As Thy Days, So Shall Thy Strength Be | Deuteronomy 33 | Pastor Matt Nettesheim

All right, wonderful. Take your Bibles. Turn

with me to the book of Deuteronomy chapter number

33, Deuteronomy chapter number 33. Thank you

for being here today. Thank you for bringing

your Bibles, not only bringing your Bibles, but

bringing your heart and your ears and being ready

to hear from on high, hear from the word of God.

God's book, The Word of God, is an amazing book.

It's quick, it's powerful, sharper than any two

-edged sword. We've been in the book of Deuteronomy

for quite some time. And we're about to finish

up. This is the second to last message. You know,

next week we're gonna finish up the book of Deuteronomy.

And we see this, the book of Deuteronomy, the

second giving of the law. And Moses is gathering

around the children of Israel. They're about

to head into the promised land, about to cross

over that Jordan River and go into that land

flowing with milk and honey. He's giving them

some instructions. And we get to this point here

in chapter 33, and Moses, gives a blessing to

the 12 tribes of Israel. He begins to show that

God wants to bless the children of Israel. He

wants to give them favor, and he instructs them,

and it's an absolutely amazing truth. We're gonna

look into that. He eventually gets to verse 24

and 25, and he mentions the blessings to Asher.

I like Asher, there's my little buddy Asher right

there, Asher Denari. He came up to me during

handshaking and he said, Pastor, would you preach

from the book of, or not Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes

next? I don't know, we'll see Asher, but I like

you Asher, you're like my little buddy right

there. But the blessing to Asher, and you're

gonna notice that we're gonna read that it mentions

something. It says, as thy days, as thy days,

so shall thy strength be. And that's a famous,

famous saying in the Bible. As thy days, so shall

thy strength be. Now, I pictured in my study

that you would actually say that with me. As

thy days, so shall thy strength be. OK. I was

hoping that more than 100 of you said that. I

think we got about 100 here. As thy days, so

shall thy strength be. I'll give you an example

before we read it. I was tired the other day.

It was Friday night. We got home and been a long

day, sat there on my couch, and my Amos, he's

six years old now, he's full of energy, and they

had been out in the front yard playing soccer.

We have these little soccer goals, and little

Amos had been playing with his brothers, and

he's like, Dad, I scored, Dad, I did this, Dad,

I kicked the ball, Dad, and then all of a sudden,

after a while, I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, and

he says, Dad, you wanna play soccer with me?

And the inside of me said, absolutely not. but

the outside of me said he's six years old, he

would like his dad to go play with him, so he

went out in the front yard to play soccer. Now

my team was me, Nehemiah, and Amos versus Samuel,

and not only Samuel, but Anna Joy. Now we started

to play, and the first thing I do, I got in front

of Samuel, Samuel's dribbling the ball, you know,

dribbling the ball, and I'm like a do -do -do

-do, and then he went around me, and he kicked

it, went in on the goal, and my son Samuel scored

on me. Then he looks at me and he says, good

job, daddy. And it sort of irritated me. And

then we kept playing a little bit. And my aunt

Joy, I've got the ball and I'm trying to dribble

it down there. And she goes with her leg and

she goes, whoo, and kicks me. And I went flopped

right on my face. Then she's smiling at me, would

you like help up? No, girl. And so by the end

of it, my ankle hurts, my shins hurt, my pride

hurts, and I woke up the next morning. And all

of a sudden, you wake up, you sleep, and I woke

up, and I'm hobbling. I'm like, oh. And I begin

to think, I've got things to do today. How am

I going to make it? I don't have the strength.

Now, this is the tip of the iceberg here, but

there's days that God has a plan for you, but

you feel like, I don't have the strength to make

it. It can be physically, it can be spiritually.

It can be with, I can't put up with this in my

life, but as thy days, so shall thy strength

be. Let's do this, let's stand for the reading

of God's word. And we're gonna read verses 24

and 25 together. And all together in unison starting

in verse number 24. Are you ready? End of Asher

he said, let Asher be blessed with children.

Let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let

him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron

and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength

be. Say that phrase with me again. As thy days,

so shall thy strength be. Before we go any further,

let's bow our heads, bow our hearts, go to the

Lord in prayer. Dear Father in heaven, we love

you. And this is a great day, a great day to

be in your house among your people. And Lord,

we desperately need you today. And I have no

doubt there are many here today that have had

a difficult week, Lord, and they feel like they

have strength. They don't have any strength,

Lord, and they need help to make it. And I believe

you gave us this chapter to help us understand

how that we can have strength, how we can make

it another day. And I pray that you help us to

pay attention, open our hearts and our minds.

And then also, Lord, as we get through this,

if there is a soul here today, that's never trusted

you as their savior. I pray that this would be

the day of salvation for them. We love you. We

need you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. You may

be seated. Go back with me, chapter 33, verse

number one. We're gonna start with this, and

look at verse number one with me. Chapter 33,

verse one. And this is the what? Blessing. Okay,

I'll start that again. And this is the? Blessing.

You got that. Wherewith Moses, the man of God,

what? blessed the children of Israel before his

death. And this is the blessing, that word bless.

And we start this chapter with the word blessing

and blessed right there. And we begin to think

about the word blessing. Not long ago, I heard

the former attorney general of Virginia, Jason

Miaras. and he gave a speech, and probably some

would say he's gonna be the future governor of

Virginia. I would say probably that's gonna be

the case right there. But an amazing, amazing

man, and at the very end of his speech, he all

of a sudden quoted Numbers, chapter number six,

verses 24 through 26, and this is what he said

at the very end of his speech. He says, the Lord

bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face

to shine upon thee. and be gracious unto thee.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and

give thee peace." And it was an interesting way

to close. What was he saying? The Lord bless

thee. Here's what he was saying. He said, hey,

I believe to the people that I'm speaking with,

you would like God's favor. You would like to

live a life where God blesses you. You would

like to live a life where God gives you grace.

You would like to live a life where God shines

his face upon you and helps you and guides you.

By the way, that's true. You and I, we would

like to live a life where we're blessed by God.

We have the favor of God. We have God's help

in a certain situation. Now, in that speech,

I thought about it. Wow, that's a great way to

close. But I thought probably about 95 % of the

people that were there had no idea what he was

saying. The Lord bless thee. The Lord bless thee.

This is what Moses is saying to the children

of Israel. The Lord bless you. Hey, it's important.

God desires for you. God wants to show you his

favor. God is reminding and God was reminding

his people through Moses that you can be blessed

by God. Okay. I'm gonna say it again, I'm just

gonna slow it down. You, that means me, okay,

we can have God's favor. We can be blessed by

God. Now, before we go any further, it's very,

very important, all the way from this side of

the auditorium to this side of the auditorium,

I'm assuming, and I do believe that you would

agree with me, I would like to be blessed by

God. How many of you would say I'd like to be

blessed by God? Okay, everybody but Brother Nick.

Brother Nick, thank you, brother. I need your

help right there. I don't ask your help very

often, but I need your help. Now I think we got

100 % of us we'd like to be blessed by God, and

that's what he's asking for. Now look at this.

Look at the chapter and look at this in verse

number six. Okay, verse number six. This is the

blessing. Let Reuben live and not die. And it

mentions Reuben. He's talking about being a blessing.

That's one of the children of Israel, the tribes

of Israel. Verse seven. And this is the blessing

of who? Judah. Verse number eight. And of Levi,

he said, and it gives the blessing. Verse number

12. And of Benjamin, and of who? Benjamin, he

said. Verse 12. And of who? Benjamin. Okay, we

were there. Verse 12. And of who? Okay, now here's

your job. Sometimes, I don't ask very often.

I don't ask very often. But there's some times

I need like your help because those hard names,

I chose them as far as the reading place that

you have to read those names. Otherwise the sermon

gets really long, okay? Because it just shows,

we're together here. Verse 12 again, look at

this. And of. That is perfect. Look at verse

13. And of. That's perfect. Look at verse 17

toward the end. It says the 10 ,000s of. Ephraim,

very good, and then it says, and they are the

thousands of Manasseh, and then verse 18, and

of, that's good, he said, rejoice, Sebulon, in

thy going out, and Issachar, in thy tents, verse

20, look at this, and of Gad, he said, verse

22, and of, Dan, very good, verse 23, and of,

Naphtali okay, we're listen last one verse 24.

It says and of Okay, now I'm gonna catch you

up if you read this latest great These are the

blessings and it goes over the 12 tribes of the

children of Israel Basically there and it says

most saying I want you to be blessed I want you

to have God's favor and in this specific way

This is the way I believe God wants to bless

you now a side note Not really a lot to do a

sermon, but the Bible This book is an amazing

book You know in preaching we just hit the the

tip of the iceberg sometimes It's interesting

when you begin to read the 12 tribes. It actually

leaves out one And I'll give you a hint. It's

simian. And then it begins to show you two others.

And you look at that. The two others, I think

it's Ephraim and Manasseh. And we get those mixed

up sometimes. But all of a sudden, if you study,

why did it leave off simian? Why did it put those

two in there? And I just want to say sometimes

in the Bible you begin to dig and you find gold

and there's truths all over the Bible that help

you and encourage you. And I want to encourage

you to read the Bible, to study the Bible on

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's a glorious

book. It's a wonderful book. It's God's holy

precious word. Say amen. Okay, good, good, good.

That's your job, homework to study that. Now

go back with me and look with me. We're getting

to Asher in verse number 24. I'm gonna quote

a verse before I read verse 21. Just remember,

we wanna be blessed and there's a Bible verse

in Proverbs, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh

rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. We wanna

be blessed by God, we want God's favor. Now look

at the blessing of Asher, verse 24. End of Asher,

end of who? He said, let Asher be blessed with

children. Okay, so I'm gonna just talk about

the blessing. He's saying, here's the way God

can show his favor upon the tribe of Asher. He

says, first of all, let Asher be blessed with

children. Let Asher be blessed. Think about it.

Children are a blessing. Okay, no, that was good.

I just wanna say children are a blessing. And

we live in a society that minimizes the Christian

home. It minimizes a husband and wife. It minimizes

a husband and wife having children. And almost

look at it like if you have children, boy, you're

under bondage. You're shackled with children.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Children,

they're a blessing from the Almighty God. And

if God allows you to have children, have a Christian

home, you are blessed. And that's what it's saying

right there. Children are a blessing. Look at

this, if you will, this next portion. and of

Asher, let Asher be blessed with children. Then

it says, let him, this is verse 24, let him be

acceptable, acceptable, say that word with me,

acceptable to his, okay, let him be acceptable.

Part of the blessing is to be acceptable. What

is he saying? Let him get along with the people.

Let Asher get along with people. Getting along

with people is a blessing. You ever been around

somebody that's hard to get along with? I mean,

you can try so hard and they just like live their

life. Jaron, I don't know why you looked at your

wife and I don't know why she looked at you,

but there's something going on here, okay? There's

something going on, Brother Jaron, right here.

But sometimes people are hard to get along with,

and that's the way they live. But it's saying,

it's good. Think about a church. In a church,

somehow, we're blessed if we can learn to get

along with each other. We're a church of imperfect

people serving a perfect God, and it's important,

we're blessed to learn to get along with people.

It says in the New Testament, it says, I exhort

therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers,

intercession, and giving of thanks be made for

all men, for kings and for all that are in authority,

that we might lead a quiet. and peaceable life,

quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and

honesty, for this is good and acceptable unto

God. And when it says that, it's good to get

along, you're blessed to be able to get along

with it. And I want to encourage some of you

people, maybe you struggle at getting along with

people, you're messing up. Learn to get along

with people. Somebody say amen, learn to get

along with people. Brothers, wrong. There's hope

for you, okay? Praise the Lord. She pointed at

you that you were the problem. We understand

that. Okay, good, good, good, good. Look at this

next, in verse 24. And if Asher, he said, let

Asher be blessed with children. Let him be acceptable

to his brethren. And then it says this. And let

him dip his foot in what? Okay, let him dip his

foot in oil. Oil is a picture of prosperity.

It means you're not just getting by. You know,

there's times when you just can barely get by.

You're scraping through, you know, you're gonna

eat. We went to a store the other day and they

had a thing of beans for sale. And I showed those

to my Amos and he's like. But you understand,

beans can be a blessing. If you're hungry, food

is good to eat. But this blessing is saying you're

not just getting food to eat, you're able to

dip your foot or your toe in oil. An example

of that, an example of that, what I think of

this week, I got to take my family to McDonald's.

Thank you very much. And I'm not just getting

by. Me and my family, we got to go to McDonald's

and I got a big arch to the glory of God the

Father. In other words, we had the ability, the

prosperity enough, where God's blessed enough,

where we're able to not just get by, we were

able to eat McDonald's. Now look at this next

one, if you will. Verse number 25, look at verse

25. Thy shoes, okay, how many of you are wearing

shoes today? How many of you are wearing shoes

today? Praise the Lord, most of you, okay, that's

good. Thy shoes, having shoes is a blessing.

Thy shoes shall be iron and brass. Iron and brass,

okay, imagine this, your shoes, imagine this.

Shoes, when I was in middle school, I used to

wear ankle weights because I had a dream one

time that I was going to wear those ankle weights

and I was gonna be able to get up and dunk the

basketball right there and I remember wearing

those. But imagine shoes of iron. shoes of brass.

How is that a blessing? And really when you begin

to think about it, it's not that complicated.

Shoes of iron, shoes shall be iron of brass.

You know, you realize the road we walk on is

not always easy. Sometimes we go on a rough road

and you don't want your shoes to wear out basically

is what it's saying. You'd like shoes to last

even in difficult terrain. And this is sort of,

as you're getting to this, and this is a very

important part of the sermon, life is not always

easy. The road is not always straight. Sometimes

your road goes through the valley of the shadow

of death. Sometimes life has twists and turns,

and you need shoes that are gonna last. And God

can give you shoes that last in your days, in

your difficulties, in your struggles right there.

And this is important, shoes that don't wear

out on a rough road. What a blessing. Now, here's

where we get closer to the sermon. Closer to

the sermon. Look at verse number 25. Okay, now,

whoa. Very important. Okay before we get to this

point remember. I want to live a life that's

blessed Okay, I want to live a life though. How

many want to live a life is blessed Okay, the

blessing God's favor God's fair gaze showing

this is what God desires for you Then we get

to this one as thy days. Look at this as thy

day Say that phrase with me as thy days. Okay

as thy days our life Your life is made up of

different days Sometimes your day is ordinary

Sometimes your days are heavy. Sometimes you

live a day where you have joy. Sometimes you

get up and some of you live a life where you

live painful days, physically filled with pain.

Sometimes not just physically painful, but you

have emotional pain. Some days bring blessing.

Some days are days of battle. Some days feel

too big and sometimes we feel like we don't even

have the strength to make it for a day. Brother

Randy? I was thinking about you yesterday, you

went up and got your daughter Hannah for church,

or for church for your graduation, for your other

daughter right there, and as you're coming back,

you texted me and you said, pastor, we're on

the highway, we're coming back, and you know,

you've been there where your GPS says you're

gonna get back at like 3 .30, and then all of

a sudden you're stuck on the middle of the highway,

it's raining, and all of a sudden it goes from

3 .30 to 4 .30. And from 4 .30, your GPS all

of a sudden says 5 .30. And you're there in the

storm. All of a sudden, you said the lightning,

one of the biggest lightnings, almost hit you

right there. And boom, shook the car right there.

And next thing you know, it goes from 4 o 'clock

to 5 o 'clock to 7 o 'clock. You got home at

8 o 'clock last night. It's a long day. And being

on the highway, sometimes there's days where

things don't go your way. Thy days, thy days,

thy days. No! How can a man face days he has

never lived before? By the way, you don't know

what's in your future. Sometimes right around

the corner is something that's gonna happen that

you didn't expect. It can be death. It can be

financial trouble. It can be somebody treating

you wrong. It can be a thousand things. How did

this happen? How am I gonna handle this? Okay,

I feel like I'm yelling you. I'm not meaning

to yell at you. But I think when I yell at you,

you like pay attention a little bit more. Okay,

that's good. So how can you handle those days,

those days, those days? How can a man or a woman

face days that he's not lived before? Then it

says those words, look at this. And I like it,

it says, as thy days, so shall thy strength be,

thy strength. God, God wants you and God wants

me to live with strength. He wants us to give

us the ability to make it another day. He wants

us to be able to handle those days we're in their

valley. God wants us to handle those days we're

on the mountaintop. God wants us to be able to

handle the days when somebody treats us wrong.

God wants us to handle the days when the sermon

goes long. He wants you to be able to handle

that. God wants you to be able to handle those

days. He wants you to have strength and that's

what he's saying right there, as thy days. By

the way, to help you illustrate a while back,

it'd been busy. And I was just thinking about

it. I was like, praise God through whom all blessings

flow. I have a night at home with my family.

I don't have to go anywhere. We're gonna eat.

It's gonna be great. And I was relieved. I was

like, praise God, praise the Lord. Then all of

a sudden, my wife said, do you remember? And

she mentioned that we had to go somewhere. There

was an appointment. And all of a sudden, you

ever had that sinking feeling like, oh no. And

all of a sudden, I knew that where I had to go,

I had to minister to people, I had to encourage

people, and I felt drained like I had no strength.

Have you ever been there? And I don't mean I'm

not complaining, but sometimes it wasn't what

I expected. My heart sunk at that moment right

there. Honestly, I didn't want to go to that

appointment right there, but I had to go. That

was God's will for my life. But I felt drained,

drained physically, drained spiritually right

there. I had no strength. So think about this.

How can I have the strength? How can I have the

strength to go and minister? And that's a question

for you. How can you have the strength in those

days? Now, here's the sermon. Okay, because it

answers it. And this is awesome. Look at verse

number 26. Look at 26. There is none like unto

the God of Jeshurun. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. There

is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. Okay,

I'm gonna say it again. There is none like unto

the God of Jeshurun. It almost rhymes a little

bit. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun.

I wanna make sure I'm quoting that right. There

is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. I was

hoping somebody would say it with me. There is

none like the God of Jesh... Oh, I didn't say

it right. Okay, I'm gonna read it. There is none

like unto the God of Jeshurun. Let's sing it

with me a little bit. There is none like unto

the God of Jeshurun. That's the answer. There

is. How can I have strength? Well, if you're

not careful, you're looking to the wrong place

for the strength. You're looking inwardly at

yourself. And you're not the answer. The answer

is the God of Jeshurun. Now, Jeshurun, you don't

want to get this messed up. Jeshurun was just

a special, you might say, pet name for the nation

of Israel. It'd be very similar to my son Joseph.

A long time ago, one of the kids called him Yophis.

Yophis? You know Yophis? And so I began to call

Joseph Yophis, and just like, there is none like

unto the God of Jeshurun. There is none like

unto the God of Yophis. Yophis, how you doing

back there? And it's just saying right there,

the answer, the answer is the God of Jeshurun.

He is the God of Jeshurun. He is the King of

Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the Alpha,

the Omega, the first and the last. He's the eternal

God. He's excellent in glory. He is mighty in

power. He is faithful in his mercy and his grace.

He loves you and he loves me. He's a refuge to

his people. He's a shelter in the time of storm.

He's a God. that cares for you will help you.

He's the great God. He is the God of Jeshurun.

He is my God and He is your God. The answer to

the problem, the answer to the weakness, the

answer to the difficulties, the answer to the

days is the great God of Jeshurun. It's an awesome

truth. Like I'm telling you, this is an awesome

truth that we need to. Remember, you know, how

can I have strength? Well, the God of Jeshurun

will give you strength. Look at verse number

26 again. Look at this. Wow. There is none like

unto the God of Jeshurun who writeth upon the

heaven in thy help. Now to summarize that very,

very soon, he's not very far away. You just need

to look up to the great God you had for help.

Very similar to Psalms chapter number 121 where

it says, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills.

from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from

the Lord which made heaven and earth. Look up

to the great God you have for help. He's close

to you. He's not very far off. He's not hidden

away someplace in a far away land where you have

to climb this huge mountain to get to. He's right

there. You can stop and you can pray to him.

You can go to the great God that you have. That's

good news for me. And by the way, it's good used

for you. Not only that, but look at this. By

the way, oh, oh, oh, I'll give you an example

of this. I don't want to pass this up because

God can help you. This morning, as my habit is,

I get up and I read a proverb of the day. For

example, today, May 24, I get up and I read Proverbs

Proverbs 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24. Tomorrow, I'll get up. It'll be the

25th. I'll read Proverbs chapter 25. Proverbs

Proverbs 25 · chapter mention

the book of wisdom. I need wisdom and what I

did this morning with the Proverbs before I read

I said God Give me something that will help me

today from Proverbs acid so I'm reading that

I'm reading Proverbs and I came to the verse.

It's a well -known known verse a just man falleth

seven times and rises up again Okay, just man

falls seven times and rises up again The second

part's not quoted as much. It says, but the wicked

shall fall into mischief. And I thought about,

how can a just man fall seven times? How can

he rise up? OK? Imagine a just man falls. Oh!

OK. And all of a sudden, just man, am I going

to get up in my strength and my power? Am I the

answer to get up? I don't know. It's like the

Lord is holding out his hand and the Lord picks

you up. And the answer to getting up is not you.

It's grabbing that hand of God and God pulling

you up. But here's where the problem is. It says

the wicked shall fall into mischief. It's like

the wicked, when they're down here, they've fallen.

They've fallen right there. And all of a sudden

they say, God's holding out his hand there. I

say, nah, I can't do it. I can't make it. I'm

not even going to try. So the wicked, they keep

on going down. It's not because they don't have

help. It's not because they don't have a God,

the great God of Jeshurah right there. He's right

there. He's available. He's holding out his hand,

but you got to reach hold of his hand and you

got to allow him to help you get back up. This

is a great truth because I believe without a

doubt, some here this morning, you've fallen.

You've fallen into sin. and you're wallowing.

You say, I can't make it another day. I can't

do this Christianity thing. And you're right.

You can't. But God can. I can do all things through

Christ, which strengthens me, and he'll pick

you up, and he'll help you. He's a great God.

He's an excellent God. Look at verse 26. In the

latter part, it says, and in his excellency.

See the latter part of verse 26, and in his what?

That word, excellency. God is above all, greater

than all, glorious beyond all. There is no need

too great for him. He didn't get a C plus in

school. He got beyond an A plus. In other words,

our God is an excellent God. He does things excellent.

He does things perfect. He's a God that's in

control. Look at this, verse 27 is absolutely

amazing. It says, the eternal God is thy refuge,

the eternal God. Hey, Brother Mike, my buddy,

my pal, my friend. I work with you, Brother Mike,

but our God is an eternal God. He does not wear

out. He does not change. He doesn't weaken. And

Brother Mike, he does not fail. Our God never

fails. Brother Mike and I, sometimes we come

to disagreements. And if you ever work, he works

here at the church. He's a good man, does a good

job here at the church in so many different ways.

But there's one thing that brings tension to

me and Brother Mike. It's the clocks. And Brother

Mike, you know as we walk around, it seems like

we have clocks around the church that the battery

weakens and the battery goes out. And I'm always

seeing a clock that's not running. You know what

they need? Eternal batteries. Eternal batteries.

Batteries that last. I think we buy the cheap

batteries. Here's what I want you to do, church,

to help out Brother Mike. I want you to get a

couple AA batteries, put them in your pocket

when you go to Sunday school, check the clock,

change the battery for Brother Mike, never let

him worry about it again, or number two, invent

an eternal battery to the glory of God the Father.

Here's the point, amen, he said. Thank you, Brother

Mike, I agree with you right there. But think

about the eternal God. Our God, You can go to

God at any time. Let me move on. Look at this.

Verse number 27. Not only is he the eternal God

of our refuge, underneath are the everlasting

arms. He's a God that'll pick you up. He's like

a God that'll pick you up. When you're down,

he'll pick you up. My kids, Anna, Joy, and them,

I'll be sitting on the couch, tired, and it'll

be time to get up. And I'll be like, oh, I can't

get up. And I'll pretend I can't get up. So the

kids run around. They grab me by the arm. And

they begin to pull me up. And then I begin to.

Fall over like that and they'll get underneath

me and hold me up now this last week my Nehemiah

He's nine years of age. He got under me and he

was an Anna Joy went to the other side But only

one hold me up was Nehemiah and I saw fear in

his eyes Me his big big daddy was about to squash

all of him and But you know our God has the ability

to pick you up. He's strong enough to pick you

up at your lowest estate. Our God is a good God.

He is a conquering God. And you look at that

in verse 27. He shall thrust out the enemy. He's

a saving God. Look at verse 29. Happy art thou,

O Israel, who is like unto thee? O people saved

by the Lord. O people saved by the Lord. Oh people

saved by the Lord. Wow. Wow. These blessings

are not possible if you're not a child of God.

I'm gonna say it again. These blessings are going

to somebody, the children of God, but not only

children of God, but children who accept those

blessings, who live in a certain way to get those

blessings. But the first start, oh, oh, I don't

wanna misquote it, the way it's worded there.

O people saved by the Lord. You know, the way

we're saved by the Lord is New Testament truth

is through Jesus Christ. The Bible says we're

sinners, sinners. The price for our sin is the

wage of sin is death. The price for our sin would

be hell. But Jesus came born of a virgin, lived

a perfect life, and Jesus died on the cross for

our sins, and then he rose again, proving he's

God. That's the gospel. And he offers to say

the gift of God is eternal life. He offers to

pay for all of your sins and give you the gift

of eternal life. All's we have to do is accept

that gift. Here's the problem people do. Well,

I can't be good. By the way, you can't be good

enough. Some people say, I'll work for it. You'll

never be good enough. You have no strength to

do it. The answer's never been you. For salvation,

it's God. God is the way. Jesus said, I am the

way. The only way to heaven is Jesus. It's not

being baptized. It's not being good. It's not

you keeping the commandments. It's not you being

faithful to church. Those are good things. But

the way to heaven is Jesus. It's God. And that's

the point right there. You're saved by it. And

it says the way it's worded right there. Oh,

people saved by the Lord. If you're here today

or you're watching online, you've never accepted

that gift of eternal life. Hey. The Bible says,

for whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved. Accept the gift of eternal

life. Accept Jesus Christ your savior. The last

point right there, the beginning of the verse

says this. Happy art thou, O Israel. Say that

again with me. Happy art thou, O Israel. Now,

the end part right there is happy. When you're

blessed by God, you realize that you're not the

answer where God is. And you go in your days,

your days, good days, struggling days, difficult

days, somebody treating you wrong days, mountaintop

days, valley days, death days, difficult days,

painful days. All of a sudden you realize you

can have strength through God. All of a sudden

it leads you to be happy, be joyful. You find

that in Galatians talking about the fruit of

the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering.

Now here's part of what I'm asking you. If you

looked at your life, you examined your life,

you examined your last seven days, would people

look at you and say, oh happy people, oh joyful

people, oh person filled with love, joy, peace?

And we're talking about when you live a life

in God's strength, doing God's will, it leads

to something that money cannot buy. O happy people,

happy art thou O Israel. God wants you to be

blessed. God wants you to have those iron shoes.

He wants you to have that oil. He wants you to

have strength for your days. How are you gonna

face your days? And the decision is yours. Are

you gonna face those days ahead of you in your

strength? It ain't gonna work. You can't do it.

Or you can choose today and realize that's what

it's talking about. I'm gonna live with the God

of Jeshurah as my strength. I'm gonna have God

be my help. He's an eternal God, a holy God,

a powerful God. He can be my help in a time of

need. Oh, we're done, we're done. I haven't thrown

my glasses in a while, but we're done. And we're

gonna pray. But two things, if you're here and

you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior,

I'm gonna work my way down right there. I want

you to come forward and say, pastor, I wanna

know for sure that when I die, I go to heaven.

And somebody will take God's holy word, show

you the Bible way to heaven, it'll change your

life. But number two, there's gonna be people

that pray up here. There's gonna be people that

pray in their seats right there. But I want you

to, in your prayer, say, God, there are days

of difficulty. There's a day of struggle. There's

a day of pain. But whatever my days, I'm going

to look to you, God, my God, for strength. You

understand that prayer? I want everybody here

to pray that. But look, talk to God. That's what

prayer is. God, I don't know the days ahead.

There are gonna be difficult days. There's gonna

be days where there's struggle. There's valley

days. There's mountain days. But whatever day

you give me ahead, I'm gonna look to you, God,

God of Jeshurah, my God, for strength. I wanna

ask you a question. How many of you would pray

that? How many of you would do that? I pray that

we do that. Let's do this, let's stand if you

will. Stand if you will, I'm gonna bow my head

and we're gonna start in prayer. Dear Father

in heaven, we love you. And I know even right

now there are some folks who've struggled with

some difficulties, even this week, some dark

days, some days even where sin ruled their lives.

And I pray that you help them. to realize that

they have never been the answer, but you, God,

are. And I pray that even right now they begin

to pray, even confess some of their sins, but

then also go to you for help. Also, Lord, if

there's somebody here not saved, I pray that

they would come this morning and trust you as

their savior. Please bless the invitation. In

Jesus' name, amen. Come as the piano and the

organ play.