Skip to content Confident No Matter What - Summer of Psalms, Part 2 Jul 10 · 57 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:39 Good morning, Watershed. How's everybody doing with this time change, with this 11 o'clock hour? Are we good with that?0:49 Let's face it. Whoever is not good with it, too bad. Done. What's done is done. We're here. Alright. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see you. Happy summer, everybody. It's warm1:01 outside. It's warm in the presence of God. It's good to be here. You in a good mood? Let me put you in a bad mood. I need to talk about politics for1:12 a moment. I need to talk about politics for a moment because 1 of our senators attacked 1 of the ministries of our church. And when they take on1:24 a specific ministry of our church, I have to say something. So that's what I'm going to do. Thank god for the supreme court overruling Roe v Wade a couple of weeks ago.1:41 If you're an American, you get to be pro choice. If you're a Christian, you don't. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.1:53 We don't believe life begins at conception. We believe that life is God's idea from before conception. Scripture after scripture after scripture2:04 confirms. Ecclesiastes 11 5, you do not know, o man, the way the spirit comes into the bones in the womb of a mother.2:16 We're not just woven together in our mother's womb as Psalm 1 39 says by almighty God. We could even get saved in the womb. Did you know that you could get saved in2:28 the womb? John the Baptist was in the womb of his mother when Mary came to greet Elizabeth. And at the sound of Mary's greeting to Elizabeth, John the Baptist kicked in the2:40 womb of Elizabeth saying, I gotta get out, and I gotta start telling people about Jesus. We're woven together. We're stitched together. We are fearfully and wonderfully made2:52 in the secret place. Again, if you're an American, you get to be pro choice. If you're a Christian, you don't. We3:04 go with the word of the living God. Let God be true and every man a liar. Now you have a pastor who's gonna do this kind of stuff.3:17 If you don't like that, the Methodist Church is right down the street. Dead as a doornail, but it's still there.3:29 If you want life, you gotta speak the truth. If you want the holy spirit, you've gotta submit to the truth. If you want a dead church, you follow the culture and the values3:41 of this world. I don't want a dead church. I want a live church. I want a living church. So Elizabeth Warren came out after the Roe v. Wade overturning,3:53 and it's 1 thing to be pro choice Elizabeth, but it's another thing to take on with vicious intent pregnancy resource centers, which our church supports4:04 financially. And here was her words, quote, here in Massachusetts, these so called crisis pregnancy centers outnumber genuine abortion clinics 3 to 1. Thank god for4:16 that, by the way. But she doesn't like that. Then she says they are giving it over to the people who wish them harm. Amazing.4:28 Wish them harm. Over the last 10 years, pregnancy resource centers have given young pregnant mothers over 270000000 dollars in tangible4:40 care, including free essential baby items, which blows away the argument of the pro choicers who say that you pro life Christians are only concerned about the baby in the womb.4:52 That is a lie from the pit of hell. And every statistical metric proves that Christians put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the value of not only the child in the womb, but5:04 the child outside of the womb. There are 36 couples for every child waiting to be adopted right now in this country.5:16 36 per child. My sister-in-law and brother just brought home an an adopted child. 1 of the best blessings you can imagine. It's almost more beautiful than natural birth5:28 because that's the heart of God. God only had 2 natural sons, Adam and Jesus. Every other 1 of us is adopted. The heart of God to save life,5:40 to bring life. The scripture says in Proverbs 8 36, all who hate me love death. Our culture loves death. We call it a choice. It's not a choice. It's death. You have an5:52 epidemic act appendectomy, you get your appendix out. You have an abortion, you take a life out. To the women who have had an abortion in this church, grace. To the women who are on the6:04 verge of having a divorce, we compel you to repent and receive the good news of Jesus Christ and give the better to give the child a chance that you had. Then she said, finally,6:17 and that has to stop. We need to put a stop to that abortion pregnancy resource centers. We have to put a stop to pregnancy resources centers in Massachusetts right now, end end of6:28 quote. That is our senator. Now ladies and gentlemen, she works for you. You might not have voted for her, but she still is hired to represent you. So here's what I want you to do. We're printing her6:40 information up here on the screen. We're gonna give you her phone number and her email on her website. Sorry. Her website. Would you do me a favor and call her this week?6:52 And I I mean, this is why we see our culture deteriorating. It's because Christians don't do anything. And I'm compelling you. I'm asking you,7:04 make the phone call if you're a citizen of Massachusetts, 2 0 2 2 2 2 4 5 4 3, and tell Elizabeth that you support the Pregnancy Resource Centers that she attacks.7:16 And it is appalling to hear those words from your senator. Now you probably aren't gonna get her. You're probably gonna get her representative. But if they hear enough of us say something, at least she'll know we're7:28 here. It is us. We are the church. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. If we do nothing, the world goes to hell.7:40 If we do something and we say 1, wasn't that wasn't that the compelling reason to shut the whole world down for 6 months? If it saves 1 life.7:52 So we all add to Netflix and chill for 6 months straight, for 1 life. Well, if it saves 1 baby, hallelujah, If it saves 1 life, make the phone call, call her, be bold, be strong. You're8:04 the church of the living God. We're the people of life, not death, truth, not lies. Jesus Christ is Lord. Okay. Welcome everybody that's watching online. We're so glad that you're here. We8:16 wanna say welcome to Apollo Beach who is also watching this message. You are in week 4, but we are in week 2 of summer of Psalms. So everybody take out your Bible. Psalm 27. We're going to 1 of8:28 my faith not not 1 of my we are going to read my favorite verse in the Bible, and I wanna talk to you on this topic. Are you ready? Confident no matter what. Confident8:40 no matter what. Psalm 27, if you got a paper Bible in the house, raise it up. Let me see the paper bible. Who's got the paper busy in the hizzy? Come on, somebody. Yeah. Amen. Psalm8:52 27, open it up there. And then if you got your notes out in the in person locations, make sure you take those out. It looks like this. If you are not in person or you don't like paper, you can go on to waters church dot9:02 guide, and you can click on today's notes or today's message, and it will look like that. And you can follow along and take notes that way. Psalm 27. My favorite bible verse in all the9:14 bible right here on my yearbook picture in bible college, favorite verse for Tim Hatch, Psalm 27 verse 1. The lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The lord9:26 is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I love that. Fear. Fear is the real virus, friends. It's the under9:38 it's the underlying, undermining spirit that destroys your life. The reason why you sin is because of fear.9:50 When you don't think you're gonna have enough and you're afraid, you'll steal, covet, cheat. When you're afraid of being who you are and truthful, you will10:01 lie. When you are afraid that life will not give you pleasure, you lust and materialize after other things.10:13 The root of all sin is fear, which is kind of ironic because the fruit of the first sin was fear. I take you back to our original parents,10:25 Adam and Eve. They were naked and unafraid. This is what we were made to be, by the way. We were made to be10:36 unafraid, uninhibited. God did not create clothing, we did. We put it on to cover up what? The fear and the shame that sin brought.10:48 Genesis chapter 3, it says that after sin entered the world, Adam, it said the Lord God called to the man in verse 9. He said, where are you? And he said, Adam said, this is after sin comes into the world. I heard11:00 the sound of you in the garden, and I was, what, afraid. Can we put the verse up on the screen for me, please? Genesis 3 verse 9. And I was11:11 afraid, and I hid myself. This is what this is what sin does. Sin produces fear, and fear11:23 produces shame and further sin. You know, there's a a reality to your life, which I'm not sure you're aware of, but when you have children, you become aware of this. When you were a child, you were11:35 really confident. Your first word was mine. You felt that the whole world was yours. It was all about you.11:47 And you celebrated your you weren't ashamed of yourself at all, were you? You used to run naked through the living room. Do you still do that? Anybody still do that? Don't raise11:59 your hand. Is something wrong with you? No. I'm not encouraging you to disrobe this morning. Keep your clothes on. But I am talking about that12:11 inward internal disconnection inside of us that causes us to shrivel up inside. In fact, anxiety, the root of anxiety is fear.12:24 Fear that I might make the wrong choice. I was reading an article this week about young people's problem with anxiety is largely rooted in the fact that they are faced with far too many options.12:36 And back in the old days, had, like, 2 options, and now it's like you got unlimited options. You don't know what to do. And if you make the wrong choice, what are you gonna do? And you got all these options to obsess12:44 about that you didn't choose. Produces anxiety. Anxiety when it gives a full birth into your life, it produces depression, a sadness, a sinking feeling, a hopelessness.12:56 This is all rooted in the original sin, a disconnection from God. When you are disconnected from God, it brings fear into your life. And and when when we look at our world and and we see the the upending13:08 of institutions, almost every institution upended, flipped on its head. Education flipped on its head. Now, we teach our children lies13:20 about biology and science in the name of ideology and indoctrination. And and when we think this is gonna be healing because no. No. The levels of anxiety and depression13:31 are skyrocketing as we do this for our young people because the root of sin is fear, and fear causes more sin. And so what God wants to do in your life13:43 is he wants to eliminate the fear virus. He wants to give you confidence. I want you to write this down if you're taking notes. Without confidence that God gives, our lives will unravel13:55 with the confusion the world offers. And what I love about Psalm 27 is that that David is confident. We know David. David verse who?14:06 Okay. I thought we knew David. David versus Goliath. It's still a cultural euphemism. Every sporting event where there's an underdog, they14:18 reference this guy from 3000 years ago, the shepherd boy who took on the giant Goliath and with a slinging stone knocked that sucker out. Confidence. And14:30 while he was on the way to the battle, people doubted him and and and questioned him. And even Saul said, you can't do it. You're a young boy. Who do you think you are? And he said, the lord god delivered me from a lion14:40 and he delivered me from a bear and the same god who delivered me from those paws will deliver me from this Philistine. Yeah. Oh, confidence. I want that kind of cough. I don't know about you but I want that kind of14:52 confidence in life. I wanna be strong in knowing who I am in Christ, and you can have that. What do young men need today? They need confidence. Young men who15:04 are trying their best to build a life and get married and have children. And I'll tell you, nothing will cause you to question yourself more than having kids. Oh, they'll15:16 cause you to doubt every instinct of your life. Hey. What do you need? You need confidence and young mothers, and you're just starting out, and and it's amazing. And I remember when I took my firstborn home with my wife,15:28 and I had the video camera out. I looked back on this videos this video shot of of me holding the camera, and Cheryl was carrying the baby in. It should have been the other way around. Anybody know what I'm talking15:38 about? But I'm like, you're doing good, honey. You're doing good. Set her down right there. There you go. Good. Good. And so lacking of confidence, I didn't know what I was gonna we put her on the table. We said, what15:47 now? And I remember when we got a television, the first television I ever bought was a 500 dollar television from Best Buy, and they gave me a manual. It was this thick. I brought home a human life. No manual.16:02 Just 20 years of trying stuff, that's all it's been. You know, confidence. What do you need in in your single life? You need confidence. If you don't have confidence in who you are,16:14 you'll think that you're only half of somebody until somebody loves you because the world fills you with the confusion. You're nobody till somebody loves you. That's a lie.16:26 That's a lie. You don't need someone to love you. You've already got God who loves you. He loves you with an everlasting love, and his love will never leave you. That's called confidence. You don't have confidence in who16:37 you are, you'll fall for the first guy who who winks at you. You don't have confidence in who you are in the job. You'll mess up and you'll never wanna go16:49 back. We need confidence as God's people in this culture that is getting increasingly hostile to Christian faith. Worldwide, did you know that persecution of Christians is on an astronomical rise?17:02 Between the years 20 21 and 20 22 I'm sorry, 20 20 and 20 21 Christian persecution murder of Christians worldwide went up 2417:13 percent. Murder of Christians. You say, I didn't know about that. That's because the news doesn't give a rip about that. They care about a woman's right to choose. That's what they care about.17:26 And we're indoctrinating this culture. And if we aren't careful, we'll get right in line with what culture is doing instead of understanding what Christ is doing. And now is not a time, Christian. Now is not a17:38 time to be half hearted and kind of in the church and not kind of in the church. Now is the time to sink yourself into God's word and God's truth and God's house so that you can have confidence in life and stand for17:50 Christ in a world that hates him. What I love about this psalm is David is surrounded by enemies, and yet he is confident. I want you to stand with me for the reading of god's word at all of our locations. Psalm18:02 27, the lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When somebody say when. When. Now I only ask you to say certain words because it's important18:12 to point out something here that David says when evildoers assail me. He doesn't say if. It's not a matter of if evil people will attack you, it's a matter of18:24 when. When evildoers assail me to eat at my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not18:36 fear. The war rise against me, yet I will be confident. 1 thing I have asked of the Lord, that which I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all18:48 the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a19:00 rock, and now my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, o Lord, verse 7,19:11 when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, o Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, oh you who have19:23 been my help. Cast me not off. Forsake me not, oh god of my salvation. Lean in here on verse 10, everybody. For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the19:35 Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, o Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against19:47 me. They breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the19:59 Lord. This is God's word. Can we pray together? Heavenly father, speak. We are here to hear from you. May the words of my mouth and the20:10 meditation of over all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. And most importantly, help us to see and love Jesus, him and him only. In his mighty name, pray. And everybody20:22 said? Amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a seat. Have a seat. Without the confidence that god gives, our lives will unravel with the confusion of the world. The devil's a trickster, friend. The devil is a trickster. You20:34 need to understand the scripture's first definition of the devil is he was shrewd. He tempts you. What? He tempts you on the basis of fear. God is holding out on you. Did God20:46 say you can't eat? Fear. You're gonna start. Fear. Why? Why does a young girl choose to abort her child? Fear.20:58 Fear of what people will think. Fear of what that child might hold her back from, fear of not having enough, fear of being called out for a mistake,21:10 or fear of that child suffering. That's what it really is. And so the devil comes and he causes fear. He causes fear to enter into your heart. Then you sin, and then the devil comes and backloads your sin with21:22 shame, and he blames you. He's the 1 told you to do it, and then the moment you do it, he causes you to feel guilt and shame for doing it. He's a real jerk. Yeah. Fear21:34 and shame. That's what Adam and Eve felt immediately. Fear is I heard this. I I was afraid, and I'm covering up everything we're doing in life. Trying to cover up our professions. We're trying to cover up with our faces21:46 and with our successes and our achievement. Cover up that inward feeling that we're not good enough. Makeup, cutting our hair, getting a new haircut. Oh, our filters on social media,21:58 the beauty filter on our phone. Oh, let me get rid of all the all the nasty on my face. Let me let me make sure that it it glows with my with my duck face pose. And22:09 filter and filter all the nonsense out. Because I'm afraid that if you see me for who I am, you'll be shocked. Psalm 27 is a wonderful22:21 Psalm. You gotta understand the Psalms. What are the Psalms? The Psalms are songs. Yeah. It's the songbook of ancient Israel. These are the songs that they sang to god. They had in the old days. We had hymn books in the22:32 church. Anybody remember the old hymn books in the church? I still know some of the numbers. Hymn number 2 83, there's power in the blood. Hallelujah. Hymn number 1 14,22:44 amazing grace. I mean, I was I was old school. I mean, like, what the heck is a hymn? It's a pronoun for books from the old days. Amen.22:56 And then when when you think about the the the the Psalms, you gotta understand that they are words given to us by God that we can say to him. And why23:08 is that important? Because we need to be given language to speak to God. Some of don't know what to pray. Okay. Here's what you do. Open the Psalms and start praying them back to God. See, someone once said that the23:19 Bible all of the Bible is God's word to us, but the Psalms are our words back to God, inspired by the holy spirit. So you can take courage in the fact that the Psalms are a guidebook. How can I talk to God? Now why23:31 is it important? Because there's all different kinds of song. There's actually 7 different kinds of Psalms on the spectrum of human emotion. From the far extreme of joy, we call those praise Psalms or royal23:43 Psalms or thanksgiving Psalms. And so we are given words to sing praise to God, worship God, and thank God. This we're celebrating God. But on the other end of the spectrum of psalms, we've got23:55 lament psalms or imprecatory psalms, psalms where we are given words to complain to God. Isn't that cool? Like, some of are like, I could never complain to God.24:07 It's in the Bible. And we're given where like, Psalm 22 is a great example. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Anybody ever felt like saying it to god? Yes. You're in good company24:19 because Jesus said it to god. On the cross, he quoted Psalm 22. David said it to god. David said in other Psalms, lord, where are you? All day long, I cry and you do not24:31 answer. My tears have become my food. He's crying a lament. Now hear why I bring all that up. It's because Psalm 27, the biblical critics,24:42 academia, if you will, biblical academia believes that Psalm 27 is actually 2 psalms merged into 1 because the first psalm is all about David's confidence in spite24:54 of his enemies. He's, oh, the Lord is my light, my salvation. Oh, he's gonna be with me. I'm confident. Even if an army comes against me, God is with me, I'm strong. Yay. Like, yay. Praise God. But the second part,25:04 beginning in verse 7, 0, God, please don't forsake me. Oh, God, please don't cast me out. Oh, God, please don't ang be angry with me. It it sounds like a lament psalm, and so biblical ivory tower scholars25:15 say that it was 2 psalms that later translators merged together. And this is the problem with academia. That because they're so disconnected from real life.25:27 It's not hard to imagine that at the same time that David is celebrating God's strength and power and goodness in his life, he's also praying that God won't cast him away. Because how25:39 many of you are like David that that and and and confidence can go together at the same time. Am I talking to anybody who25:51 comes to church and praises God and worships? But inwardly, you're like, I'm not even sure. I know him. I'm not talking to anybody who's like, man, you put your hands up in worship but if we knew what you26:03 did last Wednesday, Am I talking to anybody who knows that sometimes the day starts out with a a confident Psalm and ends with a lament Psalm. Anybody talk anybody26:15 hearing what I'm saying today? That's life. That's life. It's both and. It's it's the good guy inside of me and the bad26:26 guy inside of me. What Martin Luther talked about, in Latin, simultaneously justified and sinner.26:38 Simultaneously accepted by God and yet so messed up, it's not funny. Anybody there anybody with me here? Some some some26:49 sometimes we come to church and we know. Look around at other people and say, man, look at them. They look like they're so together. And I I'm not that and look at that oh, he's so confident. Look at how27:01 he raises his hands and sings. I could I'm not worried. Let me tell you about the guy that you're looking at, and he looks like he's got it all together. He's faking it. He's praising in spite27:13 of his feelings. Come on, somebody. He's praising in spite of his failures. He's telling God, I know you're good even when I'm not good. Anybody with me on the guy the guy in in Mark chapter 6 when when he comes to Jesus27:25 with a demon possessed son and he says, Lord, will you heal my son? And Jesus says, do you believe I can do this? And he says 2 things. What does he say? He says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.27:37 This world will hand you reason after reason to lack confidence. You're in a battle. You're in a fight. Sometimes you get a setback, but you can27:49 still be confident. That David's surrounded by enemy. I count 9 problems in this 1 psalm. 9. That's a bad day. Verse 2, evildoers28:00 come to devour me. Enemies attack me. Verse 3, a mighty army surrounds me. I'm attacked. Verse 6, enemies surround me. Verse 10, parents abandon me. Verse 11, enemies are waiting for me. Verse 12,28:12 liars accuse me. Verse 9, enemies threaten violence against me. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're a Christian, you're in a battle, and there are enemies waiting for you. And if if God is28:24 for you and with you, that's where you find your confidence. As as God said to Joshua, Joshua chapter 1, it says, just as I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. I love this promise. I will28:36 not leave you or forsake you. Amen. Be strong. Be courageous for you cause these people to enter in the land. Only be strong. Verse 7, be courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law of Moses, my servant. Do not28:48 turn to it from the right to the left for you will have success wherever you go. Why? Because God is with you so that we could say like David. In Psalm 27 verse 3, though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not29:01 The war rise against me, yet I will be Oh, imagine having an army coming at you, and I'm still confident. Well well, listen. This is what David is saying in this psalm.29:13 It's entirely possible. Write this down. It's entirely possible to experience conflict and still be confident in God. And both are29:25 gonna have to go together until Jesus comes in your life. And when will it get easier? When Jesus comes. When will I finally29:37 be done wrestling with this evil condition? When Jesus or you die. You know? The bad news is you're a sinner. The good news is someday you get to die.29:51 And that's the end of sin. That's for he who has died is done with sin, the scripture says. Christians are not fake. K? We can be confident in spite of the30:03 conflict. And what I love about this psalm is David doesn't just say, well, it just happens naturally. It doesn't happen naturally. Not for Christians. There are 5 things that David unpacks here in Psalm 27 that gives us30:13 confidence. Are you ready for them? Yes. You're not so ready? Yes. Alright. There we go. That's a little bit better. Be a little bit more confident. There we go. Number 1,30:25 we grow in confidence when we embrace God's protective care. Write it down. Embracing God's protect embrace that God is watching out for30:37 you. In in your notes, if you got paper notes or in your Bibles, and I'm a big fan of marking up your Bible, would you circle the pronouns in verse 1? The Lord is30:49 my light. Oh, I love that. It's not just that the Lord is light, generally out there distant from no. He's my light. What does light do?31:02 Light illuminates. It shows us things we didn't formally see. When the word of God is properly preached and not man's opinions,31:14 it'll cause us to see some things we didn't see before. Like, even when I mentioned pro life verses or verses that support life in the womb, some of you, you're like, oh,31:26 I because here's the problem. You're more conformed to this world than you are to God's word. But the light is shining not to condemn you, but31:38 to caution you. Are you with me here? You know, I love when you respond with clapping to my preaching, but I've learned something over the last few years31:48 that sometimes I'm I'm happier when you're quiet, when I can hear a big drop because then I know you're like, oh. He's reading32:00 my mail. He's watching my TikToks. Yes. I am, you weirdo. Stop it. I'm not. But, anyway,32:12 sometimes the light comes in and it illuminates. Oh, there's a rock. I'm gonna trip. There's a cliff. I'm gonna fall. CS Lewis said, I believe in God like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but32:24 because by it, I can see everything else. God illuminate. He brings light. The Lord is my light. And then my salvation, and I love my salvation here because it's it's a32:36 testimony to the fact that you didn't save yourself. Tell me your salvation story. Well, I came to church and put my hand up, said the prayer and I went through the baptism. Nope.32:49 You only did that because God did something to get you there. The Lord is my salvation. He brought me here. Salvation is God's idea, not yours. Even33:00 first John 3 8 says, we love because he first loved us. He loved you when you weren't lovable.33:13 The reason why you love is because he loved you. The reason why you made that decision because he took you through what you had to go through to get to that place where you did make that decision. Oh, stop acting like33:23 you saved yourself. Stop acting like you did anything. You were you were lost, dead in your trespasses and sins, Ephesians chapter 2. You were dead. Dead33:35 people can't do anything. You weren't just lost. You were dead. But God, being rich in mercy, made us33:46 alive. By grace, you were being saved. This is why God constantly in the Bible gives barren women babies.33:58 It's why God has to use a virgin named Mary to bring about Jesus. Why? Because God is teaching us that he specializes in bringing life34:11 from dead things. Life in the unexpected places. Your salvation is God's word. The Lord is my salvation, and the Lord is my stronghold. He's defending me. He's protecting me.34:24 Some some of you don't need to realize some of the things that you went through could have been far worse if God hadn't protected you and shielded you from it. He sets his angels around you. He protects his34:36 loved ones. How many of you could stand up here and could testify that the accidents you should've gone through, the catastrophes that you should've experienced, but it was God who kept your feet from the34:47 fire. He's the stronghold, the defense of your life. And that's what Saul that's what David said about himself when he faced when he faced Saul. And Saul said, you can't possibly fight34:59 this giant. Look at you and look at him. And he said, no. No. No. Your servant has struck down both lion and bear and the Lord who saved me. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will35:11 deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. It's not me. It's the Lord. He'll he's got me. Of you are facing a challenge right now. You need to hear it. God has got you in35:23 the palm of his hand. No 1 will pluck you out. That brings confidence. Alright. You just think about let me back up for a moment on salvation being God's idea, not your idea. This is35:35 why it's important because if it was God's idea, he'll complete it. If it was your idea, then you're up you're on your own. Go. Keep keep yourself saved. Good luck with that.35:48 You can't keep yourself saved any more than you could get yourself saved. So if it is god who saves you I think about Jonah. Jonah chapter 2 verse 9, 1 of my favorite verses in the bible as well. Salvation is of the35:58 lord. Where did he say that? Where did Jonah say that from? From the belly of the whale. How great fish, the Bible says, not whale. How did he get into the great fish's belly?36:09 How? By running from god. God said, go to Nineveh. Go this way. He said, nope. I'm going that way. He gets into the boat. The boat encourages encounters a storm. He tells the sailors, toss me overboard because36:21 my god's angry with me, and I'd rather die than serve him. This guy who is in absolute rebellion of god, but he's still God's chosen servant. They toss him overboard. The storm subsides, and the Bible says36:33 the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. I love that. The Lord provided a great fish. No matter how far you run, young people, the Lord's got a fish for that.36:47 He'll make them swallow you and then he'll vomit you out. And with all the bile of the fish guts all over you, you realize there ain't no running from this God who saved36:59 me. He's got you. He'll protect you. He'll care for you. Number 2, we grow in confidence when we prioritize time in God's presence. Now I gotta I gotta move quick.37:11 When we prioritize God's time in God's presence, you gotta make time with God a priority if you're gonna have confidence in God. Amen. Amen. Now now this is a very37:23 important verse. Bear bearing with me here in verse 4. 1 thing I have asked of the Lord, he said. 1 thing. In the midst of all my enemies, in the midst of all my troubles, I've asked for 1 thing, that I might dwell in37:33 the house of the Lord. But then look what he says before that. He says, that will I seek after. Would you do me a favor in your notes or your bible? Circle ask and circle seek because asking and seeking work37:45 together in you getting. Asking and seeking work together in your getting. You cannot just ask and expect God to do37:57 everything. You've also gotta seek. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall what? Find and knock and the door will be open. So it's both you ask, God does, and then38:09 you you put yourself in places where it will happen. You can't just ask for a job. God, give me a job. Well, fill out some applications. How about that? Give me a little boost here.38:23 Give me a spouse, Lord. Get a haircut, honestly. You look you look like a caveman, seriously. You gotta you gotta do something at the same time you're asking. When it comes38:35 to God's presence, you ask, God, I wanna I wanna experience you personally. That's why he means that's why he says to see his face later on. I wanna see his face. That's personal.38:48 That's interactive. So you ask for his presence, but then you gotta do stuff to experience his presence. You can't say, lord, I wanna feel you. How many of you I wanna feel the lord. And then you go and39:00 watch TV for 6 hours. Yeah. Lord, I wanna feel you and then fast or pray or fast and pray. Read the scriptures. Get39:12 in a small group. You've you made a good decision coming to church today. You made a decision to experience the presence of the Lord. By the way, says to gaze upon beauty of the Lord in the temple.39:24 In the temp I wanna go to a place where people worship you. Because the scripture says that God inhabits the praises of his people. Now some of you have said this.39:36 Your testimony is that when you come here, you you just felt something. Like the first time you get I just felt you know what you felt? You felt the presence of God. You did not feel my presence. My presence is not39:48 impressive. Ask my wife. Sometimes she's just like, I've had enough of your presence. Go. But God's presence can change you and lift you up and encourage you, but40:00 you've gotta get out and go somewhere where people love God. And when you get out of this place, you should be more courageous in Jesus because you've gathered as the people of GodShow more
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.