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be a typical verse, a Tom Ross-y verse to pick. Let me tell you a little bit about my take on the Psalms, right? Well, let me tell you what happened this week first. So this week in our staff meeting, or no, our staff prayer time, which is every Wednesday at 1130, except next time because it's July 4th, but you can always come out for that. It's a great time to be able to pray with the church. Somebody really felt led to share from Psalm 27 and just felt like it was something that God was doing, God may still be doing in the lives of people in the church. We didn't know it was something for the day, for the church, whatever. But it got me thinking about Psalm 27, and that Thursday we had our career group, and it was a great time for us to kind of talk about it and just discuss Psalm 27 and all of its meanings. But I have to tell you, I'm not a psalm guy. Like, that's just totally not me, right? I'm the guy who, you know, I love the Gospels. I love, you know, the Old Testament for all of the references to the prophecies and stuff like that. But I'm not, you know, the person I'm talking about who loves the psalms. who every time you meet them, they've got a psalm to share with you. Oh my gosh, I was reading this morning in Psalms, and this is what God said. You know, that's not me. I'm the one that would roll my eye. I'm like, you know, Psalm just never spoke to me. But there's those people, and they will tell you that when they read the book of Psalms, it speaks to them in a way that other scripture doesn't, because it's the songs of David, and it resonates with them in a way that other scriptures don't always resonate with them. And for me, that was never the case. And try to read the Psalms, and I'm like, come on, David, you know, men are advancing against you trying to devour your flesh. I just don't have anyone trying to eat my flesh. You know, that's not something I'm struggling with. It's not an issue. I really am having a hard time applying this to my life. You know what I mean? I would read it, and I'm not a really emotional guy either. You know, David is just laying it all out there, man. He's just laying his emotions out there. God, this is the way I feel. And sometimes you read it and you're like, David, I wouldn't say that to

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God.

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You're like, shh, you know, ixnay on the crye, you know, like you just can't believe some of the things that he writes in there because he's laying his emotions out there and he's saying, God, why are you far from me? God, what's going on? What have I done? Are you deaf? Are you not listening to me? You know, these are the things that we read when we read the Psalms. And again, I'm reading and I'm thinking this just doesn't resonate with me. Then about, I don't know, a couple years ago now, I remember in my business, I had about 20 staff, payroll of about $50,000 or $60,000 a month. A month. So that's how much we were paying out every month. And then September 11th happens, and all of our customers call in and say, hey, you know all those projects we want to do? We're going to hold off on them. Yeah, we know you've got a staff of 20, but we really can't do any work right now. And so I'm thinking, no problem, my God will provide. And a month goes by. And another month goes by. So now I'm $150,000 in debt and personal credits. And it isn't a great kind of debt to have. And you know what? I read the Psalms, baby. I read the Psalms like I've never read the Psalms before. And you know what? They made more sense than they ever made in the rest of my life. And I look back and it's awesome because I look back and we read Psalm 27 in the meeting and I can see where I highlighted with tears. You know, like, oh my God, that's me. David, thank you. You know, like I'm reading these things. And I wish that, I was trying to think as I'm thinking through this talk tonight, like if I was in the audience before this experience, what would I want to hear that would encourage me to actually go in to read the Psalms? And I don't know. I really don't know what would have convinced me. Until you experience... You know what? I remember distinctly sitting on my couch in my office and think when he says evil men advancing at me, I could see it, baby. I could see them coming after me, and it felt like they wanted to eat my flesh. I mean, they might have been Discover Card and American Express, but I felt like they were after me. I felt like there was a war going on, and I was on the losing end, you know? But I read those Psalms, and they resonated with me in a way that they had never done before, and I could feel myself crying out just like he was. And you know what? This is theory, but I think it's a pretty good theory. David, when he's saying this, I don't believe he's saying it with a confidence. He's not saying, 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? Ha, ha, ha. I think he's saying, oh man, the Lord is the light of my salvation. Whom shall I fear? He's trying to convince himself. He's talking himself through it. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? He's trying to convince himself. He's talking himself through the situation. He's saying, man, this looks really bad, but who should I be afraid of? Who should I be afraid of? Who could really harm me? What could advance against me that would actually succeed? And this is David, and I believe this is his journal. He's journaling. He's convincing himself. No, no, this is really the way I need to be thinking. And for me, that's what I had to do with the Psalms, is I found myself going back and reading through them to get my mind, to get my perspective to the perspective of God, to be able to see things from his perspective, to be able to think properly about what was going on. And so that's kind of my background with Psalms, which is funny because if you ever pick a Bible and look at all the Psalms that are highlighted, you'll definitely know what was going on in Tom's life. So in this particular Psalm, we're talking about David's struggle with fear. And he's saying, "...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?" When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. Again, if you're here tonight and you're thinking, nobody's trying to devour my flesh, huh? He's talking about fear. Fear. Now, you know what? He actually, I mean, he wasn't, what do they call it when you're, he's not paranoid. Remember, he's the guy that fought a bear and a lion, right? They really did try to eat him. And he really did lead battles. He led people into war. So it's not like he's just using, you know, hyperbole. He's just throwing out these big, grandiose situations. These are things he actually dealt with. Well, what do we deal with? What are the fears that we struggle with? Because I believe that's the application. That's how we can find the meaning in David's words. What is it that we fear? What are the things that come up and they affect us? You know, I shared mine just to try to give you an example. I'm not normally, like, I'm just not afraid of a lot of things. Call it stupidity. I don't know. But in that case, I was afraid. There was all kinds of fear. I was going to be in debt for the rest of my life. I was afraid I was going to look like a moron. I was afraid I was going to fire all my friends. I mean, I was afraid of a lot of things. And when I read that, I could understand his feelings. I could picture in my mind those things that were coming after me, the war that was going on. What is it in your life? What is the fear that's coming against you? Here's just some of the fears that I believe that we struggle with. Maybe it's the fear of losing someone. Maybe it's the fear of sickness running its course. We know somebody who's sick. We're fearful. We're afraid. What if the person doesn't get well? What if the cancer comes back? A fear of rejection. Is it a fear of rejection? Is it your parents? You're afraid your parents are going to reject you? Is it somebody else? Is there a fear that I will be rejected? A fear that drives you. A fear that actually inhibits you to be able to experience God. I can remember distinctly worshiping and being like, God, I don't know if I'll ever be able to worship because I'm trying to worship. I'm trying to sing it out, and to focus on you, but I keep thinking about this thing that I'm afraid of. Is that you tonight? Is there that thing that comes up every time? I'm trying to worship God, but I can't stop thinking about the fear that's in my life. There's a situation, there's these circumstances, there's this thing going on, and I just can't get past it. Is it the fear of what people are going to think? Is it holding you back? Is it making it so you can't become the person you've been created to be? For some of us, you know, it's the fear that maybe God isn't good. I've been around the Christianese long enough. I know how to quote the right verse. But deep down there's a fear. Is God really good? Does he really have what's best for me or is he going to send me to freaking Africa? You know what I'm talking about. You're ready to sell it all for Jesus, baby. But then you're thinking in the back of your mind, unless he sends me to Africa. Or whatever your Africa may be. Some of you might actually want to go to Africa. So then it's like Antarctica. I don't know. God, you know what I mean? But there is that real fear of, you know, I'm going to hold back this thing from God. Because ultimately I'm afraid that he might not be good. I'm afraid that maybe he's not as good as I hope he is. Fear of commitment. Fear that there's something better, always something better somewhere else. That really plagues a lot of us, is this fear, I can't commit. Because if I commit, well, then what if something better comes along? I'm just not ready. God, make it clear. No, not that clear. More clear. Another thing happens. No, no, no, not that. Could you write me an email, God? Then I'd know it's from you. The fear of commitment that holds us back. And here's the hard part. It's not to diminish the fears. Did David have reason to fear? I mean, from a natural perspective, did he have reason to fear? Yeah. People were trying to kill him. People were trying to kill him and all of his men. In our lives, there are things to be afraid of. You may have somebody significant in your life die. Yes, I would love to tell you, oh no, the Bible says it won't happen. No, no, no, no. Everything's going to be peachy. You just need Jesus. And then everything's going to work itself out. But that's not the Bible. That's wishful thinking. But it's just not right. And so what I'm trying to say is that Don't feel like I'm talking down to you for being afraid. We are all afraid. We all have things that come up in our lives. But what we have to do is to see what David is saying about how he dealt with fear in his life and find out if there's application for that in our life. And then we'll take a look at a couple of scriptures in the New Testament that can speak to this as well. But this idea that fear is real, I'm trying to convince you of that. And I tell you what it is that you're dealing with. I can't tell you the fear that's in your life that you could be delivered from. I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that there will be fear if there isn't now. There will be a time. And so record the recording of the talk if you're not there. And if you've ever been through one of those situations, you can remember that fear. Will things work out? Wouldn't that be great? Will things work out? I'd love to say yes. You know, David, we were talking about it in our career group. And David says, when evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and they will fall. That's confidence, baby. David had confidence because he had a promise from God. He had a promise from God. In those specific instances, David knew God had told him, no, your kingdom is going to advance. You are not going to fall. What promises do we have? What promises do we have in our lives that can come against those fears? We have promise of scripture that says, you know what, there is nothing can come between you and God. In Christ, you have been made righteous. In Christ, you have been delivered. In Christ, you are in perfect relationship with him. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter what you're going to do, it doesn't matter. The promise of Scripture is any enemy that comes against you and tries to separate you from the love of God that's found in Christ Jesus, they will not prosper. They will not be successful. I can absolutely tell you with certainty that that's true, that there is a promise in Scripture that you can have the same confidence of David. But I can't tell you that for all circumstances. I can't tell you that. And that was the real struggle for me as I'm sitting on the couch saying, God, I don't want to pay $150,000 in credit cards. I mean, I don't want to have to do these things that you've laid out before me. And so I had to really struggle with where was my faith? Was my faith that God was going to give me what I wanted? Or was my faith that God was good and that God was with me no matter what? You see the difference? And it's easy. It's easy when you're not in the circumstance to say, oh, yeah, God's good. God's awesome. But then when you're in it and you're going, oh, man, I don't know. Now I'm struggling with it. And there's nothing wrong with saying you're struggling with it. Again, you go to the Psalms and you see where David's struggling. He's saying, God, you know, are you mad at me to do something? Like, you know, he's struggling with, God, what's going on? And we feel like it might be sacrilegious to say that. You know, you talk to people, oh, my aunt's really sick. Oh, but, you know, God is good. Are you saying that to convince yourself, or are you saying that because you think you have to say that? It's okay to say, I'm really struggling with what God's doing. That's fine. I'm afraid. Because you can speak into that and talk about what God has promised, what God can do, that God is good, God is all-powerful, but that things don't always work out. We can't always see them. Okay, that's a whole other sermon. Okay, so David, he starts off this psalm talking about fears that he has and talking about the real fears that he's dealing with. And then the next part of it, he says, one thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the day of my life. You know, there's so many psalms that speak the same language. that are highlighted in my Bible, of just seeking God's presence. David's prescription for dealing with fear is to seek the presence of God, to be in his tabernacle, to dwell with God. That's what David's encouragement is. It's he's saying, one thing that I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. This idea of dwelling house, it's not that I may be a servant of

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God,

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It's that I may be in there as a guest. And David doesn't even have Christ. He's speaking long before we know the full revelation of who Jesus is. In Jesus, we know that we are adopted as sons and daughters. So when we say, God, I want to dwell in your presence, we dwell in the house of the king as a son, as a daughter, as a family member. Not as a servant. Not as, you know, somebody who slipped in the back door. We're invited. We're welcomed in. We're encouraged to be in the presence of God. We come together and we worship. That's the highest form of worship we can hope for is to be in the presence of God. And it seems that David is giving this prescription in the psalm to follow this discussion of fear with one thing that I will see, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, that I may be in his presence. Somehow, in just being around God, My heart's going to be calm. Somehow I'm going to be able to go back out and face whatever it is that I'm dealing with. It's the most illogical, unwise thing anybody could tell you. Think about it. Your business is going under. You need to make more phone calls. You need to get up early. You need to work harder. Your aunt's sick. You need to get another doctor. You need to get another opinion. You need to work harder. Whereas David is saying, man, when your heart starts to beat like that, what do you need to do? Man, you need to get from it all and you need to just get in the presence of the Lord. You need to get with God. You need to seek his presence. The more revelation of who God is. Because somehow in that meeting place, you will experience a freedom. You'll experience a deliverance. You'll walk out of that place knowing that God is good. In our career group, we were talking about Daniel in the lion's den. And I thought it was really interesting, you know, because people talked about, you guys are laughing, you got to talk about it too. Daniel in the lion's den, think about this. Like, dude, you're going to get thrown into the lions. And it would be nice if you said, hey, Daniel, don't worry, got you covered. But he doesn't say that. And Daniel says, you know what, throw me in. God will save me. And if he doesn't, it's still okay, I'm still not going to bow. Because he was seeking the presence of God. Was he afraid? I don't know. Did he struggle with it? I would imagine. Getting devoured by lions would tend to get somebody to be a little freaked out. But his response was, you know, and I hope that he delivers me. I guarantee he prayed that he would be delivered. And that's really important. It's okay. It's absolutely okay. We talked about that. Somebody in the group was like, well, should we pray then? Maybe Daniel should have said, God, take

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me.

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I guarantee, though, he was saying, God, just between you and me, I'd really like to get out of this thing a lot, you know. There's nothing wrong with that. We see even the example of Jesus saying, you know, God, this is looking rough. This is looking, I mean, he's sweat blood. He said this is looking really bad. If there's another way, if there's another way. I'd love for it to happen. But ultimately, it's about your will. It's about what you're going to have happen. And I'm okay with that. And when did he even do that? It was in the presence of God. It was during a prayer time that he was able to do that. So this idea that David is giving us of seeking the presence of God, seeking to be with him, Relying on the covenant, again, David had the covenant that God had given him that he would be delivered from his enemies. We also have a covenant. We have the new covenant. We can go find all kinds of promises in the New Testament of what Jesus has done for us, guaranteeing a place in the Father's house, guaranteeing us an audience, guaranteeing us that we can go to God and he will hear us. Not that he's going to give us what we want, but that he will hear us. We also have the testimony of Jesus as to the love of God. You see what I mean? In other words, when we question, is God good, we have to look back about what Jesus did. Why did he endure the cross? Why did he endure everything we endured? It could have been easier. In my mind, it could have been easier. But he went through that to communicate as a testimony to all of us that God is good and that whatever we experience, he'll be able to relate to us. That when we pray, whatever the circumstances are, that he'll be like, yeah, you know, I've been there. This is the testimony that we have of the New Testament. It's what comes and provides us with encouragement. It's a solid foundation for us to build on. When we go into God's presence, we see more of who he is, and we also see more of who we are. Think about that for a second. When we seek his presence, when we sing these songs of worship, when we read scriptures and we close out everything that's going on, we learn more about who God is and in the process we learn who we are. We learn more of how God has created us and how he feels about us, the truth of our relationship, the truth of what God has for us. And in that, we find freedom. to go through whatever circumstances. We find a freedom and encouragement to be able to step forward, to do whatever that thing. Daniel found the strength to be able to stand up to a king and to go into... I just totally lost my thought. But you see what I'm saying? We find the encouragement, the strength to step out and to do it by being in his presence and by seeking those things. The author of Hebrews 2, verse 15, he talks about the work of Jesus, that Jesus came to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. One author was talking about how all fear ultimately comes from a fear of death. But there's this idea that Jesus came to bring freedom. And that's not new, and that's not crazy. That is the message of Jesus, that he came to preach freedom. He came to preach freedom in our relationship with God. Freedom not just when we die. It's a freedom that comes to us now. And how do we experience that freedom? What is one of the many ways that Jesus brings freedom? Well, it's a freedom from this bond of fear. That actually the author of Hebrews talks about enslaving us. That we're actually enslaved to it. So we feel like we have to do certain things. We feel like we have to do certain things because we're afraid. That's not God. Freedom comes when we understand who we are in Christ. Forgiven. Righteous. Sons and daughters of the living God. Let's pray right now. Let's go stand up. And this is from John 14. So Jesus, Jesus dealing with, he knows what's about to happen. He knows that his disciples are going to freak out because they still don't get it. They still don't understand what's going to happen. And so he's telling them, don't worry. The counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. This relationship between the comforter, one of the many names given to the Holy Spirit, that when he comes, when the comfort comes, that he will comfort us, that he will deliver us from being afraid. that he will remind us of the truth of who God is, remind us of the promises that we have in Christ, that that's one of the roles that he plays, that he comes into our life and does these things. And so tonight, that's what I want to do. I want to pray for him to come and give him free reign and to say, Comforter, come into my life. Speak to me about the fears that I have. Bring revelation, bring truth, me into that place where I can be in the presence of God. So let's pray right now. There'll be a chance if you would like, you know, every service we have an opportunity to come forward for prayer. Every service we have an opportunity for people to come forward and we'll have people that can pray with you. They're not super powered people. They're not crazy people. They're just people that care, that have the same Holy Spirit that you have, and that will pray with you. And this idea that if we really want to seek God, there's nothing wrong with coming forward for prayer. People think, well, no, it's not that bad yet. Like, that's what I'm going to wait for, you know? It's always okay to seek the presence of God. It's always okay to come forward and to pray and to say, God, I want to be in presence. I want to know more of who you are. I want to experience more of what you have for me. So just know that tonight. We'll have a time where you can come forward and people will pray with you. We'll end the service and there'll be stuff in the back if you want drinks and little Cubanito sandwiches.