventures before stepping into the
next phase of ministry. But this gift

right here, I wanted to present to you
on video for this exile service. The

entire church staff got together and
put together this notebook and in this

notebook each staff member not only
wrote out a special note to you, but

also wrote out a Bible verse you
challenged them to memorize and hide

in their heart. Your testimony,
your influence, your example, has made an

incredible difference in their lives
and so we present this to you brother.

We love you and we thank God for all
that He's done through you in our

church and in our school. Well thank
you, Mark, and thank you for your

leadership and being my Pastor and
I want to thank everybody at WCA

and--and Bradley and I, we want to
thank our church family. We've been

here 10 years and it's been a great
blessing to worship and to fellowship

with everybody. We're so thankful
and praise God for this time at First

Baptist Church at Weston.
God bless you and thank you.

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Just last night, with our family in
family worship, we began to talk about

the return of the Lord and I loved
the promise that we just sung: God's

faithfulness extends into eternity.
He'll hold you, friend, if you're in

Christ through everything you face
in this life. The only point in which

that will change, is when He comes at
last and I hope you're looking forward

to that day. I hope you're
anticipating the return of our Savior,

the culmination of all of God's promises.
We look forward to that day

with great anticipation and may the
Lord use it in our hearts. He has used

it in my heart many time, as a
beacon, as a strength in the midst of

dark days. Bright days are coming and
Christ will return again. Father we

look forward to that day.
We look forward to the culmination of Your

promises. We ask, Father, for strength
and help and wisdom and guidance in

these days, as we live in this age
awaiting the return of our Savior. We

thank You for Your faithfulness and we
ask, Lord, that You would strengthen

us and help us to remain faithful as
we wait for You. Now Lord, as we've

assembled for this eleventh exile
worship service as First Baptist

Church at Weston we ask for Your
presence, for Your help, for Your

strength, for Your guidance, through
the Word of God. I pray for everyone

watching, everyone listening, wherever
they are, may they hear from You. May

we hear from You today and may we be
strengthened and built up on our faith

and may You receive the glory, Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen and Amen.

Well good morning again and welcome
to this exile service. Get your Bibles

out and open them to the Gospel of John.
We'll consider a few texts this

morning but we'll start with John
chapter 11 and verse number 16. So

thankful for you choosing every week
to join together with us, it's been a

long haul. I mean this has gone far
longer than anyone could have ever

anticipated and as pastors we're so
thankful for your faithfulness. We're

so proud of your walk with the Lord
and the way that God has blessed us as

a church and really preserved us
through what really is a significant

time of testing and we thank God for that.
We've had our faith tested.

We've had our church tested and God
has proven faithful and so of you and

so I praise God for that. We're not
there yet. We're working on opening up

for our first public, limited service
in a worship only context for June

seventh. Pay close attention to all
of our social media and to our website

and to the email for more information
about that but we're looking forward

to that day. We want to do everything
safely, everything wisely, and

everything to love our neighbors and
to love you and create a wonderful

inviting christ-like environment for
you to worship. Well this morning,

we're going to go to John chapter 11.
I'm going to do something to start the

sermon I can't ever remember doing in
all my years of preaching. I'm going

to start by calling your attention to
a Disney character and I'm only doing

this for one reason, because this
Disney character, unlike any other

character, immediately will put in
your mind the idea behind this sermon.

And of course it's that grey guy that
hangs out with Winnie the Pooh: it's

Eeyore. Now, when you think of Eeyore,
what do you think of? When you think

of Eeyore, you likely think of
pessimism and pessimism is our topic

for today and we're going to go to an
example of someone who was tirelessly

pessimistic, but someone who didn't
lean into it. Someone who may had at

times been characterized by it but he
wasn't controlled by it. And of course

I'm talking about Thomas. Let's look
together at John chapter 11, verse

number 16 and consider this wonderful
example of a faithful man that

struggled at times with being an Eeyor.
“Then Thomas, who is called

the Twins, said to his fellow
disciples, “Let us also go, that we

may die with Him.” Father, help us.
Help me and help us collectively as we

go to the Word of God. Help us to
rightly divide it and Lord, by faith,

to apply it in a way that strengthens
us, grows us in our faith, makes us

more like Christ, brings You glory,
and Father would You work through the

word in a way that would bring sinners
to conviction and salvation. We

entrust this all to You, Lord,
in Jesus name, Amen. So pessimism, that's

what we're going to talk about today.
It's very similar to some of the other

themes we've been covering but I want
to show you how it's significantly

different, at least in its application
this morning. Look around the world

today, from the stock market,
to the supermarket, there is a sufficient

amount of pessimism fuel and it
doesn't matter if you are someone

that's bent towards that dark
disposition of being an Eeyore or

whether you're someone who's really
normally overly optimistic. This

uncertainty, this instability that
we've been facing in our world and in

our immediate context and culture is
enough to put pressure on even the

best of them. And so this morning,
I'm going to talk about the intersection

between the Christian life and
Christ's likeness and faith and

holiness and struggling with this
dark outlook on life. Let me start by

defining pessimism the best way that
I can. Pessimism is essentially seeing

bad in everything and everyone.
In fact, the--the word pessimism comes

from a Latin word that simply means
“worst” and that's what pessimism is.

Pessimism says, it's going to be the
worst outcome in every situation. It

anticipates and it looks for the worst
where really becomes problematic

though, especially for the believer,
is not merely where pessimism

anticipates a negative outcome, but
when pessimism sees what God has said,

hears the promises of God and yet
chooses to reject or ignore them. Now

pessimism becomes a sin and it can be
a defining or controlling sin in the

life of a believer. And this morning
we want to talk about what it's like

to do battle with this dark
disposition of pessimism. Now, let me

set it apart for just a few minutes,
set it apart from some other related

issues that you and I might know
something about let me set it apart

the best way I can by drawing some
distinctions. Now, pessimism is not

fear. Fear can cause pessimism or
lead to pessimism, but the thing about

fear is, fear as an anticipation of
something negative but it holds out

that possibility of something negative
or bad not happening. Pessimism

doesn't hold out that possibility at all.
Pessimism is not anxiety. It can

lead to anxiety but anxiety is far
more pervasive in the way that it can

attack your entire body.
It-it can have far more significant,

physiological implications and it can
devastate everything about your life,

whereas pessimism can sort of be like
that program running in the background

that you may not necessarily be aware
of because it's just the way that you

see everything in life. Pessimism is
not necessarily doubt either. It can

lead people to doubt but the thing
about doubt is, doubt also leaves room

for God to work. Pessimism doesn't
leave any room for God. It-it doesn't

leave any room for the Holy Spirit
to change a situation, to change

someone's heart, and to bring about
God's purposes. In fact, that lead us

to the next thing: pessimism is
hopelessness because it rejects the

promises of God. It sees what God has
said about the future and says no,

that can't be true. Now, pessimism
is not grumbling. We talked about

grumbling a few weeks ago by going
to the Old Testament, but here's the

thing about grumbling: grumbling is
when a pessimist gives voice to how

they feel, but you could be a
pessimist and bottle it all in and

never share it outwardly,
and therefore you wouldn't technically be

grumbling. Most importantly though,
pessimism is faithless--because it

refuses to trust God. Now I want to
draw one more distinction because you

might be thinking, “Wait a minute,
Mark, am I--am I getting into sinful

pessimism when I look at something and
anticipate a negative outcome?” Well,

no, not every instance of looking at
something and concluding the outcome

will be negative is sinful pessimism.
For example, if you anticipate your

team is going to lose in a game and
you're down five to zero and there's

thirty seconds less, that's not sinful
pessimism; that's just looking at

reality. If you have an-an ill pet,
for example, and-and perhaps it's

coming to the end of its life and
you all have to make a conclusion

about-about what you're going to do
with that pet--that's not pessimism;

that's-that's understanding
the-the situation; that's making a

determination based on the facts.
Pessimism, you see, it becomes sinful

when it intersects with the promises
of God or the Word of God or the

principles of God's Word, and instead
of accepting them and trusting them,

it rejects them. So here's when
pessimism becomes sinful: it's not

when you anticipate a negative
outcome--it's when you say God has

abandoned us. Because as we saw last
week that's not true; No matter how we

feel, He's still there. The pessimists
would say God has left us, but the

Scriptures would say that's not true.
Pessimism is sinful when it says, “God

will not help us”; when it looks at
the situation, says, “This is hopeless

and God has no interest in our
situation”--that also is contrary to

what the scriptures say, and
therefore, that's sinful pessimism.

Pessimism is saying, “There's no hope
left for this marriage,” “There's no

hope left for my children”--It leaves
no room for God to do the work of

changing hearts. That's the
distinction we've got to look out for.

So this morning, sort of with this
framework laid out, the distinction

between sinful pessimism and non
sinful sort of anticipating a bad

outcome laid out before us with the
distinctions between all these other

similar issues in life, let's go to
the example of Thomas, and Thomas has

helped me. When I first became a
Christian and I first came into the

church, maybe you've heard this too,
you only associated Thomas with being

doubtful, and for many years I just
assumed Thomas was nothing more than

doubting Thomas, and there was nothing
redeemable in his life, but really,

upon further inspection--you're gonna
see it hopefully this morning--Thomas

really is not characterized by doubt;
in fact, he seems to be characterized

by-by-by commitment to God, by
devotion, by a willingness to trust

God. I mean, this guy really fights
this dark disposition, and hope that

you'll see it together with me this
morning. So as we look to Thomas,

we're gonna look at three faithful
characteristics that the-the one that

has that dark disposition,
that inclination, that leaning, or that

bent towards being an Eeyore,
needs to adopt into their life in order to

battle this. And for those of you that
say, “Well, I'm more optimistic--this

isn't for me.” When we face the types
of pressures that we've been facing in

these days, you can see how easy it
is, even for you, to begin to go down

this road, and so these are also very
helpful commitments for you to make,

and very helpful goals for you and I
to pursue together. So, let's look at

these three examples from Thomas.
The first one is from John chapter 11,

verse 16. We're gonna learn first of
all that Thomas was pessimistic, but

willing. He was pessimistic, he didn't
think things would turn out right, he

didn't think that things would have a
positive outcome, but he was willing

to follow the Lord. And here's the
problem with pessimism: pessimism will

keep you from following the Lord;
it'll keep you from obeying the

commands of God, and therefore,
it must be combatted. Now the context of

chapter 11 is one you probably know well.
It is the story of the death of

the Lord Jesus Christ’s good friend,
Lazarus of Bethany. The Lord is there,

we see in chapter 10, verse 40,
“He went away again beyond the Jordan to

the place where John was baptizing.”
He'd been there in Jerusalem, and they

took up stones to kill him in chapter
10, verse 31. And so they fled out of

that area, and they've gone across the
Jordan to safety, and while they're

there, this party comes bringing news
of the sickness of this dear friend of

the Lord's, Lazarus. In verse number
1, it says, “Now a certain man was

sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of
Mary and his sister Martha.” It goes

on to define who this person was,
but-but it says in verse number 3,

“Therefore the sisters sent to him
Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom

you love is sick”--verse 4--”when
Jesus heard that, He said, “This

sickness is not unto death but for the
glory of God, that the Son of God may

be glorified through it.” So Jesus
had a plan all along, and no one else

would understand this until all of
this came to fruition. They didn't

know what was going on, but Jesus had
a purpose behind waiting two days and

ultimately arriving at the-at the
tomb of Lazarus after four days of him

being dead. This was all for a
specific purpose. But before we get to

that part of the story, because
that's the part we're familiar with,

something else happens that's
significant, and Thomas plays a role.

Now, Thomas was mentioned about eleven
times in the New Testament; four of

those are just when his name is listed
with the other Twelve Apostles, but

there are at least three significant
stories where his name comes up, and

this is the first one we're going to
look at. Notice how the conversation

matures when Jesus goes to the
apostles and says, “Hey guys, we're

going to go, and we're going to see my
friend.” Verse number 6: “So when He

heard that he was sick, He stayed two
more days in the place where He was.”

Then, verse 7 then after He said this
to the disciples, “Then after this He

said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to
Judea again.’” Verse 8, “The disciples

said to Him, ‘Rabbi, lately the Jews
sought to stone you, and are you going

there again?” This-this would have
made no sense. They just fled from

this area. They tried to kill Jesus.
The Apostles have no--why on earth

wouldn't Jesus just let this guy die?
Why would you go there when you're

going to put yourself at risk?
But listen to how the story matures. Jesus

explains what's going on here: “These
things He said, and after that He said

to them”--verse 11--“ ‘Our friend
Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may

wake him up.’ The disciples said,
‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’"

They still don't understand this
was talking about death. Verse 13,

“However Jesus spoke of His death
but they thought that He was speaking

about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus
said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is

dead and I’ ”--verse 15--“ ‘am glad
for your sakes that I was not there,

that you may believe. Nevertheless let
us go to him.’ ” And then here's our

verse, 4:16, “Then Thomas,
who is called the Twin, said to his fellow

disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we
may die with him.’ ” Now-now, Thomas

doesn't have a different outlook that
the rest of the Apostles. They all

thought going to Judea would lead to
death. Thomas didn't think that was a

possibility though. He is an Eeyore;
he's a pessimist. He thought that was

a certainty. Going to Judea meant
death! But notice what happens: even

though he's given to this dark
disposition, even though he has this

bent towards pessimism--he will not
allow it to stop him from following

God. He will not allow this to stop
him from walking in obedience. He

says, “Listen, fine, let's go.
We're gonna die, but let's go!” Beloved,

this is what has to happen in the
heart of that one that struggles with

pessimism. You've got to be
careful--we've got to be careful--that

it does not preclude us from or
prevent us from obeying God and what

He calls us to do. It could be giving
a testimony for Him, sharing the

gospel with someone, or making a
fateful decision to obey God and

pursue holiness when it's unpopular.
It could cost us. We cannot allow the

fear or the-the certainty, through
pessimism, of a bad outcome to keep us

from obeying God. We can't allow it to
keep us from following Him, and this

is one of the beautiful redeeming
characteristics of Thomas. He was

able, through the help of the
Spirit of God, to do battle with his

pessimism and to be ready to step forward.
He was certain they would

die, but he was willing, and he was
ready, and he went. Beloved, that's

the very first example from Thomas,
and I believe this message is clear:

pessimism will keep us from following
the Lord. It'll keep us from walking

in obedience. So we've got to be
willing, regardless of what we think

about the outcome. Number two,
we see this in chapter 14, verse number 5,

that he was pessimistic, but he was
devoted. He was pessimistic, but he

was devoted. Go over to chapter 14 and
look at this story. Actually go up to

chapter 13, verse 33. That's the key.
In chapter 13, verse number 33, He

says this: “Little children, I shall
be with you a little while longer. You

will seek Me; and as I said to the
Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot

come,’ so now I say to you.” This is
a turning point because now they're in

the Upper Room. This is the night
before the cross, as it were, and-and

Jesus just drops a bomb on them that
they're not prepared for, because

there have been many occasions in this
time of the Apostles ministering with

the Lord, where He said, “Hey, we're
going here. Hey, we're going there,”

and, every time, the apostles were
able to go--but not this time. They

wouldn't be going to the cross to die
for anyone, and Jesus, having just

shared with them, “I'm going and you
can't come with me”--the room-the

apostles are devastated! They-they are
heartbroken. In fact, there's reason

to believe that they were deeply
worried, perhaps even falling into

panic, and so, what does the Lord do?
He-He does what a shepherd does. He

does what a pastor should do.
He does what a father should do. He comes

alongside the apostles like a little
flock, and He begins to admonish them

and encourage them: “Don't worry.”
Look at chapter 14, verse 1: “Let not

your heart be troubled: you believe
in God also believe in me,” He--He

senses that they are troubled, they're
devastated. He says “In my Father's

house are many mansions: if it were not
so, I would have told you. I go to

prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will

come again, and receive you to myself;
that where I am, there you may be

also. And where I go you know, and
the way you know.” Now, Thomas only

wanted one thing, he wanted to be with
Jesus. This plan didn't make sense to

Thomas, he was more than willing in
the first story to die with Jesus.

What he wasn't willing to do was to
be without Him, what he wasn't willing

to do was to--to live without his
Savior and without being in His

presence. And so when he hears this
plan of the Lord's, when he--when he

hears what the Lord has sovereignly
placed before him, he does not accept

this plan. He--he rejects it, he sees
that this plan is the wrong plan, he's

got a better plan: “Listen
Jesus, let's all go to the cross,

let's--let's all be together!” But
Jesus has been administering to his

heart and perhaps even primarily
because he's the first one that

speaks. Jesus says: Listen, you can
trust me, I'm going to prepare a place

and you're gonna know the way.” And
guess who speaks up? It's Thomas and

he speaks up out of this place of
being broken, and--and panicked,

and--and pessimistic, certain this
won't work and listen to what he says,

Thomas said to Him: “Lord, we do not
know where You're going, how can we

know the way?” All he wanted to know
was how we could be with the Savior!

And watch this, he did not allow this
pessimism to control him, he did not

allow it to erode his commitment to
Christ, his devotion remains strong

even though he did not understand,
he did not like God's plan. The pessimism

can set this dark cloud over our
hearts, over our minds, and over our

lives that can lead us to conclude
that God is wrong or God is bad or God

has made a mistake and it can work
at our devotion. But here we see in

Thomas's heart, he just loves Jesus
and he can't bear to be without Him.

Friend, is that you when you walk
through these dark times? Is that you

when you hear the news and we hear
of the outbreak, and the fear of this

second wave, and the economic issues,
and educational issues, and perhaps

your own vocation or stress in your
family? As you look forward, do you

merely see this dark cloud that this
gets darker, and darker, and darker

and the Lord's not there. Has this
time caused you to step away from the

Lord because that pessimism has begun
to control even your devotion to God?

Or have you been able to step back,
and say: “though I'm inclined this

way, though I'm bent this way, I'm going
to believe the promises of God, I'm

going to rest on those.” Remember,
pessimism doesn't do that; but the

faithful believer, the one that's
walking through sanctification must

fight to do that. Pastor Zack,
just Wednesday night, he shared the key

verse for battling in this way: Romans
8:28, God has promised that He will

ensure that everything that we walk
through will be--will be brought

“together for good for those that love
God, and those that are called

according to his good purpose.” One
pastor, who was a big help to me for

many, many years; he--he taught his
church this, he taught this primarily

to the children, and it's so helpful
even for adults, and--and I want to

share it with you. It's a--it's a
simple little saying, he used to say

it this way: “When things don't go
the way they should, God always makes

them turn for good.” “When things
don't go the way they should, God

always makes them turn for good.” The
pessimist cannot believe that. The

pessimist says: “When things don't go
the way they should… of course they

didn't because they never were
going to go that way!” But beloved, the

believer that's battling pessimism
with faith, and battling that dark

bent with faith says: “though things
don't go the way they should... this

thing, this thing, this thing, this
thing, and this thing I know that God

will turn them for good, I don't
understand, I don't know how, I don't

even know when, I don't know what it
will look like, but I know that I can

trust God and it is devotion to Christ
that keeps that commitment alive.”

Beloved, we have to follow the example
of Thomas being pessimistic, but yet

still devoted to God if we're going
to walk down that bent. We've got to

fight it and we've got to remain
connected to the One Who's made our

promises, made these promises.
The third testimony or the third sort of

characteristic of Thomas comes from
John 20: 24 and 29, John 20:24 and 29

we learned that he was pessimistic
but resilient. He was pessimistic but

resilient, and here's why pessimism
will knock you down and keep you down

spiritually speaking if you don't
control it. Pessimism will knock you

down and keep you down spiritually
speaking if you don't fight it and do

battle with the flesh, when it pushes
in that way. This third story, this

third scene is very different.
Now, we're after the Resurrection, the

Cross has taken place,
the Resurrection has taken place and the

Lord Jesus Christ has already appeared
to the apostles in the upper room.

The problem is in that first
appearance someone was missing: it was

Thomas. Now, the apostles were in the
upper room, the Bible teaches us that

the door was locked and we could
conclude that they were perhaps

fearful of what the Jews would do to
them, and it's interesting that Thomas

wasn't in that room. It almost gives
us the idea of what we already knew

about Thomas: he doesn't seem afraid.
Remember, he was willing to die in

John 11, he was not worried about
death in the upper room with the Lord

Jesus Christ. He was ready to go to
the cross. There's reason to believe

that fear was not something that he
was facing but he wasn't there that

day. But let's look at the story of
when he was there in John 20:24 and 29

“Now Thomas, called the Twin,
one of the twelve, was not with them when

Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore said to him, “We've seen the

Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless
I see in His hands the print of the

nails, and put my finger into the
print of the nails, and put my hand

into His side, I will not believe.””
And I--I would suggest to you that's

not mere doubt, that's pessimism.
He was certain that it was over, and he

said, “The only thing that would
change that is if I saw proof before

me.” So remember pessimism will
knock you down and keep you down

spiritually, it'll knock you out of
the race, it'll put you out of the

spiritual disciplines, it'll close
your Bible, it'll unfold your hands,

it'll keep you out of worship, it'll
stop you from praising the Lord, it'll

stop you from walking in obedience;
if you don't battle it, if you don't

battle it with the Spirit of God
and the Word of God, you will not

experience this resiliency but--but
Thomas is going to battle it. Here's

what happens, he sees the Lord and
immediately he bounces back; look at

what the text says: “And after eight
days [verse 26] His disciples were

again inside, and Thomas with them.
Jesus came, the doors being shut, and

stood in the midst, and said, “Peace
to you!” Then He said to Thomas;” and

this is the Lord, this is a shepherd
listen, He is a faith builder, He's

helping his faith, He wasn't saying:
“no, I'm not gonna help him, he's on

his own;” He comes to him in his
weakness and He says: “listen, I know

what he's asking for I'm gonna give
it to him: here it is!” And listen to

what He says, He says: “Reach your
finger here, and look at My hands; and

reach your hand here, and put it into
My side. Do not be unbelieving, but

believing.” And Thomas answered and
said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” and

“Jesus said to him: “Thomas,
because you have seen Me, and you have

believed. Blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed.”

Thomas bounced back, bounced back,
and showed incredible resilience. He

was-- he was dark in his outlook,
he was “Eeyore” in his bent way and yet

he was resilient. And friend, when you
and I face these uncertainties, these

instabilities in life, we can't stop them!
I can't change the stock market,

I--I can't change vocational problems,
I-- I can't change dynamics in the

family, I cannot change those. I can
only control the movement of my heart!

In the Bible I'm told to keep my heart
with all diligence from--from it flow

all of the issues of life. I've got
to guard this and when it comes to

facing this instability and these
pressures that's where I've got to go!

I've got to go to heart patrol
and begin to examine our “how am I

responding?” Is this a fateful
response and am I responding like

Thomas and am I responding just and
pure pessimism? I've got to be careful

and mindful, I can control that.
And you might be sitting there thinking:

“but Mark you don't understand,
I'm overwhelmed by these instabilities.”

Listen, step back, take a deep breath
and recognize what is in your control.

We expend, I expend so much energy
and spiritual energy worrying about

things that were never in my control.
There--there are categories in this

creation, there are categories of my
life, category A: “things I can

control,” that category is small.
Category B: “things that God is

sovereign over and things that God is
actively working together for good and

working out His purposes,” not only
can I not control these, I cannot

change these at all. And so when
I allow these things over here to

consume my mind and consume my life,
I end up walking down this pattern of

faithlessness and sin. Instead,
I got to give my job problems, my family

problems, my health problems, I got to
give them to the Lord, I got to trust

the One Who's trustworthy and I've got
to focus on me and my response; what

do I do with my heart? How do I respond?
Let me--let me provide for

you sort of an acrostic, a little tool
that you could adopt to help, maybe

put in your Bibles, write it on
a piece of paper, a simple little

acrostic it spells out the word
‘truth.’ And you can use this when

you're walking down sort of that
“Eeyore’s” path, that dark cloud comes

in, the instability, the uncertainty,
the pressures of the world have

started to weigh on you and now your
heart is bearing the bad fruit of

pessimism. That bad dark fruit of not
believing the promises of God. That

bad dark fruit of not believing that
God could work. Not holding out room

for Him. If that happens, you go to
this simple little acrostic and allow

it to adjust your path. It starts with
“T” for Truth, “T”, and “T” stands

for Trouble. Trouble is common to
man in this age. I can't tell you how

simple that is and how important it is.
Man, I always respond in surprise

when things happen. It's ridiculous
and you may do the same thing. We're

always so shocked. I can't believe
something difficult happened, and yet

the scriptures say, Job says that
man's days are few and they're filled

with trouble. It's in Job chapter 14
verse 1. The very first thing I've got

to do, is that I've got to stop.
The first “T” for Truth. Remember that

Trouble is common to man in this age.
Now here's the “R.” The second letter

“R.” I've got to Recognize a
pessimistic reaction I've got to stop

and say, okay. This is normal. This is
not some shocking thing. This is not

some out of the ordinary thing,
and Peter makes that--that same point.

I got to stop, but secondly I've got
to Recognize when the movement of my

heart is pessimistic. When my response
is pessimistic, I've got to examine

myself. In lamentations chapter 3,
Jeremiah says, “Let us search out and

examine our ways,” in Lamentations 3:40.
“Let us search out and examine

our ways.” I've got to stop, Recognize
that trouble is common in this age,

and then, I've got to Recognize a
pessimistic reaction. I've got to look

inward. Now you might need help to do
this one. You might need your spouse

to help you. You might need your kids
to help you. You might need another

believer in the body to help you,
but you've got to stop and Recognize it,

call it for what it is, and listen,
Thomas didn't lean into this. Thomas

just said, well that's just who I am.
I have a hard time trusting God. I'm

unlike any other person.
No he did battle with it, and that's what

beloved we've got to do. We've got to
do battle with this idea. “T,” “R,”

the “U.” The “U” is Upset your
pessimism with faith. Upset your

pessimism with faith. Recognize
that Trouble is common in this age.

Secondly, Recognize a pessimistic
reaction, but thirdly the “U,” Upset

that pessimistic approach with faith,
because that's what's missing from

pessimism. It has no faith in it.
It doesn't believe God. It doesn't trust

God. It doesn't believe God can work.
It leaves no room for Him. You've got

to Upset that pattern with faith,
and remember what Hebrews 11:6 says, “But

without faith it is impossible to
please Him,” and the worst thing, I

remember hearing this from Dr. Scott
or Dr. Steve, the worst possible thing

that could happen in our life is not
in our minds what that worst possible

thing is. The worst possible thing is
not honoring God. The worst possible

thing is not seeking to please God.
It's not this terrible outcome. So I

want to recognize how critical it is
to put faith back into my life. Upset

that pessimism with faith. Now the
“T.” This takes us back to last week.

The “T” is Teach yourself the truth
again and again. Preach to yourself.

Remember Psalm 43 in verse number
5 from last week, when David was

downcast and he said nevertheless,
“Hope in God.” This is where you've

got to get your Bible out, and listen,
pessimism will knock you down and

keep you down. That was the last point.
It'll keep your Bible closed,

but if you and I don't open that
Bible, we won't be Teaching ourselves

the truth of God. Remember pessimism
is the opposite of Philippians 4:8.

It's the opposite of meditating on
things that are true, things that are

noble, and trustworthy, and holy.
It is meditating on things that have not

happened yet. Things that may or may
not be true, and certainly things that

don't honor God and they're not of faith.
I've got to ensure that I t each

myself the truth again and again.
Well, what do I teach myself? Well, I

go back to what we talked about last week.
If I'm pessimistic and certain

that God's abandoned me, I go to the
scriptures. Psalm 139 made it clear

that that can't be true. No matter
what my mind tells me, my flesh tells

me, it can't be true. If I feel
like there's no hope, I go to the

scriptures and I see the power of God
to change hearts and lives, and I say

that can't be true. I've got to Teach
myself the truth over and over again.

Listen, and I've got to surround
myself by people that Teach me that

truth. Listen, I'm gonna say this,
and I know this is hard, but the small

talk that we all enjoy as Christians
is good, but if all we do in the way

we talk with each other is what we do
with lost people, we're not helping

each other. If all I'm doing when I'm
together with you is talking about a

baseball game or a football game or
the weather or the coronavirus, and

I'm not encouraging you and you're not
encouraging me with a scripture, I am

not taking advantage of this
incredible gift God's given me. I've

got to redeem my relationships and
my conversations to ensure that's

happening, and if you've got people in
your life and they're not doing that,

include people in your life that are
doing that, and listen, don't cut

those other people out, you become
that person to them. Don’t--don't say

I'm going to write them off.
They don't encourage me. You begin

encouraging them with the scriptures
and seek out someone that'll be that

person for you. So I've got “T,” “R,”
“U,” “T,” and the last one is this,

“H,” Hope in a future that's certain
and good. Pessimism says my future is

uncertain and it is bad. But beloved,
the testimony, the scripture says

otherwise. The song that we've sung
a couple of times now. A few times

during this--this lockdown period,
“He will hold me fast,” it points forward

to the return of Christ until he
returns at last. This future God has

for all of us is certain. It's written
in stone. It cannot be altered. None

of God's plans can fail.
Isaiah 46:8-10, “All of His counsel will

stand.” My flesh, the patterns of my
mind will not affect God's promises.

It won’t--it won't change God's plans.
I've got to begin meditating on God's

future. The point He's promised in the
scripture is it certain, and for the

believer it's good. So friend take
this simple acrostic: T.R.U.T.H.,

Truth. Write it in your Bible.
Write it in a piece of paper, and when you

find yourself facing instability,
facing pressures, uncertainties, and

starting to walk down that pessimistic
route, everything is bad, everything

is going to turn bad, nothing's good,
and you've got that Eeyore outlook, go

to this acrostic, and just bash this
truth into your head over and over

again. This is what I need. Take this
truth and hammer it down into your

hearts, and allow it to sort of pull
you out like a lifeguard running out

to sea in the midst of you drowning
in pessimism, and pulling you to shore

back to a place, listen, that's not
merely dry, but that's standing on the

promises of God. And God can be
glorified, even beloved, if you're in

that battle like Thomas. Follow his
example. He was in the battle. He

wasn't characterized by it. He was
still willing, he was still devoted,

and he was still resilient. May that
be true for all of us. Let me end with

one thought, really I've already given
something for those of us that are in

Christ, this acrostic, but for you
that maybe don't know Christ. I don't

know who's watching this today. I
don't know who you are, but if you're

not living for Christ by faith today,
if you've not heard the Gospel story

and responded to it in faith.
The story of the death, burial, and

resurrection of Jesus Christ,
for and in the place of sinners, that they

might be saved. Him dying on the cross
to pay the penalty for our sins, for

your sins. If you've not heard that
message, that story, and responded in

turning from your love for sin and
putting your confidence and faith in

Jesus Christ, the righteous one,
who died for sinners. If you've not yet

done that, beloved I've got a message
for you. Go back to John chapter 20 in

verse number 29. Listen to what Jesus
says about Thomas. “Thomas, because

you have seen Me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen

and yet have believed.” The key word
and my significant question for you is

this friend, have you believed?
Jesus when he began his ministry in Mark

1:15, His very first sermon was the
kingdom of heaven is at hand therefore

repent and believe the gospel,
believe the news. The Good News of the

Christian message is not an invitation
to a new religion. It's not an

invitation to a new way of life where
you now work really hard spiritually

to earn something from God. It's Good
News about what's already been done,

and it's been done by Jesus Christ.
It's been done for us. Our response to

that news is not to now chart a new
course of life where it at the end

we’ll be awarded some gift from God,
rather it's to put our hope in the one

who did it all. There's nothing left
for us to do now, but to trust in Him,

and so friend, if you've not put your
trust in Him, you've not come to Him

by faith for salvation, you've not
cried out to God, dear God have mercy

on me a sinner. You've not had your
sins forgiven and you know it, because

you'd love Christ right now. You'd be
living for Christ right now. If that's

not you, then friend hear me. Today is
a day of salvation for you. Today is

the day that God has drawn near to you.
The scriptures say call upon

Him while He is near. Friend take
advantage of what the Lord is offering

to you, and enjoy this incredible
gift purchased through Jesus Christ.

Father, we love You. We thank You for
this incredible gospel offer. We thank

You for the testimony of Thomas that
teaches us, that even if we tend to be

more like an Eeyore and face this dark
outlook, we can battle it. We don't

have to be controlled by it. We don't
have to lean into it. We can instead,

we can battle it. We can be willing
in--in seeking to obey You. We can

remain devoted to You, committed to
You, and not allow the dark cloud to

set in. And Father, we can prevent
from allowing this pessimism to knock

us down and keep us down. So Father,
I pray that we would be able to do that

with the help of your Holy Spirit.
Help us, Father, I pray, to do just this,

and for those that don't know Christ,
may today be the day of salvation for

them. May they cry out to Christ and
experience this incredible gift of

salvation. Father, I'm trusting you
to do this. In Jesus name, Amen and

Amen. Thank you for tuning in and
watching this service. I want to

challenge you to share it with a
friend, but listen, I can't end a

service like this without saying this.
If I'm describing you, and you need

help, you reach out to us. You reach
out to the church office. You send an

email. You call. You do something.
We want to come alongside you, as your

church, and we want to help you with
the power of God through the gospel.

God bless you. I love you. Let's all
close in one final song, and let's

leave today with our hearts
trusting the One who can be trusted.

[Music]

♫

Amen. Well church, thank you again so
much for joining us this morning. We

love you, we're praying for you,
and we'll see you next week.