[0:00] Please take your Bibles, go to Psalm 80. All that you're needing, he is. What a great truth. I think we need to hear that before we end the night so girls don't disappear or don't go too far. If time will allow, and I guess that's up to me, isn't it?
[0:12] If time will allow, we will hear that song again before we leave. And that was wonderful. I didn't know that Madison was singing. I thought Miss Melinda Elrod was here to hear me preach Psalm 80.
[0:24] But I see her granddaughter is singing. But since you're here, you might as well stick around, all right? And Psalm chapter number 80, and I know you wouldn't. Psalm 80, let's read Psalm 79 verse 13.
[0:36] Last time we were in a psalm together, we spent a lot of time rehearsing this verse to us over and over again. And some of you might remember it, but in Psalm 79 verse 13, if you have it, you can read with me that says, So we, thy people and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks forever.
[0:54] We will show forth thy praise to all generations. So we, the people, the sheep of the pasture, we now come to the Lord in a prayer. Psalm 80 says, O shepherd of Israel.
[1:05] And it's another prayer of lament. Brother Frick, sometimes I think in heaven, I like to go to some of the guys that I like to read after and say, why did you skip some of the psalms, you know? They were just so great, but sometimes you didn't say anything about different psalms.
[1:20] Why did you skip any of the psalms? And then I kind of think they may turn back to me and say, if you would have skipped some of them, you might not have came here so early, right? Because trying to teach each psalm can bring some stress to you sometimes, especially these psalms of lament, where God will say the same message to us over and over again.
[1:38] And I just trust that if God says something over and over again, then we need to, what? Hear it over and over again. So these psalms of lament have a lot of similarities, but there's definitely something unique in this psalm that we want to pay attention to.
[1:54] And I pray that it will help you tonight. The point is clear that if God can reverse the disaster of ancient Israel, He can certainly reverse any disaster people today might experience for their laments and their petitions are honored as much as God honored the laments and petitions of the faithful in ancient times.
[2:11] Call this a prayer of restoration for your brother. In the psalms, they don't often talk like we do. And I'm not talking about the language of the Bible, about it being in the English, but sometimes I don't understand it because there's a depth of their understanding of God that I just don't have.
[2:29] The way that they speak to God has an understanding. They understand history. As Christians, we ought to be good students of geography, right? Pastor this morning talked about how we ought to be praying for different parts of the world.
[2:40] And he named off five or six countries. I started with the letter M. And some of you thought, I didn't even know that was a place, right? Because we ought to be people that study the Word. We ought to be people that are students of history, of Bible history.
[2:52] And so when this psalm comes in, there's a lot of history that is brought up that has meaning to it. And I'm just challenged when I read people and they say they're, when they speak to God, because they know something about Him that I don't know.
[3:05] Which is why I come to the Bible, right? Is that this book knows something about God that I don't know. That the writers and the psalms know something about God that's who we want to see. That Jesus is the hero of the story.
[3:16] And that's the one we want to learn about. And so I would encourage you to mark in your Bible. A few of us went to the same college and the president would say, if you're in the habit of marking in your Bible, please mark here.
[3:28] And he taught us you ought to always be a gentleman. Don't tell people what to do, right? You're supposed to invite people to do things. You ought to say please if you want to do something. So pretty please, if you want to, I would invite you to mark in your Bible or to take note of this.
[3:41] Because it isn't enough that I studied the Bible before I came here. It's important that while we're here together, that you know that you're studying the Bible as well. And that you know Psalm 80 better because of our time together.
[3:54] And that's what I'm praying that God would allow us to do. Is to know Psalm 80 better and to live out the principles in our lives for God's honor and His glory. Heavenly Father, I ask that you be with us now as we come to your holy and errant word.
[4:09] Lord, we know that it has answers for us. It has truths that are very much relevant. Lord, we know that what we just heard sung and we rejoice in that Jesus, He is, He is all those things that were mentioned.
[4:22] We know that He is that and so much more, Lord. And we rejoice in that. And Father, there's times that we come to you and we do not have words and we want to lament and to cry out for somebody else.
[4:33] And I thank you for the words that you give us here in this psalm. Not just words to say, but thoughts to think and a better understanding of you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Let's read.
[4:43] I'm going to read verses 1 and 2. And then I'd like for you to read verse number 3 with me. Because four times, some would say three times. And about four times there's a refrain. The verse comes back around again.
[4:54] The third one we'll look at. It's worded a little bit different. But it's the same expression. So, I want you to read verse number 3 to me when we get there. Verse number 1. It says, Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, that thou leadest Joseph like a flock, that thou dwellest between the cherubim.
[5:10] Shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up thy strength and come and save us. Verse 3. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
[5:22] So, the prayer in verse number 3 is this, turn us again. What do you mean, turn us? The Bible constantly is telling us of our need to be restored.
[5:33] Psalms 23 verse 1 says, He what? He restoreth my soul. And so, there's times that are needed. It implies that our soul often needs restoring. Psalm 51 verse 12 says that we pray that God would restore the joy of our salvation.
[5:48] I would encourage you, if that's never been your prayer, then you're probably very much in need of it, all right? Is that you can pray out to God and say, God, I need you to restore to me the joy of my salvation.
[5:59] And then, as the verse that we just read here, it says, Turn us again. It's something that we often need throughout life, this restoring, this coming back to God. It's also found in the New Testament, this type of language.
[6:12] At the last couple of verses in the book of James, James 5, 19. Often, this is misunderstood or overlooked, because the vast majority of times in the Bible, it refers to us as saints.
[6:23] So, we'd say, I'm a sinner saved by grace. And you could say, yes, that's true. But the Bible says that we are now saints. And so, when it's speaking to the church, it calls us saints. But also, here in this verse in James 5, 19, you could be the sinner in this story.
[6:36] It says, Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
[6:47] Brethren, talking about believers, if any of you, all of us here, y'all, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, and so that God would restore a brother or a sister in Christ who has become and has erred in the truth, and that he would use us in the life of a wayward brother.
[7:07] Or another way to say it is that God may use you in my life as a wayward brother. That that's his plan, a plan of restoration to help one another. Acts chapter number 4 and 14 verse 21, in building this case that we are to be involved in the ministry of helping restore one another.
[7:25] Acts 14, 21, it says, And when they had preached the gospel to that city and taught many, they returned again to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples. And if you don't understand confirming, you can see it again, and exhorting them to continue in the faith that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
[7:44] God uses us to strengthen one another. God uses us to help, encourage, to restore one another. God can use us to pray for the restoration of somebody.
[7:54] So here's a prayer of restoration for a group of people that God would use me or you to strengthen somebody. 1 Corinthians 12, 19. I made reference of it today in our Come and See Luncheon.
[8:07] And it says, And if they were all one member, were where the body? And let me try that again, all right? From the top, all right? Verse number 19. And if they were all one member, where the body?
[8:19] Where, where the body? But now are they many members yet but one body? And I cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor against the head to the feet. I have no need of you.
[8:30] You can't look at anybody in this room and say, I have no need of you. Don't do it, all right? Don't look at anybody here. Every one of us have need. Not anybody can. I can't pick any two group of people in this room, and you can't look at them and say, I have no need of them.
[8:42] They're in a different life stage than me, a different path. They live in a different part of town. They're not involved in the same ministries. I don't need this person. The Bible says as believers in the church together, we can't say that.
[8:53] We need one another on a small level. I may need just you smiling when I see you get your coffee on a Sunday morning. Or I may need you to encourage me with something that you've learned in the Bible.
[9:04] Or I may need you as you help teach my kids the Bible. But every one of us are interconnected here. And one of the ways that we need one another, at the end of James, is that we would pray this of restoration, that God could use us, that the shepherd could use us to reach out and help bring somebody else back in.
[9:22] Tell that to the teenagers and youth group. They have all kinds of numbers about how many kids leave church after high school, and we refuse to believe those, refuse for them to be true about us.
[9:33] But one of the things that can be done is when people begin to slip away from the things of God, God could use you to go after them and say, hey, you're erring. Go after them. Help pray restoring them that God would do that.
[9:45] And so what did the prayer here, it said would restore us again in a prayer for the people, for the nation of Israel. But then it goes on and it says, turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
[9:59] Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. I don't know what your first thoughts are about your face shining. My sister was, she's six years older than me, and so I just remember her putting all kinds of craziness on her face as a teenager.
[10:14] She would have heat lamps, she had all kinds of stuff. She scared me all the time, right? I'd see her in the hall, she would come in, she had mud on her face, or she'd have some cleaning, but her face was always just shiny, right? Because that's what she spent so much time on.
[10:27] If that's what you're thinking, you're like me, you're way off base, all right? That's not where this is going on. But you probably know where in the Bible that this comes from. And it gets brought up quite often because this phrase gets used quite often in the Bible.
[10:40] Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 through 26 says, The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
[10:50] The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. In my Bible, where it says the Lord, that is underlined. The Lord bless thee, the Lord make his face, and the Lord lift up his countenance.
[11:02] The emphasis on being the things that only belong to the Lord. Only the Lord can be gracious. Only the Lord can keep us. Only the Lord can give peace. So turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine on us.
[11:15] Your favor is what we need. We're not going to any other place to help solve our problem, but it's you. That song was so clear on that, right? If we go, if we need anything, where are we going to find it? We're going to find it in him.
[11:26] So throughout the Psalms, this expression is used here in verse 3. The shining of God's face draws sinners back to them that are straying away. Psalm 119, 135, Make thy face to shine upon thy servant and teach thy statutes.
[11:40] It's through God's favor that we understand God's word, that God's face would shine upon us and teach us and to know it. That's why praying, God will be part of our Bible reading and studying, that this is just not like any other book, that God, through the Holy Spirit, gives us understanding of it, and that's one of the wonderful things that he can do in the life of a believer.
[11:59] Psalm 44, verse 3, For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance, because thou hast the favor unto them.
[12:11] So the light of God's face is his favor upon his children, brings them protection. And then Psalm 67, 1 and 2, it says, God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, Salem, that thy way may be known upon the earth and thy saving health among all nations.
[12:30] It's his blessings we are to share with others. Remember when I told you that the psalmist doesn't speak like me because I'm from a small town in Kentucky? It's not that I just use different words, but my prayers don't often have the depth that they could have if I was a person that would read after these psalms.
[12:46] What a wonderful thing to pray, that God would restore us. And what do we want him to do? We want his face to shine upon us. We want God to give us understanding. We want God to look down and provide protection.
[12:57] We want to look into the face and to know that all that we need is going to be found in him. And then we find who it is that they are addressing in this first three verses. We've joked about it before, but most of us have been in church any amount of time.
[13:10] You have somebody that when they pray, they say the word Lord a lot, right? And as a little kid, you count how many times they say the word Lord. Anybody resonate with what I'm saying here. They just use Lord over and over again when they say it.
[13:21] So it's interesting. I love to hear people pray. When I was a student in Peru, I hadn't been there very long, and the pastor invited me to pray in Spanish. So I stood up and I said, hola Dios, all right?
[13:34] Me name, I told him my name, and I said, talk to you later, all right? And I'm sure everybody in there that knew Spanish thought, man, this guy's got a really weird prayer life, all right?
[13:45] And I'm like, nope, I just got a very limited vocabulary of what I can say. And in a serious sense, I believe that my prayer life has a limited vocabulary, and it ought to be depth, and there ought to be more depth to it.
[14:00] I ought to say prayers like this and say, God, would you shine your face upon my children? Would you, Lord, I'm asking for your favor. I'm asking for your blessings upon my kids.
[14:10] And so, we're going to look and see how they address. They don't just say the word Lord over and over again, and they definitely don't say, hello God, over and over again. But first of all, it says, he calls a shepherd. Even though there's many references to sheep, there's only about two clear references of calling shepherd here in the Psalms.
[14:26] Psalms 23, and this one, oh shepherd of Israel. It focuses God's protective care and provision for his people. Because of the distress, the psalmist appeals to the shepherd to give ear, to listen to us.
[14:38] God, I need to be heard, and he is a faithful shepherd. And as we're talking about the people of Joseph, it could bring us back to the story in Genesis chapter number 49, where Jacob is giving the blessings upon his son, and he talks about the fruitfulness that will come of Joseph's life.
[14:57] And he said, from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. That these, the children of Jacob, the children of Israel, they knew God as a shepherd. Oh shepherd of Israel.
[15:08] What's another thing that's referred to? Not only shepherd, but says, thou leadest Joseph like a flock. As a shepherd, he's a leader. This name Joseph is referring to the people who descended from Joseph, from these northern tribes.
[15:21] And so when we read in the verse here, it says, thou leadest here, we're mostly used to him leading to green pastures or leading to still waters. But now here's a shepherd, and he's not leading the green pastures or the still waters, but he's leading to a place where people are, their tears are their food to eat.
[15:40] So we see him, God being referred to as a shepherd. We also see him being referred to as somebody that would lead and guide. And then this, that thou dwellest between the cherubims should shine forth.
[15:52] He's talking about the presence of God, that his dwelling here, this angelic guards the throne of God. It's in Psalm 99, verse 1, the Lord reigneth and let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims.
[16:03] Let the earth be moved. Referencing the Ark of the Covenant. And the emphasis here in the dwelling is that he is a shepherd, he guides, and that he is here. His presence is here among us.
[16:14] That God's presence were among the children of Israel. And these were all things that were being said. Just a few words, but these were all the thoughts that were going on. And then in verse number 4, it says, O Lord God of hosts.
[16:27] A way that we say it now quite often would be God of angel armies. The Lord God of hosts. And so in this short amount of time, Asaph here, writing the psalm, God was using him to make references to God that were just so full of meaning.
[16:43] That recognized him as the one that was their shepherd, that would provide, one that would lead, and one that was guide, one that was very present in their time of need, and then one that did not lack power, one that had all power because he was the Lord of hosts.
[16:57] He's accomplishing a lot in a few words, isn't he, in his prayer? And it's not that he's accomplished a lot in a few words, but he's thinking biblically. He's thinking correct about God as it comes to him in prayer.
[17:08] Let's continue in this verse, this chapter. O Lord of hosts, how long would thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears. He's not leading them to green pastures, I've already said.
[17:21] He givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest up a strife unto our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. Would you read with me verse number seven? Turn us again, O God of hosts, because thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
[17:38] And so turn us again, O God of hosts. This prayer that gets repeated. And did you see that? It says that he's, well, he's angry, that God is angry. That the Bible, it talks about God's anger being at smoke, that God is angered here.
[17:51] What is it that God is angry at? Verse number four, I'm not going to give you the answer. All right. Verse number four, what is it that God is angry at?
[18:02] He is angry with their, angry with their prayers. That's hard, hard, isn't it? That you're not, you know that God's angry towards your sin, but now God is, he's angry with your prayers.
[18:14] What a bitter grief that you would have that your prayers, why would God be angry at our prayers? They are offering hypocritical and insincere prayers that God is against it.
[18:26] They knew that they had done wrong and they deserved the punishment that they had, but God said he was against it. Isaiah 115 describes these type of prayers that God would be mad against. And it says, and when he spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you.
[18:40] Yea, when you make many prayers, I would not hear. Your hands are full of blood. A hypocritical and an insincere prayer, an insincere way of coming before God.
[18:53] I didn't think I might tell this story, but I worked at a Christian camp many years ago and it started off and I just thought, man, this is great. When we get together and study the Bible, everybody's just into it so much and there's just the great worship and the people are just so nice.
[19:09] And just a few weeks into that camp, it was just the most carnal thing I'd ever been part of. No desire for holiness. It was just craziness, okay? But what didn't change was that when we went into the chapel to have the service with the other teenage kids, everybody just acted the same.
[19:27] That even though their lives weren't honoring the God, even though there was no quiet time, none of that, we would all just come in and the last chapel service we had looked like the first chapel service we had, but there was so much that happened that summer that was not pleasing to God.
[19:42] And it was just an eerie feeling to me to stand by people that I knew that one moment we're going to be worshiping the Lord as we would say in song and the next moment they would be very profane and speak in a way that wasn't pleasing to God.
[19:56] And it was just a really insincere place to be. And could you imagine, I knew in my spirit that that wasn't right, but the God of heaven says, I'm angry at these type of prayers, these insincere prayers that are being given to us as they prayed it up.
[20:09] And so as we're praying for restoration for a brother in sin, restore us again, we pray for people that are dealing with the consequences of their sin that they deserved. Dealing with a group of people that when they're praying that they're still insincere, but we pray for them.
[20:24] This is how it describes the suffering of their neighbor. For thou feedest them with the bread of the tears and giveest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us as a strife unto our neighbors and our enemies laugh among them.
[20:37] Maybe it's speaking about the difference between the North and the Southern kingdoms here and now. This is what they are doing, what they're doing. But it says, but it's ours. They felt it. I would ask you, would you allow God to break your heart for the conviction of other people?
[20:50] I'm saying that when people have done wrong, I'm saying that when people are still offering insincere prayers to God, when they're dealing with the consequences of their sin, would you say, God, this still breaks my heart.
[21:02] And would you pray and say, God, would you restore them again? Would you turn your face upon them? If that's not revival, what is revival? Then a people asking God to allow us to turn unto Him and for God's face to shine upon us.
[21:15] It's a lot easier to say, I told you so, right? And it's a lot easier to say, I knew that was going to happen to them. We all knew it was going to happen to them. You know, play stupid games and win stupid prizes.
[21:25] Isn't that how it's said? Maybe it shouldn't be said like that, but that's how I said it. Sorry, Stephanie. All right? As if you play these silly games, you're going to win silly prizes at times. And we often see that.
[21:36] We see people living in it. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I can lose compassion for people. We're not talking about the people in this world that don't know the gospel. And they're just victims of not knowing the gospel.
[21:47] But we know people in our lives that know better, right? And now they're dealing with the consequences, but we don't have any compassion for them. We don't see that. Our hearts are not broken because we lack the sympathy that is needed, but we shouldn't.
[22:00] We should be asking God and praying this prayer of restoration for our brothers. Verse number 8, that thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt that was cast out the heathen and planted.
[22:11] And so now we have a picture here of this vine that is going to be taken. Have any of you ever moved plants before? Have you ever moved the plant from one side of your house to another side of your house?
[22:22] We don't, but we bought lettuce one time. Kind of similar, right? All right? And so they're moving it. They go through Egypt. They go through the Red Sea and God is taking them out of Egypt, scooping them up, root and all, and then moving them and he's going to place them in the promised land that's been prepared for them.
[22:38] Verse number 9, and he cast it and when he planted it it took a deep root and as it took a deep root it filled the land. See, the hills were covered with the shadow of it.
[22:49] So there's a picture of a vine that's growing so much that's now casting a shadow and the boughs whereof were like the goodly cedars. Jacob, did you study biology in school? All right.
[22:59] So this isn't a very common thing for vines to get like this. This is, they're like growing to the size of cedars. It's a picture here to let you see how massive that it is. And not only is it massive and providing shade but she sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river and it went everywhere that it was promised in the book of Deuteronomy that this place was planted, this little bitty plant was taken out of Egypt.
[23:22] God took it and put it in the promised land which he had prepared by removing the enemies. He had prepared it for them. He dug down deep. He had set their roots in it and now it is growing like kudzu I guess here in Georgia we'd understand and it's going all over the place and filling all the promises that God has for them.
[23:42] But then verse number 12 the key change. It says, Why hast thou then broken down her hedges so that all that which pass by the way do pluck her?
[23:52] And so there's no stone fence around it and so when people are going by they can just take from it at will. They can pull away at these things and they can pluck at it they can take the fruit and take it.
[24:04] And then verse number 13 the boar out of the wood doth waste it. So you're picturing a garden now that has no protection that was once amazing but now everybody walks by takes what they want a big South Georgia boar hog has been going in there and rooting down and digging at the roots and the wild beast of the field doth devour it and has no protection.
[24:28] Then we get to verse number 14 would you read it with me? Verse 14 Return we beseech thee O God of hosts look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine. Slightly different than the last two that we read but the same expression.
[24:43] God would you return would you see the condition that we're in and God would you help us because if you don't no one can. So Israel is seen as a growing vine left unprotected here. So when we try to live our lives without God our life disintegrates.
[24:57] We could take the rest of this night for you to come up here and to tell me the story of somebody you know whose life was like this vine that was growing over and had great abundance and now it's completely destroyed and unprotected.
[25:09] This vineyard has been eaten up as it says in Song of Solomon by little foxes. In Song of Solomon there's this the beloved is asking the lover to take the initiative in solving the problems that can potentially harm the relationship of these little foxes that are coming but now it's not little foxes but the whole vine has been destroyed.
[25:27] Verse number 15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the brents that thou made is strong for thyself it is burned with fire it is cut down they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand and upon the son of man whom thou made is strong for thyself and we're going to talk about that the man of thy right hand so we will not go back from thee quicken us and we will call upon thy name.
[25:55] Would you read verse number 19 with us? Turn us again O Lord God of hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. That is the prayer of his heart God would you turn would you turn your face upon us Lord we are repenting we are turning to you Lord and we need you to restore what has been lost.
[26:15] You know in Luke chapter number 24 we have the story where the road to Emmaus and Jesus is walking with the disciples and they don't recognize that it's him and he speaks to them and he gives them understanding of the Old Testament and the Psalms and then he gets to the upper room this is what it says in verse number 44 it says and he said unto them these are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.
[26:44] You know when you read the Old Testament you ought to think about this passage you ought to say what is it that Jesus would have said about this passage on the road to Emmaus? What is it that we would know about Christ from this passage?
[26:56] Those are called Messianic Psalms Psalms like 118 where it says the stone that the builders rejected you know that one or maybe Psalm 22 where it says my God my God why hast thou forsaken me?
[27:06] But in this one as well we see a picture of the coming Messiah and God answers their prayer in a way that if they knew better they would be asking for it.
[27:19] And so here we see here that the man of thy right hand verse 17 let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
[27:31] You know give us deliverance by the man of thy right hand. Throughout the Bible there's a lot of references to the man of the right hand. Benjamin that was his name but his mother when she was dying she used to call him Ben-on-i which means the son of sorrow but the dad says no we're not going to call him Ben-on-i we're going to call him Benjamin which means the son of my right hand the son of my favor.
[27:56] That's wonderful isn't it? We're not going to call him the son of sorrow we're going to call him the son of my right hand. Genesis chapter number 48 is one of my favorite stories with Ephraim and Manasseh where Jacob is praying for the two sons of Joseph and he goes and he lays his hand upon Manasseh there and he lays his right hand would you turn that I believe it's verse 18 Genesis 48 verse 18 but he lays his hand upon him and Joseph said unto his father not so my father for this is the firstborn but put thy right hand upon his head and so he lays his hand upon Manasseh and Joseph says no not that one the other one right and Jacob says I know what I'm doing son alright this is what I meant that God took the younger one the weaker one the one that it wasn't expected and he lays his hand upon it he crosses his hand and it was just a great reminder that it wasn't the person that was expected that God was going to use but just like Joseph and just like all the people in the Bible God takes the weaker things the lesser things but that right hand talks about this person of favor throughout the Bible is that it would be the person of favor and so when they're praying they're praying that God would give us that somebody would be found favor in God's sight this person of the right hand would come and save them somebody from the tribe of Israel would come and God with their right hand would save them but we know who it is that sits on the right hand of the
[29:20] Father we know how this psalm is ultimately fulfilled we know that when anybody prays for restoration when we pray that when anybody prays for peace and they would say God can you do something they are praying God would you bring the gospel to me they are praying a prayer that if they knew it they would cry out to Jesus if they knew if they were wiser they would be crying out for the Messiah that's happening but also who is the good shepherd John 10 11 we've already said the shepherd of Israel but John 10 11 I am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep who is the true vine we've spoke about the vine tonight John chapter number 15 the vine that they had that was grown up and it's now beaten down Jesus I am the true vine and the Father is the husband who is the son of man who sits on the right hand of the Father but it's Jesus who is the face of God who turns to us in the gospel and gives us the light of revelation of the glory of God it's in the face of Jesus 2 Corinthians 4 4 in whom the God of this earth has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of thy glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them would you read with me that verse that we've said we can find it in verse number 3 once again would you read with me verse number 3 turn us again
[30:36] O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Jesus would you come into this situation and would you make a difference God would you be the good shepherd to my family God would you be the vine that we can live and abide in God would you have shined your face upon my family in us knowing the gospel that this psalm is speaking about a coming Messiah but we know about it there's no truth in all of God's word that cannot bring comfort to a hurting people and so we ought to share this liberally with people because we know who sits on the right hand we know of the shepherd and we should share this read a story you should read the testimony of a lady named Rosary Butterfield how she came to know Christ and she was a foster parent and she brought in six kids and one of the kids that she brought in was mute because of some of the trauma in his life and he didn't speak but they could only gather from the reaction of his eyes the things that he was afraid of but through attending church and hearing the songs and studying the Bible through time God really changed this little kid's life and he began to love the read very smart kid as it said but at the end of the story she says this mercy ministries always come down to this you can help but only Jesus can heal you can help but only Jesus can heal if you want God to use you in the life of some people to bring restoration you should pray biblical prayers like this
[32:01] God turn your face upon them God would they turn unto you would they would repent and then you need to them to know about Jesus the shepherd they need to know about Jesus the vine they need to know about Jesus that he is the expression of God's favor upon us of all humanity and it's such a wonderful thing that God would allow us to know him you can help but only Jesus can heal so I'd ask you tonight do you need to be restored today you need to come to Jesus is there brokenness are the walls broken down if it is come to Jesus only he can bring healing but also maybe there's somebody in your life there's a relationship there needs to be restoration of joy of relationships or a closeness to God and ask you is your heart broken for our brothers and sisters who are dealing with the consequences of their sin and if so are you praying for them and are you praying prayers that are biblical that you know that God would hear and he would answer and are you taking them to the person of Jesus to bring healing God could use us in a tremendous way we live in a very broken and hurting world and that we have an opportunity to show them
[33:08] Jesus and so they prayed to the one of the right hand to come and we will pray the same that the son on the right hand of the father would come and he would make a difference in this world I'm going to pray and we're going to take a moment I'm going to allow you to pray there in your seat if you'd like you could come if I wouldn't mind if those girls and the guitar players would come up here and I would like for us to end with that song tonight they put the words on the screen so if you would like to sing along you most certainly can but as they get in the place I want you to pray I want you first to answer this question honestly are you in need of restoration are you in need of God is the hedge broken down in your life as it's been said and if you're needing healing in your life where do you go to you can only find healing that is going to be found in Jesus and you can cry out to them isn't it wonderful it says turn us it doesn't say turn us from captivity but it says turn us because more so than the change of your circumstances you need a change in your character more than change of your circumstances you need a change in your view of God and if your prayer of the night is for somebody else that's in need of restoring then you need to pray that they're going to turn their heart over to Jesus because nothing else is going to make any difference in this world none of us can make any difference we can only help people but it's in Jesus that they're going to find healing let's pray together but before I pray
[34:30] I'm going to give you a moment there in your seat to pray and talk to God and talk to God and talk to God and talk to God and talk to God