1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,960 All right, so this morning we will be reading out of Psalm 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,400 113. If you don't have a Bible, you 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:12,520 can find one under your seat and we'll be on page 477 if you're 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,280 using the Bible from here. Praise the Lord. 5 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:23,120 Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. 6 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:27,120 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,840 forevermore, from the rising of the sun to its setting, the name 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,920 of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,760 nations, and His glory above the heavens. 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,800 Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks 11 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:45,840 far down on the heavens and the earth? 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,880 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,720 heap to make them sit with Princess, with the Princess of 14 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,520 his people. He gives the barren woman a 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,560 home, making her the joyous mother of children. 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,519 Praise the Lord, this is the word of the Lord. 17 00:01:11,830 --> 00:01:13,830 What's going on? Port City family and friends, 18 00:01:13,830 --> 00:01:15,830 how are we doing? Good. 19 00:01:15,870 --> 00:01:17,990 Well, I'm glad to be with you. My name is Tanner. 20 00:01:17,990 --> 00:01:20,910 I'm the lead pastor here and I just got back from student camp, 21 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,200 so I have a lot of caffeine in me. 22 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,400 And yeah, I played a lot of sports and games this week. 23 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,440 And I just want to talk to our students for a minute. 24 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,600 Middle schoolers, high schoolers, or if you're new to 25 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,720 our church, like, hey, y'all aren't just the future, you are 26 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,400 the now. Y'all a student full of the 27 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,040 spirit. I heard a story this week of two 28 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,200 young girls who a a preacher has come to their town that had some 29 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,240 fame to him. And the night before his 30 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,600 arrival, they prayed all through the night because their dad was 31 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,000 lost and their grandpa was lost, didn't believe in Jesus. 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,240 They prayed all night. And then when the speaker showed 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:56,840 up and talked to him and said, we've been praying for you to 34 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:57,920 come. So what do you mean? 35 00:01:57,920 --> 00:01:59,680 I've been praying for my dad and my grandfather. 36 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,440 They're lost, they're dying and they're sin and we want them to 37 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:03,480 get saved through your preaching. 38 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:04,720 And later that day, that's what happened. 39 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,080 And I need to hear stories like that and be reminded that like 40 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,320 y'all, we're not. Like y'all can lead us, if that 41 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,000 makes sense. Like y'all can lead adults who 42 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,640 get dulled and lulled by not seeing things happen and think 43 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,960 God can't do certain things. And y'all have an ability to 44 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,000 just read God's word, believe it, and go for it in ways that 45 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,720 we need to be challenged by. So just here y'all are awesome. 46 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:29,160 We love you and we want you to leave. 47 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,160 We want we want we want to see the ways that God wants to grow 48 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:33,440 us through you. OK. 49 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:35,720 And we we believe in you. We got your back here at Port 50 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,520 City. OK, well I'm going to pray for 51 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,040 our time in Psalm 113 and then we going to jump in. 52 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,320 Almighty God our Father, we're so grateful for your word. 53 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:52,760 God, you bring people from death to life at age 567 up to age 77, 54 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,600 age 8219, all over the place. And God, you transform the phase 55 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,000 that we're in. God, college can look totally 56 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,680 different. High school can look totally 57 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,360 different. Young married, singleness, Every 58 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,000 stage of life is radically different when you're at the 59 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,960 center. So God, we just pray you would 60 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,240 transform us from the inside out and God, it would be tangible. 61 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,720 It will be felt, it will be seen, and God, it starts not 62 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,560 because we're more committed and we're good at something, but God 63 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,800 because we see you clearly as awesome as you are. 64 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,000 So God, please show us who you are through Psalm 113 right now. 65 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,840 We pray in Jesus name, Amen. When was the last time you were 66 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,000 stunned? Like wow, like what? 67 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,560 When was the last time you leaned forward to somebody 68 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,480 telling you something and you could not believe what they were 69 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,440 telling you? In our age of just we, we, we 70 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,600 see stories left and right. It's hard to be wowed. 71 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,880 I remember the last time I was wowed, did not believe what I 72 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,720 was told. OK, me and, and some of the guys 73 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,560 around here, we go on old man runs at like 5:00 AM every once 74 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,600 in awhile. And I was with my guy Ron, OK, 75 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,080 Ron's on the box drum and it was about 6 months ago. 76 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,680 And he says to me, T, you're never going to believe this. 77 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,080 I'm like, sure man, tell me he goes bro, Luka Doncic just got 78 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,000 traded from the lake to the Lakers. 79 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,880 I was like, no, like I was like, there's no planet where I 80 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:19,839 believe that. Like just to put it in context 81 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,840 for you non sports people, OK, this is arguably like just pure 82 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:26,520 talent, a top 10 to 20 player in the history of the world. 83 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,520 Whether he amounts to that is debatable. 84 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,640 He's got an attitude problem, all that stuff. 85 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,600 But to trade this man at 25 years old, it literally I did 86 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,800 not believe Ron. We go on the whole run, don't 87 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,880 believe him at all. Get back, check my phone and 88 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,080 that text. I'm like what? 89 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,680 This can't be possible? I was stunned. 90 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,880 I was wowed. I was like this information. 91 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,880 I had no category for the possibility of this. 92 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,920 There's something amazing about being wowed like you're you're 93 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,400 blown away it it blows your categories for what you thought 94 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,320 right like it it it really erupts something in you where 95 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,200 you're like you're wowed like that literally is the right 96 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,320 word. It makes no sense. 97 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:16,400 It blows your mind, y'all. Many people sit under teaching 98 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,080 God's words, sit under Christian household, sit in Christian 99 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,120 spaces and the one thing that really has never happened in 100 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,440 their souls, they've never been wowed by God. 101 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,840 They haven't. And and what God wants to do in 102 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:35,640 your life is he wants to wow you. 103 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:40,160 God wants to bring something out of you that is mind blowing. 104 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:46,360 He wants to elicit a response of genuine mind blown, not because 105 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,680 necessarily he's and it happens once ultimately when you see 106 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,080 Christ and then it but it happens over and over again. 107 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,400 And the reason that's gonna happen is because God's not like 108 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,320 us. So if we keep reading and we 109 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,560 keep seeing him, we're like, oh, this all checks it checks it 110 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,320 checks. It's like we're not reading it 111 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:07,000 right because he's not like us. He is mind blowing and y'all the 112 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,160 the word the Bible has the word the psalms uses for wow is 113 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,680 praise. The word Hallelujah literally 114 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,760 means praise Yah praise. They would not say his name 115 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,360 Yahweh. So Hallelujah was praise the 116 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,120 Lord. That's what that word means. 117 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,040 So psalms 113 to 118 are known as the Hallel psalms. 118 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,400 They're the praise psalms and that word praise, it's deeper 119 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,320 than thank you. It's deeper than thinking a 120 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:37,160 meal, you know, like thank you for this provision. 121 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:43,240 It is a wow at who God is. That's praise, and some of us 122 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,680 know we're supposed to praise, but we've never actually praised 123 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,480 because we've not been wowed into praise. 124 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,040 So God doesn't want you to tolerate Him. 125 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:57,760 God wants to wow you. That's what we're going to see 126 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:01,200 in Psalm 113 today. We're going to take it in three 127 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:02,560 terms. We're just going to ask the 128 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,520 question, what does this Psalm teach us about who God is? 129 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,840 What does this Psalm teach us about who we are? 130 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,400 And lastly, what should we do? I got three things for each. 131 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:13,920 If you are ready, let me hear you say I'm ready. 132 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:19,280 OK, number one, what does this passage teach us about who God 133 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,840 is? I got three things #1 the Lord 134 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,320 is exalted. The Lord is exalted. 135 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:33,160 Verses 4 through 6 say this. The Lord is high above all 136 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,880 nations and his glory above the heavens. 137 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,520 Who is like the Lord our God? Who is seated on high? 138 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,040 Who looks for down on the heavens and the earth. 139 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,600 We see in this Psalm the essence of who God is is high. 140 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,040 We talk about this a lot at port city. 141 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,840 There's a difference between who somebody is and what they do. 142 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,040 These verses are talking about this is just who God is. 143 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:02,240 He is that and many of you know anytime you see Lord in all caps 144 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,760 that's that's God's name. It means I am that I am, I will 145 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:07,280 be that I will be. I am. 146 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,760 God is and in God's isness He does things, but He is something 147 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,120 before He does something. He does what He does because He 148 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,360 is who he is. OK, so who is God? 149 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,200 Verse 4 tells us the Lord is high. 150 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:24,280 That's who he is. He is high. 151 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:30,520 His glory is above the heavens. Verse 5 who is like the Lord our 152 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,840 God? Who is seated on high, verse 6, 153 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,600 Who looks far down? He has to look down on the 154 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,600 heavens and earth. I don't know if you notice, but 155 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,480 heaven did not precede God and he lives in it, right? 156 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,360 Like God created the heavens and the earth. 157 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:50,000 God is uncontainable. God chooses where to dwell, but 158 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,680 He himself is not contained by anything in which he chooses to 159 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,160 dwell. God is uncontainable, He's high. 160 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,280 He made the heavens and the earth. 161 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,280 God has eternally been Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 162 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,400 He's eternally been within himself, relational and 163 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,920 uncontainable. He did not create to add to his 164 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,680 profile. He created because he's creator. 165 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,320 He. He exploded into goodness and 166 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,680 it's just overflowing. And we're still discovering 167 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,400 species of things and we will be until the end of time because 168 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,240 there's no end to God's creativity. 169 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:32,280 God is high in, in the, the, the older way of thinking and in the 170 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,400 Psalms. Height implies 2 things, safety 171 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:38,880 and power. The one who is highest is 172 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,800 safest, right? So like if you, if you take the 173 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:46,200 high ground, anybody who approaches you is vulnerable, 174 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,640 right? So three people could take on 10 175 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,760 coming up at them because I could just throw stuff at you, 176 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,000 right? One of my, again, I'm not a huge 177 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,080 Star Wars guy, but it's a great illustration. 178 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:59,320 OK, there's a famous scene and anytime you number A Star Wars 179 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,920 movie you're like, is it movie #3 or 300? 180 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,840 I'm not sure. But in the one where Anakin is 181 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,840 about to go full blown Darth Vader mode, he is mean. 182 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,120 His acting is super questionable in this movie. 183 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,520 Amen somebody. And he's super mad at Obi Wan 184 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:16,360 and fighting him and they're on the lava. 185 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,160 He's like, you underestimate my power. 186 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,600 And he's like, just it's just cringy, right? 187 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,520 It's a little cringy. But he gets in the fight and Obi 188 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,480 Wan is doing his thing and he does a little backflip and then 189 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,600 he goes on this little platform and he says it's over, Anakin. 190 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:34,480 I have the high ground implication. 191 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,520 I'm safe, I'm strong. Don't do it. 192 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:40,400 And then he says some cringe line, probably like you 193 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,760 underestimate my power. And he does like a a backflip. 194 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:48,640 And then Obi Wan sizzles them, you know, but the idea and and 195 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,920 on that scene that the polarizing theologian that is 196 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,360 Kanye West wrote a line about that scene. 197 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:57,680 He was talking to all the rappers in the game. 198 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,560 And you know what he says? Don't jump Anakin. 199 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:03,080 I got the higher ground. He's implying all of you rappers 200 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,720 are down low and I am up high. You see how he used it? 201 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:13,760 Shout out to Kanye, who is super questionable, but the point is 202 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,400 height is safe. Height is power, height is I'm 203 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,360 on another level. You look up to me, I look down 204 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:23,600 to you. God is beyond us. 205 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:25,440 He's above us. He's transcendent. 206 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,440 The Lord is exalted. The second thing we learned 207 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,760 though about this God who is exalted and safe and powerful is 208 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,760 that the Lord exalts. Look with me. 209 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:45,800 In verses 7 through 9, he raises the poor from the dust and lifts 210 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:53,120 the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with Princess. 211 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,880 With the Princess of his people. He gives the barren woman a 212 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,320 home, making her the joyous mother of children. 213 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,120 Praise the Lord. So the God who is exalted, the 214 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,200 God who is high, the God who is seated, what does he do with his 215 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,200 safety and power? He exalts, he lifts, he raises, 216 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:14,600 he gives. Do we see that the Lord is 217 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,000 exalted? And what he chooses to do is 218 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:22,880 exalt, right. And quick note there where it 219 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,520 says he, he makes the barren woman a joyful mother. 220 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,080 And y'all this, this Psalm is not a prescriptive promise that 221 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:34,320 every person ever who is barren and trusts in Yahweh is going to 222 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,640 have their dream come true of having a child. 223 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,640 There are many who have sang Psalm 113 in pain, right? 224 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,600 It's not talking about what God will always do. 225 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,840 It is talking about who God is. This is who God is, the type of 226 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,440 God he is. And barrenness is deeply rooted 227 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,840 in the the story of Scripture, starting with the call of 228 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,320 Abraham and his barren wife Sarah, right. 229 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,120 And barrenness through Hannah and others all throughout the 230 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,680 Scriptures is are the types of people that God worked through. 231 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,640 And then famously, not a, a barren woman one day would give 232 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,840 birth to the Messiah, but a virgin like God is in the the 233 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,960 the business of choosing those on the bottom and exalting them. 234 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,320 That's who God is already alluded to you that psalms 113 235 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,680 to 118 are kind of special in scripture. 236 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:27,920 For thousands of years they've been saying during the Passover, 237 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,480 OK so this is how it would work is before the Passover festival 238 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,680 they would read 113 and 114, they would do Passover then they 239 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:38,800 would read 115 through 118. So y'all, what that literally 240 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:43,280 means is that when we what they think, what scholars tell us, 241 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,280 it'll say sometimes in the gospels, it'll say that Jesus 242 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:49,600 and his disciples saying to him, those hymns are Psalms. 243 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:56,200 So before Jesus instituted the Passover new supper, Last 244 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,920 Supper, like breaking of the bread that we're going to do 245 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,000 here in a little bit that we call communion, he read this 246 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:06,320 song and sang it with his guys. Like just think about that. 247 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:11,160 The Lamb of God with his people, who is the son of a virgin 248 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,440 woman, is singing about what God is like before he institutes the 249 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,440 new Passover, which is not through the blood of some lamb, 250 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:20,840 but through him. Isn't that pretty cool? 251 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,160 That's what God is like. That's who God is. 252 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,880 He is the type of God that leaves people out of slavery to 253 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,760 send to themselves to bad situations, and he does it not 254 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:35,800 because they earn their way out, but he purchases their way out 255 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,600 through his own blood. That's what God does. 256 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:44,160 The Lord exalts y'all. I don't know if you noticed. 257 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:49,880 God wants to exalt you first. Peter 5 like humble yourself 258 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:50,920 under the mighty hand of the Lord. 259 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,240 He opposed the proud. He gives grace to the humble. 260 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,080 He wants to exalt you at the proper time. 261 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,480 I heard one man say God wants to exalt you more than a 262 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,600 grandparent wants to exalt their grandkid. 263 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,560 And I was like, that is an image right there. 264 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,440 Because to a grandparent, that kid can't do no wrong. 265 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,480 Sometimes as the parent, I'm like, can you hang out with him 266 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:11,800 for another like month? Like, can you just dial it back 267 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,400 like 2%? Can you see some of what I see? 268 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:16,160 But they can't. That's kind of the point. 269 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,040 They want to exalt that kid. And the preacher said God wants 270 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,440 to exalt you more than a grandparent wants to exalt their 271 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:23,280 grandkid. We struggle to believe that 272 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,800 because we think about what's wrong with us, but we're not 273 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,560 focused on who God is. God is exalter. 274 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,280 He exalts. He is the exalted One who 275 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,960 chooses to exalt us. It's amazing. 276 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,760 Which leads us to the third thing that teaches us about God. 277 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:53,280 The Lord is one of one. Verse 5, who is like the Lord 278 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:59,000 our God who is seated on high? That is a rhetorical question 279 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,720 and the answer is nobody. I don't know if you've heard 280 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,440 this phrase. I'm one of them once. 281 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:05,440 I don't know if you heard that one. 282 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,720 That one irritates me a lot because of this verse. 283 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,240 It's one that how do you say people will use in context where 284 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,840 they're trying to imply I'm on another level than you? 285 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,640 I am one of them once I am a great one. 286 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,320 I am self-made. I am whatever and it's like, 287 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,400 think about the phrase one of them once, like I'm in another 288 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:26,320 category. Y'all, there's only one who is 289 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:28,800 one of them once. There's only one of one and it 290 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,120 is God. He is the 1, He is the great 1. 291 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:38,240 He has all power, He is the highest, He is the safest and 292 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,560 with all of his power and goodness and greatness and he 293 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:47,640 created, He uses it to exalt. Y'all, that is amazing. 294 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:52,160 We don't do that. We get some power and we are so 295 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,600 petty so quickly. I told you I was at student camp 296 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,120 this week. Shout out to my students. 297 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,440 We were playing the game sorry every night and in sorry you get 298 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:06,079 some power when you pull the sorry card because basically you 299 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:08,720 could switch pieces. You can knock anybody back to 300 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,880 jail on the board and you could do the most logical thing to 301 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,599 help you get home closest. Or you can get back the person 302 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:19,520 who got you when they got the sorry card and you're like, I'll 303 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:20,800 do the right thing, I'll do the right thing. 304 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,040 You get that sorry card, which is like 1% of power. 305 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,840 You become the pettiest. Like you pick up the piece and 306 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,920 you're like, you want it, you want it and you just launch it 307 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,760 across the road. That's what we do with power. 308 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:44,160 We get just a little bit exalted and we're like, I'm like .1 309 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:45,360 centimeters higher than you guys. 310 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,160 It's, it's just unbelievable. That's what we do. 311 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:53,640 We get power and we use it to elevate ourselves further. 312 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,880 Whatever lead we get, we use to build a bigger lead. 313 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,320 We, we, we whisper or imply ways that you should notice something 314 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,640 about us. Like we want every conversation 315 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:10,360 to turn back to us. Yo, we and we are so obsessed 316 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:12,640 our culture with GOAT, the concept of GOAT. 317 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,880 How stupid is that? The greatest of all time. 318 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,920 How would we know who is the greatest of all time? 319 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,000 How arrogant is it to even imply you know what of all time is? 320 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,560 You weren't there. You don't know, you don't know 321 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,440 nothing. But it's just so funny. 322 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,680 We we think we are so awesome. We want to be the GOAT. 323 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,320 We want to now The thing is to last, not just be really good 324 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:38,960 for one season. You got to be able to be the 325 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,600 best player ever until you're 80 like you need to. 326 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:44,560 I made, I was really good till I was 32. 327 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,600 That used to be amazing. Now you have to be good till 328 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,680 you're like 57, OK? And if you don't, you'll never 329 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,200 be the GOAT. So just hilarious man. 330 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,520 But it shows just how secure God is, doesn't it? 331 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,280 We do that because we're insecure. 332 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,360 We do that, we get our power and we got to get back, right? 333 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:05,880 We got to get our vengeance. We got to launch your peace. 334 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:08,720 We got to do it. God is not insecure. 335 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,240 God is not petty. Isn't that amazing? 336 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:18,520 He's stable, He's confident, He's full, he's overflowing. 337 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,360 He doesn't do what he does because he's feeling a little 338 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,320 down. Need to remind everybody, which 339 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,160 is why our test prayers and our ways of messing with him. 340 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,760 He is going to operate within who he is. 341 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,800 That's why Jesus could disappoint people constantly. 342 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,000 He didn't give in to test. He didn't give in to getting 343 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,400 cornered. And if you're this, then do 344 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,840 this. He'd go to sleep just fine. 345 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,160 Sleeping great. You can write a book about me, 346 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,000 be a best seller talking trash about me. 347 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,640 He ain't going to respond. God is truly one of one. 348 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,040 So I just want to appeal to some of y'all who don't follow him. 349 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,680 I just want you to think about the concept as we'll talk about 350 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,160 more a little bit like we choose who we follow. 351 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:06,240 I want to follow somebody secure. 352 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,600 I want to follow somebody who uses their power like that. 353 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,000 I don't even want to follow myself because I'm not like 354 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,160 that. I want to follow somebody that 355 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,720 good who uses power like that. We're going to talk about how we 356 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,080 should use power in a similar way, but we pattern everything 357 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,160 we do after him. He is the standard. 358 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,200 He is the source. He is 1 of 1. 359 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,120 So I just want you to be thinking through who do you 360 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,280 follow? Can you trust them the way that 361 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:38,280 the psalmist trust the Lord our God #2 what does this passage 362 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,440 teach us about humanity, about us? 363 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,600 First thing, we are praise ERS. We praise. 364 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,960 That's what we do. We praise verse one, praise the 365 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,600 Lord, praise those servants of the Lord, praise the name of the 366 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,560 Lord. Verse 9 ends with praise the 367 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,880 Lord. You know, the word praise means 368 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:05,000 like boast or shine or like basically like the the way my, 369 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,440 my mind just kind of thought about it was like burst, like 370 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:12,040 explode with joy at like rejoice is a similar type word. 371 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,120 It's it's this idea of just like exploding, boasting, shining. 372 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:21,800 It's yes, like it's yes, y'all. To be human is to praise. 373 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,320 At some level. You were created to praise. 374 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:31,520 So you get to choose what you praise, but not if you praise 375 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,120 you with me because you were made to praise. 376 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:40,640 So the question you might ask yourself is what am I praising? 377 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,200 Who am I praising? And he's like, well I'm not 378 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,000 religious so I don't praise. Wrong answer. 379 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,320 OK, you could be praising yourself as a self sovereign. 380 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,640 Look at how well I run my life and I came from nothing or 381 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,160 whatever it is. Or look at my political party or 382 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,040 whatever. You can praise all kinds of 383 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,480 stuff but you can't opt out of the praise category. 384 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,760 Does that make sense? Praise is to say, yes, you are 385 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,840 boasting over something. You are shining you when you eat 386 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,640 food, you're like, yeah, like this junk is incredible. 387 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,000 Like we're all the time in little ways and in big ways we 388 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,520 are praising because we are praisers. 389 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,720 And to continue to help you think what's the what is praise? 390 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,520 Y'all Praise is a little deeper than Thanksgiving. 391 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,040 Thanksgiving is really important. 392 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,000 Thanksgiving is gratitude for something that happened. 393 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,480 You're saying thank you to somebody for something. 394 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:35,920 Praise is like a deeper yes just based on the essence of a thing, 395 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,920 not the activity of the thing. Does that make sense? 396 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:41,600 Thanksgiving is yes for what you did. 397 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,080 Praise is yes for who you are. Does that make sense? 398 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,440 So we see this in in things like marriages and and relationships 399 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,880 that are covenantal, like a a child or siblings. 400 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,400 There comes a point where you're grateful for that person, but 401 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,600 trust is built. Praise is a part of that process 402 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,480 because you trust their essence, not just their actions. 403 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,960 So y'all in our sin, our praise has been twisted. 404 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,720 Does that make sense? So we are praisers. 405 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,600 I praise. Let me hear somebody say I 406 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,160 praise. That is a fact. 407 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:20,280 I agree with you. And in our sin we don't remove 408 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,080 the praise category, we just fill it with things unworthy of 409 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,160 that praise. Does that make sense? 410 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,080 So our praise has been twisted, I've heard it said, made to be a 411 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:34,080 river through which things flow back to God, the source to the 412 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,720 ocean. Like praise God and praise God 413 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,640 from whom all blessings flow, right? 414 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,240 But we become in our sin, we become pawns. 415 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,760 The basic idea is we want all things to kind of flow downhill 416 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,440 to us and just stay like just just accumulate right here, 417 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,720 right? And the image of a pond is that 418 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:55,040 glossy mossy stuff on top of it, right? 419 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,960 Where when the water ain't moving, it just gross, man. 420 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:02,240 You know, that's that's kind of what sin does to this concept of 421 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:07,520 praise is it makes us those who hog glory, who hog praise. 422 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,800 We think we were created to be praised instead of to give it. 423 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,160 Does that make sense? So we live to be exalted instead 424 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,440 of to exalt others. We begin to think we are the end 425 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,280 of all things. We think we are God. 426 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,080 That's really what it comes down to in our sin, is we want to 427 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,000 receive praise, not give it. And when we do give it, in some 428 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:28,680 kind of way we're using it to get it. 429 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,920 So for some of y'all, this is the invitation process, your 430 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:40,880 praise at a base level. Are you OK with your existence 431 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,200 as a pond because you were made to be a river? 432 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:48,920 And there is more joy in finding yourself in the flow of all 433 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,880 things that flow from a personal God, not an energy, A person 434 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,440 that you can know and love and be in relationship with. 435 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,760 You are not made to be upon receiving praise like people can 436 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,080 appreciate you and thank you and you don't cease to exist but 437 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,480 yourself. Hood gets enveloped into this 438 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,960 God who is much greater than you and has displaced your need to 439 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,560 be praised and you find so much more joy in giving it than you 440 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:16,840 once did in craving it from others. 441 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,880 That makes sense. Some of us are so addicted to 442 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,480 praise. I just want you to hear it's 443 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,760 possible to not be. You can get to where you don't 444 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,360 need it, you just busting with giving it to others. 445 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:33,520 You can become one who blesses others because you're praising 446 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,080 the Lord. But the more you crave others 447 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:40,280 praise, the more your soul shrinks. 448 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:46,840 Second thing we learned about us, we are needy, says in verses 449 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,200 7 to 9. He raises the poor from the dust 450 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,640 and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with 451 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:53,280 Princess, with the Princess of his people. 452 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,160 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous 453 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,000 mother of children. It's a very natural experience 454 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,880 to read that Psalm and be like, what? 455 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:07,960 I guess I'm not poor, I'm not barren. 456 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,400 So like, does this apply to me? Right. 457 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,600 It's similar to maybe the experience you felt if you read 458 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,960 the Beatitudes, Matthew 5 one through 11. 459 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,560 They're either increasing and making sense to you or 460 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,200 decreasing and you avoid them. And every few years when 461 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:22,360 somebody preaches how you listen to it. 462 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:29,280 But the concept is y'all those, those demographics, if you will, 463 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,680 are not what it means in and of itself to be blessed. 464 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,640 It's like what Jesus says blessed are the poor. 465 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,480 He's not literally meaning apart from me. 466 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,040 Those people haven't made 'cause then people would just be 467 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:42,760 throwing their stuff like left and right, get rid of it. 468 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,520 Like, you know, it would be kind of like a martyrdom complex 469 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,120 would become what Jesus is cosigning, if that makes sense. 470 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:55,560 Yo what what the scriptures are saying is that in the Lord these 471 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,840 things become blessed in the recognition of the need those 472 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,400 positions bring about and how the Lord meets them. 473 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:08,200 There is blessing. This is why those with nothing 474 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,240 flocked to Jesus. This is why those on the bottom 475 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,160 were coming to him and he was saying you're blessed, they're 476 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:15,600 not going home. Well, I don't need you. 477 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,840 I guess I'm blessed. The point is in me you're 478 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,280 blessed. That was the point of Jesus's 479 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:24,200 ministry, is that your need finds its solution in me. 480 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:30,040 So y'all, to be blessed is to know your need and go to God to 481 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:34,120 have it met. That's the blessed life. 482 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,000 That's when you have it made. It's when you recognize your 483 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,320 need and you know where to go to find it met and it's in the 484 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,560 Lord. You're not blessed if you have 485 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,040 no needs or if you don't think the Lord will give them to you. 486 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:48,600 You are blind. You are not blessed. 487 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,240 So y'all, we are needy, y'all, That's good news. 488 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,120 Let me hear you say I need. So the two phrases I've had you 489 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:03,040 said are I praise and I need. If you can connect those, you're 490 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,320 on your way. But if you're allergic to need, 491 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,560 praise will feel like something you have to do. 492 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,880 And we are allergic to need, are we not? 493 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,000 You know what I mean? Like, I don't think we're 494 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,040 feeling pressure from our culture to be needy. 495 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,160 I think we're feeling pressure to show that we are the most 496 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,400 independent, autonomous, awesome person ever. 497 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,240 And if you make your brand need, maybe it's for the purposes of 498 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,160 growing a platform around your need. 499 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,760 We could do that. We could find a way to do that. 500 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,960 I could brand need doesn't mean I want to need. 501 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,480 We are allergic to need. Y'all got a confession to make 502 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,240 when I was 18 years old? They didn't have Spotify wrapped 503 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,360 yet where it told you the most listened to songs of the year. 504 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,720 But if they did y'all one of the songs that was the most listened 505 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,120 to. This is so embarrassing what I'm 506 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:56,640 about to tell you. I was not in Christ yet. 507 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,200 I'm sure I still listened to it some after. 508 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:02,560 There was a song by TI featuring Drake called Pledge Allegiance 509 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:10,200 to the Swag and I am not kidding that I would walk around listen 510 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,080 that song, Pledge Allegiance to the Swag. 511 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:21,160 What a loser, right? But here's what's crazy. 512 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:26,560 Maybe every song is not as explicit as that, but basically 513 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,400 the whole industry of that type of music I was listening to was 514 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:34,880 to elevate you and show you you are awesome. 515 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,560 You know, you are the man, you are great. 516 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,320 So then we get around Jesus stuff and we hear about need. 517 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,080 Need. Oh, man, I don't need enough to 518 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,080 pledge allegiance to the swag, man. 519 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,320 You know, So even in a culture where therapy is cooler than it 520 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,360 once was and something like need is cooler than it once was, 521 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:00,480 we're still allergic to it. And at the end of the day, we'll 522 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,520 need it for a little bit. So then we could tell the story 523 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,320 about how we once needed stuff, but now I don't once did. 524 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:10,920 Now I don't figured it out. And it's like, guys, that ain't 525 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,200 it. OK, Then I heard this other song 526 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:14,400 right when I was coming to faith. 527 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:20,360 It was called Angels. And he says got a lot of money, 528 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,720 got a got a lot of clothes. Everybody praise you everywhere 529 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,440 you go. The idea was like it was talking 530 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,320 about a big headed person that I was. 531 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:33,440 And it says but you ain't got no angels praising you, You're not 532 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,480 the man. Then he says you ain't never 533 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:37,760 healed the sick, you ain't never raised the dead, you ain't never 534 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,080 had 5000 with two fish, 5 loaves of bread. 535 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,760 The point was you are not the guy. 536 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,560 He's the guy. He's the exalted 1. 537 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,840 He is one of one. You are not the one of ones. 538 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:54,440 Stuff is just so toxic to what the Bible wants us to do. 539 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:56,160 And I just got to be honest, it's still in me. 540 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,440 Y'all. It didn't die when I was 18 and 541 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,040 stopped listening to that song that I'm one of them ones and 542 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,760 pledge allegiance to the swag is in US. 543 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,160 It's in the songs we listen to. It's in the movies we watch. 544 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,120 It's in our souls somewhat that we want people to worship us. 545 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,480 We want people to see us for the greatness we are and the the 546 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,040 rags to riches and we make our stories seem so much worse than 547 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,640 they are. We want so badly people to pity 548 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,880 us, worship us, need us, and all of that communicates we're going 549 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,400 to really struggle with being the needy one. 550 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:35,760 I just want you to hear we aren't high, we are low, He is 551 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:37,520 high. We are needy. 552 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:42,840 And some of what enjoying God comes down to is are you glad at 553 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,040 that? It comes down to falling on our 554 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,000 face and just saying God, you're a God and I'm not. 555 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,240 And I'm so glad at that. And please make me glad at that 556 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,040 because there's still this pledge allegiance to the swag 557 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:57,240 Tanner driving the car down the road. 558 00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,920 And when you cut me off, I could have cut you off, you know, like 559 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:01,960 we want to self justify so quick. 560 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:07,640 And if I could the Lord love the Lord loves me man, think about 561 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:09,320 that y'all. I was bumping that song like 562 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,480 crazy. So this is my this is my 563 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,240 statement. You are needy. 564 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,160 Do you agree with that? Do you agree with God that he is 565 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,400 high and you are low? Do you agree with God that he is 566 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,000 God and you are not? Do you agree with God that you 567 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,880 are needy? Third thing we learn about us, 568 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,280 we can be united to God. We can be. 569 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,520 Verse 5 is my blowing. Read it. 570 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:34,000 Just read the first phrase with me, who is like the Lord our 571 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,840 God? All right, if I had to ask you, 572 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,440 what's the most staggering word in that phrase, I'll give you 573 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,160 like 3 seconds. You don't have to answer it out 574 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:44,320 loud. It's not about being right or 575 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:45,800 wrong. But what is staggering about 576 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,880 that statement? Who is like the Lord our God? 577 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:49,040 I'm a read it and give you the answer. 578 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,760 You ready? Who is like the Lord our God? 579 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,080 This God who exalts, this God who's high? 580 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,880 We can say we own him, we could say we belong to Him, we could 581 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:04,080 say He's ours, we possess him. That is mind blowing. 582 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,240 The pomp listening to pledge allegiance to the swag can lay 583 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,000 claim to the Lord who is. How can this be? 584 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:18,240 That is so presumptive isn't it? Or is it y'all? 585 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:23,680 Jesus says in Luke 1910 the Son of Man came to seek and to save 586 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:29,320 the lost. Y'all the idea is who God is, is 587 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:33,720 the God who seeks people out. He exalts, he looks for us. 588 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,280 He doesn't recruit people looking for him. 589 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:43,440 Y'all nobody is. People are are not looking for 590 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:48,160 God, but they should be. God is looking for people y'all. 591 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,080 That's our hope in life and death is that we are not our own 592 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,040 but belong to God. That God is looking for us, that 593 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,440 he came to seek and to save the lost. 594 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:00,360 We are in darkness and he shines the spotlight and he's searching 595 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,600 for us y'all. The story of scripture is that a 596 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,600 people can say the Lord is ours. How can that be? 597 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:12,040 Because God came and bought them out of slavery, that's how. 598 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,880 Not because we found him, not because we earned our way to 599 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,679 him, but because we heard a message about a God who came to 600 00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:21,360 exalt us. We heard a message about a God 601 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:25,239 who took our place, who looked at that punk and the punk that 602 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,239 all of us are or were, and says I'll take them. 603 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:33,120 Not because of their potential, but because of my character. 604 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,679 I choose them. I choose them. 605 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:37,679 I will die in their place. I will die of their death. 606 00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:41,960 You can say God is yours, it's true, but first you must admit 607 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:43,520 you're not his. You do. 608 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,280 You could say God is yours, it's true, but first you must admit 609 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,320 you're not his. You do if you've defaulted into 610 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,159 thinking you're just in with him. 611 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:58,760 But I hear this phrase all the time. 612 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:00,880 I'm spiritual, I hear that constantly. 613 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:02,440 Not religious, but I'm spiritual. 614 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,480 I think by that people mean I just know God automatically. 615 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:09,040 So I kind of interact with him how I feel like, not what the 616 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,960 Bible teaches. God buys you. 617 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,760 God purchases you. You were a slave to sin. 618 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,600 You have to agree with Him about where you were before. 619 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,360 You could say where you are. You don't get to dictate those 620 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,240 terms. That's not how it works. 621 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,400 God wants to purchase you. That's what the cross is about. 622 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,480 But before you can be bought, you have to acknowledge you did 623 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,360 and you, you need to be purchased by his blood. 624 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:37,040 That's the gospel. OK #3 what should we do in light 625 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:41,840 of this passage #1 Live to exalt, not be exalted. 626 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:46,440 Live to exalt, not be exalted. Y'all we've read who the Lord 627 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:48,040 is. He's the raiser, the lifter, the 628 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,640 giver, y'all. That's, that's who. 629 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,440 Those who are in Christ, the anointed ones, the little 630 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,400 Christ. That's literally what Christian 631 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,000 means is a little Christ. Not because we are in our 632 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,960 strength becoming like Him, but He indwells us. 633 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,400 That's the people of God. We aren't just following a model 634 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,080 exemplar. We have been filled with the 635 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:14,720 Spirit of God and He is one who uses his exalted status to 636 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:19,080 exalt. God gives grace to the humble. 637 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:23,280 He opposes the proud y'all in the the all throughout the 638 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,240 scriptures we see Jesus just saying, hey, humble yourself, 639 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:27,840 you'll be exalted. Exalt yourself, you'll be 640 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:29,880 humbled. You know, that's kind of the 641 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,600 pattern. And here's the point. 642 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,800 You don't be humble to get God to love you. 643 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:38,840 You don't exalt so that God will put you on the good list. 644 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,840 You don't use your power for good so that God will love you. 645 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:47,920 If you exalt, it's because you recognize the Exalted One has 646 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,240 exalted you. The order matters. 647 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,200 We don't humble ourselves to get God to love us because God has 648 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,880 loved us so freely when we were the punk listening to pledge 649 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:01,560 allegiance to the swag. We then use our power to exalt 650 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,360 others as evidence of that transformation, not to somehow 651 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,520 get it on the back end. Does that make sense? 652 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,680 It's not a back end reward, it's an outworking of the 653 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,280 transformation we freely received. 654 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,720 So yes, we should exalt those who have nothing. 655 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:20,360 We should use whatever semblances of power we got, 656 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,480 whether you're a sibling to your younger sibling. 657 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,560 You got power man. It's facts. 658 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,680 How are you using it in our streets, in our schools, in our 659 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,000 neighborhoods, in our workplace? Whatever influence you got, 660 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,840 whatever money you got, use it to exalt those who cannot exalt 661 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,600 themselves. That's what the Lord has done 662 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:42,120 for you, and in the power He provides, we get to do that for 663 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:43,920 others. We don't have to live to be 664 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,480 exalted anymore because He handles that for us. 665 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:49,560 Y'all. The Lord exalts us in Christ, 666 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,760 and He will choose the times and the places where we get exalted 667 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,240 in other ways. But we can let go of living to 668 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:58,200 be exalted. We can leverage our energy to 669 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,200 exalt. But we get that backwards 670 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,840 sometimes from fear, like, hey, if I don't live to exalt myself, 671 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,120 nobody will notice me and I'll get passed up for things left 672 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,840 and right, right? So it's in good fearful kind of 673 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,720 paradigm. We seek to be exalted, be all. 674 00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:16,240 We can trust the Lord. He is the exalter of those who 675 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:18,400 have nothing. We can trust Him, we can exalt. 676 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:22,920 The Lord will exalt us in His way in his time #2 praise the 677 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:25,640 Lord. I don't think we can read this 678 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,520 Psalm and say one of the applications is not just 679 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:32,480 straight up praise the Lord. Praise and y'all, this is deeper 680 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,760 than Thanksgiving. It's deeper than thank you for 681 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,640 what you've done. It's looking at who God is and 682 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,520 just saying yes and shouting about that. 683 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:46,000 For many of us, we've so normalized the feelings of guilt 684 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,800 and dread and toleration. We think that's the extent of 685 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,240 what we can hope for in our walk with God. 686 00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:54,560 I'm supposed to I should and it's that's not what God's 687 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,920 after. Sometimes we get there, but what 688 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,360 God's after is wowing you. What God's after is just a 689 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,960 spontaneous reaction that we have all the time. 690 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:05,680 You see an awesome sunset. You're like, whoa, get get a 691 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,760 camera out. You eat a new candy. 692 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,320 You're like you're tasting. You're like, give me some more 693 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:11,680 of those. You ask for one and you're like, 694 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,520 come here. You see a movie with a really 695 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,160 cool ending. You cry, you hear a funny joke, 696 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,080 you laugh. Those are immediate. 697 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:20,720 You're not like, maybe I'll left to this joke. 698 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:23,200 Ha ha ha. It is just automatic. 699 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,560 It made you laugh, it tasted amazing, you went, there's no 700 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:28,520 calculation. Does that make sense? 701 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,800 That's what praises to your soul. 702 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:36,720 It is an uncalculated response to being wowed by who God is and 703 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:41,040 what He's done for you. It's bursting and y'all, 704 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,880 hopefully you've had a time where the cross where what 705 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:49,600 Christ has done for you while you're a Sinner bursted you with 706 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,400 joy. It amazed you, but maybe it 707 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:56,680 hasn't. I just want to say like, that's 708 00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:01,200 I, I, I pray that over you. And if you, you have always just 709 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:04,320 lived in toleration of how you're supposed to always feel, 710 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:09,400 If you've never experienced joy at who God is, we should talk. 711 00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:12,640 If it's never impressed you, amazed you, wowed you, or filled 712 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,720 you with joy, we need to talk. Because God is not after an army 713 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:20,560 of tolerators. He's after a family of 714 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:22,880 celebrators. He's after a group of people who 715 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:26,160 just that was amazing. That's awesome. 716 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:31,120 I love it. And for disciples in Christ, I 717 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:33,760 want us to want the one thing I want you to hear from followers 718 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:37,000 of Jesus. Y'all praise is a posture. 719 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:41,960 It's not always it can feel like it's supposed to be hype. 720 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:43,680 I just want, I just want us to hear it. 721 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:45,800 You don't have to be hype to be praising. 722 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,160 That makes sense. Like I love the song Praise by 723 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:50,280 Elevation. I think it's dope. 724 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,400 If you go listen to lyrics, they're actually really good. 725 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:54,760 Praise you when I feel it, praise you when I don't pray, 726 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,560 you know, like they're good lyrics, but it's a hype song. 727 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:00,160 You're like, you know, like you're dancing, like you're a 728 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:01,240 hype. You like it, right? 729 00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:05,080 This is the Lord. But y'all, you can praise the 730 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:09,080 Lord and be weeping. You can praise the Lord and be 731 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,920 suffering. You can praise the Lord and be 732 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:14,440 down and out. So let's not get twisted with 733 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,600 the radio's always going to put that on. 734 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,080 And they should. It's a bop. 735 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,600 Listen to it on your way to give that test to your kids. 736 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:25,920 OK, that's great. But don't confuse that mood with 737 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:28,680 what praise means. Does that make sense? 738 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,920 Don't conflate mood with posture. 739 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:37,240 OK, I want you to hear praise is about becoming the type of 740 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:41,960 person who's wowed by God spontaneously and rhythmically. 741 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,080 You're just wowed. You're amazed, you're in no 742 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:47,760 matter what comes. And then what happens is your 743 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,920 praise shapes how you interpret what happens to you instead of 744 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,800 letting what happens to you shape your mood and your praise 745 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,280 once you get to where they're in the right order because it's 746 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,240 genuinely who you are and you've become that type of person. 747 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,280 Now I interpret my suffering through my praise instead of 748 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,040 letting my suffering dictate whether or not I praise. 749 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,000 Are you tracking with me? Because suffering is going to 750 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,400 come in little ways and in big ways. 751 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,160 That's life in a broken world. So if we can become these type 752 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,320 of people, I think our joy will increase. 753 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:26,040 Third thing, pass the praise. Praise the Lord and then pass 754 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:27,520 the praise. I want to read verses 2 and 755 00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:30,640 three over you. Blessed be the name of the Lord. 756 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,080 From this time forth and forevermore, from the rising of 757 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,560 the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 758 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,880 OK, from this time forth and forevermore, and then from the 759 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:41,520 rising of the sun to its setting. 760 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:43,520 Y'all. If I'm honest, I thought both of 761 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,920 those phrases were time based phrases about praising the Lord. 762 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:49,960 The first one says from this time forth and forevermore and 763 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:52,680 the second one says from the rising the sun to its setting I 764 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,360 hear all day long praising. Maybe you hear that that is 765 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,240 true. It also means to a Hebraic kind 766 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:02,160 of mind y'all where the sun is rising and setting. 767 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,640 It's rising and setting all over the world all the time. 768 00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:07,840 The idea is let God's praise be coast to coast. 769 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:10,280 It's not just time, it's geography. 770 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,560 Does that make sense? So let God's praise be eternally 771 00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:17,760 filling everywhere. That's the idea from the rising 772 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,520 of the sun, which is always doing somewhere and it's always 773 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:22,240 setting. The rising of the sun, not just 774 00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:24,880 where you stand, but where it's rising and setting. 775 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:26,360 Let the praise of the Lord be known. 776 00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:30,120 Does that make sense? The idea is God's praise is to 777 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,360 be everywhere. Hey y'all, the reality is right 778 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,400 now I don't know if you know these just pure facts. 779 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,280 There are 8.2 billion people on this earth. 780 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:46,280 OK to the best we know right now a billion people are hearing the 781 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,280 gospel and believing it, believe it, trust it, love it. 782 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:54,760 Praise another 2 1/2 billion as best we could tell are hearing 783 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,880 it and not trusting it, not believing it. 784 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:02,680 Which leaves around 4.3 billion people are not even hearing it, 785 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:06,400 inadequately hearing it. Does that make sense? 786 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:09,880 So you got hearing it, believing it, hearing it, not believing it 787 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:14,680 and then another large over half the world is not hearing it. 788 00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:19,040 Why do I tell you that y'all? Some of it is. 789 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:24,280 It starts right where you are. Are you owning what it means to 790 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:26,440 praise the Lord in your spheres of influence? 791 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,240 Have you just said God put me here? 792 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,040 You might have sought out that opportunity, but God put you 793 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:32,280 there. You might live on that street, 794 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:34,200 but God put you there. You might be in that class, but 795 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:36,120 God put you there, might be on that team. 796 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,640 God put you there. One of the ways that the praise 797 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:40,160 passes. You just have to become 798 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,040 self-conscious of the fact that God put you there. 799 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:45,680 You have to become self-conscious of the fact that 800 00:44:46,240 --> 00:44:49,040 God put me here and I have some responsibility in this. 801 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,240 I can't save nobody, but I can praise the Lord and live. 802 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:55,480 So if you are bursting the way you laugh at a joke, if God's 803 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:58,840 goodness is bursting out of you, your spheres of influence will 804 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,160 be impacted by your praise of the Lord, right? 805 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,200 And then it goes viral. It goes to other geographic 806 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:11,400 context as an overflow of that. But when we send people to other 807 00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:14,120 places, it's not like they're doing something radically 808 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,040 different. They're still the types of 809 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:19,680 people that have become praisers of the Lord, and they've chosen 810 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,280 to go live in a different context to give other people 811 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:24,760 access that wouldn't have it unless they moved there. 812 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:28,800 OK, some people don't know nobody don't know nobody who 813 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,560 knows nobody who knows nobody. Nobody knows, nobody who knows 814 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,840 who Jesus even is. There are many places on this 815 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:37,440 earth like that. So I just want you to hear that 816 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,680 God intends for his name to be praised from sea to shining sea, 817 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,560 from coast to coast, land to land, everywhere. 818 00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:47,240 So part of what we get the opportunity to do is sing Psalm 819 00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:49,400 113. And part of what you're singing 820 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,720 is God spread your praise. God, please spread your praise. 821 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,440 Does your prayer closet look like that? 822 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:58,520 The mine looks like bless this, bless that, help this, help 823 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:01,480 that. Help me do this and it's 824 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:05,040 Christianized, but it still smells a little exalt me ish at 825 00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:07,720 times. But what this Psalm is filled 826 00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:10,920 with is Lord, let your praise be heard everywhere. 827 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,720 People are singing. So I don't know the last time 828 00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:19,280 you were wowed, y'all? I was wowed this week, Speaker 829 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:25,640 pointed out in John 18 the night when Jesus is getting arrested. 830 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,880 OK, Judas is rolling up. They got a squad torches. 831 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:35,280 They're rolling up on them and they come to Jesus and he's 832 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:37,720 like, who y'all here to see? He knows. 833 00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:40,560 I love how he asks questions because he wants to hear you say 834 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:41,960 it. Who are you here for? 835 00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:46,520 Jesus of Nazareth? I'm he Jokers just fall down, 836 00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:49,080 start worshiping. They just fall on their faces 837 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,360 when he says I'm he. Then they get up. 838 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,480 He said, who are you here for? They say Jesus and Azarus. 839 00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:56,600 He said, I already told you I am E Then he says this phrase, 840 00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:58,080 which I hadn't really caught before. 841 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:01,360 He says if you came to get me, let these men go. 842 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:05,200 So he says, if you came for me, then let these men go. 843 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:08,240 He steps out in front of the Pledge of Allegiance to the swag 844 00:47:08,240 --> 00:47:13,000 crew and says, take me. And man, that just blew my mind. 845 00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:16,840 Like, have you had the image yet that Jesus of Nazareth imagine a 846 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:21,000 group of soldiers coming for you, coming for me, as they 847 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:22,960 should be. Are you the one who's listened 848 00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:25,720 to pledge allegiance to the twag 8,000,000 times and uses all of 849 00:47:25,720 --> 00:47:28,280 your time, energy and talent to get people to like you? 850 00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,080 Why yes, I am. Thank you. 851 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:33,960 I'm really good at it. I have extreme victim of the 852 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,000 complex and I am totally into myself. 853 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:39,040 What's your name? Follow me on Instagram. 854 00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:44,440 And Jesus in that moment steps out in front. 855 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:49,680 Isn't that amazing? He doesn't step out in front for 856 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:53,120 the version of you that is awesome for the version of you 857 00:47:53,240 --> 00:47:57,320 that is Psalm 113, He steps out to buy you. 858 00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:00,320 He steps out to say I claim these guys. 859 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,920 These are my guys. They're about to desert me in 860 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:05,160 about 30 seconds, but they're my guys. 861 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:08,080 Just that image of Jesus stepping out. 862 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:11,760 I wonder if that might wow you that he would claim you. 863 00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:15,040 It amazes me that he would claim me. 864 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:19,840 I'm like you, sure, but He did, and He went to the cross for 865 00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:23,080 you. If you think you're the goat, I 866 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:25,840 feel bad for you, son. Who is like the Lord our God? 867 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,600 Nobody, not one. I sense many of us have never 868 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:32,360 fallen down in reverence. Maybe it's time we consider the 869 00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:36,200 depths of God's relevance. Once His beauty is seen, once we 870 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,920 are acquainted with His ways, there's only one response, never 871 00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:41,520 ceasing and always expanding Praise. 872 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:45,560 Let's pray together. Our Father, we love you. 873 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,000 Thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for our time 874 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,080 and your Word. God, would your praise spread to 875 00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:52,640 the ends of the earth where people don't know, they don't 876 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:55,320 know that they don't know. And God, would you wow us with 877 00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,680 your grace? God, would you wow us? 878 00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:00,840 Would you just have us bursting with joy at seeing you for who 879 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:03,120 you are? God, help us get our eyes off 880 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,960 ourself for one second and just see you clearly as the exalting 881 00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,400 and exalted God that you are. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.