What to Do When You Hit Rock Bottom - Brother Jeremiah Shipley

Good morning everybody,

should be a couple of young men handing out

the outline of the hangouts for today.

They're going to be a little different today.

I left a few things blank, I hope you all will fill it out as we go and I will tell you what

they are, obviously.

And I left my room there, we have tables in here so people can take notes.

I kind of hope that y 'all do that.

Pick up your Bibles, phone, Bible, whatever, we're going to need to

read it.

To Psalm 77, as you turn there I'll explain a few things.

One, we're going to be talking today, the title of today's sermon is what you do when you

hit rock bottom.

When you're at the lowest of the lows, when you're in some serious pain or suffering or loneliness, whatever

that may be for you.

What do we do then?

We talk often about how to prevent that but we don't talk about what to do once we're there.

And that's what we're going to talk about today.

And by no way am I talking about the

anxiety and depression class and some people need to go legitimately talk to their primary care.

There's no saving that.

So, and by no way am I saying that, oh well if you just do this and that's a one time fix all.

The second thing you will never hear me say, you will never hear me say that all of this stuff is easy.

You will not hear me say that.

I was speaking with someone this past week and they're like, well how do I do that?

I told them, well you need to have some willpower.

Or we'll talk about that more later.

You have to have a certain level of willpower to choose to do what is right and to choose to honor and follow

God no matter what's going on.

And that is not easy.

Sometimes the simplest answers are the hardest.

The simple answer of you've just got to do it.

It is such a difficult and tough answer but that doesn't make it not true.

Just because it's not easy does not change the requirements of what we already do.

Amen?

Amen.

Alright, let us read.

I'm going to stay here for just a second.

I want everyone to look down.

I want you to read Psalm 77 verses 1 through 15.

Everyone on their own right now.

Read that.

When I was out untiring,

unpredictable, I remembered you God and I groaned.

I meditated and my soul grew faint.

So we're going to talk about a few different places that you're here tonight.

We're going to go over three passages by the way.

Let me say this first.

We're going to go over three passages.

Each passage says the same message in a different way.

And they give the same response of what our hearts and attitudes should be.

And I'm going through all three to show you that Scripture is consistent.

It is consistent in what our attitudes and hearts should be.

So first off, we cried out to God.

Jeremiah, I did pray.

I tried praying.

It didn't work.

I tried reading Scripture.

It didn't help.

I didn't just pray.

I meditated.

I meditated on the Word of God.

And I was uncomfortable.

Another verse in this says my soul refused to be comfortable.

Y 'all can struggle with that.

You try to get help.

You try to do the right thing.

But it doesn't seem to take.

You hop back on the horse.

You fall off.

You hop back on the horse.

You fall off.

You hop back on the horse.

You fall off.

I'm trying, man.

I really am.

But it just doesn't seem to take.

I've got to keep going.

And I'm just getting tired.

I'm tired of trying.

I'm tired of having to get back up again and again and again.

It would just wear me down.

And I want to do what's right.

I've tried.

But just again and again and again.

Sin and depression and anxiety and loneliness and discouragement and self

-doubt and self -hate.

It just wears at you.

It doesn't seem to go away.

It doesn't.

Time after time, we'll get back up and we'll get going.

And it lasts like a week.

And we'll back down again.

We're right back down again in the same hole we just climbed out of.

We question God on who we are.

But we also question God on why are we here.

Why am I in this place?

Why did you make me like this?

Why?

If it is because of our own fault, why does it go?

Why is it still on my plate?

Why is this?

I should be over this by now.

You ever heard that one?

You should be over this by now.

Shouldn't you?

There's no timetable on grief, y 'all.

There's not a timetable on grief.

There's not a timetable on this.

It's not a two months, three weeks, and four days and you're good.

It doesn't work like that.

In closing, I was too troubled to speak.

Y 'all ever had sleepless nights?

Tell me what's going on.

Tell me what's going on.

Tell me what's going on through your head.

Years ago, I was begging, literally.

Begging and pleading with someone.

I was like, just talk to me.

This was months.

This was going on for months.

And I was like, just say something, anything.

Please, just talk to me.

And this person, all they could say was, I don't know.

That was the answer every time.

I was like, what do you mean?

I couldn't.

I was much younger.

I couldn't.

I'm like, what do you mean I don't know?

I'm like, you are in a bad place.

You're struggling.

What do you mean you don't know?

You're lying.

You're struggling.

But that was the truth.

That person wasn't lying.

They weren't being deceiving to me.

They did not know.

They were too troubled to even speak.

Verse 5.

And that right there, by the way, that's the unfaithfulness, that first point.

When we struggle and we question God and why we are where we are.

We don't have faith.

It was Ruth who sat there and said, the Lord has dealt bitterly with me, but I

will wait on him.

One theologian called it bitter providence.

Bitter providence.

That God has a plan for us and that plan may or may not include a little bit of bitterness in there.

Well, how does that work?

Was the cross preordained?

The cross in Genesis.

And that was the most sinful pain flag.

It was the providence of God.

The same thing applies to bitter providence.

He allows us to go through a pain so that, as it was with Joseph, what you meant for evil, God

meant for good.

The saving of many lives.

The saving of many lives.

You don't know what's going to come.

There usually is an answer, but you're too scared to face it.

Or if you're trying to and you don't know why, sit and be patient on the Lord.

Which we'll read in a second.

This is doubt.

This is doubt.

That's the second one.

We question God.

We question not just why we are here.

That was the first questioning.

The second questioning is we doubt who He is.

God, are you no longer merciful?

Have you forgotten about me?

Did you forget?

Am I different?

This is exactly where we are today.

We question who God is.

After we question why we are here, we'll then question who He is and why He allowed it.

Verse 10.

Now here's the most important part.

We're going to look at each verse, and I'm going to go through the next two ones a little quicker.

But we're going to go through each verse to transition.

So the entire verse 1 -9 was, I'm doing horrible.

God, why don't you love me?

Have you forgotten to be merciful?

On and on.

But there's got to be a transition point.

And that's what I'm here to tell you today.

In your life, in your mind and in your heart, there's got to be a transition.

There's got to be a point when it comes to, I'm doing bad, but that is enough.

I've got to change.

What can we do then?

Let us hear the word of God.

Then, I thought, to this I will appeal.

You have to appeal it.

Acknowledge it.

Face it.

Head on.

To this I will appear.

The years when the lowest high stretched out his right hand.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord.

Yes, I will.

Remember what they call my willpower?

I'm sorry.

Willpower?

Look how he says, I will.

I will remember your miracles of long ago.

I will consider all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds.

You have to appeal.

Question.

The loneliness, anxiety, depression, whatever it is.

The drug abuse, the alcohol abuse.

You have to face it.

You have to appeal to it.

And you have to remember the goodness of God.

Sometimes you have to have hope in the past.

What do you mean by that?

That means don't just hold hope in what God will do.

Remember the hope of the

remembrance of God.

Because we're stupid when we forget.

What's your mind?

You've already told me this before.

I know.

And I'm going to tell you again.

Hey man, you don't need to do that.

Yeah, I already know.

And I'm going to tell you again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Don't go down that road.

Come this way.

You don't have to get the scar tissue.

You don't have to get it.

It's not a Bucky Beaver badge either.

You can't leave that one behind.

You can't avoid that scar.

You can't avoid that pain.

You can't avoid that loneliness.

It's not inherent for you to have that.

It's not a necessity.

You can avoid these things at times.

But we have to remember who God is.

And our mind and our heart, as Pastor Ben always says, speak truth into your own life.

You must speak truth into your own life.

You cannot let lies take captive and take hold.

Because lies and sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go and keep you longer than you

ever wanted to stay.

Amen?

Your ways, God, are holy.

What God is as great as our God.

You are the God who performs miracles.

Guys, have faith.

God's a big God.

I have one of my brothers.

He said, he preached the whole sermon on God is a big God.

God is a great God.

God can do mighty things.

That is so true.

But God is also a God that cares about every little detail of your life.

Don't think you're too small.

Don't think, well, my problems aren't real problems.

That person over there, they're the ones really struggling.

Go help them.

It's not like that.

It's not like that.

If God won't even allow a sparrow to fall to the ground without him knowing, you think you're less

valuable than that?

You're no less valuable than that.

God is a big God that carries big miracles and big works.

He's also a God that cares about the smallest detail.

Don't forget that.

Don't forget that.

And I'm not going to get into this, but just know.

It says, the most high stretched out his hand.

What does that mean?

It means that he is the one who gave that.

You're the baby crying in the crib.

He's the one that reached out and picked you up.

He stretched out his hand for you.

We're going to go to the land of patience.

Chapter three is what brother Andrew just had us read.

That was not by him, by the way.

Remember when we talked about bigger providence?

Chapter three, verse one.

It opens up by saying it is under the Lord's rod.

The Lord's rod.

I'm the man who has seen affliction under the rod of the Lord's wrath.

Verse 16.

He has broken my teeth with gravel.

He has trampled me in the dust.

I have been deprived of peace.

I have forget what prosperity or happiness is.

If that's not a description of depression, I don't know what is.

You've been deprived of peace and you have forgotten.

It's been so long.

You have forgotten what happiness is.

You haven't tasted its sweetness in so long.

You forgot.

So I say, my splendor is gone.

My splendor is gone is the thing.

And all that I had hoped from the Lord.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

This is hopelessness.

Hopelessness.

That's a scary place to be.

You don't think there's any life to come.

I have three people in the last six months I had this conversation with.

That there is permanent healing from what you're going through.

And they said no.

All three of them.

No.

I said, so what does that mean?

They said, I have to learn to deal with what I'm living in.

I have to learn to live.

I said, you have, you're hopeless.

You think where you're at now is the best it's ever going to get.

But I tell you today.

If.

Here's the if.

If you are a child of God.

What you are going through is the worst you'll ever have to go through.

If you're not a child of God, this is the best you'll ever have.

This life is the best you'll ever have.

The people who go out, Brother Shane talked about this morning.

Buying everything they have in sight.

Making as much money.

Go ahead.

It's completely logical for them.

If they think this is the best we're going to have ever.

But you today, Christian, I tell you.

This life is the worst you will ever have.

There is hope.

And there is healing in your life today.

With cancer and other diseases, healing doesn't happen in that day.

Sometimes it takes time.

And sometimes the Lord heals with time as well.

But there is healing nonetheless.

When you store up all of your pain and poor decisions like a miser.

And store it up for years.

It doesn't go away in 24 hours.

You have 5, 10, 15 years of pain and heartache and bad decisions.

It doesn't go away in 24 hours.

God may forgive you and God may heal you.

But you still got a lot of scar tissue to work through.

So understand that even in that, God will heal.

But sometimes the healing may take longer than a couple hours.

The transition again in this passage.

Three passages.

All different writers.

Verse 21.

Yet to this I call to mind.

And therefore I have hope.

That's a causal effect.

Yet to this I call to mind.

And therefore I have hope.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed.

This is the appeal.

By the way.

Just like in 77.

This is the great appeal.

For His compassion never fails.

Or should we say sometimes might not fail.

Never.

Do you trust that this is the word of God or not?

It never fails.

They are new every morning.

Thank you Lord.

Great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself.

The Lord is my portion.

Therefore.

I will.

Here is the willpower.

I will wait on Him.

The healing that takes time.

I will wait on Him.

When you are waiting for the Lord to bring the healing.

I will wait on Him.

The bitter problem is that the Lord has to go through this time.

But there is a reason why.

Well I don't know what that is.

I will wait on Him.

There is a waiting on Him.

There is a.

He is not a genie in the bottle that you can call on Him.

Wait.

You will find out.

You cannot throw a temper tantrum.

And then God come beckoning in.

Just because He is tired of hearing you cry.

It doesn't work like that.

So you can continue to stomp your feet.

And throw your fist if you would like.

Or we can wait.

And God has.

Those who hope is in Him.

To the one who seeks Him.

It is good to wait quietly.

For the salvation of the Lord.

So some of you young men keep reading.

Because it addresses you specifically.

Wait quietly.

Once again.

Not stammering your feet.

Or crying like a child.

Wait patiently.

And quietly on the Lord.

Because He hears you.

He does hear you.

And He will answer you.

Have faith in that.

Last one.

We are going to be done.

Habakkuk chapter 3.

I read this one a couple of months ago.

And it just smacked me right in the face.

Right in the face.

It was beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

I will wait for you to get there.

If you have never read Habakkuk.

Let me lay it out for you.

He is a minor prophet.

And Habakkuk is one of the only times in Scripture.

Where we have a dialogue with God.

It opens up.

And Habakkuk says.

God why do you look on evil and do nothing?

It is a question we ask all the time.

God why do you allow evil?

Why do you sit silent?

When all these people are being murdered and slaughtered.

And you do nothing God.

Why?

It is a fair question that all of us ask.

Though I would say watch your tone when you ask that.

And God replies.

Then Habakkuk comes back with another response.

And God replies.

Those are chapters 1 and 2.

This is chapter 3.

And this is after the siege of Jerusalem.

When Babylon came in and wiped Jerusalem out.

Killed them.

Slaughtered them.

And they started dispersing and taking them as slaves all over the world.

Verse 15.

You trampled the sea with your horses.

The surging of mighty waters.

I hear and my body trembles.

I heard and my heart pounded.

My lips quivered at the sound.

Decay crept into my bones.

And my legs trembled.

Yet.

Here's the transition.

Here's the transition.

Yet I will patiently wait for the day of calamity to come on the nation

invading us.

The first part there is fear.

That was the fear speaking.

Here's the second part.

But don't forget.

All three.

These are almost copy and pastes.

Fear.

Sadness.

Loneliness.

Then the appeal and remembrance of who God is.

Yet I will patiently wait for the day of calamity.

Verse 17.

This is so beautiful.

Though the fig tree does not bud.

And there are no grapes on the vines.

Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food.

Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer.

He enables me to tread the high places.

The bank account is empty.

The car is broke down.

There's no toilet paper in the car.

I mean for real.

There's no food in the grocery store.

Though my kids are in the belly.

Though my parents don't even like me.

Though my best friend is loving me.

Whatever it is.

God is still the God of my salvation.

And you as an individual remember that.

Have to call that back to mind.

Brother Andrew, y 'all can go ahead and come up here.

You have to call that back to mind.

You have to speak truth into your own life.

Three passages.

Scripture is very clear about this.

Remember the goodness of God.

Remember it.

Because it calls for you today to come to repentance.

It calls for you today.

What this is, is that I call for you right now.

You can either sit where you are.

Or we can remember the goodness of God.

The last thing here is the joyfulness.

One verse it says, I will celebrate in the Lord.

Are you able to celebrate in God right now?

Well he hasn't brought my salvation yet.

Does it matter?

Salvation hasn't been brought to the back end here.

He was just talking about how there's no food.

And the sheep are all dead.

And everything's just going terrible.

Pray in the midst of the trial.

Not after.

And then you're like, oh hey, thanks God.

You must have faith in the middle.

What's your mind?

It's like these are said and done.

You are correct.

It absolutely is.

That is not some, well, you should just grow up in faith.

It's not like that.

It is difficult.

It is hard.

It is tiring.

It's tiring.

You have faith.

I've had faith for six months.

And now I fail.

Alright, get your butt back up and let's go.

Get up and let's go.

Proverbs says, a righteous man falls seven times and gets back up.

While the fool falls and stumbles to get up.

Which one are you going to be today?

Which one are you today?

There's been a lot of stumbling going on.

Are you going to rise and get back up?

Or are you going to sit there in the dirt and mud and say, well, I'm tired.

And I've been fighting for a long time.

So I am owed, I am justified in sitting in my pit.

You're a pig wallowing around in mud.

How long until you're going to get up and come to the top of your game?

It's up to you to get up and come home.

God is faithful when we are faithless.

And He has never been more calling to you than today.

Because today is the day of salvation.

Father God, Lord, I pray, Lord, that you may be here in this place.

God, I pray, Lord, that we may be a house of repentance, Lord.

A house of conviction, God.

Lord, I pray, Lord, that you may be honored and glorified.

Lord, let us be worthy of the blessings you give us.

God, let us be worthy of the calling we have received.

Father God, I pray, Lord, that you may pour out a blessing of conviction, God.

Lord, that no one can walk out of this place without a weighty

conviction on their hearts, God.

That you may put pressure on our hearts and minds to hit our knees and repent before you, God.

And to remember your goodness and to remember your greatness, God.

Your majesty and your sovereignty, God.

May we never forget it and may we remember it each and every day, Father God.

In your name I pray, Amen.