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Psalm 119:169-176 - Taw · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And if you're watching the video
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  podcast, you might say, Brian, you're back in your office.
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  You're no longer in your own room at home where it's super
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  dark. You are correct.
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  I am back in my office for the very last episode in Psalm 119
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  and we are looking at the 22nd Hebrew letter and it is the
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  Hebrew letter TA TA. And I am excited to go through
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  verses 169 to 176 today. And then after today, we are
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  going to hit Psalm 120 all the way to the end.
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  And then I know a couple of the episodes that we'll be doing
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  even right after that. Let's read through and see what
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  God has for us today. As a reminder, Psalm 119, it's
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  all about the Word of God, if you will, from A-Z.
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  And the Word of God is not just God.
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  I love reading through my Bible in a year.
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  Now I say that right now I actually am reading through my
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  Bible in a year. And so I, I not disparaging that
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  at all. I'm actually super excited about
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  that reading through something with my wife this year and so
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  looking forward to doing that. The word of God is the commands,
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  nature, character and history of God and what he has done.
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  It is learning about the Lord. That's the reason why we read
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  the word of God. It's the reason why I've devoted
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  my entire existence to this is because God's Word, the Bible,
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  scripture tells me about my God. And so it is a worthwhile thing
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  to dive into. Let's read through the verses
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  and then we'll see what we got going.
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  Let my cry reach You, Yahweh. Give me understanding according
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  to Your Word. Let my plea reach you.
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  Rescue me according to Your promise.
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  My lips pour out praise for You. Teach me Your statutes.
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  My tongue sings about Your promise, for all Your commands
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  are righteous. May Your hand be ready to help
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  me, for I have chosen Your precepts.
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  I long for Your salvation, Yahweh, and Your instruction is
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  my delight. Let me live and I will praise
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  you. May Your judgments help me.
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  I wander like a lost sheep. Seek Your servant, for I do not
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  forget Your commands here. I love that there is just such a
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  responsive flow that you have here in these verses.
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  He says things like, I think this is probably David, at least
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  that is writing many of these particular Psalms, the mini
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  psalms, if you will, in Psalm 119, verse 176.
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  You might have heard me laugh. And it was literally because I
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  can imagine David the shepherd remembering stupid sheep that
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  would wander away that would do dumb things that would not
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  follow the shepherd. They wouldn't go along with the
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  rest of the herd that we're all following the shepherd.
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  They went their own way. And then David would have to go
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  and rescue them and bring them back so that they wouldn't get
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  eaten by a lion or wouldn't get eaten by a bear, that they
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  wouldn't be, you know, killed by a wolf or something like that.
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  And so it, it just cracked me up as I was thinking, man, David,
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  what must it have been like as you think about your
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  relationship with God, like that of a shepherd and a sheep,
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  That's something that we should always be thinking through.
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  Psalm 23, obviously written by David, helps us out a lot in
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  that way. But I think even for myself, as
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  I am a pastor, it's a word that means shepherd as I am a
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  shepherd. And I've got, if you will, my,
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  my sheep quote, UN quote here at Tabernacle, my people that that
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  I love and that I care for and that I'm going to give an
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  account for. I have to always go, OK, God, am
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  I being the sheep towards you that I wish that I had for me,
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  like if everyone followed me at Tabernacle, like I follow God?
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  Well, what kind of church would I have?
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  And you, frankly, I think for a lot of pastors, for a lot of
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  leaders, that needs to be the primary focus that we have is
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  not just am I leading other people, it's how am I following
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  God's leadership for me? And that works.
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  If you're a parent like you wish that your child would obey you,
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  Are you obeying your heavenly Father, You wish that your
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  spouse would love you and and care for you in the way that you
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  would like? Well, you are the bride of
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  Christ and are you caring for and loving and supporting and
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  accomplishing His mission like you wish that your spouse would
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  do for you. God is our example in every way
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  of what it looks like to live life in the way that we should.
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  And so I I just love that all of that sorry, spurred off from
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  verse 176. I was saying there's such a
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  flow. It's an A repeat.
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  It's I do this because you do this and I love this or I praise
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  this because you do this. So that's verse 169.
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  Give me understanding according to your word.
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  He says, God, I, I need to know what I'm supposed to be doing,
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  but I don't want that just from the local Philistines.
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  I don't want it just from people's best guesses and
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  estimations. Says I want to know what to do
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  because of what your word says. So God, give me understanding
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  according to your Word. Then when he says let my plea
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  reach you, he says rescue me according to your promise.
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  God, you have said things and I'm going to hold you to your
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  word. God is always faithful to His
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  word, and so you can call on him over and over again and you can
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  say, God, you promised that if I confess my sin, you are faithful
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  and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from all
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  unrighteousness. God, I have been struggling
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  with, you know, cursing a lot. And so God, I'm coming to you.
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  I recognize that this is not what you have for me in your
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  word. You tell me that no corrupt
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  communication proceed from my mouth, but only that which is
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  edifying so that it may minister grace to those that hear it.
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  And so God, I'm holding on to your word, and I believe that
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  you can cleanse me. And so God, I'm coming to you
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  again and again and I am pleading your promise.
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  That's just one illustration. You could do 1000 different
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  things that you hold God to His word.
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  Verse 171 my lips pour out praise for you.
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  Teach me your statutes is the result of you hearing a Bible
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  study podcast or a sermon or a small group lesson or you know
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  whatever else have you is the result of you hearing the word
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  of God. Do you respond in praise?
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  Is your automatic thought not just like, OK, what do I do
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  different? But are you saying to God, God,
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  thank you that you are showing me a different way to live at a
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  different way to expect things in my life?
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  God, thank you that you are blazing a new path for me that I
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  would not have walked on my own that I haven't been walking.
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  Are you thankful for what Jesus has done for you?
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  Are you thankful for the illustrations and examples given
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  in scripture so that you can feel like you are not just the
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  worst person that's ever lived, but that you can go OK?
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  God, I mess up in so many ways. I'm so sorry.
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  Thank you that I am not Samson. That dude was messed up or thank
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  you that you know, I'm, I'm not saying some of the dumb things
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  that Peter is saying or thank you that I'm not going through
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  the stuff that Job went through. The Scriptures can give us
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  comfort and encouragement and it ought to result in US giving
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  praise to God. The the goal of scripture is the
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  glorification of God. The goal of Scripture is not how
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  do you change your life. The goal of Scripture is God is
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  worthy of all worship and he is transforming everything,
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  including you and me, so that we would follow and and praise and
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  love and know him. Verse 172 my tongue sings about
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  your promise for all your commands are righteous.
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  I you guys know I'm a big guy on singing, singing to the Lord,
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  singing about him. I've given you guys 1000
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  different song recommendations or quoted, you know hundreds of
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  hymns during my time on Tabernacle talk.
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  I am big about singing to the Lord.
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  Why do we sing about Him? It is because of his promise.
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  It's His word, it's what He has declared to us.
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  It is what Jesus has accomplished.
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  And so because of what the word says, we sing about Him.
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  Now there are definitely times, frankly, even in my life that I
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  have, I have written songs because of a season of my life
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  that God has brought me through. And so I figured, OK, the
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  response that I can have from this is to sing, but the only
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  reason that I knew about God was because of his Word.
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  And so the word ought to cause us to sing.
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  Verse 173 May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen
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  your precepts. He says, God, I know how life
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  goes. I'm about to get into some
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  trouble. There's going to be some
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  difficulties going on here. And so I need you to have your
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  hand at the ready to help me because I'm walking your way.
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  I'm not walking my own. I'm not going to, you know, do
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  dumb stuff. I'm not going to steal from
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  people. I'm not going to kill someone
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  and then be like, oh, God, protect me.
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  No, he says, I've chosen your precepts.
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  I'm following your way. But life is crazy.
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  And so I'm going to need you to intervene.
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  I'm going to need you to help. I'm going to need you to
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  provide. I'm going to need you to silence
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  the the enemies and so he says God, may your hand be ready to
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  help me. Frankly, even as we enter into
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  this new year, that's a prayer request that I feel like I'm
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  praying to the Lord to say God, I am excited about the things
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  that are happening in my church. I'm excited about the great
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  steps that people are taking in, in following the Lord.
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  I'm excited for some people that are diving into serving in a way
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  that they haven't before. And I love all of that.
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  But as a as a pastor, and maybe this just might be a human thing
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  too. I'm always waiting for the other
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  foot to fall. And I know especially on the
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  days where I'm like, man, it's so great.
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  This is awesome. I'm so thankful God is so good.
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  I know that I'm going to enter into a season where there's some
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  hardship that that comes and, you know, someone will insult or
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  slander or deride me in some way.
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  Or they'll be, you know, some big problem between some people
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  at the church or we might have, you know, someone at the church
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  that that goes through just a crazy health struggle.
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  And so even right now, I'm trying to hold both.
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  God, you are so good. I'm going to praise you also.
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  God, would you have your hand ready to help me?
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  Because things are going well right now.
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  And so I know that Satan's going to try and distract and destroy
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  and and denigrate man. I just cannot stop alliterating.
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  So Satan's going to try all this stuff.
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  So, God, would you be ready to help me?
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  Satan's ready to destroy. Would you be ready to help?
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  Verse 174 I long for your salvation, Yahweh, and your
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  instruction is my delight and I I cannot imagine.
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  I'm so thankful that the Lord has saved me, but I cannot
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  imagine what it will be like on that day when I am reunited with
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  my God, the one that my soul was made for and that ultimate
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  salvation where I never again have to struggle with the here
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  and now I won't have to struggle with.
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  I know right now we got a bunch of people that have the the
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  Super flu. And so I'm excited for for not
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  having to deal with illness anymore, for being reunited with
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  my loved ones that have died that the know Jesus.
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  I am so excited for it. And so I echo here this call.
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  I long for your salvation, Lord. And then here your instruction
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  is my delight. I want to find joy in the word
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  of God. I don't ever want to do
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  Tabernacle talk just because OK, well, I said it's on weekdays
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  and so I guess I got to do it. No, I I want to be excited about
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  it. I want to delight in the Word of
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  God. Verse 175.
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  This has been just a very consistent phrase that the
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  psalmist just said, Let me live and I will praise you.
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  May your judgments help me. I see here at the end of verse
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  175. May your judgments help me.
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  Many times we fear the judgment of God.
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  We don't want God to judge us. But when we are walking with
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  God, God's judgments are not scary.
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  They're not something that we want to avoid.
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  When we're walking with God, His judgments mean that those that
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  aren't walking with the Lord are stopped and it is for our good.
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  Can I ask you right now, would you want God to bring justice
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  into your life or would you say no?
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  If God brought justice into my life right now, I would be
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  judged for a lot of things that I'm doing or that I'm saying or
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  that I'm participating in. And I think for me, I want to be
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  consistently going to the Lord, like repenting of sin and
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  saying, God, I want you to bring your justice, your, your Kingdom
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  into my life. And so that means that I have to
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  not live for me, not live my way.
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  I need to live your way. I would encourage you to pray
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  that as well. God, may the way that I am
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  living mean that God's justice or his judgment being brought
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  into my life would be a good thing because it means that it's
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  not hitting me, it's hitting others.
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  And then ending with verse 176, I wander like a lost sheep.
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  You can think of. Come now, found the last verse
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  of it. Prone to wander.
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  Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
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  Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it.
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  Seal it for thy courts above. So here we can all wander.
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  We are told all of us, like sheep have gone astray.
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  We've turned every one of us to our own way, and yet the Lord
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  has laid on Jesus the iniquity, the sin of us all.
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  And so because Jesus was punished for our sin, for our
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  wandering, now we can be reconciled to God.
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  The end of verse 176. Seek your servant, for I do not
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  forget your commands, God, even when I am where I shouldn't be,
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  would you pursue me? I can think of Psalm 23 as well.
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  Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my
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  life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
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  Wow, 22 episodes, 22 sections of Psalm 119 are now done.
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  I don't even know what I'm going to do now that I just get to
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  say, OK, this is Psalm 120 and just go right in after 176 verse
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  Psalm that we just completed. Next episode is only 7 verses.
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  So I'm excited for it, looking forward to it and it'll be a
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  great time together. Thanks for tuning in.
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  See you next time.