- Good morning and welcome to Rockpoint Church, whether you're worshiping here upstairs, or in our lower gathering area, or online, it's just great to be with you as we continue to unpack God's Word together in worship. We are in the midst of a series, a study in the Book of 2 Timothy, entitled multiplying disciples. However, we came to a stop in verse seven of 2 Timothy 1, where it says, "God's not given us a spirit of fear, "but one of power and love and self-control." And so the last couple of weeks we've been talking about this subject of fear which we face in our world today. You know, I love Luke and Noel and Leah and just their whole family, and they're part of Rockpoint, they came from Rockpoint, grew up here at Rockpoint, and it's just been awesome to see what God has done for them. They have been on a real adventure in life through ups and downs, they've had to face some fears and yet God has been faithful. And today we're gonna take a look at a particular episode in the life of David, because he was on an adventure and he too had to face fears, but he did so with faith. It's a remarkable psalm that we're gonna look at today as we finish off the short three-week series. So today, instead of going to 2 Timothy 1, I want you to take your Bibles out, and I want you to go to Psalm 34 in the Old Testament, Psalm 34, as we begin to take a look at this important subject, and that is the fear of the Lord. You know, we can live our lives in fear and there is so much to fear today, and if you're not careful, those fears will control you, but it's fascinating to me that the Bible actually says, well, we aren't to fear people and circumstances and the difficulties that we face in life in the midst of the adventure, we are supposed to fear the Lord. That is so clear throughout the Bible, and not only did Luca and Noel and Leah have to face that, and David did, now we're gonna read about what it means as David unpacks for us this concept of what it means to fear the Lord. Now in Psalm 34, there is a very, very important setting that is a part of David's life, and it is from that part of his life that he writes this psalm. In the super scription which is right before verse one, oftentimes those words help us understand a little bit about why David or someone else wrote this particular psalm. And in this case, it references a situation in David's life found in 1 Samuel 21, starting in verse 10. David has been running for his life, he was the anointed king, but Saul was still on the throne. And David's best friend was Saul's son, Jonathan, however, Saul was trying to kill David. And so he was running in fear, he was running throughout the nation of Israel, he was trying to avoid Saul and God had not moved David into kingship yet. So he was having to be patient on God's timing and God's ways. And God wanted him to trust Him, but oftentimes as is the case when we are frustrated that God didn't show up on our time schedule, anybody been there before? God didn't reveal what he should do, all of a sudden he's stuck in this zone where it's like never, never end. And he's struggling with fear, he's running from his life, it's not the way he would have scripted things, I mean, he was anointed in front of his brothers. I'll tell you what, if there was ever a moment where David got in a head trip it would have been right down in there, right? The little guy getting anointed, I'm king guys, but he didn't start a PR campaign, he humbly accepted it, but now he's frustrated. And when you get your eyes off the Lord you can wander afar away from God, and that's what was happening in his life because as typically the case, when fear enters our life we begin to take control, and David took control and he decided he's leaving Israel, and he's gonna go off into Philistine territory. And sure enough he goes over to the Philistine territory and he goes into the city of Gath and he meets this guy who's the leader, his name is Abimelech, which is mentioned in the superscript. Now he's got a second name which is referred to over in 1 Samuel, but it's fascinating to me because David goes into Gath. Now if you remember this story from childhood you remember that David fought a giant, right? And the giant, his name was what? Goliath, and he was from the city of Gath. He was a Philistine. Now keep in mind David they've probably, you know, wanted posters with David's face all over the place. I don't know if they had a printing press back then, but look, he was known. He was the little guy who defeated their, you know, their strongest soldier, and now he shows up in their territory and David actually thought he could kinda play behind the scenes and nobody would recognize him. Well, obviously they did, someone recognized him, went to Abimelech and it's all found out. And so David in that moment fearful trying to control the situation, he does something else, he tries to control it again, and he acts like he's insane and as a result of that, he's allowed to live in safety and he leaves the region so it's no longer a threat to his life. And then as a result to his deliverance, he writes Psalm 34, and he actually gives the total credit to God in the midst of the messiness of life. Now it's fascinating to me because I wanna ask you a question at this point, can you identify with David? Are there moments in your life when you're facing the fears? Right now in this midst we've got a pandemic, we've got people facing illness, we've got people facing death, we've got people wondering about the future because of our government, we wonder about the future for our kids, we wonder about our finances, and right here in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, they're getting set for the trial, the trial that's gonna take place to see whether or not the police officer committed murder against George Floyd. And right now they've got the whole the building surrounded with barricades and everything else. Why? Because they're afraid of the riots and stuff that might result as a result of this trial. You know, we get in the midst of fears in life and we struggle, and that's why I love this psalm because it's David that comes along in the messiness of life, the failures of life, the fears of life, and he opens up his soul to walk us through what it really means to fear the Lord. Now it's not a fear of judgment, but it's a different kind of fear that he reveals to us. A fear of the Lord is much different than the fear of guilt and judgment, and David unpacks that for us and teaches us what that means. The whole theme of this psalm is on fearing the Lord, he mentions it four different times. And through David's experience in many ways he sets the stage with a wise saying that's found in Proverbs 1:7, 'cause he says this, "The fear of the Lord." Wise old Solomon comes along who by the way was David's son, and he says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, "fools despise wisdom and instruction." In other words, if you want to understand what it means to live life with knowledge and wisdom and understanding, then it begins with the fear of the Lord, it begins by turning to Him and submitting to Him. Now it's fascinating to me because it even goes to a layer deeper than that. Whenever you turn to the Lord, you get this massive understanding of who He is. When you begin to understand His holiness, when you begin to understand His righteousness, when you begin to understand His glory which is the sum total of all of His attributes, it's in that moment when you see God for who He is, that He is the perfect God of the universe, it has this reaction in you, one of woe is me because of my sin. When you fear the Lord and you go to Him, you get this awesome understanding of God, and it's in this awesome understanding of who God is that you get a true realistic understanding of how you are and how far you fall short of how good He is. Reminds me of an episode in great prophet Isaiah's life in Isaiah 6, don't turn there. But in that moment, Isaiah through this incredible vision enters into the very throne room of Almighty God. And you know what his reaction was? Again, he had a massive understanding, a true understanding of God. He goes, woe is me, and he covers himself because of his sin and his guilt before Almighty God. And that's what happens. In the moment when you understand that God is perfect and you are not, that we are all sinners who continue to sin, who falls short of God's glory and perfection, it's in that moment that we recognize the truth of what God tells us, that the wages of sin is death. There's separation from this holy God, and the reaction is, woe is me. And the fear of the Lord is understanding Him first, then understanding me, but the fascinating thing about Isaiah 6, is, an angel comes along, an a Seraphim, which is an angel, goes over and takes a coal from the altar, touches his lips, and pronounces that his guilt, his guilt is removed and his sin is atoned for. That pictures in the New Testament the sacrifice of Jesus Christ because the point is the fear of the Lord begins by going to God and seeing Him, and then seeing me, and knowing that I do fear Him out of judgment and conviction for my sin because the wages of sin is death. But in that moment, when I repent of my sin in self, and I turn to Christ as my Savior and Lord, it is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross that deals with the source of fear and that is sin, and once that is done, my guilt is removed and all of a sudden the fear meaning judgment and conviction because of the guilt of my sin turns into something that is fabulous. It is the awe and the wonder of a holy God, that yes I'm still accountable to, but it is a God who loves me, who adopts me into His family, and it is now a new understanding of fear. You see, the transition happens when you give your life to Jesus Christ, then it moves from guilt and shame to awe in reverence that a holy God would love me and adopt me into His family, and that creates what David begins to unpack for us, the first part of this definition, and that is that the fear of the Lord is reverence, it is awe. Look down at verse one, he says, "I will bless the Lord at all times, "His praise shall continually be in my mouth. "My soul makes its boast in the Lord. "Let the humble hear and be glad. "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, "and let us exalt His name together." The reason why he was able to write verses one, two, and three is because God had delivered him in the midst of the messiness of life. This is the God by faith that he was walking with, this is the God he was pursuing. By faith David had put his trust in this God even in the midst of the journey of ups and downs and failures, and all of a sudden there was a change in his understanding that the fear of the Lord is now on reverence, not shame and guilt that was taken care of at the cross. "And in the midst of fears I looked to him, "I will bless the Lord." There's a conscious choice to look to Him because the relationship has now changed and as we saw last week, He is now my Abba, heavenly Father, and as I turn to Him with awe and reverence, the fear of the Lord also means trust because He's adopted me into His family and I come to Him and now I can trust Him by faith and walk with Him as the leader of my life. Look at verse four, David says, "I sought the Lord and He answered me "and delivered me from all my fears. "And those who look to Him are radiant, "they find peace and their faces shall never be ashamed. "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, "and saved him out of all of his troubles, "and the angel of the Lord encamps around those who what? "Fear Him and delivers them." In the midst of the fears, David in his troubles and trials and all that he faced and the fears that he mentions in verse four is replaced because he put fear in God, his trust in God, and the whole idea here is that the fear of the Lord meaning trust means to seek the Lord and to pursue Him, put your eyes on Him not the fear. It's this simple principle. If you wanna overcome fear, you have to replace the earthly fear with something bigger and greater. When you fear something greater, you're able to deal with the smaller fear. Is true in just about every area of your life. And David is saying, get your eyes off of what happens here, put it on this awesome perspective of who God is and fear Him, and that will help you deal and overcome that sense of fear in your life here. Fear wants to control, it wants to rule, but when I surrender to Him and trust Him, then all of a sudden this earthly fear is not the deal that it once was in my mind because I'm trusting in the all powerful God by faith. Now for some of you, you have, you know, you got a lead foot, right? So you struggle with that and I do too. I've had a few episodes though where one in particular I got a ticket and it wasn't, you know, it was a sizeable enough ticket to where I remember that moment. And I have to tell you, I don't get tickets very often, okay? I'll just put it this way, there are people in my family they get more tickets way more than I do, no names mentioned, okay? But the fear of getting that ticket keeps me in line, okay? Because I don't wanna pay the money and it's embarrassing, and you all know what happens when the lights are flashing behind you. I mean, even if it's the guy in front of you that you know is guilty, you're thinking, is it me, is it me, right? Come on, admit it. Yeah, It's just horrible feeling. Well, the whole idea there is, wait a minute, I fear that, so what am I gonna do? Well, I'm gonna stay in line, and that's kinda the idea, I'm gonna pursue this God who I love now, who's adopted me so that I begin to follow His will and ways and not fear the stuff of life. Now there's a passage I want you to go to that unpack this a little clear. I want you to go to the New Testament, keep your finger in Psalm 34, we'll come back there. But I want you to go to the first book in your New Testament, Matthew, and I want you to locate chapter 10, chapter 10 and verse 26. Matthew 10:26. The context here is Jesus sent the disciples out, they're to go into the world, preach the gospel, and they're going to experience persecution which He unpacks in verse 16. And in light of that persecution, now Jesus tells them in verse 26, He says, "So have no fear of them." Those that are going to persecute you when you go out into this world, into this adventure and you face the messiness of life, the trials, the suffering, the persecution. "For nothing is covered that will be revealed or hidden, "that will not be known. "What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, "and what you hear whispered, proclaim it on the housetop." Don't be fearful that's the idea. Don't let what they're gonna do to you dictate your actions. "And do not fear those who kill the body, "but cannot kill the soul. "Rather fear Him who can destroy "both soul and body in hell." In other words, don't please those guys who are out to kill you, the people that are gonna persecute you, that are bringing up the fear, the sense you're gonna have is, control it and try and please them, they are up to harming you and they are wicked and evil. Don't fear them know, no, go to the God and fear Him, He's the one that actually can control your eternal destiny. He's in charge of your earthly life, your heavenly life, go to Him, submit to Him, follow His will and ways, and when you do, you don't have to fear 'cause they're out to hurt you, He is the God who now has adopted you into His family. And it's interesting what Jesus does here, He loves you. You see, there's a fear there of wanting to please Him because He's my heavenly Father, He's adopted me into His family, and He's not there to hurt you like those guys are, He actually controls your eternal destiny, but when you fear Him, He wants to love you and surround you and protect you as a child that's been adopted into His family whereby we can cry out, heavenly Daddy, Abba Father, because notice what Jesus does next, verse 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? "And not one of them will fall "to the ground apart from your Father. "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. "Fear not therefore, "you are of more value than many sparrows. "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, "I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. "But whoever denies me before men, "I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." You see what He doing here, turn to God, turn to Him, and then that relationship of fear and guilt and shame is turned into a love relationship whereby I wanna walk with Him and serve, and when I cry out to Him, He hears me as I wait upon Him. Isaiah 40:31 says, "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, "they shall mount up with wings like eagles, "they shall run and not be weary, "they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah is the one that wrote chapter six, where he was awe, you know, he's just in this shame and guilt, and yet it was opened up through the sacrifice that was offered and touched his lips, it's the sacrifice of Christ that opens up this new relationship where I can wait for the Lord because he comes and back in Psalm 34, David even talks about how the deliverance eventually does come if we wait, if we seek Him, our faces are radiant, they find peace. And then if you'll look at verse seven, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those "who fear Him and delivers them." In the Old Testament angel of the Lord refers to Jesus Christ before He took on full humanity. He's talking about Jesus here. You're gonna see this throughout the rest of the psalm. He's talking about Jesus who went to the cross and died, and as I trust in Him, He deals with the nemesis of fear which is sin so that I can walk in this new relationship with Him, and I know that I am protected by Him according to His will and His ways of of course. If you look at verse eight, he says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, "blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. "Oh, fear the Lord you His saints, "for those who fear Him," Notice this. "Have no lack. "The young lions suffer want and hunger, "but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." What he's talking about is a common theme that David brings up throughout the psalms that he wrote, and that is that our source of satisfaction is found in God and God alone. That I pursue Him, and as I do, the more I pursue Him, I experience satisfaction from Him and I experience all of a sudden a sense of freedom from what is controlling me and the fears of my life, and that happens as I turn to Him, and surrender to Him, and take refuge in Him. I am focused upon who He is, He's my heavenly Father, I'm adopted into His family, He changes me and transforms me as I take refuge in Him and seek Him. And part of this whole concept is understanding that the fear of the Lord is pursuing Him and seeking Him, that's where we find refuge and strength. We were over in Israel several years ago and we were just south of the Dead Sea, it was the hottest trip we were ever on, it was 115 degrees. Now for a lot of people like us, it's terrible. Man, I'm just heated up because I love dry heat. Well, we got in some Jeeps and we drove through the desert wilderness and we found this cave and we got out of our Jeeps and the guides told us to go inside of the cave. When we walked into that cave, I was blown away. It was like we walked into a refrigerator. It was amazing to me, and all of a sudden there was wind that had been blowing through this mountain as we found our way into this cave, and you can see why the Bedouins and others and David people that are traveling throughout the desert would go into these caves and they would be able to live and survive. If they had some water, they could find cool weather even in the midst of 115 degrees. It was a source of refuge for all of us, it was amazing, we could have spent the whole day there. And the idea is we go back to the Lord as a place of safety, we find rest and hope, and as Paul puts it contentment in Philippians 4:11-13. Here's what he says. "Not that I am speaking of being in need, "for I have learned "in whatever situation I am to be content." This is the idea behind fearing the Lord, I'm trusting in Him. "I know how to be brought low, "and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance." Every fear, every situation I face. "I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, "abundance and need. "I can do all things through Him." Not my own strength, through Him because I'm turning to Him, He's living this new life in and through me. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." There's this overwhelming sense of peace that comes. Why? Because we can taste, we can see the Lord, which is a metaphor of finding satisfaction in Him and through His word so that the anxiousness in my heart, and the fears of my heart can subside. Try it next time. The moment you get into that situation where fear is there, just stop for a moment, just try, just the next step, just stop at that moment, say, God, I gotta have you, I need you in this moment, and I'm turning to you and I'm resting in you. I'm resting in the truth of your word, so I'm speaking truth back into the lies of what this fear is generating in my mind so that my mind is renewed by your presence and by the power of your truth in the word so that my behavior follows my beliefs. And in that moment, we begin to surrender, and then just wait and rest and see what God does. Try it and see what happens. It'll be a powerful moment that takes place in your life. You know, it reminds me of a scene in the "Chronicles of Narnia" if you've seen the movie or you read the books, read the books, okay? And grandparents if you're here, parents read the books aloud to your kids, okay? They're fabulous written by C.S. Lewis, and there's one scene in there and the first one where the lion, which is Aslan is the picture of Jesus Christ. And Lucy is having a conversation with a talking beaver, okay? You just gotta read the story if you're not familiar with it. And she goes, "Is God's safe?" And he says, "Safe? "Of course, He isn't safe, but He's good I tell you, "He's the King." The point there is that God isn't safe, He takes us through the adventures of life, He takes Luke and Noel on adventures, He took David on adventures because we live in a messy real world with trials, afflictions, difficulties, the real stuff of life, and within this personal turning to Jesus Christ we begin to understand that we are adopted into His family by the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We begin to understand that He takes all things even the failures and the fears of my life, and He works them together for His good and His glory because of who He is. And it's in those moments that He demonstrates His power and His presence in our lives. Why? Because He creates in us this new desire of on reverence, and He creates in us a new desire to follow Him. He changes our motives, He changes our motivations of our hearts, and as we turn to Him, if we've repented and turn and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, all of a sudden we realize the second part to fearing Him by trust, we begin to walk in obedience. Why? Because the desires of our hearts have changed. This is my heavenly Father, Abba Father. I'm not fearing guilt because Romans 8 says, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, I now have this overwhelming desire to follow Him and serve Him. Look at verse 11, "Come on children, listen to me." That's the Hebrew word it means to listen and obey. That's what David's after here. But it's out of a new desire of fearing and wanting to please Him. "I will teach you the fear of the Lord." David says. "What man is there who desires life "and loves many days that he may see good? "Keep your tongue from evil "and your lips from speaking deceit, "turn away from evil and do good, "seek peace and pursue it." He says. In other words, honor the Lord with your life. Why? Because you desire to please your heavenly Father who loved you, who forgave you, who brought you into this relationship and changes the very desires of your heart. Now you see this pattern throughout the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy God says in chapter five, verse 29, "Oh that they had such a heart as this always," Notice this. "To fear me and to keep all my commandments." See the connection between pleasing and following Him. "That it might go well with them "and with their descendants forever." The idea is He's changed me to follow Him and to serve Him regardless of what I've experienced in life. Abraham found this, he followed God by faith, but it was faith obedience because by the time you get to Genesis 22, I encourage you to read the account, God tells him to take Isaac up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Well, He wanted it to be a test of his faith. And so he does so, but God stops him before he sacrifices Isaac. Some of you know the story, provides a substitute, a lamb, and then God makes this dramatic statement. He says, "Now I know that you fear me." His point was because of his trust and his faith, the obedience was the flowing out of his faith. The relationship was established by faith, but now it produces a desire to follow and serve this heavenly lovingly Father who's watching out for me, who's changed the very motivations of my heart. And that's why Psalm 128:1 says, "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord," And what? "Walks in His ways." Because as I do I'm blessed, I live this life. In Acts 5, we read this incredible story where Peter is taken in prison with a couple of disciples and he's brought before the religious officials who are persecuting them. And it's remarkable because Peter actually remembers the statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 10, that we read. And he says to these religious officials, hey, we don't fear you, we fear God not men. He learned his lesson. I'm gonna follow God, I'm gonna do what He says because I know ultimately He's in charge of my life, and the rest of the church did the same thing because by the time you get to Acts 9:31, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria "had peace and was being built up." Why did they have peace? "In walking in the fear of the Lord." There's your answer. "And in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied." They found satisfaction in God and God alone, they turned to Him, they trusted in the cross of Jesus Christ for forgiveness who dealt with enemesis of fear and they followed and they served. And James, the half-brother of Jesus picks up on the same comment in chapter one of the book he wrote verse 22, "But be doers of the word, "and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." That's why he says in verse 11, same idea, "Listen, listen, and obey." And you can't do it on your own. I don't know if you caught this or not, but in verse eight it says that the Lord is good, and then in verse 14 he tells us to do good. I can't do that on my own, that's the surrender. As I yield to Him and follow His ways, it's the Holy Spirit that works in me, gives me new desires, and as I seek Him and follow Him, it's His power, His strength, His grace that is producing the very new life inside of me. Remember Jesus Christ came to live the perfect life. He conquered sin and death at the cross, He paid for our sin. The penalty was gone and the power of sin is gone. He lived the kind of perfect resurrected life that I now need to live so that as I follow Him and serve Him, and submit to Him, He gives me not only forgiveness based on His death, but He gives me His very resurrected power to live this new life in a way I never have before. Why? Because He did it for me, it's all by grace. And as I submit to Him, and walk, and pursue Him, that's how you overcome fear, that's how you live this new kind of life because it's inspired by the power of Jesus Christ, and that's why the third part of this idea of fearing the Lord with awe and reverence is trust, is to rest, to rest in His presence, His power that He gives me to be good and live this life, and the provision to be with me in the midst of it all because I am his child, He is my heavenly Father. Look down at verse 15, he says, "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, "and His ears toward their cry. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, "to cut off the memory of them from the earth. "And when the righteous cry for help, "the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted "and saves the crushed in spirit." Have you ever been there, crushed by the way to the fears and the stuff that's going on around us? "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Because they're part of a real world. "But the Lord delivers him out of them all, "and he keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. "Affliction will slay the wicked, "and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. "The Lord redeems the life of His servants, "none of those who take refuge," Notice, "in Him will be condemned." Now David was experiencing real afflictions, real sorrow, real difficulty, and it is in those moments that God provides everything we need, His presence, His power, His provision to deliver us in the midst of these trials and afflictions. But I want you to see something more here, you see it would have been easier for David to stand against an enemy that he knew, the trouble was Saul was his mentor in many ways, he served Saul in the palace, Saul's son was his best friend. Saul was an individual that he was supposed to follow as God's anointed and David wouldn't touch that, that's why he was running from him and wouldn't kill him. He had a couple of opportunities to do that, but he chose not to. And yet David is now standing alone, his best friend is gone, Saul is chasing him all over the place and yet he stands alone, and it is in these moments of being crushed and broken, running in fear that he is reminded that God is with him as his Redeemer. And what I want you to understand is this, the David is a picture of the greater Son of David Jesus Christ to come. That's his whole point of how he closes this psalm. At the end in verse 22, he says, "None of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned." Why is that the case? Because God condemned Jesus Christ for your sin. He was alone on the cross so that you would not be found guilty by trust and faith in Him, and you would never be alone again. It was Jesus Christ who would experience a death in a way we can't ever even imagine, and He did so that we would not be condemned by taking refuge in Him. And then at the beginning of verse 22, we would be redeemed. And it is those of us that have found refuge in this greater Son of David who can face fear with faith in Jesus Christ so that we can find the very deliverance that only He can give us, and that comes by way of the cross. It comes by the fact that He delivers us. As you go back up into verse 20, this verse that says, "He keeps all his bones not one of them is broken." Is actually chosen by John the apostle at the end of Jesus' life, and he quotes this as in fulfillment of this prophecy where Jesus is hanging on the cross and his bones were not broken, and He died for your sin and my sin so that we could have forgiveness and hope and life in Him, and in Him then we find deliverance, the second part of verse 19, you just work your way back up into this psalm Why? Because we're in Him and we find victory in Him, and His presence is with us because He was broken and He was crushed with the very weight of my sin and your sin, so that he could actually deal with the source of fear, and that is sin itself, so we can be adopted into His family. The moment we repent and put our trust in Him, we trust the greater Son of David who's walked before us, who allows us now by faith, by His grace, by His goodness adopted into the Father's family, with His love and protection to face the fears of life and come out victorious because Jesus did it for us, and we walk in His truth and in relationship with Him. It is so fitting for us to come to this moment where we celebrate communion together 'cause that's how David wraps this up. He wraps it up with a massive understanding of what Christ did for us on the cross, and He was hung on a cross, He was crushed because of the weight of not His sin, but your sin and my sin hanging on the cross, His bones were not broken, and He was separated from the Father, He was alone so that you would never be alone again. You would never face fear alone again, you would never face the awesome judgment of God because of your sin. Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation "for those who are found in Christ Jesus." Because I'm His child, He's my loving Father. And we come to this time of communion to give thanks. You can face the fears of life because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can face the fears that you face in life because of Jesus Christ already walked the road for us. And if you have repented of your sin and yourself acknowledging that He is holy and perfect, and you are not, and the wages of sin is separation from Him, physical death and spiritual death, and you have turned to Jesus Christ and you place your trust in Him alone as the one who paid the price for your sin and rose from the grave, and you want Him to save you and lead your life, whatever words you use to get to that point, you're a child of God, and we invite you to take communion with us to remember that He gave His life so that we could be victorious, so that we can think about the words of this psalm and then leave this place proclaiming His truth until He comes again. Let's pray and I'll be back up in a few moments and guide us as we take communion together. Lord Jesus, we come to you and we thank you for what you have accomplished on our behalf. We love you, we praise you, and in these next few moments I pray that you would reveal to us the truth afresh of your work on the cross, that we would give you thanks for all that you have done so that we may walk by faith and not fear. It's in Christ's name. Amen.