back to index2016-08-14 In His Hands
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We've been already announcing this several times, but for the family ministry retreat 00:00:08.960 |
that's taking place really soon, if you have still yet to either pay the registration fee 00:00:13.920 |
or whatnot, please be sure to take care of that. 00:00:16.040 |
If you have any questions, ask our brother Jason Choi. 00:00:19.680 |
I'd like to highlight a Basics in Christianity class. 00:00:26.280 |
It's a 10-week course, so it's kind of lengthy, but it's an important class for any of you 00:00:35.860 |
It covers the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, and so we'll cover theology, 00:00:41.760 |
but also it serves as our church's introduction to membership class. 00:00:45.920 |
And so it speaks a lot, or we cover a lot about why we do what we do. 00:00:50.560 |
So from those foundational doctrines, a rationale and philosophy for ministry. 00:00:57.240 |
It begins September 4th on Sunday from 9.30 to 10.30, and you can either sign up by emailing 00:01:03.780 |
me directly or, again, stop by the welcome table and they'll be happy to just sign you 00:01:09.360 |
Lastly, for our young adults, the post-grads, there is a date set for Beach Fellowship, 00:01:15.000 |
which is September 10th, so please mark your calendars and save the date for that. 00:01:19.620 |
More information and signups for that event will be posted on the Berean Facebook page 00:01:27.400 |
Well, please turn your Bibles over to Psalm chapter 31. 00:01:34.080 |
And I'm going to be reading from verse one through five. 00:01:39.080 |
I wish that I had time to go over the entire chapter, but we'll focus our attention on 00:01:45.000 |
one through five and cover all the major themes in this chapter. 00:01:50.520 |
So it begins by saying, for the choir director, this is to be sung, a Psalm of David. 00:02:09.000 |
Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me. 00:02:15.960 |
For your name's sake, you will lead me and guide me. 00:02:19.160 |
You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me. 00:02:33.600 |
God, we thank you again this morning that truly you do not leave us on our own, for 00:02:41.360 |
we would be utterly in ruin if we were by ourselves. 00:02:45.160 |
But God, we thank you that your grace pervades, that your love abides, and that your presence 00:02:52.960 |
Father, I ask that by faith we would be cognizant of the fact that you are our hope and our 00:03:00.400 |
I ask, Lord, that you would encourage us with your words this morning and help us, Lord, 00:03:05.000 |
by having insight to ultimately be transformed as well. 00:03:12.600 |
Well, I want to highlight to you an Olympic athlete, just because the Olympics are going 00:03:20.880 |
And I'm pretty sure you've heard of her and you've heard her name. 00:03:29.960 |
And her name is significant because she is one of 10 refugee athletes. 00:03:36.600 |
There is a team of athletes who are competing in the Olympics games who are refugees from 00:03:43.320 |
Yusra happens to be a Syrian teenager, only 18 years old, and she is an Olympic swimmer. 00:03:50.280 |
And she has been competing and she made headlines when, in her heat, she was first place. 00:03:55.560 |
Unfortunately, now, obviously, as time has gone by, other athletes have gone forward, 00:04:02.240 |
but she came on the news with great attention. 00:04:05.120 |
And I caught my eye because I read on the highlights, Christian from Damascus. 00:04:11.240 |
And it's quite wild because I've been currently studying through the book of Acts with our 00:04:16.360 |
And she happens to come from a Christian family who has fled Syria. 00:04:21.840 |
And the reason why it becomes, the story becomes even more amazing is because she tells of 00:04:25.960 |
a story how while she was growing up, she was training for the Olympics under the Syrian 00:04:32.280 |
nation, right, as represented for the Syrian nation. 00:04:34.920 |
And she was training with her sister and she was training with other people. 00:04:39.200 |
But living in a war torn, with such civil unrest, she said regularly there would be 00:04:45.520 |
holes in the roof the next day she would come because of bombings, because of the violence 00:04:56.280 |
They had to flee Syria because her home was absolutely destroyed. 00:05:04.880 |
But she tells of the story, her whole family then got into, the plan was they got into 00:05:11.640 |
Syria, if you'd imagine that kind of like a Palestinian land, they're just north of 00:05:17.920 |
And the plan was for their whole family to get onto a boat and then travel upwards towards 00:05:31.280 |
And supposedly it was made for eight people, but there was 18 or 20 people on this boat. 00:05:37.000 |
So they're traveling and they travel to Lebanon, make a stop, they travel to Turkey, and then 00:05:46.920 |
Some of the guys jump in, they start trying to swim and pull the boat. 00:05:49.960 |
They gas out so they get in, but they hear these Olympic swimmers, they get in the water. 00:05:55.560 |
They swim for three hours in the cold water, pushing this boat with people. 00:06:05.000 |
When I read that, I was like, what in the world? 00:06:11.360 |
But as you imagine that, can you imagine just picture that scene where these young girls 00:06:20.240 |
This isn't like your nice calm pool, but open waters, swimming for their lives, for the 00:06:32.240 |
What it feels like for your feet to touch the land. 00:06:37.800 |
It's because in the passage that we read, King David says, "In you, O Lord, I have taken 00:06:47.880 |
It is like that woman finding finally the land that she's been going for. 00:06:54.960 |
King David was a refugee in some sense or another. 00:07:00.040 |
And he has found his safety, his landing in God. 00:07:05.000 |
And for us this morning, I want to encourage you, this is a testimony from King David to 00:07:11.720 |
And he's challenging the generations to come with song in this chapter to take refuge in 00:07:21.520 |
But see, here's a huge question is, I get it when somebody is swimming for, let's say, 00:07:28.720 |
They're swimming for something like land, right? 00:07:44.960 |
And that's what we're going to be tackling today. 00:07:53.760 |
Now, in order to begin, let's take a look at verse 1 through 3, our first section. 00:08:05.120 |
And here David says again, "In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge." 00:08:22.160 |
Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me." 00:08:27.320 |
And this first section, I'd like to call, right, as our encouragement to take refuge 00:08:40.280 |
Essentially all King David is doing at this point, at the second half of verse 1, he's 00:08:48.920 |
When he says, "Please never let me put to shame," he's not simply just talking about 00:08:55.080 |
As though he's overly concerned about, "Oh, how do people think of me?" 00:09:02.880 |
And he's desiring that kind of protection and preservation from God. 00:09:07.480 |
And then he asks that God would listen and that God would be to him that rock. 00:09:12.880 |
And my question to you is, not simply, "Hey, you should ask God," but, "Have you been asking 00:09:20.800 |
Have you been going to God with this kind of request?" 00:09:23.240 |
I mean, I know that we regularly go to God with, "Give us our daily bread. 00:09:30.000 |
Many of you students pray for grades, pray for strength to study. 00:09:34.200 |
Many of us sometimes pray for things to go well with our work and families. 00:09:52.920 |
He says this, "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress." 00:10:03.080 |
You don't come home after a hard day at work and like, "Honey, I'm so distressed." 00:10:08.520 |
And typically it's things like, "Dude, I'm so wasted. 00:10:23.520 |
For my life is spent with sorrow and my ears with sighing. 00:10:26.520 |
My strength has failed because of my iniquity and my body has wasted away. 00:10:31.600 |
Because of all the adversaries, I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors. 00:10:49.640 |
While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life. 00:10:56.880 |
King David went through some hard times, huh? 00:11:05.360 |
And you know, maybe some of us could relate to those words, but we know that King David 00:11:12.360 |
has gone through life circumstances that are truly terror on every side. 00:11:20.240 |
And I believe that this chapter, it doesn't say specifically what circumstance of life 00:11:25.280 |
he was in, but I believe there is a specific historical occasion to which this testimony 00:11:32.840 |
Please turn your Bibles over to 1 Samuel, okay? 00:11:37.280 |
Please turn your Bibles over to 1 Samuel chapter 23. 00:11:43.440 |
And I believe this is a story to which King David is referring to. 00:11:47.200 |
There's so many corollaries and so many connections. 00:11:55.480 |
And as you guys go there, I want to give you guys a little bit of context. 00:12:00.880 |
So added to the idea that, wow, he must have been like anxious. 00:12:10.840 |
Because only several chapters ago, okay, remember like David's the one who fought Goliath, but 00:12:16.600 |
when he fought Goliath, he was a young little boy with a sling, right? 00:12:20.440 |
And then a few chapters later, when he's being anointed as king, they went through all the 00:12:25.700 |
brothers and David was so young, everyone was like, "The what?" 00:12:31.000 |
So my point being is, by context, David is really young. 00:12:35.760 |
And the scenario is King Saul has already been rejected by God. 00:12:39.400 |
Chapter 15, Saul sins against the Lord by taking position he's not supposed to, and 00:12:46.980 |
And then King David has already been anointed and said, "This is the one who's going to 00:12:56.080 |
He's in jealousy and he's trying to desperately hold on to the little authority that he has. 00:13:00.040 |
Well, actually he still has a lot of authority, but he's trying to hold on with dear life. 00:13:04.600 |
And he is willing, as you know the story, he is very willing to kill David. 00:13:10.960 |
As a matter of fact, he's not only willing, but he's on a manhunt. 00:13:14.160 |
He's on a search and destroy mission to go kill this man. 00:13:20.840 |
What's happening is King David is speaking and praying to the Lord. 00:13:25.300 |
And because David is God's man, God is going to use David to fight other nations. 00:13:34.400 |
They're big, they're powerful, they're armed. 00:13:38.560 |
And what happens is in verse one through three, it says, "Then they told David saying, 'Behold, 00:13:42.960 |
the Philistines are fighting against Cala and are plundering the threshing floor.' 00:13:47.240 |
So David inquired of the Lord saying, 'Oh Lord, shall I go and attack these Philistines?' 00:13:52.920 |
And the Lord said to David, 'Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Cala.'" 00:14:01.720 |
God is commanding David and his men, "Go fight. 00:14:04.320 |
Go fight for this small nation and deliver them and go fight the Philistines." 00:14:12.080 |
In verse three, it says, "But David's men said, 'Uh, behold, we are afraid here in Judah. 00:14:18.400 |
How much more than if we go to Cala against the ranks of the Philistines?'" 00:14:25.080 |
It's like, they're like, "We've been running away from Saul for a while now. 00:14:32.840 |
Why in the world are we going to go and fight for a nation that's not even ours?" 00:14:38.520 |
And so David, essentially what he does is he's like, "Uh, yeah, okay, I'll go ask God 00:14:44.000 |
You know, it's kind of like if any of you are in the workplace, your boss, like CEO 00:14:48.480 |
or president says, "I want this done by tonight." 00:14:51.120 |
And you got to go tell your team, like, "Sorry guys, we got to stay here and go and get this 00:14:57.280 |
And you play this middle man like, "Oh, shoot." 00:15:01.760 |
I'm just painting for you this picture because I want you to feel like how much anxiety and 00:15:07.480 |
If you've ever been in a situation like that at work, it's incredibly stressful. 00:15:13.640 |
The pressures of the boss on you, "We need to get this done." 00:15:22.200 |
So David goes back to God and says, "Do we really need to do this?" 00:15:31.440 |
Sometimes when the ball gets rolling, it just gets worse and worse and worse. 00:15:34.800 |
And I know perhaps you guys have felt like that before, where somebody experiences, I 00:15:39.560 |
don't know, let's say like getting towed, and then they realize that from towing, they 00:15:43.880 |
lose their license, and it just gets worse and worse and worse. 00:15:47.480 |
I don't know if he's in here, but I'm using a specific analogy right now. 00:15:51.000 |
In either way, it's getting worse for King David. 00:15:55.040 |
They go to Kayla to fight, but then check out verse 7. 00:15:58.760 |
It was told to Saul that David had come to Kayla, and Saul said, "Ha, God has delivered 00:16:04.040 |
him into my hand, for he shut himself by entering a city with double gates and bars." 00:16:16.600 |
David was on the run, and now he's been revealed where he's going to be in a city, and now 00:16:22.520 |
Saul and his soldiers are marching toward Kayla. 00:16:26.640 |
And then David gets really shocked, and he's like, "Oh my goodness." 00:16:30.400 |
So David actually asks God, "God, will the people of Kayla that we just saved, I mean 00:16:35.640 |
we just saved their hide, are they going to deliver me to Saul?" 00:16:43.000 |
Kayla is going to deliver you into the hands of Saul." 00:16:50.640 |
And then so what happens is, basically Saul is coming down to kill David. 00:16:55.900 |
But in that moment, God says, "Go," and then King David goes into the mountainsides, the 00:17:03.460 |
And then look at verse 14, it says, "David stayed in the wilderness in the stronghold, 00:17:07.980 |
and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. 00:17:10.740 |
And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand." 00:17:17.100 |
That's pretty wild for a young boy, young man, to experience. 00:17:22.540 |
Now I don't know if you guys have struggles in your life. 00:17:30.380 |
As a matter of fact, you know, recently I had a really good talk with a brother at church, 00:17:34.180 |
and we were talking about like, what do people in OC actually need? 00:17:39.180 |
Probably the most thing we need is just like more education, another step in a career, 00:17:50.380 |
Because we all have experiences where we feel like we're hurt, we're pain, we're trials, 00:17:57.900 |
And if you are young and you feel like, "Pretty much my life has been good." 00:18:01.900 |
Maybe you come from an affluent family, you know, you've gone to the best schools, you've 00:18:05.580 |
got a job right after, and you're like, "I've got money, time, and freedom. 00:18:10.900 |
If you live long enough, your parents might get sick, your parents might die, your family 00:18:17.140 |
members might not be healthy, you might be hurting, you'll have a relational strife, 00:18:23.180 |
you'll have letdowns, you'll have pressures from your bosses. 00:18:26.540 |
And one time or another, you're going to feel, whatever degree it is, whether it's up here 00:18:36.140 |
And if you're living life thinking, "No, I won't." 00:18:39.500 |
I'm just telling you right now, yes, you will. 00:18:44.460 |
But the fact of the matter is, King David is able to give personal testimony that throughout 00:18:50.860 |
that time, although I was, yes, in the wilderness, I had a stronghold. 00:18:56.140 |
Although I was in the hillside, running away, and Saul was after me every single day, God 00:19:10.940 |
For us, I don't know what your wilderness is. 00:19:14.460 |
But do you have a testimony testifying to the fact God has been very faithful? 00:19:24.180 |
And my challenge is, have we been asking God, "God, be my stronghold, be my strength within 00:19:34.700 |
By way of transitioning into it, I want us to realize as a second point, that this asking, 00:19:40.980 |
this seeking, this having dependence on God, is a learning process. 00:19:54.020 |
But the thing about it is, King David actually talks about it. 00:20:00.380 |
He says, "Blessed be the Lord, for he has made marvelous his loving kindness to me in 00:20:07.500 |
So that's why I think this is specifically referring to 1 Samuel 23. 00:20:12.340 |
"As for me, I said in my alarm, 'I'm cut off from before your eyes.'" 00:20:19.500 |
"When I was surprised, when I was first inflicted with that kind of pain, how did I feel? 00:20:31.660 |
And he mentions earlier, "I felt like the guy who nobody even knows about because everybody 00:20:49.620 |
Do you like sweep it back up and say, "Oh, precious thing," and put it right back into 00:20:58.100 |
And I'm willing to guess that here in OC, even if you have a nice paying job, a nice 00:21:03.900 |
house, and a nice looking family, there are still internal pains that you go through. 00:21:11.180 |
I'm willing to bet that because I've been through stuff. 00:21:15.380 |
From the outside, I feel like I have a really, I don't know what else to say, but a super 00:21:24.780 |
I have parents who constantly look out for me. 00:21:27.060 |
I have an awesome brother who's like my second dad. 00:21:31.820 |
I have shared so many times when I first came into this church, I was the one newcomer for 00:21:35.940 |
the entire church, and the whole church love-bombed me. 00:21:40.540 |
And this is a unique thing that I was just so blessed with. 00:21:45.900 |
The first six months of church, we'd always go out to eat. 00:21:55.140 |
But humanistically speaking, on a very superficial level, I have an amazing life. 00:22:01.660 |
Probably a life that maybe a lot of people are like, "Man, you have it so easy." 00:22:07.300 |
But does that mean I'm free from internal pain? 00:22:17.420 |
Here, I want to show you that there is a reality of the learning process of depending on God. 00:22:26.820 |
He says, "Initially, my eyes, or when I was alarmed, I thought like this." 00:22:30.420 |
And then he says, "Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplication when I cried 00:22:39.460 |
But my challenge to you guys is this, is we have pains, you know? 00:22:43.540 |
I'm just saying right now, we have pains, but do you cry out to the Lord, even with 00:22:52.820 |
Because I'm going to make the case to you, you absolutely need a refuge in your life. 00:23:02.180 |
You absolutely need a stronghold, a fortress, somewhere dependable, a safe haven for you 00:23:12.700 |
But regularly, because maybe we go to other stuff, because we go to friends, because we 00:23:17.820 |
go to possessions, because we typically only trust ourselves, we've gone to many different 00:23:24.300 |
Or, because we trust ourselves, we've convinced ourselves for the small stuff, I don't need 00:23:32.500 |
And a lot of us don't ever open up to say, "God, I need you to help me." 00:23:40.860 |
You know, there was a time for me, personally, I remember very distinctly, I've used this 00:23:45.140 |
in a sermon before, and Bia knows exactly what I'm talking about, where I was in school 00:23:49.980 |
last year in seminary, was in school part-time, working part-time, church part-time, and I 00:23:55.340 |
had like multiple facets of my life, newly married, two years into it, you know? 00:24:00.580 |
And I was getting up early to go to school, I was getting up at five, drive to LA, go 00:24:04.180 |
to school, come drive straight down, go to work, and then I get off work around 8.30 00:24:07.860 |
or 9, come home, eat, and then just study, and then crash. 00:24:11.460 |
And then one of these nights, I don't know what it was. 00:24:14.380 |
I don't know if it was because the day didn't go well at work, and then I got my first C 00:24:24.660 |
And then I was lying in bed, we were about ready to go to sleep, lights are out, and 00:24:29.700 |
Bia leans over and she's like, "Are you crying?" 00:24:32.700 |
You know, because I was just like, I was just like in the moment of like, "This is too much!" 00:24:45.260 |
Now the thing about it is, you know, just like some of you who are in college, you know, 00:24:51.900 |
when you guys come and tell me like, "Oh, it's too hard, I'm too busy," and then you 00:24:58.580 |
I'm pretty sure like an older parent who, you know, went through a previous generation, 00:25:04.660 |
They, you know, some of the, like my parents' generation, they come from that war-torn generation, 00:25:10.580 |
And so when they think of hardship, they don't think like, "Oh, so you're tired." 00:25:13.900 |
So they're looking at me like, "You pansy," you know? 00:25:19.220 |
But here's the truth of the matter is, if I don't know how to go to refuge in what is 00:25:25.500 |
seemingly small, yes, I was weak in the moment, I was young, and I didn't know how to handle 00:25:31.580 |
But if I didn't know how to find refuge in that moment, what makes me think I'm going 00:25:36.220 |
to find refuge when harder things come in life? 00:25:40.660 |
If you're not going to God with the smaller things of your life, do you think you're going 00:25:50.140 |
You don't know how to swim there, you don't know how to ask, you don't, you have never 00:25:54.860 |
How are you going to trust a God with big things when you can't trust Him with little 00:26:00.500 |
My argument is you absolutely need a refuge in God for everything. 00:26:06.300 |
And Christ was trying to teach us, "Even for your daily bread, you need me." 00:26:11.540 |
But for some odd reason, we've convinced ourselves, "No, I don't." 00:26:22.540 |
If we live long enough, we are going to experience things where we're going to cry, and we're 00:26:29.860 |
And I'm not just preaching this because of what's been going on in the past several weeks, 00:26:33.460 |
but I want you to know that, yeah, in the past several weeks, many of us have been heartbroken 00:26:41.140 |
And I think about stuff like that, you know, as a parent, I've counseled several people 00:26:47.220 |
who've lost their children, and there are just things you cannot fix. 00:26:57.580 |
When I was overburdened with work, my initial reaction was, "Okay, I just need to clamp 00:27:13.660 |
I need to do X, I need to do Y, I need to do this. 00:27:16.580 |
But when stuff in life happens that are way beyond us, you can't do anything. 00:27:25.820 |
And it's not just because of what's happening with that family, but if you just imagine 00:27:29.440 |
for a moment how many people in this room alone right now have parents who have cancer, 00:27:34.700 |
have brothers who have cancer, have cousins who have cancer. 00:27:40.340 |
I think we've been fooled to think the regularity in life is peace and comfort and health, but 00:27:45.660 |
actually for most of all generations past, all of history, peace and comfort was the 00:27:53.620 |
Rather, hardships and suffering was what's regular. 00:27:58.180 |
My question is, do we understand the process of trusting in God and turning to Him? 00:28:04.420 |
Have we learned to ask God, "God, You're different from the ground that the woman landed on because 00:28:10.880 |
she couldn't tell the ground, 'I'm weak, come help me.'" 00:28:15.560 |
But because God is a person who loves, who cares and sees, you can ask God, "God, come 00:28:28.060 |
Now, as we think about that, King David, as he's learning then in this progress and in 00:28:36.100 |
his learning, he comes to a point where he starts to express his confidence in God. 00:28:41.580 |
And that's our next point, that you will build confidence. 00:28:50.300 |
Verse three and four, he says, "For you, you are my rock and my fortress. 00:28:57.020 |
For your namesake, you will lead me and guide me. 00:28:59.940 |
You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for you are my 00:29:04.300 |
That to me is awesome because you see this genuineness. 00:29:18.980 |
There's this mixture of request and confidence. 00:29:22.260 |
There's this mixture of you're asking, but you already know. 00:29:27.660 |
This is very typical of the Christian as he experiences, or she experiences, wrestling 00:29:33.860 |
That as we're asking God, "God, you are my fortress." 00:29:37.700 |
I mean, sorry, "Be my stronghold and save me." 00:29:40.380 |
At the same time, he's saying, "You are my fortress. 00:29:45.740 |
And so this is the kind of perspective that we're always trying to strive for. 00:29:51.700 |
This is the spiritual battle in our mind and in our hearts, isn't it? 00:29:55.700 |
To gain that perspective that is of the word of God and of spiritual truth. 00:30:07.700 |
Right now, in the moment, I feel like you're not helping me. 00:30:22.380 |
There is this growth and perspective that needs to happen. 00:30:25.180 |
And this is exactly what Apostle Paul challenges us to have. 00:30:31.100 |
It says, "For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory 00:30:42.620 |
"As we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. 00:30:47.860 |
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 00:30:54.380 |
There is this bigger perspective that Apostle Paul is challenging us to have. 00:30:58.460 |
The people that he's talking to, they have been afflicted with much persecution. 00:31:02.700 |
He himself, beatings and stoning and whipping and mocking. 00:31:09.140 |
And then he says, "There is this light and momentary affliction I endured, but I only 00:31:15.980 |
see it as light and momentary because I see a bigger perspective of God." 00:31:26.580 |
I know, again, not for us, our immediate response, typically to pain, is to look at the pain. 00:31:36.060 |
Isn't that typically the first response we have? 00:31:39.060 |
You start looking at the pain, you're like, "Why? 00:31:46.420 |
So rather than looking for refuge, rather than getting a bigger perspective, we go to 00:31:49.620 |
the armor, we get some weapons, and we're like, "Okay, I'm going to kill this thing." 00:31:54.380 |
I feel like that's typically how we respond to things. 00:31:57.620 |
But rather, the Scriptures are teaching us, we need to broaden our horizon to see the 00:32:07.140 |
There is this cool place in Arizona, it's called Montezuma's Castle. 00:32:11.300 |
Truthfully, they say historically it has nothing to do with Montezuma. 00:32:14.460 |
I don't know why it's called the Montezuma's Castle. 00:32:26.460 |
But it's a pretty amazing thing because there's this huge wall, and it's a cliff, basically, 00:32:39.740 |
But then on this huge four-story wall are engraved, are carved out caves. 00:32:48.740 |
And people said that people, when they were fighting the indigenous people and stuff like 00:32:52.500 |
that, they would run into this castle for safety and fortress. 00:32:58.620 |
King David, remember, he's actually running through the wilderness, running away from 00:33:07.300 |
And he's literally taking shelter, probably on a hill, with a huge rock. 00:33:12.780 |
And then he's saying in his mind, "God is like this. 00:33:20.740 |
And he's seeing it for himself that God is protecting him. 00:33:26.660 |
My challenge to you is, I hope you guys have your eyes open so that even if right now you're 00:33:31.980 |
going through pain, even if right now you're going through trials, you can at least look 00:33:36.940 |
back into your life for moments to which God has been faithful. 00:33:41.460 |
Moments to which God has brought you through, moments to which God has ministered to you. 00:33:46.060 |
Because from your own personal experiences, you're going to gain that kind of confidence. 00:33:50.500 |
You will build this idea that God is dependable. 00:33:56.460 |
Because on one level, I can believe God is dependable because of the testimony of people 00:34:04.020 |
To the generations from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, all these people, God has been faithful 00:34:15.580 |
I can believe that he's faithful because of the testimony of other people and I see it, 00:34:19.940 |
but it is a stronger testimony when he has been faithful to your own life. 00:34:24.780 |
And those small testimonies start building for you a greater dependency in God. 00:34:37.300 |
In sports, if you have a superstar who is a basketball player and there is this idea 00:34:43.860 |
or there is this moment where someone needs to be clutch, you don't get the guy who has 00:34:49.860 |
The guy who has been proven to be clutch every single time, what do you do? 00:34:55.260 |
I might be a 6'6", tall, be able to dunk, run fastest, whatever, but I still say, "That 00:35:01.860 |
guy who has proven to be clutch, what do I do? 00:35:07.620 |
That's what I'm talking about when I say we need to gain this kind of confidence that 00:35:12.660 |
King David expresses in his life towards God. 00:35:16.620 |
Now, I want you to focus on that analogy for a moment because there is some weird interplay 00:35:23.520 |
of different concepts with all that we're talking about today, about trusting God and 00:35:38.780 |
This is when maybe some of you, you told a friend, "Oh my gosh, this week has been so 00:35:55.220 |
Because all it sounds like is just that kind of idiomatic, "Just believe. 00:36:05.140 |
It's just kind of like, "It doesn't help me that much." 00:36:07.940 |
So that's why I'm saying you have to have this testimony. 00:36:16.760 |
Do I have to first see, "Okay, God, prove yourself to be dependable. 00:36:34.660 |
And obviously it's a both interplay of one contributing to the other. 00:36:40.140 |
You're seeing that he is dependable, reliable, and absolutely faithful. 00:36:44.100 |
The one who is true, and what's more, as you trust him, that builds greater confidence 00:36:50.360 |
in him as well, because now you have a personal experience that you've risked with him. 00:36:57.300 |
You've risked yourself and been vulnerable with him, and he's proven himself to be true. 00:37:03.140 |
But there's another concept I want to throw into that mix, which is for you, if you want 00:37:09.700 |
to truly depend on God, there needs to be actually a handing over of the ball. 00:37:33.620 |
And in some translations, God of faithfulness. 00:37:39.500 |
The last point is going to be true, submissive dependency. 00:37:45.580 |
There is a submissive dependency unlike any other dependency that we practice in the world. 00:37:52.260 |
And there is a kind of trust that we practice in pain, in trial, in suffering, that we perhaps 00:38:02.220 |
In more like the, you know, wishy-washy mainstream Christianity, there has been this phrase, 00:38:13.340 |
What does that even mean, "Let go and let God"? 00:38:21.940 |
What needs to actually happen is in the context of suffering, okay, I know this is going to 00:38:30.900 |
So let me have all your attention so I can explain it clearly. 00:38:37.260 |
Specifically to the context of suffering, there is a battle of the will. 00:38:45.500 |
Every single moment in your life, there needs to be a reconciliation of two wills. 00:38:49.780 |
Is it going to be God's will for your life or is it going to be your will? 00:38:53.060 |
And regularly as a Christian, your will continues to die and gives way to the will of God, right? 00:39:00.380 |
That reconciliation and the battle of the two wills becomes all the more prominent when 00:39:06.180 |
Because it's when we suffer when our desire, when our will, when our whatever it is that 00:39:17.620 |
And so even in this moment, there has to be a submission. 00:39:22.340 |
And to me, when someone says, "Just let go and let God," it's confusing because what 00:39:30.380 |
And yet you're sitting here like, "Don't worry, God's going to relieve you, so just let go 00:39:35.700 |
God has purposes for us to which we don't even know. 00:39:39.300 |
What if God desires to allow us to go through certain things so that we would be grown, 00:39:43.180 |
so that we would have our eyes open, so that we would wake up? 00:39:46.140 |
What if God desires for us to do those things just like the blind man so that he receives 00:39:51.580 |
What if like Apostle Paul says, we're to suffer because of the sake of the gospel, for the 00:39:55.540 |
building up of this church, for the magnification of Christ? 00:40:04.140 |
But how can I demand, "God, in this scenario, I want you to do what I want." 00:40:12.980 |
And so there is this profound, profound element of you and me and King David, I can ask. 00:40:33.020 |
But then even when, let's say, our questions are being unanswered, there is a decision 00:40:38.740 |
Am I going to put that into God's hands or am I going to hold on to it? 00:40:45.260 |
And the longer we hold on to it, the more painful it will be. 00:40:50.080 |
And so Dr. Greg Harris, one of my professors, I remember that he had lost a child. 00:40:58.740 |
And I remember praying with him and I remember him sharing with me the story. 00:41:04.220 |
And I remember him vividly telling me that it was like God asking me to put the daughter 00:41:12.740 |
And my professor writing about it in his book, I couldn't let go. 00:41:17.540 |
And again, I think about Aaron and Tina and how hard it must be. 00:41:21.860 |
There are things in life that we can just readily let go. 00:41:25.980 |
It was a huge burden, but I could let go because I fail all the time. 00:41:32.220 |
My schooling, yeah, I wanted an A, but I could let go. 00:41:37.020 |
But there are things in life that are much difficult, isn't it? 00:41:47.580 |
But for us, we have to realize that true dependency on God requires that kind of willingness 00:41:59.960 |
And then for us to trust, God is the author of my life from beginning to end. 00:42:04.700 |
He's not the God who just started my life and then now it's just been going awry. 00:42:08.620 |
He is the author from beginning and end and therefore, he will write the conclusion. 00:42:14.180 |
And so then, even if I die and even if I go through this, there, you take control. 00:42:25.380 |
That's the kind of dependency we need to have. 00:42:27.660 |
And that's the kind of dependency that Christ said, "Did you know that this very verse, 00:42:31.660 |
verse five, 'Into your hand I commit my spirit'" doesn't that sound so familiar? 00:42:44.500 |
I mean, truthfully speaking, you've probably heard this many times. 00:42:49.860 |
The cross of Christ is the most backwards thing in all of history to all mankind. 00:42:55.900 |
The most pure, perfect, obedient one being punished on the cross. 00:43:00.740 |
The one who has dignity, the one who has glory being shamed on the cross. 00:43:09.660 |
But Christ says, "Lord, into your hand I commit my life." 00:43:18.260 |
He was a faithful one who was serving the church. 00:43:20.620 |
He was a faithful one who knew the scriptures. 00:43:25.340 |
And then the Jewish people who were to be religious, they get angry at him, they mob 00:43:30.820 |
him, they gnash their teeth at him, pull him, and they stone him. 00:43:42.420 |
These were the words of men who trusted and understood. 00:43:45.780 |
God is so good, he will preserve my life even through death. 00:43:51.900 |
And I pray that we all would be ready to say that too. 00:43:57.560 |
We might not be in like a world of pain right now. 00:44:02.260 |
We might not be in a world of hurt right now. 00:44:04.620 |
But my challenge to you again, even for the small things in your life, are you going to 00:44:14.760 |
So Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 1, he says, "Therefore do not be ashamed to the testimony 00:44:22.060 |
Nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved 00:44:28.360 |
us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose 00:44:33.980 |
He says, "Which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, which now has been 00:44:39.760 |
manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought 00:44:45.580 |
life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher 00:44:51.180 |
and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do." 00:44:56.540 |
"I am not ashamed, because I know whom I believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard 00:45:13.160 |
That's the kind of perspective I pray for you. 00:45:15.860 |
I pray that whatever the circumstance, whatever the issue is, whatever the pain is, that you 00:45:22.500 |
would have such a confidence in God, that you would be willing to ask, "God, help me." 00:45:30.720 |
It's not just okay to ask, it is commanded to ask, it is good for you to ask your heavenly 00:45:37.200 |
Is it wrong for you to ask God to remove pain from your life? 00:45:53.260 |
But I pray that we would also be submissive and dependent enough, and trust him enough, 00:46:00.220 |
that if the good God and the author of my life sees it fit that I go through it all, 00:46:12.980 |
Our father, we trust you because you are our God. 00:46:16.740 |
We trust you because you have delivered so many. 00:46:19.140 |
And father, we trust you because you have already delivered us and freed us from our 00:46:25.460 |
own sin, from our own plight, and from the weakness of our own power. 00:46:31.660 |
I pray, father God, if there is anybody in here who is hurting, that the love of God 00:46:38.240 |
And God, that you would let them know that you preserve all of your children. 00:46:43.060 |
And God, that they can be strong and have heart and courage because there is hope in 00:46:51.060 |
We pray for this for everybody who is around, who has family who is hurting. 00:46:56.740 |
And as we know, father God, sometimes the greatest pains is when we see pain in the 00:47:01.900 |
I pray all the more that this would cause us to desire so eagerly to share the love 00:47:08.340 |
There is no hope anywhere else but in you, Lord. 00:47:14.060 |
Why don't we just take the next couple of minutes just to really reflect on the message 00:54:37.780 |
Father God, Lord, you are our cornerstone, Lord. 00:54:49.280 |
and everything on this world is temporary, Lord. 00:54:53.280 |
We understand, Lord, that you mean everything to us, Lord, 00:55:04.280 |
We have no worth because we find our worth in you, Lord. 00:55:19.280 |
just knowing how much you really mean to us, Lord. 00:55:23.280 |
I just pray just for this time of offering, Lord, 00:55:25.780 |
that we will be giving with hearts that want to give, Lord, 00:55:30.780 |
hearts that want to serve you and please you in this way, Lord, 00:55:34.780 |
that our offering will be pleasing to you, Lord. 00:55:38.280 |
So, yeah, I just pray just for this time of offering. 00:59:04.280 |
Why don't we all stand for our closing praise? 01:03:25.280 |
and pray that this week and the weeks to come, 01:03:39.280 |
That our confidence, our strength, our motivation 01:03:50.280 |
But God, that we would experience true spiritual power. 01:04:01.280 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling 01:04:04.280 |
and to make you stand in the presence of his glory 01:04:08.280 |
To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,