Standing On The Promises: Beginning The Psalms

The title is the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness, the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness. How many of you have never heard that verse before? Is there anyone in here who hasn't? A couple people haven't heard that verse. Found in Isaiah 61, and we don't have it.

I'll just read it to you. By the way, that is our valley looking out from the hill down to Leona Valley. Isn't that cool? Wish it looked like that all year round, but when the summer gets here, it's a little bit browner.

Not quite the green. And also, if you look back at some of the history records, how water used to run through that area in the 1930s, 40s. Pretty cool valley there.

And we're just so blessed that God, I mean, I look out my window every time I'm here. It's like oak trees and the greenery. It's just, it's just beautiful.

But it comes from Isaiah 61 in the verses three. But Isaiah 61 is that famous verse where Jesus walks into the temple and declares that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to set the captives free, to bring the good news to those who are needing to hear it, and that whole discourse there. And then he goes on to say the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness.

And the context is how he's going to give back spiritual life to those who have been dry and those who have been seeking will eventually find. But there's something dynamic that takes place when we praise God. And that's why I love that song.

The new, I know it's new. People have sometimes, some people have issues with the singer. I don't really know.

I'm not going to all those waters, but hard fought hallelujah. Boy, if that isn't true. Sometimes that hallelujah, that praise, it's hard fought.

It doesn't come easy. Sometimes we come here dragging and kicking and making excuses on why we don't want to go to church or why we don't want to worship. And it's hard fought.

And sometimes you have to put on that garment of praise to overcome the spirit of heaviness. The spirit of heaviness is there's something, it's actually, if we had time again, I'd love to break down Isaiah 61, but there's a, it's almost like a demonic type of heaviness, the spirit of heaviness. There's, there's something that comes upon a person that's heavy.

I've ever felt that before. Sometimes it's, it's self-created. Sometimes it's just the result of our fallen nature, but sometimes I believe it can be demonic, demonic oppression.

And the best way to fight that off. And I love the wording here, the garment of praise. And again, throughout the Bible, the garment was often a covering.

It would cover the person they would put on their garments or they would clothe themselves. And we hear in the new Testament, right? Put on the whole armor of God. And there's a, there's a covering.

So praise actually works as a covering as you're praising God and worshiping God. It not only covers you and keeps you warm and, and, but it also covers maybe things that we don't want people to see. It's, it's, it's a, it's incredible covering.

In first Samuel 17, something very interesting is said when the distress, when the distressing spirit, see again, it's a spirit would come upon Saul, King Saul, he would call for David to play his instruments and worship. Isn't that interesting? How Saul was just in turmoil and this, this spirit of, and it's hard to label what's demonic, what's not. I can tell you without probably with absolute certainty that there have been times in my life where it's clearly been demonic oppression and the spirit of heaviness because it just comes out of nowhere and it's almost debilitating.

Um, it can bring in fear. Anybody have experienced that before? Anxiety. And when I get on an airplane, it tries to come back on me again sometimes.

Uh, so you got to fight off those things. I'm getting better though. Praise God.

But, um, a distressing spirit would come upon Saul because he disobeyed God. And what would lift this depressing spirit? Worship, the garment of praise and worship. Wouldn't you have liked to have been there to see that, to see his, his, his continents changing and just what kind of worship lifts, lifts a person to that degree? Well, we weren't there, but I have something pretty close.

Okay, let's, let's hit the lights and turn it up. If we have it, it's just a short clip kind of giving maybe a sample of what that would have been like. Oh, I'm in the key.

you know she must have or if I leave the door now don't know Isn't that a good illustration? On a series, The House of David that's on Amazon Prime now, believe it or not, and giving the life of David. Keep in mind, not everything is... Anytime I tell a story, do you know I kind of say, this could have happened, a picture of this. He grabbed five stones, probably two inches big.

You fill in the blanks as long as you're not changing truth. But could this have happened with Samson? The pillars, how far apart and how high was the Colosseum? And it could have been this. And so that's just storytelling.

But that was just an incredible image of that distressing spirit. And sometimes when you press in, like today wasn't really profound for me. And I wasn't really what they call feeling it.

But right once you begin to press in through worship, and I know Richard can attest to this, we've talked about that a lot of those songs he's written have come from the difficult seasons. And sometime we should have him give his testimony again on spending time in prison. And he didn't even know he could sing.

And God called him to that. And he now comes in men's conferences. He actually goes into prisons and brings worship and that lifting up.

I think you wrote the last two songs we just sang, I believe. And that comes from that intimacy with God. But we are in Psalm 92 and it's gonna tie right in.

It says, it is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name. It's good to praise the Lord. I think we have Psalm 92, that's verse one.

But I underlined this. I don't think it's on the slide underlined, but in my notes, it's good to praise the Lord and make music to your name. Oh, most high proclaiming your love.

And actually, it just dawned on me, we don't have that slide. Because I added this a little bit later. So sorry, media team, don't stress out too much.

But so now just listen, okay? It is good to praise the Lord and make music to God's name. Make music. And it kind of breaks my heart sometimes to where the older generation sometimes mocks the newer generation when they begin to write songs and they begin to sing from their heart.

All these bands that are out there, some I have questions about. But overall, God gives us a new song sometimes. The old hymns used to be new hymns.

And the old hymns are incredible. We anchor ourselves to those. And we used to have the old hymn night where we would just sing those.

And it'd be good to get back to that. But it's okay to make music in your heart to God. Proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night to the music of the 10-string instrument and the melody of the harp, exactly what we just saw.

For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord. I sing for joy at what your hands have done. I sing for joy at what your hands have done.

Worship can and should be emotional. You've heard me talk about this before. Now some people you know, they're just emotional.

That's not what I'm talking about. But isn't there, I mean, when you're worshiping the living God, there might be some emotional engagement there. I mean, I hope so.

I hope so. How great are your works, O Lord? And you can see, I believe this is David writing this. How profound your thoughts, senseless people do not know.

Fools don't even understand. Though the wicked spring up like grass and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. And this is again where I want to remind you often, you need to focus on His sovereignty.

That is going to be your sanity. Because he says, why do fools prosper? Why do the wicked go unharmed? Ah, but they will eventually be judged by you, O God. And finding comfort in that.

And we just prayed in the prayer room. We have prayer every Wednesday at 5.30. We'd love to have you join us. Just get here a little bit early.

And we pray for the Christians being massacred in Syria. Have you been following that at all? If you need to investigate a little bit because the media is not going to pick it up. And I'm talking a lot of people slaughtering.

Sometimes we watch one video, this guy's crying, he's a Syrian Christian. 80 people in his little village. Men, women, children.

And you look at that and you get so upset. Man, Lord, send in Siltim 6. Come on, do something here. But eventually, eventually, they will be judged and destroyed.

And the only thing that gives me comfort is those little children are in the arms of Jesus right now. Praise God for that. But you, O Lord, but you, O Lord, you are forever exalted for surely your enemies, surely, Lord, your enemies, they will all perish.

All evildoers will be scattered. You have been exalted above all other name. And he goes on to say, my eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries.

My ears have heard the plans of the wicked enemies. And this is David and he lived it. Here's something I hope you remember.

Often you have to live it before you write it. David, the reason he's so profound in his writing and the Bible that comes alive, it's because he lived it. So when you talk about overcoming the enemies and seeing me through the difficult days ahead and all these things, David went through it.

And as a reminder to you, as you're going through something, know that there is that light at the end of the tunnel. Know that those feelings won't keep you down forever. Know that God could actually use you to help bless others.

And I'm gonna open up about this more in the future. I've talked to my wife about it. I'm gonna bring up the elders meeting, but I'm writing a book right now.

She's gonna help a little bit with it on a book I've never, ever thought in my life I would write. And it's gonna be to pastors. And looking back now, I know why God brought me through a lot of the challenges.

A lot of times when I wanted to give up, and now I have that desire to do that, to help them avoid some landmines. But it wouldn't come from just a nice, casual, easy ministry. I prayed for that.

I wanted that. Yeah. You have to live it before you can write it.

You can only take people through what you've been through yourself. And one key to really removing depression, anxiety, and it comes on us when we're self-focused, self-absorbed. And as you're going through something, if you can just remember that, Lord, this isn't about me, it's about you, and what you're taking me through, and how I can be a blessing to others.

And you get that off of you, and you begin to focus on what's really important. Because let's be honest, isn't that when we get often the most upset or depressed? Me, myself, and I. I'm not getting my way, what I planned, what I thought, how I thought the day would go. Mom's, you wanted the house cleaned, the dishes done, the laundry put away.

And everything just exploded in your face early in the morning. Your whole day is ruined. Happens to me, men, too, as well.

Nice, quiet day, things are going great, and then you'll go out front and there's your flat tire. And by the way, there's a nice oil leak. Oh, this is gonna take the rest of my day.

Or you get that wonderful letter in the mail. I still have PTSD sometimes. Internal Revenue Service.

I know this isn't a refund, so what is this about? And you see, as we go through our days, don't we get hit with all these curve balls? And you're hit in the face. I mean, it's just like every day. And a lot of it, though, when you back away, you say, okay, if I give it to God, and He's in control, He's sovereign, then yeah, these things are not, they stink.

And it's not what I want, but I can get through them when I realize it's not about me, it's about others, or it's about what God wants to do. And that's why this is so important. The spirit of heaviness can be really lifted as we put on that garment of praise, and we praise God despite how we feel.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. That's a promise.

The righteous will flourish. Doesn't mean you're not gonna go through obstacles. Doesn't mean you're not gonna go through challenges.

And I go back, my mind obviously on this one goes back to Psalm 1 that talks about those who prosper are those who do not follow wicked vice of others. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And he meditates day and night, and because of that, he's going to be like a tree that's planted by the rivers of living water.

He bears his fruit in season, and his leaves do not wither because he's planted by God. The righteous will flourish just like that. They will still bear fruit in old age.

Amen? All right. I don't know, I hate bringing this up, but it's funny. I started taking my daughter swimming, right, at the pool.

And I joined with her. And I don't know, I like swimming kind of now. And it's a great workout and different things.

But as I was leaving, I'm getting prices and times and things like that, and they go, oh, sir, sir, you can qualify for the senior discount. Yeah. Hold on.

I was just 30, what do you mean? And later, earlier in the morning, the seniors can come, and man, they're like 70 and out of shape, and they're just in the water. I'm like, I'm not gonna swim. That's not me.

I'm not a senior yet. Give me a little more time here, guys. But I guess at 55, you fall under that mark, huh? Wow, I mean, I was like literally depressed.

Because you go from 30 years old, getting married, meeting Morgan, to now I'm getting the senior citizen discount rate. But what's funny now, wherever I go, I check to see if they have a special. Oh, Christ.

Rental cars, flight tickets, I mean, the home and garden show, or just like, do you have any senior discounts while you're at it here? But they will still bear fruit in old age, and let me tell you, you can be, you know, once people, I don't know what the age is, maybe they get older, 70 or so, and they're kind of, I ran my race, I'm out. Even, I don't know if many of you saw John McArthur's video he shared at the Shepherds Conference, it was very short, how he says he's on his last lap, but he's still producing fruit in his final days, final years, or months, nobody really knows. And no matter your age, you can do something that is more profound than the greatest preacher in America, and that is intercede.

Intercede. You can intercede on behalf of your family, on behalf, and you can get involved. Some of the best mentors are those who are, their kids have moved out, they're retired, they've got time to invest into the younger generation.

You can be used if you want to. We have to remember, it's not about being recognized, it's about being used. God will use you wherever you are.

And talking to people, they're just watching, I'm just not being this or that, no, you're being used, you're not being recognized. You're not being put up on a pedestal. You're not being, your name's not up on the PowerPoint, or whatever that's called nowadays, I don't know, I'm dating myself, but you will be used, and you will bear fruit in old age.

They will stay fresh and green, proclaiming the Lord is upright, He is my rock, and there is no wickedness in Him. But on this old age point, I want to just throw this out there just to be careful, because more years can often lead to more bitterness. Let's hang out there a while for our senior citizens.

Why is that the case? Because more pain, looking back, I won't speak for my wife, but that's why God doesn't show you the future. I don't think we would ever plan to go to church. The amount of pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain, physical pain, it's a calling, and the person has to be called.

And they answer that calling. But as we grow older too, we can become more bitter. Dreams have died.

Things we thought, and that's why they call it midlife crisis, you get to a point where you're like, I've been there, maybe close to the still there, I don't know, but the kids are gone, they're driving, it's like, what just happened to my life? You had dreams, ambitions, things you wanted to accomplish, and what you thought. One of my goals, I said, I'm gonna be in the best shape ever in my life at 50, and then 51, 52, 53, 54, like, that's not happening. It's harder than I thought.

And not for the beach, but for productivity. Productivity. I've got a five-year-old.

How old am I gonna be when she's ready to move out? And needs help packing and moving. But we can begin to develop a lot of bitterness. Maybe finances aren't going the way we thought.

Maybe our marriage isn't as strong as we wanted, or maybe anybody's health kind of deteriorating as they get older. They forgot to tell me about that. And if we're not careful, the older we get, the more bitter we can become.

And you've seen it, those grumpy old men. Those grumpy old women. And it's sad, I feel for them.

I don't want us to be that way. But here's a key reminder. I think we do have some slides we can put up.

As we talk, as we bring this message to an end, it's gonna take me a few minutes. So the Christian life is often peace under siege. And I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.

Two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed. The one I love, the one I hate, the one I feed will dominate.

And so as you wanna put on that garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, something inside of you wants to throw it off. I don't want to worship God. Two natures beat within my breast.

One is foul, one is blessed. Which one am I going to feed? Whatever I feed dominates. And that's why you go in regardless, and you say, Lord, I'm going to worship you.

I'm gonna come in with the garment of praise, and I'm putting this on my, I don't feel it. I don't know what's going on. Lord, you feel distant, but I don't care.

I'm gonna trust you and your word. And as I close myself in praise, that spirit of heaviness will be lifted. Let me tell you, I'm a living witness to that.

It will happen. And thank God he doesn't make us wait. Sometimes there's seasons waiting, weeks or months.

But often, as you're seeking God, it's not like, all right, this time next week. Sometimes it's 10 minutes or 15 or 20. But the more you press in, the stronger you become spiritually.

So worship offsets heaviness. Worship offsets heaviness. It's a covering.

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. So as the heaviness is coming down, what does worship do? It pushes it up. It offsets that heaviness.

You feel that heaviness and then there's that burden is lifted. I felt it so many times. That's why I encourage people to come forward.

There's been times where I'm just, Lord, I don't feel it. I'm going through it. Can you help me? And the more you press in, the more that weight is lifted.

It's almost like God is saying, let me pull that off. Let me lift that off of you. But also this spirit of heaviness and going through this, it helps us wait.

It helps us wait on God. For they shall not be ashamed who waits for me, thus saith the Lord. So as we're dealing with the spirit of heaviness, as we wait on God, as we press in, we will not be ashamed.

And there's power in waiting. There's power in waiting on God. Let me tell you, what's the opposite of waiting? Running.

I don't want to wait on God. I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to get this done now.

Any type of men, can you relate? It's hard to wait on God, isn't it? I got stuff to do. I got people to see. I got places to go.

Lord, come on. But those who wait on Him, renew that strength. And so the one good thing I can tell you about that heaviness is, what does it do? I've shown you this before.

It drops you down and you have to wait. Lord, I wait on you. The word says, those who wait on you shall renew their strength.

I'll mount up like an eagle and I'll strengthen myself in you. But Lord, this pressure is causing me to wait. And sometimes God will do that to you, won't He? Back to my five-year-old.

Sometimes she goes running in the street. I go, grab that collar. You're going to wait.

And God knows how to grab your collar. That heaviness sometimes can be a blessing. It repositions our heart, doesn't it? The heaviness that we feel.

It repositions our heart. Psalm 95. Come, let us bow down in worship.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. When there's a hunger for God, it also produces humility. Hunger and humility go together.

And this pressure, this weight, it can align us with the truth of God's word. Because we begin to worship, and God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Listen, if you're going through it, and you don't know how to get out of it, and you feel like you're just stuck in this mode, and God is distant, make sure you're lining up with the truth.

Because when we're misaligned with the truth, we're misaligned with God. And worship will be hard. There'll be a spirit of heaviness.

And it's difficult. I mean, I have to say buried in the word, or else the culture will pull you away. I mean, just look at how we've dumbed down sin in the last few decades.

What would never have been allowed, ever been allowed. Oh my goodness, on TV or, oh, there would be shame, there would be blushing. Now it's welcomed.

What used to amaze us and we would never allow now amuses us. And a lot of that has to do with drifting from the truth. Because when that happens, you become complacent, and that term lukewarm, you've heard that term before.

You really become desensitized. You've heard me give that example before, but have you ever, like right now, do you ever just put your foot in a pool? And it's what, 50? Morgan's mom and Aubrey have been telling me, I've been doing cold plunging. I'm like, good for you, not me.

No, but I think Monday, I made it down to about right here. My goodness. Whoa! But in two minutes, it didn't bother me anymore.

I was on my phone. I'm standing in 52 degree water. I was desensitized.

And that's why the church needs to wake up, because we're desensitized. When wickedness doesn't give us a sense of shame for our country, when we're allowing things in the church and maybe in our homes, and there should be just a heart breaking for the things of God. But when we drift from God and His Word, we become desensitized to it.

And it can become deadly, because if we drift too far. But thank God He's always calling us back. And this verse also, the Spirit of Heaven, it's a call to fall.

It's a call to fall. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth.

Worship the Lord, another translation I believe says, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. There's something I'm actually going to talk about that Sunday. We're in chapter five of Acts on the holiness and the spiritual power that went along with the disciples.

And why don't we see that today? But there's something very powerful about holiness. And when you hear that word, what do you think of? You think of like priests or these guys who wear weird hats. Or oh, he's holy.

It's really a very good biblical term. It just means I don't want to be desensitized anymore. Lord, I'm sold out to You.

And I'm going to live in such a way that my life reflects You and Your Word. Not because I'm better. Actually, because I'm worse.

That's why that term, how many years ago was it coined? Holy roller. You're just a holy roller. Yeah, it depends who's calling you that.

But it's a call to fall. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness, in the beauty of holiness. And then finally, worship involves, if you want that spirit of heaviness lifted, if you want to become a worshiper, let me tell you, this point is so important.

Worship involves passionate pursuit. Let me tell you right now, pursuing God is not convenient. Seeking after God and finding Him is not convenient.

The Bible calls it as travail. It calls it laboring. And there's something that takes place and you're fighting against the flesh.

You're fighting against demonic influences. You're fighting against the pull of the world. And you're pursuing God.

It's never convenient. Fasting is never convenient. Prayer meetings are never convenient.

Coming to church and putting God on the forefront of everything is never convenient. It's never easy. It's a battle.

And you must pursue that relationship with God. It involves passionate pursuit. And you will seek me.

One of our favorite Scriptures here. You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. And I often ask people, maybe you can as well in the future if you talk to them and you know, I'm trying, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, but are you seeking God with all of your heart? What does that mean? No, I'm not perfect.

No, I didn't say that. In our imperfection, we can still seek God or the Scripture wouldn't command it. If you seek me, you will find me.

If you search for me with all of your heart. Basically, it means there's no other competing appetites within my heart that are going to keep me away from pursuing you. That's what it means.

Now, are there appetites that come in and things that delay the process and we're not perfect and we have sin, of course, but there's something where my whole heart is engaged to seek God and not have any other types of idolatry before me or before you. So things can come in and sneak in, but you remove them quickly. You put them down the spiritual garbage disposal and you say, God, I need to seek you.

Charles Wesley's hymn, what a powerful title. Oh, for a heart to praise my God. Can you just hear him? I can just see him pinning those words.

What, 1700s, 1740s, 50s, 60s, 1700s, maybe on a vessel in the Atlantic, maybe here on the soil of America. Oh, for a heart to praise my God. And then he pinned those words in the Methodist churches around the area.

The circuit writers would bring the transcript in and they would sing that, oh, for a heart to praise my God. So be careful, you word only people who fear heartfelt worship. You can become very stagnant if you don't also become a worshiper.

The word of God points, it promises, and it paints a picture of worship, but you must engage. You must engage in worship. We're gonna be sharing a message Friday by Alistair Begg that was on the radio today.

Listen to it. It is so important and profound about worship. You will seek me, God says, and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. I sought the Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all my fears.

That's why I love this song we sang in some of Richard's lines, everything else can wait. Everything else can wait. I've come to seek your face.

Listen, even if you don't feel like it, even if you have obstacles, even if you have challenges, even if your gas tank is on empty in your car and you can't get to church, your mind has to be in a position of every, I've come to seek your face. Lord, everything else can wait. I've come to seek your face.

You're the priority. Yes, I still have to go to work. I still have to do these duties, but God, you're the priority.

Come on, guys, we all know when something's a priority, we still get to other things, but we still make it a priority. Same thing with God. I love this passage in Mark 5. Remember when the disciples and Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes? And when Jesus got out of the boat, there met Him there, that man who was in the tombs.

And He slept in the tombs. Have you ever slept in a graveyard and that's where He had to live? He had a legion of unclean spirits and His dwelling was among the tombs. And no one could even hold Him or bind Him because He broke the chains.

And day and night, He was in the mountains, crying out and cutting Himself with stones. But when He saw Jesus from afar off, He ran and worshiped Him. It's amazing.

In Matthew 15, and behold, a woman cried out, have mercy on me. Oh Lord, son of David, my daughter severely demon possessed. Oh, if we could get parents back again, interceding for their kids, interceding for the children.

Lord, they might not be demon possessed. They might not have demonic bondage or something, but something's going on. Something's going on in little Johnny's mind, in little Susie's heart.

Something's going on, Lord. And I'm gonna lay it down on the altar. I'm gonna pray for them.

I'm going to intercede. What about if we filled this altar tonight as parents and we intercede for our kids and for their grandchildren and for those who we want to make a difference in their lives? How hungry are we for change? Guys, church isn't coming about, coming in and getting here a little bit late and there's some songs. Okay, that was a pretty encouraging message.

And now let's hit it in our burger. That's not church. Church is you're coming to hear from the living God.

You're coming to intercede on behalf of your nation, on behalf of your church, on behalf of your family, on behalf of your children, where God says, come to me in this place. That's why Jesus said, my house shall be called the house of prayer. It's not a house of preaching.

The point of preaching is to get your hearts aflame with fire for God and to get you praying again before God and to unlock the door, unlock that rusty lock on your prayer closet and get back to work, praying and seeking the heart of God. But her daughter's demon possessed. And many of you know the story, Jesus said, that's not my problem.

It's not good to give the dogs the food for the children. And she said, oh Lord, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. What amazes me too is, do you know how bitter she could have became? And she would have missed the blessing for her daughter.

Some of you, maybe you need to lay bitterness down on this altar tonight because it will prevent a mighty move of God in your heart. Pride will also prevent a mighty move of God in your heart what they call it today is flexing. You're flexing, right? You got your opinion or you do this and you do that.

It's a power, you're high on power. Humble yourself before God. And when Jesus said that, oh, I can't do this.

I can't give you that. Well, but yes, Lord, even the little dogs. Yes, but yes, Lord, but yes, Lord.

Some of you need to say that tonight. Yes, Lord, whatever it takes. Don't let discouragement discourage worship.

Don't let discouragement discourage worship. Folks, I've seen it all over the place in families and marriages and single and this, but the enemy wants to discourage us because the most powerful thing you can do is pray and worship. And when you're discouraged, you basically lose all that momentum, all that zeal.

We don't just need an attitude shift. We need an altitude shift. Many times we read and you've read, take up your cross.

How many of you have heard that before? Take up your cross. And that's why I love that old hymn, the old rugged cross, because it's true. It's a rugged cross we carry, folks.

It's a rugged cross. It's tough. It's broken.

It's sharp. It's inconvenient. Oh, have you ever tried to carry a cross? It's inconvenient.

It's sharp. It's cutting me. This is not what I, I can't go into the store like this.

I can't pursue my dreams like this. It's an old rugged cross. That's why the worship is so important.

In darkness, will you still praise him? In depression, will you still seek him? In discouragement, will you still worship him? When fearful, will you still follow him? When sorrowful, will you still surrender? When sadness hits, will you still serve him? When you're confused, will you still obey him? If you're drifting from God, throw out your anchor tonight and grab the rock of your salvation. Throw that anchor out. When you throw an anchor out, some of you with boats, you know, you gotta get it going.

When it hits the dirt, a rock, and you're out in the water, are you pulling the land to you? Or are you pulling yourself to the land? You're pulling yourself. You anchor to the rock and you hold on with all your might.