Summer Playlist: Part 8

Summer Playlist: Part 8

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

There are so many songs out there. It is wild to think about how many songs there are. Typically, at least for me, when I want to pick a song on a playlist or when I'm going through the radio, I want something that is uplifting, that makes me feel good, that maybe gives me energy to clean the house, or that we can have a little kitchen dance party too, or gets me out of a funk. We like the uplifting, the feel-good music. But sometimes, you're like, "That is not what I need right now. That is not what I'm feeling." And we have, at least what my generation calls emo music, right? We have the more emotional music that elicits these raw emotional responses that, you know, maybe it's depression or anxiety or grief even. And these, what the Bible would call, are laments. And so we have both. In music, we have both the upbeat, energetic, feel-good songs, and we have the hard, emotional, expressive songs. And so does the Bible. There's all different kinds of songs in the Bible.

Now, last week, Pastor Andre talked about a lament. He talked about Psalms 42. And we had it originally intended to do two laments back to back. We were like, "That's kind of a downer, right? Let's not do two laments back to back." But the more we talked about it, the more we realized that our sermons, although very different, were kind of a part one and part two on the topic of lament. Now, if you weren't here last week and you didn't hear his sermon, that's okay. You're not going to be lost today because it's very different. But it's really hitting on two important key things with lament. He touched more on this idea of lamenting when things are hard, when the world comes at you, when life is just hard and the circumstances are maybe even out of our control. And today, we are going to be talking about lamenting when it's our own fault, when we are the problem. Sounds a bit like a downer. I know. Okay. But hang with me. There is good news. There is hope. Okay. We'll get there. But I think this is a really valuable and important thing for us to talk about. There is hope, even in the lamenting. And there's hope because we don't grieve like the world grieves. First Thessalonians says that we don't grieve like those with no hope. We grieve with hope. And that's really what a lament is. It is a form of grief and we grieve because of our sin. We grieve because we sin against God. We grieve because it puts a rift in our relationship with God. Maybe because we hurt others in our sin. And because the things that grieve or break the heart of God should break our hearts too. But because we know the end of the story, we know Jesus came and is coming back again, we can grieve and lament with hope. So we're going to be in Lamentations today. It's only five chapters, but it is dense. It is a lot happening in that. And we will not be covering all of Lamentations today. Don't worry. We won't be here till 4 p.m. We are going to be really focused in on chapter three.

So the Book of Lamentations is made up of five poems or songs. And it's believed to be written by one author. And we think it's Jeremiah who wrote the Book of Jeremiah. It was written as a lament regarding the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. when they were attacked and the city was destroyed and the people were taken into captivity. So the first four of the poems are actually written in an acrostic, which is a cool literary way for the author to do it. But we don't actually see that in our English Bible because it was written in Hebrew. But if you look at the Hebrew of it, the first word of every line in the first four poems or songs is their Hebrew alphabet. So if it were English, the first line would be A. The second line would start with B. The third line would start with C. And so it's a really cool fact about this song. But one commentary mentioned this about it being in an acrostic. It said that the use of the alphabet symbolizes that the completeness, the A to Z of grief is being expressed. And I love this because lament is just not one thing. It's not just stating facts or it's not just complaining or crying out to God or it's not just praising Him and asking Him for rescue. It's all of those things. It's the completeness, the wholeness, the A to Z-ness of it. It was often sung by the Israelites, usually on a yearly basis as a remembrance for the destruction of their city. And to remind themselves of the sin and the choices that got them there, as well as God's faithfulness during that time. So Lamentations kind of builds a little bit. The first couple chapters are really just about the destruction of Jerusalem. The pain, the consequences of their actions. But in chapter three, it shifts a little bit. The narrator turns more to a personal voice, talks more individually, and speaks more of God's justice and His mercy in the hope that we find even in the darkness of it. Books of the Bible, like Lamentations, are really hard to read because we see the destruction. We see the pain. We see the reality of the ramifications of our sin. It is plain as day in black and white. We see that the destruction came on Israel because of their own choices. They chose to disobey God and live in their own way. And that brought consequences. Now for us, on this side of the cross, we have to remember that Jesus already paid the price. He paid the debt. Justice has already been served. Praise God. But this is not a reason or excuse for us to keep on sinning. We know that we're forgiven, so we should live in that forgiveness, not just think, "Oh, well, I can keep on doing what I'm doing because God will forgive me." We don't have the license to keep doing that. And we have to understand that while we are forgiven and we live in freedom, we're gonna mess up. We're gonna fail. We're gonna fall. And there will be ramifications to those sins. So Lamentations is brutal and it's beautiful. It's brutal. It's a tough one, guys. But there's hope. Paul David Tripp writes, "The Bible never denies reality. The Bible never plays it safe. The Bible never offers you a cosmetized view of the fallen world. The Bible never tricks you into thinking that things are better than they are. The Bible is straightforward and honest, but not void of hope. While it is very candid about the hardships of life in this broken world, the Bible is also gloriously hopeful. The honesty does not crush the hope, but neither does the hope negate the honesty." The Bible pulls no punches and we might step on some toes today, but we're gonna see the hope too. So instead of going verse by verse through chapter three, we're actually gonna kind of jump around and we're gonna go more topically through this. And we're gonna pull out what we can learn from this lament, from this song.

So first we're gonna talk about the ramifications of our sin. So turn with me to Lamentations 3. We're gonna start in verse 13 and pull it up on your phone or your Bible. It'll be on the screens as well. So verse 13, "He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughing stock of all my people. They mocked me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink. He has broken my teeth with gravel. He has trampled me in dust. I have been deprived of peace. I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, 'My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I will remember them and my soul is downcast within me.'" That can be really hard to read. And it may seem obvious, it probably is, but I think it's important for us to understand that our sin has consequences. The author here lists a few, that his heart was pierced, he had no peace, there was bitterness, his soul was downcast. And those are just personal, internal consequences. That doesn't even account for external consequences. Things like broken relationship, financial hardship, a variety of things that can cause consequences outside of ourselves, physical consequences. Our sin has consequences, even if we don't think it will. And the reality is that we don't sin in a vacuum. So our sin also has consequences for other people. It affects those around us. If you flip back to chapter 2, verse 19 says, "Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children who faint from hunger at every street corner." The kids of Jerusalem weren't the ones sinning. They weren't the ones going after other gods, but they still suffered the consequences of their parents' sin. That's hard to hear, but it's true. Because we don't sin in a vacuum, other people will experience consequences of our own sin. And I guarantee you, everyone in this room can think of a consequence they suffered because of someone else's sin. And vice versa. I bet you can think of a consequence someone else suffered because of your own. Sin has consequences and not just for ourselves. All the things that we think of in sin that maybe are the struggles we have, we think maybe are just personal. But it's not. There are far-reaching consequences. I think of extramarital affairs that they think, "Oh, it's just between me and this person." But what about your children? What about your friendships? What about your co-working relationships? I think about addictions, things like porn that it's done in secret, but it has ramifications beyond what maybe we can even fathom. Sin has consequences. Second ramification is that we become unfit for use. That's a tough one. Limitations three, we're gonna jump down to verse 44. It says, "You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through." He's talking to God here. "You have made a scum and refuse among the nations." When we are choosing to live in sin, our prayers become ineffective. Now, when we are crying out to God from our sin and asking God to restore us, that's different. But when we are actively choosing sinful behavior, our prayers will fall on deaf ears. They become ineffective. They can't get through because you're intentionally separating yourself from God. The Hebrew word here for the scum, he says, "You have made a scum and refuse." The Hebrew word here, it's a descriptive term that in context really denotes anything that is rejected as unfit for use. The Lord, hear me on this, the Lord can use anyone. And the reality is he wants to use people. That's how he designed it. He wants to use us as people and everyone is a sinner. So his only option is to use sinners. So he can use us. But it's our heart posture. When we are choosing to live in sin or ignore sinful behaviors, we become unfit for kingdom use. And when I say unfit for use, it's not that God can't use you, it's that you're making yourself unavailable. I said that intentionally that way. You're making yourself unavailable. It's a choice. Our sin puts a rift in the relationship. It hardens our hearts and makes us unavailable for kingdom work. It makes our prayers ineffective. So God can't use us for kingdom work.

So we must lament these things. We have to grieve them because they grieve the heart of God. And when we take the time to lament, we become aware of our sin and of God's justice. That's the next thing we're going to look at today. The reality is of God's justice. The first thing I want us to understand, though, is that God doesn't delight in punishing us, but wants to restore us back into right relationship with him. God is not some vengeful God maniacally laughing at our pain or circumstances or the consequences that we are suffering. He is a loving God who understands that the consequences of our sin can bring us back into right relationship with him if we allow them to. If we are open to that. Sometimes we go through the valley of the shadow of death. Pastor Chris talked about the Psalm 23 a couple of weeks ago, walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And Pastor Andre talked about last week walking through and lamenting when life is just hard. But sometimes we walk through the valley of the shadow of death at our own fault. Sometimes we go through that. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death because God led us there in order to bring us to repentance. Repentance is just a church word that means to turn. To turn away from your sin. Do a 180 and go the other direction. Sometimes we're too stubborn or stuck in our sin or too comfortable in our sin that we need to be led through that dark valley in order to be brought to repentance. Praise God we serve a God that goes through that with us. He doesn't leave us alone. He walks through it with us and he delivers us from it. But he doesn't delight in punishing us. He just allows justice to be served and for us to experience those consequences in order to restore us. The second thing about God's justice is that just the fact that God is a just God. And so it would be against his nature to leave sin unpunished. It would be against his nature to leave sin unpunished. This is why we see the punishment of Israel played out in these verses. God could not leave their sin unpunished. That would not be just and he cannot be anything but who he says he is. That's also why he sent Jesus. To take on our punishment for our sins that justice required. In order for God to be who he says he is justice had to be served. It had to be served by either by the person who sinned which would be us or by a perfect sacrifice which was Jesus. Thank God for his loving kindness that he chose his son to serve that sentence for us. But the penalty had to be paid in some shape or form. It had to be paid because he is a just God. And it's good news. That's good news that Jesus paid that price for us. This is hard stuff. It's heavy stuff to confront our sin, to confront our our natural human nature, to go against God. But like I said, there is hope. We're getting to the good part guys. Okay? We have the hope of God's mercy and restoration.

Read with me Lamentations 3:21-26. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope because of the Lord's great love. We are not consumed. Amen? For his compassion never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. Therefore, I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those who hope whose hope is in him. To the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. First thing we can draw out here that gives us hope is humility. Humility brings hope. If you back up a little bit into verse 19 going into 21 it says, I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I will remember them and my soul is downcast within me. I am turned down. I am humbling. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Jeremiah humbled himself in order to call to mind the things that were hopeful. We've talked about humility before and it is having a right view of ourselves and a right view of God. It is putting us in our proper places that he is God and we are not. But more than that, it positions our hearts in such a way that we can actually see the hope. When we are humble, we are not blinded by our pride. We are not blinded by our sin and we can actually see hope for the future. We are at the beach this week and I was hanging out with my mom and the kids were off in the water with Chris and my dad. We were just chatting and I took some pictures and I was looking at my phone and my mom says, "Sis, you're missing the sunset. Turn around." 37 years old and she's still telling me what to do. Okay? But she was right. I had taken some pictures and I was looking at them but the real thing was right there. The ocean wasn't different. It wasn't gone. It didn't change because I wasn't looking at it. The sunset was just as beautiful whether I was looking at it or not but I had to turn around and look at it to enjoy. And I did. And the sunset was beautiful and the light was like crystals on the water and I got to enjoy it. But I had to change my position to see the view. We have to change our hearts position to see the hope. We have to humble ourselves to see the hope. The second thing to give us hope is that God is merciful and compassionate.

Verse 22 says, "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, although we should be." Romans 6 23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." That's the cost of our sin. We should be consumed. But it goes on to say, "But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." Because of his love, we are not consumed. One commentary said, "There was still a remnant." As in referring to the Israelites. There was a small group that was left in Jerusalem. Most were taken into captivity or killed. But there was a small remnant that was left in Jerusalem that eventually took part in rebuilding the city and rebuilding the temple. He says, "There was still a remnant and a remnant with a promise of restoration." Wherever God leaves life, he leaves hope. If we're not dead, he's not done. There is hope. So we are not consumed and his compassion never run out. Some translations say mercy, some say compassion, but they never run out. Verse 23 says, "They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness." His mercies are new every morning because we need them to be. They don't change or expire every night at midnight. Like they don't run out. But because we are sinful and forgetful, we need his new mercies every single day. We need them to be freshly available to us. And they are. Because he is merciful, because he is compassionate. They are freshly available to us. The third thing that gives us hope is God's covenantal love compels him to redeem and restore. That's why he made a way for the Israelites to make things right through sacrifice. He gave them the law. He gave them the sacrifices that they could do in order to atone for their sin and get into right relationship with God.

It says in verse 22, "His steadfast love." This is a covenantal love. It's covenantal language because he made a covenant with his people back in the Old Testament. And because he did that, he was compelled to make a way to redeem and restore them. He did that personally through their sacrifices and atonement, but then he also did it corporately when he restored the city. But it's also why he sent Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for us. He brought in a new covenant. We are under a new covenant through Jesus' death and resurrection. His steadfast love, his covenantal love continues to redeem and restore to this day. That gives us hope. So we know this sin has consequences. We know that God is just and that he must serve justice in order to be who he says he is. And we know that there is hope. We see that through these verses that there is hope. So how do we move forward now? How do we walk in that freedom and walk in this truth and walk in that hope? Well, the first thing is we must reflect on our behavior, confess our sins and repent. We have to reflect and ask the Lord to search our hearts to identify where sin may be taking root. We have to be honest with ourselves about what's really going on in our hearts.

Verse 40 says, "Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord." That's reflecting. That's confessing. That's repenting. That's turning away from our sin and back to him. We have to identify the sin and die to it in order to return to the Lord. See, sometimes sin is sneaky. We think that if we're not murdering someone or robbing a bank, we're good. We're not doing the big ones, right? We're okay. But the thing is, Satan knows that if we're trying to actively follow Christ, we're not going to do the really obvious illegal things. He's going to be more sneaky about it. Do you have anger, pride, selfishness in your heart? Do you covet what others have? Do you let your thoughts run wild instead of taking them captive and submitting them to the authority of Jesus? We have to reflect and allow the Lord to search our hearts, and then we have to confess and repent. But we can't just stay on the reflection piece, right? I heard one teacher, a preacher, talk about this. She said, "So often I would recognize the sin, the Lord would identify in my heart, and then I would learn all about it. I'd read the books and listen to the podcast and read the Bible about it, and I would know all about the sin. I would intellectualize the sin, but I wasn't putting it to death." We can intellectualize our sin. We can know all about it. We can know why it's there. We can know how to combat it. We can know all about it. But unless we are putting it at the foot of the cross and dying to it, we haven't done anything. We haven't truly repented. So reflect, confess, and repent. I fully believe that revival comes after confession and repentance. Not before. Revival in our own hearts, in our homes, in our church, in our communities. Revival won't come until we confess and repent. The second thing to move forward is remember that He is our portion.

Verse 24 says, "I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for Him.'" I think that the main reason we sin is to fill something in our lives. Either something we think we need that we're lacking or something we think we deserve. But when we operate from the truth that the Lord is our portion, that He fills us with what we need, then we won't have to go looking for those other things to fill that need. Those sinful behaviors, even the good things, the friendships, the relationships, the stuff. Those aren't necessarily sinful, but if we idolize them or we turn to them without turning to God, then they become a problem. He is our portion. He is enough. He is so good. He is our portion. And lastly, we must put our hope in Him and seek Him. Verse 25 and 26 says, "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." We have to keep our eyes on Him. The Israelites took their eyes off Yahweh. They put them on the culture around them. They turned to the lesser man-made gods. They turned to the sinful practices of the nations around them. They didn't live in the law of the land that God had given them. They chose their own way. Scripture says over and over again that they were wise in their own eyes instead of keeping their eyes on God. So we put our hope in the Lord. We keep our eyes on Him. We lament the things that break God's heart. And then we move forward in the redemption and the freedom that we can only find in Him. Amen.

Let's pray. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for your covenantal love that compels you to redeem and restore. Thank you for your gift of salvation, for the hope of a future that we have with you. God, open our eyes to the reality of our sin. Convict our hearts and help us to move forward in repentance. God, we pray for revival in our hearts, in our homes, in our church, in our communities. But God, we have to go first in confessing and repenting of the things that go against you and your word, that break your heart, break those in us, Father. We thank you for your goodness, that your compassion and your mercies never run out or expire. They are new and freshly available to us every day. Help us live in those graces. Father, we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 7

Summer Playlist: Part 7

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Let's get into our series. We are continuing in our summer playlist series. If you're new this morning, we've been enjoying covering different songs of the Bible. We've covered songs of praise, Hannah's song of surrender, a song from Isaiah about God the Father. We've talked about a song that reminded us of God's protection. And then last week we covered a classic song, Psalm 23, how God is our shepherd. So we've been enjoying the different songs that the Bible has, seeing how each can help us draw closer to Him, help us understand ourselves and give us instruction in how to live a life that is pleasing to God. And really that there's a biblical song for every experience in life. I know that we have playlists sometimes, if you're a musical person, you have a playlist for your mood and you, you know, if you're working out, you're going to put on that heavy stuff to get you pumped up. Or if you're more in a contemplative mood, you put on the slower music to help you meditate or be in that moment. So the Bible has songs that are also in the same vein.

Today is going to have a different tone. As I said, there are times in our lives of celebration and joy. There are times of quiet reflection and contemplation. There are times of focus and preparation, but there are also times of despair, distress and depression. Now on Sundays, as we gather as a church, we more often than not spend time talking about joy and for good reason. But today, if it's okay with you, I hope it's okay. We're going to spend some time together discussing moments in life when we feel agony and anguish. Talking about emotions that the human body wasn't created to handle, but that sin brought into the world and therefore we must deal with. We're talking about situations in life that bring us to the end of ourselves and in desperate need of divine help. It's an unfortunate belief that some people have that hold that the church or Christians are a one-track singular emotion people of joy. That like, if you're a Christian, you just got to be joyful all the time. And in reality, we sometimes go through seasons where joy is the farthest thing, the farthest emotion that we feel. Where darkness seems to me more closely surrounding us than anything else. And we need to know as believers what the Bible says about those times. Whether you're in it or not right now, it's still important that you know that the Bible addresses those darker human emotions. And looking around this room, I know that many of you through conversation, getting to know you have been through a lot in life, maybe even recently. I know that many of you have wounds, pains, deep sorrows that you are working through, are processing, or maybe haven't even yet begun to process. But when we were preparing for this series, as pastors, we knew that we wanted to cover a song of lament. We knew we needed to because we knew that you needed it. So is it okay this morning, we take a pause on the joy, and we enter into the grief and anguish together? Is that all right?

We're going to be in Psalm 42. If you have your Bibles with you, you can go ahead and turn there right now. We'll have it up on the screen as well. Psalm 42. You might recognize this song as we read it. It's often sung with a gentle tone. It's a very pleasing song. But it's a song that brings up some of life's hardest questions. Questions like, "Do I have what it takes to keep going in life?" "God, where are you? Are you even there? Why do I feel this way? Why can't I be normal like everyone else seems to be? Why don't I feel as happy as I once was? Why is whatever I'm going through, why is it happening?" If you've ever found yourself in a season of life where these questions are constantly running through your head, take some comfort in knowing that you're not alone. And not just with the people around you. That's a huge comfort too. But know that it's a question that's been asked since sin entered the world. There's a song about it in the Bible. And maybe it'll put words to some of the feelings that you've had. And I want to be honest with you up front. This song, this song, it doesn't answer any of those questions in full. But it does communicate to us that we're not alone in how we feel. And it's a song that shows us, just its existence in Scripture shows us that God cares. I believe he put this in the Bible because he knew that as long as we struggle with sin, as long as sin was a part of our world, that people would continue to suffer, continue to despair, and that they would need to know that they can and should turn to God.

So let me go ahead and read our psalm this morning, Psalm 42. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the mighty one, with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Herman from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, where is your God? Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Let's pray one more time. God, we know that you are there for us, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it. So I pray for anyone who is in that moment right now, where they have some very serious questions about what's going on, the feelings that they're feeling, where you're at. God, I pray that you would meet them in this moment through your word, through Psalm 42, God, a Psalm that you included in scripture for a reason. I pray that it would speak to us today, that we would feel your presence, we would be comforted to know that you are there and feel your peace. Even if our situation and circumstance doesn't change, God, I pray that our hearts would change knowing that you are standing there with us in that moment. Be with us today. Amen. I want to go verse by verse. I also want to make... Oh, thank God. I was about to pray for some air. I'm warm. Are you guys okay? It's warm? It's warm. It's back on at like 65? Okay, good. I didn't know if I was that nervous or it was just the heat. It's the heat. It's totally the heat. A little... No, just the heat. Okay, there it goes. Okay. I want to go verse by verse to dive deeper into this... I'm trying to be like a somber picture of the psalm. Verse one talks about this deer panting for streams of water. And it's a desperate picture. This is death is at the doorstep for this deer. And you may know the song, "As the Deer Pants," that many of you are familiar if you've grown up in church or been around the church for a while. It has a very gentle tune. And when you YouTube that song, "As the Deer," it's always like a video of a deer next to a quiet stream in a forest. And it's just very serene and peaceful. We were just in Mendocino this past week on vacation and we saw a lot of deer. And it was very peaceful. And I was like, "If I'm a deer, this is where I would want to be. This is ultimate deer country." I don't know if they have any predators. I didn't see anything. Maybe there are. But just peaceful deer in meadows. You got the ocean. It was beautiful. There's mountain lions? All right. I didn't see anything. Thank God. But this is our deer in this Psalm is in a totally different situation. This is a more dire situation. This deer is fighting for its life. I got a talk with Bob and Kris Lindsey working at the fireworks booth and they witnessed literally what is happening in this Psalm in their backyard. They live out in Loomis, I believe. Yeah. And there's this creek that runs through their backyard. And one summer day, they came out to find what this is describing, which is a deer sprawled out in its sight. You can see the breathing, the heaving, and the tongue is out. And it is literally fighting for its life. It's trying to regain its energy and composure. It had maybe smelled the water or something, and it was trying to make it to the stream, and it didn't make it. Now they reported that the deer left at some point, so it did regain its energy in that story, and the deer lived. But it is a very serious-- this is not a deer. We think of a dog panting. Maybe we read this and it's like, "Oh, it's just hot. It went for a run, and it pants to cool." You know, no, this is-- it's on the ground. It's side, you can see it gasping for air. The tongue is out. It needs water to survive. This is what the Psalm is talking about. Instead of the picturesque deer in the middle of the forest with a babbling brook, it's more of a wilderness setting. The waters are hard to come by, and the terrain is of desolation. Life is hanging in the balance here.

Verse 2 continues, it says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with Him?" Our souls long for things. That's what our soul does. Sometimes our souls long for sinful, worldly, fleshly pleasures, and our soul can have a terrible appetite. But there are also times when our souls long for God, for good, for our Maker, to be in the presence and to feel the goodness of God. And yet, sometimes when we're longing for Him, we know we need Him, it seems like He can be nowhere to be found, like He's just not there. The Psalmist writes, "Where can I go to meet with God?" We get a sense of wandering here, looking and searching and striving to find the source of renewal and restoration. And given what we know in the rest of the song, we know that they have experienced, the person writing this, who's living this terrible situation, has experienced being in God's presence before. And so the question is, "Where can I go to meet with God?" It seems like it's a place out of reach. I know what that's like, and it doesn't seem like it's possible right now. It doesn't seem like it's nearby.

Verse 3 says, "My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" It's one of my favorite lines. It's just real and raw emotion. My tears have been my food day and night. The only liquid that the author has been able to consume are his own tears from crying about his situation. Have you ever been in a situation where the memory of what you need, the memory of a good thing, or just the thought of a good thing, is both food for your soul? It's not super nourishing, but it's just enough for your soul. And yet at the same time, the thought of that good thing is also the source of agony because you don't have it. I think tears that we cry sometimes serve two purposes. We can be mourning our lack, our loss, our pain, while also getting the smallest amount of maybe joy or relief or sustenance, just enough to keep us going, all from the thought of the thing that we're missing. It's a truly desperate and despairing place to be, to experience. But I know that many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. When we're in that stage of life, when we're in the midst of anguish and agony, it can be hard enough just to wake up and get through a day. And then sometimes we're even conscious of how our suffering seems like evidence that there is no God to other people around us. Again there are those who believe that a believer's life is exempt from hardship and pain, and it's just simply not true. It's how we deal with all that that shows people our faith in the everlasting God. But how others view us in our worst times, in our most deepest struggle, can be an extra burden on top of everything else that we're trying to manage. Verse four continues, "Where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One, with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng." Continues this thought of remembering God's presence. And the writer isn't currently there, he seems far from the presence of God, but he remembers how he used to frequent the temple with the protection of God, how safe and peaceful and sound that time in life was, how smooth everyday life seemed. And as their soul is heaving and crying and just trying to survive, they remember the joyous celebratory shouts and praises that they used to partake in. We just had a psalm a few weeks ago, Psalm 121 about the ascent to the temple, and how everyone would sing together as they entered the temple. And he's remembering that exact time of, "I used to be in the crowds, I used to sing praises to God." And again, there's both, it's causing both sorrow, because it's not a reality for them in that moment, but it's also giving the writer the slightest bit of hope and relief. Just the memory of it is anchoring them at this time in life.

Verse five says, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." Now the author turns to reflective questions, to self-reflection, which if you've ever been to counseling or therapy, you know that that self-assessment, that time of looking within is essential to making any progress in processing what's happened in life. So I don't know if you've ever paused to ask yourself, "Why, soul, are you so downcast?" As an aside, I love the self-talk. I think we all do this, we talk to ourselves, right? We talk to, "Soul, why are you downcast?" Or, "Mind, why are you so anxious? Heart, why are you feeling so heavy? Why so disturbed within me?" And then comes the self-motivation, calling yourself up, or sometimes we say preaching to yourself. Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Now in my time of study this past couple weeks, I read this over and over again, and I think it can be read in a couple different ways. It can be read with this defeatist mentality or tone of kind of like an Eeyore. You guys remember Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, how he always talks like this, "Downward, hmm." And maybe the author is saying, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him." Maybe it's that, I don't know. Maybe it's this sudden champion spirit, he's been feeling depressed and down, and he's like, "All right, why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed? Put your hope in God, we got this. We're going to go forward, we're going to win the day." Maybe there's that sudden change of tone. Or maybe it's more like a coach in sports, he's like, "Hey, why are you down? We got this. We're going to be okay. Keep your head up. It's going to be fine.”

There's probably even more ways to read this, verse five. And I think it's got to do with maybe personality, however you read it, whatever type of personality you are. Maybe it's the opposite of what your personality is. Maybe you're the Eeyore and you're like, "I need the other personality. I need the coach. I need the champion spirit to get me through this time." Read it in whichever one relates to you. I don't know how the psalmist intended it. But I do know, and it's important, is that they know what should be done. They know what has to be done, and they know what they're going to do. And in times of such despair, when in reality our minds are a fog and we don't know what we're going to eat or remember if we've eaten, every decision we have seems to be overwhelming and the to-do list is mounting and the weight of the world is crushing. To know just one thing you're going to do is such a win. And the psalmist knows, "I'm going to hope in God, and I'm going to praise Him." I don't know the answers to the rest of my life's problems right now. They seem insurmountable, but I'm going to hope in God, and I'm going to praise Him. So we continue in verse 6. It says, "My soul is downcast within me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, and the Mount Mizar." The perspective shifts again from talking to God to back to talking to Himself. Or sorry, the other way around. Talking to Himself, talking to God. And it seems like the writer is hitting another wave of sadness, another wave of depression. Why am I solely downcast? Therefore God, I'm going to remember you. And maybe there's frustration there. Maybe there's frustration that the pep talk didn't work. I don't know if you've ever been there, if you've had a moment of really being intentionally like, "Okay, we got this." And then an hour later you're like, "This is even worse. Nothing helped. I tried everything and I'm back down at the bottom again." And then it feels even worse than before. But it says, "I will remember you, God." The writer knows he can place his hope in God. It doesn't ease his despair, but it draws him closer to God. In fact, it's the very tribulations that drive him toward God, not away from Him. And I think that's ironic, right? It's the very tribulations that cause us such pain, such anguish, that can also bring us closer to God. Verse 6 ends with, "The land of Jordan, the heights of Hermon, the mount from Mount Mizar." Then verse 7 says, "Deep calls to deep and the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me." So from the heights of the mountains to the depths of the sea, we get now more of a tumultuous picture from the deer at the beginning of the passage fighting to survive on the verge of death trying to get a drink. Now the psalmist paints this picture of the highest heights to the lowest lows and the chaos waters and the waves and breakers sweeping over him. It's a mental picture of wave after wave. There's no escape. There is no break. And the psalmist feels like drowning in the hardships is inevitable. The song of laments, it can be hard to read. Songs of lament can be hard. We can tend to skip over them because, again, we want the joy. We see God and we're like, "I know I should be," or we have this idea of like, "I should be joyful." But it's also necessary to bring all this heavy stuff that we're feeling, the pain, the loss, the sorrow that we carry, and bring that before God. For whatever reason, we may believe the lie that feeling those type of emotions makes us weak, that we would feel shame if people were to know the sorrow that we're carrying and the pain that we feel. We never really want to be vulnerable and share that with other people. But it's real and it's not meant to be suppressed. And of anyone on earth, God understands how you feel. Verse 8 continues, "By day the Lord directs his love at night, his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." Again, we see further hope in Yahweh. By day and by night, this is the Bible's way of saying 24/7, "God is with me and he is protecting me, he's looking over me." And maybe we read this and we're thinking, "Oh, the author is feeling hopeful again, he's feeling positive.”

Well then comes verse 9, "I say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me?" Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy? Again, even though the psalmist maybe had a moment of hope, despair is in full effect and now they are starting to question God's absence. He feels as though he's forgotten by God. I think we've all, at one point or another, felt forgotten by God. Maybe some of you are in that position right now, not sure where God is in your life, wondering why it's been so long since you've heard from him. Maybe you've had these nagging doubts, "Has God abandoned me?" Maybe in whatever hard situation you're going through or went through at one point, at first you knew that God was there. Your faith was strong, you're like, "God is with me, I know this is tough but God's with me." But as that difficult situation just kept going and going and going, maybe the longer it went on, maybe that whisper became louder of, "God, are you there? Have you forgotten me?" I appreciate that we can sit in this uncomfortable position for a bit. The psalmist doesn't immediately fix or address the truth that God has not left him, which God hasn't. God does not leave us, he doesn't abandon us. But the emotions that we feel are valid. And the writer continues, he says, "My bones suffer mortal agony, as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' My bones suffer mortal agony." What a picture. I don't know if you've ever been in such a state of distress or depression or agony where the emotional and mental strain is actually having a physical toll on your body. Where the food that you eat doesn't taste like anything. Where you have no energy and sleep isn't actually refreshing, it's just a gap between feeling the pain. You can't really think and your head is maybe either throbbing or maybe it's just a fog. But living in agony is not what our bodies were made for. It hurts. It sucks. The writer here is writing a song about it just saying, "God, I don't know where you are. My soul is aching right now." Once again, the author is strengthened just a little bit by hoping in that which is unshakable. That's Yahweh, God.

And he ends in verse 11, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." Anytime anything is repeated in Scripture, it's important. It means that we're supposed to pay extra special attention to it. And especially in something like a psalm where it's more poetic and there's more creativity, the placement of it means something. And I think we can maybe gather that if verse five was this pep talk that kind of failed as the verse is after it, he's back in despair. Maybe he comes around to verse 11 and maybe he's strengthened just a bit more. Maybe it's not a full-on, "I am so confident," but it's just a little bit more hope. It's a little bit more pep talk. He hasn't given up. That's our song. It's not the most uplifting song. And in fact, if I knew music and could write music, all of this would be in a minor key, something that's painful and doesn't sound great, but kind of conveys the pain and the sorrow that I'm feeling. Even though the joy of the Lord is the farthest emotion that this psalmist is relating to, he knows that God is there somewhere and that he's worth putting hope in. He's worth putting his trust in. And so I just want to reiterate the truth that God does care about us. He knows about our pain, our suffering, and he has not abandoned us. And again, even though the joy of the Lord is maybe the farthest thing that we feel, that love and grace is still for you and given to you daily by God. So continue to put your hope in him and praise him.

I want to ask a few questions for us to consider this morning. First is this, are you thirsting for God? Are you panting for God? Are you thirsting for him? In your most desperate despairing and in your anguish, are you thirsting for God? Like it says that deer does at the beginning. One thing we noticed in our psalm was that despite the agony the author is experiencing, the joy does not come from a better situation, but specifically from the presence of God. It can be easy in our difficult times in life to ask God just to make it better. God, can you just... You guys awake? Ask God, we tend to ask God, "God, can you just undo this? Can you make it? Can you reverse this? Can you make this better?" We just desire non-difficult times. Even I'm guilty of just praying, "God, can I go back to the season of life where it was good and enjoyable? God, can you take away the pain? God, can you make this whole situation better?" Those prayers aren't wrong. And in fact, we should pray some of those prayers. But it should be in addition to a prayer that asks for the presence of God, to be in the presence of God. We need to yearn for Him, to thirst for Him, recognizing that He is the only thing that will quench our heart's deepest desires. It's not the good times that we should want as the end-all be-all. It's being in His presence that is best for our souls. That may mean still dealing with life's difficulties, dealing with pain, but doing it in the presence of God. So are you thirsting for God? Are you praying for His presence in your hardships? And the second question is, are you intentional in your seasons of celebration and joy? There's a part of this psalm that really speaks to me, and it's that memory of the joy and celebration and the presence and protection of God. And sometimes those memories of a good time can stir bitterness. We're upset that we're not in that good time, that our situation isn't a better one.

But really, I think we need to view the good times, the good memories, the positive experiences and life situations as gifts from God, as anchors for our minds and hearts, as a future oasis in a future desert that we're going to be in. Don't let the bitterness rot your heart. Don't let the lack of good times close the door on God and distance you from Him. Rather, let it be one of the things that draws you closer to Him. You are sowing seeds for your life when you are intentional in your seasons of celebration and joy, when you make the most of your relationship with God, when you practice healthy spiritual rhythms, things like spending regular time with Him, praying and meditating on His Word, loving others and being generous with a heart of service, Sabbath-ing regularly, thinking of others like Jesus would, fellowshipping with the body of believers on a weekly basis. Just like the psalmist remembered doing, build up those memories. Store them up within your heart so that you can remember the preciousness and joy of being a part of God's family for moments when you feel so far from Him. So are you intentional in your seasons of joy and celebration? I want to close with this as the team comes back up. I know I said that this song doesn't resolve, but there is more. Scholars think that originally Psalm 43 was a part of Psalm 42 as one longer lament psalm. In Psalm 43, the writer continues looking to God for vindication and imagines his joy in the presence of God. One scholar writes, "Throughout Psalm 42, there has been a growing reliance on the things that cannot be shaken, although the storm of suffering has given no sign of relenting." And in 43, "Homewhere bound or not, the poet can praise God as his exceeding joy, not merely his help, but God's salvation is there. Outwardly nothing has changed, but he knows that God is with him." So my encouragement and my challenge to you is this week, read Psalm 43. Read it a couple times. Maybe you read Psalm 42 and 43 together, but see what the Spirit is helping you process and understand how you might draw nearer to Him in your seasons of life. I love that this week is a prayer Sunday. I think it's perfect. Whatever you're going through, whatever, maybe it's in the past, maybe it's months old, but we all have things that our hearts are heavy for. Sorrow, pain, loss. We would love to pray for you in that time. So we're going to enter this time of prayer. In this next song, you are invited, Bob and Chris are here as our prayer team, and they would love to pray for you. So you are welcome to come up, and they would pray with you in this next song. You can sit quietly and reflect and pray if you would like, but worship God freely, but know that you're not alone, that God is here for you, and therefore we as a body of believers and as a church, we are here for you too. So I'm going to go ahead and pray right now, and then we're going to sing this song and pray however you feel led.

God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for being there for us. Thank you for not leaving us, not abandoning us. And I pray for those who feel like you are so far from them, I pray that they would feel closer to you today. Even if it's just an inch closer, just a step. God, I pray that they would feel your presence even more and be reminded of the truth that you love them, that you are there for them, that you protect them. God, be with us in our sorrows and our hardship. May we remember that you are always there, ever-present, with your love and grace. Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 6

Summer Playlist: Part 6

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are continuing in our summer playlist series today and we're going to cover a really popular psalm. Have you guys heard of Psalm 23 before? Yeah, you've probably heard about it. Maybe here or there, maybe you saw it on a pillow somewhere, or an embroidery, a beautiful or a shawl or a throw or something. But Psalm 23 is such a unique song and psalm that I want to take some time to dive into it this morning. But first off, two things I want to say this morning, just real quick. Two things. I feel I need to say this. God loves you more than you think he does. If you hear anything this morning, I want you to hear that God loves you more than you think he does. And he is doing more in your life than you think he is. Let me say that again. He's doing more in your life than you think he is. So if you've come in this morning, maybe from a really tough week, maybe you're discouraged, maybe you're worried, maybe you're anxious, it's easier to say, but I want you to hear it. Don't be. Don't be. God's not for you. God, sorry, excuse me. Whoa. God is not against you. Now you're going to remember that this week, aren't you? God is for you and your future is bright. Okay? So if you would turn to Psalm 23, I want to pray real quick before we get started. Jesus, thank you for this morning. God, we thank you for another wonderful Sunday to gather together. God, we know that you're not against us. God, that you are for us. You love us more than we can imagine. You're doing more in our lives than we can see right now. And so Jesus, we thank you for our future that is in you. God, we trust you. We seek after you. We love you. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Before we jump into Psalm 23, I want us to just really quick talk about Psalm 20, 21, and 22, because it kind of leads us into Psalm 23 of where David is. So it says here, coming to Psalm 23, the author, King David himself, he has been through it all. If you think you've had a crazy life, read about the life of David. He has, oh my gosh, he has, so start off here. He was picked to be king of Israel out of nowhere. Lots of political problems there, okay? He's been involved in more drama than anyone has ever experienced in both middle and high school combined. He's been hunted down. He was almost killed. He fled for his life. He's been hailed at the same time as a mighty warrior. He's been loved and hated. He's been everything in between, and God has taken him through highs and lows and twists and turns and surprises to the max. And we find David at this critical moment in Psalm 23. But if we look at Psalm 20, verses one and nine, it says this, it says, "May the Lord answer you when you are in distress. Lord, give victory to the king. Answer us when we call." This is David's heart right here. And then the next chapter, 21, it says, "The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give. Be exalted in your strength, Lord. We will sing and praise your might." David's on the high right here. He's like, "God, you are God. You are victorious. You are king. You are Lord of all. Everything is going great." You flip the page, Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In a matter of verses, I know this isn't chronological order, so this isn't 13 minutes later. It's like that's not how this stuff does when we flip through Psalms. But in a handful of minutes and verses, it feels like, David goes from, "You are the greatest Lord of all. You are king of all. Your victory is ours," to, "Where are you, God? Why have you left me all alone?" I know I've had moments and days and weeks like that before, where Monday and Tuesday, I am riding a high in Jesus, and it is just, "Let's go." And then Wednesday comes around, I'm like, "God, you've abandoned me. Maybe you've been like that.”

Here's Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake, even though I walk through the darkest valley." Maybe you came in here today and you're in a valley. Maybe that's where you find yourself. Can I tell you? You don't have to stay in that valley. You don't got to set up camp. You don't got to build a fire. You don't got to start making s'mores. You don't have to invite people to come hang out with you. If you are a follower of Christ, you have Christ covering over you today, know that the truth of Psalm 23 is probably the thing you need to hold onto the most right now in your life. You know what it says there? "From where I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup is barely full." My cup is half full. Is that what it says there? My cup. Okay, this is the part where you say the next word in the verse, okay? My cup. My cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. If you're taking notes this morning, you want to write something down, here's what I want you to write down. Psalm 23. Singing praises whether you like it or not.

Singing praise whether you like it or not. Why? Because I found as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, sometimes you have to tell yourself the truth whether you like it or not. And you got to do it often. Sometimes when you can't see it, you say it. Sometimes when it's too hard to say it, you have to sing it. You sang some songs of victory in Jesus this morning together, by the way. I don't know if you picked up on that. Sometimes we have to sing it to remind ourselves of what is going on. Even if it's annoying. You ever have that Christian friend, like nothing is ever wrong in their life? How you doing? I'm so blessed, pastor. I'm so blessed. The Lord is leading me by still waters. My cup's overflowing. That's probably not true in their life, let's be honest. But even if it feels like a Christian cliche, sometimes we have to be the best worship leader and pastor in our own life. It's not me. It's not Pastor Lauren. It's not Pastor Andre. It's not some guy you saw on TV. It's not some podcast you're listening to. It's not some song you heard on Spotify or Apple Music. It's not a song you heard on K-Love or somebody you watch on YouTube. You have to be the best worship leader and pastor in your own life to remind yourself of the truth when you're in the darkest valley and remember the promises of God. David is singing to himself right here. He's trying to remember who God is as he finds himself in this valley. We saw as he progressed, Psalm 20, 21, 22, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" David is saying here, "The Lord is my shepherd." The hardest part in this is learning our role. This is the hardest part. So if God is our shepherd, what does that make us? Okay, okay. Say it louder for the people in the back. Yeah, there we go. Sheep. So if God is our shepherd, that makes us sheep. Without understanding that, this Psalm 23 is just a pretty little poem. It's something you'd find, like I said, embroidered on a throw or a pillow, maybe on a T-shirt or maybe scripty written on a wall somewhere. Unless we understand that God is our shepherd and we are sheep, this doesn't mean anything. But when we understand this, it changes everything forever. Changes everything forever. But I sit here and I wrestle with this because I was like, "God, why would you choose sheep of all the animals, God? Why sheep? Why can't we be an eagle, right, or a bear? Maybe a T-Rex. Jurassic Park just came out. Anybody seen it yet? Anybody see it? No? No? Okay. Maybe a lion. But why sheep? No one gets a tattoo of a sheep on them to go like, "Look how bad I am." Like, come on. Nobody answered, "What's your spirit animal?" Sheep. Like, nobody's saying that. They don't look cool. They don't smell cool. Sheep can't even walk backwards. Did you know that? Sheep can't even turn around. They don't have strength. They don't have horns. They don't have claws. They don't have anything. No one wants to be a sheep. They're lame. Let's just be honest. Right? They can't attack. They're not a strong animal. What's it going to do? Like, really? But they need a shepherd.

We need a shepherd. Yes, God is our friend. He's our comforter. He's our helper. But when we understand that God is our shepherd, it changes everything. Here's a question for you. Have you chosen in your life to have Jesus as your shepherd? Let it sink in for a little bit. See, there's a crisis in our society that says that we don't need a shepherd. I'm my own leader. I'm the one in charge. I'm making all the decisions. Where does that lead us? I know I've met a lot of wiser and more aged people, I'll say, in my life. I'm not going to say older or elder. But they've shared wisdom with me and said, "I've tried to lead myself and it didn't go well. This plan I had just went the wrong way. It didn't work out. I told myself I got this moments later. Nope, don't got this." Psalm 23 is a song of David that brings a reality check to us. Because if we're sheep and God is our shepherd, we no longer have to chase in the right direction, situation or things. We simply have to follow. This unlocks so many incredible things. Says in Matthew 633, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." You don't have to make your own way or prove yourself. You just have to follow Jesus. Jesus has already done it all for you. The world tells us that we have to pursue, we have to chase, we have to buy, we have to own, we have to grab life by the horns, we have to climb the corporate ladder, we have to do all of these things. And Jesus comes in and He actually tells us the complete opposite of that. All we have to do every day is wake up and just say, "Jesus, I'm following you." You interview the richest people in the world and they're always chasing, right? More houses, more cars, more vacations, more stuff, more people under them to do their things, to cook their food, to clean their house, to drive them around. They're chasing, chasing, chasing, chasing, chasing. Jeff Bezos, former CEO of Amazon, he's one of the top richest people on the entire planet, billions of dollars. I mean billions with a capital B. He recently got married. He spent $50 million on his wedding, $50 million. I think collectively in this room, we would never see that in our entire lifetime. On a wedding. Always pursuing. He's into space travel. He's got this massive yacht. He's probably planning to build a new massive yacht that's even bigger that the little yacht would sit on top of. He's got yachts on yachts on yachts. It's crazy. And we get caught in that and we think, "I have to have that. I have to have that next thing. I gotta get... Jesus is telling us all we have to do is wake up every single day and follow our shepherd. That's it." He says, "Go." We go. He says, "Turn left." We turn left. He says, "Stop." We stop. That's it. All we have to do is rest in Him.

But why does this matter? Why am I talking about all of this today? The problem is when things don't go the way we want, we get antsy, right? We get anxious. And sometimes when God tells us to stop, it's the worst thing because we want to what? Keep going. We want to keep going. There are many times in my life when God has told me to stop and I was just like, "Nope, I know better." And I kept going. I'd like to tell you it went to a really good place. It did it. It never ended up in a really good place. I was outside of God's will and His timing. But when I slowed down and I listened to my shepherd and I followed in the way that he wanted me to go, he took me to places that I never could dream of, aka still quiet waters. Sheep don't strive for anything. I've never met a sheep in the third year of their doctorate program looking to graduate early with honors. Have you? No. Sheep aren't one-uppers. Everybody know the one-upper? You tell a story and someone's like, "Well, yeah. What about this?" And then they got to top your story. Sheep aren't doing that out in the pasture while we're sleeping, just to let you know. But we get caught up so many times trying to strive for God. I think our hearts are in a good place, but we have this messed up theology of we think we're on the show X Factor and God has just got His back to us and we're trying to impress Him with flowery language or praying in King James or singing the best worship song. Justin hopes that he hit that button and his chair would turn around and God would be like, "I love you." But we do that, right? We laugh at it, but then we find ourselves in some of these moments like David and we think, "God, I need you. Okay. I'm not praying hard enough," or "I'm not doing something good enough," or "I haven't accomplished this. I haven't received my Bible study badge yet from Jesus, so He's not going to listen to me yet." Newsflash, that's not how Jesus works.

So what if we could live a life free of striving? What if we could? What would it look like if we lived a life that we weren't trying to chase after stuff maybe in the world for ourselves or even in our own personal walk with God to try to prove something to Him or prove something to somebody here in our church family? What would that look like? Let's put up that photo of the sheep. Does that look like it's striving towards anything? Does that sheep look like it has a problem in this world? Does it look like it has plans this afternoon? No. That sheep has almost a stupid ridiculous bliss to its face, right? Why? Because that sheep has a shepherd. They don't have to worry about food, water, attacks from things that are going to harm it. Fill in the blank. The shepherd has the sheep covered. What if we lived our life with a mindset like that? Changes a lot of things, right? We would be free to be who God created us to be, nothing less, nothing more. We wouldn't have to be the perfect parent anymore. We wouldn't have to be the perfect spouse, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect boss, the perfect coworker, the perfect student, the perfect son, the perfect daughter, the perfect anything. We wouldn't even have to strive for a perfect life. There would be no problems. Why? Because we know God is God. We're back. Story was first with my oldest, Adelyn, but one of my kids every time has gone through something like this. We find out that the ice cream is all gone in the house. What I would think would be a crisis for my children. I remember specifically my oldest, I'm sorry, babe, we're out of ice cream. That's okay, daddy. I was like, oh, you're taking this really well. She goes, that's okay. I know you can drive to the store and go get some more and bring it home. But how beautiful is that picture, right? That hopefully as a parent, my children don't have to worry about anything. You as a sheep of Jesus who is your shepherd, you don't have to worry about anything. We think, well, you know what? I can't be generous or I can't tithe or I can't help my friend out because I don't know if I'll have enough. God, if maybe next week, God, if you fill my cup to overflowing, then the next week I'm in for your generosity. No. Or God, I will follow you as long as you give me the next 10 steps in front of me. God, as long as you bring me in on your plan, I'm in. It doesn't work.

We have to let go and we have to let God. That's what it's about. And when we want to take control of life, which newsflash, you're not in control of life. When we just hand over to God our worry, our anxiety, our stress, our unbelief, whatever it is, fill in the blank, you know what it's going through. And when we let God, we can truly, truly, truly rest easy. Because the Father is there. See, there's two qualities of a good shepherd, two qualities of God who is your shepherd. The first is our shepherd will always correct. Our shepherd will always correct. Here's a little thing, a little rhymey way to remember. When we're tempted to ponder, this is something to ponder. Hebrews 12, 5, and 6 says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline. Do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son." See, here's the thing, here, grace of God. Grace of God is amazing. Grace of God is so good that you can come to him just as you are, and he will accept you. You don't have to do any pre-work, pre-cleaning, pre-tightening up, buttoning up, whatever you want to do. You don't have to do any pre-work. You can come to God just as you are. That's how amazing God's grace is. But the other side of that is the grace of God is so great that he doesn't leave you as you came. Let me say that again. The grace of God is so great that you can come to him as you are, but the grace of God is also so great that he doesn't leave you the way that you showed up. You know, sometimes in life, things can get hard. And there's this thing called the shepherd's staff. See, we like the God that's just like, "Oh, hey, come here sheep. Come here little sheepy sheep. Oh, I love you sheep. Oh, don't go over there sheep. Come here sheep. I love you sheep." And David writes, "Your rod and your staff, they cover me.”

But there's two parts to this. There's two parts to this. The staff is the part that brings sheep in, that just lovingly cares for them and watches out for them. But there's the other side to the rod. And that is, there's times when the shepherd has to get after the sheep. And the shepherd will warn them. I did some studying on shepherding, by the way. So if you got any herds, I'm your man. No, just kidding. A shepherd will warn the sheep multiple times. "Hey, don't go over there. Come over here. Come on." Just kind of pulls them back. Just brings them back. Warn them again. "Hey, don't go over there. Come over here. That's dangerous. You got to stay with the pack. Don't go over there." But the third time is when the rod comes out. And the rod isn't so nice. The rod is a swift whack to the behind of the sheep. And it hurts the sheep. Sometimes to the point, you ever seen that cute drawing of like Jesus with the sheep on his shoulders? You guys know that one? Where he's just like, "Oh, Jesus is carrying the... Just snuggling with the sheep, carrying the sheep." No, Jesus just broke the sheep's feet. And legs. Because there'll come a time and a point where the sheep is too ornery and too wandering that the shepherd will have to break the sheep's legs. And then what happens is the shepherd then has to carry the sheep as its legs heal. Hand feed it. Hand water it. Talk it through its pain. But carry the sheep until its legs are fixed. And during that time, the sheep is so close to the shepherd that the sheep begins to learn the shepherd's voice so intimately. To where when that sheep is healed and good to go and can go and run around, when the shepherd calls for that sheep, who's the first one to the shepherd? Oh, that sheep is. See, sometimes there'll be times in our lives when we need to take correction from heaven. Not as a problem to be solved, but as promises from our Father who so deeply loves us. We might need to change some things in our life to get right with our shepherd. But you think, "Oh, pastor, that's so harsh. That's so mean. That's not who God is." Yeah, sometimes it is who God is. But the opposite would be even worse, right? What if that shepherd was just like, "You know what? Forget it. That sheep can just wander off." What's not going to happen to that sheep? It's going to get eaten. It's going to die. It's going to get killed. It's going to get stolen. There's nothing good that's going to happen to that sheep on its own. Have you ever heard that term, like when a coach or a teacher gives up on you, that's like the worst thing that could happen? Because when the coach is on you or the teacher says, "Hey, I believe in you. I know you can do more. I know you're smarter than this. I know you can do your stuff." That truly shows that that teacher and that coach loves you because they know the best for you. The worst part is when the coach goes, “Okay."

There's so many times in life that I've messed up and I was so thankful for a mentor to come alongside of me and call me on the carpet. There was a time, I remember, I was an intern at a church over a summer and I was supposed to help go lead worship at this other church who didn't have a worship leader. They're a really small church. I was dragging my feet and my boss, my superior, my reportee, I guess it would be, kept saying, "Hey, have you talked to that pastor yet? Hey, have you talked to that pastor?" And I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to go lead worship at this place. I didn't want to go to the church. I was going to miss all my friends at my church. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to do it. I kept dragging my feet, dragging my feet, thinking, "Maybe he'll find somebody else and I'll reach out and then he'll be like, 'Oh, I already got it covered.' Oh, cool. Thanks, sweetie." But I remember the boss, the executive pastor, called me in his office and sat me down. He said, "Okay, Chris, we have a problem." I said, "Oh, what's going on?" He's like, "You haven't talked to that pastor yet, have you?" I said, "Oh, no, I was going to get to it." He's like, "No, you weren't." I was like, "You in my head?" He's like, "I know you're dragging your feet. I know you don't want to be there." He goes, "But we're called to help other churches however we can." He said, "You're not on the worship team this week. You need to drive over there and you need to lead worship for that church because they need your help." I walked out of there and said, "Yes, sir." Went and called the pastor, went and led worship that Sunday. That executive pastor is now actually my boss. It's funny how things work like that, right? I was like, "I thought I was free." No, no, he's an awesome dude. But I sit there and I go, "Man, how many things have I missed in my own life from my earthly mentors? How much have I missed from my heavenly mentor?" And that remembering how much God loves me, that even when the ouch happens, to keep going knowing that He loves me so much that He doesn't want me to stay the person that I am. Just because it's uncomfortable doesn't mean it's unloving.

That's hard. That's hard for us to understand, right? You ever heard the, "Hey, we need to have a talk." No, no, no, I don't want to do it. But sometimes you have to have the hard conversation and it's stretching and it's growing and it's sanctifying and I don't like it, but so are growing pains. So are growing pains, but we couldn't get there without the growing pains to become the better person that we are. Exercise, working out hurts, but we know it's good for us. Eating healthy, sometimes it hurts. Vegetables. But we know it's good for us. If you're looking for a simple, easy life, it's not with God. I'm sorry. It's not. But I want to tell you today that you have a shepherd who's taking care of everything for you. The good shepherd corrects because he loves you. The second thing is our good shepherd always protects. Everywhere you go, everywhere you're at, you have God's hand of protection over you. Everywhere you go, Christian. Everywhere.

He says Psalm 23, 5 through 6, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." You anoint my head with oil. Something else the shepherds would do to their sheep is a good shepherd would cover the head of a sheep with oil. Why? Well, the sheep have no way to swat at flies that get in their face. And the oil discourages the flies to not come near. They don't like the smell of it. They want to be away from it. And so the sheep would get down in the face of the sheep and would just slather the sheep, their face with oil. Do you think the sheep liked it? No. The shepherd probably had to wrestle with that sheep. Maybe pin them to the ground to cover their head with oil. But what the shepherd was doing was it was protecting the sheep. Why? Because the shepherd who doesn't care about the sheep wouldn't put oil on the face of the sheep. And flies would come and land, would crawl into their nose, lay eggs, they would hatch, and sheep would literally go crazy because they literally had flies on their brain. You would see sheep that literally would just run and ram their head into trees and rocks and anything that would try to knock out the flies because they literally were going crazy. So when David here writes, "You anoint my head with oil," the shepherd is protecting them. And if you think about it, it's so, this is so cool, if you think about it, the sheep themselves hated the process. But God, the shepherd, was protecting them. This is our life. There are times God's going to do things in our lives that we are going to be just hate. We're going to be angry at God. We're going to go, "God, why didn't you give me that? Why didn't I get that job promotion? Why didn't I get this in my life? Why didn't I get that house? Why didn't I get this? Why didn't I get that? I needed that. I needed this over here. I needed this over here. Why are you doing to me?" And sometimes God in life holds things back from us to protect us.

Sometimes God in His grace and His mercy doesn't give us things in life so that we are safe. This one's a really hard one to get around because we want God just to open the heavens and just bless us. But sometimes those things were going to actually hurt us more than they were to help us. God's hand, His protection, His anointing is over you to protect you. Sometimes we just need to take a moment and to praise God for the things that He protected us from that we had no idea. That sheep getting its head covered in oil has no idea what flies are. It has no idea. It doesn't know that if they don't let the shepherd do that to them that they are going to lose their minds. And it's uncomfortable and they don't like it and it's annoying and it's frustrating and the sheep doesn't want anything to do with it. But that's God's protection on them. Sometimes we need to praise God for the things that He didn't give us because we would have been dead but we are alive today because of it. You ever pause and just kind of took note of your life? Like, "How did I get here? How did I end up at this place? Look at my life. How did we get here?" Just take inventory. It's by the grace of God. It's by the grace of God. And then if we would have known how good God was, maybe we would not have cried that night. Maybe we would not have fought that fight. Maybe we would not have run away. But the difference is when we know our ship and we know who God is, we know that even when we fail, He doesn't. Even when we're wrong, He's not. Even when we fall flat on our face, He is still standing. It's a perspective shift that we have when we understand that Jesus is our shepherd.

See, there's a story of a teacher in New York City who was teaching a public speaking class or a speech class. Did you know that's the number one fear of most everybody is public speaking? Followed by sharks and then clowns. I don't understand that because I public speak for a living. That's my life. So sometimes it's hard when I hear people who are like, "Oh, I can't talk in front of people." I'm like, "Just get up and talk." But the speech class, the teacher found this dusty old book and brought it out and said, "Okay, someone is going to read from this today." And he opens it up and he calls the quiet kid from the back of the class that, "Come up here. You're going to read in front of people today. You don't have to have a speech prepared. You're just going to read." So the kid sheepishly comes up and opens it up and it's the Bible. And it's Psalm 23. And the student begins to read, "The Lord is my shepherd." And then just burst into tears. Class waits. He composes himself. He gets back to it. For the next 15 minutes, he struggles to fight through Psalm 23. But he finishes out the Psalm incredibly strong. He gets to the end. And to see where he came from the beginning to the end of that Psalm, the teacher gets up and goes, "Wow." He says, "I know Psalm 23. That kid knows the shepherd. That kid knows the shepherd." There's more to just coming to church and reading the Bible and knowing some facts or a couple of worship songs. My question for you today, do you know the shepherd? Do you know your shepherd? Jesus is Lord of all. And if Jesus is Lord of your all, then you can sing praise like David did in worship with a smile on your face. That even if the world is 100% against you, like it was at David when he wrote this song, you can sleep easy at night knowing that the Lord is for you. Even when all that seems completely lost, everything seems completely lost. Maybe you're in a financial mess. Life's upside down. It's in shambles. Do not give up hope. Know that God, your wonderful shepherd, has got your back. I pray for those of you this morning who would say, "I don't know my shepherd." Maybe you need to have a conversation with your shepherd. He's right there. Because if Jesus isn't Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. And just as much of coming to church you think makes you a Christian, walking into Krispy Kreme, it doesn't make you a donut. I'm sorry. That's the reality. So is the Lord your shepherd? If you would say yes, then how's your sheep-ness going? Because the reality is the Lord is our shepherd and we are the sheep, just like that stupid photo of a sheep. We no longer have to chase in the right direction, to the right situation. Whatever the world says, we have to have. No, we simply have to follow the shepherd. Because our shepherd will always correct, our shepherd will always protect. All we have to do is worship by following our shepherd today. Amen?

And let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you, Jesus, for being our shepherd. Thank you, Jesus, for being our caretaker. Thank you, Jesus, for being everything that we need in life. God, I pray that we would lay down our own agenda and our own desires in life, that we would pick up the plan that you have for us. The reality is that we can't even truly comprehend how loving that you, the shepherd, are. And as King David wrote this song about being our shepherd and following you, God, I pray that that would echo in our hearts today and in this week. And Jesus, we would rejoice in the beauty that we don't have to have it all figured out. We simply have to run to you as our shepherd and our father and follow you. So Jesus, I pray that we would daily choose you, Jesus, as our shepherd, every day, again and again and again and again. God, when you anoint our head with oil, God, may our cup overflow and may we dwell in your house, your house, Lord, forever. Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 5

Summer Playlist: Part 5

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Good morning. We are in a part five of our summer playlist series. We have been just navigating through the different songs in Scripture. I'm just kind of jumping around all over the place. It's been so good. I really appreciated seeing how many songs are actually in Scripture. I knew there were songs, but I don't think I realized how many songs there actually were, especially outside of the Psalms as well. So first week we looked at Psalm 139, a really popular Psalm. We went to 1 Samuel 2 and talked about Hannah's song. Isaiah 63 and 64 were next and dove into one of the songs that the Israelites sang. Last week we had Psalm 121, that was a Psalm of ascent that they sang on their way to the temple. This series does not build on itself, so you're not behind if you miss a week, but I really do encourage you, if you have missed a Sunday, go back and listen. We have them on our podcast, or if you prefer to watch, you can watch on our YouTube channel, but go back and listen or watch those so that you can experience all of the songs that we're talking about in this series.

Well, today we are in Psalm 46. I actually had planned on doing another Psalm, but the Lord brought Psalm 46 to my attention this week, and I couldn't get it off my mind. So we're going to dive into that. I guess that's where we're supposed to be today. So you can go ahead and turn there in your Bibles or on your phones. It'll be on the screens as well, but before we dive into the actual passage, I wanted to talk a little bit more about music. Throughout this series, we've kind of touched on it. We've talked about the importance of music or the effects of it, but this series has just made me so curious about the effects of music on the brain and the body. So I did some research for us this week, all right? There are many reasons that God included songs in his scripture, and science kind of helps support that, right? The Bible, science is proving what we already know from the Bible. So one study found that music activates multiple brain regions, auditory cortex, motor areas, limbic system, which is our emotion, and prefrontal cortex, so judgment and planning. So essentially what this study is saying is that music is one of the only human activities that light up nearly every part of the brain at once. That is so cool to me because it is engaging the whole brain. We talk about, "Oh, I'm really right-brained, and I'm left-brained." Brain-did? That's not a word. Right-brained or left-brained. And maybe someone's more mathematically inclined or logical thinking. Someone else might be more emotional or creative, artistic thinking. But music encompasses all of it, and it lights up the whole brain. We know that music releases dopamine, which is the chemical involved in reward and pleasure. Things like love and food and relationships. That dopamine is getting released when we listen to music. Other studies have shown that it reduces stress and cortisol levels. Can I get an amen to that? All right, we love music for that. Also, music has been found to, when used in treatment for depression, it's found to lower symptoms of depression, both in conjunction with other treatment options, but also on its own. It lowers symptoms of depression. It improves sleep quality. It stimulates memory. It builds emotional understanding in children. And so when we listen to music or participate and experience it, especially calming and worship music, it has huge effects on our brains and our bodies. And it does matter what music you listen to, the content, and even some of the actual music itself. But that's a whole other conversation, so we won't get into all of that.

But music is so good for us. And God knew that. God knew what he was doing when he made music for us to enjoy. So then knowing that, knowing what we can see from science about the effects of music, I went a little bit deeper. And I was like, "Okay, there's music all around us." And I wanted to know why companies and brands use music so much in their advertising. And you hear jingles or you hear different things online, and we know brands because of the music that they use. So when I looked into this, there are several reasons, and we won't get into all the nitty-gritty of that. But three things really stood out to me about it. The first one was memory encoding, which we talked about that. We talked about in the past of how it helps with memory. But specifically, it creates better recall. They call it sticky. Music is sticky because it sticks in your brain, and you're better able to recall what you heard because it was set to music. The second thing was emotional triggering. Often music bypasses logic. As I said, the whole brain is lit up. So when music is present, it often can bypass some of the logical thinking and elicits an emotional response. And then the third thing is brand recognition. You associate that song, that lyric, that jingle with a particular brand, and it builds trust because you're familiar with it. Right? Okay. I'm gonna give you some examples. All right. When I say, "Ba-da-ba-ba-ba," what do you think of? McDonald's, right? I don't care if you haven't eaten there in 20 years. You know that jingle is McDonald's, all right? Okay. I have a couple more for us. I'm gonna get a little older. Okay. So hang with me here. I'm gonna start it, and I want you to finish it. Okay? Double the pleasure, double the fun. It's the statement of the great mitten. Double make go. All right. Good job. How about this one? Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that. There you go. Okay. Good job. See, we know these things. We haven't... Listen, you don't even know it, do you? Right? Because you're too young. You're too old. Okay? But we remember it because it was set to music. Things like rhyming and certain words and visuals also helped it out. But it was set to music. There's this one that I think the commercial was when I was in middle school, maybe. It was the canine advantage commercial. It was a puppy who was off at camp, and he wrote a letter. Anybody remember that? He goes, "Hello, mother. Hello, father. Please take some mosquitoes. Really, father? Thanks for the package. That's why I'm writing. I'm writing. Okay, so he goes, "The canine advantage quickly stopped all the biting." I won't put you through the rest of it. But I guess I don't remember what I had for lunch three days ago, but I remember every lyric to that commercial, and I wasn't even the target audience. Okay, I was in middle school. I was in biting flea intake medication. I don't even know if we had a dog at the time. But I remember it because it was set to music. If that same exact commercial, if that dog had written a letter home and read it in the commercial, I guarantee you I wouldn't be able to repeat it all these years later. But because it was set to music, I can remember it. So it gave me memory recall, right? It triggered emotions. Because, like, oh, it's so cute. A little dog writing home to his mom. And then you remember, you have the brand recognition. I remember it was canine advantage. So the brand and the marketing works because it was set to music.

But here's the thing. Christians are just capitalizing on what God already made. They're capitalizing on what God made music to do and how he made us to respond to music. So since this is not just a TED Talk on marketing or on music psychology, we're going to dive into scripture. And I'm going to connect the dots first, I promise. So let's get into it. We're going to get into Psalm 46 right off the bat. If you look, especially in a Bible, but it should be on the phone as well, there's a title. And it says, for the director of music of the sons of Korah, according to Alamoth, a song. So the sons of Korah were a family in the tribe of Levi. So the Levites, when we're talking about the ancient Israelites, the Levites were the priests. And the sons of Korah were often in charge of the music. They were considered musical masters. They wrote worship songs. They led the people in worship. And they even wrote many worship songs under the reign of King David. So there are multiple Psalms that were written as songs by the sons of Korah. And then according to Alamoth, this word Alamoth, we're not entirely sure what it means, but we believe it's a musical term. Like it's some sort of direction on how to sing it, maybe in like what range to sing it in, like a falsetto or soprano, singing it in a type of way. But it is a song and it was meant to be sung.

Pray with me before we dive into this word. Heavenly Father, we thank you for music. We thank you for your creativity. Speak to us through your word today in your name. Amen.

Psalm 46. I'm just going to read the whole thing for us and then we'll kind of look at different parts. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah, another term often used to mean to pause and reflect. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice. The earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah, come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. This song is full of word pictures to help us better understand who God is. And truly that is what the entire Bible is about. It's about learning who God is. It's about learning about his character, his love, his plan of redemption for his people. So often we look at scripture and we try to find ourselves in it. We try to find where we fit or how we can apply it. And that's not necessarily all bad, but really when we look at scripture and look for God in it, we will then better understand ourselves because our identity should be in him.

And this song in particular helps us to understand better God's power, his providence, and his presence. Love some alliteration. All right. His power, his providence, and his presence. So first, his power. God is our refuge. He's a safe place because he is powerful. You think of a kid who maybe is being picked on at school. They're not going to go looking for their toddler sibling. They're going to go look for their older brother or sister, right? They want the more powerful sibling to come help defend them. They want the big kid on the playground to protect them. God is so powerful that he is our fortress. The world is wild and it is crazy, but we know that God is more powerful than all of it. So here in this passage, it's talking about creation being in an uproar. Things like mountains and waves and the earth giving way. Now, this can be taken literally. Things like natural disasters or other things of that nature. It very much can mean literally and God is powerful even over that. We saw Jesus calm the storm, right? We know he is powerful in that. But it's also metaphorical in that it represents the upheaval in our culture, in politics, in foreign affairs, in just the world stage. There's so much going on that can feel like a storm. It can feel scary. But we know that because we serve an all powerful God, we have nothing to fear. He is our fortress. He is our refuge. Now I feel like this caveat goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyways. This doesn't mean we won't have hard things. This doesn't mean we won't face tough situations. We will have storms, but we have a fortress in the storm. God will carry us through it because he is all powerful. This can be, again, physical things like physical ailments or financial or relational things, maybe political or world issues. I mean, Middle East, right? Like there's so much. It can also be things more in the spiritual or unseen realm. Maybe it's mental health, emotional issues. Maybe it's a sin struggle that you have been struggling with it no one else knows about. Maybe it's spiritual warfare that feels like it just won't relent. These things elicit fear. And from a human perspective, it's understandable. It makes logical sense for it to elicit fear.

But remember what we said about music is that it often bypasses the logic and we can lean on that emotion of trusting in God, of knowing that even though it doesn't make necessarily logical sense, that God is all powerful. He is our fortress. He's our safe place. And ultimately, all of these things that we are facing, all of these storms in our life, they must submit to the power of God. So we don't have to fear. We can run to him. Second Corinthians 12, nine. And here Paul says of God, he says that my grace is sufficient for you for my, my as in God's power is made perfect in weakness. God is powerful when we are weak. And frankly, we are weak in every sense of that term. And we're powerless over so much. But God is all powerful. I know, I know that there are people in this room who are struggling with feeling powerless over something. Maybe it's just a tough circumstance. Maybe it's a relational thing. Maybe it's just something that is just really annoying that you can't change. But I also believe there are, there is someone in this room that is struggling with feeling powerless over a sin issue. That there is some sin or struggle that perhaps you've been struggling with for years and you feel powerless to change it. I'm here to tell you that we serve a God who is powerful enough even for that sin issue. He is big enough and strong enough to deal with it. And he is kind enough and safe enough to be our safe refuge as we navigate through that. Verse nine says, "He makes wars cease and breaks the bow and shatters the spear." I believe in this context, this was talking about Israel literally and the wars that they were up against. But again, it applies to us in that God fights our spiritual battles. He can make the war cease in our own hearts. He's powerful enough to break the chains of sin and protect you from the enemy of our souls. But we must submit to him. We must submit to that power and go to him as our refuge and our fortress.

Number two, his providence. God cares for his people. He is sovereign over all that takes place. Now this really does go in hand with his power, right? His providence and his power are really connected because he is all powerful and we don't need to fear it because he is powerful. And also he is in control. He's not surprised when bad things happen. He's not shocked when we get the life-altering diagnosis or when someone we love dies or when countries go to war. He is not shocked by any of that. He is sovereign and he is in control. He cares and he's always working and moving in the world and in our lives. Verse eight says, "Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth." This refers to his actions that he brought against the enemies of Israel. He brought desolation on the earth to protect his people. He cares for them. His providence is supreme and he cares for us too. Just a few verses to reiterate that. Matthew 10 30 says, "He knows the number of hairs on your head." Exodus 14 14 says, "The Lord will fight for us." Isaiah 41 10 says, "Don't be afraid for I am with you. Don't be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." He is powerful and he is provident. He cares for his people. That's why he allows himself to be our fortress. In his providence, he cares for us and provides for us. And his providence reaches across the whole world and into our own individual hearts.

Third, his presence. While he is powerful and he is provident, he is also present. God was present in the Old Testament when he dwelt in the tabernacle and later the temple among his people. Then Jesus was present literally in human form. We see that played out in the New Testament when he was literally Emmanuel, God with us. And now the Holy Spirit in every heart of a believer, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and is present with us. We don't serve a God who is distant or far off or uncaring. He is right here with us. Verse one says he is an ever present help. Deuteronomy 31 says he will never leave us or forsake us. He is always present with us. Here in verse four, it mentions a river. Now something that I found interesting about this is that there wasn't a large rushing river in Jerusalem because it talks about the city of God and Jerusalem was the city of God. Really, what many think that this was referring to was a calm river called Salome. It was small, it wasn't rushing or rapid, but it would just go softly by. And we know from this passage that it says that it makes glad the city of God. Just like this river, God isn't just present in the big, loud, emotional, rushing moment. We also know from scripture that he's in the quiet, he's in the whisper, he's in the still small voice. One commentator wrote, "The spiritual comforts which are conveyed to the saints by soft, silent whispers and which come not with observation are sufficient to counterbalance the most loud and noisy threatenings of an angry and malicious world." His silent whispers are sufficient to counterbalance what we hear from the world. Verse 10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." There's this call to not necessarily literal still, like be still, that's part of it, but it's this sense of peace, this calm, this peace of, and while you're waiting to hear from God. If you're running around like a chicken with your head caught up, it's gonna be real hard to hear a still, small voice. He may be present, but if you're loud, you can't hear him. I am speaking from experience. We have to be still to hear that still, small voice. Sometimes that literally means getting your body still, and sometimes that means getting your heart still and open to hear what he is having to say. He is present with his people. Verses seven and 11 in this chapter are identical. Here's what they say. It says, oh, sorry, I didn't even have it. One second. It says, "The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress." The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. This is twofold. The Lord of hosts, right? That is the God of many, the God of people. He is the God of peoples, of nations, of groups, the corporate. He is the God of us, plural. So when we come together, we worship a God together, and he is our God. But it also says that he is the God of Jacob, the God of one, the God of the individual. He's my God. And here it's referencing Jacob, which references the covenant that he made with his people, with Jacob specifically.

And that covenant carries through generations, is renewed by Jesus and made new for all of us. So we no longer have to be of Jewish descent or one of his Israelite people in order to be his. He adopted us and granted us in to that covenant. He is present. He is with us corporately and with us individually. He has always been, always is, and always will be present with us. So what does this have to do with the psychology of music that we talked about earlier? Well, I mentioned the impact of music when it comes to marketing, the memory encoding, the emotional triggering, and the brand recognition. And while God does not need help branding himself, I think these apply to him and his word as well. Because when the people sang these songs, they were being reminded of who God is, of the truths that we find in scripture. So when we memorize scripture, when we read and meditate on it and study it, when we sing worship songs that have scripture woven into them, it does the same for our hearts. It helps us have a better recall of what God's word says. That's just science. When you memorize something, when you set it to music, you have better recall. You know when you are in a situation, it just comes to mind because you have hidden it in your heart. It bypasses some of our logical brain in order to trigger the emotions and allows us to open our hearts and minds to God. Some of us are very logical thinkers. We see the process, we know how it should work, how it should go, and sometimes that can actually limit us from understanding who God is, from responding to him in a real and authentic and even emotional way.

So memorizing scripture and hiding it in our heart can help trigger some of those emotions. And then when we are familiar with God through his word, it builds up that recognition of who God is. We can call back and be like, "Oh yeah, he was faithful in this situation. He's going to be faithful again. I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know how I'm going to get through this storm, but he's done it before and he'll do it again." It helps build that deeper trust because we're familiar with him. We're familiar with what his word says. And we know that he is powerful, he is provident, and he is present. The world is crazy. The enemy of our souls wants to destroy us, but God, but God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in his providence goes before us and fights our battles. By his power, he made a way to save us and conquer our sins so we can find a safe refuge in him. And because of his saving grace and the sacrifice of Jesus's death and resurrection, we are able to enjoy God's presence for all eternity. Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 4

Summer Playlist: Part 4

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Are you guys enjoying this series? I hope you are so far. We are going through different songs in the Bible. If you haven't been here yet, we are for the summer. Every week we're going to choose a different song in Scripture and just going to learn about it and what it teaches us about God. We started this whole series off by talking about the importance of music and how important music is. God created music. One of the things that we've been doing too is we've been sending out emails to you guys the last two weeks with suggested Christian artists or bands. I don't know if you guys have listened. Anyone listen to any of those so far? Yeah, sweet! Awesome! We just want to encourage you to listen to music that will point you to God. So whatever mood or occasion that you have, we understand the reality that whatever goes in our ears goes directly to our hearts. It's so important to be vigilant to feed our hearts truth, music that reflects God's heart. We want to be listening to that, soaking that in. So we hope you enjoy those emails and encourage you if you haven't to try some of those bands and artists out. So far in our series, we started in Psalm 136 talking about how we need to give thanks to God because His love endures forever. And then Pastor Lauren brought us to 1 Samuel 2 with Hannah's song, a powerful biblical song that encouraged believers to focus their praise on God, to embrace humility and to surrender to His sovereignty. And then last week, Pastor Chris taught from Isaiah 64 talking about how God is the potter and forms us who are the clay. And just as God reshaped Israel from the ruins of Jerusalem, Jesus is shaping our lives today to be more like Him. So again, our hope each week is that we are reminded of the importance of the relationship of song and scripture and how important that is for our faith. It's what God intended and we pray that you are encouraged to sing.

I know some of us in here love to sing. It's easy. We sing all the time. Others of us never sing. We think our voices are terrible. That's not true. God loves your voice, however it may sound. And so we're encouraging you guys to sing and whether it's praises to God or songs of lament, whether you're smiling, the biggest smile you've ever smiled as you're praising God or whether you're praising God through tears. We pray that song, singing is a part of your worship and relationship with God. I also want to mention in our kids ministry today, if you have kids that are here in the class, they are singing this morning. We have Rachel Dolan who is here once a month. We love that she's doing this. She volunteers to teach the kids how to worship through song. So they're playing instruments. They're singing songs. And so our whole entire church is focused this Sunday on singing to God. So we're going to start today in the big church here. If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me or you can pay attention to the screen. We're going to be in Psalm 121. A different kind of song today. I'm going to go ahead and read for us and then we'll dive in.

Psalm 121, it says, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Would you guys pray with me? Lord, we come before you thankful to be gathered together this morning. Thankful for the people in this room that we're sitting next to, that we get to worship with. Thankful that we have your word to teach us truth, God. And I pray that these next 20 minutes that we would be encouraged and empowered and equipped to serve you in new ways. We'd be drawn closer to who you are, have a deeper understanding of you and therefore a deeper understanding of what we're supposed to do in life, how we're supposed to live. So God, I pray that you would bless our time. We give this to you. We pray this in your name. Amen.

A little background on Psalm 121. It's a psalm that has been sung for thousands of years. Some psalms that we read are meant to be sung, but we don't really sing them anymore. They just kind of fell out of popularity. Still important we read them, but we don't sing them. But this psalm, an ancient song of Israel, has been sung in many different tunes over centuries. Maybe as we were reading, you might have picked up on some of these words or some of these lyrics might have sounded familiar from worship songs that you have sung growing up or even more recently. This psalm, 121, is an ancient song of ascent for Israel. We'll get to that in a little bit. But some of the songs that have stemmed from this psalm, 1846, I don't know how many of you know your 1846 music really well. Felix Mendelsohn wrote "He Watching Over Israel" based off of this. More recently, "Casting Crowns" has a couple songs. "Praise You in the Storm" is one of them that uses Psalm 121. "Cutlass" - anyone remember "Cutlass" back in the day? They have a worship album and they wrote "I Lift My Eyes", a worship song using Psalm 121. Bebo Norman? Yeah, some Bebo Norman fans out there? Another Christian artist from the 90s. Yes, Bebo Norman. He wrote "I Will Lift My Eyes". Ellie Holcomb is a more recent artist nowadays. She has a song that literally sings Psalm 121 verbatim. It's called "I Lift My Eyes". I grew up in a church that sang many, many old hymns. So when I read this psalm, I was brought to the hymn written by Timothy Dudley Smith in 1979, "I Lift My Eyes to the Quiet Hills". I don't know if any of you know that one. But it's a psalm that has resonated with believers for centuries. No matter what tune you know this psalm by, the truth remains the same. Like I said, it's a song of ascent.

And so there's a few songs of ascent. If you read your psalms in the Bible and it says underneath whatever chapter, "Song of Ascent", what that means is that this was sung. Israel would sing this on their way to Jerusalem or the Zion, the temple mount. So they would go up a hill. They would literally have to ascend to the temple and they would sing this song as they're climbing up to worship God. Traditionally it was sung during the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles in autumn. But really it was also sung during any pilgrimage in general to Jerusalem to worship God. And again, they would sing on their way. We can probably imagine this, right? People just on their way with their families, maybe with their mules behind them, whatever they're bringing. They're on their way to the temple and they're singing the song maybe as a family, maybe as a large group, caravaning together to go to the temple. But they're preparing their hearts for the place that they are going to to worship God. And this sounds familiar to us, right? Preparing our hearts for something, preparing our minds for something. So if you're working out, for those who work out, you probably listen to music that helps you work out. You may not be listening to the slow classical during your squats or something like that. You're probably listening to something like something hardcore that's going to pump you up, get your blood flowing, get you going. Or maybe if you're cooking a romantic dinner, you change the music, you're preparing the music, maybe it's some jazz. Maybe you play some jazz in the room and get ready for that mood and that atmosphere. If you're studying, maybe you play some classical music, some Beethoven, some Bach, help your mind to focus on the words that you're reading or studying information. And we do this every week, right? At church, we sing before we hear the message as a way to prepare our hearts. Those songs that we sing are kind of our songs of a sense. As we get ready to worship God, we prepare our minds and hearts. We get centered on Him as we enter a space and a moment to hear God's word for our lives.

So now that we know what this psalm was meant to do, let's take a closer look, verse by verse, of what the psalm is saying. Verses 1 through 2 say, "I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." This idea of looking up for hope and for help is almost innate in human nature. We all do this. We can't help it. When we're frustrated and overwhelmed and angry, we reach that point where our bodies are reflecting what's inside of us. So maybe at a certain point of frustration, we look down. We're like, "Let me just stay centered. Let me stay calm. I'm really frustrated." And maybe if we get pushed past that in a place of desperation, then we look up. We're like, "Oh my goodness. I cannot handle. The kids are going crazy. Dinner's not ready." We start looking up for help. I don't know how many of you have done this. It's just me at home on some days. We're just looking at God. Someone help me right now. Well, you know the feeling. Our bodies start to literally, physically reflect what's going on inside of us.

It's also, again, I'm a movie watcher. I like movies. I like books. This happens a lot. It's very telling when it happens in a movie or a book. When the main character, the hero, is looking up in desperation, you know that either that's the end of them. They looked up and nothing happened. Or you know that help is on the way and they're like, "Oh, he's looking up. Hope." And someone's going to come to the rescue. And I think of my favorite, I'm a Lord of the Rings nerd, Two Towers, Helms Deep. If you guys know, you know. And the good guys are being overwhelmed. And they remember. They said Gandalf, who's the wizard, the really good guy, he left them. And they were like, "Why'd you leave?" But he's like, "Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day at dawn. Look to the east." And in the movie version, they look up on the fifth day, up to the mountain, to the top of the hill, and he's up there with hundreds of horsemen. And he comes and he rescues them and he saves the day. If you're more of like a superhero person, the Avengers, the help is always coming from up above. Someone's flying in, right? Or you have that one character who always says, "On your left." And they hear that in their little... They all have earpieces. I don't know how they all sync up with earpieces when they're superheroes. But they all can hear each other. It's like, "On your left," and you know that that one superhero is coming in to save the day. Maybe in real life, depicted in movies like Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers from World War II, the way that soldiers on the ground cheered when they were so relieved to see the Air Force come in. And, you know, whatever that was, whether that was dropping supplies or freeing them up from being pinned down. But looking up has typically, we know, is a sign of looking for help and looking for hope. It's innate. We're looking for something beyond ourselves to help us. Why do we do this? Well, typically looking up to the sky or heavens is where a divine power, a deity, would come from. They're up above. When we are at our end and we recognize that we need something beyond, we look up. Our psalmist tells us that we lift our eyes to the mountains. Again, in ancient culture, gods dwelled on the highest point on earth. So they dwelled on the mountaintop. That's why the Parthenon in Greece is on top of a hill, the highest point. The psalmist says, "I lift my eyes. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." We look up to Yahweh, to God, the creator of everything. That's who we hope in. As believers, as Christians, we hope and know that that's where our help comes from.

So we continue, verse 3 and 4 says, "He who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." The psalmist now directs the psalm to be about God as a protector. He will not let your foot slip, which is a phrase in ancient culture which depicts stability. If you're on a journey and you are sure-footed, that is a good thing. And if you slip, that equals disaster. Something bad is happening. Disaster is happening. And so I know, I'm sure some of you have been hiking, backpacking in your time, and maybe you've been on those trails where you have to watch every single step. I was in Yosemite many years ago, and I do not like heights. Get me on this roof and I'm scared to death. Even just this ladder. I don't like ladders. But I was on Yosemite. We were hiking up and we were on top of Yosemite Falls. And the group I was with was very adventurous and they had no problem. They were like, "Let's get a picture on the edge." And I was like, "What?" And they're like, "Yeah, yeah, we're all here." And so they're just walking like they're on the ground. They're just like, "Yeah, yeah." And they're literally like, behind me is the cliff. And I was on all fours. And I was like, "I'll join you." I'm crawling out to the edge with them because my legs, I couldn't even stand up. And I knew that even as like, then I had to turn my back to the edge. And I was like, "Oh my goodness, it's right behind me." If I misstep, it's the end of me. And it's been a good life. But I was so scared. And so I imagine that when I read this verse of one misstep and it's disaster. And he's saying, "God is watching you. He will not let your foot slip." God will not let... It's not to say that there won't be challenges because we know that those are pretty much guaranteed in life, in the human life and in the Christian life. But he's watching over you. He's guiding you down the narrow path of righteousness and life. It says, "He who watches over you will not slumber. He will neither slumber nor sleep.”

This thought of being watched over today is pretty normal for us in our era. You know, whether we have our ring cameras or our phones that track us or CCTV around, we just know that to exist today probably means that there's a recording of us somewhere. And we're not that... Maybe we're uncomfortable with it, we don't like it, but we just accept it. That's part of being in this time. In ancient world, to be alone was to really be alone. There was no text message, "I'll just let my parents know where I am," or "I'll text my friend," or "I'm going on a hike, but I got my phone satellite, I got that special sat phone that even regular cell phones, I'll be safe out there." There's nothing. To be alone in the wilderness. Think of Israel alone in the desert in their history, that they had to wander for 40 years. They were alone. There was no like, "Hey, we're passing town after town after..." No, they were alone. And even individually, you think of in that ancient time, being alone was to truly be alone, but to know that God is watching over you, always, always on watch, never asleep, never dozing off, never like, "Man, I've been watching you for a long time, I'm going to take a break, I hope you're okay for the next couple hours on earth." No, he is always watching. What a comfort and a peace. And what an amazing God, that He's doing that individually for every single one of us. We still need that comfort today and that peace to know that even in our most remote moments, when we think that no one can see us, no one knows the struggling, the suffering that we're going through, that God does. That He sees you and He knows what you're dealing with, what you're thinking, what's in your heart. He doesn't get tired, He doesn't get bored. He's vigilant. He loves us. And He cares for us beyond comprehension in a way that we cannot fully understand. He is so intent on looking after you.

Verses 5 and 6 say, "The Lord watches over you, the Lord is your shade at your right hand, the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night." Again, how blessed are we in this day and age to live in a world with vast amounts of comfort that we have, to not have to face the reality that the sun might be the end of us. That's a reality in the ancient world that if you were outside too long, if you were exposed to the sun, death was a real probability. We have some hot days ahead, thankfully, not triple digits. But we still have to be careful. However dangerous it is for us today, it was that much more dangerous in the ancient world. And again, Israel, in their history, has the wandering of 40 years in the desert. And God, in that time, was their protection. By day, He was a pillar of cloud, a cloud over them, casting shade on them, giving them life. And at night, He was a pillar of fire. So whatever dangers the night has, in an ancient world, again, night brought all sorts of dangers, whether it was wild animals, bandits, whatever it is, night was a dangerous time. And God was this pillar of fire to protect them. And so He's drawing on that imagery here, saying, "I will watch over you." Again, in the ancient Near East, shade could be the difference between life and death. And God is that difference for us. Having Him protect us, watch over us, guard us, is the difference between life, eternal life, and death. There's a line in here that says, "Being on the right hand." And that means it's a position of favor. There's another piece in this line that is addressing that it wasn't uncommon in the ancient world for gods to descend at nighttime, like they kind of went to sleep. And God is saying, "No, no, no. I am constantly available. I am vigilant to watch over you. Night or day, I am here.”

The chapter wraps up in verses 7 and 8. It says, "The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore." I love that it's just saying that God is not a stationary protection. It's not like, "Hey, as long as you're at church, as long as you're at home, as long as you're in the safest place that you can think of, that's where I'll protect you." No. Wherever you go, wherever you are, He is with you and He's protecting you for your entire life. God is watching over you now. He's been watching over you since you were born, and He will continue to watch over you for the rest of your life. And He's going to be watching you as you end your time on earth and join Him in heaven as you walk into those gates. He's going to be watching you the entire time with a smile on His face, eager for you to join Him. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore. I pray that that is a blessing for us to hear today, that He's with you and that He knows what you're going through. Stuff isn't happening in your life that's taking Him by surprise that is like, "Oh, I didn't see that. I'm sorry. I missed that." That's not anything that God would say. This song, Psalm 121, it's a rather simple song, but I love the picture of Israel and the pilgrims from all over the area journeying to the temple to offer sacrifices to God, to worship Him. And they're singing about Him being their protection, that comfort or the reminder that would have been for them to hear and sing those words about their God. And maybe they're drawn from experience. They're coming to the temple being like, "God, I know that you protected me. I know that I just came from something that your hand was at work." And maybe that's true for us. When you come to church on a Sunday, maybe there's days where you are singing extra loud because you know, "God, I saw you this week. I know that you were doing something in my life. I want to praise you for that.”

I want us to reflect for a bit on a couple things. And really, the big question that I want to ask today is, "Are you looking up?" Are you looking up? This implies a couple of things. First, are you looking for help? Oftentimes, in the midst of hardship, we keep our heads down. You've heard that phrase, "Keep your head down and power through." And the world today gives honor to that. They like that. They're like, "Man, yeah, do that. If you have a hard time, you need to keep your head down and just push through it." But I like what Scripture says a little bit better. It says, "Look up." I lift my eyes with hope and anticipation, expecting God to do something. Looking up requires a heart of surrender, a posture of humility, and a faith and trust in God. To look up means, "God, I can't do this on my own. I need help." So it's a heart of surrender. A posture of humility saying, "God, as much as I want to be able to do this, I know that I'm at the end of myself. I'm humble enough to recognize that I can't do it." And then we have to believe that God can. It takes a faith and a trust in Him. One of those songs that I mentioned earlier, Bebo Norman, he writes this, this is his lyrics, "I will lift my eyes to the maker of the mountains I can't climb. I will lift my eyes to the calmer of the oceans raging wild. I will lift my eyes to the healer of the hurt I hold inside. I will lift my eyes to God." I love that. I think that perfectly encapsulates what this psalm is saying. God is the one who is in control of everything, who can handle every chaotic moment, every stress, every anxiety, every hurt. God is the one that can help. So again, are you looking for help? Do you have that heart, that posture, that faith and trust? Second part of looking up is, where are you looking for help? If you get to the point of needing help, sometimes we're guilty of looking in the wrong direction. Instead of looking up, we look around. Sometimes it's to bad things, maybe substances to help us cope, something that sounds like it'd make us feel better, improve the situation, but really those things often just lead to more pain and suffering that end up hurting us even more. Sometimes we look around to good things, maybe peers, maybe influences, influencers that seem to have life figured out. And again, sometimes God does speak through people, often he does, but we have to look to him first, and then we can look around. Are we looking up to God for our hope and rescuing? Again, sometimes we tend to put our head down, we isolate ourselves in times of need. We're too embarrassed to reach out, not wanting to be a burden to someone else, but Jesus tells us to bear one another's burdens. We need to look up first to God for help, then we can look around to others that we love, that we trust, the church, as a way to say, "Hey, maybe the help is coming from those who love me." And so, circle back around, are you looking up to God? Where does your heart and mind go when you are in need? Is God the first thing? You may be saying, "Yeah, I look to God at some point," but really what you may be doing, and I say this as someone who's been guilty of this too, is God's the last thing. I've looked around, I've done this, I've tried all this on my own, I've put my head down, I've tried powering through, and now when I'm absolutely at the end of myself, then I will look up to God. And I want to encourage you, look to him first. Maybe you're someone who says, "It's hard to trust God. I don't know if I trust that he is protecting me all the time, that he's watching over me, he's guarding me 24/7." And I want to say this, there's a prayer that you can pray to help you in those situations, if that's you, if you have a thought of doubt. It's a scary prayer, sometimes praying scary things helps us, but it is scary. It's this prayer, "God, show me more ways in which you are working in my life so that I can give you praise. Show me more ways in which you are at work.”

The truth is, he is at work in your life, whether you see it or not. And if you're not seeing God, then ask to see how he's working in your life. It's a simple prayer. But I think we're going to get to heaven, and it's going to be revealed to us, and I think he's going to be, it's going to be a lot of joy for him to do this. He's going to show us things in our life. He's like, "By the way, I want to show you what I've been doing in your life." And it's going to be all these things that we never knew, all these things that he protected us from, that he guarded us from, that he steered us away from. And so we can pray, "God, can I have a piece of that now? Can I just see a way in which you're working? I want to praise you. I want to know that you're a part of my life." So are you looking up to God? Where are you looking first? Hopefully it's him. I want to end with this. Each week we've encouraged you to do something specific, engaging with music. Music is powerful. Pastor Lauren and I were just at a conference this week. We took the high school students to a youth conference, and we were reminded of how powerful music is, and it embeds in our hearts and minds. It can change our moods. If we're listening to some angry, aggressive music, we might start coming across really short with the people that we're talking to. If we listen to slower instrumental music, it might help our minds focus and study.

So music is powerful. If we listen to worship music, we might be more likely to have a heart that loves and has grace and reflects God's heart. And so the challenge this week is to incorporate a song of scent in your life. What does this look like? Well, maybe on your way to work, to meeting a friend, to an appointment you have, put on a worship song to help your heart prepare for what is to come. It can be from the Psalms, really any worship song, but the idea is on your way to something, listen to something that will bring you closer to God so that when you get there, you have a heart that reflects God's heart. We often have things that stress us out, whether it's work, maybe work is stressful, maybe we have a coffee with someone and it's like their drama is stressing me out, I don't know if I can handle, I'm supposed to talk, I'm supposed to be there for them. Maybe it's just going home after work and you're like, "Home is stressful right now. Got all this stuff going on." And so in that place, have a song of ascent. Prepare your mind and your heart to be there and when you get there, to be a reflection of God. If that's all too overwhelming, I'm going to simplify it down to just this. If you can remember, and maybe we'll send out a text to remind you, a week from today, before church, come to church listening to worship music. On your drive, turn on whatever it is, the radio, K-Love, your iPhone, listen to worship music on the way. And if you want to take a little bonus step, let me say this for you extra achievers out there in this room, listen to worship music Saturday night. Prepare your heart. The way you go to bed on Saturday has an immediate effect on how you go to church on Sunday. So I would say go to bed listening to worship music and have your heart and mind be prepared to say, "When I wake up, I am ready. I'm in a posture to worship God."

Summer Playlist: Part 3

Summer Playlist: Part 2

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well, we are back with it again today, our summer playlist series. This has been a fun one to kind of collaborate with and put together and think about. But what would be Father's Day this morning without a couple of dad jokes to get us going, right? All right. Why can't dinosaurs clap their hands? They're extinct. Come on guys. But why did the computer get cold? It left its windows open. No, no? Okay, this is really gonna kill right here. What kind of birds stick together? Velcros. Yeah, Velcros. Wow, those were way better in my head when I wrote those down yesterday. Man, it's all right. We love our dad jokes here. We love our funny sign on the corner. We get so many people who comment about that and ask us for that. So we just kind of wanna have a fun, lighthearted kind of church. This is kind of how we are. I see God as joyful and playful and fun. And so I think church should be the same as well.

But our series here, Songs in the Bible, does anybody know how many songs are actually recorded in the Bible? There are upwards of 185 to 190 songs written in the Bible. There's a couple that scholars debate about whether it's a prayer or an actual song that was sung. But there are 80% of them are actually in the book of Psalms. And there are other song books in the Bible, two of which are the Song of Solomon, or the Songs of Psalms, which is an epic love song between a bride and a groom. And then you have Lamentations, which is actually a set of five dirges, which is a song mourning the fall of Jerusalem. How about this? The longest song in the Bible is 1,732 Hebrew words. Any idea where that's at? Psalms 119 is actually that long. It's unbelievable. And it's a psalm of Bible study anthem. And it talks about how important the word of God is. The shortest song, how many words do you think is the shortest song? Oh, that's close, five. Seven Hebrew words. And there's actually two of them you find in the book of 2 Chronicles 5 and 20. The first person to sing a song that's recorded in the Bible was Moses in Exodus 15, as he celebrated the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and finding their freedom out of slavery out of Egypt, he praised God for all that he had done. And then the last song in the Bible recorded in Revelation 15 is actually also the Song of Moses, which is pretty awesome. That John, the writer of Revelation, he writes this and he sees those who have overcome the beast in his vision. And he sings the song of Moses. The lyrics are slightly different, but the idea and the message is very, very similar. There are over 1,000 mentions and references in the Bibles to songs, music, instruments, singing. It's absolutely incredible.

And we know the power of music, right? Pastor Andre and Pastor Lauren, last couple of weeks, they've talked about this, how we can have a major connection between our memory and a song, a sound, especially music. And that it does something special inside of us, right? It's like when you hear a song, somehow it takes life in this moment and like this memory and like locks it down. But then later that song is like the key that unlocks that memory and all these emotions come flooding forward. There's something powerful about music. And actually live music especially, it can trigger profound emotions, more so than any vinyl or tape or CD or iPod or app you stream on your phone. There's something about live music that connects us with our emotions. And songs are shared from generation to generation. They're kind of passed down through the years. My parents passed down to me a love of Motown music and music from the 70s and 80s rock bands like Genesis, Phil Collins, Santana, Temptations, Earth Wind and Fire, to mention a few. Yeah, yeah, give them some love. That's some good stuff. I was raised on some good stuff. Of Chicago, of course. Who could forget Chicago, 25 or 6 to 24. But Lauren and I have, we have a speaker in our kitchen kind of living room area and we love playing music, especially music that we grew up on. And all of a sudden out of nowhere with no cue or nothing preemptively, we can just start singing off a song. And the faces that our kids have, it's just priceless. They look at us and they're like, who are you? What are you doing? You're the weirdest people in the world. I said, exactly, I'm doing my job as a parent. But songs that we loved growing up, maybe some Justin Timberlake, some Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, John Mayer, dare I say Usher. You guys are totally judging me now. But I have my Christian bands, okay? Okay, I had Switchfoot, Olivia, Sherwood, Jars of Clay, KJ52 and my favorite of all, Grits. My life be like, ooh, wah, ooh wah. No, no, anybody? Okay, there's a couple in here. You've heard that one before. You know it if it came on. But these songs that are passed down from generation to generation are incredibly powerful. We have a few songs that we actually sing to our own kids. One of them was passed down from my mother-in-law through my wife. And it has a song that we sing and we've put our kids to bed singing. Whoever is rocking them says, ♪ Daddy loves Laia ♪ And then we would literally go through the family. So mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and we have a very large family. So we usually don't have to get through all of them before the kid's asleep. But we pass down these songs. My mom has an incredible song she sings with the kids. ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ A bushel and a peck ♪ You guys know that? ♪ A bushel and a peck ♪ ♪ And a hug around the neck ♪ They love singing those songs. I grew up, my mom singing a song to me of, ♪ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪ You guys, there's these songs that are passed down and they remind people of their identity and how they are loved.

Israel passed down songs and prayers, reminding them of the love of God. And we're gonna be in Isaiah chapters 34, or 36 and 34 this morning. But during this time, it was the Babylonian exile. This was a horrific time for the Israelite people that the Babylonians had come in and overtaken, actually had destroyed Jerusalem around 587 BC. And the Israelites were ripped apart. Some stayed in Jerusalem, others were sent around the globe. They were sent to Babylonian captivity. And it was a time of despair and displacement. They questioned God's covenantal promises. And as the people, they felt just this abandonment. And yet they've been told their whole lives that they were God's chosen people. And so in Isaiah 63 and 64, it was written near the end of their captivity, probably somewhere around 540 BC. But Israel was so broken. Their temple was destroyed. It was in ruins, their identity, where they had seen God physically in front of them, did not exist anymore. And they began to sing this prayer in these chapters, calling God their father. A reminder of the truth that had been passed down to them from generation to generation. And after Cyrus of Persia, he conquered the Babylonians. He let the people return back to Jerusalem. We read about this in Ezra chapter one. But when they returned these early refugees, they found themselves with a city in desolation. There was economic hardship, spiritual delusion, disillusionment. The restoration wasn't happening the way they had hoped or what they had hoped to find when they came back. These chapters here remind Israel and the Hebrew people of who God is. Pointing to his eternal love, generation after generation after generation, reminding them of the character of God, despite the world that they saw all around them. So for us, I think of Father's Day, I find it fitting that we honor our dads in our lives and those around us. But we also lift up God as the ultimate heavenly father. Whose love endures forever like Pastor Andre shared with us. And is seen in this song and fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah. We get the big picture of not just like a moment in a few years in the Old Testament, where we see the fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And he embodies this perfect father-son relationship that ultimately he invites us into his family.

Before we keep going, I'd love to pray with us before we dive in. Jesus, thank you for this morning. God, we thank you for time of worship. God, we thank you for time of celebration. God, honoring those who have faithfully served you for many years. God, honoring those who are stepping up in new faithful service. And God, as we honor our dads here at Spring Valley, God, I pray that ultimately we would see you as our heavenly father, that we'd be reminded of your love and your compassion and your faithfulness, maybe despite our earthly relationships that we have. God, remind us of your truth today. We love you. Amen.

Isaiah 63:16 says this. For you are our father. Though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us, you, O Lord, are our father. Our redeemer from of old is your name. Israel is singing a song of identity. They're reminding and acknowledging God as their father. Even when human lineage of like Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and all those things that they read about these prophecies and these covenants and these commitments from God, even when that seems broken, they are reminded of who God is. I picture Israel maybe in captivity in Babylon, miles and miles and miles away from their homeland where they grew up, where their family used to live, singing of God as their true father, even in the midst of captivity. There's something about song, like I said, that locks in memory. And these people were reminded of who God was when they were a child through song so that they could carry that with them no matter where they were in life. No matter where they found themselves, whether free or slave, lost, home, wherever they were, they could sing a song and be reminded of the truth of God. I think of us like today, we sing hymns about God, how great thou art, great is thy faithfulness, amazing grace, awesome God. We sing these songs and sometimes out of nowhere, right, it just pops into our head and we just start singing it. That's the power of music, to take us back to a place and time where God was so evidently faithful right in front of our eyes, to be reminded maybe in a moment where it's like, oh, I'm really struggling here, God, I don't understand what's happening. We can be reminded of his faithfulness.

Our songs today echo Israel's exiled hope. I love what it says there, the redeemer from of old. See, this shows God's love is eternal, it's never ending, it's everlasting, and that it's rescuing his people from slavery and sin and exile, God's enduring love. I can envision Israel maybe in chains, clinging to God's redeeming love, crying out to him through song, that even when they might have felt abandoned, no home, no hope, they cried, you are our Father, trusting God's redeeming love, just as we too trust him today. I think of the story from Jesus of the prodigal son, but I think from the perspective of the father, the son goes off, squanders his inheritance, gets to the point where he is lower than low, he's fighting pigs for food with just like junk scraps, he's rummaging through garbage just to find something to eat to survive. And he thinks, my dad will never accept me when I come home, I left such a horrible way. And yet he goes, you know what, if I just go home, I just beg dad to just be one of his workers, I just beg dad to be his janitor. And yet he walks home and the father sees the son from afar, it says in scripture. And the dad just belts, just flies to him and embraces him. And his son's like, dad, I don't deserve this. But the love from the father, despite his son's rebellion, this is a picture, an image of the love that God has for his people, even in exile, and for you today. This mirrors God's steadfast love.

Today being Father's Day is really tough for some people, honestly. Earthly fathers have failed us. Maybe for you, your dad just wasn't the best example of a father, or maybe you didn't have a father growing up at all in your life. And in turn, because of that, it's hard to think of God as a father, right? I know people who have wrestled with this for a long time in their life. And I know some who still wrestle with it. And I know some, by the grace of God, have been able to overcome some of those preconceived emotions and thoughts and mindset, trying to overlay their earthly father with God, their heavenly father, it just doesn't add up. But even when our earthly fathers let us down, God never does. If you're walking away with one thing today, know that God will never let you down. You may go through some really, really hard stuff. You might find yourself exiled like the Israelites. I don't know. But God will never let you down. And I see this faith that Israel has in God's fatherhood, despite their circumstances. And if I can this morning, I wanna encourage all of us dads in the room, all of us dads who are listening, to reflect the love of God in your roles like a mirror. See, being a father is probably the hardest thing that I've ever done in my entire life. Every single day is filled with challenges, surprises, twists, turns, ups, downs. And that was just Tuesday. And in those times where I just feel so overwhelmed, I am so thankful that I don't have to have it figured out. I don't have to be the perfect dad. I know a perfect dad. And all I have to do of when I can't sometimes even feel like standing up, all I gotta do is hold a mirror of God's love and reflect that to my children and my wife. That's our calling. Rely on God for the strength, just like Israel relied on the hope, even while in Babylon, of the father that they knew that they can trust. See, and in this song, the people recall God's most like past mercies as their redeemer. They're reminded of God as their warrior, their fighter, their protector, and God their father. And then things shift a little bit in chapter 64. They start pleading for God to intervene dramatically where they are. They confess sin. They confess their wrongdoing. They plead with God to move like he's never moved before.

Isaiah 64:8 says, "But now, O Lord, you are our father. "We are the clay, you are our potter. "We are all the work of your hand." This now becomes a song of creation. Israel's prayer here likens God to a potter, shaping the people with care, sung to recall their dependence on him. I imagine this time in civilization, pottery was huge. It was the only way that you could find a bowl or a plate or a cup or anything made to hold food, sustenance, water, life, hydration. And they would probably see out in the markets, people working the pottery wheel and shaping the clay and doing all of that. This was a physical reminder of who God was in their lives. And this imagery of the potter passed down to teach the humility and the trust in God's creative fatherhood. I think of a potter making something to start with nothing but shapeless clay and to work it over and over and over again until it's made into something absolutely beautiful, something with an identity, something of value with worth, to go from nothing to artwork is an incredible image. See, this is God. He wants to shape us into who He wants us to be, something that's one of a kind, unique, special, His created. I think of the song, "Change my heart, oh God, "make it ever true, change my heart, oh God, "may I be like you. "You are the potter, I am the clay, mold me and make me, "this is what I pray, change my heart, oh God, "make it ever true, change my heart, oh God, "may I be like you." These are our prayer songs today that we pray and we work through.

Our worship continues this image of Israel's trust in God. See, 'cause as the potter, God forms us with purpose and with love, knowing every single detail of our lives. We read that in Psalm 139. Picture God here shaping Israel, even in the midst of the exile ruins, that the returnees at this time were faced with a desolate land in opposition. They were leading to prayers for God to form them, to move as He did in the past, to shape them and to reshape their shattered nation. I feel their hope as they return to Jerusalem, even facing what they're looking at in just ruins and desolate land. See, when making pottery, there's no shortcuts. There's no quick way to do it. If you rush it, you will ruin it. And that it takes time, it takes focus, it takes energy. And there's nothing that the clay can do to hurry it up. The Israelites trusted God with His hand and they rested in the process and the design. One of the biggest roles as fathers we can have is as God shapes us, we in turn help shape our children. We shape them in love, we shape them in patience. We imitate God's careful, creative care with those at which He has entrusted us. I envision even in the exile, the fathers of the Israelite people teaching their children about God, about the days old, about the faithfulness, about the love, about the care, the deliverance for their family. And see, for all of us as believers, we are all God's handiwork. And we're called to trust God in His fatherly design for us.

Love the quote from Henry Nouwen, a modern spiritual writer. He says this to remind us of God's unconditional love as a father. The spiritual life starts at the place where you can hear God's voice saying, "You are my beloved." God is the father who loves us, not because of what we do as shapeless clay, but because of who He is. This imagery here in Isaiah 64 of the potter is profound. And as God shapes His loving children, we celebrate that this Father's Day. Fathers, love your children as God loves you. All of us trust His design for your life, no matter where you are in the shaping process. God is working. And so for the Hebrew people, God was continually working, not only before exile, not just during captivity, but also ultimately after exile, moving them towards the Messiah, the coming savior, the Jesus Christ.

We see this direct connection as we read in Isaiah, so many prophecies about Jesus, who's the son of God, would be revealed in the heavenly father in a perfect way. It says in John 14, nine, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," Jesus says. Jesus reveals God the Father in so many incredible ways. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's fatherly love here on earth, face to face. Israel's, or Isaiah's hope for a redeemer here is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who shows a father's heart. I love this. And makes us His children. Jesus shows us what fatherhood looks like. It's full of compassion. It's sacrificial. It never ends. Jesus, our savior, answers Israel's ancient cry. Jesus also shows us the father-son divine relationship. It says in John 10, 30, "I and the Father are one." Jesus and God share this incredible, perfect, eternal relationship of love and unity. And I can only imagine those who were Jews at the time of Jesus, who had heard the stories of old, and had hoped and had prayed with their grandparents and their great-grandparents and their great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents for a savior, for a Messiah to come. And the moment they met Jesus face to face and realized who this man in front of them was, mind blowing that they could see the fulfillment of God's love promised all the way back to Abraham. And this father-son relationship is a model for us as fathers with our children, showing how to build trust, how to grow in obedience, to grow in love.

I think of a father-son working in perfect unity and harmony. I've had the privilege to do a lot of projects with my father growing up. And it started with me, just a little kid, helping him build fences, to work on the cars, and to fix stuff around the house, to do so many projects and to be right by his side, to the point now that even just this last weekend, we were in my backyard working on sprinklers. And there's this somehow, and I've had people tell me, and I can't fully comprehend it, but there is a unspoken language and flow that my dad and I have with each other that we're just like in lock sync, just working on a project. And that didn't happen overnight. That took a lot of patience on his side with me as a kid getting in his way, messing things up, making the project last three times as long. I experienced that now with my son, Oakland. But to the point that it comes to now to where we can just think about, oh, hey, we're getting to this part of the project, I need this tool, okay, I'm gonna go grab this. Hey, what wrench do you want? Okay, I got it right here. Okay, screw it, okay, yeah, boom, got it. We're right here, back and forth, just boom, just flowing, just jiving. And I've had people tell me, be like, there's something between you and your dad, man. There's something going on there. And I know that's not perfect. I mess up, I still get in his way. I still destroy things, trying to fix them. But it's just this glimpse in the picture, I think, of the relationship that God the Father and Jesus have. Now, they have a God-like, supernatural, intellectual connection. I don't have my father. But these are the examples of what we see here on earth, where we can see God's love in Jesus Christ. But it doesn't stop there with us just looking in on the inside of God and Jesus together and their relationships.

We are actually adopted, as it says, into God's family as God's children. It says in Romans 8:15, "So you have not received a spirit "that makes you fearful slaves. "Instead, you receive God's spirit "when He adopted you as His own children." And now we all can call Him Abba Father. Through Jesus, we cry Abba Father through the Holy Spirit, being adopted into God's family. You can feel the joy and just the relief from the Israelite people as they understand that they are God's children. Song in Isaiah reminds us of God as a Father and the full fulfillment of that in Christ, who makes us heirs with Him. We don't just get invited to the dinner table. We share in the inheritance. And this song comes to this epic crescendo. Some would say, "fortississimo," which is a fancy musical term in Italian that means crank that baby up as loud as you can, if you didn't know sheet music. And that we get to rejoice in Jesus's victory today, right now in this moment.

St. Augustine, a fourth century bishop, captures our longing for this relationship. He says, "You have made for us yourself, for yourself, "O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." God's fatherly love endures, shaping us through life's ups and downs, and it's all seen in Christ's redemptive work. Find rest today. That even if you don't have a earthly father or you don't have a relationship with them, you don't have a good one, you have been adopted into a family with God. You have been adopted into a family with a perfect father. And that is your true loving father. Timothy Keller has an incredible quote, and says, "The only love that won't disappoint you "is the one that can't change, that can't be lost, "that isn't based on ups and downs of life "or how well that you live. "It is something that not even death can take away from you. "God's love is the only thing like that." These songs of Isaiah 63 and 64 were sung through generations, proclaiming God's position as our heavenly father, our redeemer, our creator, whose love endures forever. And in Jesus our Messiah reveals the father perfectly, inviting us into his family. Dads, imitate God's love and patience and care in your family today. Like the fathers here in Isaiah, showing God's love to their children through this song. And for all of us, we need to trust God as our heavenly father, to sing his praises and to live as his children through faith in Jesus Christ. We join, I love this, we join in Israel's ancient song of trust today. We'll leave you with this verse, 1 John 3:1, it says this. "Consider this, the father has given us his love." Remember, his perfect, perfect love. And he loves us so much that we are actually called God's dear children. And that's what you are. You are God's children.

Pray with me. Jesus, we thank you for your truth. We thank you for the reminder of your salvation. We thank you for the faith that the Israelite people had, that even in the midst of chaos and slavery and destruction and ruin and chaos and shattered hopes and shattered dreams, lost friends and family, that they could still call you their father. That's so powerful. And so, Jesus, I pray for us today that we would be reminded of this, that was even 2,500 years ago. Israel sang this song to you in their darkest hour. And today, God, we can sing in that same truth and the fulfillment in Jesus Christ as you, our father's greatest gift ever given to us. Isaiah 63 and 64, God, it calls us to you, our Redeemer, whose love endures forever. And God, this Father's Day, I pray that we would be able to sing maybe a little bit louder and live a little bit bolder in your love, trusting you as our heavenly Father. And maybe for some of us here this morning, we've never put our faith or our trust in you. And right now, hearing the faithfulness and the hope of the Israelite people in their worst moment, thinking about how they could still continue to trust you, that maybe that they need to put their trust in you this morning.

And so this morning, maybe you would say, "Hey, Chris, I need this Jesus. I need to know my heavenly Father. I need to know my Savior. I want that hope and that love and that salvation today." If maybe that's you this morning, I just ask you, just look up at me. I want to pray for you. You would say this morning that I need to make this decision. I want to trust you. I need you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus, in my life. Thank you. Jesus, I pray that those who are wrestling with this in their heart, God, that they may pray this prayer alongside of me. And I pray, honestly, God, that all of us, we would pray this prayer out loud together. I don't want anybody praying alone. So for all of us who have put our faith in Jesus before, God, I pray that we would pray this prayer aloud to be reminded of your love. Let's pray this together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your love. I thank you for your everlasting presence and compassion and that the care that you have for me as my Father. I'm sorry for the things that I've done that haven't honored you as my dad. I confess these to you today and I live in going forward in your salvation, in your hope, and in your love. Thank you for Jesus. May I live reflecting your love to all those around me. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 2

Summer Playlist: Part 2

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well, good morning! I am Pastor Lauren if I haven't had a chance to meet you. And we are in our summer playlist series where we are talking about the different songs in the Bible. There are actually a ton of songs in the Bible. I don't think we always realize this because it's written down and we don't have the music for it. So I think it's easy to forget or not even realize that there are so many songs in the Bible or that they were written for the purpose of praise and worship and even prayer through song. So Pastor Andre last week kicked off our series and talked about Psalm 136 and kind of explained the purpose of music and how music and songs allow us to express ourselves. It helps with memory and memorization. It allows us to recall things, past experiences. You hear a song and it takes you right back there, right? Song is such a beautiful thing that God created for us in our human experience. He also shared some particular songs that allow him to recall experiences and it got me thinking about some of my own.

And so I was thinking this week, I was like, "What are songs for me that draw up some experiences?" So the first one I thought of was the song "Come What May" from the movie "Moulin Rouge!" It was our first dance at our wedding song. So anytime I think about that, I think about our wedding. And in the movie they are dancing on clouds. And so Chris surprised me with a smoke machine under the table. And so we're dancing and all of a sudden we have clouds all around us. And so it takes me back to that moment. Oh, I know. It was all three. I distinctly remember listening to the Hamilton soundtrack while I was in labor with Oakes. I hadn't even seen the musical yet, but I loved the music. So I was laboring for several hours with some Hamilton. The song "Dive" by Steven Curtis Chapman is an old Christian song. It's a great song. But my parents actually started a church when I was about 11 called the River Church. And so at our grand opening we sang this song "Dive" and it was on repeat in our house for weeks. So it always takes me back there. Even just artists like Britney Spears, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys. Didn't think we were talking about boy bands today, right? Backstreet Boys, Destiny Child. Those are the soundtrack of my middle school and early high school days, right? You just you hear those songs and it just takes you back, at least for me, if you're a millennial, takes you back there. And I'm sure we all have those artists or those songs that take us back to those moments.

And that's really what these songs are in scripture. It's the playlist or the soundtrack of God's story throughout the Bible. His story of creation and love and redemption. And so when we look at them, it puts us more in awe of who God is, of what He has done. And it helps us to recall His goodness, His love, and His creation. We are going to be in 1 Samuel today, so feel free to turn there in your Bible or on your phone. We'll have it up on the screen if you need a Bible. There's some in the chairs as well. But we are talking about the song of Hannah. It's listed in the Bible as a prayer, but through Jewish tradition, they actually refer to it as Hannah's song. It was meant to be sung. So a little backstory. Hannah was a Jewish woman who was married to Elkanah and she was one of two wives, because that's what they did then. And she was barren. She wasn't able to have any children. But the other wife, Peninnah, was. She had children and she did not let Hannah forget it. She berated her. She put her down. She was unkind to her, because Hannah couldn't have children. In that day, that was the worth of women, was bearing children, particularly sons. And so Hannah was distraught and she cried out to God for a child. And she promised that if God gave her a son, she would give him back to the Lord. She would dedicate him to the Lord. So that's where we find Hannah here. She had a son, Samuel. And here in chapter 2, she is singing a song as she is dedicating Samuel to the Lord. And by dedicating, I mean she was literally, after he was weaned, literally giving him two services in the temple. He was going to be raised by the priest in service to God. So we're going to pick up here. We're just going to go section by section.

But we're going to pick up here in chapter 1, right off the bat. Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart rejoices in the Lord. In the Lord, my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you. There is no rock like our God." Hannah starts by rejoicing in the Lord. Pause with me here though because she's literally leaving her young child in the temple, never to be living in her home again. And yet, she is starting with rejoicing. This really caught my attention because she was barren and it was this long struggle. And she finally conceived and was given a son. And now she's giving him up to the Lord. It was a good reason for her to give to the Lord. If anyone's going to take care of your child, it's going to be the Lord. But she was relinquishing him being in her home. And yet, she was rejoicing. She wasn't rejoicing in her circumstances though. She was rejoicing in God, in who He was. She starts her prayer with personal praise and it focuses her on who God is. And it reminds us to focus our praise on God too. She wasn't focused on the circumstances or even that they changed. She wasn't praising Samuel or even necessarily celebrating the gift that he was. She was celebrating the giver. She was worshiping the God who saved her and loved her. In the first verse, it says that her horn, the Lord, in the Lord, my horn is lifted high. And this idea of a horn being lifted up in scripture is the idea of strength being restored. Like I said, in that time, not being able to bear children was terrible for women. And so for her to bear a son was her strength being restored. Her role in society as a wife, as a mother, as a woman, she was being restored. Her position was restored in bearing a son. Hannah, in this passage, has really similar language to another song. It is a psalm of David in Psalm 18. It says, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Like David, Hannah is focusing on praising who God is. Out of this gratitude for what he's done for her, she praises because he is the deliverer. He is the restorer. He's the one who raised the horn of her salvation. He is the one who is holy. There is no one else like him. He's the rock that she can count on. And so her prayer reminds us to take the focus off ourselves and even off of our circumstances, good or bad, whatever's going on, and put it back on God, the one who has no equal, who there is none like him.

Moving on to verse 3, it goes from more of a personal prayer to a more broader public praise. It says, "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance. For the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumble are armed with strength. Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has born seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away." Hannah cautions the listener here to not boast himself, but to understand that God is all-knowing and is the judge over all. Her song for us is a call to humility. Humility, just general definition, it means to be freed from pride and arrogance and to have a right view of oneself. She knows that it's only by God that anything has happened to her, that her circumstances changed, that anything came to pass in her life. It was only by God. No amount of effort or work on her part, there's no Pinterest hacks or things she could do to get herself pregnant. She knows that it was only by God. She's simultaneously praising God for being the all-knowing judge and encouraging her people to practice humility, to enter into worship with a humble heart. God knows the hearts of man. He's the only one who is all-knowing, who is the judge. And that truth, frankly, should humble us. It should bring about humility in our own hearts to realize that He is omniscient. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. I wonder how often we think that anything that has happened or anything that we have accomplished is in our own strength, that we've done it, we've pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps or we've made it happen, we've pushed through. And to be sure, we are not helpless, we are not useless. God has a role and work for us to do, but it is not dependent on us. And so we must approach God with humility in understanding that it is Him who knows all things. It is Him who judges the hearts of man. In summarizing an idea from C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity, Pastor Rick Warren wrote that, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." And that's reality. We don't have to think that we're useless, we just have to think about ourselves less. By elevating who God is and coming to Him with humility, not that we are nothing, but that He is everything. Hannah is giving credit where credit is due. She's having a right view of herself as she worships and prays and praises God. And we should do the same. It should cause humility in us to do the same. The third section, the last part of her prayer, is really more poetic. It's not metaphorical necessarily, but it is poetry. And it's a beautiful, especially in the original language, it's a beautiful message of the actions of the Lord and of what He has done for Hannah and in the lives of Israelites.

Verse 6, "As the Lord brings death and makes alive, He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth, He humbles and He exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's, on them He has set the world. He will guard the feet of His faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails. Those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His anointed." This section of Hannah's song encourages us to surrender to God's sovereignty. It talks about how the Lord does this, the Lord gives, the Lord strengthens, the Lord lifts up. He is the one who is sovereign and encourages us to surrender to His sovereignty. For those of us who like to be in control, this is a tough one to handle. I know for me that I struggle, not that I believe that God is sovereign, but to just let Him be sovereign, that I don't have to be in control. Hannah has such great confidence in the Lord because she knows He is who He says He is. She knows that He is worthy of her confidence because of His sovereignty. And really, there's actually so much peace in that truth. Because when we don't have to be in control, when we don't have to feel like we have to have it all figured out, that brings us so much peace. When we are able to really relinquish this illusion of full control and surrender to God's sovereignty and His control, His supernatural peace is able to come upon us. And honestly, we won't always understand the why or the how of things and of situations or circumstances. It won't always make sense.

In fact, it reminds me of Job, who was a man in the Bible who literally lost everything but his life. And in Job 1:20, it says, "Then he fell to the ground in worship." He already lost things, right? "He fell to the ground in worship and said, 'Naked I come from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.'" Even in the midst of losing everything he worshiped, he sang a song of praise to God. Again, here, Job is not celebrating his circumstances. His joy is not found in the fact that he has lost everything. His joy is in the Lord. God's will doesn't always make sense to us. We don't always understand it, and it can mean walking through really hard things, really hard circumstances. But because we know that He is good, we know His character, and that the Bible says, "In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose, we can surrender to His sovereignty." In His all-knowing sovereignty, we can trust Him. We can trust that He will judge rightly. We can trust that He knows what's best for us. We can trust that He will have good for us. Even if it doesn't feel good, it's for our good. Back to what I said earlier, Hannah wasn't praising God for the circumstances or praising the gift. She was praising the giver, the one who is sovereign over all. And it means, it shows us that we can do that too. That if we're praying for a circumstance to change and it doesn't change, we can still praise God. And if it does change, we can still praise God. Regardless of where we're at, if we are flying high and things are going great, or we're in the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us and He is worthy of our praise because He is sovereign. When we are surrendered to God's sovereignty, we're better able to praise Him because our praise is not dependent on our circumstances, but on the character of God. So Hannah's song reminds us to focus our praise on God. It calls us to humility and it encourages us to surrender to God's sovereignty. And truly, all of this can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can't do anything without His work in us. Even to be able to praise or to choose humility or to surrender, that is all done by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, of Jesus' Spirit in us. Lastly, the final verse here in Hannah's prayer is looking forward. It's actually prophetic. We're going to talk about that a little bit.

Let me read verse 10 again. This is, "The Most High will thunder from heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth." That's very much end times revelation language, right? "He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His anointed." The interesting thing here is that at this time of Hannah's prayer, Israel didn't have a king. They were ruled by judges. So who is she referring to when she talks about His King? And the phrase in there that says His anointed, the word is Messiah in Hebrew. So she is prophesying out of this place of praise and humility and submission. She is talking about the coming King of Kings. So when we choose praise, when we choose humility and submission, it causes us to worship as well. It really, truly makes room for the Holy Spirit to move. By His power, He is able to move in ways that maybe there isn't room for if we're trying to grasp things so tightly, if we're trying to hold on to control. But He's able to move in mighty and powerful ways, just like He did here in Hannah's prophecy. Something I think that is really important that is shown throughout this whole passage is that God is the God of the great reversal. His kingdom is nothing like any earthly kingdom here in this world. So when Hannah prays phrases like, "He raises the poor from the dust," "He lifts the needy from the ash heap," "He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor," she is acknowledging that His is the upside down kingdom. It is totally different. We're lowly, we'll be great, and the poor will eat with princes. That can only happen in God's economy. That can only happen in His kingdom.

This prophecy is also what we like to call a hyperlink. It is hyperlinking us and telling us to go look somewhere else. It is in Luke 1. In Luke 1 we have Mary's song. Mary, the mother of Jesus, sings a song of praise when she is pregnant. It's interesting because there are so many themes and parallels to Hannah's song in Mary's song. Even so much that scholars think Luke modeled, Luke who's the author of Luke, modeled Mary's song after Hannah's. So it's something to take note of because we see Hannah prophesying about the anointed one and then we see Mary who is carrying the anointed one sing a very similar song. But it's interesting because it's actually later in Luke that we have another hyperlink. There is another song, Zechariah's song, later in Luke. He's the father of John the Baptist who's Jesus' cousin. He sings a song when John the Baptist is born. And in verse 69 it says, "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us." So we have Mary who's carrying the anointed one singing a song similar to the prophecy about the anointed one. And then we have Zechariah praising God for the horn of salvation that has come. We know that the horn of salvation is Jesus. He is our ultimate strength. He is the ultimate restorer of our strength.

So Hannah's song points us to Luke 1 and Luke 1 reminds us of the prophecy in Hannah's song. And Jesus coming to earth as a human is the ultimate reversal. He not only took on human flesh but then through his death and resurrection he took our sin away. He paid the price for our sins. So Hannah is praising God for the coming King of Kings whom she hasn't even known about yet. When we pray to God with praise and humility and submission, it allows us to glorify God for the works that he has done and has yet to do because we know he will. We know the end of the story. Because of the great reversal of our sin, we are able, like the authors of the Bible, we are able to sing songs of praise to God for what he has done in us, what he has done through us, what he's doing in the world and what he will do in the world to come. What a powerful way to honor and glorify God through singing, through worship, through a praise of thanksgiving for who he is, for his character.

I have a challenge for us today. Pastor Andre challenged you all last week to write your own Psalm 136. So I hope you all did that. But if not, you still can do it. We're not going to check. But it was great. I did it this week and it was really powerful to take the time to do that. I encourage you to do that. Our challenge, or my challenge for you this week, is to pick a song in the Bible. Maybe it's Hannah's song. Maybe you go find another one. Maybe it's a Psalm that you really know or love. And I want you to read it out loud every day this week. The same one. Read it out loud. We don't have the music, so if you want to put your own music to it, by all means, that's great. But just read it out loud. So much of scripture is meant to be spoken aloud. It was passed on so much through oral tradition. And so to say it over and over again is really powerful. It is the word of the Lord. So when you say it out loud, you are literally speaking God's words over you. You can even, like Hannah here, read it as a prayer. Use it as a prayer back to God. Praising Him for who He is. Honoring Him. Glorifying Him. Making a request of Him. And as you do this, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of Himself and more of His word to you, because He is good on that promise. When we are in the Word, when we are reading it, when we are studying it and memorizing it, when we are speaking it, He is good to reveal who He is to us. Well, speaking of prayer, we are going to begin a new practice here. Right now we're going to do it about once a month. Maybe in the future we'll increase that frequency. But we are going to start this practice of an extended prayer time as a response for us to respond to how the Lord spoke to us during worship and the Word. So Pastor Chris and Daryl are going to come up and they're going to play a song, another song for us. So you're welcome to just worship from your seat if that's what you want. But Pastor Andre and I are going to be up here at the front and we just want to pray with you. We want to pray with and for you and to be available to you.

I find it appropriate that today is Pentecost Sunday. For those that don't know, this is the day that we celebrate when the Holy Spirit, after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. And now we as believers are all given the Holy Spirit. We are all indwelt with Him. And we are going to pray by the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that there is so much power in prayer. And so there's nothing necessarily magical or particularly special about Andre and I praying with you. We just want to come alongside you and stand in agreement with you about whatever it is that the Lord has put on your heart to pray for. So as the worship song is praying, come on up. We also have prayer team standing by if we need more help, but if not, you can also just form a line and we would love the opportunity to pray for you. We're not in a rush. We'll stay as long as we need. But we want to respond to what the Lord has spoken to us today through prayer and through worship.

So let me pray for us as we head into this time. Father Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your character and that regardless of our circumstances, we can come to you in humility and surrender and praise you because you are good, because you are all knowing, because you are sovereign. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for coming, for indwelling us so that we have a guide. We have one who intercedes on our behalf to the Father, that we are not left to our own devices, but we are given everything we need for life and godliness. I pray for this time of prayer that you would move in a powerful way, that you will speak to the hearts of those who seek you, God. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

Summer Playlist: Part 1

Summer Playlist: Part 1

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are starting a new series called Summer Playlist. Summers are filled with, hopefully I think for many of us, playlists for summer road trips, backyard barbecues, maybe just quiet evenings. There are certain albums and bands that maybe you're like, "Summertime, we gotta play this music." I know for me, certain things bring me back to certain summers, like Beach Boys, for me is always a road trip up to Montana to visit my grandparents. We played a lot of Beach Boys. Reliant Kay and Michael Bublé, if you know Reliant K or Michael Bublé, that is driving in Washington State. We had a summer there and that was on the CD player in the van nonstop or in my headphones because my family didn't want to listen to Reliant Kay. It's totally okay. And then for me, just one, Shania Twain. Anyone Shania Twain? That's a summer in the Philippines when we were kids just stuck in traffic. It was on the radio nonstop. So yeah, I wasn't going to say it.

But the Bible has its own playlist of songs and poetry that speak to a full range of human emotion and experiences. And so this series is going to explore some of these songs, showing how they resonate with us today. This series is going to invite all of us to reflect on how songs within Scripture can become part of our personal playlist, our personal spiritual playlist, encouraging us to draw closer to God through worship and through reflection. So it's a perfect summer, we thought, to do that, to whatever road trip or whatever vacation you have planned. And I'm also going to encourage a time of getting to know our spiritual song list. I'm really looking forward to having Pastor Chris back to a real musician to get into this series about music because I am not a musician. But I'll do my best this morning to intro some of these insights regarding the relationship between Scripture and music. And I briefly want to cover music and songs in Scripture, music and songs in the church, and then music and songs in our personal transformation.

So first, music and songs in the church. Where do we see music in the Bible? Well, I think an obvious one would be Psalms. And we usually, we've talked over many years about how Psalms are often songs. And they're meant to be sung. But really, there is music all over the Bible, Old Testament to New Testament. We see that music is important to God throughout Scripture, that music is created by God, and that it's even instructed by God to be a part of music. There's a couple passages in the Old Testament of God instructing the people to make instruments. Numbers 10 is one where he's telling the people, "Here, here's some trumpets. Make these trumpets. Give it to these people. These people are going to be trumpet players." And there's a whole other instruments and other people who are designated to, "Music is your job. Music is something that I have given you skills for." Music in Scripture is paired with moments full of emotion, highs and lows of the human life, different situations that bring out different songs. We may think, again, of the book of Psalms or maybe the song of Solomon because it's got the word "song" in it. So maybe we assume there's some songs there. But really, again, there are songs all over Scripture, songs of deliverance, songs of lament, songs of rejoicing, songs of unity.

And so we're going to explore in this series a vast array of different songs throughout this summer. What about music and songs in the church? Where do we see these songs today? Well, we see renditions of songs in our worship sets today. Christian artists throughout time have done everything from complete modern interpretations, just saying, "Hey, I read this, and this is my own words of what this Scripture says," to literally verbatim, word-for-word Scripture, songs that we sing. And they've just put a melody to it, and we sing those songs. So there's anything in between. It can be like, "Hey, this song that I wrote hints to a passage in the Bible, but it doesn't quote it." And then, again, there are songs—I can't think of anything off the top of my head—but there are songs that we're literally singing words of Scripture, and it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful reality to have so many songs and different styles of songs that turn our gaze to God. Now, why do we still use these songs and make songs from Scripture in church today? A couple reasons.

First is that it amplifies our understanding, our appreciation, and comprehension of who God is and what He does. Our understanding, our appreciation, and comprehension of who God is and what He does. Some people connect more deeply, intellectually, emotionally to music, rather than just reading words off a page. Some of us really connect. We read Scripture, and they're like, "I just studied that. That was really good. I soaked up so much." Some others of us are reading it, and we're like, "That was good. I feel like there's more there. I didn't get everything." But if we listen to a song that gets into the truths of that passage, that may speak to us in different ways. It also helps us communicate and express our faith and the unity that we have in the gospel. Sometimes it helps share. There are people, there are creatives. Maybe some of you in this room are a creative type, where through art, through painting and drawing, or through writing music, you're a musical creative, that you can't just express your words just by saying it. You have to create something to help express what you know, what you believe, what you're passionate about. And so worship is a form of that, is helping express the truths that we know. And then it can also, it makes truths more memorable, easier to recall, because of the way that it imprints on our minds and hearts in a helpful and different way than just being told to memorize something. I don't know if you go back to school, or maybe those who are just fresh out of school, you in history class or something, you're memorizing dates. You're like, "This war happened on this person, and this, this, and this date." And it's just up there, it's just information. But when you wrap that into a song, you can recall that easier so much later. You know, everyone here knows maybe your ABCs. And if you could, do you just say your ABCs or do you sing your ABCs? I think we all sing the ABCs. There are things that are easier to recall and to know and to have by heart when we sing them. Music is proven to engage both sides of the brain, where reading mainly engages the left side of our brain. And so even just that, our whole entire head, our brain is being engaged and used when music is a part of learning or memorizing or hearing something.

People throughout time have recognized this. It's why Luther, Martin Luther, himself, he had written 40 or so hymns, and he was intent on linking his teaching and music together as an integrated whole in order to convey the gospel essentials through a variety of coexisting and cooperating channels. Bob Coughlin, who is a worship leader in the Midwest, he's written many books, he says, "Vibrant singing enables us to combine truth about God seamlessly with passion for God, doctrine and devotion, mind and heart." And even further, while we do sing on our own, we can also listen to worship music, obviously individually, but mostly we sing as Christians at church in a corporate setting together. And Sandra Maria Van Opsal writes, "To worship is to know, to feel, to experience the resurrected Christ in the midst of gathered community. It is breaking into the glory of God or better yet, being invaded by the glory of God together as a church." Really, moments of worship through corporate singing are a glimpse of heaven. It's what we're going to be doing in heaven. You have those passages that tell us that we're going to be singing these choruses of hallelujah to God for eternity. Now, it's not all we're going to be doing. I don't want us to get the idea and the boring of like, I just sing for eternity, but we're going to love it. I mean, some of you are like, "Please no. Your voice will be made perfect in heaven. Everyone's going to want to sing." We'll get into another what heaven is like later, but singing is a huge part of it. It's clarifying God. For moments here on earth where we sing together as a church, it's a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like. I have moments in my life of corporate worship experiences that I truly felt like this is a glimpse of heaven. I remember 2016, I was at a pastors' conference in Louisville with 10,000 other pastors. We sung "All Glory Be to Christ," one of my favorite songs. All the instruments cut out. You could just hear 10,000 voices praising God. I truly, I got emotional at that time. I was like, "This is heaven." This is a glimpse of heaven where everyone is praising God. I remember in high school going to summer camp and being at Hume Lake near Yosemite out in the woods by a bonfire, looking up to the stars. At that height and that elevation, you can see all the stars and all the galaxies. We were singing "God of Wonders." Just how true that was, singing those words, seeing the wonders that God created. And I'll never forget that. All to say that it isn't just a feeling, but these truths and the faith that grow in moments of worship, memories are made and are buried deep in our heart. And we don't even think about it, but sometimes we'll sing that song and you're brought right back to that moment. And that truth that you were singing about, all of a sudden it comes afresh on your mind and your heart. And you're reminded of who God is and what He does. I hope and pray that many of you have similar experiences of worship and songs that bring you back to a moment or a truth about God. Which brings me to music and transformation.

What can happen when we engage with scripture musically and through worship? Well, the Spirit can use it to continue transforming us to be more and more like Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we all who with unveiled faces can contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." When we sing these truths together individually, we are focusing on God. And that is always a good thing to be focusing on God. Bob Coffin again, he writes this. He says, "Worship through music and song, worshiping God should make us humble. Worshiping God should make us secure. Worshiping God should make us grateful." I think we have these slides. Do we have these slides? There we go. Worshiping God should make us holy. Worshiping God should make us loving. And worshiping God should make us mission-minded. And he ends by saying, "Genuine worship changes lives." Working with parts of Scripture as we are meant to is to engage with the world of music. And portions of Scripture are meant to be sung. This is part of God's design for His Word and for us, is that we are singing some of these truths. And as we sing, we can be drawn even closer to Him. I hope that that serves as a helpful background for our series of music and how important it is to our faith and our lives, a reminder of why we sing. It's part of why we're excited for this series, is to highlight something that we do every Sunday together. We sing, we worship together, but we're going to take a moment just to focus on why that's so important and highlight some of the truths that come from that experience. I want to begin our summer playlist series with a certain song in the Bible that is more of an upbeat praise song. And that is from Psalm 136. This is a corporate praise song meant for a group setting. The psalmist rehearses Israel's sacred history, focusing on the events of Exodus and entry into the Promised Land. And in the Jewish tradition, this is often referred to as the Great Halal, which is the great psalm of praise. If you are familiar with any modern worship songs, Chris Tomlin's "Forever" is based on this psalm.

So let's go ahead and read. We're going to read bit by bit, and then we'll cover some things along the way. So Psalm 136 verse 1 says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever." Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. We'll stop right there for a second. We are being called to praise God for His goodness and His power over all that exists. He's reminding us and telling us that God is sovereign. Everything is under His control, and He has power over everything. He is the God of gods, the Lord of lords. And then we see this repetition, this verse, "His love endures forever." Maybe now you can hear that Chris Tomlin song going off in your head. The word here for love is the Hebrew word "hesed." We've talked about hesed before if you've been around Spring Valley. It's one of our favorite Hebrew words because the Hebrew word is a steadfast love, a faithful love. It's not just the love that is poured out, but it also speaks to the person who is loving and how loyal they are, how steadfast they are. So God is steadfast in His love. He is loyal. There is nothing that can keep God from loving those whom He loves. This phrase is meant to wash over us as we read this psalm. And when you listen to the song, it's a truth that is meant to sink into the depths of your being. That you know this, that you're going to be able to say this automatically for the rest of your life. His love endures forever. His hesed love, His steadfast, faithful love endures forever. It's to serve as a reminder, a comfort. Maybe we need this comfort. We need to know this. We're reminded of this and an encouragement. Let's continue in our psalm. It says in verse 4, "To him alone who does great wonders, his love endures forever. Who by his understanding made the heavens, his love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, his love endures forever. Who made the great lights, his love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, his love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night, his love endures forever." Right now, the psalmist, the writer, is inviting us to see God as creator, creating all the cosmos. And when we think of creation, we often think of authority, we think of intelligence, the power, the creativity. That is good, that's a good thing to think of. And He is the one that we owe everything, our existence, and all that we see, we owe it all to Him. But maybe lost in the thought of creation and God taking the time to create the world that we live in, in us, is that He did so with love. I love that this section ends every part with His love endures forever. Again, we think of creation, and maybe we think of it like in an apologetic mindset of saying we have to prove that creation happened. And I'm all for that, but we cannot forget the love that God created with. And so this song, this part is highlighting the Genesis creation story, the maker of the heavens, the earth, the stars, the moon, the sun, all of it. All that we see, all that we breathe in, the world around us, it all comes from Him. And it's sustained by Him with His love.

Let's continue, verse 10, it says, "To Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, His love endures forever, and brought Israel out from among them, His love endures forever. With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, His love endures forever. To Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, His love endures forever, and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, His love endures forever. To Him who led His people through the wilderness, His love endures forever." So now we're invited in the story of Israel, in the story of history, we're invited to see God, God's relationship with Israel, and how He guided and delivered them from slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness. He is their rescuer, their savior. And for us today, we're reading this and we know that this is foreshadowing to further salvation that God is going to bring to all of humanity. But this is a pivotal moment in Israel's history. They were facing extinction. Pharaoh was moving toward genocide. He had the order of killing all the infant boys. And so this is a moment in Israel's history that is absolutely dire. They know that if God doesn't intervene now, it's over. And so this is, again, the Old Testament is full of moments harkening back to God doing what He did for Israel in Egypt. And they're crying out and they're crying out, "And God answered, delivering them from Pharaoh, performing miracles along the way like parting the Red Sea, bringing all of Israel through the Red Sea, and then destroying Pharaoh's army by having that sea crash in on them." Moments that only God could have done. No one else. There's no credit to Moses. This is God at work. This is God being the rescuer and savior. And so the psalmist is looking back upon Israel's history and saying, "This, this is the God we worship." And through all that, He was loving us. His love endures forever.

We come to verse 17, it says, "To Him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever, and killed mighty kings, His love endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, His love endures forever. And O, king of Bashan, His love endures forever. And gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. An inheritance to His servant Israel, His love endures forever." This is the part of Israel's story where they come into the Promised Land now. The Promised Land that was promised hundreds of years before to Abraham saying, "I'm going to give you a land for your people. This is the land." And we see God as Victor. No battle won without Him. The land is being given to Israel. They came out of the wilderness, wandering for 40 years into the Promised Land. And that land wasn't empty. It was full of other people and other kingdoms that were there. And at first, some of them were scared, like, "I don't think we can do this." And God says, "I've got you. I've promised this to you. I love you. Now follow Me." And He gives them the land. Battle after battle, they go in and it says, "God gave them the victory. And God gave them the land." And through all of that, He is loving Israel. He's loving His people. And the psalmist ends the passage with this, "He remembered us in our lowest state. His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever." This last section is a series of brief statements that echo various themes through the sections of Psalms. And it emphasizes that God is the God of heaven, of eternity, and that God sees us and provides for us every need that we have. He sustains us. Not just us, but all of creation. He is sustaining the world around us. No animal, He gives food to every creature. He made the world the way it is and for it to work the way that it works. He is our provider, our sustainer, and God is our friend. Even in our worst times, God is there with us. I love that verse 23, "He remembered us in our low estates.”

I think of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd." When we are feeling at our lowest, at our worst, when we are feeling like we have no worth, like the world has abandoned us, we feel isolated. God is with us. And in the midst of those times, His love is enduring and endures for us. So this is a beautiful Psalm, Psalm 136. Again, meant to be sung by the people of Israel together as a chorus. So at this time, I'm going to ask you guys, no I'm just kidding, we're not going to sing. Did you guys think I was going to? We're not going to sing. I can't lead. It's not happening. But hopefully understanding how music and truth can come together to form powerful memories and store truths in us in such secure ways, I hope that this Psalm hits different than it did before. Or that it's reminding you of certain things that you needed to hear today. I want to ask some questions of us right now. First is, do you need to see God as Creator? In a time where the world can seem so chaotic, so undone, so backwards, where life in the very world we live in seemed to be doomed. That's all we hear, right? This world is doomed. We're uncertain if there's going to be enough in the world. We just talked about having a scarcity mindset. The world around us lives in a scarcity mindset. Is there going to be enough oil? Is global warming going to be our undoing? Is every natural disaster a sign that the world is going to end very, very soon? But in the midst of all that and all the worry and the chaos that comes with those things, do we remember that God is the Creator, sustaining His creation? He's holding this world together. Do we believe that He is? Do we take comfort and rest in the truth that He is holding this world together? So do we need to be reminded that He is the Creator? Are we too focused on the creation rather than the one who created it? I think sometimes we get in this mindset that God created it and backed away. God's still there. God's right there holding this world together. So do you need to see God as Creator this week? Do you need to see God as your rescuer? Is our hope in the only one who can truly rescue us? Or is our hope in someone or something else? Is it in ourselves, in our own ability to save ourselves, to make a living, in our plans and schemes that we have to live the life that we think is best? Are we too busy trying to save ourselves to see that God is truly our rescuer? Maybe it's in someone or something else, a world leader or a party or a country. Are we putting our hope in someone or something thinking that they have all the answers to all the questions, that they have it all figured out? Or do we see that God is the one with truly all the answers who knows to all the questions that we can think of and all the ones we can't? God knows He is our rescuer and He is in the process, in the midst of rescuing us constantly, daily. Do we see that God is the one who saves, who guides us through the desert and the seasons of wilderness in our lives, who can work miracles where need be? Do we hope and trust and see as God is our rescuer? Or do we see God as our victor? In whatever battles we face, and there are a lot of things that we are facing daily, a lot of battles that each of you, I know, are battling. It can be an inner battle, battles with sin, lust, pride, apathy, gluttony, greed. It could be a mental health battle, battles of self-worth, self-image, isolation. It might be the battles of everyday life, having to be enough, having to have enough to be a good parent, a spouse, a friend, an employee, a student. Do you see God as your victor, as the one who is going to provide what you need to get through each day, to help you overcome whatever battle you are facing? He is the one who will deliver you from that anxiety, that stress, or that chaos.

So I love how this song, Psalm 136, reminds us that God is the creator, our rescuer, our victor, all because His love for us endures. I have a couple suggestions for us this week. First is, I would love to encourage you to listen to some worship music this week. Radio, Spotify, I want you to engage with worship and scripture in the way that God intended us to. For some of you, you're like, "This is easy. I do this all the time." Great. Done. For others, maybe this is more uncomfortable. Maybe you don't listen to music or you don't listen to worship music. Maybe you don't consider yourself a singer, so you're like, "I'll listen to it, but I'm not going to sing it." But try it on a drive, in the privacy of your car, while you're preparing dinner, whatever it is. Play some music. Sing some worship music. And I want to push you even farther. Sing it out loud, not just in your head or in your heart. Sing some worship music, some truths from scripture, because they're going to embed in your heart and mind in a different way than you just reading your Bible. Sing God's truth this week. And you'll see, maybe not immediately, maybe not this week, but at some point in your life, you are going to be grateful for having done this. And that song is going to come to you in the perfect time. I think we often pray, "God, can you speak to me? God, can you? I want to hear from you." I think oftentimes it comes through music. It comes through a song that we're listening to, or in a moment, our hearts are drawn to a song. And that is God speaking to us saying, "This is the truth I need you to know right now." So sing some truths, listen to some worship music.

Second suggestion, there's only two. You have to do both. I'm just kidding. You should. I encourage you. The second one is even more. I'm pushing you even farther. I would love for you to write your own song. Ah, you guys are like, "No, not happening." I want you guys to write your own personal rendition of Psalm 136. Now, I don't mean writing like chords and a melody. You don't have to perform it. If you do, please, I would love to hear your rendition. If you're a musical and you, this is like, I can't wait for this. Love to hear that. But what I'm encouraging you to do is to read Psalm 136. And what are the stages of your life? Write them out. Take time. Pull out your iPhone, your notes app, get old fashioned pen and paper. What are the things that you have experienced, that you have endured, that you have enjoyed in life that you're going to praise God for? Maybe it's something like, "God, I give thanks to you because you helped me get through COVID. Your love endured forever. You provided enough for me to get through a recession. God, your love endures forever. You healed me when I was sick and I was in the hospital. Your love endures forever. God, you were by my side when I lost a loved one. Your love endured forever." Maybe it's more on the praise side. "I give thanks to the Lord who has blessed me with family and friends. Your love endures forever. God, you were there on my happiest occasions, the wedding, the birth of my child, the graduation, when I got that new job. Your love endured forever." But what would you write? What would your song of praise be? And again, we think of praise, we think of happy times, but that's not always what a praise song is. It's praising God for being on the other side of that and saying, "God, you were with me through everything, the good and the bad." So again, I know this is different, but I would encourage you, take some time this week. Maybe it's just five minutes and you're just going to say, write down a list of things. But what would your Psalm 136 look like? What would it mean for you to have this list in your mind, in your heart, to be able to see and reflect on God has been a part of my life? I didn't realize until I took the time to reflect back on my life and see all the things that God has been with me through, how He's loved me through everything. All right, are we going to do it? Are you guys going to join me? We're going to listen to some worship music and we're going to write our own Psalm 136. All right. There's no homework. It'd be so cool if we all did, right? Okay.

I want to end our time with reading Psalm 136 again as an encouragement to us, as a reminder of what God has done for His people and to inspire us as we go about our week. So you guys can listen one more time. I'm going to read all the way through. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords as love endures forever to Him who alone does great wonders. His love endures forever, who by His understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever, who spread out the earth upon the waters. His love endures forever, who made the great lights. His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and the stars to govern the night, His love endures forever to Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, His love endures forever and brought Israel out from amongst them, His love endures forever. With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, His love endures forever to Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, His love endures forever and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever, but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, His love endures forever to Him who led His people through the wilderness, His love endures forever to Him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever and killed mighty kings, His love endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, His love endures forever and O king of Bashan, His love endures forever and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. An inheritance to His servant Israel, His love endures forever. He remembered us in our lowest state, His love endures forever and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature, His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven, and would you guys say it with me this time, His love endures forever. I want to end with this quote. Bob Coughlin again says, "Worship matters. It matters to God because He is the one ultimately worthy of all of our song and praise. It matters to us because worshiping God is the reason for which we were created.”

Let's pray. God, thank you for your gift of music. I can't imagine how boring life would be without music. To encourage us, to uplift us, to rejoice, to be able to lament with certain songs. God, music is such an integral part of our life and it's a part of our spiritual life. So God, I pray that through this series that you would heighten our understanding, that you would take us to deeper depths of singing and music and appreciation for it integrated with our faith. And I pray that as we sing the truth through worship songs, God, I pray those truths would embed so deeply in our hearts and minds that we would know them truly, that we'd be able to stand on them firm. It's our foundation. So that when those tough times come, these songs come to our minds to remind us of your goodness and how your love endures forever. Be with us this week. And I pray that music would be an encouragement to us this week. And I pray that everyone would take time, whether they write it down or not, to think of how you have been present in their lives, how you have provided for them, sustained them, have you have rescued them multiple times. God, I pray that at the end of this week, at the end of our time, that we would have all the more reason to give you praise and to sing your praises. We look forward to being with you in heaven one day, singing with the millions of voices that are going to be praising you. We pray this in your name. Amen.