WEBVTT - I Left That Out (Jonathan Josephs) 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.600 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:21.800 new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.720 So good to be with you guys today. My name 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.120 is Jonathan. Everyone calls me JJ. I get to serve 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:33.360 here as our Valentine campus pastor, and I'm grateful to 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:35.080 be able to share God's word with you today. 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:37.720 You know, I'm so we're just sinking God. 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:39.919 I'm just grateful for you, and I feel so grateful 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.280 this week, not only grateful for the opportunity to share 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:43.920 God's word. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:44.720 But I was just thinking too. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.880 In just a couple of weeks, we'll celebrate ten years 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:49.880 since this Valentine location opened. 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.360 Isn't that crazy? Ten years already? 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.400 And even as I look around this room, I'm so grateful. 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.280 I see people who have, you know, come at different 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.080 points along the journey, but so many OG's in the room. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.000 Katrina and Antonio all ten years you've been serving with 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.039 us here. Yeah, and whoel Tom and Lisa are on 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.560 the floor and Craig name you've been here all ten too? Yeah, Yeah, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:12.319 it's amazing. 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:12.760 Thank you. 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.680 And Anna said in the car, She's like, can you 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.119 believe that you were just twenty nine years old when 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.840 Pastor Steven asked you to come help launch this Valentine campus. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.320 And I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.759 so glad that he saw something in me and believed. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:28.840 I'm so grateful for a pastor who would let me 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.280 grow with the ministry, and these last ten years, being 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.280 able to be a part of so many of your 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.600 lives has been such a privilege, and I want to 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.200 thank Pastor Stephen for the opportunity to preach today. And 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.280 even as I look back over the ten years, I've 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:42.880 been a part of the church longer than that, but 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.360 so many moments where the messages that God gave him 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.800 hit me exactly in the place that I needed the most. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.559 Even on this Father's Day weekend, I was getting teary 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.360 thinking about how my firstborn, when I first became a dad. 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:56.920 Just a week later, we ended up back in the 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:02.080 hospital with him. Remember turning on ugh, oh man, excuse me, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.000 but turn it on the stream in that hospital room, 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.480 watching Pastor preach in the series called How to Be Brave, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.280 And at a moment where I needed courage. How his 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.080 words gave me courage and so many other moments along 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:15.520 the way when I wanted to give up and he 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.600 preached moments sermons like staying power, or where I felt 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:21.240 lonely and he preached lonely places. 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:22.760 All these amazing messages that. 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.919 Have just carried me through season to season, glory to glory, 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:26.760 strength to strength. 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:28.799 Or He's so grateful for our pastors. 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:34.760 Can we thank the Lord for them? And this whole 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.079 summer has been amazing so far. I mean, we've had 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.360 so many great people bringing the Word of God to us. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.160 Pastor Jabon preached a powerful word for us last week, 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.760 and Pastor Robert mcdou what was that mess? 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:45.679 Unbelievable? 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.320 And who else I'll be preached one weekend. I'll be 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.320 at a great word for us and Forriscilla Shire, like 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:53.280 what was Oh my. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:54.799 Goodness, Oh my goodness. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.040 So but I have a scripture I'm excited to share 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.720 with you today. I've never preached on a psalm, and 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.000 I just came across the Psalm in my daily reading 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:04.840 and administered to me so much that I thought I 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.680 want to preach that. And as I begin to study 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.480 this passage, the Lord begin to reveal more and more 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.760 to me through it, and really challenged me in a 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.520 way that was pretty profound and personal. It's a long 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.560 passage of scripture. You good to stand for a little 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.520 bit while we read this together. I want to read 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.720 Psalm one thirty nine, and it's so rich. I don't 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.440 know what the sermon will bless you today, but I 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.720 know this passage of scripture will bless you today. Let's 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:31.040 read this together. The Psalmist said, you have searched me, Lord, 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.760 and you know me. You know when I sit and 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.480 when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.040 discern my going out and. 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:39.800 My laying down. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:43.240 You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.320 is on my tongue, you Lord know it completely. You 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.880 hem me in behind, and before you lay your hand 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.240 upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.560 lofty for me to obtain. Where can I go from 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.120 your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? When 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:01.880 I go up to the heavens, you are there. If 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:03.720 I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.160 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.160 I settle on the far side of the sea, even there, 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.000 Your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.360 me fast. If I say surely, the darkness will hide me, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.440 and the light become night around me. Even the darkness 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.200 will not be dark to you. The night will shine 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.760 like the day, For darkness is as light to you. 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.920 For you created my inmost being. You knit me together 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.720 in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:32.520 fearfully and wonderfully made. 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.120 Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.599 frame was not hidden from you when I was made 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:40.040 in the secret place. 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.159 When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.480 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.719 for me were written in your book before one of 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.080 them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts? God, 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.880 How vast is the sum of them. Where I had 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.360 to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.599 When I awake still I am with you. Search me, God, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.599 and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.360 See if there is any offensive way in me, and 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.520 lead me in the way everlasting. Before I give you 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.279 my title, would you just make David's words your prayer 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.480 this morning? Would you just say search me God. Now 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.880 say it to your father in heaven, say search me God. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.560 The title of my message today is I left that out. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.760 I left that out. You may be seated. 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.159 This is always a big week in our household. Two 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.480 of my kids had birthdays this week and of course 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.840 Father's Day, and then just a week ago, me and 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:50.040 Anna celebrated sixteen years of marriage. Praise the Lord. They 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.920 said we wouldn't make it look at us. One of 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.000 the things we've really made a priority in our marriage 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.159 and our life over the last several years now is 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.680 doing a marriage counseling together. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.120 So helpful. Every time I say that, people go like, oh, no, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:03.520 what's wrong, But for. 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.280 Us, it was, you know, we just saw, wouldn't it 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.200 be good to talk with someone regularly, get perspective, get 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:12.920 healthy before something goes wrong, you know, especially as life 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.279 becomes more complex, is we're trying to raise kids and 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:16.800 all that, and so we've been doing this for a 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.360 few years now and it's been so helpful for us. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.800 Ninety nine percent of our time with the counselor is 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:26.239 Anna working through things. But now and then there's something 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:31.120 that comes up that pertains to me and anyone who 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.159 knows this knows that's very far from the truth, okay. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.720 But one of the things that the counselor's been really 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:38.400 trying to work with me on that I can tell 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.240 she keeps nudging and it's taken me a while to 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.760 get the hint, is just being more open and being 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:44.799 a little bit more vulnerable. I can be a pretty 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:46.640 guarded person. I'm a nice person, but I can be 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.440 a pretty guarded person. And I can tell the counselor's 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.560 been working with me, trying to work with me on that, 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.040 because even in mine and Anna's relationship, it's like I'll 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.080 come home from work and I'm so interested in her 0:06:58.160 --> 0:06:59.640 day and what the kids are up to, and we'll 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.040 listen to her stories from throughout the day, and when 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:03.840 she asked me, how was your day, I normally give 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.680 her this answer it was good, it was good, and 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.880 it's not a lie, it's just limited. That's kind of 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.120 all I give her. And then I'm realizing something's wrong 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.560 with me when I see her using little tricks on 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.120 me that she uses on our boys, Like she'll ask 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:19.760 them around the dinner table, what were your. 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:20.560 Highs and lows? 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.800 And they seemed to talk a little bit more so 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:24.920 when she started asking me what was your highs and lows? 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.400 I go, oh, my goodness, I need to grow. God 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.200 help me. And so the counselor's been she's been trying 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:32.880 to help me in this. And I had a friend 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.720 this week he said it this way. He said, full 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:43.480 intimacy requires full access. Full intimacy requires full access. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:44.920 And even as I. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.320 Think about it in my relationship with Anna and other 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.200 relationships in my life, I'm realizing more and more that 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.680 even when it comes to my relationship with God, there's 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.000 a lot of things that I leave out when it 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:57.560 comes to my prime. 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.080 And prayer with Him, my walk with him. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.160 Thing is that I think, oh, that's just too small 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:03.920 for God to care about. Other people are going through 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.040 way harder things than that. Why would God care about this? 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.280 I'll just leave that out. Or things that I feel 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.520 are too messy, too shameful to bring to God, so 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.840 I just leave that out. But more and more I'm 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.760 realizing that to have an intimate relationship with God, to 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.880 really know him, it requires that I give him full 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.760 access to my life. This time last year, I'm father's 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:25.880 dad preached a message called All I Know. It was 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.360 about personally experiencing the power of God, the testimonies we 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.640 build through. That really is such a theme of my 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.960 life because I think that deep down I have such 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.440 a desire to know the Lord. One of my favorite 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.560 scriptures my life Versus Philippians three ten, where Paul says, 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.200 my one purpose is that I would know Christ. 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.480 It resonates with me. That really resonates with me. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.600 And yet I think, as deeply as I desire to 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.640 know the Lord, there's a part of me that really 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:56.360 hesitates to let the Lord know me. But full intimacy 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:02.040 requires full access. This psalm is so beautiful because David 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.600 is laying forth a theology that tells us so much 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.000 about God. There's a simple structure to this. It goes 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.800 six verses, six verses, six verses. For the first six verses, 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.080 he's talking about this simple idea that God knows everything. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.719 The theological term for that is God is omniscient. It 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.160 means there's nothing that he doesn't know. David says, you know, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:22.800 you know when I lie, You know the words I 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:24.760 speak before they even come out of my mouth. Let 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:29.040 your neighbors say, God knows everything. God knows everything. So 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:31.920 he spends six verses talking about how God knows every 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.080 single detail of your life. And then the next six 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.199 verses he talks about the how God is everywhere. The 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.199 word for that is He's omnipresent. Everyone say, God is everywhere. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.000 He says, Even if I go to the darkness, you're there. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:46.920 God. It becomes light to you. If I go to 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:47.760 the heavens, You're there. 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:49.520 If I go to that, there's nowhere I can go 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.120 that your presence doesn't go with me. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:52.880 And then for the next six. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.240 Verses, David begins to talk about the power of God. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.600 He's omnipotent. He says, God, you're the one who made 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:00.720 me in the depths. Only you can for me and 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.800 declare over me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.000 David gives this beautiful structure. God knows everything. God's the 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.600 one who created me. God is everywhere. And yet so 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.000 I read through this psalm as beautiful as it was. 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.319 You know, every single one of these lines you could 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.360 put on a T shirt and sell them, and sell 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:19.319 them and sell a coffee mug, sell a T shirt. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.000 It's filled with so many amazing verses. And yet as 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.200 I was reading this Psalm, I don't know if you notice, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.559 But there is a part that I left out when 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.640 I read it to you. I left it out because 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.760 it was dark. I left it out because it gets messy. 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:35.720 I left it out. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.760 Because, honestly, as I read through this psalm, I thought, 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.080 I don't know how that'll work on a Sunday morning. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.440 I left it out because it almost feels so random, 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.840 like David goes just right off track in the midst 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.440 of all these beautiful words that David is saying, you know, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.760 he ends in verse eighteen, where where I had to 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.160 count them, they would outnumber the grains of the sand. 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.160 When I awake, I am still with you. And then 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.920 here's what I left out. If only you God would 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.240 slay the wicked away from me, You who are blood thirsty. 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.520 They speak of you with evil intent, Your adversaries misuse 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:05.920 your name. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.160 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord? 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.560 And abhor those who are in rebellion against you? 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.719 I have nothing but hatred for them. I count them 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:15.360 my enemies. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.680 Search me, Oh God, and know my heart, Test me 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.120 and see you're like whoa David once gets aphrendic them, David, 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:22.679 where did that? 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:25.520 Where did that come from? 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.880 All this amazing scripture telling us about who God is, 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.640 how God knows everything, the intricate details of my life. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.880 There's nowhere I can go, know where I can run 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:35.680 that God isn't with me. And then you're going into 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.720 I hate my enemies. I wish you would kill them, David, 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.880 Where did that come from? And yet I'm so thankful 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:42.880 that God. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:43.840 Didn't leave that part out. 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.720 So I was thinking through, how do I preach this message. 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.960 I'll just have to leave that part out. God began 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:50.920 to speak to me more and more he goes, no, no, no, no. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.840 I left that in for a reason. I'm so glad 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.360 he left that part in because it teaches me something 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.679 about how I relate to God. I wonder if, when 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.640 God was putting together the scriptures through the inspiration of 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:04.839 his spirit, whether they were the ones writing it or 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.640 whether someone was writing it. How many times some of 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.640 these Bible characters are like, hey, God, can you leave 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.360 that part out? Like I wonder if Moses was like cool, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:14.280 tell them about how I. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:15.560 Was rescued out of the basket. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.040 That's pretty cool, and how I split the Red Sea, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:18.880 that's pretty cool. 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.120 But the part where I got angry and just killed 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.600 the guy. Do you think we could leave that out? 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.319 Or Abraham, the father of our faith, do you think 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:28.959 he was ever like, hey, do you think you could 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.040 leave the part out where I've mistreated Hagar and or 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.679 when I conceived I was too impatient to wait with Sarah, 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.360 so I conceived the child with Hagar, Or how I 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.200 lied about who my wife was a couple of times. 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:40.920 Tell them the good things about how you know I. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.320 Left the city I knew in faith believing God for 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.280 some tell him that part, but the parts about my mistakes? 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.840 Could you leave that out? Or if Rehab was like, yeah, yeah, 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.960 tell them about how I helped rescue the spies, how 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:57.360 I helped save them, but about my career choices, do 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.920 you think you could leave that out? Or even saw, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.160 Oh Paul, the guy who planted so many churches and 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.600 reached the gentile world with the gospel, do you think 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:07.520 he was like, hey, yeah, tell them about the leaders 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.160 I raised up and the churches I planted, But God, 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.080 maybe don't tell them about how I was the one 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.640 standing there when they stone Stephen. All these moments in 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.640 the scripture that people we read about. I'm so grateful 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.600 that God left those details in because it tells me 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.120 about tells me something about the way God wants to 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.120 relate to us. I'm so glad that David left this 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.480 part of the Psalmen in the midst of all his 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.040 language about who God is and the characteristics of God. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.080 I'm so grateful that he got to a moment of 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.880 vulnerability and honesty where he said, God, I want to 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.920 tell you where I really am right now. It's so 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.800 deeply personal that it almost feels like uncomfortable for us 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.480 on a Sunday morning. I hate the bloodthirsty people. I 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.800 wish you would kill them. God, You're like, what What 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.760 you have to remember is this is David's personal diaries 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.760 that they turned into songs that the whole nation would sing. 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:00.000 That's wild, y'all. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.880 Imagine coming to church on a Sunday morning and tif 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:05.200 gets done singing, God, You've been so so good to me, 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:06.280 and then we go. 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.480 Next song and I grab Eric. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.000 Eric's journal would be too messing, Okay, I grab Deanna's journal. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:13.720 I say, all right, I throw these up on the screens. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.400 We're all gonna sing it together, y'all. The whole nation 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.920 would sing this psalm And I'm so glad that David 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.080 left it in He left in the parts that we 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.920 want to leave out. And I wonder sometimes if the 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.480 reason we come into God's presence, the reason we come 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.040 to church sometimes and hear a powerful word and leave unchanged. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.360 I wonder if the reason we leave unchanged is because 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.880 we're leaving out some of the things that we're meant 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.320 to bring to God. There's things that we left in 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.360 the car this morning. There's issues you're going through that 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.920 you left at home. And I wonder what it would 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.480 look like for us to bring those things into God's 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.720 presence in prayer and submission and worship. What would it 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.920 look like to bring the parts to God that were 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.800 so tempted to leave out time and time again because 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.200 we think they don't belong, because we think God can't 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.680 handle it, because we think they're too messy, too dark, 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.200 too ugly. What would it look like to bring those 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.040 very things into the presence of God and lay them 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.080 down at the altar and say, God, would you meet 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.600 me in this place where I need a touch of 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.280 your presence right now, where I need your healing power, 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.840 where I need your hand to deliver me. And yet 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.640 the enemy will fight so hard to keep us stuck, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.680 running and running and running and hiding, and hiding and hiding, 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.640 so we never bring those things into the presence of God. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.200 And like I said earlier, though, but full intimacy requires 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:32.040 full access. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.240 What does it look like to say, God, here, I 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:35.760 am have everything. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.040 I want to relook at this scripture together through that 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.000 lens of some of the things that we do, because 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.960 one by one David is giving us a theology that 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:46.680 leads us to a place of honesty. 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:46.960 See. 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.440 I read those verses and I thought those are too random, 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.680 And yet I realize everything David is laying out from 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.280 verses one through eighteen, He is laying a belief about 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:58.840 God that actually leads him to the place where he 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:00.800 can say those things. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:02.520 Do you understand what I'm saying? 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.480 His theology, his view of who God was, let him 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.840 to the place where he says, God, I can trust 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:09.920 you with all this. I can tell you how I 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.320 really feel, I can tell you what I'm going through 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.040 right now. And so one by one he dismantles it. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.840 And the first point that I want to talk to 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:17.880 you about from those. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.520 First six verses is this. 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:24.640 He says, Essentially, what's the point in hiding? If God 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:30.320 knows everything? What's the point of hiding. If God knows everything, 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.520 One of our tendencies in our relationship with God is 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:40.200 to hide, And David keeps going, why would you hide 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:40.600 from God? 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.360 If he knows when you sit, he knows when you stand, 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:44.080 If he. 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.200 Knows every word that comes out of your mouth before 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.600 you even speak it, what's the point in hiding? If 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.600 God knows everything? When I read these verses to my 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.000 oldest son on the porchrain day, I read those verses, said, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.120 and what do you think this means? He goes, God 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.400 sees everything I do. And he said it like that, 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:00.680 and he said, I don't know a way that I 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:02.440 think a lot of us feel. When we think about 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.400 the omniscience of God, how he knows everything, we still 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.879 think that God is like the Nessay, just surveilling us, 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.680 waiting for us to mess up. Where he's Santa Claus. 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.960 He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're away, 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.600 he knows if you've been bad or good. And we 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.119 think God is out to catch us, and so we 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.439 keep trying to hide, hide, hide from God because we 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.959 think he's a father waiting for us to mess up 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:24.000 so he can strike us. 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:25.879 But that's not what David is saying. 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.480 He's saying God knows every God is so intimately connected 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.639 to our lives. When it says that you hen me 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.159 in before and behind, some of us view that like 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.040 a prison, But David wants you to see this as 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.560 an embrace. He's saying, God's right there with you. Whatever 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.399 you're walking through, whatever you're going through, He's right in 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.159 it with you. He knows everything already, So what's the 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:49.040 point in hiding. If God knows everything, you can tell 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.080 him the truth. He already knows everything you've been through, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.040 everything you're going through, everything you're feeling. You can bring 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.400 it to God. There's a story in John chapter four 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.119 where Jesus goes. He sits down at a well in 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.320 an area called Samaria, and at noon, in the heat 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.280 of the sun, a woman comes up to catch walk 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.320