The Perspective of Our Faith (December 10, 2023)

The speaker reflects on Psalm 57, a do-not-destroy psalm, in light of recent events such as mass shootings. They emphasize the importance of prayers asking God not to destroy and highlight David's plea for mercy in the psalm. They describe David as a flawed but anointed musician and songwriter. The speaker shares their personal testimony of experiencing God's mercy and blessings. They discuss the perspective of faith and fear, and how David recognized the enemies around him. The speaker encourages acceptance of the fact that some people may not have good intentions. They emphasize the need to confront the enemy and rely on God's support. So, this morning, once again, as we consider Psalm 57, and as we mentioned last week, it is a do-not-destroy psalm, and there are actually four designated psalms that have this kind of being in this category of a do-not-destroy psalm. We have Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, and also Psalm 75. And last week, we shared from Psalm 57, and it was really without knowing what was coming. We have seen a lot to have occurred in this world, in our country, between last Sunday and this Sunday, and even as I think about, once again, just the multiple mass shootings in this country, and in particular, what we saw that happened in Texas, and what we saw happen in Las Vegas, and who knows, who knows, family, what is going to happen between now and next Sunday. But I am led to believe, hallelujah, that in our prayers, and in our petitions before God, I believe that as we go to Him, hallelujah, that there should be a readiness of mind to pray unto God our Father, please do not destroy, please do not destroy, hallelujah, hallelujah. David, a caveman, if you will, a runaway hero, a man certainly of many flaws to come, and still all at the same time, a man after God's own heart, an anointed musician, a gifted songwriter, and a gifted musician, and we see him writing in Psalm 57 as I read, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusts in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high, and unto God that performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up, Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be you exalted, O God, above the heavens, let your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps, my soul has bowed down, they have digged a pit before me into the mist, whereof they are fallen themselves, Selah. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Wake up, my glory awakes all three, and harp, I myself will awake early. I will praise you, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto you among the nations, for your mercy is great. Unto the heavens and your truth unto the clouds. Be you exalted, O God, above the heavens, let your glory be above all the earth. May God bless the word of spoken, may the spirit of God amplify the spoken word, bring greater light and clarity that we may boldly build the kingdom of Christ, and we may do even greater works as the sons and the daughters of the Most High God. This week, family, I have been comforted by David's Do Not Destroy Psalm, and during the course of just this week past, you know, I've gone back to it again and again and again. Even when things were looking funny in my world, I'm going back to Psalm 57 to encourage myself in the Lord, and I just want to give God praise and thanks, hallelujah, because this week I have seen God perform all things for me and my family, hallelujah. In the face of truth and mercy, I have seen God send from heaven, hallelujah, and save me and my family. There have been multiple, multiple blessings poured out upon me and my family that only can be described as, but God. That's just my testimony. There are things that I couldn't really influence myself. I couldn't influence it by who I am, by what I do, by who I know, and who likes me, but God, but God, but God, but God, but God, just God moments this week, and I'm so grateful this morning that His mercy is great unto the heavens, and His truth into and unto the clouds. I can say, because it's personal for me, family, that my heart is fixed. My heart is fixed, and my mind is made up, hallelujah, and I can sing. I can sing because it's personal. I can sing and give Him praise because He is good, and His mercy endures forever. I try to temper myself as I get on these calls, because as it gets personal, as it also is both emotional, inspirational, and logical, I get happy with it, hallelujah, and it gets to be like fire shut up in my bones. So y'all excuse me if I get a bit carried away. I try to keep myself, hallelujah, in a way that God can continue to use me. And family, this morning, once again, often we are doing what we do, okay. We got our lives. We got our professions. We have our pursuits. We have our various duties and responsibilities, and we're doing just what we do, and we are between, Lord, our need, and Lord, thank you for what you have done. Often we are between petition, hallelujah, and manifestation, and Dr. Goodman, sometimes we are between, you know, where we absolutely like, and at the same time, absolutely not wanting anything because the Lord is our shepherd. And when we are there, when we are between prayer and praise, between God is able and now look at what God has done, often we are right there between weeping, the weeping that endures for a night, hallelujah, and we're waiting for the joy that comes in the morning, hallelujah. From a United States perspective, we are between emancipation and full restitution, and like David, we are right there between being in the cave and trying our best not to cave in. And what keeps us in those moments, in those moments, from not caving in is being able to see the perspective of our faith, and that's really what I want to talk to us today about, is just the perspective of our faith. It's in my heart, I believe, and let me say this in a way that I think is being led by the Holy Spirit to say it, and that is that our God, our Father, is declaring unto us in this hour, in this hour of his great revival, that he is doing a new thing, and as he is doing the new thing, Elder Bobby, once again, as you would say on a Wednesday night to us from the book of Revelation, the time is at hand, and the time is at hand for us to see and to comprehend the times, and to understand the times, not to get locked in, but we comprehend the times, and as we do so, we need to see that the times are different, and that the world is different, and now the time is at hand that we consider the perspective of our faith. How we are looking at things, and are we looking at things from the perspective of faith, or the perspective of fear? In the first four verses of Psalm 57, David lays out the context of what he is saying and who he is looking at, and if you get a chance to look at it now or later, it's worth noting that in verse one, there's a reference to the word calamities, if you're reading it from the King James Version. In verse three, there's a reference to save me now from the reproach of him, or the reproach of them that would swallow me up. In verse four, he says that his soul is among lions, and he lies even among those who are totally against him. David knows who is against him, not only based on what he could see them doing, but what he also could hear them saying. He knows that there are those who are right with him in the cave who are against him. They are with him, but they're still against him. So point one, because I want to be practical this morning. Point one, we need to just accept the fact that some people just don't mean us no good. Hallelujah. Whether we like it or don't like it, we've got to live with it, that some people just don't mean us no good, and they ain't there for us, but against us. Hallelujah. But another word comes this morning that says, if God be. Hallelujah. If God be for us, who can be against us? Hallelujah. But as we think about David this morning, in the first four verses of Psalm 57, he again is showing us that he recognized that there was death and a threat of death all around him. He is sharing with us and showing us that even the people around him, those closest to him, and no doubt he's going to sleep with them in the cave. Hallelujah. And as he's doing so, it kind of reminded me, if you will, of the lyrics, and I'm calling it this, the lyrics of the old Negro spiritual, that would say something to the effect of, what they doing now? They smile in your face, but all the while they want to take your place. Back stabbers. Hallelujah. David, no doubt, is caught in the middle, between his deadly enemies, both foreign and domestic. He's getting it on both sides. He's getting it from Saul. He's getting it from the Philistines, and he's also taking some heat while he's in the cave with those who have aligned themselves with him. And David knows about the enemies. The enemies seen and not seen. Heard and not heard. If he was in this world of cyberspace and social media, I believe he would say, I know about the enemies, like and not like. Online and offline. But yet, they're enemies all the same. Just reminding you about this point one, we need just to accept the fact that sometimes some people just don't mean us no good. They're enemies all the same. And David, no doubt, has recorded for our consideration today that at least he recognizes that he's in a jacked up situation. And he's given us an honest description of what he sees and who he sees in the real. And sometimes family, it's just a reality that at times it ain't all good. But in all things we still give thanks. Sometimes it ain't all right, but I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. And there may be times in our lives where we need to be just transparent and honest with ourselves when it ain't all good. And when we ain't feeling it. When we know that we know that this person or that person ain't for us. And right now to the extent that we allow the enemy to trick us, believing that we are just paranoid. We ain't paranoid. We ain't paranoid. Sometimes it's just what the Holy Spirit has showed you as being true. They are with you, but they ain't for you. And we need to call the enemy out. We need to confront the enemy face to face and tell Satan like Jesus was speaking in the direction of Peter, but he's talking to Satan and saying get thee behind me. Get thee behind me. We just need to call the enemy out. Stop playing games. Hallelujah. I don't care how you try to fix it up doc. They just don't mean you no good at times. And the reality is that there are times that we just feel just like David. We just need to be honest with ourselves. And David says this in verse 4, he says my soul is among lions. And I lie even among them that I set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. Sometimes we can look up and look around and feel and know and see that we are encircled by the enemy. Sometimes you can feel like you're living with the enemy and you're eating with the enemy or you're working with the enemy or you're spending money with the enemy or you're sleeping with the enemy or you go to church or you're worshiping and you're praising God with the enemy. Sometimes you can have that kind of feeling that when you go to work or when you go to Publix or when you go into any other grocery store that you're surrounded by the enemy. And David himself is in a cave with God as his refuge. But he understood that there were those who have gathered with him that were still against him. Family, the Word of God comes this morning with a reminder. And the reminder is this. The Word of God does not compel us to be blind to who our enemies are. And the Word of God does not compel us to give the benefit of the doubt to those who would rather prey upon us than pray for us. Pray for us, right? P-R-A-Y, that's pray for us. But there are those who really want to prey upon us. That's P-R-E-Y. There's a difference between the phrase P-R-A-Y and the P-R-E-Y. And sometimes when we go to even our designated houses of worship, rather than praying P-R-A-Y-I-N-G for us, they are P-R-E-Y-N-G upon us. We just call it out. We just call it out. We call the enemy out. And say it again that the devil is a liar. Hallelujah. And speaks with a forked tongue. I don't know if you remember the old Westerns and sometimes the Native American would say, he speaks with forked tongue. Hallelujah, that's the devil. He speaks with forked tongue. And they say, it can be about if you will, wherever we are. They can talk about justice, but they don't want to accept their responsibility to pay you righteous restitution. But by the influence of the Holy Ghost, hallelujah, God has given us this ability to keenly discern when those around us are true, and honest, and pure, and lovely, and good report, and when they are not. The Holy Ghost gives us the ability to discern when those around us can say one thing and actually mean another. And it takes the spirit of godly discernment to hear all that we hear, but still know the truth. And even at times to call it out like my Aunt Maud would. And Aunt Maud would often say something along these lines. She would say, there ain't no truth in that lie. There ain't no truth in that lie. Sometimes they can tell you one thing, but the godly spirit within you discerns that it ain't nothing but fake news. Family, the perspective of our faith this morning, it doesn't make us stupid. Okay? It doesn't make us ignorant. And when I say faith, because I don't want it to be twisted here, when I say faith, I'm talking about the one true faith. I'm talking about the faith that comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When I'm talking about faith, I'm not talking about what I say, or what you may say, or what they may say. When I say faith, I'm talking about the faith that comes from what God says. And after God has spoken, after God has spoken, we must do what He says do, because faith without words is alien. So our faith comes by being able to hear rightly, and then we need to work at it so we can rightly do what the Word says do, what God says do. So let me move to my second point. As we continue to follow God's Word, just follow me as I follow Christ. Follow the preachers as they follow Christ. Follow the prophets and the prophecies as they follow Christ. But my second point, my second point, don't fall under the spell of false pretenses and false prophets. If I could say it differently, let me say it like this, don't let your perspective of faith be diminished by fake news. And if I could say it another way, let me say it like this, don't get lit by being tricked, because the devil is a liar. I thought about this this morning, so I want to read it to you. John wrote this in the first epistle, chapter 4 and verse 1 and 2, he says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are going out into the world. And have I known you the Spirit of God? Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And then I want to drop down to verses 7 through 11, where John writes this even further, and I really love this, y'all. He says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is God. And everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent, God sent, God sent, God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Let me remind you, my family, that if it ain't love, if it ain't love, it ain't God, because God is love. And the only way that we can know that we know that the relationship is real is when we see and when we hear and when we sense and when we feel and we know the love of Christ that was sent by God. And that's my third point. And that's my third point. Love is God sent. Hallelujah. Love is God sent. The perspective of our faith always connects us with our Father who is in heaven, because he sends us his love right here on earth. It's knowing, hallelujah, when we appreciate this love, hallelujah, not that we love him, but that he loves us. And when we get to this point of knowing that his love comes down, hallelujah, hallelujah, we can reflect upon Psalm 57, and we can see that David knows this. He knows this because, let me read it to you again, and it's in verse, hallelujah, it's in verse 2 and 3, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performs all things for me, he shall sin, hallelujah, he shall sin from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. From these verses, it should be clear to us today that David is sharing with us that although he sees people that are attempting to destroy him, he sees deadly situations and he sees deadly people, but at the same time he has a different perspective. His perspective is shaped by his faith of the unseen God that performs all things for me. I could see the calamities. I could see the fires and the floods. I could see the tornadoes and the hurricanes and the bad storms. I can see the flash of lightning and hear the thunders roll. I can see the mass shootings and hear the verbal attacks that are going on wherever I am in this world, but I trust my God who is my refuge. I'm surrounded by backstabbers, but I can cry out to the most high God who performs all things for me. I'm compassed about by negative people, by the doubters and the haters, those who are hot with anger and filled with bitterness. They don't mean me any good, but at the same time I'm encouraged and I'm comforted by God who sins from heaven and saves me, saves me from the reproach of them that would jack me up. And in the midst of the haters and in the presence of the hate, I can see the invisible, eternal God who sins his love. His love comes down from heaven. And David says that in verse 3, he shall sin from heaven and save me. Family, I submit to you this morning that that particular verse, that line points to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. As I close, some 2,000 years ago, God sent his love from heaven through his only begotten son, Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. The one, if you will, that he called out of Egypt. I have called my son out of Egypt. God sent his son, who is mercy and truth, that we might live through him. And thank God for the beloved disciple, John, who corroborates David and writes the mystery of the godliness. And he said it like this. Hallelujah. In his gospel, chapter 1 and verse 14, he said of the body, and the word was made flesh. Hallelujah. And dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. And the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace. Hallelujah. Full of grace and truth. So this morning, our perspective is different because we are different. And it is not because of what we see, but it's because of who we hear. We dare believe a different report this morning. We are different not because of our pigmentation, Dr. Glenda, but because of the impartation. We are different because of the impartation, not our pigmentation, but it's the impartation of the Holy Ghost. The word says that after, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall become witnesses unto me. We become witnesses because we have and we dare believe a different report. So we hear differently. And so we think differently. We hear differently. So we live differently. We hear differently. So we choose differently. We hear differently. So we make money. We save money. We invest money. And at the same time, we give money differently. We hear differently. So we protect differently because we know that the weapons, we know that the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal. Our weapons are not political. Our weapons are not financial. Our weapons are not social. Our weapons are not educational. Our weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds, unjust strongholds, unloving strongholds. Thank God that we can come into a place of solace and meditation. We can go to the cave and still not cave in, and we can hear the message of His love and not to fear. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? So I will leave you on this from John again. Hallelujah. In his epistle, first one, chapter 4, verses 12 through 19, and John writes this. He says, no one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in that person, and that person in God, and we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love. God is love. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, hallelujah, because as He is, so we are in this world. We got a new perspective, hallelujah, and in this we know that there is no fear in love. We got a different perspective now because of our faith. There is no fear in love but perfect love. Thank God for His perfect love. Perfect love drives away fear because fear has torment. They who fear are not made perfect in love. Thank God, I hope that we have this testimony today that we love Him, hallelujah, we love Him, we love Him, we love Him because He first loved us. So family, the perspective of our faith is not based on what we see, hallelujah, but it's based on what we hear, hallelujah, and we hear from our Father who has already sent His mercy and His truth from heaven through His only begotten Son, and He says to us this morning, hallelujah, I love you, I love you, I love you. I don't know what you're going through right now, but He's coming this morning to say again, I love you, hallelujah. When He shows up, hallelujah, and others are showing up, He's still saying, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, hallelujah. We praise Him and we declare that He's still God all by Himself, amen. Before we close out and pray in benediction, does anyone care to share anything, hallelujah? Not hearing anything. Oh, hey Sister Ursula, hey Sister Ursula, thank you, thank you for reminding us that even in your testimonies healing that He's saying, I love you, amen.