Psalm 46 Confidence in the God Who is Strong, Near and In Control

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Welcome to Recast, and it's good to see you guys here on Father's Day.

And if this is Father's Day, you know, and so I think I have a different dad joke for this service to open up.

Yeah, I know. So I was shopping, and I was looking for a new pair of shoes. I saw a pair. They were really comfortable.

They looked amazing. They were easy. They were convenient. They were Velcro. Then I got to thinking,

I was like, what a rip -off. I actually got that one from the

Babylon Bee, but not promoting anything necessarily. I'm just, it was funny. Yeah, so I don't know where you go from there, but I do know.

Hey, if you have a father, and you can make connection with him, like, do that.

It's a good day to honor them. You know, send them a text, communicate, and that would be a good way to honor your father.

And as the fifth commandment says, honor your father and mother. So, and that you'll be blessed.

Okay, so going into the sermon here, like, I appreciate before Don went on sabbatical, he talked about Sabbath rest, and was preaching on that.

And I'm like in the middle of spring, and for me as a teacher, like, there's a lot of things that are happening, and I coach track and field, and like, it is game on, like long days, but short weeks.

Like, time does seem to fly, but, so it's nice, you know, a week and a half from that, no school, no responsibilities, in that way, just to kind of turn it off.

Because, once again, I mean, it's a profession I chose, I love it. It is something that is always, like, in the mind.

When you're in school, you're always either lesson planning, you're grading, you're always thinking about it, so it's nice to shut it off and actually come to rest.

So I hope that's true for you sometime. For many of us, it's in the summer that you're able to kind of step back and take maybe an extended time of break.

And so I do pray that Don is going to be refreshed, and I look forward to how God's going to work in him, as he's able to kind of turn off a lot of the daily responsibilities and the weight that, you know, comes with his role, and then come refreshed and ready with, you know, the vision for what we would do in the future.

I know on the board, we appreciate his leadership, and so, you know, pray that he would enjoy that.

But as we come to the text today, I, like a lot of people that have come up here to talk and preach, they, like,

I don't know which one to do, because they're all so good. In fact, it's easier to pick a book, and then

I'm going to start going verse by verse through, or chapter by chapter, and then you know what you're going to preach on next. That's, it's a lot easier.

I kept coming back to Psalm 46. I mean, Psalm 50 is great, the psalm to Asaph, and, like, cattle on a thousand hills are his, and it's like, that's pretty cool.

But, you know, I mean, and then Psalm 51, like, how important is that one?

Like, you know, created me a clean heart, oh God. I mean, so there's so many good psalms in the segment that we were reading this week, and I'd encourage you to pick that up, like Ben just did a moment ago.

But this is a psalm, it's written, and by, and it's written to this choir master, and it's a song of the sons of Korah.

He's from the Levitical line, he's one of the clans of Levi, and he worked in David's court as a musician, and they sang it, so you can look at 1

Chronicles to hear or read about that history. But it is a song, and it's an alimoth, right?

So it's probably intended for someone that is of a soprano, like a high voice, a maiden's voice, okay?

So this has been a particular psalm of comfort for a lot of people, for many people, and as we read it, you can have confidence in God who is a real

God, but a God who is strong, a God who is near, and a God who is sovereign, or a

God who is in control, okay? So this is a, these are some components of who

God is, and as you read through the psalms, there are a lot, right? He is inexhaustible, you could read a psalm and learn something new, and it'll be a different character, a quality, like it's inexhaustible.

God is not contained, okay? So we're going to be looking at a few of his qualities today in this psalm, but this is a particularly favorite psalm of the famous reformer, the one that kicked it off, so to speak,

Martin Luther, and, you know, in 1515, he hung the 95

Theses on the door and started the Protestant Reformation, and he lived in a very politically fractured

Germany, and now then, after he did that bold act, a very religiously fractured

Germany, under political persecution, depending where you were. So when I say fractured, think of a lot of different kingdoms in this area in Germany, and they're in control of their own areas.

And so, yeah, he did have some political allies like Philip Melanchthon, but also he was not very well received, because this is radical news in the

Reformation, and he wrote the famous Reformation sym, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, kind of on this psalm in particular.

So as we read this hymn from the collection of psalms, just remember it is the word of the

Lord. I mean, this is God's word to us, and then pay attention to where your safe place actually is.

Where can you go to comfort? And I want you to think about a couple of questions. One, when you're anxious, where does that anxiety stem from?

What does it come from? Or when you receive terrible news, or have received terrible news, where did you go to, or what is your go -to?

And these are some questions I think that can help as we look at this. So if you have your

Bible, turn to Psalm 46, or in your device, scroll there, click on Psalm 46, and here is the word of the

Lord. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah. Come, behold the works of the

Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. Father, you are our fortress, you are our strength, you are our refuge, and in you we gain confidence.

We have a faith that is not rooted in the unreal.

We don't have a faith that is not objectless. You are the source of our faith, and so I pray that as we come to you today in worship, in song, in a moment here,

I pray that you would be, your name would be lifted high, and that you would be glorified, that through our praise and our voices singing to you in unison, that you would smile.

Thank you again for being our God, being the one that we can run to and take refuge in.

I just pray that, yeah, you would just bless our time together. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Thank you, Dan. And Dave, thanks to the band for leading us in worship. It's, like I said, first service is wonderful to lift our voice in unison to the

Lord and to sing praise to him. I pray that he is, you know, always glorified when we do that as he is today.

So halftime is over, and if you need, but if you need more coffee and donuts, please help yourself while supplies last.

And then through the barn doors, down the hall to your left if you need to use the restroom.

So, yeah, welcome back. It's good to see you guys. Before we go into the text, you know, like go through the three stanzas, three refrains,

I'd like to remind us, or maybe it's new information, but of what a biblical worldview is.

Everyone has a worldview. I think you know this, regardless of whether you agree or not, you do have a worldview.

And there's four categories generally that kind of fall into every worldview.

So I do teach history, and so that's kind of something that impacts me as I do read it. But a biblical worldview in the four categories, there was a beginning, there's a perfect state, there's this, well, that's creation, right?

In Genesis 1, God created the universe and the world and all that is in it,

Genesis 1 and 2. And so, and he is separate from his creation, okay?

And so I like to think of a painter, a huge canvas. God has a huge canvas.

When you think about what he created in the universe, how many billions of stars and whatnot, but he's outside of it and yet he's creating it and still doing it.

So he did that perfectly. And then in Genesis 3, we read about Adam and Eve sinning, and there was the fall, and we separated ourselves from God, right?

We said we want to do our own way. And so in Adam and Eve, and we all have this sin that separates us from God.

And because of sin, bad things, evil things happen. Sickness, eventually death, right?

That was the result of it. And so that's the world in which we live in.

And then when I, or you, we study history or we look at the world around us, like, wow, we're kind of seeing the effects of sin.

It can be specific. It can be, like, maybe a sin you specifically committed could have a consequence, but we're all going to die, and that's true for everyone, okay?

So there's that, a bummer of a news, and every worldview will have that, right? There's some problem, the fall and sin.

Then there's a redemption. And in the biblical worldview, from Genesis 4, and if I were to take that, and this is about here, to about Revelation, I'll go to like 20.

I'll go to the middle of Revelation. This is about the redemption, right?

So all of this, so don't, that's about redemption. So most of the Bible, most of scripture is about redemption, and there's a ton in that redemptive history that can be encouraging, can be faith -building, as David was talking about, like, reading numbers and the sacrifice system and how that was there.

I mean, that's all part of it. It culminates in Jesus as the God -man coming to earth, and you can read about that in the

Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, his life on earth, and then seeing in the Acts as well.

I mean, the pinnacle then is, like, his death and then resurrection. Like, those are, that's the peak.

And when he was crucified on the cross, he paid for your sin, and he paid for my sin, all of them.

It's all paid. You can't come to Jesus and say, yeah, let's just go Dutch, right?

You can't say, I'll pay for just my own, right? We tend to want to do that. Listen, I am part

Dutch, so it's okay for me to pick on myself, I think. But it is that redemptive plan worked out through Christ's resurrection, death and resurrection, that we have faith in.

And he said, hey, look, I got to go. I'm going to build a house for you, right? In John 14, it says, but I'm going to send the

Holy Spirit to you, and he's going to indwell you, and he's going to be with you. And so we have the Holy Spirit.

Those who believe in Christ, those who call on his name, we have the Holy Spirit to empower us, to teach us, to convict, to comfort us.

We have that rich blessing from Christ.

And so that is amazing, right? That is the gospel, that we can have that, okay?

And so the last piece is then, there's the redemption. So a worldview will say, hey, you got to do this to fix the problem.

And then there will be some restoration, some culmination. And we look forward to the day when

Jesus will return, establish his kingdom on earth, and then create a new heaven and a new earth, where we will work and build culture and like, live.

Like, that's what we look forward to. No sin, no effect of the sin that is there.

No death, no crying, no weeping, no, you know, like, all of that. We look forward to that. And so that's our hope.

And so as we look at this Psalm, with these biblical worldview behind us, it's truly amazing to understand that our

God is awesome. In that, in our brokenness and our, we want to do it, he came to us and said,

I love you. I want you to join, to come to me. I want you to have the gift of salvation.

And so his word teaches us, his Holy Spirit reveals and sanctifies us. God sets us apart for himself.

This is, this is good news. You know, it's been proclaimed from this pulpit a number of times. I pray that it continues to do so.

It's not necessarily going to, it's just not necessarily going to, though. Ask, I think, about Harvard University and its roots and its founding in the gospel compared to today.

So I'm just saying it is proclaimed from this pulpit. I pray, I pray that you would also pray that we would continue to be faithful in leadership to the gospel and to his word going out.

So as we dive into Psalm 46, there are three refrains. And so I broke it up into three points.

That was pretty, pretty handy. So the first is we can have confidence in God's strength, verses one through three.

We can have confidence in God's nearness to us, verses four through seven.

And then we can have confidence in God's sovereignty, God being in control. All right, so part one, verses one, two, and three.

Selah. Scholars don't know exactly the historical context or the roots behind, like, why this

Psalm was written or what it was written about. There are two historical events that kind of rise to the top, though.

The first is in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, where Judah is under attack by the

Moabites, the Ammonites, and the people of Mount Seir. Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah at this time, 871 to 849

BC approximately. And so these armies are arrayed against Judah.

This is a scary time. This is not a good picture. And so Jehoshaphat prays, and the

Lord answers his prayer in verse 17 and says, you will not need to fight this battle.

Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf,

O Judah and Jerusalem. And then in verses 20 through 24, the events unfold.

So he prays, and God answers him, and then this is what happens. And then they begin to sing and praise.

The Lord delivers Judah. There were dead bodies lying on the ground.

None had escaped. What a deliverance. Okay, God just took their enemies, and they just fought each other till the death.

What a deliverance. I mean, these are all orchestrated. But now, there might be some who say, well, that could happen.

I could see where God didn't orchestrate that. That's fine. That's fine. Look at the second historical event that kind of rises to the top here.

This is in the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and it's going to be in 2

Kings 18 and 19. But he is going to come, and Assyria is modern -day

Syria and Iraq, kind of like in that region. Okay, so he's coming down to Judah and going to take, going to bring to bear a big army.

This is approximately 714 to 681. This is when King Hezekiah is king of Judah.

Now, Hezekiah is probably one of the most godly kings. He did what was right in the eyes of the

Lord. That's what Scripture says. And he did these things. He tore down the high places and the

Assyria and broke to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. So Judah was worshiping other gods in the high places in Assyria and then the serpent.

Okay, now the serpent was supposed to be looked at. Like, if you go back to history, you see, find that.

You will be saved by looking at that serpent. Like, that's in Exodus and Numbers. And so he gets rid of all of that because it had become an idol.

He didn't stand on tradition, but he stood with God. So the representative of the

Assyrian king, Sennacherib, is the king. He comes to Hezekiah. He sends his messenger, and the messenger's name is title, excuse me, is the

Rabshakeh. And said, so in chapter 18, in 2 Kings, it says, And this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Do not listen to Hezekiah. Now, the taunt goes on in Hezekiah, but you get the point.

He's an ambassador with some big words. Like, my king is bigger than your king and your

God. Hezekiah prays, then Isaiah will prophesy.

So these are in chapter 19, and this is what the Lord did in verse 32 of chapter 19.

The Lord did this, And he shall not come into the city, declares the

Lord. And that night, the angel of the

Lord went out and struck down 185 ,000 in the camp of the

Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.

We have a God that is in charge of everything, is strong enough to do anything, literally.

He killed 185 ,000 men by just dispatching an angel of the, you know, the angel of the Lord. He did that in a night.

Okay, so if God is our refuge, if you look at the text, and this is the historical context,

I get that. That makes sense. Some of these two stories, I think, are plausible. Like, these, not stories, these two pieces of history make a lot of sense.

Because if he did this, he is our strength and refuge and very present help, the logic flows.

We do not need to fear. Okay, have you not seen

God work in your own life for those that are Christians? Those that believe in Christ? And even if you haven't, or you can't think of anything right now, we can, like, well, here's a couple of examples.

And there's a ton more in Scripture to gain faith from. Because we're all coming to that point where our faith will be real.

As Dave said, like, we will meet Jesus. We'll either die and meet him, or he will come back and take us.

Okay, I hope the second, like most people do. But more people, the first happens.

So, that is our God. The past that he's done, I pray that he will continue, and he will continue to do that and work out his salvation until he restores the kingdom.

So, we therefore have nothing to fear, okay? He's able to deliver us. He's also able to help us.

So even if he doesn't deliver us from the situation, like he did to the, you know, in the little bit of history, he is able to bring us through it.

And you can see that in this. I mean, think about, I mean, just, I want you to take great confidence in the fact, even what

Jesus said to Peter. Like, when he establishes Peter as the rock on which he's going to build the church, he said, the gates of hell will not prevail against you.

You will be able to prevail. You will prevail. You will win.

Death does not have victory. Death will not have victory. So even though it may look bleak, right, like a mountain, like, it's powerful sliding into the sea.

Like, I mean, we say mountains, like, those are strongholds. You know, and Rob had a great slide yesterday, you know, last week about, like, that mountain stronghold.

Like, that's awesome. Like, you're right. If I want to defend something, I want to be on a mountain. That represents strength and power, even though they fall into the sea.

Or the earth gives way. I can't think of too many things scarier than an earthquake and, like,

I'm falling. Like, ah, you know, like, that's kind of scary. Except maybe

Star Wars. But anyways, so we have those things to keep us reminding of just the fact that God is in control and he is beyond all natural disasters and things.

So there are many today, like, the world that we live in is what we know that kind of worship the earth.

And maybe I'm not right on this. Maybe I'm way off. But I don't think so because the source of a lot of, we talk about God saying, hey,

I'm your refuge. Don't be afraid. The world in which we live is full of a lot of fear.

So in contrast to that, climate change, ironically and kind of weirdly, is a top fear, a top piece of anxiety for many of the youths.

And I don't, I don't think, I'm not going to put just them. I think there are many people that kind of get whipped up into that emotional concern and fear.

I mean, in 2020, a very vocal, emotionally, like, charged activist, climate change activist said, like, we've got 10 years and the earth will be unlivable unless we do something today.

You know, like, so this prediction, I'm waiting. We'll see what happens in 2030. Okay, and see if that activist was right.

A lot of emotion, not, I mean, like, these predictions and timelines, it'd be just, like, if I said, like,

I would be, like, the Lord's going to come back Tuesday, like, okay, well, if that comes and goes, like, because no one knows the day, like, you would think

I'm a fool. Okay, well, I'm not going to make a prediction like that. I'm not going to make any predictions.

God is in control, right? God is strong enough to, to make anything happen in the earth that we live in.

And I understand, like, pollution's real. I understand all that, right? So I'm, I'm not, like, because, like,

I think about in history, like, the Cuyahoga River that feeds, goes into, into Lake Erie through Chicago, that caught on fire in the late 19th century, just so you, like, a lot of pollutants were in there.

So it happens. I get it, right? We do have an impact. But we have the strong one, right? A word, he can do,

God can do whatever he wants with creation. He did it in Genesis. Like, why do we think he couldn't or still do it now?

Like, why are we about things like that? So take confidence by remembering that God is our, is our strength.

God is the strong one. Selah. Part two, confidence in, in the

God who is near, or in God's nearness. Verses four through seven. It says, So you can see the contrast here.

The raging waters in the first refrain, now to a still and calm stream that is in the city of God, that feeds the people, like, gives life, makes the city glad, right?

And water is the lifeblood of, and the strength of any ancient city, or really any city, to be honest. But when you live in a desert, it is more important.

You know, here we just sink a well and we got water, you know. So where we live is pretty awesome in that regard.

But if you cut off the water supply or poison it, it spells disaster for those cities in this time.

And so this is the city of God where the Most High dwelt. Probably Mount Zion, right?

The city of Zion. This is, might be one of the Zion, this is one of those Zion songs. Pay attention to as you read through the

Psalms. You'll maybe pick up on that. But this is God's dwelling place, and that's what is so awesome.

So, well, if you're a child of God, think about it. Or another way to say that, if you've been saved by grace through the blood of Christ, you are his dwelling place.

The Holy Spirit dwells within you. You are his temple. And Don preached about this in 1

Corinthians verses 16 and 17 in chapter 3. It's been a while, so,

I mean, that was at near the beginning. But he said, it says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy and you are his temple.

We see here that God is in the midst of her, the city. God is in the midst of us, from what Paul wrote.

And so, and we are the temple. We shall not be moved. We can have strength in that.

God being in us and near to us. And just like at every night it's dark.

And when you're going through a dark time, it's tough. When the dawn breaks, you have a new day.

I also, you think about the nations raging right now and the kingdoms that are, that fall and are tottering.

You're like, at a word, the earth melts. Like at a word that melts.

Isn't that super relevant to what we're seeing today? Nations rising up against nation and warring factions.

And if you read a lot of history or any history, you'll know that that's always been the case.

Wars have come between nations. Nations come and go. Rome was a great empire for a period of time, 400, 500 years, and it's gone.

I mean, so it's like we, in fact, you and I, you and I are more permanent than the

United States. We will live forever. Nations come and go.

So amidst all of the nations raging, God utters his voice, the earth melts. That's power.

And it ends with the refrain that inspired the title of Martin Luther's hymn, Mighty Fortress is

Our God, says, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. So think about that.

The Lord of hosts is with us. Something that to unpack that as I was studying, like this is really about, this is the

Lord of armies. Think about the Lord of armies. And what does God have at his disposal?

All the angels. I mean, literally, I mean, he, he says it and it happens.

He uses angels. He uses, even uses people to affect his plan. If you think about what the

Lord did to Sennacherib's army so many centuries ago, 185 ,000 dead in a night, you know, that's the

God that is in you and me. That's the God that's near to us. What do we have to fear?

What do you have to fear? You know, I confess that it's difficult to remember where the battle lies because the battle is not against this person or that person or this organization or, or this or that organization.

Because Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, he says, Our battle is not with any person.

Any person is not our enemy. So it's kind of like when, when we're commanded to, like, love our enemies, you don't really have any fleshly enemy here because God's dealing with it.

God will take care of that. And so I confess that's a difficult thing for me to remember, especially, you know, in the, as we swim in this materialist culture that is contrary to that type of thinking, that there is a spirit realm and that's where the battle is.

That's where we need to fight. And so when we fight, we fight on our knees with our hands lifted high.

Well, we sang that, but that's so true that we pray. That, that is where the battle is.

And yeah, I mean, I'll confess again, like, ah, I'm slower to prayer than I wish

I were. So that's me. That's on me. I'm, I'm sure not for you, but, but pray.

That's where the battle is. So God will draw near to you. And through praying and meditating on his word and fellowshipping with others, you know, you can enjoy his presence as well.

You can enjoy his presence that way. And that's, that's really the, the true blessing of the work of the walk with Christ is you can enjoy his presence.

So that God will be near you. So take confidence in the God who is near you.

Selah. Part three.

Confidence in God's sovereignty. Verses 8 through 11. Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.

He makes war cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

In the final refrain, we see kind of that contrast between what was happening earlier, the nations raging.

And God says, and it's very chaotic and there's wars. And God says, behold, come behold.

And this is not a victory, excuse me, this is not an end to war of negotiation, but rather through victory because he breaks the bow.

He shatters the spear. He burns the chairs with fire. He'll snap in half the

F -22s. He will stop in their tracks and throw them into the depths of the sea of aircraft carriers. It does not matter what invention that we have to kill each other, that we've used to make war on one another.

God will stop that and make peace. Wars will cease. And so while we're fighting and quarreling on earth, you can see that he says, be still.

You know, kind of like when you're on a long trip and your mom and dad were driving on this trip and you're in the back seat and your siblings are arguing and it reaches a point where they pull that car over, there's stillness in the back seat there.

Okay? And that's what he's talking about. He's like, all this, the wars stop, be still.

And then he says, I'm the one that will be glorified. I'm going to be exalted among the nations.

I'm going to be exalted in all the earth. He has done this to exalt himself, to bring himself glory.

And it's so unnerving. And I think a warning sign when you hear people, leaders of nations, when they talk about how their nation is so great and how it will last for a thousand years, or even, you know,

I've heard a statement that even the United States will last forever. And I'm like, I recoiled at that.

Like how many nations have come and gone? Don't you understand? They don't last forever.

Remember the big words of Sennacherib earlier? Remember? Well, I didn't talk about it, but Caesar had some big words.

Adolf Hitler had some big words. Like, you can talk big all you want. How arrogant are they?

How arrogant are they? Because nations are fleeting. We can come up with a lot of examples, but God will be exalted among the nations.

God will be exalted in the earth. That's undeniable.

And that's impossible for the enemy to stop. But the accuser will try.

And this section does end again with the refrain, or the chorus, if you will. The Lord of hosts is with us, the

Lord of armies. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. So I'm going to end with just this part before application.

I just wanted to share the song, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God by Martin Luther.

So there are four verses. They're pretty enjoyable. I mean, they're pretty amazing.

Like, you can clearly see he was inspired by Psalm 46. It says,

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate.

On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own striving or strength confide our striving would be losing?

We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. You ask who this, who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is he. Lord, sabbath his name from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.

And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure for lo, his doom is sure.

One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth.

The spirit and the gifts are ours through him who shall, who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill,

God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. So for your consideration, some applications.

First of all, I do want to state, like, I have no idea how God, through the

Holy Spirit, would work through you individually, right? If there's 100 people in here, there could be 100 different applications, you know what

I mean? From like, oh yeah, that reminds me, I probably shouldn't watch this news program, your 25 -hour news all the time.

Or I should stop the scroll of death on whatever, you know, scrolling through the social,

I don't know, I mean maybe, right? But I think

I can take confidence in these three applications. First, believe in Jesus as your

Savior, right? If you don't know him, come to him. And I pray that if the Holy Spirit's working on your heart, that you would choose to believe in him, that you would receive salvation through his name.

If you have any questions, please ask me. If you'd like to talk and pray, ask me. Ask Dave, ask

Dan, or actually, there's so many people here that could answer you and help you and lead you to Christ.

But if you are saved, walk with God through reading the

Psalms, okay? And I know there can be pressure when you have a list, right?

You get the list, like, week one, and then you were busy and you missed, oh, I missed this three weeks.

Pick it up tomorrow. Pick it up today. Like Ben said, the

Psalms are great. You can just go into them and see what God has for you.

And even though in 46, there's a lot of richness about who God is here, and we hopefully have confidence and gain encouragement and faith through this

Psalm, these aren't all the qualities of God. These aren't all of his characteristics. They're inexhaustible.

And the Psalms will pick different parts, and like, so they're wonderful to take in. And they do help, they've helped me grow in faith in learning about God.

Just even this summer, like, I just think about that. So I've, I have enjoyed it. So, so, read the

Word. Read, read the Psalms. Pick it up. And even if you're not saved, it'll be good.

It would be very good. Maybe that's where God's moving you to. And then the third thing is to pray.

Prayer is the lifeblood of believers in, you know, as we pray together in fellowship or even individually, he hears you, which is amazing.

That's awesome. And it's part of the journey now, right? If you're a believer, build that relationship with God.

Talk to him, right? Hear from him through his Word and talk to him and pray.

These are, like, the journey has started. You will now be with, you're with him forever. Now, someday we'll see him literally with our own physical eyes and physical form.

And that's when faith becomes seeing, as Dave talked about, and like, that's, that's awesome, right?

So as we come to communion today, let's celebrate all that Jesus has done for us.

He's taken the punishment of our sins. He's provided the hope of salvation through his resurrection that sealed it.

So we hope to rise again, too, because of that. And because we can enjoy, and due to that, we can enjoy a relationship with God.

So as we wait for his return and wait to the end of the full effects of sin, these are some things to remember as we go to the tables in the corners and in the back, taking the bread, which signifies his body, and then the cup, which signifies his blood, and take it to your seats and take and eat and drink of it when you're ready.

If you have a beef with somebody here, go fix it. And then, like, run, skipping, and jump because you've mended a relationship to the table and take it, you know?

So let's go to communion today and remember what Christ did for us.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for being our

God. Being our refuge, being near to us, coming to us.

How awesome it is that you are sovereign and you know what's best. So we put our trust in you, not a blind faith, but a faith in the

God who is real. And as we read about today, I just pray that you would be even greater in our lives and we would shrink away.

Lord, I thank you for your salvation. What Jesus did on the cross and what he offers to all of us, to all who believe on his name, is amazing.

And I just pray that as we remember your sacrifice, that we would be encouraged to continue to walk close with you.

And as we do this today, I pray that you would be glorified. Thank you for this time that we can sit around your word and sing in fellowship.