Finding Faith and Purpose in Suffering

### Bible Reading
- **Exodus 2:23-25**: "During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them."

### Observation Questions
1. What specific actions did God take in response to the Israelites' suffering in Exodus 2:23-25?
2. According to the sermon, what is the significance of God "remembering" His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? [53:46]
3. How does the pastor describe the role of suffering in the lives of God's children? [35:03]
4. What does the pastor say about the importance of preparing the next generation for pain and disappointment? [36:31]

### Interpretation Questions
1. How does understanding that God hears and remembers His covenant impact our view of suffering and hardship? [53:46]
2. In what ways does the pastor suggest that pain and suffering contribute to spiritual growth and resilience? [38:05]
3. How can the knowledge of God's unchanging plan provide comfort during times of uncertainty and suffering? [42:52]
4. What does it mean to live out our faith authentically, and how can this transform our responses to life's challenges? [01:07:20]

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you experienced significant suffering. How did your faith in God's presence and promises help you through that period? [35:03]
2. How can you prepare your children or younger people in your life for the inevitabilities of pain and disappointment in a way that strengthens their faith? [36:31]
3. Think about a current challenge you are facing. How can the assurance of God's unchanging plan and His faithfulness help you navigate this situation? [42:52]
4. What are some practical ways you can live out your faith more authentically in your daily life to transform your responses to challenges? [01:07:20]
5. How can you actively respond to God's faithfulness in your life this week, whether through a public declaration of faith or a deeper personal commitment? [01:12:15]
6. Identify one area of your life where you struggle to trust God's plan. What steps can you take to surrender this area to Him and trust in His timing and purpose? [53:46]
7. How can you support someone in your community who is currently experiencing suffering, and what role can your faith play in offering them hope and encouragement? [39:36]

Day 1: Embracing God's Presence in Our Trials
God's presence in suffering is a profound truth that reshapes our understanding of trials. It is crucial to recognize that the hardships we face are not indicators of God's absence but are a part of living in a fallen world. This understanding helps us to see our suffering through a lens of faith, knowing that God is not only aware but deeply involved in our lives. The reality of God's presence in our pain invites us to trust Him more fully, even when the reasons behind our struggles may not be immediately apparent. This perspective is vital for maintaining our faith during difficult times, as it reassures us that we are never forsaken, despite the challenges we encounter. [35:03]

Psalm 46:1-3 ESV
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling."

Reflection: How can recognizing God's presence in your current struggles change your response to them?


Day 2: Growth Through Adversity
Pain and suffering, while uncomfortable, serve a significant role in our spiritual growth and readiness. These experiences teach us resilience and deepen our reliance on God, shaping us into more mature believers. Understanding the purpose behind our pain can transform our perspective, enabling us to face challenges with courage and hope. This approach is not only crucial for our personal development but also essential in preparing the next generation to handle life's inevitable difficulties with a strong and resilient faith. [38:05]

Romans 5:3-5 ESV
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Reflection: What recent hardship has taught you a valuable lesson about reliance on God?


Day 3: Anchored by God's Eternal Promises
The unchanging nature of God's plans and promises provides a firm anchor for our faith, especially during times of uncertainty. His covenant with His people, a thread running through generations, reassures us of His steadfast purpose and benevolent intentions towards us. This assurance allows us to remain steadfast in our faith, even when our circumstances seem to suggest otherwise. By clinging to the truth of God's unbroken promises, we can navigate the storms of life with confidence and hope. [42:52]

Hebrews 6:17-19 ESV
"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us."

Reflection: How does the assurance of God's unchanging plan provide comfort in your current life situation?


Day 4: The Transformative Power of Authentic Faith
Living out our faith authentically can profoundly impact our daily experiences, infusing our lives with peace and joy. This genuine expression of belief not only serves as a personal anchor during turbulent times but also acts as a powerful testimony to those around us. By embodying the truths of God's attentiveness and promises, we can alter our responses to life's challenges, replacing anxiety with peace and despair with hope. This transformation is both a personal journey and a communal witness to the power of a lived faith. [01:07:20]

James 1:22-25 ESV
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."

Reflection: In what ways can you more fully live out your faith in your daily interactions and decisions?


Day 5: Responding to God's Faithfulness with Commitment
Our response to God's faithfulness should be marked by trust and active engagement with His community and commands. This involves not only public professions of faith but also the practical outworking of that faith in our daily decisions and challenges. By responding to God's faithfulness, we demonstrate our trust and obedience, which are crucial for deepening our relationship with Him and living out our faith authentically. This continual posture of trust and obedience is essential for a vibrant spiritual life. [01:12:15]

2 Peter 1:5-7 ESV
"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love."

Reflection: What is one step you can take today to actively respond to God's faithfulness in your life?

We are so glad to see you here with us today. This is a special day. Of course, every Sunday is a special day to honor the Lord and come together as His people. But Mother's Day is a special day. We're happy to have all the moms that are here with us today.

Now, at the end of the service, we're going to do some drawings for some prizes for moms that are present. We're going to do a little book review, but before we begin the message, I just want us to recognize, and I want to have the opportunity to pray over all the moms that are here.

So all the moms, please stand up right now, right where you are. Please remain standing for just a few minutes here as we pray over you. Everyone else, join me in your heart and your minds as we pray over these moms here right now.

Father, we just thank you for the opportunity we have here in this country to pray over you. We celebrate Mother's Day each year to recognize, to show love and appreciation for our mothers. We thank you for all the moms that are here in the service today, for those that are joining us online. We're just grateful that we can have this time to recognize them.

And Father, we know there are no absolutely perfect mothers, but in your plan, in your good plan for us and for your kingdom, you structured the family to have a mom and a dad, and moms play such a vital role in the life of the family and the lives of their children and the lives of the church and the work of your kingdom.

So we thank you for the moms that are here that are honoring you today by their presence and that we get the chance to honor them. And Father, we ask you to pour out your blessings on them. Help them to know how much they are loved, and appreciated, and honored, not just today, but every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's thank those moms again. Thank you. Well, welcome again, everyone. Welcome to Smyrna Campus. We love you guys. Glad you're connected there. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms down at the Smyrna Campus and to all those online as well.

As I said, we want to wish you all a very happy Mother's Day. We are excited about continuing our message series today. We are in a series going straight through the Bible. We're going to be talking about the Bible. We're going to be talking about the book of Exodus. So you could be turning there with us today.

Believe it or not, we're this many weeks in, like five weeks in, and we're still in chapter two, okay? We're just going to finish up chapter two today with just three verses, three key verses there that I wanted to focus on today.

There was a Christian school cafeteria where they had this pile of apples on a table, and they had put a note there that said this: "Take only one, God is watching."

Without the other end of the table, there was a platter full of cookies, just piled up with cookies. And one of the students put a note with the cookies that said this: "Take all you want, God is watching the apples."

Sometimes we so limit our understanding of God that we think He can only pay attention to one thing at a time or one person at a time. And what we're going to see in this passage we're looking at today is an amazing reminder to all of us as He was telling the children there in Egypt, His children there in captivity, that He sees us, He knows us, He cares about what's going on in our lives, every single individual. There is no exception to this.

And God is the God who is able to see us all at the same time and know us all intimately, individually, even with the number of people that are on the earth today. And so we need to be reassured of that.

In Exodus chapter two, we're going to be focusing on, begin with verse 23 through verse 25. Exodus literally turns on these three verses right here. And it would be easy to read through these verses and not catch that and not realize what's happening here.

It's like there's a pause in the narrative. There's a pause in the story of what God is doing to interject the fact that God cares, that He knows, that He sees His children and He knows what's happening in their lives. And He loves them so much that He's moved by what He sees and He hears and He understands what's happening in their lives individually and together as His people.

Now this is literally the fulcrum on which the whole book of Exodus shifts. At this point in the book of Exodus, as we've gone through the series, here's what's been happening. We've only seen Moses and Pharaoh and Egypt and Pharaoh's daughter and Moses' mom and sister, right? We focused on them.

And so far in the story, God hasn't spoken into this story. Now He's been working. We've seen that, right? Even when we don't see it, even when we don't realize it, He's been working behind the scenes. He's been connecting the dots. He's been moving things around to get done what His good plan is.

But God Himself in Exodus has not spoken yet until these verses. And these verses we hear directly from the creator God, the father of His children. And what He says is so vitally important. He's introducing Himself with something that matters to all of us.

In this few verses at the end of chapter two, it's setting up everything else that we're going to be going through in this series. It is planting the groundwork here for us to remember these three verses as we look at everything else that's going to happen.

And it translates into our lives. These three verses lay the groundwork for everything moving forward in your life and in mine. If we can grasp what's being said here, we can understand that these three simple verses, the things that we're going to pull out of those three verses today, I want to put them in front of you, in front of all of us to consider these things for the rest of your life.

Because I'm convinced if we can grasp these three things, it will change everything about how we live and the peace we can live with and the confidence we can live with and the joy that we can live with if we just fully believe these three things that we read about in these verses.

Let's read through them quickly first. Okay. During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning. He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Now some of the words used in the English translation are not as strong and powerful as the Hebrew connotation is. We don't really have words that fully translate well. But we do have words. The Hebrew connotation, as we read God's word, can translate well some of these words.

But we're going to look at this and dig into it a little bit and see these four things that I believe can truly change your life and truly change their lives. The first thing I think is important for us to always know, regardless of how old we are, is that the Bible never shies away or tries to back away from this reality: God's children can hurt.

I'm going to read this next passage. God's children do experience pain. And the reason I think it's so important for us to really grasp that is because so much preaching today never talks about that. So much teaching in the church today never tells the truth about that.

And so when it happens to God's children, when there's loss, when there's sickness, when there's suffering, when bad things are happening, it's like we're shocked by it, that God would allow something like that to happen to His children. God's people in this passage are hurting. They are in bondage in a foreign country, being abused and misused and treated awfully as slaves in that country.

These are God's children, His chosen people, a set-apart people for Him. And yet God has allowed them to suffer this pain. And for many of them, it was hard to grasp, just like it is for us, that God would allow that.

I mean, the books we see on the bestseller list today from notable Christian preachers say, "Live your best life now." It's all great if you follow Jesus. Nothing about the suffering and the pain and the struggle that God's children have to experience here in this world, here on this earth.

It's time we tell the truth, and we believe the truth, and we understand the truth that the Bible reveals to us. God's children can hurt. They can be sad. They can be angry. They can have their hearts broken. And that's a reality that exists from the beginning of the fall of man to the coming of Jesus, and every moment in between.

That's the reality that God's children have to experience. The reality of the fallen world that we live in as Christ followers today. But I want you to understand something that the scripture also says about that, and that God is revealing in Exodus and throughout all the scripture, and that's this: People hurt because the world is broken, not because God doesn't care.

That's why people hurt. That's why there's suffering. That's why there's pain. God gets questioned. He gets questioned. He gets questioned. He gets questioned. He gets questioned all the time. Why would He do this? Why would He allow that? Why didn't He stop that?

It's because we're broken that those things happen, not because God is broken. God's relationship with His children has never changed. Here's what I know as a parent and a grandparent. I would love for my children and my grandchildren to never have to hurt, to never have to suffer.

And as a parent and a grandparent, I try to do everything I can to keep that from happening through teaching and trying to provide the best things and the best opportunities. I think most good parents are trying to do that for their children, right?

Here's what you have to know. We can't make it possible in this world for them to never hurt, for them to never have to suffer and struggle with some hard things. In fact, what we are learning from one generation to the next is sometimes allowing the struggle is the best thing you can do for your children.

Allowing them to suffer some pain, some negative consequences along the way. See, since it really is going to happen and the Bible teaches that it is, why not prepare them for it? Why not equip them for it? Why not teach them to learn from it when it comes?

Moms, that's an awesome responsibility you have in your role as moms. And whether you are a mom of your own children or not, or you are a woman that has influence over other children, one of the things we need to do is teach them the reality that yes, God loves you and He sees you, but He also gave us free will to choose, and we chose sin, and sin brought brokenness to the world.

And we've all sinned, so sin has brought brokenness to all of our lives. And in that brokenness, there's pain and there's loss and there's suffering. And so, that's not God doing that. That's our brokenness being lived out in the world today.

And so, yes, God's children do hurt. And a lot of times when people hurt, they're angry or they're sad and their heart's broken, it's because the world is broken. That's just the reality of a fallen world under the curse of sin.

Sometimes when they're sick, it's not because they've done anything wrong. That's just part of living in a broken world, in a fallen world. Sickness exists, disease exists, right? When there's loss, when there's death, that's part of the wages of sin. It's there because of our brokenness.

That's why it exists. And sometimes we hurt and suffer because of our own choices too, because we've chosen to rebel and go against the will of God. And God warned us in advance that when we do that, there are consequences that go with our sin and rebellion. And that's also part of why we hurt and suffer.

That's exactly why God's children are suffering in Egypt right now. It's a part of the discipline of God, the consequences of their choices and their sin as a people, that they're suffering there now.

But here's what you have to know. God not only allows His children to go through those things because of our brokenness, God sees us in our brokenness. God hears the cries of His children when we're hurting, when we're suffering, when we're going through those hard things that we're battling through in our lives.

And it's hard sometimes because He doesn't always do something tangible every single time we're suffering to remind us that He sees us, except that He's revealed it to us in His Word. And oftentimes as He sees us, He's already, remember, got a good plan for us, and He's already working that plan, but we don't see it sometimes in the middle of the suffering, do we?

Just like these children of God in Egypt did not see at the moment that God still had a good plan for them, that He was still aware of their suffering and cared about them and wanted, and was acting on it in His plan.

Look at verse 23 again. During that long period, the king of Egypt died. Years of suffering. Years of not being where they wanted to be, having what they wanted to have, doing what they wanted to do. Years went by that they were going through that.

Isn't it true that the longer the suffering is allowed to happen in our lives, the harder it is to trust God in it, believe God in it, to remember that He loves and cares and sees and understands how hard this is for us? Isn't it harder the longer He allows it to happen?

And that's what they were experiencing in this passage. Now, it also says after a long period, the king of Egypt died. That's a remarkable statement that you might not catch right away, but it's a remarkable statement.

And it's a remarkable way, but remember it was that Pharaoh that had become aware that Moses had committed murder against one of the Egyptians, and now he's died. Now that's a good thing for God's plan. I mean, God doesn't celebrate anybody's death, but in His plan, He knew this Pharaoh would not be there at this point, and it would set things up for the rest of the story in the book of Exodus.

Because now Moses is going to be able to go back to Egypt without fear that he's going to be put to death by that former Pharaoh. Now Moses doesn't know that yet. We're going to get to that next week. I'm excited about next week, but I can't, I don't want to, you know, spoilers. I can't give you any spoilers, okay? You can read ahead, but I'm not going to give you any spoilers.

But God, remember, has this plan, and He's working this plan, and He's working this plan, and He's working this plan. And in that plan, He knew this Pharaoh was going to be passing away. He knew this long period was going to have to happen, but when this long period came to this place, this Pharaoh would be removed and another Pharaoh would come in this place, and it would be setting things up for the rest of God's plan that leads up to the plan He has for us to save and redeem us through the descendants of Abraham.

Remember the promise that He gave to Abraham as we started this series? That one who is going to come who would crush the head of the serpent. You see, He's connecting all of those dots. He's working that plan, and suffering was allowed to be there as a part of this plan, just like He's still working the plan in our lives today, and suffering is still allowed to be there in that plan being fulfilled and finished in our lives too.

Now the suffering is allowed not because it's what God wants for us, but because of our sin and rebellion and the brokenness of the world. Always remember that because we tend to, the longer the suffering lasts, question God and His love more than we would at other times in our lives.

That's exactly what these people were doing. They were concerned that God had forgotten about them. You see, they had heard the teaching that God had a plan for them. They had heard the covenant that God had made with Abraham. They knew that covenant promise that God had made, but a long time had gone by, and they're suffering for a long time, and they're wondering, "Where's God in all of this? Did He forget about His promise to His people, to His children?"

It says, though, that He hears their cries, their groaning, and their slavery, and they're crying out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

Now here's the thing: God can hear all of our cries all at the same time individually. You've got things in your life that you may feel like in the moment the only option I've got is just to cry out to God, but He wants us to do that all the time. He encourages us to come to Him with everything.

Instead of worrying, we are to, by prayer and petition, make a prayer request known to God. That's what He invites us to do. But sometimes it takes something dramatic to get us back on track so that we're crying out to God, we're acknowledging God again, we are approaching God again, and we're asking God again.

Sometimes we get bobbing along with things going well, and who gets forgotten? It's not God forgetting us. What is it? It's us forgetting God. We think we've got this, we're in control, we've got all our ducks in a row.

I've never experienced that, but if you have, it must be amazing to get all of your ducks in a row. My ducks never stay in a row. Sometimes I don't even know where they are. They wandered off somewhere.

But when my ducks wander off, when things are not all lined up and going the way I want them to go, I'm much more likely to cry out to God, aren't you? And those times, that doesn't mean God made it happen, but it means God in His plan allows for those things with the desire that they would draw us to Him when they happen.

If we haven't been close to Him like we should have been, if we haven't been acknowledging Him and crying out to Him all along like we should have been, He allows some of those things to happen that are uncomfortable for us, that are hard for us, and His goal there is to get us to turn back to Him when we're having to deal with those things.

He's already aware of them. Don't think He wasn't. He was. But He's also aware that you haven't been crying out to Him, and He wants you, He wants that relationship with you. He wants that closeness with you in that relationship where you are daily crying out to Him because you recognize Him as the source for all of your needs.

You're not the source. Your job is not the source. The politician you want elected is not the source. The party you follow is not the source. The peer group you are part of is not the source. He wants you to remember He's the source. Cry out to Him for the help that you need.

So God hears the cries of His children. God sees. God knows what's going on even before you cry out, but He still wants you to cry out to Him.

Psalm 10, verse 17, it says this: "You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them and you listen to their cry." The psalmist understood this. The psalmist understood that the Lord hears the desires that are deep in your heart, the good ones and the hard ones and the struggles, and they're deep down in your heart that you're dealing with.

He hears those cries when you're willing to go to Him with those cries. He wants you to go to Him because His plan is to encourage you and to listen to your cry.

The word translated "listen" there in Psalms means not just that He hears the words, but He hears your heart. He hears the groaning of your heart. He knows this is hard for you, and He wants you to cry out to Him with those things that are difficult for you to deal with.

And He already knew about them, but remember, it's not just about His knowledge. It's about His love. He wants you to feel like you can come to Him and that would be the first place you would turn is to your Father and the care of your Father.

So many times we turn everywhere else first, don't we? When we're struggling, when we're having hard times, most of the mess we get ourselves into, a lot of it has its origin with this idea that we're going to get this fixed ourselves.

And we start trying all these things to fix the problem because the world tells you, "Here's the answer. Here's the answer. Here's a plan for you. Do these five steps, everything's going to be great," right? Follow this plan, and some of those plans have some good things in them. They do. And some of those steps are good steps, but it left out the most important step most of the time.

It left out the first step that matters the most, which is to cry out to God. Cry out to God first and then let God order your steps instead of man. God's got a plan. Remember, it's been the theme the whole series: God's got a plan. It's a good plan. He has a plan for us to follow that in that plan is good for us and it's for His glory.

Let's start there with God's plan as we maneuver through the hard things that He's been very honest about that are going to be in this world. Remember John 16:33. Jesus was very honest about it, right? "I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace."

Now what things has He been telling them? About the struggles, about the hard things that are coming up, about the difficulties, but that God has a plan for it. And then He went on to say this: "In this world you will have trouble."

Is that what He says? "You will have success beyond your wildest imagination." Is that what He says? "In this world you'll have what? Trouble."

Now if He had stopped there, that would have been a downer, wouldn't it? That would have been, "Okay, now what?" In this world you'll have trouble. Well, thanks a lot. He didn't stop there. He says, "In this world you'll have trouble, but take heart, be encouraged."

Remember, what does God want to do in our trouble? Encourage us. But take heart, He says, "I have overcome the world."

Now this is even before, this is right before He goes to the cross, but Jesus is speaking as if everything was going to be accomplished. Everything's already accomplished because He's God in the flesh, and He knows the plan, and He's part of the plan, and He's committed to the plan.

He knows it's like it's already a done deal, that God has already, through Christ, overcome any of the struggles we face in this world. So He can tell you, "Take heart even in the midst of the struggle, even in the midst of the hard things, because He's already done what needed to be done for us to have victory over any of those things we're struggling with."

Where's the power of faith right now? Because the things of this world are only temporary, and what God has provided for us is eternal. It's so far greater than the temporary things of this world. He's told us these things because He wants us to be encouraged.

And when He hears the cry of His children, His response is to let them know, "I hear your cries, I care, and I'm ready in my good plan for you to encourage you," which leads to the third thing.

And that is, again, a reminder that God has a good plan for His children. Let's look at this again. I love it. Verse 24: "God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."

Now, I want to do something with that translation because in every translation it says, "He remembered," pretty much. There's a few that vary a little bit, but most of them say, "He remembered."

And that could cause us to think, "Did He forget? Did He forget about us? Did He forget about His children?" I mean, it's been a long time before this Pharaoh died that they've been in slavery. Did He forget about us while all this was going on?

And now, because Pharaoh died and they start crying out, that now it's an, "Oh yeah, I remember now. I made this promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Maybe I should get back to that."

And that's why the translation is so difficult. It's because the Hebrew word doesn't mean remember the way we think of it as maybe I forgot something, and now it's brought to my attention again. That's not what the word means.

What it means is that God hears their groanings, knows their situation, cares about it, and He is without distraction, no matter what was going on.

Without distraction is a good thing because I know as a parent, as a husband, a parent, a grandparent, they will tell you things that you hear, and you acknowledge that you've heard it, and you say, "Yes, I'll be there," or "Yes, I will do that."

And then later on, what happens? You can forget. Why do you forget? Most of the time, it's because you got distracted. You went on to the next thing, and the next thing, and you got caught up in those things, and then you honestly forgot about that thing.

You see, we're human. We can get distracted very easily. In fact, some of us more easily than others. Squirrel, right? It's just really, some of us have that personality. It's easy to distract us, right?

And I'm constantly doing a lot of different things at the same time, like a lot of you are, so it's really easy when you've got that kind of lifestyle and job or occupation or situation in life where you're multitasking all the time.

It's really easy to get distracted when you've got a lot of different things going on like that. But God's not limited like we are. When it says God remembered, it's that God not only sees and hears, but He is a God who in His good plan for His children has never been distracted from the plan, no matter what.

The word remembered simply means that He has not forgotten, and He has not been distracted. The word translated into Hebrew, "He remembered" this promise means that the promise has never left God, even for a moment, even for a nanosecond.

He's never forgotten this promise. And so when He hears their cries, it's like, "Yeah, I made this promise to them. I have never forgotten that. I've been working all of this long time, too, to keep that promise."

Now, sometimes the word remember, we use it a little bit that way. Have you ever sat down? Maybe on Mother's Day, if your mother has already passed, like mine has, and you're thinking about your mom, and maybe you see, you go back and look at some pictures.

You go back, and you can put yourself back where that picture was, right? You can remember when that was going on, and what your mom was doing, and how things were happening at that moment.

And the weird thing for me, when I look at those pictures from the past, I look just like my mom. People told me all the time, I look just like my mom. Now, I'm the male version of my mom.

And so when I look at those pictures, I'm seeing her younger, and now not so much younger, but younger, and it looks like my face there. And so I think, "Well, that's kind of cool," but it also just stirs up more of the memories.

But here's the thing. I remember my mom without those pictures. But those pictures just make it more vivid, right? They just stir up those memories more. It's not that I forgot my mom. It's that I am remembering in a different way when I see those pictures.

This word in the Hebrew doesn't mean God forgot, but it means that this promise that He made has greater meaning as His children are going through this right now. He understands why they're in anguish. He can relate to it because of the promise that He made to them.

And He knows they're thinking maybe God has forgotten us. So this promise is something that has more meaning for the children when God says, "I hear you. I remember the promise. Don't think I don't. I'm still working on it. I'm still putting things together to accomplish what I promised you I was going to do when I promised it to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob."

God has this plan, and the fullness of His plan is coming together. And this is a turning point. And God continuing to work out that good plan that He has for His children.

So God, who not only sees and hears and knows, but also He's a God without distraction who's working this plan that's for the good of His people and it's for His glory.

So that at just the right time and in just the right way, at the right moments of things that are happening as He orchestrated His plan, He moves to the next phase of His plan.

So friends, if His plan is to send the Redeemer to deliver us to this place He has, He has prepared for us. Aren't we closer to that now than we were then?

He's still been working that plan all along. And even in the middle of your suffering right now, you can know this: God has not forgotten His promise, and we're closer to the fulfillment of that promise today than we've ever been before.

And if He allows us to have tomorrow, tomorrow will be closer to the fulfillment of that plan than today was. And when you know that, doesn't that make it a little easier to hold on when it's hard?

When you know that we're closer to God keeping that promise in its fullness and completion for what He has in store for us, isn't it easier to hold on when you know you're closer to it?

I, Sue Ann got me into this, and we have together and her on her own done some marathons, and we've run marathons and half marathons. And I know that in a marathon, as you hit longer mileage, getting closer to the end, you are getting closer to the end, but you're getting tired, right?

You're getting more tired, you're getting more worn out, you feel like there's no way I'm going to make it, but I can remember like here in the Music City Marathon, and it happens at other places, when you know where the finish line is, when you get somehow close enough that you can kind of get a glimpse, the finish line's out there.

Then even when you're feeling awful—by the way, I don't recommend marathons—but if you're, when you're feeling awful, but you get a glimpse of the finish line, there's something about that that just says, "You can do this, you can hold on, you can get to the end."

And at the Music City Marathon, there's a stretch that you go down where you actually are passing by where the finish line, you can see it over to your right. You still got a ways to go to get there, you got to go around this curve and come back to it, but you can see the finish line.

And it's such a critical point in the Music City Marathon because, man, you're just at, you know, mile 22 and you're just thinking there's no way you're going to finish this thing. But you look over to your right and you see, because I never, you know, I never expect to win a marathon, okay?

You see other people way ahead of you already crossing the finish line. You see the celebrations with everybody crossing the finish line. You see that the finish line's really there and people are really making it and people are really celebrating it.

Then it motivates you. I want that too. I want to get there too. And when you're in the middle of your hard things and your struggle, remember the finish line is not that far away. Jesus is going to come back. God's going to come and take us to be there with Him forever.

Hold on. Don't give up in the hard times. Don't turn away. Don't lose that hope. Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that gets quoted a lot. Sometimes it's pulled out of context. I don't want to pull it out of context, but I want you to remember this verse.

The prophet Jeremiah says to the people, "For I know the plans I have for you." These are God's children he's talking to, declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper." He's talking to you and not to harm you. "Plans to give you hope and a future."

Now when Jeremiah says this on behalf of God to His people, there was a similar circumstance with Babylonian captivity for His people. God was just reminding His people, "No matter how it looks right now, trust the plan."

Why can you trust the plan? Because you can trust God. When you get to know the character of God more and more, when you get deeper in your relationship with Him, you learn more and more about why and how you can trust Him and the plan that He has for you.

The more you experience His love and His provision, the more you know you can trust His plan. God is a God who has demonstrated these characteristics.

I want to close with these really quickly. He's a compassionate God, right? He sees, He cares, and He acts when His children are in need. The Bible lets us know that God knows, and sometimes that can be scary to us, right?

God knows everything. He sees everything. But that's in a good way. He doesn't see and know those things with the intent to harm you or to bring punishment to you. He sees and He knows those things because He cares and wants to provide what you need in those times.

He's compassionate to His children. Lamentations 3:22 says this: "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail."

When you know that about God, when you know His compassions, what? Never fail. Say it. His compassions, what? They never fail. When you know that for sure about God, that even in the moments of struggle and heartache and pain and suffering, you know His compassion for you will be there for you.

And in His compassion, never failing for us, it means there's that opportunity that if we turn to Him in those times and trust Him in those times, He'll deliver us from whatever it is we're facing and provide for us what we need.

He's compassionate and He is attentive. He's attentive in the best possible way. Here's what we mean. Look at Psalm 34, verse 15. Here's what He says: "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry."

Now, when it says the righteous, a lot of us think, "Well, I'm not very righteous. This promise is not for me." Rightness means this: To be righteous means to be right with God. There is none of us perfect. None of us has reached this place of perfection where we're always doing everything right.

But we can still be righteous, not because of who we are, but because of who He is and what He's done for us. Right? To be righteous means to seek the right thing, and the right thing is what's right with God.

We're pursuing what's right with God in our lives. And when we're doing that, honestly, sincerely, then God has His eyes on us and His ears are attentive to our cries if we're seeking what's right with God.

Instead of the answer we think we need to have or that the world says God ought to do for us, we're truly seeking what's right with God. You remember Jesus' prayer in the garden before He went to the cross? "If there's any other way, Father, may this cup pass from me."

But what did He say? "Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." What was Jesus seeking above everything else? The will of God. You know what? God hears that cry. He hears that prayer. His ear is attentive to those who are truly seeking His will, His way, what's right with Him.

Which leads to another one, and that is that He's faithful. He always does what He says He's going to do. He always has. He always will. Psalm 117, verse 2, says this: "For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for three days." Is that what it says? "For at least a couple of weeks." Is that what it says?

No. "The faithfulness of the Lord endures how long? Forever." His faithfulness endures forever. Can you count on God's faithfulness today? And if things aren't better for you tomorrow, can you count on it tomorrow?

And if you have a year-long time of struggle and suffering, can you count on God's faithfulness at the end of the day? At the end of that year period? And all the way through that year of suffering? Yes. God's faithfulness endures forever.

And that's why we can walk with confidence. I said in the first week we were together in this series that I wondered what would happen if we actually live like we say we believe, how it would change our lives.

What it would do with our worry and our anxiety and our struggling. What would it do to change how we can experience peace and contentment and joy over long periods of time? If we truly live like we do believe what we say we believe, that God does see me, that God does hear me, that God does know me, that God does have a plan for me, and it's for His glory, and it's for my good, and I can trust His faithfulness to endure in my life forever.

If you believe that, wouldn't it change how you live? Wouldn't it give you a greater peace? Wouldn't it relieve some of the anxiety? Wouldn't it allow you to have greater contentment no matter what was happening in your life right now?

To really believe that about the God who sees you and hears you and knows you? I want to pray that for you right now as we close.

Let's bow and pray. Father, we just ask that you would help us to grasp these truths in our hearts and give us confidence in these things. We don't want to just know them intellectually. We want to, in the deepest parts of who we are, understand this and grasp this so that we can live this.

We want to have it shape us and mold us and drive out our loneliness and our rage and our anxiety and our depression, have it bring peace to our hearts. We want to know that you're good. You haven't forgotten us. Help us, Father, to put our trust in every area of our lives in a God who's faithful.

As you are, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Maybe you're here today and you're ready to take that step of putting your trust in Him. As we stand and sing today, we invite you to walk right up front, and we'll guide you in those next steps.

Let's stand and sing together.

Everybody have a seat, please. We've got several prayer needs we're going to share here in just a minute. But first of all, I want this young man, Joseph, to come on up here. Can you get this mic going for me, man? Thank you.

All right, Joseph. Step right up here. Joseph comes today. We're so thankful for his family, committed to raising him up in the knowledge and understanding of the Lord and teaching him to follow Jesus.

And he's come to this place where he wants to make a profession of his faith in Christ and be baptized into Christ. And we're excited about that. I'm going to ask you for our benefit to repeat after me a profession of your faith.

I know you've studied this and you're ready to make this profession publicly. Repeat after me.

I believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Son of the Living God, and I do accept Him as my personal Lord and Savior.

God bless you, Joseph. Thank you, brother. Thank you. You and your mom can go right over there. Miss Tracy will take you back, and we'll get ready to celebrate your baptism here, okay?

There you go. Amen.

Cindy, come on up. Cindy comes. I'm asking, you can come up here, Cindy. I won't make you talk a lot. Come right over here.

Cindy's a member here, has been for a long time. And Cindy, you want us to pray again for who is it? Your brother, Jim, and grandson, Isaiah.

God knows all the circumstances and situations, and we can lift them up to God in prayer knowing, again, that God hears the cries of His people and He answers our prayers, and we can do that in faith.

Come on up here. Come on up here. Daniel comes asking for prayer for his son, Harper, who is working through this decision to be baptized into Christ.

He's really, Daniel wants him to be prepared and ready, and others, you know how others always want to speak into your stuff sometimes and say, "Well, I don't think he's ready," or "I don't," it's a personal decision.

And he just wants us praying for Harper as he works through trying to make that decision for himself about being ready to take that step to be baptized into Christ. We'll be praying with you on that.

Come on up. You're asking for prayer for your family, right? With all of the struggles and health needs and things like that going on with your family.

I have a... Yeah. Safe travels for her and all too. Tell everybody your name. Tawana, yeah.

So we want to be lifting up Tawana's family with all that's going on there and for safety and travel and all of that.

We had a couple of guys that came up too that are battling with addiction and trying to stay safe, stay on track and stay strong, and we want to be praying for those gentlemen too as they go through that struggle.

We're so thankful to partner with a program called Sober Living America, and we host their group meetings here and things like that at Lakeshore, and these guys are in a, they have an opportunity in front of them that they want to do good, and we want God to be with them and strengthen them and help them in those steps, those hard choices, decisions that have to be made, they're to stay on track along the way.

All of us battle with different things, right? That's just that battle for them, and we want to pray that they are strengthened for the battle that they face every day.

And I know there are many other needs here. We do want to pray for Brian Gleason, one of our members who plays on our praise team a lot, and he and Angie serve in a lot of different ways.

Brian's mother passed away on Friday, so we want to be lifting up Brian and his family as well. It's always hard to pray for people like that. It's always hard to lose your mom, but here we are on Mother's Day weekend, and he had to go up to Minnesota dealing with that too, so it's a tough thing.

So just keep them in prayer with that if you would. Let's pray for these needs together, okay?

Father, we just lift up these needs to you today. We know, as we were reminded today, that you hear the cries of your children. You see us. You know the intimate details of our lives and the lives of those that have been mentioned for prayer today.

You know exactly what's needed, and you're not caught off guard. You're not caught off guard by any of this, and in your plan for us, you have a way to work all things together for our good if we would trust you, cry out to you, seek you as these people are.

Father, help us as a church family to live every day being reminded of why we can trust you so that we have boldness and confidence as your children. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

God bless you. Thank you.

At this time, we'll have a time of communion around the Lord's table. Hugh's going to come and lead us in that, and then we'll celebrate this baptism.

Don't forget, moms, hang on. We've got some drawings for you as well.

Okay, Joseph, it's based upon your profession of faith that you do accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior that I now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What a great Mother's Day celebration, right? But wait, there's more. We actually have three drawings we're going to do for three prizes today, so the odds are a little bit better, right?

If you have three drawings. So we're going to start out with what, let's see here, get my gifts here. I've got them labeled here.

All right, let's see. Walter, I need, is Walter in here? There you are. Walter, which one was the grand prize? Is it number one? Number three.

All right, I'll do the grand prize first. All right? This is the grand prize. We're going to just do it before I get this one done.

And I can't be responsible. David, will you reach in there and grab me a ticket, buddy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, here we go.

Everybody got your tickets? Moms? Here's the number: 396-378. Where, where, where? Over here, Janet, yes. Happy Mother's Day, Janet. Thank you.

But wait, there's more. Our second prize. David, I'm just going to have you do all these, buddy. All right? If I draw them, all right, there we go. There we go, thank you.

All right, prize number two goes to 396-401. All right, come on up. Happy Mother's Day to you. Congratulations. Thank you.

But wait, still one more. Hold on to those tickets. One more. I'm going to shake it up good. All right, here we go. If you're mad, it's David right here. What's your email, David?

If you don't win, you contact David. All right, this last one goes to 396-404. Is that you? All right, Janet, there you go. Happy Mother's Day to you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

That's great. Thank you. And some of you, if you want to increase your odds to win, if you hurry, you can get to the Smyrna campus before they're done.

And then if you hurry, you can get back here by the end of the second service. All right? Increase those odds in your favor there that you might win there.

But for all the moms, again, we want to thank you and honor you. And we do have a picture booth, a photo booth out there. It's a great time to get a picture with mom.

Or just get a picture for yourself if you just want to have some fun. It's a photo booth. The pictures are free. We just wanted to provide that as a keepsake for you to remember this Mother's Day this year at Lakeshore Christian Church.

Thank you so much for being here. Amen.

Let's all stand together. Well, hold on before you do. Wait a minute. I've got to get Jeremy on up here. He's going to do announcements real quick.

I'm not. I'm not, brother. If you want to give an offering, we have offering boxes available, one in the back of the auditorium, one in the hallway.

Of course, you could give online or send in by mail any offerings that you want to give to support the work of the church and honor God as an act of worship with that.

Jeremy will close us out here. Thank you.

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "If we actually live like we say we believe, how it would change our lives. What it would do with our worry and our anxiety and our struggling. What would it do to change how we can experience peace and contentment and joy over long periods of time? If we truly live like we do believe what we say we believe, that God does see me, that God does hear me, that God does know me, that God does have a plan for me, and it's for his glory, and it's for my good, and I can trust his faithfulness to endure in my life forever." [01:07:20](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



2. "When you're in the middle of your hard things and your struggle, remember the finish line is not that far away. Jesus is going to come back. God's going to come and take us to be there with Him forever. Hold on. Don't give up in the hard times. Don't turn away. Don't lose that hope." [01:01:21](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



### Quotes for Members

1. "God has this plan, and the fullness of his plan is coming together. And this is a turning point. And God continuing to work out that good plan that he has for his children. So God who not only sees and hears and knows, but also he's a God without distraction who's working this plan that's for the good of his people and it's for his glory." [58:24](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



2. "God's children can hurt. They can be sad. They can be angry. They can have their hearts broken. And that's a reality that exists from the beginning of the fall of man to the coming of Jesus, and every moment in between. That's the reality that God's children have to experience. The reality of the fallen world that we live in as Christ followers today." [35:03](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



3. "God hears the cries of His children when we're hurting, when we're suffering, when we're going through those hard things that we're battling through in our lives. And it's hard sometimes because He doesn't always do something tangible every single time we're suffering to remind us that He sees us, except that He's revealed it to us in His Word." [39:36](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



4. "God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Now, I want to do something with that translation, because in every translation it says, He remembered, pretty much. There's a few that vary a little bit, but most of them say He remembered. And that could cause us to think, did He forget?" [52:48](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)



5. "The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Can you count on God's faithfulness today? And if things aren't better for you tomorrow, can you count on it tomorrow? And if you have a year-long time of struggle and suffering, can you count on God's faithfulness at the end of the day? At the end of that year period? And all the way through that year of suffering? Yes." [01:05:58](Make raw clip | Make vertical clip | Make vertical captioned clip)