Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Those are good verses, aren't they? Let's pray. Lord, I pray you would encourage our hearts today through your word as you often do. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

You know what's interesting? In verse 2 you see words like enemies and foes. In verse 3 you see the term host and war. In verse 6 you see the word enemies. What is amazing, all these terms that David used speaks about warfare. But in verse 3 we see this phrase, though in host in camp against me. And then in verse 3, and though war should rise against me.

So what David is describing in these first 6 verses is that there was literally, he felt, a war that Satan was raging against him. He said his enemies, his foes were after him. He said they tried to get me and they stumbled.

Then a host came about me. He describes this way, that individuals came against me. And when God protected me from that, then a group of people came against me. And it seemed that David here is talking about everywhere he turned, something was against him. And what is amazing is that although you see that all this is going on, and it is clear from reading these verses, that he was in the midst of a battle. What is also clear is that while he was in the midst of this battle, David still had hope. Now let me tell you how important hope is.

It's vital. When an individual feels like they have no hope, that individual begins to die. I remember, and I've shared this with you, but when we had Kaden in the hospital and lived at the hospital, really the easiest part to me, I don't know how my wife feels about it, but the easiest part to me of all that we went through was the four months in the hospital. Everybody says, well man, that would be difficult.

And it was. Many of you that have been in the hospital two, three, four weeks, I've had some of you, you've come to me and said, I don't know how you did it for four months. And you know, unless you've been there, you have no idea what it's like. But during those months and watching your child do open heart surgeries and watching all the stuff, it was when we got him home that was the hardest to me. And when you don't have the security of a nurse or a doctor being there and the care is up to you, it's a very different type of feeling.

And I have told you that, you know, it was a couple weeks after we got him home, I ended up with the shingles and the doctor said obviously stress pulled it on. Of course, it was that same period of time that I took over this church. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. It used to bother me when I'd hear some people say, oh, Brother Daniel is going to enjoy his honeymoon period for a while. There weren't no honeymoon period here.

I don't know who's talking about that or who is ignorant enough to think that. Maybe some pastors, you know, walk into a church and they have a honeymoon period for you. There was no honeymoon period here. I mean, I walked in and began and it hit the, you know, the proverbial fan immediately. And so it's been work since the day I got here and I've loved every second.

Well, I love most of it and I'm picking. But what got me is that when we got Kayden home and the care that he demanded at first, we just weren't used to it. We'd watched it. But, you know, we had done most all of it, but it never been just us. There's no nurse.

If you have trouble with the feeding tube or have trouble with machine, the nurse could come in. And for the first time and my wife and I both found out later that when we would take showers, we would just cry in the showers and try not to be weak for the other person. But what got me is is that it was so overwhelming the care that I began to feel that this is the way life was always going to be.

And it would never change. And I felt like I had no hope. I felt like there was no hope of this getting better, that there was no hope of relief. And I have never felt that in my entire life.

And you know why a lot of individuals suffer from depression? It's because they feel they don't have any hope. There's nothing in the next day to look forward to. And there's nothing in the next week to look forward to. And there's nothing in the next month to look forward to.

In fact, to them, there's nothing in the future to even look forward to. And when there's no hope, discouragement and depression, it makes camp. And David here in the middle of what he termed war, this wasn't, oh, I've had a few difficult days. David described it as war. And I believe it was war physically, but even more importantly, it was war emotionally. Dear friend, you know when circumstances get you down, the battlefield is in your mind.

That's where Satan attacks you. And in the midst of these battles, David here makes it clear that he still had hope. And so I want to challenge you this morning like David did. Keep your head up.

Notice, I wanted to read you a couple of phrases I thought was interesting. A man named G.K. Chesterton said this, There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great and no tonic so powerful as the expectation of something better tomorrow. Hope. And when you don't have it.

Let me read you this. I thought Emily Dickinson said this. She said, Hope is a thing with feathers that perches on your soul and hope can fly away very quickly. The dictionary describes hope like this. To have a wish, to get to do something or for something that will happen or be true. To have a wish, to get or do something or for something that happens to be true, especially something that seems possible or likely. Now I found that definition very confusing.

Webster's smart, but on that one, what is he saying here? He's saying this, that hope is something that is almost a 50-50 chance. Hope is something that might come and hope is something that might not come. What is interesting is, you and I, if you are saved and you are a believer in Christ, hope is not that with us. We do not have to wonder or wish for something or for hope to come into our life. Dear friend, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you have hope.

It's not something that's possible. The world looks at it as if something that may or may not happen. Dear friend, it's already happened if you're saved. I want you to notice these verses and this was very important to me, at least it was to me. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 7 says this, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. So we don't have to wonder if hope's coming. The Lord's our hope. Let me read this to you, 1 Corinthians 13, 13, And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three. I find that hope is something that can often times leave very quickly, but to us as Christians hope should be something that is always there.

Number one this morning, and these points will be on the screen. Number one, I want you to notice from what David said, I want us to learn something. Number one, we see this, that our confidence in the Lord provides hope. As David said that there was still hope amidst all the battles that were raging here, how did David have that hope? He gives three things in these verses that provided hope for him.

Number one, he said that his confidence in the Lord provided hope. Look at verse one, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? He says I don't have to have fear, and I don't have to be afraid of anybody.

Why? Because the Lord is my light, my salvation, and my strength. Number one under this, I want you to see that he had confidence in God's provision. Now, these three things that David calls the Lord here, it's very interesting.

And boy, I know that most time nobody else does like I do, but I got excited about this. Number one, David says that the Lord is, look at verse one, my light. Second, he says that the Lord is my salvation. And third, in the second part, he says he's the strength of my life, or my strength. So David says that God, the reason I don't have to be afraid of anybody, the reason I have hope, I don't care who's against me, is because God is my light, and he's my salvation, and he's my strength.

Now, what was David saying about that? Well, what is interesting is, as light, or as God is David's light, David's saying that God delivered me from darkness. He's my light. Do you know that's what light does?

It cancels out darkness. David said I don't have to be afraid, because God is my light. God took care of my darkness. When David said that God's my salvation, that meant that God kept him from damnation. And when David said God's my strength, that means that God kept David from defeat. So as his light, God kept him from darkness. As his salvation, God kept him from damnation.

As his strength, God kept him from defeat. David said I don't have to be afraid of anybody. Can I tell you something? If you're saved and you know it, you have nothing to fear.

Let me be more specific. You've got nobody to fear. That seems to be what we're scared of the most is people. Now, if you're not saved here this morning, we love you. If you're not saved, you have a lot to fear. You've got death to fear. You've got hell to fear.

But if you've been saved by the grace of God, God takes care of hell. God takes care of your enemies. He is your light, your savior. He's your strength.

He is everything that you need. I want to read you these verses. Colossians 1 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, my light. Let me read you this verse in John chapter 5. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. God, my what?

Hello? My salvation. Follow me, people.

My light, my salvation. Let me read you another verse, since you're following so closely. Oh, it's nice to know when folks are with you.

I'm telling you. Okay. Some of you are like, what book are we in?

Okay. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 57, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. God, our strength. God, our light. God, our salvation. God, our savior. God, our strength.

Listen to me. David says, I've got nothing to fear because I have confidence in his provision. I want you to notice, secondly, look at verse two and three.

David says, not only do I have confidence in his provision, but I have confidence in his performance. Look if you would at verse two. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat my flesh, what happened?

They stumbled and fell. David is going back and he's saying this, let me tell you why I trust in God. Because of what he's provided, but also what he performed in the past. Notice verse three. Though in host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Verse two and three, David says this, God has saved me before. God has provided strength before. God gave me light before. God's taken care of me before.

God's done everything before. He's provided all my needs. He's taken care of me. He's been with me through everything. And if he's done it then, he'll do it now. So I've got nothing to fear and nobody to fear because God's proven it before.

I want you to know something this morning. You can have confidence in his performance. Look at me. David had hope in the present because God had proven it in the past. Anybody else want to say ouch? Anybody else want to say I feel bad the things I've doubted God for after all that God's done in the past and all that God has done before for me and all the times God's proven himself.

Dear friend, look at me. We can have confidence in the Lord and that should give us hope. And that should give us hope.

I want you to notice number two this morning. Not only we see from David that our confidence in the Lord gives us hope, but number two, our commitment to the Lord provides hope. David said that my confidence in God gives me hope. But secondly, David describes here that the fact that I'm committed to God gives me hope. Now notice he would verse four. This is a wonderful verse. One thing, David said, have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.

Boy, you talk about focus and priority. David said there's one thing that I'm going to seek after. Notice this, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Well, wouldn't that be nice for everybody to wish that they could just live at the house of God for their entire life?

It's very quiet in here. Most don't want to last till 12. David says I'd rather spend my life, I wish I could spend my life in the house of God. We've got a long way to go, don't we? Now, hey, hold on, a lot of times preachers act like we're better. Well, let me tell you something, I've got to be honest, I don't want to live at the church either.

There's days I'm glad to be able to get home, so I'm not trying to be hypocritical to you. So I'm not trying to be hypocritical here, but don't you think that all of us could use a dose of an old-fashioned desire to go to church? Okay, preacher, you say, all right, what was David committed to? David mentions three goals in this verse, three things he's shooting for, and this is what gave him confidence, this is what gave him hope, this is his commitment. He describes the commitment he's making to God, and that commitment gives him hope.

Number one, David here is committed to lingering. Notice what he says, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. David said, my goal is to hang around God.

My goal is to linger around him. When David said the house of the Lord here, that is always a picture in the Old Testament of God's presence. Remember that they had to go into the Holy of Holies to get the forgiveness of sin, because in the Old Testament, that was the picture of the presence of God, because Jesus hadn't come yet. And until Jesus came, when he came, then we got the Holy Spirit. And that means the Holy Spirit is present inside of us all the time, so Jesus goes with us everywhere we go.

But in these days, the house of God was known as the presence of God. And David said, I just want to stay close to God all day long. You know what's going to give you hope in your life, for you to get as close to God as you can? The closer you get to God, the less you fear about this world.

The closer you get to God, the less you care about what people are saying. David says, I want to dwell. You know what that word dwell means? It means to reside permanently. You ever seen that word before?

Yeah, you have, but let me give you one instance. Psalm 23, the very last verse, this is what David, the very writer here said this, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Dear friend, it means to reside permanently. You know what's great about vacations? You get away and you get away from work and all these things, but you know one of the worst things about vacations? You got to come home. Now some of you like to get home.

Most times it's dads, because they see the money going out. And they wouldn't mind if a seven-day vacation turned into a one-day vacation. You know, they're ready to get back home. But you know, I enjoy getting away, but you know what, you got to come home. But David said this in Psalm 23, one of the greatest things about heaven is the fact when you get there, you don't have to leave. I will dwell in the presence of the Lord forever. And David said this, because I want to be with God forever in heaven, I want to stay with God forever on earth. I want to be as close to him as I can get. I just want to hang around and I just want to linger and I just want to feel it and I just want to see it and I want him to know that I love him. Oh God, give us people that want to be in the house of God.

Man, we shouldn't have to get a clown and a bunch of bicyclists and a dog show to get people to church. We ought to want to be here. David was committed to lingering.

To lingering. David here is describing that he has a desire to be where God is, to be in the place where God is worshiped, to be in the place where God is honored. That was David's heartbeat. I want to have everything to do with God and I want to be as close to God as I can be and I just want to linger around him. Oh dear folks, wouldn't it be nice if we just wanted to be close to God. Second thing, David was not only committed to lingering, but we see he was committed to loving. This is what David said. I want to behold the beauty of the Lord. David is saying this, I want to seek his face. I want to behold the beauty of the Lord. David's saying I want to love him so much that I can literally reach out and touch his face. I want to behold the beauty of the Lord.

Do you know dear friends, that ought to be our desire as well. Listen to me. David here is not only committed to being where the Lord is, but he is committed to worshiping the Lord while he's there. David said I want to be in the house of God forever, but while I'm there I want to seek his face.

Look at me dear friend. Do you know it is not enough just to show up at church? When you show up at church we ought to seek his face. It's not enough to sit in a pew and say I'm here and we're glad you're here, but I'm saying what God desires is when you show up in his house that you seek his face.

That means when we get here where we're here, where he is and we want to worship him, but that means we're active and we sing praises and we give and we get active and we get involved because we love God and we love his house. Preacher Friday night I want to be in the house of God and I'm getting so tired of preaching meetings that are dead as doornails. You know why meetings are dead? Not because people aren't there, they're there.

Because once they got there that's where it ended. Dear friend you know what church is? Church isn't you walking in the door and it's not me walking in the door.

Church is once we walk in the door we worship him. David was committed to lingering. He was committed to loving, but third David was committed to leaning. Notice what he said, I want to inquire in his temple. He said I want to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. David here is expressing his desire to call on the Lord, to commune with God. David here saying my desire is to be so close to you God that I can't do one thing without talking to you, that I can't make one decision without seeking your face and God I just want to stay so close that I am leaning on you so desperately that I can't do one thing without God.

That word inquire means to beseech. Have you asked God his direction in your life before you make a decision of where you go and what you do and the kind of people or whether you're going to get married or this or that or change jobs or go to school, whatever the heck you do, whatever the case is, who cares what you want? What does God want? Folks don't trust yourself, we're flesh.

We are rotten to the core, at least this preacher is. I can't trust my desires. I've got to find out what does God want from me? Where does God want me to go? What does God want me to do? And David said that I'm dedicated, I'm going to linger in God's house and I'm going to love God while I'm there but I'm going to lean on him the rest of my life.

I'm going to tell you something and listen to me. When you linger with God and you love God and you lean on God, you will have hope. I'm going to be honest with you, there's not going to be a whole lot left to discourage you and depress you when you're that close to God. You know why a lot of people don't have hope?

Because they don't have God. I want you to notice thirdly, and my time's almost done, I want you to see thirdly that not only we have, David shows that he says my confidence in the Lord gives me hope, then he said my commitment to the Lord gives me hope, but third we see that David says that my comfort in the Lord provides me hope. David said I'm not just confident in him and I'm not just committed to him, but I am comforted by him. Notice if you would, verse five and six. For in the time of trouble, have you ever thought of there's no better time that you need comforted than when you're in trouble? For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me upon a rock. Now I'm just too excited to read the next verse, I gotta go ahead and tell you. What we see, David said first that God has a sheltered place for us.

He said, David said in my time of trouble, what did God do? He hid me in his pavilion. Now I am a Florida boy. I wasn't born in Florida, I was born in Baltimore, Maryland. I'm a Baltimorean, that's what we call him.

Now let me give you this interesting tidbit. If I had been born two weeks earlier, I'd have been born in Los Angeles, California. If I'd have been born a week before that, I'd have been born in Dallas, Texas. If I'd have been born before that, I would have been born in Delaware.

So when your dad's an evangelist, you don't know where you're gonna be born. I could have been from California. I could have been from Texas. No, I'm from Baltimore. The only place that has the worst baseball team than the Cubs, you know?

But you know what's worse? I'm from Baltimore and I'm a Cubs fan, the two worst baseball teams in history. I'm just, I think I'm a loser. Anyway, I'm not gonna lie to you.

I'm a loser, anyway. I'm from Florida. I grew up down there kind of my high school years and played ball and I like playing basketball.

I'll use my dad's joke. I like basketball so much, now I am one. But anyway, I was the point guard on our basketball team. And we won two straight years of state championships in basketball. And I was the point guard for the basketball team and I know I don't look like a point guard and I'm not a very good point guard now, I'm sure.

I was always very fast for my size but now the size has taken over. But when I was in high school, we had an outdoor court near our school. We didn't have a gymnasium. We were the smallest school in our school district and yet we won the state championship two years in a row. And we played schools, had six, 700 students.

We had, I think, 110 students in our entire school. And we had a little basketball court. It's an outdoor park there in Florida and that's where we would practice basketball.

And let me tell you something, we'd go out there and we would, you know, it'd be knocked down, drag out, we'd be playing basketball. But let me tell you something interesting about Florida, especially in the summer. It rains every day. I mean, I'm talking about, you can have a beautiful day out. You think, man, this is great. People put their tops down in their convertibles and literally within five minutes, a storm will come in and it'll lightning and thunder because of the heat and it'll dump rain like you've never seen and it'll do it for about 15, 20 minutes and then it'll go on.

Now you got a clear day. It might happen two or three times that day like that. And when we would play basketball down in Florida, we'd be out there playing. All of a sudden, buddy, I mean, you would hear it, boom, that lightning would strike. And at that park there, they had a pavilion way up there that was over there and they had a huge big park, had a basketball court and some outdoor shuffleboard courts. It's Florida, you know. So they had shuffleboard courts and then they had handball courts and different things. And buddy, that lightning would hit and we would just keep playing and that lightning would get closer.

You know, teenagers, we're just dumb. I mean, it would hit trees and stuff and we would just keep in. And then all of a sudden that rain would start to gush and we were so hot, we were glad for the rain and we would keep playing. But I'm gonna tell you something, there would come some times that that storm would become so bad that we would not run to our car and we would not run home.

We would run to that pavilion for protection. You know what you and I do? We go through life and we have trial to trial to trial and we try to handle them.

We do all these things. But let me tell you what David said. In my trouble, God hid me in his pavilion. 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. God bless you.