WEBVTT

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 We are in Psalm 28 this evening.

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 Let me read that for us.

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 To you, O Lord, I call my rock.

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 Be not deaf to me, lest if you be silent to me,

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 I become like those who go down to the pit.

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 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy

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 when I cry to you for help,

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 when I lift up my hand towards your most holy sanctuary.

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 Do not drag me off with the wicked,

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 with the workers of evil,

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 who speak peace with their neighbors

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 while evil is in their hearts.

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 Give to them according to the work

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 and according to the evil of their deeds.

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 Give to them according to the work of their hands.

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 Render them their due reward

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 because they do not regard the works of the Lord

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 or the works of His hands.

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 He will tear them down and build them up no more.

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 Bless me, the Lord,

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 for He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

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 The Lord is my strength and my shield.

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 In Him my heart trusts,

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 and I am helped,

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 my heart to exhaust.

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 And with my song,

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 I give thanks to Him.

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 The Lord is the strength of His people.

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 He is the saving refuge of His anointed.

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 O Savior people,

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 and bless your heritage.

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 Be their shepherd,

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 and carry them forever.

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 As we come to the psalm,

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 we will work through three different aspects of the psalm.

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 Those three things that we're going to come and look at today

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 is when you are feeling helpless,

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 where do you seek help?

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 The second question that we will look at today is,

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 can you pray judgment on evil?

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 And then the third thing is,

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 will you praise God?

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 So we begin with this idea of when we feel helpless,

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 where do you seek help?

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 So when you are feeling helpless,

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 where do you seek help?

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 I'm going to read verses 1 and 2 for us again,

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 so you can follow along again.

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 Verses 1 and 2.

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 And as I'm reading,

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 do keep this idea of where do we seek help

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 when feeling helpless in mind.

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 To you, O Lord, I call,

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 my rock.

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 Be not deaf to me,

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 lest if you be silent to me,

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 I become like those who go down to the pit.

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 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy

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 when I cry to you for help,

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 when I lift up my hands

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 toward your most holy sanctuary.

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 So when we are feeling helpless,

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 and we go to seek help,

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 we really have two choices.

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 Our choices fall into one of two categories.

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 The first category is what I would just call

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 the not God option.

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 So when we're feeling helpless,

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 we seek something other than God,

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 the not God option.

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 There's no need to elaborate on that.

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 We all have a good idea of what the not God option is.

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 We have some examples that probably came to mind,

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 perhaps from some moment in your life,

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 even recently,

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 when you were feeling helpless

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 and you chose the not God option.

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 We also have then our second choice,

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 which is the God option.

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 And I think one of the challenges

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 that comes for us

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 when we seek God,

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 when we are feeling helpless,

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 is that when we, like the psalmist,

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 we come to God,

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 and God can seem,

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 as verse one says,

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 deaf and silent.

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 Have you ever sought God?

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 And maybe you didn't quite use these words,

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 but you had this feeling.

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 Or maybe you used these words.

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 You're like,

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 God, you're deaf.

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 You're not hearing me.

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 God, why are you so silent?

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 Why are you not responding to me?

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 You know I'm here.

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 Why are you not,

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 why are you not even acknowledging me?

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 The reality is,

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 is that God hears us,

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 even when it seems otherwise.

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 And when God seems to not hear us,

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 we must persist.

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 We must continue to petition the Lord.

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 We must continue to come to God in prayer

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 and say,

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 God, here I am.

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 It seems like you're not hearing me.

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 It seems like you're not responding to me.

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 Maybe it even seems like God doesn't care.

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 But God, here I am.

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 So why does God remain silent?

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 There's no single answer.

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 And I think part of it is,

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 it's just God being God.

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 And I'm sure there is a reason.

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 We may not ever understand it.

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 But when we come to those moments,

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 when God seems silent to us,

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 I think we have a great example here

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 from the psalmist.

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 And that's that we pray about it.

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 I think one of the great challenges

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 that we face

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 is that when God seems very far away,

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 we stop pursuing God.

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 And God can be a little harder to pursue

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 when God seems so far away.

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 When God seems silent.

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 It seems uninterested and unconcerned.

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 And we know it's not the case.

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 Right?

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 We know God loves us.

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 So we must persist.

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 And as the psalmist did,

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 let us pray about it.

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 Let us acknowledge it for God.

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 Second thing I want us to look at

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 is this question.

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 Can you pray judgment on evil?

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 Let me read verses 3 through 5 for us.

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 And as I read,

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 you can have that question in your mind.

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 Can you, can I,

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 can we pray judgment on evil?

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 Do not drag me off with the wicked,

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 with the workers of evil,

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 who speak peace with their thoughts

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 while evil is in their hearts.

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 Give to them according to their work

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 and according to the evil of their deeds.

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 Give to them according to the works of their hands.

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 Render them their due reward.

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 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord

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 or the works of His hands.

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 He will tear them down

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 and build them up no more.

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 So I have a question for you.

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 How often have you heard people praying prayers of judgment?

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 How often have you been to a gathering

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 and there were prayers of judgment on evil?

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 God judged them.

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 They are doing wrong.

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 How often have you been to a community group?

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 And at the end,

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 when you gather for prayer,

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 someone says,

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 well, I'd like prayer this evening for judgment

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 on the evil that's around us.

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 I have to tell you,

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 I cannot recollect such a time ever happening.

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 And I feel like I would remember that

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 because it would be so unusual

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 to gather together to pray

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 and someone saying,

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 let's pray judgment this evening.

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 I mean, why do we avoid these prayers?

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 That would be the question.

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 There's certainly here in the scripture

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 and it's certainly here in this psalm.

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 A very clear prayer for judgment.

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 I want you to see,

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 I want to read this for you again,

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 verse four.

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 And see how clear he is praying judgment

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 upon these people.

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 Give to them according to their work

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 and according to the evil of their deeds.

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 Give to them according to the work of their hands.

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 Render them their due reward.

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 The psalmist is saying,

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 God, they are evil.

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 Give to them the appropriate spots to evil.

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 So why are we hesitant

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 to pray these prayers of judgment?

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 As I was thinking of this,

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 I thought of a couple of reasons.

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 One, I would call the boomerang effect.

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 The boomerang effect is

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 the idea that we're going to pray this prayer

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 and we're going to send it out.

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 And kind of like the boomerang

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 that comes back around to the person who threw it,

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 the judgment that we prayed out there

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 is coming right back home.

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 And it's coming right towards us.

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 Because when we look out,

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 we see our own failings.

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 Perhaps we are engaged in a similar evil.

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 And we are hesitant to pray judgment

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 upon these people,

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 feeling as if that prayer

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 will simply come around

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 back to the person who prayed it.

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 I think one of the other things

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 that we struggle with

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 with this prayers of judgment

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 is something that I would call

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 the Noah's Ark effect.

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 And I was thinking of this

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 as I was looking at our scripture passage

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 for this Sunday,

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 which is on Noah

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 and the building of the ark

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 and the saving of Noah

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 and his family

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 from this judging flood

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 that takes place.

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 And I've wondered with Noah's Ark before,

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 and perhaps you've wondered as well.

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 And it's probably,

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 since I have children,

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 and when you have young children

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 and you go to buy them things,

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 you buy them Noah's Ark things.

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 Right?

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 You buy them the little bedspread

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 that's got Noah and the ark.

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 And I have that little image in my mind

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 of that cute little ark

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 with the giraffe's head

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 poking out of the top,

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 and everyone's happy,

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 and they're all delightful,

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 and we give our children the toys,

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 go play with the Noah and his ark.

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 And we think there,

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 as we look at that,

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 we see the rescue of God,

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 and we celebrate the rescue of God,

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 and rightly so.

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 And rightly so do we celebrate

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 the rescue of God.

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 But we sometimes forget

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 all about the judgment

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 of that story.

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 Right?

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 Who's going to buy their kid

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 the Noah's Ark set

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 that's got the thousands of corpses?

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 But that's very much

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 the reality of that story.

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 So we come and we embrace

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 the rescue of God,

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 but we forget about the judgment

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 that comes with it.

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 And the Noah's Ark

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 is a great example,

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 I think,

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 of how we see that culturally,

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 and perhaps how you,

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 you yourself have experienced

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 that very well-known story

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 from the Bible.

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 So when we come

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 and we struggle with the reason

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 for God's judgment,

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 we want to embrace the rescue.

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 We like the rescue.

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 We don't like the judgment

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 that comes before the rescue.

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 And we're just uneasy with that.

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 And even as you think

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 of that story of Noah

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 and that great deliverance,

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 perhaps even now

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 you're still a little bit uneasy

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 with the judgment

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 that comes before that.

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 So I have a final question

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 for you, Signe.

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 is will you praise God?

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 Specifically in this psalm,

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 will you praise God

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 despite feeling unheard?

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 Will you praise God then?

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 Will you pray prayers of judgment?

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 And then praise God.

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 So will you praise God

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 even with the prayers of judgment?

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 Let us read verses 6 through 9.

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 Bless be the Lord

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 for he has heard the voice

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 of my pleas for mercy.

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 The Lord is my strength

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 and my shield.

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 In him my heart trusts

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 and I am helped.

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 My heart exalts

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 and with my song

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 I give thanks to him.

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 The Lord is the strength

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 of his people

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 and he is the saving

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 refuge of his anointed.

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 O save your people

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 and bless your heritage.

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 Be their shepherd

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 and carry them forever.

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 Be calm and we praise God

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 and in praising God

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 we do so because

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 we trust God.

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 That is why we are able

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 to praise God.

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 It's because we look to God

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 and we say I trust you.

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 And we trust God

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 as we look and reflect

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 upon the psalm.

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 We trust God

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 when we feel unheard.

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 The psalmist here

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 as he started

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 he felt unheard.

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 But here at the end

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 of the psalm

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 he is still praising God.

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 Even when feeling unheard.

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 Even when it seems

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 as though his God is silent.

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 We trust that God

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 does indeed with us.

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 We trust that God

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 is indeed worthy

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 of praise.

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 When we trust God

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 we can come to the

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 idea of judgment.

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 Perhaps we feel a bit uneasy

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 about that idea of judgment.

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 Perhaps we are hesitant

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 to pray these prayers

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 of judgment.

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 When we come and we say

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 God I'm a bit uneasy

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 with that.

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 Or God I don't feel good.

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 I have hesitancy

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 because I feel like

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 I see my own failure

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 in this.

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 But we come and we say

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 God I still trust you

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 in this.

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 I trust you in these moments.

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 When we come to a

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 challenging story

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 of the Bible

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 where we see God

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 judging things.

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 We say I don't know

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 how that all works

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 but I still trust you.

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 I can still give you praise.

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 So when we face

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 these difficult moments

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 we will continue

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 to praise God

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 so long as we trust him.

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 And God does not fail us.

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 God does not fail us.

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 So let us continue

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 to give praise to God.

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 Let me close this in prayer.

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 God we're thankful

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 for the example

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 that we have here

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 of someone who does

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 give you praise.

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 God let praise

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 come quickly to our lips.

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 God let us be people

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 who see your goodness

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 and see your kindness.

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 God let us be people

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 who even when things

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 perhaps feel amiss

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 God we come and we say

00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:25.160
 nevertheless

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 I trust you

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 and I give you praise.

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 We ask this in your name.

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 Amen.