A look at David's life through the Book of Psalms.

Opening video: 00:05 Thanks for watching this message from the church next door. We're thrilled that you're joining us online today. We'd love to have you stop by any weekend as well. We're located at 5755 Federal Road in Columbus, Ohio, and have services on Saturday evening at 5:00 and Sunday morning at 9:30 and 11:00. We hope to see you soon.

Doyle Jackson: 00:56 Well, welcome to war cry. This summer we decided we would do something a little different. We said, let's read through the Book of Psalms. We said, what if we just took one or two or three psalms a day and we read those, and use those to encourage our life. And some people said, well why would you do that, and then why would you call it war cry? Well, it's because the majority of the Book of Psalms is written by the man, by the name of David. He was a warrior. He was the king of Israel. And a lot of these psalms are written before he became king. And it's about the struggles and the frustrations that he went through, just the difficulties in life. In a young man's life, in terms of love, and just everything going on in that, and he shares that with us. There's a second reason though and that is because if you were a warrior in the Middle East, in the ancient world, summertime was when you went out to war. Alexander the great talks about how he looked forward to the summer time because he would go to battle and his goal was when he got to the end of the summer, he would have conquered all the lands between him and the Mediterranean Sea. And when he would wash the blood off his sword and his spear in the Mediterranean Sea. He wrote poems about this. See, summertime is the time to go on attack when it comes to your spiritual life. If you want to build a relationship with God, if you want to cause it to grow, this is the time to make it happen. Did you know the summertime is one of the best times in your life to build a relationship? People are open to relationships in the summertime for some reason. Well, why not build one with God?

Doyle Jackson: 02:40 Now, last week we did the first piece on this, and we talked about the song of attack, and David taught us some principles about how you can attack your problems. You can attack the obstacles in your life. He says, God gives me strength to leap over the wall. If you missed that, watch online. Okay, go out there, it's at the church next door and you can do that. Do me a favor. Would you applaud for the people that are watching online right now? Welcome to the church next door. Well all right, all right.

Doyle Jackson: 03:12 Here's the second piece, today we're going to talk about the song of frustration. Why is that important? Because we all get frustrated. We all hit these points and we're like, why is it going this way? Let me give you the definition for frustration. It's in your notes, so if you pull out the notes that are in your worship folder, you can get out the APP, and you can follow along there. This is what it says, frustration: a feeling of dissatisfaction, often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems. See, this is what happens when you and I get frustrated. We get frustrated because we feel like it's not going the way it ought to. There's something down inside of us that says, I know the way my life ought to be, and this isn't right. And so we just feel within us this awareness. You don't have to be a Christian to feel that frustration. You don't even have to believe in God, but you're aware of this need within you to do something that is purposeful, meaningful and valuable. And the reason we get frustrated is, we feel like I don't want my life to be in vain, I don't want my life to not do something that matters.

Doyle Jackson: 04:33 And David understood that frustration. He was a young man, he was rising in life, and he was going through these experiences. And he was like, ugh. And every one of us feels that way. Can I tell you something? I've had more people come up to me this weekend and go, "Oh man, that is right where I'm at. Thank you." So this is what I know, if you're with me right now, you probably feel that way right now, or you felt that way in the past or you're about to feel that way. Because frustration is part of life, so how do we deal with it? How do we unpack it? Let me just begin by saying this to you, God designed every human being, every human being, God designed for his great purposes. And that is to bring glory to him, and to be a blessing to the world around them. When you look up at the stars at night, and you see a star in the sky, it brings glory to God. Well, you are another one of God's stars. He designed you to shine for his glory. Now where you're placed, and how you're shaped for that, he's working that out. And part of the frustrations that we feel in life, is shaping us, it's focusing us in on that purpose. And I'm going to help you unpack that today.

Doyle Jackson: 06:12 If you would follow along with me, listen to the verses of David, the ancient warrior, listen to how he talks about this in Psalm 37 beginning in verse 1. This is what he said, he says, "Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong, for like the grass that will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord, and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause, like the Noonday Sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes, refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil, for evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the lord will inherit the land. (Verse 10, it's not on your notes. It says,) a little while and the wicked will be no more." Now what's David's saying in here? What is David implying in all this? He's saying, listen, listen, everybody gets to this point of frustration, everybody has to face that. If you wait, if you'll be patient, if you will just say, I trust in the Lord. If you can say that, if you can just say, I trust you Lord.

Doyle Jackson: 07:57 Can we say that right now? Say that with me. I trust you, Lord. Let's say it again. I trust you, Lord. How about one more time? I trust you, Lord. The reason I make you do that three times is sometimes I have to say it more than once to begin to make it happen in my heart. I sometimes I just have to walk in my house. I lift my hands and say, Lord, I trust you. I trust you, that what I'm going through, it's not in vain, it's not purposeless. You would never let anything happen in my life that you didn't want to bring about your purposes. I was designed, I am shaped for your service. I am shaped, my life is being shaped by you and your Holy Spirit for your purposes, and I resist every temptation to get upset. I say no to those feelings that want to drag me down. You have no place in me, you have no right, because my heart is God's heart. And see, when you say that, when you begin to declare that, it changes your whole perspective. Nothing happens in my life, nothing happens in your life, without God's purview. And that's what we believe, and that's what we're looking at, and what David is inviting you into is this way of life.

Doyle Jackson: 09:08 A couple of years ago, Jennifer and I took the boys and we went to Florida to the beach for vacation, and I don't know how long we were there. We're not great vacationers, I have to admit that. You know what I'm saying? We were there for several days, and I could tell the family was getting bored of watching me lay like a whale on the beach. I was enjoying it because all I wanted to do is just relax. You know what I'm saying? But they had, had all the relaxed they wanted. They wanted to do something, and I understand that. And I said to Jennifer, "Well, let's do something, we've got, we got a little bit more time left before we have to go home. What would you like to do?" And we, we came to the conclusion, let's drive to Orlando, and we'll go to universal studios, and suddenly the countenance of everybody in the family came up. You know what I'm saying?

Doyle Jackson: 09:56 And we get there, and we're ready to buy our passes. It's only one day. I've been to universal studios for one day, alright? And I said, "Well, we're here for the day."

Doyle Jackson: 10:12 And they said, "Do you want the gold pass?"

Doyle Jackson: 10:14 I said, "Well, what's the gold pass?"

Doyle Jackson: 10:17 And they said, "It takes you to the head of the line every time."

Doyle Jackson: 10:20 I said, "Well, how much is it?"

Doyle Jackson: 10:22 "Well, it's about 20 percent more."

Doyle Jackson: 10:24 And I said, "Well, what is that?" I'm calculating it up, and I don't know. It was like 150 bucks, something like that. You know what I'm saying? I'm like to go to the front, I'll pay in.

Doyle Jackson: 10:35 What I learned in that was this, there is a faster way to the head of the line, and I want to give you the gold pass that will help you get through frustration quicker. All right, this is not in your notes. You might want to write this down. All right? You may want to get out your phone. This is the gold pass, folks. I am not charging you 20 percent, now, if you want to give it to me, that's a different deal. Alright, this is the gold pass. What I've learned in my life experience is this, when you get to the halfway point on any project, your frustration level gets to its highest. See, when you're at the halfway point in anything, that's when your frustration point is that the highest. Let me give you an example. You're building a deck on the back of your house. You've got it in your mind, you know how long this is going to take, and you start working on it. You're working on it, you think it's going to take you four weeks, you'll get it done, it'll be ready for summer. You know what I'm saying, and you're three weeks in and you're only halfway done. And you're just like ready to sell the house and go buy a house that has a deck, you're ready to shoot anybody who asks you about your deck. You see what I'm saying? Your frustration level is right here. But can I tell you something? Once you got the foundation for your deck, once you've got that concrete poured, and it's dried, and you got the footers and everything set up, and you've got your purlin's laid out, folks, the decking goes fast. It's a piece of cake. You just zip, zip, zip, zip, and this is what happens.

Doyle Jackson: 12:25 Most people, when they get to that halfway frustration point on a lot of things in their life, they give up. You're in college, you're working on this project, you've got a project or a paper due, you were all excited. You were excited when you got to pick your project, when you started doing the prep work and the study and all that. But by golly, when you're sitting down and you're trying to write it, you're halfway there, you're ready to quit up. You're thinking about dropping the class.

Doyle Jackson: 12:57 How about this? You got married, you were so excited and you're halfway through your first year of marriage. Everybody tells you your first year of marriage is a tough one, right? The first six months are gray. Then you get halfway through it, and you're like, what have I done? This is not the person I was dating. That's because it becomes hard work.

Doyle Jackson: 13:21 See, whenever you get halfway through a project, you're ready to get out of the line and run. And what David said is this, if when you were at that halfway point, if you'll put your hands in the air and say, okay, God, I thank you, I praise you, I know that you have a plan for my life, I know you have purposes for my life and that this is just part of it. Now, this is why, because quitters always quit. And quitters always quit about halfway through, and if you've been a quitter, you need to stop quitting. Just determine today, I'm done quitting. Get out your comment card right now, write it down, and say, God, I am done quitting. I will never be a quitter again, and then just drop it in the bucket when you leave today.

Doyle Jackson: 14:09 Why is that? Because finishers always finish. Finishers know, I'm going to push through the pain. When I'm working out, normally for me to do a workout, I know I've got 20 minutes or I've got 30 minutes, okay? Halfway through the workout I'm always like, why is this so hard? And then you push through this 20 minute workout, you push through to that 11th minute. You get that adrenaline rush, and you're like, I can make it, it's going to be okay.

Doyle Jackson: 14:38 See, seven years in your marriage, man alive, the kids are at a real pain age. You're like, everything's going crazy, that's why seven years. Then when the kids get to be teenagers, you're ready to bag it in. I'm telling you, people quit at these frustration points in your life. Don't be a quitter. Why? Because the people that succeed in life know how to push through the pain. The hardest point in a marathon is halfway through, the hardest point. The gold pass is this, I'm not quitting just because I'm halfway through, I'm halfway done. I've already got half of it done, it's downhill from here, and that's the perspective change. And that's what David got. When your kids are teenagers, you're halfway done. When they graduate from college, move and don't tell them the address. Tell them, we'll take you for vacation at Christmas. They don't have to know where you live. You can let them know where you live when they show up with grandchildren. It's a theory I'm going on. All right. I haven't started it yet, but I'm just telling you now.

Doyle Jackson: 15:53 Let me give you what David teaches us just in this passage. Number one, he says, hold your tongue, don't complain. When you feel that frustration rise within you, David says, do not be a grumbler. Grumblers never get the inheritance, grumblers quit, grumblers don't see the promise land. So don't go there, do not be a complainer, don't let that become a part of your personality. Don't let that be the culture of your home, your business, your organization, your team, whatever it is. We are not quitters and we do not complain. See, that's what David says, winners don't complain.

Doyle Jackson: 16:39 The second principle is this. It is trust God, and verbally commit your life to him. When you're at your frustration point, say, God, I'm trusting you, I'm trusting you. This situation that you've gotten me going through, you're doing it because you want to bring about good in my life. I know God that you're going to help me through this. When you're halfway through Rehab, when you're halfway through that physical therapy, when you're halfway through you say, I thank you because I need this kind of grit in me to make it afterwards. I need this kind of grit for my life. God wants warriors that have grit. And he is shaping you. He is shaping you for his service and his glory.

Doyle Jackson: 17:28 All right. Then lastly is the principle that we don't want to hear, which is wait patiently for your inheritance. See, the fruit of the spirit of God, is part of your inheritance. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, all these things, the fruit of God being in your life is the change in character. The character changes that come in your life, and my life, the character changes that really transform our lives are like sanding and polishing. It's not an easy process and you just have to say, I thank you Lord, I praise you Lord. I thank you, that you're with me, that I'm not alone.

Doyle Jackson: 18:14 I want to give you today what I believe are five frustrations that we all deal with. Okay? And the reason I want to give them to you is because I want you to watch out for them. I believe that everybody's going to experience these five frustrations at some point in time in the life. There may be 10 frustrations, but I can guarantee you these five. Everybody's going to face it sometime. All right? And the reason I want to give them to you, is when you see them arise on your horizon, the gold pass is to say, I thank you lord that I am normal. I thank you lord that I'm halfway through. I thank you lord that I'm going to make it. See, the reason this is important is this, is David says, if you'll use my words, it'll push you to the front of the line in this. If you complain about it, if you worry about it, you're just going to sit here. And you're going to just keep going in circles, going in circles. Next thing going in circles is down the toilet. I'm just telling you folks, don't do that. Don't do that. You do not want to repeat the lesson.

Doyle Jackson: 19:15 First lesson, first lesson, is what I call knowing your life is meant for more. Knowing your life is meant for more. Every one of us has this imagination that our life is for greater purpose, our life has meaning. And you look across your life and you're like, why? Why am I going through this? If you're a mom and you have small children, more than likely you have felt that. See, you're getting up in the middle of the night, you're getting sleep deprivation, you're clothes are always dirty. You're just hoping to find something, when you go to put it on, that smells decent enough, right? You evaluated based on how it is now. Why is that? Because you're hung in this time when it's just hard, and you question yourself, and that's why you need people around you.

Doyle Jackson: 20:10 Can I tell you about my own life? I remember from the time that I was 14, until my second year of college, every Sunday morning, every Saturday and Sunday, I worked at home. I would drive home from college, I would get up on Sunday mornings. But from age 14, to my second year of college, I worked in my father's veterinary practice. Now I didn't have an official job title, but I chose one for myself. and I was officially in charge of animal waste byproduct. Okay. It sounds better than what I was actually doing. Okay. And I remember I would get up on Sunday morning at 6:30 so that I could clean the Kennel in my dad's veterinary practice and then I could go and shower and shave and get ready to go to church because I was on the team that ran the sound and I had to be there early for them to practice and be a part of all that. So I'd get up at 6:30 on Sunday morning, and you'd open the door to the kennel, and there was just this wave would hit you. I can still smell it. I'd walk across the room, and I would turn on the worship music, and I go to work cleaning the kennel. It'd be easy for me back then to think, my life was meant for more than this, but I didn't. I just worship God, and I and I cleaned the kennel, and I got it all cleaned up every Sunday. Every Sunday I did that. You need to know, I did it in the morning, and I had to do it in the afternoon, and I did that for years. Can I tell you what I learned in that? I can worship God anywhere. I don't need you, I certainly don't need a band, I learned that worship comes from within me. It's a choice that I make, it's an attitude in my heart about God.

Doyle Jackson: 22:15 What David learned was this. He sat in a field, next to the sheep, God, had him in charge of the sheep. And he knew within him, my life was meant for more. But he said, it's okay, it's okay. This is preparing me for a greater purpose, for a greater time. And I don't know what your frustration is right now, but if you can put your hands in the air and say, okay, God, whatever it is you're shaping me for. I'm in, and you go to the front of the line.

Doyle Jackson: 22:52 Number two, second frustration you're going to face, or have faced is watching others give up too soon. You're going to watch someone else, and you can see they're past the halfway point, and they quit. They're just about to get to the victory. You've seen it. You've seen it on your friends. You've seen them when they gave up on their marriage too soon. You've seen when people quit before they finished the program they were part of. Whatever it is, you know you've seen people quit too soon.

Doyle Jackson: 23:23 David young man, he gets a call on his cellphone from his daddy. He says, "Son, would you go down and take your brothers lunch?" He goes up to the house, he picks up some cheese sandwiches and some cold drinks, and hikes down to the valley where all the armies of Israel are. And he hears Goliath yelling across the valley, and everybody is tremoring and shaking, and David says, you got to be kidding me. We got this, God is on our side, and he is broken in his heart. Why isn't the king taking him? He knows he already knows he's going to be king one day, he's thinking if the king took him, everybody would follow him. God says, "David, I'm sending you in son." Sometimes that will happen for you. Sometimes you're going to watch other people, they're almost to the success, and you know what? He's going to send you in. He's going to say, well, they won't do it, I'm sending you, I'm sending you, I'm sending you. I've prepared and shaped you to serve me in this way, and you're going to go in. And you know what he does, bam, takes it out. Okay?

Doyle Jackson: 24:44 Number three, third thing I've learned about frustration is this, sometimes we get frustrated because we're separated from our team. We're just frustrated because we're separated from our team. And this is, we know is, for a greater purpose. And we know that we're not meant to do it alone, and for whatever reason God wants us to trust him, and he has us separated from our team. Do you know this? You got to have this clear in your mind. You are meant to be a part of the body. That's what the new testament talks about. Okay? The reason God does this, he wants you to be a part. I told this to somebody after the first service today. I said, "Listen, you may be the hand, and this person may be the hand, and this person may be the arm, and you're the other arm, and you guys are the arms around somebody that needs your love right now. See we were designed to be a part of a team, and we feel the frustration when we don't have the team around us.

Doyle Jackson: 25:39 I remember that frustration in my own life. I remember when I got to do my first, kind of volunteer, ministry job at the Church at home growing up. It was going really well, and then had to leave that and go to seminary. I was like, God, why? Why do I have to leave the team that I love, the people that I'm a part of, and things are going so well? And I had to learn just to praise the Lord. In the midst of that, I spent three years in another city learning, learning, that God would never leave me or forsake me. That he was always with me, and that I was a part of the team, and there was other parts of the team he wanted me to learn about, to be a part of.

Doyle Jackson: 26:22 David remembers this too. David had Jonathan, he was like a brother to him, and yet God and the circumstances separated them. But he trusted God, and David had to live in caves, and hide for a period of time. See, at other times David had to live among the Philistines. You may right now be frustrated. You're like, why am I not? Why is the team not coming together? Because God wants to shape in you. And say, do you trust me, even when everything isn't perfect right around you? Maybe you were meant to be married, and you're still waiting for that to work out. Are you going to trust God? See, God's working this all out in us. He's working it all out in us.

Doyle Jackson: 27:15 The fourth one that I gave to you, is trying to do what's right in your own power. This is a tough one, because we know that we're more meant for more. We know that God has this purpose for us, and we begin to sense that and see that, we're starting to put that together. And so what do we do? We try to reach out and grab a hold of it, and make it happen right now. Does that make sense? It seemed right in their own eyes. This is one of the common phrases in the Old Testament. Just because it seems right in your own eyes, does not mean it's the right time for you to do this. Let me give you an example from David's life. David is hiding from Saul, because Saul is trying to kill him. And one day it appears that God is giving Saul into his own hands. He sees Saul go into a cave, to take care of business. And David sneaks around the end of the valley, and he goes into the cave. And while Saul is in there, he comes over and he cuts the corner of Saul's garment off, he sneaks back out. See, in his mind, he's thinking, I did real good. I could have killed that king, and I could've become king today, and I know God meant for me to be king. And he's walking out around, and God's dealing in David's heart. And he says, how dare you, David, touch the king's garment. See what was going on in David's life was this. He started to get a little pride going in there, thinking I'm all that. David realizes he could've had the kingdom, and God says, how dare you touch the king's garment? He holds it up and said, Saul, I could had you today, but I let you go. And God deals with David. See, David had to learn that Saul was God's anointed, until God determined Saul was no longer the anointed king, and he put him in place. And God was trying to change something in David's heart, and God was trying to teach David. I'm the one that says you get to go, when you get to go, your life is in my hands. And David, that day, saw there was pride in him that had to go out before he could be king. That humility needed to come in, that the king is the king because of God. And if you try to reach out and grab whatever it is, if you try to grab your future, it may be that God wants you to have what you're supposed to have. But if you reach out for it too soon, and you take a hold of it, it'll be bitter in your mouth. It will not taste good, and it will not be good. If you're frustrated right now, you need to say, God, what needs to change in my heart and my character to be the woman, the man that you've called me to be? Okay.

Doyle Jackson: 30:17 Fifth one, the last one is this, it's what I call the continual resistance of evil. The continual resistance of evil. There's this imagination somehow, and I've fallen into it at times too, I want you to know I've been guilty of that. And this imagination is that somehow, well, if I give my heart to Jesus and I follow God, everything will just fall into place, and it's all going to work well. But see, that's to ignore the reality, that in this world, there is evil and there is sin. You see as long as you and I live in this world, we have to deal with the resistance of the evil and the broken nature of this world. It's why you can buy a brand new car, and it's going to rust over time, even if you keep it in a garage. You know what I'm saying? Everything is falling apart. Now, why is it that way? Because we get frustrated on the other side. We are like, well God, "Why don't you just deal with all the evil, why don't you just wipe it all out it?"

Doyle Jackson: 31:21 God says, "Well, if I had done that 20 years ago, you wouldn't know me."

Doyle Jackson: 31:26 And suddenly we are like, "Well thank you for waiting this long."

Doyle Jackson: 31:29 And then he says, "The reason I'm not dealing with evil in this world is because I'm shaping you to be a messenger of
love and light until I come, and I need you to be my representative. And it's my grace that is withholding wrath, so that you can get the love of God to as many people as possible, and I'm shaping your life. I'm shaping you, and you, and you, and you.

Doyle Jackson: 32:02 See, what I love about being the pastor of this church is God has given us a group of people from such a wide variety of backgrounds, ages, I mean we have the most beautiful shades of skin in this place. He's shaping us, and we're here. And if God does not deal with all evil, you and I can dispense grace, and that's why he holds back. But what does that mean? It means that you still have to deal with flat tires, you have to deal with rude people, and angry people, and people that are my dad. I love my dad, my Dad's 80, maybe 80 plus now. My Dad just came home from Israel, got home yesterday. I sent him a text, hey daddy, you home? Are you awake? How are we doing? He texted me back. We're home, we're great, air conditioner or half the air conditioners out at the house. And within me, I was like, stink. Why does daddy have to go through that? Part of me saying, I wish I could be at home to solve that for him so he didn't have to deal with that. And part of me is saying, why does he have to deal with that? Because God has graced him to be alive, so I get to have him at this age. I get to still talk to him, and receive from his wisdom in life. And as long as he lives, and as long as you live, and I live, we have to push against the evil in this world. And every time you hear it, you say, no way evil will not win, I worship Jesus. That's why that's important. Now why is God shaping you? Why is he doing this? Because you're to be His witness, we're all to be his witnesses. He designed you. He designed me. He designed every one of us to share his glory. Have I told you this? When you look up at the stars at night, and you see that star, the star brings glory to God. He's shaping you to bring glory to God too.

Doyle Jackson: 34:41 Look what David said from Psalm 40. He says, "You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. Then I said, “Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”

Doyle Jackson: 35:23 What David is saying is this, David understood that God was working in his life, and he was frustrated. And he came to the conclusion, you know, God, it's not the offerings that I bring you, that you really take joy in. See, David wasn't saying that offerings weren't important. The offerings were important, he needed to give them, But the offering was not what the God rejoiced in. What God rejoiced in, was when David really listened to God, and when David would go to his word and God would speak to him and show him what he had shaped him for. And what brought delight and joy for David, was when he fulfilled his God purpose.
Doyle Jackson: 36:02 And you were you were designed for something greater than just a religious duty. You're designed for relationship with God, and to lead other people into relationship with God. And everything about your life has been shaped for God's purposes. And if you will praise him for that and say, Oh God, I thank you for my life, as imperfect as it was, use me to bring glory to your name. That's what it's about. Your imperfections and my imperfections bring glory to God because we survived despite them. Hearing God's plan for you brings peace in your life. Listen, I used to believe is that what I'll do is this, I'll just start a Christian radio station, that's what I wanted to do as a teenager. I thought how great that would be. You know, back then it was unheard of, it was just rock and country where I was from. All right? And I thought, what if we had a Christian radio station? But God said, no, that's not my plan for your life. I said, okay, God, I'll follow your plan for my life.

Doyle Jackson: 37:13 And see, what has he shaped you for? I want to use the word shape to help you understand part of God's plan for your life. S stands for spiritual gifts. Okay? Spiritual gifts. I believe that God gives spiritual gifts to his people. Now be clear on this, the spiritual gifts are always given by God for the body. The reason God will give you the spiritual gifts, whether it's hospitality or administration, or if he gives you the gift of words, of knowledge, or wisdom, or whether it's speaking in tongues, those gifts are designed to build up the body of Christ so you can work together as a team. What does it say in Acts chapter one, it says, "I will empower you to be my witnesses." The purpose that God wants to give you spiritual gifts, is to empower you to be a witness. And you say, well, how do I know what my spiritual gifts are? Well, I tend to recognize mine when other people, that love me and I do life with, say you really good at this. I was telling someone before the first service, I was like, you got to know something, I was shy. I didn't like public speaking, had no desire to do that, and yet apparently God shaped my life for that purpose. See, God will give you the gifts you need to serve him, and bring glory to his name.

Doyle Jackson: 38:54 We have a test online through the neighborhood. If you go to the neighborhood, at Church next door, and you log in. You can take an assess me test, it can help you with your gifts. But the best way is get involved in a ministry around other Christian people, and just sort of try it on. Same way Jesus did with the disciples, he said, okay, right now, pass the fish, now go and pray for people. now Pete, I'm leaving, plant church. I love it.

Doyle Jackson: 39:24 Second one is hard. What are your passions? What do you really get? What gets you moving? What gets you up in the morning? What gets you going? I was at a church conference, and this guy shared about how he had a 72 year old man in his church, who got word that one of his grandchildren was going into the foster care system. He was so broken. He was like, no, there's no way my grandchild can go into that. And for him, he determined that he was being called by God to help this grandchild, so he goes down, he starts the process. And he's like, oh my gosh, this is wicked hard. You know what I'm saying? He figured out the process, and finally brings his grandchild into home. And then he goes back to his church and says, listen, I had no idea how hard it was to become a foster parent. He said, would you let me help anybody in the church that wants to become a foster parent, I'll walk them through the system. And at 72 he started a ministry, now people from his church are taking on the calling of taking in foster care children. You want to know why? Because we have an epidemic problem within the foster care system right now because of the opioid epidemic. There's these kids that have no family, that the whole structure is gone, and it just came out of a passion. See, God has shaped you, and he gives you passions. Okay?

Doyle Jackson: 40:56 Thirdly, God gives you abilities. It's just natural talent. It's just a natural talent with some people. And I don't know, some people are naturally talented in music. You know what I'm saying? I love worship. I told you I can worship God, doesn't matter where I am, and how bad it smells. But I am not talented at music, you do not want me to lead a song. At least if we do, we want to play it really loud. That's why I like loud music, you can't hear my voice. I know another church, a guy says, I don't have any special abilities that God can use. And the pastor said, you've got to be kidding me, you can fix anything, I've seen you repair things that are beyond repair. And the guy said, so how can I use that as a ministry? The pastor said, well, I dare you. I dare you to offer any single moms in our church that you'll change their oil this Saturday at church. I dare you to do it. And so the guy did. He put the word out, he asked a couple buddies to come help him. Single mom showed up, and he came back to the pastor. He said, there's a huge need. He said, we prayed with these moms, and we helped them. He said, God broke my heart for the need of these single moms, can I do it once a month? Pastor said, can you do it once a month? Of course you can. Will you build a team so it's not about you, but it's about the people being ministered to? He said, I will. See your abilities, God has given you unique abilities for his kingdom, to share his love through the body of Christ so they can know the Kingdom of God.

Doyle Jackson: 42:50 Next is personality. It doesn't matter whether you're an introvert or an extrovert. It doesn't matter if you're a lion, an otter, a beaver, if you've ever heard me talk about that. God gives you a personality because your personality is perfect to reach other people with similar personality to you. And sometimes he gives you a personality so you can reach people that are different from you, so they can appreciate the diversity of the kinds of people that there are. I'm so glad Jennifer has a different personality from me, it's much more helpful around the house and in life. See, God gave you a personality because he needs your personality to impact other people. You say, but I'm a jerk. Okay, so maybe you need to reach jerks. Maybe you'll let the character and quality of Jesus Christ begin to restructure you so you're less of a jerk, and you can help other recovering jerks. See what I'm saying? And if you're a jerk, yes, I'm speaking to you, a sermon just for you.

Doyle Jackson: 43:58 Last is what I call experience, your unique life experience. God gives each and every one of us a unique life experience. Can I tell you something? I never imagined that growing up in a veterinarian's home would be so welcomed by so many people. We live in a generation where everybody loves animals, for some reason. I've had more contact with animals, you don't want to know where this hand has been, and yet that's been my life experience. Can I also tell you? If you've had a painful life experience, it is my experience that people who've gone through pain can choose to become compassionate people as a result. I realize you can choose to become angry and blame God, and get all frustrated by it. But the people that I know, that lean into and say, okay, I'm going to give away compassion out of that painful experience. It is a powerful ministry mode.

Doyle Jackson: 45:00 I just read about a family in California who lost a baby, still born, they were so brokenhearted, they were so hurt, they were so overwhelmed by the experience. And their church, their small group, just came around them and loved them, walked them through it, prayed with them, believed in them. But in the process they learned that the hospital really didn't have a way of dealing with it. You know, they learned about the funeral homes, they learned about all the things that were and were not available to them. And when they got done, and all the love they experienced, they said, you know what? I cannot imagine what it would be like to have gone through that experience, and not had the body of Christ loving me, and we have to do something for the people that don't have the network that we have as Christians. They sat down and wrote out their story, and how God met them in the middle of that. Then they wrote up the prayer, that they prayed every day, just to get them through the grief and the pain they were in. And then they wrote a letter, and they wrote this letter and they said, hey, this is our name and we lost our precious baby, and this is what we named that child, and this is what we want you to know. You can survive this. We did, and if you want help in this process, we believe that God will help you and we'd be glad to step in. Here's how you contact us. Then they made little blankets, and they put this all together, and they put them in a shoe box and a package. They went back to the hospital and they said, hey, would you be willing to give a family that went through what we went through some package like this? And they showed them their package and what they have, and the people of the hospital said, that would be awesome, we'd love to do that. Then the people's hospital said, how many do you have? They said, we have 10. They said, we need 200, that's what happened to us last year at this hospital. His family said, we'll do it. Out of that a whole ministry, within the local body of Christ, is risen up to love people in that community, in that way. You were shaped for his service.

Doyle Jackson: 47:31 When I was in seminary, someone wronged me, and it was horrible and I had to forgive them. And every day I went and prayed Psalm 51, "Have mercy o God, according to your unfailing love, blot out my transgressions. Wash me, make me whiter than snow, (goes onto say) restore to me the joy of thy salvation." In my praying that, God shaped me to be the pastor that I am today, to be able to teach you. If you will speak the words of David over your life, it will transform you, and whatever you think is holding you back will not have to hold you back anymore. I'm invite you into a life where you say, I trust you, Lord. It's worth it. It's the gold pass people, it's the gold pass.

Doyle Jackson: 48:38 Here's our closing confession or prayer. I'll read it to you, then you can stand and say it with me. It's on the back of your notes for today. I believe everyone was shaped for significance, myself included. Open my ears to hear you, Lord, and my eyes to see the plans you have for my life. I want to know the delight of your will for me. Would you stand and say that with me? If you're new and this is your first time here, this is just our way of verbally putting the message into practice. You can do that if you want to, if you're comfortable. All right, let's say it together. I believe everyone was shaped for significance, myself included. Open my ears to hear you Lord, and my eyes to see the plans you have for my life. I want to know the delight of your will for me. Amen.

Doyle Jackson: 49:31 Hey, you have a great week. If you're new, stop by, they have a gift for you. If you'd like to say hello to me, I'll be here. We always have a team that will pray for you. Next Saturday, if you want to come, we're having worship on the lawn on Saturday night at 5:00 PM.

Closing video: 49:47 We hope you are encouraged and challenged to grow in your relationship with Jesus by this message. If you like to learn more about the church next door, stop by our website at thechurchnextdoor.org, or look for us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.



Recorded in Columbus, Ohio.