WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:08.160 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:13.039 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:19.359 So I pray now that these people in this room who are all in different places in the journey. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:29.679 Some have just begun, some have been going for quite a while, but we're all in different places, and we've all grabbed hold of these different blessings you promise us in different ways. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:41.679 Lord, I pray that today you would bring new light, that you would bring new eyes, new ears, to help us see and taste that you are good in your word. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:43.359 I pray for myself now. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.960 Lord, help me not to just preach about the word, but to preach the word. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:54.719 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight. 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:56.560 I pray this in Jesus' name. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:57.359 Amen. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.520 Well, good morning. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:07.040 My name is Clyde Copeland, and I am the worship pastor here at Grand Parkway, and today I have the privilege of bringing to us God's Word. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.519 You've seen from our artwork and from the stage and from what's up there. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:22.799 We're going through a series called Psalms, which is exciting to me for a number of reasons, but one being that the Psalms often get called the prayer book of the Bible. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.159 Today I want us to be reminded that they're also the hymn book of the Bible. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:27.760 This is the song book of the Bible. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:31.760 This is the place where God's people went for worship. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.239 This is the next best thing before you get to the Baptist hymnal. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:40.239 People don't like Baptists, okay. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:43.200 I want to begin today with uh a story. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:47.599 Uh the year 1986, two big things happened in 1986. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:49.599 The first being uh I was born. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:56.239 The second thing was Halley's Comet passed close enough to the earth so that you could see it. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:58.079 Now, this was a big deal back then. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:01:59.680 Who remembers Haley's Comet? 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:00.879 Can I see your hands? 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:02.799 Okay, you're all older than me. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:12.639 Alright, so I was born the year, I can't remember it, and so if you if you if you know anything about this, it's a big deal because Haley's Comet isn't showing up for another 75 years. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:18.000 So it'll be 2061 before we can hope to see it again. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:20.960 Now, I tell you that because uh for me, Mr. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.680 Clyde Copeland has to live in between two comings of Haley's Comet. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:32.479 Uh now, that's not exactly what I call a big event, but I do want us to look at some big events in Israel's past. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:52.319 Things like the crossing of the Red Sea, or things like David defeating Goliath, or things like the ark being brought back from the Philistines and captured and brought into Jerusalem with King David dancing in front of it, or the prophet Elijah slaughtering the prophets of Baal, and God sending down fire out of heaven. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:57.439 These are great, miraculous events we see when we look in Scripture. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.800 And I think when we do that, it's easy for us to read these stories and think, man, they had it so good. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:10.080 They could just believe in God and He would show up and do amazing things, and that'd be really easy to believe in a God like that. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:20.319 But if you were to take all the miracles in the Bible and stretch them out over all Israel's history, you might see a miracle every 30 years. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.520 So what do you do in those in-between times? 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:30.319 How do you deal with the fact that you know there's a God, you know he's the creator, you know he's selected you, he called Abraham, remember? 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:33.039 And he said, Of you, Abraham, I'm gonna make a mighty nation. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:40.719 So you believe these things about God, and yet you're still living in the day-to-day life where it doesn't seem like there's a lot going on. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:46.159 Well, that's not just us that experiences that, it's the people of Israel too. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:47.680 And how do they deal with it? 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:49.520 They wrote songs. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:54.080 They wrote songs, and we have 150 of these songs here in our Bibles. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.639 So if you have your Bible, and I hope you do, grab one. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.960 If you don't, there's one at the end of your pew and turn to Psalm 92. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:03.199 Psalm 92. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:09.120 And if you uh get one of those pew Bibles, I'm on page 498. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:15.280 And if you're new to using a Bible, the the chapter numbers, you know, the large numbers on the page, and the verse numbers are the small ones. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:18.959 Read with me here Psalm 92, the word of the Lord. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:33.360 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.680 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.800 At the works of your hands I sing for joy. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.759 How great are your works, O Lord, your thoughts are very deep. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:52.399 The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this, that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:05:02.639 But you, O Lord, are on high forever, for behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish, and all evildoers shall be scattered. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.160 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:08.399 You have poured over me fresh oil. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:14.720 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies, my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:16.319 Verse twelve. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:22.240 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:26.399 They are planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of our God. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:33.120 They still bear fruit in old age, they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:36.800 He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.000 This is the word of God for the people of God. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:41.600 Thanks be to God. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:46.319 Today there are three things that I want us to see in this psalm. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:56.160 And the first one is that Christians are gathered by God to do three things: give thanks, sing praise, and declare truth about God, declare the word of God. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:57.680 Now, is that the only three things? 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:58.480 Not at all. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:02.240 But these three things should definitely be present in our gatherings. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:06.399 Now, when I say give thanks, there are lots of things we give thanks together for today. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:12.800 We give thanks for our salvation, we give thanks for the resurrection, we give thanks for our pasts, our own history. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:19.680 I mean, you know those moments in your life where God has shown up and rescued you in a very particular, special way. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:27.680 But more than just the list of individual things of thankfulness, we're to be called to an attitude of thankfulness. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:30.720 We're called to be people that are known for our gratitude. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:32.800 I mean, men, this is us all the time. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:35.839 We struggle with this because we got to have the latest new toy. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:43.600 You know, we we we we get that extra uh bit from the tax break, or we get that bonus, and it becomes, oh, what let's see here. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.959 The 2015s look pretty nice this year. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.040 Uh and am I knocking on getting new stuff? 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:49.600 Not at all. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:50.639 But I got a question for you. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.319 Cheryl Crow has this great song called uh Soak Up the Sun. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.720 Love the song, don't like Cheryl Crow so much. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:01.120 But she says in the song, it's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you got. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:02.800 Do you want what you got? 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.319 Do you want what you got? 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:06.240 Not saying it's bad to get new stuff. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:07.600 I like new stuff. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.279 But do I want what I got? 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.759 Am I, to use a word we don't always hear too much, am I content? 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:15.360 It's one thing to be happy. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:16.480 Are you content? 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.639 Are you known as a person of gratitude? 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:26.079 Church, when we gather, we want to be known as people of gratitude in light of the most wonderful thing that could have been done for us. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:26.959 Salvation. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:29.920 God's big plan, the story of the gospel. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:31.600 We give thanks for that when we gather. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.519 The second thing we do is we sing praise. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:37.600 We sing praises to his name, O Most High. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:42.480 When uh when we do that, what we're doing really is emotionally engaging. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:43.920 Now that sounds all brainy. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:47.120 We're emotionally engaging ourselves with truth. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:48.959 Let me put it to you this way. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:50.000 Let me bring it down here. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:57.439 Uh, it's the difference between just saying something like, We are the champions, my friend. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.879 And we'll keep on fighting to the end. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:03.040 Who wants to do that? 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.199 We are the champions, my friend. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:08.319 Guitar part. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.600 Don, don't, and we'll keep on fighting. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:12.720 Okay, yeah. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:16.160 I mean, it's the difference between to take it to another genre of music. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:23.199 It's the difference between saying, I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole, but no one could steer me right, but mama tried. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:25.199 No, I want to sing with Merle. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.920 I want to go, I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:32.720 No one could steer me right, but mama tried. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:33.679 Mama tried. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.320 We get the band back up here and cover that one, don't we? 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:37.279 Yeah. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:41.200 It emotionally engages us with what we're saying. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.720 Yes, we need to say truth. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.080 Yes, we need to speak truth. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.200 But as a gatherer of the church, we need to sing truth. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.600 And this isn't just, oh, we're because singing's fun. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.960 No, singing's in the Bible. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.200 It's here because the Bible tells us to do it. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:09:03.519 And in the New Testament gatherings, they would say, speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts and giving thanks to the Lord. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:04.399 Sound familiar? 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:05.200 It's right here. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:07.279 That was nothing new for Paul's time. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.720 It was right here. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.480 The third thing we want to do is we want to declare truth. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:15.440 We want to declare truth together. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.440 We want to stand and sing truth together. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:25.039 When we declare truth together, notice the word together, I'm saying this is demonstrating unity. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:32.559 The fact that when we get together and sing, it's not just the job of the person who stands here and the team of singers that are here. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:34.399 It's not their job. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:36.720 It's our joy. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:42.399 Singing is not a parti, it's not a spectator event, church. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.399 It is a participatory. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.279 It is a we thing together. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:48.799 There's a quote from a pastor I love. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:58.720 He said, far better than the rough, or excuse me, far better than the sweet sounds of a few trained singers is the rough and hail sound of pardoned criminals. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.960 Y'all ever been down to the prison down the road for a church service? 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.080 Anybody ever been there? 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:05.120 Raise your hands if you have. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:05.919 A few of you. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.320 We would go down there, and these brothers were getting down. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:13.919 I mean, they had a low roof, so I mean it's just resounding in your ears. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:20.240 These are men that have been freed up and know the depth of their depravity, yet they also know the gospel they've been called to. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:26.159 Church, when we get together, we are pardoned criminals that have received the fruit of salvation. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.039 Let's taste it and enjoy it and not stand there and watch somebody else enjoy it. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.159 I said the third thing is declare. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.600 What are we declaring? 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:41.519 Well, the context of this psalm is you see there at the title, it says that this is a song for the Sabbath. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:48.080 So what Israel would do is they would get together in the temple and they would spend the morning declaring the steadfast love of God. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.799 Or they would spend the evening declaring his faithfulness. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:55.919 It was an entire day of declaring about God what God has declared about God. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:57.600 Now, what has God declared about himself? 00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:59.440 Well, let's look back to Exodus 34. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:00.159 You don't need to turn there. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.120 I'll read it for you. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:09.360 Starting in verse 6, this is what God says to Moses after he's broken the first copy of the Ten Commandments. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.360 So Moses goes back up. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.039 Here's what God says about himself. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:27.360 The Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:34.559 Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.080 And then Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.200 God revealed something about himself, and what was the response? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.240 Worship. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.799 God has revealed himself to us through his word. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:46.559 Our response, Church, is worship. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:47.679 That's very simple. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:51.039 Yet it's easy for that to get bogged down in a lot of distractions. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:12:01.600 You remember a few weeks ago, our lead pastor Neil stood up here and he shared a story about the fact that we have a very therapeutic youth culture when it comes to worship. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:10.960 We're very good at singing about the imminent parts of God, the warm fuzzies, the love, the gracious side, the mercy side. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.919 And I mean, there's nothing wrong with singing with that, right? 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:15.519 I mean, we we can run to God. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.919 He does have open arms as we sang earlier. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.639 There's nothing wrong with singing about that. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:28.879 But we're not getting a steady, full diet of Scripture when we choose to only sing about the parts we're comfortable with. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:34.399 Here it also says God will by no means clear the guilty. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.159 Visiting the iniquity of the Father. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:37.440 Question, who's guilty? 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:39.519 Remember earlier I said we're pardoned criminals? 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.200 We're all guilty. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.679 And sometimes we have a danger of just singing about like we're we're good with God, we we've done no sin throughout the week. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.919 We we've got nothing to sing about but his love. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:55.360 And no matter how much we wander, no matter how much we stray, God's, I gotcha, I got you. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:01.440 And when we present it that way, we're we're blurring the images. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.759 We're making it look like something it's really not. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.720 And I want to share a story with you that kind of shows that. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:15.679 A few of you might be familiar, a little known story uh a few years back, the Presbyterian Church United States of America, that's their full title. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:17.600 Earlier I said Presbyterian Church of America. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:18.639 There's two different denominations. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:20.000 So this is the PC USA. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:24.399 They were getting ready to put together their new hymnal. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:32.159 Uh again, I don't know why you need another hymnal besides the Baptist hymnal, but they're putting together their new hymnal. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:34.879 And they wanted to include the song in Christ Alone. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:36.080 Now, most of us probably know that song. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:37.200 We love doing that song here. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:38.080 It's a great hymn. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:42.559 It's written by two guys, uh, Keith Getty and Stuart Town, and two of the greatest songwriters of this generation. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.320 I want us to look up here at verse 2. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.840 This is the uh part that the Presbyterian Church wanted to change. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:52.240 It says, In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God and helpless babe. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.480 This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:57.600 So far, so good. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:02.879 Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on him was laid. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.039 Here in the death of Christ I live. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.200 What in the world would you want to change with that? 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.240 That is a great summary of what happened at the cross. 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:11.279 Here's the problem they had. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:15.279 Second paragraph, second line, says the wrath of God was satisfied. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.159 They wanted to say the love of God was magnified. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:20.879 Because they were uncomfortable talking about God's wrath. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:30.320 Their theology of the cross says that God sending Jesus to the cross, yes, it was a great act of love, but it leaves out the fact that you and I are criminals. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.720 Somebody had to pay the penalty for us. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:37.440 This is called what we called in seminary the penal substitutionary atonement. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.480 Don't write that down. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.639 Just remember, Jesus died in your place. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.759 He stood as your substitute. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.440 Why would you not want to sing about that, church? 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.679 Because you're uncomfortable with the truth of the Bible. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:51.279 And that's the one I want us to hear today. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:57.039 We are responsible to declare the truth about God the way God's declared it. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:58.879 I can't be any more simple than that. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:05.039 So we sing, we give thanks, and we declare about God what He's declared about Himself. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.440 We have the privilege of having this for us. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:08.320 We don't have to guess. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:09.840 God's taken out the guesswork. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.000 We don't worship some distant sky God. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.519 He's close to us. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.320 He's put his word in our hearts and in our mouths, and he's done it through the Holy Spirit. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:27.600 That's the God we get to know intimately, but we also know transcendently, is a God of love and a God of wrath, a God of justice, but also a God of mercy. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:29.840 That's the God we have the privilege to worship. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:35.600 So let's make sure at church that when we gather here on Sunday mornings, that we give thanks to the God of the Bible. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.279 We sing to the God of the Bible. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.840 We declare to God what God has declared about Himself. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:45.759 That is what it looks like to worship in this hymn. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:48.960 Now, this is a hymn which is a genre of Psalms. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:54.399 You have lament psalms, you have Thanksgiving Psalms, what uh our mission pastor Wade preached on last week. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:00.399 You're gonna hear uh from an imprecatory psalm or a lament psalm here soon, uh, and wisdom psalms as well. 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:01.840 You have these different genres. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.159 I like to think of them as different flavors. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:11.679 Because the great thing about psalms is that it gives us the full range of biblical emotion that we need to experience. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.039 There's something wrong if you go to your church and every song is happy. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.879 And I'm not saying that your job is to me to come here and you feel bad, not at all. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:24.799 But I'm saying to declare about God what he's declared about himself, life is not gonna always be happy. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.360 Has anybody seen the new movie Inside Out? 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:28.480 Pixar? 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:35.120 I haven't seen it yet, but I really want to because I've seen from the previews there's different emotions that control this little girl's mind. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:41.200 And one of them, the one that usually gets to do it is joy, but there's also sadness and anger and disgust and all these others. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:46.879 And I saw from the preview, you know, sadness got to take a control of the controls and control the girl for a little while. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.720 And I think as Christians, we act like everything's supposed to be happy all the time. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:58.559 And that's the great thing about hymns, is that they show us that, no, there's there's times when you're not gonna feel like worshiping God. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:02.559 You're gonna look around you and think, is there even a God? 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.960 You're gonna cry out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:08.240 Does that sound familiar? 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.640 Jesus loved the Psalms. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:12.799 He loved these words. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:16.400 Jesus quoted the Psalms like Neil quotes Johnny Cash. 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.920 I mean, he loved this part of the Bible. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:25.119 If you look in the New Testament, guess what the most quoted scripture is of the Old Testament? 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:26.559 The Psalms. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:28.960 What we sing matters, church. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:30.079 So hear that today. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.799 Giving thanks, singing, declaring about God. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.880 That's why we gather on Sunday mornings and other times as well. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:41.599 The second thing I want us to get to is learn how to deal with culture shock in two kingdoms. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:44.000 Anyone know what culture shock is? 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:47.200 Uh I learned about this for the first time back in 2009. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.279 My wife Nicole, we've been married for five years now, but before then we were just dating. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.200 Uh she got back from a uh a trip overseas that lasted two years. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:03.359 She was in Central Asia in a third world country, and when she was there, the people uh had about three choices that day of what they were going to eat usually. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:07.440 It was either tea, it was uh bread, or it was potatoes. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:17.599 She came back to the U.S., spent a few months at home that summer, and then started her uh master's degree at Louisiana State University, go Tigers. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:24.799 We had started dating, and I was living in another part of Louisiana, and we would usually see each other on the weekends, so I came down to Baton Rouge one weekend, and I what do you want to do? 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:25.680 I don't know, what do you want to do? 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:27.039 Well, I gotta make up the mind for us. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:31.279 So I said, Well, why don't we go to uh Tailgate for LSU? 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:34.559 Culture shock. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:40.720 Go in the dictionary, look at LSU Telgate, and you will see culture shock. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:44.559 Now, so we went and it was it was just overwhelming for her. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:45.920 I mean, there's no other way to put it. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:55.279 You you've been in a country where you see the struggle that people have living in a third world country, and you go back to seeing all that affluence, all that abundance, and am I knocking that? 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:55.440 No. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.079 I think we could go to Tailgate after this and we would be fine. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:18:59.440 Anybody with me? 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:01.200 Okay, I need some jambalaya. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.200 So let's go to an LSU tailgate. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:05.920 No, what what what was the deal with that? 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.440 Well, it's a jolt to your system. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:18.640 It's going from one thing and realizing, okay, this is true, this is reality here, and then coming to another place, this is true, this is reality here, and there's a not very pretty collision that just happens in your heart. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:20.480 My wife was, she wasn't my wife yet. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.559 She was so upset she wanted to break up with me that weekend, and I hadn't even done anything. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:26.400 I was like, blame LSU. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:27.839 It's not my fault. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.799 So, what do I mean when I say learn to deal with culture shock in two kingdoms? 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:36.880 Well, as Christians, we live in two kingdoms. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:44.880 Colossians 1.13, it says that I have transferred you out of a domain of darkness into the kingdom of my son, who I love. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:50.640 So we're out of the kingdom, but yet we're still in it. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:57.759 As people, we are still here, we're living, we're breathing, we're flesh and blood, fallen flesh and blood. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:10.000 And we live with conflicting truths, like the fact that, well, Jesus came, he died for our sins on the cross, so that we could know him, so we could have a relationship with God, and yet, well, I live by faith and not by sight. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:14.319 So, in spite of the fact that I have to live that way, I have to do a bunch of seeing in the meantime. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:16.000 I have to see things that distract me. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:18.000 I have to do what the psalm writer does right here. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:18.960 Look with me. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:23.440 I want to start at verse five, picking up where they left off there. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:26.640 How greater your works, O Lord, your thoughts are very deep. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.440 And then notice how the mood shifts here. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:31.759 It kind of goes from up here down to here. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:41.359 The stupid man cannot know, the fool cannot understand this, that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:43.759 But you, O Lord, are on high forever. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:50.160 Behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish, all evildoers shall be scattered. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:02.400 You know, we can get together, church, and declare that God is all perfect, He's steadfast, He's faithful, He's all knowing, He's all powerful, and yet we can go out these doors, look around at the world around us and say, Why doesn't God do something about that? 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:04.400 Why doesn't God do something about ISIS? 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:06.799 Why doesn't God do something about the Holocaust? 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.599 Why doesn't God do something about the Roman Catholic priests that were getting away with abuse? 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:17.279 We have to learn to deal with one chapter of the story. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.400 We live in one chapter of the story. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.240 God knows the final chapter. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.599 He's written it for us partially in the book of Revelation. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:29.359 We have to live in this chapter, though, in light of that chapter. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.200 The world doesn't live in light of that chapter. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.920 The world lives in light of the here and the now. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:43.119 I was watching the news yesterday, and my wife said, there was a woman. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:45.599 She had six abortions. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.799 She had aborted six viable fetuses just so she could have a boy. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:56.720 Six girls never got to see the light of day. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.039 Wicked people sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:10.079 It's easy to see that and go, God, why? 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:10.960 Why? 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:14.079 And we can't forget this. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.440 Verse 7. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:17.759 Don't forget the though. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:20.079 Don't forget the though. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.640 Underline the word though in your Bibles. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:25.920 Verse 7, that though the wicked sprout. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:27.920 They are doomed to destruction forever. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.240 For you, O Lord, are on high forever. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:35.599 This is what it means to deal with the culture shock of being in two kingdoms. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.000 That's why the psalm writer, he jolts us back to our sins. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.480 He says, the stupid don't know this, the fool cannot get this. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:48.559 But people that have experienced the maturity, they've experienced knowledge, they get to a place where they say, In light of that, I know that you've still got me, God. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:58.000 You know, we a few weeks ago we we learned a new song called The Glory is Yours, and the chorus goes like this: Oh God, the glory is yours, the kingdom is come, and the battle is over. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:03.119 And at the end of that service, uh Neil had asked me to sing another song. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.279 It's called This Is My Father's World. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.599 And in this is my father's world has a line. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.279 It says, This is my father's world, the battle is not done. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:22.880 Now, one of our more discerning members came up to me and said, Clyde, how are we singing that the battle is over and the battle is not done? 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.359 I mean, do you even care about what our songs say? 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:26.480 No, they didn't say it like that. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:27.920 But they did point this out. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:30.000 And I said, I'm really glad you caught that. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.599 I mean, it means the world when people care about what we sing. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.400 So I always say that to people, thank you for caring about what we sing. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:40.160 And I said, you've got to learn how to live with already and not yet. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.960 Already Jesus came, already Jesus won the victory of defeating sin. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:46.720 That battle is done. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:52.160 And yet the battle of him coming back, where he does in Revelation, it hasn't happened yet. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:53.599 We wait for that. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.960 We wait in between those two big events. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:04.880 And God gave us songs like this to sing in the meantime, so that we remind ourselves, yeah, I'm feeling really shocked right now with all this. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:05.920 God's got this. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:07.359 God is on high forever. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:24.880 You know, this gay marriage thing in the Supreme Court, it's interesting because I know here in the next few years, decades, maybe, it's going to get so bad, it's going to be at the point where people look at Christians that believe the Bible and they're going to say, You are crazy for believing that marriage is only to be between a man and a woman. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:27.440 And I want to be there that day and I want to look at them and say, This. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.200 You think I'm crazy for believing that? 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:39.200 I believe my God is going to show up on a horse with a sword coming out of his mouth, on the clouds, a tattoo on his leg that says, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and he's going to end the battle. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:41.920 That's crazy. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:49.680 These are the things that sustain us so we can live with the culture shock of Two Kingdoms, Church. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:55.200 Remember the story of Paul and Silas when they got arrested for preaching the gospel and they're in prison? 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.039 What did they do? 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.200 They started a political action committee to start lobbying for Christians. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:04.160 They sang. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:07.839 They sang a song and they prayed prayers. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.000 I could see them singing Psalm 92. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:17.119 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your steadfast love. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:23.119 In spite of the fact that I'm in prison, I can sing this right now because I know you're on high and you reign forever. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:24.640 The men that are persecuted. 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:28.400 He didn't say, oh man, if we could just get a good Christian on the Sanhedrin. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:30.400 No. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.400 He sang a song. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:33.599 And what happened? 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:35.519 God sent an earthquake. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:37.279 And all the jail cells opened. 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:41.519 And they ended up leading the jailer to the Lord and leading his whole family to the Lord. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:54.799 Church, what would happen in America if the churches that are here became less known about the things we usually get worried about for our flesh, and we became people known for giving thanks, for singing, for declaring about God what he's declared about himself. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:58.400 What kind of earthquake would God send on this place? 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:07.519 The third thing that we see today, as we gather, God is preparing us to meet him. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.359 We can gather and sing songs on Sunday mornings. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.400 We can deal with a broken, fallen world. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:17.200 But it's not just for that purpose. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.839 God's preparing you and me to meet him. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:21.599 He does not leave us where we're at. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:28.160 Jesus said, unless a kernel of wheat dies and falls to the ground, it won't spring up and produce much fruit. 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:31.519