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We ask you to please fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit report as he comes forward to preach your word. All of his peers are here and hearts to receive your message. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Alright, so like I said during the announcements we're going to be continuing on with our series here about getting to know your enemies. Last week was kind of fun, get to yell and scream about, you know, the reprobates. But, you know, today's a little bit different pace. I might get through this, you know, pretty quick. But today's enemies we're going to talk about are dread, doubts and depression. Because all these things in life will lead you into a dark place. And a lot of times we have this misconception, okay, well I'm saved, I'm born again. You know, I'm right on the rapture, I'm right on the reprobate doctrine, nothing's going to happen to me. And then all of a sudden you find yourself in a dark place and you have no idea what to do about it. And so we're going to talk about that this morning. Now, you're there in Psalm chapter 77, look down at verse number 4. It says, Thou holdest mine eyes waking, I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Now, at the top of your Bible there before you read Psalm 77, you might have a note that says that this is a psalm that was delivered to the chief musician of Asaph. Now, that's interesting because Asaph obviously was a good guy. He was a person that was saved, you know, in the Old Testament during David's reign. And he makes this statement here under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He says, Thou holdest mine eyes waking. Now, sometimes when I read these, I like to go and check and see what the scholars say. And I found numerous scholars and little commentators say, well, this is an error here. This is a mistranslation of the King James Bible. And they gave all these different reasons why. And it's just total garbage, you know. I mean, if you think about it, what is he saying? He says, Thou holdest mine eyes waking, meaning that God will not allow you to ignore the truth. God will not allow you to slumber. And so right now Asaph's basically saying, hey, I'm in a straight, I'm in apparel, I'm in trouble, I'm depressed, I am, you know, I can't even sleep. He says, I can't even speak. And that's what the rest of the verse says. It says, I am so troubled that I cannot speak. And so what you need to understand is that you as a believer, us as believers, we can get to a dark place where we can't even speak, where we can't even sleep. And so what do we do about that? What does the Bible say that we should do about that? And so what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at three examples of people in the Bible that found themselves in a dark place. And then we're going to talk about how people get to a dark place, which I've already alluded to. Dread, which is fear, right? The wrong kind of fear. Doubts, right? We'll talk about where doubts come from and why we have them. And then depression or anxiety. And so why don't you guys turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 16. 2 Chronicles chapter 16. We're going to do a little bit of a review. So if you were here on Wednesday, we talked about King Asa, right? And I mentioned that King Asa was definitely a household favorite and definitely a great king because he got the Sodomites and he took them out of the land, the Bible says. You know, you can read about that in 1 Kings. Now, you know, if you stop there, you would think, OK, well, Asa was just a great person, a mighty king. He went through his whole entire life and didn't really have much trouble. He served God. But the sad part is when you get to 2 Chronicles chapter 16, you realize that in the thirty sixth year of his reign, he makes a grave mistake and he winds up finding himself in a dark place for the rest of his entire life. So if you're there in 2 Chronicles chapter 16, look down at verse number 10. 2 Chronicles 16, 10. So what's going on here is Asa decided that he was going to go to battle and what he was going to do, instead of relying on God, he was going to hire mercenaries. He's going to hire Syrians to help him out. And this prophet, which the Bible says here, Seir, Seir is a prophet, comes to him and says, hey, you know that what you did was wrong. You should have gone to God first. You should have sought counsel first. And now you're in trouble. Now perils are going to come upon you. God's angry. Now look at verse number 10. It says, then Asa was wroth with the Seir and put him in a prison house, for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. So you're going to have an example of a great leader who makes a mistake, who gets truth spoken to him. And what does he do? He reacts negatively. And this affects everybody in the land. He starts oppressing people. You know, and that's another reason why we don't want to have a church that's full of people that don't understand how to get out of depression, how to get out of a dark place. Because what happens is that negativity, if you don't seek help, will spread to other people. Look at verse number 11. And behold the acts of Asa, the first and last. Lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In verse 12, it says, and Asa in the 39th year of his reign was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great. Yet in his disease, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And then verse 13 says, and Asa slept with his fathers and died in the one and 40th year of his reign. Turn to Ezra. I go to Ezra chapter number seven, which is the next book over Ezra chapter seven. So it's a sad way that Asa went out. You know, I mean, he spent his whole life seeking after God. He spent his whole life getting Judah right with God. I mean, these people were so zealous at one point that they entered into a covenant to serve God to the fullest. And if anybody would not do that, they would kill that person. I mean, that's how serious these people were. But yet we see Asa get blasted with the truth. And you remember what Paul said to the Galatians. He said, therefore have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth. And that's what happened to Asa. He got told the truth and he couldn't handle it. And you know what? That reminds me of church people sometimes. Sometimes we get told the truth. We get our faces ripped off. We get our toes stepped on and we get bitter. We get depressed. We get angry and then we go into a dark place because we're not willing to receive the truth. That's the mistake that Asa made here. And the result was death. I mean, he could have gotten healed from this disease. God spent an entire lifetime getting this guy out of bondage, out of perils, out of troubles, out of tribulations. But yet he just let it get to him. He just let this negativity, he let the truth bother him. And instead of being humble and receiving the truth and saying, you know what? I'm going to change. I'm going to get right. I'm going to get back to my zeal that I once had. He decides to ignore it. And then God says, OK, I'm going to let you have it your way, Asa. And now you're going to die. Now you're going to go down to the grave. And that's what people are going to remember you for. Not just for your great victories over the Sodomites, but because you ignored righteous counsel. You could not receive instruction. You could not receive rebuke and reproof. And that, my friend, is what kills Christians. That is what the big point here of this chapter is. So if you're there in Ezra, chapter seven, look down real quick at verse number one. Ezra, chapter seven, verse one. So we just took a look at Asa, right? He spent the last few years of his life in a dark place. Now we're going to take a look at somebody who was zealous, right? Somebody who had a bunch of zeal. You know, when things start going well right now, the children of Israel or the kingdom of Judah, if you will, is no longer the kingdom of Judah. They're under the Persian Empire. They're under the Persian reign. And so they're going through all these different kings and they finally get a king that says, OK, look, you know, Ezra, I'm going to allow you to implement God's law on the land. And so this is a good thing. Look down at verse number one, Ezra, chapter seven, verse one. It says, Now, after these things in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Shariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hociah, the son of Sholem. And it goes on and basically gives all these instructions here. Now, just real quick, for sake of time, jump down to verse number 10. It says, For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. So you can see how Ezra's heart is. Right. And you understand who's in charge of the children of Israel at this time. It's not one of their own. It's not one of their own kings. It's a foreigner. Right. It's the king, King Artaxerxes, king of Persia. Now look at verse number 11. It says, Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel. So this is a good thing that's going on here. You're starting to see a revival take place. Right. Look at verse 12. Artaxerxes, king of kings unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God, of heaven, perfect peace and at such a time. Verse 13. I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Verse 14. For as much as thou art sent of the king and of the seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God, which is in thine hands. So look at this. You know, these people have been in bondage. They're in captivity. They're no longer that mighty strong nation that they once were. And all of a sudden they get this king, this foreign heathen king over them that says, Hey, I'm actually on your side. I actually want to help you in this. I want to help you give offerings to God. I want to bring you back to the temple. I want to institute God's ways. And then look, look at verse number 25. So skip over to verse number 25. It says, And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hands, set magistrates and judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river. All such as know the laws of thy God and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be unto death or unto banishment, or unto confiscation of goods or to imprisonment. Now go over to chapter nine real quick. Go over chapter nine. Ezra chapter nine. So, I mean, this would be a great thing, right? If we had a president or we had somebody take over this country and they said this stuff to us, right? They said, OK, guys, you know what? I want to institute God's laws and I'm going to train you guys. Or I'm going to allow you guys to train your pastors, your evangelists, your deacons to go out and preach God's doctrine to the land. And then, you know what? That would be a great thing. That would make a lot of us happy, right? That's righteous leadership. The Bible says that people rejoice when the righteous are in charge, you know, and that would be great. But what would happen if all of a sudden you couldn't find anybody to go do that? It was just you or a very small portion of you that would put you in a dark place that would cause some depression. You're going to see that with Ezra here. So if you're there in Ezra chapter nine, look down at verse number one. It says, Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Egyptians and the Amorites. So here you see a situation like I just said, right? Art of Xerxes is like, all right, let's institute God's law. Let's put the homos to death. Let's do all these righteous things. Let's teach people the Bible. Let's teach people God's laws. And then all of a sudden Ezra gets word that the people have not separated themselves. They have not sanctified themselves. They have married into heathen marriages. And the result is confusion. The result is that now these kids are going to grow up learning the pagan ways, learning the heathen ways. It'd be like if we move into the building next week and then I get word like, oh, everybody's, you know, going to go to Life.Church now. Or everybody's half in and half out, you know. I would do what Ezra does next and pluck my own hair out or possibly pluck some of your hair out. You know, I'm just kidding. Look at verse number two. It says, For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. So the thing I want you to understand here is that last part of the verse where it says princes and rulers have been chief in their trespasses. Faulty leadership can put you in a dark place. Faulty leadership can cause dread. It can cause doubts and it can cause depression. And that's exactly what you see here with Ezra. You've got somebody who's zealous. Maybe you're a husband that's zealous and your wife isn't. Maybe you're a wife that's zealous and your husband isn't. Maybe you're a child that's zealous and your parents aren't. You see, those types of things can cause depression. And if you don't learn how to do things the Bible way, if you don't learn how to put these things into perspective, it can cause you a lot of health problems and a lot of pain. Look at verse number three. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonished. Now tell me that Ezra didn't find himself in a dark place here. Tell me that Ezra didn't have problems. I mean, how depressed, how angry, how sad, how dreadful would you have to be to pluck your own hair out? To pluck your own beard out? I mean, you would have to be literally just upside down in emotions and thoughts and just perils. I mean, that is a dark place if I've ever seen one. Now go to Genesis chapter 21. Genesis chapter 21. So we saw, first of all, the first example, King Asa, right? What happened? He made a mistake and he couldn't handle reproof. He couldn't handle the truth. He couldn't handle rebuke. That sent him into a dark place. And that eventually led fear. It led dread. It led doubts. It led depression to overtake him to the point where he would no longer seek God. He would only seek the earthly physicians. Well, here we see a guy who is on fire for God, right? And it seems like he's the only one because the rulers, the people that he was supposed to trust to teach God statutes, God's commandments, all of a sudden he finds out that they're a big letdown. You know, it's kind of like when we found out about Donnie Romero earlier this year, right? That put people in a dark place. That caused a lot of people to actually back off from doing things for God because they figured, well, who can we trust? I mean, they were spiritually plucking their own hair out and you can't really blame them. You know what I mean? But the point is that you have to learn how to pull through these things. And we're going to talk about that as we move forward because the psalm that we read gives us all the answers that we need to overcome these things. Now, let's shift gears here again and let's talk about Abraham. Abraham found himself in a dark place several times. We're just going to take a look at one example. So Genesis chapter 21, look at verse number 10. This here's a story of our, or a picture basically, of our own past mistakes, our own past problems coming back to haunt us and then God dealing with them. So if you're there in Genesis 21, look at verse number 10. It says, Wherefore she said unto Abraham, so this is Abraham's wife talking here. So wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son. So if you know the story, you know that Abraham was promised a son in his old age, right? God said, hey, I'm going to give you a son. And he's like, how am I going to, you know, get a son in my old age? And his wife, Sarah, she basically laughed in her heart at one point. And, you know, they, a process of time goes on and they're like, well, how's God going to give us a son? You know, Sarah's thinking to herself, like, do I have any more desire left? You know, I'm old. I just don't get it. And so in their own wisdom, they come up with this plan and Sarah says, hey, take Hagar my maiden and be with her and have a child. And maybe that's what God meant. And so that's what they do. And now it's time to face the facts. Now it's time to deal with that mistake, with that sin. And it says, wherefore, in verse 10, Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son, for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even Isaac. And so having Isaac, or I'm sorry, having Ishmael, who was the son that Abraham had with Hagar around, was causing strife between the family. Ishmael was making fun of Isaac and mocking, you know, and Hagar and them. If you could imagine having multiple wives and stuff like that, it would definitely cause you some grief. That would put you in a dark place. And that did put every man in the Bible in a dark place. And we'll have to study that out sometime. But look at verse number 11. It says, and the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. So even though he made this mistake, even though he had a child that he shouldn't have had with someone that he should never have been with, right? He still loved that child. And now it's time for that child to go. Now it's time for Abraham to part ways with that child. And it says that this thing was grievous in his sight. And that would be grievous for any of us to lose a child. I mean, obviously the child doesn't die here. He goes on to do great things. He goes on to become a mighty nation. You know, I believe Ishmael was saved. I don't believe what the Zionists say. But nonetheless, it was still a grievous thing for Abraham. He doesn't like it. He doesn't want to part ways with him. Now look at verse 12. It says, and God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman. In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now turn to Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs chapter 29. So we can see here that Abraham finds himself in a dark place, right? He wants to raise Ishmael. He wants to be around him. He wants to see his child. But God says, you know what? It's for the better. It was never my plan, but I'm still going to make it work. He goes on to tell Abraham, hey, he's still going to become a great nation. I'm going to take care of him. And God does. God takes good care of him. God makes good on his promises, just like he always does. But nonetheless, the point here, what Abraham does is he actually hearkens unto God. He actually listens to God, and he actually casts him out. As hard as that is, and sometimes in our lives, we have to get things out of our lives. We have to get people out of our lives that cause dread, that cause doubts, that cause depression, because if you don't, you will remain in this dark place. And later on, you don't see Abraham moping around. You don't see Abraham in a dark place for the rest of his life. He actually winds up becoming a great, successful person because he does things God's way. So you're there in Proverbs chapter 29. Before I have us read there, I'm just going to read for you this. We're going to start talking about the three killer Ds, right? Just three. Three killer Ds. I said, dread, doubt, and depression. And we're going to start with dread. What is dread? Dread is fear, the wrong kind of fear. Now, you're familiar with this verse because we read it a few weeks ago. You don't have to turn there. It's Luke 21, 26. This is talking about the end times. This is what Jesus said. He said, men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And so the thing that I want to start off with about dread is with that verse, which you need to understand that dreading things that are coming on the earth, dreading things that are coming into your life will cause you to become into a dark place. That is an enemy, right? This is part two of getting to know our enemies. We have to know these things. We have to know how they operate. We have to know what they do. We have to know how to handle them in order to rid ourselves out of a dark place. And Jesus said, yeah, in the end times, people's hearts are going to fail them, but I will tell you right now, your heart will fail you if you start making up scenarios, right? Let's say you get some bad news, right? I guarantee you what's going to happen to you. You're immediately, your mind and your thoughts are going to wander off and they're going to start playing the scenario game because I, you know, it happens to me too. I do it myself, you know, and you're going to start thinking, well, what if this happens? Oh, well, what if this happens, right? And you're going to start fearing those things that could possibly come, which you don't even really know will, right? You have no idea. You have no way to guarantee that. And the result is your heart could fail you. And so we want to prevent that. We want to learn how to deal with dread, dread or the wrong kind of fear is a great enemy to the believer, to Christians. Are you there in Proverbs 29? Look at verse number 25, Proverbs chapter 29 verse 25. It says, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. So you can see the result of the two different types of dread or fear that are in this world. There's the fear of man. It's when you fear the bill collector. It's when you fear the repo man. It's when you fear your coworker. It's when you fear your family. That, the Bible says, is a snare. It's a trap. It will torment you. It will haunt you and it will prevent you from doing God's will. But look at the last half of the verse. It says, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made safe. And the hard part about doing this is that you can't see God physically. And so it's hard for us sometimes to be like, you know, you might find yourself in this situation. Maybe you owe a bunch of money, right? Or maybe you've got people coming after you for this reason or that, you know, whatever the case may be. And you just think to yourself, there's no possible way that God could get me out of this. And so what you do is you just completely ignore going to God. But the Bible says, but whoso putteth his trust in him shall be made safe. When you decide, you know, I don't know how you're going to help me, God. I don't see how you could possibly help me. At that point, when you make up your mind to do that, that's when God says, now you're going to be safe. Right? When he brings you to that place in your life where you see like there's just no idea. There's no way out. There's no hope. That's when you're going to be safe. That's when God's going to say, okay, now this person trusts in me and now I'm going to take care of him. I'm going to help him. So go back one book to Psalms chapter 23, Psalms chapter 23. And keep your place in the Psalms because we're going to go back there quite a bit. While you're turning there, I'm going to read for you out of 1 John 4 18, which says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. It says there is no fear in love. Look, Jesus said, if thou loveth me, then keep my commandments. Right? Do you love God? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love his commandments? Do you love his word? Do you love the things that he's about? If you do, then you're not going to get snared. You're not going to be bound in a dark place by the torment that comes from the wrong kind of fear. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says that the fear of man is a snare. It's a trap. It's tormenting. I mean, who here has ever had a nightmare where you're fearful? You're in fright and you can't move, right? You're trying to punch somebody and your arms don't work, or you try to run away and you can't. You try to shoot a gun and the rubber bullet comes out. You know, all these silly things. That's kind of what this verse reminds me of. But you know what? That's really, in real life, what fear will do to you. Right? A fearful person is a non-productive person. I mean, if I was fearful, I wouldn't be preaching out of Judges 19 tonight. Right? And we wouldn't get to learn all those doctrines. If I was fearful, I wouldn't have moved here. I wouldn't have given up my great job, you know, because I would have just been scared. I wouldn't have known. You know, when I moved from Washington to Sacramento, I had no idea how God was going to take care of me. When we were getting ready to move from Sacramento to here, I had no idea how God was going to take care of me. But you know what? I served God, and God gave us the first house that we looked at. God gave me the first job that I looked at, and God's given me raises and blessed me ever since then. And you don't think that I've been through dark places in my life? I have. All of us have, and all of us will, especially when you decide that you want to serve God, because God's going to try you to find out what is in your heart. Are you going to trust Him, or are you going to go the way of Asa and rely on the physicians, rely on those of no value in this world to deal with your problems? So if you're there in Psalms chapter 23, look down at verse number 4. It says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. So make no mistake, we do walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And thank God, those of us that are saved, we don't have to worry about the second death. We understand that. That's great news. But notice what He says. Nonetheless, you still walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We all walk through trouble. There's no way around it. There's no doubt about it. You know, in today's day and age, we have social media, right? And people are allowed to basically paint their lives on Facebook in a way that makes it look like they never have any problems. Everything's just a-okay. They're the best. They're the most zealous, whatever. But the reality is, nobody's like that. Yeah, there's people that are in a better spot sometimes than others. I get that. I understand that. But I'll tell you what, there's none, no believers, no not one that is without trouble, that is without being able or without, what am I saying? What am I trying to say? Being put into a dark place, right? Any one of us at any given time could be put into a dark place. The difference between somebody who gets out and somebody who stays in is in this book right here. It's in this council right here. It says, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. You know, it always seems like the people that have the most trouble in the Christian faith, they can never seem to pull themselves out, right? They're just always in perils, they're just always in trouble. They can never find this, they can never find that. You know, you can almost never find them in church either. Look, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm just trying to be honest with you. Right? I mean, that's just, that's the Bible. Right? God wants His people to seek after His own heart, after His own commandments. That's how you get out of trouble. That is how you eliminate dread from your life. Now go back to Psalm chapter 19. Psalm chapter 19. Before we wrap up this quick point, I don't want to leave without reading about the right types of fear, right? Because there is a healthy fear that we need to have, and you can read about that here in verse number 9. Psalm chapter 19, look at verse number 9. It says, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. So there is a type of fear that is in this world that is clean, that is good, that is healthy, that produces results. And that is the fear of the Lord. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord produces knowledge, but it also produces wisdom. And that's the kind of fear that we all in here need to make sure that we have, that we focus on, that we put into our hearts and into our minds and into our souls. Why? So that we can produce results for God, so we can make God happy, so that we can fight the good fight, right? The whole point of the series is to not allow the enemies to overtake us, to not allow the enemies to bog us down. Because when you have all this weight, when you have all this dread, it's excess baggage and you cannot fight, you cannot move as fast as you could without it. Now, real quick, go to Psalm chapter 34. Psalm chapter 34. Psalm chapter 34. Look down at verse number 7. So Psalm 34, 7, it says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. And this is why you have got to work on your faith. This is why you have got to work on removing doubt from your life, because this is a promise in the Bible. And it's not just to the Jew. It's not to some head banging Jew over in Israel. This is for all of us. This is God's word. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. So if you fear God, right, if you have that healthy fear, that right for you. Now, go to Deuteronomy chapter 28. We'll move on here. Deuteronomy chapter 28. Like I said, we'll come back to Psalms later on. While you're turning there, I'm going to read for you Psalms 103 verse 11, which says, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. So when you're in a dark place, you're in dread, you're in torment. Go outside and stare up at the heavens and then read this first. Psalm 103 11, which says, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. Because a lot of times what's going to happen is you're going to recall all the mistakes that you've made in your past. You're in perils. You're in tribulations. You're in trials. You're in trouble and you're like, God's not going to help me. Well, the Bible says that his mercy is higher than the heavens is to the earth. That means he will overlook your past. The issue is within your own heart, right? The reason why he didn't deliver Asa is because Asa rejected him, not rejected him unto the point of hell. That's not what I'm saying. But he nonetheless, he rejected God's counsel. He rejected his correction, his reproof, his rebuke. And then God said, OK, I'm done with you. Right? That didn't happen in Ezra's life and that didn't happen in Abraham's life. That didn't happen in David's life. And there's a lot of good men, a lot of great men in the Bible who went on and overcame their past. I mean, think about the apostle Paul. I mean, he was there when Stephen was stoned to death. You don't think that he thought about that the rest of his life while he was serving Christ while he's preaching the gospel. And they're like, hey, aren't you the guy that put all these people to death? Look, his mercies are higher than what you can see outside. He will deliver you. That's what the Bible says. And so let's move on here and we're going to talk about doubts. There's nothing like doubts that can put a Christian into a dark, dark place. And you know what? A big reason why we have doubts is because we're not obedient to God's word. And we know that within our hearts. We know that within our minds. We know that within our own souls. And so what happens is the devil comes in and says, hey, you know that show you just watched last night? You know, your pastor just preached about that. You really think God's going to help you out? And he starts playing mind games with you. And the next thing you know, you're going to be like Asa. You cannot escape. Now, Deuteronomy 28. Go to verse 63. Very long chapter here. Deuteronomy 20, 28, verse 63. We're going to read a few verses. We're talking about doubts. So Deuteronomy 28. Look at verse 63. It says, And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you. So the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to not. And you shall be plucked from off the land, whether thou goest to possess it. This is a verse that modern day Zionists, they don't like to read this stuff. But nonetheless, the Bible says God is the same today, yesterday and forever. This is God's attitude. God wants obedience. And when he doesn't get it, you guess what? I guarantee you, you're going to have doubts. I guarantee you, you will have dread. I guarantee you, you're going to have depression. I guarantee you, you will be in a dark place. Look at verse 64. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other. And there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease. Neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest. But the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind. Listen, Christian people can wind up in this situation. God can give you a trembling heart. God can give you the failing of eyes. That's why Asaph said thou holdest mine eyes waking. You won't let me bury my head in the sand. Sometimes God's going to get a hold of you and he will hold your eyes open to whatever the situation is that you're in until you learn to trust God and get right with him. And sorrow of mind. Did you know that God can create sorrow of mind in your own life? And we need to talk about how to get out of it. Look at verse 66. He says, And in thy life shall hang in doubt before thee. A lot of people don't realize that. That God can cause you to have doubts. And it's a direct result of disobedience. That's what the Bible says. And thou shalt fear day and night and shall have none assurance of thy life. And I think about Asa. I think about what a righteous king that he was and the mistake that he made. And when he got to the dark place in his life, this verse came true for him. God caused these things to happen in his life. Look at verse 67. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even? And in at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see? Now turn to Psalms chapter one hundred and nineteen. So I would say the second biggest thing that causes a believer that causes Christians to get into a dark place is gonna be doubts. It's going to be because you know in your heart whether or not you serve God, whether or not you care about his statutes, his commandments, his things, because God says in his law and he doesn't change that when we aren't like that, when we don't serve him, when we decide to go the other way, when we say I'm going to stick one foot in the world and maybe a couple toes, you know, of my other foot, you guys like, okay, now you think I'm going to help you? And look, God will help you if you get right, if you humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. You know, the Bible says that he shall lift you up. But nonetheless, it's those that won't. It's those that want to justify their sin, that want to make a mockery out of the things of God. These people that are saved, God says, hey, I will cause you to live a life of doubt. And you know what? Like I said, not being obedient is going to cause that. So let's move on here. Let's talk about depression. The Bible doesn't use the word depression, but it does use the word heaviness, heaviness of heart or sorrows or a grief of mind or grievous, different words like that. So let's talk about that. So far we've mentioned dread, right, which is the wrong kind of fear. We talked about doubts and the main reason for doubts. Now let's move on here to depression. So if you're there in Psalm chapter 119, look at verse 28. It says, My soul melteth for heaviness, strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Again, Psalm chapter 119 is the longest, probably the longest chapter in the Bible. And you know, the main theme is it's all about the Bible. It's all about God's word. Every problem that pops up in Psalms 119, it always points you back to God's word, back to the Bible. You ever noticed it? Like almost every sermon I preach, I mentioned this. It's because it's important and not everybody gets it. Sometimes you have to be browbeaten with this stuff for years before it will actually finally sink in and you get right with God. So you can leave your place there. Go to go to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. So he says, My soul melteth for heaviness. Heaviness can cause your entire soul, your entire being, your entire countenance to just fall, to just melt. And you know, when you have a sorrowful heart, when you're in bondage like this, everybody can see it. It's on your face. It's on the way you walk. It's in the way you talk. It's in the decisions that you make. It's in everything that we do. But the solution comes from God where he says, Look, God has made promise after promise after promise after promise to help us when we are in a dark place. If we'll just do simply what he says. And the solution is always the same. It's always to go right back to God. And we're going to take a look at that. But so you're there in Luke chapter 12. Before we read there, I'm going to read for you Proverbs 12 25, which says, Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad. It always would baffle me. You know, my mom, when I was growing up, she would always get drunk. She was a drunker. Right. And she would have all these problems back home. Somebody would call with bad news or whatever and get her all riled up. And her solution was to go to the bottle to go get drunk. Right. That was her answer. You know, and on top of that, what she would do is listen to this to this sorrowful garbage music. Like I can't even I don't even want to mention the stuff that she listened to. It's just these old records she would have, you know, she'd break out these records and then she'd be like crying and stuff. And as a young child, I'm watching this like this. Mom, this just isn't working. Well, this I don't know what the solution is at this time in my life, but I know this ain't it. Those records aren't it because it's like making her worse. It's causing more grief. And then, you know, I was thinking about that when I read this verse the other day. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop. Right. And I saw my mom's countenance stoop to the lowest level that you could possibly imagine. But the Bible says, but a good word maketh it glad. So when you're in a dark place, when you have doubts, when you have depression, you know, turning on these sorrowful songs and these mopey movies and stuff, that's not the solution. That's not the answer. And you know what else isn't the answer? Hanging around with a bunch of people that don't care about God, that are super negative, that don't want to help you out, because that's not going to make it through your heart glad. A good word maketh it glad. This book will make it glad. Hanging around people who have been in perils and troubles like you and gotten through them and edifying you, that will make your heart change. That will make it go from stooping to standing upright and being productive and of a good, healthy stage. So if you're there in Luke chapter 12, look at verse number 22. This here is a great story about how to not be anxious, how to not get yourself into depression. Luke 12, 22, it says, and he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? Now, Peter doesn't like this verse. The world doesn't like this. Our society has it backwards. They want to tell you, well, animals have more rights than you. Animals are of more value than you. But Jesus Christ says otherwise. He says, hey, aren't you more important than these things? And yet I take care of them, right? Yet God feeds the birds. God takes care of the ants. Why would he not take care of you unless there's something in your mind that you know is super wrong and you're just not willing to let it go? You're not willing to change. Look at verse 25. In which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? Now that's Caden's last verse. He's trying to get taller on me all the time. I'm just kidding. Look at verse 26. He says, If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Right? So why stress? Why worry about how tall you're going to be? Why worry about things that you can't even change, that you have no control over? You see, the vanity and the wisdom that's in this world that will tell you, hey, you know, you need to work on your jawline. You need to work on how good you look. You need to work on your abs. You need to work on this. You need to work on all these vain types of things. That's crap. That's garbage. That type of stuff will cause depression because you know what? God didn't design us all to look like Hollywood models. So you know what happens when you go hanging around that kind of junk? It's going to cause you to become depressed. You're going to envy the way they look. You're going to envy the things that they say, how eloquent they are and all this other garbage. And you're going to be like, well, I'm not like that. Well, you know, maybe God made you that way on purpose. You know what? And who's smarter, you or God? It's a grave danger to people to hang out and envy the way that these people look, these music people, these movie stars. It's all fake. These people are in a dark place that they can never get out of a lot of times. And you know, that's true. But he says, if ye, verse 26, if ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And think about that. God will take care of you. That's what he's saying here. He's like, hey, you know, think of all the glamour, all the righteousness that Solomon had before he fell. Right. Think about his kingdom. And we've studied it. Think about the riches. Think about the ascent to which his servants came in and out from him. I mean, those types of things went throughout the entire world during that time. But yet God says, hey, the flowers, the lilies of the field, they were clothed more so than he was, more so than that kingdom was of that time. Now, verse 28, if then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe ye, I'm sorry, clothe you, O ye of little faith. And there's your second problem. There's the second reason why we have depression. It's not just because we've allowed sin into our lives. It's not just because we're neglecting God's rebuke or in his reproof. It's because we've gotten ourselves to a point to where we have little faith. Right. A lot of people have little faith. You know, they get saved and then that's it. They got enough faith just to get saved and then they never grow much more beyond that. And then what's the result? Worrying about all these things you can't change, worrying about your appearance, worrying about how much money you have, how many boats you have, how many jet skis you have, how big your house is, how nice your cars are, that kind of stuff. When you realize that you really can't keep up with people, and I won't say the Joneses because you don't want to keep up with me, you know, that will cause you depression. When you as a believer get to the point to where your focus is on the riches and the goods of this world and you realize that you can't attain unto that, guess what? That's going to cause you depression. That's going to put you in a dark place that you don't have to be in. You could just learn to be content with what you have. Right. You could just learn to get some faith. You could just learn to go out and get people saved and to serve God and then he'll add all these things to you. But we don't do that. Right. We're too worried about looking like the people that we see on TV, which you shouldn't be watching TV anyways. It's all just a bunch of hell and garbage on there. Look at verse 29. It says, And seek not ye what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. You see how this all ties in together? You start focusing on the wrong things. Guess what? That's when the dread comes in. That's when the doubt comes. That's when the depression settles in. Look at verse 31. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. When you get to a point in your life where you say, you know what, I'm not going to be like Asa. I'm going to go ahead and accept the rebuke, the reproof, the correction. I'm going to get right with God and you're going to seek after the kingdom of God. That's when your life is going to change. That's when you're going to begin to climb out of that dark place. That's what the Bible is telling us here. Now go back to where we first started. Go back to Psalm chapter 77. And then after that, we're going to go to Matthew 7. So I'm just going to give you three points from our chapter that we read this morning on how to get out of a dark place. Because Psalm chapter 77 is about a believer. It's about a man who found himself in a dark place. It's about a man who pulled himself out of a dark place with God's help. So verse number one, I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. And so Asaph saying, hey, I cried unto God when I found myself in trouble and God heard me. Now, why did God hear him? So here, point number one is how do we get out of a dark place? Number one, seek the Lord immediately. When you get bad news, when you finally realize what's going on, when God finally opens your eyes and won't let them close, when he holds your eyes waking, guess what? That's when you seek the Lord immediately. And remember, that's what Asaph did not do. But look at verse number two. What does Asaph say? Verse number two, in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. He didn't say next week after I got the bad news. He said, in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comfort. Now go to Matthew chapter seven and keep your place here, but we're going to come back to it. Go to Matthew chapter seven. So in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. You see, the problem with Christians, and I've mentioned this quite a bit, is that when we get into trouble, when we realize, uh-oh, we're in a dark place. I don't see any way out. We don't go to the Lord right away, right? We go to other sources. We go to other things first. But the Bible says that Asaph, when he realized that, it says that he sought the Lord that same day. And that is what we need to do. When you realize that you're in a dark place, you need to seek the Lord immediately. You need to put your problems on the prayer list. You need to call me. You need to call other people in this church. You need to get that thing dealt with right away. And it's your job, it's your responsibility to take initiative, to take action. Matthew chapter seven, look at verse number seven. It says, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. When you're in troubles, when you're in perils, when you're in a dark place, remember ask, A-S-K. You ask God, right? You seek God immediately. And then remember the S, seek. So you ask God for help and then you go to seek and you try to find out what doors is he going to open for you? What problems is he going to remove first? And then you knock. You try those avenues. You try those doors. You try those windows. That's the remedy. Look at verse eight. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. It doesn't say it might be opened. It says it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? And remember what the Bible says also. It says we have not because we ask not. That's another big problem. We're too prideful or maybe we're too private. Maybe we just say, I don't want people knowing about my problems. Well, that's fine. Why don't you just write down that you have an unspoken prayer request, right? We do have people in here that do that. And thank God for that because a lot of times those get turned into praises. And why is that? Because if you ask, God will help you. That's what it says here. Turn to First Peter chapter five. First Peter chapter five. Look, Jesus said, hey, we're evil. And but yet we know how to give good gifts to our kids. So why wouldn't we think that God, who is righteous, whom there is no sin, wouldn't give us the things that we need, deliver us from our fears, deliver us from our dread, deliver us from our doubts and our depression? It's silliness. It's just it's just foolishness to think otherwise because his promises are all throughout the Bible. Here's a remedy. First Peter, chapter five, look at verse six. It says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that ye that he may exalt you in due time. So what you need to do is seek the Lord immediately. Humble yourself, unlike Asa. Right. You humble yourself. And what does it say? He will exalt you in due time. You see, and that's that's that's a point that a lot of us will miss. You need to understand he may not deliver you today. It might not even be next week, but it will happen in due time. That's the hard part. It's the waiting game. That's that's that's what we struggle with, because especially in today's day and age. Right. We we have everything at our fingertips. If I want to know something, I just go to Google. Or, you know, if I want something, I could just go to the store and go to Amazon, you know, and we treat God like that. Well, I want my problem solved right now. Well, he may not be ready to deliver you right now. It says in due time, after you humble yourself, after you get right with God, that's what the Bible is teaching us here. Look at verse eight. We read this last week. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. And look, if you don't learn how to humble yourself, he's going to devour you. It's going to happen. He devoured Asa. He'll devour you, too. Look at verse nine. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Well, if you're not hanging around the brethren, how are you going to share your afflictions? How are you going to talk about the ways that God's delivered you? It's not going to happen. What are you going to do? Talk about these things with your co-workers? With the people out in the community that don't know God? Or that have the NIV God? It ain't going to happen. I tell you right now, it will not happen. Look at verse 10. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Go back to Psalm 77. It says the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory. Right? If you're saved, it says that after you have suffered a while, then right after you've humbled yourself, after you realize that you're going to go ahead and accept that correction, accept that reproof, that rebuke, that's when he's going to make you perfect. That's when he's going to establish you. That's when he's going to settle you. That's when he's going to strengthen you. So point number one, how do you get out of a dark place? Seek the Lord immediately. Immediately. Don't put it off. Don't wait. Seek God immediately. Point number two, seek to understand the days of old. Seek to understand the days of old. Look at verse number five, Psalm 77 verse five. Look at what Asaph says. This is right after our opening verse here in verse number four. He says, I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. Now, why does he say that? What's the whole point of that? Well, I mean, what is that going to do? Well, when you consider the days of old, when you consider how God rescued the children of Israel out of the bondage of the Egyptians and how he parted the Red Sea, it kind of makes your problems look a little smaller, doesn't it? When you realize that God's rescued, I mean, all these prophets, how he rescued the children of Israel in the Book of Judges over and over and over and over and over again, it probably makes your problems look a little bit smaller. So when you're in trouble, after you seek God immediately, seek to understand the days of old. Go to this book and read about the great things that God has done for his people. And it will comfort your soul. Look down at verse number seven. It says, Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. Knowing God's, and obviously the answer is no, right? God's mercies are available for you if you'll humble yourself, right? If you'll get right with him, if you'll seek him, if you'll ask him to help you, if you'll ask, seek, knock, all these things that we've talked about, right? That is what's going to help you out. This is key here. Understanding how God has delivered his people is a tremendous help with whatever trials, with whatever dark place, with whatever depression that you're facing. That is going to help you out. And you may think, no, it won't. Well, just try it. Look, just test it. Read it because it's a promise in God's word. That's what he's saying here. So let's move on here. Point number three, seek to meditate diligently on God's word. Seek to meditate diligently on God's word. Look, it's not just enough to go just ask God real quick to help you with your problems, right? And then maybe read a quick Bible story. You need to seek diligently to meditate. That means to think through, to ponder, right? To reflect on these things. That's the Bible saying. Look at verse number six. This is what Asaph said. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search. So you need to remember this song in the night. You need to remember this song in the day. You need to remember these things and talk with your own heart, with your own spirit. You need to learn how to reign that old man in so that you can get over your depression, over your doubts, over your dread, over your dark place. That's what the Bible says. It all goes back to God's word. But the question is up to you. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to meditate on these things? If you are, you're going to get delivered in due time. If you're not, then hey, you know, enjoy what happens. Jump down to verse number 10. And I said, this is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of all thy doings. Now go to 1 Timothy chapter 4. So Asaph says, hey, I'm going to meditate on all of his work. I'm going to think about how God rescued Israel from Egypt. I'm going to think about how he rescued Saul from the Philistines. I'm going to think about how he rescued David. I'm going to think about how he rescued Peter. I'm going to think about how he rescued Paul. I'm going to think about what he said to the seven churches in Asia. I'm going to think about all these things. I'm going to meditate on them. I'm going to study them diligently, and that is going to help. That's what Asaph's saying. That's how he got out of his dark place, and that's how you are going to get out of your dark place as well. So while you're turning to 1 Timothy 4, I'm going to read for you Psalms 119 verse 23, which says, princes also did sit and speak against me, but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. Sometimes the princes in your life, your family, your coworkers, your bosses, your supervisors, they're going to speak against you, and that's going to cause you to become in a dark place, to get depressed or whatever. You know what? But the answer is always going to go back to meditating into God's statutes. If you guys find yourself in a dark place at work because someone has lied about you, because your boss has lied about you, you know what? The Bible says that God is the author of promotion, and he's the one that takes care of that. You don't have to worry. All you have to do is work hard and do what's right, and realize that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth. That's what the Bible says. God sees your diligent work. God sees how you are. God knows what you're about, what your heart's about, whether or not you're doing things at work to please him or whatever. And when you meditate on these things, that's going to rescue you. That's going to help you. So 1 Timothy 4, look at verse number 15. It says, meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all. So here Paul's telling Timothy, hey, I want you to command and teach people to follow the commandments, to do all the works of the Lord, basically, all the doctrines and whatnot. And he's giving Timothy a lot of good tips on how to be a good pastor and different things. And he says to him, hey, meditate upon these things and give thyself wholly to them, not just part way. You see, that's what we do. We say, okay, yeah, I'm going to give myself to God. I'll go to church on Sunday, you know, but then that's it. You know, or I'll go to church here and there, or I'll read the Bible today, but not tomorrow. No, Paul told Timothy, hey, give yourself wholly all the way to these things. And why? So that thy profiting may appear. That means that when you decide to go after God with your whole heart, you will profit and that profit will be made known to all men, to everyone around you. That's what he's saying here. Now you can go ahead and go back to, keep your place there because we're going to go to 2 Peter, but go back to Psalm 77 real quick. We'll get ready to finish this up. So we're going to deal with the rest of this chapter here a little bit. Look at verse number 13, Psalm 77 verse 13. We need to realize that God is above our problems. Whatever your issue is, whatever's causing your dread, your doubt, your depression, your dark place, you need to realize that God is above that. And that's what Asaph teaches us here. Look at verse 13. He says, thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, who is so great a God as our God. Right? Who's so great? There is no little God. There's no lowercase G God of this world that's going to help you with your problems. Like the God of the Bible can. Verse 14, thou art the God that do us wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with them, or I'm sorry, with thine arm, redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph, Selah. Verse 16, the waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee. They were afraid. The depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water. The sky sent out sound. Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path is in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leadest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now go to the last place I'm going to have you turn is 2 Peter. So go to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. So Asaph spends those last few verses telling us, hey, think about the depths of the ocean. Think about the clouds and how they drop down rain. Think about the lightning. And then realize who commanded those things, who set in order those things. I mean, think about that. The next time you go to the ocean, just look at the vastness of the ocean, right? And realize who put that there. Realize who could make that disappear if you wanted to. Realize that God's voice is like the thunder, right? That his countenance is brighter than the lightning. When you really put that into perspective, when you can really understand that, guess what? It's going to make your problem seem a little less. It's going to help you climb out of that dark place. And we're almost done. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard. And it says when we were with him in the holy mountain. So if you remember back in the gospels when Peter and then they heard the voice of God, you know, they saw Jesus transfigured. He's basically bringing that up. But look what he says next in verse number 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. So Peter's like, hey, I heard the voice of God. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ transfigured. I saw Elijah. I saw Moses. But you know what's more sure than what I saw is God's word. And what does it say about God's word in verse 19? He says, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. There is nothing that's going to get you out of your dark place like this word here will. Like this book will. That is what will get you out of that dark place. The question is, are you going to follow it? Are you going to believe it? Or are you just going to mope around and pout and just hang around with a bunch of people that have no regard for the word of God? You know what? If you do that, that's what's going to keep you in that dark place. And then verse 20 says, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not an old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so he leaves us there with an exhortation that we can trust these things. This wasn't just the will of man. This is God's word. This has been preserved for us. And so we need to remember, dread, doubts, depression, they lead to a dark place. What do we do to get out of it? Seek the Lord immediately, right? We seek him immediately, not tomorrow, not next week, not eventually, immediately. Right away, get on your face and you ask God, you start asking other believers to pray for you. You start getting these things in order. You ask, you seek, you knock. That's what you do. Point number two, I said, is you seek the days of old. And why? Because that is your comfort, right? That's what's going to get your heart right with God. That's what's going to cause your heart not to stoop anymore is that glad tidings, these good words right here. And then number three, seek to meditate diligently on God's word because when you do, it's a light that shineth in a dark place. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, Lord. Thank you so much for your word. I thank you for all these people, Lord. I pray you bless the fellowship, Lord. Please bless the soul-winning to come and the service tonight. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.