Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240306 - Feet on the floor, eyes on the Lord - Psalm 5

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#20240306 - Feet on the floor, eyes on the Lord - Psalm 5 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word, recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co To learn more about the many resources
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available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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All right. Well, I want to welcome again
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those listening on Grace FM as well as those watching online.
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My name is Pastor Micah Clay Camp.
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You guys might recognize my dad. He normally is up here a lot.
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Bob Clay Camp. Some of you guys might not know
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that we're related, but I'm just letting you guys know that if
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you guys want tonight, turn your Bibles to Psalm Chapter 5.
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All right. So Psalm Chapter 5, you know,
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it's one of those things. As I was preparing and thinking
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and, you know, just praying and asking the Lord what to to speak
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on, Lord really directed me to this in one of the devotions
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that I did. You know, so Psalm Chapter 5 is
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a prayer of David when he's exposed to danger by evils, evil
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people in his life, evil enemies.
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And so often when we face difficulties in our lives, when
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those enemies come upon us, this we see in this Psalm.
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This Psalm is basically a a prayer.
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And So what I find really neat about this is Psalm Chapter 4,
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the ending of Psalm Chapter 4 says in peace I will lie down
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and sleep for you alone. Oh Lord, keep me safe.
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So Psalm chapter 4 is a Psalm of the evening and Psalm chapter 5
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is a Psalm of the morning. And so as we jump in to this,
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we'll see if you guys are taking notes.
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The outline that I'm going to give you is the first first
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verses chapter. Chapter 5, verses one through 3,
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is David's prayer to the Lord. Verses 4 through 7 is David's
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confidence in the Lord and then verses 8 through 12 David's
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guidance by the Lord. So with that let's open up with
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the word of prayer. So Lord, we just we thank you,
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God, as we get an opportunity to get into your word.
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We know God, that you so often Lord, are just ready to to open
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up our hearts to receive the things you say, God.
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And so, Lord, as we come, expectant as we come, with our
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hearts open, Lord, we ask God that you would do what only you
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can do, that you would touch the deep areas in our lives, God,
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that you would enlighten our hearts to see and understand the
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things of the Spirit. And we pray, Lord, that you
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would not only cause us to know things, but to grow in the
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things that you've spoken to us. Lord.
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So we lift this night up to you. We ask God a blessing upon it.
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In Jesus name. Amen.
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So jumping into verses one through 3 David's prayer to the
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Lord. Now this is going to be a famous
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Psalm, one that you guys, we've also sung the song Give ear to
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my words, O Lord, it's a Psalm. That was a song that was written
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in the 70s, but it's a song that you probably heard.
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We'll probably sing that at the end of service as well.
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But jumping into the what scripture says in verse one, it
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says give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
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Give heed to the voice of my cry, my king and my God, for to
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you I will pray and my voice you shall hear in the morning, oh
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Lord, in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will
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look up. You know, as I see three things
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that stand out three ways that prayer is described in the first
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couple verses. We see words, we see meditation
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and we see crying words, things that come from my mouth.
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We see meditation, things that come from my heart and a crying
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things that come from my life. Now as we're looking at David's
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life and as David starts out, this thing really that's kind of
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what prayers about prayer really comes from those kind of
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workings in our lives, the things that God is doing behind
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the scenes. And so often I think it's
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interesting as we were looking at the at the prayer points that
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when David was experiencing difficulty in his enemy from
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from his enemies. It was in those times that that
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God used to to bring this prayer about.
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And how often in our lives does God use difficulty or hardship
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or maybe you know, times of of of it being very uncomfortable
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where he brings us to a place where we find ourselves praying
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more. I know that's been true in my
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life and I'm sure it's been true in yours.
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But the cool thing is God is always working behind the scenes
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as in our lives bringing us to places of deeper fellowship and
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intimacy with Him. So as we begin to look at this,
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we see the words, the meditation and the crying found in verse
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one and two. Now in verse 3, David says, my
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voice you shall hear in the morning.
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Now this is where I get the the message title Here, feet on the
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floor, eyes on the Lord. And it looks like the things got
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changed a little bit, but that's what it's supposed to be.
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In the background, feet on the floor, eyes on the Lord.
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Looks like the IT got expanded a little bit farther.
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But the idea behind that was was a phrase that God had given me a
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while back and in my own and in my own life when I'm laying in
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bed when the alarm goes off, you know we've we start our day.
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But the key thing in that is Lord, I want to have my feet on
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the floor but I want to have my eyes on the Lord.
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Because so often what we face in life, especially in the morning
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is your ears and your eyes are the most open they're they're
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your your mind is ready to be filled.
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But who or what gets your attention in the morning?
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And this is the challenge for all of us, because we got that
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little phone that sits over to the side of our bed, that it's
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just so natural for us to reach over and grab and flip open
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Facebook or check the news or jump on whatever it might be.
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And we'll find ourselves, if we're not careful, that we just,
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we lose that time with the Lord because all of a sudden our day
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gets busy and then we think, oh man, I got to rush off to work.
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Or or maybe we're in a routine in our lives where our routine
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isn't established with thinking, wow, meeting with the Lord in
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the morning, David said here, I love this, he says.
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In the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up.
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Prayer needs to be directed and prayer needs to be expected as
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we think about the times of the Lord that that God gets our
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attention in the morning. God wants that time with us.
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He doesn't want us to get so busy and caught up in in our
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schedule that we forget that. What if the Lord has a divine
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appointment for you today and he just wants you prepared for what
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God has for you? And sometimes it's in the
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morning that God might get our attention to bring us to a place
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of deeper intimacy with Him. You know, I I find that as I
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would think about this in the morning, David says I will
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direct it to you. I want you to think about this.
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David is making that statement of faith.
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Lord, I know that the morning for all of us, some people are
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mourning people, some people aren't.
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And again, besides that. I look at the Psalm and I see
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what David said in the morning. He says I will direct it to you.
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It's almost like he's making this decision in his heart.
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Lord, I don't care what's going on when I get up, I'm going to
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make a decision to look to you. And not only that, it says I
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will look up, you know, too often in times we can easily
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look, as Pastor Ed had said, going through the study of of
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Exodus, what did Moses do? Moses looked to the right and he
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looked to the left, but he didn't look up.
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And when we're dealing with decisions in our lives, when
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we're facing things in our lives, when we're just dealing
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with lice, so often those distractions would just want us
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to be able to look to the right or to the left.
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And they would cause us to make a quick decision or to do
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something rationally. And yet or maybe irrationally,
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we just, we got to do something. And so we find ourselves just
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caught up in the moment. But I like this how David just
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says, you know, this is what I'm going to do.
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I'm going to, I'm going to look up and I'm going to direct my
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attention towards you because Lord, you deserve my prakes.
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You deserve the depths of who I am.
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And so before anything else gets gets crazy in my life, before my
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feet hit the floor, I want my eyes to be on the Lord and what
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God has in store for me. So #1 David's prayer in the
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Lord. Now we see verses 4 through 7
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David's confidence in the Lord and says, for you are not a God
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who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell
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with you. The boastful shall not stand in
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your sight. It says you hate all workers of
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iniquity. You shall destroy those who
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speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty
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and deceitful man. But As for me, I will come into
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your house in the multitude of your mercy, and in fear of you I
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will worship towards your holy temple.
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You know how often as we quiet our hearts before the Lord, as
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we think about meeting with the Lord in the morning, as we as we
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set our hearts to meet with God and to come into the presence of
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the Lord, we are often brought face to face with the reality of
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His awesomeness and His Holiness.
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But as we're brought into this place of prayer, into the
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presence of the Lord, we're also we also have to deal with the
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reality of our sinfulness, because it's like we're walking
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into the light of His presence, and when we walk into the light
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of His presence, things get exposed.
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And yet the amazing thing is that you can take that one of
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two ways. We can run in shame or we can
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say, God, I I look at my life and what you've done in me, and
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now I can walk in boldness and the reason why.
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Let me explain this to you. When Isaiah chapter 6, it says
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it was in the year the King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord.
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He was sitting in a lofty throne, and the train of his
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robe filled the temple. Attending him were mighty
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Seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered
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their faces, With two they covered their feet.
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And with two they flew and they were calling out to each other.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's armies.
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The whole earth is filled with his glory now.
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It's weird. You spend time in the presence
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of the Lord, it's going to change you.
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OK? In Isaiah's case, and his and
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his vision that that that he was in, it changed him.
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It brought him to the place of just and in awe.
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And so it's amazing that it goes on and it says Their voices
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shook the temple to its foundation.
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The entire building was filled with smoke.
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Then I said, it's all over and I am doomed.
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For I am a sinful man and I have filthy lips, and I live among
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people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the
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Lord of Heavens armies. Then one of the Seraphim flew to
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me with a with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a
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pair of tongs, and he touched my lips with it.
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And he said, see this coal has touched your lips.
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Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven.
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Isaiah was impacted by the awesomeness of God's presence,
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but also the reality of his, of his sinfulness.
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That happens to us as well. And what are we to do?
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Well, we can do nothing, but we have to come face to face with
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the reality that Jesus has done everything.
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Hebrews chapter 4 verses 4 through 16 tells us this.
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It says seeing then that we have a great high priest who has
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passed through heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
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Let us hold fast to our confession.
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For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
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weakness, but one who was in all points tempted as we are yet
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without sin. So let us therefore come boldly
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into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
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grace to help in time of need. Two things that stand out here
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in this We're to hold fast. We're to hold fast to what?
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Hold fast to our confession. Hold fast to your belief.
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When you come into the presence of of God, you're #1.
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You're holding fast to what you believe. #2 you're you're to
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come boldly. The apostle or the writer to the
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Hebrews tells us this, that we're to come boldly into God's
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presence. We're to come boldly into that
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place, that throne of grace, because we're going to find
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mercy there, and we're going to find grace to help us in time of
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need. But so often we don't feel like
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coming into the presence of of God because we see our
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sinfulness when we come into the presence of God, like things are
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exposed in our lives. But God says that's exactly when
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the time you need to come, because that's your time of
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need. And for some of us, we get to
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this place where we got to just say, you know what?
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I can't trust my feelings. I can't trust how I'm feeling
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right now. I got to trust through faith to
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hold to my confession that my life has been forgiven, my sin
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has been forgiven, and my father says come, come into the throne
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of grace that you may experience help in time of need.
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That's a step of faith. But so often the Lord causes us
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to take steps of faith in our lives because the Bible says
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without faith it's impossible to please Him, for anyone who comes
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to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of
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those who diligently seek him. Could it be that God wants to
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reward you and but He's calling you to take steps of faith
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towards Him? These are challenging things,
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but we have to understand as God begins to speak to our hearts on
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things, he's not just saying I'm giving you information that's a
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that's a great idea. He's saying, no, I'm giving you
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information because it's it's transformating arts.
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It will transform your life if you put it into practice.
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So we hold fast and we come boldly into the presence of the
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Lord, David says in verse seven. He says.
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But As for me again, David, David calling this out on
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himself, This is what I'm going to do, Lord, As for me, I will
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come into your house in the multitude of your mercy, and in
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fear of you I will worship towards your holy temple.
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Now I underline this passage in my Bible, the multitude of your
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mercy, because I think about this when we deserve punishment,
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he doesn't punish us. In fact, he blesses us instead.
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Mercy is the withholding of a great or just condemnation that
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is due. I like to think of multitudes of
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mercies like spiritual M&M's, you know?
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So I got myself a bag of M&M's and I brought them up here.
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When you, when you open up a bag of M&M's and you drop them down,
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you just get a multitude of goodness.
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Like if I was to pour those things out, they just, they
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would overflow in my hand and they would fall on the ground.
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And that's kind of how God's mercy is.
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It's a multitude. And here I got the I got the
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family size. And so I'm even thinking about
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this. Maybe in your family you need to
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pour out the multitude of God's mercies upon your family.
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You need to share how God has been merciful in your family,
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what God has done, what type of things the Lord has come through
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that has just shown his faithfulness.
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I like these corny illustrations because these help me remember
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as I'm sitting in the checkout line as I look over oh M and Ms.
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Oh yeah, multitudes of mercies. Oh yeah, God's been good.
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And so those little corny things are held.
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They help me so often and just my my Christian walk because
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they just remind me of who God is.
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And we just see those little Nuggets of information sometimes
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in our lives that just pull us out of our day, that cause us to
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to something snaps and it brings us back to that place of
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remembering who we are in God's sight, how God loves us, what
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God has done in US and through us and His purpose for our
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lives. Bible says in Psalm 103 one
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through 4. It says bless the Lord O my soul
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and all that is within me. Bless His holy name, bless the
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Lord O my soul and forget not his benefits.
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Again, we're talking about the mercies of God.
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Who forgives your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases?
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Who redeems your life from the pits?
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Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy?
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We need to begin to highlight these things in our Bibles.
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We need to begin to write these things in our houses, put
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reminders on our Fridge of the multitude of God's mercies in
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our lives. Because when we forget what God
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has done for us, we get caught up in our own lives.
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And when we get caught up in our own lives, we get our eyes off
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the Lord. And when we get our eyes off the
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Lord, we get ourselves into trouble.
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And so just in it just just kind of a reminder in that it goes on
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and it says, I think about this because of his love for us, God
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wants us to be with Him, and his mercy is required for that to
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take place. There is an inseparable
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connection between God's love and God's mercy.
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Jesus laid down his life and became the sacrificial lamb so
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that God's mercy could be extended to us.
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Instead of punishing us for our sin, God allowed His Son to take
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the condemnation in our place. That is the ultimate act of
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God's mercy, Ephesians tells us. But God, being rich in mercy
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because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we
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were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
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By grace You have been saved. So good, so good.
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So how did David have so much confidence in the Lord?
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It's because he spent time with the Lord.
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And so jumping into the Third Point, David David's guidance by
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the Lord. This is verse 8 through 12.
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It says, Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my
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enemies, make your way straight before my face, for there is no
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faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is
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destruction. Their throat is an open tomb.
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They flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God,
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and let them fall by their own counsels.
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But let all who rejoice in you put their trust in you.
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Let them ever shout for joy because you defend them.
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And let those also who love your name be joyful in you.
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For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous, and with favor you
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will surround him as with his shield.
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So coming back to verse eight, it says Lead me, O Lord, David
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says lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of My
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enemies. David also wrote Psalm 23.
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Psalm 23 is that Psalm of Jesus being the Good Shepherd.
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Psalm 23. David understood what being a
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shepherd was all about, but because before he was king he
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was a shepherd, he understood what it was like to walk with
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sheep, to lead sheep, to guide sheep.
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He understood how sheep functioned.
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He understood their needs. And as he pens that under the
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inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I just find it so amazing how it
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parallels our own Christian lives as we ask Jesus to be our
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Good Shepherd. As Jesus begins to work into our
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lives, as he says, hey, come follow me because my sheep hear
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my voice. And David, as he begins to going
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through this as we're as we're going to read it, says the Lord
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is my shepherd. I shall not want or basically I
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have all that I need. New Living Translation says.
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It says he makes me to lie down in green pastures.
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Sometimes the Lord needs to get our attention and just causes us
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to stop. We can be so easily running
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around after so many other things.
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And the Lord just says I need you to just rest.
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I know what's best for you. I want to lead your life.
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I want to guide your life. But let me tell you right now,
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you just need to stop. He makes me lie down in green
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pastures. It says He leads me beside the
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still waters. This is amazing thing when the
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Lord is your shepherd. He knows what you need.
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But not only does He know what you need, He will lead you to
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those places in life that are going to bring fulfillment and
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satisfaction. When Jesus is not your shepherd,
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when you're a rogue sheep, you do what you want.
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You run and do the things you want, but you suffer the
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consequences. And the amazing thing that we
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find in this world as God gives people freedom to do what they
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want. He is always calling and
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reaching out towards people that they would understand who God is
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and how much he loves them. But he also gives freedom to
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people to make choices. And how I find it so often that
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people in their freedom, when they choose to push God away and
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do what they want, they suffer the consequences for their bad
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decisions. But it always comes back to them
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blaming God. They blame God for the freedom
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that God gave them. And yet because of the
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consequences they suffered, it doesn't make any sense.
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But that's typically what happens.
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But the Lord also is a God who is ready to meet that person in
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a place of repentance, because the Lord will always point them
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back to his son and what Jesus has done for them.
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And the Lord will always bring that person back to the place of
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saying, I want you to come close in fellowship with me.
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And this is really what Psalm 23 is all about.
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It says he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's
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sake. Yeah, though I walk through the
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valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
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Now that's a hard verse sometimes to contemplate and to
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ponder. And maybe today you were in the
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valley of the shadow of death. Maybe your life just stinks.
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Maybe you're in a place you don't want to be.
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But if we're looking at the context of Psalm 23, the valley
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of the shadow of death is where the sheep is at in that moment.
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How did that sheep get to that place?
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He was led there. He wasn't disobedient.
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He didn't bail on the Lord. He was led there.
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But understand what it says as it continues on.
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It says, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the of the
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shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
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For you are with me. And this becomes the beautiful
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picture in our Christian life, that when whatever we face in
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our lives, the circumstances, whether they be good or whether
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they be the valley of the shadow of death, My life is not to
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focus on the circumstance, but it's to focus on the shepherd.
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Because it's in focusing on the shepherd that I have peace.
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It's in focusing on the shepherd that I can get through it.
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I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
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So often our lives are so encumbered by fear or can be
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just wracked with fear when we just take our eyes off the
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shepherd and we put our eyes on circumstances.
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And we're not denying that circumstances aren't difficult.
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We're not denying that circumstances aren't hard and
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that they exist. But so often they take the wrong
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place in the believer's life, They grab the attention that the
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Savior is due. Does that make sense?
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And so we we have to understand that the Lord is with us in the
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midst of our difficulty. It says you're rod and your
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staff. They comfort me, and verse 5
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tells us this. It says you prepare a table
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before me in the presence of my enemies.
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And I love this picture. We have a book down in the
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bookstore that Leo Giglio wrote. For those of you guys who who
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haven't read it, you got to get it and you got to read it
25:50
because it's a picture of this. There are enemies that surround
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us all over. We have enemies in our lives.
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We have people seeking our destruction.
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We deal with difficulties in our lives.
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But according to this passage in verse 5, you prepare a table.
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It's almost like God just says, hey, you know, come and eat.
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I'm setting up a table here. I know there's a bunch of stuff
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going on around you, but I want you to take your eyes off what's
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going on around you. And I want you to focus on me.
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And when Jesus sits down and prepares that table, it's all
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about intimacy. It's all about personal
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relationship. It's like, let's have a
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conversation, let's talk. But yeah, Lord, what about all
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this other stuff? He doesn't bring that stuff up.
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He doesn't. He doesn't say that it doesn't
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exist, but he says that's not important.
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And maybe in your life that's become too important.
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Those things that are around you and the Lord is calling you back
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into an intimate intimacy and fellowship at the table with
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him. Maybe he just wants to speak to
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you in the midst of what you're going through because he has
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words for you. We we sometimes we don't
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understand until we just allow the Lord to do what he wants to
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do in our lives. Everyone's story's different,
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but Jesus still has the same purpose for everyone and that's
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fellow fellowship and intimacy and he wants to be close with
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you. Verse 8 of chapter 5 and of
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Psalm 5 says, lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of
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my enemies, and make your way straight before my face.
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See, because God is righteous and the enemies that surrounded
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David in his life were wicked, David's desire was to follow the
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path of right conduct with the Lord.
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His desire was to please the Lord.
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So many psalms that David wrote. David wrote 73 of the 150 Psalms
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and so often in those Psalms. What I love about David is I
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love his, how he's just so raw and he's just so real with the
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Lord, and he's just so honest. And when you're facing
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difficulty in your life, sometimes you just need to be
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that with the Lord real open and honest.
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He already knows it, and yet just be real, open and honest
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with him. That's what David was.
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And yet he's saying, God, I want my way to be straight before
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your face. I wanna choose to walk in the
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way that's pleasing towards you. Because there there are enemies
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around that aren't doing that. They're doing quite the
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opposite, David said in Psalm 19105.
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It says your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my
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past. Your word, God, I choose to
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follow your word. I choose to walk in the
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direction of your light. I choose to be in your light,
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not in darkness, and oh how good it is to walk in the light of
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the Lord, oh how good it is. Verses 9 through 10 is a
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description and a destiny of the wicked described.
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And Dave is like, I don't want to walk in that way, but he's
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going to describe it for us anyway.
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He says in verse nine. It says, for there is no
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faithfulness in their mouths, basically these enemies, they
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can't be trusted. Their inward part is
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destruction. The heart of these enemies,
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their plans, they're going to fail their their throat is an
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open grave or an open tomb. The words that enemies would
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have, those that are hostile towards the things of God,
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they're going to lead to death. They flatter with their tongue.
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They're just involved to butter you up.
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And the Lord and it says, pronounce them guilty of God,
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let them fall by their own councils.
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David felt the sting and pain of these enemies in his life.
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We see many times in David's life talking throughout the
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Psalms or in stories in Samuel about those people that were in
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David's life who had stabbed him in the back, family members who
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had gone astray, All these difficulties and hardships and
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people that once followed the Lord running from him.
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David's enemies. It kind of reminds me of our
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enemy, the enemy of our soul, Satan John, chapter 8, verse 40
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Fours. It says you are of your father,
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the devil and the desire of your father you want to do.
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He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in
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the truth because there is no truth in him.
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When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he
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is a liar and the father of it. In John 1010, it says the thief
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does not come except to kill, to steal and to destroy.
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But I have come that they may have life and they may have it
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more abundantly. Satan has a price.
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There's a price on our head. There's a target on our back,
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but the enemy in our lives doesn't want us to succeed.
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He wants us to fail. He wants to kill, to steal and
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to destroy. And he will use the things of
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this world to do that. He will use the temptations of
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this world to do that. He will use the lurings of this
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world to do that. And yet, God would say, child,
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just keep your eyes on me. Keep your heart on me.
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Remember that fellowship that we're having at this table in
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the midst of all the craziness that's going around.
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Don't take your eyes off me. Listen.
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Let me speak into your life. Let me, let me be your Good
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Shepherd. Let me lead you where truly you
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desire to be. David goes on in verse 11 and
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12. He begins to describe the
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description and the destiny of the righteous.
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But let all who rejoice, who put their trust in you.
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Let them ever shout for joy because you defend them, And let
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those who love your name be joyful in you.
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You know the righteous. The righteous aren't made
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righteous by their words. Their righteousness is by those
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who trust in the Lord and who love his name.
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Their righteousness is evident in their words, and they
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rejoice, and they shout for joy, for they are joyful in the Lord.
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This so reminds me of Proverbs 35 and Six that we are called to
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trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, to lean not on our
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own understandings in all of our ways.
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Acknowledge Him and He shall direct our paths as believers.
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That verse is not that verse is not optional, it's it's
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mandatory. If you meet a believer who
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doesn't trust in the Lord, it doesn't make any sense.
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Now you may have bouts of of doubt in your life, that's
33:43
understandable. But the reason why a believer is
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called to trust the Lord because that's expected.
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Somebody who doesn't trust the Lord could be very well somebody
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who doesn't know the Lord. Now those are harsh words.
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Pastor Chuck even said that I I caught that the other day and I
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was like wow, I said why is that?
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Because God is faithful. And if you if we are always
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called to trust in a God who is faithful because he's credible.
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And so when he looks at our lives and we go through
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something in life that we don't understand, He still tells us to
34:24
trust Him. Because we're called to look on
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God's faithfulness, He's always faithful.
34:31
He We're called in our own lives to look back at the faithfulness
34:36
of God in our lives. Scripture is littered with God's
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faithfulness of him being a trustworthy God.
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So if the excuse in a person's life is, well, I just can't
34:49
trust God, I really question that because the Lord has
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brought us to this place as believers where we should be
34:57
able to trust God. And it's entrusting God that our
35:00
faith is secure and it's entrusting God that our
35:03
foundation is laid. And it's entrusting God that we
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will spend eternity with now. And that is what God wants us to
35:11
hold on to because he is faithful.
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Absolutely. This is so cool.
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You think about this. God has called us in this race,
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this race of faith, that is, we run in this race of faith.
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We are to lay aside the weights and the sins that so easily
35:32
entangle us, as Hebrews says, and we're to run with endurance
35:37
the race that is set before us. God gives us freedom and what to
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wear in that race, but not everything that we put on is
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really going to help us in that race.
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And you may even be the person that fights God on that.
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Well, God, I just want to do what I want to do.
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OK, fine. Wear your mountain boots in your
35:58
race and let me know how Mild 2 goes.
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You know, it's just sometimes we're like that with the Lord.
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Like you're being real and honest with them, but you're
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really just being defiant with them.
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You're not willing to let go of those things in your life that
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the Lord is putting a finger on because you just like them.
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But just because you like them doesn't mean that the Lord likes
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them. It really is a personal decision
36:22
in your lives. You have to think about the
36:24
direction that the Lord is taking you.
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We so are often caught up in the moments of life, and we forget
36:32
about our destination. Colossians chapter 3, The
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Apostle Paul tells us to set our minds on the things above, not
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on the things on earth. He tells us that we're to be
36:45
looking towards those things because where we set our eyes is
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the direction that we're going to be moving in.
36:51
You know, this life is here and it's going to be gone, and we're
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running a race for the things of the Lord.
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And Jesus is the author. He's the start and he's the
37:00
finisher of your faith. And that's the thing that we
37:04
look forward to, that no matter where you're at in this life,
37:07
man, the Lord is not done with you.
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God is still in control. He still wants to use your life
37:13
if you've been saved 5 minutes or 50 years.
37:16
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his
37:20
good pleasure. God is ready to use your life
37:23
right now because it's not about you, it's about him, and it's
37:28
about him working through your lives.
37:31
To the person that says, oh thank God, thank God for my
37:35
salvation, see you in heaven. Some people live their life that
37:39
way. They think God saved them and
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it's just ready to put them on a shelf and he's ready to see them
37:44
someday in eternity. That is the most ridiculous
37:48
thing I've ever heard. Because that's not God's heart.
37:53
It doesn't matter 5 minutes or 50 years.
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God wants to work in your life because he is a God who works in
38:01
people's lives. He saved you for a purpose.
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He saved you for a reason. He saved you for his glory to be
38:08
shown in and through your life. Well, Gee, God, I don't know
38:11
very much. That's OK.
38:12
God knows everything. All he wants to do is fill you
38:16
to spill you, OK? He wants to pour into your life
38:19
so that what comes out of your life isn't more of you, but it's
38:23
more of Him. He wants people to see his
38:26
feeling in your life so that they see the reality of not you
38:29
but him. This is the amazing thing of the
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like of the God that we serve. Why would he choose to do that?
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And and and me. Why would he choose to do that
38:38
in you? Because that is, that is what
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brings him glory. That is what a changed life
38:46
looks like. And so I just want to encourage
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you guys as we've gone through Psalm Chapter 5, entering into
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now verse 12. For you, O Lord, will bless the
38:57
righteous with favor. You surround them with the
39:00
shield. The greatest blessing in your
39:04
life is to have the favor of God.
39:10
How do you get the favor of God? You receive the forgiveness of
39:15
God. You receive the promises of God,
39:19
that that if we we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we
39:26
could believe in our heart. That if God has raised him from
39:30
the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes
39:35
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
39:40
salvation. If you don't know the Lord here
39:45
tonight, tonight would be a great opportunity for you to do
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so. To come into the family of God,
39:51
to understand what forgiveness is all about, to understand who
39:55
this Good Shepherd is that so often desires to lead your life,
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to so often desires. To show you what true life is
40:04
all about. Psalm, Chapter 5.
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We see David's prayer to the Lord, we see David's confidence
40:15
in the Lord, and we see David's, David's guidance by the Lord
40:22
because of his relationship with the Lord.
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So if there's anybody here today that would like to give their
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life to the Lord that God's been stirring on your heart, now
40:35
would be the time that's you. Just raise your hand.
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You'd be our pastors here that would come alongside you.
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But again, God is always working.
40:44
He's working behind the scenes. He's doing things in our lives
40:47
that we don't always understand, that preparation of the Lord in
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our lives to bring us to a place of understanding.
40:55
Man got something in my life has to change, and it's not about me
40:59
changing it. Something greater than me has to
41:02
do that. God's speaking to you, your
41:06
heart, in that He's just letting you know that only God is able
41:10
to do that. He's able to fill the depth or
41:13
the darkness or the hole in your heart that you so often tried to
41:16
fill in your own life with other things.
41:20
And God is bringing you to that place of realizing that that can
41:23
only be filled with him. Oh, he loves you so much.
41:29
He'll give you freedom. He'll let you do what you want,
41:32
but he doesn't want you running laps and lights.
41:34
He doesn't want you running laps and always coming back to that
41:37
same place. Because every time you come back
41:40
to that same place, you're a little more broken, you're a
41:44
little more bruised, you're a little more in pain.
41:48
And God understands that because he took your pain upon himself
41:53
on the cross. He died on the cross for your
41:56
sin, that you might understand what real freedom is.
42:00
Jesus did the Great Switcheroo. He took your sin for his
42:04
righteousness. And he says, you may understand
42:08
that if you just accept it. And we can only accept the
42:15
things of the Lord as we reach out for them.
42:21
If you had your car keys and you handed it in somebody and said,
42:24
hey, here, here's here's my car, they could say, OK, yeah, I
42:26
understand. You know, I'm looking at your
42:28
keys. They only become yours when you
42:30
reach out and take them. And that's exactly what Jesus
42:34
asked us to do. For those of us who don't know
42:37
what a relationship with God is, it's simply that you're just
42:40
reaching out and you're taking the forgiveness of the Lord.
42:43
God will always bring you to a place in your life of
42:46
desperation. First, He'll bring you to a
42:48
place of desperation where you will see your sinfulness.
42:52
You'll see who you are in light of being in the presence of the
42:55
Lord. But yet God says, OK, I still
42:58
accept you because I want to clothe you with my
43:02
righteousness. I want you to understand that
43:04
what I have for you is what you can't give for yourself.
43:08
I want to give you a future and a hope.
43:10
I want to secure your destiny. I want to give you all the
43:13
things in your life that you are trying to find but you will
43:17
never find outside of me. God loves us so much.
43:31
Father. God, we just thank you, Lord.
43:33
Just thank you for your goodness.
43:35
Thank you for your grace. Thank you for the way that you
43:38
pour out yourself upon us. God.
43:42
Lord, you wish that none would perish, but that all would come
43:45
to repentance. Lord, work in the lives and the
43:49
hearts deep down in the areas in our lives that we realize
43:53
something's got to change, Lord. But we haven't taken that step
43:56
of faith. Holy Spirit continue to do that
43:59
work in those people's lives. Whether they hear me on the
44:02
radio, whether, whether God, they're just contemplating the
44:05
things later on. God the The thing is, Lord, you
44:09
desire to see lives changed because you're a God who changed
44:13
his life. Lord, you love us where we are,
44:17
but you won't keep us where we are because God, you desire to
44:21
do something great in our lives. So Lord God, take those people
44:25
who think that Lord, they're they're too far gone.
44:29
Take those people who think, Lord, that God's not interested
44:32
in me, Lord, do a work even this year, Lord, in their lives,
44:36
bringing them to that place of seeing God, how great you are.
44:42
And we thank you, Lord, for the reminder that David gave us in
44:45
this prayer of just Lord in the morning, God, feet on the floor,
44:49
eyes on the Lord. That's how I want to start my
44:51
day, Father. We ask those things in Jesus
44:55
name. Amen.
44:59
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
45:01
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
45:04
For prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
45:09
That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
45:15
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
45:19
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45:27
this week.