Sweet Holy Ghost have your way today.
Amen.
You have your Bibles.
You turn it with me to the book of Psalms.
Psalm chapter four.
The Lord is good.
His mercy.
Endures.
Forever.
The Lord.
Richest of his grace.
Is available to us.
Thank you for being in his presence this morning.
I have a lot to be in prayer about.
I hope and trust those of you who have been endeavoring
on the fast that you're hanging in there.
I will admit to you that six to six has been a little more
difficult than I originally thought it was gonna be.
Any witnesses in the house?
It's not a cardinal sin if you eat a cracker.
I have it.
But it's not.
Just keep doing the sacrifice.
You know, we got to next Sunday.
So keep it up.
How many's give up?
I'm just gonna be honest with you, say I done quit.
You can start back and give us seven days.
Well, it wouldn't be a sacrifice
if it didn't hurt a little, would it?
Yeah, I thought I'd be doing a little better than what I am.
You say to yourself, I only eat once a day,
but then you realize it's all day.
So, woo, a little here, a little there, you know what I'm saying?
Not just, I don't sit at the table, but once a day, but wow.
Been a little more challenging than I thought.
So hang in there, keep praying.
We'll see what the Lord's gonna do.
And Lord, have his way and we'll see his glory transpire
in our hearts and lives.
Got some things I'd like to see God do
by the end of this fast in our time of prayer, amen?
Don't forget to add prayer to your day.
And we talked about that continual prayer,
getting your mind set on the Lord,
getting the word set on your mind, amen?
And let's see God do some great things.
If you, if this announcement's kindly foreign to you,
you don't know what I'm talking about.
Well, we began a fast Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the day.
No restrictions in the evening.
Just get yourself ready for the next day.
And we'll just see what the Lord will do for us
and see his glory revealed.
The Psalms, the fourth chapter, verse one.
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.
Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.
O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing?
But now that the Lord hath set apart him
that is godly for himself,
the Lord will hear when I call unto him.
Stand in awe, sin not, commune with your own heart
upon your bed and be still.
Then we have that phrase again,
Selah, which is a pause, a rest.
All for the sacrifices of righteousness
and put your trust in the Lord.
There be many that say, who will show us any good?
Lord, lift up thou the light of thy countenance upon us.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that their corn and their wheat
increased, their wine increased.
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,
for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.
With the help of the Lord for the next little bit,
I wanna speak on the thought, the subject.
When stress is your press.
Now I'm gonna need the Lord's help
and you're probably gonna need his help to endure.
So you pray for me and I'll pray for you
and when we leave here, we're gonna believe
for God's grace and glory.
Father, I love you and I thank you
for your goodness and your mercy.
I ask God at this very moment, right now, Lord,
as we stand in your presence, we have lifted our hearts,
we have lifted our hands, we have lifted our voices,
we have worshiped you in spirit and in truth,
and pure recognition that you alone are worthy.
You alone are worthy to receive those praises.
You alone are only worthy to receive the fruit
of our lips to glorify one.
You are that one.
So I ask now God for your help, for your grace in this hour,
that anointing that makes it easy to preach,
that unction that you put in my heart.
I pray, Lord, you stir it now.
And Lord, we'll be quick to praise you.
So we that have ears to hear will hear
what the Spirit is saying to the church.
In Christ's name and the church said,
ask your neighbor, are you stressed?
There are those things in all of our lives that
we have no control over.
There are things that we have in our lives
that we do have control over and refuse to take control.
Statistics for 2023 from the Health Foundation,
Mental Health Foundation said that in 2023,
74% of all Americans suffered from stress
that was either overwhelming or debilitating, 74%.
Stress has a lot of effect on our bodies.
Stress has a lot of effect on our mind.
It has a lot of effect on our daily functioning,
how stress comes into our life.
There are many different types of stress,
just a few to name a few.
There's acute stress.
That's what some people identify as stress.
It makes itself felt through tension, headaches,
emotional upset, gastrointestinal disturbances,
feelings of agitation, pressure.
There's episodic acute stress, which is more serious.
It can lead to migraines, hypertension, stroke,
heart attack, anxiety, make its way toward depression,
tear up the digestive system in a great degree.
There's chronic stress, which is the most serious of all.
It's the stress that never ends.
It's the grind and it grinds us down.
It comes on you until your resistance is gone.
Serious symptomatic illnesses such as diabetes
and other factors come on our body
because of this type of stress.
There's traumatic stress, the result of a massive
acute stress, the effects of which can last
for years on our life.
You know it more commonly as PTSD.
The types of stresses that you experience
will differ from time to time
and differ from person to person.
But we all experience some kind of stress in our life.
Experts have come up with a number of suggestions
for dealing with stress.
One, identify your triggers and try to avoid them.
For some of you, I mean,
you identified your stressors and you try to avoid them.
I mean, that person you're sitting next to maybe,
maybe a week or two before you talk to them.
I know I cause a lot of stress around me.
It's kind of hard to avoid me.
Especially when I know if you're stressed out
I'm gonna show up just to trigger you.
They suggest a massage.
Well, one thing I'm not gonna bear down
and let somebody else rub on my body.
You talking about
stress.
That's just gonna add to my level.
It's not gonna relieve anything.
Not gonna help me at all.
And for those of you that feel comfortable enough
to go do that, God bless you.
I figure I'm a pretty strong person,
but I am not that strong.
Practice breathing exercises.
Inhale and exhale.
That reminds me too much of three encounters
at the baby ward.
Breathe in, breathe out.
And that works for about five minutes
till the pain is so immense.
You no longer coach, it's get over out of the way.
So your stress relief and exercises,
that's the way it works with life sometimes as well.
You can inhale and exhale all you want
and it still don't go away.
I understand their suggestions.
Aerobic exercising.
That's not gonna help me.
Some of the situations they would require my body
to get in, they won't get there anymore.
That's not gonna relieve my stress.
For those of you can still bend limberly,
God bless you as you do that before you go get somebody
rub the knots out your back.
It's not gonna help me.
Develop a support network through friends,
family and coworkers.
If you knew some of my friends,
that's not a de-stressor for me either.
That's an increase.
Matter of fact, those are my triggers.
Some people I surround myself with
infuriate me about as much as they cause me joy.
So what are you saying pastor?
I live in stress.
Stress is just another day.
Just like many of you.
You think going to work would help relieve stress
until you get there and then your trigger shows up.
They're not out that day.
We think other things that are to bring pleasure in life
many times cause more stress
than you think.
Whenever you get ready to be de-stressed,
it tears up, breaks down, falls apart.
And your stress trying to get your de-stressor repaired
so that you can take a little break.
The world offers us a lot of different things
and sometimes it does help.
Sometimes some of these things will relieve
some of the tension that we're going through
and having to deal with.
While all of those may be useful suggestions
for a believer, for a child of God,
for a blood-born again, Jesus follower,
I think we have more to be offered to us
than just simply methods of coping with stress.
I think there's some things that can deliver us
from our stress.
I think the word of God has a prescription for us
that will enable us to do more than just cope.
I think that the word of God is able to acquire
in our life through faith, belief, and practice
that you can actually be relieved of your stress.
When we think about how it is,
I look at this Psalm of David here, this fourth chapter,
and David offers us a response for stress.
Many scholars believe that David wrote Psalm four
as he was about to retire for the evening.
He couldn't do much about the war around him,
but he could do something about the war within him.
Now come on now.
This ain't gonna be our normal shouty deal.
This is gonna get right down to where we're living
this morning.
It's not so much about doing something about the war
that is around you because as I stated,
there's so many things that we cannot do anything about.
But there's something you can do about the war
that's going on inside of you.
There's some measures that we can take to cause peace
to be inside of us, in our mind, over our heart,
and over our lives, and so that we are not tormented
by the effects of life and the issues of life.
Instead of lying down in bed fretting and stooping
and worrying, David is showing us that he committed himself
and his situation to the Lord.
Can I tell you if you do that before you lay down,
honestly, there is a sleep and a rest
that will come upon you.
But you know, counting sheep isn't very beneficial
as it used to be, seems like.
I saw a little meme the other day,
a little cartoon, a boy laying in a bed
counting a sheep and they're jumping over the fence
and a little sister comes in the room and said,
mama says it's better instead of counting the sheep,
just talk to the shepherd.
Amen.
We spent our wheels counting the sheep
when the whole time we should be talking to the shepherd.
Because when you talk to the shepherd,
he can offer some peace for you, amen.
Matter of fact, you are one of the sheep in the fold,
I hope and believe this morning
that his sheep know his voice.
And I hear him when he calls, I hear him when he speaks,
and David, who is a shepherd, understands that.
I hear him when he speaks and David, who is a shepherd,
understands where he should go with his stressors.
And it's through this Psalm, I think we can glean some insight
as to how that we can be about and have peace of mind
during stressful moments,
how we can not only just cope with our stress,
but we can find a peace for it.
The first thing that David begins to do
is offer up a supplication.
What's that, pastor?
He starts to pray.
You look in verse one, he says, hear me when I call.
It's like you talk to your children sometimes
or when they have to say mama about 18 times
before you get a response, hello.
Before you respond to them, you heard the other 17, right?
And this is what the psalmist has said,
he's looking up to heaven and said,
okay, Lord, I want you to hear me the first time.
Hear me when I call.
I'm coming to you in my dilemma,
I'm coming to you in my distress.
And then he goes further, oh God of my righteousness,
thou hast enlarged.
In other words, when the press was on,
he opened up the doorway.
When the claustrophobia seemed to set in,
he said, you enlarge the place around me.
When I felt like I was surrounded,
you gave me a little space to breathe.
Can I tell you, isn't that the way stress does sometimes?
It gets on you so heavy, you can't even breathe.
You don't feel like you can take the next breath with ease
and you have to labor just to get a breath
because stress is sitting on you.
That's what the psalmist is saying.
Lord, God of my righteousness, hear me when I cry.
And then he begins to remind him of something
that he had done, you have in the past, come on somebody.
You have enlarged my place.
You give me some relief at one time
and I want you to hear me as I call.
And he goes further, when I was in distress,
have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.
I know we talked about prayer last week.
I know it was a very sobering moment
as the spirit of the Lord was in here with us
and we're reminding ourselves to persevere through prayer,
to keep pushing on and keep going on.
And I know that the stress has mounted even more
from last week because the last thing
the enemy wants you to know is that there is relief
for your dilemma.
But I'm here to proclaim to you again this morning
when press is your stress and stress is your press,
there is a place you can go.
There's a resource for your life.
And the resource for your life is the psalmist instructs,
hear me, oh God, when I call.
You are the God of my righteousness
and you have heard me in my distress.
You enlarge the place where I have been
and you have shown me mercy.
Is there anybody in here encountered the mercy of God?
Did he ever show up when you felt like
you were in the vice of life?
And he opened up and enlarged when the walls
are coming in on you and you cried out,
it wasn't David's first rodeo.
This is his not first time calling out to God.
He's called out to him before and he's reminding himself
as much as he's reminding God that I know
that you answered me when I called
and I expect nothing less than you to answer me again.
When I go to him in prayer, I expect nothing less
than him to hear me and to answer
and his will be fulfilled in my life.
Hear me.
Paul would tell the church at Philippi,
be careful for nothing, but in everything.
Right?
In everything, you go through prayer,
you offer up supplication and you be thankful
while you're doing it.
Prayer is still the best place to start
in response to any problem in our lives
that we may face.
Prayer is still the best place to go to find a remedy.
I'm telling you prayer is more than just talking to God,
it's revealing to God our heart, amen,
and we pray until we touch heaven
and we pray till heaven touches us
and we keep on praying till we can touch someone else
because heaven has inspired our everyday living.
Prayer, it's not just something that we end up at,
it should be something that we begin at
because when we learn through life
that there are things we cannot control
and the more you realize you can't control them,
the sooner you take your hands off of them
and when issues arise, you say,
I'm not missing with that, oh God, hear me when I pray,
hear me God, you are the God of my righteousness,
I know my position, there would be nothing of me
any good without you and I realize that
and that's why I'm coming because in the past
you have helped me when I prayed.
My Lord, has he helped anybody before?
Has he helped you in the past in your prayer?
Well, you can trust him to help you one more time.
One more time.
It's the best place to start.
Jesus said in Matthew 7, seven,
asking it shall be given to you, seeking it,
you shall find knocking it shall be opened unto you.
You can't expect to receive it if you're not seeking it.
You can't expect to have it if you're not asking for it.
You can't expect to walk in it unless you're pursuing it.
If you're not knocking, if you're not asking,
if you're not seeking, then don't blame God
for you not having it.
He wants to see the desire of his children.
You know David was the apple of his eye,
come on somebody, David was the man after God's own heart
and he still required David to seek him,
to ask him and to pursue him.
Can I tell you, we're nobody special today,
I'm nowhere near a thread on the robe of King David
and I still have to put myself in the same position
that he put himself in.
I still have to seek, I still have to ask
and I still have to knock.
If I'm not seeking, asking or knocking,
then why can I complain about not receiving?
Because it is those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness that they shall be filled.
You can't blame God for not answering a prayer
if you're not praying a prayer.
We can't blame God for not showing up
and the Holy Ghost not moving in our services
because we're doing what it is required of us
to receive of him.
He dwells within the praises of his people.
My God, if we want more of him,
then we need to praise him a little louder.
Jesus declared it of himself,
if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.
If we want more of him, we must lift him up
and exalt him in greater levels.
We have to learn to praise him.
David is praising God.
Know this in our heavenly father's desire
is to provide for us the relief
that we so desperately need.
Matter of fact, he desires for you and I to be at peace
probably more than we seek him for.
But he awaits us.
He awaits us to seek him out.
He awaits upon us to ask him.
He awaits on us to knock.
I want it.
The woman with the unjust judge last week
showing up every day, every day, every day
and that evil judge, that human being
the fallacy of who he was come to the realization
if I don't grant her her request,
she's gonna wear me out.
Well, our heavenly father, the righteous judge in heaven,
don't worry about wearing him out.
You can't wear him out.
You can't go to him enough.
You can't ask him too much.
You can't seek him too dearly and too desperately.
You can't overwhelm him with your desires.
You can't ask him too much.
You can't overwhelm him with your desire.
My God, we can't overwhelm him with our need.
74% of Americans in this past year
experienced overwhelming levels of stress
or debilitating stress causing them to be unable
to perform their daily tasks.
74%!
It affected their daily motivation.
But you can't not go to God enough.
You just keep on going
because we're not dealing with an unjust judge.
You're serving a righteous and holy and pure God
who is full of love for you
and has nothing but good for you,
who realizes the world and the condition that we are in.
Don't ever stop and not think
that God doesn't realize the course of life
and the way that sin has taken humanity.
He knows it all too well.
For he sent his son that we might be relieved
from the burden of that sin.
And then by virtue of being delivered
from that burden of sin,
we still deal with the effects of it in this world.
But thank God he is able to enlarge our tents
and move us out and bring relief.
Hallelujah.
Don't ever stop and think that God doesn't care.
Don't ever think that God doesn't care.
I know David felt like that from time to time in his walk.
Oh my soul, why are thou cast down?
Don't you think the enemy sat on his shoulder too?
Don't you think King David was stressed?
They think possibly that this encounter,
this nightly reflection, this nightly prayer
came at the time of Absalom's uprising.
If not Absalom, one of the others.
One of the many uprisings that he had in his life.
Can I tell you, you're gonna have many uprisings
of the enemy in your life.
What are you saying?
Stressors are gonna make their way to you
on a regular basis.
But for you and I, we join with Isaiah,
the old eagle-eyed prophet.
And we let the rope down on the bucket into the well,
which is the joy of our salvation.
And we let it be brought up full of his children.
Full of his joy.
Because we know in whom we believe.
Just like David declared,
you are the God of my righteousness.
And when you make that declaration to him,
he understands your plea.
And he knows it's you know in whom you are approaching.
So many people approach God so flippantly,
I think he waits for respect.
It's just like entering into church sometimes.
The sanctuary has lost its air of holiness.
Ah ha ha ha.
Hey, hey.
And so we just come our own casual selves right on in.
We plop down like we're at McDonald's.
My God, I'm trying not to go here, but here we go.
I need to remind some of you in here, this is a holy area.
This is a holy consecrated space that is designated
to the glory and the service of God Almighty.
So please help your pastor.
Because I get stressed when I see you just come in so casual.
Look like we're going to the church.
You come in so casual, look like we're going to the ball game.
Ah Lord, I just about said it.
Oh Jesus.
This is the holy place.
This is the sanctuary where we come to meet God.
It's not the movie theater.
We don't, oh my God, don't bring your big gulp in and sit down
and think you're just going to sup your way through this sermon.
No, honey, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
I'm trying to be as nice as I can and not hurt feelings
and offend folks and run you off.
So I'm not going to do that, but I am going to help you make your way
into the church next time and come into the sanctuary.
I'm your pastor, so here it comes.
I'm trying to grease the skid so it don't just drag off the hide.
Leave your coffee cups and your big subs outside please
because we're coming into the sanctuary of the Lord.
Young men, you come into this house of the sanctuary of the Lord,
take off your ball cap and please be seated.
My God, don't think it's disrespectful.
Don't say, well, who do you think you are?
Well, I'm going to tell you who I am.
I am the shepherd of your soul and I am the man of God Almighty
and we are here to worship him.
And if he recognizes that we come in and acknowledge that he is
the God of our righteousness and this is the place where we come
to meet a holy God.
That's kind of how I relieve a little of my stress.
I just, there was just a come off of me because I've been worried
about how I'm going to ask you and not offend you.
I don't know that I've accomplished that, but that's not my intent.
It's not my intent.
Here at the heart of you pastor this morning, we add stressors into
our own lives and we can't add the stress of flippantly,
nonchalantly coming into the presence of a holy God.
And this is the sanctuary of the Lord and I try to guard it as
though it is that holy sacred place.
I feel that's my priestly duty, if you will.
That's the charge that he's given over the household.
Amen that we guard the sanctuary.
Know this much, when the high priest that one time a year who
would go into the holy place, they couldn't put a rope on his
ankle in case there was something wrong when he went
into the presence of God.
Can I remind you, it's the same holy God in whose presence we
are endeavoring to enter into.
So I think if we muster a little more revere, then a little more
of his glory and a little more of his presence may encounter in
his sanctuary.
My Lord, I'll let you read these notes, that's not in it.
So take it from the Lord this morning.
He hears us asking, he hears us seeking, he hears us knocking.
He knows very well even more in detail the stress of your lives,
the stressors that are coming against you.
He knows the depth of the stress and the depression that the
enemy is trying to put upon you.
And I think he's trying to position us so that we can come
into the God of righteousness and know that the God of
righteousness is still able and will apply his anointing and his
power to our life.
David begins with praise.
Oh God of my righteousness.
Praise him God for who he is.
It's very vital for us and to us to take our eyes off of
ourselves and realize the goodness and the greatness of
our God.
And I know, I almost want to say it's not our fault, but it is
because we're supposed to know better.
I know it's the plight of humanity right now, this me ideology.
Regardless of any others, it's me.
Well, that's not God's idea.
It's him.
He's a very jealous God.
Well, I just don't know if I can love a God like that.
Well, don't and then end up in hell.
That's your choice.
But he is a very jealous God.
Let's stop and take note of what God has done for us.
Number one, you're here.
Do I need to go down a list?
I think that one should substantiate all others.
Amen.
If you didn't fast this morning, you went through McDonald's or
Harleys, you got your biscuit or whatever, God gave you grace
to do so.
He blessed you somehow with finances enough to get through
there and get it.
Even though a bacon, egg and cheese is rolling around about
six bucks.
But our desire is greater than ourselves.
I truly believe God is trying to do something wonderful in our
midst.
And I truly believe that God wants us to get over the stress
and those things that are pressing our life.
But I think he wants us to align to his righteousness even more,
even more, even more.
Come on.
He's wanting us to align ourselves with him, with our
asking, with our seeking and with our desires so that he may
prove himself mighty.
Bless the Lord, oh, my soul.
The psalm said in 103, the psalm of David.
Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, oh, my soul and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities and heals all your
diseases.
Who redeems your life from destruction.
Who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that thy youth is
renewed like the eagles.
105, oh, give thanks unto the Lord.
Call upon his name.
Make known his deeds among the people.
106, praise you, the Lord.
Verse one, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his
mercy and dureth forever.
Psalm 107, oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his
mercy and dureth forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from
the hand of the enemy.
Psalm 113, praise you, the Lord.
Praise, oh, you servants of the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord.
Bless the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever
more.
From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the
Lord's name is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations, his glory above the
heavens.
Who is likened to the Lord our God?
Who dwelleth on high?
Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven
and in the earth?
He raises up the poor out of the dust and he lifts the needy out
of the dung hill that he may set him with princes.
Oh, even with the princes of his people, he maketh the barren
woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the Lord.
117, oh, praise you, the Lord.
All you nations, praise him, all you people, for his merciful
kindness is great toward us.
118 begins with, oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good
because his mercy endures forever.
David began by acknowledging he is who he is because of the
greatness of the God in whom he serves.
The next time the walls are coming in and folding in on you
and your stress is overwhelming, just stop and remind yourself of
how great God is.
Can I tell you, the times that I have done that, no matter how
tired I was feeling or how much pressure I felt coming on in my
life, if I could just make my way to this first step for a
stress relief, it's better than breathing.
I know it's got to be better than aerobics.
Hello?
And somebody else rubbing on my back other than Sister Kathy,
it's just beyond my mind.
So I do know this, that if I can just get in and get my mind
fixated on the goodness and the greatness and the holiness and
the mightiness of God, then all of a sudden when I begin to
praise him for what he has done for the last time he got me out
of a bind because of his goodness, I begin to bless the
Lord.
He's forgiven me of all my iniquities.
He's washed my sins away.
And can I tell you, let life bring what it brings because I'm
more afraid and more fearful of the one who can destroy my soul
and yet also my body.
But I am so grateful that he isn't trying to destroy me, but
he's trying to restore me.
He's trying to restore you.
And when you fixate your mind on praising him for who he is, you
will realize stress begins to fade.
I don't know if we got time for the other two.
I got time if you got time.
What else we got to do?
It's Sunday.
We can't go to eat lunch.
Some of you probably can't.
And that's all right, too.
Second thing, David expresses his appreciation to God, saying,
sir, God has saved me and saved me, and he's saved me in my
distress.
David used that past tense you have.
It's been done.
So many times when we're stressed out over something, we
have a hard time remembering all the good that God's done.
Don't we?
I mean, it seems like we just focus on the thing that's right
there.
You've heard the old saying it's a screeching wheel that gets the
grease.
But that ain't the one that we're worried about right it's the one that squeaking
When we stop think about how good God is and the blessings that God desires to bring into our life
It would pay us well to remember
To take our eyes off ourselves and realize the goodness and the true greatness of God
David is showing that appreciation
David is thankful
Many times when we're stressed over something we have that hard time recalling all that God has done, but he has done wonderful things
But if we can bring ourselves to the appreciation of those
It will make what we're facing seem smaller than it is being presented by the enemy
Too many times we diminish our own selves in the sight of God
I'm not saying humbling ourselves. We are to humble ourselves. I
Said diminishing who we are before the God of heaven who knows who you are
We pull off the testimony of those ten unfaithful spies we're like grasshoppers
Because they had failed to align what was presenting them with the greatness of the God who sent them
The one who just parted the Red Sea
The one who just destroyed the mightiest military force of that current hour
Pharaoh and his 600 chariots and all the footmen that followed them God
Hello
God
Caused the Red Sea to stand that attention and salute his greatness
So that it would be the delivering agency to his people and they marched over on dry land
Hallelujah
I said they marched over on dry land
The word doesn't say they trudged through the mud and the mire of the Red Sea bottom
It said they marched over on dry land
Amen, and it's the same walls that were standing at attention
Who let their salute down when the people of God walked over and they let their salute down and destroyed
that army of Pharaoh
You've heard the skeptics i've mentioned it to you before
Oh, there's no great miracle at the Red Sea. The water was only so deep there where they crossed
Take your pick of your miracle
You just choose which one
Chariots horses and an army drowns in ankle-deep water
Okay, i'll buy that one doesn't matter to me which one you want god is still god
And god still did what god needed to do
But that's not what the word says the bible says
That the walls stood up
That the water stood at attention that the sea parted over
And they walked through
So i'm going to choose that one
But i'll take that other you just got to stand by it
Prove to me then how they couldn't survive in ankle-deep water
How'd god do it then show me the mystery
I'm going to show you the mystery
Trust in him
Appreciate all that he's doing thirdly in just this verse one
The petitions finally come out
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer
Never approach god like he owes you something
But approach him with gratitude and appreciation
When when we are offered that invitation to therefore come boldly into the throne of god
That you might find help
And grace at the hour in which you need it. It doesn't mean just come in there shouting orders
What it means is you don't just have to get on your belly and crawl in his presence
He's allowing us to come into his presence
But when we get in there
It always seems to help me
When I get in his presence the faster I can get on my belly
Hello
The faster I can prostrate before him it lets the gratitude of my heart
Because that could have been out of this world many times before now
But because of his grace, hallelujah because he's got the grace of god
But because of his grace, hallelujah because of his because some of you are sitting in here are testimonies of his grace
In goodness, whether it be a car wreck a cancer a heart attack a stroke or many other things that you have been avoided
Of because of his good grace only heaven has it recorded and we ought to come in with great
appreciation
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer
Sometimes
Deliverance from our distress is as simple as saying god if i've brought this trouble on myself i'm asking you to forgive me
Of course self is always the last place we end up
But I encourage you to let self go first
If self's going to be first in any line, let it be in the line of repentance
amen
Let it be the line of saying god I recognize what I am and what you've saved me from
And if part of my stress and distress i'm going through is because of something I have done forgive me and help me get out
of this mess
Help me get this stress. I'm trying to hurry
off my life truly god
He has in store for us great gifts
If we're willing to ask and to seek him for him
And as we follow david's example
When we're coping with the stress of life supplication is our first response
Second is learning to be still
Verse four stand in awe tremble
Shake before him send not commune or to meditate with your heart with your own heart upon your bed
Be still be silent
Tarry and wait for god
It's probably the simplest command that we have
Command that god has ever given us yet
Probably the most difficult for us to keep
Is to be still and to know that he is god
Some of you couldn't be still
And it's just not your nature, right?
You at home, you can't even sit down you pace in the floor. Just just not your nature got to find something to do
Be about be about be about something got to be occupied, right?
And when god says be still that wears us out
Be still how many times you told your children growing up I said stand still
This morning, yep, is that you in it give me that amen, baby
Yep, he's heard it
I'm probably about a dozen times this morning
But it's the hardest one
For us to apply to our life. I know it is for me
I know it is for me to stand still. Can you imagine the stress of the moment standing at that red sea?
An army coming
Nowhere to go
No escape
Visible and then god says stand still
And see my salvation
Oh lord, because if you're gonna stand still the next command is stand still and hush your mouth
Those two followed in sequence with my mother
Stand still and don't open your mouth again. It's what I'd get
Because it was constantly open I have that problem
I've confessed that
Don't
Say another word
Stand still to see the salvation of the lord. That's hard for you and I but if you want your stressor gone learn to be still
Psalm 27 14 you stand with me and I'll run through these other two pages
I'm telling you we just got the introduction
Wait on the lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart
Wait, I say on him
37 to 7 of psalmist has rested the lord and wait patiently for him
Fret hear this somebody needs to hear this this morning
Fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass
For evil doers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the lord they shall inherit the earth
I'm telling somebody this morning. Don't respond to them
Hold your peace. I know it's difficult
Don't respond
Watch god. I heard that one too
Watch god
Don't fret yourself over evil doers
Vengeance is mine sayeth the lord
And you are his
And you are his he's not gonna let the devil just treat you like a welcome mat
Well, I sure feel like it well
He's got you
If he's saying stand still he's about to take care of it
When stress is your press
When stress is your press the olive press is a odd looking machine big stone
wheel and a mushroom looking stone and
With a hole inside of it and roll that
big millstone around and around and it
Crushes that olive
Until it squeezes the pulp and the oil from the husk
You may be on the press
You may feel like an olive you know, the harvesting process is not even comfortable for an olive
You know, they knock them out of the trees with long sticks
Just beat the daylights out of the limbs. I'm thinking aren't you afraid you want to
Knock some of your limbs out. No, they're wailing on them
tarps under the bottom
Sounds like rain falling with four or five guys just beating the daylights out of an olive tree. Come on
And then get knocked down just to get ran over
Feels that way sometimes in life doesn't it but i'm telling you what comes out
Go to store and you see a lot of times we back in the day when I was growing up. We didn't have this smelly
oil
We had extra virgin olive oil
And I thought well, what's the difference? I think now it just means it got ran over a few more times
Few extra laps
Not enough that you've
Got every ounce out of it. You got to make sure you got the ounce that's out of the ounce
That's the way it feels like we are with the enemy with stress
You feel like you're that extra virgin olive oil
It's just and you ain't out yet
And it's just still running you over
Over and over and over. Well, hold on child of god
Because god's hearing your prayer
He's hearing it because see then you become the sacrifice
You become the sacrifice
I got to get here. I can't leave us without this a little
Praise stillness sacrifice
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the lord david said
I'm here to remind you this morning. You can trust the lord with your trust
I'm here to remind you this morning. You can trust the lord with your situation
I know what the enemy's saying. I know how he jumps on our shoulder
I know what he whispers in our ear that god doesn't care first of all
Second, he says well if god did care you wouldn't be in this mess anyway
Well god does care and he told me i'd be in that mess
Told me life is going to be hard told me it's going to be difficult
Told me I would have tribulations
In this world jesus said you shall
Have tribulation, but he didn't leave me stuck in the idea of tribulation
He says you'll come out of the press
Be of good cheer
How are you supposed to be happy about stress? How are you supposed to be happy about tribulation?
I'll tell you how be of good cheer because I
Have overcome the world
And he didn't just leave us with that peace give eye to you not as the world gives peace but my peace
I give to you this little illustration
The pilot was having difficulty landing his small engine airplane because of fog the fog had hidden the runway
So air traffic control decided to bring the plane in by radar
Unless you've been trained my understanding unless you've been trained to fly by radar
That's an unnervy thing
I don't know but I I think I could operate better if I could see the ground hello
And not just watch this little thing on the screen
As the pilot received instruction he suddenly recalled a tall pole
In his flight path he knew where he's going. He just couldn't see it
He was just a little bit scared. He was just a little bit scared
Stricken with panic and fear he furiously appealed to the control tower
Hold on now you'll have to remember this in your stenographers not here
A blunt reply came back from the control tower
You obey instructions
Will take care
Yeah, can't you just hear god this morning I can hear him
I I can hear that going out all over this congregation this morning because like I say we've all got stress
It's just a matter of what it's doing to you right now
Well hear hear the instructions let him worry about the obstructions
I'm sure that's not what that pilot wanted to hear and i'm sure it's probably not what we want to hear this morning
Because who can't help with the obstruction we'd like to what we
Obey the instructions
Let him take care of the obstructions
Meditate honing in your bed when you lay down
That last verse
I tell you what I want us all to do. I want us all that can make your way to this altar. We're going to close out with people
We're going to close out with prayer
As I read this last verse
Psalm 7 verse 7 you put gladness in my heart
More than in the time
Of harvest when the grains coming in and the wine presses are full
That's when they're happy. They know they're going to live another year because they got food the harvest was good
He said i'm happier than harvest time
I will both lay me down. I've been thinking about this verse this morning last night this morning
I tried to research it and couldn't really find anything, but I kind of thought I wonder if this isn't
The verse that's kindly coupled and tied to our little
nursery rhyme bedtime prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the lord my soul to keep
If I lay me down
If I die before I wake, you know what?
I wonder if this is the verse
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep
For thou lord
Only maketh me to dwell
in safety
Now I lay me down psalm said I poured my heart out
I've told you my problem
Problem. I've let you know i'm grateful for what you have done
And i'm going to present myself
As holy as I can in your holy presence
And you're going to vindicate me
You're going to take care of me god's going to take care of you people he's got you
Your stress
Even though it's pressing down on you
At whatever level of those that we mentioned that's only just a few
Of the different stressors of life just a few of them
No matter the magnitude or the level or how heavy it feels on you
God's got you
He's got you
So that you can say i'm happier in harvest time
That don't mean a whole lot to us
But it did to them
I'm happier than corn picking day
Maybe that's why some say that was the day we picked corn. I'm happier than
I'm happier than the days that we've had a wonderful great harvest and the wine presses are overflowing. I'm happier than that
Because I can lay down
Close my eyes
And sleep
He had no control over the war around him
But I think we've just gotten a little instruction on how to deal with the war inside us