Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

All right, good morning. It's good to see you guys. I'm glad you're here. I welcome you. Welcome to everybody watching online. I invite you to stand with us, and we'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day, Lord, and we thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here, Lord, to spend some time in your Word and to spend some time praising you, Lord. Lord, for you are worthy of all honor and glory and praise, God. Lord, we thank you for who you are and for how much you love us, and we ask your blessing upon this time, Lord. I pray that you would soften our hearts, Lord, God, as we come before you in praise and open up your Word this morning.

We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Lord, God, we just thank you for who you are. And, Lord, we thank you for who we are in you, Lord, God. We know that in you, Lord, we are made for more. We love you and we praise you in your name. Amen. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like.

I see is the battle. You see my victory.

And all I see is the mountain. You see a mountain. And as I walk through the shadow, your love surrounds me.

There's nothing to fear now, for I am saved. And every I'll sing through the night. Oh, impossible fortress. You got nothing can stand against the power. You shine in the shadow.

Think and stand against the power.

You shine and wash over like a river.

As I worship your majesty. I worship your worship. You're all that's open.

And have it all.

Break out. Come now. Heaven, break out. Like you've done it. Come now. Cover. Like you've done it. Holy Spirit, we just invite you to come in this place this morning. We invite you into our hearts, Lord, to come and move mightily. Lord. Stir in us a fresh fire, a fresh filling of your Holy Spirit.

Lord, soften our hearts this morning, God. Move mightily in this place. Lord, I want us to leave different. I don't want us to leave the same people we were when we walked in, Lord God. Move mightily, Lord. We invite your Holy Spirit this morning. We're creation, suddenly articulate. With a thousand tongues to lift one cry. And from north to south and east to west, we'd hear Christ be magnified.

For though echoing his name would burst from sea and from rocks and tops, we'd magnify in everything Christ stands. And if it puts me in the fire, you're there to heal me. I'll hold fast to what? If the cross brings transformation, then I'll be crucified with you. Because death is just a doorway into resurrection life. And if I join you in your suffering, then I'll join you in return.

With all the angels and the saints, my song will be the same. God, we just ask that you be magnified this morning, God. Be glorified. Lord. If there's any part of our lives that don't honor you, Lord, that don't glorify you, that you would show us those areas this morning. Because we just want to reflect you, Lord. We want to glorify you and magnify you.

Christ be magnified. His praise arise. Christ be magnified. In Christ be magnified. The altar of magnified.

Just stand with me for this last one.

Oh, Lord God, we just want to take a moment, Lord. And just thank you. Lord, for what you've done for us, Lord, through your son, Jesus. And thank you for all the ways you take care of us and minister to us, Lord. God, in our time of need, Lord, in our times of suffering, Lord, in our times of trials, Lord, we have so many reasons to lift praise to you this morning.

Lord, God, all glory and honor due to you. Lord, we praise you and we thank you.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, my soul. I worship your whole.

It's a time to sing your song soon. God, we just thank you again for just who you are, Lord, and how much you love us. Lord, I thank you for all the ways you take care of us and that you take care of me. Lord, I've got so many reasons to praise you, Lord God.

Lord, you take care of me through every season of life, Lord God. Take care of me in this life and the next. Lord God, we just, we can't help but praise you. And we look around and see your work in our lives. So bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. I worship your whole.

Sing that, Jesus, I worship your whole. Again, we just thank you and we praise you. And as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Give him the words to speak, Lord, and give us soft and receptive hearts to hear it, Lord God. But Lord, there's more to that, Lord. Your word says in James 1 that we are to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word as well.

So I pray that we would take your word, Lord, and act upon it. Lord God, we put into practice, put into action, Lord God. Lord, let your Holy Spirit minister to us this morning, Lord. And let your Holy Spirit minister to those little kids at the other end of the hall, Lord God. Lord, plant your seeds there and do your mighty work. Lord, we invite you to come this morning.

We love you. And we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

You can close it. Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Handful of things to take note of. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week. Lots of spots to get plugged into so that you can continue to grow in your walk. And hopefully, encourage each other. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a reminder that mowing ministry sign-up sheet's going to be out there for about another week.

So if you're interested in getting involved with that, that sign-up sheet's out there. And again, as you can tell, we are making headway with the project outside. So just keep praying for that. And then I have a brand new memory verse in there for you. There in the middle section of your bulletin as well. Something for you to take note of and hopefully commit to memory.

So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure, that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 84. Psalm 84. Looking at the New American Standard so that hopefully we sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you're turning to Psalm 84,

if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Jared, and the even verses. Psalm 84. For the choir, director on the that instrument, a Psalm of the sons of Cora. How lovely are your dwelling places. Oh, Lord of hosts. My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young.

Even your altar altars. Oh, Lord of hosts. My king and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in. Your house. They are ever praising you. Say La. How blessed is the man whose strength is in you in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the valley of Bucca. They make it a spring. The early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength.

Every one of them appears before God and Zion. Oh, Lord, God of hosts. Hear my prayer. Give ear. Oh, God of Jacob. Say La. Behold our shield. Oh, God. And look upon the face of your anointed for a day in your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the hat threshold of the house of my God and dwell in the tents of wickedness for the Lord.

God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Oh, Lord of hosts. How blessed is the man who trusts in you and father? We come to you now. And, Lord, we just echo that statement. Lord, how blessed is the man who trusts in you? And, Lord, all we desire to do is to dwell with you. And so, Father, would you just be here among us today?

We know that you are. And so, Lord, make yourself known to us through your word. And, Father, may we be drawn near to you. Move in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to Psalm 139. Psalm 139.

In the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, Paul tells the Thessalonian believers there, he said, In having so fond of an affection for you, we declare to you not only the gospel of God, but also our lives, because you had become dear to us. And as a pastor, sometimes the best thing that you can do is just give out your life. And so today is going to be one of those Sundays for me. This is your first Sunday here.

I'm not usually this raw and unhinged, but today is a good day, right? And that's not true. I'm always a little unhinged. But today is going to be one of those days where I just kind of share some things going on in my own life and kind of what God has been teaching me through it. Again, if this is your first Sunday here, what I'm about to share is a little bit of history behind it.

My dad, who is also one of our worship leaders here, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years, almost exactly two years ago. And has done really, really well. Up until the past few weeks, and he's kind of taken a little bit of a downturn the past few weeks. And that kind of encapsulates where I'm about to go with what I'm about to share. So last Sunday, late Sunday afternoon, about 5.30, my mom gave me a call.

And I live right across the street from my parents. And so she gave me a call, and she said, hey, I think I need to take your dad to the ER again. He's vomiting blood. It goes along with what he's doing with the pancreatic cancer. And she said, he's doing that again, and he's in procedure. He's in pretty rough shape. I need you to come help me get him to the car and get him to the hospital.

And so I went over, ran over there, and we got dad loaded into the car and took him to the hospital. And as we got into the ER there, some very wonderful nurses took very good care of him. And the PA came in, and she said, he's got to get somewhere else because he's too critical to be here. He needs intensive care. They had already started him on fluids and pain meds.

And had he even started another blood? They had a blood transfusion for him, the second one that he'd gotten because he had done all of this the previous Sunday as well. And so they said, but we can't get an ambulance back here in time, so he's going to have to ride a helicopter. Sidebar, he kind of enjoyed the helicopter ride. So we asked him last night, so dad, what did you think about riding in a helicopter?

He goes, oh, it was okay. It was different, but I kind of liked it. It was kind of fun. But they said, that's what's going to have to happen. We've got to transport him, and we've got to transport him to Tulsa. Yeah. We collected our things, and we watched my dad get on a helicopter and watch some very capable men take him on a helicopter down to Tulsa. And my mom and I jumped into the car, and we drove down there and arrived there around 1230.

And when we got there, they had done a different kind of a CT scan than they usually do, one that shows some things going on on the inside. And they said, listen, preliminarily, what we see is this. We see that the tumor is now protruding the stomach, and it's invading there. And if that's the case... And there's really nothing we can do. If it's just a vein that's bleeding, we can cauterize it and take care of it.

But if it's that tumor, there's really nothing we can do about that other than treat the symptoms at this point in time. But we won't know anything until we do a scope. And so by the time we got dad settled into the room, into his room in ICU, it was somewhere between 3 and 3.30. And by the way, sidebar, I learned that I am entirely too old to stay up for 23 straight.

That's no longer fun for me. If you're young, it's still fun to pull an all-nighter. And if you're 40, almost 5, it's not fun to pull an all-nighter. So I did get a little bit of sleep. I think somebody said they put the picture up there. I slept on that right there for three hours on Monday night. And now that looks way bigger than it is, believe it or not.

It's about the size of two of those chairs with those arms on the side. But you know how you look at something and you're like, oh, man, that's going to feel great. Like I was so tired at that point in time. And I'm like, it's about the size of a love seat. And I laid down on it. My head went, and my legs went, and I'm not a big guy, right? Like I can fit in really small spaces.

And I was able to walk the next day, which that really was my testimony. I posted it on Instagram. And a bunch of people were like, oh, praying. I'm like, no, I'm serious. Like you should be laughing at this because that's a testimony that I could get up the next day and walk because that's not even always a guarantee in a perfectly good bed. So we got dad settled in, and we stayed with him all day Monday.

And then finally sometime Tuesday, they left. And they were able to get him in for the scope. So we went in for that scope. And after they came out, we went into the surgery recovery room. And the surgeon came in and talked to us. And he said, so it's definitely the tumor protruding through the stomach. Anything that touches it is going to cause it to bleed.

And you just need to know there's nothing that can be done at this point in time. You really need to consider hospice care. As a matter of fact, it's not 5 o'clock yet. You should call them now. So that you can get on there. Schedule because you want them to be able to be there when you get home because he's going to need that kind of care. And it was an overwhelming moment to hear that, you know.

And so we're all just, we're all nickels. We're all just crying in the surgery recovery room. And I got to tell you, God blessed in so many different ways, not only from all of you guys, but even people down there. This surgeon actually took the time to give each one of us a hug, which I thought was really huge on the part of a surgeon who, I mean, no offense to them, they're just, they're business people, you know.

It's like, this is what they do. But the compassion that he showed to us was above and beyond.

So we went back to the room. We told everybody what was going on. We all had our kind of time together there. And we went back to the hotel. And I got cleaned up, took a shower. And I just couldn't get myself to go to bed yet. So I grabbed my Bible and I grabbed my notebook and I grabbed my pen and I went down to the hotel lobby. And I just sat down and I just started reading.

It's preparing studies is how I process things. Songwriters write songs. Pastors write sermons, right? That's how I process. And so all day long, I was just thinking, man, I'm going to have to start thinking about Sunday morning soon. And I just don't know that after all of this, I can go, okay, let's talk about the requirements for elders now. It just, it didn't feel proper for me to do that.

And so Psalm 139 had been on my heart and had been on my mind kind of all day as we were going through that process. And so I just, I opened up Psalm 139. And there's just moments in time, as a pastor anyways, where God just lays everything out for you. It says, this is what I want you to learn. And this is what I want you to tell everybody else. Because that's what Psalm 139 became for me that Tuesday night,

is it became the message that I needed and hopefully the message that's going to be good for you as well. And the entire time, the lyrics to that old song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, kept going through my mind because it was almost like the Lord said, keep focused on me because what you're going through is really hard, but I'm still really good. And so I want you to focus on me. And so reading this psalm did that for me.

And so that's why I've entitled it Psalm 139, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. So I just want to read through the entire psalm and then we'll go back and spend a little time talking about it. Psalm 139, for the choir director, a psalm of David. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar.

You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and you laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be as night, even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give you my life. I will give you my life. I will give you my life. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in your book were written all the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should give you my life, if I should count them,

they would outnumber the sand. And when I awake, I am still with you. Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed, for they speak against you wickedly and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred.

They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. Several things he tells us in this about God. As a matter of fact, all of Psalm 139 deals with the greatness of who God is, the grandeur, the splendor, the amazing nature of who God is.

But the beautiful thing that he does in Psalm 139 is he takes all of the amazing nature of God and he brings it down to personalize it to us. Because this is what it means for you individually. And so the first thing that he tells us about God in Psalm 139 is he tells us to put our eyes back on Jesus is he tells us that he is the all-knowing God. He is the all-knowing God.

He starts off by saying, you have searched me and known me. The idea of searched means to search out thoroughly. In other words, there's no part of you that God has not searched out. And he says, and he has known me. To search out thoroughly and to know, to know completely. That means that there is nothing of you that's a mystery to God. He knows everything about you.

And he'll go on to explain that a little bit more. But if you think about it, there's two reactions usually, and maybe even sometimes at the same time, to the fact that God has searched you thoroughly and he knows you completely. First of all, there's fear because you go, oh great, he knows everything that's going on on the inside of me and he knows everything about me. But then there's comfort because he knows everything about you.

And he still loves you. He knows everything about you that you've been able to hide from everybody else in the world. And he still loves you. And he still chose you. He says, you have searched me and known me. He goes on to explain what this all-knowing God knows about you. He says, you know when I sit down and when I rise up. That's all of my actions. You're aware of everything that I do.

There's no movement that you make. There's no place that you go. There's nothing that you do that God's not aware of. But not only that, he says, you understand my thought from afar. In other words, you know all of my thoughts and even their origin. Let me put it to you like this. He knows what you're gonna think even before you think it. And he still loves you.

He knows what's on the inside of your heart, what's on the inside of your mind, even the things that you can't articulate yourself. I gotta be honest with you. This past week, the past few days, I've just kind of lived in a little bit of a fog. Our entire family has lived in a little bit of a fog. And as I've kind of lived in this fog, there's been some times

where I've just really struggled to pray. Not because I don't want to pray, not because I don't think God's listening to me, but because I just struggle to get all of the words together in my brain to get out to God. But you know, we carry this idea of the fact that he knows our thoughts from afar into the New Testament. And do you know what it says in the New Testament in the book of Romans?

It says that even when you don't know how to pray, the Spirit helps in our weaknesses because he intercedes for us with groanings that can't be uttered. Because this week, I don't know how many times I've just gone, oh. And you know what the Holy Spirit says when I do that? He goes, I get it. I get it. I know exactly what you're saying. Because he knows our thoughts from afar.

Because he is the all-knowing God. Not only does he know all of my actions, not only does he know all of my thoughts, but notice what it says in verse three. You've scrutinized my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all of my ways. That word scrutinize means to discern. The actual word in the Hebrew is to winnow out. And the idea is to get rid of all of the exterior stuff

and get down to what's really true. God really discerns your path and he's intimately acquainted with all of your ways. What does he mean by that? It means God knows the path that's led you to exactly where you are right now. See, we can tell people our path. We can tell people the things that we've gone through, but nobody really knows everything that we've gone through

to get to the point where we are now quite like God. It's kind of fascinating this last week. When my dad, my dad kept having to give the history of everything that he'd been through and he's an amazing historian, right? Not only of just life in general, but of his own life and his brain is really, really sharp. It's actually kind of fascinating. So here he is in incredible pain,

losing lots of blood and having to have blood put back into his body. And as he's in the ICU talking to the nurse, they're trying to get when everything happens so that they can do everything properly. And he kept saying last night, the nurse said, okay, we're in a really strange spot right now. It's 2.30 a.m. on Monday. So last night, could either refer to Sunday night

or it could refer to Saturday night. You have to help me differentiate. So my dad starts using dates and he's like, okay, I don't even know what dates those were, but he gives the date for Saturday. He gives the date for Sunday. He gives the date for Monday. He even goes back to the date of the ninth when he got the blood transfusion and we're all just watching it going,

I didn't even know that's when all that took place. How does he remember all of that? But if he rules it that well, imagine how much better God knows the path that led him to where he was. And how much better, God knows the path to lead you to where you are. But not only does he know the path that led us to where we are here, but he knows the path that we'll take in the future.

You see, the future is an unknown to us, but it's not an unknown to God. It's unvisited to us, but it's not unvisited to God because he is the all-knowing God. So he already knows your path. That means that you don't have to stress about what the next step is because God's already there. That means you don't have to worry about what the next place is because God's already there.

He's already well acquainted with your path. And listen, there's nothing that you're gonna face tomorrow that God's not preparing you for today because he already knows your path. And I gotta tell you, that brought a lot of comfort to me. That statement is one of the things that's carried me through this week is that God's already in tomorrow and he already knows what's coming.

And I can rest in the all-knowing God who is well acquainted with my path. And so he says, he knows when I sit down, he knows when I sit down, he knows when I sit down, he knows when I sit down, he knows when I rise up, he understands my thoughts, he scrutinizes my path, he's well acquainted with all of my ways. And notice what he says next in verse five. You have enclosed me behind and before.

Some of your translations say encircle me and you laid your hand upon me. That idea is that the all-knowing God has granted you his divine protection and blessing. The idea is the hand of God's protection and the hand of God's blessing. But let me give you an illustration that ran through my mind when I read this the other day. Particularly Tuesday night. When my girls, both of them were little,

they went through their times where falling asleep was not the easiest thing in the world for them. It's hard when your kids start sleeping in their own bed, right? Like first it hurts your heart and then it hurts your ears, right? We all know that moment. It's like, oh, that's so sad. Oh, that's so loud, right? And so when they were having that time of trying to figure out how to go to sleep,

my oldest daughter in particular is a very touch-oriented person and she would just really like to know that we were there and she liked to sense our presence. And so what I would do is I would go and I would stand at the edge of her crib and I would take my hand and I would just lay it right down on the small of her back there. And as soon as I did, it was almost like magic. She would just start to drift off to sleep.

And if I removed my hand too soon, she'd wake back up and start to cry. So I put my hand back down on her. And it's like, she sensed my presence. She sensed the warmth of my hand so she could just relax and go to sleep because that's what she really wanted because that's what she was used to. That's the same idea of what David says here about God. He says, you have placed your hand upon me.

In other words, that hand of God's protection but also the presence of God placed down upon us so that it brings you rest because you know that the all-knowing God has his hand upon you and now you can rest. He says, you have placed your hand upon me. And then he goes on to say, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain it. David says, God, the knowledge that you have

is far beyond my finding. Some people don't like that about God. Some people say, I don't like a God that I can't understand. And I say, I can't worship a God that I can. If I can understand God, then he's not really God. But the fact that he's beyond my understanding, the fact that he's beyond my finding out is what makes him God and what makes him the one that I want to pursue

and what makes him worthy of not only my worship but all of my trust because he is the all-knowing God. Number two, he is the all-present God. He says, where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence? Where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence? The ever-present nature of God. We've talked about this before

because that was the promise that was always made to all of those Old Testament saints, right? It was made to the Old Testament saints. It was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and it's carried out through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The fact that he is with us wherever we go. So again, we can have two different reasons. We can have two different reactions to that.

Either one, it can be very sobering or two, it can be very comforting or it can be both at the same time. It's sobering because we realize everywhere we go, we take God with us. That he sees every part of what's going on in our lives because he is the ever-present God. There is nowhere that you go that God's not like, ooh, shoot, didn't see you there, right?

Because he sees us everywhere that we are because he is the all-present God. And so it's sobering in its nature because when we do things we're not supposed to do, he's there and he sees. But it's also incredibly comforting because it means a lot to us. It means that wherever we go, whatever we do, he's there and he sees. He goes on to say this. He goes on to say,

if I ascend to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, the depths of the earth essentially, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me. Your right hand will lay hold of me. In other words, you can't go anywhere that God is not because God is everywhere. Now, I want you to think about who wrote this.

Okay, David is the one who wrote this. And you can imagine him reflecting on his life in the Lord, reflecting on the things that he'd been through in his life and realizing that no matter what happened, God was always there. When David, the shepherd boy, was out in the fields with the flocks, seeing all of the stars and being overwhelmed by the greatness of who God was, God was there. When David was having to, as a shepherd boy, face the bear and the lion to try to protect the flocks, God was right there with him.

When he was alone and felt like he was the only one out there with all of the flocks, God was right there with him. But not only that, when David was anointed as king, God was right there with him. And when David defeated Goliath, God was right there with him. But when David was running for his life, when he was fleeing and he was stuck in the cave of Adullam thinking that there was no way out, God was with him.

When he pretended to be a madman because he thought that was the only way that he could be protected, God was with him. When he was facing the greatest, the greatest enemies, God was with him. And when he was king sitting on the throne, God was with him. When he made his greatest mistakes, God was with him. And when he repented, God was with him. And so he says,

where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence because you're everywhere? But as I got to thinking about this, you know this applies to my life too.

When I was driving my dad to the ER, he was there. God was right there with us. When we're sitting there with him and he's in more pain than I've ever seen a human being in in my entire life and there's nothing I can do for him, he was there. When he's receiving a blood transfusion, he's there. When he gets on the helicopter and I have to watch as my dad flies away,

he was there. When we're driving down to Tulsa at midnight, he was there. When we were in the middle of a surgery recovery room with the doctor saying, there's nothing else that we can do, he was there. When we had to go tell the rest of the family exactly what the doctor said, he was there. And I know that when I have to plan his funeral, God will be there.

But when we have to go through the time of healing and restoration, God will be there. Whether I feel it or not, he's there. But it's not just true about David in his life and it's not just true about Ryan in his life, it's true about you in your life. I don't know what you went through this week, but you know that God was there with you because you couldn't escape his presence.

Whether you were having the greatest week you've ever had, God was right there. If it was the worst week you've ever seen, God was right there. The highs, the lows, the goods, the bads, everything. Because you can't flee from his presence. And I don't know about you, but as much as sometimes that's a sobering thought, to me it's the greatest thought I can ever imagine.

It's that God is right there with me no matter what goes on. That he is always the ever-present God, that he is always Emmanuel, God with us. Matter of fact, he goes on to say this, if I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will be night, even if I say, even in the darkness or even the darkness is not dark to you and the night is as bright as day to you. Darkness and light are alike to you.

Even when I think that there's something that will separate me from the presence of God, it's not too big for God because he is the ever-present God. So number one is the all-knowing God. Number two, he's the all-present God. Number three, he is the all-powerful God. Now, this really got me, and at first I had a hard time understanding exactly what was intended.

I first wrote Creator God, and I was like, no, it seems to be a little bit deeper. And I read a commentary, and he referred to him as the all-powerful God. And I thought, that's exactly what he's saying here, is that he's the all-powerful God. Now, it's fascinating, because if we were to try to describe God as the all-powerful God, we would use a lot of very interesting ways to do it.

Perhaps we'd think about the thundering voice of God. Perhaps we'd think about his ability to defeat the enemies. Perhaps we'd think about the power of the most powerful things he's created. But that's not what David uses to describe the all-powerful God. What he uses to describe the all-powerful God is that he created you. That the all-powerful God created you.

Notice what it says. He says, you formed my inward parts, and you wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. He says, for you formed my inward parts. That word formed in the Hebrew is kind of an interesting word, because if you start to look it up in the dictionary,

it has a lot of ideas of acquiring or purchasing. And you're like, well, that's a really strange word to use to talk about forming someone, talk about creating someone. Well, as you dig a little bit deeper, you realize that at the root of the word, the idea behind it is to acquire by creation. To acquire by creation. Let me put it to you like this. God looked at the world, and he said, I need one of you.

And the only way that I can get one of you is if I make you. And so I'm going to acquire you by creating you. I like to collect things, in particular shoes. I'm becoming a little bit famous for it in my own household. I like to collect shoes. And I can just imagine looking and being like, ooh, I want a new pair of Jordans. That's the ones that I want, but I can't afford to buy those.

I will acquire them by creating them. Listen, I would need. I would need five more shoe closets if I could acquire shoes by creating them. So it's probably good that that can't happen. My wife's a little overwhelmed at the thought of it right now. But God looked at the world, and he said, I need one of you. I need one of you, so I'm going to create you. Do you ever look at yourself like that?

Do you ever think of that as who you are? That God wanted you, so he made you? Because that's what David says. The all-powerful God formed you. He says he. He formed my inward parts. Take a look at the next thing he says. He says he wove me in my mother's womb. He wove me in my mother's womb. Some of your translations say he knit me together in my mother's womb.

That carries with it the idea of a hands-on approach. Listen, God is not some all-powerful God who takes a step back and says, listen, I'm just going to let life happen as it is, and we'll kind of go from there. No, he takes a hands-on approach in every aspect of your life because the all-knowing God knew exactly how to create you, and the all-powerful God had the ability to do it. And so he wove you together.

And as he wove you together, I want you to notice what it says. He says, You know what that means? It means that God doesn't look at anybody and go, whoops. Right? Like he made you on purpose. And everything about you is on purpose. Everything about you is fearfully and wonderfully made because God made you. God created everything about you exactly as he intended for you to be made.

Now, I read a little bit about this. You know, there's some who are like, well, you have to be careful saying that because what about people that have, you know, there's birth defects and things like that. You know, the older I get, the more I know God, the more I don't believe in birth defects. The more I believe that God knew exactly what he was doing, and he's going to use everything for his glory.

My, you know... Y'all know that my father's visually impaired. So every nurse that he had to talk to, everybody that he had to talk to, legally blind in his left eye, prosthetic in his right eye. If you didn't know, my dad's right eye is the prosthetic. Hey, news. So they had to tell everybody all those things, and he recounted the story of how he became blind so many times.

I don't even know if y'all know this story or not. When my dad was born, he was born, according to science, prematurely. And because he was born prematurely, they put him in an incubator. And in the 50s, they believed that if a little bit of oxygen was good, a lot of oxygen was better. And so this happened to preemies, not on a frequent basis, but more than it does today.

They gave him too much oxygen, and there's a term for it. My dad could rattle it off right now. I can't remember the name of it. But essentially, an almost completely detached retina in his left eye. A completely detached retina in his right eye because of giving him too much oxygen. So he's always been blind. And it was fascinating. To listen to him talk to the hospice nurse was pretty fascinated by him

and his Braille Bible and everything. And so he's recounting the story to her. And I don't even remember what followed this, but I was fascinated at the statement because he said, I was visually impaired from the time that I was a baby. But you know, God really blessed me. And I thought, is that not? I don't even remember what came next. But the fact that you can put those two statements together in one sentence

are a testimony to the fact that he knows that he's, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. That God did not make a mistake with what happened to him, with him becoming blind. He will actually tell you that he is the man that he is today because he was visually impaired. Because he is fearfully and wonderfully made. And sometimes, sometimes I think we do a real disservice

by labeling people, well, that's a birth defect. No, no. That's something God's going to use. And he's going to use it in a powerful way. And God's going to use that to bring glory to his name in a way that nothing else can. Because God knows exactly what he's doing. He says, He says, You know what the phrase skillfully wrought means? It means embroidered with many colors.

Embroidered with many colors. Isn't that a cool way to look at who you are? That that's how God made you? Embroidered with many colors. Some of you are more colorful than others. But that's the point. It has to do with your personalities. And how God made you, right? And then he goes on to say, And your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were all written the days

that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. You know what that means? God knows the exact number of your days. You won't leave too early. You won't leave too late. He knows exactly how long. You will walk on topside of planet Earth. I've shared this before, but I'm going to share it again. Right after my cousin Jalen died, it was the day of the funeral.

And his dad, my uncle, who's also a pastor, Joe and Gene and me and my wife were sitting around our dining room table later that afternoon, kind of just talking over things. And we all started going, Well, if we would have just done this, maybe if we could have done this. And God, I blessed my wife at that moment with the wisdom to look at two pastors and say, God knew the number of his days. And we can rest in that.

And my uncle and I just kind of looked at each other and we went, good word. Because we needed to hear that at that point in time. That God knows the number of your days and we can rest in that. So many people are so stressed out. Oh no, what if I die today? Well, if you die today, that was the number of your days. Start trusting God with it. Start, do we want to test God every day?

Like maybe today's the day. Right? That's stupid. But we can rest in the fact that God knows the number of our days. I remember my dad told me a story and he actually told this just the other day. There was a guy that came through and did a conference here in Calvary Chapel of Arc City when I was in high school. His name was David Hawking. Fascinating Bible teacher.

Excellent Bible teacher. And he and my dad were talking and he was asking my dad about his vision. My dad said I was born premature and a little bit later, David Hawking looked at him and said, you know, you need to know something. There is no such thing as being born premature because you were born exactly on time. You were born exactly when God intended you to be born.

And that caused my dad to develop this saying. He says it all the time. He says, we arrive on time and we leave on time because it's all in God's hands. Right? And so that's what he says. He knows the number of our days. And I got to tell you, as I read this, you can look at it right there. It is underlined. That night. In blue ink. Because that's the pen that I was using.

Because I was like, he knows the number of the days. I don't have to worry about this. None of this caught God off guard. Because he's the all-knowing God. Because he's the all-present God. Because he's the all-powerful God. Therefore, he knows the number of our days. And we can rest in that. But not only that, he is the all-caring God. Notice what it says in verse 17.

He says, how precious are your thoughts. He says, how precious are your thoughts to me, oh God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. He says, how precious are your thoughts to me, oh God. Now, I want you to think about something. You ever gotten a text from somebody that's maybe a little out of the ordinary?

Get a message from them. They say, hey, I was just thinking about you. Just want to let you know I'm thinking about you. I'm praying for you. Just seeing how you're doing. That usually makes us feel pretty special, right? I try to do that when I'm thinking about it. I always do a good job of that. But I try to do that when I'm thinking about it, when somebody comes across my mind.

So I figure God has a reason for that. Makes you feel pretty good, right? When somebody says, I was thinking about you. Especially if it's not somebody, if my mom sends me that text, I'm like, whatevs. But if somebody else sends it to me, I'm like, hey, that's kind of a big deal, right? Now, I want you to imagine, if you will, somebody that's incredibly famous,

that you're like, this dude, this person would never in a million years text me. They would never call me. They don't know my name. They don't know I exist. They don't even know my state exists, right? And one day you get a text from them. I was thinking about you today. That's wild. How important would you feel at that point in time, right? Now, I want you to think about something.

The God who created you and the God who created them thinks about you all the time. You're on his mind constantly. You're constantly on his mind. And David says, how precious are your thoughts to me, oh God? The word precious can also be translated weighty. How weighty are your thoughts to me? In other words, sometimes when we think genuinely about what God does and that the creator of the heavens

and the earth would have me on his mind, it's just kind of a heavy thought, right? Just kind of makes you stop and think for a minute. Man, that's wild. The creator God thinks about me. As a matter of fact, he thinks about you so much that David says that his thoughts towards us are more numerous than the sand on the seashore. Now, last summer we were at the beach and I do this.

There are several places in scripture where it talks about being more numerous than the sand on the seashore. So every time I go to the beach, I'm a nerd, and I reach down and I grab a handful of sand and I sort of siphon it out and I get just enough to kind of fit on the palm of my hand, which isn't very much because I have small hands. We've established that already. And I start counting like one, two, three, four, five.

I'm done, right? Because it's hard to count grains of sand. And that's the idea. It's that he thinks about you so much that there's no way you could ever fathom how much God thinks about you because he's so crazy about you because he created you because he needed one of you. So he said, the only way I can have one of you is if I make you. The all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful God

cares that much about you. And he cares that much about me. And he cares that much about everything that's going on in your life. Because he is the all-caring God. He says, how precious. How precious are your thoughts. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. And when I awake, I am still with you. In other words, every morning, that caring, faithful God

starts this process over again. And so now we move into the prayer of David. Isn't this fascinating? A few weeks ago, we talked about prayer. We said that one of the best ways that you can start off prayer is to praise God. Because praising God resets your perspective. Right? We said that. It takes small problems and puts them in the perspective of a big God.

And that's exactly what David does. He took 18 verses to praise God. And now he's going to take five verses to pray. Five verses to pour out his heart to God. Isn't that fascinating? That maybe should give you a gauge for how your prayer life should be. But he goes into this prayer, and he switches lanes here real quick. He says, oh, that you would slay the wicked, oh God.

Wait, what happened to your thoughts are precious towards me? Oh, that you would slay the wicked. Oh, God, depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against you wickedly. And your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, oh Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred.

They have become my enemies. Dude, why the mood change here? Because this is what was on his heart this whole time. This whole time, David had enemies that he was facing that he felt like were too great for him. He had enemies that he was facing that he felt like were too overwhelming for him. And the only way he could truly bring his request to God is if he, first of all, started off

by reminding himself that God is the all-knowing God, that he is the all-present God, that he is the all-powerful God, and that he is the all-carrying God, because now he can focus on the enemies that were too overwhelming for him. And these enemies were doing everything that they could to go against the name of God and to try to pull him away from God. And so he says, I hate you. I hate them.

Destroy them. Destroy anything that would keep me from knowing you. Destroy anything that would keep me from you. And I have a question for you this morning. Is that how you feel about anything that would keep you from knowing God? Could you realistically pray, Lord, destroy anything in my life that keeps me from knowing you? That's a hard one, right? Usually there's some things in our lives that we kind of like

to dabble with just a little bit. I know that keeps me from knowing you, but I kind of enjoy that. My flesh kind of likes that. What if we really prayed, Lord, destroy the enemies that would keep me from knowing you? Destroy anything in my life that would keep me from knowing you, because I hate anything that would keep me from you. I think we might screw around and have

a little bit of a revival that took place, because it would start in your life. But that's what David prays. And as David prays that, he goes into a little personal prayer. He goes into a little personal prayer for himself. Verse 23, he says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

He says, Search me and know me. Exact same Hebrew words that he uses in verse 1, when he says, You have searched me, and you have known me. Now he prays, Lord, search me and know me. Why? Because God already knows. Now David needs to know. He's not praying that God would search it out for himself. He's praying that God would search it out for the sake of David, because God knows what's already in me.

God knows what I'm already about. God knows the thoughts that I have before I think them. God knows the words I say before I speak them. God knows the actions I'll do before I do them. God knows all of those things, and he knows the path that I'm going to take. So David says, Lord, search me and know me. Help me see what's on the inside of me. Why? Because we have blind spots when it comes to us.

We have blind spots when it comes to ourselves, because we believe our lies, because we believe the lies of our flesh. And what he says is, Lord, peel back the lies. Peel back the deception. Peel back the things that would keep me from really knowing what's on the inside of me so that I can truly be who you want me to be. He says, Lord, search me and know my heart.

And then he says, and try me, oh, Lord, and know my anxious thoughts.

Here's the thing about anxiety. Sometimes we can't figure out the root. Amen? It's like, why am I so anxious? I don't know. I've got to get down to the root of it. How do you get to the root of it? Well, you have to start by saying, Lord, know my anxious thoughts. That was my prayer for a lot of years of my life. Lord, help me to get to the root of it. I always describe anxiety to people

like this, say, anxiety is like taking a whole bunch of shoestrings and tying them all together into a giant knot, trying to untie it. And you're like, where do I even start? That's where God comes in. Because when we say, Lord, try me and know my anxious thoughts, he says, start here. And he begins to reveal how we can start to untie that knot and get down to the core of our anxiety.

He says, try me and know my anxious thoughts. And then he goes on from there to say, and see if there be any hurtful way in me. Some of your translations say, and see if there be any wicked way in me. I think the English Standard Version says, see if there be any grievous way in me. The idea is hurtful or wicked, but it can also be translated, see if there's any way of grief in me.

What does he mean by that? He means anything that grieves the heart of God. Is there anything in me that grieves your heart? Listen. You go through hard things in life. You're going to go through hard things. The benefit of going through those hard things is that you put your eyes back on Jesus, and you start asking him to reveal what's really in you. And he starts to break you down and tear you down brick

by brick to get back to the studs of your life so that you can be built up again, so that he can build you back into who he wants you to be. But it starts by saying, Lord, search me and know my heart. Try me. And see if there's any anxious thoughts in me. See if there's any wicked ways in me. Is there anything in me that grieves your heart? Brothers and sisters, one of the greatest things

God does in our lives is gently breaks us, pulls apart all the things in us that we've built up that are not of God so that he can rebuild us in him. He says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me. And then he ends with, and lead me. Lead me in the everlasting way. In other words, lead me in a walk

with the one true living God, the all-powerful God, the all-knowing God, the all-present God, the all-powerful God. Lead us in the way everlasting. My friends, life is hard, but God is good. And the only way we can deal with it is if we continually turn our eyes upon Jesus. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, you're so good to us. You have given us your word.

You've given us your spirit to understand your word. You are with us everywhere that we go. And we can rest in who you are. So Father, as we depart from this place this morning, may your word sink deeply into our hearts, fashioning in us the hearts of men and women of God. And Lord, I lift up anyone in here this morning that needs to turn their eyes on you,

that have gotten their eyes focused on the wind and the waves about them, that have gotten their eyes focused on the difficulties of life, or perhaps gotten their eyes focused on the cares of this world. And Lord, may our eyes be focused back upon the one true God, who is our sustaining force in all of us. Father, we thank you and praise you for who you are, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Be blessed. Your love is deeper than any ocean high. Than the heavens reaching on the stars in the sky. Jesus, your love has no Jesus, Lord of desert. I stand at the side. Mercy be on my day. Jesus. God, we just thank you for how much you love us, Lord. We thank you that your love truly has no bounds. Lord, your love is deep and it is wide. Deeper than the ocean and is higher than the heavens, Lord.

And we thank you that you love us that much. And let's pray that as we leave here today, that your Holy Spirit go with us and continue to minister to our hearts, Lord. We love you and we praise you and we thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.