Sunday February 7, 2021 AM

All right.

Good morning. Glad to be in a warm place to this morning. Thankful for that few announcements as we get started.

Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church. If you're here this morning worshiping with us and if you're watching from home, glad that you're able to do that as well looking ahead.

Come back this evening for our evening service that's at 530 and then also on Tuesday, it's been mentioned the past couple weeks, there's an abolish abortion rally at the

Oklahoma State Capitol. That's at 930 in the morning. Be sure and bundle up for that and then

I think that'll go until about 11 o 'clock that morning. Wednesday 545 here at the church.

We'll share in a meal together and then at 630 we'll break. Kids will go to tag and then adults will have

Bible study and prayer meeting then. Our final verse for this week comes from the

Psalms. Psalm 56 verses 3 and 4. When I'm afraid,

I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust.

I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? So a good verse to memorize.

There is still a need. I mentioned it last week in the nursery for a full -time nursery worker for the infant room during Sunday school.

If you are interested in filling that position, talk to Marla Hovarter. She'll be able to kind of get you up to speed with what you need to do there and then there are also some needs for maybe a few more volunteer slots to be filled there and then as you come in out in the foyer, there is a little table with some

Operation Christmas Child things. It's only February but we're trying to get a head start on Christmas so they're collecting in the month of February hats and gloves and scarves and things.

And then lastly we have a couple of birthdays in here today. Patrick Hill and Ben Durham.

So happy birthday to you guys. 10 and 14 I think. Any other announcements before we get started this morning?

It's good to be together to worship. We're gonna have a time just a prayer reflection and just worship before we come and then after we're done with that Michael will pray for us.

Heavenly Father we come before you today and we acknowledge that you are good in all that you are and in all that you do.

That you are powerful and perfect and that you need nothing and you need no one.

But out of your grace and for your glory you have called us to yourself to worship you, to know you, to pray to you, to depend upon you, to serve you.

So we give you the praise today. Father we confess that we are here today because we are in need of you.

We are in need of your life. We are in need of your truth.

We thank you for giving to us abundantly above and beyond all that we could ask or think.

For knowing our needs before we even ask and supplying. We come today in the name of Christ and we ask that you would help us to worship you in spirit and in truth.

Lord we come to you as hungry people desiring bread.

As thirsty people desiring drink. And we ask that you would give to us your son

Jesus Christ to satisfy and to quench. That you would fill us with your Holy Spirit so that as we look at your word that you have breathed out your perfect truth.

Where holy men born along by the Holy Spirit have given us your perfect and true word. That your

Holy Spirit within us would bring us into alignment with your will.

So that your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We give you glory and we give you praise.

We thank you for this day in the name of Christ we pray these things amen.

Would you stand with me for our call to worship. Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 58.

We'll be reading verses 10 and 11. Read with me together. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance.

He will bathe his God saying surely there's a reward for the righteous.

Surely there is a God who judges on earth. Our first song this morning is on page six of our hymnals.

Sing praise to God who reigns above. And I hope that is the intention of your heart this morning is to sing praise to God who reigns above.

Sing together. The God of power, the

God of salvation. With healing balm my soul he heals.

And every faithless lover steals. To God all praise and glory.

What God's almighty is gracious, mercy he keepeth.

In shame he is sleeping.

To him I will give his might, love, all his just and all his right.

To God all praise and glory. He's never far away, never distressing.

Ever present, help and stay. Power, peace and joy and blessing.

Held with a mother's tender hand.

He leads his own, his chosen band. To God all praise and glory.

Thus all my toilsome way along,

I sing aloud his praises. That men may hear the grateful song with voice and weary praises.

May they be joyful in the Lord my glory.

Our scripture reading this morning is from Deuteronomy chapter 32, reading verses 19 through 33.

An expression of God's disappointment with his people as he leads them through the wilderness on the way to the land that he has promised them.

The Lord saw it and spurned them because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

And he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be.

For they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

They have made me jealous with what is no God. They have provoked me to anger with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those who are no people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

For a fire is kindled by my anger and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

And I will heap disasters upon them. I will spend my arrows on them.

They shall be wasted with hunger and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence.

I will send the teeth of beasts against them with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.

Outdoors the sword shall bereave and indoors terror for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

I would have said I will cut them to pieces. I will wipe them from human memory.

Had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand.

Lest they should say our hand is triumphant. It was not the

Lord who did all this. For they are a nation void of counsel and there is no understanding in them.

If they were wise they would understand this. They would discern their latter end.

How could one have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their rock had sold them and the

Lord had given them up? For their rock is not as our rock.

Our enemies are by themselves. For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah.

Their grapes are grapes of poison. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.

Let's pray.

Father I thank you for your word that you have recorded it for us, preserved it for us, made it readily available to us in our own language.

And I thank you for these words as you've expressed your disappointment in your people.

And sometimes we are a disappointment. And I pray

Father that by your spirit you bring us to conviction.

And bring to our mind the advocate that you have provided for us. The one who stands at your right hand, who intercedes for us.

Always. I thank you and I praise you for your

Son the Lord Jesus, our Savior. And I pray

Father that we may walk day by day in a manner worthy of the gospel, fully pleasing to you.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen. You may be seated.

Our next song is I Will Wait For You. A song sheet was available in the back of the auditorium.

If you're able to pick that up. And then after we sing I Will Wait For You, we'll go right into page 10 of Worship the

King. I Will Wait For You.

Incline your ear to me anew. And hear my cry for mercy's lord.

Worthy to count my sinful ways. How could

I come before your throne? Yet your forgiveness makes my days.

I stand in need, my grace thine.

I will wait for you, I will wait for you.

On your word I will resign. I will wait for you, surely wait for you.

Till my soul is satisfied. So put your hope in God alone.

Take courage in his power to save. Completely and forever one.

Like Christ emerging from the grave. I will wait for you,

I will wait for you. On your word I will resign.

I will wait for you, surely wait for you. Till my soul is satisfied.

Has come to make way for himself.

Has paid the price. That all who trust in him today.

By keeping in his sacrifice. I will wait for you,

I will wait for you. On your word I will resign.

I will wait for you, surely wait for you. Till my soul is satisfied.

I will wait for you, I will wait for you.

Through the storm and through the night.

I will wait for you, surely wait for you.

Till my soul is satisfied. My soul waits for his in his word.

Such man is for his soul.

Because of love.

And gratefully seeking his honor.

For shield and defender. The ancient old days.

A million gifts were good.

And a living prayer. Sees all tender.

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Father we thank you for bringing us together today.

I pray that you would help us to hear your word. Clearly. And with faith.

That we would take hold of the things you have to say. As you speak to us concerning your son.

Lord I ask for grace and mercy today. That as we look at Jesus Christ in this word.

That you will accomplish your will in our hearts. That we would begin to look like him in this world.

That your will would be done. In our hearts and in our families. In this church.

In our neighborhoods in our city. In the state and in the world. That we would bring glory to you.

The way that we live and submit ourselves. To the authority of Jesus Christ. Our King of kings and our

Lord of lords. Who is even now at your right hand and reigning. Until you have put all enemies under his feet.

So help us to do homage to the son today. And to find refuge in him. And we ask these things for his sake.

Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 116.

Psalm 116. We begin looking at this

Psalm. Last time we were together. It is part of the great Hillel. Psalms 113 through 118.

A collection of Psalms that were brought together. In order to sing praise to God.

Especially concerning Passover. When we read that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn.

On the night of the Passover. This is the hymn they sang. This is the hymn that the Jews would sing.

In connection with that great deliverance. That God accomplished. Called Passover.

And these Psalms teach us how to praise the Lord. They teach us how God desires to be praised.

We should never be at a loss of things to praise the Lord. For we can come here to the great Hillel. And find reason after reason after reason.

To give praise to God. And here in Psalm 116.

We are exhorted to call upon the name of the Lord. Whom we praise.

To call upon the name of the Lord. Whom we praise. An interesting fact about Psalm 116.

Is that many phrases and word pictures. That are originally found in the

Psalms of David. Are gathered and sewn together here. By the worshipers trying to rebuild

Jerusalem and the temple. The worshipers who have come back from Babylon. Have come back from Persia.

And they are living now in Jerusalem. And rebuilding the temple. And they are living in hope.

Of what God promised them. Through the prophet Jeremiah. That he would come and establish a new covenant.

There on that holy mountain. In that holy place. The new covenant would be forged.

And so they have returned to Jerusalem. And they worship the Lord. In anticipation of the coming of the

Messiah. But it's not easy. It's very difficult. They have a lot of trouble from day to day.

And it seems that sometimes things go from bad to worse. That what needs to happen.

Just never does. And what nobody wants to happen. Keeps on happening. And so they find in the language of David.

In his struggles. In his desperate times. They find language that they relate to.

They take up his words. They take up his prayers. As if King David himself taught them how to pray.

They take up his songs. As if King David had discipled them on how to sing to the

Lord. And they take up his language and his words. And they bring it to bear in their time.

And they worship and they praise God. And turn their eyes to the

Lord. That's what's going on here in Psalm 116. I invite you if you are able to stand with me.

As I read the word of the Lord. This Psalm. 116.

I love the Lord. Because he has heard my voice. And my supplications.

Because he has inclined his ear to me. Therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.

The pains of death surrounded me. And the pains of Sheol laid hold of me.

I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord.

Oh Lord I implore you. Deliver my soul. Gracious is the

Lord and righteous. Yes our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple.

I was brought low and he saved me. Return to your rest oh my soul. For the

Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death.

My eyes from tears and my feet from falling. I will walk before the

Lord in the land of the living. I believed therefore I spoke. I am greatly afflicted.

I said in my haste. All men are liars. What shall

I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation.

And call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord. Now in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Oh Lord truly

I am your servant. I am your servant the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the

Lord. Now in the presence of all his people. In the courts of the Lord's house. In the midst of you oh

Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. This is the word of the

Lord. You may be seated. I would have you consider the fan.

Which you know is the abbreviation for fanatic. I would have you consider the fan.

And how he relates to his favorite actor. How she relates to her favorite author.

How the fan relates to his favorite athlete. And so on.

Some defaming report surfaces. Apparently this artist or this activist.

This person who is so dearly beloved by the fan. Has made some kind of blasphemous statement.

Which profanes the religion of the day. And it appears they may be soon cancelled.

How does the fan respond? Perhaps this person this individual.

So dearly beloved by the fan. Has committed a horrendous deed.

The effects of which ricochets like a bullet. Into the chamber of the internet. How will the fan remain a fan?

In the face of this defaming report. There are two strategies. One is denial and the other is deflection.

Also common in the court of law. The denial comes oh that's fake news.

That didn't happen. I'm still a fan because I declare that report untrue.

I can remain a fan. Second way is deflection. Well I think they set him up.

You know it's a conspiracy. They set him up obviously that's what happened. Or if you understood their circumstances.

And in the context what that person said or did. It really isn't as bad as you think. So in order to remain a fan.

You have to deny what occurred. Or what was said. Or you have to deflect away from it.

And control the spin. Fandom is thus preserved by wish fulfillment modifications.

Which is why none of us here should ever be a fan of God. None of us here should ever be a fan of God.

When you're a fan of God. It means that you are centered on what he has done for me lately. Oh I'm definitely a fan of God.

He's got this, this and this. That he has done for me. So I'm a fan of him. But then what happens?

What happens if something comes to light? He said that? Oh that doesn't fly today.

He did that? Maybe they were wrong. Maybe that's not exactly really what happened.

But more poignantly in our own lives. Something will happen. That is indeed truly horrendous.

Full of pain. Causing great suffering to ourselves and those we know and love.

And if we're a fan of God. We'll catch ourselves saying things like. Well that wasn't

God. That was something else. You know he's as upset about this whole situation as I am.

Probably a little more so. You know we're both wringing our hands over the whole problem.

When you are a fan of God. You will begin to modify your understanding of God.

To accord with your wish fulfillment thinking. The alternative is the one that the

Bible commends to us. And that is not to be a God fan. But a God fearer.

To fear God. Not to be a fan of God. And with the scope of fearing

God. Yes there is love. And yes there is thankfulness. And yes there is praise and joy.

But there is also this understanding. That we're not trying to control the spin. If he said it.

That's what he said. Praise the Lord. If that's what he did. That's what he did.

And praise the Lord. And when things come into our life. We are not going to feel the need to try to control the spin.

And protect the image of God. But we will confess his sovereignty.

And respond with hallelujah praise. The Lord. This is the key word of our series.

Here in the Psalms. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And that is not a word for God fans.

But it is a word for the God fearer. See this term hallelujah is not light.

It is not airy. It is not a throw away kind of word. This word is depth for the deeps.

It's depth for the deeps. I do not want you to be left in.

Or hobbled in limping doubt. Being a God fan. A lot of fans of God.

Ready to modify him according to the situation. If you are a fan of God.

You will be left in doubt. Asking is God truly praise worthy in all things?

Is that really so? Has God really said?

Is God truly praise worthy in all things? And if that is loose. So also cut loose is the idea of his trustworthiness.

Is God truly trustworthy at all times? But the God fearer has them both.

In solid form. God is truly praise worthy in all things.

And so he is truly trustworthy at all times. And that God fearing approach.

Fearing God bolsters us in a circumstance defying joy.

A circumstance defying joy. So that whether we face butterflies or bullets.

We will call upon the name of the Lord whom we praise. Knowing that the

Lord who is praise worthy in all things is trustworthy at all times. And in Psalm 116 this is shown to us whether in the fight or at the feast.

The fight is in verses 1 through 11. And you see what the psalmist is struggling with. The feast, the orderly, the good times.

Verses 12 through 19. But on both sides whether in the fight or at the feast. At all times the one who fears the

Lord calls upon the name of the Lord. And gives him praise. We are talking about what goes on in the fight.

The fight for faith. The fight against unbelief. And that God hears us in our troubles.

Verses 1 through 4. God hears us in our trouble. And we see how praise worthy he is in his hearing.

Verses 1 and 2. And today we're going to talk about how he is trustworthy in our hurting. God is trustworthy in our hurting.

Verses 3 and 4. Remember I said that the dangers and the afflictions and the troubles of King David.

Are recast here in the current crises of the believers living in Jerusalem after the exile.

What are they hoping for? They're hoping for the son of David. They're desiring the son of David to take his rightful throne and lay low the rebel powers.

So they are using the language of David as they worship God. Psalm 18 verses 4 through 6 will sound very much like Psalm 116 verses 1 through 4.

Let me read those for you. Psalm 18 verses 4 through 6. These are the words of David.

The pangs of death surrounded me. And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God.

He heard my voice from his temple. And my cry came before him even to his ears.

Same phrases, same images of David brought here together in Psalm 116 verses 1 through 4.

So as we think about the hurting of the believer. As we consider our hurting in the fight.

We should also keep in mind that these are images and phrases pinned by David originally.

And I think we'll find in him a good illustration. So what seems to be the trouble in verse 3? Well it seems rather obvious.

We see words like death and Sheol or death and the grave. We read words trouble and sorrow.

The pangs of death. The pangs of Sheol. Trouble and sorrow. But the pangs of death are not something that hits the believer in a glancing blow.

But notice they surround the believer. They surround the worshiper. This is an intensity.

There is no escape from the pangs of death. The pangs of Sheol are not a passing kind of grief.

But look they lay hold. And they don't let go. And notice the trouble and sorrow.

Wouldn't you if you were surrounded by the pangs of death. And the pangs of Sheol laying hold of you.

Would you not wish to find refuge? And when you go to find refuge. And you find only trouble and sorrow.

What then? So what seems to be the trouble?

The psalmist, the believer is hunted and he is fooled. He is hunted and he is fooled.

The words surrounded and laid hold of. These are terms for hunting. When a group of hunters band together.

Track down their prey. Surround the prey. So there's no escape. Then they take their prize.

This is the experience of David. The king, before he was the king. Being chased by jealous

Saul and his armies. David and his band of men. Running like, as he says, goats on the hillside.

Just trying to get away from the enemy. He knew what it was like to be hunted. He suffered the afflictions of both death and the grave.

The suffering, the physical sufferings. And the sufferings of the soul. Have you ever talked to somebody who went through a near -death experience?

Have you ever watched an interview with someone who had just recently survived a horrible car accident?

A plane crash? A tornado? In the interview, they will describe what they experienced by their senses.

The terrifying sounds and sights. What kind of physical impact they suffered.

The trauma they went through. And then any good interviewer will then ask them, What were you thinking about when this was going on?

And almost every time, the person being interviewed begins to cry. As they talk about their loved ones.

Thinking about how their family, the husband or the wife or the children.

How they would feel once they were gone. They were so certain they were going to die.

That they thought about their loved ones and how they would be weeping and mourning their passing. These, you see, are the pains of death.

The physical sufferings and the pains of Sheol, the grave. The external and the internal torment.

The hurting of this believer. Things that David experienced more than once.

And notice, that hunted by death and the grave, the believer, the

God -fearer, seeks refuge. But then, what does he find? But trouble and sorrow instead.

How many times did this happen with David? He's running from Saul. And so he says, I'm going to go find refuge in Gath.

Oh wait. They want to kill me here. He's running from Saul.

And he goes to a city, Goliath. And he helps to rescue them from their enemies. But oh wait.

They're going to turn him over to Saul. He runs away from the difficult situations.

Hides among other Philistines. And tries to forge safety for him and his family and his men and their families at Ziklag.

But oh wait. They all get taken by a raiding party. How many times do we see

David surrounded by death and trying to flee to some kind of refuge.

But then only finding more trouble and sorrow. A God -fearing prospector seeking a vein of refuge and peace.

But only finding a vein of trouble and sorrow. And it is there that the fight for faith is critical.

Surrounded by the pains of death. Laid hold of by the pangs of Sheol. Finding only trouble and sorrow.

One trouble after another sorrow. After another burden.

So what should be the response? Is the Lord truly praiseworthy?

In all things? Is he really trustworthy? At all times?

Look at verse 4. Then I called upon the name of the

Lord. Oh Lord I implore you. Deliver my soul.

Do you see the response? Yes it is prayer. How central is prayer to the life of the believer.

To the God -fearer. Look how he prays. He responds in time and in faith and in earnest.

He says, then I called upon the name of the

Lord. In the critical moment he calls upon the name of the

Lord. When suffering threatens to make a treacherous alliance with doubt.

In that critical moment. All of our trust should be placed in the

God of all praise. We don't have to drink our sorrows away.

We don't have to smoke our sorrows away. We don't have to enshrine our sorrows.

For repeated and bitter and public display. We need to make no apologies.

For crying out in the moment of our pain. Like the children we are to the father he is.

No apologies. No apologies for crying out in the moment of our pain.

Like the children we are to the father he is. Psalmist says, then

I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord I implore you deliver my soul. God is not glorified in his people being the strong and silent type.

God is not glorified in his people being the cold and brooding type. But he is glorified and his name is praised.

By our white hot live wire active faith. He is our father.

He is sovereign. He is powerful. He is good. He is merciful. He has stretched his ear to us.

So of course I will pray. To respond in faith. This is the expression of faith.

I called upon the name of the Lord. Verse 2 says, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.

We talked about that call. That it is worship filled. It is love filled. It is hope filled. It is faith filled.

It's a calling upon the Lord saying, you are glorious. You are sovereign. You are exalted.

I am lowly. I am in need. I am calling upon you. I am calling to you. It is hallelujah rendered as a supplication.

It is an adoring imploring. But notice that this calling upon the name of the

Lord, while this is more emphatic. This is more specific. This is more robust.

And essential. What is the name of the

Lord? What is the name of the Lord? The name of the Lord is

God's specially revealed character. Indeed, it is the expression of his glory.

To call upon the name of the Lord is to make your appeal to God on the basis of the specially revealed character of God.

The name of God consists of his revealed attributes by both his word and his deed.

And so with his name, you must understand his name is a manifestation of his glory. In fact, it is inextricable from his glory.

Thus the third commandment, do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. In fact, more rendered closely, do not bear the name of the

Lord your God in vain. Do not carry about the name of God as if it's a light and trivial thing.

Yes, this of course includes profanity, using God's name as a swear word. But it's even more than that.

It's saying, I bear the name of God. God is the most important in all of the universe.

But I'm going to live like he doesn't matter. That is bearing the name of God in vain.

Breaking the third commandment. God is concerned about that. And why?

Well, doesn't it make sense that you would like to have a good name? A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.

Your name stands for your character, your history, indeed your relationships and how you conduct them.

You don't want your name to be slandered. You would like to have a good name with all those who know you.

That's because you're made in the image of God. How do we understand God's name? His name stands in for all of his glory.

The idea of glory in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word kabod, which means weight. The Bible tells us that Abraham was a weighty man.

It wasn't because he ate too much. It was because he had a lot of weight to him. He had a lot of possessions.

He had a lot of power. God blessed him in every way, we read. So God made him weighty.

God made him glorious. So how do we understand the glory of God? If you were able, and we're not.

But if you were able to identify all of the perfect aspects of God's character.

To name them one by one. His mercy, his love, his holiness, and so on. And you were to assign weight to each one of those attributes.

And then you were to take all of that weight and multiply it by the scope of God's limitless attributes.

That he is eternal, that he is self -existent, he is unchanging. That he has all knowledge, and he is all good, he is everywhere present in all power.

If you were to multiply all of the character of God by all of the attributes of God in terms of weight.

Now we're leaning towards understanding what his glory means. It is no light thing to call upon the name of the

Lord. To look with faith to where God has especially revealed his praiseworthiness.

So that we will make our refuge in his trustworthiness. And find him to be that solid rock, immovable by anything.

And where else will we look? To behold the name of the Lord. Where else will we look to call upon the name of the

Lord? Except to Jesus Christ. Who is the brightness of his glory.

And the express image of God's person. There we see the name of God.

There we see the glory of God. Jesus said to Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the

Father. He didn't mean if you've seen the shape of my nose and the style of my beard, then you've seen the

Father. He meant if you have encountered me and seen me in my power, in my goodness.

You know who God is now. You know who God is through Christ. How do we know?

How do we know that God is praiseworthy in all things.

And so he is trustworthy at all times. We know that when we look to the name of God.

When we look to Jesus Christ. And call upon him who is the most praiseworthy and most trustworthy.

So our response must be in time. And in faith.

And in earnest. In earnest. You see this exclamation, this interjection.

The passionate entreaty in verse 4. Oh Lord, I implore you.

Deliver my soul. I remember when

I was a pastoral intern. And a group of young men in the church decided it would be a good idea.

If we spent time before every Sunday. Before Sunday school. That we would gather together in one of the rooms in the church offices.

And pray. We're going to come together. We're going to pray for the church. Pray for the services and so on.

And during one of those times. It was a difficult season in the church.

Two of our families had had infants die.

Within the first six months of life. Within the first few weeks of life. One of them. And we had had two funerals at the church.

With little white coffins. And now another infant was on the brink.

Pains of death. Pangs of Sheol. And I remember we were praying.

And as I was listening to the prayers. I was convicted about my own habit of not praying what was in my soul.

It really was not in earnest. And I've thought about that since.

I don't have to pray like an expert on God. I'm a child.

I'm a child. I don't have to pray as if I'm taking a test.

I'm a child. Calling out to my Heavenly Father. And it was in that moment that we began to pray differently.

We began to pray the urgent entreaties of our heart. And began to beg

God for mercy. Mercy upon this family. Even mercy upon the other families who had already lost children.

For this would wash over them again with more grief. We began to beg God to intervene.

And to heal. And to turn away what was seemingly impossible to avoid.

And God did answer. And God did spare the life of that little one.

But what if he hadn't? Were we wrong to pray that way? No. No, we're children.

We're not the experts. We don't know what the best is for us.

And we don't have the perfect eternal perspective. We're children.

So we pray. And we can pray in earnest. I don't think it is honoring to God that our anxious thoughts rail within us like reality

TV. And our prayers sound like golf commentators. I'm not implying that the reverse is an improvement.

I'm only saying that when God hears our voice. When God hears your voice. When you hide away to pray.

Even. He can handle your interjections. He can handle your exclamations. He can handle the urgency of your entreaties.

And the potency of your emotions. Which, again, this is not some new sacred form you must employ.

And if you don't have it, then you're not holy. Saying pray according to the need.

Isn't that what Jesus taught us? Pray according to the need. What is it that we need?

What is it that we are calling out to God for? And we can do so in earnest. I bring this to pass.

We see the turn for the psalmist in verse 5. Where the praise of God begins to just flow from him.

And that tells me something significant about verse 4. That we are not to leave an ounce.

We are not to leave an ounce of worry or anxiety clinging to our souls. That we may emerge from our prayer closets having earnestly and wholly implored

God. We can leave it with him. And he says, deliver my soul.

Deliver my nephash. Deliver my breath. Deliver my life. I'm entirely dependent upon the salvation of God.

The deliverance of God. If you trust him with your very breath. If you trust him with your very soul. Then bring it all to him.

Do you remember that Jesus sweat drops of blood in his prayers to the father?

In earnest entreaty. We are told that Jesus, in Isaiah's language, he bore our griefs.

He bore our sorrows. He bore our sicknesses.

He bore our transgressions. He bore our pains. He bore our curse.

He bore our death. He has borne it all. So we may bring it all.

To the praise worthy savior. And find him all together. Trustworthy.

Let's pray. Lord we thank you for revealing yourself to us in this way.

We see the frailty of the worshiper. And his desperate need.

And we recognize ourselves right there. But you show yourself to be praise worthy in all things.

And so we know that you are trustworthy at all times. And it is difficult. It is difficult to feel that.

But father help us to know it. It is difficult for us to see it.

But oh father help us to walk it. Help us to live by faith.

And to find in you our rest and our peace. Coming to you and knowing. That you hear us in our hurting.

And you as our heavenly father will only give us what you know to be good.

We pray these things for the sake of Christ. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction.

We're going to sing page 404 of the solid rock. And I was just thinking as brother

Michael was preaching. I couldn't help but think of the song in Psalms chapter 18. It says

I will call upon the Lord. Who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies.

I will call upon the Lord. Let's sing about the Lord Jesus Christ the solid rock.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest rain. But wholly lean on Jesus name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. When distress fills

His ugly face. I rest on His unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale. My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. His oath is covenant.

His blood's upon me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way.

He there is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock

I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound. Oh may

I then in Him be found. Dressed in His righteousness alone.

Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock

I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. Love of the

Father and the grace of the Son. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Be with us all.