From Darkness into Light (Psalm 139:1-6)

Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to Usong Churches Podcast.

We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

The psalm this morning is Psalm 139, which we will read responsively.

I will invite you to respond with the text in bold.

You examine my path and my places of rest.

Indeed, there is not a word on my tongue.

You have enclosed me behind and before.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

Thank you so much.

I am really blessed by your warm welcome and what a great introduction you've given, Pastor Craig.

I am so thankful.

And I'm very humbled to be with you this morning.

And my heart is again full like last night, what happened.

It's all God's mercy, and our God is good.

And as we have been reading these passages, how Jesus is teaching us to reach out to the people who are being victims of different things in the world.

And that's what together we are doing.

And I am very thankful to God for where He has taken us as a couple.

And I am so thankful to know Dave and Pauline for their kind hospitality.

And as we were reading, I was just realizing how you helped us in the time of need, just like that good Samaritan.

So thank you so much for your heart for Nepal and Heart for Nepali people.

And I have some other good friends here also joining me.

Thank you for Ruth and Bob and Cindy and Bert and Marilyn.

You have always been in the journey to inspire us, to enable us in what we are doing.

And thank you, New Song Church, for praying for us and supporting us.

And over the years I have been here and really blessed whenever I come here.

And this time also giving me a chance to share what's in my heart.

Thank you so much.

Praise God.

Um in Nepal, when I preach, sometimes I may say Amen and Hallelujah.

That's my habit of just praising God because God's word is so good and so powerful.

So if I do that, please bear with me, okay?

Hallelujah.

Praise God.

We have already read the passage, and that is a passage that God uh spoke to me when I was coming here and I was asked to preach what to share this morning with you.

And before I go there, I just want to tell a story when um a few years ago during COVID, you know, in Nepal, we have a house and we have a water tank over the top.

And uh there would be a long stand and there would be a water tank around 1,000 liters, so that tank supplies the water inside the house.

And my children started to say, Mom, this water stinks.

And my husband also said, Yeah, it stinks, but I cannot smell.

My nose is only for breathing.

So, and uh so anyway, we thought, oh, maybe the water was not good this time because we had to buy water.

And we let the water go, and when we when it ran out from the tank, we filled the tank with the fresh water and we thought it will be sold.

But no, again the water started to smell.

So we asked for help from our neighbor, and he was slim and tall, so he went to the top.

It was quite a tall building we were renting.

So he went to the top and looked at the tank, and there was a problem.

We had a strong just before that, and before one week ago, and the stroke taken off the lid of the tank, and because of that, somehow three cows dipped inside the water and it was dead.

And you can imagine how smelly our water was.

And just filling with fresh water was not enough, it needed thorough cleaning, and that brother kindly cleaned our tank, and yeah, after doing some of the work, we could again have the fresh water.

And this morning, when I was praying, I felt like sometimes we hear so many things.

There's so many religions in the world, and I come from Hindu background, we have 33 billions of God, we worship everything, but just believing in something, receiving nice word, and um finding good principle does not bring life in our life, does not heal the broken heart, and amazingly, we can be so thankful because God's word has power to deal with our hearts, amen.

Because he's not here to deal with our moral issues only, he wants to deal with our heart and other religion does um deal with our deal with the symptoms of the disease, but Jesus' word deals with our heart, and that is the root of everything.

So this Psalm is like that for me, and uh, I will be sharing a couple of testimonies that how God's word really helped our people to clean our heart, have a right perspective about God and ourselves, and that is the beginning of our journey in this world to do what Jesus had called us to do.

So, as we read in Psalm 139, I will just overview, I'll give you an overview of the Psalm, and I will share three important points that God has put in my heart.

And um, I again repeat, English is not my first language, so if you didn't understand, um I'm sure the Holy Spirit will help you to understand he's a good teacher.

In Psalm 139, there is 24 verses, and David so beautifully had shared the attributes, the nature of our God.

And from verse 1 to 6, which um we already heard from our sister, that talks about God knowing us, and he knows us so well when when it says that God knows us, he knows everything about us, and it's so beautiful that David talks about God knowing our sleeping, our walking, our going out, our sitting down, our standing, our thinking, even before I speak any word, he knows everything.

And even so, he loves us, he does not judge us, but he loves us, he knows that well.

And we need to know that we have an enemy, and the enemy's target is he does not want us to know that God knows us, God loves us, and God is for us.

So he what he does is he wants to make us isolated from the thinking, like that tank which is stinking in my house.

And enemy is also bringing bringing distraction in our life.

He wants to, he wants us to be isolated, he wants us to be distracted, he wants us to be powerless.

So when we are isolated and we we don't know God, we are away from God, we are away from God's people, we do not know who we are.

And it is the problem of the world that people are lonely and committing suicide in our country, it's so bad because they don't know God that who loves them.

And the second thing the enemy wants us to is to distract us.

He wants to distract us that we so that we won't partner with God, that what he's doing in the world.

He has a great vision for the humanity, but enemy does not want that.

And if we came to know God, he would be distracting us and he would love us to live a powerless life.

He doesn't want us to know the Holy Spirit, but that's the same reason why Jesus has come.

And David knew God that He knew everything about us, and from verse 7 to 12, he talks about God's omnipresence.

Wherever we go, God is there, and it's so wonderful that we can we can acknowledge that God knows me, we can acknowledge that God is with me, and uh from verse 13 to 18, it's an amazing psalm that God is the one who designed in his mind about you and me, and he knit us together the way we are, and we belong to him.

We need to know that.

And the other attribute of God, David talks about verse 19 to 20, is God is justice as well.

Just a few weeks ago in in one of the areas we work, there was a kidnap of a 12-year-old girl at night, and she was kidnapped and she was raped and killed, and her body was found next day when they were searching with uh uh train dog.

And my heart was in tears because this is the thing we hear in these days, and how evil people can be, and sometimes we never know who did that.

But the good thing is our God is God of justice.

One day He will judge everything.

Nobody can be just step out, just ignore, just hide from anything what they have done.

Justice will be done, and that's the attribute David is seeing here, and that's why he's saying, Lord, I wish that you would kill those people who hate you, would do evil things, would kill people.

And for us today, we don't hate people, but what we do, we pray for them.

And we are the change agent through prayer and practical work we do as Jesus has commanded us.

And at the end, I see verse 23 and 24 God who protects us from the path of pain and he calls us to walk in eternal life.

And this is our God that David is mentioning.

And when we look at the life of David, what we see is he knew God so intimately, he was worshiping God, he trusted God.

Did he fail?

Yes, he fall a few times, but he repented and he got back again, and he was always keeping God in front of him.

And 73 Psalms that David wrote, in every Psalms we see his journey with God, and he's so open and so intimate.

And I pray that we have the same journey, knowing God that he's for us, not against of us, and he's calling us to do something in the world that will last for eternity.

So when we know this truth, what shall we do with this truth?

Say with me, arise and sign.

Because we have such a great truth with us.

So, what shall we do with it?

We arise and sign because in Isaiah 60, verse 1 to 3, it says that arise and sign, your light has come.

Isaiah 60:1–3

Hallelujah! Yours and mine light, Jesus has come, and Jesus has come to do mainly for me is three things that I want to share this morning.

The number one thing is to restore and heal us, amen.

He really wants to restore and heal us because he's the light of the world.

In John chapter 8, verse 12, he says that I am the light of the world.

John 8:12

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

And that light has come for us to heal and to restore.

And this psalm is so beautifully written in four books by my friend Ruth Coghill.

And I do this Bible study all around Nepal, and we did it in India as well.

I want to share one testimony from the study that we did.

One young girl, she was only 10 years old when she left home for education to come to Kathmandu, and one of the family they kept her and um they said that you help us in the household chorus, and I we will give you education.

We will pay for your education.

So she stayed there a few years.

But sadly, as she was serving in that household, she was abused physically.

So she had to run away from that house when she got love from another family.

They were loyal to her, they understood her problem, and they were saying, if that is so bad in that family, you are very welcome to come to us, and we will continue to help you for the education.

So she went to the another family.

She stayed there for a few years, and again, same thing happened to her.

And you can imagine that young little girl being abused in one house, and then she went to another house, and then she went to a few other houses.

Everywhere she went, she was abused physically and verbally, and there were so much things that she had to suffer with.

And finally, she decided to go to India when she was in teenage years with other other young women.

And thankfully, in India, after three months, they realized that they were being trafficked.

So somehow they managed to escape and come back to Nepal and they started to live in Kathmandu in a house run by a man.

He sheltered women, he was kind to them, but the trouble was those women voluntarily sold their bodies to leave because they were just like that lady I'm talking about, that they had abuse in the family, they had abuse in their lives, so they thought there is no other way that I can survive, so I have to sell my body.

Anyway, God was with her even that dark period, just like David said.

And God brought a man in her life, and they fell in love, and she got married, he went abroad to work, and she had a son, and when she delivered the son, she started to have the trauma.

During the day, she was not on herself, and at night the evil spirit would come and just rape her.

And she was in living in such a darkness that she needed a light.

And mercifully, God came in her dream.

She saw Jesus in her dream who encouraged her to go to the church.

She came to us, we prayed with her, and Ruth also made with that lady, and we were praying, and throughout the years, she believed in Jesus, she let the Holy Spirit work in her body and in her mind, and God's word really powerfully worked in her life, and she became she became a lovely evangelist, and she saved so many lives in our church, and now she's a missionary, first missionary from now from our church, and she's living with her husband in Portugal.

Hallelujah! Jesus is our light, and he brings us light, and he rescues us from the darkness.

The second point I'm making is Jesus came to heal and restore, and Jesus came to give us the purpose in our life.

And the purpose that he wants to give us is that God has a big picture for the world.

And in John, John sees the vision in Revelation chapter 7, verse 9 to 10, that he sees a multitude of people, countless number, that gather together around God's throne from every nation, from every tribe, from every language, and from every people, worshipping God and saying the salvation belongs to our God.

Revelation 7:9–10

And that is the vision of our God that Jesus is sharing.

He wants everyone to come to know God and come out from the darkness and come into the light and receive Father's love, restore in Him and help other people to come to know God.

And that is our calling.

And as we were reading this morning, Jesus came to tell us that mission.

Love your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and love your neighbors as yourself.

That's his command and great commission.

Go and preach the good news, make disciples, baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And he confirms that I will be with you until the end of the world.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

When we are in that mission of God, whatever occupation we do, I work in a charity, we all have our one work, but one vision and one objective of our living is to see that vision of God coming together that all creation will one day worship our God.

And whatever we do in our society, let's always make sure that we align with the vision God has.

And he has shared that with Jesus.

The last point I want to make is He has called us, but He has not left us orphans.

He has given us His Holy Spirit.

And we read in Luke chapter 3, verse 16, that Jesus came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Luke 3:16

And when we have the Holy Spirit, we we know our God personally.

When we have the Holy Spirit, we can see the vision God has, and we can work with him and bring the healing this world needs through our love, through our affection, through our encouragement, and whatever we are doing around the world.

Hallelujah! So this is our God's vision for us that we receive his spirit and work with him in the power that he provides for us.

And the Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit so much in John's gospel that he's the paraclitus.

And once I came to know about him, his power and his partnership, his fellowship, his friendship, that changed my life.

And this morning I may have gone over my time, but no, okay.

I just want to encourage a new Sound George family and all of us.

Let's close our eyes for a few minutes.

Do we really understand the meaning that God knows us?

He knows my fear.

Do I realize that He is aware of everything and calling me every day as a loving father to come to me, those who are weary and burdened, and learn from me.

And I pray that this Psalm that David wrote in such intimacy and such a vast knowledge that it becomes our reality, that nothing is hidden from our God.

God wants us to know that, enemy wants us to not know that.

God wants us to restore us, enemy wants us to isolate us.

God wants us to give us a purpose.

Enemy wants us to distract us.

God wants us to live with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Enemy wants us to live powerless so he can manipulate us.

His work is to steal, kill, and destroy.

But the work of God, Jesus, he wants us to give us life and life in abundance.

And I pray that every day we learn more of Jesus and we become more like Him.

He is our role model, He is our mission, He is our destiny.

And I also pray that we would learn in our daily lives how we can work alongside God with His Holy Spirit, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to fulfill the vision God has for the world.

Lord, I thank you.

I thank you for your word that helps us to know that you are the one who joyfully, lovingly created us and knows everything about us, and you love us.

And you don't just want to deal with the symptoms of sin, but you want to deal with our hearts so that we would grow knowing you and becoming like you.

And wherever we go, we bring love and joy and healing, Father God.

I pray for more of your Holy Spirit to fill this church, fill my brothers and sisters and myself, Lord God.

The world is not at the stage that you would like, Father.

But together we are working as a church to bring the change that you want to see, to bring the lives to you, Lord God, that one day together we will be serving you with joy and freedom.

Thank you for the hope that you have provided us, the purpose you have given in our lives.

We thank you, Lord, that you are our light who has come for us.

Thank you for everything you have done.

Holy Spirit, I ask you, Daddy, you come and dwell in us like never before.

Lord, I release the healing if anyone wants this morning, needs this morning.

Lord, work in their bodies, their mind, and their hearts.

Father, help all of us to see you face to face and walk with you, loving you and loving the people we give in our lives.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for life of David.

Thank you for Jesus and thank you for your living word.

I ask your blessing in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.

If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.

If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.

Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.

Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us.

If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.