Christian Faith, Trusting God's Presence, It's Me Again Lord

God wants to hear from you and never tires of hearing your prayers.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

God's mercy endures forever and is new every morning.

Trials and tribulations are opportunities to lean on Jesus and come forth as gold.

You know, sometimes we do go through things and we just don't know what we're going to do. And sometimes, have you ever felt that way? That it's like, well, it's me again, Lord. Here I am again. You know what? I want to tell you today that God wants to hear from you. He does not tire from hearing from you. You know, next time you're going through something and when things are tough and trials are going, just say, hey, Lord, here I am again facing something new. I need help that only comes from you. It's me again, Lord. Today we're going to look at Psalm chapter 118, verses 4 through 6. and today we're talking about it's me again Lord you know God never said that following him would be easy far from it I mean he said that straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it why? because it is a tough road it's not easy and people want it easy way. They want to get to heaven the easy way. But there's no easy way to heaven. Trials and testings are part of the Christian walk. But God said he would never leave us nor forsake us. We should never feel bad about calling on God and saying, it's me again, Lord. So today, that's what our theme is. It's me again, Lord. Trials and tribulations come, but God is always there to hear and answer. Never tires in hearing us. Never tires from hearing us say, it's me again, Lord. Hallelujah. Psalm 118, starting in verse 4, we're going to jump ahead a little bit. It says these words, let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endures forever. I love that. Him that fears the Lord. Now what does it mean to fear the Lord? Fear of the Lord in Proverbs 9 and 10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Well, see, why is it the beginning of wisdom? It's because a wise man realizes that if he wants help, he calls on the Lord. He calls on the Lord. That's where we get our help from. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. That's what the Bible says. And that's so true. See, fear doesn't mean that you cower in the corner. Sometimes that's what we think of. We think of fear and we think of being afraid and being cowering and poor and scared. But that's the wrong kind of fear that is talked about here. Literally, the fear that is talked about here means an awe of respect. That's what it means. And see, God deserves our respect. See, in a day and age when we see churches and Christians doing everything but God's will That's what we're seeing We're seeing churches let down on what the Bible is truly all about We literally are seeing churches give up on preaching God's word because they're too worried about how people will respond in this day and age. Well, you know what? We're going to get hate. People will think we're hating people. And let's face it, are Christians hateful people? Absolutely not. We're just saying what the Bible says. We're just following what the Bible says. and see preachers people want preachers to be the kind that sit there and say God loves you no matter what and God does love you no matter what but he also said this is the way walk ye in it you know we can't live a sinful life and go to heaven it's just not going to work we have to live a Christ like experience if we're going to get to heaven if we're going to make heaven our home it's not an easy way so we have to have the fear of the Lord we have to fear God we have to respect God we have to follow the Ten Commandments we have to do His will him that fears the Lord says that His mercy endures forever or literally in the KJV endureth it true I so thankful that God mercies are everlasting The Bible literally says His mercies are new every morning, right? And I am thankful for that. So that when I wake up in the morning, when you wake up in the morning, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you've got a new set of mercies. God's going to pour a new set of mercies down upon you. and you're going to have mercies to endure throughout the day. Hallelujah. There's a beautiful song that says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. Yes, I will sing. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. And with my mouth will I make known His faithfulness. I love that song. And it is so true. God's mercies are poured out. Just like that little lady we talked about last week, right? The little lady we talked about last week that when the miracle came, she began to pour out of the oil and the oil continued to stay, right? That's what God will do for us. He will continually pour out mercies upon us. in all of our trials in all of our tribulations in all the troubles that we go through God will pour out mercies hallelujah I love that verse 5 says I called upon the Lord in distress oh my have you ever been in distress have you ever had a problem and you just didn't know the answer you didn't know what you were going to do you didn't know what you were going to do how you were going to fix it You didn't know. The answer was just not there. I called upon the Lord in distress. See, Satan will come in like a flood. And he will distress us. And our only hope in the distress is to say, It's me again, Lord. I will call upon the Lord. Another beautiful song says, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. See, I love what it says in James 1 and verses 2 and 3. It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that your trying of your faith worketh patience. See, we look at distress and we look at trials and we look at tribulations and we don't look at them as a good thing. Because let's be honest, they're not really a good thing. But what God was saying through the prophet James, the apostle James here, was what he was saying was this. He was saying, I am going to use the trials and tribulations to help you lean upon me more. See, that's what trials and tribulations are for. They're to help us learn to lean more on Jesus I think of Job and I think of what a horrible situation Job went through Job lost everything in a matter of moments, right? We've talked about that so many times See, many people feel that Job's trials all happened over a course of maybe months or years But that's not true Everything that Job lost, lost in a matter of minutes minutes. I mean, that's the thing. When you read the story of Job, it says one came and delivered the bad news. And while that one was delivering bad news, yet another one came to deliver more bad news. So a matter of moments, a matter of minutes, Job lost everything that he had. And we go through trials and we go, oh, what are we going to do? And I mean not to belittle somebody's trials. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying, think about Job. Job lost everything in a matter of a couple minutes. Everything. That's horrible. Yet what did Job say? The Lord knows the way that I take and when I am tried I will come forth as gold. Hallelujah. See, that's the thing with gold. It has to be tried and fired. To purify it. That's what tribulations, that's what trials, that's what troubles are. They are to help us to become more like Jesus so that we can come forth as gold like Job said. That's what trials are for. I love this. He says in verse 5, the second part, he says, The Lord answers me and set me in a large place. Have you ever read that before and thought, what in the world does that mean? The Lord has answered me and set me in a large place. I had read that so many times and I read what different people said and different preachers said and heard what different preachers had said and then when I was reading this time around God showed me something that was a little bit different Maybe somebody had said this before I not saying I the only one But it was something that God that I never heard of and God told me and I was like that makes sense When you're going through a trial or a trouble, you're closed in by it, right? And it can feel what? Claustrophobic. You can feel like you're closed in all around. The Bible here, the Lord is speaking through the psalmist and he says, the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. He takes us out of the claustrophobic place and puts us in a large place so that we can breathe, so that we can have room to move. My mom is very claustrophobic and she cannot stand being locked in a room. You close the door on her in a room and she starts to panic. She really does. She cannot stand being in a closed room. it bothers her very, very bad. You know? And so if anybody has claustrophobia, you know what that is. You cannot stand being in an enclosed room. Well, see, that's what trouble does. Trials and tribulations can come around us and make us feel claustrophobic. But God will answer our prayers and set us in a large place and put us at ease. Isn't that awesome? That is so cool. I love that. I thought that was so cool. Verse 6 says these words. The Lord is on my side. Hallelujah. The Lord is on my side. I'll tell you, you can't have anybody better to be on your side than the Lord. Hallelujah. Romans chapter 8 verse 31 says, if the Lord be for us, who can be against us? Hallelujah. If the Lord is on your side, Satan cannot fight you. Hallelujah. I love that. I love that. That is so true. He says these words, The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can do unto me. After all, if God, the one that created all things, is fighting for you, you don't have to worry because you can't have anyone better fighting for you than that. Hallelujah. You know, it's so true. Sometimes trials seem to go on forever. now I'm going to share something with you today that probably you never thought of or maybe never even realized but this is really interesting I want you to take it home with you today if you've got a pen and a piece of paper write it down or you want to put it on your phone put it on your phone whatever the case may be this is really really good sometimes trials seem to go on forever sometimes they seem like 40 days right Did you realize that the number of testing in the Bible is 40? Want proof of that? I'm going to share it with you today. Look at this. Testing is 40. Israel wandered the desert for 40 years. They were tested because they would not depend upon God. Number two, Jesus and Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights through their tests. Is that not interesting? In Noah's day, the testing of the world lasted what? 40 days and 40 nights. the Israeli spies were sent into the land of Canaan for 40 days and 40 nights and in the greatest trial for many people the loss of Jesus Jesus was seen after his resurrection for how many days? 40 through all the trials it always equals up to about 40. Isn't that amazing? Now, so what I'm getting at today is if you're going through a lot of trials and you're going, oh, this seems like forever, realize testing can sometimes be 40 days or longer. I know that's very, very difficult to think about, but don't look at it as, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. Realize you've got to dig in and you've got to keep saying, it's me again Lord help me I need more help God help me this day as I continue this trial maybe it takes 40 days maybe it doesn't take that long maybe it might even have to take a little longer you never know but the point is this God said he would never leave us nor forsake us through all of our trials and that's the point So when you're going through trials, hold on. Keep believing. Don't get discouraged. God will come to your rescue. It may not be when you want it, but God ain't never late. And that's the point. He ain't never late. He always comes right on time So when you going through those trials just say it me again Lord Hallelujah Let bow our heads before the Lord this morning Heads bowed And as we just focus on God for just a moment, I just want to just ask you the question today. Are you going through trials? Is there troubles looming in your path? Do you feel like you can't make it? Is there trouble with family, with friends, with finances, with, you know, with your physical body, with whatever the case may be. Do you go through trials and you say, Lord, what am I going to do? Just say, it's me again, Lord. Maybe someone would be honest today and say, you know what, Pastor Jay, I am going through trials. Satan is beating me down so bad, and it takes everything within me to just keep saying, I'm going to hold on. Will you pray for me today? Will you be honest and raise up a hand today? Hands going up. That's beautiful. I appreciate that. And God does too. All over this house. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Maybe you're watching the video and you're saying, I have that. I mean, I may not be able to see your hand, but God has. And that's the major thing. Father God, all these ones that raised up a hand here in this house and maybe somebody that was watching this video they said, I have a need. I am having troubles. Father God, today, right now in Jesus' name, I pray that you will reach down upon those that are having these trials. These ones that are going through trials and tribulations. These ones that where it seems like a flood is just beating them down. Satan is coming in like a flood and every time it turns around it seems like it's another problem. Father God, today I pray right now to these ones that are going through those trials. I pray, Father God, that they will not be weary. That they will not have to worry. They won't have that mindset of, Lord, well, I hate to come again. But they will have that mindset of, Lord, it's me again. And they won't worry about that. It's me again, Lord. I got a prayer that needs an answer. It's me again, Lord. I got a problem that I can't solve. I don't mean to worry you, but here I am facing something new. I need help that only comes from you. It's me again, Lord. May they say that in their hearts. Father God, I need help. And Father God, I pray that their trials will be fixed. That their troubles will be solved. That their tribulations will end. That Father God, they will be blessed. That Father God, next week when we come to church, that someone will be able to testify and say, this week, God, I was calling upon the Lord and He answered my prayer. He answered my plea. He gave me a blessing and that we might be able to all worship together and be able to praise you for the blessings that you have poured upon your people. I pray that right now in Jesus' name. I thank you, Father God, for it right now in Jesus' name. I ask you, Father God, that you will touch and heal and help these ones that are going through these trials and tribulations. Father God, help us to say, it's me again, Lord. And not feel worried about doing it. I pray it right now in Jesus' name. I pray for those ones that are going through trials. Father God, their blessings will come. And their answers to their prayers will come. I pray it right now in Jesus' mighty name. And now, Father God, I just want to thank you. I want to thank you, Father, for the answer to the prayers. the answers to those prayers that are coming. I thank you, Father, that you do hear an answer. And I thank you that they're coming. Father God, may we not be weary, but may we depend upon you and know that you are going to come through. Because you never, never leave and you never, never forsake. I pray that right now in Jesus' name. Father God, I thank you for the miracles that are coming to you now. Father God, as we dismiss, Father God, I ask you not to dismiss us, but Father God, go with us until we meet again. Father God, keep us safe, bring us back safe. And Father, for all that you are and for all that you do, we give you all the praise, honor, and glory for it all. For you're worthy. We praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

Playlist coming soon.