1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,240 Love to hear all the voices and the instruments. 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:05,760 Can you imagine what it's going to sound like around the throne 3 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,320 of God someday? Could you imagine what it must 4 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,160 have sounded like at the temple when they did all their 5 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,040 worshiping? And if you read, go back and 6 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,880 read into in the Old Testament and and hear how many 7 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,240 instruments they had that were that were part of that praise 8 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,080 song. And honestly, that's what we're 9 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:24,800 going to talk about a little bit this morning. 10 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:31,270 And Psalm 137, Psalm 137 is is is actually attributed to 11 00:00:31,270 --> 00:00:35,670 Jeremiah the prophet during the time of obvious national sorrow. 12 00:00:35,670 --> 00:00:37,630 And we're going to read this Psalm in just a second and 13 00:00:37,630 --> 00:00:39,590 you'll understand exactly what we're talking about. 14 00:00:39,950 --> 00:00:42,630 Not everyone can agree on the author, on who the author is, 15 00:00:42,630 --> 00:00:44,910 because we we don't know. But they were carried away of 16 00:00:44,910 --> 00:00:47,950 Cap as captives into Babylon because of their sin. 17 00:00:48,450 --> 00:00:51,330 If you go into Jeremiah 29 and you read that whole story, God 18 00:00:51,330 --> 00:00:53,330 told them that that's exactly what was going to happen. 19 00:00:53,330 --> 00:00:55,610 If they didn't turn to him, they didn't turn to him. 20 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:57,250 They they didn't forsake their ways. 21 00:00:57,250 --> 00:00:59,850 And God said, all right, I told you this was going to happen, 22 00:00:59,850 --> 00:01:01,610 and now here it is, Babylon is coming. 23 00:01:01,610 --> 00:01:03,290 They're going to overtake you and you're going to go into 24 00:01:03,290 --> 00:01:05,250 captivity and you're going to be there for 70 years. 25 00:01:05,930 --> 00:01:08,490 And when all that time is fulfilled, then I'll visit you 26 00:01:08,490 --> 00:01:10,990 again. But obviously this, this Psalm 27 00:01:10,990 --> 00:01:13,990 was written probably by Jeremiah, but by somebody who is 28 00:01:13,990 --> 00:01:16,910 obviously a part of that whole scenario. 29 00:01:17,230 --> 00:01:20,350 They they had been warned and they didn't heed that warning. 30 00:01:20,750 --> 00:01:23,550 And so now God had to bring that judgment. 31 00:01:23,550 --> 00:01:26,430 And this is such a sad Psalm and I I hope it. 32 00:01:26,430 --> 00:01:30,030 I hope there's not a sad message this morning, but this was 33 00:01:30,030 --> 00:01:33,310 written at a time when Babylon overtook Jerusalem. 10s of 34 00:01:33,310 --> 00:01:37,710 thousands of of Israelites were taken captive, and Israel was 35 00:01:37,710 --> 00:01:41,470 forced to live away from home as a punishment for their sin. 36 00:01:42,030 --> 00:01:47,190 And we read here in verse #1 in Psalm 137 by the rivers of 37 00:01:47,190 --> 00:01:49,550 Babylon. There we sat down. 38 00:01:49,550 --> 00:01:52,390 Yay, we wept when we remembered Zion. 39 00:01:52,790 --> 00:01:55,470 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 40 00:01:55,470 --> 00:01:59,270 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a 41 00:01:59,270 --> 00:02:02,190 song. And they that wasted us required 42 00:02:02,190 --> 00:02:05,150 of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 43 00:02:05,740 --> 00:02:08,220 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? 44 00:02:09,580 --> 00:02:12,180 If I forget the O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 45 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:14,700 cunning. If I do not remember the Let my 46 00:02:14,700 --> 00:02:16,660 tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. 47 00:02:16,660 --> 00:02:20,420 If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy, remember, O Lord, 48 00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:23,340 the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, who said, raise 49 00:02:23,340 --> 00:02:25,780 it, raise it even to the foundation thereof. 50 00:02:26,260 --> 00:02:28,100 O daughter of Babylon, who art thou? 51 00:02:28,380 --> 00:02:31,660 Who who art to be destroyed? Happy shall he be that rewarded 52 00:02:31,660 --> 00:02:36,810 thee as thou happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy 53 00:02:36,810 --> 00:02:39,410 little ones against the stones. But we see what happens there, 54 00:02:39,410 --> 00:02:43,450 especially at the beginning of this of this Psalm Israel is 55 00:02:43,850 --> 00:02:47,090 forced to be carried away into a strange land. 56 00:02:47,090 --> 00:02:49,490 They're kept, there's allowed them to triumph for a little 57 00:02:49,490 --> 00:02:51,610 while. And then they mocked this 58 00:02:51,610 --> 00:02:55,330 nation, and look what they said. They they said verse #3 for 59 00:02:55,330 --> 00:02:59,130 their they that carried us away captive required of us a song. 60 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:03,980 They that wasted us, required of us mirth saying sing us one of 61 00:03:03,980 --> 00:03:08,700 the songs of Zion be happy, Hey, we love the way Israel sings. 62 00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:11,220 We love to hear your, your, your temple worship. 63 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:13,140 And I don't know if they actually heard it or not or if 64 00:03:13,140 --> 00:03:16,540 they just heard about it, but either way, there they they're 65 00:03:16,540 --> 00:03:19,900 saying we we want to hear you sing and there's and and Israel 66 00:03:19,900 --> 00:03:23,220 sitting there crying and and and in desperation and saying how 67 00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:27,220 can we sing the songs of Zion? How can we sing the Lord's song 68 00:03:27,220 --> 00:03:31,400 when we're in this situation? How can we sing here when we're 69 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:33,800 in the middle of a strange land? This was something that broke 70 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:35,480 the writer's heart is very obvious. 71 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,760 He couldn't fix his mouth to sing holy songs in an unholy, 72 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,960 godforsaken land. In verse one, he paints the 73 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,360 picture of how devastated he and the others were. 74 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,800 He said beside by the rivers of Babylon. 75 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,440 There we sat down. Yay, we wept when we remembered 76 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,200 Zion. They were all just sitting 77 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:56,200 around. They were crying. 78 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:57,960 They were lamenting their situation. 79 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,280 Now, mind you, God had told them that this is what was going to 80 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,720 happen. God had given them fair warning 81 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,880 that you better turn back to me. And they they, I don't know if 82 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:06,400 they just didn't take God seriously. 83 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:07,640 How? How can you not? 84 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,040 After all the times they saw God follow through on what he said 85 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,520 he was going to do, but for whatever reason they decided 86 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,600 they weren't going to listen. And they didn't turn from their 87 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,279 wicked ways. And God sent them off into 88 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,560 captivity. And now here they are sitting by 89 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,680 the rivers of Babylon, weeping and crying and mourning and 90 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,800 probably looking at each other and saying, how are we ever 91 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:27,160 going to get out of this situation? 92 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,840 Now if you go into Jeremiah 29, which we're not going to do this 93 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,800 morning and read that that God told them they were going to be 94 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,760 there for 70 years, I would say that probably is a pretty good 95 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,520 reason. For lamenting, right? 96 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,300 I mean, if you're 60 years old. And you get carried off in the 97 00:04:44,300 --> 00:04:45,500 Babylon. Guess what? 98 00:04:45,940 --> 00:04:47,740 You're 130. When you come out. 99 00:04:48,340 --> 00:04:51,020 You're probably not coming out of Babylon, right? 100 00:04:51,180 --> 00:04:53,340 Let's say you're 20 years old when you got carried off in the 101 00:04:53,340 --> 00:04:56,020 Babylon 70 years. You're 90. 102 00:04:56,460 --> 00:04:58,060 You may be alive. You may not. 103 00:04:58,060 --> 00:05:00,860 Of course, I underestimated Mr. Forbes. 104 00:05:00,860 --> 00:05:02,940 If he got carried away in the Babylon, he'd probably still be 105 00:05:02,940 --> 00:05:06,540 there when he's 130. But most of those people are not 106 00:05:06,540 --> 00:05:10,410 coming out of Babylon. It was something that was worth 107 00:05:10,410 --> 00:05:13,770 lamenting and weeping and crying over it if you, if you sit down 108 00:05:13,770 --> 00:05:15,450 there and think about it. But one of the things that they 109 00:05:15,450 --> 00:05:18,170 lost in that whole process was their praise. 110 00:05:18,370 --> 00:05:20,530 Notice what the Bible says happened in version or two. 111 00:05:21,690 --> 00:05:24,890 We hanged our harps upon the willows. 112 00:05:25,650 --> 00:05:28,810 In the midst thereof, they stopped singing. 113 00:05:29,730 --> 00:05:32,650 They lost their praise song. Let me tell you something. 114 00:05:32,650 --> 00:05:35,210 The devil wants to steal your song. 115 00:05:36,670 --> 00:05:39,270 Even though we all have seasons when there's plenty to smile 116 00:05:39,270 --> 00:05:42,430 about, when there's plenty to be happy about, this isn't always 117 00:05:42,430 --> 00:05:44,430 true. Things can change very quickly, 118 00:05:44,430 --> 00:05:47,310 and now you can very quickly find yourself struggling and 119 00:05:47,310 --> 00:05:51,230 hurting and mourning and weeping over over any number of 120 00:05:51,230 --> 00:05:54,110 different things trying to keep your head above water. 121 00:05:54,110 --> 00:05:56,750 Life can come at you fast, and when that happens, the pit of 122 00:05:56,750 --> 00:05:58,830 depression is going to invite you to climb in. 123 00:05:59,030 --> 00:06:02,190 Discouragement will volunteer to be your companion. 124 00:06:03,170 --> 00:06:05,890 That's one of those things that you never know you never see it 125 00:06:05,890 --> 00:06:08,330 coming in disillusionment is is going to offer to keep your 126 00:06:08,330 --> 00:06:10,970 company. I don't know if you've if a lot 127 00:06:10,970 --> 00:06:14,210 of you do play some type of instrument and and maybe maybe 128 00:06:14,210 --> 00:06:16,490 after a little while it's it's been a while since you picked it 129 00:06:16,490 --> 00:06:18,530 up and you're a little bit rusty and you pick that thing up and 130 00:06:18,530 --> 00:06:22,050 you start playing and and you're trying to work your way through 131 00:06:22,050 --> 00:06:24,090 a piece of music and it's just not going right. 132 00:06:24,090 --> 00:06:26,770 You can't get the the notes to play what you wanted to play. 133 00:06:26,770 --> 00:06:29,330 You can't hit the right notes on the piano or whatever it happens 134 00:06:29,330 --> 00:06:32,090 to be, and eventually you just you just get frustrated and you 135 00:06:32,090 --> 00:06:34,210 quit. Even if you're not a musician, 136 00:06:34,210 --> 00:06:36,810 you like to walk around singing, even if you can't. 137 00:06:37,170 --> 00:06:38,770 We like to do that sometimes, right? 138 00:06:38,770 --> 00:06:41,530 We like to sing in the shower. We like to sing or hum while 139 00:06:41,530 --> 00:06:44,570 we're working or whatever else. And we all we all do that from 140 00:06:44,570 --> 00:06:46,330 time to time. But there comes a time when the 141 00:06:46,330 --> 00:06:48,010 music just isn't motivating anymore. 142 00:06:48,010 --> 00:06:50,370 It would sound pretty, but you just don't care. 143 00:06:51,130 --> 00:06:52,970 You're over it. You used to love the songs, but 144 00:06:52,970 --> 00:06:56,570 they don't inspire you anymore. You hung up your heart the way 145 00:06:56,570 --> 00:06:59,290 that the Israelites did there by the rivers of Babylon. 146 00:06:59,900 --> 00:07:02,220 You're not happy. No joyful music is coming out, 147 00:07:02,220 --> 00:07:05,780 no beautiful song. When you're happy and you're 148 00:07:05,780 --> 00:07:07,860 right with God, and you're looking forward to the future, 149 00:07:07,860 --> 00:07:10,820 you have a song in your heart. And that's the way we all should 150 00:07:10,820 --> 00:07:12,420 be as Christians. We all should have that. 151 00:07:12,420 --> 00:07:14,180 Song in our heart. We all should be happy. 152 00:07:14,300 --> 00:07:16,380 We all should be joyful. We all should be looking forward 153 00:07:16,380 --> 00:07:19,460 to the future as Christians. But the devil with little 154 00:07:19,460 --> 00:07:20,820 stings. You keep messing up. 155 00:07:20,820 --> 00:07:23,740 Maybe you keep going back to the same sin over and over and over, 156 00:07:23,740 --> 00:07:25,660 and you just can't seem to get victory over it. 157 00:07:26,180 --> 00:07:29,650 You're tired of fighting it. The devil tries to steal our 158 00:07:29,650 --> 00:07:33,410 song constantly. And so my challenge to you this 159 00:07:33,410 --> 00:07:36,850 morning is this. Don't let the devil steal your 160 00:07:36,850 --> 00:07:39,570 song. Don't let the devil steal your 161 00:07:39,570 --> 00:07:40,770 song. What I want to share with you 162 00:07:40,770 --> 00:07:43,530 this morning is some ways that we do allow the devil to steal 163 00:07:43,530 --> 00:07:45,490 our song. And maybe one of these things 164 00:07:45,490 --> 00:07:48,410 you'll find is the situation that you're in this morning. 165 00:07:49,050 --> 00:07:51,130 Maybe you need to get your song back from the devil. 166 00:07:51,850 --> 00:07:53,490 That's what we want to talk about for a few minutes this 167 00:07:53,490 --> 00:07:54,730 morning. But let's pray and then we'll 168 00:07:54,730 --> 00:07:56,410 look at a few of these things. Father, we love you. 169 00:07:56,410 --> 00:07:58,130 Can we thank you so much for your goodness to us. 170 00:07:59,330 --> 00:08:01,330 Thank you for an opportunity we have to be in your house this 171 00:08:01,330 --> 00:08:03,450 morning. Got to thank you for the singing 172 00:08:03,450 --> 00:08:05,330 that we heard, the fellowship that we have. 173 00:08:06,210 --> 00:08:10,210 But, God, sometimes an outward display is not necessarily a 174 00:08:10,210 --> 00:08:11,930 reflection of what's on the inside. 175 00:08:12,530 --> 00:08:15,290 And sometimes we may be dying. Sometimes we may be hurting. 176 00:08:15,290 --> 00:08:16,970 Sometimes we might not have that joy. 177 00:08:16,970 --> 00:08:19,290 And that's certainly what the devil is trying to do to each 178 00:08:19,290 --> 00:08:20,970 one of us. He wants to take that joy away. 179 00:08:21,850 --> 00:08:24,090 So, God, I pray that maybe as we look through some of these 180 00:08:24,090 --> 00:08:27,090 things this morning will help us to get to the root problem that 181 00:08:27,090 --> 00:08:29,490 we might be facing in our lives and that you would use it to 182 00:08:29,490 --> 00:08:32,130 help us to be what you need us and want us to be and help us to 183 00:08:32,130 --> 00:08:35,330 have that joy in the Lord God. I pray that you would give me 184 00:08:35,330 --> 00:08:37,289 the words to say this morning and we'll thank you for what you 185 00:08:37,289 --> 00:08:39,530 do in Jesus name. Amen. 186 00:08:40,250 --> 00:08:43,730 Now keep your finger there in Psalm 137, but turn over to 187 00:08:43,730 --> 00:08:46,840 Proverbs Chapter 28. We're gonna get there in a 188 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:47,600 minute. Because I want you to 189 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,520 understand, first of all, that many times the devil is allowed 190 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,680 to steal our song because of unconfessed sin. 191 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,040 Unconfessed sin, That's one of the biggest things that the 192 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,360 devil will use to get you away from God. 193 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,560 That's honestly what led Israel into the condition that they 194 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:03,800 were in. We've already talked about it a 195 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,560 little bit, but they were in captivity to Babylon because 196 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:09,770 they refused to repent. They wouldn't give their lives 197 00:09:09,770 --> 00:09:11,650 back to God. They wouldn't get the sin out. 198 00:09:11,650 --> 00:09:13,930 They wouldn't live the way that God wanted them to live. 199 00:09:13,930 --> 00:09:17,930 And God had to allow them to be taken captive into a land that 200 00:09:17,930 --> 00:09:19,970 they never thought that they would go into, but they 201 00:09:19,970 --> 00:09:22,370 certainly didn't want to be a part of, and had to make them 202 00:09:22,370 --> 00:09:25,440 realize their need for him. She's straying away from God 203 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,040 makes you more and more and more miserable. 204 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,480 You find an angry person that that that claims to be a 205 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,080 Christian, that claims to know Jesus Christ is their savior. 206 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,760 More than likely that anger is stemming from the fact that they 207 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:38,960 have unconfessed sin in their life. 208 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,920 It get you get you angry because you want to have that joy, but 209 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,120 you can't because you've got that sin in there. 210 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,240 We sin and and and we think it's not a big deal. 211 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,750 We'll deal with it later. But unconfessed sin is the 212 00:09:51,750 --> 00:09:55,310 number one thing that caused us to stray, causes us to stray 213 00:09:55,310 --> 00:09:58,630 away from God. All you your circumstances can 214 00:09:58,630 --> 00:10:00,950 change. Things might not be wonderful, 215 00:10:00,950 --> 00:10:03,950 things may not be great because of those circumstances, but you 216 00:10:03,950 --> 00:10:06,190 can still have the joy of the Lord. 217 00:10:07,070 --> 00:10:09,870 But when you have unconfessed sin in your life, you can't have 218 00:10:09,870 --> 00:10:11,590 the joy of Lord. Your fellowship with Him is 219 00:10:11,590 --> 00:10:14,470 broken. Your relationship with Him is 220 00:10:14,470 --> 00:10:16,630 not what He desires for it to be with you. 221 00:10:16,630 --> 00:10:19,630 And of course, your relationship is not what you want it to be 222 00:10:19,630 --> 00:10:23,160 either. But then it compounds and it 223 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,760 pushes us further from God. We stop reading our Bible, we 224 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,920 stop praying, we stop looking forward to church, and the devil 225 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,120 steals our joy. And that's what I'm saying, that 226 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,680 that so often maybe what we portray on the outside is a 227 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,440 facade that we want everybody to see, but it's not exactly what's 228 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,360 going on in the inside. I can't tell necessarily by 229 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,480 looking at you that you've stopped reading your Bible. 230 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,120 I can't tell that you stop having your prayer time. 231 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,480 I can't tell that you stop enjoying coming to church, 232 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,400 although sometimes those things are obvious on the outside. 233 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,800 But you can continue to pretend like everything is great, 234 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,800 everything's wonderful, and inside you have that unconfessed 235 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,560 sin, and your joy is gone. And you have no heart for the 236 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:04,600 Lord, and you have no desire to serve, and you have no desire to 237 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:06,760 even be in church. You just are going through the 238 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,400 motions. That unconfessed sin will keep 239 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,440 us from having that joy that we should be having in the Lord. 240 00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:17,340 Got by the name of Evan Hopkins, wrote a book called The Law of 241 00:11:17,340 --> 00:11:20,700 Liberty, and in that book he said this No child of God ever 242 00:11:20,700 --> 00:11:24,620 fell into grievous sin who had not previously received divine 243 00:11:24,620 --> 00:11:26,460 warnings of the approaching danger. 244 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:29,860 The warning, neglected, was the first step in the fall. 245 00:11:30,020 --> 00:11:32,020 We have to watch for the Lord's leadings. 246 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,680 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt 247 00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:37,760 go. I will guide thee with mine eye, 248 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,520 he says in Psalm 32 of our state. 249 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,240 To be guided by God's eye is the most delicate of all kinds of 250 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,120 leading. You may guide by your hand 251 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,960 someone who is deaf, or you may guide by your voice someone who 252 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,880 is blind. But you cannot guide one with 253 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,400 your eye unless he can see and is willing to keep his eye on 254 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,040 your eye and understand your looks. 255 00:11:56,770 --> 00:11:59,650 But this supposes intimate knowledge and personal 256 00:11:59,650 --> 00:12:01,490 acquaintance. What a great statement. 257 00:12:01,770 --> 00:12:03,850 But you know exactly what that is, because if your parents 258 00:12:03,850 --> 00:12:05,890 didn't do it to you, then you did it to your kids and 259 00:12:05,890 --> 00:12:07,690 probably. Both right. 260 00:12:07,890 --> 00:12:10,850 You don't have to say anything to your kids a lot of times, and 261 00:12:10,850 --> 00:12:12,490 my parents didn't have to say a lot to me. 262 00:12:12,970 --> 00:12:15,410 I I'll be messing around and having a good old time and I 263 00:12:15,410 --> 00:12:18,730 catch their eye and all the sudden it's like I'm in trouble. 264 00:12:18,730 --> 00:12:20,970 They didn't have to say a word, they didn't have to lift the 265 00:12:20,970 --> 00:12:22,450 finger. They just had to guide them with 266 00:12:22,450 --> 00:12:24,820 their eye. Get over there and sit down. 267 00:12:24,820 --> 00:12:26,540 That's all that you don't have to say it, right? 268 00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:27,820 You know exactly what that means. 269 00:12:28,180 --> 00:12:30,660 You better stop right this second, right? 270 00:12:30,660 --> 00:12:33,020 And that's exactly what God is talking about when he says 271 00:12:33,020 --> 00:12:37,500 guiding them with his eye. We we If brother Ryan did that 272 00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:39,380 to me and he's looking at me like that, I'm going to say 273 00:12:39,860 --> 00:12:41,700 what's wrong with him? Why is he staring at me like 274 00:12:41,700 --> 00:12:43,060 that? If it's my dad, I'm going to say 275 00:12:43,060 --> 00:12:44,620 I know exactly what that look means, right? 276 00:12:44,620 --> 00:12:48,340 Because I know my dad and I know my dad in an intimate way, as 277 00:12:48,340 --> 00:12:50,740 far as I understand what he's thinking. 278 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,880 I've been on the receiving end of that look before when I 279 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,800 didn't obey that look, right? And the same thing is true with 280 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:58,720 God. When we know him intimately in 281 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,920 that way, and he and he, he's, he's guiding us with his eye. 282 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,160 He doesn't have to say anything. He's have to do anything. 283 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,000 We know exactly what he means. But that does require that we 284 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,480 have that relationship with him, and that's exactly what he's 285 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:13,600 talking about. If you find that you've lost 286 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,320 hope that that's it, you've given up. 287 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,680 Maybe it's because you don't have something to live for. 288 00:13:18,380 --> 00:13:21,340 God supplies the never ending fountain of hope and joy and 289 00:13:21,340 --> 00:13:24,580 peace and that feeling of completeness that we all crave, 290 00:13:25,620 --> 00:13:27,980 maybe without even realizing that you've taken too many steps 291 00:13:27,980 --> 00:13:30,180 away from God. By the way, that's a drone. 292 00:13:30,180 --> 00:13:32,460 If you fall asleep, it's going to sting you. 293 00:13:33,540 --> 00:13:34,900 Josh is flying that thing around. 294 00:13:34,900 --> 00:13:37,140 It's got a big Stinger on it too, so you better not fall 295 00:13:37,140 --> 00:13:42,220 asleep, Curtis Hudson said. I would rather have a song and 296 00:13:42,220 --> 00:13:45,660 no tune than a tune and no song. See, there's so much 297 00:13:45,660 --> 00:13:49,350 Christianity going on around us, so much music being played. 298 00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:51,830 There's there's who are joyful in the Lord. 299 00:13:51,950 --> 00:13:54,190 But do you have that joy in the Lord? 300 00:13:55,310 --> 00:13:57,910 If not, it very well may be that you've let the devil steal it 301 00:13:57,910 --> 00:13:59,310 because you have unconfessed sin. 302 00:13:59,670 --> 00:14:02,430 What do you have in your heart this morning that you're hiding 303 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:04,790 from everybody else? What do you have in your heart 304 00:14:04,790 --> 00:14:06,990 this morning that you think you're hiding from God? 305 00:14:07,910 --> 00:14:09,870 I can tell you this. You're not hiding anything from 306 00:14:09,870 --> 00:14:11,230 him. He sees it. 307 00:14:11,430 --> 00:14:16,440 He knows he's already there. You're not hiding anything from 308 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:17,840 him. You might as well confess it. 309 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,240 You might as well forsake. You might as well get that joy 310 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,720 back that the devil is trying to steal from you. 311 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:24,840 Christians were not made to live in sin. 312 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,800 Christians were not made to live defeated. 313 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,280 Christians were not made to live joyless. 314 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,920 God has promised us the victory. God has promised us joy. 315 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,040 God has promised us victory over our. 316 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,000 Sin like the Bible says in Psalm 40 and verse three. 317 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,870 He's put a new song in my mouth. What do you think that means? 318 00:14:43,870 --> 00:14:46,630 He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be able to sing 319 00:14:46,630 --> 00:14:48,950 his praises. I should be a joyful creation 320 00:14:49,030 --> 00:14:52,350 with God's praise in my heart and his praise on my lips. 321 00:14:52,750 --> 00:14:54,270 That's how God intended us to live. 322 00:14:54,270 --> 00:14:57,990 But they're in Proverbs 28 and verse #13 the Bible says this. 323 00:14:58,270 --> 00:15:03,190 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confess 324 00:15:03,190 --> 00:15:05,750 to them forsake at them shall have mercy. 325 00:15:05,750 --> 00:15:08,710 I don't know if you're familiar at all with any kind of legal 326 00:15:08,710 --> 00:15:11,670 language, but that word shall means it's not a question. 327 00:15:11,990 --> 00:15:15,750 It's going to happen. You must do that. 328 00:15:16,470 --> 00:15:19,790 That's what that word shall. And see that cover the sins will 329 00:15:19,790 --> 00:15:21,990 not. No possible way that you can 330 00:15:21,990 --> 00:15:25,350 prosper if you're covering your sins, but who so confesses and 331 00:15:25,350 --> 00:15:30,110 forsaketh them shall have mercy. You confess your sin, you 332 00:15:30,110 --> 00:15:33,070 forsake your sin. God will be merciful to you. 333 00:15:33,790 --> 00:15:35,670 What a promise that He's given us. 334 00:15:36,230 --> 00:15:39,390 There's two polar opposite extremes in that verse. 335 00:15:39,950 --> 00:15:43,190 Living sin you're going to be. You're going to pay for it. 336 00:15:43,470 --> 00:15:45,630 Confess and forsake, you'll have mercy. 337 00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:50,510 I'll take the mercy side myself. I read a quote that said this I 338 00:15:50,510 --> 00:15:52,990 can think of but one thing worse than losing your song in the 339 00:15:52,990 --> 00:15:54,630 Christian life. And that's learning how to sing 340 00:15:54,630 --> 00:15:56,350 while indulging in the pleasures of sin. 341 00:15:57,790 --> 00:16:00,390 Learning how to sing while indulging in the pleasures of 342 00:16:00,390 --> 00:16:02,510 sin. If that doesn't describe the 343 00:16:02,510 --> 00:16:06,630 majority of Christians in our good churches today, we've 344 00:16:06,630 --> 00:16:09,670 learned how to sing while indulging in sin. 345 00:16:10,250 --> 00:16:13,770 We can put that facade up. Listen, don't. 346 00:16:13,770 --> 00:16:17,050 Just don't. Don't just do good as a 347 00:16:17,050 --> 00:16:19,370 Christian. Be good as a Christian. 348 00:16:20,290 --> 00:16:22,490 Stop just doing Christianity. Be a. 349 00:16:22,490 --> 00:16:26,370 Christian It's so much easier to just be real. 350 00:16:26,370 --> 00:16:29,530 So much easier to just be a Christian rather than is to just 351 00:16:29,530 --> 00:16:32,930 try to do Christianity. There's a good number of people 352 00:16:32,930 --> 00:16:35,010 who are just doing Christianity because they're not even 353 00:16:35,010 --> 00:16:37,890 Christians. They've been in church a long 354 00:16:37,890 --> 00:16:41,320 time. They've heard the gospel many 355 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:44,120 times, and so they've accepted it. 356 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,120 And now this is just what we do as Christians now. 357 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,600 I'm just trying to be as good as I can. 358 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,720 Now I'm just trying to do the things that Christians do. 359 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,800 And you're spinning wheels. And the rush is getting deeper 360 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,840 and deeper and deeper and there's no joy in it because 361 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,040 maybe it's because you're not even saved. 362 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,600 But once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, once you 363 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,400 are sure that you're on your way to heaven. 364 00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:08,240 Then you ought to have joy. And if you don't have joys 365 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:10,560 because you're digging that rut deeper and deeper and deeper 366 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,520 because of the unconfessed sin that's in your life, stop just 367 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,839 doing Christianity and be a Christian. 368 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,079 Get it right with God this morning, get your song back from 369 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:21,920 the devil. I don't know what sins you may 370 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:26,359 have in your life, but there's a good chance that you know what 371 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,600 it is. And there's 100% chance that God 372 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,240 knows what it is. Get it right with him this 373 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:32,560 morning. Stop. 374 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:34,640 Stop losing your song to the devil. 375 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,240 Stop losing your song for unconfessed sin. 376 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,240 It's not worth it. You'll spend the rest of your 377 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:45,200 life in that condition, and what a miserable life it is. 378 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,400 The devil will steal our song when we have unconfessed sin, 379 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:52,440 but #2 when we have unfulfilled service. 380 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:58,120 You're close to Psalm 137 with your bookmark, maybe, but turn 381 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,400 just a few pages back to Psalm 100. 382 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,840 See, because the unfulfilled service aspect usually is a step 383 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,600 that happens in the process of taking steps away from God, that 384 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:11,800 unconfessed sin is usually the first step. 385 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,320 That's what draws you back in your Bible reading. 386 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,200 That's what draws you back on your prayer time. 387 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,360 That's what draws you back on on on looking forward to going to 388 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:21,720 church. But the next thing that happens 389 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,680 is this unfulfilled service. As we move further away from 390 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,640 Him, we lose our desire to serve Him. 391 00:18:28,260 --> 00:18:29,900 We lose that desire to serve Him. 392 00:18:29,900 --> 00:18:32,700 We just stop serving him, and the devil takes that wonderful 393 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:37,180 opportunity to steal our joy. As Christians, God puts the 394 00:18:37,180 --> 00:18:40,620 desire in each one of us to serve Him. 395 00:18:40,780 --> 00:18:44,660 Psalm 100 is a very well known Psalm, but we see this in verse 396 00:18:44,660 --> 00:18:46,980 #1. Make a joyful noise unto the 397 00:18:46,980 --> 00:18:49,260 Lord all ye lands, and that's usually where we stop. 398 00:18:50,020 --> 00:18:51,900 Right, but what is he saying? Verse two. 399 00:18:52,100 --> 00:18:57,380 Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with 400 00:18:57,380 --> 00:19:00,020 singing, but serve the Lord with gladness. 401 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:03,460 When you lose that joy, you don't have a desire to serve the 402 00:19:03,460 --> 00:19:06,340 Lord anymore. We can't take the credit for our 403 00:19:06,340 --> 00:19:08,260 desire to serve Him in our human flesh. 404 00:19:08,260 --> 00:19:09,980 We don't have that natural desire. 405 00:19:10,180 --> 00:19:13,180 But once we get saved and God changes our life that He puts 406 00:19:13,180 --> 00:19:16,900 within us, that desire to live for Him and that desire to serve 407 00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:19,520 him. Romans chapter 6 and verse #13 408 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,480 says neither yield you your members as instruments of 409 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,400 unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as 410 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,480 those that are alive from the dead and your members as 411 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,320 instruments of of righteousness unto God. 412 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,280 If you've been revived, if you've gotten that second birth 413 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,960 right, you've been you've accepted Jesus Christ as you're 414 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,360 saving, you've been made a new creature in Jesus Christ, then 415 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:46,520 you were made to serve. And if you're not serving you, 416 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,960 you're not going to be fulfilling that joy that you 417 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:51,280 could have in living for Jesus Christ. 418 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,960 John chapter 12 and verse 26. If any man served me, let him 419 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,440 follow me, And where I am shall also my servant be. 420 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:04,240 If any man served me him, will my father honor Philippians 421 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,480 chapter 2 and verse 13? For it is God which worketh in 422 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,360 you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 423 00:20:11,310 --> 00:20:13,950 God could come down here on this earth and do all of the work 424 00:20:13,950 --> 00:20:17,670 that He wants to have accomplished right now, but He 425 00:20:17,670 --> 00:20:23,790 doesn't, because He uses us and He uses us as instruments and 426 00:20:23,790 --> 00:20:26,350 He. Uses us so that he can bless us. 427 00:20:27,190 --> 00:20:30,510 And when you're not available for God to use you, when you're 428 00:20:30,510 --> 00:20:33,070 when you're a tool that's just sitting in the shed instead of 429 00:20:33,070 --> 00:20:36,190 being out there being used, then you're going you're not 430 00:20:36,190 --> 00:20:38,830 fulfilling the purpose that God designed for you to do as a 431 00:20:38,830 --> 00:20:41,780 Christian. What's the point of of going to 432 00:20:41,780 --> 00:20:44,140 buy a shovel and then sticking it up in the attic and leaving 433 00:20:44,140 --> 00:20:45,980 it there and then going on digging the dirt with your 434 00:20:45,980 --> 00:20:47,620 hands? All right. 435 00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:50,140 A shovel was meant to be used as a shovel. 436 00:20:50,620 --> 00:20:53,860 It was meant to be a tool. And that's what we were meant to 437 00:20:53,860 --> 00:20:57,460 be as Christians. God saved us so that we can 438 00:20:57,460 --> 00:21:00,420 serve. And if we if we're saved and 439 00:21:00,420 --> 00:21:02,940 we're not serving, then we're going to be miserable. 440 00:21:03,970 --> 00:21:06,730 And that unfulfilled service many times is what the devil 441 00:21:06,730 --> 00:21:11,010 uses to steal our joy. God intends for us to have joy 442 00:21:11,010 --> 00:21:14,330 in serving Jesus and in serving him with our lives. 443 00:21:14,330 --> 00:21:18,010 When we stop serving God by witnessing for him, when we stop 444 00:21:18,010 --> 00:21:21,370 serving God by being involved in ministries, when we stop serving 445 00:21:21,370 --> 00:21:25,650 him by giving him our time, we lose the joy that comes from 446 00:21:25,650 --> 00:21:28,290 serving Jesus. And there is a joy that can only 447 00:21:28,290 --> 00:21:31,570 come in service. Oh, you can be happy on birthday 448 00:21:31,570 --> 00:21:35,710 parties and and vacations. And there's a difference between 449 00:21:35,790 --> 00:21:39,270 joy and happiness. Most people base everything on 450 00:21:39,270 --> 00:21:42,190 happiness. We base it on joy in the Lord, 451 00:21:42,430 --> 00:21:43,790 and he wants you to have that joy. 452 00:21:43,790 --> 00:21:46,230 But you can't have that joy if you have that unfulfilled 453 00:21:46,230 --> 00:21:47,510 service. One of the best ways for the 454 00:21:47,510 --> 00:21:51,790 devil to come in and steal our joy is for us to allow sin to 455 00:21:51,790 --> 00:21:55,230 pull us away from God, which causes us to lose our desire to 456 00:21:55,230 --> 00:21:59,470 serve Him, which in turn takes that joy out of the Christian 457 00:21:59,470 --> 00:22:01,510 life. There's so much joy in serving 458 00:22:01,630 --> 00:22:04,330 Jesus. Turn back over to Psalm 137 459 00:22:04,330 --> 00:22:06,370 because I'm going to show you another one that the devil uses 460 00:22:06,370 --> 00:22:11,530 many times to steal our song. He'll use that unconfessed sin. 461 00:22:12,210 --> 00:22:13,730 He'll use that unfulfilled service. 462 00:22:13,730 --> 00:22:20,010 But also we'll see in in chapter 137, Psalm 137 and verse #5 that 463 00:22:20,010 --> 00:22:24,210 he uses unthankfulness. Verse #5 says, if I forget the 464 00:22:24,210 --> 00:22:27,170 Old Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 465 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,480 If I do not remember, they let my tongue cleave to the roof of 466 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,360 my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 467 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,440 One of the biggest, biggest Downers for the Israelites when 468 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,560 they were carried away captive is that they didn't realize what 469 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,480 they had until it was gone. They didn't realize how much 470 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,960 they had in Jerusalem. They didn't realize what they 471 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,040 had in being able to worship there in the Temple until it was 472 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,720 gone. They scolded themselves for 473 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:53,480 forgetting what they had in Jerusalem. 474 00:22:53,890 --> 00:22:56,930 If I forget the Old Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 475 00:22:56,930 --> 00:22:59,250 cunning. I think that unthankfulness is 476 00:22:59,250 --> 00:23:01,090 one of the things that caused them to lose their joy. 477 00:23:02,290 --> 00:23:03,770 See when we. Lose our heart of gratitude. 478 00:23:03,770 --> 00:23:05,930 We lose our joy. You might save a pastor. 479 00:23:05,930 --> 00:23:07,770 You don't understand what I'm going through. 480 00:23:08,610 --> 00:23:10,370 And I and I may not. And I'm not trying to have fun 481 00:23:10,370 --> 00:23:13,650 of you or anything like that. But what if what? 482 00:23:13,650 --> 00:23:16,210 What I want you to think about is everything you do have, 483 00:23:16,890 --> 00:23:18,970 everything that's going right in your life. 484 00:23:19,410 --> 00:23:21,850 Think about all the times when you've been blessed that you 485 00:23:21,850 --> 00:23:23,730 didn't thank God for those things. 486 00:23:24,090 --> 00:23:26,530 We like to focus so many times on the negative. 487 00:23:26,770 --> 00:23:29,610 All we like to think about is all this is going so bad. 488 00:23:29,770 --> 00:23:31,810 What about all this is going so good? 489 00:23:32,370 --> 00:23:35,810 God's really blessed me in this. God's really giving me some 490 00:23:35,810 --> 00:23:37,770 great things when it came to whatever. 491 00:23:37,770 --> 00:23:39,610 Fill in the blank. We could we could sit here and 492 00:23:39,610 --> 00:23:42,250 start counting our blessings and and and we'll be here through 493 00:23:42,250 --> 00:23:44,930 the afternoon if we really stop to think about what God's done 494 00:23:44,930 --> 00:23:47,720 for us. I heard somebody say one time, 495 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,360 if if you could bring all of your problems down to the altar 496 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:54,400 and set them there and pick up somebody else's problems, most 497 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,000 of us would be back here picking up our problems and taking them 498 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,080 back to our seats, right? Because if you actually think 499 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,920 about what you go through based and what other, somebody else 500 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,080 always has it worse than you. Now I've heard people say that 501 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,560 many times, but who's the one that actually does have it the 502 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,480 worst Because there's somebody that's at the end of the line, 503 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,240 right? Somebody does not have it worse 504 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,430 than somebody else. But especially in America, and 505 00:24:15,430 --> 00:24:17,630 especially the way that God's blessed us there, there are 506 00:24:17,630 --> 00:24:19,670 people out there who have it way worse than we do. 507 00:24:20,390 --> 00:24:23,390 There are people who don't have the family and the fellowship 508 00:24:23,390 --> 00:24:25,550 that we have. And and and listen, everybody's 509 00:24:25,550 --> 00:24:27,590 dressed this morning, so I know you got at least one pair of 510 00:24:27,590 --> 00:24:30,670 clothes, right? You got, you got the church this 511 00:24:30,670 --> 00:24:33,190 morning, so most likely you got a car or at least somebody to 512 00:24:33,190 --> 00:24:37,030 give you a ride in a car, right. Nobody slept outside last night 513 00:24:37,030 --> 00:24:39,830 unless you did it on purpose, which we did the other night. 514 00:24:40,070 --> 00:24:42,790 And I don't know why we did it the other night still. 515 00:24:42,790 --> 00:24:44,800 Paying for that. From the other night. 516 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:47,840 But we have a house that we can live in, right? 517 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,520 I mean, those three things right there is a wonderful thing. 518 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,320 Yay, this morning most of us more than we should have, right? 519 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,920 And we do over and over and over and over that you see when you 520 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,520 shoot a gun into a pack of dogs, the one that's hit will howl, 521 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,040 right? Bob just howled back there. 522 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,840 I'm kidding. But you see what I'm saying? 523 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,760 We have so many things in our life that that that goes right 524 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,780 that we just take for granted. And then one thing gets off 525 00:25:14,780 --> 00:25:17,580 track and we start complaining about it, and we start crying 526 00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:21,540 about how difficult our life is and how horrible God is to us 527 00:25:21,540 --> 00:25:23,220 and why would he put me through that? 528 00:25:24,220 --> 00:25:27,300 And I understand sometimes the situations that we do go through 529 00:25:27,300 --> 00:25:29,340 in life are not pleasant. They're not fun. 530 00:25:30,180 --> 00:25:32,900 But how about thank God for the things that we do have. 531 00:25:33,260 --> 00:25:36,340 Stop being so unthankful for the things that we always take for 532 00:25:36,340 --> 00:25:39,820 granted. Psalm 138. 533 00:25:39,820 --> 00:25:41,300 Look. Look at the next chapter there. 534 00:25:42,350 --> 00:25:46,070 And verse #1. I will praise thee with my whole 535 00:25:46,070 --> 00:25:48,910 heart before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. 536 00:25:49,110 --> 00:25:52,550 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for 537 00:25:52,550 --> 00:25:54,670 the loving kindness and for thy truth. 538 00:25:54,910 --> 00:25:57,830 For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. 539 00:25:58,030 --> 00:26:01,230 In the day when I cried, thou answered, is me, and strengthens 540 00:26:01,230 --> 00:26:04,790 me with strength in my soul. And he goes on and on. 541 00:26:04,790 --> 00:26:07,590 But David wrote Psalm 138, And he started to list all the 542 00:26:07,590 --> 00:26:10,070 things that he was thankful for. And if you read through the rest 543 00:26:10,070 --> 00:26:11,950 of that bastion, it got him excited. 544 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,680 He started the list of things that got it done. 545 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:16,880 And listen, those are a lot of things that we don't think of. 546 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,920 The loving kindness, his truth, his word, his, he his answering 547 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,200 us, his strengthening, strengthening us. 548 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,320 Those are things that when we started to list all the 549 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,840 blessings, we're like, well, I got a house, I got a car, I got 550 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,360 this, I got that. But what about all those things, 551 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,640 the things that you can't grab in your hands? 552 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,800 David started to listen, list those things out, and he got 553 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,680 excited about what God was doing for him. 554 00:26:40,350 --> 00:26:42,390 The truth is, it's hard to be sad when you're thankful for 555 00:26:42,390 --> 00:26:45,030 what God's given you. It's hard to let unthankfulness 556 00:26:45,030 --> 00:26:48,110 creep in when you're so thankful for what God has already done. 557 00:26:48,910 --> 00:26:50,110 Well, it's just a little setback. 558 00:26:50,110 --> 00:26:51,590 But you know what? Look at everything else that 559 00:26:51,590 --> 00:26:53,430 God's done. There's a hundred good things 560 00:26:53,430 --> 00:26:57,270 and one bad. I'll take the 99% right? 561 00:26:57,270 --> 00:26:59,310 When you get that mindset, you get that attitude. 562 00:26:59,310 --> 00:27:02,800 It's hard to be unthankful. Oh, thank you for another day of 563 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:04,120 life. Thank you for breath. 564 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:06,040 Thank you for showing yourself in my life. 565 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,920 Thank you for loving me. Thank you for your protection. 566 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,040 Thank you most of all for Jesus. Thank you for dying on the cross 567 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,040 from me. Well, we could go on and on and 568 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,400 on and on with all the list of things that we have to be 569 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,560 thankful for. When I was in high school, we 570 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,240 used to go downtown Chicago. I grew up not too far from there 571 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,960 to the Pacific Garden Mission and it's a very large homeless 572 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:28,520 shelter but they use it as an opportunity. 573 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:33,140 Every night those who attended the service the church service 574 00:27:33,140 --> 00:27:37,020 were allowed to to to get a shower and have a meal and spend 575 00:27:37,020 --> 00:27:40,860 the night there and they would have hundreds and hundreds of 576 00:27:40,860 --> 00:27:42,820 people come in and many, many people have been through there. 577 00:27:42,820 --> 00:27:46,300 Billy Sunday was probably one of the most well known that that 578 00:27:46,300 --> 00:27:47,940 got saved through the Pacific Garden Mission. 579 00:27:47,940 --> 00:27:50,500 But many many many people that have gone on and do great things 580 00:27:50,500 --> 00:27:51,980 for the Lord. It's been around for a long, 581 00:27:51,980 --> 00:27:54,740 long time and when I was in high school we used to go down there 582 00:27:54,740 --> 00:27:57,580 every so often and and sing and play instruments. 583 00:27:57,580 --> 00:28:00,790 And you know we we had an orchestra and we had a lot of 584 00:28:00,790 --> 00:28:03,030 different things that we do. And then whoever the youth 585 00:28:03,030 --> 00:28:05,230 pastor was or whoever was leading us in that group would 586 00:28:05,230 --> 00:28:08,150 go down there and preach. But every time we went and you 587 00:28:08,150 --> 00:28:11,030 know, we'd go down there and do. Have you ever heard of 588 00:28:11,030 --> 00:28:13,430 Unshackled? It's a radio program that 589 00:28:13,470 --> 00:28:16,990 Unshackle this film or is is recorded there at the Pacific 590 00:28:16,990 --> 00:28:19,390 Garden Mission just to kind of maybe put the the link together 591 00:28:19,390 --> 00:28:22,790 for you. But there at the Pacific Garden 592 00:28:22,790 --> 00:28:26,310 Mission, they would have a testimony time every every time, 593 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,640 kind of as part of the church service before they preach and 594 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,280 before we would do whatever we were going to do. 595 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,720 And it never failed that one of the men would stand up and say, 596 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:36,440 I thank the Lord for picking me up this morning. 597 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:39,680 A shame on us. We we make fun of that and think 598 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,920 that it was just, you know, they say and that, you know, they 599 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,320 just, they they just wanted to say something in the service. 600 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,720 And so we would, you know, we joke about that afterwards. 601 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,240 And it wasn't until quite a few years later that I realized that 602 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,520 those men were genuinely thankful that the Lord woke them 603 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,600 up this morning. Because they could have been on 604 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,080 the street. They could have been out there, 605 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:57,360 you know, under a bridge somewhere. 606 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,200 And they were able to spend the night in that, in that shelter 607 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,520 and and have a place to sleep and have, you know, some a 608 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,040 shower and some food and all of those other things. 609 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,280 And and I got to thinking about that later like. 610 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,680 How unthankful we are when we're going to sit there and make fun 611 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,080 of somebody who says thank the Lord for waking me up in the 612 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:20,280 morning. He didn't have to wake us up. 613 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,400 What a privilege it was that we all woke up this. 614 00:29:20,810 --> 00:29:22,050 We didn't. We didn't have to be one of the 615 00:29:22,050 --> 00:29:24,890 ones that got up and was able to get dressed and get out the door 616 00:29:24,890 --> 00:29:27,250 and go to church, right? There's plenty of people who 617 00:29:27,250 --> 00:29:29,370 would love the opportunity to do that, either because they're 618 00:29:29,370 --> 00:29:31,610 laying in a casket or they're laying in a hospital bed 619 00:29:31,610 --> 00:29:34,170 somewhere, right? What a tremendous privilege it 620 00:29:34,170 --> 00:29:36,570 is for us to be able to get up and get out and go to church 621 00:29:36,570 --> 00:29:39,130 this morning. And shame on us when we don't do 622 00:29:39,130 --> 00:29:42,610 that, Shame on us when we let little tiny things get in the 623 00:29:42,610 --> 00:29:44,410 way of us. Well, I'm a little run running a 624 00:29:44,410 --> 00:29:46,770 little behind today, so I guess I'm just going to skip church. 625 00:29:47,510 --> 00:29:49,750 You know, I'm true. I definitely got to make lunch. 626 00:29:49,750 --> 00:29:51,950 I'll be there for lunch. But just church is one of those 627 00:29:51,950 --> 00:29:53,310 things it's going to something's got to go. 628 00:29:53,310 --> 00:29:55,070 I guess it's church. It's going to go this morning, 629 00:29:55,790 --> 00:29:57,190 right? But there's so many things, so 630 00:29:57,190 --> 00:29:58,630 many things that we could be thankful for. 631 00:29:58,630 --> 00:30:00,670 Instead of counting your problems, how about stopping to 632 00:30:00,670 --> 00:30:03,230 count your blessings? Maybe let's do that the next 633 00:30:03,230 --> 00:30:04,790 time we start getting unthankful. 634 00:30:04,790 --> 00:30:06,990 Maybe let's do that the next time we start getting down. 635 00:30:07,270 --> 00:30:09,230 Realize that it could be 100 times worse. 636 00:30:09,230 --> 00:30:12,830 And for a lot of people, that probably is reason we allow 637 00:30:12,830 --> 00:30:15,510 unthankfulness to steal, steal our song is because we don't 638 00:30:15,510 --> 00:30:17,070 realize how good we really have it. 639 00:30:18,910 --> 00:30:20,750 I want you to look at one last thing with me. 640 00:30:22,510 --> 00:30:24,950 The devil will steal our song when we have unconfessed sin. 641 00:30:25,790 --> 00:30:28,710 He'll steal our steal our song through unfulfilled service. 642 00:30:28,710 --> 00:30:30,590 He'll steal our song through unthankfulness. 643 00:30:30,590 --> 00:30:34,790 And lastly, he'll steal our song through undisciplined time. 644 00:30:35,750 --> 00:30:39,390 By that I mean busyness. Adrian Rogers was perhaps the 645 00:30:39,390 --> 00:30:41,790 first preacher to coin the phrase If Satan can't make you 646 00:30:41,790 --> 00:30:44,880 bad, he'll make you busy. A lot of other people have said 647 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:46,320 that. Since then, a lot of people have 648 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,040 echoed that statement, and for good reason. 649 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,480 If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. 650 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,080 See, I've seen the numbing effect of busyness on people, 651 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,240 especially in this day and age, and that's that's something that 652 00:30:58,240 --> 00:30:59,880 I have to pay very close to myself. 653 00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:09,990 King is, I said. That's a very to be in, and the 654 00:31:09,990 --> 00:31:12,150 devil will use that to steal our song. 655 00:31:12,150 --> 00:31:16,290 Busyness can harden our hearts as we work and perform without 656 00:31:16,290 --> 00:31:19,690 enjoying the one who actually gave us that work to do. 657 00:31:20,530 --> 00:31:23,290 Our busy lives can deceive us into thinking that we're 658 00:31:23,290 --> 00:31:26,050 accomplishing a whole lot, but it matters. 659 00:31:26,050 --> 00:31:28,530 What you're busy doing may or remind you that when you stand 660 00:31:28,610 --> 00:31:32,090 for God, your job is going to count for nothing. 661 00:31:33,170 --> 00:31:36,690 I've said it many times before, you're not a Carpenter who 662 00:31:36,690 --> 00:31:38,770 happens to be a Christian. You're a Christian who happens 663 00:31:38,770 --> 00:31:41,210 to be a Carpenter. You're not an electrician who 664 00:31:41,210 --> 00:31:43,250 happens to be a Christian. You're a Christian who happens 665 00:31:43,250 --> 00:31:46,130 to be an electrician. I understand that you have to go 666 00:31:46,130 --> 00:31:48,570 to work. You have to make a living, but 667 00:31:48,570 --> 00:31:51,890 don't let that be what you get wrapped up in the busyness of 668 00:31:51,890 --> 00:31:53,970 life over. Let's get wrapped up in the 669 00:31:53,970 --> 00:31:56,570 busyness of serving God. But the time that you spend on 670 00:31:56,810 --> 00:31:59,850 Facebook and Instagram and whatever other social media 671 00:31:59,850 --> 00:32:02,450 things that they have out there nowadays is going to count for 672 00:32:02,450 --> 00:32:04,770 nothing. The time you spent in front of 673 00:32:04,770 --> 00:32:07,450 the TV, the time you spend playing video games, The time 674 00:32:07,450 --> 00:32:13,490 you spend just just throwing our time away is going to count for 675 00:32:13,490 --> 00:32:18,010 nothing. The time you spend in sports and 676 00:32:18,010 --> 00:32:21,090 entertainment is going to count for nothing someday when we 677 00:32:21,090 --> 00:32:24,450 stand before God. I've said it many, many times, 678 00:32:24,450 --> 00:32:26,770 but only one life will soon be passed. 679 00:32:27,170 --> 00:32:29,090 Only what's done for Christ will last. 680 00:32:30,450 --> 00:32:34,130 What are you doing for Christ? Only get one life to live for 681 00:32:34,130 --> 00:32:37,810 it. Turn over to Psalm 46. 682 00:32:39,330 --> 00:32:43,530 The busier we are, the less still we are, which is damaging 683 00:32:43,530 --> 00:32:48,650 to our souls. Psalm 46 and verse #10 is a 684 00:32:48,650 --> 00:32:51,730 verse that you could probably quote at least the beginning of 685 00:32:51,730 --> 00:32:59,050 it, But he says that Psalm 46 verse 10 be still and know that 686 00:32:59,050 --> 00:33:02,770 I am God, I will be exalted among the heat, and I will be 687 00:33:02,770 --> 00:33:08,390 exalted in the earth. Be still and know that I am God. 688 00:33:09,310 --> 00:33:13,110 You can't be busy and be still at the same time. 689 00:33:14,470 --> 00:33:17,310 You either wrapped up in all the busyness or you're still before 690 00:33:17,310 --> 00:33:21,230 God. There has to be times when you 691 00:33:21,230 --> 00:33:25,190 just sit down, stop everything else that's going on around you, 692 00:33:25,190 --> 00:33:29,030 and spend time with God. Busyness pushes out the things 693 00:33:29,030 --> 00:33:31,630 that really matter, pushes out the things that are really 694 00:33:31,630 --> 00:33:35,890 important, and it opens up the door for unconfessed sin, opens 695 00:33:35,890 --> 00:33:37,370 up the door for unfulfilled service. 696 00:33:37,370 --> 00:33:39,650 It opens up the door for unthankfulness because you got 697 00:33:39,650 --> 00:33:43,250 busy, and many times it's busy doing good things. 698 00:33:43,250 --> 00:33:46,690 It's busy doing things that are not unnecessary. 699 00:33:47,810 --> 00:33:53,290 The busyness will drive the joy out of our lives over to Psalm 700 00:33:53,290 --> 00:33:56,690 34. When you allow these things to 701 00:33:56,690 --> 00:33:59,250 linger in your life and the devil is stolen your song when 702 00:33:59,250 --> 00:34:05,020 you've allowed him to win. And as we draw it to a close 703 00:34:05,060 --> 00:34:07,500 here this morning, I want to point out just a couple things. 704 00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:10,699 And Psalm 34 is the one that we sang just a little bit ago. 705 00:34:11,260 --> 00:34:15,820 Psalm 34 and verse #1 says this. I will bless the Lord at all 706 00:34:15,820 --> 00:34:19,739 times. His praise shall continually be 707 00:34:20,219 --> 00:34:23,940 in my mouth. Now if your Bible has headings 708 00:34:24,420 --> 00:34:28,340 in psalms, it says a Psalm of David when he changed his 709 00:34:28,340 --> 00:34:31,620 behavior before a Bemelech who drove him away and he departed. 710 00:34:31,900 --> 00:34:35,120 Is your Bible say that this is David who wrote this song. 711 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,120 Now we've already talked about this on our Sunday night Bible 712 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,880 geography, so maybe this story will will sound familiar to you. 713 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,320 But David wrote this song while he was on the run. 714 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,440 He was hiding from King Song. He was trying to preserve his 715 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:50,960 life. Saul was trying to kill him. 716 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,199 And then he ends up in another situation because when we get 717 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:56,560 into this story, David was desperate for food. 718 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:01,280 He was desperate for protection. And so he goes to the priest 719 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,310 there at a place called Nob and he got there. 720 00:35:04,310 --> 00:35:05,950 And a Bimalek was the high priest. 721 00:35:05,950 --> 00:35:08,830 And he goes to a Bimalek and he says, listen, I need some food, 722 00:35:08,830 --> 00:35:11,710 give me the food, give me the bread off the altar. 723 00:35:12,990 --> 00:35:15,430 And a Bimalek did it. And he said, and I need 724 00:35:15,430 --> 00:35:17,430 protection. And this is where the sword is 725 00:35:17,430 --> 00:35:20,030 that I used to kill Goliath, give me Goliath sword. 726 00:35:20,750 --> 00:35:24,630 And he gave it to him. And now David moves out of that 727 00:35:25,550 --> 00:35:29,710 place and left and went to Acish. 728 00:35:30,390 --> 00:35:33,190 One of the King's servants recognized David. 729 00:35:34,110 --> 00:35:37,150 Now by that time I don't David. I don't know what David looked 730 00:35:37,150 --> 00:35:40,230 like when he flew a lot of the Philistines and everything else. 731 00:35:40,230 --> 00:35:41,790 The Bible says that he was, he was Ruddy. 732 00:35:41,790 --> 00:35:44,950 He was a young man, so he probably didn't have a beard by 733 00:35:44,950 --> 00:35:45,950 now. He probably did. 734 00:35:45,950 --> 00:35:49,310 He's been on the run, right? I know he does because the Bible 735 00:35:49,310 --> 00:35:51,830 says that he has a beard. So he probably looked very 736 00:35:51,830 --> 00:35:53,590 different. His hair was probably scraggly 737 00:35:53,590 --> 00:35:55,670 because he'd been living in these caves and everything else. 738 00:35:55,670 --> 00:35:58,820 He probably did not really look like David, but somebody who 739 00:35:58,820 --> 00:36:01,140 happened to be close enough to him at some point in his life 740 00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:05,260 recognized this is the David. And he didn't have a last name, 741 00:36:05,260 --> 00:36:10,300 but this is the David, right? And he goes and tells Akish, 742 00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:13,020 hey, this is the guy that killed Goliath. 743 00:36:13,580 --> 00:36:16,340 And Akish gets excited and he says, wait, this is this is the 744 00:36:16,420 --> 00:36:18,380 David? Yeah, this is the David. 745 00:36:18,740 --> 00:36:21,260 Bring him to me. And of course, now David 746 00:36:21,260 --> 00:36:22,860 realizes that he's really in hot water. 747 00:36:22,860 --> 00:36:24,740 He went down there because he was trying to get away from 748 00:36:24,740 --> 00:36:26,500 salt. He jumped out of the frying pan 749 00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:29,530 into the fire. Now he's in Akish's land, where 750 00:36:29,570 --> 00:36:33,970 Akish, who realized that this is, you know, this is that the 751 00:36:33,970 --> 00:36:37,810 arch enemy of the Philistines. He's got him exactly where he 752 00:36:37,810 --> 00:36:40,170 wants him. So they bring David in. 753 00:36:40,170 --> 00:36:42,930 You know what David does? He starts pretending to be mad, 754 00:36:43,530 --> 00:36:48,610 starts slobbering all over his beard, starts acting crazy to 755 00:36:48,610 --> 00:36:51,290 the point where Akish said this is not the David. 756 00:36:51,290 --> 00:36:53,610 This may be a David. This is not the David. 757 00:36:54,030 --> 00:36:57,870 There's no way in the world that this was the David slobbering 758 00:36:57,870 --> 00:36:59,670 all over himself and pretending to be mad. 759 00:36:59,670 --> 00:37:02,590 In fact, if you value your life, you better get this guy out of 760 00:37:02,590 --> 00:37:04,790 here right now. And they took him out. 761 00:37:06,070 --> 00:37:07,910 But this is when David writes the story. 762 00:37:07,910 --> 00:37:10,310 That's what it says. When he changed his behavior 763 00:37:10,310 --> 00:37:15,070 before a Bemelech who drove him away and he departed, this man 764 00:37:15,510 --> 00:37:20,430 that God had promised was going to be a king someday was stuck 765 00:37:20,430 --> 00:37:24,840 in the wilderness, living in and out of caves, drooling all over 766 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,600 himself and pretending to be mad. 767 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,680 That doesn't sound like the life that David thought he was going 768 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,240 to live when he got anointed by Samuel to be the next king of 769 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:36,600 Israel. Do you think what a tough time 770 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,560 it was to be David? He look like a wild man. 771 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,000 He was perfectly civilized. He was anointed to be the next 772 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,120 king of Israel. But here David was carrying 773 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,240 around that prophetic word in his heart that said he was going 774 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:52,840 to be the next king, running from King Saul, running from the 775 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:58,200 Philistines, living in a cave, scrabbling on his beard, and 776 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:03,960 pretending to be mad. And yet David writes Psalm 34 777 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,200 and verse #1. I will bless the Lord at all 778 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,080 times. His praise shall continually be 779 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,100 in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in 780 00:38:15,100 --> 00:38:16,900 the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof, 781 00:38:16,900 --> 00:38:19,980 and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me, and 782 00:38:19,980 --> 00:38:23,780 let us exalt his name together. I saw the Lord, and he heard me, 783 00:38:23,780 --> 00:38:25,540 and delivered me from all my fears. 784 00:38:25,700 --> 00:38:27,900 They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were 785 00:38:27,900 --> 00:38:30,300 not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the 786 00:38:30,300 --> 00:38:34,140 Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 787 00:38:34,620 --> 00:38:38,090 And it goes on. But how was it that David, who's 788 00:38:38,250 --> 00:38:40,490 has his life in shambles? Why? 789 00:38:40,730 --> 00:38:43,930 Why was Saul still on the throne in constant pursuit of David? 790 00:38:43,930 --> 00:38:47,050 If he was supposed to be the next king, why didn't God stop 791 00:38:47,050 --> 00:38:48,490 this? If he was annoying, why all the 792 00:38:48,490 --> 00:38:49,890 trouble? Why all the heartache? 793 00:38:49,890 --> 00:38:53,970 Why all the pain for David? David could have taken out the 794 00:38:54,010 --> 00:38:57,290 victim mentality, could have folded his hands, gave up, quit 795 00:38:57,290 --> 00:39:00,250 believing, walked away, stop worshipping altogether. 796 00:39:00,490 --> 00:39:04,850 And who would have blamed him? But that's not what David does. 797 00:39:05,510 --> 00:39:09,430 David makes a decision, and David's decision is that I will 798 00:39:09,430 --> 00:39:14,390 bless the Lord at all times. His praise continually be in my 799 00:39:14,390 --> 00:39:16,470 mouth. In trouble. 800 00:39:16,470 --> 00:39:19,750 He still had praise on his lips. And he still had a heart after 801 00:39:19,750 --> 00:39:23,190 God. His thoughts I can imagine where 802 00:39:23,190 --> 00:39:26,870 while I'm on the run. I'll bless the heart when 803 00:39:26,870 --> 00:39:29,470 prophecy looks like it's not coming true. 804 00:39:29,710 --> 00:39:34,270 I'll bless the Lord when my enemies are pursuing me. 805 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:36,960 I will bless the Lord when I'm hungry. 806 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,240 I'll bless the Lord when I'm thirsty. 807 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,680 I will bless the Lord when the when the when the times get 808 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:44,800 harder than I ever imagined they would. 809 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,000 Be I will bless the Lord. That's what it means. 810 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,360 I'll bless the Lord at all times. 811 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,560 His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 812 00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,040 Friend, be like David when you're going through a tough 813 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,080 time. I know life's not easy. 814 00:39:59,980 --> 00:40:02,260 I know there's a lot of things that that get us discouraged. 815 00:40:02,260 --> 00:40:03,780 There's a lot of things that get us down. 816 00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:06,140 There's a lot of things that we feel are setbacks in our life. 817 00:40:07,420 --> 00:40:11,940 But you have to refuse to allow the devil to steal your joy. 818 00:40:12,540 --> 00:40:15,460 And if you've lost it, it's time to get it back. 819 00:40:16,300 --> 00:40:18,180 It's time to get it back. How do you do that? 820 00:40:18,620 --> 00:40:20,140 You make sure you have no one. Confess. 821 00:40:20,140 --> 00:40:23,820 Sin. Sin in our life that's allowed 822 00:40:23,820 --> 00:40:26,580 to fester will keep us from being anything that God wants us 823 00:40:26,580 --> 00:40:28,660 to be. Confess it. 824 00:40:29,540 --> 00:40:31,580 Forsake it. Get mercy. 825 00:40:32,980 --> 00:40:35,740 Get that unconfessed sin out. Make sure you're serving the 826 00:40:35,740 --> 00:40:39,180 Lord faithfully and fully. Don't have any unfulfilled 827 00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:41,540 service. One of these days, we're going 828 00:40:41,540 --> 00:40:46,900 to stand before God, and I can imagine, and I think about this 829 00:40:47,180 --> 00:40:49,980 often. I I I don't think this is the 830 00:40:49,980 --> 00:40:51,620 way it's going to be. The Bible doesn't say this, this 831 00:40:51,620 --> 00:40:55,500 is this is extra biblical. But this is the way that I I see 832 00:40:55,500 --> 00:40:57,560 it in my mind. But one of these days, we're 833 00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,640 going to stand before God. And when we stand before him, 834 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,240 he's going to say look at all those things. 835 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:05,080 These are, these are all the blessings I wanted to give you. 836 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,440 These are all the things that I wanted to use you to do. 837 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,520 These are all the things that I wanted you to accomplish. 838 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,480 And I couldn't. I I I never got the chance to 839 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,080 use them. Because you had unconfessed sin. 840 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,520 Because you were unthankful. Because you just didn't have 841 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,600 that desire to serve. Because you were too busy to 842 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:24,880 serve me. This is. 843 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,470 Everything I wanted to do. Look all the way around the 844 00:41:27,470 --> 00:41:29,030 room. Look at all these things I 845 00:41:29,030 --> 00:41:31,230 wanted to do through you. Look at all these things that I 846 00:41:31,230 --> 00:41:32,870 wanted to accomplish through you. 847 00:41:33,270 --> 00:41:35,430 Look at all the blessings that I had to give you. 848 00:41:36,550 --> 00:41:39,630 The Bible says that he wants to open up the windows of heaven 849 00:41:39,630 --> 00:41:41,870 and pour us out of blessing, that there's not even room 850 00:41:41,870 --> 00:41:44,990 enough to receive it. Can't tell me there's not rooms 851 00:41:44,990 --> 00:41:50,150 full of blessings that God wants to give us, and yet how much do 852 00:41:50,150 --> 00:41:53,860 we miss out on? Because we have allowed the 853 00:41:53,860 --> 00:41:57,180 devil to steal the joy that God wants us to have. 854 00:41:57,420 --> 00:41:59,940 Because we've got this one little sin that we just can't 855 00:41:59,940 --> 00:42:03,100 let go of. Because we just, well, I'm a 856 00:42:03,100 --> 00:42:05,220 little bit too busy right now and life is a little. 857 00:42:05,460 --> 00:42:07,460 I've got a lot going on in my life right now. 858 00:42:07,460 --> 00:42:09,820 And so there'll be time to serve later. 859 00:42:10,060 --> 00:42:12,500 And I will. I will just, I got to get 860 00:42:12,500 --> 00:42:16,580 through this time first. How about give God the best and 861 00:42:16,580 --> 00:42:19,580 you take what's left instead of you getting the best and giving 862 00:42:19,580 --> 00:42:22,990 God what's left? That's the way we want to give 863 00:42:22,990 --> 00:42:26,150 to God so often. Well God, I'm going to take the 864 00:42:26,230 --> 00:42:29,510 the the 1st 90% and you can have the little 10% that's left over 865 00:42:29,510 --> 00:42:31,390 and the God says no, I want the first fruits. 866 00:42:31,550 --> 00:42:36,350 You give me the 10%, you you can have the 90%, but I want the I 867 00:42:36,350 --> 00:42:39,590 want the best 10% first. That's how. 868 00:42:39,590 --> 00:42:41,950 That's how we got to give to God, That's how. 869 00:42:41,950 --> 00:42:44,310 That's how we have to be when it comes to confessing our sin. 870 00:42:44,310 --> 00:42:46,390 That's how it has to be When we decide we're going to serve him. 871 00:42:46,510 --> 00:42:48,510 That's how it has to be When we decide if we're going to be 872 00:42:48,510 --> 00:42:52,350 thankful or not. How can we get that joy back? 873 00:42:52,750 --> 00:42:56,190 Get rid of that unconfessed in get rid of the unfulfilled 874 00:42:56,190 --> 00:42:59,070 service, get rid of the unthankfulness, get rid of the 875 00:42:59,070 --> 00:43:03,510 undisciplined time, and allow God to give you the joy back to 876 00:43:03,510 --> 00:43:14,210 the devil's stole. Back in Psalm 137, verse #2, we 877 00:43:19,940 --> 00:43:24,020 hanged our harps upon the willows. 878 00:43:24,020 --> 00:43:28,200 In the midst thereof, they gave up. 879 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,960 They allowed the devil to steal their song. 880 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,880 Don't set down your heart. Don't allow the devil to steal 881 00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,720 your song. When God wants to hear you say, 882 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:43,560 Let's pray, Father, we love you again. 883 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:45,280 We thank you so much for your goodness to us. 884 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,960 I thank you for the joy that we have in the Lord and God. 885 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,360 I do pray that if there is anybody in here this morning 886 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,680 that does not know for sure that they're on their way to heaven, 887 00:43:54,430 --> 00:43:55,910 but they'd get that settled this morning. 888 00:43:56,390 --> 00:43:59,190 You have every single person that's in this room this morning 889 00:43:59,190 --> 00:44:02,790 here for a reason. I don't know if it's because 890 00:44:02,790 --> 00:44:04,430 they're not saved. I don't know if it's because we 891 00:44:04,430 --> 00:44:06,630 needed to hear this message this morning and we have some of 892 00:44:06,630 --> 00:44:07,710 these things that we need to work on. 893 00:44:07,710 --> 00:44:09,630 I don't know what it is, but you've got everybody here for a 894 00:44:09,630 --> 00:44:12,830 reason. And so, God, I pray that you'd 895 00:44:13,190 --> 00:44:16,510 help us to allow the Holy Spirit to have free reign in our hearts 896 00:44:16,510 --> 00:44:20,510 this morning and that whatever the Holy Spirit is impressing on 897 00:44:20,510 --> 00:44:22,630 our hearts to make a decision about. 898 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,440 But we do that this morning. We would hold nothing back from 899 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:33,000 you, but we would not miss out on one little speck of joy that 900 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,800 you want us to have. That we wouldn't allow the devil 901 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:39,840 to steal our song. And God, where you've spoken to 902 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,000 our hearts this morning, I pray that you give us the courage and 903 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:48,560 the boldness to take the step to move in your direction to live 904 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:51,040 for you. Well, thank you for all that you 905 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:52,800 do for us. In Jesus name, Amen. 906 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:53,120 If you would.