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Okay, Tom, turn to Psalm 25.
Let's take a look at 25 today. Today is going to be a little
bit less teaching for me, at least that's my plan, and a little
bit more listening to you. What I have on the overhead there
is a Bible software program I've told you about in the past. We'll
mainly be looking at Psalm 25, though. I've just gone through
and made my own observations of the passage, and I want to
listen to yours as well. Same rule will apply. If you
want to speak, you get two times. Otherwise, we'll let one person
dominate. It's that same annoying hand in the back every time,
right? So if you've got lots of comments,
if you have lots of comments, save them for the really important
one. Hold on, let me try to make font
bigger. Hang in there. That's not what
I'm looking for. I'm almost there. Font, bigger. Place sound, citation style,
copy footnotes. Fonts. Let's make it 200. Better? Okay. Psalm 25, let's read it together.
Well, I'll read it and you listen. I'm reading from New American
Standard Bible, so if it differs a little bit from yours, Don't let that
throw you off. Psalm 25. The Psalm of David. We know who David is, right?
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust. Do not let me be ashamed. Do
not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who
wait for you will be ashamed. Those who deal treacherously
without cause will be ashamed. Make me know your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach
me. For you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all
the day. Remember, O Lord, your compassion.
and your lovingkindness, for they have been from of old. Do
not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According
to your lovingkindness, remember me. For your goodness sake, O
Lord." Good and upright is the Lord, therefore He instructs
sinners in the way. He leads the humble in justice, and He
teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are
lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His
testimonies. For your namesake, O Lord, pardon
my iniquity, for it is great. Who is the man who fears the
Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. My
soul will abide in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit
the land. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and
He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward
the Lord. He will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and
be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of
my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses.
Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Look upon my enemies, for they
are many, and they hate me with a violent hatred. guard my soul,
and deliver me. Do not let me be ashamed, for
I take refuge in You. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait for You. Redeem, O Israel, O God, out
of His troubles." Now fresh off of the reading, what do you think?
What are you thinking about? It's depressing. It's in trouble. Good. Excellent. What else? We're in the observing
stage. You can observe whatever you
want. There's no right and wrong answer. Is that a common feeling for
you? Us? Good. Can you relate to it right
off the bat? Interesting, because it's 3,000 years old. Not much
has changed, right? What else? Yes? Okay, good. His sin, his enemies. And there are those two parts.
There's a third part. Praise. Praise for? God. God.
It's a great theology. They're right there in the middle
of it. And when I say a theology, the word theology means the study
of God. It tells us something about God. We'll look at that
a little bit more in depth. What else did you see in this?
Hope. Hope? Explain. He believes, he
trusts that God's going to deliver him. For what reason? Okay, his own or God's It's important isn't it over
and over it's like he's trying to remind God of that and he
does say that Lord remember my Or don't remember my sins, but
do remember my enemies or do remember your love and kindness
Anything else stands out to you Cindy, yeah, Charlotte. That's going to be a big one,
because shame, what's his biggest problem with the shame? What's
where's that going? You've been shamed. What is it? What does it do for us personally
to us personally when we feel shame? We're humbled. We're embarrassed. No one wants
to be ashamed. It could be anything from standing
up in front of people and bumbling your words, to having a hair
out of place, to your children acting foolish and reflecting
upon you, right? And anything in between. So it
makes you feel ridiculous. And if you had any position of
authority and you're shamed, now what? You want to fix it,
but you feel even worse. So you got to fix it. So that's
where he's going. Do you identify with shame? How
many of you put on a real, don't even, it's a rhetorical one,
I'm not looking for any insight into you, but how many of you
are so ashamed of something you've done in the past that you would
never bring it up, and you try to put on a persona when you
come to church or when you're around people that makes you look like
you just have it all together, and you would never ever want
anyone to know what you did, what you said, Some, it could
be as simple as I'm trying to hide a habit I have, I smoke.
They don't want anyone to think that. They don't know that we
can smell them, right? Eventually. Or they don't want anyone to
know that I had a divorce in my past. They don't even want to
know that I was previously arrested or that I failed out of school
or something. We don't want to talk about that.
We'll put on a good show because it makes us feel stupid. And
no one wants to feel like that. So that's where David is. Don't
let me be put to shame, but what's his shame going to be associated
with? I'm sorry? His youth. There you go. He brings
up the sense of his youth, doesn't he? What will his shame mean
for him and his nation? Did that last verse stand out
to you? Where did that last verse come from? Redeem Israel, O God?
Where did that come from? Is Israel a him or a her? Yeah,
it's interesting. Sometimes it's called one, sometimes
it's called another. It's a, as a pronoun, actually
in Greek it can go either way, but this is Hebrew and it's very
specific, is and her. Sometimes my gun is my, is Betsy,
right? Sometimes my gun is Nick. Arnold. I don't know. It's a good question, but it's
a great observation. But why Israel? It's about him and all
of a sudden Israel's thrown in. Who's David, first of all? King
of? Israel. Let's put it in common day terms
here. I'm the pastor of Harvest Bible
Church. Front page article, which would never make front page because
I'm a nobody, but if it did that Lance had an affair, local preacher
kills a man, what does that do to Harvest Bible Church and all
of you who attend here? So I might say, Lord, and I do,
just so you'll know, or don't let me be put to shame. Don't
let me do anything that not only puts my own name and my own family
in an embarrassing, shameful situation, but in my church in
regard. I mean, you wouldn't want to
tell anybody how I went to that church. Yeah. Yeah, that guy that we
called our pastor for 12 years was another person that we didn't
know about. He was, he had girlfriends on
the side and he was, he had a nightlife that no one knew about or something.
That would be shameful and embarrassing. And I think David's saying the
same thing. Don't let it happen to me, Lord, because it's a reflection
upon Israel. Moses did this, by the way. When Moses is up
on the mountain, God tells Moses, step aside, Moses. He looks down
the mountain, and what are the people of Israel doing? Idolizing. And how did they worship the
idols at the base of the mountain? In a sexual orgy. As difficult
as that is to imagine, that's how they worshiped the gods back
then. Well, I'm not going to go into the details of that because
it's quite explicit. But Moses is up on the mountain
and God tells Moses, step aside so that I can destroy these people
right now. And what does Moses say? For your name's sake. And he says, what will the surrounding
nations say about you? You brought them out but you
couldn't preserve them? You're going to look like a fool. And
then he tells him, remember your covenant with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. God, it would have been impossible
for God to start over with Moses. Why would it be impossible for
God to start over with Moses? He started a nation with Abraham,
so we know he can do it with one man. Why would it be impossible
for him to start over with Moses? He made a promise. Made a promise to who? Abraham.
Abraham, but he could have fulfilled that promise by saying, well,
Moses is a descendant of Abraham, because he was. He would have
killed all the Israelites. would have killed all the Israelites,
but it could have started again with Moses, and Moses still had the connection
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The reason being is because Moses
is from the tribe of Levi. And God had a covenant not only
with Abraham, but at the end of Genesis in chapter 49, He
gives a promise to the tribe of Judah, a very significant
promise, that out of you will come Shiloh, the one who will
wield the rod, the sword, the scepter, and it shall not depart
from you until the Messiah comes. Judah has to be preserved, so
it'd be difficult to fulfill that promise when you have to
start over with the gap from Levi. God's promise must be settled,
and Moses knew that, right? Well, I was just remembering,
too, that Abraham, God considered his friend, and he made a promise
to his friend. He did. And he's going to preserve
them because of his promise that he made them. But even though
he did make that promise he could still be fulfilling that promise
just by working with Moses and starting over with that one remnant.
He could still be exonerated of that. Don't you think? He's still a descendant of Abraham.
How did God ultimately fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant anyway?
Say again? Melchizedek actually predates
the Abrahamic Covenant. Okay, good. It's not a wrong
answer. You're thinking too broad here.
How did God ultimately fulfill the Abrahamic covenant? Come on, thank you. Remember,
folks, when the question goes out, if you say God or Jesus,
you're probably going to be right. Jesus. I hate asking questions
where the answer is Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate seed fulfillment
of Abraham. completely fulfilled? I do not
believe it has. But it is being fulfilled that the New Covenant
which fulfills the covenant to Abraham, which fulfills the covenant
to David has been inaugurated to be completely fulfilled with
the Second Coming of Jesus Christ our Lord. So, that's the ultimate
fulfillment of it. Now, we've just gotten off on
some things here that this brings up. We could go on for hours,
couldn't we? Amazing what it begats, just
some words and some phrases. Cindy? So the question is, what is David
doing? What's the context? Let's ask
this, Sherry gave the example of 2 Peter 3, 9, where context
matters ultimately. Because as you've heard me say
before, if you're in 2 Peter 3, 9, just the very proof text
itself begs for a context. 2 Peter implies there's a 1 Peter.
2 Peter chapter 3 implies there's two chapters prior to it, and
verse 9 implies there's eight verses before that. You can't
get a letter in the mail, scroll down to the very bottom, read
one passage and think you know the letter, right? People misquote
that passage all the time. So there's a context that must
be had in 2 Peter 3, 9. Let me ask you this. Does the
context matter in Psalm 25? First of all, let's do this.
Is there a context given? No. So that right there tells
us maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe God didn't want us to know.
How many of you know who wrote the epistle of Hebrews? We don't. We can surmise that
it was Paul, sounds like Paul sometimes, and yet the writer
uses words that Paul never, ever used, and writes in such a way
that Paul never does. Sounds like a very academic,
classically trained Greek author. That would fit other people we
know from the Bible, but we can't prove that. So, ultimately we
don't know. So, to answer your question Cindy, we don't know
the context. And it doesn't change a single thing in this particular
passage. David could be young, he could be old. He could be
running from Saul, he could be running from some... We don't even know
about his childhood sins, which he talks about. What are they?
What did he do? Wouldn't we love to know that?
We have to go back in time and find a People magazine in the
first millennium BC, right? What did this young king do?
Well, we don't know. And ultimately, it won't matter.
That's not always the case. And you'll have to determine
that as you get through it. All right, would it help me in the context if
I knew a context versus not knowing it on what this psalm is saying.
Sure? What matters is the context of the entire Bible. Absolutely.
In the context of this, the entire Bible, or even the psalms that
surround it, is going to be our first clue. Well, the psalms
are written just like a song, because that's what it means,
a song. Let me ask you this. A particular song, you could
write, oh gosh, there's so many songs out there, and I'm not
going to date myself, nor am I going to show you what kind of music
I like and don't like, but sometimes a song can mean more to you when
you know what the writer went through in writing it, right?
Well, this person, his daughter, Stephen Curtis Chapman, that
one just came to me, lost a daughter a few years ago, right? And if
you know anything about Christian music, Mr. Chapman's a very good
man, nice, gentle man, and they lost a child, and their other
child happened to accidentally kill that child, rolled over
the baby in the driveway. Well, he wrote this song, I don't
remember the name of the song, do you? But you can't listen
to that song, whether you like the tune or not, without crying.
Because anyone could put yourself in the position and think, oh,
how horrible it must have been, not only to lose a child, but
to see your son go through the pain for the rest of his life
of having killed an innocent child. Well, context helps us,
but even without the context, that's a very powerful song.
Same would be true in all of the Psalms, because they are
songs. David, though king, though full of blood all over his hands,
was a gentle musician. That's a great thing about this
guy. It makes him a very intriguing guy. So he starts off and he
says, and I've just highlighted some things for you to see, are
the verbs. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Well, can you lift
up your soul? Is David have a rope? Is he pulling
himself up on a tree? Lord look I've lifted myself
up. Well right there I mean anyone with common sense knows what
he's talking about. Soul here is indicative of his life. Lord
my whole life is before you. Some people like to display their
life before God with hands wide open. You see them in church,
hands in the air. Most people this is just learned
behavior. Other people just have this compulsion
to throw their bodies to God like this. You don't have to
do that. But maybe David is doing that.
I'm all yours, Lord. Buck naked, everything I have
is what you gave me. All my sins are before you, and
in you I trust. How many people on this planet
can you do that for? I mean, think about it in literal
terms. Because when you get married
and you become one, remember what Adam and Eve were before
sin? They were both naked and not ashamed. There was no one,
and you know sin, no one was going to exploit the other. In
many marriages, They're not naked in front of each other. Why?
Shamed. Shamed of their body. Ashamed
of being made fun of. Being seen in the light. Same
way with us when we go into counseling or we want to talk to a friend.
How many people from your mama, from your daddy, to your spouse
can you actually lift up your entire soul to and not be worried
about being exploited? Well, I think at the very least,
I mean, I think it's unhealthy to not have at least one person.
That's the way a marriage should be. But even if it's not, you
have God. And David certainly sees this,
this warrior with blood all over him. That's what God says, you
can't build my house because you're a man of blood. Here's
this guy, a big tough guy, musician, giving his life to God. Oh my,
oh my God, in you I trust. I'm going to give you my, just
some observations I make over here. Mine are over on this side. What do I do? I lift up my life
and trust in God, knowing that I'm helpless. Well, that's not
easy for a man. If you put it in a man's standpoint, you know,
we always like to solve all our problems. In you I trust. Do
not let me be ashamed. Do not let my enemies exult over
me. Think about that for a minute. Do you ever pray to God and tell
Him what to do? Throughout this prayer, He is making commands
of God. Lord, do this. Do that. Sounds
like a nagging wife. I mean a husband. Remember, I'm
talking to ladies. I want you to turn over to Matthew
chapter 6, which we typically call the Lord's Prayer. It's
more of a model prayer. I want to show you the same tactic. Matthew chapter 6. By the way, I'm not going through
every verse today. I'm just going to go through a few. don't have
time for it, and I want to listen to what you have. But Matthew
6 beginning in verse 9 the disciples come to Jesus and they say, teach
us how to pray. Show us how to pray. Would you do that if you
were walking with Jesus? Wouldn't we all like to know that? Well
here's His answer for you. Pray then this way, Our Father who
is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Do you know that in the
Greek text Although that sounds like English, in English, Lord,
we just worship you. In the Greek text, it is a command.
It is a command, Lord, let your name be held in holiness. It's
a command, an imperative. And every one after is the same
way. So here's your list, here's how
you pray. First of all, you might even pray the opposite. Lord,
stop letting your name be blasphemed. Lord, let your name be held high.
Lord, send your kingdom. Lord, let your will be done.
just as it is on earth. Give us what we need for the
day, in regard to food. Forgive us of our sins, we've
also forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from evil." Everyone is a command, that's how you
pray. And you think, well can I command
God? Yeah, that's how He told us to pray. These are His will,
there's nothing better than for His people to pray His will right
back to Him. Lord here's what You said, Here's
what you're going to do. And are we not in doing that,
claiming His promises? Isn't that what David does in
this psalm? He talks about God's promises.
Do what you said you're going to do. We believe your promises.
That's what the model prayer is. Lord, do it. Let your name
be held high. Give us what we need for today.
It doesn't say give us a new house because the one we have in is
smaller. Just give us what we need. Lord, forgive us of our
debts. We count on that because we've
forgiven our debtors and Jesus died on the cross. And you, I trust, do not let
me be put to shame. Do not let my enemies exult over
me. Indeed, none of those who wait for you will be ashamed."
Right there, he just answered it. He's schmoozing God. I hope you see that. He's a schmoozer. Lord, don't do this. I know you,
God. You would never let that happen,
right? It's like you go on to your husband. I know you're going
to take me out for my birthday. I know you're going to get me
what I told you I want for Christmas. I know you're going to take us
to this vacation spot because I told you that. Your husband's
going, I guess I got to do that. I told you I would. This is a
schmoozer. But you can only schmooze when
you're schmoozing according to God's will. Lord, you said this,
I'm holding you to it. Don't let me be put to shame.
My shame is Israel's shame, and it's not to your glory, so don't
let it happen. Sherry? When you're having a conversation and you're
praying I love that. That's beautiful. There's no
formalities here. I Love it that's beautiful because
a lot of people they'll think through a prayer and Then have
to go be respectful with their prayer write it out and all its
formality. Just think through it God knows what you're thinking.
You don't have to prepare something and go give it to him. Spit it
out. He knows what you're thinking. Don't lie to him and try to hide
it. Even if it's a bad thought, Lord, you know what I'm thinking
right now. You feel the anger. You know how sinful I am in this
moment. And yet you love me. Thank you.
Now will you fix this? Think. Be absolutely honest.
You might not be able to be honest with anyone. Matter of fact,
you can't be honest with everyone. Not even your spouse. Because
you're telling your spouse you think he's a great man when in
reality sometimes you've got some misgivings about him. About
his attitude, about the way he looks. Maybe he's not as good
looking as you want him to be. Or maybe he's got bad habits
when he eats and yet he disgusts you or something like that. But
you wouldn't want to tell him that. I love you all. Tell me,
what do you love about me? Everything, dear. But not with
God. You can absolutely be 100% honest.
Cindy? about which word? It just seems like when he's
praying, he's praying to God, and then he's saying, you know,
not necessarily so much for his sake, but he says, for your good
sake, O Lord. And then he goes into a praise,
and then it's almost like he can talk to God again. He's kind
of taught himself, you know, and he relies on God's attributes
and everything, and then he goes back into his prayer for forgiveness.
You know, it's like... I do, but... But humble. Yeah, humble, but telling God
what God knows. If you don't like the word schmoozing,
that's fine, but you've got to lighten up a little bit. We are observing. Don't be stiff in the observation. You're looking at a real man
with a real problem talking to a real and holy God. His honesty
and how he repeats back what God has, great. It doesn't teach
well to say, you need to go schmooze God. Yes, I understand that.
But we're talking about in an observational standpoint, we're
just looking at a real guy. Sometimes you look at the scripture
and it's so stiff. But these are real people. They're
just like you and me. David thought the same things we think. And
we get to think his thoughts after him and relate to him,
as we do with any writer. Indeed, none of those who wait
for you will be ashamed. How many times does your Bible
say, wait, wait? Any other word used? Does any
of your translations say hope? It's the same thing. What does
it mean to wait? How many people love to wait? When somebody asks
you about yourself, you say, I love to wait. I'm one of those
people that really loves to wait long periods of time for everything.
You've never met anyone like that, because no one is. It's
not natural to us to be patient, right? As a child, as a newborn
baby, what does the baby do when he or she is hungry? They scream. And they're immediately pacified
when the bottle goes into their mouth, right? We got what we
wanted. We understand that if we just
scream, we'll get it. Some adults never grow out of that, right?
They're never trained to do it. But to wait, it's not natural
to an infant. We're born without patience. But David says over and over,
here's what I have for you. He's quoting back God's scripture.
But yet he's saying, I recognize that you may not act right now.
It might not be a part of your will to act right now. Isn't
that painful? But my resolute nature is I will
wait for you. I will wait. How many of you
are waiting for your children to be mature one day? You're
waiting for your dog to be potty trained so he doesn't wet in
the house or something like that. You're willing to do it because
you know it'll eventually happen, but you're waiting. Tony Evans
says that God has three answers for our prayers. Yes, no, and
slow. How many of your prayer requests
fall in the third category? The more mature you grow in your
faith, the slower God gets. Over and over, years and years
and years and years. How much do you trust me, Lance?
How much do you trust me? You got to keep saying what David said. I will
wait. Not something you can teach yourself. Only something you
can pray through. Betty and then Charlotte. The no is absolutely essential. God must say no. to go down to the operating room
for emergency heart surgery. I asked God and reminded him
that he said he had not because we asked him. And I asked him
to please allow me to see Cindy graduate. I was having her on
her 50th birthday. And he had done all that for
me. And yet in a situation like that,
even though if you were to pass away before her graduation in
such a situation, you wouldn't be here to care, A. B, maybe
it was a no to that request because Cindy would have needed for you
to not be there. Even though in her mind it would
be, well, why wouldn't you want my mom here? She did grant that,
but in some situations he has not. And in each situation, there's
a blessing and the perfect will of God comes to pass. So it's
an excellent. You got to let God do what God
does, and you did. I like that. The no is always
good. Just like your mom and dad said no to you, you look
back, you say no to the same things to your kids because you're wiser
now. Charlotte? I never pray for patience. Dangerous prayer. I pray for understanding. I like
that. Don't pray for patience. Pray
for understanding. But you see, here's the thing.
That's one of those games you play with God, isn't it? For
me, it's Lord, humble me. And it's not because I think
I'm arrogant. It's because I think I've got what I need to do what
I need to do a lot of times. And I'm literally fearful that
humbling me means a sudden loss of my wife or the death of a
child. or loss of reputation here at
the church or something, through no fault of my own. And I pray
that with fear. And every time I hesitate to
pray it, I remember, God, you know what I'm thinking. What
am I doing hiding this from you? Just spit it out. At the end
of that prayer, you've got a relationship that is absolutely, I'm holding
myself out before God, buck naked spiritually, and God will do
what God will do. He'll love me anyway. Diane?
And sometimes when I am praying, I can't even think of the word
I'm saying. Have you ever tried to make nothing
in your head? Like they say when you meditate,
try to make nothing in your head. And there's nothing there, and
I just say, well, you know what's there. There's something there,
and I just, I get it. What passage did you just think
about when Diane said that? Jesus crying for us, interceding
for us, the Spirit interceding for us, Romans 8.26. Romans 8.26
says, the Spirit intercedes with us with groans too deep for words,
and we don't know how to pray. I love that. That's a great place
to be. Lord, I don't even know what to pray for. You'll pray
for me. The Holy Spirit interceding,
the Son of God interceding, God on His throne in the center,
and the Trinity, knowing our name and knowing our request.
It's a good place to be, Diane. Don't think otherwise. Verse
four, make me know your ways, O Lord. Make me, teach me, lead me. Now,
I would say make me, here's what I think of that. I think God's
first answer is read the Word. But really the next question,
I think where He's going, where we could go with this applicationally
is, Lord, I don't want to read the Word. I'm too involved in
the reality shows on TV. I don't want to put in three
or four hours a week in precept. The prayer is this. make me hunger
and thirst for your righteousness." My personal testimony is this,
the greatest prayer I ever prayed other than receiving Christ was
when I was a junior in college and I decided to memorize the
Beatitudes in Matthew 5. And Matthew 5 verse 6 says, blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will
be filled. And I realized in memorizing this, Lord, I don't
have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. Make me want to
want righteousness. You might pray that for your
husband, ladies. Lord, I don't love this man anymore. Make me
love him. I don't feel this from my 16-year-old
rebellious kid. Make me love this kid. I think
that's what David's saying. Make me know your ways. It reminded
me of Psalm 23. I mean, I think I have that there
in my observation. Note the imperatival nature.
Yeah, right there in that bullet point too, right here. As the
shepherd makes his sheep lie down to calm them or discipline
them, our great shepherd called upon to force his truths upon
our undisciplined minds. Lord, make me want this. Clearly,
it's good for me. Teach me. Lead me. One of the
things I cross-referenced here in my study of this was Psalm
1. Psalm 1 makes it look like, blessed are those who do not
stand on the path of sinners, sit in the seat of the mocker,
or walk, stand, sit, right? It makes it look like blessed
are those who don't do that. And if you've just decided to
follow the law of the Lord, your life is good. But that's not
altogether true. Matter of fact, it's never true.
You decide to make that stand, Psalm 25 has got to be your next
Psalm to pray. Because standing with God like a tree planted
by streams of water means that the enemies will line all around
you. So let me ask you this. As a
Christian, who are your enemies? He wants relief from them. He's
going to wait all day for God. Verse 6 is, Remember your compassion,
loving kindness. Do not remember the sins of my
youth. But later on, he talks about his enemies. Who are they?
In context, who are they? In the context of Psalm 25. It's not hard, ladies. I'm sorry? Himself. Himself could be one,
no doubt. I like that. I hadn't thought
about that. But literally, who are his enemies? Probably another
nation that wants to kill him, maybe. Maybe, as Cindy suggested,
maybe it's Saul running after him. But it looks like his literal
life is in danger, because he doesn't want his enemies tramping
over his dead body. Well, let's move it to us. Who
are our enemies? No one's out to kill us that
we know of. Who are our enemies? False teachers. False teachers
definitely are enemies. And they look like they're pretty nice
people. They look like they love us. Non-believers, and yet we
call them enemies. What does Paul say the Jews are
in Romans chapter 11? With regard to Christianity,
what are they? They are our enemies. The Jewish
people, because they have rejected Jesus the Messiah, are our enemies,
but they are our brothers with reference to election. Have you
not read Romans 11? You all look like you're hearing
this for the first time in your lives. So how do you treat enemies according
to Jesus? Love them. What happens when,
I was telling Daniel the other day, my son, he read a ridiculous
quote and it actually affected him and it said, real men never
apologize. And I said, Daniel, that's straight from the pit
of hell. I said, when you apologize, you destroy your enemy. What
made you enemies? destroys the enemy. I told him
a story that has always impressed me, not because it's something
I did, but it made an impression upon me, is I was working out
in the gym one time at the Conroe YMCA. I worked the front desk,
and the executive manager's name was Pat. I don't remember Pat's
last name. A man, difficult man, and I was working out by myself,
and these two people working out next to me, and they were trashing
Pat, using foul language and and really on him. I wasn't a
big fan of Pat, but he was my boss, and I felt compelled to
say, you guys don't even know him. Who are you to sit here
and trash this man? He's put this YMCA together,
this nice weightlifting equipment is because of him. Who are you
to say that? Well, the response I got was a man and a woman is,
you know, they began to curse at me and talk about how I'm
butting into their conversation and ought not do it. I'm telling
Daniel this, my son. And, you know, they shamed me. I didn't. I shouldn't have butt into their
conversation. Well, the next day, they come in to work out,
and I'm working the front desk, and I told this woman I was working
with what I had done, and I said, I really feel like I need to
apologize. She said, don't you dare. Don't you dare apologize
to those people. Anyway, it was just the woman
that walked in, and she came in with a chip on her shoulder
the size of Texas. Here I am. I'm supposed to get her card
and put a smile. Good. Thanks to have you today. Anyway,
I met her, and I said, look, I'm sorry. What I said yesterday
was out of... I shouldn't have said it. It was not my conversation. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Will you forgive me? She couldn't even talk. She didn't know what
to say. It was the last thing she expected. And she and I every
day, because I had to watch her come in every day, became friends.
I ran into the man later on at a place where I didn't expect
to run into him. His name was Rodney. I remember him and I
said, Rodney, I want you to know that I butted into a conversation
that I shouldn't have been into. I hope you'll forgive me. He
didn't know what to say. He became my friend. And so these people
that hated me and knew they had to come to the YMCA every day
and greet me, because I apologized, I destroyed the enemy. The enemy
was destroyed just by someone reaching out and saying, look,
I'm sorry. Even if you're not sorry, and I was sorry, it was
the wrong thing to do. But sometimes you just need to
make that move and the enemy is destroyed. So in context to
the Jews who are enemies with regard to Christ, but our brothers
with regard to election, we don't treat our enemies with a red-faced
hatred, a baseball bat to their heads. We love them. When you think of love, you think
of that warm, touchy feeling that you have, that you have
for a little puppy or for your babies. You think, oh, I love
them so much. That's not the love that Jesus
is talking about. That's easy. Pagans have that love. A gentleman
came up to me the other day and was asking, he said, how can
I love these people? I can't stand them. I said, well, love's a
verb. And no one's telling you you
have to feel anything. You just have to do it. Have you ever
been like that with your husband lately? You just had to love
the guy. Nothing lovable about him. You
just had to do it. Never, right? That's what it
is. So who are your enemies? Let's
identify them again. False teachers? The world? Hollywood producers that make
movies we want to see? That get in the way? Who else? Cindy? beyond what just the physical,
like Satan and demonic forces do. I mean, there are better
ways to go to destroy Messiah and destroy David. That's who
Jesus saw as his enemy whenever he'd say things around the cross
too. That's not a wrong answer at
all. It's true. That's behind the scenes. Let's
stay in our world. We know the devil, the demons,
but how do they manifest themselves as our enemies all around us?
Family. Family is a big one. How many
of you by way of raising your hand are really looking forward
to Thanksgiving dinner in a month? Some are. And thankfully, most
of you are. But not all are. Why? Because
Uncle Bob's gonna be there. Or my sister, fill in the blank,
who's not a believer. If they're not believers, now
what has your conversation been reduced to? Politics. That's a fun one. If you can
get off of that, now you go into the family room where there's
a football game on. Now you gotta talk football. That's boring. It is no doubt different for
different people. So there could be an enemy there. Absolutely. Kids remember that. It's an enemy. Yeah. I don't think they get it. Well, I mean, go back. Cheryl
and I were talking about this the other day. She said, you're too harsh on
the kids when you're preaching. She's probably right, because I call
them all stupid, right? But remember, what were you like
at 16? What did you know when you were 16? You knew nothing. What, Minda? Everything. Because that's what you thought
you knew, right? And the disease that your mom
had, you now have. You know nothing. So there you
go. They don't get it, but they think
they do. That's the way we were. They don't get it. And all you
can do is say this, that, and the other. You know the enemy
are the good songs they like with the beat feeding that trash
into their heads. Well, no doubt David in verse
7 don't remember the sins of youth transgression because he's
saying, Lord, I was an idiot back then. I didn't know and
I thought I knew everything. Don't let your kids be baptized
and actually hail them as Christians. Even if you homeschool them.
Yeah, they're more rounded at this point as far as knowledge
and they're less tainted. That doesn't necessarily mean
you've made a Christian. It's still the sovereignty of
God, right? Or in a Christian school, which
can be more dangerous than any of them. I mean, you may have
heard me say, I would rather my kid be taught by an atheist
than a Christian. Let me do the quote unquote Christian.
Because all the Christians I talk to don't seem to know a whole
lot about Christ. And yet they're going to teach my kid, and my
kid might admire them for the character they have. I'd rather
an atheist be taught. They could figure that out in
a heartbeat. Of course, the ideal is that you teach them, right?
Whether it be in a homeschool environment or you're teaching
them in addition to them going out somewhere else where they
can discern it. Well, even so, you're still dealing with teenagers. And David is even looking back
to his own. I'm sorry? Ignorant. Ignorant means to not know, yes.
By the way, when was David crowned king? When was he anointed as
king? That's a better word. He was
crowned at 30. He was anointed around 15 years
of age. But he didn't become king. Shepherd
boy. Samuel anoints his 15-year-old.
Other kings, King Josiah was king when he was eight. So was
Joash. Eight. I think they're smarter at eight
than 16, frankly. They are. What else do you see? I'm going to stop talking. Tell
me what you see here. We'll just scroll through here. Verse 7.
He wants God not to remember the youth Don't remember that,
but remember your love and kindness. What are we talking about God
remembering? Does God really forget our sins? I mean, are they out of His mind
to be forgotten? I know what it means to forget
something. So far your sins away, yes. But does He really forget them?
When you get there, does He go, Little old, been around for eternity.
I don't remember those in the literal sense in which we do.
I personally don't think so. I think he has put them away
and he's never gonna recall them again. They're still there, right? You
can't say they weren't there. The washing of Jesus has covered
them. You take the blood off, they're still there, right? So
it's according to your love and kindness. Don't remember one
thing and God might be saying, okay, gone. But remember this. Okay, plan B, got it. I love
that. I love the request. It's so real. It's so non-religious. I mean,
what would you think if you didn't know this psalm and I stood up
one day and led us in prayer and said, Lord, please forget
all the sins that we've done in the past, but do remember
all the good things that you do. You might say, well, that
was real, a little bit odd. But that's the way to pray. Lord,
stop remembering the things I did in the past. What else do you
take from this? Looking for your observation.
If you don't want to, I'll keep scrolling. No. I think he's rambling. Rambling. I like that. I think
he's rambling because I ramble with God all the time. We drive,
we talk. I ramble. I know things and I say things
to Him that I know that He knows. But I ramble. Excellent. And
I think that's what David's doing. As opposed to schmoozing, I caught
more of a ramble. Good. I love it. So your prayer
life, you're telling me, Minda, is not confined to a dark closet
on your knees. Your prayer life is a constant
conversation with God. Love it. Love it. It frees you
from, oh, I need to pray more. Or my prayer life, I need to
go say my prayers. Love it. Excellent. More of a
rambling session. Ruth, what were you going to
say? Well, in Exodus 34, and then,
but God was showing, you know, we were talking about Moses,
his loving kindness, and I think that was verse 6, and then, but
in Exodus 33, it says, you were pleased to teach me your way
so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Moses
knew God, but wanted to know him better. Love it. Moses knew
him and wasn't satisfied with what he knew. I would say that,
do you say that has application in other relationships in our
lives? When you met your husband, you married him. You loved him
before you married, that's why you married. You got married,
first year. Do you know him better now than
you knew him then? Should it be better now than
it was then? Thank God it's no longer puppy love, right? Thank
God we've moved beyond that. And yet, here's the weird thing
about all the different marriages that people have. They long for
those young love days. That warm, touchy feeling where
we think each other are good looking, and we're always on
our best behavior on a date, and we smell nice. And that's
why men have affairs, ladies. Because someone gives them a
look that they remember that you used to give them. Someone
makes them feel alive again like you used to, or vice versa. Unless
you're very, very old. And you realize, you're mature
enough to realize that the more you know this man, the more you
love him. Absolutely. The more you know
about Jesus, the more you love him. You dig in. And then it
goes to the servant part. The more you love him, the more
you're willing to serve him. There's nothing you wouldn't
do for him. Excellent. Well stated. So you have to love
him to serve him. So what's true in your marriage
is true with Christ. We're never going to get enough
of Him. That's why we do in-depth Bible study, to dig, to know. You know, there's two kinds of
churches. There's the ones that want to
know and grow, and there's the ones that want to share and care.
You can have both, but the know and grow begets the sharing and
caring, because I want to share what I know and how I've grown,
because I care about people that don't have that. Share and care
never bleeds over into the other. God is good and upright. And
I like the conclusion. Because he is good and upright,
therefore he instructs sinners in the way. Isn't that what he
did with you? Notice in verse 9, who does he
lead? The humble. Because what is a humble person?
But one who is in the beginning says, my soul is yours, Lord.
I'm not hiding anything. I'm completely open. Completely
open to my shame. Absolutely 100% realize I don't
know. Not easy for a man. Not easy
for some women. All yours. I know nothing. That's
the one that God speaks to. One of my favorite passages.
I'm not going to tell you because I don't want you to flip through
yet. It's Isaiah 66, 1 and 2. It says this, 6-6-2. God says,
For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into
being, declares the Lord. But to this one I will look,
to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at
my word. Amen. One who is humble and... 66-2.
God looks at those who are humble in spirit, A, and B, who tremble
at His Word. That's all you need. That's the
only time you are. There was a gentleman who had
been coming, visiting, and he's not the only one who's come in
the past. I've always told people that the worst people to visit
this church are former Bible Church people, the worst ones.
They're the ones that come in with the chip on their shoulder.
They're the ones that look down their nose at me and our younger
elders than they are. Tell me something I haven't already
been told. I dare you. It's the Catholics that we love
to have here. They know something about the
Bible but really nothing. And now you pour this what God, who
God is and they love it. It's the Bible churches that
think they know everything. And they come in with the absolutely
least amount of teachable spirit. I watch them. They cross their
legs. They roll their eyes. One gentleman gave me a whole
list of questions recently about things that had nothing to do
with the worship of Christ. He never once complimented our
people. He never once complimented the teaching in any of the classes.
It was just all these things you need to fix. And Nick and
I went and talked about it afterwards. And I said, you know, if we do
see him back, we're going to politely say, thank you for visiting.
There are other churches you can visit. Those people are absolutely
the worst people to have in your church. They're cancers and they
spread. It's the humility. And it's hard
for a person who has lots of degrees and who thinks himself
or herself great to be humble. But I'll tell you what, there's
no greater, mightier man in the Bible other than Jesus than David.
And David was the most humble we see, a warrior and yet humble. Look at his words, you see so
much about him through his words. Any comments on those? Any observations
you want to make? Don't pass 11. I like that. Say
again, Charlotte? You can't. You can't. Think about it again in accordance
with your marriage. If you think you're the perfect wife, well,
you're never going to listen to Ed tell you where you're not.
But if you do, you're not going to like it. Don't tell me I'm
that way. I know better. Sherry wanted me to highlight
11. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity. Answers the
question, why is he supposed to do this? It's not for me.
And when we get that, we get it. Lord, I realize that you
saying yes, no, and slow to my prayers has nothing to do with
me and everything to do with you. For you. I mean, you've prayed
for things. Some of you have prayed for things.
Over and over Sherry has prayed, no doubt, right off the top of
my head, for her husband's back to be healed. Not only does she
see the man she loves in terrible pain, almost every day of his
life, having gone through two surgeries in a year, she has
to deal with that. And he's already a difficult
man per his own admission. He's a former judge. He's a knowledgeable,
good, godly man. And she's got to live with him.
How do you live with a good, godly man who's a judge? Well,
ask Sherry, she knows how. But she's prayed for this for
years. Did she get it? Alicia, do you pray every day for Elle? And the problems that Elle has
faced since she was born? Day after day, your family lives
at Texas Children. Those people know you by name
and always will. Why? She's pregnant again. Are you praying for the health
of this baby? And yet God doesn't owe you a healthy baby. He didn't
owe you the first time, He doesn't owe you the second time. And
what He will do, He will do for His name's sake. One of the neatest
things I ever read there is an old Christian group they are
called the Archers. I think it was two brothers and
a sister. The Archers sang a couple of
good songs I really liked. But anyway the girl, the woman I
don't remember her name she had twins. And when she had the twins
in the hospital they were premature as many twins are and they were
on the verge of dying. And she said, I found myself
with my head buried in my pillow praying, Lord if you will. And
she said before my prayer, before I could finish that line The
answer I literally heard back, she said, was, and what if I
don't? She said, I couldn't even finish the prayer. Lord, if you
will, she said, I was gonna say, if you will heal my babies, I
will whatever, but God intervened and said, and what if I don't?
And she said, at that point, my life changed. My life changed,
I realized these are not my babies. I didn't make them. My husband
didn't help me make them. They're God's, he'll do with
them as he pleases. If they die, they die. If they live, they
live. And this is where her testimony came in. And I read that, it
was in Guidepost Magazine, way back in the mid-80s, some more
time. That impressed me. I thought about that. Every piece
of the puzzle along the way, things like that, impressed me
about people whom God was answering. For your namesake. Please, Lee. Is it okay to pray, like demanding,
you know, say so-and-so or feel so-and-so? Absolutely. Absolutely, both answers is a
yes. I think you can tell and ask God anything you want for
Him to do. Salvation of your husband. Salvation
of your children. But at the end of your, either
in your mind or in a caveat like let your will be done, let your
will be done, not mine. Whatever it is, it's whatever
you do will be for your glory. If these people I love with my
life burn in hell for an eternity, Because you have not chosen them.
To God be the glory. Is that not the most difficult
thing you ever heard of? With your children, people you love.
But God will be glorified by the punishment and by the grace
he gives. Will he not? No one is slipping through his
fingers. No one. Everything comes to pass just
as he has ordained. Heike? Yes. Good point. And what did
he do when the baby died? Took a shower, let's eat, what's
done is done. I'll go to him, he won't come
to me. Excellent point. Another good example from David.
This man is a wealth. I mean, it's great to study Jesus.
Jesus is God. This guy makes us feel good because
he sins so much. Repented. Now in verse 12, you've got this,
he kind of pauses and he starts thinking, this is where his theology
comes in. He's gonna tell us about what he thinks God, who
is the man who fears the Lord? Fears means to reverence Him,
respect. But I also think that there is
an element of the literalness of fear in there. Actually afraid
of God. I am afraid to step outside of
what God has said. So don't ever let anybody say,
well, it doesn't mean absolute really terror. It should, it
does encompass that as well. Who is that person who fears
Yahweh? That person will be instructed
in the way that he should choose. His soul will abide. It means
to dwell in prosperity. Now, that's in the American Standard
Bible. I'm just going to go to this little one here. The word itself just
means good. See, the prosperity theologians
will tell you, if you abide in God, He'll prosper you in every
way. You'll be rich. You can get that house you want.
Nowhere else in the Bible we taught that. His soul will abide
in good. I'm thinking right now of Psalm
91. where the psalmist says, He who dwells in the shelter
of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. King
James Version. He's thinking of God as an eagle.
whose wings are wrapped around His children. He abides in the
shadow. And when you abide, it means to live there. Not coming
and going, but to live there. That's the one who remains under
God's protection. John MacArthur gives an example.
He said, just picture a big O on the ground with a spotlight of
light there. And that illustrates all of God's
goodness and all of His blessings. And if you're in it, you experience
it. You step outside of it, you're no less loved, but you're not
in the love and all the blessings of God. He uses this example
with regard to Daniel. Daniel is called by God a most
esteemed one, by the angel Gabriel. Would we be classified as such?
And so far as we remain in the circle of obedience, that's where
all of God's blessings are. Why do we think we can be blessed
outside of that? Ladies if you're not submitting to your husbands
what makes you think God is going to give you a good marriage?
You've already disobeyed Him. You're outside of it. It's not
going to happen for you. You say, well He's not a very
good man. It doesn't matter. There's no caveat in the Bible. You weren't
supposed to be unequally yoked to begin with. But if you can
remain in a circle of obedience that's where God will bless you,
your marriage, your children. You say, well, maybe I should
divorce this guy. Not according to 1 Corinthians 7. Remain married
to him so that your children aren't unclean. So that your
husband who's unsaved lives with the presence of the Holy Spirit
that abides in you. We do what we do to abide in
God's love. And he says, as so will abide
prosperity, his descendants will inherit the land. Well, if you
don't know the Old Testament, this is actually a huge word.
The land. Land of where? What? Eternal
land in heaven? Goes back to Abraham as everything
does. What did God promise Abraham? Land, seed, blessing. I'll give you this land. Is it
a specific land in the Bible? Well, by the time Abraham moves
in Genesis 12 to Genesis 13, he's standing in modern-day Israel.
Back then it was called Canaan. God said, lift up your eyes,
look north, east, south, west, everything you see yours and
your descendants for a few years. it's forever. The parameters
of that land go from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea
down to the Berk in Egypt, possibly the Nile River itself. All Israels
forever. Do they have it now? Have they
ever? They had it about this long.
Solomon, but really weren't even possessing it, they were just
collecting tribute from this. That is still there, the land
is where God's promises are. In Deuteronomy God is telling
the Israelites, go over into this land, land flowing with
milk and honey, all of My blessings are there. I'll give them all
to you just obey Me in that land. If you don't I'll take you out.
And He did. He brought them in, He eventually took them out,
and He brought them back in. And in the New Covenant according
to Jeremiah and Ezekiel He says, I'm going to have to bring you
into that land. I'm going to have to take your hardened hearts and make
them what they need to be in order for you to dwell there.
Because I have to be true to my covenant. And you can't do
it. I've got to make you do this.
What a God we serve. That's grace. So the land literally
is speaking of that land of Israel. He's speaking of this land where
God's promises are. And where the world will look
at and say their God is Yahweh. And they're better than us. That
promise is yet to be fulfilled. But it has been inaugurated in
our Lord Jesus Christ. I like verse 14, the secret.
Does God have secrets? Does He? Yeah. Mysteries? Yes. I'm thinking of Ephesians
chapter 3. If you know Ephesians, what does
Paul say in Ephesians 3? He tells us what the mystery
hidden for ages past is. What is the mystery of God? It's
Christ. revealed in the Church, uniting
two peoples, Jews and Gentiles. A mystery where He will make
the people of Israel, Israelites, by DNA from the lineage of Abraham,
will make them one with Gentiles. Because their one common denominator
is the seed, Jesus Christ. We are one in Christ. The walls
are broken down. This is the mystery of God, at
least one of them. Secrets of God. Who is He going
to give that to? Those who fear Him. Love Him.
Obey Him. And He will make them know His covenant. He doesn't
allow them to know one day when they get smart enough. He makes
them know. He's the active agent. We do
nothing. This psalm is so humbling. It's
humiliating. God does everything. My eyes
are continually toward the Lord. Can you say that? That second
phrase in verse 15, I'll pluck my feet out of the net. What's
the image? It's a figure of speech. Yes, saving you from peril, like
an animal caught in a net. Think about being stuck. You're
completely helpless. Maybe you're handcuffed. Completely
helpless. You're looking for somebody to
help you. You have no way of getting out of this unless someone
helps you. It's not on anymore that I know of, but the Animal
Planet used to put on a show called I Shouldn't Be Alive.
I Shouldn't Be Alive's great stories of people that were near
death, and some of them are just, just bring a tear to your eye.
At the end, you know, they're just, there's nothing. They're
ready to lay down and die, and all of a sudden, boom. I would
love to be that rescuer, you know, who comes in out of nowhere,
and this person looks up in complete despair, ready to die, and there's
their savior, as it were, and takes them to the hospital, and
they live to tell about it. or that ship that just comes in
out of nowhere, these people lost in a boat in the middle
of the ocean, and there's a fisherman, sees them and tows them in. Turn
to me, be gracious to me. Another command, 17, bring me. Verse 18, look upon, forgive,
look upon. Who does he want them to look
upon? First of all, my affliction. Notice how bad off I am. I'll
never forget, ladies, I used to be a When I graduated college,
I got a master's degree in psychology and I couldn't get a job anywhere
because I didn't want to be a psychologist or counselor. So I got a job
in Dallas as a shipping supervisor at a place called Point of View
Radio Talk Show. I used to work for Marlon Maddox. I became a
bit of a ghostwriter for him. It was pretty neat for me, but
I still made $10 an hour. And my main job was in the warehouse
as the shipping supervisor. $10 an hour. And I remember my
boss and I were pretty good friends. He was a neat guy. Warren Kelly
was his name. And anyway, one day I was outside his window.
It was raining. It was cold. And the boxes on
the dolly I had were falling off. And I remember thinking,
here I am, I have slaved for six years through college and
graduate school. I'm somebody, doggone it. And I was right outside
his window and all these boxes falling, I'm wet, it's cold.
And I'm thinking, I deserve better. And I'm hoping that he's looking
at me out his window. And it was a covered window,
or a darkened window, so they could see out, I couldn't see
in, and I'm thinking, Warren, will you just notice me, please?
Notice that I have potential outside of moving this dolly
around and driving a truck, please? I always remember that image.
He didn't, he wasn't even in his office that day, but... Because
I went in later and, you know, all wet and said, I got this
out, and he said, thanks. Look upon, when you're in a situation,
do you ever call upon God, Lord, can you see how messed up everything
is? Will you please have sympathy
on my situation? There it is, look upon my affliction
and my trouble. And Lord, it's almost as if He
realizes I'm in this situation because of my sins. Will you
forget those? Can we just start over? Forgive
me? And here's where it's almost funny to me. All right, now that
we fixed that, will you look upon my enemies and get them?
You ever prayed like that? Let me tell you this ladies,
you're thinking it. You want justice. You want Osama
Bin Laden to die a painful death before he died. You want terrorists
who hurt children to suffer before they die. You may not admit it,
and you may not pray it, but you want it. We're humans. We
want that revenge. Sometimes you might just say
it out loud. David is just being honest once again. Rambling,
schmoozing, thinking of other ways behind the scenes. Cindy,
whatever it is you think in your mind, he's just being honest.
Lord, look upon my enemies. There are other Psalms and even
in some of the prophets where they say things like this. Let
their little ones be dashed to pieces against the rocks. Let
their children die or let them die motherless. You ever prayed
like that? Have you wanted to? Don't answer
that question. Of course you have. Guard and deliver, guard
my soul, deliver me over and over these imperatives. Do not
let me be ashamed for lead integrity. For I take refuge in you, let
my integrity and uprightness preserve me. Or let integrity
and uprightness preserve me. Does he say my integrity? We're
in trouble if we have that, right? Just the traits themselves. Let those
things, the implication is in you, God. Let these things in
you preserve me. Why? Because I will wait for
you. I will wait, I will stand and hope for you. And at the
end of it, he just sums it up with, redeem Israel, God, out
of all his troubles. Because if you do, you're redeeming
me. And the whole world looks upon it and sees glory in you.
Sherry? I think one of the reasons it may say all of his troubles
there is because King David represents Israel. Yes. So when he redeems
David, it's a picture of redeeming Israel. Absolutely. This means
a lot to me because I don't want to stand up here and act like
I'm patting myself on the back. One of the things that people notice
about me is that Lance, he's a very confident, possibly very
arrogant man. And I did not want those men
to come up Sunday and give more kudos to Lance in front of everybody.
He's got his doctorate now. He's this. Look at him. Let's
all clap for him. It's his birthday. La, da, da, da, da. We always
give Lance accolades. It's very embarrassing to me.
I don't necessarily want it. I can't say that I hate it, but
I don't want it. I don't need it. But I will say this. From
the perspective of a, I was talked into by Phil Sinater and Carol
Phillips to getting the doctorate. Phil said, you know, what you
do reflects on this church, who you are academically, who you
are spiritually, and that's a given, but the church wants to know
that their pastor is a doctor or at least studies and knows
something. And so as I was telling you earlier, the same thing is
that how, is what Sherry said, is what I do and who I am is
a reflection upon you and our church. So it's important that
my life be absolutely straight down the middle. You know, this
is like the universal sign of rock and roll. Did you know that? You know, people do that. And
the funny thing, the one who invented it, his name is Ronnie
James Dio, used to sing with Black Sabbath. Dio was raised,
Ronnie was raised in a home where his mom did that to him. Young
Ronnie, you keep it down the middle. You keep your life down
the middle. And so that's why we always do
that. Well, people come up, well, that looks like a demon if you
look at it, you know. But he was just going right down the
middle. My life is right down the middle. Right down the middle.
And his big thing was heaven and hell. They wrote a song with
Black Sabbath called Heaven and Hell. He named his new group
Heaven and Hell. He said, here's heaven, here's hell. I'm right
down the middle. He was not a Christian, but it was a right down the middle
sort of a thing. And that's really where we have to stay. So this
could be our new sign. The new sign of Harvest Bible Church.
Keep it right down the middle because the way you are, the
way I am, reflects not only on our church and our people of
this church, but on our Lord. will be peacemakers. But what
I do is that way. And to a lesser extent you, you're
not as well known as I might be just as the pastor, but you're
no less important. You go out on the golf course,
the tennis courts, and you miss a putt or miss a shot, and that
racket goes hurling, and a bad word comes out of your mouth.
Ladies, there are people, we have had them attend this church,
and they have noticed certain people in the church. I've had
this happen on a handful, four or five occasions. where they
have come up and said something like, gosh, I didn't know that
person came to church. Because they hear them making
a fool of themselves during sporting events in Fairfield. Or they
know them from some other event. You know, maybe you work with
someone at a former Christian school or something, and this
person made a behind of himself in a meeting of sorts. Wow, I
didn't know they were going to church. And they reflect upon
us because they're with us. Don't let that be you. Who has
a hand over here? I thought it was neat that David
approached God first with the things that were wrong in his
heart to make him right before he made requests for anything
else. He ended the song after saying, I've done all of this
wrong. Remember who you are. Please forgive me. He made his
peace with God first with where he was before he reached out. Boy, if that's not a topic for
discussion and application right away, I don't know what is. Because
you always look around the room and see the people that need
to repent of certain things you think they need to repent of. If you
get it right with you first, you know, the speck out of your
eyes, you can get the log out of theirs, or the log out of
yours, you can get speck out of theirs, one way or the other. All right,
I've gone over, as I always do. That leaves less time for your
discussion groups. But try to keep your discussion
groups in on these and the applications based upon interpretations and
observations and something to pray about of substance. We'll
close this in this session. Father God, thank you for these
ladies. Thank you that they would come
out and listen to a man speak in a women's Bible study, but
that your word directs us no matter if it's a female voice
or a male voice. Lord, it's still your word. Thank you Lord that
it is powerful 3,000 years after it was written. Thank you, Lord,
that there's so much to it, we could never exhaust it. So I
pray that we would get what you would have us get out of it during
the time we've allotted. And I pray that, as Minda brought
up, that our prayer lives would be even babbling sessions with
just talking to you. Everywhere we go, nothing is
off the radar. That we can say and do anything
in your presence that would bring glory to you. May that be our
goal, to bring glory to you, to please you. As we wake up
each morning, Lord, let us look for things that would please
you. And Father, maybe above all, the most difficult prayer
to pray is, make us as we grow, day by day, the kind of people
that learn to wait upon you. No doubt, Lord, you'll give us
things to wait upon, so in the midst of it, give us the strength,
or remind us of the strength that we already have to do just
that. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Psalm 25
Series Study in Psalms
| Sermon ID | 1021122351456 |
| Duration | 1:11:08 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Psalm 25 |
| Language | English |
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