about some things we've been able to do there. And one of the things that young people need help. It doesn't matter what their upbringing is. Young people need help. Our country is in a mess. I have a list of statistics here. And now that's playing. Can somebody stop that? Guys, can somebody hit pause on that? That thing's playing still. I hear sound coming through there. I think I heard myself talking in there later in the presentation. That's kind of weird. I'm up here saying one thing and something else is coming back at me. I'm sorry, I get a little paranoid, I guess you could, when there's a noise that's not supposed to be there. I was up preaching at our church probably about six months ago, I guess, and the pastor was out of town with his family and I'm telling on myself a little bit, but I'm preaching and all of a sudden in the background I hear a faint little I'm like, what is that noise? So I kept preaching. A few seconds later, apparently somebody called between the time that I left the church on Wednesday night. And I come back for service. Somebody called and left a voicemail on the answering machine. And the phone was right behind me in the little changing room off of the Baptistry room. The changing room for the Baptistry room. And apparently the phone was beeping that there was a messenger. And I had the hardest time preaching that night with that noise back there. I was puzzled. What is that noise? Because it's behind me. And anyways. But, you know, it's sad as we look at statistics. You know, many times we think about foreign missions and when you're talking about foreign missions, many times you'll, a missionary will come through and he'll share about some statistics of the country and population and so on and so forth and share some of the burdens for their country. But, you know, many times you forget about the fact, forget about our own country. And when we began making preparations to start the home, we began doing some investigation in regards to the need. You know, one of the first questions that usually we get asked when calling churches and trying to schedule meetings to come, one of the questions we get asked many times by preachers is, well, we know about a ministry over here, we know about this home over here, and this home over here, and they're doing a good job over here. Hey, first of all, I want to say praise the Lord for all of them. We're not in competition with any one home or whatnot. But, you know, we began doing some investigation and calling different homes. I've talked to several different directors of different homes. And, you know, on the average, from what we've found out, on the average, each home turns away two people every day just because they don't have enough room, not having enough staff. or for whatever reason. So, there is a need. There is a need for a home, a place where young people can go to to get help in their life. We're excited to see about what God is doing in their lives. You know, it's sad. We look at some of the statistics of the young people in our country today. The statistics tell us that in the next 24 hours, that 1,439 teens will attempt suicide for the first time here in America. In the next 24 hours, 15,006 teens will use drugs for the first time right here in America. Every four minutes, a young person is arrested for an alcohol-related crime. In the next 24 hours, 3,516 will run away from home. Every two hours, a youth is murdered. Every seven minutes, a youth is arrested for a drug crime. Every day in America, 3,288 children run away from home. But this one is probably, in my estimation, is probably the saddest one of all of them. And to be honest, it could be one of the main root causes for all of them. Every day in America, 2,989 children watch their parents end up in divorce. with the rise of divorce in America, the rise of children-related crimes, or just children ending up in utter rebellion, or whatever the case. But we haven't given up hope. Because we believe that the same gospel that saved me as a missionary's kid, the same gospel that saved those here in this room who are saved, can reach out to young people who need help. and save them from wherever they're from, whatever their past is, and give them the help that they need. We're excited to see what God is doing. As I mentioned, we started the home as the first of the year, and God has given us already three young people, and we've been out on the road, been out going out presenting the ministry to different churches, and had seen God do some pretty amazing things. Just kind of give you a little bit of information about our home. Our home is a one-year program, and during that one year, young people obviously will get all the schooling that they need. We'll sit under a lot of Bible preaching. Most weeks, they are in church Sunday morning, Sunday night. And usually we're out on the road somewhere on Wednesday night, and then back home for our church on Thursday night. And any local meetings we find out about, we try to get to, and try to get the boys under some sound preaching, and as much of it as we can. Because the Bible talks about the foolishness of preaching, and if the foolishness of preaching won't change their lives, nothing's going to change their lives. Because if God's not the one that gets a hold of their hearts, their lives isn't going to turn out for God's honor and for God's glory. So they'll be under a lot of sound preaching, and they are part of the school there that we have for them. And then we also like to take them out and teach them different trades. I myself, after I finished high school and went off to Bible college, and basically my whole adult life. Try to mix those two words together, it doesn't work too well. But during my whole adult life, I've been doing construction work, different things, and construction from housing, framing housing, finishing, carpentry, commercial flooring, residential flooring, and so we use a lot of those things that God has taught myself and Pastor, and together we try to take these boys and teach them some trades and teach them some things that will benefit them in their life and maybe even one of these days possibly give them something that they can go out and do on their own that they can use what God has taught them through all this to be able to provide for their families so that they don't have to necessarily go through a lot of different... I'm trying to think how to word it without... So they don't have to go and work for a worldly employer who's going to throw them out into the filth of this world, or expose them, I guess I should say, expose them to a lot of the filth of this world that you see in the typical workplace. How many of you guys work here in construction? Anybody? One hand? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Is that right? And for example, just yesterday, me and these three guys here went out to a doctor that I know. She was wanting to get some flooring done in her house. And so yesterday, they had the opportunity to help me rip out some carpet, rip out some hardwood flooring and put in some flooring. And I was telling them as we were putting this in, I said, guys, if you pay very close attention and watch details, if this is the direction God leads in your life, this could give you the opportunity to have your life made. working for yourself. I think throughout the Bible you see the principle there. working for yourself, families working together. But anyways, I'm not going to get into all that, but teaching them how to, one, be able to character, character, learning how to just be honest, and learning how to let God get a hold of their life, and teaching that God is interested in them. Just like we look at John, over in chapter 5, the Bible tells us about the woman at the well. God was interested in her. The Bible tells us that Jesus said, He must needs go through Samaria. You know, most Jews at that day and time would have walked around Samaria to go the direction Jesus was heading, but He said, I must needs go through Samaria. And we're excited to see the opportunity God has given us to go to many times the forgotten generation of our country. Many churches have bus routes. I saw the bus out here. But anybody who works in the bus ministry would probably be the first to admit, you know, we will pick him up starting as early as four and five sometimes. But for some reason when they get around the age of 13, never see him again. And it's sad. But God has given us the opportunity to reach out to them. And I'd like to ask you to pray with us that God would help us in the ministry. And if the Lord would lead maybe somebody to take on a project through the church, we'd be excited about that. If you'd like to find out how, different ways you can help us out, we have a website. Our website is wellofgraceministries.org. On there you can find out more about us, and on there we're going to be getting this new DVD up on there. And we'll make sure it works on there good, so that if you'd like to watch it, you can do that. Anyways, I'm going to stop rambling here. If you have your Bibles with you this evening, I'd like to ask you to turn over to, let's go over to Psalms chapter number 18. Psalms chapter number 18. We're going to look here at this psalm and look at David's life for a few moments this evening, and I hope it's a blessing to you. Some things that the Lord has shown me here in this passage, and if we allow it to get a hold of our life and get a hold of our heart, I think it could help us out in our lives, personal lives, and perhaps ministries or whatever we're all a part of. Alright, Psalms chapter number one. And I'd like to start reading in verse number one. The Bible says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations, also the hills, moved, and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed to heavens also, and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly. Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. I'm going to stop here for the time being and I'd like to go ahead and have a word of prayer. But I'd like to look at this passage and look at some things in David's life. That David is at a place in his life where he's evaluating his life. A place of evaluation. Many times in our life we need to get to the place of evaluation. Let's pray. Dear only Father, we thank you for this day given to us. We thank You for the opportunity You've given us to be in Your house. And Lord, as we look at Your Word tonight, Lord, I pray that You help me to share the message that You have. And Lord, I pray that You'll, Lord, perhaps use this passage, Lord, to encourage some hearts here tonight. Lord, I pray that You'll help not me be seen, but Your Son be seen, high and lifted up, as David said, worthy. to be praised. And Lord, I pray that tonight we'll have a spirit just where we want to worship you and look at what you've done. And Lord, I pray that you just help us tonight to evaluate our lives and see where we're at and let you get the honor and glory in our lives. In your name we pray. Amen. Here as we look at this passage, we could also look at the background of this passage. We see that it's kind of a parallel passage to 2 Samuel chapter number 22 and the whole chapter there, verse 1 through 51. And I'm not going to take the time to do that tonight, but we could really, in essence, look at the parallel passage there. But David here is looking at his life. He's looking at the evaluation of his life, and he's looking at some things that have happened. He's looking at some enemies that he's faced in his life. He's looking at some of the things that God has brought him through, and he's looking at the fact of where he's at today, and he's saying, wow, look where I'm at today. He's not bragging on who David is. I hope you understand that. But he's looking at his life, and he's looking at some enemies he's facing. Obviously, we could look at the fact that David, growing up as a shepherd boy, growing up there with Dad, being put in charge of the sheep, and the Bible tells us about one day, as he's taking care of the sheep, a lion came out and took up one of the sheep, and what happened? We can read how he took that sling and killed the lion, and we can look at how he killed the bear, right? And obviously those are no new stories to us if we spend any time in church. And we can read about those. But we can then go on and look at David as he faced Goliath. As he went down, his father sent him and said, David, I want you to go down. Two of your brothers are out fighting against the Philistines there with King Saul. He said, I want you to go down and take some bread and some cheese to them. And so David went down there, and as David went down there, what happens? David finds his brother, and then shortly after he finds his brother, we find Goliath coming out and defying the God of Israel, and he's challenging the children of Israel, he's challenging the soldiers, send out one to fight against me. And what happened? The soldiers fled, but David said, why is this man defying my God? And so, David decides that he is going to face this giant, and he gets called in to go see King Saul. And as he goes in to see King Saul, he tells Saul, he says, No, King Saul, I cannot take your armor. I cannot put on your weapons. I'm going to take what I know how to use. You know, it's interesting. You know, you look at little kids growing up. The first thing maybe they'll get is a little slingshot. And they get to be pretty good with that little slingshot, don't they? I remember as a kid, I got a slingshot. I remember my first slingshot. It was before they had all the fancy ones like they have now where you got the metal with the little leather strap that wraps around. It wasn't one of those fancy ones. It was a piece of wood that had a little Y in it with a rubber band on it. And we used to pick up rocks. But, you know, it's funny. You know, we get to be good at using what we are accustomed to. And as we grow older, obviously, our weapons of choice might change a little bit and get a little more expensive. And I might be telling myself a little bit. But anyways, David tried to put on King Saul's armor, but it wasn't going to work for him. Why? He wasn't used to it. He wasn't prepared with it. And he went out to face Goliath and what happens? He took that sling that really a string with a leather pouch on it and took it and rolled it through the air and killed Goliath. But then we can look at the time in David's life when all of a sudden that King Saul who was very grateful to David for slaying Goliath is now all of a sudden turned against him. And now King Saul is chasing David, chasing him through the hills and chasing him all across the country. And we find passages where David's in caves hiding. He's running and fleeing and running for his life. But then obviously, as God continued to work in David's life, now we find him at the place where he's the king of Israel. King of Israel. As king, you face some enemies. Sometimes those enemies are countries who come against. Sometimes those enemies are people's mouths. Those enemies can vary, but enemies nonetheless. And David's looking at his life, and he's evaluating his life, and he's looking at some enemies that he has faced in his life. But he is beginning to realize, hey, Those victories that I have had in my life are not because of who I am. Those victories that I've had in my life, the victories I've had over these enemies in my life, I did not think the life in my own strength. He's realizing, hey, as a country, we have had these victories because of who King David is. You know, it's interesting how the Bible describes David. You know, Jesse had all the sons, and when Samuel came to Jesse and had Jesse bring all his sons out to see which one would be the king, David was one that Jesse really forgot about almost, really. He showed him all his sons, but then Samuel said, do you have another son? He said, oh yeah, I got David out back. Almost as if he forgot about him. It's interesting to me that sometimes God uses the ones that the world really forgets about. But as I look at David, he's looking at the enemies he's faced. But before he gets to that, we see here in the first couple of verses here that he wants to see who God is. He's looking at some things that God is. In verse number one, he says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. You know, as king of Israel, obviously, David could boast himself of his own strength, because nobody gets to be king by being a weak person. Right? I think about how Saul worded over in the New Testament, talking about, basically, in essence, what Saul was saying, Paul, who was Saul, but he was saying over in the New Testament, he said, if anybody could boast of anything, it would be me. Right? In essence, is what he's saying. He says, but I'm nothing. Paul said, I have all the right pedigree, I have all this, this, that. He said, but I'm nothing. And really, that's what David is saying here. He's saying here in this verse, he says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. David, first of all, realized that his strength was not his own. He realized that the Lord was his strength. He realized that it wasn't his strength that had gotten through the victories. It wasn't his strength that had gotten to the place where he was now King of Israel. The Lord was his strength. In verse number 2, the Bible says, the Lord is my rock. David not only realized that his strength was not his own, but he realized his foundation was not his own. You know, it's interesting when you're working on a house, in order to have a good solid house, you have to have a good foundation, don't you? You can build a house, build up walls, but if your foundation is weak, guess what's going to happen? The house is going to fall, won't it? I remember growing up in Russia. One time we traveled up north to a city, and I forget the name of the city. I'm sorry. I've been gone from Russia for 10 years now. And names tend to slip your mind of cities that I've visited. But long story short, there's a city there. And if my dad was here, I'm sure he could tell you the name. If my brother's here, he probably could, too. He's three years younger than I am. But anyways. There's a city up north from where we live there in Eustochia. I think it was about a three-hour drive. But it's interesting to me that they took the city and they decided they wanted to build a city in a certain spot because it's nice and flat. The whole area is nice and flat, but there was one problem. There was a river that ran through it. So they decided to reroute the river and build the city right there. But the problem was it was all really soft dirt. And so they decided to just start building and they took the concrete blocks like you'd find over in Russia and they just started stacking them up like Legos. And as the ground kept moving, the houses started to separate. I have a picture of a house that, well, it's a five-story apartment building. I say house, but it's a five-story apartment building that at the bottom, there's a crack about a foot wide. And at the top, the crack was over six feet wide. You say, what happened? No foundation. But David is saying here, the Lord is my rock. In the New Testament, we see the parallel of a rock and a foundation. A rock symbolizing something that we build upon. You don't want to build a house unless its foundation is on a rock, something solid. David's realizing the one not only is his strength, not his own, but he realized in and of himself he has no foundation. He has to have God as his foundation. But then not only the Lord is his strength and his rock, but he says, and my fortress. You know, it's interesting to me, when we think about fortresses, many times we think back to the days when America was just founded. At least I do. When you think about the forts that were made, you know, you could travel all over the East, or the West especially, and find Fort this, Fort that. My parents grew up in Fort Wayne, and there's a lot of cities that have the name Fort with it. Why? Because at one time there was a fort there. And that fort was a place of protection that when the Indians would come against and would go on the war paths and all, the settlers would what? They would run to that fort. Why? For protection. And David is acknowledging the fact that the Lord is a fortress, a place that we can run to, a place where we can hide ourselves in the troublesome times of life. A fortress and my deliverer. You know, it's interesting when we think about a fortress, a fortress is something you run to at the beginning of a conflict, right? Right. You don't run to a fortress after you've just come through a battle. Right? You run to a fort when there's a battle coming. But David said, not only is the Lord my fortress, he says, the Lord is also my deliverer. You see, the deliverer is that which is on the other side of the conflict. That which is bringing you out of a conflict. I think about Peter when he saw Jesus walking on the water. He said, Lord, if that's you, let me step out on the water. He stepped out of the ship and what happened? He started to sink. Why? Because he looked at the winds around him. But as soon as he said, Lord save me, he reached down and pulled him up. He delivered him. Right there at the end of that battle. And David's acknowledging the fact, the Lord is a place we can run to in the beginning of a battle. The Lord is going to be there on the other side as a deliverer, taking us out of the, bringing us out of the battle. But notice this next word here, the next couple of words here. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler. How many know what that word buckler means? Anybody? See one hand, a couple of hands maybe. Buckler. No, it's not somebody who makes belt buckles. It's not somebody who makes buckles on your shoes. A buckler is a shield that was used in that day. Usually, it would be a wooden shield and had some leather straps, and perhaps if the person carrying it was rich enough, it might have some metal on it, perhaps some brass or something on it, and maybe some decorations. But it would be a shield, and you know that shield, worn on the left arms to allow them to be able to, in the right arm, carry a sword. But it's interesting to me that David is looking at God and saying, the Lord is my fortress, He's my deliverer, but he says, He's my buckler. That means in the thickest of the battle, He's the thing that is closest to you. That thing that, yes, you ran into the fort, but even inside the fort, many times, arrows fly over the walls, don't they? But he's that buckler that is close to you that when the arrows are flying and when Satan's attacking, we can take that and hold it close to protect ourselves. He's the deliverer on the other side. He then goes on and says, I'm the horn of my salvation. The horn symbolizing the strength. We could think about, if we think about animals, we think about that horn symbolizing strength. The bigger the horn, the stronger the animal. This past year, I had the opportunity to go deer hunting, and the Lord blessed me with a 10 point buck. And anybody who hunts will say, wow, that's a big deer. What are they talking about? The point symbolizes Strength and just the bigger, some would say the bigger the better, right? But as I think about what the passage is saying here, and the hoard of my salvation. The strength of my salvation. Yes, praise the Lord for salvation. But the Lord is the strength of our salvation. You see, our salvation, we don't have to work to keep it. Because He is the strength of our salvation. The Bible gives us a picture that when we get saved, we're placed in the arms of Christ, and then Christ wraps His arm around us, and God the Father wraps His arms around us, and there's no way that we can be taken out of the arms of God. He is the horn of my salvation. David goes on and acknowledges the fact that He's my high tower. A high tower, I think it's Ezekiel chapter number 3, where it talks about the watchman of the city and the job and the duty of a watchman was to cry out and warn of danger coming, right? To cry out when danger's coming. Praise the Lord, in our life as Christians, the Holy Spirit cries out in our life and warns us of danger. David's acknowledging some things. Yes, David's looking at some victories he's gone through. David is looking at some accomplishments that he's made in his life. But before he goes on, he says, hey, I want to think about why these things have happened in my life. It's not because of who David is. It's because of who my Lord is. He says, the Lord is my strength, the Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my buckler, the horn of my salvation. by Hightower. In verse number 20, we can see that he says that the Lord is his rewarder. And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands hath he reconfessed me. And obviously, if we look here at these verses here, we'll see that he's not bragging on his own righteousness. He's saying, this is what God has done in my life. But God is a rewarder. In verse number 34 we can see that David is saying that the Lord is also his teacher. In verse number 34 he says, He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. So David is acknowledging who the Lord is. And I guess if you want to say it this way, this was just the introduction. But I promise you the message is going to be brief. Alright? We'll look at some things David is examining his life. He's looking at his life and he's acknowledging his life. And he's acknowledging, yes, I've had some victories in life. Sure, anybody would be silly not to acknowledge the fact that David had victories in his life. And David is looking at some of the victories and some of the enemies he's facing. Yes, David faced some pretty opposing enemies. We can think about when David was standing there before King Solomon, he threw the javelin at him. That's a pretty scary place to be. When somebody's face to face with you and wants to kill you. That's a pretty scary place to be. When you've got a king and all his army chasing you and your band of men. That's a pretty scary place to be. When you're the king of a country and you have your army And you know that you're responsible for the whole country. And you're at war. That can be pretty scary. But David here, he's acknowledging who God is in time of trouble. David, first of all, in his life, triumphs God. He realizes who God is. He triumphs. He said, hey, this is my God. I like how he puts it in verse number three, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. In our life, when we have troublesome times, we need to be careful and quick to praise God. You see, God allows us to go through trials in our life to let others see a testimony. As I mentioned at the beginning of service, God allowed my wife and I to go through a situation that would seem impossible to go through when we buried our son last month. But let me tell you, the opportunities have opened up. Doctors would come in and see us there in the room as Gabriel was close to going to heaven to be with the Lord. Doctors would come in the room and they would say things like, wow, when we walk in this room, we can feel the prayer. When we walk in this room, we can see that God is here. Why? triumphing God amid all circumstances. David is acknowledging who God is. He is triumphing in God. Then second of all, not only does David triumph in God, but he magnifies the deliverances God had wrought him from. And many times we go through circumstances and we pray and say, God, I can't go on. I need your help. I need your strength. I don't know how to make it another day. We ask for God's help and He does. But then we forget to thank Him for it. And we go on and we almost forget about it. I remember last week during our Jubilee, one of the preachers got up and was talking about the fact that some of the people, some trials that some of the people were going through. And he asked the folks who were there, most of them were there last year, he said, how many of you remember the trials you went through last year? There's maybe two people raising their hand. He said, isn't it funny how when we go through trials, many times it seems like they're the most impossible trial to go through, but then when we get on the other side, we even forget about them to the point where we can't even thank God for them because we forgot what they were. Not David. David remembers the trials he went through. He's magnifying the Lord for the victories that God has given him. But then thirdly, I see that David takes comfort in his integrity, which God has given him. Verse number 20, which I already read, the Bible says, The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, as he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure. And with the forward, thou wilt show thyself forward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. And I missed the verse in here somewhere. I'm trying to find it here. I missed it here somewhere. But he mentions the fact that the cleanness of his hand is not because of who David is. He's saying God is the one who's cleaned up my life. God is the one who's worked in my life and brought me to a place in my life where now I can bring honor and glory to God. You see, God can't use a dirty vessel. You know, it's interesting, if I were to take a glass of water, and take a glass that is filthy, absolutely filthy, and take a rag, and even in your presence, take and begin to wipe the inside of the glass off, and wash the inside of the glass, not washing the outside of the glass, just the inside, and pour it in water, how many would consider it a drink from that glass? Probably nobody. Why? Sure, the inside's been cleaned. And even with the straw, I think that most of us probably wouldn't drink out of it. Why? Because the glass is dirty on the outside. See, the same's with God. He doesn't want to use us. He won't use us if we're not clean. But see, the truth of the matter is we can take comfort if we let God clean up our lives. We can take comfort in the fact of knowing that we can be used by God. We can watch God use our lives and take comfort in the fact that God is using our life. Why? Because we've allowed Him to clean up our life. Then He gives God the glory for all of His achievements. We can see that in verse number 29 through 42. We can look at David and how he's looking at what God has brought him from. He talks about, in verse number 35, Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great. He's giving God the glory for all His achievements. You know, it's sad to see people who God brings them through circumstances. And they begin to think somehow Because of what God has done in their life, now they've made a name for themselves. Now that they're great because of who they are. No, they're not. David is acknowledging that he's had the achievements where he is because of God. He gives God all the honor and the glory in his life. But I think this last point kind of sums up this whole chapter. Last seven or eight verses here, it's kind of where David's kind of looking in the future. Up to this point, David's looking back at his life. He's examining his life. He's looking at his foundation. He's looking at where he's at today. He's looking at some victories he's made it through. He's looking at the fact that he has this righteousness because of God, not because of self. He's looking at the fact of the achievements he's had in his life. But verse number 43 through 50, the Bible tells, Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and Thou hast made me the head of the heathen. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves unto me. The strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their closed places. And the Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. He delivereth me from mine enemies, yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore. David is not satisfied with what God has done in his life in yesteryears, in the past. David's not satisfied with saying, well, I've had these victories. I'm done now. No, what's he saying? There is still a job for me to do. Sure, I've had some victories. Sure, there's been some victories in my life. Sure, God has helped me and has brought me through some things, but I have a job I need to do. Great deliverance has given he to his king and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore. Lastly, he encouraged himself with the expectation what God would do for him and for his. You know, as a parent, many times we think about Leaving our children an inheritance. The Bible says something about it. The Bible says it's right to do. Leaving an inheritance for your children. The Bible even says something about leaving an inheritance for your children's children. But beyond that, David here is saying that he wants his life, he wants to live his life in the future in such a way that not only will God continue to bless his life, that God would even bless the lives of His children as a result of just David letting God be God. Truth of the matter, as many times as Americans, we try to take the reins in our own hands. We try to run our own lives. We try to control every situation in our life. But you know what God wants? God wants us to hand Him the reins. Say, God, I'm going to let You be God. You know, many times we see the bumper sticker or the plate that says, God is my co-pilot. Well, if God's your co-pilot, that's a sad place to be. Truth matters. We need to let Him be the pilot. And let's just get in the back. Let God be God. David realized He's had some victories in his life. And I'm sure we would all hear this evening say, I'd like to see God do some things in my life. I'd like to have some victories in my life. But you know what we'll have to start? Is us letting God be God. If it matters, we can take the reins on our own. We can try to hold on to those reins and try to guide our life and try to do the things in our own power. But it won't turn out the way God wants it to. Unless we let God be God. And just let Him have control of our life. Really, that's what it boils down to. An examination of our life. Where are we at today? Truth matters. We're somewhere here in this passage. We're either with David saying, hey, praise the Lord for the victories in our life. Praise the Lord for how He's brought us through all these things. Because, hey, we've already applied these things. We're letting God be God. We're already gotten through some victories. We're already on that path with David that we're looking forward to the future. Or we're back here going through trials and not sure where to start. May I encourage you this evening, let God be God. See, the truth of the matter is, Satan doesn't want our whole life. Satan only wants one little area of our life. Because if Satan has one little area of our life, it'll rob God from what God wants. See, God wants our whole life. Every area of our life. But if we hold back one area, we're not letting God be God. David is acknowledging in his life, I've let God be God. I'm going to let Him have control. How about it tonight? Maybe you're sitting here this evening, maybe you don't even know what is your Savior. Tonight would be the night. There'd be no better time or place than right here tonight to get that settled. Or maybe you're going through a trial that you don't, you just see, it seems that there's no way out. Let God be God. Let Him have control. And they'll watch and see Him do the miraculous in your life. Maybe you're like David here. And you've come through some victories and you've let God be God. May I encourage you? Encourage others. Because they need encouragement. They need somebody to say, hey, we've been there. Keep on going. Keep serving the Lord. Let God be God. Everything will be alright. Let's bow for prayer. Dearly Father, we thank you for the opportunity given.