1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:02,960 All right, again, notes are available on the back table. 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,000 If you'd like to grab those even before I teach or grab them on 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,520 your way out, I invite you to do that and hopefully they will 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,760 assist you in kind of tracking with me today as I teach. 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,640 All right, if you're watching online, welcome to North Life. 6 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,080 We're so glad that you're here. And we do invite you to come be 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:24,000 with us in person. Come experience worship together 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,560 with us at 115 E Main St. in the heart of the old part of 9 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,520 Gaylord. And our services are at 9:00 and 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,360 10:30 on Sunday mornings. You're invited. 11 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,680 Would love to see you sometime soon. 12 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,240 And all the church said, Amen. All right, all right, If you 13 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,680 have your Bibles, please take and turn them, whether it's your 14 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:45,160 device or you have a Bible, turn to first Peter chapter 3 and 15 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,520 it'll take you maybe a few moments to find a few seconds at 16 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:49,760 least. It's it's like man, almost to 17 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,800 the back of your Bible near Revelation, but it's after 18 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,520 James, before the letters of John, before Revelation, as I 19 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,720 said. So first, Peter, chapter 3, 20 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,920 Peter writes 2 letters that we get to glean from to these days. 21 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:10,680 And I'm going to read to you from chapter 3, verse 8, Peter 22 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,600 writes finally, I love him. You know, what's interesting is 23 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,120 he says finally, but he's in chapter 3, he's going to go for 24 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,640 like two or three more chapters. And then funny when pastors or 25 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:21,960 preachers say, hey, finally, it's like you feel like, oh, 26 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:23,480 they're going to end, they're going to close and then they 27 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:24,640 just keep going and going and going. 28 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:25,920 So that's kind of what he does here. 29 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:31,600 He says finally all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, 30 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:37,760 brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind, and do not 31 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,560 repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but On the 32 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:47,520 contrary bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain 33 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:53,640 a blessing for whoever desires to love life and see good days. 34 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,800 Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking 35 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,880 deceit, and let him turn away from evil and do good. 36 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,760 Let him seek peace and pursue it. 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,680 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are 38 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,920 open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is 39 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:15,800 against those who do evil. This morning we're going to 40 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:17,880 continue our series in the Psalms. 41 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,000 We're calling it the OG, the original playlist. 42 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:26,120 And this morning I want to talk to you about songs in sorrow or 43 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,520 suffering, Songs in the midst of sorrow or suffering. 44 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:37,120 Let me pray for us. God, what a joy it is to be 45 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,520 together this morning worshipping you. 46 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,960 And we sense your presence, and we sense that you're near and 47 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,560 not far off. And now as an act of worship, we 48 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,120 open our our minds and our heart hearts to your truth and your 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,000 word. God show us from first Peter 50 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,040 here ways that we should live our lives. 51 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:03,720 And as we connect the dots between Peter and Psalms and 52 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,560 stories and for Samuel, let it grow our understanding of your 53 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,360 word and let it shape us. We pray in Jesus name and 54 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:16,240 everyone said Amen. Now we are as I mentioned in a 55 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,080 series and I I felt excited to get the idea for the series in 56 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,960 the summer months. So it was kind of building up to 57 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,160 the idea of the Psalms which are in the middle of your Bible. 58 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,560 The Psalms contain 5% of the entire Bible. 59 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:36,840 And I looked at the idea was that the Psalms are a playlist. 60 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,560 And nowadays you can go to Spotify or Apple Music or 61 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,520 YouTube and it's pretty easy now to find playlists. 62 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,560 But we used to have to work hard for them right when we would 63 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,480 make mixtapes or the likes. So we understand the idea of 64 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,800 like a, a list of songs that we enjoy. 65 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,120 I have favorites. I've been making playlists on 66 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,160 my, in my iTunes account since iTunes first came out and 67 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,280 they're valuable to me, right? Well, the Psalms are God's 68 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,520 playlist of songs and they're written over a period of 1500 69 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,320 years. Moses writes the earliest one 70 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,040 and then you have David and David's, you know, like those 71 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:12,680 that he mentored, they're writing songs. 72 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,960 And then you even have songs that are written in the post 73 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,079 exile period, meaning the time after Shadrach, Meshach, 74 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:23,680 Abednego, Daniel and the lion's den, Esther, the beauty queen. 75 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,840 If you remember those characters in the Bible and the Old 76 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,000 Testament, well, there are songs that are even written in that 77 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,360 era. So 1500 years of songs end up in 78 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,520 this collection of songs that we call Psalms. 79 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,960 And God is inspired these Psalms and they're so valuable in the 80 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,760 life of a believer. And my encouragement to you is 81 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,440 to read them often. And they're pretty short, many 82 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,040 of them, the Psalm 119, Islam, but most of them are fairly 83 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,000 short. You can read them in just 84 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,640 moments. But the idea of like reading 85 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,680 them often and using them as prayers and using them as 86 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,280 worship ideas is my encouragement to you. 87 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,040 So get the Psalms. However, if you read them or if 88 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,040 you listen to them, you can go to YouTube and you could just 89 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,040 Google Psalms of repentance. Last week I taught on that. 90 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,720 I taught there a group of psalms and I gave you notes to go look 91 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:13,640 at other ones. But we've mainly looked at Psalm 92 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,600 51 written by David where he says created me a clean heart, O 93 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,560 God, and renew a right spirit within me. 94 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:22,800 It's a great prayer when we are repenting. 95 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:24,560 So there are songs of repentance. 96 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,760 I looked at the essential Psalm several weeks back. 97 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,080 Those are like Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. 98 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,640 I shall not once he makes me lie down. 99 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,480 The green pastures, the the famous psalms, we looked at 100 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,960 those, right? We looked at psalms that tell 101 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,360 about who God is. What is God like? 102 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,720 There are lots of psalms. If you want to find out what God 103 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,600 is like, the Psalms are a great place to go to get information 104 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,640 in these psalms, these songs about who God is. 105 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:54,000 So each week it's just happened. So I'm going to keep this trend 106 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,760 up each week. I've been starting in the New 107 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,400 Testament. The New Testament quotes the 108 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,160 Psalms 100 * 100 plus times. And I showed you the first week 109 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,680 that Jesus quoted the Psalms. Then I showed you that Peter 110 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,000 quotes the Psalms on the day of Pentecost. 111 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,720 Then I showed you even last week that the tax collector in Jesus 112 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,800 is parable, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. 113 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,840 We looked at that last week. Even the tax collector who's 114 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,840 like the lowest, you know that they were considered the scum of 115 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,280 the earth. Even the tax collector quotes 116 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:26,880 from the Psalms. When he says have mercy on me, O 117 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,440 God, a Sinner, Jesus quotes the psalms. 118 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,120 Peter does, the tax collector does this week. 119 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,760 Now I'm showing you on this occasion in first Peter chapter 120 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:41,160 3, Peter again is going to quote a Psalm and he's going to quote 121 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,960 it just just right, exactly as it is translated through the 122 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,920 through the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. 123 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,480 But but it's the same, right? And Peter's going to take this 124 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,040 Psalm that's very important and relevant for those that he was 125 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:56,800 writing to, and it's relevant for us today. 126 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,760 There are lots of great things we could learn and how to 127 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,200 posture ourselves when we're in the midst of suffering or 128 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,000 sorrow. OK, so Peter is writing, and 129 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,360 he's writing to Christians that were early. 130 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,400 This is early church, maybe just a few decades after Jesus has 131 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,200 been crucified, resurrected and ascended to heaven. 132 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,240 Now there are those who are following Jesus outside of 133 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,320 Jerusalem, and he's writing to Christians that would have been 134 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,120 in what we call modern day Turkey. 135 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,200 OK. And the Christians in this 136 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:32,680 context were being persecuted. They were being reviled, 137 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,560 criticized, they were suffering and they were in sorrow about 138 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,680 it. And Peter's writing to encourage 139 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:41,320 them. And remember, Peter had had his 140 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,280 difficulties. He had his failures. 141 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:45,440 If you're new to the Bible and don't remember who Peter is, 142 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,560 well, Peter was a disciple of Jesus and he walked on water for 143 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:51,840 a little while, then he sunk, but he did walk on water for a 144 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,160 little while. He denied knowing Jesus The 145 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,960 night that Jesus was betrayed. Jesus even had said to him, you 146 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:02,040 will betray me before the rooster crows in the morning and 147 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,080 Peter does, but he's ashamed in that moment, but he experiences 148 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,840 the love and the grace of Jesus. And so he comes back to be this 149 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,360 great leader in the early church. 150 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,320 So he's writing now to these Christians that are in the midst 151 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,720 of difficulty and watch the greeting in his letter first 152 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,920 Peter 11, it says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those 153 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:25,760 who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontius Galatia, 154 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,520 Cappadocia, Asia and Bethenia. Now when he's saying you are the 155 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,000 elected exile, he's talking about these believers who are 156 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,480 still in the areas that they had been taken to in the era of the 157 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,799 Babylonians and the Assyrians. Remember, they're conquered in 158 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:42,280 the days of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel. 159 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,120 They they were put into exile for 70 years. 160 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,040 And some of the believers of God, they come back to 161 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,920 Jerusalem, they come back to Judah, and others stay dispersed 162 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,400 around that part of the world. So he's writing to these these 163 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,960 believers of God, followers of Jesus who'd been dispersed in 164 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:02,280 these areas that he mentions. And he says, according to the 165 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,880 foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the 166 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,000 Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with 167 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,120 his blood. And then he says, may grace and 168 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:16,480 peace be multiplied to you. Peter is very aware when he's 169 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,080 writing to them that they are in the midst of sorrow being 170 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,720 they're being persecuted, they're suffering for their love 171 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:25,640 for Jesus. And this is his greeting to the 172 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:30,120 May grace and peace be multiplied to you and watch in 173 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,080 chapter 2, just to give you context and understanding of 174 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,800 what the posture of his letters like in verse 12 of chapter 2, 175 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,520 he says keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that 176 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:46,200 when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your 177 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:50,240 good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 178 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,640 Watch Peter's aware that ironically they are they're 179 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:57,600 followers of Jesus. They're doing good, but the 180 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,600 world around them is calling them evil doers. 181 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,560 And this is what our culture is like today. 182 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,080 Christians who want to follow God's patterns and God's plans 183 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,360 and God's commands. Often we are criticized and and 184 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:12,720 called the evil doers. We're called the haters. 185 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:18,400 They have a whole bunch of names for Christians who disregard the 186 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,160 ways of the world. And we stand. 187 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,320 We stand outside of the culture. And the culture often will 188 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,200 criticize Christian beliefs, Christian morals, and we will be 189 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,640 called sometimes the evil doers. And that's what's happening to 190 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,440 the people that Peter is writing them now. 191 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,800 How is Peter going to encourage them in the midst of their 192 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,600 suffering? Is he going to say to them, 193 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:45,440 like, whoa, whoa, whoa, are you? How sad, How tragic does he sing 194 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,200 them? Just sad, sad, sad songs. 195 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,600 Now, there are occasions in the Bible where there are laments, 196 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:51,080 and I'm going to get to those in the weeks to come. 197 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,920 We'll talk about laments, which are sad songs that give voice to 198 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,800 grief. And sometimes we need that in 199 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,320 the midst of great sorrow and grief. 200 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:02,960 There are some Psalms that give you words in the midst of grief, 201 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,160 but in this occasion, in the midst of their persecution and 202 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:11,120 suffering, Peter is going to give them advice and wisdom, and 203 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:15,000 he's going to get this wisdom from Psalm chapter 34. 204 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,640 Now I read you his writing, but let me read you from the Old 205 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:20,920 Testament, Psalm 3412 through 16. 206 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,160 It is written this way. What man is there who desires 207 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,360 life and loves many days, that he may see good? 208 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,400 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, 209 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:35,800 and turn away from evil, and do good and seek peace and pursue 210 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:37,800 it. The eyes of the Lord are toward 211 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:39,880 the righteous, and his ears towards their cry. 212 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,000 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off 213 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,040 memory of them from the earth. This is David Psalm, but Peter 214 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,360 quotes that part of it instead of Peter saying, whoa, how sad 215 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:53,480 are you? This is so terrible. 216 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,120 No, he's giving them godly advice that he gets from David 217 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,560 Psalm. Now, if you look at David Psalm 218 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,680 and Peter quoting him, you'll see that there are a few subtle 219 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:05,600 differences, but it's really basically the same. 220 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,200 He is quoting him. But understand that sometimes 221 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:12,120 when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it's doing so 222 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,120 through what we call the Greek Septuagint. 223 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,040 The the, the Greek Old. I'm sorry. 224 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,200 The Hebrew Old Testament had been translated into Greek, and 225 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,520 it's likely that Jesus growing up was actually reading the 226 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,320 Greek translation of the Old Testament, if you didn't know 227 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,040 that. So sometimes there's just subtle 228 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,160 words that might be a little bit different because it had been 229 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:35,200 translated from Hebrew into Greek, and now Peter is writing 230 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,080 it in Greek and now it's been translated to English. 231 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,960 So that's the route in which the song took to get to us. 232 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,240 So the Old Testament that the early Christians used was again 233 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,520 this Greek translation that we call the Septuagint. 234 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,440 And it was written between or translated at least in 100 year 235 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,200 period between like 250 and 150 BC. 236 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:59,080 Now when we go back to Psalm 34 where Peter quotes, he takes the 237 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,840 passages from it. We'll see that the heading of 238 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:05,600 this Psalm 34 has some information about who wrote it 239 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,240 and when he wrote it. And it's very important to to 240 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:09,520 get the Psalm, you have to know this. 241 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:13,560 So in our Bibles in the ESV, at least it says this song is of 242 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:18,000 David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so 243 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,000 that he drove him out and he went away. 244 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,400 Now what is the what is this referencing? 245 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,600 OK, so before you read the Psalm, what's good to know? 246 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,160 I love the connection. I love the way the Bible 247 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:30,920 connects. Here you got Peter connected to 248 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,200 Psalm 34 and Psalm 34 is connecting to a story with 249 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,560 David. David wrote the song when this 250 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:39,680 was happening. OK, now what was happening? 251 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,680 It's referencing first Samuel chapter 21. 252 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,960 And last year I did a series on for Samuel, you might remember. 253 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:50,040 And so in this occasion, this is the time in David's life when 254 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,000 he's not yet king. Maybe, you know, if you're if 255 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,200 you're new to the Bible, you'll remember David is the one who 256 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,880 slays Goliath with the the sling in the stone. 257 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,040 And eventually he is going to become a king. 258 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,720 He's going to fail greatly with his sin with Bathsheba. 259 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,400 We talked about that last week. But this is the season of his 260 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,680 life where he's not yet king. And Saul the king has become 261 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:13,200 very jealous of David and wants to kill him. 262 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,680 So David is hiding and it's the lowest part of his life. 263 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:22,240 He's being persecuted, he's suffering and he's in sorrow. 264 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,280 And watch the story in First Samuel 21. 265 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,000 I won't read the whole thing to you, I'll just paraphrase it, 266 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,440 but I'll tell you a bit of it. First Samuel 21, verse one. 267 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,840 Then David came to Nob, to Hahimlek the priest. 268 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,520 And Hahimlek came to meet David trembling, and he said to him, 269 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,800 Watch the priest says to David, why are you alone? 270 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,280 And no one is with you. David was at a such a blow point 271 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:49,880 in his life, hiding out from Saul, running for his life. 272 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,720 And he finds himself alone. Now, eventually he's going to 273 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,520 gather men to be with him. But at this series, this point 274 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,040 in his life, when he's going to write Psalm 34 that Peter's 275 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,640 going to quote, this is the posture and the season that 276 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,440 David is in. He's suffering, running for his 277 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,760 life, and he comes to the priest of Hemlec and he's hungry and 278 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,120 Hemlec actually gives him the the holy bread to eat. 279 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,240 He's so desperate for food that he eats the holy bread that 280 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,440 Hemlec gives to him. David's alone. 281 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,520 And the story continues in verses 10 through 14. 282 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:26,840 You'll find that David is going to pretend to be insane in order 283 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,040 to escape some who want to put him to death. 284 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,160 Verse 10 of chapter 21. And David rose and he fled that 285 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,440 day from Saul, and he went to Akifs, the king of gas. 286 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,760 And the servants of Akifs said to him, is not this David the 287 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,160 king of the land? Did they not sing to one another 288 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,480 of him in dances? Saul has struck down his 289 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,720 thousands and David his 10 thousands. 290 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:48,880 They're looking at him in this place of defeat. 291 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,080 He's washed up. And they're like, is this is the 292 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:54,320 guy that they had these songs about? 293 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,280 He's a loser. He's all washed up and verse 12 294 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:00,760 and David took these words to heart and was much afraid of 295 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,200 Akif, the king of Gath, So he changed his behavior before 296 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,480 them, and he pretended to be insane in their hands and made 297 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,360 marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down on 298 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,760 his beard. Then Akif said to his servants, 299 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,200 Behold, you see, the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to 300 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,840 me? Now we're connecting the dots 301 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,760 again. First Peter quotes Psalm 34. 302 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,800 Psalm 34 is written when David is in this place in his life. 303 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,560 He's being persecuted, he's being wronged, it's unjust. 304 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,240 And what does David say in Psalm 34? 305 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,520 He doesn't just complain, he doesn't just get sad, but 306 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,400 instead he is going to have great wisdom for us. 307 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,040 Psalm 34 is kind of like David's survival guide for those who are 308 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,680 suffering and feel all alone. So now I'm going to read you the 309 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:56,480 Psalm. I'll read you all 22 verses, and 310 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:58,680 I'll just kind of just break it down for you a little bit. 311 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,720 But knowing that David writes it in that season of his life is 312 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,800 really important because you get to say it. 313 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,040 Wow. What is his thinking when he's 314 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,480 suffering and being persecuted? The Psalm starts here. 315 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:16,359 Psalm 34, verse one, David comes out of the gate and he says, I 316 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,000 will bless the Lord at all times. 317 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,000 His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 318 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:26,520 Now, maybe you're familiar with that song, maybe you've heard it 319 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:27,760 before. Wow, I will bless the Lord at 320 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,520 all times. But knowing that David says this 321 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:35,200 when he's in this very tragic place makes it more meaningful. 322 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:41,120 He's not a victorious season. He's defeated even in hardship. 323 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:44,880 David commits to worshiping God at all times, and then he says 324 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,560 this. My soul makes its boast in the 325 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,240 Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad 326 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:54,120 David in this tragic place is boasting about God. 327 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,640 When's the last time you boasted about the Lord, spoke of the 328 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,000 goodness of God, the love of God, the mercy of God that you 329 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,920 experience? It's not just to be expressed in 330 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,200 the times of great victory. Again, knowing that David is 331 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,560 expressing this in a time of great defeat makes it even more 332 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:14,280 valuable and meaningful. And then he says, oh, magnify 333 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,800 the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. 334 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,320 In this occasion, David is acting like the worship leader 335 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,320 on Sunday mornings. I come and worship God with me, 336 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,680 not because he's in this great victorious place, but because he 337 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,480 is determined in his heart that even in the midst of his sorrow 338 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,040 he's going to continue to magnify the Lord. 339 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:36,000 Come and exalt the Lord with me. And then he says this I sought 340 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,200 the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my 341 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:44,520 fears. Now David doesn't say God 342 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,120 delivered me from all my difficulties. 343 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:48,240 God delivered me from my enemies. 344 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,600 He says God delivered me from my fears. 345 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:54,280 So in the midst of this tragic season of his life, he is 346 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,960 delivered from fear, which is profound. 347 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,800 And this is where the this recent song that we sing here at 348 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,920 our church, I trust in God. There's a part of the song. 349 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:06,000 In fact, you can sing it with me. 350 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,320 Remember this, the modern song says, I saw the Lord and he 351 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:15,440 heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard 352 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,600 and he answered. I sought the Lord, and he heard 353 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,400 and he answered. That's why I trust him. 354 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:29,120 That's why I trust in God. Songwriters are getting that 355 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:35,560 phrase from Psalm 34 where David is bragging on God and saying I 356 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,040 sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from fear. 357 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,920 In verse 5, it says those who looked at him are radiant and 358 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,760 their faces shall never be ashamed. 359 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:48,080 David had just come out of a place where he acted insane to 360 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,680 escape his enemy. He could be very ashamed, but 361 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,880 he's not. He's alone, but he's not 362 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,160 ashamed. God has delivered him out of it. 363 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,960 And instead he's saying those who look to God end up shining 364 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,280 in a radiant even in the midst of suffering. 365 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:05,240 So This is why it's so important that Peter is quoting from Psalm 366 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,240 34 to these believers in Jesus. They're going through difficult 367 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,040 times. Verse 6, this poor man cried and 368 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,960 the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. 369 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,720 David in this song is the poor man and he by faith is saying 370 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,880 God is going to deliver me from his troubles and my troubles. 371 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,160 He initially said God delivered me from my fears in the midst of 372 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,600 my troubles and God will eventually save me out of all my 373 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:32,840 troubles. And then watch this in verse 7, 374 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,120 David says the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear 375 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:38,800 him and deliver them. He reminds himself of the 376 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:43,240 protection of God in this lonely place. 377 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,840 And then he's encouraging others to give God a try. 378 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,680 When he says in verse 80, taste and see that the Lord is good. 379 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,440 Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 380 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,720 David is telling others you should try God, give him a 381 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:04,320 taste, try and try and see the goodness and the greatness, the 382 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,960 holiness of God. He says blessed is the man who 383 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:09,480 takes refuge. In other words, safety and 384 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,160 protection in God. David needed that. 385 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,720 And then he starts preaching a bit. 386 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,320 He's just again this from this place of sorrow and suffering. 387 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,200 He says he'll fear the Lord, you his Saints for those who fear 388 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,520 him have no lack. And when he's talking about fear 389 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,640 in this occasion, it's not saying that we're afraid of God. 390 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,120 When you see fear talked about this way in the Bible, it's more 391 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:34,160 about a holy reverence. David's saying have a holy 392 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,200 reverence for God. And then in verse 10 it says the 393 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,520 Young Lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the 394 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,000 Lord lack no good thing. We're better than Young Lions. 395 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,600 He's saying he's testifying in this place about God's provision 396 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,200 and he keeps going. And verse 11 he says, come, O 397 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,680 children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the 398 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,760 Lord. Even in this tragic place. 399 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:00,360 He's calling for children to come. 400 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,280 And I'll show you how great God is even in the midst of my 401 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,880 suffering and tragedy. And then we get to verse 12 and 402 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,880 this is where Peter quotes. So he takes the next verses 12 403 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,880 through 16 and he sends that to those in his letter. 404 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,080 He says what man is there who desires life and loves many days 405 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,280 that he may see good. You want to see good in the 406 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,200 midst of suffering. He has advice that he's going to 407 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,840 offer the Peter's going to quote in verse 13. 408 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,440 He doesn't He's not saying, hey, just be sad and suffer. 409 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,600 Just you know where ashes be pathetic. 410 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:39,280 No, he says keep your tongue from evil and your lips from 411 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,240 speaking deceit. Watch what you say in other 412 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,760 words, because honesty is important to God. 413 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,320 It matters and then he goes on. He says turn away from evil and 414 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,800 do good and seek peace and pursue it when he says turn 415 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,040 away. Last week we talked about 416 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,000 repentance, how repentance is a turning away from a sin. 417 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,200 The the not God's best. We turn away from that and we 418 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,640 turn towards God. He's saying turn away from evil 419 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,560 and do good. In verse 15, it says the eyes of 420 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,760 the Lord are towards the righteous and his ears towards 421 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,520 their cry and others. God is not distant. 422 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,080 He is attentive. David's alone, but he's not 423 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,640 really alone. God is with them. 424 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,160 He's testifying about it. And then the final part where 425 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,520 Peter quotes in the face of the Lord is against those who do 426 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,160 evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 427 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,080 He's talking about trusting in God and knowing that God is also 428 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:35,840 attentive to evil and injustice around us and God will bring 429 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:41,120 justice and that's good to know in the midst of persecution and 430 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,400 suffering. Verse 17, when the righteous cry 431 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,160 for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their 432 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,400 troubles. He's right in this in the midst 433 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,640 of trouble. The Lord hears is what he's 434 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,360 saying. And in verse 18, he says the 435 00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:58,440 Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in 436 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,760 spirit. What a beautiful idea. 437 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,840 David was broken hearted. He was crushed in spirit, but 438 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:08,520 he's proclaiming that God is near to him. 439 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,960 And think of David who was broken hearted and crushed in 440 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,680 spirit, bringing encouragement to Peter, who's then bringing it 441 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,040 to those that he's writing his letter to. 442 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,200 In verse 19. He goes on and says many are the 443 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,360 afflictions of the righteous. Yeah, we follow Jesus, we still 444 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:26,680 have affliction, we still have difficulties, we still have 445 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,520 struggles. But then he says the Lord 446 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,320 delivers him out of the mall. Many afflictions, but the Lord 447 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,280 delivers us from the mall. And then watch here in verse 20, 448 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:41,720 it says he keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken in 449 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,320 this occasion. John is going to quote from this 450 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,080 passage when he's talking about Jesus on the cross. 451 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:53,320 Watch this John 1936 grabs this truth from Psalm 34. 452 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:56,160 John writes for these things took place. 453 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,520 These things meaning Jesus being crucified and and beaten. 454 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,680 He says for these things took place that the scripture might 455 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,840 be fulfilled that not one of his bones will be broken. 456 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,360 It's nodding at the story of Jesus to come. 457 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,920 Verse 21 affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate 458 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,320 the righteous will be condemned. In other words, God will bring 459 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:19,640 justice in his timing. Peter was writing to righteous 460 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,720 people who were hated by the world around them, and he's 461 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:27,400 saying, hold on because God's wisdom and his judgment, it will 462 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,320 come. Verse 22, the Lord redeems the 463 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,080 life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in 464 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,160 him will be condemned. He finishes reminding them that 465 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,880 God redeems. And when we say God redeems, it 466 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,920 means like God buys us back again. 467 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,680 God creates us, we belong to Him, but we lose our 468 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:46,280 relationship with God due to sin. 469 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,200 So what does Jesus do? He goes and he buys us back. 470 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:54,240 He redeems us. And David is Speaking of it in 471 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,720 his Psalm. Now if we go back to first 472 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,040 Peter, we'll see the Peter's going again quote the Psalms. 473 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,200 And the reason why I want to show you this is because I want 474 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,040 you to understand that the fact that the New Testament quotes 475 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,200 the Psalm so often, it means they're important. 476 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,360 Some Christians, they, they just disregard the Old Testament or 477 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:16,280 some of the some of the letters or some of the books in the Old 478 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,000 Testament. They disregard them as being 479 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,880 unimportant. Peter is and these other New 480 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,400 Testament writers who quote from the Psalms are substantiating 481 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:29,560 the value and the anointing that is in these Old Testament 482 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:31,800 passages. So watch this first Peter 483 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,040 chapter 4 verse 19. Peter says therefore, let those 484 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,680 who suffer according to God's will. 485 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,760 Watch that to those who suffer according to God's will. 486 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,080 You mean sometimes it's in God's will that we suffer according to 487 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,480 Peter according to God's will entrust their souls to a 488 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,560 faithful creator while doing good. 489 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,920 If you're in the midst of suffering according to God's 490 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,560 will, then just continue to like entrust your heart and your soul 491 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,840 to God. And when he's mentioned this, 492 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,200 he's, he's grabbing this idea from Psalm 31, verse 5, where it 493 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,160 says into your hand, I commit my spirit. 494 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,800 You have redeemed me. O Lord faithful God, he's 495 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,720 getting that idea. God, we entrust our hearts, our 496 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,840 lives, our journey to you in the midst of suffering. 497 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:23,400 Now, I would encourage you to take the notes home with you and 498 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,280 to like maybe look at them a couple times this week. 499 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,480 And my invitation to you is just to remember this connection 500 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,480 between first Peter quoting the Psalms. 501 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,120 We go back to Psalm 34. We've looked through it and we 502 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:43,560 know because of the heading that the story in which David writes 503 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,840 a Psalm is in First Samuel 21, when he's in this very tragic 504 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,360 place. So an application. 505 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,480 I want to ask you, what kind of suffering might you be in 506 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,920 because of your faith? There are occasions where in the 507 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,040 midst of your suffering, because of your faith, I'm not talking 508 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:04,360 about a tragedy in your life, but but suffering that is coming 509 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,680 along because you're living righteously, but the world 510 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,240 around you hates God's principles. 511 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,280 So sometimes you're going to be criticized because of it. 512 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:14,800 OK. So what kind of suffering might 513 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,880 you find yourself in? In the weeks to come, We'll talk 514 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:18,760 about some of the songs that are lamenting. 515 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,080 It wouldn't tragedy, OK? But for now, it's just suffering 516 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,480 that comes because we're following Jesus. 517 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:26,560 What kind of suffering are you experiencing for your faith? 518 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,640 People who think, again, they call you the evil doer even 519 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,400 sometimes when you're following God's principles. 520 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,760 And then I would say, what are these bits of wisdom that Peter 521 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,680 quotes and that David writes would be very helpful to you in 522 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,680 your life? My encouragement to you this 523 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,400 week is to go through Psalm 34 and read and go, wow. 524 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:47,680 In the midst of his suffering, he's offering really great 525 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,320 advice. He starts with, bless the Lord, 526 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,480 O my soul, all his days, he's going to be in that posture, 527 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,520 honoring God even in the midst of his suffering for doing good. 528 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,480 And then I would say it's valuable to know that David and 529 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,440 those that Peter was writing to endured and testified greatly 530 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:08,160 about the faithfulness of God in the midst of their suffering, in 531 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520 the midst of you navigating through sorrow and suffering 532 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:16,760 again for your righteous stance, remembering that David endured, 533 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,720 Peter endured and those that Peter writes to, they endured 534 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,240 that mean didn't mean they didn't have any more challenges. 535 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,320 Peter eventually interesting enough is going to be martyred 536 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,960 for his faith, but yet he still is following these principles 537 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,960 from Psalm 34. He's able to keep in faith. 538 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:38,880 He endures in faith even in the midst of great, great suffering 539 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:43,280 and tragedy. And we can too, when we take 540 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,880 these principles from Psalm 34. Let me pray for us. 541 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,880 God, thank you for this day that you have made. 542 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:57,120 And we, God, we stand before you, and we want to be able to 543 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:03,520 grab these principles. And so our hope is that you will 544 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,600 make them very solid in our minds and help us to model 545 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,760 ourselves after Peter and the way he followed after you and 546 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,200 the way that David followed after you in the midst of 547 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,520 whatever persecution we might experience for standing up for 548 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,720 what's right. When we're called the evil 549 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:26,320 doers, let us not retaliate. Let us not revile those who are 550 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,080 reviling of us, but instead give us the heart and the posture 551 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:34,080 that David had. This is our prayer and our hope 552 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:35,920 as we continue to navigate through the Psalms. 553 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,280 God, I do pray that you would increase within us a love for 554 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,560 them and understanding for them and affection for the Psalms. 555 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,120 We pray this in Jesus name and everyone said Amen. 556 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,720 Now before we leave, I do want to give a moment in our service 557 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:54,280 where if you are a person who's never given your life to Christ, 558 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,160 you've never made the decision to become a Christian. 559 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:57,720 I want to give you a moment to do that. 560 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,040 And what does it look like? You reached a point in your life 561 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,280 where you understand that you're really not spiritually alive 562 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,320 until you give the lordship of your life over to Jesus. 563 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,560 We call that being born again. Jesus says that in John chapter 564 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,000 3. It's like you're born the first 565 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,600 time from your mother's womb. Then you're born spiritually 566 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,080 when you invite the salvation and the love of Christ to come 567 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,600 into your life. And that means that you turn 568 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,560 away from sin and you turn towards God and His ways. 569 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,200 And maybe you've been investigating the the claims of 570 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:30,360 Christianity. You don't have to understand all 571 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,760 of the doctrine and all of the Scripture, but you do need to 572 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,640 understand that Jesus is God and that he sacrificed himself for 573 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,400 us so that we can have relationship with them. 574 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,080 And confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord is the way to 575 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,760 come to salvation. And then we encourage you to 576 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,920 tell someone if you're making that decision. 577 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,160 We tell, say, tell someone. And then we encourage you to be 578 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,800 baptized, being baptized as an outward expression of being 579 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,560 washed clean and resurrected. And Jesus, and we'll have 580 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,440 baptisms again in the near future. 581 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,240 But I want to pray and I want to invite you to pray with me. 582 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,160 And if you've never made that decision, then you could pray 583 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,520 and receive Christ as your Lord this morning. 584 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,920 Let me pray and you can echo. You might pray. 585 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,320 Heavenly Father, come into my life. 586 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,920 Jesus, be the Lord of my life. I confess and proclaim Jesus 587 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:23,880 that you are God and that you have been drawing me and pulling 588 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,920 me towards you, and I want to have a relationship with you. 589 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,040 I want to experience your forgiveness and grace, and I 590 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,200 want you to put eternal life into me now. 591 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,360 I can receive it now, God, I receive it. 592 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,840 You being the Lord of my life leads me into your Kingdom and 593 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,240 puts eternity into me now. And I thank you for eternal life 594 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,400 to come, and I thank you for eternal life now. 595 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,600 So I give you my life. Come and reign and rule in me 596 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,840 Jesus be the Lord of my life and grow me in your ways. 597 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,440 I pray in Jesus name and everyone together said, hey man, 598 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:01,280 wonderful. It's all stand together before 599 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,160 we go. Thanks again for being here this 600 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:05,840 morning. I'll remember Wednesday night 601 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,240 7:00. We'll have the student LED night 602 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,440 of worship. Encourage you to be at that we 603 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:12,240 will have kids ministry that night. 604 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,320 So if if but you know, we want our kids in service with us 605 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:17,240 typically so as we will do like we did worship. 606 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,160 But if you do need to go be in the nursery, of course, you 607 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,600 could take advantage of that. Those of you with really young 608 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,920 children before you go, I do want to say a blessing over you 609 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,360 if you'll prepare your heart to receive this blessing. 610 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:35,160 And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, and may he make 611 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,760 his face to shine upon you. And may the joy of the Lord that 612 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,280 is unspeakable and full of glory made a bound to you. 613 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:46,920 And may the peace of God that passes all understanding made a 614 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,480 bound to you, also made the mercies of the Lord, in other 615 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,840 words, the forgiveness of God. That's new every morning. 616 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,920 May it be especially new to you now in your mornings to come. 617 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,160 And now may the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart and your 618 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,240 mind. You are salt and you are light. 619 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,680 Go now and be salt and light unto the world. 620 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,000 You are blessed. We'll see you again soon.