Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church because there's not necessarily a ton of prayer. That, according to the Bible, is the worship leader. There are those that direct in music and, you know, it would be like a person that comes up and opens up in prayer in the service. It would be like saying they're the prayer leader. They're just praying during the service. And a music director, they're just leading the singing and they're doing those things.

They're leading in that. But a worship leader is really the pastor and because worship is more than just singing. Worship is even the offering that I will not forget today. Because folks are good to remind me.

I actually had a good comment. I don't remember who said it. One of our members said they were talking to somebody that was visiting and they said, you know, I really like that church. The pastor even forgets sometimes to take the offering. Usually when we go to churches, that's the biggest priority on their mind and this pastor forgets about it. And it's always a huge priority Monday morning. I promise you.

See if we're going to be able to pay the bills this week. So David was that individual. He was the music director for David basically and Asaph, many of the psalms obviously that we have, they were written by different people. Asaph wrote some psalms. David wrote some psalms. Other people wrote some psalms. And Asaph would lead these psalms to music and he was kind of like you would call it a choir director. He was in ministry but he wasn't really the pastor or even the preacher.

I'm sure he did speak at different things and teach maybe but he wasn't really the pastor. He was the music director. Somebody told me years ago and I have found it to be true that sometimes creative people, those that tend to be creative, a lot of times people that are musical are creative. A lot of times people that are artistic obviously are creative in different things but many times creative people can deal a lot with melancholy. They can deal a lot with depression. They can deal a lot with deep thinking and there's a constant inward turmoil. They can deal with creative people and if you don't believe that, look at some of our modern art.

There is some conflict somewhere. I'm going to tell you that right now. But I have found that to be true and I hate to even call yourself creative but I'm musical and I like to create. I like things.

I like different things and I understand exactly how that goes. And Asaph was this way and in Psalm 77, I have preached quite a bit out of Psalm 77. Over the years, I've not really preached a lot out of Psalm 77 since I've been the pastor here. But I want to deal with this today and on this subject, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. And if I could put it into concise terms, what I want to speak to you specifically about this morning is how you and I have to be very careful how we talk to ourself in times of trouble.

This is where so many people get off track in their life because they said the wrong things to themselves in times of trouble. Now, please, we're going to read the whole chapter. It's just 20 verses but I want you just to really think and give me a few minutes of your time this morning. Look at verse 1.

Here's what we have. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. What is interesting in the first verse, we're told about the conflict and we're told about the consummation of the chapter. We're kind of told before it begins that this is where I was and this is what ended up happening. So everything's okay.

But let me tell you what went on. You find here that he cried unto God and he heard me. So we know that he heard me. We know that God took care of things and we know right now from the beginning, and it's as if Asaph said just in case, as I'm telling you what happened to me, in case you would think that maybe God wasn't there for me like he should have been, he was.

And he did answer. I'm letting you know that right now in the first verse. Look at verse 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained. And my spirit was overwhelmed.

Selah. Look at verse 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, which is what a melancholy person, oftentimes creative individuals, will do. When they face difficulty in their life, they immediately resort thinking of the past. They'll go through the past. They'll process things that happened before. And a lot of times individuals that are not like that, they'll think that we're just weird.

They'll be like, come on, snap out of it. A lot of times people like Asaph and even sometimes you'll look at us and we're just somewhere else. Just gazing off into the distance. And this is what Asaph's talking about here. Notice if you would, let's go to verse 5.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night. Another characteristic, by the way, when you deal with depression or questioning or confusion and creative people, a lot of times it's difficult to sleep. He said, I call to remembrance my song in the night. I notice this most important key phrase in the whole chapter. I commune with mine own heart. Now can I put that in terms that you and I will understand? He's talking to himself.

I commune. I'm having a conversation with my own heart. Have you ever done that? My sons make fun of me. You've heard this before because I talk to myself a lot. I'm ashamed to admit that, but I do because I need somebody that will understand and care about me. Thus the phrase mirror mirror on the wall. Have you ever been in a time in your life where it seemed like nobody understood? The only person you really could talk to and found yourself in a position that you were talking to was the mirror. I'll drive in the car sometimes and Daniel will be like, who you talking to, dad? I'll be like, nothing. I was just snoring. I don't know.

I'll have to make up something. Notice if you would, verse 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search. Verse 7.

Will the Lord cast off forever? In other words, he said, you know, I'm spending time. I'm thinking. I'm contemplating. I'm going over the past. I'm thinking of all these things.

This problem in my life right now has brought all this on. And he said my spirit made diligent search. We're going to talk about that in just a few minutes.

But what he's saying is this. I just really began to search everything I've been taught, everything I've heard, everything I've read. I just, man, I searched through all that.

And these are some questions he came up with. Look at verse 7. Will the Lord cast off forever?

No more. Is his mercy clean, gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? Have God forgotten to be gracious? Have he in anger shut up his tender mercies?

Selah. Wow, he is searching. He's asking, by the way, a lot of questions that you and I have asked at different times. Look at verse 10.

And I said, this is where everything turns, by the way. And by the way, I believe this chapter is separated in four parts. I don't know that. I haven't read that anywhere. It's just through my reading.

That's what I believe. I believe verses 1 through 3 is in a group. I believe verse 4 through 6 is in a group. I believe verse 7 through 9 is in a group. And then the rest of the chapter, verse 10 through 20. Verse 10.

Now if you were wondering, look at verse 20 in a group. What is God's glory? Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

By the way, the children of Israel is what we're talking about. The waters saw thee, O God. The waters saw thee. They were afraid. The depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water. The sky sent out a sound. Thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy the world the earth trembled and shook thy way is in the sea thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known thou lettest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron how did that help him it sure did but how what what went on what does this mean I hope that this will help you this morning as it has really helped me recently Lord we love you and I ask that you had blessed Lord as we talk about the subject of the things we say to ourselves in times of trouble Lord it's a very dangerous time so Lord I pray that you would give us wisdom this morning in Jesus name I pray amen our key verse here in this chapter and there's this not necessarily the key verse of the chapter but it's the key verse of what I want to speak to you about today is in verse 6 when David said that he communed with his own heart do you know that that is where many people lose their victory that is where so many people lose their direction they have in it they have an incident they have difficulty they have turmoil they have an infirmity they have sickness whatever the case might be and they find themselves a little bit down a little bit defeated and they begin to question things and they get confused about things and dear friends I'm here to tell you a lot of times at times like that in my life there are people want to help people want to say and a lot of times we'll go to others and hear what they have to say but it really boils down to when we are on our own and it's just us and God and our own thoughts what is so important is what we end up saying to ourselves during those times because if you're not careful that old sinful flesh will come out and will lie to you and so many times when a person went through difficulty they began to think things and they began to process things and they they literally said the wrong things to themselves they got off track they got out of church they got away from God and it all started with themselves now I want you to look at this and and I'm not saying it always happens this way but I'm saying many of the times this is exactly how this happens let's look at the stage of progression in Asaph's life number one as in his incident here as in most of us number one there is the complaining stage the complaining stage that's where it all begins something happens either we were done wrong either we think we were done wrong or there's an infirmity there's a difficulty that has come up in our life and I you know I look at my wife and my life and we we have numerous infirmities and things that come up just like you do in your life I would say our biggest is Kaden I'm sure it is you know that's the prevalent thing that's just always on our mind it was on my mind this morning while the choir was singing and different things that's the things in our mind but oftentimes as those things come into your life there is the complaining stage now we do not know if this was a private problem Asaph was having or if it was a public problem in other words we don't know if it's something that was just between him and an individual or if this was something that involved a group of people we don't know we don't know if it was a church problem we don't know if it was a family problem we don't know if it was a personal problem we don't know really what went on in Asaph's life and I'm kind of glad we don't because we might tend to say well he got victory because he went through this but I'm going through something different dear friend it doesn't really matter what you're going through we all seem to go through these stages first thing is that complaining stage now in the commentary Matthew Henry said this and I thought this was really really good I just want to read this to you talking about this specific chapter listen to what he says we have here the portrait of a good man under prevailing melancholy who has fallen into and is sinking in that horrible pit that miry clay of depression and he is struggling to get out have you ever been there and you were struggling to get out notice what he says I think and if I look at verses 1 2 & 3 look at these things he complained about and just think about me for a minute number one he said this in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord now let me just start right there and and please look at me get this our days of trouble need to be days of prayer David said in my trouble I complained to everyone else Asaph didn't say that excuse me I think I said just said David Asaph did not say that listen to me Asaph said this in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord now what is dangerous is what you're saying to yourself but I give him credit that he didn't go complaining to everybody else he closed the door to his house or his room or his closet or whatever it was and he got down and complained to God and I recommend you to do that by the way there's enough complaining going on in this world and let me let you in a little bit of a secret I don't care how they fake it your friends don't want to hear it I hate to ruin your world and let your bubble oh but I got good friends yeah I know but after a while it gets old every time they call you well I just my wife and I were watching is it wrong to admit you watch TV I don't know you know I guess it's too late now you know kind of a thing we've been over my house you see a TV so I guess I watch TV there are I'm sure some that don't and I commend you for I think it's great and we obviously try to monitor what we watch but we're watching TV and there is a show on extreme weight loss I got some closet dwellers how many of you honestly can say you think you've seen that extreme weight loss change okay how many of you need to watch I'm not going to go there at least I admit it I need to watch it you know we're watching this thing and this lady's going through losing weight her and her husband or whatever the case might be and they're trying to lose weight before they get married or whatever the case might be kind of a thing and and we watch that thing for about 30 minutes and I turned it because every time that woman talked on that program she was crying she's talking about you know I had a good day and then she's talking to the trainers and like yeah I know I just spent an emotional week and I was like man I can't take it you know that's what it's like and listen to me a lot of times you and I we go complain everybody else can I give you a little bit of a ticket here go complain to God he can take it he knows that's how you're feeling anyway he's not shocked just get down in privacy and let it out to God our days of trouble should be days of prayer look at me I want you to get this he also says here that he began to seek his soulmate diligent search listen to me when God it feels to you like God has withdrawn from you that is when you need to find him if you feel like God's away from you or he's that he's a distance away from you that's not time to go further away that's time for you to seek him out listen to this those that are under trouble you need not think that you can drink it away or laugh it away you can only pray it away people find trouble that's when they turn to the bottle they'll turn to drugs they'll turn to medication they'll turn to things to entertain them to get their mind off of it and dear friend I'm here to tell you in his day of trouble he sought the Lord and let me give you a little bit of a clue like he did in the first verse it worked the complaining stage notice here what he says here I thought this is interesting he said my soul refused to be comforted the end of verse 2 what he is saying there is this my soul refused to be comforted that means that there were those that had tried to comfort him there were people in his life and efforts were made to try to bring comfort to this man that was going through trouble and he said literally my soul refused to be comforted and and dear friend I'm here to tell you sometimes in your life you're going to come across people that are going through difficulty and you're going to try your best to comfort them and it might even be your own wife and your own husband and you're going to try to come for them but dear friend when their soul refuses it you can't do anything about it it's a process they're going to have to go through with God you give your best efforts and try and love them but I'm here to tell you Asaph said my soul refused to be comforted notice what he says this he says I remembered God this is horrible look at verse 3 I remembered God and was troubled that means that while he was going through this he said when I even thought about God and the things of God it didn't comfort me it didn't make me feel better it didn't put me back on top of the mountain when I thought about God it troubled me it bothered me in other words he's saying God why did you let this happen why would you let this take place in other words what he's saying is when I thought about God all I thought about was the judgment and all these things of God and I forgot about the mercy and the grace and all these things and I'm here to tell you when you go through trouble you're gonna forget a whole lot of good things about God and you're gonna you're gonna tend to concentrate on the things you don't like or the things you and I thinks not fair he said this I found interesting I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed now listen what he's saying is this I complained and it didn't give me comfort you know sometimes you go through something you just need somebody just gonna go get it out somebody says well how you doing you look like something bothering you you ever ask somebody that boy you regretted it when you said that you want to talk about it and they said yeah oh that's too bad okay well you ever had something on you buddy you just found somebody with a listening ear and buddy you just let it all out when you finally it's like I feel better ASAP said I complained and it didn't make me feel one bit better the complaining stage number two you and I normally go through next the contemplation stage our complaining we that's our first immediate reaction and we kind of mad at this upset at this and all this and then all of a sudden then we begin to think look at verse 4 thou holdest mine eyes waking first there was sleeplessness notice that on the screen is your outline if you need it there was sleeplessness he said thou holdest mine eyes waking notice second he said I am so troubled that I cannot speak next there was silence he's like I I literally I can't sleep and I can't even talk about it I don't even know what to say I can't even put my feelings to words I'm so confused and as I'm thinking about why this has happened and how this went down and all these things that there's so many things that don't make sense to me that I can't even talk about it notice if you would verse 5 he says I have considered the days of old the years of ancient times third there was searching and that's usually what happens to us in this stage we kind of get where we can't sleep then we begin to kind of silent we withdraw we don't really talk we don't kind of distant to people and then we begin searching he said I call to remembrance my song in the night remember verse 5 he said I looked at the days of old I looked at the ancient times I begin to think back I begin to go through everything that's happened in my life and say why did this happen and why am I going through this and and how did this how did this turn out like this and he he said I got to the point I couldn't sleep and I really couldn't talk about it all I could do was think and I begin in my mind to search through all the past and and all those things look at verse 6 he said I call to remembrance my song in the night he said I remember the times that I couldn't sleep before and the difficulties I went through before and and I've rehearsed that that I went through in the night but even that's not helping me right now he said I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search and that he's saying he said I can't sleep I can't even talk about it so now my mind is just going and I'm trying to process everything and I'm going over everything in the past and everything in the present and even thinking about the future and I'm trying to make sense of all this and right here is a dangerous time for you and me because notice next comes the confusion stage verse 7 through 9 you and I get confused now what did he get confused about as his spirit made search these are the questions that he came up with in other words these are the things that were bothering him number one he said this will the Lord cast off forever in other words is is is the Lord ever gonna come near me again is he ever gonna help me again is he ever even gonna be close enough where I could even sense that he's here now maybe I'm talking to people that haven't been through some of these things but I'm gonna tell you there been times my life I it seemed like man I did everything I do I could not get to the point that I felt like I was close to God I wanted to I needed it but I couldn't feel it second he says will he be favorable no more in other words is he not ever going to show favor on my life again is that history now notice third he said is his mercy clean gone forever what I find interesting is verse 7 he says well the Lord cast off forever which means I don't feel like he's here right now but he used to be or he wouldn't have said it that way notice second he says will he be favorable no more that means he was at one time so ASAP is admitting that God was close to me and he did show favor to me and he did show me mercy in verse 8 but he's saying is it gone now forever because I can't find it I can't find his favor in this situation I can't seem to find his mercy in this situation I can't even find him in this situation notice the fourth question does his promise fail forevermore he said I'm going through all the promises that I've ever been told and I don't see where God's keeping any of his promises in my life right now notice what he says next have God forgotten to be gracious in other words he I can't see the grace of God I can't see the graciousness of God in any of this have you ever had something in your life where you're like me and I I know God I know you're gracious but I don't see it in this I'm gonna be honest with you and I you know I try sometimes because I like people don't come here to hear my life story and about our youngin but all I can do is relate the God's Word to me in my life because I'll use me as an illustration because I won't be offended if I use one of you it might hurt your feelings because I know what some of you have been through but I'm gonna tell you something I really the first open-heart surgery Caden had and we walked in to see him and his chest is still open and he's puffed up like a balloon and here he is three days old I'm gonna be honest with you I did not see a whole lot of God's graciousness in that notice what he asked last hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies in other words is he just gonna be angry me the rest of my life because obviously he must be angry at me for this to happen in my life and he says Selah and this is obviously the second time this has been used and that's why it's a natural outline in this passage first there is the complaining stage and he says Selah think about that then he comes to the confusion and that in that contemplation turns into confusion and then he says Selah again really think about this the confusion stage you know this is when the questions come this is when we begin to doubt what we once were certain of Satan will make sure to put questions in your mind by the way during this stage listen to me if Satan can make you doubt one thing about God he can make you doubt anything about God if Satan can get you to question God's word then Satan can get you to question God himself the confusion stage I can't tell you how many times that you counsel and you talk with people that are going through admittedly very horrible things and it doesn't seem fair and it doesn't seem right and I can't tell you how many times you get to that stage and they're so confused and they're questioning everything they've been taught and we have folks leaving their faith left and right why because God failed them no but because they were convinced God failed them some of you're looking at me this morning there have been times where you were convinced and you might even almost be there right now that God has failed you in some way the confusion stage and it is so dangerous what you say to yourself during this time I want you to notice forth the choice stage this is important every one of us come to this when you have a difficulty when you have turmoil when you have an infirmity when you have trouble whatever the case might be it always starts with complaining then it starts with contemplating you begin to think about things and then you begin to get confused then you question and all these things and we all kind of get to this point but look at me dear friends this is the choice stage now you have to decide how you are going to go forward from here you now have questions all these things you've been taught that God's great and God's good and God's gracious all these things you've questioned all these things and and now there are some people I've talked they even question whether God's real or not they don't even know and you get to this point now right here is where you make a choice you decide right now which direction you are going to go now notice this the choice stage look at verse 10 this is what Asaph says and I said it all breaks right there in other words Asaph said I've done my thinking now and I've done my complaining and I've had my confusion and I've asked my questions now I've got to make a decision and I said notice what he did this is my infirmity now there's three things that Asaph did that he determined to do that brought him out of this number one Asaph said I will submit notice what he says first I said that's personal that means nobody else can make this decision for me nobody else can talk me into this by the way remember he said my soul refused to be comforted there are those that had tried to help him and he refused to help and it comes down dear friend other but nobody else can make this decision people can't love you out of this decision it's a decision you have to make yourself I said he is literally saying I'm commuting with my own heart I said to myself this is my infirmity I love that when he said this is my infirmity it made it personal it made it intimate he is saying this this is my infirmity it belongs to me thank you for listening today we hope you received a blessing from our broadcast the Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville North Carolina you may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today god bless you