SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the City Life Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope it encourages you.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org.
SPEAKER_00: And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And I've just been a big fan of City Life for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm so I'm so excited to see what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember when we were in the elementary school and during COVID, some tough times, and it's exciting to be where we are today, right?
SPEAKER_01: And to see what the Lord is doing.
SPEAKER_01: So praise God.
SPEAKER_01: And I love it that I come in and I see a lot of new faces and nobody knows who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Because that means new people are coming here, right?
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, right?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get excited about that.
SPEAKER_01: So today I'm I'm also have a real privilege to be able to bring the word, and we're going to spend some time in uh the book of Psalms, Psalm 124.
SPEAKER_01: And I I uh it's just been a really cool time in my life where the Lord has been speaking to me in a lot of different ways, but especially in the book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the unique things about my role is uh I'm my home church is Mesa Church.
SPEAKER_01: I live in Mission Valley.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, Isaiah and I are his family, we're pretty close to one another.
SPEAKER_01: So my church is it was like 11 minutes for me to get here, so not not far at all.
SPEAKER_01: Um my home church is in Sara Mesa, it's called Mesa Church, just about a mile north of the uh of the Snapdragon Stadium.
SPEAKER_01: But I uh I go and visit a lot of different churches, so being in the Psalms is actually kind of a benefit if I go preach different places, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't have to have a lot of context.
SPEAKER_01: But um I uh we're gonna be spending some time in this psalm, and um I want to give a little context, and I felt really compelled just by the by the worship, just to have a moment of prayer as we get started.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to uh help to understand a little bit about this type of psalm.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the psalms, there are 150 chapters in the book of the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them, some of them are really short, some of them are really long, like Psalm 119, 175 verses.
SPEAKER_01: So you could just preach through Psalm 119 for a year, right?
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of great content there uh in that particular chapter.
SPEAKER_01: We're it's actually broken into five different books.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many different things, and it's almost like if you could think of a master album by one of your favorite artists, or a compilation album of one of your favorite artists, and there's all these different types of songs and all these different types of uh artists that were performing, and they're for different seasons and for different occasions, and some of them are speaking to just visceral anger or frustration or brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are speaking to loss, confusion, some of them are praising God and celebrating, and and yet at every moment and every season, there's this divine thread that reminds us who God is and what he's done, and he's there with us, and we can trust him, and we can go to him in all of our mess and all of our chaos and all of all of our wins and all of our losses, whatever that may be.
SPEAKER_01: So, this particular Psalm 124, it's a it's a song, or depending on your translation, it may say a psalm or a song of ascent.
SPEAKER_01: So, what that means in this context is very important.
SPEAKER_01: It's helpful because this is as God's people were getting ready to head up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So Jerusalem is in an elevated location, so they're ascending to get to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: They're getting ready for a religious festival or for worship service in some capacity.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be going up this hill, and this is like a playlist they're gonna listen to to get ready.
SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, they didn't have a playlist back in there, but just be stay with me trying to contextualize a little bit here, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where these are these are psalms that would they would either have been like spoken word, they may have maybe were song, they were sung together, everybody.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like getting our mind right.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if for the athletes out there, maybe you've got your your pregame playlist you like to listen to, right?
SPEAKER_01: To get your mind right, or your your gym playlist, right?
SPEAKER_01: We all got these different kinds of playlists that we whatever the mood is going on, right?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've got your uh playlist for your for that special someone songs to remind you of them.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is a playlist to get their hearts ready to hear from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's it's really a unique um series of psalms, and they're they're they're short.
SPEAKER_01: So this psalm is only eight verses, so they're quick hitting.
SPEAKER_01: And but it's so much more than just information transfer.
SPEAKER_01: All right, it's not just knowing things.
SPEAKER_01: And and it honestly, this is something God has taught me about the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: Is I, you know, as a as a guy who preaches, whatever here's a free thing, whatever our gift is, we tend to think that's the most important one.
SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it works.
SPEAKER_01: So for me as uh as a as a church, I'm like, well, if I preached about it, everybody's got it.
SPEAKER_01: You know, but but that's just not true, right?
SPEAKER_01: Preaching is an important part of uh, but we need all of the gifts, all of God gifts to help to have life transformation.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it is not just information transfer that we need, sometimes it's an experience, an encounter with God.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we need to meditate, we need to think about what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe maybe we don't need to hear, we need to ask the Lord's gonna ask us a question, we need to think about something.
SPEAKER_01: The Psalms elicit all those things.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we got to stop and remember.
SPEAKER_01: Or today, specifically what we're gonna look at, sometimes it's the things that we need to say to other people.
SPEAKER_01: The things that we when when we say things, it reminds us about who God is and what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to do is I'm gonna read this psalm, and what I would encourage you to do, I'm gonna kind of just uh pray us through this psalm.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you can just uh just bear with me here, just close your eyes and just think of this psalm almost like a prayer, right?
SPEAKER_01: Just close your eyes and you don't have to say anything, but just kind of meditate on this psalm, and I'm gonna guide us on a couple of prayer prompts and let's just get ready to hear from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 124.
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, like I said, you guys just bow your heads and just listen along.
SPEAKER_01: A song of a sense of David.
SPEAKER_01: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us, when the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us, then over us would have gone the raging waters.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
SPEAKER_01: We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers.
SPEAKER_01: The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
SPEAKER_01: Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, church, what I'd like you to do is just take a moment and just to praise God and thank him just quietly of things that he has done where you can see that God has worked in your life in a mighty and powerful way.
SPEAKER_01: Just take a moment and just quietly thank him for that.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same way, church, as just as you think about those things that that God has done in in remembering that he is our help, ask him today to speak to you, to speak to your heart, to transform you in some way through his word.
SPEAKER_01: Ask him to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we uh we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the encouragement in in in the psalms and uh throughout all of your word.
SPEAKER_01: And what does this this psalm our mind says?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, what an what an important thing for us to remember all the ways that you have interceded for us, that you have preserved our lives.
SPEAKER_01: When it didn't make sense, God, when there wasn't enough money, when there when we had fallen short, when we put ourselves in the trap.
SPEAKER_01: Father, you have washed out for us.
SPEAKER_01: You have always been a good God.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to say thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same way, for all of us who are followers, just like the Psalm says, for all our days, Lord, just we want to take a moment and we just want to commit ourselves as your followers to say, Yes, I will praise you for all of my days.
SPEAKER_01: For all of my days, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, for those people who are discerning you, are seeking you out and trying to figure out who you are, and maybe they've been hurt and broken by this world so much, it's hard to believe that there could be a God that would love them so much.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I pray today that they would see your goodness, that you would speak to their hearts, and they would make a decision to trust in you with their lives, God.
SPEAKER_01: Today, as we look into your word, please encourage us, please speak to us.
SPEAKER_01: These things we ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you guys so much for doing that with me.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I'd like to do is as we we dig into this psalm, there's so many great things that that are there.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna give us three points, three simple ideas that that you can, I would encourage you to write it down, take a note.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you've got a phone, maybe jot it down there in your Bible, something like that.
SPEAKER_01: Write down some of these things.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to afterwards, I could share these with you.
SPEAKER_01: But digging into this psalm, there's there's three major, these are like handholds.
SPEAKER_01: So if you've ever done rock climbing, you know, if you're gonna move forward, you got to have a handhold, something to hold on to, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what these these little markers are for us.
SPEAKER_01: So the first one is this share testimonies about God's grace, intervention, and protection in your life.
SPEAKER_01: For verses one through five, share testimonies about God's grace, intervention, and protection in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we look at this psalm, uh this particular one, you know, one of the things I like to do, I like to listen to God's word.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll just be driving around or I'm in the gym or doing whatever it is, and just listen to the word.
SPEAKER_01: And this one, sometimes I'll just be like lifting or whatever, I'm on the cardio, and this one just would hit me, and I'm like, wow, what if God hadn't been on our side?
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's the Lord, what if he hadn't intervened from all these situations in my life?
SPEAKER_01: Where would I be?
SPEAKER_01: What would have happened?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There's all these things, so we can see all that, but before we get to that point, there's a really important question that I want to pause and to ask and just kind of think through this with us together.
SPEAKER_01: Why was God on David's or Israel's side and not on other people's sides?
SPEAKER_01: As we we we think about this, so many times we think about it, like uh let's just say if maybe today, you know, there's there's a sport called football that's going on right now, and some people are uh are at that worship service, right?
SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe catching, they got a live stream, they got a lot of services at that church, let me tell you.
SPEAKER_01: No, but uh, but for I love some football too.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when we think about it, it's like if both teams are praying are praying to win, who's God gonna bless, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's kind of an elementary way to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: But for what why would David be able to say, hey, God was on our side, and what about these other nations?
SPEAKER_01: Why would he say that?
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe most importantly for us, right?
SPEAKER_01: If David is saying, Man, God made all the difference in my life because he was on my side, what's the the question for us is how can I know that God is on my side today?
SPEAKER_01: I want the story, if I want this to be my story, I don't want to be the you know, I say wisdom is always proven right.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you can read the proverbs, it's always gonna be right.
SPEAKER_01: We can either be a story of success or a cautionary tale.
SPEAKER_01: My wife has gotten into these Netflix documentaries where it shows like stuff going wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Have you guys?
SPEAKER_01: I know you don't got to raise your hands.
SPEAKER_01: I know some of you have seen those, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where people stuff falls apart or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I I have trouble watching it because I just want to I just want to read the wiki about what happened.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I this sounds too much like my job where I'm dealing with trying to help people not make bad choices.
SPEAKER_01: I can't just watch them make bad choices over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: But you're either gonna be a cautionary tale or you're gonna be a story of success.
SPEAKER_01: But God's gonna have his way, God is going to prevail.
SPEAKER_01: So, how can we know where we are?
SPEAKER_01: So I want to share this this text with you from Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 uh until the beginning of chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I know we're skipping around a little bit, but I think this is a really important idea because David's talking about how God has been on their side, like the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go back to a time when God was on their side, when he was moving and working, and Joshua is leading his people into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He's been spent 40 years in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: 40 years that's a long time, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm 43.
SPEAKER_01: That means I would have just barely made it out.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it was just that it's crazy when we read stuff, we think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So he's in that wilderness for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: He was ready to go into the promised land, all right?
SPEAKER_01: And so he's moving forward, and yet there's some adversity that they're facing, beginning in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: It says, When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his sword, his drawn sword in his hand.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua went to him and said, Are you for us or for our adversaries?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, No.
SPEAKER_01: I like I like that comment.
SPEAKER_01: He said, No.
SPEAKER_01: But I am the commander of the army of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have come.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?
SPEAKER_01: And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua did so.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning, and for those of you guys who know, you can go, if you don't know the story, you can go check it out later.
SPEAKER_01: But here's uh you know, the Cliff Notes version or the Chat GPT summary version.
SPEAKER_01: God wins.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's how a lot of stories end up when the Lord is involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: But verse one, it says, Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: No one went out and none came in.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this moment where Joshua is trying to do what God has called him to do, and there's this powerful being that shows up.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: This is an angel.
SPEAKER_01: Every time an angel shows up, you know, one of the interesting things is they where they say, um, do not the one of the first things the angel says is do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: That's because they're imposing presence.
SPEAKER_01: This this happens to be the commander of the Lord's armies.
SPEAKER_01: This is a bad dude.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: This is a serious guy that's showing up, some kind of impressive being.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of cool things that I want to see when we get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I want to see what some of these angels look like.
SPEAKER_01: These these are like way, way bigger than whatever Avenger that you've seen or that we could come up with.
SPEAKER_01: These are this is a next level guy.
SPEAKER_01: He's a warrior, right?
SPEAKER_01: And the commander of the Lord's armies.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua has a really important question.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Are you with us or with them?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm pretty sure whatever side you're on, it's gonna win.
SPEAKER_01: Just trying to clarify where are you?
SPEAKER_01: But Joshua, the the commander, has an interesting comment.
SPEAKER_01: He asked him a question, and this is Jesus does this.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we ask God a question, he just he does or ask Jesus a question.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm not gonna answer that question, I'm just gonna tell you with the truth, though.
SPEAKER_01: And he says yes or no.
SPEAKER_01: He just says no, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's not I'm not gonna answer that question, but I am the commander of the Lord's army and the Lord is here.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua, what he he has this this uh about face where he realizes it's not about us or about Jericho, it's about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The real question is not if God is on my side, the question is, am I on God's side?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's the right question to ask, right?
SPEAKER_01: In a conflict or a situation, we're so quick to prove ourselves right, we would ask, well, what is God's side?
SPEAKER_01: What is what does God want to have accomplished?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And I and I've as a uh you know, I maybe say still some semblance of an athlete, you know, playing a lot.
SPEAKER_01: What I've learned, God God cares a lot less about wins and losses and he cares about his glory.
SPEAKER_01: So what I love to celebrate, whatever happen whatever team wins, when God gets glory somehow, that's what I love to celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really what what the win looks like.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we all want our team to win to be successful, but God's glory is the thing that matters.
SPEAKER_01: And and for us, I I love Psalm 127, another song of a sense, these first couple of verses, it it expresses this point in a really powerful way.
SPEAKER_01: It says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
SPEAKER_01: Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
SPEAKER_01: It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toll, for he gives to his beloved sleep.
SPEAKER_01: He's like basically, and I feel like this was written to us today, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because we just we can work so hard and we can try to fill in the blanks and just put just control, you know, exert our control and our influence on all these situations.
SPEAKER_01: But in this instance, it's Solomon, he's saying, Hey, none of that matters if God's not building the house.
SPEAKER_01: Are you are you is he building this or are you trying to accomplish something?
SPEAKER_01: And it goes back to what Jesus said, Matthew 7, 24 through 27, when he says, Hey, this is what it's like when people hear my words and put them into practice.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the one who builds on the rock or on the sand, right?
SPEAKER_01: The storms are gonna come.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the reality, like what this this Psalm 124, it celebrates that God was was faithful to us when the storms came, but the reason why they prevailed were because they were was because they were built on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: And here, this is this is what's so important.
SPEAKER_01: I want you guys to hear me on this.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you say, no matter what you affirm, no matter what your personal opinion may be, when the storm comes, the question is, where are you built?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you built?
SPEAKER_01: When the conflict, and and it, and I understand when sometimes I've walked through it myself, I've counseled people through a lot of times where it's where we get blindsided, you know, like in a in a boxing match.
SPEAKER_01: It's one thing if you can see the hit coming and you can kind of step aside.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes life just hits us, we don't even see it, just like a cold cock knockout.
SPEAKER_01: We're seeing stars.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to get confused, to wonder if God's there.
SPEAKER_01: What we got to do is just say the answer is I'm just gonna find, I'm gonna listen to the Lord, because his guy, his side's gonna win, and I want to get on his side, and I want to build there.
SPEAKER_01: And what's so cool, even as we look at this Psalm 124, it's it's and I think it's important for us to remember, even before we've made a decision to be a follower of Christ, God is a good father, he's been watching out for us.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Aren't there times in your life before you were a follower of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: If you're a follower of Christ today, where you can look back and you can say, Man, the Lord was looking out for me.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord blessed me.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord He sent for me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I could I could take a lot of time just tell telling stories of how God has been faithful in my life, how he's watched over me.
SPEAKER_01: But Romans chapter 2, verse 4, it says, Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
SPEAKER_01: His kindness leads us to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't that I decided one day, hey, I'm gonna go seek God, I'm gonna do this on my own, but God was pursuing me my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I would say for you whether you are seeking God now or whether you have been a follower of Christ for many, many years, God is moving out, he is pursuing you because he's a good father.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us wouldn't go look for our kids if they were lost?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what are we even this this is like parenting 101, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like Jesus said, hey, you guys know if your if your child asks for for a piece of bread, you're not gonna give him a snake, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like if my kid asks for Chick-fil-A, I'm not gonna go put a snake in a Chick-fil-A bag and hand it hand him that.
SPEAKER_01: That would not be good parenting, right?
SPEAKER_01: We all know that, right?
SPEAKER_01: So how much losing your kids is not a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: Like one of one of my dad rules is maintain a visual.
SPEAKER_01: I'm always trying to maintain a visual with my kids.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is he's been seeking after us, he was seeking after you.
SPEAKER_01: And even before you made a decision, even before you invited him, he was because he's a good father, he's doing everything he can to bring you back.
SPEAKER_01: And David remembers these things, and what what this psalm calls that Israel to do is to say it's important for all of us as a people to say, to give testimonies, to share what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: Because we we need others need to hear it, but also I need to say it.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I say it, it's a reminder to me about what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: So on Monday morning, when I wake up, I wake up late sometime, my kids don't want to go to school, forgot to make lunch, forgot a meeting, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: It's a bad day.
SPEAKER_01: What I need I in those moments I need to remember, just need to pause.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is my help.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: He's done a lot bigger things, he can handle this, he's gonna watch over me, but I've got to make time to listen to him.
SPEAKER_01: I need to take time to give a testimony, and other people need to hear about it too.
SPEAKER_01: Not just about indiv individuals, but even corporately.
SPEAKER_01: Look, things that I mentioned about city life, even at the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Those are important stories to remember how God's been faithful to our church family, right?
SPEAKER_01: To your individual family, remembering those things.
SPEAKER_01: And and here's what I want to say, like I and I what with what I'm about to share, I want this to be corrective.
SPEAKER_01: This is not meant to be a rebuke in any way.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that, or not meant to be net detrimental in any way.
SPEAKER_01: It is a bit of a rebuke, honestly.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we can make statements and saying, oh, that was that was I was lucky that that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Or that was that was just fortunate that that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Or sometimes what people that aren't from a Christ-centered background, right, and in our culture today, sometimes this is the idea of the universe or karma looking out for us.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I mean, and I as I said, I don't want to, I'm a follower of Christ, so I get very passionate about these things, so I understand maybe we're in a different place.
SPEAKER_01: But as a as a culture, the universe does not have personality.
SPEAKER_01: When we step outside of this, we live in this incredible world that God made that is perfectly tailored for human life to exist, right?
SPEAKER_01: Any any scientist, whatever their view is, one uh understanding is clear.
SPEAKER_01: Human life, this earth was was formed or is is designed for human life.
SPEAKER_01: There's just no question about that.
SPEAKER_01: And we step outside of this little world that God made and we die in moments, a painful death.
SPEAKER_01: That's this is the world that God created for us, and we need to share that with others and give testimonies and remember who he is and what he's done because what happens as we do that, it leads us to our second point.
SPEAKER_01: It leads us to praise God for his deliverance and freedom.
SPEAKER_01: It's praising God for his deliverance and freedom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not praising myself, I'm not, I'm not praising, you know, I can I can give honor to other people, how God used other people, how God washed out, for God provided in some way through through other people, whatever the case may be, but it was the Lord who delivered me.
SPEAKER_01: And what did he do?
SPEAKER_01: He brought freedom.
SPEAKER_01: He gave us freedom.
SPEAKER_01: And and and and and we have to pause and to remember that and giving testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're not if we're not doing that, it can lead to an entitled and unappreciative attitude, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where you know we're just thinking, oh, I'm I I've done all these things.
SPEAKER_01: It's all about me, it's all about what I've done, who I am, if we're not remembering, blessed be the Lord who did not, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to just, like I said, I asked you to pray about just take a moment and think about sometimes when you can praise and thank God for how He, where you could say, if the Lord hadn't been on our side, this would have, I would have been destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: Can you know, think about some of those moments?
SPEAKER_01: And and remembering that it reminds us, especially for the people in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I one of the things I mentioned, it when we were reminds of the the blessings that we had, like my wife is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And I can remember praying and just asking God.
SPEAKER_01: I came to Christ when I was 11, and uh, you know, I don't have time to go into that story today, but I can remember there were times in my life when I was just praying and asking God to provide just a godly woman that I could share my life with, that together we could serve the Lord, have a family, and just be able to be my partner in life.
SPEAKER_01: And God provided my incredible wife.
SPEAKER_01: And it, but if I don't pause to remember the gift that she is, I will I will begin to take her for granted.
SPEAKER_01: I will be unappreciative for her.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I tell I tell when I counsel guys, I'm like, if somebody came into your house and tried to uh to harm your family in some way, what would you do?
SPEAKER_01: They would say, I'll do whatever I have to do to protect my family, right?
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: We all say that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, you're ready, you're you're ready to lay down your life for your family, and I'll and I affirm you for that.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, I would say when your wife needs you to take the trash out, you you can do the big thing, let's just do the small things too.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to give our life all at once, we can lay it down in installments day by day, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's it's easier for guys to think about one time, one act, rather than slowly over the course of our life.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we sing that song to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: God, I want to give you my life.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, that's great, but I also want you to give me each day, each hour, each moment to remember.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's easy, it's hard for us.
SPEAKER_01: But how do we how do we remember that?
SPEAKER_01: When we give testimonies, we share those stories, we remember what he's done, and also it reminds us who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And here's one of the things that I would tell you some of the biggest blessings that you have in your life that you prayed for, if we're not careful, that will begin to feel like a burden to you.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Can that happen, right?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we pray for that job, we pray for God to give us an opportunity, and then he does that, and then we kind of gripe about it, we kind of grumble, complain about it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we need to go back and remember, man, if the Lord had been on my side, I wouldn't even have this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I would be here today, I don't know if I would be alive today if the Lord had been on my side.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I want to I want to walk with you, I want to bless your name, and I also want to remember, like it says, that a bird that was caught in the fowler's snare.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I shared this message um with a group of guys last night, and uh, you know, one of the as I was driving back, sometimes you guys are getting the best version of this.
SPEAKER_01: It's usually the second time that I preach a message, it's a little better.
SPEAKER_01: But uh, I thought, you know, that bird had walked into a trap, right?
SPEAKER_01: There aren't there instances sometimes we knew that it was not a good thing, and we just walked into it.
SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes we didn't, but maybe there's instances where the Lord's like, hey Jeremy, that's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't walk into that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Lord, but it kind of looks like a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: He walked into it, he was alright.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, hey, I'm saying, my side's over here, Jeremy.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to go over there, not good things that are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: And I ignore him and I go over and I get caught in the trap.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord could have just said, Hey, Jeremy, well, I told you not to go there.
SPEAKER_01: Peace.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're gonna have to eat, you suffer the fruit of your ways, but there's many instances in life when God has not treated me, and God would be right to do that, he would be fair to do that, but his grace, sometimes he said, Jeremy, I'm I'm still gonna come pick you up out of the trap.
SPEAKER_01: Your own sin, your own, you know, and by a person's own sin that our life suffers and our heart rages against the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what happened.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs talks about that.
SPEAKER_01: We make we don't listen to God and make choices, and then we get mad against God about how life turns out.
SPEAKER_01: But what the Lord says, even in those moments, he will save us.
SPEAKER_01: He and it says, the snare is broken and we have escaped.
SPEAKER_01: We have have freedom.
SPEAKER_01: I want to share a few verses with you about the freedom that we have in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 2.
SPEAKER_01: It says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
SPEAKER_01: Just think about that for a second.
SPEAKER_01: There is no condemnation when we are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I can tell you the enemy, what what he is so good at doing, he will have a long play temptation pull you into making a bad choice.
SPEAKER_01: Then the second that you do that, he'll turn around and he will condemn you for making the bad choice that you just made.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And condemnation, when when we try to step out, especially Christ's followers, when you try to step out and you make a change, or even people that are seeking God here, you try to step out, the enemy's gonna tell you, you know, God would never take you, God would never accept you.
SPEAKER_01: Can remember when I was when God was calling me into ministry, the enemy was trying to condemn me.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy, why would God ever want you to serve him?
SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't want you to serve him.
SPEAKER_01: And then and and God comforted me with the words of Moses from Exodus, early in Exodus, Exodus 4, where Moses was trying to stop God, he's trying to give God all these excuses about why he can't serve.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, but God, I can't speak.
SPEAKER_01: And God's like, who made a who made a mouth, Moses?
SPEAKER_01: Really, you think I can't help you to speak?
SPEAKER_01: You want to bring Aaron?
SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
SPEAKER_01: But we got to understand my side's over here.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be on my side?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I want that freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, it says, For freedom, Christ has set us free.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to say that one again.
SPEAKER_01: For freedom, Christ has set us free.
SPEAKER_01: Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
SPEAKER_01: In Galatians, they're trying to say we got it's Jesus plus other things.
SPEAKER_01: It's Jesus plus all these other things, but Paul is reminding them, it says, You remember what happened when you did it your way, Jeremy?
SPEAKER_01: You ended up in a trap.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing good there.
SPEAKER_01: Don't don't go back to doing that again.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ we have freedom.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about what we do, it's receiving what Christ has done in us.
SPEAKER_01: And then the way that we're successful is we build on him.
SPEAKER_01: And then every time somebody asks, Jeremy, why are things going well in your life?
SPEAKER_01: How did you how did you how how are you how are you preserving?
SPEAKER_01: How are you persevering?
SPEAKER_01: Say it's not me.
SPEAKER_01: And this we give testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: We say it's it's the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be God, he's given me freedom in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation and chapter 1, verses 5 to 6.
SPEAKER_01: It says to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation is a it can be a few a confusing book at times, but once again, my two-minute, my two-word summary for Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: God wins.
SPEAKER_01: It just becomes really clear who's on God's side and who's not in Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: But there's this beautiful picture about how Christ's blood, his life, brought us freedom, freed us from our sin.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus' blood had his life hadn't covered us, where would we be?
SPEAKER_01: But it's not just that, but we were brought into God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: The commander of the Lord's army, we we're on his side, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's on he's he's working on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And it reminds us to verse 8, the final thing for us today is to always remember our true help comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Always remember our true help comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8, it says, Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: You know, anytime that you see this idea of when you when you hear the name of the Lord, it's interesting because in the Psalms, what I would encourage you to do when you look at some of these Psalms, sometimes is to slow down a little bit and just think about the words, think about what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: So our help is in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Why is there?
SPEAKER_01: Name speaks to his renown, his fame, his reputation, what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: It's basically the wins-loss category for Jesus, for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Think about like I was thinking about that as I was getting ready, as we were worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, man, if we could have like, you know, like ESPN or all the sports things, they have those like win-loss records or the analytics.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that when this happened when this person's in the game, what's the plus-minus?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We see all that, or uh WAR wins above replacement or something, whatever it is, all these different stats where it shows how valuable somebody is to the team.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine what those would be like for the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He's like win percentage, a thousand percent.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Wins above replacement, infinite.
SPEAKER_01: Where do you even where do you even start?
SPEAKER_01: You know, um wins wins loss record.
SPEAKER_01: Uh still counting on the wins, the L column is still zero, basically, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's undefeated.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 8.
SPEAKER_01: I I love where it says um that we are more than conquerors in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting, it's a it's a bit of an awkward phrase to me.
SPEAKER_01: I I can remember that sounds great.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what that means to be more than a conqueror.
SPEAKER_01: I feel like conqueror is winning.
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean to be more than a conqueror?
SPEAKER_01: But I slowed down and look at that text as a as a as a teacher of the word, and I noticed the original language, it says, we have exceeding victory in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Exceeding victory.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like, you know, sometimes you're like, man, if one play had gone our way, if that guy hadn't messed up, we could have won that game.
SPEAKER_01: When God's in there, there was nobody thinks, oh wow, they almost won.
SPEAKER_01: They almost beat God.
SPEAKER_01: No, everybody in the stadium knows.
SPEAKER_01: We want that that they're gonna win.
SPEAKER_01: We could play a thousand times, they're gonna win every time.
SPEAKER_01: There's no chance.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's the kind of victory that we have in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we just got to remember to look up to Him when we face the battle, when we face a struggle.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 121, verses 1 through 2, it says, I lift up my eyes to the hills.
SPEAKER_01: From where does my help come from?
SPEAKER_01: My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a phrase, it's it's something that people say a lot.
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's it's like a motto to remember that our help comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And and it's not to say that, you know, uh, there's a proverb, uh, I'm I'm I'm forgetting the address, but it says, Um, the horse is made ready for battle, but victory rests with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We do have a responsibility to build on Jesus, but he is the one who goes and gets the victory for us.
SPEAKER_01: But some like but we have to be careful that we don't start thinking because of the way that we're getting the horse ready is really what's determining the victory.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm chapter 20, verses 7 through 8, it says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_01: Now here think here, let's check this uh this verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I got the got the wrong uh address there.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8, it says, They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8, I'll say that again.
SPEAKER_01: They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's not it that it we can think about, hey, my life's gonna get better, or this issue is gonna be resolved, or I'm gonna persevere if I just have this circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We wanna we we think God needs a little help sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: He needs He needs our He needs our feedback to get to get things squared away.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I I I'm just I want you to I want you to bless my side over here.
SPEAKER_01: I just just this once, God.
SPEAKER_01: I think this is this is gonna be a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I need.
SPEAKER_01: Can you do this for me?
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord's like, Jeremy, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I gave my son to die on the cross for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: But I just need you to come to my side.
SPEAKER_01: And I need you to trust me that it's good.
SPEAKER_01: And we're not trusting in how that's gonna happen or or or in our our resources.
SPEAKER_01: We're not trusting in our job.
SPEAKER_01: We're not trusting in our our home, paying our the ability to pay our mortgage, how much money is on our bank account.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me, let's be real.
SPEAKER_01: I like having, I like being liquid financially.
SPEAKER_01: I like having all those things.
SPEAKER_01: However, there may be a season in your life that that's not the case.
SPEAKER_01: There's seasons in my life that has that has not been the case.
SPEAKER_01: But what I've learned is God is gonna take care of me.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna provide for me, he's gonna take care of my wife, he's gonna take care of my kids.
SPEAKER_01: Husbands, the the reality for us is we can't trust in our own ability to love our wives.
SPEAKER_01: We need to see, Jesus, I need you to give me a heart to love my wife.
SPEAKER_01: Because if it's up to me at a given moment, I may end up throwing away the beautiful things that you have given to me.
SPEAKER_01: If if I am disconnected from you, Jesus, all the things that you've built, I could destroy by my own hands, I could destroy those things.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, please help me to trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to collapse and fall.
SPEAKER_01: We want to rise and stand upright.
SPEAKER_01: So as we conclude, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna lead us in a moment of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And um, what I just want to just encourage you guys to do, one, if you are a Christ follower, I want, I want, like as we, maybe even as we leave today, just think about some of the wins that you can celebrate of what God has done in your life and and tell somebody about it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's your wife, maybe it's your kids.
SPEAKER_01: We we they need to hear it, and you need to tell it and you need to remember, and you need to say, God, thank you for this, thank you for my wife, thank you for my kids.
SPEAKER_01: And and maybe not even if it's your wife or your or your spouse, not even just say it to somebody else, go ahead and go tell that person.
SPEAKER_01: Say you are a gift from God in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you to your kids, right?
SPEAKER_01: To go and say, You are you are God's gift to me.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That I I'm so glad that you're part of my life.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what you do, you don't have to prove anything to me.
SPEAKER_01: I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm grateful for you.
SPEAKER_01: We need to say, God, with the issues of the struggles that I'm facing now at the same time, I'm gonna look to your name, to your win and loss record.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna invite you into the struggle.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to be on your side.
SPEAKER_01: And so instead of me trying to figure out, me trying to give God help, I need to go and figure out where he is.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, let me go ahead and get in on that.
SPEAKER_01: Let me get some other brothers and sisters that can speak into this situation in my life to give me some clarity.
SPEAKER_01: So I can just hear the so I don't have to prove my my my side is right.
SPEAKER_01: I just need to be on the Lord's side and figure out where he is and build there.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't know Jesus, I just want to I want to encourage you to seek after him, to celebrate his goodness in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And I I know um a lot of the things that I've shared, um it may seem hard to understand, but when we pause and we look and we see God's goodness and his grace and so many different things, when we look at things that you just thought were a mistake, or you just thought it was an accident, you just thought it was good luck.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: That was a good father providing every good and perfect gift comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Every good and perfect gift comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: And so, church, let's just be people that we go out in the community, people see us, and we are just people that are sharing testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: We're maybe, maybe at work people are just grumbling and complaining.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, we're not gonna jump into that.
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna, we can tell, we're gonna praise God.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna give, we're gonna give show thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe even we can't always mention God, but we're gonna not gonna be a negative person, we're gonna be persons that show appreciation and value, a grateful uh the attitude of gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's do that and let's certainly remember that for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, we just want to thank you for your goodness in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We all know that we wouldn't be alive without you, and it's your grace and goodness that brought us to salvation and eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, give us a boldness to share your goodness with others.
SPEAKER_01: Remind us of the freedom that we have in you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we want to put our trust in you as our help.
SPEAKER_01: We give you our lives and we ask that you glorify yourself through us.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, Lord, I just pray for our church, I pray for city life and all the people that are here today.
SPEAKER_01: I just pray that whatever area of their life that they need help, they would remember that you are the real help that they need.
SPEAKER_01: Not the horse, not the chariot.
SPEAKER_01: You are the real help that we need, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're good, you're gracious, you love us, you will always care for us.
SPEAKER_01: Father, please turn our hearts back to you and help.
SPEAKER_01: Give us the wisdom, the grace, the mercy to see all of your hand at work in our lives, that we could praise you and thank you for it and continue to trust you, that we could serve with you, that we could be a part of your kingdom and share your hope with others.
SPEAKER_01: These things we ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.