June 15, 2025 • 64 mins
The journey from complete brokenness to divine purpose unfolds powerfully in this moving episode opening with Darin Sharpe's raw testimony of redemption. His story begins in rural Georgia, tracks through a devastating divorce that led him to homelessness in New York City's Central Park, and continues through the tragedy of 9/11, imprisonment, and a 12-year battle with meth addiction. The turning point arrives when Darin answers the call to care for his dying parents, gradually softening his heart toward the God he'd been angry with for decades.
Surrender comes in October 2020 when, kneeling on an old mattress in his mother's garage, Darin finally gives himself completely to God. What follows is both simple and profound – a divine instruction to "walk" transforms his life, freeing him from addiction and bringing unexpected blessings including marriage and meaningful work. His testimony illuminates how God uses our deepest pain to bring us to our knees, only to lift us toward purpose.
Pastor Will then takes us through the closing chapters of Song of Solomon, unpacking the profound metaphor of divine jealousy. We discover that God's jealousy for His people isn't possessive but protective – a holy desire for exclusive relationship that cannot be quenched by "many waters" or purchased with wealth. The sermon draws a vital distinction between sinful envy (coveting what isn't yours) and righteous jealousy (protecting what rightfully belongs to you).
The message culminates with a powerful image of Christ standing at the door of our hearts, knocking. Who sits at the table of your soul? Have you invited Jesus in to dine with you alone, or are other things occupying that sacred space? Let the world have its thousand loves – we're called to choose just one.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Moore (00:00):
So I want to invite Darren Sharp on up.
Come on up, Darren.
All right, and we'll turn itover to you, brother.
Darin Sharpe (00:19):
She ducked on me Morning Midtree.
My name is Darren Sharp, I'm 56years old.
Oh yeah, I forgot about thatpart.
Sorry, I'm trying not to seeany of you guys.
My name is Darren Sharp, I'm 56years old, from a small, quiet
(00:39):
country community nestled in thepocket of two mountains 30
minutes north of Rome, georgia.
My dad worked for the telephonecompany as a lineman and my mom
was a dressmaker for a bridalshop.
I grew up working in chickenhouses and cattle farms and our
family farm and garden atgrandmother's.
That fed our family and thefamilies of many others in the
(01:01):
community.
My grandmother, ransom, was theheart and soul of our family
and the voice of my conscienceto this day.
We attended a small churchmostly relatives.
We were at church whenever thedoors opened.
I was a typical boy in thecountry, I think.
I did not enjoy school but Idid enjoy sports and girls and
(01:22):
cars and music.
I graduated from high school in1986.
I tried a lot of things.
I went to college for a littlewhile, tried cosmetology, carpet
mills, cloth mills, drove aPepsi truck, delivered auto
parts and pizzas, just to name afew.
I went to work for the KirbyVacuum Cleaner Company in the
(01:43):
early 90s and, surprising myself, I did very well.
I met Kelly at a party andthings started to change.
I was in my mid-20s, tired ofpartying all the time and
thought I should settle down.
Kelly was fun and she was smartand I thought she was the one.
(02:03):
I was so naive and full of hope.
Kelly said that we should getmarried and I thought it was
time.
So we did.
I opened my own Kirby vacuumcleaner office then and we
struggled to make it work, butit wasn't meant to be.
After a year of disappointingsales, we decided to try
something different in a newplace, so we moved to Athens.
(02:23):
Different in a new place, so wemoved to Athens, georgia, with
our infant son.
I sold cars for a while with,but the feast and famine income
wasn't good for a young family.
So I answered a blind ad in theAtlanta paper and was hired as
a manager at the Waffle House.
I was checked into my firststore in Madison, georgia, and
(02:46):
I'd found a career that I lovedand was good at.
Then Kelly became pregnant withour second son and the task of
raising two kids under twowithout any family support was
overwhelming.
So we made arrangements totransfer back to Rome, georgia,
and have the support of ourfamilies.
I was doing well at work, butthat meant working on a good
(03:07):
week at least 65 hours, and inhindsight, kelly was not doing
good with me working all thetime and, in spite of me being
100% faithful, she wasconstantly accusing me of
cheating on her and it becametoo much for me to stand.
We tried counseling but thatdidn't help.
I moved out and filed fordivorce.
(03:29):
A few months later I got apromotion to district manager in
Knoxville, tennessee.
I'm trying to navigatevisitation, divorce, a new job
and three restaurants.
I was spread pretty pretty thin, to say the least, but I was
making it work.
I thought At this point thedivorce had dragged out for 18
(03:51):
months.
Kelly had said several times tome that she had planned to ruin
my life and that plan includedcalling my job an average of 80
times every day to berate,belittle any and every person
that answered the phone,including employees, bosses,
police, family.
Anybody that answered the phonewas told about how a worthless
(04:15):
human being I was, and mytwo-year-old son was put on the
phone to ask me why I didn'tlove him, why I didn't love him.
It was psychological andemotional torture and it worked
(04:38):
after 18 months.
The last straw was her tellingme that she had moved and
wouldn't tell me where to pickthe boys up for visitation.
I was to my breaking point.
I could not explain or rememberthe next two days of my life.
I have a few flashes of memory,but nothing, until I woke up
(05:00):
laying on a piece of cardboardunder some trees and I could
hear some traffic, and that wasJuly of 1997.
I soon found out that I was inCentral Park in New York City.
Thank you, thank you.
(05:38):
In Central Park in New YorkCity with a duffel bag of
clothes and 20 bucks, I rememberthinking I can start over.
Miracles were abundant in NewYork.
That's a story for a differentoccasion.
Flash forward a few years, to9-11, 2001.
(05:59):
I'm working for the Windows onthe World Company, which is the
top three floors of Tower One.
We lost 85 people that day.
My world crumbled that dayAgain.
(06:29):
I worked at the MidtownRestaurant between 5th and 6th
on 56th Avenue or 56th Street,and we were the morning center
for the company.
But the bottom line was nobodywas eating out in New York.
No money was coming in, so nowno child support was going out.
(06:53):
In December my ex called the DAin New York City to complain
that her deadbeat ex-husband wasnot paying child support.
So on January 2nd of 2002,three months after 9-11, I was
helping a friend and his bandset up at CBGB's when two
detectives came in and escortedme out of that life.
(07:16):
I was extradited back toGeorgia and was released four
months later, on May 2nd, withprobation and fines and a
restraining order.
I was not the same person that Iwas before.
I was broken and full of shameand anger.
(07:37):
When I was in New York I didn'thave to face my past or the
broken part of me.
But in my hometown people knewme, knew I was broken, or at
least in my mind.
So I became reclusive,self-destructive.
I was back working at theWaffle House, trying to hide
(08:01):
from the world and reality.
So I was doing many things tonumb all the pain.
Linda, a relative of aco-worker, pursued me and
offered me a place to hide fromthe world.
So I jumped into a darkrelationship and hid.
For 15 years I was doing methbecause it numbed everything.
(08:22):
So I did that every day for 12years.
I don't remember the events orthe moment that it became clear
that my parents were in need offull-time care, and I felt a
(08:45):
calling in my heart to take careof them.
My dad had vascular dementiaand my mom was in the late
stages of Huntington's, so in2017, I quit my job and moved
into their garage.
It was the hardest thing I'veever done in my life, but the
most rewarding.
We had time to heal old hurtsand talk about life, and they
(09:07):
finally got to see me becomingthe man they raised.
Sorry, I've never been a man offaith and I could not be an
atheist because I was too angryat God for him not to exist.
For three years, I got to carefor them and in the process, god
(09:31):
began to soften my heart.
My life did not get any easier,though.
In December of 2019, linda, thewoman that I'd shared my life
with for 15 years, was diagnosedwith cancer.
I didn't know how I was goingto handle it all.
(09:54):
Hospice and Home Health came into help with my parents.
I borrowed a camper from mybrother to move Linda to the
property so I could care for allof them.
On June 2nd of 2020, my dadpassed away at home.
(10:22):
In August 2nd, linda passedaway in her sleep at the
hospital.
I was completely lost and backin the house Linda and I shared,
but with no power or water.
Can I have a tissue Lost myplace?
(10:44):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Thank you.
I was completely lost and backinto the house that Linda and I
had shared, but with no power orwater or a car.
I called an old boss at WaffleHouse and they helped me get
(11:07):
back to work.
I packed everything I could fitin the old van and went to
mom's house.
I had not been working inpublic in over three years and I
wasn't prepared for answeringquestions and telling people
what I'd been through anddealing with the pandemic
restrictions.
Questions and telling peoplewhat I'd been through and
dealing with the pandemicrestrictions.
(11:27):
Then, october of 2020, I wassleeping on an old mattress in
mom's garage, thinking about mygrandmother ransom telling me
that when I was little, thatwhen life gets to be too much
and you can't stand anymore,kneel.
So I did.
After all these years and theirprayers, I finally kneeled.
I surrendered myself to Godcompletely.
(11:49):
I said God, I give you my body,my mind, my spirit and I will
serve and follow you however yousee fit.
In that moment, I heard a worddeep in my soul walk.
I struggled for a while withwhat it meant.
(12:09):
Where was I going?
What was the purpose?
But the word hit me likenothing else ever has.
I've never been so motivated todo anything so much I began
walking.
All the time that I wasn'tworking or sleeping, I was
walking.
I barely noticed that myaddiction was gone.
(12:31):
I no longer wanted to smokecigarettes.
After 30 years, my friends andco-workers started to worry
about me because I'd stoppedhanging around with them after
work, because I was answeringthe call God had put in my heart
(12:52):
.
Walking gave me purpose again,gave me a way to move forward,
one step at a time, towardshealing, towards hope, towards
God.
Looking back, I see now thatGod used everything the pain,
the loss, the hopelessness tobring me to my knees so that I
(13:12):
would surrender.
And when I finally did, he gaveme what I needed most a reason
to move forward, a purpose toserve God.
Amen, purpose to serve God.
(13:35):
I've been obediently walkingevery day since that day in
October of 2020.
God's been so good to me.
In May of 2021, I reconnectedwith a high school friend
through Facebook that I had notseen or talked to in 35 years.
In April of 22, kathy became mywife and after a few months,
(14:14):
another friend from schoolcalled me to ask me if I knew
anyone that was interested inworking at Impact 360 Institute.
I had never heard of it.
I told her I would check, but Ididn't.
I just discussed it with Kathyand felt a strong calling to
apply for the job myself, but Ihad serious doubts that I would
(14:47):
be hired with my history.
I prayed about it every day onmy walks.
Slowly, step by step, I beganto work towards the goal of
getting that job.
I achieved that goal.
I achieved that goal and June1st of 2023, I started that job.
(15:18):
I have so many things to bethankful for every day on my
walks.
In Galatians 5, 16, it says soI say walk by the Spirit and you
will not gratify the desires ofthe flesh.
I no longer desire the earthlypleasures, but yearn for the
fullness of heaven.
(15:38):
And so I walk every single daywith God, for God and because of
God, I walk.
Praise God, thank you.
Will Hawk (16:12):
I did a poor job of giving Darren the memo to change
clothes before he shared histestimony, so we're going to
have a little bit of a momenthere together as he runs and
changes real quickly.
I will take this as a divinemoment just to tell you, isn't
it an incredible thing to hearwhat God is doing in the lives
of people around us?
(16:33):
And I know that there arepeople who are here today
because Darren is sharing hisstory, because you were a part
of the story that God had beenwriting in him.
I think about Kathy, I thinkabout Impact360, folks, many
people who love Darren very muchand very well, and I would give
(16:55):
you this encouragement becauseI don't usually have the
opportunity to do so.
Two things.
Number one God wants you to bethe people in the lives of
others that become part of thestory that they will one day
share.
And there are people in yourlives that may be two months
away and they may be 20 yearsaway, but regardless of where
(17:16):
they are, if you are a believer,we are called to forget our own
story from time to time andenter into others.
It's why we have been givenwhat the gospel refers to as the
ministry of reconciliation.
We are drawing people to God.
Second thing that I would giveyou is this there are probably
many of you in this room whoneed to share your story, and
(17:40):
some of you need to share yourstory and get baptized.
Some of you have already beenbaptized and you just need to
share your story, and so, ifthat is not something that is a
regular thought for you, I wouldlike for it to be something
that you begin wrestling withtoday.
Is it in God's design time forme to share this story?
(18:04):
When Darren walks in, I'll tellyou what we're going to do In
the event that you aren't surewhat baptism is.
This is not man.
He was really dirty and nowwe're going to get him really
clean.
This is not a public bathingritual.
What this is although it doespoint to sin being removed and
dirt in that sense being removedfrom the body what you really
(18:26):
must notice most is when Darrengoes from standing to being laid
down under the water.
What scripture says is this isus becoming like Christ in his
death, so that we would becomelike him in newness of life, and
so what you're actually seeingis somebody raised their hand to
say I am dying to myself.
(18:47):
I'm dying to the life that Iused to live and I am being
brought up by the spirit of Godto walk in newness of life.
To help you with that, this wasjust this serendipitous type
thing, Darren.
Go ahead and hop up with me.
Our staff reads throughdifferent articles weekly where
we work through a book, and theone that we were reading was on
(19:10):
the benefits of walking with theLord, literally.
And so as much of Darren.
How long have you been walking?
Yeah, five years.
And then what is a typical walkfor you?
This is what blew me away.
Darin Sharpe (19:25):
I walk an average.
I walk an hour every morning,lunch evening, three hours a day
.
Will Hawk (19:32):
So you're not going to beat him Too late to play
catch up, unless you're one ofthe little ones.
But there's a little articlefor you guys, as you head out
today, that I would love foreverybody to pick up and just
wrestle with.
What does it look like to walkwith the Lord, but literally to
get off my phones, to get awayfrom screens for a moment, feet
on the ground and pursue theLord, because that's turned into
(19:55):
your devotional and your prayerlife?
Amen, all right, darren, if youwould go ahead and grab a seat.
Brother, I just wanna tell youthank you for being brave enough
and willing to share your storywith us.
For those of you who are members, for those of you who are
believers, this is a family thatis inviting a new member in.
(20:15):
Adoption is the name of thegame in God's family.
And so, darren, because of yourfaith in Jesus Christ not in
yourself or anything of your owndoing we baptize you in the
(20:54):
name would go ahead and come upand, as he does, you will notice
Darren's going to share histestimony in the next service.
One thing we love to do isencourage folks when they share,
tucked into the pews around you.
Do you have one, william?
On you Are little cards thatlook something like this Says
baptism on one side, lined onthe other.
Would love for you to jot downan encouragement for Darren, a
(21:16):
scripture that has meant a lotto you, and on your way out of
the sanctuary you will see a bigglass jar to drop those things
in.
William, what's next for us?
William Moore (21:24):
All right, we're going to be reading the word of
the Lord together.
So if you guys could turn inyour Bibles to Song of Solomon,
chapter 8, verses 6 and 7.
That's on page 564 in your PewBibles.
Again, that's Song of Solomon 8, 6 through 7.
While you're flipping there,just a quick little announcement
for MCG kickoff.
(21:47):
That was scheduled for June25th.
We still want you guys to beable to get together with your
MCGs grab a meal, but VBS isactually happening that
Wednesday, so the contentkickoff will be the next week,
July 2nd.
Again, we would encourage youguys I'm going to step to the
side so they can get that uphere I'm going to encourage you
(22:07):
guys to get together, grab ameal, but the content kickoff
will be July 2nd.
So Song of Solomon 8, 6, and 7.
Set me as a seal upon yourheart, as a seal upon your arm,
For love is strong as death.
Jealousy is fierce as the grave.
(22:30):
Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love allthe wealth of his house, he
(22:51):
would be utterly despised.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will Hawk (22:59):
Thank you, william, appreciate it.
What a great morning as youguys are there.
Let me do this very quickly.
First thing we must askourselves as we hop into this
final closing of the book iswhere are we coming from and
(23:20):
where are we going?
And so what I would like for usto do is I know that sometimes,
if you've, we just startedwatching Andor at our house, and
so whenever we yeah, I'm glad Ihave fellow nerds and geeks,
depending on how you identifyyourself I'm glad that y'all are
here, but my wife keeps fallingasleep halfway through each
(23:41):
episode, but I am determined forus to make it all the way
through.
So when we start a new episode,there's this little button in
the bottom right corner and Ibet you guys can guess what it
says, and I have to choose to ornot to press it.
In the bottom right corner,there are two words and a little
button and it says skip recap.
Please, please, don't skiprecap.
(24:04):
I just want to give you oneminute of recap, recognizing
that and, by the way, you shouldclap for this at the end of my
sentence.
We are about to finish readingthrough a book of the Bible
together as a church.
Praise God.
I wanted to go back and figureout how many books we have read
through as a congregation.
It is our typical thing and ourtypical way to work through
(24:28):
books of the Bible, and we aregoing to finish the Song of
Songs today.
But what I want to make surethat you know, in the event that
you are sort of new here, iswhere are we?
So here you go the skip recap.
Don't press the button.
We started by looking at thisbook and saying, hey, guys in
(24:48):
the back, hit the button for me,saying does this book belong in
the Bible?
It talks about intimacy, talksabout sexual intimacy.
It's got some pretty graphicpictures that it paints, more so
than any other book of theBible.
Does this book belong in theBible?
Emphatically yes, it does.
Now, there are a number ofreasons, but one of the primary
(25:08):
reasons is, as we see, thisincredible man pursue this
incredible woman, even thoughthey are both incredibly broken.
Pursue this incredible womaneven though they are both
incredibly broken.
One of the things that we seeon display is the way that
Christ pursues us.
If you are a Christian, whichhe refers to as his bride, that
the church is the bride ofChrist.
Jesus chose her, pursued her,paid for her, adorns her and one
(25:33):
day he is going to come andtake her home.
One of the other things werealized is it gives us a lot of
information on human romanticlove, what I would call lateral
love rather than vertical love,and in scripture there are three
things that we see God lift upas important in a romantic love
(25:54):
environment.
We see chemistry, but it can'tjust be chemistry.
That only lasts for so long andit goes through seasons.
Character must be there andthen, uniquely, community must
be as well.
As we look at this, it alsobrings us to recognize the
longings that we have.
Some of you are single andhappy about it.
Some of you are single andyou're not happy about it.
(26:15):
Some of you are married andhappy about it.
Some of you are single andyou're not happy about it.
Some of you are married andhappy about it.
Some of you are married andyou're not happy about it.
All right, and that too isseasonal.
But one of the things this bookshows us is that the longings
that we have, every longing youhave, even though we will often
fill it with sinful things, isgiven to you by God, to draw you
(26:38):
to God, even though he maystretch out the time of that
longing, he in all things is theone, ultimately, who fulfills
it.
And then, the last time we hadour eyes on our couple, they had
just finished their first bigfight.
I got you, there you go.
(26:58):
They had just finished theirfirst big fight and the fight
ended with them joining backtogether, being, what we would
call in our culture, back inlove.
And that leaves us with twoquestions we must ask, and the
questions are what pieces ofwisdom does this book still have
(27:22):
to give us?
There's got to be one or two.
And secondly, does this couplemake it to the end?
And so, join me as we concludeour time in this book, me as we
conclude our time in this book.
And fathers, happy Father's Day.
(27:43):
I put on my most fatherlyadornment that I could find.
This is actually just a littlepiece of summer camp that
followed me home, but when Iwent to shave it, my wife said
do not touch that thing.
I love it so very much.
And she is homesick, so you donot need to ask her if that is
true or not.
Fathers, stay tuned.
(28:04):
I think one of the greatestencouragements you will find in
Scripture is tucked in the veryclosing of this book.
Those of you who long to befathers, stay tuned.
Those of you who did not havegreat fathers, stay tuned.
So we hoped they would make it.
We hoped they would be okay.
Do they make it, and are theyactually okay?
(28:25):
I put he in the top left cornerso you would know by the time
we get to chapter six there areonly eight in the whole book.
He is absolutely, emphaticallyin love with this woman.
You are beautiful as Terza thatwas the northernmost kingdom,
my love.
Lovely as Jerusalem.
No matter where I go, high orlow, you are lovely.
(28:46):
You're as awesome as an armywith banners.
In fact, just turn your eyesaway from me, for they overwhelm
me.
And then he makes an argumentthat could sound scandalous, but
just hold with me and let meexplain the Hebrew to you on
this.
He tells her how beautiful sheis and then she goes there are
60 queens, 80 concubines You'llhave to Google that, I'm not
(29:06):
going to teach you that rightnow and virgins without number.
Now, typically, if we hear aguy say this, we're not thinking
now, that is a man of characterwho is chaste.
Here's what he's basicallysaying.
Notice, the number increases ashe goes, he's saying it doesn't
matter to me whether you areregal, it doesn't matter to me
(29:28):
if you have all of these thingsgoing.
Show me 60 queens, I tell youwhat I'll raise you.
Show me 80 concubines,concubines.
Show me 80 concubines,concubines.
Show me virgins without number.
Do you see it increasing?
60, 80, without number.
But here is where his heart is.
My dove, remember.
He loves this girl.
He loves her eyes, can't getenough of them.
(29:50):
My dove, my perfect one, she isthe only one.
Now I will just tell you I'vebeen married 20 years.
Come November dated my wife forsix years, quarter century
together.
This is still the love that Iaspire to.
This is the love that thegospel encourages us to aspire
to.
When we find her in chapter fiveand in chapter six, she is
(30:14):
right there, leaning in as well.
This is my beloved, this is myfriend.
This is one of the biggestcomments I got from the sermon a
couple of weeks ago was howmuch you guys loved that word,
that she loved his appearanceand she loved what a cutie he
was.
But at the end of the day, whatshe missed most at the end of
their fights was her best friendwas not beside her, but they
(30:37):
are here.
He is again her friend.
And by the time we get tochapter six, there is this
coming together I and mybeloveds.
His desire is for me.
They are, without a doubt,leaning in.
Not only has their chemistrybeen repaired, but the thing she
missed most her best friend hasbeen restored.
(30:57):
So when we turn to the lastchapter, chapter eight, here is
where we find our couple.
Who is that coming up from thewilderness?
You imagine this couple walkingup from a trail on the woods,
and all of their friends andtheir family see them walking up
.
And what is their demeanor?
(31:17):
What is their posture?
They are hand in hand, butthey're not just hand in hand.
You get the sense that her headis leaning on his shoulder.
Who's this coming up from thewilderness Leaning on her
beloved?
Only time in the Old Testamentthat word is used.
Why?
Because this couple has beenrestored.
(31:38):
They're not just close, theyare.
Please hear me on this, pleasehear me on this.
Please hear me on this.
They are closer because of thestorm than they would have been
without it.
That's what I want you to hear.
This couple is better off forthe difficulty they walked
through with the Lord than hadthey not walked through it at
(31:59):
all.
And the Bible gives you thisbeautiful word used one time to
say she is not just reconciledor reconnected or renewed, she
is upheld, she is supported.
He is upheld as they lean onone another and she turns to him
and she says my beloved, wouldyou do something for me, would
(32:20):
you set me as a seal upon yourheart?
Now, interestingly, this maymess you up for just a minute.
When we go to a wedding,whenever I'm doing a wedding,
there are only a few things thathave to be there.
Okay, if they want to light acandle, they can light a candle.
If they want to pour sand intoa jar, pour all the sand you
(32:40):
want.
We can tie threads together.
I don't care what we.
But what we must do is this wemust exchange vows, okay, and
then, typically, at the end ofexchanging vows, we exchange
rings.
And I can tell you from mypastoral book what I say With
this love and these promises inyour heart, you have chosen to
(33:02):
exchange rings as the sign andseal of the promises you are
making today.
I've said it so many times, Idon't even need the book.
This is what she's saying.
She's saying my beloved, theone whom I love, would you set
me as a seal on your heart?
It might surprise you to knowthat in Old Testament culture
they did not exchange vows.
They didn't.
(33:23):
Part of the reason is becausethey didn't have a gear in their
romantic transmission for lovethat was not expressed
exclusively.
In other words, if I am livingwith that person, they are
obviously my wife for all oftime, and vice versa.
If I am pursuing this person, Iwould never pursue someone else
(33:43):
.
Their culture didn't even havea concept for that, whereas in
our world, we say our vowsstanding at the altar.
I'm usually like this andthey're usually like this.
We say our vows and do you know, the next time the couple
thinks about those vows?
Either when they print them andhang them in the room, or when
they're debating breaking them.
That is the way our culturedeals with vows.
(34:04):
You probably have not looked atyour vows since you said them
to your spouse.
If you are married, the onlytime we begin thinking through
our words is if we are debatingbreaking them, but not them.
This is not just words, this isaction, and I thought you might
(34:24):
find this interesting.
A lot of us who watched medievalmovies, always remember the
king with his signet ring andthe wax which for some reason
was always red.
And they would put their littlestamp and their seal on the
letter.
And what are they saying?
This is mine, this isauthenticated, right.
Give me the little blue checkmark.
This is authentically from me.
Not only that, I'm not going toseal everything, only the
things of greatest value, onlythe things that matter most.
(34:47):
This is one of the ways a sealwould have looked in their day.
It would have been this littlewhat is that?
An inch and a half.
It would have been this littleceramic or clay cylinder that
somebody would painstakinglyetch so that when you rolled it
across clay, when you rolled itacross a vase of some value,
(35:08):
when you dipped it in ink androlled it across parchment, you
would get these little images.
But they did take these sealsand do something we do in our
culture they turn them intojewelry, they would put a little
loop on it, they would wear itaround their neck, and so the
closest thing we have to ringsin our day would be this very
thing that she says to him inhers Will you make me your most
(35:33):
valuable thing?
Will you put on display for theworld to see that I am yours
and I am yours alone and you aremine.
Why?
Because that's what the Biblemeans when it says for because
love is as strong as death,jealousy fierce as the grave.
Its flashes, or flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
(35:58):
I want to give you a picture tohold in your mind until we get
to the end of this book in a fewmoments.
Karen Ann and I are entering aunique season of life.
We're entering a season of lifewhere we have a driver.
We're almost all the way into,like, middle school and upper
(36:21):
years, and I wasn't ready forthis because it just like
surprised us one day.
We I'm spilling almost you knowwhat.
I'm just not used to it, yet itdoesn't catch as well we were
doing.
It was June 3rd.
It was the day after mybirthday.
I love spaghetti.
She was doing spaghetti for thewhole family.
It's one of my favorite mealsand we didn't look at the family
(36:43):
calendar to realize all of ourboys were going to be gone.
So we make all this pasta,tiggy.
So we're like, oh cool, it'lljust be us and Tiggy.
That'll be a sweet littlemoment.
Nah, she's upstairs taking abubble bath for an hour and a
half moment.
Nah, she's upstairs taking abubble bath for an hour and a
half and in that moment we havethis entire family size
spaghetti dinner ready.
And I'm just looking at my wifeand my wife is just looking at
(37:07):
me.
And in that moment I was notsad, I was like heck, yes, I'm
going to get date night credit,I'm not going to have to swipe a
card.
I literally walk across likewe're making plates.
I walk across the room, I lighta candle and I put it next to
our kitchen sink.
And we just sit next to ourkitchen sink staring at each
(37:31):
other eating spaghetti like Ladyand the Tramp.
In this unexpected moment ofwhat I hoped would be heights
and depths of romanceextraordinaire, it turned into
us just kind of having dinnerand saying well, this is weird.
Over and over and over again, Ilove my children.
I do, but I really love thatmoment without them.
(37:55):
And it's not because I don'tlove my children, it's because I
jealously want to be many timesjust alone with my best friend
and my wife.
To me, there is no better placeto be, so long as we're not
arguing, than with just me andmy wife enjoying life together
(38:19):
and in much the same way.
It is not a bad thing for Godto want to sit or walk alone
with us.
He is jealous for that time.
This passage is actually very,very fascinating because this is
(38:40):
the only time, right here, godever comes up in the entire book
of Song of Songs, the only timeGod makes an appearance like
this, the very flame of thenotice the all caps LORD.
This is the flame of the noticethe all caps, lord.
This is the name of God.
The only time he shows up inthe text is when he says here's
(39:03):
the deal I wanna be with you andI wanna be with you alone.
I am jealous for this time.
I want you to remember thisphraseology Jealousy, fierce as
the grave flashes, or flashes offire, the very flame of the
Lord.
I want you to remember thatbecause we see it in one other
place in Scripture, inDeuteronomy.
You got to go all the way back.
(39:23):
You got to go all the way backto where God unites himself with
the people, rescues them fromslavery in Egypt.
And here is what he says.
He says the Lord, your God, Iam a consuming fire, I am a
jealous God.
So here's my question for youIs jealousy?
You don't have to answer outloud rhetorical Is jealousy good
(39:45):
or bad?
Is it good or is it bad?
In this context, what we find isthat he's literally saying take
care lest you forget thecovenant, the seal, the promise
that we have made to sitexclusively at a table with one
another.
This is God looking at hispeople and he's saying I have
(40:05):
prepared this table for you Inthe presence of your enemies, as
Pharaoh and his chariots andsoldiers come down.
Have I not opened a doorway ofsalvation for you?
Have I not ushered you into apromised land?
Have I not brought you into aplace where there is plenty of
food and plenty of drink?
Won't you just sit with me?
(40:26):
I think sometimes we open thedoorway to the cottage or the
kitchen of our soul and weinvite far too many people into
the table that Christ wants tosit at with us alone.
In fact, when you look at thisverse, one of the easy don't be
offended here.
I'm not scratching outscripture, okay.
(40:47):
I'm just wanting you guys tosee something.
What's happening here is thatthe Bible is wanting to make an
illustration.
Death and the grave are similar, and as similar as death and
the grave are so similar arelove and jealousy?
(41:09):
In this sense, scripture isusing the term jealousy in a
very positive way.
It's God being jealous over hisbride.
When something is mine, likeactually mine, and God wants it
to be mine and mine alone, it isunloving for me not to care if
somebody takes it, has it,enjoys it or pursues it.
(41:29):
If another man pursued KarenAnn and I was indifferent, true,
I would not be a jealoushusband, but that is not a good
thing.
I would put on display to herthat she is not cherished, she
is not valuable, she is notworth putting my seal on, nor am
I worth her putting her seal onme.
(41:51):
Fun fact did you know I canfeel that for you and I don't
mean like will for you.
Did you know pastors feel thisfor their congregation?
Here's the way Paul puts it.
He's writing to the Corinthianswho were let me get your eyes
for a minute a hot mess of apeople.
Okay, thank you for not beingCorinthians.
Like thank you for not beingCorinthians.
(42:14):
But here's what he writes Ifeel a divine jealousy for you.
33 times the word jealousy isused in the Bible.
Did you know?
They're almost all exclusivelypositive Jealousy is a wonderful
, beautiful reality, and I'mgoing to show you what the
healthy and the unhealthy is injust a minute.
(42:34):
But Paul says man, I have thisdivine jealousy for you.
Do you want to know why?
I'll tell you why.
I betrothed you to one husband.
I found you when you werewandering in.
Whatever it was that your lifelooked like before you came to
Christ.
I found you there and I toldyou about this one man who wants
to sit at a table with you andhe wants nothing more than to
(42:56):
just be with you.
And I explained who he was andI brought you into his presence.
I told you of his glories and,even though he knew your broken
story, he still wanted to sitwith you.
I wanted to present you as apure virgin to Christ, but I am
afraid that, as the serpentdeceived Eve by his cunning,
(43:17):
your thoughts will be led astrayfrom a sincere and pure
devotion to Christ.
Do you know that the elders inthe room Feel this for you?
We want you to love Jesus Morethan anything else.
We don't want anything elseSitting at the table of your
heart Than Christ and Christalone, and we will awkwardly,
difficultly, frequently Walkinto difficult places, because
(43:41):
we want to move anything that isbeing sat at the table of your
soul.
That is not Christ.
How can you know if yourjealousy is good or bad?
Eric Thones puts it this way inan article called Redeeming
Jealousy.
I think we need to get betterbiblical terms.
Go ahead and decide before youleave today, that you're going
(44:02):
to have a good definition forenvy and jealousy, because they
are not the same thing.
Envy is a desire to gainpossession of something that
does not belong to you.
Covetousness, it is alwayssinful, but jealousy is this
strong desire to maintainsomething that does belong to
(44:25):
you.
Now, can you get that wrong?
Can you believe something isyours that isn't and be jealous
of it?
Yeah, absolutely you can.
But go ahead and begin in yourmind, in your heart, in your
theological self, to separatejealousy, wanting to protect
something that is yours.
Father's ears get ready to perkup at that concept and the
(44:46):
difference in just wantingsomething that isn't yours, a
timing that may not be yours.
Envy craves what isn't yours,jealousy protects, and these two
realities are probably the twobiggest separators of the
difference in what is sinful andwhat is holy.
How much does God protect hisbride, his church.
(45:10):
If you're a Christian, how muchdoes God protect his love over
you?
An awful lot.
It is the very flame of theLord.
Many waters cannot quench love,neither can floods drown it.
When I read this verse, it takesme all the way back to Genesis
7 through 9.
Anybody want to guess what'shappening in Genesis 7 through 9
(45:32):
?
There's a guy whose name startswith an N and his name is Noah.
Do you realize that when Godbrought the flood, there was
only one thing that was not putout, and it wasn't Noah, or Shem
, or Ham or Japheth, they wereperipheral.
The only thing the flood didnot extinguish was God's promise
(45:55):
.
The only thing, the entireearth being covered in a deluge.
The only thing it couldn't stopwas God's perfect promise,
floating along the waves, thathe would make a people for
himself, that he would call thatpeople to himself and that he
would protect that people untilhe himself came and brought them
(46:19):
home.
That's why we can say thisincredible passage I am sure,
christian, just pause, can youread that and believe it?
If you're not a believer in theroom, can I just tell you this
is what I want for you.
This is what I'm going toinvite you to Christian.
Can you say this and believe it?
Because it's God's word, it'strue Never to be extinguished.
(46:39):
I am sure that neither deathnor life, angels, rulers, things
present, things that haven'teven come yet, nor powers, the
highest of heights and thedeepest of depths, anything else
in all creation will be able toseparate us from the love of
God.
Not, period.
(47:00):
It can't separate us from thelove of God because of you,
because you filled out thatlittle card at church camp, or
because you walked down theaisle, or because you prayed
with an elder.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you want to know how you canknow that your faith in Christ
will not be extinguished?
Because it is in Christ Jesus,our Lord.
And I point this out to youbecause that is where we find
(47:24):
this couple as they think aboutlove.
Many waters can't quench it,floods can't drown it.
And then there's this beautifullittle story that is drawn up If
a man offered for love all thewealth of his house, he would be
utterly despised.
This doesn't translate supereasily into our culture, so let
me just give you theillustration.
(47:45):
Here's the illustration thedoor is open and the bride
begins to walk down.
She's looked more beautifulthan any other day in her life.
They stand here.
You hear these incrediblethings.
He talks about her, she talksabout him.
The pastor says what he lovesabout both couples and then,
right before we get to the vows,we say which we don't actually
(48:07):
say that much in our cultureanymore if there be any reason
for these two not to be wed,speak now or forever, hold your
peace.
We don't even say it anymorebecause it gets so awkward.
We're like this is prettyexpensive, a lot of time, a lot
of time put in, a lot of time.
We barely even say it anymore.
(48:30):
But I want you to imagine thatthe pastor says it and about
four rows back, a man stands up.
Everybody looks at him and hewalks forward and he looks at
the pastor and he looks at thebride and he looks at the
congregation and he says youknow, I'll be honest with you, I
didn't really buy into thiswhole love thing.
This is beautiful, I kind ofwant this and I've heard great
(48:53):
things about her.
She's cute, it's a great dress,great dress.
And then he reaches into hisback pocket and he pulls out his
billfold and he says I'll giveyou everything I have for her.
I'll sell my house.
I'll do this.
Can I tell you what wouldn'thappen?
Nobody in that room would sayshe's so valuable.
(49:14):
Look at that.
The guy's gonna mortgage hishouse just to get her.
Nobody's thinking that.
Everybody looks at it and,instead of being like blown away
at an amount of money, theylook at it and they feel disgust
.
How could you look at love?
How could you look at acovenant and feel like it's
(49:34):
something you can cover withyour billfold?
Are you tracking with me?
This is what happens when wethink we're going to impress God
with the things we do.
This is God opening the door,inviting you to the table to sit
with him, and to sit with himalone.
And you're saying Jesus, youknow what.
That sounds really good, buthere's the deal.
Don't you know that I memorizeda lot of verses?
(49:55):
I'm good, I don't really needthis right now.
Don't you know that I serve inkids ministry?
Let me just pull out mybillfold that I serve in kids
ministry.
Let me just pull out mybillfold.
I've been tithing regularly tothe church, jesus, can't you see
all of the value that I canbring?
It's not impressive, it'sdisgusting.
And this is where they findthemselves.
(50:17):
There is nothing in this worldthat you can purchase this kind
of love with.
And in this moment, all of asudden, we move to the final
words of wisdom of this book andit becomes more.
I wish my wife was here so Icould point to her.
Can't point to a lady, I'lljust use you guys.
It's more than just this, it'smore than that.
(50:37):
It's more than a husband and awife.
It all of a sudden moves fromlateral to vertical in the most
beautiful of ways.
I didn't tell you this.
We usually only do communion thefirst Sunday of every month.
In a few moments we're going totake communion together, and
I'm stopping mid-sermon now totell you this because I want you
(50:58):
to begin asking the questionwho have I invited to sit at the
table of my soul outside ofChrist, when he wants to have
that dinner with just me andwith me alone?
Because when we get here, whatwe find is that if we try to
fill that with anything otherthan Christ, it is despicable.
So what are the final words ofwisdom in this incredible book
(51:21):
of wisdom?
To appreciate it, jealousy isgoing to be required.
So if you haven't moved fromenvy and jealousy, you're going
to need to make the separationnow.
I didn't give you a scoremorning, so here's your score
morning Score morning.
(51:42):
I've been doing that every week.
We have a little sister and shehas no breasts.
What shall we do for our sisteron the day when she is spoken
for?
There is only one version of theBible that doesn't use that
term and I don't want to preachout of the message.
So I decided this is how Hebrewculture would have dealt with
(52:03):
it.
What they're basically sayingis this dads ears up, men ears
up, but not just men.
I intentionally left the wordothers here.
If you're looking in your Bible, you'll notice that probably,
depending on the version youhave above verse eight, this is
the whole community looking atthis book of wisdom, saying what
is the final thing we must knowand we must do.
(52:24):
And the answer is this what arewe supposed to do for those
around us who are not matureenough for love yet?
And, by the way, that might bean age, but the age could be 30.
The age could be much olderthan that.
And the Bible gives us thisincredible phraseology where it
(52:48):
says if, in other words, thereare two ways that believers are
expected to walk in this finaladvice that the book has to give
.
If she is a wall illustrationone, we will build on her a
battlement of silver.
If she is steadfast andimmovable, if the enticements of
(53:10):
this world are not going todraw her away, then we get to
build around her beautifulthings and celebrate her.
But, in other words, this isgoing to be a bit different.
But if she is a door, we aregoing to enclose her with boards
of silver.
What are the final words ofwisdom here?
(53:33):
Well, much of our time in thissong has celebrated love.
It's done so with a word ofwarning for those who want a
good theology of celebration,that we not wake up love too
soon, that we would seek God'sdesign for love and longing and
life together, which we alreadyhit when we didn't skip the
recap.
But here what was implicitbecomes explicit the enjoyment
(53:58):
of romantic love, of sexuality,is a gift that God gives, and
this gift is a door.
This door defines your heart.
It is a door that can be opento good and it is a door that
can be open to evil.
It can be crossed by the wiseor it can be crossed by the fool
(54:18):
, but who you let in will affectyou tremendously, for good and
for ill.
Fathers, you are called toprotect this door, community.
This is why I left the othersup, other women in the church.
(54:41):
You are called by God toprotect this door Because there
are children in the halls andchildren in this room, and every
one of us must look at ourheart and we must say when it
comes to sin, when it comes toenticement, when it comes to the
schemes of the devil, let me bereal am I a wall against this
(55:03):
thing, or do the hinges swingjust a little bit too freely?
Am I too easily enticed?
Do I know?
When that thing presents itself, I am going to usher it in to
the table of my heart and askJesus to slide back just a
little bit.
(55:24):
If we're strong, we build thatperson up, we encourage them
into ministry and, by the way,that is all of us.
Where are you strong, serve God, and where we are weak, we look
at our community and we saywill you wrap me up, Will you
protect me?
Fathers, we are called toprotect our doors first.
(55:44):
If the doors of our heart areswinging loose when every sin
comes, how are we going to standguard for anybody else's?
We are secondly, called toprotect the doorways of our
marriage and not let what shecalled, I think, in chapter two,
or three, little foxes to comein.
Are you on guard, men?
But we must also protect thedoorways of our children.
(56:08):
Keep your heart with allvigilance.
Keep the door closed until theproper time, for from it flow
the springs of life For at leastthe most formative years of our
children.
Husbands, it is your callingand expectation to stand guard,
knowing the doorway to the heartof your children, because they
are children, is going to swingloose at the enticements of sin.
(56:33):
But what if there is no father?
What a beautiful reality thatwhen the disciples come to Jesus
and say, if I were to talk toGod, what would I begin with?
And he answers Father, I'lltell you what to do.
Call out to your dad.
Call out to the one who wouldprotect you If you did not have
(56:55):
a father, who was worried aboutprotecting you.
Additionally, the church existsfor those who do not have
fathers, to stand into the gap.
We were finishing up family campyesterday and as we were
leaving, the last person I sawI'm going to change the name was
(57:17):
a woman named Jessica,jessica's bawling her eyes out.
This is a mom with a couple ofkids and the reason she was
crying was not because camp wasending.
The reason she was crying isbecause her husband has been
fighting cancer for so manyyears and he is not winning that
battle.
She knew that even though wehave watched her children grow
up at this camp that we havegone to for six, seven, eight
(57:39):
years.
She knew the likelihood of herfamily coming back with her
husband was miracle only typestuff and she was weeping,
knowing that her family maynever walk into this thing that
they are walking out of again.
And when she was sharing withthe group we finished the week
and she was sharing with thegroup.
Here is what she shared.
(58:00):
She said my husband's always aprepper and a planner.
He always has been.
He has been going around to hisfamily, to believers in our
church and to some of you inthis camp, asking you to be
surrogate fathers Because ourteenage son and daughter likely
(58:21):
will not have him in one year.
Church, yes, please look at yourown heart and ask who is
sitting at the table outside ofChrist.
But if you see Christ acrossthe table, might it be time for
you to go and protect the heartsof those around you Because
(58:42):
ultimately, men in the room, wecan't stand there forever.
Hopefully our children willoutlive us.
I certainly hope that's thecase and hopefully our children
become way stronger believersthan we are and they're standing
guard way better than we everdid.
Hopefully they will realizethat the doorway of their heart
(59:05):
was built by and exists forsomebody else in the first place
, somebody who designed it,somebody who stands there and
knocks, somebody who knows theirlongings better than we do can
protect them better than we evercould.
So, fathers, we stand at thedoor protectively and
prayerfully, hoping that theywill hear the same knock that we
(59:27):
did.
That changed everything.
Jesus.
Behold, I stand at the door andknock.
Might.
I end you with this good news,gentlemen, if you want to go
ahead and come on in forcommunion, I stand at the door
and knock.
If anyone hears my voice, Iwill come in.
(59:49):
If anyone hears my voice, youdon't have a thing in your
billfold, nothing to impress God.
It would be despised for you tothink so.
Here's the only question Do youlong to sit across the table
with Christ and Christ alone?
Are there people that you haveinvited in, things that you have
invited in that you need tokick out of the cottage.
(01:00:10):
Are you even now hearing Christsay, might I come in?
Because if our answer is yes,he will come in and eat with him
and be with him and thisbeautiful thing begins.
The world will offer you moreit's what it does, but all of
(01:00:31):
its mores are going to be airquote mores.
It'll offer you more love andit'll offer you more acceptance
and it'll offer you morepleasure and it'll offer you
more comfort.
But we always have to put airquotes on it, because when we
see that thing sitting next toChrist and we're honest with
ourselves, it is not nearly goodenough.
And this is how the book ends.
(01:00:52):
She looks at Solomon, whoprobably wrote this book,
looking back on a love that helost because he ran after way
too many women instead of oneperson sitting at the table, and
she says Solomon had a vineyard.
He let it out to vineyard.
He let out the vineyard tokeepers.
He had a garden, he had a heart, he had a door and everybody
(01:01:12):
would bring him for its fruit athousand pieces of silver.
He used his love, he monetizedhis love.
He tried to find more and moreand more.
But watch what she does as thebook closes my vineyard, my very
own, my table, my door, myheart, my relationship.
(01:01:35):
It's before me.
You, o Solomon, take thethousand.
Take the thousand things thatsay they're better than Christ.
You can have them, just give me, jesus.
(01:02:01):
This is the greatest piece ofwisdom that the book gives to us
, and so I give it to you, jesus.
You don't have to have anythingin your billfold and you
certainly don't need to beimpressive.
What you need to do is removewhatever else is sitting at the
table.
It might be schedules and itmight be screens.
It might be a sin that justdoesn't seem to want to let up,
and if you want help with that,we'll have pastors that will
(01:02:22):
pray for you.
Let up, and if you want helpwith that, we'll have pastors
that will pray for you.
But let's come to a table thatwas prepared for us that we
might find intimacy with God.
Let the world have theirthousand loves.
I'll take just one.
If you're a believer, thistable is open to you.
You do not need to be a memberof the church.
(01:02:43):
But if you're not a Christian,please don't come to this table
before first becoming one.
If you need help with that,anyone in the room that you know
to be a Christian, andcertainly we'll have some
pastors down by the doors.
Would love to talk with you,but let's take a moment and
let's look at the table of ourheart.
Who is there, who ought to bethere and what must we do to be
(01:03:07):
there?
So I want to invite Darren Sharp on up.
Come on up, Darren.
All right, and we'll turn itover to you, brother.
Darin Sharpe (00:19):
She ducked on me Morning Midtree.
My name is Darren Sharp, I'm 56years old.
Oh yeah, I forgot about thatpart.
Sorry, I'm trying not to seeany of you guys.
My name is Darren Sharp, I'm 56years old, from a small, quiet
(00:39):
country community nestled in thepocket of two mountains 30
minutes north of Rome, georgia.
My dad worked for the telephonecompany as a lineman and my mom
was a dressmaker for a bridalshop.
I grew up working in chickenhouses and cattle farms and our
family farm and garden atgrandmother's.
That fed our family and thefamilies of many others in the
(01:01):
community.
My grandmother, ransom, was theheart and soul of our family
and the voice of my conscienceto this day.
We attended a small churchmostly relatives.
We were at church whenever thedoors opened.
I was a typical boy in thecountry, I think.
I did not enjoy school but Idid enjoy sports and girls and
(01:22):
cars and music.
I graduated from high school in1986.
I tried a lot of things.
I went to college for a littlewhile, tried cosmetology, carpet
mills, cloth mills, drove aPepsi truck, delivered auto
parts and pizzas, just to name afew.
I went to work for the KirbyVacuum Cleaner Company in the
(01:43):
early 90s and, surprising myself, I did very well.
I met Kelly at a party andthings started to change.
I was in my mid-20s, tired ofpartying all the time and
thought I should settle down.
Kelly was fun and she was smartand I thought she was the one.
(02:03):
I was so naive and full of hope.
Kelly said that we should getmarried and I thought it was
time.
So we did.
I opened my own Kirby vacuumcleaner office then and we
struggled to make it work, butit wasn't meant to be.
After a year of disappointingsales, we decided to try
something different in a newplace, so we moved to Athens.
(02:23):
Different in a new place, so wemoved to Athens, georgia, with
our infant son.
I sold cars for a while with,but the feast and famine income
wasn't good for a young family.
So I answered a blind ad in theAtlanta paper and was hired as
a manager at the Waffle House.
I was checked into my firststore in Madison, georgia, and
(02:46):
I'd found a career that I lovedand was good at.
Then Kelly became pregnant withour second son and the task of
raising two kids under twowithout any family support was
overwhelming.
So we made arrangements totransfer back to Rome, georgia,
and have the support of ourfamilies.
I was doing well at work, butthat meant working on a good
(03:07):
week at least 65 hours, and inhindsight, kelly was not doing
good with me working all thetime and, in spite of me being
100% faithful, she wasconstantly accusing me of
cheating on her and it becametoo much for me to stand.
We tried counseling but thatdidn't help.
I moved out and filed fordivorce.
(03:29):
A few months later I got apromotion to district manager in
Knoxville, tennessee.
I'm trying to navigatevisitation, divorce, a new job
and three restaurants.
I was spread pretty pretty thin, to say the least, but I was
making it work.
I thought At this point thedivorce had dragged out for 18
(03:51):
months.
Kelly had said several times tome that she had planned to ruin
my life and that plan includedcalling my job an average of 80
times every day to berate,belittle any and every person
that answered the phone,including employees, bosses,
police, family.
Anybody that answered the phonewas told about how a worthless
(04:15):
human being I was, and mytwo-year-old son was put on the
phone to ask me why I didn'tlove him, why I didn't love him.
It was psychological andemotional torture and it worked
(04:38):
after 18 months.
The last straw was her tellingme that she had moved and
wouldn't tell me where to pickthe boys up for visitation.
I was to my breaking point.
I could not explain or rememberthe next two days of my life.
I have a few flashes of memory,but nothing, until I woke up
(05:00):
laying on a piece of cardboardunder some trees and I could
hear some traffic, and that wasJuly of 1997.
I soon found out that I was inCentral Park in New York City.
Thank you, thank you.
(05:38):
In Central Park in New YorkCity with a duffel bag of
clothes and 20 bucks, I rememberthinking I can start over.
Miracles were abundant in NewYork.
That's a story for a differentoccasion.
Flash forward a few years, to9-11, 2001.
(05:59):
I'm working for the Windows onthe World Company, which is the
top three floors of Tower One.
We lost 85 people that day.
My world crumbled that dayAgain.
(06:29):
I worked at the MidtownRestaurant between 5th and 6th
on 56th Avenue or 56th Street,and we were the morning center
for the company.
But the bottom line was nobodywas eating out in New York.
No money was coming in, so nowno child support was going out.
(06:53):
In December my ex called the DAin New York City to complain
that her deadbeat ex-husband wasnot paying child support.
So on January 2nd of 2002,three months after 9-11, I was
helping a friend and his bandset up at CBGB's when two
detectives came in and escortedme out of that life.
(07:16):
I was extradited back toGeorgia and was released four
months later, on May 2nd, withprobation and fines and a
restraining order.
I was not the same person that Iwas before.
I was broken and full of shameand anger.
(07:37):
When I was in New York I didn'thave to face my past or the
broken part of me.
But in my hometown people knewme, knew I was broken, or at
least in my mind.
So I became reclusive,self-destructive.
I was back working at theWaffle House, trying to hide
(08:01):
from the world and reality.
So I was doing many things tonumb all the pain.
Linda, a relative of aco-worker, pursued me and
offered me a place to hide fromthe world.
So I jumped into a darkrelationship and hid.
For 15 years I was doing methbecause it numbed everything.
(08:22):
So I did that every day for 12years.
I don't remember the events orthe moment that it became clear
that my parents were in need offull-time care, and I felt a
(08:45):
calling in my heart to take careof them.
My dad had vascular dementiaand my mom was in the late
stages of Huntington's, so in2017, I quit my job and moved
into their garage.
It was the hardest thing I'veever done in my life, but the
most rewarding.
We had time to heal old hurtsand talk about life, and they
(09:07):
finally got to see me becomingthe man they raised.
Sorry, I've never been a man offaith and I could not be an
atheist because I was too angryat God for him not to exist.
For three years, I got to carefor them and in the process, god
(09:31):
began to soften my heart.
My life did not get any easier,though.
In December of 2019, linda, thewoman that I'd shared my life
with for 15 years, was diagnosedwith cancer.
I didn't know how I was goingto handle it all.
(09:54):
Hospice and Home Health came into help with my parents.
I borrowed a camper from mybrother to move Linda to the
property so I could care for allof them.
On June 2nd of 2020, my dadpassed away at home.
(10:22):
In August 2nd, linda passedaway in her sleep at the
hospital.
I was completely lost and backin the house Linda and I shared,
but with no power or water.
Can I have a tissue Lost myplace?
(10:44):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Thank you.
I was completely lost and backinto the house that Linda and I
had shared, but with no power orwater or a car.
I called an old boss at WaffleHouse and they helped me get
(11:07):
back to work.
I packed everything I could fitin the old van and went to
mom's house.
I had not been working inpublic in over three years and I
wasn't prepared for answeringquestions and telling people
what I'd been through anddealing with the pandemic
restrictions.
Questions and telling peoplewhat I'd been through and
dealing with the pandemicrestrictions.
(11:27):
Then, october of 2020, I wassleeping on an old mattress in
mom's garage, thinking about mygrandmother ransom telling me
that when I was little, thatwhen life gets to be too much
and you can't stand anymore,kneel.
So I did.
After all these years and theirprayers, I finally kneeled.
I surrendered myself to Godcompletely.
(11:49):
I said God, I give you my body,my mind, my spirit and I will
serve and follow you however yousee fit.
In that moment, I heard a worddeep in my soul walk.
I struggled for a while withwhat it meant.
(12:09):
Where was I going?
What was the purpose?
But the word hit me likenothing else ever has.
I've never been so motivated todo anything so much I began
walking.
All the time that I wasn'tworking or sleeping, I was
walking.
I barely noticed that myaddiction was gone.
(12:31):
I no longer wanted to smokecigarettes.
After 30 years, my friends andco-workers started to worry
about me because I'd stoppedhanging around with them after
work, because I was answeringthe call God had put in my heart
(12:52):
.
Walking gave me purpose again,gave me a way to move forward,
one step at a time, towardshealing, towards hope, towards
God.
Looking back, I see now thatGod used everything the pain,
the loss, the hopelessness tobring me to my knees so that I
(13:12):
would surrender.
And when I finally did, he gaveme what I needed most a reason
to move forward, a purpose toserve God.
Amen, purpose to serve God.
(13:35):
I've been obediently walkingevery day since that day in
October of 2020.
God's been so good to me.
In May of 2021, I reconnectedwith a high school friend
through Facebook that I had notseen or talked to in 35 years.
In April of 22, kathy became mywife and after a few months,
(14:14):
another friend from schoolcalled me to ask me if I knew
anyone that was interested inworking at Impact 360 Institute.
I had never heard of it.
I told her I would check, but Ididn't.
I just discussed it with Kathyand felt a strong calling to
apply for the job myself, but Ihad serious doubts that I would
(14:47):
be hired with my history.
I prayed about it every day onmy walks.
Slowly, step by step, I beganto work towards the goal of
getting that job.
I achieved that goal.
I achieved that goal and June1st of 2023, I started that job.
(15:18):
I have so many things to bethankful for every day on my
walks.
In Galatians 5, 16, it says soI say walk by the Spirit and you
will not gratify the desires ofthe flesh.
I no longer desire the earthlypleasures, but yearn for the
fullness of heaven.
(15:38):
And so I walk every single daywith God, for God and because of
God, I walk.
Praise God, thank you.
Will Hawk (16:12):
I did a poor job of giving Darren the memo to change
clothes before he shared histestimony, so we're going to
have a little bit of a momenthere together as he runs and
changes real quickly.
I will take this as a divinemoment just to tell you, isn't
it an incredible thing to hearwhat God is doing in the lives
of people around us?
(16:33):
And I know that there arepeople who are here today
because Darren is sharing hisstory, because you were a part
of the story that God had beenwriting in him.
I think about Kathy, I thinkabout Impact360, folks, many
people who love Darren very muchand very well, and I would give
(16:55):
you this encouragement becauseI don't usually have the
opportunity to do so.
Two things.
Number one God wants you to bethe people in the lives of
others that become part of thestory that they will one day
share.
And there are people in yourlives that may be two months
away and they may be 20 yearsaway, but regardless of where
(17:16):
they are, if you are a believer,we are called to forget our own
story from time to time andenter into others.
It's why we have been givenwhat the gospel refers to as the
ministry of reconciliation.
We are drawing people to God.
Second thing that I would giveyou is this there are probably
many of you in this room whoneed to share your story, and
(17:40):
some of you need to share yourstory and get baptized.
Some of you have already beenbaptized and you just need to
share your story, and so, ifthat is not something that is a
regular thought for you, I wouldlike for it to be something
that you begin wrestling withtoday.
Is it in God's design time forme to share this story?
(18:04):
When Darren walks in, I'll tellyou what we're going to do In
the event that you aren't surewhat baptism is.
This is not man.
He was really dirty and nowwe're going to get him really
clean.
This is not a public bathingritual.
What this is although it doespoint to sin being removed and
dirt in that sense being removedfrom the body what you really
(18:26):
must notice most is when Darrengoes from standing to being laid
down under the water.
What scripture says is this isus becoming like Christ in his
death, so that we would becomelike him in newness of life, and
so what you're actually seeingis somebody raised their hand to
say I am dying to myself.
(18:47):
I'm dying to the life that Iused to live and I am being
brought up by the spirit of Godto walk in newness of life.
To help you with that, this wasjust this serendipitous type
thing, Darren.
Go ahead and hop up with me.
Our staff reads throughdifferent articles weekly where
we work through a book, and theone that we were reading was on
(19:10):
the benefits of walking with theLord, literally.
And so as much of Darren.
How long have you been walking?
Yeah, five years.
And then what is a typical walkfor you?
This is what blew me away.
Darin Sharpe (19:25):
I walk an average.
I walk an hour every morning,lunch evening, three hours a day
.
Will Hawk (19:32):
So you're not going to beat him Too late to play
catch up, unless you're one ofthe little ones.
But there's a little articlefor you guys, as you head out
today, that I would love foreverybody to pick up and just
wrestle with.
What does it look like to walkwith the Lord, but literally to
get off my phones, to get awayfrom screens for a moment, feet
on the ground and pursue theLord, because that's turned into
(19:55):
your devotional and your prayerlife?
Amen, all right, darren, if youwould go ahead and grab a seat.
Brother, I just wanna tell youthank you for being brave enough
and willing to share your storywith us.
For those of you who are members, for those of you who are
believers, this is a family thatis inviting a new member in.
(20:15):
Adoption is the name of thegame in God's family.
And so, darren, because of yourfaith in Jesus Christ not in
yourself or anything of your owndoing we baptize you in the
(20:54):
name would go ahead and come upand, as he does, you will notice
Darren's going to share histestimony in the next service.
One thing we love to do isencourage folks when they share,
tucked into the pews around you.
Do you have one, william?
On you Are little cards thatlook something like this Says
baptism on one side, lined onthe other.
Would love for you to jot downan encouragement for Darren, a
(21:16):
scripture that has meant a lotto you, and on your way out of
the sanctuary you will see a bigglass jar to drop those things
in.
William, what's next for us?
William Moore (21:24):
All right, we're going to be reading the word of
the Lord together.
So if you guys could turn inyour Bibles to Song of Solomon,
chapter 8, verses 6 and 7.
That's on page 564 in your PewBibles.
Again, that's Song of Solomon 8, 6 through 7.
While you're flipping there,just a quick little announcement
for MCG kickoff.
(21:47):
That was scheduled for June25th.
We still want you guys to beable to get together with your
MCGs grab a meal, but VBS isactually happening that
Wednesday, so the contentkickoff will be the next week,
July 2nd.
Again, we would encourage youguys I'm going to step to the
side so they can get that uphere I'm going to encourage you
(22:07):
guys to get together, grab ameal, but the content kickoff
will be July 2nd.
So Song of Solomon 8, 6, and 7.
Set me as a seal upon yourheart, as a seal upon your arm,
For love is strong as death.
Jealousy is fierce as the grave.
(22:30):
Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love allthe wealth of his house, he
(22:51):
would be utterly despised.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will Hawk (22:59):
Thank you, william, appreciate it.
What a great morning as youguys are there.
Let me do this very quickly.
First thing we must askourselves as we hop into this
final closing of the book iswhere are we coming from and
(23:20):
where are we going?
And so what I would like for usto do is I know that sometimes,
if you've, we just startedwatching Andor at our house, and
so whenever we yeah, I'm glad Ihave fellow nerds and geeks,
depending on how you identifyyourself I'm glad that y'all are
here, but my wife keeps fallingasleep halfway through each
(23:41):
episode, but I am determined forus to make it all the way
through.
So when we start a new episode,there's this little button in
the bottom right corner and Ibet you guys can guess what it
says, and I have to choose to ornot to press it.
In the bottom right corner,there are two words and a little
button and it says skip recap.
Please, please, don't skiprecap.
(24:04):
I just want to give you oneminute of recap, recognizing
that and, by the way, you shouldclap for this at the end of my
sentence.
We are about to finish readingthrough a book of the Bible
together as a church.
Praise God.
I wanted to go back and figureout how many books we have read
through as a congregation.
It is our typical thing and ourtypical way to work through
(24:28):
books of the Bible, and we aregoing to finish the Song of
Songs today.
But what I want to make surethat you know, in the event that
you are sort of new here, iswhere are we?
So here you go the skip recap.
Don't press the button.
We started by looking at thisbook and saying, hey, guys in
(24:48):
the back, hit the button for me,saying does this book belong in
the Bible?
It talks about intimacy, talksabout sexual intimacy.
It's got some pretty graphicpictures that it paints, more so
than any other book of theBible.
Does this book belong in theBible?
Emphatically yes, it does.
Now, there are a number ofreasons, but one of the primary
(25:08):
reasons is, as we see, thisincredible man pursue this
incredible woman, even thoughthey are both incredibly broken.
Pursue this incredible womaneven though they are both
incredibly broken.
One of the things that we seeon display is the way that
Christ pursues us.
If you are a Christian, whichhe refers to as his bride, that
the church is the bride ofChrist.
Jesus chose her, pursued her,paid for her, adorns her and one
(25:33):
day he is going to come andtake her home.
One of the other things werealized is it gives us a lot of
information on human romanticlove, what I would call lateral
love rather than vertical love,and in scripture there are three
things that we see God lift upas important in a romantic love
(25:54):
environment.
We see chemistry, but it can'tjust be chemistry.
That only lasts for so long andit goes through seasons.
Character must be there andthen, uniquely, community must
be as well.
As we look at this, it alsobrings us to recognize the
longings that we have.
Some of you are single andhappy about it.
Some of you are single andyou're not happy about it.
(26:15):
Some of you are married andhappy about it.
Some of you are single andyou're not happy about it.
Some of you are married andhappy about it.
Some of you are married andyou're not happy about it.
All right, and that too isseasonal.
But one of the things this bookshows us is that the longings
that we have, every longing youhave, even though we will often
fill it with sinful things, isgiven to you by God, to draw you
(26:38):
to God, even though he maystretch out the time of that
longing, he in all things is theone, ultimately, who fulfills
it.
And then, the last time we hadour eyes on our couple, they had
just finished their first bigfight.
I got you, there you go.
(26:58):
They had just finished theirfirst big fight and the fight
ended with them joining backtogether, being, what we would
call in our culture, back inlove.
And that leaves us with twoquestions we must ask, and the
questions are what pieces ofwisdom does this book still have
(27:22):
to give us?
There's got to be one or two.
And secondly, does this couplemake it to the end?
And so, join me as we concludeour time in this book, me as we
conclude our time in this book.
And fathers, happy Father's Day.
(27:43):
I put on my most fatherlyadornment that I could find.
This is actually just a littlepiece of summer camp that
followed me home, but when Iwent to shave it, my wife said
do not touch that thing.
I love it so very much.
And she is homesick, so you donot need to ask her if that is
true or not.
Fathers, stay tuned.
(28:04):
I think one of the greatestencouragements you will find in
Scripture is tucked in the veryclosing of this book.
Those of you who long to befathers, stay tuned.
Those of you who did not havegreat fathers, stay tuned.
So we hoped they would make it.
We hoped they would be okay.
Do they make it, and are theyactually okay?
(28:25):
I put he in the top left cornerso you would know by the time
we get to chapter six there areonly eight in the whole book.
He is absolutely, emphaticallyin love with this woman.
You are beautiful as Terza thatwas the northernmost kingdom,
my love.
Lovely as Jerusalem.
No matter where I go, high orlow, you are lovely.
(28:46):
You're as awesome as an armywith banners.
In fact, just turn your eyesaway from me, for they overwhelm
me.
And then he makes an argumentthat could sound scandalous, but
just hold with me and let meexplain the Hebrew to you on
this.
He tells her how beautiful sheis and then she goes there are
60 queens, 80 concubines You'llhave to Google that, I'm not
(29:06):
going to teach you that rightnow and virgins without number.
Now, typically, if we hear aguy say this, we're not thinking
now, that is a man of characterwho is chaste.
Here's what he's basicallysaying.
Notice, the number increases ashe goes, he's saying it doesn't
matter to me whether you areregal, it doesn't matter to me
(29:28):
if you have all of these thingsgoing.
Show me 60 queens, I tell youwhat I'll raise you.
Show me 80 concubines,concubines.
Show me 80 concubines,concubines.
Show me virgins without number.
Do you see it increasing?
60, 80, without number.
But here is where his heart is.
My dove, remember.
He loves this girl.
He loves her eyes, can't getenough of them.
(29:50):
My dove, my perfect one, she isthe only one.
Now I will just tell you I'vebeen married 20 years.
Come November dated my wife forsix years, quarter century
together.
This is still the love that Iaspire to.
This is the love that thegospel encourages us to aspire
to.
When we find her in chapter fiveand in chapter six, she is
(30:14):
right there, leaning in as well.
This is my beloved, this is myfriend.
This is one of the biggestcomments I got from the sermon a
couple of weeks ago was howmuch you guys loved that word,
that she loved his appearanceand she loved what a cutie he
was.
But at the end of the day, whatshe missed most at the end of
their fights was her best friendwas not beside her, but they
(30:37):
are here.
He is again her friend.
And by the time we get tochapter six, there is this
coming together I and mybeloveds.
His desire is for me.
They are, without a doubt,leaning in.
Not only has their chemistrybeen repaired, but the thing she
missed most her best friend hasbeen restored.
(30:57):
So when we turn to the lastchapter, chapter eight, here is
where we find our couple.
Who is that coming up from thewilderness?
You imagine this couple walkingup from a trail on the woods,
and all of their friends andtheir family see them walking up
.
And what is their demeanor?
(31:17):
What is their posture?
They are hand in hand, butthey're not just hand in hand.
You get the sense that her headis leaning on his shoulder.
Who's this coming up from thewilderness Leaning on her
beloved?
Only time in the Old Testamentthat word is used.
Why?
Because this couple has beenrestored.
(31:38):
They're not just close, theyare.
Please hear me on this, pleasehear me on this.
Please hear me on this.
They are closer because of thestorm than they would have been
without it.
That's what I want you to hear.
This couple is better off forthe difficulty they walked
through with the Lord than hadthey not walked through it at
(31:59):
all.
And the Bible gives you thisbeautiful word used one time to
say she is not just reconciledor reconnected or renewed, she
is upheld, she is supported.
He is upheld as they lean onone another and she turns to him
and she says my beloved, wouldyou do something for me, would
(32:20):
you set me as a seal upon yourheart?
Now, interestingly, this maymess you up for just a minute.
When we go to a wedding,whenever I'm doing a wedding,
there are only a few things thathave to be there.
Okay, if they want to light acandle, they can light a candle.
If they want to pour sand intoa jar, pour all the sand you
(32:40):
want.
We can tie threads together.
I don't care what we.
But what we must do is this wemust exchange vows, okay, and
then, typically, at the end ofexchanging vows, we exchange
rings.
And I can tell you from mypastoral book what I say With
this love and these promises inyour heart, you have chosen to
(33:02):
exchange rings as the sign andseal of the promises you are
making today.
I've said it so many times, Idon't even need the book.
This is what she's saying.
She's saying my beloved, theone whom I love, would you set
me as a seal on your heart?
It might surprise you to knowthat in Old Testament culture
they did not exchange vows.
They didn't.
(33:23):
Part of the reason is becausethey didn't have a gear in their
romantic transmission for lovethat was not expressed
exclusively.
In other words, if I am livingwith that person, they are
obviously my wife for all oftime, and vice versa.
If I am pursuing this person, Iwould never pursue someone else
(33:43):
.
Their culture didn't even havea concept for that, whereas in
our world, we say our vowsstanding at the altar.
I'm usually like this andthey're usually like this.
We say our vows and do you know, the next time the couple
thinks about those vows?
Either when they print them andhang them in the room, or when
they're debating breaking them.
That is the way our culturedeals with vows.
(34:04):
You probably have not looked atyour vows since you said them
to your spouse.
If you are married, the onlytime we begin thinking through
our words is if we are debatingbreaking them, but not them.
This is not just words, this isaction, and I thought you might
(34:24):
find this interesting.
A lot of us who watched medievalmovies, always remember the
king with his signet ring andthe wax which for some reason
was always red.
And they would put their littlestamp and their seal on the
letter.
And what are they saying?
This is mine, this isauthenticated, right.
Give me the little blue checkmark.
This is authentically from me.
Not only that, I'm not going toseal everything, only the
things of greatest value, onlythe things that matter most.
(34:47):
This is one of the ways a sealwould have looked in their day.
It would have been this littlewhat is that?
An inch and a half.
It would have been this littleceramic or clay cylinder that
somebody would painstakinglyetch so that when you rolled it
across clay, when you rolled itacross a vase of some value,
(35:08):
when you dipped it in ink androlled it across parchment, you
would get these little images.
But they did take these sealsand do something we do in our
culture they turn them intojewelry, they would put a little
loop on it, they would wear itaround their neck, and so the
closest thing we have to ringsin our day would be this very
thing that she says to him inhers Will you make me your most
(35:33):
valuable thing?
Will you put on display for theworld to see that I am yours
and I am yours alone and you aremine.
Why?
Because that's what the Biblemeans when it says for because
love is as strong as death,jealousy fierce as the grave.
Its flashes, or flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
(35:58):
I want to give you a picture tohold in your mind until we get
to the end of this book in a fewmoments.
Karen Ann and I are entering aunique season of life.
We're entering a season of lifewhere we have a driver.
We're almost all the way into,like, middle school and upper
(36:21):
years, and I wasn't ready forthis because it just like
surprised us one day.
We I'm spilling almost you knowwhat.
I'm just not used to it, yet itdoesn't catch as well we were
doing.
It was June 3rd.
It was the day after mybirthday.
I love spaghetti.
She was doing spaghetti for thewhole family.
It's one of my favorite mealsand we didn't look at the family
(36:43):
calendar to realize all of ourboys were going to be gone.
So we make all this pasta,tiggy.
So we're like, oh cool, it'lljust be us and Tiggy.
That'll be a sweet littlemoment.
Nah, she's upstairs taking abubble bath for an hour and a
half moment.
Nah, she's upstairs taking abubble bath for an hour and a
half and in that moment we havethis entire family size
spaghetti dinner ready.
And I'm just looking at my wifeand my wife is just looking at
(37:07):
me.
And in that moment I was notsad, I was like heck, yes, I'm
going to get date night credit,I'm not going to have to swipe a
card.
I literally walk across likewe're making plates.
I walk across the room, I lighta candle and I put it next to
our kitchen sink.
And we just sit next to ourkitchen sink staring at each
(37:31):
other eating spaghetti like Ladyand the Tramp.
In this unexpected moment ofwhat I hoped would be heights
and depths of romanceextraordinaire, it turned into
us just kind of having dinnerand saying well, this is weird.
Over and over and over again, Ilove my children.
I do, but I really love thatmoment without them.
(37:55):
And it's not because I don'tlove my children, it's because I
jealously want to be many timesjust alone with my best friend
and my wife.
To me, there is no better placeto be, so long as we're not
arguing, than with just me andmy wife enjoying life together
(38:19):
and in much the same way.
It is not a bad thing for Godto want to sit or walk alone
with us.
He is jealous for that time.
This passage is actually very,very fascinating because this is
(38:40):
the only time, right here, godever comes up in the entire book
of Song of Songs, the only timeGod makes an appearance like
this, the very flame of thenotice the all caps LORD.
This is the flame of the noticethe all caps, lord.
This is the name of God.
The only time he shows up inthe text is when he says here's
(39:03):
the deal I wanna be with you andI wanna be with you alone.
I am jealous for this time.
I want you to remember thisphraseology Jealousy, fierce as
the grave flashes, or flashes offire, the very flame of the
Lord.
I want you to remember thatbecause we see it in one other
place in Scripture, inDeuteronomy.
You got to go all the way back.
(39:23):
You got to go all the way backto where God unites himself with
the people, rescues them fromslavery in Egypt.
And here is what he says.
He says the Lord, your God, Iam a consuming fire, I am a
jealous God.
So here's my question for youIs jealousy?
You don't have to answer outloud rhetorical Is jealousy good
(39:45):
or bad?
Is it good or is it bad?
In this context, what we find isthat he's literally saying take
care lest you forget thecovenant, the seal, the promise
that we have made to sitexclusively at a table with one
another.
This is God looking at hispeople and he's saying I have
(40:05):
prepared this table for you Inthe presence of your enemies, as
Pharaoh and his chariots andsoldiers come down.
Have I not opened a doorway ofsalvation for you?
Have I not ushered you into apromised land?
Have I not brought you into aplace where there is plenty of
food and plenty of drink?
Won't you just sit with me?
(40:26):
I think sometimes we open thedoorway to the cottage or the
kitchen of our soul and weinvite far too many people into
the table that Christ wants tosit at with us alone.
In fact, when you look at thisverse, one of the easy don't be
offended here.
I'm not scratching outscripture, okay.
(40:47):
I'm just wanting you guys tosee something.
What's happening here is thatthe Bible is wanting to make an
illustration.
Death and the grave are similar, and as similar as death and
the grave are so similar arelove and jealousy?
(41:09):
In this sense, scripture isusing the term jealousy in a
very positive way.
It's God being jealous over hisbride.
When something is mine, likeactually mine, and God wants it
to be mine and mine alone, it isunloving for me not to care if
somebody takes it, has it,enjoys it or pursues it.
(41:29):
If another man pursued KarenAnn and I was indifferent, true,
I would not be a jealoushusband, but that is not a good
thing.
I would put on display to herthat she is not cherished, she
is not valuable, she is notworth putting my seal on, nor am
I worth her putting her seal onme.
(41:51):
Fun fact did you know I canfeel that for you and I don't
mean like will for you.
Did you know pastors feel thisfor their congregation?
Here's the way Paul puts it.
He's writing to the Corinthianswho were let me get your eyes
for a minute a hot mess of apeople.
Okay, thank you for not beingCorinthians.
Like thank you for not beingCorinthians.
(42:14):
But here's what he writes Ifeel a divine jealousy for you.
33 times the word jealousy isused in the Bible.
Did you know?
They're almost all exclusivelypositive Jealousy is a wonderful
, beautiful reality, and I'mgoing to show you what the
healthy and the unhealthy is injust a minute.
(42:34):
But Paul says man, I have thisdivine jealousy for you.
Do you want to know why?
I'll tell you why.
I betrothed you to one husband.
I found you when you werewandering in.
Whatever it was that your lifelooked like before you came to
Christ.
I found you there and I toldyou about this one man who wants
to sit at a table with you andhe wants nothing more than to
(42:56):
just be with you.
And I explained who he was andI brought you into his presence.
I told you of his glories and,even though he knew your broken
story, he still wanted to sitwith you.
I wanted to present you as apure virgin to Christ, but I am
afraid that, as the serpentdeceived Eve by his cunning,
(43:17):
your thoughts will be led astrayfrom a sincere and pure
devotion to Christ.
Do you know that the elders inthe room Feel this for you?
We want you to love Jesus Morethan anything else.
We don't want anything elseSitting at the table of your
heart Than Christ and Christalone, and we will awkwardly,
difficultly, frequently Walkinto difficult places, because
(43:41):
we want to move anything that isbeing sat at the table of your
soul.
That is not Christ.
How can you know if yourjealousy is good or bad?
Eric Thones puts it this way inan article called Redeeming
Jealousy.
I think we need to get betterbiblical terms.
Go ahead and decide before youleave today, that you're going
(44:02):
to have a good definition forenvy and jealousy, because they
are not the same thing.
Envy is a desire to gainpossession of something that
does not belong to you.
Covetousness, it is alwayssinful, but jealousy is this
strong desire to maintainsomething that does belong to
(44:25):
you.
Now, can you get that wrong?
Can you believe something isyours that isn't and be jealous
of it?
Yeah, absolutely you can.
But go ahead and begin in yourmind, in your heart, in your
theological self, to separatejealousy, wanting to protect
something that is yours.
Father's ears get ready to perkup at that concept and the
(44:46):
difference in just wantingsomething that isn't yours, a
timing that may not be yours.
Envy craves what isn't yours,jealousy protects, and these two
realities are probably the twobiggest separators of the
difference in what is sinful andwhat is holy.
How much does God protect hisbride, his church.
(45:10):
If you're a Christian, how muchdoes God protect his love over
you?
An awful lot.
It is the very flame of theLord.
Many waters cannot quench love,neither can floods drown it.
When I read this verse, it takesme all the way back to Genesis
7 through 9.
Anybody want to guess what'shappening in Genesis 7 through 9
(45:32):
?
There's a guy whose name startswith an N and his name is Noah.
Do you realize that when Godbrought the flood, there was
only one thing that was not putout, and it wasn't Noah, or Shem
, or Ham or Japheth, they wereperipheral.
The only thing the flood didnot extinguish was God's promise
(45:55):
.
The only thing, the entireearth being covered in a deluge.
The only thing it couldn't stopwas God's perfect promise,
floating along the waves, thathe would make a people for
himself, that he would call thatpeople to himself and that he
would protect that people untilhe himself came and brought them
(46:19):
home.
That's why we can say thisincredible passage I am sure,
christian, just pause, can youread that and believe it?
If you're not a believer in theroom, can I just tell you this
is what I want for you.
This is what I'm going toinvite you to Christian.
Can you say this and believe it?
Because it's God's word, it'strue Never to be extinguished.
(46:39):
I am sure that neither deathnor life, angels, rulers, things
present, things that haven'teven come yet, nor powers, the
highest of heights and thedeepest of depths, anything else
in all creation will be able toseparate us from the love of
God.
Not, period.
(47:00):
It can't separate us from thelove of God because of you,
because you filled out thatlittle card at church camp, or
because you walked down theaisle, or because you prayed
with an elder.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you want to know how you canknow that your faith in Christ
will not be extinguished?
Because it is in Christ Jesus,our Lord.
And I point this out to youbecause that is where we find
(47:24):
this couple as they think aboutlove.
Many waters can't quench it,floods can't drown it.
And then there's this beautifullittle story that is drawn up If
a man offered for love all thewealth of his house, he would be
utterly despised.
This doesn't translate supereasily into our culture, so let
me just give you theillustration.
(47:45):
Here's the illustration thedoor is open and the bride
begins to walk down.
She's looked more beautifulthan any other day in her life.
They stand here.
You hear these incrediblethings.
He talks about her, she talksabout him.
The pastor says what he lovesabout both couples and then,
right before we get to the vows,we say which we don't actually
(48:07):
say that much in our cultureanymore if there be any reason
for these two not to be wed,speak now or forever, hold your
peace.
We don't even say it anymorebecause it gets so awkward.
We're like this is prettyexpensive, a lot of time, a lot
of time put in, a lot of time.
We barely even say it anymore.
(48:30):
But I want you to imagine thatthe pastor says it and about
four rows back, a man stands up.
Everybody looks at him and hewalks forward and he looks at
the pastor and he looks at thebride and he looks at the
congregation and he says youknow, I'll be honest with you, I
didn't really buy into thiswhole love thing.
This is beautiful, I kind ofwant this and I've heard great
(48:53):
things about her.
She's cute, it's a great dress,great dress.
And then he reaches into hisback pocket and he pulls out his
billfold and he says I'll giveyou everything I have for her.
I'll sell my house.
I'll do this.
Can I tell you what wouldn'thappen?
Nobody in that room would sayshe's so valuable.
(49:14):
Look at that.
The guy's gonna mortgage hishouse just to get her.
Nobody's thinking that.
Everybody looks at it and,instead of being like blown away
at an amount of money, theylook at it and they feel disgust
.
How could you look at love?
How could you look at acovenant and feel like it's
(49:34):
something you can cover withyour billfold?
Are you tracking with me?
This is what happens when wethink we're going to impress God
with the things we do.
This is God opening the door,inviting you to the table to sit
with him, and to sit with himalone.
And you're saying Jesus, youknow what.
That sounds really good, buthere's the deal.
Don't you know that I memorizeda lot of verses?
(49:55):
I'm good, I don't really needthis right now.
Don't you know that I serve inkids ministry?
Let me just pull out mybillfold that I serve in kids
ministry.
Let me just pull out mybillfold.
I've been tithing regularly tothe church, jesus, can't you see
all of the value that I canbring?
It's not impressive, it'sdisgusting.
And this is where they findthemselves.
(50:17):
There is nothing in this worldthat you can purchase this kind
of love with.
And in this moment, all of asudden, we move to the final
words of wisdom of this book andit becomes more.
I wish my wife was here so Icould point to her.
Can't point to a lady, I'lljust use you guys.
It's more than just this, it'smore than that.
(50:37):
It's more than a husband and awife.
It all of a sudden moves fromlateral to vertical in the most
beautiful of ways.
I didn't tell you this.
We usually only do communion thefirst Sunday of every month.
In a few moments we're going totake communion together, and
I'm stopping mid-sermon now totell you this because I want you
(50:58):
to begin asking the questionwho have I invited to sit at the
table of my soul outside ofChrist, when he wants to have
that dinner with just me andwith me alone?
Because when we get here, whatwe find is that if we try to
fill that with anything otherthan Christ, it is despicable.
So what are the final words ofwisdom in this incredible book
(51:21):
of wisdom?
To appreciate it, jealousy isgoing to be required.
So if you haven't moved fromenvy and jealousy, you're going
to need to make the separationnow.
I didn't give you a scoremorning, so here's your score
morning Score morning.
(51:42):
I've been doing that every week.
We have a little sister and shehas no breasts.
What shall we do for our sisteron the day when she is spoken
for?
There is only one version of theBible that doesn't use that
term and I don't want to preachout of the message.
So I decided this is how Hebrewculture would have dealt with
(52:03):
it.
What they're basically sayingis this dads ears up, men ears
up, but not just men.
I intentionally left the wordothers here.
If you're looking in your Bible, you'll notice that probably,
depending on the version youhave above verse eight, this is
the whole community looking atthis book of wisdom, saying what
is the final thing we must knowand we must do.
(52:24):
And the answer is this what arewe supposed to do for those
around us who are not matureenough for love yet?
And, by the way, that might bean age, but the age could be 30.
The age could be much olderthan that.
And the Bible gives us thisincredible phraseology where it
(52:48):
says if, in other words, thereare two ways that believers are
expected to walk in this finaladvice that the book has to give
.
If she is a wall illustrationone, we will build on her a
battlement of silver.
If she is steadfast andimmovable, if the enticements of
(53:10):
this world are not going todraw her away, then we get to
build around her beautifulthings and celebrate her.
But, in other words, this isgoing to be a bit different.
But if she is a door, we aregoing to enclose her with boards
of silver.
What are the final words ofwisdom here?
(53:33):
Well, much of our time in thissong has celebrated love.
It's done so with a word ofwarning for those who want a
good theology of celebration,that we not wake up love too
soon, that we would seek God'sdesign for love and longing and
life together, which we alreadyhit when we didn't skip the
recap.
But here what was implicitbecomes explicit the enjoyment
(53:58):
of romantic love, of sexuality,is a gift that God gives, and
this gift is a door.
This door defines your heart.
It is a door that can be opento good and it is a door that
can be open to evil.
It can be crossed by the wiseor it can be crossed by the fool
(54:18):
, but who you let in will affectyou tremendously, for good and
for ill.
Fathers, you are called toprotect this door, community.
This is why I left the othersup, other women in the church.
(54:41):
You are called by God toprotect this door Because there
are children in the halls andchildren in this room, and every
one of us must look at ourheart and we must say when it
comes to sin, when it comes toenticement, when it comes to the
schemes of the devil, let me bereal am I a wall against this
(55:03):
thing, or do the hinges swingjust a little bit too freely?
Am I too easily enticed?
Do I know?
When that thing presents itself, I am going to usher it in to
the table of my heart and askJesus to slide back just a
little bit.
(55:24):
If we're strong, we build thatperson up, we encourage them
into ministry and, by the way,that is all of us.
Where are you strong, serve God, and where we are weak, we look
at our community and we saywill you wrap me up, Will you
protect me?
Fathers, we are called toprotect our doors first.
(55:44):
If the doors of our heart areswinging loose when every sin
comes, how are we going to standguard for anybody else's?
We are secondly, called toprotect the doorways of our
marriage and not let what shecalled, I think, in chapter two,
or three, little foxes to comein.
Are you on guard, men?
But we must also protect thedoorways of our children.
(56:08):
Keep your heart with allvigilance.
Keep the door closed until theproper time, for from it flow
the springs of life For at leastthe most formative years of our
children.
Husbands, it is your callingand expectation to stand guard,
knowing the doorway to the heartof your children, because they
are children, is going to swingloose at the enticements of sin.
(56:33):
But what if there is no father?
What a beautiful reality thatwhen the disciples come to Jesus
and say, if I were to talk toGod, what would I begin with?
And he answers Father, I'lltell you what to do.
Call out to your dad.
Call out to the one who wouldprotect you If you did not have
(56:55):
a father, who was worried aboutprotecting you.
Additionally, the church existsfor those who do not have
fathers, to stand into the gap.
We were finishing up family campyesterday and as we were
leaving, the last person I sawI'm going to change the name was
(57:17):
a woman named Jessica,jessica's bawling her eyes out.
This is a mom with a couple ofkids and the reason she was
crying was not because camp wasending.
The reason she was crying isbecause her husband has been
fighting cancer for so manyyears and he is not winning that
battle.
She knew that even though wehave watched her children grow
up at this camp that we havegone to for six, seven, eight
(57:39):
years.
She knew the likelihood of herfamily coming back with her
husband was miracle only typestuff and she was weeping,
knowing that her family maynever walk into this thing that
they are walking out of again.
And when she was sharing withthe group we finished the week
and she was sharing with thegroup.
Here is what she shared.
(58:00):
She said my husband's always aprepper and a planner.
He always has been.
He has been going around to hisfamily, to believers in our
church and to some of you inthis camp, asking you to be
surrogate fathers Because ourteenage son and daughter likely
(58:21):
will not have him in one year.
Church, yes, please look at yourown heart and ask who is
sitting at the table outside ofChrist.
But if you see Christ acrossthe table, might it be time for
you to go and protect the heartsof those around you Because
(58:42):
ultimately, men in the room, wecan't stand there forever.
Hopefully our children willoutlive us.
I certainly hope that's thecase and hopefully our children
become way stronger believersthan we are and they're standing
guard way better than we everdid.
Hopefully they will realizethat the doorway of their heart
(59:05):
was built by and exists forsomebody else in the first place
, somebody who designed it,somebody who stands there and
knocks, somebody who knows theirlongings better than we do can
protect them better than we evercould.
So, fathers, we stand at thedoor protectively and
prayerfully, hoping that theywill hear the same knock that we
(59:27):
did.
That changed everything.
Jesus.
Behold, I stand at the door andknock.
Might.
I end you with this good news,gentlemen, if you want to go
ahead and come on in forcommunion, I stand at the door
and knock.
If anyone hears my voice, Iwill come in.
(59:49):
If anyone hears my voice, youdon't have a thing in your
billfold, nothing to impress God.
It would be despised for you tothink so.
Here's the only question Do youlong to sit across the table
with Christ and Christ alone?
Are there people that you haveinvited in, things that you have
invited in that you need tokick out of the cottage.
(01:00:10):
Are you even now hearing Christsay, might I come in?
Because if our answer is yes,he will come in and eat with him
and be with him and thisbeautiful thing begins.
The world will offer you moreit's what it does, but all of
(01:00:31):
its mores are going to be airquote mores.
It'll offer you more love andit'll offer you more acceptance
and it'll offer you morepleasure and it'll offer you
more comfort.
But we always have to put airquotes on it, because when we
see that thing sitting next toChrist and we're honest with
ourselves, it is not nearly goodenough.
And this is how the book ends.
(01:00:52):
She looks at Solomon, whoprobably wrote this book,
looking back on a love that helost because he ran after way
too many women instead of oneperson sitting at the table, and
she says Solomon had a vineyard.
He let it out to vineyard.
He let out the vineyard tokeepers.
He had a garden, he had a heart, he had a door and everybody
(01:01:12):
would bring him for its fruit athousand pieces of silver.
He used his love, he monetizedhis love.
He tried to find more and moreand more.
But watch what she does as thebook closes my vineyard, my very
own, my table, my door, myheart, my relationship.
(01:01:35):
It's before me.
You, o Solomon, take thethousand.
Take the thousand things thatsay they're better than Christ.
You can have them, just give me, jesus.
(01:02:01):
This is the greatest piece ofwisdom that the book gives to us
, and so I give it to you, jesus.
You don't have to have anythingin your billfold and you
certainly don't need to beimpressive.
What you need to do is removewhatever else is sitting at the
table.
It might be schedules and itmight be screens.
It might be a sin that justdoesn't seem to want to let up,
and if you want help with that,we'll have pastors that will
(01:02:22):
pray for you.
Let up, and if you want helpwith that, we'll have pastors
that will pray for you.
But let's come to a table thatwas prepared for us that we
might find intimacy with God.
Let the world have theirthousand loves.
I'll take just one.
If you're a believer, thistable is open to you.
You do not need to be a memberof the church.
(01:02:43):
But if you're not a Christian,please don't come to this table
before first becoming one.
If you need help with that,anyone in the room that you know
to be a Christian, andcertainly we'll have some
pastors down by the doors.
Would love to talk with you,but let's take a moment and
let's look at the table of ourheart.
Who is there, who ought to bethere and what must we do to be
(01:03:07):
there?
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.