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[19:29] In the storm.
[19:59] Father, you are you.
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[23:29] Father of God.
[23:59] For I will.
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[24:59] trust you.
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[25:59] I will.
[26:29] Amen.
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[27:29] It's been pretty good.
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[28:29] And that turns you.
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[29:29] So, God's, you know, and I will.
[30:59] God, but God, says, you can say, He heard our,
[32:29] He a little, better Heρά, Christian music would talk about being in a pit or in a miry clay.
[33:04] But just take a moment to make sure you don't miss out on what the imagery would give about a well being dug and the well wouldn't have water in it. It had been dried up, but the water would still seep in through the sides.
[33:16] So at the bottom would be this mud and this sludge, and that if you were to fall into it, you wouldn't be standing on a firm place that you could climb up, but you would just gradually sink, you know, kind of like quicksand.
[33:26] Those of you that grew up in the 90s, you thought quicksand was going to be a big deal, right? We always thought we were going to die of quicksand because every cartoon on Saturday had somebody going down in quicksand. And so they're in the quicksand.
[33:37] He's there in this miry place in it, in this horrible pit, but he was there. And so David, had he been in a well? Probably not. Probably what he's describing is he was in a place surrounded by enemies.
[33:49] Everybody was against him. Family had turned against him, and he felt like he was in the bottom of a well, and he was sinking. But God, he brings deliverance from them very visibly.
[34:00] Pastor in ICU for 21 days, that would be a person in a pit. I had a reminder this morning, four years ago, I was in the Turkish airport. I talked to Stephanie and maybe Miss Lisa.
[34:12] We thought we had bought a house. I took a selfie, and there's some people in the background of that coffee shop. I got up, and I went to the other side and got on the airplane. And when our plane was taking off, that coffee shop was attacked, and it was blown up.
[34:24] People in the picture that I'd taken, one of the men had died. God brought deliverance in my life. God brought deliverance in our pastor's lives. But let's not wait a second to think the greatest deliverance he ever did was to save us.
[34:37] The greatest thing God's ever done in our pastor's life was to save him as a young boy. And there's nothing greater than that, that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. We were aliens of God. We were enemies of the cross.
[34:49] We were far from him. We were not a people. But then the gospel, it came, and it found us, and it changed us. Verse 3, That should be our prayer.
[35:08] Because what God has done in our lives, now our public praise, it ought to lead us to other people seeing it and fearing the Lord and trusting. And he's put a new song in our lives.
[35:18] Others will see the change in our lives, and they will trust in the Lord. And now all of our praise ought to be focused on the wonderful works he's done. Verse 5, Many, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are towards usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
[35:36] If I could declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Many are his wonderful works. One of the great things about gathering together is that when we come here, we can look out and see other people.
[35:50] And we can see a person that grew up in Buddhism, that came here over a decade ago on Redemption Sunday, and Lang put his faith in Jesus that day. We can see John, who was in a Lutheran church, and there had some charismatic renewal service, and good news for modern man, and none of the things that should have happened, but he came out and he was redeemed.
[36:11] We can look across this room and see people that God hath delivered, that he has saved, that God took men who didn't grow up in great Christian homes that are now leading godly homes, that God brought deliverance in so many different ways.
[36:24] And we do that, and when we see one another, Mike Wee that I know is watching today, philosophy major in college, and started to like a girl, and the girl said, you're going to have to read some Bible if you want to be around me. So he read it, put his faith in Jesus, and now him and his family are watching the service today.
[36:39] Many are of his marvelous works. We should rejoice in that. Many are of his marvelous works, and getting together allows us to be reminded of who it is that we worship. But not only are his marvelous works, many, but also his feelings towards us, his thoughts towards us.
[36:55] God has thoughts about us. Isn't that incredible? We have small, finite thoughts about our God, but God has God-sized thoughts about us. He looks down upon us. Around the campfire this weekend, Miss Sandy told the story of how when I first started dating Stephanie, the way she told some people was that, Trent has feelings towards me, all right?
[37:15] Sarah, that's how you can say it here with Kevin. He has feelings towards me, okay? It sounds like we grew up in the 1800s, like Anna Green Gables or something, right? And Stephanie said, he has feelings towards me. And that's one way you could say this.
[37:26] I had feelings towards her. I had thoughts towards her. And I loved her, and I thought about her. When we weren't together, I had feelings towards her. That it says that the God of heaven has thoughts about us.
[37:36] That he has wonderful thoughts about us. That he has thoughts of peace towards us. Many are his wonderful works, and many are his thoughts, and how great they are, and how incredible that is. And how many? You can't even begin to number them.
[37:49] You can't even begin to talk. I could not. I could be here the rest of the day with my very limited knowledge of this church. I could spend the rest of the day talking about what God's done in your life and the marvelous works in which he has done.
[38:04] David and Jennifer have a row full of kids, and there was a day that they didn't, and they prayed for it. And God did a marvelous work on their behalf. Praise must make us focus on his wonderful works and nothing else.
[38:15] We as his people, we ought to look, and we got to find and see them. And they are abundance, and they are many. And if you don't see them, it's not because they're not there. It's because we have not begun to look. Verse 6.
[38:26] God's wonderful acts of salvation, they're going to demand personal dedication by us. Sacrifice and offerings thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required.
[38:37] Then said, I, lo, I come. In the volume of the books it is written of me. So this gratitude, it's going to lead to a dedication. Four types of offerings are mentioned here in a short amount of time.
[38:49] A sacrifice, which would be an offering made with blood. There would be an offering which would be an offering made, but it wouldn't include blood, because that would be a sacrifice. There would be a burnt offering, which is a total consecration of something to the Lord, and then a sin offering for the atonement of sin.
[39:05] But God said, I don't desire sacrifice, but we all know He desires what? Obedience from us. 1 Samuel 15, 22 and 23. He puts it out so clearly to them.
[39:17] And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and hearken then the fat of rams.
[39:29] For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is the iniquity and idolatry, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected thee from being king.
[39:40] So did God, did He outline and tell them to give sacrifices? Certainly. But what was it that He wanted in those sacrifices when they brought them? It was an act of obedience. It wasn't just enough to go through the motions and to give them, because God didn't need the animals.
[39:54] We had a really cute Christmas play one year where Jesus had come, and all these little animals were dressed up. And they said, Jesus has come to die for our sins. What does it mean? And all the animals said, No more animal sacrifices.
[40:05] All right? And you had to know a lot of Bible to enjoy that, but the church did that day. It was really pretty incredible. No more animal sacrifices. Psalm chapter number 50 and verse number 10, it says, For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
[40:20] I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, God says, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. If I was hungry, I wouldn't even ask you for something, because it's all mine.
[40:34] He didn't need animal sacrifices, because He needed something. Our God is complete. He was complete without any of all those things. Psalm 51 verse 17 tells us that the sacrifice He desires is a broken and contrite heart.
[40:49] When those worshipers came to dedicate those animals, God wasn't looking at the animal. He was just looking in their heart. And so the matter of obedience, did they bring it in the way that He asked, because they had a broken heart?
[41:00] Did they give what He had asked, because they had a contrite heart? Were they giving themselves completely over to God in a matter of worship? Verse number 8, it says, Philippians 2.17, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.
[41:20] Paul describing his ministry of bringing people, that God says, I want people from all over this world. I want coastal-speaking people in South Africa, and I want people in Mexico, and I want people in Argentina, I want people in Peru, I want people all over the world to come to me in faith and to offer themselves in dedication as worshipers, to give unto the glory that is due unto the name.
[41:39] And here is Paul offering a sacrifice, saying these people have offered their lives to you as a response to the gospel, and then Paul says, I pour my life out on top of that as a sacrifice.
[41:52] This theme runs all throughout the Bible, that we are supposed to give ourselves completely over to them. One of my favorite statements is, a full life is a life that is just poured out unto the Lord.
[42:02] David, when he had the men bring the water to him that day they came, he took the water and he poured it out, and he says, this is unto the Lord, which is a great honor to those mighty men, because they said, what you did was not for man, but it was unto the Lord.
[42:15] All of us ought to live those types of lives. Verse 8, I delight to do thy will, O my God. David gave himself fully to God. And here's the presentation of verse number 7. Then said I, Lo, I come.
[42:29] Have you ever prayed that prayer before? Where you just stand before God and say, here I am, completely. At the moment of salvation, you were given to him, you made him the Lord and Savior of your life, that so many times we begin to take things back from him.
[42:42] I've told this story so many times to the teenagers. I may have Olivia come up here and tell it to you. Don't worry, Olivia. We won't do that. Actually, Graham, you don't worry. Olivia's less worried. You're worried right now, okay? I won't have Olivia come up here and tell you, but for me, there's this moment where I'm at a Christian camp.
[42:58] I'm carrying the piggy pots, these five-gallon buckets, and I'm carrying them to the slop where the pigs would eat, and my dad had just passed away a week before earlier. I was walking. I was down in my spirit and my soul, and I was just so discouraged and so depressed, and I tripped and I fell, and I skinned up my elbow, and all the piggy mess went everywhere, all the slop from the camp food, as if camp food wasn't gross enough, then you put it in a pot and let it sit for a day.
[43:22] And I was carrying it, and I was just there, and the camp I worked at was a death camp, and not a death camp, something totally different, a death camp, okay? I was working at a death camp, and these kids came by with whistles, and they all surrounded me, and they began blowing their whistles, and then all the pretty girls, they were walking by, and they were looking at me, so there I am with this slop, and all these people around me, and out of nowhere, the big cloud comes over, like in a Charlie Brown cartoon, one single cloud coming down upon me, and it's splashing up in my face, and I felt I was at a low place, and I just looked up to God and said, God, if you'll let me serve you, this is all I have to offer, and I felt the presence of the Lord, and it said, Satan, you can throw anything you want at me, but if I get to serve God with my life, I don't care if it's picking up the slop at this Christian camp, where everybody laughs at me, because I'm doing this for you.
[44:12] Lord, the reason I'm here right now, it's for you, and I said, Lo, I come. You know, there's days that I don't say that. Some days I say, Lo, watch out here, I come. You know, watch out kids, I have something to get done today, you're in my way, but I want to say, Lo, I'm here completely given, over to the Lord.
[44:28] And that's David's prayer. Lo, I come. It says, My ears have been opened. In Exodus chapter 21, verse 5 and 6, it says this, And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master and my wife and my children, I will not go out free.
[44:44] Then his master shall bring him unto the judges, and he shall also bring him to the door, unto the doorpost, and the master shall bore his ear through an awl, and he shall serve him forevermore.
[44:55] So there's a picture there where the servant says, I love you, and even though I'm free to leave, I want to serve you. And so they would take it. Wyatt, if I could have you come up here, if somebody bring the hammer. I'm just kidding, Wyatt, I won't have that do you. I'll do that to you.
[45:05] And somebody would place their ear upon there, and then they would open it up, and there would be an opening upon the ear. Maybe this is what David's referring to, that saying, I'm just giving myself to you.
[45:16] But we don't know, but what we do know is that it would make sense that in that servant in Exodus, that the giving of that ear would show a full dedication to somebody.
[45:27] Because if a person has your ear, they have you, right? If you ever want your kid's attention, right? You just grab them out of the ear, and you can drag them wherever you want to go, if you have the right grip of that ear. And so David is saying, you have my ear completely.
[45:41] I listen to you. My ear has been opened to you. And in verse number seven, he gets instruction from God. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me.
[45:54] For a moment, I sat and I envied that, and I thought, wow. David knew that him being king was prophesied about. So when he read, he said, this that has been written is written about me.
[46:06] He knew that the writing of God, that the word of God was specific and personal to him. But after a few moments, I realized the word of God, it's written for me as well.
[46:17] When I turn these pages, it doesn't say that it's prophesied to be king, but it says that all men are born sinners. That's me. It says that all men will deal with something. That's me. That those that come to put their faith in Jesus, he will readily accept.
[46:30] That's me. And I can say just like David did here, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me. And so David says, God, I give myself completely to you, and I'm going to let you guide me.
[46:42] God has revealed in his word what he approves and what he appoints. My last verse, Acts 13, 36 for David, after he serves his generation by the will of God. And so serving the generation by the will of God, he gets to decide what dedication looks like.
[46:58] Because there's not much profit from unguided dedication. Believers live in accordance with his word so that their commitment to obedience will be pleasing to him. So David says, I don't just give myself in some kind of generic sense to you, Lord, but I give myself to your word, and I want to live in obedience to you, and I want you to do what you have told me to do.
[47:20] So you can't say you've given yourself fully to the Lord if you haven't given yourself fully to listening to his word. Allow him to have your ear. John 5, 39, Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they which testify of me.
[47:36] So David says, I'm completely given over to you. This commitment to the Lord is a form of wholehearted desire to conform his life to the will of God as has been prescribed to him by the word of God.
[47:48] God, I'm fully given over to you. I'm going to let your word guide me. I'm going to be as a servant to the master to your word. I'm going to listen to what you'd have me to do. My dedication, it isn't just generic to somebody that I don't know, but it's to a God who has written a word that is for me.
[48:06] And God has revealed in his word what he approves and what he appoints us to do. Verse number nine, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. David does not hold back what he has, God has done.
[48:19] He says, I preach righteousness. He emphasizes here after the word low, he says, I have not refrained my lips. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.
[48:29] I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from thy great congregation. He says, God, I haven't been quiet about what you have done. I have told everybody, as many people as I can, I have told them of your great works in my life.
[48:43] And then he calls upon God to be his witness. Verse nine, O Lord, thou knowest. What a testimony. David says, God, I have went everywhere and I've told everybody. I haven't held my lips quiet.
[48:54] I haven't hid it in my heart, but I have not concealed it, but I have declared the goodness of God. And God, I call upon you to be a witness of that fact.
[49:04] I ask you today, can we make that same statement? Everywhere we go, are we magnifying the name of the Lord? Are we declaring the name of the Lord? And can we say, God is my witness?
[49:15] Every chance I get, I declare the goodness of the Lord. Another story that the teenagers hear all the time, my freshman year of high school, I'm at the very end of my freshman year.
[49:26] The guy sitting beside me, his name is Chuck, and he says, hey, are you excited about coming to school next year? And I said, I'm tired of this. He said, I'm just going to tell you what I think, Chuck. Chuck, here's the deal.
[49:37] I go to church three times a week. Chuck, I love Jesus. And he goes, yeah, I know I'm a Christian. I'm like, no, Chuck, you don't understand. Like, I really love Jesus. Like, I think about him like all the time.
[49:48] All I want to do is serve him with my life. And so, no, I won't be coming back to school next year. And I regret that you never knew this about me. But Chuck, I love Jesus. And I wish I would have told you sooner.
[49:59] And you know what Chuck said? Yeah, me too. He said, I've sat beside you all this year in computer class and we've never talked about Jesus. Because what was I doing? I was refraining my lips.
[50:10] I was hiding something in my heart. I couldn't call upon God to be my witness that I spoke about him because I didn't. But in a moment it just overflowed and it couldn't stop. But that's how I should have continually lived my life.
[50:22] That's why I don't want teenagers to waste the freshman year of high school refraining their lips and talking about the Lord. Because when you speak it stirs up something in somebody else's life and they say, yeah, me too.
[50:33] I feel the same way. I didn't have the confidence to say it but hearing you say it does something in my life. The cause of deliverance is God's righteousness. God has made us righteous by a son's commitment to be the sacrifice for us.
[50:46] Hebrews 2 verse 11 says, For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
[50:58] Not only the sacrifice but those that have been sanctified by the sacrifice which is us should not be ashamed because we have been made righteous. Psalm 1 says, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. He knows our way.
[51:10] We don't preach our goodness today but the righteousness of God. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. And so what should be our response when we hear of the righteousness of God in our lives and what he has done for us?
[51:23] It's verse number nine. Then said, I lo, lo, I come. When we think about his great acts of deliverance on our behalf, the only reasonable response is lo, here I come, Lord.
[51:36] You can have my life completely to do whatever you would have. God's past acts of deliverance they should inspire confidence. Verse 11, Withhold not thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, for thy loving kindness and thy truth they continually preserve me.
[51:50] God has proven himself to be trustworthy. And when we are proclaiming how trustworthy he is because of what he has done in our past, that is when we're most like Christ. Look at what Christ says in Hebrews 2.12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church and of the assembly and I will sing praise unto thee.
[52:11] He says, I will declare thy name among the brethren speaking about me. That is something that ought to be said about us. You know, Stephen, I keep telling him he's got to get a haircut. Pastor is coming back eventually, okay? But Stephen Cofield over here he leads us in worship and he is a song leader but I've said many times I'm never going to let anybody else be called a worship leader if I don't get to be called a worship leader as well because Stephen may lead us in worship here but he also leads his family in worship at home and also at work.
[52:36] Him and Ben were around the church the other day walking around praying. He leads people in worship. So even though I can't sing at all, there's no reason that I can't lead worship as well. And being like Christ is to magnify the name of the Lord.
[52:49] To tell other people the goodness of God. to remind them how God has brought deliverance to us. God's past acts of deliverance ought to inspire. Confidence moving forward.
[53:01] Church, knowing what God has done to deliver us, what is it that we could dream of doing now? Nothing is too hard for our God. If you're in here today and you don't think that he can deliver one of your family members or somebody that you're in or you think that you're so deep in a miry pit that he can never deliver you, let me introduce you to some people that he has delivered.
[53:21] Let me tell you the story of how God has delivered me. What God has done in the past should inspire confidence about what he should do in the future. Psalm 40, it's also what David said when he prayed earlier.
[53:34] We should be encouraged by seeing what God has done. It's all throughout the Bible. God has revealed in his word what he approves and what he appoints for us and what he has revealed should be our inspiration for true dedication to him.
[53:49] Verse number 13, Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. Praise and gratitude are an inspiration for true dedication. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me.
[53:59] Look how we said before that many are his marvelous works and many are his thoughts towards us, but look, the world is evil and overwhelming as well. Verse 12, For innumerable evils have compassed me about.
[54:11] Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of mine head and therefore my heart faileth me. You know, you can count your blessings, but if you don't count your blessings and you count your problems, they will keep you up at night as well, right?
[54:28] Oh, there's so many and they just multiply. When you begin to think about them, your problems will just, in sorrows, they'll just multiply. The more you think about them, the more they just get created. They're like the hairs upon our head.
[54:39] They can't be counted. And it says that there caused his heart to fail, that his heart was heavy when he thought about all that God, all the enemies that were against him, how innumerable his sufferings were.
[54:54] But God is able to deliver his people from those who want to destroy him. We should declare his greatness. Verse 13, Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. And how quick do we want it to happen? O Lord, make haste to help me.
[55:06] And why not? Why not ask God for deliverance right now? Whatever you're dealing with, if it's sin in your life, whatever it is, why not ask God to do it right now?
[55:18] Because as David says, he takes pleasure, he says that it pleases the Lord, that it pleases him to bring us to a point of deliverance. So David could ask boldly this of the Lord.
[55:29] He could say, make haste, because he knew that it pleased the Lord to act on the behalf of his people. So we should take that same boldness into our other prayers. Be pleased, O Lord, to forgive me.
[55:40] Be pleased, O Lord, to correct me. Be pleased, O Lord, to provide for me. Be pleased, O Lord, to heal me. Be pleased, O Lord, to guide me. Be pleased, O Lord, to bless me. We can claim those promises with confidence because it's pleasing unto the Lord.
[55:57] David had three requests concerning his enemies that are here. Let those that want to take my life, let them be put to shame and let them be disappointed. Those that wanted to mock me, let them be put to shame.
[56:09] And those that desire to hurt me, God, would you confound their ways and would you put them to shame? And then God, let those that are so confident in their strength, how confident were they? They would say, aha, aha.
[56:19] That really cracked me up, isn't it? You can just see their enemies saying, aha, aha, I got you, all right? Sounds like an evil villain in maybe a James Bond movie, right? Aha, aha. And he says, they think they got it.
[56:31] He says, God, turn this around. Turn this on their head. Let those that thought they were going to laugh and mock at me. Let them be confounded and confused and let them be put to shame and let us exalt your name.
[56:42] Let us praise your name forever because of what you have done. They pray that God would give them a reason to praise. Verse 16, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
[56:53] Let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. You know, I am very much aware and I believe you are as well right now that God has done wonderful works on our behalf, that God has wonderful thoughts.
[57:08] But can I tell you that's never not been true in the last 14 years. That's never not been true and I know that's a lot of negatives going on there, right? But it's always been true that God has done wonderful works on our behalf.
[57:22] But we see it right now and it's clear but it should be continual. We should be looking for it and say, God, we want to see you do more because we want to keep praising you for what you have done.
[57:34] God has plans for his people so they pray confidently. Would you read verse number 17 with me? Verse number 17, Psalm chapter number 40, okay? Let's read this aloud. But I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me thou art my help and my deliverer.
[57:51] Make no tearing, oh my God. I am poor and needy but he thinks about me. You know, David is still not in what we would consider just a wonderful day in his life but he says, God, I know that you'll deliver me because I've seen you do it before.
[58:07] And so David doesn't have to see the deliverance to begin to rejoice in the Lord because he looks at what God has done in the past and he knows that God is able and so he just begins to praise the Lord even in the midst of his mess that he is in because he says, I'm poor and needy which means I'm in the perfect place for God to do a work.
[58:27] He says, I can rejoice even when I'm poor and needy. He has no more resources of his own in which he can draw but he has said to the Lord, I am poor and needy.
[58:37] Pastor, Pastor Shane Lewis passed away this week and his daughter shared online a quote by Spurgeon and it says, My dear friend, when grief presses you the dust, worship there.
[58:49] When grief presses you the dust, you can just go ahead and begin to praise the Lord. You don't have to wait because you know your deliverer is coming. You can know from the past what he has done and you know one way or another our God is going to deliver you.
[59:05] Our pastor was either going to come home to people that loved him or he was either going to go to heaven and find somebody that loved him. He was either going to serve the Lord and worship him with us or he would go and worship the Lord in the presence of the Lord.
[59:19] But God was bringing deliverance one way or another. And as believers, whatever you're in right now, just go ahead and praise the Lord because he ought to have your confidence because what he has done in the past.
[59:31] Because the Lord thinketh upon me. The word think means to consider, to reckon, to devise. There is not a passing thought about God but it is God that is thinking about him.
[59:42] Not just as a nation but David individually. Not just as a church but individually. Our God has thoughts and he has plans for us and so we can rejoice. And here is the comfort.
[59:54] If God made him specifically to do his will and if God has plans for him then God will not be willing to relinquish his life to the wicked. David says, God, as long as you have a plan for me here on the earth I can know that those that say, aha, aha, and all the plans they have against me that they won't triumph because your plans will continue in confidence the psalmist can say that God is his help and his deliverer.
[60:20] So believer in him there's some application for us to make the day from seeing the life of David so relevant always in our lives but God has heightened our awareness of it at this season.
[60:31] I'll review. Number one, God requires that his people present their bodies to him as a living sacrifice which is their spiritual service in response to the fact that we were dead in our sin and trespasses and had nothing that we could offer to God and he delivered us the only natural response is to say, God, I give my life completely and fully to you.
[60:56] You get to decide how I live out my days. I was speaking to somebody I loved a couple weeks ago and I said, every decision you make ought to be given to Jesus as Lord of your life.
[61:09] He called and he said, Trent, I can't believe I did this. I was in a store and I was going to steal something and I always steal this same part. I never pay for it. All right. I'm not going to tell you all.
[61:19] It was Brother Chuck. Okay. And he said, I always steal the same part because you got to buy the whole battery and I just needed the top terminal part. I always steal this. But then I decided I'm going to give this decision to the Lord and I knew that Jesus didn't want me to steal this.
[61:33] And so here I'm out here and I had to pay the full price for it. He says, you're ruining my life. I said, no, buddy, you're finding freedom. You're finding freedom you've never found before because we live in submission to him.
[61:44] He deserves all of our life in a big way but deserves the little things and the little decisions and the responses and how we respond to him. Our whole life is given fully to him.
[61:55] Number two, God has revealed in this, in his word what he approves and what he appoints for us. As I said before, there's no profit and unguided dedication. So we say we're going to give our lives to the Lord which means we say we give our lives to the way he guides us in his word.
[62:10] It's how we know what he wants from us. And he is not quiet. And so we can declare this to the congregation that God has a plan that he is righteous. And then last, this praise and gratitude are an inspiration for true dedication.
[62:25] God's people can call upon the name of the Lord in time of trouble and when he answers, they must offer their praise. God has done so much in your life. Don't hide it. Let's talk about it.
[62:37] You know, God's probably done something in your life that you haven't spoken about with anybody or it's been a while that you've spoken about it. You need to tell that story. You need to tell that story to other people.
[62:49] Next Sunday night, we're going to have a night of celebration. I pray that there's things in your heart and your life that you say, I can't be quiet about anymore. I just have to share about the goodness of God. He's done all things well, hasn't he?
[63:02] He can save you from sin and destruction. He can bring you out of ICU, take you out of an airport, bring your family back together again. There's nothing that he can't do.
[63:13] He specializes in all of it. No matter how big or varied your mess is, he wants to bring deliverance to you. Deliverance is being offered today. The death of Christ upon the cross makes your great escape possible.
[63:27] Let us rejoice. I'm going to read to you Hebrews chapter number 10, verse 6 through 10. And if you're an unbeliever in this room today or online, I'm going to make my best plea to you that Jesus will be your deliverer of the day because he does all the things in the Psalms.
[63:41] He presented himself completely to God in worship. He gave himself, he didn't let the cup pass from him. He said, God, I will live your will in my life because I'm going to give my life fully to what you have called me to do.
[63:55] Jesus is our example. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 6 through 10. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, they had no pleasure. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Psalm we had read.
[64:05] Verse 7. Then said, I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written to me to do the will, O God. It was true of David in some sense in Psalm 40, but it's certainly true of the Messiah that had come, that this book had written of him, that the pages testify of him.
[64:23] The book had been written about him. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wast not, neither had pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
[64:34] Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
[64:49] Unbeliever that's listening today, you can offer your life completely to the God of heaven and be received as an offering because Jesus Christ came, God in the flesh, and he died on a cross and he said, Lo, I come to do the Father's will.
[65:08] He died in our place and because of that, the great escape is possible. That idea of a miry pit that you're in, if you're claustrophobic, that would sound horrible, right?
[65:20] There's something far worse. If you have not put your faith in Jesus today, you're in a place where you cannot help yourself. You must have a deliverer and Jesus is able to do that because he's already died in your place and so he can take you from where you're at and he can set your feet upon a rock that he has provided by his death.
[65:43] There's no reason to be living with yourself trying to climb out of the mess you put yourself in. Unbelievers, you've got your salvation, you know that he has put you upon this rock, but you live so worried about so many different things, you're worried because you're not capable to do anything about it.
[66:01] That's okay because you're poor and needy, but our delivery comes and we can look to the past and what he has done and we can rejoice right now knowing that he will deliver us in his timing.
[66:15] Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for what we see today in your word and how we can worship and praise you. Lord, you are so worthy of our trust. There's nothing about you, Lord, that isn't trustworthy.
[66:27] Lord, you are all to us and I thank you. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room today, Lord, I pray that they will make the decision. I pray that they will acknowledge the day that you have purchased them completely and their whole lives should be given to you.
[66:42] If there's one of them here today, Lord, and they're holding back something, a decision or something that's in their heart, I pray that the day they will let go of it and they will trust you knowing that you will do more with it than they ever could.
[66:55] Lord, I pray that the believers in here, Lord, that say that their lives are given to you will give themselves to your word as you will guide us and that the praise and gratitude that they have will inspire them to greater dedication.
[67:08] With every head bow and every eye closed and Kristen's on the piano, believer, would you talk to the Lord? Can you look at what he's done in your life? Are you rejoicing that? Are you sharing those stories with other people?
[67:22] And as you look at your future and where you're at right now, why would you move without confidence? Why would you ever doubt that the Lord can help you in the mess that you're in?
[67:33] He deserves your trust because of what he has done in the past. Believers, as you pray in your seat, I'm going to talk to those in here or online that don't know Jesus as their Savior.
[67:44] You need a deliverer. You will never get yourself where you need to be. Things will never change on your own merit. He never asks you to fix your life and to come to him. He asks you to come to him broken in a contrite heart and come to him and he will bring deliverance.
[68:01] Would you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today? He provided the great escape for you. Don't live another day not enjoying the freedoms that are found in knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
[68:16] Reach out to a believer. Reach out to this church. I'm going to take a moment and pray. Give you a moment to pray. And then I'll close this in a word of prayer. Amen. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
[69:01] Lord, thank you for always meeting our needs, guiding us as a church, but guiding us as individuals. Lord, I know where the word of God goes in my heart and life today, Lord.
[69:13] I know the areas that you have revealed to me that I'm not trusting you. When I think about what you've done in my life, Lord, I ask your forgiveness for not knowing that you're trustworthy. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room, Lord, as they wrestle with things, Lord, I pray that they'll look upon your testimony and trust you.
[69:32] Lord, we pray for the unbelieving people who have yet to put their faith and trust in you. Lord, I pray that they will see that you have provided a great escape for them. They'll put their trust in you today.
[69:43] In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Just have a couple announcements. In July, we'll get back to having the big three. And which is our staff missionary, strategic partner country of the week.
[69:57] We'll have a bulletin and get it out. Also online, I miss mispronouncing the countries of the week for you. Every week, we must get back to that. And I know, I just want to remind you and I ask for your help, making sure people know when we meet.
[70:11] We'll meet again tonight at five o'clock, just like we did this morning. Doors will open a little bit before the service. Thanks for doing that for us and not rioting and running over Brother Jeff in the foyer. I know he was a little worried about how that would go.
[70:23] Appreciate you doing that. And then we'll meet again on Thursday. Brother David will do the psalm for us tonight. Stephen Cofill will be preaching for us on Thursday, the next couple psalms that go together.
[70:35] And then we'll meet next week as we met this week at 10.30. And then we'll meet again at five o'clock without nurseries or Sunday school at this time. But I want to remind you, and I just said it wrong, okay?
[70:46] That next Sunday night, we're going to meet at seven o'clock because after the service, we're going to have a night of a celebration on that night. And after the service at seven, we will have activities outside.
[70:59] And so we'll have watermelon and maybe some different activities for you. And then we will have fireworks. And some of you are excited and some of you are nervous. And I remind you, we have Brother Brett the fireman and we have Andrew the redneck working together to make sure they are the funnest and safe that we can bring together at one time.
[71:18] And so we'll have fireworks at night. And I want to encourage you to prepare in advance to share testimony of what God has done in your life. And just like David says, I have not been quiet in the congregation.
[71:30] I'm hoping some of you will say, I have something that I just have to share, something I got to share with you and that it will start in our hearts and hear and it will spread. Till this, the teens at camp, I'll say, and I miss having camp, so every week I'm going to pretend like we're at camp together, okay?
[71:44] I say that if you can't talk about Jesus in this environment with your friends, then you're not going to have much ability to do it when you leave here. And if we can't talk about the greatness of God when we meet together, then there isn't much chance that your coworkers or your unbelieving family are going to get to see you to do it.
[72:01] So would you begin to pray about it? Maybe some of you that hardly ever share testimony, maybe that Sunday night, you'll be able to share something great that God has done in your life.
[72:12] This week, if you would like to visit with Pastor Miss Betty and Joy are doing a great job at organizing those so that it's spread out just appropriately. He wants to see everybody, continues to express his love to the church.
[72:24] But if you'll let me know, I'll work with the family to set up a visit with him throughout the week, and I know he would be encouraged by that, and you certainly will be as well getting to be around him.
[72:35] So as Kristen plays, we won't ask Ben to do it. We know how he feels about playing the piano. We learned that last service. All right. As Kristen plays the piano, I'd like for you to dismiss as we have been, starting with those that are in the back and working towards the front.
[72:48] Hope you have a great afternoon. See you at 5 o'clock. Hey, is it Kevin or Keith? Okay. Good.
[73:14] Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.
[73:24] Thank you.
[73:54] Thank you.