WEBVTT 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:08.960 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:13.839 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:16.559 Amen. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.160 We ask if you would just to hold your palms up. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:22.719 In just a minute, I'm going to pray. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:30.079 One of the things I'm going to say is that, Lord, we understand that the Christian life is not always addition, that sometimes it's subtraction. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:37.679 And so by holding your palms up, what we're saying today is that God, you can subtract anything that doesn't need to be here. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:40.960 We love addition. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:41.920 I love addition. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:43.439 That's my confession. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.560 And sometimes the most formative thing God does is subtraction. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:53.119 So if you're just willing to just say to God, I got palms up today. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.600 Whatever you need to subtract. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:00:59.439 Let's pray together, beloved. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:03.759 Father, we stand before you as a blessed people, a bought people. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:11.760 But also we understand that sometimes we gotta lead the broad path, we gotta leave the broad path that leads to destruction for the narrow little road. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:13.840 We embrace that today, God. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.480 We say to you, our lives are just an open checkbook before you laid down a blank check. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:24.159 So, God, you remove from us anything that needs to go, add anything that needs to be added. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.480 We trust you, you're a father and you're good. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:28.879 We don't want to relate to you on the basis of rules. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.359 We want to relate to you on the basis of intimacy. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.799 We're a people that can hear you and obey what you say. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:38.959 And so, Lord, from your word this morning, remind us of these realities. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.000 We just want to say out loud, God, that we're palms up. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.879 We don't have a clenched fist before you today. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:50.560 We are palms up because you're so good, we can trust you with addition and subtraction. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.599 And so we just want our posture to demonstrate that to you. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.400 We so we just stand before you, just palms up. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:01.840 Now, before I finish this prayer, I want you just to just take about 15 seconds and pray. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.120 Whatever the Lord stirs up in you, just pray it. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.319 Father, don't let us be ruled by what we're afraid of losing. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:29.520 Let us be curious about what we're missing out on by holding on to things we should let go of. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.520 By holding on to people we should be letting go of. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.159 So, Father, we stand before you. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.960 It's just an with an open posture. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.599 And we say, Speak, Lord, your servants are listening. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:45.120 We listen in Jesus' name. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.120 And everyone said, Amen. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.080 You can have a seat. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:53.680 If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Psalms 40, the 40th Psalm. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.280 And I'll talk to you today. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.639 We're in a series where we're talking about life songs. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:02:59.680 Just your life song. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.000 What is your what every life has a lyric? 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.159 And today I want to talk to you about this life song. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:06.800 This song ought to come out be coming out of your heart. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.360 And it's simply this that God is merciful. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:10.639 That God is merciful. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:14.800 Now, I could talk a lot about God being merciful and this, that, and the other. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.639 Uh, in the 40th Psalm, we're gonna read there's a guy named David. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:22.960 He was King David, he was a great guy, a loved God with all of his heart. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:30.800 He was one of the only people in the Bible that the Bible says was a man after God's own heart, and yet he loved God and he did some really dumb stuff. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:32.240 Can you relate? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:33.599 Yes, okay. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:38.800 And so in the 40th Psalm, David's writing about a period in his life where he just said, You know what? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.400 God, I got it so screwed up. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:41.759 I made such bad choices. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.800 It was like my I was in this pit and I couldn't get out. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:45.520 I was just stuck. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:48.080 He refers to it as the Myri clay. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.879 Uh and he comes to you say, Well, what do you mean? 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.280 I brought a picture to demonstrate what I'm talking about. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.599 This is kind of what David's talking about. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:59.840 Now, this is a lady named Nicole Graham, and that is her horse. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:01.439 Her horse's name is Astro. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:07.919 They were riding on the beach in Australia, and they kind of got into the soft spot in the mud and the sand. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:11.840 The horse started thrashing about, and the more he thrashed about, the further he sunk down. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.840 She got off in a panic, okay? 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:18.879 Uh and so she's in this picture, she's holding his head above the water so he doesn't drown. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.680 She holds him for three hours. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.560 It was three hours before someone could get to her. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:30.560 And so, what what happened, just so you'll kind of get some progress, because some of you right now are like, you're not hearing a word I'm saying, are you? 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.160 You're like, I need closure. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:40.160 What happened was the uh the fireman came with a fire truck and they begin to just pump water in all around him to kind of break up the sand and make it more water than mud. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:41.759 And so they begin to make progress. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:49.519 I give you another picture, and so he's kind of coming out of the, and then finally, so you'll kind of know how it ends, he gets out. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:51.839 But here's the thing that I can't show you. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:05.120 When he got out, he was so physically exhausted from having exerted himself trying to get out of this pit that he just laid down, and for 30 minutes, they just had to just wash him off and just keep him down so his muscles could recover. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.839 Now, why do I show you a picture of a horse stuck in mud? 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:08.560 Here's why. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:18.800 Because there's gonna be situations and circumstances in your life and in my life where you're gonna get it all messed up and backed up and jammed up, and you're gonna get overwhelmed, and you're gonna get stuck. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:23.199 And I want to say to you, over that, remember this that God is merciful. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.279 That God is merciful. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:26.480 Let's look at the Bible. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.920 What the Bible says, Psalm 40, verse 1. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.639 David says, I waited patiently for the Lord. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.800 He inclined to me and he heard my cry. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:41.839 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and he set my feet upon a rock, making my step secure. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.439 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:49.199 Many will see in fear and put their trust in the Lord. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:55.759 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.879 You have multiplied, O Lord, my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:02.560 None can compare with you. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:04.399 I will proclaim and tell of them. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.079 Yet they are more than can be told. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.879 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.079 Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.560 And then I said, Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:20.879 I delight to do your will, O my God. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.480 Your law is written, excuse me, your law is within my heart. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.680 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:29.759 Behold, I've not restrained my lips. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.839 As you know, O Lord, I've not hidden your deliverance within my heart. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.319 I've spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.480 I've not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the congregation. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.120 And what David says is that, hey, he starts off really low and it finishes really high. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:53.839 Basically, he says, Hey God, I've not withheld from telling the people at my church in this congregation about how great you are and how merciful you were to me. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:55.360 And so, what do we take away? 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.399 Why do we say that kind of one of the life songs that comes out of our heart is that God is merciful? 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:04.079 Uh, there's four things that the Bible tells us uh in these ten verses. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.240 And the first one is this right here that waiting for the Lord is a learned behavior. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.639 Waiting for the Lord is a learned behavior. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:19.279 My meditation this week has been the first six words of uh uh of verse one, where David says, I waited patiently for the Lord. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.000 I waited patiently for the Lord. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:37.920 Now, that's one of the hardest things that we do is wait patiently because it but it's also one, I don't know if you're anything like me, but like when we go to dinner on a Friday and we forget to make reservations or whatever, and I just think, hey, the line's probably the wait's probably not that long at Papasidas. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:39.759 I pull up, I don't park. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:41.360 Yeah, some of you have been there. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:42.720 Uh I don't park. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:51.120 I pull up on the curve and I make my wife go in and ask the question, how long is the yeah, and when they say 55 minutes, I'm like, oh no. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.720 No, I'm not waiting 55 minutes because then I won't be hungry. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.959 I'll be hangry, and that ain't no good. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:02.639 And so, but then my wife goes, Well, by the time we drive somewhere else and get on the wait list there, it's gonna be the same thing. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.160 I ain't waiting 55 minutes. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:05.759 There ain't no wait back at the house. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.600 I go home and eat cereal. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.000 And every once in a while, my wife prevails. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:14.560 Like if it's 35 minutes, she's like, Well, by the time, and I was okay, go and put her name on the list. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:18.959 And so I'll go park, and I know everybody's over there at the bar, and people are waiting outside. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.560 Like, if this is a hostess stand, I wait right here by the hostess stand. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:25.040 And I'm like, hey, how long on that one right there? 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:26.800 Uh, yeah, Neo Party and Trip. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:28.160 You got eight people in front of you. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:29.199 I'll pull out money. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:30.720 How many people in front of me now? 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:32.000 Eight people. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:32.480 Why? 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.159 Because I hate waiting, okay? 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:36.000 It's a very unnatural thing. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:42.320 But what I'm saying to you this morning, what I'm learning, is that waiting is one of the most formative things that we can do. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:44.240 Let me say it again. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:48.320 Waiting is one of the most spiritually formative things that you could do. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:50.399 I got him David Mathis said this. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.120 He says, our perspective on waiting is one of the stronger ways that our society is out of stride with the biblical worldview. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:03.840 We're kind of out of sync with what the Bible clearly demonstrates that waiting is going to be part of the process. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:10.720 The Bible says it like this in Isaiah 40, verse 31, it says, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:15.279 They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:19.759 Isaiah 64, 4 says, From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:24.080 No, I have seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.320 Now hear that again, beloved, and look at that. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.919 From of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.159 No, I have seen a God besides you. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.919 Hear this last phrase, who acts for those who wait for him. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:41.120 Some of you wonder why God doesn't come through for you, why God doesn't do something in certain situations. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.759 It's because you don't give him a chance. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:52.240 Here's my concern is that most of us have enough network of friends and business connections and enough money in the bank that we never have to wait. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.000 Just ask yourself, when's the last time I had something going on? 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:01.279 I had something really a pressing need in my life, and I just waited on the Lord. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:14.000 Because here's the reality: unless we learn to wait, we'll always speak about being in need to everybody we meet, just in in the hopes that they might come kind of come through for us and do something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.159 And we rely on ourselves and other people. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:24.080 What you do is you teach yourself, hey, and when you've exhausted everything, God, instead of becoming the first option, is the last resort. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.799 So you say things like this, well, we've done all we can. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:29.519 I guess all we can do now is just wait. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:32.799 Maybe that's what you should have done in the first place. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:35.440 Maybe you should have looked at your wife and said, you know what? 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:40.720 I don't know what we're supposed to do, but I do sense we're supposed to just wait on the Lord. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:42.879 Let me tell you three things about waiting. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:45.519 Uh, just you can just jot down if you want, if you don't have to. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.679 Number one, the Bible begins with an episode with a picture of waiting. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.679 The entire Bible, Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.639 And the earth was void and formless, and darkness was over the surface of the uh over the deep. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.600 And then he says this, and God, the Spirit of God, was hovering over the waters. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:14.000 Before God did anything, he's just kind of hovering, he's just kind of there, sovereignly in charge of everything that has anything to do with all things. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.440 And he's just kind of waiting. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:16.960 He's not in a hurry. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.159 He's not panicked, he's not, oh my gosh. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:28.879 So the Bible begins with an episode of an all-powerful God that's just kind of waiting for the time and the timing to sync up with what he wants to do. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:36.480 Second thing I want to tell you about waiting is that when you wait, uh, there's a difference between identification and deliverance. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:38.960 There's a difference in identification and deliverance. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.399 What I mean by that is there's people that can identify with you, but they can't deliver you out of this. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:46.080 They can say, Oh, I understand. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.960 Oh, I see, I had a situation like that before. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:54.960 And if you're not careful, you will get so much from people that you won't need anything from God. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:02.320 You gotta hold on to this sense of I waited patiently for the Lord. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:08.000 Third thing I would say to you is that there's a holy momentum that only comes from waiting. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:14.080 There's a holy momentum that only comes from waiting. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:15.840 What do I mean by holy momentum? 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:21.840 I mean a sense that there's somebody bigger than you at work in you and in your circumstance and situation. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.240 There's something beyond all of your resources and all of your stuff. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:27.360 That's what I mean. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.039 Allow me to demonstrate. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.240 My senior year in college, I roomed with a guy named Joey Butler. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:35.440 Uh, he was an abnormal human being, okay? 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:42.080 He talked about God in terms like God was just like, you know, just it was it was it was unsettling. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:48.080 Uh one day he went out to get in his car on a Wednesday afternoon to drive to his church about an hour away where he was a youth pastor. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.960 He walked out, two minutes later came back in, threw his keys on the dresser, and started taking his shoes off. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:54.559 I said, Hey, I thought you were going to your church. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:58.000 He said, Ah, I went to crank my car, my motor just blew up. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:00.799 And I and he's taking his shoes off. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.159 And I said, What are you doing? 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:03.600 He goes, I'm gonna take a nap. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.840 And I was like, I got out of my bed. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.240 I was like, Well, what hey, what what you're what do you mean? 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:09.200 It just locked up. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.519 Yeah, I lifted the the thing and looked at it. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.000 It just seized up and it's gone. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.799 I mean, it's been uh on its last leg for a while. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.399 And I said, Well, Joy, what are you gonna do? 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.159 I mean, I'm standing over his bed, he's getting undressed, and I'm like, What? 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:25.679 Whoa, whoa, well, I mean, I mean, you want me to get the guys, we can all chip in it. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.480 He looked at me and said, I don't want you to do anything. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:30.799 I said, Well, what are you gonna do? 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:32.960 Not my car, it's God's car. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.759 When God tells me what God's gonna do, then I'm gonna do it. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:37.759 In the meantime, I'm gonna take a nap. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.960 In five minutes, he was sound asleep. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:48.320 And here I was here's how I know that because when you get around somebody that knows how to wait on God, it drives you crazy. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.120 Because you can't do anything. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.799 And we want to do any, we want to do one of my spiritual gifts is giving. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.840 I was like, hey, come on, we'll all chip in, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:13:59.279 He goes, No, no, no, no, no. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:01.200 Let me just wait and see what God's doing. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.039 Then I want to get in on what God's doing. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.840 I don't, and so, how do I know he's asleep? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.000 I was like, there's no way he's so I stood over his bed and I was doing this over his eyes. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:11.279 Like, wow, wah, wah. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.519 That sucker was just deep breathing. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:20.639 And I walked back over to my side of the room and sat at my desk, and I was just staring at him like, What in the world? 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.080 The next Sunday went he went to his church. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.840 An old man, this isn't a Baptist church, this is a sign from God. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:33.840 On a Sunday morning, this old man stood up and said, Hey, I know we're not in business meeting, but I make a motion. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:35.919 We get called into a business meeting right now. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:40.879 And he said, This man's taught us the Bible, he's taught our kids the Bible, he's modeled faith. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:42.799 The Bible says he's worth double honor. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:47.039 That means that that doesn't just mean honor, that means support provision. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:51.360 And so I think we ought to take up a love offering for our youth pastor to get him a new car. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:52.480 And they did. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.440 And the next week he drove up on our campus in a new car. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.120 And me and all my friends were like, is that church hiring? 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:09.519 He walked in, same way, threw the keys on the desk, sat down, started taking his shoes off. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:12.000 I was like, hey man, your car, that's awesome. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:13.679 Let's go riding around, blah, blah, blah. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:14.720 What are you doing, Joey? 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:15.919 I'm gonna take a nap. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:22.320 And I remember being, I mean, this is this is a private Baptist school. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:25.279 We were all broke, we were all in debt to be there. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:27.519 And he was just like, and I said, What? 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.720 And he said, Hey, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.440 In this situation, the Lord took away and the Lord gave. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:35.440 What else is there talking about? 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:42.080 See, there's a holy momentum that comes on people who know how to wait on God. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:48.159 And so when I say that waiting for the Lord is a learned behavior, David said, I waited patiently for the Lord. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:51.200 He inclined to me and he heard my cry. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:59.759 He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog, and he set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.159 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.600 Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:12.879 See, the second thing the Bible tells us is that God's deliverance is evangelistic by nature. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:14.399 God's deliverance. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.399 When God does, when you wait on God and God does what only God can do. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:19.279 Look at me, beloved. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:20.159 Don't miss this. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:27.200 When you and I learn to wait patiently on God for God to do what only God can do, other people now. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.639 Look at what he says, because it verse 3 says, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:34.799 Many will see and fear. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.919 Now, it seems like with a song you would hear a song. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.600 He says, Many will see and fear. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:43.440 He's talking about more than just the song. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:46.639 He says, many will see and fear. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.879 So when I say God's deliverance is evangelistic by nature, let me ask you this question. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:56.320 What if God wants to relate to you in such a way that it makes other people want to know him? 00:16:58.480 --> 00:16:59.600 Let me ask it again. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:05.599 What if God wants to relate to you in such a way that it makes other people want to know him? 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.960 Because David says, many will see. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.599 He said, Hey, God lifted me out of the miry clay. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:21.200 He gave me a firm place to stand, he put a new song in my heart, a hymn of praise to our God, and many will see what God's done, and they'll fear. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:22.000 Hear that? 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.440 They'll see and they'll fear. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.799 That doesn't mean, oh, please don't get us, God, don't hurt us. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:28.240 It's that's servile fear. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:32.160 That's the fear of a servant who's afraid he's gonna get beat for not doing his job. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.480 No, this is more like awe. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:40.319 This is more like, oh my gosh, that is incredible. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.319 Are you kidding me? 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:44.160 Not at all. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:46.000 Absolutely not. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:47.119 Not at all. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:52.079 I remember when we were pregnant with Sophie, our youngest, we didn't have maternity insurance. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:59.119 Uh we had a hard time getting pregnant, and our insurance guy said, Hey, you get a maternity rider, it's just got you're gonna pay for this baby twice while you have it. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.240 You ought to just save up money and pay for it out of pocket, okay? 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:07.759 So we'd save up money and we'd meet somebody that had a need, and the Lord would be, Hey, I want you to give them that money. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:09.759 And we're like, Okay, here you go. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.880 And so our baby doctor is not a believer. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.240 Our baby doctor would scold me every time we went to an appointment. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.240 Why you always travel around? 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.240 You stay home and get a real job. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.480 I was like, Yes, ma'am, thank you for shaming me. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:23.039 I'll try. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:28.559 Uh, and so finally we had to have it all paid by like the seventh month of the pregnancy. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:32.160 She said to me, she said, you know, it's$7,400. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:34.960 And I said, Yeah, that's what you tell me every time. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:36.960 And she goes, What are you going to do? 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:42.960 And I said, I I'm doing, I'm working, I have a job, I travel around the country and preach. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:44.799 No, you need a real job. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.000 Have you ever tried to explain faith to somebody that doesn't have faith? 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.839 It's a very frustrating reality. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:01.200 And so I left that weekend, went to preach at a church for the weekend. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:06.240 Uh Saturday night, we're praying with the college kids that are leading, and we're just talking. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.160 And I said to them, I said, Hey, how you guys doing? 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:08.960 What you got going on? 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:11.279 And this girl said, Hey, my dad lost his job. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:14.480 And I just go to the community college out here, and I can't even afford that. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.640 And Clarisabelle, the Holy Spirit, said, Whatever this church gives you, you're gonna give her. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:22.880 And Clarisabelle, I said, back to God, I got a baby coming. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:24.480 Okay. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.920 You can't put these kids on layaway. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.559 But I knew it was God. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:35.599 I knew it was God. 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.359 So I went to the youth pastor and said, Hey, do you know what you're paying me for this weekend? 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:41.039 He goes, Well, you said you come on faith. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:42.480 I said, I do come on faith. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:44.960 But but but faith is evidence of things, you know. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:46.079 We've got to evidence this. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.359 He said, Yeah, what's right? 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:47.839 I said, Great. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:48.880 Is that girl over there? 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.240 I want you to tear that check up, write a check in her name and tell it's for college. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:53.759 He said, God, that's awesome. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.160 I called my wife, she's crazy as a loon. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:59.440 I called her that Saturday night and said, Hey, God told me to give the check away. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:00.319 She said, Amen. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:02.079 Let's obey. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:05.599 Because here's my sick confession. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:07.599 I wanted her to rescue me. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.839 I wanted her to say, I appreciate that, baby, but we got to be adults. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:12.960 We got a kid to pay for. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:14.799 But no, she said, Oh, bless God. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:16.640 You do whatever God says, we'll be fine. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:17.839 So that was Saturday. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:21.519 I got up and preached Sunday, drove home about five hours back to Sugarland. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.200 Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.079 That, for the record, that's not a hymn of praise to our God. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:38.720 That is, everybody feel sorry for me because I had I did what God said, and it doesn't look good right now. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:43.200 That was on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:44.079 I go to my mailbox. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:46.799 We've got a little community mailbox at the end of our street down there. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:49.519 Open the mailbox, there's an envelope from this church in there. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:51.759 And I was like, I told him not to send me this. 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:52.160 What? 00:20:52.559 --> 00:21:00.720 And I opened it up, and it was just a blank sheet of paper with a sticky note on a check, and it just said, Neil, one of our members uh felt like God told them to give this to you. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.480 And it was a check for$10,000. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.799 And so I walked into our baby doctor. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:08.000 BAM. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:13.599 Don't hate the play, I hate the game. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.039 And she burst into tears. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:17.920 She loved my wife. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:18.960 She couldn't stand me. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:20.240 She burst into tears. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:25.519 She hugged my wife and she looked at me and she goes, Oh, oh, and I said, See, God's faithful. 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.039 God's gonna provide. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.039 Now, why do I tell you that? 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:34.720 Because when we walked out of there, people that worked there were kind of like, Are you serious? 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:37.039 They weren't curious about us. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.799 They were curious about a God that takes care of his people like this. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:22:02.400 So when David says, hey, many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord, what I'm saying is that God wants to so relate to you, wants to deliver you out of circumstances and situations in such a way that people look, people that know you, God wants to heal your marriage in such a way that people that know you are kind of like, Hey man, you guys are on the verge of divorce. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:03.359 What happened? 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:09.200 You have a hymn of praise in your mouth to God, and you need to sing it in that situation, my man. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:14.240 You don't need to say, Well, we went to counseling, and counseling helped. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.279 Glory to God. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.000 Go to counseling, but praise God. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:25.119 He lifts you out of that Miry clay and he gives you a firm place to stand, and he puts a new song in your heart. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.720 This new song is a hymn of praise to our God. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:34.799 And when other people hear it, by the way, if you want the biblical context, you want to sit in the Bible, it's Acts 16. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:48.000 Acts 16 tells a story about Paul and Barnabas, these two guys that were walking around the city preaching the gospel, and this servant girl, she was like a fortune teller, and she was walking behind him and she was like, Oh, these men are servants of the Most High God. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:51.839 Did it for days, and finally Paul turned around and he said, Hey, he had enough of it. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:52.720 Remember this. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.119 It is no consolation to have the wrong people say the right thing about you. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.640 And Paul turns around and he realized she's doing this by an evil spirit. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.720 So he cast the spirit out of her. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.079 Uh-oh, the people that owned her couldn't make money anymore. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.880 So they got mad at Paul and they took him before the court. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:14.079 And he and Silas were thrown in jail and they were beaten. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:15.200 They were severely flogged. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:20.960 Acts 16, verse 25 says this about midnight, after they'd been beaten and severely flogged. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:24.880 About midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:26.799 Hear the next verse. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:28.960 And the prisoners were listening. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:30.720 Hey, look at me. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:32.720 The prisoners are listening. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:35.279 They're listening. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:39.680 And God, his deliverance is evangelistic by nature. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:47.119 He wants to work in such a way that it causes people to look at you and go, Oh my gosh, I want to know this God. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:55.119 That's why when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, an earthquake hits that prison and the doors flew open. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:58.720 And the jailer comes in and he's so he's so nervous, he's going to kill himself. 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.799 And Paul says, Relax, we're all right here. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:05.200 Then he comes in and falls down at their feet and says, What must I do to be saved? 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.319 Because God's deliverance is evangelistic by nature. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:11.839 Third thing the Bible tells us is it learn from your experiences. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:15.599 Learn from your experiences. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:16.720 Look at verse 4. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:23.359 He says, Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:24.480