A Golden Psalm of Triumph-People Who Speak Into Our Lives

Text: Psalm 16:1-11

Last week we began looking at this Psalm.

As I mentioned last week, this Psalm has depth.

I have a message from this Psalm about Jesus week after next as we will get closer to Resurrection Sunday.

I do use the word “ Easter,” but whatever you feel about that word, there is a modern connotation that speaks of Peter Cottontail, peeps, colored eggs and chocolate more that it speaks of the resurrection of Jesus.

And the resurrection needs to be front and center.

The resurrection makes us different than all other religions.

As says: 1 Cor 15:17-20 … if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep [died] in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

So, week after next we will look at verses 8-10 that prophesies Jesus’ resurrection from the dead 100s of years before it happened.

As I said last week, I have preached from this Psalm a few times, and every time I have focused on the middle sentence of verse 11 that tells us :

… In [God’s] presence is fullness of joy;

God’s Presence

And God’s Presence and Joy ARE incredibly important in our walk with Jesus.

Just last year in May when I preached a sermon series called: Below the Waterline …

I referred to Psalm 16:11b and I talked about how vital it is to walk in the Presence of the Lord.

To walk in His kaw-BODE, the Hebrew word for glory.

A word that literally speaks of the “weightiness of the Lord’s presence.”

God’s Presence, His weightiness will be the keel ballast we need to keep our ship from being overturned by the waves and the winds of life.

And, in that sermon, I mentioned the benefits of God’s Presence:

Rest and Peace

God’s Presence as a shield from the attack of enemies

God’s favor and honor on our lives

Victory and success

And, yes, the FULLNESS of JOY mentioned in Psalm 16:11

But that just names a FEW of the benefits of God’s Presence.

So, to be fair, God’s Presence and His Joy are huge concepts with which we ALL need to be intimately acquainted.

The first part of all of our services are spent in prayer, in singing, in worship ...

Why?

Because we want to corporately, as a Body of Christ-followers, enter into God’s Presence.

I certainly encourage us to have private and family times of entering into the Presence of God.

But God created His Body, the Church, so that we can receive what we cannot receive on our own.

A child of God CRAVES a corporate experience of God’s Presence.

An experience that can ONLY be fulfilled when in the company of others who have surrendered their lives to Jesus.

The weightiness of God’s Glory, His Presence seems to increase as you get more people together.

Friday and Saturday, 6 of us men gathered with 4-5 hundred of other men to worship in the Presence and to bask in the Glory of God’s Presence.

It was tremendous!

Men who didn’t go — can I encourage you to plan on it next year about this same time of the year?

If Jesus hasn’t come we will need such a gathering all the more.

Being in, being aware of, soaking in, being saturated with … God’s Presence is one of the most important things we need as we walk with Jesus.

On a daily basis, we need to be convinced of what Jesus told us and the writer of Hebrews reminds us in:

Hebrews 13:5–6 (LSB) … for [Jesus] Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” 6 so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”

To be in a corporate meeting of the Body of Christ, and have someone, speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, speak a Word into our lives while they are ignorant of our circumstances is powerful.

It is irreplaceable!

If we have repented of our sins and asked Jesus to be Lord of our life, then we are in relation ship with Him.

And HE NEVER intends for us to face life in a fallen world,

life in a body that gets old, that gets sick, that dies,

life in the middle of spiritual war with a real enemy —

we NEVER have to face all the challenges of this life ALONE.

If we will only turn our attention AWAY from the problems…

Away from the pain ...

Away from the sorrow …

Away from the disappointment…

If only we will turn TO Jesus we will find the lyrics to the old song to be true:

“The things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

But most of the time it takes intentionality, desire, effort, expectation ...

To move from the mundane to the majestic.

To move from the wordly to the heavenly

To move out of the shadowlands into the glories of His Presence.

During worship practice before the morning service, if I pray, I ask not only for your protection as you come to service — but that you will come with an expectation that you WILL experience the Presence of God.

That we all leave this service changed by an encounter with Him.

Yes, sometimes, God will surprise us.

Without any effort on our part.

He will show up in our sorrow.

He will step into our pain.

He will show up in our grief.

He will surprise us with His comfort and grace.

But it has been my NORMAL experience that I have had to intentionally seek God.

I have to stand on the promise of Jeremiah 29:12–14 (LSB) [where God says… ] ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares Yahweh,…

If you normally do NOT have to seek the Presence of God, if He pours out His Presence on you WITHOUT you seeking for it, please…

After the service join me at lunch and tell me…

How you never or seldom had to seek God,

How He just shows up continually in your life through no effort of your own.

How He continuously surprises you with His Presence.

I’d like to hear about that.

Fullness of Joy in His Presence

But, more than God’s Presence is what vs. 11 tells us is IN His presence…

FULLNESS of Joy

The JOY of His Presence, is a VITAL (not optional) component in our walk with Jesus.

The JOY spoken of in:

Nehemiah 8:10 (NASB95) … for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Proverbs 17:22 (GW) A joyful heart is good medicine,  but depression drains one’s strength. 

Romans 14:17 (LSB) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Peter reminds us:

1 Peter 1:8 (NLT) [We] love [Jesus] even though [we] have never seen him. Though [we] do not see him now, [we] trust him; and [we] rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

Yesterday Chief Kelvin Cochran reminded us of:

1 Peter 4:12–13 (LSB) Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. 13 But to the degree you are sharing the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

Peter is telling us, joy must be a part of our life now — even in times of fiery trials.

We rejoice now, even in trials, so that we can rejoice later — in eternity.

Philippians 4:4 (LSB) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

1 Thessalonians 5:16 (LSB) Rejoice always;

Joy, even in the face of adversity, is the evidence of the Presence of the Lord in our lives.

So, it seems in these troubled times that the Presence and the joy of the Lord cannot be over emphasized.

Psalm 16 speaks of the fullness of joy available in God’s Presence and so much more.

This morning, let’s continue to explorer its breathtaking depths!

A few days ago I was contacted by U.S. missionary Marcus Johnson.

To try to catch up with what he is doing I looked at his Facebook page and I saw this ...

With whom we spend our time is what I want us to focus on for the next few minutes.

Other gods

King David says in

Psalm 16:4 (NLT) Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods. I will not take part in their sacrifices of blood or even speak the names of their gods.

David recognized the influence of those with whom we spend time.

Even before it was written in, he knew the truth it speaks:

1 Corinthians 15:33 (TPT) So stop fooling yourselves! Evil companions will corrupt good morals and character.

With whom do we spend our time?

What influence are they having on our life?

We need to avoid spending time with people if they influence us towards the “other gods” that Psalm 16 speaks about.

Other gods who are not gods at all — just devils masquerading as gods.

Influencing people towards the one True God is good, but not if it works the other way.

Yesterday, Pastor Billy Smith encouraged us to think about 2 Cor 4:4 “ in whose case [talking about “those who are perishing” from the previous verse] the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Pastor Smith said that he believes the “god of this age” (the devil) has even blinded the eyes of believers.

May God send His Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about our relationships.

How do they influence our life?

How do we influence them?

Nones

There are some who would say, pastor, I don’t hang around with ungodly people who try to steer me wrong.

But at the same time, you don’t hang around people who try to steer you right.

The fastest rising number in church attendance surveys belongs to the “nones.”

Not “Nuns”, “nones.”

These are the misguided people who believe they don’t need church — they don’t need the Body of Christ.

Perhaps you are one of them or considering being one of them.

If so, you need understand that, by default you belong to the first group of which I just spoke — people who chase after, who are under the influence of "the god of this age” — again, the devil.

Pastor, how can you say such a thing?

Well think about it.

If the people of God are not your heroes, who is?

Maybe you don’t even spend time with real flesh and blood people, but instead social media and hollywood entertainment are your companions.

9.9 times out of ten these people are NOT trying to encourage you to get closer to God.

My Heroes

So, instead, turn to relationships with people who will encourage you towards a deeper relationship with God.

King David said in Psalm 16:3 (NLT) The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!

Certainly, even in church, you need discernment in relationships.

Not everyone is a godly person — a person who is trying to grow closer to Jesus — to be more like Him.

Ah, but if you do find someone like that, make them your hero.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

The Holy Spirit will lead you to people who are passion ate about following Jesus — being like Jesus.

Have you asked Him to do that?

Relationships

Yesterday we heard Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran.

At the end of his message he had us pray over our bodies and give them to the Lord.

We prayed over our minds, our eyes, our ears, our lips, our heart and our hands.

We asked the Lord to cleanse us, to help us, to lead us.

I think it would be good to do that every day.

“Lord, I don’t live for myself — I live for You.”

And not only ourselves, but our relation ships with others.

“Lord, to who do I open my life and give permission for them to speak into my life and influence the direction of my life? Lord, help me to choose my associations, my friends, wisely. Lord, those with whom I have no choice concerning associating with them — co-workers, neighbors, customers and others — help ME to be a godly influence on them and if they are chasing other gods — devils — help me NOT to follow their example. Help me only follow those who will lead me closer to You.”

Prayer. Altar.