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.