Obedience Out Of Desperation Not Obligation

Obedience out of desperation, not obligation. Obedience out of desperation, not obligation. And it is Psalm 101.

We're going to be looking at that here in just a minute. Psalm 101. I was going back and forth on the title because there's a famous verse in here as well that talks about walking in His house with a perfect heart.

I will set nothing wicked before My eyes. I will walk within My house with a perfect heart, set nothing wicked before My eyes. But I stuck with this one because obedience is so important, especially to get navigation correct from God and to understand His will, His character.

Obeying His Word is really where the power of the Word comes from. It doesn't come just from hearing it because a lot of people hear it, but they don't apply it. And it's in the application that the Word of God is life-giving.

But walking in My house with a perfect heart, I want to let you know what that means up front. Perfect doesn't mean what we think. It actually means complete, blameless, wholehearted, and pure.

So we're going to read here that David says he walks within his house blameless. And he keeps a short account of sin in his heart. And he keeps that fire of God going on as well.

Desperation. Obedience out of desperation. Let me explain that for a minute.

Desperation fuels humility. Desperation fuels a passionate pursuit of God. And if it's out of obligation, your pursuit of God is really not going to be on fire.

We use those words a lot. When there's a desperation and a passion, obedience really comes naturally, doesn't it? Many of you know it's not drudgery. It's not like, oh, I'm not going to have fun today.

You're actually passionate about wanting to obey God. And you get into a really good spot where there's joy and freedom. It doesn't mean you don't mess up.

It doesn't mean you don't sin. But we want to obey out of desperation and knowing God more intimately. And that's the problem with many Christians is Jesus is an acquaintance of theirs, but they don't know Him intimately through that relationship.

And that makes all the difference in the world. But then what's interesting is I wanted to go right into Psalm 102. Psalm 101 is real encouraging.

And then look at how Psalm 102 opens. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to You.

Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble. Incline Your ear in that day, and I will call, Lord, please answer me speedily. And it's interesting how the Psalms, I don't know how many years they were written in between each other, but how they'll go from, they'll vacillate from encouraging to difficult.

And that really is our seasons of life, isn't it? And learning to go roll with the punches. How many of you ever heard that phrase? And we don't like to do that because we have plans, we have schedules, we have agendas. But rolling with the punches and just allowing God to be in control and trusting in His sovereignty can bring so much peace as well.

Many of you know when we were flying back, our flight got canceled in Denver Airport at nine o'clock at night. So trying to find that peace was a little challenging. And many of you know Tim Eckerson and Amy.

Tim's our newest elder. I think they were flying to Georgia and then up to yesterday or so. And the plane got canceled again, one of their flights.

So they had to take separate flights to get there. But he told me that he ended up sitting next to Michael W. Smith on the way from Georgia to Nashville, right next to him. Like, well, you know, roll with the punches.

That would be pretty cool. John, I thought of you. Wouldn't that be cool if you ended up on that flight? The guy must get hit up all the time though, I'm sure.

Hey, here's my CD. Listen here. But just allowing God to work through the challenges of life because life will bring challenges every day, every week, every month.

And that's really how we grow in the Lord is we go through these difficult seasons and these challenges. So opening up in Psalm 101, I've got a saying that we used to use often. Sound doctrine leads to sound living.

Sound doctrine. What is sound doctrine? Sound doctrine is theology about God that is correct. It's sound.

It has integrity because it's His Word. And that's so important in this day and age because you'll hear so many different voices, so many different types of churches, so many different types of organizations, and it can get confusing. But if you bury your face in the Word and study the Word, know the Word, love the Word, read the Word, obey the Word, that's considered sound doctrine and at least in the minds of many people, especially young adults, is what is God's will for my life? Have you ever been there? And I try to encourage people as much as possible.

It's really not a jigsaw puzzle. God's will is not a jigsaw puzzle. Got all these pieces out there and hopefully we put all these things together and it's kind of a mystery and then maybe next month I'll know this and next year I'll get this and trying to find God's will as if it's hidden under a rock.

It's actually very, very simple. It's obedience to the Word. Yeah, but who do I marry? Where do I work? Where do I live? All those things.

But those things as you live out the Word, I've noticed that God will just drop things in your lap or change situations. I wasn't even praying for them. How many of you can relate? He knows a good thing, a God thing.

He knows how to direct and He loves to give, I believe, good gifts to His children that are obeying Him and walking in that will and God bringing the right people at the right time or the right situation and trying to guess ahead and determine God's will can be rather challenging. That's why sound doctrine leads to sound living. 10 times out of 10, when someone is off course, well, I should say nine times out of 10, when somebody's off course, it's because they're off course doctrinally.

They're off course biblically. There's something, whether it's finances, whether it's the wrong relationship, whether it's bad choices, wrong decisions, they took a detour to their destiny by getting off course. But thank God, God says, get right back on course.

I know I say that a lot, but don't you love that about God? Where else can you go and get right back on course? Like that quick. At work, no. You get in trouble.

You get written up. I had to write up a lot of people when I had a lot of employees at 24 Fitness. Had a paper trail.

Okay, I forgive you, but trust is a process. It's gonna take a while, uh-huh. No matter what, people, but with God, repentance gets you back on that right path again.

And so, I don't think I noted this. I actually forgot to look it up, but I believe it's the Psalm of David. Donnie, you can give me a shaking head yes or no, you're not sure.

I will sing of mercy and justice to you. So look how he starts out the Psalm. I will sing of mercy and justice to you.

So worship is expression, and this is why with the worship wars, and I know there's different views and different things, but at its core, worship is an expression of what's going on in our heart. Now, of course, it should be doctrinally sound. It should be focused on Christ.

It's not about me, me, me. It's about Him, Him, Him. But worship, it's expressing our emotions.

I will sing of God's mercy. What is mercy? Grace is unmerited favor. Mercy is withholding a punishment due.

His mercy, how many of you have blown it more than a few times? Any takers out there? More than five? Anybody up in the thousands? So I love that verse, His mercies are renewed every day. And you get up with that mercy of God, and thank You, Lord, and because of that, I will sing of His mercy, and I will sing of Your justice. You will do what is right.

That's why it's so important to get worship on, especially in the morning before the news. Thank God the ultimate judge is going to bring justice, and we sing of His mercy, we sing of His justice, and I sing to You and You alone, Lord. I will sing praises.

I really edited this down a little bit because I wanted to talk a lot about this, maybe in the future. But there are, and I believe I could be wrong, but there are times where worship is worshipful, right? It's at the altar, and it's holy, holy is our God, and it's a whole different mood. You remember sometimes during Run the Heavens or other times, it's a whole different mood.

It's heavy. It's worshipful. God's breaking, and I can't wait to get up tomorrow morning and worship because it's that time of worshipful encounter with God and pouring out to Him.

But then there is a time for praise. In Hebrew, it's an exaltation. There's some volume sometimes.

How many of you quiet people out there? Sometimes there's some praise involved in worship and getting excited. I know it's hard for people like me and you, but it's part of worship to be excited and to praise. I'm more of a quiet person.

Any quiet people? Okay, the expressive people? Okay, it's about even. We're okay. Now, I will behave wisely in a perfect way.

And again, what does perfect mean? Blameless, wholehearted approach to You, God pure in my motives. So He's not going to be perfect, but He's going to keep a short account of sin and keep repentance in His heart and behave wisely before the Lord. And then I love this question.

Oh God, when will You come to me? Have you ever said that? What's interesting, David knew this. God's everywhere. He would sing of us and write of His omnipresence.

What's He talking about? When will You come to me? You're everywhere. You're God. And again, we don't want to dig too much into this, but it is special when you feel that power and presence of God in your life and your heart.

That worship that's not just expressing your heart now is also received in your heart. That's the thing with worship, not only is it an outlet, sometimes there's an inlet. As you worship and lift Him up, you become spiritually energized.

And you know what, I wish I had words for it and could really lay it out perfectly, but there are times where in worship, you've got to press in when you don't feel like worshiping, when you've got anybody have a long list of things to do. Distractions, put the phone in airplane mode and have some worship songs downloaded is the best thing. But as you're doing that, Lord, I don't even feel like praying, I've had a hard day, but as that flesh cements and as you begin to worship God, and even if you don't know how or what to say, God, help me.

Lord, help me, I'm in a hard spot right now. I'm crying out to You, God, I need You. I need to desperately hear You for my marriage, for my finances, for my health.

God, I don't even know how to pray right now. Oh God, and you begin to worship Him. Something, there's a deposit into your heart where now the worship that was hard now flows easily.

When there are stumbling blocks, now there's no stumbling blocks, there's stepping stones to worship. Now when you're like, what time is it? You're like, I just want it. Guys, let me tell you, it's possible.

It's possible. And that's not biblical either, right? We're not, it's not some Holy Spirit, token of the Holy Spirit. You'll get that later if you listen to this and ask somebody.

But it's a pursuit of God, and sometimes there are those moments where your heart is just wanting to burst, like He said, oh God, when will You come to me? Maybe you can pray that tomorrow morning in worship, or tonight if you're a night owl. Just pray, Lord, when will You come to me? When will You visit my heart, my soul, and re-energize my spiritual life? And don't get frustrated. Get fervent.

I've wondered how many times God has taken me about as far as I can go, before I say, you know what, forget it. This isn't worth it. This is hard.

God, I don't even know what You're doing. I don't hear anything. I don't see anything.

I'm not experiencing anything. Life sucks right now. Can we be honest? We've all lived there.

If you haven't yet, well, thank God. It's coming. I remember when I first read that verse, Jesus said, when the storm comes, wait a minute, if the storm comes, right, I'm a believer.

If the storm comes. When the storm comes, and the rain beats, and the wind blows, and it comes against your house, you will not fall, because your foundation is securely anchored in the rock. And you have to, we have to weather those storms.

We have to persevere. Guys, I'm learning that the power of perseverance is so important. And I guess from my view, I do see it.

A lot of people maybe walk away from God, or they stop coming to church, or they stop fellowshipping, because they're hurt, they're upset, things are taking longer. Life is getting complicated. Frustration.

Disgruntled. Disappointment. Disillusioned.

And all we have to do is look back to the children of Israel and see how God feels about being disgruntled. And any complainers out there? Just me, when I get my Southern California Edison bill. Disgruntled at lack of progress.

Disgruntled. Anybody thinking, God, You should be doing more in my life. Where's that ministry You promised? Where's that reconciliation I've been praying for and hoping for? Perseverance and holding on to the hem of His garment no matter what comes.

Guys, that really is the secret to life. If I could sum it up, like Job, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. No matter what comes, no matter what storm, no matter what breakup, no matter what situation, no matter what health crisis, if I just hold on to my Savior.

Fannie Crosby has an incredible hymn about that. I wish I could remember the lyrics right now. About holding on to Jesus.

And we see here His worship is focused. Worship must be focused. This is why we put phones in airplane mode.

Or have your to-do list at a later time. And get that focus back on worship. And He could be also saying, God, when will You honor my obedience? God, when will You honor my obedience? If you're saying that, that might not be a good question to ask.

Because it's based on here's what I'm doing, when are You going to do this? And maybe you haven't before, but I've fallen in that trap. Lord, look at what I'm doing. Look at all the praying and fasting.

You better listen. And then He goes on to say, I will walk within my house. I hate the work of the... And if you want some insight on the Psalms, Charles Spurgeon has wrote incredible volumes of Psalms.

It's called The Treasury of David. And I mean, talk about commentary. These guys had time to write and reflect.

Also another great one is, I think it's William Grinnell, he's a Puritan. The Christian in Complete Armor. The Christian in Complete Armor.

Now be prepared, it's about a thousand pages. But the depth of the writing we can glean so much. He said, what fascinates the eye is very apt to gain admission into the heart.

Even as Eve's apple first pleased her sight and then prevailed over her mind and her hand. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I will walk perfect within my home.

The eye gate is so important. Men, primarily. Women, too.

But usually that enticement, that allurement, that temptation begins, oh, when she saw the tree, the food was pleasant to the eye. It actually said pleasant to the eye, good for food, and desirable to make one wise. He got her right there with all three bullets.

Less the flesh, less the eye, and the pride of life. She had no chance. But guard that eye gate.

Guard that eye gate. And you know, that glance, that's enough. Take that thought captive.

Because that glance can turn into an obsession. Especially online. Know right where that delete button is.

Get a red marker. Highlight it. Guarding the eye gate, because that temptation starts with the eye.

It sends a signal. It sends the messages. The temptation begins to build.

You know the old saying, out of sight, out of mind. I'm gonna throw this in here as a bonus. You guys ready? Good weight loss tip.

Good health tip. Don't have it in the pantry or refrigerator. You're not gonna drive and go get a donut at 11 o'clock at night when you're in your jammies.

Well, some of you might, I don't know. Out of sight, out of mind. Right, but when you see it, I'll be, what'd you make that other night? Crumble cake with cobbler.

Oh my goodness. Like, I'm doing fine. It's like four in the morning.

I go out in the kitchen. I'm like, turn on the light. Like, what is that? A strawberry cobbler.

For Madeline's house. I think they went, and I got a spoon. I tried to get some, and I tried to cover it up so nobody could tell I got any.

And I don't know how many calories later. I mean, I'm talking four or 500 calories. I normally don't eat in the morning.

But everything's fine until the cobbler presented itself. And the smell was still there from later that evening. You walk in like, something's been cooking tonight in the oven, and it just, it got me.

It took me out, took me out. Blood sugar went high, I'm tired. Now I'm nappy.

It's eight in the morning. I'm sleepy, because the cobbler's kicking in. So what I should have said is, devil's a liar.

Get out, go in the garage or something. But isn't that how it works? There's a special chocolate, it's like $8 though. It's made with fruit juice and pure organic chocolate.

I love it, and I only had half the thing, and I said, Morgan, hide this. You can have the rest. I don't want any more.

And she just put it in the cabinet. So I opened the cabinet, there it is. It's gone.

But how the eye gates, how that, we've got a guard. Those are, those are, those are, funny examples, but there's worse examples, that we have to be very careful in the eye gate where we go, what we watch, what we view, because it opens the door, especially in our home. Parents, isn't that hard? It's like, I'm monitoring YouTube all 24-7.

What are you watching? What is that? What movies can we watch? Not wanting to be legalistic and hard, but teaching the kids, hey, listen, you let this stuff in. They're making witches nice and casting spells. It's not good.

It opens up our hearts to the things that are demonic. Sexual in nature. Violent, violent, violent.

The eye gate. You're telling me this has no ramifications on kids? Grand Theft Auto, an eight-year-old, can have sex with a prostitute, take back the money, and set her on fire. What Christian parent is allowing that garbage into their homes? Be careful, the home is the battleground right now.

We worry about the public schools, or different places, or friend's house, sleepovers. You know, I got it, but the home, your home, and again, I haven't mastered this, it's challenging, but there should be a sanctuary with worship on. Guys, we're not gonna watch that, we're not gonna go there.

And it's been hard, even my daughter Aubrey, she's like, Dad, what are you watching? I'll just watch stuff on YouTube that's not bad or good, it's just unproductive. So, just getting out the good books again, dusting them off. And it makes a huge difference in our lives.

Going to bed hungry for God means you wake up hungry for God. Did you know that? Hungry for God. Watching the newest Amazon Prime series doesn't have you waking up too hungry for God.

And so He says, I will walk with Him in my house, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. And it is very challenging today with the media and music, but Jesus says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. He also said, Jesus said, if your eye causes you to sin, what are we supposed to do if our eye causes us to sin? Boy, that would hurt.

Now, is Jesus telling you to really do that? Because, I don't know about you, but I can pluck out one and I've got another one. You can pluck out both eyes and be blind and your head is full of filth without your eyes. So it's actually very clear.

Whatever is causing you to sin, remove it. Could it be a flirtatious relationship? Could it be ungodly unions? Could it be, again, the things we watch, what we allow into our home? Man, this is causing... For those of you who keep falling in a certain area, usually it's because you have to remove that trigger. You know how many men I used to talk to at men's conferences? They'd come up, hardcore porn addiction, things like that.

I said, man, go to Verizon, get a flip phone for a while. Can't do that. Well, what do you mean you can't do that? How bad do you want it? No, you can do that.

You're choosing not to do that. And so you have to remove the thing that causes you to fall. Be vigilant about it.

Because anytime you... Have you ever cuddled sin? Like it's a little newborn baby? So cute. My one little vice. See? See his name? See my one little vice? His name is Marijuana, or Seagram 7, or whatever you call Delilah.

And that one little vice, if you continue to hold it, will eventually consume. That's why we're actually called to abort sin. Abort it, because when it's fully grown, it brings forth death.

We know sin, you can't keep it on a leash. Because what happens when you give in to it, and don't really repent, it's one thing, you know, you fall and you repent, God, please help me, and you make adjustments and changes, and you're walking blameless within your house, and you know, that's different, but there are people who they fall, and it's like, not gonna really put up the guardrails, and I'm sorry, but I'm not truly repentant. I'm not gonna really let people know, because it's embarrassing, or I kind of enjoy it.

And once it gets that hook in you, now it becomes a dominating, controlling force in your life. And now what you used to control, now controls you, and the end result of playing that game, is death. Possibly physical death, spiritual death.

And I know we've seen, we've counseled so many people. Guys, I've seen them, I've seen them here with joy in their face. Their wife right next to them.

Two years later, back hooked to whatever it is. Alcohol, crystal meth. Heroin.

Divorced, lose custody rights. Their life is a shell of what it was a few years ago. What happened? It didn't happen overnight.

I know it's heavy, but it's true. Abort sin, confess it, get things out of your life. A secret porn habit will destroy you.

A secret flirtatious habit, a secret whatever it is, it's gotta be dealt with. And that's one thing I noticed reading William Gurnell's book on Christian in Complete Armor, or Spurgeon, or pretty much any book, man, they hit heavy, they hit hard on sin. Like they called it out.

There wasn't a lot of wiggle room. Nowadays, you kind of go into Barnes & Noble and look at the best sellers, and it's, well, that's just a struggle, it's a disposition, you're born that way, and I know it's hard, and it's so soft. Jesus wasn't very soft on sin to cut your eye out, or chop off your hand.

I mean, you cannot get more dramatic than that. You really can't. Be killing sin, or sin be killing you.

John Owen, the famous Puritan said that. And then David says, a perverse heart shall depart from me. So this is David talking, I will not know wickedness.

I'm making a decision not to know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. David pointed out he doesn't like slander.

God doesn't like slander. What is slander? It's putting down somebody. It's putting down somebody that doesn't need to be put down.

Sometimes people need to be put in their place. But slander is just going after people and slandering them because it makes you look better. And God says, I do not like that.

In Proverbs He says, I hate. I hate one who sows discord among the brethren. If you know of anybody sowing discord among the brethren, lovingly warn them.

Lovingly warn them. The one who has a haughty look. What's a haughty look? Do you know that look? I mean, I guess we can all have that look sometimes.

But it's just God's gift to the church. Oh yes, I've studied end times. I have a degree in this or just looking down on others.

Brother, why can't you get your life together? Just haughty. And they look it, don't they? I don't know, maybe I can just tell that. That proud look.

Because brokenness has a look. Humility has a look. When you've been humbled by God, when you've been broken, and that spirit of judgmentalism has been crushed from your heart, you have a different look.

You can understand. You can relate. You're not quick to cast that first stone.

You're not wrongly judgmental. You're not critiquing people. A good way to know this is are you quick to listen? Or are you quick to speak? The person who's been broken and humble is very quick to listen.

If you know arrogant slanders, don't put them before you or give them a voice. Daniel 4.37 Those who walk in pride, God is able to put down. Those who walk in pride, God is able to put down.

And in case you're not aware, let's do a quick survey here or look at some questions. The person who is prideful, now again, how often do we say this? There's pride in all of us. Yours truly is not a very humble pastor all the time.

I wish I could say, guys, I've mastered it. Oh, I remember pride back around 2018. Yeah.

Because it's ready to come out whenever we're ready to fight. Usually, it's we don't like to be challenged. Men, anybody relate? Eight people.

Come on. We don't like our plans questioned. It's a funny story.

I have a nickname. I don't think you guys know this, but I'm telling you right now. You can ask Morgan.

I have a nickname. Ready? Ready? How many of you kids watch this movie Wreck-It Ralph? Wreck-It Ralph. Because I do not look at the manual.

I'll go to put something together and I'll just put it together or something comes from Amazon, and that box is torn apart. No, no, no, no, no, no. Get scissors, take it apart nicely because we need to return it.

By then, I've wrecked it. I know how to build something simple. I don't need to look at the manual.

It's embarrassing. But how many times do you miss the little thing? Oh, that screw goes that way. So it attaches to this.

And I get prideful with manuals. And so we're all susceptible to this, but do we admit it and do we work on it? But the prideful person, they're always right in their eyes. They're not open for constructive criticism.

They're always right in their eyes. They're not open for constructive criticism. Listen, constructive criticism is a blessing.

Blessing. I can think of even some of you in the room that have given us constructive criticism. And it's a blessing, because when you know somebody loves you and the church, and they've got some thoughts about things and how we can improve, pride says, nope, this is how we do things.

We've mastered it here. I don't need your advice. I've got this.

I'll be careful. Boom. Pride cometh before a great promotion.

Pride cometh before destruction. Another translation, before a fall. The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart.

They're always right. Anybody know people like that? They're always right. They believe that they've been given the gift of criticism.

And you're the target, or I'm the target, or somebody's the target. And this person, pride, because they think they can properly diagnose everybody. It's the disease of pride.

It really is. By the way, there's no gift of criticism. You guys know that? And it's been a hard season right now.

I've got people that are in the news. Some of you, if you follow Christian News, allegations about leadership, accountability, things that happened in the past. I've mentioned that in other messages.

I've got these guys sell numbers. I've talked to them sometimes. I'm kind of reserved from time to time.

I just want more information, but sometimes individuals need to be lovingly confronted and say, hey guys, this doesn't look good. This accountability structure, you have no accountability. You've got to say something.

You've got to be open and transparent. And so that isn't criticism. That's truly loving somebody.

See, a lot of reason why top Christian leaders don't change is because they have too many fans and not enough true friends. True friends shoot you straight. Number three, they often hide behind statements such as, God told me.

When they pull out the God told me card, it's all over. Isn't it? It's all over. I'm done.

I've had meetings, I'm talking to people, like, well, God told me. Oh, well, there you go. Meeting a jerk, God told you.

But often, I would say a lot of times, God didn't truly tell them. Because when God truly whispers to your soul, shows you something, you don't say that. You say, well, I'm sensing, here's what I think.

And that's how they get out of it. I've seen so many people get out of a loving conflict and it goes nowhere once they throw out the God told me card. Well, this meeting is over because God told you that you're wrong.

And I mean, you're right and we're wrong. Be careful. Or I have discernment.

Either God told me or I have discernment. Prideful people will always resort to that. Listen, if you're having something, a discussion, you have to say, well, I have discernment.

That might mean you don't. Because you shouldn't have to say that. It's just who you are.

They are not humble worshipers, broken prayer warriors, or contrite encouragers. Watch this, prideful people rarely encourage. They'll put you down, the church down, others down.

They're not encouragers. Because pride doesn't allow us to encourage. Again, broken, humble, contrite heart.

We've been beat down. We've been humbled. And so, my eyes shall be on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me.

David's saying, as a king, I'm going to dwell on the faithful of the land. He who walks in a perfect way, again, somebody who is steadfast, honest, upright, they will serve the king. But he who works at deceit shall not dwell within my house.

He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Here's something you need to know about lies. It's not just, what do they call it, a whopper, right? Telling just a complete... Most people in the church aren't liars in the sense that you just completely make something up.

Oh, my car broke down, I went to the hospital, and it's all a lie. Christians are good at half-truths. Or they say things about others that's just not true.

Because they have discernment. And God told them. That's actually a slander, and a slander liar can be in the same category.

Lying is saying something that's not true. And David says, he who lies shall not continue in my presence. It's hard to see on this because this isn't capitalized.

The words aren't in this word, my, I believe David's talking about himself as a king. You can look it up for yourself. But also, this is also a principle where those who lie will not receive and continue in the presence of God.

Yes, a person is a believer, but when they're lying and slandering, they're quenching and grieving the Spirit of God. They think they aren't. They think they're full of the Holy Spirit when they're full of something else.

It's a rated G sermon, so. But to truly... Guys, I don't want to belabor this point, but God's presence is so precious. It's so precious.

I have to tell you, I think I seek that more than anything else. I desire that more than anything else on planet Earth. The presence of God.

The presence of God. And that's what we want to instill in this church. That's what we want to instill in our kids.

I don't know about you, but I don't want my kids necessarily to graduate top of the class, medical degree, top sports athlete, but they don't know God. I thought of this this week. I think it might be in Sunday sermon, but I remember where I was when I heard about Colby's in the helicopter.

It's not too far from where I was when I heard about it. And you have LeBron James, if he passed away, or Michael Jordan. I know him in basketball, but you get into the football, you get into the NASCAR.

Watching and reading something on Dell Earnhardt, remember him? And just his neck snapped and broke. All these people pursuing these things at the top, but if they didn't know God, loss for eternity. That's a wake up call.

All these things we're pursuing. Oh, if I could just get there. Trust me, there is not fulfilling.

The only thing that's fulfilling is being there in the presence of God and letting that just saturate your heart. Again, this is not where I live. I don't just walk around and experience the presence of God.

As I wrote about in the book, as I talked about, life has been a pain the last few years, and I'm still living it. Everything I wrote about, nothing has vanished. I'm not getting younger.

I don't have those difficult mornings or evenings ever, ever again. No, life is hard. It's challenging.

But we pursue the presence of God and that pursuit is what keeps everything together. That pursuit is what gets me here on Wednesday and on Sunday. And sometimes when Maddie sings Let It Rain, sometimes I don't feel your power and presence, but sometimes when Let It Rain comes out and all these songs you just worship and you feel the presence of God and you begin to tears well up and you go, oh, thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

Thank you, God, for staying close to me. And I seek that with all of my heart. His necessary food is the worship of God.

He says, I will destroy the wicked and I will cut them off. And we had so many statements in here. I don't know, is there another? There might be one more slide.

Throughout this, David is saying, I will, I will, I will walk within my house. I will set nothing wicked before me. Things seem to be going pretty good for him.

Don't they? But what about when I will turns into I can't anymore? I'm going through that difficult season. That's why we must build on the rock. I prayed that earlier.

I'm gonna conclude with this thought. Build on the rock, falling forward and failing forward. Do you know you either, I'm gonna get an analogy for guys.

You either stay stuck or you put it in four-wheel drive and get out. Those are the options. And you walk with the Lord.

You can stay stuck in discouragement and disappointment or you can build your life again on that solid foundation. Even if you built on the sand. Even right now, if your life is falling apart because it was built on the sand.

It says, don't build on that sand because when the storm comes, that house will fall. Even if you're building on the sand, you can say, oh God, I need to build on the rock. And He is the rock of our government.

He is the rock of the church. He is the rock of the family. He is the rock of society.

What's the big deal about a rock? Well, I don't think He's talking about a cute little three-pound boulder. Google some pictures of Half Dome. And you'll see, have you ever driven by this? Like, what in the world? That's the rock.

And Jesus, how much more than that rock? The reason He says He is a rock is because a rock is immovable. Immovable. Who's gonna move Jesus? Who's gonna move Jesus? I've seen so many people in fear about World War III and Iran and what's gonna happen, and is America gonna get involved? I don't know, but I do know who's immovable.

I know who's not worried, who's not concerned. I know somebody that not even a bunker buster can stop Him. Amen.

Who's gonna bust Jesus? Who's gonna go down deep and break Him? Nothing, a rock is secure, it's stable, it's steadfast, it's unwavering, and it is unyielding. He's a good shepherd, isn't He? Hired hands won't be able to protect you from the danger when the darkness settles in. But little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd.

Jason Upton said that. And just a reminder, I think we've got these up there. Psalm 18, to the Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, and I shall not be greatly moved. Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord and let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. So I wanna throw it out there because there's always new people.

Is He the rock of your salvation? If you say, you know what, I don't know, that probably means no. I don't know where I'm going when I die. That probably means you need to know where you're going when you die.

So the Bible says repent and believe in the rock of your salvation. And I don't think I'll get into it next Wednesday, it's just gonna be a prayer meeting from six to seven because of VBS week, it'll just be me and some prayer team members here to pray with you. We'll put on worship next Wednesday.

Wednesday after that, Pastor Abram was preaching and then the next Wednesday, the title I think right now from Psalm 102 is The Valley of Weeping. From Psalm 102, The Valley of Weeping. And let me encourage you as we put that Scripture up.

Hear my prayer, O Lord. Have you ever felt like this? Let my cry come to you. Many people have never cried to the Lord.

Let me encourage you to do that. And you can't make it up. You can't like, okay, He said to cry, let me cry tomorrow morning.

It comes from a passionate pursuit. Because as you begin to pursue Him, you feel things deeply. And as you feel things deeply, isn't that where tears come from? Could it be that we're not crying in the presence of God? And feeling some emotion? Because we're not pursuing Him? Please God, do not hide your face from me in the day of trouble.

God, please incline your ear to me in the day that I call. Please God, answer me speedily. And like I said earlier, acquaintance.

Acquaintance is not intimacy. So let me just encourage you, if you're in that storm, if you're in that difficult season, we're also called soldiers, and there's no soldier, as all soldiers, there's no victory without a fight. And so that storm, that difficult season, can really, really increase your relationship with the Lord.

Actually, that's where strong relationships with the Lord come from, don't they? They're built in the valley, not the mountain top.