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Confidence in Crisis · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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Amen. If you have your Bible, and I
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hope you do, go and make your way to the book of Psalms.
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That's right about the. Middle of your Bible.
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And then make your way to Psalm Chapter 4, Psalm chapter 4 this
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morning. Y'all I love the psalms.
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I think that it's one of my favorite books in the Bible, and
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for lots of reasons, but for the next several.
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Weeks. Here this summer, June and July,
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I want us to return to the Psalms and just walk through
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some that we have not covered as a church family together.
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You might wonder why I'm not starting in Psalm one.
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Well. Because there's 100 and. 50 of
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these things and we've preached some of them all right, and I'm
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so glad there's so many, but we've already covered the first
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3 so we're picking. Up where we left off, actually
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a. Year and a half or two years ago
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now, I'm picking up with some Psalms that we haven't covered
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together as a church, as a church family.
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Y'all hear Not only the Psalms. Some of my favorite, but
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there's. Rarely a day that goes by then I
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don't read. One of the psalms.
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Personally, I get asked a lot. Called What's a good?
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Plan to read my Bible and there's lots of options to go
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with, but if you just wanted one, that would be as simple and
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basic as I know how to tell you. If you would have a.
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Plan to read. In the Old Testament.
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If you'd have a plan to read in the New Testament and then put a
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marker. Also in Psalms and Proverbs put
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you 3 to 4 markers. In your Bible and read a chapter
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in the old, read a chapter in the new.
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Read a chapter of Psalms and maybe Proverbs and you'll get a.
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Good, well balanced diet. Of scripture to help you.
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Walk through the Word of God in about in a year's time.
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Reading through the whole thing, if you stay on about that pace
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now, by the way, there will just be certain days when you just
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need to stop on one verse you read and not read.
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Further, because God's speaking to you so much right there.
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He just wants you to think and camp out on that, all right?
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But we need a plan. When it comes to reading the
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word of gone. Y'all, the Psalms are typically
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short. They are straight from the
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heart, they don't pull any punches.
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They deal with real practical matters of life and therefore as
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timeless in their application to us today as the day.
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David. And so many of the.
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Other writers wrote. Them all right now if you are in
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the. Middle of a trial, if you're in
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the middle of some sort of struggle right now, if you've
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got a difficulty going on in your life to any degree.
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You're going to find Psalm chapter 4 is medicine for your
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soul. If you don't have any particular
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trial or trouble right now, you still need to hear.
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Learn and know what Psalm chapter. 4 says because as they
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have said, well now for. Many years.
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I don't know how often I've heard.
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This you've heard this it's. Been put better than I know how
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to put it if you're not. Going through a trial today?
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You probably will. Tomorrow it's not a.
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Matter of if, it's a matter of. When all right as well.
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Known now with the Lord. Former pastor.
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Tim Keller said once. You listen to this quote once.
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You're in a crisis. There's no time to sit down and
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give attention, study and learn the parts of the Bible you
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desperately need. Do you hear what he said?
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Once you're in the middle of a crisis, there's no time to sit
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down and study and learn and process the truths of the Bible
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you need right then in that moment, he says.
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As a working pastor for nearly four decades, I have often sat
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beside people who are going through terrible troubles and
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silently wished they had taken the time to learn about more
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about their faith before the tidal wave of trouble had
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engulfed them this past week at student camp.
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Which by the way, if I look off. Sound off or do anything off,
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just blame it on a week of being on a gym floor in a bunk room
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with a bunch of high school boys and all that goes with that.
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All right, so I'm in a little bit recovery mode today, but we
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had, what a great week. We had our speaker for the week.
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Spoke of the chronic autoimmune disease, his 13.
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Year old daughter has been diagnosed with and his battling.
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And he says he still remembers. Being on the 10th floor of the
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hospital when it all went down, when they discovered everything
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that was going on. And he put it like this, he
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said. You know what?
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You don't develop your theology. On the 10th floor of the
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hospital. You.
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Deploy whatever theology you've got.
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Because when life hits. And he put it when?
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Life gets lifey. I like that statement.
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When life gets lifey on you, it's too late to find out what
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you You're going to find out what you believe.
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You're going to deploy whatever theology you've got.
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So Psalm 4 might be for you today.
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Psalm 4 might be for you tomorrow or the next day.
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Either way, this is applicable to our lives.
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And Psalm 4 teaches us this real simple, this simple truth that.
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I want you to see in your notes you can write down, I want you
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to remember, is that Christians, Christians have confidence in
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God in times of crisis. That's what this Psalm is about.
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Christians are people that have confidence in God.
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In times of crisis. Are you someone who has
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confidence in God in times of crisis?
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If not, I hope you become someone that has confidence in
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God in times of crisis today. And Psalm 4 is going to walk us
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through what that looks like, steps to take, actions that we
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should take. But first, listen to the Word.
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Of God. Here's what David writes.
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To the choir master with stringed.
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Instruments. The Psalm of David.
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Answer me when I call. Oh God of my righteousness,
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You've given me relief when I was in distress.
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Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
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Oh men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
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How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
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But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself.
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The Lord hears when I call to Him.
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Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on
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your beds, and be silent, and offer right sacrifices, and put
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your trust in the Lord. There are many who say who will
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show us some good. Lift up the light of your face
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upon us. O Lord, You've put more joy in
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my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound in
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peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone.
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O Lord, make me. Dwell in safety, Father I.
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Pray that as we hear your word today that God, you would you
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would open up our ears and let us hear.
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Let us heed, let us believe and let us obey.
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Let the Word of God do the work of God by your Spirit to mold us
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and shape. Us in the image of Christ and to
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draw people to Jesus. And it's in his name we pray.
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Amen. We know exactly who wrote this
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Psalm, we just don't know exactly the situation.
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Behind it. Not that we.
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Have to know the author King David was a a godly man, a man
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after God. 'S own art.
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He was far from a perfect man. He made some mistakes, some of
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them. Major, but he was a.
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Man, that was no. Stranger to trial and trouble.
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This this. Could have been written,
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perhaps? As a result of when David was
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experiencing being haunted for his very life, when day and
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night he was on the run hiding in caves because King Saul
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wanted him dead, right? This could have been the time
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when the Amalekites came and destroyed the city of Ziklag and
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the survivors were so mad at David they wanted to stone him.
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You ever had a day like that? Probably not quite that bad.
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This was could have been the time when the revolt of Sheba.
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Happened against David and. There was some who wanted to
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take his throne. Then one day it was his own son
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Absalom who was another trial that revolted and rebelled,
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wanted the Kingdom from David. It could have been the
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disastrous 3 year drought in the land that caused the leaders of
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the land. Not only just to question.
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David's leadership, but even to question God's leadership, what
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I'm saying is we don't know what circumstance was behind this.
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But we know that David was familiar with trial and struggle
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and difficulty, and we know the same is.
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True for us. So what do we do?
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What? Do we learn from this Psalm?
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If we're going to be people who trust God.
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In times of crisis, who have confidence in God, what is that
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going to look like? Here's the first thing it's
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going to look like. In times of crisis, we learn
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here, cry out in confidence to God.
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Christians are people in times of Christ you shall who cry out
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to God in times of crisis. You notice what David says?
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Answer me when I call now when I first.
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Read that my first reaction. Is like, whoa bro, that's that's
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pretty bold to God, don't you think, David like that at first.
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I just can't help but think about like when I want to say
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that and praise God y'all. My wife Lauren's gotten so much
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better about this, but there was a time in her life when I felt
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like if you called. Her cell phone, 99 point. 9%
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chance she wasn't going to answer anybody had somebody in
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their life like that. It gets frustrating, right?
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You're like, and especially in times that I'm like concerned
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about her safety. You don't know her location.
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She's not done the plan according to where I thought
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she'd be, when she'd be. And I just want to say answer me
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when I call, right? You're killing me over here,
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right? All I can, all I can in picture.
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Is like maybe from my selfish or me getting angry about it.
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But David here is not doubting whether God's going to answer.
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David is not disrespecting God. David is desperately crying out
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to God. This is not a an ask born of
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doubt or born of being jaded by God.
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It's one out of desperation for God, out of his distress.
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God, he is calling to the God he knows will answer.
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He's making, if you will, a spiritual 911 call, right?
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We teach our kids how to get a hold of first responders, don't
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we? In times of emergency.
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We ought also to be people that teach our kids and lead by
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example and how to call in our first response being to call on
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our Heavenly Father in times. Of crisis as David.
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Cries that you notice he calls God by a title that,
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interestingly enough, is only used here once in the whole
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Bible. No other time is God referenced
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with this title. Oh, God of my righteousness,
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David is crying out to God, standing on a characteristic of
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God, an attribute of God, that which he is staking his claim
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that God, I know you're going to answer, you're the God of my
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righteousness. Now, what in the world does that
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mean, right? Well, we know that God is the
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sole source. Of any and all righteousness.
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That means what I mean is, let's be real clear, God is always
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right and God is never wrong. And if we have any
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righteousness, guess what? It's because we've received it
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by God or been enabled by God to live it out.
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In fact, the Bible puts. It as plain as this.
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Our best efforts, separate from God, are like filthy rags in His
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sight. That means they're unrighteous.
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That means mankind is a major problem.
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The God who is righteous. Mankind.
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Me. You men, women, boys and girls
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who are unrighteous. God doesn't dwell in the
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presence of sin or unrighteousness.
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He does not. He knows none of that.
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And this is exactly why Jesus Christ came from heaven to
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earth, because of our unrighteousness.
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In His righteousness, Jesus Christ lived a perfectly
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righteous life. Jesus Christ did no wrong and
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all. And only did right.
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Why, so He could go to the cross and all of our unrighteousness
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be laid on Him. This is the good news of the
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gospel that we sing about. If you've been born again,
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you've understood this truth that Jesus Christ took all your,
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all your filthy rags, and on him it was laid, and Jesus in your
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place died for it. They are paid the price for it.
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Why? So that if you would believe on
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Him in faith, if you would receive the forgiveness for that
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sin He paid for on the cross, He in exchange would take your
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unrighteousness and give you His righteousness, cover you by His
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blood, wash you clean, so that when God the Father looks at
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you, He looks at you through the lens of the righteousness of
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Christ. That's covered.
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You and forgiven you. Do you know that's happened to
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you? Do you know God as the God of
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your righteousness? If so, you first realize you
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have no native natural. Righteousness of your own.
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But see, this is where if you've never come to Christ.
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The honest truth is, your eyes have never been open to the fact
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that you're unrighteous before God, that you've sinned before
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him. That's a humble thing to have to
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say, but it's true, and the Bible makes it clear.
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And being born. Again, as a matter of calling on
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God to save you and forgive you, notice next.
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That part of David's. Confidence in calling to God is
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grounded in God's faithfulness to Him in the past.
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Notice what he says here. God, you've given me relief.
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Notice that's past tense. You've given me relief when I
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was in distress. David here is not getting
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hysterical. He's getting historical with
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God. Hey, God, you remember such and
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such a time. God, you've been faithful to me
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in the past. God, you've delivered me in the
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past. God, you have provided for me in
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the past, right? In fact, you could put like
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this, David says. When I've been in a bond, when
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I've been between a rock and a hard place, when I've been hard
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pressed and under pressure, Literally the word relief in the
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Hebrew means God when I was being.
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Crushed when? I thought I couldn't breathe.
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God, you enlarged me. God, you made space for me.
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Can you picture that? Ever been when you felt like the
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weight of the world was on top of you?
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Maybe so rest, you couldn't breathe or you couldn't sleep.
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And it was like you're backed in a corner.
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You didn't know which way to go between a rock and a hard place.
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And David's like, God, when I was there in the past, it was
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like you expanded a space for me to take a breath and survive and
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to thrive. God, you enlarged me.
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God, you gave a space. For me, when the world
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threatened to undo me. Christian, when a new crisis
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comes, and it will, you ought to remember God's faithfulness to
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you in the past. Why would God?
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Why would God be faithful? To you in 10 trials and be
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unfaithful to you in the 11th. God.
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Always finishes what he starts. His Grace.
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Is not sufficient. Sometimes it's sufficient.
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Every time. God doesn't get tackled on the
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10 yard line. Amen.
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God finishes what He starts, what he promised to.
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Do he's going to see? To completion, all right.
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In times of crisis, we can. Crowd in confidence to God. #2
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In times of crisis we see that we ought to remember that God
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sees and hears you, that God sees and hears you.
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This is. Verses 2 and 3.
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We don't know. Again, David's exact.
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Situation and we've obviously never been a king.
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But David here obviously is experiencing.
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Attack from those around him. There are those.
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Who want to undo him? Who want to see his downfall and
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his shame. David's got enemies to 1° or
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another. We've all experienced what it's
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like to have people opposed to us.
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Amen. They may not want us dead
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necessarily. They might have.
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But we understand what it's like to have enemies.
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We understand what it's like to be slandered.
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We understand what it's like to be stabbed in the back or to
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experience bullying or whatever that is.
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And in fact, right, Christians, throughout history, this has
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been the essential, you know, on the majority collective
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experience of believers around the world.
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Even right now as we speak, you go to most places around the
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world. It's not a favorable thing to be
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a believer. In Jesus Christ, I mean the
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very. Country most in.
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One of them the very most in the news right now, Iran has one of
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the largest, fastest growing underground church movements,
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Christian movements in the world right now.
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More people are coming to Christ faster in Iran than about any
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other country underground. And yet more people are paying
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for their with their lives, for their faith in countries like
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Iran to this day. This is the collective
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experience of many believers around the world.
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David and these verses 2 through 5 here he's not talking to God
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and he's not talking to the reader directly.
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He's talking to his attackers. To these people he.
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Wants that. They want to see his downfall.
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These people, by the way, we're probably.
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Members of his own leadership. Probably.
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People he knew well that he knew their names.
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That he does administrative things with as a king of Israel,
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right? And what he says here is, is not
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directly to us, but it is it is indirectly applicable to us.
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And he gives these 7 instructions in these verses to
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these people. And here's the first one.
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But know that the Lord has set apart the godly.
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For himself, the. Lord hears when I call to him.
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I love this. Essentially, Davis says.
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Folks, listen. You would do well to remember
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whose team I'm on. You would do well to remember
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that I belong to God. You would do well to remember
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that I've got God's phone number.
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I talked to God, I've got his digits and God hears me when I
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talk to him. That's that's basically what
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David is saying. Now, you might say, Kyle, that
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sounds kind of odd and even, I would admit, like next.
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Time somebody wants to. Belittle you or harm you?
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Or stand against you. It's probably not the best.
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Thing to walk up to him and say, hey, you know what?
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You need to remember I'm on God's team and God's on my team.
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Like, that's probably not the right way to go about it, but
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let me tell you what. Would be incredibly valuable for
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you to remember next time you're belittled or attacked or
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slandered or someone seeks your shame.
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The most valuable thing that you could know is that you and God
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are on the same team. That God's got your back.
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That when you call out to God, he hears you.
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That God sees you, That God knows what you're going through,
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that God has promised to work all things for your good, that
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God's going to fight on your behalf.
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You need to know. You need to know when you're
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attacked, when you're coming under pressure and threat, that
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you and God are on the same team.
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Let me just ask you, do you know that's true?
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You don't have to tell. Anybody else that necessarily.
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But you need to know. This is the first thing that
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came to David's mind. Hey, God and I, we're tight.
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And he tells his detractors, you ought to remember that, right?
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What does he mean by what God has done?
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It says that he calls himself God has set apart the godly for
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himself. To be set apart means to be
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identified and separated by God under his special care and
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affection as his own is to be called out from the world to
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belong to the family of God as a child of God.
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By the way, if you've called on God to forgive you of your sin,
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you've called on Jesus as your Savior.
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This is when that happened. You were called out of the
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world, your identity changed, you were born again as we sang
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about. You were made alive, and now
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you're a child of God in the family of God under the special
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attention and care of God. In fact, by this next word, the
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godly is literally the word for loved by God in the beloved.
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I thought Kyle, God so loved the world.
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Yes, he does, and he has by sending Jesus.
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But God's special attention and special affection is on his
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children. There is a care.
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And there is a provision and there is a protection, and there
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is a relationship there between God and His own that is
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exclusive. Do you?
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Know that you've been set. Apart by faith in Jesus Christ,
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do you know that you. Belong to the.
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Beloved, do you know whose team you're on when attacked?
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Of course, if we're being honest, even if we know whose
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team we're on, even if we know we've been saved and born again,
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even if we know Jesus Christ personally, aren't there days,
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let's be honest, when it still feels like maybe God's not
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listening, God's not answering, and maybe we're tempted to ask
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or wonder, God, are we still? Are we still on the same team?
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Why don't you listen to the words of the author, well known
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author CS Lewis? In his book Grief Observed, he
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compares his prayer for his wife's healing from cancer to
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knocking on the door as Jesus Christ instructed, and he says
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he knocked until his knuckles were bloody and raw.
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You ever been there when you were praying and calling on God
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and keep knocking on the door to the point your knuckles were
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bloody and raw? And then he says when I looked
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at the door, I felt like it was double bolted.
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And then I stepped back and he says I didn't just look at the
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door, I looked at the house and it seemed like the lights were
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out and nobody was home. To be honest, there are moments.
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There's times there's seasons where God lets his children walk
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through, times when maybe he doesn't answer in the time frame
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we wanted. He doesn't give the answer we
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hoped he would give. Or he allows.
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Us to experience a moment where it feels like he's far away, and
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it's in these moments, y'all that as children of God, we've
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got to remember He has set us apart for himself.
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That he does hear us when we. Call and he's working all things
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for our good, even when we can't fully understand.
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In times of crisis, you've got to remember God sees you and
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hears you #3 in times of crisis, we learn, like David, to be
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patient and to put your trust in God.
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To be. Patient and put your trust in
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God. This is verse four and five.
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Be angry and do not sin, David says.
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Ponder in your own your own hearts, on your beds and be
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silent. Offer right sacrifices and put
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your trust in God. David gets incredibly practical
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here, and I want to. Unpack this for a moment, right
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Remember. David is talking to people under
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his leadership, Israelites, who are mad at God and mad at him.
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Why are they mad at God and why are they mad at Him?
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They're mad at God for the same reason when we get mad at.
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God, you know why? When?
22:26
Life doesn't go our way. When life gets lifey or we're on
22:30
the 10th floor of that hospital are things and people are
22:33
speaking against us and life seems against us.
22:35
Oftentimes our reaction can be to get mad at God, blame God.
22:40
That's what's going on there. Blaming David, who's the who's
22:42
the physical leader among them as God's representative and
22:45
they're blaming God. They're mad at God, right?
22:47
David says to them, Hey, y'all be angry but don't.
22:52
Don't sin. Now that's easier said than
22:53
done. Amen.
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This is, by the way, quoted in the New Testament here.
22:59
You know you can get it's not a sin to be angry at God.
23:05
God can handle your anger. He just says don't sin against
23:10
him. Don't sin against others and
23:14
your anger. Say how in the world?
23:18
Can I be angry at God and not, not sin?
23:21
David, like I said, gets incredible, incredibly practical
23:24
and I want to give you 3 things. Three things here.
23:27
I just kind of embedded this in your notes.
23:28
I think this is so clear here in the text.
23:31
Three things David says we can learn of how to be angry and not
23:33
sin against God. Number one is put yourself and
23:36
time out. Now those are Kyle's words.
23:40
Some of you like I didn't realize time out was in the
23:42
Bible. Oh, it's in the Bible.
23:43
It's right here. This is timeout.
23:45
For adult believers, all right for me and you, when we get
23:48
angry at God put. Yourself in timeout.
23:50
Listen what he says, go sit on your bed, be quiet and ponder
23:54
the promises of God. If that's not timeout.
23:57
I don't know what is. You ever send a kid to time and
23:59
go sit on your bed, be quiet and think about what you've think
24:03
about what you did or what you need to do, what you should do
24:06
or what I told you to do? Go think about the truth, right?
24:08
Literally. David says go get on your bed,
24:11
be quiet and ponder the promises of God.
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Now let's just be honest, if you don't know the promises of God,
24:16
guess what you can't do? You can't ponder.
24:21
And guess what you're probably not going to do when you're
24:22
angry and mad at God? Go learn them.
24:27
You can go thinking about something else, you're going to
24:30
have anything and everything in your mind but the ammunition of
24:33
the truth to fire against and put out the flaming darts to the
24:35
enemy because you've not done the work before.
24:37
To learn what you need to know when your theology needs to be
24:40
deployed and not developed, he says, go put yourself in time
24:44
out and go think about the truth, right?
24:46
Instead of going to bed and laying awake and arguing and
24:49
brooding with God and rationalizing your anger and
24:52
telling God how he's wrong. This way, this way, this way and
24:54
this way. Go think on the promises of God
24:57
and let the promises of God calm and quiet your soul.
25:00
But you can't think. About what you don't know about,
25:04
which is. Why there's a daily plan to be
25:06
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament and in the middle?
25:11
Of the promises. Of God stockpiling ammunition
25:16
for the day you'll need to fire it.
25:19
At the lives of the enemy and for your own soul #2 Put
25:25
yourself before God in worship. Now again, what do?
25:29
We want to do when we're mad at God, stay home from church,
25:35
isolate ourselves, maybe walk away from the church.
25:44
We want to run away from offering right sacrifices.
25:48
We want to do anything else but worship, David says no.
25:51
Go put yourself in a position and posture of worship, or even
25:55
when you don't feel like it, when you don't feel like God is
25:58
worthy, go worship God like he's worthy.
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Hebrews. 1315 says this through. Jesus let us continually OfferUp
26:06
a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that
26:10
acknowledge His name, That verse, that command is though on
26:12
the days you feel. Like it on the days you don't
26:15
feel like it. Because when we choose to act on
26:19
the worthiness and worth of God in worship God is in, we are in
26:24
a position for God to minister to our hearts and souls instead
26:28
of foolishly running away. And hardening our heart against
26:32
God. So put yourself in time out.
26:34
Put yourself before. God in worship.
26:36
And then three, put your trust in.
26:37
God and what I mean? By that is, don't run to other
26:40
things in the world to try to find peace for your soul.
26:45
Don't go find unhealthy coping mechanisms to help you get by.
26:51
Lean in on God more so than ever.
26:54
Put your trust in. God when writer says if we
26:59
communed with each other. Less and with God.
27:03
If men that is communed with each.
27:05
Other less and with God. In their own heart, more
27:08
allowing the heat of anger to cool in the silences of the
27:10
night, they would discover the futility of fuming and fretting
27:14
against God or man, it's been said.
27:19
That silt. Only settles in standing water.
27:26
In other words, all the dirt and debris in water only goes to the
27:32
bottom and lets the water clarify.
27:35
If the water is still but shaken up, it looks like a milkshake.
27:43
You get all stirred up. And you see, when I think often
27:45
times it's in these moments when we get still before God, that
27:49
God can allow all the silt of the storm that's raging in our
27:52
hearts to settle. We can see the truth, We can see
27:57
reality more clearly, the promises of God if we get still
28:03
before God. In times of crisis, be patient,
28:05
put your trust in God #4 in times of crisis, find your joy
28:09
in the Lord. Listen again to verse six and
28:12
seven. There are many who say, who will
28:13
show us some good? Lift up the light of your face
28:16
upon us. O Lord, You have put more joy in
28:18
my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
28:23
In times of crisis, find your joy in the Lord.
28:26
It says here there are many who say, who will show us some good.
28:29
You know what that question is? That question is this Who has
28:34
found anything worth living for? Who's found some real purpose
28:39
and meaning in life? Can someone show me something
28:42
that's not vain, that's ultimately not going to wear
28:45
out, or not going to die, or not going to one day be taken away?
28:49
Who can show us anything good? This is the question of people,
28:53
right, that are jaded with life. This is the words of pessimists
28:59
who only see life through the lens of their pain, that have
29:02
lost hope. These are the questions.
29:07
Of people who are mad. At God and mad at the.
29:09
World unbelievers most often talk like.
29:13
This, but it's possible for believers to talk.
29:15
Like this and facing. Such a question, David now turns
29:19
to the one. Place where the answer.
29:21
To such a question. Can be found David.
29:23
Cries out to God again. Now turning to God, lift up the
29:25
light of your face upon us. Oh Lord, oh God, give us food.
29:31
No, it's not what he asked. Oh God, give us health, wealth,
29:37
and prosperity. No, that's not what David asked.
29:42
Oh God, give us money in our bank accounts.
29:44
No, that's not what David asked. God give us safety by day and by
29:48
night. No, that's not what David asked.
29:50
What does David ask? God give us the one thing that
29:52
provides every other thing from which everything flows.
29:55
God give us your presence. God allow us to experience and
29:59
fellowship with you. God give us yourself.
30:04
Here we're just reminded y'all if you're looking to the world
30:06
to stuff something in the world into your.
30:08
Heart to satisfy it. It will not do it.
30:11
It won't do it. It doesn't matter what we have
30:16
in life. You know, we, we, we don't say
30:21
this oftentimes, but we have this.
30:22
Default in our human heart and by the way the human heart is
30:25
deceptive all right and we still.
30:27
Deal, even as believers that have been born.
30:30
Again with the sin, that's. Retained in our fleshly.
30:32
Nature that we daily. Have to die to.
30:34
If we don't die to it, we'll fall prey to its deception.
30:37
And one of the deceptions we keep defaulting back to, to our
30:40
old sin nature is this lie that the healthy, more wealthy and
30:44
prosperous we are, the happier we will be.
30:47
It is an illusion. It is an illusion.
30:53
The people continue to keep falling for it.
30:55
You know, if it was true, the happiest, wealthiest and most
30:58
prosperous on the planet would be the happiest.
31:00
And guess what? You know is true that that's not
31:03
true. You know it.
31:07
And yet we do. We keep falling for that, don't
31:09
we? We keep sometimes wanting to buy
31:11
into that lie. Why?
31:14
Because our hearts are so. Easily deceived.
31:17
What we need is God. The one from whom all things
31:20
flow and listen. The reason for that look?
31:23
How, David? Puts it in verse 7 you have put
31:25
more joy God in my heart than they have when their grain and
31:28
wine abound Now I. Know that when grain and.
31:31
Wine abound may not mean much to.
31:33
You, but this is the. Deal of what David is saying.
31:35
In the ancient world, abundance and scarcity followed and flowed
31:41
with the seasons. Like the grocery stores?
31:44
Didn't carry the same thing year round, all right.
31:51
And they didn't. Ship I mean they did some
31:52
shipping and stuff back then to get stuff around the, you know,
31:55
the known world, but basically. You were locally.
31:58
Dependent on the harvest to live that next year.
32:03
And guess what? Are harvest abundant every year?
32:08
No. So guess what?
32:10
When the years would come along that it's abundant, this is like
32:13
the highest of highs in the ancient world.
32:15
Guess what y'all? We're going to eat this week and
32:17
we're going to eat next week. And guess what I think we may be
32:20
the next year because this year's abundance, in other
32:23
words, he's saying is in the in the moments when life is at the
32:26
highest of highs. God, you've given me more joy
32:29
than that even provides a man or a woman, a boy and a girl.
32:33
God, you give more joy, you give more peace, you give more
32:36
happiness, God, than when anything and everything on earth
32:39
that can possibly be had by. A man or woman is given.
32:42
That's why he says God. Let the light of your face shine
32:46
upon us in times of crisis. Find your joy in the Lord.
32:52
Can I just ask you? Where?
32:53
Where? Are you finding your joy?
32:57
And is your joy. Sturdy when storms come.
33:01
Do you find your joy? Ripped out from under you when
33:03
anything's taken, or when anything in your life suffers?
33:09
Or is your joy in something that's unshakable, that's
33:12
untouchable? Just one more thing in times of
33:17
crisis, sleep in peace. Now, some of you are like, that
33:21
one's really easier said than done.
33:24
I don't know why it is the older you get.
33:27
You know, as kids, you seem to we sleep like babies.
33:29
And you know, as we start getting to adulthood and start
33:33
adulting and life gets lifey, sometimes sleep gets more
33:37
difficult, especially when under stress and difficulty.
33:42
And yet David finishes this Psalm.
33:45
But such confidence in God that he says even in times of trouble
33:48
and trial, he says, listen, I'm going to lie down and sleep and
33:51
listen to those next few words for you alone.
33:57
Not a lock on the door, not a gate at the entrance to the
34:02
neighborhood, not 4 walls, not a security system.
34:11
What allows him to sleep in safety and in peace?
34:15
God alone, which is the same truth for you and for me today.
34:23
So David says, despite the fact that I'm under attack, you
34:25
alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
34:28
It's been said like this, if God suffices for eternal life, how
34:33
did in the world does he not suffice for life and sleep and
34:36
even the day of our death on earth?
34:39
If he suffices for. Heavenly eternal life odyssey
34:43
not also suffice for everything now, a Vietnam veteran wrote the
34:48
following letter. He says in one of the battles I
34:51
fought in Vietnam, they were dead and wounded all around me.
34:55
Having gone three days without sleep, my ability to make wise
34:58
decisions was at a dangerously low level.
35:02
At 3, AMI found a hole in the jungle base, virtually under a
35:05
battery of. Cannons.
35:07
The heat of the jungle night combined with that of the
35:10
cannons which fired volleys about.
35:12
Every 20 seconds was insufferable.
35:15
Even in the stench of the gunpowder, the mosquitoes
35:18
relentlessly pursued their bloodthirsty duty.
35:21
And as I. Lay there this verse of
35:22
Scripture. Came to me now I.
35:24
Just want to stop there. For a moment.
35:26
This verse of scripture can't come to somebody who doesn't
35:28
know it. So here his theology is about to
35:33
be not developed, but what deployed in literal battle.
35:39
OK, this verse of Scripture came to me.
35:42
Why? Because he probably had a marker
35:44
in the Old Testament, a marker in the New Testament, and
35:46
somewhere in Psalms or Proverbs this promise came to me.
35:50
For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in a verse, a promise, a
35:58
truth, that a Psalm 4 came to him.
36:02
And he says, I think I had the best two hours of sleep in my
36:07
entire life. In times of crisis, you can
36:12
sleep in peace. You all Christians are people
36:16
that have confidence in God in times of crisis.
36:20
I just want to take a moment as we finish here and I wrestled
36:23
with how to close our time. John and praise team are about
36:26
to come out. We got a crisis going on on the
36:31
world stage right now. And the the deal is, is that we
36:39
know as Christians, the closer we get to the return of Christ,
36:45
things like this will only increase.
36:50
In fact, if you could. Just you could turn to Matthew
36:52
24 this afternoon if you wanted to, and just read the words of
36:56
Jesus, of how you're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars.
37:00
He says something after that, but he says don't be alarmed.
37:03
I love how he just drops that in there.
37:06
Hey, don't be afraid, nation's going to rise up against nation.
37:09
But don't get hysterical. Get historical, Lie down and
37:15
sleep in peace. Guess who alone makes you dwell
37:20
in safety? God.
37:25
Guess who you can take joy in even under threat?
37:29
God. He goes on in that burst to talk
37:33
about what's going to happen towards the end.
37:37
He talks about it every every nation, every people group will
37:41
hear the gospel, y'all. We're getting closer and closer
37:43
to reaching unengaged and unreached people groups with the
37:45
gospel of Jesus Christ. We're today one day closer to
37:48
the return of Christ than we were yesterday.
37:49
Obviously I just, I want to encourage, I'm not, I'm not
37:54
here. God hasn't called me to be a
37:57
political commentator, but he's called me to be a pastor.
38:00
And what? We know is God's.
38:02
People is that no matter what goes on, God is in control.
38:05
He's got the whole world in his hands and and you know what?
38:09
When when crisis hits, especially at this level.
38:13
The world is. Watching the church, whether.
38:17
They say they are or not your Co workers.
38:21
And your neighbors, they're watching you and and they're
38:25
wondering. Do you have joy and peace and if
38:29
you do, do you have confidence in crisis and if you do, why a
38:32
crisis always presents the church with one of the most
38:35
wonderful opportunities to witness to the goodness and.
38:38
Glory of Jesus Christ. And as your.
38:42
Pastor and things I just pray for us is a God allow us to walk
38:45
in confidence in crisis. You know you're not going to
38:49
share your faith. If you're not confident in your
38:51
faith. And as the storms increase, May
38:54
God give us just an unshakeable peace and unshakeable joy, even
39:00
as we pray. And we're going to.
39:02
Even pray today for. Peace and protection, and for
39:05
God's will and for wisdom for. Leaders and all these things,
39:10
but the Christian if you know Jesus Christ, you can walk in
39:13
confidence. Nothing can shake that.
39:15
No matter, no matter what happens, you can walk in
39:18
confidence in crisis. And I pray.
39:21
That's exactly what we do. Yeah, I'm going to pray and then
39:25
I'm going to invite us to stand and respond.
39:27
And I don't know if you have a crisis going on right now or if
39:30
you will tomorrow, but I just wonder if God lays on your heart
39:34
today a way he wants you to respond.
39:36
Maybe you want to come and pray. Maybe you want to come and pray
39:40
with me. Maybe you want to come and pray
39:41
with an encourage, or maybe you need to talk to me about
39:43
trusting Christ. Maybe you just want to put
39:45
yourself before the Lord in a way to say, God, this is I I
39:48
want to put and I want to have confidence in you.
39:50
I'm not sure I'm there, but God get me there.
39:52
God, these steps that I've heard help.
39:53
Me take them. Maybe you know exactly which one
39:55
God wants you to take. You say God help me, help me to
39:59
do that today and. Help me to be so confident that
40:02
I. Can even out of the overflow of
40:03
that give a witness to you Jesus, every conversation that
40:07
comes along every opportunity where people get to watch and
40:10
see what you're doing in my life as a result of your strength and
40:13
your provision. Father.
40:15
I want to pray that we would be people of confidence in crisis.
40:19
God that our attention be turned to you.
40:22
God, you would have your way in US today and as we respond.
40:25
To trust you, Father, to seek you.
40:28
To rest in you today, that you'd guide us in our response as your
40:31
people. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
40:33
Would you stand with me at your family?
40:34
You come this morning and respond as the Lord leads you.