Psalm 20 doesn’t avoid reality. David opens the Psalm with these words: “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.” He doesn’t say if the day of trouble comes–it is sure to come. The day of trouble is an untimely death, an unexpected job loss, the disappointment of a wayward child, the devastating news that your husband or wife is cheating, a bill you never saw coming, a diagnosis that stopped you in your tracks, the unwelcome depression that crept into your life, your unrelenting boss.

Whatever your day of trouble, Psalm 20 is for you. Pray it for yourself. Pray it for someone you know.

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!

May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!

May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!

May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

O LORD, save the king!

May he answer us when we call. (Psalm 20:1-9, ESV)

As promised here are notes to accompany this morning’s sermon. If you’d like to watch the sermon go to our Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/gracecommunitymarion/).

Here is the link to the four benefits of the mercies of God from Robert McGee’s book, Search for Significance. Meditate on these. God will use them to remind you of who you are in him. Performance Trap

I also highly recommend Paul David Tripps’ Devotional, New Morning Mercies.

The video I was going to share from the movie Amazing Grace is attached here. Enjoy. What a changed life!

Fridays are not always fabulous. Sometimes they’re downright frightening. Marriages don’t magically get better on Fridays. Friendships don’t suddenly work out because the weekend is approaching. Pain shows up Friday mornings just like other mornings. So, on this Friday afternoon, I’m compelled to share with you how Jesus sat down in the Jeep beside me on the way to Montreat this morning. It was moments of glory, minutes of worship.

This is the song that was playing. It’s 8 minutes long. If you don’t have that much time right now, a few minutes of it will give you the idea. The ONE THING TRUE is Jesus. Enjoy.

I am not a politician. I am not a political junkie. I watch the news 2 to 3 times a week. This is not a political post. I simply cannot be silent.

In two weeks we (Grace Community Church) will host Night to Shine, a prom for people with special needs. Night to Shine will involve hundreds of volunteers, cost more than $10k, and require remarkable energy from every level of leadership at Grace. Why do we do it? Because people with special needs matter. Their lives are valuable to God and to us.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:13-14, ESV)

For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
“This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:13-18, ESV)
Psalm 132 is clearly about David’s desire to move the tabernacle to Jerusalem. When David became king, the tabernacle (and by extension the Ark of the Covenant) was in Shiloh. It took two years for David to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel and move the ark there.

However, the Psalmist is also clear that God had chosen Jerusalem (Zion) before David brought the ark there. David was simply doing what God had already ordained. So how is this Psalm applied to you and me today?

This morning, in my time with the Lord, this is what I did. I do not think I’m off base with this. The reality is, if you belong to Jesus, it is because God chose you. He called you and redeemed you. This is not a treatise on predestination and election. Books have been written to tackle the profundity of the passages on both election and the free will of men and women. I believe both.

But read this passage like this:

For the LORD has chosen me;
he has desired me for his dwelling place:

Then God speaks…
“You are my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless you;
I will satisfy you with bread.
You I will clothe with salvation,
and you will shout for joy.
There I will make a horn to sprout for you;
I have prepared a lamp for you,
Your enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on you my crown will shine.”

In the New Testament, our hearts become Christ’s home. He no longer dwells in the temple, but we become the temple. What if we truly believed this! Lived out of it! Appropriated this into our lives!

Is your heart His resting place? Has it occurred to you that, if you are born again, He has desired to dwell in you. He longs to satisfy you. He longs to clothe your naked sinfulness with his salvation. Your enemies (the world, Satan and your sinful nature) he will clothe with shame.

We are, of all people, most blessed. Dwell on this today.

Our God is too small…because our enemy is too small. I’m afraid we think too little of God because we think too little of the enemy of our soul. Before you think I’ve lost my way with this, listen to David’s words in Psalm 124:

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—
let Israel now say—
if it had not been the LORD who was on our side
when people rose up against us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
the raging waters. (Psalm 124: 1-5, ESV)

What struck me as I read Psalm 124 was not David’s assessment of the Lord, it was his evaluation of the enemy. He talks more about the enemy than he does the Lord. Notice the words he uses to describe the intent of the enemy: swallowed us up alive, anger kindled against us, flood that swept us away, torrent gone over us, then over us would have gone the raging waters. We’ve had enough rain recently to see the effects of raging flood waters. Water is a force to be reckoned with. Satan is too. So is the world. And our sinful nature.

I’m afraid our God is too small because our enemy is too. Listen to Jesus’ words:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV)

Satan’s goal is not to trip you up–his goal is your total destruction. The world wants to twist how you think, affect your heart’s desires, and infect your relationships. Your sinful nature craves sin, delights in it, can never get enough. Don’t go light on the enemies of your soul. They’re real. They are raging waters and rushing torrents. They want to sweep you away. Again Jesus’ words…to Peter:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32, ESV)

And how did Peter respond?

Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:33-34, ESV)

Peter underestimated the enemy…and paid dearly for it. He denied the very Christ he loved so much. So what do we do? Focus on the enemy? Live in fear? No!

Notice how David ends the Psalm:

Blessed be the LORD,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth!
We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped!
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:6-8, ESV)

David ends by blessing the Lord. The enemy is great. God is greater. The enemy entraps. God breaks the snare. The enemy is strong, God is stronger. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” David appeals to God’s greatest act–that of creating. You must too. If you belong to God, you are a new creation–the old has passed away, behold the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

How might you echo David’s words: “My help is in the name of the Lord who made me, made me new, and now lives inside me.” The aged apostle John wrote, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4, ESV)

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let _____________________ (your name) now say…”

I watch this video every year. It’s my favorite, and evidently it’s the favorite of a lot of others too. More than 52 million have watched it! But before you look at it, consider Jesus’ own appellation: Immanuel.

Isaiah predicted it. Matthew affirmed it. His name shall be called Immanuel. But did Jesus embrace it? What did Jesus think of Immanuel? Jesus’ fulfillment of his own name can be summarized in three statements:

I was with you

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23, ESV) Before you and I were ever born, Jesus became one of us. He took on our flesh, and more importantly and drastically, took on our sin. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV)

I am with you

Listen to Jesus’ own words: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20, ESV) “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20, ESV) He is with you in the delivery room, the operating room, the courtroom, the classroom, the living room and the solitude of your bedroom when tears quietly drop from your eyes. He is with you in the celebrations and the humiliations.

You will be with me

Listen again to Jesus’ words: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” (John 12:26, ESV) “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3, ESV) “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24, ESV)

Flash mobs are a welcomed but surprise visit. Passersby don’t expect them, but are glad when they show up (if they can sing!). That was Jesus. Unexpected by most. Welcomed by some. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..”(John 1:12, ESV)

We’re all guilty. Someone gives us a gift and we immediately think of someone who could use it more than we could. So we give it as if we purchased it for them ourselves.

This morning Alan-Michael “regifted” salvation. He opened it, explained it and said, “here goes.” But it was no small gift…actually it is a gift that we receive once and then again and again. So here goes. Let’s take off the wrapping paper…again.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, ESV)

Adoption: You and I get to know Christ. When you receive Christ as your Savior, you are adopted into God’s family. You become an heir to the family wealth–all the riches of Christ are yours.

Justification: You are found in Christ. In Colossians 3 Paul writes that our lives are hidden with God in Christ. To be justified is to be declared righteous–just as if you had never sinned. Or as someone else has said, just as if you had always obeyed. Your sins are cast into the depths of the sea NEVER to be remembered against you again! We are free from the PENALTY of sin.

Sanctification: We share his sufferings. Just as Jesus died for us, we die to ourselves. Daily. We die to our sinful habits. Every day is a death to self and our selfish desires. What a privilege! We are free from the POWER of sin.

Glorification: That I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. One day we will be with Jesus. One day we will see Him face to face. We will be glorified. One day we will be free from the PRESENCE of sin.

That’s a gift worth unwrapping again and again!