Trust God, Don't Fret Week 16

We're in Psalms chapter 37. This is the longest chapter we've studied so far. And uh there's a lot in this chapter. Uh as we introduced it last week a little bit, we talked about David wrote this psalm in his old age in verse number 25. It says, "I have been young and now I am old." And so he's writing this looking back on his life. And uh the emphasis uh the question he's asking is why do the wicked prosper? Why? Why do those that are that are not righteous, that are not godly, why do they prosper? It seems like they do well. And so, and the theme of the psalm is basically trust in the Lord. And uh and then the book that this kind of goes along with the book of Job.

It's it kind of parallels that. And what's unique about the style of this psalm in the Hebrew is as written as an alphabetic acrostic. And so every two verses in that way. And uh so what that tells us is that this was a psalm that was intended to be memorized, you know, cuz acrostics always help you in memorizing the word of God. And memorize anything and across always helps with that. And so we know that this was particularly a psalm that they wanted the the young people, the the Jewish nation, the the believers of that day to memorize it. So, there's a lot of great memory verses in this psalm, and I would encourage you to mark some of them as verses to memorize.

Uh, verse number four, for example, delight thyself also in the Lord, he shall give thee desires of thine heart. And then the next few verses after that, you get down to verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He delightth his way. Uh, some excellent memory memory verses in this psalm. So in looking to psalm as we introduce it uh verse number one there is to trust God. Psalms 37:es 1-5. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good.

Uh so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. commit thy ways on the Lord. Um trust also in him, he shall bring it to pass. A and so as you read these verses, the first thing I want to point out is when he says in verse number one, fret not thyself. Uh what does that phrase fret not mean? Let's look at some other uh places used. In verse number seven, it says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prosperth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

And then verse number eight, cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself and any wise to do evil. And then look at Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number 19. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number 19. Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked. And you can see this phrase is used primarily in talking about wicked men, evil men. Uh why do they get away with things? Why do they prosper? And and we fret about that. And and the idea this word fret not, this phrase, it means incense, angry, indignant. Incense, angry, or indignant. Now, a a colloquial phrase that we might use that would would carry the same idea would be don't sweat it or uh chill out.

And uh and and so don't don't get upset when you see the evil people get away with things. And sometimes it is frustrating. You know, why are they making all the money? Why do they get all the nice houses and all these things? Why do they get away with stuff all the time? Uh, fret not yourself because the evildoers. Look at Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 31. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 31. Proverbs 3:31. Every even envy thou not the oppressed and choose none of his ways. You know, sometimes we look and say, "Well, I I just do what they're doing. I'll get away with it." We we should not be envious of them.

We should not be like, "Well, look what they've got." Because they don't have what we have. And and so he says, he's saying, "Fret not yourself because these don't don't get hot under the collar. Don't get all upset about it." Look at Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number one. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number one. Be thou not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. And and so again, sometimes we we look at the news, we look at the uh social media, we look at all these things, say, "Man, look what you know, and and and and everything's designed with that. Social media is all about making yourself look good."

And and they're really not as good as they look. You know, they're they're airbrushed and they're uh they're they're photoshopped and uh and all the food they have is not they're not eaten at all the time, but they should act like they do. and that, you know, they're not as good as they look. But either way, don't be envious. Don't don't desire what they have. That's not the focus we should have. And and then he goes on in verse number two. He says, "Fre not this, verse one, because of you doers. Neither be thou envious against the workers iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb."

Now, if you remember, we talked about this a number of times. And when you're in especially in Psalms, but throughout the scriptures, when God gives you a a concrete uh object to illustrate an an abstract truth, then what you want to do is you want to stop and meditate. You want to stop and think about that. Well, what is the picture he's trying to give me here? What is it that he's trying to illustrate? What's this object something I can feel, touch, taste, smell? What is this object? in what way can it help me understand the the truth that he's trying to express there? And so he says they shall be soon cut down like grass and wither as a withers as green herb.

And and so the visual picture I believe that God is giving here is um go to Psalms chapter 90 first of all and look at verses 5 and six. I think there's a number of pictures we can get from these these illustrations. Psalms chapter 90 and:es 5 and 6. Thou carest them away as with a flood. They are as sleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth growth up. In the evening is cut down and witherth. So it doesn't last long. You know grass is grows up and then it's gone. It's cut down and it doesn't last long. And and then look at James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verses 10-2.

James chapter 1 and beginning with verse number 10. But the rich in that he is made low because as a flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner uh risen with a burning heap but has withered the grass and the flow and the flowers thereof of uh fileth and the grace of the fashion of his perished. And so also the rich man shall fade away in his ways. and uh blessed is the man that endure temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord had promised them to love him. Uh again, they they don't last long. They perish easily. They're burned up by the sun.

Uh go over to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. What we're doing here is we're using scripture to help us understand scripture. And and because we know the Bible is one book, we can go to other places and see what's what how do they illustrate it there? And so Matthew chapter 13 and beginning with verse number 24, it says, "Another parable putting forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way." But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also.

So the service householder came and said unto him, "Sir, does thou not sow good seed in the field? from whence then thou art thou art the tears? He said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wil willil thou then go that we go and gather them up? But said, nay, lest while we gather up the tears, we we take we root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest and the time of harvest. I will say the reapers, gather you together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather wheat into my barn. And so a lot of times the weeds weeds grow with the grass.

And what you have to do is let them get big enough where you can separate the two out and and to understand that. And then Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 45. Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 45. That you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. But he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and send rain on the just and on the unjust. We have to realize that the rain is going to bring both the good harvest but also the bad. Uh in my house, there's a section by my driveway that uh I I've been trying to uh it it just got overgrown and wasn't doing very well. So, I just cleared it all out and now I'm planting different plants in there.

I've decided it's going to be my eclectic uh collection. I'm just going to get every free plant plant I get. If you got free plants you want to give me, I'll take them. But anything I can get, I'm going to plant in there. And uh and so with all these new plants, I have to water it. But you know what happens when you water that same area? All the weeds grow, too. And so now I've got to deal with the weeds. And uh cuz the rain, the water goes on both the good and the bad. If I want the good to grow, I've got to water it. But that means also I'm going to have weeds. And it means I have to pull those out.

I have to deal with those. And and that's what he's saying here. So back in Psalms, what he's trying to say, listen, don't don't worry about the evil people. don't just chill out. Uh you know, take it easy and and and don't get upset about it. Don't sweat it. And uh he said, "Listen, because uh they'll be cut down like the grass. They're they're going to there's a price they're going to pay. It may not come right away. You both have to grow up, but when there's going to come a time where it's going to be very clear which is which is which in dealing with that." Okay. So going back to Psalms chapter 37 in verse number three, it says, "Then so don't fret.

Don't worry about it. They're going to be cut down. So trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed." So he said, "Listen, trust in the Lord." And that's the first thing he wants us to do. Uh Proverbs 3:5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on unto thine own understanding. All thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. And and so we got to trust in God. Okay, God, I don't I understand why they get away with all this and I don't understand why I don't have the big retirement or I don't have this or that. You know, in my life as a pastor, I'm I my pastoral salary, I don't pay I don't get social security on that.

And so I'm exempt from social security on that. And you some of you saying, "Well, I wish I was too." But uh I I do get some social security on my secular work, but not on the rest of it. So, I I'll I'll maybe get about five500 or $600 social security in in my old age. That's about it per month. And and that's definitely not enough to live on. And I remember there came a time where I began thinking, what am I going to do? You know, I don't have any retirement. And and being a church planter, I never put money away in retirement. I should have, but I I I wanted to put food on the table. That's about all I had the money for, you know.

And uh so I we really didn't have a lot of money saved up for retirement and we didn't have social security to depend on and we were beginning to you know we got as we got older we were wondering what are we going to do? What are we going to do? You know what? God took care of it. He gave us a house that has more than tripled in value and the equity in that house is going to be our retirement. We'll be able to live on that and and that's God providing it. Now during a time I you know I was sweating about it you know I was all upset about it. I was like why does everybody else have money in retirement?

Because I'd hear about people have millions of dollars in their retirement fund and had hundreds of thousand dollars and I had nothing. You know we had maybe $5,000 or $10,000 and that's not enough to live on the interest on. And yet God has provided it. And we got to trust in the Lord and and not fret about it not not get all upset about it. And then he goes on to say, "Trust in the Lord and and to do good." In Titus chapter 3 and verse number 8. Titus chapter 3 and verse number eight. Titus 3:8. It says, "This is a faithful saying. These things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable un men." So listen, trust God and just keep doing good. We just came to a point we say, you know what, God's going to have to take care of this because we can't. We have it's going to have to be the Lord. And you know what the blessing is? Is it is the Lord we can say God did this, we didn't do. It's not because of our financial wisdom and all of our it's not because we worked all these things out. Now I'm not saying it's wrong to save up for your retirement. I think that's a good thing. I think it's a good thing to put money in the bank to plan for retirement and all the rest of it.

But but we just said, you know, God's called us here to plant this church. Let's just keep doing what God's called us to do. And and God took care of it. And and what a blessing that was. Just keep doing good. You know, again, it doesn't mean you you you don't do anything. It's not like we sat back and said, "Well, we won't save money. We won't worry about all that." We just realized that we can we can do what we can do, but we can't do any more than that. and and God's gonna have to come. God's got to show up here. And he has. And we're just amazed at that that he's provided for us in our in our latter years.

And and what a blessing that is. And then he goes on to say, "Dwell in the land." Dwell in the land. Go to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and look at verses 11 through13. Philippians chapter 4. verses 11 through13. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am, there would to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to bound. Everywhere in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. Paul said, "Listen, in good times and bad, I'm just going to be faithful and and you know, whether I'm abounding or whether I'm abased or whatever the situation, I'm just going to be I'm just going to just be faithful to God."

And when he says, "Dwell in the land," he said, "Listen, just just you I've given you this land. Be faithful and keep doing what I've called you to do. Be faithful." And and and that's the challenge he gives us there. And then he goes on to say, "And verily thou shalt be fed." And uh you know we there's another place where David says, you know, he hasn't seen the the the righteous not be fed and that not taken care of. Uh in verse number 24 um uh not 24. We'll see the verse a little bit later on. But uh he he's verse 25. I've been young and now I'm old yet have not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread.

God provides our needs. He promised that in Philippians 4:19, "But my God satisfy your need according to all his riches and glory by Christ Jesus." And that's all we need is our needs. All that rest of that we see the wicked have, that's extra. And if God gives it to us, great. But we don't need that. But the point I I think he really wants to do is that thou shalt be fed. I think where we'll be fed is in the word of God. Um he says in verse number four, "Delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give the desires of thy heart." I I think that the light is in God's word and in God. Um, look at Jeremiah 15:16.

Jeremiah 15:16. Jeremiah 15:16. Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoice in my heart, for I am called by my thy name, oh Lord, God of hosts." You know, a lot of Christians have got the attitude that the word of God is good for me, but it's got to be good. It's not going to be good to me. But Jeremiah said, 'I found thy words and I ate them and and they were a delight. They were just such a blessing is we feed on the word of God. That's where we get our blessings. you know, when you feed on social media and when you feed on on the uh internet, when you feed on on TV and and movies and all the rest of it, you're going to get frustrated because you're looking look at all these things and whether it's they have money or they have, you know, they have sex and fun and they have all these other things that, you know, it looks like they're having this great time in the world and getting away with it and nothing's happening.

That's all fiction. But if you feed on that, you're going to be frustrated. You're going to fret. But if you feed on the word of God, then you're not going to fret. And so we go back to the word of God. All right? And then um so going on further there, what am I to trust God about? Uh I think there's two things that we need to trust the Lord on here. Now, one is that he will judge the wicked. As we go through this passage, you'll see this in many other psalms as well. Th this was a reoccurring thing with David. David, now you know, David was the king. He had money. He had women, you know, unfortunately.

Uh he had all these things. He had probably a beautiful palace and all the rest of it. And yet he was threatened about the wicked and what they had. Now, you and I, you know, a little different when you and I that don't have a all that, you know, you here in Hawaii, you got a one-bedroom apartment, you know, or something like that, or you you got a 10 20 year old car or whatever else it is. You know, maybe you can understand why we fret about the wicked. But this was a reoccurring theme with David is he was why did the wicked get away with this stuff? Why do they get away with it? And and and and and he what he had to learn is just trust God with this.

Go over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chap 12 and:es 19- 21. Romans 12 19- 21. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place in the wrath. For is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in doing this, thou shalt both heap coals of fire in his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Listen, stop worrying about it. This is the benches is God's. God's going to deal with that. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 30 and 31. For we know him that has said, "Vengeance belonging to me.

I will recompense, sayith the Lord." And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. You know the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus had nothing in this life. The rich man had everything. But when they died went to hell, it reversed around. And you know what? If I had to be in a position, I'd rather be Lazarus and not and be a beggar in this life and have be in paradise for eternity. You know, we just have to remember God is going to balance the scales. God is going to judge the wicked and and you know let them have the little bit they have now because when they go to hell that's not going to be worth it and and that's what to remember and then that he will reward the righteous.

Look at Colossians chapter 3 and verse number 24. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 24. knowing that the Lord you shall receive of the Lord you shall receive the reward of inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. God is going to reward you. Look at James chapter 1 and verse number 12. Now this is right after he talks about uses that same illustration of the grass and then verse 12 he says blessed is the man that endure temptation for when he is tried he receive he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord had promised to them that love him. And so we know and there's many other scriptures is clear in the Bible that when you're faithful, God rewards you.

Now, he rewards you in this life. And that's one of the things I found God's rewarded in this life. He didn't have to give us a retirement with that house. He didn't have to do there's no obligation on God's part. You know, we talk about, well, if you give to the Lord, the Lord's going to give back to you. Yes, he does. But the bless what he gives back to us is his grace. You know in 1 Corinthians it talks about that when you give unto the Lord he gives grace. Now in the Old Testament he gave crops and he gave cattle and sheep and he multiplied your your product and everything like that and he gave you back financially and wealth.

But in the New Testament God promises something better and that's grace. But in his grace he also many times will bless us like he has us. You know, people look at my h, you know, one of the things I I I I with my house I'm scared of is when people go over they think, "Well, you're a pastor and you got such a nice house." They don't understand this is not this is not we didn't get it. God gave it to us. And it's not like we went out and spent millions of dollars. We got it for no, you know, ridiculous price. And and and and it was clear God did it. We had 12 other people that that applied that wanted to get that house and were all turned down and we got it and we had no credit and and it was just the Lord and and so the glory belongs to him.

But God blesses, but I'm not going to stop giving even if I don't get those blessings. I'm not going to stop serving if I don't get those blessings because I know I will get that reward in life later. But God often rewards us in this life as well. But he promises to supply our needs. He promises to take care of us. And we know that. Okay. So, trust God in your situation. And by the way, part of it is is learning to trust the Lord is to trust him and step back and trust him. It's like with the building situation here, you know, back earlier this year, we just, you know, I I had been fretting about the building for three years now, for longer.

I I fredded about it since 2010 cuz I knew this day was going to come and it seemed like 16 years. That's a long time. But I knew it was going to come pretty fast and it has. And as we got closer the last two or three years, I began to fret. How are we going to do this? What's what are they going to raise it to? How what was going to happen? And and I, you know, I talked to our lawyer and he say, "Listen, you better plan on double what you're paying now." And I talked to real estate people and they said the same thing. And I talked to people that were in this area that were renewing their leases and how much they were being raised by.

And and I was fretting until beginning this last this year. Finally, I decided, you know what, Lord? I'm tired of fretting. I'm just going to trust you. In fact, we're going to I said, I'm going to step back. I I'm the kind of guy that can fit the square peg in the round hole. You know, I'll make it fit. And I said, Lord, I'm just going to step back and stop trying. I'm not going to call the lawyer. I I'm not gonna go looking for uh arbitrators and real estate estimates and all the rest of it. I'm just going to step back and wait on you and and wait and see what you do. And I want you to do something that when it happens, everybody's going to go, "Wow, look what God did."

And he did. He did it. And when you trust in God, you get to see that. So, it's not an after-the-act thing. It's before the fact. So, I'm going to trust God for this. Again, it it doesn't mean you do nothing and sit back and don't worry about things there. We we have certain responsibilities of stewardship and the rest of it, but there just comes a time where you realize that this is not about stewardship. This is not about being, you know, budgeting my money and being wise and saving for the future because there just, you know, there's no way to do it. When we went looking for a house, it was like people would say, "Why are you looking?"

because l we literally had zero down payment and we had you know we we we've always paid our bills had good credit that way but you know somebody looked at our salary and it didn't match up but we just said you know what Lord we're going to do our part and then just trust you for the rest of it and and that's such a blessing to be able to do that. Okay, letter E there to delight means to have a tender heart. Uh to delight it says in Psalms 37, delight thyself also in the Lord. He shall give thee desires thine heart. Uh so it's the idea of a tender heart. The word means be soft or dainty or delicate.

Go to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse number 56. Deuteronomy 28 and verse number 56. The tender and delicate women among you which would not adventure to set the soul of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness. Her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and toward her daughter. You know, somebody's just afraid to do, you know, isn't willing to put themselves out do anything. But the idea that word tender or delicate is the same word. Look at 2 Kings chapter 22 and verse number 19. 2 Kings chapter 22 and verse number 19. Because thine heart was tender and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against his place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse and has rent thy clothes and wept before me.

I also have heard thee, sayeth the Lord. Their heart was tender. And that's what God wants. He wants to have a delight, to have a tender heart, to delight in the Lord, like a a dainty delicacy, you know, something really good. It is is it's something that we'll enjoy. And and so God wants us to have to delight in him. Delight thyself also, the Lord. He shall give thee desires thy heart. When you delight in God, you God gives you. Now, here's what happens. When you delight in God, your desires change. When I delight in my wife, then the things I want are different because I like to see her smile.

I like to see her happy. And because she's happy, I'm happy. And and so giving that aspect. And and and and so when you delight in God, your desires change. And so we want to delight in the Lord and say, "God, I I just love being with you. What what do you you know, you know, I want to be with my wife." And then I say, "Where do you want to go? What do you want to do?" It may not be what I want to do, but I just like being with her. You know, I don't like going shopping. I think Ross is is of the devil. Um they got two million dresses there and my wife looks at every one of them, you know, and I I I am not a shop.

I'm a hunter. I like to go to the store and say, "I gotta have a shirt. There it is. Grab it. Let's go home." You know, and uh but my wife is a shopper and she could spend an hour in there and and here's the worst part. Walk away with nothing. And you say, "Well, that's good. She's not spending your money." Yeah, but it's bad because she's not there's no production here. You know, there's nothing there's no results, you know. But you know what? I just like being with her. So, I'll go to Ross's. Now, the one thing I do about Lobout Rosses is they've got that home section with the furniture. You can go sit in one of those chairs while she's looking at all the dress dresses, you know, and uh and doing that.

But delight thyself in the Lord. That means you want to do what? God, God, I want to be where you are. I want to do what you want to do. And you delight in him. And and it's just and and have a heart that's tender towards him and and and he gives you the desires of your heart then. And then verse five is commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and shall bring it to pass. Again, excellent Bible verses here. Memory verses. Um to commit means to roll away. To roll away. Look at Genesis chapter 39 or 29. Genesis chapter 29. Genesis 29 and uh verse number three. Genesis 29 and verse three it says and thither were all the flocks gathered and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the sheep and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.

So commit is the same idea of that word there. And then look at uh verse number eight. And they said we cannot until all the flocks be gathered together until they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we then we water the sheep. And then again in verse number um 10 and it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban and his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth. And so the idea of the roll is there. Then look at um also Proverbs chapter 16 and verse number three. Proverbs 16 and verse number three.

Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established to to again the delight to commit. Um o you say well what does what does R have to do with commit? What what does it have to do with this idea of commit? I I think the idea is is commit thy ways. Is to roll your burdens onto the Lord. Is is Lord, commit. I'm going to commit these things to you. I'm not going to fret about them anymore. I'm not going to worry about them anymore. I'm just going to commit them to you. Uh I love the hymn uh rolled away, rolled away. All the burdens of my heart are rolled away. And uh you know, we just need to roll those burdens.

That's the idea what he's trying to say here back in Psalms chapter 37. He says, "Commit thy ways. Roll those burdens onto the Lord. Trust in him and he should bring it to pass. Quit fretting. Quit worrying. Trust in me and commit to me." Okay. And then um Psalms 37 6-11. And he shall bring forth the thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prosperth in his way. Because a man who bringeth wicked devices to pass cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself any wise to do evil. For evil even do shall be cut off.

But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be. Yay, thou shalt desolently consider his place and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight thyself themselves in the abundance of peace. Okay. So what he's saying here is first of all he talks about the righteous in verse number six. He shall bring forth the righteous as the light. Okay? And and and so what the righteous supposed to do? Uh they're supposed to rest in the Lord. Verse number seven, uh to rest in the Lord. Uh Psalms 46 and verse 10. Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. You know what do we do? We say, "God, I'm gonna trust you with this." But then we still worry. We We don't roll that burden off. And And God said, "Listen, just sit back and relax. Rest in me." And and don't fret. Don't worry. Don't do anything anymore. Rest in the Lord. And then he says to wait patiently. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. It says in Psalms 37:7 and verse number N, for evil doers should be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. And in Psalm 62 and verse number five, Psalm 62 and verse number five, my soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him.

Just expecting God to do something. Again, that's not easy to do. I I tell you what, we we made that decision just to not fret and not to worry and not to pursue, you know, just leave it in God's hands about the building. That was not easy to do. But, you know, but at the same time, I was kind of excited. I was say, man, what what is God going to do? Because I I certainly I'll be honest with you, I'd never expected him to actually lower the the rent that to come down lower than the starting rent. Now, we had some people in church. My wife does a a prayer uh time before Sunday school on Sunday morning with some of her ladies from her ladies class.

And uh and one of the ladies prayed, "Lord, uh Pharaoh doesn't need the money, so why don't you let us have it, you know?" So, and uh the other lady prayed, she she specifically prayed, "Lord, let them come back with a lower rent." And and and and that's what God did. And when you begin to trust in God, you stop ftting, you stop worrying, and you begin to trust in the Lord and just say, "You know what? I'm just going to rest. I'm not going to fight this. I'm not going to worry about it anymore." It's amazing what God will do. Now, it's easier said than done. I know that. But that's what we need to learn to do.

And that's what he wants us to learn to do. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 and verses 29-31. Isaiah chapter 40 beginning with number verse number 29. Isaiah 40:29. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. What a what an amazing verse that is. Another great memory verse, by the way, you know, is that God will renew our strength.

You you watch the eagle. It seems so effortless what they do and and you know, and and and what they can accomplish. And and that's God's design. You know, an airplane can fly, too, but it takes a lot of power and thrust to get that airplane up in the sky. But the eagle just is is just effortless. And and we can soar like eagles. we can we can renew our strength and and uh and God can give us that that rest in him. And then um number three, how do we fret and how does it lead to doing evil? Look back at Psalms chapter 37. Fret not thyself because of evil. Uh verse number seven, rest in the Lord, wait patiently for fret not thyself because of him who prosperth in his way.

In verse number eight, uh the end of verse there, fret not thyself and any wise do evil. So how do we fret? We we fret by worrying. We fret by talking about it over and over again. It's one of the things I I try to challenge people with. Listen, every time you you do there is times you have to talk about problems, talk about situations, what you're going to do and all the rest of it. But when you talk about it just to complain, every time you do that, you know what you're doing? You're giving life to it because breath is life. And when you talk about it and talk about the thing and complain about it and whine about it, you're just keep giving it life.

So listen, if you're going to talk about it, talk about to God at least, but don't keep complaining about it. Don't keep talking about over and over again because we we give it life. We keep giving a breath there. And and he says, "Listen, don't fret about it because that fretting is going to make you give you anxiety. It's going to make you worried. It's going to make you frustrated and and all the rest of it." And that and I think that's part of the evil he's talking about here that that happens with it. But then also I think the evil is when we try to do things our own way. You know, I found every time that I tried to rush ahead of God and make things work, I made a mess of it.

And and we just got to learn not to fret and not to worry about it. And then what is the difference between anger and wrath? Look at Psalms 37:8. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself any wise to do evil. So there's two separate words here. And when God gives you more than one word that sounds synonymous, they're not exactly. They're close, but there's a difference. So what's the difference between anger and wrath? Think about that for a minute. What's the difference between anger and wrath? The word anger comes from a word that means to flex the nose. You ever seen somebody so angry their nose starts, you know, that breathing that start nose kind of goes in and out a little bit that that flex the nose.

The word wrath comes from word which means hot or passionate. See, when you get angry, it begins to affect you physically. But when you get wrath, that's passionate. That that becomes very hot. It's a it's an acceleration of anger. Let's look at some verses here. Look at um Romans chapter 12 and verse number 19. Romans chapter 12 and verse number 19. Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For as written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, sayeth the Lord. All right? Don't give wrath a hold in your life because it's going to affect you. and and you can't do that.

And look at um uh let's go first to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. One of the things I like to study, I've done a number of sermons on these as well, is is is the idea whenever God gives us a list and and that list is there for a reason and to go through that list. That's why I like to do the fruit of the spirit or uh different lists in the Bible, the armor of God. And he gives us a list here in Ephesians chapter 4 and uh verses 26 and 27. He says, "Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place of the devil." So he said, "Listen, you're going to get angry."

That's an emotion that we don't always have control over. You know, is it happens? And emotions are not bad. God gave us our emotions. They're only bad when they control us rather than us control the the emotion. So be angry and sin not. Don't let it control you. And then he goes down to verses 3-32. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed on day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you all malice. Be kind one another, tender heart, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake have forgiven you. What he's what this list is giving you a progression.

He says it starts with all bitterness and bitterness leads to wrath and wrath to anger and clamor. It just a progression that happens and and and dealing with it. Go over to James chapter 1. James chapter 1 19 and 20. James chapter 1 19 and 20. Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man workketh not the righteousness of God. So he said, listen, your anger, your wrath doesn't work the righteousness of God. And and and so we got to understand that we've got to control that anger. We got to control that wrath and not let it control us.

And he says that's what's going to happen. If you fret and you worry, you're it's going to develop into anger and into wrath and uh and you are going to get mad. Why they get away with this? and you become angry about it and you come the point of passion. We see this in society today. Look what people are doing. We're going to go kill all those billionaires. Where did that start from? Well, why are they getting all the money and I don't? That's where it started. And it just they allowed to build up and build up and build up. And you say, man, how could they do that? Because they've they've not followed this.

Just starts with fretting. And so, don't start with it. Fret not. He says um go back to uh verses 9- 11 of of Psalms there 37. He says, "For evil shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. For yet a while, and the wicked shall not be. Yay, they shall thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the weak shall inherit the earth, and shall delight theel in the abundance of peace." And that same thing is taught in Matthew chapter 5. The meek shall inherit the earth. That's the That's where it's taught. The the blessed are the meek passage there.

Okay. And then how long is a little while? Verse 10. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be. Yay, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be. Um sometimes, go to second Peter 3. Sometimes things seem so far away and then all of a sudden they're right there. Again, when we moved this building back in 2010, we thought, "Oh, we got 16 years. 60 years didn't last very long at all. Um it has gone by fast and and we have to realize that that that little while uh second Peter chapter 3 8 and 9. But beloved be not ignorant is one thing that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Send men to count slackness but is longsuffering to us where not willing the age should perish but all should come repentance. When we moved into this building, we used to be down at by where Cycle City is in Wendy's. There's another building there with the hump roofs. We met there from 2000 to 2010. And uh we were when we left there, we were paying $16,000 a month in rent and it was going up. And they they wanted us out of there. Uh Cycle City owned the property after we moved in. They bought it and they wanted us out. And so we knew for about three years that we were going to have to move.

And we were looking for buildings during that whole time period. and everything we looked at fell through and didn't work out. And I'll tell you what, I again, I was ftting. I I I I don't always practice these lessons that I'm teaching you. I struggle with that. And I was fretting and saying, "I got to make this work out." And you know what? God made it work out, but not in my timing. And and and even with this thing, we were supposed to hear about, we've been trying to find out what they're going to charge us for rent for three years. We'd ask them, "What are you going to charge us? What are you going to charge us?" And they were supposed to tell us by December, and they didn't. And you have to learn just to step back and say, 'You know what? The Lord's in control. And it may not be on my timing, but he is in control.