Comfort Through the Psalms

For those listening we come against fear and anxiety Lord strengthen our medical workers and our law enforcement and those who have lost their job those who Have no place to go to work and whose businesses might be failing God Would you strengthen them this evening and I pray this in Jesus name? Amen a couple things I wanted to the reason I want to do this is I was in the book of Psalms For many months and I was going to continue it But of course a lot of different things happen So I just want to kind of share with you what God's putting on my heart through the book of Psalms as you know It's an incredible encouragement to those who need encouragement and the title it's gonna be a brief message I don't want to keep you late on Wednesday We've got a lot of people watching on the East Coast as well It's 8 o'clock there 5 o'clock our time The title when I get to it is the Lord will hear your cry The Lord will hear your cries a believer or a person who doesn't know God when you cry out to him He will hear that cry and you can take that to the bank But I want to talk about a few things that have been coming in from our local church body For from our national ministry emails and asking if I can answer I can't answer all the questions But we do want to look at some of these I'm being asked What is my view on some of the pastors who are? Being defiant in light of what's going on and still opening their churches I know there's a pastor who got arrested a friend of mine knows him and and I want to be cordial I want to be graceful But I don't view this as a First Amendment right at this particular junction. Here's why Number one. This is a public health emergency so as a society we are called to take certain steps to try to curb the The effect infection rate and and to minimize death minimize people getting sick So I think as a church that's loving your neighbor You can you can take those steps that you know The six feet and the mask and staying at home and you know, we should be setting an example of that So I don't think this is a First Amendment, right? Right now because here's another here's number two. This hopefully is short-term We're looking, you know, I know the president said 30 days Could go a little bit longer here in California and other states, but this is short-term Decision that churches are making to Comply with the government and help get this under control and it's not like this Administration under the president is against churches and wanting to silence the church Actually, the president wants to get the voice of the church out there So you see all these dynamics working working together? And I don't think this is the time to be rebelling against the government orders. Not only that it sends at number three I think here at number four it damages our witness it damages our witness it does not send a good message when the churches have a renegade spirit of rebellion and We're sending the wrong message across the landscape Now I will say this I don't necessarily say those pastors have that type of rebellion, but I think our faith Can can get really close to foolishness if we're not careful I can be this really strong about faith, but make some foolish decisions because I'm not taking I'm not considering others also We can still gather together online Some groups families are meeting and praying and you know at their own home and different things So it's not like the the voice of the church has been completely silent Maybe maybe it'll get to that in the future. I don't know but I say right now I don't view this as a First Amendment right where pastors are going to be rebellious and still have church I I just don't that does not resonate with me whatsoever Number two, I look at those counseling President Trump spiritually you've got James Robinson. You've got Pastor Jack Graham you got you have Stephen Strang from charisma. You have Jack Hibbs Jim Garlow I Know all five of those men and I try to talk to them on a monthly basis if I can All of those people are saying the same thing So when you have godly counsel saying that the churches need to abide and respect that decision for now I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. So again, that's not what that's Why I don't agree with churches being defiant in this area. It does does not send the right message whatsoever We send a good message when we protect our neighbor and when we get our message out online And then when we come back we come back powerful and I believe we're gonna come back I believe God is using this as a season a season of pruning and people are asking Shane how long is this gonna take? What are your thoughts? Of course No one knows but the sooner we repent as a nation the sooner the church repents the sooner you see broken people Humble people crying out to God. I believe you'll see that plague being lifted even more it it's almost like, you know We're fearful but not yet humbled. We're anxious, but we still have our savings account We haven't been through the furnace of affliction yet, and I'm hoping we don't get there But we need to cry out to God even now also some questions came in Mainly from those reading too much media. Don't look at the media a lot right now the death rate They say it could reach a hundred thousand two hundred thousand and it could I'm not denying that but also I checked some medical websites and the majority of them warning their warning against Making predictions they said there are too many uncertainties. It's almost impossible to draw firm conclusions So I'm also on my Facebook page if you're on my Facebook page the church Facebook page And I posted a video underneath this live feed that you can show Todd Todd Starnes of with Fox News Person I've been on the show a few different times. We email back and forth now and then he took some video of Supposedly chaos breaking out in New York at a hospital and there was no one hardly there other videos of Hospitals and places and where they used a picture that was in Italy They tried to make that that hospital Appear as it was in New York and there's a lot of trickery going on by the media right now So you have to be very careful who you listen to now. Is there some issues in hospitals? Absolutely. Is there a shortage? Absolutely, our nurses and doctors putting their lives on the line technically. Absolutely. There is there's there's a crisis It's a pandemic But there's a difference when the media is not biased unbiased and they are showing the facts versus using this Using the fear to draw people away from whether it's the president whether they want to crush the economy We don't really know but we know we do know this that the media the mainstream media many cases is not being Straightforward. So, how do we know the real death rate mortality numbers? How do we know that this is? I mean, that's the world we live in right now. That's why they call it the fake news So my thought is be careful use wisdom, you know Look learn a little bit but turn it off spend time with your family spend time with God and we need to not be feeding Ourselves on so much of this now I'm preaching to myself right now because I have to go on and do a lot of research I don't just take a video and say oh look what's happening I I research it and the mortality rate and different things and even that is it feels like it's too much So those are some of the things I want to cover with our local church and you also they've been emailing us and I did want to Let people know that this is a very stressful time It's a I don't I can't think of a stress more stressful time for me as far as dealing with church issues budgeting issues personnel issues employees Wanting to keep you know staff and also then dealing with the calls that come in people we know with the corona virus People in the hospital people, you know It just it's a very and then of course you're in your house with with kids And and you can't go anywhere And if you do go somewhere people look at you weird because you're not wearing a mask or you buy too many groceries But you have seven people you're feeding and it's just a very every place you go is stressful there You can feel it You can cut the tension in the air nurses being taxed and burdened and doctors And then you have those who just found out that they might not be going back to work And then you have some businesses who are not going to make it very long and and you have churches that you know Can't stay shut down forever So there's just a lot of pressure but it's a wonderful opportunity to look to God and I want to encourage you to tune in Sunday I'm actually talking about that first verse in the book of James call it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your patients or testing of your of your All these tests develop your patients and patients will complete its perfect work in you. Sorry I know I butchered that I didn't write it down. So tune in for that Sunday, but the Lord will hear your cry I want to just encourage you this evening. The Lord will hear your cry I was in the first nine chapters of the book of Psalms and then a lot of things happen I took a sabbatical. This is a funny thing To tell you on Sunday, but I might tell you now I Was going I took a quick sabbatical Didn't even get halfway through and I was reading some books and websites and they all said Now when you get off your sabbatical make sure you don't go right back into work You got a kind of you know Just you can't go from 100 mile zero to 100 miles an hour and I went from sabbatical to Kovat 19 within one day flying into Texas and then having to fly home and and it was a very stressful time But I wasn't able to finish some one not or Finish the book of Psalm. It could take a while. I don't know how long I'm gonna do this I just know I have something in my heart today, but I want to just before I go into the next Psalm I want to recap what we talked about a few months ago and Chapters 1 through 9. I'm just gonna pull out a few key things Very first thing out of Psalm blessed is the man or you could say woman The word man here is talking about mankind a person blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly Matt blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly and that's what I just said about the media and where we're getting our information from and Listening. Here's what happens the media or ungodly council Will begin to speak into your heart into your mind you're reading things watching things you shouldn't be doing and that ungodly Council begins to influence you and as it begins to influence you you remove yourself from that shelter of blessing and covering that God wants you to stay in and also blesses a man who walks not in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the Seat of the scornful means he's not a gossip. He's not somebody backbiting and hurting. He doesn't sit in the path of sin He's not he's not going and encouraging sin. But what does he do? What does he do blessed the man who does these things and who? meditates on Netflix No meditates on voodoo No Meditates on the Word of God and that's why I just finished Psalms last month I'm gonna be back in songs because during the season I've got to be feeding my spirit You have to learn how to encourage yourself in the faith and not rely on somebody or some person Also, I want to talk about this. I know I talked about the media but also influence right now You're gonna be seeing a lot of things coming out. Well, they've already been coming out I've known about a few of these for at least the last year on conspiracy type theories And I'm not gonna mention names I don't want to give them any more credit But you you know, if you're watching what they are and if you watch them some of these conspiracy theories just have one letter In the alphabet, I'll leave it there and I don't know there's a lot of truth behind these things there's a lot of corruption our government from the pedophiles and from Weinstein and Epstein and his I mean, it's just Amazing how much is going on and there there's a lot to it But what I'm finding is those who get caught up in this and they watch it all the time They're looking for these signs and they're looking for this They begin to foster fear in their own heart and the in in and the fear in their family So my thought is this is it building you up spiritually? Is it edifying put it through the Philippians of funnel? Count it or not that not yet the Philippians fun I believe it's chapter 4 or finally brethren Whatever things are pure and honest and noble and upright meditate on these things So when you watch these videos like big brothers against you one world government the Illuminati and all these things and look at these signs And they're gonna you know, it just be careful be careful because a lot of that I think You'll find shortly. Let's see what happens in April Okay but I think a lot of those things you're finding that the enemy is also using that to distract you from your main purpose of Serving God with all your heart with all your soul because you're so fearful I mean, that's what it does in me. It creates this fear and anxiety plus, you know, who's still on the throne, you know Who's still in control? Why do we watch these things and act like the world's falling apart and they're coming to get us when you have to turn your Heart over to God and God alone and let him fill you with his spirit. That's that's actually who we should be really fearing fear God Fear God. So what we find here the first lesson from Psalms is the influence be very careful Who is influencing you because also who's influencing you is also influence influencing your children. So We've devoted some time in our family and we're promoting this locally at the church To make a point to get through God's Word during the season whether we're in this for a month or whatever begin to read God's Word every day talk about what you learned and begin to allow that to influence you and if you pull your pull off of the media for a season and then you'll you'll notice that you'll start to experience a Lot of peace and a lot of joy because you're being conformed to what God's Word says But then as I was reading through psalm and recapping I saw something where that we don't have yet I'm hoping we're getting there, but there's a desperation in the voice of the psalmist there. There's a desperation There's the blessing of brokenness and I wish I could teach on that for the for the whole sermon the blessing of brokenness there's something about being broken before God and humble of before God and Desperate because desperate people do desperate things in a good way when they're desperate for food when you're desperate for water when you're desperate For shelter, but when you're desperate for God, oh What a blessing that is he said in in chapter 3 I believe it was I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me from his holy heel arise Oh Lord arise. Oh Lord defeat my enemies You are my only strength my eyes were like rivers of water and you uphold me you put you put me back up on the Pedestal you saw me through you are the righteous one. Oh, holy God, and he began to cry out in desperation And he said that I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me from his holy heel See, there's a call. There's a cry Some of you will remember I talked about this those of you who go to Westside Christian Fellowship is When you hear that that cry of your child, you know, you know, there's a little whimper out back and it's like, okay Well, but when you hear that cry that cry of desperation daddy daddy help me mommy. Mommy. Help me Help me help me There's that desperation you get up you go out and you take down that enemy or whatever it is and you you lift that child Up and you begin to help that child why because there's a desperation and God wants to hear that desperation our hearts I truly believe that God does ask the question. How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it America? Do you want it bad enough to turn off the TV and seek me again with all of your heart? Do you want it bad enough to restructure your church so that the prayer meeting is the priority? How bad do you want it America? There's a desperation a holy a holy indignation for what is taking place and that drives us to our knees a desperation for our children and our grandchildren and and out of that desperation You begin to really seek God with all your heart with all your strength and the psalmist was clear in this area I mean, there's a difference and I Five minute prayer is fine a quick little devotional before you go to bed. It's wonderful, but there has to be a desperation and that word just to be desperate is Nothing else is going to matter in other words God. I'm so desperate for you You're now going to become the priority. You're now going to become the focal point of my life okay, if I lose my job see most people wouldn't you wouldn't be so stressed out and have so much fear and Anxiety and worry if you looked at this way Lord, even if I lose my job if I have no income you will provide for me, but I'm desperate I'm so desperate for you that you're the priority and then that leads me to the next point the priority We see in the voice of the psalmist my voice you shall hear in the morning My voice you shall hear in the morning. There's a priority that has to take place. What are you doing in your mornings? I've talked about this last week, but many of us wake up and we look at the news We look at the the death rate. We look at them that the mortality rate We look at all these things and there's not a priority and the psalmist would cry out my voice You shall hear in the morning my voice. You should hear in the morning other writers in the Bible It would say in the morning hour day would say in the watch the morning watch Jesus would get up early in the morning Why here's what because when you get up your mind will go to that which is your priority? What do you gravitate towards the most and and there's a priority? So as we're being influenced the right way as there's a desperate call going out from our heart Then God becomes the priority and he's put again back on the front burner. We don't say we don't we say God I don't care. What happens to the finances? What happens to this in my house or in my job? we begin to say I want you and nothing but you and he becomes the priority and Then through those chapters there is the reward the reward The psalmist said for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping and crying so that there's a reward you need to know that kids if you're watching watching parents if you're watching that we serve a God if you know him if you Have a relationship with him. You have to make sure you don't have religion Religion is just going through motions. If you if you belong here's here. Let me just give you a test This is often often off the sermon notes if you're trusting in your Baptism, let's say you're baptized when you're a young boy, or you're baptized or what young girl Well, I was baptized or if you're trusting in a certain religious system. Well, I belong to This organization. I belong to this church. I belong to You name it if you do that Then you have religion or if you say but I'm a pretty good person. I'm a good person I do good things I'm not an evil person. I belong to this I I was baptized here and see it's all these rules or all these regulations and and we have to go to Confessional we have to go through this we have to get even the Pope I told you Sunday just declared hey because of coronavirus you can just go directly to God through Jesus Christ I want to say I could have told you that 2,000 years ago. That's what the Bible teaches You don't have to go through man So if you're trusting in a religious system, you need to repent of that this evening and say God I repent I want to have a relationship with you not religion and that's the reward the reward The Lord has heard my weeping So if you are a child of God God will hear your prayers doesn't mean he answers right away I've learned this lesson the hard way God. Here's my prayers and he says Shane. I heard you just wait Just wait I want it now Lord we need answers now just wait and it's that waiting time that your strength is rebuilt Now also though if you don't know God the reward God will hear that cry there there I believe that when a person is a not right relationship with God. He doesn't know God the only prayer that God is really Bound to answer in his word is the prayer that says God save me a sinner So when a person cries out to God God will hear their prayer And let me tell you this if you're if you're going through tremendous anxiety You don't know what's going on next week. Welcome to the club, by the way, and You're just like Lord. I don't know He will give you peace that surpasses all understanding as you cry out to him make him the priority now that peace will come in But then here comes the fear later on too. It's a battle. Let me tell you this AW Tozer said life is a battleground not a playground and I didn't know what he meant 20 years ago when I first Came back to Lord and read his book, but I know now life is a battleground every day you are battling against the Fruitful works of darkness. We need to expose those unfruitful works of darkness But here's the good news Then we do have the assurance I could take you so many scriptures between Psalm 1 and Psalm chapter 9 the psalmist says I will both lie down in peace and Sleep now he was going through a tremendous difficulty. He had he had He had he had rivers of water. He'd say if my eyes were were rivers They would be crying out it remind me of Jeremiah in the book of Lamentation. I wouldn't recommend reading Lamentation right now Because he's he's lamenting Lamentations lamenting over the fall of Jerusalem and as a prophet he was caught in the middle and he had to suffer with the people but there was hope even in Lamentations and I might get to that on Sunday But the psalmist said I will lie down in peace and I will go to sleep for you alone Oh Lord, make me dwell in safety so you can lay down in peace Ultimately our president is not in control Did you know that China cannot do anything more than God says God allows Russia has no power Iran has no power these enemies are not a threat compared to God Almighty He holds the Kings in the palm of his hand The Bible says he raises one King up and he pulls another King down. That is God Almighty And that's the God we need to serve We need to get our hearts back to that assurance and the psalmist prayed the Lord will be my refuge for the oppressed He's a refuge in times of trouble for you. Lord have not forsaken those who seek you God if you seek him You will find him. Yes, it might mean we get sick. It might mean you'll lose your job It might mean things are chaos breaks out But if you seek him, you will find him and when you find God, that's all you need So we see the influence we have to be careful of the desperation the priority the reward the assurance I want to read that again. The Lord will be a refuge for those who are oppressed. He will be a refuge in times of trouble see times of trouble are everywhere and God is that refuge and he's that that that that That that strong tower That you can run to and then final finally, I want to say kind of positive. But this final point is a little It's a little difficult for some people to hear but that's okay Listen pastors need to get back to saying the difficult things you want to see America change you want to get through this COVID-19 you're gonna have to get to the wonderful back to the wonderful truths of repentance and holiness and the justice of God and the And the and the fire of God and the holiness of God and you see the church revived again We can't go three points to a powerful Financial breakthrough and your your best life now and 12 steps to recovery and all those might be wonderful I don't know but I know that we need to get back to the old truths of the Bible the truth that Jesus used to Preach he used to say he used to say the man must repent and believe So the last point is the judgment. There was a judgment and it's Psalm the psalmist says the Lord Abhors the bloodthirsty and the deceitful man the Lord Upholds, I'm sorry abhors. That's a strong word the Lord Abhors he hates the bloodthirsty and deceitful men and women That's exactly what's happening right now the bloodthirsty when when some of our elected officials can try to push Push abortion money into the stimulus bill when you see them rejoicing over the murder of children Folks, we've got the blood of innocent children on our hands and rip America needs more intercessors like Nehemiah Interceding like Ezra interceding like Daniel saying all my people we have sinned like Jeremiah saying Oh God, we have sinned get off your high horse and repent and become an intercessor for your nation God abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man God is a just judge for the righteous God tests the hearts and tests the minds There is a judgment coming I don't know how this will all play out I don't know if this is a judgment of God I think 40% of all evangelicals and surveyed said it was and if you look at Scripture You can definitely see that this could be a judgment of God We have to remember often when God would judge people throughout the Old Testament We have 1,500 years of recorded history in the Old Testament only about depending on when you think Revelation was written We only have about 90 years in the New Testament. So you see this this big Section of time in the Old Testament Where God's even godly prophets would have to go through the judgment even Daniel was carried away a captive even Jeremiah went through the fall of of Israel and God said I sent my messengers to warn my people I rose them up early and they send them but they scoffed my messengers They rebuked at my counsel and the anger the Lord arose against his own people until there was no remedy And so you do see that I don't say that to scare you, but I do tell you to prepare you I tell you that the judgment hand of God can look like something like this. I don't know if it is I pray it's not But in God's judgment, there's mercy There's and when you cry out to God there is mercy I'm gonna just leave you with a closing story about the Prophet Elijah Many of you know who he was. He was an Old Testament prophet and He would prophesy against wicked King Ahab and Jezebel and it was something interesting. I love these guys I mean, I love I like Elijah Jeremiah Isaiah Daniel Joel Amos Obadiah and Jonah and Micah Nahum and my heart beats with them and and they were just They would shoot you straight They would they would tell the king what the king needed to hear not what he wanted to hear So Elijah is calling the people back to God. He pronounces a a drought no rain and And Israel is suffering because Elijah pronounced that that great Call of God and that judgment of God upon the people and the king had the audacity to say this He told Elisha. Oh you Troubler of Israel. Oh you troubler of Israel and all Elijah was doing was preaching Repentance and see that's how many people in the media are going to take this type of message We need to have pastors being called all that troubler of America boy If anybody emails me and says Shane you are a troubler of America I know I'm doing something good for God because you have to up you have to Wake up the sleeping church. You have to confront and convict a decaying nation and you have to call out sin Oh you troubler of America? Oh you troubler of Israel and we have to get back to that difficult difficult truths I believe Because any no matter what this is if this is a judgment of God If this is a not a coincidence, but something that is just allowed within his sovereignty It really doesn't matter what it is. Why because the remedy Remedy is always the same. The cure is always the same Return to God he says and I will return to you call on me and I will hear seek me and you will find me Trouble the whole nation by preaching repentance and that's that's what's good Now now now the America's getting closer to wanting to listen. How do you know? Well, I know one mainstream TV outlet just asked a nationally known pastor if he would pray on live TV and you're hearing you're hearing Different things happen and different people praying now more and and we're not there yet to that state of brokenness I hope God brings revival before we get there but you have to know that these types of troubling messages on Judgment and repentance and the holiness of God God uses those types of messages to draw us to a much more deeper relationship with him So that's what I wanted to cover on the first nine chapters of Psalm I want to recap a lot of what we've already talked about God willing. I'll be back next Wednesday I want to keep doing this as long as I can as long as we're allowed to and I want to just what God's been putting on my heart in the book of Psalm and on the Weekends just a normal teaching and really to encourage you because I think people we need to stay together We still need to stay connected and I believe I don't know how long this will last It could be 30 days. It could be a little bit longer depending on what they're gonna watch for it Let me just end with this. I'm not prophetic that I know They're looking for a spike When when when like they saw China in different places, there's a spike so you will see the mortality rate increase We'll see the death rate increase Especially as more people are tested you go from you know thousands to tens of thousands more who have it So obviously there's going to be more deaths because there's more people being test so once you see this kind of hit a peak and then begin to go down that's when I believe some of the the rains will be The tightness that the stringency will need to be released because we got to get the churches back to what they do We got to get back to the way things were and not run out and be foolish But I believe the economy is vitally important to the health and stability of our nation as well as fighting this virus So, I don't know. I'm praying that God would do a miracle that God would just but some of these governors Interesting and interestingly enough. It's Democratic governors who are not allowing some of this this proven medication to be used It's a big word. I don't even know how to pronounce it So I won't say it but you know, they're they're not allowing that to be used in their in their states and so there's a lot of There's a lot of funny business going on. There's a lot of Things that just don't look right now. I know there's a spiritual battle going on behind behind the scene I would say that 2020 is probably going to be the most important election that we have ever seen in our generation You're going to be seeing the Democrats calling for About voting online Not not going in person. There's a reason behind that I don't want to get to that right now but a lot has to do with rigging the system and and a lot of Lot of tomfoolery so we just have to be in prayer and I'm gonna call things as they are and we need just need to Again be backing God's Word and I'm just gonna close in prayer because I'm gonna I'm gonna take too many rabbit trails if I don't Hurry up and and stop so Lord. We just give you this message I pray that it would go and it would penetrate the hardest of heart right now Lord the abusive husband God wake him up The abusive mom the angry mom that's hurting her children The father that's hurting her children Those that are unloving and ungodly and selfish God, would you use it to convict them? And my prayer is that families would actually come back stronger Stronger By looking to you and looking to your word and they will come through this Even stronger than when they went in marriages would be restored Lord I can picture I can picture many marriages even now being restored and being healed I can I can picture people fathers putting priorities back into the lives of their families not chasing the almighty dollar but chasing you Priorities are coming into play families are being restored and and your word again is being elevated the fear of God is in this land again, so Lord my prayer is It's to accomplish your will but not let it go beyond What is necessary to lead this nation to repentance and I pray this in Jesus name Amen, I think we're gonna put a little bit of music back on for those who want to just kind of reflect For the next five or ten minutes or so. This is a great time If you if you have family there and it's hard you could do it later, but you could have your kids Pray with you and just get on your knees in front of the television. That's fine. Gosh, that's a priority That's the desperation or hold hands with your spouse and pray and as we close in worship just begin to allow these things to just Penetrate your heart