This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] I think we can all relate to those mornings where we wake up and we have lost a little bit of our motivation, shall we say, to seize the day. I can remember one of those mornings when I was in college, I had a poetry class that met Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:00 a. m.. Can you imagine signing up for that class?

[00:00:22] I signed up for it because it was taught by Dr. Jack Simons and he was the kind of professor that inspired I don't know if you ever had a great teacher that inspired you to actually want to learn not just to get a grade, but to learn. Well, that was Dr. Jack Simons. To me, he would go up to the whiteboard and he'd make a big circle with his marker and then he'd stab it right in the middle and he'd say, this is your brain and this is how much you've used of it so far. Right. And he would just say, most of my students are dreamy losers who never apply themselves. So you'd say things like that. And if you if you could write something as you as the writing professor and if you could write something that Dr. Jack Simons thought was good, man, you knew it was good and you wanted to do something like that. And so he inspired some people, couldn't stand it. But there were those devoted followers of us that he inspired so much that we would sign up for poetry at eight o'clock on a Tuesday and Thursday morning. And I was really disillusioned by my poetry class because I thought poetry was all about rhyming. I thought Dr. Seuss was one of the great poets of our times. And I was like, I got all I can. I can come up with some words that rhyme. I can even do an AP a B rhyme structure. I got this poetry thing down. But it turns out it wasn't about rhyming as much as it was about, you know, finding the deeper meaning behind the words. And I was like, I'm not seeing it.

[00:01:41] And so eight o'clock came on Tuesday morning, and I had purposed in my heart. I had made up my mind. I am not go into poetry this morning. And I was sleeping in. I had lost my motivation and I don't know why, but my phone started ringing and it was close to where I was sleeping there in my dorm room. And to this day I have no idea why. But I reached out kind of in my sleep and I grabbed the phone and I put it to my ear and I heard three words Blakey stir thyself. And it was Dr. Jack Simons. And he Jack Dr. Jack didn't have a cell phone. And I'm realizing in my mind, he has left our classroom. He has walked across campus to his office. He has gotten on his phone to call me out of my dorm room because he knows I am a slacker. And he said, Blakey stir thyself words I have never forgotten, I guarantee you. I ran to that classed as fast as my little legs would carry me. And I threw myself into the meaning behind the words. And I want that to happen to us this morning. If you're discouraged, if you've lost your motivation. I would like you to find it. I've got some words to stir up your soul in Psalm 42. Please grab your Bible and open it with me. And we're gonna learn how to stir ourselves up here.

[00:03:03] Maybe today you're encouraged as you come here this morning. Maybe you're doing well in your walk with the Lord. Maybe you're you're struggling. If you are struggling here this morning, this is a timely word for you. I guarantee you there's gonna come a morning when you might not feel like coming here to church and you might not feel like opening up your Bible and praying or getting up when that alarm goes off and going off to work or whether it's raising kids or whatever it is you're doing that day, there might come a day where you lose your motivation, where you feel downcast in your soul. And on that day, I want you to remember Psalm 42. And we are going to read Psalm 43 as well.

[00:03:38] And you'll see why as we read them here together. So follow along with me as I read our text for this morning, Psalm 42 in Psalm 43. To the choir master, a mass skill of the sons of.

[00:03:51] As a dear pants for flowing streams so pants my soul for you. Oh God, my soul, thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long. Where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul. How I would go with the throng. And I did them in procession to the house of God with GLADD shouts and songs of praise. A multitude keeping festival.

[00:04:25] Why are you cast down? Oh, my soul. And why are you in turmoil within me hoping God for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God my soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Herman and from Mount Matzah. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me. A prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock. Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go morning? Because of the oppression of the enemy.

[00:05:08] As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long. Where is your God? Why are you cast down? Oh, my soul.

[00:05:21] And why are you in turmoil within me hoping God for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people from the deceitful and unjust man.

[00:05:38] Deliver me for you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning? Because of the oppression of the enemy. Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me.

[00:05:53] Let them bring me to your holy hill. Into your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God. To God, my exceeding joy. And I will praise you with the liar. O God.

[00:06:04] My God, why are you cast down on my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me hoping God for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[00:06:18] So you can see here in the Psalms or starting book to now you know, maybe there's one hundred and fifty chapters in the Psalms while it's broken down into five different books. And I definitely think there's some strategy of how the Psalms are put together. And as we start the second book of the Psalms, we get Psalm 42 and you'll notice that we kind of roll right into Psalm 43. There's no new heading above Psalm 43. The other Psalms here in the 40s, they have headings, Psalm 43 does it. And you'll notice verse five in Psalm 43 sounded very much like verse five and Psalm 42 and verse eleven and Psalm 42. It seems like a chorus. So I don't know what happened here. If this was originally written as one long psalm later broken into two chapters, or whether perhaps you know that the original Psalm 42 was written and then the sequel came out letter later because everybody loves singing it, they added a new verse. I don't know how it was originally constructed.

[00:07:18] I believe that these two psalms go together as a unit and the refrain of the unit is the Psalmist talking to himself.

[00:07:28] We've got this stigma in our society that crazy people are the ones that are out there talking to themselves. We'll know here. Actually, we see an example in scripture that perhaps one of the wisest things you can do sometimes is address yourself, get yourself together. And it says here that even though he's feeling downcast in his soul, even though there is turmoil and distress within him, he has the wisdom here to say to himself, why are you like this? And to not just ride the wave of emotions. They're not just letting his feelings dictate how his day is going to go, but he looks at himself and he kind of gets himself in order here. And he says, Hey, soul, what are you doing? Why are you feeling downcast when there is the hope that I will yet praise God, look up to him. And in fact, when it says my salvation and my God, if you look at Psalm 42, verse five and and then they ESV it translation here and that we've got today 42, five, 42, 11 and 43. Five are all translated the same way. Now there's a little bit a nuance here in the Hebrew that I think we're missing in our translation when it says my salvation. I think it's really talking about in some of these versus the health of my countenance, the help of my countenance, like what God has done is he's taken a downcast soul and he's lifted up my head. He's restored my joy. See, I had this crestfallen look on my face. I had this downcast appearance. And then when I thought about God and I put my hope back in God, see, then my face was lifted up and it brought health back to my countenance. That's the idea here. Hey, soul, let's stop looking inward. Let's stop getting so introspective. Let's stop dwelling so much on ourself and how we feel. Hey, so let's look up at the Lord. There is hope there. Let's take heart. O my soul. Here's something that's going to happen to every single one of us. We're not going to wake up every morning ready to go for Jesus Christ. And I get a man from everybody on that. Right. And we've said here at this church, we've said we've got to rejoice always. We've got to pray without ceasing and everything we want to give thanks. That's clearly what we're going for. That's the goal. But if we're gonna be honest, we don't always get to the goal.

[00:09:45] And what are we going to do on that morning when I really when my Bible in prayer seems far away from me on that morning?

[00:09:53] Or even when I'm in the Bible and I'm in prayer, I feel far away from God. It just feels distance. There's this longing in my soul for that feeling of being near God, for that excitement of being we just in worship of him. But I feel so distant from that today. What are you gonna do? You've got a choice. There is what our is instructing us. One is you could just let that play out and go with that bad attitude into your day and just see how that works out for you. I think we've all been there. We've all experienced that. Or it says you can start talking to yourself. You can stir up your own soul. You can address yourself and talk yourself back into why you put your hope in God in the first place. Go to Second Timothy, chapter one, turn with me to the New Testament and let's see kind of a parallel passage here in second Timothy. Chapter one. Everybody grab your Bible and let's turn there together. When Dr. Simons was calling me that one morning, he was a writing professor, but he was a former pastor is what he was. And when he said Blakey stir thyself, he was referring to a passage of scripture. Second, Timothy, chapter one. Look with me here, what Paul says to Timothy. So this the last thing Paul's ever going to write in the Bible right before he dies and he writes it to his closest disciple, his true son in the faith, Timothy. And look what he says to him. Second, Timothy, chapter one, start with me in verse three says, I think God whom I serve, as did my ancestors. I thank God with a clear conscience as I remember you, Timothy, constantly in my prayers night and day. I remember your tears and I longed to see you. These two men, they had a very tight bond. They long to be with each other that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere faith of faith that dwell first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure dwells in you as well. So he's affirming that he has seen the fruit of faith in Timothy's life. He's affirming. Timothy, I know your grandma is a Christian. I know your mom's a Christian. I know these godly women have passed down to you this heritage of faith. And I can see that you live by faith in your life. But then he says this in verse six. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. Hey, because I've seen that faith in your life. Here's what you need to do, Timothy. Stir thyself. That's another way you could translate it there. You could translate it. Revive yourself. Hey, do you have that fire for Jesus Christ in your soul? Do you know what it's like to love Jesus? Was there a time that you were on fire for him? Well, hey, the embers of that flame are still there. Hey, let's fan that into a flame once again.

[00:12:44] Hey, let's stir up that fire for Jesus in your heart. See, here's what every Christian has to do at some point. Dr. Jack Simons isn't going to call you and Paul's not going to write you a letter. And you're not going to have your pastor or your spiritual mentor or your best friend. Always encouraging. You know, sometimes when you don't feel like going, you're going to have to stir yourself up as a Christian person.

[00:13:07] Something everybody's going to have to do.

[00:13:10] You're going to either flame out or you're going to fan into flame the fire for Jesus into your heart. You're going to have to learn how to do your own personal revival. And talk to yourself and address your issues and get yourself going again. We've all been there where we've been waiting for God or somebody else or something to get us going. We can't waste that time.

[00:13:33] We need to learn how to get ourselves going. Point everyone, let's put it down like this. You need to learn how to stir your own soul, learn how to stir up your own soul, learn how to address yourself when you feel downcast.

[00:13:48] How do you lift up your head and how do you focus again on the goodness of God and the hope that all of us have that we will praise him? And I think when it talks about us praising God, it could be referring to heaven where we're going to worship him together in his presence, seeing the glory of Jesus Christ. That's something we all have to look forward to. That should cause us to have joy in our darkest of hours. But I think there's also a hope here that this psalmist has of praising God again in this life and that hope that, hey, how I feel right now is not having a feel. I'm going to have those great moments of feeling close to God and worshiping him and feeling my heart on fire. And, you know, what I need to do right now is I need to address myself and start stirring up that flame for the Lord. So here's Timothy. Timothy is Paul's true son in the faith. Paul might seem like a guy who was always going for Jesus and never needed to be stirred up. But I think he's actually passing on the secret of how do you keep going for Jesus Christ all the time? Well, here's the truth.

[00:14:51] Nobody keeps going for Jesus Christ all the time. But some people have learned how to stir themselves up when they slow down. That's what Paul knew. That's what he wants to pass on here to Timothy.

[00:15:02] And he says, hey, Timothy, here's the hit. In fact, go back to verse six. He says, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. That's talking about him appointing Timothy, I believe, to be a pastor over God's people. And he reminds him, God gave us a spirit, not of fear. Maybe Timothy was being a little timid. Maybe Timothy was pulling back and he said, hey, we're not supposed to have a spirit of fear. Now, here's the kind of spirit God gave us. A spirit of power, a spirit of love, a spirit of self-control. We can tell ourself no. So let's remind our spirit what kind of spirit God has given to us. And he says in verse eight, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. Nor of me, his prisoner, because Paul was in prison. Paul was about to be executed. And here's Timothy. Everybody knows he's Paul's guy.

[00:15:59] And I'm sure a lot of people were were nay saying about Paul's ministry. I'm sure there are a lot of mark mockers at this time saying, oh, yeah, Paul, he was such a great guy. Look where he's at now. Pruzan look what's about to happen to him be executed. Obviously, God wasn't really working through him. And I'm sure some of those comments were coming to Timothy and there was pressure on him. Is he going to stand with his disciples or Paul, stand for the Lord Jesus Christ, or was he going to back down a little bit?

[00:16:26] And Paul says to him, hey, don't be ashamed at the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed of me because I'm in prison for the gospel. Stir yourself up, young man, he says, and get going again like you were before, like I saw you do back in the day. Man, let's get on fire like that again for Jesus right now. Is this something you know how to do, my friend, if you're Christian here this morning? Do you know how to stir yourself up?

[00:16:52] Do you know how to remember the precious promises of God to get into his word, to pour out your heart to him in prayer and to rekindle the fire of your love for Jesus Christ? We all got to learn how to do this. And I think the first step is just us all admitting that we need to do this and that the reason we're not feeling it is because we have to talk to ourself and address our own soul. If we could just start with that here this morning, that your soul is just not going to naturally do righteousness. All of the time for Jesus Christ, you're going to have to address yourself and get yourself going. In fact, we should all be a little bit suspicious of ourselves that we will run out of power to live for Jesus Christ. If we're not careful, if we're not reminding ourself of who God is and looking to him. If we start looking too much at ourselves, we're all going to grow weary in doing good. But if we look at our everlasting God, he will renew our strength and we will run after him. Do you know how to talk to yourself? I hope that's something. Maybe you've got a friend here at this church that you can have an honest conversation about. We need to talk to ourselves here at this church. It's not crazy. It's a very wise thing to do when you need to get yourself going, stir up your own soul. Go back to Psalm 42, because I don't just think it was the soul mis feelings that were leading him to be so downcast. I think there was also things happening in the world around him that caused him to look down at himself and at the sin around him rather than up at God and have hope and praising God.

[00:18:30] And so missed here speaks of something that the soul must often talk about. Enemies, enemies.

[00:18:38] This is a new category for us as Christians here in America. A lot of times when we read psalms like this and it talks about enemies, I know that for myself and I would imagine maybe some of you can relate. A lot of times when I've been reading psalms like this and there's parts about enemies, I just kind of skip over those parts because I don't really relate to that. I've got people trying to kill me.

[00:18:58] I don't got enemies coming after me and trying to to to destroy me.

[00:19:02] But all of a sudden, as things are progressing here in America, it starts to feel more and more like there are some people who might be against Christians in what they have to say from the Bible.

[00:19:13] I don't know if anybody else here is getting that growing suspicion. All right. So when I read versus like this, look at how this this is what's making the psalmist downcast. He feels distant from God. Look at verse three, Psalm 42, verse three. My tears have been my food day and night. While they say to me all the day long, Where is your God? So not only maybe as he personally feeling distant from God, but now he's got these enemies, these people who are like, well, where is God even in all of this? Some skeptics are coming up. Some haters, we could say in our vernacular.

[00:19:47] Well, where is your God anyway? Why isn't he coming through with you? Why are you so on fire for him? Like, what's really going on?

[00:19:55] And he gets that's part of what's getting him down. In fact, jump on down to verse nine and 10 where you see that same idea. Again, this is another common refrain. There's two lines here.

[00:20:07] Two questions that are quoted. One is the Solomon's own question. I say to God, my rock. So he has a relationship with God. God's his rock. He's standing on the foundation of faith in God. Yet here's how he feels. Why have you forgotten me? He feels forgotten by God.

[00:20:23] Why do I go morning? Because of the oppression of the enemy.

[00:20:31] He's feeling like there's these people around him who are mocking his faith in God. And that's a pressing him. It's becoming a burden upon him. And he's saying, God, why aren't you showing up? Maybe these people are right. Where are you at, God? Are you really out there working? Because I'm not seeing you right now. Have you forgotten me?

[00:20:50] And then he goes on to quote the the haters all around him. Verse 10, as with a deadly wound in my bones. Feels like I've got some sickness, some kind of terminal injury here. My adversaries taunt me while they say to me all the day long, second time he says it. Where is your God? This question that the that the atheists of his day or maybe it was at this day.

[00:21:12] You know, every nation had a god. So maybe it was people in another nation and their nation was at that time over the nation of Israel. And so they thought their God was greater than the God of Israel. And so they were like, how come your God hasn't saved you? Clearly, our God is better. Look, we've just won victory over you. His enemies are saying to him, where is your God? And it's soul is feeling downcast to the point. He's like, where are you? That's a legitimate question. Have you forgotten me?

[00:21:39] Now, when we plan to do this, I was just trying to do an encouraging psalm from from the from the word to lift up all of the downcast here at our church.

[00:21:48] And then Friday happened. Do you know what happened on Friday here in America? Right. If you if you if you don't know, this is a good place for you to find out. But the highest court in our land, the Supreme Court, the Court of Justice, they have decided that same sex marriage should be legal in all 50 states and they have to create it to be so here in these United States of America. And there was joyful celebration in America, in America over this result that you see the celebration, people on the steps of the Supreme Court, the pillars of justice in our nation, waving their flags of rainbows and throwing out their hashtags of love, wins and equality for all. Now, these people, they're the ones who bring up God when they're standing there celebrating this political victory for them. This is the kind of signs that you see coming on your news feed if you go on the computer. Questions like this.

[00:22:52] I mean, this is just this is a mock. This is a this is a modern way to say where is your God if God hates gays? Why are we so cute?

[00:23:01] That's America right there.

[00:23:05] That's where we're at.

[00:23:07] And so we have people raising the question, where is your God? And as I talk to my brothers and sisters this week, I it's clear to me that some of you guys felt the same way I felt on on Friday morning.

[00:23:19] I felt downcast in my soul than anybody else feel that I felt downcast. This isn't this isn't what. This isn't what America's supposed to be right here. This is not what I thought. It was not what I think they intended it to be.

[00:23:34] And I felt this oppression like there was this question hanging over our nation. Where is your God to the Christian people?

[00:23:44] And then I read Psalm 43, verse one. Look at this verse. This is a verse for us right here this morning for these times that we're living in. It says, Vindicate me, oh, God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people from the deceitful and unjust man. Deliver me. Save me.

[00:24:01] Rescue me. You know what it means when it says vindicate me. It's saying, judge me. That's what it say. Hey, God. Why don't you judge me?

[00:24:13] Because I need you to defend me, I need you to be my judge and my defense attorney on this one. And who I need to have you to defend me for is I need you to defend me against an ungodly people. Or you could translate that an ungodly nation. Is this not a timely verse for us here? They are judges, the highest court of our land. They have decreed something now that same sex marriage is a legal and good way to live. And yet the judge of all heaven and earth, he has decreed something else. Who do you want to judge you? And he says, God, you're going to vindicate me. You're the real judge, I might be on the wrong side of history, but I'm going to be on the right side of eternity. And so I look to you, God, to make things right and to be the judge, to vindicate me, defend me, deliver me.

[00:25:03] People are going away. That is deceitful and unjust. We're promising life where there is only death. We're promising happiness where there is only depression.

[00:25:15] Say it's a seat. It's a lie. Save us. God rescue us.

[00:25:21] So the Soma says he goes on in verse two. He says You are the God in whom I take refuge. I'm looking to you. But right now it feels like you have rejected me. So he brings up this refrain again. Why do I go about mourning? Why do I feel so downcast? Because of the oppression of the enemy. So in these times that we're living in where same sex marriage is now, one hundred percent legal and we've seen this come in for a while. Right. I just want to remind everybody that from the scripture perspective, the perspective I would love for people at our church to have is, is homosexuality is not really the issue that's going on here. That's the issue of our day. I get that. That's the issue of our of our time. But turn with me to Romans Chapter one and let's think how what's the real issue? How did we get here? How did this whole thing start? And there's a progression of thinking that happens here in Romans, one that all of us need to understand. We're talking about what does the Bible say about same sex marriage, same sex relationships? Well, the Bible is very clear in what it says about it, though. The president of these United States might refer to Romans one as some obscure passage in the scripture meant to be discarded in modern times. Romans, one verse 26, says this very clearly. For this reason, God gave them up to this honorable passions, passions that should not be had for their women, exchange natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

[00:27:07] Does the Scripture have something to say about the issue of homosexuality? The issue of our day? Definitely it does. It's very clear for everybody right there. Very clear what the Bible says about it.

[00:27:18] Bible hasn't changed once since America got started. It's been saying the same thing the whole time. Now, here's what has changed since America got started. OK, go back up the verse 18. Here's how we got here.

[00:27:32] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. Against all UN godliness. This is the real problem on godliness is the problem. And an ungodly Naess will always lead to unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them. God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power, his divine nature have been clearly perceived. Ever since the creation of the world, it's saying that God is a no brainer. That's what it's saying. You don't need to really prove God because God is already known to people. That's that's the that's the apologetic here. That's the argument.

[00:28:11] I mean, in our desire to be logical, we have left logic completely behind because the only logical explanation for the world is creation that I mean, someone had to start this thing.

[00:28:23] It didn't just happen randomly, no matter how much time you give it. Someone had to say go at the beginning of this thing. That's the only logical conclusion that's evident. It's known demand that there is a God who governs over the heavens and earth because he created them. And yet, here's what we do. Verse 21. Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God. They didn't give thanks to him. They became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise. Look at how advanced we are. Look at how much we learned, how much we progressed while claiming to be wise. They became fools and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. So here's what happened in America when it began. There was this great awakening in the seventeen forties. We declared our independence in 7th July four, 1776. There was a God consciousness among the people at that time, whether they were Christians or not. There was a clear understanding that God is the one who gave certain inalienable rights to all people. That's what was understood then introduced here.

[00:29:41] We're now going to start getting into the eighteen hundreds. We're going to start introducing this idea of evolution. We're gonna start giving you an alternative way to view the world besides God being the creator, being the boss being in charge. Now you can start to think without God and that's going to start getting spread even through the school system of this nation. That's gonna start getting spread on a popular level. And then what we're gonna see, if you read through Romans one, there's gonna be a sexual revolution where God's gonna give people over to lust. Eventually, that lust is gonna turn into people lusting after members of the same gender that's going to lead to gender confusion, gonna lead to all kinds of sin, and that people are going to approve of those who are practicing such things, like that's a great thing.

[00:30:24] And they should be able to do that because we should all be equal in love. Should when at the end. Romans one says what's happening in America right now.

[00:30:32] And it says, here's the problem. You left God behind. That's the problem. You stop thinking about him. So I want I just want to encourage you. We can go and argue about homosexuality, all that we want. That's not the main issue. The main issue is, does God have authority or does the Supreme Court have authority? Does the Lord of Heaven and earth get to say how things happen on Earth, or do you get to decide how to live your own life? That's the issue.

[00:31:02] It comes down to you believe in God or not? See, this is what's going to happen to people who leave God behind. America, where we're at is Romans one put on display for all the world to see. And so we wave now in this nation. Two flags here in America. You could see a picture of what we were gonna go hand out our little American flags. Well, there was a lot of this kind of flag waving now. You know, we love America. And here's what else we love. The rainbow, right? The rainbow is the symbol of gay. What? What do we call it? Gay. What pride. Right. Pride. That's what we call pride. Just think about Evers. It's gay pride and the rainbows, the symbol.

[00:31:47] When you think of pride, I think of someone who has exalted themself and is not humble before God.

[00:31:53] Is that what you think of when you think of the word pride? That's the issue right here. We're proud. We think that we get to decide what to do with our bodies and how to live our lives rather than submitting to what God has decreed that we should do. It's pride. That's the key issue.

[00:32:10] And every time I see somebody, you know, posting the rainbow on Facebook or waving the rainbow flag on the news, you know, and putting out all these rainbow emojis that are now all over the place. Right.

[00:32:21] I just want to say to them, I don't think that means what you think it means. Right.

[00:32:26] I mean, I understand what the rainbow really means. Let's go to Genesis, Chapter nine. Let's just let's just look at this. Let's just educate ourselves here on. On what does the rainbow really mean? And if it comes across to you right now, like I am somehow saying derogatory things against homosexual people. Let me just clarify that right now, that we want to love everyone here at this church. OK. In fact, are homosexuals. Welcome to come to this church. Well, let me tell you this. Every single kind of person is welcome to come to this church and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, because it's good news for all mankind. And I get a man from anybody on it. Gay. Anybody here? OK, anybody here? OK. We were all born into sin. I don't care what your sin was. I hope nobody on this church is riding around on some high horse thinking that you're better than anybody else in America right now. We don't need that self-righteousness here at this church. OK, we don't need any of that because you were born into sin, just like I was born into sin, just like all of us have been born into sin. And we got good news here at this church that you can be born again. That's what we offer to people. And I don't care who are. Come and walking in the door because I know who you can be walking out the door and Jesus Christ, that he makes people new from the inside out. That's what Jesus does.

[00:33:48] And so let's be very clear. Our message to the world. We're not here for condemnation. We're here to preach salvation, to preach good news to the people.

[00:33:59] So let's make sure that our faced books and are text messages and the conversation that's coming out of our mouth is salvation for all mankind.

[00:34:08] We're here to make disciples OK, not to judge those who do want to be disciples. That's not our job. All right. So let's get out there and let's spread people some good news and let's represent the mercy and the grace of God. Now, God is God is a God who will judge.

[00:34:25] I mean, we're gonna we're gonna get into Noah's in the ark here among our four our kids. And we'd like to talk to Noah about knowing the ark with the kids because of all the cute animals. Right. I mean, I know my kids have this little bow with this bald guy with the big white beard, and he's got a little dove on his shoulder. You got anybody else got a toy like that at your house? Right. And there's two giraffes and there's two zebras, you know, and like we're in the bathtub and we're playing with this, a very McCard toy for children to play with.

[00:34:54] I mean, the story of Noah and the Ark is here's how God feels about wickedness. Here's what God ultimately is going to do about sin. He's going to drown it completely. That's what he did. Rain poured down from the sky. That never been done before. Water burst up from the deep places and the world was completely covered in water. The entire globe blew everything covered in water to kill it all off because the sin had to be judged. And then out of eight people on the ark and with the animals that were preserved, their God gave planet Earth a second chance. That's what happens in Genesis six to nine.

[00:35:33] You can read about it. And you gotta see God's heart is God would prefer to save people rather than judge people, can we all write that down for taking notes?

[00:35:44] God would prefer to save people rather than judge people. And so when I talk about God, when I represent God to people, I always want to be putting forth salvation. That's the time that we're living in. That's the offer that is out to mankind right now. Judgment is surely common. Sometimes we have those sermons here at this church. We've warned people that judgment is coming. We've done that right here. It's not coming by water in the future. It's coming by fire. But it just so happened that when John God judged the world by water in Genesis Chapter nine, which is really a beautiful chapter, God says, OK, let's let's start over. Version 2.0. And some things are gonna be different now moving forward. And one of the things that God does here is look at Genesis Chapter nine. Start with me in verse twelve. He gives a symbol of this second chance that he gives to Plez Planet Earth, Genesis, Chapter nine, verse twelve. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between it. Between me and you. And every living creature that is with you, even to the animals for all future generations. That's us here today in America.

[00:36:51] I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant. So here's what the rainbow is meant to represent. It's a covenant between God and the Earth, every living thing on the Earth. When I bring clouds over the earth in the bow is seen in the clouds. I will remember my covenant that is between me and you. And every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it. And I'll remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the Earth. Here's what God said. Next time it rains, everybody on the planet is going to freak out.

[00:37:31] That's what's going to happen.

[00:37:32] Because the last time it rained, it went up and up and up and it covered the mountains and everybody died. And so here comes now. Some more rain on the planet.

[00:37:40] And after the rain stops, as it's going down, or maybe even in the middle of the rain there, beautifully in the clouds, you will see something that must be put there. How could all those colors just appear like that? How could it be that beautiful? No, that rainbow in the clouds. That's not a freak of science. That's not some random chance mutations. That's a sign from God.

[00:38:03] And what God is saying is, hey, I judge the world once with water, but I'm not going to do it again. I'm giving you a second chance. It's a symbol of his mercy. It's a symbol of his grace. That's what it is.

[00:38:15] That in judgment, there is always a way of salvation, even when wickedness was so rampant on the Earth. I wanted to judge it completely. No, I left a remnant and we started again. That's the rainbow. That's what it symbolizes to this very day.

[00:38:30] And now, as people make a mockery of God's law, as our legal system makes a mockery of God's law, the fans of this, the biggest proponents of this same sex marriage legalization in all 50 states, they are waving around with glee and delight, the symbol of God's mercy and grace upon the entire planet.

[00:38:53] I mean, if that's not irony, I don't know what is so.

[00:38:58] And you know what God wants to do? Here's what God wants to do. He wants to take a rainbow flag waving, same sex married person on the steps of our Supreme Court on Friday morning. And he wants to put him in heaven right next to you.

[00:39:11] That's what God wants to do. He wants to save people. He wants to save them.

[00:39:17] And when they say, where is your God? Well, God's going to show up. God's going to show up one day in a big way, OK?

[00:39:25] But the reason he hasn't yet is so that more sinners could be saved. Maybe there's a sinner here this morning and God's waiting for you.

[00:39:34] So that's what the rainbow means every time you see a rainbow. Let's make sure we know what it's all about. That's God's mercy and grace that he's not going to judge the world with water again. He's giving you a chance right now to repent of your sin and to get right with him so that you can see all of his glory. The rainbow is just a sign of it, just a glimpse of it.

[00:39:57] And so if a Friday morning, I know some people got really worked up about it. Are you going to say anything about it in the sermon a Friday morning helped you realize there's a battle that's going on? Well, welcome, my friend, to the war.

[00:40:08] We've been fighting it here at this church since day one.

[00:40:11] There is a war going on for the souls of men, women and children all around us. And everything we do at this church is designed to promote this idea of God here in America. Here in Huntington Beach, Westminster and Garden Grove.

[00:40:25] Are we going to change anything based on this ruling? No, we're going to keep doing the things we're already doing. I mean, we're doing a series called God Revive America. Does that seem Time-Sensitive appropriate? Anybody you would think we were pulling our sermons from the current events around here, something like that. We're going to the book of Jonah. That's where we're going. Right. Yeah. I'll be a great thing for everybody in America to see the revival that God did in the city of Minova.

[00:40:49] I mean, so people are really concerned about our children and what they're being taught. And the impression that they're being given. And at a younger and younger age, they're being exposed to homosexuality. And that's why we need as many kids here as possible for Camp Compass. We're gonna spend a whole day at Camp Compass explaining to kids what the rainbow is really all about. Did you notice there's a rainbow on the side of our building when you drove up here to church here today? Yeah, we're kind of big fans of the Rainbow to say, yeah, we like that. Right. And would it be good for every kid growing up in America right now to know what Genesis nine says to to understand what that reveals about God and who God is that God is a merciful and gracious God, that even when people are sinning right against his face, his preference would be to save them rather than to judge them. Don't you want our kids to know that? Don't you want every kid in America to know that what we're gonna teach him here at this church? That's why what we're doing is so important, because we're saying who God is and what you think about God will determine how you live your life. Say.

[00:41:53] And so when they say, where is your God? Hey, in America, that seems like a good question right now. Where is God? What is he doing? Well, he's right here among us. That's where he is. And he's saving people here at this church. So don't be downcast looking at the news. Don't be downcast. Going on social media. Let's get in the word. Let's look up at the Lord and we'll see the health of our countenance be renewed, my friends. And we'll see that this is all part of God's plan. He knew this was going to happen. He realized that when God sent the rainbow in the cloud, he knew that people in our country would be perverting its meaning and twisting it. And his intention that entire time was to save some of those people. Think about that.

[00:42:33] We will be worshiping God in heaven forever, celebrating the salvation of some of these people who are celebrating same sex marriage in our nation right now. I can't wait. I hope God brings them to our church and we get to see him get saved and baptized right here at this church. And we will praise the Lord. Can I get him in front of Brianna? I hope that's. I hope you're with me on that.

[00:42:51] Go back to Psalm 42 and we'll see here a couple of keys on how we're going to stir up our soul. A couple of ways that he does this year. He's clearly got a mixture of emotions. We can see the turmoil within him. He's downcast. He's feeling distant from God personally. People around him, the oppression of his enemies is causing him to mourn. I mean, he's so disturbed about what's going on around him. He's crying about this. People are saying, where's your God? He's thinking that's a legitimate question. But look at Psalm 42, verse four. Here's one way that the soul mis directs his mind. He says these things I remember as I pour out my soul. So here I am. I'm coming before God and pouring out my soul. But what I do is I remember some things and I remember how I would go with the throng. That's that's a crowd right there. A bunch of people. In fact, I was the leader. I was out in front of them and I would lead them in procession to the house of God. We would go into God's presence together. And then I remember that time of worship and there were people shouting out a man. There were people just singing out songs of praise. And then you could really hear the people singing that day. And they were clapping. And there was a real spirit of worship among the people.

[00:44:06] I remember what that was like. So here's a downcast Christian, they say. But I have had some good times of worshiping the Lord and those memories, man, they're precious to me in here in the midst of my doubt and my turmoil. And I bring to mind good memories of worshiping God. Do you have some good memories of worshiping God that you keep around in your life sometimes where you can remember maybe the time when you first got saved and you just wanted to worship Jesus and tell everybody about Jesus, maybe some event at some church that you had one time where you just felt like the whole group of people was really worshiping God together. And we put around pictures all of our houses, don't we? I got a picture from my kids on Father's Day to put on my desk. So when I don't feel like doing work, I can remember who I'm working for. You ever have pictures of your kids on your desk? Puts happy memories, hopefully, to get you going again. Maybe when you're having a rough day. Now, we need some pictures of us worshiping God to put in our minds that we can remember in our dark times. I hope that you have a time maybe where you were worshiping, maybe it was even by yourself in your car early in the morning at your house late at night. Right. Maybe you just heard some bad news and your response was to go to pray and to worship. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You have memories of real times of worship where you were just on fire and close to God. That's what he remembers. He remembers when he was revived, so he remembers when his heart was all stirred up and those memories, they come back and they bring him comfort. Here they start. That's the first point year where he starts to get directed in the right direction. Thinking about God and putting his hope back in God is when he remembers what it was like to worship God with all of his hearts. Point number two, let's get it down like this. You need to remember when God revived you, you need to remember, hopefully.

[00:46:06] I mean, every Christian person, you at least have your salvation. Maybe the joyous day of your baptism, maybe the joyous time that you got to lead somebody else to the Lord and you got to explain to them how to repent of their sins and put their faith in the good news of Jesus that he really did die on that cross. And he rose again to give us this new eternal life. And you got to explain that to somebody. And now that's a precious memory to you that causes you to worship the Lord.

[00:46:30] We should be storing these things up just like we remember good times. We go on vacations to remember the good times when we're working hard in the tough times. You know, I'm talking about wind where your spiritual vacation, so to speak. When were your times of refreshing before the Lord that you look back on you? You think, man, that was a great time of praising God.

[00:46:51] I'm going to hope that I'll have another time like that in my life because I remember how good it was to be on fire for God in my heart. I've got a time like this and it's actually a time called revival. This is something I got to do. I got to go with the throng, with the procession to the house of God. I got to be a part of stuff like this. Right. I mean, I don't know if you've hung out in youth groups, but showing emotion is not exactly what's cool among the teenage population of America.

[00:47:19] Have you noticed that? More like the hoodie on when it's not even rain. And that's more where the cool kids are hanging out. Right. And so when you try to worship with kids who don't love Jesus man, it's a rough scene worshiping with people who don't love Jesus, especially young people. And every night we were every year we would do this camp. And on the first night, man, you could just feel the stiffness in the room. And what we would do is we would preach the word five nights in a row. Every morning we wake up and do devotions. We have small groups every night. We praise Jesus. We get into the word. We keep holding up a high view of Jesus all week long. And by the end of that week, you couldn't find one person in that room that was in praise. And Jesus Christ. Now, they might not have really even been saved, but they had to acknowledge that God was there among us. And that when they understood the word and what he was doing, they even got caught up in the worship. And some people, they got saved for the first time. And that was the first time they were ever really worshiping Jesus Christ when they repented and put their faith in him. And that was their first experience of knowing God and worshiping him. And they were just on fire as they did it. And I would just stand in the back and watch all of these young people just catch on fire for Jesus Christ. Jack, remember that even when I'm not there, I still see it in my mind. And it brings back those thoughts, those feelings. It causes me to look up and say, when is the church going to be full and the people are going to worship God again. And I can't wait for that. Can't wait till God's packing out this place. And, man, the worship in here is so loud and there's so many people who just want to give the glory to Jesus because their life is all about him. I'm looking forward to, I hope and God again, for I will yet praise him. Go to Psalm 62, just a few pages over here, and it's got this idea. I really want to encourage you in this idea of pouring out your soul. That's what it says here in Psalm 62. Here's David now coming before God.

[00:49:18] And David, here he's come, this is an example of what it's like to stir yourself up. Let's read Psalm 62 together. It says, For God alone. My soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation only as he saved me in the past. I think he's going to see me in the present. He alone is my rock and my salvation. My fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him? Again, here's these enemies. Here's this pressure from outside. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence. The only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths. But in luridly they curses. David's got all these backstabbers. He's got all these people who want to take him down. For God alone on my soul, wait and silence from my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. My fortress hears the refrain of this song. I shall not be shaken on God rest my salvation. My glory. My mighty rock. My refuge is God. He's just remembering this over and over. Here's a good verse to to circle to underline. Trust in him at all times. People pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. I hope what you see when you read Psalm 42, Psalm 43. Now we're getting into Psalm 62.

[00:50:38] These are honest, very open lungs.

[00:50:42] This person's not trying to come to God. The Psalmist in Psalm 42 and 43. He's not trying to come to God, having it all together.

[00:50:49] God knows you don't have it all together. So stop trying to fool him. He already sees who you are. He comes to God and he's just pouring it out. God, they're saying, where is your God? And you know what? I'm kind of I'm kind of asking the same question. I've got this burden on me by these people and what they're saying, and I feel downcast. I'm looking for you, but you feel far away. When will I get to come and be close to you again? Honest, open. Just pouring out who we are. Like God is there. He's listening. And we can actually talk to him in an honest communication with our father in heaven man who's really doing that. Who's not venting? Who's not having a bad attitude? Who's not taking it out on somebody else or dumping it all on your spouse or your kids? Who's coming to God and pouring out their heart to him, believing that he is a refuge and a source of strength, and that he will lift up your head and renew your joy and hope in him.

[00:51:42] That's what it says to do. He's a refuge for you. Come to him.

[00:51:47] Those of lowest state are but a breath. Those of highest state are a delusion. Don't get caught up with everything that's going on around you in the balances. They go up there together. Lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set your heart on them. One Scott has spoken twice.

[00:52:05] Have I heard this power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord belongs steadfast love for you will remit render to a man according to his work.

[00:52:16] Here's something I heard once. In fact, I've heard it twice. Here's something I know about God. To him belongs the glory and the power and the dominion forever and ever a man. And there is no other place that you're gonna find love. But then, in the forgiveness and grace and mercy of God, our Savior through Jesus Christ.

[00:52:31] That's what he remembers. And it comes as he pours out his heart to the Lord. He's built up and he's encouraged. You've got to remember your good times that you've had with God.

[00:52:41] And if you don't have a lot of memories of good times with God, now's the time to start stacking them up because it's only going to get rougher from here on out.

[00:52:48] My friends. So let's make sure we've got good times. Good memories of us worshiping God. And let's hope that we're going to praise him yet again.

[00:52:58] Go back to Psalm 42, just a few pages over and you'll see that man that's almost here. He's really he's like a surfer who just wiped out anybody ever done surfing before. I've attempted to surf before, but mostly I just wipe out and I relate to this right here. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. He just feels like he's getting slammed. He's in the middle of a set and he's getting slammed by wave after wave after wave. That's what his life feels like right here.

[00:53:28] Now, in the day, sometimes it seems like God commands his steadfast love, but now it feels like the night and his song is still with me. There's a prayer to the God of my life. But then eventually, look at Psalm 43, jump down to Psalm 43. Look at the high note that he eventually gets to Psalm 43. Verse three, he says, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and into your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, into the temple, the tabernacle, into the pray place where God's glory dwells to God. Look at this phrase right here to God. My exceeding joy. Yeah. He's feeling depressed right now. But here's what he believes about God. God is the source of his exceeding joy.

[00:54:11] And I will praise you with the liar. Oh, God, my God. See, there's this hope here that he has I mean, he's real about his discouragement.

[00:54:20] He's telling you honestly that he's not feeling the presence of God right now. But here's what he knows about God.

[00:54:26] God's not done yet. God's got more to do. In fact, as the darkness grows more intense around him, the soldier says, God, send out your light. Send out your truth. Ban, people really need to know who you are. They need to see it. God open their eyes to see who you really are and your love and your mercy. Let them see what the rainbow is really all about. Let them see that that's not what love looks like. Love looks like that. Jesus Christ dying on the cross to pay for people's sin. Send it out. God, send out the light and the truth and let people see it. Open their eyes. And I'm going to run to your presence. And there's gonna be a bunch of us. We're all gonna run them together to God are exceeding joy. And Ryan Pierce is gonna be up there playing the liar.

[00:55:16] That's what it said right here. So, Ryan, let's get a liar. Let's get biblical around here. All right. Let's worship the Lord. We're gonna write new worship songs. It's gonna be great times of worship ahead for us here in this church. I hope to see more and more people who will find refuge in God here with us, worshiping him, praising him. We should be looking forward to what God is yet to do. We should be praying that God will turn things around in a way that only he can. Let's get this down for point number three. Look forward to praising God again.

[00:55:52] And yeah, we've preached on looking forward to Jesus coming and worshiping him in heaven and meeting him in the clouds. And that's a great thing to look forward to. But we also should look forward to God working here in our world, here in our nation, sending out his lighton is truth. Man may not be able to turn everyone around. That's maybe not how it's gonna work. He's able to, but maybe that's not what he's going to do. But I guarantee you he's going to turn some people around in our nation. I guarantee you there's more people right here in Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Westminster, Long Beach, people that need to be saved in God's gonna do it. And they're going to come in here and they're going to start filling up these side sections and they're gonna be standing right next to you and they're going to be worshiping the Lord right next to you.

[00:56:35] And let's hope in that. Let's look forward to that. I don't think that God is done working here among us and our nation. I think he's got more to do. And I want to see it. I'm looking forward to. I don't always feel it. I don't always wake up in the morning stirred up. But when I start to think about the light and the truth being sent down, I start to feel it again. I start to think about us gathering together to worship the Lord. Let's sing it one more time. Ryan Pierce, one more time to start to get stirred up in my heart again. So I look forward to what God is going to do. This is a great way to deal with depression. It's a great way to talk to your downcast soul. Remind yourself of great times praising God. And I'm praying that we're gonna have many good times of praising God as long as Jesus doesn't come back. I want to be praising God right here with you. Beautiful people at CompassHB Bible Church, learning to beach, worshiping the Lord together and who knows what glorious times God has planned for us as we continue to preach his word and give him all the glory. Amen. Well, let's pray right now and we'll continue to worship the Lord God. We thank you so much that you did lift up our countenance today. God, that if we came in here downcast because of what's happening in our nation or maybe downcast just because we feel distant from you personally. God, thank you for this example of Psalm 42 and rolling into Psalm 43. Of what it's like to get stirred up, to get revived, to get our hope back in you, that we're going to praise you yet again. And God, I pray that you would mature us here at this church, that we would know how to stir ourselves up Hadera fan into flame, the the good work that you've begun and ask God the good work that you've promised to complete in us. We know that you're working among us. We know that it's your power that's causing us to obey you and God. Let us get stirred up in that power once again. Let us remind ourselves that we felt close to you before, that we have genuinely had experiences of worship and praise with you and let us that encourage us in the present God and let us look forward to hopefully the best days of our worship being ahead of us. God, as we see more and more get saved and as more and more gather and as we get to know each other better and we come together to pour out our hearts before you and offer up all of our praise God, we do ask that you would send out your light and your truth among us, Scott. We do ask that you would open the eyes of many here in Huntington Beach and the surrounding communities to see who you are so that they would want to join in worshiping you. God, you are so high in heaven above. And we're so far below here on earth. God. And so we'll let us praise you in response. Let us worship you for who you are. Open our eyes to see you again this morning and do a great work among us. We pray this in Jesus name a man.