Untitled Sermon (13)

Raise The Roof

Revised Script (Refined for Clarity + Flow)

[Slide 1 – Building Update]

Good morning, church family.

Before we pray over this morning’s tithes and offerings, I wanted to take just a few minutes to give you an update on one of our building projects.

As many of you know, we’ve been planning ahead for several improvements to our church property.

[Slide 2 – Original Plan]

This year’s plans included repairing the front entrance, building a new rear entrance ramp, and replacing our back fence. Our original plan also included replacing the roof next summer, in 2027.

[Slide 3 – What Changed?]

However, due to storm damage, the condition of our roof has changed significantly. What was once a future project has become a much more immediate need.

After looking carefully at the situation, we’ve decided that replacing the roof needs to become our highest priority.

[Slide 4 – Stewarding Our Resources]

After seeking multiple quotes, the Pastor’s Council has decided to go with the most reasonable option presented to us by The Roofen’ Man. His estimate was roughly half—and in some cases a third—of what other contractors quoted.

The current cost to replace the roof is approximately $22,000.

Because of that, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause the ramp and fence projects for now. Our hope is to include those projects in the 2027 budget after the roof has been completed.

They’re still important projects, but we simply can’t do everything at once. We believe this is the wisest way to steward the resources God has entrusted to us.

I know replacing a roof isn’t the most exciting project we could talk about. No one walks into church and says, “Wow… those shingles are beautiful.” (pause for a smile)

But while a roof may not be exciting, what it protects certainly is.

Every week, people gather here to worship Jesus. Children learn God’s Word. Families find encouragement. Friendships are built. People encounter Christ. A strong roof simply protects the ministry that takes place underneath it.

[Slide 5 – Roof Fund Progress]

As we continue moving forward, I’d like to ask you to prayerfully consider whether the Lord would lead you to make a special gift toward this project.

Some may be able to give a larger amount, others a smaller amount—but no matter the size, every gift is an investment in the ministry of Calvary Pentecostal Church.

If you choose to give toward the roof fund, you can use the giving box and tithing envelopes, or send an e-transfer. In both cases, simply designate it “Future Growth.”

[Slide 6 – Thank You]

At the end of the day, I wan to Thank you for being such a generous church.

Time and time again, you’ve demonstrated a willingness to invest in what God is doing here, and I’m grateful to serve alongside a congregation that loves the Lord and loves His church. So if you would prayerfully consider giving towards this project it would b greatly appreciated.

Let’s pray together.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your faithfulness. Everything we have comes from You, and You have always provided for this church. Looking back, we can see Your goodness again and again, and we trust that You will continue to lead us in the days ahead.

Lord, we thank You for this church building because it is a place where Your people gather. It is a place where the Gospel is preached, where children and youth learn about Jesus, where people find hope, and where lives are transformed by Your grace.

As we prepare to replace our roof, we ask for Your provision. Give us wisdom as we move forward. Guide every decision that is made, provide the finances that are needed, and protect everyone involved in the work.

We also pray over this morning’s tithes and offerings. Thank You for every person who gives faithfully and sacrificially. Bless each gift and each giver. May these offerings be used to advance Your Kingdom here in Wawa and beyond.

Lord, continue to make us a church that is generous—not simply because there are needs, but because You have first been generous to us. As we give, may we do so with cheerful and willing hearts, trusting You to use every gift for Your glory.

We commit this project, the finances, and this church into Your hands.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

Thank you in advance for considering donating towards this project.

Songs for Every Season – Week 1

Psalm 13

How Long, O Lord?

Genre: Lament Big Idea: God welcomes honest faith, even when we're hurting.

Introduction

Now, as we move to our message this morning, I’d like to star with a question. Have you ever noticed how quickly life can change?

One week you’re celebrating. The next week you’re grieving. One day you’re confident about the future. The next day you’re wondering what God is doing.

The truth is, none of us live in just one emotional season.

Some mornings we wake up full of joy. Other days we wake up carrying disappointment, fear, anxiety, or heartbreak. And if we’re honest, there are moments when we don’t even know what to pray.

Or maybe we do know what we want to say—but we’re not sure we’re allowed to say it.

Can I tell God I’m angry? Can I tell Him I’m confused? Can I tell Him I feel forgotten? Can I ask, “Why?” Can I ask, “How long?”

Many Christians quietly assume that mature faith means always sounding positive. So we begin editing our prayers. We tell God what we think He wants to hear instead of what’s actually in our hearts.

But that’s not what we find when we open the book of Psalms.

Today we’re beginning a new series called A Song for Every Season, because that’s exactly what the Psalms can be.

The Psalms were the songbook and prayer book of God’s people. It was God’s people speaking to God. They’re filled with real prayers for real life. We see joy and sorrow, celebration and confession, trust and confusion, praise and pain. In other words, we see people just like us, saying things we want to say.

That’s part of why the Psalms have been so deeply loved for generations. They give us a vocabulary for the full range of human experience. For the good, bad and in-between.

And perhaps that’s why Jesus loved them so much. No book of the Old Testament is quoted more in the New Testament than the Psalms. Jesus prayed them. And even in His suffering on the cross, He reached for their words to express His heart.

So, If the Psalms shaped the prayer life of Jesus, I think they might have something to teach us about ours.

So this summer, we’re going to walk through the Psalms in a very intentional way. The book of Psalms can be organized in a number of ways—you could group them by author, by structure, or even by the five “books” within the Psalms.

But for this series, we’re going to approach them by genre.

Over July and August, we’ll look at one psalm from each of the seven main genres found in the Psalms. Each one helps us step into a different season of life or a different emotional space we all find ourselves in—and shows us how to bring that honestly into our prayers.

Those seven genres are:

🌧️ Lament — for when life hurts 🌳 Wisdom — for when we need direction ⚓ Trust — for when life feels uncertain 👑 Royal — for when we remember who is King 🙌 Thanksgiving — for when we celebrate God’s faithfulness 🎶 Hymn — for when we worship God for who He is 🔥 Praise — for when everything in us responds to God’s greatness

And if you’ve lived very long, you’ve likely been in every one of those seasons.

And the thing is, the Psalms don’t ask us to skip the hard seasons. Instead, they teach us how to bring every season before God.

And today, we begin with Lament. And thing about lament, is that so often it doesn’t start with answers, or praise, or certainty, but with a question.

Today we are looking at a question that God’s people have prayed for thousands of years. That question is:

“How long, O Lord?”

If you’ve ever prayed that… If you’ve ever wondered where God was… If you’ve ever felt forgotten…

Then Psalm 13 is for you.

Let’s take a look:

Psalm 13 NIV

For the director of music. A psalm of David. How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

Right away you can feel that this isn’t a quiet, comfortable prayer.

It’s not polished. It’s not sanitized. It’s not using “everything is fine” language.

It’s honest.

David is praying in real time, in real pain, without filtering what he brings to God. He just prays from exactly where he is. You can feel his ongoing pain in his words.

What we’re reading here is what Scripture calls a lament—a prayer prayed in the middle of suffering. Not after it’s over. Not once everything makes sense. But right in the middle of it.

Lament is actually one of the most common languages in the Bible. These are prayers where God’s people bring their confusion, their grief, their questions, and their pain directly into His presence and refuse to let go of Him while they do it.

And what’s interesting is that David never gives us the details of his situation. There’s no backstory. No explanation. No timeline.

Because the focus of this psalm isn’t the specifics of the problem.

It’s about what it feels like to live through it when God seems distant.

And that’s what makes this so relatable.

Because it pushes against some of the assumptions we tend to have. We assume that faith should make life easier, or that struggle means something is spiritually wrong.

But Psalm 13 doesn’t explain suffering away.

It gives us permission to speak honestly in the middle of it.

And what we’re going to see as we walk through this psalm is that David doesn’t move away from God in his pain—he moves toward Him with it.

So let’s begin there and we’ll see that Honest faith speaks honestly.

POINT ONE

Honest Faith Speaks Honestly

Instead of rushing past these first two verses, I want us to slow down and listen to them again.

David writes:

Psalm 13:1–2 NIV

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

David repeats the same question four times.

How long...

How long...

How long...

How long...

He's not asking because he expects God to give him a date on the calendar.

He's expressing what prolonged suffering feels like.

It's the cry of someone who has reached his emotional breaking point.

I know that most of us have been there.

When it’s not just a bad day...

Not just a difficult week...

But a season that just keeps going.

The diagnosis doesn't change.

The relationship doesn't improve.

The anxiety doesn't let up.

The grief doesn't disappear.

The prayer you've prayed a hundred times still seems unanswered.

Eventually your questions stop being,

"God, why?"

and become,

"God...how much longer?"

That’s what we see in Psalm 13.

David doesn't ask why. He asks how long.

"Why?" is looking for an explanation. "How long?" Is longing for an ending.

Deep down, David still believes God has a purpose. He just doesn't understand the waiting.

Even in his confusion... there's still faith.

Throughout these verses, David unpacks what this waiting feels like.

First, he says,

"Will you forget me forever?"

Now, we know the answer is no. God doesn't forget. David knows that too.

But that's what suffering feels like.

Have you ever watched someone else's prayers get answered while yours seemed to go unheard? Someone else's marriage heals. Someone else's cancer goes into remission. Someone else gets the miracle.

And quietly you begin to wonder,

"God...did You forget about me?"

David says out loud what many of us only whisper.

Then he says,

"How long will you hide your face from me?"

In the Old Testament, God's face represented His favour and presence. David isn't saying God has literally disappeared. He's describing what God's silence feels like.

Have you ever prayed and felt like your prayers never got past the ceiling? You know God is there, but you just can't sense Him. That’s what David is feeling.

Then David turns inward.

"How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?"

He's describing the battle inside his own mind. Some translations say, "I have anxious thoughts all day long." His mind won't rest. His heart won't stop hurting.

Finally, he looks outward.

"How long will my enemy triumph over me?"

Do you see the progression?

First, he feels distant from God… Then, tormented within... and lastly, attacked from the outside.

Every direction he turns reminds him of his pain.

And yet, through it all, David never stops talking to God.

Yes, His prayers feel unanswered.

Yes, He feels forgotten.

Yes, He feels abandoned.

Yes, He feels emotionally exhausted.

Yes, His enemies seem to be winning.

But... he never lets his pain make him silent.

He refuses to stop praying.

In fact, that's one of the defining characteristics of biblical lament.

Lament doesn't run from God.

It runs to God.

That's why nearly one-third of the Psalms are laments.

Think about that.

The largest category in God's songbook isn't praise.

It's lament.

That tells us something about the God we worship.

He knew His people would suffer.

He knew we would experience seasons of confusion.

He knew there would be days when we couldn't find the words to say.

So He gave us the words.

Even Jesus lamented.

As He hung on the cross, He cried,

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" That is lament.

And Lament is not a sign of weak faith.

It's the language of honest faith.

I wonder how many people walked into church today feeling exactly like Psalm 13.

You smiled.

You shook hands.

Someone asked how you were doing.

And you said,

"I'm good."

But if you were completely honest...

your prayer this week has been,

"How long, Lord?"

How long until this grief gets easier?

How long until my child comes back to God?

How long until this loneliness ends?

The thing we all need to remember, it that God isn't offended by those questions.

He would rather hear your honest heart than your polished performance.

We have just seen David pour out his heart, but his prayer isn't over. His pain is still there. His questions are still there. But instead of giving up, he keeps praying.

That's our second lesson:

Honest faith keeps asking.

POINT TWO

Honest Faith Keeps Asking

Psalm 13:3–4 NIV

Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Nothing around David has changed...

but the way he prays does.

Instead of asking questions, he starts making requests.

David still feels like God has hidden His face.

Yet he asks God to look at him.

He still feels like God has been silent.

Yet he asks God to answer him.

He feels like life is slipping away.

Yet he asks God to give light to his eyes.

His circumstances haven't improved.

His feelings haven't disappeared.

But in faith he keeps praying.

Having faith isn't about pretending you have no questions.

When you have faith, you refuse to stop bringing those questions to God.

An interesting thing to notice, is that when David is addressing God he says, "O Lord, my God."

That's the language of a relationship. He makes it personal. My God.

Even when he feels abandoned, he still belongs to God.

Even when he cannot feel God's presence, he still holds on to God's promises.

There are moments in the Christian life when your feelings and your faith seem to be saying two different things.

Your feelings say,

"God has forgotten me."

Faith says,

"You're still my God."

Your feelings say,

"I'm alone."

Faith says,

"I know You're here even when I can't see You."

That's exactly where David is.

Then he prays,

"Give light to my eyes."

That's an expression we don't use today.

David isn't asking God to improve his eyesight.

He's asking for life.

He's saying,

"Lord, I don't know how much longer I can keep going."

Maybe you've prayed something like that.

"God, I don't know if I have another day left in me."

"I don't know if I can keep carrying this."

"I don't know if I can keep waiting."

David isn't embarrassed to pray that prayer.

And then he tells us why.

If God doesn't act, he says, his enemies will rejoice.

They'll celebrate.

They'll say they've won.

At first, that sounds like pride.

It almost sounds like David is worried about losing.

But I don't think that's the deepest issue.

David understands that God's reputation is connected to God's people.

If the enemies celebrate David's downfall, they won't simply say,

"David failed."

They'll say,

"David's God failed."

That's why David keeps asking.

He's concerned for God's glory as much as his own rescue.

And that's why David keeps praying.

Not because he sees evidence that things are changing.

But because he still believes God is the kind of God who hears.

That's what lament teaches us.

Prayer isn't about pretending everything is okay.

Prayer is about bringing everything that isn't okay into the presence of God.

I wonder how many people here have quietly stopped praying.

Not because you've stopped believing in God...

but because you've stopped believing He'll answer.

Maybe you've prayed the same prayer for years.

And you've started thinking,

"What's the point?"

If that’s you, today I want to encourage you to not stop praying.

Psalm 13 shows us that it’s okay to keep asking.

In fact, we see this idea repeated elsewhere in the Bible:

Jesus said,

Matthew 7:7–8 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

The writer of Hebrews tells us to approach God's throne with confidence. (Hebrews 4:16)

Paul says, " In every situation, Present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)

The consistent message of Scripture is don't let delayed answers lead to abandoned prayers.

Keep asking. Keep knocking. Keep trusting.

Because honest faith doesn't stop praying when life gets hard. Honest faith keeps asking.

So, in Psalm 13, David has been honest. He's kept praying. But the psalm still isn't over.

The final verses answer a question all of us eventually face:

How do you trust God when nothing around you has changed?

That's our final lesson.

Honest faith chooses trust.

POINT THREE

Honest Faith Chooses Trust

David continues by saying:

Psalm 13:5–6 NIV

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

Everything changes with one little word.

"But..."

After four cries of, "How long?"

After feeling forgotten.

After feeling abandoned.

After wondering if his enemies would win.

David says,

"But I trust in your unfailing love."

The question is What changed?

Did his circumstances improve?

The psalm never says they did.

Did his enemies disappear?

Probably not.

Did God immediately answer his prayer?

We're never told.

The circumstances haven't changed.

But David's focus has.

Instead of looking at his pain, he looks at God's character.

That's the turning point.

Notice what David doesn't say.

He doesn't say, "Now I understand."

He says, "I trust."

There's a difference.

Biblical trust isn't built on understanding. It's built on God's character.

Our instinct is to say, "I'll trust God once I understand what He's doing."

But Scripture calls us to something deeper than that.

We’re told to, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

The thing is, our understanding is limited. We see one chapter. God sees the whole story.

David doesn't have all the answers, but he remembers who God is.

So that’s why he says, "I trust in your unfailing love."

That phrase points to God's steadfast, faithful love that never lets go of His people.

David's feelings told him, "God has forgotten me."

God's promises reminded him, "You still belong to Me."

And David chooses to believe God's character over his emotions.

That's what faith often looks like.

You can see it in David’s words:

"I trust..."

"My heart rejoices..."

"I will sing..."

Those are all choices.

David isn't pretending everything is okay.

He's choosing what will have the final word.

Not his fears.

Not his circumstances.

But God's faithfulness.

Then David says,

"He has been good to me."

Think about that.

He doesn't point to a new miracle for proof of God’s goodness.

He looks back.

He remembers God's past faithfulness, and it gives him confidence for the present.

Remembering can be so vital in these moments.

Remembering the prayers God has answered.

Remembering the ways He's provided.

Remembering the times He carried you when you couldn't carry yourself.

God's faithfulness in the past becomes fuel for trusting Him today.

And ultimately, that's where this psalm points us— right to Jesus.

Jesus knew what it was to suffer.

He experienced betrayal, injustice, and even the agony of feeling forsaken. He prayed the Psalms, and from the cross He cried words of lament.

Yet He never stopped trusting His Father.

The cross reminds us that God's silence is never the same as God's absence.

On Friday, it looked like evil had won.

But Sunday changed everything.

Because of the resurrection, Christians don't lament without hope.

We still grieve.

We still ask, "How long?"

But we ask with confidence that Jesus has defeated sin and death and that one day every sorrow will turn to joy.

Psalm 13 doesn't end with despair.

It ends with trust.

And that's why this is the perfect place to begin our series.

Over the next several weeks we'll journey through wisdom, trust, kingship, thanksgiving, worship, and praise.

That's the journey of the Psalms.

And it's the journey of faith and life.

Different seasons, different songs but through them all we bring our pain honestly to God.

We keep praying when He seems silent.

And as we remember who He is, our questions slowly become trust, our trust becomes worship, and our worship becomes praise.

Honest faith chooses trust.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

As we come to the end of Psalm 13, something to note is that David never gets an explanation.

We never find out how long he had to wait or what happened to his enemies.

And I think that's intentional.

Because the point of Psalm 13 isn't that every question gets answered.

The point is that every question can be brought to God.

That's the invitation of lament.

Not to pretend.

Not to perform.

But to bring your whole heart into God's presence.

Maybe today you've stopped praying about something because you've been waiting for so long.

A child.

A marriage.

Your health.

Your grief.

You've quietly decided, "What's the point?"

Psalm 13 gently invites you to start praying again.

Don't confuse God's silence with God's absence.

The cross reminds us that God has not abandoned us. Jesus entered our suffering, carried our sin, and through His resurrection defeated death itself. Because of Him, we don't lament without hope.

So here's my challenge for you this week.

Put some time aside and pray Psalm 13.

Read it slowly.

If David's words are your words, make them your prayer.

If your own words come more naturally, pray those instead.

But either way, don't edit your prayers.

Tell God the truth.

And before you finish, do what David did.

Choose one sentence of trust.

"Lord, I don't understand, but I trust You."

"I don't see what You're doing, but I know You are good."

"I don't know when You'll answer, but I know You'll never leave me."

That's what honest faith looks like.

It speaks honestly.

It keeps asking.

It chooses trust.

And as we'll discover this summer, the Psalms don't leave us in lament. They lead us, step by step, through the emotions of life.

But, as we'll see, no matter the season, every journey of faith begins the same way.

With an honest conversation with God.

So don't hide.

Don't pretend.

Bring your whole heart to the God who welcomes honest faith.

Let's pray.