WEBINAR 348 - He Changes My Story

you can be turning to psalm number three it's  time number three we have if you've been around   um these sunday mornings for the last two  or three years we keep going back to psalm 3   we've been there many times but every time we go  back it's because there's some something there   that needs to be said that wasn't said last time  and it's a it's a very rich psalm it was written   toward the end of david's life at probably  his very worst moment uh to think that david   even talks like he talks in this psalm is  is amazing when you know who he has been   you have to say what has happened to you david but  then he rises to maybe the greatest heights and so   it's a psalm of very deep valleys and very high  mountains and that's why we keep going back to it   and so psalm 3 i'm going to read  part of it just for the sake of time   it begins oh lord and notice that the lord is in  capitals which means actually it should have been   translated i am the i am yahweh is the hebrew  there oh i am how my adversaries have increased   many are rising up against me many are saying of  my soul there is no deliverance for him in god   but val oh i am utter shield about me  my glory and the one who lifts my head   and we'll do the other verses as we come to them  but that's the the essence of the psalm right   there i say it was his lowest point it was um  well let me go all the way back just before this   i mean just in terms of history um you you had  the sordid affair that david had with bathsheba   and i say saw did it was not merely an affair  you know he arranged for the removal of   bathsheba's husband uriah and it becomes one of  the most horrible the most sordid events in the   old testament and david had certainly received  forgiveness in fact it seems as you read psalm 51   uh and and psalm 32 that he's almost  reached forward into the new covenant   he speaks of a forgiveness that they didn't really  realize in the old testament and it was total but   that was between david and god people have tongues  and especially the people in the palace it was   before the days of cell phones before zoom and so  you relied on gossip and that's that's worse yet   and so it was on the streets people  talked david's not the man he used to be   and can you imagine what he did and you know the  kind of thing and um that was in the background   but it's been going on now ever since it  happened in the taverns around fires as people   talked it was there but also david had a very  dysfunctional family very he was the cause of it   he was very remote from his children and there was  one horrible event this is getting assorted story   um but it was it was a horrible event  um one of his sons amnon uh raped   his half-sister taymon well tamar was the full  sister of absalom and so absalom got infuriated   at his half-brother amnon and looked to david  to do something and make it right and david   instead ignored the whole affair and absalom  received a a bitter spirit toward david that   didn't quit absalom began to subtly win the  hearts of people he was a snakey kind of guy   he would stand outside the courthouse and when  people came out having received a negative   word from david absalom would put his arms  around their shoulder and say you know   i'm just a prince here i can't do much but if i  was king or you wouldn't dream what would happen   and so he built the confidence of the people and  again the rumors and the gossip started now by   absalom and by those who believed it was time  for a change you could keep going on wherever you   went it was now open on the streets gossip rumors  everywhere david's not what he used to be david's   an old man now it's time he left he's no longer  the kid who slew goliath it's time for a change   and then even among his closest circle of friends  uh they they turned some of them turned to absalom   not that david knew about it but they turned  this is getting bad and it got really bad when   david began to believe what he heard now that's  that's the issue here david began to believe   what they were saying and all the pressures  that are building what he calls distresses   and everything that stands in his pathway now it's  it's overwhelming it's get we would say today it's   getting to him and there's an overwhelmingness  about it and right in the middle of all that   absalom declares himself king has a coronation  and is marching on jerusalem and his bitterness   has risen to its full he wants to get rid of his  father take the place then when david hears that   he essentially falls apart uh the story that he's  heard all the people repeating and the gossip and   the rumors and the half-truths it's gotten to  him but now if absalom is marching on the city   it's over he got he just falls apart and he puts  on sackcloth and ashes which was the ancient   jewish way of saying i'm a dead man or i'm i'm  mourning the greatest loss of my life and he   goes out to the city just with as a refugee enough  things to live he goes with his private bodyguard   which seems still to be with him but as they cross  over the bridge to mount of olives there's another   one of absalom's people throwing stones at him  and the bodyguard says we go get him and david   says no and this tells me how low he's fallen  he says maybe god told him to stone me oh yeah   what has happened to this man he's in sackcloth  he's in ashes he believes god has authorized   people to stone him and he goes it's interesting  in a thousand years from when david stood there   that area would become known as the garden of  gethsemane and the crushing wine press and um   for sure um david was being crushed and he goes  up the mountain and when he gets to the top   and he turns around he looks over the whole city  of jerusalem as if in a farewell but instead   he sits there and writes this psalm this psalm  was written immediately after he fled the city   from absalom there's a number of psalms that  belong to this period in david's life but this was   the first one and he's he's looking back over the  city and he begins we just read the words oh lord   i am how my adversaries have increased many are  rising up against me many are saying of my soul   notice not merely of me he's saying they're  saying it of my soul my very being there's   no deliverance for him in god it's interesting the  word deliverance there if we actually just left it   in the hebrew it's the word is jesus um he it it's  a foretaste of salvation that will come in jesus   and that that's the the dead there's no there's no  hope there's no deliverance there's no salvation   left for this and then he's at the bottom of the  pit he's repeating as as his own thought process   he's repeating what the people are saying  that's what the the people are saying this   that he's saying it as his observation this is  very important that you get what i'm saying here   that he's not merely saying it this is what all  the people have been saying this is their rumors   this is their gossip when they say that their um  adversaries which is a word it would mean like   an attorney an accusing attorney that it's as if  they put david on trial that they've put him out   there as someone that is now being publicly  criminally accused and he uses the same word   and they're they're rising up and the people are  saying there's so much happening in david's life   god could never be with him no no no that's over  god's abandoned him and there is no deliverance   no salvation left for him that's what the  people were saying david is now saying it as   if it's his own observation he's repeating their  story this is so important because we so often   we are sucked in to the darkness of what  other people are saying okay there's a verse   which really demands an all an hour by itself  but it's isaiah 8 and verse 11 and i they were   having trouble in the city big time um they  were terrified it was all if this happens if   that happens and it says the lord spoke to me with  his strong hand upon me warning me not to follow   the way of this people he said do not call  conspiracy everything that these people   call conspiracy do not fear  what they fear do not dread it the lord almighty is the one you are to regard  as holy not not all these rumors is only one   that you listen to he is the one you are to  fear which is the old testament use of the word   and it means to stand in awe and worship so they  were worshiping standing in awe of every rumor   and negative idea and the lord says  no i'm the only one that you you   have that reverence for and it says he  will be your sanctuary isaiah had picked up   picked it up into his own spirit the the despair  and the fear of the people and it was now becoming   his own though really it was their story but  he was accepting it and becoming one with it   and he he's that points out something  you would never realize i was in moscow   once before the wall came down and um  it is it's most sad it's worse inside   it's a city of depression and the people line  up outside of blank doors four or five across   for nearly two miles because they've heard  a rumor there's food out behind that door   and many times there's only enough for 100 people  and um they stood there and we i would walk down   the street and look at them they were like robots  just staring and when the guy came out and opened   the door they went in and just grabbed whatever  and paid for the prison and they came out and   then the guy came out and says no more and nobody  complained they just turned around like robots   in utter despair that could not be made  worse or better it was just their state and   as i was walking to my hotel i felt despair  i felt utter utter depression i i felt   i won't say suicidal that would take it too  far but i mean i'd never felt such darkness   and in my hotel room i was saying what's  the matter with me what what's happened   and i realized i had picked up the spirit of  despair and darkness on the streets and as   soon as i realized that this particular scripture  came very much alive no i i am not part of that   um my whole response is to the god of  light and and so on but it's a reality   and it's happening so much here in the states  right now that we are picking up other people's   feelings and we think they're our own and they're  not they will be if we accept them but they're   coming and this is what david was doing he  has picked up what's happening in the city   and he's forgotten who he is and therefore he  says god has abandoned me why would he say that   because he believed what the people were saying  that there's no hope for him there's no salvation   for him and so yeah maybe god says stone me that's  it he accepted the darkness you say and um in   young's literal translation which i keep telling  you to get he puts it how have my distresses   multiplied many are rising up against me the word  distress which is the exact hebrew word there   it's a very strong word in the old testament let  me give you what it means distresses it means   a narrow and very tight place you could say  it's a canyon that you're walking through   and your shoulders are touching both sides but  as you keep walking it's getting narrower and   narrower so you can hardly move there's certainly  no room to turn around that really is the exact   meaning of the wood it's a narrow canyon that  becomes tighter and tighter your shoulders are   touching there's nowhere to turn i can't get  out and that produces a paralysis of the mind   you know that you just can't think i i don't  know what to turn um it's also produces a   panic i can't turn around i can't get  out of here i'm stuck and and so there's   fear in the world there's anguish anxiety  it's translated once in the scripture   which tells me sometimes what it really  means um as having a pebble in your shoe   but you can't get the shoe off and it's it's it's  there you can't take a step without it's there   and that's that's the element i can't move forward  okay but it also means this pain of this thing   every time i put my foot down i'm feeling  it i'm unable to get out of the shoe   um i've described it as a claustrophobic you're in  a crowded room you're pressed against each other   okay it's macy's on black friday you know yeah  you're hemmed in would be another good word   um but that's a panic i can't get out that that is  um really really what we're talking about and then   he says the the the things have risen up and that  really means exactly what it says but just to pull   it out it means that there is risen up in front of  you and it's immovable and i can't get around it   so there it is the impossible in my life  there it sticks in front of me and i i can't   get a it's risen up against me it's an obstacle  that's too strong for me can't get around it   and the context as i said a few minutes ago is  of an accuser it's a court appointed adversary   and it is saying of my soul it's talking about  my very being that god has forsaken me there and   the fear of that um with david it came to fear  of the future in fact further down in verse six   when he's got the answer to this is i will  not be afraid of temp which suggests he was   before and and so the the fear of an unknown  future the distresses i have have within the   fear i not only can't get out of this but i can't  avoid where we're going and so he's accepting the   accusation he's accepting it this is the way it  is now i want to take time on that um do you ever   do you know do you know why you you have emotional  belts um ever studied it do you know how long um   an emotion lasts just you get angry or even joy  but um we're talking negatives here you you get   any i'll say anger do you know how long actually  that lasts i mean if if you just take a picture   of your emotion it lasts for about 50 seconds  and and it would die after that it's got nothing unless unless you keep putting wood on the fire and you  do that in terms of a story that you tell yourself   what is it that caused the anger well now  let me tell you the story i'll tell you   what caused this anger she said this and she  did that and he did that can you believe that   and the story fuels the anger it keeps going now  it keeps going and the longer you tell the story   to yourself and to others so the anger continues  that's the life of the emotion and that can be   applied to any emotion uh see our thoughts are not  like little white clouds that scut across the sky   uh we would tend to think  of our thoughts in that way   that the i mean thoughts just pass through my  head and we don't believe they have any attachment   they're just passing through my head  but again speaking scientifically   every thought you think has substance it's a  thing it uh takes up space in your being and   uh it not only takes up space it actually  is deposited in various parts of your body   uh i mean it can actually be registered if you can  picture it as as it's happening you can actually   see it on a screen it's a thing it's that that  right there is um really saying it's a substance   someone said it's real estate uh yeah i mean you  thought something well it it actually took up   a physical place in your being and at the same  time becomes an energy source of whatever that   thought is about it becomes energy that affects  every cell of your body at the speed of light   you think something and every  cell in your body is immediately   part of that thing so if someone  says to you some tragic news   in one instant you will have a physical response  to that you might even develop ulcers in that   very minute which is a reality um people have  had a heart attack just by hearing a sentence   because a thought is not only substance but it  is a source of energy that goes to every cell   in your body and you've got 75 trillion cells  in your body they've all got your name on them   and when you think of thought everyone  is immediately engulfed in that thought   i was going to say think about that yeah um so our life the life that we live our  everyday life the way that we think if we're   always sad always see the negative side that is a  public record of the way we think the way we think   produces that in our bodies that has a mystical  way of making that's the way we do our work   that's the way we approach life and so we become  a person who's always the victim we're always   and it that is a public record of the way we think  we have produced it and now it's on show and so we   we tell ourselves we tell ourselves to tell  ourselves and of course all this happened so   quickly have you noticed how quickly you can tell  a whole life story just in a split second in your   head it's it's amazing i say again at the speed of  light we tell the story and if you notice how you   tell the story you finish it and then you start  all over again as if i've got to get this right   and if if you're telling the story to somebody  else if you notice those people they've just   told you the story and then they start telling you  again i i you just told me what he said you just   told me that and you told me how mad you were  why do you have to tell me a second third time   it's it's it's that's the way it works  the story the story and we we go to bed   with it we dream of it we can't sleep  at night get pain in the neck usually uh   it's our story so we got it we got it it's  our story trouble is it's really true really   there's always a bit of truth to it i mean i  guess the guy did say that and you were hurt but   you don't really know much about him to know why  he said it you don't there's a lot here you don't   know anything about but you've you've accepted it  as the ultimate final truth this is what happened   in that moment and it's all depending on how it  affected me but as i say it's a lot of half truths   then we have you noticed over about a week or two  we exaggerate and it becomes much worse it sounds   more like world war three now than actually what  happened but that's what we do and and we believe   it this is it becomes truth to us which opens a  door for further lies from the liar that is only   too quick to join us in the story um and the story  gains control it really did the moment we began to   repeat it but it now takes control of our life  i liken it to a hurricane coming across the gulf   you really have to live in texas or louisiana or  alabama to know what i'm talking about there but   these hurricanes come across the atlantic  and when they hit the gulf of mexico   which is just down the road from where we're  sitting um the heat of the gulf causes them   to become stronger and stronger and stronger  and stronger and they can massive overnight   and well whenever i read that or hear about it  happening i think of what i'm talking about now   that what just was a little tropical depression  in your head has now become a cat 5 hurricane   because it gains as as you talk as you talk as you  talk and you'll always have willing listeners they   love to hear gossip and so that you can have an  audience and and of course that really they're   not going to go there now but that that's how  sin began satan came to the couple in the garden   of eden and told a story it was a story about  you know how you poor victimized people that   you could be more than you are um but now just  follow my instructions and there's a story it's   for good reason he is called the prince of the  power of the air he is the transmitter of lies   which we pick up and that often  is the case nothing happened   except we pick up something and start  talking about it as if it's truth   okay and of course all um commercials on tv  are part of this whole network of but anyway   do you remember james chapter 3 verse 2 he's  talking about our talk our conversation and   he says that if you control your tongue the way  you talk and of course that begins in your head   all conversation begins in thought form he said if  you're able to he says you're then able to bridle   or bring under control the whole body that's what  i just said you've got 75 trillion cells that make   up your body it's what you think and what you  say that controls it and so he goes on you put   bits in a horse's mouth so they'll obey us he says  it's not merely a matter of obedience that little   tiny bit in their mouth directs their entire body  it's the direction and he said that's the tongue   and he says look at the ships they're they're  carried through storms by little tiny rudder   it says they're directed by a very small  rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot   desires he controls it through that little  rudder said that's your tongue whatever's   smashing against your life you walk through  it with your tongue that's that's the medium   of strength uh doesn't matter what is  facing you your tongue it controls your body   which includes my health it includes my mentality  my outlook certainly includes my spirit or again   he says how we could look at california a great  forest is set aflame by such a little spark and he   says that's the tongue you can you can set things  on fire for good or for evil with your tongue   it's a very world of inequity and um trouble is  our story that we tell it could be 40 years old   and by which time you have forgotten every detail  you're left with what you believe really happened   and that's why you look the way you do at 40 years  because it's been cursing your body it's been   dragging you down it's been you know i'll leave  it you get what i'm saying um we have guided our   entire life by that rudder of what we talk about  and believe and say his final truth that's it   um every time we tell it to ourselves or to others  we relive the event that's daft you know i mean   the scab was healing and then we can't tear  off the scab let's do it again let's feel   let's feel the blood run down our arm one more  time come on let's feel the pain that's what it is   when you tell it again the story and that let me  go back to the beginning it would have died in 50   seconds without you keep telling this story that's  what keeps it alive so anger 40 year old anger   because she just kept kept telling the bitterness  that then develops with that and feeling the hurt   all over again 40 years later believe me i've been  a pastor long enough to know these this happens   this happens uh shame what what the people people  live with visible shame and when you find out what   happened it was a lifetime ago and yet they've  kept telling themselves that no good that they are and of course the worst stories of  all are those we tell about the future   because they haven't even happened then  we become authors of fiction stories   and if you noticed we want to  prove that our story is true   so in order to prove it's true everything that  happens in our life we relate it to the story   and we say see i told you that and that's  it why am i taking all that time to say that   because that's what david was doing he's telling  a story did i do do you see how he is doing that   he's telling a story to god how my adversaries  have increased have you noticed lord you know   many are rising up against me many are saying  of my soul no hope for him in god the story   it's his report he's going over it this is  what they're saying this is what they're saying   it's a lament it's a long complaint  it's pouring out his pain and his misery   hopelessness as he sees it and his head  he heard it and it's a terrible story   i mean david do you realize what you're saying  here because it's a story of god's faithlessness   there's no hope for him no salvation for him what  do you mean david why even bring that up that's   a terrible thing you say that god has abandoned  you he's broken his covenant he's left you to die   he told shimai to stone you come on  david what kind of story are you telling   what kind of story is anybody telling when  you begin to put it on paper and analyze it but there's something good he's telling it to the  lord that i think it was the first time he had   i think up until now he's been telling it to  himself and listening to others and but now   he's saying oh lord now that changes everything  and what i like about david all the way through   his life he doesn't pretend to be a spiritual  giant he i mean yes i know it's a terrible words   terrible words i stand back and say david  is this really you but in another sense   i'm so glad he did that because you  see religion has taught us dishonesty   religion has said if you show any sign of  being miserable then this lack of faith   and um so we've got our way of meeting other  believers we put on a rigid mask of happiness   and we're falling apart inside but we didn't tell  anybody because they will think then we've lost   our salvation or something because religion  is all phony it's all out here it's all fake   and but this this is the real mccoy he's  not pretending to be a spiritual giant and   he's not ashamed of telling the lord this  is what i'm feeling this is what i'm seeing   thank you david thank you he's telling the story  that is fueling his fear but he's telling it to   the lord which includes the lord into it now  he's included the lord into his conversation   now that is what has made it different oh yes he's  still telling us that he's afraid that he's frail   that he feels shattered he feels lonely forsaken  he tells us he's falling apart he's facing a   future of loss he's lost everything he's lost  everything that he's left with sackcloth and ashes   his palace his wealth is all left behind  and he's lost his son he's lost his family   yeah possibility of death but it's no  longer going over and over to himself   he's now opened it up and said this is how i'm  feeling and that is so important and i've said   this too many times to repeat it in detail  here but on the road to emmaus that's the   classic one when jesus comes alongside and he says  you look sad you know if if i was the risen christ   lord of heaven and earth i think i'd approached  him differently saying okay guys relax it's me   you know instead he won't stop there they've got  to tell him they've got to open up their story   and let him inside their story then he can talk  to them and so he says well what's the matter   and he says are you the only one in jerusalem you  know and he says what things and he brings them to   pour out their hopelessness their despair  what looked like the end of their life   coexistent with the crucifixion then  he says boy you are thick-headed guys   and he begins and then he says did not our  hearts burn within us but it started right   here where david is the honesty the what  to most people will be terrifying honesty   to stand before him and and  say i'm not the spiritual giant and then it says see la you've noticed that in  the psalms that little word sila it's a great word   it means okay i said it now let's  think about what i just said   pause pause in the presence of god stop  listen to what he say think about this in his   presence or you could say it means to regather  refocus recalibrate your heart to god's heart   i suppose you could say it means get new lens for  your glasses see things straight see love stop   i have just said this maybe that's  the first time you really heard it   because when you're telling it to yourself you're  so immersed in it you don't really it's just   but now you've opened it up and you've  dared to tell him where you're at without   any apology and without any kind of spiritual  food that's gonna make it look better you just   here i am and that's the only person god can deal  with because he only deals with truth and all   that other religious nonsense only separates your  mind from his and sila means what have i just said and let's let's refocus what are  you saying about what i've just said see david's in an awkward situation here  and i think it's worth at least mentioning   because i think there's many persons who might  have this same problem david was consequencing   you know what i mean by that yes he was  forgiven of david and bathsheba's sordid affair   incredible and forgiven to the point he was  walking on the ceiling and blessed is the man you   know but he did it i mean in history it happened  and it happened at the center right the king   of israel you throw a stone in the water you  can be forgiven if it wasn't supposed to be done   uh but i'm sorry the stones still went in the  water and there's ripples now going all the way   to the shore and what the people were saying  on the streets they've got their own problems   but he did it he did it sorry david i mean  but you're consequent this is a consequence   and yeah you you have messed up your family  big time you do not get a father's award   um you you're the poster child for  a father that screwed it up now   absalom is doing what he's doing he's got  his real problems absalom's got problems but you kind of are part of those problems   and i want to emphasize it that he is  consequencing consequencing um there's   a consequence to every action we take  there's a consequence to every word we say and so many people think well that's it i  deserve this no no no hold it david consequenced   and this was the consequence of a screwed up  underbelly if you like it's not the david we know   about too much but this is the consequence well  what do you think god who is love does about that you really think he sits back and says  okay guy you made your bed now sleep in it   he might say you made your bed but now he says  let us sleep in it if you are consequencing   then let me tell you he is consequencing with you  that's the amazing thing the the evangelicals love   that word backslide it turns up every sunday  sooner or later um well if you backslide not   that the word is mentioned in the new testament  by the way it's totally an old testament word   but okay if you like the word you can have  it um if you backslide he backslides with you   that's shocking isn't it that's love i mean go  back to the one we always go back to the sheep   when the sheep went into the wilderness it  backslid he was having a jolly good time in   the flock and then the stupid idiot went into the  wilderness it backslid into the and the wilderness   was the consequence of its stupidity of following  every stray piece of grass until it lost them   so what does a shepherd do he consequences with  the sheep stands in the same place as the sheep   same dangers same everything he's  right there as lost as the sheep   except he's not lost he knows where he is if you i i don't think anybody listening has  had an affair in which you ended up murdering   the husband of the lady um but should you be  here listening that you'll pay consequences   they'll become but he joins you and makes  your shame his shame makes your position   his position and walks out of it with you  that that's about that deserves an hour but i   and what david did at this point  is recognize that i have to believe   that's part of why he was in such desperate  straits because he i brought this on myself   but at that moment he realizes as sila  he pauses he he brings everything into   into the line with with the heart of  god and he realizes he's with me in this   and sometimes there's that but david said  in other places my heart is fixed and   if i take out the picture we just looked at  that our words are the rudder of our ship   well in old times when they had sailing ships  and you had the big wheels that connected with   the rudder i don't know if you know this but in a  storm the steersman would tie himself to the wheel   with ropes so that as the rudder wants to go every  which way he's tied to the wheel and it can't it's   got to go where he says he's going yeah and  what does david do here he is tying himself   or recognizing actually recognizing he is tied to  what god says and not what the people are saying   he's tied to what god says not what  he said about himself and in this   moment as his rudder is about to go all over the  place he realizes he's tied to his wheel in god um and god's voice mocks the voice  of all the people dismisses them and at that point david changed his story  now this it could be the most important   thing that i'm going to say because um it's  it's different he changed the story to see   everything that was happening from god's  point of view which is the only truth   and he says but that's the great word that is i'm  not denying that the people are saying this but it   no longer means anything because there's a greater  story that cancels the lesser story but you   oh i am that's what they're saying but now i  am choosing but you but you contradicts and   changes the entire story and let me tell everybody  listening to this that those words but you   contradicts and changes every story in your  head which amazingly will change the message   to 75 trillion cells which will change the real  estate of thoughts in your life which will change   the shape of your body which will change the  shape of your shape physical shape of your face   and cause you to move into a realm of holy  spirit reality just those two words but   thou but now what does that mean hmm well  of course it means that i no longer camp   at the story it's no longer my story  that i just can't wait to tell you   that's over i don't fret over it which means  there's a lot of questions that i no longer ask   because the way he was telling the story he  would be saying why didn't i see this coming   are you stupid david why  didn't you see this coming   and then if only i had been a better  father that really is at the heart of it and i'm the king i fail i'm the pastor of this  people and i failed you can those three questions   could take a lifetime of going over and over and  over and over i've met pastors that have said it   for 50 years now because of a mistake they made  50 years before the moment she said but thou it's   the end of that i'm i'm it's the end of this  camp and i'm not around this campfire anymore   which means we no longer ask those questions  but there are no and this is very interesting   and stay here a long time he doesn't question  god he doesn't say why did you let this happen he didn't even say have you abandoned me  doesn't bring that up that's interesting   whereas what i say to everybody never ever ever  ask god why because there's no answer to that the   answers inside the heart of god and the question  rather is what are you being to me right now   not why nor does he argue and debate the  accuser he doesn't say to himself as if   well you know i'm not as bad as that you  know you shouldn't be as hard on me as that   uh he doesn't there's no no mention of that  at all nor does he rebuke the devil he doesn't   some people think that's the answer to the devil  david doesn't bring it up doesn't even turn inside   to say okay i promise myself i will not  say negative things again doesn't say that   you can't tame your speech   it's um nor does he promise that if god gets him  out of this he'll do this and that and the other   i hope you're taking note of this  because these are the ways people   come right up to this and then miss it  because of all these silly things they do   but maybe the most important thing is he doesn't  pray good grief he doesn't pray and ask god to   intervene he doesn't pray and ask that god will  come and do something or even become something that's amazing he just simply makes a declaration a bold one and notice i think you've got it now anyway but  but thou and i've said before thou is old english   and doesn't appear in our modern translations but  it's the most intimate you is the plural of thou   if you've ever had lessons in english they  would have taught you that in england anyway   that um the conjugate the verb i am thou art and  then the plural is you are well we we've dumped   now it's gone now and so there's no word for  intimacy it's all y'all you know it's used but um   thou thou david was speaking most intimately  you in the most intimate intimate way that is   he hadn't found a doctrine that got him out of  this he hadn't found a formula it was a thou   intimate the i am the living person the unchanging  the faithful the truth the all-sufficient i am and that i am himself is the shield  the glory the lifting of his head that's so important because i mean i i mean  right now i'm addressing a hundred things   that i've heard people say thinking they're  getting themselves out of the dilemma no it's   not that you've found the doctrine of formula  it's you've woken up to realize and remember   your relationship this intimate relationship um  and you are you think about you are my shields   where if you are my shield then it means you do  not give me a shield you understand it doesn't   say you give me the shield that'd be neat but  the moment if if i say that i give to marshall   my new testament well it leaves me and becomes his  which means the whole thing is a separation now   whereas if i would say i am your new testament it  means you'll never again turn to the new testament   without me because i am it see so he doesn't give  you a shield he is he doesn't give you something   called glory he is he doesn't give you some  formula that makes you happy and lifts your head   he is it that's what it's saying he  is it he's he doesn't give things   there's no such thing as a love that god gives  you he is the love he doesn't give you joy   he is the joy because that's union that  that's what we're called to this is the life   we're so oned with him that he  is the gift as well as the giver i could say this is the essence of worship   worship is primarily 24 7. it's not something  we do in church gatherings um it's the way we   talk we're back there again so what you think is  worship worship is acknowledging the centrality   the oldness the i am-ness of god and it is  saying that we love him we adore him we trust him   well you do that with words with thoughts  then when we come together by the inspiration   of the spirit we might move into song because  song elevates language into another dimension   but if you haven't been talking it and thinking  it all week it's phony idiocy to come and sing   it on sundays uh worship is a lifestyle  it's one and that's what david is doing   and he says you are a shield about me  you know the amazing thing about this   that he's just got through saying there's  no hope for him in god and the next   heartbeat he says you are a shield about there  be some due repentance in here some i mean   couldn't he be miserable a bit in the middle  and say i screwed up a no that was invented by   religion um if you get anything out of  this from the deepest depths of darkness   he went straight into the heart of god and says  you are my there is no waiting period there's no how i i don't care i mean i'm looking at all your  faces on the screen i'm looking at the people here   i have no idea where you're at honestly i i  don't i don't know what goes on in the deepest   depths but if you find yourself in the middle of  depression and darkness and there's no way out   from that feeling from that middle of that  situation go directly without the breath   to you are my because there is no in between the  in between may be getting used to it but in fact   there is no in between you are a shield about  me and notice about me shields are not about   they are in front of you that's what shields are  you hold it in front he says you're a shield about   me round about me meaning you shield me at the  back and the sides in the front you shall be   and what is a shield a shield absorbs what's being  hurled at you it depends on the method of warfare   but in david's day a shield absorbed the arrows so  they didn't get to david they went into the shield   and what he's saying here that you are the shield  you're the one all this that they're saying about   me all the poison arrows that they're hurling  at me you absorb it and it becomes yours and   you dismiss it i don't have to deal with it but  i love the next one he says you are my glory   now i mean i can understand each one of these  but every i mean david was king and all the glory   of being a king he has just  left it behind in the palace indeed sila think about that i mean are we talking  money well we know from various other parts david   had lots of money well it's all in the palace  he's lost it absalom will come and use it   and his royal attire which is  the human way of displaying glory   which with the crown and the hermione capes and  everything else and all the way through human   human society we all have certain things that show  our glory the stripes on a soldier's uniform the   you know what i'm talking about the glory that  was all but it reflected who he was it was hear   me carefully the glory of anyone is the opinion  that someone else has of them that has now been   woven into class or beaten into golden grounds  in silver and whatever does that make sense glory   in terms any human glory we understand it as  being the opinion of someone else that's why   someone has to give that stuff to you you are  coronated when a crown is put on your head and   the cape around your shoulders and the um orb in  your hands is given to you and when a there's a   in in the armed forces you go and you receive your  medals and honors and things around your neck and   someone gives it to you because it's the opinion  of someone about you that's your glory and a king   especially that is the opinion of the nation he's  the pastor of the people and it's in their opinion   yeah he sure has lost it the opinion of the people  is you're finished man you're done there's nothing   left to the old man you're like a junkyard dog  let's throw stones at him get him out of here yeah and he says you are my glory that  is i am now clothed in your opinion of me   i now wear the crown of your opinion i can spend a lot of time here you know  i'm i'm wrapped in your opinion of me   that is my honor that's my majesty and i don't  care if they've taken everything else away   they've taken away my medals and they've  taken away my crown and they're using my money   but at my heart of hearts nothing  has changed your opinion of me   is what now i'm left with  no it's what i started with   you're my glory i am radiant with your presence  and remember when he said that he was still   wearing sackcloth so this is radiance in sackcloth  you know he says you're the lifter of my head   which i mean when i'm depressed well again  of course 75 trillion cells you're depressed   up here in your head so what happens your  body goes down and you you show it you you   hang your shoulders you stare at the ground you  can't look people in the eye all our invisible   emotions have a physical expression and so  the down of the head the shame sound no good because um in religion that's counted as  holiness the the more you can tell everybody   especially god that you're worthless and you  can't lift your head then the more holy you are   because that is one of those damnable lies that  we were raised with because he says you o lord   you lift my head up under my chin you lift  my head up you put my shoulders back but if   he lifts my head where do i find myself looking  in the eyes of the person who's lifting my head one of the underlying structures of the whole bible is righteousness  and righteousness has nothing to do with behavior   righteousness doesn't mean you've  piled up a list of things that are good   that you've done righteousness is a very ancient  word especially in english but in most languages   it's um a word that means a right to  relationship it means face to face   so when it spoke of jesus as god the son in  the beginning was the word the word was god   and then it says in our bibles the word  was with god but the greek there is prose   p ros which means face to face and so the holy  trinity is described to us as dwelling in face   to face in this perfect relationship  which the english word is righteousness   which means it's balanced another way of looking  at righteousness is the scales the balance um   i i don't want to pursue that but that that that's  face to face so when he says he lifts my head   it means he's bringing me at least into the  realization of righteousness which of course   is the last thing that these people are talking  they've said there's no salvation for him in god   well he says he brings me face to face he brings  about a perfect balance that when god looks at   me he looks at himself and his righteousness  face to face or the word that goes with that   of course his union with a union with him all  that he is we are for me to live is christ and that's we were created for that posture  and in christ it's been realized and david   anticipated that and he says you you did  you you did this you are a shield around   me you are my glory you are the lifter of  my head the restorer of my righteousness   the liar always pushes us down and jesus  always we've talked about this before   andrew's talked about it too um i think you did  once too um that in fact you were it didn't matter that when when um john saw jesus he fell at his  feet and jesus lifted him up but in order to lift   him up jesus had to come down and lift him up  see religion says good that's where you belong   grovel stay there tell me you're unworthy the god  of religion loves it when you spit on yourself   but jesus comes down right where we are and  lifts us up face to face um that's what he   does we could multiply those ideas um david said  that that's it he changed his story so every time   he hears what they're saying and anytime it  rises by habit inside of him he counters it   you are my you are my you are my that's  interesting he doesn't deal with the   story they told doesn't deal with his own  story he ignores it and replaces it never   go and try and change your thinking replace your  thinking with god's thinking yeah so then he um   sums it up now he said i was crying to the lord  with my voice that is when he began to tell the   lord his old story he says and he answered  me from his holy mountain think about that   sila yeah he had told him and what was  the answer the answer was the realization   bursting on david you are mine and then he  says i lay down and slapped good grief man   absaloms marching on the city you got out  by the skin of your teeth and you're only   a very short distance from the city it's time  to run for your life he says i'm taking a rest in in young's literal translation the i there  is emphatic we can't do it in english unless we   just say it emphatically but in in the hebrew and  so in young's literal translation it says i i the   two eyes he said i i lay down meaning yes  you got it right the man who just said that   i i'm the one i laid down that battered  man is now in such perfect peace such rest that there's no need nothing else to be  added to it i i i don't rest and then he says   he awoke and was sustained  felt like a million dollars   now he shouts i will not be afraid of 10 000  people who have set themselves against me   before he says many are those who said you know  oh there's so many they've risen up against me   there's no way past them now he says my my  you are my you are my you are my therefore i   will not be afraid of 10 000 people who have  stood in my pathway and rise up against me   so a thousand voices tell their story of doom  he's got one voice but it's one voice that is   absolutely one union with the voice of god and  therefore his one voice drowns out a thousand   voices no wonder because in revelation it says the  the voice of the lord is the voice of many waters   that kind of drowns everything out and that is his  voice and so i said again he ignored please i've   tried to say um things that he didn't do because  they're all the things we usually do do and one   is we don't ignore we we try to fix it we say i  won't do that again and we keep going back there   no david totally ignored it and simply replaced  a new story without reference in the old story   he ignored he replaced and he had a  story that was instead of the other story   and then he looks at the future and it's  interesting he says arise oh lord save me   oh my god now listen remember where he is on the  top of the mount of olives looking over jerusalem   just now with the telegram in his hand that says  absalom is marching on him right we couldn't be   closer to the beginning of this story he says  for you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek   you have shattered the teeth of the wicked  salvation that word that they said is   salvation belongs to the lord not to you  guys your blessing be upon your people   so before this thing has really started he's  saying you have finished it remember we talked   about it before how jesus addressed much of life  by saying the hour is coming but it now is yeah   this has got to unfold a lot would happen with  this story it's it takes up two or three chapters   and two or three psalms too so this is  right at the beginning but david is saying   it this is why it is this is where it  finishes and even so it now is it's   already a reality in my heart and notice where he  says you've smitten all my enemies on the cheek   you've shattered the teeth of the wicked that was  a hebrew expression to describe talking because if   if you're talking to me and i punch you in the  mouth that makes talking difficult and but then if   i break all your teeth well you're done and that's  the hebrew idiom that is here and so the passion   translation has that um what is it you have you  have broken or breaking the power of their words   to hurt me and he captures what that means there  so there it is there it is and i i i've said a lot   and i hope you've picked up the bits and  pieces of it just in you know in what i've said   um if if we if we face loss and most  of us some area we face lost some   nothing as dramatic as this but does it need to be  dramatic to create a story that will last forever   um overwhelmed that's probably a word that  we can relate to better uh become aware   of storytelling really really really become  aware of it because we're not aware of it   we are not aware that we are telling ourselves  a story that we believe is the absolute truth and usually if not always it's a story that we've  forgotten to open up to god which means we're   telling a story that is purely it's just us in  this story with exit god's not in our remembrance   he's there of course but we're not acknowledging  him that that's that's big be aware of how you're   guiding your emotions your mental physical health  you know how to live on the spirit that's going on   and remember to go straight with boldness to  your true self in union with christ that's   probably the hardest thing for the religious  because with the religious all that you know   what you have to do raise your hand come forward  stand there like an idiot say this prayer after me   try to do the best come to no straight out from  the deepest depth straight into you are mine and then rest and don't feel illegal when you rest rest and let there be lots of selas  in your life lots of silas   when it begins stop did  you hear what you just said is that really the truth all the way through to shout but thou okay i've landed my plane and so now the blessing of god to his almighty  love the father the son and the holy spirit   his enlightenment overshadow every ear that  listens and every heart that takes it in   that we shall rise in but thou and become the  people we truly are in christ so i bless you   and so it is amen you

Channel: MalcolmSmithWebinars

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Length: 76min 27sec (4587 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020