[SPEAKER_00]: But let me start off this morning by just asking the rhetorical question, do any of you have some verses of Scripture or maybe a passage of Scripture where you kind of refer to frequently?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a passage or maybe some verses in Scripture where you're like, I need to go to this when I'm discouraged because it's something that encourages me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe it's a truth about God's word about His goodness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe, like I said earlier, you need to remind yourself about God has good plans for his children.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't seem like it's good plans right now, but it's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to remind ourselves, maybe what you would call those is life.
[SPEAKER_00]: verses, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Some life verses.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I get to start a series.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to take a break out of the book of Romans, and this summer we are starting a series called Life Verses.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what that is is that our pastors, several pastors are going to be preaching in the next four weeks on these verses that have made the been monumental.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've had made a big impact in our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really fun to get this preach-toes.
[SPEAKER_00]: But a couple months ago, when Pastor John kind of was we were planning and he said, okay, this summer, this Susan would be preaching and here's your directive.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you guys to preach your life versus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, well, Pastor John, that's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've already preached my life verse in July of 2021 at Redeemer, it was Ephesians 5, 15 through 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: And only like Pastor John, Derek's can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was like, well, Perry, you'd better find the new one.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, OK, and so in all seriousness though, I had several verses I was thinking about.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just, I didn't want to cut up here and just preach my favorite text.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted something else I would edify the church.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to use my gift and to edify the church to encourage you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was wrestling through several passages.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was home one night, and I was telling Beth my wife about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, I don't know which one I'm going to preach.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she just, like, without hesitation, she was like, well, Perry, Psalm 112.
[SPEAKER_00]: like, you know, duh, and the reason why she said that is six years ago when we moved to Rockford through several circumstances, one of them being it was 2020, it was the middle of COVID and all that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We decided we've never done this before, we've decided to homeschool our children, we have four children, and in that we were, somebody loves that, that's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we started home, so my wife does something called the morning mash up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't get into details What that means ladies if you want to ask how she does all that that's great But the first thing they do and their morning mash up is right about the time I'm getting dressed for work and back from the gym spending some time with the Lord and they start reciting the first thing You're doing morning mash up.
[SPEAKER_00]: They start reciting their memory scripture.
[SPEAKER_00]: They start memorizing and reciting scripture
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got to be honest with you guys when they first started doing it, I grew up in New Orleans in a public school, and I didn't really grow up in a family that did these sort of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when all my kids are tired, so my wife and my kids are kind of monotone, they're like, praise the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Blessed are those who fear God, and they're like all chanting, unison.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to be honest with you, it sounded a little odd to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a little cultish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's kind of weird, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: But, um, I kind of play, but I did.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, oh, it's, it's kind of weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very homeschooly, and um, and uh, so uh, but I remember after two to three days of hearing them do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I started listening to this and I thought how beautiful is this that my wife and my kids are memorizing the truth of Scripture in the morning first thing and they're memorizing Scripture and I started hearing what they were reciting Psalm 112.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I started listening to the words of Psalm 112 and it started doing something to me and I was like, man, I didn't memorize that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to memorize.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not real good at memorization.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've just never been good at that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I started working at memorizing Psalm 112.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where Beth was like Psalm 112.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of our life versus as a family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want to do something a little bit different this morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before you open some of you are ready.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're ready to dive and you're already turned to Psalm 112.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you to put your marker in there and close your
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're on a device or you're on your iPad or your phone and the Bible app, just turn it off for a minute and I want to do something a little different.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to just...
[SPEAKER_00]: be quiet for a minute, and I want to just read this Psalm over you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can close your eyes, or you can keep your eyes open, or whatever, but I want you to just internalize.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to think, and I want you to really process what this Psalm is saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to just listen to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just let me read it over here right quick, and then I promise you, we'll open the word of God, and then we'll dissect it together, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: So everybody's got their Bible closed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm seeing a Bibleized cheating.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me read this Psalm to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: praise the Lord, how joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying His commands?
[SPEAKER_00]: Their children will be successful everywhere, an entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: They themselves will be wealthy and their good deeds will last forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Light shines in the darkness for the godly.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are generous, compassionate, righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Such people will not be overcome by evil.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who are righteous will be long remembered.
[SPEAKER_00]: They do not fear bad news.
[SPEAKER_00]: They confidently trust the Lord to care for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are confident and fearless, and can face their foes triumphantly.
[SPEAKER_00]: They share freely and give generously to those in need.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their good deeds will be remembered forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will have influence and honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that make you feel like when you read that or hear that?
[SPEAKER_00]: For me, it this inspires hope.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't know about you, but that inspires me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be a person like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be a person who delights in obeying the commands of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just not drudgery.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just like, oh, God, I obey God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be someone who delights in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want my children to be successful.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to have wealth enough to be able to give generously to other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want light to shine in the darkness in my life, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be generous, compassionate, righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be a person that does not fear bad news.
[SPEAKER_00]: That confidently trusts in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be confident and fearless.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to face my foes triumphantly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to have influence in honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, this Psalm is amazing because what it is, it's a promise of God for those who are righteous, if those who are following hard after God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason I love this is because no matter who you are in the room, where you are in your faith walk with God, you could be a long-term Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can be someone that's a brand new Christian or you can be someone that's not even maybe not even a Christian yet, maybe you're dipping your toe just in the water of this whole faith in God thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really doesn't matter who you are in the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all aspire to be a person that doesn't fear bad news but has confidence, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who we want to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this song because it's all about having a steady heart, a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now go ahead and open your
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to read this again with you right quick and it's going to sound a little different than what I just read.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was actually reading out of the NLT, the new living translation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay, it's not a sin, the read of different translation, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I usually read the NLT when I'm doing my daily time, just puts things in a little bit more layman's terms.
[SPEAKER_00]: But our church generally, we preach out of the ESP so to keep everybody consistent, we're going to preach through this verse through the English standard version, ESP.
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's just read this together and then let's start dissecting and looking at what makes a person have a steady heart, a steady heart, verse 1, says praise the Lord,
[SPEAKER_00]: Wealth and riches earn his house, and the righteousness and doors forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is well with the man who deals generously in lens, who conducts his affairs with justice.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the righteous will never be moved.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will be remembered forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not afraid of bad news, his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will not be afraid until he looks in triumph of his adversaries.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness and doors forever, his horn is exalted and honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at verse eight again, his heart is steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you in here today, you need a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: A steady heart and a very unstable world.
[SPEAKER_00]: is what I believe most people crave.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another word of calling it a steady heart is just peace.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a study done a couple of years ago that I read, and they did this survey of many people from very different walks of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't like a Christian study.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a study just a general people, atheist, Christians, agnostics, every religion you can imagine.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a big sample.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in this study, and they said, what do you want in life?
[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of your life, like, what's the, if you had three wishes, what is the thing one?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a fame, is it, is it, a lot of money, is it, a lot of toys, is it beauty, what is it, and on the top three, the top three was peace.
[SPEAKER_00]: a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have any of you ever been around a person with that steady heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, just relaxing.
[SPEAKER_00]: The beer rounds somebody like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But have any of you ever been around someone with a very volatile heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you never know which one's gonna walk in the room that day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which guy's gonna walk in the room, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a guy that I work with and he's a friend of mine, I love him, but he was one of the funniest, funnest guys I've ever met.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he would just met belly laughs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he was just so fun and hilarious, sometimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the next day, he was so mad, so aggressive, he'd start cutting people down, not to fun it all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some days, who would be so merciful, he had a huge heart for people that just had extreme needs that were hurting, and he would just had all this grace and mercy for people.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the next day, he was so angry, and he had no mercy, no grace, and he would just not cut and people down, and just firing people for no reason, a very little reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some days, he was full of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he would be challenging us to take any hill for Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the next day, he would be so full of fear and anxiety that he was suspicious of everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was exhausting to work with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: My heart broke for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just exhausting working for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you never know which guy was going to walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody was walking on my eggshells.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody have a person like that?
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's next to you, don't do that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I know another guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of you know him, a little hint, he's our pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter if John is up on stage, or if he's like ripping a shirt off playing Frisbee golf, we're playing Frisbee golf the other day.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, woohoo, he takes a shirt off, like, all right, let's go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's just awesome, but he's just a steady guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter if he's playing Frisbee golf or if he's sitting on a couch, or having dinner with you, or here on stage, or counseling,
[SPEAKER_00]: or in an extremely, extremely difficult counseling complex situation, one of our church members, or if people are complimenting him, or if people are cutting them down saying, we don't believe in your relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a steady heart, just a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's so easy to work with him and work for him and it just inspires me to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying, I want to be like John Dirk's, when I grow up, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a rhetorical question, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which kind of person do you want to be like the volatile heart or the steady heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a raise of hands the volatile heart anybody want to have be that kind of person?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, steady heart raise the hands and I want to say okay, so if that's true Psalm 12 might be a Psalm that you want to memorize too because it's going to show us what kind of person has a steady heart look at verse one
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, praise the Lord, bless the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commands.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this verse, we see that a person with the steady heart, number one, delights, delights in the things of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: This storm, this storm starts with the commandment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a commandment, just like Daosha will not murder.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a commandment here that says, praise,
[SPEAKER_00]: the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And right after that says, blessed is the man who fears a Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're thinking, okay, praise the Lord, fear the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: How is that life giving?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's not the kind of fear of terror or you're afraid of them like what they might do and retaliate or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that kind of fear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, when he says praise the Lord, bless the man who fears Lord, it's a reverent
[SPEAKER_00]: love for God.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like being around someone that you honor and that you love.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like grand grandparents.
[SPEAKER_00]: They just want to talk about their grandkids.
[SPEAKER_00]: They love their grandkids, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Parents, you know, hit or miss, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so depends on what day it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm joking.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we want to talk about those we love.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's this reverence.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's this honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like what I just did with John.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't say that about John because I feared him and I was like, if I don't have my shot on the pulpit, I'd better I'd better puff him up because he might fire me, you know, obviously I'm not afraid of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't say that because I was trying to butter him up so he would, you know, like me or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we naturally praise and we naturally glorify when we naturally fear and have a reverence for those that we respect and those that we love.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we delight the praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a pointed consummation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not out of compliment that lovers keep telling one another how beautiful they are, that the light is incomplete until it's expressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's frustrating to have a discover to new author and not be able to share it with anyone, about how good he is, to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Scotch Catechism says that a man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we shall then know that these are the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: To fully enjoy is to glorify.
[SPEAKER_00]: And commanding us to glorify Him or to delight in Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: We, we, we the light in the, the law of the Lord, and we praise them because we believe that He wants what's best for us, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And because He deserves it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see a steady heart, the lights in the Lord, through praising Him and through the lighting in His commandments.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all mean by that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the more we learn about God, the more we read His Word, meditate on His Word, over time, we start to experience the God of the Bible and our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: We start to see that He is faithful, that all these truths in the God's Word that might be hard to believe, over time as we experience Him, He always comes through.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: God has the ultimate person who has a steady heart, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And the more we experience Him, the deeper our belief in Him becomes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what I want to share in this point.
[SPEAKER_00]: Belief shapes behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't just start trying to change our behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Christianity is not about behavior, modification, but heart transformation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about we believe what God says.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that belief shapes our behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't delight in the law of the Lord just through duty.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just duty.
[SPEAKER_00]: We delight because we believe what it has to say and we believe that it is good for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We believe it's best for our society and for our world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so belief shapes our behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love 1 John 5 3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see a steady heart delights in the things of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a pastor that does a lot of leadership stuff too, and that I really like, and he has this quote that I love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it says, leaders do consistently what others do sporadically.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that goes beyond just leadership.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that goes into every discipline, and especially when it comes to delighting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: People who delight in the Lord consistently
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're having a hard time delighting in the things of God, I would ask you, how is your time spent with the Lord?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it consistent or sporadic?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so a steady heart delights in the Lord consistently.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can feel when my heart starts to go astray when I start to get anxious or I start to get angry or whatever those emotions that come out, I can feel that and I know I probably need to spend some more time with the Lord in his word, in prayer, praising him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So steady heart, the lights, but a steady heart also gives a steady heart, gives, look at verses two through five.
[SPEAKER_00]: His offspring will be mighty in the land.
[SPEAKER_00]: The generation of the upright will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness and doors forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Light shines in the darkness for the upright.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is gracious, merciful and righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: And listen to this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is well with the man who deals generously and lens or gives, who conducts his affairs with justice.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's fair, he's not overcharging, he's not charging too much interest, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then skip down the verse nine, he doubles down the Psalmist, he says, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, has righteousness and doors forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, a golly person with a steady heart brings blessings to others, specifically in two areas, discipleship and resources.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at discipleship just for a minute.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at verse two, his offspring, who is offspring?
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Children, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: His family.
[SPEAKER_00]: He focuses on his family.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, if his offspring is mighty in the land, there's been some discipleship going on, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it says an entire generation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just his family, but an entire generation is blessed, is blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: The NLT says it like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their children will be successful everywhere, an entire generation of Godly people will be blessed with a person who has a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: A person with a steady
[SPEAKER_00]: They give their time and their energy to their family and to other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we're so big on the importance of parenting and discipling our kids at our church.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then taking that step further and talking about discipling others.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's even in our mission statement, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: To declare Jesus and
[SPEAKER_00]: develop Jesus followers to develop others, but it starts with our own family.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've known people that spent a lot of time discipling others and their family was left behind.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we have to start, that's why elder to be an elder in a church, you have to have your family in order.
[SPEAKER_00]: before you can shepherd the church of God, you need to shepherd your family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it says, right here, that we are at this offspring will be blessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what I want to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the most convicting things that I ever experienced as a father.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as a husband, happened about seven years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was scrolling on my phone and social media.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was looking at, I don't know, it was Instagram or Facebook or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the kids these days call it Doom Scrolling, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Trying to keep up with the lingo of the teenagers.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was Doom Scrolling, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was scrolling on the phone, and I remember the Holy Spirit through my wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was one of the most convicting things that I've ever heard as a husband because I'm I'm pastoring them by this time, I'm shepherding people and I think I'm a pretty good dad and husband and and I remember one of my sons apparently he was just creating my attention.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was pulling on my shirt and saying like dad dad dad and I guess I was just ignoring him just in the vortex of the algorithm right you know what the algorithm is right the algorithm is in social media it actually tracks what you click on what you stay on how much time you spend on there and it feeds you two things it feeds you
[SPEAKER_00]: what you crave and what you fear, because it sells.
[SPEAKER_00]: If feeds, what you crave, if you're in a person that's consistently being fed by what they crave and what they fear, very unstable, no steady heart, because we're craving things that we can't, we don't have, or we're fearing things that we can't control.
[SPEAKER_00]: very unsteady.
[SPEAKER_00]: But so I'm doom scrolling all this in my wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: She just asked me a question gently, but man, it had some weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she said, Perry, why do you care more about what strangers and nominal friends have to say and what's going on in her life more than what your son has to say?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was so convicted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember I deleted my social media that day, that week actually, and I've never gone back to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was one of the most life-changing decisions I've ever made because I was so inward focused on just wanting to get home, check out Doomskroll, whatever, instead of investing in my kids, pouring into my kids, like discipling them, being others focused.
[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, we're talking about a steady heart, just a little side note, the minute I got off social media, my steady heart increased, because I wasn't just focused on all the things that's going wrong in the world, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It just brought the level down, I started greeting his word more, God's word, and seeing like what God said about the world, and having a Christian worldview, rather than all the tabloids, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's just a side note.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not just family.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to give ourselves our family.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to disciple our children.
[SPEAKER_00]: But also, we need to spend our time in our entry on others.
[SPEAKER_00]: On others, that's why life groups are so important in our church.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is a life group as being, I mean, being in a life group is all about giving.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's giving your time, your energy, even when you don't feel like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to admit up here on stage and from all of you, there's sometimes that our life group is about to start, and I'm like, there's a last thing I want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm tired, all these things, but every single time I go in, we just give, we host it in our home, we bake some cookies, whatever, or we go to somebody else's house, or we gather up the kids in the packing place, and you know, whatever if you have kids,
[SPEAKER_00]: and you go and you invest in others because other people need to be around the people of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to be around the people of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we have a life group booth out in the lobby and we're going to ask you, go sign up.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of people joining our church.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have enough life group leaders yet but we're working on it and we will get you connected and might be a minute but we want to know if you're not in a life group, we want to connect you because to be the have a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to be others focused in your time and your energy but
[SPEAKER_00]: but in your resources.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at verse three.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wealth and riches are in this house and is righteousness into us forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, before you write this off, it's all that's that prosperity gospel stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's think about it in context for a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Psalms would have been written in an agricultural society, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Agricultural context.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so wealth and riches back then would have referred to good crops, a well-fed family, and a stable form to hand over to their children.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than some of the luxurious wealth that we think about these days.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what is wealth?
[SPEAKER_00]: Wellf is anything that God gives you more than what you need.
[SPEAKER_00]: So every single person in this room, you're extremely wealthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're wealthy and you're rich.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it says, wealth and riches are in its house, but what does a steady heart do at that wealth?
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll look at verse five.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is well with the man who deals generously and lens.
[SPEAKER_00]: They give.
[SPEAKER_00]: They share their resources.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who conducts his affairs with justice.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't overcharge.
[SPEAKER_00]: They help people in need.
[SPEAKER_00]: Skip down the verse nine, he has distributed freely.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's given it to the poor.
[SPEAKER_00]: So how does being generous create a steady heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just practically.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we give, whether it's a time or a resources, it gets the focus off of ourselves, our needs, our wants, and places it on others.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, most of the time when our heart is unsettled and when we're frustrated or when we're in despair, it's usually because we aren't getting what we believe we deserve.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if we don't have many expectations from God or from other people, then when things don't go our way, our heart can remain steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: I say like this, low entitlement, low disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must say that again, low entitlement, low disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: So many of us in this culture are so entitled, but the less disappointed we are and focus on ourselves, it gives us more opportunity to serve others, to spend it on others.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the cherry on top.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because God has a gracious God and a benevolent God, He gives us more than what we need a lot of time.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does a steady heart do with the wealth?
[SPEAKER_00]: With the excess, we share it with others.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of my family members, my brother-in-law actually, I called them this week to get his permission, but he never called me back, so I'm just gonna go for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I don't think he'll mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's a pastor and several years ago, I guess about 10 years ago now,
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, he, he's been through the gamut with about three or four churches that just chewed him up and spit him out.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were just unhealthy, horrible churches, horrible governance, just like they just evil.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just nasty people that just, and he went through like two or three churches like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he got so frustrated, he was like, man, God, I'm trying to serve you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to shepherd your people and they're just,
[SPEAKER_00]: Chew him me up and spit me out and you got to you got to know my brother-in-law He is like one of the most gentle people.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not like this dictator guy Amazing guys wife is phenomenal their kids are sweet, but he just went through the ringer and he was mad at God And right after he decided to leave ministry.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like I'm done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm done with ministry He left ministry right after he left ministry his wife got diagnosed with stage four breast cancer
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was a mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, God, what's the hack man?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm trying to serve you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love you.
[SPEAKER_00]: These churches, like, they just spit me out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now my wife has cancer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was scrolling on social media one day.
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's my caveat.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you don't think I'm a legalist.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay to be on social media.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm about to tell you a good story about social media, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: He was scrolling on Facebook.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he came up to this meme.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it said, a comprehensive list of all the things God owes me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was a picture of a blank sheet of paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was just broken.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, man, God doesn't owe me anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I didn't get in the ministry to have a, I got in the ministry to serve other people like, and he just repented and said, Lord, you don't owe me anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to set up saying, oh, me, oh, me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start giving to other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to not be entitled to the Lord's Lord's Lord people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to start serving my wife and getting to do this cancer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start serving my children.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start serving in my church, even though I'm not the pastor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to serve as a layperson.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what happened?
[SPEAKER_00]: God, through medical things, but ultimately God healed his wife of cancer, and then God restored him to himself and then ultimately restored him to pass it at church.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is wife grew up in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's passering at church now and he's healthy, and we still go through hard things as pastors, but he's doing really well.
[SPEAKER_00]: He repented because he got rid of this entitlement.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see a steady heart, not only the lights and the things of God, but a steady heart, it's not
[SPEAKER_00]: focused.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lastly, look at verse 6.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the righteous will never be moved.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will be remembered forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not afraid of bad news.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will not be afraid until he looks in triumph.
[SPEAKER_00]: on his adversaries.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see here that a steady heart trusts.
[SPEAKER_00]: It trusts in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Proverbs 3, 5, or 6, another wisdom literature in the Bible says it like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the crux of the message today.
[SPEAKER_00]: a steady heart, trust, and the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: It trust in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of you, your volatile heart comes from a trust issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, when we try to control things that are out of our control, it causes despair, it causes volatility and our emotions and our moods and our heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: But look at verse seven and eight again.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is so interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, he's not afraid of bad news as hard as firm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Great, trusting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he will not be afraid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until, circle until, highlight until.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until means there's a waiting season.
[SPEAKER_00]: right?
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is steady, he's firm, he's not afraid until he looks in triumph.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until means there's a waiting period.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't like waiting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like it either.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who likes waiting?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who likes waiting in the line?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who likes waiting on the Lord when you're asking him questions in your praying?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who likes waiting for the Lord to answer the unknown that's going on in your life?
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody likes that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting builds trusts.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in a waiting season, don't fret.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't fret.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is doing more in you than you realize.
[SPEAKER_00]: Earlier this week I was going for a walk in the way of village and I was listening to worship and praying about the message this Sunday in this song came on my Spotify playlist.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just want to read you to lyrics.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's called the Wrestle by Pat Barrett.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's one of my favorite songwriters and worship guys and it's called the Wrestle and just listen to the words of the song.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a fight with God today.
[SPEAKER_00]: A full 12 rounds on the interstate.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the closest that I've felt in days, but there's a whole lot of wish you would explain.
[SPEAKER_00]: I heard that Jacob fought you too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't get it then, but maybe now I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather walk with the limp than run from you, but there's a whole lot of wish you would explain.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what's wine without the pressing?
[SPEAKER_00]: A diamond ring without the setting?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's trust without letting go?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's a rose without a pedal?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's gold without the metal?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's faith without the wrestle?
[SPEAKER_00]: The wrestle, the wrestle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are wrestling with trusting God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't fret.
[SPEAKER_00]: Waiting builds trust.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is building your trust over time.
[SPEAKER_00]: We like things right now, but God likes to do things over time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's building a steady heart in you through the waiting.
[SPEAKER_00]: The longer I walk with God, I've found that my heart is settling.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting more steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was asking myself, why this week?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, why is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why is my heart settling?
[SPEAKER_00]: I used to get so ramped up over things, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: I do sometimes still, but I just found as I walk with God over time, trust him, my heart settling, it's just settling.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe this is why when we choose to trust God in the waiting,
[SPEAKER_00]: When you choose to trust the God in the waiting, whatever that looks like, he is building the steady heart you've been craving.
[SPEAKER_00]: As our band comes up to lead us in a response song, I'm just going to reverse a seven and eight again.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not afraid of bad news.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: His heart is steady.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will not be afraid until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, many of you in the room today, you know the Lord, Jesus says your personal Lord and Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know God, you know Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would just ask you this question.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you know the Lord, if you are saved, if you are believer in the room, here's my question to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: How is your heart?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it volatile or is it steady?
[SPEAKER_00]: If it's not a steady as you'd like it to be, could it be that you haven't had a consistent time in delighting in the law of the Lord?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you need to get back to being daily in His Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you need to start coming to church more often and being with the people of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you need to be delighting in Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: or maybe your life has been really self-centered.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, this is no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wrestle with this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so easy to be thinking about yourself and thinking about what you need and all that, but do you give?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you give your time and your energy to other people?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you give your money and your resources to help those in need or to help your church, to help reach more people?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you give?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, where's your trust meter?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you trusting God and all circumstances?
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's some of you in here today, you can't say with confidence that you really know God.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might know about them, but you might be wrestling with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might be like, I'm checking this Christian thing out, I'm not sure, but you can't say with confidence that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't hear anything else, I say today, this is what I'd like you to hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: that you will never have a steady heart until God gives you a new one.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll never have a steady heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll never have that piece you're looking for until God gives you a new heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's healed 36, 26 says, and I will give you a new heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a new spirit I will put it within you, and I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see, Jesus is the creator of new hearts.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the only one I can create a new heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if your life is up and down, it's volatile and you're looking for peace and you don't know God, Jesus can give you the steady heart that you crave and it's really simple, how can that happen?
[SPEAKER_00]: How can that happen for me?
[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to believe a couple of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: We call it the gospel, the good news.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before the good news comes the bad news and this is it right here.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is the creator of all things, including you.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's created you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he's created you, then he has expectations for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And every single one of us that he's created, we've broken his commandments.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've not met those expectations, therefore we've sinned.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we are doomed to an eternal judgment forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just in his life, no peace in his life, but for eternity, we are eternal people that we will be without peace and without God for all eternity.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the good news.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: The son of God, the son of the one that created all things, loves you enough to come down in the form of a man to die on a cross for your sins and to become your substitute.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you don't have to be separated from God for all eternity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's your part.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's real simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: Repent and believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: What does repent mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Turn from your sin, from your selfishness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Put your trust in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: and then believe these things are true.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really is that simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: God does something a miracle in the heart of a person whose eyes are open to the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you've heard it today.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if God's tugging at you, don't despise the pull of the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know the Lord, you need a new heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: And God can do that for you if you believe and you repent from your sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people say like this, you must put your full trust in Jesus alone for your salvation, a steady heart trusts.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that's you today, we're about to sing a song that's all about trusting in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't know the Lord,
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to pray with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to embarrass you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to pray with you to talk with you, give you some next steps.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be up at the stage.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'd have some of our leaders and our elders are going to be on either side of the stage and they would love to pray with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if everybody else in the room, you're a believer and you have a prayer about whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus loves the answer prayers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love when Jesus says, my house should be called a house of prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: like you could have something that's going on in your life and you're like I need prayer about that and it might be nothing I'm talking about today it's okay come pray with our leaders let us pray let us agree with you let us agree with you you might have a hard time trusting the Lord in a situation you're in let us agree with you and encourage you let's encourage one another the saints and the believers and if you don't know Jesus I believe God's opening your eyes and your heart and all you have to do is respond