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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Alright. That's an easy way to count, right? We'll keep going. And then we've got the few notes down there. Again, there's the two men's bathroom keys out there for the bathrooms that are both on the west and the east side of the building. That's why there's a D and a W. So make sure if you take the one off the E, you're going to the east side of the building. And make sure you put it back on E. That way you guys kind of know who's in what bathroom. That way they're both available. But you've got to kind of grab the key and go running. I mean, there's more than one stall in there. So you might want to just get some fellowship while you're in there. You could get a brother in there. So that could happen. But that's probably not what's going to want to happen. But you've got to kind of think about where you're taking the key from and where you're putting it back. So I just wanted to cover that up in place. And then also we've got a homeschool field trip command. Oh, the other thing I want to mention before I forget to is the, you probably already noticed, but there's the January 17th posters back in the bathroom hall. Take one. If you've got one, take one. If you want to take them off, you know. Feel free to take several. I'll hang them up in your home. So go ahead and take those. That's what I brought them down for. It's a little bit there. They're available. If anybody asks for money, don't see me about that. And we've got a homeschool field trip over there. Thursday, March 3rd, 12 p.m. If you want to go, make sure you sign up back there. Again, this is up in Phoenix, so I know it's a bit of a drive for us. But, you know, Thursday was the only day that it's really had available. Otherwise, you know, the worst of my schedule, I could make a shuttle available, but it's just not going to work even Thursday. Now we've got the New Testament 98 Challenge. Keep working on that. Don't forget the new Children's Weekly Vital Memory Test. How many kids got the last piece done already? Did you get your ice cream? No, you didn't get it? Oh, man, you're dissatisfied with having God's Word written in your heart. God bless you so much. I appreciate it. I wish more people were like you. Well, mom and dad allowed. We've got one back there for you, okay? Don't forget it. But, of course, just memorize it. Just take a memorizing. What's new kids are going to get this done for next week? All right. All right. Hey, you guys count. I know you're too cool. You're too diverse. You could do that. You could do that. I mean, it's pretty excellent. All right. I like shaving. On the back, we've got the movie night for coming up, Mark's Court at 7. You're going to be watching Dean's Atlas. Please sign up if you plan to attend. If you can't make it, please do. The whole purpose behind this isn't just so he can have food and fellowship and an excuse to come here another night, I believe. But I want to create a promotional video when it's going on. And that way we can promote future movie nights to the public. You know, people here in Tucson. We can make special flyers for everyone else coming here to promote it. And hopefully get some visitors out and let them kind of see what we're about. So that's the purpose behind that. So please maybe if you can, if you are coming, make sure you sign up on the back. We've got a couple of announcements below that. There's Tuesday's Men's Preaching Night at 7 p.m. The rules are back there if you don't know already. I'm sure everyone here is going to be just like you already did. We've got the birthday moments and then the next Monday, next month. That's going to do it for announcements. Let's sing another song before we get into the future this month. Let's do it. We'll do song 374, Send a Light. Song 374. Song 373. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. Music. We're going to pass the opera plate and this plate is going to fall onto the gate. It's going to be from Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. But understand that God is witness. That God has not abandoned us. That God sees these things. And we can't have this attitude that we need to take matters into our own hands all the time. That's what Laban is doing. He's saying, look, I can't just go with you and watch over you and make sure you do everything exactly the way I want it done. And you cross all the T's and dot all the I's. And if you transgress, I'm going to be there to bring down the hammer and come down upon you. He couldn't do that. What he was saying was, hey, I can't do anything about this. But you need to understand that God is witness. That God can do something about it. And often God does do things. You know, Laban couldn't take matters into his own hands. And we have to understand that sometimes in life that's the way it is for us. You know, we can't go around writing every wrong. And look, people get caught up in a lot of this. This is important to preach because today there's so many causes, there's so many things out there that people just want to pour themselves into that they just want to invest themselves into. They want to take up some banner. They want to fight some cause, some worldly cause, you know, because they want to write something that they feel is wrong in the world. And look, I understand that there's an injustice, an oppression, and there's things that we'd rather just not be. But at the end of the day, there's not a lot we can do about it. I don't have a lot of political clout. That might come as a shock to you. I disapprove a lot of things that go on in here in Tucson. I can't go into the University of Arizona or ASU. Which one is it down here? U of A, right? I'm from Mesa, okay, I'm from Phoenix. Forgive me. They're both a bunch of liberal trash colleges anyway. Oops, I said it out loud. You know what, go peel the A off the back of your car. You got one, alright? I'm making everybody mad, alright? But look, I can't do anything about what they're teaching in there. I wish I could. I wish I could do something about, you know, their pride parades they put on. I wish I could do a lot of things about a lot of things that are going on in the world. But you know what, I can't. Those things are beyond my control. I can't right every wrong. But you know what I can do is just do what I can do and trust God and understand, hey, he's witness. That God is witness. And that God is seeing all of these things. God sees all the injustice, God sees all the oppression. God sees when people do me wrong, God sees when I do other people wrong. God is watching. God sees us when we do right, God sees us when we do wrong. God is witness. That's what I'm trying to get across tonight. And we can't always just have this attitude, this, you know, eventual. This attitude, this, you know, vendetta of taking matters into our own hands. And again, it's important because people want to invest themselves in so many things. And look, it's not that it's necessarily a bad thing. You know, a lot of times, you know, some of the causes people take up, I say that's a good cause. But if it's, you know, there's a, but it's not the greatest cause. You know, for example, you know, people want to stand up for our Second Amendment rights. Hey, I love our Second Amendment rights. I really do. I'm glad we have them. That's not what I'm going to make my life about. I'm not going to make my life about the Second Amendment. It's a good one. I'm glad, hey, I'm glad there's other people, worldly people that are out there waving that banner so that I can focus on something else that matters more. You know, that I can actually take up, you know, have an effect where other people can't. You know, a lot of those people are going to take up some political cause. You know, they're not saved. They can't take up the banner that I take up. They can't take up the banner of the cross. They can't go out and preach the gospel. They could, but they can't. You know, so we need to understand there's some things in life that we just need to let happen. There's some things that are just beyond our control. We can't do anything about it. All we can do is console ourselves with the fact that God is witness. And look, that should mean something to us. That should mean something that God is witness, that God is beholding the evil and the good. Because people get very distraught, don't they? When they see all the evil that's taking place in the world, I mean, to some degree you can't blame them. But you can't do anything about it. Why sit there and wring your hands about it? For example, is it like Ukraine and Russia on the brink of war right now? Yeah, see, I barely knew that. I was a guess. No, I knew that. You know how I knew that? It wasn't because I was like, oh man, I wonder what's going on over in Ukraine right now. You know, I wonder what's going on. It's because every time I get on social media, there's some news story somewhere. You get on YouTube and they have that little, the news section that kind of ticks across, or like trying to tell you. And every story is like, every day it's like any day now. This could be the day. Tuesday was supposed to be the day that they went to war. That's like, no, then they had negotiations. It's just every day. You know what's really going on is they just want to keep you on the edge of your seat. They want to keep you glued, watching, because it could be any day now that war breaks out in Ukraine and Russia. And by the way, that wouldn't be the first time that's happened. You know, and I could sit here and wring my hands, you know, and worry, is this going to lead to the rise of the Antichrist? You know, is Putin going to make a league? And who knows where this is going to go? And just worry about it. But you know what? It's all out of my hands. There's nothing I can do about it. So why would I sit here and concern myself with things that are beyond my control? You know, and sit there and say, well, is the Ukraine right? Is Russia right? God has witnessed. I don't know. I mean, who knows who's right or wrong in that situation. Do you believe everything that the media puts out? You know, that everyone's got a narrative, everybody's got a motive. Now, if you would, go back to Psalm 37. Look, what I'm driving at, the point I'm trying to make is this, is that you have to learn to trust God when it comes to the actions of other people. Because some things are going to be on your control. And as frustrating as that can be sometimes, and as disheartening as that can be, you have to understand that God is witness. That God sees these things. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5, you're going to Psalm 37, If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, I mean, doesn't that sound pretty bad? I mean, I'm glad we don't live in a place that could be said of us, you know, to this degree, when we're seeing the oppression of the poor, right? The violent perverting of judgment, where people are just, you know, the witness that's going to absolve the guy and have him be innocent is killed or something like that. Where judges are being threatened and bribed. You know, the violent perverting of justice. When you see these things in a province, the Bible says, Marvel not at the matter. Don't sit there just dumbfounded and in awe and marveling at, like, what is going on here? Why? Because you're some cold, callous jerk who just doesn't care about anything else? No. Because he that is higher, for he that is higher than the highest regardeth. You know, who is he that is higher than the highest? The Most High, right? The Most High God. God sees, God has witnessed, God understands what's going on down here, and he's keeping track. The Bible says in Proverbs 24, I'll read to you, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked, for there shall be no reward to the evil man, the candle of the wicked shall be put out. And look, it's God that's going to do that. It's God that's going to reward the evil man. It's God that's going to put the evil man's candle out. Not me, not you. All we have to do is understand that God is witness, and that God is just, and that God knows what he's doing, and trust him. Because God sees everything. So really, more than fretting about the oppression in some province, or the violence perverting of justice, or what somebody else is doing into us, or some situation that we might find ourselves in, or some situation we see playing out on the world stage, or wherever, things that are beyond our control. Rather than sitting there and worrying about it, we should really be more concerned about our own actions. We should learn to be more concerned about the things we can control than always trying to worry about the things that are beyond our control. Some things are always going to be beyond our control, and we can fret about those things, we can worry about them, we can think about them, we can even make an attempt to try to have some kind of influence, but if they're beyond our control, they're beyond our control. But that shouldn't cause us to despair and say, well, what's the point then? Because here's why you shouldn't despair, because God is witness. The Bible says in Proverbs 15, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. The eyes of the Lord are in every place. There's no place you can go where you can say, well, God doesn't see me here. God's eyes are everywhere, beholding both the evil and the good. Look, that's a double-edged sword. That can either work for you or against you. God's going to look down, he's going to see everything. He's going to say, hey, you're either doing evil or you're doing good. I can't do anything about the person that's what my neighbor's doing. I can't affect how they're living their life, but I can affect how I'm living mine. The one person I have any control over is me. I can decide that instead of when God looks down, instead of when he looks over here at my life, instead of seeing evil, he sees good. But you'll never do that, you'll never bother with that if you don't first understand this, that God is witness, that God sees, that the eyes of the Lord truly are in every place. If you're there in Psalms 37, I have you go there. You know, there's this great formula here. And again, it starts out with that same phrase, fret not thyself, right? Fret not thyself because of evil men, it's said in Proverbs. It says here, fret not thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. You say, why would anyone be envious against the workers of iniquity? Well, you know, because there's pleasure and sin for a season, the Bible says. You know, the world doesn't just chase after sin just because they're stupid. It's because there's pleasure there. It's because there are things that they benefit from it, you know, temporarily. It does satisfy, you know, these carnal lusts that people have. You know, it does bring some pleasure. That's why the Bible's warning us to not be envious against the workers of iniquity. Not to see that and think, oh, I wish I could do that. I wish I didn't have to be a Christian. I wish I didn't have all these rules. You know, you're fretting yourself because of evildoers at that point. And what you have to understand is that God sees everything. You don't see everything that the sinner is doing, you know, all the consequences that come because of their sin. You know, the world doesn't tell you the truth about sin, do they? They just paint that pretty picture, right? You know, the beer advertisement is just, you know, everyone's beautiful in a bikini. Everyone's got six-pack abs. Everyone's athletic and thin. No one has a big old beer gut. No one has cirrhosis of the liver in that picture. No one has a giant red nose from all the alcoholism. You know, they don't show you the guy, you know, who's gotten a fiery car wreck or is sitting in jail because of a DUI or something like that. They don't show you all that, what really comes along with it. But you know who does see that, even though the world doesn't want to show that? It's God. God is witness. God sees all that. And that's why God says, hey, I know the truth about it. Don't envy them. Don't envy what they have. The way of the transgressor is hard, the Bible says. What's there to envy? You know, they should be looking at us and be envious of us. Envious of clean living, envious of pure living, envious of a life that isn't a complete wreck, envious of good godly children, envious of knowing a loving God. They should be envious of us. They got it backwards. And it's a shame when a Christian says, hey, you know what? They got it backwards. And it's a shame when a Christian looks at the world and says, oh, I wish I could do that. No, you don't. You think you do. But the first time you've suffered the consequences, you'd regret it. The Bible says, so the first thing in this formula of understanding that God is in control, that God is witness, is to fret not thyself because of evildoers. Verse 2, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. That's why I don't sit here and worry about what politician has gone to the Bohemian Grove. I don't worry about every single thing that Alex Jones is trying to pump down my head. You've got to be worried about all the low frequency vampires coming up and trying to inhabit this dimension. He believes this crazy stuff. If you ever listen, you sound crazy. I sound like him, folks. And not just my voice. The things he says are insane. These spiritual vampires that are inhabiting people's bodies in Washington. All this crazy stuff. But I never exaggerate. I don't sit there and fret about all that kind of thing and people eat that up. Oh, Pizzagate. Hey, maybe it's a thing. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I don't care. But I'll tell you this. I know this much. God is witness. God knows. I don't have to sit here and try to fight the evil, pedophile, satanic rings of the world. Because God says, here, look. They shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Don't sit here and fret about evil people because they've got it coming. God's going to make sure they get what they deserve. That's why I don't have to sit here and fret about it. It's not that I'm saying, oh, it's okay, I don't care. I'm just saying, I know I can't do anything about it and I know God's going to. And He's going to do a whole lot better job at dealing with them than I ever will. I can't open up the pit of hell and cast people in there. He can. And they'll get what's coming. So I'm not going to sit here and fret because of evildoers. But that's just part of the equation. There's all this that comes after it. We just sit there and say, I'm not going to fret about evildoers. I'm not going to fret about evildoers. You're not going to do anything, you're going to end up fretting about evildoers. Because you're just sitting there thinking about evildoers and how you're not going to fret about them, you end up fretting about them. That's what happens. You have to get that out, this mistrust, this lack of faith in God, and replace it with trust, with the faith in God. You have to say, look, I know I can't do anything about this. God is witness. God is going to reward the wicked. All I have to do is this formula that follows. Verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good. Instead of sitting there and fretting and worrying about things that are beyond your control, you know what you need to do? Trust in the Lord and do good. Because remember, God's eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Maybe we're not doing evil, but if all we're doing is sitting there and just clutching our pearls and wringing our hands over the evil in the world, then we're so busy and obsessed with that, that we're not doing good. God wants you to just say, hey, God's got this, God's going to take care of it. Rather than sitting and fretting about these evil people and envying the wicked, I'm just going to do good. I'm just going to go out there. I'm going to live for the Lord. I'm going to win souls. I'm going to read my Bible. I'm going to pray. I'm going to memorize scripture. I'm going to go to church. I'm going to live a good, godly life. I'm going to do good and just trust God and leave the rest to Him. Because He can handle it. He said, trust the Lord and do good and thou shalt dwell in the land. Verily, thou shalt be fed. Well, what about the food shortage? You know what? I'm just going to trust God for that and just do good. And I'm not against having stores. I'm not against having things. But you know, making your whole life about building some bunker and piling it full of food is just, you know, you could be spending your time doing better things. There I said it. Verse 4. He says, delight thyself also in the Lord. You know what? It's a great day when you realize you don't have to sit here and right every wrong in the world. That I don't have to sit here and make sure everything goes my way. That I can just trust God and put my faith in Him and do good. And you know what? I'm going to be able to delight myself in that. Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. So you see how there's these verbs here beginning? You know, starting all of these verses. You got fret not. You got trust. You got delight. Right? He's saying these are the things that you need to do. These are actionable things. These are doing verbs. These are things you have to do in the Christian life. You know, fretting not is, you know, that's a practice of not doing something. But you have to do the rest in order to fill that void. Otherwise you will find yourself just worried about everybody else, situations that are beyond your control, wringing your hands over things that you can do nothing about. But when you realize and understand that God is witness, then you can begin to trust in Him. Then you can begin to delight thyself in the Lord. Verse 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord. I mean, people commit themselves to the craziest things, don't they? I'm going to commit myself to fighting COVID. Look, I'm against COVID, like the whole COVID thing. We're all over it. You want to know how dedicated I am? I'll tell you how dedicated I am to the anti-COVID cause. Right? I went into Panda Express down here a couple weeks ago. And they started, you know, they started demanding masks again here at the Panda Express. You hear me, Panda? I'm talking to you. Right? They had the signs on the door. Man, I just blew right through that door. I'm like, I don't wear those masks for anybody anymore. Those days are over. It's been two years. And the gal behind, everyone looks at me. Do you have a mask? Nope. And I was going to make, I'm like, oh, here it comes. I'm going to make a scene. Right? Cause I'm committed. Right? I'm committed. And I could tell, she wanted nothing to do with it. She's like, you know, it's, I could tell corporate's making her do this. They all look at each other and they're like, you're the manager. Right? You get to take on this six foot two, whatever, hungry, you know, hairy guy who wants to get a meal. And you're going to tell me, you have to get a mask. And I could tell she really didn't want to do it. She's like, well, you have to wear a mask in here. I just said, okay, I'll just go somewhere else. And I left. So don't tell me I'm not committed. All right? But you know what? That's about as committed as I get. That's about as committed as I get to that cause right there. Just saying, you know what? I'll just go down to EG's here. And I did. And I had a delicious eight inch turkey and provolone with fries. And it was the, what was it last month? The cherry, cherry limeade. It was awesome. Right? No mask. Nobody behind the counter had a mask. But you know, I'm saying, I'm telling that story because of the fact that, you know, people quit serving God. They quit trusting in the Lord and they commit themselves onto something that's vain and fleeting. You know, COVID, I know it seems like there's just no end in sight. There's going to be, there's an end in sight. I just heard that they're lifting the mask mandate on planes, like in the next month or two. Has anybody else heard that? Maybe I need to Google that. Don't quote me on that. All right? But I did hear, someone told me that a reliable source who does a lot of traveling said, Hey, I just read an article where they're going to lift the masks on airplanes. That's huge. I mean, Europe just lifted a bunch of bans and stuff like that. It's like, well, I'm glad I didn't spend this last two years just committing myself under this righteous cause of fighting COVID. And look, if that's the banner people want to take up, go ahead. But you know what? You're not fighting God's cause. You know, you're not going to have the delight. You're not going to have all these other things that come with it. You know, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him. And I'm just using that as one example. That's just an example. The people, they commit themselves to fighting all these fruitless, vain battles when they should be committing themselves unto the Lord and trusting in Him. But people have a hard time doing that because they don't understand that God is witness. They feel like, Oh no, if nobody else does this, I have to do this. I have to take up this cause. Because if I don't, you know, these people are going to go unpunished. This situation's not going to be mended. You know, justice isn't going to be doled out if I don't do something about it. Oh really? So I guess God is just up there twiddling His thumbs. Or do you actually trust God? Or do you actually believe that God is witness? And that He's beholding the evil and the good? And that He's going to cut down the evildoers like grass, like mow His lawn on a Saturday morning? I said Saturday, not Sunday. You should be in church on Sunday. You know, cause here's the thing. You know, you fret not. You trust. You delight yourself in the Lord. You commit thy way unto the Lord. It says in verse 6, And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. You know, you do all these things. You know what you get? You get to rest. You get to rest. I love the fact that I don't sit here and bite my nails over so many things that the world bites their nails over. And it's not just because I'm apathetic. Cause what it is, is that I'm not worried about it cause the Bible tells me not to worry about it. Cause I understand that there's some things that are just beyond my control. That there's nothing I can do about it. I can't fight that cause. I can't take down those people. I can't right this situation. The only thing I can do is just trust God. You know what? And that's good enough for me. Because I believe that God has witnessed. I believe that God is watching. I believe that God can and will do something about it. It's just sometimes we get impatient. And when we get impatient, we fret, don't we? We start to fret. And then we stop trusting. We lose our delight. We don't commit our way. We take up, we say, well I gotta do things myself. And we don't commit our way unto the Lord. But the result is this, there's no rest. There's no rest. We don't get to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Verse 8, cease from anger. You know, that would help a lot. I think sometimes people just, they get all caught up in things because they're just angry. They say, ah, I gotta do something about this. It just makes me so mad. Well, wait a minute. Step back. Do you? Or can God take care of things? Or can God handle this for you? Or can God go ahead and reward the evil that's coming? Verse 9, he reminds us again, for evildoers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. Oh, don't you know that Bill Gates is buying up all the farmland? We gotta expose Bill Gates. He's buying up all the farmland. What a stupid cause to take up. What can I do about Bill Gates? You know, maybe he's doing that billionaire, what's little old me gonna do about it? Nothing. That's why I'm not gonna sit there and watch video after video after video. That's why I'm not gonna get on website after website after website and sit there and just go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and everything else. Because even if there's truth in them, there's nothing I can do about it. But that doesn't bother me. You say, well, there's nothing we can do about it. Bill Gates is just gonna have his way with us? No, the Bible says that the meek shall inherit the earth. You know what, Bill Gates, go ahead and spend all your money. Buy up all the farmland. When Christ comes back and judges the earth, it's ours. Free of charge. In fact, Jesus is the one that paid for it. He says, here you go. So I'm just, you know what I'm gonna do in the meantime? I'm just gonna trust God. I'm gonna delight myself in him. I'm gonna commit my way unto him and I'm gonna have rest while I'm doing it. I'm gonna have peace. I'm gonna cease from being angry and have joy in my life. And I'm just gonna serve God. And only worry about the things that are within my control. Things that I can actually do something about. It says the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. Look, I'm not saying bad things don't happen. They do all the time. Bad things happen all the time. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. You know, when you sign up for the Christian life, you know what you signed up for? Suffering. But that's not all it is. There's gonna be opposition, there's gonna be hardship, there's gonna be trials, there's gonna be tribulations. You know, and Paul warned us about all these things. The Bible talks about it over and over and then you see people go through it and they're just like, oh, I can't believe this is happening. It's like, really? Because the Bible says it's gonna happen. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon his teeth. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon his teeth. But look at verse 13. The Lord shall laugh at him. You know, I don't sit there and worry about it because God's gonna laugh at him. And he who laughs, laughs, laughs best. And God's gonna have the last laugh. You know, the people that attack us and fight us and resist us and persecute us, God's gonna laugh at them. And I'm just gonna be there right beside them just chuckling myself. He thought he could stop you. He thought he could fight you. Because that's really who they're really fighting. You know, we had some fag, and yes I said fag, get all upset on Instagram because I talked about smear the queer. Remember that sermon a while back? I don't remember what sermon it was. But some fag out in LA got ahold of this sermon clip where he said, ah, can you believe this guy said smear the queer? I'm thinking, dude, you haven't even scratched the surface of the things I've said. That's it? That was a softball. You know, and did I go, oh, oh, oh no, he's gonna expose me on social media. You know, when they got ahold of, somehow they got ahold of the University of Arizona, some professor called us and let the voicemail. And it's funny because like the first thing out of her mouth is like, I'm professor so and so. I teach at the University of Arizona. Like she just had, that was like, just so you know what you're dealing with before I start talking. I teach at the University. I'm like, that's strike one against you. And that's, that right there is enough for me to just go click. Right? But she's just like, you better check on that guy who's preaching down at your church on Grant Road. He's saying some awful things about homosexuals. You better check his Instagram. So I go and look at the Instagram and I'm getting these messages on our church's Instagram. And I'm like, that's the clip that they're up in arms about? That's the one? You know, I don't know if the other ones are still up. YouTube usually takes those down, but believe me, there's been some other ones. There's a whole sermon called Hate the Homo. There's a whole sermon called University of Abomination, which was about that university, which is an abomination. With all its transgender freaks. You know, but if I was a person who just fretted about evildoers and worried about them gnashing upon me with their teeth. And that's why they call, and this is why I'm preaching this, because that's why they call, because they know that there are some Baptists out there who would cower. Who would as soon as that phone call came with that voicemail? Ooh! Ooh! Well, it's a sin. It's a sin! They're fags. It's abomination. God hates it. God condemns it with death. There, I said it. You know, I could have sit there and started to fret about it and worry about it. Or, you know what I did though? I just trusted in God. Whatever's going to happen, you know, and I didn't instigate anything. I didn't fire back. I said, look, if this is going to happen, it's going to be because they brought it. It's because they want to fight. And look, and by the way, if they're going to see this one, if you want to fight, you can come get it. You can come get it. Because we're not like all these other Baptists and all these other churches that are just going to kowtow to these freaks. We believe this book. We'll stand for it. You know, you'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands to keep me from preaching it. So bring it on, is what I say. But it's not keeping me up at night, folks. That's something like that. And by the way, that's something like that. Maybe this is the sermon. I don't know. Something like that will finally get out there, and it will bring the heat. You know, I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Look, they're going to plot against the just. They're going to gnash on him with his teeth. There's going to be persecution, whether it's from some people like that or in your own personal life. All they that live in God and in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That's a promise you have in the Word of God. But you know what? God is witness. And the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. He sees that his day is coming. It's not that God's going to laugh at the very end when that day comes. God's laughing right now at these people because he sees their day coming. Saying, you're persecuting my children. You're gnashing upon the righteous. It's ridiculous. I see your day coming. It's just that we want that day to be today. We're impatient because it's hard sometimes to just trust and delight and commit and rest and cease from anger. Look, it says in verse 14, the wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy. Bad things happen all the time, folks. And to slay such as be of upright conversation, their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall be broken. You know, it's all going to come back on them. But who's going to do that? Who's going to cause their own sword to enter into their heart? Who's going to break their bows? It's not me and you. I'm not going to do it. God is. And all I do is trust and delight and commit and rest. It says, verse 16, a little that a righteous man hath is better than the richest many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, and the inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. You know, someone's going to buy some land and start learning how to can things. Everybody I know goes through this phase where they're going to become homesteaders all of a sudden. And I get it, some people do it, right? But I thought the same thing. You know, I'm going to buy some land, raise some goats, get a cow, some chickens. And then people start to actually try to do that and they realize this is an incredible amount of work. There's a reason why that's like all people did for thousands of years. Sun up to sun down. Agriculture and farming and being a herdsman, taking care of cattle and things like that, that's a full-time job. And I don't know why I'm going off on that, but it's just somebody reminds me, Oh, so-and-so's buying a bunch of land, they're going to get some goats and some chickens and some cows. And I'm like, why? I mean, if you're into that, you know, it's a hobby. Oh, in case there's a food shortage. Well, it's like, one, you just need to work on your reserves, amen? Right? No, I'm just kidding. That's a bad philosophy, all right? And I'm working on it, somewhat. But no, I'd rather just trust in God, because we have a promise, in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. Look, either you believe that or you don't. In the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. I believe that if I'm not fretting, or this is why I don't fret, that if I'm trusting, that if I'm delighting, if I've committed my way unto the Lord, if I'm resting in Him, then I have nothing to worry about. And the wicked can do all they want, and even in a day of famine, God will satisfy me. I mean, look at Elijah, right? It hadn't rained in three years. God took care of him. He said, hey, you know, go down by the brook, I'll command the ravens to feed thee. When the brook dried up, he said, go see the widow woman, and she'll make you cake. That's us, folks. But, you know, was that just because Elijah was saved, or was it because he was doing all these other things? Or because he was committed unto the Lord and trusting in Him? That's why God saw him through. It's not just because he's a Christian. It's because he was actually committed unto the Lord. It says, verse 20, but the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs they shall consume. Into smoke they shall consume away. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they shall be cursed of him that shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. I mean, we all know that verse. But notice, it's not just the steps of any man. It's the steps of a good man. You know, people that love God, people that trust God, their steps are ordered of the Lord, and he delighteth in their way. You know, that's the flip side of God as witness. That's another aspect of it. It's not just that God is beholding the evil. He beholds the good, too. You know, God is witness. When Jacob and Laban parted ways, Jacob went and lived a blessed life because God is witness, and saw all the good and righteous things that he did, and saw how he was mistreated and how he was mishandled. And God rewarded him. God took care of him. God delighted in him and ordered his steps, didn't he? Because he was a good man. You know, yes, it applies to the wicked. God is witness, and God will punish them. They'll consume away like the fat of lambs. There'll be smoke to God. But, you know, the comfort to us is that God delights in us, too. God is witness. God sees our situation. God sees what we're going through. God knows our heartaches and our troubles and our trials, and he cares, and he's there, and if we're committed unto him and we trust in him, you know, he will delight in our way, too. I believe that. Verse 22, For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they shall be cursed of him shall be cut off. We just read that. Verse 23, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. The Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell forevermore. You know, that is the command in the light of all of this. Of all these promises that God's going to punish the wicked and bless the righteous, that he's going to order the steps of the good man, that he's going to destroy the wicked. You know, what does that mean to us? Depart from evil and do good. Depart from evil and do good, because it's the good man. His steps are ordered by the Lord. You know, if you want these blessings, you have to depart from evil and do good. And that means learning to trust in the Lord and committing your way to him and living for him. Verse 28, For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide. Look, that's what I'm trying to get across tonight, is that, you know, we don't need to sit here and fret about everything that's going on that's beyond our control in life. What we need to learn to do is trust in the Lord and delight ourselves in him. That brings the blessings of God. The Bible says in Proverbs 5, verse 21, The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. You know, sometimes I think people just get this attitude like they think that God is just distant. That he doesn't understand what's going on. He doesn't see what's going on, that he doesn't care. The complete opposite is true. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. We should never have that attitude. The Bible says the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. You know, we can't count back the thoughts that God has toward us. They're innumerable. And I get why people feel like that because there's just so many people in the world. I mean, don't we feel sometimes like we're just another face in the crowd in this world? I mean, you get out in some crowded place like, Who am I among so many? Why would anyone care about me? Why would God single me out? You know, we can think about how is that even possible for God to delight and ponder in all a man's goings. We know God is outside of time. I can't explain it, but God is infinite. God isn't limited like we are. God's got all of eternity to sit there and worry about you and worry about you and ponder about you and think about you and think about you and everyone. To sit there and ponder every single one of our goings and think about everything that we're going through. God has all the time and eternity to do that. And he does it. The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. He pondereth all his goings. She would never feel like God doesn't care or God doesn't know or God's not going to do anything about whatever. God doesn't know about the situation in the Ukraine. God doesn't know about Bill Gates. God doesn't know about some injustice somewhere. Yes, he does. Because the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. God is witness. If you look, Laban understood it. Jacob got it. They put it in the Word of God for a reason. Hey, God is witness. That means a lot of things to us. That's either a really bad thing if we're not doing right or it's a really good thing if we are. If we're doing right, then the steps of a good man shall be ordered by the Lord. Because he is pondering our ways. We need to learn to get our minds into the Word of God and quit focusing so much just on our problems. If you would, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And again, I'm not saying that if you're right with God, you'll never have any difficulty. Do we need to go back and read the chapter again? Do we need to turn elsewhere in the Word of God to see where God's people suffered greatly? Do we need to go to Hebrews 11 and read through all the things that those people went through? All the sufferings that they endured? Do we need to consider again the example of Christ who came and suffered more than any man? I mean, that is the Christian life. It's suffering. And that's life itself. Even the vain philosophers in this world understand that. And they try to figure out if life's even worth living in light of all the suffering that's going on. And our answer, based on the Word of God, is yes, it is! Because God is witness. And God will recompense evil and reward the good. Ultimately. But again, I'm not saying that we get saved and it's just a primrose path all the way to heaven. We just go to heaven, we just float up there in a bed of roses. No, there's a lot of thorns along the way, aren't there? There's a lot of hedges, there's a lot of difficulty, there's a lot of trials and tribulations. There's a lot of things that will disrupt you. There's a lot of ways that the devil in the world wants to take your peace from you. And rob you of the delight, rob you of the rest, rob you of the trust. But what you need to learn to do is keep your mind on God. Be in the Word of God. That's not the time to say, well let me forsake the Word of God, let me forsake church, let me forsake the Lord, and just deal with whatever. The Bible says, thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Look, and if something's rocking the boat in life, if we find ourselves without peace, that's all the more reason to stay your mind on God. To get into the Word of God. Let me find something that's going to help stabilize things, let me find something that's going to give me hope. It's in here, it's in this book. Instead of sitting there and watching the cable news ticker go by, and every tragedy, every murder, every natural disaster that they just want to flash in front of us and make us all worried and fret, maybe that time would be better spent getting into the Word of God and getting some peace in your life. Getting some perfect peace, complete peace, a whole peace. You know, but people, and I understand it, like people, I mean if you're just out there consuming everything that the world puts out in the media, it's no wonder people are on all kinds of anti-depressants and everything else. It's no wonder that there's so many dispensaries selling weed springing up all over the place and people are trying to numb themselves from everything that's going on in the world. Because that's all they think about. But you know what? If you keep your mind on Christ, if your mind has stayed on him, what do you get? Perfect peace. And a peace not as the world gives, but as he gives. But again, it's a promise of peace in the storm, not from the storm. That's what we want. We say, well I want peace, meaning I don't want to have to go through anything. I don't want to go through any trials, I don't want life to be hard. Well, tough. That's not life. Might as well get used to it. Life's hard. The Christian life isn't any easier. In fact, it's more difficult. It's the promise of peace in the storm, not from it. You there in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3, Blessed be God, even our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. You know why Paul could say that about God? Why Paul could say God is merciful, he's a God of all comfort? Because Paul found himself time and time again of needing what? Comfort. Of needing comfort. Of going through hardships, of being betrayed, of being in perils, of suffering for the Lord. And you know what he didn't do? Well, I guess God just doesn't care. I guess God doesn't care about me. I'm just done with this. And so you know what? I'm going to go to the Lord. You know what he found out? That God is one who cares. And that he's a God of all comfort. That he was there. That's why he said in verse 4, who comforts us, now get this little two-letter word right here, in all our tribulation. He comforts us in all our tribulation. Not from it, folks. And look, there's a lot of churches out there that say, oh, you get saved? You'll never go through anything tough. And if you are, if your life's a wreck, if you've got bad finances or you're not being blessed, if life's just not perfect in every way, then you must have some sin in your life. Go tell it to Paul. That's not what Paul said. He said, look, you're going to go through tribulation, but God, if your mind is staying on him, you'll have perfect peace. You'll know the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation. That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. You know, sometimes God lets us go through things so that we can help other people. I mean, people come to me, I've been through that. I know what it's like to have an unsaved parent who's getting on in years and seems like they just scoff and mock God and are never going to get saved. I know what that's like. Let me comfort you a little bit. Let me give you some hope. Let me share my experience with you, how I dealt with that situation. And look, I haven't been through everything. You know, a lot of you have been through things that I haven't been through. And why did God let you go through that? Maybe one day you'll comfort me. And maybe we'll go through other things and we'll be able to comfort one another with the same comfort wherewith we are comforted. But we're only going to be able to do that when we understand that that comfort comes from God, the God of all comfort. You know, it's not found in a bottle, it's not found in pills, it's not found, you know, Oprah's not going to teach you, Dr. Phil isn't going to help give you that comfort. It's going to come from God. And look what he said, verse 5, He said, look, the sufferings of Christ abound in us. We go through a lot. We struggle. So also our consolation also abounded by Christ. Because Paul wasn't sitting there wondering, I wonder if God knows what I'm going through. I wonder if God sees me down here suffering for Him. He said, I know He does. And that He is our consolation also abounded by Christ. He's like, look, our sufferings abound, but so does our consolation. You know, we suffer, but we're also comforted. You know, suffering and going through things should bring you closer to God, not push you farther away. But people get pushed away because they feel to realize that God is witness. That God sees. And God isn't just looking on callously. God cares. God's concerned. And maybe God doesn't know better. It's because God has a plan, God knows what He's doing. And God wants us to trust Him. I should have had you go to, well go to Psalm 119. I'm learning when you can say Psalm 119, you have to immediately mention the verse. Any other preachers might be coming up? Psalm 119, mention the verse right away because by the time they get there, then you say verse 165. There's a whole lot more to this. So Psalm 119 verse 165. It's a little inside baseball for you right there. Psalm 119 verse 165. You know, the Christian life is going to be suffering, there's going to be suffering like it's unavoidable. Paul said for verily when we were with you, this is what he told the Thessalonians. We told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass and you know. It's like look, we told you you're going to go through tribulation and now you know it. That I wasn't just all talk. That we really are going to go through tribulation. But look at verse 165, Psalm 119. Great peace have they which love thy law, peace them. What do I need peace? What do I need calm? What do I need comfort for if I'm never in tribulation? If I'm never in any distress? What do I need it for? I don't need the God of all comfort. I don't need any consolation if I never suffer. Great law. Meaning when these things happen, I go to the word of God. I get consolation from the word of God. I go to church. I go to a brother and sister in Christ. I get comfort from the word of God. And nothing shall offend them. You know, I hope I can say this with all integrity. I don't think there's anything that's going to happen in my life that's going to make me quit on God. Consider Job. Consider Job. I hope that, you know, I don't know. I hope I never have to go through with it. I hope I never have to try and find out for myself. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe God can look down and say consider my servant, Corbin. The spring is bound to come. We have, it's over and over again. But I'm there. If we want it. If we take it. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. I hope I can say that about that. Can I say that nothing's going to offend me? You know, hopefully I can say that. And we'll have a better chance of that being true for ourselves when we understand this. God is witness. God sees. God understands. God knows. He said I have hope for thy salvation but it wasn't just me going any day now. God's going to save me out of this situation. No, I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments. You know why He could say that? It's because He did what Psalm 37 told us to do. He delighted. He committed Himself unto the Lord. He trusted in the Lord. He did His commandments. You want the comfort of God. You got to love the law. You want the salvation. You want that hope. Are you doing the commandments? I have hope for thy salvation and done thy commandments. My soul hath kept thy testimonies. These are all, this is all things that David did himself. And these were the reasons why he was able to have hope. Because he did his commandments. He kept his testimonies. And I love them exceedingly. You know it's like we get ourselves in a situation and all of a sudden we want to claim these promises of the word of God. Well before that we didn't care anything about the promises of the word of God. You say oh did you love them exceedingly before? Something happened. Some situation came up. We found ourselves in some hardship. Things are good. The time to start writing the word of God in your heart and letting the word of Christ in you with all wisdom is now. So when that time comes, when that difficulty comes, when that tribulation comes, it's there. You say it's not going to shake me. I have comfort. I have peace because I love thy law. In fact I love them exceedingly. You know what will happen if that's the case is that when you do go through that and you do have that comfort, you know what? It's just going to make you love it even more. Might as well just delight yourself in the law of the Lord now. And you know that's again what did Jesus say? If you love me, keep my commandments. Keep my commandments. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies. For all my ways are before thee. What's David saying there? Saying God is witness. I know God will take care of it. Maybe. I know God will get involved. I know God cares. No, it moved him to action, folks. It caused him to keep his precepts and his testimonies. It caused him. Don't get this psalm wrong here. David's not sitting down here demanding deliverance from God. He's like, well, I'm your kid. You got to show up now. What he's doing in this is he's hoping for it. He's not demanding deliverance. He's hoping for it. And why is it that he can hope? Why does David even have this hope? Because he's done God's commandments. Because he's like, Lord, I did my part. I wasn't down here envious of the wicked. I wasn't down here, you know, getting into sin and everything else. I've kept my testimonies. And now I have hope. And why did he do them? Why did he do them? Because God is witness. Because he said, for all my ways are before thee. Well, why should I live for God? Why should I go to church? Why should I keep to do what the Bible says? Because God is witness. Because as David understood, all your ways are before him. You know, and people do things and they get into sin and they do bad. You know, they get backslid and they get away from God and they think, well, God doesn't see me because nothing's happened. Give it time. Give it time. Sin has its own built-in punishment. Often. But that's why you should. Because God is witness. And that can work for you or that can work against you. Look, I want it to work for me. If I ever find myself in a situation where I have to pray a prayer like that, I don't want to become from a place where I'm just demanding that God show up. But say, hey, I'm going to claim this promise because, Lord, you promised, you know, that if we do right, if we love you, if we delight ourselves, that, you know what, you will stand up for us. And look, it might not even happen in this life. And even if something was done wrong to me, and justice was never doled out, you know what? Ultimately, I know in heaven it will be. Or maybe by the time I get there, I'll say it was so petty, I don't even care anymore in the light of eternity. You know, so-and-so bumped into me in the parking lot and put a big old scratch down the side of my car. You think that's going to be the first thing I have to say when I get to heaven? Some grudge, some gripe I've been holding onto for a decade or two? One side of glory, I'm going to forget about all these. Look, the sufferings of this present time cannot be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. That's what Paul said. So, you know, you might as well go in situations, whatever, and just focus on what you can control. Your walk with God. That you, if you want to, can delight in him, and you can ultimately rest in him. But that it's not an idle rest. It's a doing, it's an active rest. Peace comes to those who keep his testimonies, who love his law exceedingly. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the comfort, Lord, that you offer us, that you provide for us, Lord, and that it's available to any one of us, Lord, that if we'll go to you in prayer, that we can come boldly before your throne to find grace and help in a time of need. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to avail ourselves of that in life, Lord, not just when things are tough, but Lord, even when things are good. Lord, that we would be reminded of your goodness and your comfort every day. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go. We're going to sing song number 127. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, song number 127. Tis so sweetly at his birth. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how I prove in all and all. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, all for praise he trusteth, Lord. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust his planting ground, just in simple faith he clutched, in the year he planted thine. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how I prove in all and all. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, all for praise he trusteth, Lord. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin itself to cease, just from Jesus if we take. I've been blessed and joyed and pleased. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how I prove in all and all. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, all for praise he trusteth, Lord. I'm so glad I've learned to trust thee. Precious Jesus, Savior friend, and I know that thou art with me, help me, give me to the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how I prove in all and all. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, all for praise he trusteth, Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how I prove in all and all. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth, all for praise he trusteth,