We Will Not Fear

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani preaches on Psalm 46. Verse 1.

Verse 1.

May God have a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated?

Hezekiah was one of the few kings of Judah who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He was the son of Ahaz who did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

After Ahaz died, Hezekiah zealously went about reforming and restoring the worship of the one true God in Jerusalem. He tore down the pagan altars and idols that his father had erected.

He opened the doors to God's temple that his father had nailed shut. Under Hezekiah's reforms, revival came to the kingdom of Judah.

2 Kings 18, 6 through 7 says, When you stand with God, you take a stand against the unbelieving world.

Hezekiah's stance with God put him in direct opposition with the dominant world power at that time, the nation of Assyria. In 701 B.C., the Assyrians invaded Judah and marched against Jerusalem, its capital city.

Assyria had already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. And Sennacherib, Assyria's king, was determined to bring the nation of Judah under his power.

Sennacherib's army surrounded the capital city of Judah, Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. The people in Jerusalem were cut off completely from food and water from the outside.

They either were going to surrender or they were going to starve to death. Sennacherib sent one of his commanders to stand outside the city walls of Jerusalem and to taunt the people, to persuade them to surrender.

2 Kings 18, 28 through 36 records that time. Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of you of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, A land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, A land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.

And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered this land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharivim and Hena and Iva? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

But the people were silent, and answered him not a word, for the king, Hezekiah's command was, Do not answer him. Hezekiah knew the Lord.

He knew that Sennacherib had blasphemed God's name, but he was in great distress. And so he sent messengers to Isaiah, God's prophet, to pray and to intercede for God's people.

Isaiah told the king's messengers in 2 Kings 19, 6-7, Say to your master, Thus says the Lord, Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. No doubt this message from God relieved Hezekiah, but soon afterward, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with a message of his own.

2 Kings 19, 10-13, Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah. Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozen, Haran, Reziph, and the people of Eden who are in Telassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharveim, the king of Hina, or the king of Iva? Now, some of the things that Sennacherib shared in his letter were true.

The Assyrians conquered many kingdoms whose kings trusted in their gods to deliver them, and all had failed. But there were some things in the letter that Hezekiah knew weren't true.

The gods those other kings and kingdoms trusted in for deliverance weren't truly God. They were powerless to save them. I also think it's important here to remember that Hezekiah was a godly man.

He was a good king who did good things, and yet this very bad thing was happening to him. In this case, this bad thing was happening to a good person, but it served to demonstrate God's power and to embolden his people's faith.

I love what Hezekiah did next. He took Sennacherib's letter, and he went to the house of the Lord, and he spread it out or unfolded it, unrolled it before him, and he prayed to the Lord.

And 2 Kings 19, 15 through 19 records his prayer. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ears, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands in wood and stone.

Therefore, they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God alone.

Brother, sister, when you feel overwhelmed, when you feel afraid, when you feel anxious, do what Hezekiah did.

He sought the Lord. Lord, he humbly asked for God's help. He asked God for salvation, and his motivation was that God, the Lord, would be the one who alone receives all the praise and the glory for it.

God heard Hezekiah's prayer, and he sent the prophet Isaiah to him with the news that the Lord would fight for his people and would destroy their enemies.

God's message back to Hezekiah concluded with this encouraging word in 2 Kings 1934. God says, for I will defend the city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

And that night, the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When the people of Jerusalem arose early the next morning, they saw this.

They saw God's miraculous deliverance. Sennacherib fled, and soon afterward, he's assassinated by his own sons while he was worshiping in the house of his false god.

There is reason to connect these events from 2 Kings to Psalm 46. This psalm vividly portrays God securing a divisive victory by His own power, protecting His city and all who sought refuge in Him.

The dawning of a new day revealed that God helped His people. But this city described in this psalm has a river flowing through it, something that ancient Jerusalem didn't have.

And it precedes Psalm 45, which describes a conquering king and a royal wedding. I believe that Psalm 45 and Psalm 46 picture events still to come.

Psalm 46 celebrates an apocalyptic destruction of the earth and its nations as the city of God enjoys unmoved stability because God's presence and protection bring lasting peace to all who take refuge in Him.

Both the events in 2 Kings 19 and future events revealed in Scripture yet to be fulfilled give us hope in the present that God is our fortress, a God who saves, delivers, protects, and preserves His people eternally.

Thus, the people of God can and should live without fear of things happening today or fear of things that will happen in the future. And the main idea for this morning's sermon is that God is a fortress who protects His people, therefore they can live without fear.

God is a fortress who protects His people, therefore they can live without fear. There are plenty of things in our world today that are concerning and that are causing us to fear.

Political turmoil, wars, and rumors of wars, natural disasters, social upheaval, murder, and injustice.

Our news programs, papers, and social media feeds are full of bad news that cause us to fear. To add to that are our own personal circumstances that can cause us to fear.

Layoffs and rumors of layoffs, diagnoses in diseases, difficult people who make life hard. Even if we are healthy and have job security and have enough money to retire, we can fear losing those things in the future.

We are often anxious about tomorrow. A lot of things cause us to feel fear in the present and to be fearful of the future.

But God repeatedly commands us in His Word not to fear. God also tells us in His Word that He wants us to trust Him.

He wants us to have faith in Him. And it's often when we feel fear that we are tempted to doubt God's trustworthiness and His faithfulness.

Thankfully, God has told us not only how things are going to end, but the new creation that He has planned. Our text is one of those passages that God has been gracious to give us so that we can resist living fearfully and instead live confidently in our sovereign God who is a fortress for His people.

Brother, sister, God's commanded you not to live in fear. You can live fearlessly by faith in your God who is your fortress and who has predetermined the end from the beginning.

Psalm 46 helps us in the present to face our fears today and our fears that we have about tomorrow and the security of our Savior who protects us like a fortress.

And so there are three principles in this psalm which tell us why we can live without fear. And the first comes from verses 1 through 3. We can live without fear because God is present.

God is present. Psalm 46 opens with verse 1 with three truths about God. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

It's funny, I wrote this sermon on Thursday and in here I talk about how in Oklahoma we frequently encounter tornadic activity. Well, we just experienced some pretty crazy weather last night, did we not?

And for some of you, you were out looking out of your windows, wow, look at this. For others of us, hopefully, when you heard the tornado sirens, you sought shelter. We all have that place in our home where we go to for safety, for shelter in a storm.

Whether it's an underground shelter in your house or in your yard or a closet or a bathroom, we all have a place where we retreat to when a tornado touches down near to where we live to keep us safe and to preserve our lives if we end up in the tornado's path.

In ancient times, people sought safety behind the fortified walls of a city during times of war. They didn't build those walls just to say, hey, let's just build walls or show how great our architecture was.

No, they built walls because they needed to keep themselves safe from people during times of war in the past and still in the present. People build walls, they build perimeters to shield themselves from external threats who seek to do them harm.

This psalm begins noting that God Himself is a refuge. He Himself is our security. We find shelter from trouble in Him.

When trouble comes, Psalm 46 tells us to turn to God, not to turn to a change in our circumstances, not to turn first to a change in our setting, not to turn first to ourselves and our best efforts to fix our problems, not to turn first to our anxious strategies to avoid pain and loss.

This entire psalm rings with the name of God. We hear about the city of God, that God is in her midst, that God will help.

In verse 7 and 11, they talk about the God of Jacob, God's covenant name. The Lord appears in verse 7, 8, and 11. In verse 10, God commands us all, be still and know that I am God.

When troubles arise, we often aren't still. We are frantic. But if we know God, if we know His character, if we trust in His Word and His love for us, we know that God is our refuge and strength.

The Hebrew word translated refuge is a divinely exclusive term in the Bible. It's never applied to idols. It's never applied to any human power, but solely to God and the place that He designates as a true place of refuge.

God is not only our refuge, He is our strength, and God is infinitely strong. When I was in elementary school, we ended the school year with a field day, and we had all kinds of athletic competitions, and only winners received awards.

There were no participation trophies, and one of the biggest events was the tug of war between the classes. And I had a classmate named Bryce.

Bryce was big, and he was strong. He was held back a year, and so he was more physically developed than the rest of us by the time we were in sixth grade.

Bryce was our anchorman. We put him at the back of our line. He was the guy at the end. There was a little loop. Bryce stood in it and had it right here, and all he did was just go backwards and pull.

And everybody went with Bryce. And we felt strong being on Bryce's team because Bryce's strength made us look strong. We weren't really pulling as hard as Bryce, but everybody, well, look at us.

We're strong. Bryce made us feel strong. It's nice to have a friend like that, but it's better to know God who is not only a source of strength, but who is strength.

He has all power. He is a refuge who protects us, and knowing that He is present with us in times of trouble gives us strength to endure and to keep going.

He makes us strong. In Philippians chapter 4, Paul ends his letter expressing gratitude to the Philippian Christians for their gift of support for him and his ministry, and he says this in Philippians 4, 10 through 13.

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. The Greek word translated as strengthen means to put power in, to be infused with strength.

Like Popeye, those old Popeye cartoons, he's getting beat up, he takes a can of spinach, he eats it, and all of a sudden, his muscles grow twice as big, and he beats everybody up. He's infused with strength.

Now, this verse is often used out of context, especially by athletes. I've always wanted to dunk a basketball, but I could never dunk a basketball, and I never will be able to dunk a basketball on a 10-foot goal.

No matter how much I pray, God, strengthen me, I'll never dunk a basketball on a 10-foot goal on my own. Paul is talking about times when his physical needs were met, and when he wasn't being beaten, and he wasn't imprisoned, and he wasn't chased out of town for preaching the gospel.

And he's talking about when his physical needs weren't met, and he was persecuted, and shipwrecked, and shackled, and starving. God, in all those times, through all those things, was strengthening him.

He infused him with an inner strength to sustain him during troubling times. God gave him an eternal fortitude because he trusted that God was his refuge and was his present help in times of trouble, and that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.

Troubling times reveal what we truly believe about God and who our God really is. When you face trouble, who do you turn to?

Some people turn to drugs and alcohol. Some people turn to their phone or computer screen. Some people turn to unhealthy relationships. Some people turn to daydreams, coveting another life or what others have, feeling sorry for themselves and angry at God that they don't have the same earthly treasures that give a false sense of security.

None of these things are truly helpful because none of them bring us closer to God who is our refuge and who is our strength. Hezekiah took Sennacherib's letter to God and he appealed to God for help.

Then he arose and he waited for the Lord to act. He didn't drown his sorrows in wine. He didn't apply for another position in another kingdom.

He turned to God. He asked God for help and God showed up. This is why it's so important that you read and study your Bible because God's character hasn't changed.

His love for his people hasn't changed. His desire for his name to be exalted hasn't changed. And his strength hasn't weakened. So as verse 2 and 3 conclude, Therefore, we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, even when the forces of nature are rocked, even when the time comes when God unmakes creation, we who have trusted in the Lord will stand safely and securely in the Lord, our God.

We have God's word, we have God's promise, we know God's character, we have the Spirit of God indwelling us to instruct us, to remind us of what is true.

We have God as our refuge who strengthens us, who is present in our trouble, so when the storms of life hit, we will live without fear. Now the second principle, we can live without fear because of God's presence.

We can live without fear because of God's presence. Now you might be thinking, what is the difference between present and presence? I think Pastor Mike just really wanted another P right there.

Well, yes, and a student can be present in class, but if they're asleep or looking out the window while the teacher is teaching, they are physically present, but their mind, their thoughts are somewhere else and they aren't really present.

It's like being in a conversation with someone, but they aren't really paying attention to what you're saying. They're there, but their mind is somewhere else.

They're looking at you, but they're thinking about something else. Their presence is not with you. Verses 4 through 7 talk about God's present presence in His city with His people.

He is both there physically and His presence, His attentiveness is experienced. Verse 4 says, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

Now, this is not the first mention of water in this psalm. Verses 2 through 3, remember, talk about a roaring, restless, raging sea.

It talks about unstable waters. But verse 4 talks about a river, a more predictable and peaceful body of water.

God's people are protected in God's city and they are glad because they have access to a river which sustains their life in the midst of conflict and crisis.

There is joy because God's present presence is experienced. Verse 6 says, God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns. Or verse 5, I should say. As I mentioned earlier, there was no river like this running through ancient Jerusalem.

But, several Old Testament prophecies describe a change in Jerusalem's geography in a river flowing from God's temple.

Ezekiel 47, 1 says this, Then he brought me back to the door of the temple and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east for the temple faced east.

The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold to the temple south of the altar. Joel 3, 18 says, And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine and the hills shall flow with milk and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim.

Zechariah 13, 1 says, On that day there shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

And then in 14, 8 through 9, On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter and the Lord will be king over all the earth.

On that day the Lord will be one and His name one. These verses picture a future city with a flowing river that sustains life, cleanses from sin, and never runs dry.

In John 4, Jesus meets with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well and he asks her for a drink.

And she's shocked by this because Jews despised Samaritans and men didn't talk with women in public. We come to find out later that this woman has committed a lot of sin.

The kinds of sin that are hard to hide from others. Before Jesus reveals His true identity to her, He says to her in John 4.10, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.

Later in John 7, Jesus is teaching in the temple in Jerusalem. John 7.37-38, On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and He cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink, whoever believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Later, in John 14.16-17, Jesus tells His disciples, And I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.

You know Him for He dwells with you and will be in you. Right now, there is no physical place like the temple in the earth where God has pledged to maintain His presence.

The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. And while there is no specific place, there is a specific person. God's Son, Jesus Christ, who is the source of eternal life and whose life flows through His people by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we don't rally or take pilgrimage to a particular place or city of refuge in times of trouble. We go to Jesus who has taken us into His body, His church.

And in His church, in a local body of believers like ours, He has blessed us with people to gather with, to live life with, to endure trouble with, and to worship with, whom His Spirit's presence is with, giving us reason to be glad when we gather though the nations rage against us.

Belonging to the church, participating in the church, worshiping together as a church is critical for each of us because this is the place where we are reminded of who God is, of what God has done, and what God will one day do.

And in being reminded of all these things, our hearts are filled with gladness. So, don't skip church. It's important.

And God has blessed you and saved you and put you in His body, the church. So don't make it a low priority on your life. God has given you this. He has given us the church and to be a part of His church.

What a blessing it is to live life with the people of God. verses 6 through 7 say, the nations rage, the kingdom totters. He utters His voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. So here we see nature is moved, the nations are moved, but God's people who are in God's Son, who are indwelt by God's Spirit, are secured by His salvation and they will not be moved.

The night is always darkest before the dawn. Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem spent another day surrounded by enemies. They spent that night with those enemies still in position to starve them out and end their lives.

But in the morning they awoke to the reality that the enemies they feared were no match for the God they served. For every dark trouble we face in Christ, God has designed a dawn.

On the third day at dawn the women went to Jesus' tomb and they found that the stone had been rolled away, that His body was gone and they heard the angels declaring to them, why do you look for the living among the dead?

Jesus, the source of life, the Son of God, defeated death and He gives us eternal life and He gives us His eternal presence and He will bring us into His eternal city.

Described in Revelation. Revelation 21, 1 through 4. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them and they will be His people and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed. There will never be darkness in this city. Revelation 21, 22 through 25 says, And I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk and the kingdoms of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day there will be no night there and this city will have a river.

Revelation 22, 1 through 5. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.

Also on either side of the river the tree of life and its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and its servants will worship him.

They will see his face and his name will be written on their foreheads and night will be no more no more darkness no more fear for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever.

I'm looking forward to that aren't you? in the present we have God's presence in his word in his church and in his spirit who indwells us.

Therefore we will not fear though nations rage and kingdoms totter because God is with us. Now the third principle we can live without fear because of God's power.

we can live without fear because of God's power. Verses 8-11 Come behold the works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes wars cease to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the chariots with fire be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations I will be exalted in the earth the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Now notice in verse 10 that God is the one now speaking and he's speaking into the chaos he's speaking into the conflict he's speaking to those who are warring and who are waging war and he says to them he rebukes them be still knock it off put down your weapons I am God nothing you do is going to prevent me or keep me from being exalted I have all power I have all strength it's like a parent whenever they're kids they're just driving you nuts and you say be still and especially if you have the dad voice they know and there's something about them they are still God is rebuking the nations here he's saying be still I'm God I will be exalted and no one else but I also think that God's word we know speaks to us and he's also speaking to us here too as his people be still stop raging stop tottering be steady in the truth that I am with you and that no power that threatens you is more powerful than me

I love the story in Matthew 8 where Jesus is in the boat with his disciples in the midst of a storm and when he got into the boat his disciples follow him and behold there arose a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by the waves but Jesus was asleep they went and they woke him saying save us Lord we are perishing and he said to them why are you afraid oh you of little faith then he rose and he rebuked the winds in the sea and there was a great calm and the men marveled saying what sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him well Jesus is a sort of man they would realize unlike any other man he is the God man who gave his life to give us peace with God and who commands us to be still to trust in him in his help to trust in his indwelling presence and his awesome unmatched power

Jesus Christ is the perfect son of God who entered this sin cursed world and who achieved what none of us are capable of achieving he lived the sinless perfect life and he could because he was fully divine and also fully human like us and he willingly went to the cross and died in our place for our sins enduring the wrath of the father for the sins that we've committed and on the third day after he died he rose again and he ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the father right now interceding on behalf of his church and he will come back and we've seen the future that he has in store for his bride his church and if you're here this morning and you don't know him he's brought you here to hear this truth to be saved if you'll turn from your sins if you will turn to him in faith he will save you and you will know his awesome salvation and his awesome strength and his awesome peace for those of us whom God has been gracious to save

I think this is how we need to adjust one way according to what we've heard let the peace of God rule in your heart there's selahs in this psalm and you see that word and selah means well some people think it's a musical kind of signal to the instrumentalists which I think is true but also it signals a pause a pause a pause in our case as we're reading in the psalms to reflect to think about what these words of God say and what these words of God mean for us and so I encourage you again whatever turmoil you're facing read this psalm read God's word and pause and wait and we have this promise from the

Lord that if we go to him with our anxieties with our cares with our concerns that he will give us a peace that surpasses understanding and we can trust that he is a God who is all powerful who is present with his presence and who will never leave us or forsake us therefore we can live peacefully without fear I want to close with Colossians 3 15 through 17 and that this truth would be one you apply to your life in being a person who lets the peace of God rule in their heart and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart to God and whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord

Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him let's do that now let's pray Lord we are so thankful for the truth that we have read in your word this morning in Psalm 46 God thankful for your word where we can go back to time before your son's coming and we can see that God you delivered your people in miraculous ways you commanded them not to fear and you've given them reason not to fear Lord we can go back and we look at the events of the cross when you came and what you suffered and what you endured and how you rose again victorious over the enemies that we could never defeat and we see Lord that you have not changed and your character has not changed and your power has not lessened in any way and Lord we are your people today and we see how the nations are raging around us

Lord we experience in our own lives just difficult circumstances and situations that we would rather not have to deal with and Lord we are tempted to be afraid and we are tempted to live our lives in fear because we so easily forget who you are and what you've done and what you've commanded of us and so God my prayer our prayer as your people in this time is that you would help us to remember that we would not forget that you are a God who is present and whose presence is with us in our trouble no matter how we feel no matter what happens Lord you work all things together for the good and you have this city this place prepared for us where we will see you face to face where there will be no more darkness and no more sin and no more reason to fear or cause to fear and so Father we pray that we would focus on the things that we can control our attitudes our time studying your word our willingness to go and to share the good news with whom you have called us to go and share it with and that in every situation whatever we do

Lord that we have the opportunity to do it in your name giving thanks to you because you will be exalted and we praise you and we thank you that you will be exalted that all power is yours and that you've shared your victory with us thank you Lord in Jesus name we pray Amen to learn more visit us in person or see the website at highlandparkbaptist.net