Psalms Week 4 • Psalm 66

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Glad you guys and gals are with us.

If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Psalm chapter 66 as we continue

Psalms 66 · chapter mention

on in our study and our musical approach to the Psalms.

I've really enjoyed and want to thank again our worship team for what they're doing every

single week of learning a new Psalm, putting in some music, Joel, doing the research and

finding that, and then in many different ways that we've had the opportunity to either sing

it and respond in worship, to listen to it as we respond in the Lord's Supper, and it's

just been a wonderful time and a wonderful blessing.

And I know that's a part that I look forward to each and every Sunday.

Well, before we get into this, I do want to remind everybody, you guys saw it on the video

of our Harvest Hangout tonight from four to six.

So let me say this, you guys want to be here for this.

We are excited about all that has gone into and in hearing some of the games that people

have come up with and designed to have here.

It's going to be an exciting time.

It is from four to six.

We have to people say, well, is it okay?

We've got a party that we want to get to at like five or 530.

Absolutely.

If you can't be here at four, this is a kind of a come and go event.

You don't have to stay for the whole time.

And in typical Willow Ridge fashion, right?

You don't even have to show up on time for this one, right?

And you're good with that.

But there will be food.

We will have hot apple cider, hot chocolate, hot coffee, right?

No iced coffee.

None of that is happening here tonight.

There will be games.

There will be candy.

We've got a photo area set up.

There is a hayride and there's going to be s'mores as well.

And so we want to encourage you how the night's going to unfold is we're going to have most

of the activities and events either set up on the walkway up here as you come in on the

parking lot or in the bottom two layers of the parking lot.

And so as you come, just park on those top ones is where we'll have you.

But we're excited about all that is going to happen and be a part of this tonight.

Well, as we look at Psalm 66, I want to kind of share with you a little bit.

We've been trying to understand the context of each of the Psalms that we've looked at.

We talked about the fact that David, King David, David the shepherd, David that killed Goliath,

right?

He wrote most of these, but he did not write all of them.

And so each week we've tried to understand some of the context and the setting of what

we understand.

We've looked at one that David wrote.

We looked at one in week two that was a Psalm of Ascent that the people would actually sing

as they journeyed up the hill to the temple into Jerusalem of what they would declare.

And last week we looked at one that we are pretty certain was written by King Hezekiah in a time

where the city was under siege and on the verge of being occupied.

So this morning in Psalm 66, there's some opinions about who wrote Psalm 66, but there's no driving

evidence that here is the individual that wrote this.

But what is interesting as we look at the 66 Psalm is that we can point to the fact that

this is referred to oftentimes as a Psalm of the missionaries, that what we'll see in Psalm

66 is that the Psalmist who writes this will write this out of a heart of missions and out

of a heart of celebration because of what the Psalmist had experienced, because of what the

Psalmist knew, because of what the Psalmist was called to, there is this explosion of joy that

came from his heart and this is where we find this Psalm in its setting.

And so that's why I showed the video that I showed beforehand.

Because I think it's a continual reminder, and it's a lot of what we're going to look at

this morning, of the continued global work that God is doing and the role and the opportunity

that you and I have to play a part of this.

And the beauty of what I love about our denomination and the denominational work that we're a part

of, if you saw the IMB as the foreign missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, and

it's the wonderful reminder that all of us as Southern Baptist churches, as we gather in

our separate spaces, as we preach our separate messages, as we work through the autonomy of each

and one of us as a local body, as a local congregation, there is a beauty in the togetherness of the work

that we're doing.

And so right now, all over this world, there are men and women, there are missionaries being

mobilized out of the faithfulness of the churches and out of the faithfulness of the congregations,

it's you, so that as we give, and as we give to the IMB, and as we give to the cooperative

program, that there are men and women and children who were waking up this morning with an opportunity

to hear the gospel, that yesterday they didn't have the opportunity, right?

They didn't have the opportunity.

All right, this is message one, we'll get into this in a second, all right?

But like, I saw some visitors this morning, and I'm so glad that you're here, and at the end

of it, me and my wife will be standing back here toward the welcome desk over here, and

we'd love to talk to you, shake your hand, learn your name, and just thank you for being

here.

But for all the visitors who were here this morning, right, like there was a bunch of churches

you could have gone to, a bunch of good churches, great churches, gospel-sharing churches,

right?

We could get on our phones this morning and download podcasts, our church has one, most churches

have them now.

We could get on TV and get everybody's favorite TV preacher, Dr. Charles Stanley, out of Atlanta,

right?

And we could listen to him.

We could go back and look on YouTube and look at Billy Graham and look at the things that

are posted up and everywhere, and you and I have the overwhelming opportunity to hear,

see, and respond to the gospel.

But actually, we're going to look at it in just a little bit, is that there are so many men,

women, and children who don't have that opportunity.

There's not a church to go to.

There's not even a Bible written in their language, right?

And as God's people, we can't be okay with that.

And so we're grateful for the opportunity that we have to be a part of the largest mobilizing

Christian missionary organization in the world, right?

And so thank the IMB for all that they're doing, and I thank you guys for your faithful giving

so that we can support that.

So let's get into Psalm 66.

I'm off my soapbox.

Y'all know me.

I'll jump on a couple more before we get done.

All right, Psalm 66, starting in verse 1.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth.

Sing the glory of His name.

Give to Him glorious praise.

Say to God, how awesome are your deeds.

So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

All the earth worships you and sing praises to you.

They sing praises to your name, Selah.

Come and see what God has done.

He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man.

He turned the sea into dry land.

He passed, they passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in Him who rules by His might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

At the very beginning, and this is why this is kind of set in the heart of the missionary movement of God that He's called us to,

what we see is a global invitation.

Written by a Jewish author, a Jewish psalmist at the time,

what we hear in verse 1,

shout for joy to God, not all of Israel, not all of God's covenant people,

but shout to joy to God, all the earth.

The global proclamation as the psalmist is inviting who?

All of the earth, all of the peoples to praise God.

And he does this for a reason.

The psalmist says that there is a reason why all of the earth should praise God.

Not only then, but even still today of what we're going to see in the context of Scripture.

He says this, kind of paraphrasing.

Praise God for all that He has done.

And then he gives some examples, the psalmist does, of what he has here.

All that He has done as He turned the dry sea into land and as they passed through.

And the examples that he gives, praise God for all the glory He has done for Israel.

And the question is, why?

Why should the earth, as the psalmist writes this, whenever the psalmist, whoever it was,

why should they look at all the work that God has done for Israel and praise God?

What's God doing?

What's God showing with Israel?

As we look at these psalms recorded in the Old Testament, I think it's important for us to remember what God is showing,

what God is displaying.

That when you and I, when we look through and as we read Old Testament Scripture,

we read it through the knowledge of what you and I have been able to learn in our present day and time.

But at this time, right, there is no virgin birth of Jesus.

At this time, there is no cross.

At this time, there is no empty tomb.

At this time, there is no Pentecost.

At this time, there is no church.

But God's display of all of this, of the showing what God will do, of the showing of what is to come, is Israel.

And so God in his sovereignty, God in his knowledge, God in his goodness, God in his grace,

chose for himself a nation, chose for himself a people, chose for himself Israel.

And what God did, and we can look at this and project this onto our life of what we've experienced in Christ.

He saved that nation.

He freed that nation.

He made promises to that nation and fulfilled them for that nation.

And most importantly, he said that from that nation would come a Savior.

And this would be the nation that Jesus would come from.

And when God promised this, all the way back in Genesis 12, it's not just so that Israel would be blessed,

but it's so that Israel would be blessed, so that Israel would be a blessing, Jesus to the world, right?

Yesterday, Aaron and I were out kind of doing some shopping.

The kids spent the night with their grandparents, and we had an opportunity to just kind of have a day to ourselves.

And so we went and kind of had a midday date, went out to lunch together, super old people, early lunch.

We were eating lunch by 11.

It was fantastic, right?

I was ready to eat dinner by 2.30 and be in bed at 3, but that didn't happen, right?

But we did that.

And then we're leaving, and I don't know if you've heard this, but like, so you can Google it.

You can check it.

I don't know what all is going on with things anymore, but there's going to be a Christmas tree shortage, supposedly, right?

I don't know if y'all knew that, but they're saying prepare for a Christmas tree shortage, which is just terrible.

And so she said, do you want to go to Lowe's?

And we're like, we'll look at some Christmas trees.

And evidently, Lowe's got word because it's like, like, we'd have to refinance our house, you know, in order to buy an artificial Christmas tree.

But here's what clicked with me, all right?

I know today is October 31st.

Today is Halloween, but Christmas is coming, right?

55 days, Christmas is going to be here.

Now, the people, like, there was a handful that were like, whoo, right?

And here's the whoo.

These people already have their Christmas trees up, right?

Like, they do.

They've been listening to Christmas music since July, right?

We pray for them, right?

Right?

All right, let's, moment of confession.

If you're a visitor, man, this is the rawness of our church, okay?

Moment of confession.

How many of you right now in your house have some form of Christmas decoration?

I'll break your hand.

That is fantastic.

That, and here's what I love.

Here's what I love, right here.

People are like, we do.

We're so happy.

Yeah.

Y'all are like our buddy the elves of Willow Ridge Church, you know?

I'm in a store, and I'm singing.

All right, there we go.

I love y'all.

Where is this going?

Christmas is here in 55 days.

And when Christmas is here, we're going to remind ourselves, we're going to remind ourselves why we celebrate Christmas.

And we're going to think about the gift of Christ.

And we're going to sing songs about it, and we're going to tell stories about it, and we're going to do a sermon series about it, and our small groups are going to talk about it, and it's going to be there continuously, reminder over and over again.

And we celebrate that, that God came for us, but let's also remember that Jesus came not just for us, but Jesus came for the world.

And as of this morning, as of this morning, sitting in my office, going and looking at the most recent statistics, there are 17,410 people groups in this world.

What is a people group?

A people group is how we look at all the peoples of the world in missions.

And a people group is an ethno-linguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by its various members.

And so the nations of this world within them have different people groups.

In fact, people groups also mobilize and migrate to other areas of the world.

So a people group, so like the United States, for instance, is filled with many different types of people groups.

But then also within there, there are people groups, like the different Chinese people groups,

and there are many different Chinese people groups that aren't all just in China.

They've moved to all different places all over the world.

And so here's the statistic that I want to stick in your mind.

And of the 17,410 people groups, 7,398 of them are considered unreached.

That means to be an unreached people group, that means that accounted for within that people group

is less than 2% Christian.

And what that means is 42% of the earth's population is accounted for in these groups.

Which means for the most part that 42% of the world woke up this morning

with very little to no opportunity to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now that doesn't mean, and this is important for us, that 58% of the world is saved.

What that means is that at least 58% of the world has more than 3% who are saved.

The latest statistic that I heard about South Carolina, right?

The heart, like, churches everywhere.

Kitty wait right down the road, great church, right?

Churches all around us, Lexington, Baptist, First Baptist, Lexington.

Churches all over the place.

Wonderful, wonderful churches.

But that in South Carolina, only 33% of the people of South Carolina now identify as Christian.

Right?

Why am I sharing all this?

We can't forget while we're here.

We can't forget while we're here.

It has to be unacceptable to us.

It needs to affect our budgets.

It needs to affect our wallets.

It needs to affect our prayer time.

It needs to affect our heart.

For the vastness of the lostness of this world.

And the promise that God has.

That every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I'm hoping as we go into this different season in life of our church, and this is what typically happens over November and December, that we can be reminded of that.

And on Sunday evening, November 21st, we're going to kind of stop our normal programming and instead have on that evening a night where we are going to focus in on missions and prayer.

And so I want to take some time during the service and share with you a little bit of the details.

And I've got to leave some of those details out, and I'll explain why.

But on Sunday evening, November the 21st, we're going to gather back here at 4 o'clock that evening.

And we're going to have a missionary who's going to be with us.

Missionary family that's going to be here with us.

And for the security of him, his family, and the people that they've been ministering to, we cannot share his name or the country that he's from or a whole lot of details because of security reasons.

But I can share with you that they have been ministering for years in a very prominent war-torn country that is all over the news and has been all over the news for years.

And they've been serving there faithfully as missionaries, and this country represents some of the largest unreached people groups.

In fact, this country as a whole is 99.8% lost.

Right?

And he's going to be here, and they're going to share.

And we're going to have the opportunity to ask questions.

And we're going to have the opportunity to gather and to pray for all that God is doing.

And how we can be a part of that.

We're going to offer child care for some of our really, really small, really, really young kids, babies, toddlers in that age.

But for the most part, we're going to ask that all of us, younger kids all the way up through all of our adults, are going to gather in here.

One of the beautiful things that Dawn and them have been doing and her team have been doing in our kids' ministry is continuing to pour into the hearts of them about missionaries and to learn about missionaries and to pray for missionaries.

And so they've been doing that as a part of who they are.

One of the things that our student ministry has, since before I got here, has been built on a foundation of, and Moses is carrying that and running with it, is a heart-torn mission of exposing our middle school students and high school students,

not only with the concept of mission, but with a tangible, hands-on opportunity to go and serve.

And so from everything to serve the city, great job in blessing so many people here in Lexington to going off this summer and mobilizing our students to work in so many different areas with people who also don't have an opportunity to share the gospel.

And so we want to gather everyone kind of in here in this room where we can hear and where we can talk and where we can ask questions and begin to understand and have the impact.

Because it has to be not okay that 42% of the world woke up this morning with no opportunity to hear about Jesus.

Because 42% of the world falls into 100% of the world that's going to die and going to have to share an account.

And the people of God, we can't be okay because it is a global invitation.

Paul writes in Philippians 2, 9 through 11, why we do this.

Therefore, God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, let's pause here.

Another statistic that I read this week, 50% of people in the United States who say they are Christian also state that they believe there are multiple ways to God.

That's false, that's false, that's a lie.

So that at the name of Jesus, Jesus alone, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

To the glory of God the Father, right?

The call of the nation.

Let's look back at, continue on in Psalm 66, verse 8.

Psalms 66:8

We're going to go out from they to our.

Bless our God, O peoples.

Let the sound of his praise be heard.

Who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip?

For you, O God, have tested us.

You have tried us as silver is tried.

You brought us into the net.

You laid a crushing burden on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads.

We went through fire and through water.

Yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

So we're going to go out from the nations and look in to a people proclaiming.

The psalmist moves from the call of the world to a call of the people Israel.

And he says that anyone in this, anyone in Israel has a reason to praise.

That if anyone does, it should be them.

And he points out what God has done from looking back.

That God had rescued them from slavery.

He guided them through the wilderness, took them into their land, gave them victory over

their enemies, gave them their inheritance.

He gave them his law.

He gave them his sanctuary.

He gave them their worship.

He gave them their priests to guide them.

He gave them the prophets to speak to them.

And for these reasons, they should celebrate.

But he continues on and gives them more.

The psalmist is going to focus in on in three verses right in here of what we just read.

Of even more reasons of why the people of God, even abundantly and on top of all of these

things that God has done.

We'll look back at verse 10.

He says, for these reasons.

For you, O God, have tested us.

And you have tried us as silver is tried.

What the psalmist points out of why the people of God, Israel and us today, of why we should

continue on in the celebration of what God has done is because of the refining process that

God takes us through.

Now, he's reading about how silver is refined.

And what they would do with silver, what is done with silver is as silver is refined, it is put

under heat.

And as the heat is turned up more and more on the silver, what happens, and as the stress

of that is placed onto the silver, it causes the imperfections of the silver to rise to the

top.

And so that as they rise to the top, as everything else that's in there that's not supposed to

be, that takes away from the purity of the silver, what happens at that point is you can't reach

down in there and grab it, right?

So what happens at that point is an air is shot over it so that it is blown away.

And that it is removed from it.

And what the psalmist says is that when we feel the heat, that when we feel the fire, that

when we feel the stress, that when we feel the circumstances, what we need to do is not

say, why me?

What we need to do is not throw a pity party.

What we need to do is to rejoice because this is what God is doing to us.

Because this is what God is doing in us.

Peter, the disciple of Jesus, the apostle Peter, who would die for his faith, says this in

1 Peter 1, in this you rejoice, you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,

you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more

precious than gold that perishes through it, is tested by fire, may be found to result in

in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So when these things come up, when God, whatever language, I don't care anymore, whatever language

you want to use, whether God's allowing it or whether God's doing it, God's using it.

And as God uses it, he's refining, he's bringing from.

And so as I look at my own heart, and I ask to speak to yours, I ask you this question.

Are you complaining or are you rejoicing?

Are you complaining or are you asking or are you rejoicing?

And I know for me, this passage is a piece of scripture to remind me to stop complaining and start asking and looking.

When these trials happen, start asking what God is doing and looking to see what the fire has brought to the top.

God, as I walk through this, why?

Show me, Lord.

Give me the reminder.

And as the imperfection, as the sin, as the struggles, as they come to the top, I can celebrate the beauty of God

because of what God's doing, and then I can watch God remove it from me.

All for his glory in his name.

And in these last verses in Psalm 66, the psalmist has looked at the nations.

The psalmist has looked at his people.

And now in a beautiful perspective, he'll look at himself.

Verse 13, I will come into your house with burnt offerings.

I will perform my vows to you, that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams.

I will make an offering of bulls and goats, Selah.

Come and hear all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul.

I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

But truly, God has listened.

He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

And so the psalmist looks at all of this within himself, and he says,

because of God's call to the nations, because of what God has done for his people,

the psalmist says, I'm going to respond.

This brings me, this draws me to an individual response of myself within my faith,

of who I am, of what God is doing, and what we see here is an individual offering.

And he writes in the joy of what God is doing, and in his response to it.

And there's two offerings that we're going to see,

two types of offerings that we want to notice and look at,

and at this point in time, challenge ourselves and our lives.

The first one that we notice is the offering of sacrifice.

He says, I will come into your house with burnt offerings.

I will offer to you the burnt offerings of fattened animals with the smoke of sacrifice of rams.

I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

The psalmist says, based off of God, what you have given to me,

based off, Lord, of what you have blessed me with,

I return to you.

And I do it with praise, and I do it with joy,

and I do it in a way that's going to honor and glorify you.

So let's kind of talk about this for just a minute, right?

God doesn't need your money.

I want to say that God doesn't need your money,

but God wants your heart.

And here's what I found in myself.

This is Bo Life Lesson 101

that has ringed true in the lives of so many others.

God knows, and we know that God wants our heart,

but here's what we find,

that so often we give our money to what already has our heart.

What already has captured us.

What already has all of our love and our affection.

And so in the Old Testament, they brought their sacrifice.

It's very evident.

The sacrifices that are here are sacrificial.

They are costly.

They are precious.

They are valuable.

Right?

So what does that mean for us?

What does that mean for us?

When we look at the wholeness of the Scripture, right?

I mean, let's be honest.

We're not bringing the fattened calf to church anymore, right?

So what do we do?

We bring our tithe.

We bring our tithe.

What rang true in the Old Testament and continued on,

in fact, in Old Testament, right,

we look at the individual tithe of 10%.

When you look at the Old Testament tithe,

there were three different tithes that were given.

The one that continued on.

And God says, bring your 10%.

And we give it to the church.

In the Old Testament, it was given at the temple.

In the New Testament, it was given to the church.

Off the top, in the beginning, this is who we are.

And this is God's demands and expectations for us.

So I can't.

What has your heart?

I don't want to.

What has your heart?

I don't trust.

What has your heart?

And so we give our tithe.

Not because God needs it,

but because God wants you and God wants me.

And what we get to experience is the blessing that comes from it.

And it would be easy to stop and put the period and say,

amen, we're done, and then there's that.

But what we also continue to see in the Old Testament,

what rings true today,

is not only the calling of our tithe,

the calling of the offering.

And that's the above and beyond.

That's what's extended to that.

And what is remarkable about what God has done,

there's the grace of the freedom of where we go

and what we do with that.

And so I'll share with you what the Bradberries do

and share with you what I know that many that I've encountered do.

We give the tithe.

We bring the tithe into the church.

And then in the above and beyond,

in the offering of what's there,

there's the freedom and the grace to pray and to see.

And so we partner with missionaries.

Missionaries like the missionaries we saw on the screen.

Missionaries that aren't there.

To go above and beyond to do,

who have left all of what they know behind.

We partner with church planners

who have left the permanent security of a salary

to go and to serve a people who don't give,

but based off of the faith that others will.

And so we give to them.

We're given to additional opportunities to bless.

Those grace moments that God gives you

in the line at the grocery store.

The moments that God gives you

as you scroll through Facebook

and you hear the story about the individual

who's hurting and who doesn't have.

The opportunity to bless

when you're sitting there at the stop sign

on the side of the interstate

and there's a person holding up the sign

that doesn't have any food in their stomach.

The opportunity to bless the single mom

that you work with

who doesn't know how she's going to get by

from next week,

much less take care of her kids for Christmas.

And the opportunity to simply say,

Lord, you've blessed me.

It's my opportunity to bless others.

And so we have the opportunity to bless.

We have the opportunity to bless each other

within the family of God.

I think one of the most remarkable things

that I see time in and time out,

I saw it as a youth pastor

and still continue to see it as a senior pastor,

is the senior adult,

once we start announcing summer camp,

you know, mission trip,

to come forward and say,

you know, those times have long passed me,

but can I help give to someone else who can go?

The opportunities when we see mission trips

and people say,

I can't go,

but let me write a check

so that others can go

and so that the name of Jesus can happen, right?

It's an opportunity

for us to give our offering of sacrifice, right?

A sacrifice that acknowledges the thank you to God,

but more importantly says

that I trust God

with all that I am

and all that I have.

If you're sitting here this morning,

and I want to speak to the skeptic really quickly,

if you're sitting here this morning

and you're like,

man, there's another pastor

that just all he cares about is money,

let me just say,

I don't care about your money.

I know what one family gives at this church

and that's the Bradberries.

One.

But I care about your heart.

And I care that God does with you

in every fiber of your being

all that God wants to do.

And I know,

and I'm there too, man,

I like to hold my stuff back too.

And I know the more that we hold,

the less that God can use us.

And the more that we say,

God, you have it all,

is the moment we begin to understand

what it means to live

in an abundant, blessed life

before the Lord.

Not only does the psalmist write

about the offering of sacrifice,

but he writes about the offering of the soul.

What is the offering of the soul?

Raw honesty between you and God.

The beauty that I love about the relationship

that I have with my wife

is Aaron and I can have real conversations

with each other.

I love it.

I love it.

I can say things to her

that may hurt her feelings.

And she can say things to me

that may hurt my feelings.

But there's a trust that is there

between the two of us

that it's raw and it's real

and we're working through some things

and I've got to share.

I know I may be wrong.

I know you may be wrong.

But we've got to work through this

and it's the beauty of our relationship.

And I'll be honest with you.

Sometimes we walk away

and our feelings are hurt.

Sometimes we walk away

and we've got to wrestle through some stuff.

But the beauty of our marriage

and we've got tons of stuff

that we've got to work on.

But I'll say the beauty

of what I cherish

about who God's made her to be

in my life

and I hope who God's made me to be

in her life

is the raw honesty

that we can have with one another.

And here's the thing.

If you say I don't have anybody

like that in my life

yes you do.

And it's God.

And the burdens

that I could never lay

before my wife

I can bring all of that to Him.

Every single part of it.

And it's what the psalmist points us to.

The psalmist shows us four

and I'm going to wrap up quickly

we're running out of time.

The psalmist shows us four

in chapter 66.

And the first one is in a lament.

And he said I cried.

I cried.

Church I don't think

that's figurative.

I think it's literal.

When's the last time

you cried before the Lord?

A realness

and a trust

that's there.

A lament

is a cry

that comes from loss.

And when we walk through that

and when we experience that

verse 17

I cried to Him

with my mouth

right

and how praise

was on my tongue.

How can this be?

Because when we lament

when we cry out to God

what He reminds us of

is His faithfulness.

It's His faithfulness

of who He is with us

in the midst of it

going through it with us

carrying us

sustaining us

strengthening us

and you guys know

that have been there

and walked through that

you know

at the deepest

darkest moments

of your pain

the kindness

and the goodness

of what God gives

often times

is not to remove

the situation

but is to remind us

that His faithfulness

is there with us

so that we can continue

on

as an offering

of the soul

and reminder

of our commitment

and how praise

was on my tongue

the commitment of praise

so that as we're reminded

of His faithfulness

as we lament

before Him

we can also

commit our praise

to Him

because we know

who He is.

And so we're committed

we're bought in

we're invested

and when we know

who He is

we can have

a declaration

the psalmist writes

if I had cherished

iniquity

if I had done this

but Lord remember

I've been purified

I've been refined

I'm going

through the process

you know

I thought about this

so many times

when we come

before the Lord

and I'm this way

and there's a beauty

of the confession

there's a beauty

of the repentance

of all the bad

that we've done

like I need to get it out

I need to lay it before you

I need to lay it down

I need to ask

for forgiveness

but so too often

of times

we look at all the bad

that we've done

in our interaction

with God

that we forget

to acknowledge

that all the good

God has done in us

how many of you

used to be someone

and now you're someone else

and you know

it's all because of Jesus

right

it used to be this

not no more

bring it to God

are we praising him

are we a declaration

of not what we just were

but of who we are now

in him

and then lastly

it ends

in verse 20

and we'll conclude

with this

blessed be God

the praise of God

the praise of God

the psalmist writes

I'm going to read

all verse 20

blessed be God

because he has not

rejected my prayer

we bless God

because he hears us

we bless God

because he hears us

and then lastly

or removed

his steadfast love

from me

not only the fact

that we praise him

because he loves us

but we praise him

because he loves us

and he won't remove

that from us

he won't take it away

we don't have to earn it

we don't have to fight

for it

we didn't have to earn it

to get it

and now we don't have

to earn it

to keep it

because it's who

God is in that

that's the hope

of what we have

in the gospel

the gospel for the nations

the gospel for God's people

and then the gospel for us

would you pray with me

Lord we come to you this morning

Lord thanking you

for who you are

Lord this morning

we lift up

Lord those 7,000

people groups this morning

Lord who don't have a way

or a means

Lord we pray

for the mobilization

of missionaries

men and women

all over this world

to carry the hope

of the gospel

Lord we know

that means

they'll have to embrace

persecution

many will have to embrace

poverty

difficulties

but it's done

for an eternal good

and it's done

for an eternal glory

of your name

and so Lord

shout for joy

to God

all the earth

sing the glory

of his wonderful

of his precious

of his glorious name

Lord I pray for us

as a people

as a church

as an embodiment

of Christ

Lord that we will respond

because of what you've done

Lord just as you saved Israel

you've saved us

you've brought us

out of the slavery

of sin

you've guided us

through the lostness

of our life

you've given us

victory over

Satan and hell

you've promised us

an inheritance

that's eternal

and one day

we will step

into that promised land

Lord may we bring this

to the nations

the hope that we have

in Christ

and Christ alone

Lord and as individuals

may we come forth

this morning

with our offering

Lord both in our offering

of sacrifice

Lord it's all yours

but to give back

what you've blessed us with

as an opportunity

Lord for us

to grow our trust

and faith in you

and to say

here Lord

here it is

it's yours

but to even stretch

and look beyond that

Lord who are you calling

us to bless

to come alongside

Lord you want

our hearts

may we give it all

to you

Lord may we come

to you

in a sacrifice

of the soul

a willingness

and an honesty

before you

to cry out

in our loss

in our grief

to celebrate

who you are

in our commitment

of praise

Lord to declare

who you are

as you've saved us

and redeemed us

Lord into all

that we have

and all that we are

to bless

your wonderful name

and it's in Jesus name

we pray

thanks again

for listening

to the Willow Ridge Church

weekly podcast

we hope that you enjoyed

listening to this week's message

if you'd like to learn

more about who we are

or explore additional resources

visit us online

at www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching

for Willow Ridge Church

on Facebook

and Instagram