2025: Nothing is Going to Take My Song

The title of my message this morning is this, 2025, nothing is going to take my song.

2025, nothing is going to take my song. Who loves singing?

Who loves singing, although they don't have the best voice? That's me. That's me.

All right, 2025, nothing is going to take my song.

Psalm 137, all of my scriptures this morning are from the Psalms.

Your scripture was from the Psalms. I know you went to Isaiah,

but you also went to the Psalms.

Psalm 137 verses 1 to 4 says this, By the rivers of Babylon,

Psalms 137:1–4

there we sat down, yeah, we wept when we remembered Zion. Who's humming Boney

M at the moment as I read that out?

By the rivers of Babylon.

There we sat down, yeah, we wept when we remembered Zion.

We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.

For there, those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land, or in Boney M's words, in a strange land?

Am I the only one that was humming while I was reading that?

Well, and I said to Angela this morning, do you remember that song,

Boney M by the rivers of Babylon?

Do you know that it's Psalm 137? Word for word.

I was so encouraged by that. In our text, so David is speaking.

It's not Moses this time, it's David.

And David is speaking of the children of Israel as they're in captivity in the land of Babylon.

And David is telling a very, very sad story.

The children of Israel had lost their song. They had lost their song.

How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

It's sad. The children of Israel had lost their song.

It says, we hung our harps on the willows and we wept.

And then they said, how can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

For a people of God who are known for their song and by their joyous celebrations, you know what?

This is a critical condition for them to lose their song. It was a critical condition.

They had lost their song and their praise and their joy and their faith.

And you know what? That is life-threatening. It is life-threatening.

When it comes to the subject of praise, nobody talked more about it than King David.

He spoke about praise the whole time.

It doesn't matter what David started talking about.

He ended up praising God. Have you noticed that?

He could start out by complaining. He could start out by feeling sorry for himself,

down in the dumps, questioning God.

But a few verses later, he was back to praising God again.

The word praise or the word praises or any other forms of the word are written

140 times in the book of Psalms alone.

David was not just a speaker or writer on the subject of praise,

David was the epitome of being a praiser.

He was a praiser. If you look under the dictionary, if you look in the dictionary

under the word praiser, I guarantee you'll see a picture of David with his hands raised in the air.

He was a praiser. There's no doubt about it. David said in Psalm 34 verse 1,

Psalms 34:1

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

Now, yes, there is no doubt about it. David was a praiser.

He was a praiser. But you would be making a big mistake to assume that because

David lived a life of praise, that he never had any problems in his life. He certainly did.

As a matter of fact, it was in many cases, it was because of his problems that David praised God.

We need to get that. Because of problems, we need to praise God. Amen?

David discovered praise not just as a companion through his pain, but also as a weapon.

Now, I've got it in mind over the next few weeks, probably not next week because

we're going to have an anointing service, but I want to preach a message or

a series of messages about being dangerous Christians, about being dangerous Christians.

Who wants to be a dangerous Christian?

2025, we need to be dangerous. That's how we're going to get through.

But it's going to be all right. It's going to be all right.

I believe if we understood the power of praise, we would walk around praising God all the time.

And you might ask, well, what for? What do we praise God for? Well, let's start this.

How about we praise him because we have breath in our lungs?

How about we praise him for the fact that we're alive, that that car accident didn't take us?

You woke up this morning. There's a lot of people, unfortunately,

that perhaps didn't wake up this morning, but we woke up this morning.

Let's praise God for that.

Praise him for the fact that you've got the use of your limbs,

or most of them, and you're getting the full use of them back.

And you're in your right mind, or most of us are in our right mind,

and you can feed yourself.

Praise him because you have a roof over your head. Praise him because you have food on your table.

Praise him because you have shoes on your feet. I've got a new pair of shoes

while we're on holidays.

Praise him for that. Praise him because you live in Australia.

Georgia, one of the first things she says when she came back from America is,

I'm so glad we live in Australia.

We live in Australia where we still have freedom to assemble and freedom to

worship. Praise God for that.

Praise him because you're still here. You're still standing. I'm still standing.

Because the truth is, if the devil would have had his way, he probably would

have killed us all long ago.

That's a fact. If the devil had had his way in my life, he probably would have

killed me back about 2012 or so.

But I'm still here in 2025, and I'm more of a threat now than I've ever been.

And I don't know about you, but I feel a shout of praise coming on. I really do. Praise God.

One of the greatest weapons in David's arsenal, in King David's arsenal,

was something most people never even consider about him.

And yet when you study David's life, you will have to come to the conclusion

that one of the greatest and one of David's greatest and most effective weapons

was his song, was his song.

Why does the devil want our song, do you think? Why does the devil want our song?

Because our song is our testimony and it shows that we are not beaten and that drives the devil crazy.

One of Satan's main objectives is to steal our song And that's why I want to

preach this morning about 2025 being a year where I'm not going to Nothing's

going to take my song Nothing's going to take my song,

A song is an open rebellion to the worst that hell can throw at you That's what

a song should be When the devil has thrown everything he can at you and you still have your song,

that means you're still standing and you still have fight anew when you have a song.

As long as you have a song, you're still in the fight. As long as you have breath,

you can still sing a song.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. You may not understand how important this is,

but I will show you from the word of God how extremely important it is that

you do have a song in your life.

In one sense of the word, a song is prophecy.

The song looks beyond present testings. It looks beyond present problems and

present sorrows, and it prophetically decrees something better is coming.

That's the kind of song I'm talking about this morning. I'm not talking about

the nobody knows the trouble that I have song.

I'm not talking about the gloom, despair, and agony on me.

And if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

Those sort of songs, gloom, despair, and agony on me. No, that's a loser's song.

That's a loser's song. That's the kind of song that's from the devil's hymn

book. and we don't sing from the devil's hymn book.

That's the kind of song for the person who's given up.

There are songs of the defeated. There are songs of the helpless and there are

songs of the hopeless, but that's not the songs I'm talking about.

As children of God, we are neither hopeless nor are we helpless.

Our hope is in God and God is our helper.

Amen. David said, I have help and I have hope and they are in God who made heaven and earth.

David's words convey the thought, if God was big enough and powerful enough

to create the heavens and the earth, he can surely handle any of my problems, big or small.

A song is a companion for life's journey.

A song can go with you anywhere you go. A song can comfort you in the darkest

hour of your life. What did Paul and Silas do in the prison cells?

They sang and they praised God.

This is one of the greatest revelations for navigating through the storms of

life. Listen to what David says about a song.

Psalm 32 verse 7 says, you are my hiding place.

Psalms 32:7

You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with the songs of deliverance.

Then look at this powerful verse, Psalm 40 and verse 3 says,

He has put a new song in my mouth.

Praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord.

And let me give you one more verse about our song, Psalm 118 and verse 14.

It says, the Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.

I love that verse. I love that verse.

It's as though David is saying, what I have sung about has manifested in my life.

It started out as a song, but it has become a fact. It has become his experience, a song.

2025, do not let anything take your song.

One of the most dangerous things to lose in your life is your song.

There will be times when your song will be your closest companion.

There will be times when your song will be the lifeline through a storm, a song.

I'm going to say something here and I don't want to upset anybody,

but I do want to help somebody this morning.

Many times our prayers are more prayers of doubt and fear than in faith.

Many times our prayers are like that, especially when you're going through the

fire and your life or your livelihood is being threatened.

And many times there is more faith in our song than in our prayer.

Who tends to agree somewhat with that?

Our prayer is begging God for help, while our song is praising God for help

and praising God for deliverance.

Yeah, come on. This is what God said. This is what David meant when he said,

you compass me round about with songs of deliverance, not songs of discouragement,

not songs of frustration,

not songs of aggravation, hopelessness and despair, but songs of faith,

songs of brighter days, songs of expectations,

songs that lift and songs that pull us up.

I believe this is one of the greatest revelations in David's life,

that we need a song in our life.

Maybe right now you're listening to this message and perhaps you've lost your song.

You may have had the breath knocked out of you even just this week.

And you don't feel like you can even sing again.

But if you ask him, God will give you a new song. He will give you a new song.

He will give you a song of hope. He will give you a song of peace.

He will give you a song of joy.

And like Paul and Silas in the

darkest hour of your life, you can still pray. Yes, you can still pray.

I would never want to diminish the prayer, the place prayer holds in our lives,

but we also have a song that we cannot lose. Do you see what I'm saying?

Song is my prophecy.

Tremendous power is released through a prophetic song. Never trivialize this.

You need a song. I remember Josh wrote a song once, years ago.

Hope is in your hands. A song to God. Hope is in your hands.

Song is prophecy. Tremendous power is released through a prophetic song. Never trivialize it.

A song is what we need. Now let's have another look at David, the praiser.

David, the sweetest psalmist of Israel.

David, very possibly the author of the greatest praises that have ever passed through human lips.

So I'm talking about King David, the greatest praiser that there's been.

In this chapter that I'm going to refer to, in this chapter of David's life, he's not in praise mode.

We'll have a read of it. We'll have a go over it in a second.

In other words, he's not feeling like praising.

In fact, he's probably feeling like hanging his harp on the willow and never singing again.

We find the setting in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verses 1 to 19, and David and his

1 Samuel 30:1–19

men had been on a military campaign together.

David and his men were living in enemy territory in a place called Ziglag.

David and his men were living in enemy territory and David and his men and their

families felt safe because David had convinced the king of Goth that he was a friend to them.

So they were all feeling safe in this place at Ziglag.

Then from this safe place, David would launch military campaigns against the Philistines.

Then retreat to this safe place

where all the family was safe Waiting for

them to come home in Ziglag But on

this particular day When David and his men returned from plundering the Philistines

Things were different No kids came running out to meet their dads There was

no smell of dinner No sounds of contented cattle and sheep in the distance Instead,

there was an eerie sound of silence and the remains of their houses that had

been plundered and were burning.

Suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks. It hit them all like a ton of bricks.

Not only are the animals gone, but all their wives and children are gone too.

The first emotion that hits them is grief, sorrow, regret, and they weep until they can cry no more.

Then the sorrow, grief, regret transitions to anger.

Yes, they're angry at themselves, but they universally decide to make David

responsible and take their anger out on David.

And the Bible says they spoke about stoning David.

He lost his song. So David, in the midst of the most likely,

in most likely the darkest season of his life, and David does something that doesn't make any sense.

He calls for the ephod and he worships and he praises.

David gets his praise on in Ziglag.

And the Bible doesn't say it right here, and I can't prove it,

but I just believe that David probably had a bit of a flashback going in his mind at that stage.

I believe his mind went back to a time when a lion broke into his father's flock

and took a lamb from the fold.

Every natural evidence would say it was over for that lamb.

That lamb was history. Just write it off and move on.

But David tracked down the lion and the lamb was still in the lion's mouth and

David smote and killed the lion and delivered the lamb. Here's the gospel for you.

And I believe from somewhere deep inside, a song began to bubble up inside of David.

And it doesn't say it word for word in our text, but I can see David worshipping

at that stage, perhaps without a song, but worshipping.

I don't really know what it was, but what I do know is this.

When David went into praise, he went into recovery as well. The Bible says,

David encouraged himself in the Lord and he worshipped.

Then he inquired of the Lord, shall I pursue after this troop that has taken

my family, my children, all of our family?

Should I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?

And God answered him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without

fail, you will recover all.

And the Bible says that they pursued pursued and overtook them.

And when they came upon them, they were spread abroad upon all the earth,

eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had

taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah.

In other words, they were throwing a big party, celebrating how they had plundered

and destroyed and stolen from so many people.

The Bible says David smote them from the twilight even into the evening of the following day.

David went off and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great,

neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that had been taken from them.

David recovered it all.

I feel like saying something this morning. I feel like saying someone here or

someone listening this morning is just one zigzag praise away from getting into

supernatural recovery and restoration.

One zigzag praise.

Somebody's getting their joy back. Somebody's getting their health back.

Somebody is going to get your strength back. Somebody is getting a fresh breath of air this morning.

The devil has been after your song because he knows the power that is released in your song.

He's been trying to get it, to get to you to sing from his hymn book of grief

and misery and disappointment and woe is me.

But those are not songs of deliverance. Those are not songs of bondage and captivity.

How many times have I felt like David and felt like giving up and suddenly I

hear in my spirit saying, he's an on-time God.

Yes, he is. He's an on-time God. Or he'll do it again.

How many times do you hear that? When you're about ready to give up,

he'll do it again. Or God will make this trial a blessing for you.

Or there's a miracle in the making here.

You need to get this into your spirit. You may hear a song in your mind of your

spirit, but then you've got to sing it. You've got to sing it.

A prayer is not a prayer until you pray it.

A gift is not a gift until you give it. And a song is not a song until you sing it.

So I'm making this declaration for 2025.

I'm going to sing. I'm going to sing. Those songs we chose this morning,

they were fantastic. I'm going to sing 2025.

Tell your neighbor, I'm going to sing.

Where is your neighbor? I'm going to sing. He's in Dubbo. That's right.

That's all right. He's allowed to be a Dubbo.

Now tell the delivering grandchildren.

Didn't know he was, didn't know he was an obstetrician. I thought he was a mechanic.

Brad, gifts. Okay, you've told your neighbor, you've told yourself,

now tell the devil, I'm going to sing.

Yeah, come on. Instead of listening to the devil's lies and negativity,

make the devil listen to you sing in 2025.

Right there in the middle of this disaster, when it feels like everything is

falling apart, give God a zigzag praise.

Josh, come on up for me Alright, so you asked me the question Pastor Tim,

what in the world is a Ziklag praise?

What in the world is And if you need to spell it, it's Z-I-K Ziklag Ziklag praise,

L-A-G A Ziklag praise is a praise that doesn't make any sense at all.

It's a praise that stands in the middle of the burning ashes of everything you ever dreamed of.

And right there with smoke stinging your eyes, you give God praise.

That's what a Ziklag praise is.

A Ziklag praise is not a looking back praise for all the good things God has done in the past.

No, a Ziklag praise is a God's not finished with me yet praise.

That's what a Ziklag praise is. A Ziklag praise is a prophecy of restoration in your life.

A Ziklag praise is a, I'm going through it praise. I'm going through this valley praise.

A Ziklag praise is an in the midst praise.

What do you mean? Right here in the midst of this fiery furnace,

in the middle of this raging river, I'm going to give God praise.

That's what a ziklag praise is.

A ziklag praise is an even though praise.

It means even though I don't understand why this is happening and even though

it hurts, I'm going to sing and give praise to God. That's a ziklag praise.

Habakkuk's praise was a ziklag praise. Have a listen to this.

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines.

Even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren,

even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be thankful in the God of my salvation.

That's Habakkuk 3, if you need to know. Job had a Ziklag praise.

When he lost everything he owned in just a matter of a few hours,

The Bible said he shaved his head, he fell to the ground and he worshipped.

Now, I don't want to see a whole heap of bald people here next week.

But that's a Ziklag praise. Is that me speaking down there?

He's replaying that good bit that I just said.

All right. So yeah, Job had a Ziklag praise.

The point I'm trying to make is this.

A Ziklag praise doesn't have to be pretty to be effective either.

A Ziklag praise says it's not over.

It doesn't matter what it looks like and it doesn't even matter what it feels like.

Something good is going to come out of this. So I'm going to sing.

Today I'm singing. I might be going through a fire right now,

but I'm going to sing and praise my way through it.

Remember the old kettles the old whistling kettles

when did they whistle when it

was hot when it was really hot when the flame was really heating things up it

whistled it sang that's what we need to do we need to be like those old-fashioned

kettles when things are getting hot we start whistling we start singing and

we start praising what's that not that old,

Actually, you've still got one.

Yeah, yeah. You know, you can buy new ones.

You can buy them now, but it's not the whistle of the, it's not the steam that

creates the whistle. It's a little chip in it that whistles when it's ready.

Don't need one of those. You need a real one.

Yeah, good work. Good work.

So that's where I'm going to leave it. By saying in 2025, don't let anything take your song.

Amen. Amen. Let's stand together and let's praise and pray. Come on. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord. We just want to praise you, God.

We just want to praise you. I'm just listening to that music that Josh is praying. God, you reign.

God, you reign in our lives. God, you are the awesome part of our lives.

And Lord, we sing a song to you this morning, a song of prophecy,

a ziklag praise, Lord, of overcoming, of prophesying a new thing in our lives

that despite the circumstances, despite the fact the car is in the middle of rolling.

God, You have new things in store for us. Everything is okay.

And Lord, we praise You and worship You for that.

We thank You, God, that Lord, You call to us.

You call to us to bring praise to You.

And Lord, when You do that, that other guy down there, that devil,

he runs and flees because he can't stand the fact that we are singing songs of praise to our God.

So that's what we choose to do in 2025, Lord.

I prophesy that over every person here this morning.

No matter what attack comes on you personally, no matter what attack comes on

your family or members of your family,

then you will sing a song of praise and restoration and restoration of great

things of God in your family and your life.

In Jesus' Name, Lord, we praise You this morning.

We bring a praise, a Ziklag praise to You this morning that despite what's going

on, Lord, we will come through as children of God under a God who created everything

and has everything under control.

God is saying to us right now, it will be okay.

2025 may not be an easy year, but it will be okay.

So do not lose your praise or your song.

Lord, create in us a new song that we can sing and we can declare and we can

prophesy over our lives in Jesus' Name.

You give us that gift, Lord God, and we receive that gift and we refuse to give it up.

When we receive a gift, we don't give it back.

We receive it, we use it, and we sing this song, a song of praise and love to

our Creator in Jesus' Name. Lord, we worship You this morning.

We worship You. Thank You, Father.

Music.

Hallelujah. Thank You, God. Bless You, Jesus.

Holy Spirit, lead us this week as we go. Lead us into a week,

Lord God, where we will sing regardless.

We will sing regardless. We will sing a song of restoration regardless.

Hallelujah. We thank you, God. We thank you for today. We thank you for 2025, Lord.

And although there are words of doom and perhaps gloom and worry and things

that are going to happen, Lord, my word to the church this morning is do not

lose your song through all of this.

Sing it out. Sing praises to God.

Love your God. Love one another. Sing with one another and create a new life.

Create a new answer to what's going on in your life. In Jesus' name. Hallelujah.

We praise you, Jesus. Hallelujah.