back to index2019-01-13 Look Up, Look In, Look Out Part 3
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Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Psalm chapter 90, verse 13 through 17. 00:00:09.440 |
We're going to do our third and final part in the series of look up, look in, and look 00:00:17.680 |
Psalm chapter 90, verse 13 through 17, and I'm reading out of the NASB. 00:00:28.800 |
O satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may sing for joy and be 00:00:35.920 |
Make us glad according to the days you have afflicted us and the years we have seen evil. 00:00:41.480 |
Let your work appear to your servants and your majesty to their children. 00:00:45.060 |
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and confirm for us the work of our hands. 00:00:58.000 |
Dearest and loving Father, we've gathered here together because we want to hear from 00:01:09.760 |
We want your voice, Lord God, so that we may know what it means to follow you. 00:01:16.360 |
I pray that you would help us cut through all the distractions of our lives, that you 00:01:29.400 |
May your word, Lord God, come to us in power with authority and clarity, that your church 00:01:34.560 |
may be sanctified to grow, to be challenged, that we may live lives truly worthy of the 00:01:43.440 |
Bless our time, Lord God, as we have come to bless you. 00:01:48.440 |
Again, as you know, it's 2019 and we started a book of Psalms, or at least chapter 90, 00:01:55.680 |
because it was appropriate for Moses to be preparing to get into the promised land, to 00:02:01.000 |
remind them in the beginning of the chapter that before the mountains were formed, God 00:02:07.360 |
That ultimately, going into the promised land doesn't mean that that's where your home is. 00:02:11.920 |
And he had to remind them so that they did not get distracted and again, fall into the 00:02:19.360 |
So it's appropriate for us to take some time to think and consider, and I know some of 00:02:26.680 |
Some of you guys don't do resolutions anymore. 00:02:28.360 |
You kind of bah humbug about that because every year it seems to be a cycle and it's 00:02:31.840 |
like, well, we don't follow through anyway, so what's the point? 00:02:34.840 |
Whether you do it formally or informally, every single one of us thinks about what's 00:02:41.080 |
In 2019, some of you guys are going to have a baby and some of you guys are preparing 00:02:48.360 |
You're getting your rooms ready, baby showers, and your world is going to get rocked. 00:02:57.040 |
Watching movies till late at night is going to be in the past, at least for a period. 00:03:04.720 |
So some of you, you're going to have children come into your life, a baby come into your 00:03:08.320 |
life and your world is going to change and you're preparing for that. 00:03:11.360 |
Some of you guys are in the midst of getting ready for a wedding. 00:03:17.600 |
The two people sharing apartment lives and all this stuff, that's going to come. 00:03:22.360 |
Some of you guys are on the verge of graduation and you can almost taste it. 00:03:27.720 |
You worked so hard for the last three and a half years, now you're taking 36 units because 00:03:32.280 |
you got to make up for all the things you did and then now you're trying to get out. 00:03:35.960 |
Some of you guys just got a job and maybe your first paycheck is coming. 00:03:44.400 |
So every single one of us has something, maybe two different degrees that we're looking forward 00:03:58.080 |
I mean, there's a lot of little things that kind of you put together and it makes us do 00:04:02.160 |
things that make plans and invest and sacrifice and work hard. 00:04:08.240 |
But ultimately, the overarching passion in you, what does that have to do with the things 00:04:17.200 |
See the Jews at the time of Christ and prior to that, constantly reminded each other by 00:04:23.160 |
the very way that they greeted each other, shalom. 00:04:26.640 |
And shalom basically means God's blessing upon you or peace be upon you. 00:04:30.540 |
So even in their very greeting, they reminded each other that ultimately, your life is good 00:04:36.440 |
or bad based upon God's blessing upon your life. 00:04:42.400 |
We come to the New Testament and on top of the shalom, peace, the Christians added grace. 00:04:48.920 |
So if you look at a good chunk of the letters in the New Testament, it starts out by the 00:04:56.160 |
That this peace that the Jews were seeking and desiring from God, ultimately was going 00:05:06.000 |
Moses is preparing the nation of Israel to enter into this new stage of their life. 00:05:09.840 |
Forty years they were wandering in the desert because of their sin. 00:05:14.000 |
And he reminds them at the beginning of the chapter that the physical land is not your 00:05:20.640 |
He's the one who has control over your destiny. 00:05:23.940 |
And then the second part, last week we talked about how he says in light of who he is, you 00:05:31.280 |
That our iniquities are deeply embedded in us. 00:05:34.080 |
And what we experience in life is because of the fall. 00:05:39.000 |
You know, we try so hard thinking like if we get enough counseling, if we study hard, 00:05:43.360 |
we make the right decision, make the right investments, that our life is going to get 00:05:48.400 |
But the overarching experience of mankind is under the umbrella of this sin. 00:05:57.220 |
And that's what Moses was reminding them, that your experience out in the desert and 00:06:02.000 |
the reason why every Israelite who entered into the desert died, except with the exception 00:06:12.640 |
So if you believe what Moses said up to this point, what is the natural reaction or response 00:06:24.640 |
What should our response be if we truly believe that God is our refuge? 00:06:31.220 |
That all mankind is under this judgment of God and everything that we experience, hardship, 00:06:36.720 |
labor, toiling, and then eventually death, is because of this sin, our natural response 00:06:46.220 |
That should be the natural response of every sinner who believes what Moses says and what 00:06:52.020 |
And so the third part that we're looking at, verse 13 to 17, Moses is actually crying out 00:07:00.680 |
And ultimately, obviously, as we are studying it, in God's people. 00:07:05.640 |
So the three things that we want to look at, the three parts of the prayer that Moses offers 00:07:11.000 |
up to God, first part of it, we find in verse 13, where he is basically praying for revival, 00:07:20.480 |
He says in verse 13, "Return, O Lord, how long will it be? 00:07:27.560 |
There's a longing in Moses and he knows and he recognizes and he wants the nation of Israel 00:07:32.320 |
to recognize that you may enter the promised land, but if the Lord does not return, you 00:07:38.000 |
may have better food, you may have fortified cities, but in the end, you are no different 00:07:43.380 |
than when you are wandering out in the desert. 00:07:49.160 |
Unless the Lord builds his house, we build it in vain. 00:07:55.160 |
That's why for every Christian, every Christian, if you are a Christian, God has placed in 00:08:02.360 |
us a longing and a desire to reconnect with the Father. 00:08:08.580 |
It is that desire to reconnect with the Father that causes us to come to church. 00:08:12.520 |
It is that desire to reconnect with the Father that causes us to study the Word of God, to 00:08:17.400 |
love people, to evangelize, to go to India, to China, to Japan, wherever it is that God 00:08:23.720 |
It is that desire to reconnect with God and connect other sinners to God. 00:08:28.480 |
So when Moses is asking for the Lord to return, how long will it be? 00:08:35.960 |
First and foremost, there's a recognition that they have drifted from God. 00:08:41.020 |
That they experience what they experienced in the desert because they sinned against 00:08:46.400 |
So in other words, it is a recognition of what they have done before God. 00:08:51.440 |
For any sinner to have any kind of relationship with this Holy God, it begins by recognizing 00:09:05.560 |
When he says he knows his transgressions, he's not simply saying, "I understand this. 00:09:09.800 |
Somebody told me, and so now I can articulate what I've done." 00:09:13.160 |
When he says, "I know my transgressions," he is saying that it is deep within him. 00:09:25.080 |
Again, remember Moses was a man handpicked by God to lead the nation of Israel. 00:09:34.220 |
Among all the nation of Israel, that's the guy, he says, above all the other people in 00:09:39.860 |
And yet David, his experience as a king, he says, "If anything, it only exposed my 00:09:51.620 |
Against you and only you have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you 00:09:56.440 |
are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge." 00:10:07.540 |
We're not going to come before God and say, 'I'm not a sinner. 00:10:10.420 |
I rarely meet anybody, Christian or non-Christian, who justifies their righteousness. 00:10:26.180 |
But typically, even in the way that we confess our sins, we say, "I've sinned, but it's 00:10:33.620 |
Now, I did what I did because look at the way they treated me. 00:10:38.140 |
I did what I did because I didn't have this growing up. 00:10:41.900 |
I do what I do because you don't know my parents and what they've done or my brothers or what's 00:10:51.020 |
The first step in reconciling with this holy God is owning up to who we are. 00:11:03.540 |
And again, in Psalm 32, 3 to 5, if you're not a believer, I'm going to read this passage 00:11:08.740 |
and you're going to say, "Oh, it's interesting." 00:11:12.720 |
But if the Holy Spirit is in you, the way that David describes where he is before he 00:11:19.220 |
was forgiven of his sins, I think every single one of us would be able to relate. 00:11:24.880 |
He says, "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. 00:11:30.180 |
Through my groaning all day long, for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. 00:11:34.580 |
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer." 00:11:38.580 |
Do you understand or can you relate the way that David describes his condition of guilt 00:11:47.420 |
when he kind of tried to justify it and hide it from other people? 00:11:51.900 |
My bones were being wasted away and my body was groaning all day long. 00:12:00.780 |
The Holy Spirit in us will never make us feel comfortable in our sins. 00:12:07.540 |
And if you are a Christian and the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you, you know exactly how this 00:12:15.260 |
No matter how much you try to justify it, your bones, you feel like the weight of God 00:12:21.100 |
And for whatever the reason in our generation, we think it is wrong to make people feel guilty. 00:12:33.620 |
But without the pressure of guilt, where is repentance? 00:12:42.660 |
But when you take the guilt out and you go from sin to rejoicing without repentance, 00:12:59.020 |
It's kind of like if you were to write a love letter, you know, and you really have nothing 00:13:05.920 |
to say, so you Google it and you take a piece of letter that somebody else wrote and you 00:13:11.460 |
cut and paste and you put it into a letter, right? 00:13:15.300 |
And then you give it to that person to appease your wife. 00:13:19.100 |
And it means nothing because they're not your words. 00:13:26.560 |
You just cut and pasted it because your wife is going to get angry if you don't give it 00:13:31.500 |
And then she looks it up, types it in, and she sees it's all over the internet. 00:13:37.060 |
And even it has even less meaning because now for sure, this meant absolutely nothing 00:13:42.380 |
It was just the regurgitation of some words that somebody else wrote. 00:13:48.420 |
Because until it strikes us and we recognize where we stand before God means absolutely 00:13:54.540 |
Until we're able to come to the point, it says, "When I didn't repent, my bones were 00:13:59.140 |
See, that's the state of a Christian who is in rebellion against God, who is living in 00:14:04.580 |
compromise, who is constantly living in lukewarmness, and the pressure of God is upon that person 00:14:14.020 |
Verse 5, "I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide. 00:14:18.340 |
I said I would confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin." 00:14:24.220 |
That's what he means when he says, "Return to us, O Lord." 00:14:28.100 |
In and of itself, he is confessing that they have drifted away from God. 00:14:33.860 |
Before revival can come, God always brings us to repentance. 00:14:40.140 |
All of a sudden, we become more aware of the compromises in our lives. 00:14:44.820 |
All of a sudden, when the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives, even the very things 00:14:49.620 |
that we've justified in our lives, all of a sudden seems detestable in God's sight. 00:14:58.940 |
That's why he's saying, "Return to us, O Lord." 00:15:06.340 |
But what does it mean in that second part, "And be sorry for your servants"? 00:15:11.980 |
That word for sorry in other places literally means to repent. 00:15:15.580 |
I mean, the audacity of Moses to come before God and say, "Lord, repent. 00:15:22.740 |
Obviously, God does not repent like you and I repent. 00:15:27.180 |
In Numbers 23, 19, God is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should 00:15:35.460 |
We did something wrong, and we need to rectify it, and so God changes his mind. 00:15:39.780 |
That's not the repentance he's talking about. 00:15:53.940 |
It's talking about a deep-seated emotion when he sees the state of mankind. 00:15:59.860 |
When Jesus stood before Lazarus' tomb after his death, it says that Jesus wept, even though 00:16:07.740 |
he deliberately went there late and waited until he died, even though he told his disciple 00:16:13.540 |
that he was going to raise him up, that it wasn't going to end in death, but in God's 00:16:20.180 |
He planned all of that, and yet he was standing before the death of Lazarus, and the Scripture 00:16:30.380 |
What it means in that passage was he saw the state of mankind, and he had compassion, because 00:16:36.900 |
death was the most tangible evidence of the judgment of God upon mankind, because he told 00:16:42.900 |
Adam and Eve, "When you sin, you shall surely die." 00:16:48.480 |
And as he stood before Lazarus' tomb, as he saw Jerusalem riding upon the donkey coming 00:16:54.460 |
in, knowing that judgment was going to come upon them, it also says in that passage that 00:17:01.180 |
So when here he says Moses is telling God, "Be sorry or repent," he's saying, "Lord, 00:17:11.620 |
God is not indifferent toward our suffering, and God is not indifferent toward our weaknesses. 00:17:19.660 |
For revival to come, first and foremost, you and I need to recognize where we stand before 00:17:27.140 |
And that's, again, and that's the danger of being rich, because we don't see the consequence 00:17:39.020 |
We see the consequence of making bad decisions. 00:17:41.020 |
We see the consequence of not being a good businessman. 00:17:43.700 |
We see a consequence of not communicating well and being sensitive to your wife. 00:17:50.740 |
But when it comes to our sin, we don't recognize what that does to God, what that does to us 00:18:02.220 |
Before revival comes, there's always a greater awareness of who God is. 00:18:08.500 |
There's always a greater awareness of who we are, which is the catalyst that causes 00:18:17.500 |
Until we recognize the greatest need that every single person in this room brought into 00:18:22.540 |
this room, wasn't a better job, better circumstance, better friends, better communication, better 00:18:31.180 |
Until every single sinner recognizes that our greatest need in 2019 is to reconnect 00:18:51.340 |
You will enjoy yourself and live in vain in 2019 until we recognize this is our greatest 00:18:59.260 |
Secondly, his prayer is a prayer for God to satisfy their longing. 00:19:07.140 |
Oh, satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness that we may sing for joy and be glad 00:19:16.260 |
To be satisfied, there's a prerequisite that there is a longing. 00:19:22.420 |
God can come and bring revival, but if there is no desire, you won't even recognize when 00:19:28.460 |
revival comes because there was no desire in you. 00:19:31.740 |
The fact that you and I have that desire in and of itself is a blessing. 00:19:36.060 |
The fact that God opened your ears and desire to hear the word of God is because God's been 00:19:44.700 |
In Matthew 5, 6, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God and he talks about the beatitudes 00:19:51.620 |
and every one of those beatitudes is a completely paradigm shifting, paradigm shifting way to 00:20:00.260 |
And right in the smack in the middle of that in Matthew 5, 6, it says, "Blessed are those 00:20:04.940 |
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." 00:20:11.260 |
You and I typically think we made some good investments and the stock went up skyrocketed. 00:20:22.300 |
You moved your jobs before your company went down and now you got promoted and so you're 00:20:31.820 |
You made some decisions and the puzzles pieced together. 00:20:34.740 |
You made some relationship and all these things went well and you're healthy and you're strong. 00:20:39.620 |
And we typically say God blessed us because we are no longer hungry and we are no longer 00:20:49.100 |
But Jesus said of the kingdom, "He who hungers and thirsts, they are the ones who are blessed 00:21:02.420 |
But when we are already satisfied, we are no longer longing for him. 00:21:08.460 |
He says in the kingdom of God, you are not blessed because even when Christ comes, you 00:21:17.500 |
He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for those who are 00:21:20.500 |
not satisfied, who are living day to day, knowing that satisfaction is not here." 00:21:26.980 |
And that's why Jesus constantly told them, "I am the bread of life." 00:21:32.580 |
If you continue to be satisfied with the bread that this world gives you, what happens the 00:21:43.500 |
No matter how much you've eaten today, tomorrow you'll be hungry. 00:21:47.180 |
Again we look at the world and we look at these people who are living in poverty and 00:22:00.180 |
Every Christian should not look upon the suffering of the world and be indifferent toward their 00:22:12.300 |
It's not those who are going thirsty because they don't have access to clean water. 00:22:16.780 |
He said, "Blessed are those who recognizes that there is a longing inside of them that 00:22:23.980 |
Blessed are they, for they shall be satisfied in Christ." 00:22:28.680 |
So when Moses says, "Oh, satisfy us in the morning," that prayer in and of itself is 00:22:41.840 |
To realize that my pursuit, my greatest pursuit in 2019 is to be nearer to Him. 00:22:51.280 |
A Christian who has lost his way is no different than a child, a three-year-old child who loses 00:23:09.120 |
I remember when I was a kid, going to Disneyland was a big, big deal. 00:23:15.760 |
You go to Disneyland and you get to ride the world. 00:23:17.560 |
It's a fantasy world and the food tastes better over there. 00:23:23.080 |
Everything's better, especially when you're a kid. 00:23:26.720 |
But in the midst of Disneyland, if you lose your mom, until you reconnect with your mom, 00:23:33.840 |
You're not going to say, "Oh, I can't see my mom. 00:23:35.400 |
I'm going to ride for a while for the next eight hours and I'll look for her later." 00:23:43.160 |
You can't enjoy yourself until you reconnect with your mom. 00:23:47.080 |
See, a Christian who has lost his way, no matter what blessing that God has given us, 00:23:57.480 |
until we are restored and are satisfied in Christ, is no different than a small child 00:24:03.160 |
who is in the presence of all this blessing, but none of it can be enjoyed because we've 00:24:12.040 |
That's what he means when he says, "Oh, satisfy us in the morning." 00:24:18.160 |
He doesn't say, "Oh, give us bread in the morning. 00:24:25.480 |
He says, "Oh, satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may sing joy, 00:24:35.480 |
In Psalm 63, 1-4, it says, "Oh God, you are my God. 00:24:46.360 |
The psalmist isn't describing just a casual desire to know God. 00:24:52.140 |
God is not somebody that you can approach and say, "You know what? 00:24:58.820 |
I've watched all the Netflix movies and I've done everything, so I got a chunk of time 00:25:03.560 |
today between five and seven and maybe I'll just kind of put in my quiet time and do my 00:25:12.360 |
"You shall seek me and find me when you search me with all your heart." 00:25:22.940 |
You wouldn't go into your CEO's office like that. 00:25:27.120 |
You don't come back after lunch and say, "You know, I got a 10-minute break. 00:25:43.080 |
You don't go into the CEO's office like that. 00:25:50.240 |
Our nonchalant attitude in the way that we pursue Christ may be the very reason why he 00:25:57.960 |
Because we filled our time with all these other things, and then God has become the 00:26:04.740 |
And then we wonder when, when we give that part of him, why I don't get anything out 00:26:15.900 |
The psalmist says, "I shall seek you earnestly. 00:26:21.480 |
When was the last time you had that kind of passionate desire to meet with the Lord? 00:26:28.800 |
Maybe the last time you had that kind of passion was right before you went on your first date. 00:26:34.440 |
Cleaned up your shoes, made sure your teeth, like there's nothing green, no kimchi in between 00:26:46.720 |
Because you were so passionate of getting this right. 00:26:51.080 |
Maybe that's the first time you saw your car coming as a teenager. 00:26:56.640 |
It could have been a piece of junk, it didn't matter. 00:27:05.200 |
When was the last time that you had that kind of passion for the thing that matters the 00:27:12.160 |
We put so much time and energy on trivial things that in the end matter, it doesn't 00:27:22.320 |
Other than give you a little bit of endorphin for that short period of time. 00:27:25.640 |
And again, it's not sinful, but when you consider how much time and effort and energy and money 00:27:30.720 |
goes into pursuing trivial things in light of pursuing the eternal God, the author of 00:27:36.640 |
life, is it no wonder we feel spiritually dry and distant? 00:27:44.280 |
It's not because God is hiding, he's waiting for us to make up our mind. 00:27:53.320 |
Will you worship Baal or will you worship God? 00:27:56.080 |
For me and my house, we will worship the Lord. 00:28:01.200 |
It wasn't because they were outright rejecting God, but they were playing games. 00:28:07.200 |
When it was convenient to worship God, they worshiped God. 00:28:09.320 |
When it was not convenient to worship God, they worshiped Baal and they were teeter-tottering 00:28:21.120 |
Until you and I make up our mind that this is what we want more than anything else, revival 00:28:34.720 |
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you. 00:28:49.840 |
That this was your prayer, not words that you're saying, not words that you're reciting. 00:28:55.320 |
As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you. 00:28:58.440 |
Oh God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 00:29:10.160 |
Because at some point in your life, he satisfied your thirsting. 00:29:19.780 |
Because at some point in your life, he satisfied your hungering. 00:29:25.400 |
At what point from that point until now, did it no longer become satisfying? 00:29:32.220 |
At what point in your walk with God, that the living water in Christ would no longer 00:29:42.040 |
Is it just some testimony of the past when you started and the rest of your life, you're 00:29:51.800 |
Revival will not come until the hungering and thirsting for righteousness for him, supersedes 00:30:10.400 |
If there's anything else competing without desire for God, you are deeply rooted in worldliness 00:30:18.520 |
and you may not even know it because the temptation is so great. 00:30:27.320 |
Every time I travel around the world, no matter where we were, even when I go to rich countries, 00:30:30.720 |
I never leave that country thinking, "I want to live here." 00:30:37.120 |
Maybe some of you may feel different, but I never. 00:30:41.120 |
Japan, Hong Kong, some nicest place in the world, it's a great place to visit, never 00:30:47.760 |
want to live there because we have everything here. 00:30:52.080 |
We're 10 minute drive to the beach, an hour if you want to go see snow. 00:30:57.440 |
You can go down to Mexico in an hour and get some great Mexican food. 00:31:02.960 |
All the best foods in the world that happen to be here because they're all here. 00:31:08.840 |
This is middle of winter, some of you guys are wearing shorts. 00:31:12.960 |
If we took pictures and send this around the world, they'd go, "These people are crazy." 00:31:20.440 |
We live in one of the safest places in the world. 00:31:24.640 |
Even if the world is having a hard time, that's not us. 00:31:29.600 |
Even if we're struggling financially, we can't even ever open our mouths when we travel, 00:31:34.680 |
considering the fact that we're even over there makes us rich. 00:31:43.120 |
How can we possibly compete with all of this? 00:31:50.160 |
How can any human being just say, "I'm just going to turn it off. 00:32:11.320 |
The temptation is tremendous, especially for me and you. 00:32:18.440 |
What do you and I have that can possibly make all of that look like rubbish? 00:32:26.880 |
Your friends, leadership, organization, your house. 00:32:33.740 |
What can possibly compete with a temptation that is around us 24/7? 00:32:47.360 |
He's the only thing that in light of all of that temptation, it looks like trash. 00:32:57.160 |
And so the only way that we can possibly persevere and make it out of this is if we continue 00:33:02.680 |
to fix our eyes on the majesty and beauty of Christ. 00:33:08.840 |
That's why Moses is saying, "Oh, satisfy us in the morning," because the temptation in 00:33:24.040 |
There's a lot of things that all the other nations have that they have. 00:33:28.080 |
What is going to prevent us from going into that promised land and forgetting about God 00:33:32.200 |
and becoming like all the other nations until you satisfy us in the morning with your loving 00:33:41.400 |
Again, when our hungering for God is stronger than any other desires in us, then revival 00:33:48.880 |
Third and finally, prayer for revival is God's work to be seen in man. 00:34:01.000 |
Prayer for revival is for God to tangibly reveal himself in his work. 00:34:09.560 |
Let me read the previous verse before we read verse 16, verse 17. 00:34:13.200 |
It says, "Make us glad according to the days that you have afflicted us," oh, sorry, in 00:34:17.720 |
verse 14, "Satisfy us in the morning, your loving kindness, that we may sing for joy 00:34:23.840 |
You know that word for loving kindness in Hebrew is a very important word because it 00:34:28.840 |
is the Old Testament Hebrew equivalent of agape. 00:34:35.400 |
It is not just kind of casual love where God chooses to love one day and not choose to 00:34:45.600 |
So the word in Hebrew, kesed, that is translated here for loving kindness, he says, "We are 00:34:52.400 |
not consumed because of his covenant love for us, otherwise we would be smashed." 00:35:02.560 |
In Jeremiah 9, 24, it says, "But let him who boasts of this, that he understands and knows 00:35:08.320 |
me and I am the Lord who exercise loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I 00:35:18.360 |
It is because he chose to love us, why you and I are still here. 00:35:25.900 |
Let me tell you the distinction between a covenant love and just any other kind of love. 00:35:34.020 |
When you are dating, your relationship is fragile. 00:35:42.580 |
It is very fragile because it is not founded upon covenant love. 00:35:50.220 |
While you are dating, I love you because you love me. 00:35:58.020 |
But it is very shallow because there is nothing beyond your emotions that keeps you together. 00:36:08.500 |
When I was younger, there was a guy that we knew. 00:36:11.860 |
He started dating this girl and he wanted to break up with her because they went swimming 00:36:19.140 |
together and he did not like the way she looked when she was wet. 00:36:26.820 |
He saw a picture of her with her hair wet and she just did not look attractive. 00:36:31.540 |
When her hair was wet, she did an awesome job with the blow dryer, but when it did not 00:36:40.380 |
And even our friends were like, "You are an idiot. 00:36:45.180 |
How can you possibly break up with her because you did not like the way she looked in her 00:36:50.340 |
And he said, "He just could not get over it." 00:37:09.960 |
You should break up with her because she deserves better than you. 00:37:14.780 |
She should not be with somebody that is going to break up with her because you did not like 00:37:18.620 |
the way that her hair looked when she jumped into the pool. 00:37:27.340 |
But during that period of dating, it is that shallow. 00:37:31.940 |
I am not saying, I am sure none of you would ever do that, but it is that shallow because 00:37:41.860 |
I am just no longer attracted to her because of her wet hair." 00:37:47.980 |
The distinction between a dating relationship versus a married relationship is married relationships 00:37:58.740 |
And this covenant is not something that you and I are supposed to break. 00:38:02.540 |
And you think that two people got together who are dating, who had all these superficial 00:38:07.260 |
attractions to each other, all of a sudden they became supernaturally, it just all disappeared 00:38:12.460 |
and everybody became mature as soon as you became married? 00:38:20.940 |
Same fickleness, same selfishness, who was in the marriage relationship as they were 00:38:27.660 |
But the difference between the married relationship is there is a covenant love that binds them 00:38:32.620 |
together, which causes them to persevere through these idiotic things. 00:38:41.300 |
Our relationship with God is based upon His covenant, unilateral covenant He made with 00:38:49.020 |
He said He demonstrated His love while we were yet sinners, while we were as unattractive 00:38:54.420 |
as we could be, as our hair is as wet as it could be. 00:39:07.780 |
When you and I understand that that's who He is, why would anybody who believes that 00:39:23.580 |
It's not the bread, it's not the water, but You. 00:39:30.560 |
And then again, He ends, "Let Your work appear to Your servants, Your majesty to their children." 00:39:35.860 |
In other words, now that we're going into the Promised Land, help us to tangibly see 00:39:45.460 |
In Habakkuk 3, 2, it says, "Lord, I have heard the report about You, and I fear, O 00:39:55.980 |
Lord, show Your work to us, in Your majesty, even to their children." 00:39:59.860 |
So remember, when Moses was called to lead the nation of Israel, Moses' first response 00:40:17.140 |
All you need to do is open when I tell you to open and shut it when I tell you to shut 00:40:24.180 |
And then he goes on, and then he goes in, and Moses didn't volunteer for this, but by 00:40:29.540 |
the time he's entering into the desert, he's known better to question God. 00:40:36.900 |
And he didn't want to lead these people because they already grumbled against him. 00:40:46.300 |
I mean, he didn't want this job to begin with, but he requests, "I will do what you tell 00:40:57.180 |
Because if you show me your glory, that would be enough for me to persevere." 00:41:02.300 |
And so God says, "Yes, your request is good, and I will give it to you, but if I show you 00:41:07.420 |
So he says, "I will cover you, and then as I am passing, you will see my glory passing 00:41:15.940 |
And so Moses sees that, and his glory shining off of his face. 00:41:20.020 |
And so people recognized that he saw his glory. 00:41:24.160 |
And because of that, they established him, and they respected him, and followed him because 00:41:31.540 |
So with all the mess, all the grumbling and complaining that he had to deal with for 40 00:41:43.740 |
Do you think that maybe that's what Moses is thinking as they're entering into the promised 00:41:48.340 |
"Lord, as we're going in there, and there's all kinds of stuff that's waiting for us, 00:41:52.700 |
but if you would just show me again a glimpse of who you are, but not only to me, but to 00:42:06.980 |
And if they can see who you are, then we will be fine." 00:42:13.820 |
Our greatest treasure, and I pray with all my heart that you would believe this with 00:42:32.600 |
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you already have it. 00:42:37.720 |
Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. 00:42:44.100 |
And then so that causes celebration, it causes joy, it causes work. 00:42:50.640 |
Think about the content of our prayer, "Lord, let me have this job. 00:43:02.220 |
Think about the content of this prayer and how trivial it must sound to an eternal holy 00:43:07.460 |
God who desires so much to give us everything. 00:43:17.380 |
I pray that in 2019, that even the things that we petition may reflect the God that 00:43:29.340 |
That we would open our eyes and see his glory. 00:43:32.320 |
Then he ends with this, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and confirm for 00:43:39.900 |
His prayer for revival isn't just passively waiting for God to work. 00:43:42.940 |
He says, "Lord, reveal your glory by making it shine off of our work." 00:43:51.580 |
We're going to labor, we're going to work, we're going to worship. 00:43:54.660 |
But may your glory be revealed in your blessing upon us in what we do. 00:44:01.340 |
So in 2019, whether you eat or drink, whether it is in the church or outside the church, 00:44:06.380 |
whether it's in business or in leisure, Lord, may your glory and majesty to be revealed 00:44:16.820 |
Now with that, I'm going to transition to our India team. 00:44:23.020 |
As you know, our team is headed out to India. 00:44:26.580 |
And again, we're out in India and our medical team, we have I think about five eye doctors 00:44:32.380 |
or six eye doctors that are going out and we do a medical camp in the villages and we 00:44:39.460 |
give them eyeglasses and some of the response is very dramatic because some of these people 00:44:46.900 |
And so giving them eyeglasses is kind of like giving them sight for the first time. 00:44:52.980 |
So our nurses and PAs, a few of them are coming to help us with that. 00:44:57.520 |
And then we have a VBS team who's running games with these children. 00:45:00.500 |
And again, some of you guys who've been with us know exactly what it's like, but VBS here 00:45:06.540 |
In fact, when our kids were young, we probably went to like five or six VBSs in the summer 00:45:13.420 |
But over there, any activity with children, especially in the poor villages, it's the 00:45:20.420 |
So it's a good way for us to kind of bring the gospel into the villages. 00:45:26.820 |
And every year I get asked, how long are we going to do this? 00:45:30.760 |
Because the persecution in India is ramping up. 00:45:33.380 |
And it's like right now, and I shared this before, when we first started going in, in 00:45:37.820 |
the persecution meter, India was ranked maybe like 32 or 33. 00:45:43.620 |
It climbed up to number 11, meaning right under Syria, North Korea. 00:45:48.060 |
So it's gotten up there and it's actually moving up pretty fast. 00:45:51.820 |
And part of the reason why is because the government for the whole nation of India came 00:46:00.020 |
So even though on paper it's illegal to persecute Christians, when they do that, nothing happens. 00:46:05.700 |
They don't get arrested, they don't go to jail. 00:46:07.160 |
So they become more emboldened through the years. 00:46:11.240 |
In fact, about four months ago, they targeted an Australian missionary and his kids, which 00:46:18.900 |
I mean, it's one thing to hurt the locals, but if you hurt a missionary, it's going to 00:46:23.880 |
But that's how emboldened they're becoming over there. 00:46:26.780 |
So people ask all the time, like, you know, how long can we go to India because of safety 00:46:34.380 |
Every year we come back, we think like we're going to have to evaluate the next year, see 00:46:39.780 |
But the work in India, it is so crystal clear that the fruit that it bears when we do go, 00:46:46.180 |
that we believe that it's worth the discomfort. 00:46:49.300 |
And I'm not going to call it anything more than a discomfort, because it's just discomfort, 00:46:53.660 |
because we're only there for a short period and we're back. 00:47:00.620 |
We live in Orange County, so we're not used to people even say, "You're a Christian?" 00:47:09.140 |
So in comparison, it seems like we're doing hard work. 00:47:13.660 |
But in reality, it's the pastors there that we want to support. 00:47:16.380 |
We want to let them know that we have a church here praying for them and supporting them 00:47:21.820 |
And so I'm very thankful for all the people who are going. 00:47:27.780 |
Every single one of them have good paying jobs that they're sacrificing to get out there. 00:47:32.460 |
And it is a bit, it's very uncomfortable physically because of the travel and where we're at. 00:47:38.260 |
But if you guys can take some time to pray for them.