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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
At this time, if you're in Psalm chapter 63, I want to preach a
message the Lord's given and the message Lord has for us out of
Psalm chapter 63 just from verses 1 and 2.
This is a passage I asked the Lord to give me as a theme verse
to a theme passage just to pray over and and and claim vision
for the deputation season that my wife and I are in.
And as I was thinking about the Navajo Reservation and it being
desert and not just physically but spiritually a desert, I just
started searching through the different passages that talk
about that. And it came to this passage in
Psalms where David writes this song in a really interesting
time in his life. And if you look in verse one
there, he says in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.
But verse 2, he wants to see God's power and his glory, to
see thy power and thy glory. He says So I'm so thankful that
the Lord is powerful and that He knows what's in store on the
reservation in this place that desperately needs him, and that
He's allowed me to go. We'll go ahead and read and then
pray. Psalm chapter 63, verses one and
two. O God, thou art my God.
Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water
is. To see thy.
Power and thy glory. So as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for
this day, Lord, for the opportunity to meet together
and, and sing praises to you, Lord in worship and pray and,
and Lord that I get to open up your word.
I pray, Lord, that our hearts would be willing, Lord, our ears
would be listening and that Lord, you would speak to us.
And I'm so thankful that we can come together and I can present
this ministry that you've given and ask these things in Jesus
name, Amen. I'm curious if you look back to
the top of the chapter there and my Bible has a little quote at
the top or a description and just raise your hand if you have
it as well. I believe it's in most it just
says this describing note. It says a Psalm of David when he
was in the wilderness of Judah. I'm curious if you have that as
well. I recently was hearing my pastor
preach out of Psalm, I think 112 but he was preaching in Psalms
and talking about how the Lord's preserved his word for us and,
and we have the word of God. And and then he started talking
about how a unique aspect where in in the Psalms, there's
sometimes instructions about the music and, and David would have
written the Psalm or ASAP or another person and would say
something like to the chief musician to Jettathan a Psalm of
David. And we believe those things are,
are accurate. They may not be specifically the
what David wrote, but it's an interesting aspect.
Of course, there's other parts in the Bible sometimes where
they have a description like when David kills Goliath or the
defeating of the 5000. That's just a comment and it's
not part of the text that the Lord's given us.
But this section here is an interesting just description
that gives us a clue about what's going on in in this
chapter. And if we look at verse one,
David writing this song, he says.
He's thirsting for God in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is. Then if you look down at verse
9, he says, But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall.
Go into the lower parts of the earth.
It sounds like he's in danger. Someone's out to kill him.
And then verse 11, we see he says, but the king shall rejoice
in God. Everyone that swearth by him
shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be
stopped. And I believe David is writing
this and you can tell he's the king at this point speaking
about himself. But the king shall rejoice in
God. And we started to paint this
picture, see this picture painted that he's probably in a
literal dry land, a thirsty land, a physical location.
He's not just singing about something in his in poetry to
the Lord, and people are seeking to destroy him.
And he's king at this time. And of the two time periods in
David's life when we know he was on the run, one being when he
was serving under Saul and, and Saul had thrown javelins at him.
And and he he at one point in time he was hiding in a Bush.
And he said to Jonathan, we agree on this sign.
If you shoot the arrows beyond then I know, I know I have to
get out of here because it's not safe.
And he had been in hiding. And so it during that time
period before he was king, King Saul was out to get him.
He knew that David was anointed. He knew that the people's hearts
were after him. They said Saul has slain his
thousands, but David has 10 thousands.
And Saul had had tried to kill him and chase him through
caverns. And there are many psalms that
we have written during that time period of David's life where he,
he's on the run and he's in, in caves and caverns and the Lord
preserves him and protects him and he praises God in the midst
of those, which is pretty amazing to see David just
encouraging himself in the Lord and praising God during that
time period. The other time is when his own
son, Absalom has turned the hearts of the people against him
and, and Absalom is willing to kill him and, and they're,
they're at war and Absalom even sneaks, he gets into the palace
and he and he defiles David's name.
And so during that time period, I believe is the time period
that he's writing this. Song and what's amazing to see
then. Is that if you just put yourself
in his shoes for a second and imagine somebody that close to
you, like your own son or daughter, a family member is out
to willing to kill you and take everything you have and is run
you out of the place that you call home for David, in this
case the palace, and he's on the run.
And just imagine how much of a trial and challenge that is.
I believe this is what the Lord wants us to see and, and, and to
learn from David's reaction in the song that he writes.
The amazing thing is that the Psalm David writes is more about
his desire for God and his praise to God at all than it is
about his problem. So I'm, that's amazing because
how many of you say, yeah, if that was happening, I think I'd
write a song of praise to God that way like David.
I that's not my reaction, not normally.
So if we just look at this for a second and see as he's, this is
what's happening, we believe, but he's praising the Lord.
He says he's desiring God. God, thou art my God.
Early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth, my flesh
longeth. He says to see thy power and thy
glory in verse two. Look at verse 3 and 4.
Because a loving kindness is better than life.
My lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless Thee.
While I live, I will lift up my hands in Thy name.
My soul shall be. Satisfied when verse 6, when I
remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night
watches, because thou has been my help.
Therefore, in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
He keeps just going on and on. My soul falleth hard after thee
might thy right hand upholdeth me.
He's seeking after God, he's praising God, he's desiring God.
And then we get to verse 9 and that's when he finally says
something about his situation with people trying to, to seek
after him, right and destroy him.
So I, this is amazing to see that in the midst of this time
where he's on the run for his life.
And no doubt it's a very challenging and and sad time for
him. Even it's part of his
consequences from killing Uriah the Hittite and and taking his
wife, committing adultery with Bathsheba.
And he knows that he, he writes this song of praise and worship
and seeking after God. So this is a challenge for us
because this is this is only a reaction you can have as a as a
Christian, as a believer in God, as a someone being spirit LED.
I just want to indicate from that a challenge that, for lack
of a better phrase, he had his priorities straight.
James says to the believers that we're going through trial in
their lives to count it all joy. He says brethren that are
scattered abroad greeting. He says, My brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into divers temptations when testing
comes. Count it all joy, he goes on to
say, knowing this, that the trial of your faith worketh
patience, that endurance, right? That we can be patient through
something, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
So he's the Lord's using me to teach us this idea that when
we're going through these times of testing in life that the Lord
allows, we ought to count it all joy.
And David said, rejoice, and he bless God's name and lift up his
hands, right? We'd ought to count it all joy
because we know these testings actually help us become a
perfect or a mature Christian more of who God wants us to be.
Peter says about these things wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. He says that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
It'll be worth it all in the end in heaven.
God hasn't missed what you're going through.
He sees these things, he says. Whom having not seen Jesus.
You love, and whom, though now you see Him not yet believing,
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your.
Souls David says he's rejoicing and lifting his hands.
James, he says to count it all. Joy, Peter says about these
trials. Joy unspeakable and full of
glory. The people James was talking to
and Peter, I think they were actually in a time of
persecution. And this is what the Lord tells
us it presents to us as the way to respond is to rejoice and to
to count it all joy and, and to lift our hands in God's name.
I don't know about you, but that's pretty amazing.
I mean, I, I don't, I can't do that without God's help.
But what the Lord wants us to see, I believe in the first part
of this here from David's example in Psalms chapter 63, is
simply that he had a desire for God.
David had a desire for God. He says, O God and verse one
that were my God early will I seek thee.
I mean that's a really great sentence right there, right or
compound sentence. I'm so glad tonight that I know
who God is right and I can talk to him like David.
I think about the the religions around the world, Buddhism.
And thinks that they're God is just part of the universe or or
Islam that there's a God called Allah that you have to appease
him with these brutal acts and maybe you'll get to heaven.
The God of Catholicism, the false gods really, and, and the,
the ways you have to do your own works to, to hope and pay for
them in purgatory. All these world systems, the
Navajo, they teach that the main deity of their religion, the
traditionalism is the one who pulls the sun across the sky on
his back. But no, no, no, we know that the
Lord said in the beginning, let there be light.
He said, let there be a greater light to rule the day, a lesser
light to rule the night. And, and he said he made the
stars also, right. We can't forget that part.
But people around the world think these different things.
The Navajo thinking this man pulls the sun across the sky,
that these animals are good omens, bad omens, that there's
certain taboos and ways you can't walk around their circular
Hut, octagonal Hut, the Hogan. They don't live in a teepee.
They live in a, a Hut called the Hogan, the traditional home.
Many of you would live in a mobile home as well.
Now, they might have more than one even they use them
differently than us, but traditional home, a center point
of their traditionalism. It's called the Hogan.
It's made out of Thatcher mud or timber, but it's circular to
represent the sun. It always face E as a man that
enters it or as a woman that enters it, especially depending
upon whose hogon it is, whether that's a man's hogon or a
woman's hogon, say, if they're married, they have to enter it
certain ways and, and do these things.
And, and it's all about living this walk of life called the
beauty way or, or keeping a balance with the good and evil
that exists in earth. And they're really walking in
darkness, trying to find answers for their, their needs in life.
And and meanwhile, David here, who knows the true God knows
exactly in this great hard time of his life.
He can go directly to him and say, Oh God, thou art my God as
a Christian here tonight. You might be going through a
challenging time. I I don't know and probably your
church members would know your brothers and sisters in Christ
might have a better idea than I do in your pastor and maybe just
only you and the Lord know. But he's given us places like
this in Scripture to show us how we can respond in situations of
life that come. So we see number one that David
had a desire for God, and he says early, will I seek thee?
He. Goes on to say my soul thirsteth
for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land
where no water is. When he says my soul thirsteth,
my flesh longeth. Another thing I heard my pastors
say is he was preaching about Psalms.
Is the difference in their songs a Hebrew poetry from Mars?
We sang hymns and they had rhythm and rhyme at the end of
phrases. Many times with Hebrew poetry,
they're not concerned about rhythm like that, or rhyme.
But they'll use restatement, they'll use repetition, they'll
use contrast. And what David is just saying
here very clearly, and I'd probably been passionate.
He's saying, Lord, my soul of thirsteth my flesh longethly, my
whole person is seeking after you.
I'm not seeking after you partway.
I'm fully seeking after you. I find it funny as a young man,
I would read parts of the Psalms and and think, you know, I still
think girls have cooties and all these things.
I'd be like, I don't know if I talk to God like that, that that
sounds weird to me or that kind of makes me uncomfortable.
I've never said it that way before.
But of course we know David was not a non masculine man.
He was quite manly, a man of war and and living in the caves with
his band of mighty men as a as a young man, he he slew Goliath
and and he smote him and he slew him by stealing his sword and
cutting off his own head or Goliath's head.
So he's obviously quite, quite a manly there.
But he's willing to say this to God.
And if we're uncomfortable by these things, sometimes we think
maybe, oh, this belongs in a story book or a Princess story,
maybe in a Hallmark movie, right?
Who doesn't live a no, I don't like the Hallmark movie either.
But we we liked it. We're used to seeing these types
of language and those types of places.
But what we see from David is that he says, God, I love you,
Lord, you're my God. I'm seeking with my whole
person. I am thirsting after you.
He has a desire, it's pretty clear, just a simple idea.
David had a desire for God, and we ought to have that at all
times. Of course, in times of the
trials, for many of us, I think it, it can make it easier
because we know we need Him sometimes.
Of course, we can have a reaction of bitterness or
confusion and doubt, and instead that can cause a relationship
with the Lord to hurt instead. But of course, what God can do
is use those things if we allow Him to.
To draw us closer to him. And so he had this desire for
God and he says early, will I seek thee?
I'm standing in a room of mixed ages.
And no doubt some are morning people, some are night owls.
Personally, I'm more of a morning person.
And so some of you say, son, I've been up.
I'm up every morning at this time or I have my prayer time at
night. And at whatever time it is,
David is saying, and this is a challenge for us, Lord, I'm
going to seek you early first thing.
It doesn't just have to be first thing in the morning.
He also says when I remember thee on my bed and meditate on
the in the night watches he's he's showing how he has this
desire for God and I don't know if he's talking about his bed at
home or his bed out in the desert.
Maybe one of his mighty men took a bed out there for him, some
kind of bedding. I don't know where he just slept
on the rocks. He probably been decently
comfortable as the man that he was, but he says, Lord, I have
the desire for you, that it doesn't matter if it's morning
or evening time. And we get this testimony first
thing when we wake up or first thing at the time signs of
trouble. First thing at the good times,
first thing that the victory say, Lord, I'm going to seek you
and I know I need you and to rely upon him.
We ought to do that just as David did.
And notice that he says in a dry and thirsty land.
And I believe he's referring to his literal physical situation.
No doubt he could use something as just a picture of his thirst.
But at this time period, having run away from Absalom, I believe
he was running east and the wilderness of Judah.
There's the welder, I believe it's called Elim.
It would be divided. This area would be divided from
where the palace was in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.
And it's, I mean, the Dead Sea is a Dead Sea for a reason.
It's so dry out there. It's just dry earth and, and
sand and minerals. And so he's out there in this
place, high country. I think there's valleys, there's
places where the dry land would be washed into rivets or ravines
from the, the rainy season. And these, these they're not
creeks, but they're called washes or wadis.
And, and he's just out in this place where there's no water,
where no water is thirsting for the Lord, and he just sinks with
the Lord. I need you and I have that
thirst for you. And also, physically speaking,
he was away from the palace. He was away from the Tabernacle.
And we'll skip ahead just a little bit.
In verse 2, he says he's wanting to see God's power and his glory
like he had seen it in the sanctuary.
He's referring to the Tabernacle there, the place where the Ark
of the Covenant would be probably at this time in his
life as king after Solomon. This time with Solomon, he would
have already brought the Ark of the Covenant.
And, and this is really significant event in Israel's
history because it had been stolen by the Egyptian, I mean,
the Philistines, excuse me, the Philistines defeated them in
battle and stole it. And eventually the ark stayed in
the House of Obed Edom. So David himself eventually was
able to successfully bring the ark to Shiloh in Israel.
And he was able to have the ark of the covenant there that that
physical ark of the testimony that signified God's presence
where God would meet with Israel.
And you and I, we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
And that's a really significant thing that sometimes we might
not realize we the promises were we get better promises Hebrews
talks about than the prophets and the things that we get to
see the prophets and the kings desire to look into that we
could experience now. But as David, most people would
not get to have the Holy Spirit ever in their life in a special
way. David had times where the spear
of the Lord came upon him and of course he wrote these psalms.
But he's saying as I have seen you in the sanctuary.
And if we think about the times where he had been in the
Tabernacle, no doubt it would have been amazing.
Of course he had seen the Lord have him kill the lion and the
bear. And he said, the Lord will
deliver this Philistine into my hand.
No doubt he could, we could claim those times at times Lord
preserved him, probably times where he got to feel just an
amazing closeness to the Lord in the Tabernacle and know the ark
of the covenant is there and the 10 commandment, the tablets and
and errands rod and all these amazing things.
And so he says about that. I'm in a dry and thirsty land.
At that time, he felt like he was separate from from a
significant place. He was separate from a special
place where he could meet with the Lord as a, as a, an Old
Testament man. He knew, though, that he
couldn't get away from the Lord. He said at some point in the
Psalm, he said, I, to paraphrase, if I'm at the top of
the mountain, I can't get away from you.
You're there. And if I'm at the bottom of the
sea, you're there as well. And he knew that.
But what's amazing is that David had this trust and faith in the
Lord without having some of the promises you and I have.
And we'll pause here for a second and just consider where
we are at as Christians and living in this interest world.
We do have challenges and trials.
We do have enemies, maybe not like David, but people at work
that don't like the way you live and it's just so different or,
or it just like Daniel, an excellent spirit was in him and
people just had to get after him because Daniel keeps getting
promoted. And and maybe you have a
situation where just like, I just can't understand that guy
and it makes it, it's a hard time or the boss gives you a
hard time or you have health issues.
Maybe there's a lost loved one that you've told shared the
gospel to and they just, they won't, they won't hear it.
And you could. That's a discouraging situation.
I think of my uncle right now and, and Lord, they just, they
just will never hear it. And it could be discouraging or
a prodigal son or daughter or or brother or sister that you just
wish would, would come to the Lord and feel that his yoke is
easy. And instead they're, they're
struggling in life. We have these things that come
and it's important to remember and take some heart because
David had faith and trust in the Lord without some of the
promises that we have. But we have some pretty amazing
promises. See the The Lord said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Talking about sharing the gospel, he said, Lo, I am with
you always, even until the end of the world, he says.
To those that are lost. But I think.
You could even apply it to us as well as his children.
He says come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest as a safe person.
This is true for us that he's taking our burdens, He's taking
our sins. He says take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. And I'm sorry to not quote it
perfectly, but he's meek and he's meek and lowly, right?
He says, take my yoke upon you and Lord of me and and the idea
that the God of the universe, the Bible says that the word
right. He without him was not anything
made that was made and that God of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Jesus, the God of the universe,
who spoke the earth into existence right and the son of
the stars, that amazing creator God, he humbled himself and took
upon flesh and and the likeness of a man and and took upon him
the form of a servant. And he says take my yoke upon
you and learn to be the fact that he a God that meek and
humble. I don't know if I can, even I
can't. Describe it the way I should
but. Take my yoke upon you and and
I'll walk alongside you in life and help you.
That's the Holy Spirit. He's given us the comforter.
The word there means the one who walks alongside.
And he would, He said he would send us another comforter.
He said that to his disciple. So I'm so thankful that for
whatever situation of life we're in, whether it's good or bad,
the Lord's given us help that we have.
And he's given us examples like the one David gives us that in
the midst of this time in his life, he writes a song of praise
and and that he is seeking after God.
So we do experience trials and we have consequences for the
things we do in life. And what these things should do
is drive us to God and that we would see like, like David, I
ought to have a desire for God. So we see David had a desire for
God and we should too. Another thing is it could drive
us to the Lord because we've seen him do great things.
And we see that David had a desire for God also.
He had a desire for God because he had seen him do great things.
He says in verse 2 to see thy. Power and thy glory.
So as I have seen the end of sanctuary, David had seen the
Lord do great things. I'm thankful as well because the
Lord has done great things in my life and I think about the
churches I've been able to be a part of and the seasons that
I've got to be there and be a member there for and see.
What the Lord has done My ascending church actually grew a
great amount during coronavirus and they regarding the laws and
following them and I'll stay out of politics too much, but
there's a balance of submitting to what's over you and obeying
God rather than men and the Lord blessed them because they they
stayed open as much as possible. They social distancing clean,
but they kept the church open. They had.
Services outside. They had services inside and by
the end of that season the church had grown by a huge
amount. Now we meet in the the gymnasium
because we don't fit in the old auditorium.
Matter of fact, the old auditorium is not there anymore.
It's it was renovated. I came right when they were
renovating it and I got to help and it's this multi purpose
room. But the Lord.
Did an amazing thing in that time of a challenging time.
I think of what the Lord did in my home churches.
I grew up I I don't remember how long Pastor Rivera, it's been
that you've been here. Was it 12 years?
I don't know. Was this building building here
when y'all came? Or did you have to build it?
Did you buy it? Amen.
Well, you know what, no doubt many of y'all, maybe some of
y'all need to learn the stories from him.
But many of y'all know much better than I what the Lord's
done here. But of those things, you can say
the Lord's done great things where?
Wherever we are glad, and I'm so thankful he does.
Of all the great things the Lord does in our lives, I think
probably the greatest is the work of the gospel, at least
from my standpoint. God changing my life and my
family's life. And of course he he.
Though Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world on the cross is when he said it is finished right?
And he gave up the ghost. Father, into thy hands I commit
my spirit. And he started.
He finished right in that sense. And then three days later he
rose again, rose out of the grave according to the
scriptures, and he gave us victory over death.
And and, and, and No Fear of death.
It's it's amazing. That's the greatest work I
believe that's ever, ever occurred.
And so I'm so thankful that as I get to preach or witness to
people, I get to share what the Lord did in my life because
without him I'd be so lost. And I'm confident I wouldn't
have my dad today. But the story goes, I'll do it
short and sweet. But the story goes, pastor say
that short and sweet. Maybe it won't be short and
sweet but I grew up in Washington state.
I was born in 1998 to my 19 year old mother, my early 20s father.
They weren't married, I was born out of wedlock and they had my
sister about 2 1/2 years later, myself and my sister Isabel and
my father was alcoholic, Mexican migrant.
Just interesting way how my family and my parents got
together. But they didn't have the Lord.
They had a Catholic background and just were, you know, trying
to find life out. And he was drinking.
They had the bar lifestyle. They worked at restaurants.
And about the time I was four years old, my mom decided that
she was going to separate from him.
She thought that was the best thing to do.
The home was in a peaceful place.
I'm thankful my dad never physically harmed my mom.
But constantly they were fighting, arguing.
I remember when I was young, my sister could could walk at that
time, she was probably 2 that my mom told me to take her in the
room, go to the room and we just we went and hid because they
were screaming and yelling. Eventually after my mom got
saved, my dad threw her Bible in the fire.
I think it burned. I don't know what happened.
I just know that that happened. So with without Jesus in our
home know Jesus, there was no peace.
But once we got to know him well, we did end up knowing
peace. And I was so thankful because
after she separated, we were searching for something and it
was that hard time that the Lord used to bring our attention to
our need. And so we were looking for my
mom was looking. I was only for just for answers.
She tried to go to a Buddhist temple.
She did undergo this cleansing ritual to find Zen to find
peace. And she didn't find peace from
that. There were issues that came from
that. She didn't go to Mass because
she never found peace in the Catholic religion.
But one day, Wooden Valley Baptist Church, the van
ministry, drove through the back drive of our apartment complex.
And I was there playing outside on the grass.
My sister was there and my mom was watching us.
And so she saw the lettering on the van and she just remembered.
And she had been there twice as this little girl.
So she just said that's what we need.
And she flagged them down, said, can my kids come, too?
I was old enough to go at four years old.
I was potty trained so I was allowed to go.
And he said sure, he gave me a sucker.
He asked if we could have a sucker.
I still remember. It's amazing the things you
remember vividly as a child. This was a big event in my life.
So he said, can they have a sucker gave me?
I think they gave me two suckers, but also a coloring
sheet. My sister got one and we went
inside. They said tomorrow we'll take
you to church on Sunday. It was Saturday, they're
visiting the visitors and then they come back tomorrow.
So they came, they picked me up, took me to the four and five
year olds class. And I learned, I learned songs
like Jesus loves me. They showed me the love of
Christ. I also learned God's love is
like a circle. I'm curious if anybody knows
that song in here? You guys know this song.
This is only the third church I've been to out of like 55 to
60, but it goes. God's love is like a circle, a
circle big and round. And a four year old and a five
year old, you can do this, right?
And I was just learning. It says just like the circle
never ends, God's love never ends.
I came back and my mom said I sang this song to her.
I remembered it and I knew that the Lord loved me.
So she she decided, OK, yes, you can, you can go back to church.
She drove myself and my sister. The next Sunday we we drove down
the hill to where the church used to be.
The church had grown and it was in a new location.
So we actually came in late. Eventually we we found the way.
She asked directions. We got there, I went to my
class. She sat in the back row and she
heard the pastor preaching and. About the gospel and she
realized this is what I need. So she came forward at the time
of the invitation, prayed, and she got saved.
And the Lord at that point had a foothold in my family's life.
About six months later, I was 4 1/2.
It was October 24th, 2002, and I had been reading a chick track
or looking through the pages of a chick track.
I had to trace it back later when I could actually, like,
read the words because I just was looking at the pictures as a
4 1/2 year old. And it was the devil's birthday,
so I was afraid. I knew I knew God loved me as it
shared the songs that that was taught, but I knew I was a
Sinner as well. The night before was Wednesday.
My pastor was preaching on hell and I knew I had not cleaned my
room. I've been mad at my mom and I
was going to go to hell. I was a Sinner.
And so I ran to my mom. I was in the hallway.
I ran to her and said mom, I need to get saved and and she
took my hand and we knelt there. I remember staring my face right
into the the light brown apartment floor and just saying
Jesus, I'm sorry for my sins. I know I'm a Sinner and will you
please forgive me? And I want to go to heaven when
I die. And I remember thanking him for
Brother Jeff and Miss Cindy Pennington because they were the
ones who came by on the bus route and brought me to the
church the first time. I would go on, well, I stood up
and say 4 1/2 year old boy, but I would go on to keep riding the
bus because I loved riding the bus.
And I go, I go help bring other kids to church and, and it's
amazing what happened because. To be honest, many times a bus
kid doesn't end up sticking it through.
Many times if they even do, their family doesn't get saved.
But the fact that the Lord saved me, the Lord saved my mom and my
sister would go on to get saved when she was 7 and eventually my
father would get saved. I'm just so thankful for God's
grace because my life should have been so much different and
I never expected to be on a in a place like Massachusetts on the
East Coast. But the Lord brought me here and
I get to share what He can do anywhere and with anybody.
So I'm so thankful because if it were not for God and if we're
not for the fact that we repented and turned to him, our
life would have been so much different.
But at this time in my life, my father's been saved for a good
amount of years. He he finally trusted the Lord.
I believe the Lord, I'm well, he would not be allowed today.
I'm just confident to say based on the the stories we've talked
about and and the decisions he made, but the Lord saved him.
He trusted the Lord. He is no longer an alcoholic.
He realized he should obey the Bible and get married.
And you know, they can't live together without being married.
And they got they got married. The Lord gave them three more
kids. They're all faithful in church,
the same church singing in the choir, just trained up in the
nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
And I'm so thankful because we had been in darkness.
We had been in the miry clay, but the Lord.
Took us up and he took us out of the miry clay and he set our
feet upon a rock and he established all our goings.
So I'm so thankful because the Lord really has done great
things and He's done great things in my family's life.
And what I want to see is the Lord do that on the reservation.
And I have a desire to see Him do things above and beyond what
I can imagine He's able to do. Exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think. And so how does this relate to
us tonight? How does it relate to us as
missions and with the idea that we're y'all are going into the
missions conference or the missions conference is coming.
How can our hearts be ready? Well, like David, we as
Christians can go through challenging times and and
regardless, we ought to have this desire for God.
But also we see from David, he said to see thy power and thy
glory just like he had seen it already.
Lord, I want to see you do something great, just like I
have seen you. And we can say David had a
desire for God and because he had seen him do great things.
And you can say too, Lord, will you do something great for me?
Will will you? Will you help me in my health
situation? Will you help me heal?
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
The Bible says the Lord is the great healer.
Is it Jehovah Rapha? He's the Lord, our healer.
Lord will you will you break the heart of stone of my loved one
that won't hear my my son or my coworker that.
That I don't. Feel like is going to listen to
the gospel. We can ask him to do these
things or you name it. You know where where you are and
the Holy Spirit knows what we need and we can say like that as
David as a child of God with the heavenly Father ABBA father and
ask him. We know if if our earthly father
wouldn't give us a stone or wouldn't give us a snake when we
ask for bread, when we ask for a fish, right when we ask for
things of our father right. What about the heavenly Father?
How much more heavenly Father and we can seek after him.
Say, Lord, would you do something great?
But the last thing to consider as it relates to missions is
that just like. Your Father God loves you and he
saved you if you if you know him as your as your Savior here
tonight and you've repented of your sins and understand that
Jesus paid that price for you. He loves you and he wants to
bless you and he does well just the same.
He loves those ones who do not know him just as much, and he
died for those ones that are without, and he says whosoever.
Will may come, and Jesus said. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all meant to myself or himself, myself.
This signifying what death He would die saying on the cross.
When he he died on the cross and was hung there for our sins.
He was proclaiming a message to the world, I will draw you to
myself. I paid for your sins.
It is finished. I paid for them on the cross,
something that we could never do, pay for our sins.
He already did. And it's the finished work.
He said it is finished and he rose from the grave three days
later accounted by by many people historians seen by more
than 500 people by the power of God.
Why so that he would give us victory over death.
This is the message of the gospel.
This is what God wants to do in the lives of all of those around
us. And we like David, can seek
after God and say, Lord, I need your help because of the
situation I'm in. And Lord, will you please do
something great because I know you can also like Job, we can
trust him say though he slay me if it doesn't turn out the way,
expect if it's not what I want, he says, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him? Job said, isn't that amazing?
And we can see acknowledge the reality that the Lord wants to
do great things in the lives of all of those around us.
The, the, the hospital, you know, Co worker, the bank
teller, the bank clerk, somebody you meet at the gas station, the
list goes on. I, I don't know where it is that
you, where you cross paths with people, but the Lord has a heart
to see those people, your community, the greater area of
Massachusetts, the Boston area, the states, the Navajo Indians.
He has a heart to bring them to him.
He is not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. And it's his desire to do that.
Matter of fact, I believe it's always been his desire.
We see in the Old Testament, he he uses people like Rahab the
harlot, like Ruth, the Moabitest woman, and those people were not
Jews. But we see during the lineage of
Jesus and how the Messiah would be brought to us that God even
allows people like that to be part of that lineage of Jesus
and be great, great grandparents to Jesus.
And God uses people like that. And then in the New Testament,
we see him bring Peter, bring the gospel to the Roman century
and Cornelius and, and they believe and, and what we see
clearly through Scripture, sometimes people get this idea
that the Old Testament is laws and judgment, right?
And that the New Testament is, is only love and, and peace and
blessings. But the truth is God has always
been just and he's always loved and his desire has been that
when he said to Abraham and thee shall all nations of the earth
be blessed desire was that he bring all men to himself and
from the beginning. And it it just happens that in
this time of the world and as part of Liberty Baptist Church
as saved Christians. He wants to use us to do that
and, and as and as a church family to do that to be to be
the ones that see the people in our lives receive the gospel and
hear the gospel and, and help send people out to, to share the
gospel. He may even want you to be one
of those people, not only to he's done a great work in your
life, but he may want you to be one that decides to go or, or
maybe to, to serve in a way that's greater than you expect.
No doubt David in this time of his life didn't know what would
happen, but he chose to trust God and and the Lord brought him
through it. And we think about what the Lord
has you to do or maybe what the Lord knows you will go through.
If you're not going through something hard now that's over
your head, you need to trust him and say, Lord, I'm seeking after
you in the midst of this and I know you can do something great.
And if you want to do that in my life, if you want me, if you
want to use me to do it, I'll do it.
David had a desire for God and so should we, and he had a
desire for God to see him do great things and so can we too.
We can say, Lord, will you please do something great?
And, and, and also the Lord wants us to have a desire to see
the lost souls. Around us saved and and and
desire to be part of that. And this evening, I just want to
encourage you, whether you're going through a great time or
you're going through a situation that's challenging, the Lord
knows where we're at. And he and he, he has a, he has
a plan for it and he's given us an example that we can rejoice
in these things and say. Like David, Lord, I'm seeking
after you just the same and will you do something great again?
As we close, I want to encourage you to think about this way,
that we seek the Lord early and desire a deeper relationship.
And as we do these things, we pray, pray for our God to work
in the trial that we have for our loss coworker.
Whatever it is, we pray, and what will happen is we'll begin
to view our God with a biblical mindset.
Our hardship with the heavenly mindset and the lost world with
the eyes that God has for them too.
And then we're ready to wait and see.
What God will do. What an amazing thing that David
had a desire for God and he had seen to do great things.
God has the desire to do great things in our lives too, and the
lives of those around us. Thank you for listening to this
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.