What's up Valley Creek? My name is Jason and I get the privilege of serving on our student teaching team. And I'm super grateful to be here with you guys today.

So as we get started, help me welcome all of our campuses in. So if you're joining us from Gainesville, Denton, Lewisville, Flower Mound, The Venue or online, welcome to Valley Creek Church. Shout out to all dads out there. Happy Father's Day to you. I'm a dad and I love being a dad so much, my wife and I had like half a dozen kids. No, for real, like we had so many kids now when we go to the zoo they stop us to ask is what school we're a part of. We just start making up names. And now I just look them in the eye because I'm like, I don't think you realize like I'm not actually here for the zoo, look, we are the zoo. But for real, we have 6 kids. We have a big family which means we have big fun. And I'm honored to be their dad and to be raising up generations of hope carriers in my own home.

I'm so grateful they get to be raised up in these environments on their journey with Jesus. And I'm so grateful for you guys today being here, a part of this experience on Father's Day. So we've been in this series called 60 Days: Songs of Life and we've been going through the Book of Psalms every day in our reading plan and we have been learning songs of life for ourselves. And I just want to ask you a question, have you ever had a song just gets stuck in your head? Right, I mean if you're at home singing it, you're a work singing it, you're serenading the drive through person singing it. And if you're having a good day, you're singing, you're humming, you're whistling that thing all day long. By the way, do we have any whistlers in the house? Shout out to the whistlers. And we do this because it connects with us on a deep emotional level of like what we're feeling and expressing and believing to be true. And then if something bad happens and it kind of changes the direction of our day, maybe we go to our car or put our AirPods in and maybe listen to some different songs.

And maybe some good, maybe some not so good, but it's the same reason, right? We connect with it, what we're feeling and expressing and believing to be true. But I think the same thing is true about our life. Like I think we sing songs over our life, like the songs of our heart, like this overarching melody of what our life is currently feeling and believing and expressing. And that could be like encouraging and hopeful. That could be discouraging and hopeless. But it's the song that we sing over ourselves. And the more we sing it the more we start to believe it. And then we start to sing it to those around us. I think we just have to ask the question like are we singing the right songs over our life? And if we're honest, we're probably not singing the right songs over a life.

We're probably singing the ones that keep us in that negative space. And the thing is like it's difficult, right? Because you face those messy and difficult situations where it doesn't feel like there's a way forward. It can feel like you're starting to get a little bit stuck. Everybody say stuck.

Stuck.

Uh-huh, if you've ever been driving in your car and your wheels continue to move but your car doesn't, you know what it's like to get stuck. If you've ever been in like the snow or the mud, you know what that's like. And then we push down on the gas pedal, man, believing it is going to rescue us, but it doesn't. Like our wheels do this and then we do this. And it gets less and less optimistic, a bad situation gets worse. And we just got to wait for somebody to come rescue us and tow us out of our mess because we're spinning our wheels stuck. Life gets like that.

We face these moments, these situations and these seasons, we're running into what feels like no way forward, like we're just spinning our wheels stuck and then we begin to declare and sing that anthem over our life, over our kids, our home, our areas of influence, ourselves. And they can start to feel a lot like this verse in Psalm 40, "For troubles without numbers surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me." Like if you've ever experienced this level of claustrophobic stuckness before, you are not alone. David's writing this from a cave, hiding and running for his life. And as you read through the Book of Psalms, specifically the life of David, you're going to see there's a lot of times David felt stuck. Like maybe there wasn't a way forward. I mean talk about troubles without number surrounding me.

Do you remember when David was forgotten about by his whole family as a teenager? Like the prophet comes to his house and was looking for the next king to anoint, and then David's dad totally forgets about him. And the prophet is like, are you sure this is all of your sons? And David's dad still chooses to neglect and forget about David. I'm pretty sure he knows what it's like to feel stuck in his family dynamic. Or how about David's work situation? Can you imagine showing up to work, your boss gives you a new project and you do it with your whole heart, man, you give it everything you have, you get it done that you're even proud of the work that you've done? And then instead of like a compliment or a pay raise or anything nice, he throws a spear at his head and tries to end his life. That's what we call a dead-end job, badong psh. Happy Father's Day for the dad joke.

But for real, like I think David knows what it's like to feel stuck in his job. How about when David's son refused to listen and obey and instead waged war and fought against his family, lives were lost, kingdoms divided? I mean just picture this him and his son live in the same city and for years don't talk. And maybe for you it's being in the same roof, at the same table and you haven't spoken in a long time. Like David knows what it's like to feel stuck in his parenting. And whether you connect with those examples or not, can I just ask you, over the last couple years do you feel stuck? Like two years of a pandemic, job changes, school changing, friends leaving, the news always being a dark cloud, interest rates rising, all the political craziness going on, it almost feels like the whole world is stuck.

But the good news is Jesus can help you when you're stuck. Look at what David was singing over his own life when he felt this way. He said, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me, he heard my cry, he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him." And if as I'm reading this there's resistance in your heart because of the season you've been in, can I just prophetically tell you today, God wants to give you a new song. Jesus can help you when you're stuck. And when he does he's going to put a new song in your mouth. It's going to be one that is full of praise. And it's not just for you, it's not just hope for you, it's so that many will see it and put their trust in him. David found himself stuck in a lot of different seasons of his life, but every time he came out of it.

And when he did, he had a new song, one of hope and gratitude, deepened trust and victory. But I think we just have to stop this morning and ask the question like, why was David stuck? Why was David stuck? Was he stuck because of something he was doing wrong? I mean he's not perfect, but in this moment he's not stuck because of something he did. So can I just bring a whole lot of encouragement to a lot of you in the room right now? If you feel stuck it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. I mean think about it, David was anointed by God, handpicked by God. God had already declared David's destiny over his life, but David was still stuck. And nobody likes to feel stuck, nobody wants to be in a place where your situation and your circumstance feels hopeless. But David was stuck for like ten years. And if you walked in here today and you've been feeling stuck, maybe you've been asking yourself questions like what did I do to get here?

Why am I stuck? But what if it has nothing to do with anything you've done or maybe what's been done to you, and what if it has everything to do with what God wants to do in your life? Sometimes when we're stuck it's because God's doing something in us. He's got something for us. He's doing something through us. He's protecting us and He wants to help us move forward. Sometimes when we're stuck, we believe this lie that God is doing something to us. But the reality is He's doing something in us. Like one thing that I know to be true is that when things are going the way that I hope that they would and everything is going according to plan, I'm typically grateful and I'm happy and all of that. But that's where I'm least developed as a person. And it's funny because like I always want things to go my way, like -- but that's just not where I'm developed.

Is there anybody out there who prays for opportunities to get stuck? Right? No, of course not, right? And I'm not suggesting that you do. But isn't it in those moments more than anywhere else that we experience the resistance and the pressure, the very tools of God as the potter shapes and forms the clay into something awesome and useful? It's there that He reveals the things that have been holding us back and keeping us from our creative calling and purpose. He starts to reveal bitterness that we've been holding on to, entitlement that seeped into our hearts, pride that we've been walking in, ungodly beliefs that we've picked up. And when you start to feel stuck, those things come to the surface real quick, don't they? And if you're not careful, they become the anthem of your life. So it's the goodness of God that He's revealing these things because He wants to free you. He's not doing something to you, He's doing something in you. And so often, we just want to move past that on to the next thing.

But being stuck sometimes is a gift from God. And I love the way James puts it when he talks about it. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Another way to read this, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you feel stuck. He's not doing anything to you. It's so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything, because he's doing something in you. So when you start to feel stuck, know that God is up to something. He's shaping and forming you. And when that conversation comes up again that makes you want to throw your hands in the air, stop asking God why and start asking what. What is it that You are doing in me? What do You want to do in me? Because the same way you can't do surgery on a patient who's walking down the hallway, sometimes you got to be stuck long enough for God to do the hard work in you.

He's not doing anything to you, He's doing something in you. And not only that, but God is doing something for you. There are so many times when we get stuck that we believe the lie that God is holding things from us. But the reality is He's holding things for us. We were designed and created uniquely by God to step into the things of God so that we could flourish in life. And I love the way that it reads in Ephesians. It says that, "We are God's masterpiece so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." God has good things for us. You were created to step into these things and flourish in life in as God is doing the hard work in you, it's because He's preparing something for you.

The next season of your life, the next relationship, the next minister invitation, God is behind the scenes moving all of the pieces around, setting everything up whether you can see it or not because He's got something for you. Think about David. David's out here with these stinky sheep in the pasture, completely forgotten about and neglected. Now, if I'm David I'll probably feel a little bit stuck. But then David's brothers go off to war. And once again David is completely dismissed as insignificant and pushed to the side. At this moment in time, I can imagine David feeling like God is holding something from him. But it can be further from the truth. In this moment, God was working behind the scenes, directly with the Prophet Samuel to anoint David to be the next king of Israel. God was over here, setting things up, moving all the pieces into place because He was getting ready to move David from the pasture to the palace, from receiving orders to giving orders, from being looked down on to being looked up to.

And even though David couldn't see it in the midst of his own stuckness, God was working behind the scenes because He had good things for him. The same is true for you. As God is doing things in you, it's because He's preparing things for you. There's a relationship He has for you. There's a job opportunity you don't know about yet that He has for you. There's a calling on your life that He has for you. And this whole time, He's moving things around, setting all the pieces into place because He has good things for you. He's not holding anything from you. He's holding things for you. And sometimes He's using all of that, is He's doing something in us, something for us because He wants to do something through us. God is going to use everything in your life for His glory. All of it. Like there are messages only you can give that could come out of the messes only you've been in. Like there's a unique voice God wants to give you to encourage the people that are in your life.

But so many of us believe the lie that, man, we're the only ones going through what we're going through. And so many of us suffer in silence, but the truth is so many of us know what it's like to feel stuck. Maybe our circumstances aren't exactly the same, but we know what it's like to feel stuck. And God wants to do something through you. All it takes is for one person to open up and to begin to declare the anthem of hope over their life that's louder than their circumstances. And other people start to see freedom. People see God being with you in the midst of your stuckness and it gives them hope for their reality too. This reminds me of a story when Paul and Silas were locked up in Acts 16. Now, I don't know if you've been to prison. But that place, not super cozy. But they're locked up. So here's Paul and Silas stuck in prison.

Now, they're not there because of anything they did wrong. In fact, they're there because they set this girl free who was demon possessed. But nonetheless they're stuck in prison. And they're not doing the things that we would typically do, like they're not like arguing with the jailer about their innocence and like, you know, fighting and trying to, you know, contend for their freedom all that stuff. You want to know what they were doing? They did the same thing David did. They're letting God put a new song in their mouth. And so there they are stuck in the midst of prison, all this craziness and they're praising God in the middle of it. And as they're praising God, this massive earthquake hits, all the prison doors fly open and prisoners star to escape. Time out. If that's me, I'm out, running shoes, no hesitation, I'm not looking back. Silas, I hope you catching up with me, bro. Right? Because we're always looking for a way out.

But when you stop looking for a way out, God will show you a way through. And that's exactly what Paul did. Paul sees the jailer. He thinks his life is over because prisoners are escaping and Paul says, hey, stop man, we haven't left yet. Stop. And look what the guard says to him -- he then brought them out and he asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He's talking to Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? In the midst of being stuck, Paul stops this guy from committing suicide, leads him and his whole family to Jesus and then all of them get baptized while Paul is still stuck. Sometimes when you're stuck is because God wants to do something through you. So can I just ask you, are you willing to be stuck so someone else's life can be saved? Sometimes when you're stuck it has nothing to do with you. Nothing. Sometimes it has everything to do with God wanting to save, heal, restore, make whole and bless someone else.

And then sometimes when we're stuck is just because God is protecting us. Listen, when you know that God is good and He's good to you, you can trust that when He has you in a holding pattern, it's for your protection. Can you imagine being in the airplane, and air traffic control is like, hey, we need you guys to stay in a holding pattern because it's just not safe to land the plane yet. And the pilot is all like, nah bro, I'm going to land this plane when I want, how I want, where I want, I'm going to do me. What do you think is going to happen? There's going to be a very terrible crash and people are going to get hurt. And this is something that we see all the time. God has people in a holding pattern and instead of waiting on the Lord and trusting Him, they're trying to get themselves unstuck, they're trying to land the plane how they want, where they want, when they want and when they do they get hurt.

The thing is the same with the pilot gets hurt in that crash, the people in our lives get hurt and we get hurt. And I think sometimes we believe this lie that God is out to get us. Or that He's holding out on us. But the truth is He has us in a holding pattern because He's protecting us from something. Sometimes He's just protecting us from that person, that relationship, that job that would pull us out of our calling, that unforeseen circumstance that would bring a massive collision in our life. Sometimes when we feel stuck, God has is in a holding pattern not because He's holding out on us but because He's holding us, protecting us. And then I think we have to acknowledge that sometimes when we're stuck, it's just because we haven't done the things God asks us to do. And He wants to help us move forward. Like we talk about this all the time around here, God leads us in one small step at a time. Jesus says, "Follow me." So if there's a place in your life where Jesus has already invited you to take a next step and you haven't taken it, that could very well be why you feel stuck.

And the answer to that is just go do the thing he already asked you to do. But what I want you to catch today is that David wasn't stuck because of anything he did, he was stuck because God was doing something in his life. And it's all kind of culminated right here in this verse in Romans. It says, "We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Now, just to be clear, like this verse is for those who love God. So if that's not you, like all you have is stuck, like that's your reality apart from Jesus. But if you love God, what this is telling us is that He causes everything: good, bad, being stock, all of it. He causes all of it to work together for our good and for His glory. So if you feel stuck, God is up to something in your life.

He's doing something in you. He's preparing something for you. He's doing something through you. He's protecting you or He's helping you move forward.

So if you walked in here today feeling stuck, it's not because you're a bad person and it's not because you've done something wrong necessarily or that God doesn't love you anymore. In fact, God loves you incredibly and He's actively involved in your life. But I also know that right now some of you guys are like, cool bro, I get it, like I'm tracking with you, but I'm stuck right now so I don't really know what to do about this. Well, what if we just do what David did, right? It says that David called out to the Lord. I can imagine David in the cave, right? Like, God, help, I'm stuck. The thing about this one is for so many of us we do that, we just do it with everyone else, right? Like we go to our friends, we go to our neighbors, we got to our coworkers, we got to family and we go to social media.

Not David, David called out to the Lord. And what's interesting is that David actually called out to the Lord first and he leaned in. He didn't stop praying, he didn't stopped going to church, he didn't get mad at God. I mean he leaned in and called out to the Lord. What if you just called out to the Lord? And then it says that he waited patiently. The reason this one challenges me is because I have the patience of a toddler. If I don't get a solution to my problem after like two minutes, I'm like, see you later God, I'm going to go look somewhere else. Not David. David waited and he waited patiently. And the thing about it is he could wait patiently because he trusted that God was with him, that God was for him. He trusted God's goodness. And that's the thing about waiting. You can't actually wait on the Lord in areas of your life that you don't trust Him. Those two are directly connected. And then it says that he turned his attention to God.

I struggle with this because whenever I start to feel stuck I want to turn my attention everywhere else, anything else to distract me from the reality of my stuckness, right? Anything else to numb me from the pain of feeling stuck. But not David, he turned his attention to God. He worshiped God. He placed the highest value on God. And I think so many times when we feel stuck, we do the opposite. We place the lowest value on God and even blame Him for why we're stuck. Not David, he worshiped God in the middle of all of it. David chose faith over his feelings in the midst of being stuck. And we know that because if you continue reading Psalm 40, it says, "May those who long for your saving help always say, 'The Lord is great.'" Another way to read it, may those who feel stuck always say, the Lord is great. Can you imagine if in the midst of our stuckness, the anthem of our life was that the Lord is great?

David was stuck for ten years and that's what allowed him to rule with God for 40. Can you imagine being stuck for ten years? I get agitated after like ten minutes, right? And yet maybe for some of you it has been ten years. Maybe it's been longer. Ten years with the illness. Ten years trying to find a solution to your problem. Being stuck in your parenting, stuck waiting on a miracle that hasn't happened yet. But during those ten years, God was doing something in David, for David, through David as He protected him and moved him forward. And God is doing the same for you. And if you don't feel that way, there's a good chance that you've been trying to get yourself unstuck. There's a good chance that you've been trying to land your plane how you want, when you want and where you want.

There's a good chance you've been saying things like, I don't care anymore, I quit this marriage. I don't care anymore, I'm walking out on this job. I don't care anymore, I'm leaving this thing. And we're so quick to want to move on to the next thing that we never learn how to just sit and be okay being stuck with God. It's okay to be stuck with God. Being stuck is not inherently a bad thing, and often it's a gift. Like what if being stuck is a gift from God that you just haven't seen yet? And maybe you haven't seen it because you haven't taken time to ask questions like, am I here right now God because you're protecting me? Am I here right now God because you're doing something in me as you're shaping and forming me? Am I here right now because you have something you're moving around putting in place that you have for me? It's amazing how a simple question can change your whole perspective and allow us to trust God and move forward.

Jesus can help you if you're stuck. In fact, it's only Jesus who can help you be unstuck. And only Jesus can satisfy your heart while you are stuck. And if you get unstuck, Jesus did it. And if you don't, he's satisfied you while you were. That's a song of life. But unfortunately for so many of us were singing songs of lies like there is no way forward. There is no hope. This will never work. And that is what gets on our mouth and that's what we sing as an anthem over our kids, over our home, over our friends, over ourselves. But when you know that God is actively doing something in you, for you, through you, protecting you and moving you forward, you can start to sing songs of life just like David did. You look at verse 3, he said, "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

He wants to give you a new song and that song is going to be full of praise. Listen, "Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning." Your stuckness may last for the night, but joy still comes in the morning. You can still praise God in the midst of being stuck. And God wasn't holding out on David. And He's not holding out on you. The thing is God actually gave David more than he ever thought he would get. It just usually didn't come when he wanted or the way that he thought it should. And I tell you all of this today not just out of Psalm 40 but out of my own life. Because mean, I have been stuck more times than I want to admit. And if we talk about these last two years, there have been so many times I have been stuck waiting and wondering and feeling lost and feeling confused.

There have been times where the anthem of our life was the lie of the enemy that there is no way forward, but God started to sing a new song over my life that He is with me, there is always hope, that everything is possible. And I'm learning. I'm learning I can do what David did. I can call out to the Lord. And not just like when I get around to it, but like I can call out to the Lord first. I can lean in in the midst of my stuckness. I'm learning how to wait patiently. This one is hard for me because I'm learning how to trust God in new ways with new things in my life. And I'm learning how to turn my attention to God and value him as the highest value in my life even when I feel the most stuck I've ever felt.

And I'm learning how to turn my attention to Him and you can do the same thing because God is good even when I feel stuck. So even right now, by faith, can you just start to move beyond the emotions attached to your stuckness? By faith, can you just begin to move beyond your feelings about the situation and why you feel that way and grab a hold of the superior realities that God is doing something in you right now? That God is setting something up behind the scenes, moving all the pieces around because He has something for you that you haven't seen yet. That God's using all of it because He wants to do something through you. And as He protects you and moves you forward, all of it is for your good. And when you get out of this season and you step into the next one, you're going to discover that there's so much more to life than you ever thought possible.

That God has been preparing things for you that you never even knew existed. And the pain of feeling stuck will be a song of life and joy. You won't be stuck forever. And when you come out of this, you're going to have a new song. It's okay to be stuck. He's with you when you are and He's doing something in your life. Jesus can help you when you're stuck. Would you close your eyes with me? I just wonder where today do you feel stuck? Like where have you been spinning your wheels and getting nowhere? What's that anthem that you've been singing over your life that today the Holy Spirit is saying, that's got to go?

That's got to go. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you? What is the new song of praise that He's putting in your mouth for who God is in your life? Because right now, He is giving you a new song to sing. Come on, He's giving you a new story to tell and a new life to live. Jesus, we say thank you that in the midst of us feeling stuck, you are doing something in our lives. That you are putting our feet on a firm ground, that you are putting a new song in our mouth, an anthem of praise for who you are in our life. Jesus, thank you that in the midst of being stuck you're using all of it as you're doing something in us. You're doing something for us. You're using it to do something through us. You're moving us ahead, you're moving us forward. Our wheels are no longer spinning, God. We're taking ground. Jesus, thank you that in the midst of our stuckness, you help us.

Thank you Jesus for helping us when we're stuck, in Jesus' name. Amen.