Waiting, Worship, and Wonder Pt. 2

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast. A podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. Let's just see what it is that will satisfy our soul as we have just sung about.

We looked last Sunday morning at the first part of this. We will look at the second part today. Next Sunday, Promotion Sunday.

Next Sunday is one of the most important Sundays of the year for our church. As we do our Sunday school promotion, that means everybody, preschool and children and youth, are going to the classes for the new year.

We've got a number of new teachers who are starting. Next Sunday is one of those days where we really just need everybody here that's a part of our church. It is our kickoff day.

It is such an important day as we start our new school year schedule here as a church. If you at all can, please be here next Sunday morning for our kickoff.

And then Sunday night, as we start our evening service again, we take June and July off. And so it's always fun to bring Sunday nights back as we start studying through Nehemiah together.

Our adult choir will be here to lead us. We're going to have a great, great time on Sunday evening. If you already normally come on Sunday nights, we look forward to having you back. Our Sunday night people are so committed.

If you're not normally a part of Sunday nights, next Sunday literally is the perfect time to start. As we start a new study together, kick off a new semester together.

If you don't normally come on Sunday night, let me invite you to. It really is just a beautiful way for your family to book in the Lord's Day, to begin with worship in the morning, to end the day with worship.

It's a great chance just to be a part of the core of the church. And I think you would really enjoy our evening service. That kicks off again next Sunday from 5 to 6.

Well, as we look here in Psalm 27, let's just remind ourselves what we looked at last Sunday. We looked at three things from the text. First, there is a sense of trusting in the midst of trials.

We trust right in the midst of trials. Verse 1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

But, this declaration of praise does not come from an individual whose life is easy. We see in verse 2 that there are evildoers who assail and they want to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes.

It is they who stumble and fall. So, while David affirms the Lord is his light, his salvation stronghold, yet he also knows that he has evildoers, adversaries and foes against him.

And yet, verse 3, even though all this is true, he says, Yet I will be confident. There is a sense of trusting in the midst of trials.

And perhaps today, you are going through your own trial. Perhaps your family is going through something. Perhaps your own life and soul is anxious today.

Be encouraged that we trust the Lord right in the midst of our trials. We saw, secondly, that we are to be asking in the midst of our anguish.

From verse 4. Even though we are anguishing, there is still something we can ask and seek of the Lord. Verse 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.

We trust right in the midst of trials. We ask of the Lord knowing He hears and answers our prayer right in the midst of our anguish. And then we saw, thirdly, that we are to be singing in the midst of suffering.

Singing in the midst of suffering. Verse 5. Describe that He is our shelter. That He lifts us up. Verse 6. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.

I will sing and make melody to the Lord. They're singing in the midst of suffering. One of the real gifts a church can give to its people are songs to sing in every season of life.

We need to sing songs of celebration. We need to sing songs that call our hearts to rejoice. And we need to have songs to sing when we're burdened. We need to have songs of praise to declare when we're thankful for God's many blessings.

And we need to have songs we can sing to comfort weary souls. We need songs to sing when life is going well and ministry is prospering.

And we need songs to sing when we are laboring faithfully, but perhaps you're not seeing the results that you long for. We need songs to sing when children are born to give thanks to God.

And we need songs to sing when the devoted spouse lays their loved one to rest. We need songs to sing in every season of life.

That's one of the beautiful things of the Psalms, this collection of songs that the people of God would sing in the Old Testament. It speaks to all of the conditions and circumstances of life.

And sometimes I fear that it's just an assumption among Christians that when you go to church when you're happy, and you sing when you're happy, and if life is hard, then you don't have a song to sing.

But understand that one of the gifts that the church gives is the ability to sing songs even when your heart is broken. And you may have to sing songs through tears.

That's okay. Sing on. And there may be times where what you're going through is so heavy that you're trying to sing, but you can't even articulate it.

And you just have to stand there and meditate on the words we're singing and listen to the congregation singing around you. That's great. There may be times where your heart is overflowing so much that you've just got to sing a song of thanksgiving and do that.

And other times where you just say, God, I'm trusting, I'm waiting, I'm hurting, and I'm believing. David says in verse 6 here that I will sing and make melody to the Lord even though, verse 2, evildoers, adversaries, and foes are all around him.

Even though, verse 5, he experiences his day of trouble. Even though, verse 6, he has enemies all around him. Yet I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Before we move on, I just want to spend a few minutes on this idea of singing as a blessing and a gift and a weapon for the people of God.

One of the ways we fight for joy and fight for faith and overcome difficulty is by singing to the Lord. You see this all throughout Scripture, Old and New Testament.

And you see it here in Psalm 27. Why should we be a singing church? Let's just call time out for a minute here at verse 6 and make sure that we are applying what we've read in Psalm 27 and then we'll move on.

Just a few thoughts on why we should be a singing church I want to share with you from my heart. Number one, because it's biblical. It's biblical. We're called to sing to the Lord.

We're called to be a people who are a singing people. So, in one sense, we really don't need any more than that.

This is a biblical thing that the people of God have always done. And if our only motivation was just because it's biblical, that would be enough. Some of you in our church are great musicians.

Some of you in our church are not musicians, but you love to sing. Some of you may be in a different category even than that. But do understand that it is a biblical thing for the people of God, for the church to be a singing people.

This isn't about skill necessarily. This isn't about preference or talent. This isn't even about what may be easy for you to do.

This is about a biblical command and gift from the Lord to His people to sing and make melody to the Lord.

Number two, we should be a singing church because it pleases God. It's biblical. When God's people do what the Word says, it pleases God.

It's a good corrective for us too, because sometimes it's easy to say, you know, I don't sing because I don't like to sing.

Well, there is someone who does like for you to sing. And that someone is more important than you or me. It pleases God.

And you may say, well, no one around me wants to hear me sing. You're wrong. Because the Spirit of God is here.

And the Spirit of God fills this place. And the Lord loves to hear His people sing. It's a biblical thing when God's people sing, when they sing, and it pleases God.

Number three, it teaches us truth. Good church music should teach truth. Good church music doesn't make you just simply feel good for five or ten or thirty minutes.

Good church music teaches truth. Number four, it unifies us. You've heard me say before, and I always want to be very, very careful when I say this, because I want to make sure that you don't misunderstand my heart in this.

There are churches that have different convictions, and we love churches wherever the truth is preached. Any church that's making much of Christ, they are our partners in kingdom work, never our competitors in kingdom work.

So I'm not speaking of any other congregation. This is the congregation the Lord has called us to shepherd. Our conviction here is that the best way for a church to handle music is not to be divided in different services based on musical styles, where what unites you are people who have your exact same opinions.

I'm speaking only for our church. There are good churches who do this differently, and I'm only speaking for us. As for us, as for we in our house kind of a thing.

But we're not going to do a service where we have this style of music, another service where it's that style of music, and another service where it's this style of music, to where music divides us.

Biblically, one of the gifts of music is that it unifies us. Now, if you have friends who go to other churches and they do it differently, please don't use what I just said to in any way demean or disrespect that congregation.

But I do want you to understand the thoughtfulness and the reasoning and the conviction behind why we do what we do. To have music that divides the congregation would be antithetical to the purpose behind the gift itself.

So when we sing, we're unifying ourselves. Because, I did this with our choir last week so you could see in this service just the different ages.

Just in this middle section right here, there are teenagers. And just by scanning just this section, if my eyes are not deceiving me, I would be quite confident we could go from teenagers through every decade up to at least 80.

Just in this section here. Singing together, all hail the power of Jesus' name. Singing. Singing. That those who have been around for a few years have sung for a long, long time.

Singing also, the Lord is my salvation, written by faithful people in more recent days who take us right to the doctrine of salvation. It would break my heart if on a Sunday morning we had just people 30 and under.

And the next service we had people just 40 and over. And you would miss out on the unity. That says we join hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, and voice to voice to declare the praises of God.

Biblically speaking, music unifies the people of God. Number five, it verbalizes otherwise unspoken emotions.

It verbalizes otherwise unspoken emotions. You may be sitting there today thinking to yourself, because of a trial you're going through, that you're desperately trusting in the Lord, but you're not even sure how to put that into words.

And music gives you the song we just sung together. Out of the depths I cry to you, in darkest places I will call.

And you say, that's what my heart was feeling today. Didn't know how to say it. Didn't have the words to put into motion. And that song spoke for me.

It's one of the gifts of music for the people of God. It verbalizes otherwise unspoken emotions. Number six, it teaches Scripture. The song we just sang, I Will Wait For You.

Taken right from Psalm 130. If you meditate on the words of the song we've just sung, with your Bible open to Psalm 130, you will see you've just sung Psalm 130.

It teaches Scripture. Number seven, it strengthens others. There may very well be someone beside you or in front of you, and they weren't singing.

And maybe they weren't singing because they were being disobedient to the Lord. That's possible. Or maybe they weren't singing because what they've been going through this week is so difficult and so hard, they can't hardly get words out without tears.

And so they stood there and let the singing of the body of Christ minister to them. Be careful. Don't judge people based on just what you see. Somebody can appear to be very expressive and be all about themselves, and somebody else may seem to not even be singing, and they may be thinking deeply on the truths that the church is singing.

Be very careful about how we critique or judge others. But do know one of the great gifts of the church is that when we sing, we strengthen those around us.

I love to sing, and I wish I was good at it. It would sure make life better for those around me, but I love to sing. But every once in a while, in the second service when Marcy is with me, every once in a while, I like to not sing and just listen to her sing.

Because God has given me a love for Him, but He's given Marcy a love for Him and a beautiful voice with which to express it. She got more than me in a lot of ways. And sometimes when I just hear my wife sing, it just strengthens me.

You may wonder sometimes, why do you need to sing? And one of the answers is, because the people who are around you are strengthened by it.

Let me give you one last one. Number eight. It connects us with other believers in churches. It connects us with other believers in churches.

We sing songs that have been sung for generations. That matters. It's also good to sing to the Lord a new song. Let's not be legalistic and strange about that.

It's every song that you love that's old used to be new. It's good to sing and write new songs. But it's dangerous to think that somehow our generation has finally figured out good music and everyone who came before us didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Don't make that mistake either. When we sing songs that have been around for generations, in centuries, we're connecting our hearts with believers who have come before us, churches who have come before us, reminding us we are a part of a family that one day will all be united together in heaven.

Verse 6, I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Let's always make sure that's true of us in this place. Moving on in Psalm 27, from verses 7-12, write down a fourth truth we see here that there is resting in the midst of rejection.

There is resting in the midst of rejection. Look at verse 7 with me. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face.

My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation.

You know, you'll find critics who will point to Psalm 27 and say that they don't believe this can be one psalm. Because in their mind, verses 1-6 is so different than verses 7-12.

The critics say that verses 1-6 has such calm assurance. And then when you get to verse 7, they say it feels like an entirely different psalm.

Abrupt, without explanation. We find this rejection. But honestly, what could be more true of our experience?

That there are days where we are so aware of God's protection and God's healing and God's help that all we want to do is say, though adversaries and foes are all around me, I just trust the Lord.

And other moments where you feel absolutely burdened beyond your ability to explain it. Times where you're so aware of the nearness of God and times in verse 9 where it seems to be that God has hidden His face from you.

He hasn't. But at times it feels that way. Sometimes where you pray and you just see God answering your prayers and your faith just grows and grows and other times you say, God, I've been begging you for so long for this.

When, when will you hear me and answer me? Psalm 27 is just speaking to the fullness of the entire human experience for the believer that there are seasons of life where the nearness of God is so overwhelmingly sweet to us and other times as we go through trials and struggles and rejection we just cry out, Lord, do not cast me off.

Lord, do not forsake me. it's another reminder of why we need to be familiar with reading and studying all of the Bible because the Bible speaks to all of our circumstances many of which are quickly changing.

We want to be a people who are resting even if we face rejection. verse 10 for my father and mother have forsaken me but the Lord will take me in.

There's some good discussion about exactly what is meant here. Most likely this should be seen as a proverbial kind of saying.

I think probably what David has in mind here is just this general sense that even if those closest to you were to turn their back on you the believer would always have the Lord.

Some take this to mean that his mother and father have died and he's just simply saying not that they forsook him in a sinful way but that they are gone they've been removed from him and that though he's having to face life without even the very ones who knew him best yet the Lord will take him in that even if you lose your father or your mother or your husband or your wife that even if you lose those who are closest to you yet even in the midst of your heartache the Lord is always with us that's certainly true that would help you understand if you've looked at different translations or maybe you have a translation different than the person beside you why this verse is translated differently the ESV translates as an event that has happened Christian standard Bible takes it as a possibility meaning even if my father and mother were to desert me yet the Lord would take me in!

God regardless textually of how you interpret this verse that I think the takeaway is crystal clear either way teaching us that all other relationships are less stable less hopeful and less permanent than the one relationship that matters most you and your God don't forget that because you're going to have friends who as life goes on desert you you'll have other friends who by no malice just kind of fade away through changes of life you're going to have loved ones who you cared for deeply and who loved you so much that to cease and go to heaven you're going to have people that you counted on that all of a sudden in your moment of need you're going to look around and they're not there and you need to be reminded in those moments it's that even if every relationship you have were to end you would never be alone the

Lord will take you in would you still grieve of course would you miss those relationships that used to be sweet to you absolutely but never forsaken never abandoned and never alone even if you lost every other relationship you could say what verse 10 says but the Lord will take me in verse 11 says teach me your way oh Lord and lead me on a level path because of my enemies two great and simple things to pray for I want you to make sure and notice in this verse Lord teach me Lord lead me let that be how you pray verse 11 Lord teach me your way and then lead me notice he says lead me on a level path it doesn't mean easy it means clear your life will likely not be easy and if it's easy today buckle up because something's coming that's just the way life is life doesn't stay easy but we pray God teach me and lead me we're praying God lead me in a clear path a level path doesn't have to be easy

I just need to be clear on knowing where am I going and how do I follow you last month while Marcia and I got to spend some time in Alaska and just had one of the the best seasons of our life we had so much fun together and one of the excursions we were doing was this 15 mile bike ride in Alaska I don't know why that ever sounded like a good idea honestly I remember we were laying in bed scrolling through our phones at what we want to do and and I don't know why that sounded I don't know why that passed the first filter of why we're doing this but we did and the day before I said you know what why don't we why don't we cancel that excursion do something else and Marcia said no I think it'd be fun let's do it and part of me was glad because I thought it would be fun and part of me was very disappointed because I wasn't sure I could finish it and it would be more embarrassing if I couldn't finish it than if I just canceled it and blamed it on her and we had this vision in our mind of this bike ride they were going to take us up and we were going to go on some side trails and see the water and the mountains and all the beautiful sights of Alaska and you know there would be a bald eagle and maybe at a safe distance a bear and just as we kind of would go through this gentle trail on the side instead they loaded us in a van a sketchy van and they drove about 10 of us 15 miles up the highway and Marcia said to me I don't see any trails because there were none they dropped us off 15 miles up got out these bikes

I've not ridden a bike in a long time and I know that they always say it's like riding a bike well at 53 like riding a bike means pretty wobbly and so we're kind of practicing and someone's like you know where's the trail he says what we're going to do is we're going to get a single file line and we're just going to ride back the way we came on the side of the highway now most of the ride was downhill about 20 miles an hour and after you got past thinking your life was coming to an end it was kind of exhilarating part of the bike ride was uphill which made me question every desire to live I've ever had and Marcia's behind me and we're just starting out we're going downhill about 20 miles an hour and I hear Marcia yelling Michael!

and I'm like I can't do anything and she's yelling at me and screaming and I don't know what all she's doing but I'm like see you on the other side I don't know like I can't do anything here the best we could hope for well I guess one would be the rapture but the second best we could hope for was that the path would just be level if there were rocks if there were falling rocks if there were chunks of missing pavement we'd have no hope the best we could hope for was that it would be level it was challenging it was thrilling it was great fun and it was horrible all of those things wrapped up together and I just kept thinking please stay level not easy

I just need it to be level and I need that guide in front of me to tell me where to go because I really don't want to take a wrong turn and be lost in Alaska somewhere I needed a leader and a level path didn't have to be easy just needed a level path and wouldn't you know we get to the end of we've ridden 14 miles we get to the last mile which is just straight away and much more difficult than I ever imagined it would be and there was a sign right here beware of falling rocks this rock quarry right over to the side and rocks were just all over the place I didn't need it to be easy I did need the path to be clear and prayed for it to just be level that's what the psalmist says here Lord lead me

I don't know where to go I've got to have you leading me he's not asking that everything be easy he knows there's enemies verse 11 teach me your way oh Lord lead me on a level path because of my enemies the reality is life's going to be hard life's going to be filled with challenges life's going to be filled with loss and grief that's just the way it is in a fallen world we're not praying for everything to be simple and easy we're not praying to have all the pain taken away that's heaven that's not here we're not praying for everything to happen according to our preferences he's God we're not our prayer though right in the midst of the difficulty and right in the midst of the pain and right in the midst even of rejection around us is Lord stay with me don't leave me Lord lead me show me where to go and through your word just make my path level let me know in your word where to go and what to do and if I've got enemies around me it's okay just let me know where to go and what to do and for some of us when rejection happens we take our eyes off the one who is leading us when your life is hard more than ever before let your prayer be

Lord lead me and through your word teach me your life doesn't have to be easy but through the knowledge of the word of God we pray to keep our path level let me follow you verse 12 give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence David says I've got I've got enemies who are attacking me and trying to to injure my body and then I've got others who are bearing false witness against me it's so interesting because on the one hand you think to yourself why would you mention that he's mentioned armies encamping around him that feels really threatening why would he even care about people making up lies about him let me just ask you which has broken your heart more in your life hurtful unfair untrue things people have said about you or people trying to kill you now David experienced a bit of a different life than we did he did have people actually coming against him to kill him

I've not had that at least not that I know of they haven't been successful but my hunch is that most everyone in this room you've had somebody say something about you that wasn't true they've said something about you that wasn't fair they've misrepresented your words or just made up things totally out of the blue just to try to hurt or shame you may have been a boss may have been a co-worker may have been a neighbor and you sit back and you say this really hurts they're not trying to punch you they're not trying to shoot you what are they trying to do look at the verse here verse 12 they breathe out violence you learned as a child sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me has that been true for you probably not as the people of God let's never use our words for violence we're not people who lie we're not people who gossip we're not to be people who exaggerate we're not to be people who breathe out violence understand the words you use can be felt as though that was a violent act against somebody the Lord is faithful to his people but we've got to go through some hard things in this life some of you here would say

I don't know that I've ever had people lie about me but I sure know what it's like to have my mother or father forsake me others of you would say I've never been abandoned people in my family who I've loved have always been good and faithful to me but I did have this person at school this person at work and they just lied about me and created so much grief for me the details of your suffering may be different than the person beside you but everybody here is acquainted with hurt and suffering now I just want to remind you that right in the midst even of the rejection of people we rest in the Lord and then one last thing I want to show you here in verses 13 and 14 to sum up this chapter through all of this we are waiting in the midst of worship waiting in the midst of worship I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living wait for the

Lord be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the Lord we worship sometimes we worship as we hurt and sometimes we worship as we celebrate and we wait right in the midst of our worship look at verse 14 carefully wait for the Lord be strong let your heart take courage wait for the Lord these imperatives here are singular which tells us that here David is not only through the psalm instructing those who will sing it there is also a sense here in which David is teaching his own heart reminding himself of these things yes it's a psalm and yes it will be sung and so there is a corporate nature to this but in the text itself David is addressing himself

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord and the land of the living and now he turns and addresses his own heart wait for the Lord sometimes we have to take the word of God and speak it to our own soul wait you're waiting while you're worshipping and you're worshipping while you're waiting when you're weak you look to the Lord when you feel empty you trust him to give you the strength that you need so we worship we pray we sing we obey we trust and as one author observed he said David has strength and courage but notice those traits were developed during the trial when you look at somebody and say I wish I had their wisdom

I wish I had their faith I wish I had their knowledge I wish I had their trust understand they develop that through years of obedience in the midst of trials there's something about rejection that reminds you that God is faithful something about being abandoned that reminds you that he will never let you go something about people lying about you that reminds you of how sweet the truth of God's word is something about loss that makes you long for heaven where everything is gained we wait in the midst of our worship and we worship in the midst of our waiting let me summarize psalm 27 for you

I don't know where I've heard these words it's something that I've heard or read somewhere that has stayed with me all these years if I could credit where I first heard or read it I would I have no idea it's just one of these things that I've come across that has just never left my mind I want to share it with you as a summary of psalm 27 rightly estimate your troubles but never underestimate your God you've got to look at your troubles in life and rightly estimate them you've got some issues you've got to work at it you've got some problems you've got to deal with it you've got some challenges you've got to know how to respond rightly estimate your troubles but never underestimate your God and while we live we'll be waiting and worshipping lost in the wonder of the glory and greatness of

God who even if all else forsook us he would take you in Lord your word for us is a comfort and we want to give you thanks for it we pray Lord that even today we would be made stronger and more confident of who you are because of our time together in Christ's name Amen Amen pozw God God together God Do try things fathers fathers take him man man fathers fathers done fathers fathers fathers fathers nos cast nosvis fly fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers 보영 ses cab fathers од fathers compromises fathers pregnan時 fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fatherslon sons fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers disabilities売 sä comics fathers fathers applauding fathers fathers fathers