(BONUS EPISODE) October 5, 2025 - Pastor's Prologue for Communion with Peter D. Jones III - Psalm 37

Well, let's look at Psalm 37 for just a moment.

It's one of those Psalms that describes emotion.

It begins with verse 1, do not fret. That word

there has to do with being anger, being angry.

Do not fret because of evildoers or be angry

because of evildoers. Again, that's easier said

than done. I watch a lot of the, or keep up some

with some of the current news and there's a lot

that goes on that can make you angry very quickly.

But he says do not be, don't fret or be angry

because of evildoers and do not be envious. toward

doers of unrighteousness. That sounds kind of

funny. I was thinking about that. But there's

a lot of people that do unrighteousness and they

seem to prosper. They seem to live in the limelight.

And this verse takes that seriously. He goes

on to say, why? He said that these people that

seem to be in the limelight and do so well are

going to wither like grass. and fade like the

green herb. And if we stop there, that would

be true anyway. We know that's true. That's Psalm

1 talks about, you know, delighting in the Lord

and His Word. And we understand that. But in

contrast to that, he says, instead of that, trust

in Yahweh, that's verse 3, and do good. Do we

do that? Trust in Yahweh and do good. Dwell in

the land and cultivate faithfulness. Let's see,

I remember that the reference in the side margin

says you could translate that feed securely or

feed own his faithfulness, which I like that

idea because we know he's faithful and we know

he's honest and righteous. One of the prayer

requests that I've heard from this pulpit by

others on several occasions is thanking the Lord

for His sovereignty. We're very thankful that

that's the case, that God is sovereign, He's

in charge, and that nothing can happen but that

it comes through, filtered through His will and

His plan. He says, the verse that I quote so

often is verse four, Delight yourself in Yahweh.

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

And we know that that's not a blank check to

get whatever we want from the Lord, but it is

a statement that says if we delight in Him, He

will change our hearts and our delights into

things that He gives us. We will find those to

be satisfying. Commit your way to Yahweh, your

life again. Do we do that? Commit your way to

Him, trust in Him, and He will do it. He will

act. He will bring forth your righteousness as

the light. Isn't that a good promise? Really?

That if you trust in Him, if you commit your

way to Him, He will bring forth unfolding your

righteousness or your life that is in harmony

with God's will. it will unfold as light in your

judgment as the noonday sun. And then finally

we just start with verse 7, which is the verse

that got my attention when we were thinking about

these people that are struggling with bad health

and things of this nature, Hunt Keith and Ted

Dippy and others. the thinking of Robert. It

says be still in Yahweh and wait patiently or

longingly for Him. That is probably one of the

hardest things to do. It's easy to talk about

it when the sun is shining and like I'm up here

talking and we can lay that direction out. But

when you're in the middle of the storm and it's

your life that's fading away and it's your possessions

that are being stolen or it's your friends that

are suffering or it's the plans that you have

been planning and setting up over the years for

as a budget or as a goal or as a retirement or

whatever and those plans now. fall apart. It's

very hard to be still and wait patiently for

God to do His will in that. But life is filled

with what we might call disappointments to our

way, to our will, and the only option is what

God does. It's hard to wait for Him. I don't

know if this is a true axiom, but it seems to

me that the things that I prayed for, that I

wanted the most, are the things that he said

no about. That's why I've prayed and talked about

asking the Lord to save me from myself, because

the things that I want, the things that satisfy

my, maybe I could say the word lust, or my cravings,

or my passion, or whatever. Those things are

not things that glorify Jesus. They're things

that make me comfortable, perhaps, make me popular,

or whatever, but they don't glorify Jesus. And

so they're really prayers that are aimed in the

wrong direction. God knows, and He knows what

He's doing, and so He tells us to be still, to

wait patiently for Him. I'm going to open in

prayer, but I'm not going to close the prayer.

I'm going to sit down, and when everybody has

had a chance to pray, wants to pray, Bob, do

you mind closing that time in prayer? Sure. Okay.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you. This time that

you have ordained, we are here by your invitation.

It is a strange thing that we... need these reminders

of your grace and of your mercy and your sacrifice.

It's not strange, it's really sad in a way. But

yet at the same time it forwards an opportunity

to gather together your people have gathered

around food and the elements of eating, having

a fellowship and a close time with each other

and with you. And this has gone on for centuries.

and it's really a very special time. I don't

know if this kind of thing is taking place at

this time in heaven, but I do know that you rejoice

in our worship of you and that you are delighted

when your people delight in you. And you've promised

that in the light of that you would respond to

us. and the way that helps us display your righteousness

and your grace and your glory. So we thank you

so much for the privilege of coming together

here tonight. Bless this time. Open our hearts

to you and our lives to you. Bring things that

need to be brought to mind to mind that we can

confess them. Let the Lord make this time very

special of real time. a real time of real communion

with our Savior. And I ask that you would work

in my heart. I confess to you as I can the things

that come between us that I'm aware about. I'm

sure there are a lot more that I'm not aware

of. But I just want to bring my heart to you

and our fellowship, your people, bring them together

before you. tonight that we might worship our

blessed Savior.