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Confessions of a Worship Leader - Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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If you have your Bibles. Please meet me in the Book of
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Psalms chapter 73. On a personal level.
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This song has been something that's been on my heart all
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week. It seems and just recently, I'm
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hearing that, a lot of people are being drawn to this song.
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I see all the guys nodding their heads because I'm thinking that
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this is what you spoke about last night.
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The men's meeting Psalm 73 is going to be different type of
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message. We're not going to take main
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points out of this necessarily. We're just going to kind of go
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verse by verse and see what the Lord has in mind concerning this
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song, why he's given it to us. But it's very important to
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understand who here is speaking. And if you look at your Bibles,
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it says, right there in verse 1, that this is a Psalm of asaph
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asaph. Now, before we move on, we have
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to ask ourselves. Who is this person ASAP?
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Who is this individual? That is writing this song.
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And by the holy spirit's inspiration, we know that asaph
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is mentioned in other portions of scripture and you don't have
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to turn there, but there's one here in first Chronicles 25:1
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and it tells us that David and the chiefs of the service also
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set apart for the service, the sons of asaph.
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And if human and I've just showed you 'then who prophesied
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with Liars with Harps and with symbols.
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So right there, in that simple verse.
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And another verse in first Chronicles, we realize that
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asaph is a special individual. He's not just this random
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character that is writing a song that has found itself on the
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Bible. This man has been set apart.
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Who lived under the reign of King, David himself to be a
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minister and a specific type of Minister First Chronicles.
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Six tells us that he was set apart to do what to lead.
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The people of God In Worship. He was a man that was gifted by
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God to write to create Tunes with a heartbeat that gives
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glory to the Lord. This was an individual that was
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gifted to create not only with the mind but we just even read.
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who prophesied who had the ability by the spirit to create
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something and to declare something with instruments, that
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would declare the glories of God.
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If there's a title for this message, it would be this
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Confessions of a worship leader. Confessions of a worship leader,
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let us feel the way to understand that this man is a
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spiritual leader. Let us understand that this
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person has been given a Divine task.
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To minister unto God and to minister unto the people of God,
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that his life, and his days were set apart for such a purpose.
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And if there's anything else that we can add to this person
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concerning his characteristics. If there's any detail that the
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Bible has given us surely it, is found in this Psalm, surely it
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is found in this beautiful song, I'm so glad that the Bible gives
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us honest text. I'm so glad that the Bible gives
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us stories of real. People who really live for a
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real God and went through real Relations so that we can relate
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to them. And that's what asaph is
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experiencing here. If there's one thing that we can
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know about him, it is this that he has come at one point in his
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life into a crisis moment with his faith.
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That's what the song is. All about, a worship leader, who
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serve God, love God adored, God, believe God.
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But at one moment, he had a humble confession, because his
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soul went into turbulent mode. His faith was being challenged
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in such a way that as we read, we realize that if he had gone
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further, he would have crashed and burned and his relationship
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with God. And if we can sum up what this
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Soul commotion is all about. If we can sum up what Psalm 73
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really boils down to it, is this that asaph made the observation
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in his life that the Wicked, the unbelieving seem to have a
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better life than the righteous. That those who reject God mock
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God. Rebel against God.
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Seem to experience more joy. More thrill.
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Equal, if not more prosperity. Than those who have committed
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themselves to live for the Lord. And this was bugging him.
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This is tormenting him. This was challenging him.
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To really think is this whole Jesus thing worth it?
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So we read in verse 1, a Psalm of asaph.
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Look what he says here. Truly God, is good to Israel, to
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those who are pure in heart us. That's a good start.
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Because he confesses that he does have a knowledge of the
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goodness of God. This is a person who knew the
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goodness of God, who experienced the faithfulness of God, who
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wrote about the goodness of God, who sang, who taught in some
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sense. The people of God that God in
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fact is good and he's not just good.
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In general, it says here to those who are pure in heart.
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Meaning, those who have set their lives apart to honor, God
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and serve God and walk in his ways.
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Surely God is Get to them. And he knew this, he really did
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like many people in the church. That know.
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God is good, God is good. All the time all the time, God
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is good. He knew it and he sang it and
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he's not saying it sarcastically necessarily but he's about to
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admit now with that truth is another truth that he did not
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fully grasp that truth with all of his heart.
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God is good, Shirley to those who are pure in heart, but
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that's a big word. Something happens.
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But as for me, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
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My steps had nearly slipped so saying, as much as I know that
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God is good. At one point, I felt my feet
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drifting another Direction. Now notice he didn't say, my
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feet had slipped isn't say, I did stumble.
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He said nearly, he said almost And so, he's inviting us into
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what was going on into his heart.
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At one point that I'll do for a moment for a long moment, he was
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walking with god with both feet planted on the Narrow Path,
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walking with him day by day, serving him, he began to feel
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the right foot Magnetize towards the world and say you know what,
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maybe I can do this thing with one foot in the world and one
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foot in God, or maybe he felt both feet, wanting to just stop
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walking forward and perhaps just turn around all together and do
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what. Let me just get a little bit of
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this world and get out long enough and maybe just walk back
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with God again. Or perhaps he was fully
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convinced. You know what, I don't even know
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if I want to walk this walk anymore.
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I'm tired. I'm doing a pros and cons list
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of my mind right now. I'm leading worship every
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Sunday, but I'm seeing something else with the people around me
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that are doing other things throughout the week and it seems
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like this is a really worth it. So why don't I just walk out on
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this whole thing completely? And we don't know how long that
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this man has been going with this stop paddle.
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We don't know how much he was really thinking this or how long
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rather but it proves something to us, doesn't it all pay
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attention to this truth? It proves something to us that
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even faithful truth believing devoted followers of God.
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And dare, I say even spiritual leaders and faithful
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communities. Can sometimes feel like they
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want to give up. And this person was tempted to
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walk into a different direction. and if we're honest with
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ourselves, maybe at one point you and I have been tempted with
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that thought. At one point, maybe for
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different reasons. Maybe not for this reason but
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for different reasons maybe like Elijah you felt like you were
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all alone in your pursuit of faithfulness.
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Here I am God. I'm the only Prophet here in
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Israel that standing for you and I have a bounty on my head.
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What's going on? Take my life now.
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No. Okay, Jeremiah.
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Here, I am serving you serving you serving you.
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My friends are making fun of me. They think I'm holier than now.
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Think I'm taking this too seriously.
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Take me out, God. Or maybe just like ASA, you've
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come to the conclusion. I won't point in your thinking
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that the really is no benefit. To living for God.
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There's no advantage. Because when I compare my life,
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as a righteous man, in Christ to those who willfully disobey and
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walk away from relationship with him, it seems like I'm paying a
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higher price than they are. It seems like there's more
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blessing for them and there's more reproach for me.
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It seems like people are walking a war where I'm walking and
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rebuke, people are walking and prosperity.
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And here I am in doing persecution.
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And here I am trying to sacrifice and there's the world
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living in self-gratification. Have you been there?
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If so, take heart. Because this is a hopeful text
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for us. He says, in verse 3 for I was
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envious of the Arrogant. This is why he almost slipped
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when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
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So you know what was happening to ASAP again?
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We don't know that the period of time he was in during this, but
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we can imagine when he was going through, there he is, looking at
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the world, looking at his relatives, looking at his
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friends that he knew in high school and college.
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Now, he looks at his life. It looks back.
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He sees their businesses prospering.
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He sees that they're making memories with their families.
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He sees the joy that they are clearly displaying.
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He looks back at his life. He goes on Facebook.
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He goes on Instagram, he checks out Snapchat, and he sees the
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stories and he sees the laughs, and the memories and he looks at
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his account and looks at his life.
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And then throughout that time, something begins to ruin his
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heart. Angie.
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Envy a mixture of emotion, a mixture of discontentment and
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resentfulness towards those who seem to have an advantage that
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he himself, could not have in his own life because of his
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dedication to God. So what does he do?
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He feels like he's missing out. He feels like again.
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There's no, this, there's no advantage to this.
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I really can't find how many different than the world.
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I really can't find why obeying God does produce a greater sense
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of life. When those who seem to
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completely, not just disobey God of a mock, God seemed to be just
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Okay. What did a safe?
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See what were the things that he observed over the things that he
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calculated throughout his life. Well, verse for down tells us
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For they have no pangs until death.
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Their bodies are flattened fat and sleek.
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And he and this language fat and Sleek means your prosperous, you
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were healthy. You were whole you were well and
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so what is he observing? I see that the wicked are going
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through life and it seems like nothing is afflicting them.
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That there's no disease falling upon them that there's no plague
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coming in their life. It just seems like everything is
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fine. And here are some Christians
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that are Faithfully serving God and they're burning with cancer.
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Here's some people that have set it apart in their minds and
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hearts to live for the glory of God.
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And their health is betraying them day by day and hear the
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wicked living in perfect health, until their dying breath.
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How can this be? And not only that, but a sub
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Shirley had observed. If you have a different
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transition, you'll notice that talks about how they have no
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pain in death. That when they come even to the
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point of death, there seems to be no anxiety of the wicked.
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There seems to be no fear. There seems to be no worry of
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the unknown, when it comes to the afterlife, they seem to slip
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right into death and everything seems to be just okay?
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He, surely has made that observation more than once and
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it bothered him. How is it that they don't have
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hope for the next life and they can die with such ease.
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How they can land their deathbed and not Wonder cry out.
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Do not assume that every person who is outside of Faith dies in
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a panic. I remember one time being at a
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wedding and I bumped into an individual that didn't know very
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well, but I knew enough of him to know that he did not love
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God. In fact, he blasphemed God He
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was a wealthy individual, he had money, he had jewelry.
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I before meeting this person, I had heard from another person
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that he had gotten really, really sick.
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I mean, very sick. And so when I saw this person at
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the wedding, we began to converse and catch up.
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And I had brought up the point that I heard that you were
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really ill. I won't point that you're still
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almost recovering and he said, yeah, he began to describe how
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it just happened. All for a sudden where this
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disease has struck in him and he had lost all this weight and
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bleeding, and all these different things, and he's in
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the hospital for weeks and months and huge show me even the
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pictures on his phone of things that I don't even describe this
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morning. And talking this person, I know
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where he stands with God, and I thought to myself, as he's
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explaining it. Wow.
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Lord. You're So merciful that you're
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wounded. This person to surely wake him
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up and help him realize that life is short.
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That your house, your car is your jewelry means nothing.
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And so letting him speak. Let him speak.
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I finally wanted to ask him because he had brought up the
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point that he had almost died. They had come to the place of
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death. Death's door was right there one
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night in his hospital bed. And I was excited when he
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brought that up because I wanted to bring up the point.
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That there's hope in death, that you don't have to fear death,
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that you don't have to worry about what's gonna happen when
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you die, if you have Christ. And so I brought up the
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question, Were you afraid? Did you have this sense of the
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unknown? Especially in that time when you
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were facing death? And you know what I was
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expecting? Oh yeah, you have the answers.
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Oh yeah, I sought God. Oh, yeah, I really wanted to
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know how I can have hope in the next life.
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And as I was anticipating that answer, as I asked it with such
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excitement, he looked at me, he said, no.
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I'm not afraid of death. So I said, hold on.
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Did I ask the right question? You're not afraid of death.
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Do you not know what's going to happen after you die?
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No. In fact, I'm ready to stand
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before, God. That's myself, man.
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No, you don't know what you're talking about.
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That's all the conversation ended.
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I thought to myself. How can somebody who has no
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hope? Have such confidence.
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It's amazing what false peace can do.
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False peace can take you to death itself and convince you
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that there isn't a living God that you will face. he says here
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in the next verse, They're not in trouble as others are there,
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not stricken like the rest of mankind.
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Those who live outside of Faith seem like they have trouble free
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lives again, they go through life.
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Their success. There's little consequence to
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their sinful actions in the Rebellion against God, they
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still have good times. They still travel, they still
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have nice homes and nice families, successful kids that
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go on to be educated and there seems to be little turbulence in
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their lives. And here I see Christians,
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Christian teenagers that have given their lives to Christ when
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they were invited to a youth group, but day by day, they go
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home to an abusive father. And abusive mother, I see
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Christians struggling to get by another day financially.
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I see Christians parents who have wayward children that kids
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that are wasting their lives and Brokenness and sin.
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And I see others that they're not Christians and their kids
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are for honest, better than those of Christian households in
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terms of success and prosperity and all that good stuff.
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I don't get it. How does this make sense?
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Brothers and sisters. We cannot make the mistake with
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our faith. That the psalmist has made and
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that even jobs friends have made when they came to try to comfort
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him and failed miserably. They came with a theology.
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That's called retribution, theology, or retribution
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principle and idea, is this that if you do good God will do good
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to you. And if you do evil God will
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allow evil in your life. And though we have principles
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and promises about walking with the lord, it's not as simple as
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that realize that when jobs friends came to him they were
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trying to get it out of him that he had sinned in his life joke.
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You can't lose your family, you can't lose your business.
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You can't lose your health and less, you've allowed sin in your
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life. Cough it up.
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That's what the Book of Job is all about.
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That's what we have to be very careful of taking theology, out
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of the Book of Joel, because a lot of the things that these
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friends said were wrong, A lot of it was true but they were
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implementing truth in a wrong way and so this whole dialogue
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jobs friends might come on man the sooner the better you get
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back right with God God is going to do good to you and Joe saying
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I'm right? I don't have anything.
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I can't think of anything that I'm wrong for here.
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The other disciples in John chapter 9.
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They see a man born blind. They said hey Jesus have a
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question for you. What happened did this man
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sinned or his parents sin that he should be born this way.
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You know what? Jesus says wrong, both of them
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are wrong. Neither him nor his parents.
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He's not paying the consequence for his own sin.
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And this matter, nor is his parents for his parents, in,
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this has happened to him at the glory of God.
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May be displayed through it. You come to Acts chapter 28,
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verse forward, Paul in that ship were abandoned.
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And they were, there's a shipwreck and they found
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themselves on the island called Malta.
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And as they're preparing a fire, because it was called a Viper
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comes in snaps on his hand and it's hanging there.
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And let me read this. Look at the conclusion that
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these And people were thinking, when the native people saw the
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creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no
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doubt. This man is a murderer though.
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He has escaped from the sea justice has not allowed him to
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live. So you have Jesus disciples, you
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have jobs friends, you have this psalmist, you have even people
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in a pagan society that believe this idea of God you walk with
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God. Everything will go, right?
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You don't walk with God, everything will go wrong.
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And it's not that easy, it's not that simple, it's much more
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complicated than that. And if you and I believe that
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kind of idea, you know what we're going to do is a
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consequence many things and here's one of them, we will fail
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to realize how God packages His blessings in different ways.
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Yes, God can bless you with good things and God is blessing us
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when it comes to health and when it comes to things, the Bible
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says every good and perfect gift comes from above, that's true,
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but don't limit it to that don't limit how God expresses His
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blessings with things going well in your life, just hear this
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verse. Look what the psalmist said in
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the Book of Psalms, 119 verse 71, it is good.
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Look what he says. This is powerful, it is good for
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me that I was afflicted. Are you sure it is good for me
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that I was afflicted. That I might learn your
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statutes. So this man experienced some
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kind of Affliction, some kind of pain in his life, something and
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you read the rest of that Psalm you realize, this is a man of
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God, who loved the word of God, who said, Thy word is a lamp
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unto my feet? I don't walk without your word,
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I seek your Counsel day by day and at one point he was
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afflicted and he says it was good for me.
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God packages blessing of my life with Affliction because it
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brought me even closer to his word.
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Brought me closer to his presence.
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Brought me closer to the knowledge of him.
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If you're being Afflicted in one way or another right now know
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this, if you're a believer in Christ, you may not see the
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blessing now. But wait till you come on.
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The other end. You'll realize that this
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psalmist I was afflicted. I didn't see it, maybe during
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it, but I see it now and I say, oh, it was good for me that I
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was afflicted. We see in verse 6, Psalm 73,
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therefore pride is there necklace violence, covers them
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as a garment, their eyes swell out through fatness their hearts
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overflow with Follies. So we see here that these Wicked
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people who are living autonomous independent apart from God Lives
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realize, hey, we're not living for God.
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And look at all the good things that are happening to us and
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because of that failure to see, as we're going to find out in a
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moment that got indeed was watching and he was keeping
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those. What does he do?
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One of the wicked, do they have more wickedness to their lives?
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They indulge themselves a more iniquity.
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They fail to see the consequences of sin.
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They don't immediately see the interventions of God's
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discipline and judgment and they go, you know what, let's do some
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more evil. You know what the psalmist is
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saying? Come on.
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Sure, I am swatting away Temptations like flies for my
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workplace in my high school. Here, I am fighting a war
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against my flesh. It seems every hour here, I am.
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Truly trying to live. Holy And here these people
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drinking sin, like water. And everything seems to be going
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fine. His Holiness worth it.
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Look, this is why he says in verse 13.
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Look at verse 13. Your Bibles please.
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All in vain, have I kept my heart clean and wash my hands in
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innocence. For all the day long I've been
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stricken and rebuked every morning.
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It's not worth it. I'm trying to compare your, I'm
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living with God, I'm living for God and they're not and they're
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not only being blessed. This seems maybe even more
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blessed than me. Am I wasting my time here?
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Am I really wasting my time doing this?
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What advantage do I have is a Godly Man.
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They're boasting in their sin. They seem to be getting away
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with it. They seem to, in fact think they
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have God's approval to some degree.
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What I'm about to say is not going to be very politically
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correct. Hold tight in 2015.
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Ireland. Legalize same-sex marriage.
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And interestingly enough that day, the voting polls were open
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to legalize same-sex marriage. A double rainbow appeared in
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Dublin. and as it appeared, it was fuel for those who would
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oppose God's idea of marriage? To all the more rejoice in that
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decision and it gained the attention of the world.
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Let me read to you, what the huffing Huffington Post said.
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As Ireland, headed to the polls, to vote on legalizing gay
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marriage. Mother Nature seemed to
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acknowledge the importance of the occasion.
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With a number of rainbows, some of them Double Rainbows that
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were captured by Twitter users in the days, leading up to
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Friday's vote. Now let me read you a couple
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tweets that were kind of viral. There's one man who said there's
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a big gay rainbow over Dublin. If that's not Jesus giving the
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yes vote, I don't know what is Here's another one, there's a
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rainbow over Dublin. Currently very appropriate.
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God clearly approves Now, look at Psalm 73 verse 11.
25:44
And they, the wicked say. How can God, no?
25:50
Is there knowledge in the most high?
25:53
You know what they're saying? Against God.
25:57
God doesn't really know what's right for us.
26:00
God's standard isn't really the only standard God has to update
26:07
with our culture. God has to keep in touch with
26:10
how we're developing. And in light of that example,
26:14
that's exactly what they were thinking.
26:16
God approves of this sin, God approves of this shift in our
26:22
understanding of traditional marriage. and I read one comment
26:27
that I thought was Was totally right.
26:31
And as a response to that that the double rainbow wasn't a sign
26:34
of double approval. It was a sign of God, reminding
26:36
himself, ee not to judge the world.
26:44
The Wicked, the wicked. Have made a God in their own
26:49
image. Because they fail to see the
26:52
immediate Act of God's judgment and God's discipline.
26:57
Actually believe that, he's maybe even approving of their
27:00
lifestyle. And I can name off different
27:03
since here but let's continue and we can go on through the
27:08
rest of the song trying to see what was weighing down, Aesop's
27:11
heart. But what we see next in the
27:14
transition of the psalm is where we want to give most of our
27:16
attention. He says here in verse 16 but
27:19
when I thought how to understand this It seemed to me a wearisome
27:25
task. In other words, I've been
27:27
dealing with this internally. In such a way that I couldn't
27:33
really express it to anybody. I mean, I'm a spiritual leader
27:35
here. I'm the guy leading the songs.
27:40
I'm the guy encouraging others to continue in the faith.
27:43
But if I'm honest with you, I don't understand what benefit I
27:48
have living Fram. I'm trying to make sense of it.
27:51
I'm really trying to weigh it out and I can't seem to come to
27:55
a conclusion. So what do you and I do when we
27:58
feel like the world are circumstances, whatever it may
28:02
be seems to pull us and trip us and have us walk a different
28:07
direction. Well, let's see what the
28:09
psalmist did verse 17 until I went to the sanctuary of God.
28:16
This bothered me. This was eating me up inside.
28:20
But everything changed. When I made one decision, when I
28:24
chose to come to church on Sunday morning.
28:29
When I chose to, even in my doubts, even in my turmoil, even
28:34
in my frustration, I chose to come to meet with God.
28:41
Because I'm not getting answers from myself.
28:44
And I know myself enough to say that I've lied to me more than
28:47
anybody else. So where can I go to find some
28:51
answers? You go to where truth is
28:53
proclaimed. And he goes with a presence of
28:58
God dwells. He goes with truth is known and
29:02
he learned something. He was reminded of something.
29:07
Because this is where you and I are reminded of Truth.
29:10
This is where you and I are. So bird from Temptation, are
29:13
cleansed from our own thoughts that are telling us, otherwise,
29:17
and seem to even mix it with emotion and other people trying
29:20
to pull us into a different lifestyle, or different way of
29:22
living. This is where we get relined, by
29:26
the word of God. No wonder the devil wants you
29:29
and I to skip church, especially church that proclaims the truth
29:32
wholeheartedly and without compromise.
29:35
But he chose to go. And when he came, he learned
29:38
something very quickly, we don't have to read about from Verse 18
29:41
to 22, he came to the realization.
29:46
That these present realities of the wicked and even the
29:49
righteous are not permanent realities.
29:52
They're not permanent now. If I would encourage you to turn
29:55
to reverse, it would be this one.
29:57
Psalms 50 Psalms 50 just to read something.
30:04
Beginning in verse 16. What did asaph learn?
30:10
I'm sure he learned something here.
30:13
What we read in verse 16 but to the wicked God says what right?
30:18
Have you to recite my statutes, or take my Covenant on your
30:21
lips? God is speaking in this Psalm
30:24
God is speaking to the wicked in this text but when he says for
30:28
you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you, if you see
30:33
a thief, you are pleased with him and you keep company with
30:37
adulterous verse 19, you Give your mouth free rein for evil,
30:42
and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your
30:46
brother. You slander your own mother son.
30:49
He's describing different sins, different behaviors that are,
30:52
contrary to the heart, of God, to the will of God to the
30:54
Holiness of God. And what does he say?
30:58
In verse 20? What is God say, in verse 21,
31:01
these things you have done and I've been silent.
31:06
You thought that I was one like yourself. but now I rebuke you
31:12
and lay the charge before you You know what God is saying?
31:16
This is God speaking in that saw me, you know what he's saying?
31:20
I'm I kept notice of all the things that you're doing, and
31:24
I've been silent. But here, this very carefully,
31:27
please don't do this in your life.
31:29
Please, please, please hear me very carefully.
31:32
Do not make the mistake of assuming that God's.
31:37
Patience is the same as his approval.
31:41
Can I say that one more time, many people who are living in a
31:44
pattern of sinful, Behavior are assuming that God's apparent
31:49
silence. Is him really accepting what's
31:54
going on? And he says, in that Psalm, I
31:57
have been silent. And his silence is not a sign of
32:00
his approval. His silence is a reflection of
32:03
his long-suffering and patience that even in your pattern of
32:08
willful Rebellion against God, that you would realize that at
32:11
one point that this is wrong. I'm sinning against him and I
32:15
want to live for Christ. So then you have people in
32:19
Ireland in 2015, that have assumed that the Silence of God
32:24
was his acceptance. And yet people day-by-day
32:28
looking at their lives thinking nothing's going wrong.
32:31
If there is a God, surely he's fine with what I'm doing because
32:35
there's nothing to show for it. You know who wrote Psalm 50.
32:40
Look at verse 1. Asaph.
32:45
ASAP did learn something. ASAP did come to realization.
32:50
Okay? So just because things are not
32:52
happening. Wrongfully for the wicked,
32:54
doesn't mean that. God's approving of it means that
32:56
one day God will bring a receipt.
33:04
And people will have to make a payment unfortunately because
33:06
they refuse the one who made the payment for them.
33:10
The blessed savior Jesus Christ. And so what happens?
33:16
He reminds himself in God's house.
33:18
Again, that God's silence is not his approval, but it is the
33:23
expression of his patients. Do you remember the story of
33:26
Adam and Eve when they sinned against God?
33:29
Do you remember when God was looking for Adam?
33:32
Where are you, Adam? Notice how he's approaching Adam
33:37
if you read it. Carefully says he was walking.
33:39
He was walking. He was walking to Adam to face
33:44
Adam to discipline Adam. but if you read in Luke chapter 15 with
33:50
the Prodigal Son and the son comes to his senses and he
33:54
realizes what he had done in Rebellion against his father.
33:59
He tries to muster up a speech and he says, you know, what I've
34:02
rebelled against God, I rebelled against my father, I'm going to
34:06
come to him and try to convince him.
34:08
Not to make me his son, but to make me a servant.
34:10
I rather be a servant than eat from the pigs.
34:14
And so he comes back, and before he can even say a word, you know
34:17
what, the father does read it carefully, he doesn't walk, he
34:20
runs, he runs towards the prodigal.
34:23
What does that mean? That God is slow to judgment and
34:25
quick to Mercy God, when it comes to judgment, when it comes
34:29
to discipline, he walks, he's slow to it.
34:33
But when I repented heart comes before, mrs.
34:36
I really want to get right with you.
34:37
He runs towards you and when he runs towards you I want to speak
34:41
to the product was in here. if you're in sin right now and you
34:46
know that you're in sin, Don't try to convince yourself even
34:51
though you know truth even though you walk with them I'm
34:53
one moment don't try to convince yourself and convince God for
34:57
that matter that you're not worthy of his full blessing.
34:59
Even though you knew that you were walking rebelling against
35:02
him because I want to let you know what happened.
35:03
When the product went back he didn't go back and convince the
35:06
father of the father so you know what?
35:07
Yeah, let me let me put you with the service.
35:09
The father said, go get the best robe.
35:12
Go get the best robe and we're going to celebrate the fact that
35:14
he come back. If you need to come back to God
35:16
today. No, this he's waiting with a
35:18
robe a ring and a feast and all of Heaven Will Rejoice the fact
35:22
that you've decided to walk with him again.
35:27
He's slow to judgement. He's so quick to Mercy.
35:32
Let me read this poem to you, we're going to close in a
35:34
moment. This poem is called a hundred
35:37
years from now. Pay, very close attention.
35:40
I know with all the phones ring in a Texan, the snapshots and
35:42
it's just right here, pay attention.
35:48
It will not make much difference friend.
35:51
A hundred years from now. If you live in a stately Mansion
35:57
or on a floating River, scowl if the clothes you wear are
36:00
tailor-made or pieced together, somehow if you eat big steaks or
36:06
beans and Cake, 100 years from now, it won't matter about your
36:10
bank account or the make of car, you drive for the grave will
36:14
claim your riches, and fame, and the things for which you strive,
36:19
There's a deadline. We must all meet and no one will
36:21
turn up late. It won't matter.
36:24
Then all the places you've been each one will keep that date.
36:28
We will only have eternity. What we give away on earth when
36:34
we go to the Grave, we can only save the things of Eternal worth
36:38
what matters, friend the Earthly gain for which some men always
36:42
bow for your destiny will be sealed.
36:45
You see a hundred years from now.
36:50
Poem by Walden Parker. And after being dealt with, by
36:56
God in the sanctuary of God. When he had received a Divine
37:00
standpoint, we need to receive the Eternal perspective on how
37:04
God will deal with all of mankind.
37:05
Both the righteous and the wicked.
37:07
He realized something I was wrong.
37:13
And he says, in verse 22, I was brutish and ignorant.
37:17
I was like a beast towards you. I've allowed my thinking to come
37:20
to such a place where I was like an animal.
37:23
My reason but here, this very carefully as we close The he did
37:34
not only come to that conclusion, after coming to the
37:36
house of God, he didn't come to the conclusion.
37:39
Only that God will eventually judge the wicked for their
37:43
Rebellion against him. No, no, it wasn't just a future
37:47
realization ASAP. Had a present understanding of
37:51
how really on a surface level. It seems like the wicked have a
37:54
better than the righteous. He couldn't be more wrong in
37:56
that either. Why, what is he saying verse 23?
38:01
Less. Nevertheless, I am continually
38:03
with you. You hold my right hand.
38:06
He goes, okay, I understand that there's going to be a judgment
38:10
to come. I understand that it's going to
38:11
be all dealt with and justice will prevail, but there's
38:14
something about now that I realize that he holds my right
38:18
hand, he holds my right hand we're talking about God holding
38:24
your hand. You don't hold the hand of a
38:26
stranger, I hope. This is familiar language.
38:30
This is intimacy. This is communion.
38:32
This is God saying and revealing to us through this that I'm
38:36
holding you I'm holding you, I'm leading you.
38:40
I'm comforting you, I'm with you and he's saying this in light of
38:43
the fact that he went through intense season of doubt, and he
38:46
still knew that even in my doubt of the goodness of God, even in
38:50
my false, convincing and the persuasion actually pulling me
38:54
away from him. God was still with me.
38:57
I praise God that in the moments of Despair Temptation
39:02
persuasion, whatever you want to call it that God doesn't crush
39:05
me in that moment. God doesn't look at me.
39:08
Say haven't I? Done enough for you.
39:11
Hasn't my son done enough for you?
39:14
Have you been to enough Bible studies?
39:15
Haven't you heard enough sermons out with you?
39:20
No, he says, I hold you, you're gonna get out of this.
39:25
You're going to realize soon enough.
39:26
Just come to the sanctuary of God.
39:28
Come into my presence, no matter how long it takes, watch how I'm
39:31
going to lead you out of this doubt.
39:33
I'm gonna lead you out of this false persuasion that your flesh
39:37
that your friends, that your family are trying to pull you
39:39
into, you hold my right hand. There's a stop there.
39:45
He says, in verse 24, you guide me with your counsel and
39:48
afterward you will receive me to Glory.
39:52
So it's not just this intimacy with God.
39:53
It's the fact that God and his children when he deals with you
39:57
and I he does not leave us in this life by ourselves.
40:01
He navigates you and me through this life day by day, he guides
40:06
us with his counsel, we have his word, we have the indwelling of
40:09
the Holy Spirit, I was having a conversation with a friend not
40:12
too long ago about. I don't know how we came to this
40:14
point but we were talking about growing up in the 90s.
40:17
I'm a 90s baby. And we're talking about how
40:19
great it was to grow up in the 90s as a child.
40:23
You know, like if you wanted to go hang out with your friend,
40:25
there's no such thing as texting them to come outside.
40:28
Oh no. You have to get on your bike,
40:29
you to go down the street, you have to face the parents at the
40:32
door and knock and ask. If whoever is that home?
40:36
No come back in a couple hours. I'll come back with my bike rain
40:39
snow summer. You played outside, you played
40:43
outside. And how do you know you're going
40:44
home? You have to go home when the
40:45
street lights start coming on. Okay, time to go.
40:47
Home. Dinner's ready?
40:49
And all these wonderful memories of growing up in the 90s.
40:53
But there is one thing we concluded that we're thankful
40:55
for that, we didn't grow up in the 90s without I'm thankful.
40:58
I was in a young adult in the 90s for one main reason no GPS
41:03
has Because I remember as a 90s kid sitting in the backseat of
41:08
my parent's car, and seeing how their map would cover. 3/4 of
41:11
the windshield, trying to figure out how to go to a specific
41:14
location risking our lives every single time.
41:17
And I know this sounds funny but hear me out talking with my
41:20
friend thinking to myself. Can you imagine what life was
41:22
like, without a GPS? Can you imagine trying to go
41:24
anywhere without punching it and address placing it on that
41:27
magnet driving and trusting that?
41:28
Wherever this lady's gonna take me is going to be where I need
41:31
to go. I thought to myself, What would
41:34
life be without a GPS? And here's a thought, how can
41:37
people live without God? I don't know how they do it.
41:45
How can you live through this life without being navigated by
41:47
him? How can you not have his
41:50
instruction to know how to deal with circumstance?
41:52
Not a deal with people that a deal with different things.
41:55
How can you go through this life without God's spirit indwelling
41:59
you saying, this is the way you should go walk in it.
42:02
No son. Don't go there circumstances,
42:05
people, spiritual leaders are also filled with the Holy Spirit
42:08
leading you and guiding you. Thank God for God.
42:13
You guide me with your counsel. And he doesn't do it.
42:19
Just partly. He doesn't do it.
42:21
Just in your younger years and then later on you become normal
42:23
and you just go through life. No, he says, I'm going to lead
42:27
you until I bring you into Glory.
42:31
There's not a season of life that he doesn't lead you.
42:33
If you want to cling to him he'll lead you And when you look
42:36
back from Glory, I can guarantee you this, you will see how he
42:39
has, truly LED you protected you, and whatever he needed to
42:42
do to make sure that you would along the way, be conformed to
42:45
the image of his son and touches many people for his name.
42:49
No wonder he explodes in verse 25.
42:51
Whom have I in heaven, but you Whom have I in heaven but you
42:56
and there is nothing on Earth. I desire.
42:58
Besides you, this is a different person than what we read from
43:01
verse for down. Whom have I in heaven but you
43:05
and you know what? I've come to this conclusion, no
43:07
matter what the wicked has, no matter what the righteous have.
43:09
I have this one thing and it is enough God himself Our faith.
43:15
If you claim to be a Christian in this place and you can't say
43:18
that, you have to ask yourself, some serious questions about the
43:20
temperature of your spirituality.
43:23
It's not about going to church on Easter and Christmas.
43:26
It's not about performing some sacraments, it's not about doing
43:29
this and doing that, and checking it off and having some
43:31
kind of insurance to get into heaven.
43:33
What is this Faith about where your heart is ravish and
43:36
captivated by Christ. You realize that he's forgiving
43:38
you for your sin and now he wants to walk with you day by
43:41
day. Do you have that?
43:43
Do you have that? You're not a Christian because
43:49
you have a cross around your neck and you're not a Christian.
43:52
If you got baptized as a baby, you're a Christian when you
43:56
realize that he paid for your sin and you've received them by
43:59
faith and he is, Lord of your life.
44:06
My Flesh and my heart May Fail. But God is the strength of my
44:09
heart and my portion forever and let's just conclude here, verse
44:13
27. Behold, those who are far from,
44:16
You Shall Perish, you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to
44:19
you and look what he says in verse 28.
44:21
But for me, it is good to be near God.
44:25
Different person. It's good to be near God and I
44:30
have made the Lord God my refuge.
44:32
It's another way of saying I've chosen though I don't understand
44:36
everything to its fullest capacity to trust in God to to
44:40
rely on his wisdom to rely on his timing to rely that he is in
44:44
control. And because of that I'm safe.
44:49
You and I have to make a conclusion that being with god,
44:53
without gold is better than having treasure without God.
44:58
You and I have to be convinced that being with God, in
45:01
sickness, is better than being without God and health you and I
45:05
have to come to the conclusion that being with God and
45:08
persecution, is being better than being without God and
45:12
having popularity, And that's the conclusion that he makes and
45:17
it doesn't end there. He says I will make God my
45:20
refuge that I may tell of all your works.
45:24
I'm going to let my life from this moment on readers of this
45:28
Psalm. Know the goodness of God, I'm
45:32
going to declare to the world that it doesn't matter what you
45:35
have or you don't have. If you have God you have
45:36
everything. I want to tell the world that
45:39
things may not make sense. We are legalizing things
45:42
concerning life, concerning everything that seems to be
45:44
against the word of God and it seems to be no intervention days
45:47
are only being darker and darker it seems.
45:49
But I'm gonna trust and tell everybody that one day.
45:51
God is going to clean up this mess.
45:53
I'm going to Claire, The Works of God.
45:59
Have you ever wondered what happened to Ace after this
46:01
point? Have you ever wondered what kind
46:05
of Legacy left? What kind of influence he
46:07
probably had based on that decision?
46:11
maybe we can't make strong conclusions, but if you read
46:15
this little obscure verse in the book of Ezra chapter 2, It's
46:18
when the Israelites were many years.
46:22
Many, many years after this song was written, were taken out of
46:25
Israel to go into captivity in Babylon and we're later brought
46:29
back into Jerusalem and there's this list of genealogies to keep
46:33
record of who from what descendant, came back to the
46:37
nation, and look what it says in Ezra 241.
46:40
I thought it was precious. Just a simple verse the singers,
46:44
the sons of asaph 128, the singers, the sons of asaph 128,
46:52
and I thought to myself, Here's a man who chose not to walk away
46:58
but chose to stay walking with him and could it be that the
47:02
result of his faithfulness? Was that his offspring for days
47:05
to come would serve God and live for God?
47:09
He's talking about 128, musicians, 128 ministers, 128,
47:14
people that as a result of perhaps this man making that
47:19
choice of standing firm would benefit from his faithfulness,
47:22
you have no idea what your Yes to God can do.
47:24
Do not just in your lifetime but Pastor lifetime.
47:29
I will tell of all your works. I will declare from generation
47:32
to generation how good God is. Despite this world falling apart
47:36
and maybe even thinking that their life is better without
47:38
him. I if I have any voice of have
47:40
any influence, I myself will stand on this truth.
47:44
He is enough. Do you know him this morning?
47:50
I'm not talking about you going to church, I'm asking if you
47:52
know him like the psalmist knew him if you don't.
47:57
Today can be your day. Today could be your day where
48:00
you come to that point where you say, maybe I've been religious.
48:05
Maybe I had this understand that God is there, but there is no
48:08
hint of real relationship with him.
48:13
I mean, you've been sitting here this whole time.
48:14
You're thinking I don't really fully get it, but I know I don't
48:17
have it. It can be yours because there is
48:22
a real God who? So loved you that he sent his
48:26
son because there's a Chasm. There's a separation between you
48:28
and God all Humanity, God, if sin and he sent his son to pay a
48:34
price and build a bridge between you and the father, he paid the
48:38
price, no matter what you've done in your life, it doesn't
48:41
matter how black it is. It doesn't matter.
48:43
The stains of sin on your soul, know this that he sees it and
48:48
he's not ready to You he's ready to forgive you he's ready to
48:51
come and cleanse you and I just cleanse you to bring you into
48:54
Glory but cleanse you so that you can have fellowship with him
48:56
in this life. He's here to take those burdens
49:00
away. He's here to tell you if you
49:02
receive him that you can walk through anything in this life
49:05
and no like what Jesus said that you will have trouble in this
49:08
world, but take heart, I have overcome the world take heart.
49:11
I've given you a peace that surpasses.
49:13
All understanding take heart that you can see all this chaos
49:16
and have this assurance that God is in control.
49:20
And it's an invitation that God makes to all men if they're
49:23
willing to Humble themselves and say I need this God, I need you.
49:30
And know this, when you ready to make that decision, when you're
49:33
ready to humble yourself, when you're ready to see what this
49:36
word says, is true about the human nature and how good God
49:39
is, and you come to that place, where you say enough is enough,
49:41
I Surrender my life to Christ, he won't walk towards you, he'll
49:45
run. He's waiting, but he's not going
49:50
to push himself on you. He's not going to force you.
49:53
He's gonna wait for you to come to that realization that you're
49:55
eating out of a pig's pain. And like that.
49:59
Prodigal son, you spent everything on the world, you
50:01
indulge yourself, you went to the bank and you're still empty
50:06
inside. And I father, you read in Luke.
50:10
15 did not run and chase his son.
50:11
He was waiting for him. All he needed.
50:14
All he needed was the son to term.
50:17
And once he did, he came after him.
50:20
Would you do that this morning? Would you do that this morning?
50:25
Let's pray. Let's pray.