WEBVTT 00:00:04.105 --> 00:00:17.763 This morning at Westtown Church, entitled The Songs of Summer, and what this series is seeking to do is enable us to live in tune with God's wisdom found in the book of Psalms. 00:00:17.763 --> 00:00:30.484 Now, if you were ever part of an orchestra, or maybe a chorus or a band, oftentimes before you started somebody would strike a note and all the instruments would get in tune or they would hear voices. 00:00:30.484 --> 00:00:57.665 I understand that today people use apps to do that sort of thing, but back in the day people would use the pitch pipe and somebody would have blown on the pitch pipe and everybody would have tuned their instruments so that they would all be together and united and offering whatever kind of music they were going to offer in a beautiful way, and it enabled people to add parts and so that there would be harmony and fullness and it would be absolutely beautiful. 00:00:57.665 --> 00:01:10.118 So that's what we seek to do in this new sermon series entitled The Songs of Summer, where we seek to look at God's Word in the book of Psalms to learn of His wisdom. 00:01:10.118 --> 00:01:13.429 That would apply to everyday situations of life. 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:16.909 And you might be asking well, why a series in the Psalms? 00:01:16.909 --> 00:01:21.391 Well, there are lots of reasons and we'll look at some of those in the weeks ahead. 00:01:21.391 --> 00:01:36.650 But perhaps you might be familiar with the fact that, out of all of the books of the Old Testament, jesus quoted from the book of Psalms more than any other Old Testament book, so evidently it was very important to Jesus and it should be important to us. 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:49.268 In fact, the book of Psalms is the most quoted book in all of the New Testament quoting Old Testament books, and so the Psalms are important. 00:01:49.268 --> 00:01:53.111 In fact, the book of Psalms would have been Jesus' hymn book. 00:01:53.111 --> 00:02:03.204 It would have been also His prayer book, and so as we get to learn these Psalms, we're really learning Jesus' playlist that He listened to and that He sung. 00:02:03.204 --> 00:02:16.844 But probably the best reason why to study the Psalms is what Jesus said in Luke, chapter 24, when He was conversing with two men on the road to Emmaus after He rose from the dead and before He ascended into heaven. 00:02:16.844 --> 00:02:18.490 They were bummed out. 00:02:18.490 --> 00:02:22.811 They didn't understand the events that just happened in Jerusalem with the crucifixion of Jesus. 00:02:22.811 --> 00:02:26.774 They didn't understand, even though they heard about the resurrection. 00:02:26.774 --> 00:02:47.828 And Jesus comes upon them and He begins speaking to them, and in verse 44 of Luke 24, we read These are my words, that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 00:02:47.828 --> 00:02:52.308 So in the Psalms we learn much about Jesus. 00:02:53.300 --> 00:03:06.173 The seminary that I attended in preparation to be a pastor was part of a very small Presbyterian denomination that I think they have maybe 4,000 members nationwide. 00:03:06.173 --> 00:03:13.894 But they only, in corporate worship, only sing the Psalms and they use no musical accompaniment, and that was new to me. 00:03:13.894 --> 00:03:16.268 I came from a tradition where we sang hymns. 00:03:16.268 --> 00:03:24.855 I'd never sung a song before that I'm aware of, but in worship with a room full of men singing acapella in harmony. 00:03:24.855 --> 00:03:35.352 The Psalms of Scripture was such an enriching part of worship for me And I learned so much about Jesus Christ through the Psalms. 00:03:35.352 --> 00:03:49.926 In fact, in its history this seminary would require anybody that was graduating from the seminary to stand for an oral exam where they had to defend any doctrine of the Christian faith from the book of Psalms alone. 00:03:49.926 --> 00:04:02.949 So the Psalms provide for us rich descriptions of who God is and who Jesus Christ is, and as we learn that wisdom, the Lord will equip us for life. 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:07.150 Now there are many different types or categories of Psalms. 00:04:07.150 --> 00:04:08.806 There are actually seven of them. 00:04:08.806 --> 00:04:10.766 I'm just going to list them here for you very quickly. 00:04:10.766 --> 00:04:12.524 We'll define them in the weeks ahead. 00:04:12.524 --> 00:04:21.930 There are Psalms that are hymns of praise And then, on the very opposite end of the spectrum, there are Psalms that are lament. 00:04:21.930 --> 00:04:35.471 There are Psalms of Thanksgiving, psalms of remembrance, psalms of wisdom, there are kingship or royal Psalms, and today we're going to be taking a look at a Psalm of confidence. 00:04:35.471 --> 00:04:42.293 It is a song that asserts trust in God's goodness and power. 00:04:42.293 --> 00:04:54.112 Even though we may face great foes or opposition in life, there's some kind of threat present, but nonetheless we are able to live confidently. 00:04:54.112 --> 00:05:10.694 The Psalms show us how to apply God's law to everyday life, and today we're going to seek to answer the question How can we face trouble and distress when it arises in our lives? 00:05:10.694 --> 00:05:14.463 And that's what Psalm 20 helps us to answer. 00:05:15.334 --> 00:05:16.358 Hear now the word of the Lord. 00:05:16.358 --> 00:05:19.622 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. 00:05:19.622 --> 00:05:23.122 May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 00:05:23.122 --> 00:05:28.120 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:33.702 May he remember all your offerings in regard with favor, your burnt sacrifices. 00:05:33.702 --> 00:05:38.461 May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. 00:05:38.461 --> 00:05:44.543 May we shout for joy over your salvation and in the name of our God, set up our banners. 00:05:44.543 --> 00:05:47.903 May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. 00:05:47.903 --> 00:05:51.043 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. 00:05:51.043 --> 00:05:56.161 He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. 00:05:56.161 --> 00:06:01.961 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. 00:06:01.961 --> 00:06:05.783 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. 00:06:05.783 --> 00:06:07.761 Oh Lord, save the king. 00:06:07.761 --> 00:06:09.517 May he answer us. 00:06:10.701 --> 00:06:17.060 When we call Now this Psalm, we're not given a specific declaration of what its context is. 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:38.841 But in looking at it, particularly in verse six when it's talking about horses and chariots, people indicate that this Psalm would have been a prayer that would have been offered for the king prior to the nation entering into battle with a foreign enemy, and Psalm 21 is actually the song of victory after they win that battle. 00:06:38.841 --> 00:06:48.721 The first five verses of this Psalm is the congregation praying its blessing upon the king and that the kingdom might be extended. 00:06:48.721 --> 00:06:58.860 Verse six is the response of either the king or a priest and the rest of the Psalm concludes again with the congregation praying for the prosperity of God's kingdom. 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:09.983 But in these verses we see how God's wisdom enables us to handle life's difficulties with great confidence in the Lord. 00:07:09.983 --> 00:07:17.845 And we can face troubles confidently, first of all because God answers prayer. 00:07:17.845 --> 00:07:29.463 In fact, in scripture, god is described as the God who hears and answers prayer, and four times within this Psalm we have reference to God answering prayer. 00:07:29.463 --> 00:07:35.038 Part of verse one may the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. 00:07:35.038 --> 00:07:39.819 Part of verse five may the Lord fulfill all your petitions. 00:07:39.819 --> 00:07:44.665 Verse six he will answer his anointed from his holy heaven. 00:07:44.665 --> 00:07:49.305 Verse nine may he answer us when we call. 00:07:49.305 --> 00:08:01.103 And so one of the things that bullies us and encourages us when we're facing times of difficulty and distress is the assurance that God hears and answers prayer. 00:08:02.242 --> 00:08:08.088 But I think most of us have probably been in situations or circumstances where we've been in trouble. 00:08:08.088 --> 00:08:25.235 We've called out to the Lord and it seems like God is taking his good old time answering us in the difficulty that we face, or that God is answering it in some way that we don't particularly care for And in fact, from our perspective, it may even make the answer. 00:08:25.235 --> 00:08:29.235 The answer may even make the situation worse. 00:08:29.235 --> 00:08:36.514 So what happens when God's answers don't match our timetable or our desired outcomes? 00:08:36.514 --> 00:08:41.514 How do we remain confident in those type of situations? 00:08:41.514 --> 00:08:59.514 Well, it's important for us to remind ourselves during those seasons that we are finite people, that we don't know everything, that we are only given a portion of the picture, but God knows the whole broad picture from beginning to end. 00:08:59.514 --> 00:09:05.434 And our time is not God's time, nor is our wisdom God's wisdom. 00:09:05.434 --> 00:09:09.195 I mean think about how bound we are by time. 00:09:09.195 --> 00:09:15.475 Our perspective of time varies greatly dependent upon our circumstances. 00:09:15.475 --> 00:09:26.975 For instance, how long you think two minutes is varies greatly dependent upon what side of the bathroom door you're standing Right. 00:09:28.202 --> 00:09:29.934 So and God's timetable of things? 00:09:29.934 --> 00:09:34.211 scripture says a thousand years is like a day, an hour to the Lord. 00:09:34.211 --> 00:09:41.995 And I understand that when we're in the midst of struggle and difficulty, every minute can seem like an eternity. 00:09:41.995 --> 00:09:47.927 But we have to remember that God answers according to his timetable. 00:09:47.927 --> 00:09:58.149 And what about the way in which God answers us us when it doesn't match up with what we want? 00:09:58.149 --> 00:10:00.567 What do we do in those situations? 00:10:01.580 --> 00:10:18.264 There have been many times, as a pastor, i've been called upon to visit people in the hospital or in some other place where there's some kind of great difficulty and they are really in the throes of some kind of calamity And I don't know what to say to them in those kind of situations. 00:10:18.264 --> 00:10:25.687 I don't know why God is allowing that particular circumstances to so dominate their life. 00:10:25.687 --> 00:10:40.368 But what I can tell them are two undisputed truths from scripture that God is too good to do anything bad and God is too wise to do anything wrong. 00:10:40.368 --> 00:10:47.308 And I confess I don't know how people's circumstances sometimes fit in with those two truths. 00:10:47.308 --> 00:11:03.447 But those are the truths that we can bank upon and we can confidently face our difficulties and our distress, knowing that our Lord answers prayer and his way and his time. 00:11:03.447 --> 00:11:08.405 Now you might think, well, that's great, but how does that really help? 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:24.945 Think of the example of Jesus in the garden When his hour had finally come and he fell down on the ground before his father and he pled with him that, if it would be possible, the cup of God's wrath upon the cross would be removed from him. 00:11:24.945 --> 00:11:37.471 He expressed his desire, but then he confidently submitted himself to God's time and God's wisdom and he said not my will but yours be done. 00:11:37.471 --> 00:11:46.769 And our Lord Jesus is able to sympathize with us in all of our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, like we are yet without sin. 00:11:46.769 --> 00:11:56.769 And this is the God to whom we pray and understands the struggles we might have with the time and the way in which God may answer prayer. 00:11:56.769 --> 00:12:06.649 But the fact that we know our God is good, the fact that we know our God is wise, sustains us in times of distress when we pray to him. 00:12:06.649 --> 00:12:13.908 Also, we can face troubles confidently because God is always present with us. 00:12:14.940 --> 00:12:16.826 This was highlighted in the first two verses. 00:12:16.826 --> 00:12:19.807 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. 00:12:19.807 --> 00:12:23.249 May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 00:12:23.249 --> 00:12:29.207 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. 00:12:29.207 --> 00:12:47.625 In this passage it's referring to Zion, which oftentimes in the scriptures refers to God's presence among his people, either now in the earthly sanctuary or in that great and final day when we gather God's presence. 00:12:47.625 --> 00:12:59.522 But the emphasis on the sanctuary, the emphasis on Zion, is a picture of God being present with his people And, in fact, the reference to the God of Jacob protecting you. 00:12:59.522 --> 00:13:15.586 What scripture often equates with God's presence among us is both his protection and his provision, and this is a reference to Jacob when God is confirming his covenant with Jacob in Genesis, chapter 35. 00:13:15.586 --> 00:13:18.008 You remember Jacob was a bit of a scoundrel. 00:13:18.008 --> 00:13:25.985 He tried to deceive and manipulate, to try to get his way and to protect himself, and he got to the point in life where he learned that that didn't work. 00:13:25.985 --> 00:13:45.472 And so what he ultimately confesses in Genesis, chapter 35, verse three, is let us arise and go up to Bethel so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress, and he has been with me wherever I have gone. 00:13:47.902 --> 00:13:52.932 We had the privilege our family had the privilege of knowing a woman by the name of Catherine. 00:13:52.932 --> 00:13:58.211 She was one of the most godly people we ever had the privilege of knowing. 00:13:58.211 --> 00:14:06.383 She was a delightful, glad woman who just oozed the love of Jesus and any interactions that she had. 00:14:06.383 --> 00:14:10.070 She enjoyed reading, especially reading the Bible. 00:14:10.070 --> 00:14:14.129 She had a flower garden that she loved to tinker around in. 00:14:14.129 --> 00:14:24.312 She enjoyed playing games with her grandkids and had different days of the week that different grandkids would come and play their favorite games, and she was a widow. 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:30.907 She had lost her husband a number of years before we met her, and then she was stricken with blindness. 00:14:30.907 --> 00:14:52.986 She lost her vision, but she did not lose her joy, and when you would talk to her and you were to ask her if she was disappointed in the Lord or she had become bitter or she was missing the things that she was no longer able to do, she would reply with I have no reason to complain, the Lord is always with me. 00:14:52.986 --> 00:15:02.828 And she lived years by herself until one of her grandchildren moved in, full of the confidence that God was with her even in the midst of her affliction. 00:15:02.828 --> 00:15:07.356 She was a great example of the promise of Psalm 139. 00:15:07.356 --> 00:15:10.568 It says if I ascend to the highest heaven, you are there. 00:15:10.568 --> 00:15:13.227 If I descend into the lowest depths, you are there. 00:15:13.227 --> 00:15:18.591 Behold, if I go to the far side of the sea, even there you are with me. 00:15:18.591 --> 00:15:27.643 And we can face distress and trouble with the certainty that we are always in the presence of Almighty God. 00:15:27.643 --> 00:15:35.432 But the Psalm also tells us that we can face troubles confidently because God gives us peace. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:44.284 In verses four through nine we find repeated references to the Lord delivering or bringing about salvation. 00:15:44.284 --> 00:15:51.527 Verse five, for instance shout for joy over your salvation And in the name of our God, set up our banners. 00:15:51.527 --> 00:15:56.466 Verse six with the saving might of his right hand. 00:15:56.466 --> 00:15:59.373 Verse seven we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. 00:15:59.373 --> 00:16:01.044 And verse nine save the king. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:23.931 In the Old Testament, oftentimes victory in battle or deliverance from an enemy is described as salvation in a very broad sense because it is referencing deliverance and rescue from the hand of an enemy that somebody could not deliver themselves from in their own strength. 00:16:23.931 --> 00:16:36.523 And those deliverances in the Old Testament foreshadow for us Jesus Christ delivering us and rescuing us from sin and Satan, that we may have peace with God. 00:16:36.523 --> 00:16:46.346 We are enslaved to an enemy far greater, far powerful than we are in terms of sin and its consequences upon us. 00:16:46.346 --> 00:17:05.186 We cannot deliver ourselves or pay the debt that our sin has brought, but the Lord, in His mercy, has sent Christ, who threw His death on the cross, paid the penalty for our sin, to release us from our debt before God and enable us by His righteousness to no longer be enslaved by it. 00:17:05.186 --> 00:17:31.384 He has rescued us from sin and death and the grave, and if that is what Scripture describes as our greatest need, then we have an argument from the greater to the lesser, that if God is taking care of the greatest need that we have ever faced, then surely His mercy and His love will sustain us in whatever other trials that we face. 00:17:31.384 --> 00:17:39.722 Paul says it like this in the book of Romans that he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. 00:17:39.722 --> 00:17:45.673 How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all thanks? 00:17:45.673 --> 00:17:56.406 If God gave his son to redeem you from his sins, surely the Lord will redeem you and rescue you from the lesser enemies that you face? 00:17:56.406 --> 00:18:11.467 The Psalm also shows us that we can face troubles confidently because God gives us His people, he gives us the church, he gives us the body of Christ to sustain us. 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:21.131 Mentioned how verses one through five and then verses seven through nine of the Psalm are an expression of the corporate people of God. 00:18:21.131 --> 00:18:23.946 It's using the first person plural, we, we. 00:18:23.946 --> 00:18:24.890 Time and again. 00:18:24.890 --> 00:18:28.867 Verse six is either a response of the king or perhaps a priest. 00:18:28.867 --> 00:18:35.412 Many of the Psalms that are written emphasize our personal relationship with God. 00:18:35.412 --> 00:18:46.228 For instance, the previous Psalm ends with the words may the meditation of my lips and the word may the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. 00:18:46.228 --> 00:18:52.580 That many of those Psalms reflect our personal relationship with the Lord. 00:18:52.580 --> 00:19:07.643 That many of the Psalms also express the corporate nature of the family of God and how God brings us together so that we might support and love and encourage one another in times of difficulty. 00:19:07.643 --> 00:19:16.196 And verse five we read how may we shout for joy over your salvation and, in the name of our God, set up your banners. 00:19:16.196 --> 00:19:19.259 And what are those banners referring to? 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:26.443 Well, banners were used by the Israelites and others like the Assyrians as standards of warfare. 00:19:26.443 --> 00:19:36.859 It was the standard or the sign underneath which people would enter into battle, and that's certainly part of what's being referred to here. 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:48.560 But also, if you go back to the book of Numbers, in chapter two, you will see how the tribes of Israel raised up banners to identify themselves as a community of people. 00:19:48.560 --> 00:19:52.459 It was a reference to the family of God and our people. 00:19:53.650 --> 00:20:02.505 And I know that we live in a time and we live in a culture where we don't want others to know our struggles or our difficulties. 00:20:02.505 --> 00:20:07.701 We think that we can do it ourselves, or at least we don't want to let others know that we're struggling. 00:20:07.701 --> 00:20:16.518 But that's just an argument of the enemy to keep us from one of the very means that the Lord uses to strengthen us in times of difficulty. 00:20:16.518 --> 00:20:30.015 Think of those one another passages in the New Testament that talk about how we're supposed to love and encourage and pray for and stimulate one another to love and good works, and when we are a part of a community of faith. 00:20:30.015 --> 00:20:36.994 Where that is happening, it greatly increases our confidence in God's work and our lives. 00:20:36.994 --> 00:20:47.163 And we also see from the Psalm that we can face troubles confidently because God enables us to prevail. 00:20:47.163 --> 00:20:49.395 In other words, god gives us victory. 00:20:49.490 --> 00:20:54.509 As I mentioned before, many think that Psalm 21 is the other side of the battle. 00:20:54.509 --> 00:20:56.156 This is the prayer going into battle. 00:20:56.156 --> 00:20:58.898 Psalm 21 is the celebration of victory. 00:20:58.898 --> 00:21:02.098 The people of God won the battle that they faced. 00:21:02.098 --> 00:21:11.221 But we see in verses six through nine in this passage many references to trusting in the Lord, who will deliver us. 00:21:11.221 --> 00:21:16.258 Probably verse seven is the most widely known. 00:21:16.258 --> 00:21:21.958 That says some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God. 00:21:21.958 --> 00:21:27.900 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. 00:21:30.289 --> 00:21:44.859 There are many different places in the Psalms that talk about people who are enduring hardship or difficulty and be crying out to God in the midst of that distress and how God meets them so that people do not have to fear their enemy because God is with them. 00:21:44.859 --> 00:21:52.116 Psalm 118 says it like this, in verses five through seven Out of my distress I called on the Lord. 00:21:52.116 --> 00:21:54.977 The Lord answered me and set me free. 00:21:54.977 --> 00:21:57.517 The Lord is on my side. 00:21:57.517 --> 00:21:58.775 I will not fear. 00:21:58.775 --> 00:22:00.434 What can man do to me? 00:22:00.434 --> 00:22:03.696 The Lord is on my side as my helper. 00:22:03.696 --> 00:22:08.038 I shall look and triumph on those who hate me. 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:18.663 Many years ago I had the privilege to hear Pastor Joseph Tsong speak to my seminary class. 00:22:18.663 --> 00:22:48.217 He at the time was probably one of the most well-known pastors in Communist Romania And he came to speak to us as pastors in training about how we are going to face opposition and persecution and how we should handle that, and he used many of the life examples that he had of being beaten and imprisoned and ultimately exiled by the Romanian government. 00:22:48.217 --> 00:23:09.393 By the fact that he was standing up for his faith in Christ, taun recalended how many years prior, during the summer, that Romania was under communist rule and the Baptist preacher was preparing to die. 00:23:09.393 --> 00:23:54.766 He was getting all of his affairs in order and through the encouragement of his wife Elizabeth, he was able to stand up against the authorities who were seeking to silence him And he was called to a nondescript restaurant in a hotel where he was supposed to meet with an official from the Communist Party, one of the secret service type police, and this man was convinced that he was going to do what all of his predecessors were unable to do, and that was to silence Joseph Song by offering him a job, secular employment, that if he took the job and then he agreed no longer to preach, that they would not imprison him, exile him or kill him. 00:23:54.766 --> 00:24:05.169 And so he went to meet this officer and the officer sold him his pitch and tried to get Song to agree to stop preaching the gospel. 00:24:05.169 --> 00:24:14.646 And he knew that turning down the job at least held out hard labor for him in a prison camp, if not exile or execution. 00:24:14.646 --> 00:24:21.769 And he met the man and unflinchingly Song turned down the job offer once again. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.249 And Song said to the man I am determined to die. 00:24:26.249 --> 00:24:29.607 I have set my affairs in order. 00:24:29.607 --> 00:24:41.269 You said that you came here to finish me as a preacher, but I prayed to God and I asked him if I should be finished as a preacher And he told me that I should continue to preach. 00:24:41.269 --> 00:24:51.924 He said so I am in a position of making either you angry or God angry, and I think it's better to make you angry than to make God angry. 00:24:51.924 --> 00:24:54.728 And I will continue to preach the gospel. 00:24:54.728 --> 00:24:57.124 But he went on to say. 00:24:57.124 --> 00:25:06.124 The officer then said to Song that he threatened to kill him, he was gonna shoot him. 00:25:06.124 --> 00:25:14.569 And Song replied by smiling and saying to the officer he said if you kill me, you send me to glory. 00:25:14.569 --> 00:25:17.689 Do you think you can threaten me with glory? 00:25:17.689 --> 00:25:20.946 He said I am not afraid of your bullets. 00:25:20.946 --> 00:25:33.785 So the officer looked at him and said when I threatened to shoot you or kill you, you should be afraid. 00:25:33.785 --> 00:25:35.663 You're not normal. 00:25:35.663 --> 00:25:41.066 And Song replied you're right, i'm not normal, i am supernatural. 00:25:41.066 --> 00:25:42.987 I have not been made for this world. 00:25:42.987 --> 00:25:49.549 I have a place in glory waiting for me And I am ready to go when it is my time. 00:25:49.549 --> 00:26:08.002 The officer saw how determined Song was and he released him And he went on to preach the gospel for four years unhindered in Romania, until the time the Romanian government exiled him, and so that's when I got to meet him in Pittsburgh many years later. 00:26:08.002 --> 00:26:21.392 But a couple of years after that, communism fell in Eastern Europe and Song returned to his homeland and carried on a fruitful ministry for many, many years. 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.848 You see, we prevail. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.067 We are on the winning side. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:34.103 There is nothing that is ever going to separate us from the love of God. 00:26:34.103 --> 00:26:37.625 In Christ Jesus, our Lord, we are more than conquerors. 00:26:37.625 --> 00:26:49.125 Through him, scripture tells us And we can face trouble, we can face hardship, we can face distress confidently because God answers prayer. 00:26:49.125 --> 00:26:55.064 And Jesus said ask anything in my name and it will be given to you. 00:26:55.064 --> 00:27:01.347 We can face trouble with confidence because we know that the Lord is present with us. 00:27:01.347 --> 00:27:07.170 And Jesus said to us lo, i am with you always, even to the very ends of the age. 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:12.366 We can face trouble with confidence knowing that God gives us his peace. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:17.286 And Jesus said my peace, i leave you, my peace I give to you. 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:19.667 I do not give to you as the world gives. 00:27:19.667 --> 00:27:23.871 Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 00:27:23.871 --> 00:27:38.269 We can face troubles with great confidence, knowing that the Lord has given us a people and Jesus gave us a new commandment that we would love one another and thereby the world would know that we are as disciples. 00:27:38.269 --> 00:27:46.807 By our love for each other, we're able to face trouble confidently because of the Lord enables us to prevail. 00:27:46.807 --> 00:27:56.451 Jesus told us that in this world you will have much trouble, but take heart, i have overcome the world. 00:27:56.451 --> 00:28:01.509 You see, we are delivered from trouble. 00:28:01.509 --> 00:28:20.990 We are delivered from distress because Jesus entered our trouble for us And he has reconciled us to the Father and he has enabled us, by his grace, to experience the forgiving love of the Father, that we might live by the power of the Spirit each day. 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:35.608 May you be encouraged to look to Christ and whatever your trouble or your distress is knowing that he will meet you if you cry out to him and call upon him. 00:28:35.608 --> 00:28:37.181 Let us pray.