1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,800 missionaries and you guys can deal with it. Understand that we're going to 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:11,080 continue our sermon series in the summer of Psalms, Psalm 18. And this is a...it's 3 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,880 actually...it's very appropriate. The heading on my Bible says, 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,600 the Lord is my rock and my fortress. I think we've stood on that just even in 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:24,640 our time together thus far in the baptism, in our worship, but also in 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,320 understanding that the reason why Jason and the Cadence do that and do what they 7 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:35,280 do is because the Lord is their rock and their fortress. God is their refuge and 8 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:41,800 strength. And so we want to start with the first six verses of Psalm 18. And so 9 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:46,920 we're going to be in Psalm 18, first six verses. I love you, O Lord, my strength. 10 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:53,680 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I 11 00:00:53,680 --> 00:01:00,480 take refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon 12 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:07,000 the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of 13 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,640 death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of 14 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:17,640 shale entangled me, and the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I 15 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:24,200 called upon the Lord. To my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my 16 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:30,720 voice and my cry to him reached his ears. As we are looking at the faithfulness of 17 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:36,800 God in our lives and how we respond as believers, I think a lot is said right 18 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,240 there. I think for all of us we need those six verses of Psalm 18 in our 19 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:48,520 lives. Why? Because it puts God where God needs to be in our life. Because so often 20 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,680 we, in times of trial, in times of hardship, we like to do it on our own. 21 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,700 We're self-made people, rags to riches, blah blah blah blah, that we think we 22 00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:06,040 can step in, fill the gap, and figure it all out on our own. And then the feelings 23 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:11,400 of frustration or anxiety or defeat when all of a sudden not only has the 24 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:17,040 situation not gotten better, we've made it worse. And I know a lot of you own 25 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:22,120 that with me today and I know that I do that as well in my life. Why? We can't 26 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:27,160 just look at these verses and stand on that and go, God is the rock in your 27 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:32,200 messy marriage right now. God is the rock in this act of sin of whatever it is, 28 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:38,840 that he is standing there desiring you to stand with him above whatever it is 29 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:45,320 you're struggling with. Your finances, the anxiety, the unknowns of the world. 30 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:51,840 And then he invites us to call upon him. Verse 3, I call upon the Lord who is 31 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:58,120 worthy to be praised. He's linking two very important things, that we call on 32 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,960 the Lord. Why? Because he tells us to. Seek me and you will find me, right? When 33 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,800 you call out to me, I will hear you, I will be with you, but that he is the only 34 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,960 one worthy to be praised. So what is he calling out this morning? He's calling 35 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,800 out our own selfishness. He's calling out the idol worship in each and every one 36 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:26,160 of us, because we have it. That shouldn't be a shocker to you, but we are prone to 37 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:32,840 idol worship. We're prone to worship things other than the Lord. Now it's 38 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:38,840 totally a God thing that we are reading this on Preparation Sunday, because God 39 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:45,760 reminds us of that in the law, in the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God, you 40 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:52,880 shall have no other gods before me. One's capital G, one's little g. But we have all 41 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:58,040 these little g gods in our life. Ourselves, our success, our time, our money, 42 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:04,920 our abilities. We get defined by what we do or by the things we post or whatever 43 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:13,000 all the time. We have a society that is built on worshipping self. You talk about 44 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:19,320 fellowship of Christian athletes? Having coached just in the Munster system up to 45 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:26,000 seven-year-olds, the amount of ego in some of these kids that don't even know 46 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:35,360 how to swing a bat right is unbelievable. And then it's being fed by their parents. 47 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:39,840 Understand that in the town of Munster gets very competitive, right Jason? Super 48 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:44,240 competitive, right? I love the back of the shirts we get as coaches. It says 49 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:52,640 relax, it's just a game. But seeing these interactions just in the area of sports, 50 00:04:52,640 --> 00:05:00,320 the ego of sports, you don't think that we've turned sports into an idol? You 51 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:07,000 don't believe when so-and-so signs a 600 million dollar deal that that's not an 52 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:12,360 idol? You don't think that we are upholding sports and the sports kind of 53 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:19,680 faculties of life as this be-all end-all? Oh I believe we are as a society. 54 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:25,520 Ungodly amount of money for a game because of sponsorships and all of this 55 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,760 stuff. And I'm not downing the whole system but I thank God that there are 56 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,720 people like Jason and the Cadence. That sounds like a punk band. You guys should 57 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,920 think about that, Jason and the Cadence. Vandermine, you could be the lead vocalist. 58 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:48,640 But understand that this, to bring Christ into athletics is like being in a lion's 59 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:54,640 den. And that's why they need our support. And it's not because it's Munster Church 60 00:05:54,640 --> 00:06:00,080 but any church should be excited to get involved with bringing Christ, proclaiming 61 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:06,640 Christ, and celebrating Christ on the sports field. Because guess what? When 62 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:11,560 both Cadence grow up to do whatever they're gonna do, it won't be that they've 63 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:17,920 forgotten their path because it's being instilled in them. The power of platform 64 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,360 for a Christian athlete is huge. And I think a lot of those, they would echo 65 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:31,320 Psalm 18. That in the midst of success and money and all that that brings in 66 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:38,080 the sports world, God is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. The one that if 67 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,960 we're gonna look at it kind of in this way. Now obviously in FCA you probably 68 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,840 don't pray to win and crush your opponent, right? Caden, you don't do that? 69 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:53,840 I hope not. Okay, but understand that Lord give us a good game, free us from what? 70 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,640 I'm not telling you to steal third, I'm pointing to parts of the body. Injury, say 71 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:06,080 injury. Right, that's another one. Keep us from injury because we know that in the 72 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:11,320 blink of an eye, and some of you high school star athletes, you were taken 73 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:16,640 down by a hangnail or something, that all of a sudden the life of an athlete 74 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:23,200 can turn like this. So when our identity is rooted in the things we do, when our 75 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:28,120 identity is rooted in the money we make, the people that love us, whatever 76 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:34,120 it is, when our identity is found in that, it has now become an idol. 77 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,280 And we need to declare and acknowledge the love of the Lord first and foremost 78 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:48,280 in our lives. The height of our catechism, Lord's Day 9, question answer 26. 79 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,920 What do you believe when you say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, 80 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:57,680 creator of heaven and earth? This is the section breaking down the Lord's prayer. 81 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:02,160 The answer to that is that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out 82 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:07,680 of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and 83 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:13,640 rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because 84 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:22,320 of Jesus Christ, his Son. Right there, God's created it. Who are we to take 85 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:29,520 credit for it? So one way that we can respond to God's faithfulness in life is 86 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:36,520 when we have success, that much like an athlete praying to not tear an ACL, we 87 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,120 better give that glory back to God because the minute we start taking the 88 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,920 glory on ourselves, friends, you just elevated yourself over somebody you 89 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,560 should never elevate yourself. It's one of the things I love about my elders at 90 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:59,000 this church, that I have ten individuals that and one wife that does it very 91 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:03,880 well, that if my head ever got so big it couldn't fit in this sanctuary, I 92 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:09,480 guarantee you I'd be called out on it. Any of us, we could all get very prideful 93 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:14,200 about Munster Church, we could. Double digit quarterly growth year over year, 94 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:19,400 budgets and all of these things, new understandings, we could say, wow, look at 95 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:26,440 us, we're so awesome. The minute I hear that I'm calling it out because it has 96 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:32,800 nothing to do with us creating. God has already done it. God's the one creating, 97 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:37,480 God's providence is what we're walking in and we are doing our best to be 98 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:42,920 faithful. Whether it's getting involved in ministry, ideas for new ministry, taking 99 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:47,080 that step of faith to being on council or one of the committees or coming up on 100 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:53,480 stage and singing, whatever it is, the minute we are doing it for us, we're 101 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:59,160 doing it for the wrong reasons. The understanding and the power of testimony 102 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:03,680 that God is the one doing the delivering, God is the one doing the providing, God 103 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:07,600 is the one that's doing the excelling, God is the one that's doing the growing 104 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:12,720 and we just get to sit here and give thanks to God for it is a really cool 105 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:20,720 place to be. Because we don't know what tomorrow holds. Tomorrow everything could 106 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:27,040 fall down, everything could be taken out. So when we respond to God's faithfulness 107 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,920 in our life, we have to recognize God is doing the delivering. It's not you, it's 108 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:39,280 never been you. It never will be you and we should rest in that and be excited 109 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,200 that it's not up to us to deliver the world. It's not up to us to die on the 110 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:50,040 cross. It's not up to us to save the world. No, already been done. We just have 111 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:56,800 to point to the cross in our thoughts, our words and our deeds. I guarantee you, 112 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:03,520 80% of us, our butts just tightened. Because our job is to point to the cross. 113 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,000 Are you saying in everything or just on Sunday mornings or just during small 114 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,400 group or just when I need to pray for somebody? Everything. If God, creator of 115 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:20,320 all, and we are in that and we are his creation, everything you do reflects the 116 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:27,880 sun. Everything you do reflects the cross. That is the hardest, that is the most 117 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:34,640 convicting thing I could probably say from any sermon on any stage. If you 118 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:43,760 are a believer and you claim Jesus is Lord and Savior, everything, everything 119 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:52,480 you do should reflect the cross. Whether you're in public, and here it comes, or in 120 00:11:52,480 --> 00:12:01,240 private. Everything you do should reflect the cross. But that's hard. 121 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:07,200 Everything, pastor, everything. I didn't write the rules. Yes, everything. And 122 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,160 believe me, there's a mirror right here. I am looking at that mirror first. 123 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:20,360 Everything we do, we should be reflecting the cross. Then how else do we respond? 124 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:25,880 If it's just that understanding, and here's the real sad part, for 125 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,320 some people they're gonna go in their mind, oh I don't think it's worth it. 126 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:36,880 Really? Giving your life over to something bigger, better, greater than you 127 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:42,400 isn't worth it. Securing that you will be in glory forever and ever isn't worth 128 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:47,680 it. Because what you're doing is so star-spangled awesome in life and you've 129 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:52,600 got everything figured out. Really? That's gonna be the mode that you're gonna live 130 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:57,440 life with? There's an entire book that says if you look, if you run that race 131 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:06,720 and you live that life, for the wages of sin is what? Death. And that's not all 132 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:13,080 that exciting, yet it should be super convicting. How else do we respond to 133 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,720 God's faithfulness? It's recognizing His sovereignty, His deliverance, but also 134 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:25,040 it's worship. That we are called to worship God. Verses 46 through 49, the 135 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:29,600 Lord lives and blessed be the Rock and the exalted will be the God of my 136 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:34,400 salvation. The God who gave me vengeance and subdued people under me, who rescued 137 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:40,360 me from my enemies, yes you exalted me above those who rose against me. You 138 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:46,840 delivered me from the man of violence. For this I will praise you, O Lord, among 139 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:53,840 the nations and sing your name. David knew how to respond and David messed up. 140 00:13:53,840 --> 00:14:02,120 David was an adulterer, David was a murderer, David abused his power. By all 141 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:06,800 accounts, if David was a pastor he would have been defrocked, it would have been 142 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:12,720 on the news, and he would have been done. But God restored him only the way God 143 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:17,680 could, yet for some of us, and this is, I'm just getting this right now, this is 144 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:23,080 off the cuff. For some of us you're gonna say, see I can still do all of that stuff 145 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:29,160 and God can still use me. Listen to what you just thought about. Yeah, I can be 146 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:34,640 adulterous, I can murder or have someone else murdered, whether physically or just 147 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:41,000 verbally or online, I can abuse my power, I can talk bad about other people, he 148 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,080 restored David, so guess what? He's gonna restore me too. 149 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:52,400 Brent, that's called cheap grace. You want to learn about cheap grace, Google 150 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,360 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, just start typing it, it'll know because you'll probably get it 151 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:01,160 wrong like I do, but Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about cheap grace, and it's the 152 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:07,000 biggest, what he calls, it's the biggest slap in Jesus's face, because as he's 153 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,760 breaking down Paul's saying when he says, should we continue to sin so grace may 154 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:16,080 abound? I got the grace gravy train, let's just keep doing all of this sin stuff 155 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,800 because the grace is gonna be there. Friend, the God that created everything 156 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,760 and delivered everything knows your sinful heart, and he knows the game you're 157 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:31,880 trying to play. God's not a fool, yet there are times we treat him like one, 158 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:37,000 which is why we worship him, which is why we come together every Sunday and we 159 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:45,120 worship, because he is the one deserved of worship, understanding that he is the 160 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:51,720 one that is in control. Believe me, if, let me just pick somebody, if Keith Hahn 161 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,200 was in control, if he was the one that died on the cross, we'd all worship him. 162 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,320 How uncomfortable are you right now that I'm bringing this up? Pretty 163 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:04,320 uncomfortable. Welcome to the diaconate. And so understanding that, you know, thank 164 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,520 God it's not, because though Keith is great, he's not Jesus. I'll put me on 165 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,760 there, I'll own this with you Keith. What if it was all at WWJD? What would Jim do? 166 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:21,360 No one would buy it, because what I can do is nothing compared to what Jesus has 167 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:27,280 done. And here's the thing, in the Bible it says, what Christ is doing in you, that 168 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:37,920 the deliverer, sustainer of all things is going, hey, that was awful. I'm ready to, 169 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:44,160 let's go to work. We have a job to do. Let's get the job done. Here are five 170 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,120 people in your sphere of influence that don't know Jesus. Let's find a way for 171 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,880 you to talk to them about me. Now you can go up to them, take water and go here, 172 00:16:53,880 --> 00:17:00,280 come to Munster Church. Please don't do that. That's awful. That's the same thing 173 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:05,200 as a megaphone. You're sinners, come to church. Okay Jonah, that didn't work for 174 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:10,720 you, it's not gonna really work here. But understand what you can do is something 175 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:15,160 like Fellowship of Christian Athletes is doing. Meeting someone on their turf, 176 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:24,400 literally befriending them, building that trust bond, and telling their story. The 177 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:30,400 power of testimony is how the church will be advanced. I didn't make it up, it's 178 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,800 right here. 179 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:41,040 That maybe we invite people to be about what Jesus is doing in the community and 180 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:47,160 then in the church. Friends, that's how it goes. That's evangelism. That's 181 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,640 evangelism 101, which you're gonna hear in the coming weeks and months. A class 182 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,000 on that coming out of our community engagement that's gonna teach us what it 183 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:01,040 means to talk to our neighbors, to talk to people different than you. And 12% of 184 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,480 people right now in a statistic I just made up just said to themselves, I don't 185 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:10,920 need that. I would say when's the last time you talk to your neighbor? Well I 186 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,600 don't. Well clearly you need it then. Because what Jesus is calling all of us 187 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:21,560 to do is take his authority, his love, and his grace and to go out into the world. 188 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:28,680 That's what we're called to do. In different ways you can do that. You can 189 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:33,240 do it as loving babies in the nursery. No, and that's not a shameful plug for 190 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,120 nursery volunteers. But what a great ministry to welcome potential new people 191 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:41,120 to the church in that we have a hopefully maybe one day a nursery on the same 192 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,680 level, but understand that they're comfortable enough to drop their kids 193 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:50,080 off with you. Now you get people that drop kids off in nursery many different 194 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,360 ways. You have people that literally don't break stride, just toss the kid in and go 195 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,480 because they're just sick of it. And that's okay too. They're excellent 196 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:04,400 catchers. But you also have the mom, the first time mom or dad, that drops the kid 197 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:09,880 off and then waits outside the door and just kind of looks in for 10-15 minutes 198 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:14,840 and everywhere in between. But a good nursery with people with smiles on their 199 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,760 face ready to rock and love on their kids. What a great ministry of the church. 200 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:24,280 Or you know for the... is he out now? Is he asleep? Yeah that's what a lot of people do 201 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,920 when I start talking Barrett. Is as Barrett gets older he goes into 202 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:33,680 Lighthouse just having rocking teachers that can help put Bible stories in 203 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:38,640 their understanding. Teaching them songs and all of these things. Getting them 204 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,280 ready for youth group. Getting them ready for junior high and high school. 205 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:46,480 Catechism. Learning the deep truths of God's Word. And maybe, oh just maybe, 206 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:51,040 things start to connect. The Holy Spirit regenerates in their heart and they're 207 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:55,480 standing on this stage proclaiming Christ. 208 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:04,080 Guys that's it. That's it in a nutshell. And then we go out. Yet in time what 209 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:10,280 happens? We grow older. We get cynical. We get sarcastic. We get kind of 210 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:15,400 funny about faith. And then all of a sudden it's like well where's God in my 211 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:24,240 life? Friend he's always been there. Where are you in God's life? Where is that 212 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:30,240 recognition of what God is doing? Because the final response we have is trust. 213 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:35,240 We've had on the sign, I've had a lot of people coming in from Lansing see the 214 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:42,920 sign. Trust and obey. There is no other way. Yeah we don't like that. When you 215 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:48,040 tell me to obey I feel like I'm a dog going and being trained. Well that's a 216 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:52,800 you problem. I don't know how to help you in that. That trust and obey is in here. 217 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,400 Why don't we trust in the God that's created everything and obey him when he 218 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,440 says hey this is the best way to live life. To me it's simple yet we always 219 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:10,640 make it very very hard. I close with this. This God his way is perfect. The word of 220 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:16,200 the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Or who 221 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:22,400 is God but the Lord? And who is the rock except for God? The God who equipped me 222 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:28,000 with strength and made my made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet 223 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:33,240 of a deer and sent me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war so 224 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:38,120 that my arms my arms can bend the bow the bow of bronze. He has given me the 225 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:42,440 shield of your salvation and the right hand supported me and your gentleness 226 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:47,960 made me great. You gave me a wide place for my steps under my feet and my feet 227 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:52,240 did not slit. Now some of you are hung up because of the war thing. He has trained 228 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:58,160 me for the spiritual warfare in life. That sometimes the best way you can love 229 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,400 on people is praying for them in Jesus name. Praying for them over whatever 230 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,960 they're going through in life. Whether it's the Stegengas or it's the Dykestras 231 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,600 or the brand-new baptized baby or whoever it is. Prayer is the greatest 232 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:17,200 way that we can start that dialogue. Because I don't know what better comfort 233 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:22,480 when I get a note in the in the mail or in my box or in an email. Pastor I prayed 234 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:28,880 for you today. That means the world to people that understand it. And praying 235 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,520 for those that don't understand doesn't mean we stop. It means we pray 236 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:40,280 continually. Prayer getting us involved praying for our church. Knowing that if 237 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,240 we're doing this for our glory then we're gonna stop. If we're doing this for 238 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,520 the glory of the elders and the deacons we're gonna stop. We'll close the doors 239 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,160 turn off the lights and sell this to somebody else. Because it's not about us. 240 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:56,440 It's about what the Creator God is doing and how we are responding to his 241 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:03,480 deliverance to worship and to trust. So the stand if you are able and let's close 242 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:11,000 together with our communal closing prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for 243 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:16,360 your own let's all go do this together. Communal prayer. Heavenly Father we thank 244 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:22,120 you for your unwavering faithfulness in our lives. You are our rock fortress and 245 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:27,280 deliverer. Help us to recognize your deliverance in every aspect of our lives 246 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:33,960 and may our hearts overflow with praise and worship for you. Teach us to trust in 247 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:39,600 your perfect ways and unfailing promises. As we seek to serve you in our church 248 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:45,480 communities guide us in sharing our testimonies, participating in worship and 249 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:50,720 encouraging others to trust you in your faithfulness. Strengthen our faith and 250 00:23:50,720 --> 00:24:10,440 unity as we grow together in your love. In Jesus name we pray amen.