Psalm 25

Speaker 7: Hey, man, thank you for that good singing here today. This morning especially was good and tonight been great. Thank you also for the nice gift. Can't wait to open it. Like you put it in orange paper. Would not have been good to give me something in crimson paper because I wouldn't have been able to open it. I couldn't touch it. Pardon me or something. You know, I'll always be grateful to a man named John Richardson. John Richardson was the first pastor that hired me out of Bible college, didn't know me from Adam, had no connection to me. He just interviewed me and said, Hey, you want to come be our youth pastor? And I said, Yeah, sure. Where do you live? No, it wasn't like that. But we went out to Florida and he gave me my first chance to work in the church. And then, of course, God brought us to Virginia. And 23 years old, Troy Calvert said, here's 125 teenagers. Don't mess it up. I'm like, okay, now that's interesting. Never thought about that. But my youth group was actually bigger than this church was when when I took it. But anyways, but then you guys, it's different because I only had to interview with John Richardson, the pastor, and he hired me. I interviewed with Brother Troy Calvert and I met with parents. But really it wasn't the parents decision whether I came, it was the pastor's decision he brought me on. But coming here and candidate for this job, it wasn't one person that decided you all had to decide. You all had to to say yes to 29 year old. Still very much a kid who had never done this before. Right. Never pastored before. And y'all were gracious enough to not only let me come here to serve in this position alongside you, but then, as I mentioned this morning, over the last four years, you've been very gracious to us, and I'm sure I've done things that have bothered you, offended you, maybe caused you to scratch your head, but you're still here. And those of you that have stayed through the transition, I'm grateful to you for that. Those of you that have joined us since then, I'm grateful for you doing that as well. You know, there might have been some people when when I got right on that we're just like, oh, well, it's the majority decision. I guess we'll wait and see how it goes. But if you've joined us since I became the pastor, that's all on you. I mean, nobody voted for.

Speaker 4: You.

Speaker 7: To come here. You made that decision. And so I'm so grateful and glad that my family gets to live here, work with you. I love that my kids get to grow up in this community. We've just made so many good friends here and excited about what God has for us in the future. And I don't know Miss Britney, if you remember or not. You said, what's your five year plan? When we were doing the candidate thing, I don't know if it's all worked out exactly as I thought, but I'm pretty happy with the way the first four years have been. And if it's any indication of what the next four years are like, then I think we've got great things in store for us that the Lord will continue to bless. I don't think I'm wrong in saying this, but I met with the deacons and the trustees this afternoon and as I spoke to you on our Vision Sunday about our plan this year, our theme is refresh. We've really worked hard. You have sacrificed a lot. You've put in a lot of hours to try and renovate, refresh the facilities here and look around and see that a lot of things have been improved and changed and just a lot of work has gone into it. So we said let's let's take a bit of a Sabbath time of rest not to do any major fundraising. Well, finish up the projects we had started, which, Lord willing, the playground is our last little piece, which should be done soon. The teen room is is, for all intents and purposes, done, and the teams have been meeting up there. But let's take this year to just take a rest, not a rest from outreach or rest from serving God, but a rest from the building, a rest from the remodel and renovation. And just let's pray and see about what God would have us to do in the future. And, you know, it's a blessing that we have the building we do. It's a blessing these buildings are paid for. We don't have to pay every month on a building a building payment. But if God is going to continue to bless our church with more and more people, I think it doesn't take too much vision to look around on a Sunday morning. And see they're starting to be less and less room for new people to come in. I know that there was a spot right about where Brother McKay is sitting this morning. But let's be honest. Somebody comes in that back door. Do they really want to walk to right there to find a seat on a Sunday morning? Probably not. You can be here during the week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and you'll see our preschool in action. And we are using almost every bit of space that we have available to us for classrooms, for our preschool. We have waiting lists for our preschool, which is awesome, right? That's great. We had more room. We could have more kids. One is is doing great. We're been having over 200 people here on a Wednesday night. We used to get excited when we had 200 people on a Sunday morning. A lot of what is has been just injecting new life and energy into the Wednesday night time together. And so we are seeing the benefits of growth. We don't want to put a cap on it because of facilities. And so one of the things that we've been looking into, talking with different companies is a site plan, master plan for the property here. What you see on the property now is is what was planned. There were no further buildings that were planned in the drawings back in 2000 when this was taken on. And so if we're going to move forward, we don't we don't want to do it just willy nilly throwing up buildings here and there. We want to have a strategy moving forward and be wise in investing the resources that you are giving back to the Lord through this church. Right. And so just talking to the men about some of the of the initial conversations that have been taking place, the initial meetings, everything is in the infancy of this process. But I did want you to know that there is work going on behind the scenes to prepare us for the future. So what does that mean? January 2023, we break ground. No, no. It's probably still a couple of years away that we see anything new built on this property. But if we continue to grow at the pace that we've been growing in a couple of years, we're going to seriously need some more room. And so we don't want to wait until we're maxed out to begin those preparations. We want to start now so that when we do need them, we've done our homework, we've done the legwork, the foundational work to move forward. And so that's what we're trying to get done this year. We were open about that in January and just want to let you know that that has not changed. And there are there is some legwork going into the the imagination or the the things that we said we wanted to do. We want to follow through on those things. I don't want you all to ever hear me say something. And again, not ever. You probably do. But I don't want to have a reputation for saying great, wonderful things and never follow up following through on it. Miss Nance, you may remember some of those first children's meetings that we had after I got here, and I said back then, when we get big enough again, we're going to have a once we have a oneness. And, you know, I want to make sure that we follow through on the things that we say we're going to do. And so that's why we're we're taking these steps. So please, here's why I say this. Please pray for your church. Put this in the prayer sheet every week. Pray for the ministries of your church. Pray for the leaders of your church. Please pray for me. Pray for the staff. Pray for our officers. I rely on them to be. I say this a lot, too, especially our deacons. The eyes and ears. My eyes and ears among the membership. I try to talk to as many people as I can, but I don't always get to talk to everybody. And you may say something to a deacon, assuming that they're going to let me know. And so I need them to be the eyes and ears. The trustees also do a great job with that, but pray for them and me as we try to walk through this path, the path that the Lord would have for us in a wise and sober manner. So I would appreciate that if you prayed for me every day, it would be very, very good. Think about if you have them and turn to some 25. So I'm 25 as we're going to be tonight. I'm glad to hear from Brother Clarence that Miss Britney is at home and doing well and resting. And thank you to all those of you who have already signed up to help by taking the meals. I think some people are starting to actually add dates on the end of the calendar of meals. So if you would still like to bring them a meal and you didn't get to sign up, talked with Clarence and just let them see when that would work for them. And I know that they would not turn that away. Right. All right. So I'm 25. If you're there. Go ahead. Join me in standing as we read God's word, if you're physically able. So I'm 25. Number one. The Bible says unto the, Oh, Lord, do I lift up my soul? Oh, my God, I trust in me. Let me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph over me Yeah Let none that weighed on the be ashamed but then be ashamed which transgress without cause Show me thy ways Oh, Lord, teach me they paths lead me in thy truth And teach me Thou art the God of my salvation on the do I wait all the day? Remember, Oh, Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness is they have been ever of old, remember? Not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions according to my mercy. Remember Thou me for thy goodness sake, oh, Lord, good and upright is the Lord, therefore, will He teach sinners in the way the meek? Will He guide in judgment? And the meek will he teach his way? All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth under such as keep his covenant and His testimonies for thy name sake. Oh, Lord, pardon my iniquity for it is great. What man is he? The fear of the Lord Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose? His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, or He shall pluck my feet out of the net, turn the unto me, have mercy upon me. I am desolate and afflicted The troubles of my heart are enlarged Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses Look upon my affliction and my pain And forgive all my sins Consider my enemies. They are many They hate me with cruel hatred Oh, keep my soul and deliver me Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in the Lord integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on the redeem Israel Oh God, out of all his troubles, let's pray and we Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the time that we can spend looking into it. God, I pray that you give me the words to say. Help the folks that are here to listen and apply it here to their lives. Sports in Jesus name. I pray and then think maybe see it. I remember in Bible College we had one professor who would always say this just to get us thinking. But what if we're wrong? You know? Now, that's a scary thought if you really want to think about it. All the Bible stories, all the doctrines, the whole plan of salvation. But what if we're wrong? I don't like to think about it, you know. It's not fun. But it might be something that, for some of us, hangs in the back of our mind more than we would like to admit. I mean, let's be honest, there are a lot of worldviews out there that present a different version of the world than what you and I hold to as believers. Have you ever heard the phrase your truth? Right. Everyone has their own version of truth. How can anything be true if everyone has their own version of it? You know, here's the psalmist. The Bible refers to it or identifies the Psalms as David. They're in the the the prescription or the whatever you call it, the inscription of the psalm. And David is writing here, and there's a theme that runs throughout of Lord, let me not be ashamed. God, I have committed something to you. And Lord, I'm trusting that the day will not come where I am ashamed that I have placed all of my eggs in your basket, that I have put all my trust. In fact, he says, even there in verse number one, I have put my soul in your hands, or please don't let me regret this. I said, Well, I don't think I like this. This version of David. David is a man after God's own heart. David is the sweet psalmist of Israel. Surely David never had any doubts. Well, he certainly had some thoughts going through his head of Lord. Please don't let me be ashamed. Don't let this all be for naught. Let's be honest. If you're going to live the life of a true disciple, there is a cost that comes with that, isn't there? We talked this morning about the matter of injustice and not taking matters into our own hands. Could you not be honest with me and say sometimes it just feels better to handle things yourself, not to give it over to God, but just to fix it. We're going to be a true disciple, live a pure life, not give in to the vices of the world to refrain not only from murder, but even talking bad about somebody. We would hope that it's not for nothing. David has the concern. He has expressed his hope in God that he has placed his soul in the hands of God. He has trusted in the Lord in verses one and two. But He prays that His trust has been well placed. You see, this almost is not without enemies. The funny thing about enemies is that they come in many different forms. You think enemy? You might think somebody with a sword coming to hack you up, but that's not always the form that an enemy takes. You see, an enemy could be not just a physical opponent. It could be a philosophical one. You know, it doesn't take too much interaction with the people of this world to find out that there are philosophical enemies to a Christian worldview. So the biblical worldview, David, is here being very transparent with God and with the readers and saying, Lord, I put my faith in you. There are those out there who disagree and would even be my opponents in this stance. Lord, help me not to be ashamed of my faith. He is concerned that the day may come where he is ashamed of his choice. Will those who stand with the Lord one day be ashamed that they placed their faith in Him? Well, there come a day where they not only regret trusting God, but maybe regret the manner in which they trusted God. Surely I'm not the only one here who looks at their life's decisions. And from time to time thinks, But what if I had done something else? You're here on a Sunday night. That makes you pretty strange. And I don't mean strange like, you know, old school strange. I just mean strange. How many of your neighbors were getting in their car to come to church when you were leaving? I would wager probably not very many. You might even think in your own family that you know of how many of your family. Meantime, in there Sunday evening do go to church. Maybe not many. You see, there are a lot of people making different decisions than we are when it comes to the pay. Oh, all of you know this or not, here you are at an independent Baptist church, and the Baptist churches are by no means a powerful political financial force in this country. They're a pretty small minority compared to the big mainline denominations. You know, you talk about moving forward things and in expanding our ability to host people here at these facilities. You know, we don't get to write to the denominational headquarters and say, hey, we need a grant for this amount of money. Can you can we apply? That's not available to us. Maybe you think, well, maybe. Why are we Independent Baptist then? There's a lot of people that are asking that question right now. Did we make the right decision? Are we putting our faith in the right place, the manner in which we are serving God? Is this the right path for us to be on? Or will we one day get to the point where we're ashamed? Then I wasted time. Why did I spend so much time at church? Then why did I spend so much time reading my Bible? Bummer. Why did I invest in those kids? What a waste. Will that day come? You know. I wonder about our impact on our enemies, our opponents, those who have a an aversion or an antagonism to our faith, the practice of our faith. How am I doing when it comes to the battle of ideas with those that hold a different worldview to me? My fighting the right fight? Am I walking down the right path? Some of you are sitting there thinking, maybe this guy shouldn't be our pastor. He doesn't seem to know a whole lot. And I know where I'm going with this. I just try to get you. Taught you to think for yourself. There are people that I love that have a totally different worldview than I do, only to our estimation of what is moral and what is immoral could not be more this. Our estimates are our beliefs on who Jesus is and what role he ought to have in our lives could not be more distant. We don't just do things willy nilly here in our church. And, you know, there are people who will look at the way we do things here and think, well, why in the world would you do that? Will there come a day where I you are ashamed of what you've done with your life, giving your life to God the way that you have. Will there come a day where you say, You know what, if I could do it over, I would have done this instead. When people oppose us, it makes us ask that question and we should ask that question. We should know why we do what we do. We should know why we believe what we believe. We ought to have good reason for putting our faith in God the way that we have. Don't you agree? You're watching a movie where you have the hero. And I'm thinking of like a boxing movie with, you know, an Italian boxer. I won't say the name, but you can probably guess. And, you know, everything seems to be going good in their life right at the beginning. But then here comes this opponent. And the boxer thinks, you know, he's on the top of the heap. He's on top of the world. And here comes this opponent. And the opponent, either literally or figuratively, punches him in the mouth. Now, I do realize this morning I missed a great opportunity with the whole slapping thing. Given what happened last week at the Academy Awards between I didn't even bring it up. And it was. But here comes the opponent, punches the hero in the mouth, and hero staggers back and maybe he loses that first fight. What always happens in a good boxing movie is you have to have a training montage. Right. This inspirational, upbeat music starts to play and there's all these different exercises you see the hero doing as he prepares and trains for the rematch. And perhaps there have been some times where you have come up against an opponent, an enemy of your Christian worldview, and you went into that interaction unprepared and you got smacked in the mouth and it made you say, Oh, should I be ashamed of the stand I've taken for God? Should I be ashamed of the faith that I have in the Lord? Well, David's going to take us through a process, through this psalm of where he shows us how God as our coach trains us and prepares us to not be ashamed of him. All right. It's really cool how this works out. Looking verse number four down to verse number seven was me first. How is it that God can save the psalmist or the believer us from being ashamed of their choice to trust the Lord? Well, first thing we see is that David desires that God would show me Thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth, and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on the door I wait all the day, remember, oh, Lord Thy tender mercies and my loving kindness where they have been ever of all. Remember, not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, according to thy mercy. Remember, thou me, for goodness sake. Oh, Lord, how can the Lord prepare the psalmist? How can he save him from being ashamed of his choice? Well, according to these verses, by teaching him the right path for his life. You see, God does have a way. God has a path back all the way. When we started studying the Book of Psalms, the first couple of songs have a lot to do with the paths of the righteous, the path of the righteous path that the Lord has ordained for His followers to walk on. And if there is a path for the righteous, then it stands to reason. There is a path of wickedness. He has a path. God's way is related to his truth. And I it's interesting that he says, lead me in thy truth. We already talked about it, but every worldview has to deal with the matter of epistemology, the matter of truth. What is truth is truth. Relative is truth concrete. Whose truth are you going to follow? There is a philosophy of truth, and whether we realize it or not, even as Christians, we may be guilty of having a relative truth mentality. Psalmist is only interested in the truth of God. Why is he so interested in God's truth? Well, because God is the God of the Psalmist salvation. How many ways are there to heaven? Is Jesus the way the truth and the life? Is He the only way? Well, then, I would think that we should be concerned with what his truth is, regardless of what I think is true. Because sometimes the thing things that I think are common sense aren't so common. Since we're dealing with an issue in our Sunday school class with young adults dealing with the matter of homosexuality. And I don't know how many of you have been faced with this matter, either in your social group or in your home or family. But sometimes the argument is made, Well, I can find love. I can find intimacy. I can find support in this person that is the same gender as I am. Why would God be against that? Well, God's truth is that marriage is between one man, one woman for an entire life, regardless of you. And I see the common sense in that that is what God has said is true. We've had to look at what is the deeper meaning of of marriage. And as I've said from this pulpit many times, it's because marriage is a picture of the gospel. The gospel is God reconciling, uniting with us two totally different beings. Right. The gospel is not the story of a homogenous relationship. We are as different from God as a woman is from a man. And yet God overrules that valley between us to have an intimate, close, loving, supportive relationship with us through Jesus Christ. You see, even if it doesn't make sense to us, we have to trust that God has a reason for the things that He says. We have to trust in His truths. God's path and leadership are established in his character. You look at verse number six says, Remember, Oh Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness is for they have been ever of old. That word loving kindness has to do with the blessing of God. His blessings have been part of who He is from the very beginning. Because of this, because of his mercy. The Psalmist asks God to remember, not his sins. It's so amazing to me that throughout this you'll see several different references to the sins of the psalmist. And there's a progression that we'll see. But here in the first part, he says, Remember, not my sins. Isn't it great to know that through Jesus Christ, our sins can be forgotten so that, you know, before, when God looked at you, he saw you based on your sin. Maybe He saw you as a murderer, as an adulterer, as a as a homosexual person. But now that you're saved, he doesn't see the sins of your past. He says, this is what the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Jesus. And your sins are washed clean. They are forgotten. He remembers them no more. And you look at verses eight through 11, we see a further progression in this this training montage that we have here. He says, Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, will he teach sinners in the way we have a false impression of God? So many times we see him as vengeful. We see him as looking to find some reason to judge you and to punish you. The Bible says he is good. He is upright. He is good. He is upright. God is good. You see it as a kid, don't we? Don't we sing that song? Am I making it up okay? Does the man was singing for us? Nobody does. I guess I'm going to have to do it. And I'm not going to do it. God is good and upright. He doesn't want to leave those who trust in him without support. Dave David's concerned that there will come a day where he is ashamed because he wasn't able to defend or he wasn't even to himself. He wasn't able to come to grips with why he had placed his faith in God and lived in such a way. And in verse number eight, we see that God does not desire for those who trust in Him to go on without his backing. Says that he will teach sinners in the way. How many of you are sinners here this morning or this evening, anyway? Yeah. So God's offer here is to me. He will teach me in the way he instructs sinners according to some rate. Verse number nine says he guides the meek. Are you thankful for GPS your car? If you're not thankful for GPS in your car, then I would wager that you don't get out a whole lot because if you found yourself in a strange city, you'd be very grateful for something to guide you. I've told you about time that my wife and I tried to go around the Washington, D.C. area, and I. I had an iPhone, but I didn't have a lot of data, so we were going to use the GPS, but I thought, I don't need G.P.S. I can guide us through the D.C. metro area. Got us so lost, man. We ended up in the worst part of D.C. There's some bad parts of D.C. and he said, Would you like me to get out? So yeah, you better do that. Guides the meek. Remember, meekness is strength under control. Meekness is a forgoing of my rights. When we are meek, the Lord is able to help us. This almost then goes back to the topic of His sin. He says all the powers of the Lord are mercy and truth and the such as keep his covenants in his testimonies for nine namesake. Oh Lord. What? Pardon my iniquity for it is great. So David's not under any assumption that he has some great thing. He knows this sinful sin is ever before him. He knows how wicked he is. And so he says, Lord, though, just forget my sin. Remember it no more. But Lord, pardon my iniquity for its great. Purge them from my record. He wants to be led and taught by God. In verse number 12, we see that what man is he? The fear of the Lord. Him. Shall He teach in the way that He shall choose? Lord teaches those. Reveals Himself to those that fear him. David saw himself as being in need. He saw God as being worthy of fear. And so the the psalmist tells us that those who fear the Lord will be taught by the Lord. One of the outcomes of being taught by God and leading the way. First number 13 says his soul shall dwell, ese and his seed shall inherit the earth. Notice it says here his soul shall be. It is not. His life will be at ease. The difference between having an easy life and having your soul be at ease, a soul that is at ease will like we've talked about through the Book of Psalms, whether you're at a time of peace and pre-storm, whether you're in the middle of a storm or whether you're coming out of a storm, your soul can be at ease throughout all stages of life, all the cycles of life. And when we are taught in the path of the Lord taught to walk in the paths of righteousness, then we can have ease of soul, but we also will receive an inheritance that we can pass on to our children. What would that inheritance be? Well, my children watch my responses to the storms of life, don't they? Things are good. They're watching. When things are not so good, they're watching. When I'm at my best, they're watching. When I'm at my worst. They're still watching. If I'm going to walk in the paths of the Lord, if I'm going to let God lead me, guide me through this life. Not only will I benefit from the ease of soul that God will grant to me, my kids will benefit from the example that they see from their mom and their dad. That's one of the great things about a church family to see none of us experience the same storms doing. Some of you have experienced some storms that I haven't experienced. Don't forget, there are people who are benefiting from you as you follow God through your storm. You are setting an example, whether good or bad, for the other people that are witnessing your life as to how to deal with these things. Are you leaving an inheritance for your children? This is seed shall inherit the earth. It's interesting that meekness would be mentioned in the same passage as that, because, according to the Beatitudes looked at this morning. Jesus said, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Then look at this first. Number 14, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them His covenant. God's secrets are made plain to those that fear Him. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of was. They don't have to be Secret Service. God wants us to know. Fear is the door that opens those things up to us. But, you know, as I said before, not everything is easy for a Christian. Those enemies, those opponents who are against our belief, those opponents that are against the idea that there is a creator, God, that will hold all men accountable to his law. They don't just go away because you get saved. They don't just go away because you start walking with God. In fact, they they oftentimes ramp up their opposition to you when you get serious about actually living the Christian life, don't they? The good news is that when you're walking with God, you don't have to face the opponents by yourself. First number 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. It's almost as focused on God walking towards God, drawing closer to the Lord. Look what God does for the Psalmist says, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Who set the net to catch the psalmist? The enemies, the opponents that were trying to literally trip him up. You hate it when somebody thinks that they've got a gotcha statement. You know, that their their argument is like so full proof that they've they've got you cornered and maybe this person had them cornered before. That's why David kind of needed to go back to the drawing board and get closer to the Lord, and you'd face them in an argument before or a debate, and you had no answer. So you go back after spending some time studying what the Word of God said, and they lay the same net for you again. They just know they're going to trip you up again this time. This time God saves the feet. Plucks your feet out of the net. Verse 16 says, Turn the unto me, have mercy upon me. For I am desolate and afflicted smallness that's trusting in God. When He is facing a dryness, weariness of soul, He doesn't turn to all of the different things that the world offers to deal with these matters. He turns to God when he's desolate and afflicted. He doesn't turn to drink. He doesn't turn to to sensual pleasures. He doesn't turn to some kind of entertainment that will amuse him so that he doesn't have to think. He turns to God. Or 17 troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh, bring down me out of my distresses. You know, when I was a youth pastor, it was really nice because whenever stuff was going on in the church, I always thought, you know what, the pastor will deal with that. I hope. I know this family is struggling and I'm glad the pastor is talking to them. This this trouble is going on. It's brewing. And you can see it. You know, we we served through a church split. And the whole time I'm singing, it's on the pastor. You know, ultimately he's responsible. There's certain freedom in liberal or liberal liberty, you know, and just knowing I'm not the one ultimately responsible. Those days are gone. You know, we haven't lost a lot of people. But when someone does leave, the statement is usually made. It's nothing personal. That's a nice sentiment. It just doesn't work in reality. This church is inextricably connected to who I am personally. I'm not trying to say it's like twist your arms. If you leave, you're going to hurt me. But it just it's going to. You can't not take it personally. That weighs a lot on your heart sometimes. There's times where at night I can't really turn it off and it makes my heart feel that this is not something that's unique to me. You have felt this in your own realms, your children, and they're not walking with the Lord. Does it not weigh upon your heart? Does when you're uncertain about your financial future. Like, it really doesn't make sense how things are going to work out. Doesn't it weigh upon your heart when you get that news about your health and the doctor says there's not much we can do? Doesn't that weigh upon your heart? You lose a spouse. You have to think about the fact that the next however many years God gives you, you'll be without that person. Doesn't that weigh upon your heart? David says, The troubles of my heart are enlarged. What is the experience because of this distress? Who does he turn to to save him out of that distress? His mentor, his friend, his spouse, a random individual on social media. Now he turns to God. God is the one that delivers him from his distress, says Lord. Consider my enemies. For they are many. And they hate me with cruel hatred. Why did they hate David so much? Was it really because of David? I think David seemed like a pretty nice guy. But I like Paul. Paul seems like a guy I would not have liked. But David seems like a nice guy, genuinely. I mean, you know, the ladies liked him. Men seem to like him. Everybody seemed to like David. Why were there so many enemies there? Could it be because of his connection to the God of Israel? So keep my soul. Remember back in verse one, he said, Do I lift up my soul under the Oh, Lord, keep my soul, protect my soul and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in the. What did Joshua say to the children of Israel? Choose you this day, whom you'll serve. What did Moses say to the children of Israel who is on the Lord's side? Here's David. And he say, Lord, I'm on your side. God, I've chosen to serve you. Please, Lord, with all of these enemies, all of these things that are coming against me in life, please don't let me be ashamed. Don't let me regret putting my trust in the Lord I need. Okay, let's put it in terms that we talked about this morning. Lord, I need you to prove you're trustworthy. Now, if you came to me and said, Gregory, I just don't know if you're trustworthy. I'd say, You know what? Probably have good reason for thinking that, right? I'm a sinful person. I'm a selfish person. I mean, it came down between you and me. I'd choose me, Clarence, but not all of you guys. But you know, if a bear is chasing us in the backfield, knock you down so I can get away. Can God be trusted? Yes. Can David trust God no matter how many enemies lined up against him? Yes. Not be ashamed. I put my trust in the let integrity and uprightness preserve me. For I wait on the. See the theme of this song is that the psalmist would not be ashamed, having put his faith and trust in the Lord. This would be a pretty easy application for us. Is there are those who think we are. We should be ashamed of our faith in God. There may be times where the constant grind against you and against your faith causes you to wonder. I really make the right decision. When I was four years old, I really did the right thing and putting my faith in Jesus Christ. God is not like us where he gets, you know, his ego hurt when we struggle and trusting, he's got big shoulders. That's why he says, Try me, come and taste. You'll see that I'm good. Take my yoke upon you. You'll find that it's easy. My burden is light. Is not afraid of being tested. So tonight, maybe you're wondering, well, whether or not Lord can be trusted in your situation. Can I be trusted in the scenario that you're having to face your life situation? Maybe you're wondering. You're saying to God, God, please don't let me be ashamed placing my faith in you. God says, I will never feel you. I'll never leave. I'll never forsake you. Feel. Fear me. You'll be meek. I'll not only protect you and be with you, but I will teach you how to walk in the right paths. I will lead you in the way that you should go. I'll guide you in the secrets of the Lord. I will open up to you. There are some secrets about following God that you just can't understand until you have walked down a certain path. He says, I want to make that available to you. So I'm 25 is a great song. It's a lot of help here in practical living for the Lord God. We thank you for this day. Thank you for the truths that we found here. And some 25 the trust that we can have in you. God, I pray that you would help all of us, or regardless of the doubts that we may have from time to time of us, to always turn back to your trustworthiness, your faithfulness, the stability that we can have, or in following you. God, I pray that you would protect us from our enemies. God, you would give us the right words to say when we are confronted about our faith. Help us to always have an answer for those who question our beliefs. Lord, I pray that you would strengthen the faith of your people here today. Jesus name that I ask these things. Amen.

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