Life on Level Ground - Psalm 26

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the Calvary Monterey Podcast. To learn more about our church, please visit Calvary.com.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And for additional resources from our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge, please visit NateHoldridge.com.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Teaching today is our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Alright, good morning church. Let's take out our Bibles like Ann said and turn to Psalm 26, Psalm 26.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: We are currently in a study that we've been doing each summer for the last three years through the Psalms.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_01]: We're just going through them sequentially and today we're in Psalm 26.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_01]: This will wrap up our teaching for and through the Psalms for this summer.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And then next week, we'll get back into the study that we're in at the beginning of the summer of the book of James together.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll get back into that next Sunday.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And if I've not met you before, my name's Nate and I would love to meet you.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll be out on the patio after service just saying hi to people or if you need prayer for anything, I'd love to pray for you.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, last week I got back, taught a little sermon to you guys last Sunday morning.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I was on a summer vacation, summer break with my family.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And I got to tell you guys it's been harder for me to like get in the groove again this year.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Normally I come back and I'm like really ready.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like excited to be here.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just am like, no, I want to be back up at the lake right now.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's just like I feel rusty is all it is.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And so it's like my heart is full.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_01]: God has been ministering to me.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: His word has been very alive to me and I'm very excited about what God is doing here.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's just like normally it's like second nature.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Just get back in the saddle, ride the bike, do the thing.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And this last week it just like every single, you ever have those moments where it's like every single thing I'm doing takes me longer

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: than it normally takes me to do that thing.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and so it's just been kind of like that for me.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: The other day my daughter Lauren she was heading back down to Southern California to go to school.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And she I have an office at home.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like in our backyard kind of thing, like little 10 by 10, just like standalone thing.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was back there studying and just doing my thing.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And I told her the night before, like before you get on the road in the morning come out and say goodbye.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I want to hug you.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to look at you one last time.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: So she comes out and then she's like, she's like, but dad, I need you to print something for me in my house.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_01]: We call it dad men.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It's dad men, you know, just like dad, the Wi-Fi is not working dad.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I can't get, you know, YouTube dad, you know, so it's dad men.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So she needed some dad men.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: She couldn't get the printer working.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: She had to print something out.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So I come in the house and I'm doing this thing for her and I follow her into our kitchen.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not in the kitchen yet, but I'm just watching her and she goes to one of our kitchen cupboards.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like around the corner so I can like see her body and I can see her opening the cupboard,

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: but I can't see into the cupboard.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But I just see this look on her face of like surprise and shock.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And then there's like this explosion on the ground at her feet.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And she's like, what was that?

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And then boom, another explosion and then boom, another explosion.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Seven of these little miniature explosions and stuff is like spraying all over the kitchen.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01]: What happened was someone in our family took an 18 pack of Diet Cokes and wanted one,

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: pulled it out and then put it on its side so that they were just ready like, like bombs

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: in a airplane just ready to like pop out.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And so she didn't get it shut until seven of those things exploded.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was like on the ceiling, it was in the opposite corner of the kitchen.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know my sweet daughter, she's like grabs like a paper towel and she's like,

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Dad, all clean this.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, girl, we're literally standing in like a lake of Diet Coke right now.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, you just get out of here.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll clean this up.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it took like an hour, you know, just your, it's like, it was in the blinds.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I had to like wash the blinds, you know, it's just, it was terrible.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, man, the good thing is that all week I've been reading this book

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: by a pastor in Sri Lanka about the theology of suffering.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And like this book has just been so good for me because his whole book is filled

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: with all these stories from the mission field, all these stories of real legitimate

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Christian suffering and pain and the joy that is found in serving Jesus in the midst of all that.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just been so great for me.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of put like my, my whole life in perspective, you know,

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: like I don't have any real problems or trials or sufferings or struggles

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_01]: in comparison to so many who are out there on the front lines doing what they need to do for Jesus.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was thinking about that whole thing just to me, like that little moment it was like,

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: man, this is like a parable of life.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a parable of life.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it just feels like this.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: You ever feel like you're just, you're just like a millisecond away from saying something,

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: doing something, running into something that just causes an explosion.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like we live in such a delicate era and age.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It just feels like I'm just like a millisecond from offending somebody.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a millisecond away from, you know, getting angry or upset.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like a couple of taps away on my screen from getting agitated and angry.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just like always just on the edge.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And today in Psalm 26, we get a Psalm that talks to us of life on solid ground.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: That's how the Psalm ends.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: David sings, he prays, he cries out to God, I am on solid ground.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't begin that way with this Psalm.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see him say, vindicate me God.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: He's struggling.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a prayer for someone who is in pain, someone who is under attack,

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: someone for whom life has become a little too much.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: David will cry out to God.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And what I want to share with you today is just a real simple word.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's so often what the Psalms will do for us.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01]: They just bring us back to the simple realities of worship and love

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and dedication to Yahweh, dedication to God.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, one of the reasons that we're going through the Psalms in the summer,

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01]: it's just like a, I'll admit it's a pragmatist.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a dramatic or practical reason.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the pastors have times of vacation and travel during the summer,

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: myself included.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of you have times of travel and all of that during the summer months.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And the Psalms can be very standalone in nature.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're on a cruise in the Mediterranean and you miss church one week,

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: you come the next week and the Psalm that's there for you,

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_01]: it really doesn't require that you're familiar with what happened before

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: or the Psalm before in order to hear from the Lord in that current Psalm.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's part of the reason why we've been doing that.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: But what I don't want to give is the impression that there is no sequence to the Psalms.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: If you were to build a graph, and I didn't take the time to do this for you guys today,

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: but if you were to build a graph of the entire 150 chapter or 50 Psalm, Psalm book,

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_01]: what you would see at the beginning, if you took two categories, lament and praise,

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: you would discover that at the beginning of the song book,

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_01]: it's higher in lament and lower in praise.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_01]: The goal though of each song book,

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and there's five books of the Psalms in these 150 Psalms,

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01]: the very last Psalm of each book ends with a song of praise.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like praise is building, but it starts higher in lament.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And then it goes down and as lament goes down, praise goes up until at the end of the Psalms.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, in 2048 when we're in our final legs of studying the Psalms together as a church,

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: it's just all praise. It's praise, praise, praise.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that part of the reason for that is because that's the design of the Psalms themselves,

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: is to bring us from lament into praise,

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to just be like a little mechanism, a little reminder that says to us,

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_01]: oh yeah, there is a God. I want to be devoted to him.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to walk with him. I want to serve him.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to love him with the entirety of my life,

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: which by the way is pretty much the design of so much in the Christian life.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: The weekly gathering, that's kind of a major part of that.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Not that we would always be learning new things.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean hopefully as you're going through the word there's stuff like,

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know that before. That's great for me to learn.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: It's adding to my knowledge base and all of that,

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: but it serves so often as simply a refresher and reminder for us to say,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: yes, this next week it will be God's week.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm dedicating myself afresh to him. I'm giving my life to him.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And so that really I think is the purpose of the Psalms and this Psalm in particular.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Now here at the beginning of Psalm 26,

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: we learned that it's a Psalm of David.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I think sometimes we get a little too caught up in the prescript of these Psalms.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: We really want to know like when did David write this and what was the situation that he wrote it in?

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: But the Psalms don't give us that.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think if I could say it like this,

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: the ancient Israelites really didn't seem to care about that all that much.

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_01]: What they were concerned with was how can we use this song in our congregational praise and worship.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01]: So probably we should be thinking, it's okay to be thinking about David,

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_01]: what was he going through when he wrote this and all that kind of stuff.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And some Psalms give us a little bit of that backstory,

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's probably important for us to add to that the concept of this,

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_01]: this is like something that an ancient Israelite worshipper on their way ascending the hill to Jerusalem

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: would be singing or thinking or praying to God when they went to the house of the Lord.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And part of the reason that we would think that with Psalm 26 is that it's a prayer of dedication.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: David's going to say, I'm dedicating my life to God,

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: which is the kind of thing a worshipper would do on their way to the temple.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I've said a lot of things already today, but I haven't read the Psalm yet.

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So let's read the Psalm together.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 26 of David,

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: vindicate me, oh Lord, for I have walked in my integrity

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_01]: and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Prove me, oh Lord, and try me, test my mind and my heart and my mind.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: For your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I do not sit with men of falsehood nor do I consort with hypocrites.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I hate the assembly of evil doers and I will not sit with the wicked.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, oh Lord,

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01]: proclaiming thanksgiving aloud and telling all your wondrous deeds.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Do not sweep my soul away with sinners nor my life with bloodthirsty men

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_01]: But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity, redeem me, and be gracious to me.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Would I want to draw your attention today to our two practices in this Psalm?

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: If I could just condense it down to two practices in this Psalm that I think lead to the life that is described in the last line,

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_01]: life on level ground.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a dual focus in this Psalm.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: It seems that first of all, there's a commitment from David, a commitment from the Psalmist to a life of integrity.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: That's sort of practice number one.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I will commit to a life of integrity.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: In the text it says in verse one, I have walked in my integrity

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And in verse 11 it concludes with, but as for me, I shall walk in my integrity.

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Now I know that sometimes we get tripped up with statements like this in the Bible,

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_01]: especially when we read the little prescripts to the Psalms and we're like,

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: of David, you know, and we're like, man, I know about that guy's life.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And here he is. He's bumping his gums about integrity and I've walked in my integrity and all of that.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think this is a, first of all, this is under the inspiration of the spirit.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: This is for people to pray to God as a prayer of commitment to the Lord.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But this is not like a universal at all times of my life.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I have always been completely committed to God prayer.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a fresh commitment to him.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And at least in this season of his life, this is what he's able to be praying to God.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_01]: There are prayers of repentance in the Psalms as well, but this is not one of them.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_01]: This is one of those prayers of commitment to God.

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I'm devoted to you. I will follow you.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_01]: This is great for us because as we get back into the book of James next week,

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: really that is what the book of James is giving to us.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_01]: We've kind of framed it as looking at the life or a profile of Christian maturity.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And the way I've said it is that the book of James is like an exposition from,

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I think Jesus's half brother, so to speak, James.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It's an exposition on the life of Jesus in epistolary or in letter form.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_01]: He's like just describing Jesus all throughout the book of James.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the pinnacle of maturity.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't hit that mark all the time.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the aim, however, of the Holy Spirit as he works in us, as he changes us,

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_01]: as he transforms our lives.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And in one of the opening verses of the book of James,

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_01]: James says, and I'm praying for you, that you would be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And I want trials to have their perfect work in your life so that joy would come

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_01]: so that you would be perfect and complete and lacking nothing.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: An echo of Jesus' words way back in the Sermon on the Mount when he said,

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_01]: you therefore be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: He's not saying you're somehow going to live a life of sinless perfection in the here and now,

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_01]: but I also don't think he's just merely saying, hey, wait for it.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Imputed justification is coming and in the eyes of God, you'll be perfect.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: He seems to be saying that plus commit to a life of growth and change and transformation.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Now the book of James gives that to us.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think this Psalm is giving it to us as well.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: A desire to be complete or healthy or upright or pure or innocent before God.

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, the context here would be an ancient Israelite worshipper approaching the temple

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_01]: or approaching the tabernacle, maybe even bringing an animal sacrifice with them on the way to that tabernacle.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And they're thinking like, God, this is the life I want.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be dedicated to you, probably confessing sins along the way.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, here's some ways in my life.

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I have not been dedicated to you, but I want that to change in my life.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to offer you this sacrifice of praise, cleanse me, wash me, renew me,

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_01]: but help me to commit to you.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_01]: The second though leg of this Psalm and I told you there seems to be kind of like a dual focus in this Psalm,

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: a commitment to integrity, which we're going to revisit in a second.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: The second commitment is to seek grace.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_01]: To seek grace.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, look all throughout this Psalm, verse 11, redeem me and be gracious to me.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Like here he is in the midst of this strong commitment to God.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, but simultaneously God, would you pour out your abundant supply of grace upon my life because I so desperately need it?

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't that the Christian life?

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, here I am.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm committing, I'm re-upping, but at the very same time, God, I need you to redeem me.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I need you to cleanse me.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I need you to wash me.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I need you to be patient with me.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And all throughout the Psalm, there are appeals to, I think, the grace of God.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: You see, no matter how much we commit to God, we're still in need of his grace.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And if we want to commit to God, we need to tap into the power of his grace.

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's just the reality of our lives.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Before I went on vacation this last summer, I had a week down in Southern California.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I got invited to speak at a camp for high schoolers, a high school camp.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: A church was down there doing their thing.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And for whatever reason, they're like, we want to get Nate Holdridge there.

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So I got the invitation.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I don't even know if it works out on my calendar, but yes, I'm going to be there.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I love teenagers.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I love high schoolers.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was there doing my thing.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And then there was a night that I was in a hotel with a friend of mine, and we're there.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, I need to get a workout in.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So I went to the hotel gym.

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And it was like your typical hotel gym, a few treadmills.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And then there was these things where you sit down and you're pedaling while you're sitting down.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like holding on, I don't know what that's called.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And there were some like free weights and stuff.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just doing a few things, you know?

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And as I'm working out, I'm like lifting some weights a little bit.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I look over in this gym, and this gym is like pristine.

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01]: It's very clean and everything.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_01]: But I look over and in the corner, like against the wall, there's a gummy bear.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just started thinking about the poor person who was like with the best intentions is like, I'm going to go work out.

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to bring my gummy bears.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Like committed, but also not like I'm going to work out.

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to get fit, but also I just need a little snack while I'm eating.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, kind of they're just kind of, I don't know.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I just said, I imagine this whole fictitious person, you know, rolling in.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_01]: It was just it was, I don't, I won't bring you into the depths of my mind anymore than that.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: But I think this so often is us.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, I'm raising my hands.

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm offering my gifts.

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm offering my service.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm recommitting my life.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm dedicating myself to you.

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And then man, we slip.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_01]: There's grace that is required.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is why I think the Psalm is just a real bring it back to basics.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_01]: What is the Christian life?

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_01]: What does it mean to walk with God?

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_01]: It means to commit to this life of moral integrity where you're saying whatever the word says, that's what I want to be.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: But then also partaking continuously drinking from the fountain of his grace.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And if I could say it like this, I think the Christian life gets terrible or boring when one of those two things is eliminated.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01]: When we make it all about moral integrity and we think we don't need grace, then first of all, I guarantee you've got way too low a bar or definition of what moral integrity looks like.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Because God is trying to do surgery on the human heart.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: He's not just doing outward religiosity.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So when you're in touch with that, it puts you in touch with your need for grace.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But when you reduce the Christian life to just simply the receiving of grace, a lot of times the Christian life becomes redefined into basically I do whatever I want to do because God has to do what God has to do.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And he has to forgive me for the things that I've done and it's more of a license than a relationship with the living God.

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_01]: But these two pillars are so important for us as we're walking with him.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's that commitment, that life of moral integrity which by the way like you can make this commitment.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_01]: It's popular in some Christian circles in these days to say no, that's not true.

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_01]: You'll never make it.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_01]: You'll never be able to walk with God.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not the reality of scripture.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_01]: What kind of maniac of a God would we have then?

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Because over and over again, he's like I'm inviting you into this.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I've given you my son to make the way for this to be possible.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I've also given you my son to be the model for you to look at to see what I'm trying to produce in your life.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And I've deposited my spirit into you.

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm inviting you into this with the word over and over again.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I've made the way for it through the gospel.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I've modeled it in my only begotten son and my spirit is residing within you if you're a believer.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to do this in you.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's possible.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't believe the message.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, you'll never experience victory in Christ.

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So both of these practices are necessary.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01]: So let's just think for the rest of our time together about these two practices,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: committing to integrity and pursuing the grace of God.

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just want to think about them just from the text itself.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: To me as I look at these 11 verses and I think about that commitment to integrity,

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_01]: it breaks down into a few different categories of commitment to me.

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01]: First of all, in the first few verses, verse one through three, there's this like commitment saying,

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I'm going to walk with you.

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: He says there in verse one, I've walked in my integrity.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, I have committed to that and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And then at the end of verse two, he reaffirms, doubles down on that commitment.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I walk in your faithfulness.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_01]: He's just making this commitment to God.

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I am going to walk with you.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I heard this interesting research recently about the mental health of people who are religious.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_01]: They study such things and it's one of the things that makes the naturalistic or atheistic community kind of upset or frustrated

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01]: because time after time, studies show that people who are religious to some degree,

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_01]: there seems to be a higher level of mental health and satisfaction with life and relationships and things like that.

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_01]: But I heard some nuance to it recently that it isn't so much that they are naming themselves as religious.

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's a set of doctrines that I believe that I hold to, but that they're actually then,

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_01]: and here's the big kicker, like just wait for it.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_01]: They also then they go to church.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like just right there.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you know, it's one thing to say it and all of that, but then those who have made that commitment to a body of believers.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It just seems to do something to their lives.

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And David here or the psalmist is singing or praying God, I am going to commit to your house.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to commit to a life of walking with you.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to commit to a life of devotion to you.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be all in.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to walk with you.

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, a few minutes ago, Jeanine was up here during the announcements time and she was sharing about our small groups,

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_01]: our life groups and everything.

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And I've been thinking about those recently because to me they're so important for our church, you know, the church.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_01]: When I read the book of Acts, I see these big gatherings and then I see these small gatherings.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And when I read the epistles, I read of all these like exhortations and commissions that are congregational in nature

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_01]: and then all these exhortations and commissions that are very small and relational in nature.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we've tried to emulate that in our church.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we have our gatherings each weekend and then during the week we get together in these smaller environments.

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And we've tried to make it like as easy as possible, you know, like they're not 52 weeks out of the year.

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like 24 weeks out of the year.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_01]: They're not meeting in the summer quarter so that you can get done in the spring and have a break.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're like, that was really weird and then there wasn't a love connection with that group.

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_01]: You can like pick a new one the next quarter, you know, and like not look at your old life group.

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how you guys do it but, you know, we try to do all these things.

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes I wonder, are we making the bar too low for you?

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, because when life group leaders get a chance to share, and by the way, life group leaders in a couple of weeks

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_01]: we're going to have a night of worship and prayer rather than a typical launch night where we share with you

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_01]: like how the groups are doing and stuff like that.

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Because God is just impressed on my heart and Janine's heart that without the power of God, what are we doing?

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_01]: We've got to seek the Lord together. We've got to cry out to God together.

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And I've been to a few of these last launch dinners and I know there's a lot of leaders and hosts.

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01]: You're not there and I'd love for you to be there at this one so that we can seek the Lord together, cry out to him together.

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_01]: But as I was thinking about that, I was just thinking, because if you talk to leaders,

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_01]: my train of thought is going in a different direction.

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_01]: If you talk to leaders and you ask them what would you love to see happen in your group,

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_01]: one of the most common answers is just consistency.

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Consistency in the commitment.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, to say it's not just that I signed up but like I'm there because here's the thing.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_01]: When you get to like week eight and you're committed to that group and you're warming up to this new group of people

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_01]: and you're getting ready to share something real or vulnerable with that group

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_01]: and then the guy that signed up at the beginning of the quarter and came to week one

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and then week three and wasn't there for the last five weeks come rolling in.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't feel as safe in that moment.

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_01]: You're building over time.

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And so my encouragement, I mean here he's just saying God, I'm committed.

[00:29:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm committed to you and if that connects with you then great.

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But another thing about his commitment to God is he commits to where he's going to receive his wisdom.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse four and five.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_01]: He says, I do not sit with men of falsehood nor do I consort with hypocrites.

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I hate the assembly of evil doers and I will not sit with the wicked.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_01]: This is like strong language as he makes this commitment to receiving wisdom from the right place.

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of wisdom claims out there.

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_01]: You know people are claiming all sorts of stuff.

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I am right now.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm doing.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to take you through the Bible.

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_01]: So we're constantly wrestling with that.

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_01]: This little phrase right here, this desire for wisdom.

[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds to me like the big kickoff Psalm one.

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Psalm one verse one.

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take

[00:30:48] [SPEAKER_01]: or sit in the company of mockers but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night.

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of scholars think that Psalm one and two kind of set the tone for the rest of the hymn book, the rest of the Psalms.

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And I agree.

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_01]: You know and here he's kind of saying God I'm not going to do that.

[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to stand in the path of the sinners.

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to sit in the seat of the scornful.

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to do that.

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to resist that.

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go to the right places for wisdom which when you go back to Psalm one, you go, okay, that's the word of God.

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I know what you're probably thinking when you read phrases like men of falsehood, consorting with hypocrites, hating the assembly of evil doers sitting with the wicked.

[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_01]: It's super easy to just immediately and reflexively you start thinking about the world.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, we have all kinds of warnings in the New Testament like where we're to not love the world or the things of the world.

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And when it says that it talks about its meaning the world system, the lies of the world, the concepts of the world, the wisdom of the world.

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: We're not to be about that.

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_01]: We're to love the people of the world like God.

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_01]: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But here I think that that would be included in this commitment like God, I'm not going to go to the world for my source of wisdom, but he's using some religious words, words like assembly and words like congregation.

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Because even David or the ancient Israelite worshipers knew that when they went to church, not everyone at church was all in.

[00:32:43] [SPEAKER_01]: They knew that.

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And so he's saying God, you know, I mean, David is part of Israelite culture.

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like these are God's people, God's church in that era, God's house or God's family.

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's looking around and going, you know, there's some people in God's family that are in.

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_01]: They're pursuing him.

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_01]: They're about him.

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's others that are walking in the ways of unrighteousness.

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's just kind of saying like, God, I'm not going to build my life, my scheme for success, my grid for how things work.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to build it based off of those types of people.

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to look for the godly in the house.

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to look for the holy in the house.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to look for the sanctified in the house.

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And those are the people that I am going to attempt to follow with my life.

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that.

[00:33:34] [SPEAKER_01]: He just commits to a life of wisdom.

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I heard an interview recently with this famous retired soccer star named Zlatan Zlatan.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I've never, but it just like I heard this was like, you got to listen to this guy.

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: He's crazy.

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I listened to this thing just for fun.

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the interviewer was asking him, he's like, hey, so I've studied all your tattoos that you have.

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to ask you about your tattoos.

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, I heard that on your rib cage, you have a tattoo that says only God can judge me.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And normally when somebody says something like that, it means like, you all cannot judge me.

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Only God can judge me.

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And so the interviewer asked him, he's like, so are you religious then?

[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, no, I'm not religious.

[00:34:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, okay, well, then what does that mean?

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And he just looked at the interviewer and said, who is God?

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And the interview says, oh, you think you're God?

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: He said, that's right.

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Only I can judge me.

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing a spot on impersonation right now.

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Just show you guys know.

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a way of saying, I'm going to build my life off my wisdom.

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_01]: My way.

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But the psalmist is committing and saying God, I'm not going to pursue that.

[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to pursue your wisdom.

[00:34:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And finally he makes this commitment to worship because look at how the Psalm concludes.

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_01]: He's got in verse six, I'm going to go around your altar.

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse seven, I'm going to proclaim Thanksgiving aloud.

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Also in verse seven, I'm going to tell all your wondrous deeds.

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_01]: That's worship.

[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse eight, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And then the whole Psalm ends with a beautiful little phrase in verse 12.

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I will bless the Lord.

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_01]: So he's just making this strong commitment to praise his God.

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'd encourage you to do that.

[00:35:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Make that commitment to the Lord, God every day.

[00:35:40] [SPEAKER_01]: It might take three minutes.

[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_01]: It might be an hour, but I'm going to take some time to praise you, to worship you.

[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_01]: You know when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, you guys remember this?

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_01]: They came to him.

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I think that everyone's like, yeah, I pray.

[00:35:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I know how to pray.

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I know what to do in prayer.

[00:35:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And then they watch Jesus pray and they're like, we don't know.

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't know how to pray.

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_01]: We clearly have no idea what we're doing.

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So they said, Lord, teach us to pray.

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, when you pray, pray like this.

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name.

[00:36:12] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not really a word we use that much, that word hallowed.

[00:36:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's like, what's prayer request number one?

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_01]: God, here's what I want more than anything.

[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Father, I want your name to be esteemed, loved, adored, revered.

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm going to do.

[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to praise you.

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to tune my heart afresh to you.

[00:36:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got other prayer requests.

[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, your kingdom come.

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Give us this day our daily bread.

[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got other prayers, but here's where I'm starting.

[00:36:49] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I want your name to be esteemed.

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so that's his commitment.

[00:36:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Where does he seek grace though as we wrap this up this morning?

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Where does he seek grace?

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, he seeks it in a few different places.

[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_01]: One place that he seeks grace to me is found again in verse one and two.

[00:37:09] [SPEAKER_01]: He wants God to test him.

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_01]: He wants God to test him.

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER_01]: He says vindicate me, verse one, prove me, verse two, try me, verse two.

[00:37:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Test my heart and my mind.

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You say, what?

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't sound like grace.

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_01]: What are you talking about?

[00:37:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Only a person who is steeped in the grace of God is going to pray this prayer.

[00:37:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Only a person who understands the merciful, surgical, beautiful, hopeful, sanctifying nature of God's spirit is going to pray this kind of prayer.

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I'm looking for you.

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm opening up my heart and I want you to do an audit.

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to inspect.

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to weigh in right now in how I'm doing what I'm about.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And we can do this often, you know.

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_01]: To me, the word of the Lord, the word of God is the sword of the spirit.

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the scalpel of God.

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the surgical instrument that he so often uses and there are so many places in the Bibles.

[00:38:16] [SPEAKER_01]: You're just going through it that can serve as like a diagnostic.

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, when you bring your car into the mechanic and they, you know, nowadays they take your car and they hook up a little, their little computer to see what's that check engine light for or how is this car doing?

[00:38:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It's running that little diagnostic check.

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And as we're going through the Bible, there's so many passages like this.

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I just have one for you guys to look at.

[00:38:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Second Peter 1 verse 5 through 9.

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Look at what Peter writes.

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_01]: He says, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self control, self control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_01]: If these quality qualities are yours and are increasing, they'll keep you from being useless and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_01]: The person who, and then Peter gets real hardcore.

[00:39:18] [SPEAKER_01]: The person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Tell us what you really think, Peter.

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, but this kind of passage is all throughout the New Testament.

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Surfs is a great diagnostic not to crush you, but a great diagnostic to come to the Lord and say, Lord, test me. Try me.

[00:39:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Look into my life and heart.

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there goodness? Am I growing in knowledge? Where's my self control? Am I an enduring person?

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there godliness, brotherly affection?

[00:39:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there love coming from my life?

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_01]: You know how in the Olympics right now we're just like being bombarded with Snoop Dogg?

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_01]: You guys noticed that? Like he's just everywhere. It's like this guy has a helicopter for sure in Paris right now.

[00:40:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And for me as a kid who grew up in the 90s, it's just a trip because it's like he's not a good guy.

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Have you listened to these lyrics before? You know, like, but anyways, he's out there doing his thing and I saw him giving an interview

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and he's like, my religion is love.

[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, okay. And he's like, because it's the only religion that doesn't put restrictions on you.

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm thinking that wasn't a very good Snoop that I just did, but the second I heard that I'm like, okay, we got a totally different definition of love than Snoop.

[00:40:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Because love in a Christian context, it puts all kinds of restrictions on me.

[00:40:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It makes massive demands of my life.

[00:40:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It calls me to take up my cross, deny myself and follow Jesus every day.

[00:40:58] [SPEAKER_01]: It calls me to pay a price for other people.

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But as you're looking at words like this from Peter and other passages in scripture, it's like a diagnostic check for our hearts.

[00:41:09] [SPEAKER_01]: The other thing though that he wants with grace is that he'd be cleansed, that he'd be cleansed.

[00:41:17] [SPEAKER_01]: He's expecting God's grace.

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse three, your steadfast love is before my eyes.

[00:41:23] [SPEAKER_01]: He's appealing to God's nature.

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I wash my hands.

[00:41:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse six at your altar.

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I love the habitation of your house verse eight.

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Do not sweep my soul away with sinners.

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse nine, cleanse my hands.

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 10, he wants to be cleansed.

[00:41:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And then finally and lastly for the sake of time, he gets to his final request about seeking grace.

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_01]: He wants redemption in his life.

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse 11.

[00:41:57] [SPEAKER_01]: He says redeem me and be gracious to me.

[00:42:02] [SPEAKER_01]: That word redeem, it's a word that if you were an ancient Israelite, you'd be hard pressed to say the word redeem without having your brain scan the book of Exodus.

[00:42:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Because that was their seminal redemption moment.

[00:42:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Like this is it.

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_01]: We were enslaved.

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We were in captivity.

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER_01]: We were bound.

[00:42:27] [SPEAKER_01]: We were dying as a people.

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_01]: We cried out to God.

[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_01]: He sent a deliverer.

[00:42:32] [SPEAKER_01]: He sent plagues.

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_01]: He confronted Pharaoh.

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_01]: He confronted the false gods that we were bound by.

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_01]: He judged them and he set us free through the waters of the Red Sea and the blood of the Passover lamb.

[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_01]: He set us free.

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_01]: He redeemed us.

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_01]: He bought us for himself.

[00:42:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And you would not be able to talk about redemption and pray for redemption as an Israelite person without thinking of that backstory.

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what he's wanting.

[00:43:03] [SPEAKER_01]: God, I need your grace.

[00:43:05] [SPEAKER_01]: There are still areas of my life that I'm not yet free in or I feel like I'm still bound and I want you, Lord, to set me free.

[00:43:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to change me.

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to transform me.

[00:43:18] [SPEAKER_01]: How many of you have that feeling before God?

[00:43:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for redeeming.

[00:43:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Keep on redeeming.

[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And here's the thing.

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_01]: When that kind of spirit or attitude is developed within us, it creates this cyclical thing where we respond by then recommitting afresh to a life of integrity before God, which drives us to a need for more grace, which drives us to say, God, I'm recommitting afresh to you again and again and again.

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_01]: I had this funny experience recently with our pastoral team.

[00:44:01] [SPEAKER_01]: We were heading offsite one day to go visit a potential property that the bridge restoration ministry is looking at and praying and asking God to provide for them.

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And so one of our wonderful co-laborers, Johanna, she was driving her SUV and it was myself and Pastor Manny and Pastor Riley who were all going with her on this trip in her car.

[00:44:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And Manny is what I would describe a larger human being if you've ever noticed.

[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's his arms look like most of your legs, you know, he's just a strong big guy.

[00:44:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a small person either.

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we were the first two pastors out to the car.

[00:44:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Riley was back behind.

[00:44:55] [SPEAKER_01]: He was still coming and I've gone on so many road trips with Riley and I've seen him ride in the third row.

[00:45:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Of the SUV like so many times like, Hey, you're a smaller guy.

[00:45:06] [SPEAKER_01]: You're comfortable in the back, right?

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, Hey, Manny, let's give Riley shotgun.

[00:45:12] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we'll sit in the second row.

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's see what happens when he rolls up.

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll let him have shotgun and I thought he was going to laugh at us.

[00:45:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought he was going to like be like, Oh, that's ridiculous.

[00:45:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Nate, get up here.

[00:45:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Your legs are like nine feet long.

[00:45:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Get up here.

[00:45:25] [SPEAKER_01]: No, I thought he was going to do something like that instead.

[00:45:27] [SPEAKER_01]: He got up to the car and he looked in the windows and he said, I get to ride shotgun.

[00:45:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, he was so excited.

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_01]: He sat in there.

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, I never get to ride shotgun.

[00:45:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You guys my whole life.

[00:45:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in the middle or I'm in the third row.

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I never get.

[00:45:48] [SPEAKER_01]: He was like thanking us, praising us.

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_01]: He was so appreciative of that.

[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I might be laying it on a little bit right now, but he was having a good time up there riding shotgun and I loved it.

[00:46:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, yeah, that's that's that.

[00:46:04] [SPEAKER_01]: This is what we're looking for.

[00:46:06] [SPEAKER_01]: We come into it.

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_01]: God says, I'm going to love you.

[00:46:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I care for you.

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_01]: You're mine.

[00:46:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to have a relationship with you.

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I forgive you.

[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to perpetually cleanse you.

[00:46:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to just keep working in your life.

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we're to say, I can't believe that I get this.

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we respond with God, I'm committing to you.

[00:46:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm committing to you.

[00:46:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for tuning in.

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you next week.