Music
437, Battle Hymn of the Republic, 437, and when you found it please stand.
Music
Um, dear Lord, please help my dad preach well and for us to get lots of people saved.
And Jesus and the Emperor, Amen.
Amen.
Please turn to hymn number 215, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul.
Hymn 215.
Music
Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul, Filled My Soul.
When ethnic cross of Savior made me whole, made me whole.
My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day.
Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul, Filled My Soul.
My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day.
Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul, Filled My Soul.
Please turn to hymn number 216, the next page, Surely Goodness and Mercy, 216.
Music
A pilgrim was I and a one tree. In the cold night of sin I did run.
Then Jesus said, Thy shepherd found me and now I am on my way home.
Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
I'm sure as my soul when I'm weary, He giveth me strength did I gain.
He leads me beside the still waters, He guards me each step of the way.
Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
He will walk through the dark woods and rally, my Savior will walk with me there.
And safely His great hand will give me to the mansions He's gone to prepare.
Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I shall miss as the day was spread for me.
Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
Last song, please turn to hymn number 472. Hymn number 472, This is My Father's World. 472.
This is my Father's World, enter thy listening ears.
All nature's sins and rowdy dreams, the bruising of their sleeves.
This is my Father's World, I'm resting in the thorns of rocks and trees, of skies and seas.
And the wonders wrought, this is my Father's World.
The heavens, their candles raise, the morning light, their living light, the heaven-makers praise.
This is my Father's World, it shines in all that's fading.
In the rustling grass, my near impulsive, speaking to me every day.
This is my Father's World, for let me never again.
Never the wrong sins, oh so strongly, is there rule again.
This is my Father's World, the battle is won again.
Jesus, who died, shall we satisfy him?
The earth and heaven he won.
Psalm 139. It's right in the middle of your Bibles.
Psalm 139. The Bible reads to the chief musician, a psalm of David.
O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising. Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compestest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou has beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost paths of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day.
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee.
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.
Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me.
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father Lord, we thank you for the message to come.
Please bless our pastor, fill him with your spirit, and fill us with your spirit too.
Open our hearts and ears to the message to come.
Lord, we love you, and thank you for this congregation.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
The qualities of God, the attributes of God, one thing we often say is that he's all-knowing. Isn't that what we say?
He's all-powerful, he's ever-present, and he's all-knowing.
Now the reason I was thinking about this topic of the Lord knows is that I've been thinking a lot about faith lately.
And I don't believe I am the most faith-driven person even in this church.
There's a lot of things that concern me about church or my own family life, and I don't think you can completely avoid that.
You know, we need to be aware of areas that are lacking and areas that need to be taken care of.
And so we often, in our own strength, go about and try to accomplish those things.
And sometimes I'll hear a brother in the church say,
Don't worry, pastor, have faith in the Lord.
Or, you know, the Lord's got it in his hands.
And I know, I know those things.
But sometimes what is known in my head is not always what is practiced from my heart.
And one thing that I started to realize, look, if I want to grow in faith, and I should be a man of faith, I mean, I'm the church pastor.
I should be someone who is known for their faith and is stepping out in faith and walking in faith.
Then I need to increase in my faith.
And, you know, but then again, I read the Bible and I see how many men of God, great men that God's used, you know, over time.
And I see how they fail and they forget the, you know, that they serve an all-powerful God, an all-knowing God.
But one thing that I came to understand just in my thoughts as I was preparing this sermon is,
one thing that's definitely going to help my faith and one thing that's going to help your faith is remembering that the Lord knows.
The Lord knows, all right?
The Lord knows what this afternoon contains, all right?
The Lord knows what time you're waking up tomorrow.
The Lord knows what tomorrow is going to bring.
The Lord knows what 10 years down the line is going to bring.
You know, every concern you might have in life right now,
anything that takes up your mental capacity, thinking, contemplating, maybe sometimes worrying,
the Lord knows the solution to that.
Like the Lord knows how He's going to provide for your needs next week.
The Lord knows how He's going to provide your needs next year.
The Lord knows how He's going to provide your needs in 10 years time.
It's in the Lord's hand.
And if I have issues that I've got to think about and concern myself about,
there's no greater hands that I want my issues to be taken care of than God Himself.
The Lord knows, right?
And as I was sharing about, you know, the trip to Fiji,
and part of me was saying, man, this is going to fall apart.
Like part of me is like, oh man, are we really as organized as I think we're going to be?
Is this going to be successful or not?
Well, the Lord knows.
You know, the Lord took care of our needs to get there.
The Lord took care of, so many of you guys shared with me,
I don't know if I'm going to be able to take time off work.
And somehow the Lord provides.
And you know, why would God send 50 of us to Fiji
if He did not already have in His hands how that mission strip is going to look like?
How that mission strip is going to be provided for?
How that mission strip is going to be structured?
The Lord knew ahead of time, even before I knew what that mission strip was all going to be about.
The Lord already knew that 2,115 souls were going to get saved by the work of our combined team.
The Lord knows these things.
And I, you know, it's a very simple topic this afternoon.
But I just want to remind you that the Lord knows.
The Lord knows.
Verse number one again, Psalm 139, verse number one.
O Lord thou searchest me and known me.
The Lord knows everything there is to know about you.
Verse number two.
Thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising.
Thou understandest my thoughts are far off.
God knows when you sit down.
God knows when you stand up.
You go, well, I know that too.
When I look around and I see people stand up for the,
I saw you guys stand up to sing.
I saw you guys to sit down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But he also knows your thoughts.
Yeah.
Thou understandest my thought are far off.
I mean, I don't know your thoughts even this afternoon.
I have no idea.
Besides maybe conversations that we have one to one another,
I can see into your thoughts a little bit.
But really, you know, deep down, the only one that knows our thoughts is the Lord God.
He knows.
He knows all things.
And that's the first point that I have for you today.
The Lord knows your thoughts.
What are you thinking about?
What are you concerned about?
You know, what are you sort of wondering?
Is it going to work out or is it not going to work out?
Brethren, we're all in the same boat.
We all have concerns.
We all have worries.
We all don't know how this current solution is going to take care of itself.
But the Lord knows that's in your thoughts.
Like the Lord knows what you're concerned about.
The Lord knows what you're thinking about.
And so the best person to go to, of course, is our Lord God himself in prayer.
Say, Lord, this is on my heart.
This is on my mind.
I don't know, but a little bit worried, a little bit concerned.
The Lord, you already know this is on my heart.
And you know the solution to these things.
The Lord knows your thoughts.
You know, if you can keep a finger there in Psalm 139, come with me to Psalm 94.
Come with me to Psalm 94, verse number 11.
Psalm 94, verse number 11.
Now, look, I don't know, like we're such complex creatures.
And I remember reading that we, and look, I'm going to get these numbers wrong.
I'm going to get this completely wrong.
But in a 24-hour period, it was something like
we make 15,000 decisions every day, something crazy.
You know, every day there are 15,000 things that we're thinking about
and we're making a decision about, you know, during the day.
And the Lord knows those thoughts, you know,
and you probably don't even realize just how many decisions
and thoughts and ideas are just constantly going through your mind,
just like even probably right now.
Okay, not just a sermon, not just probably other things that are just on your mind,
probably what, you know, work tomorrow or, you know,
bills that I need to take care of after service
or what are we going to have for lunch or whatever it is.
There's probably just constant thoughts just running through your mind.
And a lot of those thoughts, a lot of those concerns
actually never result, they never happen.
Like the things we worry about and think about,
most of that never eventuates.
And that's why in Psalm 94, verse number 11,
it says, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,
that they are vanity, they are empty.
Reverend, there's a lot of things we concern ourselves with, you know,
and God says, it's just garbage, it's just vanity,
it's a waste of your time, it's a waste of your thinking,
it's a waste of your worrying.
Another thing that I remember reading about once is that
something like 80% of our worries never eventuate, okay.
And the 20%, and again, I don't know if these percents are right,
I'm going off the top of my head right now,
but like 20% of the worries that we did think about,
that just resolve themselves eventually.
Like there's a way to figure them out
and it's only like a tiny percentage of the things that we think about
that actually come to be and actually are something that we need to kind of,
you know, deal with, but most of those things never come to be
or they just get sorted out if they are a little issue
because the Lord knows your thoughts
and He knows that many of our thoughts, Reverend, are vanity.
You know, I don't know if you sometimes lose sleep out of worry and concerns
and you know, what are we going to do next month,
are we going to be able to afford the mortgage, afford the rent,
or whatever it is, you know, this illness in my body,
this issue that I've got, Lord, are you going to sort it out,
we concern ourselves, bog ourselves down
and we put all this pressure on our minds
and God says He knows our thoughts and knows they're vanity.
It's just, it kind of tells me, you know what, Lord,
a lot of the things I concern myself about,
I shouldn't just even waste my time
and the things that are worrying, well, Lord, you know what they are
and you're going to help me find a solution.
Do you think that will help your faith
if you know God's got it under control
and I don't need to concern myself, the Lord will sort it out.
I think about a little baby like Elena, our little baby Elena, right,
she doesn't know that there's, you know, when I put her on the chain table,
I don't think she even realises there's nappies under the table,
there's nappy wipes, there's nappy bags.
I don't think she realises necessarily that, you know,
I mean, she's expecting mum to feed her but we also give her solids,
she doesn't know what she's going to be fed,
what's going to be shoved in her mouth, you know,
but she's going to get fed, she's going to be bathed,
she's going to be clothed, her nappy, dirty nappy is going to be changed, okay,
and she doesn't know how all of that operates
but one thing that she can, I'm not sure how baby will communicate,
she knows I'm taken care of.
I don't have to worry, are there enough nappies under the chain table, right, in her mind.
She doesn't have to worry, is something going to be shoved in my mouth
so I can swallow and enjoy and fill my empty belly.
She doesn't have to worry, you know, am I going to be dirty
and I'm going to be filthy, no, no, mum is going to wash you.
Those are things that she doesn't even have to concern herself about
and so most of her day she's smiling, she's happy,
she's just trying to get around,
she's trying to experience what the world is like, alright,
like her life is mainly just happiness, joy and I'm going to be taken care of.
That's her life and boy, she's got a lot of faith in her mum,
she's got a lot of faith in her family
and you know what, we sometimes need to remind ourselves,
well, we are children of God, we have a Heavenly Father
and the Lord knows the things that we need in life,
He knows how to take care of us,
He knows the solution to the prayer before we even ask,
you know, in His name, the Lord knows what we need
and brethren, the point of this sermon this afternoon is just to give you peace,
to set you a little bit at peace, the Lord knows.
Say, Pastor, I'm going through, the Lord knows,
He's got it taken care of,
He knows the solution, He knows the answer,
He knows how He's going to equip you to get through it,
the Lord knows your thoughts.
Can you come with me to Romans chapter 12, please?
Romans chapter 12, Romans 12.
Romans chapter 12 and verse number 2, please.
Romans chapter 12 and verse number 2.
You know, a lot of our Christian growth has to do with what we think about,
what we spend our minds on.
If you spend a lot of your time fear mongering,
you know, what's going to happen, nuclear war next month,
you know, conspiracy, conspiracies, conspiracies, poisons
and you know, big farmers going to wipe us out and whatever it is,
Antichrist is just around the corner
and you know, this kind of mindset,
you know, if you're just constantly absorbing these things in your mind,
you know what's going to happen in your life,
fears, worries, a lack of faith.
I've seen it, I'm just telling you what I've seen.
You know, if you spend your mind on those things
and you know, if you want to live a holy and Christian life,
you know what, one thing you can't do
is to just bombard your thoughts and your minds with worldliness.
You know, with lusts and with, you know, the filth of the world
and the influences of the world
and the thoughts and imaginations and the philosophies of the world.
If you're just bombarding your mind with these things,
you're going to find it very hard to live a life
that is holy and pleasing unto the Lord.
You're going to have to live a life that is just like the world.
What you see this mind really causes you to become
or to act in the way, you know, that you want to direct yourself,
like whatever way you want to direct in your life.
You say, I want to know the Bible, what do I do?
You got to read the Bible.
You got to absorb God's word in your heart and into your mind.
Pastor, I want to overcome this sin.
What do I do?
Just stop thinking about those lusts that you have
and turn to the scriptures where God deals specifically with those sins
and read those scriptures, meditate on those scriptures,
memorize those scriptures so when the temptations come,
you can quote those scriptures and there's power of God in his word.
We've got to fill our minds with the right thing.
This is why Romans 12, verse number 2.
I love these passages. I know they're very well read.
I know you know them, but it says in verse number 2,
Romans 12, verse number 2,
and be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
How can I be transformed?
Pastor, I've just only been saved a short period of time.
I'm still living like the world.
I'm still sitting like the world.
How can I become a mature Christian?
You need to renew or transform your mind, okay?
Transform by the renewing of your mind.
The Lord knows your thoughts. Remember that?
The Lord knows your thoughts.
You can't hide your wicked, evil, sinful thoughts to the Lord, you know,
but we need God's help to be able to transform our mind
and we do it by renewing our mind
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Pastor, what is the will of God in my life?
Well, I would say to you, just read the Bible and do what the Bible says,
but also you need to be able to be transformed.
You need to have your mind renewed.
Take your mind out of the gutter of this earth
and put it on the things that please the Lord.
Verse number 3 says,
For I say, through the grace given unto me,
to every man that is among you,
not to think himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly,
according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
We're to think of ourselves soberly, not to lift ourselves,
look how great I am.
No, when we realize who we are in the light of God and in light of his perfect word,
we ought to think about, well, boy, soberly.
Well, we're not much, okay?
But we see here that he's given every man a measure of faith.
Again, it's kind of like he's given us the gifts, he's given us different attributes,
he's given us different strengths.
You know, and we recognize that we need to change and be transformed for God,
but what I want you to understand is that change starts up here in your thought life,
and God knows your thoughts.
God knows what you think about,
not just your concerns and your worries,
but he knows the kind of person you want to be.
Do you want to be just worldly?
Are you just satisfied, spiritually speaking, where you are right now,
or do you want to be something more greater, okay?
Not thinking highly of yourself,
but, hey, I know what Christ is like,
I know what Christ wants me to be like,
I know he wants me to be according to his will,
submit my will to God's will.
Well, you need to transform your mind,
and God will help you in that process,
because God knows your thoughts.
God knows whether those thoughts are vanity,
or he knows if it's the perfect will of God in your life.
So please, you know, the Lord knows,
and I'm trying to say to you, please analyze your thought life.
Sometimes we measure ourselves by what we do,
and there's nothing wrong with that in of itself.
Maybe you've read the Bible cover to cover two times this year,
and you go, that's better than last year, I did it once.
Okay, praise God for that, okay?
Sometimes we measure ourselves by the things that we do,
but really, we need to really start rethinking,
getting to the bottom of it, what is happening up here?
What is processing in your mind?
Because we can read our Bibles for our 15 minutes,
our half an hour in the day,
but what about the rest of the 24 hours?
You know, are you living a life,
a thought life that pleases the Lord,
that is seeking the perfect will of God?
Reverend, the Lord knows.
The Lord knows our weaknesses,
the Lord knows where we fail even up here.
So the Bible says a thought of foolishness is sin.
Always a lot of foolishness,
there's a lot of vanity that goes on in here,
I'll tell you that.
And I know you're the same as me, okay?
Because we worry, we get concerned,
we think about the wrong things at the wrong time.
But what you feed your mind
will control your heart and your actions.
I truly believe that.
What you feed your mind
will control your heart and your actions.
And if I want my heart to be single toward God,
if I want my actions to be something
that can be tested and proved and judged before Christ,
then I want to make sure that this thought life is right.
You know, that I'm thinking,
that I'm meditating upon the right things
that please the Lord.
Can you come with me to Psalm 39?
Psalm 39.
The Lord knows.
The Lord knows your thoughts.
And you know, when I say that,
I don't want you to give up and go,
oh man, I'm such a failure.
Man, my thought life is horrible,
I can't do this, pastor.
Well, look at Psalm 39.
Look at Psalm 39.
Look at Psalm 39, verse number 4.
Psalm 39, verse number 4.
I want you to read this.
I'll give you the moment to turn there.
I really want you to see this for yourself.
Psalm 39, please.
Psalm 39.
And verse number 4.
And the reason I want you to look at this
is because these are one of those verses in my life
that really gave me a lot of peace in my heart.
When I make mistakes.
You know, a lot of peace in my heart
when I fail my Lord,
or when I fail my church.
Okay, this Psalm helps me a lot in life.
So Psalm 39, verse number 4 says,
Lord, make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days.
What it is that I may know how frail I am.
That I may know how frail I am.
You know, our bodies are frail.
We're going to pass away one day.
Okay, these bodies are not immortal.
It doesn't matter how much you hit the gym.
It doesn't matter how much, you know,
vitamins and minerals you take
and make sure your diet's just perfect
and as organic and as whatever it is,
whatever the current fat is for the best health
is this body's still going to perish and die.
And so the Psalmist is saying to God,
can you help me measure out my days?
Like I don't want my life to go to waste.
I know there's going to be an end to me
and I know my days are measured.
I know you know exactly how long I got.
So can you help me Lord?
Kind of understand what I've got, you know?
Understand my frailty.
Because it says here in verse number 5,
behold, thou hast made my days as in handbreath
and mine age is as nothing before thee.
Verily every man at his best state
is altogether vanity, sealer.
But I want you to notice that the Psalmist says,
Lord, you know my frailty,
you know my weaknesses that I have
and I've come to just accept
in my life, I am fraile.
In my life, I have weaknesses.
The Lord knows your frailty is what I'm trying to say.
The Lord knows your frailty.
There are things that you can't do
and I can't do, you know,
and we may hope and desire
that we could achieve this or achieve that
and I've come to realise, you know what,
Lord, I'm going to just give my best
and even my best comes short sometimes in God's right
but I'm going to do the best I can
with what you've given me, Lord
and where I fail and where I'm fraile,
you already know, Lord.
You know what my frailties are
and I'm going to be okay with that.
You know what, I'm going to rejoice
in the strengths you've given me.
I'm going to rejoice in the days that you've given me.
I'm going to rejoice in what I've been able to accomplish for you
and what I can still accomplish for you, Lord.
When it comes to my frailties,
I'm just going to accept
that's what I am.
You know how fraile I am, Lord.
Okay?
So your frailties, they're your weaknesses,
they're your failings,
they're your shortcomings, whatever you think they are.
We all have them.
I don't think there's anybody here that says,
I'm just the best at everything.
Anything I do, anything I touch,
I'm the superstar.
I'm better than everyone and you're not.
We all have frailties, we all have weaknesses,
we all have shortcomings
and the Lord knows is what I'm trying to say to you.
The Lord knows.
And the Lord knows there are areas in your life
that you're just not going to succeed in
and you've got to be okay with that.
I'm not saying be okay with sinning.
I'm not saying like,
okay, Lord, I just sinned again.
No, don't be okay.
Don't be like, no, try to have victory in that.
But at the same time,
I'm okay with identifying
I'm a sinful creature
and I'm going to commit sin
to the day I die
and I realize that's just the reality of it.
This is my frailty of the days that I have
and instead of just beating myself up
and getting so discouraged
and cast down and faint in the race,
I'm just going to pick myself up
when I fail and say, God forgive me
and move on with my life.
Help me to do better next time, Lord.
Because I've seen Christians
that beat themselves up for their frailties
and they just never get back up.
I've just got to accept,
Lord, you know my frailties.
You know where I failed.
You know my weaknesses.
At some point, I've just got to be okay with that.
And hopefully, Lord,
hopefully you can strengthen me.
You know where I'm weak, you're strong.
You know hopefully I can have that kind of attitude.
But you know, I just want you to understand
that God knows your frailties.
God knows, you know, you're going to fail.
You're going to have shortcomings.
You're going to make mistakes in life.
The Lord already knows them.
The Lord already knows what you're going to do.
You know, the Lord has his all knowing.
Come with me to
Matthew chapter 10, please.
Matthew chapter 10.
Matthew chapter 10, please.
Verse number 29.
Matthew chapter 10
and verse number 29.
You know, there are certain religions
like the Roman Catholic Church.
And their nuns and
you know, even the Buddhists,
they've got their monks and they lock themselves up.
And they don't eat well.
They don't take care of themselves.
They might shave their hair or something like that.
They don't dress very well.
You know, the Orthodox Church has similar things.
And many religions have their,
you know, even Hindus have their kind of monks.
And they live in such poverty.
And the idea behind that is often
that they recognize that they are,
they have weaknesses.
They have frailties.
They recognize that and
and it's like, well, you know,
the solution to all of this is just to
lock myself in a dungeon
and just continue to beat myself up,
continue to just say how horrible I am,
how much of a failure I am.
And hopefully God accepts me or whatever,
whatever God they worship,
whatever being they uphold, you know,
that being's going to accept me
because I've just recognized just how horrible I am.
And sometimes Christians can be that way as well.
It makes me,
one of the things that makes me the saddest
as a Christian is when I see other believers
just beat themselves up.
I failed again.
I'm downcast constantly.
I just failed.
And look, I get it.
You know, and when you weep,
I want to weep with you.
All right.
And when you're downcast,
I want to encourage you.
And when I'm downcast,
I want you to encourage me
and I want us to be praying for one another.
But you need to,
at some point,
when you're cast down,
when you're feeling, you know,
depressed, whatever it is,
you need to remind yourself,
you know, at some point,
I need to pick myself up.
I can't stay forever in this position.
Right now, I feel horrible.
Yes, okay.
But I know that I can't stay like this.
And the reason it makes me sad is
because I see people,
believers just beat themselves up.
I failed again.
I'm a failure.
And just, okay, yeah, you are,
but we all are.
We all have frailties.
Pick yourself up.
There's something you can do for the Lord.
There's something you can do for eternity.
Don't just stay in prison.
Don't just stay cast down
and depressed constantly.
Because Matthew 10, 29,
Jesus says,
are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing,
and one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your Father?
Jesus is talking about two birds.
He goes,
these two birds,
they're sold for a farthing.
He goes like,
birds are,
they're not expensive items,
you know,
and one of them
shall not fall on the ground.
One dies without the Father knowing.
He goes,
even when one bird,
which is seemingly
amongst millions of birds,
some little sparrow.
He goes,
when that little sparrow dies,
the Father knows.
God knows.
Okay, so what does that mean?
Well, verse number 30 says,
but the very hairs
of your head are all numbered.
Jesus says,
every hair,
God knows which number
that is on your head.
Right,
God knows this hair over here
is 10,560,000.
God knows that hair.
God knows that number on my head.
And then he says in verse number 31,
fear ye not therefore,
ye are more value
than many sparrows.
Think about the frailty of a sparrow,
frailty of a bird.
They got hollow bones.
They die very easily, birds.
It doesn't take much of an impact
for them to pass away,
to die.
And we see how frail
a little sparrow is.
And God says,
yeah, but even when that frail sparrow dies,
I know about it.
The Lord knows, remember?
And God says,
you are vastly worth much more
than many sparrows.
God knows the number on your head.
Look how much he loves you.
Look how much he cares for you.
Look how much he thinks about you.
That he even knows
how many hairs are on your head right now.
I mean, that blows me away.
As much as I love my kids,
I don't know how many hairs
they've got on their head.
As much as I love them,
how much more does God love me
and know me
if he knows even the number of my hair?
So brethren, yeah, you're frail.
But God thinks upon you.
God loves you.
God values you so much more
than a bird.
And I personally love birds.
I personally love parrots.
You know, I enjoyed having a pet
when I grew up,
and I love that little bird so much.
And my heart was broken
when that little bird died.
Well, how much more value am I
in the eyes of God?
And how much more value
are you in the eyes of the Lord?
Brethren, the Lord knows you.
The Lord knows you
better than you know yourself.
The Lord knows every part of your life
and knows your frailties.
He knows where you come short.
He knows when you fail.
See, I take the attitude sometimes,
Lord, I've let you down.
But you knew I was going to let you down, Lord.
You know the weaknesses in my flesh.
You know the sins that I struggle with.
You know the wrong thoughts that I have, Lord.
Can you help me?
Can I do better for you next time, Lord?
Can you pick me up?
Can you encourage me?
Can you comfort me?
Lord, instead of just putting your heavy hand
of chastisement upon me,
can you just edify me
and love me and lift me up
because I don't want to make that mistake again, Lord.
I know I'm a failure.
I know I'm frail.
But Lord, I can't stay on the floor.
I can't stay beating myself up, you know.
And the Lord knows that as well.
The Lord knows.
He's got everything at his disposal to comfort you,
to encourage you and to lift you up.
Maybe the sermon this afternoon is for that purpose,
to encourage you instead of thinking of your failings
because we all fail.
Amen?
We all fail.
So, can you come with me to Psalm 103?
Psalm 103, please.
Psalm 103.
Psalm 103 verse number 14.
It says,
He knoweth our frame.
He remembereth that we are dust.
That's truly what we are.
We're just dust.
Verse number 15.
As for man, his days are as grass.
As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
We're like a flower in the field.
Flourishes and then he dies.
He knows our frame.
He knows what we're made of.
He knows we're actually made of dust.
We're not made from stone.
When God created Adam, he didn't create him out of stone.
He didn't create him out of metal.
He took the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
And we are but dust.
Boy, our bodies, we are frail beings.
But the Lord knows.
The Lord knoweth our frame.
And I love to meditate upon this because it helps me accept my failings.
And even though I have failings, I've come to accept.
When you accept that, then I know that God can use me when I'm frail.
God can use me when I'm weak.
God can strengthen me no matter what my failings are.
And brethren, you're the same.
The Lord knows.
But pastor, the Lord knows.
But I can't, yes, the Lord knows.
Pastor, I don't think I can ever preach the gospel to someone.
The Lord knows. Neither could I.
It's with the help of his Holy Spirit and his power that we're able to do what we can do.
It's the truth.
I'd say to you, I could never pastor a church.
I could never pastor two churches.
It's the truth. I can't.
I'm a frail human being.
It's only possible with his help, his strength, his power, his spirit.
That's why all glory goes to Christ in whatever we accomplish as a church.
The Lord knows your frailties.
Can you come with me to Matthew chapter 6?
Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, please.
Matthew chapter 6.
And while you're turning to Matthew 6, I'll read to you from 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9.
This is Paul, he says, and he said unto me, this is what God said to Paul,
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength, I want you to pay attention,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Maybe your infirmities is your frailty.
Say, pastor, I can't. I'm sick. I've got infirmities.
I'm weak.
Yeah, what did God say?
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Boy, if we really want to show God strength in our life,
we want to accomplish great things for God.
Say, wow, look at the strength of that ministry, of that man, of that work, that labor.
First, you've got to recognize that you're weak.
You can't do it without the Lord.
And sometimes the Lord will send you an infirmity,
just to show you that it's not by your strength, it's not by your power.
The Lord allows you to identify your frailties, not to be cast down and thrown out.
No, for you to say, well, even in my frailty, wow, look what God's done.
Look what God's achieved.
Look how God's used me, because of him, because of his power, because of his might, because of his strength.
You're in Matthew 6, Matthew 6, verse number 7.
Matthew 6, verse number 7.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Now, brethren, let me just say, like, I feel that ever, the last few years,
I feel like there's been a greater revelation to me about that verse.
Because I used to read verse number 7 and I thought of the Catholics.
You know, with their rosary beads.
Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, our Father, our Father, our Father, our Father, whatever it is.
Vain repetitions.
And even in the Catholic Church, there's a book the priests have, it's a book of prayers.
And these are the prayers that are authorized by the Church.
So read the prayer and it's just vain repetition.
Just repeating the same thing over and over and over again.
And there are many religions that are like this.
They'll pray and this is, these are the right words and it's in this order and this is the exact one that you got to say.
But I realized when I started to think about this verse about my own life,
I go, man, there are times that I do have just a vain repetitions in how I pray.
I forget that I'm talking to God Almighty.
That I'm talking to a real being, the creator of all things.
And I just say my quick, Dear Lord, bless my food. Amen.
Whatever it is.
One day, same prayer again and again and again.
Hold on. Is this not vain repetition?
When I'm just going through the motions and I forget who I'm speaking to?
But anyway, that's not so much a point.
The point is, verse number 8, the next one.
Be not ye therefore like unto them,
for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.
And the title for this sermon is The Lord Knows.
The Lord knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.
And like again, brethren, just in my frailties, in my weaknesses as a human being,
I quite often am wondering, Lord, don't you know? Don't you see?
Can't you? Lord, this has happened.
Or, Lord, how are we going to take care of this?
Have you forgotten, Lord?
Again, I don't say that to God, but I say it within myself in my heart.
Like, God, have you forgotten?
I know he's not forgotten.
It says he knows what things ye have need of before ye ask him.
And boy, the peace that gives me in my heart when I think about that,
because I'm sometimes thinking, I've got to remind God.
God, did you forget?
God, did you not see?
Look over here, God.
God, I know you're busy running the universe,
but look, I've got this situation right here in my house,
or my family, or my work, or my church.
Lord, I've got this thing happening.
Lord, I know you're running the universe. I know you're busy.
But the Lord knows even before I asked him.
Sometimes I guess I think if I just constantly think about this issue,
think about this issue, it's going to sort itself out.
No, no, the Lord's thought about it already,
and he already knows what I need,
and he already knows what you need.
And it's still surprising when God comes through
and he supplies them I need, whatever that need is,
and I'm like left dumbfounded going, man,
like what an idiot I was to think that God forgot.
I just want to remind you this afternoon
that the Lord knows whatever that need is,
and whatever's plaguing your heart right now,
you're like I don't know how we're going to do it,
I don't know what the answer is,
I don't know what the solution is,
and maybe you forgot even to go into prayer,
and maybe you're reminded even this afternoon,
maybe I should go to pray about that,
but the Lord already knew before you even asked him.
God's already thought about it.
While he's running the universe,
while he's running the universe,
while he's causing the sun to go around,
the earth to go around the sun,
while he's holding the moon in its place in its orbit,
while God's doing everything that he needs to do
to run the whole universe,
ah, he remembered the bill you need to pay as well.
He already thought about it.
You know your medical appointment coming up.
God already knows, he knows the diagnosis
better than doctors do.
He knows how to heal that issue.
Or he knows if he's going to hold that issue in your heart,
sorry, in place for a while,
so you learn how to be strong in his strength,
in your weakness.
The Lord knows he's got it, he's got it under control.
And I just want to remind you that
your struggle, your issue, your concern,
the Lord knows,
and he knows that it's good for you
right now to deal with it.
He's getting you through that for a purpose.
The Lord knows what the purpose is.
The Lord knows the solution.
The Lord knows how he's going to take care of it.
The Lord's thought about it,
much better than you've thought about it
because our thoughts are vain.
Our thoughts are so much a waste of our time and effort.
And that's really what I want to be left with.
You know, point number three is the Lord knows your needs.
He truly does know your need.
And again, this idea, like when God answers our prayers,
you know, we get surprised,
but like God is never surprised.
Do you get surprised?
I get surprised.
I still do.
It's not like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
It's like, oh wow, God really came through.
Like God sorted that out, you know.
God's already thought about it.
Wow.
But God's never surprised.
God's like, yeah, yeah.
I've been planning that all along. Don't worry.
I had it in my hands all this whole time.
The Lord knows your needs.
And did you know God already knows every need
you'll ever have for your entire life?
God already knows what they are
and God knows how he's going to take care of it.
Do you believe that though?
Boy, that's where I need faith.
Lord knows every need today, every need tomorrow,
to the day I die.
He knows the measure of my days.
He knows how much I've got along this earth.
Every need that I'm ever going to have, God knows.
Every need my wife will ever have, God knows.
Every need my children,
God willing one day, my grandchildren.
Every need of every day of their entire life,
God knows what they have a need of before we even ask him.
And he's got a solution for it.
Do you know how much peace that will give you?
How much faith will grow in your life
if you can say, oh God, I'm going to ask anyway
because it is an issue, but I know you've got it.
I know it's in your hands.
So I'm just going to get busy with what I can do
and what I'm called to do, what your word says to do.
I'll do what you asked me to do, Lord,
and everything else you know about it, Lord,
I'll leave it with you.
And if you're able to do that,
then I would say you're someone of great faith
because I still struggle, brethren.
I still struggle.
I'm like, God, are you sure you don't need
my help a little bit on this?
Lord, have you forgotten?
Because if you're busy, Lord,
I'll take care of it.
I'll try.
That's me.
Oh, you have a little faith.
That's me.
But the Lord knows.
Come with me to Psalm 69.
Turn to Psalm 69.
Just repeat.
God knows every need you will ever have
for your entire life.
He knows it and He's got a solution for it.
How much peace does that really give you?
It should give you great peace.
It should give me great peace,
but I know my frailties
and I know that I'm going to,
a few months down the track,
forget this sermon.
And when I forget this sermon,
I'm like, oh, brethren, I don't know
how we're going to do this.
You'll be like, don't worry, Pastor.
Remember you preached?
The Lord knows.
Of these great truths.
Okay, Psalm 69, please.
Verse number five.
Psalm 69, verse number five.
Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness
and my sins are not hid from thee.
Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness.
Point number four, brethren,
is the Lord knows your sins.
The Lord knows your sins.
And again, why does this give me great comfort?
It makes me very scared.
It gives me a lot of fear
that God knows all my sins,
every single time.
As soon as I do it, the Lord knows.
I can't hide it from Him.
I can probably hide it from man.
I can probably deceive myself
and think, no, it wasn't that bad.
But the Lord knows every foolish act,
every foolish word,
every foolish thought.
So part of that gives you great fear,
but then part of that gives me
just again, that comfort.
Cause if I can't hide from Him,
then I'm not even gonna try hiding it from Him.
Lord, you know, you know me.
You know everything.
You know my foolishness.
You know every sin I commit.
There are sins that I commit,
I guarantee you, that I forget.
I don't even know.
I don't even know I committed that sin.
I just kind of just desensitized or whatever,
cause of just the world in general,
flesh in general, whatever it is, right?
I mean, obviously we kind of remember the sins
that might be of a greater significance
or the offense of somebody.
But again, the thought of foolishness,
how many thoughts are foolish
that we don't even consider sins.
We just don't even think about it.
We just go about life.
Lord knows our sins
and why that gives me a lot of comfort
is well, Lord, you see it.
I can't hide from you.
I can't run away from you.
So I might as well just confess them to you
and say, sorry, Lord.
And just come with him with a broken heart.
Come to him with a broken heart
and say, Lord, you're not,
I'm not going to hide it from you, Lord.
I'm not going to make excuses.
I mean, I could make excuses, I guess.
I couldn't make reasons for it
and cause you know,
this person did me wrong over here.
So I rewarded evil for evil
and yes, over here,
I took vengeance upon myself a little bit, Lord.
And over here, yes,
I had, you know, impure thoughts
and I can make excuses, I suppose,
but I didn't, there's no need to make excuses
because Lord, you see it.
Like even me making excuses
for myself is foolish.
And Lord, you know my foolishness.
So yeah, Lord, I've sinned against you, Lord.
So let's make things right.
I'm sorry, Lord. Can you forgive me?
Lord, I accept.
Yeah, I make mistakes, Lord.
I accept it.
And you know anyway, Lord, what's the point?
What's the point of hiding?
I'm just making things worse.
The Lord knows your sins.
So brethren, this again,
I just, I love preaching on this topic.
Again, going to church,
I feel that I did not hear this topic preached enough.
The need to go and just confess your sins to the Lord.
This has nothing to do with salvation.
You know, Christ has paid for your sins.
In fact, I recently had an email, I've not responded yet,
of someone asking me, you know,
can you please explain this to the Bible?
If Jesus has died for all of my sins,
then why do we have to confess our sins before the Lord?
Not understanding the difference between our position
and our walk.
Not understanding our relationship with God
as far as a child of God.
But then our fellowship with God can fall apart
when we just chase sins
and we don't confess them before the Lord.
I love keeping clean accounts.
I love keeping a clean account with my Lord.
I love going to God and saying,
God, I've sinned again.
I've failed again, Lord.
Can you forgive me?
Can you restore me in fellowship, Lord?
Because I've got to get up and preach this afternoon
and I wouldn't want to think anything to hold me back.
Always.
I'm praying that prayer, guys.
And I say that again and again
to remind you that I have to do it
on a daily basis and so do you.
So if the Lord knows your sins,
just say, Lord, you know, you're right.
I've failed again, Lord.
Forgive me, restore me,
help me to walk in your spirit
because you know my frailties.
You know my thoughts.
You know all these things about me, Lord.
So let's just get this right, Lord.
The Lord knows your sins.
And can you come with me to Psalm 32?
Psalm 32, come with me to Psalm 32.
Psalm 32.
Psalm 32, verse number 3.
Reverend, do you confess your sins to the Lord?
Please.
This Psalm, we're about to read these verses.
Okay, I know it's poetic language
but it's going to be true for you.
If you don't confess your sins to the Lord,
it's going to bring you low.
It's going to cause you issues.
One day the Lord's going to run out of his patience
and he's going to bring his chastising hand upon you.
And you're going to regret
just not confessing those things.
And the Lord always knew all along.
Why hide? Why run?
Psalm 32, verse number 3.
The Psalmist says,
Now, the Psalmist, when he says,
I keep silence,
he's not confessing his sins.
You'll soon see as we keep going through this verse.
He says, I'm not confessing my sins to God.
So because he's not doing that,
it's like his bones wax old
through my roaring all day long.
Verse number 4.
So he feels God's judgments there, right?
He goes,
Poetic words.
It's like I'm dehydrated.
I've lost my moisture.
Because I refuse.
I just keep silence.
Then he says in verse number 5,
Verse number 5.
So this Psalmist has to learn the hard way.
He's got to have the burdens and the worries
and the pressures
and God's hand of chastisement upon him.
He's feeling like the moisture is just leaving his body.
And he says, I better open my mouth.
I can't keep silence anymore.
I better confess my sins to the Lord.
Again, to me, that's what he does.
It brings the moisture back.
You know, it brings the strong bones,
strong like, you know, again,
that poetic language.
It uplifts you when you know, man,
I made things right with God.
All right, it's a sin.
It's forgiven. It's forgotten.
God wants me to move on now.
He's not going to bring up those sins again, ever again.
You know, our God is truly a God that forgives and forgets
and he's never going to bring it up ever again.
And my walk with God is pure right now.
And I'm going to walk in his spirit
and try to maintain this life before I fail again.
For a period of time, you know,
I'm going to try to serve him
in the best capacity that I can.
The Lord knoweth your sins.
Come with me to John 16, last passage.
John 16.
The four points were,
the Lord knows your thoughts,
number two, the Lord knows your frailty,
number three, the Lord knows your needs,
number four, the Lord knows your sins.
John 16, verse number 30.
We'll end on this one.
John 16, verse 30.
John 16, 30.
Now are we sure that thou knowest all things?
The disciples say to Jesus,
we know that you know everything, all things.
And needest not that any man should ask thee?
By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
Jesus answered them,
do ye now believe?
Behold, the hour cometh,
yea is now come,
that ye shall be scattered,
every man to his own,
and shall leave me alone,
and yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with me.
These things have I spoken unto you,
that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world.
What great words from Jesus.
This is before he gets arrested.
He goes, look, you're gonna scatter,
you're gonna be afraid,
for a period of time, three days, three nights,
before Christ shows himself resurrected from the dead.
But he says, look,
the reason I'm telling you these things,
the thing that they recognized,
they recognized Jesus, you know all things,
everything you know, Lord.
And says, okay,
well these things have I spoken unto you,
okay, that in me ye might have peace.
And brethren, the point of this sermon
is that you may have peace.
I like peace.
I like to be at peace.
I like not to worry.
I like to think on positive things,
happy things, exciting things,
fun things,
things that we can have a good laugh about.
I like that side of life.
There's the other side of life,
worries, concerns, I know that.
But it all starts with peace.
And brethren, when you have peace,
you'll understand that peace comes
by understanding that Jesus knows all things.
But then he says, but in the world
you shall have tribulation.
That be of good cheer.
Man, again, that's what I want.
Troubles come and say,
Lord, don't you see, Lord?
Can't you see?
No, the Lord knew.
The Lord knows the tribulation's coming.
He's allowed the tribulation to come.
God knows my needs.
God knows the solution to this tribulation.
That's why I can be of good cheer.
Woohoo! Yes, Lord!
Because he has overcome the world.
Brethren, there's nothing this world can do
that would be a surprise to God.
The Lord knows.
The Lord knows your life.
He knows your tribulations.
He knows your frailties.
He knows your sins.
He knows your needs.
He knows your thoughts.
The Lord knows.
I love to be like little Emilia,
where she just giggles and laughs
and she knows everything's taken care of.
She knows her tummy's going to be full.
She knows she's going to have clean clothes in the morning.
She knows she's going to be bathed.
She knows all this.
Why does she know?
She knows because Mum's got it in her hands.
And Brethren, what a life to live.
Woohoo! I'm enjoying the journey
because God knows all things
and he knows every need that I have.
Title for the sermon is The Lord Knows.
And so, Brethren, if there's anything
that's concerning your heart and your mind
this afternoon, reminder, give it to God.
Here it knows before you even ask Him
and, you know, just rest in Him.
You know, increase your faith.
Increase your dependence upon Him,
your strength upon Him, and you'll have peace.
Okay, Brethren, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you, Lord, that you know all things
and, Lord, you know the frailties that we have
Lord, even the frailties of my preaching
and the frailties of our service, Lord,
you know, where we come short
and, Lord, when we fail
and, Lord, I pray that we would not depend
on our own flesh, that we would truly
seek your strength and the leading
of your Holy Spirit, Lord,
to accomplish great things for you.
Lord, help us in our worries,
our concerns that we have,
and just to know, Lord, that you've
really got them in your hands.
Lord, what a great relief that is on our lives
to know that you see all things
and know all things, and you've got
the solution in plan as well.
So, Lord, I just pray that you'd increase
my faith and increase the faith
of our brethren here this afternoon.
Help us to just enjoy the rest
of our fellowship that we have together
and please take us back home safely.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, hymn number 456, please.
Hymn number 456.
We'll sing All Your Anxiety.
456, All Your Anxiety, 456.
All your anxiety, all your care,