1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,360 The scripture reading this morning comes from Psalm 119 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:24,040 verses 25 through 32, Psalm 119 verses 25 through 32, and most 3 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,000 of the Bibles on your seat. I think it's in 480. 4 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,560 On page 480. I have a Bible. 5 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,000 We invite you to take one of those as our gift to You. 6 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,080 Psalm 119, verse 25 says my soul clings to the dust. 7 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,960 Give me life according to Your word. 8 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,840 When I told of my ways, you answered me. 9 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,760 Teach me Your statutes, make me understand the way of Your 10 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:57,240 precepts, and I will meditate on Your wondrous works. 11 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,520 My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to Your 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,400 word, Put false ways far from me, and graciously teach me Your 13 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,080 law. I have chosen the way of 14 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,440 faithfulness. I set Your rules before me. 15 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,560 I cling to Your testimonies. O Lord, let me not be put to 16 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,680 shame. I will run in the way of Your 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,880 commandments when you enlarge my heart. 18 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:33,280 It's the word of the Lord. Good morning, Port City Church 19 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,760 family and friends. How's everybody doing this cold, 20 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,840 rainy, wonderful Sunday? Thank you all for coming out of 21 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,160 your houses and joining us. I appreciate it. 22 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:47,120 My name is Will, and I am one of the pastors here, and I am so 23 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,600 excited every time that I get to open God's Word with all of you. 24 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,880 And I recognize that the Bible talks about not having 25 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,880 favorites, not playing favoritism, but I have a 26 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,280 favorite, OK? And before I jump in too far, I 27 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:01,800 just want to talk to my kids for a minute. 28 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:03,960 You guys are better than everybody else in the room. 29 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:05,280 I just want you to know that. OK? 30 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,280 So if you are a kid, can you look at me for just a second? 31 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,759 All right? I love having you guys in this 32 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:13,120 room. You are amazing, OK? 33 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,840 And I know that a lot of times when you are in this room, it 34 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,760 feels like us adults are telling you to be more like us, right? 35 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,640 We want you to sit still, to be quiet, to listen, not to move. 36 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:25,120 OK. But can I just tell you guys a 37 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,280 secret? So, yeah, if you want me to tell 38 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:28,600 you a secret. Do you guys like secrets? 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:30,480 I appreciate it. Kevin. 40 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,280 Kevin is. Kevin is also a big kid. 41 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:34,760 Yeah. There he goes. 42 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,040 He's repping the kids. Jesus, in his word tells us 43 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:39,800 adults that we need to be more like you guys. 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,640 Did you know that? You guys are incredible. 45 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:44,720 And you have so much to offer the church. 46 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,400 And I want you to hear that. OK. 47 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,000 So I want you guys to listen today, though, OK? 48 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,200 I want you to know that you're in here because we care about 49 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,560 you and I want you to hear what we have to say. 50 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:57,720 But I'm going to sweeten the deal, all right? 51 00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,640 Because I know that you guys want to move around, OK? 52 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,880 If you can come to me at the end of my sermon, the usual deal 53 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:03,880 with you guys that have been here, right? 54 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,640 If you come to me at the end of my sermon with my four points, 55 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:10,920 everybody say 44, go ahead and write down 1234 parents. 56 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,480 You can help your kids cheat if you need to. 57 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,600 It's OK if you come to me at the end with those four points, I 58 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,280 got a piece of candy because I love you guys. 59 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,760 All right, everybody good? Give me a thumbs up if you're 60 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,560 good. All right, wonderful adults. 61 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,080 I have nothing extra for you guys, but God's Word is all that 62 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:28,760 we need. Amen. 63 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,440 All right, before I jump in, let me just take a moment to pray. 64 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:34,920 And kids, you can wrestle around and find a piece of paper. 65 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,640 Lord, I just thank you. God, I thank you for your word. 66 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,880 I thank you that every time I open your word, you encourage 67 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,360 me, Lord, when I just sit down and I seek to study your word, 68 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,600 you, you, you show me something in your word. 69 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,680 God, I'm so encouraged by this text this morning, Lord, You 70 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,560 have used it in many ways to encourage me, God. 71 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,920 And I just pray that you would take these these words that I've 72 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,240 tried to string together God, and that you would remove the 73 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,320 ones that don't communicate what it is that you want 74 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,840 communicated. God, I pray that you would add 75 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,920 ones or we need to add some. God, I pray that you would just 76 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,240 move this morning, God, and encourage others in the way that 77 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,600 I have been encouraged as I have looked at your word, Father, 78 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,920 Lord, we just we thank you for your word. 79 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,640 We thank you for the God that you are, Lord. 80 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,120 And I just pray that you would help me to communicate that this 81 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,200 morning. I love you, Father. 82 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:29,800 And your name, I pray, Amen. All right, so as I was starting 83 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,960 to just prep this sermon this the past few weeks as I've began 84 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,520 to study, I just have realized like every time that I have the 85 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,880 opportunity to preach a few times a year, God just uses 86 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,840 those texts in my life. And it doesn't matter what it 87 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,080 is. Any text, every time I sit down 88 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,920 and I just take some intent time to just sit and study it, 89 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,760 there's something that God uses to just grip my heart and change 90 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:55,920 me. Any text, right? 91 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,040 You see, something happens when we really take God seriously and 92 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,480 we study and meditate on His word. 93 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,520 It shouldn't be a surprise when we just take that time like He. 94 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,880 He begins to show me something and this week has been no 95 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,160 different and it shouldn't be surprising, right? 96 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,880 Hebrews 412 says for the word of God is living and active. 97 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,360 It's sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing to the division 98 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,200 of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow and discerning the 99 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,600 thoughts and intentions of the heart. 100 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,400 It's living like it's active. It's not just words on a paper, 101 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,400 right? Like do we believe that this 102 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,800 morning because it's true. That's what we've been talking 103 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,280 about in the series through Psalm 119 the past three weeks. 104 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:40,040 We covered read the word Pastor Ron. 105 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,440 It was a huge encouragement to me store the Word. 106 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,960 Last week, Pastor Tanner preached on meditating the word 107 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,480 and I've just been processing that. 108 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:49,760 I've heard other people that have been processing what what 109 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:51,720 he talked about last week. And I hope that if you didn't 110 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,200 listen, you go back and listen to it this week. 111 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,160 My sermon is entitled Live the Word. 112 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:02,400 Can somebody say live the Word? I don't know about you, but many 113 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,960 times if I hear a sermon that's called something like Live the 114 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,640 Word, it makes me think of a checklist like I I've been given 115 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,800 the rules, I've been given the things, I meditated on it, I 116 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,360 read it and now I've got the list of things that I need to 117 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,680 do. And now it's up to me to go and 118 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,600 do it. But what I hope that you find 119 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,320 this morning is that we serve a God unlike any other, unlike any 120 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:25,440 other. He's the only God. 121 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,720 And I have a feeling that many in here, whether you realize it 122 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,720 or not, might have an image of God standing on top of a 123 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,000 mountain. He's given us his word. 124 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,240 He's given us this, this word that's a map of instruction, a 125 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:40,000 manual. And he said, the rest is up to 126 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,520 you. You've got what you need to do, 127 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,800 You've got the directions, you've got the instructions. 128 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,560 Now come up here and meet me if you can make it like it's all up 129 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,920 to us now. Time to use all of our grit, all 130 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,800 of our discipline. And if we make it to the top of 131 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,760 the mountain without falling off, then we found him. 132 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,920 I don't know about you, but sometimes when it's like, hey, 133 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,000 live God's word, that's kind of what it feels like. 134 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,280 And that image can invoke a couple of different responses. 135 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,280 Some respond in shame because rightly we realize that hey, I 136 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:10,800 can't make it to the top of that mountain. 137 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,720 I can't be perfect. I can't live his word out 138 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,960 perfectly. There's no way I've tried it. 139 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,920 I can't not screw this up. Some of us respond by moving the 140 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:22,880 goal posts. We're like, hey God. 141 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,400 Surely God didn't say. I know he wrote it down, but 142 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,640 surely he didn't mean it because he knew that I couldn't do it. 143 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:30,360 So there's no way that he would do that. 144 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,400 It's like playing a game with like a six year old who's really 145 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,320 competitive. Like if you ever played 146 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,600 basketball with like a six year old, by the end of the game, the 147 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:39,760 person that misses the most shots is the one that's winning. 148 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:41,600 Like they just changed the rules. 149 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:44,600 The problem is that we all know the real rules, right? 150 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,520 No matter how much the goal poster move, you know who won 151 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:54,280 that game? The last group can sometimes be 152 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,840 just after we kind of go through the process of realizing these 153 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:58,640 things. Eventually you're like, man, I'm 154 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,240 just going to give up trying. I can't do it. 155 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,000 The goal post thing doesn't work. 156 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,160 I know it's not really really what he's demanding. 157 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,320 I'm just going to stop trying. Like like me the during my 158 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,120 CrossFit phase. I don't know if anybody's ever 159 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,840 had a CrossFit phase or maybe you're still you're you're still 160 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:14,840 doing it. Some of y'all look like you 161 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:16,680 might still be doing it. And I man props. 162 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,080 I, I did it for about 6 months three years ago and I was doing 163 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,120 pretty good. Like I started out no weights on 164 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:24,160 the bar because I couldn't do it. 165 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:25,760 I got some more weights and I was like, OK, I got some weights 166 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:27,920 on the bar. It came time to climb the rope 167 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,240 and I climbed the rope. I made it up the rope with some 168 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,720 rope burn, but I made it. And then I came in one morning 169 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:34,559 and they were like, hey, we're doing hand stands today. 170 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,120 And I was like what? And they said, we're doing hand 171 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:38,600 stands today. And I was like, OK, you think I 172 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:39,840 can do it? They're like, you got this. 173 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:41,240 I said, OK, what do I need to do? 174 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:42,840 And they said, OK, you need to look at the wall. 175 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:45,720 You need to run as fast as you can, throw your hands down, flip 176 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,200 your feet up and then start doing doing handstand push ups. 177 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:50,840 And I said, y'all think I can do it? 178 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:52,160 And they said yeah. And I said OK. 179 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,360 And I looked at the wall. I ran, I committed, I threw my 180 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,760 hands down, I flipped my feet up, I slammed into the wall, 181 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,560 fell on top of my head, got up, looked at everybody that was 182 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:03,360 looking at me. I turned around and never tried 183 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,640 it again. Maybe that's what God's word, 184 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,040 living God's word feels like to you. 185 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,920 You're like, I've messed this thing up so many times, so many 186 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:13,960 times. I'm just done trying. 187 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,160 But this morning I want to encourage you because you don't 188 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,120 need to respond in any of those ways because we don't serve the 189 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,080 God in that picture. He's not standing up on the 190 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,320 mountain. He's not waiting for us to 191 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,120 climb. To him, He is a deeply personal 192 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,280 God who came down to us. We just celebrated that at 193 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,040 Christmas, right? Emmanuel, God with us, He came 194 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,040 down to us. Do you realize that? 195 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:41,440 He could have stood on the mountain. 196 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:42,880 He would have been right to do so. 197 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,680 He is perfect, but He didn't. He came down to us. 198 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:48,920 He made a way for us. He gave us His word. 199 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,960 And this morning as we jump in, we are going to explore what 200 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,840 this Psalm teaches us about living God's Word. 201 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,720 And I want to warn you because it may sound a little different 202 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:04,560 than what you thought. The first thing that I want us 203 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:09,120 to see in this text, kids, that number one is that the psalmist 204 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:14,280 portrays living God's Word as being revived by God's word. 205 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,680 My first point this morning is be revived by God's word. 206 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:23,280 From the very beginning of this text we find that the psalmist 207 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,280 is not in a great place, is he? Multiple times throughout the 208 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,000 text he clues us into the state of his soul. 209 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,840 The very beginning of this section, My soul clings to the 210 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:40,600 dust. My soul clings to the dust. 211 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,040 One thing that I love about the Psalms is the imagery that they 212 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,920 provide. I'm not a very good poet. 213 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,240 I'm not very good with with words. 214 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:52,960 I have no imagery. The only poems I've ever written 215 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:57,320 my wife started with Roses are red, violets are blue. 216 00:10:57,400 --> 00:10:59,080 This is my poem and I wrote it to you. 217 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,160 That was a freestyle. Just so that y'all know, I don't 218 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,440 know about you, but have you ever, just you look at this 219 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,880 picture of clinging to the dust? Have you ever resonated with 220 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:10,560 that? You're like, man, I, I just, I 221 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,480 feel like no matter how hard I try, I'm just clinging. 222 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:15,640 I can't make myself feel alive again. 223 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:18,400 Have you ever felt like that before? 224 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,280 Like your soul was dead and sorrowful? 225 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:23,520 Maybe when we were singing that song. 226 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:25,920 It is well with my soul. There are mornings when you come 227 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:27,880 in and you're like, man, it's really hard for me to sing that. 228 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,600 Maybe it doesn't feel like it's well with your soul. 229 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,040 And then in verse 28, he gives us another picture to describe 230 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:40,280 his soul. It says my soul melts away for 231 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,120 sorrow. It melts away for sorrow. 232 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,240 He gives us this image of melting. 233 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,640 Another thing that I find helpful when I'm studying 234 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,560 scripture and especially when I'm reading the Psalms, is it's 235 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:56,200 just meditating on the images that they provide and asking the 236 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,480 question, why this image, like out of all the images that he 237 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,920 could have provided us, what was it about this one that, that he 238 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,160 wanted to, to show us something that he wanted to communicate to 239 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:08,720 us? And so I, I begin to think, what 240 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:10,640 are some of the other ways that he could have described his 241 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:12,400 soul, but he chose not to And why? 242 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,840 Right? Like he could have said, Hey, my 243 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:19,120 soul is broken and shattered like a, a glass that just right. 244 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,120 He could have used that imagery, but he didn't. 245 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:24,920 He used the image of being put under consistent heat and 246 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,840 pressure that just causes something to change form, right? 247 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:30,760 It's not a shattering, it just changes form. 248 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:36,280 It's slow and steady. Some of us in this room have 249 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,600 probably had events that were more like the shattering, right? 250 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,320 Like maybe, maybe you got a phone call out of the blue and 251 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,080 it just completely turned your world upside down. 252 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,200 Maybe somebody that you knew was no longer alive or, or something 253 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,000 that you that you thought was no longer true or, or just 254 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,160 something happened that just blew your your world out of the 255 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,440 water. I don't think that's what he's 256 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,080 talking about here. That's, that's not the only kind 257 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,680 of thing that brings grief, is it? 258 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,560 Maybe, maybe some of you have never had that just life 259 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,240 altering phone call. Maybe that's not your story. 260 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,920 One commentator pointed out that the the grief here is not just a 261 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:18,000 flood of tears or a fierce torrent that soon passes. 262 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:23,040 He describes it as a constant wearing a slow attrition that's 263 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:28,400 caused by inward grief that secretly but certainly wears 264 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:33,440 away the soul. So maybe you didn't get that one 265 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,600 big phone call, but maybe you've gone through a season where 266 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,960 you've just gotten like 5 medium phone calls. 267 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:40,400 Like just one blow after the other. 268 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:44,520 Things keep coming and it's like you just can't catch a break. 269 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,840 Maybe it's not like you took a haymaker to the head, but you're 270 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,960 just getting body shots and you are exhausted and you're like, 271 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:55,280 how am I going to make it right? Sometimes living God's word 272 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,320 looks a lot more like clinging and begging than it does taking 273 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,560 the hill. And if you've never found 274 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:04,360 yourself in one of those seasons, I can imagine that at 275 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,520 some point you will. And your walk with God, It's not 276 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:13,480 all going to be mountain tops, but living God's word is just as 277 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,800 important in the valley as it is when you're on top of the 278 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,120 mountain. And so I think this Psalm has 279 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,480 something to offer us as we see the psalmist in this state and 280 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,480 asking the question, how did you respond? 281 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,360 What were you asking God for in these moments? 282 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,200 So that when we find ourselves again in seasons like that, or 283 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,880 maybe right now you're in that season, we can say, God, how 284 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:40,440 should I respond? Another thing that I that I like 285 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,160 to consider when I study God's word is what would I, how would 286 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,800 I have responded in this moment compared to how they responded? 287 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:48,760 Like what would I have done here? 288 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,880 And I don't know about you, but in, in times of struggle, my 289 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,520 first request to God is God, change the external. 290 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,480 I'm not the problem, it's the problem. 291 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,560 Take the pressure away, make the phone call go away. 292 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,280 Make the things that are true right now that are causing this 293 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,520 to happen to me, make them untrue. 294 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,600 I want God to change the pressures around me. 295 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,680 And while that's not always a bad thing, and I'm not asking 296 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,240 you not to pray for those things, what we see in this 297 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,840 example is the psalmist prays something very different. 298 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,400 He requests God to change the things internally in himself 299 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,320 rather than focusing externally on the situation. 300 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,960 Instead of asking for a change of circumstance, he requests for 301 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,280 God to give him life. In verse 25, it says my soul 302 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,840 clings to the dust, give me life, right? 303 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,920 Then again in verse 28, he requests for God to strengthen 304 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,520 him. My soul melts away for sorrow. 305 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,760 Strengthen me. He didn't say take some weights 306 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,000 off the bar. Did he make the bar a little bit 307 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:55,880 lighter? He said, make me stronger. 308 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,960 Another thing that we find here is that he doesn't ask God for 309 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,200 some new word. He didn't say, God, I need a 310 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,360 new, fresh word from you. God, I need you to, I need you 311 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,120 to add a verse to the Bible that applies specifically to me. 312 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,760 I need you to have somebody to come and give me a, a fresh new 313 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:13,960 word specific to me. That's not a bad thing. 314 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:15,800 I welcome that. I welcome something in 315 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:17,400 accordance with God's word that somebody says. 316 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,360 But what we see here is that he says, he says he asked for life 317 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,560 according to God's word. He has to be strengthened 318 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,320 according to God's word. He doesn't want a new word. 319 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,680 He doesn't want a new sign. He just wants God to deliver on 320 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:33,360 the promise that he's already given. 321 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,480 He knows that God's word is sufficient, even though his 322 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,320 understanding of God's word might not be yet. 323 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:46,560 This brings me to my next point. Kids #2 to live God's Word, we 324 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,520 must understand God's Word. Can somebody say understand? 325 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:54,400 This can be intimidating. Can it? 326 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,160 The Bible is a big a big book. And I don't know about you all, 327 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,080 but I'm not a great reader. My daughter can blow through 328 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,880 books. I I get distracted. 329 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,319 So how can you understand God's Word? 330 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,040 How can you understand all of it? 331 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,160 Many of you in here probably haven't even read through the 332 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,880 whole Bible right now, while I would recommend that you all 333 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:21,720 read the whole Bible, that's not the goal here. 334 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:23,079 That's not what we're talking about. 335 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,040 The goal isn't just understanding God's Word, it's 336 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,240 obedience to God's Word. We're going to talk about that 337 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,600 in a minute. God is calling you to obey what 338 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,480 you understand and He is calling you to continue to grow in your 339 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,680 understanding. Let me tell you a secret, OK? 340 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,200 Those of us that have read through the whole Bible, those 341 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,040 of us that have gone and and had theological courses, like we 342 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,040 still don't understand all of God's word. 343 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,480 We still need greater understanding. 344 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,560 This isn't a one year plan. This is a lifelong journey. 345 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,320 Let's look at what the psalmist says here, verse 26. 346 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,600 When I told of my ways, you answered me. 347 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:12,440 Teach me your statutes. Now I'm just going to take a 348 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,520 quick aside. This is not actually the point 349 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,160 that I'm on, so forgive me, but I just couldn't help but stop 350 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,960 here. The psalmist says when I told of 351 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:24,000 my ways. We have this picture here of the 352 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,000 psalmist just talking to God like God. 353 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,920 When I told you of my ways, I told you of how I was. 354 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,040 I was clinging to the dust. I told you of how I was melting. 355 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,760 He's in this season and he's just talking to God. 356 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:39,040 Did you know that you can talk to God? 357 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,720 Did you know that you can approach him, You can have 358 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,280 conversations with him? You can just tell him what is 359 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,040 going on in your life? He already knows, but you can 360 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,920 share it with him, right? What a deeply and personable God 361 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,760 we serve, one who cares about us. 362 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,160 All right, let me jump back to actually what I wanted to say 363 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:03,480 with that verse. Forgive me. 364 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,400 Verse 26 again, when I told of my ways, you answered me. 365 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,240 Teach me your statutes. Teach me your statutes. 366 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,400 And then verse 27, make me understand the way of your 367 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,600 precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. 368 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:24,240 And then in verse 29, put false ways far from me and graciously 369 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,560 teach me your law. When was the last time you felt 370 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,080 like somebody was gracious for for teaching you law, right? 371 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,400 That doesn't happen very often. Like my teachers in here do the 372 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,080 kids like when you get in the beginning of the year and you 373 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,200 say, kids, this is my rules for the classroom. 374 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,480 Are they like, thank you, thank you for these rules? 375 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,040 That doesn't happen, right. What do we see in all three of 376 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:51,320 these verses? The psalmist ask God, asks God 377 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,320 to teach him. Did you know that you can ask 378 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,640 God to reveal his word to you? Did you know that you can say 379 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,520 God? Like, I don't understand this. 380 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,560 I'm in Leviticus right now. I did great through Genesis and 381 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,280 Exodus. I'm in Leviticus and I have no 382 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,320 idea what skin conditions have to do with what I'm going 383 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:11,560 through today. Did you know that you can do 384 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:13,160 that? You can say, God, I need you to 385 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,360 explain your word to me. Have you ever just sat down with 386 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:18,800 your Bible and you read it and you're like, I have no idea what 387 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:20,840 is going on right now? I just said, God, I need you to 388 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,400 show me something like I'm walking through something. 389 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,960 I need you. I need your word right now. 390 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,800 Now, I don't want to give you the wrong idea here, OK? 391 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:31,920 Our walk with God is not just us. 392 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,760 Social media, a cup of coffee and our Bibles. 393 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,280 There are many different ways that God can speak to us, but 394 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:42,120 all of them should be evaluated against His Word in the proper 395 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:44,560 context. One thing that helps us keep 396 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,680 that in check is community. That's why for our members in 397 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,800 our prayer groups every week, one of the questions that we ask 398 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,200 is what is God teaching you this week? 399 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,720 What is God using to teach you? What did He teach you? 400 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,000 As God is teaching you things in His Word, I encourage you to vet 401 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,120 those things with other brothers and sisters in Christ. 402 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,960 Now, that doesn't mean you need to tell everybody, but you might 403 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,840 want to tell somebody, right? If God's teaching you something, 404 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,120 why would you not? That might look something like 405 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,480 saying this, hey, I was reading the Bible this morning and I 406 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,640 came across this passage and I really felt like God was using 407 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:21,800 it to tell me X, right? Do you think that that's in line 408 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,200 with Scripture? Is that, is that consistent with 409 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,400 what the rest of Scripture says? This is just an aside. 410 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,040 It's not specifically in this text, but I do feel like it was 411 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,760 worth calling out. The most important thing here 412 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,400 though is that He didn't just give us a book and say, figure 413 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,440 it out, figure this life thing out. 414 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,520 He teaches us His word. And if you're sitting here this 415 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,760 morning and you don't know Jesus yet, I dare you to ask Him to 416 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,440 teach you His word. Tell one of our members say, 417 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:51,960 hey, I want to read through this Bible. 418 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,160 This thing that y'all been talking about, I want to read 419 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:55,320 through this. Give it a month. 420 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,320 Say hey, will you read the Bible with me? 421 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:03,000 Begin asking God to teach you his word and see what happens. 422 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,720 He might just take you up on that request and turn your whole 423 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,600 world around. There are people in this room 424 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,080 who have said God teach me your word, and their whole life was 425 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:13,640 messed up in the best way possible. 426 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,760 But understanding alone is not enough to live God's word. 427 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:22,360 We can't just understand His word. 428 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:27,600 We must commit to God's Word. Third Point, kids, commit to 429 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:32,960 God's Word. Matthew 7 verse 24 says this. 430 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,800 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will 431 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,960 be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 432 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:46,000 You see, there's hearing the word of God and then there's 433 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,160 committing to do it. Not the same thing. 434 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:50,960 Here's the crazy thing about commitment. 435 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:55,240 We often want to approach commitment one line at a time. 436 00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:58,480 My God, you tell me what you want me to do. 437 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,200 I will evaluate if I want to do it, if I'm brave enough to do 438 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,800 it, if I, if I think that it aligns with my definition of 439 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,720 good, and then I will. I'll either do that or I won't 440 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:09,880 do it. And then you'll take the next 441 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:10,160 thing. God. 442 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,720 OK, tell me the next thing that you want me to do, I'll evaluate 443 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:13,960 it. If I want to do it, then I'll do 444 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,880 it. If not, then maybe I won't write 445 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,000 one line at a time. But that's not what we see the 446 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,120 psalmist doing here. His commitment to live God's 447 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:26,720 Word comes before he has full understanding of what God's Word 448 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,440 is going to mean. Verse 30 says I've chosen the 449 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,560 way of faithfulness set. I set your rules before me. 450 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,840 The psalmist makes a choice even when he still needs to be 451 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,280 taught. We often want to commit after we 452 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,080 understand it all. We want to commit line by line, 453 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,640 like a contract negotiation. OK God, I'll give you that, but 454 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,080 I'm going to hold on to this. I'll do that, but I'm going to, 455 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:52,880 I'm going to keep this. I don't know how I feel about 456 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,680 that yet, but God calls us to commit to Him and trust that His 457 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,760 word is good. The psalmist is saying, God, I 458 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,040 don't yet understand all that you're going to ask of me in 459 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,360 your word, but as soon as you ask it, the the answer is yes. 460 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,600 I don't know what that's going to mean, but it's yes. 461 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,840 And that doesn't make a lot of sense to us a lot of times. 462 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,560 But I want you to think about a marriage commitment. 463 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,320 It's crazy because after being married to Lauren for 14 years, 464 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,600 I realized that I did not know her when we got married. 465 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,440 I don't know about y'all, but I thought I did. 466 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,400 I thought I knew her, but I didn't. 467 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:29,560 Just so you know, she's better than I thought. 468 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,480 I'm just going to say that that's why marriage is so 469 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:36,200 beautiful, right? You're committing in sickness 470 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,760 and in health. When you say your marriage vows, 471 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:43,680 you have no real idea what that is going to cost you, but you do 472 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,080 it anyway. You're saying whatever you 473 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,640 become, whatever you look like, whatever weird habits you've 474 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,320 been hiding from me, I still say yes, right? 475 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,760 You don't commit to what you know now, you commit to whatever 476 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,240 it ends up being. Lauren had no idea that I 477 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,320 habitually leave the microwave door open every single morning. 478 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:11,400 She had no idea that I'm so extremely, frustratingly literal 479 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,960 that I do exactly what she asks and not an inch more. 480 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,880 She had no idea that I get up 15 times at night to check and make 481 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,280 sure the doors are locked in our house because I can't remember 482 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,000 if I actually did it the right way last time. 483 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,480 No idea. But you know what? 484 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:30,200 14 years ago she went ahead and committed to all of those things 485 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:35,120 even before she knew them. Our walk with God is not a 486 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,320 negotiation on every line of the contract. 487 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,200 The psalmist here has put his yes on the table. 488 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,360 Living God's Word means committing to God's Word, no 489 00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:49,240 matter what God's Word ends up revealing. 490 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,480 I'm going to say that again. Living God's word means 491 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:57,120 committing to God's word no matter what God's Word ends up 492 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,680 revealing. Let me tell you something. 493 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:06,200 If you ask God to teach you His Word, if you ask Him to remove 494 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,360 false ways from you, I believe He's going to take you up on 495 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:14,320 that request. I do, in the moment. 496 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,080 It's not going to be easy. Some of you in here can attest 497 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:22,440 to seasons in your life when God is revealing something to you. 498 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,240 A lot of times we make it feel like it's this, this just this 499 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:27,840 wonderful mountaintop experience. 500 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,680 Sometimes it doesn't feel like that because he's making you 501 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,640 new. He's saying, hey, that thing in 502 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,080 your life right there, that's not good. 503 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:36,280 You may think it's good. It's not good. 504 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,520 I'm going to change your tastes. I'm going to make you different. 505 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,680 I'm going to make you alive. I'm going to show you what good 506 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,040 is. You think you know good, but I'm 507 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,480 going to show you good. Give me your definition. 508 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:49,000 I'm going to change it. Sometimes it doesn't feel great 509 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,840 when you're walking through that season, but I promise you it's 510 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,160 so worth it. I promise you, you get to the 511 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,520 other side and you're like, man, what was last year at this time 512 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:03,200 was way different. There are times when living 513 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,600 God's Word feels like you were just hanging on because he's 514 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,400 changing you. He's making you new. 515 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:17,120 Verse 31, it says, I cling to your testimonies. 516 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,760 O Lord, let me not be put to shame. 517 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,840 If you remember in verse 25 the psalmist was clinging to the 518 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,280 dust, but now he uses that same word translated cling here to 519 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,480 say that he's clinging to God's Word. 520 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,240 Sometimes when our soul is clinging to the dust, we have to 521 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:43,040 start clinging to God's word. But let me tell you something 522 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,920 again, He said, let me not be put to shame. 523 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,040 God's Word doesn't return void. You can bet on His Word. 524 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,840 His Word doesn't miss. There may be times when it feels 525 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,560 like it hurts and you feel silly. 526 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,800 There may be times when it leads you to decisions that don't 527 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,120 align with wisdom of everyone else, all of your friends. 528 00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:07,000 They say that's a ridiculous financial decision. 529 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:11,080 Maybe at times it doesn't align with a career path that you 530 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:12,560 want. Maybe at times it doesn't align 531 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,400 with what your parents wanted for you or or what your kids 532 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,080 would want you to do as a parent. 533 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,800 But I promise you, in the end, you will not be put to shame. 534 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,240 My last point this morning, kids, we can't just rely on 535 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,440 God's Word to teach us His word. We must rely on Him to fulfill 536 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,560 His word, rely on God to fulfill His Word. 537 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,680 Part of God fulfilling His word is that He doesn't just teach it 538 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:48,760 to us, but He makes us a people who were actually capable of 539 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,200 living it. He didn't just give it to us and 540 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,800 say good luck. He is making us a people who are 541 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,920 actually capable of following through on what He's teaching to 542 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,760 us. Verse 32 I will run in the way 543 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,560 of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. 544 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:15,320 As I was studying for this this sermon, I, I read Psalm 1119, 545 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,480 all 176 verses. I just, that was my reading for 546 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:19,960 about a week or so. I was just reading it and 547 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,400 soaking it in. And every single time that I 548 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:26,320 read through Psalm 119, this verse just jumped out at me. 549 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,160 Every single time I needed that encouragement. 550 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:35,440 When you enlarge my heart, not just if you enlarge my heart, 551 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,160 but when you enlarge my heart, the confidence that He has that 552 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,960 God will fulfill what He started in him. 553 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,600 God's not just going to change us, He's going to make us 554 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,560 capable. He's making us new. 555 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:51,320 I don't know. I know that this probably 556 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,560 doesn't happen to you all, but it does happen to me. 557 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,200 If I wake up a lot in the middle of the night, I don't get a lot 558 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,480 of sleep. I can be grumpy happens quite 559 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,720 frequently. I wake up tired, you know, maybe 560 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:08,400 one of my kids, I'm not going to name which one wakes up and I 561 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,840 and I just wake up and I'm like, man, my day is not going the way 562 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,520 I had went to bed. I set my alarm for 5:30 knowing 563 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:15,920 it wasn't going to happen. And I woke up. 564 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,280 I plan to go to the gym or run or something. 565 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:19,880 And I'm like, that's not going to happen. 566 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,400 And I'm just grumpy And I, I just, I don't, this may sound 567 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,920 weird to y'all, so I, I hope that somebody can resonate with 568 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,040 this. But like there are times where 569 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,200 I'm interacting when I'm grumpy and I'm just like, and having an 570 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,800 out of body experience. And I'm like, why am I 571 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,560 responding to everybody like this? 572 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,640 Like why am I so short? Why am I nagging my kids? 573 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,240 That doesn't even matter. Why am I talking to them about 574 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:42,680 something on their floor? That's not a big deal. 575 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,440 Like why am I doing this? Why was I so short with Lauren? 576 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,960 But I can't stop. It's like I'm just, I'm just 577 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:49,520 doing it. I'm like, what is happening 578 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,200 right now? I was in one of those, one of 579 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,520 those moments last week or the week before, probably both times 580 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,360 to be honest with you. And, and I was just, I was being 581 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,120 short with my kids. I was just being like just 582 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,840 grumpy, grumpy. I was talking to my wife grumpy. 583 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,240 And I just, I remember this moment of just being like, stop, 584 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:14,080 like stop in the moment, being like God, I need you right now. 585 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:15,920 Like I need you to enlarge my heart. 586 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,960 I need you to make me the man that you call me to be because 587 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,880 right now I'm not doing it. I'm not being the dad that I 588 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,360 need to be. I'm not being the husband that I 589 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,400 need to be. I'm just responding in my flesh. 590 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,000 And I need your spirit right now to do what your word tells me to 591 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,840 do because I'm failing at it right now. 592 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,800 Sometimes God doesn't just want us to figure it out ourselves. 593 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,680 He wants us to want for us what he wants for us, and He wants to 594 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:46,800 empower us to do those things. It's saying, God, what you say 595 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,360 is good. I also say is good. 596 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,360 Reveal to me what good is and I will change my definition. 597 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,600 And then I need you to make me capable of walking in the good 598 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,680 that you have for me. As I start to close here, I want 599 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,560 to talk to a couple of individuals in the room and then 600 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,840 I want to talk about what this means for our church as a whole. 601 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,080 First, if you're in here this morning and you don't know 602 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,600 Jesus, maybe maybe you've been around the church, maybe you've 603 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,280 read the read the Bible before. It didn't make any sense to you 604 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,160 or you didn't agree with it. Maybe you're in that moment of 605 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,080 just kind of checking, all right, I'll do, I'll do this 606 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:24,520 thing, but I don't want that thing. 607 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,680 Maybe it's like a menu thing for you, You know, maybe it's a new 608 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:28,920 year. That's why you're here. 609 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,920 I just want to, I want to challenge you this morning to 610 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:34,720 really take God's word seriously. 611 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,160 Take a season, ask somebody that does love Jesus. 612 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,280 Ask somebody that you're like that, that person's different, 613 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:42,520 there's something different about them. 614 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:45,320 Ask that person and say, Hey, will you read the Bible with me 615 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,480 for like a month and just ask God every day. 616 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,080 God, would you teach me something like I'm coming at 617 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:52,480 this for real. God, would you teach me 618 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,080 something? Would you change me in this? 619 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,120 Because his word is living and it's active. 620 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:01,920 I dare you. I ask that you would do that. 621 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,000 Ask somebody in this room, somebody on the stage. 622 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,680 We would love to do that with you and I pray that God would 623 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:12,200 use this to call you to himself. And if some of you take me up on 624 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:16,880 that challenge, I really believe that God is going to change some 625 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,240 things for you. I think he's going to reveal 626 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,640 himself to you. The Bible that maybe you thought 627 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,440 you knew is going to come alive and you're going to realize, 628 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,520 hey, this isn't this isn't what I thought it was. 629 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,800 It's going to be living and active. 630 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,520 It's going to begin to change you. 631 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,320 He's going to change your taste buds. 632 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,480 He's going to start to remove things from you. 633 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:39,680 I believe that He will do that. Believer, I want to talk to you 634 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:42,920 for a minute. As a believer, I want you to 635 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,920 know that you can stop trying to keep God's law on your own. 636 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,560 I'm not saying stop trying to obey God's word, but you should 637 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,040 stop trying to do it alone in your own power, in your flesh. 638 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,040 This week, start praying and asking God to teach you His 639 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,720 Word. Ask ask him to enlarge your 640 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,360 heart and make you capable of obeying it. 641 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,080 Ask Him to to change you. Say, God, I know that you've 642 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:08,719 promised you're going to finish this work in me. 643 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,320 I pray that you would continue to grow me, make me capable of 644 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,679 doing the things that you're calling me to do. 645 00:34:16,159 --> 00:34:18,440 He promises he's going to finish that work in US one day. 646 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,159 It's not all up to us to figure it out alone. 647 00:34:22,159 --> 00:34:25,679 He's given us his Holy Spirit. He's given us his church family, 648 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,080 our church family to help us walk it out. 649 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:32,840 Now I want to talk to the members of Port City this 650 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:36,520 morning. It's so easy for churches to 651 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,600 fall in one of two ditches and we're trying really hard not to 652 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,000 fall in either. The 1st is the learning ditch. 653 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,920 Their focus is on information. They stop at verse 30 when it 654 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:50,760 says I set your rules before me. Maybe there's a lot of time 655 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,159 studying rules and it just stops there. 656 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,840 Studying rules isn't bad. Studying the word is not bad. 657 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,800 It's good, it's necessary. But the problem is when you stop 658 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,720 there on the other side, that the other ditch that we're 659 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:06,680 trying not to fall in is the doing ditch, right? 660 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,000 The focus is on innovation. They jump straight to 32 and 661 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,720 they just start running. The problem is that they never 662 00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:15,240 set the boundaries. They never set where they're 663 00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:19,120 running to what they're running for, and they often end up 664 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:20,720 following their own version of good. 665 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,000 They stop redefining it to God's version of good. 666 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,760 They're not studying the Word, and the result is either burnout 667 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,360 or or worse, error and false teaching. 668 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:37,000 Now at Port City, we have a library kind of table with 669 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,400 books. We call it a library out there, 670 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:44,320 but we refuse to be a library, only gathering information, just 671 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:47,080 studying and and learning. That's not all that we do, but 672 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:51,080 we also refuse to be a treadmill right with just running without 673 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,080 any direction or purpose. We're just moving our legs, 674 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,280 trying to stay busy, trying to do good things. 675 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:03,520 We seek to be a church that clings to the Word so that God 676 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,840 can enlarge our hearts to run the path that He has set before 677 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:12,240 us. We study to obey and we obey by 678 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:14,600 His power. That's our goal. 679 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:21,640 Let's pray this morning, God. We just come to you this 680 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,240 morning, God. We thank you for your word, God. 681 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:26,000 We thank you for the book of Psalms, God. 682 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,560 We thank you for the encouragement that that we can. 683 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,560 We can run to you, God. We can talk to you, Lord, when 684 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:37,080 it feels like life is just beating us up, when we're in the 685 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:38,560 valley, we're not on the mountain top. 686 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:43,480 God, we can come to you, God, we can share with you what's going 687 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,000 on. We can ask you, Lord, to teach 688 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,760 us your word. God, would you help us to be a 689 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,640 people that commit to your word? God, that we say your definition 690 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:55,720 of good is the definition of good. 691 00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:57,760 And we're going to we're going to commit to it as we continue 692 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,160 to learn it. God that that you would empower 693 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:01,840 us to do so. God, would you change us? 694 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,680 Lord, would you mold us into who you want us to be? 695 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,320 God, I pray that we would be a people that are reliant on your 696 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:14,640 spirit. God, would you do that in US? 697 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,480 I pray that some people in here, father, who, who just have not 698 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,240 taken your word seriously, who've never understood your 699 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:23,760 word. God, who, who maybe have never 700 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:26,440 even read your word. God, I pray that they would 701 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,320 would take the challenge and, and just say, OK, let me just, 702 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,520 let me just take some time and, and, and, and take God at his 703 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,120 word. Let me read it. 704 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:37,760 And God, I pray that you would teach it to them. 705 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,960 God, I pray that the words would leap off the page that it would 706 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,320 be like one of those 3D books you open up and they things just 707 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,320 start popping out. God, I pray that that would be 708 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,200 the experience. Lord, it's not always going to 709 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:50,800 be like that. There are days that we read and 710 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,600 it's not, it's just not hitting like it used to. 711 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,200 God, but but but your word is living and active. 712 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,800 God, you are working in US. And so God, I pray that you 713 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,200 would do that. I pray that you would continue 714 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,200 to do that in our church. God, I pray that when we open 715 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,520 your word, God, you would, you would shave some things off of 716 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,200 our lives. God that that you would, you 717 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:09,480 would add some things, Lord, you would, you would mold us and 718 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,480 make us into the people that you have called us to be Lord. 719 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:15,880 People that can walk through seasons where our soul is 720 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,760 melting and we can come out on the other side clinging to your 721 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,360 word in the truth of your word, the truth of your gospel. 722 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:27,480 God, we thank you, Lord, that you are a God who didn't just 723 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,720 stand on a mountain and demand for us to figure out a way to 724 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:33,040 get to you. God, but you sent your son down 725 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,160 to us knowing that we could never make it up there. 726 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,440 He lived the perfect life, died in our place. 727 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,200 God, thank you for that. Lord, I pray that you would make 728 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,480 that true for some people in here this morning, God, that 729 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:46,240 they would trust in you and they would obey. 730 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,840 Lord, we love you and your name we pray. 731 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:50,760 Amen.