The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 8: One Thing

Episode Date: June 12, 2022

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ¬– Psalm 27:1 Fear not, for I am with you. Perfect love casts out fear, and peace is found in the face of the LORD.

Amen. So church, it's a, I don't know where you're expecting, but it's another heavy one. Because some of the songs can be heavy. And I want to commend Ashley for having the courage and the faith to be able to share her story. Amen? Because she knows that she's free in Jesus Christ. She knows who she is because of the gospel, because of the cross. And so she doesn't have to fake it. And I would say to you, man, the fake you is doing just fine. And so if you are walking through a dark place, would you please let your church know? Would you please let us know so that we can walk with you because mental health issues and thoughts of suicide are closer than you think. I just, I was reminded of this, just this past beach baptism. I

standing in the water and this girl walks out and I was like, I know you. And she goes, I know you too. And the way I know her is several years ago, I got a prayer card. The prayer cards that are in the seatbacks in front of you. If you fill that out, we download those, scan those at all of our campuses and online, and we send them out to a care team, and every pastor gets them, and we pray over the prayer cards every single week. And so I usually look at the prayer cards on Thursday nights before I come up here to preach, because it kind of helps me know, like, what's happening in the world and what's happening in your world, you know? And so I'm just reading through one a few years ago, and I get the one, I can't even remember exactly what she said, but it was something like,

I know Jobia will never see this, but I'm in a very dark place. And I felt like the Spirit of God said, call her. Now, listen, man, I'm not a hyper-charism. person, you know, kind of charismatic with a seatbelt. Right, don't bring you on tambourine or flag. If you want to do that, do that back there. It throws me off and I'm trying to do my thing over here. You understand what I mean? But I've just pre-decided that if I feel like

God is nudging me to do something that lines up with his word, I'm just going to say yes. Because one day when I stand before him, even if I made it up, and he's like, dude, I didn't tell you to call that girl. I'd be like, oh, that's, my bad. I thought you said that. But what I don't want to do is be standing before him, and he goes, you know, I told you to call that girl.

I didn't you. I was like, I was scared. I'm not having that conversation. Okay, so her number's on there, and I get my phone, and I call her number, and she answers, which, honestly, what a faith move is that? She saw a number that she didn't recognize, and she answered. Now, what y'all don't understand is when we were growing up, that's how it was every time. We had this phone, it was crazy, it was attached to the house. There was no ID, but I'd just go, ring, and you'd look around like, what? Who? No, I'm not answering. You're going to answer? No, all right? So by faith, you had to pick it up. Hello.

These days, if somebody doesn't answer your call, they saw who called them and went. Nope. That's what happens to you. Okay, so, by fate, she picks up the phone. And I go, hey, this is Pastor Jobi. And it took like three minutes to convince her. She's like, no, it's not. Like, I know I promise it is.

No, it can't be. I'm like, what do you think? We got voice actors at the church. Like, how y'all do it? Like, what are you talking about? Yes, it's me. And she goes, who told you? Told me what?

She said, who told you? I said, I'm just reading your prayer card. I felt like God told me to call you. I'm calling you. She said, I just took the cap off the bottles. They're in my hand. I'm about to take my life. Nope, no, you're not.

Nope, that's not what we're doing. Come to the church right now. And if you're not here in five minutes, I have your address, so I'll come to you. Five minutes later, she shows up right before 722. We didn't have words. We just sat with her, man. We helped her get counseling.

And then every week, I was like, just come say to me, hey to me, at the end of every 722. You fast forward a few. years, I'm standing in the ocean a month ago or whatever, and she was one of the 644 people that walked out into the ocean to declare Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior, okay? And now she tells me, in the water, before I dunk her, she tells me she's engaged now, and she's also telling me she's a first responder, and God uses that darkness that she walked through,

which she says she's free from now, to be able to minister to people, okay? Man, if you've ever walked in a dark place, you see, David, who right? Psalm 27 literally writes this from a dark place. He writes this from a cave. Three times in David's life, on the run for his life, he lives in caves, hides out in caves. So it's literally a dark place where he writes this. And most commentators say that he probably wrote this in a place called Ingeti. If you ever go to Israel with us, then we will go to Ingeti. And it's crazy, because it's like this oasis in the middle of the desert. It's on the way towards the Dead Sea. There's just nothing but just dryness everywhere. And then there's this little

Oasis. There's these streams and these waterfalls and these caves. And if you remember back in the Song of Solomon series, Solomon said that our home should be like in Getty, like an oasis. It's that place, but what's crazy is that Ingette for David is not an oasis. Which means this, man, environment is not the most important thing. Relationships are. Because in this beautiful place with waterfalls and tropical plants, what seems like a paradise for some feels like a prison to others and he is running for his life and inside of a cave, apparently he writes this song. He starts out this way. Verse one, he says, the Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear. The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid. Notice how personal this is three times. He does not just say God is a light or a stronghold or a soul. salvation because it's not enough to just know the theological realities of who God is, but he knows this personally. This is relationship kind of language. In the deep dark night of the soul, he is declaring who God is to him, and what he is saying is that God is greater than his circumstances. That God is my light and my salvation and my life, and because of that fear cannot stand

in the face of God. So we ask the question, whom shall I fear? Man, we talk about fear all the time because the Bible talks about fear all the time. So what he is saying here is the cure for his fear is the presence of the Lord.

Now listen, fear is not a feeling. Fear is not a personality type. Fear is a spirit. Paul tells Timothy, for God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. Now listen, there's a difference between fear and like just having feelings of being scared.

Scared's fine. Scares natural, scares normal. Sometimes scared keeps you alive because it tells you to run. And then sometimes when you have these feelings of being scared, no problem. By faith, you take steps forward. That's called courage. Praise God for courage. But fear is when we feel like we are absolutely out of control and that our circumstances are bigger than our God and fear paralyzes us.

That's what fear is. And that does not come from God. I googled what the top 10 fears are in 2000, or like right now among Americans. By the way, 2021 was, we'll go down to counselors and psychologists as the most anxious year on record. The two most prescribed medications in our country right now,

and acids and antidepressants. It's not good, man. Here are the top 10 fears of Americans in 2021. Ready for this? Loved ones dying, loved ones becoming seriously ill, mass shootings, not having enough money for retirement, terrorism, government, corruption, becoming terminally ill, hate crimes, high medical bills, and widespread civil unrest.

You know what this is proof of to me? That cable news and the nightly news know that fear is a big moneymaker. Because all we are getting push our way every single day is nothing but fear, fear, fear, fear. And here's why I say it's true, because this same group that did this survey surveyed the same group of people eight years ago and eight years ago, the top three. fears were speaking in public heights and spiders. People still speak in public. There are still heights and there are still spiders, but the news doesn't pump spider stories

every other second. All they ever talk about is fear and division, fear in division, fear and division. And that's all we get all every, listen, man, there ain't no free press. It's all, it's all for profit. And they are pumping a product and fear gets clicks. And it's got me all angsty, man. It's got me all, and here's why, man, listen, if you're a college student, a high school student or a middle school student, on behalf of the supposed adults in our country, we have failed you

over the last three years. We have absolutely failed you. And don't be the kind of person. Be like, well, I didn't vote for that. The first sign of not being mature is abdicating responsibility. And when we run into tough times, the adults are supposed to stand up and act like adults. And all that is happening right now is nothing but fear and division. and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is love and unity.

This is what we should be talking about. You see, it's crazy, man, it's crazy. Seven out of ten teenagers right now say they struggle with mental health. Seven out of ten. We have failed the upcoming generation. You see, what's going on in our world, man, it's crazy. Is that our sphere of concern has increased exponentially, but our sphere of influence has remained the same.

Up until less than 100 years ago, 99% of human beings lived and died within five miles of where they were born. So if something happened 20 miles away, you didn't know about it. And now we know what happens everywhere all the time, particularly if it's bad, because he gets pumped our way. So our sphere of concern is exponentially larger and our sphere of influence remains the same. We can't do anything about it. And people are gripped with fear. You see, so how in the world then can David say that he will not fear? Here's how he says it, because the Lord is his stronghold.

The Lord is his light. The Lord is his salvation. You see, the Bible says that God is love. Think about this. God has to be stirred to anger, but his natural condition is love. God is love. And the Bible says that perfect love drives out. fear. In other words, fear cannot stand in the presence of a loving God. Paul, maybe the

freest man to ever live, maybe the guy that was the least afraid of anything ever. He's the kind of guy that would say, to live as Christ and to die his gain. This is the brother that's like, take my life, sweet. I'm going straight to heaven. I'm like, all right, well, we won't kill you. Okay, cool. Give me a Bible. I'm going to lead all your jailers to Jesus. You understand? He's the dude that challenges you to chicken, throws the steering wheel out the window. As we go, and go, bring it on, brother. He ain't afraid of nothing. That's freedom.

Jesus says this about fear. Jesus says, and do not fear those who kill the body. You know, like, that's kind of what I was afraid of. He says, don't fear those that kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the father. He says, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. For some of us, that's a much easier job than others.

And then he says, fear not. Now don't tell Peter this next part. It'll hurt all their feelings, okay? Therefore, you are more value than any of the sparrows. To God, you're more important than birds. And there's not a bird on the planet that falls dead, and God doesn't know about it, and he intimately knows you,

and so you can trust that God will take care of you. So why can they say this? Why can David say this? And whom shall I fear? Here's why he can say it. Here's why Paul can say it. Here's why Jesus can say it. Because he fundamentally believes two things.

He fundamentally believes that the God of the universe is number one in control. And number two, he is good. That's why he can believe it. That he is fundamentally in control and that he is good. This is why the most commanded thing in all the scripture is this. Don't be afraid. In the King James Version of the Bible, there are at least 366 times where we are commanded, not be afraid.

Don't be anxious. Don't worry. Why? Because I don't know about you, but every single day of my life, including leap year, I need to hear from God. Don't be afraid. And here's why, though. Here's the reason to not be afraid. He doesn't say, don't be afraid because you're awesome, or you've got this, or I can see

clearly now the rain is gone. That's not what he says. He says, don't be afraid because I am with you. In Joshua, chapter one, three times, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. Why? Because Joshua is weak and afraid, we can afraid, we can afraid, we can afraid. And he doesn't come down, God doesn't come down to Josh and be like, come on, buddy, you got it, you can do this, you're strong enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it people like you. It's not what he says. It's not about you, Josh. He says, be strong and courageous because I am with you. That God is in control and that God is good. That's what he knows.

even when you can't see it, man. Even when you can't sense it, that God is good. It reminds me of this scene in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which is not a children's book, where Mr. Beaver, that kind of sounds like a children's part, but is talking to this little girl, Susan,

who's just made her way into Narnia, and Mr. Beaver's trying to talk about Aslan, who is the Christ character. And he says, Aslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion. This little scared English girl is like, ooh, I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe?

I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. And Mr. Beaver replies, safe. Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you. That's our God. No, he's not safe. But he's the king, and he's good.

This is why David, even in the midst of some dark places and crazy circumstances, he refuses to be ruled by fear because he knows that he's good and he knows he's the king. You know this song we've been singing over and over and over. I love it so much. I can't ever remember the name of it, but it says, all my life you have been fateful. And all my life, you have been so, so good. You know, it sounds like George Strait wrote it. You know that one? All my life you have been faithful.

That's how we all to be singing it. I'll put in a word with the man. All my life, I'm telling you, I'll like it. But think about that. All my life, you have been nothing but faithful. In all my life, everything that's happened, I know that your goodness has been behind it. I don't even, it doesn't feel like it's in the moment.

But I know, Romans 828, that you have been at work in all things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose. Or maybe like Joseph in the book of Genesis, some awful things happened to him. him. His brothers beat him down, sold him into slavery. He was falsely accused of rape. Then he was falsely accused of other stuff for stealing, so he gets thrown in jail, forgotten forever. And then God uses all of those things so that one day he would be the senior VP of Egypt. And then one day

he's standing in front of his brothers and they think that Joseph's going to kill him because of all the evil things that have happened to him at their hands. And he says this, am I not in the place of God, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. Now, he didn't say this. The way it gets preached all the time is what you intended for evil God used for good. No, no, no. God doesn't drive an ambulance. God doesn't run a janitor service to just come clean up after us whenever we screw everything else. No, no, no, no. God actually intended somehow in the sovereignty of God and through his goodness and justice, he knew that through the sinful acts of Joseph's brothers, God would even use their sinful acts for the salvation of not only Israel, but out of Israel would come Jesus

and all of us, that he would even be sovereign over their sin and use it for our good. That'll make your head blow up. All my life, you have been faithful. All my life, you have been so, so good. That's what he's saying here. And that's why he says, whom shall I fear? Verse two. You're going to have to listen faster. We might be here through lunch. Now he's going to get to his circumstances. First he declares who his God is. Now he's going to clue us into what's going on around him. When the evil doors to sell me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall, though an army encamp against me. He looks around and there's an army trying to kill him. Okay, let's just be honest. This is 1122. You can be honest here? Anybody have a bad week? If you had a bad week, can you just raise your hand? Anybody have a bad one?

Okay, God bless you. All right. Not me. I had a great week, so. Anybody, anybody try to kill you? So, and I don't mean it figuratively. I don't mean, that'll be like, no, this woman right here just,

ming, me, m, m, drip, drip, right to kill me. That's what I'm talking about, okay? Don't look at her, look at me, okay? So, he literally has an army trying to kill him. And he's like, but whom shall I feed? It reminds me of this account in Second King's Chapter 6. In Second King 6, there's this parapet named Elisha. Elisha takes over for Elijah,

which will just confuse you for the rest of your life. And they're, the people of Israel are at war with Syria. And Elisha says, God's telling us to go to Samaria and camp out in Samaria. And the leaders of the armies are like, dude, if we go to Samaria, they'll kill us, man. The Syrians will kill us. He's like, trust me, trust God. So they all camp in Samaria and then sure enough, they wake up the next day. And the army of Syria has surrounded them.

But then Elisha gets up and he walks out of his tent. Just chill, man. Very loose interpretation. Read it for yourself, homework. He's got his cup of calls. is like bathrobe, loosely tied, just calm. And the general's like, dude, we're surrounded. He's like, man, the Lord's got this.

What do you mean the Lord's got this? We're surrounded. And I'll ask you a baby, he's like, Lord, let him see what I can see. And the scales of the generals' eyes fall off. And they can see that the army of Syria is around them, but a camp all around their enemies are the angel armies of God and chariots of fire. Here's the thing, man.

God fights your battles. This is why he's like, Whom shall I fear, man, God's got this. Though in army encamps against me, my heart shall not fear. The war rise against me, yet I will be confident. He's not confident in himself. He's confident that the king of the universe is his light and his salvation and his stronghold. So what do you do when you find yourself in circumstances like this?

Here's what he does. He says this, one thing have I asked of the Lord. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek. Now, don't keep reading. Just look at me. What do you think he's going to ask for? That God would take out of his enemies? That God would change all of his circumstances?

That's not what he's going to ask for. You see, about six years ago, we dove into this passage out of Colossians chapter 1. We did a two-year discipleship journey around here called Before All Things. because the question is this, is he before all things or in your life do a bunch of things get between you and him? It comes out of Colossius chapter one which says this, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and owner visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things and in him all

things to hold together. Is he before all things in your life? Or are you more focused on the things? And then we took a break for one year, and then we came back in and did another discipleship journey called the One Initiative. And if you're a little slow on the uptake, it was the same thing. We just used different verses. And in Deuteronomy chapter six, Moses says this, here, oh, Israel. And here means, here doesn't mean like, like, do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Here is like when your mama says, you better hear and do. And by the way, my mama is sitting right over there.

Love your mama, okay? So when my mama said to me, listen, that meant listen and then do what I say. You understand? Everybody understand that? I know some of your mammas didn't act like that, okay? That's half your problem, but we don't have time for that.

That's a different situation, okay? Hear in heed, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, the Hebrew word is Echad. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. This does not mean that God is merely first place in your life. That's not, it's more than that. I hear a bunch of like, oh, evangelicals that come to me, especially southern men,

and be like, I'll tell you how I live. It's God, then family, then country. I'm like, brother, that's dumb, man. What? Yeah. So when you get done with number one, then you move on to number two. You don't want God in your family and you don't want God in your country. God's not just like number one on your list.

He wants to be the paper on which you write all of your list. That's what Akkad means. Is he the one thing that drives everything? Because that's what David is saying. There's one thing that I seek. And God will not be a means to your end. He will not be just a bridge to your best life now. No, no, no, no.

He is our everything. He is the one thing that David is seeking. The one thing that he is asking for is this, that I may dwell in the house of the house of the world. the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Here's what he's saying. God, there are armies that are surrounding me. I'm hiding in a cave.

They're trying to kill me. And what I want is you. You know what we need in these crazy times? We need an encounter with the one true God because he and he alone changes everything. When you're afraid, you need the presence of God because fear cannot survive in the presence of God. I've told you this before, man, but my brother's here too. He usually goes to St. John's, but he's sitting over here. When we were growing up, about every Saturday and Sunday,

don't tell my grandma, well, she's dead. You can't tell her anything. But we go fishing. She told us fish don't bite on Sunday. She's wrong. Okay, but we would go. And you know what we worried about when we went fishing with my daddy? What's there to worry about?

And we didn't go fancy fishing like you people. I've been fishing with you. Y'all got real nice boats, man. I mean, real nice. Like debt finders and stuff and radio. We didn't have that. My daddy and his daddy built a John boat. Just built it.

It would fit three people. Daddy going to back, my brother would sit on a cooler in the middle, and I would sit up front. Anything we worried about, anything we worried about gas in the truck? Nope, Daddy had it. The thing we worried about where we were going? We would go to the P-D River. P-E-D-E-E-D-River. That's where we went.

And look, man, there were no catch-and-release. We ain't communists. We ate everything. What you're talking about? every, every Saturday, man. Daddy had this 73 Chevy, three on the column, man. And we'd get in that thing. We weren't worried about nothing.

Throw Johnny Cash 8-track in there, Google 8-track. It was crazy. Couldn't even reverse it. Remember we had to flip it? Fast forward, flip it back over, remember that? Yeah. Just ring of fire, whole way. Daddy, smoking like a freight train, bro.

We're just crazy. He had this one little triangle window he'd let us open so we didn't die. Secondhand smoke off the Marlboro lights, whatever was happening in there. We wasn't worried. I think we were worried about safety? We weren't worried about safety.

My brother, who was now a police officer, would stand on the middle seat. Just stand, all the way up. Didn't even sit down. Just stand on the middle seat. Were we worried about him going through the windshield? No way, man, Daddy had Robo-Arronk. We stopped a bullet train with that thing.

What you're talking about? Now my brother put you in prison. You tried out of the day, but don't worry about it. Worried about safety? Man, we didn't have seat belts. One time I dropped an hour and later. We was reaching back there and have his vinyl seats to try to find it, and I found a seat, but Daddy, watch this.

It's like, son, tucked that back in there. It's going to fly around, hurt somebody. Okay, Daddy, that's what we would do. We'd get in the boat, go riding around. Daddy had all the, all the dad jokes. He invented them, you know, and be like, how fast we're going, wide open? Where'd you catch that one?

Right in the mouth, you know, all those old things. We didn't worry about lunch, every day at lunch. Pull that same thing, a can of vienna sausages. Do you ever have them? Some of you should try it. I dare you, okay? Somebody on Thursday night said, done pastor, it's pronounced Vienna.

You think anybody from Dylan's going to be like, kind of pass me the Vienna? I don't think so. It's byina, okay? Yeah, man, he cracked that can of stuff open and have that little jelly on the top, you know, huh? Just fligget in order to chum them. See it, man.

Worry about nothing. Why? Because my dad was in control and he was with us. This is what he's saying. I mean, he's the king, and he's good. When Reagan was much smaller, she's 12 now. She's grown out of this. Well, she was much smaller, and I would tuck her into bed, and I'd pray over.

Sometimes I'd leave the room, and she'd call me back in. She'd be, I'm scared. What do you're scared of, baby? I'm scared of the dark. There might be a monster under my bed. Now, let me tell you, don't lie to her and tell her there's not a monster under there. I'm telling you, man, because we live in a world with monsters. And so what I want her to do, I don't want her to think that just she can only feel at peace

when the circumstances are the way that she feels like she's in control. I want to train up that little girl so she can be a young woman that walks in a confidence that when she has to stare down a monster, she knows who has her back, okay? And so I would tell her at home, baby, there might be, okay? There might be, but I can tell you this, I can whip every monster in our house.

So let me check, and I got you. I'll stay in here until you go to sleep. Now, listen, if you're not making the gospel connections there, I'm trying to teach her about her Heavenly Father. And then I would also say, and there's one more thing. Sometimes I won't be around, but here's what I need you to know. Here's a flashlight. and if you'll just shine that flashlight into the darkness, into your closet,

wherever the light shines, the darkness has to run in the other direction. You understand? Now again, for you a little slow in the uptake, I'm talking about Jesus. Do you understand here, right? You see, she knew. She knew her dad has her back. This is what David is saying. What I need is not a change in circumstances.

I need an encounter with the one true God. That's what he's saying. And then God's going to do for him three things. for he will hide me in his shelter, that's one, in the day of trouble. Secondly, he will conceal me under the cover of his tent. And thirdly, he will lift me high upon a rock. Those are the three things that he's going to do. Hide me in his shelter, conceal me in his tent, and lift me up on a rock.

Here's what this means, man, that when you find your place on a set of circumstances and fear begins to lie to you because fear is a liar, then you can trust Jesus to be your shelter. that's what he's saying. You remember when the disciples are in the boat with Jesus and a storm kicks up and they lose their mind. These are pro-fishermen and they lose their mind because fear will do that to you. Fear will paralyze you, fear will lie to you.

Fear will begin to make you doubt your beliefs and believe your doubts. And what we need to do is believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. And so, by the way, Jesus is asleep in the boat, which fathers next week is Father's Day, and if you want to be like Jesus, ask for a nap in a boat, praise God, okay?

And so he's asleep in a boat. So how terrifying can it be if Jesus is asleep? But the disciples are freaking out, and they wake Jesus up, and they begin to say crazy things, do you not even care about us because we are perishing? Neither of those things are true.

Fear is a liar. And so what Jesus does, it's a little bit of conjecture on my part. Jesus says, Peace be still, and the wind and the waves calm down. But I think the way it works, I think that he looks at the disciples

and says, peace be still. And the wind and the waves do what he says. You see, they find their shelter in him. That's the first thing he does. The second thing that God does in this dark place is he will conceal me under the cover of his tent. When the Old Testament talks about the tent, it's not talking about camping,

it's talking about the tent of meeting. He's talking about worship services. That's what he's talking about. Worship services. But there is something powerful when the people of God get together, sit under the word of God, worship God, and surrender to God. Listen, most churches have much too thin of a theology and understanding of how important it is to gather together as the people of God and worship Him.

This ain't about entertainment, man. You want to be entertained. Watch YouTube. If you just want information, watch YouTube. No problem. This is about the people of God gathering. and glorifying God and worship and word, and the supernatural happens in here.

I'm telling you, man, chains of addiction fall off in here. Marriages are restored in here. People walk out of darkness and in the light. Salvation happens when the people of God get together in the gospel is preached. It matters, man. It matters more than I can even explain. Again, man, some people are like,

well, I don't need a church to be with the Lord. Oh, bless you. You should read the Bible. Bible. The Bible says this is the body, the body of Christ. You might not need this church, but you need a body of believers. What happens to a disconnected body part? If you were walking out to your car and you just saw a foot, he'd be like, well, you need something that's going horribly wrong for the foot and whoever some one-legger guy is hopping around here, missing a foot. What happens to the foot, man? You wouldn't be like, hey foot, can I help me?

And be like, no, I'm good, man. I don't even need a body. I'm just going to like it right here. No, man, it's going to shrivel up stink and die. that's what happens to the disconnected believer you shrivel up your shrink you die you nasty that's what it is man so he says come to the tent of meeting because you're going to with the people of god you're going to encounter the one true god and then the third thing he does is he lifts me high upon a rock all throughout the new testament the rock is used to describe the gospel in the book of matthew jesus takes all the disciples on a camping trip to Cessaria Philippi, which was like Sin City. It was like the vagus of the first century, super shady stuff going on there. And while they're there, while they're there,

that Jesus says, who do people say that I am? And they're like, you know, a good religious teacher. We're not sure. And then he says, who do you say that I am? The most important question you'll ever deal with in your life is right there. Who do you say Jesus is? And so you know who's going to talk first and who's going to talk most? Peter, my guy, right? I love that guy. He's like, ooh, I should say words. you were the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus is like, winter, winter, chicken dinner, baby, ding, ding, ding, you got it. Loose translation, you can look it up for yourself, okay?

Book of Matthew. And what he's saying, then he goes on to say, this was not your own idea, this came from my father. Listen, church, what we need is not more information. We need a divine revelation from God, okay? And then he says, I'm going to change your name to Petra, which means like rock or rocky, gives him a nickname. And then he says, upon this rock, I'm going to build my church.

And the rock is the gospel. the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. One of the primary differences between us and Catholics, and all you Catholics welcome, so glad you're here, all right? I mean, I know there's a ton.

Do you think Jesus meant that the church was going to be built on a dude named Peter? Here's why I would say, I don't think so. What does Jesus call Peter later on that page of the Bible? Satan. It's not a good one to build the church on. It's not built on a person or a personality. It's built on the public declaration of the gospel

that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the living God. That's what the church will be built on. Not only is it true for the church for all of us corporately, it's also true for us individually. At the end of the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, all right, everybody that's heard the sermon on the Mount. It's like two dudes that built houses. One guy built his house or built his life on the sinking sand, and another guy built his house on the solid rock of the gospel. And the wind and the waves came. Like, who, pastor, you mean trouble maybe coming our way, even for the believer? Uh-huh, for sure. And in the house that was built on the sinking sand falls to the ground. But the life that is built

on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, withstood it. You see, when you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death and your circumstances are all over the place and you feel like you can't get your footing, where you get your footing is on the good news of the gospel. And the Gospel does not begin with the fact that you and I are sinners. The gospel begins with that God is good and God loves you and God created you to be in a right relationship with him. And then he was willing to do whatever it took, the blood of his own son, Jesus Christ, to rescue and redeem us back to him.

So when you look around and you can't get your footing because of your circumstances, you look at the cross and you be reminded that God demonstrated his love for us and this that while we were yet still sinners Christ died for us. This is what he does. We find our shelter in him. We meet with him in the tent of meeting and we plant our feet on the solid rock of the gospel. Verse six, and now, now that we've done those things. And now he says, my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me.

When I first was taking notes on this and writing this sermon, I jot it down, pick up your head, but that's not what it says. This isn't a self-improvement psalm. It looks like we are the passive agent here. my head shall be lifted up, that God will lift your head up. Why? Because God is for you. And there is no thing, no circumstance, nothing on this planet, nothing in the heavenlies, nothing in hell, nothing in your past, nothing in your future that could separate you

from the love of God. You are more than a conqueror, purchased by the Almighty God. And so you trust God to lift up your head, get your eyes off of your current circumstances, and fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith. That's what he calls us to do. He says, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. See, one day when you're a mature church,

when I did that, everybody would have went, woo, and whatever your shout is, okay? But I know, I know, I know how you go to church. They're like, there it is. And there's some of you're out, he's talking, you know? I know, like when the spirit's really moving, you vigorously take notes.

I understand, all right, maybe it's sweet. Fire, fire, praise him, okay, but listen, the Bible says, I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. There it is. Praise God, man. He says, I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me.

Here's what he's talking about, the logical response, the normative response when we see God for who he is. That he's the king, that he's good, that he sent his son on a rescue mission for us. the natural normative response is that we worship. It's the year of worship here to live between you, and we worship. I mean, like, you lift your hand, you move your mouths during the seeking.

And some of you, some of you just stand there like a dead, just like, bro, what are you doing? I'm not talking to the Christian. If you're not a Christian, God bless you. I'll give you just a second, okay? You're off the hook on this one. Actually, just be a Christian right now. Get saved, ready to go.

All right now. But if you know him, and you know what he, he's done for you. How do you not sing and shouts of joy? Let it come alive. I'm telling you, man. You tell you this, I know you can't see it at all over campuses. We got my man right here, Cade, sitting on the front row. He's a friend of mine. He's one of our special VIPs. Love this guy so much, okay? And you want to see worship. He leads worship every single week, every single week. When we're going, my man's jumping. He's shouting, and here's what he does. His dad's sitting with him right now. Sometimes his mom sits with him. Sometimes they're all together. And when he's

man, he's singing to the Lord and he just checks back with his dad and his dad gives him the little wink. That's what worship is, man. You're just jumping and you're shouting to your father in heaven and then you look up and you're like, you're into it. I'm into it, man. That's what it is, okay? Some of you don't do it because you're full of pride. You think you're too cool. You ain't too cool, man. You're a selfish idiot making it all about you. And the God of the universe sent his son to pour out his life for you. The least you could do is pour it back out for him. Because he loves it when his kids sing to him.

And then he says, you have said, seek my face. It's not about just religious activity. This is relational terminology. Seek my faith. Three times he's going to say, seek my face. Because that's what you were created for.

You and I were created to be in a face-to-face intimate relationship with God. I mean, three times. You have said, seek my face my face. And then my heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek? Hide not your face from me. not your servant away in anger.

Oh, you who have been my help, cast me not, all forsake me not. Oh, God of my salvation. He says it three times. Seek my face. We were created to be in a face-to-face relationship with God. All the parent, all the mom's and daddies, look at me, man. Remember when you had that baby?

And you get that little baby, my little baby's sitting right over here. I've got to pay him five dollars now because I'm bringing him up. Now he's 16, so it's a little bit different. But he's a little baby. You had a skullet? You know what a skullet is? It's like bald on top, mulling in the back. It looked like Hulk Hogan, right?

That's what I'm saying. You could take the boy out of Dylan, but look at him. That's my thing right there. And you know, Mamas, when you get your little baby and you get them all like in the face, like right there too close, right? And you smell them. JP, just have these hairs that stick up straight up, and stick them out my nose, but, oh, that's baby.

You know what I mean? And you'll say, Mamas, you'll say the dump, you say stuff sounds crazy. Oh, I just want to eat your face. You know what I'm saying? Now if you're a kid, you have no idea. You're like, this is a psycho. Bro, you're going to get psycho too.

If you get a baby, you're going to be like, this is my baby. That's how God of the universe feels about you. This is my child. I would just want that you would seek my face. This is what we were built for, the face-to-face relationship. And then he says, the way he ends is, oh, God of my salvation.

Three times he says, seek my face. And then it ends with the word salvation. In Hebrew, the word for salvation is Yeshua. That's Jesus. his name. The only way we get to have a face-to-face relationship with the God of the universe is through his son, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, who came for our salvation. In fact, all of the Bible could be summed up this way. All of the Bible, you should think through this idea that God wants a face-to-face relationship with us. For his glory, make no doubt about it, not because you're awesome, but because he is.

The whole Bible could be understood with just these words, God with us. that God, when he created all things, he created image bearers, not because we're awesome, but because he is out of an overflow of God's love for God's self. It spills out into creation, and he creates us, and he breathes the rule of life into the very first man, and he opens his eyes and he is face to face with God, God with us. And then they sin, and sin separates because God is holy and just and perfect, and we are not. and so he carves for himself out of this world a people. And to that people, he gives the temple system.

And in fact, one of the leaders, Moses one time says, God, show me your glory, I just want to see your face. And he says to him, Burrow, you can't handle my face. Because the lamb has not been slain for the atonement of sin. And so if you get in my presence, then you'll burn up. You won't be able to make it. So he creates this temple system where every year in the temple, there was a room inside a room, inside a room,

called the Holy of Holies, and it represented the very presence of God, and a high priest would come in and make atonement for the sins of the Jewish people so that the people could be in the presence of God for that year, God with us. And then when you get to the New Testament, to the Gospels, the Bible says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, God put on a face. His name was Jesus. God with us. And in fact, at one point, Jesus is talking to his disciples before he gets crucified, and he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if it wasn't so, I wouldn't have told you this, and you know where I'm going, and you know the way.

And Thomas says, Thomas says, we don't know the way. And Jesus is like, what? This is literally all I've talked about for three years. Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father except through me. Then Philip says, oh, the father, if we could just see the father. And Jesus is like, are you dumb? This is John 14, kind of.

of, okay? And he's like, Philip, to see me is to see the Father. This is what I came for that you may have a face-to-face relationship with him. I am one with the Father, and he is one with me. When you see my face, you see the face of God, God with us. And then he goes, and he's crucified, dead buried, in our place, resurrected on the third day. He told the disciples, hey, I'm going, and it's to your benefit that I go, because I'm going to send a helper, the Spirit of God. for anyone who believes in me, God lives inside of you. Because while I'm here, I can only be face to face with maybe 5,000 people at a time. But now I will be able to be in a relationship with people to the very ends of the earth for whoever would believe.

He says, but I'm going to prepare you a place and I'm coming back. And when I come back, I'm going to take all who follow me, all who believe that when I die down on the cross, it counted for you, and I'm going to take you from this world into eternity, and you're going to step into eternity and you are going to hear from the Father, well done good and faithful servant, and you're going to be face to face with God, and he's going to wipe away every single tear.

He's going to bring you to the banqueting table, and he says, I will be their God, and they will be my people face to face. That's what the whole Bible is about. And David's saying, that's what I need. More than a change in circumstances, that's what I need. To be face to face with you,

oh God of my Yeshua, salvation. verse 10 for my father and mother have forsaken me but the Lord will take me in how many of you know that sometimes the lowest places of your life God uses to draw you unto himself then he says in verse 11 teach me your way old Lord and lead me on a level path because of my enemies see every path has a destination every life ends up somewhere you might as well end up somewhere on purpose and you're never going to wonder your way into awesome. And we've been talking about this. God doesn't say, don't do bad things because they're bad and bad for you. That's not what he says. There's a path that leads to death and there's a path that leads to life. And every single time we say,

forget you, God, I know how to do life better. I'm going to do this my way. I'm going to do money my way and sex my way and forgiveness my way. I'm going to do everything my way. It gives birth in your life death, even if you can't see it immediately because you're the God of your own life. And every single day we choose, whether we understand it fully or not, to walk in the path of righteousness, to trust that the author of life knows how best to do life. It gives birth to life even when you can't see it. That's what he's saying. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

and then what he does here is he's going to preach a little sermon to himself. Remember last week I said, quit listening to yourself. This world says, the number one piece of advice is this for you. The world says, just listen to your heart. You be you. Oh, Lord, help you. You're the worst. I don't mean, generally speaking, you're fine.

But I'm talking about individually to you. I mean like, you are the worst to you. who's broken more promises to you than you? Who has let you down to you more than you? I mean, we're in June now. How's that New Year's Resolution workout? You promised? Kind of everybody loves the same to me.

Me too. It's kind of worse. You understand what I mean? We are the worst. The worst thing you can do is follow you. Because you'll just end up with you. Think about every, every fight you've ever been in, every bad place you've ever found yourself.

You know what the only common denominator is? You. So you've got to quit listening to yourself so much. Start talking to yourself. Because what's crazy, man, is that the enemy, your flesh and the devil and the world, they will all team up with yourself to say terrible things about yourself to yourself. Don't believe that. Think about yourself talk.

Think about when you're playing golf. What do you say to yourself? It ain't good things. Don't believe that stuff, okay? I'm not saying you're a good golfer, but you're a good, you know. But you will, man. You'll start to say the worst things. You can't do that.

You've got to begin to declare the good news. of the gospel to yourself. This is what he's going to do. So here's what he declares. Nothing about his circumstances have changed, right? So here's what he says. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord and the land of the living. Why do you believe that, David? I don't know. I'm just telling you what I believe. And I am going to declare the good news that I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Let me ask you this. What do you believe? He is choosing hope here. and then he finishes his little two-verse sermon this way,

wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord. Now the Hebrew word for wait, and what we mean when we say wait, it don't mean the same thing. When you go to the doctor's office and they're like, wait right here. Somebody should talk to the doctors about what a reservation is. So you know what I'm saying, an appointment, but that's all right.

That's a different time. Love you, doctors. Appreciate you. If you could tighten that up, we'd all appreciate it. Can I get a witness, all right? No, no, no. Doesn't mean you just sit here and I'll come get you when I'm ready. That's not what it means.

It also doesn't mean what you mean, Mamas and Daddy is when you say wait to your children. When they're like, Mom, Mom, Mom, and you're like, just wait. That's not what it means. Get out of my face and I'll get to you when I have time. That's not what it means. It actually in Hebrew, it means to put yourself in an environment with great anticipation for some thing.

And when that thing or opportunity comes by, you pounce. It's used to describe robbers that they would wait in high. hiding in a place and when somebody came along, they would jump on them. It's like when we go bow hunting. When we go bow hunting, we're waiting. You're not just, you don't just sit randomly. You're not like the Walmart parking lot. I'm like, Hope a deer comes by. That's not what you're doing. You go, you put yourself in the right environment where you think you may encounter the thing you're looking for and then with great anticipation when it presents itself, then you make a move. That's what it means to wait upon the Lord. Now, you can't make God do anything.

but let me tell let me tell let me guarantee you you do these three things and you'll miss him every single time let me guarantee you'll miss him every single time number one you live your life this way you live your life going i got this i got this you'll miss him every single time secondly you live a life of entitlement you spend all of your time focusing on what you think you deserve instead of being grateful for what you have been given and you'll miss him every single time and then thirdly Thirdly, you have some pride. You live with pride in your life, and the Bible literally says that God opposes the proud.

You want to miss the manifest presence of God, then you try to think this world revolves around you and God will oppose it. He's actually on the other side trying to stop you from whatever your goals are. So what does it mean to wait upon the Lord? Here's what it means. Here's what it means to put yourself in the right environment

and with great anticipation, be ready to pounce when the manifest presence of God reveals himself. Now, listen, God is everywhere at all time. That's called Omni presence. You can't get away from it. That's Psalm 139. But there's another version of God's presence called the manifest presence

where God shows up in your life. You want to wait upon him that way? This is what he's saying to do. Then first, you don't say, I got this. You say, God, I need you. You sit under his word. So good job. The last 50 minutes.

That's what we've been doing together. God, I don't got this. I need you, and your word tells me how to live life. And the second thing, you don't live a life of entitlement. You live a life of worship. Fundamentally, what worship is, is declaring to God his worthiness because of who he is and what he's done. Another good word for worship is simply this, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And then lastly, you don't live a life of pride, but that of humility. and when we humble ourselves before the Lord, when we sit under His Word, when we live lives of thankfulness and worship, then we are waiting. We are in the right environment with great anticipation for God to show up in miraculous ways in your life.

So this is why we do what we do here. It's what we've been doing. Sitting under his word, good job. Just a second, we won't worship. We're going to join our voices together and we are going to declare because I know there's a bunch of people and you feel like you're in a cave right now,

a dark place, armies are around you, and we are going to declare it is well. It is well with my soul. Not because my circumstances are different, but because I serve the king who is sovereign over my circumstances. And then lastly, we're going to pray. You know what one of the greatest signs of humility is?

Is when we come down and kneel before the God of the universe and pray? Why do you think we have these kneelers and these carpets up here? You think God can't hear you way back there? Of course he can. He actually knew the words you were going to pray before you pray. Why, he was counting your hairs, he already knew what you were going to be praying.

So why in the world would you come up here? I can tell you why, because a posture of prayer, when you just get on your knees and you go before the Lord and you be like, this is humble, man. I ain't in charge. Can't even stand up on my own. Some of you men have never one time come before the Lord down here. with the body of Christ who loves you and is praying for you, and you've never knelt before him because you're too proud. And you just thought, I got this.

And I'm here to tell you, brother, you ain't got this. You have a good dad. He loves you, and he's in charge. And so may we walk in his word, may we lift up his name in worship, and may we humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer, as we wait for an encounter with the one's life. true God. Would you please stand and pray with me? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God,

God, we love you more than anything because you love us first. And God, I thank you and I praise you Jesus that you came on a rescue mission for us. God, I thank you that regardless of our circumstances, our health circumstances, or financial circumstances, or relational circumstances, or marital circumstances, or mental health circumstances, you are our light, you are our salvation, and you are our stronghold. God, your word says that you inhabit the praises of your people. So, God, as we respond to the gospel, God, would you move in a miraculous way?

May we declare, I believe I will look upon the Lord in the land of the living. God, would you move in a miraculous way? We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So, church, that's what we're going to do. We're going to sing. It is well.

Better sing it like save people. And we're going to bring our first and our best like we do every week. And if you are ready to humble yourself, I want to invite you, I mean from the back row all the way to the front to come on down and kneel before your God and your maker who happens to be your heavenly father

and says, cast all your cares upon me because I care for you. Let's respond.