PSALM 27:1........OUR STRENGTH

Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

INTRODUCTION

Our strength, i am not talking about phsyical strength. Strong’s dictionary has it defined as a force.

A force that just makes you have confidence and the want to, to face whatever may comes your way. And the reason behind this because you know who has your back and that gives you the strength to keep on going on.....

The song says I feel like going on .....when the sky is dark and cloudy, I feel like going on

when depression has me weighed down....i feel like going on

when my anxiety is acting up, ....i feel like going on

sin and temptation is trying to bound me up, …i feel like going on.

why?.....TALK, PREACH.....

Need another one, When the load bares so heavy and the weight is shown upon my brow, there’s a sweet relief in knowing that the Lord will make a way somehow......TALK, PREACH....

knowing that God will pave the way for me, He will lead me, He will make my enemies become my footstool…that gives me strength

when i was dwelling in the dark places of the world He became the light I needed, I dont fear the dark anymore because I serve the beautiful light

when life tried to take me down, He picked me up and place my feet on a solid rock....

no more fear, because He is my strength....

church our strength is the Lord, himself.....

Once again I didn’t plan on preaching a series but this is where He lead. For the last few weeks we got personal....OUR....and then we looked at the subject....FOCUS, COMMITMENT, AND NOW STRENGTH....

they all lead to a personal relationship with the Lord....TALK, PREACH.....

And as we prepare to walk in this text we see that David understood this very well.....

let’s walk...

Psalm 27 (NKJV)

it is traditionally thought of it as written early in David's life, during his flight from King Saul, with Charles Spurgeon suggesting specifically the incident with Doeg the Edomite (1 Samuel 21–22).[7]

we should all know that King Saul had become severly jealous of David and was trying to kill him. David hid in caves. He had men loyal to him that helped but David was hurt because it…mentally and phyiscally but David knew he could depend on the Lord and because of that he could keep going forward...

David was going thru something.....

Is there anyone in here today, that you have been thru something but giving up was not a option. Even though everything was messed up around you, you still had strength to keep moving.....TALK.....

The David starts it off, THE LORD IS....shows that this is a hymn of bold confidence in God.

When you have confidence in something or someone, you can stand boldly…TALK, PREACH....(STORY OF KAYSON RUNNING FROM DOG, CONFIDENCE IN BRIDGES....)

So we must have confidence in the Lord and that happens when you have a personal relationship with Him and know a little something about....TALK, PREACH..

A true love for God....The one who so loves God is secure even in the tribulations of life because he or she is accepted in the arms of God.

And thru his confidence and love for God, David now describes the Lord. These descriptions fit what God had done for Him.

You have heard me say it before and i am gonna say it again. you have to get personal with Him. And let the world know who He is to you....let me give you my testimony....TALK, PREACH… (my all in all.....)

Look at how David describes the Lord....Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

My light......light—is a common figure for comfort

God Himself brought light to David’s life. He did not despair in darkness and all that it represented. His life was filled with the LORD, and his life was filled with light.

darkness represents The absence of light—physical darkness

.Evil and sin

The wicked, judgment, and death

Sin and its effects

The opposite of God's purity, wisdom, and glory

The darkness can be scary when you cant see what’s going on but when God being the light ....This drives away fear in the face of the enemy and gives him great confidence.

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

Talk....tuda flash light at night.....PREACH...

God brightens our lives and gives us joy,peace, and happiness and the strength needed to keep going because we the darkness will NEVER be able to overtake that beautiful light......TALK, PREACH....

Next we know David was having his life threatened but look what he said God was to him..... Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

God Himself brought salvation to David. He probably meant this as rescue both in the immediate and the ultimate senses. God had rescued him time and again, and would do so into eternity.

David had been delivered time and time again from his enemies and he that God had done it once, He could do it again.....David had the strength to face his enemies because of God

The Lord had made a covenant with David and David knew God would keep it so David was not afraid...

is there anybody in here that knows God has made a covenant with us today....TALK, PREACH...

Next David acknowledges God as his strength..... Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

He starts off with that confidence phrase, THE LORD IS...

David was a man of war and I am pretty sure he could hold his own but he looked to the LORD as the strength of his life. David knew something of what the Apostle Paul would write many years later: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

David didn’t depend upon himself but he depended upon the Lord....hey when you know you just know....

we rarely know what it is to have God be the strength of our life, perhaps it is because we trust in so many other things for strength. We find it easy to trust in our wisdom, our experience, our friends, and our resources. David knew a strength greater than all of those......TALK, PREACH...

Lastly, because David knew where is strength came from, he not only stood boldly but he made some bold statements....look at it.... Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

David used the poetic tool of repetition to make his point and bring together parallel ideas. Because God was his light, his salvation, and his strength, there was really no reason to fear or be afraid.

If God be for him, who can be against him?

he has no cause to fear; if he knows it to be so, he has no disposition to fear.

Well once again if you know, you just know....

I know that the battle is not mine, it’s the Lords

I know that He has never failed me yet..

I hear verse 2....when they tried to scandalize my name...

He made my enemies become my footstool...

I can stand here today and say that my the Lord is the strength of my life....

he’s brought me to far to turn back now.....

when I was sinking deep into sin......TALK, PREACH, CLOSE

Gerard Chrispin, The Bible Panorama: Enjoying the Whole Bible with a Chapter-by-Chapter Guide (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 235.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 355.

Duane A. Garrett, “The Poetic and Wisdom Books,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 222.