God Will Raise You Again

I'm taking off my heaviness, I'm dancing out of my regrets, I'm throwing caution to the wind, no I am not ashamed to praise like this. Someone say it's foolishness, when I say it's worthless, I can't forget what Jesus said, no I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Looking what the Lord has sent, I'm never going back to the way I was, I'll sing, I'll dance as I live, I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. I found a friend that never quits, no one loves as good as this, I don't care what anyone says, I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Looking what the Lord has sent, I'm never going back to the way I was, I'll sing, I'll dance as I live, I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and You broke Your body, You shed Your blood, now the sinner can't see, My debt is paid and my record is new, I couldn't do it so You did it for me. You took the cross and You broke Your body, You shed Your blood, now the sinner can't see, My debt is paid and my record is new, I couldn't do it so You did it for me. You took the cross and You broke Your body, You shed Your blood, now the sinner can't see, My debt is paid and my record is new, I couldn't do it so You did it for me. I couldn't do it so You did it for me. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, I'll dive in, I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and You broke Your body, You shed Your blood, now the sinner can't see, My debt is paid and my record is new, I couldn't do it so You did it for me. You took the cross and You broke Your body, You shed Your blood, now the sinner can't see, My debt is paid and my record is new, I couldn't do it so You did it for me. I couldn't do it so You did it for me. Look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done, I'm never going back to the way I was. to experience the presence of God. So grateful that he's meeting us here. Grateful you're here today, especially if you're a guest. Listen, if you're a guest in our house, we're so grateful that you're spending your Sunday morning with us. In fact, we have a free gift just for you. It's our little way of saying thank you for joining us. So if you haven't already done so, do us a favor, fill out that Connect card in the seat back in front of you. We wanna put a free gift in your hands so much more than that.

I wanna get to know your name and your story. Make sure you get a proper welcome here today. And listen, I'm excited. There's a lot of great things happening today. We're gonna get to that in just a second. But in just a couple weeks is our Baby Shower of Hope. Baby Shower of Hope is this incredible city-served project that we do where we throw a baby shower for moms who've chosen life despite their circumstances. And we come alongside Hope Women's Center, which is an incredible faith-based women's medical clinic. And we step alongside these moms and say, you are valued, your choice, we value your choice, we value you, we wanna make sure you're equipped. So we throw the best baby shower, the biggest baby shower in all of South Florida. They walk out of here not only knowing that they are loved, that they're cared for, but walk out of here equipped with everything that they need to start off their parenthood journey. And so here's how you can still participate. We're still collecting items from our Baby Shower Registry. You can scan that QR code behind me. We'll be collecting up until next Sunday. So be sure to go ahead and hop on Amazon, grab some of those things. Let's bless these moms in this season. Let them know that they matter. It's gonna be such a great time. I can't wait to share all the wins from that day.

And listen, today, I'm excited. It's baptism weekend. Baptism's a big deal around here. It's a big deal because it is a step of obedience, right? The scripture tells us to go and make disciples, make sure people are following Jesus, and then baptize them in the name of the Father, Son of the Holy Spirit. It's the very next thing to do. It is a step of obedience. There's another thing that we do almost every single Sunday that we gather that is a step of obedience, and that's our time of giving, right? Scripture tells us to bring your tithes to storehouse, tells us to take care of the widows and the orphans, that the church body is supposed to do these things, that it's caring for people. It's why we do Baby Sharp Hope. It's why we do City to Projects. It's why Kids Ministry is happening. It's why we have Change for a Dollar, where we're helping and walking alongside people in our community and blessing them and caring for their needs and meeting needs. And all of that is us just being obedient, saying, I follow Jesus. Jesus tells me to give towards the church, that the church can take care of the people. And so out of obedience, out of saying,

hey, God, because you have provided, because you are good, I'm gonna respond with my giving. That's why we do it. So there are several ways you can give today. They're on the screens behind me. We've got some offering boxes on your way out, a giving kiosk in the lobby. You can always give safely and securely online. So many of you guys do. Thank you for that. But right now we're gonna pass some buckets. And so if you're on the left-hand side of your row, if you could reach down and pass those buckets to the right, it would be greatly appreciated. And while those buckets are being passed, I mentioned today is baptism weekend. Man, it's such a fun and exciting celebration of life change, but it's not just a celebration. It's not just a step of obedience. It actually is a symbol that represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You see, when we go under that water, it represents Jesus's death and burial. We come out of that water, it represents his resurrection. And the fact that it is his blood that is what washes our sins clean. And so we celebrate baptism big. It's a big deal in scripture. It's a big deal here at the local church. And we put it right in the middle of worship

because that's where we believe it belongs. So let's stand together. Let's worship together. Let's celebrate baptism together this morning. ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ That can silence a rolling wave ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ That can empty out a grave ♪ ♪ I know a name ♪ ♪ It's the only thing that saves ♪ ♪ And it's worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Rising and reigning in power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ I have a key, if I do ♪ ♪ Rhythm in your words that holds the key ♪ ♪ In His holy pale stardom He is the King ♪ ♪ That has crushed the serpent's den ♪ ♪ Our resurrected reign I am ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Risen and reigning and lover ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave ♪

♪ Every time I call your name, chain break, tribe goes away ♪ ♪ Tribe goes away, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell shake, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Chain break, tribe goes away, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell shake, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, chain break, tribe goes away ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, chain break, tribe goes away ♪ ♪ Oh death, this is now your sin and death ♪ ♪ Oh death, this is now your sin and death ♪ ♪ Oh death, this is now your sin and death ♪ ♪ Oh death, this is now your sin and death ♪ ♪ Oh victory ♪ ♪ Oh death, this is now your sin and death ♪ ♪ Oh victory ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ Risen and reigning in power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, change, break, drive, hold, sway ♪

♪ Every time I call your name, love, hate, love, hell, shame ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ In the name of Jesus, let things come alive ♪ ♪ Let things come alive, let things come alive ♪ ♪ In the name of Jesus. ♪ How does this sound for you, Jesus? Name above all names. Mighty name of Jesus, God. Thank you because you're here in this place. We worship you, Jesus. ♪ You came into the atmosphere ♪ ♪ Spirit of God, you're here, you have all authority ♪ ♪ I pray over my heart and mind ♪ ♪ I am healed by your stripes, your blood declares that I am free ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I am free. ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus I'm afraid Calling on the power of heaven I won't make Every weapon fold against me I'm afraid In the mighty name of Jesus I draw a permanent boundary The enemy has no right to come Near my family No scheme could ever run to God's will No matter the circumstance The cross has sealed my destiny In the mighty name of Jesus

I'm afraid Calling on the power of heaven I won't make Every weapon fold against me I'm afraid In the mighty name of Jesus I know All the power of fear and darkness My soul Is every key to every victory I hope In the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life In the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life In the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear I will not fear There's an army of angels here

I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name of Jesus I'm afraid Calling on the power of heaven But don't make Every weapon fold against me I'm afraid In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus I know All the power of fear and darkness I know Every key to every enemy I know In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life In the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear I will not fear

When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life In the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear I will not fear There's an army of angels here I'm protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ So I will not fear I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life In the blood of Jesus Christ I will not fear I will not fear ♪ There's a glorious angel here ♪ ♪ I'm protected on the side of the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ Every weapon on the battlefield must reign ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, I know the power of fear and darkness in my soul ♪ ♪ There is a key to everything, oh, in the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ Come on, church, let's give the Lord a handclap of praise today. The mighty name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hey, you can be seated. Isn't it awesome, though, that mighty name of Jesus? Man, aren't you glad you already know that name? I mean, that's the name that one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.

That Jesus is Lord. I'm so glad we know that today. I hope you know Him like that. And these wonderful souls being baptized in that mighty name, wasn't that something to watch? Thank you, Jesus, for your blessing on us today. Hey, pray with me. Father, thank you for today. Thank you, Father, for that name. Thank you for the mighty name of Jesus, Lord, the blessed name of Jesus. And, Lord, we gather in that name. We're grateful for church today. We're grateful for people who get up and come and gather in the name of Jesus. We're grateful, Lord, for every church open all around the world today. God, worshiping you, praising you. We pray your favor, grace, and blessing on them just as you would ours. Father, we're grateful. Thank you again for that mighty name. Lord, the name in which salvation is given. Thank you, God, for adopting us. Thank you for giving us your name. Lord, you know I love to pray the name of Jesus over my family. I love to mention them by name and pray Jesus over them. I love to pray Jesus over this church. I love to pray Jesus over our issues, our problems, our trials, our struggles. Because, Lord, there is nothing greater than your name. So we humbly meet in your name. We worship in your name today. And, Father, thank you for the worship today and receiving it. Thank you that sinful people through that mighty name can worship a holy God. And, God, I'm grateful again for your word.

And, Father, you know this. All I have is words on a page. So, Lord, I pray as you did the fishes and loaves in all four Gospels, you multiply what that child brought to you. Will you multiply what this child brings to you? God, multiply what I have on these pages and use it as only you can. I can only bring it to the ears, Lord. Would you bring it to our hearts today? I pray our ears and our hearts are open to receive from you. Thank you, God. We declare in this place that you are good, you are great, you are worthy. In Jesus' name. Say it with me, church. Amen. And amen. Hey, it's so good to see you. Welcome to the local church. My name is Johnny. I am one of the pastors here. And we are in this second week of a series that we're calling the, what's it called? Hello. It's called the God of Again. And we're talking about the God of Again. We're looking at the various ways in which God redeems, he lifts us out of our troubles, our struggles, our depths, if you will. We need to know this, church, that when we go through things, we're not alone. When we go through things, when we struggle, that God is there with us. Emmanuel, God with us. We need to know that he hasn't forgotten us. We need to know that he hasn't walked away from us.

We need to know that this God of Again will raise us up again. In fact, that's the name of the title of the message today in this series, the God of Again, is we are raised again. It's a post-Easter series, and we did this on purpose because as Pastor Eric taught a couple of weeks ago on Easter, that Easter is a day to be celebrated. Of course it is. It's a day that the church gathers all around the world, the global ecclesia, the global church gathers in his name, and it's a day that we celebrate together all around the world with other believers, the resurrection. We call it Easter, but it's more powerful than that. That we can, as believers in that mighty name of Jesus, that we can celebrate the resurrection, and we should every single day. It needs to be foundational in our life. And that if that tomb couldn't hold him and he was raised again and he loves us and we are his, he will raise us again. Yes, at the end of the days, yes, we know he will do that. Thank you, Lord. But also in our life through the struggles, trials, troubles that we go through. I'm looking out at faces right now. That's your testimony. God has raised you up again. And so that's what we're looking at in this series. And we're going to be in the Psalms. And I'm going to use an Oklahoma term here. I'm giddy about that, okay. I'm just giddy about that. I love the Psalms.

There are 1,000 years in the making from about 1,500 to 500 B.C., 1,500 to 500. 1,500 represents the days of Moses around that time, Moses being the earliest writer all the way down to the post-exile prophets in that era, the 500s or so, give or take 50 years on either side. So about 1,000 years of Israel's history is in the Psalms. The Psalms were the hymn book of Israel, by the way, the hymn book of Israel. So you've got to really what it is, it's the history of Israel in hymns, 150 of them for you to dive in. And, look, I know that you go through your church app and you go through your Bible app and you go through Bible recap and you've got all these things that you study the Word. I know that. But listen to me and trust me on this. You need to be in the Psalms. When you're walking through things, when you're going through struggle, when you are in the depths, you need to go and be in the Psalms. And I'm talking to somebody today because we're going to have four services today. We have the service on Thursday. And typically on any given Sunday we'll have 2,500 to 3,000 people joining us online. That's consistent every week. I know I'm talking to somebody today that you are in the struggle, you're in the trouble, you're in the depths, it feels like you are. So we need to be in the Psalms. There's so much praise through struggle. And here's what I love about it. Besides the hymn book, they would sing them, they would chant them as they went into battle. Get that with me. Yes, feasts and festivals. Yes, Passover. Yes, Day of Atonement.

Yes, feasts and festivals and celebrations, but also in battle. They would chant them and sing them as the armies of Israel went into battle. So if they sing them going into battle, why don't we sing them? Why don't we chant them? Why don't we have them right here and use them? We should. So we're going to learn how to do that today. Our key verse for the series is one of the Psalms, 7120. Pastor Eric led off with it last week. I'm leading off with it this week. Read it with me. It's in your notes and it's on the screen. It says, You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again from the depths of the earth, he says. You will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Here's our first big thought for the day, our number one point, by the way. I'm a Southern Baptist preacher, licensed, ordained, so we got three points and a strong close, okay? You guys are in for it today. Number one, big thought. God raises me from the depths. That's what that Psalm says. He will raise me from the depths of the earth. You will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. So if you're in the depths today, I want you to know this. You're in good company. All throughout Scripture, people found themselves. Sometimes they did it to themselves. Sometimes the fallen world did it to them, but they find themselves in the depths. They find themselves in struggle. But I want you to know God raises us from the depths.

I want to give you some household names. These are biblical names, but they're household names that were in the depths. Jonah was in the depths. Jonah, who was in the belly of a fish, who was in the sea. I mean, that's like double trouble. He was in the belly of a whale who was in the midst of the sea. Jonah was in the depths. David was in the depths. We're going to look at David here in just a little bit. Job, synonymous with suffering. Job was in the depths. Hannah, that's a name that we don't bring up in Scripture enough about her perseverance. But she was in the depths wanting children. Couldn't have them for a long time. Hannah was in the depths. One of my favorites when I think about in the depths, that was there but we sometimes miss, was Jeremiah. A prophet in the Old Testament. Now, if I was a prophet in the Old Testament, I would want to be like Elijah. You know, calling down fire from heaven. The prophets of Baal burned up. But Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah laid on his side for a year and reached for tissues. I mean, you talk about in the depths. He writes Jeremiah, but he also writes a book on lamenting. It's called Lamentations. Don't read it at night, okay? Don't read that one as your bedtime Bible story. But Jeremiah was definitely in the depths. Joseph was literally thrown into a pit. Now, don't raise your hand,

but anybody have family trouble? Anybody ever have family trouble? I asked that last question and still, about eight people raised their hands like, hmm. Yeah, Joseph had family trouble. His brothers threw him in a pit. They were jealous of him. So his older brothers throw him in a pit. They come back to get him. He probably thinks, oh, they've changed their mind. Yeah, they did just to bring him up and then sell him to some slave traders that took him to Egypt. Now, we know that turned out okay for Joseph and ironically for his brothers. But if you are in the depths, you are in good company. Household names in the Bible were also in the depths. And Psalm 71 really dictates a biblical principle for us. I wanna give it to you, write it in your notes. If you take only one thing home, by the way, if you only take one thing home, take this home. God's reach is greater than your fall. God's reach is greater than your fall. I want you to take that one home with you. No matter how far down you feel, there is no place so low that God's not there. Whether it's loss, grief, depression, loneliness, abandonment, failure, your sin, there's no place so low that God is not there. His reach is greater than your fall.

I wanna prove it biblically. That's a biblical principle. Where do we go to prove biblical principles? Facebook, I'm just kidding. You don't really go to Facebook. Don't go to Facebook to prove anything, okay? But we go to scripture to prove biblical principles. We go to scripture. Psalm 139, told you we're gonna be in the Psalms today. Psalm 139, a Psalm of David, one of my top three favorite Psalms. It really is. But it's only 24 verses. And when you read it, it reads like it's 50. It's power, it's short and impactful. It's short and impactful. And David's gonna prove this out for us today that his reach is greater than your fall. Let's read it. Where can I go from your spirit, he says? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. Interesting, if I make my bed in hell or Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night shall be light about me.

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. I wanna give us five things. Two of them, three of them are gonna go fairly quickly and two of them we're gonna spend some time on. Five things that's gonna prove this biblical principle that his reach, God's reach is greater than your fall. Number one and number two, but let's do number one first. God is the Almighty. Number one and two go together. God is the Almighty. Guess what? If God is the Almighty, who's not? You and me. And that's hard for some of you control freaks out there. I promise you, because when you get in the depths, when you get in trouble, you get in trial, struggle, you're looking for ways to get, that's your first thought. I need to get out of this. How can I get out of this? You stay up at night, you worry for weeks and you're trying to figure out a way. But God is the Almighty and you are not. He's the Alpha and the Omega. It's time to lean into Him when we go through things. God is the Almighty. Again, the Alpha and the Omega. Think about it, in Genesis chapter one, He's Elohim. Elohim is the name of God for the grand creator.

It's the first name used in the Bible. It's the creator of everything. Ex nihilo, out of nothing, Elohim creates everything. And then by the time you get to Genesis two, He creates the humans. And now this grand creator becomes knowable. He's Yahweh Elohim, the Lord God. He wants to know you. So you can know this grand creator the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, the one who created it all is knowable. And so that's something that we need to hold on to, something we need to lean into when we're in the depths. We can't forget that, although it's a silly human condition, but we often do. That brings up number two. If He's the Almighty, He's certainly omnipresent. He's omnipresent means He's everywhere. Omni means big, omnipresent. He's also omniscient, He's all knowing, and He's omnipotent, He's omnipotent, meaning He's all powerful. But for today, we're gonna look at omnipresent. He's everywhere you could possibly be. You can never find yourself somewhere God is not. You're not alone. He is with us. Let's look at how David describes it. How does he describe this almighty God, this omnipresent God? Again, where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? He answers it. If I ascend into heaven, you're there. Of course, we expect God there. But if I make my bed in Sheol,

or hell, behold, the Hebrew says you. Translators add you are there, are there, but the Hebrew just says behold. Wow, you. Now Sheol was hell, but Sheol for the Hebrew was the lowest possible place for the Hebrew to be. The lowest possible place. They didn't have the progressive revelation of the Messiah teaching on heaven and hell. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you all that and his teaching on hell. They didn't have that. The New Testament writers, John in Revelation, teaching on heaven and hell. They didn't have that. What they had was the knowledge of Sheol. That's where the dead were gathered. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of them in Sheol. It was the lowest possible place to a Hebrew. So he's using this biblical or this literary tool where he says he gives the extremes to represent the whole. If I go here, you're there. Of course, you're going to be in heaven. If I go to heaven, you're there. But if I make my bed in Sheol, even there, behold, you, you're not supposed to be here, but here you are. And it's really interesting because he says if I make my bed in hell, if I make my bed in Sheol, if I do this to myself, how many of you were raised with parents who used this little phrase, you made your bed, now you're going to what? Lay in it. Yes. I would love to hear my, I miss my mom, I'd love to hear her voice one more time, even if it was just saying that. She said that often and she would preface it with young man. Young man, you made your bed, now you're going to lie in it. David is saying even if I do it to myself,

even if I'm the one that messes up, even if it's my own sin that does it, even if I make my life a living hell, behold, you, you are there. Now David made his life a metaphorical living hell a few times in scripture. You're probably thinking of David and Bathsheba, right? And that's the big one. I mean, that's the date line. That needs to be a date line, y'all, 48 hours, something like that. I mean, it's got, it's an illicit affair and murder. That's the big one, but I want to talk about one in first Samuel 21. We're not going to go there, but I'm going to tell you the story here. First Samuel 21, David makes his life a living hell. How does he do it? Well, Saul has been chasing him for a decade, nearly a decade, and David's tired. He's tired. You ever get tired? Life makes you tired. The circumstances make you tired. Whatever it is, stress makes you tired. Well, David had Saul trying to kill him for almost 10 years. Why would Saul want to kill him? Well, the king that was was trying to kill the king that was to be because the king that was was jealous of the king that was to be. You remember David as a boy killed a big man called Goliath. He did it in front of Saul, in front of the army, in front of God, in front of everybody. In fact, Saul tries to put his armor on David, you know, put that armor on him. Hey, yeah, go get him. It was too big. He takes it off and he goes out there and a boy that day did what a man should have done, did what Saul should have done. Saul was the king. Why wasn't he out there? Why didn't he do it? By the way, Saul was the people's choice. You didn't know there was people's choice award back then, but there was. Well, Saul was the people's choice. Why did they choose him as a king? Because he was tall and good looking. That's all you needed back then, tall and good looking. You'll do. But he was not a good king and David was the anointed king and we knew that David had anointing on him when he kills Goliath and chops his head off.

And so Saul would try to kill him, jealousy, throughout the years, not 24-7. I mean, he was a king. He had other things to do. But often he would go out or he would send his men out and Saul and David would have to go to the caves. He'd go to the desert. He'd go to the wilderness. He'd run off somewhere, get alone with God and write beautiful things. Psalm 23, Psalm 46, Psalm 56, all of these beautiful and others. He wrote half the 150 psalms that we know of. And so this day he decides to do something different. He's tired of it. When's this ever going to end God? In fact, I think, just my own personal belief, I believe he wrote Psalm 13 right around that time. How long will you forget me God forever? How long will you hide your face from me? And he's tired of it. I don't know if you've ever felt like that, if you've been stressed like that. But David is stressed, he's tired, he runs to the enemy's camp, so he goes to the Philistines. That makes sense, right? He's the one that killed their giant. That Philistines are Israel's mortal enemy, so he's going to run to the Philistines. Makes no sense, but he thinks that they're not going to recognize him now because he's grown. And to make matters worse, and to pile stupidity on stupidity, like we often do when we run to the enemy's camp, he brings the sword with him that he cut the Giants head off, not even realizing what he was doing. So he shows up, he thinks he's going to blend in and hide for a long time from Saul, but they recognize him right away, of course they do. So what does he do? He has to make crazy, he has to act like he's gone crazy to get out of there. He starts babbling incoherently, let spit run down into his beard, which no good Hebrew or Jew would have done, and they think he's crazy and they have pity on him and mercy on him. They don't kill him, they say, this David, he's gone off the deep end, just send him away. So David leaves and then he goes where he should have gone in the first place. He goes to the caves and he writes Psalm 34 and he writes Psalm 56, plus another one that I can't think of right now, but he writes some beautiful Psalms. How does that affect us? What do we get out of this? Well again, sometimes we look, we're living in Psalm 13 sometimes. How long will you forget me God forever? How long will I go through this? And if we're not

careful, church, we'll do the same thing that David does. We'll get tired, we can be stressed, the marriage isn't everything that we had hoped it would be or thought it would be, or now it's hit a stretch after 20 years that, man, we seem like we're fighting all the time, we seem like we're roommates rather than one, or that now we've got middle schoolers, that adds something, right? We got kids that are growing up, there's stress involved, there's all kinds of things. Maybe the job is more stressful, you didn't get the promotion, you prayed about it, everybody prayed about it, somebody undeserving but connected got it, and now you're questioning everything. So what do we do? We run to the enemy's camp, we run to alcohol, we can run to drugs, we can run to pornography, we can run to a relationship outside of the one that you took sacred vows with, we can run to the enemy's camp, and let me tell you, when you run to the enemy's camp, you act crazy. You act like and you become someone that you are not. You do things you thought you would never do, you act in ways you thought you would never act, but can I tell you this, God's reach is greater than your fall. Maybe that's where you are today, maybe you're in the enemy's camp, and maybe you found yourself there and you think there's no way God wants me back, but let me tell you, David made his way back to God, he gets alone with the Lord, and he writes beautiful psalms, which tells you that God didn't forget him, God was in his life, God was in his heart, and God continued to work through him. God's reach is greater than your fall. Let's look at number three, the wings of the morning. So we know he's omnipresent, he's not going to leave us, he's not going to forsake us. What do the wings of the morning mean? This is so poetic, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. The wings of the morning, I used to think was the wind, because you think about David in a boat or whatever, you think about the wind pushing him out to the uttermost part of the sea, taking the sails and goes way out further than he wanted to go, but it's not. You do a word study and study it, it's the sunlight, it's not wind, it's the east to west breaking of the

day. It was the fastest known thing to the ancient world, the wings of the morning. We're South Floridians, everybody has probably watched a sunrise at the beach, right? So you're out there, you're anticipating, man you see that glow coming up, it's not up yet, but you see the orange glow starting to come up and everybody's excited, and then you see that little orb start to come up and it's still not light yet, and then it doesn't, right after that crest, maybe 10 to 15 seconds, it grows just enough, and I mean all of a sudden from east to west, it's daylight. It's not noon, but the daylight has broken, it's morning, you can see it's that quick. David is saying if I take the wings of the morning and I find myself in the uttermost part of the sea, that quick, that quick, if I find myself, what does the uttermost part of the sea feel like? I've never been there, but I can imagine, I've been there on a cruise ship, but that doesn't count, but the uttermost part of the sea, if it's just you, that's got to be lonely, that's got to be overwhelming, that's got to be, I don't know where help is coming from, I can't even see land, is this going to be the end of me? What can that look like for us? I don't know how many people have experienced this, but if you're older, typically, probably you have. Have you ever driven to work one day? Typical day, typical day. You're driving to work, fully gainfully employed, an hour later you're coming home unemployed because they rearranged the department and they've got layoffs. Broward Schools is going through a lot of this right now. I know people that are going through this right now. You drive to work employed, you drive home unemployed, you go, I've been there 12 years. I've got kids, I've got a mortgage. Our house needs a roof before we can get insurance.

All that's coming due, what are we gonna do? We need groceries right now. It's like, what are we gonna do? You feel overwhelmed, you feel lonely, you feel isolated. You go, where is God? You look around, you can't even see the shoreline. It's like, where is help going to come from? Or maybe you've gone to the doctor expecting one thing and again, two hours later you're coming home and you can hardly breathe because it was not good news. And you're thinking, what am I gonna do now? This is gonna affect everything. It's gonna disrupt the whole thing. Is this gonna be the end of me? The uttermost part of the sea, I love what David says and keep in mind what we're doing with this. His reach is greater than our fall. David says, even there, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. I love that. The right hand of God is the favorable hand. The right hand of God represents strength, it represents power, it represents favor, it represents his people. Only his are on his right hand or on his right side. Scripturally, biblically, all the way through, it's consistent. In fact, at the end of days, the sheep, his, are gonna be on the right. The goats, not his, are gonna be on the left.

You want to be on the right side of God. He takes us in that right hand and I love this. David says, even there, your right hand shall hold me. It's different than me holding this microphone. That's just holding it so gravity doesn't take it to the ground. The word actually means take a hold of me. Your right hand shall take a hold of me. It'll lift me up. Your right hand, if I'm trying to run, don't run to the enemy's camp, come back. Your right hand shall take a hold of me. It's like a child leading him across a parking lot or he's hurt, he fell down and you're taking him and you're holding him close. That's what the right hand of God is like and that's where you want to be, in his presence. It says, your hand shall lead me. The left hand, we can assume, the left hand of God, it's biblical, there's references to the other hand or the left hand of God. It's the actionable one. It's the one that makes a way when there is no way. It's the one that you can't see sure. You don't know where help is coming from, but God is working. You can't see it doesn't mean it's not happening. The hand of God is working. That's number four, by the way. I've been talking about it for a while.

Number four, God's hands are always at work on my behalf, on our behalf. Let's look at the last one, darkness cannot win. Number five, darkness cannot win and somebody needs to hear that today. Darkness cannot win. It can't hide you from God. He writes more about darkness than he does anything else. He says, surely the darkness shall fall on me. It feels like that. The darkness can be heavy. Even the night shall be light about me. The darkness cannot hide me from you, God. The darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. I wanna say this because all of us, it's a human condition. Every one of us have walked through darkness. It's a human condition. You will walk through dark times, dark seasons. And when you do keep this in mind, it's biblical, it's right out of this. By the way, David talks about darkness often. He never mentions it without mentioning light or the presence of God too. So all of that being said, I don't wanna step on your pain. I don't wanna step over it. I don't wanna dismiss it.

I want this to make sense to you because this is what I say to me when I'm in the dark. It's only dark to you. Let that sink in for a second. It's only dark to you. It's not dark to God. He doesn't even see the dark. The dark and the light are the same to you. It's not dark to the people he's sending to help you. It's only dark to you and it's only dark for a season. It's only dark to you. We spend so much time when we are in the depths, we spend so much time trying to climb out on our own strength and God is just saying, grab my hand. Let me take you into my presence. I'm already reaching for you. It's his presence we need. Listen, specifics will come. Conclusion will come. Healing will come. Those things we want to happen will come but they will come in his time. Where do we need to be? In his presence. Let him hold you. Let him hold you close. Let him nurture you. Let him bring back peace and joy in your life. God's reach is greater than ours. Amen. I want to go to number two. We got to move quickly here. We're going to

number two. God's power is stronger than your pit. So His reach is greater than your fall. His power is stronger than your pit. And by the way, it's different than you think. I love that. God is different than we think. He just is. His reach is larger, greater than our fall, and His power is stronger than our pit, and the power is different than we think. He says again, Psalm 71 20, you who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again. In other words, the idea isn't just to get us through. The idea is to mold us, shape us, and even break us in the midst of it. All to get us to look more like Him. Psalm 66. That's our next verse there. Psalm 66, next chapter. Psalm 66 is a praise psalm. I have to say that because what we're going to read in verses 10 through 12 is not going to sound like it. But this is a praise psalm. Let's look at it. For you, O God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net. You laid affliction on our backs. You caused men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment. You did all these things, or you allowed all these things, but then you brought us out to rich fulfillment. That root word that they use in rich fulfillment is the same as in Psalm 23, for my cup runs over. That overflow, that fulfillment. There's too much fulfillment. It's rich. I can't hold it. It's the same idea. All these things happen, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment. What's he saying here? Well, look at it. You refined us as silver is refined. And you think, oh, that's beautiful. God's making me into a little brooch for his lapel. It's beautiful. He's making me into something beautiful, silver. But do you know what's involved in that? He's purifying you. So I want to say it like this. You think it's hot at grandma's house. You think granny's house is hot. And it is. That AC has been on 79. It hadn't moved, right, in 10 years. She didn't even know where the thermostat is. It's 79. Thanksgiving, it's hot in that house. You're trying to get those deviled eggs down. That's hot, yeah? That's nothing compared to 1,800 degrees that liquefies silver. That's the purification process. That's the process that he puts us through. God is literally molding you into something beautiful and

useful for him. Here's what he's doing, technically. Here's what it is. He's taking your flesh. He's turning up the heat. He's exposing all the fears, insecurities, idols, and sin that's holding you back. He's purifying you. All of those things, just like silver, all of those impurities come to the top so that he can take them. That's what he's doing. He's melting away what you thought you needed to be happy and content in this world, in this life, and he's giving you new wants, new desires, new passions, new ways of looking at old things, new ways of thinking about him and the world. There's a term for it. It's not in your notes, but it's important. I want you to write it down. It's not going to be on the screen. It's called redemptive turmoil. Redemptive turmoil. That's the purification process that God puts us through. Redemptive turmoil. And when we get to the end, that's why Psalm 66 is a praise psalm that God will take us. And there's a great quote. I want to give it to you now. It's by Paul Tripp, T-R-I-P-P, if you ever want to look him up. He's a wonderful theologian, pastor, scholar, seminary professor, biblical counselor. He's the one that coined redemptive turmoil, and he has a great quote about it. I'm going to go slow. If you need room to write it down, turn your page over. There's about half of it that's not written on there. But it says this, God will take you where you never would have gone to create in you what you never would have become. God will take you where you never would have gone to create in you what you never would have become. That's redemptive turmoil. It's all for a beautiful, wonderful process. I want to put this this up. This is your next note there, your next fill-in-the-blank. But this helps it hit home. This is bottom line. We don't worship God because life is good. We worship God because He is good. We don't worship God because life is good. We worship God because He is good. And this hits hard with... The church in the West, it's hard with the American church because there are lots of us that worship God when life is good. Let me be a little abrasive this morning.

If you are here, you only really worship God when life is good. You're not worshiping God, you're worshiping the good life. And you feel like he owes it to you. And when you don't get that good life, you just wonder if God's even real. I don't, does he even love me? I don't know, I don't know what I did. We don't worship God just because life is good. We worship God because he is good. I wanna give you three quick hits here, three quick things to keep in mind. Redemptive turmoil, when you're going through it, when it's hotter than it is at grandma's house and you know God is doing something here, you're in the depths, think of these three things. I surrender, these are in your notes and on the screen. I surrender, I trust, and I worship. That will help you get through it. I surrender my will to you, God. Not my will, not my wants, not my way, but yours. I surrender, or I trust you with it all. You are the almighty and I am not. Break that control in me. Break that want just for answers and not you. I want you more than answers. I trust you with it all. You're the almighty, I am not. I'm leaning into that. And I worship you through it all.

Not because life is good, but because you are good. I worship you through it all. Don't dismiss that third one. Get alone with God. When the kids go to bed, get in the other room, turn the music up a little bit, worship. Walk through your house when you're alone there. Put worship music on. Praise him when you're going through heat, when you're going through redemptive turmoil. Just know that he's up to something good in your life. Surrender through worship, trust him through worship. And I can tell you this, some of the darkest days of my life, I worshiped my way through them. It's powerful, it's powerful. So I surrender, I trust, and I worship. When I do these things, I begin to grab hold of his hand. I begin to lean into his presence. I'm not gonna run to the enemy's camp. When I'm surrendering, I'm trusting, and I'm worshiping. I'm gonna lean into his presence. I'm gonna worship him through it all. At the end, I'm gonna have more wisdom, I'm gonna have more peace. And by the way, I'm gonna have more joy. Joy's a fruit of the spirit, not of circumstance. When I get back into really alignment with him, and I'm in his right hand, I'm in his presence, and he's holding me close, and I have that peace, that joy returns.

So God's reach is greater than our fall, his power is stronger than our pit, and it's different than you think. I wanna look at the third one, and this is our anchor, and this one we'll be ending with. Number three, God's resurrection is our hope. God's resurrection is our hope. Now this one, we're not gonna spend as much time on, but don't make a mistake, this one is the anchor. This one is what we're built on, this is the foundation. That God's resurrection is my hope. Write this in your notes, the resurrection, here's what it does. It gives me an eternal context for my temporal troubles. An eternal context, that's wordy, so I'll talk about it in a second, but it gives me an eternal context for my temporal troubles. If I'm going through redemptive turmoil, if God is turning up the heat, if I feel like I'm in the depths, or I'm going through something really powerful or strong against me, and I'm trying to make my life make sense outside of him, just make it make sense out there in Broward County somehow, yeah, I'm gonna be in trouble. It doesn't make sense out there, it's chaotic out there. There's all kinds of enemies camps to run to out there. No, I'm gonna bring it back. His resurrection is my hope.

That means there's grace, there's mercy. I'm gonna put my story in the midst of his bigger story of grace, and redemption, and hope, and purpose, and blessing, and all of that. That's where it makes sense. Here's how it happens. Here's how it makes sense is this. Because sometimes, you know, our comfort is just a very thin veil against the power of the fallen world. You know, your comfort in America, it's gonna be punctuated from time to time. We will lose people we love. My brother-in-law just passed yesterday. My brother-in-law just passed. I mean, I love that guy. What a wonderful human being. We're gonna lose people that we love. You're gonna go through health issues. You're gonna walk through job loss. You're gonna walk through grief. You're gonna walk through all of it. But if I understand this, that a fallen world murdered the Messiah and martyred the messengers, and when Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble, I'm not gonna act like it's personal. Why, God? I'm not gonna pull a Psalm 13 like David did. By the way, Psalm 13 only has six verses. The first three are why,

but the next three are coming back to praise. It's okay to say that and feel that for a while, but take that to God. So I have a. I have a context to take it to and I'm not Jesus said in this world you're gonna have trouble but be of good cheer I've overcome the world so I have a context to put my troubles my trials my struggles and I can know this I have a Savior that was raised again he came out of the tomb let's end with with Romans 8 18 Romans 8 18 I love the writings of Paul I hope you do too it says this for I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed in us that worthy to be compared as scales they were big on scales back then it does do my sufferings do my troubles does do my trials does that outweigh the glory of God no it's not even worthy to be compared the glory of God in us and through us and what we will see on that day is so much greater than anything that we're gonna go through in this world the grave couldn't hold him means your story doesn't end in the depths his didn't and I promise you church ears won't either amen amen well I want to I'm gonna pray for us because I know there's people that are going through some things but first I want to speak to those who have not received Christ yet I'm a preacher I have a microphone and so I would be I would be remiss if I did not say this that if you don't know Jesus today that's your next step use this as a day there's not not any better day you saw wonderful people being baptized your wonderful souls being baptized you heard wonderful music we were in the Psalms today what a great day to give your heart to Christ and it's simple listen it's profound it's simple but it's profound the God of the universe came in human flesh as Jesus and he died a death that you should have died and I should have died he did it for us died on the cross took our sins and if you believe in him if you believe that you give your life to him you'll never see death you'll step from this life into the next be absent from the body is to be present with Christ if you want that today just say something like this don't

let me have to close your eyes just look at me and just say it dear Jesus I love you I believe you're the Son of God I believe you died on a cross to save me but I can't save myself and I'm tired of trying I give my heart to you I'll follow you the rest of these days of mine thank you for saving me in Jesus name Amen if you prayed that prayer welcome to the family of God heavens rejoicing we want to rejoice as well take that connect card out check the Jesus circle on there fill it out I'll get back with you I'll help you take your next steps in the Lord in a good and wise way I want to pray us out with the for the rest of us because I know that you're going through things I look out I see faces and I talked to lots of people here I know that there's lots of folks going through lots of things so I want to pray for you in that amen let me pray father thank you thank you for the name of Jesus Lord that we sang about that name above every other name I pray that over these wonderful people Lord I pray it in their struggles Lord they'll grab hold of you father I pray return the joy of the Lord to them joy of the Lord is our strength Lord remind us that that joy is a right because it's a fruit of the Spirit it's not what we're going through that brings it it's you so I pray God as we go through difficulty trial struggle all those things that we will we will walk through in a fallen world or whether we've done it to ourself and we're repenting and coming home God grab our hand show us the way and bring peace and joy along the way God thank you father we love you Lord in Christ's name we pray amen Oh you now Oh Oh -"This is deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus." -"Deadly so alive."

-"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus." -"Call you Jesus." -"I call you, I call you healer." -"Raising and raising new powers." -"Something comes out of the grave." -"Every time I call you Jesus." -"I call you, I call you savior." -"Bloody and pouring forever." -"Something comes out of the grave." -"Every time I call your name." -"Chains break." -"I call your name." -"Every time I call your name." -"The gates of hell shake." -"Every time I call your name." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive." -"Deadly so alive in the name of Jesus."