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[5:14] Thank you. Well, you can look at each other and say hi and then sit down. How about that? All right. Thank you. Have a seat. Thank you.
[5:24] We have given a new meaning to the word front row Baptist. We have given a new meaning to the word front row Baptist. I never had anybody so close and back row Baptists are out the other side of the room, but praise the Lord. I am glad to see you. You look real good.
[5:36] All spread out. Well, we're going to have two things. We're going to start off with men's prayer. And I'm going to have two microphones today. Thank you. And I'm going to be with you with the Lord and was actually desirous to get on to heaven.
[5:50] lead us in prayer. Pray for the family of Pat, Wyff, you know Todd and Eileen. That's Todd's mom. She had gone on to be with the Lord and was actually desirous to get on to heaven. So would you pray for them in this time? It doesn't matter how long you wait on it. It's never easy in my opinion. Also pray for, we have two ladies that are getting a lot younger that I know of. One is Sandy Pearson. Hold your hand up Miss Sandy. The other is Miss Carol Halbrook. She's getting younger. Is anybody else getting younger or older? If you're younger, you like getting older. If you're older, you like getting younger.
[6:37] We'll sing to them in just a second. Let's have prayer. Brother Ty, if you'll go first, Brother Mike, if you'll close us in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather again. What a blessing it is to be here to this day twice now. And what a blessing that is. We would think not too long ago that that wasn't that big a deal, God. But we're grateful for the opportunity now. We rejoice in the great time to worship you. And Father, we do love you and we praise you. We want to gather. We want to lift up your name together. And Lord, we do look forward to that day as we were just singing that day that we get to be with you in heaven. We thank you for the psalm this morning, how you just encouraged our hearts with how wonderful it's going to be. It's going to be awesome to be with you in heaven, Lord. And we do praise you for that. God, I do pray for your blessing upon Vision Baptist Church. Lord, I pray for the preaching tonight, that you'd bless Pastor Gardner, that you would give him the words to preach from your word, Lord, that you would empower him, Lord, and fill him with your spirit, Lord. And we thank you for this. Please bless everyone that's here and all those that are at home watching, that you'd bless us all in Jesus' name.
[7:34] Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege and the opportunity we have to come and worship tonight as a church family, as a church body. And Lord, we thank you and praise you for that.
[7:46] And just what a special time it is to come to your house and to be with God's people again. And we thank you so much for that. Lord, we pray for this one that passed away. Dear God, we just pray for the family. I pray you just be with them and comfort them in these days and in these times.
[8:03] And Lord, I just pray that you would help them and guide them. And Lord, we just thank you and praise you for your goodness to us. We thank you for the opportunities that we have to serve you. And Lord, we pray that you just be at this service tonight. I pray that everything would be done. The songs that will be sung would just lift up your name and we would just glorify you and worship you tonight.
[8:22] Lord, I pray for Pastor as he brings the message tonight. I pray that you just give him the power and fill him with your spirit. Lord, help him to say what you'd have him to say. And just prepare our hearts to hear your word and then just to make a difference in this world. Lord, we thank you. We praise you for all you do. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for watching over us and protecting us. And Lord, we just pray that you just be with us in these days ahead. Lord, I pray for our country. Lord, I pray that you just be with our leadership and those in our country that make the decisions. Lord, I pray that you just fill them with your spirit, help them to make the right decisions. And we just pray that you just help us to get back to normal. And Lord, we just thank you and praise you for all you do. We thank you for your goodness. We ask you to be with us now. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Song leader, won't you lead us in somebody lead us in happy birthday to these. Just start playing and Ben will lead us. Oh, there he is. Go ahead.
[9:21] Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you.
[9:34] Happy birthday to you. If we ever build a new auditorium and use this kind of social distancing, it's going to have to be real big. So anyway, thank you for being here. In just a minute, after the five-minute preacher, if you'd like to, you can come on up and be ready. After the five-minute preacher, if you'd like to share a word of testimony, maybe God's been doing something in your life. Maybe you've learned something. Maybe you just want to say, thank you, Lord, for being back in church. It's good for God's people to get a chance to talk to each other and tell each other what God's doing in their life. And so I want to offer you that opportunity. That's why the two mics are set up here. No passing around the mics.
[10:23] We're trying to do everything we can to be respectful. I'd like to ask you to be in real special prayers. There's people in our church that are hurting that I don't know that things are public, so I can't tell you, but they need your prayer. There's some people hurting and with some health issues. And then the missionaries that are, you know, they haven't been on deputation. They've not been in churches. One of the guys told me that day he'd already had five cancellations for next month.
[10:47] And so we don't know that puts them in a real bind. And the church gave them a thousand dollars for these new ones that don't have any money. But I'd like to ask you to pray, especially for our missionaries. And I want you to pray for the ones. To be honest with you, a lot of our missionaries are supposed to be leaving the country. They're supposed to be out of here. Mike, when are you supposed to leave? Well, that might still happen. But Mark Coffey is not even supposed to be here.
[11:17] I don't think the Elrods were supposed to be here. The De Los Reyes, the Johnsons, Blooms. I don't think any of them are supposed to be here, but it's kind of like what's happening.
[11:30] So I want to ask you to pray for them that everybody can get back to where they ought to work. Had great news today. Mark Tolson has seen two people, except Christ is their savior this week, both in their 30s. He's having church. He's had a high of 22 people. And the Lord seems to really be blessing. So he gave a long and detailed report. I was excited to hear it. I thought you might be.
[11:55] So as soon as Chase gets through with our five-minute message, I'm going to come up and give you a chance to say, where you get out at the same time, see, might as well as enjoy the time we're here. Amen. I'll get you out on time. I think I have proven that to you. So if you'd like to say a word and just praise the Lord, it's just good to praise the Lord and to brag on him. So you've got five minutes to pray about it and think about it. And then I'll give you a chance right before we sing our next song. If you don't mind turning your Bibles to the book of Joshua chapter 2. And from this passage, the story about Rahab the harlot and her faith, I want to show you how you can be used by God. And so we see here that in Joshua chapter 2, two spies go into the land of Jericho. They go there to try to search out the whole country, maybe finding advantages of how they might be able to take this place down. But as they're there, they go into this harlot's house. The harlot was named Rahab.
[12:50] We know this story. It's a very familiar story. But as they're there, the king of Jericho hears about it. For those who don't know, the king of Jericho then sends his royal guards there. Now, royal guards, they don't go anywhere quietly. I mean, you guys are kind of like imagining it. Royal guards are going there. They go to her house. Maybe they're playing trumpets or something. But you hear that bang.
[13:14] And she's like, oh, stink. These royal guards are here. And then she just throws them into the roof. I mean, it's kind of just like out, like quick. But as you see that happening, she goes back to the door and she's like, I got to calm down. And then she opens and she's like, hey guys, how's it going?
[13:29] And they're like, we're here for those enemies. Where are they? Now Rahab, if it's a normal person, she would have been, they're up there. I mean, you can go ahead and take them. But you know what?
[13:40] And we're going to see what happens. The reason she does this is because she believes God. And so she ends up lying for these enemies, her enemies. And then she sends these guards out on their way.
[13:51] And then at nighttime, she goes up to these two spies and she starts talking to them. And in verse nine, it says, and she said unto the man, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us, that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and how you even utterly destroyed these two kings of the Amorites. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts didn't melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any of us because of you, because your Lord, the Lord God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Guys, if you want to be used by God, then you have to believe God just as Rahab did. And so we see here that she believes in God so much that she knows that they're going to take out this place because of everything that she's heard about this.
[14:47] She's heard about this God. And guys, we, in order for us to be used by God, we have to believe in God. But the way that we hear about God is this word. It's his word. The Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And guys, I can tell you, he wants to use all of our lives, but not just our lives. He wants to use other people's lives as well. But how is he going to be able to unless they've heard the word of God? They can't believe unless they've heard. So we got to tell them. But guys, he also wants to use your life. He wants to use you to go out, but he can't do it unless you believe in him. And then the second thing is that you have to act upon your faith.
[15:24] You see, Rahab, she went against everything that she knew. I mean, all of her culture, everybody that she was raised up with, all of her friends, she went against all of that. And she said, you know what?
[15:35] This is the one true God. This is what is right. And I'm going to act out on what I believe. Because she knew that they were going to be taken out. It says, verse 9, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. And because of that, she acted out on her faith.
[15:50] She put her faith into practice, and she was justified because of it. Guys, if you want to be used by God, then you have to believe him. And then you have to act out on your faith. You have to act out what you believe. Because without obedience to God's word and applying it in your life, nothing is going to be done. And so as we're here, I want you guys to be used by God. And God, we see in this passage, he uses her faith to do mighty things. You see, she was all alone in her decision.
[16:20] When you feel like you're all alone, maybe even in our whole Christian realm, if you know that there's something right that you have to do, and even other Christians are telling you, you can't do this. You got to know what's right. You got to go against everybody else, and you got to go against according to the word of God. That is how you be used by God. Not by going according to what everyone else believes, but by going according to God's word. And so she heard about the one true God.
[16:46] She believed that he was all-powerful, and she acted out on her faith. Guys, if you want to be used by God, then you have to live out your faith. You have to believe in him, and you have to act it out.
[17:01] All right, we're going to take just a second and see if anybody wants to give a word of testimony. If you do, you just got to come to our microphone. If you don't, real quick, we're going to start singing. So if you'd like to say a word, pick a mic, line up. By the way, this morning was a shocking day.
[17:15] I didn't know how many people would show up. There were at least 167 people here on the property, and I was told there were 60 devices watching at the same time, which means we might have had one of our largest attendants ever this morning. I don't know, but anyway, just saying to you.
[17:33] All right, so you were here first. Josh, go ahead. I just want to first of all say thank you to our church family for the love offering you gave to our family. It meant so much to us. We're extremely humbled that you guys would do that for us. We know it's not an easy time for you guys either, and so thank you from our family to you guys. We could not be on full-time deputation if we're not for this church, and we thank you for that. But as we got off the road and all these meetings kept being canceled, I'm thinking it'll be a weekend, maybe two weekends tops. I was completely wrong, but God's been so good to us all throughout this time, and I'm thankful for our pastor who has helped counsel us through this time, and sometimes he's, hey guys, let's not be calling a lot of churches right now. Let's not hound them. But what he's done, he's also really challenged us as missionaries to continue to be in the work and the ministry. So I'm going to say publicly to him and to our church, thank you for a pastor that is passionate about the world and is challenging us as missionaries to keep working. So we've had a lot of projects going on lately, a lot of things going on. It's been an honor to be a part of that, but also I want to say thank you to our church as all these Zoom meetings have been going on for our young people, for our children. It means a lot to our family that we have a church that cares about us, that's willing to try different things, and I just want to brag on the Lord at what he is doing through this church. This church has a lot of missionaries sent out, and we could not do any of this if it were not for you guys, our church family. So thank you guys for being behind us.
[19:05] Thank you for doing the Zoom meetings. Thank you for teaching Sunday school in these classes for months before this. But you know, it just turns our eyes to him, doesn't it? He is a good and he's a sweet God, and it's an honor to serve him. All right, we'll let Jen's go next. If you want to say something, there's no limit, just come up and get in line, and you're welcome to say something. Go ahead, Jen's. I just want to thank God for being able to come together and have church together in the same building, see so many wonderful people and so many faces of actual people.
[19:36] But I also want to thank God for taking care of me in this time and taking care of us as a church family. But I got a call from my dad the other day. He was asking me how I was doing, wanting to know if I needed any help financially and such, and I was able to look at him and say, no, God's taken good care of me in this time. He's given me good health. He's taken care of everything that's come up financially. God has supplied the needs, and he's used you folks to do it. And it is an encouragement to me to be able to serve with a church family such as you. It's also an encouragement to me to want to do more and get back out there on the road. I can't wait as the roads begin to open up and churches begin to let people back in. I'm excited to go out and get back on the road. We're praising the Lord for all that he's done. It is so good to be back here with you all. It's good to see all of your homely faces, and we're just delighted. I want to praise the Lord. We had a lady who's a member of our church, someone we led to the Lord years ago in Moscow, an elderly lady who got coronavirus, who was in the hospital in Moscow. You don't want to be in the hospital in Moscow. And she's come through it. We got word this afternoon she's back home, and we're praising the Lord for Irina. We had a family in France, Paris, France, working with our mission, who got it, had pretty bad cases of it. They also have recovered, and they're doing well.
[21:00] We're just thanking the Lord for the people that we know and care about who have come through this and are doing well. Tuesday was, for Jewish people, a meaningful day because it's Holocaust Remembrance Day. And so Rhonda and I got on the phone. We can't go visit people, but we can call them. And so we got on the phone, and we called all of our Jewish friends and just said, hey, our hearts are with you. Our prayers are with you. And there's a man named Neil. He actually lives in the Washington, D.C. area, who is one of the people I, we call, just trying to find ways to get the gospel to him.
[21:33] He knows we're trying to get the gospel to him. And Tuesday, when I talked to him on the phone, he said, you know what, why don't we go ahead and do what you suggested? Why don't we start meeting regularly and having a regular study together? And so I'm excited about being able to start having a more systematic study of the Word of God with him, and I praise the Lord for that.
[21:54] I think Brother Sam needs a haircut about it. Much as I do. I'm praying about one this week. Amen. All right. That's true. That is very, Robert offered to cut my hair. And I said, no, I've seen yours. I'll just stay with what I got. Amen. Well, I just wanted to thank you all for the amazing love offering you gave us. As many of you probably know, I'm getting married, and I was in a tight position.
[22:23] I was like, oh, goodness, I don't have any meetings. My meetings are canceling, and I don't know what I'm going to do. And then you guys, God just helped out. And because of that, I'm going to be able to get married now. That's good. But I also wanted to thank my parents for coming all the way from Africa to hear me today. But no, I want to thank them. We were talking today about how, what I came from and how I was in this horrible place and how God saved me and how they raised me up from this heathen. I came from a broken home. My parents were on drugs and alcohol and all these different things. And they came in, and I just wanted to acknowledge them because they're actually here and not in Africa. So, but thank you all for everything you've done. I love you like family.
[23:08] And I just, I'm blessed to be here today. You hear from me plenty, so I tried to resist coming up here, but I couldn't help but just come up here and thank the church for still doing ministry, even though we've been limited in finding creative ways. I'm so encouraged by that. The most important parts of us being a church can't be stopped. It just has to be changed and altered. And so I'm so encouraged by the things that I hear people caring for one another, and also things that we could get out of if we wanted to, but we don't because we like meeting and getting together. And even if we have to be on Zoom, it's been a real reminder that we do this not out of a vain tradition, but it's essential to us as Christians. And so I'm grateful for that, for this reminder.
[24:00] We need biblically to assemble, and I am glad that you're assembling. By the way, for those watching, I appreciate you being there and watching everything, and we appreciate what you're doing also. I would remind all of you that Brother David has done a good job talking about the offering, but we still have missionaries, and we still have all that going on. So we all are faithful.
[24:26] We're going to keep giving. I know you will. Let's all stand together. We're going to sing in Christ Alone. We'll be right back.
[25:01] For the love, what depths of peace. With fears or silk when shining seas. My comforter, my all in all.
[25:15] Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on flesh.
[25:26] Fullness of God in helpless pain This gift of power and righteousness Sworn by the ones He came to save Till on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laid Here in the death of Christ I live Here in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory
[26:26] Sin's curse has lost its grip on me For I am His, He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the power of Christ in me From life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny No power of hell, no scheme of man Can ever pluck me from His hand Till He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand I once was lost in darkest night
[27:37] Yet thought I knew the way The sin that promised joy and life Had led me to the grave I had no hope That you would own A rebel to your will And if you had not loved me first I would refuse you still But as I ran in my hell no race Indifferent to the cause You looked upon my helpless state And led me to the cross And I beheld God's love displayed
[28:40] You suffered in thy place You poured the wrath Reserved for me Now all I know is grace Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life Now Lord I would be yours above And live so long I see The strength to follow your commands Could never come from me Oh Father use my wreaths of life
[29:44] In any way you choose And let my song forever be My only boast is you Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life Jesus is my life You can have a seat My soul in sad exile
[31:03] Was out on life's sea So burdened with sin So burdened with sin and distress Till I heard a sweet voice Saying make me your choice And I entered the haven of rest I've anchored my soul In the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep O'er the wild stormy beam In Jesus I'm safe Evermore I yielded myself
[32:04] To his tender embrace And faith taking hold of the word My fetters fell off My fetters fell off And I anchored my soul The haven of rest Is my Lord I've anchored my soul In the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep O'er the wild stormy beam In Jesus I'm safe evermore The song of my soul
[33:05] Since the Lord made me whole Has been the old story So blessed Of Jesus who will save Whosoever will have a home In the haven of rest In the haven of rest I've anchored my soul In the haven of rest I've anchored my soul In the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep O'er the wild stormy beam In the haven of rest In the haven of rest And stormy beam In Jesus I'm safe evermore
[34:06] In the haven of rest O'er the Father Oh, come to the Savior He patiently waits To be saved by his power divine Anchor your soul in the haven of rest And say, my beloved is mine Sing on the chorus, too.
[34:29] The anchor my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas of all The tempest may sweep Or the wild story be In Jesus I'm safe evermore Take your Bibles if you would and go with me to Psalm chapter 17.
[35:08] Psalm chapter 17, or the 17th Psalm. Psalms are written many times. David writes them from a cave or a place of danger and fear.
[35:19] And he is talking about how he needs the Lord. And that's probably some of the best places the Lord works in our lives. When we are hurting and needy, that's when we call on Him more and He works in our life more.
[35:32] Psalm 17 is a very interesting psalm. I'm going to skip through some of it and let you just kind of scan it as we go through it. Some Bible commentators think this may be the prayer of Gethsemane.
[35:44] It may be like the Lord prayed because almost no one could pray this prayer either no more than what Jesus did. But regardless, it's a prayer that reaches into the depths of a man's heart.
[35:58] And by the end of it, he knows only one place satisfies. Only one person satisfies. Just some interesting things as skipping through the reading.
[36:10] Go down to verse 7 and underline this. Show thy marvelous loving kindness. I really wish you'd underline that. Now, I don't know how many times you might have been led to believe that the God of the Old Testament was a brutal and a mean God.
[36:26] I remember as a kid being told, I like the New Testament better, they'd say, because the Old Testament was a very bloody book. And God was mean in the Old Testament and sweet in the New Testament.
[36:38] And I was with the ignorant people of my childhood because God's sweet all through the Bible. The whole story of our good God is how good he is. And in the middle of this prayer, David says, and whether it's the Lord talking or David talking, we know it's the Lord talking, but he said, your marvelous loving kindness.
[36:58] You ought to just underline that, loving kindness. What's loving kindness mean? It means like kindness that comes because somebody loves you. It means a kindness because they love you. It means extra sweet, special, super kindness.
[37:13] It's loving kindness. And it's marvelous loving kindness. So in the cave, on the run, with Saul outside the room, David said, God, you're mean.
[37:25] God, you're letting people beat up on me. God, I can't believe you don't defend me. No, David said, boy, God, you're marvelous and loving and kind and you have marvelous loving kindness.
[37:39] In verse eight, there's a phrase that you may not know came right out of your King James Bible all the way down to the days of 2020, underline the apple of the eye.
[37:51] And David was saying, God, keep me as that most precious, cherished, right in your eye, right in your focus, the apple of your eye. And that's just reading through it.
[38:02] You just ought to underline that and you ought to remember that. Tons of things you say, you don't even realize the skin of your teeth came from the book of Job and just so many things because of the effect that the Bible's had on our society.
[38:14] Then underline, if you would, in verse eight, shadow of thy wings. We don't really understand that unless you're a country boy, but I can still remember Waverly, Tennessee.
[38:28] We had chickens out in the yard and we lived in this little house that was much bigger than a chicken coop itself, I guess. And I can remember one day when the hen started clucking crazily and sticking her wings out and the little chicks all took off running towards her just before the hawk dove out of the sky.
[38:47] And that's exactly what's going on. Come and get under the protection of the Lord God of heaven. You don't need the protection of everybody else. You could have the shadow of the wings of almighty God.
[39:00] You can't beat that. What a tremendous and precious thing. Now just reading through it and I don't know if you pay attention so I'm just kind of calling some attention to you.
[39:11] Go down to verse 14. I want you to underline this. It's a sad part. In verse 14 he says, From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, and I want you to underline, have their portion in this life.
[39:30] Now David this morning in the psalm said, you know, my portion is the Lord. And David knew, David knew that there were people that all they'd ever get was whatever they could get out of his life.
[39:43] All the pleasure, all the joy, all the blessing, all the good life they'd ever have is what they got in this life. And whether or not you realize it, but you're a Bible student, this life is like extremely short.
[39:57] It's like blinking an eye. We're going to live here less than a hundred years, most of us. And our life will start and all be over. And then eternity starts. And a hundred years and eternity is the joke.
[40:11] And if this is all you got, if this is all you got, but I want you to underline, he said, have their portion in this life.
[40:21] God, they may have their belly full of treasure and they may leave it all to their children, but all they got is this life. I want you to underline that. Have their portion in this life.
[40:34] Now just a little extra too, I'll throw at you. I wish you'd gone, just so much. You know, after I preach any passage of scripture, I always go to my office and think I left out 95% of it.
[40:45] It's just the word of God. You can't do it. You can't do it justice. It's the word of God. No matter who they were, no matter how smart they were, no matter how much they think they preached it all, it's still there.
[40:56] And look at this. In Psalm 17 and just in verse 13, I would like you to underline, which is thy sword? I don't know if you pay attention to that.
[41:09] It says, if I read the verse, and I'll mention this in a minute to you as we go through the Bible, but as arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, comma, which is thy sword.
[41:24] Do you know that God uses the wicked? I didn't say that. It's right here. If you believe the book, say what he did when Israel would do wrong, he'd bring Babylon down.
[41:38] They were his sword. In other words, what's happening on this earth, and what we see as we look at our government and our lawmakers and other countries and North Korea and what all is going on, and you tend to look at it and you want to think in terms of Republican and Democrat and Canadian and American and Russian and Chinese and the God of heaven saying, hey, I just use wicked as my sword.
[42:02] Well, I want to do something. I bring the wicked on y'all. If you didn't get it that time, just in case you missed it, he repeats it in verse 14, which is something God does from men which are thy hand.
[42:17] I don't know if you paid attention to that. It's like he said, if y'all didn't get it the first time when I said wicked are my sword, here are the wicked are my hand. I'm doing what I want to do from men which are thy hand.
[42:28] So God's in charge. That ought to give us a little bit of stability. That ought to give us a little bit of faith. That ought to help us understand that I don't know what's going on in our country right now but this much I do know he's still in charge and he will be in charge and he will win.
[42:48] Now if you want to skip over this verse we will talk about tonight but just look at this verse. I entitled this Satisfied in Jesus.
[43:00] David ends the chapter and if it's Jesus praying it still even makes a great sense. As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness. Underline I shall be satisfied.
[43:17] You should underline that. I shall be satisfied. Seeing Jesus seeing the Father is all we need. That's all we need.
[43:27] David said I'm in the cave the men are surrounding me things don't necessarily look that good and this whole psalm is basically a prayer where David says to God God I wish you'd just go ahead and show I'm the one that's right here and Saul's the one that's wrong here and I wish you'd settle all this and let everybody know that I'm the right guy but when he finishes the psalm he says oh God just forget it.
[43:52] When I see you I'll be satisfied. And then he says something else this is not a part of the message I'll shorten the rest of it. When I wake with thy likeness.
[44:04] That's a New Testament thing there. That's a New Testament thing. You ever heard of 1 John chapter 3? I want you to look at that with me 1 John chapter 3. Do you know what's about to happen?
[44:15] Do you know what happened with old brother Randy? Starwalt? Do you know what's going to happen when that rapture happens and we're taken out of here? Do you know what happened with Miss Pat Whiff who loved Jesus and talked about him with such a fervency that it would have shocked you?
[44:31] 1 John chapter 3 and verse 3. Beloved now we are the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that I read David in the book of Psalms he didn't say that but it's kind of like it's here.
[44:48] He said we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
[44:58] You ought to write that down into the corner of your Bible in chapter 17 and verse 15. As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I wake with thy likeness.
[45:10] Father in heaven somehow encourage your people in spite of my stammering and stuttering help them to realize what a wonderful God you are. What an all powerful on time knowing what's happening in charge of the world God you are and how we don't have to be concerned and worried because we're not left to the whims and will of human beings and political movements and diseases and viruses don't even have control here.
[45:37] You do. And we praise you. And we look to you and we trust you in Jesus name. Amen. Now go with me if you would through the psalm. Psalm chapter 17 and verse 1. David calls on God to hear him.
[45:49] This is a tremendous lesson in prayer. He said hear the right oh Lord to tend unto my cry give ear unto my prayer that goes not out of feigned lips.
[46:00] Now feigned that's false lips. He said I'm not talking deceitfully. I'm not talking wickedly. I'm not trying to trick anybody. What I'm saying is true.
[46:11] And David when he said praise he said I'm not faking it. I'm not going through the motions. I'm praying from my heart and I'm not praying for men to see me or hear me. I'm praying because I love you and I'm telling the truth.
[46:22] His prayers are based on a right relationship. There's no hypocrisy. There's no unconfessed sin. He's living in obedience and he calls on the Lord to hear him.
[46:33] Now what's interesting is he calls on the Lord to hear the right and the righteous. It's a tad bold. In a sentence. Hey God hear the guy that's right.
[46:45] Saul's wrong. I'm right. Now if it's Jesus he could easily say this. When Jesus prays and maybe in the garden and said hey hear me and I'm the right it would have probably been real clear.
[46:58] Verse 2. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Go ahead and dictate. Go ahead and make the statement. Go ahead and close the case and let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
[47:13] God show people that I am right. Show people that I've been doing right. God go ahead and you're the judge and tell people and tell people that it's right.
[47:25] David says that God has been at work in his life proving him and testing him. In Psalm chapter 17 and verse 3 he says you have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night.
[47:38] You have tried me and you have found that I don't mess up. You have found nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. I want you to look at this and I don't know if this is Jesus.
[47:52] Of course if it's Jesus it works really easily but if it's David still praying it because David definitely did pray it. Underline this he proved my heart. David said God you know you've been working on me.
[48:03] you've been testing me. You've been trying me. They've accused me. They've abused me. They've lied about me and you know that God but you have tested me. You have come to me in the night and you have dealt with me in the night.
[48:16] You have tried me and God you know that it's all that's wicked and I'm right. So hear the right. Answer the prayer and meet the need. David said I hadn't done wrong.
[48:28] I could have killed old Saul if I'd have wanted to. In chapter 17 and verse 4 but I didn't take the paths of the destroyer. I didn't go out there to get Saul and to hurt Saul though I could have.
[48:41] He says God I want you to bless me. I want you to help me not fall. God I've been doing the right thing. Verse 5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not.
[48:53] God keep me right. I've been doing right. Lead me not into temptation deliver me. Hold up my goings. And he says God I call on you verse 6 for you hear me oh God.
[49:08] You incline your ear unto me and you hear my speech. Those first five or six verses are prayer verses. And by the way you can go to God and you can pray.
[49:22] You know what your sins are already taken care of. You can go to God and sometimes when I was younger I'd read these Old Testament things I'd read the Psalms and David would talk so boldly and I'd say now David how can you say that?
[49:35] I would never say to God you know I'm right. You know God you know I'm right. I'm always like I wish I could say that but you visit me in the night and you test me and drive me and you both know I stink.
[49:52] But you know I don't because I have a lawyer. I have an advocate with the Father and I am in Christ and when I talk to God I talk to him in Christ and in Christ I am righteous and in Christ I am right and in Christ I can go to him and do that.
[50:09] It is all Jesus. And then David calls on God to watch over him or to guard him. Look at Psalm 17 8 and underline the words keep me and then go down to 17 9 from the wicked.
[50:23] Keep me from the wicked. David knew that God had wonderful marvelous loving kindness 17 7 He knew that God had often shown his power with his right hand.
[50:38] In chapter 17 in verse 7 O thou that savest us by thy right hand them which just underline right hand in the Bible that right hand is the hand of power and God with his mighty power.
[50:55] Sometimes God he uses these terms about humans to help us understand he's so much bigger than a hand. He's so much bigger sometimes he talks about his arm but the truth is he's almighty God but he's used a term you can understand and he says he says God I know that you have saved me by your right hand you did the work.
[51:15] You kept Saul from killing me. You kept the devil from getting me. I'll read this next part of the verse 7 in just a second but let me just say something when you read the Psalms one of the most interesting ways to read the Psalms because David's going to even have these Psalms where he's just going to be like kill them God and you're going to be like I can't pray that to God I'm not supposed to pray God and kill them but you can when you realize this we are not in a battle with flesh and blood we're in a battle with spirits and demons and hell and Satan and we can pray against them and you know what the devil wants to destroy you the devil wants to destroy your faith the devil wants to destroy your home the devil wants to take your kids away and the only way you've gotten where you've gotten is his right hand I'll never forget that my wife came in and showed me something that Phyllis Sterwalt had put on her Facebook page or whatever it is and it said something like
[52:17] I hope you don't see my marriage and think I had a happy marriage because I chose the right man or he chose the right woman we chose God something go read it it's better than that my wife when I get home tonight Betty's going to say that is not what I told you and then she's going to say you know you never listen and then I'm going to say what look who he saves with his right hand look who he saves with his right hand verse 7 put their trust them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them I would stop right here just for a second I'll get you out on time but I just want you to realize this there are right now the legions of hell hate you they hate our church because if they hurt us they hurt the cause of Jesus Christ and there are people rising up and we can pray and say God you know what the fight of depression and discouragement and making me want to live in fear and making me want to doubt you it seems to come on me
[53:20] I listen to the news I hear the doctor I see all this going on and all this junk comes against me because see that's what happens you got to understand we live in this world but we know we wrestle not with flesh and blood but what's going on is the devil is messing with us by things they say that causes us so we put our trust in him could you say amen right there you're just going to have to understand this sooner or later bad stuff's going to happen to you and things are going to go wrong in your life but you're going to have to say I wasn't trusted in my strength I wasn't trusted in my health I wasn't trusted in my money I wasn't trusted in my job I was always trusting in him that's what David says by the way when he ends the chapter he's going to say and I'll be satisfied just to see you he said God keep me close keep that same intimacy with me verse 8 the apple of the eye the apple of the eye I must confess that when I thought of that I thought of
[54:22] Abby you know she's always coming in my office and she just walks in wants to talk to me she's been doing it since she's like two and you just look at her it's like man I just love seeing that kid and she'll come up and she'll talk to me and you know what he said keep that Abby knows she can go anywhere she wants she's the apple of my eye you want to hear a wild one you're the apple of his eye hey he said come boldly to the throne of grace you just walk on in like you own the place because you do in Christ hide me under the shadow of your wings chapter 17 and verse 8 what are you dealing with what's going on in your life health issues financial issues I want to say this to you from this psalm he loves you he knows you personally he will protect you and he is able that's all in this psalm he loves you apple of his eye he knows you he will protect you the challenge is to trust him and focus on him and not the enemy that's just outside the cave just outside the cave when you read that you could easily say well I don't have any enemies but you do boy if the devil could get in there he'd ruin your marriage if the devil could get in there he'd ruin your life he'd ruin your children if the devil could get in there he'd mess with stuff so you want to ask God to keep you and to work in your life too
[56:03] David has real enemies that would kill him if they were given the opportunity go down to chapter 17 and verse 9 from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who come past me about I'll say something to you and you may think I'm a nut but I think if you talk to the older people have said the Bible more I think if he had opened our eyes we'd find this room full of angels and people to protect us but I think we'd find this room full of the devil not the literal devil not him but the angels and the demons they're here too and there's only one way I stay strong there's only one way we keep doing right the power of his right hand it is him that takes care of us we are also in the middle of that you see David says man my enemies everything goes well with them they're enclosed in their own fat you know in the bible terms fat is beautiful praise Jesus amen and fat means prosperous amen
[57:08] I think I told you this I told Sipo one of the preachers over in Africa I said something about me being fat he said oh that just means you got money I said well praise the lord for that these enemies are enclosed in their own fat and their mouth speaks proudly they are rich and powerful they're rich and powerful they're arrogant and braggadocious and they have surrounded David chapter 17 and verse 11 and like a hungry lion that's greedy of his prey they're hiding out looking for every way to mess with them like a roaring lion he goes about seeking whom he may devour you might have read that that's the new testament see in the same way we're under attack these enemies are looking for every possible way to destroy David they hide they watch and they wait what you don't know is that girl that's flirting with you at the office is not a girl flirting with you it's a devil playing with you and no one he can whip you he's hungry and greedy it would destroy you and then when you get all agitated and you're like
[58:12] I don't know if I want to go to church I got to make more money the devil is just saying look at me working on him he's a hungry greedy young lion lurking in secret places your enemies are not flesh and blood we have to be reminded of that we get hurt and angry with other people but it's really the devil we're frustrated because we're not focused on the type of battle we're in you need to pray watch and pray one eye open you need to know the devil is at work and then David calls on God to rescue him in verse 4 arise oh Lord arise oh Lord disappoint him and cast him down and deliver my soul from the wicked I know he's your soul your sword but deliver him deliver me from him David's enemies are from this world but David knows that all that they have is what this world offers they may have success but it's only in this world did you know you can call on God to answer your prayers you're dealing with things but you have the privilege of believing prayer you have the privilege of going to God and believing prayer and prayer is not venting it's not an exercise in futility it's a true
[59:29] God honoring prayer that he will answer chapter 17 and verse 15 we are to be satisfied in him as for me I will behold your face and I'll be satisfied David is not jealous of those rich and powerful people enclosed in their fat who speak braggingly he said Jesus is enough for me underline as for me he said as for them they need that money but as for me I'll take Jesus David was looking to the future that God had for him and he said because he said when I wake I will die and when I wake so he knew there was a future with God David really believed God had something better for him when I wake I will behold I shall be satisfied David knew he was going to die he knew he was going to go to heaven he knew God had something better for him David fully expected to look on God's face he didn't think I'll go to the grave they'll cover me up in dirt or they'll stick me in a niche or niche or whatever they're called in English they'll stick me in that thing and close me in he said
[60:34] I will behold thy face in righteousness somehow he knew somehow he knew there was life after death somehow he knew he was going to go to be with God and somehow he knew he was righteous and you can know that David knew that seeing the Lord salvation was enough even in the tryingest of times on earth I'll tell you when I'm satisfied not when Saul's dead and not when I'm on my throne and not when I'm the king of Israel but when I see you I shall be satisfied he knew that God was going to make us like him that has got to be one of the most beautiful things in the Bible David said when I see him I will awake with his likeness God has a plan for us Romans chapter 8 verse 28 all things work together for good to them that love God are called according to his purposes and he has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son the greatest question tonight do you know these things are true in your life do other people in other parts of the world know this that's why we're a missionary church we know truth they need to know truth what will we do to get the good news to them
[61:45] I thank you for coming I just want you to know this vision doesn't satisfy Jesus satisfies and all the stimulus money doesn't satisfy Jesus satisfies and all the good doctor's reports don't satisfy Jesus satisfies Jesus is enough father in heaven I love you praise you and thank you and I beg you to continue working in our midst and we'll give you praise for it all in Jesus name amen what a wonderful time in the book of Psalms grateful that God brought us through Psalms during this time just a couple quick reminders I still ask that you give updated information go to the church website click on the update button we can get that from you and then Tuesday night is the Bible Institute the middle school class high school class and the connect class have kind of led the way with having zoom life group times if we find that we're not going to be able to meet in Sunday school and life groups moving forward the rest of us should follow their lead and if I could help you get that set up this week I would love to do that but let's keep moving forward finding more ways to connect together and doing ministry throughout the week hope you all have a great night amen amen to do that moment and come and and goal will and come to you
[63:12] Thank you.