Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250813 - Until - Psalm 73

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#20250813 - Until - Psalm 73 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles to Psalm #73
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Psalm 73. One of my favorite Psalms in all
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the Bible. Very personal for me as it often
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describes my life. Psalm 73 different ingredients
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at times, although I have felt a little bit like the psalmist as
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he lays it out, but it's always that point where you're, you're
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going through it, you're suffering, you're, you're just
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dealing with whatever you're doing and you lose perspective.
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I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I'm certain
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that there are many today among us that have lost perspective
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because of circumstances. You're, and what I mean by that
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is you're just not seeing it the way God wants you to see it.
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And once you gain the perspective of God, everything
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will change around you. You'll begin to sense His
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presence again. You'll begin to see all of this
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tension and animosity and difficulty completely dissipate
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because your eyes are back on the Lord.
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There's so much going on in our world today that it can be very
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overwhelming. We're living on information
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overload, and most of that information is bad news,
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difficult news to deal with, difficult situations.
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Well, we're in a time and in our society where we are hearing so
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many bad things. Not just that we're hearing bad
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things, but most of the things we hear about, we can't do
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anything about them. They're happening on the other
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side of the world. They're happening to people we
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don't know. They're happening in places that
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will never be. We don't have the resources to
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help and it can be very overwhelming.
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It's true that we're living in a day like described in Isaiah.
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If you want to jot it down in Isaiah chapter 5, verses 20 and
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21, we live in a day where Isaiah says woe to those who
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call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and
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light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for
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bitter. Woe to those who are wise in
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their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.
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Later on in the New Testament, Paul would exhort young Timothy
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not to be discouraged by the days that he would face.
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Jot it down. Second Timothy chapter 3 in
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verse one it says, but know this, that in the last days
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perilous times will come. And you can circle that word
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perilous. You can just jot in your notes.
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It means to be violent, fierce or demonic, and they all apply.
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Know this, Timothy. In the last days, perilous times
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will come, difficult times, violent times.
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Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
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boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
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unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanders without
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self-control, brutal, despisers of good traitors, headstrong,
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haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
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And what's most important, he says at the end, having a form
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of godliness but denying its power from such people.
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Turn away. Yes, the days do discourage us.
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You add to that not only the days in which we live, but but
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also our family and the situations that are in our
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family and the challenges that come to us.
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The days do discourage us. The injustices, the unfairness,
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they're unbearable. They're unbearable, especially
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when you're on the other side, when it's personal, where you're
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facing a situation or two or three and you look at it and go,
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this is just not right. This is just not fair.
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Or you may even ask God, why me? Why now?
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Don't you know, Lord, I've given you my life, I'm not living for
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the world anymore. The pains and the problems of
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sin make us heart sick and all of it can really mess with your
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mind. All that we're dealing with can
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mess with your mind and skew your thinking.
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Many times we're so overwhelmed by the circumstances or even our
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enemies. We're so overcome by our
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problems we lose true perspective.
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And here's what happens. You ready?
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When you lose perspective, your emotions quickly fill the void
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and you begin to live by emotions.
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And the emotions are usually negative or strong desires.
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As we learned recently, you begin to deal with all these
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different lusts, these lusts that are strong, out of control
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desires perhaps in the sexual realm, or lust for power, lust
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for notoriety. And when you lose perspective,
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one strong emotion that comes up is not only pain and hurt, but a
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lust. To take or to have control back
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of your life, it feels like it's out of control and it's out of
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your control. And here we're being set up for
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discouragement and we're being set up for defeat.
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Ultimately, we're being set up for destruction.
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Church, it's so important to learn how to handle life's
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issues and how the Lord uses these things in our lives.
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When we get our eyes on all these difficult things, focusing
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on them, fretting about them, worrying about them, trying to
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fix them, trying to fix everyone, trying to fix the
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situation because it gives us some kind of temporary peace
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because we feel like we're in control.
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You have to realize the devil's messing with your head, and it
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may not even be the enemy. It might be you messing with
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your own mind. Jumping in where God has you
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have no business jumping into God's business.
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It's a time for faith, not emotion.
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It's a time to trust, not to be overwhelmed with all your
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feelings. The devil starts to play mind
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games with us and we begin to think upon the unfairness of it
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all. And if we were in control, we
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may even begin to think completely wrong like Job did in
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Job chapter 21 verse 7 says why do the wicked?
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Live and become. Old, yes, become mighty in
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power. Their descendants are
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established with them in their sight, and their offspring
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before their eyes. Their horse, their houses are
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safe from fear. Neither is the rod of God.
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Upon them, you know what Job is saying.
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Why do I suffer and my neighbor doesn't?
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Why is it so easy? For them, why did they get away
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with everything? Why is it only me, only me, only
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me, only me And you just got the wrong perspective.
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It's not only you. And God still is in control.
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You look at someone and go, man, they're getting away with it,
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Lord, it's just not fair. I can't believe they're getting
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away with it. They don't.
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Love you like I love you. They don't serve you like I
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serve you. They're not even born again.
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What is wrong God? And before you know it, it
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starts to affect your own walk with the Lord.
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No longer is it the circumstances outside of your
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control, but now what's a part of our control?
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We have yielded and ceded to sin and we all know that the wages
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of sin is what death. It starts to erode your
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relationship with God. You are mad at the one, or
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frustrated at the one, or fearful of the one or whatever
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emotion you're dealing with. You are now separating yourself
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from God. You feel so far.
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That's when you start to hear things like I feel so far from
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God. Well, he hasn't.
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Moved. He hasn't abandoned you.
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God hasn't gone against his word.
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And what did He promise? Never to leave or forsake you.
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The movement away from God isn't from God, it's from you.
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And here's what's deceptive about it all.
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You're the one hurting, and you're the one that the
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situation is happening to. And you're the one that's on the
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other side of unfairness, but you're also the one that
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separated yourself away from God.
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And you can see you're just set up.
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It's just a set up. Instead of pressing into the
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things of the Lord, you have allowed emotion to overtake you,
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and you're pulling away from the things of God.
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That's where the psalmist is. And that may be where you are
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today. It's exactly where he is in
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Psalm 73. It is a familiar story, true,
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that's been shared by many, many people.
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Different names, different circumstances, different time
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periods, same story. Listen to the psalmist Psalm 73.
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Let's read through it at least through the 1st 15 or 16 verses.
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It says truly God is good to Israel, to such as.
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Are pure in heart. So far so good.
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When you say church, so far so good.
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But As for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
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My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful
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when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
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There are no pains in their death, but their strength is
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firm. They're not in trouble as other
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men, nor are they plagued like other men.
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Therefore pride serves as their necklace.
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Violence covers them like a garment.
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Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than heart could
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wish for sake. They scoff and speak wickedly
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concerning oppression. They speak loftily.
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They've set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue
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walks through the earth. Verse 10 Therefore his people
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return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them.
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And they say, How does God know? And is their knowledge in the
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Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly,
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who are always at ease. They increase in riches.
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Listen to verse 13. Listen to his conclusions now.
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Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain and wash my hands in
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innocence for all day. Long I've been plagued and
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chastened every morning. I remember a time in my life
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when I lived these verses out of my mouth.
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Literally. Out of my mouth in a time of
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anguish and prayer and just having one of those one-on-one
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times with the Lord. I was so upset and I was, it was
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so hard even thinking about it now because it's not resolved.
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And just thinking about it now, I just like, OK, Lord, I'm going
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to walk in the Spirit. But I remember out of my own
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lips, Pastor Ed, walking with the Lord, walking in the Spirit,
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Great man of faith, which I'm really not, but great man of
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faith stepping out. We're going to do the great
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things for God. I remember a time where I'm
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like, you know what, Lord? It's not even worth it.
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If you're going to allow this to happen.
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Like, don't you see my dedicate? I I just remember all these
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things, like just and he's there.
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You know, I can picture God going.
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Go ahead, Ed, get it all out. Just get it all out.
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Tell me everything you're feeling.
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Just go ahead, Just say it. Surely I've cleansed my heart in
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vain. I mean, I really.
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Believed it. I felt it.
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I felt. It deep in my soul, watching my
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wife crying or sleep, seeing the damage coming to my family,
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watching the injustice. It's like, come on, boy, is this
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how I remember what one of the capstones of that time was?
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Is this how you reward? Your servants, maybe you have
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your own. You might want to just draw a
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little note down there and say, I know this, I know this verse,
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I know this truth. It says in verse 14, all day
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long feels that way. It's not true, but it feels that
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way. All day long I've been plagued
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and chastened every morning. If I had said I will speak thus,
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behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your
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children. When I thought how to understand
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this, it was too painful for me. The psalmist is struggling here.
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Do you see it? He's struggling big time, Asaph.
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Going through some real trials, personal stuff.
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He didn't read a book about this.
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He's not dealing with his neighbor.
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He's not. It's his life.
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He took out his quill and began to write, This is my life I
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want, this is my prayer. This is my song to the Lord.
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And it's a song of lament, a song of pain.
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He's sitting in his pain. I mean, he begins, I know God is
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good. I know God is good.
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But for me, I almost stumbled. I don't believe this word.
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Stumbled in the Hebrew refers to just tripping over a little
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Pebble. Like he's really saying, I
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almost threw it all in. I was almost done.
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I was that close. You can say that, can't you?
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Sometimes I was that close. And you know, when you have your
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fingers together, you don't do this.
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It was like, so as close as you can get without touching.
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I was that close. That's what the psalmist says.
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It was in this time of pain that Asaph concluded falsely.
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He's all come to the wrong conclusions here.
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It's not what he thinks and it's not what he feels.
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Why? Because he's not seeing things
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clearly. He's lost perspective of the
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truth. He's chosen to emote and lament
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things that are not true. He's wrong in his assumptions
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and he's wrong in his conclusion.
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It's possible to today that many listening to me are under the
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weight of life's difficulties, things that you can't do
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anything about. You know this is always the
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purpose of Satan, to make you think wrong.
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He knows where the warfare is and it's in your mind what you
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choose to believe. So from the garden he showed his
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cards. We know the tool.
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He wants you to believe a lie. He'll take you to believe any
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lie, but He wants you to believe a lie, but especially lies.
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He wants us to believe lies about God.
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He wants us to doubt God's sincerity.
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He wants us to doubt God's truthfulness.
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He wants us to doubt everything about what we know.
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He begins to play with our heads and twist things around and have
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you believe a lie or two. Then you sit and you begin to
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meditate on it. And you try to explain it away,
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but then you start to think, oh, maybe that's true.
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Maybe that's the way it is. Maybe God doesn't really care.
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Maybe he does let people. Maybe I'm getting punished for
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my past sins. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe
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Asafi, You know what he's thinking right now?
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He's thinking it's a waste of time serving God.
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What's the point? What's the point in serving God
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if I have to suffer worse than my unbelieving neighbors?
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If you let believers get away with that, if you have pastors
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approve of that, like, what's the point?
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What's the point? Why should I serve if I'm going
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to suffer anyway? What good is it to dedicate
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myself to God? That's the issue.
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If I'm going to suffer and I'm going to suffer badly in this
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world, then what's the point of serving God?
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Which is a great miscalculation, isn't it?
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Because even the statement speaks to your motives and my
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motives. God has used some pain in our
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lives to reveal to us that our motives are off, that we've
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really thinking that if we serve.
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God, we'll have a little less. Pain if we serve.
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God, we'll have a little. Less and a little less of this
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and maybe a little more of that instead of serving God for who
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He is and how wonderful it is to be His son or His daughter.
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I mean, if you ask the question, it's not entirely wrong to ask
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the question. If you say if I'm going to
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suffer anyway, what good is it that I dedicate myself to God?
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It's a valid question if you ask it.
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It's a valid question as you share it.
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When you try to sit down and figure it out, it's too much.
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It's overwhelming. That's what the psalmist says
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when I thought about how to understand this, trying to
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process at all, trying to and watch out for these words in
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your life as you approach spiritual things, you always
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know that. You always know that you're
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going to be going off just a little bit or maybe a lot when
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you begin to approach spiritual things with this thought.
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I need to figure this out. OK, figure it.
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Out let me know how it goes because you're going to come to
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the same conclusion when I thought to how to understand
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this or a paraphrase when I try to figure it out.
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It was too hard, too painful. It's too much.
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And you know what Aesop does? He does finally makes the right
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decision. It says in verse 17, he heads to
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the temple. He heads to the House of God.
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It was too faint painful for me. And there's that word, the title
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of our Bible study today. It was too painful for me until,
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until, until I went into the sanctuary of God.
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Then I understood their end. That's the turning point, isn't
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it? That's the key for some
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listening to me right now, right here in the house, the House of
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God, where we come to worship the God of the house.
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You're here, you're downstairs, right here in this moment.
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This is the turning point in your life.
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You came to the House of God. And he's giving you
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understanding about your current situation right now.
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If you receive it by faith, it is yours.
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All you need to do is receive it.
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God is ready to give you clarity.
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If you're willing to receive it, God has already given it because
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you came to the House of God. You walked in obedience.
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You took every ounce of energy that you possibly had.
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And so I'm going to be there. I need to be there.
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I can listen and I can grab the podcast and I can watch online.
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But I've got to be there, right here, ASAP.
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I've got to be there. That's where I got
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understanding. It's in times like these we need
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to step out of our pain, out of our difficulties, out of the
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world's rebellion and get again the perspective of eternity.
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Rather than envying the wicked or being overwhelmed by evil
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progressing or even becoming sad and sorrowful and me centered
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because of the difficulties in my life, we need to see our
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situation in the light of eternity.
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And if there is a person involved in your life that is
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giving you and perpetuating and all this pain in your life, you
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have all of the spiritual activity.
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You have the the need to forgive and the need to love and to love
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your enemies. All of those are great.
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But before any of those flow in your life, you need the right
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perspective. You need to see people the way
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God. Sees them not as the thorn in
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your flesh, but as the soul to be saved and to be changed by
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the power of God. All of a sudden his eyes open.
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Verse 18. Surely you set them in slippery
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places, you cast them down to destruction.
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Oh, how they're brought to desolation, as in a moment they
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are utterly consumed with terrors.
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As a dream when one awakes so Lord, when you awake, you shall
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despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I
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was vexed in my mind. Notice what he sees now in verse
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22. I don't know if you're willing
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to say this about yourself, but you need to.
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When God reveals it I was so foolish, that's a statement of
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humility. You keep fighting your own
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thing, doing your own thing, pressing your own way, doing
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your own agenda. When God says no, you, you're
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foolish. You've been making all these
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decisions apart from me. You've been making them aside
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from me. You've been associating that
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this is from me. And when I never, I never said
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that to you, I never gave you that direction.
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I was so. Foolish and ignorant, I was like
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verse 22, a beast before you. Nevertheless, I'm continually
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with you. You hold me by my right hand.
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You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me
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to glory. And this is one of the many
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reasons why it's important to be together in worship.
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Together in the House of God, together in smaller groups,
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together with other believers. When we're together, the Lord
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uses this time to encourage one another.
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He uses this time to encourage us.
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You can see that in the psalmist when he came into the.
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House of God. There's no mention of him
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talking to anyone else but God. Haven't you found not to be
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true? You come in your room with a,
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you know, a few 100 people right now, thousands of people on the
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weekends and it's just you and God.
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You, you don't even know anybody else is in the room because
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God's doing business in your own heart.
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I mean, you know, people are in the room, but God so captures
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you and you, you hear them singing, but it's your song.
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And you hear the Bible study. But some of you are stuck on a
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word I said 10 minutes ago, because the Lord said that's
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you. That's you right there.
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Humility, that's. You and you're all but I'm he's
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teaching. He's like, no, I'm talking.
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And God just speaking to you because in the House of God, it
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is not exclusive that this little piece of property, this
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little chunk of dirt in Aurora, Co is the only place.
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But this is the place God has made you a part of his family
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right here. This is your family.
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This is your church. This is your room.
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These are your people. You know, can you look at just
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look at someone next to you, turn around and say you're my
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people. Go ahead, Just say you're my
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people. Just say find somebody if you
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have to. Just say you're my people.
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This is your family, this is your church.
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Where are your people? This is that like we belong to
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you, Lord, but we belong to 1. Another Asaf.
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It wasn't even at that place yet.
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God was telling Asaf, you're my son.
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I'm with you continually. I'm so glad that you got out of
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yourself and you came to the House of the Lord.
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This is where I'm so glad you came to me, son.
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I'm so glad you came to me, daughter, because I have a word
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for you. I know it's hard.
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I know it's difficult. I know it's challenging, but I
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have compassion on you. We're.
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Going to get through this together.
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God would say. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
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24, it says let us consider one another in order to stir up love
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and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
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together as in the manner of some, but exhorting one another
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and so much more. As you see the day approaching.
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Would you take this to heart Church, matter of fact, turn
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over to Hebrews chapter 10. Get your pin out highlight on
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your phone or on your tablet. I want you to mark this and I
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have a specific piece of homework for you that I want to
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share with you. So Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24,
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I want you to mark these words. I want you to mark them.
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I want you to circle them. I want you to connect these with
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your heart and lead to action. I want you to mark.
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Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works.
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This is how I want you to come to church.
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This is what I want you thinking about on the last few hours of
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work. This is what I want you thinking
24:22
about before you wake up. Not before you wake up.
24:25
I guess you can dream about it when you wake up on a Sunday
24:28
morning, or you're thinking about Saturday, or you're going
24:31
to show up in your small group, or you're heading out to the
24:33
marriage conference. Whatever you I want you to think
24:36
about, God use me. To stir up love and good works,
24:39
use me, use my words, use my personality, not just coming to
24:44
the gathering of what God has for you because he has
24:47
everything for you. Anything that you need, God is
24:49
ready to meet you. But what do you have?
24:52
What does God want to do? So I'm reaching out to a new
24:55
friend I met last last year. I'm reaching out.
24:57
He's a pastor in California and I'm just checking in on him.
25:00
And so hey, what did God give you at this?
25:02
I knew he was at a conference, so I was just saying.
25:04
So he wrote back, you know, I want to do this and I want.
25:07
God gave him a few things at the conference, which was great, but
25:10
then he mentioned a mutual friend that we have that I
25:14
didn't know was a mutual friend, but God uses this brother
25:16
amazingly. So one of the things this friend
25:19
wrote back to me, this new friend he says and and this
25:21
brother, he encouraged me that I'm to be sensitive to the Holy
25:25
Spirit and that God has raised me up for a special time to help
25:30
people and make an impact. The encouragement revealed a
25:34
desire I have for help in this area and I'm like man.
25:38
And I, the first thought I had, besides encouraging this
25:41
brother, was that brother that he mentioned.
25:44
That is what he's known for. And it didn't surprise me that
25:48
it was that brother that connected with a brand new
25:51
friend I just met last December, that we're just getting to know
25:54
each other, see if God will partner us in ministry together.
25:57
I can see I had the privilege of teaching his daughter in the
26:00
Bible college and I, I met him there.
26:02
I could see just God's doing an amazing thing.
26:05
And now a mutual friend of ours is telling them the same thing.
26:08
But here's the point. You ready?
26:10
You guys ready for this? That brother, my friend that
26:13
went to encourage, he went to encourage.
26:16
It was on his mind. He was ready to find someone
26:20
like he. He was ready.
26:21
He he was ready to be used of God with the gift that God have
26:25
him. He took to heart considering one
26:28
another in order to stir up love and good works.
26:30
Look, we're a church that has a heart for our community and
26:33
that's only going to overflow. It's only going to be more in
26:36
these last days. God is going to use us in
26:38
amazing, great ways. I can sense it and I'm already
26:41
seeing it happening. But you know what?
26:43
As you look for the world, and you look to see the lost, do you
26:46
know that the God doesn't look over your head?
26:49
To the lost here, he doesn't overlook you.
26:52
So OK, you know yours. I say, let's go after the
26:55
community. No, no, he doesn't overlook us.
26:58
But here's I believe in expectation.
27:00
It's a command right from the Bible.
27:03
When when you're with other believers, hey, consider,
27:07
consider them. Ask them how they're doing.
27:11
Be ready to stir up, Be ready to give a word.
27:14
Be ready to pray. Be ready to stir up love and
27:19
good works. Ask the Lord to use you in this
27:22
area. It's important that we also not
27:25
overlook. Look over the heads of the
27:28
person. You just turned around and told
27:29
somebody. You're my people.
27:30
You meant it. I know we were just doing it as
27:33
a silly exercise, but it's really not silly, is it?
27:37
And neither is an exercise. It's the truth.
27:40
It's your family, the family of God.
27:43
These are the men and women that God has put in your life so you
27:45
could stir up love and good works.
27:48
So you can pray for a word that you can begin.
27:51
Now you're thinking about I'm, I'm heading to church.
27:53
OK, There's preparation. You got to prepare your heart.
27:56
And one of the preparations is Lord, I just want to stir
27:59
someone up tonight. I want to help them.
28:01
Give me a word. Help me see and give me
28:03
discernment. Give me a word of knowledge.
28:05
A word of. Wisdom.
28:06
I don't walk in the Spirit. I want to be active in the
28:09
gifts. I want to be used
28:11
supernaturally. And a lot of times, you know,
28:13
it's pastor, you go, I just want to see what happened to the
28:15
church. What happened to the church.
28:17
The church doesn't look like the church in the book of Acts.
28:19
You know, where all the miracles, where's all the hype?
28:21
And I don't know. Slow your roll a little bit.
28:23
Slow down. Slow down because first of all,
28:26
when you read back of the early church, you know, what early
28:28
church do you want to be exactly?
28:30
The church that gets rebuked in Corinth?
28:32
Yeah, that's what we want to be. We want to be the church in
28:34
Corinth. Nobody wants to be the church in
28:36
Corinth. You want to be the church in
28:37
Ephesus that had every spiritual gift and then a few years later
28:42
Jesus says, what happened to you guys?
28:43
30 years and you're not walking with me anymore.
28:46
Get back to your first love. I mean, what early church do you
28:48
want to be? I want to be the church that's
28:51
moving in the holy. Spirit and I hope I don't have
28:54
to ever meet Ananias and Sapphira drop dead here for
28:58
their lying because you know what they were doing.
29:00
And and I remember Ananias and Sapphira, we weren't too long
29:03
ago. We were in the book of Acts only
29:04
three years ago. Wasn't that long?
29:09
But there they are. Wanting to do something great
29:11
for God. Sold a piece.
29:13
Of land, they're going to give it for the the the need of the
29:17
early church and they only bring a portion.
29:23
What do you mean? Pastor, they got judged for just
29:25
bringing a portion. No, no, no.
29:27
If you're unfamiliar with the story, the true story in the
29:30
Bible, it's a little deeper than that.
29:32
It wasn't about what they brought.
29:35
It was about how they brought it.
29:39
They didn't have to bring anything.
29:40
It was a willing heart, the Holy Spirit.
29:42
They didn't have to bring anything.
29:43
But they saw the notoriety that Barnabas got when he sold his
29:47
land and gave it to the early church and set it at the feet of
29:51
the apostles. And we saw what what blessing
29:55
there was in giving. They go, we have a piece of land
29:57
too. Let's sell it and let's bring a
29:59
portion. But let's tell them we.
30:02
Brought it all like Barnabas did.
30:06
We're just like Barnabas. No, actually, you're not.
30:10
You're liars and hypocrites and they were judged on the spot.
30:16
Fortunately, God doesn't do that in the church any longer or the
30:20
church would be empty constantly.
30:22
We'd be come on go. Come on though, we'd all be
30:25
gone. Do you have a new pastor every
30:26
week? And it would just be no God.
30:28
There's a grace of God as He's patient with us and helps us.
30:31
But here's the thing. A lot of people walk into church
30:34
every week, whether we're teaching on it or not, you know,
30:37
depending on where we are in the Scriptures.
30:39
There are people walking in the building all the time that are
30:42
just like Psalm 73, including you.
30:46
And you've got to add something to your life, and that is God.
30:51
How will you use me to stir up love and good works?
30:54
Help me to consider my neighbor, my brother, my sister.
30:57
Help me to meet somebody. Use me today.
30:59
Lord, you want to be the church, the early church and move in the
31:03
gifts and the Holy Spirit. You can just do it.
31:08
Who knows how God's going to use you?
31:10
But don't overlook the small things because they're really
31:12
not small. You encourage someone and they
31:14
get through another week. You think that's small.
31:17
Who knows where they're at? Who knows what edge you pulled
31:21
them off of? Who knows what ongoing that you
31:25
prayed for them, but they're going to walk right out those
31:27
doors or that door back into the same problem because their
31:30
problems not easily solved, but you encourage them.
31:35
You reminded them you love them. You put your hand on their
31:38
shoulder and they felt the warmth of your hand and the Lord
31:42
says you're not alone. I've got a lot of people here.
31:47
You're going to make it through and you know, as you're walking
31:51
in the spirit, you may even find that you're going to meet people
31:54
that are going through something that.
31:57
You just got the victory over. Because Second Corinthians
32:00
chapter 1 says. God is the God of.
32:02
All comfort who comforts us on all our tribulation so that we
32:07
might comfort others and God will bring people into our lives
32:14
every time we gather we should consider one another stirring up
32:20
it should be a time where our. Perspective is corrected.
32:24
Where we go from As for me, verse 2, coming back to Psalms
32:27
now 73 we come, we go, we we, we start at but As for me, my feet
32:33
had almost stumbled. Then we go through all the
32:35
difficulty. Then we come into the sanctuary
32:38
of the Lord, and look how it ends in verse 25 He says, Whom
32:43
have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon the earth
32:47
that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but
32:53
God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
32:59
For indeed those who are far from you shall perish.
33:02
You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry.
33:05
But it is a good for me to draw near to God.
33:09
I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all your
33:14
works. Our worship of God is not for
33:18
what we can get. Our worship for God is for who
33:21
He is, and what great comfort that brings to us that the God
33:26
of all creation would love us. All week, or a month or even
33:35
years. You've been beat down and beat
33:38
up in the world and its system, relationships, your health, your
33:44
family, culture, the Antichrist atmosphere that is among us
33:48
already. You look around and things
33:51
aren't fair. We see another thing here and
33:53
another thing over there. We try to do what's right but
33:56
get in trouble for it. The guy that is lying and
34:00
stealing and cheating gets the promotion.
34:03
When we get laid off, like, what's this?
34:07
Prices for food are going up so much.
34:13
It feels like as a believer in this world, you're marked at a
34:16
disadvantage. What's the use?
34:19
Like Asaph, we start becoming envious and jealous and even
34:23
angry, and you conclude it's no use following the Lord.
34:26
I'll never get ahead until you turn to the Lord.
34:31
Until you come to the House of the Lord, until you open your
34:35
Bible, until you humble yourself, until you repent,
34:39
until you start praying, until you start asking for help, until
34:44
everything changes. When you come into the sanctuary
34:46
of God. Then you get the correct
34:48
perspective from today to eternity.
34:51
You get the bigger picture. And rather being envious and
34:54
rather than being angry and rather being caught up in
34:57
yourself, we begin to have compassion and.
34:59
Care for a world that's separate from God.
35:03
And that's when evangelism explodes, because you begin to
35:06
care again about others, not only yourself.
35:11
You begin to have God's perspective and you remember
35:16
what a great benefit it is to be born again and to have your sins
35:19
forgiven and your guilt erased and the shame that's gone away.
35:23
That God has a plan and a purpose for your life, and that
35:27
with you generational change started it.
35:29
Started with you. If you have kids, it's going to
35:32
go to your kids and your grandkids.
35:33
Your parents are still alive. Your parents are going to be
35:36
affected. You have siblings.
35:37
Your siblings are going to be affected.
35:38
Now they may not always like it, but that's fine.
35:41
God is working in your family. You are the one.
35:44
But isn't that? That the 1, Isn't that the
35:46
thing? The family starts getting your
35:48
eyes off the Lord and then what? Got to get back into the
35:52
sanctuary. You know, you can't live here in
35:54
the sanctuary, but you can come because you can have a sanctuary
36:00
in your cubicle and a sanctuary in your bedroom and a sanctuary
36:06
in your car. You can worship the Lord and you
36:10
can turn. Oh yeah, we're to come here for
36:12
sure. But the Lord is with us.
36:16
Only the believer has a hope that transcends.
36:21
And as we close, I want to give you a tool.
36:23
I want to give you something that you can hold on to and
36:25
practice in your life. I want you.
36:28
It's it's going to be rather simple, but it needs to be said
36:31
out loud, especially in a Bible study, when we give you an
36:34
important tool of how to deal with difficulties in the world,
36:37
how to handle the unfairness and the injustices, how to deal with
36:42
all the skewed perspectives and all the mind games that the
36:45
enemy's playing with you. You might even be playing.
36:47
It was given to me many, many years ago and I want to give it
36:50
to you now. I want you to take it with you.
36:52
I want you to apply it and practice it.
36:55
I want you to remember. This OK, here's the tool.
36:58
Our faith is based upon certain foundational truths.
37:04
Your faith in mine. One of the foundational truths
37:08
upon which our whole. Faith and life is built on is
37:11
the fact that God is good. God is good.
37:19
This is very important. It's a very important thing to
37:23
have at the forefront of your mind.
37:25
It's an important foundational stone because there are many
37:28
times in our lives when we're going to be facing circumstances
37:32
which we don't know the full story and we don't like the
37:36
current pain all of us face that you could even say it this way.
37:42
There will always be in our lives times when it's so hard
37:45
and so difficult and we really have no idea what God is doing
37:50
or is going to do. We really don't know.
37:55
You can study again the life of Joseph.
37:59
He really didn't know. And even if he did know, I'm not
38:04
sure he would want to continue in the pain.
38:07
So this is what's going to happen at the end.
38:09
All your brothers have sold you out.
38:11
They're going to come to you, and you're going to save their
38:13
lives. Yeah.
38:14
I don't. I don't.
38:15
Can we end it just like right now?
38:16
Can we end it right now? Because I don't really like my
38:19
brothers, so I'm not really interested in saving that.
38:22
Like we don't live by knowledge, we live by faith.
38:25
We don't live by understanding, we live by faith.
38:29
And so here you have to remember that God is good.
38:33
And it's in these times of deep heartache and heart wrenching
38:36
pain that said that Satan the Devil is ready to.
38:39
Challenge the goodness of God in my own heart.
38:45
If God is good, then why did He allow this to happen to me?
38:50
I must have said that dozens of times in the last 1213 years.
38:55
You see, we all love the sovereignty of God and the plan
38:58
of God. We all do when it's what we
39:01
want. Of course we do.
39:04
This is when our hands go up quickly.
39:06
It's when we love the songs when we was a little skipping our
39:09
step and we are all excited and their smiles on Hey.
39:12
I love the will of God, sovereignty of God.
39:14
God is good all the time, all the time God.
39:18
Is good. It's when it's when things are
39:24
not good that we're tempted to think that God's not good.
39:29
And it's not really a real long distance between your situation
39:34
not being good and you thinking God's not good, even just for a
39:37
brief moment. It just gets transferred over to
39:41
him and you've left the foundational truth of your
39:44
faith. I know the problem of evil
39:48
plagues many people. The answer to that question,
39:51
theologically, sin is the root of all evil, is not
39:54
satisfactory. It's like, well, you know, God
39:58
could deal with that. And it's always God's fault for
40:00
all the difficulties in life, but it's not God's fault.
40:04
God's done everything on our behalf to make things right with
40:07
us. And it's almost always in the
40:10
middle of a situation where we don't know yet the final
40:13
outcome. We're in this period of waiting,
40:16
and I don't know how it's going to work out.
40:18
And it looks like it's a disaster and I'm not going to
40:20
make it that the devil comes along and he challenges God's
40:23
goodness. Feet almost stumbled.
40:27
I know God is good, the psalmist starts.
40:29
But then right away I almost stumbled.
40:32
I know he's good, but I almost stumbled.
40:34
I know he's good, but I don't like that guy.
40:36
I know he's good and I can't believe it.
40:37
Guy, you didn't stop them. And it's always in those areas
40:40
where I can't understand my present situation, that goodness
40:44
of God is challenged. Pastor Chuck Smith put it this
40:48
way, and I quote, it's important that you have certain basic
40:51
foundations upon which your faith is built so that when you
40:55
come to the areas that you don't understand, you can fall back on
41:00
that which you do understand. I understand.
41:04
I know he writes that God is good.
41:08
I may not be able to relate that to the present circumstances
41:11
because I don't understand this trial that I'm going through,
41:15
but I know that God is good. And this is where the psalmist
41:20
starts and where he ends. He starts with God is good, and
41:25
he finally gets to the end where God is good.
41:27
And that's where you're going to end up too.
41:30
You can accelerate the process. Of course, you're here now.
41:35
The Spirit of God is moving. But we know that no matter what
41:38
happens in my life, that God is good, that He's faithful and
41:43
reliable and He loves me. He proved His love to me on the
41:47
cross. And even if I haven't
41:49
experienced it lately, I don't feel it lately.
41:53
God's, he remains faithful no matter what I feel.
41:56
And if I'm faithless, God put a verse in the Bible just for me.
42:00
The Bible says even if we are faithless, he remains faithful.
42:04
And hearing even today, some of my testimony going, man, pastor,
42:07
you're jacked up. Yeah, it's a hard life.
42:14
Things are hard. They're challenging, out of our
42:18
control. And some days better than
42:21
others, for sure. But I'll tell you this, I know
42:27
and I've experienced and I appreciate that my God loves me
42:33
and that He'll strengthen me and sustain me and He'll even use me
42:36
in my weakness. It's probably best that He uses
42:38
me in my weakness so I can come and be humble, walking in the
42:42
power of the Holy Spirit so that He gets all the credit.
42:46
And you know what? By the way, following along with
42:48
me. Pastor Ed's pretty jacked up.
42:51
Maybe a few of you are too, and you have your own issues and
42:57
your own stuff and your own problems.
43:00
And you know what? God loves you too.
43:04
Supremely, completely, unreservedly, holds nothing back
43:09
from you. The pain and difficulty of sin
43:11
is the consequence. It doesn't remove God's love.
43:15
He won't stop loving you. You'll just stop enjoying it.
43:19
And the farther and farther you get away, the less and less you
43:22
enjoy the love of God and the intimacy and the closeness and
43:26
the beauty of knowing that God loves to take that foundational
43:30
truth. I know it's not something that
43:33
is going to go viral on the Internet or anything, but you
43:36
know what? It's already gone viral around
43:38
the world. Men and women, millions, if not
43:41
billions of people have been sustained by the love of God,
43:46
and they just carry it on and pass it on and live it out.
43:50
And that's how people in the world are impacted.
43:52
It's the love of God, Amen. So, Father, thank you for your
43:56
word and encouragement in this Psalm, the beauty of your word
43:59
as it speaks to our hearts. And thank you for the men that
44:03
you've put in our lives that have taught us the word of God
44:06
before us. And even a simple truth that the
44:10
foundation of my relationship with You is your love for me.
44:14
I love you because you first love me.
44:18
I Live Today because you granted me life.
44:22
I make progress today because of your strength and your wisdom.
44:28
And I pray God that is we're in the sanctuary of of worship
44:33
today that everything gets reduced down beyond electronics,
44:39
beyond remodels, beyond chairs, carpet, concrete, drywall,
44:44
electronics, wires, beyond all of that.
44:49
It's just a simple room filled with your agape love.
44:53
It would just permeate our room, permeate our hearts that would
44:57
stir up in US love and good works.
45:00
The God we would be that person where I hear the name or they
45:03
hear, then somebody hears the name of Oh yeah, that sister,
45:06
she is just an encouragers. That's all she does.
45:09
She's just an encourager. She's just seeing.
45:13
Someone say, I think God's hand is upon your life.
45:15
I think I see this in you and. So good to see you here, sister.
45:18
So good to see you, brother. Let us be that church
45:21
considering one another in order not to catch up on the latest,
45:27
although we will, and not to find out what happened, although
45:30
we will, but to consider to stir up love and good works.
45:36
Make us those people, God, especially this group here
45:39
midweek God, where we're just pressing in, pressing in for a
45:42
little more. Well, give us a little more God.
45:45
We receive it. We're ready for it.
45:48
Even tonight as you're praying, just put your hands up with
45:50
palms up and just in your own hearts, just ask for more.
45:53
Go ahead, you could say it. Just I Lord, I want more.
45:56
And it could be more of anything.
45:57
I need more peace. God, give me more comfort.
46:00
Just say it out loud. You go ahead.
46:01
You have freedom. Just ask God for more.
46:04
I need more money to pay my bills.
46:06
I need more faith. I need more hope for my kids.
46:09
I need more clarity for this situation.
46:13
God, I need more love for my wife.
46:14
I need more love for my husband. I I need more hope for my son
46:19
who's just struggling. God, pour out your spirit.
46:23
You see our open hands. God, we come to you, we just
46:26
release our burdens and we ask for more of you.
46:29
God, all these things are wrapped up in you.
46:33
Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I understood.
46:38
Give more understanding today, not for the sake of deliverance,
46:42
but for the sake of relationship.
46:43
God truly bless your church tonight in Jesus name, Amen.
46:50
Amen. OK, hold on, hold on, hold on.
46:52
How many of you truly, truly right now, from your heart?
46:56
Had a hard time asking for more. How many?
46:59
OK, just stand up. Stand up.
47:00
You had a truly, I'm going to I think the Lord wants to show you
47:03
so just anybody. That struggled like a real
47:05
struggle. He's like, I'll do it because
47:06
the pastor. Told me to do it.
47:07
But but you really struggled just.
47:09
Stand up right now. Stand up.
47:11
It's OK. God's meeting you right where
47:14
you are. Because still though, it's just
47:16
a burden. You just can't get away from it.
47:20
You wake up with it, you go to bed with it.
47:23
So God, I just pray for these. Standing around you guys around
47:26
them, you can get up and stand with them, pray over them, put
47:28
your hands on them. Just get up and move around
47:31
because my heart is with you. Your hands are open, your heart
47:36
is open, your mind is open, but it's hard.
47:42
And so God just give this clarity to those that are
47:45
battling. And so they were obedient.
47:48
But it was hard. There was a lapse of faith,
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perhaps, or it's just impossible.
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What can we, what could? It's just impossible, Lord, But
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I remember your word. What's impossible with man is
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possible with God. So we just prayed to the God of
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the impossible. And I pray for the hearts that
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are broken here. I'm grateful some had much
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faith, but now let that much faith be shared.
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Your word says in Galatians, we're going to share each
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other's burdens. And I pray for the pain that all
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this represents. Give us hope, God, give us
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strength. Pour out your spirit among us in
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Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.