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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you I'll let you know what I got going on. So, all right. Let's open up to the first page of our bulletins. Here we've got service times on Sunday morning at 1030, Sunday evening again at 5 p.m. and of course Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there. As well as our salvation and baptism for the month of May as well as for the year. Let's go and count up the salvations. Thank you. I know Monday had one total for the Monday group. And then is there anything else to report for the week? Yes, sir. So Monday and Tuesday had one each? Awesome. Amen. Anybody else that I missed? Excellent. Well, keep up the good work preaching the gospel. Of course, we're in the month of June. I'll just cover that on that next page over there, the June challenges to preach the gospel attempt attempt to preach the gospel to at least one person every single day. So this month the goal is just try to find somebody whether you're knocking on doors, whether you're approaching people in public or wherever you see people on the job, wherever right? Just attempt to get the gospel out. So even if they shut you down right away, it's an attempt. You know, you're trying to give the gospel to someone they don't want to hear it. That's fine. But the goal is to be minded about preaching the gospel on a daily basis. So that's the whole point about this. So hopefully you are participating and joining us with that. It's a great challenge. Back to the regular announcements there. Of course, the offering total is listed on there through the month of May. Prayer requests. I didn't hear anything about Mrs. Mamtahan. Has anyone heard from Mark or from anybody? Does anyone know in this room what happened? Okay. Well, no news is usually good news. So I haven't heard anything. Hopefully everything went really well. So we'll pray for her recovery. She had her knee replacement surgery on Monday morning. So and I know they're planning on holding her overnight. So hopefully she's back home and everything's going well. So just continue to pray for her. And then, of course, for everybody else who's on the list here. Lots of very serious prayers. I know I don't always mention all of them by name or whatever. A lot of times there's not as many updates going on. But still, there's many people with very serious prayer requests on here. So please pray for the people who are on our list. Down at the bottom of the page there, Steadfast Baptist Church. We're praying for them. I didn't get a chance to see the video. I saw they posted something about a new building that they have. I knew they had acquired a building, but now they're announcing it. So it's great. It must be ready to use or I don't know if they're in the space yet or not. But that's exciting for them. I believe they have their own property now, too. So they don't have to worry about renting from people. That whole nightmare they've been dealing with with getting kicked out of spaces and stuff, they won't have to worry about that anymore, which is excellent news to have their own property. So just pray that everything goes well with that and that God will bless them for their faithfulness and just strengthen that church and Pastor Shelley and his family. Is there any updates to the prayer list? Does anyone have anything to update on that? All right. Very good. On the next page, we've got the Stronghold Baptist Church five year anniversary. So five years already is coming up at the end of this month. We're going to be celebrating June 24th and June 25th with some soul winning on that Saturday morning, 930 to 1230 right here. We'll have some lunch afterwards. For those of you that show up and you want to get some lunch, stick around. We'll do that. And then on Sunday, Pastor Mejia, Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church will be preaching for us. It'll be an awesome day. You won't want to miss it. He's a great preacher. He's got a great sense of humor. So you know, you're used to me. I don't really joke around that much, but you'll probably enjoy his sermons a lot more. So make sure you show up here to hear him preach. And then we're also going to be having some activities and food and fun and just all kinds of things going on that Sunday. So you don't want to miss that. And also just take the opportunity to invite people too. It's a great, great Sunday. You know, even people you might have invited to church in the past, just let them know, hey, we've got this big event going on. It's our anniversary. There's going to be all kinds of fun things for kids. There's going to be food. There's going to be all kinds of stuff going on. So it's a great opportunity. And try to remember to bring that up at the door too when you're out soul winning and you're talking to people that that would be a very good day if anyone wants to visit our church. Obviously we want them to come to any service, but that particularly will be a really good time, really fun time here. So if they want to come to check out our church, that's a good time to do it. Real briefly, housekeeping. We've got the calendar over in this room over here. It's against the wall. Hopefully there's a pen. I usually try to stick a pen. Yep, I see a pen sticking in one of the spirals right now. If you'd like to volunteer your time and confirm that you're willing to stick around and make sure that the building's in good order and cleaned up, we appreciate that. And of course, even if someone else has a name bio Sunday, or it's mostly Sundays, but you know what? Honestly, we do need help on Wednesday nights too. It's a lot easier on Wednesdays in general. There's less impact. You know, we're not here for as long. There's not people bringing in all this food and everything. But Wednesdays and Sundays are very helpful. Like I said, Wednesdays are easier. But any time that you have, if you'd like to volunteer for that, the calendar is there. And if you don't know, you say, well Pastor Burns, I don't even know what to do. I don't know what you need. That's fine. If you're willing, we'll let you know what needs to be done. We've got a whole list of things. There's plenty of people who already know all this stuff. And the basic thing is this, even if you didn't know, and even if I didn't give you a list, just use some common sense. Look around. If the floor looks like it needs to be vacuumed, you vacuum the floor. If it looks like anything is dirty out of place, then clean it up. It's really that simple, just as you would clean your house, clean the church building, and clean it as if you lived here. So that would be a good way to think about it. Alright, continuing on here. I don't want to harp on about that. Bible memory passage. So we are memorizing this week Hebrews chapter 8. So we've got seven weeks to memorize this chapter. I had the prizes available for the second half of chapter 7. They're in my office. There's only a few things left, and they're kind of like, there's like a squirt gun, and some water balloons, and some goggles, and I think, of course, some chocolate. So if you completed the second half of chapter 7, you can just go ahead and help yourself to the prize there. I'm working on getting more prizes. I don't know if I'll have them for Sunday or not. For the entire chapter, if you memorized the entire chapter 7 and quoted the whole thing by the deadline of last Sunday, then you'll have a different prize for that. And then, of course, we're memorizing this passage, and we're continuing to go through that whole book of Hebrews. And then the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries are listed there through the month of June and then down at the bottom of the page. The men's preaching class will be June 17th. It's a Saturday morning right here at 10 a.m. All men are welcome to attend that whether you want to preach or not. If you intend on preaching a sermon, plan on a 10 to 15 minute sermon in length. So something that will be appropriate for that. Time frame, you will be timed and you will be limited on your time if you're planning on preaching. So just be prepared for that. And then Pastor Anderson on July 5th will be here. It's a Wednesday night and he'll be preaching for us. So really looking forward to that. And that is about it for announcements. So Brother Peter, will you please lead us in our next song? It's a song 418 to win the one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one That is Psalm chapter 59 Psalm chapter 59 the Bible reads Deliver me from mine enemies, oh my God Defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. For lo, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin, o Lord. They run and prepare themselves without my fault. Awake to help me, and behold. Thou therefore, O Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. They return at evening. They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouths. Swords are in their lips. For who sayeth they doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Thou shalt have all the heathen and derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God shall let me see my desire upon my enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget. Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath. Consume them that they may not be, and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. And at evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing, for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy. Let us pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for all that you've done for us. We thank you for this awesome church, God. Allow for Pastor Burts to speak with boldness. Whatever you have for him to speak, God, allow for him to be an instrument used by you. We praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so in Psalm chapter 59, again, there's a very similar theme here, and a lot of the Psalms are grouped together this way on purpose, where we're seeing David in trouble, and he's looking to the Lord to help him, which seems to be the case in many of the Psalms that we're looking at recently, but there's always things to notice and to point out through all of these. There's different words used and different concepts that are brought forward, so even though it may seem relatively repetitive, it's still very interesting. There's a lot of things to learn through all these passages, and if you keep coming Wednesday night, you'll notice that, yes, while we do maintain a very similar theme through many of these, there are plenty of things that we could dig into and look at a little bit deeper. There's different words and phrases that are used that are sometimes not used very many places in Scripture and kind of add a little bit more to what we're reading about here. And don't forget to, again, I like to point this out and just bring this to remembrance. Because we study this so hard and we're really digging in verse by verse because it is the Word of God and deserves that, and rightfully so, we dig into it and examine it and pay close attention to what's being said. Don't forget this is still a song as well. These are all songs. The Word of God, but put into song and put into music, which also explains oftentimes why we see some of the repetition of the themes to bring the encouragement through song during times of trouble and being able to help in different specific times of need as well. So I want to start off though, and I've done this a few times already, where I've looked at the title of the psalm and then given a little bit of backstory. While I'm not fully convinced that the titles are literally the Word of God, I also don't think that there's anything wrong or any problems with the titles being accurate either. So I'm not studying the title to glean any great truth out of it, but it is interesting how they are mentioned here and they're kind of brought up as to, like this particular one says, to the chief musician Al-Tashith, miktam of David, when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him. So we at least get under the understanding that some of these psalms came to be or were given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost at these various times, and in particular, at least in this one, in David's life, when these different events were going on. And I'm bringing all this up and I'm going somewhere with this. I want to read for you what I believe this is referring to when they watched the house to kill David. It's from 1 Samuel chapter 19. If you want to keep your place in Psalm 59, we'll just start off looking at the story. It's not very long, but in 1 Samuel chapter 19, there's multiple instances of now of Saul going after David and trying to kill him. And there's one time where he's wanting to kill him, and then Jonathan intercedes for him, and then that was enough for Saul to just back off and not want to kill him, say, okay, yeah, you're right, I shouldn't do anything. And then, and this is all in the same chapter in chapter 19, and then David's playing music for Saul, and then he's still just, the evil spear from the Lord comes upon him, he's throwing a javelin at David, trying to kill him, and then we get to this other story here that we're gonna start reading in verse number 11, where Saul is sending people to David's house to bring him to him so they could kill him. Again, it's just like over and over and over again, there's all these attempts on David's life, and they end up getting more and more extreme, kind of, as the story progresses, as time continues, Saul just gets more bent on trying to destroy David. It starts off like where he's having these ideas and kind of gets dissuaded, and then over time, it's just becoming more and more of a sticking point for him to kind of go after David and getting more focused on that task. Now, let's just read real quick what's going on here. Verse number 11 says, Saul also sent messengers unto David's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning. So this is where I'm, I mean, this is the only time in events specifically that uses these words like this. He goes to his house to watch for him and to slay him, and of course, the title of Psalm 59 says, when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him. So to me, it would just make sense to talk about this event, and it says, and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, if thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain. So Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped, and Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster and covered it with a cloth, and when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, he is sick, and Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may slay him, and when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster. So here we see David slipping out just in time, he was warned in advance, hey, this is gonna happen, he escapes out the window, his wife answers for the first time the messengers come, and the messengers don't know what to do, because this is the king's daughter, and David, even though the king's saying, hey, you know, I want this guy dead, she's like, well, no, he can't come out, he's sick. So they return back to King Saul, and he's like, I don't care if he's sick, bring him in his bed and get him here, because I'm gonna kill him, right? Like, like, that's, that's what's playing out here, and then they realize they've been played, because what they did was they just, they put this different stuff there, there's like hair and, and these other things in bed to make it look like he's sleeping and sick in bed, and then they find out, of course, he's not there, it's just a decoy. But this is that event, and, and obviously it's very concerning to have somebody, you know, putting a hit out on you, and sending these hit meds to your house to kill you. And David's dealing with that, so this is where, you know, kind of where this song is coming from, and, and we could refer back, I don't, again, I don't think it's inappropriate to refer back to this, and I'm taking a little bit more time kind of digging into this, because I just want to point something out, especially with what I've been preaching on recently, but I still think it's applicable. Let's, let's read now in Psalm 59, go back, that was just the story to kind of give the backstory of what the title of Psalm 59 is saying, that this was, would be like, applicable to, right? Around that time, when, when this song was penned down. So deliver me from mine enemies, oh my God, now who would be your enemy, other than someone trying to kill you, right? That just makes sense, right? My enemy is trying to kill me, so please save me from them, deliver me from mine enemies, oh my God, defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. For lo, they lie and wait for my soul, the mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, oh Lord. And what we're starting to see here is these people, these workers of iniquity, and these wicked men, and you know, you may find aspects in Psalms that are talking about people who I'm going to, you know, define more like, like reprobate type people, and praying for their destruction, and you got to take everything as a whole, but it still would work for this as well, because even though we know a King Saul was saved, we believe that, which I think it's very clearly taught in Scripture, not all the men he sends to do his bidding is saved. Like we know already Doeg the Edomite was an extremely wicked man that was carrying out a command of Saul. Now look, Saul is still guilty by sending people out to do really wicked things and cause these bad things to happen, but the hands of the slayer oftentimes are also like even more wicked. Like Doeg was a very wicked person. So these other hitmen that he's sending out here too are also these workers of iniquity. They're not just guiltless and saying, oh well they're just following the king's command. Well, you know, first of all it's not really an excuse. That just adds you to the list of people who are responsible for some sin, for doing something wrong. You can never just say, and that's not a valid excuse to say, well I'm just doing what I was told. If you're sinning against God, you still bear your responsibility no matter who told you what. Whether it's your parents, your husband, the king, the president, your boss, I don't care who it is. If anyone's commanding you to sin against God, then you are responsible for your sin by doing it. Nothing absolves you of that. And these people that are gonna carry out the king's, now look, that just, like I said, it just makes more people responsible. So if someone's giving a command and then other people are carrying it out, they all have their own responsibility for that. Saul's not guiltless because he's not literally the one necessarily to do the killing with his own hand. We've seen already when David had Uriah the Hittite killed, that God held him responsible and called him the one that did it. Even though it wasn't physically his hand, he wasn't even near the battle when it happened, but he gave the order and it was definitely his intent and that's what happened and he's the one who's held responsible for that. But I would also say, you know what, Joab shared in the responsibility of that too. But he's just doing, hey, he's not supposed to, he's not supposed to obey that one. It's not righteous, it wasn't right. And he knew it too, Joab knew it. So here the request again is, deliver me from the workers of iniquity, save me from bloody men, because they're trying to kill him, trying to shed his blood. For lo, they lie and wait for my soul. The mighty are gathered against me. But then he adds this, not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord. They want to prepare themselves without my fault. Awake to help me and behold. This is the best position for you to be in as a Christian, as a believer with God, is you haven't done anything wrong, yet people still want to do you wrong. You know what, you want to get God's ear and you want God's protection in your life, you want to be in this position right here. I've done nothing. Because here's the thing, if you've done something, if you're guilty, if you've done this other stuff, then you might just be reaping what you've sown. Then you might just be having something coming to you, then God might just let that go because, you know, you brought it on yourself. And that's a reality. We do reap what we sow. But if you haven't done anything, and you know you're right, and say, look, I have been serving faithfully, I've been doing what I've been supposed to be doing, and they still hate me and are still out for my blood. Look, they're bloody men, God. I'm innocent in this. Please help me. That is exactly where you want to be. And keep your place in Psalm 59. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3 and chapter 4 go into this a little bit more in depth on how we ought to have that characteristic or that lifestyle, that holiness in our life to where we can be blameless. And there's plenty of times where people may be blameless, yet other people are out to harm them and hurt them and do them wrong. But you know what? Those are the best instances for God to step in and help. And that's when he's gonna be the most likely to help step in and help you. Because God is a God of justice, and he and he's gonna hear you, and he's gonna be looking at his good son or his good daughter that hasn't done anything wrong, and be ears wide open to hear what you are asking for, what you're petitioning him for. If you're looking for help, save me, Lord. Sure. 1 Peter chapter 3, we're gonna look down there in verse number 13, the Bible says, and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? This is the concept, right? Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? If you're doing what's right, who is he that's gonna harm you? Right? But verse 14 then continues, because that's not this surefire way of never having anyone try to harm you. Because even though you can do everything right, you still might have people come after you and try to harm you. Which is why the next verse says, but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So if you're doing everything right, yeah, I mean who is it that could even touch you that no one can justly come against you, right? There's no one that could come at you and have a just cause to do any harm to you if you're doing what's right. But sometimes people will still come after you, and in that case, you know what, hey, if you're gonna suffer for righteousness sake, then just be happy about it, is what the Bible says. What God's teaching us here, be happy and don't be afraid. And if you've got nothing that you've done, you have no reason to fear at all. There should be no terror, you have no reason to be afraid, because you know fully that God knows everything that's happening. You can have that full confidence of knowing so well that either God's gonna step in because this is just completely unjust and not right, and he will defend me. I've been doing what's right, I know he'll defend me, or he'll allow me to be murdered, but it'll be for a great cause for the kingdom of God, and he is in full knowledge knowing that I'm righteous in this, and that there will be some greater purpose for my death. Either way, you don't have to fear, because anything that would happen when you're doing right, you know it's gonna be the will of God. And that's where the comfort and the peace comes from, is that if God is even gonna allow anything to happen, it will be because it's his will. So verse 14, again, but if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, I mean a good conscience, again, is because you haven't done anything evil, you haven't done anything wrong, you know that you're in the right, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, which is exactly what King Saul was doing of David, he's talking about David like he's some evildoer, it's all about David like, oh, he's trying to get the throne, and he's trying to do that, no he's not, he's lying about him, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse you, excuse me, accuse your good conversation in Christ, and you know what, King Saul was repetitively being ashamed when he was facing David, and David's like, look, I haven't done you any wrong, and he's just like, oh no, you're right, is this my son David? You know, these times he's going after him, and he has to just kind of swallow his foot into his mouth, and just be like, you're right, you didn't do anything wrong, I'm wrong, so he's continually is being ashamed when he's confronted with the fact that he has no grounds to stand on to go after David, and this is where you want to be, you want to be in the place where, look, if someone's coming after you, they don't have a reason to come after you, if you've got, you know, you're doing so well on your job, you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing, you're not cutting and taking these extra breaks, you're not stealing anything from the company, you're not, you're not shortchanging them, you're giving all of your effort and all of your time, no one's got anything evil to say of you, that's where you want to be, now people might still try to lie about you, but you know what, that's when God's gonna step in and say no, and otherwise maybe the will of God would be for you to suffer righteous sake, either way, you want to be in the position of being righteous, and having that clear conscience, and that the people, because you know what's gonna happen, even if it doesn't happen in the moment, eventually the truth always comes to light, it always does, and the people that want to lie in the very short term, sometimes it seems like it helps them out, which is why people do it at all, but then in the long run it gets found out, and then it ends up being that much worse for them later on, it's just the way things go that the truth is always uncovered, there's nothing covered that will not be revealed, and of course at the end of everything, everything will be revealed anyways at that great judgment day, so even if you got to wait that long everything will come to light, and you will be vindicated, so we don't have, but we're not the ones that are responsible for making sure we have to have that vindication for ourselves, God will do it for us, and they will be ashamed that falsely accused or good conversation, Christ you know what, on the flip side too, don't be the person who's gonna falsely accuse people, because then you'll be ashamed, I was focused on the side because I just give off the, I like to just assume that everybody here is just of course we're of the heart where we're gonna be the ones who are persecuted, but you know what, don't ever let it be said about you that you're just falsely accusing people, because you know what, then you're gonna be ashamed, and that's way worse to be in that position of just being ashamed, ashamed to God, ashamed in front of it, you know, you don't want that, just be in the in the position where maybe someone's gonna come after me, but it's gonna be for my righteousness, not because I am falsely accusing other people, calling them evil doers when they're not, for it was better verse 17, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing, if you're gonna suffer at all, don't let it be for evil-doing, don't let it be because well yeah I did steal, yeah I did do this, yeah I did do, you know, like no, I mean of course if that happens, then you should expect that, but you want, if you have suffered all, let it be for righteous, like let it let it have value, let it be for good, because you know the other thing is too, it's just it's it's interesting, of course the Bible is so true, but when you see things actually play out in real life, you see there is power, there's power behind those who suffer for righteousness sake, there's actually a force, a positive impact that comes when when multiple people can see the truth, and see that someone is just being completely unjustly persecuted, that other people will see that, and then end up acting more, or doing more, because of what the injustice that they see, especially if they see something firsthand, and they know like man this isn't right, you know that does that stirs people up, then to fight against the wrong, and to fight against the evil, so allowing yourself to be in the position of saying hey I'm doing what's right, and then someone persecutes you for righteousness sake, oftentimes when third parties see, well witness to this, and they see this, that'll burn them up, and and they'll get them involved in a fight that they never wanted to be in in the first place, but then they see that happen, you know what that's too much, I can't just stand by while this happens, and it oftentimes will then just turn completely against the evildoers, who are gonna end up then ultimately being ashamed, because now they've got a lot more people involved, and have gotten on board doing what they should have been doing in the first place, but that's one of the ways in which good comes out of evil situations, right, when people intend to do you harm, and do evil, a lot of good can still come from that, that's why we just need to remain faithful, don't get afraid, stay true, stay right, and and trust in the Lord that whatever is going on, he will bring some good out of any bad situation. Flip over to chapter 4, similar, I mean same concept essentially, still just being fleshed out a little bit more, look at verse number 14, the Bible reads, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you, on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified, but let none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. See, if you suffer as a Christian, you have no reason to be ashamed, and if the world tries to shame you for being a Christian, you know, shame on them, that's where the ultimate shame lies, is on those that are gonna try to shame the Christian, shame the person who's living by the Word of God, you have nothing to be ashamed of. If you're doing right by God's Word, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Now, the enemies of God, the enemies of the Bible, the enemies of Jesus Christ, they're gonna try to make you ashamed, and they're gonna be the ones that are gonna try to blast you, and publicly blast you, and try to get a bunch of people against you, to try to make you then backtrack, if it's something that you said, oh no, I didn't, you know, apologize, like, you know what though, don't apologize, if you're ever called on to apologize for preaching something, or saying something that's in the Bible, that's the Word of God, that's the truth, don't ever apologize for that. As soon as you apologize, then you will be ashamed, because what that's saying is now you're ashamed of the Word of God, and you've let other people shame you for your stand on God's Word, and you have no reason to ever be ashamed, no matter how much public shaming people want to give you, never, never back down from that, no matter what, and that that resonates a lot longer, and you know what that ends up doing, it makes the people who try to shame you look stupid, and then they'll be the ones that are ashamed, when they realize, no, I won't back down, no, this is true, and when you do back down, it gives them that much more perceived power, too, and makes them more bold, but when you're willing to stand, like the Bible says, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you, you know, and the people come after you, and it feels real intense, and they want you just to back down and apologize, don't, because you know what happens, they go away, they go away, you can remain firm, and stand on the Word of God, it may be tough for a season, it may be tough for a time, but they always, you always get the respite, you'll always get the break, it'll, it will get better, and you'll have time to clear your head up a little bit, and be like, man, that was, that was rough, but it'll go away, but just stay true, and stay faithful, don't be ashamed, but rather, like it says here, but let him glorify God on this behalf, verse 17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God, and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear, wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator, just keep doing well, no matter what you're suffering, if you're suffering according to the will of God, just keep it up, keep doing well, and commit yourself to God, it's that faithfulness that got you into that situation to begin with, stay faithful, because God will see you through, he'll lead you out of that, and then, and that's when God truly gets the glory, see you start off by bringing glory to God, by, by even just preaching the Word of God, by saying the Word of God, by standing on the Word of God, but you end up doing more damage than good, oftentimes if you then just back down and backpedal once any opposition comes, it just, any force that you add going into that, and the righteous is, now you've lost all that, now you're making God look stupid, you're making Christians look stupid when you back down, but when you stand, it magnifies the effort and the impact that you've already put out there by preaching the Word of God, by saying the Word of God, when you don't back down, and then that adds so much glory to the Word of God, hey here's people who actually believe the Word of God, and they, and they, it's real, it's genuine, it's true, you're not backing down, because no, this, I believe this with my heart, I'm not just saying this, I'm not just trying to get attention, you know, this is negative attention, whatever, I don't, I don't care about that, I care about the Word of God, I care about the truth being preached. Let's go back to Psalm 59, and this is exactly what David's facing in this situation, he's going, I've done nothing wrong, I've been serving, I've been faithful, I've been that right-hand man, I've been this great leader, this great military man, I've won victories, I've gone after the king's enemies, you know, I've been, I have done nothing wrong at all, yet I'm still being targeted, and you know what, David didn't speak ill of Saul ever, did he? He still remained faithful in his, and even after the first time a javelin was thrown at him, he came back, and he kept serving, right, he's like, he keeps giving him, you know, all these opportunities, being very long-suffering with Saul, even though he's being done wrong, and you know, almost to a fault, because he just keeps you know, being in a situation, but you know what, he's trusting in the Lord too, and he didn't have any reason to be ashamed, and you know, God did deliver him out of all those trials and tribulations, out of them all did the Lord deliver him. Look at verse number five, thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen, be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, Selah, and this is the call for judgment, I've done nothing wrong, God judge, God step in and make these wrongs right. Verse 6, they return at evening, and this is when wicked people do a lot of their wicked things, by the way, you'll notice, not just in the Bible, of course, in real life too, they return at evening, they come back at night, when the sun's going down, when it starts getting dark in the land, that's when the wicked people like to come out, they return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city, and just, I'm gonna go into this a little bit more later on, because this phrase about, you know, making a noise like a dog, comes up again later, look at verse number seven, behold they belch out with their mouth, swords are in their lips, for who say they doth hear, and this is the bully, wicked mentality, this is what you see from the woke crowd, they like to bark a lot, right, they get real bold, and they like to bark, and what happens with bullies, is the reason why they have any seeming, any type of perceived power, because a lot of people will back down against a big barker, it's kind of scary, I mean, you hear this big bark, it's like whoa, you know, I mean, if you have an experience with dogs, you know, sometimes the dogs that bark really loud will bite really hard too, the dogs that bark loud oftentimes will back that up with a big bite, but the humans that bark loud oftentimes they don't have any bite, they just bark, and some of the biggest bullies are also the biggest cowards, but they found out that if I just raise my boys and scream my head off, and these days it's like throw a little tantrum like a little kid, you know, they think they're gonna get their way, so I'm just gonna bark, and I'm just gonna belch out, and I'm just gonna say all this stuff to make people afraid, don't, first of all, don't be fearful for that, don't be afraid of those things, because here's why, look at verse number eight, but thou O Lord shall laugh at the, God thinks it's funny, like literally, he sees these people, you know, just laughing about that, like look at these fools, look at these clowns, they're getting, you know, the heathen is raging, and they're all upset, and they're foaming at the mouth, and they can't believe all these injustices, and they're gonna bring all the social justice into this world, and they're gonna try to, to make every wicked person be called good, and every good person called evil, and, and they're gonna scream and yell about it, and rage, and God sees that, and he just thinks it's funny, and he's gonna laugh, and it says here, but thou O Lord shall laugh at them, thou shalt have all the heathen in derision, so we don't have to worry about that, if we know that God's laughing at them, he's obviously not taking them seriously, and if God is your defender, and if God is where your trust is, and he's laughing at them, what should your demeanor be, how should you, how much should you be worried, and now think about this, if you, let's just say, with, put, got on a picture for a second, and, and think about, like, physical protection, let's say I hire Brother Peter to be my bodyguard, right, and we're walking around town, and, you know, there's some little twerp that, that wants to come, and, and yell at me, or whatever, but I've got Brother Peter, and he's, he's just laughing at this guy, it's nothing, it's no big deal, right, but let's say we're, you know, he's, he's my bodyguard, and then it's like, there's six, like, really big dudes, and they've got, like, bats, and chains, and stuff, his demeanor is gonna change, I don't know about this, I'm tough, but I don't know if I can take on these six guys, right, he's not, it's not gonna be a laughing matter for him, you see what I'm saying, and then I would also start to get worried, and concerned, and be like, oh man, the guy that I'm relying on to protect me, if he's thinking that this is gonna be, like, a tough battle, not sure if I could, if I could pull you out of this one, I'm not gonna be very confident at all, but if he's just laughing his head off, like, that level of confidence, just not a care in the world, that's gonna set me at ease, because I'm gonna be going, okay, well, he knows something I don't know, or whatever, and then he pulls out his machine gun, he's like, but obviously with the Lord, you know, nothing's too hard for Lord, obviously, right, I mean, a creator of everything, no human being can do anything, it's literally just a big joke, and people, they're all upset about this stuff, and he's just like, it doesn't matter, and this is, this is to give us the encouragement to know, hey, if God's got this heathen and derision by just laughing at them, because of his strength will I wait upon me, for God is my defense, verse 9, God's my defense, I don't have to worry about these clowns, I don't have to worry about these jokers, God laughs at them, you have nothing to fear, verse 10, the God of my mercy shall prevent me, prevent me means go before me, right, so, so in this battle, in this conflict, I know that God's gonna be there for me, I have the luxury of being behind the Lord, like he's coming between me and the enemy, he'll be my defense in front of me, so I don't even have to worry about facing them, with like, like, it's not like God has my back, God's got my front, he's facing the enemy right there, the God of my mercy shall prevent me, God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies, look at verse 11, slay them not, lest my people forget, now it's asking God saying, hey, God, don't kill them, like, I want you to help me, save me out of this, but don't kill them, don't kill them, why, lest my people forget, I want this to be not just a swift destruction, and then it's here today, gone tomorrow, I want you to put them down, and then just like, keep them down, so that everyone can see, this is what happens when you go against the righteousness, when you go against the holy, when you go against the righteous, that, that you are put down, lest my people forget, scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield, keep them around, but just keep them put in that low place, humble them, and keep them down, so everybody can see this, and stay in their memory, that this is what God does, when people are trusting in the Lord, God is there as a defender, verse 12, for the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing, and lying, which they speak, I mean, we're, again, we're in the month of June, do I need to even say more about the wicked people that are cursing, and lying, I mean, who is a liar, but he that denied that Jesus is Christ, he is Antichrist, and, and these people that are out there in their pride today, they're not out in their pride professing Jesus Christ, okay, the rainbow people are not out there going, we love Jesus, love is love, and we love Jesus, they're not saying that, at all, they're saying, we love your kids, and we want to have more access to them, and don't tell us no, or we'll come after you, that's what they're really saying, and they're cursing God, cursing and lying, which they speak, you know, and he's saying, you know what, let them be taken in their pride, put them down, verse 13, consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be, and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth, Selah, verse 14, and at evening let them return, so when it says consume, I thought you said them not to die, no, consume is like them consuming away, not just completely destroyed, but they're consumed, right, they're wasted away, so when they're consumed, they're brought down to nothing, they're not gone, but they're consumed, so at evening he says, let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city, see notice now when they come back at night, they're not barking like the dog, they don't have, now it's more, they're wandering around and looking for some food, and they're looking for the table scraps, and they're looking for whatever they can get, like a dirty dog, just going around, and just eating up anything you could find, it's the much less vicious sound, but they're still dogs, right, they're still coming out at night, but they've been brought down at this point, let's just let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied, they thought they were in charge, they thought they were gonna be the ones to tell everyone the way it is, and they're barking their orders, and everything else against the righteous, and he's saying God, you know, save me, step in here, bring them down, consume them, don't destroy them, but just make sure everybody knows that when you go up against God, when you go up against the Word of God, here's what you're gonna find yourself, and here's what you're gonna face, you're gonna find yourself just being consumed away to nothing, and that great pride that you had is now brought really really small, and now you're just looking for scraps, they're not so tough anymore, verse 16, but I will sing of thy power, yea I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, so again, a great reason to sing, to sing praises to the Lord, because when you find yourself in this position that seems really difficult, when you're in the midst of that, it's hard, it's like, man, I don't even know how many others, like people, everyone hates me, everyone seems to be coming against me, these people are barking really loud, they're trying to get more people against me, and more people attack me, but when you stand firm, and know, you know, God's gonna go before me, he's gonna prevent me, he's gonna take care of them, he'll bring them down, all of a sudden, wow, that changes quickly, and how quickly God can turn everything around, and, and lift you up from the people who are trying to bring you down, and bring them down, and then they'll sing, and then they'll sing aloud, not just sing, not just singing in your heart, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble, unto thee, oh my strength, will I sing, for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy. This is why we see these themes so often in here, because these great battles that you face in the trials, and the tribulations, followed by that great victory of God stepping in, gives you great cause to sing, and rejoice, and praise God. Now you may not have hit men showing up to your house at night looking to kill you from, like, President Biden isn't sending his, his secret servicemen to take you out, right, that may not be happening to you, but you definitely have your own trials, and your own, you know, wicked people, if you haven't met them yet, they're coming, okay, that will be coming after you, so this is applicable, this still, you know, you take this to heart, and by all means, please do not back down. The Lord is powerful, he's our strength, don't forget who God is, don't forget why you even, you know, if people coming after you to begin with, why, why are they, it's not because of you, and a lot of times, look, human beings in general, the way that we were created, and being social creatures that we are, you may question yourself, and there's nothing wrong with questioning yourself, we all have to question ourselves from time to time, but especially when a lot of people are saying really negative things about you, it is a natural thing to think, wow, well, maybe I'm doing something wrong, I don't really like all this negative pressure against me, did I do, am I really wrong here, am I, you know, it's okay to have that thought, but what you need to do is go to the Word of God without the fear, and don't let the fear influence your rational decision-making, say, no, what I'm saying is right, no, this is just, I'm not gonna let these people push me around, I'm not gonna back down, I won't have that fear, because I know I'm right in this, I know this is what the Bible says, and I'm gonna stand on it, and you know what, God is gonna be there to defend me. You do that, you will have the great victory to sing praise unto the Lord, and sing out loud about, whether it's hitmen or anyone else that's coming after you. Let's bow our heads, have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the great encouragement that we received from your word, especially in these Psalms. Lord, thank you for the promises to be there for us, to be our deliverer, not just the deliverer of our souls, not just the deliverer of our spirit, dear God, but also the deliverer of our flesh. We thank you that you completely save us in every way, dear Lord, and I pray that you please help strengthen us in our own individual times of trouble. Lord, bring these Psalms to remembrance, bring your word to remembrance, stir them up by the Holy Ghost, dear Lord, help us never to forget them, help us to be strengthened and edified by these words, and by each other, dear Lord. I pray that you please help us all to continue to come to church, to read our Bible daily, to be growing and learning more. God, thank you so much for who you are, and for all of your strength, dear Lord. We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Alright, we're gonna sing one last song before we are dismissed for the evening. Brother Peter, would you please lead us? Alright, let's sing this song in the first. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. Are you ever burdened with a load of fear? Does the cross you carry you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly. Everyone is singing as the days roll by. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When you look at others, when their lives get old, Think that Christ has brought us to his twelve-month old. Count your many blessings, what he cannot find. You'll be born in heaven for your long, long time. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. On the last. So what did the prophet, whether free or small, Not be discouraged, God is over all. Count your many blessings, faith them well at hand. Help him come, forgive him, he will turn his hand. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, faith them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. .