All The Feels | Week 3 | Bill Bush

a couple weeks ago in in my bowling league, the fact that I bowl is not the humorous part, I we showed up and it was the playoffs, and our team actually didn't do that great earlier in the year. Came on us that we made the playoffs, And so it started at the beginning of the playoffs where you get eliminated

and all that. So it's our first week, so you're you wanna do well. So we show up, five man team, so there's 10 of us in the lane, and we're getting warmed up. We get ready to start, and the other team says one of our guys isn't here yet.

And they go, hey. He comes late a lot. He usually wanders in real quick, and so we're like, this is like, this player's coming. I'm already a little bit, like, just, you know, really? You're not gonna be here on time.

And, they have a rule that in the league that if a guy shows up by the find the the anchor or the last bowler of the opposing team, that's me, shoots their first ball of the third frame, then that guy can't bowl that game.

So we were gonna be cool, so we said, well, we don't know where he is. He just hadn't answered his phone, so we start bowling slow, like, just taking our time to try to give him a chance to get there. You know, we're trying to be cool, but it's still kinda why are you not here? And then all of a sudden, we get close to the end. Like, my the guy right before me has one more shot, and then if I go up and throw the ball, he's out the first game. But as we're doing that, all a sudden, they go, he's here. And we look, and he walks in the door, and he's he's about as far away from me to the back door over there. And we're all looking at him, and he walks in,

and he's on his phone. And and he's really he he starts to walk in, and then he stops and starts to to he he starts to meander. He's late, and now he's meandering.

And as he's meandering, someone's like, hey. Put a diamond. He doesn't even acknowledge. He just kinda waves like this. And then he keeps walking around in a circle and talking on the phone. So he's meandering. Now he's lollygagging. And now I'm starting to get upset because you don't meander and lollygag

when you're in the playoffs. You know? It's like, why is he doing this? And and he's just standing there. I'm starting to understand. I go, this guy's meandering. He's lollygagging. He's borderline dillydallying. And if you dillydally, my head's gonna explode. And and and I literally was getting upset.

And and the team looks at me, and it's like he he he he starts walking down, and and and he's sitting there, and he's still trying to put his shoes on one arm at a time, and he still stays on the phone. And I was getting so angry. I finally looked at my teammate that still had one shot. I go throw your shot. He goes, why? He's here. I go, yeah. Because I'm gonna run up and throw my shot, and we're gonna host this guy. He's not bowling this first game.

Yeah. I didn't say what would Jesus do? WWJD. I just said WW j n d. What would Jesus not do? And I was about to do that. I was it was starting to infuriate me. And I was getting angry and angry as he just kept talking,

and he finally got his shoes on. And then I finally said, alright. Fine. He's about to bowl. So he walks up there with his bowling ball. You think he's gonna walk him and bowl, but he stays on the phone. He sets his bowling ball down, steps back off the lane,

and just folds his arm like this, tucks down so it's like he can have a conversation without us hearing, and just keeps talking. Who does that? Who I sat there, and and I'll be honest, I know I'm a pastor, but I I'm a I'm a I'm a person, and and I'm a person apparently, for some of my illustrations last few months,

I get angry when people make me wait, I guess. And so I I was so frustrated because I'm looking. I go, what

is he doing? Why is that and I finally I look at my teammates, and they're like, oh, Bill isn't angry. They've seen this look on my face. You I don't get angry often, but when I do, you better watch out. And I was, like, so mad. Was like

and I finally looked at the other team, and I said to him, are you gonna do something, or am I? It'd be preferred that you do it because with me, police might end up involved.

What I was gonna do, my teammates asked me, well, what were you gonna do? Because they finally went up and talked to him. He started bowling, but he still stayed on the phone. I go, what were you gonna do? I go, well, plan a was I was gonna grab the phone out of his hand, hang it up, throw it down the lane, and tell him to bowl or go home.

And they're like, well, that's brutal. I go, that was the calmer thing I had in my mind. They go, the other was I was gonna keep the phone and throw him down the lane. I

was so mad. It was like I I I realized, I know this is a dumb illustration, but it's gonna help with today because if we can't spot what we're gonna talk about today in these simple moments, you'll never get it in the more complex moments in life.

But when I realized I was I literally I'm not kidding. I'm joking about it, but I was angry. Angry. Angry. Angry. But I realized in that moment, we're not talking about anger today. Anger, if you don't know this, is a secondary emotion. It's a response feeling. It's not a primary feeling. If you're angry,

something else is generating the anger. I realized why I was getting so extra angry is because I was disgusted. I this this guy's actions, what he was doing, making us wait, having all acting like he didn't act like we even existed and didn't care disgusted me.

And we're gonna talk about the feeling of disgust today. But first, let me define it. Here's a definition of disgust. Disapproving, disappointed, awful, repelled, judgmental, embarrassed, appalled, revolted, nauseated, detestable, horrified, hesitant. I was pretty much all of those. I wasn't nauseated,

but I mean, most of those things were was was was there. And have you ever got that point where you realize a lot of times when you're angry and you keep getting really, really angry, a lot of times the the real feeling you're dealing with is disgust.

You are disgusted by something that's happening. You are just you just you just you're all of these things. And and and it can generate an intense amount of anger. And we're gonna look at that today in the Psalm we're gonna see.

Because what are we supposed to do with that feeling? Because you remember the first week we opened up and said, what are feelings? Why did God give us to them? Why are we wired? And we said feelings are guides, not goals.

And a lot of us make the major mistake if we think life is about trying to chase the good feelings because there's feelings that make us feel better. And we think all about life and everything we do is to make sure we maximize the good feelings and don't experience the bad feelings. But feelings are neither good nor bad.

They may feel good or feel bad, but feelings are neutral. They're the warning light on the dashboard. They're not the light we're supposed to pursue. They're supposed to show us something and help us manage them. We can't control them. We can manage them. So what's the deal with disgust? Well,

what we're gonna see today is disgust, the big idea is simply this. Disgust will disciple you or destroy you. Plain and simple. It will either take you closer to God in pursuing Jesus and understanding his love and and and and going down that road,

or you will get consumed. You will either explode from it or implode from it, as we'll see as we look. And where we're gonna be is in Psalms 52,

but we're not gonna start in Psalms 52. Because the like I said, these Psalms were were hymn books. They were they were poetry. They were written. They were inspired words of God, but they also would sing them. But they often, like like we said, many of them have a background story. We know what generated,

what's this written about. And in Psalms 52,

if you look if you have a bible, you'll notice oftentimes in these Psalms, they have these little in parentheses, these little notes, like it says in Psalm 52, for the choir director. That's actually in the scripture because this was a it would it would it would write. It says, for the choir director, a Psalm of David regarding the time Doeg the Edomite said to Saul, David has gone to see Ahimelech.

So we know exactly the context for this Psalm that King David wrote. And so now that something happened to him that we can read about, we're gonna go to the original because we have to understand what actually happened and what David did before we read what he wrote that he was disgusted, he revealed some disgust,

and he was accurate, but he wrote this psalm after the fact, later on. So we know this is what he processed. This is what happened in this process. I wanna go look at the original story

and and and and see what's going on. So if we go back to Psalms chapter twenty one and twenty two, first Samuel, I mean, we're not gonna read through all. I'm gonna read through parts of it, but let me just set it up. If you're not familiar, you're not going to church very much. In the Old Testament, had God's people, he formed Israel.

Well, then they're they're following God and they're living, and all of sudden they decided they wanted a king like every other nation. And and God says, you don't need a king, you have me. They're like, we want a king like everyone else. So that was mistake number one. So then the king they picked,

they picked the same way that the world would pick. He was a foot taller than everyone else, he was a brave warrior, he was a handsome man, just so he was mean. Okay? So they picked me.

And now that I said that, same exact. I had the same character issues this all had, you know, but he he he he started off good, but then he kinda destroyed himself because the main thing he did is he stopped trusting God.

And so he would try to fix everything, and, you know, he'd give full vent to his feelings like like we were talking about, that that a fool in Proverbs gives full vent to their feelings. They just chase the feelings and play them on out. So he's king. Well, then this guy named David comes along.

He had been anointed as a teenager that God says, God is rejecting Saul. You're gonna be the new king.

So he gets told that, and then he starts his journey. He ends up showing up. He kills this giant named Goliath. He starts to get famous. He becomes a warrior. He's an awesome warrior, a great general, a leader of men. He rises through the ranks. David marries Saul's daughter, so now he's the king's son-in-law,

and he rise up to where he's the chief of his whole bodyguard. He's like, he's number one general and his chief bodyguard. And so you'd think, I'm he's on the trail. God said you're gonna be king. He's lie his stock's just going up and up and up. And then Saul became very jealous because he didn't know how to handle his feelings, and he heard the songs they were singing in the streets. They're like, you know, Saul kills his thousands. Yeah. But David kills his tens of thousands.

And he's like, what? So he started to to to think that there was a plot against him and David, and he got mad, and he starts to try to kill David.

And this is the beginning. This story we're gonna read is the first thing that happens when Saul has tried to kill him again, and he realizes, I can't stay in the family. I can't stay here. He has to go on the run.

And when you read the Bible, a lot of times you read the rest of this, and some of you have in church a long time, and you know this story. You know David was on the run for a while. He eventually becomes king,

but you don't realize because it's such a condensed amount of scripture that this time he's on the run, running for his life, living in caves, is ten years. After he'd already been told as a teenager, you're be the next king. He's probably sitting in a cave when he writes this song.

So what happens when the story begins? What is this talking about, this dog the Edomite, and what he's so disgusted with? Let's look at it. So verse one of chapter 21 says, David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. Why are you alone? He asked. Why is no one with you? Because if, you if the king's chief bodyguard, the son-in-law of the king, shows up, he should have an entourage of men. So he's like, what's going on?

What's he knows something's off. And David says this, the king has sent me on a private matter, David said. He told me not to tell anyone why I'm here. I've told my men to to men where to meet me later. Did you just catch what David just did? He just lied. No. And he just lied about it. Why?

Well, it sounds like with this guy's concern, he's like, I don't know whose side he was like, is he gonna betray he's like, he had no idea. Or maybe he thought he was a good guy and he thought the less he knows the better. He just doesn't tell him the truth,

which is interesting because God rejected Saul, but then David is called a man after God's own heart. Does that mean that he's better? He doesn't sin? No, David did lots of knuckleheaded things. What we're gonna see is the difference between him and Saul is every time Saul

didn't trust God, ended up in a predicament and and was confronted with his sin, he argued and made an excuse. David, when he sinned and was confronted, would confess. He would deal with it. It's important to remember. It's critical for all of our feelings to remember that. So he lies

and then he says, I need a snack. He says, now what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have. He wanted to get some food for him and his men because he's on the run. If you jump down to verse seven now,

it says, now Doeg the Edomite, that's the guy that Psalms about, we're gonna read in a minute, Saul's chief herdman was there that day being detained before the Lord. Now it's weird how the Bible just kinda randomly throws this verse in here. Okay. Thanks for the information. It'll come back in a few minutes.

David asked in verse eight, Ahimelech, do you have a spear or a sword? The king's business was so urgent that I didn't even have time to grab a weapon. Now that's kind of a half lie. That that could be justified as true. He didn't really lie in that moment, but he didn't share all the information. The king's business was urgent. He was trying to kill David, so he had to leave so fast, I didn't have a time to arm myself.

So he's kinda not lying, but also not really telling the truth.

And he goes, I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley Of Elah, the priest replied, which is a weird place for the sword to be kept. It's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take it if you want it. There's nothing else here. And he goes, there's nothing like it, David replied, give it to me. So here he is lying. He's afraid. He's scared. He's running for his life, and he's making mistakes. He's not really trusting God. He's trusting in his ability, so he's like, I gotta get some food. I gotta get a weapon. I gotta I gotta I gotta do some stuff. I don't want this guy to know what's going on, so I'm not gonna tell him the truth. And then what happens next is he actually leaves there, goes to a place where the people don't like him, and he thought he could get shelter there, and he knows they wanna kill him. So his next decision is I act crazy.

So he acts crazy. Starts drooling on himself. They're like, he's crazy. We're not gonna kill him. It's not even worth it. So they send him away. That's kind of like the the king in trouble version of of of how some of you guys maybe do what I do. Your wife asks you to do something, you do it really poorly the first time, so then she never asks you to do it again.

Did I just let our wives in on a secret that I shouldn't have painting. I do it so poorly, so I don't ever get asked to do it. So, yeah, I'm a jerk. Okay? Sorry.

So that happens. So then let's jump over to chapter 22. Saul is now angry with everybody. He's giving full vent. He's out of control, and he's like, you guys are all helping him. He's yelling at his men, like, somebody knows where he is. Why are you betraying me? Somebody tell me.

And then down in verse nine, it says this, then Dobe the Edomite, he was there, who was standing there with Saul's men spoke up. He says, when I was at Nob, he said, I saw the son of Jesse talking to the priest Ahimelech, the son of Ahithub.

Ahimelech consulted the Lord for him, then he gave him food and a sword of Goliath the Philistine. It says, King Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and all his family who served as the priest at Nob. When they arrived, Saul shouted at him, listen to me, you son of Ahithub.

He wouldn't even call him his name. He he says he wouldn't even call him by his title. He goes, what is it my king? Ahimelech said. Why have you and the son of Jesse, that's David,

conspired against me? Saul demanded. Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you consulted God for him, and why have you encouraged him to kill me as he's trying to do this right? So now he adds that. He's like, and I know you told him to kill him because he's assuming you gave him a sword. You probably said, here, go kill Saul.

He's making all kinds of assumptions. But sir, Ahimelech replied, is anyone among all your servants as faithful as David, your son-in-law? Why he is captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household.

This is certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him. He's like, what are you talking about? Why would I assume any of that? He's your son-in-law. He's the captain of your bodyguard. He's the greatest hero of the land. He's been loyal to you. I've talked to him about God many times.

He goes, may the king not accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing at all at any plot against you. So here's how Saul responds. You will surely die, Ahimelech. He's disgusted with him because he's convinced, and now he wants to kill them.

He goes, along with your entire family, the king shouted. And he ordered his bodyguards, kill these priests of the Lord, for they are allies and conspirators with David. They knew he was running away from me, but they didn't tell me. Saul's men were the only ones that had any sense at this moment. But Saul's men refused to kill the Lord's priest.

Why would we kill unarmed priests and their families for something that we're pretty sure they didn't do? So they won't do it. So verse 18, the king said to Doge, what's up, Doge?

I'm just making sure you're still with me. This is a lot of setup in this sermon, and some of you just, like, zone out. I So just had to make sure you're still there. Good. He said to him, you do it. So Doeg the Edomite turned on them and killed them that day, '85 priests in all, still wearing their priestly garments.

Then he went to Nob, the town of the priests, and killed the priests' families, men, women, children, and babies, and all their cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. And not only killed the priests, he killed their families, killed their kids, and killed their pets. He wiped them out.

He went above and beyond what even Saul asked him to do, to kinda ingratiate himself with Saul. That's what Psalms 52 is about, is the disgust that David had for what he did. But before we even get there, there's an important thing we before we go to look at Psalm 52, look what happens next. Only Abiathar,

one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. When he told David that Saul had killed the priest of the Lord,

here's the difference between David and Saul. David's a sinner. He's lied in the snow. He's been afraid. But it says he says this, David exclaimed,

I knew it. When I saw Doeg the Edomite there that day, I knew he was sure to tell Saul. I knew I had put them in danger. I knew what I did. I knew I lied. I knew I hid stuff, and I knew this something was gonna happen. He says, now I have caused the death of all your father's family.

See what he did? We have to understand this before we go read what he wrote. In that moment, David was disgusted with himself and he confessed it.

And then what he did is he said, you stay with me. Stay here with me, he said, and don't be afraid. I will protect you with my own life for the same person wants to kill us both.

And you know what? That's the moment when he first started running and he made some mistakes. We know from that point on, he sinned in his life. He did some terrible, dumb things. But in as far as running, he he did some things where he trusted God. It says he always had a priest with him. He always consulted to the Lord. He had a chance to kill Saul a couple times, and he didn't take it.

He decided to not lie, manipulate, or take things in his own hands. He was gonna trust God from that point on. And it and it changed. Doesn't mean he was perfect, but he said he changed his tactics.

You have to understand that before we read what he writes now. Now let's go to Psalm 52, and we're gonna see how to what are we supposed to do with our disgust? How does this work? Well, let's read the first four verses here. He's describing his disgust for this doe. He says, why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior? He's being sarcastic.

What kind of a great warrior killed unarmed priests that didn't do anything? He goes, you do you don't you realize God's justice continues forever?

All day long, you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor. You're an expert at telling lies. You love evil more than good and lies more than truth. You love to destroy others with your words, you liar. He's pretty honest. That's a pretty that's a statement of disgust.

It's a truthful statement of disgust. Because what's disgusting him disgusts God, and he's super honest about it. But the psalm doesn't stop there. It keeps going.

But before we get to what he says, I wanna stop and say, alright. What's the first thing I need to do? As we read this, there's three things I think we see from looking at David's original story, what happened, and then reading this verse. There's three things we're gonna see in this passage of when you're disgusted, have to understand and operate in a different way.

And and and and and the first thing is you need to diagnose

your disgust. We must diagnose our disgust. Like, he's being clear here. He's able to clearly and truthfully say what he's disgusted about. He knows the what, but he has to deal deeper. You gotta go in and go, so what? Just like we said the first week, whenever you feel a strong feeling and it's really overpowering,

the first thing you need is like, why? Why am I feeling this way? What's going on? Where is this really coming from? Because you realize there's stuff that might be pushing it that's coming from another place within you. It's not just about what they did. It might not just because because what we're gonna see is if you don't do this first, you'll get stuck in verse one through four in a loop,

and you will never get to verse five through nine. You will just be stuck in this one through that's so bad, so bad, and then the anger will build and build and build and build. Like, that's what was happening in bowling. I was getting madder and madder and madder at this guy. So I stopped, and I said, why am I mad? And I realized I was disgusted. Why am I so disgusted with this?

And I had to kinda internalize, look in the inside first. And I realized a few things of why I was even more angry than everyone else, even his own teammates. And there was a couple reasons why. First of all, I was raised by a man that taught me if you're ten minutes early, you're already fifteen minutes late.

That's who raised me. I mean, he would take me to bowling tournaments and stuff, and there wouldn't even be anyone there. The bowling alley wouldn't be even open. We're sitting in the parking lot. Is this the right place? And we I I we went to some baseball tournaments. They hadn't even chalked the field lines yet.

I started so many tournaments exhausted because I'd been there so long already.

That's who he was. He was the type that he would get frustrated with my family, even though we never left late. My mom, we never left late. But he would get up and say, we gotta leave by this time. And then he started getting nervous that that time was too late to leave, so he would just pace. He would actually go pull the car out, put it in the street facing the direction we're going. He's like, gotta save time. We don't have time to back out.

So I realized part of my anger, yeah, what this guy did was disgusting. It was wrong. Get don't get me and David is clear. He does call out accurate disgust.

But what we need to realize is sometimes before we can get to that accurate view of things, we have to understand that a lot of the intensity of our disgust, the anger that comes with it, is not actually driven by what's happening out there. It's driven by what's happening in here. You see,

I was raised that that was just a really, really that was one of the soapbox values I was taught. But I also realized that I thought he probably was a little bit upset because I realized that I rebelled against my dad in my teen years, and sometimes I would just purposely I was ready. I'm like him, but I would purposely be late just to see his veins bulge in his neck.

So why am I so angry at this guy when I've done it too? But I I I realized there was that thing going on, that it was just like I was raised by that. I had to understand that that that would that may and then the second reason is because of that value,

I had actually had someone on my own team that came late two or three times over the last month or two. And I was consistent. I called this guy out. And I felt like the other team's not calling him out. No one's doing anything. I call someone out when they're late.

And I actually looked at my own guy and says, you can't do this thing. Matter of fact, the one time he was late again, I was like, the other team's like, he's like, where is he? He's like, ah, he's coming from work. He's like, really? His boss kept him that long? I go, well, actually, he works for me, but

but I told him he'd it's it's a long story. He shouldn't be there. You know what I mean? I was like, but he got there, and and and I said, you can't do this anymore. This is disrespectful to your team, to the other team, to all of us.

And so I chewed him out, and the the guy I chewed out on my team, he didn't dilly dally. He didn't you know, he he wasn't dawdling and and and meandering

and and and all those things. He would actually come in. He would come running in, run. He would call us on the way. I'm so sorry. I'm almost there. He let us know. He'd come running in. He would apologize to everyone and buy the other team drinks. And I still still called him out.

So what do you think I'm gonna feel about this guy? I had to analyze that a little. I had to diagnose it and go, where is this coming from? Because some of the intensity isn't really about what he's doing. It's about where I'm at, where I'm at.

And see, David did that. He owned see, when David said, I've caused the death of your family, now after he's analyzed, he's still writing about the disgust for what they did. They were really wrong. But the first thing he did was he dealt with the disgust that he had within himself.

I think the number one thing we need to diagnose in ourselves when we get disgusted at something out there is realize maybe the intensity of it, the reason we're so disgusted with that person, so disgusted with your spouse, that person you work with is we're actually disgusted with ourselves and we can't

figure out what to do with it. We can't figure out what to do with it. It's kind of like this statement, you can you can put this down is we need to deal with our disgust before we deal out our disgust.

We need to deal with our own disgust. A lot of times the things that disgust us the most and we get the most angry is an opportunity to disciple, it's an opportunity to reveal you that there's probably something you are dealing with in yourself. I mean, think about it this way. It's the easiest thing to think about is is if you're a parent.

Some of you, especially if you're a parent that's already raised your kids, I guarantee if you've already raised your kids, one of your regrets about how you parented your child was how hard on them you were on the things you hated about yourself.

Have you not done that? Now some of are like, uh-oh. You're new parents. You realize I'm already doing that. Think about it. The things that make you the most angry about your kids, the things that you challenge them, the thing that you say, you know, come hell or high water, you're not gonna be this way. The things that set you off are the things that remind you of you that you don't like that you did.

And here's the problem. If I don't diagnose that, I will come on so strong that I will never stop them from being that way, and I'll alienate the relationship and confuse your kid. Some of you, I just described your upbringing and the way you're bringing up your kids right now.

It's a human instinct thing. The things we see in our own kids that we hate about ourselves, we it comes from a good heart. We're like, I do not want them to hate themselves like I hate me, myself. But then the very way you try to drill into them is gonna make them hate you and hate themselves for the same thing.

And a lot of times, that's our problem. Before we deal out the disgust, we gotta deal with our disgust. We gotta deal with it. We gotta look at it and go, what is it inside of me? Stop

and do that. So how? How? That's what I think the rest of the passage is about. I think there's two things that gives out. What does David do? What does he say next? He doesn't just keep going on verse one through four. He says verse five,

but God. Remember Pat last week talked about big buts in the Bible and how they're important? This is a huge, huge but right here. Most of the time when we get disgusted, when we're in verse one through four, going through in our head the thing that's discussed, even if we're right,

if it's true, because what David Wright is true. Even if it's a true thing, the first thing that comes out of our mouth as a response is not but God. It's but you or but me. It's but I'm gonna do this about it.

I'm gonna do so our our the our after our but is I am gonna act, and I'm gonna force this. I'm gonna do this. Or the next thing is or but you. You better stop that. You better not be. Our first reaction to discuss is to say the but you. We don't say but god. God needs to be the next word out of our mouth.

And what does he say? But God in this moment. Look what he talks about. But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home, just like you did those families, and uproot you from the land of the living.

If you get really mad at your kid, just say that. I'm gonna uplift I'm gonna uproot you from the land of the living. That's a poetic way of saying I'm gonna end you. But who's gonna do that? God. He's talking about God's justice, which he referenced in the first four verses. And what he's saying is if you're ever gonna get

handled disgust without it destroying you, but let it disciple you and make you closer to God, and actually maybe even help the scenario you're disgusted with, first thing is diagnose the disgust. The second thing is you have to trust God's justice. You have to trust what does that mean? Because almost 99.99% of the time,

what disgusts you is some sort of injustice. An in unfairness, someone did something to you that you didn't think was right, you didn't deserve. It's it's it's it's it's it's an it's an injustice. And now you're mad because you you see this perceived injustice

and you want it to be right and you start to get angry, and the problem is we try to either make it right by us acting in a forceful manner or telling you you're stupid. You know? And and we get and then we do this instead of saying, but God. What he's saying is the only way you're gonna process discussed accurately

is if you just remember this. In the end, when time is all done, there will be no injustices left unaccounted for. If all of us Christians remembered that, I think we'd be calmer people.

See, because we act like that's injust and that's and we get impatient and we get mad. And then sometimes we start going, why would God allow this? Why would God that? And the problem is in our world and in our life, we confuse God's patience with injustice.

In the New Testament, it says God is patient, wanting all that are to come to Christ to come to Christ. That's why he hasn't just poured out his wrath. It's like, why has God allowed this to happen? Why is has he not cared? He's like, yeah. He cares. He cares so much. It's kinda like there's this boat you gotta get off this island before the volcano blows up, and he's waiting. And once you're on the boat, you're like, what are you waiting for? Why don't you get us out of here? This is a mess. He's like, I'm waiting for the rest of the people. You were really happy when I waited for you.

And that's how we act in the world because we don't understand that in the end, we think we gotta take care of it. We have to fix the world. And I said it a few months ago, kinda one of my soapboxes, our job is to fix our eyes on the Lord, not fix the world.

Now we're supposed to do things. We're supposed to act in just ways. We are. Don't get me wrong. My point is where is your heart? Where would you really understand that the most unjust thing that's ever happened to you or happened in this world will not end in time without being accounted for?

The question is, did it the cross answer for it, or are you gonna answer for it? But we act like this is so unfair. God is patient, but he is just. And if you're gonna be able to calm down, you have to remember that when you're disgusted by something. First, look at yourself.

Own your own issues because that might be generating the intensity way more than what you just saw. You've got to be able to own it and realize that. It's kinda otherwise, when you get mad, you become, you know, judge, jury, and executioner on everything.

And you become like Sylvester Stallone in Judge Dredd, I am the law. That's not a bad impersonation there.

And and and you try to do it and you know what, and and and you'll and and when you do that, even if things are happening, even if things are moving in the right way, you still stay angry. That's what's weird.

When you don't process this right, things might actually start moving in a good direction yet you still stay angry. You can't get past the disgust. You stay in chapter verses one through four loop, you replay it over and over again, and you get mad again, you get mad again. Even if stuff's been moved

let me give you an example. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I were in a discussion. You know what that means. Right? Fight. And I had perceived her doing something very injust to me. It was like unfair. It was mean. I didn't like it. It hurt my feelings. And I she did.

But I was telling you, my wife's not a perfect person.

Aren't you supposed to say you too? No. Heard that last night and now we're in another discussion, but just kidding. She told me to tell the story. No. And so and and she heard my feelings, so I immediately got disgusted, got angry,

started building my case in a in a gradually louder way, and and was just really frustrated and kept saying, I can't believe you did this. And and here's the problem is is guys especially, when we are our feelings are hurt, when we're kinda sad for something, we act mad.

I don't know why. We just do. So I was getting more mad, but I was really more sad. And so I kept going, and something I said, my wife finally just right in the middle of me, blah blah blah blah. She goes, stop. And I'm like, oh, no. Here it comes. She's gonna sideways

start going, what about you and this? And we're gonna go down this whole road of everything I know and I could teach you not to do, but then I step right in it myself and go, why did I do that? But it's about to happen. And she goes, no. No. No. You're absolutely right. I am very sorry.

Most people don't believe that's a real story.

But it happened because I married the most awesome woman on the planet. She just stopped and said, she's sorry, and then you thought it ended happily ever after. You would think. I go, okay, and then I kept going on with my closing arguments.

And I kept going. A little less loud, but still I kept going. And she listened for a few more minutes and finally goes, wait a minute, how long after I completely own what I did to you and say I'm sorry do you stop trying to convince me that I did something to you that I need to say sorry about?

She's like, why did I keep going? She goes, why are you are you gonna just keep going? And and I was like, well,

I have three more really good points.

I saved the best for the last. Now, I I I got the guns and the bullets. I got the bullets and the gun. I wanna use the bullets. She's like, oh, so you're gonna still shoot me after I've already admitted I was wrong.

And I so I went away. I'm like, you know what? Fine. You're right. And I went away, and I had to think about it. Why did I get so upset? And then after she even said she's sorry, why did I still stay upset? And when I went and just thought about it, I realized the thing she had done

when I went through the she didn't do this to me. Because if she had done it, we'd probably been in a fight forever. I went through the Rolodex in my brain, I realized I have done this to her probably two to three times the amount that she's done it to me. And after I calmed down, I realized and I hate that about myself.

I wasn't just yelling at her. I was yelling at me. See, as if you don't learn to diagnose this ghost and then trust in God's justice, Even if something changes, you won't change. You'll get stuck in verse one through four. You're always disgusted, always angry. We have to understand that it's about God's justice.

And here's the thing, here's a statement like because here's what happens if I don't do this. If I don't do this, I want to put this on the screen, write this on the refrigerator, it's smart. We we might be right about what's wrong, but wrong about how to make it right. If we don't process disgust right,

you may be right about what's wrong, but wrong about how to make it right. I think this statement right here describes our entire culture right now. This is The United States Of America right now. This is also the church in The United States Of America right now.

I think we all have a lot of things that we know is wrong, and we are right about how it's wrong, but we are so wrong about how to make it right. Now I'm not making a political statement. This is a statement over all political spectrums.

We all do this. It doesn't matter what spectrum. I don't care if you're way to the right, way to the left, right in the middle, where you don't even know what politics are. I don't care. But we here's the biggest mistake we make. We might be right about what's wrong, but wrong about what how to make it right. What I see in our culture, the thing we are the most wrong about how to make it right, and it depresses me and saddens me that a lot of us in this church, in this room, and Christians fall for the same thing. The thing we are desperately wrong on is you think government

fixes problems. Now I'm not being anti government. You gotta hear what I mean by that. If you look in the New Testament, it says here is why God created government. Government was created to put a check on evil, not to correct evil.

It only puts a check on it. It doesn't correct it. It puts a check on injustice. It puts a check on death. It puts a check on unfairness. It puts a check on it, but it is never going to fix the problem. You didn't say, but government

will bring justice to the end. But government will bring fairness to the It says, but God will. And we think government is gonna rescue us. And as Christians, we start getting so ticked off, not about what's right or wrong, but about how to make the wrong right.

That we should have. We have debate on how to how to make these things right, but the problem is in our hearts, we've replaced God with government. We say, I believe in Jesus, but I

believe in Jesus, but we need to vote this way. If we don't vote this way, we're gonna lose our freedoms. We'll lose that may be true, but you say it with a passion and intensity that says, somehow, Christianity loses. Somehow,

God the justice will injustice will prevail. No. But God, it doesn't matter if this becomes a dictatorship that becomes the most horrible place in the universe to live. If we trust Jesus, it'll all work out in the end. We have to stop falling for this, people, because that's just making us disgusted with each other.

And the Bible says the world will know we're Christians by our love, not by our fight for laws to make people live the way we think they should live. It's not gonna change anything,

but don't hear what I'm not saying. We're called to be a part. We're called to active, but just remember what government does. We're called to be a part of a process that helps check evil. The mistake we make in our heart is we think it's going to correct it. It's not.

I don't care which end of the political spectrum you're on, your political plan will never correct evil. It will not. I will fight you on that. I will fight you like a guy that came late to bowling

because God already says, you can't legislate heart change. You can only make laws to try to check something.

But in the end, the only thing that corrects it is the heart. Like I said, I didn't say anything about any wing or any kind of politics. I just made a statement theologically about all of it. That's where all the fighting and the disgust comes from.

Let's not be a people that might be right about what's wrong, but wrong about the way we're trying to it right because we're giving in to the anger. Can't do it because you know what we're supposed to do? Trust God's justice. And then finally, these last few verses.

Verse six, the righteous will see it and be amazed. They will laugh and say, look at what happens to mighty warriors who don't trust God. Righteous doesn't mean you did it better.

You're better than. Righteousness means in right standing with God. We know from the New Testament, we are made righteous by the death, burial, and resurrections of Christ, us looking to Jesus as our savior, the only way, and we put our faith in him, turn to him for forgiveness of our sins, give our lives to him, we are made righteous.

It's those who are made right with God through Jesus will see justice prevail in the end. And he says, those who won't as they trust their wealth instead and grow more and more bold in their wickedness.

But he says, I am like an olive tree. What does he mean like an olive? An olive tree was a spiritual kind of tree. It's powerful because they had a phrase for someone who trusted in themselves, and it was a type of tree, I I don't remember the name of the tree, but it didn't live very long. It had really big leaves,

but terrible fruit. They compared the the righteous, the ones who who stay with God and and and pursue God's goodness as as the olive tree.

Olive trees are some of the longest living trees in the world. I have pictures of me and my wife standing next to an olive tree that Jesus was probably crying blood on because it was in the Garden Of Gethsemane when he was in the Garden Of Gethsemane, and it's still producing olives. It represents an eternal, it will last,

and it will mean something, and it will produce something good. And how do you do it? I will always trust in God's unfailing love. You embrace God's justice, but you have to embrace God's justice with the sense of God's unfailing love. It's about his love.

In other words, we can love God because he first loved us, and then when we can know his love and love him back, that enables us to love others.

And we're supposed to be known for our love. Guys, the last thing I want Rock Point to be known for if you ask people in the community, hey, what do you know about Rock Point? Not much. But I know that they're against this, and they're not for that, and they don't like this. How about they hear what we're for?

Hey. All I know is they love their Jesus, and they are the nicest. They care for me. They they they they reach out to me. It doesn't mean that the things they do are right or wrong. It means that they need we lead. The truth in love means, yes, we stick to truth, but we always step forward with love. That's the gospel.

Look at your Facebook feeds and what you're posting. Is that leading with love? Even if you're right?

We're becoming like Saul, you're paranoid. You think we're losing a war somehow and someone's got it out for you. And it's all this. There is a war, and this world is broken. But we know the end of the book. We don't lose, we win. Why do we act like we're losers when we're the winners? People need to see the love.

Sorry. I got disgusted with it all.

And then what does that take them to? Verse nine, I will praise you forever, oh God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people. I'll trust in your good name.

I hear so many conversations with us Christians that when we're with God's faithful people, we're not talking about God's good name. We're talking about the bad name of whichever politician we hate or whatever person we don't like,

and we're just getting angrier and angrier.

In other words, diagnose your disgust, trust God's justice, and then these last three verses is pursue God's goodness. And one of the key things that I think drives our disgust in pursuing God's goodness is that unfailing love quote. Can I just tell you something? If you have put your faith in Jesus,

you are a son or a daughter of the king and God is disgusted with many things, but you are not one of them ever. God is not disgusted with you. He delights in you. And I think if most of us could just truly embrace that, we would handle the disgust we have for others so much better because I think not

really believing and accepting this is what makes us so judgmental to everyone else. And so then when we do deal out our disgust, we don't do it the way David did in Psalm 52.

He owned it. He was clear about it. This is truth, but he'd already owned his own stuff. Here he talks it, and he goes, and I trust in God's justice so I don't get overwhelmed by this, and I pursue God's goodness so I don't run away from God because I hate all the injustice. That's how it works.

Let me wrap it up with my bowling story.

Stupid illustration, but it works. So I'm sitting there super mad. I start to think about this. All of a sudden, I start being nice to Phil. Give him high fives. Good shot, Phil. Even when he's still on the phone. Good shot. He'll be like, not even looking at me. Give me the fist bump.

And I just kept doing it. I walked back and one of my my teammates, he's an elder, and he's like, well, that's a quick shift. Did you calm down? He goes, no, I didn't calm down. I'm just as angry. I'm still disgusted. He goes, but you're being nice. Why?

I go, because I gotta do what Jesus said. Because I am a pastor and I love him and I believe the word. I actually believe that what's in here works. And I go, I have to trust God that this works. And he goes, well, works. I'm gonna choose to be nice even when I wanna be mean. And guess what happened? I calmed down.

Don't hear what I was saying? Most of us is the biggest mistake you make. You be nice after you calm I gotta calm down, then I'll be nice. You know what it says in scripture? If you choose to be nice when you're not calm, guess what happens? Being nice will calm you down.

Being nice will calm you down. In the middle of a fight with your wife, just decide to be nice. In the middle of that, go, you know what? I'm gonna stop. Sorry about that. Let me get this. In the middle of it, you just decide to be respectful. You decide to show love. Even when you don't want to, it actually calms

you down. Don't calm down in order to be nice and loving. Be loving and nice and watch yourself calm down. So that's what I did. I looked at my friend and said, I didn't want to. I wanna do everything else that was in my head, but I'm going to do it this way.

And I calmed down. You know, we calmed down, we started listening, watching him on the phone. He was having a rough time. I don't know what's going on in that conversation. I almost want to say, hey, can you put on speaker so we can hear both sides? The best we can guess,

I think his girlfriend was just ripping his heart out. Hurt people hurt people. He was in such a shocking conversation that yes, he did something very disgusting, very disrespectful, very wrong to the rest of us, but then you start to understand, okay, there's something else going on, so I just stayed nice.

At the end of the night, putting our shoes on, getting ready to leave, Phil walks over, goes, Bill, as always, it is so much fun bowling with you. You guys have the best attitudes. And he shook my hand. And because he was nice back and was respectful and saw how I was,

I looked him in the face and I said, yep, that was a lot of fun once you got here and got off your phone. And he looks at me and I'm like, and I was like and he goes, I'm sorry. He heard me. Now it'd be nice if I stop there because I'm usually don't like being the hero of my story and I wasn't because I'm not Jesus.

So I said one more thing. He shook my hand and said, he's alright. I pulled him in and said, I wouldn't do that ever to another team, and you better never do that to me again. But other than that, I love you, buddy. That was fun. And walked away. And my team said he just stood there like so that part wasn't necessary.

But I did I did get to reveal I was able to share the disgust in a way that was heard. And his teammates came to me this last week and said he hasn't been late since. Not at all. And the reason it disciples instead of destroy is if I would have given in anger, I could have actually done something stupid,

but I also would have bowled bad.

We're in the championship this Tuesday. So it helped me too. Amen? Amen. Father God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you've given us all the feels and some of them we don't understand and many of them we don't like. But Lord, they serve a purpose, even disgust. Lord, may the things that disgust you disgust us.

But God, may we do what your servant David did, may we diagnose what's disgusting us, find out it's the right thing, look within ourselves and say, there something within us that's generating the intensity? And give it to you. Lord, may we then trust in your justice, that when things seem unfair,

it doesn't matter because at some point in time, all unfairness will be made right. And then Lord, may it through this whole process, we may pursue your goodness by embracing your unfailing love in order to express your unfailing love. I pray that for myself first and foremost,

and then everyone in this room and everyone watching online. And I pray it in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.