Reset - Psalm 114, Matthew 4

I'm standing at your door. My heart is

calling [singing]

yours. Come fall into my arms.

You're weary from it all. Been [singing]

running for too long. I'm here to bring

you home.

I'm reaching out.

I'll chase you down.

I dare you to [singing] believe how much

I love you now.

Don't be afraid.

I am [singing] your strength.

We'll be walking on the waves,

dancing on [singing] the waves.

Look up and lift your eyes. The

[singing] future's open wide.

I have great plans for you.

Oh, yes, I [singing] do.

Your past is dead and gone. Your healing

has [singing] begun. I'm making all

things new.

I'm reaching out.

I'll chase [singing] you down.

I [music] dare you to believe how much I

love you now.

>> [singing]

>> Don't be afraid.

I am your strength.

We'll [music] be walking [singing]

on the waves,

dancing on the waves.

Can you see us just dancing?

I set every star in its place

so you would [singing] remember my name.

I made [singing and music] it all for

you.

You are my masterpiece.

You are the reason I sing.

And this is my [singing] song for you.

My love's

my

love. I set every star in

>> [singing]

>> its place

so you would remember my name.

I made [music and singing] it all for

you.

You are my [singing] masterpiece.

You are the reason I sing.

And this is my song [singing]

for you.

I'm reaching out.

I'll chase you down.

Come [singing] on. I

dare you

to believe how much I love you.

Oh, I

love you. Don't be afraid.

>> [singing]

>> No, I

am your strength.

We'll be walking [singing] on the waves,

dancing on the waves.

>> [singing]

>> Oh, we'll be walking on the waves,

dancing on the waves.

Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

I was walking by my office this morning

and there was a a hanger on my office

door where the wreath usually hangs.

There was just a a white hanger there

and I'm like, "Hey, somebody gave me a

hanger." And there was a lady from our

church that walked by at that exact same

time and she said, "Maybe someone's

trying to tell you something." And I was

like, "What?" And she was like, "Maybe

it's time to hang it up." So, uh

yeah.

That was lovely. So, we're going to talk

about what voices we should listen to

this morning.

Um

I'm not going to tell. I'm not going to

tell. Uh big idea for this series is

that when God comes into your situation,

uh you have to reset your expectations.

When God comes into your situation, you

have to reset your expectations.

Remember those old Etch A Sketch things?

Uh I don't know if that's still a toy

kids play with, but uh I saw one at uh

Cracker Barrel the other day. It kind of

reminded me of my childhood. I used to

have an Etch A Sketch and uh you you

would like draw something on there and

maybe you were done with your work of

art or maybe you messed up and you

wanted to start over and have a reset.

What do you have to do?

That's right. You don't hit a button.

You just shake it up, right? You you

shake the thing and then you look at it

and it's you can start over and I I just

feel like some people might be living

their lives like an Etch A Sketch. Uh

maybe they're listening to too many

voices. Maybe the enemy is in their

heads. Maybe it's the the influencers in

their algorithm. Perhaps it's the

talking heads on their television. It

could be just somebody they know that

gives them bad advice. And so, you have

all of these competing voices that are

drawing all these these lines all over

your your Etch A Sketch and your minds

are so full of noise that you just keep

uh drawing lines on top of lines. And

so, maybe today you just need God to

come and shake you up a little bit.

Maybe he needs to to give you a a reset

on how you think. Because if you don't

clear your mind, this distorted picture

over time is going to cause chaos in

every relationship that you have. So,

let's turn to Psalm 114.

Uh this is a

well, they call it Passover Psalm. Uh

this is a song that the Israelites would

sing at their festivals to remind them

of how God showed up at a very difficult

time in their history and how he showed

out for them, how he helped them through

the hard times.

So, this is Psalm 114. We're also going

to be in Matthew chapter 4 if you want

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

to put a little bookmark over there.

We're going to jumping back and forth

today.

Um we'll also be in Numbers for a little

while. So, covering a lot of the a lot

of scriptures, but Psalm 114 verse 5.

Psalms 114:5

Why was it, sea, that you fled?

Jordan, that you turned back? Mountains,

that you skipped like rams, hills, like

lambs?

Tremble, earth, at the presence of the

Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob, who

turned the rock into a pool and flint

into a spring.

So, when God shows up, our expectations

of what is possible need to change. When

God shows up, obstacles in our lives

that seem immovable

are moved. At the presence of the Lord,

the seas split, the mountains leaped,

the earth trembles, the rocks melted.

Expectations

changed.

And the psalmist says, "Well, why was

it? Why did these things happen?" This

is a rhetorical question, by the way. Um

this is not something where Jesus is

asking you something and he expects you

to answer. My mom was like the master of

these. She would say, "Kevin, what were

you thinking?"

That is not a a question that I need to

provide an answer to, okay? This is

something we both know, which is I

wasn't, all right? Uh she would say,

"Well, well, Kevin, how many times do I

have to tell you?" And I better not say

four, all right? Um that's a rhetorical

question. It doesn't need an answer. And

so, what the psalmist is doing here is

he's framing this question as the the

way Steven Furtick puts it, a a

historical rhetorical question. A

historical rhetorical question. So, this

question points the Israelites back to

their previous experiences with God. It

it's what did God do in your past and

how does that impact the way that you

see your life today? So, he's pointing

them back to the time when the Red Sea

parted and the Israelites were able to

leave Egypt on dry land. He's pointing

them back to the Jordan River and how it

was parted so the Israelites could cross

over into the promised land on dry

ground. He's talking about obstacles

like the things they faced which out in

the wilderness like hunger and shelter

and lack of shelter and darkness and

even Pharaoh's army.

These insurmountable mountains that were

moved and even melted before them. The

word of God made a way where there was

no way. And that same word of God is

speaking to them now in this moment of

struggle. The same way that same word of

God is speaking to you now in whatever

moment or situation you find yourself

in.

You see, your future follows the voices

that you trust. Your future follows the

voices that you trust. So, who you

consistently listen to is going to shape

every part of your life. Whoever you

consistently listen to is going to shape

every part of your life. So, for

instance, I have this friend and she

wants me to work out with her personal

trainer. And uh

I like to work out by myself. You know

why? Because I'm the only voice I have

to listen to if I'm working out by

myself, right? There's a voice in my

head that says, "Yeah, you're done for

today. You're through. You've done

enough." I mean,

I wouldn't go calling any names,

Um

like I my brain, I'm like, "You can get

back at it tomorrow, you know, you got

plenty in tomorrow. You can get right

back at it. But, if I have a trainer,

they're going to be like, "Five more

reps." right? They're going to be like,

"You're not done." They're going to be

like, "There's more in you. Keep pushing

yourself." And here's the thing, same

me, same gym, different voice, different

results.

And that's a applicable to every

situation. Same me, same gym, same

activity, different voice, better

results.

Thanks.

>> [laughter]

>> By the way, is not the personal

trainer.

She's the recommender of the personal

trainer.

Look, your ability didn't change. You

your situation

didn't change, but the voice that you

listened to

changed.

And so, voices are forming your future.

So, if you listen to God's word, if you

listen to what what God has to say about

you, if you listen to what God has to

say about the situation, then you can

expect better outcomes in your life.

You can expect to be demonstrating the

the fruits of the Spirit. When you have

a relationship with God and you listen

to His word, the Holy Spirit allows you

to demonstrate what we call the fruits

of the Spirit, which is you'll be more

patient. You'll be more kind. You'll be

more self-controlled. You'll be more

resilient. You can even be stronger and

healthier. It's very applicable to all

kinds of practical situations as well.

Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31.

Isaiah 40:31

Those who trust in the Lord will renew

their strength. They're going to soar

like wings on eagles. They will run and

not grow weary. They will walk and not

become faint.

See, you're not as limited as you think

you are. You may just be listening to

the wrong voices. So, today I want to

give you an opportunity to reset who you

are listening to so that you can change

your expectations about what is actually

possible.

So, what we need to understand is God is

speaking. And if you feel like He's not,

it's probably because you don't have a

very healthy prayer life or you're not

reading the scriptures. Because God is

always speaking. So, in Matthew chapter

Matthew 4:4

4 verse 4,

we read this. Chapter chapter 4 verse 4

of Matthew.

Jesus answered, "It is written, man must

not live on bread alone, but on every

word that comes out of the mouth of

God."

So, where was when he said this?

Anybody remember?

He was in the wilderness, right?

So, Matthew chapter 1 chapter 4 verse 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into

the wilderness to be tempted by the

devil.

After he had fasted for 40 days and 40

nights, and he was hungry. So, why would

the Holy Spirit of God lead Jesus into

the wilderness? Well, there's a

connection here between the New

Testament and the Old Testament. A

connection between Jesus and ancient

Israel. You see, Israel was brought out

of the land of Egypt. They were brought

out of slavery and they were brought

they were heading to the promised land.

And during that journey, the devil began

to fill their head with lies. That's

what we talked about last week. And so,

they were playing these lies over and

over again. And the lies are the same

for them as they are for us today. And

it's two lies that says, "You don't have

enough and you are not enough. You are

not loved." So, Israel gets to the

border of Canaan and they sent these

spies out into the promised land. And

the spies returned and two of them had a

positive report, but the rest of them

had a negative report. And what they did

is they they saw these enemies that were

the size of giants. And they came back

and they told the rest of the camp, they

said, "Look, we don't have enough to

overcome these enemies. And therefore,

that means that we are not loved by

God."

Like, their problems are real,

but God hasn't abandoned them.

And sometimes the facts are real, but

the interpretation of the situation is

what we would say is false.

So, the Israelites said, "We are like

grasshoppers."

Where'd they get the idea that they were

too small?

Where'd [clears throat] they get that

idea?

They just came out of Egypt. God did all

this He parted the Red Sea, gave them

breakfast every morning. He had a pillar

of fire to walk by by night. He

protected them from all of these things

that they had seen God do. So, where did

they get the idea that they were too

small?

That's right. The reports of the spies.

The the lies that the devil had spoken

into their lives. And because of that

choice that choice, they had to stay in

the wilderness for 40 years. So,

friends, be careful who you listen to.

God has something to say about this

situation. Now, Israel chose to listen

to the wrong voice and that that

generation paid the price because of it.

But, Jesus in a very similar situation

after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights

in the wilderness was faced with the

exact same choice, but he chose to

listen to the right voice. In verse 3,

it says the tempter in Matthew 4, the

tempter approached him and said, "If you

are the son of God, then tell these

stones to become bread."

So, the devil is speaking to Jesus in

the exact same way that he spoke to

Israel all those years earlier. But,

Jesus responded in a very different way.

Jesus responded in verse 4. He says, "It

is written." He's citing Old Testament

scripture. He's citing the word of God.

And he says, "Man must not live on bread

alone, but on every word that comes out

of the mouth of God." Jesus finds his

victory in this season of temptation by

quoting the word of God. Because God is

always speaking and God is also always

present. It said in verse 2, after he

fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, he was

hungry.

Well, duh.

You know, Jesus is God, but we learned

that he laid his God qualities aside so

he could experience life as a human. So,

he's also human, okay? So, he's hungry.

40 days without food, of course he's

hungry. So, it was hard for Jesus out

there in the wilderness.

But, it'd been hard for Jesus his whole

life. He'd been on the run since the day

that he was born.

But, what we have to remember is just

because something is difficult does not

mean that God is absent.

Jesus understood that.

His life was marked with messy

relationships, rumors, slander, gossip,

rejection, disappointment, hunger,

homelessness, temptation, persecution,

injustice,

torture. And that was all before he even

died on the cross.

He understood

what it was like to suffer.

But, he also understood that when he

felt like he didn't have enough, he

actually did because God was present. He

never felt like he didn't have enough.

He never felt like he was unloved.

But, see what happens to us is when

we're faced with times of insecurity,

which is where Jesus was here. When

we're faced with times of insecurity,

we're more open to listening to the lies

of the enemy.

We are way more open to listening to bad

advice from people when we are in a

moment of fear or insecurity.

Okay, so like if you go to 7-Eleven when

you're hungry, you have to be careful,

all right? That that's a dangerous Well,

um for me. That's a dangerous situation

to be in because if you walk in for a

few essentials or maybe just to get gas

and you're hungry,

suddenly like everything looks good.

Even those wrinkled up hot dogs that are

rolling around on that thing, they look

like a 90-year-old man's feet. Like like

the the watery nacho cheese starts to

look appealing. The fossilized hot

wings, you got to swat the flies off the

jalapenos to put them on your nachos.

Like for some reason, you just don't

notice that stuff when you're insecure.

When you're when you have food

insecurity. When you're hungry, right?

Stuff you don't normally like, you're

like, "Yeah, I need that today." for

some reason.

Because when you're hungry, you're not

as selective. And when you're insecure,

you're not as discerning.

You start listening to voices that

normally you wouldn't trust. You start

believing things that you normally would

reject. Because of your insecurity, it

creates this kind of hunger. When you're

running on empty, you'll just reach for

anything that sounds good.

Jesus was hungry,

but he was secure.

Because he knew that he wasn't alone.

He knew that God was with him and that

God

was enough.

So, Israel back in the Old Testament,

they they start venting to Caleb and and

and Joshua and Moses. And they're like,

"We don't have enough."

And as Steven Furtick said, "When you

start venting, you can start inventing."

So, these spies they they returned from

the promised land in Numbers chapter 13

Numbers 13:30

verse 30.

You have the situation where Caleb

quieted the people in the presence of

Moses and said, "Let's go up now and

take possession of the land because we

can certainly conquer it." Like, he's

listening to the word of God. He

remembers all the things that God has

done before, right? He's like, "We can

do this."

And then you get one of those those

those bad butts in the Bible. Um

you can take that however you want. Um

but,

the men

who had gone up with him responded,

"We can't attack the people because they

are stronger than we are."

And which report spread? This always

happens. Which report spread? Was it

Caleb's? Absolutely not. It never is.

That's why the news never leads with

anything positive. It always leads with

something negative because people love

to talk about negative things. And so

the negative report spread among the

camp. We're talking about a million

people.

The negative report spread among a

million

people.

Careful who you listen to when you're

afraid.

The reason the report spread is because

the people were afraid.

They're afraid of what's before them. So

humans can stop you from hearing from

heaven.

Humans, flesh and blood like me, we can

stop you from hearing from heaven.

Uh sometimes people come into your life

and they like to reinforce your

insecurities cuz it makes them feel

better about themselves.

But when you reinforce your

insecurities, insecurities can cause you

to invent

false realities. And look what they

invented in verse 33.

We even saw Nephilim there. The

descendants of Anak come from the

Nephilim. To ourselves, notice this, to

ourselves, so this is internal. To

ourselves, we seemed like grasshoppers,

and we must have seemed the same to

them. That's not facts, friends.

That's speculation. They're assuming

what other people thought about them.

They're inventing a reality that did not

include God's perspective on the

situation. Have you ever done that?

I certainly haven't. Maybe you have.

You want to know what was really being

said about them?

All we got to do is flip over to Joshua

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and we see this reality report

from Rahab.

She says, "When we heard this." She's

speaking on behalf of the people, the

giants that were living in the promised

land. "When we heard this, that Israel

was coming into the promised land,

coming into the land of Canaan, when we

heard this, we lost heart. And

everyone's courage failed because of

you, for the Lord your God is God in

heaven above and on earth below." Yeah,

they had giant problems. They did not

have enough to overcome their giant

problems, but God does, and he had

already gone into their tomorrow to

secure it for them. To secure their

victory. God's already there and he's

making a way where there seems like

there isn't a way, and he told them that

this was going to happen, but they did

not listen to his voice. So humans can

stop you from hearing from heaven. Also,

the enemy can stop you from hearing from

heaven.

In Matthew chapter 4 verse 3 again, it

Matthew 4:3

says, "The tempter," that's the devil,

approached Jesus and said, "If you are

the son of God, then tell these stones

to become bread."

The devil is preying on Jesus' current

weakness. He's highlighting his

insecurity, which at this point was

hunger.

And he's saying, "Jesus,

you don't have enough.

That's why you're hungry." And then he

says, "Jesus, if you are the son of

man." He's questioning whether whether

God actually loves him. He's saying,

"Why would the Holy Spirit lead you into

the wilderness to face me and to be

hungry? So obviously, your father

doesn't love you."

And of course, Jesus answered, "It is

written.

It is written." Jesus defers to the word

coming from the mouth of God, the God

who spoke the to the sea and it split,

the God who spoke to the mountains and

they moved, the God who spoke to the

rocks and they melted. Jesus is saying,

"That God, my father, his words are

enough for me. Yes, I actually have

enough because I have God. And also,

devil, I am loved."

You see, your identity determines the

direction of your life.

You got to know who you are.

You have to know who you are in Christ.

Jesus knew who he was because his dad

just told him. Right before he went into

the wilderness to be tempted by the

devil, Jesus was baptized by John the

Baptist. And at his baptism, we see the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all

show up. God speaks from heaven, the

Holy Spirit descends like a dove, and

there's Jesus in the water. And in that

moment in Matthew chapter 3 verse 17,

Matthew 3:17

the voice from God told Jesus exactly

who he was.

A voice from heaven said, "This is my

beloved son with whom I am well

pleased."

What had Jesus done up until that point?

He hadn't even started his ministry.

Yeah, there was some water to wine, but

that was it.

All Jesus had done to earn the title of

beloved son was just be there and get

baptized.

And what a beautiful symbol baptism is,

right? It shows how we die to ourself

and we're raised to a new identity and a

new life in Christ.

So so what do you need to do to earn

God's favor? What do you need to do to

become a a child of God? The answer is

just have faith.

Just believe. You don't have to dance

for Jesus. You don't have to be perfect.

You don't have to clean yourself up. No,

all you have to do is show up

and believe that Jesus is who he says he

is. Listen to the word of God, then you

will die to yourself, and you will be

raised to a new life in Christ.

Jesus knew his identity because he

listened to what God had to say about

him.

So the question is today, do you?

Do you know your identity? Do you know

what God has to say about you? Here's

why this is important, because when you

listen to the voice of God, when you

know that he is with you today the same

way he was with you yesterday, when you

know that he's already gone into your

future to secure your tomorrow, when you

believe that God is enough, when you

know who you are and who you belong to,

and when you believe that you are loved

and you don't have to earn it, you just

receive it, then this is what happens in

Matthew chapter 4 verse 11.

Matthew 4:11

The devil

What's it say?

The devil left him and the angels came

to serve him. The enemy retreats.

The human voices that are giving you bad

advice and speaking into your

insecurities, they move on to their next

target. The enemy who's been speaking

into your insecurities has now moved on

to the next target. It's kind of like

fire ants at your house. Like I fully

believe this. You know, they get in your

backyard and you you pour the the stuff

around it that's supposed to kill them.

It doesn't kill them. It just moves them

over to your neighbor's property, okay?

So what was your problem now became

their problem. That's exactly what

happens when you resist the devil by

knowing who you are and saying that God

is enough and that you are loved, the

enemy retreats and God will send you

help. The enemy's going to move on.

I I grew up in West Virginia. And and

sometimes I would wind up where I didn't

mean to be. So so I'm old and I lived in

a time where there was no GPS and no

cell phones, and all we had was those

those maps you would get from the rest

areas and the welcome centers, you know?

And so sometimes, you would wind up

where you didn't want to be. You'd take

a wrong turn, you'd miss an exit, and in

the West Virginia mountains at night,

everything kind of looks the same, and

you could wind up in a holler somewhere

with a bunch of hillbillies and

shotguns, and and it could feel a little

bit uncomfortable. I'm just being

honest. Cuz you know, there's no there's

no police force there, so you're just

kind of on your own.

So you don't get out and ask for

directions, all right?

You're just kind of kind of stuck and

you're anxious.

But you know what always helped, and

this happened more than once to me, you

know what always helped?

Having a friend in the car.

Having somebody on the ride with me.

Like it's one thing to be lost, it's a

completely different thing to realize

that that you're not alone when you're

lost.

It's a it's a relief when your best

friend is in the car with you,

especially especially if they know what

they're doing.

Especially if they can help get you out

of that situation and get you back on

track. It's so comforting

when you can reminisce with your friends

about those times and say, "Hey, well

we've been through some some rough roads

before. We've been lost before, and we

made it out, so we'll be able to make it

out again."

It's just so powerful to know that that

even if you don't know the way forward,

God does.

God does. And and it isn't isn't it good

to know that like

even when you feel like you don't have

enough,

that most of the time you do?

Like you got gas in the tank, you know?

And you're never too far from a Waffle

House.

It

You're not going to starve. They're open

24/7. Like just keep driving, you'll

find something.

That's what it's like when you listen to

the word of God.

You're going to wind up

in some places that you never planned to

be. Sometimes that's because you made

poor choices, other times it's because

the Holy Spirit of God actually led you

into that situation.

So when you find yourself in a place

that you never intended to be, you need

to remember that you are not there by

yourself.

You can look back and see God's

faithfulness in the past and understand

that he's going to show up in your

today. And you can also look ahead and

trust in his direction because you know

he's already gone into your to to into

your tomorrow to secure it.

And even when you feel like you're

running on empty,

you can remember that God is enough

and that you are loved,

and all you have to do is listen to his