September 14, 2025 - Gerald Griffin - Between Praise & Pain: Real Prayer in a Broken World

September 14, 2025 - Gerald Griffin - Between Praise & Pain: Real Prayer in a Broken World

Psalm 9 & 10

0:00 Introduction and Personal Reflections

0:40 The Story of Charles Spurgeon

1:13 Blessed Assurance: A Congregational Affirmation

1:29 Introducing Psalm 9 and Psalm 10

1:46 A Personal Anecdote on Teaching and Acceptance

3:39 Maturity in Faith

4:33 The Importance of Prayer Meetings

9:07 Psalm 9: A Song of Praise and Justice

13:02 Psalm 10: A Cry of Desperation

17:48 The Honesty of Raw Emotions

18:11 The Reality of Wickedness in Psalm 10

19:32 Applications from the Psalms

19:39 The Power of Gratitude

23:11 Asking Honest Questions

24:19 Naming and Confronting Evil

26:34 Bringing Your Hurt to God

30:58 Anchoring Your Life in God's Reign

37:26 Concluding Prayer and Reflections

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Personal Reflections
• 0:40 The Story of Charles Spurgeon
• 1:13 Blessed Assurance: A Congregational Affirmation
• 1:29 Introducing Psalm 9 and Psalm 10
• 1:46 A Personal Anecdote on Teaching and Acceptance
• 3:39 Maturity in Faith
• 4:33 The Importance of Prayer Meetings
• 9:07 Psalm 9: A Song of Praise and Justice
• 13:02 Psalm 10: A Cry of Desperation
• 17:48 The Honesty of Raw Emotions
• 18:11 The Reality of Wickedness in Psalm 10
• 19:32 Applications from the Psalms
• 19:39 The Power of Gratitude
• 23:11 Asking Honest Questions
• 24:19 Naming and Confronting Evil
• 26:34 Bringing Your Hurt to God
• 30:58 Anchoring Your Life in God's Reign
• 37:26 Concluding Prayer and Reflections

Transcript

[00:00:00] Introduction and Personal Reflections

I was thinking as I was getting ready to come up here. It's been a tough week. Then I thought, well, actually it's been a tough couple of weeks, and then I thought, actually, it's been a tough summer. A lot of things have happened and one of the things that I so appreciate about gathering at church besides the fact that I know the Lord is with us, and besides the fact that I know that when we do this, that we're pleasing him, it's just different here.

It's different. We meet as God's people. And so what I might encourage you to do is to take a deep breath, let that out and realize where you are. Realize who's our savior. 

[00:00:40] The Story of Charles Spurgeon

It was, uh, a long time ago that, uh, as he's called fondly, the prince of preachers was Charles Spurgeon of, uh, London. And he wrote something and then a few, then years after that, somebody put it to words and it became a song and it, you may have heard it, and it said, when you can't understand and you can't trace his hand, trust his heart.

And that's what we do when we don't understand exactly what's happening. That's what we do when we can't see why something happened. 

[00:01:13] Blessed Assurance: A Congregational Affirmation

Uh, and I would just give you something to say with me if you would. I think everybody can say this and it's just gonna be a couple of words, but would you say with me, blessed assurance, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

Jesus is. Amen. Amen. 

[00:01:29] Introducing Psalm 9 and Psalm 10

We're gonna talk today about Psalm nine and Psalm 10. Psalm nine and Psalm 10, I've, I've given a title to it. It could be called anything. I think this is pretty close to what it should be. It's between praise and pain. Real, real prayer for a broken world. 

[00:01:46] A Personal Anecdote on Teaching and Acceptance

You know, this last week, uh, right before we came here to, uh, to, to preach for you guys, I met with one of the guys that I've known for probably 20 years.

He was one of the parishioners at the church that I pastored. And, uh, it was fun watching him grow When he came to our church. Uh, he had one child and then they had another one. And so we watched those kids grow up and uh, he was one of those guys that knew everybody. He was just so nice and. Uh, finally I talked to him about teaching and so he became a teacher.

He was, he was afraid of it. It became the best teacher we had. I mean, he's an amazing guy. Uh, but I, but now he, he supports our ministry and I still get to pray for him. And we meet together probably once every two months at least. And we'll text. I met with him. I said, tell me what's going on. And he's, he's telling me different things about the kids and he made this statement and I thought it kind of fits what I want us to focus on today.

He talked about how that his son. He said, I'm just trying to teach him to go ahead and accept things that are going to happen, kinda like live in the real world and not always be upset about the things that happen that's gonna happen every week. He said, I know this is crazy, he said, but uh, and they live on a pretty large property.

He said he has to grab up the trash and take it to the end of the driveway once a week, he said. And so once a week, it is continual moaning. And complaining, and I can't believe I have to do this, and this is so hard, he said. And so I keep telling him that, son, you're gonna do it forever. Start to understand it and take joy in what you can take joy in.

You're walking outside, you're gonna see the sunshine, you're gonna see, maybe you'll see a bird or who knows what in the world, but just stop complaining about stuff that you know is always going to happen. 

[00:03:39] Maturity in Faith

It kind of fits into when Jesus is talking in Matthew six and he's, he's talking about comparing the generation.

He says they're like children. They're like children. 'cause they say, well, we, we, we piped a a game. We played a little game with some music and you didn't play and we did this and you didn't. They're unhappy because everything's not their way. And then again, Jesus tells us, or the New Testament tells us in the book of James how that we shouldn't be like children tossed to and fro.

And so we get this picture of being mature or immature, and what I want to talk to you about today, realizing who you are and who comes to this church, and having had conversations for the past year with you guys. I do believe this is a church that is filled with people who look upon their faith in a mature way.

But honestly, we can always be a little bit more. And that is Psalm nine and Psalm 10. 

[00:04:33] The Importance of Prayer Meetings

When I was a teenager, I came to Christ. I, I just turned 14 and, uh, I joined a church. And this church did something that churches used to do a lot of. They had prayer meetings, and when they had a prayer meeting, there was two types of prayer meeting.

There was Wednesday night prayer meeting, which wasn't really about prayer. Anybody go to church on Wednesday night? And they call it a prayer meeting. It really was a Bible study. I mean, somebody prayed, but it wasn't a prayer meeting. And then they had these other times they would call for it specifically and say to tonight, we're gonna meet up here at six o'clock and we're gonna have a prayer meeting.

And so as a young guy, I thought, well, that's a good thing to go to. I should go to that. And I, I still remember going to that. And some of those prayers were amazing. But most of the time when I heard people pray in those prayer meetings, it was the seasoned saints lifting up their voices, calling out to God with gratitude and with confidence.

Words were like, Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for always being there for us. Thank you for carrying us through this or protecting us from that. Those were the kind of prayers we usually had, and those prayers sound like Psalm nine, and then there's other times when people pray like Psalm 10.

Now. What's the big deal about Psalm nine and Psalm 10? Well. According to a lot of people who take the scripture and translate it. In fact, the Sept, if you're familiar with that name, Sept Latin version, uh, of the Bible, they put Psalm nine and Psalm 10 together. And if you'll notice, there's no title over Psalm 10, and there's no attribution of who actually wrote it.

Well, Psalm nine was David, and so we believe Psalm 10 is probably a continuation of that. They fit together very well, but the reason you might break 'em apart is because they sound different in their focus. Psalm nine is all about praise. Psalm nine is worshipful and victorious, but Psalm 10 is raw and unsettled and that that describes our lives.

Sometimes extremely full of praise and sometimes full of pain. When I first started pastoring, uh, I'd been on staff for probably 14 years before I pastored at different churches. And then I moved to Frisco and we, we planted a church and started pastoring there. About one year in, uh, it may have been Mark Truman.

We've been friends that long. It may have been Mark who said, Hey, do you want to go to this, uh, training by a guy by the name of Barna? And I said, uh, yeah, I think I've seen some of this stuff before. Let's go. So we went to the training and in that, I had a few takeaways, but one of 'em that stayed with me all these years is he said that when people come to church, they come for a word of hope.

They come to get hope. They don't come to be hurt by someone. They don't come to hear how bad everything is. They come to get hope. And I think that is what we see in Psalm nine and Psalm 10, because there has to be hope. There's something about life and about faith that brings praise, but pain is often followed in the very same breath.

Sometimes Sunday morning worship collides with Monday morning reality, and we think, well, didn't I just spend a whole day worshiping God? And then today, look where I am. I was in a really good mood, man. I felt like everything was on top of the world. I felt like I was really following the Lord and then all of a sudden.

We hit Monday morning. Uh, a commentator I like to read by is Derek Kidner, and I think you have this slide. He says, Psalm nine. Well, what's it look for? It looks forward to the judgment, or I would call it justice to come. And Psalm 10 groans under the injustice right now. So this is the way these two work together, and you and I, well, we live between those two.

There are times when it's absolutely amazing. Now if you really wanna have an amazing time for me and Tammy, we go to Austin, we see our grand boys. That's an amazing time. I mean, they are still young enough that they want to see us. That's good. And they run up to us and we're still entranced by how little Finn, who's three now, how he has these long sentences he puts together.

And we listen to that one little word from Jude at being 1-year-old and he'll throw one word out. Uh, I think the latest one is yucky. Yucky. I think this is nice something if he doesn't like something, so we, we take such delight in that, but we also know we can turn the corner and all of a sudden something's happening that we're not real thrilled about, not real happy about because that's life.

You and I live in between. 

[00:09:07] Psalm 9: A Song of Praise and Justice

And so let's begin with Psalm nine. I'm gonna read you verses one through six, and then just give you a quick paraphrase. Okay. Here's the way Psalm nine starts off. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and I will exalt you.

I will sing praises to your name almost high. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. It's all about justice. Look, it's, it's finally I look at, look at the victory here for you have maintained my, just cause you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment. You've rebuked the nations.

You've made the Wicked Parish. Now I want to, I wanna throw something in here, and I want you to see this. This is a faithful statement about what is going to happen because that hasn't happened yet. Have all the nations that have nothing to do with God been rebuked by God. Well, not to their knowledge.

There may be things that they're suffering from. And by the way, there are many nations around the world who have, as the scripture's gonna say in here, forgotten God. Many nations. And so I know sometimes we're down on us as Americans, as citizens of the US We say our nation has forgotten God. Well, there's some nations that have really forgotten God, like putting Christians to death, forgotten God.

Like you can't have a Bible forgotten God. Uh, there is a, there have been two or three mission trips that I've taken that we've taken Bibles into those countries. Different people have different ideas about it. I have no problem taking a Bible into a country that does not want Bibles to come into the country.

And usually one the, I kind of, I kind of cop out this way. I want to get the word in there. If they open up my suitcase and find it, I guess they can have it, but I'm gonna try to get 'em in. So we take in Bibles in all kinds of places because they can't get a Bible well. Lemme finish this out. You've rebuked the nations.

You've made the wicked Parish. You've blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in Everlasting ruins their cities. You rooted out the very memory of them has perished. That is a future day. So the way I might paraphrase this, and it's not gonna be a translation, it's a paraphrase.

It's very loose. I would say, Lord, we're so grateful. This is the way we might pray in that prayer meeting. We're so grateful. You've been so faithful. You have carried us. You've done so much. We have seen your healing and your power and your glory. And the world may look out of control, but your king, you are still king.

You'll forever be king and you will establish your kingdom someday. So Psalm nine. Worshipful Victoria is confident. It's the kind of prayer we usually hear in church. Rejoicing in God's goodness and remembering his victories, and it's right to pray. A Psalm nine prayer. Here are the bullets from Psalm nine.

Evil. If we read the whole thing, evil will be silenced. God will judge rightly. The people of God will stand with him in glory and tears will be wiped away. Just like it talks about in the Book of Revelation. It's all going to go forward. I heard a guy this last week talking about how that. It. He had struggled so often trying to figure out the book of Revelation, and if you've ever read the book of Revelation, you know there's different ways to understand the book of Revelation and there's different ways of seeing it and trying to understand exactly what this is it, is it typology?

Is this some kind of a metaphor or what's going on at the, and he, he said, he asked a guy that had, he'd gone to seminary and didn't understand it. He asked a guy who did not go to seminary, just a guy in the church who had, uh, been a Christian for a long time, and he said, what do you think Revelation is talking about?

He said it's real simple. Two words, God wins. That's it. God wins. And that is what Psalm nine is trying to say. God wins. That day is coming. But there's also Psalm 10, the prayer that we don't hear very often. 

[00:13:02] Psalm 10: A Cry of Desperation

Let me read that to you a few verses. Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

And I would ask you to consider times when you have felt that way. You may feel that way today. Today when you came in. I mean, this is the most wonderful place to meet. And Mike, I don't think you could even start today because people were just having a good time. I think I heard you say, let's sit down, and nobody did it because everybody's having a good time and they're talking.

And some of you may have come in here today and that. That smile was hard to maintain. It was tough to put it on and you felt like you were putting it on. That happens, that is a part of life. I remember when we were in, um, when I was pastor, we had a worship minister and he was, I didn't know it, but later, after we'd been working with him for about a year, we found out he was actually moody.

And, um, I have a certain belief about Sunday mornings. I believe that Sunday mornings need to give that resonance of hope and joy. And so I came up to him and I said, Hey, good morning. Uh, I said Anything different today? And he dropped his head and he said, no. I said, you okay? Not really. I said, well, what's wrong?

He said, I'm just not in the mood. I said, really? He said, yeah, don't feel like leading worship. I'm just not happy today. And you may like this, you may not like it. It's who I am. I looked at him and I said. We'll pace a smile on your face. Nobody came to see you groaning. So when you get up to lead worship, I want you to smile and I want you to understand people need to see that smile and be joyful today.

Even if you don't feel it, fake it. So I knew I was gonna pay for that. So the next day I came into the office and he said, can I talk to you? And I said, sure. He said, I don't like what you did yesterday. You made me feel like a hypocrite. I said, okay. He said, I don't think I should have shown people exactly what I was going through.

I should have gotten up and I should have moaned and groan and told 'em everything was bad. I said, okay, why is that? He said, because you told me to fake it. I said, do you ever notice in the scripture when he talks about fast? It says it when you're fasting. Don't go around with your face long. Instead, wash your face, change your clothes.

Get up, go out. Don't let anyone know what you are enduring at that moment. 'cause you're fasting unto God. I said, so. The Bible right? There's telling you there's times when you have to not let people know everything. And there's times when you can a prayer meeting. Yeah, you can do it. To a good friend.

Absolutely. You can do it sometimes even in the middle of a service. It can happen. But I'm telling you, for the most point, we need to understand that God sometimes doesn't feel that close, and God sometimes doesn't feel like he's meeting all of our needs, but he still is. Let's read the rest of that in arrogance.

The wicked hotly pursue the poor, let them be caught in their schemes that they have devised for the wicked. Boast of the desires of his soul and the one greedy for gain, curses and renounces the Lord. Now, that is what we see a lot of things happening. We see in the pride of his face, the wicked person.

The wicked does not seek God, and all his thoughts are simply, there's no God. Why do you believe he believes there's no God? Because his way prosper at all times. Your judgements are on high and out of his sight. As for his foes, he puffs up with them. Do you? Did you notice what he's saying? God, you know what's going on and your judgment is there, even if they can't see it yet, he says in his heart, this is the wicked man.

I shall not be moved throughout all generations. I shall not meet adversity. Boy, that's delusional, isn't it? I'm not gonna have any diversity. Nothing's gonna happen bad to me, and says his mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression under his tongue, or mischief and iniquity. Imagine being at the same prayer meeting where the one guy just talked about, God, you're good.

You're always there. You're always faithful. You've brought us through this. You've answered all these prayers, and then the next guy next to you starts praying Psalm 10. God, I feel like I'm getting beat up out here. I feel like everything's going the wrong way. I don't even know where you are. I don't hear from you.

I feel like I pray and you don't hear me. I have been to prayer meetings that sounded like that too. And here's what you learned from that. That's raw. 

[00:17:48] The Honesty of Raw Emotions

And sometimes something like that is very open and very honest. And sometimes it makes us think. And if you're immature and I just called y'all anything, but, but if you're immature, you start thinking, Ooh, that guy's really in trouble.

He better be careful what he says to God. And yet everything I see in scripture says the guy simply being, or the gals being simply raw and true. 

[00:18:11] The Reality of Wickedness in Psalm 10

Psalm 10, well, the psalmist names the reality not what's going to happen, but what's happening right now. And the wicked are arrogant and they do hunt the weak and they boast about their desires and they push God out of their thoughts and they lie and they scheme and they crush the helpless.

They say, nothing will shake me. God won't even see me. That's the tension. Between Psalm nine and 10. So those aren't headlines, those aren't written in a magazine or published on the internet that, oh my gosh, um, wicked Man boast. No, it's just, it's just common. It's very common. Corruption and injustice and innocent people suffering while the arrogant boast, families hurting while the guilty prosper.

But even in Psalm 10, it doesn't end with that. Even in Psalm 10, it ends with the words, but you do see. Notice that Wicked say you don't see, but you do see for you note mischief in Vexation, that you take it into your hands to help, to you, the helpless commits himself and you've been the helper of the fatherless.

That's what makes Psalm 10 so powerful. It's not polished. It's not pretty, but it is real, and I believe that many times we confuse things and we think poorly when we think everything ought to be Psalm nine, but it won't be. 

[00:19:32] Applications from the Psalms

So I wanna give you some applications real quickly and we'll kind of, we'll kind of run through.

These won't take a lot of time. 

[00:19:39] The Power of Gratitude

Here's some applications I see from looking at these psalms and the first one is simply this, to give thanks loudly. And if I put my glasses back on, here we go. I will be able to read to you Psalm nine verse one. I will give thanks to you, Lord with my heart and I will tell of your wonderful deeds and what happens when you do that?

I will be glad. And I will rejoice in you. In other words, when we give thanks, something changes in us when we give thanks, because gratitude fuels faith. Moaning and complaining doesn't fuel faith. Moaning and complaining to God can get answers that we need and to make ourselves humble before God, but just by itself.

No, it's gratitude That works. It's giving thanks, and we give thanks loudly. God begins to do a work in our heart and we begin to become people of greater faith. If you can, thank God, and that was one of the songs that Sheila put in here. If you can thank God through the storm. If you can give praise when it's not easy.

That is a mark of being someone who's growing in their maturity and who sees that it's not just this one day or one hour or one month or one year. It's my whole lifetime that God is faithful. Even though there's times that definitely are a blip up and a blip down and maybe a blip below the line, still, God is faithful.

There's some ways you might do that. I've seen people do this many a time. I did it for a while and that that's to keep a journal of God's faithfulness. Just get a nondescript little journal and write down everything God has done good, every prayer that God has answered. Because the amazing thing is we pray for so much and God answers so many things and we don't remember it.

And so when something big comes into our life, we can despair. But if you can look back on those things God has already done. It's an amazing thing and some of the things that God does well, we totally stop thinking this is what God did and we just say this was really a good luck thing. Another thing you can do is around the dinner table, if you have children around the dinner table, speak gratitude loudly.

This is one of the things about giving thanks before a meal. Truly just thanking God and really thinking about saying. Thank you, God, for this meal. Thank you that we have this. Thank you that we're together today. Thank you that we are here, healthy today. Thank you for what you've done in the last day.

Thank you for what you have planned for us. There's times to give thanks around the dinner table or around or before you go to bed at night with your kids. Tell getting them to pray or in worship, let Thanksgiving be contagious. And that's what I saw this morning. That's why Mike couldn't get y'all to sit down.

It was contagious. It was moving around. I want you to remember, if you've seen it in the news, the images from war torn Ukraine believers still gathered underground singing hymns and thanking God for protection while the dust settles on them from the last bombing. That's giving thanks. Think about that.

Think about that when you understand your life. Having an attitude in the dark becomes a testimony in the light. 

[00:23:11] Asking Honest Questions

Number two, ask questions honestly. And that is Psalm 10. That's what I just said a moment ago. The first sermon I ever preached here at, uh, the chapel was in Habakkuk and Habakkuk deals with this too, is basically God is not offended by the why questions.

It does not shock him. It does not concern him. When you can ask, because honesty deepens intimacy. When you love someone, you can say, why, Lord, you can do that. And when you're worn down by anxiety, you can tell him that I need you to carry me. I can't go through this. And when you feel abandoned, repeat your question as many times as your need because God does not get tired of hearing his children.

You know, after we, we saw. The Maui wildfires, and we saw people praying things and asking God, why did my home burn down? We saw that again in California. Why did this happen? Those are not faithless prayers. They're desperate cries from God's people who still believe that he hears. And Psalm 10 reminds us it's okay to bring those cries to God.

[00:24:19] Naming and Confronting Evil

Number three, name evil. Clearly this is something that, um, we are tasked to do in scripture. We're to speak out about right and wrong. We're to talk about things that are injustice, and we definitely live in a culture in which that is not wanted. Nobody wants to hear what you think is right or wrong. Just make sure that when you say what is right or wrong, you have the backing of the scripture.

And so the psalmist doesn't minimize on sin or injustice in Psalm 10. He names it, we should too. Evil is not just bad luck. Evil is not well. I just got here too soon or too late. It was the wrong time. Call sin what it is. When sin is evil, when evil happens, name it. It's evil. Grieve and justice. Rather than just scrolling past it.

I think we need a new biblical or scriptural mentality of what grief is. It. Grief is not just to shove behind us and not experience it, and grief is not to deny something bad. Grief is to live through that experience with God, to let him see your heart and what is happening, and to let him heal that pain.

All you have to do is go to a book like Lamentations. I heard one guy call that, uh, the book of Lamentations, lessons from the woodshed. It when it seems like I'm getting whipped, it feels like I'm really going through a, a, a really tough time. And yet that book is in the Bible for us to see. There are times when we really do hurt and there's times when we've really been done wrongly, and so speak up for the vulnerable instead of staying quiet.

I have several friends who work in things like, uh, human trafficking, trying to get people out of that. You know, we know in just the last few years how many children, well, we don't know how many. We know there's well over a million children that have been lost when they came into the country. We don't know where they went, and there's some people that are trying to take care of that.

We should pray, we should, we should be involved when we can. Uh, children rescued from people who prayed on the week, the psalmist would've named that evil for what it is. It is evil and it cannot be allowed. 

[00:26:34] Bringing Your Hurt to God

Then number four, next to the last, bring your hurt to God, not against him. That's where we mess up.

I'm hurting. Instead of bringing it to God and say, look, I'm hurting. We accuse God because I'm hurting. Totally different thing, totally different thing. Psalm 10 shows us it's okay to say this hurts God. And we also notice in Psalm 10, the Psalmist never confuses God as a source of evil. So when the doctor calls with some bad news, pray your pain.

Instead of swallowing it, pray it. When we find out about someone who's hurting as we just did a moment ago, and we're praying for people, do that, pray for them, engage with them, with the assurance that you can do that, and with the familiarity you have with someone that you could do that. When betrayal cuts deep, lay it before God.

Jesus knew what betrayal felt like. If you think someone has betrayed you and done you wrong, understand He understood it better than you When tragedy hits lament to God and not about God. Now, I mentioned some things that had happened in the last, uh, week, and I think it's been on most every my person's mind.

If you did or did not know about Charlie Kirk, whether or not you've ever listened to him, I listened to Kirk probably, I don't know, six or seven years ago. And after a while, I stopped listening to him because I just felt like it really wasn't doing me any good. And then I started listening to him a year ago and I thought, oh my gosh, he's grown a lot more maturity here.

And so this week, uh, I have been inundated with emails and testimonies, and I have so many pastors that I'm friends with on social media and hearing their replies and what they're talking about and people that I respect. And I would simply say this. It is evil for a sniper to kill someone for talking, that's evil.

And if the first thing we go to is, well, we need to know how that person was hurting, no, we need to take care of the family that is hurting. We can do the other stuff. But when someone in our country is killed for their opinion, that's evil and we should name it. What's evil? The pain of the moment is raw.

People are shocked. Families are grieving. And a nation wrestles with outrage and sorrow. Dr. Denison, on his podcast with Mark Truman just this week, urged to believers to grieve with those who grieve, including Kirk's family, and to pray and to speak, and to act with compassion and truth and service in the face of violence.

We do not respond with evil, with hatred. That's what makes us different. That's what makes us God's children. It. We come to Christ. He saves us. He changes us. But we show that by the way we react to evil should, so, should we say that evil is not going to be punished, no evil should be punished. There's a very real reason for that.

When someone takes someone's life, they have struck the very image of God because we are made in God's image. And God put pretty strong statements in scripture about how important it was to not take someone's life because we're made in his image. It. And so we can be both. We can be faithful to do what is right, and we can also be loving.

We can, as Jesus said, pray for our enemies and we can pray for them. I'll tell you the truth, there's some people in the past few years that I have. Listen to. And sometimes it's political and sometimes it's social and uh, it's people that love God and people that absolutely hate God and want nothing to do with God and make fun of God.

And I've listened to those folks and I've heard them enough to where again, you kinda like turn it off 'cause I can't listen to this anymore. I really don't like this person. Don't hate 'em. We're just not buddies. And then you see God begin to do a work in their life and you say, aha. Can God really do things that are beyond what we would ever imagine could be done?

Yes, he can. He took Saul of Tarsus, who is going out murdering Christians and turned him into an apostle, and here's the bulk of our New Testament. Besides the gospel written by him. Yes, God can do what we cannot imagine is why it leaves us to number five. 

[00:30:58] Anchoring Your Life in God's Reign

And what Psalm nine and 10 both say, anchor your life in God's reign.

Anchor your life in God's reign. God is on the throne. There was an evangelist by the name of Billy Sunday. Some of you may have heard of this, and this is an old story, but it was funny. Uh, I was talking to somebody this week and they sent me a story about Mordecai Ham. Like I wouldn't know who that was.

I'm saying. I'm sorry. I grew up hearing these stories. I grew up reading about Mordecai Ham, who's responsible for Billy Graham's salvation. I, I know that, but Billy Sunday was a converted baseball player. Billy Sunday had these campaigns all over America, and he did some, he did some things. It's attributed to him that he was, he was a base Steeler, he was really good at stealing bases, and so they, it's attributed that on several occasions he would come out the stage in a full sprint and run and slide.

And get up and say, are you safe? Are you out? Begin campaigns like that. It's amazing what God, who God raises up in which generation to do something. But they came to Billy Sunday one time and they said, you know why we're having this campaign with the gospel and you're preaching about Jesus today.

There's this atheist that a lot of people like, and he's having a campaign over here, and he stood out here and he did on his stage. He said, if there is a God, I give him 60 seconds to strike me dead. And he said, he walked around a little bit and said, can't hear you, God. You're not doing anything. Okay. I got 50 seconds left, 40 seconds left, 10 seconds, and then nothing happens.

He says, see, there's no God. And they said, Billy, what do you think about that? And Billy said, it's a good thing. I'm not God.

That is the truth. It's a good thing. We're not God. We would give up on people who don't need to be given up on. We would stop sharing the gospel with people we think are just an absolute dead end. We would stop praying for situations we think can't be solved. I will give you a sin of my life. Y'all ready?

Just don't hold it over me. Tammy and I had been married for about two, maybe three years. I was serving in a church and there was a guy there who, um, who. Let's just say he didn't like me a whole lot because I married the pastor's daughter and there was things that came along with that, you know, and he calls me a lot of grief.

Uh, I actually had a job in the church that was above his job, and he didn't like that. And one day Tammy and I talked about, we need to pray about this. We need to pray through this. We need to pray that God will take care of this. We need to pray that either God moves him out or gets better attitude or something.

And so we prayed about it for a year. A year, only a year. And one day Tammy said, let's go by and see mom and dad. So we went by to see her mom and dad. Her dad said, Hey, this guy is doing this and so I need you to be really above board. I need you to be really careful about how you do this. And what had happened was he didn't like that I played golf, but I had a day off and I went and played golf.

And so he got in his mind, I was going to play golf every day, which, yeah, not working for her dad. I don't, but that's what he got in his mind. And so my father-in-law said, you need to just not play golf for a while, because he's, he's, he's doing that, he's, he's blaming that you're playing golf all the time.

And I did not like it. Not because I like golf so much. If you ever saw me play golf, you'd say, well, you've never done it before. But it was because this guy was changing my life, controlling a part of my life. And Tammy and I got in the car and I was boiling. See, I don't have any temper anymore, right Tammy?

But there was a day and I, and, and I said, I tell you what, I want that guy to get outta here. I want this to be soft. I'm tired of this. Now I'm in trouble for not doing it. And she said, as a wife will do, we just need to pray. And Tammy may remember this, she probably does and just has been too kind of.

Swinging over my head, but I looked at her and I said, I'm tired of praying I'm gonna do something. Boy, what? Maturity, what faith, what Daniel? I am what Joseph I am before my brothers. The next day the guy quit and moved away. There was an old comedian. Uh, I don't remember Don. Somebody played Maxwell Smart on Get Smart Adams.

Yes, Adams, whoever said that. And he used to say, missed it by that much. And that flowed back in my head and I said I missed being faithful by that much. Every time I start to doubt what God is going to do, that God is truly the anchor in my life. I remember that because our hope is not in what someone can or can't do to us.

By the way, our hope is not in elections or in paychecks or in medical reports. Your security is not in how strong you feel, but how strong God is. And so I'll just simply say it to you this way. Confidence in God who sees is the only way forward. That's the only way forward in the wicked. Say in Psalm 10, God doesn't see.

Faithful say God does see. So I'll finish it this way. God does see. And when you give thanks, God sees. God saw you today as you gave thanks to God. And when you cry out, God hears. And when you name evil, God takes note that you're agreeing with him and you believe what he says. And when you bring him your hurt God, the Bible says draws near.

And when you anchor yourself in his reign, you can stand unshaken between praise and pain is where we live, but we have a God who as we began today, blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Mine, I am his and he is mine. Pray with me. 

[00:37:26] Concluding Prayer and Reflections

Would you, heavenly Father, help us to not be children tossed to and fro by poor and bad doctrine, or by distress, or by things not coming up the way we want them.

Help us to still trust you when we can't see the end to a problem, when it can only be answered to by you and we cannot work it out. And we get so frustrated that we can't, and keep the, trying to think of a way to do it. When you are opening doors, we're not necessarily even looking at, and you're working in a mighty way because we are yours.

God, I thank you for these fine people here today who've come who know you, who have walked with you. And yet even in the midst of all these folks, there could be someone who said, I don't understand that kind of faith. I don't understand exactly how to do that, and maybe I just don't. Have salvation. May we understand that in each and every moment, we can call upon Jesus, confess our sins, and take him as our own and have heaven assured.

Thank you Lord. We love you. We praise you. And in Jesus' precious name that we pray. Amen.