A Study in Psalms - Psalm 91

All right, welcome to our third annual summer of psalms The first one we did we zoomed because we weren't even meeting in the church for those weeks And then last year we looked at 12 different psalms and this year we're going to do 10 weeks And we'll probably look at nine psalms because one of them is very long and we'll split it, but I want to welcome you here tonight this year i'm excited to uh Teach this series because I didn't choose most of these psalms some of you did We asked you last year and some people came to me and said think about this psalm.

Normally I'll read a psalm. I go through them every day Read through them through the year and I pick one to go. I want to I want to teach that I want to preach that one But this year you chose them so it made me work a little harder dig a little deeper But it was well worth it and I hope it will be for you i've said many times that Everyone should be reading a psalm a day And if you read a psalm a day In two years, you'll read through the book of psalms five times And your prayer life is going to grow which we'll talk about tonight Your praise life will grow which we'll talk about next week And you'll draw closer to the living god and you'll find comfort in difficult times When you have trouble and difficulty We're going to look at the psalm 91 tonight.

I call it the 911 psalm Next week we'll look at psalm 98 the joy to the world psalm And then we'll look at psalm 88, which is the saddest psalm in the entire psalter And then we're going to look at the do not fret psalm That's the one with 40 verses and we not psalm 37.

We might have to take two weeks for that one Then we're going to look at psalm 147 called the one psalm And then we'll look at psalm 77 the worthlessness of wealth psalm and then psalm 101 overcoming depression psalm And then psalm 145 I'm, sorry I got that backwards the the overcoming psalm Is psalm 77 overcoming depression is psalm 77 And psalm 101 is the commitment psalm And then psalm 145 is the last praise of king david So that's nine psalms and we'll probably have to take two weeks to do psalm 37 So if you would turn them in your bible to psalm 91 And we'll pray psalm 91 Father we praise you tonight because we can open the the book of psalms And we can learn from you And we're father our prayer tonight is that when we leave this place we'd be drawn closer to you And that we would take time Throughout the day to pray without ceasing we ask this in jesus name amen So psalm 91 As you see the top has no heading and has no author and i'll look at that in a little bit But i'm not going to give you a lot of background on the psalms I did that the last three years i've given you lots of information about the psalms But just quickly, you know the book of psalms it took almost 1 000 years to write There's no book of the bible quite like it of the 66 books The earliest psalm was psalm 90 which tim opened in our worship service on sunday, right?

And that psalm was written by moses and was probably written about 1405 bc And then david's psalms which he wrote about 73 of them. He would have written his psalms between 10 20 and 9 75 bc Solomon would have written psalm 127 and 72 approximately 950 bc And we believe at least two psalms appear to be Contemporary with the babylonian captivity in the 6th century. That would be psalms 126 and psalms 137 written about 500 bc so you can see almost 900 Over 900 years to write this book of psalms. We know that there are at least seven authors David wrote at least 73 and then there's 27 other psalms written by an additional six authors But tonight's psalm is one.

We call the orphan psalm. There's 50 of the 100 psalms. We don't know who wrote them Now look at psalm 90 real quick tim opened it when prayer on sunday psalm 90 verse 1 it says Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations Okay emphasis on dwelling place now look at our psalm tonight psalm 91 and look at verse 9 it says Because you have made the lord your dwelling place the most high who is my refuge?

So some commentators would make the case That psalm 90 and 91 are written by moses emphasis on that dwelling place. That's a pretty hard To prove that but possible they are lined up uh Charles spurgeon says in the whole collection of psalms. There is not a more cheerful psalm than this one Its tone is elevated and sustained throughout Faith is at its best and speaks. Nobly j. Vernon mcgee said that psalms 90 is the psalm of death So psalm 91 is the psalm of life Psalm 91 has given us two great hymns I'm, not sure we've sung them here, but one is and is there care in heaven by edmund edmund spencer?

And another one is he liveth long who liveth well by horatious bonar The type of this psalm if you're into the categories, I usually tell you Uh, there's about seven different kind of categories This one would be a song of trust a song of trust and the main idea is just trusting in the lord Trusting in the lord so much that you talk with him you dwell with him you abide with him One interesting fact about psalm 91 Uh happened in world war one world war one was the war that was called the war to end all wars Which didn't actually happen, but apparently in some psalm 91 was the favorite psalm of the soldiers in the trenches In world war one and it became known as the trench psalm.

So if you've seen the movie 1917 which most of it's not in the trenches, but wonder woman is you saw the trenches and uh warhorse You've seen not too many world war one movies But the soldiers spent their time in the trenches and if they stuck their head up and charged there was barbed wire There were machine guns poison gas all kinds of new weapons so apparently many people they memorized psalm 91 And uh, it was called the the trench psalm So I didn't know that before so many of those soldiers would die but god was their ever defense by knowing psalm 91 The book of psalms is in what we call the five books of poetry And you know, we have 66 books in the bible 39 in the old testament and five of the books of the old testament Are what we call poetry books?

The first poetry book is job. And when i'm when i'm done with psalms in 10 weeks lance will begin the book of job Job is the book that teaches us how to suffer Psalms is the book that teaches us how to pray and that's what we're going to talk about tonight Proverbs is the book that teaches us how to act And ecclesiastes is the book that teaches us how to enjoy And song of solemn song solomon is how to love so how to suffer how to pray how to act How to enjoy and how to love All the psalms are wonderful, but there's certain ones that give strength and comfort especially during trying times Psalms 91 is one of those psalms that people turn to in times of sickness in times of trouble That's why I call it the time to dial 9-1-1 psalm.

Has anybody ever heard dial 9-1-1 Anybody Few of you, okay The number 9-1-1. Do you know how it was introduced? It wasn't until 1968 that they came up with the idea to have a standard emergency number and on february 16 1968 alabama senator rank and fight made the first 9-1-1 call in the united states in haleyville alabama And that was with the alabama telephone company a week later.

Nome alaska implemented the 9-1-1 system And subsequently almost every county in the united states now 99 of america has the 9-1-1 after its initial Reluctant acceptance in the 60s and the 70s the 9-1-1 system spread across the united states And i'm going to take the case tonight that as believers in jesus christ, we need to dial 9-1-1 like never before We need to dial 9-1-1 in prayer to our heavenly father Like no time ever in the history of america or our world because we're in a spiritual warfare We're in a spiritual war and it's a time of emergency and it's a time of an urgency as our country and our world Are slowly becoming like genesis 6 5 that says the lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth And that every intention of the thoughts of the heart was evil continually There are three paragraphs and most of you should have an outline if you don't have an outline There's one back there, but the first paragraph I'm going to read the verses by the paragraphs.

So we'll just read the first two verses now, but point one is dial 9-1-1 Because of god's character and that's verses 1 and 2 So let's read verses 1 and 2 of psalm 91 He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty I will say to the lord my refuge and my fortress my god in whom I trust If you remember last year when I mentioned when you look at the paragraphs in the psalms always look at the personal pronouns Because they change so this first paragraph you have he And I a few times in my my mind So the personal pronoun here is from the psalmist probably a priest in the temple, uh calling out So for our application, it would be you or me here And you'll see that changes in the last paragraph and we have two sub points tonight The prayer warrior lives in the lord's presence And the prayer warrior trusts in the lord's protection.

So let's look at verse 1 The prayer warrior lives in the lord's presence the verse says he Who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty?

I use the word warrior as prayer warrior and webster's dictionary gives the definition of a warrior as a person engaged In some struggle or conflict and we need christians all over america to be praying and we need more to be praying than ever When you dial 9-1-1 in california, you can expect two things, right? You're going to be assured that the phone call will be answered and number two that you will get a first responder to come That's not the case when you live in india or thailand or miyanmar where i've been miyanmar doesn't have a 9-1-1 system India has it.

It's 1-1-2 And I think thailand is 1-9-1 But don't expect to get through and don't expect anybody to come to your house if you dial those numbers But we are blessed in america to dial 9-1-1 and I know there's been budget cuts and defunding police and different times so maybe you have to wait a little longer, but We can count on the operator answering the 9-1-1 call and the first responders coming So when you dial 9-1-1 to the very throne room of heaven or 9-1-1-2 We have a direct and immediate access to very throne room of god Where jesus himself sits at the right hand of god First peter 3 22 says that jesus has gone into heaven And is at the right hand of god with angels authorities powers having been subjected to him And then my favorite verse probably the whole bible and prayer is in hebrews 4 And it says in verse 15 and 16 talking about jesus christ for we do not have a high priest Who's unable to sympathize us with our weakness?

But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are Yet was without sin and in verse 16 says Let us then with confidence Draw near to the throne of grace That we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in a time of need He says let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace We have an open invitation to dial 9-1-1 any time to go to the very throne room of god Our psalm begins with the word he He he who dwells in the shelter of the most high it's probably a priest here for our context it would be christians But it's not just christians because you'll talk more about that later It's a disciple of jesus christ who loves to live in the presence of the lord and who loves to pray to the lord He or she is constantly praying like first thessalonians 5 17 says pray without ceasing.

He prays in the morning He prays throughout the day. He prays in the evening He might wake up in the middle of night and pray We have a prayer group here and we get texts. I get texts throughout the day People will send in prayer requests You can fill out a on the the little slip there a prayer request and it will go on a prayer Report that goes out every monday or tuesday to the prayer team in the church to pray Notice right away there.

There are two names of god in verse one It says the most high and that's lleon if you've been with us on wednesday night You know all about the god most high lleon because daniel had it 12 times in 12 chapters This this name for god is in psalms 19 times including twice in psalm 91 So you've got the name the god the most high and then you've got the name almighty which translates el shaddai And that's the omnipotent all-powerful god of the universe So you've got the most high lleon and you've got the almighty el shaddai So when you go to prayer and you're dialing 9-1-1 to god you're going to the throne room And lleon the sovereign god of the universe Answers the phone and if that wasn't enough the psalmist says That the all el shaddai the omnipotent all-powerful god answers the phone.

I'm not saying there's two gods There's one god that has many names that describe his eminence. Do you live in the presence of the living god? You'll be dialing 9-1-1 The prayer warrior number two trusts in the lord's protection verse two says I will say to the lord My refuge and my fortress my god in whom I trust So first off you dial 9-1-1 and then you dial 9-1-2 And you have two more names of god in this verse you have lord Translated yahweh, which is the the number one name for god for israel the israel's covenant keeping god And then you have god which is the name elohim And that was the you know in the beginning god genesis 1-1 god created the heavens and the earth I think it's 31 times in genesis 1 So let me reread verses 1 and 2 again using these names He who dwells in the shelter of lleon will abide in the shadow of el shaddai I will say to yahweh My refuge and my fortress elohim in whom I trust I don't know about you But that gives me confidence when I talk to god That he's answering the phone that he's listening to me and he will answer my prayer according to his perfect will Briefly, we'll get there later.

But look down at verse 14. Look down at verse 14 it says Because he holds fast to me in love. I will deliver him. I will protect him because what? He knows my name So the psalmist knows the name of god. He'll use four names of god in the first two first two verses here He knows the character of god because each one of these names Describes god in a different way what his character his attributes So the psalmist knows the names of god because he knows the character of god By reading through the bible and knowing them he grows an understanding of god as he learns about god and his attributes James boyce asks the question is the god of the bible your refuge in times of trouble?

And you also notice in verse one and two not only are there four names of god There are four metaphors for the protection that god provides In verse one, we have shelter and shadow In verse two, we have refuge and fortress the four names of god and four metaphors for protection The four names of god with four metaphors for protection of god But I think the key words might be the verbs in verse one.

It says he who dwells dwells In verse one is a verb an action required and then abides is a verb and the action required there So dwells means that you're going to remain literally webster's dictionary for the word dwells means you remain for some time So he who dwells he who remains sometime in the presence of the living god he who abides? That person abides with god Spends time with god and abides means to endure without yielding Nothing's more important than this psalmist praying to god. The psalmist says in psalms 55 17 Evening and morning and at noon.

I will utter my complaint and moan and he hears my voice Psalm 143 says oh yahweh hear my prayer give ear to my supplications Answer me in your faithfulness in your righteousness Psalms 141 2 says my may my prayer be established As incense before you the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering and if you go to revelation chapter 8 We won't turn there it describes That the prayers of the saints in revelation as the incense that goes into the throne room of heaven So let me ask the question.

Do you live in close fellowship with god? Do you rest in the shadow of the almighty? The psalmist here encourages us not to just dial 9-1-1 for emergencies, which of course we do But to dial 9-1-1 on a constant and consistent everyday basis in the past few weeks lance taught us from His from hebrews 11 and he gave us a message. I think two weeks ago. Do I adore god test? You remember that one? Do I adore god anybody remember what point one was of the do what do I adore god test? Anybody know? It's there is an excitation to be with god And that just means you you want to get up in the morning and you want to pray You want to pray throughout the day?

Maybe you hear a siren. Maybe you hear something on the news I get text messages to pray from the prayer team things like that So lance has taught us do I adore god and the verse that he used there was psalm 1 19 20 that says my soul Is consumed with longing for your rules at all time Then last sunday just this last sunday a few days ago lance asked the question. Do you adore the presence of god? Do you acknowledge the power of god? You know in jeremiah 9 23 and 24 I love that series of two verses.

It says in jeremiah 9 23 and 24 Thus says the lord let not the wise man boast in his wisdom Let not the mighty man boast in his might Let not the rich man boast in his riches But let him who boasts in this That he understands and knows me that I Am the lord who practices steadfast love justice and righteous in the earth for in these things I delight declares the lord God delights in those people who know his name god delights when you talk to him When when you understand the character of god, you're going to be praying to him and i'm telling you We need more prayer warriors at christian church.

We need more prayer meetings at christian church and we need more prayer across the united states Let's go to point number two Dial 9-1-1 because of god's care and protection.

I'm going to do something a little different here Because the personal pronoun that jumps off the page here is you you So, let me read it a different way i'm going to replace the you With my name, maybe I should use your names, but I might mess up.

So let me start in verse 3 For he will deliver bruce from the snare of the fowler and from deadly pestilence He will cover bruce with his pinions and under his wings bruce will find refuge His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler bruce will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day Nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday A thousand may fall at your side ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near bruce You will bruce will only look on it with his eyes and see the recompense of the wicked Because you have made the lord your dwelling place the most high who is my refuge No evil shall be allowed to befall bruce.

No plague shall come near your tent So I think you have maybe 13 some translations 14 times. You have the word you there So maybe sometimes if you're struggling may sometimes You put your name in there and pray that back to god as the psalmist does so Uh in section one, we saw that the psalmist put his trust in god And now in section two the psalmist commends that faith to us by explaining what god does for us And there's seven things you see in their outline We're going to see seven things that god does for the psalmist and number one It says in verse three that god is going to save you He says he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from deadly pestilence So in verse three the psalmist lists two dangers there that god's going to save the psalmist from And these would have been a lot more common in israel's time than perhaps today Although deadly pestilence we can relate to with covet now I guess we could but a lot more common in the psalmist day The psalmist has the snare of the fowler which we've in metaphor, by the way, I think there's at least 12 At least 12 metaphors in these 13 verses.

So when you read the psalms, you got to take some time to stop What does it mean refuge? What does it mean snare the fowler and study it but? Snare the fowler would be a metaphor for the enemies of the psalmist the enemies of the nation israel And death by pestilence, which would be death by disease which was very common then not as common as it would be today This is not a promise that god won't allow a believer to die from disease But it's a principle that god often heals us from our diseases All throughout our lives god is constantly healing us until that day.

He takes us home To himself, which is ultimate healing from our sin-stained bodies So god will save you number one number two and we're going to spend a little bit of time here god will shield you Okay, it says in verse four.

He will cover you with his pinions And under his wings you will find refuge In the psalms, we have many verses that are like this that that the use of birds as metaphors psalm 17 8 says Hide me in the shadow of your wings Psalms 36 7 says the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings Psalm 61 4 says let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings Psalm 57 1 says be merciful to me.

Oh god Be merciful to me For in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings You know who knows the psalms? Jesus christ knows the psalms And he knows psalm 91. I believe he knows 71 Because in matthew 23 37 a very common verse if you want to turn there You can matthew 23 37 Jesus describes what he wants to do with the children of israel, you know in john 1 says that That he came into his own and his own received him not The children of israel did not receive him and jesus in matthew 27 37 says oh jerusalem jerusalem The city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it How often I have get how often would I have gathered your children together?

As a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing See your house is left to you desolate Jesus came to seek and save the loss and he would have saved the children of israel And its inhabitants if they would have received him, but they did not receive him In fact, the people were not willing instead. They cried out for his crucifixion What christ wanted to do? To the nation of israel in matthew 27 quoting psalm 91 is illustrated by a real life story There was a forest fire that had brought under control And a group of firefighters were working through the devastation making sure that all the hot spots were being extinguished As they marched across the the blackened landscape Between the wisps of smoke still rising from the smoldering remains One of the firefighters saw a large clump a lump on the trail and it caught his eye As he got closer, he noticed it was a charred remains of a large bird Which had burned nearly halfway through Since birds can easily fly away when there's a fire It attracted his attention and he wondered what must have been wrong with this bird that it could not have escaped the fire Had it been sick had it been injured?

Arriving at the carcass. He decided to kick it off the trail with his boot As soon as he did that, however, he was startled half to death by a flurry of activity around his feet Four little birds flailed in the dust and the ash and then scurried down the trail The bulk of the mother's body had covered them from the searing flames Though the heat was enough to consume her it allowed her babies to find safety underneath In the face of the rising flames. She had stayed with her young her dead carcass and her fleeing chicks told the story well enough She gave the ultimate sacrifice to save her young The hint in the story was the only chance those baby chicks had to live for safety She being willing to spare her own life Had gathered them under her wings to herself At the point of terrible pain and death when she might have saved herself.

She chose to stay and through the ordeal As we have observed in our free-range chickens This is the author talking not all chicks run to their mothers in time of danger Some are paralyzed some panic some try to find a way to save themselves and they usually die The mother hen cannot run around gathering them individually. They have to come to the mother hen But the greater story is illustrated in one that's really beyond our full grasp And it's a true story of our creator who before time made a way to save his own wandering children from jerusalem When jesus said jerusalem jerusalem You who kill the prophets and stone those who sent you How I often long to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing Let's go to point number three.

God will safeguard you He then continues in verse four and he says and his faithfulness Is a shield and a buckler when we dial 9-1-1 And have immediate access to the very throne room of god with jesus christ who sits at the right hand of god He is faithful. He is always faithful. It's one of his greatest attributes So the third thing that god will do for you is he's going to safeguard you and we have two more metaphors here The metaphor for shield and buckler the first time the word shield is used is in the bible is in genesis 15 1 when god says to abraham returning from the defeat of the kings who raided sodom When they took his nephew lot god told abraham fear not abraham.

I am your shield Your reward shall be very great. So the shield is a large covering the whole body Now the hebrew word here for buckler is quite controversial with commentators making it difficult to translate The niv says rampart the nasb says wall The new living translation just says protection. It's some type of protection some type of uh battle Armament equipment that protects us that safeguards us which is good because the bible describes satan In first peter 5 8 as a roaring lion Looking to devour someone but if you stay close to jesus christ our heavenly father and especially in prayer god will safeguard you How exactly does he protect us the king james version may have captured it best when it says his truth Shall be your shield and your buckler.

It's god's word and god's character Our truth and we can trust in them Believers who are constantly dialing 9-1-1 prayer warriors Are also constantly reading their bibles. I cannot Not pray when I read my bible When I read a psalm every morning when I read a proverb when I read a couple chapters the old testament And i'm usually in one book i'm in first corinthians this month the new testament.

I have to stop periodically And pray maybe it's a sin. I need to forgive if it's about the king I gotta pray for president biden and kamala harris if it's about you know You have to stop and pray when you're reading your bible the holy spirit tells you and you have to dial 9-1-1 Let's move on to point number four. God will shelter you verses five and six He says you will not fear the terror of the night Notice the four the four nor's or not's not the fear of the night Nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday So you've got more metaphors here and you've got a four-fold use of not terrors weapons pestilence and destruction and then you've got night Day noon darkness or in poetry.

We call a myriasm And it just expressed the totality of all time god will shelter you through all situations He will shelter you through all time. He's always with you He'll never leave you or forsake you and remember verse one our psalm began with those words He who dwells in the shelter of the most high and went on to list four metaphors for protection Let's move on to number five. God will sustain you Okay, and that's verses seven to ten It says a thousand may fall at your side ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked Because you have made the lord your dwelling place the most high who is my refuge No evil shall be allowed to befall you no plague will come near you So we have a near application to the psalmist and we have a far application to us.

The near application is that God will pay the wicked their due and the israelites quite often just had to sit back and watch god work many commentators believe that the what's what they're talking about here is that great story of when the Shanakarib the king of assyria came to attack jerusalem during the reign of king hezekiah This is such a great bible story that is mentioned three times. It's in second chronicles 32 It's in second kings 18 and it's in isaiah 36 to 37 three times we have the story of shanakarab's army coming surrounding jerusalem and he sends a courier who mocks the israelites who mocks the living god and hezekiah Tears his robe and they send emissaries to isaiah the prophet and it's a long story, but isaiah Says go back and tell hezekiah He shall not come into the city.

He won't even shoot one arrow into the city and it says that night the angel of the lord killed 185 000 assyrians and that's exactly what verse 7 to 10 says thousands died at your side All the israelites had to do was look over the wall and see that they didn't have to lift up a bow or a sword or a shield god fought the battle for them and That's god will sustain you So the future application for us is there's going to be a great day of judgment when god destroys the wicked of this world But god rescues the righteous because he paid for their sin at the cross In verse 9 we didn't have the name lleon the most high god The second time in the psalm which we saw in our daniel series the magnificence of the most high god where it's mentioned 12 times Let's move on to verse point number six.

God will secure you It says for he will command his angels concerning you To guard you in all your ways and on their hands. They will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone Does that verse sound familiar from anybody from the new testament? Guess who else knows the psalms? apparently satan This is the only place the only verse in the bible that satan quotes Okay, satan must know the bible. I think he's very orthodox. He doesn't believe it, but he knows it So if you turn to luke chapter 4 the story is also in matthew 4 in luke chapter 4 Satan quotes psalm 91 verses 11 and 12.

Okay, but just like genesis 3 when satan And satan twisted scripture and said did god really say In luke chapter 4 satan omits some of the words of psalms and you see what he omits Satan quotes scripture and jesus will quote scripture right back to satan. So satan omits the words. Um In in all your ways in all your ways he omits that He says he quotes for he will command his angels concerning you. He's trying to test jesus to guard you But he doesn't put the words in all your ways And then he quotes verse 12 on their hands that will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone So satan quotes psalms 91 to jesus And jesus quotes back deuteronomy 6 16 to satan.

You shall not put the lord your god to the test So satan used this passage in psalm to try to justify testing jesus christ, but the passage is about trusting god And jesus did not fall for the test he didn't fall for the temptation he knew his father and he trusted in his father You know, it reminds me We we all need to know the word of god and just like jesus quoted scripture back three times to satan We need to quote scripture back to satan and we need to quote scripture to god jesus overcame satan temptation and misquotation of scripture by trusting god and And it's interesting in matthew's account of the same story in matthew 4 Verse 11 says the devil left him And behold angels came and were administering him.

I think we overlooked that fact right because we can't see angels But just like verse 11 says here that Angels can guard you they were guarding jesus and they might be guarding us through times of our life You know, we live in a pretty safe country, but i've lived the last 18 years overseas before coming home the last three years And it's a lot more dangerous overseas. That's why a lot of people want to move here for security for safety whether Crossing the border, but I don't think we realize how many times maybe angels protect us angels watch over us But god will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways as one of the promises of god Jesus triumphed over satan by trusting god and gave us an example that we can be victorious over satan, too Let's move on to the seventh number seven.

God will strengthen you He says you will tread on the lion in the adder the young lion And the serpent you will trample underfoot again. We have more metaphors here These two metaphors are deadly animals. Okay that show the danger the psalmist faced now We may not face these these here, but I mentioned satan is called a roaring lion in first peter 5 He's also called in revelation that ancient serpent.

Okay But the bible tells us in romans 16 20 that the god of peace will soon crush satan under your feet So god cared for the children of israel. God cares for his church But his church needs to be dialing 9-1-1 And we need god's care and we need his protection. So seven things that god cares for you and protects you Let's move to the last paragraph number three We gotta dial 9-1-1 because of god's love And these last three verses are just absolutely incredible verses.

You almost need a message on its own But the personal pronoun I want you to notice here is I It depends on your translation mine six times.

I have I But some translations if you take the last verse you can add another one seven times as I But unlike paragraph one where the eye is me or the psalmist the eye here in verse 14 to 16 is god God is speaking here and it's really incredible what he says So this time god is speaking and i've got three points there. The prayer warrior loves god The prayer warrior knows god's name and god promises. I will so the prayer warrior loves god It says in verse 14 because he holds fast to me in love The esv says that the niv and nsv simply say because he loves me it literally means you fall in love You literally fall in love with god the word love here in hebrew is not the normal word used It's only used 11 times in the old testament.

It means that this person has a passion for god So like we've been talking about on sunday Do you adore god and like i'm telling tonight you need to dial 9-1-1 if you love god you have a passion for him You're going to spend time in serious prayer for him You know, we often will dial 9-1-1 for an emergency, right? A soldier in a trench will cry out the old saying there's no atheist in the foxhole A person who has no money might beg for god a person who's diagnosed with a serious illness immediate cries out to god That's not the psalmist here though He has a passion for god before during and after any crisis It comes that way because his love for god is not centered on what god does for him or what prayer requests god answers His love for god is simply because of who god is god is love and he loves god You know, we used to sing the song in sunday school.

Jesus loves me this I know But the psalmist is just saying what it says in psalms 18 verse 1 psalms 18 verse 1 says I love you Oh lord, I sometimes say that in my prayers. I love you. Oh lord Let's go on to number two.

The prayer warrior knows god's name We talked a little bit about this before because he knows my name You know today the name of god has been misused Abused in our society. It's used as a cuss word. It's used flippantly You know, they say omg and verse 1 though. The psalmist called out four different names of god And that's why I love to to study or look at the hebrew every time I come In psalms, I try to if I can find it or know it I write the name in hebrew El shaddai or el rofi or you know what the name is because it teaches me about the character and attributes of god The psalmist knows god's name and he knows god's name And he has power in his prayers.

There's a quote that says much prayer much power little prayer little power Let's move on to number three because the prayer warrior loves god Because the prayer warrior knows god he's going to pray to god and in verses 14 to 16 We've got seven more promises from god and you don't have room in your outline to put them unless you want to flip the page Sorry, but number one it says I will deliver him god's going to deliver him.

That's in verse 14 b The first of six I will statements from god the father speaking I will deliver him So there might be six there might be seven in your translations Okay in times of trouble and danger God kept the psalmist The and the nation of israel safe and he will keep us safe Number two God will protect him.

It says I will protect him the second. I will statement god says i'm going to stand by him And i'm not going to leave him or forsake him So god will protect him number three God will answer him says when he calls to me.

I will answer him. The third I will is I will answer him This psalmist speaks to god often You know, there's no busy signal when you dial 9-1-1 to god Now when we went to louisiana a couple months ago for the hurricane relief talking to the people there That we always asked the question What was it like the day the hurricane waters came or when the lake overflowed and they all said they dialed 9-1-1 But you couldn't get through because there were just too many people calling too big emergency The system could not handle it but not when we talk to god He can talk to the whole world at one time if we talk to him Number four god will be with him I will be with him in trouble Isn't it always interesting how lance last sunday took us to isaiah 43 verse 2 and I had this verse already on my outline And remember what it said?

It says isaiah 43 2 when you pass through the river the waters I will be with you And through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you when you walk through the fire You shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you God says I will be with you in the time of trouble The psalmist isn't asking to escape the trouble God's saying you're going to go through some troubles and we all go through troubles in life, especially if you're a christian God says I will be with him in that time of troubles Number five god says I will rescue him.

It just says in verse 15 the last line. I will rescue him I will rescue him And I will not only rescue him number six I will honor him literally means i'm going to exalt him high i'm going to lift him up God will exalt the prayer warrior. He'll have a special relationship with jesus with the holy spirit our heavenly father and he will be honored And then lastly he says with long life. I'm, sorry. I think there's one more number seven. God will satisfy him He says with long life. I will satisfy him It doesn't mean you're going to live to be you know, psalm 90.

Moses said if you live 70 or 80 years, that's a good life But it means you're going to have a prosperous life You're going to have a full life an abundant life like jesus says in john 10 And this is a common theme in wisdom literature Proverbs 3 says verse 1 and 2 my son don't forget my teaching but let your heart keep my commandments For length of days and years of life and peace They will add to you and then proverbs 3 16 says long life is at her hand So there's a lot of verses in the wisdom literature that talk about a godly man or woman abiding in christ And that they will have a prosperous and long life I said there was seven.

There's actually eight I think number eight And it doesn't say I will but it says and show him my salvation So i've written in I will that very last sentence and I will show him my salvation Now understand in the old testament in the book of psalms when it says salvation it means deliverance It means deliverance from enemies things like that. Okay, but for us new testament christians God did show us his salvation, didn't he? By sending his son jesus christ to die on the cross in my and your place He says I will show him my salvation romans 5 8 says god demonstrated that salvation He demonstrated his love to us in this that while we were sinners christ died for us Now charles spurgeon says about this the blessings here that are promised these eight I wills or seven I wills The blessings here promised are not for all believers But for those who live in close fellowship with god Every child of god looks towards the inner sanctuary and the mercy seat Yet all do not dwell in the most holy place They run to it at times And enjoy occasional approaches to the most holy places But they do not habitually reside in the mysterious presence So why do not all christians?

Abide in the shelter of the most high. Why do not all christians get up in the morning and have a quiet time and spend prayer? Let me give you four obstacles to prayer four obstacles to prayer tonight Number one I'm, not sanctified or holy and it keeps me from my father It's that simple if you're in habitual sin if you're in sin, it will keep you away sin Will keep you away from the bible.

It will also keep you away from prayer And you'll have a weak prayer life. In fact, the psalmist said in psalm 66 18 If I had cherished sin if I loved sin in my life God will not hear my prayer. Okay psalm isaiah 50 Is it 59 2 says god does not hear the prayers of the sinners, okay? So you have to be holy. That's why when you go to prayer. The first thing you do is you confess your sins If you want to learn about prayers and we just finished one of the greatest prayers in the bible in daniel chapter 9, right?

But look at how daniel prayed in daniel 9 Look at how nehemiah prayed in nehemiah 1 they always acknowledge their sinfulnesses Their family sinfulnesses and of course the nation of israel sinfulness when I pray I I ask god to forgive not only my sins, but the sins of the united states of america Okay, number one.

I'm not sanctified and holy and that keeps me from praying to my father number two I don't know god's character His care his protection and love.

I don't really know god really well It says because he knows my name in verse 14 The psalmist knew god's name the psalmist had a special relationship with god I was talking to someone tonight and I said, hey, I got that on my outline tonight after the uh massacre a couple weeks ago in uh, texas A lot of people were asking what's the number one problem in the united states?

It's not guns. Is it video games? What is the number one problem? And somebody made the case that the number one problem is fatherless children I thought a lot about that because I I realized I don't know if that's true I don't know what you think the guy was talking tonight said.

Yep. I think it's true And he's in law enforcement. So he'd know it more than me But a lot of boys and girls who grow up without fathers what happens they go into a life of crime, right? But you know, I was thinking about that that it's pretty much the same in the evangelical world, isn't it? We have a lot of people that said yes to jesus christ. They know the plan of salvation They got baptized But they don't finish being disciple They don't obey what jesus said in matthew 28 go into the world make disciples baptize them In the name of the father the son they forget about verse 20.

What's verse 20 of matthew 28 say? And they are to teach them. They're to teach them everything I have taught you So they don't learn how to pray They may not learn how to get into the bible if you're not reading your bible. You're not a disciple You know i've 18 years of overseas when I got somebody that says yes to the lord I wasn't real thrilled but when they got into the bible that that's the disciple that's the disciple But we've got a lot of not absent. Our father's not an absentee father We've got a lot of absentee children in the evangelical world They have a ticket to heaven They literally have a ticket to heaven.

They know the plan of salvation. They got baptized. They come to church But they're not growing they don't know god's name. They're not they they're Praise god. Some of them are going to the fundamentals of the faith class Some of them are going to electives they're learning and growing but a lot a lot of people are so they need To go to a sunny school class They need to go to the electives that harold fraser teaches that roger teaches and I teach a few of them They need to learn how to pray my wife worked with the thailand's women's Christian society and there were women there that did not know how to pray and it took years to get them to pray But then every friday they would have a three hour prayer meeting and it was wonderful and they make me sit on it sometimes when I didn't want to because it's three hours, but They would these women who did not know how to pray that would they were the ones that would go to you Don't call on me.

Don't call on me You ever tell those people they would say that and yet then in this hour prayer meeting they would rotate and they would pray And they would pray and it's wonderful to see That's why I tell you read one psalm a day and it will improve your prayer life So number one i'm not sanctified or holy and it keeps you from the father.

I don't pray number two I don't know god's character care and protection number three. There's this attitude of people that says If god's will is going to be done anyway Why should I pray in the first place?

We got a lot of lazy laxadaisical christians that well, you know, jesus is going to come god's doing it He didn't really need my prayers or care about my prayers But you know prayer is not only about changing what god wants It's about god changing what we want There's a wonderful prayer book called the praying life by paul paul e miller I think the reason I like it is he has a special needs child and I have a special needs child But he has a quote there and I think the quote's from alexander wife and it says prayer is the exercise of a will That is free within a will that is sovereign In other words prayer does not change the will of god But brings the believer into alignment with the will of god.

You got that? I know that's long But we need to pray Asking for what god desires for us in answer to believing prayer Number four the fourth obstacle god is loving and all-powerful Why doesn't he fix my circumstances? We pray once we pray twice and then we quit right? But we've been talking all through sunday's messages about the desert experience, haven't we? You know I was thinking when uh, moses left left, right? He left he was there 40 years and then he left and went into the desert for another 40 years I was thinking that means the the children of israel Were slaves and pharaoh was killing the newborns for 80 years Before moses came back.

That's a long time to suffer Sometimes god lets us suffer and you're going to learn about that in our job series But prayer is not only about changing god's plan but god changing our plans and some of us are in a desert experience and We want god to fix things. We want god to change things when we just need to stand still And listen to god Now psalms 91 has convicted me to pray more i'm not standing before you like i'm some great prayer warrior Beating you up with a bully pulpit to pray more But we do need to dial 911 like never before I want to give you two examples tonight of the total depravity of our nation, okay Number one what is going on with all these drag shows across the united states?

Okay, they are in libraries. They're in kindergartens. They're in schools where transvestites are showing and i'm going to be blunt with you I lived eight years in thailand. We got a lot of transvestites in thailand And they're pretty they're not ugly you can't even tell the difference but these ones they are ugly Yet parents are bringing their kids to them So don't don't go off on that number two Today in the california senate, I don't know if they passed it, but they debated ab2223 bill This is a bill to protect abortion providers and you know, there's a lot of people arguing about it, but basically they're protecting the the Abortionists from from legal quenches that if the baby lives and I guess babies can live through an abortion They can kill it up to seven days after the baby's born.

So I was thinking about that They're not content to just kill the baby in the uterus They will kill it afterwards. So don't go political on me I'm, just stating those two things to say our country is just going into total depravity And that means we need to pray You can complain You can talk politics, you know I've gone to men's bible studies and all of a sudden they're talking about obama and this and that like Guys, shut up. We're here to pray not complain. So let me just ask a few questions in the two minutes left When was the last time you prayed for your neighbors in the neighborhood you live in?

You say well, I don't know them. They don't talk to me God knows them just say god that guy that doesn't talk to me or doesn't Like me or takes my parking spot or whatever pray for your neighbors on a regular basis If you would just stop if you remember the message lance had probably about four or five weeks ago And he talked about the desert and what's in the desert? No noise, right? And he talked about the walkman and all the noise. We live in a noise-filled world Don't we and we always got our phones beeping to tell us the latest thing or what's going on?

Sometimes you just need to take a time of quiet Get rid of all the noise And think about what I could pray for so You need to stop the noise of today's world And go to a quiet place and pray. I love the the psalms 5-3. I love the the living living. Uh, the lsb translation says Oh yaweh In the morning, you will hear my voice In the morning, I will order my prayer to you And eagerly watch I love that So i'm out of time, but I just wanted to mention, uh, our lord saint jesus christ finished with his words Jesus taught 40 parables and three of them were on prayer But the one I want to mention tonight is luke 18 1 to 8 And jesus says in verse 1 and he told them a parable to the effect That they listen carefully ought always to pray and not lose heart I think there's a lot of christians seeing the sinfulness of our world what's going on in our politics And they lose heart Jesus says there that they ought always to pray and not lose heart And then jesus will go on and talk about the persistent widow You remember that prayer the persistent widow banging on the judge's door.

Give me justice. Give me justice And finally the judge who says I don't you know, I don't care about this lady and i'm not a godly man But i'm going to answer her request And in verse 7 said verse 8 says I tell you he will give justice to them speedily nevertheless when the son of man comes Will he find faith?

on earth He says will Jesus find faith on earth the context is prayer and he says will he find faith on earth? John, macarthur's commentary on this verse 8 of luke 18 says This suggests that when jesus christ returns True faith will be comparatively rare. I think that's the time right now Jesus is going to come back. Will he find a lot of faith? No, will he find a lot of people praying? No, but I believe he will find prayer warriors at christ community church So let's close and dial 9-1-1 one more time Father, thank you for psalm 91.

Thank you that jesus loves psalm 91 and he wants to shelter The nation of israel and all the people of the world under his wings But we know that men love sin and they love darkness, but father we do pray that christ community church Would be a praying church that the people of christ community church would pray with the prayer team That they would pray at home alone that they'd pray in the morning in the afternoon throughout the day May they pray without ceasing that when our lord and savior. Jesus christ returns.

He will find faith at christ community church So hell father help us to be prayer warriors, thank you that we can come to you anytime any place direct access to the very throne room of god and lle on the god most high elohim El shaddai Are listening to us not four gods, but one god he's rare answering and listening to us teach us how to pray Teach us to pray more prick our hearts burden our hearts when we hear a siren When we hear some bad news When we see our neighbors when we see something we don't like may we stop complaining and start praying may we leave here tonight?

Dialing 9-1-1 in jesus name. Amen