[0:00] well that is a fantastic tribute to our lord and a truth amen you know there are benefits to everything goes on god always works stuff out i don't know if you ever watch a little wesley mize over here but uh some of our kids learned how to sit through church he's like a man over here doesn't make a move i don't know if it's out of fear of dad or love for jesus but i was watching him what a good young man i didn't ask you to pray for courtney while i go courtney mize's dad died i believe it was yesterday and we need to be in prayer for her he was uh sick but there's never a time that it's good to lose your family members we all hate that so i want to have a special word i'm going to interrupt us normally scheduled process here and let's pray for courtney and her family if you would father i pray for courtney she loves you she's a good servant of yours i pray for her husband justice god i pray you give her special comfort right now i pray you'd help her lord that she would be able to grow stronger and stronger in you and you'd help her through these hard times and this painful loss that she's experiencing please touch her and help her also pray for laurie holt's mom who's suffering and at home now but still in bad shape from a lot of little mini strokes and the holts are dealing with a lot of stuff they need your touch and i pray you do that we'll give you praise for all that you do in jesus name amen well take your bible go with me if you would to psalm 48 and we're going to look at some other verses in just a minute but i'm going to give you just some background here when you when you read and study the bible there's a lot of distinctions you need to always make one everybody is a creation of god but only some of us are the children of god in other words god made everybody but like people like to say well we're all the children of god no you got to get born to get in this family born again you got to get physically born and then born again but another thing you always got to watch out for is israel and the church god's talking israel god's talking the church old testament's primarily about israel new testament's primarily about the church i always ought to ask myself who is he talking to how does this apply to me how do i live this out uh so we're in a psalm and this psalm is a jewish celebration there's tons of things we can learn from it but it's a jewish celebration it's a big deal this is like the end of world war ii this is like uh but it's one city one city the principal city the city of god surrounded by syrians surrounded by people from nineveh surrounded by wicked hateful god hating god mocking people and god has worked a miracle and so they're having a worship service and they're singing psalm 46 and then when they get through that who knows what happens they sing psalm 47 then they do something else and then they sing psalm 48 and so it is a tremendously wonderful psalm and we want to learn from you how to praise god this is for the jewish people there but it flat still applies to us the verse says great is the lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our god in the mountain of his holiness when i read this psalm it tells me a whole lot of things about god so i want to just take a minute and talk to you about this we ought to want to know god we ought to want to understand him we ought to he's a person he made us in his image and he wants to be known so go with me if you would at least watch it on the screen write it down and check it out later exodus 33 13 moses said god i want to know you god i want to know you
[4:07] i don't you know god's not some invisible force or power way out there god is at work and so on exodus 33 13 he said now therefore i pray thee if i found grace in thy sight send me now thy way that i may know thee god i want to know you that i may find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation is thy people i want you to remind that i may know thee that i may know thee he wants to know you he wants you to know him exodus 33 18 same chapter a little further down he said i beseech thee show me thy glory all through the bible there's a hunger to know god and you ought to always be reading the story and saying that's my god i love what it says in psalm 48 in verse 14 this god this god i'm learning about this god that i know is our god forever and ever he will be our god even unto death in psalm 42 1 the psalmist says so pants my soul after thee oh god i'm like a deer a heart as it pants after water god i want to know you god i want to be close to you he says in verse 2 my soul thirst for you god i'm hungry for you god i'm thirsty for you in daniel 11 32 the bible said the people that do know their god shall be strong and do exploit the people that do know their god john 17 3 jesus pray and said that they might know thee i want them to know you oh god that they might know the only true god and jesus christ who you have sent in philippians 3 10 this verse changed my heart it changed my life i've been trying to live out of a bunch of do's and don'ts and rules and regulations and i've spent my life trying to break free of that and learn to know him and i was reading one day and this and a verse out of psalm 4 both jumped off the page at me that i may know him you know you don't have to do stuff he wants to know you so i find several things in psalm 48 1 that i just want you to underline about our god about our god back in 1972 right at the turn into 1973 i had gone back to my house for christmas my mom and dad's house and uh my cousin was there and my cousin said do you have a girlfriend i said no no no he said not even a girl you're interested in i said no i don't have anybody i'm really interested in he said oh come on i said well there's this one girl her name's betty but she doesn't treat me very well and uh he said well let's call her and so i couldn't do that from my daddy's phone you would never make a long distance call on my daddy's phone you'd get in trouble so we drove 10 miles to town went to a pay phone now you younger people don't know what that is but they used to have these boxes you would open the door step in and drop your quarter in and i called betty and her mother answered the phone and said she's spending the night with another boy there's a guy family friend and they had horses but that broke my little heart and i just want to know her and then mark said to me well tell me about her and i started telling him about her well you know if you know god you ought to know about him you'll be able to talk about him and now all through the bible that's what's going on look if you went in psalm 48 1 write this down great is the lord great is the lord now you got to understand what's going on sennacherib has attacked with 185 000 soldiers before he does that he writes him a letter and says your god can't do it no other god has ever
[8:12] been able to do it i have destroyed every country and all their gods and i will whip your god too and as a guy took that letter and he went into god he said that's what they're saying about you and god said oh don't worry i'll show them i am great amen and 185 000 of them dead i need you to understand something you might be thinking god is weak you might be thinking coronavirus and financial turmoil and social unrest and all this junk's going on you may be getting upset but i got news for you great is the lord psalm 48 1 not only is he great he is worthy of praise look at the verse and greatly to be praised in the city of our god you know if you knew who god was if you understood who he was you'd be praising him you'd realize he's still in charge you'd be realizing his hands are not tied you'd be realizing he still answers prayer you'd be realizing that all the great things that the god of the bible did he still does praise the lord amen it wouldn't hurt you just say that with me how about it praise the lord not only that he is a holy god look at psalm 48 1 he is holy in the mountain of his holiness underline that somehow we have chosen in our society not you don't take this first unless it fits but the world and the christian world has chosen to lower god they've chosen to demean him to make him base they've chosen to use his name as a curse word they've chosen to think that god is kind of not available anymore but the bible says he is holy he is right he is holy he is pure not only that do you know god wants you to know him you know god wants you to know him psalm 48 3 god is known in our palaces for refuge now what in the world is that they knew enough about god to know well you can trust god they knew enough about god to know he was a refuge god that you can know you can know god jesus wanted you to know god i'm not talking about just salvation obviously that applies but it's much more than that when i saw that girl who was spending the night riding a horse with a friend's house i wanted to know her i spent the last 47 years or 147 years whatever it's been i've spent that getting to know her you know you know god let's get to know god he's a god who wants to know you know you know him you don't know him you can know a little bit about him by looking at his handiwork but he gave you a book where you can really know him and you get in that book and you read about it and you know him he's a powerful god in verse 7 it says you break the ships of tarsus with an east wind i don't know let me give you a semi-modern story if you've read history the spanish were the most powerful people in the world they had basically conquered south america and much of north america they were the most powerful people and they were of a religion that had idols and worshiped saints and they moved a spanish armada against great britain great britain would become after this a great powerhouse where missionaries would be sent around the world when the spanish armada was sailing there was no way england could win but a storm came because you see god can take care of war machines god can take care of coronavirus and god can take care of everything he destroyed he destroyed their war machine he is powerful even over nature he is loving and kind psalm 48 9 he is loving and kind i love this because as a boy i was
[12:18] taught that the god of the old testament was cruel and mean and bloody and thank god jesus came along and softened him that is so much a lie look at what the bible says in nine thy loving kindness oh god he is not just kind and he is not just loving he is loving kindness personified he loves you he is merciful and kind to you he has been so generous to you people prayed and asked and god heard and answered he is loving and he is kind he's to be praised again verse 10 thy praise under the ends of the earth we ought to be trying to get people everywhere to know him and praise him there are people that today will praise uh muhammad there are people today that will praise allah there are people today that will praise buddha there are people today that will praise hindu gods but there's only one god worthy of praise and people ought to know about him he does pleasing right judgments and good decisions in verse 48 be glad because of thy judgments he's eternal that's important you know that our little world is really contrary to what your evolutionary scientist told you is probably more like six or seven thousand years old but god he never had a beginning and he never has an end you say well who made him nobody where'd he come from himself he's eternal he's forever that's wonderful since he made me and i know he's always been around and always be around i can trust him i love psalm 48 14 this isn't really part of the message it was just kind of the introduction i just thought it's still good 48 14 he will be our guide even to death no he never leaves us nor forsakes us he is wanting to work personally in your life he will guide you and direct you he will show you i believe with all my heart god told me showed me what lady to marry i've been happily married to her all these years i believe that god led me and directed me to come to vision baptist church i believe that god gave me the children he gave me and as sweet a kid as wesley is i'll give us i really believe it's the guide who's showing them how to raise the boy it's not them it's our great god we ought to know our god amen get to know god if you would now go with me again to psalm 48 1 the bible says in 48 1 great is the lord and greatly to be praised the greatness was not their armies the greatness wasn't their city it wasn't their weapons it wasn't their power it wasn't the height of their walls it was great is the lord so underline that the city is a great city but that city is not great without god god protected that city the city of our god the mountain of his holiness it was situated right it could only be attacked from the north so it was beautiful for situation it is the city of joy to the whole earth because jesus died there and jesus was buried and jesus rose again and a whole world evangelism plan started there for god to take the gospel and somehow it got all the way over to wrigley tennessee where a little seven-year-old boy heard about jesus it's a great city because it's the city in verse 2 of a great king it is a great city because god protected them a palace of refuge go with me if you went to verse 4 now you got to understand i don't i've you know i just want you to walk through this chapter there had to be a conversation that went on amongst sennacherib's crew and and then later on other kings how could a city calculate everything out and know we can't win because they couldn't win when they looked out saw 185 000 soldiers and all the war
[16:25] equipment maybe their city was situated greatly but there was no way to win they could hold a siege their little conduit of water coming in would have never been enough the city would have been decimated so they send word to them and when they send word to them they say you better give up because your god can't stand against our gods and we're going to kill you we're going to tear your city down they should have reasonably said we'll just give up the king had to be thinking only a fool would ever consider something else but as a guy said you don't know where you are you're in the city of our god you're in the city of his holiness you're in the city of the great king and he went and said god i need you to do something and when there was no way to win when there was no solution when there was no way out god won now the king has walked by the city in verse 4 they get together and they walk by and they say what is it about that city what is it about jerusalem why is it that we great kings in verse 5 we look on that city and we're marveling we're like i don't know how they did it i don't know how they won that battle but i'm scared let's run away i'm afraid and it's like woman's birth pains i gotta get out of here what i got what i got i love the way in the middle of that song they're singing you know this is church kind of jewish church back in the old days and they're singing they're saying great is our god great is our god and they're all singing that and they say and you know when the kings came here they looked our city over and they got scared because it's not our city it's a city of the great god it's the city of a god who can break ships with his wind it's a city of a god that takes care of his people psalm 48 8 if you believe that come coronavirus or come anything else we trust our god i'm not trying to be flippant i tell you take all the precautions if anybody's been through some corona junk i probably have a little bit on that but you know what we serve a great god verse 8 god will establish it forever that's great they knew they knew the reason our city is powerful is god did it but i need to remind you of something else forever now we're millennial talk aren't we now we're second coming talk you see that city is not great any longer it's really the stomping grounds of tourists that's about it but it's a great city it's the city of our god did you know that no army ever defeated the city of jerusalem when they were serving god but one day when ichabod is written across the city and god has departed and there's no more power of god there cities romans and others conquered jerusalem it's the city of our god but it's not the city it's our god this is the church of our god but if we don't serve him and honor him if he ever pulls his hand off of us we won't make it because it's not about you and me it's all about him the psalm is about the city being god's city and 48 1 the city of our god and psalm 48 2 the city of the great king and psalm 48 8 the city of the lord the city of our god all these truths should drive us to worship him all of these truths when you read this every jew ought to have been sitting there going we need to worship god sennacherib didn't die because they put some kind of magical incantation on them sennacherib's army wasn't defeated because of them
[20:28] it was all god and it is all god in saving you it was god that came to find you when you were in your dirty pit of sin it was god that called you it was god that birthed you again it is god that gives you eternal life it's an act of god it's not a simple incantation you pray it is you realize you've sinned and you trust the living god we worship him because we think of his character loving kindness now you can understand no god anywhere is like that no god in the past no god in the present has ever been like that all gods are demanding gods all gods the gods of the of the day of the bible the god said take your small children and put them in a big metal god whose arms were there and they heated it and made an oven and they had to sacrifice their children that's not loving kindness that's hate and mean and wicked that's devil junk but these people said no our god's not like that our god's not like that you know god's not demanding fact is when you failed he didn't give you a lot of a lot of rules to follow to get you saved he gave you grace and sent jesus to die for you worship him tell him thank you for loving you tell him thank you for being kind to you his he is so great we ought to want to witness for him as we worship him look at 48 10 according to thy name oh god so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth you know his name doesn't strike fear his name wakes up an emotion of love and beauty and kindness he is the great god but if you believe he is everything he says he is in this chapter his praise ought to go to the ends of the earth that's why we send missionaries that's why we train missionaries because we know he is great we don't go to conquer we don't go to kill we don't burn things down we don't tear things down we build with the name of jesus christ and he is worthy to be praised i know that he will unlock the chains of bondage of people in india i know he'll change the atheist lives in china i know he'll bring joy to people that are suffering in africa i know his praise ought to go to the ends of the earth why verse 10 because he is full of righteousness he is just right and good what a god there is no deception there is no trickery there is no deceit there is no lie he is a great god you know he's a god that always does right no matter what happens no matter what happens he does right chapter 48 and verse 11 let mount zion rejoice let the daughters be glad why because of thy judgments you see what happens god does right god does right hudson taylor's wife died and he got extremely discouraged and depressed and he kind of disappeared for a couple of days and he came back to preach her funeral and when he got back to preach her funeral they say he said i just want to thank god for giving her to me he's been good to me he said second i want to thank god for letting me have her as long as he did he said then i want to thank you for taking her because i know he knows best even though i don't understand but god always does right what a god worship him worship him worship him you can trust his decisions and then think about this he's always protecting us he will keep us psalm 48 12 walk about zion go round about i don't know if you catch this but basically they're saying in these verses walk around jerusalem check out the walls check out the
[24:32] towers check out the strength check out what we got going and how god has protected us you need to walk around and think about that god's watched over you god's met your needs your health today hey i've been out of the hospital 30 days today how in the world is that possible that i could stand here and preach to you i could tell you walk around and look don't look at me look at him he is great i would take forever and preach on this one but i won't look at psalm 48 13 you better tell it to your kids they need to put their phone down for a minute they need to put down their ipad for a minute they need to turn off the tv for a minute there needs to be some time when daddy says son i got some stories to tell you the fact is some of the stories that you're ashamed of you ought not be ashamed of you ought to say you know i was lost in sin and i was living wicked you have to describe it i was a wicked person i did not know god and you don't know me as a drinker you don't know me as using drugs and you don't know me as being an immoral person but one day he came and he found me and he convicted me and he saved me and he changed me they need to hear that they need to hear about the time you were having financial trouble and you don't know what you're going to do and you went alone and said god i don't know what i'm going to do but thank you i know you'll take care of it and then god did they need to hear that they need to grow up thinking my daddy and my mama serve a great god tell the stories tell us it bothers me sometimes that y'all don't do testimonies here it bothers me you don't just stand up and say i got a story to tell because that's how you learn there was a young man i got i ain't gonna finish but bruchco he went to columbia as a missionary kid and when he got there he wanted to teach him and they weren't interested in teaching but he figured out at night when they laid in the huts they told stories and so he said well maybe i could tell some stories so he's laying in the hut and said you're not gonna believe this there was a time when man rebelled against god and he just told the story and they all were like wow we love your stories you need to tell your story tell it to the generation he's our forever god verse 14 and he will guide us to death now are these truths in the new testament for us do we see the same kind of teaching for us i'd like you to go to philippians 4 6 i know you've been there so many times you got to memorize that's good i'm glad you do be careful for nothing be anxious for nothing don't worry about anything you're not to worry about anything you don't want it because at one time god was in a city but today he's in your heart at one time he dwelt in an earthly building now he lives in the hearts and souls of men and women that have trusted him he still guards and keeps us he said be careful don't y'all worry you know you've been worried too much about all that's going on you're scared you're like man i'm somebody give me the virus i'm gonna die you don't have to worry you don't have to worry because you serve somebody bigger than the virus and i'm scared to get on the road and drive somebody kill me like i tried to kill a preacher this morning but god will take care of us in everything we pray and we ask and beg and we thank him we tell him what we need our requests are made known unto god and in this verse ought to just thrill your heart when you learn to take your needs to take your needs and go to god and say here it is god i don't know what to do but i'm trusting you and i'm thanking you you get to step away saying i just turned it over to somebody that's able and i can have peace that passes all understanding and that's where you keep your mind in verse 8 he is able to keep you
[28:35] from sin i don't have to worry about whether i'm gonna fall in sin as long as i keep my eyes on jesus and jude 24 keep you from falling present you flawless to his glory and majesty and dominion and power you know god is keeping us he not only saved me he's the one he keeps me that's eternal security he saved me he keeps me he saved me he watches over me he saved me he answers my prayer he can be trusted with your faith and commitment in second timothy 1 12 he said for the with the call which cause also suffer these things nevertheless i am not ashamed look at this for i know whom i have believed you see he knows god he's i know who he is i know his character i know how he acts i know how he responds i know who i have believed and i am persuaded after knowing him that he is able to keep that which i've committed unto him against that day won't be long you'll be laying at death's door but you can know this you trusted him with your salvation and you trusted him with your life and he is able and he will keep you he will keep that which i've committed unto him against that day now i got one last verse i don't want him to depart i wouldn't lose my salvation but you can lose the blessings that god has in your life you need to understand something grace is not an excuse for sin and it's never okay if you flippantly enjoy and take what god has done so peter wrote in first peter 2 11 and he said this dearly beloved that's my family the people i love the christians the church i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims let me just stop there this world is not our home now you listen to this i'm just a stranger here let me explain stranger i'm a foreigner i'm an alien i don't think like americans think now listen to i don't i don't think like americans think i don't think abortion ought to be okay i don't think we ought to be fighting for our rights i don't think homosexuality i don't think like them say i belong here i don't belong here i'm a foreigner you probably don't understand that unless you've been a missionary but i mean when you're a missionary everything's weird and everything's different i mean in america you go to the bank back in the days we used to do normal stuff you pull up and there's two or three little windows open outside or you can go in and you might have to wait behind one person you get to peru and it may take a half a day to cash a check and you're like what's wrong with these people that's kind of how i feel about this world i'm a stranger here you're a stranger not only you're a stranger you're a pilgrim a pilgrim's a traveler he's not putting down roots he's not putting down roots he's a pilgrim he's moving on through he's here today and he's wandering on somewhere else today this world is not my home my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue and since you don't belong here and you're just traveling through abstain from fleshly lust there is a war against the soul whether you understand this or not the devil would tear you away from serving our great god now you wouldn't lose your salvation he'll keep you you'll also whip your little rear but anyway he'll keep you but you ought not want that you ought to always think of this i'm not like them i was in peru and uh living there for 20 years and a little bit of racism against even me but tons of racism everywhere you go in the world and uh they'd always say yeah well you're white and you're of america you're rich and you're powerful it's all that junk they said and then someone would yell at me and say why do y'all kill babies up there i said wait let me explain something to you i have a new king his name is jesus i have a new constitution it's the word of god my home
[32:42] heaven you can't blame me with american stuff i'm again it i am a stranger and a pilgrim now that god is our god did you check out that last verse again i had you read it while i go read it one more time psalm chapter 48 or the 48 psalm the last verse this god the one we've learned to know about is our god forever and ever this god serve him honor him magnify him don't get tied up in this world don't let them entangle you in the affairs of men we serve jesus father to heaven i love you and i pray that you do work today i pray that your name would be glorified and magnified god i pray you'd save anybody that's watching or listening that doesn't know you and then i pray dear god that you would strengthen christians to believe you to look to you god i ask you to work god i ask you to move i ask you to show your power god will give you glory we know you are our god a great god the god and we humble ourselves in your presence with your heads bowed your eyes closed maybe you're not saved maybe you don't know you go to heaven when you die he loves you you remember how jerusalem is the joy of the whole earth that's because the god man died for you he shed his blood so you could be saved he came because he loves you with that loving kindness he does not want you to go to hell he doesn't want you to suffer the consequences of your sin he wants you to be saved would you trust him today would you be saved today would you let him do a work in your life if you would i'd like to help you you can come to my office you can talk to some of the leaders of the church that'll be around you can contact us via email or any other way we want to help you trust jesus now christians i call you to remember it's he that makes us great it's he that gives us victory and we want to serve him abstain from fleshly lust live like strangers and pilgrims in a wicked world father in heaven would you do a work today would you show your power i'll give you great honor and glory for all you do in jesus name amen thank you very much