In The Wilderness

well we want to look to the word of the lord this morning and as we continue bible class good to have everyone in the house of the lord and see several that have not been able to be here in a while and you're able to be here now we're so thankful that you are here also thank you for guests that are with us so glad to have you at apostol pentecostal church that's right we give you a welcome amen we just pray that you feel the presence of god that his word impacts your life and thanks to those who are viewing online amen and we pray that god will touch you where you are as well we're going to look in our hymnals at number 63 okay psalm 63 it's a bible hymn though right amen psalm chapter 63 uh we're going to look at this chapter today i'm just going to read a couple verse first two verses as we open uh but we will go through the rest of this chapter it's a psalm of david the bible says when he was in the wilderness of judah and he cries out o god thou art my god early will i seek thee my soul thirsts for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as i've seen in thy sanctuary

this adult lesson series as well as all of our christian education curriculum is usually divided into four quarters and so march begins the spring quarter this month we will start this new series but furthermore they've broken down our lessons for the in the literature they're producing now into a monthly mini series so every month we will be doing a little bit different topic and this month series is our hiding place our hiding place and we're going to look at three different psalms in the next three sundays this sunday the next two this first lesson from psalm 63 is going to highlight the fact and we're going to look at the even when we're in wilderness situations and we're places we really don't understand maybe god knows where we are aren't you thankful for that man he knows what you're going through he knows where you are next week we'll look at psalm 91 and the opportunity we have to find a refuge in our god and the third lesson we'll look at psalm 100 to look to call and enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise it won't be a fourth lesson because the fourth sunday we will be having children's revival so we're looking forward to that also

so the setting for today's psalm was given at the beginning it's a title before it actually gets into verse one it's a psalm of david when he was in the wilderness of judah david's time in the wilderness of judah was not a comfortable time it wasn't a convenient time it wasn't really even a time that he desired or wanted to have any part of but because he had been forced out of jerusalem and because he was pursued in fact there were several occasions in david's life when he was being pursued by saul and then again when his son absalom forced him out of jerusalem that he found himself in the wilderness and he found himself being pursued or being threatened and outside of where he wanted to be and in fact in one point he actually had to go into the land of the philistines and live and he feigned that he was insane so that they would accept him and bring him in because if they saw him as a warrior they would have tried to kill him and how ironic that david who had risen to national recognition as the slayer of goliath yet had to go where he was from and take sanctuary from saul and even in gath no doubt they they remembered in fact some people said when they brought david and allowed him to stay there don't you realize who this guy is why would you let him stay here well he doesn't look like he's a threat right now and so he continued there and many different things happened while he was in the wilderness but during that time i'm thankful david had an uncompromising confidence in the lord he understood that even though i look at my situation and maybe i'm hiding in a cave and maybe i'm i'm out here in the middle of nowhere in the desert he's understood there is a confidence in god and you can see that in this psalm 63 and i hope that will encourage us to a commitment to him and to follow his ways regardless of what we go through in our lives

and so we look into this psalm and he begins verse 1 with those words o god thou art my god there are two different words translated god here in our english language the first one o god is elohim it is a shortened form of the second one which is or a longer form of the second one which is shortened to l in the second part of that phrase elohim is the plural word for god it's kind of interesting because it often is used as a name it is always translated god in our bible it is a per a plural word and it is done that way it implies a plurality of strength is like every attribute of god is in this individual or this person and so that's that's how he was viewed and it's interesting what cannot be said from a plural word is that god is a plurality of persons let me give you a text for that first kings chapter 11 33 states this because israel has forsaken me and they've worshiped asteroth the goddess of the zideonites there's idioms and shamas the god of the moabites and milkem the god of the children of ammon they have not walked in my ways well every one of those uses there whether it's goddess ashtaroth whether it's shamash the god of the moabites or malcolm the god of the children of ammon are also plural words so i don't think anybody would look at every one of those say well asteroth must be a trinity shema there must be four of them i don't see that so we have to understand when he said this he was just talking about god's greatness and then that second word translated from l is speaks of a mighty one or someone that is great and so he was saying oh god you are my mighty one david knew where his strength lie he didn't have to question he didn't i mean people looked at david as a mighty man saul's killed thousand you killed ten thousands and yet david didn't say you know i'm a great warrior god i should be able to get through this no he said god you're the mighty one what he was saying is you are my strength you're the one that i turn to i'm in a desert place and no doubt he he was weary with running and he was in a situation he did not want to be in but in the midst of that he recognized that his sufficiency was not in himself and we too will go through desert experiences and we'll go through times that we look around and we say why am i here and what's going on in my life but we learned to say with paul that god's grace is sufficient for us and his strength will be made perfect in our weakness so when we go through things and we feel like i can't go on and i can't we know that when we turn to god he will give the strength in fact paul said it this way i will even glory in my infirmities and i don't think he looked for trouble i don't think he was excited about that but he understood when he was weak he said that the power of christ rests upon me it's god that's getting me through this is what he's saying you ever been to those times i don't know what i do without god well i don't know what to do about god in the good times but definitely when we go through the hard times that becomes our cry and then he goes on to say this he said god you are my god you're my strength but early will i seek thee early will i seek thee if god is truly our strength then it only makes sense to seek him early doesn't it early can mean first thing in the morning which it probably does for for a good portion of this text when we look at look at him completely he's talking about early in the morning the first thing when i get up i'm going to seek after you but it could also mean we sometimes we need to seek him early in our desert experience when things begin to happen in our life why wait until we're so completely overwhelmed and things are just so crashing in on us that we say you know what maybe i should talk to god about this we do it don't we yeah i can handle this one not too concerned about it and then suddenly we find ourselves oh god where am i at if he truly is our strength we would do well to seek him first right fact better yet why not seek him before you ever get there have that relationship with him seeking him early could save a lot of us a lot of headache could save us a lot of trouble a lot of heartaches and a lot of things in our life to seek after god

he continues to say oh god i will seek you early he said my soul thirst for thee my flesh longs for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is now david was in that situation in a very real sense land of israel is very diverse and it's tran terrain there's mountains there's valleys really low spots like around the dead sea high mountains ranges but for the most part it is a more or less a desert type of a place other than where they've irrigated and brought it forth but and david being his shepherd he understood what it meant to be in that mountainous area and to have to lead his sheep and try to find that's why psalm says he leads me besides still waters he has to find those places and he understood what it meant to live in that kind of environment more than likely david was in an area south or southeast of jerusalem possibly in the land of edom which is modern jordan it was a very rugged place it was a place where when moses was leading the children of israel through some of that part of the land that moses twice had to strike a rock to provide water so physically there was no water and so no doubt david was making a comparison between the natural thirst he was experiencing but more than that it was a spiritual thirst in his soul yeah things are bad around me but worse than that i need the presence of god and while his body was longing for you know that cool drink from the wells of bethlehem his soul was saying really where i want to be is in mount zion really where i want to be is near the temple of god the tabernacle no temple at the time but the tabernacle of the lord i want to go there where the presence of the lord is and the dryness david was most concerned about was that spiritual dryness from being removed from the sanctuary being away from the things of god you know god has placed a desire for himself in our lives he's placed that that when we get away from it there becomes a hunger there's we begin to search for things those that don't know to turn to god they search for things in all different kinds of ways and all different kinds of places because there's a hunger for something and a thirst for something in our lives and that's not by accident you know even demons desire communion and fellowship jesus was talking and he tells this to his disciples he said when an unclean spirit has gone out of a man and jesus cast plenty of them out he said this he walks through dry places seeking rest and he finds none what he's wanting is i need fellowship now he can't fellowship with god so he says i need someone else that i can fellowship with and how much more that those that have felt the living water and the power of the holy ghost move in their life that rivers of living water jesus talked about coming forth and you've had that kind of experience when we get in a place and we say oh god where are you there's a hunger and a thirst i need the things of god

verse two he begins to tell us what he thirst for my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee i'm in a dry and weary land there's no water and here's why he said because i want to see thy power and the glory so as i have seen thee in the sanctuary david was saying i want to get back where the people of god are i want to get back where you are working among your people and he knew where to go to experience he said i want to go to the sanctuary of the lord the answer to your desert experience the answer when we don't know where else to turn and we're in that wilderness is found in the sanctuary call that what you want call it a church building but it is really where god's people come together and where we meet with god asaph wrote in psalm 63 he said but as for me my feet were almost gone my step said well now i slipped about backslid i'm almost out of there he said because then when i thought of the things and how the wicked prosper and the things that i see he said it was just too painful for me i don't understand this i don't like it and then he said until i went into the sanctuary of god then i understood and we will all go through times of questioning they will all go through times that we doubt they're all go through times when we find ourselves saying life is not fair and why does this happen and why is that going on i've seen people have written books why do bad things happen to good people and it's only as we come to the house of god that life is going to make sense when we come in contact with god and not only contact with god but there is a coming together with believers when we see the demonstration in the spirit of the power of god through the preached word of god but also the fellowship of one another the writer of the book of hebrews urges us he said do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together don't stop doing that each opportunity of gathering together provides us with a venue for spiritual growth that's why we're here today we want god's word to help us grow and to become what we need to be and it will help us to receive strength from our lord god it is the purpose for community and we stress that early on when we came back into these lessons we need to promote community it is edifying one another it is encouraging one another and the only way to experience the community that jesus desires is through his church and how do you do that you come to church when you think about it there's no community with believers when you're home in your living room i know there's situations and you can't get out and this has happened that's going on and and we've just come through a time like that where we had had to go that direction but really god's church is a community it's fellowship one with another not just fellowship and just having a good time but building one another up he said you know you're supposed to be edifying one another and bringing spirit you're all different spiritual gifts together so that you can edify one another and help us become more like god and that's what david was longing for and i don't think david went in the wilderness and backslidden and said well i haven't talked to god in six months because i've been out here in the desert i think he had a relationship with god but he understood it can't just be me and you out here in the middle of nowhere god i've got to have the sanctuary i've got to have your people i got to come together because there's something about when god's people get together and begin to praise and worship god and help one another and he said that is what i am thirsty for

verse three he said this because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee god is the giver of life i'm thankful for life we like life right we like living god intended for us to be living he fashioned man from the dust and breathed into him for the purpose that he could become a living soul of course we understand that adam and eve when they sinned brought death into the world and those things but i'm thankful god continues to reach out because he is a god of life and as much as we like life david said this your loving kindness is better than life i think he was talking there it is better than a physical life or a life lived for self you see jesus clearly defined the different purposes between himself and the devil talking about the devil he said he comes not but to steal and to kill and to destroy that's his purpose he said but my purpose is i am come that you might have life and not only life but life more abundantly and when we come to god life is now worth living because of his power and his abundant blessings in our lives now that word loving kindness it's many times in the bible we we often see it translated that jeremiah wrote this in lamentations 3 and 22 23 he said it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fell not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness brothers paul you just said loving kindness was all throughout the bible yeah it is it's actually right there in the in the original hebrew it is of the lord's mercies it's the same word it is the lord's lovingkindness so you could you could use them interchangeably guess is what i'm saying so david is saying because thy lovingkindness because thy mercy is better than life the word mercy there is the same word and the church today exists only because of the mercy and the compassion of the love of the lord god it's because of his mercy and like the psalmist we can relate to their loving kindness or the mercy of god as being better than than any life that we live for ourself if we're just trying to make it on our own and trying to do it our way and we're living our lives to please self you know what his mercy is a whole lot better if you don't know that abundant life and you're just trying to do it on your own why don't you turn to this god that says you know what i'm i'll give you life but it ain't like like the life you're living it's an abundant life it's a life that is more abundantly and i think that's what dave i'm gonna fall on the mercies of god and let him handle this situation better than life because it brings abundant life in this world and it will bring eternal life in the world to come that's why david said you know what your mercies are much better than anything i could find out here anything i will find in this wilderness experience

and then he said this my lips shall praise thee as a result of god's mercy as a result of the salvation as a result of turning to god and letting him give you that abundant life you know what the appropriate response is to begin to praise and worship him i know where pentecost is and they say well y'all are just emotional you know what god's been good to us as we just saw i dare say if something any of you were handed a winning lottery ticket you wouldn't say okay thanks i'll go home cash that and turn it in go about my way you'd be making plans you'd be well you wouldn't be calling anybody because they'd all want some of it you'd be wishing you could you'd get excited and when god takes a life that has been broken by sin and completely washes it away and gives you a new life does that not excite you it changed your life old things are passed away all things become new well you're just getting all emotional about that it touches your emote he made us an emotional creature no i think yeah you can go off in left field and just just emotion for emotion and find ways to prop up your own emotions you know we can do that through all kinds of different experiences and whatever you know he'd get excited riding the roller coaster you know who i'll go do that so i can worship god well be careful what you bring in just to create emotion right but when it comes from a heart that says you know what i love what god has done in my life he's changed me his acts of mercy his provision of salvation on the cross it will bring forth a praise and not just a praise that is just stuck right here it'll come out i'm so thankful for that lottery ticket that i just can't stand it you're gonna get excited and that's why the scripture said well if you got breath praise him i don't think he's saying got breath well just because you're alive i think he's saying use that breath call out to him lord you're good praise is vocal now i know you can worship in your spirit but praise requires putting some action behind those feelings now it takes both the bible talks about those that draw an eye with their lips and their hearts are far away but but really it ought to be the other way around your heart is full and so the lips say i gotta speak i gotta praise god and so david said you know what my lips shall praise thee because your mercies have been better than anything i could get in this life because you're there there's a praise in my heart there's something that cries out to you

and he went on to say thus i will i bless you while i live thus will i bless you while i live isn't that an interesting way or interesting perspective in that phrase while loving kindness or god's mercy is better than life yet he realized that by because by god's mercy he had life well then because he's given me life while i live i'm going to praise him i will bless thee because of this abundant life in christ jesus then he said this i will lift up my hands in thy name worship is a prerogative and a privilege of those that have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb believers render worship to the lord out of willing hearts not because we said oh everybody raise your hands and i know i did that earlier why don't you raise a hand give praise to god you didn't have to i'm not forcing you but lift up your hands they will gladly raise their hands and surrender or to reach out to touch for the touch of god in their lives paul wrote to timothy he said i will therefore that men pray everywhere doing what lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting i think the lord isn't pleased when we involve our hands or other things when we evolve ourselves in worship or work in his name when we get involved in the kingdom of god when we worship with those things and david said i'm just going to bless thee and i will lift up my hands in that night david was a worshiper in fact his wife that didn't like to worship looked at him and said david look at you making a fool out of yourself down there worshiping david said you know what i'm just going to go out and do it some more and i'm going to do more than what i was he said i don't really care because i am serving my god that is worship yeah we pentecos we might be emotional but i think we got bible to back it up we don't have time to go there we could go to revelation and see what's going on angels say hey he's holy holy and everybody starts praising and worshiping god and bowing down and throwing crowns better get used to some worship down here are you ain't going to like it up there

i worship verse 5 my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness praise and here's the thing about praise it not only blesses god because we're giving him glory it'll bless you it'll touch your life david's in the wilderness but as he begins to praise his god and he's out there in the desert you know what god satisfies his soul the whole song we used to sing was written back in the 70s he said only jesus can satisfy your soul only he can change your life and make me whole he'll give you a peace you never knew he'll give you joy heaven too why because he can satisfy the hungry soul and david said my soul will be satisfied with marrow and fatness the results of serving god are positive the benefits are numerous the devil promises much but he doesn't give you anything right nothing that's worth keeping that's not what the lord when the lord gives amen he gives exceeding abundantly david took refuge in the presence of the lord even when he was being pursued even when he was out in the wilderness david put his trust in the lord and he was both satisfied it's interesting he was hungry for the things of god my soul is thirsting for him but he begins to praise god and he said thus will i bless you i'll lift up my hands and my soul will be satisfied what he's saying is turn to god he expressed his hope and desire he said as for me i will behold thy faith in righteous face and righteousness i shall be satisfied when i awake and with thy likeness there is a hope that we can cling to in anticipation one of these days we're going to be with him don't give up in the wilderness experience don't quit worshiping in the wilderness experience don't stop in the wilderness experience

i told this story before the bible class but you know we took a two-year hiatus so you know you might not remember it years ago i had a a good friend still have him good friend of mine he's three or four years younger than me but i noticed one time in in our church services up in illinois and he just was kind of standing back and wasn't doing a whole lot wasn't worshiping wasn't saying as i went up to him i said what's going on what what's going on in your life and he turned me he said well i've just got questions got a lot of questions you know what we all do but don't stop worshiping god because you've got questions here's the reason you walk away from god and stop worship you're never going to find the answer anyway because he is the answer so you know what even though you don't get it and maybe don't understand it all and we all see through a glass darkly continue to worship and live for god it's the only way you're going to get an answer to those questions so continue to praise him and he said i'm gonna my i'm gonna be satisfied my mouth and my lips are gonna praise with joyful lips verse six he goes on he talks about praising with in in verse five with the joyful lips as jesus made his entry into jerusalem people began to praise him particularly the children but a lot of other people were praising and shouting hosanna waving palms worshiping jesus and and the pharisees looked on and said master rebuke your disciples look at these people they're acting like fools shut them up she said you know what if they hold their peace the stones are going to cry out there someone is going to worship the lord and i think we need to just determine you know what it might as well be me with my lips i am going to praise you well i'm thankful i hear somebody that just said you know what that's me i'm going to worship him i'm going to praise him amen god created this mouth to praise jesus said this way out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks go back to that lottery ticket idea abundance of your heart i'm excited i'm not going to be quiet the mouth's going to speak a good man out of a good treasure of the heart brings forth good things jesus said so if you've got a heart that's been transformed by the power of god and he's put his spirit within you that good man is going to bring good treasure out of that heart and he's going to speak it's going to come forth david said he would praise the lord with a joyful lips another place he said let the words of my mouth let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight o lord my strength my redeemer the things that i am saying the things i am praising about remembering what the lord has done produces a praise and that praise will come out in our words

verse 6 when we look at that cannot be interpreted without verse 5 so i'll go back and read them together because verse 5 is the what of the passage and verse 6 is the win he said my soul is going to be satisfied my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips when i remember thee up on my bed what are you saying is when i lay down at night i'm satisfied i started the day out seeking you early yeah i'm in the wilderness and i'm thirsty and i'm going through things but when i lay down at night here's what i know everything is all right because he's my lord and he's my savior and when i meditate on these things when i think what the lord has done in my life when i think of you in the night watches when i remember those things when i just sit down and contemplate what you've done in my life there's a praise that comes out and so that's why he said i'm praising you with joyful lips when i'm laying down at night another place he said it this way from the rising of the sun until it goes down the name of the lord is going to be praised he's going to worship god

goes on to say in verse 7 because your house been my help therefore in the shadow of thy wings will i rejoice i told you next week we'll study psalm 91 so we won't go into it a lot but many of you could quote verse one he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty he's talking about dwelling he's talking about abiding he's talking about a long-lasting relationship with god not someone that just don't you hate it when you're out in the in the heat and the cloud goes over and i mean it just feels cool almost immediately but it's gone before you know it man come back try to follow and now they go too fast the shadow it feels so good in that and that's what he is kind of referring you know when i'm out here in the wilderness he just puts that shadow over me psalm 91 and 4 he said he shall cover me with thy feathers and under his wings shout out trust talking about the peace of god that is there

verse 8 he said my soul followeth hard after thee that's an interesting phrase there and interesting words when you look at it the hebrew verb there means to cling or to stick or to stay close or to cleave when he says follow hard after these it means i'm right there i'm right with you jesus i'm right there with you god i'm i'm right behind you i'm following after you the hebrew word order is different obviously than english they they write it backwards or we do one of us i don't know but the sense is to follow closely or to stick by another to be right there with one another kind of reminds me of elisha following elijah you know everywhere he went elijah would turn to him and say hey just just stay here i pray thee the lord sent me to bethel so elisha you just said you stay right here and elijah says no as the lord liveth and as thy soul liveth i'm not leaving you in fact three times he uses that exact same phrase he goes to another place and the the sons of the prophet say don't you realize god's gonna take him away and he's like shut up i'm following after him okay hold your peace same thing yeah don't deter me i'm sticking by him we need to have that attitude when we're serving god following hard after him well what kind of god does he ever hear people say that what kind of god is that that would allow that to come in your life shut up he's a good god i'm going to face some things i'm going to go through the wilderness but i'm following hard after him i'm sticking to it don't give up don't turn your back don't go another way should we do any less than elisha when we're following jesus david's heart was devoted to god with a steadfast perseverance that phrase after the it's very emphatic i'm following hard after the denotes he's going to follow with unworried consonants he's going to go no matter how long the way or what i go through and what kind of obstacles i'm not leaving i'm following you when we go through the wilderness learn learn to follow hard after god seek after him he said my soul follow hard after thee and then he said thy right hand upholdeth me those two verses go together they're they're almost they you don't have one without the other yes i'm following after you but at the same time your strong hand is upholding me that's what we have to understand there's a strong description of a mutual relationship between god and the believer a relationship of trustful dependence i'm following hard after on the one hand and a constant favor and protection on the other the right hand holding one up that is the promise of god it's been illustrated in all different kinds of ways i'm sure many of you seen the footprints in the stand thing you know where god says when you only see one set that's what i'm carrying you that's kind of what he's saying there you may not understand it when you're walking through the wilderness but god's hand is holding me up here's the promise in hebrews chapter 13 for he hath said i will never leave thee or forsake thee and then he goes on to say here's why he said it here's why so that we may boldly say the lord is my helper and i will not fear what man will do to me he gave the promise so i can boldly say he's my helper he said it and i can agree with it and i can live it out

paul said it this way in ii timothy he said for which things also i for which cause i also suffer these things nevertheless i am not ashamed because i know whom i have believed i'm following after i'm pursuing he said and this is the other part of it i am persuaded that he will keep that which is committed to him against that day there again you see both sides i'm committed i'm i'm persuaded i'm following after i'm not ashamed i know who i believed and he's there supporting me and he's going to keep me both passages talk about a wilderness experience one of them talked about persecution of men the other one talks about suffering but both promise that god is faithful to those who are faithful to him

verses 9 and 10 kind of a little bit of a detour here he's he's really prophesying he said those that seek my soul to destroy it they're going to go into lower parts of the earth word that however you want he said they shall fall by the sword and their poor they shall be a portion for foxes that's what they usually refer to as a a desert area because it was overrun by wild animals and the foxes had come in and whenever they wiped out a city and just left it for waste he said those that seek my soul to destroy it that's where they're going that's what's going to happen to them i might be in the wilderness right now but when i come out of this it's the enemy that's going to be in that place when the enemies of god will plant and plan destruction i'm thankful god assures his people of victory you know we've got a rich heritage in the lord don't we i'm not talking about our church heritage i'm talking about in the lord since our righteousness is of god and not ourselves it's an eternal righteousness nothing that the enemy does against god's people are going to prosper he said no weapon formed against me will prosper every tongue that shall rise against the in judgment you're going to condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the lord and their righteousness is of me saith the lord hold on child of god i think what he's saying another way we could say it is this god's going to take care of that problem god's going to take care of the situation god's going to take care of that person that is that is bothering you and tempting and persecuting you you just keep trusting him let god take care of that because no weapon they form it's not going to prosper the things that they're doing the things that they're saying and people can be cruel and things can happen in our lives and we can get stuck in situations say how in the world what's the answer to this don't worry about it god is going to take care of this and

i like david's response in this last chapter versus last verse verse 11 but the king shall rejoice in god in spite of every difficult circumstance that david found himself in david identified himself and he understood that he was the king and he was gonna david you're in the wilderness david you're running from everybody you're running from saul you're running from absalom you're out here in the middle of nowhere you're not sitting on a throne you're not ruling there's no army supporting you i mean you're out with nothing but i'm the king he knew his position in god this is important i think if you grasp anything today it's important know your position in god when we're in the wilderness experience the devil will always question your identity he'll always look and did god really promise you that are you really a child of god does he really love you does he care for you to see this does he that he will always question your identity and get you to try try to get you to doubt who you are in christ jesus you don't believe it look at matthew 4 and 3. jesus is in the wilderness and the tempter comes to him and you know what he says if you're the son of god he tried to get jesus to not even realize who he was or to decide he really wasn't who he thought he was david you can't be king you're out here in the middle of nowhere you're painting insanity so you can go live with the enemy jesus you're out here and you think you're the son of god if you really are here's the key don't listen to his time plug your ears i don't want to hear it devil if you've been born again i can tell you are a child of god and you have this assurance my sheep hear my voice i know them they follow me i will give them eternal life they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand get a hold of that child of god if he's touched your life if he's filled you with his spirit it doesn't matter what the devil says stand up the king is going to rejoice in god this child of god is going to praise his savior and we can embrace that promise therefore the redeemed of the lord are going to return they're going to come with zion singing and design there's going to be joy on their head and shall attain everlasting joy and gladness sorrow and mourning are going to flee away you see someday that one that lies he said the king shall rejoice and everyone that sweareth by him shall show glory but the mouth of them that speak lies is going to be stopped it hasn't been stopped yet but it's going to be because someday the accuser of the brethren is not going to have another opportunity to speak don't forget your place in christ jesus so when things became difficult and they faced a wilderness experience david went back to the basics god you're my god god you're my strength you're the mighty one he determined to seek the lord from his thirsty soul and would not be denied in fact in another psalm he said when thou said a seek ye my face my heart said lord i will seek lord you said seek and i said yes i'm going to do that he decided in his heart he was going to seek god he would continue to lift up his prayer and he would continue to praise and worship god no matter what situation he was in he chose to see the power and the glory of god rather than focus on the problems that he was facing knowing that god he served was going to help him through the situation he trusted in the mercy of the lord and that he knew would bring him out into ultimate satisfaction he persuaded that he could find protection and provision in the presence of the lord and he determined to follow hard after god circumstances never let them affect your praise and worship for the lord you know the bible does prophesy perilous times will come the last days we're going to go through some stuff we are going through things and you will go through more till jesus comes he spoke of signs that would come to pass he said a lot of things are going to happen there's going to be great fear there's going to be some that are going to fall away but here's what he says when you see all that quit and run no he said look up because your redemption has drawn nigh keep looking up you don't have to fear what's ahead whatever circumstances you face whatever wilderness you go through whatever desert you're in you can go forward as long as you keep your hand in jesus christ know who you are know you're his child and let jesus sustain and keep you in your wilderness situation

let's stand take a break here in just a couple minutes and then we're going to go into our morning worship time before you do why don't you just lift a hand and i said i'm not going to make it comes from your heart but why don't you just ask him to help us lord help us to have that kind of faith lord i pray that this psalm will inspire us to know that you are our god to know that nothing is going to stop my praise nothing is going to stop my worship to you that i will bless you while i live i will give my life to blessing you i'm going to be satisfied because you're going to be my strength i'm not going to forget that i'm a child of god i'm going to follow hard after your righteousness i'm going to follow you no matter what may come what may go lord help us to have that kind of a spirit that kind of a determination lord that says no matter what i'm living for you i'm following you lord jesus and i know when we do that your hand is going to lift us up your praise your strength is going to be there now give him a praise from your heart thank him for that promise lord so thankful for your word the promise is god you will never leave you will keep us in your hand and we give you the praise we give you the glory in jesus name hallelujah hallelujah amen