Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240421 - O My Soul, Hope In God! - Psalm 42 & 43

Transcript

#20240421 - O My Soul, Hope In God! - Psalm 42 & 43 · 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
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  resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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  into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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  dot Church 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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  Well, Pastor Ed asked me to to fill in.
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  I'm one of the volunteer pastors on staff here.
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  But a little of, of my story, I got saved.
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  Some of you saw the Jesus Revolution movie.
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  Well, I got saved during that time.
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  We were up in Oregon and we were age 18 and the Lord and His
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  mercy chased me down, my girlfriend down.
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  And at age 18, we, we got saved and about six months later we
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  got married. So we were 18 when we got
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  married. Don't do this at home, OK?
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  But Lord and His grace was so strong and helpful for us.
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  That group from Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, a lot of them who
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  were running those Christian houses, came up to Oregon and
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  that's when we met them. And my wife and I ended up in
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  that youth ministry for 8 1/2 years based in Oregon.
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  I pastored two of those Christian houses, one in
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  Portland and one in Richmond, VA.
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  And then I'd be, that was asked to come and be one of the Bible
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  teachers at the foundational school.
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  And that went on for about 4 1/2 years.
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  Then we moved to Arizona in 78, and eventually the Lord allowed
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  us to start a Bible study in a home and it turned into the
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  church called Calvary Chapel North Phoenix, and I pastored
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  that group for 29 years and sent out a lot of churches out of
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  that church. In 2010, we turned that church
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  over to our second son, Jesse, who's still there, and we went
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  around to help out other missionaries and other pastors.
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  And that led us to move to the UK and to pastor a little
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  Calvary Chapel in the southwest and then to continue ministering
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  to pastors and wives in the UK and Europe.
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  And then in 2018, I had a heart attack, which the UK will do
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  that to you, by the way, rather. So that led to us turning the
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  church over and then moving back.
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  But we moved back to Colorado because my oldest son, Micah, it
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  was on staff here. And Pastor Ed in the church here
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  has been a supporter of us as missionaries while we were
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  there. And actually we still are
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  missionaries because we continue going out to encourage and help
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  and assist other pastors and wives.
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  So that's my that's my story. So I guess we can close in
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  prayer and just go home, right? But actually I've got a website,
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  bobclaycamp.com, and all my sermon notes for the past 30-5
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  years are on there. So if you want to go through the
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  Bible, if you want to check something out, I'm sure you'll
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  find false doctrine somewhere in there.
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  But that's all online. It's all free, whatever you
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  know, it's just there. So, but let's go into our study
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  this morning. I've entitled this study O My
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  Soul Hope in God. And as you read through these
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  two psalms, I think you'll notice this back and forth
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  experience that the writer of the Psalm is going through.
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  And one moment he just seems overwhelmed, and then at the
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  next moment he says, but hoping God, and then boom, right back
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  into it. And as you read through, you
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  also get a sense that the writer of the Psalm knows who God is,
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  but he's having difficulty lining up his current life
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  situation with his faith and his knowledge of what God is doing.
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  He, he doesn't know, he know that God is that there.
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  He knows that God's there, but he doesn't know why things are
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  happening. There's so many that you note
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  the questions why, why, why, where, where.
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  And I just want to tell you, we go through those kinds of times
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  as well as believers, and we have the hope of heaven.
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  And those that don't have that hope of heaven through faith in
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  Christ Jesus, all they have is I'm going to wish myself out of
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  this or I'm going to whistle in the dark in a bad area of town.
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  But we have a solid hope, even as our choruses have reminded us
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  this morning. And yet, what do we do when our
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  life just seems like it's in freefall and we've lost
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  perspective? Most Bible commentators believe
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  that although this is penned by the Sons of Korah, A Levitical
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  group in charge of worship before the Ark, that this was
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  written by King David in the latter years of his reign.
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  This is a time when he was on the run from his son Absalom,
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  who had through, through trickery and deceit, won the
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  hearts of the people of Israel, and he was determined to take
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  the throne and even to kill his father, to make the whole nation
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  supporting him. And so David and the those
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  closest to him were in exile on the run all the way to the
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  eastern side of the Jordan River.
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  It was a difficult time for him, a time when his soul was just
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  overwhelmed with grief, with mourning, with oppression,
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  because he talks about it here as cast down and disquieted.
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  And so the reason this really speaks to my heart is because I
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  know in my 55 years of walking and the Lord, I've had those
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  times just like this where I have felt these things.
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  And it's fascinating. As you read through the Psalms
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  or actually the poetical books from Job to Song of Solomon or
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  the Major and minor Prophets, there is this style of writing
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  called Hebrew poetry. And this draws upon so many
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  pictures, so many word pictures, so many multiple parallel
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  expressions to try to communicate the reality and the
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  depth of what you're going through.
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  And as a side note, those of you that have been thinking about
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  going to that seminar, inductive Bible studies seminar, we're
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  going to be putting on the end of May, please do it because it
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  helps you understand the word of God so much deeper because there
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  are different literary forms that the Bible was written in.
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  You have narrative form, you have Hebrew poetic form, you
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  have epistle form. And that's fascinating to see
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  how the epistles fit a particular form.
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  And it helps you keep context. But here is King David
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  expressing the depth of his heart and what he's going
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  through. It's kind of like what we go
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  through in our times of life. Now, I'm going to take these two
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  Psalms. I'm going to divide them into
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  three parts. The first part is verses one to
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  five for those of you taking notes.
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  And I'm going to call that Hope in God when you feel blocked
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  from God's presence. Hope in God when you feel
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  blocked from God's presence #2 verses 6 through 11 of Psalm 42.
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  Hope in God when you feel overwhelmed and forgotten.
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  And then Psalm 43 is the third section here.
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  Hope in God when you feel unjustly accused.
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  And these are three situations of life we can find ourselves in
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  as believers in Christ. Of course, everybody can go
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  through this, but we're supposed to have the hope.
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  We have the hope that's supposed to carry us through.
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  So how do we deal with it? So we're going to explore that.
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  So let's start with a word of prayer and let's jump into these
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  because I think the Lord has a word for all of us here this
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  morning. Our Father in heaven, we thank
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  you for being here and we thank you for understanding.
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  We thank you that you know us more than we know ourselves, and
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  we thank you that your heart is so full of compassion to want to
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  help us, but we've got to yield to you doing it your way.
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  And so we're asked that the Holy Spirit would breathe upon these
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  verses today and reach us in the depth of our heart.
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  Reason with us, Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Amen. OK, let's take a look at the
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  first section, which is hoping God when you feel blocked from
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  God's presence. Now understand David's on the
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  run. He can't be in Jerusalem where
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  there was the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was, was just
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  north of where his house was because he put it there.
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  He wanted the people to know that God was the king.
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  God was the ultimate king of Israel.
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  And so I think David would have rather been a Levite than a
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  king, really, because he was so intently focused on worship of
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  the Lord even when he was a a teenager.
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  And it was while he was a teenager, God spoke to Samuel
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  that he had found a man after my own heart.
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  That's what God said to Samuel regarding David when he was a
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  teen. Don't cast off teens who are
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  trying to seek the Lord because God is watching their heart.
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  There are those teens that are so focused on the Lord.
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  It's totally blesses the Lord. We have to see people around us
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  through the eyes of the Lord rather than our own particular
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  life experience or preferences or opinions.
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  So here is David, a man after God's heart, probably in his
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  60s, and he's on the run from his son that's out to kill him.
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  What a heartbreak. And so he says here in verse
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  one, as the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul
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  for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
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  living God. When shall I come and appear
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  before God? David's so long to be back just
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  to be basking in the presence of the Lord before the ark, and
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  he's in exile, and the presence of God seems to be blocked from
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  him. I want you to note that David
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  isn't asking for deliverance from his current experience.
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  He's asking for God. There is something that we need
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  to understand that the presence of the Lord brings peace and
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  freedom. Yes, as even though we sin, even
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  though we we fail, even though we don't have the passion we
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  would we would like to have, God loves us and knows what our
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  inner need is. And that inner need is for life.
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  That only comes from Him and to be in His presence is just such
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  freedom because our sins have been forgiven and God holds
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  nothing against us. When we stand before the Lord as
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  a believer in that last day, everything drops off.
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  All the fears, all the concerns, all the anxieties, all the what
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  ifs and, and his life is just going to go through us and
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  there's going to be such freedom.
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  But guess what? God wants us to experience that
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  freedom here because he's given us His Holy Spirit.
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  If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, something happens
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  with you that doesn't happen to anybody else in the world who's
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  not a Christian. He sends his Spirit into your
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  life to dwell with you forever. Jesus said he's a helper, as the
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  Greek word is paracletos. He is the comforter, the helper,
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  the assistant. And yet in life we can
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  experience times where the bottom drops out and how often
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  we have expectations of what it should look like.
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  If God was going to be strong on my behalf, this is what it
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  should look like. And God, you haven't allowed
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  that to happen. I had this, this, this, this all
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  planned out and none of that has happened.
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  Where are you, God? Well, I just want to say, in
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  saying that you have put God on the stand and you as the judge
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  in the long row. And in a way, you're accusing
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  God of being evil, unfair. After all, why didn't he run it
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  by you so you could say yes or no?
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  And some of you even here today might be mad at God because he
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  didn't do what you thought was fair and you're just uptight at
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  God. You're all bound up.
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  Kind of a spiritual Constipation.
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  I mean, you just, you just bound up because God didn't do it your
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  way, really. So should he have counseled you
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  before he made the world's just to get your approval?
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  Here's the thing, when you surrender your life to Christ,
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  you sign off. You sign off on your life.
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  Your life is now his. He bought you because there when
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  you accept Christ and you experience the flushing out, the
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  royal flush of just all your sins gone, all the guilt gone,
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  all that it's, it's such a freeing, wonderful experience.
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  And you say God anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
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  Anyhow, whenever you just use me, I owe my life to you, my
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  eternity. OK, you signed, you signed the
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  paper, you know, and there's all this small print that says, OK,
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  I'll do it my way. And then we start taking it back
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  because we don't trust that God is good and we don't trust that
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  he's in control and we don't trust that He understands.
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  And that's where God wants to help us to trust him like we've
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  never trusted him before. God used this situation and
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  David's life to break him and to humble him, and yet it's in that
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  brokenness where God meets you. I know some of you had
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  expectations on what was going to happen with your life, with
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  your children, with your job, and it hasn't happened that way.
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  It's gone S I'm not sure where South is, but then it just went
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  South and you're going. God, where are you, man?
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  What have I got to do? I mean, what, am I in sin or
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  something? How could you allow this?
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  And we and we express these feelings.
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  But I want you to say this. That's what David did.
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  Yeah, but it's not theologically correct.
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  God hadn't forsaken him, but, yeah, he felt that way.
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  And so he felt free to write it down.
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  God already knows what you're going through, so you might as
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  well just fess up. If there's unbelief in your
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  heart and you're mad at God, tell him he already knows that
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  part of the work is to get you to agree with him.
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  And he uses this picture of a deer being chased and haunted.
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  As the deer pants for the Waterbrook.
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  So pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
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  living God. When shall I come and appear
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  before God? Now we don't have to go to
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  Jerusalem like David wanted to, but our ark of the Covenant is
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  in heaven itself. The book of Ephesians says we
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  are seated in Christ in heavenly places right now.
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  We live in the throne room. God is right there, a very
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  present help and time of trouble.
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  I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my
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  fears. It's amazing how fear captivates
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  our life. Fear, fear of lost opportunity.
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  When I look back on the times that I yielded to sin in my
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  life, it was because of fear of lost opportunity.
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  Gosh, if I don't take this, oh, it's a chance and a lifetime, to
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  quote, it's a wonderful life, OK, Oh, chance of a lifetime.
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  And the fear is, man, if I don't take this, I'm going to be
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  missing out. And you're relying upon yourself
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  and your limited wisdom and your limited knowledge base instead
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  of letting the Lord be Lord of your life.
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  Fear. I want to share something with
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  you that happened with me Friday.
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  It was a time where my wife was away and I was by myself and I
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  really wanted to get alone with the Lord and just really open up
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  my heart. And when I have those times, I
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  like to get out of pen and start writing out my prayer to the
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  Lord. I mean, there are times, you
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  know, we pray. I mean, what you pray when you
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  drive your car in Phoenix or in Denver here, you have to.
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  And so you don't close your eyes when you pray.
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  You, you drive OK and you're praying.
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  But there are times when it just seems like a logjam and and
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  nothing's breaking through. And for me, during those times,
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  I need to write out my prayer to the Lord and I need to say every
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  single thing that's on my heart, not hold anything back, even
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  include names. That's why I shred my prayers.
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  After I get done writing, it goes through the shredder.
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  I mean I could light it on fire, like a burnt offering, but it
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  would set off the smoke detector.
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  So I just shred it. And as I was talking to the Lord
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  on Friday, what came to me is like my, my life is like a big
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  house or a small house. It's just a house.
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  And there's all kinds of rooms in the house.
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  And now it reminds me of this little booklet that's around
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  called My Heart, Christ's Home, written by a fellow named Robert
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  Munger. And that in that book it talks
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  about letting Jesus into the different rooms of your house
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  and all. But anyway, at that time on
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  Friday, I was going, you know, Lord, I want to open up all the
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  doors of my house and search me. O God, know my heart, try me,
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  know my reigns, see if there be any wicked way in me.
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  Lead me in the way everlasting and in our house we have a
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  pantry in the kitchen and my wife has cleverly put a sign
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  that says pantry as if you know I need to know where it is.
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  But when you open that door, it's filled full of canned goods
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  and boxes of cereal because my wife loves sales.
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  And so when you open that door, you know just what's there and
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  praise God for her. And and as I think about the
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  different rooms of my house, there are some rooms in my life
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  that scare me. And those are rooms marked
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  future provision health. What's going to happen with my
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  grandkids? I'm 70, almost 73 years old.
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  I don't know what's going to happen.
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  And that room represented my fear of the future.
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  And so as I opened the door, in my own mind, it's dark.
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  I don't know what's there and the and my mind starts whirling
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  and I start thinking what ifs, what if, what about what ifs?
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  And fear is there as a foundation.
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  And the Lord spoke to my heart as I'm pondering this and he
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  says, Bob, I'm in that room. I'm there.
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  You don't have to fear the dark room because I'm there and I
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  want you to trust me because I will be with you in that
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  darkness and I want you to let go of trying to be so self
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  protective with all your thinking and I want you just to
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  trust me. So I went, I, I want, I want to
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  do that, but I'm going to need your help because I can't
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  control what's next. And he says, trust me, I'll be
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  with you. And then he brought to my mind
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  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the book of Daniel, Daniel's
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  three friends, when they refused to bow down to the 90 foot idol
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  of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar made from this huge fiery
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  furnace. I'm sure that was the furnace
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  that they melted the gold down to make this make the idol.
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  And they they refused to bow down to this idol And the king
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  threatened to throw them in the burning fiery furnace.
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  Now, they could have had expectations saying, you know,
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  our God is so powerful. He can close down that silly
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  furnace. He can just close it off.
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  He can just put the fire off and you'll see what happens.
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  I mean, they could have had expectations.
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  Text doesn't say and they're being bound hat and foot by the
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  strongest men and they're going, Oh yeah, that's fine.
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  He'll just, he'll just shut it down.
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  And all of a sudden they get hold of and and they get thrown
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  into the fire and they're and you know, while time lapse goes
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  on, you go, this isn't supposed to be happening.
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  But that's when they met one like the Son of God in the midst
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  of the fire. Sometimes we're so afraid of the
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  potential that we forget that God is there in the middle of
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  it. We spend so much time praying
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  for God to deliver us and get us out of the circumstance that we
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  should be saying, God, I just want you.
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  No matter where we go, no matter what I end up in, no matter what
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  fire, no matter what flood, no matter what life, no matter what
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  free fall, as long as you're there, that's what I want.
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  And if you're in control of my life, I want you just to help me
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  be at peace with you and stop demanding you meet my needs,
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  that you meet it my way. I just want you because you are
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  the summation of everything I need and whatever I need at the
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  moment you'll give me at that moment.
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  I was thinking earlier this morning a little 4 year old kid
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  could care less about your mortgage.
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  He just likes being around mom and dad playing with his toys
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  and all. I mean, it's, it's really kind
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  of a freeing picture and we're so consumed with what's going to
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  happen now. Some of you have a rent payment
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  or a mortgage payment coming up the 1st of May and that's a dark
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  room because you lost your job and you ran out of savings and
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  you don't know what to do. And anxiety has captivated your
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  heart and mind. I've been there.
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  I know what that's like, and it is so captivating to your soul.
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  What's the answer? The answer is hope in God, for I
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  shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
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  Oh, yeah? How's that going to pay the
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  mortgage? Look, do you need it today?
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  On the 21st? Well, no, but you know I don't
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  have. Do you need it today?
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  And the answer is, well, no, what's your point?
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  Well, the point is you don't need it today.
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  So why should God bring it today?
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  Trust in him sufficient to the day is evil thereof.
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  Jesus said doesn't mean you're flippant or irresponsible.
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  It just means it is what it is right now.
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  And I don't know how it's going to work out.
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  It's I opened the door to that room and it's dark, but I know
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  that God is in there. I know God is there and, and he
• 27:56
  is going to be with me whatever happens and as long as he's
• 28:00
  there, that's my hope because he's faithful.
• 28:05
  Verse three. My tears have been my food day
• 28:08
  and night while they continually say to me, where is your God?
• 28:14
  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me and
• 28:19
  that reminds me of a, of a cup, you know, full of, of, of
• 28:23
  precious, a juice that ends up getting knocked over and all its
• 28:28
  contents are, are poured out. And that's sometimes where we're
• 28:33
  at in, in our life. We're pouring out our soul to
• 28:36
  the Lord because we don't understand and we cry over the
• 28:43
  brokenness of of our situation to the point where we can't cry
• 28:48
  anymore and we don't even want to eat.
• 28:53
  That's David's trying to express what's going on inside.
• 28:59
  And I thank him for writing it like this because I need to hear
• 29:03
  this because it it's me. I've had those times when I
• 29:10
  remember these things I pour out my soul in me.
• 29:13
  It says in verse four for I used to go with a multitude when I I
• 29:17
  went with them to the House of God with the voice of joy and
• 29:20
  praise and multitude that kept a Pilgrim feast.
• 29:23
  Man that was so glorious. But man, I'm just in exile.
• 29:29
  I have no idea what's going on. I don't know how it's going to
• 29:33
  end. The whole thing could just just
• 29:35
  go worse. Lord, and your soul is crushed
• 29:41
  because that's what he says in verse 5.
• 29:45
  Why are you cast down, O my soul?
• 29:50
  The word cast down means to be crushed.
• 29:55
  It means to be pressed down. I want you to notice that David
• 30:04
  is speaking to his soul. It's kind of fascinating, the
• 30:10
  whole reality of who we are. The Bible says we are spirit,
• 30:15
  soul and body. We're a triune being and there
• 30:21
  is a a new body that's coming for us when we meet the Lord.
• 30:28
  In First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 and 24, Paul writes,
• 30:33
  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may
• 30:38
  your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the
• 30:43
  coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful,
• 30:49
  who also will do it. Hebrews 4 verses 12 to 13 says
• 30:55
  For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than
• 31:00
  any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and
• 31:05
  spirit. God knows the difference, even
• 31:09
  though it's so difficult to discern that difference, because
• 31:13
  we're in it and the of the joints and Morrow and as a
• 31:17
  discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
• 31:21
  And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things
• 31:25
  are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give
• 31:29
  account. David is speaking to his soul.
• 31:34
  So his soul is a very much a part of him.
• 31:37
  It's who he is. He's going to take that before
• 31:39
  the Lord. It's it's, it's a summation of
• 31:42
  who you are. But you're more than your soul,
• 31:45
  because here David is speaking to his soul.
• 31:51
  Why are you cast down, pressed down, crushed?
• 31:58
  You know, the Apostle Paul went through that as well.
• 32:01
  I thought he was like a a bigwig in the Christian world.
• 32:04
  You know, he added all kinds of faith.
• 32:06
  Well, listen to what he writes in Second Corinthians chapter
• 32:09
  one, verse 8. For we do not want you to be
• 32:14
  uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing
• 32:18
  distress which befell us in the province of Asia, how we were so
• 32:25
  utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we
• 32:31
  despaired even of life itself. So we're going to have times
• 32:37
  like that and you go, Oh my gosh, I don't want to have a
• 32:41
  time like that. And all of a sudden fear rises
• 32:44
  up and grabs a hold of you. Stop it.
• 32:49
  God gives you His grace and freedom to let you know He's
• 32:55
  there already and he what? You're going to find out things
• 32:59
  about God that you never could find out any other way.
• 33:04
  Can you trust the Lord that He'll be with you and that He'll
• 33:09
  give you the life and the adventure to be in it rather
• 33:13
  than avoiding all the potential what ifs?
• 33:18
  That's freedom. I just have to say the other day
• 33:23
  as I was driving to the men's study, it was yesterday, I
• 33:28
  realized that I, I try to self protect quite a bit in my
• 33:34
  thought life, protect myself. Watch out for this, watch out
• 33:37
  for that. What if I've got to pray for
• 33:39
  him? Because I'm not sure what's
• 33:40
  going to happen there. And, and my mind, my mind is
• 33:43
  filled with self protection. It's almost like I'm afraid of
• 33:48
  what might happen. And so I'm holding my hands out
• 33:53
  and the Lord just spoke to me and said, look, could you just
• 33:57
  let go of that? Could you just trust me that I'm
• 34:01
  with you? And could you just have some
• 34:04
  freedom in your life? Freedom.
• 34:08
  No more fear. Just him and me.
• 34:13
  Just enjoy it. And your mind goes, well, yeah,
• 34:16
  but I got to watch out for it. Stop it, bomb.
• 34:19
  Come on, just enjoy me. Can you take today and just set
• 34:24
  aside every fear you have about anything and just enjoy me
• 34:29
  today? I can do that.
• 34:33
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 34:35
  But what if Stop it. Just do it.
• 34:39
  And so it tell you what sometimes a step of faith means,
• 34:44
  you step away from the fear in faith.
• 34:49
  And I tell you what, it's a joyful day.
• 34:53
  It's a great experience. And then at the end of the day,
• 34:57
  you think, yeah, but what if something would have happened
• 34:59
  and and you go deep back into it again?
• 35:05
  There are seasons when we go through difficult times and God
• 35:09
  wants to have us look to him rather than demanding he removed
• 35:14
  the experience, he removed the circumstance.
• 35:18
  I don't like this. How could you?
• 35:21
  Instead saying, God, I want to find you right now in the midst
• 35:25
  of this because you want to use this in my life.
• 35:28
  And I, I'm telling you, I don't understand, but I will.
• 35:31
  And so it's you that I want. And that's our choruses.
• 35:35
  We sang. Let's go on to Part 2, Hope in
• 35:39
  God when you feel overwhelmed and forgotten, verses 6 through
• 35:43
  11, Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me.
• 35:50
  I mean, he just said a great thing.
• 35:52
  Oh my soul, hope in God, yes. And then plunge back into it and
• 35:57
  going, but I'm still stuck in this situation.
• 36:02
  My soul is cast down within me. And then he gives a remedy.
• 36:08
  Therefore, I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,
• 36:13
  from the heights of Herman and from the hill of Mesar.
• 36:17
  Now to David, that made total sense.
• 36:20
  But to us, in the 21st century, we're going.
• 36:24
  I don't get it. Well, think about it.
• 36:27
  The Jordan River was a valley, the valley of the Jordan.
• 36:33
  And to me, as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, you know, God, you
• 36:36
  came to me in my valleys, the valley of the shadow of death.
• 36:41
  Like Psalm 23 says, you came to me there.
• 36:45
  You gave me victory there. You, you met me there in that
• 36:51
  deepest, lowest time of my life. I need to remember what you did
• 36:57
  there when I'm in my soul Depression.
• 37:04
  And then he says from the heights of Herman, that's the
• 37:06
  one of the tallest mountain in the northern part of Israel,
• 37:10
  from the heights of Herman. Those are the like the, the, the
• 37:13
  major, major things God did in your life, how he came in, how
• 37:17
  he rescued you, how he met you there, man, remember those times
• 37:22
  because that's who God is. And then the third is from the
• 37:26
  hill Mizar. Now Mizar in Hebrew means
• 37:29
  smallness. So these are little hills.
• 37:34
  So what are what are little hills?
• 37:35
  Well, little hills to me are those times, those little simple
• 37:41
  things during the day when God showed himself to help you.
• 37:46
  Like you had that meeting with your boss and your boss just
• 37:49
  ripped you up and down and everything in you wanted to
• 37:52
  flame him and the Holy Spirit put a bridle in your mouth and
• 37:57
  yanked and go. No, don't.
• 38:02
  And you yielded by the strength of the Lord, you yielded and you
• 38:08
  walked out of there and you went.
• 38:11
  That could have gone real bad. Well, that's a little victory.
• 38:16
  Remember those little victories. Remember the valleys.
• 38:18
  Remember the high points when you're in the depth of that.
• 38:25
  Therefore I will remember you from those three areas.
• 38:28
  And then verse 7, deep calls into deep at the noise of your
• 38:33
  waterfalls, all your waves and billows have gone over me.
• 38:37
  This is a picture to describe disorientation.
• 38:42
  I don't know if you've ever been caught in a riptide.
• 38:45
  I haven't, but I've talked to many that have.
• 38:48
  And it is a disorient. And you can be so tumbled around
• 38:52
  that you don't know which way is up.
• 38:55
  And it's dangerous, it's life threatening.
• 38:58
  Or if somehow you're in, you're in a place where there's this
• 39:02
  massive waterfall, big pool of water, and you're going, man,
• 39:05
  let's just go swimming. And you know, this is great.
• 39:07
  Well, you get underneath the waterfall and you find out the
• 39:10
  power of volumes of water crushing down you.
• 39:14
  And all of a sudden you're in another tumble.
• 39:17
  You're in a disorientation and you don't know which way is up.
• 39:21
  It is frightening because you lose perspective and which way
• 39:26
  is up. Reminds me of what happened when
• 39:30
  when I was in the UK and we were doing baptisms out in the ocean
• 39:35
  and they had this one, one pastor, He was like a huge guy
• 39:40
  and there was a guy being baptized and I was on the guy's
• 39:43
  right and, and so I'm right-handed.
• 39:46
  That's the strength. Left is not so much strength.
• 39:48
  So anyway, the big pastor grabs the guy and says, I baptize you
• 39:52
  in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
• 39:54
  And he grabs the guy and throws him down.
• 39:57
  Well, I have a hold of the guy and I get tossed down and I'm
• 40:02
  under the water. And because the waves are coming
• 40:06
  in, it keeps knocking my feet out and I can't get my, my
• 40:10
  footing. I'm stuck under the water.
• 40:12
  And I'm and I'm looking trying to get my orientation and
• 40:16
  they're walking off. So it's faster than this guy.
• 40:20
  Oh, they're going. Yeah, yeah.
• 40:22
  Well, you have to baptize. So far out because the sands are
• 40:26
  so flat that nobody even knew I was under the water.
• 40:31
  It's like I'm going to die under here.
• 40:33
  What? I don't want to get baptized
• 40:35
  unto death, you know? So.
• 40:38
  So finally I get my footing and I stand up and they're on the
• 40:41
  beach. Everybody's celebrating.
• 40:43
  Nobody has a clue. I almost died.
• 40:47
  I'm just going. Well, what do you think?
• 40:49
  OK, there was some disorientation.
• 40:52
  That's my experience. And some of you, I would guess,
• 40:59
  are in the middle of a life situation.
• 41:01
  Those of you watching online, you're in the middle of a life
• 41:05
  situation and you are completely disoriented and you don't know
• 41:11
  which ways are. I know the feeling and you're
• 41:19
  begging God to get you out of it, but by faith I'm asking you
• 41:28
  to change your prayer, to ask to meet God in it first.
• 41:39
  When I think of Jesus coming to the disciples in the boat,
• 41:43
  walking on the water, when they recognize him, he says to them,
• 41:48
  be of good cheer, do not be afraid, it is I.
• 41:53
  And when he said that the storm was still going on because he
• 41:59
  wanted to calm the storm in their heart first, before the
• 42:04
  storm was ever settled on the outside.
• 42:08
  That's God's way. That's God's plan for you this
• 42:12
  morning and for me. Lord, calm the storm in my heart
• 42:18
  first. Give me the grace to endure
• 42:22
  today, in the midst of my disorientation, I want to hope
• 42:28
  in you. By the way, do you realize that
• 42:33
  hope is only as good as the faithfulness of the person who
• 42:39
  made the promise? Hope in someone's promise of
• 42:45
  help is only as good as the faithfulness of the person who
• 42:49
  gave the promise. When you're when you put your
• 42:53
  hope in people, they will let you down.
• 42:57
  When you put your hope in the circumstances to change, they
• 43:01
  may not ever change. When you put your hope in the
• 43:05
  government. Are you kidding me?
• 43:10
  But, But when you put your hope. Sorry, did I say that?
• 43:12
  OK, but you put your hope in God.
• 43:17
  He's faithful, but He does it His way.
• 43:22
  Can I let go of the demand to do it my way or what I think is
• 43:28
  reasonable out of the multiple choice?
• 43:32
  And can I just let Him do it His way?
• 43:35
  That's what He wants from me because I will find out
• 43:39
  something new and fresh about Him that I could never have
• 43:43
  found out any other way. I'm just telling you, David felt
• 43:50
  overwhelmed and forgotten. He said here in verse 8, the
• 43:56
  Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in
• 44:00
  the night his song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my
• 44:03
  life. And then he says in verse nine,
• 44:06
  I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me now?
• 44:10
  How can he just say that? It's because we can say that and
• 44:15
  that's not theologically correct.
• 44:17
  God never forgets us, but it we can sure feel a blocked from
• 44:21
  God's presence. Why do I go mourning?
• 44:25
  Because of the oppression of the enemy, As with the breaking of
• 44:28
  my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say to me all day
• 44:34
  long, Where's your God? I don't know if you've ever had
• 44:38
  a broken bone. I think most of us have.
• 44:40
  But some bones hurt worse than others.
• 44:44
  That is a description of the kind of pain he felt inside in
• 44:49
  his soul. Wow.
• 44:53
  That's like Hebrew poetry. That's that parallelism.
• 44:57
  And then he says in verse 11, why are you cast down O my soul?
• 45:01
  Again, kind of reaching up through the fog and grabbing on
• 45:05
  to God and saying I need your help.
• 45:08
  Why are you cast down O my soul? Why are you disquieted and
• 45:12
  mourning and moaning? Hope in God, Not hope and hope,
• 45:18
  but hope in God. Not hope and change
• 45:20
  circumstances, but hope in God, for I shall yet praise him the
• 45:26
  help of my countenance and my God.
• 45:30
  Let's finish up here #3 hope in God when you feel unjustly
• 45:35
  accused. And that's what Psalm 43 is
• 45:37
  about, because it starts off, Vindicate me, O God, and plead
• 45:41
  my cause against an ungodly nation.
• 45:45
  Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man, for
• 45:49
  you are the God of my strength. To vindicate means to clear
• 45:55
  someone of blame or suspicion. We live our lives and we
• 46:02
  encounter people that slander our character, sin against us,
• 46:10
  say things about us that aren't true, spread lies about what we
• 46:15
  have done or what we're like. And there's everything in us
• 46:20
  that wants to vindicate ourselves.
• 46:24
  But here's David saying in the midst of all the the unjust
• 46:29
  accusations against him. God, you be my vindicator.
• 46:35
  You guard my reputation. I'll take care of of the
• 46:40
  character between you and me and you take care of my reputation.
• 46:46
  And that's hard to let go and let God take it.
• 46:51
  Proverb 20 verses 22 says don't say I will get even for this
• 46:56
  wrong. Wait for the Lord to handle the
• 47:00
  matter. Wow, plead my cause.
• 47:05
  The verse says here and that's asking for a defense lawyer.
• 47:10
  Well guess what, the Father has set Jesus to be our defense
• 47:14
  lawyer because that's what it says in first John 21.
• 47:19
  My little children, these things are right to you so that you may
• 47:24
  not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an
• 47:26
  advocate with the Father. Advocate is is some a friend
• 47:31
  that comes alongside to your defense.
• 47:34
  It's the word paracletos, the same word Jesus used to describe
• 47:39
  the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our advocate with the
• 47:44
  Father. David had so many men that had
• 47:48
  deserted him and followed Absalom, his closest friend
• 47:54
  Ahithophel and then he he bleeds pleads with the Lord in verse
• 47:59
  three. O send out your light and your
• 48:02
  truth exclamation point. Let them lead me.
• 48:06
  Let them bring me to your holy hill and your Tabernacle,
• 48:10
  because that's where God is. Let your truth and your light
• 48:14
  lead me. When you open the door that has
• 48:19
  on the outside health provision children, and you open it up and
• 48:28
  it's dark, you can pray. Lord, send your light and your
• 48:35
  truth from Your word. Help me to know Your promises
• 48:40
  and hold on to them. Let them lead me.
• 48:45
  Then I will go to the altar of God, To God, my exceeding joy on
• 48:50
  the harp, I will praise you, oh God, my God.
• 48:53
  And then finally in verse 5 again the third time, why are
• 49:00
  you cast down? What reason should there be that
• 49:04
  you're locked in that situation of being crushed?
• 49:08
  Why are you disquieted within me, which means to be in, in a
• 49:13
  in a tumult, in commotion, in mourning, in moaning, hoping God
• 49:21
  for I shall yet praise him the help of my countenance and my
• 49:26
  God, as we close here, I want to ask you something.
• 49:35
  Is God speaking to your heart about something going on right
• 49:39
  now in your life? Is there a dark room that you
• 49:45
  have been full of fear about? And I believe the Lord wants you
• 49:53
  to deal with it this morning. And we'd like to pray for you
• 50:00
  because we all have gone through those times, some of you this
• 50:04
  morning, some of you watching online as well.
• 50:07
  There's something going on in your life that is so
• 50:11
  debilitating that it's captivated your heart.
• 50:15
  That's all you can think about, and God wants to have you
• 50:21
  experience His freedom, but you have to act upon it.
• 50:25
  You got to take a step of faith one way or another.
• 50:30
  And so while we're here, here's what I'd like you to do.
• 50:33
  If God is speaking to your heart through the message here about
• 50:37
  an issue in your life you have to deal with, I'd like you just
• 50:40
  to stand up where you are and so I can pray for you.
• 50:45
  Is there anybody that's here that's like that?
• 50:56
  Anyone else? This is an opportunity to act
• 51:00
  upon what God's stirring on your heart to do.
• 51:06
  Now for those of you that are seated around, those standing
• 51:11
  up, I'd like you to go over to them and put your hand on their
• 51:17
  shoulder and we're going to pray for them, OK, Look around and
• 51:20
  see who's standing. Go over to them.
• 51:22
  Let no one be standing by themselves because we're going
• 51:27
  to pray for them. And by the way, we're all in the
• 51:31
  same boat. It's a big ship, right?
• 51:34
  We're all in the same boat, OK? Don't let anyone standing all
• 51:39
  the on their own over here. OK, Let's pray.
• 51:48
  Father God, we thank you for your word this morning and we
• 51:54
  confess, God, we've all been there or are there right now in
• 51:58
  times where we feel like we're in freefall.
• 52:04
  And God, we confess our fear. We confess how much time we've
• 52:10
  spent mulling over it in our thought life and we're missing
• 52:16
  the point. God, we pray for those that have
• 52:22
  stood here and we're asking that you would bring them into a
• 52:26
  victorious place of finding you, God, and having peace deep in
• 52:32
  their soul in the midst of their life circumstances.
• 52:38
  We can't do that personally. You have to intervene.
• 52:42
  God, send your Holy Spirit to flesh out all that fear, all
• 52:49
  that anxiety, and to have complete trust and hope in you.
• 52:55
  God, to meet us right here. Do it your way however you want
• 53:02
  to give grace in the midst of the hard life situation.
• 53:13
  And today we want to proclaim God you are greater than any
• 53:18
  difficulty. We are in the middle of hoping
• 53:23
  God that's what we need. Do that Lord please, in Jesus
• 53:31
  name, Amen. We pray that you've been
• 53:35
  encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
• 53:38
  sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
• 53:44
  grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
• 53:51
  entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
• 53:55
  online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
• 54:00
  Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
• 54:03
  this week.