Our Mighty Fortress: Finding Refuge in a World of Enemies

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
of the Holy Spirit
[00:01:03] God bless you.
[00:01:35] Thank you for watching!
[00:02:06] Amen.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me How great your love, how amazing

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
You've been unchanging Age to age You stay Constant You remain Every mystery The questions I've carried Are safe within Your will

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I trust you even still I believe You are who you say you are You do what you say you'll do You'll come through You are
[00:05:27] I believe you've already made a way So I'm running through parted ways Straight to you You are always faithful Jesus, you're for me

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Okay.
[00:06:00] Testing 1, 2.
[00:06:01] Hello.
[00:06:05] Good morning, everybody.
[00:06:07] I'm not sure if the crowds are being picked up by the cameras right now, if you're watching online.
[00:06:13] But we're grateful for everybody joining us today.
[00:06:16] And we know that the weather is rough.
[00:06:21] And we are blessed to be able to live in a time where we can still worship and we can still stream.
[00:06:29] And so I've got my computer here.
[00:06:34] And I can see your comments and stuff so please say hello and maybe type up an amen or something and that will be beautiful.
[00:06:48] But really quickly I wanted to tell you a couple of things that we have coming up that I'm really excited about.
[00:06:55] The first of them is our Welcome 101 class.
[00:06:59] So we are offering that coming up really soon.
[00:07:02] It's going to be the second weekend of February.
[00:07:06] So not next Saturday, but the following on February the 7th at 930 a.m. We have a nice group of people that I hope will attend that and would love for you to join us and be a part.
[00:07:16] That's just a place to discover what our mission is, who we are as a church, what we're striving to be, and also a place to get to know other people who've recently joined.
[00:07:25] I encourage you to check that out.
[00:07:32] On February 18th, that is Ash Wednesday, and we are going to have an Ash Wednesday service this year, and it's going to be special because we're doing it in collaboration with one of our sister churches, Story Hill, which is right down the road.
[00:07:46] So we are going to open up the church on Wednesday at noon, like we always do for our Wednesday communion service, and we'll offer
[00:07:55] and Ash Wednesday service then and then throughout the day we're going to have the church open so if anybody would like to come here for a self-guided time of prayer and reflection we'll have some devotionals laid out that you can walk through
[00:08:10] And then 6.30 at night on February the 18th, that's going to be our official Ash Wednesday service with Story Hill.
[00:08:16] We'll have childcare.
[00:08:18] And that is, if you've ever been to an Ash Wednesday service, it is really a time to consider who we are before the Lord.
[00:08:31] To begin Lent as some kind of superstitious season about giving up chocolate or something like that But it's actually a time for us to sit before the Lord and say, Lord, what needs to change in my life?
[00:08:42] What places do you need to transform and work?
[00:08:45] And to intentionally think through those things in the weeks leading up to Easter So I hope you'll mark your calendars and join us I'm really looking forward to that event
[00:08:55] Sadly, I must say this snowy day when nobody can make it into the building is also Shannon's last day leading music and she and Aaron have bravely driven out here in the snow to join us and so I hope you'll please send them a note of encouragement and thanks as you have the opportunity this week.
[00:09:16] So let's just take one moment, let's become aware of ourselves before the Lord.
[00:09:24] as we prepare to enter into worship.
[00:09:56] As we're gathered in our homes, around our screens, as there may be chaotic things happening around us, Lord, we recognize that you are with us.
[00:10:09] That though we can't be gathered in the same space, Lord, you are in all places at all times.
[00:10:17] And Lord, you've called us to set aside a day for rest and worship.
[00:10:22] And so, Father, we come to you.
[00:10:26] In Jesus' name, Amen.
[00:10:31] Alright, join me now in this call to worship.
[00:10:37] Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
[00:10:45] See, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over all the peoples.
[00:10:52] But the Lord rises upon us, and His glory appears over us.
[00:10:59] Nation will come into His light, and kings to the brightness of His dawn.
[00:11:05] Then we will look and be radiant, our hearts will throb and swell with joy.
[00:11:13] No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls salvation and your gates praise.
[00:11:26] The sun will no more be our light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on us, for the Lord will be our everlasting light and your glory will be our glory.
[00:11:41] Let's worship the Lord together.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Before we actually start singing, please keep calm.
[00:11:51] I'm speaking to the screen, I suppose, but I'm also speaking directly to Shannon.
[00:11:58] We have, you guys, we have no idea what blessing we've received from the Lord the past couple of years as she has been leading us, for myself,
[00:12:11] You have really ushered me into the throne room of God just playing the keys.
[00:12:17] And so it has taught me ways that I could enter into the presence of God.
[00:12:21] She has brought that here.
[00:12:23] And so remember, this is her last Sunday, but remember what she has brought.
[00:12:30] Let us continue that, inviting the Spirit to come, encouraging one another to behold the Lord and His holiness, to enter into His presence and be changed by it.
[00:12:44] That is actually how our hearts change.
[00:12:47] It is actually how our hearts can be transformed when we confess our sin or pray or hear the preached word, because we're beholding His beauty.
[00:12:57] and she has brought that here so I just want to say thank you I'm really gonna miss you but I trust the Lord and his plans for you so join us in worshiping and let this like build up in your brain so you won't forget because it's her last time with us

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
In the darkness we were waiting Without hope or without light Till from heaven you came running There was mercy in your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the Word
[00:13:48] The throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit
[00:14:17] Glory, Majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings
[00:14:34] To reveal the kingdom coming And to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation You did not despise the cross For even in your suffering You sought to the other side Knowing this was our salvation Jesus, for our sake you died
[00:15:04] Praise the Lord.
[00:15:31] Praise the Father.
[00:15:31] Praise the Son.
[00:15:31] Praise the Spirit.
[00:15:32] Free and one.
[00:15:32] God of glory.
[00:15:32] Majesty.
[00:15:32] Praise forever Jesus.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the morning that you rose All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good For the Lamb had conquered death And the dead rose from their tombs And the angels stood

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
To the souls of all who've come To the Father are restored And the church of Christ was born Then the Spirit lit the flame Now this gospel truth of old Shall not kneel and shall not faint By His blood and in His name
[00:16:28] In His freedom I am free For the love of Jesus Christ Who has resurrected me Oh we praise the Lord Praise the Father Praise the Son Praise the Spirit
[00:17:00] All your glory Majesty Praise forever to the King of Kings Praise the Father Praise the Son Praise the Spirit
[00:17:34] God of glory, majesty Praise forever to the King of Kings Praise forever to the King of Kings Praise forever to the King of Kings

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thanks for watching!

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I've seen your goodness on the mountain I've found your love within the valley And your grace still surrounds me God, you've been good to me
[00:19:20] You've been good to me I've seen your goodness on the mountain I've felt your love within the valley And your grace still surrounds me God, you've been good to me You've been good to me

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
All things with all my heart
[00:20:32] You've been good to me So good to me So good to me Oh you've been so good to me

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I have breath within my body I have life inside my bones And I cannot help but praise you God you've been good to me Oh you've been good to me

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
You're my first love, Jesus You're my reward And through these and through the years You've been good to me So good to me

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You've been so good to me You've been so good to me You've been faithful all these years I'm dancing on the rising sun

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
To the hopeful future And the dreams to come And when seasons change No, I won't give up Cause you never fail me No, not once And I'm dancing on
[00:23:38] The hopeful future And the dreams to come And when seasons change No, I won't give up Cause you've never failed me No, not once in my soul

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You're my reward And through the years You've been good to me So good to me
[00:25:10] So good to me.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
So good to me.

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Father, we praise you as we sing the words of this song.
[00:25:56] It's a snowy Sunday, and I'm reminded of the ways that you've been good to me for so many snowy Sundays in the past, reflecting on all the times when
[00:26:15] It's been hard to get to the place of worship, and yet you show up wherever we are.
[00:26:27] Lord, I'm reminded of, as I'm sitting here in front of cameras, I'm reminded of the years we had to spend preaching to cameras during COVID, and how uncertain we felt about what would happen next.
[00:26:43] As it's the last Sunday with Shannon leading music, I'm reminded of all the moments in ministry where we didn't know where the music would come from the next week.
[00:26:57] Where we've had transitions in staff and in the church leadership.
[00:27:04] And you've been faithful.
[00:27:08] Lord, we recognize today that in all the things going on in our lives, Lord, the challenges that we face, the things causing us fear and anxiety, Lord, they are under your control.
[00:27:24] Our problems are, first of all, your problems.
[00:27:29] Lord, we thank you, God, for your goodness, your grace, your mercy to us.
[00:27:33] And we thank you that even today, right now, wherever we are, Lord, you intend to speak.
[00:27:40] That you promise your word will never return void.
[00:27:44] And in a sanctuary with seven people in it, you can start a blaze that would transform the whole world.
[00:27:55] And so, Lord, we come here with expectation.
[00:27:59] We come around our screens.
[00:28:01] We listen in our cars with expectation.
[00:28:07] Believing that it's your spirit that we need.
[00:28:13] Lord, we pray that you'd forgive us for our sins.
[00:28:16] We pray that you would change our hearts.
[00:28:21] We pray for the sick among us.
[00:28:23] We pray for John Schuller.
[00:28:27] We pray for the chaos around us.
[00:28:29] We pray for the people of Minneapolis and the nation that's reeling in the aftermath of yet another shooting.
[00:28:41] God, would you bring your kingdom here on earth?
[00:28:45] Would you give us faith to believe and the grace to live for you?
[00:28:52] Lord, we pray these things the way you taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:29:03] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:29:10] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
[00:29:18] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:29:23] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:29:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[00:29:31] Well, everybody, welcome.
[00:29:32] If you're watching us online, it is great to have you here in the chat.
[00:29:39] I've got the screen up and so I can see any comments that you make, although there is some delay.
[00:29:44] So I don't know when you said the thing that you said.
[00:29:49] So don't try to talk to me directly, but instead talk to one another.
[00:29:53] At appropriate times.
[00:29:56] Well, we already mentioned a couple of announcements.
[00:29:58] I did want to, again, say if you're just joining us, we have a Welcome 101 class that's going to be the second week of February, and we hope you'll join us for that.
[00:30:07] And we have Ash Wednesday service that's going to be on February 18th.
[00:30:16] Normally, during this time of the service, we would have an offertory of some kind, but there is no one in the building.
[00:30:26] And so, instead of passing the plate, I'm just going to encourage you to give online if you do not do so already.
[00:30:34] We are really grateful for this beautiful blessing of a church that God has given us.
[00:30:40] And the money that we give towards the church goes towards all of our ministries.
[00:30:47] And so we hope that you would give and give joyfully.
[00:30:50] If you're a visitor joining with us, we are not twisting your arm.
[00:30:55] This isn't a payment for the service that we're putting on.
[00:30:59] and we would welcome you to just enjoy what you're receiving this morning if you feel so led.
[00:31:04] But there is a link thecenterchurch.org slash give where you can give online.
[00:31:11] Well I want to extend the peace of Christ to all of you and I want to invite you to join with me and sing the doxology.
[00:31:23] I'm going to turn off my microphone so you won't all hear me but you can sing along with me at home.

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Praise Him all creatures hear below.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Praise Him above ye heavenly foes.

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Please remain, well, standing, Melissa, for the reading of God's Word.
[00:32:15] You don't actually have to stand if you can make a choice.
[00:32:19] That was just habit.
[00:32:22] Our reading this morning comes from Psalm 59 and from 1 Samuel chapter 19 verses 11 through 17.
[00:32:31] We'll start with the 1 Samuel passage.
[00:32:39] Saul sent men to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning.
[00:32:45] But Michal, David's wife, warned him, If you don't run for your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed.
[00:32:53] So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
[00:33:00] Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goat's hair at the head.
[00:33:07] When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, He is ill. Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.
[00:33:20] But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, at the head was some goat's hair.
[00:33:28] Saul said to Michal, Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?
[00:33:34] And Michal told him, He said to me, Let me get away.
[00:33:39] Why should I kill you?
[00:33:43] Psalm 59
[00:33:44] For the director of music, to the tune of Do Not Destroy of David, a miktam, when Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him.
[00:33:58] Deliver me from my enemies, O God.
[00:34:00] Be my fortress against those who are attacking me.
[00:34:04] Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood.
[00:34:09] See how they lie in wait for me.
[00:34:11] Fierce men conspire against me for no offense or sin of mine, Lord.
[00:34:18] I've done no wrong, yet they're ready to attack me.
[00:34:21] Arise to help me.
[00:34:22] Look on my plight.
[00:34:25] You, Lord, God Almighty, You are the God of Israel.
[00:34:31] Rouse Yourself to punish all the nations.
[00:34:33] Show no mercy to wicked traitors.
[00:34:36] They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city.
[00:34:41] See what they spew from their mouths.
[00:34:43] The words from their lips are sharp as swords.
[00:34:47] And they think, who can hear us?
[00:34:50] But you laugh at them, Lord.
[00:34:52] You scoff at those nations.
[00:34:55] You are my strength.
[00:34:57] I watch for you.
[00:34:59] You, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.
[00:35:03] God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me.
[00:35:08] But do not kill them, Lord, our shield, or my people will forget.
[00:35:12] In your might uproot them and bring them down.
[00:35:16] For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride.
[00:35:21] For the curses and lies they utter, consume them in your wrath.
[00:35:25] Consume them till they are no more.
[00:35:28] Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob.
[00:35:33] They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city.
[00:35:39] They wander about for food and howl if not satisfied.
[00:35:43] But I will sing of your strength in the morning.
[00:35:46] I will sing of your love.
[00:35:48] For you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
[00:35:53] You are my strength.
[00:35:54] I sing praise to you.
[00:35:57] You, God, are my fortress, my God.
[00:36:00] on whom I can rely.
[00:36:02] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:36:05] Thanks be to God.
[00:36:08] One more trip off stage for me.
[00:36:09] I left my slide switcher down here.
[00:36:31] Let's pray.
[00:36:32] Lord, as we open your word, we desire to hear from you.
[00:36:38] We could be doing many other things right now in this moment, but we need you most of all.
[00:36:46] So we ask God that you would open our eyes to see and our ears to hear the things that come only from you.
[00:36:53] We pray this in Christ's name.
[00:36:56] Amen.
[00:36:57] Amen.
[00:37:00] All right, so this is actually the moment that I have been waiting for.
[00:37:05] I didn't picture it like this when I first imagined it, but this is the moment I've been hoping for since we first opened Samuel back in September.
[00:37:17] And the reason I've been waiting for it is because in the book of Psalms, there are 73 Psalms that are called Psalms of David.
[00:37:27] And out of the 73 Psalms of David, there are only 13 that have a specific historical moment attached to them.
[00:37:38] And in 1 Samuel 19, we finally get to the first of those.
[00:37:43] I'm excited about this because David was called a man after God's own heart.
[00:37:52] And now we finally have a moment to hear from his heart.
[00:37:58] As we look at Psalm 59, we finally get to look more deeply into what's going on in his heart and in his mind throughout these stories.
[00:38:09] Last week we read about Saul and his growing envy of David and how it overcame him and it led Saul to try and attack David and kill him multiple times.
[00:38:24] And now this week as we look into Psalm 59, we get to hear
[00:38:28] David's own thoughts.
[00:38:31] We get to understand how David felt while these things were going on.
[00:38:37] And so today we're going to look at this song that he wrote.
[00:38:40] And as we do, I think he's going to teach us a little bit something about ourselves as well.
[00:38:47] He's going to teach us about the power of trusting God when we're facing difficult things.
[00:38:56] And not only that,
[00:38:58] But he's going to teach us how when we discover the power of trusting God and we share that experience with others, it actually can have a huge impact.
[00:39:13] Our trust in the Lord when we share it with others can transform our families, it can transform our workplace, it can transform the whole world around us.
[00:39:24] And so today I want to look at three things in this passage.
[00:39:27] I want to look at what this passage tells us about the enemies who attack us, the refuge we can run to, and the power of our song.
[00:39:42] So the book of Psalms, it's unique.
[00:39:44] It's a special book.
[00:39:46] It is the songbook of the Bible.
[00:39:49] It is the prayer book of the Bible.
[00:39:52] Each one of the chapters of the Psalms, all 150 of them, have been used to worship God, to provide words for God's people to pray and to sing to Him for thousands of years.
[00:40:11] They're words for us.
[00:40:12] And so, as we open up Psalm 59 and we read that opening verse that says, Deliver me from my enemies, O God.
[00:40:20] Be my fortress against those who are attacking me.
[00:40:25] Well, you first need to understand that these words, they weren't simply written for David.
[00:40:32] David didn't just write this about his situation when he was escaping from Saul's men, but because it's a psalm, it's actually intended for anybody who's facing something difficult.
[00:40:45] That's why it says, my enemies.
[00:40:46] That's why David doesn't say, deliver me from Saul and his men, but he says, my enemies.
[00:40:53] And that's intentional.
[00:40:55] In the psalms, enemies are generic, always.
[00:41:00] They're intentionally left there kind of as a vague placeholder for any of your troubles.
[00:41:09] As you read through the Psalms, you might even notice some of the enemies that get described, they don't sound like people at all.
[00:41:17] Some of the enemies, they sound like a sickness.
[00:41:21] Some of the enemies, they sound like maybe a battle with sin or temptation.
[00:41:28] Now in this case, the enemies that David writes about, they are true, vicious opponents.
[00:41:36] He describes them in several different verses.
[00:41:40] He says in verse 2, they are after my blood.
[00:41:44] In verse 3, they conspire against me, even though I've done nothing wrong.
[00:41:51] In verse 6, he says, they snarl and they prowl around the city like dogs, meaning that they're proud, they're violent, and they're not afraid of anything.
[00:42:04] In verse 7, he says, see what they spew with their mouths?
[00:42:10] The words from their lips are sharp swords and they think, who can hear us?
[00:42:16] Meaning, these enemies of his, they know that they're not telling the truth.
[00:42:20] They know they're speaking lies about him, but they don't care.
[00:42:24] They think, who's gonna know?
[00:42:27] Who could possibly catch us?
[00:42:31] I think we all know at least something of what David is feeling in this scenario, right?
[00:42:39] In fact, maybe some people, you can relate to this situation in great detail.
[00:42:47] Maybe you've been in a situation like this where someone in your life has unfairly tried to harm you with their words or with their actions.
[00:42:58] If you've ever been in that position, it's a kind of terrifying place to be, right?
[00:43:03] You feel helpless when somebody's out to get you.
[00:43:07] You feel helpless when it's just their word against yours and there's no way to convince anybody of the truth.
[00:43:17] In moments like that, you can feel like you're constantly under attack.
[00:43:22] Even more so today, right?
[00:43:23] Especially today with social media, with email, with text messages.
[00:43:29] It can feel like there is no place to hide.
[00:43:32] Even if the person you're worried about is really far away from you, they could attack at any moment and you don't know where it's gonna come from.
[00:43:43] And so if you've ever been in that place, well, this song, it's for you to sing.
[00:43:48] But if we go a little bit further here and we just broaden our understanding of these enemies in this passage, you actually start to see how these words are also the prayers of the church.
[00:44:03] They're the prayers of God's people as we look out into a world that is naturally antagonistic to the things of God.
[00:44:14] You can see how these words are the prayers of every believer when our faith is under attack, when we're being tempted, when we're facing despair.
[00:44:26] Augustine, the great saint, he says about this passage, our enemies are the devil and his angels who constantly, daily, rise up against us and try to dupe us in our weakness, in our fragility.
[00:44:45] They are relentless in their attempt to ensnare us by tricks and promptings and temptations and any trap that they can think of as long as we live on earth.
[00:44:59] Can you relate to that?
[00:45:00] Augustine is describing this continual assault that the people of God are facing.
[00:45:08] The reality that there could be some new temptation lurking behind every corner, that there is in this world a constant opposition to the things of God.
[00:45:18] There's a feeling that we can't ever fully relax because there's new trials that pop up for us every single day.
[00:45:33] And then if you take it one step further, if you go just even a little bit more broadly,
[00:45:38] The way David feels about these enemies, it actually expresses the experience of every person on earth.
[00:45:47] Everybody who is looking for peace.
[00:45:52] This world we live in, it's in constant unrest.
[00:45:57] It seems like there is one global crisis after another, and it can feel like just being in the world, you are always under attack.
[00:46:09] I think these days everybody's on edge.
[00:46:16] Everybody is uncertain about the future and about what's going to come around the corner.
[00:46:22] Our whole world is looking for a peace that lasts.
[00:46:25] They're looking for security and stability.
[00:46:28] They are looking for somewhere to turn when enemies are on the prowl.
[00:46:35] And so that's where this Psalm begins.
[00:46:36] It begins with this very common, this universal experience that there are enemies we all face, and we're crying out for rescue.
[00:46:48] And so that brings us to the second point, that there is a refuge we can run to.
[00:46:58] Okay, so this was originally a song, and I don't know if you noticed it as I read it a moment ago, but there actually is a chorus in this song.
[00:47:07] There's a refrain that gets repeated.
[00:47:09] It shows up in verse 9, and it shows up again in verse 17.
[00:47:12] He says, You are my strength.
[00:47:16] I watch for you.
[00:47:17] You, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.
[00:47:23] He says, you are my strength.
[00:47:25] I sing praise to you.
[00:47:27] You, God, are my fortress.
[00:47:30] My God, on whom I can rely.
[00:47:37] We read the story in 1 Samuel.
[00:47:39] We know the history here.
[00:47:40] David was dealing with some real trouble in this moment.
[00:47:45] David had served King Saul well.
[00:47:49] He had, in fact, been incredibly faithful.
[00:47:52] He had done a fantastic job.
[00:47:55] And yet, all the success that David had, the only thing it did was make Saul jealous.
[00:48:04] And so now, when David writes this psalm, he knows that the most powerful man in the nation is out to get him.
[00:48:16] And, of course, we know Saul was the king, so he had the means.
[00:48:20] He had the authority and he had the determination to end David's life if he wanted to.
[00:48:30] But what's amazing about this song is that even in the midst of that fear, even while David is facing imminent danger, he sings about God as his refuge.
[00:48:48] In the chorus that's up there on the screen, he repeats this word in the Hebrew, misgav, and it means fortress.
[00:48:59] It means high place.
[00:49:03] And I want to say that's not actually, that is not a random choice of words.
[00:49:08] David was...
[00:49:09] David was in the military.
[00:49:11] This was a word that was packed full of meaning for him.
[00:49:18] The Miskav, the fortress that he was talking about, would have been a hilltop fortress.
[00:49:24] So the kind of place that just by being higher up than everywhere else would have been naturally easier to defend, but you could then
[00:49:32] And by using that word, what David is saying is that even in this moment of exposure
[00:49:59] While he is out in the middle of the night running for his life with people pursuing him, trying to kill him, he could also say that it felt like his heart was in there.
[00:50:11] He could say that his soul was secure in the Lord.
[00:50:19] And as we keep reading through the book of 1 Samuel, we're going to discover
[00:50:25] David was called a man after God's own heart, not because of his perfect obedience, not because he did everything well all the time, but he is called a man after God's own heart because no matter what he went through, he lived his life with this deep and abiding trust in God that he carried with him throughout his life.
[00:50:54] God was his fortress in times of trouble like this one.
[00:51:00] God was his fortress in moments where he faced his own sin and failure.
[00:51:07] God was his fortress at moments of triumph and strength in his life.
[00:51:13] And God was his fortress in times of great weakness, times of uncertainty, times of vulnerability.
[00:51:26] What we need to see here is that finding refuge from our enemies, though, it's not just some unique promise given to David.
[00:51:38] It's actually the essential truth for anybody who would come to the Lord in faith.
[00:51:46] During the Reformation in the 1500s, there was this major effort to reform the church, to move it away from these services that were in Latin only, that the common person couldn't understand, and then to move everything back into the language of the people.
[00:52:06] To deepen their faith, to revitalize the church by making liturgies and preaching sermons and singing songs that were in the native tongue of the people.
[00:52:18] Of course, that Reformation time was also a time with a lot of suffering, a lot of trial, a lot of attack.
[00:52:28] Many Christians who were trying to do those things had their lives threatened.
[00:52:31] Many were even killed just for trying to make the Word of God accessible to everyone.
[00:52:39] And during that time, Martin Luther, he wrote a famous hymn for the church.
[00:52:45] And that hymn, he actually drew his inspiration from this very same Hebrew word, this misgav.
[00:52:54] He wrote a song that you might have heard of.
[00:52:55] It's called, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.
[00:52:59] And the words of that song are still powerful for the church today.
[00:53:09] The words talk about the confidence that we Christians can uniquely have in Jesus, even in the most difficult moments in our life, even in the times when things look really bleak,
[00:53:24] He says, Did we in our own strength confide?
[00:53:28] Our striving would be losing.
[00:53:31] Meaning if we trust in ourselves, we would lose.
[00:53:36] We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing.
[00:53:41] You ask who that may be?
[00:53:43] Christ Jesus, it is He.
[00:53:46] Lord, sabbeoth His name from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.
[00:53:56] Those are the words that we need.
[00:53:58] We need those words because we have enemies.
[00:54:02] We need those words because the church, it faces assault.
[00:54:07] We need those words because in this world there is one crisis after another.
[00:54:11] Like just yesterday, right?
[00:54:13] There's yet another shooting in Minneapolis and it feels like the world just wants to break apart.
[00:54:23] But this Psalm tells us God is the fortress on whom we can rely.
[00:54:33] So the question I want to pose to you is this.
[00:54:38] Do you believe it?
[00:54:42] Do you live with God as your refuge?
[00:54:47] As you honestly look at your life, as you assess your day today, as you think about the troubles that are surrounding you and the stresses and the anxieties that you carry with you, are you still able to sing this chorus and mean it?
[00:55:07] Is God your refuge?
[00:55:10] Do you run to Him in your troubles?
[00:55:13] Do you rest in Him?
[00:55:17] Or maybe here's another way to put it.
[00:55:19] It's a question that somebody asked me a couple of weeks ago.
[00:55:22] They said, when we were having a conversation about various challenges that our church is facing, they asked the question, what if the problems that you are facing, that you're so desperately trying to solve, what if you believed
[00:55:44] That they were first of all Jesus' problems.
[00:55:51] What if the problems that you face are first of all Jesus' problems?
[00:55:55] That's a big question.
[00:55:58] That's something I really have to mull over in my life.
[00:56:02] This week in my house, we had a minor crisis trying to get my son home before the ice storm.
[00:56:11] And it was really stressful.
[00:56:14] We had to book and cancel a flight.
[00:56:17] Then we managed to get him a carpool ride home, and then that fell through.
[00:56:23] Then we had to rebook a flight, and then when we finally thought that we had everything figured out, the person who drove him to the airport went to the wrong airport, and he was over an hour away from where he needed to be.
[00:56:38] In the middle of all that, you know, I'm sitting here just making phone calls on the internet trying to solve all these problems, and I had to come back to this question.
[00:56:46] I had to actually literally say to myself, Lord,
[00:56:52] My son belongs to you.
[00:56:56] You care more about him than I do.
[00:56:59] I don't have to be afraid.
[00:57:02] Even if he doesn't make it home this weekend, you can accomplish something great in this moment.
[00:57:11] Now David is the perfect example of that, right?
[00:57:14] Because even facing possible death, David said that.
[00:57:21] David was able to proclaim.
[00:57:22] Even in the face of all these enemies, he could say, God is my refuge.
[00:57:27] I can trust in him.
[00:57:30] And maybe you're thinking, well, yeah, of course David could say that.
[00:57:33] He was the anointed king in waiting.
[00:57:36] Of course David could say that.
[00:57:37] David knew that God was for him.
[00:57:40] But don't we know that?
[00:57:46] In fact, don't we even have a greater reason than David to have confidence in God as our fortress?
[00:57:56] Didn't Jesus tell us explicitly that he would protect us?
[00:58:03] John chapter 10, he says,
[00:58:07] I know them and they follow me I give them eternal life and they shall never perish no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who's given them to me is greater than all and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand all right I've got we've got a little high-tech thing to try right here so John let's let's roll it I got a 14 second video clip
[00:58:39] This is my obligatory Patriots move for you today in honor of the AFC Championship.
[00:58:45] You see, this is Stefan Diggs catching this ball as somebody flips him upside down trying to pull his hands apart, and he holds onto the ball and scores a touchdown.
[00:58:54] This is my visual aid for everybody watching this morning.
[00:58:58] When Jesus says, no one can snatch you out of my hands, I want you to think of this.
[00:59:05] Jesus says, that's you.
[00:59:08] It doesn't matter what forces in this world are trying to pull his hands apart.
[00:59:12] There is no one that can snatch you away.
[00:59:20] Maybe you hear me say that and you say, well, Pastor, you don't know what I'm going through.
[00:59:27] You don't know the kind of pressure I'm under.
[00:59:30] You don't know the kind of opposition I'm against.
[00:59:33] You don't know what a mess I am.
[00:59:36] I'm not King David.
[00:59:38] How can I be sure that he's not going to let me go?
[00:59:41] Well, it's because of the cross.
[00:59:48] Jesus didn't just teach.
[00:59:51] Jesus wasn't offering empty platitudes in John chapter 10.
[00:59:55] This is the whole gospel message.
[00:59:57] We can trust his word because he came and he took our place.
[01:00:04] On the cross, the Lord got...
[01:00:08] What we should have gotten.
[01:00:11] On the cross, he was let go of.
[01:00:14] He was abandoned.
[01:00:15] He was overtaken by the enemies of Satan, sin, and death so that when we come to him in faith, we can rest secure forever.
[01:00:29] He was let go so that we could never be snatched away.
[01:00:36] So again, the question is,
[01:00:38] Do you know that?
[01:00:41] Not just do you know it, but do you believe it?
[01:00:43] That Christ is the refuge you can run to?
[01:00:50] Then do it.
[01:00:53] Then run to Him in faith.
[01:00:55] Hide in Him.
[01:00:56] Bring Him your problems and your pain, whatever it is that it might be.
[01:01:02] He can handle it.
[01:01:06] He will be with you.
[01:01:07] He will not let you go.
[01:01:14] He's the refuge that we can run to.
[01:01:18] But here's the third thing, and that is the power of our song.
[01:01:26] This moment that we're talking about when Saul's men are pursuing David and his wife
[01:01:34] It's a moment that we can read about.
[01:01:40] We can see the history of it in 1 Samuel.
[01:01:43] But I also want you to realize that it is infinitely more powerful because David took this moment and he turned it into a song.
[01:01:53] Who knows?
[01:01:54] We got a lot of text to cover while we're doing this series.
[01:01:56] We might have just skipped over this passage.
[01:02:00] But instead, we've spent a whole extra week thinking about it because of the song.
[01:02:08] Because the song that he sang shows us what it meant to live and believe, to trust in God in the moment.
[01:02:22] David knew God was his fortress.
[01:02:25] But by turning it into a song, by proclaiming it this way, his trust in God has become a word of life and hope for the church for thousands of years.
[01:02:40] This is a song that reassures each of us in our own times of trial.
[01:02:46] It invites people who don't know the Lord to come and see what he can do.
[01:02:52] It invites us to make the Lord a refuge for our own weariness.
[01:03:00] I already said, every person on earth knows what it's like to feel the way David felt right here.
[01:03:08] Every one of us knows.
[01:03:09] Every one of our neighbors knows.
[01:03:11] Every one of our kids, all of our coworkers, they are all asking the same question, where can I go?
[01:03:18] Is there any place to turn?
[01:03:23] I'm so tired of all this.
[01:03:24] Is there anywhere to find rest?
[01:03:27] Where can I run for safety?
[01:03:32] We live in a world full of people who are seeking refuge.
[01:03:36] And listen, we know where to find it.
[01:03:40] In the church, we know where that refuge can be found.
[01:03:45] We have the answer.
[01:03:49] So this is the point I want to leave us with today.
[01:03:53] Just like David, we have to learn to sing.
[01:03:56] We have to learn to proclaim the good news to the world.
[01:04:06] Guys, every week I get up here and I say something about our mission statement, right?
[01:04:11] We're making room for everyone to experience joyful, life-transforming connection to Jesus and his people.
[01:04:21] I do that to remind us of what we're all about, but talking about a mission statement is just that.
[01:04:31] It's talking.
[01:04:34] We are called to be a people on mission.
[01:04:40] We are called to sing these songs of His glory every day of our lives.
[01:04:49] David, he said, my enemies, they wander about for food and howl if not satisfied, but I will sing of your strength in the morning.
[01:04:59] I will sing of your love for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
[01:05:06] Notice, David didn't wait until his life was easy.
[01:05:10] He didn't wait until all his problems were fixed.
[01:05:15] He sang even while he was going through the hard stuff.
[01:05:20] And guys, that is the glorious power of this gospel that we've received.
[01:05:26] See, when you know there is a God who loves you, whose face is shining on you, not because of how much you've deserved it, but because His perfect Son stands in your place.
[01:05:39] When you know that's the God you have, then even when the broken world seems to be falling apart all around us, you still can sing of His refuge.
[01:05:53] When you know you have a fortress, when you know you have a Savior who will never let you go, you can always sing.
[01:06:03] And so that's good news for us, but I want you to hear me say it's not only for us, it's for the whole world.
[01:06:12] We get to tell them where to find what they're looking for, where to find the refuge their souls are seeking.
[01:06:22] We get to invite them into this community called the church that is built on the very hope they're looking for.
[01:06:32] And I am convinced that that is what God wants to do at Center Church.
[01:06:39] He wants us to become a people who sing.
[01:06:43] A people who rest.
[01:06:46] A people who delight in the power of a living God.
[01:06:52] and who call the world around us to join in.
[01:06:59] So I want to just invite us here to reflect for just a minute, to bow our heads before the Lord.
[01:07:07] I want to invite you to respond to whatever He may be saying to you.
[01:07:22] What are those trials that you're facing?
[01:07:24] What are the enemies?
[01:07:34] I want to invite you to run to Him as your refuge.
[01:07:38] To hear Him speak those promises to you.
[01:07:43] No one can snatch you out of my hands.
[01:07:51] I want you to
[01:07:54] Experience his safety and his care.
[01:08:04] And I want you to ask, Lord, who in my life is looking for refuge?
[01:08:13] Who are the people who need this hope that you've shown to me?
[01:08:26] Lord, I pray that even today you might give us an opportunity perhaps to shovel someone's sidewalk and tell them of the Lord's love.
[01:08:37] Perhaps to call someone who's lonely and tell them they're not forgotten.
[01:08:45] Lord, I pray that you would pour out your blessings on this church and on this community.
[01:08:51] Lord, that as we look into the future,
[01:08:55] and all of its uncertainty that we would live with you as our fortress, our God on whom we can rely.
[01:09:04] Father, we pray this in Christ's name.
[01:09:07] Amen.
[01:09:09] Amen.
[01:09:12] Well, everyone, it was wonderful to be able to worship with you today.
[01:09:20] I was grateful to be able to drive in through the snow and ice or whatever you call this out there.
[01:09:27] I was thinking about the difficulties of travel and weather like this and just reminded that if the Lord could cross all time and eternity to be with me, I can try to make it down the road and the ice so that we all have a chance to hear from Him today.
[01:09:45] And I'm honored to be able to share this word with you.
[01:09:50] And so now I want to offer this benediction as we close.
[01:09:55] May the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:09:58] May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[01:10:03] May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
[01:10:07] In the name of Jesus.
[01:10:08] Amen.
[01:10:09] Stay warm out there, everybody.

[01:10:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Almighty fortress is our God A bulwark never failing Our helper He amidst the flood Of mortal ills prevailing For still our ancient foe
[01:10:49] Let us seek to work us woe His craft and power are great And armed with cruel hate On earth is not His equal