MVCS - 8/19

Sermon:

Well, good morning children.

For those of you that do not know me, I am Mr, or Pastor, whichever you prefer.. Poland. I sub here sometimes. Most of you, I would say, know me. I've subbed for one of your classes. Some of you may not, so… nice to meet you!

For my “REAL” job, I am a pastor here in town. I was a youth pastor for. A little over 10 years have been a senior pastor for eight years, so I've been doing this whole pastor thing longer than most of you have all been alive. And it's my pleasure to come try and share God's word with you.

You should have your Bibles. And I'll just throw this out here. You guys will be coming to Chapel every Wednesday for the rest of the school year. Don't not bring your Bible. The other way to say that is… bring your Bible!

How do you know? Then what. I'm going to tell you is true. That what I'm going to tell you is what the Bible teaches? I hope you would trust me. I hope you know that I care for and love you all. But… You should still check. If you're going to gauge and trust your Eternal Soul to what's being taught, it would be wise to read up and check.

So, if you have your Bible which you should… The Book of Psalms, we will be looking at the 124th Psalm. If you didn't bring your Bible. Look at someone else's who's right by you or… Bad news in the first week of School… You just have homework. You have to remember everything I said. Then you have to go home. And read Psalm 124 and check if I lied to you or not.

We will read the psalm. We'll work our way through it, but let's begin our time together. With the word of prayer.

Dear Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your grace. For the Salvation that you have given to us through Jesus Christ, your son, and our Lord and Savior. I thank you for the love with which you have loved us. For the mercy that you have shown to us. We praise you for the kindness that leads us to repentance. I pray this morning that you would work in our hearts. May we hear and understand your word? I ask that you would speak through your servant. May you give all those here ears to hear all that you have said. Give us eyes to see all that you have done. Change our hearts as we study your word. It's in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. And amen.

As this is the first week of school and the first Chapel. There's nothing that came before. I had no guidelines of what can say… You preach about whatever you want! Sometimes I'll have come over the course of a year subbing talking to you meeting you all. And I'll have an idea of what I want to share, maybe certain difficulties. Thoughts that I see are rumbling.

But since we're just starting from nothing together here today. Let me read for you. A note that I have in my Bible written in the margins beside Psalm 124, two words.

MY FAVORITE

Psalm 124 is my favorite Psalm. It speaks to my heart. It encourages me. It lifts me up. It challenges me in good ways. And so, my prayer is that you also would find in it Joy. It doesn't have to be your favorite. Though, it's a good Candidate for being your favorite, but hopefully you'll think about it and appreciate it. And maybe love it in just a little bit, the way I do.

Psalm 124 ESV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

It's a short Psalm. It's a very, very sweet Psalm. And My goal today is to help you understand it just a little bit more. And see how we can apply God's word to all of our lives. But, let's be honest, I'm teaching your listening. How can YOU apply God's word to YOUR Life.

When I was in high school, my least favorite subject... Was probably math, but besides math, my second least favorite subject was English - in particular grammar!

I like to read a good book. A good story is good, but grammar was my was my Ops.

I hated grammar, grammar hated me. I got sent to the office one day because I was just being A little bit of a snotty kid and the teacher was trying to teach, and I didn't understand it, and I hated it, and I just wanted to let the world know how much I hated grammar.

Then I grew up. I got a job as a pastor, analyzing sentence structure, paragraph structure, doing grammar, understanding infinitives and pronoun references, and all sorts of these other things. It's now literally my job. So, I'm I'm prefacing this by saying, we do need to do a little bit of … maybe not grammar… but certainly literary analysis on this psalm.

When you're reading the Old Testament in particular when you're reading Psalms. Well also the prophets… so Anytime, you're reading most of your Bibles. If you're looking at it, it's it's broken down and there's lines. It's not narrative style. This is poetry in the Old Testament.

In the book of Psalms, poetry is broken into. We break it into tiny, tiny things like syllables and cola and bi-colas and tri-colas and I will NOT make you sit through all of that... but we also break it into chapters Psalms. And then each Psalm has what we would call stanzas.

Here’s the short and sweeet way to think through this. In a modern song. You have verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, right, and you just naturally because you've listened to music your whole life. You don’t have to do the work to see that, you just kinda know the difference between those?

Studying the psalm studying the Old Testament, you eventually just learn how to feel these things naturally, but it takes some work so I will tell you There are three stanzas - Sections - In this Psalm.

The first one covers versus one through five. Let's read them again.

Psalm 124:1–2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us,”

I want you to listen carefully here.

Psalm 124:3–5 ESV

then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.

The first stanza verses one through five is all about what Would have happened. In particular What would have happened if verses 1 and 2 were not able to be said.

And What would have happened? Death Destruction. We would have drowned. We would have died in a literal sense. Maybe the floods literally came and literally drowned us. We would be dead death for certain in a figurative sense. The death of Shame, the death of crushing defeat, the death of being overtaken, and this is Old Testament times. Drug off into slavery, your nation devoured by another nation, and you have nothing left. We would have been destroyed all of our property. All of our family, all of our joy, all of our happiness. We would have had nothing. We would have been doomed. We would have been desperate. We would have had nothing. An Emotional death where I want to curl up and die because I have nothing left to live for. Death death and death. that is what WOULD HAVE happened

If.

It had not been the Lord who was on our side.

This Psalm is encouraging us here in the first stanza - the first part - of this Psalm is encouraging us to understand that if God had not been with you, if God had not delivered you, If God had not saved you, if God had not held you, If God had not looked over you, if God had not been there for you, It it had NOT BENN THE LORD WHO WAS ON YOUR SIDE you would be dead.

If God was not there for you, you would have nothing.

So, you should say it. You should say if God had not been there for me, I would have nothing. The psalm is telling you to Please be so for real for just one moment. Be honest with yourself. You think you're strong enough? You think you're smart enough? You think you're good enough? You're think powerful enough? You think you're wise enough? You think you're rich enough? You think you're crafty enough? You think you're personable enough? You think you're charismatic enough that the world will not seek to destroy you?

It will chew you up and spit you out, I promise. I promise you. You are not stronger, bigger or wiser, than the world. It will devour you. When people come against you. You're not the smartest one in the whole world. I'm sorry you're not the craftiest one in the whole world. When people come against you? You will be swallowed up alive. You will be swept away. You will have things go over. You will be crushed by the Raging Waters of this life.

Unless.

Unless You look to the Lord? And we should be honest about that.

So I'll start by being honest. I'm not super smart. Not super talented. Not super creative. Definitely not the most personable person. Not the nicest. Definitely not the richest. I have nothing. And nothing that I can bring in and of myself to save or deliver or help myself. I am sorry to throw this on you and the bonds of American exceptionalism, but when it comes to things eternal you simply CANNOT pull yourself up by your bootstraps.… .

But God has been on my side. God has delivered me. And so, as the storms have come, I’ve Been okay? As Trials come my way. God’s kindness protects me. Through the storms and trials of life, God is good to me.

This is then the thought of the second stanza.

If the fisrt stanza is verses one through five, the second one's only two verses long versus six and seven.

Psalm 124:6–7 ESV

Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

The first portion verses one through five is about what would have happened. We would be dead. We would be doomed. We would be destroyed. Verses 6 and 7 are about what has happened.

And What has happened? God saved us. God delivered us.

We use poetic language to describe the joy of being saved by God.

So, the psalmist doesn't just come and say, hey, we would have been swallowed up by the rivers, but God's got our back. No, we use beautiful soaring and vivid language. The Lord has not given us as prey to their teeth. We're meant to… the the Bible and the psalmist David, who wrote this… wants us to sort of close our eyes and imagine. A lion. Chasing after a gazelle.

You've never seen. The National Geographic channel, but you have seen YouTube videos… . When you watch YouTube videos of this, you search lion hunting after gazelle on YouTube. See what you find?

You have the Lioness, her teeth bare, chasing after a gazelle, sometimes getting close. And she's all jumping around, and sometimes the lion comes close and almost bites them. Sometimes the lion gets them, tragic for the gazelle, happy day for the lion... But sometimes. Even just by the the skin of their teeth literally… They escape.

God has not. Giving us over to the pray as pray to their teeth. That lioness didn't get us. That didn't happen. What did happen was that God delivered us from the lion that was chasing us.

Then Verse 7, we have escaped like a bird from the snare of the Fowlers. The snare is broken. And we have Escaped.

There's the heart. It's not just… And this is why we need what would have and what did happen We need them together… Because It's not just like, oh, we're just walking through life fine.… and we are OK…

The the picture here that the psalmist is painting that we have to understand is we were caught in the Trap. We were destined for Doom. It's the picture of a bird. It's little foot in a snare, trying to fly away as the hunter who wants to eat it it and use its feathers in his new hat. The hunter is walking along. And the bird sees, and he's coming. And we're struggling, and we're we're fighting. It's not just that we might be doomed. We are doomed. We are currently in a doomed situation.

But then, what happens? Some miracle For this little bird. The wire that was holding its foot. It breaks. And it flies away. Though the hunter was seeking to get it, it flies away. To the bird. This is a miracle. The snare is broken and we have escaped.

And so, David as he's writing this wants you to say you were doomed. You would have been struck. The Flames, the floods, everything would have swept you over. You would have been destroyed. You would be dead.

instead. Some miracle has occurred. Some unfathomable incalculable Miracle has occurred, and you have escaped the certain doom and death. you have escaped!

So now one question: How have you escaped?

The third stanza tells us verse 8 one verse long

Psalm 124:8 ESV

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The God Who created the universe and all that is in it. The God Who created you… Such that, while you were in your mother's womb, God was forming and crafting and knitting you together… the God who is Sovereign over every moment of every second of every nanosecond of every portion of your entire life, who holds you, who keeps you. That God, he made Heaven and Earth.

Everything exists because of his command Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. God spoke and light came into existence, God spoke, and the dry land sprung forth from the midst of the murky Waters. God spoke and the ground brought forth forth life and the Seas was teeming with fish. God spoke the Moon and the Sun and the stars into existence God. Spoke. He created all things,

And then God fashioned out of the dust of the earth man, breathing into him, the breath of life. Man, now made in God's image. Fashioned and created by God, The God Who did all that is the one who helps you.

He created the waters. Can the flood ever get you? If God is your help, the answer is no. He created all people. Can any man come against you? if God is the one who is your help the answer is no.

The Creator. The sustainer. The restorer. Of mankind. God is the one who is our help.

So What should you fear?

Nothing.

We look back and say what would have happened. We would have been destroyed, but we weren't. So, now I look forward and say, well, what could ever affect me? The answer is nothing if God protects you!

So, here's your 10 million dollar question. How has God helped you? How has God saved you? How has God delivered you?

John. Chapter three. Verse 16.

For God - The God Who created Heaven and Earth, the God who created you, The God Who, if it had not been, the Lord who was on our side, we would have been destroyed. -

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God has saved you and given you eternal life. Therefore, it doesn't matter what you face. It doesn't matter what challenge, what trial, what struggle, what difficulty you face? God has not let us become prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird of the Fowlers. The flood will not cover us up. We will not be consumed in the Raging Rampage.

We will be okay because God is our help.

So you, you personally. You need to make a decision to understand and then internalize and then walk in faith and not by sight that God is bigger than anything you face.

You are starting a new semester.

Any class you face - God is bigger.

Any teacher that is, your Ops, and making your life difficult - God is bigger.

Any classmate who is seeking to make your life miserable - God is bigger.

Any challenging test that seems to crush your soul - God is bigger

Any relationship that starts - God is bigger

and any heartbreaking relationship that ends. - Guess what - God is bigger.

Trust in him. Such that if I were to come back here at the end of this year this school year. And say, how did it go? How was your year? You can say.

PERSONALIZE Psalm 124

Psalm 124 ESV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

May you Endeavor to trust in him.

Let's pray.