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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you let's sing this out in the first turn back to you you you you you to be comforted you you you you you All right, we're gonna dig right into Psalm 77 here if you want to look down in your Bibles there at verse number one Bible says I cried unto God with my voice even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me and there are still Similar themes throughout this psalm as we've seen in other psalms, but again, we've brought this up in the past I just want to point it out again in that first verse where it says I cried unto God with what with my voice Even unto God with my voice and we ought to have time and you know, I think in American culture Especially I know this is how I was raised You know people have a tendency to pray to God very silently and and I do too I pray to God in my heart very frequently But we don't want to get away from just speaking to God and like Calling out to God and when you do you could do a whole study on this and it's pretty interesting how frequently people are It's pretty evident and very clear that people are praying to God audibly with their voice out loud making the requests known to God and Actually speaking to God even though we know God can he knows the thoughts of our hearts and and that doesn't mean that You can't pray that way of course those situations work But we don't want to make that just the norm and the standard all the time when we pray that it's always just this silent thing in our heart it It resonates more when you can speak things out loud It doesn't mean it's any more real necessarily. Of course what you feel in your heart We think your heart is real as well But we see a lot mentioned about this in scripture And I just want to make sure that we're all thinking about that know like hey look This is saying I cried unto God with my voice like why would you even have to add that? You know there's there's plenty of references in scripture about the same type of thing you say look I cried unto God with my voice. We know that for example Daniel when they made the law against praying to the Lord and And not going to the king first and not getting permission first before you can make any type of prayer in a session He prayed out loud with his mouth, and if you think about that specifically He could have very easily Just prayed in his heart, and then no one would know for sure what he was doing right you could be like Oh, they passed this law, but here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna pray three times a day like I always have But I'll just now instead of opening up my mouth I'm just gonna pray in my heart, and then if someone sees me how can they prove that I am praying? I'm just resting on my knees or whatever right like like no one would know and And but that's not what Daniel did of course, and I don't believe that's what he should have done either You know boldly just praying and he wasn't trying to make a point either Just says that he went just as he had in the past He didn't change his schedule that law being passed didn't make him have to try to hide what he was doing He just did exactly what he had always done. He didn't even close his window just just go and and as as always as he normally would have done he continued to do the same thing and Again, there's something to be said for that There's something to be said for being able to speak with your voice out loud and pray and especially in a god Culture is turning more and more godless. You know people need to I think just be exposed not that you're praying for anyone else But just the fact that you could go out and pray you know how about you go out to eat, and and you pray You know why don't you just pray out loud? For God to bless your food and and whatever prayer you would normally do and who cares who's around you? And who cares who's listening to you, but I'll tell you what it would do good for other people just to hear hey Someone's praying And you might encourage other people to be able to do the same too Now again the point isn't for anyone else's Specific benefit when you pray to God you pray because you're praying to God, but the point is more about I'm gonna pray to God no matter what anybody thinks And I'm gonna use my voice because I'm gonna speak to God and if you you know unless you're a mute You know you have a voice and you ought to use it in Prayer to the Lord just as much as we would use our voice in praise to the Lord I mean imagine if brother Peter got up here to lead the singing and everyone's singing in their hearts No one's opening up their mouth. It's like oh, I'm singing too. I'm just I'm singing on the inside Right it would be kind of silly And now now could you sing in your heart sure you could I sing in my heart sometimes I've saw you know songs playing in my head and Kind of just thinking about them. Maybe you get like a little hum or a little Something else, but you know you're you could say I'm saying making melody in my heart to the Lord but the the real purpose is to Use your voice and sing right and I believe the same thing is appropriate with prayer as well that would that the norm should be Hey, we're speaking. We're talking. We're making our prayers known to God And it doesn't matter what what people think or hear now obviously there's times where it is Appropriate to just be by yourself or no one can hear you, but even then Talk to God, but use your voice Let's keep reading your verse number two In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not My soul refused to be comforted and here we're gonna see another Psalm as we preached you know probably within the past couple months where There's there's some desperation There's there's a lot of things going on maybe and this is a condition where we see in Psalm 77 verse 2 my soul Refused to be comforted right like I'm not I'm not really getting any comfort at all I'm just really troubled my soul ran in the night, and it's not stopping right I'm having this issue or sometimes you might be bothered with something you pray to God You might start to feel a little bit better, and and and you're good This is a situation where you're saying look my soul refused to be comforted. Nothing's making this okay Nothing's just making this go away. I have this problem verse 3 says I remembered God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Selah now I want to preach a little touch a little bit on this word complained here in Scripture Because we think about complaining always as a negative thing, and I'm not saying that that's necessarily a bad thing We understand here when we're reading the Bible in the context. I don't think it's ever really Necessarily a good thing. It's never like positive thing to complain but Depending on the context. It's not always talking about what we also see in Scripture as murmuring Right murmuring is always bad When you're murmuring about something that is what we would just know as like man You're complaining like stop complaining. I don't want to hear all your complaining What we see in Scripture is that complaining is also? You are expressing bad things that are happening to you But there's kind of two different situations that we see there's one that's not tolerated And then there's another one that is tolerated in Scripture And I believe what we're reading in Psalm 77 is that latter one where this is a complaint, but it's but it's one That's that's going to be more tolerated based on whatever the circumstances are that are going on So let's look at a few different examples of Complaining in Scripture to just help us to get really clear on what would be the difference between The different types of complaining you keep your place here, and if you want to turn to Numbers chapter 11 We're going to see an example of bad complaining you Complaining that would actually make God angry in this psalm in Psalm 77 I don't think that God is angry with the complaint of the psalmist here, and we'll see another example I don't think we could see clearly that It's not It's not something that's going to be angering to the Lord when someone is expressing What's going on in their life you may be you know if you go if you have a lot of bad things happening in Your life and you go to God and start talking to God about all the bad things that are happening in your life That's not necessarily like some horrible thing to do right It's good to go to God with our cares and with our concerns and with our worries and and our problems right and You can call that a complaint you can call that complaining But if it's all situations that are just outside of your control and you have these different things happening to you You don't necessarily even know why it's happening to you That's not a bad form of complaining by going to the Lord to to seek relief from this stuff, right? But what is bad is what's seen here in Numbers 11 verse number 1 it says and when the people complained it displeased the Lord and The Lord heard it and his anger was kindled so here we hear God hears people complaining and it makes him really angry and His anger is kindled he's displeased It says in the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp so people literally died because of their complaining that God didn't like to hear and There's other examples of this with using the word murmuring But we're focused literally just on the word complaining just to show you how That works because this is what the people were doing they were murmuring they were complaining They were this is when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt, right? They're displeased with oh, there's no food out here Oh, man, what are you doing it with us out here? You're gonna kill us and I wish we could just have some flesh to eat and we get you know All this other stuff and they're just complaining complaining complaining complaining complaining When God just literally freed them from slavery, right? it's like you're taking no thought to what God has already done for you and all the great things and all the Miracles and all the kindness and all the mercy that God has just shown you and you're just being very Unappreciative of what the Lord has done for you. That is a bad complaining. That is a complaining That's gonna make God angry with you where you just kind of have this bad attitude about You know whatever in your life and you have this sort of entitlement attitude thinking that well I ought to have everything It Says and the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was quenched I mean, there's a literal fire that consumed people and it's because God sent that because people were complaining So there's an obvious bad complaining. Another one is found in Jude. You don't have to turn there turn if you would to judges 21 judges 21 Jude verse 16 the Bible says these are murmurers Complainers Walking after their own lusts and their mouths speak of great swelling words having men's persons in admiration because of advantage This is talking about the false prophets is talking about the reprobates saying that there are murmurers. They're complainers, right? That's another bad form of Complaining one that's gonna make God angry and this is just one of the things that typifies The false prophet right that they're murmurers complainers or whatever these these reprobates Lamentations 339 says wherefore doth a living man complain Like why does it why does a man complain a man for the punishment of his sins? so there's another area where you shouldn't be complaining is when you are reaping what you've sown when you go and You go out and get involved in some sin and then you suffer consequences as a result of your own sin And then you're gonna start complaining about that like God doesn't want to hear that Okay, it's gonna that's also gonna make that angry it's like look you're the one that did that that made this mess You're the one that got into all of this now you have to deal with it Okay, you go out and get drunk and high and stone and you got to deal with some hangovers or even worse Well, look man, you did it don't complain about how you feel don't complain about the the wounds without cause don't complain about this stuff You've already been warned about it. You went out and did it now. You've got to deal with it, right? That's the type of complaining the complaining where you're either being Ungrateful and not thankful for what God has done or just not willing to own up for the things that you've done That is not the right type of complaining but there's another type of complaint where you can have things happening to you that again, God will be more sympathetic to and be willing to lend his ear to the complaints in Given different Circumstances of situations judges 21 look at verse number 22 The Bible says and it shall be when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain That we will say unto them be favorable unto them for our sakes Because we reserve not to each man his wife in the war for he did not give unto them at this time and this is that this is that crazy story with Benjamin being almost completely wiped out after judges 19 if you know that story and then Israel came together and they destroyed almost the entire tribe and then they needed wives and then they're like well we probably vowed we're not gonna give anyone our wives and then they had to go and like steal the girls that were dancing in Shiloh and and They're and now they're saying like look when they're when their brothers and their dads come complaining like what are you doing? They can't have my daughter to wife Which would be a valid complaint, by the way To be like I didn't give my daughter to them to wipe their you know You can't just let them take my daughter. It says that we'll say unto them be favorable unto them right speak well to them we're not going to be mad about them complaining about this because They kind of got a point, right? That's that's one example. It's not that this are the best example because that story is kind of weird anyways I don't think they did the right thing by by making that decree, but it is what happened It's the truth of what happened I don't I think they they could have probably done or said or you know something else other than like Kidnapping women to be their wives. I think that's pretty clear. That was not the right choice for Them to do nevertheless. That's what happened. So But if you look at first Samuel chapter 1 We will see this story of Samuel's mother before before Samuel was born when she was she was just praying and wanting to have a child and she was really just just really emotional because she has been barren and her husband has two wives and the other wife has children and everything else and she's been really longing and wanting and yearning to have Children and for God to bless her with a child And she's she's sobbing and praying and Eli sees her and she think he thinks that she's drunk because she's just really Emotional and kind of mouthing her prayer, but not really speaking. Well, so it just looks like she's kind of intoxicated You know how a lot of drunks can can just be in a really inebriated state and and not able to speak coherently and stuff So that's what that's what she looked like Right and is where we pick up in the story verse 16 says count not thine handmaid for a daughter abelial She's like look. I'm not a child of the devil here. I'm not drunk. Okay, that's not what's going on for out of the abundance of my complaint and Grief have I spoken hitherto? So she's saying like I I have an issue I've got a complaint that I'm uttering before the Lord and I'm sad my grief. I've spoken hitherto, but then look at Eli's answers and say well, don't you be complaining? He says then Eli answered and said go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou askest of him so this isn't in situation either where I think Here that the mother of Samuel is like a In a Inappropriate spirit towards God right like like being bitter towards God or angry at God It's not the case her complaint is that she's wanting to have a child. It's you know, Lord, please give me this child and she's just upset and and It's considered a complaint because she's talking about something that she doesn't have but it's it's not like a bad thing to desire to have a child does that make sense and and Here we see her actually receiving what she's asking for and God showing mercy and again now Complaining is never a good thing. We should always learn to be content with such things that we have but You can you can sort of see some of the differences here one last place that we'll look at is in Job chapter 7 and verse number 11 the Bible says Therefore I Will not refrain my mouth. I Will speak in anguish of my spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my soul and actually there's multiple places in the book of Job that that Job is bringing up this word and using the word complain or complaint and I think we can all probably Have some sympathy towards Job and what he went through and he said through and understand his complaint about Look, I'm doing everything right. I'm not I'm not involved in any sin It's not like I'm just reaping what I've sown unless unless you're judging me for the sins of my youth Lord like that was that came up or he's just thinking like like Like is it from something I did when I was really young because I haven't been doing anything You know wrong I'm not I'm not in some wicked grievous sin where his friends were all accusing him of doing that yet All these bad things happen. He's miserable. He's lost his health. He's lost his family. He's lost his wealth He's kind of just lost everything in his life And he's just trying to process it and deal with it and and and just kind of going to the Lord of you know Seeking what like why what's what's going on? What's the deal? You know, that's that's not some Unreasonable thing for a person have to go through and we see again. It's it's this isn't some complaint That's just making God super angry with him like he was angry with the children of Israel when they're complaining about the garlic and the leeks and the melons and the Cucumbers and all the things that they had in Egypt, right that makes God angry But these types of things when people are going through these these types of situations Again not that we're not that we should say you should be complaining but when you're bringing up your Concerns to the Lord and your issues. That's not a bad thing. Let's go back to Psalm 77 And the whole purpose of that was just to Kind of go through as I was bringing up on Sunday You know when my sermon I'm getting wisdom you know when you read your Bible, you know study your Bible think about the words and be paying close attention to the context because it does matter and And you know look into the things that you might see like well, that seems kind of strange Why is it why they're talking about that? well get the full understanding and And by going and looking up more of this stuff from from the scripture to see what it is because there are times where words Aren't exactly the way that they're used today and Over, you know 400 years. There's definitely some words where the meaning isn't necessarily like completely completely different or wrong But the the meanings have shifted a little bit and we want to be wise. We just want to understand more just really clearly What is being stated in Scripture? That was the purpose of this exercise here. It's not to just justify complaining It's don't don't leave tonight going. Yeah, that's a person's like, yeah, you know, it's cool to complain. Sometimes it's like no No, it's not what I'm saying Be content with such things as you have Psalm 77 look at verse number four. So again getting back into the spirit now the context of the psalm My soul refused to be comforted, right? I complained my spirits overwhelmed going through a lot of hard times verse 4 thou holdest mine eyes waking I Am so troubled that I cannot speak. I mean, this is really upsetting This is this is being a really bad situation. My soul has no comfort There's nothing that's comforting me and I can't even speak. I'm just so upset I can't speak but then look at verse number five. I have considered the days of old The years of ancient times so one of the things that we ought to do When we have such bad things or bad problems or whatever it is. We don't see specifically what's going on with the psalmist here We don't know what it is and for the purpose of the psalm It doesn't matter what it is because we go through our own Times and troubles where you can see you're not getting any rest. You're you know, you're so troubled You can't speak that's good enough to understand whatever is going on there when you are in a similar type of situation Then it's time to consider the days of old the years of ancient times look at verse 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search so now it's time for introspection Looking in looking to my heart like well like I Need to make some diligent search about this because I'm so troubled I don't know what's going on and it's gonna seem as well in this one. Like God's not here. God's not helping me I don't know what's happening. So let me look inward Introspection is very important evaluating considering God's ways in the Bible with your own problems And No matter what's going on. I you know, we you ought to make it a habit. I try to do this again Nobody's perfect we need but we need to be able to remember these things When you have the hard times the first thing you should be looking at is yourself always always Because you don't want to be getting chasin for something and especially then be ignorant of it Right now oftentimes if we're going to be chasing to the Lord We probably already know why Right because you know what you do generally speaking, you know when you do wrong But it is possible that you might have just allowed yourself to really be overlooking some area that you should know better but you've somehow justified it to yourself and And you haven't really been considering that you still might be Involved in some sin that God has to chasing you for rebuke you for and bring you low and humble you for So in these bad times the best thing to do is just to be a stop and I'm gonna look inward again and see is There's something that I'm doing wrong is am I at the cause of all of this am I bringing this on myself because of My sin because I've you know and take stock and evaluate like what am I doing? Am I doing something wrong here? And and would to God we could all be in the place where job was we're saying like look I didn't do anything wrong and he's confident to be able to say that like this isn't I'm not receiving this level of persecution because I'm involved in some really wicked sin like that's that wasn't the case and he could just boldly say that and And we ought to be able to say that too, but it's still worth Considering and thinking about and going like man what you know, what have I been doing? Where is my heart been leading me? What about you know? Am I at fault here and And that is a wise thing to do where you think about consider the days of old you think about the ancient times you think About how God has been how has God dealt with people in the past. What does the Bible say and Look in to yourself Verse seven now goes into this whole the next few verses talking about God Well, let's just read it verse number seven will the Lord cast off forever so when when when God is Dealing with people or punishing. Well, am I just gonna be cast off forever and will he be favorable? No more like is God just completely gonna just shut off and just not show goodness anymore and Is this gonna be what I have to deal with forever is his mercy clean gone? Forever that this promise fail forever more notice forever forever forever Like like is this just gonna go on forever and sometimes this is how you feel When your soul is not comforted and you're going through this hard time and you just kind of start thinking like man Like what have I done is can this just can this just continue forever? Like like well, I just always be dealing with this. Is this is this always gonna be a state that I'm in hath God forgotten to be gracious Have he an anger shut up his tender mercies Selah This is again a difficult place to be when you start to even question these things Right because not when you're not going through the hard times You're not questioning God's mercy very much or like I know I'm not I mean when things are just going well Yeah, I'm praise the Lord. It's mercy endure forever. You you know, things are things are great and To be honest with you I mean, maybe I'm just just been super blessed but like I don't find myself in a position like this very often at all Where things are just so? Extreme like like just no comfort. I can't even speak have they happened. Yes, but this isn't something That's just kind of a regular occurrence for me. Now. Look I'll admit I believe I am I'm just Thankful that I haven't had to be in this position not because I'm sure there are plenty of people who have been in positions Like this more frequently Okay But the truth is still the truth regardless of how often you find yourself in this position You know, this is something that but the reason I'm even bringing all that up is because It seems obvious that God hasn't forgotten to be gracious When you aren't the one going through the problem Right. I mean, it's like of course. God doesn't forget. Like what do you think God doesn't forget his mercies? Like of course, he's gracious. Of course, you know, of course he hears of you know, like To the one on the outside it's easy but to the one on the inside these things really are thoughts. That's that's going I Don't know if I can deal with this, you know, what is going on But we can't forget who God is. So as we continue to read now, of course we Progress past these thoughts in verses 7 through 9 verse 10 and I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High and and this is key when you're in that condition in such a bad spot to remember who God is and We know who God is from the scripture So we're gonna see now the rest of this chapter is you know, the light has come on This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years Of the Most High I will remember the works of the Lord Surely I will remember thy wonders of old I'm not gonna forget that God is merciful and that God is great and that God is gracious that God has done many wonderful works And that God has saved his people and that God has done all these things. I won't forget that I'm gonna remember who God is and that he is a God that saves and he is a God that's our defender And our buckler and our shield I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings So this is a turning point in this psalm from going from my soul has no rest to saying look I'm gonna remember how great God is I'm gonna remember all the good things that God has done and no matter who you are God has done good things for you So when you're finding yourself thinking about all the bad things and wondering God, I don't know if I could take this Hey, stop thinking about the good things that God has done in your life. Think about what God has saved your soul think about what whatever God has given you in this life and meditate also of his work and what he has done and talk of his doings and and remember and get back to that point where you can be like The apostles were in Acts chapter 4 I'll read that story for you The Bible reads in verse 18 and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus But Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than the God Judge ye for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Like we have to speak these things. We can't help it. We might and here's the thing in Psalms It's like look I'm gonna think back and all these works and be like, yeah I'm gonna speak about him too. I'm gonna talk about it because God is great Because the goodness of God is greater than all it's it's it's it's something that's worthy of talking about and yay I have to talk about I can't keep this Locked up inside of me 2nd Corinthians 4 13 says we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I believe and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak there's this prompting to From within because you have that new man that new spirit the Holy Spirit to help guide you to to to help you through these problems but also just the the Prompting to speak look we believe so I'm gonna speak Let's go back to so you're probably never left Psalm 77 So now we're gonna see a little bit of a list of All the goodness from God we just got done saying hey look I'm gonna remember your works I'm gonna remember your wonders I'm gonna meditate of your work and I'm gonna talk about your doings and now here's the talking of the doings verse 13 thy way Oh God is in the sanctuary and keep that in mind We're gonna get into that at the end of the sermon here tonight, which we're approaching a little bit closer Thy way is in the sanctuary as we would put it in church Who is so great a God as our God Thou art the God that doest wonders now We're gonna see more here like thou hast declared thy strength Among the people thou hast with thine arm redeem thy people and and see a lot of things that God has done But I like how it starts in verse 14 thou art the God that doest wonders He's not just a God that did wonders He's a God that doest wonders God continues to do wonders God is still all-powerful It's not that God is a God of all the things of the Bible which are all in the past Those are all these great things that were done. Look God does do wonders Even to this day But you know what God doesn't do the wonders for the people who don't care about him at all I mean, he's already done wonders for those people Which were you and I before we got saved? He's already done the wonder of that the wonder of Jesus Christ coming and dying on the cross and being Resurrected from the dead and conquering death and hell. That was a great wonder and That wonder is done and that's the wonder that was done for everybody that reject for that rejected Christ I didn't have anything to do with Christ at sin against the Lord which included all of us Okay, but the wonders that continue to be done as the wonders that were in the New Testament like oh, hey He perceived that he had faith to be healed Right and and how many times did that Jesus asked people? Well, do you believe that God's able to do this and then he heals them? Right and that connection with the faith and the healing and seeing the miracles and that you know Obviously there's the great picture of in order to really receive your healing you need to have faith But physically even at the same time we're seeing the same thing play out So yes, God is a God that does wonders but you know what You ought to be believing in the God that does wonders if you want to see the wonders in your life Thou Has declared thy strength Among the people so this is again going back to the wonderful works of God in Remembering the old time that we were just reading about in the context here at Psalm 77 verse 15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the sons of Jacob and Joseph Selah so he's you've saved your people and how many times has God saved his people? Right God saved his people over and over again Obviously saving them out of Egypt, but then even in battles even in wars even against enemies against a heathen And you know multiple times over and over again We're 16 the water saw thee Oh God the waters saw thee They were afraid the depths also were troubled The clouds poured out water the skies sent out a sound Thine arrows also went abroad the voice of thy thunder was in the heaven the lightnings Lightened the world the earth trembled and shook and this is these are all just signs of the all mighty God just all representative of the things that just No human can control and some of the biggest forces in the world All of this is happening at the at the presence of God the voice of thy thunder was in heaven The lightnings light in the world the earth trembled and shook verse 19 though thy way is in the sea and thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known and Then the last verse here verse 20 Thou lettest thy people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron we see a lot of The presence of God bringing things that we also might consider turmoil The earth shaking Lightnings Clouds pouring out water The skies sending out a sound right these are things that Frequently can get people fearful and afraid and uncertain and not knowing what's going on That doesn't mean that God's not there in this situation. God is there right that has been happening because of God and Sometimes we confuse God not being there by our life when God actually is there In our life, and we still may not understand The the the what's what exactly is happening But don't forget who God is and don't forget how God works and don't forget that people are allowed to go through through things, but you're never going to be Put in a situation that's above that you can handle you never be tempted above that you're able to handle There's always a way out. There's always gonna be a way to escape Some you might have to go through worse than others you can read Hebrews 11 there have been people you know believers who have been martyred and tortured and gone through all Manner of evil things on this earth, but they were righteous they were good with God they were they were right They wasn't their fault it was Just a testimony to the Lord, but they still were you know faithful to the end and God will elevate them and lift up their name Which is why it's called that Hall of Faith because there's people getting a lot of praise and the Lord lifting up the The great heroes of the Bible who have suffered and gone through bad things horrible things for the cause of Christ Remember who God is and and remember that that you know Nobody no wicked doer evil doer is gonna go unpunished forever Know that whatever hate when you reap wickedness you're gonna Or when you sow wickedness you're gonna reap the same You know the Bible is not specific on those who who sow to the wind reaping the whirlwind whether that's a believer Oh, you know it's just like look man you You want to be messing around? Anything that you sow is gonna come back. You know at a much greater volume. That's how seeds work Any seed I don't care what it is the plant always grows up much bigger than that little seed and and You're good. You're bad. Whatever it is that you're you're you're throwing out there the the works that you're doing It does come back so that's why again we always look to ourselves But then we consider and we know who God is you're over worried about God not being there you think God's not around You know what we can see how God works. We know about God. We know his miracles. We know his wonders We know his goodness, and that should strengthen you and comfort you to keep moving forward and Even with all of these things happening whether it's a lot of turmoil going on Hey, God's way is in the sea like it says it's path in great waters I footsteps are not known, but it says thou lettest thy people like a flock so All of that may be going on and God's leading his people all think about all the Astronomical events that are going to happen when Jesus Christ comes back The the Sun's gonna be darkened the moon's gonna be turned into blood the heavens gonna depart like a scroll stars are gonna fall from heaven before that great and notable day of the Lord come and Then Jesus is gonna lead us all like a great Shepherd out of here So It may seem like a very scary it will be a very scary time It is just that is gonna be people being being martyred and stuff But you know thou lettest thy people like a flock In in this context, of course, he's talking about by the hand of Moses and Aaron, right? So referring back to Egypt and being let out of that bondage But that was how God works God performed great miracles God redeemed the people God showed his great strength God led the people But also don't miss this and and I remember I mentioned earlier about thy way. Oh God is in the sanctuary That was from verse 13 Thou talking to God God led the people like a flock But how did he do it? By the hand of Moses and Aaron God gets the credit. God is the one that brought the people out right? No doubt. No, no argument there But how do you do it Moses and Aaron led the way out so They couldn't have done it without God, but God used men to do that The leading the the the guidance God was using man the whole time For the whole flock for everybody Interferes with Ephesians chapter 4 God uses human instruments Don't ever forsake church Don't do it I It's it's so frustrating The people that just want to have a bitter or bad attitude I don't need some man teach me anything about I could just worship God in my house And I don't need to go to a building and I don't need to go. You know, it's like Look, why don't you humble yourself? Why don't you recognize that? God's way is in the sanctuary why don't you remember you recognize that and and remember the ways of old and remember who God is and Remember that God led the people like a flock by Moses and Aaron and Remember what happened when the people wanted to come up against Moses and Moses is humble He's just like look man like like I'm nothing and Aaron's nothing. Why are you coming against us? God is the one leading you but they didn't want to recognize that and they're just bitter against Moses and Aaron and They want to have the they want to be in charge and they want to run things And God gets angry and with some of them, you know, he opens up the earth and they go straight down to hell These people trying to be rebellious and in starting this this whole opposition movement against these men of God God's the one leading them out. But Moses and Aaron are the ones that God has chosen to do it You want God's leading in your life great. So do I I want God's leading in my life I want God leading in your life and it's not that I'm anything special It's not that Moses is necessarily anything special or you know individually as human beings not anything special Okay, but if God is going to use people he's going to use the way that he ordained things to be the way that he Said that things are going to be then maybe we should just respect that and respect how God set things up and just have a Little bit of faith and say hey, maybe if I come to church I can grow I can learn I can Be used of God I could understand more I can I can grow and do more for the Lord because I'm gonna be obedient and Understand what the Bible is even teaching here and don't forget how God has worked in the past Look at verse 7 of Ephesians 4, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that us ended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things I'm reading all this just to get the context about the gifts Verse 11 is where we get into this and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in Wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up into him and all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply of according the effectual working by the measure of every part maketh Increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. It sounds to me like there's there's this There's a great need to have a unified body and that God is ordained that there would be Apostles and evangelists and pastors and teachers to help the whole body to help the whole church to help people To grow for the perfecting of the Saints for all the work to be done and look that is found in the local church That's why there's qualifications for elders for bishops for for deacons for people to help in the administration to do the work that God has for us to lead everyone in the right way and to to follow me as I follow Christ and to just help everyone to benefit and And There is And I don't care what anybody says because I've experienced is enough in my life. You humble yourself enough to go to church I've learned so much more in church than I have outside of church and I look after reading my Bible you know, there's things that just It's not that you always necessarily have to be you know, physically present but things that I've heard in church Still reinforce the reading and the teaching and everything else at home Right. There's plenty of things I've learned in church There's things I still learn in church Even when I preach Believe it or not It's amazing how God can bring things to your mind And You know, I would hate for the day to come where that stops happening Because if that stops happening it's not because I know everything It's because I'm doing something where God's not gonna show me things anymore and I need to get things right So that's a scary place to be in right? Look if you are sincerely seeking and yearning and thirsting for the truth God's gonna give it to you and you're seeking that wisdom and you want to have God will give it to you But you have to be thirsting and seeking for you I mean you got a you got to put forth some effort I mean, can you at least make it out to church and obviously I'm speaking to people who made it out to church tonight But you know Don't forget that though and It's funny that people have the worst attitudes about going to church are usually the people that have the weirdest most screwed up doctrine I think I'm sure I've shared a story in the past, but it's an old stories from a while ago I ran into a guy and he was just just boasting about how I've been I've tried all the churches here And this was in Arizona in Prescott Valley. I tried all the churches here, but I just I just know more than all the pastors He's telling me like no joke, he's just saying this to my face I don't it doesn't even matter like I don't I don't always introduce myself as pastor anything It doesn't matter right, but he's just saying this stuff and I'm just like, oh wow, really? Okay Yeah, so you really study your Bible, you know Just just just talking to him not not talking down to him and not and not trying to cause any problems Right, even though this guy's really for himself. I'm trying to still like get to the gospel and Man no, man this guy he was okay with talking to me invited me in but he started going off on the serpent seed doctrine and and everything else and it's like You Mean to tell me you literally think that Eve had a physical relation with that sir because this is what you see even a physical relationship with the servant with a serpent and Produced cane Like that's where Cain can it that's not that wasn't Adam's son that was the devil's son with Eve and Eve was a mom Isn't that weird like that's just see this is oh You know way more than all the pastors in this area. Sure you do buddy and And here is his thinking she look Beguiled, you know what beguiled means because it says a serpent beguiled Eve like yeah, he deceived her He tricked her cuz that's what the word means beguiled you you tricked somebody right you used guile And he's like no no look and he gets out of strong concurrence and he's like see look deceive Trick I'm just like Yeah, that's what I said And and and it's then it's seduced Right. It's like the last possible synonym And it's like yeah in a context of beguile you could a man could beguile a woman to you know But that's not the context You're weird and perverted to think that it is But he I mean he hadn't been to church in Decades and I forget the exact note. He told me how long it was It had been a long time and it's because he knew more than everyone else That's what the church is for So they're not children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men Who lie in wait, you know with their with their cunning? craftiness lying in wait to deceive and and deceive people into thinking stupid things like that because they don't know their Bible and they just need to get their rear end in church and humble themselves and listen to the preaching of the Word of God and grow and learn in truth and Get into the place where God would have you to be where God is doing his work Where God is leading in the sanctuary Don't forget Who God is don't forget God's ways don't forget these things and especially in the times of need when your soul is is refusing to be comforted and You have so many things going wrong Don't allow yourself to think foolishly of going, you know, is God just gonna cast me off forever. No your child of God. He won't Jesus said I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee you're not you're not Gonna just be Tossed aside like you're nothing Okay, even though you may experience some things that are extremely unpleasant That is not how God is going to operate with you We don't always understand the way things work, but we know that God is a Savior We know that God is a defender and we know that God is there and that God will show up It's just not always on the time and at our beck and call whenever we demand that God be there, right? So we continue to call on the Lord Looking for our help and not losing sight and not losing faith and and Honestly remembering back to all the good things and all the great works of God Will help your mind and your attitude when you're feeling like God's not there Go back and remember the good and remember what God has done It will strengthen you and help you. Let's bow our heads out of order prayer to your Lord Thank you so much for this great Psalm. Thank you for the great truths in your word. Thank you for being there for us Thank you for hearing our prayers Lord. There is so much I could go on all night Thanking you for your goodness Lord because your mercy endures forever. Help us never to forget that Lord and to Remember the great works that you've done and then and then go on to not even be able to help it But to be able to speak of them because they are worthy of praise Lord Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts Lord. Please help us Please help anyone in our congregation if anyone is going through a very difficult time like this Lord Please strengthen them Please help them to feel your presence and know that you're there those who are dealing with loss and sorrow Those who are dealing with extreme grief and maybe extreme health problems Lord help them to know Your graciousness and your kindness and your mercy dear Lord And I pray that you please help us to continue to speak of all the good things that you've done for us Lord We love you in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right, we're gonna sing one more song before dismissed brother Peter we please lead us Open up the song number four hundred and forty-one Song four hundred and forty-one rain is thy faithfulness Oh Oh Oh Oh Sing Oh You