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I said growing up, one of the 
most difficult times in my life.

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This is like when I was a 
teenager. 

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So it might seem like not a big 
deal now, but at the time it was

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a big deal, right? 
Teenagers, everything is a big 

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deal. 
So I was like in middle school 

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and high school, and my dad was 
leading a church. 

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He was a church planter. 
And so the first few years were 

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really good. 
Like, we had, you know, a good 

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number of people. 
I had friends, a lot of kids. 

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But then after that, after the 
first couple years, it was like 

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a slow death, OK? 
And eventually a lot of people 

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left and literally all my 
friends left the church. 

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So I come to church on Sundays 
and it's just me and my mom 

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doing Sunday school, right? 
My mom's like my teacher. 

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It was so fun, so fun. 
But anyways, that was church. 

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And on the weekdays, like my 
parents obviously dealing with a

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struggling church plan, 
financial issues. 

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So it was just fighting every 
day, every night. 

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It was just terrible, OK? 
And I just remember feeling so 

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miserable, so lonely and just 
very hopeless every day. 

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And my escape was to just be in 
my room by myself, reading books

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and comics and drawing for hours
and hours a day. 

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Even on Sundays, I'd be like in 
my own little corner, just 

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drawing and reading, right? 
And I just remember, like, my 

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prayer at that time was just, 
God, Get Me Out of here. 

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Get Me Out of this situation. 
I don't like it. 

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And, you know, looking back, it 
doesn't seem like a huge deal. 

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But I think that feeling of 
wanting to escape a difficult 

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situation is something I'm sure 
that we can all relate to. 

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When we're desperate, when we're
in an uncomfortable or harsh 

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uncomfortable situation or a 
hardship, our first instinct is 

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to escape, to try to fix it, to 
find a way out. 

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And, but interestingly, it's 
usually in these difficult 

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situations that God meets us. 
And that's what happens in 

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today's passage in Psalm 63. 
And a little bit of background 

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of Psalm 63. 
David here is on the run. 

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He's running for his life. 
Some scholars are a little 

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divided about who he's running 
from. 

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There's two periods of his life 
where he's on the run, and one 

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of them is, you know, early on 
in his life, he's running from 

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salt or Saul wants to kill him 
because Saul is a king. 

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David is a point like anointed 
to be the next king, and he's on

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the run. 
But he also is on the run for 

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his life later in life from his 
son Absalom, who's also trying 

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to kill him. 
So we don't know exactly which 

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period of time this is, but we 
know regardless that David is 

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running for his life and he is 
in the wilderness of Judah. 

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He is far from comfort, far from
safety. 

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He is far from everything that 
made his life good and safe. 

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And it's in this wilderness that
he prays this song. 

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And he doesn't express a desire 
to escape his situation. 

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Instead, he expresses a desire 
for God. 

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He expresses hunger and thirst 
for God. 

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And I think that kind of a 
contrast to how I might handle 

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the situation. 
I would be praying God Get Me 

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Out of here, like save me from 
this wilderness. 

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I want to go home. 
I want to eat good food again 

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and see my family. 
But David doesn't do that. 

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He desires God. 
So the question I want us to 

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delve into is how can we be like
David? 

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How do we cultivate our desire 
for God in times of hardship? 

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How do we cultivate our desire 
for God and times of hardship? 

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The first point is by 
recognizing our need for God, 

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recognizing that our need is for
God. 

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So let me read the passage, 
Psalm 63. 

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It's just 11 verses, so I'll 
just read the whole thing, 

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right? 
This is God's word. 

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God, You are my God. 
I eagerly seek you. 

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I thirst for you. 
My body feigns for you in a land

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that is dry, desolate, and 
without water. 

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So I gaze on you in the 
sanctuary to see your strength 

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and your glory. 
My lips will glorify you because

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your faithful love is better 
than life. 

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So I will bless you as long as I
live at your name. 

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I will lift up my hands. 
You satisfy me. 

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As with rich food, My mouth will
praise you with joyful lips when

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I think of you as I lie on my 
bed. 

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I meditate on you during the 
night watches because you are my

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helper. 
I will rejoice in the shadow of 

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your wings. 
I will follow close to you. 

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Your right hand holds on to me. 
But those who intend to destroy 

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my life will go into the depths 
of the earth. 

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They will be given over to the 
power of the sword. 

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They will become a meal for 
jackals, but the king will 

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rejoice in God. 
All who swear by him will boast,

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for the mouths of liars will be 
shut. 

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Amen. 
So how do we cultivate our 

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desire for God? 
By recognizing our need for God.

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So then these verses, right off 
the bat we see that David knows 

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that who he's hungering for and 
thirsting after is God, right. 

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He says, God, you are my God, I 
eagerly seek you, I thirst for 

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you, my body feigns for you. 
Very vivid imagery of his body 

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just craving God, right? 
He knows that only God can 

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satisfy him, not just medium 
satisfaction, but abundantly. 

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And that's why he uses language 
like God's love is better than 

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life, right? 
He's satisfying me as with rich 

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food, not just regular food, but
rich food. 

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This is talking about like the 
richest, fattiest, most filling 

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food you can find. 
So David is experiencing not 

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just physical hunger and thirst,
but spiritual ones. 

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He's not just in a physical 
wilderness, but a spiritual 

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wilderness. 
And so I think we can all 

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probably relate to feeling like 
we're in the wilderness 

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sometimes. 
And by wilderness, we're talking

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about like a time of deprivation
where we feel empty, like we 

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have nothing left in life, 
nothing good. 

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Maybe all the good things have 
been taken away by some kind of 

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hardship or trial. 
We just feel dry, no sense of 

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purpose. 
We're just floating. 

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But here's the difference 
between US and David. 

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David realizes that this hunger 
is spiritual, and so he goes to 

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God immediately. 
But I think for us, many times 

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we don't always recognize that 
what we need is to go to God, at

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least not right away. 
So we we're in this season of 

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the wilderness, we start feeling
empty and then we go looking for

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something and instead of going 
to go to fill that need, we fill

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it with something else. 
It could be whatever the world 

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tells us we need, success, 
relationships, comfort, 

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distractions. 
The world has taught us or even 

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conditioned us to think that 
these are the things that will 

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fill our hunger. 
And over time our spiritual 

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senses become dull and we don't 
even realize that God is who we 

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need. 
So we even come to church with 

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these misdirected desires. 
We come to church out of a sense

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of duty instead of love. 
We come simply to make friends 

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and have community, which are 
not bad things. 

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These are all good things, but 
they are not the ultimate 

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things, right? 
We come to church to be in God's

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presence. 
We come to church to satisfy 

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ourselves, not with more 
relationships with people, which

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is a good thing too, but first 
and foremost to be satisfied 

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with the presence of God. 
The other things will follow. 

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And the problem is that a lot of
these things the world throws at

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us, they don't truly satisfy us.
It's kind of like they're kind 

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of like sweets, OK, sugar. 
We all like sweets. 

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Who doesn't have a sweet tooth? 
I'm sure, I don't know. 

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I I have a sweet tooth. 
My husband has a major sweet 

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tooth. 
But what is it about sugar, 

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right? 
We crave it, we want it, we eat 

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it and then it's so good and 
then it's gone. 

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Get the sugar high and then we 
crash and then we chase after it

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again and again and there is no 
nutritional value. 

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It doesn't satisfy us. 
There's this kids nutritionist I

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follow and she kind of talks 
about how we don't want to 

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villainize sugar, but we should 
talk about it in this way, like 

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to kids, right? 
Like, oh, that candy will give 

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you quick energy, but food like 
chicken or pasta and vegetables 

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will give you long term energy, 
energy for a long time, right? 

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And that's God. 
God is the good protein, the 

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good carbs, the veggies. 
He satisfies us forever. 

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The thing that the world offers 
us, that's the sugar, the sweets

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that satisfies us briefly, but 
it doesn't truly last. 

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When we go to God, His love, His
presence is truly all we need. 

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So instead of chasing after 
achievement after achievement, 

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we can rest in Christ's 
achievement for us. 

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And instead of striving for more
status, we can rest in the 

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status that God gives us. 
And instead of looking for a 

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love in all the wrong places, we
can rest and find comfort and 

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confidence in the love that God 
gives us, which never changes 

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and never shifts. 
And I think, you know, this is 

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one of the reasons we go after 
what the world offers us. 

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And it's because it is, 
honestly, it's easier and maybe 

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more convenient is what we're 
used to. 

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It's more natural to us. 
And when we are in like a season

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of wilderness, we're not always 
on guard. 

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We let our guards down. 
We kind of just let our hearts 

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wander and we do what's easier 
for us. 

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Because honestly, going to God 
does require intentionality. 

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It does require some effort on 
our part, right? 

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We have to search our hearts. 
We have to pray. 

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We might even have to wait. 
We might have to like, have some

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hard conversations with people. 
The world's options are easier 

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because we're so used to it. 
We've been doing it for so long 

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and that becomes our default. 
And another reason that we go 

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after these things is honestly, 
we forget that God is better. 

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We just forget that God is so 
much better than what the world 

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has to offer us, right? 
Verse 4, David says, you know, 

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your love is better than life. 
I think about that. 

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Your love is better than life. 
How many of us right now can 

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truly, honestly say that about 
God's love? 

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That His love is truly better 
than life? 

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David's life is on the line, 
right? 

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Like he doesn't know if he's 
going to live the next day, 

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right? 
People want to kill him. 

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He's in the literal wilderness. 
And yet he is able to rest and 

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be confident in God's love 
because it is better than life 

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for him. 
And David shows us what it means

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to see God first, not as a last 
resort, but as the only source 

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of life. 
And he does something in this 

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passage. 
And even just throughout the 

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book of Psalms and first, second
Samuel, you see him doing 

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something to combat, to fight 
against forgetfulness, OK, 

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Something that helps him keep 
God at the forefront of his mind

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always. 
And he cultivates his desire for

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God. 
And how does he cultivate his 

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desire for God? 
He does it through remembrance 

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and meditation. 
So that's the second point. 

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How do we cultivate our desire 
for God, the remembrance and 

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meditation? 
So when we think about the 

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wilderness, typically, we 
usually think about bad things, 

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right? 
Wilderness is equated with the 

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suffering, deprivation, 
harshness, danger. 

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And so in these seasons of life,
when everything feels dangerous 

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or harsh or empty and we're 
suffering, it's easy to forget 

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God's goodness, his, his love. 
So much easier to just focus on 

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the bad. 
And that's what we have to learn

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to remember. 
And David does this by 

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remembering the Lord of the 
past, what the Lord has done for

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him in the past. 
And this is really important 

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because right now he's far from 
the Tabernacle. 

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He can't just go to church and 
worship God. 

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So he needs to like bring God to
where he is, right? 

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And so he has this longing for 
God and he turns that into 

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practice of remembrance. 
And so we see him doing that in 

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verse two. 
I gaze on you in the sanctuary, 

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right? 
He's remembering the time he 

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worshipped God with, you know, 
God's people in the Tabernacle. 

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He's being reminded of God's 
strength and glory. 

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He's recalling the joy of being 
in God's presence in the 

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sanctuary, right? 
And he says in verse 3, your 

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faithful love is better than 
life, right? 

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So he's remembering the way God 
has been faithful to him through

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how it is whole life. 
And he talks about even at 

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night, right in verse 6, I lie 
on my bed, I meditate on you 

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during the night, watches, 
right? 

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Even in his sleep, he's stressed
out, he can't sleep. 

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So what is he doing? 
He's thinking about God. 

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He's remembering and reflecting.
And as he remembers the past, it

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shapes how he views and how he 
deals with the present, right? 

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So remembrance shapes how we 
view the present. 

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So for David, as he remembers 
the past in the present, right, 

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the wilderness, it becomes a 
sacred space for him to 

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encounter God. 
Usually in the wilderness, we 

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just want to escape, right? 
We want to get out of there, go 

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back home, eat food and drink 
water. 

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But what we see often in 
Scripture, just throughout 

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Scripture, is God's plans 
usually go beyond just escaping 

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from our problems, right? 
The wilderness becomes an 

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opportunity for us to meet God 
in a powerful way. 

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And this is something we see in 
Scripture just in a lot of 

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places. 
The wilderness is a very 

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significant place in the 
Scriptures. 

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God meets his people often in 
the wilderness. 

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We see that with Moses. 
He's in the wilderness, He sees 

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a burning Bush, He meets God. 
He's a changed man. 

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Even Hagar, if you guys remember
the story of Hagar, she's, you 

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know, on the run from her, from 
Sarah and she's dying, her son 

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is dying and God meets her, 
shows his love to her. 

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Even Jesus went to the 
wilderness to pray to his 

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father. 
The Israelites wandering the 

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wilderness, encountering God, 
experiencing his miracles, and 

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David here meeting God. 
They all meet God and experience

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God satisfying their needs in 
the profound way. 

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But what we often do is we chase
after other things, fill our 

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hunger with other things, and 
then we miss out on the 

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opportunity to be satisfied by 
God. 

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So we need to learn to remember.
I think one of the 1st movies 

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that came to mind as I was 
preparing this sermon was as a 

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child of the 90s. 
My favorite movie was Lion King.

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OK, not the remake, like weird 
CGI one, but the original real 

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animation, OK. 
And I I'm sure you guys remember

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the scene. 
If you've seen the movie, you 

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know there's like this pivotal 
moment for Simba, right? 

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The main character, the little 
lion, his father shows up to him

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in like a dream or a vision. 
And he's like Simba and the 

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stupid voice, right? 
Remember who you are. 

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You are my son, the one true 
king, right? 

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Remember who you are, right? 
Simba had like allowed his 

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tragedy, his guilt to like shape
his life and he ran away from 

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his life and he just want to 
escape. 

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But he remembers who he is and 
he it brings him back to his 

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true purpose, right? 
And he goes back home and he 

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lives out his role as a king. 
And I know that's just like a 

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cartoon illustration, but I 
think that really shows the 

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power of remembrance. 
So some of the ways that we can 

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practice this is remembering God
in our daily devotionals. 

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When you come to read the Bible 
and meditate on Scripture, 

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that's you remembering what God 
has done in history or you 

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reflect on the gospel and what 
Christ has done for us on the 

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cross and in his resurrection. 
That's remembrance. 

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And something that I've been 
learning to do is also 

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practicing affirmations. 
Maybe if you've done therapy, 

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maybe you know what this is and 
you've read about it, but 

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affirmations is simply repeating
truths to yourself, right? 

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And I remember when I was 
preparing to give birth to my 

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two kids, I would try to like 
practice affirmations and but I 

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ain't made to do this. 
My body is made to give birth. 

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And it's all like remembrance of
what my body is capable of doing

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or whatever. 
But lately what I've been 

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telling myself is God loves me 
unconditionally. 

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I am fearfully and wonderfully 
made every day, every morning, 

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right? 
These are biblical truths that I

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repeat to myself every day to 
remember who God is to me and 

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who I am to him, right? 
These ways of remembrance shape 

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our thinking, shape our beliefs,
which in turn shape our actions.

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And the result for David is joy.
It's praise. 

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He's able to worship in the 
wilderness. 

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And going back to my little 
story and the introduction, you 

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know, my teenage loneliness 
years or whatever, fortunately, 

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I was going to a Christian 
School at the time, and I didn't

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really have, you know, a good 
community at church, obviously. 

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But fortunately, through my 
Christian School, I had the 

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resources to learn about the 
Bible and I learned to direct my

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desires to God. 
I'm really thankful for that 

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time. 
I had great teachers and we have

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worship times. 
I learned to study the Word. 

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I learned to do devotionals. 
And as I meditated on who God 

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is, I was able to find hope and 
joy in the midst of my hardship.

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And they made it possible for me
to face the future, to face each

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day with hope. 
And that is why the wilderness. 

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There's so much potential for 
growth, you guys. 

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And that is how it also impacts 
the way we face our future. 

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So for David, you know, 
wilderness became the sacred 

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place to meet God. 
He praised him and then he also 

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found the confidence to face his
future, right? 

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And verses towards the end of 
the passage he talks about, 

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that's verse 9, right? 
He talks about his enemies, 

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right? 
Those who intend to destroy my 

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life will go into the depths of 
the earth. 

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They'll be given over the power 
of the sword. 

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They'll become a meal for 
jackals. 

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It's not kind of mean, OK? 
He's obviously having a hard 

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time with his enemies, but it's 
not about him taking vengeance 

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on his enemies, right? 
David is the guy who did not 

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kill someone he had the chance 
to. 

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So what David is is experiencing
here is confidence that God will

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take care of his future for him.
He will deal with his enemies. 

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And so therefore David can face 
the future with hope and with 

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confidence. 
Remembering God of the past 

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effects, his present and his 
future. 

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He is able to trust God's 
character, his love, his power, 

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and his justice now and for the 
future. 

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So when we remember God, when we
practice remembrance, He meets 

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us where we where we are and 
strengthens our faith so that we

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can endure. 
To continue living the life that

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God has called us to live. 
And I think This is why 

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intentional worship, learning 
how to intentionally worship God

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each day, is so important. 
Worship is remembrance. 

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We're all here today to worship 
God. 

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This is the time when we get to 
remember Him. 

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It impacts our relationship with
God right now. 

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It shapes our trust in Him and 
it helps us live for the future.

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So even if you're in a good 
season of life, maybe you can't 

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relate to David. 
Maybe you're everything's going 

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well, right? 
But it's important for you to 

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know how to remember God now so 
that when you do encounter the 

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wilderness, you will find 
yourself hungering and thirsting

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for God, and you will know to 
satisfy yourself with God alone.

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And there's two ways we worship 
God, right? 

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Just really briefly, corporate 
worship. 

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This is what we're doing right 
now with our brothers and 

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sisters, the family of God. 
We come to church, this 

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dedicated time and space, no 
distractions, just you, God, and

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God's people. 
We meditate on who God is, the 

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prayer, the community, God's 
words, the gospel. 

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This is why we sing the songs 
that we do. 

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I know our praise leaders, like 
they intentionally pick songs 

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with good lyrics that actually 
teach us about who God is. 

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So next time you're singing a 
praise song, like after, you 

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know, when we do the response, 
pay attention to the lyrics. 

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Don't just enjoy the melody, pay
attention to the lyrics. 

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It's about God. 
It'll point you to God. 

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And when you listen to a sermon,
right? 

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Do are you trying to like see 
God more clearly, right? 

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00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,720
That's why we listen to God's 
words, know God, to meet him, to

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encounter him. 
And the reason why we have our 

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00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:07,400
CGS, why we have to like hang 
out with other people at church 

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is so that we can see God 
working in their lives. 

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And they're the testimonies of 
other people. 

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We can remember God as well. 
And then in our daily private 

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worship after Sunday is over, 
how are you spending your days? 

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Are you making time each day to 
spend with God in His words to 

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remember Him, to remember His 
goodness, to reflect on what He 

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has done for us on the cross? 
Are you going to your C GS so 

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other people can help you 
remember as well? 

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00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,560
So this is my challenge to all 
of you and to myself. 

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If you're going through 
something and you've been 

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00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,040
feeling empty, you're feeling 
spiritually hungry for 

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00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,760
something, don't ignore that. 
Don't ignore your hunger, your 

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00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:56,040
thirst, your emptiness. 
It could be your soul hungering 

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00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,360
and thirsting for God. 
God is presenting you with an 

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00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,320
opportunity to meet Him in a 
deeper way. 

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00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,880
Your wilderness can become a 
sacred space for you to 

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encounter God. 
So instead of going after 

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whatever you normally go after 
to fill your hunger and thirst, 

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00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,320
go after God. 
Seek God because our souls were 

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made to be satisfied by God and 
God alone. 

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So how do we cultivate our 
desire for God? 

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Our main point today is our 
desire for God grows as we 

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remember His loving faithfulness
and seek His satisfying 

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presence. 
At this time. 

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Let's go into time of prayer.