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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Good morning. Wow. What a powerful song, you guys. He's a good father.
He's a good father. We all need to remember that today, don't we?
We have a special morning today. Our youth team is at DFW airport getting ready to go to Belize. And we are so excited and we wanted to just take a moment to pray for them, pray for their journey ahead.
Pray for those leaders. Bunch high school kids, right? Moms and dads are celebrating, but the leaders got it.
But you guys pray with me. Heavenly Father, we lift up our youth team to you. Lord, we're thankful for these 19 students and leaders who have stepped up to serve you in the unknown, Lord. We know you have mighty things planned ahead for them and we pray for their protection.
Keep them safe, healthy as they journey. Fill them with courage and compassion and joy. Lord, would this be a trip they all remember for years to come? Would this be a trip that was a moment that changed their life, that they learned to know you deeper, depend more on you and trust you with the outcome, Lord. And most of all, may this trip bring glory to you and may many who don't know Jesus accept him because of their sacrifice to go and we love you in Jesus name, Amen. Welcome. Good morning. So glad that you guys are here. We're continuing our journey on the Song of Psalms, which was Israel's hymn book, right? We've been learning about and throughout this series, we've been discovering what the Psalms teach us about who God is and how to respond to him in every season of our life.
And I'm not sure what season that you personally are in, but I can tell you in a room of this size and this many people and all of our friends watching online, everybody's in a different season. And some people it's a good season, but they're still struggling. And some people it's a really hard season and they're looking for God. Well, this message is for you because today we're going to talk about how to pray to God, how to depend on God and how to look for God in all circumstances of our lives.
And we're going to see God's faithfulness on display. Because the song that we're singing is Psalm 121, and the Israelites made a journey three times a year. It's called the Song of Ascents. And Pastor Bill talked about one of these on Father's day. He did 121, and it's Psalm 120 through 134. Those 15 chapters are all the Song of Ascents. And if you haven't read them all in one sitting, I want to encourage you to do so, because you're going to see the path of these Israelites who were struggling, who were afraid, who didn't know what was ahead for them, and they were retelling God's faithful story of their life. It would be a great project for you to do as they were going through difficult times. Because, let's be honest, we all reach out to God, we all pray a little bit more, and we all depend on God. When we're in a questionably difficult time, in a time of unknown, in a time of we don't know what the future holds. We don't know what God's will is in something. Those are the times when the future feels a little less uncertain, that we reach out to God.
And these are moments that we ask a few questions of God, right? Like God, are you there? I'm praying. You're not giving me what I've asked for. So first of all, I want to know, are you there? Are you listening? And God, can you hear me? Can you hear my prayers?
And are you still working on behalf of me, God, are you still listening to what I want? Are you still guiding me in the way that I should go?
And I want to assure you that the answer to that today is yes. God's always present.
God is always listening. God is always working.
Even when we can't see him and even when we can't feel Him, God is working on mine and your behalf.
Pastor Bill says that we're either coming out of a difficult season, which that's where we all want to be, right? Or we're walking through one, or we're preparing for one. It's the cycle of life, of this broken world that we live in. There's always difficult things ahead for us on the horizon. And the question isn't if the those seasons will come, because I guarantee you they are going to come.
But really it's our ability to endure the difficult season.
And I want to say, I don't think that comes from our own strength. I would love to tell you it is. But if you've lived long enough as I have, I can tell you you are going to run out of gas. You don't have enough strength to make it through all the difficulties that are going to come in this life. And that's where. Where God comes in. And that's where God leads us and guides us and protects us and takes care of us.
Have you ever looked down at your gas gauge and you're on empty and you're wondering if you're going to make it to the gas station asking for a friend? That's never happened to me, although my mother's here in the room. So I have to be honest.
My dad's rule was when you get to a quarter of a tank, you have to go get guests. I think he made a guardrail because he knew I was gonna push it to the empty. Maybe he had to come bail me out a few times. I don't really remember.
But isn't that kind of how we live our life a lot of times, right?
Spiritually, we're trying to rely on yesterday's strength. And God never intended that for us. He wants us to reach out to Him. He wants to be the one who fills us up, fills our tank up, and helps us not only endure, but really thrive.
And the future that he has ahead for us every single day.
Because when life isn't peaceful, God says we can depend on him and he will give us peace. Isn't that what we all want? Right? We don't want to live in this world being frustrated or not sure, even maybe what our life is meaning. We want a life of purpose. We want a life that means something. When we're gone one day, we want to have a life that honors God. That's what Psalm 121 we're going to talk about today.
The truth is, God's people have struggled for a few questions, just like we have since the beginning of time.
And Psalm 21, although it doesn't name the author, we don't know who wrote it. Remember, there are some we do know. David and his son Solomon. Well, there's some that we know, but this is one of those. We don't know who wrote it, but we do know where they were going because it was a song of ascent. So all the songs of ascent, the psalm that the Israelites sang on their way up to Jerusalem, no matter where they were coming from, north, south, east, west, Jerusalem was at a higher place, up on a ridge. So they called it the Song of Ascents. And it's what they sang as they were going to Jerusalem. So if you haven't read those in one sitting, I would say do it.
Pastor Bill preached on one of these on Father's Day. It was Psalm 128. And he explained that the word ascent means to go up. Hence psalm sense and God's covenant. People, as they traveled there, began singing some songs. And the coolest part of. Part of what they were doing was they were singing songs and they were worshiping songs. But they were also recounting God's faithfulness to them over time. All the things that God had done to be faithful, not just in their present life, but their ancestors since the beginning of time was what God had done for these chosen people. Now, this wasn't a once in a lifetime trip, as you and I might think, to go to Israel might be, or a big vacation place that you want to go. This was not a once in a lifetime trip. They did this trip three times a year, every year for all of their life. So many of them did them well over 100 times. They made this trek. They went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals. And the festivals were, if you're going. What were these three festivals? Number one was a Passover.
They went every year at Passover and it celebrated God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt through the blood of the Passover lamb. You guys remember Pharaoh? Pharaoh let my people go. He did. They got to the other side, went through the Red Sea, and they celebrated that. They recounted this miracle that God had done, how he had taken these people that were in slavery in Egypt, got them to the new place where he was taking them to their promised land. Remember, it took a while to get them there. The second one was called Pentecost, and it celebrated God's faithful provision through the first harvest.
They were always very cognizant of that. They needed food.
It was difficult. They had difficult land. Some land where they were living was a little bare or better. All kinds of different things were going on. So they were praying for God to provide for them. As we live on a farm now, me and my husband, I can tell you when. And we have hay that actually feeds our cows and our horses. We are always looking. I remember my grandparents always talking about rain. Do you like, who cared about the rain? Oh, we're looking. Derek's looking days ahead. We have a 20% chance on Thursday, if you were wondering. He's already told me this morning that this is what's coming up. We were always looking at rain. Because we're not watering these acres of hayfield. If God gives us rain and we can provide for our animals, we will. If not, at least we have the opportunity. We could go buy some. We don't want to do that. But the Israelites didn't have that. If they could not produce enough food to feed themselves, they just didn't have it. So they were very thankful. And they went up to one of the festivals to thank God for that. The third one was called the Feast of Tabernacles. And that celebrated God's presence, protection and provision during their 40 years in the wilderness until they got the promised Land. So now picture this. Three times a year, thousands of worshipers from every direction went to Jerusalem to worship God and thank him for the things he had provided for them. There were fathers and mothers and grandparents and kids and grandkids and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and whole communities. And they were all going to Jerusalem at one time.
And they traveled by foot?
Yes, it was a long Trek, they said 15 to 20 miles a day.
I converted that for steps, because that's what we care about today. And it was 20 to 30,000 steps a day.
I'm very thankful if I get my 10,000. How about you? They were really going 20 to 30,000 steps. And they were carrying things, their tents. They were carrying food, they were carrying water. They were carrying children.
As my granddaughter says, marmee, my legs are full. Can you please carry me? I know this was what was going on for these Israelites as well. They were tired, but they weren't grumbling. They were singing songs, songs of praise to God. And as they climbed toward Jerusalem, they sang, I lift up my eyes to the mountain.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. And they weren't just songs to them. These were declarations of their faith that they sang on their journey.
And I think that's why Psalm 121 is so meaningful of all of the Psalms is because we're all on a journey, aren't we?
Some of us are at the beginning of our journey. Some of us are nearing the end of our journey, and all the people in between. We all have a journey, and some of it is difficult and some of it is wonderful. We all have bits and pieces of all of those parts, don't we? And this thing that we called life. But it's our journey that God has put us on. Put us on this earth to do something that only each one of Us can. Do you have a specific place that God has placed you to tell your neighbor about Jesus? Maybe it's somebody at the grocery store, maybe it's a family member. But you have a mission and God has something for you and a purpose to talk about the mountain, to talk about the song that you're going to sing along the way.
But just like these pilgrims, some of them were walking through joy, through difficult times, through grief, through uncertainty, just like us.
They needed to be reminded where their help comes from. So they sang about it three times a year, actually. And we're going to look at Psalm 121. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn to Psalm 121. If you have your Bible app, please feel free. You can look on that as well. We're also going to have it on the screenshot. And today I'm going to do something we don't always do. Instead of me reading this to you, I want us to read it together. It's only eight verses. But just as those Israelites sang together in unity, proclaiming the things of God, I want us to do the same in our church today. So if you're ready. Psalm 121. Let's start at verse one. It says, I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber Indeed, who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. And the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm. He will watch over your life.
The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.
The psalmist was pretty sure about God's provision. This was from a place of confidence. He wasn't questioning. He was very confident in what God was going to do for him. And that confidence didn't come from wishful thinking.
His confidence came from seeing what God had done in the past to provide for him. And he knew if God did it before, God will do it again. God has always been faithful. Pastor Bill says this a lot. When we question about things.
Should we do this? Should we do that? Is God gonna provide for us? We talk about that. Is God gonna provide for our church? We have great things we wanna do. We wanna add things on. We wanna do things in the kids area, we wanna do things in the youth area.
Will God provide? You know what Pastor Bill says God has always provided. God will provide for just what we need. He always has the faith of that. He always has to run o us of little faith. He sometimes we've got to see it tangibly. But he's looking back at what God did from the very beginning, when he started this church, when there was no church, and the things that God did to provide to make a way for us to sit here today and to hear about who God is.
We have to look back at the past and see God's faithfulness and to trust that he will do it again.
Psalm 121 reminds us of a few things that I wanted to tell you today. God protects his children. He watches over us day and night. I love this at night. How about you? If I'm going to be nervous about anything or if I'm worrying about anything, it typically happens about 2 or 3am how about you? That your mind gets up and you start worrying about something.
But guess what?
Scripture says God's not sleeping. We don't need to wake up worrying about things. God's got it. We can say, okay, God, I'm a little worried about this. Can I give this to you? Because I really need to get some sleep and you're awake and you're going to take care of it anyway. I love that he never sleeps. He. He is the maker of heaven and earth, the creator of everything that we see and everything that we don't.
We know there's a spiritual realm going on around us too, that God is protecting us from. And God is making sure that you and I are in the right place where we need to be in his will.
Nothing is beyond his power.
Nothing catches him by surprise. Nothing can derail his plans for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, he has great plans for you. Not just for me, not just for the church, not just for who, but for you individually, for each person in this room. God has great plans for you to prosper, to do great things.
He's always watching, always working, and bottom line, he is always faithful.
So how did the Israelites learn to trust God like this?
They weren't even questioning it. They just trusted.
I think it's because as they walked, their parents remembered these stories and they told it to their parents. Kind of like Derek and I were driving with Kat the other day and she said, can I watch the iPad? And I said, no, we're driving in the beautiful country. She said, okay, let's play I Spy. Do you guys remember this? Marmee, I spy with my little eyes something Green.
I'm like, oh Lord. Is it the grass? Nope, not the grass. I'm like, can we get the iPad out? No, just kidding. We didn't.
But we started talking about the things that we saw around us, the things that God had provided we would have missed. And she saw things I didn't even see.
Her eyes saw something that I took as just everyday common. And it wasn't to her. That's what kids do, right? They give us way to remember some things.
But the parents were telling their kid and the grandparents were telling their grandkids, hey, God is always taking care of us. He's taking care of us on this trip.
Believe me, God's watching over us. Do you remember how God delivered our people from Egypt? Do you remember how he parted the Red Sea? Do you remember when we didn't have water, God gave us water from a rock. Of all things, God gave us manna.
All the things that we were wandering around the desert, God gave us to provide for us. And then he brought us into this promised land. Took 40 years, a lot of walking, but he did bring us here. And it was the land of fruit and honey. It was beautiful land that they got to take really good care of.
And most importantly, they told them even when we weren't faithful.
And believe me, if you're reading the Old Testament through with us this year, they were unfaithful a whole lot. I'm never surprised now. At first I was kind of surprised. Now I'm like, oh, here they go again. God would tell them something to do and they would decide, oh, we know what's better to do. God, I know you said don't go hang out with those people, but we want to. And bad things would happen.
And they told them even when we were unfaithful and we were, God was never unfaithful. He never forgot us and he always took care of us.
By the time they got to the top of the hill, it wasn't just a journey about a road, although it was the road they were going up. It was more about retracing God's faithfulness in their life.
Something these kids, because they did it year after year after year, they knew it. They were a generation of storytelling. They weren't writing things down. They got really good at remembering details and telling stories. We do know that.
So I say they grew up. And as they went the trek with their children, then they began telling the stories as well.
Every step reminded them that God had been faithful in the past and he would be faithful in the Present and the future. What a great example for us before you and I start asking for a lot of things. They didn't look back first, right? They looked up to the hills. They looked to God, and then they started remembering how he was faithful in the past before they started talking about things in the future. And I thought, isn't this a great example for us when we come and we're asking God for things to kind of go, okay, God, I'm going to remember all the great things that you've done before I start asking for all of the things that I think I want or need.
Think about all the ways that God has been faithful to you, the prayers he's answered, the opportunities he's given you, the doors he's opened, the times you didn't think you would be able to make it. And guess what you did.
He carried you through the strength he gave you when you had none, the courage he gave you when you were ready to quit, and the strength to persevere, the peace he gave you when nothing around you was peaceful.
Our confidence, just as well for today's journey is going to grow as we remember God's favorite faithfulness from yesterday.
Have you ever stopped to think about that? That many of today's struggles were going to be part of tomorrow's testimony?
If I could tell the young people in the room today some of those struggles that I did not want, that I really resented and I didn't think God should be taking me through, those are the things that really built my faith, really caused me to press into God and see what God had ahead for me. And if things would have just been great, God knew, right? If things would have been great, I wouldn't have trusted him as much. I wouldn't have looked to him as much. I wouldn't have the passion about the things that I have a passion about and care for people who struggle with things like I struggled with, right? You know what that's like. If you have a struggle, you have a heart for people who are going through that struggle as well. You know what it feels like.
You know the things that they've been through. You know how they're trying so hard to get on the other side.
And you have a ministry to those people that none of us will have.
I think that's exactly why Psalm 121 begins with, I lift up my eyes and there's four reminders. I want to look at this passage real quick before we go home, for us to remember throughout this week four things that we can Remember that God is telling us from this psalm number one, God is providing. God is always providing.
Even when you don't think he is, God is providing. Psalm 121 says, My help comes from the Lord. And the psalmist reminds us that God provides everything we need for this journey of life.
Sometimes we take our eyes off of ourselves and our circumstances and remember who God is. Take ourself out of the equation. Remember who God is and what he's done and just trust.
But he's got it right. He's got this. We don't, but he does. He's still in control.
He's always looking over his children.
He always wants what's best. So if you're struggling, going, I want to know God's will about something. I want to know what God's plan is.
Look to God.
We can try within ourselves to come up with some things, but our real good answer is going to come from God. And I would say if you're not sure what that is, you're praying. You've asked some wise people. You're still not sure. I would be spending every day in God's word. Open God's word every single day. Read a few verses, a chapter, and you will be surprised. The things that will stick out, that God will part. It might not be the end answer that you're looking for, but it might be the first step. And it all starts with a step, a step toward the direction of what God has for us. All right, number two, second reminder. God is protecting. Psalm 121 says, he will not let your foot slip. The psalmist reminds us that God constantly guards and protects his children.
Think about the pilgrims traveling. The roads were steep, rocky, dangerous. They reminded themselves that God watches over every step that they take, because every step on a mountain could be a dangerous step, especially with a donkey and children and all the things that they had in tow.
It says he never sleeps, he never gets distracted, he never takes a day off. Do you love that you're never going to God? And him saying, hey, I'm off today. Leave a message, I'll get back with you. That's not happening. God is always there for us. And when fear sets in, and it will, there will be something that comes in your life that you can't handle by yourself. God will make sure that that happens. Because when that happens, that's when we know that we need to look to God and not from within ourselves.
He's intentional, he's faithful, and he loves you more than you will ever know. All right? Our third reminder is God is present. Of all of them, this is my favorite one. Psalm 121 says, the Lord is your shade at your right hand. And the psalmist reminds us that God's greatest gift is not merely protection. Although it's wonderful, it's his presence.
It kind of shifts from what God does to where God is. He's right in the middle of it with you. Sometimes God allows us to get through a difficult circumstance, and sometimes we have to sit in it for a little while, and God doesn't take it away right away. I bet everybody in here has experienced that, haven't you? Whether it's a health thing or a job thing or a kid thing or whatever it might be, you have had to stay in this difficult season for a little while.
And God's building some muscles in you. He's building some strength and some perseverance, and he's with you. He wants you to know him and he wants you to feel his presence.
He simply doesn't just provide the shade for us. He is our shade.
He's our one that's present with us.
God is so close that he's described as standing right beside you, shielding you from the scorching sun. He's not distant. He's not far away. He's right beside you. And if you have lived in Texas for very long, you know how important the shade is, right? We literally, right now, you can't stand it too long in the hot, hot sun here.
I know we have some people watching from Montana and New England, some different places that chime on and say they're here watching with us. You don't know the Texas sun in July and August, right? It just gets. It gets really hot here. So I can appreciate the whole shade analogy and how important it is to be present with us and to protect us from things that are outside of us.
God doesn't send us a text that says, hey, I'm sorry you're going through a really difficult time. Let me know if you need something. He's that friend that just shows up. Do you have a friend like that?
I have a friend. I wasn't answering her text. A whole lot of crazy things were going on, and she texted and said, if you don't answer in the next 10 minutes, I'm on my way to your house. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. I was just busy. I have a friend like that. She'll show up.
She'll take care of me. She'll get me out of a funk. She'll do Something, and that's who God is. Even if you don't have a friend like that, you have a guide like that, he's present, he's gonna show up. He's gonna stick with you through thick and thin. Even if you've made some really bad decisions. And we all have.
Even if you've thought something or done something that was really disappointing to God. And we all have.
God's there with us. He carries us through it.
And he's going to make sure that you and I both have what we need for the journey ahead. And it's a long journey. Our lifetime journey is a long journey.
Our fourth thing is God is preserving.
Psalm 121 says, the Lord will watch over your life.
He reminds us that God faithfully watches over his people today and forever.
They're not promising you're never going to have a hardship.
They're just promising that God is going to be there and take care of you during this time.
He watches over your life. It says, you're coming, you're going, you're today, and you're forever. What a comfort for us as believers that God is watching over every single second of our life. Every single second.
God has the ability to see everybody. We say he's omniscient. He knows all things. He's all powerful. He can do all things. God has the ability to see every single person in here know what's on every single one of our minds right now and in the entire world.
That is the God that we serve.
And he is here to make sure that you and I have everything we need, to make sure that you and I feel his presence, to make sure that you and I know he's here preserving our lives.
So when you're facing a trial and you're going through a struggle, take some time to look up, to look to God, to see what he has for you.
Thank him for the answered prayers and thank him for the unanswered prayers. I do that quite a bit. Do you? When I look back on my life in my 20s and the things that I was really praying for, the thank God people I dated that I did not marry. Thank God. I thought it was the best decision at the time, but God was providing.
He was with us to be sure, preserving our future, knowing what we need, even though we prayed for something. God was wise enough and smart enough and loved us enough to not give us what we wanted, but to give us what he knew was best for. For us.
My husband and I, Derek, we love the Rocky Mountain National Park. If any of you guys ever been, it's the most beautiful place. Yes, it's gorgeous, isn't it? As this park, we love it. We've been many times and it's just a. Especially if you go in October ish, when the leaves are getting ready to change, the colors are so vibrant. It's absolutely beautiful and we, we love going there. Actually, I have a friend who, that I graduated from high school with and she is actually one of the park rangers there, Robin.
So every time I have questions I'm texting her, hey, what is this? And what does this mean? But when you go into the park and you go up to the Alpine Visitor center, it's 12,000 foot climb. If you have a little bit of vertigo like me, it's going to be a little bit hard to acclimate. I'll tell you, I've experienced all of the things, but I wouldn't trade it because the views are absolutely gorgeous and you're in awe of what God can do.
And the National Forest spends tons of time making sure everything's clean and perfect for each person that comes.
And you can't step on certain parts and all kinds of things to make sure that it stays beautiful.
But one thing always catches my attention as we drive up to that visitor center and on a beautiful day, you really don't see the purpose of these orange poles that are about 20ft high and they line the road all the way up and down.
So I was asking my friend Robin, what is the point of the poles? It's summer. I mean it looks beautiful. And she said, well, I know in summer they don't seem to have a purpose, but they do in the winter. And when winter comes, several feet of snow, it snows like crazy up there will come. And she said actually you won't even be able to see the road and you won't even be able to see where it falls off. The snow drifts just pile up and it all looks like one big flat road and you can't tell. So they put these 20 foot because they could get 20ft of snow. They put these up really high so that snowplows know exactly how to stay on the road. So people know how to stay on the road. It's the guardrails. And it actually keeps people safe from drifting off into Never never land. So isn't that how God works as well? Most of the time we have these guardrails around us and when life is clear and sunshine, we don't think we need them.
But during the difficult Times those guardrails are still there. And God's using them to keep us safe, to guide us, the places that he knows that we need to go.
And the storm is going to come for us right in this world, this broken world that we live in. Maybe it's the loss of a job, maybe it's the death of a loved one or a divorce or whatever it might be, a wayward child. And suddenly we can't see the road ahead.
That's when we discover God's been there all along. And he's got these guardrails keeping us safe. We feel his presence. We know this is a rough time. We're not going to say it's not a rough time. It is. But God's with you in the rough time, and he gives you peace and comfort that people who don't know him don't have. That are going to keep you moving forward all the way up the mountain and all the way down on this life journey that you have a safe place. The Israelites understood that feeling. And as they climbed toward Jerusalem, they didn't know what each bend in the road would hold. They didn't know what animals would be there. They didn't know if people would be there trying to hurt them. But they sang, he will not let your foot slip. The Lord watches over you.
And you know what?
Their confidence wasn't in the road. Their confidence was in the God who kept them on it.
Our confidence isn't in this world. It's not in anything that we have going great in our life because we could lose it all tomorrow. Our confidence is the God who keeps us here, who keeps our lives flourishing and growing, who keeps our lives on track, who keeps us in a world full of love and joy when we shouldn't have it.
That's the God that I know, and I know that's the God that is going to be the one to keep us looking toward what God has for us.
One thing I've noticed, if you have more of a little bit of a positive outlook on life, it's a little bit easier to see that God is going to take care of you.
I'm a positive person. My mother's here today. She is the most positive person you will ever meet in your life. It is nothing I have done. It is baked into my head from the very earliest memories that I have. My mom was positive. You can do this. You can do anything you want to do, Mary. You can do anything. There's nothing too hard for you. My whole life, if I was nervous about something, it's always going to work out. Okay? Why are you worrying about this?
So one year, actually, my son Garrison proposed to Riley up in Estes park. And they got married up in Estes Park. So our whole family went up. And one day, Derek took the whole family up. We were in the Suburban and we all went up together. And Derek drove. I said I would drive. He said, I've got it. Believe me, you guys know how that goes. So he drove us. And my mom was getting to see all these views, beautiful, beautiful views for the first time. And when we got down, my mom says to Derek, derek, I just want to tell you thank you so much for sacrificing, for driving us so safely. You didn't even get to see all the views. And they were beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much. And Derek looked at me and he said, is this what you grew up with? I said, yes, this is what I grew up with every day, every minute of my whole life. And Derek didn't grow up that way. And he said, what I could have been if this would have been my mother and I could have grown up that way. He's doing just fine. But you get the point. And if you're a parent, I will tell you that positivity, even if you don't have it, muster some up for your kids. They need to hear it. They need to hear that you believe in them, that God believes in them. They're going to do great things in their life. You say it 10 times a day because the world out there is not saying it.
They're on social media and they're seeing people who they think have it way more beautiful and better and all the things than they have in this 10 second clip that somebody made their life look perfect and it's not.
So we all need positivity in our life. But when I'm talking about looking to God, it's really about more than positivity because we don't even have enough positivity in us to muster up that kind of strength. It's really, it's a mindset. It is a mindset that we have because we love God. We put scripture in our life. We put worship music in our life.
A plus. You're here at church, you bring your kids to church every single weekend, whether they want to come or not.
Because it's all getting baked in there.
Even if they're falling asleep, who cares? You bring them, they're seeing God at work, they're seeing you worship God, they're seeing that church is an important thing to you. And one day in their life, I promise you, even if they're not going to church as much as they should, it's baked in there.
And they know who God is because you spent the time making sure it was an important thing in your life.
When I was getting ready for this talk, Pastor Bill and I were talking about it, and I was thinking about, I love the Song of Ascents. I love that people are remembering things that God has done.
And the interesting thing, I was telling Caroline, my daughter, too, and she said, mom, you know that song, Highlands, the song of Ascents by Hillsong? I said, no, Caroline, I don't know that song. She said, well, listen to it. So the last couple of weeks, I've had it on repeat. And. And it is this song. And so as you're looking at your mountain, whatever your mountain is, and I know you have one, you have something in your life that you are facing that you need God's help with. I want you to come up with a song, a song of ascent. And it could be any praise song, any worship song that you listen to in the morning that helps you get your mind where God is. And you can have this one, because I've really been loving it. It's called Highland Song of Ascent by Hillsong. You can Google it. It'll come up. And here's the chorus. It says, I will praise on the mountain and I will praise you when the mountain is in my way.
Sometimes the mountain's a difficult place, isn't it? You're the summit where my feet are so I will praise you in the valleys all the same no less God within the shadows no less faithful when the night leads me astray because you're the heaven where my heart is and the Highlands and the heartaches all the same.
Every morning we have a choice. Every single morning, every person in this room, every person in the sound of my voice, you have a choice.
You have a choice to put your mind on God, to make him first in your life, to ask him to guide you through the day, to do what he wants you to do.
And we can trust the Maker and Creator of everything that we know is guiding us.
Psalm 128 says, the Lord will watch over your coming and your going, both now and forevermore.
He's watching you. Every step you make, every decision you make, every word that you say, every thought that you have. God is watching.
And he's there to make sure that you feel loved, that you feel encouraged, that you have strength to do the things that you need to do.
I love that it says, now and forevermore, not just if you're in church, not just if you're doing the things he wants you to do. But now and forevermore, wherever you go, he is with you.
So as we close in prayer today, our prayer team's gonna come forward. If you want somebody to pray, they would be honored to pray with you. That's why these volunteers are here. Each and every week, they want to pray with you.
Maybe you want to make a decision to trust Jesus. This is your first time. Maybe you want to rededicate your life. Maybe you're thinking about baptism. We had some baptisms in our early service about people coming forward saying, you, you know, I just want to be a follower of Jesus. And I don't even know what all this means, but I'm really coming to say from this day forward, I'm following and doing the things that he wants me to do.
All right, pray with me. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for each person here, each person listening online. Lord, I know you love them so much and have so many great things planned ahead for them.
God, we just are thankful that you provide, you protect. Lord, sometimes we take those things for granted that you're with us even in the difficult times. Lord, you're faithful and you preserve every step on our journey. Lord, we thank you for that.
Help us to look to you even when it's difficult, even when we don't want to, even when we're tired. Lord, would we commit to spend time with you, learning and loving.
And if anyone hasn't made a commitment to follow Jesus, may today be the day. The most important decision they will ever make in their life to trust you as their Savior, they can simply pray. Jesus, I know I need you. Thank you for dying for my sins and rising again. I ask you to forgive me, Lord, just to come into my life to be my Savior. And Lord, from this day forward, I choose to follow you in Jesus name. All God's people said Amen.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
