But we are up to Psalm 70, and the title for the sermon is Make Haste, O God.
Make Haste, O God.
In fact, you can just see it in verse one.
It says, make haste, O God.
That that term make haste appears three times in this Psalm.
And so I believe the Lord God wants to bring our attention to these words of David.
David, of course, is praying and singing to his Lord God.
You know, many times the Psalms are not just songs, but prayers unto God.
And you know, when I was when I was a teenager, I didn't really enjoy when I was when I was younger
in the faith, I didn't really enjoy reading for the Psalms because I would read a reading of Psalms
how, you know, King David had these enemies and he had these trials and problems and difficulties
and and like, you know, to the point of him potentially losing his life.
And I would read for the Psalms.
And while many of the Psalms are beautiful, I just felt that I couldn't really relate
to the Psalms as a young person, because, you know, when you're young,
you don't have a lot of responsibilities.
Right.
I mean, there probably are problems in the family.
But, you know, your parents don't really advise you over that.
They're dealing with the issues and and struggles.
And, you know, you haven't really experienced life in any great depth.
But as I get older and I have more experiences and as there are more trials and difficulties
that you overcome in life, the richer the Book of Psalms becomes in your life.
Okay.
And so when I see a man like David, a man after God's own heart,
saying to God, make haste, O God.
You know what it means to make haste?
Hurry up, Lord.
Lord, I have a situation.
I've got a problem.
I'm stuck in a difficulty.
Lord, can you come through quickly and help me?
And, you know, again, as a child, I didn't have that experience so much.
But as you go through life and then you have the life problems and life difficulties,
there are times that we are praying like that, aren't we?
Lord, can you please give me an answer now?
I can't wait any longer.
Make haste, O God.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with asking God to make haste
because we have this example of the Psalm three times.
The Psalm is the same.
Lord, can you please hurry?
Now, of course, when we take this idea of, Lord, can you please hurry?
We always understand that our timing is not the same as the timing of God.
You know, and we want like, we are so limited, brethren, in our understanding
of struggles that we go through.
We kind of go, OK, I'm going for a problem.
I'm going through problem A.
God, can you please hurry and fix problem A?
Right.
Whereas God is using that trial and difficulty and he's going to answer that prayer in his time.
And his time is always the perfect time.
But I can look back in my life where I've been like, Lord, why is it taking so long?
Would you come for you to come through?
Was it taking so long for you to give me a solution to a problem?
And the Lord's like, well, don't worry, I've got it under control.
Like in hindsight, you look at it and go, well, the Lord always had perfect timing.
Like in hindsight, you see the profit of the weight of the struggles of that period of time.
But when you're in the midst of that problem, you just want God to just immediately,
Lord, can you fix it now?
Like we're so limited, we don't see what the Lord is developing.
We don't see the solution that God is making out.
Sometimes God may very well come through and deal with the problem immediately.
But most of the times his time is not going to be yours.
And you need to learn how to have faith in the timing of God.
He says, make haste to God to deliver me.
Make haste to help me, O Lord.
Now, when he says to make haste to deliver me,
obviously if he's seeking deliverance out of a situation,
it's because David is in a dangerous situation as he's singing this song.
Like he's got, we're going to have a look at a moment.
He's got enemies that are seeking to destroy him and to hurt him.
So he's in the midst of a problem as he's praying this.
And then he says, make haste to help me, O Lord.
And I love that.
I love the fact that he's relying on his God to help him rather than relying on the strength of
man or relying on his own efforts to get him out of a problem.
He says to the Lord, God, you're my helper.
You know, the one that's going to help me is you, Lord.
Now, if you can keep your finger there and come with me to Hebrews 13.
Come with me to Hebrews 13.
Cause obviously Psalm 70 is not a very long Psalm, five verses.
And so we're going to expand, expand on these verses as we go through them one by one.
But you go to Hebrews 13 and while you're turning to Hebrews 13,
I'll read to you from Matthew 6, 13.
This is when Jesus Christ was asked, you know, to teach his disciples how to pray.
And he gave the model prayer.
And I've always loved these words in that model prayer, the Lord's prayer
that he says in Matthew 6, 13, he says, and lead us not into temptation.
So part of the prayer is Lord, if you can maneuver my life around temptations, that'll be great.
Lead us not into temptation.
Because when you get led into temptation, well, now you have it.
You're going to have a decision.
You have a, you know, you've got a challenge.
Am I going to fall to that temptation?
I'm going to fight that temptation.
We say, look, even better than even having to face that temptation.
Lord, can you deliver me?
Can you get me around that temptation?
So I don't have to go through that temptation.
But then he says, but deliver us from evil.
So while the prayer is, Lord, can you help me as not to get through temptation?
But when we are faced with evil, when we are faced with difficulties,
Jesus Christ says, deliver us from evil.
And of course, David was saying, make haste to God to deliver me,
to deliver me.
Our deliverer, of course, is our Lord God.
Now, when we look at Psalm 70, it's because David is going through an earthly trial,
an earthly difficulty.
He's got enemies seeking to hurt him.
And again, you know, when we go through the Psalms, I want you to think of your life,
because I know, and I preached on this at Manila, at a very Baptist church in Manila,
that we all have problems.
Like right now, you've got a problem.
You've got a struggle.
You've got a difficulty that you're trying to overcome.
Whatever that is, you know, the difficulty might be, you know, you're unemployed
and you're looking for a job that's going to take care of you, right?
The difficulty could be a sickness in your body.
The difficulty could be a financial one.
The difficulty could be people, relationships, could be several things, you know,
several stresses that, you know, fall upon us.
And we have fears of men sometimes.
You know, we all have some area that we would like God to come through
and just answer that and deliver us from that issue.
Now, when you look at Hebrews 13 verse number five,
it says, let your conversation be without covetousness.
Your conversation there is your behavior, your lifestyle,
the things that you talk about, the things you fellowship about.
Let it be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have.
For he have said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Well, how wonderful is it to have the God of the universe, the creator of man,
the one who sees all things, the one who is all powerful,
that will say to you and I that he will never leave us nor forsake us.
Then he says in verse number six, so that this is the reason he'll never leave us.
So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Brethren, we can say the Lord is my helper.
Boy, what a helper we've got at all times.
He will never leave us, never forsake us.
Whatever difficulty you're going through, the Lord has not turned his back on you.
And like David, he says, make haste to help me, O Lord.
You know what?
When you're going through a difficulty, you ought to be saying to the Lord God,
to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are my helper.
Help me in this difficult situation that I'm going through.
But I love the fruits of the difficulty.
I love the fruit of the trial that we see in verse number six.
And I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Do you have a fear of man today?
Are you concerned what people have to say about you
or people might criticize or persecute you for your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you fearful about what your work colleagues might say about you
or your friends might say about you?
But you notice here, what's going to help us overcome the fear of man?
What is it like?
We all want to get to a point, you know, maybe you've already reached that point.
I don't know.
But we'd all like to get to a point where we don't care what man has to say about us.
As long as our focus and attention is what our Lord God has to say about us.
And to get to that point, you need to learn to stop fearing man.
You know what?
What if a man is seeking to kill you, to put you to death for the name of Christ?
Would you have a fear of that?
So how do I overcome the fear of man?
Well, if we're going to ask Jesus to be our helper,
doesn't that mean that we're going to have to be put in situations
where we're going to need the help of Jesus?
That we're going to have to find ourselves in situations that we can't help ourselves?
That we're going to have to find situations where we are so desperate
and so cast down and so worried and the Lord puts us through a trial?
We need to go through them.
As much as we don't want to go through difficulties,
we see the fruits of going through the difficulty and reminding ourselves that God is our helper.
And when we see God answer our prayers, when we see God providing solutions,
where only, you know, you know, it's his hand of mercy, you know, it's his hand of protection,
you know, things turned out even better than you ever thought because God came through.
That's when you say, wow, God is my helper.
I don't need to worry about what man is going to do to me.
I don't need to worry about what man has to say about me.
As long as I have God as my helper.
But you can only have him as your helper if you're going through a difficult time.
Okay.
So, you know, this is why it's so important, like at verse number five, Hebrews 13 verse five,
let your conversation be without covetousness.
You know, the desiring of things, you know, sometimes God wants us to go.
We need, he wants us to go through times that we need, you know,
we feel like we can't achieve what we're trying to do, you know,
and instead of depending on the resources and man, our full dependence falls upon God.
And he comes through and you go, boy, God's eye is upon this sinner.
God's eye is upon the son of God and he's answered my prayers.
So even, you know, we see again, you know, in David, make haste, Lord, you know,
the weakness of man, Lord, can you please just get me out of this problem as soon as possible.
I want you to understand that whatever trial you go through, God is using that
to refine you, to make you better, to make you a better Christian,
to make you a stronger Christian.
One way you're not having to fear of man.
You've got a record.
You've got a track record.
Boy, I've seen God come through there.
I saw God come through there.
He answered my prayer like this.
In fact, he answered it even better than I wanted it from the Lord God.
And he saw me through.
He's my helper.
I'm not going to feel what man can do.
So if we go back to Psalm 17 verse number two,
we see the reason David is desperate is because he's got enemies.
He says, let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul.
So there are those that are trying to destroy David's life.
He says, let them be turned backwards and put to confusion that desire my hurt.
You know, these words that we see there in verse number two,
let them be ashamed and confounded, put to confusion.
They're all very similar words.
To be ashamed is essentially to have shame and also confusion.
And you know, David, you know, he can see obviously that there are people seeking to hurt him,
to hurt his, you know, his kingly rule over Israel.
And like David, David's someone like you read about him.
He's just constantly having enemies, you know, from King Saul, even with his own son Absalom.
You know, he's had, you know, obviously Goliath is probably the most famous enemy that he's faced.
And, you know, he had several nations that he was able to do because David was a man of war.
But even though he was a man of war and very victorious,
you can see though, he was always very desperate to run to the Lord God for his help.
And he's asking God, Lord, can you please?
He's praying that his enemies would lose confidence,
like they would lose confidence in themselves.
Because often when someone's seeking to hurt another, you know,
the reason they do that is they feel that they've got the ability.
They feel they're going to have the victory.
They feel they have the power to tear someone down.
And David's saying to the Lord, can you make them ashamed, confused, confounded,
where they've lost trust in themselves, in their own abilities to go and hurt the man of God.
Can you come with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3,
2 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 12.
Have you ever been persecuted?
Have you ever been hated?
Have you ever been mocked?
For just being a believer, for just carrying a Bible with you,
for just people know that you turn up to church on Sunday
and they think you're a bit weird and they laugh at you.
Have you ever been mocked just for the most basic things?
You know, one thing that I've never understood with man, I've never like, I don't know.
Like I've always loved God's word.
I love the Bible as a general rule my whole life.
You know, it's very thankful growing up in a Christian home.
And I've always loved God's word.
And I know what God has to say and know his judgments and his commandments.
And even if I didn't like them, I know it's true.
Like I've always known that if I can't follow God's words or if I fail,
it's not God's problem, it's my problem.
Like the problem is with me.
The problem is not with God.
And sometimes you might be in a place, I'll give an example,
where I might be employed working a job in a team.
And you know, you got people talk all kinds of garbage and worldly matters.
And people know you're a Christian, right?
It's not like you're going to work and you're bubble bashing people
and you're condemning people.
You know, it's not like you're trying to live that life.
They just know you're different because you're not out there
necessarily catching up after work drinking beer.
You know, you're not out there laughing at dirty jokes and saying,
and talking smart and all that kind of stuff.
You know, people eventually they pick up if they've known you long enough,
they realize this guy's weird.
Like this guy's, you know, he's a believer or what have you.
And then people would all talk all kinds of garbage amongst themselves.
And it's like, hey, Kevin, what do you think?
What do you think should, you know, homosexuals be allowed to get married, for example?
You know, they put you on the spot and you know, you know, like,
look, I'm not going to hide what God's word says.
And you know, why are they asking you?
Because they really want to know what God's word says.
No, they want you to respond.
And then they have the fake offended.
Oh, I can't believe you said that.
Well, you're the one that asked.
Like the reason you asked me is because you know my opinion
and what the Bible says is different to what you're talking about.
But you answer it and you answer it just like matter of fact,
that's what the Bible says.
And that's what I believe.
Again, not trying to attack or bubble bashing.
I can't believe he believes that.
People get offended asking questions.
I never understand.
I don't understand that.
I don't understand.
Why do you get offended?
And then you're the victim apparently, because I've attacked you.
Because you've asked me a question and I've given you the answer.
But people just, you know, it just seems like, you know, you just want to serve God.
You just want to try to live holy lives.
You just want to love the Bible.
You just want to be in church.
You just want to raise a family the way that God's instructed us in His word.
And people will mock you.
People will laugh at you, you know?
And I just, I can't understand that.
In my brain, I just can't understand that.
Because if I see a brother or sister in the Lord or a family serving Jesus Christ,
and let's say they're serving Christ even better than I am.
I rejoice in that.
Like honestly, I rejoice in that.
Like I'm not thinking, oh, he's probably going to get more rewards in heaven than I am.
How do I tear him down?
That's why I'm thinking, praise God.
Praise God for their example.
Praise God for, you know, zealous believers and that love Jesus and, you know,
I can be encouraged by them and Lord willing, I can encourage them in return.
Like I can, I just, I can't in my mind process why people want to tear down believers.
I mean, I can kind of understand the world because I haven't got the spirit of Christ.
But I certainly don't understand it when believers are trying to tear down believers.
I don't understand it for a moment.
I don't get it.
You know, and you know, I'm just completely honest.
If we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and I get like one gold brick in my mansion
and you guys get your whole mansion's a gold brick, whatever it is, I'll be rejoicing for you.
Like easily, easily.
I'll be thankful for God for the work of the kingdom.
You know, I was getting a little bit sidetracked there.
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
So anyway, I was talking about how, you know, just living for Christ,
you're going to be mocked and ridiculed and persecuted.
Look what it says in 2 Timothy 3 12.
It says, yea, and all that, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Like, even though I don't really understand it, like, I don't really, like why?
Like, I'm a hard worker, I'm a friendly guy.
You know what?
I'll try to make your life even easier if you work together with me.
And I'll try to be friendly and I'll try to like, but why is it that people mock you and tease you?
Well, I mean, I don't, again, I don't fully understand the reason why,
but the Bible says that this is the case, right?
If you live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution.
So look, this is a reality of your Christian life.
And to the young people, you have to get used to it.
You have to get used to it that, you know, people are just going to laugh at you.
You're going to make friends.
They're going to think you're ridiculous for going to church, for loving God,
for trying to be godly, for not laughing at dirty jokes, right?
For not drinking the alcohol and all the other sins that they want to do.
They'll be mocking you for that.
But look, I want you to notice what it says in verse number 13.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
You know, I thank God for the children we have in our church.
But the Bible tells me here, it's going to get worse and worse.
Like the world is already bad for us.
It's already challenging for us.
There's enough, you know, somewhat persecution in this world.
I mean, praise God, we're not being arrested right now and thrown in, you know,
thrown in prison or we're worried about our life.
And praise God, we're not having to hide our church service.
It's out in the open and it's on YouTube.
But you know, when our kids get to our age, right, it's going to be harder for them.
Like serving God is going to be more challenging.
The persecution is going to be even worse as time goes on.
And we need to remember that, look, there are always going to be people
that want to attack the church of God, people that will always want to attack,
Bible believing Christians, and that's our life.
And we need to just get on with it.
We need to recognise that's the reality, okay?
We can't change that, you know, that's what's going to happen.
But the reality of what we see here is that Christ is our helper, okay?
And when we go through those tough times, when we go through those persecutions,
that's when God is able to refine us and make us better people.
Come with me to 1 Peter 4, 1 Peter 4, verse number 14.
1 Peter 4, verse number 14.
And you know what?
As you grow and you see God's hand in your life and you see him, you know,
help you go through difficulties, you're going to get to a point in your life
where you can truly say this, what we read here in 1 Peter 4, 14.
It says, but it says, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.
Look, let's do a self-examination.
Don't tell me, don't tell me.
You know, the last time you've been laughed at or mocked or persecuted for the name of Christ,
can you honestly say, boy, I was so happy about that?
Maybe you can.
Like maybe you can say, yeah, I was happy about that.
Well, praise God for you.
But I think if we're honest, there are going to be some in this church that go,
you know what, no, I didn't really enjoy it.
I didn't find happiness.
In fact, it gave me sorrow and a hard, you know, it gave me sadness and sorrow and not happiness.
But this is again, why are we being told to be happy?
It says, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified.
We see that God's Holy Spirit of glory rests upon us.
You know, God has given us his Holy Ghost.
Again, the Lord God living within us to give us that peace,
to give us satisfaction.
Again, that happiness, that glory will come from the new man.
Okay, will come from the inner man.
And even though people might mock you, it says that about God,
evil is spoken of, but on your part, because you've been persecuted for being a good person,
for following God's ways, it says that God is glorified.
So I want you to remember that if you get persecuted, attacked for Jesus,
it glorifies God.
All right, like you're setting a Godly example.
You know, you're fulfilling and you're tasting a little bit of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
a bit of a persecution for the name of Christ, and that is given God glory.
So hey, be happy about it.
Hey, this is one way to glorify God.
Go ahead world, go ahead and tease me, mock me, laugh at me.
All right, and you know, God promises that we're going to be happy.
We're going to be rejoicing, all right, God's going to do a great work in us
because God is our helper in times like that.
If we keep going, look at verse 15,
but let none of you suffer as a murderer.
You know, all of us are going to suffer in life,
whether you're saved or whether you're unsaved, there is suffering in this world,
but don't choose to suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil doer.
And look, this is so important to me, or as a busy body in other men's matters.
That is a huge problem in churches across the entire world.
I'm like, honestly, that is like, think about this list.
Okay, murderer, that's pretty bad.
A thief, okay, it's all, you know, no one do that.
Evil doer, okay, well, busy body in other men's matters.
It's very tempting to fall into that trap.
And it's listed in this list.
You know, I've never seen anything good out of people interfering in other people's lives.
I've never seen anything good.
In fact, all I've seen in my Christian life is conflict.
Conflict and problems.
When people will begin to interfere in your life.
Now, I'm not saying don't share concerns and prayer requests and,
and come alongside and, and, you know, carry one another burden from time to time.
But there are people in your life that will want to creep in
and basically take command of your life and tell you how to live your life.
You need to get away from those people.
You know, sometimes even within families, you know, the in-laws, mother-in-law, father-in-law,
they have a hard time letting their children go.
They've gotten married.
They started a new family.
You know what's going to destroy that marriage?
The interference from the in-laws.
That's not how you fold the clothes.
This is how you fold the clothes.
Men, your wives are going to hate that.
That's not how you cook spaghetti.
This is how you cook spaghetti.
You'd be like, mom, there are many ways to cook spaghetti.
It's all right.
You know, I'm being like, because I'm an in-law now.
I'm an in-law now.
And I've got to learn not to interfere.
And I see my daughter almost every week because I travel down to Sydney
for Blessed Up Adventist Church.
And you know what?
Sometimes they ask me questions and I'm like, guys, it's up to you.
It's up to you now.
You know, this is what I think you could do or you should do.
But at the end of the day, it's your decision, guys.
You know what?
Because I don't want to be a busybody in other men's matters.
I don't want to interfere in your lives.
Even as a pastor, I have no desire to, you know, to be a Lord over God's heritage.
Like there are pastors that do want that.
I'll tell you now, I know.
There are pastors that want to run your life, rule your life, come into your house,
tell you how to do things, tell you when you can go on holidays,
tell you how to spend your money.
I don't want to do that.
Like my life is busy enough.
Like 24 hours in a day is not enough for me.
Like the last thing I want to do is to enter your life until you have to run things.
My job is just to preach God's word from behind the pulpit.
Okay.
My job is to be a watchman, you know, to proclaim God's word,
to have a clear conscience before God and say, yes, Lord, I have taught all the counsel of God.
And now you've got the Holy Spirit of God.
You're accountable to God.
Now it's up to you to decide what you're going to do
with the things that you've learned in the Bible.
It's your call.
Be careful when people want to interfere in your lives.
I'm telling you, nothing good is going to come out of it.
You've got to set boundaries.
You've got to say, hey, brother, love you.
We're friends, but that's not your area.
That's my life.
You've got to do it.
Okay.
Because like I said, I feel like I've said it before in other sermons.
I feel like when I think of all the conflicts I've seen in churches, my whole life,
when you boil it down, it's always because somebody interfered in somebody else's life.
They've crossed boundaries where they should never have gotten involved in.
Anyway, like I said, we're all going to suffer.
We're all going to go through difficulties, but like we've seen there, verse number 15,
make sure that your difficulties are not a result of your wickedness.
Rather in verse number 16, it says, yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.
So I'd rather suffer for the name of Christ than to suffer for the wrong
and the wickedness and the sins that I've committed my life.
Well, that's how we ought to be as believers.
You know, how are we going to suffer?
Choose your suffering.
Is it going to be because of wickedness
or are you going to choose suffering because of the name of Jesus Christ?
Because of your holy living, because you're trying to live after God's ways.
Come back with me to Psalm 70, verse number three.
Psalm 70, verse number three.
He continues against his enemies.
He says to God, let them be turned back for a reward of their shame.
That say, aha, aha.
You know what he's saying?
There are people that are just watching his life.
And as soon as David messes up, aha, I knew it.
I knew it was like that.
You know, there are people, please don't be like that as a church.
Please don't.
Please don't be like this.
You know, even if it's a brother or sister in church that you're not really fond of
and you're just like, keep an eye on him.
I saw it.
I saw what they just did.
I saw how they just sinned.
I knew it all along.
That's just a ridiculous way of living life.
Or you get upset with the pastor because the pastor is just trying to preach
the truth of God's word, but you get upset at the pastor instead.
And the pastor has a problem.
The pastor goes through the difficulty in life.
It's not perfect.
How dare he preach behind the pulpit?
Yeah, because I'm not preaching my words.
We're preaching God's words.
Man, if the standard was the preacher has to be aligned with everything in his life
that he preaches and nobody will ever preach behind the pulpit.
Nobody will ever preach God's word.
Aha, saw that.
Look, I know that you all have sinned in your life.
I know it.
I'm not looking for it though.
I'm not trying to make a list, you know, brother so-and-so, right?
Oh, look at that photo on Instagram.
Better take note of that photo that he just took.
I don't know, whatever it is that people do.
Look, we're all sinners.
The reason we're together is because of Christ.
The reason we're at church is because of Jesus Christ,
because of his righteousness, not because of our righteousness.
But yeah, these are the people that David's struggling with, right?
They're trying to find every, this is like Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ was walking the earth and he had the Pharisees,
they sent their servants to trip up Jesus.
They would get Jesus to answer questions.
And if Jesus answered in a way they weren't happy with,
then they would report him to the government or, you know,
accuse him of being a false teacher or accuse him of being a devil.
That's the way of the wicked.
And let us not be this way.
Can you come with me to Genesis chapter 12, please?
Genesis 12, Genesis 12, verse number one, Genesis 12 and verse number one.
Now, like I said, there will always be people that mock you and laugh at you.
And maybe not even just, not even, maybe not even for the name of the Lord.
Maybe they just don't like the way you look.
Maybe they just don't like the way you dress or whatever it is.
I just, whatever it is, right?
People will just hate you for no reason many times.
And I had a hard time with being teased when I was a teen,
when I was a young teen, you know, people teased me.
I think this is why I'm so sarcastic now.
Because like, I kind of learnt, oh, if I tease myself,
they don't tease me anymore.
If I make fun of myself, it's like they give up on it
because they realise it doesn't bother me anymore.
But I remember just as a young teen reading through the book of Genesis,
you know how it is when you're young.
You're like, I'm going to read the Bible cover to cover.
Then you start with Genesis, then you get about three books in, then you stop.
And you're like, okay, now I'm going to definitely do it.
You read Genesis again, right?
The book that you've probably read the most is either Genesis or Revelation.
Probably, right?
In all those attempts, I'm going to finally read the Bible cover to cover.
All right, start with Genesis and you read it again.
But I remember when I was being like, when I was struggling with being teased
and it wasn't like I was being bullied.
You know, people laugh and things like that.
I still get frustrated by it when I was young.
But I read this passage here in Genesis 12, verse number one.
And it's the promises that God gave Abraham.
It says, now the Lord had said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house
unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation
and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing.
And then the famous verse number three,
and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curse of thee.
And in these shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So I remember reading that and go, well, Abraham, he's a believer, you know?
And look, I know these promises that we read here, you know, it's about Abraham.
But you know what?
I just remember as a child, you know, I'm just reading my Bible and go,
well, you know what, God, if you if you promise to Abraham
that you bless them that bless thee and you'll curse him that curse of thee.
I remember just saying to God, well, God, then I want that promise for myself then.
If you can do that for Abraham, you can do that for me.
And so what developed in my life was this.
Anytime someone would persecute me or laugh at me, mock at me, whatever it is,
like, oh, it's okay.
Well, I'm one of God's child.
Like I'm the son of God.
I'm saved with the blood of Jesus Christ.
If you want to mock at me or hurt me, curse at me,
well, God's going to curse you in return.
I'll read that.
And growing up as a teenager, that gave that this verse gave me so much strength.
Because anything like if someone was nice to me,
you're like, great, Lord, can you bless them?
If someone's a good friend or gives you a gift, Lord, please bless them.
If someone attacks me, mocks me, wants to hurt me, Lord, can you curse them?
And I got to a point where that's how I just live my life.
And I didn't need to see whether God would curse my enemies.
You know, I didn't need, I just knew that's a promise.
I hold to that promise.
Lord, you'll take care of it.
You'll balance the books.
And you know what?
Growing up, it didn't matter anymore.
Like, I always felt like it didn't matter if people wanted to laugh at me.
Who cares?
God sees it and God will balance the books.
God will take care of it.
And then I went to my first IFB church.
And I was, you know, the pastor was preaching for Genesis 12.
You know, bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse of thee.
Those promises are for the Jews.
Like, what?
It's not for me.
Well, I don't get it.
That's for the Jews.
That's for like, what?
Was I holding to a promise that wasn't for me this whole time?
I was very confused.
You know, I didn't understand this teaching, but like, I'm telling you, like, when you
feel like that God is your helper, he never leaves you nor forsakes you.
And then he sees when people laugh at you and mock you and persecute you.
It gives you a lot of strength.
It's like, whatever, Lord, you see it.
You know, I'm going to trust in you.
I'm going to trust in your hand.
Of course, you know, Galatians 3 16 says,
Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made.
He saith not and to seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ.
Then verse number 28 says, There is neither Jew nor Greek.
Oh, that's for the Jews.
There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
I was like, yeah, that is my promise.
That is my promise.
God sees it all.
When someone does something kind to me, God's going to bless them.
That's why I want to be kind to you.
Like, I don't want to, you know, just every time a believer makes a mistake
and messes up and commits some sin and it's going through some difficulty.
I just like, well, I want to come alongside and just pray for you.
Encourage you, like, just keep serving the Lord, the Lord will come through.
Because if I bless you, God will bless me.
But if I seek to curse you, well, what's God going to do?
So make haste, oh God, difficulties, trials.
When people seek to hurt you, sometimes my wife doesn't understand.
When I say to her, she's like, Kevin, you know, this person thinks this about you.
I'm like, I don't care.
I mean, there's a part of me that cares because I've got the flesh.
But really, I don't care as long as I, you know, I know I'm right before God.
As long as I know I have a clear conscience that I've done the best with the information
and the situation that I find myself in.
You know, I mean, I'm not, you know, I'm not what I'm looking for.
I'm not infallible.
Like, you know, I don't have all knowledge.
You know what?
But I know that if I just serve my Lord God, I do the best with what God has shown me
that I know God's going to bless me and God's going to reward me
and protect me when problems and accusations and hardships come my way.
Can you come back with me to Psalm 70, Psalm 70, verse number four.
And you know, when I got to that point where I just, Lord, you've got to,
you can take care of it.
Like, it's not that I necessarily, it's not like, like God says vengeance is his.
So vengeance is yours, Lord.
Like, I don't even need to see it.
I just know it's going to happen.
I know, Lord, you know.
And Lord, if I'm in the wrong, then I know you're going to chastise me
and you do it for my prophet so I can learn something.
So I'm fine with that as well, Lord, if that's the case.
But verse number four says,
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee,
and let such as love thy salvation stay continually.
Let God be magnified.
Let those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
So as we seek our Lord God in the midst of a difficulty,
you know what we see rejoicing and gladness in our Lord God.
We ought to express that from our heart and let such as love thy salvation,
say continually, let God be magnified.
You know, when we think of loving God's salvation there,
you know, we often, maybe when we read that,
we probably think about our salvation of our souls.
We probably think of salvation from hell.
And of course, we ought to love that.
Like we ought to, of course, love the fact that we're saved people.
You know, even David in another Psalm in Psalm 51 verse 12 says,
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
So it's possible for us to kind of take our salvation for granted.
It's possible for us to get through life and, you know, just forget the joy,
you know, of being saved or being delivered from hell and from our sins.
But if we, you know, we don't want to lose the context that we find this in,
because we know that what David is suffering here in Psalm 70
is a very physical problem that he's going through,
these enemies that are seeking to hurt him.
And so when he talks about salvation here,
he's talking about salvation out of his difficulties
that he's going through at this period of time.
Okay. And let such as love thy salvation,
say, continue, let God be magnified.
Now, if you can come with me to Matthew seven,
come with me to Matthew seven, Matthew seven.
So again, I'm going to sort of repeat a point that I made earlier,
but you know, we need problems.
Like we need problems for us to be able to go to God for help.
Right. To be able to say, God is my helper.
We need a problem to turn to God for help.
Okay. So there is a benefit to the struggles that we go through.
But if we say, and let such as love thy salvation,
it means that we also, again, need a problem.
We need difficulties in life where God's going to save us from that difficulty.
Right. Like again, like to think that we can just avoid life's problems
and avoid tribulations, avoid persecutions.
Brethren, that's not really the life that God has for us.
It's not a life that we ought to be desiring
because if we're at someone that loves God's salvation,
we need to be in a situation where God needs to save us out of that problem.
And then once God has saved us out of that difficulty, we can say,
Lord, I love your salvation.
But if you don't go through the difficulties, how can you even say that?
That I love your salvation.
That what we saw, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
And I'm going to turn to Matthew seven and verse number seven.
And you know these verses, Matthew seven, seven,
ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall bind,
knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Boy, like, you know, we read like, is it a lack of faith?
Sometimes I will yield little faith.
Sometimes we don't know, Lord, are you going to really come through?
And look again, I'm like this, I'm the pastor of two churches.
And sometimes when I'm going through a difficulty, I'm like,
Lord, are you really going to come through?
You know, as I seek your face and I say prayers like, make haste, O God.
There's always a part of me that goes, what?
Like, it's always, you know, like when someone's going through a difficulty in life,
someone's going through, I can say, brother, don't worry.
The Lord's going to come through.
The Lord's going to answer the prayer.
And you know, you go and see the hand of the Lord upon your life.
But when you're the one going through that situation, it's like, oh, like,
is it going to happen?
And like, if I'm going through a difficulty, sometimes my church members are like,
don't worry, pastor, the Lord's going to come through.
Like you're saying the same things that I would say to you
when you're going through the difficulty.
This is why it's good to have a church.
It's good to have brothers and sisters in the Lord because in a time of weakness,
we have our brothers and sisters to encourage us and remind us
that if we just seek the Lord, we will find, you know, if we ask,
it will be given to you.
Look what it says in verse eight,
for everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Like our Lord God is such an amazing father that we serve.
He says, oh, what man is there of you whom if your son asks bread,
will he give him a stone?
Or if you ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Like if your children are hungry, are you going to give them a snake?
Like what in the world?
If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your father, which is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask him?
So we need to go through difficulties.
And look, I don't know if you're someone at church right now,
and you're going for a significant issue of problem in life right now.
I want you to remember that you've got a God that loves you.
Okay.
And he wants to give good things to you.
But you need to ask him.
You need to seek him.
You need to ask for his help.
And he'll do it.
He'll do it.
You know, he'll do it.
And like, again, we get stuck in like, okay, problem A, Lord fix problem A.
But what we don't see is what our life is going to be like 10 years from now,
because of the advantages of the lessons of the maturity and the strength that God gives us
going through problem A.
It might not just be answer this and fix it.
But for God, he's looking down 10 years on the track and sees you as a more faithful,
stronger believer because you went through problem A.
But we don't see that all the time, right?
We just, problem now, fix problem, make A so God.
And God says, look, I'm doing a work 10 years from now.
If I can give you an example of this,
what I mean by this is that we're so limited in our understanding.
You know, one of my old pastors, he was suffering,
I'm pretty sure it was leukemia or something with his white blood cells.
And he was given like months to live.
He needed a bone marrow transfer.
And they weren't even sure if that was going to be successful.
Okay, and anyway, you know, at the church we were praying for him
and we're very sad about it all because he had a large family
and we thought about, you know, the family he would leave behind
and I'd seen him losing weight.
Every week he'd come to church and he's even skinnier and skinnier and skinnier.
You can see that he's just deteriorating.
He's just, you know, and I'd look at him and he'd come to church
and he'd be in encouragement.
He'll try to continue preaching if he could, if he had the strength to preach.
You know, and I could just see a love for God, a love for his word,
a love for the church.
And I'm just, at the same time, I'm seeing him deteriorate.
But as he deteriorates physically, I'm seeing him increase spiritually,
you know, into another man, like a greater man.
And I'm looking at this and look, I'm sure,
like he doesn't put it on at church obviously,
but I'm sure that at home he's saying to God,
make haste, O God.
I'm sure at home he's got certain fears and concerns
and worries about the future, worries about his family.
I have no doubt.
But as I saw that man going through so much difficulty to the point of death
and just seeing him how much he loved God
and how God was making him even better,
like a better pastor than what he was before.
You know what, that encouraged me.
That encouraged me.
And I said, Lord, who am I to complain about whatever struggle that I'm going through
when someone's got it so much worse?
And I don't think he even knows.
But I know he was a huge encouragement to me
to the point where I'm like, man, if this is what pastors can be like,
I want to be like that.
I want to be a good pastor like that.
What I'm trying to say to you is this, maybe in his private home,
Lord, problem A, problem B, problem C, can you please fix this problem?
And yet God is using that situation to encourage
who knows how many believers in the Lord God.
Like you don't see that.
You don't see that.
You just, I've got this issue, dealing with this issue.
But God is using that difficulty not just to strengthen you,
but to strengthen those that are around you,
those that observe you.
You know what?
And potentially I would not be the pastor I am today
if I did not see my pastor go through such a struggle in his life.
So again, we don't know what God's plan is.
Even with other people, when he allows you to go through some struggle,
some persecution, you know what?
And when, as a community, as a church, we see God's hand,
look, praise God, his bone marrow transfer went well.
And, you know, he regained weight and it all worked out.
Like his white blood cell count increased and,
and he's still preaching to this very day.
But I think every 10 years or so,
he's going to have to do it again and again and again,
something like that.
I can't remember exactly how it worked, how it worked.
But praise God, we saw his, you know, the Lord's hand.
But if I did not see a man like that struggle and come through
even better than what he was before that struggle,
I don't know, you know, like who knows how much that helped other people?
You know, in, in, in trusting the Lord God to be our help in a time of trouble.
Can you come with me back to Psalm 70, verse number five, Psalm 70, verse number five.
David says, but I am poor and needy.
Do you ever wonder why, but you're the king, David.
You, you're like the wealthiest man in Israel.
He goes, I am poor.
Of course, when he says poor, there's not talking about his financials.
Okay.
I am poor and needy.
Make haste unto me.
Oh God, thou art my hope and my deliverer.
Oh Lord, make no tarion.
Lord, please don't take any longer.
Please come through and answer my prayer.
And so when David says that he's poor and needy, of course,
he's saying that he's poor in his own self-worth.
He's poor in his opinion about himself.
He's poor in his ability to think that he can, uh, like he's weak in a sense that,
you know, he can't overcome the difficulty that he's going through.
And sometimes I talk to people and they'll say to me, this problem I've gone through.
And this is, if this is you, I'm not, you know, we're all like this,
you know, this problem I'm going through is too much for me.
It's too big of an issue that I can't handle it, pastor.
But you know, there's a truth to that.
It is too big for you.
That's why you need God.
It's not too big for God.
You know, we do need to get to a point.
I am poor and needy.
Humility, being brought low, recognizing that only God can be the one that fixes the situation.
I think that's okay.
If you're going through a difficulty right now and you say, pastor, I don't think I can handle it.
Exactly.
That's why you go to Jesus.
He will handle it.
He will be your helper.
He's not left you.
He's not forsaken you.
When I think about being poor, I'm reminded just if you come with me to Matthew five,
Matthew five, verse number three, Matthew five and verse number three.
You know, these verses, very famous verses, Matthew five, verse three.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Wow.
Lord, if I recognize myself as a needy person, you know, I can't save myself.
I'm poor in spirit.
I need your salvation.
God says, all right, in exchange, I'll give you the kingdom.
Like what a good exchange.
Amazing.
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Look at verse number 10.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad.
Why? For great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you.
Boy, not only is God trying to refine us to be better people on this earth, you know,
to go for a difficulty where we can rejoice in God's salvation, to go for a challenge
that we can then say our Lord is my, the Lord is my helper.
Not only is God blessing us on this earth, but he says rejoice because great is your
reward in heaven.
Whoa, what?
Look, we went to the missions trip in Philippines, many of us doing that work, saving souls,
great rewards in heaven.
Amen.
Okay, but another way is just to be persecuted.
So those times where I'm at work and people ask me questions to pretend to be offended
because they know I'm going to say something that the Bible says and they mock you and
laugh at you and yeah, okay, in your flesh it makes you uncomfortable.
You don't really like it, but God says he's adding more treasures for you in heaven, more
rewards in heaven.
Wow, like if we could see our bank account in heaven and every time someone laughs at
us and mocks us for being a Christian and we see that bank account going up, you'd be
like, just okay, keep going, like bring it on.
How else can I make you hate me?
Like what else can I do?
Bring it on, you know, rejoice.
That's how we all, it's hard though because it requires spiritual eyes, you know, looking
at things of internal nature which are invisible right now.
It's hard in life because, you know, we see the temporal, we see the carnal things and
we have the flesh that doesn't like it, you know, to be mocked and persecuted, but rejoice.
Now in conclusion, can you come with me to Psalm 40?
Psalm 40, because, you know, when I was looking at this Psalm, I remember just going, oh,
like when I read, look at Psalm 7, I was like, oh, I appreciate this already.
Like I was looking at that, I definitely appreciate that already and then I went back
to YouTube to have a look at the Psalms that I've preached through, not having preached
through Psalm 70 and that's when I realized, okay, these verses, these five verses are
also found in Psalm 40.
So come with me to Psalm 40.
It's not exactly word for word, but it's almost word for word, okay?
Psalm 40 verse number 14.
I'll just read it quickly, Psalm 40, 14.
It says, let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy
it.
Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wished me evil.
Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that's saying to me, aha, aha, aha.
Let all those that seek thee rejoice to be glad in thee.
Let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified, but I am poor and needy.
Yet the Lord think up upon me, thou art my help and my deliverer, make notarian, oh my
God.
So once again, in Psalm 40, you also see, if you look through it, you'll see that the
Psalmist David is like, Lord, don't tarry, make haste, Lord, please hurry up.
And again, I don't believe there's anything wrong with that kind of prayer, you know,
pouring out your heart to God, sharing your concerns.
God wants to carry your burden for you.
But even though, and this is where I wanted to show you, like, even though we're asking
God, make haste, don't tarry.
Remember how I said at the beginning that God's timing is different to ours.
So when you look at Psalm 40 and look at the first verse, verse number one, you say, David's
not patient.
Well, he says in verse number one, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto
me and heard my cry.
So we see something, nothing wrong with going to God, Lord, make haste, Lord, time's running
out.
I need you to come through right now.
But once you've prayed that prayer to the Lord God, once you've poured out your heart
to the Lord God, what do you do once you've prayed?
Now you wait patiently for the Lord.
Now you're patient.
Okay, Lord, I've told you how desperate I am.
I've told you how much I need you to come through.
But Lord, my time is not the same as your time.
I'm going to wait patiently for the Lord.
And he inclined unto me, Lord heard, and heard my cry.
The Lord hears our cries, the Lord hears our words.
And you know, when we pray at church, nothing, you know, I'm not trying to attack how we
pray at church, but we pray as a congregation.
And obviously we pray in a very, maybe in a bit of an official manner, you know, to
keep things orderly, nothing wrong with that.
You know, there's a right place for those kinds of prayers.
But I want you to get used to crying out to the Lord.
You say, pastor, it's not manly.
Who's more manly than King David in the Bible.
This guy subdued Goliath.
This guy defeated nations.
This man brought peace to the land of Israel.
There's no one greater like manly than King David, as far as a man goes.
And you see how much he cries to the Lord, how much he weeps, how much he lifts his voice,
how desperate he is.
And when I see that in a man like David, I look at my own life, my own prayer life, and
I wonder, boy, do I pray like this?
Or is it just always like the official prayers like just Lord, can you just bless the food
that I'm about to eat and nothing wrong with that prayer?
You know, Lord, can you please help me, you know, this morning, bless me this day so I
can be fruitful and do what you've required me to do today.
And I'm just like, Lord, can you just bless me this day?
So I can be fruitful and do what you've required me to do today.
Nothing wrong with those prayers.
But it's very few times, but there have been times, I'll say that there have been times,
but it's very few times where I've just poured out my heart to God.
I just poured out my heart, you know, just, you know, just called upon him.
Maybe I'm even just in that emotional state.
Maybe I even said words that may not sound the best, you know, as far as I pray before
God goes, but you're just pouring it out before God.
And I tell you, there is something about that when you go to God and just pour out your
heart and you say, Lord, you have to step in and you have to help me.
Lord, I can't do this on my own where I'm telling you that's when I've seen the greatest
results of answered prayer.
I'm just speaking out of my experience.
The greatest answers to prayer that I've had is when I've just taken it all out, just
all the emotion out, just wept where I can't even weep any longer, you know, or got into
my car so no one can hear me pray so I can just go for a drive and just yell out to God
and ask him for aid.
You know, we need to do that from time to time.
We need to do that from time to time.
We see these great examples in the Bible.
Anyway, Psalm 70, make haste, O God.
You know, what's wonderful about Wednesday night is it's a time of prayer.
You know, we don't need to always share every single intimate detail of our lives.
But you know what?
If there is something that is bothering you, some trouble that you're going through, this
is a great time to bring it up as a prayer request so we can pray together as a church.
Okay, let's pray.